
Computer skills
Unfortunately, in the modern world, computer skills are necessary for anyone in an office environment to be most successful in a role. As a Sourcer, you need to multi-task. I always like having two screens in front of me to get the most amount of desktop space for online profiles, databases, messaging, and resumes. For any given candidate, I could be looking at 2-3 social profiles, a resume, and also be sending them a message all at once. It is an absolute must to be able to handle all of this at once.
Boolean Basics
X-Ray Searching on Google or Bing helps; however, at the very least, every Sourcer needs to know the basics of Boolean especially when searching social sites or when browsing LinkedIn. Boolean, although it can leave out some results, saves a great deal of time especially when trying to sift through hundreds or even thousands of candidates when putting something general into a search bar.
The right places to look in conjunction with level of candidate
You aren’t going to find an executive placement on one of the job boards. Make sure that you’re targeting the right sources for the right level of candidate. With 450 million users on LinkedIn, I think it’s safe to say that you can start there either way!
Ability to think outside the box
If you have LinkedIn Recruiter, it’s great for finding candidates; however, not every user on LinkedIn is an active user. Sometimes, in order to get someone’s attention, you need to think outside of the box. What I use the most in this case is Google Chrome extensions that focus on social profile contact information. There are some great ones out there that I would highly recommend that are free or very cheap.
Network, Network, Network!
Like I had mentioned, there are 450 million users on LinkedIn. As you connect with people, you’re opening up a whole world of 2nd and 3rd connections that will be at your disposal. It’s proven that connecting with a candidate first builds a level of trust with them and ends up being a much more effective option than blindly “inMailing” them. I personally accept everyone’s request to connect and it’s made my life much easier when it’s time for a transition into another vertical or focus!
Every Sourcer has their own tricks to finding and attracting passive talent. As a Sourcer myself, I’ve realized that you really need to have creative and open mindset in order to be successful, and these are the things that I’ve done in order to do so.