“If you build it, he will come.” Field of Dreams was always a favorite movie of mine, and this quote is referring to the baseball field a farmer built out in the middle of an open prairie was referring to ghosts of a baseball era long forgotten. In the movie, he builds the field, and these legendary baseball players come and play on his field fulfilling the main character’s dream. In a sense, SourceCon has built a field of dreams where sourcing legends bring their strong knowledge to others and where technological innovators join the conference to share their latest and greatest ideas. If you are lacking a professional networking group for sourcing the mantra “If you build it they will come” is true. Helping others is what SourceCon is all about. And that’s where your local SourceCon Chapter comes into play.
Your SourceCon community continues to have some exciting developments. It all started as a conversation online in a Facebook group where the Salt Lake City Chapter of SourceCon was born. Then getting on a call with Shannon Pritchett she enthusiastically shared some great ideas of how to make a local meetup for sourcing/recruiting professionals in Salt Lake City a reality. Later, after posting on LinkedIn about upcoming developments with our planned local chapter meetup, SourceCon Portland got its start when Raine Lunke sent me a note and she then subsequently reached out to Pritchett to inquire about starting the SourceCon Portland Chapter.
As of this writing multiple local SourceCon meetups are gaining traction in London, Portland, Salt Lake City, San Francisco, and continued meetups for established Sourcing groups exist in: Chicago, Dallas Fort Worth, Source Houston, and the famous Sourcing 7 in Seattle, not to mention other communities in Atlanta and other metros. The beauty of local sourcing meetups is many times they are cost effective, allow for peer sharing on a local level, and offer participants the opportunity to give back to their local communities.
I think it is exciting to anticipate SourceCon Budapest in June, and further opportunities in coming months as SourceCon expands it’s reach outside of the United States. Credit Pritchett for her tireless efforts, and enthusiasm for expanding the community and family of SourceCon et al, and the new reality of SourceCon local meetups expanding in scope and quality.
Personally, I think getting out and meeting peers is what has always been the heart and soul of SourceCon. As I have attended the national SourceCon conference, and recently presented in the Vegas conference I still find myself growing in new ways and gaining new ideas. The spirit of community is prevalent and what’s always more exciting is when true sourcing pioneers are willing to collaborate, share, and explore new opportunities for solving the toughest sourcing challenges.
In truth everyone has something they can share, and the spirit of SourceCon will always be that, a community of researching/sourcing gurus stepping forward to help others find new ways of achieving amazing results in their jobs, increasing candidate engagement, discovering new ways to find strong talent, and bring significant opportunities to professionals across the spectrum. So join your local SourceCon meet-up near you. Don’t have one? Create one. You can even build a sourcing committee in your own company. Be the builder, and they will come.
Today, with the roles of recruiting and sourcing blurring the modern talent acquisition professional is becoming a master of multiple points in full cycle recruiting from sourcing, engagement, closing, etc. Even those who are full cycle recruiters or recruiters supported by sourcers need to be hunters, and out proactively bringing in incredible talent. Your title in staffing today is becoming less relevant, whether sourcer, recruiter, etc., the reality is you will need to know how to source to be even more viable as the days, months and years roll on and equally so a good candidate closer. So, if you are reading this and you support a local association of recruiters, it would be wise to include a focused sourcing group of activities to build those skills in your membership. In all honesty in Salt Lake City, I did not see a local group meeting this professional association needs, so once I observed some activity from the Chicago SourceCon meetup, I was prompted to reach out. Your local community is an incredible thing, and bringing your colleagues, peers, and friends to help one another in the spirit of collaboration is the real reason SourceCon is very much like a family.
Here are some of the upcoming events and meetups on the horizon as well as organizations, be sure to check out Facebook groups, and websites of the organizations for more details on future local sourcing meet-ups in your area:
- SourceCon Portland Chapter meetup on Thursday, June 21st. See their Facebook group for more upcoming information.
- SourceCon Chicago Chapter meetup on Thursday, May 24th from 6p-8p – link here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/sourcecon-chicago-may-meetup-tickets-45662248013
- Sourcing 7 in Seattle just had it’s May 10th event, which had good attendance. Check their website for more details: https://www.sourcing7.org
- SourceCon Salt Lake City Chapter meetup on Tuesday, May 22nd at 6:30p-8:30p MDT – link here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/sourcecon-salt-lake-city-inaugural-meetup-tickets-45665404454
- SourceCon Dallas Fort Worth is having an event on Wednesday, May, 23 @ 5:30p CST – check that out here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/modernizing-your-di-strategy-in-the-age-of-recruiting-automation-tickets-45533138844?aff=ebdsorderfblightbox
- SourceCon London just had an event on May 2nd with more anticipated soon.
- Source Houston frequently has events – check them out: sourcehouston.org
- SourceCon Bay Area – tentatively scheduled for June 21st.
- SourceCon Atlanta – tentatively scheduled for August 1st.
Join a sourcing meet-up in your area. You will be glad you did.