JobMine closing temporarily for improvements

with material from Co-operative Education and Career Action (CECA).

Co-operative Education and Career Action (CECA) is reporting that JobMine, the department's web application that manages the co-op recruitment process, will be shut down and thus unavailable between Monday, December 17 and the start of day Friday, December 21.

This shutdown will allow CECA to make changes in JobMine that will eliminate the cumbersome HTML résumé uploading and printing procedures, replacing them with a PDF capability.

There are a number of benefits to the revamp, including:

• PDF formatting, which resolves one of the significant system concerns for both employers and students;
• Students will not be required to use and or/know HTML, and applying for jobs will be much simpler;
• Employers will be able to generate their own print lists and PDF packages for one, some, or all of their applicants; and
• Résumés with PDF formatting are much cleaner in appearance and do not have issues associated with HTML.

After Friday, December 21, students who apply to any co-op or grad job posting during the university's seasonal break will need to upload a PDF résumé to the first résumé spot (the default) in JobMine. PDF converters are available free of charge online, and several web browsers such as Firefox and Chrome also have PDF conversion functionality.

Documentation and help will be available online to support PDF-format résumé when the system is back online. Technical support for students will be available through the JobMine help desk, or in person.

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Donation leads to new defibrillator

by Linda Brogden, Health Services

Joe Capone, the Vice-President, Sales & Marketing for Cartier Kitchens and Morty Henkle, executive director of the Mikey Network have partnered to contribute a public-access Automated External Defibrillator (AED), called a “Mikey”, to the University of Waterloo.

Installed in March 2012, the new Mikey is one of 24 AEDs located across campus, in locations that include residences, athletic facilities, and academic buildings.

This particular device is located in Needles Hall, which houses, among other departments, Student Accounts, the Graduate Studies Office, Waterloo International, Counselling Services, the Registrar’s Office and AccessAbility Services (formerly the Office for Persons with Disabilities).

A defibrillator is a device that delivers an electric shock to the heart through the chest wall during ventricular fibrillation (VF) to help restore the heart to its normal rhythm.  VF is a severely abnormal heart rhythm (arrhythmia) that can be life-threatening. The act of defibrillation, or “shocking”, is more successful when it’s delivered to a victim of cardiac arrest within the first few critical minutes, often before medical help arrives.

“Sudden cardiac arrest can happen to anyone, at any time,” said Morty. ”We hope that this ‘Mikey’ will never have to be used, but it’s reassuring to know it is available if ever required.”

A trained “Target Responder” using a public-access defibrillator can increase a victim’s chance of survival by up to 50 per cent. Hundreds of lives are saved each year using this device.  Julie Pocock, Erin Smith and Dorothy Chapman are the target responders for Needles Hall.

Pictured above are (l-r) Julie Pocock, Erin Smith, Dorothy Chapman, and Ileen, Samantha and Joe Capone.

“The safety and well-being of all students is paramount, especially when they live away from home,” added Joe, who has a daughter attending the University of Waterloo. “We were happy to lend this support through this worthwhile organization.”

The Mikey Network is a charitable organization working to create public awareness and provide education about heart-healthy lifestyles. Dedicated to former Heathwood Homes partner Mike Salem, who died of sudden cardiac arrest on a golf course in 2002, The Mikey Network is committed to placing “Mikeys” in as many high-risk locations as possible.

Cartier Kitchens enabled this donation through a contribution they made to The Mikey Network.

 

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Tuesday's notes

The Safety Office is celebrating Ian Fraser's (right) 37 years at the university with a retirement open house on Wednesday, December 12 from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. in the Safety Office, located in the Commissary building.

Water, water everywhere, but not a drop to use: Room 289 of Biology 2 will be lacking in de-ionized water service on Wednesday, December 12 from 7:30 a.m. to 12:01 p.m. as a contractor caps some water lines. Rooms 374 and 169 may also be affected by the temporary shutdown.

Additionally, DWE and CPH will be without electrical power on Friday, December 21 between the hours of 6:00 a.m. and 7:00 a.m. as work is done on an electrical feed to a transfer switch, or so I'm told. I will post another notice closer to the date, as it is strongly recommended that all computer equipment be shut down in an orderly fashion, particularly UNIX systems.

And finally, a correction: On Thursday, December 6, I stated that the University of Waterloo hackathon team, who won the Facebook Global Hackathon this year, was the only Canadian team competing. This was not the case: a team from the University of British Columbia also competed.

 

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