Tech recruiting: how to maximize your sourcing effectiveness

Sourcing is a recruiting practice built on the digital: it's about targeting potential candidates online before reaching out and starting the hiring process.

That said, this method, simple as it looks, has many limits if it isn't used with care. Above all, it lacks personalization, which can have a negative impact on highly sought-after profiles, like those in tech.

How does sourcing work? What are the mistakes to avoid? What does a high-quality recruiting method look like? This article is here to walk you through everything about sourcing.

Sourcing, a complete solution to candidate search?

What is sourcing?

Sourcing is a recruiting method that consists of identifying potential candidates online based on certain targeted criteria. More and more companies practice this hiring approach.

Sourcing relies on keyword searches across various digital platforms, or on outreach through social networks. It's about "hunting" for profiles across a wide range of online sources.

The method therefore rests above all on the establishment of a precise profile. These searches are based on specific criteria such as education level, professional experience, the skills the role requires…

What does effective sourcing look like?

That said, the digital approach isn't enough on its own: it's meant to simplify and speed up profile searches, but it doesn't replace the other recruiting steps. Interviews in person, by phone, or by video are needed to complete the process.

And that part of recruiting is the most expensive for the company: it takes a lot of time and ties up one or several employees at a time for a single candidate.

The goal of good sourcing is to target the most relevant profiles for the role as well as possible, with the aim of screening out as many candidates as possible who are likely to be a poor fit and fail at the interview. To do this, a few traps are worth avoiding.

What traps should you avoid to source effectively?

Don't rush

Before launching the search for a candidate, it's essential to clearly define which profile you need. Otherwise, you risk:

• A major waste of time due to imprecise searches
• A major mismatch between the profile you want and the candidate responses you're likely to receive
• A poorly written ad, likely to make a potential candidate give up on applying

Take care with the candidate approach

Sourcing and targeting a candidate online doesn't mean you can neglect the human approach:

• Properly understand the current role and activities of the potential candidate to show them, when you reach out, that they're a perfect fit for the missions you're approaching them about
• Adapt the ad to its target: using language poorly suited to the type of profile you're looking for can be a deal-breaker (use of informal vs. formal address, language that's too technical or not technical enough…)
• Take care with how you talk about your company: it's very important that the well-defined profiles you're addressing can see themselves in the company's values and want to join. A well-presented work environment and clearly framed and supported growth prospects are recommended.

What advice should you follow when sourcing?

Involve the teams

Recruiting is a collective effort. To properly define the profile of the candidate the company will hire, you need to understand what the teams need.

That also lets you prepare the interview, defining and anticipating with them the possible questions about the responsibilities of the role.

Properly define the hiring criteria

Defining realistic criteria is also necessary to hire well:

• What type of education should the profile you're looking for have followed?
• What salary range are you ready to negotiate for the role in question?
• What flexibility do you expect from the future employee? For example, how much remote work is possible?
• What experience is needed for the work you're hiring for?

Thinking carefully about these criteria lets you rank them. That will help you decide which are most important to you. For example, whether you prefer a candidate with more experience or you'd rather prioritize a more advanced academic background.

Polish your process

When you reach out to a candidate, you need to show that the hiring process is well organized to reassure them. That includes several elements:

• The hiring timeline is very important during the outreach process. You need to give the candidate clear deadlines: the date of the various interviews, the potential tests they'll need to take, etc.
• The explanation of the role you're hiring for: don't hesitate to explain how the responsibilities involved have a real impact within your company. The candidate is being hired for specific skills, technical and/or interpersonal, that have a valued place in your company.

What are the alternatives to sourcing in tech recruiting?

Other hiring methods use sourcing while complementing it with a more personalized approach. That's especially strategic in sectors where there's tension and the most interesting profiles are heavily courted, like tech.

Bluecoders offers tailored support for hiring profiles in the tech sector.

This area of expertise can be hard for many companies in the middle of digital transition to grasp. A tech-culture primer, for example, is a good prerequisite for setting up a hiring process.

Turning to external agencies that are experts in recruiting, especially in tech, is interesting because it's a very specific sector: a strong foothold in the ecosystem allows for greater efficiency in finding qualified profiles.

Attending the most recent events, contact with tech startups and scale-ups, or with the world of DevOps and engineers, lets Bluecoders mobilize a substantial network with a wide variety of profiles.

Being present at company events, networking events, schools and training programs, forums and trade shows, allows us to build close relationships with the main players in the field. Bluecoders was thus present (link to future article on VivaTech to include?) at the 2022 edition of VivaTech to build connections with the wide range of professions that make up the tech community.

What types of recruiting do candidates prefer?

In general, it's worth asking which hiring approach is the most effective and attractive from the candidates' point of view.

The personalized approach is always the best: an ad that correctly targets the concerns of its audience allows the candidate to identify perfectly with the description of the role and the hiring process.

That takes more time, but diversifying your search sources and getting support in your steps helps make your ads more relevant. The ideal, then, is to combine sourcing and a personalized approach. Sourcing because it saves you time, and the personalized approach because it earns you points with potential candidates.

It's essential not to set aside the personal qualities and interests of candidates. Joining a company also means choosing a place to work, colleagues, a company spirit: your future employees have to feel good there and project themselves into it. So you have to avoid a scattergun, generic approach that could be addressed to anyone.