I was reading an interesting article titled Am I addicted to food?Which said: “According to the Illinois Institute for Addiction Recovery, food addiction is simply an obsessive preoccupation with food. It doesn’t mean that a food addict can’t get enough of food – it could be that they are so concerned with food, that they avoid it at all costs.”

I had an interesting thought, what if we applied that definition to recruitment as it applies to sourcing. A sourcing addiction is simply an obsessive preoccupation with sourcing. It doesn’t mean that a sourcing addict can’t get enough of sourcing – it could be that they are so concerned with sourcing, that they avoid it at all cost. I think that explains a few recruiters!!! I’ve noticed a growing trend in recruitment. I read recruiters’ resumes often and find that there are mentions of sourcing all over but the experience summaries don’t describe what I know as sourcing.

According to the sourcing definition on wikipedia “Sourcing for candidates also generally applies to a focus primarily on proactively identifying people that are not actively looking for job opportunities.” The sourcing described in most resumes is searching through the resume boards, monster.com careerbuilder, etc… all they do is talk about sourcing but don’t do it; does that qualify as a sourcing addiction?