Smarter Sourcing for Open Roles and Future Needs
The role is open – now what? Reacting quickly is important, but being strategic and preparing for future openings is just [LG1] [LG2] [LG3] [JG4] as important. Often, when a position becomes available, the focus is solely on filling that role as fast as possible. While reactive hiring may address immediate needs, it can also lead to scrambling, lower-quality hires, and missed opportunities to engage top talent.
Shifting from reactive to proactive sourcing isn’t just about filling the role today – it’s about building a strategy that ensures success for tomorrow. Proactive sourcing means building pipelines, leveraging your network and past candidates, and preparing for future openings even while addressing current ones. In this blog, we’ll explore how you can balance reactive and proactive hiring to maximize efficiency and outcomes.
Maximizing Efficiency in Reactive Sourcing
Even when responding to urgent openings, setting yourself up for success strategically will save time and improve results:
Be clear about requirements: Define and be clear about the positions must-haves versus nice-to-haves along with ideal qualifications. This ensures both applications and active sourcing efforts align with your needs.
Go beyond “post and pray”: Instead of solely relying on a job posting to bring you a candidate, combine that with active sourcing. Job boards, your ATS/CRM, and referrals are a great starting point.
For more in depth tips to go beyond job boards and identifying talent, check out our blog - Going Beyond Job Boards: A Practical Guide to Sourcing Talent | Blog | Skywalk Group
Leverage your network: Some of the quickest hires come from your internal network, where rapport is already built. Candidates you’ve engaged with in the past, even if they weren’t a fit then, can be valuable now. Maintaining good relationships means you’re not always starting from scratch.
Engaging Passive Talent Even in Reactive Mode
You’ve identified your sourcing strategy – what’s next? Connecting with candidates who fit your needs. Even during reactive hiring, you can take steps to think proactively:
Personalize your outreach: Take the time to stand out and tailor your messages. Highlight specifics about why they’re a match, reference details from their profile (title, company, location, hobbies, etc.) and build rapport. Personalized messages increase engagement, especially in competitive markets where candidates receive multiple messages a day.
Capture candidate preferences: If a candidate isn’t interested in your current role, ask what they may be seeking. You may get a reply that aligns with your position and can continue to engage them immediately. If not, take note in your system, so if an opportunity does arise, you already have individuals to reach out too.
Shifting Toward Proactive Sourcing
Proactive sourcing requires a shift in pipeline mindset. Yes, you are focused on filling the open position, however, you can simultaneously prepare for future opportunities:
Build a candidate pool for the future: Capture candidates with relevant skills to your industry or reoccurring roles.
Create, engage and nurture relationships: Connect and stay connected with potential candidates through regular check-ins, updates, or sharing relevant information.
Leverage insights from past outreach: Review previous applications, interviews, and feedback to identify opportunities for improvement and potential re-engagement.
The more proactive your approach, the less reactive scrambling you’ll face next time an opening arises.
Conclusion
Reactive hiring often leads to scrambling to fill roles, difficulty engaging passive candidates and even roles filled just to meet the immediate need. Proactive sourcing flips the script: by building pipelines, nurturing relationships, and capturing candidate preferences, you can position yourself for faster, higher-quality hires while reducing stress for future openings.
At Skywalk Group, we help fill roles efficiently today while building pipelines for the future. Shifting your mindset from reactive to proactive is the key to sustainable hiring success.
By Sami Sandecki