Going Beyond Job Boards: A Practical Guide to Sourcing Talent
A strong hiring strategy doesn’t rely on one method or one platform to find candidates. The most effective searches use a mix of active and passive candidate engagement. While job postings can attract great candidates, sourcing helps you go beyond job boards to connect with potentially more qualified talent who aren’t actively looking.
In this blog, we’ll explore ways to maximize your job posting and tips for starting your sourcing efforts to discover talent.
Understanding the Role
Before deciding where or how to attract talent, it’s essential to have a deep understanding of the role you’re hiring for. Go beyond the job description – clarify the must-haves, identify the nice-to-haves and break down key responsibilities. Knowing this information will help guide both your job postings and sourcing strategies.
How to gain a deeper understanding:
Talk to your team! Internal structured intake meetings with hiring managers can help unpack the nuances of a role that aren’t captured on paper. This helps align success metrics and cultural fit. Aligning early will ensure clarity and consistency.
Do some research! If the job description isn’t clear, don’t stop there. Research similar job postings, profiles of candidates in a similar role already or even a quick Google search on the company and function. A little extra research in the beginning can help go a long way.
Leverage Data Use internal benchmarks like top performer profiles, turnover data, and time-to metrics to shape a sourcing persona. Platforms like Indeed and LinkedIn offer talent market insights to identify the current talent supply, comp expectations, and common career paths for similar roles.
Job Postings
Job postings are often treated like checkbox, but when done well, they are a great way to build brands and generate interest. However, you want to be strategic with where you are posting and how. Below are three things you should always consider when posting:
Know your audience: Before posting, spend time understanding where your target candidates are. Different platforms perform better for different level and types of roles. Besides the traditional platforms of Indeed, LinkedIn, CareerBuilder, and ZipRecruiter, explore niche job boards. These typically come with a higher posting price but can bring valuable return for industry-specific candidates.
Budget: Be strategic with your budget and make sure that your job posting always has a budget. The two big things to consider are how long you want your ad to run and what kind of application flow you want. Additionally, make sure you are allocating the budget in the best way. Some platforms offer campaign-style postings vs one-off job postings that come with different cost methods. Make sure you know how to capitalize on your budget.
Maximize your Posting: Make the most of your posting by optimizing every part. Outside of budget and platform, this includes how you post on those platforms. Things to consider are:
Choosing the right posting category – this can impact visibility
Use a clear and engaging job title – sometimes shorter, simpler titles perform better
Tip: collaborate and build a connection with your platform account representative. They can help give better insights and tips for leveraging your post.
Candidate Sourcing
When is it time to source?
If you’re seeing low applicant quality, a high volume of unqualified resumes, or need a particular skill set that doesn’t have a lot of active job seekers, it’s time to turn to passive candidates.
How can you source?
Below are a few tips for how you can source – with or without paid tools. Remember, the tools you have impact the candidates you can find.
By Title: Search for candidates with specific job titles that match your role. This works best when the job title is clearly defined and consistent across industries.
Boolean and X-Ray Searches: Still highly relevant. Combine this with advanced LinkedIn filters, or Google X-ray search (e.g., site:linkedin.com/in "Java Developer" AND "Dallas").
Talent Mapping: Use AI tools to aggregate candidate data from across the web. These tools build rich profiles that go far beyond a LinkedIn summary.
Nurture Campaigns with Automation: Use nurturing platforms that combine with ATS data to build long-term engagement with high potential talent. Create tailored outreach sequences that deliver consistent, relevant messaging over time.
By Education/Degree: Looking for a specific program? Searching by education will be the best way to narrow those candidates down.
By Certification: Check for databases or industry list! Some certifications offer lists you can access or purchase which provide you names of certified individuals. Not ready to make a list purchase? You can just search by certifications on platforms.
Analytics and Continuous Improvement
You can’t improve what you don’t measure. Leading sourcing functions incorporate feedback loops into every campaign. Tracking items like source-to-interview ratio, quality source rating are key. Use reporting and dashboards to identify sourcing channel spread, ROI, and identify gaps and opportunities.
Already tried both job postings and sourcing with limited success? Let’s talk!
Skywalk Group has a dedicated team that knows how to craft compelling job ads that convert and how to navigate sourcing platforms to find top-tier, often over-looked talent. Reach out today – we’d love to help you unlock your next great hire.
By: Sami Sandecki