Has there ever been a guy who needed a new job more than this guy. You know when you open your fridge and something smells really bad. Our beleaguered Attorney General has definitely stayed past his expiration date.
Job Search Log wants to help our guy out. We will establish a profile for Mr. Gonzalez at http://jobsearchlog.com where he can track the jobs that he could apply for. Gonzo can even send customized cover letters to the jobs on his list created using our Cover Letter Wizard to create the “mail merged” templates. We will do our level best to help give our favorite AG A.G. a jumpstart on his job search as Congress tries to give him a drop kick out of the Justice Department.
You can help our pal Al in his quest to land on his feet. Use the JSL Bookmarklet to pass along potential jobs to Mr. Coulda Been A. Justice. Here’s how you do it.
javascript:Qr=(document.getSelection)?
document.getSelection():document.selection.createRange().text;u=(document.location.href);
location.href=’http://jobsearchlog.com/ba.cfm?n=linuxboy&
d=’+escape(document.title)+’&u=’+escape(u)+’&
tags=%s’+’&ad=’+escape(Qr);
Copy the green colored text to your Browser Address Bar or save it as a favorite. This link is a piece of javascript code called a bookmarklet. This is code designed to be run directly from the address bar of your internet browser to perform a task. When you find the perfect job for the big A, select the text describing the job and click the Job Search Log bookmark you just created. A new Ad entry will be created in Job Search Log with the text from the Ad and the URL of the job. You won’t even leave the page you are currently viewing.
Job Search Log is free to use for everybody. You don’t even need to have a law degree from Pat Robertson U to use our pages. You can set up your free profile by visiting us at http://jobsearchlog.com. If you mention that you are a friend of Al, you can even get a Jumpstart on your job search without the requisite years of butt kissing necessary to get a job in government.
I have spent the last week trying to clear up small bugs and write documentation for the pages. Boy, that has been fun.
I found a site that allows you to create a dummies book cover of your own. 
A lot of fun.
I'm off to the wilderness of Manch Vegas NH to camp with my son's Cub Scout Pack. Maybe I should bring a security keyboard.
A Saved Ad.
The Ad saved advertises the job we probably all would like to have. A one day a week job.
Clicking on the Ad Title "Motorcycle Sales" will take you to the Original Ad (if you included the URL when creating the record and the page still exists.) On the same line is the day you created the Ad record and a link to the Job Source of the ad.
Clicking one of the buttons will allow you to Save the Ad as a Job or Delete the Ad. I will leave it to your imagination as to which button you must push to accomplish each action.
It has been a particularly frustrating weekend. I feel I am very close on completing most of the work necessary to have the app ready for public consumption and what happens. Changes were made at the hosting company level that are impacting the ability to generate emails through the program. I hope to have them resolved soon so I can continue with the testing.
All the same, still very frustrating.
Okay, now you have a bunch of ads on your Saved Ads page. Now you should choose which of these ads you wish to apply for. Click the Save As Job button to (3 guesses) save the ad as a job. The Add a Job form will display with the information you entered when you created the Ad entry already populated on the form.
I would suggest creating a job entry for each job you apply for even if there was an online application and you will not be using the Job Search Log to generate your correspondence. I can guarantee you that there will be at least one occasion when you are searching for information about a job when an employer calls you and the original job information will not be available on the web because they are no longer accepting resumes.
You should fill in as much information as you have available about the job and contact details for the company. This is also the screen where you will specify which cover letter, resume and other attachment you wish to send to the employer. If you don’t have a cover letter created yet, read the Create a Cover Letter tutorial. Trust me, it will not be as painful once you get started and it will make things much easier when you can send information directly from the database rather than creating individual cover letters for each job.
Checking your Job Sources on a regular basis will allow you to be sure you are finding all the jobs you qualify to apply for in a timely manner. Obviously it would be a good idea to check sites like Monster and America’s Job Bank more often than it is necessary to review sites updated less often such as the employment opportunities available working for the state of Massachusetts.
All the Job Sources you have defined are available by clicking on the link to View Job Sources. Each Job Source entry is composed of a link to the Job Source, the last time the Source was accessed and a button that when you click it will allow you to edit the Job Source.
Clicking on the Job Source will open the Job Source in a new page or tab depending on your browser settings. Each time you click a Job Source Link the page will be updated to reflect that the source has been visited again. If you use Firefox with the TabMix extension installed you can configure TabMix to open up each Job Source in a new tab. In Firefox or another Tabs-capable browser such as Opera, I suggest that you open a number of Job Sources in individual tabs.
When you find a job that matches your qualifications in the Job Source you can copy and paste the Ad into the appropriate boxes in the Add an Ad Page of JobSearchLog. Ensure that you get the entire URL string as the URL’s on many search engines are extremely long and stretch past the viewable space in the URL text box. If you have URL+ installed (guess, which browser) you may highlight the ad, right click and choose to copy the URL + Selection. When you paste the entry the entire URL will be included. Having a copy of the original ad is invaluable when the job is no longer posted because the job has moved into the interviewer phase.
Each time you add an ad, a new add an ad form will be displayed so you can enter another ad. When you are finished you can click the View Saved Ads menu item to see the ads you have entered but not saved as a Job.
I found this list of Job Search Tips for younger (I would hope) job seekers.
Dress Appropriately
- Take out piercings when going to fill out Apps or for an interview.
- No bra or thong straps exposed.
- No Tank Top or Pants with Graffiti on them
Be On Time
- The employer is doing you a favor, not the other way around
- There are times when it is better to go in looking for apps or an interview. Obviously no restaurant will interview you during a lunchtime rush.
Be Prepared
· Bring two pens (one will not work), paper, and a backpack to carry your stuff from previous interviews.
Job Hunting is a Solo Activity
- Don’t bring friends while you are filling out apps especially if they aren’t dressed appropriately.
- Never bring friends to an interview.
- If someone gives you a ride, they should either wait outside discreetly or pick you up afterwards.
Application Do’s and Don’ts
- Don’t write too small.
- Do bring along a resume or list of previous jobs, supervisor names and phone numbers to fill out the app with.
- Check your spelling
- Be careful what you use as the reason you left your previous jobs.
No matter how bad it gets, keep smiling.
Be prepared to be interviewed even when you’re not expecting to.
· Don’t be surprised if some employers want to interview you on the spot.
First of all, a job source is simply a web site that you use to find jobs. It could be as simple as a Company Human Resources Page that lists their current positions to a site as comprehensive as Monster.
My goal is to allow you to create a repository of the sources you use for jobs, categorize the jobs you enter by the job source and allow you to keep track of the last time you visited the site.
There are no limit to the number of Job Sources you can define and they will only be available to you after you are logged in. The first thing I would suggest doing is open up the Add A Job Source Page in a tab (you are using Firefox aren’t you). You can do this by right clicking here and choosing to Open the link in a new tab.
First choose what type of source you will be adding by selecting the type in the combo box. Most of the time the job source will be for a Company or Job Site.
Next you can type in the name of the Job Source you will be adding. Since you have the capability to add a large number of Job Sources, you should give a distinctive name for the source. For the purposes of this tutorial, i will use the following naming convention. A search of the job opportunities on Monster.com for PHP positions in the Boston area could be titled Monster Boston PHP allowing you to add a search for different type of positions to be titled Monster Boston ColdFusion etc…
The Site URL field is designed to hold the URL for the start page of the Job Search Engine or Company. http://www.monster.com .
You should now customize your search within the Job Source Site to acheive the results you are looking for. You will end up with a very long URL string to copy into the Search URL field. http://jobsearch.monster.com/jobsearch.asp?cy=us&q=PHP&re=97&lid=893&lid=893&refine=1 is an example.
You may add a comment in the comments field if you wish. You could use this field to document how often you wish to access this search. Since it is a page which will update often I will indicate: check daily for updates .
Click the Add Job Source button and after the source is saved you will be returned to the Add Job Source page. You can click the View Job Sources button to view the Job Sources you have already created.
Companies – Add a company, Send a batch letter to a bunch of companies, edit a company.
Comments – I am close to being able to add and edit comments to a work flow item or to a job, company or ad.
Cats – Still hate them especially the little one that is in heat.
One other big step!!! www.jobsearchlog.com now belongs to me for 3 years. Thank you Yahoo hosting for the 2.99 per year price for the hosting.
Okay it’s ugly right now. The tables (yuck) don’t display correctly at lower resolutions, but (and this is a big butt):
- Text Cover Letters Work (so do HTML)
- Add a Job Works
- Change Job Status works
Coming Attractions:
- Email a different letter (think Follow-up, cold call)
- Send an appointment with job information to an online calendar
- Actually start sending the cover letters and attachments to real jobs
