FAQ Website

February 20th, 2011

JobSeekers Frequently Asked Questions about the Website/Program

These are some questions that involve the website itself, and its usage within the JobSeekers program.

Why did you change formats of the JobSeekers program ?

When Eric Finegan took over as Placement Chair/JobSeekers, he used a manual system where he formatted each message and sent it out individually to the JobSeekers email list. This allowed a certain amount of flexibility in formatting/emailing the messages, although it was subject to delays and free time issues (running the program took up a lot of time). The new automated system is much easier to use, and allows faster turnaround of job/career information, and is handled by a database which serves up the information automatically. The end result is fewer mistakes and the ability to easily add/edit information.

Why do the emails I receive all begin differently than before ?

When Eric Finegan picked up JobSeekers, he used a manual system where he formatted each message and sent it out individually to the JobSeekers list. This allowed a certain amount of flexibility in emailing the messages, although it was subject to delays and free time issues. The new automated system is much easier to use, and allows faster turnaround of job/career information, but is impacted by the limitations of the software used.

One of those limitations is the length of the email Subject/posting title. In order to make sure that the company/location are included if available, the designator “Job Posting:” from the title was removed.

All other messages will begin with:

“Articles” – if the email/posting contains articles, instead of job postings.

“News” – if the articles are local news / economic/job-related news.

“Website” – if the email/posting is related to the running/format/use of the website.

Why aren’t there more jobs listed ?

The JobSeekers program posts jobs as soon as they are provided. Note that the number of jobs provided to the program has significantly reduced over the past few years. Most jobs that are posted are jobs specifically found by the Placement Chair himself, and not submitted.

Hopefully this trend will change in the near future.

Can I find the job listings in the JobSeekers Information Packet on the website ?

The job listings in the JobSeekers Information Packet that were provided only in the packet PDF file are no longer available at the ASQ Baltimore website. The packet has been completely replaced by this website and listings are posted to the JobSeekers website instead for easy access and review.

Does the website work on Mobile phones ?
The old website worked on Blackberry, the new one doesn’t work well on Blackberries ?

The original website was hand-coded by Eric Finegan to be cross compatible among all types of browsers. The new site is using WordPress as its development system.

As of Feb 2011, the website is now mobile-capable (supports Apple iPhone / iPod touch, Google Android, Blackberry Storm and Torch, Palm Pre and other touch-based smartphones). If you look at the site using a smartphone, the ASQ JobSeekers site will appear in a mobile-friendly format, allowing easy access to the jobs and information on the site. If your phone has web-access, the site will allow you to switch from app-mode to webpage-mode.

What’s are the upcoming plans with the website ?

There are a number of planned changes, and they will be posted on the site as they come up.