The white paper discusses the importance of sourcing for recruiting organizations. It defines sourcing as proactively finding both active and passive candidates through various channels. It notes that recruiting teams are overwhelmed with administrative tasks and have little time for sourcing. Outsourcing some tasks like job posting, screening, and ATS management to a third party sourcing company can help teams focus on higher-level work and impact what matters most. The paper also stresses the importance of defining clear measurement strategies up front to demonstrate the ROI of sourcing over time.

1. The Case for Sourcing
White Paper
By Becky Franzen
Employer Flexible Documentation
1/4/2013

2. Sourcing
Sourcing has become a popular topic as of late and there is no indication to think that it will change
anytime in the near future. Sourcing is the foundation to any top recruiting organization.
Sourcing, in my definition, is the act of proactively finding active and passive candidates through cyber
sleuthing, networking, name generation, referrals, and searching through various other channels to
produce a name, title, and contact information for potential candidates.
Where you are now
Strategically speaking, as a Talent Acquisition Leader, you probably face the same issues as many of
your peers. Your highly skilled recruiting team is overwhelmed and cannot reach maximum potential.
They are buried in:
Influx of unqualified applicants to your Applicant Tracking System. They are spending a lot
of time filtering through unwanted candidates to find 2-3 marginally qualified candidates.
Having to adhere to EEOC and OFCCP, they can’t simply just pick 1 or 2 without reviewing
all.
Your team is burdened with administrative tasks such as writing job descriptions,
conducting and setting up interviews, updating Applicant Tracking Systems, scheduling
hiring manager interviews, checking references, handling internal referrals/transfers,
chasing feedback from hiring managers and taking calls from candidates and 3rd party
recruiters.
Difficult to fill positions that require highly skilled candidates with no time to actually
“source”, while the Time to Fill clock is ticking and your hiring managers are escalating
their frustrations.
Top Talent Acquisition Pressures
Most companies are
struggling with
developing a long term
strategy to meet these
pressures while also
trying to meet
workforce planning and
growth.
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3. How to Impact What Matters
Companies don’t have to re-invent the wheel, you simply need to work smarter and align your internal
resources effectively while partnering with Employer Flexible as a supplemental solution. Where do
you start?
Job Description Creation & Job Posting - Launching an attractive job marketing campaign
takes time to write while ensuring you are attracting the best talent, which logically starts
with the hook. Employer Flexible can design your hook while also taking the administrative
burden off your plate.
Name Generation - Many times your recruiters are fully capable of picking up the phone
and delivering your company’s sales pitch, however the issue may be that they do not have
the time to find passive candidates from targeted companies. Our sourcing team is fully
capable researching and performing very specific outreach tactics to large candidate pools.
Once compiled, the information is validated and passed on to your team.
Screening - Initial screening for lower level opportunities is also time consuming. Our team
can do this initial screening and only forward you candidates that meet the minimum
qualifications. Again, saving your recruiters time so they can focus on what matters and
impact what matters.
ATS Management – Depending on the volume of applicants, controlling the brand messaging
for incoming applicants and dis-positioning those that aren’t a fit requires time. Our team
can also be your advocate and screen candidates based on certain criteria, forward to your
team and disposition accordingly all while maintaining your brand image.
Measurement and ROI
Approximately 18% of organizations can link operational profitability to sourcing through validated
data. In order for companies to show the value, the measurement has to be defined initially through
the strategy. ROI can be established more effectively when looking at long term expenditures
compared to previous trend data.
Critical Factors that need to be considered and strategically aligned to ensure you can measure your
sourcing results:
Standardization of Process
Centralized or De-Centralized
Technology
Workflow & Process
Marketing Outreach
Related Research: Sourcing Gets Smart (2012). Research Brief by Aberdeen Group written by Madeline Laurano
[Research Brief].
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