What is candidate sourcing?
- Candidate sourcing is identifying and finding potential candidates who may be a good fit for a particular job, even before applying. In this proactive approach, recruiters or talent acquisition teams actively seek out qualified candidates through various channels, such as:
- Online job boards,
- Professional networking sites (e.g., LinkedIn),
- Employee referrals,
- Social media platforms, and
- Talent databases.
- Unlike traditional recruiting, which often relies on incoming applications, sourcing is about reaching out to passive candidates. It helps companies build a pool of pre-qualified candidates who can be engaged when a relevant position opens. Passive candidates are not actively seeking a job but may be open to new opportunities.
Top 10 Candidate Sourcing Strategies in Offshore Recruitment
1. Leverage Social Media
- With billions of users on LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, social media is a game-changer for identifying talent beyond job boards. Social media’s vast reach and capacity to engage with active and passive applicants make it essential for recruiters. LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter have significant talent pools. Over 4.7 billion people use social media, giving recruiters a significant talent pool outside job boards.
- Social media offers dynamic ways to showcase your employer brand, post engaging content, and network directly with candidates. Also, social media recruiting aligns with current trends where millennials and Gen Z, who dominate the job market, prefer digital interaction.
- With 830 million users, LinkedIn leads in professional networking and recruiting. It’s ideal for sourcing both active and passive candidates through discovery and outreach tools. Recruiters filter candidates by skills, experience, location, and industry to find the best fit. LinkedIn’s insights help personalize outreach by tracking behavior and preferences. Stats show 87% of recruiters use LinkedIn to find talent, and organizations using LinkedIn are 8 times more likely to hire well than those relying on job boards. Company Pages market culture, values, and open positions, while job postings, messaging, and recommendations boost offshore recruitment.
2. Employee Referrals
- For the most reliable candidate sourcing strategy, using employee referrals is a must. Employee referrals are a recruitment method where current employees recommend candidates from their personal or professional networks for open roles within the company. This taps into the employees’ connections, allowing recruiters to reach qualified candidates who may not be actively searching for jobs but are a good cultural and skills fit for the company.
- Employee referrals are one of the most effective and efficient ways to find top talent. Referred candidates are often pre-vetted by the employees making the referral, which means they are likely to fit better with the company culture and meet job requirements. Also, employee referrals tend to lead to faster hiring, higher retention rates, and improved employee engagement, as employees feel more invested in the hiring process.
3. Job Boards and Niche Platforms
- A great way to cast a wide and specialized talent is using job boards and niche platforms. Job boards are online platforms where employers post job openings, and candidates search for opportunities. Niche platforms, on the other hand, cater to specific industries or skill sets, attracting specialized candidates with targeted qualifications. These platforms are essential in offshore recruitment services, allowing recruiters to reach a wider audience, including active and passive job seekers.
| Platforms | Features |
| Indeed | One of the largest global job boards attracts millions of job seekers worldwide.
It boasts 250 million unique visitors each month. |
| LinkedIn Jobs | The platform allows recruiters to search for candidates based on skills, experience, and industry while promoting job openings. |
| Glassdoor | A platform where candidates search for jobs and read company reviews, salaries, and interview experiences.
79% of job seekers use Glassdoor to search for jobs, and 50% read company reviews before deciding whether to apply. |
| Monster | One of the oldest job boards, Monster, is still a major player, offering free and premium job posting options.
Monster reaches 29 million monthly visitors globally. |
4. University Relations and Campus Recruitment:
- In various recruiting scenarios, a fresh and emerging talent pool is required, which is why University Relations and Campus Recruitment are important. It opens a strategy where offshore recruitment companies establish long-term partnerships with academic institutions. It involves recruiting fresh graduates or students directly from universities and colleges. It often includes attending online career fairs, workshops, etc., to attract young talent.
- Over 90% of companies that recruit on-campus do so to fill entry-level roles and develop a long-term talent pipeline.
Benefits:
- Access to emerging talent
- Cost-effective
- Filling entry-level positions
- Brand awareness
Challenges:
- Limited experience
- Competition for top talent
- Longer onboarding time
- Geographical constraints
5. Networking Events:
- In addition to web strategies, offline networking events can also be used. These gatherings are designed for professionals from various industries to meet, exchange ideas, and develop new business connections. These events provide recruiters a golden opportunity to meet potential candidates and build relationships that could lead to successful placements. Whether industry-specific conferences, job fairs, seminars, or virtual networking sessions, these events offer direct access to top talent across different sectors.
- In offshore recruitment services, where cultural and geographical barriers exist, face-to-face or virtual interactions allow recruiters to assess a candidate’s soft skills, adaptability, and alignment with the client’s needs.
6. Boolean Search Techniques:
- When it comes to the old-school candidate sourcing methods, Boolean search techniques are the most used by recruiters. These techniques refine candidate searches within databases, job boards, and professional networks like LinkedIn. By making precise search queries, recruiters can sift through a massive pool of candidates for specific qualifications or exclude those who don’t fit the criteria.
- Example: In combination, boolean operators like AND, OR, and NOT provide precise control over search results. For “Java AND (Python OR Ruby) NOT JavaScript,” candidates who know Java and either Python or Ruby will be returned, while those with JavaScript experience will be excluded.
7. Talent Pools and Databases:
- Why start from scratch when you can dip into your talent pools? Having a database of pre-qualified candidates means you’re always ready to hire. These pools and databases are sourced through various methods, including past applicants, referrals, job boards, andprofessional networking sites.
- These pools are maintained over time, offering recruiters a ready list of candidates who fit specific skills, experience, and industry requirements.
8. Passive Candidate Sourcing:
- The best candidates aren’t always looking for a job—but with the right approach, you can get them interested in your offer. Targeting professionals who may be receptive to new opportunities but are not actively seeking employment is known as passive candidate sourcing. It requires recruiters to go beyond traditional job boards and directly engage with potential candidates through networking, personalized outreach, and building long-term relationships.
- Tools like LinkedIn Recruiter, social media platforms, and industry forums are typically leveraged to identify and connect with these passive candidates.
9. Recruitment Marketing:
- The right candidates may be interested in working for you before applying if your employer brand is strong. Attracting, engaging, and nurturing talent before they even apply for a job is the goal of recruitment marketing, which is implemented by recruitment agencies or in-house HR teams. It involves promoting your company’s employer brand, creating candidate personas, and using targeted advertising and content marketing to generate interest in your job openings. It builds a strong pipeline of qualified candidates by treating job seekers as potential customers and marketing your job opportunities to them.
- Job seekers’ behavior is shifting, with 69% more likely to apply for a job if the employer actively manages its brand.
10. Partnering with Offshore Recruitment Agencies:
- One of the best ways to get top talent fast is by partnering with offshore recruitment services agencies. It means collaborating with external recruitment firms based in a different country. These agencies specialize in sourcing, screening, and providing top-quality candidates from diverse regions, often at a lower cost and quicker turnaround time. However, offshore recruitment poses challenges such as culture, time zone differences, regulation compliance, etc.
- In 2023, the global Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO) market, a key segment in offshore recruitment, was valued at $10.9 billion, with projections to grow to $33.6 billion by 2030.
How IMS People possibly can help?
- IMS People Possible, as your offshore recruitment service provider, offers tailored offshore recruitment solutions to help businesses efficiently source top talent.
- We support companies with services ranging from full-cycle recruitment to passive candidate sourcing, compliance checks, and job postings.
- Our team has expertise in industries such as IT, healthcare, and engineering, ensuring we can meet diverse recruitment needs.
- We also leverage automation tools like Credential Check and Shift Booking Automation, streamlining recruitment services.
- Our global talent pools and databases provide access to active and passive candidates, enabling businesses to find the right talent quickly and cost-effectively.
Conclusion
Companies should adopt diverse strategies to excel in offshore recruitment, such as using social media, employee referrals, and niche job boards to access global talent. University recruitment, Boolean searches, and candidate sourcing services ensure a steady candidate pipeline. Networking and passive candidate sourcing improve engagement while partnering with offshore recruitment agencies enhances efficiency and cost-effectiveness. At IMS People Possible, we offer customized and efficient recruitment solutions, giving you access to a global talent pool and advanced automation technologies.
