How a Global Energy Company Supercharged their Contingent Workforce with Direct Sourcing
The Opportunity
A global energy company that offers a wide array of services, launched a contingent direct sourcing program to gain access to quality candidates and accelerate the hiring process.
Central to their objectives was a reduction in time-to-fill rates and sourcing costs, enhanced candidate visibility and tracking, improved redeployment and onboarding processes, and enabling data-driven hiring decisions – illuminating how many candidates are truly out there with the desired skill sets that would be interested in working with them.
The company had the opportunity to minimize the time it took to redeploy resources, particularly in remote or challenging work environments, enabling them to optimize resource allocation and respond swiftly to changing project demands.
HR saw a unique opportunity to capitalize on the informal networking field workers often did as a tight-knit group, and needed a way to effectively communicate with them once their contracts were over in order to redeploy, as needed. In parallel, the company aimed to build a larger network of skilled individuals and increase referrals, thereby expanding its talent pool and tapping into passive talent markets.
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Key results
23,000+ candidates in the contingent talent community
37% fill rate and 61% fills from exclusivity
9% cost savings to date
Solution
Recognizing the importance of selecting the right partners to kickstart this initiative, the company sought collaborators who could effectively work together to provide a comprehensive ‘plug and play’ direct sourcing solution tailored to their needs.
Many managed direct sourcing programs integrate candidate-focused technology with a seasoned curation partner and a reliable employer of record (EOR) payroll provider to ensure success. In this case, Talent Solutions TAPFIN has been their trusted MSP partner for many years and recommended LiveHire to be their direct sourcing technology partner due to its status as the premier technology in this space and the strength of the LiveHire and TAPFIN relationship.
With a track record spanning over 200 corporate brands and millions of candidates, LiveHire consistently receives the highest net promoter score for candidate experience, making it the ideal choice for the company’s direct sourcing endeavors.
Leveraging Employer Brand
By utilizing LiveHire’s Direct Sourcing platform, a tailored Talent Community was established to leverage the energy company’s brand to attract and engage contingent workers across a diverse range of industrial and energy roles.
The client prominently features their contingent job openings on their careers site, engaging candidates interested in their brand. This brand-driven strategy led to significant growth, with more than 23,000 candidates amassed in just a few months
What distinguishes this approach from traditional sourcing methods is that the company maintains ownership of the relationships developed with these candidates. This aspect is pivotal in highlighting the effectiveness of direct sourcing; by controlling the interaction and engagement, the Talent Community becomes an increasingly valuable source of candidates.
The collaborative partnership between TAPFIN and LiveHire has enabled us to provide a direct sourcing solution that more efficiently and effectively addresses our client’s pain points in identifying the best fit talent, while also providing a better candidate experience.
Amy Doyle
Senior Vice President and Global Leader, Talent Solution TAPFIN
Preparing to Launch
Before introducing the Talent Community, a thorough analysis of historical contingent hiring data at the company was conducted to guide the platform’s configuration, such as the creation of role-specific talent pools.
Additionally, the Talent Community was seeded with known talent, including alumni and retirees, and unknown talent through proactive sourcing.
The company maintains a flexible model for both the exclusivity period and exclusivity to fill positions. This approach prioritizes giving jobs to the direct sourcing program ahead of other suppliers, which is a critical element to direct sourcing.
This practice involves checking the talent pool for available candidates before connecting the role with traditional suppliers. This can be achieved by giving the curation team advanced notice of new positions, either during requisition approval or with a dedicated time frame, before involving preferred suppliers.
Typically, this priority window spans 2-3 days, potentially longer if the requisition is in draft status or pending approval. The essence lies in prioritizing the talent pool, which fosters better opportunities and engagement for those who have directly engaged with the company.
During the implementation phase, LiveHire was seamlessly integrated with the client’s vendor management system (VMS) and tailored to meet the company’s distinct requirements, ensuring a smooth end-to-end user experience.
Collaborating closely with key stakeholders, communication and awareness campaigns were launched through email and training aimed at introducing the direct sourcing program to hiring managers, thereby facilitating its adoption across the organization.
Furthermore, the Direct Sourcing team became embedded within the company, gaining access to their email accounts and systems to enhance collaboration and streamline processes.
The initiative was officially launched in July 2023, featuring eight distinct talent pools, marking a significant milestone in the client’s strategic approach to contingent talent acquisition and management.
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Talent Pooling and 2-Way Messaging
Upon deployment of the Contingent Talent Community, thousands of pre-screened candidates were assigned to customized, role-specific talent pools tailored to the client’s current vacancies and future hiring projections.
LiveHire’s advanced matching algorithm swiftly identifies and recommends top-tier candidates for each talent pool, expediting the delivery of candidate shortlists to hiring managers.
Utilizing LiveHire functionality such as 2-way text messaging and intelligent job matching, the curation team effectively engaged candidates, resulting in remarkable reductions in time-to-hire.
The candidates exhibit a rapid response time to recruiter text messages, typically within just 8 minutes, facilitating expedited hiring outcomes while upholding a superior candidate experience.
Untapped Talent
The available talent pool is swiftly reviewed, assisted by LiveHire’s intelligent matching capabilities, to highlight the most suitable candidates.
Combined with LiveHire’s AI-powered skills analysis, this capability facilitates the sharing of talent insights with stakeholders, ensuring they are informed about the wealth of talent at their disposal.
This proactive approach empowers managers to delve deeper into how direct sourcing can benefit them for future openings within their teams, fostering a culture of strategic talent acquisition and workforce planning.
Leveraging Technology
The integration of LiveHire and the company’s VMS has been instrumental in driving efficiency gains for the curation team. By seamlessly integrating with LiveHire, the curation team can swiftly surface talent the moment a job is posted on the platform, resulting in significant time savings.
This streamlined process enables them to achieve same-day submittals for the majority of the jobs, demonstrating the commitment to prompt and effective talent sourcing. Moreover, it enables them to maintain strong relationships with hiring managers, fostering collaboration and ensuring alignment with their requirements and preferences.
This synergy between technology and team capabilities not only enhances operational efficiency but also strengthens our partnerships with key stakeholders in the talent acquisition process.
