The Four Faces of the Modern Sourcer

I have lost count of the number of times I am asked to define what makes a successful sourcer. What skills and backgrounds define what a great sourcer looks like, and what capabilities should they have?

Now in my 17 years of sourcing and recruiting and building sourcing teams I have come to recognise that there are 4 very distinct faces of the modern sourcer that I have seen be tremendously successful within the current talent sourcing arena.

The sourcing evolution has come a long way since the inception of tools such as LinkedIn recruiter (yes I remember when it first came in… it was like we discovered fire again) where it suddenly became cool to be a sourcer, and then suddenly everyone was doing it (which came with its own set of problems!), but since then we have seen a shift towards a very different sourcer talent profile to what we started out with, when the talent sourcer became equal to, and in some cases more important than their recruiter peer.

The 4 faces of the modern sourcer can be defined as:

• The Talent Analyst
• The Talent Connector
• The Talent Influencer
• The Talent Strategist

The Talent Analyst

When doing a global search of strategic talent sourcers (which has been rated as very hiring demand – no surprises to anyone!) I have noticed that the skills sourcers now list for themselves has fundamentally shifted to include skills more aligned to that of analysts. Skills such as data analysis, analytical skills, market insights, demand planning, strategic planning, talent mapping all revolve around the skill of finding patters within data, analysing it, interpreting it, and using it to frame insights.

This is the commercial stuff that I always talk about, that to me defines how successful my sourcers will be – can they gather data, analyse, and form insights and present that in a way that informs, educates, and influences talent discussions.

This for me is the #1 fundamental skill I look for now – sourcers are no longer data miners sitting in a dark room doing nothing but sitting at a computer hunting names – we sit on enormous amounts of data, from competitor insights and intelligence, market and compensation insights, candidate insights, emerging skills, and technologies etc, but what a sourcer does with it, that’s the difference for me between a strategic sourcer and a sourcer. You want to be on my sourcing team – you need to be a strategic sourcer!

The Talent connector:

Our roles have really evolved from name generation and sending messages as a way of proactively engaging with talent. No while this is still fundamental to our roles, given the talent shortage in the market, and the speed in which the market is moving – it really is now about connecting. Connecting talent to organisations, connecting managers to talent, and connecting talent to suitable roles.

The talent connector shows up as talent engagement, candidate pipelining, candidate experience, anything to do with how we engage with talent with the view of building sustainable, long-term relationships – not just transactional one.

The Talent Influencer:

Think active social posts, connection via contacts, referrals, networking.

This Sourcer knows their talent space, where they hang out, what are they interested in, who are they connected to, what jobs and organisations would they be interested in.

This talent sourcing face has been here since the “ra ra” days of “recruitment is marketing”, where there was a big shift in the industry around EVP, employer branding, talent engagement, stakeholder influencing, and this really starts with the sourcer knowing who they are going after, and the market.

The ability to generate interest and connect with candidates based on really knowing them, is a skill in itself. It really goes beyond just engaging talent, but to really influence them is based on psychology and motivation. What are they motivated by, is it intrinsic, extrinsic, is it rewards based, challenge or growth based, are they more aligned to culture and values, or emerging technologies and career advancement.

Once you know – you can influence from a place of knowledge. And knowledge in the sourcing game – is power.

The talent strategist:

Now this is a more recent addition to the talent sourcer face. Strategist. You don’t typically associate sourcers with strategy – but let me tell you – a deadly sourcer – will use their market knowledge to create talent strategy, and you best believe it will be bang on.

I’m seeing a new role being created within TA functions over the last 18 months for Talent Strategy Manager, Talent Strategy Partner, Talent Projects, Operations & Strategy which has been interesting to observe as recruitment traditionally was post and fill – very transactional.

 As we moved into a more proactive approach to recruitment and thus sourcing, the role of strategy, or the “what, and how to” has become critical. Its one thing to analyse talent data, connect with the right talent, influence based on knowledge, but its another thing to create sourcing and talent strategies to map out what the overall right talent strategy is and then go and execute against it.

This shows up with skills such as talent tactics, strategic sourcing strategies, channel effectiveness, channel optimisation. I have been in a talent strategy role – and let me tell you – I leveraged my sourcing background every day – either through reviewing talent supply vs talent demand, forecasting and demand planning, emerging skills mapping, defining buy, borrow, build, bot strategies.

So, as we can see – we have come a long way in sourcing since the days of name generation.

Modern sourcers, to have longevity in the market have hopefully been evolving along the way too, but the great news is any one of these faces can be developed – so if you are a sourcer, or want to pivot into a strategic sourcing role, there are ways and means to develop these 4 faces so you can become a modern sourcer.

Check out The Talent Sourcing Collective for the latest in all things sourcing, and to sign up for the heads up when my new course – “The Sourcing Guru” will be released, which will help develop some of these 4 face skills! And if you have them already – I’m always on the look out for top sourcing talent!

Jess xx