A Message to Talent Sourcers - What Does It Mean to Source Candidates?

You are in the business of sourcing talent - a complex, ever-evolving, and sometimes frustrating task. You are like detectives, matchmakers, marketers, and ambassadors rolled into one. You have to dig deep, think broadly, connect the dots, and sell the dream.

You don multiple hats, all at once, and make sure your business runs with the most competent people one can ever find.

Hand to heart, think if you have a sure shot strategy to find unicorns every time, for every role, or, are you leaving things to chance, for the lifesaver to knock on your door one morning?

If you have a sourcing strategy that’s only partly working or don’t have one at all, or if you’d love to know how to formulate one, you should keep reading. Here, we cover the A-Z of the sourcing game.

So, grab a cup of coffee, put on your thinking cap, and let's dive in.

What is Talent Sourcing?

At a basic level, talent sourcing is the process of identifying and attracting potential candidates for a specific job or a pool of jobs. However, there are many nuances and variations to this definition, depending on the context, the company, the industry, and the role of the talent sourcer.

Talent sourcers like you use a variety of channels, such as job boards, social media, referrals, or events, while others specialize in one or two channels that yield the best results. Some of you may work with a limited budget, while others may have more resources to invest in sourcing tools, software, and training.

At its core, talent sourcing is about finding the right people for the right jobs, and creating a positive experience for both the candidate and the employer.

The Skill Set of a Talent Sourcer

You need to have stellar, WOW-worthy skills to attract candidates who have a thousand other choices in the talent market. Some of the skills you require the most to make a mark in the sourcing game include communication, networking, research, and relationship-building.

The Importance of Communication, Networking, and Research Skills

We all remember that smooth-talking recruiter who somehow made us believe that we’re a part of a vision, a dream team that’s here to save the world. Somehow we felt ourselves being drawn to join their mission and contribute to it.

Now, that’s the level of persuasive communication we’re talking about. To candidates, the hiring team, vendors – everyone in the hiring environment.

Communication doesn’t necessarily mean incessant talking. It also means listening deeply and patiently and understanding the emotions and underlying currents behind people’s words and actions.

Networking skills are also critical for effective talent sourcing. Joining an industry forum or online community to stay abreast of industry updates, and getting access to top-notch candidates in the front line of the industry, waiting to accomplish the next big thing can be a game-changer for recruiters like you.

Another often overlooked aspect of making an impression is to create a sterling reputation, or personal brand for yourself. Showcasing yourself as a thought leader will evoke credibility, and trust and people are more inclined to listen to you when you try to lure rainmakers to join your cause.

Research skills are another inevitable skill for a successful recruiter. You should be able to research candidates, find out where the best of the best are, craft new ways to appeal to them, stay on top of talent trends, and market insights and have a talent pulse at your fingertips. All these come through intensive market research and candidate research.


Once you find a candidate to be suitable, the extent to which you can vet their credibility or potential and ascertain how much of a match they are determines whether they will be a misfit or a pillar for your company.

People Connections to Give You Leverage

When you build relationships with candidates, you can better understand their needs and preferences, which can in turn equip you with information to determine if the candidate is suitable for the job.

Building relationships also help you stay in touch with candidates and maintain a pool of potential candidates for future job roles. Of course, the top 10 candidates might have made it to the final round, but couldn’t have made it to the spot. That they made it so far conveys that they’re as good as the selected candidate, sans one or two attributes.

When you constantly nurture relationships with candidates, they candidates feel valued and respected and are more likely to consider job opportunities you present to them.

Strong relationships can also help candidates feel more comfortable with the recruitment process, which can increase the likelihood that they will accept your job offer.

Personalized communication lays the groundwork for you in breaking the ice, appealing to candidates, helping them understand where you’re coming from, and what you believe in and inviting them to imagine a future with your company.

Batching auto-generated templated messages won’t do the trick – adding a touch of the human element, personalized messages work best. But, we hear you saying it’s not physically possible to craft personal messages to every single candidate. That’s why you need an AI assistant to carry out this important function with your unique inputs.

With our recently launched tool EasySource, you can now go on LinkedIn, extract the cream layer of profiles for your search, help create custom workflows to send out connection requests, hit their inbox with icebreaking emails, or messages, schedule follow-up emails for unanswered or unopened emails, and notify them depending on where they are in the hiring cycle.

All these messages come with a semi-personalized message, to which you can add your humaneness. That’s how easy it is to now connect with millions of candidates at one go, and make sure every one of them feels valued and respected.

Wouldn’t you consider that a massive boost to your candidate experience?

Want to Find the Best Talent Online? Here Are the Best Practices for Your Talent Hunt

With the rise of remote work, increasing preference for flexibility and the increasing demand for digital skills, sourcing talent online has become a necessity for many companies.

But with so much competition out there, how can you make sure you bring home stellar talent that can turn the tables for your company? Here are some best practices for digital talent sourcing that will help you accomplish that.

Tip 1: Leverage Digital Tools

When it comes to sourcing digital talent, you need to be where the talent is. And where is that you ask? Online! Social media platforms like LinkedIn, Twitter, and even Instagram have become the go-to places for professionals looking for new opportunities.

Make sure you have a strong presence on these platforms, and use them to showcase your brand, your culture, and your job openings.

Tip 2: Personalize Your Outreach

Gone are the days of generic, one-size-fits-all job postings. If you want to attract the best digital talent, you need to personalize your outreach. Take the time to understand the candidate's background, skills, and experience, and tailor your messaging accordingly. Use their name, mention their achievements, and highlight why you think they'd be a great fit for your team. This level of personalization will not only grab their attention but also show that you value their unique skills and contributions.

Hyper-personalize your outreach messages with EasySource and watch candidates’ eager replies flood your inbox.

Tip 3: Tailor Your Job Descriptions

Similarly, you should tailor your job descriptions to the specific skills and experiences you're looking for. Be specific about the role's responsibilities, the skills required, and the qualifications needed. Use industry-specific language and avoid jargon that may be unclear to the candidate.

And don't forget to highlight what sets your company apart - your culture, your mission, and your values. The more detail you provide, the more likely you'll attract the right candidates for your role.

How Technology Can Rev Up Talent Sourcing

Technology has made it easier and faster for recruiters to find suitable candidates.

With the advent of social media and online job portals, recruiters can now reach a wider audience. Recruiters can post job openings on multiple platforms and receive applications from across the globe.

Using the right technology tools, like Hire Quotient, you can cut down your hiring time in half, fast-track hiring decisions, and make your entire hiring process more efficient. With our AI-powered outreach tool, you can now reach a global candidate pool, craft high-impact cold and warm outreach campaigns, maintain a single source of truth, and get surprisingly accurate and advanced insights on your candidates in a matter of seconds.

Once our super-fast engine scrutinizes profiles for you, it delivers a detailed analysis of each candidate and their suitability for your position. Check if these supposedly qualified candidates are competent with a foolproof suite of assessments that help you spot real talent, for any position in your company.

Impress your candidates big time with tailor-made assessments, timely communication, smooth and hassle-free hiring process and increase your chances of retaining them by 3x.

Why Do You Need to Source Diverse Candidates for Your Company?

For starters, diverse teams are more innovative and creative. When people with different backgrounds and experiences come together to solve problems and develop new ideas, they bring a unique perspective to the table.

This diversity of thought can lead to better outcomes, more creative solutions, and a competitive advantage in the market.

Furthermore, prioritizing diversity and inclusion in talent sourcing can help companies avoid groupthink. Groupthink occurs when a group of people, typically with similar backgrounds and experiences, make decisions without considering other viewpoints.

This can lead to flawed decision-making and missed opportunities. By intentionally seeking out diverse candidates, companies can ensure that they're bringing in different perspectives and ideas.

Another reason to prioritize diversity and inclusion in talent sourcing is that it's simply the right thing to do. Everyone deserves to feel valued and included in the workplace, regardless of their background or identity.

Here are some tips to help you get started:

• Expand your recruitment channels: It's important to cast a wide net when recruiting new talent. LinkedIn Talent Insights can help you do just that. With an ocean of information on where the hot talent is and deep insights into where your sourcing is concentrated, you can diversify your sourcing strategy. With EasySource, you can now tap into unexplored regions, get the most relevant profiles and engage with the candidates seamlessly.
• Build a diverse hiring team: Having a diverse hiring team can help ensure that unconscious biases don't creep into the recruitment process. Make sure your hiring team reflects the diversity you want to see in your company and provide training to help them recognize and overcome any biases they may have.
• Create an inclusive interview process: Make sure your interview process is designed to be inclusive and welcoming to all candidates. For example, consider using structured interviews with a standardized set of questions to ensure all candidates are evaluated fairly. Also, be mindful of any potential biases in your interview questions and try to avoid questions that may be irrelevant or discriminatory.

Emerging Trends in Talent Sourcing

As AI and automation become more common in assessing hard skills, you need to start looking for candidates with a growth mindset and strong soft skills like communication, collaboration, and adaptability. These qualities may be hard to assess for each role you’re hiring for, but with Hire Quotient’s ocean of assessments, assessing behavioural qualities is easier than ever.

Virtual reality, or using job simulation techniques can provide a realistic preview of the work environment and allow candidates to experience a "day in the life" of the job. This can help you attract candidates who are a better fit for the role and reduce turnover.

With the increasing awareness of diversity and inclusion issues, companies will prioritize building a diverse workforce. This may involve using AI tools to eliminate bias in the recruitment process and developing targeted outreach to underrepresented groups.

Skill-based hiring is fast approaching and it’s time you switch your sourcing criteria from degrees to skill levels. Hard to believe this is true? Check out these facts – Ryan Roslansky, CEO of LinkedIn also feels that a skill-based approach would open the world to more inclusive hiring. Employees without a formal degree are willing to learn, they stay in the job 34% longer than those with degrees and they are likely to eagerly experiment with any proposed changes in the company, and help others ease into it.

To Wrap it Up

No matter how you’ve been talent-sourcing until now, you need to add cutting-edge tools to your arsenal and incorporate best practices to attract your unicorns before anyone else does. However, preparing for these changes to come doesn’t have to be nerve-wracking.

With Hire Quotient’s array of hiring, candidate engagement, assessment and recruitment CRM tools, your talent sourcing is in the right hands, and you have a reliable partner to shoulder your hiring responsibilities.

Check out Hire Quotient right now, and witness frictionless hiring with tons of time, money and effort savings!