Develop your ‘search’ skills to find people who can help you succeed

How this all started.  I was recruited into the recruitment agency world in the early 90’s and this was my line of work in some shape or form for the next 25 years.  In fact, still today I use many of the skills learnt during this period to help me provided services to my clients and to grow my own business.  I was lucky as I was employed to recruit people with information technology skills.  My natural way of working is to get to know people really well and totally understand how I can help them.  This helped me to develop some great relationships with some very smart technical people, these relationships helped me to develop technical knowledge and skills that helped me be better at my job.  I built a career and then a very good business with these skills.

One of the key skills I developed was how to use ‘Forensic Search’.  On a basic level, most people know how to search Google and they may even have a LinkedIn account that enables them to reach several people every month.  You may even know how to do a basic Facebook search for people?

Using these skills, you can find people to help you in your business.  Whether that be to find great staff, clients or my favourite ‘collaborators’.

Collaborators understand the value of building large internet connections where they can either promote themselves and their work or do the same for their clients. Those that provide services for clients are often called ‘Digital Marketers’.

By working in partnership collaborators and/or digital marketers can create large networks that can be used to promote whatever the client is looking for.

However, for those who have another career they can use these tactics to develop personal networks, groups and connections that will help them advance their career.  This works by connecting with other people in your industry and setting up ‘groups’ and meetups where you and your collaborators can invite your networks to share their details with a group or even attend a meetup.  These meetups allow you to build relationships, some of which will be key contacts that help you build your career.

For those of us with advanced forensic search skills, we have the ability to reach into the internet and find anyone on any site simply using code that interrogates the website and brings up profiles that meet your search criteria.  A skill I use to promote client’s jobs directly to the people they may be looking for in a service I developed that promotes jobs rather than engages in direct recruitment.

For those of you interested more in the mechanics here is a great place to start https://www.lifewire.com/web-search-tricks-to-know-4046148

Of course, once you have mastered searching a site that is the first step.  The second is to master how to communicate with people when you find them.  That’s another skill which most of us Digital Marketer’s prefer to keep as our own IP (Intellectual Property).

Once you have these skills the world becomes a much more exciting place, you can use forensic search skills for a wide range of activities, but my favourite is helping people to build their business or develop a career network.

If you are interested in learning how to develop your search skills or your staffs’ search skills please feel free to contact me.

Tony Cutting
Personal Coach / Digital Marketer
m. +64 21 911 722
e. tony.cutting@peoplenet.co.nz