10 Things I learnt at Sourcecon Europe

A few days ago, I had the pleasure to attend the hottest sourcing event in Europe; Sourcecon Amsterdam!

What is Sourcecon? Well, imagine an oasis where all the European sourcers would gather, thirsty for knowledge and new tricks…
For those of you who couldn’t attend, I thought I’d share a few tips I picked up from these amazing two days:

1- Do not let yourself be limited by keywords.
Jan Tegze intentionnally includes typos in his booleans strings: “developer OR devloper OR developper”. This way, he reaches out to maybe 10 more guys, those who made a little mistake when typing the title on their LinkedIn profile. But as these guys are not contacted as often as the others, they are more likely to reply, and amongst them might be your next best workmate!

2- Always question what you think you know.
I’ve always thought personalisation, and human interaction was the key. I was very surprised when Bill Boorman told me how using a chatbot (thus depersonnalising the experience) increased the number of applications he received though a career page! Why? Because people were less afraid to be rejected by a robot than a human being. #foodforthoughts

3- It’s never too late to start a new thing.
After 15 years of sourcing and recruiting, Angie Verros decided to start speaking at events. Two years later, she’s one of the most inspiring global speakers, and a conference producer. Ask yourself : what’s the thing you’ve always wanted to do, but kept delaying?

4- Don’t underestimate the power of storytelling.
A great employer branding will help attract active applicants to your career page. And when you write a job post or email a candidate, remember: a great story sells better than a list of tasks. How to do great storytelling? Tris Revills’ top tips: language, structure, context, pace, hooks, closes.

5- Let people choose what they want to do.
This way, they can focus on getting better and become experts in their field. At PMI, Guillaume Alexandre let the teams take either a sourcer path, or a recruiter path. The process became more efficient and smooth!

6- Don’t let people get bored in their job.
Hyper-specialising can also mean doing repetitive tasks all day long, thus losing passion and excitement. To avoid that, Guillaume Alexandre also recommends breaking the monotony : for example for half a day, each week, IT sourcers could try sourcing for other roles, or spend time on a side project to keep them excited!

7- Test, and measure as much as you can.
Glen Cathey told us that writing “or maybe you know someone who could be interested?” decreases your reply rate by 48%. I knew it wasn’t the best thing to say in an email, but with this kind of figure, I swear I’m never writing this sentence again!

8- Put yourself in a candidate’s shoes.
Where do they hang out? What would catch their interest? Gordon Lokenberg doesn’t call developers. They have their headphones on, they’ll never pick up the phone! In this case, emailing them is best ;)

9- Speak up, or don’t.
If you do not want to be visible, it does not mean you’re not doing a great job: a lot of of amazing sourcers do not speak at events, do not network, do not write articles. It’s not a necessity, it’s your choice :)

10- Don’t forget to love yourself.
Sourcing and recruiting are hard jobs, and in the words of Dorothea Bozicolona-Volpe: “You wouldn’t be where you are today if someone didn’t think highly of you”. Go self-love!

I’m really happy I got to attend this great event :)
The next Sourcecon Europe event will take place in Amsterdam in 2020 : will I see you there ?

For more content on sourcing, recruitment and tech (and a healthy dose of gifs), follow me on Twitter : @Mathilde_Kzw