When last February my manager asked if I wanted to go to SourceCon Europe in Amsterdam, my inner reaction was a loud “Yeah!” All I managed to express, though, was formal gratitude and a somewhat awkward “alright, let me check my calendar.”
This was the first time I would make use of the Conference Days Avature offers annually as part of our training benefits, and it was an extraordinary opportunity to attend one of the most important sourcing events in the world. I was about to visit beautiful Amsterdam for a second time, ten years after my first visit.
I had left Buenos Aires, the city where I was born and raised, and now lived and worked in Madrid —one of Avature’s fastest-growing offices— so this time it’d be a much shorter trip.
What we do
Now, you may be asking yourself, “what is sourcing?” You might find more limited definitions out there, but to me sourcing is identifying, connecting, and engaging with candidates within the recruitment process. In other words, it’s a combination of strategies to turn potential passive leads into active, engaged candidates.
As a sourcer at Avature, I want my identified leads to listen to what our EVP is, what we could offer them, and see how my company’s culture and opportunities could be articulated with the candidate’s skills and goals for mutual benefit. The recruiter will then be in charge of leading and guiding the candidate (and other stakeholders, such as hiring managers) throughout the rest of the interviews.
The conference seemed to come at the perfect time: our Talent Acquisition team was in the middle of a major overhaul, which, for me, included managing a small sourcing team for the first time in my life as we focused on this essential part of the recruitment process.
SourceCon
Once in Amsterdam, I found even more than I expected. It was not just the talks and the sourcing tips. I met colleagues from the small (but growing) network of talent acquisition professionals I started building since I arrived in Madrid. We shared ideas, potential meetings and collaborations and, thanks to one of these colleagues, I even learned that it was possible to volunteer for the ERE Welcome Wagon! Duly noted for the future.
But, of all things, the one that struck me the most was the Sourcing Challenge. Imagine a hackathon of the best coders, a FIFA World Cup final… I got the chance to see some of the best sourcing stars in action. It was, honestly, a humbling experience. I consider myself very good at sourcing, I do think I have outstanding skills when it comes to surfing the internet and looking for the right candidates, but there’s so much more to learn, so many approaches to try… there’s a world of opportunities out there.
There and back again
It’s funny how the same location can be the source of such different experiences and feelings. When I first visited Amsterdam I was a 23-year-old student with a very tight budget and a really small backpack. Almost ten years later, I stepped in as a very different person, more mature and with completely different challenges ahead. This time, I returned to a new home in a different country, full of energy and with a host of new ideas about a topic I had no idea about back then.
There was so much for me to try and share with my team: developing a personal brand, automation tools for sourcing, and even team building activities to learn while we have fun.
I’m grateful for the opportunity and looking forward to more experiences like this!