We’ve had a great list of tools contributed by 80+ members of the Boolean Strings LinkedIn group to the question: “What are the sourcing tools you can’t live without? Please list some favorites.” and another 30 or so on the Boolean Ning Network – http://booleanstrings.ning.com/forum/topics/what-are-the-sourcing-tools I thought I’d list some of the tools I use daily, to add to the discussion. Of …
Temporary Errors on #LinkedIn
When I was a Software Engineer at a biotech company years ago, one day we got a new manager whose background was not software but Biology. She walked in and asked us: “So, when can we expect to have no software bugs in the application you guys are building?” Are you kidding? Anybody who deals with building software systems knows …
The Plus Came Back
We have suspected that Google killed its Plus operator for a reason. The Plus Came Back came back the very next day (almost), and in a very clever way: Anyone can create a Google+ business page here: https://plus.google.com/pages/create (here’s ours). When a search on Google starts with a + it will search those pages on Google+. This type of search is called …
Google Basic Syntax Chart
Notes: These are the core operators and symbols. This is plenty to masterfully search and source on Google; the rest is practice, art, and experimentation, I think 🙂 (Please let me know if you feel you’d like to add another operator or a symbol to this). The list reflects the most recent changes in Google’s Boolean syntax. Do not use AND in your searches. …
#Google is Out of Control
As the time goes, Google search takes more and more control over. What I mean is that it makes its best guesses as to what we “really” want to see in the search results. I agree that cleverly delivered interpretation of search requests benefits unsophisticated users. Unfortunately, those of us who use advanced Boolean searches (a very small % of total …
Webinar: Google-Based Sourcing
Join us for a Webinar on November 3 Space is limited. Reserve your Webinar seat now at: [webinar is over. The materials are available here on the Downloads page. Google remains the Tsar of search engines and a must-know-well for recruiters – or anyone who wants to search the Internet for professional information on people and companies. The advancement of online …
The PLUS Operator Has Been Replaced
This seems like a big piece of news. When you try to use the operator + (meaning, give me the exact term), you now get this message: The + operator has been replaced. To search for an exact word or phrase, use double quotation marks The help page reflects the changes. It has been somewhat awkward that Google introduced Google-Plus and their PLUS operator …
Custom Search Engine: Hidden Profiles
Here’s a Custom Search Engine I have created, “Hidden Profiles”. This search engine has become popular due to appearing up high for a Google search for “hidden profiles.” The Custom Search Engine looks for profiles across many different sites and has refinements for several social networks. Please check it out and let me know what you think. Another Custom Search …
Blekko /people
My business partner Julia Tverskaya and I had the pleasure of chatting with the CTO of Blekko Greg Lindahl at Sourcecon last week. Greg’s presentation was the one that we both enjoyed the most! Why should sourcers check out Blekko? Here are some reasons. Blekko is a search engine that has made creating custom search engines its major feature. They are …
Paid Resources for Sourcers
In the light of my participation in the upcoming SourceCon’s “Paid Resources” panel, I thought I’d share a few thoughts on the subject. Roughly, paid resources fall into these categories: 1. Data collections, along with software to search it: resumes; profiles; contact info; and competitive intelligence. Data may be self-entered (as in job boards or LinkedIn) or collected elsewhere (for example, Zoominfo, theSocialCV crawl the web; Jigsaw …