One of the next Rubicon's for search to traverse is the boundaries of structured versus unstructured search. It is much easier to get answers from databases where everything is organised, labeled, stamped and categories correctly. As the avalanche of data being added to the web keeps growing, keyword searching keeps getting closer to breaking point. Introducing this needed structure to the web is something that has been on the mind of some of the world's most famous search engine development departments for some time now. Google started to look at this topic recently with their dipping of toes into "universal search" e.g. embedding You Tube into the search results. However, they are now starting to tackle this with their own Google Squared initiative that has just come out of Google labs. Google Squared extracts data from Web pages and presents them in search results as squares in an online spreadsheet. See video below.
Understanding how search engines work - not just the big 3 - but those that allow "semantic search" and meta search is imperative to understanding how to mine properly. Understanding spidering, indexing, flipping, x-raying, syntax, operators, modifiers and search engine optimisation (SEO)in all its guises and forms is essential to become a modern day smart internet savvy recruiter. Understanding what cross linking is, organic search ranking, meta-tagging, tagging and cross pollination is important if you are to understand how to search in all the various types of informational systems both light, heavy, and the deep web that recruiters currently have for free at their disposal when traditional recruitment techniques have failed. I'll be showing some of the search engines, outside of the "big 3" that recruiters should be aware of, as well as some tools and techniques, they should also begin to investigate more, in order to get better at recruiting at the Future of Recruitment conference on the 3rd of June.
But back to Google for a moment.
There are dozens of semantic search start-ups trying to impose structure on the Web to perform similar tricks as Google Squared. Another high profile start up, which I have covered before on this blog, that is launching this Monday is Wolfram Alpha. This takes a slightly different approach to Google in that it simply ingests massive amounts of information into its own databases where it can query it to its heart’s delight. There seems to be rivalry between both of the companies already. The big,big difference between the both is size. Wolfram's databases will never match what is available on the web. They currently hold 10 terabytes which is a very small number compared to the size of the web.
Google squared is a very experimental, early, step at trying to organise the worlds data on the web in a far more intuitive format that we have today. Looking at the video below where I believe this may apply to recruitment is we will be able to find candidate CVs, bio's conversations, etc in a much more structured format. We may possibly be able in the future run a search that provide focused results that are pushed back in web format in a database layout that can be converted into .csv and then imported into your own ATS for review and dissemination. I'll be watching to see what comes out of this initiative in the future and how it can be applied to making searching for passive candidates more efficient.
