Direct sourcing is when an organisation hires employees without using a supply chain of recruiters. They typically do this in one of two ways: by hiring directly from a talent pool of current and former members of staff, those who have retired, freelancers and contractors; or by advertising roles on job boards to attract new candidates.
This second approach is often taken with the support of a specialist Managed Service Provider (MSP), who brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to help businesses with hard-to-fill roles, diversity and inclusion aims, and other strategic priorities.
In this volatile and uncertain environment, a direct sourcing strategy can make a big difference to your hiring capability - particularly when skills shortages and competition for talent are rife - and, perhaps most importantly, to your bottom line.
So what are the benefits of direct sourcing solutions? Here are five factors to consider.
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Cost reduction
Having a direct sourcing strategy that’s part of your Managed Service Programme and uses tools such as online marketplaces, recruitment marketing, and EVP development can significantly reduce recruitment fees and time to hire.
This frees up resources that can be used for other things. It can also aid the vetting process, ensuring that workers aren’t misclassified, thereby avoiding any tax or legal penalties.
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Faster deployment
A ready-to-deploy talent pool is a significant competitive advantage. Pre-engaged talent pools make it more time efficient to scale up resources as demand dictates. This fast pace of hiring also creates additional cost-savings, with a reduction in time to hire correlating with leaner recruitment spend.
And because this model means that you are engaging with people who have already worked for you or know your brand, you’re one step ahead of the game when it comes to getting them started. Pretty much anyone that has gone through your applicant tracking system is part of your talent pool and could conceivably be hired for one of your future roles.
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Brand boost
Being seen as an employer of choice gives you that priceless edge when it comes to attracting scarce, skilled talent. Speed to hire, seamless onboarding and more effective talent pooling of contingent workers is driven by your firm’s reputation and its ability to attract top freelancers and contractors.
Direct sourcing done correctly plays an integral part in enhancing your brand and delivering on your employer value proposition, enabling you to re-engage those workers when needed in the future.
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Enhanced culture
Another benefit of direct sourcing is its impact on organisational culture. With the contingent workforce continuing to grow and permanent headcounts falling, there is a very real danger that your culture could become diluted. However, if those temporary workers have been left with a great impression of your brand from onboarding onwards, they will more likely feel part of your organisation.
As a result, returning contractors will be helping to evolve your culture, allowing your firm to develop an environment that is attractive and engaging for both contingent and perm workers.
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Smarter strategy
By building lasting relationships with different talent pools that have already been exposed to your brand, you are better placed to hire at volume and speed. Adopting a holistic approach to your resource management and nurturing both your internal and external talent pools will put you in a far better position than your competitors – candidates will be ready and willing to work for you (again) when you experience a spike in demand.
The challenge lies in finding and onboarding those hard to source specialists quickly. Organisations must have that talent ready to deploy when they need it. Direct sourcing can provide a cost efficient and compliant solution to this challenge that reduces time to hire, with the added benefit of enhancing your brand reputation in the process.
But direct sourcing doesn’t have to be managed internally. In fact, in order to best drive cost savings, it should be an integral part of your managed service programme, where a workforce solutions provider will source, engage, manage and pay your contingent labour for you.
Contact us to find out how Guidant Global’s direct sourcing experts can help your organisation reduce costs and increase hiring quality.