This week the team at Proactive Talent Strategies is attending the 10th Anniversary of SourceCon in Austin, Texas. With a total of seven keynotes throughout the entire conference, we’ve decided to do a write-up on everyone in a series we’re calling Sourcing Secrets: Keynotes from SourceCon 2017. Come back each day for a different keynote and make sure to watch our Founder, Will Staney, live as the closing keynote on Wednesday at 130p CST on the SourceCon Live Stream.
Keynote: State of Sourcing
Speakers: Launch Haun, Rob McIntosh, Shannon Pritchett, Amybeth Quinn, and Jeremy Roberts
The first keynote of the day discussed the function of sourcing and how it would look in the future. The data that was discussed was part of SourceCon’s 2016 State of Sourcing Survey. The biggest takeaway from the session outside of the data from this survey was this question, “What are other ways sourcers can bring value beyond the recruiting function?”
Jeremy and Shannon’s answers stuck out to me the most.
Shannon Pritchett said, “A sourcer can be utilized in so many ways outside of sourcing. Research as it relates to layoffs, sales research, marketing intelligence, partnering with your marketing team. Research that goes beyond candidate intelligence.”
The interesting piece about her answer was that she talked about looking beyond sourcing as just sourcing and doing more in-depth research about what hiring challenges that your company faces and to start being proactive instead of reactive. The industry puts a lot of focus on the type of role you’re hiring for and who you’re looking for, but knowing that information ahead of time will allow you to create a better candidate experience and hire for roles quicker than you may have been able to in the past.
Jeremy Roberts said, “Setting proper expectations with leaders. Most want to open a sourcing function and close it after six months if there aren’t any solutions. Setting the expectation that there needs to be a good 2-year window in solving these challenges is key. If leadership doesn’t understand that then you’ll be back at square one.”
Jeremy talks about setting proper expectations and I thought this was important and fit perfectly into what Shannon was talking about in being proactive going into a search or new job function. When someone steps into a company for the first time and is thrown 10-15 requisitions at them -- they feel like they’re already in the trenches. Giving sourcers a chance to get acclimated to the environment and understanding the sourcing challenges will allow them to not feel like a task rabbit and just checking things off a list.
At SourceCon this year they’re going back to the basics and really understanding the importance of the sourcing function. To me, both these answers talk about taking a proactive approach to the role and before you dive headfirst into an organization, take a step back, and understand the different moving pieces.
Sourcing is an investment. Companies who expect ROI in the first 6 months of implementing a sourcing function are unrealistic. #sourcecon pic.twitter.com/OW4ldo2EKn
— Maisha L. Cannon (@talentgenie) September 26, 2017
Tracking your own #metrics and conversion rates is vitally important in improving your own career - @researchgoddess #SourceCon pic.twitter.com/ZijwZ0F4Wm
— Sarah Goldberg (@sarahegoldberg) September 26, 2017
What you call someone is irrelevant- it's about learning the function you are serving and the candidate experience. #SourceCon
— Liz Bronson (@Lizbconsult) September 26, 2017