Internet recruiting is fast becoming the principal way businesses pull in new candidates. Smart, proactive firms are training their in-house recruiters to work the Web to find new employees. According to Gerry Crispin, coauthor of the highly regarded Internet career site directory, Career Xroads (MMC Group), Internet recruiting has increased by 100 percent since last January. In fact, there are at least 1 million sites listing jobs you can search and about 1,000 résumé data bases on the Internet, half of which are public. Thousands of additional résumés reside on personal pages.

Finding this talent isn't a snap. Your human resources staff will need specific training, which they can get through classes chosen from the Advanced Internet Recruiting Seminars (AIRS) put on by Intelligent Search (www.intell-search.com) or books like The Internet Recruiting Edge by Barbara Ling (www.barbaraling.com/recruiting.html). The training isn't cheap, but if you're currently paying exorbitant fees to placement agencies, it won't take long to make the investment pay off. Here's how to get the most from your training.

Intelligent Search

In the past year, Intelligent Search has upgraded its Web site with lots of excellent information available to all, whether or not you've attended a seminar. Click HR Resources, and you'll find a wealth of links to sites, associations, newsgroups, and companies that help you find new workers. Trying to navigate the sites without going through Intelligent Search's AIRS training can be tough, however. Its two-day courses teach you how to find workers on the Web more efficiently.

The AIRS two-day training costs $995 per person, per day. Taught by knowledge able instructors, these courses show you the best way to find candidates with specific skills, such as experience with Java, Oracle, and SAP. You'll learn how to find candidates on the Internet using a variety of search engines, and you'll also learn the best syntax for honing search queries in each engine, which is the key to locating a particular needle in the Internet hay stack. For example, you'll learn that if you want to locate consulting types with two to three years of work experience, you should troll the University of Chicago Alumni site (www.alumni.uchicago.edu/Electronic/gsb-a.htm) and other sites featuring techie alumni.

Some of the AIRS techniques, such as sending bulk e-mail to your competitors' employees, are aggressive and may even net you some "cease and desist" orders. AIRS doesn't show recruiters how to sneak around firewalls; it teaches them to be more aggressive in their recruiting.

That's Not All, Folks!

Attendees of the AIRS seminar receive a CD that contains AIRS- recommended tools, including AltaVista Discovery, which lets you perform Web-style searches on your own PC's hard drive (discovery.altavista.com); Ferretsoft Internet search utilities, which help you track down Web pages and e-mail addresses (www.ferretsoft.com); and WebWhacker (www.bluesquirrel.com/products/whacker/whacker.html), which lets you gather and read Web pages offline. You also get a password that grants you access to the Alumni portion of the Intelligent Search site. Here, you can attend monthly chats with AIRS instructors and read past chat archives. You can also download the AIRSware browser add-on, which organizes your desktop into handy folders: forms, links to requisitions, links to tools, links to candidates, and links to a directory containing more than 500 links to the sites used in the seminars. But beware: All of this is time-consuming, which is a huge drawback if you're expecting to cut your agency fees right away. The AIRS seminars are valuable, but it takes time to go back through all the material and start using it. To figure out whether AIRS is worthwhile for your company, take those outside agency fees and compare them to the cost of the seminar ($1,990 per person) and the extensive study time (at least a full week) to see if you'll reap worthwhile rewards.

Going By The Book

The AIRS classes are just one option. Another is to read Barbara Ling's The Internet Recruiting Edge. She's a former systems administrator of AT&T with a knack for laying out material in a step-by-step structure. Even if you're already somewhat familiar with the Internet or have attended an Intelligent Search seminar, I guarantee that you'll turn to this guide frequently. It costs $149 when purchased directly from the author (732/203-1194, www.barbaraling.com), and it's a bargain. Remember that studying this material takes time: You'll need at least six or eight hours to work through all the material in order to create search queries and dig into the Internet. But Ling never lets you get discouraged, and she cuts through many Internet recruiting mysteries. Ling conscientiously continues to educate recruiters, who, for an extra $50 per year, receive a weekly mailing containing additional tips.

Once you're through with Ling's book, don't forget to check out the disk that comes with it. Here, the author pulls together 600 links (which will rise to 1,000 in the new edition) that are critical to recruiters. Although I needed some hand-holding to load the contents of the disk into my browser, these terrific links saved me hours of searching for great sites for posting jobs and finding candidates. Since Ling knows that technical workers have specific site preferences, her links lead you to the best places for finding them, such as The Sybase Developer's Journal (www.sys-con.com/sybase), The Cold Fusion Exhange (www.cfx.org), The Oracle Job Network (www.oracjobs.com/postjb1.htm), and Java Jobs (www.javajobs.com/Jobs.html).

Is It Worth it?

Running these searches and investigating these sites can be overwhelming, at least initially. After all, these procedures take time, and if you're an HR manager or a recruiter, you're after results, not just an education in Internet searching. Tom Callahan, Oracle's senior recruiter, says the skills are worth studying. "Learning these techniques is time consuming at the beginning, but once you begin practicing, it becomes second nature. Now I'm much more comfortable going to a search engine and doing a query and getting information I can utilize to find good candidates."

Intelligent Search and The Internet Recruiting Edge provide useful and powerful insights to increase your recruiters' productivity in searching for and attracting workers, not to mention in finding the best Web sites. But don't stop schmoozing with your favorite agencies or cut your recruiting budget until your recruiters have these search techniques down pat!

© 1999 Fran Quittel. All rights reserved.

Internet recruitment and technology staffing consultant Fran Quittel is the author of Firepower! Everything You Need to Know Before and After You Lose Your Job (from Ten Speed Press). Visit her Web site at www.careerbabe.com. You can reach her at francq@aol.com or care of Computer Currents.

Career Calendar

Thursday--January 14

Résumés That Get Results

Bring a draft of your résumé to this workshop and you'll receive feedback on ways to make it better. Location: Lifeplan Center, San Francisco. Dates: Also on January 28. Time: 3:30 p.m.– 5:30 p.m. Cost: Free, Lifeplan Center members; $10, nonmembers. Con tact: 415/546-4499, www.lifeplancenter.org.

What's Hot, What's Not

Re-examine your abilities and assets in light of today's job market demands. Location: Turning Point Career Center, Berkeley. Time: 3 p.m.–4 p.m. Cost: Free, Turning Point Career Center members; $5, nonmembers. Contact: 510/848-6370.

Friday--January 15

Excel Level II

Knowing Excel 98 lets you do more than lay out your budget. In this class, you'll learn to make financial projections, examine financial reports, and use advanced macros and workbooks. All students must have basic Excel skills. Location: Media Alliance, San Fran cisco. Time: 9 a.m.–5 p.m. Cost: $55, nonprofit members; $80, Media Alliance members; $95, nonmembers. Contact: 415/546-6491, www.media-alliance.org.

Tuesday--January 19

IT Classes

Vista Community College will offer a new information technology program this spring, featuring classes in data processing, help desk technology, Microsoft Office, spreadsheet applications, business mathematics, and business writing. Location: Vista Community College, Berkeley. Dates: Through May 28. Cost: $12 per credit. Contact: 510/841-8860, ext. 264; www.peralta.cc.ca.us.

Getting Into High Tech--Without a Technical Background

Find out about high-tech company culture, the hiring process as seen from within, and the span of available jobs. Location: Career Action Center, Cupertino. Time: 6:30 p.m.–9:30 p.m. Cost: $35, members; $50, nonmembers. Con tact: 408/253-3200, www.careeraction.org.

Wednesday--January 20

Electronic Commerce

This seminar is for people interested in doing business on the Web. Topics include secure transaction methods, trends in digicash, and business and legal concerns regarding the sale of products and services. Location: Center for Electronic Art, San Francisco. Time: 6:30 p.m.–9 p.m. Cost: $50. Contact: 415/512-9300, www.cea.edu.

Monday--January 25

Winning New Jobs

This job search workshop will give you the knowledge to help you land your dream job. Topics include identifying your transferable skills, locating good job leads, networking, and coping with setbacks. Preregistration is required. Location: NOVA Private Industry Council, Sunnyvale. Dates: Through January 29. Time: 8:30 a.m.– 12:30 p.m. Cost: Free. Contact: 408/ 522-1078, www.novapic.org.

Tuesday--January 26

Getting a Handle on Your Finances

This workshop will give you an understanding of budgets and ways to control spending. You'll also learn about debt reduction, checkbook management, and more. Location: Alumnae Resources, San Francisco. Time: 6 p.m.– 9 p.m. Cost: $40, AR members; $55, nonmembers. Contact: 415/274-4700, www.ar.org.

--S. G.