SourceCon Questions

A week to go until SourceCon, and already Sourcing is starting to consume my every thought (well, except for our launch of Virtual Edge, but more on that later). As I mentioned in my prior post, I have a singular mission and goal in attending this conference. So what do I need to come away with? It's not a definition of Sourcing, I believe that I have that already.

(My definition: The process of identifying and engaging talent that is not coming to us, and that we are not finding through traditional recruiting sources.)

No, what I need to learn includes the following:

- Where to begin? Most all of our recruiters want sourcing help, but we are not looking to drink-the-ocean here. How do we prioritize?

- Is a centralized or decentralized structure more appropriate in our situation?

- Inhouse? Outsourced? Offshored? A Matrix of some or all? I'm pretty sure that something will be in house, but what model will be most effective for us?

- Full-time? Part-time? Flexible-hours? Virtual employees/Telecommuters? Contractors? For those that we do 'hire', what works best? How many sourcers per recruiter?

- What costs are involved and how do we justify these costs?

- Should sourcers do both name and candidate generation? Can sourcers have equally good phone and online skills, or is better if they specialize in one? Does it matter?

- Sourcer Job Market. Am I too late into the game. Lots of opportunities out there right now for Sourcers, are there enough qualified Sourcers around? And going back to cost, what's the going rate for great sourcers.

- What tools do we need to provide them. We already will have an outstanding CRM tool (VE Pilot). Are there other essential tools they need (i.e. Broadlook, Infogist, etc.)

- How have others successfully built a business case for Sourcing in their organizations?


I'm just getting started with this list. If you will be at SourceCon next week and think you can help, I'd love connect with you. I'm sure I'll have more questions coming up too. This is a complex subject for sure, lots to learn, just a week away. Yea!