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Newsgroups: misc.jobs.misc,misc.jobs.offered,misc.jobs.resumes,misc.jobs.contract,misc.answers,news.answers
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From: [e-mail]
Subject: Welcome to misc.jobs!    Read this FAQ *before* posting.
Organization: The Daisy Hill Puppy Farm
Date: Thu, 1 Jan 2004 10:16:01 GMT
Approved: [e-mail]
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Keywords: Posting Guidelines  jobs  workers  employment  contracting
Reply-To: sopwith.uucp!nospam
Followup-To: misc.jobs.misc
Summary: Answers to Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) about misc.jobs.
         How to use Usenet to find a job (or contract).
         How to use Usenet to find a worker.
         How to use Usenet to discuss employment issues.
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Xref: senator-bedfellow.mit.edu misc.jobs.misc:245647 misc.jobs.resumes:404932 misc.jobs.contract:4010774 misc.answers:16819 news.answers:263946

Archive-name: jobs/welcome-faq
Posting-Frequency: monthly
Last-modified: 1997-09-01

Welcome!  This is the introductory posting for misc.jobs.offered,
misc.jobs.resumes, misc.jobs.misc, and misc.jobs.contract.  It answers
frequently asked questions about these newsgroups including the posting
guidelines.

Contents:

    Q-1   What is (and isn't) misc.jobs.offered?
    Q-2   Why have posting guidelines?
    Q-3   What are the posting guidelines?
        Q-3.1 The Subject: line must have a specific format.
        Q-3.2 All postings must be for actual positions.
        Q-3.3 The organization posting must be identified.
        Q-3.4 Do not post to inappropriate newsgroups.
        Q-3.5 Job offerings must be verifiable.
        Q-3.6 Location of the position must be provided.
        Q-3.7 A salary or salary range must be provided.
        Q-3.8 A word about skill and legal requirements.
        Q-3.9 Is there a time cut-off?
        Q-3.10 A word about abbreviations and terms.
        Q-3.11 How to redirect followups.
        Q-3.12 Should I combine multiple openings into one posting?
        Q-3.13 What about character sets?
        Q-3.14 Do I need to respond to every resume I receive?
        Q-3.15 Anything else I should include?
    Q-4   What is misc.jobs.resumes?
    Q-5   What is misc.jobs.misc?
    Q-6   What is misc.jobs.contract?
    Q-7   How many people will see my posting?
    Q-8   How often can I re-post an article?
    Q-9   How do I update an article with new information,
          correct a mistake, or otherwise improve it?
    Q-10  What do I do once the job is filled (or I find a job)?
    Q-11  How do I cancel an article?
    Q-12  What is a "Keywords:" line, and how do I make one?
    Q-13  I have this great idea to make money.
    Q-14  What about multi-level marketing?
    Q-15  How do I find out the cost of living in another city?
    Q-16  Where can I get more information about this network?
    Q-17  Is misc.jobs archived anywhere?
    Q-18  Is there a mailing list?
    Q-19  What are the country codes?  (for subject lines)
    Q-20  Codes for US states and Canadian provinces.  (for subject lines)

Q-1  What is misc.jobs.offered?

    It is a news group for the posting of job offerings by individuals,
companies, or other organizations with positions to offer.  Job offers may
be made by any organization with a job opening, or by a professional third
party recruiting firm which has been hired to fill the opening.  Third party
recruiters, however, should note that their being allowed to do business via
Usenet is an unusual exception to the general rule which forbids using Usenet
for commercial profit.  They should therefore be especially careful to adhere
to the guidelines for posting.  Violations and abuses upset readers, who may
call for prohibiting these commercial postings.

    Readers may note that postings are mostly computer related.  This is
due to Usenet being a computer-based medium.  (You have to use a computer to
use Usenet, and computer users are more likely to have computer related jobs
to offer.)  Offers of non-computer jobs are appropriate here.


What isn't misc.jobs.offered?

    It is not a discussion group or a group for posting resumes.  General
discussions concerning jobs should be held in misc.jobs.misc.  Resumes
should be posted in misc.jobs.resumes.  Your co-operation is greatly
appreciated.  If you feel you must followup an article posted here,
please edit the "Newsgroups:" line:

    Newsgroups: misc.jobs.misc

    Misc.jobs.offered is for offering jobs, not business opportunities.
The posting must meet all legal requirements of the country where the
work will be done.  Before complaining about alleged illegalities in a
posting, readers should remember that Usenet is an international network,
and that what is illegal in their country may be legal in the poster's
country.  If a posting is illegal, readers should inform the poster via
mail.  For more serious problems, contacting the news administrator of the
poster's site and/or posting a followup article to misc.jobs.misc may
be appropriate.

Q-2  Why have posting guidelines?

    Given the very high number of postings in these groups, it is no
longer reasonable to attempt to read all the postings manually.  According
to stats from uunet, misc.jobs.offered had 8824 articles totaling 11062.9 kB
during a two week period in December 1994.  Misc.jobs.resumes had 4286 articles
totaling 18282.0 kB.  With this amount of information to examine, it is now
essential to be able to use the computer to quickly screen articles.
As in buying a house, for many people the three most important things
about a job are: location, location, and location.  Someone in New York City
may not be interested in relocating to Berlin, and visa-versa.  Brief job
descriptions are also useful as a first-level screen.  Thus, it is important
that the location and brief job description appear in the Subject line.
In order to allow computerized searches, it is important to use the syntax
provided in section Q-3.1 below.

    If you follow the guidelines when posting, it is easier for a reader
to find your article.  The reader will have enough information to know
whether or not they are interested in the position.  Conversely, many readers
will ignore articles that do not follow the guidelines.  Many readers will
give up attempting to find a position through Usenet if they cannot use the
computer to search for the articles they are interested in, or if the
articles do not have enough information to tell if it is worth contacting
you.  Following the guidelines will get you more good leads, and fewer poor
leads.  Thus, it is to your benefit, as well as the reader's, to follow these
guidelines.

    The same logic applies to misc.jobs.resumes.  You need to use a
good subject line to allow prospective employers to easily find the
articles they are interested in reading.

    These guidelines embody the consensus of opinion as to the proper
form for postings of job offers.  The guidelines are based on what the
readers want.  They are not the opinion of the FAQ maintainer.

Q-3  What are the posting guidelines?

Q-3.1 The Subject: line must have a specific format.

    Three pieces of information belong in the Subject: line.
    In order: the location, a brief job description, and the hiring
    organization.  The location and job description are required,
    the hiring organization may be left out of the Subject: line
    by third party recruiters, or to make room for a better
    job description.

    Format:

       Subject: COUNTRY-STATE/PROVINCE-City Job_Description Company

    Examples:

       Subject: US-IL-Chicago   Foobar Developer,  Acme Widget Inc

       Subject: US-NY-NYC   Foobar Developer,  Acme Widget Inc

       Subject: US-DC-Washington   Foobar Developer,  Acme Widget Inc

       Subject: DE-Munich   Foobar Developer,  Acme Widget Ag

       Subject: UK-London   Foobar Developer,  Acme Widget Ltd

       Subject: offsite   Foobar Developer,  Acme Widget

    Use, in order, the country code, state or province code (if applicable),
    and the city.  Do not leave out the country code.  If the country is
    US or CA, then do not leave out the state/province code.  (The state/
    province code is optional for countries other than US and CA.)  Do not
    leave out the city.  Use the dash ('-') character to separate the
    portions of the location.  Use one or more blank space characters (' ')
    between the location and the job description, and between the job
    description and the company.  In order to allow computerized searches,
    it is important that everyone use the same standardized syntax shown
    above.  Do not invent your own unique format.

    If the job is in a small town or suburb near a larger, better known,
    city, you may choose to use the larger city in the Subject line.
    (Providing that the larger city is not in a different country, state,
    or province than the smaller city.)  If there is enough room on the
    Subject line, you may choose to include both the large city and the
    suburb on the Subject line by thinking of the suburb as a further
    division of the metropolition area.  For example:

       Subject: US-IL-Chicago-Lisle   Foobar Developer,  Acme Widget Inc

    The same idea can be used to include some other subdivision of a
    large city:

       Subject: US-NY-NYC-Midtown   Foobar Developer,  Acme Widget Inc

    The standard format shown above allows both humans and the computer
    to tell whether, for example, "CA" means "California" or "Canada":

       Subject: CA-        means Canada
       Subject: US-CA-    means California

    ...and to distinguish between cities with the same name:

       Subject: CA-BC-Vancouver
       Subject: US-WA-Vancouver

    If you need to know what the country code for a particular
    country is, I have included a list of them in section Q-19.
    Section Q-20 contains a list of US state codes and
    Canadian province codes.

    See also section Q-3.6.

    The job description is not currently standardized, although there
    has been some discussion of this in misc.jobs.misc.

    Note that most newsposting software will provide the string
    "Subject: " for you.  If you actually type "Subject: US-GA-At..."
    your posting will look like:

      Subject: Subject: US-GA-Atlanta  Peach Pickers ...

    ...which is not what you want.

Q-3.2 All postings must be for actual positions.

    Any job which is offered or alluded to must actually exist,
    and be "approved", if applicable.  Do not submit postings for
    positions which do not exist.  Do not submit vague postings
    in order to receive a supply of resumes.  If you want a
    source of resumes, read the newsgroup misc.jobs.resumes.

Q-3.3 The organization posting must be identified.

    The name of the company making the offer must be present in
    the posting.  Professional recruiters must place the string
    "3rd party recruiter" on the "Keywords:" (see Q-12) line.  (Recruiters
    do not need to identify themselves as such on the subject line.  The
    Keywords: line is sufficient.  Third party recruiters are not required
    to name the hiring organization (client) in their postings, although
    they are welcome to if they choose.)  Many universities are legally
    restricted from handling commercial traffic.  This will enable
    universities to comply with the law.  This is especially true if there
    is a placement fee required of the person accepting the position.  Other
    posters should use the "Organization:" line to indicate the name of the
    company making the offer, and also include the name of the company in
    the body of the posting.

    Examples:

       Subject: US-TX-Dallas   Foobar Developer,  Acme Widget Inc
       Organization: Foobar division, Acme Widget Inc

       Subject: US-TX-Dallas   Foobar Developer
       Keywords: 3rd party recruiter
       Organization: Matchmaker Personnel Inc


Q-3.4 Do not post to inappropriate newsgroups.

    All job offers should be restricted to misc.jobs.offered.
    (Except for contract jobs which go to misc.jobs.contract instead.)
    Discussions of job offers, and resumes requesting positions,
    should likewise be limited to the appropriate groups.  Followup
    articles to postings in .offered or .resumes should go to
    misc.jobs.misc, or to the poster via email.  Again,
    judicious use of the Followup-To: is heartily encouraged.

    The exception is a job which can be filled by either an
    "employee" or a "contractor".  In this case, it is correct to
    cross-post the article to both misc.jobs.offered and
    misc.jobs.contract.

    For the case of a job which will begin as a "contract" job,
    but may become a "direct employee" (aka "permanent") position
    later, the majority of readers want it to be posted to
    misc.jobs.contract, and *not* cross-posted to misc.jobs.offered.

    Readers want the split between .offered and .contract to be
    based on the tax status.  In the US, form W-2 jobs go to .offered,
    form 1099 jobs go to .contract.

    It is also acceptable to cross-post to a dedicated jobs newsgroup
    in the local heirarchy serving the area where the job will
    be performed.  Do not, however, cross-post to random local
    heirarchies, or to newsgroups that are not dedicated to jobs.

    Your posting may be the first time a potential employee has
    heard of you.  Posting to the wrong group does not make a good
    first impression.

Q-3.5 Job offerings must be verifiable.

    The name and phone number or address of the person responsible
    for the position must be given.  Provide information that is
    usable from anywhere in the world; e.g. a *complete* mailing
    address, and a phone number usable from anywhere. (1-800 phone
    numbers are often only callable from specific geographic areas,
    and some readers may need the country code.) Further information
    should be available upon request.  The more information which you
    provide in your posting, the better the response will be.

    The poster must be willing to receive electronic mail at least
    for administrative purposes.  The "From" or "Reply-To" header lines
    will be used for this purpose.  It is very strongly recommended that
    you provide an electronic mail address in the body of the article,
    and allow resumes to be    sent via electronic mail.  It is recommended
    that you list the formats you are able to deal with, e.g.
    ASCII, PostScript, etc.

Q-3.6 Location of the position must be provided.

    The location of the job must be clearly stated both in the
    "Subject:" line of the header and in the article.

    In the Subject line, use the format shown in section Q-3.1.

    In the article, provide more detail if necessary to provide
    the reader with the job location to within commuting distance
    resolution.  In many cities, this would mean a specific section
    of the city or a specific suburb.  The street address of the
    company is usually sufficient.  Providing the county and/or the
    longitude and latitude may be helpful.

    If the position is not of sufficient interest to the entire world,
    please use the Distribution: line to limit the distribution of
    the article appropriately.  Limiting the distribution is especially
    encouraged in cases where a government regulation makes it difficult
    to hire someone from outside that government's boundary.  (If your
    posting software does not provide a list of distributions, see the
    news administrator for your site.)

    Furthermore, you may wish to consider using a local or intracompany
    newsgroup as a source of candidates.  An example would be triangle.jobs
    for jobs within the Research Triangle Park area.

    If where the worker lives is not significant, use "offsite"
    as the location in the "Subject:" line.  For example, a job
    consisting mostly of work that can be done at home or some
    other location of the worker's choosing, or a job that is
    mostly travel would use "offsite" as the location.
    The details would be provided in the body of the article.
    Note that not requiring a worker to show up on site will
    give you a larger pool of workers to select from.

    If some work can be done offsite, but the worker is
    required to report onsite on a frequent basis, put
    the onsite location in the "Subject:" line and explain
    the telecommuting details in the body of the article.

    Third party recruiters sometimes claim that they cannot provide
    the location without "giving away" the identity of the employer.
    This is not a sufficient reason.  The location MUST be provided.
    Job seekers who do manage to figure out who the employer is are
    reminded that employers choose to use third party recruiters for
    a reason, and may not be receptive to applicants attempting to
    bypass the recruiter.

Q-3.7 A salary or salary range must be provided.

    Salary is a useful screen for matching jobs with workers.
    Simply saying "competitive" or "commensurate with experience"
    is not helpful.  Give a specific salary or range.  Again,
    remember that this is an international network and provide
    the monetary units (Dollars (US? Canadian?), Pounds, Deutschmarks,
    etc.) involved.

    Is the opening salaried or hourly?  If the position is likely to
    require overtime, state how your organization handles it.
    Overtime pay?  Time off later?

    Is the position full-time?  part time?  temporary?  summer?
    intern/co-op?

    Example:

    Salary: US$70-90k  This is a full-time position with paid overtime.

Q-3.8 A word about skill and legal requirements.

    It is usually helpful to list both ideal or desired requirements
    and the minimum you will accept.  There is a lack of uniformity
    in how people map academic experience into commercial experience.
    If this is important to you, it may be helpful to explicitly state
    how they map at your organization.  If you wish entry-level persons
    to apply, (or not apply) say so explicitly.  Note that people
    sometimes go back to school for a Masters or Phd after working for
    a few years.  Therefore, the phrase "No entry level positions at
    this time." is probably more accurate than "Recent graduates need
    not apply."  The definition of "entry-level" varies, but usually
    means 0-2 years of experience.

    If there are requirements such as being a citizen or "permanent
    resident" of a particular country, say so.  If your organization
    has a dress code or standard working hours, say so.  If your
    organization has unusual requirements, such as handwriting analysis,
    drug testing, polygraph tests, loyality oaths, etc. say so up front.
    Many people find such requirements offensive, (guilty until proven
    innocent) and will refuse to work for organizations which require
    them, despite being able to pass them.  Stating these requirements
    up front will save both of you time and effort.  All requirements
    must be legal in the country where the work will be done.

    If the position requires travel, tell the reader how much
    and where, for example, "20% travel, US west coast", or
    "70% travel, Europe".  Add more detail if appropriate.

    Example:

       Desired                Required

       MSEE/MSCS                BSEE/BSCS
       5 years doing foo            2 years doing foo
       3 years doing bar            1 year doing bar
       1 year doing baz            knows what a baz is
       2 years commercial experience    2 years commercial experience

       We have no entry level positions available at this time.


Q-3.9 Is there a time cut-off?

    If there is a particular date which applications must be
    received by, state what it is.  Arrange for your posting to
    disappear at this time.  (See section Q-11 for one method.)

    If the worker must begin work by a particular date (or cannot
    begin until a particular date) provide this information as well.


Q-3.10 A word about abbreviations and terms.

    Abbreviations can be useful in the Subject line, but there is
    far less need for them in the body of your article.

    If you use abbreviations, make sure that they are commonly
    used ones.  Do not make up your own.

    To quote from an article by Igor Chudov:

             f u cn rd ths, u cn gt a gd jb n cmptr prgrmmng.

    Do not shorten terms so much that information is lost.  For
    example, there are many computer programs with "DOS" in their
    name.  If you mean MS-DOS, say "MS-DOS", not "DOS".  If you
    are referring to a particular computer display windowing
    system, tell the reader which one.  Say "X-Windows" or
    "MS-Windows", or whatever, not just "windows".  The term "PC"
    can mean "generic personal computer, including IBM-PCs,
    MacIntoshes, Ataris, etc.", it can mean "Intel based personal
    computer hardware platform running any of a wide variety of
    software", or it can mean "Intel based personal computer
    running MS-DOS".  In electronics it may mean "printed circuit".
    In non-computer contexts it may mean "politically correct".
    If you use the term "PC" be sure it is clear what you mean.

Q-3.11 How to redirect followups.

    From time to time it is necessary to remove a conversation from
    a particular newsgroup for one reason or another.  Two of the
    most common reasons are that discussions are not permitted in
    the newsgroup which the posting originated in and another is
    that the topic of discussion has strayed from the original
    sufficiently to warrant a change in newsgroups.

    Misc.jobs.offered and misc.jobs.resumes are for the posting of
    job offers and resumes only.  This means that all postings
    should include a Followup-To: line.  This can be done by adding
    the line

        Followup-To: misc.jobs.misc
    or
        Followup-To: poster

    to the article header.  The rn newsreader provides an empty
    space which you can use to put the appropriate groups in.
    Other newsreaders do not and you should add one by hand.
    This line should be added after the Newsgroups: line.

Q-3.12 Should I combine multiple openings into one posting?

    The main issue here is allowing the user to do automated
    searches among the thousands of openings available.  The majority
    of computer searching is done using the Subject line.  If the
    jobs have the same location, general description, and company,
    then they can share the same Subject: line, and thus can be
    combined into one posting.  Otherwise they will need separate
    postings.

    For example, if your company needs 2 senior wine tasters, 3
    intermediate wine tasters, and 2 junior wine tasters, you could post

       Subject: FR-Paris   wine tasters   Acme Grapery

    and then in the body of the posting explain that you need
    various skill levels.

    Conversely, if you were to combine two unrelated jobs into a
    single posting, such as this bad example:

       Subject: FR-Paris   wine taster, COBOL programmer  Acme Grapery

    A wine taster might have their KILL file set up to throw away
    postings looking for COBOL programmers, and a COBOL programmer
    might have their KILL file set up to throw away postings
    looking for wine tasters.  Thus you wouldn't get any resumes.

Q-3.13 What about character sets?

    This is a problem.  Usenet is an international network, but there
    are many limitations which prevent displaying arbitrary images
    to the reader.  Limit your posting to 7 bit ASCII.  Do not use
    fancy escape sequences that do "nice" things on your screen, since
    they may put someone else's terminal into an unusable mode.  Keep
    lines shorter than 80 characters.  Do not assume that your software
    does this for you.  Also remember that the reader's display probably
    shows a different number of lines than yours does.  Do not include a
    "control-m" at the end of lines.  Avoid using large quantities of
    ALL CAPS.  Normal usage of upper and lower case text is easier to
    read and is perceived as "friendlier" by most people.  Using all
    upper case is perceived as unfriendly shouting.

    If you need to display images that ASCII cannot handle,  I recommend
    a page description language such as PostScript, which can describe
    any image by encoding it into ASCII (which can be transmitted over
    the net and will not confuse terminals).  Realize that the reader
    will need a suitable previewer (e.g. Ghostscript, available at many
    ftp sites) or printer to read your posting, and that it is more
    trouble for them, tempting them to skip your article unread.

Q-3.14 Do I need to respond to every resume I receive?

    Is it not required that you respond to every resume you receive,
    but it is recommended that you send at least a simple "We got
    your resume and will consider it." acknowledgement.  This lets the
    job hunter know that you received their resume.  Some job hunters
    may send another copy if they think you didn't get the first copy.

    In addition, it is a common courtesy that your competitors are
    probably doing.  You are competing for the best workers just as
    you compete for customers.  You don't want to be viewed as "Brand X."

Q-3.15 Anything else I should include?

    Try to anticipate the questions prospective employees will have and
    answer them.  If your organization is not well-known, job seekers may
    want to know how large it is, something about corporate culture,
    dress code, and so on.  Most people know that Los Angeles is warm and
    sunny, Seattle is rainy, and Chicago is cold and snowy.  But if the
    local climate is not what most people would expect it would be useful
    to point that out.

        Acme Widgets is a 6-person progressive company that specializes
        in writing X Windows widgets for entering hexadecimal quantities.
        Dress code: blue jeans required.

        National Gossip Agency is the world's largest employer of
        historians.  It has 100,000 employees all of whom wear business
        suits.

Q-4  What is misc.jobs.resumes?

    Misc.jobs.resumes is a place for individuals seeking employment
to post their resumes (or curriculum vitae, aka "cv").  If you feel you need
to post a followup article to an article in misc.jobs.resumes, it should go
to misc.jobs.misc.  Discussion of misc.jobs.resumes belongs in misc.jobs.misc.

    Many of the suggestions made above apply here as well.  Be concise,
limit distribution, and most of all, remember you only get to make one
first impression.  Provide a useful Subject line.  A Subject line of "resume"
will not help potential employers find your article.  Employers will judge
you based on the effort you make when constructing and posting your resume.
Posting your resume to misc.jobs.misc or misc.jobs.offered will not make a
good impression.  Howver, if you want to receive comments/review/critique
regarding your resume, then post it instead to misc.jobs.misc with a
clear statement that you are seeking comments rather than employment.  If
you post a resume to misc.jobs.misc without such a statement, readers may
assume that you are seeking employment, but cannot be troubled to find the
correct newsgroup to post to.

    Also, not everyone has the latest text formatting software.  Try to
limit your resume to simple ASCII format, or provide a separate companion
posting if you wish to post your resume in troff, LaTeX or PostScript.


Q-5  What is misc.jobs.misc?

    This group exists for job related discussion.

    Do not look for a job by posting resumes to misc.jobs.misc.

    Do not look for workers by posting job offers to misc.jobs.misc.

    Do not post ads of any sort in misc.jobs.misc.

    If you are seeking comments/review/critique regarding your resume
(or job offer), you may post it to misc.jobs.misc with a clear statement
that you are seeking comments.  Without this statement, readers may assume
that you cannot find the correct newsgroup to post to, and judge you
accordingly.

    Most topics relevant to seeking employment, seeking workers, or the
workplace are appropriate here.  For example: which items should/shouldn't
be included on a resume, appropriate dress for an interview, salaries,
references, degree vs. experience, working from home, corporate culture,
cubicles vs offices, dating coworkers, layoffs, giving notice, and so on.
Also, followup articles from the .offered and .resumes groups go here.
Discussion regarding the misc.jobs groups goes here as well.

    Some topics can easily turn into flamefests, for example drug
testing and affirmative action policies.  Please note that other people
have had different experiences than you, and that there is more than one
valid opinion on many of these topics.  Even if there is only one valid
opinion, chances are that you will not convince your opponent.  Sometimes
you may need to agree to disagree.  Also consider that potential employers
and employees may be reading your article.  Do they see a reasonable person?
Or do they see someone they would never consider hiring or working for?


Q-6  What is misc.jobs.contract?

    This group is for discussion of contract work, as opposed
to an "employee" full or part-time position.  Currently it serves
for offers of contract work, offers of availability of contract
workers, and general discussion.

    Job offers in misc.jobs.contract should follow the same
guidelines as offers in misc.jobs.offered.

Q-7  How many people will see my posting?

    According to the December 1990 statistics compiled by Brian
Reid, misc.jobs.offered is the third-most read newsgroup, read by an
estimated 140,000 readers worldwide.  Misc.jobs.resumes is read
by an estimated 50,000 people worldwide, misc.jobs.misc is read
by 71,000 people, and misc.jobs.contract is read by 37,000.  See
the newsgroup "news.lists" for the latest estimates.


Q-8  How often can I re-post an article?

    If you do not get any (or any interesting) responses from
your job posting or resume, you may want to post it again.  But
first, be patient.  It can take 15 days for an article to reach uunet,
which is a *very* well connected site.  Presumably it can take even
longer for an article to reach less well connected sites.  Then, even once
an article arrives, not everyone reads every group every day.  If you need
to re-post an article, wait until 30 days have passed from the previous
posting.  Frequent repostings waste resources and annoy readers.


Q-9   How do I update an article with new information,
      correct a mistake, or otherwise improve it?

    Once your article has been posted, you cannot go back and edit it.
However, Usenet allows articles to be "canceled".  If you have posted
an article and later decide you need to correct a mistake, update the
information, or otherwise improve it, you can cancel the original article
and then post a new, improved article.  (Or use a "Supersedes:" header
line.)  See also: Q-11.


Q-10  What do I do once the job is filled (or I find a job)?

    Once the position is filed (or you find a job), you should
cancel your job posting (or resume/cv).  This will save people
time responding to your posting, and will save you time responding
to them.  See also: Q-11.


Q-11 How do I cancel an article?

    The usual way to cancel an article is to bring it up in your
newsreader, and then issue a cancel command.  In the "rn" newsreader,
the cancel command is "C".  If you are using another newsreader, see the
documentation for the newsreader, or contact the news administrator
or technical support staff for your site.  I cannot assist you with other
software.

    In "rn", you can search for an article with the following commands:

/search-pattern/     searches Subject: lines forward from current article
/search-pattern/h    searches all header lines forward from current article
/search-pattern/a    searches entire articles forward from current article

?search-pattern?     searches Subject: lines backward from current article
?search-pattern?h    searches all header lines backward from current article
?search-pattern?a    searches entire articles backward from current article

You may add an 'r' to also search articles you have already read.

Examples:

    /mylogin@mycomputer/hr
    ?mylogin@mycomputer?hr

For newsreader software other than "rn" please see the documentation
or contact technical support.

Q-12  What is a "Keywords:" line, and how do I make one?

Usenet articles have two sections: a header and a body.  The
header contains lines used by the news system itself, like
which newsgroups an article is posted to.  The header comes first,
then comes a blank line, then the body of the article.

The Subject: line and the Keywords: line are both header lines.
Most/all news posting software will provide you with a Subject: line,
but not all will provide you with a Keywords: line, a Followup-To:
line, or a Reply-To: line.

The Keywords: line can hold important words or phrases that a reader
might want to search for, but which don't fit in the Subject:
line.

Your software should allow you to change header lines, and to add
additional header lines to your article before posting it.
The "rn" newsreader allows you to edit the entire article,
including both the header and the body, using your favorite text
editor, such as emacs.  Other news software may have other methods.
I cannot assist you with other software.  Read the documentation
and/or contact technical support.  If your software does not allow
adding and editing header lines, you need better software.  You
can obtain a variety of Usenet news software free of charge from a
number of anonymous uucp and anonymous ftp sites.

Example:

    Newsgroups: misc.jobs.offered
    Followup-To: poster
    From: [e-mail]
    Reply-To: [e-mail]
    Subject: US-FL-Tampa   Orange Juice Tasters   Acme Juice Inc.
    Keywords: 3rd party recruiter
    Organization: Matchmaker Personnel Inc

    Our client, the Acme Juice Corporation, needs additional
    orange juice tasters.  There are 7 open positions.
    No experience necessary.  Salary: US$100,000 /year

    Contact:

    Human Resources Dept.
    Acme Juice Inc.
    PO Box 123
    Tampa, Florida, US
    1-800-555-1212
    [e-mail]

    Jane Doe
    Matchmaker Personnel
    PO Box 456
    St. Petersburg, Florida, US
    [e-mail]


Q-13  I have this great idea to make money.

The following guideline is borrowed from Gene Spafford's article
"Answers to Frequently Asked Questions", in news.announce.newusers.

    I have this great idea to make money.  Alternatively, wouldn't an
    electronic chain letter be an nifty idea?

    In a few words: don't even think about it.  Trying to use the net
    to make vast sums of money or send chain letters is a very bad
    idea.  First of all, it is an inappropriate use of resources
    (arguably, so are most of the newsgroups), and tends to use up
    vast amounts of net bandwidth.  Second, such usage of the net
    tends to produce extremely negative reactions by people on the
    net, adding even more to the volume -- most of it directed to you.
    Users, particular system admins, do not like that kind of
    activity, and they will flood your mailbox with notices to that
    effect. Third, it's just stupid -- even more so than the other
    stupidity on the net.

    And last, and perhaps most important, some of this activity is
    against the law in many places.  In the US, you can (and will) be
    reported by hacked-off system administrators for suspicion of wire
    fraud or mail fraud (if you are asking people to mail something to
    you or others).  In one incident, at *least* a half dozen people
    reported the person to the Postal Service inspectors; I'm not sure
    what the outcome was, but it probably was not a nice experience.

    Bottom line: don't try schemes to sell things, solicit donations,
    or run any kind of pyramid or Ponzi scheme.  Also, don't start or
    support electronic chain letters.

And if the preceeding didn't convince you:

    Newsgroups: news.announce.important
    Subject: 'Make Money Fast' Scam
    Sender: [e-mail]

    [Moderator's note:  this posting is approved on behalf of the FBI, which
    has stepped in to investigate the massive spree of fraud being committed
    by the MAKE.MONEY.FAST posters.]

    To the USENET Community:

    You may be familiar with a rash of postings to various newsgroups by
    various entities purporting to describe a scheme by Mr. David Rhodes
    of Oxford, Kentucky on the subject of "Make Money Fast."  These schemes
    have as their theme a list of people to whom you, the mark, should send
    money -- followed by reposting of the article with your name added to
    the list.  In this wise, the scam purports, everyone who participates
    will become fabulously rich.

    The FBI wishes to inform you that under no circumstances should you:

         1) Believe that this scam will work.  It won't.  It's a classic con
              principle to promise massive returns on your meager investment.
         2) Participate in the re-posting of the article.  If you do so, you
              are guilty of a Class IV felony.
         3) Propagate this scam further in any way.

    We wish to further inform you that cases are pending in the federal courts
    against several individuals who disregarded U.S. statutes and attempted to
    defraud their fellow citizens.

    Finally, we wish to inform you that David Rhodes himself is in a Federal
    Correctional Institution for his part in the origination of this scam and
    will not see the light of day until the year 1997, barring parole or
    pardon from higher authority.

    Thank you for doing everything you can to stamp out this scam.  Confidence
    men benefit no one but themselves.  Don't fall victim to schemes like this.

    <end>


Q-14  What about multi-level marketing?

    Discussion of multi-level marketing belongs in the newsgroup
alt.business.multi-level.  It does not belong in misc.jobs.


Q-15  How do I find out the cost of living in another city?

[ These two sources are useful for the USA.  Pointers to similar info
  for cities in other countries welcome.  -Snoopy ]

Rand McNally's _Places_Rated_Almanac_, by Richard Boyer and David Savageau
is very helpful.  Try the library or your local bookstore.

Mark Linimon forwarded the following info from Mike Mattox:
   A very good source that lists the cost of living for over 225 cities is:

         "Inter-City Cost of Living Index"

   It is produced by the American Chamber of Commerce Researchers Association.
   According to the 1987 edition(the latest copy the Texas A&M library has)
   it is published quarterly(since 1968) and cost $75/year to subscribe.

   Subscription information is available from:
                        Louisville Area Chamber of Commerce
                        One Riverfront Plaza
                        Louisville, KY  40202


Q-16  Where can I get more information about this network?

    The misc.jobs groups are part of Usenet.  Usenet is not
the same as the Internet, although many sites use the Internet
to transport news between sites.  There are other methods of
transport used, UUCP is popular.

    Read the articles in the newgroup news.announce.newusers.
If you still have questions, ask the news administrator, technical
support person, or other knowledgeable person at your site.


Q-17  Is misc.jobs archived anywhere?

    I am not aware of any sites which archive misc.jobs, or
any sites which make misc.jobs available via anonymous uucp or anonymous
ftp.  If someone knows of such a site, please let me know and I will add
the information to this posting.

    The following resource is probably not an archive, but may
be useful to job searchers.  This information provided by Ruth Shipley,
ix.netcom.com!rshipley.

    In an article titled, "Top U.S. sources for an online job search."
    in DATABASE (Oct/Nov, 1994, p. 34), the authors say the
    misc.jobs.newsgroups are "searchable/displayable at Gopher
    gopher.unt.edu or try lynx gopher://gopher.denet.dk:4320/1nntp."
    (p. 40)

    I gophered to the UNT (University of Northern Texas) site and found
    misc.jobs.offered through the following menu choices:

    Employment Opportunities (UNT & remote)
      Opportunities Outside UNT
        Employment Opportunities Postings in Usenet
          Search MISC.JOBS.OFFERED Article Titles

    I didn't find any jobs under the string I searched on, so I can't
    tell you what the final output looks like.

Q-18  Is there a mailing list?

    The misc.jobs groups are Usenet newsgroups, they are not
mailing lists.  While it should be possible to gateway them into
a mailing list, I am not aware of anyone who has done so.


Q-19  What are the country codes?  (for subject lines)

The following is a list of country codes.  This information has been
extracted from the 1994-10-24 version of a document called
"FAQ: International E-mail accessibility", compiled by Olivier M.J.
Crepin-Leblond, [e-mail].   For more info, please see that
document, or ISO 3166.

The latest version of the country code FAQ is retrievable by
sending an E-mail to [e-mail] , blank subject line
and the command: send usenet/news.answers/mail/country-codes

The country codes have been derived from the
International Organization for Standardization standard ISO 3166.

Code    Country
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
AD   Andorra
AE   United Arab Emirates
AF   Afghanistan (Islamic St.)
AG   Antigua and Barbuda
AI   Anguilla
AL   Albania
AM   Armenia
AN   Netherland Antilles
AO   Angola (Republic of)
AQ   Antarctica
AR   Argentina
AS   American Samoa
AT   Austria
AU   Australia
AW   Aruba
AZ   Azerbaijan
BA   Bosnia-Herzegovina
BB   Barbados
BD   Bangladesh
BE   Belgium
BF   Burkina Faso
BG   Bulgaria
BH   Bahrain
BI   Burundi
BJ   Benin
BM   Bermuda
BN   Brunei Darussalam
BO   Bolivia
BR   Brazil
BS   Bahamas
BT   Bhutan
BV   Bouvet Island
BW   Botswana
BY   Belarus
BZ   Belize
CA   Canada
CC   Cocos (Keeling) Isl.
CF   Central African Rep.
CG   Congo
CH   Switzerland
CI   Ivory Coast
CK   Cook Islands
CL   Chile
CM   Cameroon
CN   China
CO   Colombia
CR   Costa Rica
CS   Czechoslovakia
CU   Cuba
CV   Cape Verde
CX   Christmas Island
CY   Cyprus
CZ   Czech Republic
DE   Germany
DJ   Djibouti
DK   Denmark
DM   Dominica
DO   Dominican Republic
DZ   Algeria
EC   Ecuador
EE   Estonia
EG   Egypt
EH   Western Sahara
ER   Eritrea
ES   Spain
ET   Ethiopia
FI   Finland
FJ   Fiji
FK   Falkland Isl. (Malvinas)
FM   Micronesia
FO   Faroe Islands
FR   France
FX   France (European Ter.)
GA   Gabon
GB   Great Britain (UK)
GD   Grenada
GE   Georgia
GF   Guyana (Fr.)
GH   Ghana
GI   Gibraltar
GL   Greenland
GM   Gambia
GN   Guinea
GP   Guadeloupe (Fr.)
GQ   Equatorial Guinea
GR   Greece
GS   South Georgia  and  South Sandwich Islands
GT   Guatemala
GU   Guam (US)
GW   Guinea Bissau
GY   Guyana
HK   Hong Kong
HM   Heard & McDonald Isl.
HN   Honduras
HR   Croatia
HT   Haiti
HU   Hungary
ID   Indonesia
IE   Ireland
IL   Israel
IN   India
IO   British Indian O. Terr.
IQ   Iraq
IR   Iran
IS   Iceland
IT   Italy
JM   Jamaica
JO   Jordan
JP   Japan
KE   Kenya
KG   Kyrgyz Republic
KH   Cambodia
KI   Kiribati
KM   Comoros
KN   St.Kitts Nevis Anguilla
KP   Korea (North)
KR   Korea (South)
KW   Kuwait
KY   Cayman Islands
KZ   Kazachstan
LA   Laos
LB   Lebanon
LC   Saint Lucia
LI   Liechtenstein
LK   Sri Lanka
LR   Liberia
LS   Lesotho
LT   Lithuania
LU   Luxembourg
LV   Latvia
LY   Libya
MA   Morocco
MC   Monaco
MD   Moldova
MG   Madagascar (Republic of)
MH   Marshall Islands
MK   Macedonia (former Yugo.)
ML   Mali
MM   Myanmar
MN   Mongolia
MO   Macau
MP   Northern Mariana Isl.
MQ   Martinique (Fr.)
MR   Mauritania
MS   Montserrat
MT   Malta
MU   Mauritius
MV   Maldives
MW   Malawi
MX   Mexico
MY   Malaysia
MZ   Mozambique
NA   Namibia
NC   New Caledonia (Fr.)
NE   Niger
NF   Norfolk Island
NG   Nigeria
NI   Nicaragua
NL   Netherlands
NO   Norway
NP   Nepal
NR   Nauru
NU   Niue
NZ   New Zealand
OM   Oman
PA   Panama
PE   Peru
PF   Polynesia (Fr.)
PG   Papua New Guinea
PH   Philippines
PK   Pakistan
PL   Poland
PM   St. Pierre & Miquelon
PN   Pitcairn
PR   Puerto Rico (US)
PT   Portugal
PW   Palau
PY   Paraguay
QA   Qatar
RE   Reunion (Fr.)
RO   Romania
RU   Russian Federation
RW   Rwanda
SA   Saudi Arabia
SB   Solomon Islands
SC   Seychelles
SD   Sudan
SE   Sweden
SG   Singapore
SH   St. Helena
SI   Slovenia
SJ   Svalbard & Jan Mayen Is
SK   Slovakia (Slovak Rep)
SL   Sierra Leone
SM   San Marino
SN   Senegal
SO   Somalia
SR   Suriname
ST   St. Tome and Principe
SU   Soviet Union
SV   El Salvador
SY   Syria
SZ   Swaziland
TC   Turks & Caicos Islands
TD   Chad
TF   French Southern Terr.
TG   Togo
TH   Thailand
TJ   Tadjikistan
TK   Tokelau
TM   Turkmenistan
TN   Tunisia
TO   Tonga
TP   East Timor
TR   Turkey
TT   Trinidad & Tobago
TV   Tuvalu
TW   Taiwan
TZ   Tanzania
UA   Ukraine
UG   Uganda
UK   United Kingdom
UM   US Minor outlying Isl.
US   United States
UY   Uruguay
UZ   Uzbekistan
VA   Vatican City State
VC   St.Vincent & Grenadines
VE   Venezuela
VG   Virgin Islands (British)
VI   Virgin Islands (US)
VN   Vietnam
VU   Vanuatu
WF   Wallis & Futuna Islands
WS   Samoa
YE   Yemen
YT   Mayotte
YU   Yugoslavia
ZA   South Africa
ZM   Zambia
ZR   Zaire
ZW   Zimbabwe


Q-20  Codes for US states and Canadian provinces.  (for subject lines)

AK Alaska
AL Alabama
AR Arkansas
AZ Arizona
CA California
CO Colorado
CT Connecticut
DC District of Columbia
DE Delaware
FL Florida
GA Georgia
HI Hawaii
IA Iowa
ID Idaho
IL Illinois
IN Indiana
KS Kansas
KY Kentucky
LA Louisiana
MA Massachusetts
MD Maryland
ME Maine
MI Michigan
MN Minnesota
MO Missouri
MS Mississippi
MT Montana
NC North Carolina
ND North Dakota
NE Nebraska
NH New Hampshire
NJ New Jersey
NM New Mexico
NV Nevada
NY New York
OH Ohio
OK Oklahoma
OR Oregon
PA Pennsylvania
RI Rhode Island
SC South Carolina
SD South Dakota
TN Tennessee
TX Texas
UT Utah
VA Virginia
VT Vermont
WA Washington
WI Wisconsin
WV West Virginia
WY Wyoming

AB Alberta
BC British Columbia
MB Manitoba
NB New Brunswick
NF Newfoundland
NS Nova Scotia
NT Northwest Territories
ON Ontario
PE Prince Edward Island
PQ Quebec
SK Saskatchewan
YT Yukon Territory

Thank-you for your time and adherence to these guidelines.  If a poster
should fail to comply, readers are encouraged to first reply to the poster by
mail.  You may wish to include a copy of this FAQ since they probably haven't
seen it.  Send a Cc to the news administrator for the poster's site if needed.

With your help, we can keep the quality of postings high, the unemployment
rate low, and most importantly, the peace.

Posters should reread the FAQ from time to time, as posting guidelines are
added or modified from time to time to correct problems as they come up
or in response to user suggestions.

If after reading this FAQ, you still have questions, post them to
misc.jobs.misc.  Helpful people hang out there and someone should
be able to help you.

If you have suggestions concerning ways in which this posting may be
improved, please send mail to me directly.  Note that the headers
have been modified to discourage spammers.  My userid is "snoopy",
my machine is "sopwith.uucp", given this info you should be able
to compile a mail address.

    _____
   /_____\
  /_______\
    |___|     Snoopy
    |___|


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