Why the Best Tool for Sourcing Is (Still) a Sharp Mind

Reading an article that absolutely nails a topic is one of the most satisfying things in life, isn’t it?

I had this recently when I stumbled across a piece that the incomparable Glen Cathey had contributed to the Talent Blog. Delving into the future of sourcing by looking at it through a lens of AI, Boolean search, and critical thinking, this article gave me serious pause for thought.

As we continue to venture into this new era of recruiting under the shining light (or concealing shadow?!) of artificial intelligence, it’s made me truly consider what qualities and skills make up the core of our industry. And if, as Glen does in his piece, we take sourcers as an example, I have to agree with him that critical thinking is a key differentiator.

“Regardless of Boolean or LLM-powered search,” Glen writes, “a sourcer or recruiter must first have a solid understanding of what they’re looking for.”

There have been some erroneous claims made that with the help of generative AI anyone can be a sourcer — but I don’t think this is true. AI lacks that creative ability to understand, critically interpret, and, most importantly in my opinion, spot patterns.

AI-powered sourcing doesn’t always deliver what you’re looking for

We’ve all seen the Boolean strings that ChatGPT or Copilot can create in seconds. From an efficiency point of view, it’s astounding to see the near-perfect list of sterile synonyms. But when I look at these sequences and apply my years of experience, I know that the results I’d get with an AI-powered string aren’t actually going to match what I’m looking for.

Let’s work through an example: You’re seeking someone who works in the tech industry. You plot your requirements into ChatGPT and you get a string that includes words like “tech,” “technology,” “software developer,” “programmer,” and “software engineer.” All are fine entries and would very likely appear in the profiles and CVs of candidates. 

But let’s stop and analyze this for a minute — when you think about the resume of someone who works in tech, what are some of the most obvious words you’re going to come across? What words on LinkedIn have you seen that give you a light bulb moment that they work in tech?

It’s the name of the company they work for — Google, Intel, Apple, etc. Many recruiters miss this trick, instead focusing on industry words and synonyms of these. But people don’t really say they work in tech, they say: “I work for Google.”

It’s critical thinking that enables sourcers to step outside the box of mediocrity, and it’s pattern matching that elevates a good sourcer to a great one.

Pattern matching can elevate your sourcing

I was born with a brain that is predisposed to pattern matching. I see sequences and systems everywhere — from counting numbers on license plates and finding comfort in the magic number nine to organizing mugs in my cupboards, I seek uniformity in everything. It’s just how I’m wired. But I found this characteristic to be hugely beneficial when it came to sourcing candidates in my past life.

Being able to look at profiles and pick up on subtle recurring patterns that could help me unlock a flood of talent was a huge boon. And sourcers who can lean into this proficiency will far outstrip the results of AI, which is quite binary in its approach — at least right now.

If you ask ChatGPT to create a Boolean string for a candidate based in Ireland, you’ll get a list of counties or cities. You might get the word “Irish” too — all perfectly acceptable values. But what about adding in “Leaving Cert,” which is Ireland’s final school exam. Or including the word scoil, which is the Irish for school and appears in an enormous number of profiles. To be a great sourcer, you need to be able to find these patterns in order to elevate your search.

It’s critical to ignore the obvious and focus on recurring signals

You might be reading this and thinking, “Well, I wasn’t born with a brain like that, so what am I supposed to do?” 

It doesn’t matter. It’s about questioning the status quo, ignoring the obvious, and learning how to spot recurring signals. 

Leveraging AI in recruiting is going to be game-changing, but you still need to employ critical thinking to truly elevate yourself and find the best talent for the role.

Another hack? Talk to people already in the positions you’re sourcing for and ask them if they have any insight into the words or phrases that people of their ilk include in their CVs and LinkedIn profiles. Use their experience to your advantage.

Now, I’m not saying this is always a foolproof methodology. You will get overlap. You will get false positives. It can introduce more noise into the search and give you a plethora of useless results. But it’s all about trial and error. Eventually, through keen observation and critical analysis, you will happen upon patterns that will become essential in your searches.

As Glen put it in his article: “Not all searches are created equal, and some searches are much more inclusive and find more qualified candidates than others while at the same time excluding the fewest.”

The goal of a sourcer is to identify the best talent for an organization. Yet in this era of AI, it can seem like power is being taken away from the cohort of talent hunters. But I disagree: Great sourcers who can think outside the box and spot key patterns will be indispensable in a world that often seems so starved of skills and talent.

This post was originally published in Johnny’s Talent Leadership Insights Newsletter.

Johnny Campbell is a serial disrupter in the world of talent and HR. As founder and CEO of SocialTalent, the learning platform that helps you get work-smart, he partners with some of the largest enterprises in the world (such as Disney, Cisco, and Ikea) to help them future-proof their organizations and build better workplaces.