“The Sourcer” – Market Disruptor? Part 2

Thu, Oct 4, 2007

“We believe the continuing development and increased availability of information technology will continue to attract new competitors. Increased competition may lead to pricing pressures that could negatively impact our business.” Korn Ferry International (10K filing, year-end 4.30.07)

“Trends that could have a critical impact on our success include:
….rapidly changing technology in online recruiting;….. developments and changes relating to the Internet;……..competing products and services that offer increased functionality…” Monster (10K filing, year-end 12.06)

Last week’s article took a quick, high-level look at the emergence of the ATS, today’s disappointment with the ATS application, and the increased complexity in talent attraction/acquisition due to an increasing number of discrete channels. At a time when companies are looking for strategies and solutions that increase competitive advantage and deliver efficiencies I’d like to suggest that the role of the Sourcer is the next market disruptor. And, while it doesn’t fit into a “pure” definition of a disruptor the technical capability and value proposition of the role has the potential to significantly impact recruitment function structure, how applicant tracking systems are leveraged, the spend on job boards, and the way companies allocate sourcing budget to executive search.

Enabling a recruitment function to deliver a value-added contribution only occurs through an integrated vision and strategic plan. In this case, bringing together recruiters and sourcers under a shared vision and strategy that consists of clear inflexion points, metrics, brand and role clarification to deliver even greater value. And, while the recruitment space has continued to evolve over the years the value of a sourcer represents significant contribution to the function. The “new” breed of sourcer has technical expertise that enables recruiting functions to be more self-sufficient and strategic in their activities. The addition of a sourcer can assist in reducing dependency on mid-market executive search (and potential to go up market as well) with enough positive contribution to deliver a net gain in ROI, significantly leverage technology adoption, implementation and utility, and collect competitive intelligence – that delivers value beyond simply the recruitment function. As a leader of recruitment strategies I find this to be one of the most efficient and effective methods today to harness multiple talent channels given the number of desirable channels that can be tapped to attract, engage and acquire talent.

A sourcer brings value through technical expertise that contributes beyond research/name generation. In most companies, recruiters simply don’t have the time to source proactively on a continuous basis and manage the number of discrete channels – that can’t be reached effectively through a common/shared platform. The skill set is quite different between a sourcer and a recruiter. How a recruiting function is structured to leverage the expertise of both is going to depend on the strategic plan, company size, culture, growth projections, geographic markets, and needed skills. In some cases a sourcer could play a very “pure role” of research. In others the role may need to be a hybrid – but then needs to be narrower in scope with respect to expectations for what is delivered. Leveraging a dedicated sourcer (or sourcers if volume requires) is the key to freeing up recruiters to do what they do best – build relationships, assess talent against the company’s needs, culture, and anticipated growth trajectory. The ATS served this role for a brief period of time when job boards were the new thing. But, as the Internet evolved, the number of viable talent channels exploded, and the capability to tap into the sophistication of online tools added significant complexity.

Knowing what’s right for your organization is very important to ensure there is a solid ROI and value is realized. Regardless of the resulting structure, the following are some key areas to consider. Whether you are considering adding sourcers, bringing on contractors or already have a sourcing function the points below should provide some guidance around how to leverage sourcers AND recruiters to deliver the most value from the recruitment function.

1. What are the skills of an outstanding sourcer?

This will depend on how the role is defined – how broad is the scope of the role – research, research and initial screen….? Is the focus on passive only or passive and active talent? What about the positions being sourced for – active roles or anticipated need?

2. What should the overall structure look like for the recruitment function?

What can shift with the addition of sourcing expertise?

What will be the scope of the sourcers role?

3. How will fragmentation be avoided? Recognize that this is a very real concern in the recruitment function and that there needs to be role clarification:

What is the sourcers role and what is the recruiters role?

How/where do they intersect – what does this look like?

A number of times at SourceCon I heard sourcers express concern that when they turn over a list of names to the recruiter that the recruiter doesn’t get excited and move to action immediately. Well, there’s a reason for this – understand what it is and resolve it.

4. How does information flow between “recruitment” and “sourcing”?

Given the amount of fragmentation that can exist within a company relative to the flow of information, its critical that these two groups move with terrific synergy.

What will the sourcer be working on and where does this information come from? How does it align with the company’s strategic directives?

Where is there potential for redundancy resulting in increased inefficiencies, bad candidate experiences, and a reduction in overall productivity?

What information can the sourcer provide back into the “system” to provide greater value? This should include not just the obvious information about availability of talent but what is being learned about the competition – existing and/or emerging?

5. How is technology leveraged? If the ATS is not the core technology leveraged, which is possible, then what bridges the gap to synchronize data, keep a candidate database of record and avoid redundancy?

Technology is still lacking sufficient integrative components to support a recruiting functions complete needs. Companies still desire a reduction in executive search dependency/fees and the labor market is more competitive than ever with the “right” talent still proving elusive and costly to attract. Oh, and I don’t recall many sourcers getting excited about using an ATS. CRM is the killer app to leverage relationships, gain valuable insight into the proprietary talent communities, manage sourcing channels, and employment brand marketing.

6. How will contribution be measured?

How is the sourcer’s contribution measured? The recruiter’s? The recruitment function? With the addition of a sourcer there should be new expectations that flow across the recruiters as well as the overall recruitment function. In the end the ROI is additional value to the company.
Figure out what makes sense for the culture and business expectations of your company, agree on it and measure it.

“It is the strategy or business model that the technology enables that creates the disruptive impact.” Wikipedia

Insert the term “service” for “technology” in the above description and its easy to envision the capability for a dedicated sourcing strategy to prove disruptive. This is an exciting time for recruitment functions and a time of potential change. The topic is one I’d like to see a continued dialogue on and welcome your comments, stories, and perspective.

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This post was written by:

Susan Burns - who has written 22 posts on Cheezhead Recruiting News and Opinion.

As president and founder of Talent Synchronicity, Susan develops talent strategy solutions through an integrated alignment with core business functions and processes. Susan weaves together technology, social media, branding, P & L experience, and alignment with business directives to create intrinsic value in strategic recruitment and talent initiatives. Susan also serves as executive director for The Future of Talent - a community of senior talent leaders influencing the future of talent strategies to guide their organizations to achieve sustainable and competitive practices. Previously, Susan was Worldwide Talent Acquisition Leader with Waggener Edstrom Worldwide, the second largest privately held PR firm. Susan was responsible for leading and developing a global talent attraction and acquisition function, a workforce planning model, and Agency Executive Board guidance. Prior to Waggener Edstrom, Susan was Operating Vice President of Employment Initiatives and College Relations for Federated Department Stores (Macy's Inc), the parent company of Macy's and Bloomingdales. Susan led the transformation of Federated's recruitment process, employment brand and recruiting technology through a number of key initiatives. Additionally, through her leadership of Federated’s college relations program the company was recognized by Business Week as one of the Top 50 employers for new college graduates. Consulting Services Include: • Integrated Recruitment and Talent Management Strategy Design and Development • Employment Brand Differentiation • Social Media Strategy • Workforce/Talent Planning • Recruitment Leader Development • University Recruitment and Relations Strategy • Recruitment Team Structure and Processes

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