Saturday, December 19, 2009

Facebook - Profile Script Error

I am not a big facebook user. But each time I access it, the quality just seems to get worse. Usually it's my impatience with lag or different rendering of pages between different browsers. Having been a FF3 user for a good amount of time now, life has remained rather consistent. But this time when using IE7, I keep getting a constant error in profile rendering me unable to even navigate to other pages.



"A Runtime Error has occurred. Do you wish to Debug? Line: 0 Error: Object required"

Yea, I can probably turn of script debugging but that is quite a pain to toggle between developments hence a rant than a formal complaint. The price I pay to conform to society.

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Saturday, August 29, 2009

My Personal Top 2 Initial Résumé Instant Killer

I am not a professional HR nor a recruiter, but I have had to review résumés for potential hires either as colleagues or replacements. I hope I can help some of you understand what it is like to be on the other side of the table.

Keep your résumé within 1-2 pages
After the first 10 multi-page résumés, I got real tired of going through all the details of résumés with more than two pages. At first, I thought that these people had a lot of experience. Later, most of these candidates provide even less value than those with 1-2 pages.

The reason is that candidates who provide the same values with fewer words also demonstrates other abilities or interests. Foremost, they show a level of attentiveness to detail. They have an understanding of value and time.

Career Summary
In general, I recommend avoiding an employment objective. In most cases, employment objectives are all very similar and very difficult to prove or disprove. In almost all cases, best case is that it is ignored. Personally, I'd rather see white space and have a résumé that's easier on the eyes.

If you do have some space to use, I'd recommend a career summary instead. It is convenient to be able to view a list broken into skills (as opposed to careers in the typical résumé layout). This also allows me to focus more time on the more important part of your value. If the key words are met, then a few more valuable seconds will be invested to the rest of your résumé.

Exceptions
This is primarily for résumés that will be in a pile greater than 10. If you know you have been hand-selected or have bypassed the first couple rounds, you may be able to have more leeway because the reviewer will have more time to invest in reading. Or if you are applying for a very high position (c-level or directors), you may actually have skills and projects that may expand to 3-4 pages. Or lastly, you may bring in a more detailed résumé to your one-on-one interview.

But still do not go overboard, I still think keeping your résumés within the above guidelines should still be sufficient.


Summary
HR managers and recruiters are not out to find ways to eliminate any specific person. The whole process really becomes a numbers game for them, less so for employees like myself. But like what I've written above, after a while even I start seeing the statistics.

6-7 seconds is really about the amount of time I spend to skim through a stack of a hundred résumés. You see the same skills, the same jobs, the same education... and that's a good case.

Any résumés longer than 2 pages or had a bad employment goal, typically will only hold my interest for about 2-3 seconds. So don't shorten your résumé lifespan with practices you have control over.

I would add spelling to that list, but I have to read your résumé to see those so you will still at least get my 6-7 seconds. It will eventually be tossed just not an instant killer.

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Monday, August 24, 2009

My draft thought to battling spam/scam

I had just received another dubious letter from Cambridge's Who's Who registry. It had gotten me thinking on how they collected my information. Given that they knew of my business entity including my business structure when it has not been published anywhere yet. This leads me to believe that they purchased the list from the state government.

Fine, legal. But what can I do about it?

I think it would be beneficial to require companies to state the origins of their contact information. This way I can ignore those who ignore this rule or verify with the source. To prevent having to worry about the source being another scam company, the source has to include all sources up to the original source (which in theory should be one that I am familiar with since I had done business with). I should then be able to check with the original source to find who they have sold my information to which I can remove myself if needed. Your thoughts?


Whether you want to deem this as a scam or legal yet unethical practice or excellent marketing tool, you may read the following articles:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Who's_Who_scam
http://accrispin.blogspot.com/2007/04/victoria-strauss-beware-whos-who.html
http://www.ripoffreport.com/Cambridge-Who-s-Who/Telemarketers/Cambridge-Who-s-Who-Cambridge-64PCF.htm
http://www.ripoffreport.com/Cambridge-Who-s-Who/Internet-Fraud/Cambridge-Who-s-Who-ripoff-sc-25ACB.htm


August 18, 2009

First Last
Company
Street
City, State Zip

RESPONSE NECESSARY BY 9/15/09

Dear First,

You were recently appointed as a biographical candidate to represent Holmdel, NJ in the 2009/2010 online Cambridge Who's Who Registry among Executives and Professionals.

We are pleased to inform you that on August 17, 2009, your candidacy was approved. Your prompt response is needed to ensure your correct professional information. For accuracy purposes, please be sure to visit your personal website to verify your biographical information at:

www.FirstLast####.mycwwapp.org

If you do not have internet access, please fill out and return the enclosed reply card by September 15, 2009. We've provided the postage for your convenience.

The office of the Managing Director appoints individuals based upon a candidate's current position, and usually with information obtained from researched executive and professional listings. The Director thinks that y ou may make an interesting biographical subject, as individual achievement is what Cambridge Who's Who is all about.

Upon final confirmation, you will be listed among thousands of accomplished individuals in the Cambridge Who's Who Registry. Remember, there is no cost to be included.

On behalf of the Managing Director, we look forward to your appearance in this year's edition. Best wishes for continued success.

Sincerely,

[[Poor quality signature]]

M. Foster
Editor in Chief



After completing the form, the following page is provided:

Guest,

Thank you for completing your online application for inclusion into the 2009-2010 Cambridge Who’s Who Among Executives, Professionals and Entrepreneurs.

Your application will be submitted for processing and you should hear from an Account Director in 4-6 weeks.

Again, thank you for your interest in Cambridge Who’s Who.
We wish you continued success.

Sincerely,
M. Foster

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Monday, August 3, 2009

Hotmail POP and SMTP Configuration

Incoming Server: pop3.live.com
Incoming Server Port: 995
Incoming Server SSL Encryption: Enabled

Outgoing Server: smtp.live.com
Outgoing Server Port: 25/587
Outgoing Server Authentication: Enabled

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Friday, July 31, 2009

Gmail / GoDaddy - Settings to configure Gmail to use GoDaddy's SMTP

1. smtpout.secureserver.net
2. Select port 465
3. Enter your email address
4. Enter your password
3. Enable SSL

You get this error if you unselect SSL and use Port 25:
Authentication failed. Please check your username/password.
[Server response: Google tried to deliver your message, but it was rejected by the recipient domain. We recommend contacting the other email provider for further information about the cause of this error. The error that the other server returned was: 500 Remote server does not support TLS (state 6). code(500) ]

You get this error if you select SSL and use port 465:

Authentication failed. Please check your username/password.
[Server response: 451 Internal error. code(451) ]

You get this error if you use the incorrect SMPT Server:
Your other email provider is responding too slowly. Please try again later, or contact the administrator of your other domain for further information.

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Monday, July 27, 2009

"SQL Server Management Studio is configuring the environment for the first time use." when not the first time.



I frequently get the above message whenever I open the Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio. It appears to occur whenever the PC has an unexpected shutdown (eg power outage, Windows update) while it is still open. Rebooting the PC does not replicate the same problem.

Just an annoyance and does not seem to affect any processes.

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Sunday, July 26, 2009

Cryptoquote - STAR-LEDGER 7/21/2009

IF GZDJ UW HJPEGXQ GXRU RVD NJHY UW ZDJRV GY IJSSFGXQ YUID HUIJX HVU'Y PUYR RVSDD VTYOJXZY. - EGX VTOOJSZ

I actually wasn't able to solve this one because I made two bad assumpytions. One with [HVU'Y] in assuming that it was not likely to be WHO'S, so I assumed [Y]=T. But reflecting back, WHO'S should have made sense since it would have made sense for clues [HUIJX]=WOMAN and [RVD]=THE. The other was that [IF] included a vowel.

From this, I need to add a note to append to my original method to add Y as a possible 'vowel' at some point. I was clearly puzzled by the lack of vowels, and should have caught on that the problem was legitimate and not having to make a lot of assumptions.

Of course after looking at the answer (extremely regrettably but my newspaper was just too messy to continue), clues can be interpreted much more easily so I'll have to see how I can update my methods to solve a similar puzzle.

Even with the answer, it is still difficult to solve statistically because the verb is the ninth word, even guessing THE (maybe getting THREE) does not provide any additional clues, even guessing MY would have made me reluctant with Y in the middle of [IJSSFGXQ], the double consonant [SS] is rarely RR (my assumption), and three vowels for a four letter word IDEA.

my idea of walking into the jaws of death is marrying some woman who's lost three husbands. - kin hubbard

I thoroughly enjoyed this puzzle. It single-handedly broke almost all my methods. WHO'S would have been my only entry point into solving this problem. It crossed my mind but thought against it (still kicking myself for it).

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