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Articles tagged 'Glen Cathey'

Leadership, SourceCon, Technology & Resources

#SourceCon Live: Glen Cathey

by on Sep. 28, 2010

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“Boolean search doesn’t do what we do justice. It doesn’t describe everything that we are capable of.” Glen Cathey kicked things off at SourceCon letting us know that there is so much more to sourcing than just writing good Boolean strings.  Cathey’s keynote session focused on five different levels of sourcing and how they are an important part of a sourcer’s toolkit in order to become successful in finding quality candidates.

Cathey presented a “face off” battle for control of information between phone sourcing and data mining. Some of the scenarios presented were location, experience and education, and desired opportunity. The point being made from this demonstration was summed up beautifully by Cathey – “Data is not perfect.” However – we as sourcers strive for some predictability when it comes to what we seek – and that’s the point that Cathey made throughout his presentation.

“Success in life comes from the identification, control, and elimination of variables.”

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SourceCon, Technology & Resources

The 5 levels of Talent Mining

by on Sep. 1, 2010

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Curious to learn more about my upcoming keynote at SourceCon 2010 in DC?

My session will essentially be a follow up to the keynote I presented at SourceCon earlier this year in San Diego. At the very end of my Resume Sourcing: Artificial Intelligence vs. Human Cognition presentation, I briefly covered some “bonus material” which included a quick overview of what I believe to be the 5 levels of Talent Mining.

At the SourceCon event at the International Spy Museum, I will dive more deeply into the concept of Talent Mining and the 5 levels that I have identified.

There are individuals in the HR/recruiting industry who believe that searching databases, the Internet, and social networking sites to source talent is relatively easy and that it can be automated through the use of technology.

On one hand, sourcing candidates is easy because we have more access to more human capital data than we ever have in the history of recruiting (the proverbial haystack is growing by the second!), and there are many solutions available that can automate candidate sourcing.

On the other hand, just because the haystack is growing doesn’t mean it is any easier to find the needles (it actually makes it harder!), and today’s automated solutions have serious limitations in their capabilities and are certainly unable to replicate the performance of a talented and creative sourcer or recruiter.

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SourceCon

Artificial Intelligence vs. Human Cognition – A Synopsis

by on Mar. 1, 2010

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Are you attending or thinking about attending SourceCon 2010? Glen Cathey is going to be the keynote speaker for the event, and he will be presenting on Artificial Intelligence vs. Human Cognition when it comes to sourcing and matching. Even our regular contributors are eager to hear what Glen has to share. Here’s what our own Marvin Smith had to say:

“A person that I want to meet is Glen Cathey. I read his blog and know him from the point of view as an author, but want to learn more about his story in recruiting and sourcing. Glen is the type of writer that shares the secrets of our craft, yet is a man of mystery with respect to himself.

“As an alumnus of the previous two SourceCons, I have found that the venue and the agenda foster conversations and sharing. It provides opportunities to make new friends with thought leaders like Glen.”

We asked Glen to give us a teaser of what he’ll be presenting…

If you’re curious to know what kinds of things I’ll be addressing during the session, here is a sneak peek:

  1. The intrinsic and often overlooked challenges associated with sourcing resumes
  2. What artificially intelligent semantic search and match applications claim to do and how they actually work
  3. The limits of artificial intelligence
  4. What people can do that semantic search applications cannot
  5. The 5 levels of semantic search
  6. The 4 levels of secondary/e-sourcing
  7. What I think is the ideal candidate sourcing solution

If you’ve ever wondered about the fantastic claims that some of the semantic search application vendors on the market make as to how their solution can mimic a senior recruiter when finding candidates, then you will be very interested in hearing what I have to say about the reality of what they can do.

If you’re a sourcer and you’re concerned that your role/position might eventually be replaced by sourcing software, you will be encouraged by my analysis and supporting arguments that explain why the abilities of creative and investigative sourcers will always be in demand – tomorrow and 50 years from now.

I hope you will be able to attend SourceCon 2010 – I know I’m looking forward to it!

About our guest author:

Glen Cathey started out as a technical recruiter in January 1997 and has accumulated 13 years of experience in the recruiting and staffing industry. He currently serves as the Vice President of Recruiting for a billion dollar staffing firm. His experience spans full life cycle recruiting “at the desk” to hiring, training, and managing large recruiting and delivery teams, as well as training hundreds of Technology, Defense, Finance and Accounting, and Healthcare recruiters who are responsible for nearly 10,000 hires nationally on an annual basis.

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Leadership, Metrics, The Sourcing Function

Sourcing: Group Training Best Practices

by on Aug. 12, 2009

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image by Worldislandinfo.com via Creative CommonsWhat is the most effective way to train people in the art and science of sourcing?

One of the most common forms of group training in the sourcing community is the webinar. Some are free, others cost money. Some are internal corporate trainings, and others are delivered by 3rd party trainers. Although web based training is relatively easy to deliver and it offers the ability to train large numbers of people across multiple locations – the question must be asked – how effective is it as a training method?

The ultimate measure of any training method’s effectiveness is the extent to which trainees can reliably and properly execute the techniques, tactics, and strategies that they were exposed to during the training.  The reality is that most people do not absorb and retain information effectively by watching and listening to a trainer – this applies to web-based training as well as live classroom training. 

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