Way back when, before pandemic times I had the chance to venture forth to my very first SourceCon as a wildly enthusiastic recruiter looking to learn about all the cool recruiting tools, technology, and strategies around finding jobseekers.
What I got out of it change my life forever, change my whole trajectory…like stars light and glitter poured from all around me like when protagonists’ have an epiphany in the movies. It was like that but with my brain and synapses firing in the old positronic cerebellum. Like a light bulb factory with all the light bulbs lighting up with ideas…lots of ideas. A great renaissance of brain fluctuations in headhunting techniques.
And it all started with Jim Stroud. He was up on stage, and asked the audience “How do you find software developers?”
Then he showed a slide with a simple but elegant keyword search:
Software developer @gmail.com
Then went into different variations and examples:
Developer *@gmail.com OR @gmail.com OR “email me at: “ OR “contact me at: “
And so on and so forth.
I remember the next presenter was Johnny Campbell, who taught everyone at SourceCon about Custom Search Engines. Little did I know that speakers like these would inspire this guy to build searches engines and later on web scrapers for precise data pulls. In fact, CSEs (now termed Programmable search Engines (PSEs)) and Dataminer recipes are much easier to build than yesteryear. That’s why I do videos, cause AI and automation are making thing way easier…you can either embrace it or get left in the dust like the dinosaurs and COBOL mainframes.
You ask a speaker a question about Reddit, and come back 3 weeks later with an entire Reddit Toolbox (shoutout to @ErinMathews) whose actually did this after asking me a question about forums…
I had a similar experience when I asked Aaron Lintz questions about kimono and Webscraping way back when. Because of this nerdy fascination with scrapers and crawlers, we’ve become good friends over the years and SourceCons. And we’ve learned more and more along the way.
This world, it’s all about adapting and changing what’s in front of us or blocking the way. The better tech AI automation becomes the more we can help people looking for work, at least that’s how I think about it. What it stems from is connecting people, building good vibes, and helping people find jobs. Whether I use fancy tools or gpt bots won’t ever replace the fact that sourcing is about inclusion, not elimination. People remember the conversations I have with them, about a job or many jobs. Whether I help a mom out with a cybersecurity role or a new dad with a CISA position, I keep the person in mind when I look at what we are hiring. How can I get them into the org, NOT do the meet the quals of job ID 2356.
If you want to see where else you can find jobseekers, I’m about to run a clinic…no a triage into where you can find them. And I blame it all on SourceCon, especially Jim Stroud, who flipped the ON switch to the lightbulb factory all those years ago (I was such a noob back then).
Life has changed all of us, all the tools and tricks in the world ain’t gonna help you if you can’t talk to another human like an actual human…AI is still pretty terrible at recruitment triage, but great for translating LinkedIn posts to polish (shout-out to my friends in Poland including you my fellow OSINT nerd Wojciech Balcerzak) an audience I’d never find without YouTube and tiktok). The drive to learn through events and gatherings like SourceCon is to become the best version of yourself, to reach more people, and to land jobseekers and their families the jobs they want, need, and deserve.
So take note on this Keynote, cause it won’t be like anything you’ve seen before in 2024
When our good friend, and SourceCon SME of Hugs, Derek Zeller passed away a few years ago, I got to take a deeper look into his writings, musings, and passion around poetry. I got to see the milestones he made in Sourcing, this community, and help spread his legacy to others reminding people of his works.
I’ve got to experience similar milestones throughout the years, especially with the SourceCon Tribe and all the wonderful I’ve got to interact with over the years. Marking this one down…
Sourcecon Keynote: Planet Sourcing
April 9th & 10th
https://conference.sourcecon.com/
Discount Code: GHSCS24
And Full disclosure, when your kindergartener tells you “Daddy, you aren’t allowed to go on business trips without me,” you listen. So I’m bringing her with me…see you in April!
