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Normal 0 false false false MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;mso-style-noshow:yes;mso-style-parent:"";mso-padding-alt:0in When starting a new work at home business it is very easy to become consumed by it. We spend so much time trying to get the business up and running that we may end up becoming burned out and lose our motivation. There is so much to learn and

I've spent many thousands of hours on the Internet searching forinformation, jobs, contracts, people, and other items of interest. You canliterally find out anything! The trick is learning how to find relevant andhidden information in an efficient manner. This is the job of an 'InternetSourcer.'--- What is an Internet Sourcer? ---The Internet Sourcer is a relatively new position for many organizations.The most common use of a Sourcer is in the recruiting and talent-searchfields. Usually, a Sourcer scours the Web for resumes and candidates usingseveral search techniques to ensure their searches are complete andaccurate. Some of the better Sourcers come from the computer industry andwork independently as well as have an extreme amount of focus, patience, andinquisitiveness.--- Data Mining ---Data mining uses various techniques to examine data and organize that datainto a meaningful presentation. This is also a part of an area known asKnowledge Management---an entirely different world and best left for a latertome.* Finding InformationAs applied to Internet Sourcing, data mining consists of a set of searchtechniques (i.e., Flip Search, X-Ray, Peel Back) to acquire information.These techniques allow you to locate relevant and hidden information on theInternet that would otherwise be out of your reach. Each of the techniques,mentioned shortly, can be applied to any of the larger search engines suchas AltaVista (http://www.altavista.com/) and HotBot(http://www.hotbot.com/).* Organizing InformationOnce you locate the information, you have to organize it by relevancy. Thiscan be accomplished with various tools, including, Correlate(http://www.correlate.com/). This tool allows you to organize links, text,and documents in a tree format to better view and understand the informationyou've acquired.--- Various Search Techniques ---Locating information on the Web is not as straightforward as you mightthink. Of course, you can always do a simple keyword search and locate afew thousand links, of which only 25% to 50% are truly relevant to yourspecific search. To really dig into the Web, you need to understand thethree search techniques explained below. To present valid examples, thefollowing explanations use the techniques for searching potential candidatesand resumes on the Web.* Flip SearchFlip Search locates items by link association. For instance, instead ofsearching for potential candidate pages based on specific keywords, the FlipSearch returns pages that are 'linked to' a target Web site. Links might bepersonal homepages, colleges, industry organizations, companies,publications, or associations. Each of these 'linkers' represents apotential of providing candidates or related information.Two of the primary search engines that support various Flip Searchmechanisms are as follows. Once you understand the premise for this search,you can determine the specifics for the other major search engines on theWeb.- AltaVista: On the 'Advanced Search' page, in the Boolean Query text field,enter 'link:host.com AND homepage AND "java programmer"' and press Enter.With this search string, you're searching for all links that are associatedwith the keywords 'homepage' and '"java programmer".' You can refine thesearch using skills, job titles, and any term that might refine your searchtarget.- HotBot: On the 'Advanced Search' page, enter the URL or domain name in theSearch text field. In the Look For drop-down box, select 'links to thisURL'. Refine your search by entering skills, job titles, and any term thatdefines your search target in the 'Word Filter' text fields.Examine the results as you work with different searches to see how thissearch works. It is extremely powerful and can generate numerous relevantlinks for any given search condition.* X-Ray SearchMost sites have documents that aren't accessible through links on theirsite's pages---hidden from view, yet publicly available. The X-Ray techniquesearches files in a server and lets you view most of these 'hidden'documents.To try this out, go to AltaVista's 'Advanced Search' page and type'host:tripod.com' in the Boolean Query text field. Like 'link:', 'host:'tells the search engine to look for keywords in documents on the specifiedWeb site---the Web site for the 'tripod.com' domain.When you click the 'Search' button, you could end up with several milliondocuments from your target host. To obtain a more manageable group ofresults for this example---look for freelance writers. For example, enterthe following search string into the Boolean Query text field:host:tripod.com AND "freelance writing"When I did the search, I got about 100 results. Consider that, intuitively,many people name their resume page 'resume.' With this assumption, let'sfine-tune the search again to look for resumes using the following searchstring:host:tripod.com AND title:resume AND "freelance writing"The word 'title:' tells the engine to look for keywords in the