How to be Sourced by a Recruiter

It’s been quite a while that I haven’t written in my blog. The main reason is that I’m learning so much about the recruiting world! As I shared in my last post,?four months ago I started a new position as a Talent Acquisition and Employer Branding Specialist at Nayax. My first main goal when I joined was to hire a dozen international employees living in Israel for the Inside Sales team until the end of February 2022. We were looking for people with language and sales skills, and I knew it wouldn’t be an easy task, but I accepted the challenge.

During the intense period when I was looking for those candidates, I saw so many people losing the opportunity of being sourced. So, I decided to share some tips with you: international job seekers looking for a job in Israel!

But before, it’s important to explain some Recruitment world lingo.

A little background about Sourcing in Recruitment

When a position is posted on the company’s career website (and on LinkedIn,?Facebook groups, and many other available job boards), many people actively apply for the position. Sometimes, the candidates that applied for a specific position haven’t the exact experience the company is looking for. This is when the Recruiter needs to source for relevant candidates.

What is sourcing?

Candidate sourcing is the proactive search for passive candidates and contacting them in an effort to ask their interest in a specific open position in your company.

The sourcing can be done both inhouse or outsourced (by using Headhunter services or Placement Agencies). The outsourced sourcing has a fee and they don’t always bring the correct profile the company is looking for. At Nayax, we mostly do inhouse sourcing.

After the Recruiter or Sourcer finds you, they need to contact you somehow. But no one shares their contacts openly, because of security concerns, right? So, the Recruiter needs to find a way to get in touch with you to learn if you’re interested in a specific open position and then add you to the candidate pipeline (database). After that, you’ll enter the regular hiring process, as I explained in a previous post –?The Typical Hiring Process in Israel.

Hopefully, you now understand the concept of Sourcing in Recruiting.

Next, I’ll list my main resources for sourcing international qualified professionals living in Israel (Olim Chadashim/Newcomers to Israel), followed by the main difficulties I encountered while sourcing. To finish up this post, I’ll offer some tips on how to improve your chances of getting sourced, international job seekers looking for a job in Israel.

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Tools I used to source international candidates in Israel

Honestly, I had to be very creative in finding different sources for recruiting international candidates living in Israel. Some of the languages I had to actively source for candidates:

• English (a very specific profile)
• Spanish (from a specific region)
• Dutch
• Swedish
• Polish

In the beginning, I didn’t have a LinkedIn Recruiter license (I do now, so sourcing has become much easier) because this isn’t a cheap tool and not all companies can afford to pay for it. Below is a list of the main places I looked for candidates:

• LikedIn?– the number one database for professionals anywhere in the world – you must have a good profile there if you’re looking for a job or are interested in being sourced. Even though it’s undoubtedly an amazing resource, it offers very limited reach if you don’t have a Premium or a Recruiter license.
• Gvahim?– a non-profit organization that provides tools for a successful career for qualified professionals known as Olim Chadashim/New Immigrants to Israel. As an alumni myself and Nayax being part of the “Olim Friendly Employer Club”,?Gvahim Network?is definitely my go-to place.
• Company’s internal database – larger companies usually have a recruiting system that helps them manage the whole recruitment process. When sourcing the internal database, the Sourcer can search for a specific field, such as languages and keywords. This is a great resource, because whoever sent their CV to your company before can be hand-picked for another position.
• X-Ray?– this is a genius website that helps source candidates on several social media using a simple Google search
• Facebook?groups – my favourite group for this purpose is?Olim in Tech. When I was sourcing, I searched for keywords such as sales and the specific language I was looking for.
• Multilinguals?– a community of professionals who speak foreign languages in Israel
• Ulpanim (schools for the intensive study of Hebrew for adults)
• MAOF?and?Urban Recruits?– placement agencies specialized in finding work for Olim Chadashim/New Immigrants subsidized by Misrad Hakiltah
• Embassies
• Community leaders

Main difficulties I encountered while sourcing for international candidates in Israel

1. Lack of response from people I approached – I estimate that less than 20% of the people I contacted replied. Some of them replied when the position wasn’t relevant anymore.
2. Lack of a centralized database containing information on international people living in Israel and their professional skills
3. Lack of strong communities of people from the same country or with similar backgrounds. Actually, this was one of the reasons I decided to create?Kadima Brasil, the community of Brazilian professionals living in Israel, during the pandemic in 2020!

My tips for people who are looking for a job in Israel and want to be sourced by a Recruiter

1. Check your email at least once a week! If someone contacts you through the Multilinguals platform, for example, you’ll receive an email. From the +200 messages I sent, I received only 5 replies.
2. Have a complete and updated LinkedIn profile – and check your inbox at least once a week (I’ll share more tips specifically on important fields that you need to fill on LinkedIn in a future post).
3. Introduce yourself in relevant communities on Facebook (FB has become an important tool for people looking for a job, at least in Israel) and add important information, such as the languages you speak, country you’re coming from, areas of interest, and main skills (think of keywords Recruiters will use when sourcing for candidates). Don’t be shy and share ways Recruiters can contact you – and check your?messages request?frequently, since you probably won’t be connected to the Recruiter and this is how this channel works.
4. Let people know that you’re looking for a job – in Israel, people usually want to help each other out, so spread the word (if you want to discover more about Israeli culture in the workplace, you should check?my blog post series about culture)!
5. Build your reputation online! A lot has been said about the?importance of building a personal branding to stand out in a job search. One of my favourite materials on this subject is?Hayim‘s (a good friend) presentation for Gvahim alumni. You can read his slides?here?– I was mentioned in slide 13!

I hope you enjoyed and learned something new with this blog post! If you did, I’d really appreciate it if you leave a comment!

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• Optimizing your LinkedIn Profile to Increase your Chances of Being Sourced
• The Typical Hiring Process in Israel
• CV tips:?7 Tips on How to Write a Good CV?(Part 1) &?5 Tips on What NOT to Do in Your CV and What to Do Instead?(Part 2)
• Demystifying the ‘Refer a Friend’ Program in Israel
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• 4 Important Lessons to Keep in Mind if You Want to Find a Job as a New Immigrant
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