| Google
is the dominant search engine currently, and it offers many search-associated
tools. Becoming well-acquainted with these can save you time and
improve your results.
This has become
my favorite Google tool, next to the Google Toolbar.
What
IS a Google Alert?
Google Alerts
will send you e-mail when new entries (or even a single entry) are
added to the top 10 to 50 search results (depending on the category
of Alert) for the specific search term you ask Google to monitor.
Currently, Google provides 6 different Alert capabilities, described
below, and you'll probably find a need for all of them at some point.
What
will a Google Alert do for you?
Businesses use
Google Alerts to track competitors, potential customers, trademarks,
copyrighted material, and many other things. Job seekers can find
many uses also.
- What's "out
there" about you that a potential employer might find? Hopefully,
you know what's there now. Set up Google Alerts for your name
(with and without your middle initial), and Google will let you
know about new items that show up in the top search results on
your name.
- Interested
in a specific employer? Set up a Google Alert for that employer
by name, and Google will let you know about new items in the top
search results for that company.
- Interested
in a specific industry? Set up a Google Alert for the industry,
and Google will let you know about new items in the top search
results for the industry.
- Wonder what
your college roommate, a former colleague, current or former boss,
etc. are up to? Set up a Google Alert for each of those names,
and Google will let you know about new items that appear for them
in the top search results.
You get the
idea. Track whatever is important to your job search and to your
reputation.
Using
Google Alert information:
Use that information
provided by Google Alerts in a way that will expand or help you
reconnect with your network, stay up to date with your industry
or profession, or further your job search in some way. For example,
you could:
- Impress an
interviewer with how up to date you are on company/industry/professional
news.
- Increase
your research efforts if you find something unsettling in the
search results about a potential employer - recent layoffs announced,
CEO or CFO resigned, etc.
- Reconnect
with members of your network by sending a congratulatory note
if something good hits the news, share good news about a mutual
acquaintance, or (possibly!) commiserate on bad news.
- Respond (carefully!)
to negative things about you that may appear.
Creating
a Google Alert:
Sign up by visiting
the Google Alerts home
page. You may want to establish a Google
Account to have several Alerts running simultaneously, and that
account will also enable you to have a Gmail account, iGoogle, and
other useful Google tools. It is not required, however, to set up
an individual Alert.
For each topic
you wish to track:
- Input your
search term in the "Search terms" box, e.g. your name
if that's a search you want to set up.
- Select your
Alert "Type" -
Google provides
Alerts for 6 categories of search results:
- “Comprehensive”
is the default, and it searches News, Blogs, and the Web,
for your search term.
- “News”
searches through only the latest articles in Google News for
your search term, and returns new additions to the top 10
results.
- “Blogs”
searches only through the latest blog posts for your search
term, and returns new additions to the top 10 results.
- “Web”
searches the latest Web pages added to Google containing your
search terms, and returns new additions to the top 20 results.
- “Google
Groups” searches the latest entries added to Google
Groups for your search term, and returns new additions to
the top 50 results.
- "Video"
searches the latest videos added for your search term and
returns the new additions to the top 10 results.
- Then, select
“How often” to receive your results -
- “Once
a day” – my personal favorite, means you will
get one message per day, at most, for that specific Alert.
- “As
it happens” – sends a message whenever new results
for that specific Alert appear. This can get overwhelming
for really active searches, but if the topic is fast changing or if you must be on top of it ASAP, this would be your best option.
- “Once
a week” – for topics that aren't very urgent.
What
a Google Alert will not do for you:
Don't assume
that a Google Alert is going to let you know about EVERYTHING on
the Web about a specific topic because you won't have the time to
personally review each entry in the search results (when was the
last time you did a search that returned fewer than 1,000 search
results?). It will only let you know about specific things within
the specific parameters described above.
A
different thing - GoogleAlert.com
This is a paid
service, not part of Google, which will do "deep monitoring"
of the search terms you select, penetrating much more deeply into
the search results than the free Alerts from Google itself. For
example, if you have trademarks to protect or need more comprehensive
monitoring (greater than the top 50 search results examined by Google),
this service may be appropriate.
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Article by Susan P. Joyce,
Job-Hunt's editor and senior job hunter
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