Sourcing

What is sourcing in recruitment?

Sourcing is the proactive search for candidates for a role before they apply. Instead of waiting for applications, a sourcer finds profiles on professional networks, databases, communities and in the company's own applicant history, and reaches out to them.

Its main value is reaching passive candidates: people who are employed and not looking for a job, but would consider the right offer. For scarce skills, such as engineering, they are often most of the market.

Sourcing vs. recruiting

In smaller companies the same person often does both. Sourcing is the first part of recruitment.

Sourcing channels

Sourcing techniques

• Boolean search: combine keywords with AND, OR and NOT. For example, ("software engineer" OR developer) AND Python AND London NOT junior.
• Candidate rediscovery: revisit people who reached final stages in past searches.
• Talent mapping: list the companies where your target profiles work and how their teams are structured.
• Personalized outreach: mention something specific from the profile and explain why the role fits their career.
• Employer branding: passive candidates research the company before they reply.

How to build a sourcing process

1. Define the profile with the hiring manager: must-haves, nice-to-haves and what makes the role attractive.
2. Pick channels based on where that profile spends time.
3. Search and build a list of candidates with contact details.
4. Reach out with a short, personal message and follow up.
5. Log everything in your recruiting system so nobody is contacted twice.
6. Measure which channels and messages work best.

Sourcing metrics

Candidate data and privacy

When you store data about people who did not apply, privacy laws apply. In the EU and UK, GDPR requires you to tell candidates within a month that you hold their data, why and where you got it (Article 14), and to keep only what you need.

How PeopleForce helps

In Recruit you publish roles to your careers site and job boards and keep every candidate in a talent pool you can search for future roles. The Prospector browser extension adds the profile you are viewing on LinkedIn or another site to Recruit, with its details and resume, without copying anything by hand. Reports show which sources your hires come from.

FAQ

What does a sourcer do?

A sourcer finds and contacts candidates for open roles, especially passive ones, and hands the recruiter a list of interested, qualified people.

What is the difference between sourcing and headhunting?

Headhunting is a type of sourcing focused on senior or very specialized roles, often done by an external agency.

What is Boolean search in sourcing?

It is a way to combine keywords with operators such as AND, OR and NOT to find precise profiles on LinkedIn, Google or job boards.