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Sourcing is a talent acquisition discipline which is focused on the identification, assessment and engagement of skilled worker candidates through proactive recruiting techniques. Professionals specializing in sourcing are known primarily as Sourcers; but also Internet Recruiters, Recruiting Researchers or Talent Scouts.
The actual act of sourcing for candidates is performed by either a recruiter (be it an internal corporate recruiter or agency recruiter) or a dedicated recruiter just focused on the sourcing function. The definition of sourcing needs to be clearly defined by what it is, as much as what it is not. Candidate sourcing activity typically ends once the name, job title, job function and contact information for the potential candidate is determined by the candidate sourcer. To further develop a list of names that were sourced some companies have a second person then reach out to the names on the list to initiate a dialogue with them with the intention of pre-screening the candidate against the job requirements and gauging the interest level in hearing about new job opportunities. This activity is called "candidate profiling" or "candidate pre-screening". The term candidate sourcing should not be confused with candidate research.[ citation needed ]
In some situations a person that "sources" candidates can and will perform both 'primary' and 'secondary' sourcing techniques to identify candidates as well as the candidate profiling to further pre-screen candidates but there is a growing market for experts solely focused on "telephone sourcing", "internet sourcing/researching" and candidate profiling. The actual act to source candidates can usually be split out into two clearly defined techniques: primary sourcing and secondary sourcing. [1]
In recruiting and sourcing, this means the leveraging of techniques to identify candidates with limited to no presence of these individuals in any easily accessible public forum (the Internet, published list, etc.). It requires the uncovering of candidate information via a primary means of calling individuals directly and/or into organizations to uncover data on people, their role, title and responsibilities, email address, company, etc.[ citation needed ]
The term "phone sourcers" or "phone name generator" or "telephone names sourcer" generally applies to the utilization of primary sourcing techniques. [2]
In recruiting and sourcing, this means using of techniques (primarily Internet research and utilizing advanced Boolean operators) to identify candidates. Individuals in the recruiting industry can have deep expertise in uncovering talent in the harder to reach places on the internet (forums, blogs, alumni groups, conference attendee lists, personal home pages, social networks etc.). With the boom of social networks and the more people sharing information about themselves on the internet the amount of data has become unmanageable. Many time sourcers turn to application to help them data mine this information grant. There are application for every majors social site that allow you screen scrape information.[ citation needed ]
The term "internet sourcer", "Internet name generator" or "internet researcher" generally applies to the use of secondary sourcing techniques.[ citation needed ]
Sourcing for candidates refers to proactively identifying people who are either a) not actively looking for job opportunities (passive candidates) or b) candidates who are actively searching for job opportunities (active candidates), though the industry also recognizes the existence of 'active candidate sourcing' using candidate databases, job boards and the like.
Though there has been much debate within the staffing community as to how to accurately define an "active candidate" versus a "passive candidate," typically either term is irrelevant to a candidate sourcer as the status of any particular candidate can change from moment to moment or with a simple phone call from a recruiter that happens to present a job opportunity. The status of being an "active" or "passive" candidate is fluid and changes depending on the circumstances, including the position being offered.
Activities related to sourcing in recruiting can also be categorized into "push activities" and "pull activities." Push activities are activities undertaken to reach out to the target audience. This generally includes headhunting, HTML mailers, referral follow-ups, etc.
Pull activities are activities that result in applicants coming to know of an opportunity on their own. Pull activities may include the following: advertising on a microsite with a registration process (this makes search engines index the ad), advertising (in newspapers, on cable TV, through flyers/leaflets, etc.), posting a job in job portals, etc.
In summary, a push activity is akin to a direct marketing activity, whereas pull activities are more indirect marketing of the same concept. Both ideally result in applicants becoming interested and the interest triggering a response (applying, referring, calling, sending an SMS, etc.). These action triggers are also sometimes referred to as Call To Action (CTA) steps.
Internet research is a highly specialized field that takes time to master. Many of the best sourcers started out as recruiters who found they enjoy the “thrill of the hunt” more than the rest of the process and became successful because of their heightened research skills and abilities. Another common origin for strong sourcers is from professions where research or investigative skills are an imperative (journalists, librarians, fact-checkers, academic researchers, etc.), which is a common skillset within the field of competitive intelligence.
Several recruiters can rely on the same sourcer to generate leads and fill their pipelines with pre-screened or pre-qualified candidates. Sourcers are often the initial point of contact with a candidate, qualifying whether they are a real job seeker or just a job shopper. As a result, sourcers are uniquely positioned to sell or “pre-close” candidates before the candidates enter the rest of the recruitment process. [3]
Phone sourcing is using the telephone to gain information about a topic or person. In personnel sourcing, the telephone is used to locate persons with specific titles or job functions inside specific organizations. It is considered "primary" research and as such is not to be confused with the practice of finding information elsewhere (on the Internet) and then using the telephone to "check" it for verification (is the person "still there"; has the person's title changed?). True phone sourcing is practiced by a minority in the personnel sourcing community and requires a mastery of verbal communication techniques.
Telephone sourcing brings forth the majority of the existing workforce that are not locatable on the Internet. "Not locatable" means that a potential candidate cannot be located (tracked) on the Internet because that potential candidate has not left a footprint large enough to include information that would link them to a specific (boolean) inquiry.
It is a recognized fact that some industries/professions are better represented than others on the Internet; Information Technology (IT) and Recruiting being some of the most well represented[ citation needed ].
Surveillance is the monitoring of behavior, many activities, or information for the purpose of information gathering, influencing, managing or directing. This can include observation from a distance by means of electronic equipment, such as closed-circuit television (CCTV), or interception of electronically transmitted information like Internet traffic. It can also include simple technical methods, such as human intelligence gathering and postal interception.
Phreaking is a slang term coined to describe the activity of a culture of people who study, experiment with, or explore telecommunication systems, such as equipment and systems connected to public telephone networks. The term phreak is a sensational spelling of the word freak with the ph- from phone, and may also refer to the use of various audio frequencies to manipulate a phone system. Phreak, phreaker, or phone phreak are names used for and by individuals who participate in phreaking.
A career is an individual's metaphorical "journey" through learning, work and other aspects of life. There are a number of ways to define career and the term is used in a variety of ways.
An interview is a structured conversation where one participant asks questions, and the other provides answers. In common parlance, the word "interview" refers to a one-on-one conversation between an interviewer and an interviewee. The interviewer asks questions to which the interviewee responds, usually providing information. That information may be used or provided to other audiences immediately or later. This feature is common to many types of interviews – a job interview or interview with a witness to an event may have no other audience present at the time, but the answers will be later provided to others in the employment or investigative process. An interview may also transfer information in both directions.
This page is a glossary of library and information science.
A political campaign is an organized effort which seeks to influence the decision making progress within a specific group. In democracies, political campaigns often refer to electoral campaigns, by which representatives are chosen or referendums are decided. In modern politics, the most high-profile political campaigns are focused on general elections and candidates for head of state or head of government, often a president or prime minister.
Staffing is the process of finding the right worker with appropriate qualifications or experience and recruiting them to fill a job position or role. Through this process, organizations acquire, deploy, and retain a workforce of sufficient quantity and quality to create positive impacts on the organization's effectiveness. In management, staffing is an operation of recruiting the employees by evaluating their skills and knowledge before offering them specific job roles accordingly.
Recruitment is the overall process of identifying, sourcing, screening, shortlisting, and interviewing candidates for jobs within an organization. Recruitment also is the process involved in choosing people for unpaid roles. Managers, human resource generalists, and recruitment specialists may be tasked with carrying out recruitment, but in some cases, public-sector employment, commercial recruitment agencies, or specialist search consultancies such as Executive search in the case of more senior roles, are used to undertake parts of the process. Internet-based recruitment is now widespread, including the use of artificial intelligence (AI).
A voter database is a database containing information on voters for the purpose of assisting a political party or an individual politician, in their Get out the vote (GOTV) efforts and other areas of the campaign.
A job interview is an interview consisting of a conversation between a job applicant and a representative of an employer which is conducted to assess whether the applicant should be hired. Interviews are one of the most common methods of employee selection. Interviews vary in the extent to which the questions are structured, from an unstructured and informal conversation to a structured interview in which an applicant is asked a predetermined list of questions in a specified order; structured interviews are usually more accurate predictors of which applicants will make suitable employees, according to research studies.
Competence is the set of demonstrable characteristics and skills that enable and improve the efficiency or performance of a job. Competency is a series of knowledge, abilities, skills, experiences and behaviors, which leads to effective performance in an individual's activities. Competency is measurable and can be developed through training.
A GPS tracking unit, geotracking unit, satellite tracking unit, or simply tracker is a navigation device normally on a vehicle, asset, person or animal that uses satellite navigation to determine its movement and determine its WGS84 UTM geographic position (geotracking) to determine its location. Satellite tracking devices may send special satellite signals that are processed by a receiver.
Internet recruiting is the act of scouring the Internet to locate both actively searching job seekers and also individuals who are content in their current position. It is a field of dramatic growth and constant change that has given birth to a dynamic multibillion-dollar industry.
Clandestine HUMINT asset recruiting refers to the recruitment of human agents, commonly known as spies, who work for a foreign government, or within a host country's government or other target of intelligence interest for the gathering of human intelligence. The work of detecting and "doubling" spies who betray their oaths to work on behalf of a foreign intelligence agency is an important part of counterintelligence.
Digital footprint or digital shadow refers to one's unique set of traceable digital activities, actions, contributions, and communications manifested on the Internet or digital devices. Digital footprints can be classified as either passive or active. The former is composed of a user's web-browsing activity and information stored as cookies. The latter is often released deliberately by a user to share information on websites or social media. While the term usually applies to a person, a digital footprint can also refer to a business, organization or corporation.
Competency-based recruitment is a process of recruitment based on the ability of candidates to produce anecdotes about their professional experience which can be used as evidence that the candidate has a given competency. Candidates demonstrate competencies on the application form, and then in the interview, which in this case is known as a competency-based interview.
A talent community is a mechanism that employers use to keep active pipelines of talent for future recruitment. Talent pipelines consist of potential employees who are interested in working at a given employer, but are not ready to apply. This group is engaged with on a frequent basis so that when the potential employees are ready to seek a new job, they have a relationship with the company.
A pre-hire assessment is a test or questionnaire that candidates complete as part of the job application process. The use of a valid and expert assessment is an effective way to determine which applicants are the most qualified for a specific job based on their strengths and preferences. Employers typically use the results to determine how well each candidate's strengths and preferences match the job requirements.
The elaboration principle is when "non-group" members form relationships with an "in-group" member and later are incorporated into the existing "in-group."
Mobile positioning data (MPD) is a form of big datawhich results from the high data volumes of mobile positioning – tracking the location of mobile phones.
