The world of work has changed over the last few years, creating a ripple effect on talent sourcing and the global talent market.
Employees around the world have made a few things clear. Toxic workplaces are out. People are refusing to settle for poor company culture. Burnout is on the rise creating a stronger need for work-life balance. If you want to retain your team, that is.
Skyrocketing inflation rates and unmatched salaries which haven’t been raised are making employees wonder if the grass is greener on the other side.
How can you level up your talent sourcing strategies to stay competitive in 2023? What can you do to look after your team’s wellbeing?
Let’s unpack some creative strategies you can use to level up your retention game and hire smart.
What is talent sourcing?
Talent sourcing is the process of finding and attracting exceptional and qualified candidates for your open roles. It requires hiring managers and HR to be actively pursuing and seeking candidates rather than just waiting for potential applicants to come to us.
When HR uses a strong talent sourcing strategy, they take a more active role in finding the kind of quality candidates that they really want. They don’t just post job ads on job boards and hope for the best.
They work on sourcing candidates for the role and help the potential candidate realise that, even if they weren’t actively searching for a new role, that they should make a move.
What is the state of talent markets around the world in 2023?
Wherever you are around the world, one thing is clear in the global talent market. Money talks in 2023.
For recruitment and retention, salary is definitely the most likely way to yield results — so keep that in mind, especially when it comes to your high performers.
But a deeper dive into each region reveals some interesting results.
In Australia, it’s still very much an employees’ job market. Despite international workers flowing back into the economy, job vacancies remain high, giving employees the gift of choice. In November 2022, the Australian Bureau of Statistics found that there were 444,200 job vacancies, only a marginal decrease of 4.9% from August 2022.
Over in the UK, our latest report suggests that while intentions to move companies have slowed, an unsteady employment market could still see employees keeping their options open.
In New Zealand, 2022 was the year of talent shortage. In 2023, our insights show that unemployment remains low and job vacancies remain high — meaning it’s still very much an employees’ job market.
Some insights from our exclusive Australian Talent Insights Report
Why is it so hard to find qualified candidates in today’s market?
1. The impact of the cost of living crisis
With so many redundancies to be made due to the cost of living crisis and economic instability, employers are having to create leaner workforces.
Our UK Talent Partner Daniella Angel suggests that “Leaner teams mean employers are forced to think carefully about who they keep and who they lose,”
She says “exceptional talent amongst the most qualified candidates are being retained, which makes headhunting highly qualified candidates more challenging due to pressures from their current company to keep things going.”
2. Ideal candidates are driving a hard bargain
Echoing the cost of living crisis is the shift in employee pay expectations. Across the global market, one thing is clear: many employees feel that their salary is not keeping with inflation.
In Australia alone, back in 2021, 21% of job seekers would have been prepared to switch to a role with similar pay. Only 14% feel the same way in 2023.
More are now looking for a 10% increase (38% compared to 34% in 2021) and a 20% increase (26% compared to 23% in 2021).
Get more insight into regional exclusives from our Talent Insight Report for Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom to see how you can level up your retention strategy.
How can hiring managers create an effective talent sourcing strategy?
A classic talent sourcing process would include things like uploading job ads to different job boards, or cold contacting (contacting someone without an introduction) people that you believe would be a good fit for the role.
But, such a competitive job market demands a little bit more.
HR and hiring managers need to be more strategic when they are sourcing candidates moving into 2023.
To capture the attention of the best candidates, you need to think outside the box.
13 tips for sourcing candidates in 2023
Let’s unpack some candidate sourcing strategies that you can use to boost your talent sourcing efforts.
1. Create a strong employee referral program
When it comes to a talent acquisition strategy, an employee referral program is one of the most powerful tools in your arsenal. Asking your staff to become advocates of your business can help you tap into quality talent within their extensive professional networks, and help you boost your appeal as an employer.
It’s a great, personal way to source the best talent that hiring managers otherwise wouldn’t have access to.
According to the job site CareerBuilder, 82% of employers rated employee referrals above all other sources for generating the best return on investment for recruitment. Employees hired through referrals also come into the candidate pipeline 55% faster than those sourced through career sites.
Are you looking to set up an employee referral program for the first time? Our employee referral outreach template can help you get started.
2. Encourage internal applications
Before you look externally, invite existing team members to apply for the roles you’re hiring.
Career development is one of the best ways to retain your employees, so make sure to encourage any team members looking to take the next step. Help them upskill with a Learning Management System (LMS) with thousands of online courses, and track their goals with Objectives and Key Results (OKRs).
3. Create a unique employee value proposition (EVP)
The talent sourcing game has changed drastically over recent years. Compensation is not the only part of the decision-making for qualified candidates in the market.
This is where creating an EVP can help with the talent acquisition strategy.
What is it that makes working at your business a unique experience for your employees? When you go beyond employment and a salary; what else makes working for your business special?
Its perks, benefits and programs. It’s business values, vibes and structure. All of these things make up your EVP.
Your EVP should be unique to your business. If it isn’t, 2023 is the time to bolster it. What additional rewards, benefits or programs could you introduce that make your business a place that potential candidates just can’t say no to?
Employment Hero can help boost your EVP and give you solid foundations to build on with your own flair. Learn more about what employee benefits you can offer.
4. Allow your team to be 100% remote
When you think of expanding your talent pool, you know that changes will need to occur to accommodate candidates. Gone are the days of being bound by borders or being chained to your desk.
With many yearning for work-life balance, embracing a remote work style can help them achieve this, and you’ll be able to engage with talent all across the globe – no matter their location.
This instantly opens up your talent pool and puts you ahead of the competition. If you want to access the best talent the world has to offer, you should consider the remote-first approach to work.
Want to learn more? We’ve created this comprehensive remote working playbook that will take you through everything you need to know.
5. Hire international talent
One of the biggest perks about adopting a remote-first approach is how it widens your talent pool and empowers you to hire internationally. Giving you the chance to consider candidates that you might otherwise not have encountered.
As you hire internationally for the first time, you may want to consider the time zones that are suitable for your team to work with. And make sure your tech stack is in tip top form to set your team up for success remotely.
Make use of our international hiring guide. It covers everything you need to know about hiring internationally for the first time, and key considerations to keep front of mind.
We have regional exclusives for Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Philippines and the United Kingdom.
6. Encourage a flexible work policy (that’s actually flexible)
Let’s face it. No one loves the idea of being chained to their desk in the office. It’s all well and good to say you’re a flexible workplace, but it’s another thing to actually mean it. You need to live and breathe it. This is where it’s important to lead by example.
Describe how your workplace supports flexible working by providing examples in job descriptions. Whether it’s leaving early for a doctor’s appointment, ducking out for a gym session or taking the kids to a soccer game, empowering your team to choose where and when they work is an attractive perk and can instantly expand your talent pool.
Looking for more information on how to be a flexible workplace? Take a look at our guide to implementing a flexible work policy.
7. Review your company culture
Seeing a high turnover in your company? Struggling to get actionable feedback from them out of worry about any repercussions?
A few recurring themes in our Talent Insights Report suggests that around the world, working culture has gotten worse.
In Australia, a dislike for their job (35%), poor company culture (33%) and a dislike for their boss (32%) were the top reasons for employees to seek a position elsewhere.
We discovered similarities in New Zealand and the United Kingdom too — amplifying an immediate need to review your company culture.
Make use of our happiness surveys to get the chance to gain some valuable insight into how your company culture really is. Your team will be able to submit anonymous feedback and get the chance to be heard, while you’ll be able to get some actionable feedback.
8. Champion a culture of diversity and inclusion
According to our Gen Z at work report, 13% of Gen Z workers say that people and culture are their top priority when considering a new job.
With the younger generation entering the workforce, there’s never been a better time to look at your company culture and work on diversity and inclusion in the workplace.
For Gen Zs, work isn’t just a means to make ends meet. It’s also an experience. 75% of Gen Z workers expect their employer to provide mental health tools or strategies. This shouldn’t stop at your Gen Z employees. Everyone’s wellbeing matters. Make room in your plan to account for your LGBTQ+, neurodivergent and multi-generational workforce, while you’re at it.
Building a positive company culture isn’t just trendy, it’s essential for attracting and retaining talent. Think creatively about how you can value employees, as individuals and as a team.
9. Use an applicant tracking system
This might not be the most creative suggestion on this list, but it’s absolutely essential to the recruitment process and is often overlooked.
What’s your standard recruitment process at the moment from the candidate’s point of view? How long does it take job seekers to get from applying for the role to being offered the position?
It’s not unusual for a quality candidate to have to go through a screening call, 3-4 rounds of interviews and complete a task as part of their recruitment process.
During that time, there’s lots of administration happening on the other side, as internal stakeholders swap feedback and manually move candidates through the funnel.
There’s a common recruitment statistic to remember here; the best talent is off the market within 10 days. A robust talent pipeline is crucial in capturing target candidates.
From your candidate’s point of view, try to keep the entire talent pipeline to a minimum, don’t make them jump through any hoops.
An applicant tracking system (ATS) can help dramatically reduce admin on the backend. Easily move your candidates through the pipeline, from application to interviews to onboarding.
Our ATS recruiting software provides a singular source of truth for all stakeholder feedback, and allows you to easily track candidate progress from your Employment Hero account.
10. Approach passive candidates
A passive candidate can be defined as a person who is not actively seeking a new job. However, a hiring or HR manager identifies that this person could be the right fit for an open role at another company.
Passive candidates often have a wealth of experience, knowledge in niche areas or highly sought-after skills.
Highly qualified talent would have had their inboxes overflowing recently due to the Great Resignation, so cold contact is not always the best way to approach prospective candidates. Try a ‘warm introduction’ instead.
A ‘warm introduction’ is where you find someone in your network who knows your ideal candidate. Reach out to this mutual person to see if they could facilitate an introduction.
This creates a better pathway for the candidate and fosters a sense of trust before you’ve even let them know about the role.
If you have zero mutual contacts, cold contact is still worth a try. Use our passive candidate outreach template for the best chance of candidate engagement.
11. Keep candidates ‘warm’
Speaking of warm – have you ever had two fantastic final candidates for a role, but one of them won the role by a small margin? The other candidate could become a ‘warm’ candidate, and be part of your talent pipeline.
In order to do this, HR needs to be strategic when they let the candidate know they haven’t been successful in getting the role. When you’re calling the person to let them know they haven’t been successful, you might say;
‘While you haven’t been successful for this particular role, the whole hiring team were really impressed with your knowledge of [specific skill] and we believe that you would be a great fit for our team. We have some open positions coming up in the near future, are you happy for me to reach back out soon with the details?”
If the person agrees to keep in touch, you now have a warm candidate in your talent pipeline. Make sure that you contact them as soon as anything relevant comes up.
Read more: Template for creating job descriptions
12. Get creative with PR opportunities for your leaders
PR shouldn’t just apply to promoting your product or service, it can also help you elevate the profile of your company leaders. It’s a key part of recruitment marketing that can often be forgotten about.
There are lots of leadership and business publications, media platforms and podcasts that are always on the lookout for knowledgeable guests. You might even be able to nab a spot on a webinar series or panel for a similar business in your industry (if they’re a non-competitor).
Getting your leaders’ faces out there really boosts your business but also your employer profile. Passive and active candidates can begin to put a face and personality to your company, aligning their own values and career goals.
13. Advertise in unlikely places
Are you sure that your job ads are reaching the right candidate? While it can be easy to use channels like LinkedIn or online job boards, the right talent pools might actually be more active on channels like Github or Stack Overflow. If you’re looking for local talent, you might have some luck advertising job ads in the local paper.
You might also need to seek great candidates abroad to widen your talent pool. Hiring internationally can seem a little daunting at first, but with a service like an employer of record, you can have the international compliance and payroll easily taken care of. Learn more about hiring tech and sales talent overseas.
Read more: Ways to make your job ads stand out
How can Employment Hero help you find the best talent?
Streamline your hiring process by getting a powerful end-to-end HR and employee engagement solution.
Employment Hero can help you from the start of your recruiting process, giving you the option to post across several job boards from one place – and engage your new hires as you onboard them with our self-serving employee solution.
Book a demo today and see how you can make the most of Employment Hero to maximise your growth plans.
