Dive Brief:
- LinkedIn messaging is a favored sourcing strategy among talent acquisition teams to reach, contact and engage top candidates, according to a Clinch and Talent Board report released July 13.
- Of the 350 recruiters and talent acquisition professionals surveyed worldwide, 44% said they use LinkedIn messages to proactively search for and contact high-quality candidates, followed by 41% who listed external databases as their main outbound sourcing activity. Nearly half use LinkedIn postings to attract and engage top candidates, although most rely on employee referrals (61%) and job board postings (58%).
- Talent acquisition teams identified candidates accepting other offers (44%) and candidate ghosting (32%) as their top challenges to attracting and sourcing the right talent, the report found. “Making connections directly between candidates and brand ambassadors is an overlooked strategy that helps build authentic, transparent candidate experiences and helps to ensure companies are hiring the best fit talent,” Clinch recruitment marketing VP Fiona Moreton said in a media release.
Dive Insight:
In this fiercely competitive market, recruiters are scrambling to fill talent gaps and attract quality candidates, while desirable candidates often have multiple job offers and the ability to choose an employment brand that best suits them, a widespread observation the Clinch and Talent Board report emphasized. That’s consistent with a recent Russell Reynolds study, which found that 72% of employers believe the ability to attract and retain qualified candidates globally poses the biggest risk to business health, up 13% from the prior year.
To combat these challenges, “TA leaders need to ensure a sustained investment in proactive sourcing strategies and the right recruitment marketing technologies to find the candidates you need, attract them and convince them to apply,” the report noted.
The report did reveal some trouble spots. One-third (33%) of recruiting teams said their top challenge was obtaining candidate diversity. Other surveys have shown that employers may be accidentally avoiding comparatively simple changes to their process that would improve diverse sourcing. Notably, 51% of recruiters surveyed by SmartRecruiters in 2021 said they don’t have a process for setting diverse hiring goals.
Still, while many employers are investing in DEI programs, many have yet to nurture DEI across the recruiting and hiring process, the report added. This could be attributed to a number of factors, including lack of buy-in from senior leadership, other business priorities, unconscious bias throughout the company or recruiting teams struggling to find people through stale channels, the study — as well as other sources — noted.
As talent acquisition teams and recruiters tweak their sourcing strategies, they may want to keep in mind four basic tips, experts previously told HR Dive. First, nail the message, i.e., use job descriptions that signal to potential recruits that the employer cares about their long-term growth. Second, use the right sources. Beside social media, online job boards and internal referrals, consider programs with universities and niche sources like interest-based meetings. Third, interview with a candidate-first mindset, and fourth, focus on the future. This means adopting a “high tech, high touch” approach and anticipate hiring for roles way in advance.
