30. November 2009 by admin.

Does staying ahead of the technology curve really place the Internet Recruiter at the front of the pack? The answer lies in how difficult, confusing, or time consuming the entry was into cyberspace. There are so many criteria to consider like the type of Internet service provider to use, how to protect your bread-and-butter candidate database, controlling what goes on your company web site, how to use all the newfangled software in this world, and how to jump in and use the correct charm or netiquette to produced the desired results.

In the 21st century, working smarter means using easy to understand tools that everyone can use, but still pack a powerful punch. Here is a suggested process with examples of powerful applications that are simple to work with, can greatly save you time and resources, and don’t require you to mortgage your business.

Targeting Your Audience

Your job description should give you enough information to determine the skill sets and specific location for the work. Use a search engine to identify groups, associations, companies, user groups, blogs, etc. where you would likely find this talent. If your company has purchased access to one or more fee-based resume services, you can also search these databases for candidates matching your criteria.

Meta-search tool for both fee-based and free resume sources - Platinum Recruiter – Infogist.com

Meta-search tool for free resume sources - Copernic Agent Professional - Copernic.com

Aggregator for identifying multiple sources of passive contacts from URLs - Broadlook ProfilerX - Broadlook.com

Aggregator for identifying multiple sources of passive contacts from using search engines - Broadlook Diver - Broadlook.com

Extracting Your Contacts

It can be very time consuming to copy and paste email addresses from resumes or lists, or any document that contains them.
EMail Address Pro – A1Soft.com

Scrubbing Your List

When pursuing less than active job seekers, it is common that their contact information may have changed or is unreachable. To avoid straining your mail server or possibly being blacklisted as a spammer, it’s important that you daily clean and verify your contacts.

Advanced Maillist Verify – Mailutilities.com

E-Mail Communication

The most used application for sending individual emails is Microsoft Outlook. An excellent mail application, but not yet designed to handle personalized and large quantity broadcasts. Use of the blind copy (bcc) method is not recommended or proven to be totally safe and reliable.

Email blasting to an unlimited number of addresses - Platinum Recruiter – Infogist.com

Filtering Undeliverable/Do Not Send

All external email sent out should give the receiver the ability to opt-out or unsubscribe from any future mailings. Similarly, get in the habit of collecting all mail that is returned as undeliverable.

EMail Address Pro – A1Soft.com

Indexing Your Results

Over time, you will amass both a large collection of resumes and contacts. The easiest program to track your contacts is Microsoft Excel. However, for resumes, you will need a robust relational database, that is not an applicant tracking system, which can index resumes in almost any format, located anywhere on your computer and/or network drives.

dtSearch Desktop with Spider – dtSearch.com

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28. November 2009 by admin.

Each search engine is unique so review the help section on each of the search engines to determine what Boolean operators are supported.

Boolean Key

AND - The AND operator delivers results with the terms you requested. For example, searching resume and j2ee will return pages with both terms - resume and j2ee.

OR - The OR operator delivers results with either of the terms you requested. For example, MCSE OR M.C.S.E.

NOT - The NOT operator will not deliver certain words in your search results. For example, Java NOT coffee will deliver closer results for JAVA Programmers and not Java Coffee. 

NEAR - The NEAR operator locates words that are located in close proximity to other words. For example, Java NEAR Programmer. Not every search engine supports this operator.

( ) Parentheses - The ( ) operator allows you to group terms and build longer search strings. For example, NOT (submit AND employer) will avoid pages with both names.

* - The * operator is a wildcard. Adding a wildcard will find words containing the wildcard. For example program* will help so you do not have to run separate searches for words similar like: programmer, programming, program

Example of Complex Search String

resume AND (java or j2ee) AND program* AND (Virginia or VA or 703) AND NOT (apply or submit or jobs)

* In some case we recommend to go to the advanced search option within the search engine.

Search Engine Quick Guide 

Definitions:

X-Raying - searches for pages that are all on the same host.

Flipping - searches for pages that link to a specific page.

Page Title - searches for pages that has specific words in page title.

URL Search - searches for pages that has specific words in the URL or web address.

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28. November 2009 by admin.

Using the following template (for Google) would improve things by getting rid of resumes with street addresses led by 703, etc.:

(intitle:resume OR inurl:resume) j2ee polygraph (virginia OR va) *703*-*-*

The search algorithms change over time, of course, and so while that template may have helped then, it doesn’t now. Thus his question is worth revisiting.

You want to eliminate not only apartment/suite numbers matching your area code, but things like house numbers, sites that blind resumes (e.g., just show “Area Code: 703″), etc.

Do a narrow test search for the positive case, i.e., try to find the thing you want to eliminate with other narrow criteria so you only get a few results. This way, you can quickly scan to see if your fix is successful.

For example, try

(intitle:resume OR inurl:resume) j2ee 703.*.street

then

(intitle:resume OR inurl:resume) j2ee 703.*.st

and see if/how the results differ.

Since 703.*.street yields different results than 703.*.st , you must account for both in searches (hardly anybody uses Av for Avenue, so Ave is the only alternative needed). Similarly, very few resumes include the Ste abbreviation for Suite, so 10 Downing St., Suite 703 is sufficient for that NOT-type search. Ditto for Cir as an unnecessary abbreviation for Circle.

Again, before I receive complaint emails, let me clarify: I know the word “Ste” appears on web pages. But if you’re searching for individual resumes, the number of appearances of Ste (or even Suite, for that matter) is insignificant. Make sure to run the same kind of search as your desired search.

Unfortunately, Google doesn’t let you eliminate the number in a list (e.g., 703 644 …) with -703.644, nor does it differentiate between #703 and 703 (see for yourself), so there’s no point in trying to eliminate results with content formatted in those ways. Ditto for the inability to rid of 703 results where it’s the local phone prefix (e.g., 703-555-1234).

Also, using Dr as an abbreviation for Drive is problematic, because it tends to include people whose resumes have your desired area code number in it, but used in a different way, and within a few words is Dr., as in the Doctor abbreviation. You can eliminate good results using that, so just stick with Drive, to be safe (the number of extraneous results added is trivial).

Here is a way to avoid page number references. This yields the following template (substitute your desired state/province name, abbreviation and area code for those values below, as well as any skill terms):

(intitle:resume OR inurl:resume) j2ee (virginia OR va) 703 -area.code.703 -page.703 -pp.703 -703.*.st -703.*.street -703.*.rd -703.*.road -703.*.ave -703.*.avenue -703.*.drive -703.*.circle -site:free-for-recruiters.com

The last NOT term is to eliminate results from free-for-recruiters.com, which blinds resume results.

Using Google Alerts, you can set multiple searches for each state/area code combination you want. You may need to create additional strings if you’re adding more than a few skill and/or job title keywords, anyway, since this template is close to Google’s 32 keyword/string limit.

This search string template is geared to Google. It is not the only way to find resumes on Google, nor is Google the only place you should search for resumes, so adapt this template accordingly. The results overlap between the search engines is surprisingly and extremely low. In other words, the same search on different search engines pulls up entirely different candidates! Don’t only search one engine.

Even if you search PageBites for resumes, which pulls resumes off the web using Google (PageBites created a Google API), it yields completely different results than the above Google template. For example, try j2ee (keywords) and Fairfax, VA 22033 USA (default searches 50 mi. radius) on PageBites. Unfortunately, some of PageBites’ resumes are not in the Dallas area (e.g., it pulls a French postal code, a past employer location, etc.) and it includes some blinded-type results (e.g., Rent-A-Coder.com) which you can’t eliminate.

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28. November 2009 by admin.

When pursuing less than active job seekers, it is common that their contact information may have changed or is unreachable. To avoid straining your mail server or possibly being blacklisted as a spammer, it’s important that you daily clean and verify your contacts. Advanced Maillist Verify is a program that verifies the validity of e-mail addresses in databases, address books and mailing lists.

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28. November 2009 by admin.

Broadlook Technologies’ Diver was built for the recruiter who uses search engines to find candidates and contacts. Part browser, part high speed information parser; Diver rips through search engine results pages.

Diver’s built to work just like you do, using popular search engines as a data source. So, whether you merely “google for resumes” or you’re a boolean string expert, you can easily use Diver.

Simply put your search criteria into the engine like you normally do and conduct a search.

Diver then scans through each result link, and pulls out all contact, and resume information.

You can then export the information to your CRM, ATS, or even Excel, or Outlook. You can even save favorite searches as ‘bookmarks’ and run them on a continual basis.

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28. November 2009 by admin.

Customer Service: Even the best technology has little value unless users adopt it eagerly and enthusiastically through the help of multi-tiered support for its users.

cBizSoft utilizes a ticketing system for support.  Users either email support or enter their issue on their web site and a ticket is automatically created.  The ticket is then assigned to an available service representative for resolution.  First response is usually within 5-6 minutes and resolution time depends on the issue.  They provide support via email, phone and web cast session.  They include customer support at no cost to the user.

Speed/Security: Everyone has felt the frustration of working with slow or unsafe technology that holds you back from accomplishing your pressing work.

Speed:  cBizOne has the fastest search capability in the industry, hands-down.  Their live search bar can find any record in the database with just a few characters entered.  Also, they are one of the few vendors that allow a client to host the database on their LAN, if they choose.  No browser-based system can touch the speed of running an application on the LAN.

Security:  cBizOne is user name and password protected at the application level and the database level.  Also, each client has their own database and is not part of one large database.  With regards to their hosted solution, their data center partner has the following security in place:

Facility/Security: Their primary Data Center is located inside of an 18-floor, all steel frame, secure building known as the Bandwidth Exchange Building. It is one of the largest telecommunications facilities in the central region of the United States. Most of the major carriers - such as AT&T, MCI, Verizon, Qwest, Level3, Southwestern Bell and others have facilities at this same location.

Their 22,000 square foot Data Center can accommodate large server farms, data cages, and even private suites. They maintain direct multi-Gigabit bandwidth connections into four of the top five Internet backbone carriers, including AT&T, MCI/Verizon (UUNET), Qwest, and Level3.

The building receives electricity from three separate power feeds on a spot network that provides for automatic failover capabilities. The Network80 Data Center maintains level current and short term power backup through a complex UPS system, and protects against possible long-term power failures with two 1.5 megawatt diesel generators. Ideal temperature and humidity is accurately controlled with redundant cooling systems.

Equipment is protected by a pre-action, dry pipe fire suppression system. A high level of physical security is maintained through a five level system that includes access codes, a security guard station, biometric hand scanners, electronic proximity readers and security cameras. Network security is maintained by redundant firewalls and a proactive intrusion detection system. Their firewalls only allow needed traffic through to the appropriate application servers.

Backup Availability: Backups are taken off hours and all systems stay online and accessible during the backup operation. Backups are taken nightly and stored locally on the network for easy recovery. Offsite backups are performed weekly and can also be recalled for recovery.

Ease of Use: Having a system that is easy to use is a cornerstone of all products. What good is a platform if it’s too difficult to work with?

cBizOne is extremely intuitive and the user interface is designed to have a comfortable feel for anyone who has ever used a Microsoft application.  Features and functionality are where you would expect them.

Configurability: Configuration should be easy and swift as opposed to the complex and costly customizations that so many vendors have turned to these days.

cBizOne is fully user-customizable.  They give users the tools to make any customization they need themselves.  They only become involved if their needs are very complex or unique.  A lot of products in the industry have the look and feel of a 747 cockpit.  Because they can’t be customized easily, every piece of functionality needed across different business types and models is in your face at all times.  cBizOne can be streamlined to only have the functionality and fields you require.

Single Platform: Eliminate costly implementations and reduce the need to train users on multiple HRIS software programs by utilizing a single platform.

cBizOne is a complete front-office recruiting and sales solution.  While they don’t offer any back office features, everything a company needs to run their sales and recruiting is included.

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23. November 2009 by admin.

Platinum Recruiter searches hundreds of the best online resume sources and is optimized to retrieve the highest quality resumes with a robust set of search criteria.  It can also search resumes on your local hard drive, your LAN, your Web based email accounts, and many ATS databases.  And they are continually adding, updating, and fine-tuning to give you the most complete, accurate set of resume sources available.

Highlights:

Unmatched Precision - retrieves, analyzes, and screens  every resume it finds using powerful search capabilities.  It  scores and highlights the text using your key terms,  and automatically extracts location and email address information.  Resumes can be sorted by relavance, location, and source with a single mouse click.  And the results can be refined locally with new search criteria without having to repeat the Internet search.

Automated Searching - lets you set up agents to automatically find and organize resumes.  For example, you can tell Platinum Recruiter to run a variety of searches overnight, save your results, and export the resumes into your ATS automatically.  All of the results found by scheduled searches are saved, and available to review and refine later.

Smart Integration - integrates with desktop, enterprise  and web applications.  Do you need to contact your prospective candidates via email?  With Platinum Recruiter, you can create email message templates and send batch emails to all candidates that meet your criteria in just a few mouse clicks.  Already have a batch email solution?  You can import and export your contact email addresses  between Platinum Recruiter and other mailing systems.  Do you use an Applicant Tracking System?  Platinum Recruiter not only lets you search many leading ATSs for candidates, it also lets you export resumes into your ATS by file, direct web access, or email.

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23. November 2009 by admin.

ePrompter automatically and simultaneously checks and retrieves your email messages from up to 16 password protected email accounts such as AOL, Hotmail, Yahoo, Earthlink, Email.com, Excite, iName, Juno, Lycos, Mail.com, Mindspring, MSN, MyWay, Netscape, POP3, OneBox, Rediffmail, SBC Yahoo, Switchboard, USA.net and hundreds of other email domains. Once new messages have been retrieved, it notifies you which accounts have new messages and how many new messages you have in each account. The notification features include a unique rotating tray icon, the main screen, audio alerts for new messages, and a choice of five unique screensavers that let you know at a glance the number of new messages in each account. And with a simple click on the account of your choice, you can read, delete or respond to any of your messages. You also have the ability to delete unwanted spam or suspicious looking mail - the kind that might contain viruses - without having to launch your email program or go to your web mail’s site. You can compose and send original messages, as well as forward or reply to your retrieved messages, again without having to launch separate email programs. It’s so easy to set up and use, you’ll have it up and running in minutes.

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23. November 2009 by admin.

The following ten URLs all point to a specific resume. However, can you spot any other information in the URL that would lead you to many more resumes?

1) http://www.arch.virginia.edu/career/resume/resumes/mco5y.pdf
2) http://members.nova.org/~jamesf/resume.html
3) http://www.cs.jhu.edu/~kapild/files/docs/resume.pdf
4) http://www.free-for-recruiters.com/Resumes/NY/1707886-Resume.html
5) http://homepages.nyu.edu/~jmg336/html/resume_7__cv_2002-06-19.HTM
6) http://people.cs.uchicago.edu/~levow/jim/resume.html
7) http://www.physics.arizona.edu/~lisetsky/resume_may_09_web.pdf
https://www.student.gsu.edu/~jan5/it2010_webpage/Resume.htm
9) https://www.cefns.nau.edu/Academic/Design/D4P/EGR486/ME/06-Projects/Webbing/Danielle%27s%20resume.htm
10) http://gicl.cs.drexel.edu/people/sevy/resume.html

Search Strategy 1:

Peel back the URL. For example, in URL 1, peel back or delete the filename of “mco5y.pdf” and see the new results of personal resumes, dated from 12/6/04 to 7/11/09.

You can do this again for URL 4, by peeling back “1707886-Resume.html”. This will display all the resumes from New York. Try swapping out NY with another state abbreviation such as VA and see your new results.

Search Strategy 2:

Perform a domain site search in Google, AltaVista, or other robust search engine. Since each URL has the word “resume” in the URL, simply insert this word in your search string, followed by the AND operator and lastly the SITE: command and the corresponding domain information.

URL 5: resume and site:homepages.nyu.edu
URL 6: resume and site:people.cs.uchicago.edu
URL 7: resume and site:physics.arizona.edu
URL 8: resume and site:student.gsu.edu

These are just two of many creative strategies you can use to uncover passive candidate resumes on the web.

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23. November 2009 by admin.

(intitle:”curriculum vitae” OR inurl:vitae OR intitle:vitae) <keyword> -about -jobs -inanchor:apply -inanchor:submit

(intitle:”resume for” OR intitle:”resume of” OR intitle:”Curriculum Vitae” OR intitle:”’s resume”) <keyword> -intitle:example -intitle:examples -intitle:sample -intitle:submit

(intitle:”resume for” OR intitle:”resume of”) <keyword> -inanchor:apply -inanchor:submit -inanchor:sample -intitle:how -intitle:write

(intitle:resume OR intitle:”curriculum vitae”) +<keyword> -jobs -apply -submit -required -wanted -write -sample

(intitle:resume OR inurl:resume OR intitle:homepage OR inurl:homepage) <keyword> -jobs -inanchor:apply -inanchor:submit

(resume OR cv OR vitae OR homepage) <keyword> -jobs -apply -submit -required -wanted -template -wizard -free -write –sample

~resume (filetype:pdf OR filetype:doc OR filetype:rtf OR filetype:htm OR filetype:html) <keyword> -jobs -apply -submit -required -wanted -write –sample

~resume <keyword> -jobs -apply -submit -required -wanted -template -write -sample -inurl:books -inurl:product

<keyword> ~cv (intitle:blog OR inurl:blog OR intitle:blogs OR blog OR blogs) (rss OR feed OR archives OR posted OR tags OR comments OR trackback OR author) -job -jobs -send -submit -you -inanchor:apply

site:craigslist.org inurl:res <keyword>

site:devbistro.com inurl:resumes <keyword>

site:linkedin.com for (inurl:in OR inurl:pub) -intitle:directory -intitle:recently -intitle:”company profile” <keyword>

<keyword> site:plaxo.com (intitle:profile OR inurl:profile) -intitle:sign -inurl:public

inurl:edu (intitle:resume | inurl:resume| intitle:cv | inurl:cv | intitle:”curriculum vitae” | inurl:”curriculum vitae”) -submit -apply -free -sample -samples -job -jobs

intitle:resume OR inurl:resume OR Intitle:cv OR inurl:cv OR Intitle:vitae OR inurl:vitae OR Intitle:bio OR inurl:bio) -submit -apply -jobs -templates -writing -services +<keyword(s)>

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