By Estela Vazquez Perez

The sourcing team is often called in for hard-to-fill or critical positions where talent is necessary and not always found. I reviewed the situation from the employment brand perspective and noted a few findings that can help the sourcing specialists with their objectives.

Picture this, the company is sending the specialized forces to find that person who is not even looking for a job, the passive candidate. We knock on their doors and open a conversation inviting them to consider our options.

 Is your offer relevant to the candidate?

Here is where your employment brand can help you. In order to have clarity of the offer is necessary to define an employment value proposition. This is what your product as sourcer. It includes your entire package from rational components such as compensation, benefits, learning, communication, etc to emotional benefits that are relevant to the person you are trying to attract.

When the sourcer meets with the client or hiring manager, some key questions must be addressed. They are often overlooked by recruitment teams absorbed in the day to day screening operation. The questions are also overlooked by the hiring manager and there is a reason, they are knowledgeable of the business and not of best practices of attraction and recruitment. That is why they call the sourcer.

As a sourcer you have the opportunity to package the right information, after collecting what is usual; job description, requirements, education, experience, etc. ask you employer brand function for the following:

Take control of the situation: Questions for your employment brand team

• What are the soft skills or attributes to identify the personal style to source? For instance, a risk taker, self driven, community inspired, etc.
• What is the key differentiation against other opportunities in the company and competitors?
• Include the value proposition relevant to the person?
• What are your company’s key messages for the talent segment?
• Are the key messages relevant to the unit, business, department in which you will place the talent?
• Review for language that is clear and memorable. You want the candidate to be able to speak on your behalf with their network.
• Do we have any inspiring and exciting materials to share with talent when redirected to the job posting?
• How much do we know about the segment, their interests to open and prolong the conversation in a long term relationship?
• Can we generate metrics and analytics associated to your sourcing efforts?

When you approach passive talent, your best tool is the employer brand. People have an image associated to the employer that will open or close the door to the conversation. Make sure you know why is great to work for your employer. At this point you have applied all your sophisticated sourcing techniques, you found the talent, and they are interested in knowing more about your company and offer.  Passing that first conversation, you move into the offer and exploring if talent is actually a match.

The sourcing team needs attractive and compelling job offers to entice people to know more about your company, job, desired persona, value proposition, and recruitment process.

My conclusion is that your employer brand is your best friend when attracting talent, you are not on your own, and your brand and team support you along the sourcing process to make you strong so partner with them. Sourcing talent is everyone’s role and a great contribution to society.

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