Amybeth Hale
on Jul. 18, 2011
… but that doesn’t mean that it is easy.
I hear from some who do not understand sourcing’s purpose as a separate function within a recruitment organization that it’s “easy — anyone can source!” or that it “doesn’t need to be a separate function… sourcing is the easiest part of the whole process of recruiting.”
Is sourcing simple? Yes. Is it easy? Absolutely not. Unless you’ve been practicing for a while. Let me explain.
Tanja Hasan-Farm
on Jul. 11, 2011
What do the food industry and sporting goods industry have in common? They both need to understand their consumers — and they both have sensory evaluation (sensory evaluation is a scientific discipline that uses human senses — sight, touch, taste, smell, and hearing to evaluate consumer products). How do we know that? Well, after a bit of trial and error, some great sourcing, and a need mandated by a Hiring Manager, we found out!
We were tasked with finding a Wear Test Manager with sensory evaluation experience. This person would be responsible for managing and setting the direction of our apparel wear testing program. The importance of sensory evaluation is that it provides us with data on what our consumers “think” about our products and “want” from our products.
We assumed (thinking this would be an easy search) a Wear Test Manager with sensory evaluation experience could be found in other apparel companies, so we focused our sourcing efforts there. After a few detours and dead ends, back to the drawing board we went. Having another conversation with the Hiring Manager, sensory science experience now became one of the primary requirements vs. simply being a “nice-to-have.” Here is our perspective, from both Sourcer and Recruiter point of view, of how we were able to source outside of our industry.
Glen Cathey
on Jun. 20, 2011
Some people believe sourcing is a dying function because it is relatively easy to identify and find information on a large number of people using the Internet and social media.
Here’s what’s really happening…
First it was Internet search engines. Then it was the job board resume databases. Now it’s social media and social networking. What’s really happening here is that more information about more people is becoming available electronically every day – it started slowly at first, and has accelerated over time.
John Zappe
on Jun. 14, 2011
Ever since Facebook started rolling out its facial recognition service — officially “Tag Suggestions” — a few months ago, pictures have been getting tagged with the names of the people who are in them, without their permission and even without their knowledge.
As you might imagine, this is causing an outcry about the privacy implications. Last week, just days after Facebook extended its facial recognition to Europe and other countries, a group of privacy organizations filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission. One of the issues is that Facebook requires users to opt-out rather than opt-in to the service. The bigger part, however, is over what data Facebook is collecting and how it will be used.
European Union regulators raised the alarm last week, and now some in Congress are complaining about Facebook’s implementation.
Facebook’s response? “We should have been more clear with people during the roll-out process when this became available to them.” To be fair to Facebook, the service has been around for months in the U.S. without much complaint. But a Sophos blog post complained that it was turned on for users elsewhere without any notification, and that the default is on.
Amybeth Hale
on Jun. 10, 2011
In a recent article on Forbes, Dan Schawbel wrote, “Job boards are becoming more irrelevant to the corporate recruitment process every single year. They are ineffective because of the sheer amount of competition on them and how they’re perceived by recruiters. Only lazy recruiters source candidates from them.”
Hold the phone (pun intended).
Only lazy recruiters (or sourcers) source candidates from job boards? Last time I checked, I was not a lazy sourcer. Even though in my current role I am not sourcing candidates anymore, I spent a good eight years in direct sourcing roles, and job boards / resume databases were certainly tools I used.
I know I am not lazy. But I also know that there is some truth behind this allegation. Let me explain why…
Shannon Van Curen
on Jun. 8, 2011
It was the summer of 2006. I had just graduated from the University of Wisconsin and was back in my hometown of Nashville, TN. I had just completed my journalism degree and I was procrastinating in my job search. I had no idea what I wanted to do. I was training with my old swim club, attempting to lose that “freshman 15,” and was entertaining national media publications. I was your typical lost college graduate.
After one of my swim practices, I was approached by a member of our coaching staff, Jeremy Organ, and David Williams, Vice Chancellor of Vanderbilt University. Vanderbilt was looking to hire an Assistant Coach and Recruiting Coordinator to help build the reinstated women’s swim team. The original program was terminated in 1990. Organ was already slated to take the helm.
At only 22, I was offered my first professional job as a coach for a major university in a large, competitive conference. This opportunity was too good to be true. Many athletes dream of this, but the reality is limited. According to the NCAA, there are 167,089 athletes and 22,131 coaches, a 13% student athlete/coach ratio. With few openings each year, I knew this was an opportunity of a lifetime. I was eager and determined to help build the team.
I arrived early on my first day with a smile from ear to ear. I walked straight into my new office (which I shared with Organ), and declared I was ready to get to work. Organ looked at me with a grin, and asked, “Do you know how to recruit?”
I responded, “No, but I was recruited, can’t be that hard.”
“Good,” Organ stated, “Your computer is right there, figure it out.”
Glen Cathey
on Jun. 3, 2011
I wrote an article awhile back titled, “Anyone Can Learn the ‘Art’ of Sourcing.” Although the main point I wanted to make was that sourcing isn’t all that mysterious or difficult, and that it can be taught and learned with a strong interest to do so and access to proper training and guidance, the post drew some comments and sparked a mini-debate on Twitter over whether or not sourcing and recruiting are more heavily based upon “science” or “art.” I’ve also found that a good number of people seem to think that the “art” of recruiting can’t be taught.
As expected, opinions will vary widely. However, I believe it is critical when examining this controversy that ”science” and “art” be defined. I’ve found that many people struggle to explain exactly what they mean when they say “sourcing is 60% art.” Without a common understanding of the terms involved, there is a danger of misinterpretation down to the semantic level, which can seriously hinder any productive discussion.
So let’s start with “art.”
Tanja Hasan-Farm
on May 25, 2011
Sourcing great candidates is more than just creating a Boolean search, cold calling, or posting jobs.
Just like any good recipe, sourcing is the balance between art and science. After working together for over a year, we (Arati — Sourcer, a.k.a. Talent Scout and Tanja — Full Cycle Recruiter) have found there are several “ingredients” that create a successful partnership between Recruiter and Sourcer.
Here is our recipe for working together successfully…
John Zappe
on Apr. 28, 2011
Here’s a little tidbit from LinkedIn that might help you answer a Jeopardy question or fill the conversational lull between discussing the Dodgers takeover and Lindsay Lohan’s upcoming stint in the morgue: Peter, Deborah, Bob, and Sally are among the most common names for CEOs.
It’s probably a totally meaningless analysis, but LinkedIn managed to get some PR mileage (and yes, I realize I’m playing right into that) out of scouring the 100 million profiles to find the most common CEO names.
If the research department had stopped there, it still would have warranted a water-cooler mention. But the team must have really had fun, since it dug into the various occupations and functional areas discovering such gems as:
Ruth-Dinaz Sarkari
on Apr. 20, 2011
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.
Welcome to SourceCon: