swatrecruiting's "peeling back" a url - briefing

Internet Recruiters tend to give as much weight to URLs as we do to page descriptions, when looking at the results of our search engine queries.  When we see something interesting in the path of a URL like "people" or "staff" or "meet the staff", etc., we "peel back" the URL to see that page.  If we are blocked from viewing the page, we x-ray the page to find the keyword in the URL that will lead us to the page we are seeking.  Below is a multi-screen look at the anatomy of a peel back, from the initial identification of the opportunity to use the technique, to the execution thereof.

In the first screen shot (below), we notice the word "people" in a URL...  Scroll below the screen shot to continue.

In the second screen shot (below), we "peel back the URL by highlighting and deleting the portion of the URL to the right of the page we want to see.  In this example, we are peeling back to look at a homepage.  These are easy to identify, as homepages almost always have a ~ in their URL.  Scroll below the screen shot to continue.

After deleting the text we highlighted in the previous screen shot, here is Tobi's homepage.  Scroll below the screen shot to continue.

We paused to show you Tobi's homepage to demonstrate the peel back technique as well as how to identify homepages even before you open them, but our objective is to find the people page in the URL.  To do this, we need to peel back the URL one more time to the page with "people" in it.  Just as a reminder of the peel back technique, since this is boot camp, we've included the screen shot of the peel back to the people page from Tobi's homepage (below).  Scroll below the screen shot to continue.

Finally!  After deleting the highlighted text in the URL on Tobi's homepage (previous screen shot - above), below is the page with the word people in the URL...  Scroll below the screen shot to continue.

Hey - Where are the people?  By clicking the green link called "List of Homepages on this Server" (in the screen shot just above this text) we can find them.  Below is a screen shot of some of the links to homepages that we found inside.  This example is great for college/university recruiters as a way to find students and key faculty members.  The same peel back principle works for your target companies when seeking experienced talent.