I never knew that the passion for sourcing talent was something deeply embedded inside me until I felt the pulsating desire to hunt. This journey started early back in India while I was coding as a Java developer. I was supporting an HR integration project, and we needed to find the right talent.
While the recruiting team was trying hard at finding their right talent, we were still unable to find the right skills required for our IT team to do the job. This was the eureka time when I switched gears, used my research skills, and wore my invisible sourcing hat to find the purple squirrel we needed. After that, there was no looking back!
“The amalgamation of my passion for digging and researching with my programming knowledge was the perfect combination for finding the right technical talent.” Priti Sahu
Much of Boolean searching is like coding. Coders understand the website components, their structure, and how the internet works. They understand how they can use APIs to interact with a software component.
My coding skills helped me source and interview the talent needed for our IT team. It was an easier task for me when it was technical recruiting.
A few years ago, when I started working full time at a medical device company, the roles that I supported as a sourcer were non-software ones. This was a completely different journey for me. All positions were very niche and hard to find. I had never worked in a manufacturing regulated company.
Over the next few months, for every position, I did my best to research online and understand the business process from the hiring managers. With the help of the hiring team, I was not only able to design mind maps but also was able to build supporting documents for every role.
For every Recruiting Strategy Meeting (RSM), I would come prepared with a reasonable pool of candidates to calibrate and with a few questions around the role. I would make sure that my boolean search string looked fine. And, also would go over the market analytics report in real-time using a few of our talent analytics tools with the hiring manager.
This initial activity saved a lot of my actual sourcing time. At certain times, shadowing the hiring manager during the interview helped me understand the role more closely. Attending debriefs with the teams also helped me in understanding the team dynamics.
No matter how technical/non-technical the roles are, once you understand your customer/client needs and the business process, things get very easy. It is ultimately good teamwork and partnership with the recruiter and the client that creates the magic.
If you are interested to learn coding, HTML and Python are some of the languages that you could try as they are easy to learn:
Codeacademy is a great place to learn and try different programming languages. They offer free coding classes. I have been using it to improve my Python and Javascript skills. Advanced sourcing and the future of talent sourcing is all about building recruitment automation.
Some of the other useful resources are Udemy, Hack Reactor, Coursera, Khan Academy, and Edx (an online platform to learn from professors from leading universities).
Podcasts are a great way to learn while taking a stroll or while commuting.
Talk Python to Me: Very helpful if you are a beginner and learning python.
Clockwise: This is a great place to look for tech-related topics.
Exponent: Lots of tech news on what is happening in the tech world.
Join Community Groups. Meetups and Facebook groups are an excellent place to start. Take advantage of the WFH time. Attend online webinars/ participate in conferences/ networking events/ Tech Courses.
Never Stop Learning. Ask as many questions as possible to the technical team, shadow them during interviews, be confident, and do not hesitate to ask questions. Learn from your peers.
I hope that you have enjoyed my journey and that you will embark upon your own journey to explore the wonderful similarities of coding and sourcing!