It’s no secret that 2022 is an incredibly challenging hiring market, and as a result, with the competition for talent reaching an all time high, innovative companies are taking a disruptive approach to optimising their talent funnel.

As a market develops and matures, becoming larger and more complex, the subcomponents that make up that market become, in turn, more highly differentiated and more independent. An example of this is the development of the sales industry. Whereas sales was previously a broad, generalised skillset, you now have salespeople specialising in certain verticals (like fintech or SaaS), as well as sales cycle length (short, medium and long), price point (high and low), and even multiple salespeople involved in one single sale (SDRs, BDMs).

For instance, when the market is early, there are many generalists who cover a broad range of activities. As the market matures, people begin to specialise in one or some of the core components of what was once a single role. The result of this specialisation is a significantly improved overall service; three generalists performing one task are not as effective as 3 specialists working together on the same task. 1+1+1 does not always equal 3.

However, the recruitment industry has been digging its heels in, refusing to change, adapt and evolve. That is, until recently. 2021 saw, and 2022 is seeing, a shift from the traditional on-success model with 360-degree recruiters to new and innovative hiring solutions. The new solutions range from the rise of the embedded model to a host of new applicant tracking systems hitting the market, as well as the rise of AI’s participation in the talent space.

And rightly so. One point many talent experts have begun paying particular attention to is the absolute necessity of bringing quality talent into the top of your talent pipeline; no talent coming in the top means no placements coming out the bottom.

One useful way to view this is as a sales funnel. As with any funnel your output is determined by your input. In sales, your input can come via your various marketing channels, as well as outbound, too – often carried out by SDRs. There are several very specific reasons why this works so well.

For one, being an SDR and scouring the market for prospects and decision makers and bringing them into your sales process is a very different set of skills than seeing that sale through to close. And yet, the SDR process is absolutely fundamental in helping a sales department hit their sales goals. Why? Because if the SDRs don’t bring the opportunities into the sales pipeline, there won’t be any sales at the end of the pipeline. Or, at the very least, far less sales than there could have been because this particular traffic source was not effective.

So, how does this relate to Sourcers and your talent function?

Sourcing is both an independent skill set that can be mastered, and also the primary top-of-funnel activity that will bring your potential new recruits into your talent pipeline. And yet many startups still insist on having their Internal Recruiters remain solely responsible for their sourcing.

The hiring process can primarily be broken down into 3 core sections:

• Sourcing
• Screening
• Managing the hiring process and making offers 

There are of course incredibly important elements, such as employer branding, that run throughout all three stages.

Each of the above steps is a skill in its own right, but none more than sourcing. Whilst screening  and managing the hiring process through to the offer stage can be encapsulated under one role, sourcing is, in its own right, an independent skill set.

Expecting your Internal Recruiter to be an expert in these things is a mistake:

• DE&I
• Xray Search
• Social Media
• Boolean Search
• Market Research
• Employer Branding
• Candidate Pipelines
• Competitor Analysis
• Screening Interviews
• Candidate Experience

Internal Recruiters are spread too thin as it is, yet alone being expected to be 100% responsible for the talent coming into the pipeline, as well as staying up to date with the most effective sourcing techniques in the ever more competitive talent space.

The success of a startup is dependent upon the talent the startup hires. And the talent the startup hires is entirely dependent upon the talent that is brought into the talent pipeline. And the talent in your pipeline is dependent upon your sourcing. 

The Rise of The Sourcer

Which leads only to one conclusion: Sourcing is absolutely paramount to the future success of a startup. If you have a great pipeline and reach out messages that get candidates attention, you have a good chance at succeeding.

A dedicated Sourcer will deep-dive into all of the available talent pools, finding qualified talent who meet your predefined qualification criteria, as well as actively reach out and engage these candidates, ensuring your internal talent function is utilising its time effectively, screening only engaged and qualified candidates.

Of course this can bring challenges too. If you don’t have this skill set in-house, how can you train and support them? How can you ensure your Sourcers are continually trained to navigate the newest talent pools and talent sourcing methods available (that your competitors’ sourcers very well may be using)?

And this is where an Embedded Sourcing Partner comes into its own. Instead of simply hiring a Sourcer full-time and taking on the extra responsibility, with an ESP (Embedded Sourcing Partner) you don’t just work with a Sourcer, you get access to all of the Sourcer’s training via the Kandiadate Academy; you get access to their support network of over 30 different world-class Sourcers; you get access to a Sourcing Team Lead to ensure service delivery meets your expectations; and you can scale-up or scale-down your sourcing support depending on your hiring needs.

The result? More qualified talent in your pipelines, more successful hires, in a shorter amount of time, whilst also eliminating recruitment agency fees and utilising your internal talent function more efficiently.

If you’re interested in supercharging your existing talent function with an Embedded Sourcing Partner, consider Kandidate.