How Do You Source Talent?
Companies source talent online, offline, internally, externally, and different methods work better for some than others.
A great source of sourcing info:
The SilkRoad Top Sources of Hire annual report looks at client data from the SilkRoad Recruiting ATS, which is used by companies ranging in size from small-to-medium businesses up to vary large companies across industries like IBM, eBay, and L’Oréal.
Interview or Hire as metric?
This is always a fun report to read and compare and contrast with the sources of hire of veteran growth-mode recruiting firm, Redfish Technology. Redfish primarily serves start-up to mid-stage growth mode companies very focused in the tech sectors. The SilkRoad report focuses on source of interview in addition to sources of hire, as recruiters, we really focus in on source of hire, as that is what companies hire a recruiter for.
The SilkRoad report finds that workers who have been referred by employees produce the highest number of hires (22%) and have substantially less turnover than non-referred workers.
What are the Hot Job Boards?
In terms of external sources, the report finds that Indeed produced 39% of hires, “unspecified” job boards 8%, Career Builder 7%, LinkedIn 4%, Craigslist 3%, Recruiting Agency 3%, Monster 2%.
Redfish Technology on the other hand has quite different results. LinkedIn is by far the top pick for sourcing professional tech candidates, followed by Dice in Monster almost neck and neck, with Indeed having a pretty dismal finish. This is fairly expected however given that the Redfish focus in on professionals in technology sectors and SilkRoad’s clients hire a wide level of positions across more industries.
Top Four Job Boards
| SilkRoad | Redfish Tech | ||
| Indeed | 39% | 43% | |
| Unspecified Job Board | 8% | Dice | 24% |
| Career Builder | 7% | Monster | 20% |
| 4% | Indeed | 3% |
Flood of Resumes?
SilkRoad cautions that “The benefit of boards is that they give recruiters a broad talent pool, high volumes of resumes, and a door into professionals’ networks. The downside? They often produce a flood of resumes from unqualified candidates for recruiters to review, increasing the overall cost of postings.”
One of the values from choosing to work with a specialized recruiting firm is that they do hold back the tidal wave of applications and provide a very measured and prequalified number of applicants for any given position.
Other Methods of Sourcing – You Bet!
– Internal Referrals
While external sources may provide a larger number of potential candidates, internal sources such as internal hiring and employee referrals produce the greatest ratio of hires. In fact, according to the SilkRoad clients, employee referrals account for over one-third of new hires.
– Career Websites
Career websites are a great source of candidates. In fact company websites tied with recruiters as the third most common source of hires—ranking just after employee referrals and current employees.
– Campus recruiting is on the increase.
According to SilkRoad clients, it is up by 230%, and these employers are planning to hire 7.5% more new college graduates this spring than they did last year.
– Best Places to Work
Companies that create an amazing company culture attract great talent. This is proven over and over again. The buzz and excitement that staff have when they enjoy their workplace and are well-taken care of motivates not only the internal teams, but is infectious and attracts candidates and clients alike. People like to do business with people who are motivated and care about people.
– Networking
Yep, good old fashioned networking, picking up the phone and keeping in touch with a pipeline of talent remains a tried and true source of talent matching. While time consuming, this process provides amazing results in terms of culture and skills fit, and discovering synergies and opportunities that go beyond an initial job req.
– Want to learn more about sourcing talent?
Download SilkRoad’s Top Sources of Hire, and contact Redfish Technology today to discuss a customized talent sourcing plan for your company.
About Redfish Technology –
Building Growth-Mode Tech Companies with Hand-Picked Talent.
Founded in Silicon Valley in 1996, Redfish Technology is an award-winning talent acquisition firm specializing in high tech sectors. Partnering with growth mode companies, small and large, Redfish staffs executive functions and builds out the teams below. Redfish knows talent and good companies – we’ve been named #1 Best Places to Work in Idaho three years in a row!