How To Find Experts of Any Field On The Internet

Posted by Jim Stroud

October 6, 2008

(Click here to make your suggestion for tomorrow’s Resume Sourcing Tip.)

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TODAY’S RESUME SOURCING TIP: I will show you how to find industry experts with Google and then how to automate the search using Google, Yahoo, Live, Alta Vista and others. (Scroll to the bottom of this blog post to have a PDF version of this blog post sent to your email address.)

How To Find Experts of Any Field On The Internet

Let me help you find experts in your particular field! As a Recruiter, HR Generalist or Hiring Manager, you always have an eye out for top talent to cover present and future opportunities. We are going to go over where to find those potential, passive hires and how to quickly identify them out of the massive amount of data and irrelevant information.

My suggestion would be to probe industry-related conferences. No matter the industry, there is always an event (somewhere) that is focused on a particular niche. These events will have speakers and often occur at regular times. Armed with this bit of knowledge, you will find it easy to locate experts in the various fields. Let me show you a few example of how to do this using Google.

EXAMPLE #1: Find Experts Speaking at Conferences

Try the following search string on Google:

Simply replace “add your keyword here” with a particular industry. For example, I found 410,000 search results when I replaced “add your keyword here” with “telecom,” 336,000 results when I used “life sciences” and 373,000 results when I added “semiconductor.” I also discovered that I was able to refine my searches even further when I added specific years to my query. For example, click here to see Telecom conferences being held in 2008. Also, changing the year in my search will help me zero in on more experienced experts. After all, if they were speaking in conferences held in 2002 (click here for an example), then there is a chance that they would have more experience than someone speaking at a conference in 2008.

EXAMPLE #2: Find Experts Speaking at Conferences

As before, simply replace “add your keyword” with a particular industry. For example, click here to see the search results when I use semiconductor as a keyword. You may also want to replace “* to.present” with “* to.speak” for a different set of results. Click here to see a second set of results using “* to.speak” as a search parameter.

EXAMPLE #3: Find Experts Speaking at Conferences

Exchanging “add your keyword” (as with the previous examples) for a different keyword will return multiple conferences. The difference in this search string however is that you will find information where people are demonstrating products at an event. This is especially helpful because it will help you find competing products in your industry and (in some cases) the names associated with that product. Click here to see an example of my search for product demos associated with the Gaming industry.

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HOW TO AUTOMATE THESE SEARCHES

Typing in search strings in Google, Yahoo, Alta Vista and others is necessary to do because each one will give you different results. Performing all of these searches for candidates is FUN to me, but it might be tedious to you. (Am I right?) Did you know that you can run all of the above searches in Google and similar queries in Yahoo, Alta Vista, Live (and others) with ease using eGrabber’s tool “Resume Finder.” Do you already have Resume Finder installed on your system? (If not, click here for a free trial or to purchase with a discount) If so, follow these simple steps.

1. Click here to go to the eGrabber Gallery page.
2. Download the “Find Conference Speakers” module and click on “Run”
3. Type in your keyword and click find

You see? No need to remember the technical details, simply add a keyword and click a button. eGrabber makes sourcing simple.

Do you need a custom solution?

REQUEST A CUSTOM SOLUTION

If you would like an eGrabber Resume Sourcing Module designed for your specific need, click here to fill out a form describing the types of candidates you are looking for. Why request a custom solution? A few reasons…

Save money. Once you have your custom solution downloaded and installed, you could run complex queries without hiring a Sourcer to do it for you.
Save time. No need to memorize the complexities of what search commands work on which searchengine. All you would have to do is push a button and review your data.
Save sanity. No worries about having to adapt a search string you have found online (even if you found it here), just push a button and get results designed to fit your specific requirement.

Click here to fill out a form describing the types of candidates you are looking for.

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Happy Hunting!

-Jim Stroud

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