Can’t seem to find those diamonds in the rough? Is your job posting too much of a specialized position to find a decent pool of candidates to hire? Perhaps it’s time to learn about the art of “niche sourcing.” Niche sourcing can help you uncover those exceptional candidates all business owners want to hire and retain.
What is niche sourcing? Why is it important? How does it work? This article delves into sources like industry-specific forums, online communities, and skill-focused platforms. You’ll learn how tapping into these niche sources can connect you with highly skilled professionals who might not actively seek job opportunities but are open to the right offer. Some stellar candidates are waiting for the right opportunity to fall into their lap. You must know how to find them.
Foundations of Niche Sourcing
Let’s start with some foundational pieces for better understanding. Niche sourcing, as you may have guessed, is targeted, specialized talent acquisition. It’s not your usual job board, Indeed, or Zip Recruiter situation. Many employers rely on platforms like these because that’s all they know. Often, small businesses have someone running their HR department, but it could just be a family member that is familiar enough to handle the burden. Finding excellent HR help is challenging when running a small business and is often only achieved by working with a recruiting firm. The niche sourcing suggestions below are designed to help any employer looking for candidates beyond the Zip Recruiter realm.
Industry-Specific Forums
Industry-specific forums are our first stop on this niche sourcing train. Forums attract professionals and enthusiasts from specific industries. Posting job openings on relevant forums ensures your vacancy is seen by people with relevant skills and interests. These forums allow you to connect directly with potential candidates, share insights, and build relationships authentically, making identifying potential candidates easier. Another benefit of industry-specific forum sourcing is that it provides you an opportunity to showcase your company culture. Sharing relevant content can give potential candidates a glimpse into a day in the life at your company. It can attract candidates that align directly with your values.
In these forums, people often showcase their skills and expertise through contributions. You can review their posts and interactions and gain insight into their knowledge and abilities before contacting them. Finding those individuals with niche skill sets on these forums is possible. Some who engage with forums have had a nontraditional career path that has led them to what they currently do. They find community in the forums and showcase their skills in unique ways. It is crucial to find that diamond in the rough that may not have had a traditional career path.
In most forums, you can directly interact with participants, which creates ample opportunities to reach out and build a relationship with a candidate. If you are lucky, some forums even have engagement metrics displaying the user’s engagement. These metrics can show things like their activity level and the quality of their contributions. All these metrics can help you identify knowledgeable members. Forums are plenteous across all kinds of industries. For tech, you have Hacker News and Stack Overflow. For marketing and advertising, you have Reddit Advertising and Warrior Forum. For finance and investment, there is The Wall Street Oasis and Bogleheads. The list goes on and on for almost all industries and niches. Research potential forums and start connecting with potential candidates.
Online Communities
Similar to forums, there are online communities. Online communities differ from forums as they are generally smaller and often have more rules for engagement with their members. Online communities are usually more personal than forums; people identify more with their smaller community than the massive forums. Be careful with your approach and be sure you want to be a member of a community or forum before joining. A good rule of thumb is that you must first give to receive. Be patient and respectful, and your time will come to find the perfect candidate.
Reddit, Github, DeviantArt, NurseGrid, Spiceworks, and Linkedin Groups are all examples of communities. If you notice, some of these were mentioned as forums as well. Many of these platforms serve as both, so be sure you are ready to be a part of the community as a contributing member and commit to a comfortable level of involvement and engagement. Remember, engagement metrics are also captured for your user account, so other members (potential candidates) can see and make assumptions about you.
Skill-Focused Platforms
The last niche sourcing recommendation is skill-focused platforms. Unlike forums and online communities, skill-focused platforms are designed to connect individuals with specific skills to job opportunities, projects, or learning resources. These platforms are usually tailored to facilitate direct interactions between skilled professionals and those seeking expertise. Upwork, Fiverr, Linkedin, Behance, Dribbble, Toptal, Coursera, and Udacity are all examples of skill-focused platforms that can be useful for niche sourcing.
Many skill-focused platforms have employer and job-seeker logins to create an environment of professional interaction directly. Maintaining utmost professionalism while highlighting your company culture is imperative. On sites like Upwork, potential candidates can see how long you have been on the platform, how many jobs you have posted, your reviews, and how much you have paid out, among other things. So, play nice and start small. Many employers on these platforms initially hire candidates for part-time jobs or temporary work to see if the candidate is a good fit long term. The critical piece of this is to enter as a real person, be professional, and build genuine relationships with the platform’s community.
Conclusion
Don’t go straight to a staffing or recruitment firm when you need niched or skilled labor. There are numerous options that are free to use and are sometimes better for building long-lasting relationships with your candidates and the communities you enter. Learning about these forums, online communities, and skill-focused platforms is an important recruitment strategy. Start exploring some niche sourcing options, don’t let yourself get overwhelmed, and find those great candidates you’ve been seeking. great.
