Job ads abound on the internet, newspaper classifieds and social media sites. Many posts on social media such as Facebook aren’t moderated except pages run by dedicated moderators or admins. Con artists and scammers can play on someone's urgency of finding a job. They take advantage of the Pandemic-caused lockdowns and the work from home. These tips can help avoid job scams and zero in legit job advertisements. Don’t limit your search to online sources While the internet is the goldmine of job ads, other sources such as networking can prove useful. Your network might include coworkers, friends, parents and siblings. A word of mouth can get you closer to your job and even a career.  One of the easy ways to land a job is through a referral from your friend or relative who happens to work in a company.  Research the company Researching the company involves finding information that can tell about its legitimacy. A former employee review can reveal what it's like to work in that company. The following should be on your list: URL address (if there’s any)  Social media account Reviews Social media reviews Address Phone number Product and services Years they have been in business Know the signs of job scams Job scams exude signs revealing their malicious intent. If you can deploy your healthy scepticism radar, you can know the following red flags: Inflated vacancies - let’s say, the real number of factory workers are 50, a scam artist can make them 100. This is common on Facebook where some job pages advertise vacancies for mushroom worker vacancies for Canada. They just multiply the real number of vacancies - voila. High salary but less experience and skills needed - Common sense suggests that the higher the salary the more skills and experience are needed. You won’t get paid thousands of pesos or dollars just by encoding and pasting texts. High paying jobs demand a high level of creativity and/or expertise. The only way you can get into the quick-rich route is to win a lottery. Dubious communication methods - Con artists use unusual ways to dupe applicants. They may use video conferencing tools or just make a phone call  to inform application success even without seeing the applicant. Asking applicants to pay first - If the recruiter asks you for a bank deposit or digital money transfer, immediately cut communication and report them to anti-cybercrime authorities and organizations. Guarantee employment - Legit jobs don't simply guarantee employment. You have to pass their interviews and assessment before getting the job offer.  Uses unofficial emails - Most or all corporate emails use premium emails that bear the name or company name. For example, abcorpofficiall@abcorp.com versus free emails from free domain address - @gmail.com, @yahoo.com and @outlook.com. You received job offers you’ve not applied for - Like winning a lotto, if you receive an offer that you haven’t applied for, then it must be a scam.  Asking for personal information - Fake jobs will ask for your info such as name, address, social security number, and bank account details.  Be wary of keywords hinting of scams These keywords used as phrases or in sentences and paragraphs show a red flag of illegitimacy.  Easy job Easy money Easy work at home Envelope stuffing Free work from home jobs Immediate hiring easy jobs Investment opportunities and seminars Multi-level marketing Part-time jobs with full-time pay Quick cash Quick money Quick money Unlimited earning potential Be wary of grammatical and spelling errors  Job scams tend to disregard professional writing styles and grammar. Some of them don’t bother to check. Watch out for subject and verb agreement, tenses and spelling errors in job descriptions. Be sceptic of too good to be true A ‘too good to be true’ refers to things that are impossible or unsustainable. In the job world, these are jobs that don’t need experience and special skills. It’s all about easy to do, less education and less technical skills needed. In reality, a high paying job requires experience and hard to earn skills.

Industries refer to categories of companies that deal with different types of products and service businesses. It’s good to know the thriving industries during this pandemic because it can help you determine what jobs and skills you should focus on. Knowing them can help you strategize your move during job hunting. Construction Although some construction jobs have been affected, still the need for making buildings for new hospitals and vaccination sites is there. On top of that, swab tests houses and booths are needed to augment virus detection efforts. The following are the jobs in this industry. Architect ​Carpenter Civil Engineer Construction worker Foreman   Logistics Logistics is the process of managing resource acquisition, storage and transportation. So in simple terms, it’s how goods are handled from the factory, warehouse, up to the final destination (mall, store or individual buyer). Whether pandemic or not, lockdown or not, all materials need to move from one space to another. Jobs in this industry comprises the following: Computer operator Driver Forklift operator Logistics Coordinator Warehouse security staff Warehouse staff Food production Food, the basic need of humans, will always be thriving, especially companies or businesses that make or process basic products such as beverage, bread, canned food, cereals, coffee, eggs, flour, lean meat, milk, rice and vegetables. People will always need a variety of food to live. Anyone won’t live comfortably on the same food every day (canned foods or eggs) and will need different food each day. Here are some of the jobs in this industry: Food packer Machine operator Quality Control staff Warehouse staff Healthcare Our healthcare or medical care sector has a key role in surviving and fighting the COVID-19. This industry is broad as it may comprise laboratories, hospitals, pharmacies, and insurance. The demand for healthcare workers surged from the start of the pandemic. The list of jobs include: Emergency medical technician Medtech Nurse Pharmacist  Physician Radtech Information technology  This sector has a lot of jobs which can be performed at home or remotely. Most businesses use computers and programs to manage their daily operations such as storing and organizing information. Many of their creative or technical tasks can be performed at home as long as the staff has the computer, internet connection and comfortable working space. Here are the some of the jobs in this sector: Back-end/Front-end developer Content writer Data Analyst Graphic artist Technical writer Virtual assistant Utilities Day and night, whenever and wherever, everyone uses electricity, gas, internet and water. You may like it or not, you’ll always receive your utility bills every month. Unless you own a solar panel or a water treatment facility, you’ll still need utilities. Businesses use utilities to sustain their operations. Jobs in the utility companies include: Electricity Electrical Engineer Equipment Operator Field Representative Lineman Meter Technician Internet Account Manager Installer/Repairman Network Engineer Telecoms Engineer Water Plant Mechanic Utility Meter Reader Wastewater Management Engineer Water Treatment Specialist Manufacturing Manufacturing is a general term for processing raw materials and turning them into products. From the start of the pandemic, some goods and products have been rectified to make products essential to the pandemic response. For example, factories that produced liquors have shifted part of their efforts and resources to making alcohol-based sanitisers. Others that used to make garments have been urged to produce facial masks and face shields. Jobs in this category depend on the type of products and services of the company.   Admin staff  Assembler Machine operator Manufacturing technician Production planning staff Quality control inspector Security staff 

There’s nothing more pleasing than using free services and getting free products, including free downloadable files. You don’t have to pay anything or mind monthly subscriptions. Whether you want to create presentations or just get the job done, these free productivity sources can save you money and time. Here we lay the non-exhaustive list of free sites.    PHOTOS/VIDEOS It’s tempting to use any high-quality photos or videos but using them without permission or giving at least a proper credit can land you into legal trouble. Fortunately, you can find free photos from photo sharing sites - also called stock images sites. Some of them don't require attribution while others do. Pixabay.com - This site was originally a German-owned site and now under the Australian design platform Canva. It offers free downloadable photos, vector graphics, illustrations, as well as videos for either personal or commercial projects. This site is very useful for adding images to your blogs and websites. Their stock video footage and clips are of very good quality as well. Attribution isn’t required but referring back to the author and Pixabay is a way of thanking them.   Unsplash.com - This site offers stock photos or free images for commercial and non-commercial purposes. The site categorizes and filters the images into animals, architecture, business & work, current events, experimental, fashion, film, food & drink, health & wellness, history, interiors, nature, people, and many more. You can create an account and submit your photos as well.   Pexels.com - This is another good source of free high-quality stock photos and videos which does not even require attribution.   AUDIO You can use audios for your videos as sound effects or background music. Getting audio clips or music is easy on the internet, although not all of them are safe to use because of their copyright. Luckily, there are royalty-free audio sites.  Freesound.org - This site is a collaborative database of free (creative commons), downloadable and shared sounds. On their landing page, you can find tabs for sounds, forums, people and help. Their blog occupies a big part of their body content. Clicking their search bar reveals a filter for the duration, relevance, downloads and rating.    Mixkit.co is geared toward providing music and sound effects. Their sound effects are categorized into animals, human, nature, technology and other miscellaneous types. Their free music can be filtered based on genre or mood. Attribution is appreciated but not required.   Viberary.com offers high-quality free music for commercial and personal use. It can be filtered by genre, mood, and tempo, as well other categories such as vlog/travel, corporate and wedding. Each track has a short and long version that can be downloaded. Attribution is not required but linking back is a nice gesture.   JOB POSTING SITES Paid job posting sites can cost you a hundred to thousands of pesos depending on the plan or subscription type. Good thing that many job boards still offer free job posting.  Ohjobs.ph offers companies to post unlimited job postings for free (at the moment) - no strings attached. The job board presents a green theme and an array of job categories from accounting to information technology to travel and tourism. Employers can even send messages to qualified applicants for free. The duration of job ads currently has no limit, that's why you can advertise your vacancy here for more than a month.   Jora is a free job search engine that sources job ads from different partners. You can also post up to 10 job vacancies here per month at no cost. Job posts can be active for up to 28 days.   TEMPLATES Writing is hard, that's why writing from scratch can be quite intimidating. Templates are a time saver when you write business documents without dealing with writer’s block. You can copy or modify templates appropriate for your purposes - job application, memos, request and policies.  Molly.com combines the powers of project management tools, intranet and HR software, including payroll. One of the free perks of using Molly is their free templates. From business letters to forms, you can just download the templates and use them as your guide for your business and personal documents.    JotForm reveals links to a myriad of free form templates. They can be filtered based on type, industry and category, and can be sorted by trend, popularity and date created. The type selection consists of order forms, registration forms, application forms, booking forms, request forms and many more.   EMAILS Aside from Gmail and Yahoo, free email sites abound. Some of them are free; others are paid.  GMX Mail is one of the top free email providers in terms of numbers. It supports both IMAP and POP. It offers 65 GB of email storage, 1 GB of file storage and 50 MB limit for attachment. It has drag-and-drop functionality to help you manage your schedule. It provides spam filtering and file sharing capabilities as well.    Zoho Mail a member of Zoho’s cloud-based office suite. The email features modules that let you organise your tasks, contacts, notes and calendar. Being a part of the Zoho suite, Zoho Mail lets you connect with other Zoho apps such as Docs, Zoho CRM Creator, projects and Zapier. You can start their ad-free email by choosing either business or personal email. You can enjoy 5 GB of email storage space for up to 5 mailboxes with their free plan.   CLOUD SERVICES Cloud services do the magic. You can access your files even without your hard drive or flash drive - just like a cloud that hovers above you wherever you go. With just an internet and your email and password, you can change, edit and update your files. Cloud-based apps automatically save your files as long as there is an internet connection. This way your work is saved without having to worry about forgetting to save the changes from time to time. Here are 2 of the best cloud services that are free. Google Drive - If you have a Gmail account, you’ve got access to a trove of Google Workspace apps, including Google Drive. Free users get 15 GB of storage and access to productivity tools such as Docs, Sheets, Slides and Forms. The cloud service lets you organise your files by creating, deleting and renaming folders. You can share your file through links and change its access privilege to participants. Microsoft OneDrive - OneDrive lets you access free 5 GB storage and use of iconic document apps such as Access, Excel, PowerPoint and Word. Like Google’s, Microsoft’s cloud storage provides folder creation, file deletion, file archive and file synchronization functions. The clients include computer (Windows, Mac), mobile (Android, iOS), and web.

Security is indispensable for the peace and order of companies, organisations, small to medium enterprises and every community. If anyone can be trusted, there could be less to zero need for security services. If you’re eyeing a career in the security industry, here are some of the jobs to consider. CCTV OPERATOR CCTV operators are the eyes and ears of the security system. You operate sophisticated TV monitors, two-way radios, smartphones and cameras. You may be posted at airports, hotels, banks, central bank offices, transport terminals, offices, seaports and in any place where security is crucial and CCTV systems are installed. Responsibilities: Constantly monitor 10 to 15 screens showing different live streams or pictures or surveillance cameras installed in different locations. Notify management, police and security guards of any incidents such as antisocial, suspicious objects and behaviour. Maintain cleanliness and order inside the CCTV room. Keep logs or reports of incidents. Provide CCTV footage evidence when requested by courts. Qualifications/skills: Able to concentrate for long hours Computer literate Depending on your country, you may or may not need a special degree although some companies require a license in Public Space Surveillance authorised by a recognised agency or authority. Knowledge of security protocols such as discreteness, not discussing what you saw on CCTV to anyone but to an authorised person. Passed training on CCTV operation Willingness to work shifts of more than 8 hours a day (12 hours shift) AIRPORT AND SEAPORT CUSTOMS OFFICER Airports and seaports control the flow of goods, people and animals. Left unchecked, illegal and dangerous items can enter the country’s border. The job of a customs officer is to enforce the country’s laws on what can and can’t enter. Responsibilities: Communicate and coordinate with team members. Enforce rules on anti-money laundering laws. Flag and question suspicious behaving individuals. Liaise with the police and other authorities. Monitor X-ray machines to ensure no restricted items go unchecked. Restricted items are allowed things but with certain limits (quantity) and documentation needed (licenses and paperwork). Monitor X-ray machines to ensure that there’s no contraband left unchecked such as illegal drugs, goods from endangered species, weapons, explosives, and pornographic materials. Question and refer people who have been found with illegal and restricted items. Screen inbound passengers and ask them to remove and place their shoes, belt and metal objects onto conveyors of X-ray machines. Search vehicles, luggage, and containers. Write incident reports. Qualifications/skills: Computer literate Meticulous or attention to detail Politeness and customer-friendly demeanour BODYGUARD Bodyguards mostly work for security agencies or direct hire of an individual. Hollywood made movies about bodyguards such as the one portrayed by Kevin Costner who protected a music superstar (Whitney Houston). Bodyguards are like military men, they must know how to protect their client who can be a politician, businessman, high-ranking government official or any person whose life is at risk. Responsibilities: Advise clients of valuable information or intelligence. Check points of entries. Deal with issues such as burglary, trespassing, and theft. Deny entry to unauthorized individuals. Direct clients to safe passageways. Monitor CCTV feeds. Protect clients from possible physical harm. Qualifications/skills: Knowledge/skills in intelligence gathering and counterterrorism Physically fit Skilled in self-defense IMMIGRATION OFFICER As government employees, immigration officers play a central role in safeguarding the countries’ borders, airport and seaport. They work with customs officers to uphold immigration laws and mitigate security risks. Being one, you’ll work in a booth-like workplace and thousands of people. Responsibilities: Ask inbound and outbound passengers about their job, length and purpose of stay, etc. Conduct interviews. Deny entry to individuals who lack proper travel documents (forged passports), or are blacklisted. Flag and refer inbound individuals deemed suspicious to appropriate authorities due to health risks, bad behaviours and intelligence reports. Mark entry and exit stamps to the passport Organise the removal of passengers who are not eligible for entry. Record personal details and take fingerprints. Use immigration-related software via computer to check records. Verify inbound and outbound passengers’ travel documents - passport and visa. Qualifications/skills: Computer literacy Customer service (positive demeanour) Meticulous and attention to detail Use of database software JAIL (CORRECTIONAL) OFFICER The price of violating a law warranting incarceration is losing freedom and being confined in crowded jail facilities (in developing and some developed countries) and eventually the loss of freedom. The responsibility of keeping prisoners in jail goes to jail officers and wardens (the managers of jail facilities). This job can be tough as you will be dealing with possible riots. Responsibilities: Check baggage to ensure no contraband (drugs and weapons) goes inside. Count inmates through manual or asking them to self-count. Count inmate’s issues of receipts and personal properties. Enforces rules on inmate conduct, hygiene, facility and visitation hours. Lock and guard cells.   Perform checks on inmates and visitors. Prepare reports of incidents. Prevent physical confrontations and riots to protect inmates and fellow jail officers. Provide emergency assistance such as first aid, CPR, escape and evacuation. Qualifications/skills: Calm and positive demeanour Meticulous and attentive to details Physically fit Skilled in self-defense SECURITY GUARD/OFFICER The most visible and common security job, security guards are the frontline of the security team. They face many people, different personalities and various temperaments. In this job, you must be resilient since you might work for long hours/shifts standing or sitting in front desks or entrances. You must be ready for different kinds of personalities (arrogant, polite, weird) and any type of people you can think of. You could be posted at concierge, malls, supermarkets, retail stores, airport, seaport, headquarters, construction sites, offices and schools. Responsibilities: Aid client motorists by directing traffic. Enforce rules and policies regarding safety and security. Operate CCTV. Operate defense weapons to mitigate. Patrol premises to make sure everyone’s safety. Restraining trespassers. Screen incoming visitors by frisking, patting or using metal detector tools to prevent entrance of dangerous items (guns, illegal drugs, weapons, knives). Use two-way radios or any communication devices to coordinate with other team members. Write reports about incidents such as thief, quarrelling and other anti-social behaviours. Qualifications/skills: Computer literacy Emotional control Honesty and integrity Physically fit Surveillance CONCIERGE RECEPTIONIST Here you are the face of an organisation – the first person to meet visitors, applicants and employees. You’re likely to work at a hotel, office towers and bank. Responsibilities: Operate intercom. Politely greet and ask visitors to register their names and provide their IDs or any identification documents. Provide reference numbers to visitors. Qualifications/skills: Customer service English and other languages Security procedures Telephony

There’s a law of nature where everything is affected by time and changes. From wilting leaves to rusted iron bars - nothing is permanent. Being loyal to your company or management is admirable but soon you’ll face situations that can affect your decision making, comfort zone and personal economy. Whether you're employed for a year or months, this list will help you gauge your decision before quitting your job.  You’re at a difficult working environment A difficult working environment can make your work more laborious, tiring and monotonous. It can zap your motivation quickly and drain your peace of mind. A difficult working environment involves: Dangerous working conditions (metal foundry, exposure to biohazards, nuclear power plant) Unhealthy working hours (working late at night) Difficult working peers - aloof, bossy, control-freak and the hot-headed team leader, manager or director Prolonged and unpaid working hours Negative office politics that affect your productivity and career advancement To take advantage of a better opportunity The best opportunities are akin to comets - they occur seldomly. Ignoring them is like throwing away a winning lottery ticket. A saying “Excuses will always be there for you, opportunity won’t”, upholds this wisdom. So if you’re 100% sure that a better opportunity comes and negates your current working environment - grab it immediately. If you’re just in your comfort zone, you could be missing many opportunities. You may never know what lies out there until you start to search and analyse.  Missed chances can be:  Better working conditions, pay, and career advancements Workplace near home which means no need to pay monthly rents Job abroad or overseas that pays well more than your local employment The years spent on your current job could be better spent on more lucrative careers.  Obviously, if you get a new job offer that presents better pay and environment, then it’s reasonable to quit or resign. Once you passed the interview and signed a contract, and as long as there’s nothing holding you back, there’s no better alternative but to say goodbye to your current job and say hello to your new career. Career Change Career change refers to taking a new role different from your current job. You’ll do career change to improve job satisfaction, life quality and remuneration. This strategy is the best way to uplift your current standing and change the course of your life. A career change could mean: Assessing skills, beliefs and values Considering a new job within the same industry Setting up a job shadow (following and observing a professional) Planning to study for a short course or new degree Studying for a short course or degree is the best way to move up the social or career ladder. It can help you gain new skills that only an extra short course or degree can offer. While it’s possible to work and study at the same time, it might take a longer time than committing full time studying to finish. If you have enough savings and side income, you can still study full-time without going broke. Lay-off is looming Lay-offs are mass removal or reduction of staff caused by bankruptcy, company merger, and economic downturn. Just waiting for a lay-off and ignoring the signs can surprise you, if one day, you have been told that you no longer have a job while minding how to pay your never-ending monthly bills and rent. Relocation Working far away from your home can be taxing especially if you’re commuting.  You’ll wake up early and arrive early to cope with the distance of 40 to 60 km between home and workplace. Even if you own a car, it can be tiring to drive back and forth for such distance and endure heavy traffic. Conflicting schedules and working hours You may have urgent and important schedules that can be more or equally important to your work. Conflicting schedules include: A family member with a disease  Newborn child Schooling Serious personal medical condition