The Sourcery of Sourcing: An Interview with Rebecca Williams

A new role has emerged in the world of Recruiting to give growing teams a competitive edge when it comes to hiring — Sourcers.

Sourcers work closely with recruiters to develop strategies that identify and engage top talent. By combining recruitment and marketing to educate the market and convert passive talent into employees, sourcing ensures we connect the right people at the right time and that our partnerships and communities are strong and thriving.

In this employee profile, we chat with Rebecca Williams, who leads Sourcing for the US.

Help us understand how the role of a sourcer differs from a Recruiter?

Recruiters and sourcers work closely together so it’s easy to get the lines a little blurred but if you think of it as an assembly line, it all starts to make sense. As a sourcer I’m focused on attracting passive talent to the business through online platforms, networking events, social media etc. Once I confirm the candidate’s interest I connect them with a recruiter who more closely vets their skills and motivations to the needs of the business. The recruiter and I still work hand in hand, to ensure a great candidate experience.

Tell us about a time you, as a sourcer, had a measurable impact on a job or the organisation.

I recently noticed a decline in the pipeline on a high priority role. Working closely with the Recruiter we decided I would have 3 touch points with a candidate and if they still had not been responsive we’d have the hiring manager or a member of the team reach out with a personal message to let them know why we were so excited to talk to them. From this project, we’ve been able to increase the response rate by 20% and get more people in direct contact with the teams they might join!

What makes you most effective when sourcing for teams?

When sourcing for teams, clear and consistent communication with everyone involved in the process from the start, is always the best way to find the right talent quickly. Everyone needs to have a strong understanding of what we are looking for, and why. When everyone has a clear understanding from the beginning, we can ensure we look for the right profile with matching skills and motivations for a win win situation.

It’s always critical to know what organisations, events, and networks that the people here internally are associated with, since “good people know good people’’. A great example of this was our recent AnitaB Grace Hopper Celebration Viewing Party that we hosted.

I was connected to the organiser of the group though a Sr. Engineer who is active in the WIT community. This introduction led to an amazing event where we hosted 50 women and as a result, led to our team member being invited as part of a speaking panel in NYU for Women Who Code; it all started with that one connection.

I’m always interested in learning new ways to diversify our candidate pipeline and the communities that we network with, so I invite anyone if they have any ideas on events, job boards, conferences etc that they reach out to me to see how we could potentially implement or participate.

As far as market intel goes, “if you see something, say something”. Since we’re in an industry that’s constantly evolving it’s always good to keep a close eye on the market so we can attract the best talent and properly advise our internal stakeholders.

Tell us about a person or organisation that you admire. Why do you think they have made an important impact?

Someone I really admire is Michelle Obama.She’s been able to build such an inspiring legacy and being able to see how much of an impact she’s been able to make through her work in education, poverty awareness and this country is amazing. She exemplifies beauty and brains.

I think in order to leave a legacy you need to have an impact. However in order to have an impact, you need to make sure that when opportunities present themselves that you’re vigilant & willing to be flexible. So when opportunities present themselves and I have the capacity to take them on, I am always happy to raise my hand.

What’s the last thing you really geeked out about?

Recently I’ve been geeking out on self-discovery. The process has been emotional, healing, freeing and joyful. I’ve been meditating more than I ever have, exploring, feeling and really just being more present.

It’s really allowed me to be more compassionate when working with others and it’s also helped me to be more aware of how present I actually am when completing a task. Sometimes we can get lost in the cycle of just doing, however the more present you are, the more creative and purposeful you can be.

This time next year, what does a great day look like for you at N26?

This time next year, a great day at N26 looks like me being our community manager with a strong group of partners that have meaningfully impacted diversity and inclusion within our organisation.

Interested in joining one of our teams as we grow?

If you’d like to join us on the journey of building the mobile bank the world loves to use, have a look at some of the roles we’re looking for here.

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