If you Always Do What you Always Did

When it comes to sourcing young talent for your business if you always do what you always did, you will always get what you always got!  So why not shake it up a little, try new or different talent sourcing media or methods, scout for talent in places you have not looked before?  You’ve got nothing to lose!

We designed the SAGEA Talent Sourcing Matrix (see below) as a tool to assist you in thinking differently about your talent sourcing options.  A good way to start this exercise is to go through the matrix and next to each option, check the appropriate boxes for size of employer, size of programme, strength of employer brand, budget, target students and supply and demand.  Once you have done this, have a look and a think about what your matrix looks like. 

Questions you should be asking yourself are:

  • Are the options we have always pursued high or low cost and are they achieving our desired outcomes?  Are there some low-cost alternatives we have not previously considered that could work for our business?
  • What is the potential reach of the different talent sourcing options, and do they work for our target students?
  • Where, in the system, are our target students sitting?  Are there Higher Education Institutions we have not considered targeting before? (To help you answer this question, make use of SAGEA’s HEMIS dashboard – The Hemis data analysis provides details on South African students, including qualifications by Higher Education Institute, race, gender and year of study).
  • Do you know which HEI’s some of your best employees attended?  This is worth investigating and may reveal some surprises.  How can these alumni assist you with targeting their HEI’s?
  • Have we engaged with any of the Foundations or Not-For-Profits who sponsor and develop students with the objective of placing them in employer programmes?  If not, why not reach out to our Foundation and Not-for-Profit affiliate members in the SAGEA network?
  • Are our existing talent sourcing partnerships working for us or do we need to re-think these?
  • How can we broaden our existing reach to attract a more diverse and inclusive set of applicants?
  • Ask yourself the ever-controversial question, are we setting the bar too high when it comes to academic requirements and/or minimum grades required?  Are we losing out on excellent potential who may not achieve high academic scores but who have more to offer in terms of attributes and attitude?
  • Are we using the correct media to reach our target audience?  What are the analytics telling us?  Do we need to try different media or platforms?
  • The increase in virtual events and digital connections has removed geographical and cost boundaries – how can we maximize this opportunity to extend our reach?

Need more ideas or data to support your decision to try new avenues for sourcing young talent?  Chatting to the Careers Service and asking them what the most tried and tested attraction strategies are on their campus is a great start.  And if you need data to guide you further, consult SAGEA’s Candidate Insights 2021 to learn more about the job search behaviour of graduates.