Usenet

You might also want to read our article Searching a Different Usenet

Introduction to Deja News
You can use Deja News to find jobs, resumes and potential candidates. Deja News bills itself as "the" source for internet discussion groups. It is.

There are 20,000 free and active internet discussion groups (IDG) that together create a huge community inhabited by more than 24 million users around the world. Among the active groups there are thousands of IDGs focused on business and technical topics, where users can exchange information with colleagues and find answers to questions.

Deja News allows you to search, read, and participate in these groups.

Search Deja News
There is a search box on the main page. Type in a phrase for what you want to find. For instance, if you were looking for accounting candidates , you could type in accounting candidates. You'd get 4,000+ responses. To narrow it you could type accounting & jobs wanted, and you'd one search returned. (Search language is explained here.)

To find out where you are most likely to find prospects interested in a job you're recruiting for, use the Interest Finder.

Again, a search box will be available. Type in accounting and you'll notice nine discussion groups which have postings about accounting. Browse through each of the groups to get a feel for which ones are appropriate for you to post your notice in.

Browse Groups
Usenet groups are arranged by topic and within topic, in a hierarchy. For instance, biz is a top level grouping. Top level groups are then divided into more specific topic areas. One of the next level groupings is biz.com which is then broken into 7 sub-categories. Some of those sub-categories are further divided. Browsing is a time consuming task, but does give you a good idea of which Usenet groups are doing what.

Read Postings
Simply click on the one that interests you. If you've narrowed your search, chances are that you'll find the posting is germane to your needs. Once you click on it, you're monitor transforms into a news reader and you can follow a thread in the discussion, read additional postings, or post to the list.

Post a Note
Once you've found a newsgroup you're interested in, it's easy to post. Simply read one of the messages. At the top of the screen you'll see a menu. If you click on post a message, you're brought to a registration page. Fill out the pertinent info, and include your post.

Time Saving, Advanced Techniques
Search Filters
Search filters help you narrow your search by author, subject, newsgroup or date. Click on search filters. If you want to find accountants looking for jobs, go down to the subject line and type resume & accountant. Click on create filter. You'll find several hundred resumes.

A new search box is brought up, allowing you to further refine your search. It lets you search within posted accounting resumes for something in particular. For instance, let's say you needed a cost accountant. Type in cost. This will bring up the resumes posted by accountants looking for work.

Author Profiling
Author profiling is a great way to see who has said what. It's a statistical summary of articles originating from a particularly identified person. This helps you decide whether postings are from reliable sources. It's a multi-step process.

For instance, let's say you found a resume for John Sumser. You could then create a new filter for authors and type in sumser*. This would give you a listing of all the posts made by anyone who has sumser in their email name.

You could then read what the person had posted and where. But, to save time, click on one of the postings. At the bottom of the screen you'll find a link to author profiling. Clicking on it will give you the number of postings the person has made and where they were made. This can be used as a first line screening tool.

Fake Email Addresses
As always, there are some caveats. Not everyone uses a real email address, particularly with the advent of free email accounts. How to Determine Fake Email is an updated (6/22/97) version of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs). It helps you find out where a fake post or e-mail originated from.

For additional Info, read the Article on Posting Usenet Jobs.