As my first blog was really more of an introduction of myself, I decided to use this blog posting to go over a topic that all of us are (or should be) interested in:  sourcing.  That one word can either make a recruiter salivate or cringe.  Why is that?  Well, for one thing sourcing has traditionally been hard to do.  It meant casting the net out using sources like job board resume searching, networking, and even cold calling.  Not to mention actually posting ads in newspapers or other print media only to have to go through stacks and stacks of resumes.  (If you were even lucky to get resumes from newspaper/magazine ads).  The recruiting world has now almost unanimously agreed that print media is not only obsolete in finding most job seekers, but that it also increases Cost-per-Hire (CPH) and Time-to-Fill (TTF) metrics.  In my own sourcing efforts at Mercy Medical Center Redding, I try not to use print media.  When I do, I not only use it for posting my jobs but more importantly as a branding tool for name recognition.

 

So without print media, then what else can you use?  Well, for one thing let's start with a basic premise.  Whatever technology you have at your disposal, let it work for you.  Let me give you an example of what I mean.  At Mercy, we use an Applicant Tracking System (ATS) called Vurv.  Vurv was formerly known as RecruitMax and Vurv (the company) has recently been acquired by Taleo (the giant in the industry of Vendor Management Systems).  Be that as it may, Vurv (the system) is not as robust as it should be but it does do a good job with all of the basics.  Though there are many components of functionality that are missing, it does have a great "agent" or "bot" that can go out and source the entire enterprise-wide database for you on a daily, weekly, monthly or whatever-basis to yield resumes of qualified candidates for you.  Since CHW is a large enterprise (44 facilities) the agent, called AutoSpot, has a large database to mine and extract from.  I have made several hires from candidates that were AutoSpot-sourced. 

 

This is just one example but you can also do the same with the job boards as well.  Monster, CareerBuilder, and HotJobs (not to mention countless other job boards) offer the same types of resume search agents as Vurv does.  I have made several hires from these as well.  The beauty of these agents is that you determine which keywords to include and you can make the search specific by using "quotations" to do so.  Other Boolean string commands like AND and OR also help but the bottom line is, automating this function has easily cut my sourcing time down by at least 50%.  You can use that time to do other more meaningful things like generating management reports or developing strategy.  In any event, these are just a few examples of how you can have technology work for you.  In the end, you need to be a good steward of your own time.  Recruiters are very busy people and without strong time management skills and tools that help to automate your work, you will be at a distinct disadvantage. 

 

I invite you to try these agents with your ATS or with the job boards to which you have a subscription.  I guarantee that you will reduce your sourcing time, make life easier for yourself, find qualified candidates and be a happier recruiter for employing my advice.  Happy hunting and God bless!