You can master sourcing, recruitment marketing, recruitment processing, or candidate tracking. However, even if you know all of that, there are many other things that you may have missed. It is almost impossible for one person to track every single innovation or new sourcing trick that somebody has discovered. You can try to do that, but you will soon be overwhelmed by all the information out there.
Typically we all learn new skills and knowledge through a multitude of ways. The one way is to learn it from books and test all the knowledge on your own. Another way is to go for training and get the knowledge from the trainer. Or you can join the community and learn from them. All the different ways have some benefits and minuses, however, there is one way that could help you to learn faster and more effectively.
The best way I’ve found to improve my sourcing techniques and methods was finding my “Sourcing Buddy.”
Who is a Sourcing Buddy?
A Sourcing Buddy is a person that works as a sourcer/recruiter and shares with you all the sourcing tricks and methods that he/she learned or discovered. And it works both ways: you’re also sharing your tips and tricks with that Sourcing Buddy. Sharing is not only carrying in this way, it’s cooperation between two people that is beneficial for both sides.
Where to find your Sourcing Buddy?
The first thing you need to do is to find your Sourcing Buddy. Find somebody who is not working on your market. Especially when you are working in a small market where other recruiters could consider you as competition.
Find somebody new outside your market, then you will get insights from different locations. Sometimes, recruiters in a different market use something that works for them but doesn’t work for you. However, it will expand your range and force you to think outside of the box.
A Sourcing Buddy could also share new methods that work for their market, and you could have an advantage over others. You can also share the knowledge that you can get on your local events and conferences that you can attend because they are far away from your location.
Therefore, thinking outside the box is a way that a Sourcing Buddy will help you. More people can discover better things, but if you are trying to discover new ways alone, you can spend hours trying to solve the problem. And ultimately, you will not find anything. With a sourcing buddy, you will have somebody who can share something with you that will spark a new way of sourcing.
Conclusion
Keep in mind that if you would like to have this kind of relationship, both of you need to share. You need to trust each other and establish the rules of what information you can share outside of your own corporation.
For small teams spread across the world, it could be used as a technique for knowledge sharing and training. Members will gain valuable skills that will be useful within the organization. This may lead to new ideas and technologies that can enhance the quality of the team. And in the long term, this sourcing buddy relationship could turn into an unstructured peer-to-peer learning community that evolves into a way to sustain learning beyond formal training events and members will learn more from others than from training.
A Sourcing Buddy could already be your mentor could be someone that helps you reach your full potential, and becomes your coach. Or it could be a person that will be an inspiration for you to try to be better in your job, somebody who will be “pushing” you to try something new and leave your comfort zone.
I have an amazing sourcing buddy, and what about you?