Sourcing is the proactive side of recruiting - searching for and approaching people who fit a role's requirements, rather than relying solely on candidates who apply to a posted job advert.
What it means
Sourcing matters most for roles where the right candidates are unlikely to be actively job-hunting - senior, specialist or scarce-skill roles - where a posted advert alone would attract too few or the wrong applicants.
Where it fits in
Sourcing is one of the channels feeding the recruitment funnel, complementing job adverts, and the more targeted, senior form of sourcing - directly approaching named individuals - is what headhunting describes.
Key rules
- Proactively finding candidates rather than waiting for applications.
- Most valuable for senior, specialist or scarce-skill roles.
- Complements job adverts as a channel into the recruitment funnel.
- The more targeted, senior version of this practice is headhunting.
