(Credit photo : Irina Shamaeva for Sourcing Summit)
As Amsterdam just closed the curtains on the 10th edition of the Sourcing Summit, it's the perfect time to pause, reflect, and dive into the insights gathered from this landmark event.
From its humble beginnings a decade ago to becoming a must-attend gathering for sourcing enthusiasts worldwide, SOSU has continuously raised the bar. In this article, we'll go through the main findings, innovations, and the vision that the latest edition sketched for the future of sourcing. Join us in celebrating a decade of excellence and mapping the way forward.
Here's a brief recap of the standout topics:
Opening Keynote :
A splendid keynote by Rassam YAGHMAEI on finding one's "inner authentic self" to excel in Sourcing.
A rich sharing of both personal and professional experiences aimed to challenge us to reflect on our identity: are we a sum of personas based on situations (merely recruiters/sourcers at work, parents at home, passionate about particular things, etc.) or are we all of this at once?
He highlighted the importance of blending our various facets to be a genuine self in all situations, culminating with a rap set performed by Rassam himself.
It was amazing 🤩.
Gaby PRESTON-PHYPERS :
She offered numerous tips and tricks to refine sourcing and boolean queries on LinkedIn, emphasizing the importance of testing booleans in different fields for varied results and not relying solely on filters.
One example: with or without quotation marks in the "Keyword" field yields different results, attributed to CV indexing in LinkedIn Recruiter.
I recommend exploring her toolkit named “Tooled-up racoon.”
Coralie NOHEL
She shared everything she has implemented in terms of KPIs at Zenika since her arrival. Beyond just the "What", she explained the "Why" and "How".
We discussed the awareness, distinguishing between KPI and metrics, selecting the right metrics to derive meaningful KPIs for the job, and most importantly, the significance of consistently testing these metrics for their relevance and adoption by the team.
Valuable feedback on evolving internal practices and the need for a robust Change Management policy.
Balazs PAROCZAY
He humorously highlighted how sourcing challenges have evolved over 10 years.
He pointed out that in the recruitment process, few steps genuinely require human intervention. Many tasks can be automated (not even mentioning AI), and many sourcing steps are among them.
We must keep moving forward and embrace these technologies, or risk becoming obsolete ourselves!
Far from being a threat to our profession, these new practices allow Talent Acquisition specialists to focus on high-value tasks. In fact, many of us have long been using scheduling tools like Calendly, freeing up time for other matters.
Jan Tegze
He wowed us with a presentation that was as content-rich as it was visually striking, enlightening and at times alarming us about the current capabilities of AI.
Naturally, GPT-4 and its numerous plugins were discussed, but that's just the tip of the AI iceberg.
Mind-blowing demos from data nurturing via ChatGPT's APIs, to text enhancement with TextAU, to video creation where AI reshapes movements via HeyGEN...
The future is clearly already here!
Irina SHAMAEVA
Once again, she enlightened us about the inconsistencies in searches on LinkedIn and LinkedIn Recruiter.
As an undisputed master of sourcing on these platforms, she highlighted numerous issues, especially the fact that one should never trust the provided filters and should always question the results.
The "skills" section on LinkedIn is also a point of contention, as not all are listed, and some skills are found even if the profile owners haven't directly mentioned them (the mysteries of LinkedIn... 😊).
In short, boolean searches on LinkedIn are far from obsolete, but for how long with AI creating increasingly relevant queries?
Marcel VANDERMEER
After a brief yet touching explanation of his health issues that pushed him towards maximum task automation, Marcel gave a brilliant demonstration of the use of generative AI tools in our daily life. From automating outreach messages to data analysis and meeting transcriptions via AI, it was a visual feast with too many tools to list.
However, if I had to mention just one:
coupling TextExpander with ChatGPT is a fantastic way to automate and stop endlessly repeating tasks (especially when linked via API to an Excel tool to generate personalized messages).
A "simple" process would be: ChatGPT for profile search -> datascraper to integrate data into an excel sheet -> coupling Excel to ChatGPT to create personalized messages (based on different columns) -> using an emailing tool (there are many).
Pierre-André FORTIN
Beyond sharing everyday experiences with ChatGPT (speaking via the vocal function allows for everything...
from grocery lists to drafting article or training outlines), he delivered a highly technical talk on GPT-4's advanced analysis functions.
It can be used for correction, but also for creating prompts, generating code, and therefore devising automation tools for sourcing.
He even designed an absolutely incredible bookmarklet for Chrome, but I can't reveal more. 👀
Nicolas ANDRE
He shared a rich experience on the daily life of a Talent Acquisition team within a large group like Airbus.
He emphasized the importance of having evolving processes for success.
Advanced sourcing techniques are fascinating, but lose their relevance if, for instance, the recruitment process only allows the manager to meet a few people weekly.
It's crucial to see Talent Acquisition as an ecosystem of various expertise, and the challenge lies in harmonizing them
The Hackathon was once again on the agenda for sourcers: a little spoiler, I didn't win, but what a joy! And Mark TORTORICI's song dedicated to Sourcing, covering "I'm a Believer," was crazy!
There were many other fascinating topics, but choices had to be made, much like the Sourcing Summit and recruitment itself.
Lastly, I cannot omit the closing keynote given by Guillaume ALEXANDRE:
"The odyssey of sourcing over a decade and the dawn of AI for a 'Back to the Future' journey."
We were all deeply impacted by this profound realization about the future of recruiters and sourcers in the age of AI. And the big final question for us, specialists in recruitment and skill matching:
"How do we assess a skill in the age of AI when candidates can use it to respond? And does the skill lie in mastering the technology, or in using all the tools to make it work?"
These questions sparked much debate among us all during the post-SOSU gatherings... and honestly, I haven't yet found THE answer!
In conclusion, this 10th edition of the Sourcing Summit was, as always, a resounding success.
I'm already looking forward to next year's edition!
A huge thank you to the organizers and volunteers for making this event unforgettable!
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