Many members of the Groupstudy mailing list, in addition to seeking Cisco certifications, are also interested in the internetworking job market. While this subject is of interest to many readers, it unfortunately is off topic and messages regarding jobs adversely affect the signal-to-noise ratio.

Glad you asked. The idea is to have a forum where recruiters and employers interact with potential employees. Yes, job postings are encouraged, but the successful recruiter will have to do more than just post jobs to be effective. Recruiters, in exchange for free access to top-of-the-line job candidates, are expected to offer guidance and assistance. This'll include questions about specific job postings and the companies offering them, as well as general questions about resume writing, interviewing skills, relocation, etc. This should lead to some interesting conversations and be a great learning experience not just for candidates, but for recruiters as well. Job postings should be related to internetworking, of course, and should by and large be jobs in which Cisco certification is desirable. As in any such forum, a popular recruiter will have more leeway in this area than one who never participates. Which jobs get posted is ultimately up to the moderators. Popular recruiters will also be more likely to have offlist candidates referred to them, so there is plenty of incentive to participate :-)

Excepting job postings, the Jobs list is a place to discuss all manner of topics related to employment in the Cisco internetworking world. Typical topics might include, but are not limited to:

• discussion of specific jobs posted to the list
• interviewing skills
• what employers are looking for in candidates
• discussion of interviewers' commonly-asked questions
• relocation packages and policies
• salary
• benefits
• comparisons of job duties
• cost of living differences

That's pretty much it, but here are a few things you might want to keep in mind:

This is an informal forum. With the exception of job postings, all information should be considered unofficial. Opinions of recruiters are not necessarily those of the employers they represent.

Be nice. Negative behavior, such as rudeness or flaming, is not acceptable.

Please keep the 'my company is better than your company' stuff to a minimum. These conversations typically boil down to opinion and speculation, both of which are undebatable. If you want to make a case for your company, make your case in a positive way that reflects the company on its own merits. For example:

Wrong way: "XYZ company is better than ABC company, because HIJ company is thinking about buying ABC and when they do I hear they're going to focus on widgets instead of routers. I know a guy that works there and he told me. Besides, at XYZ we have better benefits."

Right way: "XYZ is a great company to work for. We have a positive, supportive community and in-house training, not to mention free lab time. Our benefits package is excellent and includes an employer-matched 401k and eight weeks of vacation the first year."

Have fun!

Website, Mailing List and Newsfeed

How do I participate through the web?

You may read the Web discussion at any time without joining. To read the discussion, go to the Jobs message board. If you would like to post a messages, you must create an account on the server by selecting create account on the User Accounts menu to the left. Your initial password will be sent to you via e-mail. Afterwards, you may use the change password link to select a more memorable password.

How do I participate through the Newsfeed?

We offer a complete newsfeed for the discussion group. To join simply set you News client to news.groupstudy.com and select the group groupstudy.jobs (You may also try clicking on the link if your associations in your web browser are set correct.)

How do I Join the Mailing List?

Manual Subscriptions

To subscribe, send an e-mail message to listserver@groupstudy.com with the body of the message containing:

subscribe jobs

You should then receive (almost immediately) an authentication message which you will need to return. This message is used to verify you really want to subscribe to the list.

If you want to subscribe a different e-mail address than the one you are currently at, send the message in the form:

subscribe jobs myname@foo.bar.com

The authentication message will be sent to myname@foo.bar.com.

Using the List Manager

You may also subscribe using the listmanager form located on the first page of www.groupstudy.com. This form will perform the actions described above. You will still need to return the authentication message.

How do I post a message to the group?

Follow the directions on the subscription notice you will receive when you join.

How do I unsubscribe?

To unsubscribe send a message to listserver@groupstudy.com with the body containing :

unsubscribe jobs

Or you may use the ListManager for located on the first page of www.groupstudy.com.

If you are still having trouble read HELP I SUBSCRIBED AND I CANT GET OFF!

What else can I do?

Send a message to listserver@groupstudy.com with the body containing :

help

You will receive an e-mail describing all the functions of the listserver.

What if I am having trouble unsubscribing?

If you are having troube unsubscribing, read the following: HELP UNSUBSCRIBE