I would like to search for resumes using stings that will identify the
type of person, or skill set I am looking for without getting a lot of
"non resume" links back. How do I put a string together that will
yield the best results?
hi cruiter,
Here some techniques i uncovered, which i hope you'll found useful
when searching for resumes...
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Take a search engine...
Altavista Advanced search at
http://www.altavista.com/cgi-bin/query?pg=aq&stype=stext and Northern
Light's Power Search at http://www.northernlight.com/power.html are
the best for this kind of thing.
The key for finding free resumes is to simply boil down the
requirements you need, and search for them on the Internet. For
example, a good many online resumes will have the word "resume" in the
title or URL of the document. That's the first requirement. Next, in
what geographic location would you like your future candidate to hail
from? A great way to target that is to use area codes and state
abbreviations. Finally, what skills are deemed critical? That's your
last requirement in building a simple search string to uncover your
free resumes.
Let's try this at AltaVista's Advanced search. Perhaps you'd like to
find NJ techies with experience in sablime (a software configuration
management tool built by Bell Labs).
Ask yourself:
1. What are the area codes I need to use? Visit Newsdirectory at
http://www.newsdirectory.com and browse to NJ's newspaper listing at
http://www.newsdirectory.com/news/press/na/us/nj/ - you'll find area
codes include 201 and 973 and 908 and 732 and ...
2. What are the skills I need? let's say "sablime" (software program)
3. What is the final search string? title:resume or title:resumes or
url:resume or url:resumes) and (908 or 201 or 973 or 732 or 609) and
NJ and sablime
In other words, http://www.altavista.com/cgi-bin/query?q=%28title%3
Aresume+or+title%3Aresumes+or+url%3Aresume+or+url%3Aresumes%29
+and+%28908+or+201+or+973+or+732+or+609%29+and+NJ+and+
sablime&r=&kl=XX&d0=&d1=&stype=&pg=aq&Translate=on&search.x=2 4
&search.y=11
Now, in the Altavista Advanced Search box, highlight the query string
and press C (that copies it to your computer's memory), and
then go to Northern Light's Power search. Click your mouse in the
"Search for" text field, and then press V (that will paste
your original search string. You'll enjoy:
http://www.northernlight.com/nlquery.fcg?dx=1004&qr=%28title%3Aresume+or+tit
le%3Aresumes+or+url%3Aresume+or+url%3Aresumes%29+and+%28908+or+201+or+973+or
+732+or+609%29+and+NJ+and+sablime&qt=&pu=&qu=&si=&la=All&qc=All&d1=&d2=&rv=1
&search.x=57&search.y=14
As you can see, Sablime is nowadays not a very popular skill ....What
if you'd like to find something a wee bit more popular, say, java and
e-commerce? The search would be: (title:resume or title:resumes or
url:resume or url:resumes) and (java and (ecommerce or e-commerce))
in other words, http://www.altavista.com/cgi-bin/query?q=%28title%3Aresume+or+title%3Aresume
s+or+url%3Aresume+or+url%3Aresumes%29+and+%28java+and+%28ecommerce+or+e-comm
erce%29%29&r=&kl=XX&d0=&d1=&pg=aq&Translate=on&search.x=50&search.y=11
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"....Now that recruiters understand how to find resumes on the
Internet, they are demanding that they find resumes of people who live
within specific geographical areas. This column will explain some easy
techniques to help narrow your search to a local area. One word of
caution: by narrowing your focus to a specific geographic area, you
may eliminate your search to a return of zero results.
In this AltaVista Advanced Search (
http://www.altavista.com/sites/search/adv ) example, I am going to
start with a very simple search string and look for resumes within the
local Atlanta, Georgia, area. I will not use the name of the city in
this search string because a lot of qualified candidates do not live
in Atlanta, but live outside of the city in suburbs. Instead, I will
seek resumes that have the state of Georgia listed near the three area
codes for the Atlanta area, including suburbs.
(title:resume OR url:resume) AND ((ga OR georgia) NEAR (770 OR 678 OR
404)) AND java
Notice the double parenthesis around the state and area code part of
this string. This is done because we are only looking for the state to
be near the area code, not anything else. The rule of thumb is that
all ORs and NEARs in Boolean search strings require parenthesis.
Another easier way of finding local candidates is by using a special
search feature found at Northern Light. This feature is called
GeoSearch. You can find it by going to
www.northernlight.com/geosearch.html. Perform these next few steps:
* 1. In the Search For box, type: resume AND java
* 2. In the Zip Code box, type: 30301 and select USA
* 3. In the How Far box, select: 50 mile radius
Once you perform your search, you will find resumes that contain the
word Java of people who possibly live within a 50-mile radius of the
Atlanta zip code 30301. As with any search engine, you are subject to
get back a few pages that don't exactly fit what you are looking for,
but, for the most part, this is another good way to perform local
searches.
Happy Hunting!
Otis Collier, CIR
AIRS Senior Trainer
http://216.239.37.100/search?q=cache:KRuujz9NCgQC:www.airsdirectory.com/news/personaltrainer/location_location_location.html+%22search+string%22+resumes&hl=en&ie=UTF-8
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
You may find this course also useful:
"Googling For Candidates" -
Learn Advanced Google Tricks to Find Better Candidates, FASTER
"The world of Internet search has been turned upside down by GOOGLE,
VIVISIMO, TEOMA and other new search engines that reach farther into
the Web to bring back pages never before available!
This NEW 4 hour Web class will update you on the coolest techniques
we've found out there. This class is full of STARTLING new ways to use
GOOGLE to bring back great results - this is really fun stuff!
Googling seminars are already filling up. Seats are limited. AIRS can
also deliver a customized version of this class -- on site or over the
web -- exclusively for your recruiting team. Please ask about our
corporate training option....
Looking for Hard-to-Find Candidates?
To find candidates with hard-to-find skill sets requires special
searching skills. We'll help you find those candidates that are
educating everyone else on the latest and greatest technology that no
one else has! We'll teach you how to effectively search millions of
messages for just the gurus you want by using a special section of
Google....
Call 800-466-4010 or email us at googling@airsdirectory.com "
http://www.airsdirectory.com/products/specials/googling/
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Here's an interesting article i came across along the way :
".....Using sophisticated search engines it will soon be possible for
firms to proactively search their web 24 hours a day for the names
and/or the resumes of nearly every working person on the planet. Think
of it, instead of waiting for applicants to come to you the computer
can search around the world and look at every individual that can be
found on the web. The computer can find them and then sort out the
most qualified on a continuous basis...."
http://www.airsdirectory.com/misc/external/index.php?target=http://www.erexchange.com/articles/default.asp?CID={4844E6F3-324F-11D5-82F6-00105A12D660}&ChannelID={11957D5C-0A45-11D4-82EA-00105A12D660}
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Additional links which you may find useful:
http://www.recruiters-aid.com/aidkit/resume_mining/art_of_resume_sourcing.htm
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Search terms used (Google):
"how to search for resumes"
"search techniques" resumes
"search string" resumes
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I hope you find this information useful. If you need clarification,
please ask before rating answer.
thanks.
--JB
hi MR Cruiter !
Google is a recruiter's dream : ) -- Its results are based upon link
popularity (among other criteria) so you can be assured your searches
will yield you a much more targeted selection of documents for your
needs. Google doesn't use the OR construct. Thus, the more keywords
you use, the fewer results you'll get (because you're providing more
and more specifications).
Some of Google's special search "operators" include:
intitle: (corresponds to the title tag).
intitle:resume should return results that have the word 'resume'
within the title.
allintitle: (makes sure all the words specified show up in the title
tag.)
allintitle:resume engineer ...will return pages that have the word
'resume' and 'engineer' in the title. Oddly, note how no quotes are
required.
inurl: (corresponds to the url tag).
inurl:resume ....will return pages like
http://www.lingstar.com/docs/resume.html
allinurl: all (the words specified shows up in the URL)
allinurl:resume new ....will return pages like
http://www.dis.org/dice/resume-new.doc
site: (correesponds with the host: or domain: tag)
site:free-for-recruiters.com ...will return results only from that
site)
You can learn more about what's available at
://www.google.com/help/operators.html
So! How can you take advantage of this rather superb ability in
Google? Let's say you wanted to target resumes from Unix professionals
in near NYC. NYC's area code is 212: you could search for:
intitle:resume "New York" 212 unix
://www.google.com/search?num=100&hl=en&as_qdr=all&q=intitle%3Aresume+%22New+York%22+212+unix&btnG=Google+Search
You could then vary the area code and state to target NJ and
surrounding locales.
Try the following interesting searches:
resume inurl:resumes.*.com
://www.google.com/search?num=100&hl=en&as_qdr=all&q=resume+inurl%3Aresumes.*.com&btnG=Google+Search
"view resumes" intitle:resume
://www.google.com/search?num=100&hl=en&as_qdr=all&q=%22view+resumes%22++intitle%3Aresume
This should give you a basic idea of how Google can be used to find
resumes.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Here are some more specific examples:
NARROWING DOWN BY GEOGRAPHIC LOCATION --
Once you are confident you selected the best terms to put together an
efficient keyword search you can narrow down results by geographic
locations. To do this, start by adding telephone area codes, state
abbreviations or zip codes.
Example: CDMA Wireless Design resume (home OR my) (602 OR 480 OR AZ)
://www.google.com/search?q=CDMA+Wireless+Design+resume+(home+OR+my)+(602+OR+480+OR+AZ)&btnG=Google+Search
Be careful, Google will not allow searches over ten words. The above
example has 9 keywords so you could add only one more. Any more than
that will return an error. Google will show you the terms after the
tenth one, which were not used in the search. If you don't have enough
results once you have collected everything from this search you can
broaden your geographic range. Run the search again with alternate
area codes representing those close enough for commute or relocation.
Adversely, to reduce the range, redo the search using zip codes for a
more narrow area search. Remember to run separate searches for each
variation and collect your results every time. Sometimes, when the
name of a city is uncommon, you can use the city name instead of the
area code. The following example can also be represented like this:
CDMA Wireless Design resume (home OR my) (Phoenix OR Scottsdale OR
Tempe)
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=CDMA+Wireless+Design+resume+(home+OR+my)+(Phoenix+OR+Scottsdale+OR+Tempe)&btnG=Google+Search
Notice there are fewer results than those from the area code example.
Upon closer inspection, the results are very different. The lesson
here is that it is a wise idea to do both searches (by area code and
also by city name) whenever possible. Start with the area code,
collect your results, then proceed with the city name search.
ADOBE PDF RESUME SEARCH EXAMPLES --
Google recently expanded its file type field search. This is extremely
useful in finding resumes, corporate reports and technical documents
published on the Web in formats other than HTML. By searching on
Google with the command "filetype:" and adding a few keywords, we can
discover a hidden source of information not frequently explored. One
of the most popular document formats for corporate reports, technical
documents and resumes is Adobe's Portable Document Format, or PDF.
Try this search in Google: filetype:PDF "Account Manager"
://www.google.com/search?q=filetype%3APDF+%22Account+Manager%22&btnG=Google+Search
There are several Adobe PDF documents with the term "Account Manager."
Note that the quotation marks limit search results to include only the
natural phrase made by both words together as opposed to each word
individually. This is a valuable search for sales people when we add
the name of a specific company or product. By adding "Nortel Networks"
to the search we get significantly fewer results.
USENET SEARCHING:
Usenet discussion forums have always been a valuable venue to debate
viewpoints on just about any kind of issue spanning the full range of
human discourse. Experts share their knowledge and advice by posting
to forums in Usenet. Google Groups contains an archive of such
postings in discussion groups dating back to 1995, representing more
than 600 million posts.
At http://groups.google.com you can search through these gold
"nuggets" of information. Of particular interest to recruiters are
three types of documents: resumes, technical responses and signature
files. To discover resumes, go to the Google Groups home page (
http://groups.google.com ), enter your three keywords and add the
following keywords: my insubject:resume.
Like this: ASIC FPGA VHDL my insubject:resume
http://groups.google.com/groups?q=ASIC+FPGA+VHDL+my+insubject%3Aresume&hl=en&btnG=Google+Search
Simply vary your three keywords to find resumes in many other
technical areas. Traditionally Usenet has been the realm of advanced
technical discussions so what you will find most here are resumes for
technical candidates, but not many for the soft skills professions.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
I hope this helps!!
-- JB
Second Language: Boolean
By Audra Slinkey
"Building a top notch Boolean search string is the key to getting
successful results search results. Boolean is much like a math
equation and is well understood by those who excel in math. In fact,
when I interview and hire Recruiters for Recruiters-Aid, math testing
is crucial to understanding how successful these individuals will be
in understanding Boolean which is the language in which the Internet
is navigated.
Although Boolean language may appear very complicated, it is actually
rather simple. Using a well thought out search string directly in the
different Search Engines or Meta Search Engines will result in maximum
returns. To keep it simple, we’ll start by searching for resumes.
When searching for resumes there are three crucial elements to every
search string, two of which will rarely change. Let’s go over these
three elements in more detail:
Searching for Resumes: Our goal is to find all of the homepages/web
pages that give us resumes or give resume information. We can do this
by telling the search engine to give us those pages that are resumes.
How do we do this? First, think of all the terms one might find on a
resume i.e. resume, CV, Bio, Homepage, Objective, Education,
Experience, etc. A web page is made up of several elements one can
search on. The URL, Title, Links, Text and Images are among those
elements you can search on. By specifying that you want those pages
that have the word resume in the URL or text or title of the page you
are increasing your chances of getting a resume. This part of the
string might look like this:
(title:resume OR title:CV OR title:bio OR title:homepage OR url:resume
OR resume)
Of course, using this part of the search string alone would generate
thousands of results so let’s continue to the next key element to your
string.
Eliminating Pages That Are Not Resumes: Our goal is to sift through
the millions of web pages, locate the ones that could be resumes and
throw away the pages that are not. These pages are usually in the
form of a job posting. Think of all the words that are typically on a
job posting but NOT on a resume i.e. submit, “equal opportunity”, EOE,
job, opening, send, apply, “your resume”, classified etc.. This part
of the search string might look like this:
(job OR "career opportunity" OR "equal opportunity employer" OR
"employment at" OR EOE OR "employment opportunity" OR opening OR
"submit resume" OR "your resume" OR "sample resume" OR "career
development" OR classified OR book OR books)
Adding Your Skill Sets: Last but certainly not least, you need to
take all those key terms we developed in my last article on your job
and put them in the form of a Boolean search string. For instance, if
you are looking for a Director of Ecommerce in the telecommunications
industry you may use a string like this:
(Director OR Manager OR VP OR Vice) AND (Ecommerce OR e-commerce OR
“electronic commerce”) AND (Motorola OR Lucent OR Ericsson OR Nokia
etc…)
Your final Search String should look like this:
(title:resume OR title:CV OR title:bio OR title:homepage OR url:resume
OR resume) AND NOT (job OR "career opportunity" OR "equal opportunity
employer" OR "employment at" OR EOE OR "employment opportunity" OR
opening OR "submit resume" OR "your resume" OR "sample resume" OR
"career development" OR classified OR book OR books) AND (Director OR
Manager OR VP OR Vice) AND (Ecommerce OR e-commerce OR “electronic
commerce”) AND (Motorola OR Lucent OR Ericsson OR Nokia)
Once you have an initial search string created, you can now continue
to mold and form it to fit your particular needs as well as mix it up
to get a wide variety of good results. Most Search Engines will want
to see this string in different forms but the concepts are the same.
Learn the second language of Boolean and understand how to navigate
the new world of Internet."
http://www.recruitersnetwork.com/news/2000/april2000.htm
Jack,
I re-read my question and realized I did not mention that I wanted to
search within Google. Your information is very good on the use of
search engines such as altavista. Your answers are in great detail as
well. Is there any additional information you can give me on more
effective searches within google.
The search string "curriculum vitae of" produces a few clinkers, but
quite a few good results.
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=%22curriculum+vitae+of
ADVANCED SEARCH STRING OF THE MONTH
"You want experienced (i.e., not still in college) Java developers in,
say, Connecticut, but you don't get enough resumes when you merely
search for "Java developers." That's because many such folks call
themselves "engineers" or do "Java programming" or "architecture."
So go to Altavista.com, click on Advanced Search and:
1) paste this in the "Boolean Query" box:
java and (engineer* or develop* or program* or architect*) and (CT
near (203 or 475 or 860 or 959)) and not (url:.edu or submit or reply
or job* or HR or eoe or "human resources")
2) paste this in the "Sort by" box:
url:resume title:resume
Then click "Search." To learn why this works, how to adapt Boolean
search strings to other desired candidate skilltypes or other
geographic areas, login to our course (see "HOW DO I LEARN MORE?"
below if you lack access) and go to:
http://recruiting-online.com/course1/course15a.html "
Source --
http://www.recruiting-online.com/newsletter/dec00.html
are there are any particular individuals you wish to target ..?
i.e. by profession, location, skills, academic qualifications, gender etc
-- this might help me to put together a few relevant examples for you.
otherwise, i'll just use my own judgement...
 Challenging Books For A 14 Year Old?
 First guitar : acoustic or electric?
|
Searching for resumes