The ultimate topic in sourcing – how to source for sourcers. Thinking about that ought to make your brain tilt. An age-old question when considering hiring sourcers is this: Do you go for the more experienced hire, or do you look for someone with little to no experience and "grow" them in-house? There are several things to consider before making a decision to pursue one direction or another. Wrapping up SourceCon in Atlanta, Glen Cathey shared some of the pros and cons for each skill level.
Pros for hiring an experienced sourcer:
- Hit the ground running
- Immediate results
- Training not required
- Bring best practices from other organizations
- Less expensive
- No bad habits and nothing to unlearn
- You can create in your vision
- Fresh and clean perspective
- Don't know what's "not possible"
Cons for hiring an experienced sourcer:
- More expensive
- Might have bad habits
- "Their way" might not be "your way"
- Might be resistant to change
- Absolutely require training
- Will take time to ramp-up
- Results are not immediate
- Might not work out in the long run
- "Brain drain" for trainers
Cathey's presentation focused on "green" sourcers, and he provided several examples of how he has hired and trained individuals with no prior experience. You can check out his presentation here to learn how he did this. What it boils down to is whether you want to make an investment in immediate results, or whether you want to make an investment in good training. You cannot hire a Green sourcer and not have a proven, well-oiled training process in place for them to succeed. You cannot hire an experienced sourcer and expect to pay them an entry-level salary. The choice between these two is up to you and the needs of your own organization.