Sourcing Intelligence in Recruiting

While quantitative hiring metrics (time-to-hire, cost-per-hire, etc.) are still important, there’s a big shift in recruitment to use AI to help improve both quantitative and qualitative metrics. 

Quality of hire, candidate experience, recruiter experience, and sourcing channel health are all surfacing as an integral focal point in intelligent recruiting. In the past, these qualitative metrics were difficult to measure, track, and improve. New hiring intelligence tools and methods, including  sourcing intelligence, make it easier for hiring teams to improve their channel mix, leverage predictive analytics, and more.

Below is everything you need to know about how to use sourcing intelligence in recruitment. 

What Is Sourcing Intelligence?

Sourcing intelligence refers to tools that help automate, streamline, scale, and improve your sourcing practices. Intelligent sourcing tools can automatically sift through hundreds of databases to find the right kind of candidates, allowing your team to work on other important tasks, develop strategies, or take a breather in the break room. 

Sourcing intelligence will not only make your manual processes more efficient, it can also provide you with a number of key insights and analytics to better understand the hiring market, identify trends, and take action.

Artificial intelligence in sourcing: The next wave in recruiting technology

The next wave in recruiting technology is already here. A 2022 SHRM report showed that 42 percent of large companies (5,000 or more employees) already use automation or AI for their hiring needs. It also showed that one in four of all organizations (large and small) plan on using AI in recruitment in the next five years. 

While you can expect more advancements in intelligent recruitment, the next wave in sourcing automation is very much already here. 

Benefits of Candidate Sourcing Intelligence

Hiring teams are already seeing the value of implementing intelligent sourcing tools in their hiring process. The SHRM report found that 30 percent of companies using automation have found it easier to reduce bias in the hiring process. Here are a few other ways companies have benefited from candidate sourcing intelligence. 

• 85 percent said that it saved them time and increased efficiency.
• 64 percent said their AI tools have helped them automatically filter out unwanted candidates.
• Over 60 percent said the quantity of applications they have to manually review is somewhat or much better due to their use of automation/AI.

Sourcing intelligence is better for your recruiters, your applicants, and your company. Hiring teams have better and faster ways to source and hire, candidates are better matched for the right roles (which improves the candidate experience), and your company benefits from recruiting quality talent. 

Metrics for Talent Sourcing Intelligence

Most metrics for talent sourcing intelligence have to do with the health of your pipeline, predictive analytics, quality measurements, and efficiency-related metrics. Some of the most common metrics for talent sourcing intelligence include:

• Source of hire
• Sourcing channel effectiveness
• Cost per hire by source
• Quality of Hire
• Acceptance rates
• Time-to-acceptance
• Month-over-month performance  
• Percentage of referral hires

Sourcing Intelligence and What it Means for Your Quality of Hire

Sourcing intelligence isn’t just about helping you find candidates, it’s also about measuring the performance of your new hires to make smarter hiring decisions for the future. Intelligent sourcing helps measure the month-over-month performance of new hires and leverages other analytics to help you identify which sourcing channels yield the best hires.

Crosschq’s Q (Quality of Hire) Report analyzed 24+ million hiring decisions and data points to find out what has and hasn’t worked for organizations when it comes to quality of hire. It turns out that companies that don’t leverage intelligent sourcing tools or powerful analytics miss out on quality talent. Some of the findings from the Crosschq Data Lab include:

• Internal referrals aren’t the best source for new hires.
• Most pre-hire assessment tests aren’t great at identifying quality hires.
• Most interview panels aren’t great at identifying quality talent. 
• Companies that don’t use data to source candidates are likely to let top talent go.

Want to learn more about what makes a successful quality-of-hire strategy? Download the report for yourself and your hiring team.

Talent Sourcing Intelligence Tools

Intelligent talent-sourcing tools rely on data to help you make smarter and faster hiring decisions. Powerful sourcing tools, like Crosschq Recruit, will leverage data so you can:

• Have a clear view of a candidate’s past performance, education, and soft skills. 
• Use recruiter insights to identify any candidate red flags. 
• Access exclusive opt-in candidate networks with qualified candidates waiting for you. 
• Benefit from time-saving enhanced search capabilities.
• Generate data from new hires over time, so you know which channels have been the most effective and which haven’t. 
• Wake up to automated reports and overviews of potential hires. 
• Integrate your new tools directly from your ATS. 

How Crosschq Can Help

Hiring automation helps recruiters make quicker hiring decisions and improve their quantitative hiring metrics like time to fill, applicants per role, and time to hire. Sourcing intelligence promises that same speed and efficiency while also improving your ability to assess, source, reference check, and identify quality hires.

Crosschq’s all-in-one solution will give you the best of both worlds with a seamless and intuitive platform that powers smarter hiring decisions. 

Sign up for the demo to learn more about how Crosschq can help you take control of your sourcing channels today.