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Toolkit Addition ToolKit: Get Help with Your Searches If you've ever become frustrated when developing a search query, consider asking Jeeves. It's a novel combination of real people expertise, index, and search engine. Ask Jeeves, tries to make information easier to find. Instead of requiring that you master Boolean operators and arcane query language, it lets you use plain English. But, still, it's not exactly using natural query language (NQL). When you type in a naturally phrased question, Ask Jeeves searches through all the most popular search engines and brings back easy to navigate results. We tried a search by asking "how can I find employees". The results were mixed to say the least, but we did get a few leads. Jeeves pointed us to the legal definition of an employee, the retail food industry center, Career Web, a recruiting firm in the semiconductor and electronic industry, and interview tips. When we refined the search a bit and asked how to recruit new hires, the results were more closely targeted. No, Jeeves doesn't take all the pain out of searching. It does though provide a different and interesting way to do it. It also provides a few surprising results, which if followed up on might lead you on a new, profitable path. And if Jeeves doesn't work, try Findout, a free reference service from Find/SVP, a professional research company. Findout leads you to reliable information sources in loads of categories. If you are then unable to find what you need, you have access to research experts who will spend up to 15 minutes finding an answer to your question. For people who have tried their search by using a number of different search engines and a number of different keywords and Boolean operators, this service can be quite helpful. In addition, it offers a Work & Career section where you can find links to Find/SVP's favorite sites that post job listings, a compendium of articles, and other resources. There's also an extensive online library, covering topics ranging from computers, law, and investments, to the home, relationships, and hobbies.

Search Tips Search the Cyber Planet Planet All is not for the faint at heart. It is, though, a tool that could be used to help you recruit. If you're willing to fill out an easy registration form, you are then given the ability to search for members by interest, affiliation, region, and more. Once you're registered, and have given a list of your affiliations, you can also add additional groups and create your own. We added IBM, with the idea that perhaps we could gather a list of names of people associated with them who might just be in the market for a new IT job. Before we even got to see a list of names, we were given a choice of 28 IBM groups (by region) that we could pick and choose from. Once we chose the group, we were added to it and were able to view the names of several other group members. Then comes the interesting part. You can add these people to an address book that Planet All creates for you. You can also access their Planet All email addresses and find out where they live. Even more exciting is the ability to find members--by keywords. So, let's say you're interested in hardware engineers. Just key that in, read through a few screens, and voilla. And, just recently, Planet All teamed up with The Monster Board to enable members to find new business contacts and career leads. All you need to do is a keyword search for "Monster". Clearly, Planet All was not created with a recruiter's needs in mind. And that brings up the issue of ethics. The purpose of Planet All is to help friends find friends and co-workers to stay in touch. If your principles suggest that you abide by intent, you probably don't want to use this method. On the other hand, if you think that you should be allowed to use whatever information you find, then Planet All might be for you. __________