Knowing the Market

Job Hunting Using the Net to Win

January 3rd, 2010

A modern job hunting campaign is by nature fairly involved. While the net has offered a variety of new channels, it also creates increased competition for choice jobs and possible challenges for job hunters.

Job hunting needs to be thought of as a highly personal, extremely aimed marketing operation where you are the product. Your resume is an advertisement. Your extended network of contacts is your source for job leads.

So where does the internet fit in? At AA-Careers, we recently posted a job on a popular job board and got over 650 applications in a week. For one position. That’s increased competition.

Had a strong candidate gotten ahold of us before we posted the ad, they could have gotten the position before running in to all that competition. How? By finding someone at our office who became aware of the job prior to posting. Everyone knew about of the job for at least 12 days before it was posted. Who in your network might know of a job that’s coming available soon?

Be careful to check your application materials thoroughly before submitting them. When we did an analysis of the 650 resumes, we found a large number of errors. 63% of the applicants were easily taken out with a fast-paced triage process. How? The same way any hiring manager would. By passing over resumes where the objective didn’t match our position description. By eliminating candidates whose cover letters gave us grounds not to hire them, like "I know I’m overqualified but I really need a job". By eliminating candidates whose documents that didn’t open properly. And by passing over job hunters who didn’t bother to spell check their cover letter and/or resume.

So the great news is that job sites give you a feel of who is hiring, and for what kinds of jobs. But once those positions are posted, the competition is intense. You can still try, if you have a well honed resume, designed to appeal directly and clearly to the recruiter. And if you have practiced interviewing – so you don’t stumble at a critical point.

Another issue to be aware of is how easily you can be checked out on the web. As we Googled several candidates, we ran into some personal web pages that were in questionable taste. Nothing crazy, but enough to tilt our thinking about who to employ.

AA-Careers provides a comprehensive set of services for Bay Area job seekers, providing our clients a personal career consultant, a managed job hunting campaign, modern tools like a personal website, video, highly targeted resume, and much more. Let us know if we can help you.

Be careful out there, and good hunting!

How to Fix Errors and Speed up Your Computer

December 4th, 2009

Do you wait longer and longer in front of your notebook because it is getting slower and slower?.

If your Windows Registry contains a lot of outdated entries, you’ll end up with a very slow computer

Windows Registry is an important file on your windows operating system and it contains a lot of information about your computer. E.g. where are software installed, which DLL files are shared among the installed sofware, short cuts in you Windows start menu and on your desktop.

Almost every action in Windows is recorded by Windows Registry. E.g. the path to the latest documents, videos and images used, in addition there are information about the programs you have currently installed and the programs you have previously uninstalled.

Several reasons can be mentioned as to why your PC suddenly get slow.

A professional tool can make your computer fast again.

These 3 steps are typically followed by a profressional tool:

  • Analyzing the computer looking for known errors that usually makes a computer slow.
  • Reparing the errors
  • Eventually your computer is faster, it will also boot faster because it no loger has any registry errors.

More thinks that can make your computer slow

A cluttered Windows Registry is not the only thing that can make your computer slow

At times is it the anti virus application that is configured poorly causing your PC to be slow

The anti virus program can be configured to analize irrelevant files, this will cause the program to waste a lot of valuable CPU time.

Add to that your anti virus software may be set to scan both your local harddrives and all network drives.

Scanning network drives is usually very CPU consuming because a network is much slower than a local local hard drive.

Normally you will not compromise you security if you disable network scans within your antivirus application.

- Eric Waterhouse Hansen

Filtering Spam on Microsoft Exchange Mail Server

October 27th, 2009

MS Mail Server - How to prevent Spam

By: George H. Biwit

Rising threat from spam emails raises the need to monitor and remove illegitimate messages, thus ensuring proper functioning of the MS Exchange system.

Unwanted mail has turned out to be one of the greatest threats for todays business world because they add trouble and cut down productivity. Companies get tons of indecent, deceptive and irking e-mails in bulk regularly. Spam is the word most commonly used to express discarded, unwanted and promotional mails. Spam is not an acronym, thus it doesn’t denote something. A spam e-mail is usually an e-mail with commercial content that is sent to thousands of recipients who never requested any kind of information from the person or organisation sending it.

Getting huge volume of unwanted commercial e-mails can significantly cost the individuals and businesses a lot of time and resources as they have to sort out the legitimate mails, removing the unsolicited messages and this process, at times, become very exhaustive and frustrating, thus hindering efficiency.

Deleting spam is a time consuming process, email server up-time and performance suffers, and your network faces a security risk from malevolent messages. In addition, businesses also face greater risk because spam e-mails can lead to harm to the systems that are difficult to repair, causing disorder, loss of work and money.

The only guard against the threat from spam is professional asistance ensuring complete security and protection. Make sure your mail server is shielded properly to assure that every byte of passing data is filtered and blocked against spam. Normally a spam filter for an e-mail server is software that analyzes every incoming e-mail, detects spam based on standard configurations and removed the unwanted junk mails so they never end up in the users’ inbox And one of the widely used servers is that developed by Microsoft. Dubbed as Exchange Server, this Microsoft product makes e-mailing more speedy and resourceful.

Anti spam plugins for Microsoft Exchange is a great help filtering and avoiding spam mail. A server side spam filter enables users to automate the procedure to sort and remove spam at the server level i.e. before it reaches the internal network and each user’s personal computer. An automatic procedure that filters out spam is recommended because it protects your internal network and each single connected personal computer. In addition is prevents loss of information and user downtime.

As the anti-spam technology cant be taken as perfect, conducting a manual checking by network administrator is a suitable measure to scrutinize the periodically filtered out messages to ensure that the exchange server spam filter is not detecting messages that are not really spam.

Winclear :Search Rfamily History For Free

May 25th, 2008

Many people ask the question of whether cookies are harmful for their computers. The answer is generally no, but it is not nearly as straightforward as it sounds. While cookies are often stored in text files, only used to track information that is already provided to various websites, and are set to expire in short periods of time, they can be used for malicious purposes in certain instances. You will need to work with cookies - however, if you know when to delete them and when not to, you can still enjoy the conveniences they provide. Selected as the Editors’ Choice by the experts at most downloads archives Advanced Spy record all e-mail’s sent and received all AOL ICQ Yahoo and MSN chat conversations all web sites visited every application executed all text and images sent to the clipboard every keystroke pressed every password typed and more! It’s can can run in Total Stealth mode and send activity logs to your email and/or upload to ftp server.

Since about November 2004 there has been a lot of publications of a scheme which at first was seen as a new kind of phishing. This technique includes contaminating a PC with a Trojan horse program. The problem is that this Trojan contains a keylogger which lurks at the background until the user of the infected PC visits one of the specified websites. Then the keylogger comes to life to do what it was created for — to steal information. Data loggers, key loggers are just a few programs which harvest info from your computer. Winclear is the only program created specially to auto remove such spywares. The person logged into your email account and retrieved the pin accessed your e-gold account and made an unauthorized spend from the account. That is why every computer owner needs winclear.

Protect With Winclear :Internet Explorer History Recorder
The company responsible for SpectorSoft is currently defending itself, stating that its program was never marketed as a way to steal information. Instead, they wrote the program to be used “legitimately” to keep tabs on business employees, spouses concerned about affairs, and keeping a watchful eye on teenagers’ internet surfing habits. Winclear is the only software which is capable of removing keylogger programs. However if malware or spyware is installed on your computer it may be possible for it to access those cookies and start retrieving your login email and personal information and sending it back to whomever installed the spyware. Winclear has been the industry leader in fighting keyloggers for the last 8 years.

Winclear:
Yes the seemingly endless onslaught of cyber crime continues this time via the innocent e-card - that which once was a nice surprise in the Inbox has become a gate to identity theft. That is the reason why you need Winclear installed onto your computer. The number of predators using the internet to groom children for future exploitation rises every month. Protect your computer security by using Winclear! More about Winclear here: Winclear.

Are You Safe When Shopping In Online Stores?

May 2nd, 2008

Why shop online in the first place?

When you decide to go online for shopping there is a reason for that. Of course there is reason you think. But really; why not just go down town and buy the product you need? It’s probably only a street or block away.

Because you like to do some fast research on the net to compare prices maybe or to simply check your options out there in the product jungle. By a click on the mouse your product is on its way to your home. It’s amazing how easy it is now a days. Only a few years back in time you went to the mall to get all your shopping done in one place.

But now, you got the internet, which is one giant world wide mall. You can buy all kinds of stuff and products online: luxury, furniture’s, motorcycles, cars, wigs, diamond rings, shoes, golf equipment, jewellery, grocery, saltwater fish and a much more. I don’t think there is anything that the internet does not offer in some way.

But how safe are you really?

One thing that is important when you shop in online stores is, look for the https in the URL in your browser before typing anything private in the stores checkout page. The s that is put in front of the http indicates that the transmission is secure and encrypted. That is preventing hackers to listen in on your shopping to steal your private data. The last thing you want is for some hacker to empty your bank account either directly or via shopping in your name so to speak. So, look for the https.

Can I trust the online stores?

How sure can you be that the store actually intends to send you any of the goods you order? Maybe they simply keep your money and that is all you ever going to see from them. Again, look for signs that this online store is serious. Look for customer service; there should be a direct phone number to the store, if you have any questions you need to be answered before or after your purchase. How do they ship items, and how about if you want to return the item? It should also be possible to pay via international credit cards like Visa or similar cards. I think it is too risky to transfer money directly into a bank account, unless you know the store well.

Final word about online stores.

I enjoy shopping online. I purchase books, both e-books and regular books, clothes, vitamins, access to information and much more. The net is a wonderful media when searching for information and services. Just look for the secure signs, and enjoy your shopping in online stores.

Huge amount of quality online stores information on this site - Go there! http://www.onlinestores.infostairs.com/

Phishing: A Scary Way of Life

April 18th, 2008

The Federal Bureau of Investigation has identified “phishing” as the “hottest and most troubling new scam on the Internet.”

What is Phishing?

Phishing is a scam initiated via e-mail. Messages are “fishing” for personal and financial information. Most often, e-mails appear to be from reputable companies (internet service providers, telephone companies, etc), banks, and other financial organizations. The e-mail message often gives a story of the bank needing to update its personal information database or a financial institution claiming your personal data had been lost.

Who Phishes?

Hackers and Scammers looking for personal and financial information use phishing as an effective method of gathering information. Phishers imitate legitimate companies in e-mails to entice people to share passwords or credit-card numbers. Recent victims include:

• Bank of America
• Best Buy
• America Online
• eBay
• PayPal
• Washington Mutual
• MSN (Microsoft Network)

History of Phishing

The term phishing comes from the fact that Internet scammers are using increasingly sophisticated lures as they “fish” for users’ financial information and password data. The most common ploy is to copy the Web page code from a major site such as AOL and use that code to set up a replica page that appears to be part of the company’s site. (This is why phishing is also called spoofing.) A fake e-mail is sent out with a link to this page, which solicits the user’s credit card data or password. When the form is submitted, it sends the data to the scammer while leaving the user on the company’s site so they don’t suspect a thing.

Avoid Phishing

Fortunately, common sense can save you from giving away your personal information. For example, be aware for the company requesting information. I have received e-mails from banks I have never had business with. Know that your bank or ISP will never ask for your information out of the blue. Banks do not update their databases and misplace information.

Tips To Avoid Phishing

• If you receive an unexpected e-mail saying your account will be shut down unless you confirm your billing information, do not reply or click any links in the e-mail body.

• Look for words misspelled or other grammatical mistakes.

• Before submitting financial information through a Web site, look for the “lock” icon on the browser’s status bar. It means your information is secure during transmission.

• If you are uncertain about the information, contact the company through an address or telephone number you know to be genuine.

• If you unknowingly supplied personal or financial information, contact your bank and credit card company immediately.

• Suspicious e-mail can be forwarded to uce@ftc.gov, and complaints should be filed with the state attorney general’s office or through the FTC at www.ftc.gov.

Jacob Madison is an internet marketing professional specializing in high-return growth and advanced marketing tactics. Find out more about him at http://www.jacobmadison.com

Spyware Awareness in Today’s Environment

April 5th, 2008

Computer users are quickly learning of the newest and most widespread threat facing internet use. Spyware has spread to more than 90 percent of computers surprising users who are unaware of the threats and forcing them to find a solution to the privacy invasions.

Spyware programs run on users’ computer without their knowledge. They monitor and record the web sites you visit, purchases you make, outgoing and incoming emails, chat messages and some types of spyware are capable of logging your credit card numbers, bank accounts, personal identification numbers, passwords and more.

Dial-up internet users are at risk of being hijacked by a dialer. Dialers use your internet connection to call 900 numbers and remote areas, billing the fees to you. A spyware infection can take control of your computer system and browser which could result in file damage. The build up of spyware on your computer will cause the system to slow and internet to drag more because of the constant stream of pop up ads.

Users should understand that while it is good to have anti-virus and firewall protection, those security tools cannot detect all spyware applications, which is why a program specifically for spyware detection is needed in addition to other security software. Identity theft in the nation is also on a rise and many of the cases are a result of spyware.

Another factor contributing to a noticeably slower running computer could be adware programs. Working similar to spyware, adware puts pop up ads on your computer repetitively and over time the side effects can cause damage to your computer.

Numerous spyware and adware removal programs can be downloaded, many of which are free, to rid of your malware infestations.

Mitch Johnson is a successful freelance author that writes regularly for http://www.1st-in-remove-spyware.com/, a site that focuses primarily on spyware detection software, as well as tips on how to avoid spyware from popping up on your computer. His articles have also been featured on related spyware sites such as,
http://www.best-in-spyware-detection.com/ as well as http://www.best-sypware-removal-reviews.com/