You may not like what I have to say, but I believe you and Kevin are both right and you are both wrong. While I agree with Kevin that the need to conduct in-depth Internet searches and apply Boolean logic is no longer relevant in “some” cases, I certainly do not think so in the “majority” of cases.

To illustrate where these types of tools “become” unnecessary I give an example from my own experience. Between 2000 and 2004 I conducted multiple Chief Information Security Officer searches. Since every search was nation wide I quickly acquired nearly all the names of qualified candidates within the US. I say almost every name because every job has some amount of turn over and there will therefore always be some new qualified talent to be “discovered”. However, after the second search I had all the contacts that were or could identify all the qualified candidates. I no longer needed the Internet, Boolean logic, etc. What I think Kevin is referring to when he says there is no need for in-depth Internet searches and applying Boolean logic applies when a recruiter, search professional, etc. is in this type of situation. This situation is likely to arise in high volume and maybe routine hiring.

The above scenario will not always be possible, particularly with internal recruiters because they are often asked to fill so many different types of positions. As such, they don’t have the time, and many don’t even have the tools (although I have consulted with a few on how to use CRM systems to develop this functionality), to develop such a “candidate community”.

If you personally do the same search over and over again with some level of frequency you too may surpass the need for Internet/Boolean tools. However, if you do the same search over and over again but do not need to or cannot “discover” the majority of the candidates yet you are still able to satisfy your customer’s needs you may always need to use these tools. Frankly, if you can meet or exceed your customers’ needs, whether internal or external customers, by doing in-depth Internet searches or using Boolean logic you have not failed. You may or may not have done your job in the most productive manner, but you have met the customer’s needs and that spells success.

I will also add that I don’t think it makes sense to build “candidate communities” for every position. This type of work is time consuming, expensive, and requires a lot of expertise. If the payoff, whether that payoff takes the form of compensation or a fee for the recruiter and/or a reduction in the cost of hire, is not great enough there will not be enough motivation to sustain it. I know many believe that social networks, online communities, etc. have driven down the cost of community building to a level where it makes sense to do so for every position but I disagree. There are a number of positions where this does not make sense, particularly those that do not lend themselves to active involvement in an online community.

Keith, thank you for reading and commenting. I definitely don’t rule anything out – I too, get annoyed with everything that is supposedly dying or already dead (job boards, sourcing, Boolean, etc.). My main point is that there are instrinsic advantages associated with searching, sorting, and filtering human capital data (read this article, for example: http://bit.ly/WWFpS) over other methods of talent identification and discovery. Phone sourcing isn’t dead, posting jobs isn’t dead, referral programs aren’t dead – they all work and have their place – but none of them allow a sourcer or recruiter with an intrinsically high degree of control over critical candidate variables that have a high probability of producing the right candidate at the right time.

i am no expert in your specifc area but more of “recruiting stratagist.
I am tired though of the everything is dead syndeome – Job Boards, Boolean Search etc etc. Recruitment today is a Mutli Media, Multi Channel, Mutli Approach Strategy
This reflects the increased complexity of finding both “people” and “talent” we have seen a huge fragmentation of the audience” in the same way that consumer advertisng saw in the 70’s and 80’s with new channels.
So yes to talent pools, yes to “posting jobs, yes to search both Boolean and other methods yes to :branded Company career sites” yes to job fairs etc etc.
They all have part tp play so why do have a fixation with ruling things in and out?
But again a very well crafted response sir.