October 4, 2011 by Sandra Rogers.

For the past two years, Blogging4Broke has been hosted on WordPress.com through our Web host, 1and1.com, but this blog isn’t widget-aware.  I’m a tech savvy individual but have been unable to add any special social media networking widgets (tools) to this site.   Hence, I really look forward to utilizing all the Blogger.com widgets to make my new blogging platform a powerful place for our readers to share their photos, links, ideas, and feedback.  Even though we receive over 6K unique site visitors to this blog on a monthly basis, there has been very little interaction with our guests on it.  My goal is to use Blogger to attract followers and engage in conversations about effective and innovative job hunting. 

I look forward to this new adventure and can’t wait to visually see those thumb-nail photos of our followers on Blogger!  Here is our new address: http://blogging4broke.blogspot.com/.  I hope to migrate all of our best blog posts to the new site by the end of the year.


Your Blogger,


Sandra Rogers
sandra@brokebutnotforlong.org

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September 24, 2011 by Sandra Rogers.

Posted in Career Advice, Social Media, Tech Assistance, Job Hunt | Print | 1 Comment »

September 21, 2011 by Sandra Rogers.

Wired Campus - The Chronicle of Higher Education
By Josh Keller—”Most colleges are underprepared for the wave of veterans returning from wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the largest influx since after the Vietnam War. The same is true of many employers.

It’s not that the colleges and companies aren’t looking for veterans, says Gunnar Counselman, the founder and chief executive of Fidelis College. But they often do a poor job of understanding how to attract veterans and help them acclimate to civilian life once they return, he says.

Fidelis, a San Francisco-based startup, seeks to help military members graduate from college. The company’s students will take lower-division courses at an affiliated online college while on active duty and then transfer to a traditional university. When they graduate, Fidelis will place them with employers it knows are looking to hire veterans.

Colleges and the employers will pay Fidelis for its coaching services aimed at helping students make a successful transition. “It’s like a talent agency for the military,” says Mr. Counselman.”

Sandra’s Note:  This sounds wonderful!   Please share this news with veterans.

Posted in Career Advice, Professional Dev., Veterans, Tech Assistance | Print | No Comments »

January 15, 2011 by Sandra Rogers.

Dear Readers,

I wanted to alert you to the fact that someone else purchased the domain name, TheBrokeBlog.com.  Therefore, I have changed the name of our blog to Blogging4Broke.  Currently, no one else is using that URL.  I will have to go through and edit all the instances where I mentioned The Broke Blog, as well as the hidden search engine optimization key words on our Web site.

We’re only changing in name.  Our bloggers will continue to provide informative articles on inspiration and tools for the job hunt, as well as, resources for financial education.  You may have noticed a new guest blogger posted an article yesterday.  Her name is Carolyn Davis.  She is another former Peace Corps Volunteer that I network with on LinkedIn.com.  I’d like to welcome Carolyn as a contributor!

Lastly, we reached 47,000 site visitors in 2010!  Thank you for your readership! I’m certain that we’ll continue to grow.  Your feedback is greatly appreciated.  Our Twitter followers continue to grow, as well, and now reach 550.  We recently added a list of resources for internships to our Twitter account.  Go to @broke4jobs on Twitter to see our other lists with hundreds of reliable accounts, such as US and international job boards, military resources, and resources for the disabled.

Sincerely,

Sandra Annette Rogers

sandra@brokebutnotforlong.org

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December 20, 2010 by Sandra Rogers.

 Dear Readers,

Our guest blogger, Robert Rowell, found a great article on the use of social media as a career tool.  Jobvite, a social recruiting software company, conducted a survey on the use of social media by human resource (HR) departments.   Robert stated that we, as job seekers, should learn more about the actual candidate selection process conducted by HR.  He learned that they’ll be using social media tools like Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter more so than regular job boards.  Read more to learn the facts.

Jobvite Social Recruiting Survey 2010 | Jobvite Recruiting Software

Your blogger,

Sandra Annette Rogers

http://www.indeed.com/p/index.php?pid=7080813311402333

Posted in Social Media, Tech Assistance, Job Hunt | Print | 2 Comments »

November 28, 2010 by Sandra Rogers.

 Dear Readers,

Have you ever thought about telecommuting for work or teaching online?  I just completed a certificate to teach online through my profession.  This yearlong course hosted by TESOL is conducted at the University of Wisconsin via online instruction.  What better way to learn to teach online than taking an online course!  It isn’t a very costly program.  I was able to learn enough from this course to feel comfortable in taking on a new job teaching online.

This course served me well, as I’m excelling at my new job!  Last year, I wrote about making changes, re-educating yourself for the “invisible” jobs.  Trends show that online classes at universities are on the rise, according to the Chronicle of Higher Learning.   This certification is for teaching English as a Second Language (ESL) which is part of my profession, Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL).  However, it is open to anyone from any field.  I was able to design my Web site and learn about blogging and twittering from this certificate course.

In addition, I’ve been able to get three part-time jobs ONLINE!  Now, I’ve gone completely virtual.  I’m teaching ESL for a company in Israel, teaching reading online for the local university, and scoring tests online.  My nonprofit is wholly online, too.  I’ve even become an online mentor.  I started mentoring ESL instructors in Italy and mentoring individuals looking for work on LinkedIn.com.  If you’ve been following my blogs, you’ve heard about these different job opportunities.  If you’d like to learn about my job leads, go to the job hunt category to read related blogs.

Check out the site:

Principles and Practices of Online Teaching Certificate Program

Your blogger,

Sandra Annette Rogers

Try Audible Now and Get A Free Audiobook Download with a 14 Day Trial. Choose from over 85,000 Titles.

http://www.indeed.com/p/index.php?pid=7080813311402333

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August 18, 2010 by Sandra Rogers.

Nowadays, job seekers need to incorporate social media into their job hunt.  The good news is that these tools are free to use (unless you want to upgrade to the premium level on some of them).  Social media refers to connecting with people via the Internet to have a discussion; it’s often referred to as Web 2.0.  It was the latest evolution of the Internet.  The next wave, possibly Web 3.0, is already occurring.  With social media tools, you can share all sorts of information via documents, multimedia, or live chats all at the same time.

Our nonprofit has been part of the social network for employment since 2009.  We use the following social media tools: a Twitter account @Broke4Jobs, Blogging4Broke, Paper.li for e-newspapers, and our Web site, www.brokebutnotforlong.org.   I also use LinkedIn.com and Yahoo Connections to network with other professionals.  We decided not to use Facebook because it requires nonusers to set-up accounts.  Whereas, the twitter feed can be viewed without logging in via a widget (electronic gadget that is embedded into a Web page with HTML code).

First, you should create a Twitter account for the job hunt.  Twitter is called microblogging because you can only “tweet” 174 characters.  Be professional with your tweets because the Library of Congress is documenting them!  Moreover, what you “tweet” will show up in a Google search.  If you set up a Google Alert on your twitter name/handle, you will find that this is true.  Google alerts are part of gmail, Gooogle’s email, which is also free.

Why would you want to use Twitter to find a job? Because many companies have job boards on Twitter.   Visit our twitter account to view our list of US and international job boards.  Currently, there’s a polarized debate going on regarding the future of face-to-face and online job boards.  Matt Adler of Recruiting Futurology stated in his article, “The Job Cloud–Why Twitter is the Future of Job Boards, “Depending on your viewpoint/agenda it seems you should either believe they are going to suffer a painful death and all shut down tomorrow or carry on regardless effortlessly circumventing the massive digital changes that are effecting every other industry so drastically.”

He goes on to say that companies can get several hundred qualified applicants even though they don’t have many followers.  Basically, a “tweet” can go along way!  People retweet important or fun tweets that they find.  I’m always retweeting interesting jobs, internships, and volunteer opportunities in hopes that one of my followers will go after it.  We currently have 573 followers, and I “follow” twice that amount.  If you’d like to learn more about Twitter for the job hunt, read the TweetSheet created by Marci Reynolds at www.marcireynolds.com.

Sandra Annette Rogers

sandra@brokebutnotforlong.org

Try Audible Now and Get A Free Audiobook Download with a 14 Day Trial. Choose from over 85,000 Titles.

Was this article helpful?  Please donate $5 to our nonprofit, so we can help others find work:

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August 14, 2010 by Sandra Rogers.

Adaptive technology refers to the assistive devices or software programs that aid individuals with disabilities.  I would like to share some of the free resources that I have discovered to help individuals with an employment handicap.  Let me first say that I am not an expert in the field, as I have only taken one course on the topic.  However, I have a keen interested in learning all I can about it.  So if you have some additional adaptive technology tools to share with our readers, by all means please leave a comment.

I added a Web page to our site, www.brokebutnotforlong.org, to address adaptive technology tools.  Some of the tools are for both the worker and the employer.  Here is the list that I have cultivated as of today:

1. Section 508 Checklist has the standards for Web site content to meet the needs of persons with disabilities: http://webaim.org/standards/508/checklist.
2. iSpeech.org converts text-to-speech (TTS) or speech-to-text (STT) for audio files for free.  You can also control the speed of the voice delivery.
3. The US Government provides webinars and updates on the latest technology available or the lack thereof in various situations: http://disability.gov/technology/accessible_technology
4. A team of researchers at Boston College and Boston University created an adaptive computer mouse called, cameramouse.  It assists individuals with limited movement in their limbs but not in their head to direct the mouse’s cursor. www.cameramouse.org
5. The center for Principals of Universal Design at North Carolina State University have created a Universal Design Poster with the principals of accessibility in the environmental design at the workplace: http://design.ncsu.edu/cud/pubs_p/docs/poster.pdf
6. Microsoft provides tutorial on the accessibility options for using its products, such as Internet Explorer 8 and Windows XP: http://www.microsoft.com/enable/products/ie8/

As previously mentioned, I’m interested in your suggestions on other adaptive technology tools.  I hope these serve you well.  As the web developer for BrokeButNotForLong, Inc., I hope to meet the 508 standards for Web site design, as well.

Your Blogger,

Sandra Annette Rogers

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Host unlimited domains + get up to 5 FREE domains with your 1&1 hosting account. Must see monthly hosting specials!

Was this article helpful?  Please donate $5 to our nonprofit, so we can help others find work!

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July 31, 2010 by Sandra Rogers.

Dear Readers,

Here’s a compelling article written by the CEO of FlexJobs.com regarding telecommuting.  Last year, I decided to make a career change to teach and work online.  After many hours of retraining, volunteering in the field of online teaching, creating a hybrid class, and working online as a part-timer grading papers, in August I will go completely online!  Not to mention creating our Web site, this blog, and a twitter account for our nonprofit, BrokeButNotForLong, Inc.  I’m thrilled about working from home and saving money on gas, regaining my hour and 45 minute lost in commute, and also not adding wear-and-tear to my 10 year old vehicle.  Moreover, I’m going green, too!  The article below was written by Sarah Sutton Fell, CEO of FlexJobs.com whose whole company is virtual.

Why the heck aren’t telecommuting jobs at the top of the green jobs pile?

Your blogger,

Sandra

sandra@brokebutnotforlong.org

Posted in Tech Assistance, Workforce Development, Job Hunt | Print | 2 Comments »

May 9, 2010 by Sandra Rogers.

With the advent and popularity of the World Wide Web, scammers have a new and ever increasing clientele and platform to ply their wiles and deceit upon.  The use of the postal service is also rampart with the misuse and subterfuge scammers rely on to separate people from their money.  The telephone system is another avenue for their deceit and thievery.  This does not limit scammers from the United States or even North America, but allows scammers from all over the globe to swindle and defraud people.  These scammers prey on the elderly, the undereducated and the gullible who thinks everyone is honest and aboveboard.

The methods used by these scammers either elicit a person to relinquish their identity through their social security  numbers, credit and bank information and passwords or promise rewards by cashing a fraudulent check and keeping a portion for themselves or sending in a relatively small amount of money in order to receive a much larger and imaginary amount of money.  Still others promise a course or program to get rich quick simply by sending in tuition or purchasing the elusive ‘secrets of wealth’.

The important thing to remember, as the economist Milton Friedman is famous for saying, “There is no such thing as a free lunch.”  Never believe something is free or easily gotten without checking it out with the appropriate knowledgeable authorities.  One should never give out personal or financial information to anyone without checking out the legitimacy of the requestor.  This information should only be given out to someone or an organization you contacted and trust.  Beware of look-alike contacts on the telephone or internet that contact you requesting information you had already given to the proper organization.  Remember that there are quite a number of people in the world whose “job” is to steal from you.

Mark

Look for jobs: http://www.indeed.com/p/index.php?pid=7080813311402333

Posted in Finance, Tech Assistance | Print | 2 Comments »

April 22, 2010 by Sandra Rogers.

Greetings Readers,

I would like to share a YouTube video with you.  It was created by Lee LeFever of Common Craft.  It’s titled, “Phishing Scams in Plain English.”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sqRZGhiHGxg

For those of you who don’t know the term, phishing is defined in Wikipedia as:

“the criminally fraudulent process of attempting to acquire sensitive information such as usernames, passwords and credit card details by masquerading as a trustworthy entity in an electronic communication.”

To read more go to: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phishing

I hope this was helpful.

Your blogger,

Sandra Annette Rogers

sandra@brokebutnotforlong.org

Posted in Finance, Tech Assistance | Print | 1 Comment »

April 17, 2010 by Sandra Rogers.

“Is this your wallet, honey?” is how the stranger got my elderly mother to roll down her window.  She had gone to the Dollar General store down the street to get a few items, just as she has done for the past 10 years.  My mom told her no, then the stranger went around and got into the car and told her to drive.  The stranger asked my mom all sorts of financial questions before being dropped off at a nearby Dollar General Store.  She told my mom to wait right there.  Luckily, my mom dropped her off and then got someone to call the police.

I was extremely upset to hear my mother’s story when she got home and quickly talked to her about instantly locking her doors whenever she enters her car, no matter her location, and other safety tips.  As unemployment continues to soar, it appears some people are getting desperate, a desperation that makes them go after folks that shop at the Dollar General Store!    We should all take precaution, for ourselves and our families, against scammers in the parking lot, the neighborhood, or online.   This article will be part of a series to protect you from fraud at home and online.  I’m not an expert on this topic but will share advice from individuals who are, as well personal lessons learned.

Online, two of  my friends had their facebook pages and Hotmail accounts hijacked by a spammer supposedly in need of some cash in London.  These two people don’t know each other: one lives in Alabama and one in Argentina.  The incidences happened several months apart, but interestingly the spammer had the same story.  I have been receiving a lot of spam financial award emails, such as winning the lottery or a BMW, supposedly from London, as well.  I can tell they are spam for many reasons; primarily, they’re too good to be true.  The origin of the spam is most likely from China or Russia whose governments don’t have anti-spamming laws.

How does this happen? Basically, if your email is posted on the Internet, then a list gathering tool called a Web spider could collect it for a spammer.  Also, if you are in a public chat room, generally your first part of the email is your chat name and it is fairly easy to figure out what your Internet provider is, especially if it is one of the free ones like Hotmail or Yahoo. Moreover, always completely log off and close the Internet browser whenever you use a public computer.  Make sure you have a spam filter for your email account, and a strong anti-virus program for your computer!

There are several ways that your email can be used against you, but how did they get your password?  If your password is weak, then spammers will figure it out (or if you didn’t properly log out, as mentioned above).  According to Microsoft Online Safety, the keys to password security are length and complexity:

“An ideal password is long and has letters, punctuation, symbols, and numbers.

• Whenever possible, use at least 14 characters or more.
• The greater the variety of characters in your password, the better.
• Use the entire keyboard, not just the letters and characters you use or see most often.”

Unfortunately, the times we feel most comfortable, and therefore let down our guard, are usually when we’re at home including online, running errands, or hanging out in our neighborhood.  Since we are unemployed, like the retired, we have more time to interact with others that we meet around town or online, but unfortunately this includes opportunities for scammers and spammers.  The next articles will focus on how to protect your financial identity online and (snail) mail fraud.

Your blogger,

Sandra Annette Rogers

Posted in Finance, Tech Assistance | Print | 3 Comments »

February 6, 2010 by Sandra Rogers.

Greetings and welcome to the newly designed blog!  I incorporated components of universal design to provide accessibility for the reading of this blog.  For example, all postings (and our Web site pages) now have the text-to-speech boxes available at the bottom of each blog.  In addition, I selected a new setting with simple white background, black font with a little color for accents.  My intent is to get my message across to persons with visual impairment, as well as the general public.

Furthermore, visitors can subscribe to receive the RSS, a plain document without visuals.  The one music video in the side bar of Celia Cruz has subtitles in English and Spanish, but our videos on the Web site don’t have closed captions since they are from YouTube.  I’ll need to pay for their site licenses to show the professional videos.  We haven’t received any donations, as of yet, so I’ll make that one of our fundraising goals.

I’m currently redesigning our Web site to meet the universal design requirements.  BrokeButNotForLong.org already has large font without frivolous formatting, clear and concise headings and subheadings, and consistent page design.  However, I learned from the Web Accessibility in Mind (AIM) standards that every  non-text image should have the description in text, as well.   Therefore I’ll need to edit for accessibility for visitors with readers to hear everything on our site.

I’m currently taking an adaptive technology course online and learned about the free  Microsoft Office accessibility tools.  I learned how to enlarge the font on my computer screen and it really helps me see things better.  There’s also a PDF on tools to use on Internet Explorer 8: Accessibility in Internet Explorer 8.

My last posting described another accessibility tool, the camera mouse: http://www.cameramouse.org/  The free download is worth investigating for anyone who needs assistance with mobility. It helps those without the use of their hands but who can move their heads to direct the cursor on the computer via the camera mouse.  I found it via a tweet on twitter from the @PVA (Paralyzed Veterans of America).  The full articles is posted on our previous blog.  Moreover, I’m following several veteran blogs and government twitter accounts to find more resources to incorporate.

I created a Twitter account for our organization and used our organization’s acronym @Sandra_BBNFL; this stands for BrokeButNotForLong, Inc.  Please send us your suggestions on how to make our site more accessible to everyone by leaving a comment or sending a tweet.  I hope you like the new design.  I want to apologize to all the Internet Explorer users, as the January blog posts went missing!  They’re currently reprinted on the main pages of the blog, at the top right hand corner.

Sandra Annette Rogers,

The Broke Blog

sandra@brokebutnotforlong.org

Posted in Veterans, Tech Assistance | Print | 1 Comment »