Welcome to SourceCon:

SourceCon

Sourcing News and Knowledge – Beyond the Obvious


Phone Sourcing

Phone Sourcing, The Sourcing Function

How To Find Contact Details, Part 2: The Pros and Cons of Contact Search

by on Nov. 22, 2011

No comments

contact bullseye

When we talk about finding someone’s contact details, what we are normally trying to achieve is a way to directly communicate with the candidate. The surest way of connecting with a candidate is to speak with them directly.  Failing that, we can send them an email or be connected with them through a third party. Paradoxically when we are finding someone’s contact details it is usually easier to work from the edges towards the centre (see image).

For a sourcer the preferential order for contacting a person is:

  1. Mobile number or direct number
  2. Personal or company email address
  3. Switchboard or Mainline (third-party)

But for finding contact details it is easier to move from:

  1. Third party connections
  2. Emails
  3. Mobiles and direct numbers

This week, we will approach the pros and cons of each of these methods starting from the outside and working our way in.

Keep reading »

Phone Sourcing

How To Find Contact Details, Part 1: Dispelling a Lie

by on Nov. 16, 2011

7 Comments

Untitled

Over the next few weeks I’ll be covering ways to find people’s contact details. There are a multitude of reasons why you might embark on such a task but for a sourcer (and likely a recruiter) — the three main reasons are:

1. To approach for a position
2. For referrals for a position
3. For general market intelligence – normally guised as one of the two above.

More realistically, it’s for a combination of the reasons above but for a savvy sourcer, it may include:

4. Connecting for potential future research projects.

Before we begin the series, I want to cover off the ethical side of things and a few other considerations.

 To Lie, Or Not To Lie

Keep reading »

Phone Sourcing, Technology & Resources

Sourcing 101: Finding Target Organisations, Part 3

by on Jun. 22, 2011

No comments

sourcing101 people

Over the last few weeks I have been running a Finding Target Organisations series. A good way to start identifying potential target organisations is by first looking at your client’s direct competitors. By targeting the competition, you achieve two things:

  1. You strengthen your client’s position in the market by acquiring highly relevant performing talent.
  2. You weaken the competitor’s hold in the market by targeting their best staff.

The impact of this approach varies, depending on the seniority and position of the role you’re sourcing for and whether they have succession plans in place.

There are three main sources you can find your client’s key competitors: Online Databases, Boolean Search, and People. Last time, we covered Boolean search.

Following on from parts I and II, our final article focuses on leveraging information from ‘People.’

What’s the easiest way to verify information on the Internet? Pick up the phone and ask!

Keep reading »

Industry News, Phone Sourcing

Did Apple Mastermind Anti-Poaching Deal? Lawsuit Says it Did

by on May 9, 2011

No comments

apple

The other shoe is dropping in last year’s anti-poaching case the U.S. Department of Justice brought against six big-name tech firms, and it is falling most heavily on Apple.

The six firms — and a seventh, Lucasfilm — are facing a class action suit claiming their agreement not to pursue each other’s employees depressed wages and was a violation of California antitrust law.

According to the suit filed last Wednesday, Google, Adobe, Intel, Apple, Pixar, and Intuit (the six firms, which were sued and settled with the DoJ), and Lucasfilm agreed not to cold-call each other’s skilled workers. Doing so, the lawsuit alleges, denied workers information about job opportunities, pay scales, and reduced their ability to negotiate.

That much the Justice Department claimed when it settled with the six companies it sued. But it alleged then that the conspiracy was a series of interconnected agreements negotiated between companies. Now, the suit suggests Apple and its CEO Steve Jobs was behind the scheme. Claims the suit:

Defendants’ conspiracy consisted of an interconnected web of express agreements, each with the active involvement and participation of a company under the control of Steve Jobs (currently CEO of Apple) and/or a company that shared at least one member of Apple’s board of directors.

Keep reading »

Phone Sourcing

Thorough Sourcing, Part X

by on May 3, 2011

No comments

telephone

Here is this Tuesday’s Phone Sourcing Tip. It is also listed in the ASK Maureen group on ERE.

I hope you’ll join and contribute to our discussion!

Phone sourcing is simple but it’s not easy.

There’s a ton of tension in the process for most people.

Excellent phone sourcers know how to use that tension to energize them selves and direct the flow of information.

There’s every bit as much science to this as art.

The science comes in the understanding of human nature (including our own) and the art flows out of that.

Once again I hope you enjoyed this series.

I enjoyed writing it.

This is an on-going series regarding phone sourcing. Here’s part I, part II, part III, part IV, part V, part VI, part VII, part VIII, part, IX, and the full, original post is on ERE.net.

Keep reading »

Phone Sourcing

Thorough Sourcing, Part IX

by on Apr. 26, 2011

1 comment

telephone

Here is this Tuesday’s Phone Sourcing Tip. It is also listed in the ASK Maureen group on ERE.

I hope you’ll join and contribute to our discussion!

Customers usually know who their own competitors are and understand that those are the best ponds to go fishing in.

Keep reading »

Phone Sourcing, Technology & Resources

A Holistic Approach to Search

by on Apr. 20, 2011

1 comment

holistic

How phone research and Internet sourcing work together

Every now and then, a debate flares up in our business…or should I say, the embers smolder continuously. For example: What type is the best candidate: Active or Passive? What sourcing method is best: Phone versus Internet? So what’s the hoopla all about? Why the passionate arguments? In the squabble of one-upmanship we are forgetting the end destination. The goal is clear – get the best candidate for the position. Period. End of story. Yeah we all agree, nodding our wise heads. So if we agree on the final answer, let’s also agree to get there in the best possible way.

I am all about a balanced approach, a joint effort, a let’s-pull-out-all-the-stops tactic to “finding/looking for” (research & Internet sourcing) and “placing” (recruiting & candidate development) a candidate in their new, awesome opportunity.

Keep reading »

Phone Sourcing

Thorough Sourcing, Part VIII

by on Apr. 19, 2011

No comments

telephone

Here is this Tuesday’s Phone Sourcing Tip. It is also listed in the ASK Maureen group on ERE.

I hope you’ll join and contribute to our discussion!

Phone sourcing is all about attitude.

It’s not what you say but how you say it. 

Keep reading »

Phone Sourcing, Technology & Resources

Thorough Sourcing, Part VII

by on Apr. 12, 2011

No comments

flexible keyboard

Here is this Tuesday’s Phone Sourcing Tip. It is also listed in the ASK Maureen group on ERE.

I hope you’ll join and contribute to our discussion!

If you’re phone sourcing the way I want you to phone source, everything you’re hearing on the phone is going into your research document at the time you’re hearing it! That clickety-clack of the keyboard can stop some Gatekeepers from “sharing” with you. You don’t want that to happen.

I recommend you use a silent keyboard if yours is too noisy. Mine are rubbery and last about six months before the key symbols wear off. You can get one under $50. Here’s the one I have at present. It cost $17 plus shipping. An added benefit of this one is that it lights up.

This is an on-going series regarding phone sourcing.Here’s part I, part II, part III, part IV, part V, and part VI, and the full, original post is on ERE.net.

Subsequent portions will appear weekly.

Keep reading »

Phone Sourcing

Thorough Sourcing, Part VI

by on Apr. 5, 2011

No comments

telephone

Here is this Tuesday’s Phone Sourcing Tip. It is also listed in the ASK Maureen group on ERE.

I hope you’ll join and contribute to our discussion!

When presenting yourself for a job as a phone sourcer be specific as to what you’re offering as a service. A recent presenter at Sourcecon/NY, Paul Houston, enumerated the need for clarity in the sourcing profession when he stated, “…the term “sourcer” has a different meaning to each individual depending on how they think about the role of sourcing in the overall recruiting process.” Read his call for clarification.

Phone sourcing IS NOT finding a name online and then calling to see if the person is “still there.”

It’s much more than that and if you’re following this series you’re beginning to realize it!

This is an on-going series regarding phone sourcing.Here’s part I, part II, part III, part IV, and part V, and the full, original post is on ERE.net.

Subsequent portions will appear weekly.

Keep reading »