Glen Cathey
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All modern information systems “speak” Boolean
•Job board resume databases
•Internet Search Engines
•Most Applicant Tracking Systems
•LinkedIn
•Twitter
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When creating Boolean queries, sourcers and
recruiters unknowingly create Hidden Talent Pools
when attempting to identify talent.
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There are Hidden Talent Pools in every searchable
social network, database, ATS, job board, etc.
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Hidden Talent Pool #1
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Candidates you can not find
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The Hidden Talent Pool (HTP) of candidates you can
not find consists of candidates who do not mention
the specific search terms that you have included in
your Boolean search string in their resume or social
network profile.
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If there are 5 different titles that describe the same
role/responsibility and you create a Boolean search
string using only 2 – you can not find candidates who
have the 3 other titles you did not search for.
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1. Business Analyst
2. Systems Analyst
3. Functional Analyst
4. Requirements Analyst
5. BSA
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Candidates with the titles “Functional Analyst,”
“Requirements Analyst,” and BSA exist in every
source of candidates you have access to, but unless
you include these titles in your searches, you can not
find them.
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If there are 8 different ways of expressing a particular
skill or technology and you create a Boolean search
string using only 2 – you can not find candidates who
mention the skill/technology the other 6 ways you did
not include in your search.
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1. Identity Management
2. Identity and Access Management
3. IDAM
4. IDM
5. IAM
6. Access Management
7. Privilege Management
8. Information Security Access Management
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If you do not search for the terms IDAM, IDM, IAM,
Access Management, Privilege Management, or
Information Security Access Management - you can
not find candidates who express their Identity and
Access Management experience using those terms.
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Understand your quarry
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Although resumes are typically deep sources of
human capital data - the candidates you seek are not
professional resume writers
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Non-resume sources of human capital data are
shallow sources of information and are less likely to
contain critical clues as to skills and experience.
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It is dangerously easy to assume that all candidates
mention every last skill, responsibility and technology
they have experience with.
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If you are searching for a project manager with
experience managing projects involving PKI, you must
be aware that not every PM with PKI project
experience will actually say “PKI” in their resume or
profile.
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If your Boolean queries for Project Managers with PKI
experience all include the term “PKI,” you can not find
project managers who actually DO have PKI project
experience, but who do not explicitly mention it in
their resume or profile.
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How can sourcers and recruiters tap
into HTP#1?
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For every term you are thinking of including in your
search:
#1 Consider whether or not everyone would say it
#2 Consider how many ways it can be expressed
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How do you find all of the various titles
and alternate ways your targeted skills
and technologies can be expressed?
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Learn from resumes
•Search for ideal resumes on a national scale and analyze for content
• Gather additional titles and related terms, alternate
spellings, abbreviations, and all of the various ways of mentioning your
target skills/technologies
•While reviewing every search result, don’t just look at the highlighted
terms – be on the lookout for additional titles and related terms, alternate
spellings, abbreviations, and all of the various ways of mentioning your
target skills/technologies
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How do you search for what’s not there?
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1. Map out target companies that utilize the kinds of people and/or
technologies that you’re targeting (e.g., RUP).
2. Create queries searching for people who are working/have worked at
those companies and do NOT mention the target technology
(e.g. …Freddie Mac and NOT RUP) .
1. Call the people you find and simply ask if they happen to have any
experience with the target skill/technology.
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Hidden Talent Pool #2
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Candidates you do not find
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Basic and imprecise Boolean queries typically yield a
large number of results –often “too many\" results for
you to review entirely.
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If you run a query on a database and it returns 412
results, and you only review the first 100 – you did not
find any candidates in the other 312 results you did
not review.
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If you only review 100 results out of 412, how can you
be certain that the best possible candidates were not
within the 312 candidates you did not review?
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You can’t
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How can sourcers and recruiters tap
into HTP#2?
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Do not run broad, imprecise Boolean queries that will
almost guarantee you too many results for you to
review.
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Add explicitly desired (but not required) skills and
experience to your searches.
These are typically listed on job descriptions and/or
mentioned by the hiring manager.
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Add implicitly desired skills and experience to your
searches.
These are not specifically mentioned or requested
anywhere, but would in fact make for a more ideal
candidate.
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Add responsibility-related terminology listed in the
job description to your searches which can help you
achieve semantic search
•Admin*
•Deploy*
•Implement*
•Design*
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Add search terms to specifically find candidates who
have performed the exact same type of work in the
exact same type of environment as they would be
working in if hired.
•Migrat*
•Host*
•Enterprise
•Federal
•Defense
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Search a tighter geographical radius than you would
otherwise. For example – if you would typically search
in a 30 mile radius, start first by searching a 10-15 mile
radius.
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Creating Boolean search strings is not a simple
exercise of throwing in a bunch of required skill terms
from a job description into a search and looking
though SOME of the results, hoping to find SOME
good candidates.
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Your goal as a sourcer or recruiter is to have a true
search strategy.
Start with the highest probability of match, trying to
target the BEST candidates first, and systematically
loosen the search one step at a time.
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Your first search should be a tightly focused \"sniper\"
search, targeting highly qualified candidates.
Then, you can systematically loosen your searches
using the NOT operator to get mutually exclusive
result sets.
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For example, let's say you are searching for a hiring profile with
3 required skills (A, B, C) and 2 desired skills (D, E).
Let's also say that you decide to narrow your first search by
adding a certification that is related to the work but not
mentioned anywhere in the job order (F) and that you also
decide to search for candidates with industry specific
experience (G).
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Your first search would be a “sniper search” to find any
candidates available that meet all of the required, explicitly
desired, and implicitly desired qualifications.
1. A and B and C and D and E and F and G
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After \"cherry picking\" the best candidates available with that
super-tight search, you can then run successive and
progressively looser searches back to back to systematically
yield additional and mutually exclusive results – from highest
probability of match to lowest probability of match:
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2. A and B and C and D and E and F and not G
3. A and B and C and D and E and not F and G
4. A and B and C and D and not E and F and G
5. A and B and C and not D and E and F and G
6. A and B and C and D and E and not F and not G
7. A and B and C and D and not E and F and not G
8. A and B and C and not D and E and F and not G
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9. A and B and C and D and not E and not F and G
10. A and B and C and not D and E and not F and G
11. A and B and C and not D and not E and F and G
12. A and B and C and not D and not E and not F and G
13. A and B and C and not D and not E and F and not G
14. A and B and C and not D and E and not F and not G
15. A and B and C and not D and not E and not F and not G
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Essentially, this search strategy starts with targeting the
“maximum” qualifications.
Most sourcers and recruiters run one search, maybe two,
typically only searching for the minimum qualifications.
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But isn't the goal of recruiting to find the
best candidates?
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Be aware of Hidden Talent Pools
Make the conscious decision to target and even eliminate HTP’s
by employing a true search strategy when leveraging
information systems for talent identification and acquisition.
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For more e-sourcing best practices,
please explore
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