GLEN COVE COMPUTING NEWS

Welcome to the May issue of Glen Cove Computing News. This issue's feature article Hunting Jobs (not Steve) on the Internet will give you some tips on how to use the Internet to find a job. In this issue of Glen Cove Computing News you'll also find:

• Job Resources
• GCC Tech Tips
• Internet Site of the Month
• Cartoon of the Month
• Internet Technology of the Month

So you're looking for a new job. Your boss is a jerk who makes Dilbert's boss look like Gandhi. You've been laid off from your job and they're coming to repossess your BMW. You just got out of college with a degree in Comparative Literature and your parents are threatening to kick your literary butt out on the street where you will be forced to become a mime to make ends meet. Whatever the reason there are two distinct ways to find a job:

• The Hard Way: Read the classifieds, pound the pavement, plead with all your relatives and friends, and send hundreds of unsolicited Resumes out to potential employers.

• The Easy Way: Use the Internet.

In the ten years that I've been out of college I have gotten exactly one job using the hard way. Every other job I've gotten has come from a recruiter (pre-WWW) or through the Internet. So where do you start if you want to use the Internet to find your dream job? First get your Resume in order, because even on the Internet you still need a good Resume to find a job. There are numerous packages out there that will help you to write your Resume, but here's my advice. If you do not have excellent writing, spelling, and grammar skills do not write your own Resume. Go to a professional Resume writer and pay them to write your Resume. I worked as a network manager for close to eight years and saw hundreds of Resumes with misspellings, grammar errors, and just plain bad writing. When a Resume came to me with misspellings or grammar errors it ended up in the circular file. Your Resume is your only chance to get your foot in the door. Remember cover letters are glanced at and then stapled to the back of the Resume. If your Resume isn't up to par don't even bother going on to the next step.

Once you've got your Resume completed, it's time to convert your Resume to HTML and ASCII text for posting on a Resume hosting site. You'll need to do this because most Resume hosting sites on the Internet require you to post in either of these two formats. Of course not all of you know how to create web (HTML) pages. Luckily most word processors now have a feature that allows you to save a document as an HTML document. Most of you are probably using one of the Big Three (Microsoft Word, Lotus Word Pro, or Corel WordPerfect) so let's start with them.

If you've used Microsoft Word 95 to create your Resume there is a free Internet Assistant that will convert Word 95 documents into HTML. You can download the Word 95 Internet Assistant from the Microsoft web site. Microsoft Word 97 comes with a Save As HTML feature, so you won't even need to download Internet Assistant to convert your document. I've used both the Word 95 Internet Assistant and Word 97 Save As HTML feature successfully, although I've found that some documents lose their formatting in the conversion process. Lotus and Corel have also integrated HTML publishing features into the latest versions of Lotus Word Pro and WordPerfect respectively. Unfortunately I haven't used either program recently, so I can't say how well they convert the document into HTML. If you're using another word processor (e.g. MS Works) or the HTML conversion screws up your formatting, get a copy of Microsoft FrontPage 97. This is the program that I use for posting existing documents to my web site and it does a great job of converting both Word 95 and Works 4.0 documents to HTML. FrontPage 97 can also convert to HTML the following formats: RTF (rich text format); Word 6.0/95 (Windows or Mac); WordPerfect 5.x; WordPerfect 6.x; Works 3.0; Word 4.0-5.1 (Mac); Word 2.x (Win 3.x); Word 97. You should be able to find a copy of FrontPage 97 for around $100 at your local computer store.

Now that you've got an HTML or text version of your Resume it's time to start posting it on the Internet. When it's available I prefer posting my Resume in HTML format, as it allows you to maintain the document's formatting. One of the best Resume hosting sites that I've found is the Online Career Center which supports posting your Resume in HTML format. The Online Career Center also features a job-listing database with keyword search, a Career Assistance area, information about job fairs and events, and a database of company information and profiles for the over 100 member companies. Instructions on how to post your Resume to the Online Career Center can be found at http://www.occ.com/seeker/resumeinputform.html. To learn more about the Online Career Center check out our Internet Site of the Month feature below. Some other sites that allow you to post your Resume for free are:

• The Monster Board (text format or build your Resume online)
• Career Exchange (text format)
• InstaMatch (text format)
• IntelliMatch (text format or build your Resume online)
• The Internet Job Locator (text format)

So once you've posted your Resume on one of these sites you can just kick back and wait for the job offers to start coming in? Well not exactly. Even if your mailbox is swamped with offers you should still start searching the job databases that are available at these sites. If you're pressed for time I would concentrate on the Online Career Center and The Monster Board, as they are (IMHO) the two best resources available on the Internet. Below this article I've listed a number of Job Resources that I've used in the past with varying degrees of success. If you know of any other Job Resources, please email me at tmartini@glencove.com and I'll post a link on this page. Good luck with the job search and remember, even Liberal Arts major (like me and maybe you) can find a great job!

• Online Career Center: The Best Job Resource on the Internet.

• The Monster Board: The Second Best Job Resource on the Internet.



• Career Exchange: International career search database.

• Career Magazine Job Openings Database

• CareerWEB

• The HiTech Career Centre: Canadian career and job hunting resource.

• InstaMatch: Where jobs and people meet their match.

• IntelliMatch: Where jobs and people meet their match.

• Internet Career Connection: Search The Help Wanted-USA Database

• The Internet Job Locator

• JobCenter Employment Services

• JOBS jobs Jobs

• JobSmart: Northern California Job Search Guide

• If you do decide to upgrade over Windows 3.x, delete anything on the load= and run= lines in the [windows] section of WIN.INI. If you've been using a non-Windows shell extension, open SYSTEM.INI and restore the following line in the [boot] section: shell=progman. exe. Next, reboot the system and hold down the Ctrl key to bypass the Startup group applets (if any).

• The best sequence for debugging a non-functional Windows installation is to try WIN /D:XSV first. If Windows boots, try just X, just S and just V; this should narrow down the likely problems. If none of the parameters work individually, try them in pairs; in the worst case, you should only have to try six combinations.

• You can run a DOS program from a Windows 95 shortcut even if it requires variable parameters each time it's run. Create a shortcut for the DOS program, and then right-click on the shortcut and pick Properties from the context menu. Click on the Program tab and add a question mark to the end of the path in the "Cmd line" field. When you run the program from the shortcut, it will open a parameter window where you can type the variable information.

• Sometimes you want to select most, but not all, of the files in a folder. Here's the easiest way to do it: Select all the files you don't want to select, then choose Invert Selection from the Explorer Edit menu.

• Most of us use the Start menu to find ScanDisk, Disk Defragmenter or Backup. But there's a better way. In My Computer, right-click on a drive and select Properties. Click on the Tools tab. Here you'll get information on the last time you performed each operation, with launch buttons for each.

The Internet Site of the month for May 1997 is the Online Career Center (OCC). OCC is the original job search resource on the Internet, dating back to before the days of the Web. The OCC features a job-listing database with keyword search, a Resume database, a Career Assistance area, information about job fairs and events, and a database of company information and profiles for the over 100 member companies. There are no charges for employers to access your Resume and entering your Resume is free if done online.

Through the Search Jobs section you can enter a search key word or browse by industry, state or city. Employers looking for help can search for Resumes by state or keyword. The Recruiter's Office provides resources for corporate recruiters including the ability to post job ads or access career transition services for displaced employees. You can also find career assistance including help with Resume preparation and articles on various subjects. If you're looking to find a job through the Internet, this is the place to start. Since I posted my Resume on OCC back in 1995 I have received about 5-10 queries from corporations and headhunters each week. Two of those queries turned into full time jobs. It's free, easy, and a lot more fun than reading the classifieds every Sunday.

The Internet Technology of the month for May 1997 is The HTML Reference Library by Stephen Le Hunte. The HTML Reference Library (HTMLib) is a Windows HLP file (available in Windows 3.x and Windows 95/NT versions) which details with numerous screenshots and example code, how all currently useable HTML elements can be employed for the creation of Web pages. Currently it directly supports Microsoft's Internet Explorer, Netscape Navigator and NCSA Mosaic. I've been creating web pages for three years now and this is my bible. Whether you're an HTML expert or a "newbie" you should download this program today. And if my opinion isn't enough reason to download HTMLib consider this, it's free!

HTMLib is also bundled with two other useful programs. The first program, the HTMLib Colour Wizard, is a simple application that allows the user to interactively edit all of the coloring options (i.e. BGCOLOR, TEXT, LINK, ALINK and VLINK). Version 3.0 of the HTMLib Colour Wizard is much improved from the previous version. This new version allows choosing of the colors from text/list boxes, from the system palette, or by using scroll bars for the Red, Green, and Blue components. The resulting code can be exported as either standard HTML code or as CSS1 (Cascading Style Sheet) code. Color schemes can also be saved in scheme files, which can be recalled through the Colour Wizard. The great thing about this program is that you'll never have to look up the hex code equivalent for a color again.

The second program, HTMLib Tips 'n' Tricks file, is another Windows HLP file detailing ways of writing HTML/Scripts (using JavaScript and Visual Basic Script) to perform certain effects. While the Tips 'n' Tricks file is separate from the actual HTMLib, it can be accessed through the HTMLib Contents and Search dialogs. This file is updated more often than the main HTMLib reference, to serve as a kind of knowledge base of HTML tips (and tricks). There is an online version of HTMLib Tips 'n' Tricks at http://www.arachne.net/htmlib/tnt/index.html.

HTMLib is available at over 100 sites. Check out the Where can I get the HTML Reference Library? page to find the site nearest you. Since the HTMLib Colour Wizard requires several Visual Basic® support files, there are two download options for the Windows 95/NT version: the Full and Lite download versions.

• The Full download version of the HTMLib - htmlib9530.zip, 2,477,239 bytes. This contains all the necessary files for installation of the HTMLib, the HTMLib Colour Wizard and the Tips 'n' Tricks file. These are all tied together in a complete installation routine that allows for Custom installations of any, or all of the three separate modules.

• The Lite download version of the HTMLib - htmlib9530lite.zip, 469,954 bytes. This contains all of the necessary HLP, CNT files and the HTMLib Colour Wizard executable files only. There is no installation routine. If you have Visual Basic® 4 installed then the Colour Wizard will function properly, otherwise you will need to hunt down copies of the various support files (most of which are installed by other applications), or download the 'Full' download archive instead. A complete list of the necessary support files is included in the download archive.

• For windows 3.x users - htmlib30.zip, 364,738 bytes. The Windows 3.x version of the HTMLib is available in one download format only. This file contains only the Windows 3.x HTMLib. Development of the HTMLib Colour Wizard for 16 bit systems has stopped and the Tips 'n' Tricks file contains tips mostly only useable by 32 bit browsers.

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