1st Steps In The Hunt: Daily News For Job Hunters and Recruiters

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1st Steps In The Hunt: A Free Online Daily for Online Job Hunters

Net Research

October 07, 2002

The Net is a tool.

For Jobhunters, what is the best use for this particular tool right now?

Researching your target companies.

While I'd love to say that you can quickly and efficiently look up whatever information you need on the Net, it doesn't always work that way. Sometimes the information you want is not available either on or off the Net. Other times it is not indexed in a way that search engines can easily locate it. And sometimes the information you want has not yet been transformed from its present incarnation as a wood byproduct into electronic impulses.

And you should be very familiar with Internet searches that look more like a wild goose chase than a Sherlock Holmes investigation. You can get lost (or sidetracked) easily, and some of the links you pull up sure don't seem to have anything to do with your search terms. There are a few sites that can be a big help in researching these companies - like Google, Big Yellow, 411, and InfoUSA.

Google is the current favorite around the office these days. It is a smart search engine that seems to understand what you are looking for. You can add the google search bar to your browser and have easy access for searches.

Big Yellow uses phone directories as it's primary database, which covers almost all companies and a wide range of people throughout most industrialized countries. You can search for email addresses and by topic as well. This is one of the first places that many people start their search for company information. The list of Top 300 business categories helps pinpoint where you might begin.

411 is part of Yahoo!, and searches for names and email addresses that you input. As one of the largest search engines Yahoo! gives you access to hundreds of millions of people and businesses. It also uses telephone directories as one of its main sources of data.

InfoUSA has bundled lots of useful links into topics on starting and managing a business, conducting marketing, sales, etc. Its nationwide directory assistance includes searches for company name, individual name, and the very useful reverse lookup. The only problem here is that you might forget that you are looking for info on a target company and start researching a few things for your own business (someday!).

As usual, these are only the tip of the information iceberg. On the Net there is always more than one way to skin a cat.

-Mark Poppen