In this article, I am going to focus on using Google and will save Bing for another time, since it has its own nuances.

First of all, I think to fully utilize the capabilities of search engines, you first must understand the basic dynamics of web pages, how they are structured and how search engines like Google search within the structure of the website in order to bring up the most relevant search results.

Let’s use the Wall Street Journal’s home page as an example.  Below I have included a screenshot and have highlighted a couple important aspects of this site that is consistent with all sites.  We will use these features to make our Boolean search strings more targeted.

The two things I have pointed out in the image above are what is referred to as the Title Tag and URL of the website.  With most websites, these two things are usually pretty specific with regard to briefly describing the content of a particular page within a website.  When it comes to resumes, most people will add the word “resume” in either the title tag or URL, so that is what we want to focus on first in our search string so we can ensure that most of the results we see are resumes.  So now we just have to tell Google that we only want to see links to webpages that have the term “resume” in either the URL or the title tag.  To do this you will use the following Boolean search:

(inurl:resume OR intitle:resume)

You can also alternatively use CV or “curriculum vitae” in addition to the term resume.

One thing to note, is that a lot of job boards and other related websites also use the term “resume” in their title tags and URLs.  So how can we eliminate these false positive results?  We can do this by adding negative keywords to our search; words such as “free” or job or jobs might help eliminate unrelated search results.

Here’s an example of how I would begin a search for a SQL DBA in the Seattle area:

(inurl:resume OR intitle:resume) SQL (DBA OR “database administrator”) Seattle -free -job –jobs

This turned up 3,950 results and we still received a few false positives.  The next step would be to either add more job-specific terms such as “manage” or “SQL server”, etc.  or to narrow our search by location.  Since, using the term “Seattle” limits our result to only results that have the word Seattle in them.  We also want people in the surrounding areas such as Redmond, Bellevue and Issaquah.

To do this, I have found a couple of websites that can help us use zip codes and, if we wanted, area codes.  The only problem with area codes is the fact that a lot of people use their cell number and will often have a number with an area code that is not specific to our target location.

Here are links to those sites:

-          Area Codes

-          Zip Codes

Unfortunately, the page with the zip code radius does not include a link directly to this page so you have to click “Other Applications” and then, from the drop down, select “Zip Codes in a Circle.”

In my example, I want to find zip codes that are within a 20-mile radius of Redmond, WA.  I simply enter the zip code for Redmond (98053) and then 20 for the radius.  I will then be given the results in numerical order.  This is very important as we will use the smallest number and the largest number for our search string.  My results included 98004 to 98101.  Google uses “…” as an operator for a range of numbers, therefore, by adding 98004…98101 Google will now show results that have any number between the two I have provided.

Now, when I use the following search string I only have 6 results.  That’s not a lot, but at least it’s a better place to start than 3,950!

(inurl:resume OR intitle:resume) SQL (DBA OR “database administrator”) 98004…98101 -free -job –jobs

In summary, search engines are a great resource for sourcing candidates and there are a number of different techniques that can be used to extract different sets of results.  The key is knowing how to get the most targeted search results using a variety of tips and tricks that exist.

Happy hunting! Travis Scott

A Boolean proximity operator is a great tool to keep in your arsenal if LinkedIn’s premier subscription is outside of your budget- like it is for many companies.

According to Bing, a Proximity  Operator is a Boolean Operator separating words or phrases in a text search that directs the search engine to locate pages in which the words are near one another in any direction, the acceptable distance varying among search engines. Simply put, it allows you to be more specific in what you would like to see in your search results.

This week we will discuss using Bing and Boolean operators to return more targeted results when performing an x-ray search of LinkedIn.

Using the search method discussed a couple of weeks ago, it would be difficult to drill down to things like current job title.  By using Boolean operators, we can now do that.

Let’s say I’m looking for someone that is currently a .NET Software Engineer with experience in C#, Azure and Silverlight and is located in the Seattle area.

Here’s the Boolean search string I would use:

site:linkedin.com “greater seattle area” current near:6 “software engineer” azure C# Silverlight

Here are the results…

Here’s how it works:

• “site:linkedin.com” — Tells Bing to only search the website linkedin.com
• “greater seattle area” — When searching a specific geographic area, you must phrase it exactly as LinkedIn does.

Now for the kicker….

• current near:6 “software engineer” — If you look at someone’s public profile, you will notice that the person current title is shown toward the top of the page (see below).  This tells Bing that I want to see results in which the phrase “software engineer” is located within six words of the term “current.”

Why did I choose six?  Just to be safe.  Believe it or not, the dot in between “Current” and their title is viewed in search results as a word.  So that automatically forces me to at least use “near:2”.  Then you have to consider the different variations of someone’s title.  They could be a Sr .NET Engineer or a Sr .NET Software Engineer or a host of other titles.  I would suggest using a different number and checking out the results that are returned to you.

In closing, you may be asking yourself, what is the benefit of this if I get the same or more results by doing a similar search within LinkedIn?  The answer is that you probably have a pretty robust network or have a premium subscription.

Because LinkedIn limits your access to the full names of 3^rd degree contacts and those outside of your network, you would only be limited to those results.  However, most people’s profiles are publicly searchable.  This means, by using Bing or Google to do a x-ray search of the site, you now have access to those people – at least until LinkedIn decides to cut this access off to people.

site:linkedin.com “greater seattle area” security (intrusion OR authentication OR firewall) support network* CISSP –profiles

When examining this Boolean search string you will probably notice a couple of things. For one, I did not use “AND” in between several of the words. The reason for this is two-fold: one, Google recognizes spaces as the “AND” operator and, secondly, since Google limits the number of words you can use in a search (I believe it is 25), you don’t want to waste valuable “real estate” with the “AND” operator if you don’t need it. You will probably also notice that I included “-profiles” at the end of my search. Why did I do this? The reason is to eliminate results that will show up for a list of profiles that are sometimes unrelated to what you are looking for and only clutter your search results. Try taking it out of your search string and you will see what I am talking about. Any time you add a minus sign (-) in front of a word it will filter and not show results with that word, also known as a “negative” keyword. Another thing you may have noticed was the asterisk (*) after the word “network.” In case some of you are unfamiliar with this Boolean operator, it is the “wild card” operator, meaning it will show any word that has “network” as its root. For example, this search will provide results that include the words “network,” “networking” and “networked” among others.

Good luck and happy hunting! – Travis Scott

One of the greatest challenges facing professionals is the balance between their personal and professional lives. Regardless of status (single, married, married with kids, divorced), everyone needs time to take care of their own life, and companies need to offer reasonable flex-time as part of their benefit package. Some of this flex-time can be incorporated into the category of paid time off, but a flexible schedule will also carry an implied trust factor, as the employee is expected to work extra hours to make up for the hours off.

Every company should examine their benefits package periodically to ensure that it meets employee expectations. Regardless of what happens to President Obama’s health care plan in the Supreme Court, your employees require insurance, and employees want more than basic coverage. As a society that stares into computer screens at work and at home, it is only natural to expect a health insurance package to include vision coverage. Wellness and fitness have been concerns for several years, and access to preventive health care and fitness centers (either on-site at work or through a commercial fitness center) are also high on employee want lists. Another possibility is to offer a vigorous intra-mural after-hours sports program.

Of course, after-work activities also help build team spirit and raise company morale. The things your company a great place to work should be emphasized as much as traditional benefits when enticing a new candidate. So, examine what your company has done for their employees lately. Do they trust their employees to use their own knowledge of company policies and make their own decisions? Do they keep all of their employees within the information loop? Do they ensure that every employee feels like part of the team? All of these factors contribute to employee recognition and appreciation, and they will not only attract candidates to your company, but it will keep them there longer.

Further, think about something extraordinary your company has done for its employees. One company that lost money by closing early due to a blizzard took a giant step when the next blizzard came a week later. They booked a block of rooms at a nearby hotel, and offered a free night’s room and meals for anyone willing to stay overnight and come to work as a skeletal crew the next morning. The response was overwhelming, and those who participated felt a special connection with the company. Although the company had to pay out a considerable sum up front, they made up the deficit and much more by being open the next day.

The simple act of appreciation can lead to long and profitable relationships with your employees. A new employee that sees such appreciation is likely to be energetic toward achieving the company’s goals. In other words, keeping your employees happy should be as important as keeping your customers happy. -Thomas Cunniffe

However, not every recruiter out there hires people for Microsoft or Facebook or Apple.  I’m guessing a lot of you work for small companies and even startups who are just trying to make a name for themselves.  Which, the fastest way to do this is to hire super motivated, super smart people.  Notice I mentioned motivated above smart (that’s a whole other topic).

Before I get off-topic, I’ll try to finish this thought….

A lot of times I think recruiters and hiring managers think of job descriptions and titles as an after-thought or just something we have to do before we can start hunting for candidates.  However, if you take the time to formulate an attractive job description and title you can save yourself a TON of time on the back-end by actually attracting the targeted talent you are looking for versus the time-consuming task of sourcing through sources like job boards and LinkedIn.

Your job description is an ad.  Nothing more, nothing less.  Your title is the first thing that prospects see.  You NEED to get their attention.  As a recruiter, you need to look at this as your advertising, your hook that is going to peak the right person’s interest and then move them to apply.

The first paragraph of the job description should get to the point and tell the prospect why they should apply; why your company, this group and this job is a great opportunity for them to further their career.

If you don’t nail this first paragraph, they’ll probably move on.  Its like any other form of internet collateral.  You have 10 seconds or less to make your point and get them to either read more or move to the next desired step.

Another topic that I will discuss in more depth in another post is making sure that you can collect, analyze and measure the data around your postings.  You should have an analytics system of some kind built into the page/site that hosts your job descriptions.  It is important for you to know what is going on with that posting besides just how many applicants you receive.  You can make much better decisions about the effectiveness of your posting when you know how many times it has been viewed and measure that against applicants to begin to establish a benchmark for measuring the future success of your job postings.

Honestly, I’m tired of hearing people talk about all of the tricks to boolean searches and internet sourcing.  That’s time consuming.  Attract the right talent from the beginning and save yourself and your organization some time.  In this economy, individual recruiters are now handling the workload of 2-3 recruiters so it’s important that you work smarter, not harder.  Approach your recruiting strategy with a marketing strategy and it will pay off in the long run. – Travis Scott

To understand why the phone is still a necessary component in recruiting, we need to realize the phone’s best virtue. Of all the communication methods mentioned above, the telephone alone allows simultaneous two-way communication. There is simply no substitute for conversation. It is the easiest way to build rapport and develop a relationship. The intimacy and flexibility of a phone conversation allows us to use a wide range of emotional degrees, all through changes in voice timbre. The voice timbres we hear on the other end of the line can help us discern how our ideas are being received, and allow us to make changes when necessary to keep the other party with us. And no matter how quickly you can send off a series of e-mail exchanges, there’s no quicker way for two parties to arrive at a mutual decision than by talking on the phone.

Of course, we all learned to speak before we learned to write. Every day, we speak many more words than we write. Consequently, the quality of our writing suffers in comparison to our speech. Unless you make part of your living as a writer, you’re not likely to examine every sentence you write for clarity. This is precisely why e-mail communication can be a problem. It is very easy for an e-mail message to be misunderstood. An incorrectly placed word or a poorly-worded sentence can cause the recipient to not get the proper meaning, or misunderstand your concept. In the worst case, it can be a deal breaker; in the best case, it leads to more e-mails trying to clarify the original one. And in the end, you might have to call the person anyway just to explain the point!

Finally, don’t forget the extra benefits you can get with a phone conversation. If there are lingering questions about a candidate’s experience or qualifications, you can get an immediate reaction by phone. Need referrals (and who doesn’t)? Ask during your phone call. It’s usually more convenient for the recipient to give referrals to you over the phone than trying to remember to tack them on to an e-mail. And unless you get a voicemail, you’ll get instant answers to your questions and concerns rather than waiting for a reply.

So remember your old friend, the telephone, and make those deals in the most efficient way possible! Happy hunting!  -Thomas Cunniffe

A California company called Social Intelligence offers companies a full background check on potential employees, including information on their social media posts. Social Intelligence’s practices have been approved through the Fair Trade Commission, but they have drawn fire from Senators Richard Blumenthal and Al Franken who posit that “there are numerous scenarios under which a job applicant could be unfairly harmed by the information [Social Intelligence] provides to employers.”

It is easy to understand why employers would welcome such practices. We live in a time where workplace violence has become commonplace, and employers must exercise caution in hiring potentially dangerous employees. Social Intelligence says that their reports can tell of racially-motivated remarks, indecent photos, drug use or gang activity, but they can also bring out a candidate’s history of community volunteer work and their online presence. All of the material in Social Intelligence’s reports come from publicly available internet sources, and eliminate all “protected class” information such as race, religion, national origin, sexual orientation and disability status. All of the material is checked by human operators before being passed on to the client.

Does Social Intelligence go too far? Many privacy advocates believe so, stating that an employer should not have the right to judge a candidate’s character based on their social media history. Pam Dixon of the World Privacy Forum goes even further, telling the Silicon Valley Mercury-News, “I believe that [it] chills free speech. If everyone thinks that to get a job they have to have a perfectly clean social networking site, no one will say anything to anyone.” Even some recruiters and employers have come out against the practice, calling it “dubious” and “ill-advised”. The ACLU is also involved, noting that an employer who gets access to a candidate’s social media pages will also have access to that person’s friends and social contacts.

The practice of social media background checks is a hot topic, and one that will doubtlessly lead to intense legal battles. Any employer that wishes to use this practice would be well-advised to use extreme caution and to have the research done by an outside firm. Prospective candidates should also be careful about what they post online and how it may reflect on them. It is indeed a secret, private world, but you never know who might be looking.  – Thomas Cunniffe

So, how do you make the best out of a voicemail message? The first thing to realize is—no matter your initial reason for your call—as soon as the outgoing message picks up, your goal has instantly changed to one thing: getting a call back. So, start with the obvious: your name and number (repeated at the beginning and end of the message) and an e-mail address as an alternative method of reaching you. If you know the times that you’ll be in the office and available to take their call, include that information.

Ideally, contact details should take up half of your message, meaning that you shouldn’t weigh down the rest of the message with a mountain of information about why you called (unless the caller can respond with a straight-forward, non-negotiable answer and doesn’t need to speak to you directly). Instead, leave a hook. It can be as simple as “I need to talk to you about such-and-such”, but you’ll have a better chance for a call back if you make it sound important (has anyone ever felt compelled to call someone who was “just checking in”?) and you make it sound personal (because we all just love being considered another number on the calling list). Now, if you’re calling a client to ask about doing new placements, or calling up an applicant to offer them an opportunity, this should be simple—you have a working relationship and you draw from that experience. But you can use the same approach when calling someone whom hasn’t spoken to your company in a few years. Simply reference the name of your employee who made the last contact with them (even if that person is no longer with the company) and explain that you’re now following up because you have an opportunity that is a good fit for them (and don’t just say “a good fit”—be specific!)

Most of the voicemails you leave will fall under a few general categories, so you should have a basic script for each type of call. Writing it out will help you focus your message, and reading it will lead to less hesitation and vocal filler (um, ah, and the like). Finally, make a conscious effort to speak slower. We all have a tendency to rush saying something we know verbatim, but a speedy talker will turn off a recipient rather than make them want to call you back.

Of course, there are no absolutes here. Deleting a message is a one-button maneuver, and the slightest misstep can trigger that one-finger reflex. Don’t expect a call back from every call, but be hopeful that a professional, concise and important message will elicit a prompt call back. Done properly, it will lead to success. Happy Hunting. – Thomas Cunniffe

If you run into obstacles with references, there are two other options that are objective, if not entirely inscrutable. One is the credit check. This is a rather controversial method and it can only be used if the position entails financial responsibilities. The credit check will provide information on bankruptcies and foreclosures, slow or delinquent payments and the like, but anyone who has been unemployed for any length of time knows first-hand that when a paycheck disappears, not all of the bills get paid. It is very easy to draw the wrong conclusions when examining a credit report; just because a candidate has financial issues now does not mean that they will embezzle money from the company tomorrow! And if a candidate has a bad credit history, it is important to let the candidate defend himself.

The other option is the criminal check. This method will tell you if a candidate has ever been arrested or detained for violent or criminal behavior. It is a very good way of spotting potential issues, but the amount of material you can use from a criminal check (especially from sex offender registries) varies from state to state. It is important to carefully assess the material you find: beware of across-the-board bans on hiring felons and consider the nature and severity of the offense (as well as time served) before closing the door on a candidate. Also, a criminal check is not foolproof. Consider a person that lives alone and has anger management issues: they may never have been the object of a police report or even a complaint from the neighbors. That person may be able to adapt into an office setting without any side effects, or something could unexpectedly set them off. Such is the dilemma of human nature.

No matter if you choose to do credit or criminal checks (or both), it is essential to get the candidate’s written permission before doing so. Also, be sure to consult the Fair Credit Reporting Act before performing credit or criminal checks to ensure that you are following the law to the letter. Finally, be aware that there are constant efforts to outlaw the use of credit checks in the hiring process. Here in Colorado, SB12-003, a bill designed to limit employer use of credit reports in the workplace, has been introduced in the State Senate and is now being reviewed by the Judiciary Committee.

There are no easy answers to this problem, but it is important to try the above approaches before offering a position to a candidate. After all, one of the biggest mistakes an employer is to not try to learn about a potential candidate before making them an employee.  Happy hunting!  -Thomas Cunniffe

The first approach is the most obvious: call the former employers and the references provided by the candidate. To accomplish this, have the candidate fill out a waiver that exempts the reference provider from liability, provided that all of the information given is true. Personal references can be very helpful in gauging a candidate’s reliability and their general demeanor. While it is true that personal friends may whitewash the truth to help out their friend, a long-standing friend may be willing to answer specific questions on their friend’s approach to work. When calling a former employer, try to talk directly to the candidate’s former manager. They are more likely to give you accurate and detailed information than someone in HR who may never have met the candidate.

Whether speaking to a business or personal reference, start with the basics and gradually move into specific behavioral questions as the reference provider gets more comfortable. Don’t shy away from questions that may lead to a negative response. After all, if a candidate is hiding something, you want to find out before offering them a job. So ask about the candidate’s general demeanor, their way of accomplishing tasks, and how they handle stress. When talking with a business reference, find out about the candidate’s responsibilities and how they dealt with them. Most importantly, ask about improvements that the candidate could make, and whether they would rehire the candidate. All of these factors will help you decide whether this candidate is a good fit for the position.

After you’ve hung up the phone, compare the accounts of both candidate and reference. Hopefully, they will match up on most points, but remember that the candidate has probably thought long and hard about their reasons for leaving a position, and their memory may be more accurate than that of a manager of a few years (and several employees) past. On the other hand, the candidate may have rationalized the situation, and that may have colored their recollections. Use your best judgment, and re-construct the situation as best as you can (this is the “Rashomon” situation we’ve discussed before!)

But what if you are unable to get anything more from an employer than dates of employment and eligibility for rehire? There are other options, both more confidential (and thus, more controversial). We’ll talk about those options next week.  Happy hunting! -Thomas Cunniffe