During the holiday season and ESPECIALLY this year, it's always good to reflect on your sourcing strategies to determine what worked well, what didn't work so well, and what needs improvement. 

I've been a Professional Recruiter for eighteen years, and I'm still learning new tactics and strategies every day. The great news about our profession is that you never honestly know everything there is to know, and learning how to adjust your sails to the wind each year helps you eventually reach your destination. 

I have developed a rough outline of a good recruiting/sourcing strategy in my eighteen years of recruiting and sourcing that has served me well. I'll share the details of my methodology below, and please understand that this list is always subject to change based on technology, procedures, and recruitment best practices. 

I have a four-tiered sourcing strategy consisting of the following categories: 

1. Creating a Sourcing Strategy

1. 1. Coordinate with the hiring manager and/or stakeholder for a discovery call to determine the role's basic and essential qualifiers. 
   2. Once engaged, stay in constant contact regarding metrics, updates, or challenges.
   3. Brainstorm with your stakeholder and/or employee's network
   4. Start to define your sourcing channels.
   5. Develop boolean searches
   6. Analyze your job requirements for basic qualifiers, then develop a screening questionnaire for potential candidates. The basic qualifiers should include all the experience necessary to perform the role and location, commute, salary, travel, the reason for looking, and any value add knowledge regarding what the candidate has made, saved, or achieved in their career. 
   7. Utilize and understand all the tools available to you. 
   8. Understand all the sourcing categories necessary for you to dominate the playing field. These categories include; Business Intelligence, Recruitment Technology, Sourcing Technology, Search Engines, Sourcing Media, and Marketing. 
   9. Develop a highly effective outreach message. Review your marketing message and retool when necessary, based on the percentage of responses. 

1. Through Business Intelligence due diligence, identify companies with similar tech stacks and or skills, Tier 1, Tier 2 competitors, tech skill hubs.
2. Utilize social media outlets, professional community groups, business connection groups, professional networking groups, and shared professional groups interest forums. 
3. Be aware of other roles that you have down the road or other team players' positions and add value to other teams by forwarding them relevant profiles. 

1. Manage all reach outs and relevant metrics via Customer Relationship Management software or your company's Applicant Tracking System. 
2. Utilize text message, chat, and AI software to engage candidates. 
3. Chrome Extensions!!
4. Manage the metric, pipeline, and sourcing funnel. Track categories such as; Reach Outs, Responses, Candidates Engaged, Candidates Qualified, Candidates Submitted for Consideration, Candidates Interviewed by HM, Offers Extended, Offers Accepted, Offers Rejected, and any candidate that Withdrew for any reason. 
5. Be ready to discuss the employer brand, employment experiences of full-time employees, and other critical social aspects that your company supports. 

1. Prequalify candidates and only submit truly relevant candidates. 
2. Discuss and review feedback from stakeholders. 
3. Ask for feedback on your process and make adjustments to suit the best practice process of service delivery. 

This outline, has provided me a road map to success and I hope that it is able to provide you some new ideas of things you have yet to discover on your sourcing journey.

Happy Hunting!

For more specific information on strategy details and software and how we can help your company, please reach out to anthony.ysasaga@madsourcer.com