Research and sourcing professionals have long been lumped into a job category that frankly doesn’t fit us. It’s about time that something exist that is all ours, catered to our interests…and you have the opportunity to be a part of it!

The next SourceCon event will take place in Washington, D.C. on September 28-29. The conference will be held at The International Spy Museum. I am pretty sure you will be hard pressed to find a cooler venue for us to learn and play. Stay tuned for some fun and exciting events taking place in the museum to satisfy a bunch of cybersleuths.

Led by our chairperson Eric Jaquith, this year’s speaker lineup includes sourcing experts such as Chris Gould & Tim O’Connor from Hewitt, Mike Notaro, Earl Mann, Maureen Sharib, Shally Steckerl, and many others. Stay tuned for updates on the agenda and speaker lineup over the next few weeks.

Is Sourcing Different than Recruiting? We think so!

Recruiting is done in some form by everyone; good and bad, but true sourcing is done by few, and done well by fewer.

The traditional way of finding great talent barely worked well enough when the pace of business was much slower, industry and work forces were more loyal, and business trends were easier to catch, follow and predict.

Effective sourcing is the magic behind the big headlines, whether the headlines about your company are good or bad can most likely be traced back to who you found and put on your team.

We are the Secret Society of Sourcers, and we are committed to the “Advancement of Sourcing” as a Global Profession. We focus on the critical factors that makeup the foundation of effective sourcing through the promotion of continual learning.

Our philosophy is that the future of Corporate successes will be from those that have master sourcing… and the Society is guardian of this truth.

… And we think it is time that the best and brightest minds in the industry came together in one place to focus on the biggest recruiting issue that is facing us all today and is only going to get harder in the future … “Identifying Talent”

How did SourceCon come to be?

In response to what was becoming an urgent need in the industry to have a conference that was focused on the art (some say science) of Sourcing and Talent Acquisition – SourceCon was born and launched in 2007. In today’s world where Talent is a key driver in successful businesses, there has been a trend towards the specialization of identifying and attracting candidates. This specialized skill is no longer a solely owned function of the full lifecycle recruiters in both Agency and Corporate Recruiting departments.

The Sourcer, Researcher, Name Generator and Candidate Developer have emerged as the new champions to help fight the war for talent. The industry has new heroes whose skills and expertise can no longer be confined to a side track at the national recruiting conferences.

We intentionally set out to be different from all the traditional conferences. We wanted a venue where you don’t have to feel like you are constantly being pitched and sold on a slide deck or discussion by the latest and greatest. It was and is our intent that you spend your quality time and money on a conference that is bursting with opportunities to learn, share and collaborate with your peers, luminaries and industry leaders.

We look forward to seeing you in Washington, D.C. from September 28-29 for SourceCon 2010.

So how did the past attendees like SourceCon?

“I’ll definitely tell my friends. SourceCon was the most interesting recruiting conference I’ve ever been to. I do full life cycle recruiting, but I find the sourcing piece to be most fun… so much so that the license plates on my car say “sourcer.” Thanks so much for organizing this conference. There’s been a huge need for something like this for so long. Finally, a conference I can go to where I don’t find myself dozing off!”
- Alvin Hom

“I can not tell you how much I have enjoyed this conference. The information that has been presented has been invaluable. The knowledge of the presenters has been 200% above what I would have expected.”
- Linda Diaz

“This conference exceeded my every expectation.. SourceCon was hands down, the best conference I’ve ever attended.”
- Scott Hajer

“This is the most energizing, thought provoking conference I have ever attended.”
- Cathy McCullough

“I would have been very happy to come away with one or two nuggets. I was so pleasantly surprised with the volume of really usable information.”
- Sue Carroll