How Sourcing is Separate (and Different) From Recruiting - Part 2

By Jessica Miller-Merrell

This is a two part series on phone and internet sourcing. Check out part 1 and part 3. 

Sourcing and recruiting are all too often seen as one and the same. The truth is that these activities are very different, and even if your organization blurs the liens between the two, it’s important to know how the roles are separate and how they fit together. In part one of this series I shared that sourcing is the act of locating, following leads on and uncovering candidates to fill a position or be included in your talent pipeline. This is done through a number of ways, from networking to phone sourcing to Internet sourcing. The sourcer does the initial pursuing of candidates and often screens them as well. But what some people may not know is that that’s as far as the sourcer goes. It’s easy to have some gray area in your organization when it comes to the tasks and roles of sourcers and recruiters, but if you’re looking to draw a line between the two, this is where it should be.

A recruiter’s role

Recruiters pick up the process when sourcers hand off the information of the candidates they’ve sourced. Their role is much different from that of the sourcer. If a sourcer is like the casting director for a movie as I mentioned in part one, then the recruiter is the executive director. They qualify the candidate further, work directly with the hiring manager and communicate with both parties. They orchestrate timelines, develop connections with candidates, make critical decisions and maintain a relationship with hiring managers. Together, all these tasks help them accomplish the goal of filling a role in a timely, effective manner.

The need for separate roles for sourcers and recruiters

Often times, a recruiter will source for candidates depending upon their needs and skills and the resources of the organization, and especially given how much a recruiter’s role has changed over the years.  However, these roles involve very different skill sets and responsibilities, creating the need for them to be two different jobs. A recruiter has a significant responsibility just in the project management area of their job. It’s a big deal just to manage the expectations and timelines of candidates and hiring managers, much less do your part to help both parties find the best match and advise them in the decision making process. One of the problems that recruiters run into is simply finding time to stay on top of all parties and perform follow-up activities that contribute to a positive candidate experience.

Sourcing also requires a different skill set. When considering what qualities make a great recruiter and what qualities make a great sourcer, there may be some overlap but for the most part, they’re very different. A sourcer is a great investigator, uses creative thinking and problem solving, takes advantage of networking opportunities and personal connections and does the digging required to find the type of candidates they’re looking for. On the other hand, recruiters must be great at developing relationships, overseeing timelines, helping candidates and hiring managers prepare for the hiring process and managing expectations. While sourcers can certainly posses these qualities and recruiters could potentially be great sourcers as well, these roles require that different skills be exercised.

In addition to the skills required for these jobs, the nature of sourcing and hiring also lends itself to being separated into two different categories. For instance, sourcing is typically ongoing for multiple positions, requiring a consistent time commitment. Additionally, legal reasons could also lead an organization to make these duties separate as sourcing often involves seeing protected class information that should not be part of the hiring process.

Watch for part three of this series to find out how to draw a clear line between the two in your company.

This is a two part series on phone and internet sourcing. Check out part 1 and part 3. 

TalentCircles is the most comprehensive candidate engagement platform on the market. Take a product tour or request a live demo today. 

Jessica Miller-Merrell, SPHR is a workplace and technology anthropologist specializing in HR and recruiting. She's the Chief Blogger and Founder of Blogging4Jobs and author of The HR Technology Field Guide. You can follow her on Twitter at @jmillermerell.  
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How Sourcing is Separate (and Different) From Recruiting - Part 1

By Jessica Miller-Merrell

This is a 3 part blog series on sourcing. Check out part 2 and part 3. 

The terms “sourcer” and “recruiter” are sometimes used interchangeably, but the roles of each can be very different, or one and the same, depending on the organization with which the professionals performing these roles work. While I believe that recruiting and sourcing are completely different and therefore should be done by separate individuals, I also understand that at many companies that just isn’t the case. However, there are many organizations today that see these as two different functions filled by two different professionals, as they should be. Sometimes resources necessitate the lines here be blurred, but it’s important to understand how and why they’re different and what that means for sourcers, recruiters, those in hybrid roles and hiring managers. When you understand how the two activities are separate but reliant on each other, it’s easer to understand the importance of each.

What is sourcing?

In our industry, sourcing is the act of locating, following leads on and uncovering candidates to fill a position or be included in your talent pipeline. Sourcers use a number of resources to find candidates, searching in the nooks and crannies to locate the best and brightest. This activity has historically been focused on passive candidates, but as I’ve said before, the “passive candidate” has evolved over the years with the adoption of social networks and online resources and doesn’t mean exactly what it has in the past. This is because sourcers have moved from using phone sourcing as their primary means of sourcing to focusing on Internet sourcing, or more likely, a combination of both, virtually eliminating the cold call.

Phone sourcing vs. internet

In the past, the typical passive candidate was someone working at another organization and not considering a new job. They didn’t have an online job seeker profile or a resume uploaded on job board websites. Sourcers would, and still do, find them through networking or phone sourcing in which they would call companies and do a bit of recon to find out who was in the role, names, titles and perhaps email addresses or phone numbers. They would then contact the passive candidate and begin the initial conversation to gauge interest.

This whole explanation is the very reason I say the term “passive candidate” isn’t relevant anymore. Today, the vast majority of professionals has an online profile and can easily be contacted, reducing the need for strictly telephone sourcing and virtually eliminating the cold call. Workers are also changing jobs much more frequently than they were 20 or so years ago, which means that the “passive candidate” isn’t as passive as you might think and more than likely is open to new opportunities.

Social networks, Internet job boards and resume posting changed the game for sourcers. Online candidate search is now what I call internet sourcing. Now, sourcers can locate candidates and find out a significant amount about them before they ever send a message or pick up the phone. The Internet has also given sourcers more creative ways to find candidates, such as industry forums, non-professional social networks and more.  

Beyond the resume review

What most people think of when they say the term “sourcer” whether internet or by phone is a person who reviews resumes and does an initial screening. While these are both important tasks that sourcers do in addition to seeking out candidates, they are a small part of the job. Sourcers don’t simply review resumes. They serve as an important role behind the scenes.

They make the initial decisions regarding whether or not a candidate might be a good fit, both skill wise and with the company’s culture. They often do this by qualifying the candidate by phone, via G chat or instant message before passing it on to a recruiter for further evaluation. Sourcers have a very important role and are really like the casting directors for a movie. They find the talent prospects but aren’t involved in the interviews, or selection.

While a sourcer’s job may not be complicated in and of itself, confusion often comes in when we start talking about how their role ties in with the recruiter and hiring manager, which is why the next part of this series will tackle how it all fits together.

This is a 3 part blog series on sourcing. Check out part 2 and part 3. 

TalentCircles is the most comprehensive candidate engagement platform on the market. Take a product tour or request a live demo today. 

Jessica Miller-Merrell, SPHR is a workplace and technology anthropologist specializing in HR and recruiting. She's the Chief Blogger and Founder of Blogging4Jobs and author of The HR Technology Field Guide. You can follow her on Twitter at @jmillermerell.