My math teacher’s famous line was always, “You need to pay attention in my class because you will need math in your every day life.” Okay, I guess this is somewhat true. You use division when you are figuring out your waiter’s 20% tip; yes, the service was that great! You use subtraction when you are taking allowance away from your child to pay for the vase they broke.
What I didn’t have was a sourcing teacher saying, “You will use Boolean Logic outside of your job.” Have you ever tried to shop online since becoming a sourcer? I don’t know about you but I find myself writing a search string that sort of looks like this - shoes (black | blue | red) (BCBG | "Jessica Simpson" | Guess). Yes, this is an actual search I ran to look for shoes without going to twenty different store websites. In case you are wondering, I bought the blue suede Jessica Simpson ones. Beautiful and yet, not at all comfortable (adjust your Google setting to show the shopping page not the search page). The best part is when a family member is sitting next to me watching me use my knowledge to shop. And yes, it’s one of the family members who say, “I still don’t know what you do all day. I swear you just ‘play’ on FaceBook!”
This is my chance to prove that we sourcers are filled with tools that we WILL use in our everyday life. I have always enjoyed sourcing but stumbling across the additional uses of Boolean Logic brings an added excitement. The best time of year to put our knowledge to the test is before the holidays. I cut my spending by 30% (okay that was for you Mrs. Smith – 7th grade math teacher) by using search strings to find the best deals. The sky is the limit. If you aren’t a shopper, try looking for a vacation destination or a new restaurant to try. You will never search the internet the same again.
This post was written by Angela Mallowes. Angela is a Strategic Sourcer Team Lead with the Syngenta account with more than five years of experience in sourcing and recruiting. She joined Yoh in August of 2011 as a Strategic Sourcer. After a year of being a part of the Syngenta team, Angela was promoted to the team lead where she oversees a team of strong industry leading Sourcers. Angela focuses on bringing positive change to her team by implementing best practice scenarios while understanding the industry and its fast-paced environment. She brings strategy and strong organic sourcing techniques to her account. She resides in Massachusetts with her eleven year old daughter and fiancé – who she will marry this September.
