Choosing the right search engine has a crucial impact on how effectively you use the Internet to research companies, industries or people. Here are some tips to help you make the right choice.

Caveat: Don't Pick Just One

The first thing you need to realize is that no single search engine has the whole Web cataloged. By restricting your search to one search engine you risk missing vital information. To avoid blind spots, you should use a combination of three different types of search engine.

1. Meta Search Engines

A meta search engine searches the listings of other search engines to arrive at its search results. This means that a meta search tool is the only device that comes close to looking at the entire Internet. Try MetaCrawler, www.metacrawler.com, one of the largest meta search engines, or Dogpile, www.dogpile.com.

2. Search Engines

Search engines display the sites in order according to how often a site contains the keywords you specify. Google, www.google.com, is one of the major search engines. Also try Ask Jeeves: www.ask.com.

3. Directories

This type of search site relies on human editors, rather than technology to find information. Yahoo! (www.yahoo.com) was one of the best known, but they switched to their own search technology in late 2002. Yahoo! still maintains a directory at dir.yahoo.com but LookSmart, www.looksmart.com, and its partner, Zeal, www.zeal.com, are largely monitored by human editors.

For more information on search engines, visit www.searchenginewatch.com.

Quick Tip: News Search Engines

If something has been written in the media on the company you are researching, use a news search engine to find additional information. Try Google News (news.google.com), Yahoo! News (news.yahoo.com), or Northern Lights paid service (www.northernlight.com/nse.html).

9 Useful Search Engines

AllTheWeb.com www.alltheweb.com
Alta Vista www.altavista.com
AOL Search search.aol.com
Excite www.excite.com
Go.com go.com
HotBot www.hotbot.com
Look Smart search.looksmart.com
Lycos www.lycos.com
MSN www.msn.com

Wishing you career success!

Lauryn Franzoni
ExecuNet
www.execunet.com.

CAREER TOOLS:

Free Careers Orientation

If you're just starting out in your career, thinking of changing industries or just want to check out what life is like in other sectors of the economy, there's a cool new website you might want to check out -- www.careervoyages.gov.

Yeah, it's from the government; but don't let that discourage you. First of all, it's free. And it'll give you extensive information about careers in a number of leading industries including biotech, construction, healthcare, IT and transportation. If your computer is down, you can get a lot of the same content by calling 1 (877) US-2 JOBS.

WHAT I LOVE ABOUT SAFETY

By Gord Smith

If you add it all up, I've probably lost over 10 full years of my working life due to work-related injury. It seemed like I was always in the wrong place at the wrong time. Never once had I ever been injured because of my own unsafe acts. It was always the result of someone else's error or omission.

My first injury came when I was hit by a fork truck. I was just 17. The operator made a hurried back-up in order to stop a stack of skids from falling and hit me. Luckily all I got was a dislocated shoulder and a 25-foot swat across the shop. I got off the floor and went to my supervisor. I stood there in pain and holding my shoulder while he talked to three other people and ignored me. Finally after about 10 minutes, he turned to me and said "What...why are you standing there?" I told him and he was shocked that I had waited. I told him I didn't want to interrupt. Hey, I was just a kid. Nobody had ever told me what to do after getting hit by a fork truck.

I worked at another large Canadian tire retailer. Since I could tolerate sulphuric acid better than most, I became the receiver. I would pour 5-gallon pails of received acid into 50-gallon open storage tanks. No gloves, safety glasses, apron, face shield or anything. No one told me I needed them. I remember leaving the tiny room many times because I felt faint or sick. A few deep breaths and back I would go. I did not know any better and WHMIS was still a few years off. [Editor's Note: For our U.S. readers, WHMIS, which is short for Workplace Hazardous Material Information System, is the Canadian equivalent of OSHA Hazard Communication].

Since that time, I've been involved in motor vehicle crashes at work (never my fault) that have required years off work and numerous surgeries. I was nearly blinded as a mechanic when the guy in rust proofing was playing around and fired the rust proofing gun in my face. Rust proofing from a 120 PSI needle valve is not comfortable. I didn't lose my sight but did lose my job - because I got hurt. I tripped over items left virtually camouflaged on a construction site and separated my shoulder. I have even, in one of the MVA been bent backwards over a low-back bucket seat while wearing only a lap belt as I was in a delivery truck and that was all it had. My upper back bent over the seat, my hips stayed put. Something had to give and one resounding snap later and my back was broken.

I had to be retrained and as much as I looked at other things, I kept coming back to Safety Engineering. When I finally realized that safety was my calling, it all came together. I was meant to do this. Because of my own experiences, I have a unique understanding of the effects of poor health and safety. My permanent disability is a constant reminder. My passion for health and safety is that if I can prevent one person from having to experience any of the things I have, then I am a success. My mantra is that "to truly be a success in health and safety...I need to render myself obsolete." If fix everything then nobody gets hurt ever again and I am not needed. That would be my ultimate dream.

Gordon D. S. Smith (S.E.T.)
Corporate Safety and Compliance Manager
PROCESS GROUP INC.

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