I wrote the following article on the very first issue of Sourcecon Newsletter (which was www.thesourcingconference.com at that time)  "Research Starts with Research "exactly a year back and still think is very relvant.  Most recruiters consider Internet as database and start working on it without understanding what the problem is and without any planning starts tackling a recruiting assignment. Whether you use the Search Engines or Job boards you can't achieve your maximum potential without planning and more importantly stop to think on what you going to do; how you going to do?,how to break up your task,how this search would be different from a smilar search 2 months back. Internet is changing very fast and so would your searching ability and capability should. The way you searched 6 months back may be relevant but a whole new dimension might have got added which you should improve up on.

So here you go from something I wrote a yr back...

"The ability to source and attract the most qualified candidate requires a skilled, organized, and high-performing staff. Talent sourcing begins with research. Laying down a good foundation not only finishes your jobs faster and avoids coming back to the start process again.

Here are the three stepping stones.

Profiling the comfort zone-

Any sourcing/research begins with knowing what you are looking for. It is just not about knowing what skills or key words you are looking; rather it should even involve what type of hiring manager you are dealing including any details about his background, current employees, working profile. You may bring the best resume but the manager always has the softness for the college he/she graduated. The manager has to be interviewed skillfully finding out specific KSA (Knowledge, Skills, Abilities) and attitude along with profiling/interviewing the most productive employee. The more time you spend with the manager, the more details you get the easier your job. It is all about finding which candidate would fit the comfort zone.

Strategize your search-

Intelligence gathering is a tedious process. Before you start digging or writing advanced Boolean you have to be sure what area, which competitor, firm, department or industry do you want the search to focus on? This is where you decide if you would be doing the telephone research or Internet research. Both have its pros and con. Phone works well for targeted searches, but still requires you to do the homework on web before you start calling.

The Search-

Make it simple by starting with your ATS database. Most of the ATS are great but still a big black hole unless you search on it. The job board and yes the researchers should be looking on it for ones that were missed out, the resumes with past junior titles, Archived ones and most importantly looking for the trends on layoffs or the industry/company where most resumes coming from could be an easy target.

Search Engines/ISP sites: - These sites have personal web pages with resumes, blogs and links to past employers, and more (comcast.net).

People directories: - Networking, Individuals who register with their profession/employment.

Associations:- Professional/social Networking sites(LinkedIn), Alumni Associations(classmates.com or corporate), professional organization (like American Accounting Association ), local Chapters, Forums, Groups(Yahoo/Google) etc.

Research Tools:-Lexis, Hoovers, ZoomInfo, Pipl, One Scource, Jobster etc.

Resume Automation tools: - SourcePoint, TalentHook, Broadlook, Egrabber, Spiders, CSE's etc.

Telephone search:-Targeting a Company/Industry. "