Meet SourceCon Spring Speaker Erin Bazinet @ErinBaz

Editor’s note: the Meet the Speakers series is designed to introduce the SourceCon audience to the speakers who will be presenting at SourceCon Atlanta in February.

Tell us about your background, how you became a sourcing professional, and what you do currently.

I became interested in sourcing almost 3 years ago, when I was hired as a sourcer at Seven Step RPO. I did not know much about this part of the recruitment industry when I first applied, but was intrigued by the opportunity of involving the internet and social media in my job responsibilities. From then on, I was constantly fascinated by how much I was able to learn each day and how many different aspects there were to being a well-rounded sourcer. I found my niche skill set in social media and candidate engagement, which has led me to my current role as a Social Media Manager still at Seven Step RPO.

Tell us about the presentation you have planned for SourceCon. What takeaways should attendees expect?

As talent communities have evolved, we have been able to cultivate applicants into a sustainable community that we can communicate and engage with consistently. How can this communication and engagement be attained and measured to determine its ROI? This presentation will demonstrate why creating a talent community is necessary and the strategy your company will need to commit to in order to obtain hiring successes.

Why would it be unwise for someone to miss your session?

Everyone has talked about the importance of having a talent community. Talent Community was definitely one of the big ‘it’ words of 2013 in talent acquisition, but few knew what to do with it. If your company now has a talent community, but does not fully utilize it, you’ll have to come to this session to find out how!

How do you feel about the future of sourcing?

I feel that sourcers are always trying to improve their search skills and find new places to find candidates online. And while I believe this is a very necessary skillset of a sourcer, I feel that the future of sourcing will shift to innovative ways for getting candidates to actually respond and interact with us. It’s great if we can locate candidates in all areas of the Internet, but if we can’t get the candidate interested in a position or employer brand, then it is a dead end. Being able to constantly network and generate connections will be an integral part of sourcing. Stacy Donovan Zapar had a great article that said “The future of sourcing is engagement,” and I could not agree more.

What new tools are you experimenting with that you find interesting?

While it is not necessarily a new tool, I have been experimenting more with Google+. I’ve found it to become a much more active network over the past few months and I’ve seen users taking advantage of its numerous features. With its recent updates (including the Auto Awesome photo/video feature, messaging in Hangouts, and others), it really is becoming a network that will start being utilized by those in recruitment more and more.

Tell us something interesting about yourself that has nothing to do with what you do professionally.

I am a huge soccer fan and am obsessed with Arsenal FC. If anyone wants to talk English Premier League or how in the world the US Men’s team can make it through the group stages in the World Cup, be sure to give me a shout!

What is your favorite social network? Why?

My favorite social network would have to be Twitter. It’s great for building and communicating with an influential network of connections, as well as constantly learning from them. And as I mentioned before, Google+ is certainly starting to become another favorite of mine.