You’ve probably heard of recruiters and sourcers, but do you know the difference between them? If not, don’t worry – you’re not alone!
Many people aren’t sure what sets these two roles apart from one another. The fact is that all recruiting agencies and companies define these roles and their core responsibilities differently. With this handy guide, you’ll be able to orient yourself on how these two roles work together in order to deliver highly qualified talent pipelines and successful hiring outcomes.
Responsibilities Of A Sourcer
The role of a sourcer is to identify and attract passive candidates for open positions.
At Digital Knack, the sourcing function is critical to building inclusive, impactful talent pipelines while bringing research on competitive landscape, industry trends, diversity demographics and talent markets to light. At Digital Knack, a sourcing strategy starts with client discovery, talent research and a tailored go to market plan. The approach generates a successful outcome of highly qualified talent pipelines wherein expertise, company environments, experience levels and equitable hiring practices are all accounted for.
In short, by understanding the client’s core needs, we create a strategy that looks at the company, workforce and industry holistically; enabling us to engage passive candidates with strong value propositions and credibility.
Sourcers, also called Talent Researchers, expand talent networks and keep a pulse on market and talent trends. For example, discovering alumni networks and professional groups to participate with for future talent connections – or even building trend reports on emerging tech markets, workforce compensation and beyond.
They often take pride in being able to think outside of the box when it comes to finding potential talent. The efficacy in one’s sourcing approach is mission-critical for recruiting. Where you search for talent, why and how talent is approached must be credible and sound. To diversify a workforce, one must diversify where they look to reach, attract and engage workers.
Simply put, the pivotal role of our sourcers involves proactively identifying and exploring fresh avenues that lead us to prospective talent.
Responsibilities Of A Recruiter
Recruiters are an integral part of the job market. They unite companies with candidates that can complete mission, thrive in the culture and deliver on business outcomes. The recruiter’s role is to be a steward of both parties; bringing people and companies together for mutual gain.
Here are some responsibilities of an agency recruiter:
- Identify and close priority talent gaps for hiring companies
- Create compelling assets for recruitment; from job descriptions to outbound messaging
- Screen potential candidates based on business need, culture and role expectations; present top %
- Communicate with candidates and hiring teams throughout the recruiting and interviewing journey
- Represent and advance an employer brand that is authentic, accurate and distinguished
- Bring talent trends to talent leaders and stay calibrated on hiring goals, progress and outcomes
Recruiters often act as a liaison between companies and potential employees, so they need to have excellent interpersonal skills, understanding the culture, vision and goals of the companies they represent. They also need to be good negotiators and have strong problem-solving skills as it’s their job to ensure both parties come away feeling satisfied with the result.
They must also possess technical skills related to social media, data analysis, and candidate communication systems to stay competitive in today’s job market.
Finally, a strong recruiter will have a sharp business acumen in order to effectively meet the needs of their client and partner.
Recruiters vs. Sourcers: Understanding the Unique Responsibilities Each Role Holds
The responsibilities of a recruiter are vast and work harmoniously with that of a sourcer. For many organizations, the distinction between these two roles is not always clear-cut; however, it’s important to understand the differences in order to choose the right candidate for each role. Depending on how resourced a recruiting function is, a full-cycle recruiter may not have dedicated sourcing support; wherein they must do the sourcing themselves. That said, these two facets of recruitment can value greatly by dedicating subject matter experts in each lane.
The table below outlines the key differences between a sourcer and a recruiter can be:
| Sourcer: find the right talent | Recruiter: hire the right talent |
| Find qualified talent via research and engage qualified talent effectively | Conduct interviews to deeply vet talent and present those qualified, decline those who are not qualified |
| Uncover market and talent research to guide more informed hiring strategies | Ensure market and talent research insights are influencing hiring strategies |
| Maintain a clear understanding of who Ideal Candidate Personas are, why and how to engage them | Maintain a clear view of the company goals, culture and gaps to ensure opportunities are represented accurately, and credibly. |
| Support scheduling and recruiting logistics across the interview lifecycle | Ensure parties are aligned with shared expectations across candidates and hiring stakeholders |
| A/B test go to market approach and track sourcing data for insights and reporting | Oversee KPIs to ensure a recruiting engagement is operating at standard |
| Co-create a post-mortem with qualitative and quantitative insights | Co-create a post-mortem with qualitative and quantitative insights |
| Support offer logistics and support scheduling for final steps, such as reference checks | Own offer negotiations, final declinations and provide company and candidates with key insights for onboarding ahead |
Conclusion
The roles of sourcers and recruiters are fundamentally different. Sourcers are tasked with identifying, sourcing and engaging potential candidates, while recruiters have the responsibility to evaluate talent and engage those best suited for the current hiring needs, ultimately owning the full-cycle from role launch to securing the hire.
It takes a special set of skills to be successful in either role, such as strong communication, project management, business acumen and research skills.
Ultimately, both sourcers and recruiters are essential members of any successful recruitment team.
With this in mind, it’s important to consider the unique contributions each of these professionals bring to the table when building a recruiting team. After all, it’s only through a strategic blend of talents that you can hope to find true success.
