In general, sourcing means to find something. Similarly, in the context of hiring, finding a suitable candidate to fill a job vacancy is known as candidate sourcing. As sourcing takes time to find qualified talents, many companies prefer to hire HR professionals or consultants for this process. Let’s explore candidate sourcing in detail, including the methods and effective techniques to source candidates for your business!

1. Author
www.jobtatkal.com
Shashibala
Morya
All you need to know
about candidate
sourcing
JUNE 28, 2023
Want to hire the best candidates quickly? Discover the
different methods of sourcing top talents and how the
use of AI technology will benefit you.

2. Table
of
Content 03
Overview
04
What is candidate
sourcing?
05
Candidate sourcing vs.
Recruiting candidates
13
How do you source
executive-level
candidates?
06
How to source
candidates?
16
Importance of AI in
candidate sourcing
07
Different methods of
sourcing candidates
20
Closing Thoughts
21
Frequently Asked
Questions
12
How do you source
entry-level candidates?
18
What are the benefits
of AI candidate
sourcing?

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OVERVIEW
In general, sourcing means to find something.
Similarly, in the context of hiring, finding a suitable
candidate to fill a job vacancy is known as candidate
sourcing.
As sourcing takes time to find qualified talents, many
companies prefer to hire HR professionals or
consultants for this process. Let’s explore candidate
sourcing in detail, including the methods and effective
techniques to source candidates for your business!

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4
WHAT IS CANDIDATE SOURCING?
Candidate sourcing refers to the process of finding potential
candidates for current and future job vacancies. It focuses on
bringing qualified candidates from various platforms and collecting
the relevant data for recruiting or hiring process.
Sourcing is a part of the recruitment process, which is performed by
recruiting teams such as HR professionals, talent acquisition
specialists, and consultancies. From the pool of candidates, it
identifies who are actively looking for job opportunities (active job
seekers) and who are not searching for jobs (passive job seekers).
Both active and passive job seekers' details — including their name,
qualifications, contact information, etc. — can be found through
various job platforms.

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CANDIDATE SOURCING VS. RECRUITING
CANDIDATES
The primary difference between candidate sourcing and recruiting is
that sourcing focuses on identifying the ideal talent, and recruiting
focuses on screening, selecting, and hiring the right candidates. Here
are some more differences between these two processes.

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Collect essential information about the candidate, such as resumes
and work samples.
Pre-screen candidates with the job roles of an open position you are
hiring for.
Connect with the candidates and inform them about the job
vacancy.
Hire potential candidates for your open job role.
The hiring process includes both sourcing and recruiting. For a job
opening, candidate sourcing can be done in the following steps:
HOW TO SOURCE CANDIDATES?

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UTILIZE SOCIAL MEDIA
Using social media is one of the best ways to source candidates, also
known as the social sourcing method. Platforms like LinkedIn, Twitter,
Instagram, and Facebook are commonly used by people to share their
work achievements or samples. You can freely browse profiles or use
relevant hashtags to find the best candidates.
For instance, people share their work samples or thoughts on social
media with relevant hashtags that help others discover their talent or
know their viewpoint. So, you can try different ways to search on social
media through job roles, relevant hashtags, groups, etc.
DIFFERENT METHODS OF SOURCING
CANDIDATES
POST JOB DESCRIPTIONS TO JOB BOARDS
While browsing on different job boards such as LinkedIn and Indeed to
find active job seekers, you can post job descriptions for the roles you
are hiring. In addition, job seekers use these platforms to find available
job opportunities.

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HACKATHONS
Organizing an event, like a hackathon, will be an effective solution for
sourcing candidates in a short time frame. It will help you gather the
candidate data and hire quality talents by offering job opportunities to
the best-performed candidates.
DIFFERENT METHODS OF SOURCING
CANDIDATES
REFERRALS
Many businesses organize referral programs with some incentives for
their employees. A report by Career Builder has found that 88% of
recruiters prefer to use employee referrals as the top channel for
quality hires. You can also ask for referrals within your network or ask
passive candidates if they know anyone else who may be interested.

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DIFFERENT METHODS OF SOURCING
CANDIDATES
SOURCE

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CHECK TALENT PIPELINE
While sourcing, if a candidate isn’t interested currently doesn’t mean
they won’t be available in the future; they might look for a job after a
few months. You can make the most of sourcing by keeping the
candidates organized, and easy to reach out again when someone from
your talent pool matches your new job requirement.
DIFFERENT METHODS OF SOURCING
CANDIDATES
CONSIDER NICHE PLATFORMS
Another method to source candidates is to check some niche platforms,
such as Github for developers, Behance for designers, Medium for
writers, and many others helps to find the perfect fit for a job opening.

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USE THE RIGHT PLATFORM
Once you have used all of the above methods, you can opt for a
sourcing platform. These tools are helpful in finding qualified talents for
current and future job openings. According to Entelo's report, 75% of
recruiters admit that technology plays the biggest role in the hiring
process. If you are looking for a sourcing platform – check out
JobTatkal!
JobTatkal is a job site that uses AI technology to assist recruiters in
sourcing qualified applicants and offers parsed resumes consisting of
essential information like contact details, qualifications, work
experience, skills, project details, etc.
DIFFERENT METHODS OF SOURCING
CANDIDATES

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SKILL-FOCUSED JOB ADS
Entry-level candidates are freshers who may lack professional
experience in your industry. Create job ads with the skills you need in
the role instead of adding criteria for minimum years of work
experience.
HOW DO YOU SOURCE ENTRY-LEVEL
CANDIDATES?
SOCIAL MEDIA ENGAGEMENT
Github: A platform that developers use to upload code.
Behance: A platform that designers use for sharing portfolios.
You can use social networking sites to engage with the candidates as it
is likely to have their work portfolio. You can target specific platforms
for specific roles, such as:

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CAREER EVENTS
An event like a job fair will let you connect with candidates from
different backgrounds. By hosting open-house events, potential
candidates will have the opportunity to get connected with you.
HOW DO YOU SOURCE EXECUTIVE-LEVEL
CANDIDATES?
INTERNSHIP PROGRAMS
Implement internships that help you to collaborate with entry-level
candidates and evaluate their skills. After that, you can hire the most
qualified ones for full-time positions.

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REFERRALS
You can ask for referrals from your teammates and others within your
network. It is a great way of finding executive-level candidates because
sourcing for higher positions takes more time and cost per hire than
entry-level roles.
HOW DO YOU SOURCE EXECUTIVE-LEVEL
CANDIDATES?
SOCIAL SOURCING
You can join online professional groups to build a network with potential
candidates who are seniors or experts in their field.

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HOW DO YOU SOURCE EXECUTIVE-LEVEL
CANDIDATES?
INTERNAL PROMOTIONS
Another method of sourcing executive candidates can be the internal
mobility of talents. You can review existing employees of your company
and promote them to senior positions if they exhibit potential.
Sundar Pichai is one of the prominent examples of internal promotion.
He started as a product manager and eventually got promoted to the
role of CEO at Google.

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IMPORTANCE OF AI CANDIDATE
SOURCING
According to a report by Aptitude Research, around 55% of companies
are investing in recruitment automation. They believe automation will
improve efficiency and foster data-driven decisions. For example,
resume parsing technology helps recruiters by extracting crucial
information from candidate resumes in large numbers.
Let’s discover the importance of AI automated sourcing for recruiters.
IMPROVED RECRUITMENT
Recruiting is becoming highly competitive as demands or expectations
are higher than the supply of quality talent. Recruiters are searching for
smarter ways of sourcing candidates because traditional methods (such
as hiring through employment agencies, newspaper ads, etc.) are less
efficient for sourcing talents.
Therefore, using Artificial Intelligence-based recruitment helps
companies and recruiting professionals to get the right candidates for
vacant job roles. It makes the recruitment process faster and improves
the quality and objectivity of recruitment.

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IMPORTANCE OF AI CANDIDATE
SOURCING
REDUCED IRRELEVANT CANDIDATES
With the rise of social media, applying to open positions has become
easy for candidates. It increases the chances of receiving unqualified
applications. Hence, job boards need to become increasingly filtered
while sourcing candidates, and the use of AI technology helps to source
the right candidates and connect with qualified applicants for the role.
EFFECTIVE RESUME SCREENING
The talent market has turned into a global market with a remote trend
as it gives the flexibility to work from any location virtually. As the
geographical restrictions fade, you need to narrow down this ever-
growing pool of candidates while shortlisting, but this time-consuming
process can be done more effectively with AI technology. Pre-
screening of the candidates can be done with AI, freeing up your time,
so you can apply your bandwidth to select the best ones.

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WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS OF AI
CANDIDATE SOURCING?
Artificial intelligence is an ever-growing trend. As the global talent pool
keeps growing and becoming more competitive, you need to know
some benefits of AI sourcing in the recruitment industry.
EFFICIENT RECRUITMENT WORKFLOW
Using AI-based sourcing helps to create an efficient workflow of
recruitment by automating and streamlining time-consuming tasks like
candidate sourcing. It improves your productivity and lets you focus
more on other tasks, such as engaging and onboarding the talents. You
will be able to fill the open position faster, especially with high-quality
candidates.
TAILOR-MADE RECOMMENDATIONS
AI technology in sourcing offers better results based on your
requirements. For instance, if you need a Java developer for a specific
location or remote Java developers, then AI will search the database
and offer you a list of relevant candidate profiles.

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WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS OF AI
CANDIDATE SOURCING?
WIDER CANDIDATE POOL
AI technology analyzes candidates by looking at their previous
experiences and skills that are directly or indirectly related to the role. It
can be used for data scraping from different job boards and relevant
niche websites, as it can quickly scan the open web and automatically
pull appropriate candidates for the vacant job.
Besides an external pool, you can also use AI to check your internal
talent pool. It can review your existing employee's skills and experience
to see if they can be a good fit for the vacant job role.

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CLOSING THOUGHTS
We have explored different methods of candidate sourcing and how AI
technology will help you to find the best candidates for a vacant job. If
you are searching for the best AI-powered platform that can help you
with candidate sourcing — try JobTatkal and see the magic of AI
sourcing.

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FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
1)WHY IS CANDIDATE SOURCING IMPORTANT?
Candidate sourcing pre-screens individuals before going through the
whole recruitment process. It ensures that only active job seekers are
considered in the hiring funnel and helps in hiring the right candidates
that possess the qualities you’re looking for.
2) WHAT IS AI SOURCING?
Using artificial intelligence (AI) to find, analyze, and recommend ideal
candidates for the vacant job is known as AI sourcing.
3) HOW DOES AI REDUCE BIAS IN THE HIRING PROCESS?
In human hiring, there may be unconscious bias on the basis of age,
race, gender, religion, or physical appearance, but hiring with AI
recommendations avoids such biases and focuses more on the
candidate's skills, experience, and merit of the candidate.

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