It’s been a LONG time coming, but I finally got around to updating my free sourcing & recruiting tools, guides and resources page where I now keep a current list of the best of my work all in one place for easy bookmarking and reference. You can find it here on my main page: Additionally, I thought … Read More
I’ve Joined SourceRight Solutions, a Randstad Company
When it comes to recruiting – it’s all about timing and opportunity, right? I’ve had a great 15 year run in the staffing industry, starting off in 1997 at a small privately held company in Chantilly, VA, and ultimately ending up at Kforce after they acquired that no-longer-small staffing company back in February of 2005. Over the years, I’ve progressed … Read More
The Guide to Semantic Search for Sourcing and Recruiting
If you have nearly any tenure in HR, sourcing or recruiting, you’ve probably heard something about “semantic search” and perhaps you would like to learn more. Well – you’ve found the right article. As a follow-up to my recent Slideshare on AI sourcing and matching, I am going to provide an overview of semantic search, the claims that semantic search … Read More
Talent Sourcing: Man vs. AI/Black Box Semantic Search
Back in March 2010, I had the distinct honor of delivering the keynote presentation at SourceCon on the topic of resume search and match solutions claiming to use artificial intelligence in comparison with people using their natural intelligence for talent discovery and identification. Now that nearly 2 years has passed, and given that in that time I’ve had even more hands-on … Read More
Looking Back, Forward, and For Your Input
As a reader of Boolean Black Belt, I’d looking for your feedback and input on a few things. For example: What would you like to see me write more about? Would you like to write a post on Boolean Black Belt? What do you think of me changing my site to something other than “Boolean Black Belt?” However, before I … Read More
What is a Boolean Black Belt Anyway?
I’ve been blogging nearly 3 years now, and I realized I’ve never come out and actually defined the term “Boolean Black Belt.” The concept seems pretty self explanatory, but there has been at least 1 person who’s taken the opportunity to point out (and gain some traffic in the process – but it’s all good!) that it could be perceived as a bit of an oxymoron to … Read More
How I Search LinkedIn to Find and Identify Talent
Would you like to know how I search LinkedIn when sourcing for talent? I don’t have a premium LinkedIn account, so you may be surprised to learn that I don’t X-Ray search LinkedIn all that often. I’ll tell you why in a moment, but first I would like to share my inspiration for this post. I recently read a great … Read More
Boolean Search String Experiment #2
Back in November, I posted a Boolean search challenge to demonstrate that when you give a number of sourcers and recruiters the same job description/hiring profile to search for, you will get as many different searches and search strategies as you have sourcers and recruiters. As I have said many times before, every search string “works,” provided they are syntactically … Read More
Boolean Search String Experiment Follow Up
On November 8th, 2010, I wrote a post containing a Boolean search challenge and an experiment of sorts – I asked readers to share their approach and Boolean search strings for a basic job description. The inspiration for the experiment came from the fact that very few people seem to be consciously aware of the issue that when it comes … Read More
Boolean Search String Experiment – Are You Game?
One of the most interesting yet overlooked aspects associated with sourcing candidates using the Internet, job board databases, ATS/CRM systems and social networks such as LinkedIn is that as long as your syntax is correct, every search “works.” This fact leads (too) many people to believe that finding talent online is easy and that there is no competitive advantage to … Read More
Boolean Black Belt Website Visitor Analytics
I’ve been blogging since 10/2/2008. Since then, my blog has had visitors from 9,704 cities in 171 countries around the world, and has been read in 90 languages. I don’t blog to monetize my website – I write because I’m passionate about recruiting and technology. Okay, I may be a little obsessed too. Maybe more than a little. :-) Because I … Read More
How to Search Across Multiple Countries on LinkedIn
I’ve recently received a few requests from my European readers (thank you!) to write about how to use LinkedIn to simultaneously search multiple countries to identify candidates. In this post I will do exactly that – show you how you can search for candidates across multiple countries in one search. Although I will be using European countries in the examples, the same techniques can … Read More