How I Use WorkFlowy for Recruiting

This is a guest post from Matt Ragsdale, an Account Executive with Greythorn Healthcare IT in Seattle, WA. Greyhorn works with some of the nation’s leading healthcare practices with a focus on long-term staffing projects directed at new and existing EHR implementations.

I work in staffing and I’ve referred a lot of other recruiters to WorkFlowy. I recommend it to people to help collate their boolean search strings and technical definitions. It makes it so easy to recall past searches by searching for past technical terms. Not to mention the obvious benefit of the excellent list-keeping tools WorkFlowy provides. This post describes in some detail how WorkFlowy helps me in the recruiting process.

Search Strings
When a job order or “requisition” comes in, one of the first things we have to do as recruiters is to write a Boolean search string to hunt for active candidates on the job boards and in our own Applicant Tracking System [ATS]. To this end, I have a “Search strings” list that I simply store all of my search strings in. Not organized, not by a particular technology/programming language/vertical, I just dump every iteration into one giant list. I no longer write and re-write Boolean strings, because I simply search for the term in question and then workflowy displays every search string with that term in it for me to use/customize in each search. Since I have (nearly) unlimited space, I simply leave every iteration there. This is extremely helpful when you are crafting long Boolean searches that you want to revisit or make small changes to in the future. In other words, Workflowy has saved me from having to re-invent the Boolean wheel every time I wish to search the internet for a resume. This is also very helpful when you want to mentor a new recruiter and need to come up with ideas- I just export the list and I’m done.

Listing requisitions and #hashtag per client/technology
If I want to link together previous search strings with companies and/or requisitions, all I need to do is hashtag the particular sections or definitions in my document to reference later. This is particularly useful when my manager will ask to see what search strings I used or what information I’m sourcing on at any given time. I just hashtag it with the name of my client, then search and- presto! All of my job orders along with relevant search strings are visible with one search.

List position descriptions with qualifying questions to ask per the hiring manager
When a new requisition opens, I will create a new list with the job details/requirements. Once we set up a time to speak with the hiring team, I will keep the qualify questions present in the list for reference when I speak with potential candidates. This allows me to search by hashtag for job descriptions along with relevant screening questions with just one search. In the past this had to be stored in a word doc in some folder which required that I remember where it all is and even when you did find it, you’d never get key terms highlighted. Not to mention that the mobile aspect of workflowy allows me to reference questions/job details from my phone remotely without being in front of a computer.

List acronyms with definitions
By listing various industry acronyms (which in Healthcare IT can be numerous) it allows me to search for reference materials simply by acronym. Find the definition once, then never have to search for it again. It even pops up with my search strings if I search from the main page which can help jog my memory or help me remember related terms.

Overall
The best part about all of this is that when I search for a term or technology that I wish to search for, when I search from the main page I get everything: All the acronyms, research materials, related definitions, links, and Boolean search strings! (The search strings section was too large to include, but you get the idea). In the case below I am searching for the name of a hospital software billing module called “Resolute.” When I search from the main page I get a wealth of information that I’ve collated over the years all in one place. Brilliant!