ACITIVE SOURCING: HOW TO FIND YOUR DREAM CANDIDATE!

How do I find the one or the one?

In the first part, we looked at the cornerstone of active sourcing – clarifying the assignment. As already emphasized, the approach to a candidate is a decisive influencing factor. A detailed clarification of the assignment helps with the target group-specific formulation and orientation of the approach. But before we get to the heart of sourcing, a search strategy is indispensable. 

But how do we develop a search strategy?

The discussions held with team members and new employees during job clarification help us to identify initial (digital) locations where we can find potential candidates. In addition, new employees can help us better assess the market, as they have recently been on the search themselves. Through the personal conversations, we get to know the target group, understand their “pain points” and gather important information to find our target group. 

After the interviews, it is advisable to create a collection of keywords. This will allow us to clearly identify candidate:s. It is important to check the words for ambiguity. This can significantly influence the search result afterwards. In addition, it is also advisable to think around the corner; who doesn’t make a typing error?

The collection of keywords can then be used to methodically work with Boolean logic.

In search engines it is worth working with the Boolean operators AND, OR or NOT. However, each search engine has its own peculiarities, so we should familiarize ourselves with them in advance. Google, for example, replaces the NOT with a “-“. In addition, recruiting solutions from networks often offer search functions such as “skills” or “current position”. These can be very useful. However, care should be taken to determine whether the search function is looking for the content meaning of our keywords or just the literal meaning. Not every search function is a semantic search and links content. Therefore, for example, someone may have “HR administration” stored as a skill, but we search for “HR administration” and get no hit. Even the spelling “HR Administration” and “HR-Administration” can produce different search results.  

Most people will start their search on XING or LinkedIn with this knowledge. There is nothing wrong with that, but we should be aware that we are fishing in the same pond as everyone else. With an original approach, we may be able to stand out. But there are other places we can use: I’m thinking of groups in these networks, other networks or forums, but also trade shows and events (as visitor:in). As diverse as our target group is or, in other words, as individual as our candidates are, we should also organize our search for them individually.

Because where is the best place to find you? With what you love!