A sourcing function is a team who identify, engage, and nurture candidates—often before roles open.
Building a sourcing team means investing in talent mapping, creating candidate pools, and maintaining relationships. This approach is vital for hard-to-fill or high-demand roles like engineering, data science, and leadership.
Benefits of Sourcing Function
Broader Reach
Sourcers target passive candidates—those not actively applying. Many top professionals are open to new roles if approached. Sourcers use LinkedIn, GitHub, Dribbble, and professional groups to find and engage them.
Faster, Better Hiring
With a pipeline of silver medalists, referrals, and past candidates, hiring starts faster. Pre-screened candidates often show higher intent and better fit. iMocha reports that pipelines improve readiness and quality.
Competitive Edge
Microsoft, Google, and Amazon use large sourcing teams for technical and executive roles. Engaging passive talent early helps secure top candidates before competitors.
Specialized Focus
Sourcers often specialize in domains like cloud engineering. They know where to find talent and how to approach them, improving response rates and trust.
Building Talent Pipelines
Stay Warm
Keep in touch with strong candidates via newsletters, webinars, or personal check-ins. This builds connection before roles open.
Talent Communities
Create groups for prospective candidates—e.g., a “Data Science Talent Community” on Slack or LinkedIn. Share content and job alerts.
Campus & Intern Pipelines
Maintain relationships with interns and campus candidates. Many convert to full-time hires later.
Diversity Pipelines
Partner with diversity organizations like Women in Tech or HBCUs. These relationships build diverse talent pools over time.
Sourcing Techniques
Boolean & Database Mining: Use advanced searches on LinkedIn and resume databases.
X-Ray Searches: Find profiles on niche sites using Google.
Networking: Attend meetups, conferences, and hackathons. Meta scouts AI talent at research events.
Referrals: Sourcers boost referrals by asking employees for connections.
Employer Branding: After branding events, sourcers contact engaged attendees.
Candidate CRM: Track passive prospects in a CRM or ATS. Tag by skill, log conversations, and set follow-ups.
Sourcing Metrics
Track conversions from passive outreach, response rates, and hires. Measure diversity in pipelines. Sourced candidates often show higher acceptance and performance.
As one expert said, “Post and pray is not a strategy. The best talent isn’t looking—you have to find and woo them.”
The Sourcing function transforms recruiting from reactive to proactive. It smooths hiring and improves candidate quality.
By the time a sourced candidate interviews, they often know the company and recruiter—leading to richer, more authentic interactions and better hires.
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Job Intake & Kickoff →
The recruitment process begins with an intake meeting between the recruiter and the hiring manager.
Sourcing & Attraction →
In the sourcing stage, recruiters cast a wide net to find and attract potential candidates.
Screening & Shortlisting →
This is about identifying the most qualified candidates from a large pool to decide who moves forward to interviews.
Interviews & Assessment →
In this stage, the shortlisted candidates undergo rigorous evaluation through interviews and specialized assessment.
Selection & Decision →
Here, the hiring team analyses all the input from interviews and assessments to determine which candidate to hire (if any).
Offer & Hire →
In the final stage of the process, the company formally extends a job offer to the chosen candidate and negotiates terms as needed.