Recreating the Wheel, Why?

Recreating the Wheel, Why?

How many staffing professionals, recruiters, and sourcers, create their own Boolean strings? Answer most of us. However how many copy those strings down and keep them in a file of some kind for use later? Answer not many. Why? Why do we feel the need to reinvent the wheel, recreate the search strings over and over again, when we can simply copy them to a spread sheet for use later. Moreover we can keep a tack of the results from a particular string, and then we know what worked and what did not. It sounds simple, sounds like common sense, but I bet few do it and the time they waste recreating the wheel is mind boggling and a huge hit on productivity. So stop recreating the wheel keep track. I have spread sheets showing every string I have every created. I have even shared allot of them with all of you in other posts. The time I have saved has been immense and the increase in productivity is mind blowing so stop recreating the wheel.

Comment by Sylvia Dahlby on December 23, 2011 at 12:48pm: I agree completely - however, throw away those spreadsheets, Dean. Any decent ATS or recruiting database software would allow you to save search strings for reuse. For example, SmartSearch lets users save a search against a job (which is actually needed for OFCCP compliance) or as a "macro" so it can be used again for added to a future search. Searches can also be saved as Notes against a requirement or a Hiring Manager record. I'm sure other products have similar capabilities that save time so recruiters don't have to start every search from scratch - particularly if they source for recurring requirements or niche specialties.

Comment by Dean Da Costa on December 23, 2011 at 1:06pm: That is true, I would and do save in both, the main reason is so I have the strings anyplace I am and go.