At the time I was a sources (note that I find that word quite ugly...), I was scanning pages and pages of profiles, sending out dozens of login requests and messages daily.

I have learned a lot over time and have constantly improved, to the point where I ask myself the same questions a Marketer :  what message to send ? at what time of day ? In what tone ?

All these questions led me to imagine what the sources of the future looks like?

Nowadays, the millennial generation has radically changed the traditional approach to recruiting.

The response rate of young developers on LinkedIn is ridiculously low. They simply view solicitations as spamming.

They prefer to interact with people who are like them and understand them. Not with those who try to " sell " them a job.

That's why the sourcing profession is now more and more akin to a marketer and even Inbound Marketer. 

Sourcing is now about identifying profiles, making personalized contact, receiving responses and maintaining the connection to build trust and create a community.

This is not an easy task, but today's sources can rely on technology as much as expertise to make a very good first impression.

It also relies on 10 qualities found in all good sources:

•  Competitive spirit
•  Risk appetite
•  The ability to influence
•  The right attitude
•  The appeal of innovation
•  Tenacity
•  Agility
•  Curiosity
•  Organization
•  Empathy

Here they are summarized in an infographic:

To go further, and to anticipate the likely evolutions of the future in the medium term, the sources of the future has three other strings to his bow.

1 - A technical and functional mastery of digital marketing

Without Marketing, there is no salvation for the sources?

This is likely.

You may have found the best profiles out there (the famous 5-legged sheep your client is looking for) but if they don't respond to your messages, it will be worthless.

Chances are, the talent won't respond to you because they don't see the relevance of your proposal.

Keep in mind the effectiveness of Marketing by putting forward a clear commercial offer, what is called the USP or Unique Selling Proposition. In the field of recruiting, Gregory Herbé in his article in Forbes, calls this the URP (Unique Recruiting Proposition) that would "allow talented profiles to choose your company over your competitors."

It's now (also) the source's job to understand his target, find some relevant content, create a compelling offer and then test its message to generate the most clicks, responses and conversions.

2 - An ability to segment its targets

I know for a fact that as a source, you simply can't customize a unique message for every targeted candidate. On the other hand, you can absolutely segment profiles by skills, experience or city and then create a tailored message for each of those groups.

This segmentation is made possible by technological tools. You just need to develop an effective differentiation methodology upfront, including defining candidate persona. 

3 - The desire to build relationships over time

I think sourcing needs to move away from a short-term view and focus on building and maintaining a community.

To do that, you need to send personalized messages on a regular basis and not necessarily offer job openings. What a revolution, right?

If you can get your contacts interested by offering different content, you can build a enthusiastic talent pipeline that will be a real community (not just a database of resumes).

By possessing these three additional characteristics, the sources of the future sees his or her job evolve and he or she becomes the natural ally of inbound recruiting. For the best?