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Kerri Mills, a recruiter at Paypal, had only been in the business for five years when she walked away from this year's SourceCon challenge as the 2015 Sourcing Grand Master in September. The contest, a series of tests where sourcers--those who search for and compile candidate leads for employers--show off their skills, is part of ERE Media's annual sourcing and recruiting conference, held in Dallas this year.
According to SourceCon Editor Jeremy Roberts, the challenge is "sort of an Internet scavenger hunt" and has been going on since 2007. The last few challenges have had three different phases and last 6-8 weeks, finishing with a final challenge during the SourceCon event. Early on there can be up to 400 participants, who are whittled down to four or five for the onsite challenge which then determines the winner. "Participants must exhibit a deep understanding of Internet technology as clues are sometimes even hidden in a website's source code," Roberts said.
Mills talked with SHRM Online about what attributes make a successful sourcer, her peeves when working with hiring managers and the necessity of Boolean searching when it comes to finding those coveted leads.
SHRM Online: Congratulations on the accomplishment. What does it take to be a great sourcer?
Mills: Thank you!...