Volume 1, Issue 20
November 6, 2000

by Bret Hollander
NETRECRUITER

SOURCERER'S APPRENTICE
Cutting Edge Tools for the Internet Recruiter

Circulation: a big number between 100 and 1,000,000
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HELLO FROM YOUR EDITMASTER


This is a very busy month for me. Beyond the obvious 2-3 days it
takes to research and prepare this newsletter, I will also be leaving
shortly for the NACCB conference in Miami where I will speaking on my
favorite topic of Cutting Edge Tools. Then a few days later it's
back-to-back workshops of the Techniques and Tools classes. The
following week I travel down to Richardson AFB in San Antonio and
brief the Air Force senior recruiting staff on some ideas I have on
how they can improve both their retention and recruiting. This last
event is at my expense, since I viewed it as an important public
service duty in lieu of the fact of my previous stint in the AF and
that maybe I could offer some new ideas that could be put quickly
into practice. Then comes Thanksgiving and then I leave at the
beginning of next month for a weeklong celebration of my Dad's 80th
birthday aboard a Royal Caribbean cruise from Miami to the Bahamas.

The only notable milestone that occurred the other day is that I
finally figured out a way to use a merchant account I acquired early
this year, and can now accept and process Mastercard and Visa credit
card charges. Often, the simplest things take forever to get running.


Bret Hollander
NETRECRUITER


SITES


Direct Hit is a popularity engine which gives results based upon what
other searchers have chosen on previous searches for the same terms.
By analyzing the activity of millions of previous Internet searchers,
Direct Hit determines the most relevant sites for your search
request. Direct Hit empowers millions of Internet users to
automatically organize the Internet as they search. Direct Hit is a
subsidiary of Ask Jeeves, Inc.
http://www.directhit.com

iHarvest - store remote pages, complete with all text and graphics,
on iHarvest's server so that you can retrieve the pages later and
search for any text they contain.
http://www.iharvest.com

Search engines just got a little smarter and a whole lot
cooler-looking with the launch of WebBrain.com, which put a graphical
interface on a database of websites. The database under WebBrain.com
is actually Netscape's Open Directory Project, a human-edited search
engine that lets users review and categorize sites. ODP has more than
24,000 contributors who have entered more than 1.7 million websites,
divided into 260,000 categories.
http://www.webbrain.com


SOFTWARE


GuruNet is an instant lookup utility that allows you to analyze the
context of any word that you select on the screen, instantly
displaying information about that word. You can select from various
category tabs to view different types of information about the word
or concept that you are looking up. "Dictionary" displays the
definition of the word based on the Houghton-Mifflin dictionary;
"Encyclopedia" displays an entry based on the Columbia University
Press Concise or Standard Encyclopedia; and "Company" displays a
profile of the Company (if any) from NewsAlert. Moreover, "Computer
gives you an overview information on computer-related words (if any);
"Health" supplies you with medical information (if any); and "Web
Links" lists user-added links to Web sites containing information
about the word. Please note that you can easily add your own Web
links. Finally, "Search" lets you search the Web for the word using
most search engines; and "Books" lets you search for books about the
word in an on-line bookstore. You can also look up acronyms, perform
translations, view biographies, look up US area codes, and more.
http://www.guru.net/

Nano finds articles related to the page you're viewing and delivers
them in four simple categories: What to Read, What to Buy, What to
Do, and Reference.
http://www.nano.com

Integrated into Microsoft Internet Explorer for Windows, netXtract
does "on-the-fly" indexing and context linking from Web pages. You
can easily create and apply discipline-specific custom dictionaries
(e.g. medical, legal, financial, business intelligence, etc.) to
filter document indexing results to help determine relevance. Any text
that you select in Internet Explorer can be stored locally in
netXtract's knowledgebase. You can also build your own local
knowledgebase. This lets you save, categorize, and retrieve the most
relevant information for your personal requirements, or to share with
others. netXtract's Knowledgebase Manager provides flexible
knowledgebase viewing, searching and editing capabilities.
http://www.netxtract.com/downloadhFREE.html

WebWasher - with this utility installed on your workstation, most
banner ads will never appear in your browser, and cookies that report
your activities are never sent to advertisers.
http://www.webwasher.com/download/wash221.exe

Combine 20 or so top-notch CD ROM reference works with a first-rate,
highly customizable Internet meta search engine. Toss in one of the
best natural language interpreters you've ever seen, hyperlink
everything, and you're just beginning to get an idea of the
capabilities offered. Worth A Look features reviews of search tools,
books, newsletters, and other helpful resources for Web searchers.
X-Portal seamlessly integrates with Microsoft Internet Explorer,
version 4.0 and higher (a version for Netscape 5.0 is in the works).
It has the look and feel of the search pane that opens on the left
side of the browser window. The program gives you access to over
300,000 entries contained in 22 built-in reference works, including
The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, The
Columbia Encyclopedia, The Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, eight
Barron's business dictionaries, etc.
http://www.kcsl.ca/x-portal/


TRAINING SCHEDULE


Internet Recruiting Strategies - TECHNIQUES

Develop a focused Internet recruiting strategy for only $199!
Participate in an all-day, hands-on workshop on November 14 or
December 14 in Falls Church, Virginia. Work at a comfortable pace and
conduct actual Internet recruiting searches on a live workstation
dedicated to you. Be one of only 20 participants per workshop, using
state-of-the-art computer systems with high-speed T1 Internet access.
(Participants who register and prepay at least two weeks in advance
of class date also receive a $20 cash rebate at class to cover
parking, breakfast and lunch) Onsite Corporate training is also
available.
http://netrecruiter.net/calendar.html

Internet Recruiting Strategies - TOOLS

Advanced sourcing strategies & techniques demonstrated from an actual
day of recruiting and sourcing any type of candidate. Witness actual
software, as well as unique scripts and techniques to successfully
develop relationships with potential candidates. This one-day
workshop on November 16 in Falls Church, Virginia, is intended for
recruiters or sourcing specialists who have already mastered basic
sourcing techniques through the use of fee-based sites, formula
searching on engines such as AltaVista or Google, and have taken an
existing all-day class on this topic by any of the top Internet
recruiting training firms.
http://netrecruiter.net/calendar.html


SEARCH TIP OF THE MONTH

The Power of the URL Command

Oftentimes, while conducting a search for candidate resumes, home
pages, or employee listings, you are deposited at a page that
contains hundreds of hyperlinks with names corresponding to either a
local or remote URL. To drill through these links is both arduous and
waste of precious sourcing time.

A simple solution, using AltaVista's Advanced Search Engine, is
employing the URL command. Let's say you visited the Department of
Computer Science/ University of Maryland User Home Pages and found
there lots and lots of hyperlinks pointing to individual home pages
of both students and alumni. To find students, who both had a resume
on their page and specialized in a certain field of study, could take
an inordinate amount of time. However, by placing the following
formula in the Boolean query box, you would easily uncover all the
pages that had either the word resume in them or had a hyperlink
pointing to another page on their site in which to find a resume.

url::www.cs.umd.edu/users/ AND (anchor:resume or title:resume or
url:resume or resume)


ARTICLES


Post It and They Will Come
http://www.hocmag.net/texis/scripts/vnews/newspaper/+/ART/2000/10/30/3
a0030549

Low-Tech Tips for High-Tech Success - down-to-earth presentation tips
http://www.techtamers.com/free_resources/index.htm

Why Confidential Resumes on Job Boards Are the Ones You Want to
Review First
http://www.galileoconsulting.com/article2.htm

Newsweek, 10/16/00 issue, reported that though the Web is still not
the primary place where folks find jobs, jobs posted online rose from
77K in July 1999 to 154K in July 2000. The big winner was referrals
at 40%; then newspapers at 23% -- all other sources were well below
10%. Unfortunately, Newsweek, like most publications, failed to
consider the power of mail or more aptly, the power of proactive
recruiting through the use of e-mail, autoresponders, discussion
forums, and other relationship marketing processes.

Coping With Telemarketers
http://www.junkbusters.com/ht/en/script.html

A study by the Saratoga Institute for American Management Association
cites three reasons people leave their jobs:
1. Poor supervisor skills
2. No growth opportunity
3. Inability to speak freely
http://netrecruiter.net/sa/2000/nov/retain.tif

Sample Letter to a Candidate With a Clearance
http://netrecruiter.net/sa/2000/nov/cleared.html

ODDS & ENDS


The Top 10 Country Domains

You would think that the United States should easily win this
ranking. However, the .us domain is uncommon because most folks prefer
to register the .com domain. The .us domain is normally associated
with all US elementary and secondary schools; local, regional and
state government; and junior colleges. Here are the top 10 country
domains.

1. United Kingdom (.uk) 2.2 million
2. Germany (.de) 2.0 million
3. Netherlands (.nl) 435 thousand
4. Argentina (.ar) 352 thousand
5. Italy (.it) 335 thousand
6. South Korea (.kr) 334 thousand
7. Brazil (.br) 312 thousand
8. Denmark (.dk) 224 thousand
9. Japan (.jp) 191 thousand
10. Australia (.au) 151 thousand


Testing 1-2-3 - You can never take enough tests. That's the guiding
principle of AllTheTests.com, a search directory of online tests that
measure IQ, EQ ("the social equivalent of IQ"), infotech
comprehension, and more. There is the fun category, which links to
the lipstick personality test, Find Your Star Wars Twin, "Are You A
Spammer?", and many other self-assessment challenges you'd likely
never find without this site. Relationship tests also abound,
including the Relationship Auto-Blender, the Two-Partner
Match-o-Matic, and Can You Survive a Long Distance Relationship? The
Knowledge category covers learning styles, plant and animal trivia,
and more - even the AA9PW Commercial Radio Exam. The site rates each
test with icons to indicate whether results are sent by e-mail,
whether the test requires paper and pencil, and whether you can take
it offline. As you might guess, this site has much to offer both
occasional and obsessive visitors.
http://www.allthetests.com/

Computer Tools Resource - Freesearchers presents a page full of links
to some good Net tools. A lot of these places have been around for a
good long time, like Zonelabs, Gibson Research, Anonymizer, PGP, and
more. Essentially, the site brings together links to top-rated
toolkit programs and services for PC users. Listings are sparse, but
the content that's included is as good as it gets. The main emphasis
seems to be on privacy links here, but you can find surfing and e-mail
tools, cleaning utilities, and even a few tools for multimedia or
linguistics (such as the venerable standby, BabelFish). The pages
load quickly and each entry briefly describes what you can expect.
It's a reasonable place to begin your search for useful tools, even if
you don't use Windows.
http://www.freesearchers.f2s.com/

Just Another Way to "Tap" the Power of the Internet or How to Get
Fired - At work, you often see people typing at their desks, their
lips moving not to the words they're writing but rather to the song
they're listening to with their headphones. Or perhaps they're
actually watching their favorite TV show, streamed from home using
SnapStream. Users can download the beta copy of the Personal Video
Station (PVS) and watch, manage, and record television and video on
their PC. Alas, it is only for Windows platforms.
http://www.snapstream.com/


BOOKMARKS


Health Care Recruitment
http://www.medimorphus.com

Disability Employment Sites
http://www.dol.gov/dol/_sec/public/programs/ptfead/joblinks.htm

National Science Foundation, Directory & Staff Listing
http://staff.nsf.gov/

NASA/Wallops Flight Facility, Observational Science Branch Resumes
http://osbl.wff.nasa.gov/resumes/

NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center, Mission Enabling Office Staff
Resumes
http://eo3.gsfc.nasa.gov/resumes.htm

Brookhaven National Laboratory, Collider-Accelerator Program People
Pages
http://www.agshome.bnl.gov/People/

Capital PC Users (CPCUG) Members' and Groups' Pages
http://cpcug.org/user/

University of Chicago, Graduate School Of Business, Ph.D. Resumes
http://gsbwww.uchicago.edu/programs/phd/phd_resume.html

MIT Artificial Intelligence Laboratory Students and Staff Members
http://www.ai.mit.edu/people/

Auburn University, College of Engineering User Resume Pages
http://www.eng.auburn.edu/users/resume.html

Brown University Student Pages
http://www.netspace.org/users/

Comparable Salary Evaluator Sites
http://www.salary.com
http://www.wageweb.com
http://www.nationjob.com
http://bls.gov/ocohome.htm
http://www4.webpoint.com/townnews_job/reloc_calc3.htm

The Association of Executive Search Consultants - quarterly online
journal provides stats on US and European executive hiring trends.
http://www.aesc.org

Corporate Data Mining Sites
http://www.careertech.com
http://www.hoovers.com
http://www.newslink.org
http://www.rileyguide.com
http://www.vault.com
http://www.vaultreports.com
http://www.wetfeet.com
http://www.work.com

Stybel Peabody & Associates - links to articles on executive hiring
trends and advice for the corporate executive job seeker.
http://www.stybelpeabody.com

Korn/Ferry International - features an executive hiring trend report.
http://www.kornferry.com/hiring.htm

Gamasutra draws game designers, programmers, digital artists,
animators, producers, audio engineers, and management & marketing
specialists to its site on a regular basis.
http://www.gamasutra.com


FREEBIES


Free job postings targeted at disabled workers - If your company or
organization is interested in recruiting and hiring qualified
individuals with disabilities and if you would like the address for
your Internet employment page(s) to be listed, send an e-mail to Dina
Dorich (dorich-bernadine@...)
http://www.pcepd.gov

Free Job Posting Sites
http://edit.classifieds.yahoo.com/employment/
http://www.flipdog.com

A free web site designed to bring together recruiters and employers
quickly and efficiently. This web-based connection offers employers a
faster, easier and cost-free way to find experienced recruiters
specializing in their specific industries. RecruiterSeek.com is not a
job board listing a wide spectrum of job openings; it is a highly
targeted website for professional recruiters only.
http://www.recruiterseek.com

Brainbench is currently offering 1 hour of free access on their
candidate database. The Candidate Database contains over 1.5
million individuals and is the only online database that includes
certification test results. Over 8,000 new professionals per day
register with us, take certification exams, and enter their career
preferences, resume, and contact data. The Database will grow to
over 2 million qualified people by the end of this year.
erich.hottenstein@... or call 703-981-6189


ADVERTISERS


Invariably, when a subscription base reaches a certain level, many
vendors arrive at your doorstep offering their wares. At first, I
attempted to evaluate all these. But eventually it became almost a
full-time effort to test or pilot and then draft up the results.
Hence, now you will see a list of many new players or folks who have
enhanced their existing product or service and have asked for some
additional exposure. These are all the firms that asked me to
showcase their wares since the beginning of April. This is for your
information only. I do not support or represent any of these firms.


NewsForRecruiters is a FREE e-zine for the Recruitment, Staffing and
HR Professional
http://www.NewsForRecruiters.com

Coldcalling.com Newsletter
TelephoneProspectingTips-subscribe@egroups.com

www.DCAccountingJobs.com , the fastest growing career site for DC
accountants, finance professionals and employers has hundreds of
local accounting jobs and applicants. You are free to post resumes,
jobs and create search agents as your needs demand.

JobsInLogistics.com has reached THE MILLION HIT MARK milestone. We
continue to grow and gain widespread brand recognition as the largest
recruiting board for jobs in Logistics.
http://www.JobsInLogistics.com

Web-based solutions for recruiters and HR Departments, among them a
Job Bank, Employee Referral Generator, Job Order Tracker, and more.
Any of our Web Database solutions can be customized and "dropped"
right into a site with no programming or technical hassle--all the
site owner does is add a link.
http://www.surecode.com

RecruitMAX Software offers Executive Search firms and Human Resource
Dept. a true web based system that is fully customizable to meet each
companies work flow and internal processes. It has been developed in
Cold fusion utilizing an SQL database which allows for the tremendous
flexibility. The system is cost effective and can be brought in-house
or we will host the database for the client on our servers
eliminating intervention from an internal IT dept.
http://www.recruitmax.com

Unlimited job posting to multiple career sites across the internet;
unlimited resume and profile searches from our database; and auto
notification agents.
http://www.hrpal.com

_______________________________________________

Letters to Editor -----> bret@...
Back Issues ---------> http://netrecruiter.net/resource.html
Home Page ---------->
http://www.egroups.com/group/SourcerersApprentice
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SOURCERER'S APPRENTICE (c) 1999-2000 NETRECRUITER, All rights
reserved.
SOURCERER'S APPRENTICE is a trademark of NETRECRUITER
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