Johnny Campbell: What It Means to Be a Sourcing Ninja

Sourcing ninja, and co-star of our popular Sourcing Talent seminars Johnny Campbell, talks to I Love Recruitment about the secrets of recruiting talent online.

ILR: What is a 'sourcing ninja'? 

JC: A Sourcing Ninja can fill any job in the world, faster than you can, with just his laptop, phone and super ninja skills!

ILR: What are some of the biggest assumptions recruiters make about sourcing talent online that don't hold up? 

JC: Great sourcing is less about where you look and more about how you look for it. It's an art. Most recruiters think that using LinkedIn is online sourcing. There are loads of great places to find talent and surprisingly, the great, hidden talent is usually found in the most mundane of places: your own database!

In a world where the technology is nearly automating the shortlisting, the real battle will be fought in engaging the talent. The phone is arguably the most important technology in a modern recruiter's arsenal.

ILR: How hard is it to teach about social media?

JC :We used to deliver all of our training in-person, in classrooms but it soon went out of date. We built an online learning platform from the ground up that allows us to roll-out video updates every 2 weeks so that our ninjas are always up to date.

ILR: How do you recruit on something like Twitter?

JC: Find one person, tweet them, start a conversation and then place them. That's recruiting on Twitter.

ILR: What's going to be the next big thing? 

JC: Middle aged, balding men with beer bellies and red hair. At least that's what I think the next big thing will be.

There is still a chance to catch Johnny and “Google Dave” Hazelhurst at the final two Sourcing Talent seminar in London. Click here to find out more.