Using Data to Build a Business Case for Direct Sourcing

As the battle for talent rages on, more organizations are looking to implement direct sourcing to strengthen their recruiting efforts and attract the top candidate pools. However, many still need to find the most effective methods and proven strategies to do so.

The key component used by experienced business leaders who have seen significant benefits in their direct sourcing program is data. Companies with successful direct sourcing initiatives utilize both internal as well as external data to inform their direct sourcing program strategies and goals to optimize success in hiring contingent workers.

In this blog post, we’re going to discuss:

1. Ways organizations can use data to support their direct sourcing programs
2. How data can help inform creating achievable goals for recruitment
3. Key data-related questions to ask when forming your direct sourcing initiative
4. A real-world direct sourcing success story from a major airline  

Support Your Direct Sourcing Business Case with Data

Creating a data-based program sourcing strategy starts with understanding what demand for contingent talent will look like in the future. Business leaders accomplish this through demand forecasting, which analyzes historical data, and then applying a growth factor while including the company’s business goals. Next, they take the data and draw conclusions, which are based on factors such as:

• The current fulfillment rate via staffing suppliers
• What the state of the labor market looks like
• Real-time pay rate data
• Current and upcoming skills shortages

By evaluating these factors, organizations can determine what their talent needs look like and begin making the business case for a direct sourcing program to stakeholders.

Demonstrating the benefits and ROI of launching direct sourcing is also key. This can include better access to top talent, increasing hiring speed, driving cost savings by leveraging employer brand to attract the best workers, and more.

Leveraging the latest third-party research can also effectively showcase the advantages of direct sourcing, including improving skill rates, better talent pool access and a competitive advantage, especially as many workers have more options in the current labor market.

Once you’ve gathered enough data and proof points to support the case for direct sourcing, create a visual representation with clear and easily digestible graphics of all your findings. This will be helpful in communicating what the organization-wide benefits of your direct sourcing program will look like and will aid in getting the necessary buy-in from stakeholders and executives to move the initiative forward. Showing the connection between investing into direct sourcing and the potential benefits for the organization will be key to making it into reality.

Create Data-Driven Goals for Your Recruitment Strategy

Once you have your data and buy-in, it’s time to create a direct sourcing strategy. Experienced direct sourcing leaders make sure to set realistic goals for recruiting and determine baseline performance, which will help progress the program. They also look over workforce demographics, wages, supply and demand depending on location.

Setting realistic long term goals will help in meeting or exceeding stakeholder expectations, which is key to direct sourcing success and program expansion later down the line as well. It’s also important to be honest and realistic about the number and types of roles that can be filled through direct sourcing, which includes specialized roles and highly paid talent. (Get more best practices from industry pioneers when you read our white paper.)

Before launching a successful, goal-oriented direct sourcing initiative, ask the following key data questions:

• What will be the biggest need for contingent workers?
• Which skills will the contingent workers need to have?
• What does the competition and hiring difficulty look like?
• Where are the untapped talent pools pertaining to the role located?

Real World Success Story: How an Airline Company Filled Over 50% of Staff Augmentation Needs via Direct Sourcing

The talent acquisition senior director at a large airline company created a data-backed strategy to launch direct sourcing, but still needed to showcase its ROI to gain leadership support. He had to find the best place to pilot his program with the most demand for talent, employer brand and strongest direct sourcing stakeholder support.

To successfully launch the program across the organization, the director and his team took the following steps:

1. Gathered and analyzed internal and external talent intelligence sources to find areas that offered economies of scale for recruiting and fulfillment
2. Created specific intelligence-based goals for the direct sourcing pilot program
3. Regularly reviewed and fine-tuned the performance of the program
4. Slowly expanded the pilot in stages to different business units based on skillsets

As a result of taking this talent intelligence-backed, goal-oriented and staged approach to its initiative, the airline company now utilizes direct sourcing for over half of its staff augmentation needs.

(Related Reading: “International Healthcare Company Saves 200+ Hours per Week in Candidate Hiring.”)

Data as a Direct Sourcing Differentiator

Reaping the most direct sourcing benefits begins with data at the foundation. Companies looking to optimize direct sourcing results first need to create strategies based on the data, including both internal and external. Building a strong case and putting the results into engaging visuals will help spread the word across the organization and acquire necessary buy-in from stakeholders. Setting realistic goals with recruitment will also further drive the message and spread it to different departments so it grows into a company-wide, success-driven initiative helping to drive ROI and attract top talent.   

To learn more about the importance of talent intelligence in attracting, recruiting, and retaining your flexible contingent workforce, read our white paper.

If you’re interested in learning more about how Magnit is helping organizations implement winning contingent workforce programs globally, please contact a Magnit representative at info@magnitglobal.com.

Disclaimer: The content in this blog post is for informational purposes only and cannot be construed as specific legal advice or as a substitute for legal advice. The blog post reflects the opinion of Magnit and is not to be construed as legal solutions and positions. Contact an attorney for specific advice and guidance for specific issues or questions.