What is the difference between a Sourcer and Recruiter?

‘Positioning’ and ‘Social Media Footprint’ are terms the marketing industry is banding around as the way for Recruiters and Talent Management professionals to get the word out that they exist…’Got to have people following you! connected with you! able to Google you! and find you’!...Yep, all very true and essential in today’s technology just look at: Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIN, Twitter, Ning, Xing, Digg, etc…etc…etc…and the list goes on.  But what about the making sure the users understand the difference between functions in the People industry?

From the explosion in the use of technology and the expediential growth of Social Media in the toolkit of Job Seekers and People Finders, these essential tools have spawned and increase in the numbers of people do not know their history of the Recruitment Profession.  Take yesterday as an example;

In a meeting with a ‘Director of Human Resources’ for a technology company, the person is bright, high energy, technologically astute, tuned in the use of social media tools and connected locally and across the Province…wonderful, after we chatted for a few minutes, I was asked “What is the difference between a Recruiter and Sourcer?”  After picking my chin up and removing the dumbstruck expression from my face…I presented my interpretation of the difference between them as:

Sourcer (Name):  individuals, operating by themselves or for a business, who through the use of technology, including social media, Directories, Hoovers, LinkedIN, etc…generate a list of peoples names, against a predefined criterion e.g. Skill – Marketing, Company – IBM, Location – Toronto.  Another I saw recently was: Skill - Six Sigma Black Belts, Location – Montreal - this Sourcer shared their success (they had found 500+ names) and asked “Anyone what to buy them?”  Sourcers’ get paid for ‘generating’ names.  One such Sourcer is Maureen Sharib, a well recognized name in the industry, check out the sample at http://www.techtrak.com/sample.html  

Recruiter:  Fall under 2 main categories (practitioners’) in this profession – First is a professional who deals with Search and Placement of an individual against a specific requirement, for a specific position for a specific company…sometimes they are called Headhunters, Executive (Niche) Search Consultants, Placement Consultants, etc…these individuals will use and engage a multitude of tools, resources and connections to meet the clients requirement.  (not to be mistaken with Internet Recruiters who just use Job Boards and the telephone).  Second, is a person who Staff’s a requirement from a list of names/profiles in a pre-screened database and present resumes of people to the client for selection…some even just inform the client who has been selected and placed…

...After my explanation, the client was amazed at the difference, then admitted not knowing there were different ‘Recruiters’ out there either.  Glad I did not have to go into comparing Corporate Recruiters v Agency Recruiters v Independent Recruiters…time was ticking along and I could hear the patio calling…J