Tips for name identification on the web

A little while ago I was asked by a recruitment colleague for a quick overview on "which are the best websites to find target candidate names."  She was after beginner level suggestions and having done the legwork in producing some tips I thought I'd share them here. 

1. If you don't have a target company list you should build one.  Put the client's name in hoovers.co.uk and look at "competition" (which is a section on there).  Try Applegate for similar results.
2. Search LinkedIn by target company (tick "current company" box).  In order to see as many people as possible in the results you should work on building up your linkedin contacts.
3. Do the same search but untick "current company" to get possible sources who can refer you to ex-colleagues.
4. Try similar searches on Zoominfo (for best results you will need a "premium account) results for UK are not as good as for US.
5. Facebook is a possibility if you can join a group relevant to your search (eg, "I'm a recruitment consultant and proud of it" or "I work in financial services" groups).   You can then contact other members and/or post a message on their "wall".  However, this could be time-consuming and seems very hit and miss
6. Do a google search for job title (ie, "Flavourist") and target company name.  You may find company telephone lists, attendee lists of conferences, biog's in articles, press releases, etc.
7. Try other social network sites like Ecademy, Xing, Viadeo.  All will work better if you put the leg work in on creating decent networks
8. Search for associations relevant to your assignment and see if you can get membership lists (ie, for a Packaging Innovation Manager look at Inst of Packaging website). See if you can get access to their discussion forums.  Join and lurk (ie, read posts) in relevant discussion groups to see who knows what they are talking about.  Many people will have their contact details in their sig files on these boards.
   

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[Nigel Richards]

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