Using a MacBook PRO For Your Job Search

Commentary:  In August 2009 MicroSoft's Genuine Advantage shut my professional and work notebook computer down. The banner read I was a victim of piracy.  I was in the middle of a major project using MicroSoft Project.  This event forced me to seek a solution other than Microsoft solutions. 

The Fall of the Microsoft Empire

My machine was shut down by Genuine Advantage and the banner read I was a victim of piracy. Nothing was pirated on my machine. I owned everything. I provided Microsoft valid keys and receipts but they were unable to turn my machine back on. I swiftly moved all the data and critical applications to another Microsoft notebook machine to sustain my operational tempo. Then over the next several  months a Chinese Advanced Senior Technical Engineer and MicroSoft physicist who specialized in issues within the Microsoft Universe worked with me.  Instructions she sent me were rarely accurate. However, I had been MicroSoft certified years prior and was able to correct her instructions to do things like load registry updates but her choice of solutions were never fruitful.  Eventually, after months of no solutions from Microsoft they stopped responding to emails and I converted the machine to another operating system for training purposes. Simultaneously and early on, I began migrating software and processes to the MacBook Pro and purchased an iPad. My computational life instantly changed!

The Rise of the Apple Empire

Migration at first was mainly my music, audiobooks, and video products. After nearly a year of increasing skill in Apple products, I am currently at a point of working almost wholly from Apple solutions. Some activities like project management have to be conducted using Microsoft solutions. I now run those few processes in a virtualize workspace.  I will be able of fully dropping the use of MicroSoft solutions should an Apple solution become available for project management that can work with others who use the Microsoft Project solution.  I found the Apple solutions to be better organized, more reliable, and easier to use after adjusting to the graphical user interface differences and human interface device changes such as using my fingers on the iPad. I want to share with you how to use the MacBook Pro and iPad in your job search.

I assume you already own a MacBook notebook and the iPad product. My MacBook has the maximum drive and RAM possible giving me plenty of speed and room to work.  The software that best supports a job search includes:

Pages: This is the word processing capability. It costs about $11.oo for the iPad and $79.oo for the MacBook. The MacBook product also includes Numbers, the spreadsheet, and Keynote, the presentation package. I converted my resume to Pages with virtually no effort other than some minor formatting issues. The document is readily converted to a Word 2003 version file to be emailed out and can be worked in pages as a MS Word 2003 file too.  Pages also supports the universal file format, PDF. There really is no reason or major technological barriers to using pages. The only real barrier is the users mindset.

Bento: This is a database package and foundational to your search. It cost about $5.oo for the iPad and $49.oo for the MacBook. The package has dozens of templates available and can be readily adjusted to support numerous needs.  I choose to use the Contact Management template and modified it with additional fields. This process was ridiculously easy. I added fields to store files sent to a contact, to followup, and the type of contact I was engaging. I used the note field as a journal to document contact discussions. I also sync'd this with Bento on my iPad. Unfortunately, iPad Bento is not as robust and not all the fields move over.  Also the iPad presentation is vertical and linear. The same look and feel as MacBook Bento is not offered in the iPad version.

Mail:  This is Mac's email package. It is unlike MS Outlook and takes some practice to configure to your preferences. It is embedded with Snow Leopard, Mac's operating system. Mail does offer rules and smart boxes to sort out emails and can be a bit confusing at first. Nonetheless, it works and serves the communication purposes. You can email directly from the apps on the iPad or on the MacBook in several formats.

MobileMe: This is a virtual environment or your personal data cloud and cost $99/year. It is an efficient means to keeping your data the same on all your devices. However, I have found that is does not effectively work with iGoogle calendars and I have observed problems syncing with the Microsoft environment. These issues created the circumstances for me to shift further towards Apple since reliability and availability of information was critical to me. 

LinkedIn: This is essential to your networking effort. However, it does not replace getting out and talking to people. LinkedIn offers tools that integrate with your mobile devices and browsers. They offer an application for your iPad but no plugin for the Safari browser. LinkedIn does offer a plugin for the FireFox browser. Unfortunately, Firefox does not sync with Mobile Me. Therefore, you may desire to use Safari for everything except use of the LinkedIn plugin. I use both browsers on my MacBook Pro. I'll post an update regarding the use of the browsers in a further post after I have more experience. 


My Computational Life Changed

Computationally, I have had sort of a mid-life crisis after I have worked almost exclusively with Microsoft since 1982 when I purchased my first computer. I have jaunted into UNIX for about 2 years, dabbled with LINUX off and on, and other operating systems as sort of a fling from time to time. However, this shift to Snow Leopard is long term.  The changes are profound. I now carry my iPad almost everywhere and rarely tote a notebook. I perform work as the task demands where ever I am at shifting back and forth between projects. Granted, I need my MicroSoft notebook for most of my project work but my iPad lists the tasks, contact data, and other critical information while on-the-go. It takes some effort to sync the two worlds.

In terms, of a job search Bento is the underpinning of the search maintaining the contact list, journals, and files. LinkedIn will help you build a network. Pages provides the word processing capabilities to maintain a resume and develop cover letters. Mail helps communicate as sites like Career Builder, Monster, and corporate sites pour out emails based on search engines you have set.  On the go, MobileMe and the iPad keep you sync'd in and able to respond quickly from almost anywhere.  Virgin Mobile's MiFi ensures you can stay connected in places that do not offer WiFi service. Just throw the unit in your briefcase or backpack and you will have up to 4 hrs connectivity on your iPad significantly cheaper than if you use the 3G or 4G ATT service embedded in the iPad units. 

In the end, your computational life will become more mobile, more capable, and more reliable after switching to the Apple Universe.  It also gives you a transportable skill, you can use Apple products proficiently.