Alexander Mann Solutions, the world’s leading provider of talent acquisition and management services and Social Talent, Europe’s leading provider of online and social media training specific to the Recruitment and Staffing industry, today announced the results of its 2014 Global Sourcing Survey, the first report of its kind which examines how Talent Sourcers from the US, EMEA and Asia-Pacific are utilizing online and social resources to find qualified and interested candidates. The survey uncovers compelling insights that highlight regional variations in the strategies that Talent Sourcers exhibit when finding and attracting active job seekers and passive candidates for their organizations.

In particular, the survey reveals that:

• Regional Differences
  • US: While the role of the Talent Sourcer originated in the United States, professionals in the country are now the least proficient at using technical search tools to connect and engage with candidates.
  • Asia-Pacific: Home to the most savvy online Talent Sourcers, scoring seven percent above the global average for their ability to find and attract talent.
  • EMEA: Talent Sourcers are the most prolific users of Twitter to connect with candidates, and their use of YouTube (News – Alert) to communicate their employer brand is highest in the world.
• Demographics
  • Sourcers with two- to four-years’ experience performed most consistently.
  • IT sector Sourcers scored up to 12% higher than those in other sectors.

“The Talent Sourcer has evolved to become one of the most critical roles in talent acquisition, challenged with finding and cultivating suitable, qualified and interested candidates,” said Martin Cerullo, Alexander Mann Solutions’ brand and marketing lead. “The 2014 Global Sourcing Survey reveals the different ways in which today’s Sourcer can network with active and passive candidates, and which methods work best. Above all, the results show that using the tools as part of a broader approach to sourcing talent delivers he greatest benefit.”

More than ever before, organizations have direct access to billions of potential candidates around the world through sites like Twitter,Facebook (News –Alert) and Google+. Well-connected Sourcers have better success rates, but very few are using these powerful tools to their full potential-which represents a significant missed opportunity to find and engage unique candidates in a totally new way.

In fact, many Sourcers are still not trusted to use social media sites, with 31 percent reporting restrictions in their place of work. Forty-one percent of these restricted Sourcers circumvent these rules by accessing social sites via their personal devices-demonstrating that such restrictions are largely futile. Bypassing the restrictions also have the potential to damage productivity and expose organizations to potential data privacy leaks, brand reputation problems and potentially damaging candidate experiences.

“What the survey tells us is that sourcing is really more art than science-and that personal engagement and communication is still an important skill for Sourcers to develop if they want to effectively engage with their audience,” said George Vollmer, client services director at Alexander Mann Solutions. “A quality network is essential, but it needs to be deep as well. Delivering quality content, help and advice to members of your network will go a long way to keeping them engaged over time.”

Johnny Campbell, Social Talent’s CEO continued: “We found that very few Sourcers are utilizing Twitter, Facebook and Google (News – Alert)+, which represents a significant opportunity for organizations to find qualified candidates and engage with them in meaningful ways. In addition to expanding your search channels, going back to the basics – building relationships, expanding your professional network and communicating effectively – are essential for working smarter.”

About the Survey

Alexander Mann Solutions and Social Talent partnered to survey 328 Sourcers in the first quarter of 2014. The full report can be downloaded atwww.alexandermannsolutions.com/2014/10/global-sourcing-survey-results-2014/

About Alexander Mann Solutions

Alexander Mann Solutions is the world’s leading provider of talent acquisition and management services. We integrate our outsourcing capability and consulting expertise to enable organizations to attract, engage and retain top talent.

Every day, Alexander Mann Solutions and clients from a wide range of industries work together to create and execute people strategies that add value to the bottom line in over 80 countries around the world.

For more information, visit www.alexandermannsolutions.com

Social Talent

Social Talent, founded in Ireland in November 2010, are Europe’s leading provider of online and social media training specific to the Recruitment and Staffing Industry. To date we have trained thousands of Recruiters from corporate recruitment departments and agencies alike both offline in a classroom environment and online.

We like the truism “give a man a fish and you feed him for a day, teach him to fish and you feed him for life!” Through our training we pass on our extensive knowledge of the use of technology in recruitment and online marketing to show you and your teams where to fish for the best candidates, what bait to use and how to reel in the best talent in the market and not just the best talent on the market.