Organizations are increasingly realizing the need to create an agile workforce; a workforce where full-time employees and temporary workers are able to contribute equally to specific projects and work requirements.
Achieving workforce agility gives organizations the ability they need to pivot their workforce at a moment’s notice - accessing new skills, remote workers or specialized consultants at the exact moment that they are needed.
This is the future of work, where organizations will focus on optimization by transforming their business operations, creating deeper talent pools (of both employee and non-employee workers) and implementing new flexible ways of thinking.
Due to its ability to provide organizations with high-quality skills, greater staffing flexibility, lower employment costs and a huge range of qualified temporary workers, the contingent workforce is the perfect place for those companies looking to achieve greater agility.
Yet, despite these positive trends, many organizations are still struggling to effectively source and engage temporary workers in an efficient and cost-effective manner.
Using staffing agencies to source temp workers is certainly an effective method when combined with the use of a vendor management system (VMS) to consolidate and manage those vendors, but combining this with a strategy that allows you to also source temps internally can improve your access to non-employee talent even further.
One of the most popular, and increasingly trending, methods is direct sourcing. In this blog, Conexis VMS takes a look at the direct sourcing method, and how your organization can benefit from using it.
So, what is direct sourcing?
Direct sourcing is simply the action of finding and engaging non-employee talent for temporary and contract positions directly through your vendor management system, rather than through traditional staffing suppliers and staffing agencies.
This recruitment strategy uses the information that you have stored on your VMS to identify temporary workers and create a talent pool that allows you to engage or re-engage highly-skilled workers when required.
This talent pool can be built from workers that you have engaged with before, those who almost landed a position with your company and just missed out, as well as those who have engaged with your business through social media, applied on job boards, LinkedIn, the company career page or referrals . This gives you everything you need to create a talent pipeline for future contingent positions.
What are the benefits of using direct sourcing?
There are a number of benefits that come with the implementation of a direct sourcing strategy, when used in tandem with staffing agencies. We have listed just a few of the key benefits here.
Create a pool of established talent: Direct sourcing empowers your organization to create a talent pool from your internal recruiting activities and brand reach, whether that be former employees, retirees or previous applicants. This talent pool decreases hiring risk since you can already be confident in their abilities, and makes it significantly easier and faster for you to reach out to skilled workers at the exact moment they are needed.
Improve time-to-fill metrics: When you have a pool of candidates in your VMS that you already know about, and that know about your organization, you can dramatically improve the time it takes to fill headcount requirements. You won’t have to wait for staffing agencies to find candidates for you. Instead, you will be able to fill open temp positions in rapid time with workers who have already engaged with your organization previously.
Cut down recruitment costs: Staffing agencies are still highly beneficial for your non-employee workforce, and can help you access the best available talent. However, mixing the use of staffing agencies with direct sourcing will help you to cut down on recruitment and transaction costs by having a ready-made pool of temp workers that you can engage internally when required.
Don’t forget to use a vendor management system!
Once you implement a direct sourcing strategy in tandem with your existing staffing agency program to source and engage temporary workers, it’s important that you also use a vendor management system to automate and record this data.
A VMS will automate and centralize every step of managing your organization’s non-employee workforce, giving you complete visibility and control over your hiring processes and spending.
Want to learn more about how you can improve your non-employee workforce management through the use of direct sourcing, and how a vendor management system makes those workers visible? Contact Conexis VMS today. We would be more than happy to answer any questions that you may have.
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