Is LinkedIn a Waste of Time?

The Pitfalls of Job Searching on LinkedIn

LinkedIn is heavily utilized by recruiters and employers to source candidates for employment, but it can be a waste of time if you’re not using it effectively. It also can be a useful tool for job hunting, career networkingand professional development. However, it's imperative that you properly make use of LinkedIn's tools to reap the benefits. To start, everyone who is seeking a professional position should have a complete LinkedIn profile, connect with everyone they know and join LinkedIn Groups.

Why LinkedIn Could Waste Your Time

Are you getting cheated?: Paying $29.95 per month for a “Job Seeker Premium” moves your application to the top of the list as a "featured applicant." However, the recruiter sees a badge next to your name indicating you paid to be in that position. What does he think of you now? Plus, that's no guarantee of visibility; in fact, sales of premium subscriptions that float your resume to the top of the applicant list were up 68 percent in the second quarter of 2013. In addition, LinkedIn charges the recruiter a fee as well to post; actually matching your talents and qualifications to job opportunities is not really one of their concerns. Rather, it's to LinkedIn's benefit to keep everyone searching, both employers and applicants, so they can keep collecting fees.

LinkedIn is simply a job board: The good news is that social media is used almost universally as a hiring tool.

According to a 2015 article on Adweek.com, 92 percent of recruiters surveyed using it as part of their process and of those, 87 percent use Linkedin compared to 55 percent utilizing Facebook and 47 percent on Twitter. That said, LinkedIn is just like Monster and CareerBuilder--the site warehouses resumes and sells employers access to them.

And according to the article "Ask The Headhunter: Is LinkedIn Cheating Employers and Job Seekers Alike?" on pbs.org, employers reported that just 1.3 percent of their hires came from Monster and 1.2 percent through CareerBuilder.

How to Make LinkedIn Work for You

Start with the basics. LinkedIn is not going to work for you if you don’t identify yourself.  Setting up a LinkedIn profile with “Private Profile” or “Human Resources Manager” (if you're seeking applicants) instead of your name and asking someone to connect isn't going to be effective.

People won't have any clue who you are and they won't try to figure it out. LinkedIn is for “real” people to connect which each other – that’s what makes it so successful and such a terrific networking tool.

If confidentiality is a concern, simply be careful. Connect only with people you know well. Be strategic if you’re job searching while employed and don’t announce it to your connections. There are ways you can job search confidentially without jeopardizing your current position.

How to Get the Most Out of LinkedIn

Get Started on LinkedIn
One of the most important parts of LinkedIn is your profile. That's what you use to connect with people in your network and your profile is how you get found on LinkedIn, because it contains information about your skills and experience.

How to Take and Choose a Professional Photo for LinkedIn
Tips and advice for how to take and choose a photo to use in your LinkedIn profile, including what to wear, what type of photo to use, and how to pick a picture that will make a great first impression.

By Alison Doyle

9 Tips For Mastering Your Network

9 Tips for Mastering Networking

Networking events can be difficult for some, especially those of us who are more introverted. Every successful entrepreneur knows just how important it is to connect with others in their communities, thought, whether personal or business. Growing your professional network takes work, time and skill. Luckily, it’s an art that most anyone can learn. Here are nine tips that are sure to help you master networking.

1. Make a few connections before you go. I always try to do this before a networking event. Using either Twitter or a Facebook group (if the event has one), I make connections with other attendees. There’s something about knowing a few friendly faces that just puts my mind at ease. Networking can be stressful, especially for the painfully shy. Making connections will make it less like a networking event and more like a gathering of friends.
2. Dress fairly casual. Networking events are not the place to wear your jeans and a T-shirt. Nor are they the place to get all dolled up. Dress casually, but professionally, so that you make those around you feel comfortable.
3. Tackle the event alone. As much as it’s easier to tag along with your friends, your friends already know who you are and what you do. Networking is about expanding your growing network. This is your opportunity to talk to people you have never met before, and a chance to connect with those you want to get to know better.
4. Ask open-ended questions. Asking yes or no questions will get you short, predictable answers. Asking open-ended questions will give the person you’re talking to an opportunity to share who they are and how they feel about something. Remember, you’re not just there to introduce yourself to others. You’re there to meet new people and make new connections. Networking should be a two-way street, with both parties giving and taking.
5. Wear a nametag. This might seem self-explanatory, but many people choose not to wear one. If you are bad at introducing yourself, you could get creative and put a question on your nametag to get the conversation going. Whatever you do, don’t shy away from the nametag. Sometimes it’s the only thing that connects you to your potential clients.
6. Let people know what you can do for them. When people ask you what you do, don’t just tell them your job title. Come up with a 10-second elevator speech that includes a short message about what you can do for them. Doing so will help your new connection decide how they or others can work with you.
7. Don’t forget your business cards – and a pen. Although it’s not recommended that you drop your business card everywhere (some people do do this), you should always have a good supply on hand. Bring a pen for writing down details, if necessary. Say you just met Jane and she said something interesting about her business, but it’s not on her card. You can write the note on the back of the card to remind yourself later.
8. Talk, but don’t forget to listen. A huge part of networking is not only being able to share information about who you are and what you do, but also learning about who others are and what they do. Remember to share the airtime equally.
9. Follow up on email. After a day of networking, sending a “nice to meet you” email is always a thoughtful touch. Know that when someone gives you their business card, though, it is not an invitation to send them spam. Always ask permission to add someone to your mailing list. There’s no quicker way to offend than to fill a potential client’s inbox up with unsolicited mail.

> http://www.machonecommunications.com/blog/marketing/180-9-tips-for-mastering-networking.html

How to find what hardware is installed in the computer

Below is a listing of different hardware devices in the computer and different methods of determining additional information about the hardware device. There are also several free software programs to detect hardware and other system settings.

• CD-ROM drive
• Controller
• Floppy disk drive
• Hard drive
• Memory (RAM)
• Modem
• Monitor
• Motherboard
• Network Card
• Power Supply
• Printer
• Processor (CPU)
• Scanner
• Sound Card
• Video Card

CD-ROM Drive

The Complete Guide to Building Your Blog Audience

Niel Patel

WHY DID WE WRITE THIS GUIDE?
We wanted to provide an exhaustive, detailed guide for blog marketing. With so many individuals, businesses and organizations creating blogs today it’s become necessary to have an effective way to market your blog.

As you know, writing and publishing a blog post won’t get you much traction. You need to market your blog posts if you want to get traffic.
This resource is full of actionable steps you can take to become a blog marketing superstar. Those blogs you read and love? You can become just like them if you follow the steps in this guide!

WHO IS THIS GUIDE FOR?
If you’ve read about the benefits of blogging and want to start your own blog, this guide is for you.
If you’ve read countless articles about how to create amazing content, but need more in-depth information about getting traffic for your posts, this guide is for you.
If you’ve already mastered the basics of creating amazing blog content, but haven’t been able to get traffic, this guide is for you.

The Advanced Guide To Blog Marketing is for anyone looking to take a blog to the next level. Writing great content is one thing, but becoming a blogging superstar that elevates your brand while bringing in more sales and profit is the ultimate goal. This guide provides you with the actionable steps you can take to achieve success with blog marketing.

HOW MUCH OF THIS GUIDE SHOULD YOU READ?
If you want to become a blogging superstar you’ll want to read the whole thing! Any of these tactics and strategies will work to help you with blog marketing, but as a whole the guide provides an overview of many ways you can market your blog posts. While you don’t need to apply every strategy to your blog there is an opportunity to grow with everything covered in this guide.
Build A Community That Gives

You Permission To Market To Them

Detailed step by step guide > https://www.quicksprout.com/the-complete-guide-to-building-your-blog-audience/

Updated SysNica to provide you with more sources of information

With Google Analytics

*I can only wonder how my friends in Germany, Italy and Poland are doing Poland are doing "right now"? Goodnight from America.

15 biggest tech stories in Southeast Asia in 2016 (Home)

Before we turn the page to 2017, let’s take a refresher on the most talked about events of this year.

From one startup’s spectacular failure to Alibaba’s shopping spree, here are the top tech stories in Southeast Asia in 2016:

1. Alibaba’s huge Lazada purchase

Alibaba this year bought a US$1 billion controlling stake in Rocket Internet-born Lazada, the largest online department store that’s billed as Alibaba’s and Amazon’s counterpart in Southeast Asia. The deal makes it easier for Alibaba to further expand overseas and hit its goal of getting at least half of its revenue there.

Southeast Asia holds huge potential with its rising middle class and growing smartphone usage and internet adoption. Yet the region is also a tough nut to crack so having a partner who understands and navigates it well gives Alibaba a legup.

The deal couldn’t have come at a better time: Lazada was reportedly running out of money and didn’t have much luck in its fundraising efforts beginning the previous year.

Nevertheless, experts said its acquisition was a “validation” that the region is very attractive to strategic investors, and it would trigger others to look at Southeast Asia for investments.

2. The Alibaba vs Amazon face-off

Alibaba continued its quest to conquer Southeast Asia with yet another acquisition via Lazada: online grocery provider Redmart.

Redmart was supposedly also a target of Alibaba’s US rival Amazon, which is planning to enter Southeast Asia early next year, according to a TechCrunch report. Amazon is said to be hiring staff and quietly buying assets like refrigerated trucks in the region.

If things push through as planned, a big face-off between the two ecommerce titans will happen soon.

3. Ensogo’s collapse

In June, Ensogo of Catcha Group announced the shutdown of all its ecommerce sites across Southeast Asia and Hong Hong, marking one of the most controversial startup failures this year.

The closure was the last blow in a tumultuous year for Ensogo, a daily deals and flash sales company that later shifted toward a marketplace model.

Prior to it, merchants complained they weren’t getting paid for the products sold through the site.

The company blamed this on its decision to centralize its operations in Singapore and cut its headcount by half to reduce its cash burn rate.

Various factors contributed to the collapse of Ensogo, which could no longer stem its losses.

4. Rakuten’s closure in Southeast Asia

Japanese ecommerce giant Rakuten closed down its Singapore, Malaysia, and Indonesia marketplaces in March and laid off 150 staff.

At the time, the company also announced it was selling Thai ecommerce site Tarad, which it acquired in 2009.

The company did not give a specific reason for the closures, except to say that the moves were in line with a new roadmap.

5. Grab’s series F funding

Southeast Asia’s top ride-hailing app raised in September a whopping US$750 million in funding, led by Japanese conglomerate SoftBank. The round reportedly brought its cash position to US$1 billion and valued it at over US$3 billion. That makes it the second biggest tech company in the region by valuation, falling behind Garena, which is said to be worth US$3.75 billion.

Grab’s funding came a month after its investor Didi Chuxing acquired the China unit of Grab’s staunch rival Uber. Right after that deal, Grab co-founder Anthony Tan wrote a smack-talking-slash-motivational letter to his employees, assuring them they would prevail over any foreign player.

Read more at > https://www.techinasia.com/biggest-tech-stories-southeast-asia-2016

Worry About War? ‘I Am Too Busy,’ South Koreans Say

*This reminds me of the same sillyness of crawling under my desk as a tot in preparation for Russian nuclear attacks that never came.

SEOUL, South Korea — The fourth graders sitting on a row of benches in central Seoul wore yellow rubber hoods, and they looked like the cast of a school musical with an adorable chorus of Minions.

In fact, they were learning how to don gas masks in the event of chemical or biological attacks from North Korea. Several giggled as they wrenched off the masks, while others gasped for air.

This is what schoolchildren sometimes do on field trips to the War Memorial of Korea, built as a reminder of the costs of warfare on the Korean Peninsula. Lately, talk of war is in the news again, but people here in Seoul are mostly responding with shrugs and nervous giggles rather than emergency drills.

They’ve been through this before.

SEOUL, South Korea — The fourth graders sitting on a row of benches in central Seoul wore yellow rubber hoods, and they looked like the cast of a school musical with an adorable chorus of Minions.

In fact, they were learning how to don gas masks in the event of chemical or biological attacks from North Korea. Several giggled as they wrenched off the masks, while others gasped for air.

This is what schoolchildren sometimes do on field trips to the War Memorial of Korea, built as a reminder of the costs of warfare on the Korean Peninsula. Lately, talk of war is in the news again, but people here in Seoul are mostly responding with shrugs and nervous giggles rather than emergency drills.

They’ve been through this before.

For about 25 million people in South Korea who live within 50 miles of the North Korean border — including residents of Seoul, the capital — it has long been a sobering reality that they are the most vulnerable to attack by the government in Pyongyang, with which South Korea has technically been at war for decades.

That perennial threat has intensified in recent weeks, with the Trump administration warning that it would consider all options, including military strikes, to thwart North Korea’s nuclear ambitions. North Korea, meanwhile, has conducted missile tests and huge live-fire artillery drills, and analysts say it is prepared to conduct its sixth test of a nuclear weapon.

Full > https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/27/world/asia/north-korea-south-tensions.html

All This New Tech

*Many around the world are badly mistaken by the things I bring to you on a daily basis for about 3 years now / on and off.
They tend to think I'm going to meet a woman that drives a Rolls Royce and be happy, wrong.
I'm going to find someone that knows how to milk a goat in Kazakhstan or some unknown portion of the world and never speak Tech again.

Lobbying’s top 50: Who’s spending big

*Do I have enemies? Do you have a few hours? *I'm not speaking about the little pip-squeaks of a neighborhood, I pay them no mind. Pull a gun on me? "Not in your best interest".

Fifty companies and industry groups shelled out more than $716 million to lobby the federal government and Congress last year, according to data provided to The Hill by the Center for Responsive Politics.

The eye-popping total represents nearly a quarter of all federal lobbying dollars in 2016 and a slight increase over 2015, when the 50 biggest spenders doled out $715 million.

The five biggest spenders in lobbying last year, in descending order, were the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the National Association of Realtors, Blue Cross Blue Shield, the American Hospital Association and the Pharmaceutical Research & Manufacturers of America.

Rounding out the top 10 were the American Medical Association, Boeing, the National Association of Broadcasters, AT&T and Business Roundtable.

Influencing the government has become a multibillion-dollar business, with companies and trade associations hiring lobbyists and attorneys to push their agenda and shape policymaking.

Anger at lobbyists and special interests was a focal point of the presidential campaign, most famously expressed in President Trump’s promise to “drain the swamp” in Washington.

Trump has signed an executive order seeking to slow down the “revolving door” between administration jobs and the private sector, but few expect the deluge of lobbying to slow down under the new administration.

“Everyone across the board believe there’s going to be lots of activity in Washington,” Marc Lampkin, the managing partner of the Washington office at law and lobby firm Brownstein Hyatt -Farber Schreck, told The Hill last month.

“Corporate America has been seeking relief from the overreach of the Obama administration, so there will be activity on both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue,” added Lampkin, a former aide to former Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio).

Some of the companies and groups that boosted their lobbying spending last year did so in response to major legislative and regulatory fights.

Dow Chemical, which is seeking to merge with DuPont, boosted its advocacy spending by 26 percent, to $13.6 million.

Other companies that increased their spending included Prudential Financial, which paid lobbyists $9.4 million in 2016, an 18 percent increase over 2015; AbbVie which spent 39 percent more on lobbying; and T-Mobile, which spent $8,089,900, an increase of 32 percent.

Amazon significantly expanded its footprint in Washington last year. The company spent $11.4 million on advocacy, a 20 percent increase.

Some of the increases in advocacy spending were driven by the 2016 election.

The two groups that spent the most, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the National Association of Realtors, included all political spending in their lobbying reports, which includes things like campaign advertising. Most entities do not report election activities in their total.

The Chamber’s spending totaled close to $104 million, while the Realtors spent almost $65 million.

Other companies and business groups dialed back their lobbying spending last year, in part due to the lack of legislative activity on Capitol Hill.

The National Association of Manufacturers spent $16.9 million on lobbying in 2015 as it pushed for passage of a sweeping Pacific Rim trade deal negotiated by the Obama administration. With that push stalled last year, the group trimmed its lobbying spending to $8.5 million, a nearly 50 percent drop.

One industry expert told The Hill that corporations are cutting back on the amount of dues they’re paying to large trade groups and trade associations, choosing instead to target their spending.

Many companies refused to comment about their advocacy on the record.

Year-to-year comparisons between the 50 largest lobbying spenders are imprecise, because different companies and groups come off and on the list each year.

Twenty-nine of the organizations on the top 50 spenders list for 2015 cut back their lobbying budgets in 2016, while seven companies and trade associations fell off the roster entirely. 

The American Petroleum Institute, Qualcomm, America’s Health Insurance Plans and George Soros’s Open Society Policy Center all slashed spending on advocacy in 2016. The Grocery Manufacturers Association, which scored a win on a GMO labeling law midway through 2016, reduced its advocacy 44 percent from the year before, spending $4.7 million.

But the biggest drops on the list came from CVS Health and General Electric.

CVS’s lobbying total plummeted 60 percent, to $6 million, in part because of how the company reported its figures. Last year, CVS only included federal lobbying in its advocacy total. The year prior, the company had included both state and federal lobbying in the total, according to a company spokeswoman. 

GE, which was the sixth-biggest lobbying spender during 2015, plunged to No. 53 in 2016. 

Meanwhile, AARP, Bayer, T-Mobile, American Airlines, Chevron, AbbVie and the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers jumped onto the list — with AbbVie, which ranked 88th in spending in 2015, hitting the No. 50 spot last year. T-Mobile climbed to No. 42 from No. 66 in 2015.

— This post was updated at 10 a.m.

Top 50 Lobbying Spenders of 2016 

Client	2016 Spending	2015 Spending	2015 Rank
U.S. Chamber of Commerce	$103,950,000	$84,730,000	1
National Association of Realtors	$64,821,111	$37,788,407	2
Blue Cross Blue Shield	$25,006,109	$23,702,049	3
American Hospital Association	$20,970,809	$20,687,935	7
Pharmaceutical Research & Manufacturers of America	$19,730,000	$18,920,000	9
American Medical Association	$19,410,000	$21,930,000	4
Boeing	$17,020,000	$21,921,000	5
National Association of Broadcasters	$16,438,000	$17,400,000	10
AT&T	$16,370,000	$16,370,000	13
Business Roundtable	$15,700,000	$19,250,000	8
Alphabet	$15,430,000	$16,660,000	12
Comcast	$14,330,000	$15,680,000	14
Southern Co.	$13,900,000	$12,860,000	18
Dow Chemical	$13,635,982	$10,820,000	26
Lockheed Martin	$13,615,811	$13,954,053	17
NCTA - The Internet and Telephone Assoc.	$13,420,000	$14,120,000	16
FedEx	$12,541,000	$12,405,835	20
Northrop Grumman	$12,050,000	$11,020,000	24
Exxon Mobil	$11,840,000	$11,980,000	21
Amazon	$11,354,000	$9,435,000	34
CTIA	$10,970,000	$10,150,000	29
General Dynamics	$10,739,944	$10,259,890	28
Verizon Communications	$10,080,000	$11,430,000	23
Altria Group	$10,060,000	$9,630,000	32
Amgen	$9,860,000	$10,525,000	27
Koch Industries	$9,840,000	$10,830,000	25
American Bankers Association	$9,831,000	$12,690,000	19
Pfizer	$9,750,000	$9,417,650	35
Prudential Financial	$9,400,000	$7,962,500	47
Biotechnology Innovation Organization	$9,230,000	$8,350,000	42
United Technologies	$9,165,000	$11,470,000	22
American Chemistry Council	$9,020,000	$10,050,000	30
Royal Dutch Shell	$8,990,000	$8,700,000	37
AARP	$8,710,000	$7,559,000	54
Microsoft	$8,710,000	$8,490,000	39
Facebook	$8,692,000	$9,850,000	31
Edison Electric Institute	$8,620,000	$8,350,000	42
Oracle	$8,620,000	$8,470,000	40
General Motors	$8,500,000	$9,120,000	36
National Association of Manufacturers	$8,490,014	$16,950,000	11
National Amusements (CBS & Viacom)	$8,441,000	$7,980,000	46
T-Mobile	$8,089,900	$6,127,000	66
Bayer	$7,990,000	$7,730,000	51
Coca-Cola	$7,930,000	$8,670,000	38
American Airlines	$7,870,000	$6,600,000	61
United Parcel Service	$7,767,848	$8,155,856	45
Chevron	$7,470,000	$7,200,000	56
Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers	$7,452,500	$7,640,000	53
Securities Industry & Financial Market Assoc.	$7,400,000	$7,770,000	50
AbbVie	$7,260,000	$5,220,000	88
Data provided to The Hill by the Center for Responsive Politics,opensecrets.org