automation 201

Automation 201

Mike Notaro

A bit about me

Ø Currently Reside in New York Ø  Sourcing Innovation Specialist for Accenture Ø Recruiting/Sourcing for 6+ years Ø My Passion is Problem Solving Ø  Previous roles:

–  Sourcer for Hewitt/AoN –  Sourcer for Coach Inc. –  Researcher for Deloitte –  Full Cycle Recruiter for The Horizon Group –  Full Cycle Recruiter for Candidates on Demand

So Many Problems Ø  Problem: A matter or situation regarded as unwelcome

or harmful and needing to be dealt with and overcome.

Ø  Solution: A means of solving a problem or dealing with a difficult situation.

Ø Automation: the technique of making an apparatus, a process, or a system operate automatically.

The Automation Process

ü How much time is wasted per day on this task? ü Do others have the same problem? ü What is at the core of my problem? ü How much time is required for solution development? ü  Is my solution portable?

Above all else ask yourself:

Why hasn’t this problem been solved already?

Time Wasted vs. Worthy Cause

Ø  If my team is wasting more than one hour per day consistently for a lengthy period of time, it’s a worthy cause.

Ø  If producing a solution to a smaller problem will lead to solutions of other problem, it’s a worthy cause.

Ø  If I’m personally wasting more than two hours per day consistently for a lengthy period of time, it might be a worthy cause.

Ø  If it’s a temporary minor inconvenience that will be out of your way within a short period of time, it’s NOT a worthy cause.

Do You Suffer Alone?

Ø  If you feel you’re wasting more than 2 hours daily on a task, then ask your team if they are too.

Ø  Identifying the problem and requirements to resolve it comes easier when working with a group as it allows you to see sides you hadn’t considered.

Ø  If more than 3 members on your team are struggling with the issue for a period of time longer than three months, escalate to find out why this issue has yet to be examined, or what the outcome was if it has been.

What you’re losing?

If you’re losing one hour per day and you have a team of ten, collectively you’re losing:

–  10 hours per day –  50 hours per week –  2600 hours per year (325 Eight Hour Days) –  Est. Avg. Sourcer/Recruiter Contract Rate of $50/Hour –  $130,000 lost because of a simple process flaw Ask Yourself: How many years has this problem gone unresolved? How many other unresolved problems are there…?    

The core of the problem

Ø Conceptualize the idea of a tool or service that would make your life easier and how it would do so.

Ø Google for existing products or solutions to your conceptualized model.

Ø  Break the problem down into individual elements, all the way down to the smallest motion and write them out in logical order. –  Common Problems:

•  Electronic/Software Deficiency •  Organizational Flaws and Miscommunication •  Flaw in Fundamentals/Practices •  Physical limitations

Factors for development

Ø How much are you losing? Ø How much is the company losing? Ø How much spare time do you have? Ø Are you solving a problem for yourself or one to share

with others? Ø Your level of knowledge surrounding the problem. Ø What has your superior has said about the subject? Ø Has the problem has been escalated before and gone

unresolved? Ø  Is there available budget to purchase a solution?

How much Time to spend in R&D?

Ø  If Google doesn’t turn up a quick fix for you, have someone else look for one. Syntax is key.

Ø  If you don’t find a complete solution, look to the individual components of your problem and find individual solutions.

Ø  Ask around in other places such a forums, twitter, and other social exchange platforms. Odds are if you’re having a problem, someone else is/was having it as well.

Ø  If it’s something terribly obscure, you might consider being a hero/fool and jumping in with a “Dummies” or “Idiots Guide”.

Portable/transferable?

Ø Can you quickly and effectively training other individuals suffering the same problems?

Ø Does it take rocket science to implement with others?

Ø Can this solution be utilized by all computers/operating systems if electronic?

Ø How resistant to change is your team and are they willing to adopt and put in the time to learn?

Something to Consider

Ø  If it’s software related, why not hire a programmer, tell him what you want built, and allocate a fixed budget for it?

Ø  $130k vs. $5-10k in development is well worth the time and money.

Ø Reaching out to other areas of your organization and integration into sourcing can lead to things you didn’t realize you had the ability to do.

My Top 3 Solutions

1.  FireFox Addon Outwit

2.  FireFox Addon – iMacros

3.  FireFox Addon – FEBE

Outwit Hub

Ø OutWit Hub breaks down Web pages into their different constituents. Navigating from page to page automatically, it extracts information elements and organizes them into usable collections.

Ø A fast and simply way to grab data and generate a list of leads with very little effort.

Ø Outwit Hub Free has limitations, however the paid version only costs $34.90.

The Value of Outwit

•  Sitting there looking at a site full of profiles but the requirement to click on each one and copy/paste is terribly daunting.

–  Outwit Can Pull 1,000’s of profiles worth of data and arrange

them into an organized spreadsheet in seconds. –  Outwit can extract entire documents. –  Outwit can pull email addresses, tables, links, and images. –  Outwit is capable of digging through multiple pages of results

all the while pulling data as it goes.

Outwit & You

Ø Consider visiting a website or forum that contains thousands of profiles of individuals gathered for what you’re sourcing for.

Ø  If there isn’t much detail to a profile, it wouldn’t normally make sense to spend the time copying and pasting all of them.

Ø With Outwit, you can do it in moments so why not have extra leads later on?

Ø Outwit is the CHEAPEST and most USER FRIENDLY scraper I’ve found.

Outwit = WIN

how to Scrape  1)  Navigate in FireFox to the site you’d like to start scraping. Ex:

http://www.dreamincode.net/forums/

2)  Look for an click on a user profile link. ie: Skyhawk133

3)  Launch “Outwit Hub” from FireFox.

4)  Select “Scrapers” from the left hand menu/column.

5)  Click “New” to create a new scraper.

how to Scrape

Name Each Row à

Use the “Find” feature to locate key words you’re searching for by example. à

Looking for “skyhawk133” à

Set what comes before what you’re looking for

Set what comes after what you’re looking for

<title> - Viewing Profile</title>

<title>skyhawk133 – Viewing Profile</title>

how to Scrape  

Info you might like to grab… or not.

It can get a little repetitive depending on how much you’re looking to scrape

Once you’ve got them all squared up, be sure to save it and that the “Ok” boxes are checked off for the pieces you wish to extract

Gathering Links to Scrape  

“View All” of his 346 friends? Sure, why not!

Gathering Links to Scrape  Select “lists” from the right à hand column.

Select row if “Page Url” Contains http://www.dreamincode.net/forums/user/

Then click “Catch”

De-duplicate  

Select All à

ßDelete All Cell Duplicates

execution!  

Select All à

ß Apply Scraper

Results!  

Now Just Go Ahead and Export to Excel, Find Another Profile to Grab, Rinse and Repeat!

iMacros

Ø  iMacros is another addon for FireFox with Chrome and IE versions also available.

Ø  iMacros will save hours upon hours of your time handling repetitive data entry chores if you let it.

Ø  iMacros is as simple as operating the “Record” and “Play” button on your DVR/VCR.

Ø  iMacros can do LOTS of other stuff if you take the time out to really experiment and play with it.

The Value of iMacros

Imagine having a desk of 15-30 positions open and all of the clicking, copying, and pasting required to effectively market each one daily.

–  All of the tweets to be sent. –  All of the groups to be posted. –  All of the standard forms to fill out in your ATS. –  All of the copying and pasting of items from web to

desktop application.

iMacros & You

Ø  Now imagine a world where you only had to do each of these tasks one time, then replay them as needed with a double click of a mouse and not all the other typing/clicks.

Ø  Filling out time cards, posting jobs, sending tweets, done in an instant.

Ø  iMacros is EXTREMELY user friendly for the non-technical.

Ø  iMacros is FREE and works with FireFox, Chrome, and IE.

iMacros = WIN

What iMacros Looks Like It’s basically a little with “Play”, “Record”, and “Edit” tabs.

Once ready to do what it is you need to do, click the “Record” button. à

When you’re done, click the “Stop” button”. à

Keeping Track of your iMacros

Once you’ve finished recording, go to the “Play” tab and you’ll see a new item “#Current.iim”. That’s the macro you just recorded.  

If you “Right Click” on the macro you’ll see this menu. Select “Rename” and you’re all done.

In order to run your new iMacro, simply select it from the list and click “Play” then watch it run.

Hands-Free iMacros

Ø  iMacros allows you to export your macros as bookmarks which can then be added to a scheduling agent such as “My Weekly Browsing Schedule” for FireFox.

Ø You don’t even have to be there so long as FireFox is open and your work will get done for you.

Right Click on Macro and chose “Add to Bookmark”

Click “OK”

Open My Weekly Browsing and select “Add from Bookmarks”

Scroll down and select the Macro Added.

Set Dates and Times

FEBE (Firefox Environment Backup Extension)

Ø  FEBE is a FireFox addon which allows you to export all of your settings, bookmarks, addons, etc.

Ø  FEBE allows others to then import all of those things into FireFox into individual profiles.

Ø FEBE also allows you to back up all of these things onto Box.net so you can always access your full FireFox if you’re without.

The Value of FEBE

Imagine yourself as a new contractor still trying to get up to speed on everything.

–  All of the important links you need. –  All of the tools you left behind on your old laptop. –  Remembering all of the days/times things are required to be

submitted. –  Finding all the websites that may help you or be specific to your

new role. –  Organizing all of this while trying to make a good first

impression.

FEBE & You Ø  Now imagine a world where you could have all of that done

within minutes of your first day.

Ø  Taking time out to organize a proper web browser might take a few hours or so, but in the end look how many man hours and how much stress you’ll save anyone on your team.

Ø  FEBE is EXTREMELY user friendly for the non-technical. individual.

Ø  FEBE is FREE and works with ALL versions of FireFox.

Ø  FEBE is Portable, Solves Issues for Many, Saves LOTS of time.

FEBE = WIN

This is FEBE The items highlighted in yellow are the only items you’ll need for the entire export and import.  

The first thing you need to do is setup your options. à

Setting Your Options

The items in yellow are all you need to be concerned with.

Once you’ve setup your options, click “Ok” and then select “Perform Backup” from the FEBE Options this time.

Once it’s complete the setup process is all finished and your export file will be in the folder designated in the “Where to Backup” tab of the Options menu.

backing UP  Click on the “Where to backup” button then select the folder where you wish to save the exported file.

Close the Options and Click on FEBE again. Select “Perform Backup”.

Importing FEBE Profile

To Create a New FireFox Profile, click the “Restore Profile” button. à

When this window pops up, chose the “Create New Profile” button and give your profile a name.

Next go to “Select local backup to restore” and navigate to the FEBE file to import.

Lastly, Select “Start Profile Restore”

Testing Your New Profile Once your profile is imported, all that’s left is to go into “FireFox Start Options” from the Import Menu and select “Use Profile Manager”. It will then ask you to restart FireFox and when it loads up you’ll see a box like this.

Select the Profile you wish to load and click “Start FireFox”.

Contact v  Michael Notaro v  Email: Zetsui@gmail.com v  Twitter: @MikeNotaro v  LinkedIn: MikeNotaro v  Google Voice #: 516.806.4519 v  Cell Phone #: 516.318.9893 v  Skype: Michael_Notaro

Take-Away Materials

OutWit Take-Away Bonus #1!

•  For Outwit Hub Pro Users: LinkedIn Profile Extract 1.  Download and Import the Scraper. 2.  Click on the “Links” button in the left hand Menu.

3.  Setup your link settings like this:

Instructions (Continued)

4.  Click the Refresh Button. 5.  Click the “Load Next Page in Series” Button.

6.  Stop when you’re ready and remove the duplicate values from your “Catch” by right clicking on an item.

Instructions (Continued)

7.  Go over to “Scrapers” and make sure you’ve “checked”/Enabled “Profile Extractor”

Instructions (Continued)

8.  Right Click in your Catch Box and “Select All” Then Click “Apply Scraper on Selected URLs” and chose “Profile Extractor”

Instructions (Concluded)

9.  Right Click on your fully extracted results list, “Select All” then Export to Excel.

outWit “DreamInCode” & Linkedin Demo  

http://bit.ly/oRbiD9