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Nov 26, 2018
This article is part of a series called Editor's Pick.

The world of cyclical hiring is a rollercoaster of emotions, pain, and confusion only akin to buying a house in the United States. Oh, and marriage; however I have no experience in that arena. I do have experience in looking for a job though. Oh, do I.

I, as a recruiter, have gotten used to it. I don’t know many recruiters or sourcers who stay with a company for years and expect some loyalty from us. We are the pawns on the chessboard of life to most companies not knowing the real value we can bring to them and instead of investing time, money, and education they want candidates cheaper and faster without excuses. However they at least understand who we are and what we do to a point, sourcing, on the other hand, is akin to a character in a Harry Potter movie.

What is a Sourcer?

Primarily, in the world we live in, I have heard this question over and over again from people not within our society. As often as it has been said sourcers are NOT junior recruiters. So, this albeit quick read will hopefully enable you to explain, at least my pithy definition, of Sourcer. What they are is a mix of Dora the Explorer and Sherlock Holmes. Sourcers are the finders of information not just candidates resumes, emails, OR phone numbers. Sure, that is a large part of our day, but I believe, as sourcing has evolved over the years to be its function in a fulltime capacity. You/we should start to demand a little more respect than what we are getting in the industry, and I am finally starting to see the turn coming.

What is a Sourcer worth?

I was at a SourceCon a few years ago, and this discussion had taken legs in a full session when people were asked about their path to becoming a sourcer. A gentleman stood and explained that he was a former recruiter and took less money to do just sourcing. Many in the crowd started to grumble as his words hung in the air. Finally, a woman rose and said WE are worth just as much as recruiters and we work just as hard to help the company be successful and bring in talent! There was applause as she was right on the money (pun intended). I saw plenty of lightbulbs go off above peoples head that afternoon. I often wonder how many people went back to their jobs or their next role demanding better pay for what they do.

I have seen, on multiple group pages that I am a member of on Facebook of people looking to outsource or hire on a sourcer and what would be the average cost for such a person or teams be. I like to see that it seems the number has started to rise and the community has taken stock in themselves and sourcing in general as a profession. We are growing within our ranks, and many of us old-timers in the industry are beaming with pride in how far we have come. So, finally to all the sourcers, recruiters, hybrids, and purple squirrel hunters and unicorn chasers thank you for being part of this crazy community and as always, happy sourcing! #truestory

This article is part of a series called Editor's Pick.