The Difference Between Recruiters and Sourcers

Sourcing and recruiting are two different processes contributing to talent acquisition in an organization. Traditional recruitment is an end-to-end process for talent acquisition, but with changing times, the recruitment process has evolved tremendously. Currently, companies compete with each other to hire top-quality talent. Simply put, there are more jobs and less top-level talent to fill those roles.

Companies must adopt better strategies and plan their recruitment strategies to meet these hiring requirements. In this effort, talent sourcing and talent recruitment go hand in hand. However, the same person can be a sourcer and recruiter to perform both processes simultaneously. This blog discusses how recruiters are different from sourcers and why segregation of talent sourcing and recruiting is important.

To better differentiate between the two, let us get started with what is sourcing and recruitment.

Sourcing, as the word suggests, is the process of sourcing or finding candidates suitable for the job. The professionals who carry out sourcing are called talent sourcers. Talent sourcing is done to identify potential candidates for a job. These sourcers do everything from identifying, assessing, and engaging talent to convert them into job candidates.

The main focus of the candidate sourcing strategy is to create a talent pipeline of relevant candidates for present and future candidate requirements. To do so, sourcers may rely on media channels and other technologies to generate potential candidates’ interest in an open position. A talent sourcer's responsibilities can include the following:

• Finding potential candidates and engaging them
• Reaching out to passive candidates
• Generating candidates’ interest in the hiring company
• Searching through job boards and other platforms
• Networking with the talent to source candidates for present and future requirements

Recruiting starts after the sourcing process. It involves interviewing, guiding, and screening the sourced candidates through the recruitment process. The recruiters also negotiate job offers and take the hired candidate through the onboarding process. A recruiter’s responsibilities include the following:

• Screening job candidates
• Scheduling interviews
• Taking candidates through the evaluation process
• Negotiating job offers
• Coordinating and communicating about the job offer
• Managing candidates’ databases and handling ATS tools

Various factors lead to misunderstanding sourcers as recruiters. One such factor is the increasing role of social media in finding and acquiring talent. The second one is the rising practice of global talent acquisition. All these factors blur the difference between recruiters and sourcers.

The duties of recruiters and sourcers may seem similar at times, but there is a great deal of difference between the two. Sourcing is the first part of talent acquisition, after which recruitment follows. In simple words, both processes are connected but are not the same.

The major difference between recruiters and sourcers lies in their role in the talent acquisition process.

• Sourcers proactively search for active and passive job candidates. Sourcing is performed for current and future job positions. On the other hand, recruiters perform the steps of reviewing and pre-screening applicants.
• The primary goal of a sourcer is to attract potential candidates to an organization. The talent sourcers would further drive the potential candidates’ engagement during the recruitment process. On the other hand, recruiters are responsible for managing the relationship with potential candidates. Recruiters help candidates navigate all stages of the recruitment process, including screening, interviews, negotiations, and employee onboarding.
• Sourcers identify the right candidates through research, data mining techniques, data analysis, etc. After the identification, the sourcer would hand over to the recruiter to drive the recruitment process further. Sourcers and recruiters also communicate with the client to handle various steps in the recruitment process.

Identifying, engaging, screening, and evaluating talent involved in recruitment has made the recruitment process very complex. Performing all these processes can be exhausting for a single person, hence, the need to separate the duties of sourcers and recruiters. That is why sourcing has emerged as a new field that helps optimize the recruitment process, making it more efficient and effective. Here are some benefits of distinguishing between talent sourcing from recruiting.

• Reduced hiring costs: More hiring resources and time is needed for a single person to perform the sourcing and recruiting processes. By dividing the sourcing and recruitment process, a larger pool of talent can be accessed and vetted rapidly to reduce the overall cost of hiring.
• Improved efficiency: By segregating the duties of sourcers and recruiters, it becomes easier to work more efficiently. By doing so, sourcers and recruiters can perform their tasks with dedication and focus to fulfill job targets.
• Hire the perfect fit: With the help of a dedicated sourcer and hirer, one can access a large pool of talent and choose from a range of qualified candidates. This way, one can ensure to find qualified, skilled, and high-level candidates. Sourcing also helps in engaging passive candidates for future roles that a recruiter doesn't do.

Sourcer and recruiters work to contribute to the same goal. By leveraging the potential of segregating sourcing and recruiting roles, you can improve the quality of the talent acquisition process. If talent acquisition still seems like a time-consuming task for you, you can switch to Turing.
Turing is one of the leading platforms that helps companies find deeply vetted talent at speed. Turing leverages the power of AI to source, vet, match, and manage highly skilled candidates for companies. All you need to do is get in touch today and find your ideal match within 4 days. Sign up to start your 2-week risk-free trial period now.