This week's blog will be the final in our series on Big-Scope Sourcing. If you are just now joining us, you may want to read Part 1 and Part 2 first.

In our first post from this series, I discussed how to prepare to take on big-scope sourcing with a good plan. Last week I talked about the importance of a creative message, and prepared templates to provide a consistent message. Now you should be ready to roll your message out to the masses. Normally, of course, this would not be a three week process. Once you have the information, you will be surprised at how easy it is to duplicate your process for each new job.  This is because once you have laid the ground work, what's left is to do what you do best: recruiting!

If you want to be successful with big-scope sourcing, well, you have to think big. What I mean here is that you have to reach as many sources, direct and referral, as possible. You cannot rely on "just phone sourcing", or "just job boards",  or "just social networking." You can't rely on "just referrals", or "just email marketing" either. You really have to have a plan to to do all of these at the same time.

Replace phase initiation with a full blown attack!

In the past, you may have introduced your sourcing plan in phases. Most companies will start with an online posting, then send some emails if you didn't get a good response, then asked for referrals and finally got on the phone. To get the best benefit of these efforts you want to do all of these at once. I suggest scheduling time for each of these in your day, every day.

If you've been following our discussion, you should already have some great templates put together to make each of these easy to put into action.   You will be dropping in the details specific to the current job order and getting them out to all of those sources that you put together when you were planning. You know the list I'm speaking of, right?  The list of every potential place you might find this candidate or someone that knows them.

Job Ads

I recommend getting your jobs posted first thing in the morning. Your response may not flow in until later, but it is out of the way. Remember that job ad template? You are going to copy and paste it into the sites that you plan to use for your advertising. * Hint Keep this early morning time blocked out to review those responses every day.

Your budget will obviously determine how many sites you can post to. Don't forget to include  smaller niche boards, social networks, and online media sites along side any big board you plan to use. Budget for big boards will need to be determined in advance. I highly recommend that if you use big boards, that  you supplement these with a job distribution site. These sites are typically very affordable and reach a lot more passive candidates.  REKRUTR allows you to post the job one place and distribute it to all the rest with one click.

Emails

Once you've posted you job ads to the internet, it is time to get the word out to your personal lead list. Many of you will have a customer management system to help you in sending out bulk emails. Simply drop that template you created in and hit send. If you don't have a management tool for this, I recommend you use Outlook or your email tool of choice. Use the signature feature to drop your template in to and create a group of the contacts you want to use. Just be sure to keep the email addresses private. No one wants to feel like they received an email that went to fifty other people. With the signature feature, it really doesn't take that much time to send them out individually.

Phone Calls 

I have found that noon is the best time to start candidate calls. The morning is typically spent on marketing calls, or calls with clients, but don't wait until after lunch to start calling candidates. Lunch time is the prime time to reach candidates. They are typically away from their desk, and can talk more freely. Put your best targets on your call plan for the lunch hour.

Creative Sourcing

Don't forget to incorporate a few of the creative ideas you came up with in your planning in to the search. These take more time, and you might need to work on them in the evening or your spare time. "EEK! On my time? " you say. Yes. On your time. How bad do you really want to fill this job? You can't expect to take an hour out of your day to run down to hang up a flyer at the local coffee shop. That will need to be done after your typical work day. Hey...don't laugh or roll your eyes! I have used this method with success on a candidate that brought in a VERY nice fee.

Remember, your goal is to get the word out, by whatever means necessary to ALL of the places where your target can be found! Use keen planning, creative messaging, and mass distribution by use of templates to incorporate a big-scope view of sourcing. Not only will you statistically be more likely to find the candidate you will place, but you will acquire more talent for your database in the process. What is your product as a recruiter? The talent you provide, of course. Find the candidate, and grow your product base.

I'd love to hear your feedback! Let me know if big-scope sourcing works for you, Why or why not?

Amy McDonald  is the President and CEO at REKRUTR. She has been working in the human resources and recruiting industry for over 20 years. Amy has worked with hundreds of recruitment professionals throughout her career, training best practices in sourcing candidates and refining the recruitment process. In her spare time, Amy participates as a thought leader in Recruiting for BIZCATALYST360° .