Said honestly, when I first read this article, I thought it was a joke. I’m not kidding. I said to myself, "There is no way any organization would ask for your personal logins and passwords to the social media sites you use just to apply for a job."

The article asks if the City of Bozeman, MT (which the linked article is about) has the right to ask for this information on a job application.

The answer is flat-out NO, and here’s why:

I can understand if they ask for the URLs. That I could at least grudgingly tolerate. But to ask for your personal usernames and passwords? The line is drawn right there, particularly with the passwords. My passwords I use at home are mine and nobody else’s.

Several commenters on that article stated good alternatives, such as:

• "Friending" the City’s official social media profile so the City can examine your profile that way, which is just as effective.
• Allowing applicants to get the usernames and passwords of the City’s profiles as well. What’s good for the goose is good for the gander.
• Stating that giving out passwords for your profiles is a violation of the Terms of Use for, oh, I dunno, ALL social media networks?

The fact the City of Bozeman even asks for this information goes against every single web site’s policy about the sharing of login information, i.e. DON’T DO IT. They are literally asking you to completely disregard the privacy for your social media accounts and to trust them 100% with your passwords, because after all, nothing bad could happen, right?

Wrong. Very wrong. It’s a extremely gross conflict of interest.

Whatever genius in Bozeman that conjured this up should learn how to read the Terms of Service for social media sites and get a clue.

So you want to be a programmer. But you don’t want to spend tens of thousands of dollars in training. You want something you can learn that’s cheap, always in demand and can be learned easily.

Sound like you?

Then you want to be a Microsoft Access consultant.

MS Access consultants are always needed for companies both large and small. And the best part is that you really don’t need any official training for it. Download the software (there’s a free 60-day trial), learn what it can do, buy a few Access tutorial books, create a few databases and you’ll be Mr. or Ms. Access in no time. The software is designed in such a way where it’s relatively easy to use.

Should you decide to buy Access, yes the software has a hefty price tag at $229. But it’s more than worth it for the experience and self-training (and potential job you’ll get later).

For those of you saying, "What’s Microsoft Access?", it’s a relational database management system. And yes, it will run on your computer easily.

The reasons companies use Access is either because it’s cheap or as "an excuse".

Cheap example: A small-biz owner needs a database solution but doesn’t want to spend the cash on a full server setup. Instead he or she uses Access.

"Excuse" example: Someone in the Finance dept. of a large corporation has a monster-sized Excel spreadsheet that Excel can no longer handle. It cannot go into the primary database for the company because, well, it’s Excel. So instead Access is used. It is grudgingly allowed by the IT dept. on the promise that Finance will never call IT should there be any problem with it.

With the small-biz owner, the Access db is the lifeline for the company. Everything is in it. And when it breaks (and it will), panic happens and the consultant is called in.

With enterprise, a few of those several-hundred-dollar per-incident phone calls were made to Microsoft Support already, but they weren’t able to fix it, so the next step is to bring in an Access consultant. Either that or the consultant is brought in because it’s actually cheaper than per-incident Microsoft Support.

Your job as an Access consultant is usually to fix busted databases. Something went wrong and nobody can figure it out. You have to go in there, figure out the problem(s) and fix it.

I know, I make it sound too easy. It’s not easy. Access itself is not that difficult, but when faced with a sizeable database with little (if any) documentation on how it was made, it can be a bit trying on the nerves. For all you know, the database might have been created years ago and admin after admin just kept piling crap in it until it finally broke.

But at least you know what to expect. Being an Access consultant is not a glamorous job, but it pays well, it’s low-stress, and as long as Access exists, Access consultants will always be needed.

In addition, a help desk will kiss your feet if you can actually support Access – because that’s an instant upgrade to a Tier 2 (possibly even Tier 3) support job. And that’s more cash in your pocket.

I don’t want to give off the impression that you’ll learn Access overnight, because it does take time to get familiar with it.  But it’s nothing you can’t handle because a good chunk of it is point-and-click.

Where are the Access jobs?

The Monster way

Go to Monster, type in "Microsoft Access" or "MS Access" (make sure to use the quotes), punch in your ZIP code and you’ll see the jobs show up.

Bear in mind Access may not be in the title of the job, but trust me, the jobs are there. It’s almost a given that those who know Access will always get the bigger check.

You’ll typically see Access jobs for some type of financial responsibility because that’s where it’s usually most used.

The consulting or "headhunter" way

Ring up your local consulting agency like OfficeTeam, Computer Merchant, RHI or other local and ask about Access consulting gigs. They’re almost always available.

Don’t be surprised if they’re short 1-to-3 month gigs. That’s fine. They still pay well and there’s always another gig around the corner. You’ll find your best gigs at tax time when Access consultants are needed most.

You may have seen several articles in the past year or so which note that employers check out candidate’s online when they are making hiring decisions. Ethical or not, this is the way it is.

In general, be very careful about what you post online for the entire world to see, because it is a direct reflection of you. Employers, seemingly, will use this against you if you have offensive or questionable material posted in your name. To run a pre-emptive check, search your name using the most popular search engines and if you find something you posted which you wouldn’t want your grandmother to read, remove it.

I’m curious, does anyone have any first hand experience (spy-or or spy-ee)?

You’ve heard the old Catch-22 phrase, “You need experience to get a job, you need a job to get experience.”

But if you were to pit education vs. experience, which counts more on a résumé? Which is the one more likely to get you an interview? Continued

There’s the old catch-22 phrase “You need a job to get experience; you need experience to get a job.” Is it true you have to go thru years of college and certifications and internships just to get some work?

No.

In fact you can get decent work in computers armed with nothing but a high school diploma and the willingness to work.

If you think you’re good with computers and want a job now, follow the instructions below and you’ll be working fast.

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As you get rolling with your Internet business, you will find that it takes up more and more of your time. Eventually, you’re going to be thinking about getting somebody else to do some of the grunt work that isn’t the best use of your time.

I can tell you from experience that it can be very hard to make the transition to outside labor. The following things are in play:

1. The feeling that nobody can do it as well as I can.
2. The time it takes to train somebody else to do the things you can do very quickly.
3. The fact that this other person probably doesn’t really care too much about your business and is only doing this for you as a J-O-B.

It can be frustrating, but the one thing you absolutely HAVE to have to EVER outsource anything is documentation.

It would be a wise move as you build up any business (as well as an online one) to take the extra time to document your procedures as you go. Write the documentation such that it is easily followed by somebody else. You want that person to be able to go through the documentation and be able to start doing things just as YOU would do them.

By creating this documentation, it will keep you from having to train every new person who comes down the pike.

You can use text documentation. You can also use video. Using a program like Camtasia to simply record your screen and make a movie out of it can allow you to quickly show people how to do things. And those videos are reusable later on for other people (as long as the procedure doesn’t change, of course).

If you are just getting started, start taking the time to write down your procedures as you develop them. If you are already in business, then start systematizing things into easily followed steps and then document it. You want to make your post occupiable by somebody else.

That is the key. Do this now and you’ll be much happier down the road. Take this advice from a person who didn’t know this when he got started.

I got to admit this is pretty darned funny.

1. Potential employee wants to apply for an entry level network administrator position.

2. Potential employee is given a really, really basic Linux questionnaire for this type of position.

3. Potential employee doesn’t bother answering questions and instead posts it to the Ubuntu Linux forums.

4. Ubuntu Linux forum’ers instantly peg this guy as an idiot because he didn’t provide his answers in the first place and was looking for a free ride.

5. THE EMPLOYER finds the thread later, announces said potential employee won’t get the job and then says (in essence) "Hey if anyone else wants the job, e-mail me!"

This is a de facto example of what we call an epic fail (for the guy that started the thread obviously).

If you could make your living online, would you? If you could actually use your computer to produce an income, would you? How real do you think making money on the Internet is?

PCMech is all about technology. We used to be all about tinkering with the insides of your computer. There are still many who enjoy doing that, but the emphasis has moved on. The emphasis today is on what you DO with your computer. Your computer is simply a tool to be used.

In this light, PCMech is going to begin to put more emphasis on using the power of the Internet to actually make money.

Continued

The first thing that you want to remember when you are at a job interview is that first impressions count. Dress appropriately for the job. No matter what, though, never wear jeans to a job interview – it doesn’t matter how casual the job is that you are applying for, jeans are inappropriate in any situation.

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Your reference sheet is important to have as well – like we stated earlier. While this will not be mailed along with your resume and cover letter, you will still need to have it on hand during an interview so that you can produce it when your potential employer asks for it.

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As we’ve said, the cover letter can be just as important as the resume, so you will want it to look as professional and intriguing as it can. We found a few sample letters online that you may want to use to refer to when crafting your own cover letters.

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You are trying to get a job and you are all ready with your resume, reference sheet, and cover letter. Before you get all excited and put your info in the mail, you will want to go through a few check points.

First and foremost, run a spell check on your computer. But don’t stop there. Read your documents over and over to make sure there are no typographical or grammatical errors. It might also help to have someone else read over them as well to be sure that it looks the way it should.

The more people who see your resume, the more likely that misspelled words and awkward phrases will be seen (and corrected).

Here is a checklist to keep in mind for your cover letter:

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The purpose of a cover letter is to introduce you and your resume as well as give some additional information about yourself to potential employers. You may also want to point out some parts of your resume you want the employer to pay special attention to.

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You will want to have several different people on hand who will vouch for you as far as your character, your work habits, your work ethics, and your general value and worth as an employee and person.

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You can choose a few different ways to word this section. If you like, it can be titled “Activities and Honors” or “Awards and Organizations”. It really is up to you. You have to tailor your resume to your specific needs as well as towards what type of job you are applying for.

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