Recruiting has evolved dramatically since the digital evolution. Old-school headhunters used to build networks in a pocketbook and were always going for lunch. Now, everyone’s got a LinkedIn profile and a keyboard.
For better or for worse sourcing looks different, but the golden era for sourcing tech has quickly been and gone. Mainstay sourcing tools like LinkedIn Recruiter have lost their edge: Run a basic search and get thousands of unrelated profiles faster than you can say ‘lunch’.
Sourcing professionals aren’t happy, and they’re finally saying it out loud. We wanted to amplify their experiences and bring some data into the conversation, so we surveyed 1,000 sourcing professionals to bring you The Secret Source. It’s filled with insights into how sourcing teams feel, what’s frustrating them, and what needs to change.
I decided to compile all the key stats here for anyone who prefers a shorter read. Let’s dive in!
The data shows a disconnect
First up, a core conundrum highlighted by our data on sourcing. Active sourcing is at the core of talent acquisition strategy – yet most teams source less than half their hires.
77% of teams say active sourcing is either essential or very important to their overall talent acquisition strategy
73% say they actively sourced less than half of their new hires this year
Percentage of new hires actively sourced differs by company size. The smallest and the largest organizations tend to actively source the least hires.
In the last 12 months, what percentage of your hires were actively sourced (i.e., not from inbound applications)?
Company size (FTE) | 0-10% | 11-25% | 26-50% | 51-75% | 76-100% |
1-50 | 23% | 39% | 22% | 6% | 9% |
51-200 | 13% | 35% | 37% | 13% | 2% |
201-500 | 4% | 25% | 47% | 20% | 4% |
501-1,000 | 3% | 19% | 34% | 32% | 12% |
1,001-5,000 | 8% | 19% | 32% | 26% | 15% |
5,000+ | 20% | 40% | 19% | 11% | 10% |
A breakdown of challenges facing sourcing teams
Why is this the case? Put simply, sourcing is hard. Sourcing teams obstacles that mean, despite best intentions, it’s very difficult to actively source more hires. Here’s a breakdown of those obstacles, beginning with the most common ones:
Half of sourcing teams (51%) report that they find it difficult to source qualified candidates.
This goes up to 66% for the financial services sector and 61% for information and technology services.
Skills verification is the #1 challenge. 58% struggle to determine if candidates actually have the skills listed on their resumes.
Finding the right cultural fit is also a common challenge, with 47% struggling to source candidates aligned with their company culture.
For some, the talent pool is shallow, too – 43% state there’s a lack of skilled candidates in the market for them to source.
35% cite high competition for talent from other companies as a sourcing challenge
1 in 5 say their existing sources are bringing them candidates of poor quality
1 in 5 sourcing teams struggle to engage passive candidates
19% say they have a lack of time and resources dedicated to sourcing
14% struggle to find diverse candidates when they’re sourcing
1 in 10 don’t have enough time to source, and say tight deadlines are an obstacle
8% say ineffective sourcing tools or technology is a big issue
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The state of the sourcing tech stack
On top of all the issues above, there are signs that sourcing teams’ tech stacks are hindering rather than helping their active sourcing efforts.
Nearly half (46%) of sourcing teams say their sourcing tools are either somewhat or not at all effective.
One third (33%) find them very effective, and 1 in 5 (21%) find them extremely effective.
Our data shows that this directly impacts how many new hires teams are sourcing:
%age of hires actively sourced | %age who find their sourcing tools somewhat or not at all effective | %age who find their sourcing tools very or extremely effective |
0-10% | 83% | 17% |
11-25% | 64% | 37% |
26-50% | 46% | 54% |
51-75% | 21 | 78% |
76-100% | 10 | 90% |
Here’s a breakdown of the tools sourcing teams are using:
47% are using LinkedIn Recruiter
47% are using social media
42% are using Indeed Smart Sourcing
38% use referrals from company networks
31% use other professional networking sites like Xing and Viadeo
34% use employee referral schemes
27% use internal talent marketplaces
22% use sourcing browser extensions for finding contact information
Only 6% don’t use any specific sourcing tools
How do teams rate their tools? Well, more than half (52%) of the professionals using LinkedIn Recruiter, one of the most popular sourcing tools in the market, find it underwhelming. Referral schemes, which are traditionally considered a gold standard for candidate quality, also score poorly for effectiveness. Meanwhile alternative professional networking sites, like Xing and Viadeo, are more widely seen as effective by their users.
Teams’ top tooling frustrations
When we asked sourcing teams about their specific frustrations with their sourcing tools, here’s what they said:
48% are frustrated by a lack of integration between sourcing tools and other platforms they use
46% are frustrated by outdated candidate information
41% are frustrated by ineffective search and matching algorithms
31% have challenges with managing and nurturing passive candidates
3 in 10 are frustrated by poor quality of candidate data
29% are frustrated by clunky user interface and poor user experience
1 in 5 are frustrated by the high cost of sourcing tools and tech
Teams are frustrated with their tools, and they’re ready to put their money where their mouths are. 3 in 5 sourcing teams (61%) will invest in new sourcing tech in the next 12 months.
Which tools will disappear?
Teams also had strong opinions when we asked them which tools will become obsolete.
54% think manual spreadsheet tracking will become obsolete
Half (51%) think contact-finding and email-scraping tools will become obsolete
39% think traditional job boards will become obsolete
3 in 10 say there’s no place for non-integrated sourcing tools
How are sourcing teams measuring success?
Measuring the success of your sourcing efforts is common sense – yet 1 in 10 sourcing teams don’t attempt to measure their sourcing success. The 90% that do use the following metrics:
How does your organization measure the success of its sourcing efforts? | |
Quality of hire | 49% |
Pipeline conversion rates (e.g. outreach response rate, response to screen rate) | 43% |
Time-to-fill | 42% |
Hiring manager satisfaction | 39% |
Acquisition cost | 37% |
Diversity of the candidate pipeline | 36% |
We do not formally measure the success of our sourcing efforts | 11% |
Half (51%) of sourcing teams are not at all or only somewhat confident that they can accurately track and report on these metrics.
Looking ahead
Sourcing professionals are looking ahead. We asked them which 3 things they think will have the most significant impact on talent sourcing in the next 2-3 years. These were the top 3:
46% said AI and automation
43% said advanced data and analytics
33% said skills scarcity and rising skills gaps
Only 37% feel their organization is well or extremely well prepared for these future trends in sourcing. 30% feel somewhat prepared, 27% are starting to prepare, and 7% are not prepared at all.
That’s it for this stats blog. Read Unlocking Sourcing Success: The Secret Source for more of the story and actionable tips on how to source better.
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