Question:
Alexa, now that you’ve rewritten my resume, where should I go on the internet to look for jobs? I’ve been using Indeed and even LinkedIn, but I’m ready to try another resource. Do you have any creative suggestions?
Answer:
Oh, you know I do!
Did you know that good recruiters and hackers have one major thing in common? It’s true. Both groups are really good researchers! In fact, there’s a specific type of online research called Google Dorking that’s been popular among both circles for long, long time. (Okay… since, like, the early 2000’s.)
What is Google Dorking? It’s the art of writing Google queries that return a very specific set of results. If that sounds difficult or scary, trust me, it’s not.
While it does take a little time and effort to become a proficient Google Dork, I’m about to show you how to run a productive query that will return lots of relevant jobs for you to consider and all you need to do is copy, paste, and use a little imagination.
Are you ready? Here we go!
Highlight the string below, copy it, and then paste it into a Google search box.
job apply (“TITLE” OR “ALTERNATE TITLE” OR “THIRD TITLE”) (“LOCATION” OR “OTHER LOCATION” OR “THIRD LOCATION”) (WANT OR WANT OR WANT) -DONTWANT -DONTWANT -DONTWANT
Now replace the titles and locations with ones relevant to your search. Replace WANT with any additional words that you want your search to contain, and DONTWANT with any word you want to exclude from your search. So, for example, if you’re looking for a job as a junior-level Splunk Engineer in Northern Virginia or Washington DC and you want to exclude jobs that require a government clearance, your search may look like this:
job apply (“Splunk Engineer” OR “Splunk Administrator” OR “Splunk Analyst”) (“Virginia” OR “District of Columbia” OR “Washington, DC” OR “Fairfax” OR “Loudoun” OR “Arlington” OR “Prince William” OR “Stafford”) (Junior OR jr) -senior -clearance -cleared -clearable
See? That wasn’t so hard.
Now, all of you hackers in the crowd are likely irritated by the search above because it’s super basic and not at all optimized. Yes, I get it, but we’re trying to extend the benefits of this skill to the folks who don’t already know what they’re doing, okay? Chill out and go optimize your own search.
Anyway, play around with these searches a little bit and see what you come up with. If you’d like to learn more about Dorking I’d recommend starting with the links below or, if you’re having trouble putting together a search, let’s book a coaching session so that I can help you out.
SANS Google Hacking and Defense Cheat Sheet
Google Search Operators: 40 Commands to Know in 2021
Go get ‘em, career hackers! You’ve totally got this.