Stop sourcing like it’s 2015: Chris Adams’ masterclass on future-proofed sourcing
In this episode of 10x Recruiting, Nolan sits down with sourcing OG Chris Adams—sourcer #1 at Uber, former Talent Partner at Atomic, and founder of TalentHerder—for a masterclass on modern sourcing. Chris dives into what most recruiters get wrong about calibration, why it's the most critical step in building an effective top-of-funnel, and how to avoid wasting weeks sourcing candidates your hiring manager won’t even want to meet.
Chris breaks down:
- Why calibration is everything—and how to run it right (sync > docs, always)
- The only outreach metrics that matter (hint: it’s not just how many DMs you blast)
- The sniper-vs-volume debate and how to actually build dual funnels of approach
- Why sending a 5th follow-up isn’t desperate—it’s smart
Whether you're a recruiter, sourcer, or founder doing your own outbound, this one is packed with actionable strategies you can put to work today.
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Key takeaways:
- Live calibration prevents wasted effort: Sync with hiring managers early to align on profile quality and tradeoffs — before a single message goes out.
- Outreach works best in two lanes: High-quality recruiter messages build volume, but founder-led outreach can unlock hard-to-reach candidates.
- Conversion > activity: The best sourcing engines optimize for quality. The metric to watch? Recruiter screen to hiring manager screen.
"I don’t want to say sourcers are extinct, but their skill set is being valued in different ways.” — Chris Adams
In the latest episode of the 10x Recruiting podcast, Nolan Church sits down with Chris Adams — the first sourcer at Uber, ex-Google, and founder of TalentHerder. Over the past decade, Chris has worked across every corner of the recruiting org, from hands-on sourcing to startup consulting and executive search. This conversation pulls back the curtain on what great sourcing looks like in practice — and how to get more out of your top-of-funnel efforts in 2025 and beyond.
Calibrate first — or fail later
The fastest way to waste a month of recruiting work? Start sourcing before you’ve calibrated.
Calibration is the process of aligning with a hiring manager on what a great candidate actually looks like before you start sourcing. It helps clarify must-haves, nice-to-haves, and where tradeoffs can be made so you don’t waste time chasing the wrong profiles.
Too many recruiters skip this step — or worse, treat it as a one-way doc handoff. Chris takes a different approach:
- Start with history: “Is there anyone on the existing team you’d like to replicate?”
- Build a 20-profile calibration batch: Share and review them synchronously.
- Watch how hiring managers react: “Reading their nonverbal communication as to how they're reading a profile in general will help you a ton.”
If you're still not aligned after two rounds, sit down and share your screen. Show the filters. Walk through the results together. Let the data do the talking.
"I would literally sit there and screen share with them. 'Alright, here's what I’m doing. Now, there are 17 people in this particular region with this particular skill set that we're trying to go after. Do you think that's enough pipeline for us to make the hire?’” If it’s not, Chris says you need to figure out what factors and characteristics you can take out, what you should leave in, and then come up with a new archetype together.
Treat outreach like a dual funnel
Once you’ve locked in the target profile, outreach is where momentum builds — or dies. Chris runs a two-lane system:
1. Recruiter-led outreach
These are the high-quality, high-volume messages that drive the pipeline. Chris says this should account for 70 to 80% of your outreach.
2. Hiring manager outreach
For the best profiles — the top 1 to 3% — Chris sends messages from a hiring manager alias. But there’s a catch — hiring managers have to commit to taking those first calls.
“Your first question has to be: What’s your bandwidth? Are you able to take 5 to 10 informal 30-minute conversations weekly in addition to your own recruiting work?”
What makes candidates respond
Once sourcing starts, messaging is where you win (or lose) attention. Chris has honed a messaging playbook that prioritizes trust, clarity, and thoughtful sequencing:
- Anchor trust early: If the company isn’t a known brand, create a one-pager that explains the team, mission, and why it matters. This becomes your trust bridge.
- Start small: A/B test message variants in batches before ramping up.
- Sequence matters: Chris recommends five-touch sequences — three messages in the first 10 days and two more spaced out after that.
- Use connection requests: For standout candidates, have the founder send a personalized LinkedIn connection request. It lands in their primary inbox and feels more personal than a cold InMail.
This structured but flexible approach helps cut through the noise and ensures you’re not wasting great candidates on half-baked outreach.
When to use warm intros — and when not to
Warm intros are powerful. But they don’t scale.
Chris sees them as a precision tool for boosting ROI: “For a great exec search or purple squirrel.” But for more generalist engineers, he says it makes more sense to run search.
Use warm intros when:
- You’re recruiting for an exec or founding role.
- The founder has a real relationship with the candidate.
- You can send a clean, forwardable intro that makes the case.
Outside of these situations, your time is often better spent refining structured outbound.
Sourcers aren’t extinct. They’re evolving.
The role of the sourcer is changing. "I don’t want to say sourcers are extinct, but their skill set is being valued in different ways,” Chris explains. “You can do sourcing — but we also want you to close these candidates for this pipeline. So you have to be able to flex your muscles as a sourcer in this day and age.”
With leaner teams and stronger AI tooling, most early-stage companies aren’t hiring dedicated sourcers. Instead, they’re:
- Asking full-cycle recruiters to handle sourcing (whether they want to or not).
- Tapping sourcing agencies for burst support.
- Expecting sourcers to do more than generate leads — they’re expected to close.
What metrics actually matter
Forget vanity metrics like raw reachouts. Chris focuses on conversion — the stuff that drives real outcomes.
He uses a simple benchmark: for every three candidates in the funnel, one should move forward.
Here are the key metrics you should pay attention to:
- 3 to 5 positive responses per week (that move to next steps)
- Recruiter screen to hiring manager screen conversion, which shows if the recruiter is surfacing quality candidates.
- Hiring manager screen to onsite rate, which indicates whether those candidates meet the bar.
The second stat is the one to watch. “If my recruiter screens are converting to technical phone screens that get moved to the next step in the process, I’m doing my job.”
When sharing metrics with leadership, don’t just drop a spreadsheet. Walk them through the funnel, highlight what matters, and explain why.
The future of sourcing
AI is reshaping sourcing. Fast. “Go to market right now is already at the forefront of this,” Chris says. “I think recruiting is one level behind that in terms of where we’re at in the race.”
Chris says talent teams can soon expect to adopt tools like intent-based outreach, agentic AI copilots, and more intuitive funnel navigation — if they haven’t already.
What TA leaders can take away
Sourcing well in 2025 means more than working hard. It means working precisely. Chris lays out a tactical blueprint for building an effective top-of-funnel engine — whether you’re a solo recruiter or scaling a team.
- Calibrate live: Don’t send a doc. Share your screen and align in real time.
- Run a dual-funnel: Use recruiter messages for most. Use founder emails sparingly — and only if they can follow through.
- Track the right metrics: Forget vanity reach-outs. Focus on conversions — especially recruiter screen to hiring manager screen.
It’s never been easier to send more outreach. But volume doesn’t close roles. Precision does.
