I was recently watching the SourceCon Live session “Combining Old School and New Cool to Increase Sourcing Yields.” My favorite tool discussed was a Chrome extension called Extensity (thanks for the demos, Dean!) I think about all the tools that we use and it reminds me of Batman’s utility belt where he keeps his batarangs, bolas, flash grenades, smoke pellets, and even a (rumored) shard of kryptonite. Would Batman be great without his utility belt? Any fan of the Dark Knight knows he’s quite capable without it because he has harnessed his physical prowess as a martial artist and possesses a keen sleuthing mind to boot.
Would you be an effective recruiter without your tools? We may not have crime fighting gadgets, but we do have boolean generators, social aggregators, web scrapers, and other tools that make us equally effective recruiting professionals. Have you ever taken time to recruit without your tools? You should try it. Would Batman be great without his utility belt? Any fan of the Dark Knight knows he’s quite capable without it because he has harnessed his physical prowess as a martial artist and possesses a keen sleuthing mind to boot.
Challenge: Ditch your sourcing utility belt.
Don’t worry, not forever. Map out some time in your week to recruit completely without your tools, job boards, and Chrome extensions. Like Batman, we sourcers have a sleuthing mind and we have to keep it sharp. Regardless of if you are a beginner, intermediate, or a veteran sourcer, the unadulterated research mindset will always lead you to your quarry. The conveniences of technology can sometimes lead us astray. Though not intentionally, we can trap ourselves in a bad situation.
Don’t get me wrong, I know we have to stay competitive and our tools help us do just that. So keep your custom search engines, browser extensions, and job boards; they are convenient which is why we use them. Just carve out a few hours or more (whatever you’re comfortable with) and commit to doing the following.
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Pick up the phone. Call a candidate you placed in the past or someone who connected with you online. Initiate a conversation. Try cold calling into a competitor or experimenting with phone trees. You can even try calling a competing recruiter and swap candidates if you’re feeling lucky.
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Look into your ATS. I know most of you look there first, right? But believe it or not, there are still recruiters and sourcers that won’t do this. Pick the oldest files you can and try to strike up a conversation out of the blue. You never know who might be looking again or who could be a great resource for referrals or industry knowledge.
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Do more research. Especially if you are a generalist. “Jack of all trades, master of none. Better than Jack of one trade, master of one”. The more you know about the position the more intelligently you can speak about it. Time is a commodity we have as practitioners and we tend to get started on our searches sooner than later. Research can lead you into time savers and data you can harness in conversation or search criteria
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Experiment. Remember those random search engines that you came across and bookmarked and never revisited? Figure out what they do and learn how to exploit their results to meet your needs. Try searching different user groups, social media platforms, alumni pages, etc.
These examples are not the fastest means to our recruiting and sourcing end, but they will help you continue to hone your craft. As you advance in your career, never lose site of your roots and the recruiting fundamentals. Continue to develop your ability to source in areas outside of the typical channels. Give it a shot and have fun.
Do you have the nerve to ditch your sourcing utility belt?
