Walk before your can run: Optimize your Direct Sourcing program for sustainable success – Part 2

Picture this. You’re a hiring manager and your company is in a phase of hyper growth. Your best bet is to invest in contingent workers, but every position takes weeks, sometimes months to fill. 

So you opt for a Direct Sourcing strategy. 

But implementation takes time. Until one day, things start to click.

Suddenly jobs are being filled quickly by pre-vetted candidates. Now, your company has the luxury of planning for future openings instead of stressing about current hiring gaps.

This is known as the Walk phase of our Evolution of Direct Sourcing framework.

Unlike the Crawl phase, when processes are being set up and implemented, Walk is when companies gain momentum and reap the benefits of their talent acquisition strategy. 

In part 2 of our 3 part series, we take a deep dive into what this phase looks like, and how to optimize important processes while turning your talent pool into a redeployment engine.

What are the signs of success in Direct Sourcing?

Companies in the Walk phase will see an interesting shift in their hiring strategy. These are the signs your program has entered the second phase of our framework.  

You’ve optimized your key processes

At this point, you’ve figured out which areas of your talent acquisition strategy work smoothly and which need adjustments. Once those adjustments have been made, your operations become seamless, allowing for:

• Faster intake flows. Hiring managers and curators are aligned at this point, reducing any intake delays and miscommunication.
• Smoother curation work flows. AI-based tools help automate manual tasks, allowing for quicker candidate screening. 
• Better communication practices. During the walk phase, communication touch points have been set up. This helps hiring managers, stakeholders and curators get on the same page about their hiring goals, reducing company-wide friction. 

You see real-time results

In the Walk phase, companies start to notice impressive metrics. These include quicker time-to-fill stats, as hiring managers are able to find experienced candidates faster through established talent pools.
You’ll also see significant Talent Community growth and better candidate experiences, allowing for direct engagement with qualified workers. 

You’re focusing on enhancing best practices – not implementing them

During the Crawl phase, companies work with Direct Sourcing experts to identify which industry best practices to implement. Once you’ve entered the Walk phase, you’ll be able to improve and expand on best practices.

For example, let’s say your company implemented a 24-hour exclusivity window – a set time period where roles can only be filled by Direct Sourcing curators. If you’ve found success with this strategy, it makes sense to expand it to 48 hours in the Walk phase. 

Internal adoption gets easier

While Direct Sourcing can be a hard sell for some stakeholders, adoption becomes smoother in the Walk phase. At this point, your Direct Sourcing strategy has had time to prove itself, producing seamless job placements, lower time-to-fill metrics, and a higher quality of candidates. Word naturally spreads among hiring leaders, allowing for program growth.

How can you turn past employees into new hires? 

As you enter the Walk phase, you’ll have established thriving Talent Pools and Communities. This is the time to leverage those communities by creating a redeployment engine. Redeployment is a key Direct Sourcing strategy that allows companies to fill new positions with previous workers.

Benefits include:

• Faster time to fill. Instead of starting from scratch every time a role is posted, curators can pull candidates from an existing talent pool based on criteria like previous success, location, salary expectations, and experience.
• Reduced hiring costs. By creating a pool of known candidates, companies spend less on hiring expenses. Redeployed candidates also reach productivity faster, reducing onboarding costs.
• Better culture fit. By using known workers who understand your values, you’re more likely to find someone who aligns with your team, improving retention and performance.

Delivering actionable insights: How do you move from hiring to strategic impact?

As you get ready to enter the next phase of our framework – the Run stage – you’ll have collected enough insights to drive strategy at a high level. Once you’re at the end of the Walk stage, your company will have built a large Talent Community with active members. 

This allows you to track:

• Talent availability
• Engagement trends
• Skill set gaps

Instead of focusing on short-term goals, you’ll be able to shape long-term business decisions, creating a foundation for future growth. 

Finding the right partner

In order to put those insights into practice, it’s important to choose a solid Direct Sourcing platform. TalentNet’s AI-based solution includes:

• TalentInsights, where hiring leaders can view and download key hiring metrics
• TalentNavigator, an AI-based personal assistant that helps curators make better decisions while automating manual tasks
• Candidate matching capabilities, allowing for a 60 second Talent Community registration

Reach out to book a demo or learn more about our Evolution of a Direct Sourcing Program webinar.