Data-Driven Sourcing - The Dynamic Duo of Data and Strategy

What makes an outstanding Talent Sourcer? The outcome often leads to a complex answer.

The journey to excellence involves multiple factors, from innovating sourcing tools and techniques to refining outreach messages and more. However, in 2022 73% of enterprise talent leaders said data would be critical to staying competitive. When it comes to talent sourcing and recruiting, cultivating a data-driven mindset is no longer an option but a necessity to make astute decisions in a rapidly evolving market. The power of data to illuminate insights, predict trends and guide actions cannot be underestimated.

In this article, we’ll walk through what is to be data-driven, specifically our sourcing data, the multiple benefits it brings at an individual and at an organisational level, and some good practices to thrive on the sourcing data-driven mission.

First things first: What is Data-Driven Talent Sourcing and Its Importance

In this context, being data-driven means collecting data and clarifying the patterns within it to drive and guide a better decision-making process. By delving into the behaviour of your current and historical data, you can discover areas of opportunity, set the way for an enhanced approach to your sourcing efforts, and leverage a competitive advantage to attract top-qualified candidates.

Benefits of Implementing a Data-Driven Sourcing Mindset

Embracing a data-driven mindset in talent sourcing isn't just a choice; it's a strategic leap promoting many advantages. Here are some key benefits you can gain:

• Boost productivity and efficiency: measuring your data can help you understand the strengths and weaknesses of your process. For instance, tracking reply rates across multiple outreach messages can illuminate the most effective messages. This information empowers you to refine your methods for greater efficiency.
• Forecast your hiring speed: analysing historical data of the time spent filling a role can provide you with patterns and characteristics to establish a timeline for future hires; in fact, 69% of talent leaders say they use historical data for future-looking activities. Also, it can help you to figure out the bottlenecks slowing down your recruitment process.
• Improve diversity in your recruiting process: if your goal is improving diversity ratios, tracking important demographic data such as gender, ethnicity, and others can help you to understand your pipeline and ideate strategies to increase diversity in your process. According to a Glassdoor survey, more than 3 out of 4 job seekers and employees (76%) report that a diverse workforce is important when evaluating companies and job offers.
• Upgrade the candidate's experience: monitoring your data can help you to improve the candidate experience in multiple ways, i.e. identifying the pain points in the application process, creating realistic job previews that accurately convey the candidate's expectations, determining optimal timing for follow-up communications, etc
• Proactive Talent Pooling: data-driven talent sourcing allows you to build and maintain talent pools of passive candidates who might not be actively searching for jobs. And when suitable positions become available, you can tap into these pools, reducing the time and effort needed to identify potential candidates.

Good Practices to Track Your Data

When it comes to data tracking in talent sourcing, implementing best practices can make all the difference in leveraging insights to achieve your recruitment goals. Here are some proven strategies to guide your data-driven journey:

• Define Key Metrics: Identify the specific metrics and KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) that align with your recruitment goals. For instance, if your company's goal is to increment the percentage of gender-diverse candidates, you can track the gender of your candidates to understand your sourcing efforts and calibrate them. Other common metrics include source of hire, time-to-fill, time-to-hire, cost-per-hire, applicant conversion rates, and quality of hire.
• Use an Applicant Tracking System (ATS): If possible, implement a robust ATS that allows you to collect, organise, and analyse candidate data. There are multiple tools that integrate analytics features and automation that can boost your process. However, you can track your data in a simple Google Sheet if you don't count with a modern ATS. Here’s an example of the kind of data you can track:

• Benchmarking: Compare your sourcing metrics against industry benchmarks to better understand your organisation's performance and identify areas for improvement.

• Regular Reporting: Create regular reports that summarise your key metrics and insights related to your recruitment efforts. These reports provide a clear snapshot of your sourcing performance, help stakeholders understand the progress toward recruitment goals, and guide strategic decision-making.

Conclusion

The journey to becoming an outstanding Talent Sourcer has evolved in the dynamic landscape of modern recruitment. A data-driven approach has emerged as the guiding light, illuminating opportunities and insights that shape the path forward. By embracing the power of data, Talent Sourcers can enhance efficiency, forecast hiring trends, champion diversity, and elevate the candidate experience. As the pulse of recruitment beats to the rhythm of data, each sourced candidate becomes a piece of a strategic puzzle, contributing to an organisation's growth and success.

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