Active sourcing: definition, tools and why in the blue collar sector other methods don't measure up

Labor shortage. Go ahead and read it three times. We'll be hearing this term in HR and recruiting for a long time to come. It's a term that's deliberately broader than "skills shortage." Because we're heading for a shortage of any workforce - skilled or otherwise. According to a study by the IW the working-age population in Germany will gradually shrink by 3 million (3,000,000) people by 2053 - and there is already a shortage. The classic job ad is already dead anyway. Active sourcing is the order of the day in the coming years. But how? In this article you will learn everything about modern methods of active sourcing, the advantages and disadvantages - and why you and your HR department are not using all the potential of modern blue collar recruiting. Want to bet?

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According to a study by the University of Bamberg, 4 out of 10 candidates prefer an active personal approach to an independent application. But how does this work in blue collar recruiting?

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Definition: What is Active Sourcing?

Active sourcing is a method of modern recruiting. It is the (active) search for potential candidates, who themselves are often not actively looking, but are already in employment. It is "active" because it is not about passively waiting for an application. Instead, the recruiter actively approaches potential suitable candidates: via social media, job portals or headhunting firms. Since the 2020s, social networks have become even more of a focal point for active sourcing. Many companies are building up a pool of potential candidates. Prerequisite for this: strong, targeted recruiting campaigns. Active sourcing methods can (and must) be adapted to the needs of blue-collar companies. After all, their potential candidates are less and less likely to search at job fairs or through job ads. What's the point? As a rule, suitable candidates already have a job, especially in the employee market. That's why active sourcing is indispensable.

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The definition of active sourcing is not entirely straightforward: Simply placing a job ad and promoting it on social media is passive. However, a campaign that targets professional groups, for example via WhatsApp, Slack or a candidate pool, is proactive.

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Advantages of Active Sourcing in Blue Collar Recruiting

Active sourcing can be a very effective method for recruiting workers. By actively searching for candidates, companies can target those who are the best fit for them. Active Sourcing

- is cheaper in the long term than the classic job advertisement (RIP), as this becomes increasingly expensive on job portals over a longer period of time and in prominent places;

- makes more sense in the blue collar space than working through headhunters, who tend to be costly and not specialized in the blue collar market;

- also enables companies to differentiate themselves from the competition through targeted language and to attract the best candidates.

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A platform like LinkedIn is perfect for efficient active sourcing. However, only white-collar candidates can be found there. That's why we've created a LinkedIn for blue-collar workers:

Curious? Learn more now

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Disadvantages of manual active sourcing in blue-collar recruiting

For one thing, active sourcing is very time-consuming and requires a lot of resources. For another, it is often difficult to find the right candidates in the blue-collar sector, because in blue-collar industries one's own profession is not as widely publicized as it is on Xing or LinkedIn, for example. Active sourcing is also only successful if it is carried out consistently and systematically. Especially in the blue collar sector, you need a verified worker pool to keep track of. If companies do not do this, it can quickly become confusing for them and they then no longer achieve the desired results.

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In an employee market, nothing works without active sourcing. No one waits patiently for a job ad in the next few years.

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The future of active sourcing: only with processes and tools can we leverage potentials

For many HR departments in traditional corporations, digital transformation is a challenge, but digital active sourcing is almost always superior to all other methods in the blue collar sector. Whoever implements the best and fastest active sourcing in the medium term will prevail.

Blue collar active sourcing in particular needs optimized and automated processes. Using technology to drive recruiting, collecting relevant data, and applying agile strategies is a complex and operationally burdensome task. Multi-channel active sourcing, A/B testing and retargeting of recruiting ads, automated email reminders and scheduling of interviews - all this requires structures and, in the best case, above all: a complete SaaS solution specialized for blue collar sourcing.

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Blue collar recruiting differs from white collar in two main ways: the quantity of candidates and the requirements for the open position.

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Blue-collar active sourcing in particular needs more candidate focus and an improved candidate experience

In active sourcing, the process also needs to look at the entire journey in terms of what is best for the candidate (and not just look at what helps the company be effective). This is where many recruiters and HR decision makers need to rethink. In the blue collar space, a good candidate experience has been underestimated for the last few years.

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Four sourcing methods that can also work in the blue collar sector - and why they can hardly keep up with digitized active sourcing

1. a search engine optimized career section on the company website: not active sourcing, but important.

On the one hand, simply having a careers page on your website is not active sourcing. It's not even real sourcing, more of a hygiene factor. But your career site can support active sourcing because it can be a touchpoint of the candidate journey and thus help shape the candidate experience. Your career page is a URL on the corporate website where your company wants to convince the right people about itself as an employer. Yes, this is very passive, almost like a job ad, but: If the career page

1. Explicitly targets blue-collar workers who already have a job, and
2. You actively promote this career URL to the appropriate target groups ,

your career site can support sourcing. On a career page, you can address the typical pain points of already employed workers and say what you do better as an employer than your market competitors. For example, "Tired of working double shifts without warning? Then it's time for a realignment." Still, there's a problem here: it's still up to the candidate to make contact.

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With a career site, no matter how optimized, you only reach candidates who are actively searching themselves.

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2. referrals as an active sourcing method: referral sourcing

Referral sourcing is well-known from the white-collar sector. However, this active sourcing method also works in the blue collar sector - just a little differently.

A brief definition: In referral sourcing, HR managers use their existing contacts within the company to find potential candidates for open positions. In this process, they look at the career history of an already employed professional: Could the colleague possibly have contacts that fit the company? If so, the recruiter calls on the suitable colleagues to make a recommendation in their own circle of acquaintances for the open position in their own company.

An example: You have a vacancy in the legal team? The head of department, who has previously worked for two competitors, might know someone who would want to work for you. Maybe he even knows who of his former colleagues at one of the competitors was rather dissatisfied with his job.

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Referral sourcing also works in the blue collar sector: approach your workforce and offer a benefit if someone brings an acquaintance into the company. 54% of HR executives are already doing this. But there is no guarantee of success.

*Source: Institute for Employment and Employability / hays: HR-Report 2022 -Organizations under pressure, page 25

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3. smart recruiting via verified pools: The most efficient method of active sourcing

By far the most efficient form of active sourcing is accessing a verified candidate pool of verified workers. In doing so, we completely turn the application process around:

1. You register with a provider for Smart Recruiting.
2. You have access to an already qualified pool of more than 30,000 candidates.
3. You keep track of your applicant management with your own cockpit.
4. To a large extent, the candidate journey and candidate experience have already been taken care of.

Is "performance recruiting" via social media also active sourcing?

Not really, because the decisive activity lies with the candidate. But the good thing about social media for blue-collar recruiters is: almost everyone is registered on one or another social media channel and is more or less active. Here it is important to distinguish different perspectives between blue-collar and white-collar:

1. Blue-collar recruiting on social media is quantitatively more: we would have to address a large quantity of people at the same time - in contrast to the individual approach via classic active sourcing on LinkedIn in the white-collar sector.
2. Communications for blue collar job openings must be tailored to the specific concerns of passive candidates - that is, first and foremost, high job security and a good salary.

Point 2 means: While white-collar personnel are more likely to be picked up by a mission, a "purpose" or a specific attitude, in the blue-collar sector it is more important to talk about the working environment, fair working conditions, the team and togetherness. But that means this type of blue collar recruiting requires strong communication skills, plus specific monitoring skills. The effort is not to be underestimated - that's why we are happy to take over your recruiting campaigns or offer you direct access to our pool of verified candidates to you.

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4. crawling and data mining

This is where it gets a bit more complicated and we need to distinguish search engines and social media.

Social media

In profile crawling, recruiters actively scour social media platforms to find candidates for an advertised job. By entering specific job titles or hard and soft skills, recruiters can search for workers in certain positions or with certain skills and then send a private message to contact them. This works especially well for white-collar jobs on platforms like LinkedIn.

The bad news: It's harder for blue-collar because on platforms like Facebook and Instagram, job titles aren't as clear.

The good news is that you can also search Facebook for groups or Instagram for specific hashtags (#lagerist #retail) to discover larger groups of blue collar workers in one fell swoop. Candidates who are either looking or unhappy with their own jobs follow career hashtags (especially Generation Z). So create content that serves the corresponding hashtags. So use popular job hashtags like #stellenangebot or #offenestellen combined with industry hashtags for your industry. This works on Instagram, LinkedIn,Twitter and TikTok. However, the manual work for high volumes of staff should not be underestimated.

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The best news: the principle of a "LinkedIn for Blue-Collar Workers" we at WorkerHero have implemented for you implemented the principle of a "LinkedIn for blue-collar workers" for you because of exactly these challenges.

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Search engines

You can also use search engines like Google (or Bing, Yahoo and Ecosia) for active sourcing. To do this, you use keywords that are combined with certain search operators. These are so-called Boolean operators. We do not explain these operators here, because here also applies:

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In the blue collar sector, it is not advisable to search for workers manually(!) either on social media or via search engines. The effort is out of proportion to the hiring goal, especially if you are not a digital sourcing professional.

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Tips for Active Sourcing in the Blue Collar Sector

1. Stick to the hard facts: In the blue collar sector, these are long-term employment, i.e. a "secure job" and good pay‍

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Example: In a fiercely competitive labor market, entry-level entry-level bonuses are very persuasive. It could be exactly what makes blue collar workers choose you over the competition.

Alternative to a.: Lead a small, semi-annual bonusas a loyalty bonus for your current employees. You probably know: bonuses are ultimately much cheaper than searching, recruiting and onboarding new candidates.

2. Keep the barrier to entry as low as possible. You should not immediately ask candidates to fill out a large form or enter a lot of data.

3. Emphasize from the beginning the importance, relevance, and benefits of the job in addition to the hard facts (they still come first).

4. Give your employees the prospect of being able to provide regular feedback when they first get to know you. Not only will you find out what's great (or not) about individual tasks, but you'll also get some real-life testimonials that can be published on the company website, enriching the candidate journey.

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Active sourcing, but fast and effortless? Your search is over - we are your smart recruiting solution for blue-collar recruiting.

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