With record numbers of job adverts, it’s becoming harder than ever to attract the talent you need.
It’s becoming harder and harder to find good candidates for your more challenging roles. More recruiters understand that for some roles they cannot rely on their job advert and they need to also engage in direct sourcing.
So what is direct sourcing, and how can it benefit your business? Let's find out!
what is direct sourcing?
Direct sourcing is simply building your own talent pool without using a third-party recruiter. You aren't relying on outside recruitment agencies; you go to the talent market yourself.
So, whenever you need someone to help finish a project, you’d consult your private talent pool instead of contacting recruiting agencies.
The three main ways companies implement direct sourcing are:
- Encouraging HR and other staff members to contact their own private networks for professionals
- Using their recruiting budget to find reliable talent on job boards and keeping these individuals on standby
- Connecting with HR partners and procurement to help bring in professionals
Now let's look at the benefits of direct sourcing.
1. reduced costs
The main reason why businesses implement direct sourcing is due to cost. Adverts tend to be a relatively cost effective way to recruit. However, the likely reason you are direct sourcing is because there is a real shortage of quality candidates who are actively looking at job adverts.
Many organisations, choose to use recruitment agencies if they don’t feel confident that advertising will work. Typically, this will be a more expensive route than direct sourcing.
Or, if you're taking the recruitment agency route, you'll need to pay hefty commissions and fees.
But with direct sourcing, you can put in the effort to find and engage the talent you want to be talking with. You can get things moving fast.
This way, other employees don't have to stand in, and you save thousands of dollars.
2. faster hiring
Another significant benefit is that you speed up the hiring process with the right people on your roster. You won't have to contact recruitment agencies and wait weeks or even months for them to find someone suitable.
Suppose you're going through a crisis and need someone immediately. Direct sourcing allows you to hire top-level professionals in less time than traditional hiring methods.
3. better, more trusted talent
Looking for quality talent can be a real hassle. You need to post multiple job ads and filter through thousands of applicants before finding a good fit. A big drawback to this is that you aren't accessing the top talent.
And after hiring an employee or freelancer for the first time, there’s still a trial period during which you don't know if they can handle their new position’s responsibilities.
But if you've hired someone before and know they can complete projects on time, you'll have the confidence to call them up during emergencies.
4. more flexibility
The pandemic lowered the budgets of most companies and departments. It isn't wise to hire a full-time employee if you might not have work for them in the coming months.
This is where direct sourcing shines.
With direct sourcing, you no longer have to take on the cost of hiring full-time employees. Only hire talent when you need them;—for example, on a project-by-project basis.
This saves money, time, and energy because you don't have to deal with paying salaries every month and worrying if there'll be enough work.
5. more referrals
You access a larger pool of qualified talent with direct sourcing. If you're using job boards, you might be able to quickly bring in a few hundred applications, but these applicants aren't all qualified.
When you encourage employees to look into their personal circle, you access talent you wouldn’t otherwise be able to reach with job ads or recruitment agencies.
For example, let's say you're looking for a copywriter to work on a one-off project. You'll scan hundreds of applications when posting a job ad and find most don't have the experience or work samples. But by asking current employees for referrals, you can leverage existing networks to fill positions.
6. stronger relationships with talent
By incorporating a direct-sourcing strategy into your hiring processes, you strengthen your relationships with existing talent.
There's always a sense of job instability with full-time employees, especially due to the pandemic. This can lead to rocky relationships and employees looking for other work when they feel their job security is on the line.
But by directly sourcing freelancers, you can create a mini-freelancer community and encourage them to stay in touch for future projects. This allows them to take on multiple clients and build several income streams, strengthening security and relationships.
direct sourcing made easy with hireful.
Direct sourcing allows you to save time and money while accessing the best talent. It also offers flexibility since you don't have to commit to long-term contracts. Simply hire professionals on a project-to-project basis.
If you're wondering how to build a direct-sourcing strategy for your business, consider hireful. hireful makes direct sourcing easy with its advanced applicant tracking system. Sign up for a free hireful trial today!
