By Steven Duque
Last week, I attended ERE’s SourceCon at the Atlanta Aquarium, where (like the 240 others in attendance) I was surprised and delighted by the thinking, experiences and guidance of both the conference’s speakers and attendees.
In SourceCon’s opening remarks, Glen Cathey captured the dynamic breadth of ‘sourcing’ as a discipline, defining it as “…any and all action whose primary purpose is for talent discovery and identification.” At first blush, that seems very broad—truth is, it is. But, that’s not a bad thing.
As the conference continued, I was struck by the contrasts that emerged, in my view, from the presenters’ content.
Strategic vs. Tactical. Between Jim Stroud’s and Eric Jaquith’s presentations, there were enough fireworks to explode any sourcer’s mind. Stroud, Dir. of Sourcing & Social Strategy at Bernard Hodes Group, delivered a forward-looking keynote, which highlighted the impact of social on search. Stroud’s focus on Google+ (which recently surpassed 90m users) as a sourcing channel opened my eyes to possibilities I had recently dismissed, given Google+’s comparatively lower adoption among the broader professional audience to-date. While I’m not entirely convinced of Google+’s future importance as a primary happy hunting ground among sourcers, I was reminded of how quickly the social landscape can change and the necessity of continually adapting one’s strategy. In contrast, Jaquith, Global RPO Sourcing Strategy Leader at Randstad and co-founder of SourceCon, revealed the tip of the iceberg of his ever-growing array of sourcing tactics (to the oohs, aahs and applause of the audience). Astutely, Jacquith noted that, while relevant today, many of his tactics are subject to changes in technology. Global vs. Granular. While thinking over Adam Lawrence’s keynote and a paneled discussion guided by Elaine Orler (and graced by Chris Havrilla, Anne DeWys and Therese Hightower), I felt as though I was toggling the zoom controls on a sourcing Google map, from one extreme to the other. Lawrence, Global Head of Sourcing at Alexander Mann, walked the audience through Francis Fukuyama’s notions of ‘trust’ and its implications on how global business leaders approach sourcing challenges across diverse cultures. Lawrence’s ‘big picture’ perspective affirmed, on a global scale, the same general point that emerged from the more granular paneled discussion on sourcing tech systems led by Orler (who is President and Founder of Talent Function)—namely, that there’s no such thing as ‘one-size-fits-all’ in the world of sourcing strategies. Havrilla, DeWys and Hightower each hail from businesses in different verticals, and surfaced their unique challenges throughout the panel. Broadly, however, they all agreed that choosing the right technology begins with identifying your business objectives and recognizing the operational nuances of your human resources organization.
Traditional vs. Cutting Edge. Conni LaDouceur’s and Shannon Van Curen’s presentations illuminated how important phones are to sourcing—not only in calling people, but also as platforms for utilizing a growing ecosystem of apps that can augment sourcers’ arsenal of tools. I was awestruck by LaDouceur, Founder & Chief Sourcing Strategist at ExecuQuest, and her recordings of actual sourcing calls, which demonstrated the power of preparation, persistence and professionalism in getting information both ethically and effectively over the phone. In contrast, Van Curen, an AIRS Trainer & Recruiting Specialist, raced through a litany of mobile apps—many of which were new to me—that listeners could leverage to make them lean, mean sourcing machines. Approaching phones from different generational perspectives, both presentations made it clear that in the war for talent, phones—mobile or otherwise—will continue to be weapons of choice in the foreseeable future.
Needless to say, these thoughts fail to capture the entirety of all that was conveyed during SourceCon. But—as a humble student and evangelist of innovation in recruiting, sourcing and human resources—my experience at SourceCon reaffirmed my belief that the space is evolving, shifting and broadening beyond what many imagined it would be in years past. As a discipline in flux, sourcing remains at the tip of the spear of talent acquisition. How that spear is formed, honed and hurled, however, will be as varied as there are personalities, challenges and solutions in the space.
For videos and slides from SourceCon, click here. Follow Bullhorn Reach & Steven Duque on Twitter.
