You Be the Judge

This week's column is a bit of a departure from our usual examination of tools. Rather than looking at a tool per se, we're going to look at an approach for finding candidates on the Web.

The resumes of experienced candidates frequently contain mentions of awards of excellence. Such awards, presented by industry peers and mentors, are a sure sign of expertise and talent. Instead of waiting for awards to appear on the resumes in your inbox, go find them.

Many sites maintain information about the competitions that they sponsor and the people who win them. Additionally, they often include information about the judges - another group of experts you can target in your searches.

Here are a variety of places we found when looking for award winners and judges.

Organizations and Associations

Professional associations and organizations frequently present awards to colleagues who have achieved a level of excellence on a particular project or for a sustained period. Here are some examples of sites that contain information about such award winners and judges.

The Association of Support Professionals has honored ten companies as the Best Web Support Sites. Obviously, those companies have a highly developed and professional support staff and you can target those companies when looking for candidates. But the site also has a link to the panel of expert judges who selected those sites. There's even a brief bio of each of the 27 judges. http://www.asponline.com/judges.html

The Society of Technical Communicators has a yearly competition to award excellence in a variety of technical fields. The 1999 Competition Winners page at http://www.stc-va.org/compwinners.htm contains links to winners in categories such as journal article, technical art, online communication and newsletters.

web sites

Though many "Best of the Web" awards have ceased operation, there are still some Web sites that honor designers, engineers and producers who create outstanding work. Here are two such sites:

HP sponsors a design contest that highlights a different in-house team of artists, designers, writers and producers each week. Check out http://www.hpinawards.com and click "Team of the Week" to see which design group is being honored this week.

The WorldBest web site Awards page pays tribute to Web sites that are judged to be best of breed in design and communication. From their site you can peruse a variety of beautifully constructed Web sites, as well as obtain a list of judges chosen from a list of past winners. Check out the judges at: http://www.2aspire.com/judges.htm

Publications

Business and technical publications are another good source for finding judges and award winners. Here are a couple of sites that highlight excellence:

Inside Business, based in Richmond and Norfolk, Virginia, has created a Web page that pays tribute to 40 local people under 40 who are successful in business and involved in the community. A list of the judges and the recipients, who include a tax manager, director of community development, architect, CEOs and a handful of attorneys, is available at: http://www.insidebiz.com/hamptonroads/forty/judges.htm

JavaWorld Magazine recognized the tools, companies and industry leaders committed to developing Java technologies. You can find a list of the 21 judges, who are particularly Java savvy, at: http://www.javaworld.com/pr/awards98.html#judges

Colleges and Universities

Beyond just essay contests and science fairs, schools sponsor an array of programs and conferences for specific academic disciplines. Alumni often contribute their time and talents to such events.

The Institute of Industrial Engineers at Wichita State University sponsored such an event last year. This link takes you to the judges and speakers page: http://web.imfge.twsu.edu/~iie/student/speakers/speakers.html

-- T.J. Ripley is a journalist and Web explorer who contributes to AIRS research and writing.

About AIRS
AIRS teaches recruiters and high-growth companies to find passive candidates hidden inside directories, databases, archives and the public Web servers of over 400,000 companies and organizations on the Net. For more information about our cutting edge training seminars, publications, or web applications please call 1-800-466-4010 or check out our web site at http://www.airsdirectory