I keep hearing about companies that are increasingly struggling hiring the talent they need currently and for future growth.
The one solution that continues to be thrown out is adding a sourcing function within their talent acquisition department.
Adding sourcing to your talent acquisition team is definitely an option to help you obtain the talent you desire. It’s also a really expensive option! Anytime you’re adding head count, you’re adding the most expensive resource to your team of all options.
I was at the HR Tech Conference in Las Vegas this week and one thing was for certain — talent acquisition technology is coming after your sourcing work!
Recruitment marketing and recruitment automation technology was clearly the fastest growing segment of technology vendors at the HR Tech Conference.
Large companies can get some of the best technology on the market to help them source and attract candidates for about $25-$100K per year, ballpark, depending on what you need and choose. Your average Sourcing Pro is going to run about $75K on average. That’s one person, no technology.
I know the biggest and best firms will have both. I also know that most of us will have to make a choice between these two options.
Some will try and do both, by limiting the spend on both sides, get some technology and an entry level kid to bang on the internet to find talent. I believe you’re probably best by going all in one way or the other, if you have limited resources.
Based on what I saw at HR Tech this year, and the growth from just last year, I can tell you I would bet my resources on buying the technology!
Recruitment marketing and automation technology can provide you with much of the attraction muscle that you need, plus continue on the back end to re-target and continually connect with potential candidates you don’t even know you need yet.
It’s hard for me to write this because I have a bunch of friends who are great sourcing pros, and do excellent work. I think there will always be a place for great sourcing pros in the world, like most great talent.
The problem is that most sourcing pros aren’t great, they’re just average. Technology is better than average, which is why I ask the question — Will the technology make most sourcing obsolete as we know it right now?
I think it probably will.
By the way, I also heard non-stop all week at HR Tech how technology is also going to make recruiters obsolete. That begs the question: What human interactions will be most valuable to Talent Acquisition in a future technology driven attracting and hiring process?
My take: It’s going to be the ability of one person talking to another person about why they need to come and work at your company.
It sounds simple, but the best Sourcing Pros and best Recruiting Pros do this exceptionally well. They build relationships with candidates, build trust, find ways to make candidates believe working for your company is better than any other option they have.
So, they can sell. The technology will run the process, screen, test, assess, communicate the basics, etc. What the technology can’t do is sell.
The future of sourcing and recruiting is selling. Ironically, it’s also the past!
This was originally published on Tim Sackett’s blog, The Tim Sackett Project.
