Shared Sourcing is at the Center of the New Dynamic Workforce

Talent acquisition is among the most essential functions within an organization–we believe shared sourcing is the way forward.

The makeup of a company’s team dictates its ability to build superior products, dominate its market, and grow faster than the competition. Since the quality and skills of a team is the heart of a company’s success, finding the right candidates quickly and efficiently is critical.

We see the recruiting pain first hand at our portfolio companies in the Bay Area, and beyond. In the U.S. alone, $200 billion is spent on recruiting and seventy-five percent of that is spent on sourcing using contract recruiters, job boards, advertising, and referrals. Yet, talent professionals routinely reject 85% of all candidates that apply. Of the ones they interview, only a fraction advance to the final round, and only one is hired. The candidates who get passed over are an expensive lost resource.

The most successful talent professionals are using more intelligent, technology-assisted sourcing methods to meet the demands of today’s dynamic workforce. Talent teams that can rapidly source a broad mix of candidate profiles and hiring configurations are fundamental to their companies’ competitive advantage and growth. To do it successfully talent professionals need access to a pool of qualified, peer-vetted candidates who are actively looking for a job and the help of technology.

At BRV, we are excited to be backing the team at TalentShare and believe the TalentShare model is the future of talent sourcing. It’s the most efficient way for companies to find the right candidates and for job seekers to discover the right roles. The model represents a major shift from the legacy practice of advertising to a more effective model of sharing resources. TalentShare is building an unique community of talent professionals, companies, and job seekers. Members aggregate their sourcing and recruiting efforts to build a large pool of qualified, available candidates. Technology is used to match these candidates to open positions in the community, dramatically reducing time-to-hire for even the most specialized positions. Because job seekers are vetted by peers and are expertly matched to the specific needs of the business, member companies are able to build better teams faster and more cost effectively.

As the nature of work evolves, and teams become more dynamic, rapid talent sourcing will become increasingly fundamental to business success. Sourcing budgets will be redirected from ineffective job boards and used to find the right talent quickly through reliable sources. Membership in the TalentShare community saves time, reduces risk and maximizes ROI from recruiting budgets. More importantly, it makes it easier for talent professionals to find and confidently hire the right person for any configuration of team.

You can join the TalentShare community as of today or join the conversation on shared sourcing on LinkedIn, Twitter and FaceBook.

Competitive Weapon: The New Dynamic Workforce

Forward-looking companies are embracing a new, nimble approach to team building. In a study of talent professionals, Robert Half International found that companies are building teams with three flexible employment configurations. The study shows that permanent employees still make up the heart of the workforce, but that teams are frequently augmented by flexible contract workers for either a short-term of less than six months (33%), or long-term basis of more than six months (44%). There dynamic teams are designed to complete specific projects or meet specific objectives of the business. In addition, there is increased adoption of dynamic team structures comprised of experts who share their skills through a job rotation (34%), interim staffing (33%), or job sharing with contract or part-time employees (28%).