Keeping track of where your candidates are finding your job postings is extremely helpful. It not only tells you where you might find the most success posting similar openings but where to focus those precious recruiting dollars. Unfortunately, not all candidates even know where they saw your posting, or they simply don’t take enough time to answer the “Source” questions accurately.
Configuring your Taleo Recruiting zone to utilize Source Codes effectively can take all of this guess-work away from the candidates. Just follow these easy steps:
1. Create the Source in Recruiting
Configuration>Recruiting Administration>Sources
Remember: You cannot add new Source Types, but rather only rename what is existing. We can add new Corporate Sources which is where you’ll add your desired source. These may come from a new job board, professional association, or even a new agent at a recruiting agency.
2. Once the source is created, there will be an “ID” column in the Corporate source List. This “ID” is also known as a Source Code. These are unique to each source, and this is the detail that needs to be provided to each posting vendor. Whether you choose to add Sources from the list of existing options, or create your own custom selections, the ID/Source Code will be presented upon saving that new source.
You’ll find that most job posting sites will know what to do with this code, but in case they don’t, this code needs to be appended to the end of the application URL in this format:
https://ZONENAME.taleo.net/careersection/jobdetail.ftl?job=ZZZZZ&src=XXXXXX
In our example sources above, we see a source of “A Job Board” with the corresponding ID/Source Code of JB-11680. Your requisition ID will be in place of the “ZZZZZ” in the URL as it is displayed as well. This would make our URL as follows:
https://ZONENAME.taleo.net/careersection/jobdetail.ftl?job=12345&src=JB-11680
3. The final piece of the puzzle is to ensure you set the Sourcing block in your application flow to hide if it is prefilled. While your app flow is inactive, this is a quick and easy change to make by ensuring this setting is set to “Yes”.
Having this set to “Yes” ensures that when the Source Code is included in the URL, the candidate isn’t even asked the source questions; the source is simply prepopulated based upon the code which ultimately results in more accurate data. If this setting is “yes” and a candidate comes to your posting from a location that didn’t have the pre-populated source, only then will the candidate be prompted to enter the source details.
Don’t confuse the source code ability with another functionality in Taleo to create an Event ID. These are two very different functionalities that can be used for different needs. The Event ID allows you to create a unique ID number for you to provide candidates. For example, an Event ID could be created for a particular job fair or even a campus newspaper advertisement. Folks can enter that provided event ID as a source to allow you to track the individual success of that event. Since this is a unique limited time recruiting event/advertisement, you might find the Event ID functionality quicker to create vs. setting up unique sources for each job fair you attend. Either way, both functionalities are aimed at allowing you to gather more accurate metrics on the success of a recruiting method. But, don’t forget a major difference – source codes can be automatically filled in, and the candidate isn’t even asked to provide source details, but Event IDs are manually keyed into the application by the candidate opening the door for human error.
Whatever functionality or combination of both works for your company, the ultimate end goal is better, more accurate metrics, to allow your business to be a better judge of your success with a recruiting source overall.
Ready to improve your Taleo use?
ThinkTalent provides a no obligation Taleo Review. We will do a quick assessment of your current analytics use, career section or onboarding process and provide feedback/recommendations. We’d love to hear from you, Contact us at info@thinktalent.net or give us a ring at 952-934-6538 for more information.