Your Next Employer May Find You Online

According to a 2008 survey by the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE), nearly 17% of employers surveyed reported plans to use online sources such as social networking sites and blogs as part of their recruiting efforts – up from 11% in fall of 2006.

Online resumes, social networks, and blogs have all become essential tools for employers in scoping out prospective hires, and online visibility is playing an increasingly important role in job search and career networking.

Whether you are happily employed or in the process of seeking employment, the value of your online presence should not be discounted.

Following are four tips from Abhay Parekh, founder and CEO of Flowgram, a new web-based communication tool, on how to use the Internet to build your visibility.

Four Ways to Build Your Online Visibility in 2009:

1. Create Your Online Brand.

The old adage applies here – you never have a second chance to make a good first impression. The information that appears about you online is the first chance you have to present yourself to a prospective employer. The internet is increasingly becoming a primary source for communication and information, especially with recruiters. You can create your own online brand by registering your domain name (firstnamelastname.com) and creating a website that highlights your work experience and your unique attributes. Make sure to include keywords relevant to your career, so that you can improve your ranking in search engine results, and become more visible to potential employers and recruiters within a matter of minutes. Register for a domain at sites such as Register.com.

2. Differentiate Your Work.

Whether you are an established professional or just starting out, effective career development means finding a way to differentiate yourself from the pack. There are a number of great tools available on the Internet that can help you present yourself in a captivating and innovative way. For example, Flowgram is a free web-based communication service that can be used to create an interactive multimedia portfolio of your work that incorporates web pages, slides, video clips, and more. Flowgrams are easy to distribute through e-mail, blog posts, intranets, and popular social media networks like Facebook, or through the Flowgram community online. They can also be viewed offline as downloadable videos. But rather than simply sending a static resume and hoping that someone will read it, Flowgram enables a dynamic experience that’s engaging and informative.

3. Establish yourself as an expert source.

Beyond showcasing your resume and your portfolio, the Internet can be used to create and communicate your own personal brand. A blog is a great vehicle for establishing your voice online, and can also be used to start a dialogue with a larger community of people by sharing opinions, asking for advice, or simply highlighting interesting ideas and information. By starting a blog, you position yourself as an expert source in your field, and also pave the way for making valuable new connections. MyBlogLog provides some tools for starting your own web log.

4. Explore your 6 degrees.

You’ve heard of the six degrees of separation theory -- now, put it to use by harnessing your own chain of connections. Professional networking sites such as LinkedIn provide a perfect platform for job seekers to utilize their professional network of friends and current and former co-workers. LinkedIn offers a fast and effective way to stay in touch with friends, co-workers, and recruiters, in order to keep the pulse of these relationships alive. By using business networking sites such as LinkedIn, you can increase the likelihood that people will see your name and profile first when businesses or professionals are searching for someone to hire or do business with.

Paying a Notary: $2 MAX.

Legal secretary Jessica R. discovered that friends and family members had been charged more than $2 for the services of a notary. She advises us that "it is against the law for a notary to charge you over $2 (in New York)."

See the excerpt of Notary Law below, taken from the following website: http://www.dos.state.ny.us/lcns/lawbooks/notary.html

Notary Public Fees in New York State:

§136. Notarial fees.
A notary public shall be entitled to the following fees:
1. For administering an oath or affirmation, and certifying the same when required, except where another fee is specifically prescribed by statute, $2.
2. For taking and certifying the acknowledgment or proof of execution of a written instrument, by one person, $2, and by each additional person, $2, for swearing such witness thereto, $2.

Software Troubles? Carol to the Rescue!

We'd like to introduce you to Carol Bratt. Carol is a certified Microsoft Office specialist, and her mission is to provide a life raft to workers like you, navigating the sometimes rocky seas of Microsoft Office. She offers various educational products to help you learn more about Microsoft Word, Outlook, Excel, Power Point or Publisher.

Due to firms trimming their staffs, some of you may find yourselves having to take on responsibilities that once belonged to someone recently departed -- responsibilities that require software know-how you don't have. Do you find yourself suddenly plopped in front of Excel spreadsheets, and you have no idea how to use them? Or do you now need to understand mail merges, when you never had a call to use them before? Investing in some learning tools can reduce your panic and boost your confidence more quickly than you may have imagined.

Visit Carol's Corner Office for more information. And be sure to sign up for her free monthly Word Bytes Newsletter!

Decaf at Starbucks? Prepare to Wait.

Starbucks has announced it's going to stop brewing fresh decaf in the afternoons. They say the demand for decaf lessens as the day progresses, and they're left with a lot of waste.

Instead, if you want decaf in the afternoon, you can still get it -- but it'll add at least four minutes to your wait. They'll have to brew it specially for you.

Read more here.

Cab-Sharing Services Save $$$, Gas

If you know ahead of time that you'll be needing a cab, consider using a cab-sharing service. They'll hook you up with someone else heading in the same direction at the same time, and you can share the fare.

To learn more about cab-sharing services in NYC, go here.

Post Your Resume, Get Spammed

A Just A Sec Exclusive!

When you post your resume on well-know job sites, you may or may not get a job – but you’ll definitely get spammed.

We noticed after we posted our resumes on job sites, we’d get in-boxes full of spam. And some of the dumbest spam we’ve ever seen, too.

Were the job sites really the source of our spam? And if so, which sites? Who was the worst spammer? We decided to get an answer.

We set up a fake resume for a secretary named “Justine” on Monster, Hot Jobs and Career Builder. We made Justine a secretary with very little experience, and we littered her resume with typos. In other words, she wasn’t likely to attract many legitimate job offers. We also set up three separate e-mail accounts corresponding with the three sites, and monitored them for two weeks.

Here’s what we learned.

Career Builder: The MOST Spam.

We received 6 different items of pure spam within two weeks. The first spam e-mail arrived within 24 hours of posting Justine’s resume.

Our favorite:

- From “Roger Smith”: “I am the Chief Executive Officer of National Income Life. I recently found your resume online and wanted to get in touch with you. We are expanding our sales force…we believe you have the potential to be an excellent match.”

Me? Justine?! You wanted to get in touch with lil’ ol’ ME? And…and you believe in my potential? Shucks, I oughta misspell secrtary and unvistity on every resume I post! Who knew I was such a hot property?

Oh, and there was this one:

“GREETINGS, I AM SSG LAPEINE WITH THE US ARMY…We are currently searching for people to fill over 150 different career field IN THE ARMY. You must be willing to join the United States Army to get one of these career field.”

Considering who our president is, we’re not surprised by the atrocious grammar. But wow, you should see the list of exciting careers you can train for in the army! Just one question: does your health insurance kick in before or after you get your head blown off in Baghdad?


Hot Jobs: The FASTEST Spam.

Hot Jobs comes in a close second for the most spam, with 5 items within two weeks. However, they had the fastest delivery. We got our first spam e-mail within just 12 hours of posting Justine’s resume.

Our favorites:

- Subject line “An Electrician Apprentice job is now open.”
- Subject line “Interested in working as an Architect?”

Justine has no job experience or education that would indicate she’d be even remotely interested in these careers. Sure, it’s possible she harbors some secret desire to be an architect with an electrical background, but chances are these e-mails are just going to be annoyances for most people.


Monster: The Least & Slowest Spam.

Monster delivered 2 items of spam within two weeks. And they took four days to send us the first one. But still – they spammed us.

Our favorite:

From “Sabrina Lloyd”: “…I am a State Director for National Income Life. I saw your resume on the internet and felt that I should contact you immediately. Our company currently has openings for several outstanding individuals like you.”

Individuals like me, Justine? The incompetent secretary with next-to-zero experience and the lowest grade point average one can have and still graduate from community college? I am so hot, I’m sizzlin’!


If we monitored the e-mail accounts longer, we’d probably see the amount of spam multiply, as the spammers sold our e-mail addresses to still more spammers.

The lesson here? If you’re going to post your resume on a job site, set up a free e-mail account somewhere and use it only for responses from that site. It’ll still be a pain to browse through all the junk mail for any legitimate inquiries, but at least you’ll keep the spam out of any existing e-mail accounts you care about.

And maybe you can send a complaint letter to Monster, Hot Jobs or Career Builder and tell them what you think about them passing your e-mail address on to skeevy companies who treat you like a moron.

Maybe these will help:

Mr. Richard Castellini
Vice President of Consumer Marketing
CareerBuilder
200 N. LaSalle St
Suite 1100
Chicago, IL 60601
Main Number: (773) 527-3600
Toll Free: (800) 638-4212

Jerry Yang, CEO
Hot Jobs -- Yahoo! Inc.
701 First Avenue
Sunnyvale, CA 94089
Tel: (408) 349-3300
Fax: (408) 349-3301

Mr. Sal Iannuzzi
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Monster Worldwide, Inc.
622 Third Avenue, 39th Floor
New York, NY 10017
Phone: (212) 351-7000
Fax: (646) 658-0541

(Note: We did not count e-mails from the job sites themselves as spam.)

Spa Week is Back! Discounted Services Galore!

From October 13th -- 19th, hundreds of spas throughout NYC will be offering premier services for just $50 each. That means massages, facials, body scrubs, and even medi-spa services like chemical peels, laser and vein treatments.

Learn more at www.spaweek.org.

Brunch in Your Bathrobe at a Brooklyn Spa!

Been thinking it's time to treat yourself? Or that your sad Sundays need a shot in the arm?

Here's a mini-getaway we wish we'd thought up ourselves: at Body by Brooklyn in Clinton Hill, you an indulge in a delicious brunch and a sumptuous afternoon of relaxation.

For $54 per person, guests receive brunch from a menu of delectable choices, including a Spinach & Feta Omelet, Croque Monseur, Shrimp, Mozzarella & Tomato Frita and more. Then patrons are welcomed to the Wet Lounge, where everyone receives unlimited access to the Cedar Sauna, Turkish Aroma Steam Room, traditional River Rock Sauna, Thermal Hot Tub and Arctic Cold Plunge Pool. Guests can lounge for a few hours, or stay the whole day!

Body by Brooklyn is located at 275 Park Avenue on the corner of Washington Ave. and Waverly Ave. in Clinton Hill, Brooklyn.

The facility is open from 10am-10pm Sunday, Monday, Wednesday and Thursday and 10am-midnight Friday and Saturday. Appointments can be made by calling 718-923-9400 or visiting www.bodybybrooklyn.com.

Spa Week is Coming!

Plan ahead to take advantage of Spa Week 2008! April 14-20, participating day spas in our area will be offering deliciously indulgent spa treatments for just $50.

To find out more, visit www.spaweek.org.

Treat yourself -- you deserve it!

2 Secretaries, 2 Online Tax Services: How Did they Fare?

April 15th is looming, and if you're like most of us, you'll be filing at the last minute, online.

Just-a-Sec had two NYC secretaries file their taxes using two different online filing services, to see how well the services fared.

The results were clear: Avoid TurboTax. Go with Tax Cut by H&R Block.

Here's the full low-down.

Secretary A on Tax Cut by H&R Block:

"It was pretty easy. I only had one snag. There was a code I had to enter from one of the boxes on my W-2. When I entered it into Tax Cut exactly as it appeared on my W-2 form, Tax Cut didn't recognize it. I kept getting an error message over and over again. I figured out how it wanted the code entered through trial and error. I had to go back and find the spot where I'd originally entered the code and fix it, and that was a bit of a pain, but I figured it out. I liked that I was able to put in my bank information, and I got my refund my direct deposit within one week. And they kept me informed by e-mail as my filing progressed, like when the IRS accepted my return. I paid for their "Premium + State" package for $59.95 which allowed me to e-file my federal and state returns at the same time."

Secretary B on TurboTax:

"I definitely won't use TurboTax again next year. What a nightmare! They have me completely frustrated. Although filling in the actual tax information was very easy, it was the post-filing stuff that was really screwed up. I wanted to print out copies of my return for my records, and there was this window on-screen where the forms were supposed to appear. They didn't. Their help instructions (which were hard to navigate, I thought) instructed me to download some other program if I was having trouble seeing or printing my returns. I did that, and it just didn't work. I followed all of their "help" instructions to the letter and nothing happened. I tried contacting customer service via e-mail. I told them I wanted them to just e-mail me copies of my returns as PDF attachments. They wrote me back and said, 'I am very sorry, we do not keep your tax files to print and send to you.' Ummm...hello? I certainly HOPE you still have copies of my returns in that system of yours! In theory, I'm supposed to be able to still access my returns and print them RIGHT NOW -- so why can't THEY access copies of my returns? I felt completely blown off. Then in the e-mail they redirected me back to a link to instructions I'd already followed that didn't work the first time for printing my returns. I'm going to try viewing and printing my returns from a friend's computer. But meanwhile, I feel very frustrated and I paid $186.15 for this! Not only that, but I found the site really difficult to navigate. I kept going around in circles for an hour trying to find the information I wanted. I find it ironic that the name of the company that puts out TurboTax is 'Intuit', because this was one of the least 'intuitive' web sites I think I've ever used. Never again."

Duane Reade Can Cause Seizures

If you care about your health, take your prescriptions to your local mom-and-pop pharmacy. STAY AWAY from the Duane Reade pharmacy counter.

Do you enjoy having your time wasted? Your health toyed with? Neither do I. Choosing to take those prescriptions to a small neighborhood pharmacy could save you dozens of needless headaches in the future. Why invite trouble? Make it easier on yourself.

Little independently-owned pharmacies find it difficult to compete with the big chains, so they tend to go out of their way to give good service and keep you as a customer. They're a lot more willing to do you a favor (say, keeping you alive and out of the hospital) than the big impersonal chains, like Duane Reade.

I've had so many bad experiences with Duane Reade pharmacies around the city, I've lost count. Today was the last straw; I just had to write and save you the agony I've experienced.

I take a medication that I can't stop taking suddenly. Doing so could cause me to have a seizure, maybe even die. I can always tell when I've forgotten to take my medicine, because within three hours, I start seeing flashing lights and getting sensations inside my brain like someone's zapping my cranium with an electrified cattle prod.

Pharmacists are supposed to know about these things, right?

Yesterday I dropped my prescription off at the Duane Reade near my workplace -- Broadway & Park Place. I knew I was making huge mistake, based on past experience. But stupid me, I was looking to save some time. Since Duane Reade was nearby, I dropped my prescription there, trusting that THIS time, things would run smoothly.

Like I said -- stupid me.

The woman at the pharmacy counter told me they were out of the drug I needed, but that they'd have it back in stock by 10:00 AM the next day. I said I'd come back tomorrow.

When I returned to Duane Reade at 12:15 today, I was told the drug hadn't arrived.

"Well what am I supposed to do? I'm completely out of pills. You told me this would be ready at 10:00 today."

The head pharmacist came out to talk to me -- identified only as "Kathy" -- and said I'd have to find another pharmacy that had the pills in stock. She said she "did her best" but that the medicine just didn't come.

"Why didn't you call me?" I asked.

"Well it just happened this morning."

"And you didn't call me this morning?"

Had she really done her best?

They took my number when I dropped off my prescription. What did they want it for? In case there was a problem with my prescription? Well, what did they call this? Did it occur to anyone to give the customer a heads-up that her crucial medication wouldn't be ready when promised?

Kathy said the best she could do was call another pharmacy to see if they had the drug in stock.

I've been through this before, at another Duane Reade location. They failed to tell me they were out of this particular drug until I came wandering in to pick it up. It took about ten phone calls before I found a pharmacy that had the pills on-hand.

To her credit, Kathy made a lot of phone calls to track down my medication. Unfortunately, it was too little too late. I couldn't call into my office and say, "Hey, I know I said I was just going to lunch, but I've decided to take the rest of the day off...to go look for some pills."

And I didn't appreciate having to take 50 minutes of my 60-minute lunch break to just stand around in the middle of Duane Reade and wait for this woman to make a dozen phone calls while I waited.

I never did get my prescription filled. I still don't have it.

Kathy should not have put me -- or herself -- in such a frenzied position. Duane Reade should have better systems in place, and higher performance standards. They should have been more aware of what was going on with the day's orders -- who needed what, and by when. Who might get sick without their meds; perhaps make a simple phone call to head off disaster. Unlike CVS (which in my experience tends to have better-organized pharmacies and more alert pharmacists -- for a chain), Duane Reade is staffed by boobs -- clueless, hapless boobs, uniformly, city-wide. They've lost my prescriptions. They've given me the wrong prescriptions. They're just plain ridiculous. I can't believe I gave them another chance.

Duane Reade is OK when you need to make a shampoo pit-shop or stock up on ibuprofen. But do yourself a favor and take your prescriptions somewhere else. Anywhere else.

On a side note, as I was standing in Duane Reade waiting for Kathy The Pharmacist to finish her phone calls, the cashier left a 2-inch-thick STACK of bills -- 10s, 20s -- on the counter in front of the cash register, and WALKED AWAY for about five minutes. It could have been a stealthy thief's dream come true.

So I guess sloppiness and incompetence at Duane Reade are pretty steady policies.

At least you can count on that.