IT Candidate Sourcing: The Complete Guide to Finding Top Developers

Why IT Sourcing Has Become an Art Form

The tech recruitment market is ruthless.

In 2024, 87% of companies report difficulties recruiting IT profiles. The reason? The best developers are not actively looking. They receive an average of 15 solicitations per month on LinkedIn.

To reach them, posting a job ad is no longer enough. You need to go find them. That's where sourcing comes in.

What You'll Learn in This Guide

This guide covers:

• The 8 most effective sourcing channels for IT profiles
• Advanced boolean search techniques
• How to approach passive candidates without spamming them
• Tools to automate your sourcing without losing quality

---

The 8 Sourcing Channels for Tech Profiles

1. LinkedIn: The Essential Foundation

LinkedIn remains the #1 channel for IT sourcing, with 875 million members including over 10 million in France.

Best practices:

• Use LinkedIn Recruiter or Sales Navigator for advanced filters
• Create saved search projects for each profile type
• Analyze profiles who recently changed positions (often open to new opportunities after 18-24 months)
• Check "Interests" and "Recommendations" sections to personalize your approach

LinkedIn boolean search example:

```

("developer" OR "software engineer") AND ("React" OR "Vue.js") AND ("Paris" OR "Île-de-France") NOT ("recruiter" OR "HR")

```

2. GitHub: Where Developers Show Their True Value

GitHub has 100 million developers. Unlike LinkedIn, here candidates show their actual work.

How to source on GitHub:

1. Search by technology: use language: and location: filters
2. Analyze contributions: an active developer with regular projects is often passionate
3. Look at stars and forks: popular projects = recognized expertise
4. Check the README: many developers include their contact information there

GitHub search example:

```

location:France language:Python followers:>50

```

3. Stack Overflow: Identify Experts by Their Answers

Stack Overflow allows you to identify developers by their reputation and areas of expertise.

Sourcing strategy:

• Filter by tags (React, Node.js, Python...)
• Target users with high scores in desired technologies
• Analyze answer quality, not just quantity
• Check their "Developer Story" profile for contact info

4. Twitter/X: The Network of Influential Developers

Many senior developers and architects are active on Twitter/X to share their technical insights.

How to find them:

• Follow hashtags: #DevFr, #ReactJS, #Python, #TechFr
• Identify conference speakers (Devoxx, Paris Web, dotJS...)
• Analyze "Developers to follow" lists created by others

5. Tech Meetups and Conferences

Tech events are a goldmine for meeting qualified candidates.

Key events in France: Tip: Don't just attend. Offer to sponsor or run a booth to maximize interactions.

6. Slack and Discord Communities

Developers gather in specialized communities.

Active French communities:

• Slack FrenchTech: startups and scale-ups
• Discord Dev FR: general community
• Slack PHP France: PHP/Symfony ecosystem
• Discord Python FR: Python community

Important: Don't spam. Participate authentically before sourcing.

7. CV Databases and Specialized Job Boards

Less "sexy" but still effective for certain profiles.

Recommended platforms:

• Welcome to the Jungle: startup and tech profiles
• Talent.io: pre-qualified developers
• ChooseYourBoss: actively searching candidates
• LesJeudis: confirmed IT profiles

8. Internal Sourcing: Your Current Employees

Your best sourcers are your own developers.

Effective referral program:

• Attractive bonus (€1,500 to €3,000 for an IT profile)
• Simple process (not 10 forms to fill out)
• Systematic feedback on recommended candidates

---

Advanced Boolean Search Techniques

Boolean search is the secret weapon of the best sourcers. Here are the essential operators.

Basic Operators

Advanced Query Examples

Senior backend developer:

```

("backend developer" OR "backend engineer") AND ("Java" OR "Node.js" OR "Python") AND ("senior" OR "lead" OR "5 years" OR "7 years") NOT ("junior" OR "internship" OR "apprenticeship" OR "recruiter")

```

DevOps/SRE:

```

("DevOps" OR "SRE" OR "Site Reliability") AND ("Kubernetes" OR "Docker" OR "AWS" OR "GCP") AND ("Paris" OR "remote" OR "work from home")

```

Data Engineer:

```

("Data Engineer" OR "data engineering") AND ("Spark" OR "Airflow" OR "dbt" OR "Snowflake") AND ("Python" OR "Scala")

```

---

How to Approach Passive Candidates

You've found the ideal profile. Now you need to convince them to respond.

Mistakes That Kill Your Response Rate

What NOT to do:

1. ❌ Generic copy-pasted message
2. ❌ Talking about yourself before talking about them
3. ❌ Mentioning "an exciting opportunity" without details
4. ❌ Asking for their CV when it's on LinkedIn
5. ❌ Following up 3 times in 48 hours

The AIDA Framework for Your Contact Messages

A - Attention: Hook with a personalized element

"I saw your contribution to the X open-source repo, impressive the refactoring you did on the Y module."

I - Interest: Show why it's relevant to them

"We're building a team working on similar challenges, with a 100% Rust stack."

D - Desire: Create desire with concrete elements

"The team is fully remote, with 2 off-site days per month and a €3K/year training budget."

A - Action: Propose a simple action

"15 minutes to discuss this week?"

Message Template That Works

```

Hi [First Name],

While browsing [GitHub/your profile/the article on X], I was impressed by [specific element].

I'm recruiting for [Company], a [description in 10 words max] that [problem solved].

What might interest you:

• [Concrete benefit 1]
• [Concrete benefit 2]
• [Concrete benefit 3]

Would you be open to a 15-min chat this week?

[Signature]

```

---

Automate Sourcing Without Losing Quality

Automation is essential for scaling, but be careful not to sacrifice personalization.

What You Should Automate

1. Data enrichment: retrieving emails and phone numbers from a LinkedIn profile
2. Follow-up sequences: 3 spaced messages if no response
3. Tracking: knowing who opened, clicked, responded
4. Alerts: being notified when a profile matches your criteria

What You Should NOT Automate

1. First message personalization: this is what makes the difference
2. Profile evaluation: a human catches nuances an algorithm misses
3. Negotiation: AI doesn't replace empathy

Tools for Smart Automation

---

Measuring Your Sourcing Effectiveness

Without metrics, it's impossible to improve. Here are the essential KPIs.

The 5 IT Sourcing KPIs

1. Response rate: % of contacted candidates who respond

• Benchmark: 15-25% for personalized messages

1. Qualification rate: % of respondents who go to interview

• Benchmark: 40-60%

1. Cost per sourced candidate: time + tools / number of qualified profiles

• Target: < €50 per qualified candidate

1. Time to first contact: delay between identified need and first message

• Target: < 48h

1. Sourcing to hire conversion: % of sourced candidates ultimately hired

• Benchmark: 3-5%

---

Conclusion: Sourcing as a Competitive Advantage

IT sourcing is not an option—it's a strategic necessity.

Staffing companies and recruitment agencies that master these techniques have a decisive advantage: they access the 80% of passive candidates that the competition never sees.

Summary of Actions to Implement:

1. ✅ Diversify your channels (LinkedIn + GitHub + communities)
2. ✅ Master boolean search
3. ✅ Personalize every first message
4. ✅ Automate low-value tasks
5. ✅ Measure and iterate on your KPIs

Sourcing is a muscle that develops with practice. Start with one technique, master it, then add the next.