A virtual talent community is an online network of people with similar skills and work experiences.  It could be a community of attorneys or more specifically a group of litigation attorneys (family lawyers or corporate attorneys etc.) But all virtual talent communities are not created equally.  And for recruiters who want to effectively use virtual talent communities in a way that actually benefits their sourcing efforts, knowing how to identify and target the right community for each job order is the key to success. Let’s take a look at a few tips:

1. Connect to several communities.  Recruiters should lay a foundation of virtual communities to which they are already connected.  Since there is no single community which can serve all of any recruiter’s needs, combining the connections of several talent communities can yield greater results.
2. Match the job order with the right communities.  Each virtual talent community has its specialty.  A recruiter looking for a litigation attorney in Idaho may want to connect to attorney specific job sites such as Leopard Pride in addition to region specific sites in Idaho.  Combining different requirements in a job order is the key to getting the most out of virtual talent community sourcing.
3. Create your own virtual talent community and maintain it.  A virtual talent community doesn’t necessarily mean a large website with millions of users. Recruiters can create their own virtual talent communities by remaining in touch with former job candidates via a blog or newsletter. When job opportunities arise, recruiters can tap these small communities along with larger communities to get as much effective online sourcing done as possible.