Winning mandates from your own candidate pool

Sourge

Business development in headhunting usually follows the same pattern: you call a company, ask about open roles and hope for a mandate. The answer is often the same. They will get in touch if anything comes up. Yet the strongest argument for a mandate is often already sitting in your own database.

Turn it around

Instead of starting with the mandate, you start with the candidate. A candidate you know well, who is open to a move and whose profile fits several open roles in the market, is a concrete reason to pick up the phone. You are not calling the company to ask about their needs. You are calling because you know someone who solves one of their problems.

That conversation goes differently. It is no longer about your agency, but about a concrete solution. The company listens, because the role is open and someone is missing right now.

What it takes

A well-maintained candidate pool. Openness to a move, notice period and recent conversations need to be up to date. Outdated records lead to the wrong calls.
An eye on the market. Open roles appear on career pages, job boards and in networks. Checking them only now and then means missing the right moment.
Matching the two. Only the link between candidate and open role gives you a reason to call.
A reason. Why does this person fit? If you can say it in one sentence, you will be convincing on the phone.

Why it rarely happens

Matching is legwork. Searching the market for every candidate takes hours that day-to-day business does not leave you. That is why an agency's own pool often goes unused, even though it is its greatest asset.

How Sourge helps

Sourge matches your candidates against open roles in the market and gives you a call list with reasons every morning. You decide whom to call. You lead the conversation yourself, because that is where your edge over any software lies.

If you would like to try the path from candidate to mandate, request access. We will get back to you personally.