How social sourcing can help win the talent war
Andrew Lafontaine
Todays workforce is more dynamic than ever. This makes retaining talent increasingly difficult because people are changing jobs more frequently, but, on a more positive note, social tools mean everybody is now a potential candidate for your next vacancy. Your business must embrace these changes to remain competitive. Welcome to the world of social sourcing.
Attracting and retaining talent is a global issue of growing importance. The average millennial is expected to have 17 employers spanning five careers during their lifetime. Only 28 per cent of respondents in Deloittes fourth annual Millennial Survey believe their current employer makes full use of their skills. Research from Roy Morgan has found more than one in four Australian workers will consider changing organisations within the next 12 months.
Historically your HR team has waited for a position to become vacant before looking to the market. This is a reactive approach to recruitment that risks exposing your organisation to unnecessary skills gaps. A better approach is to build a pool of talented people who are interested in joining the company and keep them engaged using social media until a suitable role becomes available. This proactive strategy will significantly reduce the time it takes to hire.
To do this effectively you need a social sourcing strategy that considers which audience segments youre going after, where you plan to engage them and the messaging you want to deliver:
Understanding your target audience
The first step is to identify specific candidate segments with the required qualifications and experience. You need to develop an understanding of their likely career path and the challenges they face in their current roles. This will help determine whether their objectives align with yours.
Picking your communication channel
Which social networks will you use to engage this audience? You might use LinkedIn to share content with relevant groups and identify potential targets. You could also distribute your messaging through Twitter using relevant hashtags. If its a creative role, then Instagram or Pinterest might be part of the mix. Then there are platforms like MeetUp and Eventbrite to help you find relevant networking events.
Developing tailored content
Clear messaging is the trigger you need to engage potential candidates and pull them into your organisation. This content needs to be focused on them and not you. Show them how you understand the challenges theyre facing and how you can help them achieve their career goals.
Delivering business outcomes
With a pool of readily available talent at your fingertips, you can reduce the time and cost associated with hiring new staff. A sales role might be fairly straightforward for your organisation to fill, but a vacant back office job can quickly have a negative impact on customer service. With social sourcing you already have a handful of vetted candidates as soon as that role becomes available.
Social sourcing is an opportunity for your business to take a more proactive approach to finding and attracting talent. Yet its important to remember this is a supplement to human interaction and not a replacement. Its an opportunity to connect your business with available talent and build a relationship. Your people skills will still go a long way towards defining how successful your social sourcing strategy is.
The writer is Senior Director HCM Strategy Transformation, Oracle APAC
