About TheSourceress

My name is Katharine Robinson; I am excited by the ever developing social aspects of the web. I channel this excitement into helping companies identify the people they should be engaging with online.

I can usually be found on the Internet masquerading as TheSourceress.

Why TheSourceress?
I chose the name when I started working with a specialist Executive Search consultancy in 2008. In this field, those in internet research are often referred to as Talent Sourcers. TheSourceress is just a little bit of word manipulation to make me sound mysterious and interesting. I’ll let you judge whether or not that has worked.

My Work

I started out in the recruitment industry as a researcher with an Executive Search firm. I have also worked in-house with Capgemini Consulting as a Sourcing and Social Media specialist. I have been working as a freelance consultant since the end of 2009, this has given me experience with Internet research and Social Media across several industries.

I started the UK Sourcers community in 2009. UK Sourcers aims to help grow the Internet sourcing skills of UK recruitment professionals by encouraging them to network and share. It now has its own blog and LinkedIn group too. Join the LinkedIn group to find out about UK Sourcers events first.

I won the coveted title of Grand Master Sourcer at the SourceCon conference in San Diego in March 2010.

In 2012 I started the business Sourcing Hat Ltd. Sourcing Hat provides Internet sourcing and training for recruitment companies and direct employers as well as Social Media guidance to small businesses.

I have been a track leader at several #tru (The Recruiting Unconference) events and spoken at Smart Resourcing 2010 (from Recruiter Magazine), Direct Sourcing (from The FIRM) in October 2010, December 2011 & October 2012, SourceCon 2011 in NYC and Social Media In Recruitment 2011. Find out more on my speaking page.

Other Passions

The Social Media Community
I really enjoy meeting people in real life that I would not otherwise get to if I was not active on Social Media. I have been involved in organising two Reading Twestivals, Tweetcamp 2011 and several local tweetups.

More Cheese Monday
This is a project that was born out of my love of cheese. It comes and goes as I don’t always have time to be blogging about cheese. Have a look at the More Cheese Monday blog and follow @MoreCheeseMon on Twitter for more details and talk about cheese.

What’s next?
As of December 2012, I am the owner of Sourcing Hat Ltd. Working for myself is definitely the way forward for me. Variety keeps me inspired and sharp as an Internet researcher and sourcer.

I am currently working on a series of projects with Verizon’s in-house recruitment team in Reading and helping Game Wagon, an events company for those that love gaming, to grow their business via Social Media. I am also taking on research projects and am available to provide training sessions.

I will continue to work on the UK Sourcers community, arranging events and providing resources to help grow Internet sourcing skills in the United Kingdom.

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