How Digital Talent Sourcing Can Help You Avoid Bad Hires
talent sourcing has become one of the most crucial strategies for forward-thinking companies. With workforces going remote and top professionals constantly on the move, organizations must develop creative ways to attract and retain digital talent. It’s no longer enough to wait for the right candidate to apply—companies need to actively build pipelines of skilled professionals long before positions even open.
But how do you successfully source digital talent in a dynamic, candidate-driven market? We’re here to provide a guide that covers essential strategies, challenges, and best practices to help your organization stay ahead. Read on to learn about strategies, challenges, tools, and best practices for talent sourcing. These tips can help you avoid bad hires.
What is Digital Talent Sourcing?
Digital talent sourcing is the process of identifying and connecting with potential candidates to create a strong talent pool. This proactive approach allows companies to nurture relationships with skilled professionals, so when a position opens, recruiters already have a pre-qualified list of individuals to reach out to.
Think of it as building a reservoir of talent. Instead of starting from scratch each time you need to hire, you can draw from your existing network, which leads to faster and more effective hiring decisions.
In talent sourcing, the goal isn’t simply to recruit for an open position; it's about long-term relationship-building. By maintaining an active and diverse pool of candidates, organizations ensure they have access to a variety of skills and perspectives when the need arises.
Talent sourcing is the process of identifying, researching, connecting, and networking with prospective candidates. The hope is to then recruit and convert these individuals when a job opening becomes available.
Why Talent Sourcing Matters: Strength in Numbers and Diversity
One of the greatest advantages of talent sourcing is its ability to foster diversity and innovation. Companies that rely solely on internal referrals often limit their hiring pool to familiar networks, which can inadvertently result in a lack of diverse perspectives.
By contrast, effective talent sourcing opens doors to candidates from various backgrounds and experiences. This diversity has been proven to drive creativity and better decision-making. Additionally, customers and prospective hires are increasingly drawn to organizations that demonstrate a commitment to inclusivity.
The benefits are twofold: talent sourcing not only simplifies future hiring but also enhances organizational culture and adaptability.
What are the best talent sourcing strategies?
Success in talent sourcing depends on a clear, strategic approach. Here’s a breakdown of how to build and maintain a high-quality talent pool:
Who should I look for?
Find people who fit the needs and trajectory of your organization. You want to develop a network of talent who can grow with you. It’s important that as you identify the most qualified individuals, you connect with ones whose skills can fill gaps in your present (and future) workforce.
- Analyze your current environment: what areas can be improved? Do you find yourself outsourcing certain tasks frequently? Is one skill set oversaturated in your company?
- Map out your future. What are your big plans? How will you get there, and who will you need in order to make that change happen?
- Source people for your talent network with these points in mind.
Create a candidate version of the buyer persona. A profile, if you will. Give this idealized persona work experience details, interests, and behavioral traits. You’ll want to have a sense of their goals and habits. Know approximately which skills you’d like them to have, how many years of experience in a field or position they hold, what their salary range is, and what priorities they have. Where do they spend time online? What are their interests? These details come in handy as you search for the real-life versions of your persona.
How do I find the right people?
Now that you have a general idea of who you’re looking for, how do you find them? Talent is scattered. Many skilled digital professionals are on LinkedIn and other social media platforms, but they’re also out in the real world working for competitors, visiting conventions and meet-ups, and studying on college campuses.
Your candidate personas help here. Look to your talent profiling to understand where these candidates are concentrated. Enlist the support of talent sourcing tools, too.
Slack, for example, is a great tool for organizations and individuals that share common professional interests. There are channels for everyone: developers, designers, engineers, strategists, and creative tribes to name a few.
Looking for developers? Try StackOverflow, an open community “for developers, by developers.”
Join LinkedIn groups and leverage LinkedIn Sales Navigator. This prospecting tool, for anyone not familiar, allows for advanced search filtering. You can look for talent by geographic location, seniority level, role, tenure, industry, and, of course, keywords.
Build your talent network with the help of your next job posting. The average corporate job posting has 250 applicants. The 249 that you don’t choose for this position likely still possess the skills and interest you’re looking for (just not for now). Add them to your sourced talent network and don’t forget to touch base with them at least twice a year.
How do I establish a relationship?
The best talent is the hardest to reach. How do you connect with your leads, and how can you maintain a relationship? If you’re trying to network with top talent, chances are that many others are doing the same. And if they’re truly as great as you believe them to be, they’re busy.
Figure out which channel you’re using to start the conversation. This will depend on your industry and the candidate persona. Where are they most active? Responsive? Some talent sourcing agencies prefer email, others rely on LinkedIn or other forms of social media. Again, consider who it is that you’re talking to, and modify accordingly.
Now. How do you handle your first touchpoint? The number one piece of advice we can give here is to connect personally. Nobody likes a generic form email. Personalize your message and don’t be afraid to sound human. Stiff professionalism doesn’t build relationships.
Another thing to consider: be respectful of everyone’s time. Keep it short, and don’t demand too much from your prospect from the outset.
Talent sourcing best practices dictate that you connect three times. After this, keep your leads warm by reaching out once every six months. Wish them a happy holiday, or remind them that you’re on the lookout for suitable positions. Perhaps you could even share a success story or two.
What are the challenges of sourcing tech talent?
The above talent sourcing strategy works across industries and roles. If you’re sourcing tech talent specifically, there are a few challenges you should be prepared to encounter. Esteemed is a talent sourcing agency that manages a talent network of developers, architects, system administrators, UX designers, QA testers, and more. We know a thing or two about sourcing tech talent, and we’re happy to share what we’ve learned over the years. So, what challenges can you expect to face as you source people with tech skills?
For one, be prepared to put in more time. There’s a fundamental shortage of engineers and technical management, so demand for tech talent is high.
Additionally, you have to be well-versed in the field from which you source. This can get tricky with the more niche tech positions. Before you begin identifying top talent, you need to know the ins and outs of the skill requirements and tell-tale signs of an expert.
Talent Sourcing vs. Recruiting: What’s the Difference?
While both talent sourcing and recruiting aim to match candidates with job opportunities, their roles in the hiring process are distinct.
- Talent sourcing: Focuses on identifying and engaging non-applicants, building a network of potential hires over time.
- Recruiting: Focuses on converting applicants into hires by managing the interview and selection process.
Organizations that invest in talent sourcing gain a competitive edge by reducing time-to-hire and improving the quality of candidates available for key roles.
What does Esteemed do differently?
Esteemed was born out of the realization that talent sourcing doesn’t have to be difficult. Especially tech talent sourcing.
Our team already had a history of working with hundreds of engineers, tech managers, project managers, and product managers. We specialize in digital niche categories, roles, skills, and products. (Think Salesforce, Drupal, and Django).
We’ve spent a decade building relationships with thousands of digital professionals. From this, we created a talent network of esteemed colleagues who recommend one another as a trusted source. We have a robust talent pool of those we know firsthand, and we also incentivize referrals to connect with thousands more. Here, you get instant access to pre-screened professionals in hard-to-hire specialties.
Our main differentiators are our dedication to vetting talent and delivering quality right when you need it.
Before any potential candidate is added to our talent network, we have our experienced tech leads screen them. We use Coderbyte to test candidates’ skills. We offer live interview code pairing, custom test questions, and even take-home projects if our client requests it.
When you need to hire a contractor, there’s virtually no wait. Esteemed delivers quality options within minutes in cases of common requests. If you need a skilled JavaScript, WordPress, Drupal, or Sitecore professional, we’ll match you almost instantly.
Final thoughts
Digital talent sourcing is more than just a hiring tactic; it's a long-term strategy for business success. By following these best practices, you can build a robust talent network and avoid the pitfalls of bad hires.
At Esteemed, we believe that sourcing talent doesn’t have to be complicated. Let’s simplify the process together. Reach out today to learn how we can support your organization’s talent needs.