Sourcing for applicants is like hunting for
moths: You can either track them down one at a time, or plug
in a few light bulbs and net a couple hundred at once.
Or you can use both strategies at the same
time.
While you're actively hunting for applicants,
you can also work passively to attract new people to your
talent community.
"Passively attracting" is the idea behind a
applicant pipeline, which is the sum of all the light bulbs
you set up to draw fresh applicants into your net. Here are a
few pipeline-building strategies:
1. Send a quarterly e-newsletter or job
alert. The people you send it to will forward it to their
peers, and you’ll receive subscription requests with the
e-mail addresses of new applicants.
2. Build a profile page on social networking
sites. Choose from the major players (such as LinkedIn, Spoke,
Facebook, etc.) that are populated with the type of people
with whom you'd like to connect.
3. Use your Web site as a portal to your
pipeline. Make it easy for applicants to contact you if
they’re interested in your jobs, your services or subscribing
to your newsletter.
4. Write articles that will appear in print
or online. Every market or skill set has an association,
interest group or blog community. And they’re all are hungry
for news, insight and opinion.
5. Post and cross-post your jobs. Try both
the big guys like CareerBuilder and niche-market job boards.
And don’t forget free sites like Cragslist.
6. Experiment with paid search engine
rankings or sponsored links. Google advertising can draw lots
of visitors to your Web site, and by extension, your pipeline.
Sourcing for applicants isn’t just about
reaching out and finding people; it’s about making it easy for
people to find you. And the more they find you, the more
placements you’ll make.
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