I was SO nervous about attending my first SourceCon conference. I’ve been a recruiter/sourcer for over 15 years now, following many of the speakers at this year’s conference for years on social media. Reading every article, they post and trying many of the tools they recommend throughout my career. Like a celebrity-obsessed person attending the golden globes, the potential of meeting sourcing ROYALTY in person had my palms sweating.
Not only did I get to meet many of the best minds in sourcing, but they were SO friendly and welcoming to me. I even got to sit with them at a few meals and share a few drinks after sessions were finished each day. On quite a few times I felt “I’m not worthy,” but THEY never made me feel this way. These sourcing legends answered every question I asked with the true spirit of mentorship.
I also found it interesting that many of these experts have a few very differing viewpoints on issues being discussed quite a bit within our sourcing community. For example, one expert explained keeping subject lines on InMails and emails to less than three words while another said, no way! Make it funny and personalized, stating that length doesn’t matter. Both are sourcing legends that are incredibly successful, with very different viewpoints to share. This led me to one of my biggest takeaways from SourceCon. There is no one way to find a purple squirrel.
Sure there are loads of tricks to capture the elusive creature. But ultimately you’ve got to try a lot of methods to find what works for you. Some sourcing royalty at SourceCon Seattle recommended fancy tools, while others said to keep it simple, and shared that “Boolean is sexy.” My take away is: What works for one requisition, might not work for the next. And the tool that works today might not work tomorrow (dang Linkedin shutting down extensions). The point is, SourceCon showed me that even though I was surrounded by THE experts, they all had some different opinions and viewpoints. This brought me to my next big realization: I too have a perspective worth sharing.
So here I am, writing my first blog post with what I hope to be many more to come — all as a result of being inspired by sourcing royalty at my first SourceCon. I’ve been moved by these virtual mentors for years, and after meeting them in person am motivated to do my part in sharing my knowledge. I’ve been fundamentally changed by attending my first conference and can’t wait to continue learning from the “greats.”
