Sourcing (personnel)
Encyclopedia
Sourcing in personnel management work refers to the identification and uncovering of candidates (also known as talent) through proactive
recruiting
techniques.
has changed significantly over the last few decades. What started out as the responsibility of office managers to place job advertisements in newspapers or help wanted signs to attract potential employees has now grown into a multibillion-dollar industry, where the identification of talent requires internal corporate recruitment departments or employment agencies solely focused on this transaction through both proactive and New reactive recruiting techniques.
Today the actual act of identifying candidates has even been split into dedicated roles and job functions, whereas historically sourcing was the sole and inclusive responsibility of the recruiter along with other job responsibilities (examples):
A third-party recruitment agency or corporate recruiting department can now be made up of individuals dedicated to just the sourcing of candidates while recruiters can either focus on more account management responsibilities or leverage sourcing experts to supplement an additional volume of potential candidates. An increasing number of agencies and corporate recruiting departments outsource this work to a Recruitment Process Outsourcing
vendor.
In some situations a person that "sources" candidates can and will perform both 'primary' and 'secondary' sourcing techniques to identify candidates as well as the candidate profiling to further pre-screen candidates but there is a growing market for experts solely focused on "telephone sourcing", "internet sourcing/researching" and candidate profiling.
The actual act to source candidates can usually be split out into two clearly defined techniques: primary sourcing and secondary sourcing.
The term "phone sourcers" or "phone name generator" or "telephone names sourcer" generally applies to the utilization of primary sourcing techniques.
The term "internet sourcer", "Internet name generator" or "internet researcher
" generally applies to the use of secondary sourcing techniques.
Though there has been much debate within the staffing community as to how to accurately define an "active candidate" versus a "passive candidate" typically either term is irrelevant to a candidate sourcer as the status of any particular candidate can change from moment to moment or with a simple phone call from a recruiter that happenes to present a job opportunity that is perceived to be either better or worse than the job the person has now. The status of being an "active" or "passive" candidate is fluid and changing depending on the circumstances and position being offered.
Activities related to sourcing in Recruiting can also be categorized into Push Activities and Pull Activities.
Push Activities: Are activities undertaken to reach out to the target audience. This generally includes, Head Hunting, HTML Mailers, Referral Follow-ups.
Pull Activities: Are activities that result in applicants coming to know of an opportunity on their own. Pull Activities may include the following: Advertising on a Microsite with Registration Process (This makes Search Engines Crawl the site and index it on various Search Results), Advertising (In Newspapers, Cable TVs, through Flyers/Leaflets in Malls etc.) with a phone number and email id clearly mention for SMSs and Inbound Calls and Mails. Posting a Job in Job Portals, which will be seen by candidates and applied against.
In summary, A push activity is akin to a direct marketing activity, whereas Pull activities are more of indirect marketing of the same concept. Both rest of the applicant getting interested and the interest triggering a response (Applying, Referring, Calling, Sending an SMS etc.). These action triggers are also sometimes referred to as Call To Action (CTA) steps.
.
.
Several recruiters can rely on the same sourcer to generate leads and fill the pipeline with pre-screened or pre-qualified candidates. Sourcers are often the initial point of contact with a candidate, qualifying whether they are a real job seeker or just a job shopper. As a result, sourcers are uniquely positioned to sell or “pre-close” candidates before the candidates enter the recruitment process.
ProActive
ProActive is Java grid middleware for parallel, distributed, and multi-threaded computing. It is developed by the OW2 Consortium, including INRIA, CNRS, University of Nice Sophia Antipolis, and ActiveEon...
recruiting
Recruitment
Recruitment refers to the process of attracting, screening, and selecting qualified people for a job. For some components of the recruitment process, mid- and large-size organizations often retain professional recruiters or outsource some of the process to recruitment agencies.The recruitment...
techniques.
Historical context
The evolution of recruitingRecruitment
Recruitment refers to the process of attracting, screening, and selecting qualified people for a job. For some components of the recruitment process, mid- and large-size organizations often retain professional recruiters or outsource some of the process to recruitment agencies.The recruitment...
has changed significantly over the last few decades. What started out as the responsibility of office managers to place job advertisements in newspapers or help wanted signs to attract potential employees has now grown into a multibillion-dollar industry, where the identification of talent requires internal corporate recruitment departments or employment agencies solely focused on this transaction through both proactive and New reactive recruiting techniques.
Today the actual act of identifying candidates has even been split into dedicated roles and job functions, whereas historically sourcing was the sole and inclusive responsibility of the recruiter along with other job responsibilities (examples):
- Screen and interview candidates against the position requirements
- Work closely with the hiring manager on hiring activities
- Help with the "offer letter"and interview..
A third-party recruitment agency or corporate recruiting department can now be made up of individuals dedicated to just the sourcing of candidates while recruiters can either focus on more account management responsibilities or leverage sourcing experts to supplement an additional volume of potential candidates. An increasing number of agencies and corporate recruiting departments outsource this work to a Recruitment Process Outsourcing
Recruitment Process Outsourcing
Recruitment Process Outsourcing is a form of business process outsourcing where an employer outsources or transfers all or part of its recruitment activities to an external service provider....
vendor.
Detailed definition
The actual act of sourcing for candidates is performed by either a recruiter (be it an internal corporate recruiter or agency recruiter) or a dedicated recruiter just focused on the sourcing function. The definition of sourcing needs to be clearly defined by what it is, as much as what it is not. Candidate sourcing activity typically ends once the name, job title, job function and contact information for the potential candidate is determined by the candidate sourcer. To further develop a list of names that were sourced some companies have a second person then reach out to the names on the list to initiate a dialogue with them with the intention of pre-screening the candidate against the job requirements and gauging the interest level in hearing about new job opportunitites. This activity is called "candidate profiling" or "candidate pre-screening". The term candidate sourcing should not be confused with candidate research.In some situations a person that "sources" candidates can and will perform both 'primary' and 'secondary' sourcing techniques to identify candidates as well as the candidate profiling to further pre-screen candidates but there is a growing market for experts solely focused on "telephone sourcing", "internet sourcing/researching" and candidate profiling.
The actual act to source candidates can usually be split out into two clearly defined techniques: primary sourcing and secondary sourcing.
Primary sourcing/phone sourcing
In recruiting and sourcing, this means the leveraging of techniques (primarily the phone) to identify candidates with limited to no presence of these individuals in any easily accessible public forum (the Internet, published list, etc.). It requires the uncovering of candidate information via a primary means of calling directly into organizations to uncover data on people, their role, title and responsibilities.The term "phone sourcers" or "phone name generator" or "telephone names sourcer" generally applies to the utilization of primary sourcing techniques.
Secondary sourcing/Internet sourcing
In recruiting and sourcing, this means the using of techniques (primarily the Internet and utilizing advanced Boolean operators) to identify candidates. Individuals in the recruiting industry that have deep expertise in uncovering talent in the harder to reach places on the internet (forums, blogs, alumni groups, conference attendee lists, personal home pages, etc.).The term "internet sourcer", "Internet name generator" or "internet researcher
Researcher
A researcher is somebody who performs research, the search for knowledge or in general any systematic investigation to establish facts. Researchers can work in academic, industrial, government, or private institutions.-Examples of research institutions:...
" generally applies to the use of secondary sourcing techniques.
Examples of sourcing techniques
Sourcing for candidates refers to proactively identifying people who are either a) not actively looking for job opportunities (passive candidates) or b) candidates who are actively searching for job opportunities (active candidates), though the industry also recognizes the existence of 'active candidate sourcing' using candidate databases, job boards and the like.Though there has been much debate within the staffing community as to how to accurately define an "active candidate" versus a "passive candidate" typically either term is irrelevant to a candidate sourcer as the status of any particular candidate can change from moment to moment or with a simple phone call from a recruiter that happenes to present a job opportunity that is perceived to be either better or worse than the job the person has now. The status of being an "active" or "passive" candidate is fluid and changing depending on the circumstances and position being offered.
Activities related to sourcing in Recruiting can also be categorized into Push Activities and Pull Activities.
Push Activities: Are activities undertaken to reach out to the target audience. This generally includes, Head Hunting, HTML Mailers, Referral Follow-ups.
Pull Activities: Are activities that result in applicants coming to know of an opportunity on their own. Pull Activities may include the following: Advertising on a Microsite with Registration Process (This makes Search Engines Crawl the site and index it on various Search Results), Advertising (In Newspapers, Cable TVs, through Flyers/Leaflets in Malls etc.) with a phone number and email id clearly mention for SMSs and Inbound Calls and Mails. Posting a Job in Job Portals, which will be seen by candidates and applied against.
In summary, A push activity is akin to a direct marketing activity, whereas Pull activities are more of indirect marketing of the same concept. Both rest of the applicant getting interested and the interest triggering a response (Applying, Referring, Calling, Sending an SMS etc.). These action triggers are also sometimes referred to as Call To Action (CTA) steps.
Proactive techniques
- Using Boolean operators on major search engine sites (GoogleGoogleGoogle Inc. is an American multinational public corporation invested in Internet search, cloud computing, and advertising technologies. Google hosts and develops a number of Internet-based services and products, and generates profit primarily from advertising through its AdWords program...
, Live.comLive.comWindows Live Personalized Experience was a customizable portal launched by Microsoft in early November 2005. It was one of the first Windows Live services to launch.- Features :...
, Yahoo!Yahoo!Yahoo! Inc. is an American multinational internet corporation headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, United States. The company is perhaps best known for its web portal, search engine , Yahoo! Directory, Yahoo! Mail, Yahoo! News, Yahoo! Groups, Yahoo! Answers, advertising, online mapping ,...
, etc.) to identify potential candidates who might meet the criteria of the position to be filled based on targeted keywords. Example string in Google: "SAP consultant" (resume | CV | "curriculum vitae"). - Searching for candidates in job boards (e.g. Monster.com) using keywords related to the position requirements.
- Looking in own recruitment database.
- NetworkingBusiness networkingBusiness networking is a socioeconomic activity by which groups of like-minded businesspeople recognize, create, or act upon business opportunities. A business network is a type of social network whose reason for existing is business activity...
with individuals to uncover candidates. This includes the use of social networkSocial networkA social network is a social structure made up of individuals called "nodes", which are tied by one or more specific types of interdependency, such as friendship, kinship, common interest, financial exchange, dislike, sexual relationships, or relationships of beliefs, knowledge or prestige.Social...
ing tools and sites such as LinkedInLinkedInLinkedIn is a business-related social networking site. Founded in December 2002 and launched in May 2003, it is mainly used for professional networking. , LinkedIn reports more than 120 million registered users in more than 200 countries and territories. The site is available in English, French,...
. - "Phone sourcing" or cold callingCold callingCold calling is the marketing process of approaching prospective customers or clients, typically via telephone, who were not expecting such an interaction...
into companies that might contain individuals that match the key requirements of the position that needs to be filled.
Reactive techniques
- Reviewing candidates who have applied to positions through the corporate/agency web site
- Processing an employee referral
- Corporate recruiter receiving candidates from employment agencies
- Screening candidates at a career fair
Natural habitat
By nature of the position, recruiters do not have the time to conduct primary research and initial candidate development. A typical recruiter is bombarded with calls all day from vendors, busy processing candidates, meeting with hiring managers, and talking with employees. Those distractions can throw off an otherwise excellent Internet search or telephone sourcer. Sourcers must remain focused on the search and development of leads just as recruiters must remain focused on maintaining communication with candidates in process, enforcing HR policies, attending meetings, negotiating, and handling the hiring from initial offer to onboardingOnboarding
Onboarding, also known as organizational socialization, refers to the mechanism through which new employees acquire the necessary knowledge, skills, and behaviors to become effective organizational members and insiders...
.
Specialization: internet researcher
Internet research is a highly specialized field that takes years to master. Many of the best sourcers started out as recruiters who found they enjoy the “thrill of the hunt” more than the rest of the process and became successful because of their heightened research skills and abilities. Another common origin for strong sourcers is from professions where research or investigative skills are an imperative (journalists, librarians, fact-checkers, academic researchers, etc.), which is a common skillset with the field of competitive intelligenceCompetitive intelligence
A broad definition of competitive intelligence is the action of defining, gathering, analyzing, and distributing intelligence about products, customers, competitors and any aspect of the environment needed to support executives and managers in making strategic decisions for an organization.Key...
.
Several recruiters can rely on the same sourcer to generate leads and fill the pipeline with pre-screened or pre-qualified candidates. Sourcers are often the initial point of contact with a candidate, qualifying whether they are a real job seeker or just a job shopper. As a result, sourcers are uniquely positioned to sell or “pre-close” candidates before the candidates enter the recruitment process.