What is sourcing?
Sourcing is the practice of going out to find candidates rather than waiting for them. It means identifying people who match a requirement and approaching them directly, whether or not they are looking.
The channels are professional networks, technical communities, referrals, conference and project histories, and an agency's own database. For specialised technology and engineering roles it is usually the only route that works, because the people who can do the job are already doing it somewhere else.
How is sourcing different from screening?
They sit on opposite sides of the process. Sourcing creates the pool; screening reduces it. One is a generative activity measured by how many relevant people you reached, the other is a filtering activity measured by how few unsuitable people reach the next stage.
They also demand different things of a recruiter. Screening rewards judgement about a written record. Sourcing rewards knowing the market well enough to know who exists.
What makes sourcing harder than it looks?
The direction of the conversation. Someone who applied has already decided they are interested, so the discussion starts from whether they fit. Someone who was sourced has decided nothing, so the discussion starts from why they would consider moving at all.
That inverts what the recruiter needs to know before making contact. Selling a role to a person who is not looking requires understanding what would make their current situation worth leaving, which cannot be improvised in the first message. Sparagus covers the mechanics of reaching people who are not actively applying in its guide to why technology hiring needs a different approach.
Where does sourcing sit in a search?
Immediately after the brief and before anything else. What gets sourced is determined entirely by what was agreed at the intake meeting, which is why an unclear brief produces a pipeline that looks busy and converts badly.
The output is a working list, which is then screened and reduced to a shortlist. Sparagus runs sourcing as part of its recruitment mandates across technology, engineering and business.
