The A-Z Candidate Sourcing guide provides essential tips and tools for recruiters to effectively source talent from various platforms, emphasizing the importance of utilizing advanced techniques like Boolean searches and leveraging social media. It highlights methods such as employee recommendations, maintaining an updated candidate database, and fostering relationships within the recruitment industry to enhance talent pools. Additionally, it encourages building a strong employer brand via career sites and staying updated with recruitment trends to remain competitive in the job market.

1. A-Z CANDIDATE
SOURCING
by Broadbean

2. INTRODUCTION
Candidate resourcing may seem like a
straight forward process, however
with the vast amount of applications
available to recruiters it’s not as black
and white as we think. Our A-Z
Candidate Sourcing guide aims to
provide useful tips, tricks and hints to
help you source the best talent
available.
A-Z CANDIDATE SOURCING | INTRODUCTION

3. A-Z CANDIDATE SOURCING | APP
Power Search Utility – This is a must for every
Recruiter/Sourcer. The Power Google
application is basically a Boolean cheat sheet.
From basic operators, to advanced modifiers,
this application contains every Boolean term to
help improve your sourcing skills. It even
defines all Boolean operators and modifiers and
gives examples on how to use each.

4. A-Z CANDIDATE SOURCING | BROADBEAN
Broadbean Search allows you to run a single search that covers both
external and internal candidate data. So each search will find new
candidates on LinkedIn and CV databases and include the results of
previously sourced candidates. This allows you to make the most of the
data you’ve already gathered. The system also shows how you can
improve the performance and ROI of search channels.

5. A-Z CANDIDATE SOURCING | CAREER SITE
Different to your own job board, a career site is
a great way to showcase your business as a great
place to work. Include the latest
vacancies, videos and photos which provide a
different perspective and multi-channel way of
getting your culture across. You should also ask
for contributors from your employees –
testimonials go a long way in reinforcing the
employer brand promises. Really simple to set
up, you just need to ensure you maintain it and
keep it current.

6. A-Z CANDIDATE SOURCING | DATA
The bigger the better! Big data collected from
the candidate response behaviours on modern
job boards provides a real-world, right-now
example. Job boards are one of the best tools
for sourcing the talent you need and big data
analysis can also measure the effectiveness of a
recruitment campaign so you can make
necessary adjustments to improve
performance.

7. Employee recommendations work best where an
organisation has a long-term, regular recruitment
need. Existing employees may know potential
candidates who are not actively looking for
employment via other channels. Potential
candidates will have a good understanding of the
role and the organisation from the person who
recommended them. Furthermore, the employee
who recommended the candidate often feels a
sense of responsibility towards them and helps
guide them in their new role.
A-Z CANDIDATE SOURCING | EMPLOYEE RECOMMENDATION

8. A-Z CANDIDATE SOURCING | FACEBOOK
The developments in candidate sourcing
over Facebook are staggering. With new
tools being launched seemingly each
month staying ahead of how you can use
Facebook to recruit is becoming a fulltime
job. With this is mind, get training or
expert help and don’t underestimate just
how many candidates you could find on
Facebook.

9. Google has officially achieved world domination and if you
know how, you can pretty much find anyone, with a digital
profile. String searching and Boolean searches are key to any
online sourcing. Make sure you know the latest Google
techniques by investing in regular training and stay in tune with
the latest developments in search languages.
A-Z CANDIDATE SOURCING | GOOGLE

10. 2013 saw an increase in job application
volumes however a decline in vacancy
volumes (see Broadbean’s 2013 Recruitment
Trends Report). So what does this show? It
suggests that there is a growing amount of
searchable talent, even though job vacancies
have fallen this has not dampened candidate
motivation. That being said, it is important to
always stay up to date with hiring trends in
order to remain one step ahead of the
competition.
A-Z CANDIDATE SOURCING | HIRING TRENDS

11. In recruitment, the internet can either be your
best friend or your very own worst enemy, and it
really depends on how you use it.
Sure it’s great for networking and posting jobs,
but sometimes the internet is like having a china
piggy bank; you only need a pound but in order to
get it out, you have to break your way in.
Candidate sourcing via the internet is very similar;
in order to find that perfect candidate you have to
break and scrape your way through the crowds.
Time consuming yes, but rewarding all the same.
CANDIDATE SOURCING | INTERNET

12. Posting to job boards requires forethought and a
process. Start with thinking about your end goals
– how many applicants do you need or want? Is
this a branding only exercises or do you need to
boost candidates in your talent pool? All of your
answers will determine which types of boards you
should post to and how you construct your
advert.
CANDIDATE SOURCING | JOB BOARDS
Quick Tips: -
 try and amend the text for the different types of board
i.e. generalist –v- specialist sites.
 use the filter questions to hone the applicants.
 test different headlines/job titles if you can and always
include salary, location and benefits where possible.

13. It’s something we generally say half-
heartedly but in this case we generally mean
keep in touch! Candidate circumstances
change quicker than the weather and you
never know when you will need them next.
Keeping an up to date record of placed and
shortlisted candidates will not only provide
you with a catalogue of talent but means that
when a role comes up that requires a German
speaking sushi chef from Hackney you will
know who to call 
A-Z CANDIDATE SOURCING | KEEP IN TOUCH

14. A-Z CANDIDATE SOURCING | LOOK WITH YOUR EARS
Word of mouth may seem like an unlikely
source for recruiting talent but you will be
surprised how much people in the
recruitment business talk. Network and build
relationships with other recruitment
consultants and you never know who you
may come across.

15. A-Z CANDIDATE SOURCING | MORE THAN JUST LINKEDIN

16. We can’t express how important it is
to network within the recruitment
industry and in fact anyone for that
matter! Let’s face it you can never
know too many people, whether you
network online, face-to-face or over
the phone you are building
relationships and spreading the good
word about your business.
A-Z CANDIDATE SOURCING | NETWORK, NETWORK, NETWORK

17. Setting up your own jobsite isn’t as tricky as
it sounds. If you have a raft of quality
vacancies that talk to a consistent group of
professionals, it may be beneficial to create
an online community with relevant content
and jobs with which to engage your target
audience. After all online engagement is key
to getting the best talent ahead of your
competitors.
A-Z CANDIDATE SOURCING | OWN JOBSITE

18. A-Z CANDIDATE SOURCING | PINTEREST

19. We know that for some, placing a candidate
has become more important than placing the
RIGHT candidate. We understand that many
consultants are under pressure to make
placements and fast, but in order to
strengthen businesses candidates need to be
placed for the right reasons. As any client will
surely agree, having patience and accuracy
really pays off in the long run.
A-Z CANDIDATE SOURCING | QUALITY OVER QUANTITY

20. There are a few methods of
resourcing which can boost or build
talents pools of ready to go
candidates. If you can get it right,
the model of training new recruiters
in the art of resourcing is a good
way to test their skills as well as
supporting recruiters already
making placements in your
business.
A-Z CANDIDATE SOURCING | RESOURCING

21. Most recruiters have a knack of spotting a
bad candidate from the offset, however here
are some important tell-tale signs that they
are not the one:-
 Behaves unprofessionally
 Is late
 Hasn’t researched your company
 Isn’t a team player
 Lacks insight and/or accountability
 Disparages former employers
 Asks inappropriate questions
A-Z CANDIDATE SOURCING | SIGNS OF A BAD CANDIDATE

22. Twitter can play a great part in helping you
to identify talent. Using Twitter to search for
hashtags or keywords, you should be able to
easily identify people’s profiles that fit into
the category you’re recruiting for. Social
sourcing however is limited if only
approached in isolation. Be mindful too, that
you learn the language of social engagement
before you start conversing.
A-Z CANDIDATE SOURCING | TWITTER

23. A-Z CANDIDATE SOURCING | UNIVERSITIES & SCHOOLS
Have you checked in with your local schools
and educational establishments? Most have
career departments or teachers who are
responsible for providing career and job advice
for students. Make great connections at this
level, wherever is relevant to your recruitment
strategy and you will never be short of the best
new talent.

24. You have one personally so why not corporately?
Let’s face it, no one naturally wakes up bright eyed
and bushy tailed but we all have this little
tendency to pretend we do on social networks. It’s
called a virtual persona because it purely lives
between the screen of your computer.
Having a corporate virtual persona is a great way
of personalizing your company, so that it becomes
more than just four walls of brickwork. Your brand
becomes alive (a walking, talking, sleeping, eating
virtual person) and for some reason or other it is
kind of comforting getting to know a company.
A-Z CANDIDATE SOURCING | VIRTUAL PERSONA

25. At Broadbean we are dedicated to providing our clients with regular
webinar training sessions that are interactive and informative. In the
online webinar training session you will:-
 Understand how to spring clean your account – tidy up and make
sure your account is in great shape to shine in the next quarter.
 Refresh your knowledge - from back to basics to the special tricks
that make all the difference to the way you use Broadbean.
 Learn something new or adopt a new technique!
A-Z CANDIDATE SOURCING | WEBINARS
If you are not already a client of Broadbean’s, you
can request a demo HERE. Alternatively if you are a
client and would like to join our webinar training
sessions you can HERE.

26. Xing is the (other) social network for
business professionals. It is a platform where
professionals from all kinds of different
industries can meet up, find
jobs, colleagues, new
assignments, cooperation partners, experts
and generate business ideas. Broadbean has
recently integrated both our Posting and
Search services with XING. So, if you are a
Search user, and you source candidates
socially, you can now search across Xing too!
A-Z CANDIDATE SOURCING | XING

27. Also known as the Millennials, or the Millennial Generation, Gen Y
professionals are in their 20s and are entering the workforce at all levels. In
order to understand how to approach individuals sitting within this boundary,
it’s important to know their characteristics.
A-Z CANDIDATE SOURCING | Y GENERATION
 Tech-Savvy: basically born with a smart phone and twitter account
these guys know their tech stuff!
 Family-Centric: all about work/life balance, flexible schedules and
fewer billable hours. Some call it laziness, they call it freedom.
 Achievement-Oriented: confident, they have high expectations of their
employers, seek out new challenges and are not afraid to question
authority.
 Team-Oriented: loyal, committed and wants to be included and
involved.
 Attention-Craving: craves attention in the forms of feedback and
guidance. They appreciate being kept in the loop and seek frequent
praise and reassurance.

28. We’re not literally talking about getting out a
microscope here, but instead finding out
more about a candidate than just what is on
their CV. You don’t have to get too personal
but showing an interest in their personal life
can really help them to relax and loosen up
and in return you get to know their personal
strengths. It also shows the employer that
you take an interest in the people you place.
A-Z CANDIDATE SOURCING | ZOOM IN