CanDo Technologies Blog

Dotsero Crater, click here 0

Dotsero Volcano in Colorado

Dotsero is the only “active” volcano in Colorado, USA. It’s a short drive north of the Interstate 70 Dotsero exit, #133 in Western Colorado. The last eruption was over 4000 years ago but it’s considered active because the last eruption was less than ten thousand years ago. Even though it’s officially “active” it’s really “dormant” or “sleeping”. Looking into the crater, there’s no sign of volcanic activity. No lava, no steam. If the Internet didn’t tell me it’s a volcano, I would have never known.
I drove to the volcano headed west on I 70 from Exit 251 in Evergreen, Colorado. To get there:
Drive west and take exit 133 from I 70. At the end of the exit, turn north (right if headed west on I 70) then turn east (right), continue past the “No Outlet” sign.

About .7 miles from the exit, you will arrive at a bus stop shelter on your left and a trailer park on your right. Turn right on the road behind the trailer park. Note there is a front and back entrance into the trailer part. Don’t turn into the back entrance. Road 8460 is behind the back entrance to the trailer park. I did not see signs indicating I was on 8460.
Shortly after getting onto 8460, there is a danger sign, “Heavy Load Trucks Have Right Of Way”.
If you see this sign, you are in the right place.

Follow the road for 1.4 miles from the trailer park to the crater.
Some Internet postings say the hike to the crater is three miles. It’s not. It’s only 1.4 miles each way from the bus stop if you decide to hike.
High clearance four-wheel drive vehicles are recommended. The road is pretty rough in spots, especially at the start of the road right after the Danger sign. I attempted to drive my truck in two-wheel drive mode and got stuck. After putting it into four-wheel drive mode, the road eased up a bit and I didn’t have any problem making it to the crater. The road is bumpy but a determined driver MAY be able to make it without a high clearance 4WD. If you’re looking at other internet postings, you’ll see some non-4WD drive vehicles were able to make it to the crater, others weren’t able to make it all the way.
My original plan was to drive part way up and hike the rest of the way but I was at the crater sooner than expected. When I arrived, it was quite hot and I was the only one at the crater. There is a trail going down into the crater that starts near the Castle Peak kiosk behind the fence.

I attempted to hike into the crater but abandoned my attempt because of the loose gravel and the steepness of the trail. I was concerned that if I made my way further down, I wouldn’t be able to get out. I did see the YouTube video where a guy slid down on his read end. I never did see the video of him getting out. Since he posted the video, I assumed he managed to make his way out of the crater.

Instead of hiking into the crater, I hiked the road along the fence and beyond until the road ended.

I didn’t measure it, maybe it was about a mile or less each way from the kiosk.

There are telephone poles along the road before and after the crater. I wouldn’t say Dotsero is wilderness.
As I drove back down to the trailer park, I did encounter another car on the way up. The other car stopped and we were able to pass each other. We were lucky – the road was not always wide enough for two cars. I didn’t notice the make of the vehicle, but it didn’t seem to be high clearance. Other than the other car, I was the only person on the volcano.
Overall, if you drive to the crater, it might not be a suitable hike for some people. There’s not much hiking near the crater. Going into the crater was too slippery and steep for me. I called BLM before going to Dotsero. They said because of the steepness, it could be dangerous for some people to hike into the crater. Other’s may find hiking into the crater less difficult. There isn’t a trail that goes all the way around the crater. If you want a hike, park at the bus stop and hike up to the crater from there. If you want to drive to the top, a decent 4WD should do the job without difficulty. I wouldn’t recommend driving a fragile 2WD sedan to the crater.
I went to Dotsero for the experience. Now I get to brag that I went to the top of Colorado’s only active volcano.…

Updated Maxwell Falls Trail Report

Maxwell Falls trail is a popular hiking trail near Evergreen, Colorado. Unfortunately, it’s a very popular trail. The trail is crowded and parking can be difficult. Fortunately, I was prepared for both. I arrived at the trailhead before 7:00 AM on Saturday, June 27, 2020. I hiked the trail again on August 7, 2021. The parking lot was already starting to fill up (both times), but there was still plenty of parking available. If I arrived much later though, I would have needed to park on the road.

To reach the trailhead, turn southwest on South Brook Forrest road from Colorado Highway 73. The intersection is a short distance south of Evergreen Lake. Drive 3.6 miles on Brook Forrest road. There will be two parking lots on the left. The lots are next to each other so either one will do. The trailhead is at the first lot.

The hike to the falls from the lower trailhead is about four miles round trip. The difficulty will depend on the hiker’s physical conditioning. For most people, I would rate the difficulty as easy to moderate. There were many young children on the trail and they didn’t seem to be struggling. The trail starts uphill, then goes downhill, then uphill again so be aware that portions of the hike will be uphill going out and coming back.

On my Aug 2021 hike, I used the Alltrails GPS app on my Android phone. The app is free as long as you have a cell phone signal on the trail. There is a cell phone signal at Maxwell Falls. For other trails, if there is no cell phone signal, you will need to pay an annual subscription to download offline maps. Since there was a signal, Alltrails showed me exactly where I was on the trail and it let me know when I was at the falls for free.

Since I started early, it was cool going out and warm coming back (both times). Most of the trail is in the shade so it wasn’t too warm on either hike.

There are a couple of loops and side trails. I decided to stay on the main trail and hike directly to the falls. About halfway up, there will be a fork in the trail. When you get to the fork, take the right fork. The left fork will be a distinct turn to the left, the right fork is mostly straight. The left fork will say Upper Maxwell Falls, the right fork will say Cliffside Loop. Don’t let the signs fool you. Follow the metal Cliffside Loop trail sign. After the first sign, there will be wood signs directing you to Maxwell Falls. Follow the wooden signs to Maxwell Falls.

Keep following the signs to the Falls. The falls are really easy to miss as you can’t see the falls from the main trail. The trail will continue past the falls. You are at the falls when the trail takes a sharp turn to the right and reverses direction. I hiked the trail several years ago and missed the falls entirely. You will need to step off the main trail to see the falls from the top. When you step off the main trail, you will encounter cliffs and boulders so be careful.

I decided not to do the entire loop. When I reached the falls, I took some photos and headed back.

On the way back down, I saw a sign directing hikers to the falls. I missed the sign on my way up. On my second hike, I was looking for it but missed it again. The sign is on the left as you are headded up. The sign is immediately before the trail turns to the right. The falls can be reached from the side trail. Follow the side trail for a 100 yards and you should be able to see the falls from the bottom. The trail going to the bottom of the falls is very steep and rocky. Inexperienced hikers may have difficulty walking down to the falls and climbing back up to the main trail.

Total hiking time for me was about five hours but I am a very, very slow hiker. Most people should be able to do the hike much quicker than me.
Maxwell Falls is a really beautiful hike but don’t expect a really big waterfall. People before me described the falls as a trickle. It was a little more than a trickle, but not much.

If you don’t mind crowded trails, I highly recommend the hike. I do NOT recommend Maxwell Falls if you expect solitude. The trail was very crowded when I went on my hikes. Lots of people and dogs of all sizes. Large dogs to Chihuahuas and toy poodles. Your dog will probably enjoy the hike and meeting other dogs.…

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Working is Better than Not Working


A few months ago I was offered a short term temporary work setting up new laptops. The role was very junior to what I had been doing in the past. I previously worked as a well paid Senior Applications Support Engineer. The temporary job came with no benefits and paid less than half of what I made in my senior role. I accepted the temp job because I believe working is better than not working. I reasoned my resume could say I peformed short-term contract work since my last job.

When that assignment turned into another assignment, I updated my resume to say I was working on short term contracts (plural). Then I was offered another short-term assignment, then another and another. I was able to update my resume to reflect I’ve been working short-term contracts from September to February. The assignments got longer. Still barely worth my time, but my resume is now able to reflect recent employment.

My most recent assignment lasted more than nine days from May into June. Now my resume shows a work history from September to June.

When I’m not at work on my contract, I’m applying for jobs.
One job I applied for was a combination systems administrator/help desk role. It asked for specific experience imaging computers. Imaging computers is something I’ve done in the past and something I could do in the future. But it was difficult to find a good spot on my resume to put the experience. On my short-term contracts spanning several months, I imaged computers almost exclusively. I was able to put that on my resume.

It was the last bullet I needed to demonstrate I had ALL the skills and experience the employer required.

I got the job. By accepting a low-paing junior technical job that paid less than unemployment insurance, I acquired the last bit of experience needed to get a well-paying, senior technical job. A low paying one-day assignment turned into multiple assignments lasting multiple days. It enabled me to fill a gap on my resume. It gave me the experience I needed to get a well paying long-term job. …

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Be a Life-Long Learner. It will Pay Dividends.

I upgraded my computer recently but I wanted to keep the old one around and use it as a back-up. That meant sharing files. Specifically, I wanted to be able to access my job search records from both computers. I wanted to be able to share job search and other files between my old and new desktop, my Windows laptop, my MacBook, and my Windows tablet.

I knew about Onedrive and determined it would be a good solution to what I wanted to accomplish. I knew I could share files with Onedrive but didn’t know about its syncing capabilities. Actually, I discovered Onedrive doesn’t share files very well. I discovered Onedrive is really designed to sync files. Syncing and sharing are different. I learned Onedrive doesn’t sync files with odd characters in the filename such as “~”. I bet you probably have a bunch of them. Onedrive doesn’t sync .pst or .tmp files either. Over a few weeks, I learned a lot about Onedrive. I learned how to check the sync status and I learned how to determine which folders are being synced. I got Onedrive working quite nicely on my multiple computers.

Then an agency hired me to work on a project involving desktop computer upgrades. The process is to ensure the users’ files are synced to Onedrive, replace the old computer with the new computer, then sync the files from Onedrive to the new computer.

My newfound Onedrive skills came in really, really handy. I didn’t need to build a new body-of-knowledge. I was able to “hit-the-ground-running”. Without my new knowledge, it definitely would have taken me much longer to complete the deployments. I would have needed to spend a bunch of time googling and calling tech support.

I began my home Onedrive project as a means to make my home computers work better. I had no idea that my new Onedrive knowledge would help me to do a better job at work.

It’s been a while since I’ve had full-time work. I work contracts because contract work is better than no work. Contract work helps to fill gaps on my resume. When I’m not on a contract, I spend time on continuing education. (Did you know if you have a library card, you may be able to get Lynda.com classes for free?) I spend time taking on-line classes and spend time maintaining and upgrading my home lab. When I’m not working a paid job, I work at home to keep my skills sharp. Education doesn’t need to be costly. Not having an education, and not having up-to-date skills IS costly.

I am a server guy. I’ve been managing server infrastructure for most of my adult life. The contract work I’ve been doing is desktop work. Desktop experience can come in handy even though I’m a server guy. More on that on another blog.…

My Business Trip to North Dakota, a Tale of Contrasts

Over a workweek, I was on a business trip to the Great State of North Dakota.

I arrived at the Denver shuttle parking lot and parked my car. The driver promptly arrived and handed a slip of paper with the incorrect parking space number. I couldn’t blame him for that too much. The number for my parking space was faded and unreadable. The number he gave me was pretty close but I noted the correct number on the slip. We shouldn’t have problems when we get back.

The driver whisked us off. The other parkers and I arrived at the circus-tent terminal within a few minutes. If you’ve seen or been to DIA, you’d know what I mean.

Getting through security was no more of an ordeal than usual. The pre-check line was almost as long as the regular line. The pompous TSA agents instructed us what to do. I wouldn’t classify their pomposity as a character flaw. They have hundreds and hundreds of people in the security line and have to keep the lines moving. I drew some attention from the agents when I forgot to remove my watch, but the matter was quickly resolved and I was on my way.

I boarded the airport train to Terminal B, rode the up escalator then stepped on people movers and walked to the faaaaaaaaaaaaaaaar end of the airport. Then I stepped on the down escalator. Down because my plane is too short to reach the jetway for the adult planes. Then I walked and walked until I finally reached gate 95 at the very far end of the concourse. It took almost an hour from the time I arrived at the airport until the time I arrived at the gate.

The gate personnel informed us the plane was too small for carry-ons. We would need to check our bags. No charge. The plane departed on time and reached Fargo, ND a few minutes early. When we arrived, the terminal was deserted except for an agent who informed us we can collect our bags at baggage claim.

I only waited a few minutes before my bag was spat out onto the baggage carousel. Right next to the baggage carousel was car rental. No need to hop on a shuttle and ride several miles to pick up my car. When I reported to pick up my car at National Car Rental, the agent handed my keys and paperwork and instructed me to pick up my car in the Enterprise Car Rental parking area at slot #13. No shuttle. Just a short walk through the bitter North Dakota cold.

My company reserved a room for me at the Grand Forks La Quinta Inn. The 75-mile trip was uneventful. My work assignment the next day went smoothly and was also uneventful.

The next day, I would drive to Bismark, more than four hours away. The directions on Google Maps seemed complicated. I was worried I might get lost so I decided to spend a few extra minutes and stay on the Interstate highways. Google maps on my phone instructed me to get off the highway before the exit I planned but I thought it was taking me over a shortcut. Then Google tried to send me in the opposite direction from where I needed to go. I got back on the highway and took the exit I had originally planned on. I reprogrammed my phone and arrived at my destination on-time because I allowed extra time to get there. Due to system problems which were not my fault, my endeavor in Bismark was unsuccessful.

At the end of the day, I drove all the way back to Grand Forks. The drive was uneventful, and unlike my morning trip, my drive home was during the day. I listened to reports on the radio covering soybean and wheat futures. That was about all I could get. On my way back where I could actually see, I learned there is no scenery in North Dakota.

My next trip was to Minot, more than three hours away. My morning drive would be mostly in the dark. Google on my phone got me going in the right direction. After I turned left on US 2, it told me to keep going another 202 miles. After a few miles, it told me to take the exit to the Air Force base. That can’t be right. I kept going then it told me to turn right at the next intersection, and every intersection after that. I was worried. I THINK I’m going in the right direction. I re-entered my destination into the phone and it started to send me where I thought I should go. But I was worried. I was halfway to Minot before I saw a sign telling me Minot was 100 miles ahead. I arrived in Minot before my appointed time. Minot is a small city with big city traffic.

The activity at Minot was unsuccessful. I headed back to Grand Forks, listening to the soybean and wheat future reports. There is no scenery between Minot and Grand Forks.

North Dakota does not have scenery, but it does have nice rest stops. there were several between Grand Forks and Bismark. The road between Grand Forks and Minot is not an Interstate but the highway has two rest stops. The rest stops are even clean. Colorado has rest stops, but many of them have been closed.

My last workday was in Fargo. I drove the 75 miles from Grand Forks and successfully completed the assignment. Then back to the airport. The rental car return was easy. Park in any open spot in the rental car lot, grab the miles and bring back the keys. I arrived at the wrong counter and handed over the keys. They asked me how everything was and I told time everything was terrific. Then I realized I was at the wrong counter. No problem they said, all the car rentals were run by the …

DataCenter 0

Cloud Computing, a Really Old Idea

I’ve been an IT geek for many years. One of the things I noticed is computers get faster, memory increases and disks get bigger. New technology and ideas don ‘t come along very often. New ideas are often regurgitated old ideas.

Take for example, “The Cloud”. When I took training classes on Microsoft Azure, my first thought was “this reminds me of “timesharing”. In the olden days of computers, when computers were really expensive, few businesses, let alone people could afford them. Instead, businesses and schools would buy time. They would “share” computers with others, and only pay for the cycles (“time”) they used. No need to buy a new computer, pay only for what you use. Sound familiar?

Computers are now relatively inexpensive, so why is the cloud so popular? The advantage of the “cloud” is there is no need to get capital approval to buy the computer. There is no need to wait for the computer to ship. No need to install the OS. Need a new computer, go to the cloud and poof! you can have a fully functional computer in minutes. I remember going to a storeroom so see if I can find a decommissioned computer to meet my needs, Then I would search through the racks looking for rack space then lug the computer into the data center. I would need to find a power outlet, a port on the switch, then run a cable from the computer to the switch.

The cloud makes things so easy. No big capital outlays. And THAT can be a problem. Maybe the cloud makes things too easy. Setting up services in the cloud is so easy, if your company does not have a strong approval process, costs can easily get out of control.

Don’t get me wrong. The cloud has many advantages. The cloud is ideal for temporary projects, testing and proof of concepts. The cloud may be ideal for smaller companies that do not have the funds for capital outlays or to build out a data center. The cloud can save money for short term projects, but keep in mind that over time, costs of the cloud can add up. Short term savings can end up being a financial drain in the long term.​…

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Exchange 2019 in a Home Lab with a Dynamic IP and Blocked Port 25

A recruiter recently submitted me for a Microsoft Exchange project even though I knew almost nothing about Exchange. Well, I thought, it wouldn’t hurt to learn. The learning process was quite an ordeal, mostly because Exchange in a home lab is quite different from Exchange in a commercial environment. First of all it can be a challenge when you run Microsoft Exchange in a home lab with a dynamic IP and your ISP blocks port 25. This article is all about how to get around those hurdles. I ran into another hurdle when I discovered a trial download of Exchange is generally unavailable, at least not one I could find. If you want to download Exchange, you need to be on a Volume License Agreement or buy a copy. The retail version of Exchange can be very expensive for home users, but if you shop around, you should be able to find a copy for a reasonable price (Google is your friend). I was going to suggest download Exchange from Technet, but I just discovered Microsoft doesn’t offer Technet subscriptions anymore.

I wanted to run my home lab cheaply as possible. I did not want to pay the relatively high cost to lease a static IP address. There are ways to get around that but there are other problems associated with having a dynamic IP address. I will describe how I got around the problems associated with not having a static IP. I will describe here what I did to get my home lab up and running. It took many Google searches to find what I need to make Exchange work in my home lab. And it wasn’t all in one place. I would run into a problem, search for an answer, then run into a new problem and the new answer was in an entirely different place. The answers weren’t always clear or complete. My goal here is to compile what I found and put it in a single place. Hopefully Google will find my site so your Google searches will point here and help you to make your home lab work. The goal of this posting is to help you set up your home lab. I’m going to cover the basics about installing Exchange, but I do not plan on going into great detail. There are a bunch of articles and YouTube videos about how to install Exchange. I help you get Exchange installed but the goal here is to help you configure Exchange to run in your home lab – after Exchange is installed. Specifically how to get Exchange running without a static IP address and what to do when your ISP blocks port 25. The cost is about $30.97 per year, plus the cost of Exchange. Please allow me to give a standard disclaimer. The solutions presented here worked for me. I’m providing these solutions in the hope you will find them useful. As always, you will need to determine if the solutions outlined here are appropriate for you. Every environment is different. These worked for me, don’t sue me if they don’t work for you or if you follow my cookbook and your stove catches on fire.

Before getting started, you will need to determine how your ISP connects you to the Internet.
This article assumes your ISP connects you directly to the Internet. In my environment, all the devices in my home use non-routable IP addresses. This means my computers could see servers on the Internet but Internet could not see my computers. You will need the Internet to be able to see your Exchange Edge server. No problem. This article explains how to configure your home-router to attach devices in your home to the Internet. Here’s the caution. This article assumes the IP address on the Internet side of your router is routable. In other words a real IP address. In the past, I used an ISP where the IP address of the Internet facing side of my router was also non-routable. My router was not directly connected to the Internet. The Internet would not be able to see my Edge server. If this applies to you, you are out of luck. You will need to lease a static-IP.

The next thing to know is Exchange 2019 is only supported on Windows Server 2019, and you need a 64 bit computer. Since Exchange typically has a mailbox server and an Edge server (more on that later), you will need two servers. At least the servers can be virtual and Windows Server 2019 is available for evaluation download. I do have a rather extensive home lab, so I had the iron to run Windows 2019 and Exchange 2019. Windows Server with Exchange will run on a desktop class machine, and you can buy them rather inexpensively on Ebay, sometimes for less than $100. My 8 GB desktop machine will run Windows and Exchange 2019 but I could not install an additional virtualized Windows 2019 on the same machine – not enough memory. I didn’t find that out until after I installed Exchange. Fortunately, I do have an extra Windows Server 2016 in my lab with 16 GB. I was able to install a virtualized Windows 2019 server running the Edge server under Hyper-V on Windows 2016. I probably could have installed two virtualized 2019 servers with Exchange and Exchange Edge on my 16 GB Windows 2016 machine but didn’t think to do that until it was too late.
If you are curious, this is what I have in my lab:
HP Compaq Pro 6300 SFF
Intel Pentium CPU G870 3.1 GHZ
8192 KB

HP Compaq Pro 6300 SFF
Intel Core CPU I5-3470 CPU 3.2 GHZ
16384 GB

If you have two computers with adequate memory, you won’t need Hyper-V. If you only have one computer, you will need Hyper-V or other virtualization software. It’s important to know what kind of processor you need if you want to run Hyper-V. Windows Server is …

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Toastmasters, a Wonderful Self-Improvement Program; Writing a Compelling Blog

This is the ninth article in my series for Toastmasters Leadership Development, Level 4, Write a Compelling Blog.

I recently applied for a job on-line. Shortly after I applied, I received a response asking me to undergo an automated on-line job interview. The automated interview questions were the typical questions – Why do you want to work for us, why are you a good fit, etc. The last question was a little different and interesting. They asked, what have you done lately to improve yourself?

I instantly had an answer. I told them I was a member of Toastmasters, “an international organization for communication and leadership development”. I told them Toastmasters has helped me to become a better communicator and better leader.

I only had 1 minute to record my answer so I couldn’t go into much detail. If you are in Toastmasters, you know the benefits. If you aren’t I can go on and on describing what Toastmasters has done for me.

Toastmasters is an almost all-volunteer organization. Toastmasters has a small paid staff, but the volunteers are what make Toastmasters go. And it’s the volunteers that get the biggest benefit out of Toastmasters. In a previous role, I managed a substantial budget, implemented marketing and training programs. I built a team of almost 50 volunteers and met all the administrative goals established by the Toastmasters International organization.

I met my Chinese counterpart. He told me a fasinating fact about Toastmasters in China. Our conversation helped me to realize how lucky I am to be an American. Toastmasters has taken me to places I would have never otherwise been to. Most of all, Toastmasters has given me confidence. I think that’s one of the biggest benefits of being a Member. Members grow in confidence. Members become better speakers. Active members become leaders.

Toastmasters are in the organization to improve themselves. Part of that involves helping others improve themselves. Toastmasters is an organization of people helping people get better.
I like to tell people I’m a much better communicator and leader than when I joined Toastmasters. And since I intend to stay in the organization indefinitely, I’m not as good now as I’m going to be in the future!
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How to Expand Windows Disks on Oracle Virtual Box. The Complete Guide with the Missing Steps

What to do when Windows Disk Management Doesn’t Show Additional Stogage After Expanding VirtualBox Disk Size

A while ago, the disk drive on my Windows machines running under Oracle Virtual Box was starting to run out of space. Simple – I’ll ask my best friend Google for help. Google pointed me to how-to-geek (Click here)

I followed the instructions to expand the disk but discovered just expanding the virtual disk is not enough. The Internet told me to CD to the Virtualbox software diretory: “C:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox”

Then

Then issue one of the following commands:

VBoxManage modifyhd “[full path and file name to virtual disk]” –resize [size in MB]

or if you’re on V6:
Manage modifymedium disk “[full path and file name to virtual disk]” –resize [size in MB]

Example: VBoxManage modifyhd “C:\Users\username\VirtualBox VMs\Windows 7\Windows 7.vdi” –resize 81920

I shut down the virtual machine and followed the instructions to expand the disk. I then restarted the virtual machine. Virtualbox showed the increased disk size, but Windows Disk Management did not. When I went to Computer Management/Disk Management the disk did not show any aditional space. I researched on Google but couldn’t find an answer. I did see lots of other people were having the same problem.

After more searching, I finally found the answer on youtube: The answer starts about 1:10 into the video. (click here)

The secret is to shutdown the machine, detach the disk, run the above command to expand the disk size, reattach the disk, THEN restart the machine.

To remove the disk, go to Virtualbox, click on the machine, then settings, then storage, right click on the disk you plan to expand, then “Remove Attachment” (remember the location of the disk for when you’re ready to add it back

After you have expanded the disk, add it back and restart the virtual machine. You will then see the increased disk size under Computer Management/Disk Management. At this point, Windows will let you expand the size of the disk.

Job Search Recordkeeping

(Click above for full article with screenshots)

It’s a good idea to keep a thorough record of all jobs you apply for. If you are on unemployment, your state unemployment division will likely require you to keep a record of your job contacts. Even if you aren’t collecting unemployment, it’s still a good idea to keep a detailed record of your applications.

For example, Colorado Unemployment requires you to keep a record of:

• What action you took
• How you applied for the position
• The type of work you were looking for
• The person you contacted, a telephone number,
email address or other reliable contact information
• The outcome of the contact

I keep the information in an Excel spread sheet. Excel is very useful for keeping a list of all my applications. Its search feature makes it especially useful. Years ago, I kept a paper list. I discovered paper lists aren’t handy if I want to search through the companies and jobs I applied to in the past.

Click here for sample spreadsheet

I also added the date, the employer, the website, and a few other fields. If I have an email or phone number, I will specify under employer. If the employer is a recruiting firm, I also include the name of the company they are submitting me to. That way I have a record of the actual company I applied to. That will come in handy if I need to search for companies I applied to. Also, some employers will not accept resumes from recruiting firms if you already applied with them.

Most of the jobs I apply to are on-line. The jobs are listed on job boards or employer websites. Often the job board will contain a job desription with a link to apply for the job. Sometimes the link is to an employer’s website, sometimes the job board will send your resume and cover letter to directly to the employer. I keep a copy of the link under the column “Job Website”.

“How contacted” will contain information such as if I applied via a job board, via a company website, or via email etc. I also specify if I submitted a Resume or both a Resume and Cover letter.

Most jobs will display a message and/or email you that you successfully applied. I keep a copy of the message under the “Confirmation” column.

Some employers will ask where you saw the job posting, so I put that information that under the “Job Board” column.
Most company career sites will ask you to set up an account. I keep the account information under the column “Logon to Employer Site”. I don’t put the actual password I used, instead I put hints to help me remember the login and password.

Job Board Hints

I review the job boards and keep a record of every job I apply for
Here are some of the job boards I visit:
indeed.com
linkedin.com (jobs)
dice.com
monster.com
careerbuilder.com
glassdoor.com (jobs)
ziprecruiter.com

Be aware that some job postings will not direct you to an application page. Some of the links will ask you to provide an email before you can apply. Sometimes, that’s OK. Other times the posting will scrape job listings from other sites and ask you to provide email and other information before directing you to the application page. If you can skip the inquiry, I recommemd you do. Unfortunately it’s not always easy to tell if the link is legitimate or if it’s gathering email so they can send you spam. When in doubt, go directly to the company website and apply through their careers page.

The job boards enable you to limit the number of days back to search. This is useful if you search the boards every day. They’re all a little different, but generally you can limit your search to 1 day back, sometimes 3 days, most will allow you to limit your search to a week back. Look for links such as “advanced search”, “date posted”, “filter”, or similar. I do not see a similar feature on Dice, but Dice does have a “sort by relevance/date” link so you can put the newest postings at the top.

Other Record Keeping and Job Application Hints.

I use an email address dedicated for my job search. This helps me keep my job search emails separate from my regular emails. This makes it less likely I will miss an important job notification. Since I use Microsoft Outlook, I have my Outlook configured to flag incoming job search emails with a special color and musical tone.

In addition to my log, I keep a “Jobs” folder with several subfolders.

It should be fairly intuitive what most of the folders are used for.
Resumes go in the “001-Resume” folder. I have several different versions of my resume, depending on what I’m applying for.
Cover Letters go in the “002-Cover Letters” folder. Again, I have several different versions of my cover letter, depending on what I’m applying for.
I keep PDF copies reference letters and reference contact information in my “004-References” folder.
My “003-Applications” folders may not be as intuitive at first glance, but it’s a very important folder.
Under “003-Applications, I create an employer sub-folder when I apply for a job. If I apply more than once with an employer, I add the new job info to the folder. Sometimes I may need to create sub-sub folders.
I copy a resume from my 001-Resume folder and I copy a cover letter from my “002-Cover Letter” folder into the employer folder.
I then customize my resume and cover letter to match the job. I may change the order of the items in my resume or cover letter. I may add skills not listed in my original resume to match the job description, and I may change the words and terms in my resume and cover to match the job description. This can be useful for a technical role when …