Yesterday, a really funny photo was shared with me comparing developers, designers, and project managers. The image (shown here, originally created by Alex Toulemonde) demonstrates the perceptions each of these groups of individuals has not just of each other, but also of themselves. It’s hilarious — yet this is how they see one another when working together.

I started thinking… what would a similar photo montage look like if we were to show pictorially how sourcers, recruiters, and HR think of each other as well as themselves? I respectfully submit to you the following chart (following consult with actual recruiters and HR folk in addition to my own thoughts as a sourcer).

Once you’ve finished your chuckling, stop and think for a moment — and then look again at the images depicting how you, as sourcers, are viewed by your recruiting and your HR counterparts. Is this the perception you want to project to your colleagues, your peers, your partners?

I doubt it.

When I started at Jonathan Scott International in June 2002, I had absolutely no clue what I was going to be doing. My sister-in-law had called me in early May to inform me that the recruiting agency for which she worked was hiring for a position called ‘Internet Researcher.’ She knew I was into computers, and since I had never been to Cincinnati to visit my brother she invited me up from Tampa, where I was living and waiting tables, for a long visit over Memorial Day weekend that would include a job interview. I got the job and used every last dime to move all of my worldly belongings up to Cincinnati to start a new life. Never would I have imagined being where I am today from those humble beginnings.

Aside from the training in recruiting I received from Jon Bartos, the owner of the company of which I was now an employee, a woman from another local Management Recruiters International franchise came to our office a couple times in my first two weeks to give me some additional instruction specific to Internet research. She was an Internet Researcher too and had been asked to help me learn the ropes of sourcing. Once I really started getting good at sourcing, another MRI researcher and I breathed some life back into a dormant Internet Research (IR) listserv in the MRI system and started reaching out to other researchers through the network to meet and share knowledge. By the time I left that job, there were over 500 participants in our listserv conversations with IR responsibilities within their offices. To the best of my knowledge, that list is still active today.

Bill Gates once said, “Be nice to nerds. Chances are you’ll end up working for one.” To that I say, “Be kind to newbies. You never know where they’ll end up — or the impact your kindness will have!”