The following promotional copy was emailed 06 February 2002 to about 560 companies and organisations worldwide:
Managing your Consultants Database and CV's - a free tool.
DearInternational Development Company or Organisation,
PS - if you want this email in Deutsch, Francais, Portuguese, Espagnol
or Italiano, then please email request -thank you.
I am a contract computer Analyst/Programmer. I have recently written
a fast, powerful text search utility which runs
under Windows and which can search through 10,000+
CV's on hard drive, CD or DVD on up to 8keywords
or keyphrases. Even better, if it does not find any
matches then it does a "best-fit"search. And
it can automatically create for you a list ofthe email
addresses belonging to the resulting CV's -then you can
"narrowcast" email a job spec to those select few.
Alternatively, you can browse the matching CV's directly
from inside the Program.
Q: Why do I need this product?
A: The market is so depressed that you have to eliminate
the cost of maintaining your database and of processing
your incoming CV's.
And DevJobs, EpsaCori and Similar services are great, but now you are
sometimes flooded with too many responses to each advert.
And yet for some odd-ball requirements you cannot find the right person,
and need to go hunting...
Thus you need to have a database, and yet you dont want to have to
pay money and staff to build and maintain it.
The cost of online databases such as http://www.cambridgedata.com is
relatively high.
You have lots of CV's hanging around on various hard drives and
servers. And if you dont have enough you can put out one advert
on any one of several media and get thousands of responses by email.
This text search product enables you to harness the latent power of
those under-organised and until-now-unsearchable CV's.
Q: Is it really free?
A: It is Shareware - I have not yet set a price - that
depends on the market. But that price will be reasonable -
if I set it too high then people just wont pay (but they
will use the product because it is high quality,reliable,
solid and with great functionality).
Q: How do I get it?
A: Goto http://www.anytimenow.com/guest - go to user area
<alexweir>, use password<password> . Then click on a tab on the
top middle of the screen which says <files>. The double click on each of the following
files and use the <save to disk> option.
Download WFIunzip.zip, WFindS2.cab,WFindS3.cab and WFsHelp.htm files -
3 megabytes in total. Unzip WFIunzip.zip and double click on
setup.exe to install. No CD key, no password, no tricks.
No Trojan Horses. Or go to
http://www24.brinkster.com/alexweir/WFindStr to read the
help file on this product.
Q: How do I get support if I have any sensible or stupid questions
or problems or queries installing or using?
A: Use Msn Messenger (which is a free one-to-one keyboard chat system) -
I am there as alexweir@hotmail.com. Or
use normal email - alexweir@email.com. Or phone me on
+263 4 301 047 or +263 23 824 045 (mobile)- I am on GMT + 2 hours.
Q: Is it possible to get those same CV's neatly pre-packaged on CD?
A: I am planning that if there is a demand for such a service then
I will provide it - and the text search utility will be conveniently
supplied also on the CD. I would aim for about 10,000 CV's on
one CD, in normal Word (.doc) format. Updated 1-4 times per year,
depending on demand and fee (a higher price obviously for 4/year).
Q: Why are you marketing in the 3rd World Development Area?
A: From 1987 onwards I used to run Consult Project Search, which was a
PC-based database of 3rd World Development Consultants on floppy disc,
and then in recent years on the Internet. This initiative is a logical
follow-on to that Project.
Q: Do I need to commit to a CD of pre-packaged CV's to use your Text Search
Product?
A: Of course not.
Q: If I use your proposed CD of pre-packaged CV's do I need to also use
your Text Search Product?
A: Of course not.
Q: Can I use your Text Search Product for other purposes totally unrelated to
CV's and/or Database of 3rd World Development Consultants?
A: Of course you can.
Q: Are you planning any other services which may be of interest to my organisation?
A: I see possibly the need for one centralized web page which lists the
email addresses of Companies andOrganisations who actively wish to
receive directly by email the CV's of persons in the field of Development.
This scenario is very much an alternative to the pre-packaged CV's CD as mooted above
(a centralized service concept), and follows the "Napster"peer-to-peer
paradigm. If this concept is valid in the view of Companies and Organisations
like yours, then I am willing to host and manage such a Web Page Listing.
Thanksfor your time.
Mr AlexWeir
Visual Basic Analyst Programmer.
Contracts done with Dell, Compaq, Digital,Maersk,
Daimler-Chrysler Aerospace, Hoechst, DeutschePost,
Cambridge Technology Partners etc.