Why build a knowledge management library?

A well organised sourcing knowledge base can dramatically improve your efficiency, consistency, and stakeholder relationships.

As Sandra says, it's not just about staying organised, it's about elevating your entire sourcing strategy. Some key benefits / use cases:

• Enhance visibility for stakeholders

• Engage hiring managers in the process

• Mitigate risks by avoiding reliance on a single point of failure

• Facilitate easy handovers and collaboration

• Provide data for future hiring decisions

• Showcase the professionalism of talent sourcing

Key Components of a Sourcing Library

Below we will go through each tab of Sandra’s template (which you can also download) to explain how she organises her database with some examples.

1. Persona & Sourcing Tactics

What goes here:

• A detailed picture of your ideal candidate

• Key qualifications from the job description

• Must-have skills and experience

• Deal-breakers (e.g., companies you won't recruit from)

• Insights from hiring managers about the "perfect" candidate

2. Keywords

What goes here:

• Terms to use in your searches

• Job titles (e.g., "software engineer", "product manager")

• Technical skills (e.g., "Python", "UX design")

• Soft skills (e.g., "team leadership", "project management")

• Industry-specific jargon

• Performance indicators (e.g., "top performer", "award-winning")

3. Target Companies

What goes here:

• Organisations where ideal candidates might work

• Your direct competitors

• Companies known for excellence in your field

• Organisations using similar technologies or methodologies

• Firms that frequently produce top talent in your industry

4. Search History

What goes here:

• A record of your sourcing efforts

• Specific search strings you've used

• Where you conducted each search (e.g. LinkedIn, GitHub, Google)

• How many results each search produced

• Notes on the quality of candidates found

5. Boolean Strings

What goes here:

• Ready-to-use search formulas

• Your most successful search strings

• Templates that can be easily customised for different roles

• Complex strings that you don't want to rebuild from scratch each time

Final Tips + FREE TEMPLATE

Start small: Don't overwhelm yourself by trying to create a comprehensive library overnight

Make it part of your workflow: Update your library as you work on searches

Collaborate: Encourage your team to contribute and share insights

Review regularly: Set time to review and refine your library periodically

Use it in stakeholder meetings: Showcase your strategic approach to sourcing

As Sandra says, "This is not extra work, you need this information anyway. Writing it down will come naturally, and it will strengthen your position internally by showcasing your strategic approach."

Here is a link to the template, click ‘File’ → ‘make a copy’, to edit for yourself.

Interested in learning more?

✅ That’s it for this week, we hope this was helpful! Please reply to this email with any feedback, we’d love to hear it.

💜 If you’d like to watch this full training session or continue learning from other TA leaders, check out PURPL.

💬 If you’re a TA leader who would like to contribute or learn about Purpl for your team, book in a call with me here.