| Finding and engaging top talent quickly and efficiently is the number one goal when companies hire, whether it’s for full-time or contract.

Looking past traditional methodologies is a must in order for companies to connect with today’s workers.Direct sourcing and talent pools have become the go-to strategy for companies looking to find talent quickly and efficiently, and to reduce costs.

Direct sourcing is all about leveraging a company’s high quality brand to attract, curate, and engage with talent.

Curation is combination of many key elements, both human and automation;Matching of skills to open jobsProactive talent pool building with necessary skills to meet hiring needs of today and tomorrowStaying connected with candidates in your talent pool through the channels they want to be communicated withSkills assessment and testing to ensure qualityThorough screening and interviews to validate the perfect fitCuration is strategic, systematic, and tailored by role, industry, and skill and immediately provides value to the hiring organization.

What is the value of curation for the hiring company?

Curation provides immediate and quantifiable value to the organization;Time to fill is drastically reduced on the average of 30-50%Candidate quality is dramatically improved and hiring ratio is typically 3x betterLets not forget about the candidate!Talent curation is being proactive rather than reactive and at the heart of it all is the candidate.

Enterprises with extensive requirements for contingent workforce deal with a massive cost from staffing agencies, quality issues, and lack of control in their day to day operations now understand direct sourcing is here to stay.Enterprises now understand the advantages of direct sourcing but are challenged  “where to start their direct sourcing journey.” While there are multiple models for direct sourcing.

Enterprises need to answer several questions to choose an ideal model that fits needs based on the current program and maturity levels.

Is your program ready for direct sourcing?Based on the enterprise’s current hiring need and structure, it is crucial to understand direct sourcing is not always the best solution in every situation.

Few ways to evaluate your organizational readiness are:The business already has workforce planning and forecasting in order.Organization plan to recruit a large pool of contingent workforce The current model is not serving as a cost advantage.Need control over the process to gain visibility of dollars spentLooking to leverage your employer brand to hire contingent workersImplementation of the whole program or only a particular job categoryCurrent status of contingent workforce program – If currently an MSP driven or self-managed program:Who would curate the talent, How to curate the talent?

How can the organization benefit from direct sourcing?Direct sourcing can provide many cost-savings benefits, but the opposite can also be true if employers don’t have the proper resources or a formal program to manage the process.Tools like Willhire, an end-to-end direct sourcing technology platform, help in talent attraction, curation, and managing candidates to put the direct souring program on autopilot.When managed properly, the organization reap the benefits of direct sourcing:Potential cost savingEmployer brandingCurating and nurturing talentTalent diversityMore control over the hiring processIncreased manager and talent satisfactionAfter accessing these two questions, organizations should look to start their direct sourcing journey.Here’s how to launch an effective direct sourcing program:Step One: Set an organizational plan Any great program needs to have a clear and achievable goal, which needs to be well rounded by people, process, and technology to achieve success.

Identifying your MVP (Minimal Viable Product) to establish and measure is mission-critical?Few important factors to consider:Internal Buy-inEmployer Branding StrategyTalent Attraction ModellingTalent Pool ApproachTalent Curation Process & OwnersTalent Engagement ModelsOnboarding & EOR/Payroll ServicesAccommodating for the cost of acquisitionStep Two: Measuring the experience design – setting KPI’sBuilding a community of engaged contingent workers and future employees is not easy – it requires intentional thinking from the talent’s perspective about participation’s experience and benefits.

With unprecedented growth in this labor market, 61% of organizations say they expect to hire more contingent workers in the next three years.More and more organizations are looking to solve the big question – “What if we can acquire contractors directly?” And the industry is already looking at a significant shift and  Direct Sourcing as a solution.Direct Sourcing is not a new concept; in fact, many organizations have contingent workforce programs that leverage the benefits of sourcing contractors from their curated pool of talent.But for organizations looking to explore direct sourcing, it’s essential to understand the benefits a program like this brings to the table before they decide to implement it.Benefits of Direct Sourcing:1.

Willhire, for example, uses a matching algorithm to pair qualified talent—already in your network and from the platform—with available opportunities, reducing the time managers have to spend reviewing candidates.This is cheaper and faster than a traditional staffing agency.

A good employer branding exercise can increase the number of quality applicants, reduce the cost per recruitment, and help create a differentiated proposition from competitors.

Curating & nurturing talent pool:A curated pool of contingent talent makes it easier to find and engage when required.

Overall reduce the time to fill open positions.Many organizations face challenges while hiring contingent workers with a niche skillset occasionally.

But having a curated talent pool of these contract talent makes it much easier to find and re-engage as and when services are needed.4.

In today’s digital age, the global talent market is becoming increasingly dynamic and competitive with 90% of the talent finding their jobs online.

A leading industry statistic says that the preferred mode of job search by 65% of this talent, is via a mobile device.With mobile devices, while the world is virtually at one’s fingertips, smartphones are no longer just a means of communication — they are also THE means of employment search.It is common knowledge that organizations hire their full-time employees via their Human Resources or Talent acquisition teams which are fully equipped and matured with tools and processes specific to talent sourcing.

However, for several years now the hiring of contractors has seen a different approach.This approach taken by the contingent staffing industry, has for years, been solving a big question – “What if we can acquire contractors directly?

Companies cannot wait till the last moment to put out job descriptions and job openings and expect the perfect candidate to wondrously appear – proven in the past few months.Companies need a more strategic approach to hiring, particularly for their contingent or temporary workforce – enters Direct Sourcing.What is Direct Sourcing?Direct Sourcing is a method of sourcing contract workforce by leveraging the modern-day talent acquisition processes and techniques.

Usually, large enterprises use one of the many names for these programs, namely, contingent labor programs also known as contingent workforce programs or non-employee or 3rd party labor programs, or Flex or On-demand talent programs.In the staffing industry, it is used as an alternative sourcing approach in addition to traditional staffing suppliers for sourcing talent.

While this is not a new process in the talent acquisition industry, contingent programs are a bit backlogged as compared to the HR and HRTech industry which have witnessed major modernization in the past two decades.Every enterprise has a talent acquisition team that relies on an Applicant Tracking System (ATS) or other HRTech platforms to attract and engage talent directly for a direct hire/full-time roles.Historically, this contract talent or temp labor sourcing was acquired/ managed through staffing agencies that are managed by a program management team internally or outsourced externally to a managed service provider (MSP).How We, At WillHire, Define Direct Sourcing?A common analogy we use at WillHire is – “Direct Sourcing is what Netflix is in the entertainment industry”.