New Google Product Allows Creation of Profile that may be Displayed at Bottom of Search Results Page: Implications for Internet Reputation Management

Very interesting article on Google Me, the new product by Google.

As stated at the article located at http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/now_you_can_change_what_google_says_about_you.php “[w]hen someone searches for a name that matches a Google Profile, that profile may now be displayed at the bottom of the search results page.”

There are many concerns when deciding if creating a profile is for you. Privacy is a listed as the major one. However, I do see some reasons in terms of internet reputation management or online reputation management and the creation of an on-line brand.

Though not a 100% positive tool, this nonetheless can offer much to those who have done little with internet reputation management or online reputation management. Though as pointed out in the article, this will not affect organic results, for the person just beginning to develop a web presence, and perhaps fighting a negative first page of organic results, having a profile available MAY help offset some damage. And, of course, this tool may also be helpful for those with very common names. Yet, for those with good organic results on their name or brand, they may decide to not take part in creating a full profile.

Concise Guide to Diploma Mills and Accreditation Mills Published: Quickly Determine if a Degree is from an Legitimate or Illegitimate (fake) Source

Concise Guide to Diploma Mills and Accreditation Mills Published. Learn How to Quickly Determine if a Degree or Credential is from an Accredited, Legitimate Source, or from an Unaccredited, Illegitimate (fake) Source

About Diploma Mills and Accreditation Mills 101: A Concise Introduction to Diploma Mills and Accreditation Mills and how to Quickly Determine if a Degree is from a Legitimate or Illegitimate Source

I’m pleased to announce that Diploma Mills and Accreditation Mills 101 has finally been published and is available to all who might benefit from it. This project started a couple years ago when I became painfully aware of the problem of fake degrees issued by diploma mills. Sadly, this issue has only become worse in recent years even with the closing of some key diploma mill degree providers. As I’ve come to find out in the production of this writing, even people in “high places” have succumbed to literally purchasing a degree of their choice from unaccredited and fake (mostly on-line) sources. I was literally fed up with not knowing how to research the legitimacy of a degree to determine if it was issued by an accredited institution. Falling victim to many “slick” diploma mill providers, I decided to produce a concise guide that lessens research time by showing how to quickly determine if a degree is from an accredited school, or if from an unaccredited diploma mill.

This Concise Guide about Diploma Mills was Produced with the Busy Professional in Mind

Though there are many people who have a need to research the legitimacy of a degree or credential, those in the following areas typically carry out such research: human resources, recruiting, education, private investigation, and government.

In this Electronic Age, it has Become Easier for People to Quickly Pay for a Degree or Credential, Many in Areas of Focus that Could put People in Danger

Fortunately though, the digital age has also allowed the development of resources that make it easier to research the legitimacy of an institution. With this in mind, I’ve attempted to produce a guide that is easy to use and concise.

I’ve Literally Done all of the Work for you, Bringing Together the most Pertinent Information from Various Research Resources, Screening Out that which isn’t Necessary and Leaving in that which is

It took me considerable time and effort to find out which resources can be trusted and provide legitimate information about this important subject. By reading this guide, you will learn only about the most relevant resources, preventing you from having to do any additional research. This guide will help you determine the legitimacy of a degree within minutes.

The Guide is Conveniently Broken Down into 4 Sections

• Section 1: Introduction to Diploma Mills
• Section 2: Introduction to Accreditation of Educational Entities
• Section 3: Introduction to Accreditation Mills
• Section 4: Research: How to Quickly Determine if a Degree or Certificate is from a Legitimate or Illegitimate Source

For those really wanting to understand just what diploma mills and accreditation mills are, and to understand educational accreditation in the United States, sections 1-3 succinctly address these issues. This includes a list of people in “high places” who have succumbed to literally purchasing a degree of their choice from unaccredited and fake (mostly on-line) sources. You won’t believe your eyes!

For those who would rather learn the nuts and bolts of how to research the legitimacy of a degree and/or school, they may simply skip to section 4, the research section of the guide.

For those with a desire to learn more about this subject, I’ve provided links to additional, trusted resources throughout the text and in the Additional Resources section at the end of the guide.

How to Get a Copy of Diploma Mills and Accreditation Mills 101

Because I’ve put two years of my life into this guide, and have spent considerable resources of my own, I do charge a very reasonable $9.99 for the guide. With this, you’ll receive email updates of all things related to diploma mills, including any important news or events, and any key updates I add to the guide during the year you purchased it.

I thank you for your time and I hope that this guide will help all those who have a professional or personal need to be able to quickly find out if a degree or credential is from a legitimate or illegitimate source. I hope that this guide will make your job easier when trying to research the legitimacy of a degree!

You can securely and conveniently receive your copy of Diploma Mills and Accreditation Mills 101 through PayPal. All transactions are secure and your privacy guarded. We do not see your credit card or payment information. PayPal is the only party privy to such information and they are guided by strict privacy laws. The only information that Intelligent Search Group ever sees is your name, location, and email address. Intelligent Search Group will NEVER sell any information about our customers to anyone for any reason. You will receive your copy of Diploma Mills and Accreditation Mills 101 as a PDF file via email.

Secure Purchase - Diploma Mills and Accreditation Mills 101

Resume Writing 101: Free Guide Provides Key Steps, Tricks, and Tips to Follow when Writing a New Resume / CV or when Updating an Old Resume / CV

Resume Writing 101: Key Steps, Tricks, and Tips to Follow when Writing a New Resume or when Updating an Old Resume is now complete. I’ve also added a sample resume that incorporates all of the steps, tricks, and tips that you’ll find in the resume / cv writing guide.

This free resume writing guide is full of tips, tricks, and key steps to follow when writing a strong resume that will stand out. I’m sincerely hoping that during this time of mass layoffs and subsequent job searching, that this free resume writing guide will provide some assistance in shortening the job search.

Many people want to know how to write a strong resume. This step by step guide literally walks you through how to write a resume from scratch, but will also show you how to update an old resume. Though there isn’t a “one size fits all” golden resume format, and though many people disagree on this subject, there are some very common steps to follow that can help move your resume into the “yes pile” and get a fair chance at that next career opportunity.

I’ve posted an introduction to the writing below. However, the full free resume writing guide can be found at: http://www.intelligentsearchgroup.com/resume-writing-101-steps-tricks-tips-to-follow-when-writing-a-new-resume-or-when-updating-an-old-resume.pdf

As mentioned, you’ll also find a sample resume at the end of the guide that incorporates all of the steps, tricks and tips you’ll find in the resume writing guide.

Resume Writing 101

Key Steps, Tricks, and Tips to Follow when Writing a New Resume or when Updating an Old Resume

Make Sure you Move Into the “Yes Pile” and Get a Fair Chance at that Next Career Opportunity!

Includes Sample Resume

Though there isn’t a “one size fits all” golden resume format, and though many people disagree on this subject, there are some very common steps to follow.

Justin Sivey

Intelligent Search Group

Though there are occasional situations where an individual is hired without the employer viewing their resume, these situations are rare. Most employers will need to see a resume before consideration is given to a job candidate. Given this reality, the format of your resume is priority one and should be taken seriously.

Recruiters and employers differ in their approach to viewing resumes. However, it’s important to realize that many employ the “10 second rule.” In a nut shell, this rule states that when viewing a resume, if you cannot tell within 10 seconds what an individual's job history, accomplishments, education, goals, etc., are, then move it into the “No” pile. I don’t employ this rule, as I’ve seen many outstanding candidates with horrible resumes. Yet, it’s important for you to understand that due mostly to time constraints, many in recruiting and human resources do apply this approach.

Given this reality then, what can you do to make sure your resume accurately reflects your job history, accomplishments, education, and goals, and moves you into the “Yes” or “Maybe” pile? Though there isn’t a “one size fits all” golden resume format, and though many people disagree on this subject, there are some very common steps to follow. Here are the must do steps in resume writing to make sure you get a fair chance at that next career move.

Click here to continue to the full resume writing guide Resume Writing 101 http://www.intelligentsearchgroup.com/resume-writing-101-steps-tricks-tips-to-follow-when-writing-a-new-resume-or-when-updating-an-old-resume.pdf

Want Revenue from your Web Searches to go to the ASPCA and Animal Abuse Prevention? Use Dogpile.com and the Dogpile.com Search and Rescue Program

Great program. Hope it’s all it says it is. One thing to remember is that revenue is only generated when you support an advertiser that appears on their search results page. Dogpile.com is a metasearch engine, so it pulls results from the major search engines. So, unless you need to use the advanced features of a search engine, you will see the same top results from the major search engines that you would if you used them directly. For this reason, if you support the cause, then it makes sense to use Dogpile.com for your web searches.

Also, if you do use it, consider installing the search tool bar on your web browser.

Here is more information about the Dogpile.com Search & Rescue program http://www.dogpilesearchandrescue.com/

“About Dogpile Search & Rescue

Search & Rescue is a Dogpile program through which we’re donating a portion of our revenue to the ASPCA. Our goal is to contribute $1 million to animal rescue by the end of 2009.
We at Dogpile are passionate about the welfare of animals. We believe in helping pets, and we know many of our loyal users do too. Dogpile Search & Rescue is just the latest of our pet-affinity initiatives. In December 2007, Dogpile raised $25,000 for the Humane Society, and we recently launched a pet adoption widget with Petfinder.com, the leading online pet adoption site in the world. In 2008, we developed the Search & Rescue Toolbar so users could more easily access Dogpile, search the Web right from their browser and connect to sites and communities supporting pet adoption and animal abuse prevention.”

The Invisible Web, or Deep Web: Paper Describes how Google Crawls and then Attempts to Index the Deep Web or Invisible Web

Excellent article about search engines (well, Google, but can be applied to others) and indexing the invisible or deep web. As many of you know, the invisible, or deep web is the largest portion of the web, and is in large part inaccessible to search engines. This causes an issue, because most deep web resources are highly important, containing authoritative information on a variety of resources. Many invisible web resources are gold mines for name sourcing. Just think of association web sites that sit hidden from the search engine spiders, but that you’ve come across during a search, and were able to source names, or even lists from.

I’ve included the introductory paragraph to the abstract below, but I came across the paper - http://www.cs.cornell.edu/~lucja/Publications/I03.pdf via the article “How Google crawls the deep web” located at http://glinden.blogspot.com/2009/01/how-google-crawls-deep-web.html . I recommend reading both.

“The Deep Web, i.e., content hidden behind HTML forms,
has long been acknowledged as a significant gap in search
engine coverage. Since it represents a large portion of the
structured data on the Web, accessing Deep-Web content
has been a long-standing challenge for the database community.
This paper describes a system for surfacing Deep-Web
content, i.e., pre-computing submissions for each HTML
form and adding the resulting HTML pages into a search
engine index. The results of our surfacing have been incorporated
into the Google search engine and today drive more
than a thousand queries per second to Deep-Web content.”

Use Indeed, LinkedIn & Google AdWords to Determine the Competitive Recruiting Landscape: Competing Firms & Firms Working Job/s you are Considering

There are many basic ways to determine competing recruiting firms. Usually the best way is via specialized directories or search engines such as:

Oya’s - www.i-recruit.com

Google Directory - http://www.google.com/Top/Business/Human_Resources/Recruiting_and_Retention/

And

http://www.google.com/Top/Business/Employment/Recruitment_and_Staffing/Sourcing/

DMOZ - http://dmoz.org/Business/Employment/Recruitment_and_Staffing/

Kennedy Information - http://www.kennedyinfo.com/js/der.html

Yahoo Directory - http://dir.yahoo.com/Business_and_Economy/Business_to_Business/Corporate_Services/Human_Resources/Recruiting_and_Placement/

But what about finding out which recruiters are working on specific jobs and/or within specific industries RIGHT now? Perhaps you are currently working a specific position and want to know your competition. Or, maybe you received a call from an employer in need, but want to see if it’s really worth dedicating resources to the position. After all, do you really want to be working the same job 10 other firms are working?

One quick way is via Indeed.com, the job search engine.

Your query options via Indeed.com are typical, with the ability to enter job title, keywords, locations, etc. Type in your general area of recruiting focus such as “Supply Chain.” You will be taken to the initial results and given the ability to narrow or refine your search. To the left of the results, you’ll see the ability to refine via jobs posted by Employer/Recruiter. Choosing “Recruiter” will provide a list of jobs with that title that recruiters have posted. The name of the firm should be within the posting.

What about jobs you are working on now? Well, to do that, follow the steps above, but add in the name of the company, or any other identifying information about the job/s you suspect another firm may be working on.

I do have to say that this method doesn’t provide an exhaustive list of firms in your focus or of firms working on positions you may be working on. Many jobs simply aren’t advertised by all firms.. So, though this tool is helpful, you will need to supplement it with directories such as those listed above or via the following two resources.

The same can be done via LinkedIn. When logged in, simply search via the same keywords mentioned above using the People search function OR the Jobs search interface. The People search function will show you recruiters in your focus. Just make sure you use keywords in the “Title” field such as
(“recruiter OR “executive search” OR recruiters OR headhunter).

The Jobs search interface will help you determine if any other firms are currently working on positions you may be working or are considering working. Use the same keywords mentioned above (recruiting focus, and any other indentifying information such as company name and title of position). What’s good about LinkedIn is that you can even add in the area code the position is in. The other good thing is that LinkedIn partners with SimplyHired.com, another jobs search engine and the competitor to Indeed.com. So, you can choose to see jobs posted only within LinkedIn or those posted on other resources and picked up by SimplyHired. In fact, SimplyHired allows you to quickly see who in your LinkedIn network is related to a job posted. For more on using LinkedIn and SimplyHired to Find People and Businesses (Leads, Name Sourcing, Lead Generation) and Keyword Synonyms for Job Titles see an article I wrote at http://search-news-views.blogspot.com/2008/10/linkedin-and-simply-hired-partnership.html

I also want to mention Google AdWords. Though not all firms use AdWords to advertise their services, many of the larger firms do. As many of you know, AdWords results are seen above and to the right of the organic search results in Google. Use the same keywords we spoke about above in the Google search interface and add the keyword “jobs” and look to see just who is advertising in that recruiting focus. The good thing about this is that many firms advertise broadly on those keywords, so you’ll see even large general firms that don’t necessarily focus only on that domain, but may do some work in your area of focus. This will give you a good idea of what large, national, general firms a company may be using to fill roles you may work on or may be working on now.

So give these resources a try when determining the competitive recruiting landscape. Again, they aren’t exhaustive, but they might just expose how many firms are working on a given job, and if the competition is too much to justify putting in resources to recruit on the same openings.

Verizon Mysite: Another Virtual Community / Personal Homepage Option for Name Sourcing of Passive Candidates and/or Resume Sourcing

As I referenced on my list of Virtual Communities / Homepages to Name Source Passive Candidates and / or Find Resumes found at http://search-news-views.blogspot.com/2008/07/virtual-communities-to-name-source.html, a lot of recruiters and/or name sourcers have had success name sourcing or even resume sourcing from virtual communities or homepages on larger networks. Though I don’t recommend spending a lot of time doing this, it may be worth some of your time.

Verizon Mysite is another such option though it’s slightly different to name source from it vs. from communities like Geocities. Unfortunately, you cannot simply visit the home page at http://mysite.verizon.net and simply add keywords into the search box.

To actually search within this community, you’ll have to resort to performing a site search (x-ray) to find results. So, you'll need to visit Google (or others) and do the following query: site:http://mysite.verizon.net (keywords and key phrases)

I had some luck with site:http://mysite.verizon.net resume logistics though again, not a significant amount.

So give it a try. Just realize that it’s only one tool of many, and that you may or may not find results that you can use.

Have a Great Candidate to Market?: How to Quickly Find out Where and to Whom to Present them: The Triple Combination of SimplyHired, LinkedIn & Spoke

Wow, you found one excellent candidate you may be able to market (reverse recruiting). And, they’ll relocate. You’ve already contacted your clients to see if they have a need for a candidate like them, but who else might be interested?

This can be done a few ways, and this is in no way the best for every scenario. But let’s say you have no idea where to start. One way to jump start your search is by using the triple combination of SimplyHired, LinkedIn and Spoke (no, I’m not being paid by them – so they can thank me later). Doing so will help you quickly view the current hiring landscape and determine what positions might fit this person and just who is hiring for such positions. Incidentally, this is much in line with how to find new clients.

Let’s begin.

The person has a certain title and will move to certain areas. Start by putting these terms in the search box of SimplyHired. You’ll probably want to keep it somewhat broad, so choosing a few alternate title keywords and then opening it to a certain distance from geographic areas will give you a great idea of the hiring landscape in the areas the candidate is open to.

You’ll come up with a list of job postings. You could simply stop here and look at the companies hiring for that type of position, and you’d have a pretty good list. But why not take it a step further and find out more about the companies and who within them you may be able to contact directly?

The first step is to simply put your mouse arrow over the “More Tools” option and click. You’ll get an excellent little box that will provide the basics of the company such as location, contact number, industry, etc. All great information.

But don’t stop there; look in the box and you’ll see some other options. There you’ll see a link that says “who do I know at [company] – by LinkedIn” Icon. If you select that icon, you’ll be taken to a LinkedIn search on the company name. Of course, you’ll have to have a LinkedIn account, as this will search within in your network. I won’t explain what will happen in detail once you go to LinkedIn (to save typing and to not bore those who know). Put in the title keywords HR or “Human Resources” or “Plant Manager”, etc. (depending on the type of role you think will be hiring for the posted position), run the search, and you might find a name and perhaps a direct contact number of this person to market your candidate to.

Next, (or if the prior LinkedIn search failed), select the link “Find People at [company] Spoke.” Again, I won’t go into too many details on what will happen once you select this button, but at the very least, you will find some names associated with the company that you may be able to market your candidate to. Just as with LinkedIn, in the Advanced search options of Spoke, you can add title keywords such HR or “Human Resources” or “Plant Manager”, etc., and you’ll likely find a direct contact to market to or at least a name to cold call in order to get yourself in the door of the company.

In some cases, you may even be able to skip all of this and simply find the name of the person posting the opening and/or the hr manager or site manager, in charge of the search via the original posting. Many times it’s as simple as selecting the link of the job posted to see more about the job. You might find the “send your resume to [name]” link or “for more information call [name].” Because SimplyHired is a meta search engine pulling in adds from a variety of sources, there typically are links just under the summary of the job listing that tells where else the job is posted. Typically you’ll see “Also found at” right before a listing of links. Look through these links and you’ll likely find a name. If not, who cares??!! You’ve already got more than enough information for you to find out whom to market that candidate to! Good luck, and with perseverance you’ll eventually find some related name within target companies to market a strong candidate to.

Never Give Up when Telephone Name Sourcing: You Never know what you Might Find by just Jacking Around in the Automated Company Voice Mail System

Just another selection in the lucky in name sourcing tips writings!

Automation can be a beautiful thing when tracking down phone numbers or even when doing name sourcing or lead generation. You never know what you might find by just jacking around on the company voice mail system. Through patience and perseverance, sometimes you’ll get further than you ever would have with the live gatekeeper.

Here’s just one quick example.

I received a name that I most certainly would want to talk to. It was actually the boss of a candidate I was working with.

He didn’t have the phone number of his boss handy, as the boss was at a very small site during the current week. So I did a quick search on the name of the company and the name of the person and the addition of the search phrase “phone OR contact”. I could have gone to the website of the company and x-rayed the site using a similar phrase, or even called into the company, but you never know what extra tid bits of information (leads, names) you’ll find when doing an internet search on someones name. The “yellow brick road” paths you might go on from there might just lead to gold in some other way. Serendipity is the correct word.

Yet, no results came from this strategy.

I did see a number listed on the company website that looked like it could be for the small site so I tried that.

As I mentioned, the site I wanted was actually a small site so I knew this wouldn’t be easy. I sensed trouble was ahead. I was right, but I kept going. And, as stated before, sometimes the path less traveled can be the right one!

A call to the number yielded only a voice mail system. No live people and not even the ability to put in an extension OR to put in a name! These people really had a lock down!

The only choices given were to select from a list of departments.

I made my best guess on what department the person likely would be in. Unfortunately, that’s a hard choice when looking at manufacturing sites.

My first choice was wrong, but I did get a name within the engineering department I sure would revisit.

I had a feeling I should go back through the department list again, so I called back and this time choose a different department. Well, this was incorrect too, but I did hear the option to press 0 for a secretary. Thinking my search was over, I decided to go this route anyway. As luck would have it, I tried patience and listened to her whole message. After her voice mail intro, I heard the option to press *t for additional options. This took me to a message that asked if I’d like to leave a message, but BAM, it ALSO offered to search by names by pressing *a! Wow, I found it, but only after a long patient road. I typed in the persons name, and got to his voice mail. Even luckier, he also mentioned his new number to use to contact him!

Remember, the dial by name option wasn’t at all listed in the main menu. It was only through some lucky, patient, and relentless selections that I found it buried DEEP within the company voice mail system.

Now this is only one story out of MANY that haven’t gone so good. I was lucky this time. However, it really shows that it’s usually worth SOME effort to not give up right away when swimming through the company vice mail system. Usually it’s worth it to do some hunch exploring. Who knows, you may even be able to source some new leads / names via this method.

Search Keyword Mutation / Misspellings / Alternatives Tool and Search Keyword Synonym Tool: Potential for SEO Professionals and Name Sourcing Pros

Though there are many tools used to detect keyword misspellings and synonyms, I have fun playing with two such tools at the Microsoft adCenter Labs site - http://adlab.msn.com/Default.aspx. As stated at the site, “Microsoft adCenter Labs is an applied research group dedicated to researching and incubating new digital advertising technologies.”

I can’t say that every exercise I did using these tools produced results. For example, in terms of name sourcing, I did a quick trial of the search phrase “plant manager” to see if any good synonyms would be produced to allow further search phrases. Results were found, but nothing really fully useful.

However, I did see some useful results. For you SEO fans and addicts, the mutation detection tool can be very helpful, especially since this is based on search query logs. For example, we deal in the area of procurement jobs. Typing in this keyword did yield a result.

So, have fun playing around. You may find some useful synonyms or misspellings for either names sourcing or search engine optimization issues.

Keyword Group Detection - http://adlab.msn.com/Keyword-Group-Detection/Default.aspx

From their website: “This tool helps you find groups of words from the pool of online queries that are related or similar to keywords that you enter. To detect the complete group, please type a keyword.”

Keyword Mutation Detection - http://adlab.msn.com/Keyword-Mutation-Detection/

From their website: “This tool displays common misspellings or alternative spellings of the user's input keywords that are frequently found in search query logs. Type a correctly spelled keyword.”