Hudson RPO sourcing experts Aniq Butt, Marjorie Gaume, and Jessie Caudron, are back from SOSU Europe (aka SOSUEU, or the Sourcing Summit) which took place in Amsterdam earlier this month.
They wrote last month about what they were most looking forward to from SOSUEU. Here, they reveal their first impressions and strongest takeaways from the event.
1. What did you think about this edition of SOSUEU?
“This was the first time for Aniq and myself (Marjorie) to be part of a sourcing event, and it did not disappoint me at all!” Marjorie said.
“I found this edition really diverse. There were different type of presentations: some for junior sourcers, others for people who have some IT abilities, and some speakers were also outside of the sourcing/recruiting field. It was clearly super inspiring and made us think a lot about what we could implement in our own way of working in order to improve ourselves.”
2. Which were the most inspiring talks?
Every presentation offered something unique. Below, our team share their views on some of their favourite sessions.
‘See me, feel me, touch me, hear me: how to become a super sourcer, starting today’, presented by Frans Reichardt
As Frans said: “Most people are able to hear, but not everyone is able to listen.”
Frans talked about the difference between hearing and listening, and how to improve our listening skills was one of them. It’s important as a sourcer to be able to listen to what the candidate is telling us, to understand what they are looking for and if they could really be a good fit for the position.
It’s important not only to find a candidate for the open position we are recruiting for but also that the candidate is genuinely interested in the company and position. It should be a good match on both sides. This talk was also more general and we can use those tips in our day-to-day talent sourcing.
Frans shared five easy tips that will help improve your listening skills:
- Listen consciously
- Ask questions and stay curious
- Show that you listen
- Pay attention to body language
- Listen without judgement
‘OSINT case study: Netherlands Police’, presented by Lisette Abercrombie and Maike Borst
This talk was given by two police officers who were explaining how they are using open sourcing intelligence to investigate criminal cases. They went through a real case of abduction, explaining each step of the process to trace the missing person. It was really interesting to see that sourcing skills could be used in real-life investigations.
‘Hacking human brain: a neuromarketing approach to sourcing’, presented by Guillaume Alexandre
Did you know that 70% of decisions are influenced by emotions? That’s a big deal when it comes to building great connections for talent sourcing.
Guillaume Alexandre talked about this and much more, as part of another favourite presentation from this year’s edition.
He chose to explain how the human brain works. With this knowledge, we can adapt our approach to help secure a candidate’s attention.
Here are three of Guillaume’s tips for building emotive connections:
- Use ! and 😊 (don’t overdo either)
- Format your text to make it stand out
- Don’t overload or guide them to read
‘Sourcing psychology’, presented by Laura Gonzales, a sourcing alumna of Hudson RPO
Laura Gonzales, a sourcing alumna of Hudson RPO, spoke this year about using psychology to improve sourcing power. This talk was really inspiring. She explained how to use psychology in our candidate outreach.
Laura applied six psychological concepts to recruitment, explaining how she used them in her everyday recruitment style: reciprocity, scarcity, authority, consistency, liking and consensus.
The results are there: she manages to not only fill her open role, but also create a long-term pipeline with exceptional candidates by being honest and transparent with them.
3. How was the Hackathon?
For those who don’t know, the Sourcing Hackathon is a series of live sourcing questions made to challenge recruiters and sourcers.
We woke up at 3am for our flight to Amsterdam, and the Hackathon was the very last thing we did that day before going to rest at the hotel. We were probably a bit tired at that point!
The questions were varied, some easier than others. But it was overall really cool to participate and to compete surrounded by some of the best sourcers in the industry!
