A new report reveals the top spots for finding the best candidates.
Amber Hyatt
Surges in hiring, intense competition for skilled candidates, an increase in employer branding, and the rise of technology are all causing organizations to reshape the way they approach candidate sourcing. The explosion of online recruitment means candidates are always on and seeking meaningful experiences with potential employers. Job seekers aren’t lacking options – in fact they have more now than ever -they are accessible anywhere, at any time, and from any type of device.
In today’s hiring climate, the need to effectively source talent is urgent with 38 percent of employers globally facing talent shortages, according to research from Manpower. In the Americas alone, 42 percent of employers report difficulties filling jobs. Between job boards, hiring engines, social sites, and internal mobility programs, the bevy of choices to find the right candidates is challenging recruiters to make intelligent selections in order to develop the right talent pipelines and optimize their recruitment budgets. SilkRoad’s 2016 Top Sources of Hire Report reveals some insight into the best approaches:
Internal Sourcing is Key
More than ever, organizations are selecting candidates not just by skill set, but also by culture fit. Hiring teams must articulate and deliver a consistent message about the culture, mission, and values of the organization through a strong employment brand. If done effectively, employees will understand the brand and communicate it to others, which explains why employee referrals dominate recruiting among internal sources. SilkRoad’s research finds that referrals rank number one for hires among all the sources of hire, and produce 40 percent of interviews and 37 percent of hires.
Industry studies show that well-designed referral programs are a powerful components of the sourcing mix. They can enlarge the talent pool, create a strong employer brand, and increase employee engagement in the company. Among these benefits, referred candidates are faster and less expensive to hire and train, have higher retention rates, are best for specialized positions, and are of higher quality than those not pre-screened by current employees.
External Sources Provide Ease of Access
With candidates searching for jobs the way they shop online, it’s clear external online sources are key for organizations hoping to attract top talent. For recruiters seeking the most bang for their buck, job search engines like Indeed continue to deliver:
• Indeed delivers more than six times as many interviews as CareerBuilder, the next largest external source;
• Indeed yields nearly two and half times as many hires as all the other top branded external sources combined, i. e. CareerBuilder, Craigslist, LinkedIn and Monster; and
• The two top job search engines -Indeed and Simply Hired -account for the lion’s share of external online recruiting activity: 62 percent of interviews and 59 percent of hires.
Still a critical component of recruiting, job boards comprised nearly 22 percent of all sources, delivering 18 percent of interviews and 12 percent of hires. But a further analysis of the data shows that job search engines greatly outperform job boards among external sources due to several benefits:
• One-stop shop for job seekers with millions of open positions across the web all aggregated into one;
• Pricing structures allow organizations to post jobs for free and charge only for job seeker visits on a pay-perclick basis; and
• If a company uses a direct feed from an applicant tracking system (ATS) to job search engines, most recent openings are automatically posted and are reaching candidates efficiently.
Job search engines like Indeed serve as strong models for producing interviews and hires by offering access to three key components every candidate seeks during the job search experience:
• Centralized location of available job postings;
• Easy application in just a few clicks; and
• High mobility for application on-the-go.
Muscle Behind Mobility
Mobile recruiting capability is no longer an option for employers -it’s tablestakes. Though mobile devices are a tool and not a source, job seekers around the globe use them 24/7 to find positions and engage with prospective companies. In fact, Indeed Apply accounted for 44 percent of all of Indeed’s interviews and 25 percent of all of Indeed’s hires in 2016.
In the U.S. alone, 64 percent of adults now own a smartphone of some kind. Of those, 43 percent used their phones in the past year to look up a job. Globally, a billion smartphones are expected to sell in the coming year -double the number of desktops. Organizations must allocate budget to enable recruiting systems for small screen applications and all types of handheld devices. Otherwise, recruiters risk losing candidates to their more tech-savvy competitors.
Looking Ahead
The complexity of the talent landscape requires insights into the best source of hire for any organization. Increased competition for top talent has altered the balance of the recruiter-candidate relationship, and changes in accessibility and candidate expectations demand that talent management adapt.
With hiring budgets thin and employee shortages increasing, organizations must make smart selections in their candidate sourcing to add quality talent to their team now and into the future. While no two organizations are alike, evaluating organizational needs against emerging opportunities to acquire talent provides the best chance to source competitively for each and every hire.
Amber Hyatt, SPHR, SHRM-SCP is director of product marketing for cloud-based talent management solutions provider SilkRoad.
Referrals rank number one for hires among all the sources of hire, producing 40% of interviews and 37% Of hires.
Job search engines Indeed and Simply Hired account for 62% of interviews and 59% Of hires.
