Become a
TECHNICAL
SOURCER

Technical sourcers are responsible for finding and engaging talent.
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This may sound a lot like the role of a recruiter, but there are some key differences. Technical sourcers only focus on the initial company touchpoints, while recruiters work with the candidates throughout their entire job-hunting experience.
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Technical sourcers are responsible for the discovering and reaching out to candidates who may have not been originally interested in the role or company. Technical sourcers spend their time combing through candidates found on social media platforms (LinkedIn) and search engines (Google) to create excitement for positions they're trying to fill. They are often the very first interaction these candidates have with the business.

Technical sourcers are often at larger companies that have separate teams for sourcing and recruiting. Once a sourcer has made contact with a promising potential candidate, they pass the candidate on to a recruiter for the rest of the hiring process. In some company cultures, a recruiter is expected to also do the job of a technical sourcer.

Sometimes technical sourcing roles can be extremely niche, because the sourcer is working at a larger company with different sourcers covering different role-types. If that's the case, the sourcer will need to be very familiar with common requirements of their role niche (for example, product managers, analysts, or engineers).

While recruiters are responsible for the candidate for their entire hiring process, technical sourcing stops after the initial contact and handoff. Technical sourcers spend a majority of their day managing and contacting lists of potential candidates. They are constantly tweaking and re-tweaking their reach out messages to elicit the most responses from candidates. Once enough candidates are interested, they pass the names along to the hiring manager or recruiter overseeing the role.

Sometimes technical sourcers are required to do initial phone screens with scripts or questionnaires provided by the roles' hiring manager. The sourcer will take notes during these calls to send to the hiring manager. If the candidate has the desired answers, the hiring managers will choose to move forward. This is often when the handoff to a recruiter happens.

The lines here are a little blurry, and that's mainly because sometimes both of these roles are done by a recruiter.

A recruiter is responsible for handling the entire candidate experience. This includes meeting with hiring managers to get role requirements, posting and managing descriptions, and walking candidates through their rounds of interviews. Often recruiters also manage the sourcing process too, but at big companies it makes more sense to split the role into two functions.
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A sourcer is often an entry-level role responsible for gathering and reaching out to potential candidates for the recruiter. Sourcers spend hours scouring Linkedin to provide recruiters and hiring managers lists of strong candidates that may be good fits for the various open roles. Ultimately, the recruiters are usually responsible for making contact with the candidate and owning the hiring process from there. Sometimes at medium (and even some larger) companies, the recruiting and sourcing jobs are combined.

To recap: sourcers compile and reach out to candidates that may be good fits for role descriptions, then hand off the candidates to recruiters to manage the hiring process. Many recruiters can source, but not all sourcers can recruit!