Shelly does a great job once she relaxes.

Video resumes are becoming more popular, and while they are not yet mandatory, it could give you a leg up on the competition and may be worth your while. That being said, if your video skills are not so good, or you don’t have the software to edit your final product you might want to reconsider, after all, appearing professional, even just on paper is the most important aspect of a resume.

But how do you know what to include or how to set up your video resume?
Here are some pointers for getting started.

1. Answer this question: is this required for a specific job or am I creating a general resume? Be prepared to create two videos as a result of one recording if you are considering a specific job: one for that job and one for general purposes – might as well cover all bases while you’re here, right?

To make your life easier when editing, ask the questions focused on one job, finish that interview and then start a new interview based on the second job (or general interview). That will minimize your time in editing and you won’t have weird fade-outs after some questions.

Angelica is personable, but never tells you what it is she is hoping to gain.

2. Create a script and rehearse. Have a list of questions, covering your previous jobs, your aspirations and the standard interview questions (Why should you get this job, why do you want this job, what are your strengths and weaknesses, what three words would a previous employer use to describe you…) and have your answers ready. Even if you recruit someone to act as interviewer, repeat the question in your answer to be sure it comes through clearly.

Interviewer: Why would you be a good fit for our company?
You: I would be a good fit for your company because the core values that you exude, such as tenacity, match my personality. When I was with ABC…

Make sure you rehearse. You want to come across as personable and confident, and you want to avoid reading a script and/ or looking too stiff.

In your script, don’t forget to include your name, the title of the job you’re looking for and the location you’re interested in. If you’re considering relocating, explain why and at least hint on whether you’ll be needing financial assistance for the move or not.

Interviewer: Why are you looking to move to Denver?
You: I am looking to move to Denver to be closer to family. I am planning my move for December, but could move sooner if the position requires.

Or

You: I am hoping to move to Denver to be closer to family, so I have focused my job search efforts on companies in that area, in the hopes of moving upon being hired.

Try to give examples when answering questions – this helps the viewer feel like they know you and also shows that you have handled work similar to this in the past.

Finally, end by thanking the viewer.

3. Keep it basic.
Your final video should be short (between 1 and 3 minutes only) and should encourage people to contact you, so don’t forget to include your contact details and a link to your resume (make it a simple link that doesn’t require someone to search for a pen to write it down because you’re the one looking for work, not the viewer!)

4. Check your background.
Just as interviewers are not supposed to ask questions about family, it’s best to stay as neutral as possible. You want the focus to be on your skills, not your Pez collection, so make sure your background doesn’t include photos or trinkets. Keep the area tidy and decide whether you would be more comfortable at a desk or simply sitting in a chair.

Make sure there are no windows in the shot. The natural light can make it hard to see you (not to mention, you can’t control what will happen outside). It’s better to be well lit from the front so that you are clear.

5. Check your outfit.
Dress like a regular interview. A suit, a tie, a classic dress. It will not only help the viewer to see you as professional but it will help you to feel professional (it can feel pretty silly conducting an interview in your own living room!).
Don’t make the weatherman mistake, by wearing suit and jacket with shorts. You never know what can be seen until you’re finished and you may have just wasted a lot of your own time.

6. Make sure you have time.
Even though the video will only be between one and three minutes, make sure you have at least an hour to record and an hour to edit. You’ll probably have some slip-ups and maybe some giggles, so you’ll need plenty of time before being interrupted by yelling kids, or parents interrupting to see if you’d like a sandwich! Rehearsing will cut down this time a lot.

SOME DON’TS

The Cast of "How I Met Your Mother" gives you video tips

Don’t treat this as a joke, or act like it’s a dating video.
Most employers want their employees to have a sense of humor, but you are looking to highlight your professional skills, and that usually doesn’t include bench pressing.

When you have outtakes, be warned against sharing them online. Everything has the ability to go viral and that’s probably not the impression you want to give employers.

Don’t discount a traditional paper resume. The video may give you a leg up on the competition, but it can’t cover everything that an employer wants to see.

YOU’VE MADE YOUR VIDEO. NOW WHAT?

Get a second opinion. Show it to friends and relatives (again, be warned against posting it before you are confident – once it’s out there, it’s out there for good). If the feedback is good, post it online.

If you have your own website, post it here, along with your contact details and resume (remove anything personal, such as photos from the site). Now you can include the link on your paper resume, in emails, on your LinkedIn profile, Facebook profile, etc.

If you don’t have your own site, or your site is for personal purposes, you can upload your video to your LinkedIn page, CareerBuilder, Jobster, MyWorkster and of course YouTube. You can upload it to Facebook, but to be seen by an employer would require your page being public and your future employer would be privy to information from your past and your friends – maybe not a great idea.

Once your video is complete and uploaded, promote it! Tell your friends where to see it, ask them to forward it, tweet about it, write about it in your status updates on LinkedIn, post it to groups there, include it in all email correspondence to employers and recruiters, including us!

Email us your video link: pr@skillstorm.com

Sources:

http://www.techlearning.com/article/41240

http://blog.linkedin.com/2010/05/06/linkedin-slideshare-videos/

http://mashable.com/2011/01/17/tips-video-resumes/

US prosecutors of file sharing host Megaupload have announced that files may be deleted as soon as Thursday (update: this morning it was anounced that the data will remain on Megaupload’s site for two weeks, but access is still denied to users). According to the charges, files hosted by Megaupload (actually hosted on third-party storage sites) include pirated materials. But the files also include millions of personal files, such as home photos and videos that have been inaccessible to their owners since Megaupload was shut down. These personal files will be permanently deleted leaving many people to ask, “How safe is the Cloud?”

Stats from the cloud

According to a Forrester Research report last year, cloud computing was predicted to “grow from $40.7 billion in 2011 to more than $241 billion in 2020” (Sizing The Cloud by Stefan Ried, Ph.D. and Holger Kisker, Ph.D.)

With the unveiling of many companies own cloud services, including iCloud, the Amazon Cloud, and now Business Cloud Services from Blackberry, the prediction may have fallen short. So, how do you ensure that your data is safe from shut downs, hackers, and just your run of the mill invasion of privacy?

Well, let’s start by putting things into perspective.

1. Very few of us actually put much thought to our own security online:

• Most people are using an email system that runs through the web, whether it’s your basic online Yahoo! or Gmail account, or an IMAP or POP3 email that is delivered via a desktop client such as Outlook or Apple Mail. So, most people can associate a certain level of risk to their email. In other words, it is feasible (although not likely) that your email could be hacked.
• Along the same lines, one in every seven minutes online is dedicated to Facebook, the much loved social networking site where we share photos and videos without hesitation on a daily basis. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to google your name and find photos that you perhaps hadn’t considered “public.” The cloud is a lot more secure than many places your photos are already seen.
• Our cell phones carry amazing amounts of data and we take them everywhere we go. At some point, isn’t it inevitable that we may lose a cell phone, along with all of the data, phone numbers, photos and video that are embedded within? But if it’s in the cloud, it can be downloaded on to your new phone and there’s no need for the mass “I lost my phone…” text.

2. Backing up files is the only way to ensure that we won’t lose them. Since the dawn of computers we have been told to back up our systems. Some of us learned the lesson back in college as a computer crashed mid way through a paper, but most of us still don’t back up as frequently as we should.

• External hard drives are costly and cumbersome. Carrying around an external hard drive is not a good idea because it’s at the same risk as your original computer. So, you drop your laptop bag into a river and there’s a good chance your external hard drive went swimming too. Not to mention the inconvenience. If you’re in a meeting and need to access a file, pulling out a hard drive, plugging it all in and searching is inefficient. Accessing data in the cloud is faster, lighter and just plain easier.

So, how do we protect our info in the cloud as best as possible? It’s fairly easy, once you know what to ask. Here are the questions to ask yourself before making  a cloud commitment.

1. Is the cloud host a valid company?

Is the host a cloud company or a file sharing company – if it’s easy to share the files, it might be a red flag.  To validate a cloud host, be sure that they are in fact a cloud host. Ask yourself if you know the name – is it Rackspace, iCloud or Google Docs? Are they publicly traded? This should give you a sense of security.

2. Do they offer you large amounts of space?

iCloud provides a small amount of cloud space for free, and larger amounts for a fee. You will burn through space faster than you expect, so be sure you can always upgrade.

3. Can you access your files easily?

Remember the meeting? If you need something unexpectedly, can you access it at any time, by logging in remotely?

4. Is your data encrypted?

By ensuring your data is encrypted you can protect yourself from inside hacking, meaning employees of the cloud host that have access to your files will not be able to read those files as they will all be encrypted.

5. Your password.

It might seem obvious but choose a tough password to crack. It’s hard to keep up with all of your online passwords, but this one should be different to any others, should not be saved on your computer (or smartphone), and should not be easy to guess – avoid birth dates, kids names or initials, pet’s names or places you lived.

Check the terms and conditions and get the hard drive anyway!

Yes, the cloud is better than a hard drive, but nothings perfect. Most of the time, your terms and conditions with the cloud provider will clearly state (as they did with Megaupload), that you are at risk of losing data. So, get  yourself a large hard drive as well as the cloud and back up your entire system now and then. That way, when aliens attack and bring down your wifi, you can still access the video of your son’s first birthday party from the comfort of your own home.

Sources:

http://gcn.com/articles/2010/04/21/google-china-attack-passwords.aspx

http://www.informationweek.com/news/internet/google/218500810

http://www.techinfo-4u.com/2011/11/29/how-to-ensure-safety-in-cloud-computing/

http://mashable.com/2011/12/27/facebook-minutes/

http://www.campaignmonitor.com/stats/email-clients/

http://www.quora.com/Are-there-any-statistics-on-how-many-people-use-webmail-vs-those-who-use-a-desktop-mail-client

http://www.npr.org/2011/12/26/143795017/now-hovering-above-us-all-the-cloud

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/rim-launches-blackberry-business-cloud-services-for-microsoft-office-365-2012-01-30-83530?reflink=MW_news_stmp

http://statspotting.com/2011/05/cloud-computing-statistics-how-big-is-the-cloud-exactly/

http://www.forbes.com/sites/ciocentral/2011/03/16/is-your-data-safe-in-the-cloud/

http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Cloud-Computing/10-Megaupload-Alternatives-to-Keep-Your-Cloud-Files-Safe-794606/

http://digg.com/news/technology/feds_please_return_my_personal_files_stored_at_megaupload

http://www.newser.com/story/138559/megaupload-data-may-be-dumped-this-week.html

http://www.npr.org/2011/06/11/137125799/hackers-and-clouds-how-secure-is-the-web

Yes, our normal Tuesday tech blog is running today. Yes, it’s Thursday. We have been so embedded in our upcoming website that we postponed, but this one is worth the forgiveness. It’s all about Anonymous: Who are they, what are their targets, and what do they hope to accomplish?

Who are Anonymous?

On the surface, Anonymous is a group of cyber hackers that have been responsible for cyber attacks on large organizations and government entities. But why? What is their purpose in attacking the groups they do? And who are the members of the group?

It might surprise you to know that one of them could unwittingly be you.

Anonymous is a group of “hacktivists,” brought together through various online chat rooms, Internet memes and online forums. They claim to be of all ages and from all walks of life, although often accused of being young tech wizards. The difficulty with identifying members is that they are self identified, i.e. they call themselves Anonymous, therefore they belong to the group.

4chan.org is considered the main forum used by the group due to the lack of rules on that site. According to 4chan: “4chan is a simple image-based bulletin board where anyone can post comments and share images. There are boards dedicated to a variety of topics, from Japanese animation and culture to videogames, music, and photography. Users do not need to register an account before participating in the community.”

The group came to public notoriety after the WikiLeaks incident. Following the arrest of WikiLeaks founder, Julian Assange, Anonymous launched an attack called Operation Payback, attacking sites that cut ties with WikiLeaks, such as MasterCard and PayPal, through a Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) assault, in other words, by overloading those sites with visitors, causing the sites to jam.

“The pro-WikiLeaks vengeance campaign appeared to be taking the form of denial of service attacks in which computers are harnessed — sometimes surreptitiously — to jam target sites with mountains of requests for data, knocking them out of commission.”

Anonymous believes in freedom of information, including sharing of information online. As part of SOPA, new regulations were being considered to identify copyright infringement online. In retaliation to arrests, Anonymous targeted the entertainment industry as well as media organizations by jamming various websites, but most notably, the group claims to have taken down the FBI and the Department of Justice sites.

SOPA was suspended, but the war is far from over, with ACTA now taking center stage. In response, Anonymous has threatened many groups, including Facebook, promising in a video uploaded to YouTube (since removed) to shut down the site this week and asking for volunteers to help. But this attack has shown some dissension in the ranks, as various Anonymous hackers respond negatively to the video through Twitter. After all, why would Anonymous shut down the tools that it uses to engage members?

And this brings us to how you may already be a member of Anonymous.

Approximately 5,600 people clicked links that were posted by Anonymous during the SOPA assault, through Twitter and various other sites, leading to “a free HTML code-hosting site, which in turn executed some JavaScript to fire LOIC [Low Orbit Ion Cannon] at Anonymous-designated targets” according to Graham Cluley, a senior technology consultant with U.K.-based antivirus vendor Sophos. In layman’s terms, if you clicked the link, you essentially helped attack the target site by overloading the site’s server and helping to block other users from getting in.

What are your thoughts? Do you think Anonymous may falter as a result of hitting those it should consider supporters, or perhaps as a result of becoming so widespread that the game of hacking will become more than the message?

Sources:
twitter.com/YourAnonNews
twitter.com/AnonymousIRC
rt.com
latimesblogs.latimes.com
venturebeat.com
theatlanticwire.com
heraldsun.com.au
latimesblogs.latimes.com
theatlanticwire.com
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anonymous
gmanetwork.com
wikipedia.org
4chan.org
computerworld.com
computerworld.com

This morning, at my local Dunkin’ Donuts, mayhem ensued. The manager told me that Wednesday is their busiest day and this Wednesday was the busiest since before the holidays. Looking around, I saw many somber faces, tired eyes and dragging feet. My own included.

Although this Monday was a holiday for 30% of the workforce, many of us may find this week to be one of the longest working weeks of the year. In England, where Martin Luther King Day is not a celebrated holiday, the Monday that leads off this week is considered Blue Monday, the most depressing day of the year! Why? The winter weather is one factor, but it also is the second full week after the holidays, all catching up with co-workers is done and the noses are expected back on the grindstone. For us, in the US, this hump day is the equivalent. Read the rest of this entry »

What is it?

SOPA, the Stop Online Piracy Act is a bill that has been brought in front of the US House of Representatives in an effort to stop online piracy, including copyright infringement. Many people in the technology industry are protesting the act due to the way it proposes that the Internet is policed in order to uphold SOPA.

If passed, the bill would allow the “U.S. Department of Justice, as well as copyright holders, to seek court orders against websites accused of enabling or facilitating copyright infringement.” Internet Service Providers would then be required to shut down that site, and search engines would be required to remove the site from public searches.

Supporters of the bill include the Hollywood movie industry and the music industry who often see their works pirated. Protestors include tech companies such as Google, Facebook, Yahoo, Twitter, eBay, AOL (see more) and Wikipedia and Reddit who will both shut down their US sites on Wednesday in protest of the bill.

So, what’s the big deal?

Tech companies are afraid that the legislation is infringing on freedom of speech and that sites will be shut down on a simple complaint, rather than with due process. For example, one blogger recently critiqued ABC (and parent company Disney) and included clips of the language he found offensive from an ABC show in his critique, as well as sharing them with the show’s sponsors. Disney claimed copyright infringement and the blogger’s site was hastily removed by his Internet Service Provider. Another instance: YouTube hosted a video on behalf of one mother that posted a 29-second video of her son dancing to the song, “Let’s Go Crazy.” No big deal, right?  According to the record label, Universal Music Publishing Group, that’s copyright infringement. Both cases are now in the legal process.

Policing the Internet is possible, and no one can fairly argue that sites that share movies illegally or that entire books can be shared without the author’s permission, but this bill appears cumbersome and too hasty. Perhaps we should start with a clear definition of what copyright infringement or piracy is as it pertains to online content? Is quoting someone on your blog without their permission copyright infringement? Is using a clip of a song in your YouTube video piracy? A picture posted on Facebook? An image from a movie posted on Pinterest? We could see a lot more blackouts if we don’t know, including our own social networking pages.

Sources:

http://redtape.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/01/13/10151672-sopa-opponents-gaining-momentum-wikipedia-google-join-protest

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/

http://www.publicdomainsherpa.com/fair-use.html

http://www.forbes.com/sites/quickerbettertech/2012/01/17/how-to-fix-online-piracy/

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/dec/20/spanish-novelist-quits-piracy-protest

What a way to start off the New Year!

The 2012 International Consumer Electronic Show officially starts today, although AT&T and Microsoft grabbed the spotlight early by unveiling the upcoming the first 4G Windows Phones during the press conferences yesterday.

Affectionately dubbed “Leak Week,” the last week has unveiled tons of information before the show, much of which focuses on the latest in televisions. With so many new tools and so much to follow, I will not focus on CES today, but instead take a look at some interesting stories that may have been overshadowed.

1. Instagram is allowing full sized photos on Facebook
Source: Instagram

Could it be that the one complaint Instagram users have may be overcome in 2012?
Instagram photos are small (low resolution) and while the app can be addictive, many users drop off because they are unable to “use” the art they create through Instagram. This new development allows users to post full-sized photos and provides a link to the full sized photo in Instagram.

Next I wonder if we’ll see Keepsy and other sites that use Instagram using the full-sized photos.

2. Social Media is restricted by Olympic volunteers, although it looks like the rules are already broken.
Source: BBC and Facebook Gamers page

London Olympic volunteers, called “Gamers” have been given a manifesto laying out what they can and cannot talk about on social media. The directions include:

• not to disclose their location
• not to post a picture or video of Locog backstage areas closed to the public
• not to disclose breaking news about an athlete
• not to tell their social network about a visiting VIP, eg an athlete, celebrity or dignitary.
• not to get involved in detailed discussion about the Games online
• but they can retweet or pass on official London 2012 postings.

Of course, the rules are meant to keep the volunteers, among others, safe, but it looks like the rules have already been broken on Facebook. The Gamers have their own Facebook page on which they discussed the rules, therefore breaking a few – by having a detailed discussion.

How are the authorities going to keep a handle on these kind of leaks?

3. Tom Hanks is bringing his show to Yahoo
Source: Yahoo and Mashable

I know I said I wasn’t going to talk about it, but Tom Hanks is making his own unveiling at CES. The Oscar winner will be bringing an interactive animated scripted program to Yahoo. He’ll be unveiling the show at CES today, but Yahoo says viewers will get to interact with the cast and a 3D map, play casual games, watch behind-the-scenes clips, discover back-stories, join discussions and post commentary on their social networks.

If anyone can bring a TV series to Yahoo, it’s Tom Hanks. What do you think?

4. Industrial Design scores
Source: Mashable

The CNET preview of CES (there I go again mentioning it!) talked about how most new gadgets continue to be small, flat-ish, boxes, usually with black screens and that the only excitement was what went on them. It seems like all phones, TVs, tablets and computers are starting to look the same. So, when I saw this post from Mashable about beautiful industrial design, I was excited… and if anything can be exciting when connected with the word industrial, then you know it must be worth a glance!

Amongst the beautiful things, an iPhone controlled coffee maker that can make 4 cups in one minute. Who doesn’t need 4 cups of coffee in one minute? Well, it would be pretty to look at! Hopefully we’ll see something this sleek and different in phones, tablets or computers this year.

Vivek Wadhwa, a columnist for Bloomberg Businessweek and the Washington Post, talks about the outlook for the top technology stories of 2012. Many of his predictions are contentious – what are your thoughts?

Thank you for making 2011 such a great year!

We look forward to working with you in 2012!

Image courtesy of parisleaf.com

2011 was a huge year for Technology news, both good and bad. We gained the robot we dreamed of as kids when Siri was introduced this fall, but we lost one of the greatest minds technology has known just one day later with the passing of Steve Jobs.

The top three technology stories of 2011 (in our opinion):

1. SOCIAL MEDIA MOVES THE WORLD.

This year we saw social media bring together rioters, protestors and the clean up crews. First, the protests in Tunisia and Egypt were spurred along by images of protestors portrayed through social media and ultimately acted as a method of organization and even a reason for protesting once freedoms such as Internet and cell phone service were taken away by the government.

“One could make an argument, and I think there’s [reason to believe] that a lot of young people view the freedom to connect as a fundamental human right and, when the government shuts everything down, and you’re completely unable to communicate with your peers, and get access to information, and each other, you run the risk as a government of turning something into an issue for people that would have otherwise watched on the sidelines.” Jared Cohen, Director of Google Ideas.

In London, Blackberry Messenger was used by participants in the riots, and the following days saw citizen clean up crews brought together by Twitter. Finally, ongoing protests from the 99 percenters are reported more frequently on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube than on mainstream media.

“We exist at the intersection of technology and social issues.” Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg summed up at the Facebook annual conference.

2. GOOGLE+

As Facebook takes on more and more attention on the Internet, with 20 million applications installed per day, more searches are also being performed on the social media giant. In April, Google hinted that they would enter the social media contest as they announced a + button. But Google+ was hinted around, and then opened by invitation only, then exclusively by invitation… eventually it opened to the public in September and then to companies in November.

But was the wait too much? The social media site showed quick initial registrations and then lackluster growth. By the time company pages were announced, “61% of the top 100 [US] brands have established Google+ Pages, no brand other than Google had more than 50,000 Google+ fans, and more than two dozen of the top 100 brands had zero Google+ fans.”

3. THE BATTLE OF THE TABLETS

The iPad 2 was announced, HP put their tablets on ebay and Kindle Fire heated up the competition.

Who will win this battle is yet to be seen, but the price of Kindle Fire versus the speed and capabilities of the iPad 2, it seems like a middle ground could take the lead in the new year.We’re definitely excited to see what happens!

In 2012, SkillStorm will unveil its new website. Please visit us at www.SkillStorm.com to compare before and after.

On Behalf of All SkillStorm Employees, We Wish You Happy Holidays and a Safe and Prosperous New Year!