How can you stop sourcing in the HR world? Or researching? Or name generating? Or pipeline building? How can you say you never need to look for people or that you have enough? OK, I’m done let’s close shop? Not happening in my world!  

I love the JIT Sourcing concept from Glen Cathey (you’re my latest hot thing BTW Glen <smiles> ) and am all over the lean concepts which help you maintain that fine balance between efficiency and effectiveness (two different things in case you don’t get it) but in my holistic approach to HR, whether it is for a new company preparing to explode with good talent, a third party recruiter working a search assignment for an external client or just a really well established, been-around-for-ages firm, doing what they do best everyday; the “quest” for finding talent never really ends. Unless of course you get hit with a Recession BAM! like we did last year (the economy is still climbing out of the ditch mind you). But even in the deepest depths of a horrible last year, smart recruiters and sourcers kept going.  Even when working a search, the best recruiters know the search is not done till it is done and so the sourcing for fresh meat continues (my apologies Vegans – you can read that as fodder or grass).

Knowing where to go to get good talent is like having that quintessential little black dress in your closet. OK dudes, a suit and god forbid I ever get into a little black dress! The knowledge that it’s always there no matter what and that you can use it in any kind of emergency, formal or informal, is priceless! Keep looking, happy sourcing.

It was late in the afternoon on a Friday.  The food-coma from a company luncheon was finally wearing off and I needed a rally to help bolster the research before the day was over.  The goal was to find Plant/Site Managers at sawmills or paper product producers in northwestern United States.  After a few hours had been spent on this project we were running short on places to research.  Obviously there are only so many sawmills within any given geography.  By searching the depths of the internet I found an article posted on the website of a local association for sawmills and other related businesses.  Doug Fir from ABC Paper & Wood Products received an award from this association for a reason I can’t recall.  It was perfect; ABC Paper & Wood had not been targeted yet…   
 
“ABC Paper & Wood, how can I help you?” a friendly sounding receptionist greeted.
“Hi, I’m looking to get in contact with Douglas Fir please.” I said.

“Hmmmm… Douglas Fir, Douglas Fir” she replied as if she was thinking.  “OH OK!” the lady said as she began to laugh into the phone.  To avoid an awkward moment of silence, and in an effort to seem friendly I began to giggle.  In reality I was actually rather confused.  The laughter quickly subsided.  After a brief moment of silence she asked, “Who else can I put you in touch with?”

“Well, just Doug would be fine for now, if he feels there is someone better for me to speak with then I’ll just call back,”  I replied cluelessly.  I remember thinking “what is with this lady and what the hell is so funny?” 

“He doesn’t take calls sir” she said in a giggly tone.

“OK – Is he out in the field or something?”  I responded skeptically.

“Yeah, he’s in the field alright” The lady said again as her laughter was building.

“Does he have an assistant?” I asked as I was still totally confused.  At this point I figured she was maybe laughing at a co-worker or there was something distracting her.

“Nope, no assistant” The lady said, only this time she was basically hysterical with laughter.  My eyebrows began to tense as I was too confused to even speak.  I waited in silence for her to finish laughing.  The laugher quickly subsided and she said, “Do you seriously need to speak with someone, or did you just call for that?”

“Ma’am, I have no idea what you are talking about and I’m a little confused.” I told her.  “Is there a Doug Fir there or not?” I said in a tone that probably hinted at my frustration.   

“Yeah there is a Doug Fir back there; in fact there is a bunch of Doug Fir back there.”  She said as she again began to laugh.  “We sell it too – It’s a type of wood.”

It was well over a years worth of hype that I resisted before joining the popular social networking site, Facebook.  One of Facebook’s top competitors, LinkedIn, has been my primary selection of social networking for a few years now.  Through my experiences with these two sites it’s been made certain to me that both have slightly different purposes that can make a huge difference to their users which should be considered when building a network.

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