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Understanding Recruitment Sources

In today’s recruiting landscape, most candidates find their way to a position through a multitude of sources, directly and indirectly. The recruiting process snakes back to student job fairs and brand marketing, leading to talent pools and finally hires. Gone are the days of knowing exactly where a company makes first contact with a candidate, of simply posting a job ad in the classifieds section of the local newspaper and getting responses only from people who saw it. Now the points of contact are more numerous and happen at different stages of the recruitment process.

Determining where candidates are finding your company and your job openings has become harder than ever, which means it’s tough to figure out what sources of recruitment you should spend more time and money on to reach the largest talent pool. The answer, albeit not ideal or straightforward, is that you should continue to focus on most of them. Candidates are reached in a myriad of ways, and to stay competitive in the recruiting market you should continue to reach them wherever they are.

Here are the top 9 recruitment sources your company should continuously leverage to reach the best talent out there.

• Job Boards. Perhaps one of the main recruitment sources, job boards have grown thanks to the ease of online job searches. Think of where your talent pool would go to find a job—if you’re looking for a graphic designer, post your job on boards that designers usually visit. Post jobs in general job boards as well, especially when looking for entry-level candidates, as they tend to go there first.
• Company Website. Posting all job opportunities on your company’s website is a given. Whether candidates arrive there directly or are directed there from another site, this is the place where all your recruiting lives. On your own website, you can post not only job openings but also FAQ’s about working at your company, like benefits offered and anything that helps your company stand out.
• ‘> Social Media. LinkedIn, Google+, Facebook, Twitter, among others—these social media networks are key recruiting sources. Nowadays most candidates are on one or all of these networks, making them a perfect place to promote your job openings. Yet social media is not just for posting jobs; it also offers an opportunity for a conversation. It’s a place where you can promote your company’s brand and contribute insightful information about your company and industry. Once you build a foundation with your followers, they’ll be more likely to come directly to you when seeking a new job.
• Referrals. One of the fastest growing recruiting sources out there is employee referrals. Tapping into your existing workforce to get new talent is a smart strategy. Consider offering referral incentives, like bonuses. Make sure your employees know that they can refer candidates to current openings. Establish a system for doing so, whether it’s having the employee submitting the candidate’s resume for him or specifically asking for an employee referral in all your job applications.
• Direct Contact. Similar to employee referrals, direct contact leverages current employees specifically going after a candidate. This usually works well with senior-level staff, since they know very well what the company is looking for and they have wide professional networks. These employees seek out candidates, cultivate relationships, and bring them in as referrals when the right time comes.
• Temp-to-Hires. Another way to bring in new employees is through temporary or part-time employment first. Portals that help you find temporary and seasonal employees can all be seen as a recruiting source. Consider offering good temps and contingent employees a permanent position in your company.
• Career Fairs. Having a company presence at career fairs puts you in the center of a pool of candidates. This works better if you’re looking for candidates with a certain skill set—like software development or graphic design—as industry-specific career fairs tend to yield more potential candidates. Also consider career fairs at colleges and universities, which offer a great opportunity to reach a pool of potential entry-level candidates.
• Agency. Depending on your company’s needs, you may require the help of a recruiting agency. Recruiting agencies can be cost-effective options for finding top candidates from wider talent pools, or to find heavily sought-after candidates in more specialized industries. When considering the services of a recruiting agency, take time to weigh the pros and cons, since for some companies it’s not worth the cost.
• Newspapers. Although they’re old school, print job ads are still playing a role in the recruiting scene, especially considering the papers’ online presence. Depending on the job and the industry, more of the candidates you’re looking for may rely on print job ads when searching for openings. More so, however, is the possibility of reaching a wider audience by posting ads in the print edition and posting them on the newspaper’s website as well.

Understanding what recruiting sources are at your disposal and how to leverage them is a key first step to maximizing your talent acquisition. Which one of these sources seems to work best for your company? Have you successfully tried others?

The Definitive Guide to Recruiting and Hiring for Healthcare

This e-book will provide an overview of the best practices for staying on top of recruiting trends for hiring and retaining the best talent for your healthcare company.

I think placing job ads on social media is one of the best ways to find the candidates. Nowadays almost everyone has a profile on Facebook, LinkedIn or Google+. It’s a great way to get personal connection with applicants and get to know them prior to having a job interview.

Very useful article! I think all the sources are good and it pretty much depends on company’s needs which source is to use at a certain moment. No doubt that it’s necessary to place a job ad on the company’s website, so that the people will be able to see what current positions a company has. Recruiting agencies can be very helpful in finding job candidates as well.

Social Media is my first choice when it comes to jobs ads. As Alan said, almost everyone has a profile on a social media platform and nowadays people are really active on these platforms. Employee referrals are a suitable choice too and if your company is looking for some interns or students, career fairs are a great opportunity to make your company more visible among them.

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6.9: Introduction to the Recruitment Process

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• Page ID 47046
• Nina Burokas
• Lumen Learning

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What you’ll learn to do: Discuss the recruitment process

The essence of recruiting is expressed in researcher, advisor and bestselling author Jim Collin’s classic recommendation: “get the right people on the bus.” This analogy, presented in his 2001 bestseller Good to Great , reflects the realities of operating in a dynamic and disruptive environment. [1] In the years since, this insight has been widely recognized as a critical business success factor. Recent economic, labor and technological trends have only increased the stakes. In this section, we’ll discuss the recruitment process and the importance of employer branding.

• Collins, Jim. Good to Great.  New York, New York: Harper Collins, 2001. ↵

Contributors and Attributions

Harnessing internal and external sources of recruitment

Planning your recruitment strategy can be a daunting task in today’s competitive talent environment.Knowing where to look, which sources of recruitment to use, how to structure your job ads , and how to move your candidates through the funnel are all essential skills that you need to land your perfect hire.Fortunately, with a bit of research and even more strategic planning, you can create a recruitment system to find, screen, and hire the right talent for your organization that’s repeatable and profitable for your company.One of the first steps in this strategic planning process is to understand which recruitment sources are available to you and how to harness them as part of your overall recruitment strategy. In this article, I’ll discuss the two main sources of recruitment: internal and external .

Before we get started, you should note that no single recruitment source will necessarily be the solution to all of your recruitment problems. You should be looking at several recruitment sources to broaden your search area and get your job postings in front of as many qualified candidates as possible.

What are internal sources of recruitment?

These recruitment sources involve motivating employees within your organization to apply for vacant job postings in the company.Think of this as a promotion or lateral movement motivator for your employees. Typically, vacant job postings would be communicated to your colleagues via internal job boards, word of mouth, intranets or wikis, or any other communication channels your team uses.

Advantages of internal sources of recruitment

• Motivating skilled employees in your company with the promise of upward growth.
• Reducing employee turnover .
• Reducing recruitment and training costs.
• Guaranteeing that your vacant positions are filled with candidates who fit and understand your company culture .
• Improving overall job satisfaction and morale within your team.
• Encourages self-development of existing employees.
• Promotes training and development .

Showing your candidates that you’re willing to promote and move them into roles that will help further their careers demonstrates your commitment to them and their goals. It also means that you fill your vacancies with qualified and pre-screened candidates.

Disadvantages of internal sources of recruitment

• Less chance of new ideas and alternative solutions being introduced to existing operations and issues.
• Better quality external candidates may be overlooked.
• Promoted employees may not always hold the best qualities for their new role.
• Limiting the acquisition of fresh talent may hamper business growth.
• Less choice from a limited resource pool.
• Encourages favoritism and nepotism.

Another issue to consider with internal recruitment sources, however, is the potential tendency toward confirmation bias. Or, simply put, fewer outside voices introduced into your company to shake things up and move the dial.It’s always a good idea to take a hard look at the requirements for each job vacancy you have and, together with the hiring manager, determine if an internal or external candidate is the ideal solution.

Examples of internal sources of recruitment

Now that we’ve talked about what internal sources are and why you should use them let’s look at a selection of examples. Here’s a list of some of the most common types of internal recruitment sources you can consider for your recruitment strategy.

• Employees can be moved laterally within your organization into similar jobs or vacancies that complement their skill set. With or without a salary change, it’s a great way to re-structure your team while also reducing boredom and stagnation among your employees.
• Vacancies can be filled by promoting your most skilled employees into more senior roles. This is a great way to motivate employees, reduce turnover, and show a commitment to career growth.
• Employee referrals . Encourage your employees to refer family, friends or former co-workers who they think would be perfect for your vacant positions. This helps find qualified and vetted candidates who often have a higher likelihood to fit seamlessly into your team and culture.

Internal sources of recruitment are a fantastic way to harness the best assets you already have at your disposal: your employees. Couple these internal sources with external ones, and you’ve got yourself a robust and well-rounded recruitment strategy.

What are external sources of recruitment?

If internal recruitment sources refer to all potential candidates within your organization, then it makes sense that external recruitment sources all about motivating candidates outside of your company to apply.This is your typical candidate fishing expedition, and there are many ways to lure and catch an ideal applicant. You just need to find and deploy the right combination of external sources of recruitment.

Advantages of external sources of recruitment

• Providing a larger and more diverse pool of candidates.
• Bringing new ideas and skills into the organization.
• Promoting your employer brand and culture.
• Filling your talent pipeline with candidates for future consideration.
• Less chance of favoritism and disrupting healthy workplace atmosphere.

Disadvantages of external sources of recruitment

• Jealousy and frustration of existing employees looking for promotion .
• Lengthy and costly process.
• Finding a suitable applicant isn’t guaranteed.
• Longer periods of adjustment to a new role and organization.
• Possibilities of mismatching and choosing the wrong candidates.

Before deploying external recruitment techniques, however, it’s important that you do your homework into who your candidate is, where they’re searching for jobs, and what they’re looking for.Be sure to tailor any external sources of recruitment to a well-thought-out strategy to ensure that you’re not inundated with hundreds of unqualified candidates.Depending on the strategy, external recruitment can be a time consuming and expensive endeavor, so you want to make sure your investment will yield positive results.

Examples of external sources of recruitment

You’re likely already familiar with many external recruitment sources – these are some of the most common techniques recruiters use to find candidates. To get you thinking, here’s a list of some of the most common external sources in use today.

• Online job boards. Self-explanatory. Think of websites or any other page that lists job posting. These can either be free or paid, targeted or broad. Find out where your ideal candidates typically search for jobs and get your ads posted.
• These are similar to job board postings but are broader and don’t necessarily need to be online. Think of all the websites, newspapers, magazines, and even physical places your candidates likely visit on a daily basis and post some appealing job ads. These are typically paid placements, but the right location can yield great results if targeted properly.
• Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) or other recruitment software . Take a deep dive into the candidate pools you’ve collected from previous search efforts to see if there are any qualified applicants you can reach out to. Use an ATS like Recruitee to search for specific parameters to narrow down your efforts.
• Educational institutions. Makes connections with universities, colleges, and trade schools and invite new graduates into your company for internship positions. These are great future high performers that you can scoop up early in their careers.
• Trade associations, conferencing, and network events. Where industries hold particular professional or trade associations, accessing a database of members could open a host of new potential hires. Trade magazines and journals are also options as fresh job role advertising opportunities. These areas are ideally placed for locating experienced and skilled candidates.
• Former employees. Don’t be afraid of rebound or boomerang employees . In today’s job market, it’s very common for people to jump from company to company to progress through their career. If you have a vacancy that might appeal to a former colleague, reach out to them to see if they’re ready to make a comeback.
• Previous applicants. A database of previously unsuccessful candidates delivers a resource pool of possible options. If they failed to win the role purely because another candidate held better qualities or credentials, they could still be perfectly suitable to fill the position.
• Rival businesses. Some of the best operatives in your industry will be working for your competitors. They might not be looking to relocate or for a better opportunity, but you won’t know unless you ask. Just because they’re not actively looking for a new challenge doesn’t mean they’re not ready for one.
• Social media. LinkedIn is a no-brainer for recruiters. Search for candidates based on job title, skill set, and location to find high potential candidates and reach out to them via InMail. Don’t be afraid to search Twitter and Facebook for industry-relevant pages and groups that you can reach out to as well.

As mentioned earlier in this article, no one source of recruitment will be the solution to all of your problems. Instead, take some time to strategically plan your recruitment process, know your candidate and deploy the sources that will yield the best bang for your effort and buck.

Brendan is an established writer, content marketer and SEO manager with extensive experience writing about HR tech, information visualization, mind mapping, and all things B2B and SaaS. As a former journalist, he's always looking for new topics and industries to write about and explore.

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How to Source Candidates: A Must-Read Guide for Recruiters

Candidate sourcing is a strategic approach to identifying and engaging potential candidates. Here, we will explore the fundamentals of candidate sourcing, effective methods, and how to tailor your approach for different levels and positions.

What Is Candidate Sourcing?

Effective ways to source candidates, an overview of sourcing stats, how to source candidates (step-by-step guide), how do i source entry-level candidates, how do i source mid-level candidates, how do i source top-level candidates, how do i source executive-level candidates, do’s and don’ts of talent sourcing.

• Difference between Sourcing and Recruiting

Candidate sourcing is a proactive approach to identifying, attracting, and engaging potential candidates for positions within a company. It involves actively searching for individuals with the desired skills, experience, and qualifications, even if they are not actively seeking new employment opportunities. 

Candidate sourcing aims to build a talent pool of qualified candidates for current or future job openings, ensuring a continuous flow of suitable candidates for the organization’s growth and success. This approach allows recruiters and hiring managers to connect with top-notch talent and establish relationships early on, increasing the likelihood of successful hires.

When sourcing candidates for job openings, effective strategies are crucial to attract the right talent. Here are some proven methods that recruiters and hiring managers can use to enhance their candidate sourcing efforts.

• Utilize online job boards
• Leverage social media platforms
• Engage with professional networks
• Attend career fairs and events
• Explore referrals from employees
• Implement targeted advertising

For a comprehensive talent sourcing strategy, visit [Talent Sourcing Strategy].

Understanding candidate sourcing through relevant statistics provides valuable insights for recruiters and hiring professionals. These numbers shed light on trends, behaviors, and patterns, helping formulate effective sourcing strategies. Here’s an overview of some key sourcing statistics.

Percentage of hires sourced through social media

A significant percentage of hires, approximately 70%, are sourced through various social media platforms. Recruiters actively engage with potential candidates on platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook, and X (formerly Twitter) to connect and share job opportunities.

Percentage of hires through employee referrals

Employee referrals are a highly effective sourcing method, contributing to about 30-50% of successful hires. Leveraging existing employees’ networks helps find candidates who align well with the organizational culture.

Average time to source a candidate

On average, it takes about 10 days to successfully source a candidate for a job role. Efficient sourcing processes and effective use of sourcing methods play a role in minimizing the time taken to identify suitable candidates.

Effectively sourcing candidates requires a structured process that involves several steps to identify, attract, and engage potential talent. Here’s a step-by-step guide to successfully sourcing candidates.

Understand your requirements

Begin by thoroughly understanding the job role and its requirements. Consult with the hiring team to clarify the skills, qualifications, experience, and attributes needed for the position.

Create targeted job descriptions

Craft compelling, detailed job descriptions accurately reflecting the job role and expectations. Clearly articulate the position’s responsibilities, qualifications, and benefits to attract the right candidates.

Use advanced search techniques

Employ advanced search functionalities on job portals, professional networking platforms, and applicant tracking systems (ATS). Utilize filters to narrow down the candidate pool based on specific criteria such as skills, location, experience, and education.

Engage and build relationships

Reach out to potential candidates and engage them in meaningful conversations. Introduce your organization and highlight its values, culture, and growth opportunities. Establish a positive rapport to build trust and interest.

Assess and shortlist candidates

Evaluate candidates based on their alignment with the job requirements. Consider their skills, experience, cultural fit, and enthusiasm for the role. Shortlist the most suitable candidates for further evaluation.

Conduct interviews and assessments

Arrange interviews to assess the shortlisted candidates in-depth. Conduct both technical and behavioral interviews to evaluate their capabilities, problem-solving skills, and cultural alignment. Additionally, consider using assessments to gauge specific skills.

Communicate and offer

Maintain transparent communication with the candidates throughout the process. Provide timely updates on their application status and feedback. Extend job offers to selected candidates and negotiate terms if needed.

Sourcing entry-level candidates involves targeting individuals typically new to the job market or with minimal work experience. Here are effective strategies to source entry-level candidates.

College and university partnerships

Collaborate with colleges and universities to attend career fairs, host informational sessions, or participate in campus recruiting events. Engage with students nearing graduation who are seeking entry-level opportunities.

Internship programs

Establish internship programs within your organization. Internships serve as a direct pipeline for identifying and nurturing potential entry-level talent. Offer internships to students or recent graduates to evaluate their skills and fit within the company.

Job postings on career websites

Utilize online job boards and career websites that specifically cater to entry-level positions. Post detailed job descriptions and requirements to attract recent graduates or individuals looking to start their careers.

Utilize social media

Leverage social media platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to showcase your organization and entry-level job opportunities. Engage with relevant groups or communities to reach a broader audience of potential candidates.

Networking events and meetups

Attend industry-related networking events, career fairs, or professional meetups where entry-level job seekers may be present. Actively engage with attendees and share information about job openings within your organization.

Referrals and employee advocacy

Encourage your current employees to refer suitable candidates for entry-level positions. Offer referral incentives to motivate employees to recommend qualified individuals from their networks.

Community involvement

Get involved in community events, workshops, or volunteering opportunities. Engage with individuals eager to kick-start their careers and seek guidance or job openings.

Local job centers and organizations

Collaborate with local job centers, career counseling offices, or youth employment organizations. These entities often assist entry-level job seekers in finding suitable opportunities.

Career development webinars or seminars

Organize webinars or seminars focused on career development and invite entry-level candidates to participate. Share insights into your industry, organization, and potential career growth within your company.

Utilize alumni networks

Reach out to your organization’s alumni network or university alumni associations. Alumni may be seeking entry-level opportunities and could already possess the necessary education and skills.

Sourcing mid-level candidates involves targeting professionals with a few years of experience in their respective fields. Here are effective strategies to source mid-level candidates.

Job boards and career websites

Post job openings on specialized job boards and career websites that cater to mid-level positions. Ensure the job description highlights the level of experience and skills required.

Professional networking platforms

Utilize platforms like LinkedIn to connect with professionals with mid-level experience. Join industry-specific groups, participate in discussions, and directly reach out to potential candidates.

Industry-specific events and conferences

Attend conferences, seminars, and industry events related to your field. Engage with attendees and speakers with a few years of experience and may be looking to progress in their careers.

Utilize recruitment agencies

Partner with recruitment agencies that specialize in mid-level placements. They often have a pool of pre-screened candidates with the desired experience.

Referrals from employees

Encourage your current employees to refer mid-level professionals from their professional networks. Offer referral incentives to motivate employees to recommend qualified candidates.

Professional associations

Engage with industry-specific professional associations and societies. Many mid-level professionals are active members and attend events organized by these groups.

Alumni networks

Leverage your organization’s alumni network or alumni associations from universities. Mid-level professionals may join these networks and be interested in opportunities within your company.

Networking events

Attend networking events within your industry or related fields. These events provide an excellent platform for meeting mid-level professionals seeking new opportunities.

Headhunting and executive search firms

Collaborate with headhunters or executive search firms that specialize in mid-level placements. They have access to a network of potential candidates.

Promote job openings and company culture on social media platforms. Tailor your content to attract mid-level professionals and encourage them to apply.

Company website careers page

Ensure your company’s careers page on the website is up to date with mid-level job openings. Include detailed job descriptions and requirements to attract suitable candidates.

Sourcing top-level candidates, often in executive or leadership positions, requires a strategic and targeted approach. Here are effective strategies to source top-level candidates.

Executive search firms

Partner with specialized executive search firms with a strong network and expertise in recruiting top-level executives. These firms have access to a vast pool of high-caliber candidates.

Networking within industry events

Attend industry-specific events, conferences, and seminars where top-level professionals will likely participate. Engage in meaningful conversations and establish relationships with potential candidates.

Professional associations and organizations

Collaborate with prestigious professional associations and organizations relevant to your industry. These groups often have a membership base consisting of senior-level professionals.

LinkedIn executive search

Utilize LinkedIn’s advanced search features to identify and reach out to potential top-level candidates based on specific criteria such as industry, job title, and experience.

Industry publications and journals

Advertise job openings and opportunities in industry-specific publications, journals, or websites that top-level professionals widely read.

Alumni networks of elite universities

Tap into the alumni networks of renowned universities and institutions. Top-level professionals often maintain connections with their alma mater and could be open to new opportunities.

Collaboration with industry experts

Collaborate with well-known industry experts, consultants, or advisors with an extensive network. Seek their recommendations or introductions to top-level candidates.

Board and director networks

Engage with board and director networks that connect executives with organizations seeking board members or executives for top-level positions.

Executive development programs

Participate in or collaborate with executive development programs or workshops. These events often attract senior-level professionals looking to enhance their skills and network.

Industry thought leadership platforms

Establish a presence on thought leadership platforms and contribute insightful content. This can attract top-level professionals seeking to engage with innovative and forward-thinking organizations.

Targeted online job portals

Post job openings on specialized online job portals that focus on executive positions. Ensure the job descriptions are compelling and accurately reflect the seniority and expectations of the role.

Search within competing companies

Identify and approach professionals in competing or similar companies who may be looking for new challenges or career advancements.

Sourcing executive-level candidates who are leaders and decision-makers within an organization necessitates a targeted and strategic approach. Here are effective strategies to source executive-level candidates.

Collaborate with specialized executive search firms that focus on identifying and recruiting executives. These firms have a vast network and expertise in finding suitable executive candidates.

Industry networking events

Attend industry-specific networking events, conferences, and seminars where executives will likely be present. Engage in meaningful conversations and establish relationships with potential candidates.

Networking within professional associations

Engage with executive-level professionals through membership in professional associations related to your industry. These associations often organize events that facilitate networking with executives.

Utilize LinkedIn’s advanced search features to identify and connect with potential executive-level candidates based on specific criteria such as job title, industry, and experience.

Industry conclaves and roundtables

Participate in exclusive industry conclaves, roundtables, or invite-only events where top executives congregate. These events provide a platform to connect with potential executive talent.

Alumni networks of prestigious universities

Leverage the alumni networks of prestigious universities and institutions that produce top-notch executives. Engage with alumni who may be seeking new executive opportunities.

Collaboration with industry experts and consultants

Collaborate with industry experts, consultants, or advisors with a wide network of executive-level professionals. Seek their recommendations or introductions to potential executive candidates.

Board director networks

Engage with networks or associations focused on board members and directors. Many executive candidates are interested in board positions and have connections within such networks.

Executive education programs and workshops

Explore collaboration with executive education programs and workshops where senior executives often seek continuous learning and networking opportunities.

Targeted job portals for executives

Post executive-level job openings on specialized online job portals dedicated to senior positions. Ensure the job descriptions align with the expectations and seniority of the role.

Headhunting and talent acquisition teams

Build or collaborate with an in-house headhunting or talent acquisition team dedicated to sourcing executive talent. These teams can proactively search for and approach potential candidates.

Identify and approach executives from competing or similar companies who may be open to exploring new challenges and opportunities.

Here’s a guide outlining the do’s and don’ts to ensure an effective and ethical talent sourcing process.

Maintain professionalism

Conduct all interactions with candidates professionally and respectfully, regardless of the outcome. Uphold the organization’s reputation throughout the sourcing process.

Clearly communicate job expectations

Provide candidates with a clear understanding of the job role, responsibilities, qualifications required, and organizational culture. Transparency helps in aligning expectations.

Regularly update candidates

Keep candidates informed of their application status and the progress of the recruitment process. Timely communication reflects positively on the organization.

Leverage employee referrals

Encourage and incentivize employees to refer potential candidates. Employee referrals often yield high-quality candidates who align with the company culture.

Personalize communication

Tailor communication to each candidate, addressing their skills and experiences. Personalization shows genuine interest and enhances engagement.

Provide constructive feedback

Offer constructive feedback to candidates, especially if they are not selected. This helps candidates understand areas for improvement and fosters a positive perception of the organization.

Build a talent pipeline

Continuously engage with potential candidates, even if there are no immediate job openings. Build a talent pipeline for future opportunities within the organization.

Don’ts

Send mass emails

Refrain from sending generic, mass emails to potential candidates. Personalize communications to show genuine interest and relevance to the candidate.

Oversell the role

Avoid exaggerating the job role, organizational benefits, or growth prospects to attract candidates. Be honest and transparent in presenting the opportunities.

Skip due diligence

Make sure to complete essential background checks and verification of candidate credentials. Thorough due diligence ensures the credibility and suitability of candidates.

Neglect candidate experience

Don’t overlook the candidate’s experience during the recruitment process. A negative experience can tarnish the organization’s reputation and deter potential candidates.

Postpone feedback

Avoid delaying feedback to candidates after interviews or assessments. Prompt feedback demonstrates professionalism and respect for candidates’ time and efforts.

Difference Between Sourcing and Recruiting

Sourcing and recruiting are both crucial components of the talent acquisition process , each with distinct roles and functions. Understanding the differences between the two can aid in optimizing the hiring process. Here’s a concise comparison.

Understanding the distinction between sourcing and recruiting is essential for an effective hiring process. Check out [Talent Sourcing vs. Recruiting] for an insightful comparison.

Candidate sourcing is an art and a science. The right strategies and methods can significantly impact your organization’s ability to attract the best talent. The process involves intricate steps from sourcing to recruiting, aiming to identify and attract the best-fit candidates for various job roles. 

Maintaining professionalism, clear communication, and utilizing technology are essential to a successful talent acquisition process. Furthermore, understanding the difference between sourcing and recruiting helps structure and optimize the hiring process.

In a job market that is always changing, keeping up with these methods and trends will help you understand how to source candidates in a way that will help your team grow.

This is where Joveo comes in to get your job ads in front of the right people – at the right place and time, for the right price! With our AI-driven approach and campaign automation, you can spend with precision on sources that deliver.

Discover the power of our game-changing, end-to-end talent-sourcing platform.

See us in action to boost your company’s productivity. Follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn for more hiring insights!

What are common sourcing methods?

Sourcing methods encompass various strategies to identify and engage potential candidates for job roles. Common methods include leveraging online job boards, social media platforms, employee referrals, industry events, career fairs, and collaborations with educational institutions. Each method has its own advantages and is tailored based on the organization’s hiring needs.

What are candidate sourcing tools?

Candidate sourcing tools are software or platforms designed to aid recruiters in identifying and engaging potential candidates efficiently. These tools automate candidate search, provide access to candidate databases, offer advanced search filters, and sometimes integrate with applicant tracking systems (ATS). Examples include LinkedIn Recruiter, Indeed, Glassdoor, and specialized sourcing software.

What is the most effective place to source candidates?

The most effective source of candidates often varies based on the industry, job role, and organization. However, employee referrals consistently rank among the most effective sources of candidates. Referrals tend to bring in candidates who align with the company culture and values. Social media platforms and specialized job boards also prove highly effective in candidate sourcing.

What is the process of finding candidates?

The process of finding candidates involves several key steps.

• Identify needs: Understanding the job requirements and creating a clear job description.
• Sourcing: Actively searching for potential candidates using online platforms, referrals, and networking.
• Engagement: Contacting and engaging with potential candidates to gauge their interest and suitability for the role.
• Evaluation: Assessing candidates through interviews, assessments, and background checks.
• Selection: Choosing the best-fit candidates and extending job offers.
• Onboarding: Integrating the selected candidates into the organization smoothly to begin their roles effectively.

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11 Strategic Recruitment: A Multilevel Perspective

Stanley M. Gully, School of Management and Labor Relations, Rutgers University

Jean M. Phillips, School of Management and Labor Relations, Rutgers University

Mee Sook Kim, Rutgers University

• Published: 16 December 2013
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This chapter examines recruitment practices through a strategic lens. To be strategic, recruitment must be integrated with other human resource management practices (horizontal alignment) as well as with the goals and strategic objectives of the firm (vertical alignment). Recruitment activities are integrated into a complex system of strategies, policies, practices, and activities that permeate all organizational levels. Understanding strategic recruitment thus requires the incorporation of strategic human resource management perspectives as well as an appreciation of levels of analysis issues. The chapter begins by reviewing the concepts of core competence, sustained competitive advantage, and the resource-based view. This foundation is used to interpret research and theory relevant to strategic recruitment. It then uses a multilevel model of strategic recruitment to examine the body of previous recruiting research to identify opportunities for future research directions. The chapter provides a number of testable propositions and suggests new directions for strategic recruitment research.

Introduction

Effective recruiting is a cornerstone of strategic human resource management systems and strategic execution. Because strategic execution relies on people to transform a strategy from an idea into real changes in services, products, markets, technologies, and prices, firms must hire people who fit the culture and have the right mix of skills to generate sustainable competitive advantage. However, if potentially strong employees are not effectively recruited then they can never be hired. And if they aren’t hired, they can’t be developed, evaluated, compensated, or motivated. Stated simply, you cannot select and manage talented employees through human resource management (HRM) systems if you do not first recruit them.

Background and Introduction

Research on recruitment in general has exploded in the last forty years, Breaugh and Starke (2000) note that the 1976 edition of the Handbook of Industrial and Organizational Psychology contained less than one page of recruitment coverage ( Guion, 1976 ), but fifteen years later an entire chapter of the Handbook was devoted to recruitment research ( Rynes, 1991 ). A keyword search of the literature also suggests increasing research interest. Table 11.1 shows the number of times the words “recruiting, recruitment, or recruiter” were mentioned in the PsychInfo index among the top journals in management and applied psychology. References to recruiting related topics have increased dramatically since the 1970s, increasing in a nonlinear fashion.

Since the 1970s, many books (e.g., Barber, 1998 ; Breaugh, 1992 ) and research reviews have been written on recruitment related topics (e.g., Breaugh, 2012 ; Breaugh, Macan, & Grambow, 2008 ; Breaugh & Starke, 2000 ; Dineen & Soltis, 2011 ; Olian & Rynes, 1984 ; Orlitzky, 2007 ; Ryan & Delany, 2010 ; Rynes & Cable, 2003 ; Yu & Cable, 2012 ). It would be impossible for us to summarize all aspects of this broad literature. We refer interested readers to the original sources and other chapters within this handbook for quality summaries. Here we specifically address recruitment research with a strategic focus. This requires incorporation of work that falls outside the bounds of traditional recruitment research.

There is a relative dearth of recruitment research in the strategic arena. For example, a meta-analysis on high-performance work systems found fewer than five effect sizes that related any type of recruitment measure to firm level performance ( Combs, Liu, Hall, & Ketchen, 2006 ). With the exception of some key papers that have focused on the connection between recruitment and organizational level strategies (e.g., Miles & Snow, 1984 ; Olian & Rynes, 1984 ; Rynes & Barber, 1990 ), most work has concentrated on specific recruitment practices such as realistic job previews ( Phillips, 1998 ), recruitment messages ( Roberson, Collins, & Oreg, 2005 ), or job advertisement content ( Feldman, Bearden, & Hardesty, 2006 ). This is useful for building our understanding about determinants of recruitment effectiveness but it doesn’t provide a strategic and integrated perspective on recruitment.

We begin by examining what is meant by strategic recruitment. Breaugh et al. (2008) built on definitions from Barber (1998) and Ployhart (2006) to suggest that recruitment involves “…organizational actions that are intended to: (a) bring a job opening to the attention of potential job candidates; (b) influence whether these individuals apply for the opening; (c) affect whether recruits maintain interest in the position until a job offer is extended; and (d) influence whether a job offer is accepted and the person joins the organization” (pp. 45–46). Recruitment activities can also play the role of helping people who may be a poor fit to self-select out of the recruitment and selection process ( Allen & Bryant, 2012 ).

We suggest that strategic recruitment is consistent with all of these activities. How, then, is strategic recruitment different from recruitment as it is more traditionally defined? Strategy reflects an enterprise’s long-term goals and the adoption of courses of actions and allocation of resources necessary to meet these goals ( Chandler, 1962 ). Attaching the modifier “strategic” often implies firm level strategies, firm performance, and integrated HRM systems. However, HRM practices can be “strategic” across functions and levels. Accordingly, strategic execution can be overlaid as an integration of systems and processes across micro, meso, and macro levels of analysis ( Arthur & Boyles, 2007 ; Huselid & Becker, 2011 ; Molloy, Ployhart, & Wright, 2011 ; Ployhart & Moliterno, 2011 ; Wright & Boswell, 2002 ). Rather than focusing only on firm level HRM practices as the defining characteristic of strategic execution, it is useful to think of strategic recruitment as connecting practices across levels of analysis that must be carefully aligned with the goals, strategies, and characteristics of the specific firm.

Level of analysis refers to a plane of interest in a hierarchy of systems ( Rousseau, 1985 ). Employees work in teams, business units, and organizations. Characteristics and processes that exist at one level can drive systems, processes, and outcomes at another level ( Klein, Dansereau, & Hall, 1994 ; Klein & Kozlowski, 2000 ). Because the effects of recruitment on outcomes may or may not generalize across levels ( Klein et al., 1994 ; Rousseau, 1985 ), we argue individual, business unit, and organizational level factors and associated systems, practices, and activities can influence how recruitment unfolds across levels.

Understanding strategic recruitment requires the incorporation of strategic human resource management (SHRM) perspectives and levels of analysis. In Figure 11.1 , vertical alignment is shown by the congruence of HRM practices across micro, meso, and macro organizational levels with strategic objectives and the external environment ( Wright & McMahan, 1992 ). Congruence across HRM practices within a given level is horizontal alignment ( Baird & Meshoulam, 1988 ; Wright & Snell, 1998 ). The vertical slice of HRM practices under a given strategy represents a bundled, or congruent, HRM strategic system. The entire block in the figure represents SHRM.

A Multilevel Model of Strategic Recruitment.

The darkened blocks at the front of Figure 11.1 represent strategic recruitment. The front face illustrates how recruitment might differ across strategies and levels. For example, the upper left of the front face indicates that some organizations might create recruiting policies and systems that focus on operational excellence. The middle block suggests that business units might differentially engage in recruiting activities to support an innovation strategy. For example, the research and development unit of a pharmaceutical company might engage in recruitment activities to find scientists who can deliver a future drug pipeline. The bottom right indicates practices targeted toward individuals that will increase the likelihood that they will engage in behaviors that support a customer intimacy strategy. for example, a recruiter might communicate a message of focusing on excellence in customer satisfaction to individual applicants.

Figure 11.1 also highlights that recruitment must be integrated with other HRM practices (horizontal alignment) as well as with the strategic goals of the firm (vertical alignment). It can be seen that recruitment activities are integrated into a complex system of strategies, polices, practices, and activities that permeate all organizational levels. This perspective adds the elements of alignment and strategic focus to previous definitions.

Strategic recruiting thus refers to allocating resources, creating systems, setting polices, and engaging in organizational practices and activities that (1) are aligned with the strategic objectives of the organization; (2) are integrated with HRM activities in other parts of the organization or in other functional areas; (3) bring job openings to the attention of qualified candidates who fit the job, organization, and work unit; (4) influence whether talented and well-fitting individuals apply for openings; (5) encourage unqualified or poor fitting candidates to self-screen out of the hiring process; (6) affect whether top candidates maintain interest in the position until a job offer is extended; (7) influence whether a job offer is accepted and the person joins the organization; (8) increase the human capital available to enable strategic execution; and (9) result in positive individual, business unit, and organizational outcomes.

Recruitment research from a more traditional focus has examined such topics as the influence of website attributes, job and organizational information, recruiters, realistic job previews (RJPs), diversity images, and the timing of recruiting actions on individual attraction, job choice, and perceived or objective fit ( Breaugh, 2012 ; Breaugh et al., 2008 ; Rynes & Cable, 2003 ). This research has been helpful in filling out our understanding at the individual level and elaborates some of the connections across levels (e.g., how organizational image influences attraction). Strategic recruitment builds on this foundation and considers how the impact of websites, information, recruiters, RJPs, diversity, and timing should be integrated with other HRM functions (e.g., compensation, training, etc.) and flexibly adapted to fit the needs of specific strategic imperatives to yield recruitment outcomes across all levels.

We begin by briefly reviewing the concepts of core competence and the resource-based view as a foundation for understanding strategic human resource management. This foundation is then used to interpret research and theory relevant to strategic recruitment.

Core Competence and the Resource-Based View

A core competence is a key capability that differentiates firms from their competitors and brings about firm success. For example, Google’s robust search technology and innovative business model (e.g., auctioning ads that appear alongside relevant search results) has made it so dominant that “google” is now a recognized verb. Core competencies may include a variety of resources ranging from a tangible asset such as a firm’s optics technology (e.g., fiber optic cable) to intangible competencies such as creativity (see, e.g., IDEO, the award winning design and development consulting firm). Core competencies are driven by the types of talent that can be recruited into and retained by an organization. To understand which core competencies yield sustainable competitive advantage, we turn to the resource-based view.

The resource-based view (RBV) assumes resource availability is not equal across firms and that some resources are less available to certain firms. The RBV suggests resources can yield competitive advantage when they are valuable, rare, inimitable, and non-substitutable, and the firm is organized to take advantage of the resource ( Barney, 1991 ; Barney & Wright, 1998 ). The RBV suggests that HRM systems can be a source of sustainable competitive advantage ( Barney & Wright, 1998 ; Bowen & Ostroff, 2004 ; Wright, McMahan, & McWilliams, 1994 ) because individuals make differential contributions to the firm and having high-quality HRM systems is valuable and rare. Wright et al. (1994) also argue that the way employees behave in a given firm is determined by complex and unique firm histories and social interactions, creating causal ambiguity and making it difficult to imitate firm HRM systems.

As can be seen in Figure 11.1 , there are many complex causal pathways that exist for a given firm with regard to strategic recruitment. Some firms are large and have a clear image that is connected to its marketing and branding efforts. Other firms are small with resource constraints, and they have no clear image or reputation. This means that trying to apply a singular recruitment strategy to both types of firms is unlikely to work, even if they are in the same industry, limiting transportability of a recruitment system across firms. Similarly, scouting and hiring competent employees from rivals does not guarantee copying their competitive advantage because their performance is determined by unique firm history, business strategy, and complex social interactions ( Groysberg & Lee, 2008 ; Groysberg, Nanda, & Nohria, 2004 ). Lastly, the quality of HRM involves competencies such as intelligence, creativity, knowledge, and skill that cannot be easily substituted by other resources.

Research on high-performance work systems (HPWS) supports the idea that HRM systems are a sustainable source of competitive advantage. Firms that adopt recruiting and selection systems consistent with their competitive strategy, implement reward and feedback practices that reflect successful strategic execution, and create training and development systems guided by performance and business objectives outperform firms that do not avail themselves of such practices and systems ( Becker & Huselid, 1998 , 2006 ; Crook, Todd, Combs, Woehr, & Ketchen, 2011 ; Terpstra & Rozelle, 1993 ; Toh, Morgeson, & Campion, 2008 ). This is in part because strategic choice and execution is determined by whether a firm has employees who possess the necessary skills, knowledge, abilities, personality characteristics, and motivation required to execute the strategy.

In this light, recruitment practices are strategic in the deepest sense. A meta-analysis by Jiang, Lepak, Hu, and Baer (2012) demonstrated that skills-enhancing, motivation-enhancing, and opportunity-enhancing HRM practices influence both proximal and distal organizational outcomes. Effective strategic recruitment can bring in necessary skills, knowledge, and abilities. In addition to functioning as a skill-enhancing practice, recruitment can influence motivation. For example, research on person–environment fit and attraction–selection–attrition shows that attracting people who best fit both the organization and job creates higher satisfaction, greater commitment, lower turnover, less strain, and often better performance ( Kristof-Brown, Zimmerman, & Johnson, 2005 ; Schneider, 1987 ). Thus, recruitment practices that enhance fit ( Cable & Yu, 2007 ) can affect the usefulness of both skill-enhancing and motivation-enhancing HRM practices. Finally, recruiting can affect the utility of opportunity-enhancing practices. It has long been known that individuals differ in their desires for growth, risk taking, and work ethic. Providing opportunities to contribute will work only insofar as the employees have the desire, capability, and willingness to participate and remain involved.

The key point is that recruitment activities are a sustainable source of competitive advantage when aligned with business objectives and integrated with other components of the HRM system because strategic recruitment yields talented and passionate individuals who are rare, valuable, non-substitutable, and inimitable. Recruiting a workforce with a deep passion for the core of the business is unusual, but that is exactly what makes it a source of competitive advantage ( Cable, 2007 ). In addition, a recruitment system that is deeply integrated into the broader organization can better attract specific types of individuals who fit and can execute the business strategy. This is a valuable resource that yields sustainable competitive advantage.

Proposition 1: Strategic recruitment systems are a source of sustainable competitive advantage when aligned with business strategy and integrated with other components of the HRM system .

To understand better how recruitment systems must be integrated with business strategies we must first consider some specific strategic typologies that typify business core competencies. This is useful because HRM functions, including recruitment, should be aligned with the strategic imperatives of the firm ( Barney & Wright, 1998 ; Huselid & Becker, 2011 ; Schuler & Jackson, 1987 ; Wright & McMahan, 1992 ).

Strategic Typologies

Different firms seek different business strategies based on their analysis of market forces such as new entrants, relative power of suppliers and buyers, market power of competitors, and potential substitutes ( Porter, 1985 ). The relative emphasis on each of these forces determines the type of business strategy pursued and consequent competitive advantage. Some firms strive to provide innovative products that competitors cannot easily imitate whereas other firms pursue cost-savings in production processes so they can offer low costs or gain high margins. These strategy typologies do not have to be mutually exclusive ( Chadwick & Cappelli, 1999 ), and firms may use one or a combination of strategy types. We briefly detail the strategic typologies of operational excellence, product leadership through differentiation and innovation, and specialization through customer intimacy ( Treacy & Wiersema, 1997 ). We use these typologies as a foundation for discussing strategic recruitment (see Phillips & Gully, 2010 for more detailed examples).

Operational Excellence

Firms can provide cost leadership in services and/or products by pursuing excellence in their operations. Such firms strive to provide products of similar quality at a lower price as compared to competitors. The strategic goal is to become a cost leader in the targeted market. These firms constantly seek ways to increase the efficiency of operations while reducing the cost incurred in manufacturing, marketing, and distribution. Wal-Mart, Dell, and Costco are good examples of firms that follow such cost-leadership strategies. Some companies, such as ING Direct bank and JetBlue, differentiate themselves by pursuing a strategy based on providing no-frills but high quality services at a low cost. As we mentioned earlier, companies can pursue more than one strategy at a time. In this case, JetBlue and ING Direct pursue both operational excellence and differentiation strategies.

Differentiation/Innovation Strategy

A differentiation strategy focuses on the creation of a service or product that has unique characteristics valued by customers that often enables the business to charge a premium price. Examples of ways in which a firm can differentiate itself include quality (e.g., Mercedes-Benz), technology (e.g., Apple), and safety (Volvo). Innovation is often a key aspect of a differentiation strategy. Differentiation strategies may require employees to innovate new services or products continually. Innovation oriented companies cultivate an environment that encourages employees to provide new ideas. Examples of innovation oriented companies include Corning, Nike, and Google.

Specialization/Customer Intimacy Strategy

Businesses pursuing a specialization strategy focus on a narrow market segment or niche. This can result in strategy focused on a single product, geographic location, or buyers with special needs. The firm then pursues either a differentiation or cost leadership strategy within that market segment. Organizations pursuing a specialization strategy must know their product or market segment in depth and they often cultivate a high degree of customer loyalty. Customer intimacy is often a key part of the strategy because such firms try to increase loyalty by delivering customizable and unique services and products that meet specific customer needs. A specialization strategy can be successful if it results in either lower costs or an ability to offer customers something other competitors do not. Specialty coffee company Caribou Coffee is an example of a company pursuing a specialization strategy. Caribou Coffee specializes in coffee, and like many firms pursuing specialization, they also have a strong customer focus. Their CEO, Michael Tattersfield, has stated that an “…exceptional focus on quality, whether it’s the experience or product, will resonate with customers” ( Van Tan, 2010 ).

Growth Strategy

Growth strategies can be pursued by a firm using any of the previously noted strategies. Firms that adopt a growth strategy expand their organization by increasing sales, building new facilities, or acquiring new companies. Growth can be achieved organically through consistent growth or inorganically via mergers and acquisitions. When a firm grows organically, it strives to expand from within by opening new stores or facilities. In contrast, when a firm grows via mergers and acquisitions (M&As), it combines with other firms with valuable and rare talents or resources. Organizations can choose whether to expand the company through increases in the current business model or by M&As. Internal growth generally requires the acquisition of additional talent. For example, growth-oriented chains such as Caribou Coffee regularly open new stores that require store managers, employees, and even distribution staff.

It is clear that the types of talent being sought by organizations and the recruitment practices put in place will vary depending on the strategy of the organizations. Organizations pursuing operational efficiency must recruit and attract people who are conscientious and detail-oriented and can focus on low cost, reliability, and consistency. For certain positions, such as buyers, organizations must ensure they are effective negotiators for the firm. In key positions, such as logistics and planning, the organization might invest heavily in recruitment activities while for peripheral positions it might work to attract part-time employees.

An organization pursuing customer intimacy must market and brand itself as customer oriented, and then recruit and attract people able to provide high quality customer experiences. It will probably strive to attract people who are cooperative, extroverted, and conscientious as well as open to learning how to perform tasks differently. This recruitment effort must occur across business units and it must drive down to individual interactions between recruiters and applicants.

Organizations pursuing a differentiation- innovation strategy must recruit people who can support new product directions and who are entrepreneurial during product development and launch. They must be tolerant of ambiguity, open to risk taking ( Schuler & Jackson, 1987 ), and resilient to failure ( Gully & Phillips, 2005 ). Such organizations will probably strive to attract people who are intelligent, open to new ideas, creative, and have a low fear of failure, yet who are focused on high-level performance.

Organizations pursuing fast inorganic growth must develop externally focused recruitment systems able to attract large numbers of qualified applicants. Organizations pursuing consistent internally oriented organic growth must create internal recruitment and employee development systems that allow assignment and deployment from within the organization ( Schuler & Jackson, 1987 ).

Although the SHRM literature suggests the HRM system must be aligned with the external environment and strategy of the firm ( Delery & Doty, 1996 ; Youndt, Snell, Dean, & Lepak, 1996 ), relatively few studies have examined whether such alignment in HRM practices take place. If there is a dearth of literature on strategic alignment for HRM systems as a whole, then there is a virtual absence of empirical work on whether such alignment in recruitment systems actually takes place, and if so, whether it makes a difference.

There have been a handful of theoretical papers addressing this topic. Miles and Snow (1984) reasoned that firms pursuing prospector (differentiator-innovation), analyzer (specializer-customer intimacy), defender (operational excellence), and reactor (survival) strategies must develop different SHRM systems. They further suggest that internal recruitment (“make”) and external recruitment (“buy”) strategies would vary by firm strategies. Likewise, Schuler and Jackson (1987) , Taylor and Giannantonio (1993) , and Olian and Rynes (1984) suggested that recruiting might differentially focus on internal versus external labor markets depending on the strategy deployed. Innovators may need to hire top talent externally for certain positions that will help them achieve the breakthrough innovations required to remain competitive. Olian and Rynes (1984) hypothesized that innovators would concentrate more on research and marketing skills whereas firms pursuing operational excellence (defenders) would focus on finance and production skills. They further suggested that strategy would influence the range and types of skills being sought (e.g., narrow/specialized, broad/flexible). In one of the few studies examining these ideas, research using Taiwanese firms shows that outsourcing of recruitment functions leads to higher perceptions of HRM effectiveness by line managers when they are pursuing an innovation (prospector) strategy ( Shih & Chiang, 2011 ).

In contrast, customer intimacy strategies may require internally focused recruitment to retain employees with a high degree of tacit knowledge relevant to strategic execution ( Nonaka, 1994 ). In those cases where external hiring must take place for firms with customer intimacy strategies, we hypothesize that there will be a strong focus on cultural and values-based fit.

Proposition 2: Strategic recruitment systems will vary in implementation depending on whether organizations are pursuing operational excellence, differentiation-innovation, or specialization-customer intimacy strategies .

Proposition 3: Strategic recruitment systems will vary in focus on internal versus external recruiting depending on the business strategy deployed and whether organizations are pursuing internal organic growth or external inorganic growth strategies .

Next, we briefly review the literature on strategic human resource management (SHRM) to consider better how HRM strategies may vary as a function of business strategy. We then discuss how the SHRM perspective combined with the levels perspective can inform future opportunities for recruitment research.

Strategic Human Resource Management

In the early stages of HRM research, most researchers focused on individual practices to examine their effect on either individual level outcomes (cf. Phillips, 1998 ), or organizational level outcomes (cf. Terpstra & Rozelle, 1993 ). However, most contemporary strategic human resource management (SHRM) scholars argue that the focus should be on bundles of HRM practices when examining the relationship between HRM practices and organizational effectiveness. This is because HRM practices are not used in isolation ( Delery, 1998 ; Huselid, 1995 ; Wright & McMahan, 1992 ) and there is potential simultaneity among HRM practices ( Wright & Boswell, 2002 ). SHRM researchers have concluded that it is more appropriate to use HRM bundles in examining the relationship between HRM practices and organizational effectiveness. Using meta-analytic approaches, Toh et al. (2008) found evidence that organizations used different HRM bundles, including cost minimization, competitive motivation, and commitment maximization practices, which overlays nicely with the strategic typologies discussed earlier.

We agree that HRM practices, including recruitment, must be carefully aligned and bundled with other HRM activities. For example, it makes little sense to recruit for the very best talent in a given profession if a firm doesn’t intend to pay a competitive wage, provide developmental and growth opportunities, and encourage career advancement. If these practices aren’t aligned, it will be hard to convince top talent to join the organization and even if they do come, they will be quick to leave.

Proposition 4: Recruitment systems will be more strategically effective when they are integrated and bundled with other human resource functions and activities .

SHRM scholars have also focused on the particular fit between HRM practices and the organization’s competitive strategy ( Bowen & Ostroff, 2004 ; Miles & Snow, 1994 ; Wright & Snell, 1998 ). Generally, there are two key types of fit being considered. Internal, or horizontal fit, refers to the alignment of HRM practices across various aspects of an HRM system. As noted in the discussion of HRM bundles, different HRM practices can reinforce and support each other when they are integrated and congruent, or they can weaken and undermine each other when they are incongruent. With regard to internal fit, organizations must align their recruitment practices so that they complement each other to achieve the firm’s business strategy ( Bowen & Ostroff, 2004 ; Schuler & Jackson, 1987 ; Wright & Snell, 1998 ; Wright et al., 1994 ). Incongruent HRM practices compromise the effectiveness of the entire HRM system.

External, or vertical, fit refers to the alignment of recruitment with the external context and the organization’s strategy ( Delery, 1998 ; Wright & McMahan, 1992 ). Organizations must ensure that both business strategy and HRM practices are aligned with the demands of the competitive environment, legal/regulatory issues, and the labor market ( Delery, 1998 ). The guiding logic of the strategic fit perspective is that a firm’s HRM practices must develop employees’ skills, knowledge, motivation, and opportunity to contribute so that employees behave in ways that allow strategic execution ( Becker & Huselid, 1998 ; Bowen & Ostroff, 2004 ; Jiang et al., 2012 ; Schuler & Jackson, 1987 ).

For example, recruitment practices must be vertically aligned with the business strategy and the external environment. If a pharmaceutical firm wishes to rapidly expand its ability to deliver drugs through devices using nanotechnology, then it may need a lot of nanotechnology engineers who understand biological and pharmaceutical systems and it must recruit for them accordingly. If there are a lot of competitors seeking this same talent or if there aren’t enough engineers graduating with this capability in the United States then the firm may need to realign its sourcing strategy to focus on external global centers of technical excellence.

Vertical alignment also refers to alignment in systems, policies, and practices ( Arthur & Boyles, 2007 ; Jiang, Lepak, Han et al., 2012 ) that can differentially manifest themselves across levels within a firm. Misalignment across levels can also occur. For example, research shows that perceptions of HRM executives can differ from line executives, who are presumably heads of operating business units or functions (e.g., Wright, McMahan, Snell, & Gerhart, 2001 ). This suggests that espoused or intended policy can differ in implementation and practice across business units ( Khilji & Wang, 2006 ), as shown in the meso-level of Figure 11.1 . If strategic execution is going to manifest itself consistently in the behaviors, abilities, and role performance of individuals across business units then it is important for vertical alignment to exist.

Proposition 5: Recruitment systems will be more strategically effective when they are vertically aligned with the strategy, the external environment, and across levels within the firm .

It is unlikely for a single HRM system to exist in a given organization and the same recruitment practices may not work when applied across the entire organization. Lepak and Snell (1999) noted that an organization requires different employment relationships and a different workforce for different jobs. Gully and Phillips (2005) similarly suggested that although firms may have an overall culture, different work units often have different subcultures. For example, although Merck is known as an innovative pharmaceutical organization, the degree to which innovation may be a core part of a job or a work unit’s culture may vary across the research and development labs, product manufacturing plants, and legal department.

Lepak and Snell (1999) introduced the concept of HRM architecture that explicates what type of HRM system should be considered based on the value and uniqueness of human capital. For example, when a firm staffs jobs which require firm-specific skills, it is better to recruit applicants internally and develop their skills than to outsource the skills because those jobs are generally associated with core competencies for the firm. For such core jobs, recruiters need to find applicants willing to establish a long employment relationship with the firm as well as possessing unique and valuable abilities.

Proposition 6: Strategic recruitment systems will vary in execution based on the centrality of the position to the strategy of the organization .

Given that different forms of knowledge, value systems, and behaviors are required for different work units and jobs in a single organization, recruiting practices should differ across jobs and units within the organization. This is consistent with the meso, or business unit level, of recruitment practices shown in Figure 11.1 . Within a given work unit, specific recruitment practices should be put in place to identify required skills and abilities and attract applicants who fit the job requirements, norms, or culture of the work unit. Yu and Cable (2011) found collective identity and reputational differences across organizational departments that influenced member satisfaction. Such reputational differences may translate into differences in internal recruitment practices and it potentially could influence external recruitment as well. For example, although university reputation can influence the attraction of academics to a particular position, school or departmental reputation can have an equal or larger effect on attraction.

Proposition 7: Strategic recruitment systems will vary in execution across business units and business unit reputation will influence recruitment effectiveness .

Talent philosophy . An organization’s talent philosophy reflects how a firm considers its employees and their role in the business ( Schuler, 1989 ). The talent philosophy is a system of beliefs about how employees should be treated and it is often shaped by its founders. For example, some organizations such as Southwest Airlines view employees as partners and key stakeholders, whereas others, including Wal-Mart, view many employees as more expendable and replaceable.

A talent philosophy can emphasize a make (develop internally) or buy (hire externally) talent perspective ( Miles & Snow, 1984 ). Relatedly, it can concentrate on filling immediate vacancies or hiring for long-term careers. Research suggests that some firms seem to treat employees as having more value or potential than others, focusing attention and organizational resources upon a select group of “stars” ( Schuler, Jackson, & Tarique, 2011 ). Other firms have a more inclusive perspective, believing that focusing on a select few can damage morale and compromise future talent capability ( Schuler et al., 2011 ; Stahl et al., 2012 ). Some organizations and their subunits have a talent philosophy that supports a strong commitment to diversity ( Herdman & McMillan-Capehart, 2010 ; McKay, Avery, & Morris, 2009 ). Organizations may have a talent philosophy that treats employees merely as assets to be mobilized versus partners who mutually invest in each other’s success ( Pfeffer & Veiga, 1999 ; Whittaker & Marchington, 2003 ). Finally, some firms have a talent philosophy organized around ethical behavior ( Kaptein, 2008 ), having a positive impact on society ( Cameron, Bright, & Caza, 2004 ), or exhibiting corporate social responsibility ( Turban & Greening, 1997 ).

Human resource strategy refers to the linkage of the entire human resource function with the firm’s business strategy and talent philosophy in order to improve business strategy execution. It is shown in Figure 11.1 as an entire array of blocks across levels and HRM practices within a given strategy. SHRM practices align a company’s values, goals, and talent philosophy with the behaviors, values, and goals of employees. An organization’s HRM strategy in turn influences the substrategies of each of the HRM functions, including recruitment, selection, performance management, training, and compensation. The alignment of these functions creates an integrated HRM system that supports (or hinders) the execution of the business strategy, guided by the talent philosophy of the organization. Empirical support comes from Toh et al. (2008) , who found differences across organizations in terms of the HRM bundles of activities deployed. They showed that these bundles of HRM activities were associated with organizational values the firm pursued and organizational structure.

An organization’s overall HRM strategy is the constellation of priorities, policies, and behaviors used to manage the flow of talent into, through, and out of an organization over time. An organization’s HRM strategy thus encompasses its approaches to recruiting, acquiring, deploying, and retaining its talent, and the choice of jobs to which it devotes greater or lesser resources. A firm’s recruiting strategy must ultimately reflect its business strategy, human resource strategy, and talent philosophy. If not created intentionally, a firm’s talent philosophy develops on its own as the personal values of high-level managers are expressed in their hiring and talent management decisions and actions. If properly structured, this creates a sustainable form of competitive advantage because it is valuable yet rare to see such alignment in philosophy, strategy, culture, and HRM practices.

Proposition 8: An organization’s talent philosophy will influence the recruitment strategies deployed to support execution of the organization’s strategy .

Implications of SHRM research for recruiting research . The first lesson to be drawn from the strategic perspective is that the effectiveness of any recruitment system for generating firm level outcomes depends on four key issues: (1) effectiveness of the business strategy for yielding sustainable competitive advantage; (2) alignment of the recruitment system with the intended business strategy and talent philosophy; (3) alignment of the recruitment system with other HRM activities or protocols; and (4) alignment of the recruitment system within and across levels (see Figure 11.1 ). In other words, it is difficult to disentangle the firm level effectiveness of a recruitment system from its intended strategic purpose and the other HRM activities that are in place. Perhaps an example will make this clear.

If a company such as Apple decides to pursue a high-priced but generic product strategy, then even if the recruitment system is designed to be perfectly aligned with a generic strategy, the effectiveness of the system will be compromised and the firm is likely to fail. Why? Because Apple’s raison d’etre is to cultivate a brand that ignites the passion of Apple fans through quality customer service and continuous innovation toward the “next big thing.” A generic strategy is not likely to work for Apple, and even if they can do it, customers won’t pay a premium for the products. Thus, even if the recruitment system is perfectly aligned with the strategy, it can’t yield effective outcomes if the strategy itself is deeply flawed.

If, however, Apple continues to pursue its differentiation strategy by releasing innovative and fun products that support its image then we have to consider the alignment of the recruitment strategy with the business strategy. Imagine if Apple’s HRM strategy revolved around treating its workforce as a cost, not an investment, and it pursued a low-cost, low-investment HRM strategy. If the recruitment strategy was perfectly designed to yield low-cost, low-investment outcomes, it would still fail due to misalignment with Apple’s core strategy. Recruiting and retaining the best engineers and designers in technology is not consistent with a low-cost, low-investment approach to HR. However, the same low-cost, low-investment recruitment strategy might work in certain organizations such as McDonalds, Wal-Mart, or other cost leadership companies.

Finally, even if the business strategy, HRM strategy, and recruitment strategy are perfectly aligned, the recruitment effort could still fail if other components of the HRM system do not support the recruitment practices. For example, assume that the recruiting system is able to identify the best and most innovative engineers in the industry for Apple. If the compensation system were misaligned so that engineers are paid 20 percent below industry averages, how likely is it that the recruiting system would be effective in securing hires? Or, assume that the recruiting system is well designed and the pay is good. How strong will retention rates be if newly hired engineers have no path for personal development or career enhancement?

The key point is that recruiting efforts are embedded in a system of activities, each of which must be carefully integrated with the other components in the system. In addition, a given practice’s effectiveness will be determined by both horizontal and vertical alignment, external market forces, and the overall effectiveness of the core business strategy. Also, a SHRM perspective generally, and strategic recruitment specifically, suggests the importance of measuring both processes and outcomes ( Carlson, Connerley, & Mecham, 2002 ) to ensure that practices and structures evolve to meet the demands of the shifting external environment. Adjusting strategies and recruitment systems to meet the demands of an ever changing environment would be difficult without information about the effectiveness of current practices.

SHRM researchers have usually focused on the HRM system rather than individual HRM practices because the overall system of practices may provide the strongest theoretical basis for understanding the HR–firm performance relationship ( Wright & Boswell, 2002 ). As ( Becker and Huselid 1998 , p. 55) observed: “An internally consistent and coherent HRM system that is focused on solving operational problems and implementing the firm’s competitive strategy is the basis for the acquisition, motivation, and development of the underlying intellectual assets that can be a source of sustained competitive advantage.”

We agree that having a systems perspective is important. However, to achieve high consistency in HRM practices, it is critical to understand the specific components that make up the overall system. By way of analogy, it’s hard to understand how a living cell functions if you don’t understand the separate components of the cell, such as the nucleus and mitochondria, even though the cell itself functions as an integrated unit. In particular, it is important to understand how to recruit and attract the right applicants who best fit the overall HRM system, firm culture, and business strategy. If a firm adopts teams as a primary structural unit for strategic execution, and other HRM practices such as training and compensation are also designed based on team units, then an organization that recruits people who lack teamwork skills will have negative outcomes even if individual applicants have high task-focused capabilities. Logically, recruiting lays the foundation for all subsequent components of the SHRM system, and components of the broader SHRM system feed back into the effectiveness of the recruitment system.

External Environment and Organizational Life Cycle

Although a firm’s core competencies are critical to the implementation of business strategies and adoption of HRM practices, there are other contextual factors beyond a firm that shape recruitment and HRM practices ( Jackson & Schuler, 1995 ; Lengnick-Hall & Lengnick-Hall, 1988 ; Rynes, 1991 ; Rynes & Barber, 1990 ). For example, economic conditions, characteristics of the labor force, employment regulations, industry characteristics, national politics, country culture, and technology are possible factors that are connected to the effectiveness of recruitment systems. This is indicated by the arrows from External Environment to strategy and levels within the firm shown at the top of Figure 11.1 .

Economic and labor market conditions can affect recruitment practices. Rynes and Barber (1990) suggested that different forms of recruitment activities, pecuniary and nonpecuniary inducements, and pursuit of different types of applicant pools can occur depending on labor market conditions and vacancy characteristics (e.g., hierarchical level). In poor economic conditions, company growth is typically slower so there is less need to focus on rapid growth and recruiting, thus reducing pressures on external recruitment. At the same time, there are often more potential applicants searching for jobs so the challenge for strategic recruitment is not to generate large numbers of applicants but to enhance strategic fit for the few positions that are open. Part of this process is allowing people to self-select out as well as self-select into the process, based on perceived fit. In contrast, when economic conditions are positive, many organizations are growing rapidly and there is an intense competition for talent in the labor market. In this case, organizations will strive to make themselves attractive to top talent, and they will use both pecuniary and nonpecuniary means to do so ( Rynes & Barber, 1990 ).

Proposition 9: When economic conditions are poor or the labor market is loose, strategic recruitment systems will focus more on internal as opposed to external recruitment efforts. When economic conditions are good or the labor market is tight, strategic recruitment systems will shift to focus more on external as opposed to internal efforts .

Proposition 10: When economic conditions are poor or the labor market is loose, strategic recruitment systems will focus more on allowing applicants to self-screen out of the process. When economic conditions are good or the labor market is tight, strategic recruitment systems will shift to focus more on attracting top talent than on screening out misfits .

Globalization is another external factor that can influence recruitment within a given organization. Firms have to face the challenge of global talent management demands ( Schuler, Jackson, & Tarique, 2011 ) because international competition is intensifying. The United Nations estimated that as of 2011 there are more than 103,000 multinational corporations (MNCs) with more than 892,000 foreign affiliates ( UNCTAD, 2011 ). Managers are now required to compete across borders for the best employees who are able to work in global settings ( Schuler et al., 2011 ). As Schuler and colleagues (2011) note, workers are more important than ever for MNCs that strive to remain locally and globally competitive.

A growing body of research suggests that cross-cultural differences can influence staffing practices ( Colakoglu, Tarique, & Caligiuri, 2009 ; Collings, Scullion, & Morley, 2007 ; Ma & Allen, 2009 ; Morris et al., 2009 ; Ployhart, 2004 ). However, other than work on expatriates, only a few articles (e.g., Ma & Allen, 2009 ) have considered how recruitment practices might vary according to the forces of globalization or MNC subsidiary or cross-cultural context. A firm’s HRM and recruitment practices need to reflect the demands of a global workforce. For example, global travelers are increasingly used to manage the globally distributed workforce ( Shaffer, Kraimer, Chen, & Bolino, 2012 ) but we know little about how to recruit for these critical positions ( Phillips, Gully, Castellano, McCarthy, & Kim, in press ).

Research has demonstrated that people in different global contexts vary in their reactions to HRM practices including selection techniques ( Phillips & Gully, 2002 ; Steiner & Gilliland, 2001 ), merit pay programs ( Gully, Phillips, & Tarique, 2003 ), and using drug and alcohol testing to manage counterproductive behavior ( Seijts, Skarlicki, & Gilliland, 2002 ). It is reasonable to expect that global differences in perceptions, practices, and reactions to such practices will influence recruitment effectiveness. For instance, Froese, Vo, and Garrett (2010) found symbolic perceptions of Japan and the United States predicted attractiveness of U.S. and Japanese foreign companies in Vietnam beyond instrumental job characteristics. We suggest that because of regulatory, cultural, and economic differences across countries ( Colakoglu et al. 2009 ), strategic recruitment systems must vary across subsidiaries and global/local contexts.

Proposition 11: Strategic recruitment systems must address the global context for globally distributed organizations. Strategic recruitment must increasingly focus on customizing recruitment systems to meet the global demands of specific positions (e.g., global travelers) as well as of local contexts (e.g., recruiting sensitivity to local culture) .

The degree of diversity in the labor market also plays an important role in adjusting HRM systems. Given that the composition of the workforce induces emotional and behavioral consequences and affects team and organizational outcomes ( Jackson & Joshi, 2004 ), it is not surprising that firms consider diversity when hiring. Depending on the importance of diversity to the firm’s philosophy and strategy, firms should show differences in recruitment activities in response to shifting demographics.

Proposition 12: Strategic recruitment systems will most strongly respond to shifting demographics in the labor market among firms that value diversity .

Organizational life cycles also can affect a firm’s HRM systems ( Baird & Meshoulam, 1988 ; Schuler, 1989 ). As organizations form, grow, and decline, they need to adjust their HRM and recruitment practices to meet the needs of each stage. For example, during the forming stage, HRM managers should pay more attention to establishing basic administrative routines and hiring exempt employees. Such organizations focus on growth, and employees often have to serve in multiple roles owing to the limited number of employees. Young organizations also must find ways to attract high-quality talent despite weak images and reputations and limited resources. Strategic recruitment for young organizations must emphasize growth, opportunity, and entrepreneurial orientation and focus on organizational branding, image, and reputation to attract highly qualified applicants. This is in direct contrast to more mature organizations.

As organizations grow and become more complex, HRM managers are required to increase professionalism in functions and managerial skills, adopt advanced compensation programs, and actively respond to external needs ( Baird & Meshoulam, 1988 ). Larger organizations generally have more codified and institutionalized rules of operation. Mature firms often have more resources to invest in recruiting initiatives and stronger reputations and images. Strategic recruitment for mature organizations can still emphasize growth and opportunity, but it can also emphasize strength and stability. The organizational brand, image, and reputation are likely to be strong so recruiting activities can focus on taking advantage of these attributes rather than building them, unless of course, the perception is negative. In this case the recruitment activities must deal with anchoring and adjustment heuristics by highlighting change.

Proposition 13: Strategic recruitment systems will vary as a function of organizational life cycles. Early in the organizational life cycle recruitment will focus on attracting talent through opportunities for growth and development. Later in the organizational life cycle recruitment will focus on attracting talent through stability and reputation .

Future Research Opportunities

What would happen if we took the notion of strategic recruitment seriously? If we accept that recruitment strategy manifests itself across levels of analysis, alignment with business strategy, and congruence with other HRM practices, how have we been doing in terms of our progression of knowledge? Table 11.2 represents the current state of knowledge formed by integrating current research findings with the model presented in Figure 11.1 .

Arrayed across the top, representing columns, are examples of recruiting outcomes across levels of analysis. Theoretically, one could also include extra-organizational outcomes, but because we are focused on recruitment for and within organizations, this is beyond the boundaries of our discussion. The examples of outcomes are meant to be representative but neither exhaustive nor exclusive. Some of the outcomes might warrant inclusion in other levels and there are certainly other outcomes one might envision for inclusion.

The levels arrayed across the rows indicate input factors that influence recruitment outcomes. Extra-organizational factors are included because they can influence recruitment outcomes across and within organizations. We also added a set of job factors that is not included in Figure 11.1 for three reasons. First, the influence of job factors can unfold across levels and even outside organizations. For example, job influences can involve career, vocational, and industry effects (e.g., Ackerman & Heggestad, 1997 ; Kristof-Brown et al., 2005 ) so the level can be extra-organizational, depending on how it is treated. Second, the influence of a job factor may depend on whether it is considered core or peripheral to the firm’s strategy ( Lepak & Snell, 1999 ). Thus, job level could not easily be incorporated into the model represented in Figure 11.1 . However, job factors belong in our evaluation of the literature because of the volume of research on how job factors influence recruitment of individuals.

Putting these factors, or predictors, together with outcomes, we obtain fifteen cells. We will not try to review research in every cell for two reasons. First, some cells lack research to consider. In these cells the opportunities to have a significant research impact is great. Second, other cells contain a large amount of well-reviewed research. In particular, typical reviews on recruitment research address cells 6, 9, and 15. Instead, we focus our discussion on macro cells 1 through 5 and briefly address the remaining cells.

Cell 1 contains a large amount of economic research on how economic and labor market conditions influence the quality and size of the labor pool and aggregate recruiting efforts (e.g., Davis, Faberman, & Haltiwanger, 2012 ; Davis, Haltiwanger & Schuh, 1997 ). There is less research from the recruitment arena. Rynes and Barber (1990) suggest the nature of recruitment practices will vary depending on market conditions. When vacancies are unattractive or labor shortages are chronic more aggressive strategies than standard recruitment practices must occur. For example, signing bonuses or additional pay may be used to attract scarce applicants, or nontraditional sources such as out-of-country labor pools may be targeted. Rynes and Barber (1990) called for more research on such topics but in the two decades that have passed little new work has appeared. In a rare empirical piece, Dineen and Williamson (2012) determined that perceptions of labor supply, firm reputation, and quality-based compensation incentives are associated with increased use of screening-oriented messages, which in turn, influences the quality of the applicant pool.

This is a good start but many questions remain. Do the labor market, economic conditions, and globalization alter strategic execution of recruitment systems? Are recruitment strategies differentially effective depending on these extra-organizational factors? Does recruitment strategy effectiveness vary by region, culture, or business strategy, and if so, under what conditions is it more or less effective?

Cell 2 contains little or no research on how extra-organizational factors influence recruitment strategy, practice, or effectiveness for business units or teams. Recruitment strategies and practices are likely to vary across business units in reaction to labor market and economic conditions that are driven by local or subsidiary HRM issues (e.g., Colakoglu et al., 2009 ). Similarly, global forces may dictate the types of recruitment practices that can be put in place for business units operating in specific regions. We know little about whether business unit or team recruitment strategies vary, whether they are differentially effective, and whether they respond to extra-organizational factors such as the economy, labor market, globalization, or technology. There is plenty of anecdotal evidence that business units will alter recruitment strategies when labor markets are tight. For example, research and development labs go to great lengths to find top quality engineers or scientists, especially when too few are graduating to meet growth needs. However, the way in which such decisions are made, the manner in which such forces shape recruitment strategy, and the effect on recruitment outcomes are virtually unknown.

In cell 3 we find more research on how individual reactions to recruitment activities may vary in reaction to extra-organizational effects such as the economy, global effects, or technology. For example, for economic effects, we find that permanent job losers often are hesitant to accept new job offers if they are below their pre-separation wages. As a result, they may take a long time searching for similar jobs even when their prospects are brighter elsewhere ( Katz, 2010 ). We can also find studies for how long and hard people search for jobs depending on unemployment status (e.g., Wanberg, 1995 ; Wanberg, Glomb, Song, & Sorenson, 2005 ). If economic conditions influence job search they should also influence recruitment outcomes, but specific studies examining how the economy, labor market, globalization, and technology shapes individual reactions to recruitment efforts are lacking.

Do strategic recruitment practices differentially affect individual outcomes depending on economic and labor market conditions? It may seem obvious to say yes but many questions remain. For example, Gully, Phillips, Castellano, Han, and Kim (in press) conducted a study in the midst of the 2008 economic downturn and found that active job seekers still valued fit with organizational values such that higher levels of perceived fit led to greater attraction and job pursuit. But are applicant concerns about fit stronger during economic upturns than downturns? Are there specific practices that can enhance fit during recessions but not in expansions and vice versa? If so, do they have different effects on perceived fairness of the process as well as quality of the applicants? It seems that shifting from “screening in” to “screening out” is likely to generate perceptual and attitudinal effects. For example, perhaps potential applicants will see “screening out” activities as less fair than “screening in” activities. What are the activities and messages that signal such a shift in strategy to potential applicants?

For global effects we can easily find studies on global staffing, cross-cultural influences, or expatriate adjustment (e.g., Caligiuri, Lepak, & Bonache, 2010 ; Schuler et al., 2011 ). Despite a fair amount of work on selecting expatriates and global managers there is less targeted toward their recruitment. Ma and Allen (2009) reasoned that cultural values moderate relationships between recruitment practices and outcomes. Are recruitment practices differentially effective in different global contexts? Do job search behaviors and recruitment outcomes differ in response to global contexts and economic conditions? Are applicants in some global regions differentially responsive to organizational image, reputation, stability, and size? It seems likely.

Marketing research demonstrates international and cultural differences in response to brand image and marketing strategies ( Erdem, Swait, & Valenzuela, 2006 ; Roy & Chau, 2011 ; Steenkamp, 2001 ). Cultural differences in terms of uncertainty, collectivism, importance of status, perception of global brands, and identification with local brands are thought to influence reactions to marketing and advertising messages. Do job seekers around the world similarly differentially weigh status and global/domestic differences when seeking employment?

More research exists on the use of technology and technologically mediated tools for recruitment and its influence on individuals. A survey of 15,600 people indicated that job board ads were the top source for how respondents found their previous job ( WEDDLES.com, 2008 ). Job boards accounted for 20.1 percent of company hires in 2011, second only to employee referrals ( Rafter, 2012 ). The use of the Web for recruiting has implications for individual recruiting outcomes.

Familiarity with Internet navigation is significantly associated with general job search activities, particularly for those who want to explore job options in private and without fear of retribution ( Feldman & Klaas, 2002 ). Job seekers are also more likely to use the Internet for job hunting when the geographical scope of the job hunt is large, when a large salary increase is desired, and when a variety of types of firms (e.g., large and small) are being considered as potential employers. In addition, use of the Internet is perceived as less effective than personal networking, but superior to searching for jobs through newspaper ads or “cold calling.”

The use of organizational web sites for recruitment has become common ( Cober, Brown, Keeping, & Levy, 2004 ). Initial affective reactions to a website’s aesthetic and playfulness features influence perceptions of website usability, and perceptions of usability and affective reactions are related to job seeker search behavior, website attitude, and applicant attraction. Braddy, Meade, Michael, and Fleenor (2009) examined the effects of four “careers” website content features (pictures, testimonials, organizational policies, and awards won) on viewers’ perceptions of organizational culture. Participants with weak culture preferences formed less favorable person–organization (P–O) fit perceptions as they perceived a stronger cultural message. Participants with strong culture preferences formed more favorable P–O fit perceptions as they perceived an organization to more strongly portray the desired cultural attribute.

Social media sites such as Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook are becoming increasingly important as recruitment and job search tools ( Workforce.com, 2012 ). Yet, even as social media is increasingly used we don’t know much about who benefits the most from such recruitment efforts. Research on social networks (e.g., Carpenter, Li, & Jiang, 2012 ) would suggest that some potential applicants would benefit more from social media tools than others. Also, some firms may benefit more from reputational or image effects from the use of such sites than others. Does the effect vary by country? Again, we know little even as the use of such tools is exploding.

One might expect to see a lot of research in cell 4 representing organizational level recruitment predictors or inputs and organizational level recruitment outcomes. The amount of research on SHRM systems seems to indicate that we know a great deal about strategic recruitment at the macro level. However, the body of research is relatively barren. As Wright and Boswell (2002) note, relatively few studies examine the influence of single practices on organizational outcomes. The seminal article in this area is by Terpstra and Rozelle (1993) , but they were focused on staffing, not recruitment. The item used to measure recruitment was “Does your organization conduct follow-up studies of recruiting sources (e.g., direct applications, employee referrals, college recruiting, want ads, etc.) for any jobs to determine which sources yield greater proportions of high-performing employees?” Their study was valuable for establishing the link between staffing practices and organizational performance but it doesn’t really inform us about how recruitment strategy might be linked to business strategy or organizational effectiveness.

Numerous studies have been conducted on HPWS but relatively few have explicitly examined recruitment strategy. For example, ( Huselid 1995 , p. 646) indirectly measured recruitment with the following question: “For the five positions that your firm hires most frequently, how many qualified applicants do you have per position (on average)?” This taps into one aspect of recruitment, the applicant pool size, but it doesn’t address the many nuances discussed throughout this chapter. Similarly, Youndt et al. (1996) measured hiring selectivity. Again, work from the SHRM perspective on HPWS has been important for pushing our understanding of how bundles of HRM practices influence meso and macro level performance. However, it has not helped us to get a good handle on strategic recruitment effects in organizations.

One of the most comprehensive macro recruitment measures used is the eight-item dichotomous (Yes/No) scale measuring recruitment technique and evaluation based on the work of Cascio (1987) used by Toh et al. (2008) . Items asked if the organization had a formal recruitment or staffing plan in place; whether recruiters were trained or instructed to provide realistic information to job candidates about available jobs; and whether six different types of data were routinely collected to evaluate and improve recruitment efforts (e.g., total recruiting budget, number of prospects hired for each recruiting source used, success after hire of individuals from various recruiting sources), in combination with other measures of HRM practices. Toh et al. (2008) observed bundles of HRM practices ranging from cost minimizers (low investments in HR), contingent motivators (focusing on using contingent pay systems), competitive motivators (buying talent externally), resource makers (developing talent internally), and commitment maximizers (using full investments across HRM to maximize motivation and commitment). Investments in recruitment were negatively associated with cost minimizers and contingent motivators and positively associated with the other bundles. This provides information about how organizational attributes are related to recruitment practices or strategies.

Two studies ( Collins, 2007 ; Collins & Han, 2004 ) demonstrate that recruitment strategy effectiveness is moderated by organizational factors such as product awareness and firm reputation. Collins and Han (2004) found that recruitment practices, corporate advertising, and firm reputation had direct effects on applicant pool quality and quantity. In addition, low-involvement recruitment practices were more effective for firms with low levels of corporate advertising and weaker or lower firm reputation. In contrast, high-involvement recruitment practices were more effective for firms with higher levels of advertising and stronger or higher firm reputation. Collins (2007) found that when product awareness is low, low-information recruitment practices are significantly and positively related to application behaviors through employer familiarity and employer reputation. When product awareness is high, high-information recruitment practices are related to job seekers’ application behaviors through employer reputation and job information. This shows that recruitment practices are differentially effective depending on employer reputation and brand awareness.

Barber, Wesson, Roberson, and Taylor (1999) suggest that recruitment practices of larger firms are generally more formal and bureaucratic than those of smaller firms. In addition, job seekers have different preferences regarding firm size, which is related to job search behavior. Barber et al. (1999) indicated that processes involved in matching large and small employers to applicants differ so much that they may comprise separate labor markets. Kroon, Van De Voorde, and Timmer (2013) likewise argue that high-performance work practices in small firms are notably different from large firms, in part because of scarce resources and in part due to global and contextual differences in the strategic execution of such firms.

We can see that recruitment strategies must vary as a function of firm characteristics such as reputation, size, resources, and brand awareness. This is good progress but again, many questions remain. Do different business strategies result in different recruitment practices? If so, do they manifest different effects depending on how and when they are implemented or as a function of reputation? Can a weak or inappropriate recruitment strategy break a bundle of HRM practices? Do effective recruitment strategies yield incremental or synergistic effects with other HRM practices? Do certain strategies maximize certain outcomes (e.g., increasing size of the applicant pool) while having negative effects on other outcomes (e.g., decreasing average quality in the applicant pool)? If one thinks about it for a bit, a myriad of questions appear.

Cell 5 contains little research on how organizational recruitment practices influence business unit or team outcomes. We can imagine that some business units or departments are afforded greater resources and flexibility in their recruitment practices owing either to their reputation ( Yu & Cable, 2011 ) or strategic importance to firm execution (e.g., HRM departments; Barney & Wright, 1998 ). Also, recruitment practices may vary across units and teams depending on the internal and external labor market and current and future talent requirements. We simply don’t have much research in this arena but we can consider many possibilities.

First, do business units and teams differ in their recruitment strategies and practices? The answer is almost certainly “yes.” Caribou Coffee discovered the most important competency across district managers was their ability to effectively staff the position of store manager. Taking the time to carefully search for and find the best replacement for a store manager instead of automatically promoting someone based on tenure had a major positive impact on revenue ( Heide & Sevy, 2010 ). But what differentiates managers or leaders who focus on recruiting effectively from those who do not? What are the organizational influences (e.g., support, resources, training, socialization) that influence business unit or team recruitment activities? For that matter, how do business unit and team recruitment activities vary across units or teams?

We know much about how organizational characteristics (e.g., culture, image, reputation, and use of websites) influence applicant attraction and job choice behaviors (cell 6: e.g., Breaugh, 2012 ; Cable & Turban, 2003 ; Dineen, Ash, & Noe, 2002 ; Highhouse, Lievens, & Sinar, 2003 ; Judge & Cable, 1997 ). Organizations send messages to influence their projected image ( Cable & Yu, 2006 ) which is intended to influence job seeker attitudes. For example, firms that send messages about environmental or corporate social responsibility ( Aiman-Smith, Bauer, & Cable, 2001 ; Gully et al., in press; Jones & Willness, in press) are more likely to attract applicants in general and most likely to attract those who have values congruence. People perceiving higher fit with organizational values, as communicated through a variety of messages including pay practices, are more likely to be attracted to the firm ( Cable & Judge, 1994 ). Many previous reviews of recruitment research have thoughtfully parsed the various findings in cell 6 (and others) to provide a clear perspective on when, how, and why organizational factors influence individual recruitment outcomes.

We know something about how recruitment for top executives influences organizational performance (cell 7) but much less about how other job related recruitment predictors influence organizational strategy and firm performance. We know almost nothing about how business units or teams use specific recruitment practices to address job or role demands or how jobs or roles influence recruitment practices in business units or teams (cell 8). We have a large amount of research on cell 9, which examines the influence of job/role characteristics on individual outcomes (e.g., behaviors; Chapman, Uggerslev, Carroll, Piasentin, & Jones, 2005 ; Phillips, 1998 ). People are clearly influenced by job characteristics including pay, job security, benefits, and global travel demands ( Cable & Judge, 1994 ; Lievens & Highhouse, 2003 ; Phillips et al., 2012 ). We have relatively little research on cells 10 and 11 examining how business unit or team recruitment activities and inputs influence organizational and business unit/team outcomes.

We can use team staffing and team composition research to extrapolate recruitment effects in cell 11. Wright, Smart, and McMahan (1995) found that basketball teams’ performance was superior when they recruited players with competencies consistent with their current strategies. Yet we still lack a basic understand of how, when, and why business units may differentially engage in recruitment activities, much less their effects. Although some research exists on how business unit recruitment activities (e.g., job postings, recruitment source, timing, site visits, etc.) influence individual outcomes (cell 12), other than CEOs, star performers, and upper-level executives we have little information in cell 13 on how individual recruitment activities influence macro outcomes and actions.

The research that does exist for cell 13 suggests that engaging in external recruitment to hire star performers may not have the expected effects on organizational outcomes ( Bidwell, 2011 ; Groysberg, Lee, & Nanda, 2008 ; Oldroyd & Morris, 2012 ). In fact, external hiring of stars often results in a performance decline unless they are able to bring their colleagues with them ( Groysberg & Lee, 2008 , 2009). This is consistent with the RBV suggesting that human resources are valuable in part because of the causal and social complexity that exists within firms. But when do firms engage in recruitment for groups of colleagues and why do they do it? The attraction–selection–attrition model ( Schneider, 1987 ) suggests organizational culture and performance are influenced by individual level processes. What is the aggregation or composition effect that yields macro-level outcomes based on individual level processes? Is it consistency in recruiter behaviors? Consistency in media and messages communicated to individual potential applicants? Branding? More questions arise than can be addressed here.

Finally, we have little or no research on how individual recruitment activities influence business unit or team effectiveness. We can extrapolate from work on person–group fit ( Kristof-Brown et al., 2005 ) but we have little else to draw upon. Finally, a large body of research on cell 15 exists on the impact of individual level factors and practices on individual level outcomes.

When we apply a strategic perspective to recruitment we begin to see that we must consider vertical alignment across levels and with business strategy. We also must consider horizontal alignment, or congruence with other HRM practices. Applying these ideas to the current body of research we find that of fifteen cells created by a 3 by 5 matrix, only four of them are strongly populated with research findings. Theory and extrapolation suggest that strategic recruitment effects may permeate all fifteen cells but huge opportunities exist for expanding our knowledge of recruitment practices and outcomes across levels.

We close with a few points to consider regarding strategic recruitment. First, people who don’t apply can’t become employees. Because sourcing and recruiting determine who becomes an employee, sourcing and recruitment activities must be given appropriate resource investments. Even if recruiting converts only a small percentage of people into applicants, if they are a good fit the effort will be fruitful because training, performance management, and compensation activities can impact only the people ultimately hired. The rest of the HRM system faces an uphill battle compensating for deficiencies in the recruiting process because you can’t make up for fundamental loss in talent, capability, motivation, or fit in values and personality.

Firms often invest a large amount of energy into thinking about and recruiting for top positions (e.g., CEOs) or star performers. However, transplanting star performers often doesn’t work. It is also critical to remember that recruiting for lower level positions impacts the future talent pool for higher level positions, particularly when the company promotes heavily from within to fill higher level jobs. It is therefore essential to recruit for competencies important to these higher level jobs when recruiting to fill lower level positions. Many leadership shortages can be traced to ineffective recruiting for the lower level feeder positions to leadership roles.

It can be useful to think of recruiting in terms of supply chains ( Cappelli, 2009 ). As Cappelli notes, “failing to manage your company’s talent needs is the equivalent of failing to manage your supply chain.” Executives, line managers, and HRM professionals should be asking questions such as, “Do we have the right types of talent in stock?”, “Do we know where to get the talent if we need it?”, “Does it cost a lot of money to carry inventory in talent?”, and “What is the best system for getting talent where we need it when we need it?” ( Cappelli, 2008 ). This perspective highlights that static forecasting and planning won’t work in a turbulent, uncertain, and variable context. Effectively managing recruiting and talent management processes in the face of contextual complexity will be certain to provide a sustainable source of competitive advantage because so few firms are able to do so.

Finally, strategic recruiting requires flexibility in thinking and approach. Recruiting different types of people for different jobs in different global contexts with different economic conditions requires consistent adjustment and adaptability to meet the demands of every situation. In addition, the appropriate system and methods deployed during the recruitment effort will vary across levels and business units or teams.

We have attempted to provide a different perspective on recruitment research by looking at recruitment practices through a strategic lens. Along the way we provide a number of testable propositions and we use our model presented in Figure 11.1 to suggest new directions for research. Filling the observed voids in our scientific understanding of recruitment practice will go a long way toward enhancing our understanding of strategic recruitment.

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Module 6: Recruitment and Selection

The recruitment process, learning outcomes.

• Discuss the recruitment process

Recruiting is the art of attraction, a process that requires a clear understanding of what makes the company unique as well as what type of person a company wants to attract. It’s also important for human resource personnel to be aware of the subtleties of communication—for example, differences in how behavior, gestures, language (and silence) is interpreted, and the associated message received.

In a recruiting briefing for employers, employer research, review and job posting site Glassdoor made the following recruiting recommendations, supported by Harris Poll survey data of adults who were searching for work, both currently employed and not currently employed. [1]

Get inside the Job Seeker’s Mind

• Transparency about pay/benefits: 44%
• Information about growth opportunities: 39%
• Company’s track record of promoting from within: 37%
• Positive employee reviews: 35%
• Attractive benefits: 48%
• Convenient commute: 47%
• Relatively high salary: 46%
• A layoff announcement: 44%
• Negative interactions with a recruiter or hiring manager: 40%
• Negative employee reviews: 35%
• Leadership or employee scandals: 33%

Gender Differences

• Female respondents were more likely than male respondents to cite CEO misbehavior as a reason to exit the recruitment process (42% vs. 21%)
• Female respondents were more likely than male respondents to rate poor customer service levels as a detracting factor (39% vs. 23%)
• Female respondents were more likely than male respondents to cite negative employee reviews as a deterring factor (43% vs. 28%)

Optimize the Candidate Experience

• Clear and regular communication: 58%
• Clear expectations: 53%
• Feedback regarding rejection: 51%
• Lack of information about pay and benefits: 50%
• Interview schedule changes: 50%
• Untimely responses: 47%
• Lack of information about job responsibilities: 46%
• Gender differences note: Female respondents were more likely than male respondents to be frustrated about lack of compensation information (57% vs. 44%) and lack of information about job responsibilities (55% vs. 39%).

With that perspective, let’s discuss the recruiting process. Recruiting is the phase that occurs after human resource planning and before selection. The goal of the recruitment process is to build a pool of qualified candidates. To be effective—from both a successful placement and cost of hire standpoint—the recruiter should have a complete job description that includes job specifications or minimum acceptable qualifications (and, perhaps, desired qualifications), essential functions and an ability to speak to job responsibilities and other details. The recruiter should also be able to articulate how the role contributes to the organization’s strategy and should develop a recruitment plan. Planning points to consider include evaluating your employer brand, identifying candidate sources, evaluating related technologies and—an ongoing responsibility—cultivating passive candidates and encouraging positive word of mouth. We’ll discuss these points further below.

Practice Question

Case study: randstad hire hope.

At a time when the Great Resignation and the steady retirement of Baby Boomers are creating a talent acquisition nightmare for HR professionals and their organizations, Randstad’s Hire Hope program is developing an overlooked pool of job candidates in the Atlanta area.

The 37-week curriculum-based program is for women who are survivors of homelessness, human trafficking, domestic abuse and exploitation. The students are trained in HR-related functions such as benefits, payroll, and recruiting.

Classes contain 12 to 14 participants. There are eight learning modules each with a set of lessons, objectives, and assessments that students must complete to move forward into the three program phases. Randstad employees, ranging from front-line workers to senior vice presidents and members of the C-suite, volunteer as classroom facilitators, mentors and job trainers.

Phase 1, Restore: This is a 12-week interactive career-readiness training. Teachers focus on topics such as resume and cover letter writing, interview preparation, and professional development. Two weeks into Phase 1, students are paired with a mentor and are encouraged to remain in contact even after the 37 weeks of the program. About 80 percent of participants move into the next phase of the program.

Phase 2, Grow: This is a 25-week module that consists of strengths and career-assessments, job training, and paid apprenticeships with Randstad clients. About 90 percent of students move into the final phase of the program.

Phase 3, Thrive: Randstad holds a graduation ceremony and encourages all employees to attend. Graduates are placed in temporary or permanent positions at Randstad or with Randstad corporate partners. They receive six months to one year of career-transition support after finishing the program.

Between 150 and 200 women have been employed by Randstad corporate partners through Hire Hope since Randstad launched the initiative in 2014. Program graduates are required to return to the classroom and share their career journey with new participants.

“It’s a phenomenal program,” Crystal Crowley, Senior Inclusion and Community Impact Manager, said of Hire Hope. “It’s worth getting involved. It’s worth [putting in] the time and effort to build this within organizations to ensure we’re giving back to the communities we serve, to help impact the world we live in.”

Gurchiek, Kathy. “Hire Hope Prepares Women”. SHRM . www.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/hr-topics/organizational-and-employee-development/pages/hire-hope-prepares-women-from-underserved-communities-for-world-of-work. Accessed May 26, 2022.

• " 50 HR and Recruiting Stats for 2019: Glassdoor for Employers ." Glassdoor for Employers. Accessed July 15, 2019. ↵
• The Recruitment Process. Authored by : Nina Burokas. Provided by : Lumen Learning. License : CC BY: Attribution
• Case Study: Randstad Hire Hope. Authored by : Robert Danielson. Provided by : Lumen Learning. License : CC BY: Attribution
• Finding Qualified Job Applicants. Authored by : Nina Burokas. Provided by : Lumen Learning. Located at : https://courses.lumenlearning.com/wmopen-businesscommunicationmgrs/chapter/finding-qualified-job-applicants/ . License : CC BY: Attribution
• Modification of Avatar Photos. Authored by : Coffee Bean. Provided by : Pixabay. Located at : https://pixabay.com/illustrations/avatar-customers-photos-ecommerce-3127928/ . License : CC0: No Rights Reserved . License Terms : Pixabay License

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5.1 The Recruitment Process

Introduction:  design of chapter 5.

Recruitment and Selection involves attracting, screening, and selection qualified people for jobs.  They both are related to the hiring process. While recruitment is the process of searching for the right candidate, selection is the process of choosing the right candidate from a short list of applicants.

Chapter 5 includes both Recruitment and Selection as a continuum of processes.

Recruitment

The recruitment process is an important part of human resource management (HRM).  Recruitment is defined as a process that provides the organization with a pool of qualified job candidates from which to choose. As a process, recruitment involves an element of marketing and sales, as its objective is to raise the level of interest of customers (i.e., prospective employees) in what the company has to offer (i.e., jobs).

Recruitment Importance

In today’s workplace, recruitment has an impact on an organization’s competitive success. Hiring the wrong person for a job can be costly to organizations. Therefore, highly talented and motivated employees offers a competitive advantage which is a firm’s ability to add value to the company through it’s assets (one being its human resources); and is able to lower its costs.  When poorly hired employees with the wrong skills and/or experience success for companies is at risk.

Employers also recognize a diverse workforce leads to success.  Some companies introduce employment equity programs to correct an imbalance of a diversified employee workforce. Human Resources departments monitor their recruitment plans to proactively ensure they are increasing their employee pool with workers from varied cultures, religions, gender,  different abilities, etc. By choosing a pool of applicants from various backgrounds, expands the pool of talent and employers have a great choice of applicants. It also can improve the image of the employer as a credible and diversified employer.

Attracting employees is an ongoing challenge for employers. It is important that HR departments are part of the planning process to ensure a diverse employee pool is secured. This is created through the strategic or capital plan.

Human Resource (Capital) Plan

Although it might seem straightforward, obtaining the right talent, at the right place and at the right time, is not easy and requires extensive planning. A human resource plan comprises six main steps:

• Evaluate the goals of the organization . What is the organization’s plan for growth? Does it need personnel to staff a new office or retail location? Is it hoping to multiply the size of its sales force to support a significant sales push? Does it intend to offer additional customer service or internal support to boost customer satisfaction?
• Identify the factors that might affect the Human Resource (Capital) Plan . This is where the NOC and O*Net Online can be helpful. Large and small companies alike should examine information from local chambers of commerce, business publications, and industry associations to predict possible developments in the market. That can include new businesses or other larger employers increasing their hiring or laying off employees.
• Establish the current talent landscape. Keeping the organization’s objectives in mind, there is a need for a complete picture of the current workforce. A detailed company organizational chart can illustrate the jobs, skills, and competencies of each member of the organization.
• Trend Analysis. Many factors need to be accounted for when looking ahead for future needs: turnover rate, investments in new technology, the economy, the unemployment rate, and the competition (poaching) can all influence the ability to achieve one’s staffing goals. Performing a trend analysis based on historical data is an effective way to forecast labour needs.
• Conduct a gap analysis . The difference between your future needs and the current landscape becomes the target to meet for your recruitment process.
• Develop a Recruitment Plan. Considerations for a recruitment plan are considered in the following sections.

Trend Analysis

Trend analysis examines past employment levels against selected business variables to predict future staffing requirements. To perform this analysis, an HR manager will select the factor(s) that influence labour levels the most and chart them for a four-to-five-year period. The headcount for the current time period is used with the historic data to arrive at a ratio to calculate future staffing needs. The usefulness of a trend analysis depends on the operational factor selected.

For example, a moving company wants to determine how many employees it will need for the upcoming moving season. It uses sales,  an operational factor and, according to historical records, it needs 3 movers for every $5,000 in sales. When the strategic plan calls for average weekly sales of $50,000 during the holiday shopping season, HR can predict a 30-employee staffing requirement.

Another more complex example would be how hospitals prepared for the pandemic. The number of nurses needed for each COVID patient in intensive care would be an appropriate operational factor for hospital staff projections. A hospital may determine that it normally needs, on average, 0.2 nurses per intensive care patient per day. However, that ratio would rise significantly, to 0.8, from all of the protection measures required. Using projections of public health officials, a hospital predicted that when the pandemic was to hit, it would treat approximately 50 COVID patients. Thus, it determined that it would need 40 nurses as opposed to the normal 10.

Recruitment Pipeline

When drafting a recruitment plan, it is easy to underestimate the resources and time required for the process to unfold. On average, the time between the posting of an employment ad on a company’s website and actually having an employee sign an employment contract is around 40 days. If you change the end-point to the time at which the new employee actually meets minimal performance requirements, the timeline is more like six months. Given this delay, HRM managers need to be proactive and one step ahead of future vacancies. The objective is not simply hiring for open positions but hiring for positions that are likely to be open in the future. Tracking recruiting pipelines using analytical tools helps create a more efficient recruitment process. Here is an example of a workplace analytics firm that helps organizations in making these predictions.

Yield Ratio

Yield ratio is a performance indicator that pertains to the percentage of candidates from a specific source that made it from one stage to the next. For example, if 100 applicants sent resumes and 30 of them were convened for interviews, the yield of that step would be 30%. Essentially, the yield ratio shows the efficiency of the selected recruiting method. An HR manager could compare the yield of different recruitment sources to determine which one he or she should invest in for the future. For example, LinkedIn could have a yield of 25% of interviewees compared to Indeed with a yield of 20%. If the cost of posting is equal, posting on LinkedIn could be more beneficial. The image below shows the recruitment yield pyramid for “a company who received 240 applications, where only 120 passed the resume screening. Then, 30 were given an assignment. Only 15 were invited to an interview. Five went through to an executive interview. One received an offer” (Bika, n.d.). 

“ The Recruitment Process ” from Human Resources Management – 2nd Ontario Edition  by Elizabeth Cameron is licensed under a  Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

Human Resources Management - 3rd Edition Copyright © 2023 by Debra Patterson is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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The ins and outs of candidate sourcing for recruiters

Table of contents, what is candidate sourcing, an overview of sourcing stats, tips for successful candidate sourcing, 1. employee referrals, 2. social media recruiting, 3. job boards and career sites, 4. talent pipelines, 5. recruitment events, 6. recruitment agencies, what you should remember about candidate sourcing.

In today’s highly competitive job market, recruiters are constantly seeking new and effective ways to source top talent.  Candidate sourcing  is the process of identifying and attracting qualified people for job openings. It’s an essential part of the recruitment process, and the success of any hiring strategy depends on effective candidate sourcing.

To attract top talent , recruiters must adopt a multi-faceted approach incorporating traditional (more passive) and modern candidate sourcing methods. Traditional methods include job postings, referrals, and career fairs . 

In contrast, modern methods include social media recruiting, candidate relationship management (CRM), and talent pipelines .

Whether you’re a seasoned recruiter or new to the field, here are valuable insights into candidate sourcing to help you develop a comprehensive sourcing strategy that meets your organization’s needs.

Candidate sourcing is the process of identifying, attracting, and engaging potential job candidates for open positions within an organization. 

It is also an integral part of your company’s recruitment process. It allows your recruiters to find and connect with qualified candidates who may not have otherwise applied for the job.

This process can involve various methods, including job postings on job boards, career sites, and social media platforms and using search engines to identify potential candidates. Recruiters may also use referrals from current employees or industry connections, attend job fairs, or work with recruitment agencies to source candidates.

The ultimate goal of   candidate sourcing is to build a pool of qualified candidates that can be considered for current or future job openings. By sourcing candidates proactively, recruiters can reduce the time and cost associated with the recruitment process and improve the chances of finding the best candidate for the job .

Effective candidate sourcing requires a combination of targeted sourcing techniques , a strong employer brand, and a positive candidate experience throughout the recruitment process.

Here are some helpful  candidate sourcing  stats:

• According to a LinkedIn report, 85% of all jobs are filled through networking and employee referrals .
• Jobvite found that social media recruiting increased by 73% over the past four years.
• The same study also found that employee referrals are the most effective source of hire, resulting in a 46% retention rate after one year, compared to 33% for job boards and 22% for career sites.
• According to Glassdoor, the average job opening attracts 250 resumes. Still, only four to six candidates will be invited for an interview.
• A study by CareerBuilder found that the average cost of a bad hire is nearly £15,000 .
• SmashFly found that candidates in a talent network are 3.5 times more likely to apply for a job opening and 50% more likely to be hired than non-network candidates.

These brief and certainly not comprehensive statistics show that effective candidate sourcing is critical for successful recruitment . A multi-faceted approach , including social media recruiting, employee referrals, and talent networks, can help your company attract and retain the best candidates.

Finding the right candidate isn’t always easy. That’s why understanding some fundamentals about candidate sourcing can make all the difference between hiring top talent and a revolving door of temporary staff. Here are some valuable tips to keep in mind during the  candidate sourcing  process: 

• Align with your hiring manager early and regularly.
• Start with candidate sourcing from your Applicant Tracking System (ATS) .
• Craft a candidate engagement strategy with your team.
• Understand why previous candidates weren’t hired.
• Diversify your  candidate sourcing channels .
• Tap into your employees’ networks.
• Be proactive about sourcing roles you don’t have open yet.
• Perfect your recruiting pitch .
• Craft a cutting-edge employer band with the hiring manager.
• Continue to follow up with candidates who don’t respond.
• Find the tool that is suited to your needs.

Stay in constant contact with your team, understand your needs and employer brands, and continue to build relationships with candidates for the best candidate-sourcing results. 

6 candidate sourcing strategies

Recruiters can source candidates using a variety of methods, depending on their recruitment goals, target audience, and available resources. Here are some practical ways to source candidates:

Employee referrals can be a valuable tool in the candidate sourcing   process. By leveraging the networks of existing employees, companies can tap into a wider pool of potential candidates and increase their chances of finding the right fit for the job.

One of the main benefits of employee referrals is that they often lead to higher-quality hires . Because the referring employee already knows the candidate, they can vouch for their skills and experience, as well as their cultural fit within the company. 

This can save your hiring managers time and effort in the screening process, as they can trust that the referred candidate has already been vetted to some degree.

You may also consider employee referrals because they help improve employee engagement and retention . When employees are given the opportunity to refer their friends and acquaintances for open positions, it can make them feel more invested in your company’s success. 

When referred candidates are hired, they are more likely to stay with the company longer than those who were sourced through other channels.

Social media has become an increasingly popular strategy for recruiting candidates during the sourcing process. Platforms such as LinkedIn , Facebook , and Twitter can help your company target specific audiences and connect with potential candidates more personally and engagingly.

Social media recruiting allows companies to reach a wider pool of potential candidates. By posting job openings on social media, your company is sure to tap into the networks of its followers and employees , as well as those of industry groups and influencers.

Additionally, social media gives you the ability to target specific demographics, such as location, job title, and interests, to ensure that the most relevant candidates see your job postings.

Social media recruiting can also help to improve your company’s employer brand . By regularly posting about company culture, employee testimonials, and job openings, you can establish yourself as an attractive place to work and build a following of engaged followers.

Job boards and career sites are two of the most traditional, yet highly effective tools for recruiters during the candidate sourcing process. They allow recruiters to reach a large pool of potential candidates quickly and easily, ultimately finding the right talent with more agility. 

Job boards and career sites offer a variety of filters and search options to help your recruiters narrow down their search to find the right candidate, including: 

• Specific skills;
• experience;
• education level;

When you use job boards and career sites, you gain access to a built-in applicant tracking system (ATS) that allows your recruiters to manage candidates, track progress, and communicate with them easily. This saves recruiters time and helps them keep their recruitment process organized.

Job boards and career sites also provide job seekers with the ability to post their resumes and apply for jobs quickly and easily . This increases the chances of finding the right fit for both the employer and the job seeker.

A talent pipeline refers to identifying and nurturing relationships with potential candidates who may not be actively looking for a job but who have the skills and experience that your company is looking for to fill any given position. 

By creating a talent pipeline during your candidate sourcing process, you can r educe your time-to-hire rate and improve the quality of your hires . When a job opening becomes available, you can quickly reach out to candidates who have already been vetted and pre-screened, ultimately filling the position more rapidly and with a higher-quality candidate.

Talent pipelines can also help your company build out its employer brand and reputation within the industry. You’re building relationships, which means that you can smoothly communicate your company values and culture, and become increasingly attractive in a candidate’s eye.

The more robust your talent pipeline, the more you can identify potential gaps in your company’s workforce, and, as such, proactively recruit candidates with the right set of skills to fill in those gaps. In doing so, you stay ahead of the curve and gain a competitive advantage in your field. 

Recruitment events, such as job fairs, career fairs, and industry conferences , are valuable tools for recruiters during the candidate sourcing process because they provide them with a unique opportunity to connect with potential candidates face-to-face and build personal relationships with them.

At these events, recruiters can showcase your company and job openings to a captive audience of job seekers who are actively looking for new opportunities. By participating in recruitment events, you increase your recruiters’ visibility and attract top talent that they might not have found through traditional sourcing channels.

In addition, recruitment events offer a platform for recruiters to network with other professionals in their industry . This can help them stay up to date with industry trends, build relationships with potential clients, and gain insight into the competition’s hiring strategies.

Recruitment events also provide a way for recruiters to learn more about the needs and preferences of potential candidates . By speaking with job seekers directly, recruiters can gain insight into what motivates them, what they are looking for in a job, and how they prefer to be contacted.

Recruiting agencies, also known as staffing agencies or headhunters , can be valuable resources for companies during the candidate sourcing   process. These agencies specialize in identifying, attracting, and vetting potential candidates, allowing you to focus on other aspects of your business.

Recruiting agencies have extensive networks of contacts and access to a larger pool of potential candidates than many companies can access on their own. They also have experience and expertise in identifying the right fit for your company , taking into account not just the candidate’s skills and knowledge but also their personality, work style, and cultural fit .

Using a recruiting agency can also save your company time and money in the recruitment process. The agency handles all aspects of the recruitment process, including  candidate sourcing , screening, and interviewing, which can be time-consuming and costly for you to do on your own.

You can also benefit from a recruiting agency because it gives you a flexible workforce solution if you need to fill roles quickly, or need seasonal staff, part-time workers, or contractors.

An effective candidate sourcing strategy should be multifaceted and incorporate a range of sourcing methods . It should also be tailored to your specific needs and the roles being filled. By leveraging a variety of sourcing methods, recruiters can ensure they reach a wider pool of qualified candidates and find the best fit for their organization.

Companies that want to speed up the process of finding candidates can also use recruitment tools like Greenhouse . These tools give you a single place to post jobs, communicate with candidates, and schedule interviews. Recruiters can save time and do a better job of finding the best people for the job by using recruitment tools.

• Candidate sourcing  is a vital aspect of the recruitment process that requires a strategic and proactive approach. 
• By using a variety of tools and techniques, such as job boards, career sites, talent pipelines, recruitment events, and recruiting agencies, recruiters can identify and engage with potential candidates more efficiently and effectively. 
• Successful  candidate sourcing  can lead to faster time-to-hire, higher-quality hires, and a stronger employer brand. 

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A Comprehensive Guide in Recruitment of Intelligence Sources

In the complex landscape of intelligence gathering, the recruitment of reliable and effective sources is a cornerstone of success. Whether operating in the realms of national security, corporate intelligence, or law enforcement, the ability to acquire valuable information hinges on building a network of well-placed and trustworthy sources.

This comprehensive guide explores the intricacies of recruiting intelligence sources, providing insights, strategies, and ethical considerations for practitioners in the field.

Section 1: Understanding the Landscape

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