Can you suggest anything other than the work-at-home claptrap I have run across on the Internet? -- N.S.

Dear N.S.: "Internet recruiting sourcer" is a later-day version of the recruiting industry researcher who used directories and telephone to identify (source) the best and most appropriate individuals for hire. The work is similar to that of the information broker who looks for data rather than people.

These individuals are NOT recruiters. Although the same individual often sources and recruits candidates and some sourcers do preliminary screening, the trend is to divide the tasks because recruiting and sourcing as two distinct parts of the staffing process.

"A successful Internet sourcer's strong points are research, patience, inquisitiveness and technical computer skills," says sourcing guru Audra Slinkey, writing for the "Electronic Recruiting Exchange," a professional HR Web site. Slinkey adds that sourcers tend to be introverted, enjoy working on the computer all day with little human interaction and are willing to spend an average of two days on the trail of, as one personnel specialist put it, a "purple horse." In other words, sourcers are the inside people who find needles in haystacks.

By contrast, recruiters are the outside people with extroverted, sales personalities who thread the needles, bringing the best candidates to hiring managers and closing the sale.

Internet sourcers earn less than recruiters, partly because the job is just beginning to shine on its own and partly because recruiters tend to consider sourcers as support staff. Look on www.salary.com under "Human Resources-Recruiter" for a clue to what you might earn as a staff Internet sourcer in your locale. Once you have contacts and a track record, you can bargain for generous compensation when you're working at home.