The Problem: Endless Sourcing Frenzy

The role of a recruiter involves wearing many hats: mentor, project manager, interviewer, and candidate sourcer, among others.  With many companies prioritizing DEI hiring and the overall increase in demand for available talent across the US, the role of the sourcing expert in recruiting is more vital than ever. Candidates are also receiving more messages than ever, so standing out and finding the RIGHT candidates for your roles has become the focus for many teams. Successful recruiters are realizing that creating meaningful interactions with candidates in the early stages of your hiring funnel is crucial to meeting your hiring goals. Combine high message volume with a virtual recruitment landscape; needless to say, many recruiters are searching for ways to stand out by optimizing their sourcing strategies. We hope this guide helps you source early career candidates efficiently and apply best practices that contribute to your diversity hiring goals. 

The Solution: 8 Tips for Success –  Early Career Candidate Sourcing

When searching for candidates on LinkedIn or within a partner database like WayUp, it is important to know what you need.  Segmenting your search effectively and personalizing your messaging means more applications per communication. However, this does not mean that ten personalized sourcing messages to your ideal candidates will result in ten applications. Here are some key ideas to keep in mind as you source candidates for your roles:

  1. Don’t hunt for the perfect candidate for early-career roles – These candidates are in the early stages of their careers and want to learn new skills! Cast as wide a net as you can by evaluating a candidate’s ability to learn and not always on the skills they currently possess.
  2. Don’t blast the same candidates over and over – Send reminders and follow-ups to those who have already applied or expressed interest to keep interested candidates engaged with the interview and hiring process. But contacting the same candidate about a role they are not interested in multiple times can hurt your employer brand.
  3. Keep minimum qualifications in mind – This way you don’t waste your time with those who won’t even be at a baseline qualified (i.e. Major, graduation year, work authorization, etc.)
  4. Keep your messages short yet informative – An effective sourcing email includes a personalized introductory line, a description of the job, the link to the application, and a sign-off with a call to action to apply.
  5. Create custom messages – Candidates know when a message is automated or just recycled from a generic template. Take the time to make these messages specific to the role and the candidate’s experience.
  6. Grab candidates attention from the start – Candidates receive many sourcing messages, and subject lines can make or break whether someone engages with your email or passes it over. (Example: “NEW JOB: Hello! I’m a recruiter with COMPANY NAME and we’re hiring for…”)
  7. Timing plays a role – While there is no “best time” to send a sourcing message, we have seen better engagement with sourcing messages sent between Monday-Thursday. If you are sourcing outside this timeframe, consider setting a “schedule to send” date in advance.
  8. Don’t be afraid to expand your audience – We know area of study is important in early-career recruitment, but relaxing your major requirements for candidates who show interest through extracurriculars, volunteer participation, work experience or other means will result in a wider audience for your roles. Who knows, you might discover some awesome talent your competitors missed outside your “typical” major targets!

Work Smarter Not Harder

Sourcing can be done in many different ways. Depending on the role, different strategies can be most effective. To know for certain which is best for your roles, you must embrace the data. With tools like WayUp’s campaign analytics dashboard, you can leverage in-depth candidate outreach insights to optimize your team’s engagement strategy and drive more diverse candidates to take action.  Outlined in this article are practices meant to help recruiters work smarter and not harder when sourcing candidates to the top of the hiring funnel, an aspect of recruiting which is more important now than ever. 

Want to learn more about sourcing diverse early-career talent and how WayUp can help? See our Yello Sourcing page for more information!