by Jennifer Hicks
Mastering the Internet to find job candidates requires that you understand:
- your client and the industry it's in
- your client's partners and competitors
- the publications and professional associations that are part of your client's universe
Invariably, you can find this information at the company's Web site. But, bear in mind that a great many companies, particularly larger ones, have more than one Web site - which means they have more than one domain name or Web address.
The Use of Domain Names
When companies first started registering their domain names, most chose the company name itself. For instance, IBM is at www.ibm.com, Cisco is at www.cisco.com, and so on. Not only does this type of domain name make it easy to find the company's public site, it helps with branding. But, these are the public sites - the sites the company wants you to visit.
Loads of company's have not-so-public sites, too. In these, the domain name is often different and not so easily thought of. For instance, IBM people can be found at:
- the IBM Southwest Federal Credit Union at www.ibmswfcu.org
- the Pacific IBM Employees Credit Union at www.pcibm.org
- the San Jose PC Users Club at www.sjpc.org, which is open to all IBM employees, past and present, or
- the list compiler and lead exchange service for the IBM Midrange community at www.midrangepros.com.
What's the Use?
If you're looking for people with particular skills in a particular industry, find out where they are. Take a look at your sourcing companies. But, don't just limit your search to their main or public Web site. Find out where others are hidden.
These "hidden" Web sites can contain employee directories, association lists, memberships of user clubs, and more. But, they're often at Web sites with domain names that aren't likely to be thought of intuitively.
How to Find Domain Names
You can look up domain names at several sites.
- web sitez - A great lookup for domains because you can search by company name in addition to Web site name.
- Whois.Net - An easy to use search tool - but you can only search by what's in the domain name itself.
-- 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.
