We're all guilty of it: paying for job boards and sourcing tools out of habit rather than results. You bought LinkedIn Recruiter three years ago, so you renew it. You post on Indeed because that's what everyone does. You have subscriptions to boards you haven't logged into since last spring. And when budget season comes, you request the same mix because changing things feels like work.

2026 is the year to actually look at what's working and cut what's not. Here's how to build a sourcing strategy based on data instead of inertia.

Start with the Honest Audit

Pull your hiring data for 2025 and track every hire back to its original source. Not where they applied—where you actually found them. The candidate who applied through Indeed but you originally sourced via LinkedIn counts as a LinkedIn hire.

According to research from Aptitude Research, most companies track source-of-hire wrong, crediting job boards with applicants who actually came from other channels. Fix your tracking first, then make decisions.

For each sourcing channel, calculate:

• Total hires from that source
• Cost per hire from that source (subscription cost ÷ number of hires)
• Quality of hire (retention, performance—whatever your company measures)
• Time-to-hire from that source

This gives you actual ROI data. Maybe LinkedIn is expensive but produces quality hires quickly. Maybe Indeed is cheap but generates high application volume with low conversion. Maybe that niche industry board you pay $5K for produced exactly zero hires. Numbers don't lie.

Cut the Dead Weight

If a sourcing channel hasn't produced a hire in 12 months, seriously question whether you need it. I don't care if "we've always used it" or "we might need it someday". If it's not working, stop paying for it.

Research from LinkedIn shows that the average company wastes 30-40% of their recruiting budget on channels that produce less than 5% of hires. That's money you could redirect to channels that actually work or new experiments worth trying.

Be brutal. That diversity job board that sounded great but generated 200 unqualified applicants and zero hires? Cut it. The industry association membership you maintain "for recruiting access" but never actually use? Gone. The Boolean string training you bought and watched once? Not renewing.

Free up budget for things that work or new experiments.

Double Down on What Works

Here's a radical concept: spend more money on the channels that produce quality hires. If LinkedIn Recruiter gave you 40% of your hires with strong quality scores, maybe upgrade to more licenses or a higher tier. If employee referrals crushed it, increase referral bonuses and invest in better referral tools.

According to Jobvite research, companies that concentrate 60-70% of their recruiting budget on their top three performing channels fill roles 25% faster than those who spread budget evenly across all channels. Focus works.

Look at your top three sources by quality hires, and ask: what would happen if we doubled our investment there? Could LinkedIn handle more recruiter hours? Would increasing referral bonuses generate more referrals? Could you hire a dedicated sourcer for your best channel?

Stop spreading budget like peanut butter. Concentrate it where it delivers.

Plan Your Experiments

Keep 10-15% of your sourcing budget for testing new channels. The sourcing landscape changes constantly—new platforms emerge, candidate behavior shifts, industries move to different channels.

For 2026, worth testing:

• AI sourcing agents (Celential.ai, hireEZ, others)—autonomous candidate discovery
• Community-based hiring platforms (Polywork, Pallet)—where actual conversations happen
• Niche technical communities (Dev.to, Hashnode, specific Slack/Discord groups)—where passive candidates actually hang out
• Video-first platforms (Loom careers, Welcome)—for roles where personality matters

Give each experiment 3-6 months and clear success metrics. If it works, scale it. If it doesn't, cut it and try something else. The companies that win in recruiting are the ones willing to test new channels before they're obvious.

Channel Strategy by Role Type

Not every channel works for every role. Your sourcing mix should reflect what you're actually hiring for.

For technical roles: GitHub, Stack Overflow, technical community Slack channels, and direct LinkedIn sourcing tend to work best. Job boards generate high volume but low quality.

For sales and marketing roles: LinkedIn, industry-specific communities, and direct sourcing work well. General job boards can work but require heavy screening.

For hourly/front-line roles: Indeed, ZipRecruiter, and local job boards typically deliver volume at lower cost. Referral programs can be highly effective.

For executive roles: Direct sourcing, executive networks, and retained search firms dominate. Job boards are largely useless at this level.

Match your sourcing investment to what actually works for the roles you hire.

The January Planning Session

Block two hours in early January to do this planning properly. Pull your data, review your results, make decisions about what to cut and what to grow. Then actually update your budgets and subscriptions accordingly.

Bring your recruiter team into this conversation. They know what channels are painful to use versus productive. The sourcing platform that looks great in demos but nobody actually uses? They'll tell you. Listen to them.

Document your sourcing strategy for 2026: which channels you're prioritizing, what you're testing, what you're cutting, and why. Share it with leadership so they understand your budget requests. Review it quarterly to make sure you're sticking to the plan.

The Bottom Line

Your 2026 sourcing strategy should be based on 2025 results, not 2019 habits. Cut what doesn't work, double down on what does, and experiment with emerging channels. It's not complicated, but it does require actually looking at your data and making decisions.

Stop wasting money on job boards that don't deliver. Stop renewing subscriptions out of habit. Start investing strategically in channels that produce quality hires.

The recruiting teams that win in 2026 will be the ones who made smart decisions in December 2025. Do the work now, reap the benefits all year.

Your future self in June, when you're crushing hiring goals with a leaner budget, will thank you. Get to work.