Sometimes the least celebrated…even the least known…are the most important. And no where in the realm of Human Resources is that more apt than with those scouring the darkest corners for the brightest candidates. Lara Oettinger, a Sourcing Specialist for a large publicly traded Defense and Aerospace company, contributes her guest post today to remind us why our organizations should probably get serious about having a dedicated sourcing capability. Follow her on Twitter – she’s @NewAgeRecruit – invite her to your table, and listen to what she has to say…
Who are we? We’re the ones who spark a search. We’re the ones who fill your pipeline. We’re the ones who dig for gold…and usually find it. We are tenacious and creative; we are amazing connectors; we love the hunt and crave a challenge. We also comprise the nerds of the Talent Acquisition team and we wouldn’t have it any other way. If your organization has yet to jump on the sourcing recruiting bandwagon, let me tell you what we bring to the table.
- Creativity– Great Sourcers have mad skills in exploiting all resources at hand – and even those outside of our grasps – to stir up candidates. There is no position deemed too hard to fill, no purple squirrel that can’t be found. Don’t be mistaken: we do not while away our hours merely sitting behind a computer scrubbing the internet, job boards, and ATS databases. We have our hands in everything.
- Research Prowess-Passionate Sourcers can spend hours reading and gathering market intelligence to stay one step ahead of your competitors. When faced with an unruly requisition, Sourcers can produce the research and related data to not only fully grasp the job requirements, but also ultimately produce the right candidates. We also stay on top of an ever changing social universe by constantly finding new inroads and shortcuts.
- A Competitive Spirit-Coming across a (good) Sourcer without energy and a competitive nature is about as likely as meeting an impatient therapist. We are geeked by the puzzles we’re presented and get after them with voracity.
- A Brand Ambassador-We may not have a marketing degree, but we use our creativity to blast your career opportunities to all the right places; we spread the word, we give the talent community exposure to your organization and heighten the market’s appreciation for why it might be worth considering.
- A Master Dot Connector- Sourcers can weave a web like no other. We are constantly drawing connections between candidates we encounter to those we haven’t. We can turn six-degrees of separation into one-degree in no time at all. And then we can turn that one-degree into another.
These are just a few of the powerful things we Sourcing Specialists bring to an organization. In this evolving, dynamic, and complex talent market, dedicated Sourcers are essential to your Talent Acquisition team. We might just be that missing link for you and your success in the resourcing game. Need a purple squirrel? We have plenty.
Image Credit: J.A.G.A. (via Compfight)
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