The other day, I got an email from a well known company that is looking for certain skills for positions it wants to fill. Since the job required relocation to another the United States, I politely declined, despite the big name of that company.

What interested me is how recruiters check out potential candidates on the internet using Google search. From the logs of my web server, I could see exactly what this person searched on, and the sequence of events. I am publishing this mini-research because it is really interesting for geeks like me.

From the IP address of the sender, I could tell that he indeed was from that particular company, despite the fact that his email address said otherwise.

The sequences of events were as follows:

1. He searched Google for some technology search terms, including C++, Java, Linux and UNIX.
2. This got him some results, including my resume page.
3. He did not click on the resume on my site, rather he first clicked on the Google cache. I know this because Google has some trouble caching CSS and images, so I get a 404 when someone clicks on the cache as an expected side effect. This happened on 2005/03/31 19:25
4. Then, at 19:26 he finally decides that he would click on my resume, and I get the Google search as the referer.
5. He then clicks on the feedback form on this web site, at 19:29.
6. It takes him a few minutes to type his message, and clicks send on 19:31.
7. He then proceeds with his research, and searches Google for Khalid M. Baheyeldin my full name, as it is spelled in my resume.
8. This leads him to a page that does not exist anymore. I know this because of the 404 that got logged.
9. He then clicks on Family, perhaps out of curiousity.
10. He then checks the WhoIs data for my domain. Not sure why he does that, perhaps to verify that the domain info matches what he sees on my web site?
11. He then clicks on my USA section. Articles on this section are not unusual for Canadians, or even for U.S. Democrats. But if you are one of the 50% who re-elected G.W. Bush, you could dismiss it as anti-Americanism.

I found the whole experience quite amusing: how recruiters use technology to "size up" candidates, and how they can know more than they ever could using the internet today.