Tag Archives: Candidate Sourcing

Beyond Boolean: Human Capital Information Retrieval

When I recently spoke at SourceCon in New York, I showed an example Boolean search string that could be used as a challenge or an evaluation of a person’s knowledge and ability.

The search string looked something like this:

(Director or “Project Manage*” or “Program Manage*” or PM*) w/250 xfirstword and (truck* or ship* or rail* or transport* or logistic* or “supply chain*”) w/10 (manag* or project)* and (Deloitte or Ernst or “E&Y” or KPMG or PwC or PricewaterhouseCoopers or “Price Waterhouse*”)

During the presentation, an audience member asked me why there wasn’t any use of site:, inurl:, intitle:, etc. I responded by acknowledging that for many, sourcing and Boolean search seems to be synonymous with Internet search – however, this is definitely not the case. Continue reading

The State of Candidate Sourcing – SourceCon 2010 DC

SourceCon_LogoDid you attend the SourceCon event in D.C. at the International Spy Museum online? Did you watch it via live stream? Did you miss it altogether?

Whether you attended or viewed SourceCon 2010 or not, I’d like to share with you my reflections on the event, including:

  • An observation and a question about social recruiting vs. sourcing
  • The fact that sourcing does not just mean using the Internet
  • Mike Notaro has raised the bar for conference knowledge sharing
  • An open call to talented sourcers all over the world

Continue reading

How I Learned What I Know About Candidate Sourcing

How_did_Glen_Cathey_learn_how_to_source_candidatesWhen it comes to my theories and best practices for leveraging information systems for quickly finding highly qualified candidates, I am often asked, “So, how did you figure all of this stuff out?”

It’s a fantastic question, and I am happy to be asked it, but my answer doesn’t seem to satisfy anyone. 

The short answer is literally that “I just figured it out.”

The long answer provides some insight into how I figured some of this candidate search stuff out, but I think the real value and message of my personal story is that anyone can become quite proficient at electronic talent discovery – and it’s less dependent on any training you receive and more on how you approach your job. Continue reading