Whether you’re working as a talent attraction specialist or a sourcer new to the industry, there are tried-and-true habits you can adopt. No matter where you are in your career, these habits will put you on the path to becoming an exceptional talent sourcer. Like most things worth doing, it won’t happen overnight. You must work at it to get better. Simply just going through the motions will not get you to where you want to be.
Work these 5 habits into your daily routine and you’ll be well on your way to becoming a successful talent sourcer.
- Read news about your client’s competitors every day. These could be industry competitors or talent pool competitors. Creating compelling recruitment messages that really resonate with your target talent requires you to know what is going on in your client’s industry and with the major players. Get into the habit of keeping up to date by setting up RSS feeds or desktop or push notifications that contain relevant industry news.
An RSS feed stands for “really simple syndication” and collates all the latest news on your desired websites and podcasts in real-time. To use, simply download a browser RSS feed reader and add desired websites and blogs to gather your feeds all in one place.
Here’s a free Chrome extension you can use.
Examples of great RSS feeds to follow in the recruiting space include:
Be sure to focus on blogs in your designated industry, region, and area of expertise for deeper insights.
- Write on the regular. Successful recruitment marketers understand the importance of written communication, especially when it comes to flexing their email writing muscles. Get into the habit of writing by doing it daily. Set aside 10 minutes to freeform write or jot down some ideas. Using a writing prompter service is a good way to start the flow. Check out Daily Pageor Daily Prompt as a resource to get into the habit of free-flow writing.
Additionally, if you want a starting point, here are some example writing prompts to get the juices flowing:
- Find a hot issue going on in the news right now, and write a paragraph response to it.
- Write about your favorite holiday memory getting a gift. How did it make you feel? What did you learn as an adult from that experience?
- If you could go back in time to talk to a historical figure, who would it be and why? What would you ask them?
This may not feel like it relates directly to sourcing candidates, but when you source, you’ll always need ways to relate to potential contacts and adapt quickly. Being able to write in a way that entices them to respond takes authenticity and skill — and doing so in your voice will add a natural element that’ll make you approachable and welcoming. The more comfortable you are with writing, the easier it’ll be to get those responses.
- Study your candidate personas. Know your talent target inside and out. Examine your notes from candidate conversations. Why are they interested in a new work opportunity? What do they want that they don’t have? What motivates them? What challenges do they face? This deep level of understanding will help you reach a high engagement rate with your outreach.Taking this one step further, gather your insights into one central place from a templated document and update it regularly.
Keep track of the following as a helpful starting point:
- The general synopsis of the type of candidate and who they are
- Life stage
- Goals
- Job seeking behavior
- Pain points
- Social media habits
Adjust this over time as candidate preferences change, that way, you will always have top insights in mind from your interactions. This playbook will give you an advantage as you source. Above all, it will give you the “do more of what works” mindset right at your fingertips from your notes.
- Establish your own brand. You are not the only sourcer or recruiter out there in your talent pool. That means you are not the only one offering new working opportunities. There is one thing that you can bring to the table that nobody else can, and that is your own personal voice and branding. The employment brand of the client may restrict you from overly informal communication but that does not mean you cannot offer your unique perspective on why the client is an ideal place to work. Learn to blend your client’s employment brand with your own creativity and you will be able to engage talent that no one else can reach. This personal branding is key to differentiating yourself as approachable. The way you express yourself on social platforms and represent thought leadership on your LinkedIn timeline or even TikTok, for instance, could be the difference between a candidate replying to you over another sourcer.
- Network at every opportunity. Genuinely interact with your professional networks. Get into the habit of networking and branding yourself by seizing the countless opportunities out there. Spend some time on social media and find out who the thought leaders are in your client’s industry and follow them. Use LinkedIn to connect with your hiring managers and their entire teams to expand your network quickly. Share industry content and provide comments, thoughts, or opinions when socializing it. Your network will appreciate it and the content creator will too.Pro tip: Get ahead of the game by using LinkedIn’s new cover story feature, a 30-second video to your profile so you can express who you are and create rapport earlier.
Being a successful sourcer starts with the habits your form. Incorporate these practices into your daily working routine and you will start to see positive results.