SourceCon: First Time Caller, Long Time Listener

SourceCon: We Control The Robots took place March 13 – 15, 2017 in Anaheim, CA – prior to the conference, Sarah Goldberg, Senior Sourcing and Research Specialist, and I put together a post highlighting our excitement. Keeping that conversation going, here’s a quick recap of my first SourceCon experience and some valuable takeaways:

Robots:

• Okay, there were only five Terminator references. Weaksauce you guys. 

• The discussion of how machine learning and robots are edging into the sourcing / recruiting space took up a large portion of the conference – I was surprised at how uplifting some of the reports were.
• Just because the robots are better at automated tasks than us (supposedly, I mean, my colleague Sarah did beat the robots) that doesn’t mean we should neglect the basics. If we don’t understand the tasks the robots are taking over, then we’re not going to be able to supplement or fix them
• Jeremy Roberts spoke briefly of this during his Keynote “How to Survive Machine Learning And Disruption” when he mentioned mastering boolean.
• Yeah, a computer can probably set up a solid boolean string, but you know who else can? You. Yeah You.

Networking:

• Before I went to SourceCon I had a new role that I wasn’t 100% sure how to tackle.  After SourceCon, I have a new lease on being a Sourcer!
• Being able to meet other sourcers and chat about recruitment tools and techniques was a huge highlight.
• It was great to be able to talk to presenters about their presentations.
  • I was able to catch Aaron Lintz prior to his. It was awesome getting to pick his brain before the session because I would not have had a chance afterwards – our schedules were slammed! 

  So @robbies_c and I are debating – how do we divide @aaronlintz @LevyRecruits or @marenhogan tomorrow? I need a #TimeTurner! #SourceCon

  — Sarah Goldberg (@sarahegoldberg) March 15, 2017

• Another highlight: food.
  • I have a lot of strong feelings about food. Mainly I’m very happy that it exists and that I can eat so many different things. But half of my snaps from SourceCon were of food and not the amazing people I met. That’s probably #mybad.
  • The networking events all featured amazing food (Crunch Dibs? Full breakfast bars? Sliders? Beverage Station?! – I could talk about food all day) and even more amazing people.

Innovation Labs:

• So, I’m not going to lie. I didn’t get to spend as much time at Innovation Labs as I had hoped. When Innovation Labs was open I was either at a session, networking, or at the roundtables. I spent all of ten minutes walking around the labs to check out the vendors and make notes for who I should go to when I returned (spoiler alert: I did not return).

Sitting next to Sarah for five hours & Disneyland:

• Sarah managed to escape sitting next to me on the plane both times. But Sarah (pictured left), and Ben (stuck in the middle), couldn’t escape spending dinner with me at Downtown Disney!

• Nothing says team building like having dinner and wandering through the largest Disney store I’ve ever seen.
  • Plus, they have a Vault themed store! (You know, like the late night Vault that they’d “open” at midnight and show old movies or Legends of Zorro? #hellomychildhood)
• Even at Downtown Disney we were still learning and networking. The three of us swapped key facts we’d learned at the sessions – and we ran into a few fellow Sourcers! Always a great time!

My first ever SourceCon was a doozy! I’d been looking forward to going and learning all that I could since I became a Sourcer. I left the Spring 2017 SourceCon with a head and notebook full of ideas. The Sourcing community is amazing. I’m happy to have had the opportunity to attend – hopefully, this was the first of many!

Robyn Carney grew up in Rochester N.Y. before spending her college years in Syracuse, where she got her Bachelors in Social Studies education and traveled to Europe and the Middle East. After she got her first degree, she decided on another and ended up at the University of Chicago for her Masters before starting on a path in research. It was her love of research that made her explore the possibilities of a social media app beyond snapping photos of her cats to her twin in Japan. Her love of research and new experiences drove her to join Objective Paradigm’s team as a Research and Sourcing Team member.