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Looking for a job can be overwhelming, time consuming and emotionally draining. Recognizing this, BioCrowd founders Cliff Mintz and Vincent Racaniello began searching for a tool that would help to reduce the pain associated with looking for a job. To that end, BioCrowd in association with Career Management Source, Inc— an emerging, life sciences recruiting management software company —are pleased to announce the launch of the BioJob Center at the BioCrowd.

The BioJob Center offers both job seekers and employers ‘real time,’ current job listings, application tracking, and e-mail job alerts. Job seekers can search for jobs (based on job title and/or location) and directly apply for them from the job center.

Employers can list job openings; advertise jobs; call out ‘hot jobs’ or search candidate resume databases. Jobs posted to the BioJob Center are also simultaneously listed on other job sites including www.JobJobHealth.com and Twitter Jobs. Other job boards and sites will be added in the near future.

The search engine that powers the job center was specifically designed to automatically ‘pull’ thousands of job listings from life sciences corporate websites, bioscience job boards and other sources. Job search results are updated in real time and positions that have already been filled are automatically eliminated from search results. This feature prevents job seekers from wasting time applying for jobs that no longer exist!

Job seekers can post their resumes and join the BioJob Center for free! One of the cooler features of the new tool is customized candidate e-mail alerts. Job seekers who use this feature receive alerts when new jobs (that meet specifications) are posted to the BioJob Center or added in real time by the search engine. This helps to save time by avoiding multiple visits to job boards and conducting an endless number of Google searches.

Whether you are a job seeker or employer, Vincent and I believe that the BioJob Center will help to expedite and alleviate some of the stress associated with job searches.

Please visit the BioJob Center today and let us know what you think! Also, those of you who may have suggestions, ideas, kudos, kvetches, etc please feel free to contact me!

Until next time...

Good Luck and Good Job Hunting!!!!!

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I previously posted an article on BioJobBlog about biomedical and scientific search engines. One of them called Novoseek, which is mainly geared for life scientists, has recently launched a new set of features known as  My Novoseek

My Novoseek allows users to create a personal account to store and manage indiviudal Novoseek searches. Its functionalities include:

• Search history
• Saved searches
• Search labeling and indexing
• New publication alerts
• Account filtering and management

These newly introduced features improve Novoseek’s search capabilities, content management and convenience. For example, saving searches and creating alerts offers users a facile and convenient way to be alerted when new papers are published in your areas of interest. Also, Novoseek’s indexing and content management features makes creating and labeling collections of papers really easy. Finally, the ability to customize and manage account settings and view search histories makes searching for new information easier, less time consuming and prevents search redundancy.

While I haven’t spent much time evaluating other biomedical search engines, my experience with Novoseek has positive and I recommend that you check it out. Also, unlike other biomedical search engines, Novoseek has a distinctive social media bent and is using it to constantly add new features to meet new and exisitng user demands. To that end, Novoseek maintains its own blog to keep user abreast of happenings in the biomedical search engine world and can be found on Facebook and Twitter.

Signing up for Novoseek is easy, requires only three steps and only takes five minutes or less.

Please visit the Novoseek website and let me know what you think.

Until next time...

Good Luck and Good Searching!!!!!

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Another useful post for job seekers from Job Profiles.org.

The recession may be the worst in recent memory but modern technology can blunt the added frustration of searching for a job. While visiting countless employment sites and emailing resumes can be time consuming and fruitless, your browser may help make the search more efficient. Firefox 3 has proven itself remarkably popular, especially thanks to the add-on feature which allows users to customize their browsers to perform a wide range task specific functions. Check out these 50 helpful Firefox add-ons to make the job search easier.

Job Updates

While the Internet offers an unlimited amount of information about any number of topics, sorting though the details can be extremely tedious. These Firefox extensions will help you sort through the mass of information job sites regularly update.

1. Percula: Integrates your web activity with the monster.com database of jobs. Search a topic, find relevant jobs in that field.
2. CraigZilla: Allows users to monitor any section of Craigslist (such as "jobs") for updates. Even better, this add-on scans updates for customizable key words refining results further.
3. TwitterJobSearch: Search job postings made to Twitter in real time.
4. Indeed Job Search: Includes updates from every major job site. Also includes job postings from a number of newspapers, associations and individual company's career pages.
5. CharityJOB: For those needing moral satisfaction in their work, here's a database of jobs in the non-profit sector.
6. Search4Jobs: Integrates Monter's RSS feed directly into Firefox in an easy to use format.
7. Check4Change: This extension let users monitor web pages for updates at regular intervals established by the user. Unfortunately, it only works with open tabs but great for monitoring niche job websites that are short on features.
8. Update Scanner: Select the websites you want to scan for changes, Update Scanner does just that while ignoring minor changes.
9. DapperFox: Sites without an RSS feed are annoying. DapperFox eases the pain by "RSSying the Web," building its own RSS feeds for any website.

Social

Research has shown that pre-existing social networks often play a key function in helping people find a job. In the Internet era, the popular conception of a "social network" has changed significantly to include Facebook, Twitter and the like. Of course, actually keeping up with even a few networking sites is an easy way of losing real friends. These Firefox add-ons let users simplify their social networking into easier to manage applications.

10. Linkedin Companion for Firefox: Builds a network of 25 million professional into your Firefox browser. Network to find your next job opportunity or catch up with colleagues in your field.
11. Jigsaw Contact and Company Search: The online directory of companies and business professionals brings you this add-on making available its community of 800,000 members. It also has sections for job postings and networking.
12. Yoono: Consolidates all your social network and IM accounts in an easy-to-use sidebar.
13. Meebo: Builds IM capabilities for every major IM network directly into Firefox.
14. RushmoreDrive: A search engine for the Black community that also offers a top notch job networking features. Users can create profiles, search postings and create their own networks.
15. Find on XING: Simply highlight the name of a person on any Website and right-click. The extension then looks for that person on XING.

Research and Organization

Researching and keeping track of job openings can be more than a little confusing. These add-ons are perfect for condensing the clutter.

16. Notefish: Shave portions of web pages for later reference or share them with friends or co-workers.
17. DeeperWeb: Adds a host of features aiming to streamline Google search results. Separates searches by function such as "Answer" or "Wikipedia" searches in addition to a host of nifty features.
18. ReminderFox: A truly excellent online appointments manager, this extension is valuable enough to draw a salary as your assistant. Remembers important dates and sends reminders along with managing extensive to-do lists.
19. KnowMore Extension: This application will let you research the environmental and social impact of a company without interrupting the job search. Perfect for those with a moral streak looking to work in corporate America.
20. Zemanta: Makes content suggestions for your emails or blog posts as they are being written. This application will also make professional introduction suggestions as you write emails.
21. Add to Search Bar: Allows users to add Websites' search functionality to your search bar.
22. Hyperwords: Select text from any page and perform any number of functions such as search and translate.
23. SimilarWeb: As you visit and search Web pages, an intuitive sidebar displays related sites.
24. Surf Canyon: This great extension re-ranks relevant sites as users sift through search results from engines like Google and Yahoo.
25. MashLogic: Scans web pages for topics you're interested about then adds links to show you interesting sites.

16. Get Company Info: Highlight a company name on any page and this extension offers a wide range of financial and background data. It also recognizes the stock symbols.
17. Diigo: Adds personal sticky notes and highlights to any web page. The more impressive feature is the ability to connect with people who've bookmarked the same site as you.
18. DejaClick: Repetitive internet tasks got you down? This application will actually record tedious steps and perform them so you don't have to. Great for logging into email or Facebook or whatever…
19. Platypus: This application allows users to customize any web page which then become permanent changes for the user when they visit next time.

Time Savers

Patrolling the Internet for your next great job can be time consuming. Over a long enough time period, clicks and key strokes add up. Here are a few Firefox extensions perfect for trimming unnecessary steps.

30. Easy Job Application: Easily sends out job application to prospective employers using sites such as Craigslist.
31. SmarterFox: Faster browsing by simplifying common tasks. For example, this application converts text URLs and makes them into clickable links.
32. Mouseless Browsing: Ditch the mouse, at least whenever you use Firefox. Allows you to search the Internet entirely from your keyboard. Configurable to each users own preferences.
33. All-In-One Gestures: Perform common commands (forward/backward, etc.) with mouse gestures such as scroll wheel navigation and page scrolling.
34. AutoFill Forms: With a single click or key stroke, fill out entire web forms.
35. Morning Coffee: This clever little application opens your favorite web sites with the push of a button. Great for opening those routine morning sites.
36. Link Widgets: Offers links to related pages as well as easing navigation by offering toolbar buttons for the first, last, previous and next pages within a web site.
37. TidyRead: An incredibly helpful add-on that pulls the core text from news articles, blogs, web sites or pretty much anything else on the Internet.
38. iMacros for Firefox: Another program designed to simplify common web tasks, iMacros fills in forms and manages passwords in addition to a host of other features.
39. LeechBlock: Block those sites that waste your time. A little more intelligent than your average filter, this add-on lets users decide what sites to block and when.
40. Autocomplete Manager: Takes Firefox's already fantastic autocomplete feature and expands it. This extension doesn't even need the beginning of the address, only part of it, in order to fill in the blanks.
41. CheckFox: Lets users quickly check and uncheck pesky check boxes.

Security

The job hunt often takes unsuspecting internet users to a host of new and unfamiliar websites. With the recession affecting millions of Americans, employment websites are becoming popular methods of inserting spyware and viruses into unsuspecting computers. Getting a virus while searching for a job only adds insult to injury, these Firefox add-ons will help protect your computer from attack.

42. WOT (Web of Trust): Warns about risky sites trying to scam visitors, infect spyware or send spam. Color coded icons rate over 21 million sites.
43. Panic Button: Allows you to quickly hide all open tabs and windows. Great failsafe for searching job sites at work.
44. Decreased Productivity: Provides a "work safe" mode to cover up any surfing habits you may want to prevent your boss from knowing about. Also great for looking for a new job at work.
45. LastPass Password Manager: Automatically fills out forms and manages all your passwords. Even greater, this extension allows users log into multiple sites with a single click.
46. Lazarus Form Recovery: Automatically saves forms as you type. If your computer crashes or a server times out, no worries, everything is already saved.
47. Stealther: A great way of viewing web sites without leaving evidence of your visit, this add-on temporarily disables features such as browsing history and cookies.
48. BugMeNot: This wonderful extension breezes through compulsory web registrations by using user submitted passwords.
49. Duck Duck Go Toolbar: Blocks over 44 million different sites known for spam or Malware from appearing in search results. Also protects against "typosquatting" or mistyping web addresses.
50. Session Manager: Saves and restores all windows at startup or when a computer crashes. Also allows users to reopen accidentally closed tabs and windows.

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No matter what you may think of Google, you gotta love the brilliance and innovative moxy of the guys who run that company. In today’s New York Times, there was a story about a new web tool called Google Flu Trends. This tool is being evaluated as a new early warning system for fast-spreading flu outbreaks in the US.

Tests of Google Flu Trends, suggest that it may be able to detect regional outbreaks of the flu a week to 10 days before they are reported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). It works by tracking and quantifying number of Americans who enter search phrases like “flu symptoms” into Google and other search engines. By analyzing these searches as they come in, Google Flu Trends creates graphs and maps of the country that show where the flu is spreading.  For example, in early February the CDC reported that the flu cases had recently spiked in the Mid-Atlantic States. But Google says its search data showed a spike in queries about flu symptoms two weeks before the CDC report was released.

According to public health experts “The CDC reports are slower because they rely on data collected and compiled from thousands of health care providers, labs and other sources. The Google data could help accelerate the response of doctors, hospitals and public health officials to a nasty flu season, reducing the spread of the disease and, potentially, saving lives.” Researchers have long contended that information published on the Web amounts to a form of “collective intelligence” that can be used to spot trends and make predictions.

Google Flu Trends appears to be the first public project that uses the powerful database of a search engine to track a disease. This could be the beginning of a new trend in epidemiology. Google hopes to publish the results of its study in Nature.

Until next time…

Good Luck and Good Job Hunting!!!!!!!!

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