Your recruiting results are only as good as your sourcing strategies. Success in a highly competitive market means knowing the latest trends in hiring sources and using metrics to evaluate and maximize your sourcing investments.

The CareerXroads 7th Annual Source of Hire Study: What 2007 Results Mean For Your 2008 Plans provides this news on the latest trends:

• 30% of open positions were filled internally.
• 28% of all external hires were referrals.
• 25% of external hires were from job boards.
• <5% came from traditional print sources.

The ERE Media and Classified Intelligence report Recruitment Advertising: Moving in New Directions polled recruiters and lists employee referral programs, recruitment sites, and business and social networking sites as the most effective ways to find and hire employees.

And Sourcing Today's Candidate: What's Working to Attract Top Talent from Kennedy Information describes “where, when, and how should job search resources be used to most effectively deliver the best candidates”.

These findings point directly to action items you can implement to update and tune your sourcing strategy for success:

Internal Mobility. Make it easier for your employees to find new positions within your organization with workforce mobility.

Social Networking. Understand and use social networks for your organization as a component of a sourcing strategy.

Smart Sourcing. Candidate relationship management (CRM) and automated search and sourcing tools can extend your reach to find the people you want.

Career Site. Your career site is the destination where these candidates will interact with your employment brand. That’s where the process begins. Implement Web 2.0 features and functionality to gain competitive advantage.