A Recruiters Guide to Sourcing in a Tough Candidate Market - Spark Hire

A Recruiters Guide to Sourcing in a Tough Candidate Market - Spark HireRecruiting in a tough candidate market can be quite the challenge for any recruiter. After youve exhausted your database, weeded through hundreds of resumes sent in via your posting, and sourced the job boards dry, its time to reevaluate and start thinking about what you havent done.Reach out to the Friendlies If you havent already done so, go back through your database in search of candidates with the skill set you are looking for who you have placed recently. Give ansicht people a call as these are the friendlies when it comes to understanding your value in the job search. These people are more likely to send referrals your way and these referrals are likely to be of similar caliber to the placed candidate simply by association.Take a look at your online and personal connections. Reach out to the people you have good relationships with and ask for referrals. The more people you talk to, the greater your chances of receiving the right referral.Advertise in the right placesWhere are you advertising? If posting a job description online is as far as your advertisement strategy goes, then its well past time to step it up a notch or two.Make sure that you are advertising frequently across all social media platforms. Join groups on LinkedIn and Facebook, tag the right people in your tweets, and you will see an increase in candidate traffic. If you are advertising in the right places, you are likely to receive leads on the skilled candidates you are looking for.Cold Call CompetitorsWhen all newer strategies fail, its time to resort to the tried and true recruiting strategy of cold calling. I know, I know calling sounds soCOLD Lets face it. There are little to no recruiters who genuinely enjoy cold calling into companies. But trust me, it can still work in todays recruitingUse programs such as Zoom Info, Hoovers, or even LinkedIn to help you identify talent within your clients competitor companies. Once you have a phone number to the company, call in and fight your way towards being transferred to the right persons extension.Today, many companies have forgone having an actual gatekeeper. Instead, they have automated systems which have become our savior when cold calling. Rather than having to invent a creative excuse to get the protective gatekeeper to transfer you, now you just simply type in the first 3 letters of a persons name to get their extension.What do you do when faced with a tough candidate market? Please share your tips in the comments below.Image Bernie123/BigStock.com