Ted,

AIRS is great for baseline process education. I took that in its early years and still use many of their tactics. Shally/ Steve/ Maureen all offer very tangible and tactical training and your staff would benefit immediately and personally from their training offerings.

If I was to begin a sourcing program again (I built an internal program globally at Kanbay/ Capgemini before joining RightFish) I would first commit to consolidated sourcing (combo of phone and internet sourcing) or break the groups into two separate groups. Once you decide on this, the training options become clearer and you can likely do enough research on LinkedIn or Recruiting.com, etc to figure out who you want your staff learning from.

All the best.

posted September 17, 2007

AIRS is one good source. I would also consider Spoke, Hoovers and Zoom Info

posted September 17, 2007

AIRS is fine. Nothing wrong with it, but using direct recruiting will always be best. Danny Cahill and Peter Lefkowitz are 2 of the best in the industry. I have been in both gentlemen's classes, and they are well worth every dime.

About 10 years ago, Peter took a large audience of recruiters and totally wowed them in a live sourcing exercise to identify Anderson Consulting (Accenture now) AS/400 consultants.

Both can help any recruiter be vastly more effective, regardless of personality type. I still use their techniques, although I do very little recruiting these days.

posted September 17, 2007

Shally Steckerl is definitely the guru in this area, the best training by far has been from his webinars. He is quite resourceful and insightful, and he loves to share with those willing to absorb. He is a great mentor and his easy going manner makes him quite approachable. I've used AIRS as well, and while they too offer some great resources, Shally has a much more effective way of delivering the goods.

posted September 17, 2007

I am working as Sourcing expert for 3 years now.

I think one of the pioneers in sourcing are OS2i

OS2i is a british company with the operations in India.

1 month training from OS2i was extremely useful and still gives me a edge over others. I would recommend "passive search" training from OS2i

os2i.com
os2i.co.uk

cheers!

posted September 17, 2007

Hi Ted,

I was personally trained by James Duran. He may be able to help you in your quest.

Best of luck!

posted September 17, 2007

There are a couple different very distinct types of training: Internet sourcing and Telephone sourcing. Which are you looking for exactly?

Maureen Sharib
Telephone Names Sourcer

posted September 18, 2007

I've taken AIRS and Glen Gutmacher's training, which are both good for internet sourcing of resumes.

If you want training that goes beyond that name generation and incorporates the phone and how to actually recruit those potential candidates, then Peter Leftkowitz is the trainer I recommend. I was with a large Boston agency for 10 years and during that period we did most of the training available for recruiters and the only one that we invited back was Peter.

His training doesn't rely on the internet, though it can incorporate it for initial research. There's no fluff, it's not a motivational training, though I found it more motivational than any other, because it's clear that his Morgan Method works. Peter demonstrates his method by calling into random companies and generating names, then recruiting them.

What separates his training is his approach. He doesn't just pitch an opportunity to a potential candidate. He goes much deeper, finding out what they really want, what's important to them, and if they are really a top candidate. He also covers how to generate referrals to the best candidates....not just the ones who are looking.

The most valuable part of his training is working with candidates, building a rapport, and developing a pipeline of great candidates so that you aren't always starting a search from scratch.

Because his background is full-lifecycle recruitning, he also trains on how to develop clients and work with them as well.

Links:

• http://www.morgancg.com

posted September 18, 2007

If you wanted to develop a healthier diet, you would feed your body a variety of fruits, vegetables, grains, dairy, and fats. Same with training - if you try to feed your mind one training course, it's going to be malnourished. You need to have a variety of training sources in order to become a well-rounded sourcer. Keep in mind that the variety you seek may not all come from the same place as well. You may want to look at the style of different individual training courses or well-established programs to find the right mix for you and your team.

Another thing to consider is the strengths and weaknesses of the sourcers on your team. You probably have some who are better on the phone and some who are better on the Internet. Find out what their strengths are and design the training to suit their needs. Cater to the strengths while still developing the weak areas. I used to work in an office that required all employees to be cookie cutters of one particular type of recruiter (including ME - the RESEARCHER!!) As a result, turnover rate was very, very high because no two people have the same strengths.

The resources that have been mentioned are fine, just make sure you pick trainings that 1) will accomplish the goal of developing well-rounded sourcers and 2) allow you some flexibility in training program design. A couple of other resources that I did not see mentioned would be:
Barbara Ling's RISE training
Jim Stroud's research/sourcing training videos

Hope that helps! :)

Amybeth H. also suggests these experts on this topic:

• Barbara L.
• Jim S.

posted September 18, 2007

You have been given many excellent options and I will add a slightly different spin to the mix. No sourcing toolbox can be complete without innovative and effective methods for developing robust candidate referral networks.

Personally, I believe that an agile recruiter must navigate today's market by using many methods effectively - perhaps using more tools more effectively than ever. Greg and Jeff are awesome trainers. I have seen both in person and recommend their stuff for practicality and results.



Jeff Skrentny - http://www.topechelon.com/training/Details/Presenter.aspx?i=9271
and
Greg Doershing - http://www.topechelon.com/Training/Details/Presenter.aspx?i=130626

posted September 18, 2007

Have a look at what Bill Radin (www.billradin.com) has to offer. I've used his CDs for training our consultants & we have been extremely pleased. Reasonably priced and very effective.
Joe Peters
I Search Worldwide, Inc.
Tokyo, Japan
www.isearchworldwide.co.jp

posted September 18, 2007

The best training I ever had on this was writing my own book (alas, in Norwegian...) some years ago. It took a year but was great learning.
It is still the only book on Internet sourcing here in Norway - but now someone should write an updated one in English...
Otherwise I can recommend AIRS.

posted September 19, 2007

Agree with AmyBeth, Jim Strouds Jim Stroud's research/sourcing training videos are indeed very good.

Links:

• http://www.jimstroud.com

posted September 19, 2007

I have just returned from Peter Lefkawitz's training regarding sourcing and recruiting and it rocked. Very effective and easy. Just takes big balls to call in and act like you belong there to get names and titles.

posted September 21, 2007