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Recruitment has always adapted to meet the evolving needs of organisations. Whether you're a large corporation or an SME, the right approach is the one that is aligned with your hiring goals. If it’s not, finding the right talent becomes much harder.
This was the case for an international customer that operated across a variety of sectors. Through a series of acquisitions, they had developed a large talent acquisition team spread around the world. However, despite their size, their recruitment outcomes remained inconsistent across different teams.
There was a key element missing in their approach: A dynamic sourcing strategy
As workforce demands have changed, businesses now have a variety of solutions available for their recruitment needs.
An internal recruitment function provides more direct control and tailored candidate experiences. Recruitment providers deliver efficient and specialised expertise. Then there’s Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO) for more comprehensive and scalable solutions.
Any of these solutions can work on their own, but a blended strategy offers greater flexibility. It ensures the right mix of specialised expertise, internal alignment, and scalability to meet a range of hiring goals more effectively.
To develop a sourcing strategy, you'll need to assess your talent needs in detail. This requires collaboration between Human Resources, Talent Acquisition, Leadership, and external providers to better understand your options.
With input from these stakeholders, you can then follow the steps below to create a plan tailored to your recruitment goals.
Any strategy should be built around the goals you want to achieve. When it comes to sourcing, start by determining what kind of hires you need, for which roles, and within what timeframe:
Think about which roles are project-specific, essential to your core business, or that require a high volume due to a particular piece of work. This will help you evaluate which roles are better suited for contract or permanent hires.
Some roles may require niche skills that are hard to find, while others may be more general. Understanding this helps you decide which recruitment method to prioritise.
If certain roles are time-sensitive, this will influence the choice of which recruitment avenue (internal, agency, or RPO) will be most effective.
Carefully evaluate the different costs of the methods available for sourcing to find the most suitable options for your hiring needs.
While cost-effective for the long-term, internal teams have overhead expenses (e.g., salaries, benefits, technology, and training).
Agencies typically charge a percentage of the candidate’s salary, so using them should be reserved for high-priority roles that justify the cost. You may also need to set a budget for added oversight to manage the hiring process and keep teams organised.
This model often charges per hire or a recurring fee. RPO can be cost-effective for scaling teams, but it requires careful initial budgeting.
Whether it’s building a TA function, working with preferred suppliers, or using an RPO model, each option has different pros and cons. The right options will depend on your priorities and preferences.
An in-house recruitment team allows you to handle day-to-day for common or high-volume roles. They can focus on building long-term talent pipelines, managing employer branding, and nurturing candidate relationships.
If your company frequently hires for similar roles (e.g., sales, operations), your internal team can develop deep expertise in sourcing for these positions. At the same time, they can better evaluate long-term cultural alignment and build institutional knowledge.
With an internal team in place, you can also develop initiatives such as employee referral programs and succession planning.
External agencies can help fill roles that require specific technical skills, expertise in niche industries, or C-level positions. With networks in specialised fields, they can speed up the hiring process and provide support for hiring surges or project-based demands.
There are three primary types of agencies:
Aside from faster time-to-hire for specialised roles, agencies can also reduce time spent sourcing hard-to-find candidates and give you access to a wider pool of passive candidates.
RPO providers can manage everything from sourcing to onboarding, acting as an extension of your HR team. They offer flexible solutions without the need to permanently expand your internal team, making them ideal for companies with fluctuating hiring needs.
Depending on the provider, RPO services can focus on specific parts of recruitment (e.g., screening and interviewing) or manage the entire end-to-end process. Many RPOs can also take responsibility for maintaining and promoting your employer brand, ensuring that candidates have a consistent and positive experience.
RPOs are a good fit for large-scale hiring, managing high-volume roles that internal teams can’t handle alone, or supporting projects with limited internal resources.
The best solution is often a blend of options. With this approach, internal talent acquisition teams, external agencies, and RPO providers will need to work seamlessly together. Clear communication and coordination are key to avoiding duplication of effort or miscommunication.
This starts with clearly defining what types of roles each team will focus on. For example:
To keep track of all the moving parts, a centralised system such as an Applicant Tracking System (ATS) can help you manage applications, track candidates, and monitor which recruitment channel they were sourced from.
Even when employing different strategies, some areas need to be executed consistently across all channels.
A consistent employer brand message improves the candidate experience and attracts better-fit candidates. Ensure alignment between both internal and external recruitment partners so that your company is represented accurately throughout the process.
Make sure that all recruitment partners, especially external agencies and RPO providers, adhere to employment laws, data protection regulations (like GDPR), and diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) guidelines.
To determine if your sourcing strategy is delivering the desired results for the business, you’ll need to measure its effectiveness. Key performance indicators (KPIs) will allow you to track how well it’s working and identify areas for improvement, which include:
(For a closer look at developing the right KPIs, click here.)
As your strategy matures, you can also consider other metrics to track.
As we reviewed the company’s recruitment processes, it became evident that the internal talent acquisition team had become imbalanced. While they successfully managed high-volume roles, they struggled to secure more specialised positions.
In this case, the solution was a blended approach. The company restructured its internal team to focus on the roles they delivered well and engaged agencies and RPO services to meet the unique needs of varied brands across various countries.
By keeping the internal team at the core of recruitment and integrating it with external support for niche roles, the company optimised its talent acquisition function. We helped them implement a single, measurable methodology across all hiring, which improved the candidate experience, reduced their vacancy backlog, and saved over £500k annually.
