-- By Jennifer Hicks
You've heard us talk about the Web being a one-to-one medium rather than a
broadcast medium. And while we also advocate bulk emailing as a way to
increase your candidate database, we suggest personalizing it whenever
possible.
So, what to do when you find leads but not enough contact info?
Perfect Candidate, Who? Where?
Loads of people put personal stuff on the Web - biographies, lists of
friends, links to places of interest, professional affiliations, resumes,
etcetera, but not all of it provides contact information.
Imagine you've found a site replete with white papers -- including names of
programmers, developers and Intranet experts. You've never heard of them and
there's no other identifying information, no employer of record. You know
you've found some gold, but you don't know how to mine it.
Or perhaps you've just read a great email on one of the discussion lists
you're on. The problem is, the author didn't use a sig file and the return
address is obviously a nickname. You want to know more about her but you
don't know where to look.
Or, you send an email to someone in your contact database - only to have it
returned as "host or address unknown."
Sleuthing on the Net
Despair not. There's more than one way to find a person.
Figure out what information you do have and use an appropriate reverse
lookup.
Reverse lookups are just what they imply. They're databases full of contact
information. Instead of searching by name however, you can search via email
address, fax number, phone number or employer.
Let's say you have a phone number but no name. Simply choose the appropriate
reverse lookup, type in the number and if all goes well, you'll find the
name and address of the person it belongs to. Or maybe you have an email
address but nothing else. Same thing. Type it in and find out what else the
person has posted and who she is.
Through reverse lookups you can piece together full contact information
including name, street and email addresses, organizational affiliations and
Usenet postings.
Caveats
Reverse lookups aren't a panacea. If someone's phone number is unlisted in
real life, it's also unlisted on the Net.
Most reverse lookup directories get their info from phone directories,
Usenet groups and submitted information. Each directory is only as complete
as its database. Not all are updated with any frequency. And, each has a way
for the person listed to remove his or her information.
Ready, Set, Find
But, that said, if you have no "where" to go and little to go on, try a
reverse look up. Start off with the big ones and if you have no luck, try
another. Or, if you have an idea of where the person might live, try a
regional look up. Since regional databases deal with millions rather than
billions of pieces of information, your chances may improve.
Sources
Internet Address Finder
http://www.iaf.net
Switchboard
http://www.switchboard.com
Jeeves
http://www.infospace.com
AnyWho
http://www.anywho.com/telq.html
Database America
http://www.databaseamerica.com
-- Jennifer Hicks, a seasoned Internet researcher who writes extensively on
the use of the Internet for job hunters and recruiters, writes RealTools for
AIRS.
About AIRS
AIRS teaches recruiters and high-growth companies to find passive candidates
hidden inside directories, databases, archives and the public Web servers of
over 400,000 companies and organizations on the Net. For more information
about our cutting edge training seminars, publications, or web applications
please call 1-800-466-4010 or check out our web site at
http://www.airsdirectory.com.
