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While filtering applicants at rozee.pk from a pool of hundreds of CVs we received for 2 of our recent jobs for SEO Interns and Snr. SEO Manger, I have realized that how a majority of applicants are possibly destroying their own careers by not reading the Job Description before hitting the ‘apply now’ button.

Despite of writing in the Job description that these posts are for only Lahore based candidates, we literally were swarmed by out of station candidates. There were almost equal amount of CVs of candidates from other cities and all of them without any cover letter. Cover letter is important too but that’s not the point I am going to make here. There were loads of CVs which were not relevant to the job at all still the ‘apply now’ button seemed attractive enough to them to try their luck. But excuse me, that’s the ‘bad luck’ you are in fact clicking. No, it does not really matter how juicy you are, if we are going to get apples, we would not settle for oranges. Did you ever realize how this supposedly ‘little’ action on your behalf, makes employers job more difficult which can very well cost you any relevant future employment opportunity in same company. I know it may seem hard to you but please do yourself and employer a favor of not getting into the temptation of spontaneously clicking the ‘apply now’ button. It is not a ‘lucky draw’ and NO, you are not increasing your ‘entries’ of winning a job this way.

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And man, I desperately wish to have an infraction  system with a ‘spam’ button at rozee.pk to report users who send their CVs without reading the Job Description. While thinking for a solution, thought to share this idea which really worked for one of my client in the past on moderating a large community. Hope you can make that work for you as well.

How about an infraction system, Monis? Where each spam report by employer would earn the candidate an infraction and upon reaching ‘x’ infractions, candidate’s ability to click ‘apply now’ for a job automatically gets restricted. (Passing on another line of revenue where you can actually milk some more cash from candidates as well by putting a cap on the number of jobs they can apply in a month.) So one way or the other, this can help reduce spontaneous applicants to a posted job resulting in better service for employer, professional grooming for candidates and less load on your servers.

What do you guys think?

TIECONPK 2010 Photo by Kamal Subhani

Ok, before you move forward, just want to make clear that it is not a writeup of the event. I am just talking about things which either inspired or bothered me at the event.

First of all, it was really ironic to see a government ‘chairperson’ as the chief guest for an event which is all about a ‘change’ in the current system, so to make sure that they never get to that chair again. But, since, it’s the government, and she was already being made a part of it, so we had to bear with her in the shape of one hour delay, typical of a Pakistani marriage, waiting for the bride to come from the parlor and everyone else desperately looking at the door, here she comes, here she comes. So the 8:30am event actually started on 9:45 am.

It started with recitation of the Holy Quran. After that Monis as President TIE Pakistan, inaugurated the event formally.

Honorable Mr Razaaq Dawood said that “entrepreneurship is not a trip it is a journey”. Well, I can relate to that definition but don’t you think all of the journeys end some where while entrepreneurship never ends? Or we may call it a ‘never ending journey’ to be more accurate? In my last 5 years being an entrepreneur myself, what I have realized is that entrepreneurship is a ‘disease’ with no known cure. Once the bug bits you, you are doomed for rest of your life to live with it, giving you a ‘lifestyle’ incomprehensible by 9to5 crowd and your family. This ‘lifystyle’ is very selfish and at times can cost you irrecoverable damages on your relationships. And did I mention that like every other disease, it has a toll on your health and on your wealth as well. With external pressures of adopting a normal lifestyle, it’s virus can some time gets into its hibernation mode but it never dies down as long as you are alive and can come back with even greater force by attending such an event or by just sharing some dialogues with another victim.

I was very distressed after listening to Mr. Razaq Dawood’s final comments regarding stage 3 of entrepreneurship where you have already lived to your dreams and achieved whatever you ever wanted to and yet there comes another journey of maintaining that successes within the family generations, something an aspiring wanna be like me can never think of. It was nice to know how one feels when you are up above the hill, having done that already but at the same time it was very disturbing to know that there is no rest, no peace on the other side. I started to think that may be the 9to5 crowd is better than us, not having to sacrifice so much and at peace at the end with the satisfaction that they were able to keep the balance between their work and life. But then again, I realized that once you have it in your blood, there is no escaping from it. There would be no satisfaction at the other end if you have not lived your dreams in the first place.

Then came along Mr. Amjad Saquib of Akhuwat, and only then I got introduced to an entirely new meanings of entrepreneurship. It is not about being selfish in pursuit of your dreams, its about taking care of your family. It is not about doing something extraordinary but doing something purposefully. It is not about winning, it is about surviving the tides. I congratulate you Mr. Saquib of playing a very important role for the change we desperately need and I salute you for being a real change agent of our society.

Like many other people I was eager to see what looks like to be our last hope for a change, Mr. Imran Khan of Pakistan Tehreek Insaf. But he was invited for being the Vice Chancellor of NAMAL University and was going to share his experience of establishing yet another of his legacy in the education sector as well. He came is his usual attire of Shalwar Qamees (really loved that). I hope once you get to chair the Government you keep on presenting the real Paksitani inside you with same appearance (and attitude) every where you go. In QA session, things got politically heated as one lady raised a question about the lack of team on behalf of PTI. Which Imrak Khan responded that “do you want to see same faces or need new ones” which takes time and that he is having a team who were there with him from the very start. (But very sorry to say, that I disagree with you here, in my city, some of the key posts of PTI are being given to people who have a history of corruption and lotaism in their family. And it was a nice blow to people like me to become less interested in PTI activities and raised a question in my mind that the change you always speak of is going to be a Top-to-bottom type of thing or from ground-to-up? Like do you think that a right kind of person at top can really make the difference? Even if he is surrounded by the same useless money hungry lot? In such a case, would not dictatorship be more appropriate as it comes with absolute power? And if you don’t believe in above then can you please explain why we can see some opportunistic shady characters as title bearers in your team?

Secondly, I raised a question but somehow the language barrier did not let me put it in the most suitable manner. So here it is again. Is there anyway we could bring this change without any involvement of government or without looking at them for any help? As if it was their priority, they would have been doing it in the first place. So do you think that these private social entrepreneurship initiatives by private sector are enough to bring the change we all very desperately need? And do these initiatives have the power to change the faces in politics at some point with sincere and honest leadership?

(Sorry to say but really disappointed on behalf of management that Imran Khan should have been given the QA time right after his speech as the very next person came had such a slow pace that he finished a 15 minute speech in almost an hour.)

Rest of the speakers had great stories to tell about their respective journeys and had lots of wisdom in their speeches.

I also met a few wonderful entrepreneurs there who was just bitten by the entrepreneurial bug, with limited resources but lots of energy to realize their dreams. One such guy is Farhan Riaz with his award winning, internationally acclaimed product Max99. I wish him all the best.

It would not be fair to not talk about Mr. Kamran Rizvi, know he does not care much, but as he was the only person who kept on waking people up time to time with his nice jolly wits. I only wish him to be moderating complete show and it would have been a much better experience for everyone.

This went on like that till the end where we finally had the Top3 of 25 brilliant case-studies from Pakistan as one of the management guy later put it very appropriately that “We have saved the best for last”. Among them, Mr. Kashif ul Haq from Corvit systems, opened some new horizons to understand success for other newly turned entrepreneurs. He explained my favorite quote on success that “it is how beneficial you have become on a social level and how happy you are on a personal level.”, saying success has two sides, on one side it is the measurement by the external elements about your achievements and on the other side it is about the level of satisfaction you have received from your ventures and amount of happiness you drive out of it.

So TIECON2010 PK was concluded for me with this understanding of success in my mind that if everyday, you wake up with a smile at morning, greet your family on your side, look forward to come to your office eagerly, meet your colleagues with a happy heart, face the daily challenges with a candid attitude, recharge your energies in friend’s company at evening, and prepare yourself to embark on yet another day in the comfort of your home at night with your family still on your side, know that you have succeeded in this never ending journey of entrepreneurship.

I encountered a few people after the event saying it was a dull, boring, long day, food quality was not good (as only they were there for it.), moderator was too serious to keep the crowd involved till the end and only a few handful of speakers were able to inspire, well, some of the arguments are quite valid and I agree that the event could have been a blast but hey see on the brighter side. See the ‘Half” which is ‘Full’. At the end of the day, there were so many new ideas born, so much energy being induced in some of the young entrepreneurs there and so many revivals of the dreams that makes every second spent on the event worth it. So hats off to the TIE Lahore Chapter for arranging such a wonderful event. I hope they will learn from their mistakes and it only will get better in the future.

Photo Courtesy Kamal Subhani

mein terey jhootey sachey lafzoon sey banney
kachey pakkey rishtun ki kamzoor doori ko
key jissey joortey joortey khud toot gya hoon
ussey khud hi toor daloon ga
key bohat jheel lia dard
teri majboorion key hijaboon ka
kissi kitab mein rakh key
bhooley hovey murjhaye gulaboon ka

yaqeee’N aur bey yaqeeni ki
aankh machooli sey bantey
taptey hovey siraboon ka

teri wapsi ki rah takti
pathrayee hoi aankhoon ki palkoon per
bikhrey hovey chand khawaboon ka
na khatam hooney waley azaaboon ka

ab ki baar khushion ki pehli kirn
merey dil mein phootey gi
aur naye saal ki pehli sehar
merey ander key sab aansoo nikaal ker
dharti ki goud shabnam sey bher dey gi

Touseef – Dec 16th, 2003, 03:20 PM

This is pretty old poem by me shared/appreciated on Gup Shup board. Just felt like sharing it on the new year on my blog too.

“You are driving in a very populated area where every minute some one is either trying to get under your car/bike or over your car/bike and all of a sudden your mobile phone beep starts. You think this must be the address you have been trying to reach from past one hour sent by your friend. You just push the break, escape a narrow accident and eagerly unlock your cell phone and read the message. To your utter surprise it is your carrier telling you that now you can download some new ringtones from their site.”

If that’s not enough, here is another scenario,

“you were up all night finishing off the project/paper/assignment with remote class/team mates and were dead tired after submitting that and nothing seemed better than a good 3 hour morning sleep at 6:00 am and you were just so close when all of a sudden the beep buzz in to scare the hell out of you thinking may be there were some problem with your submission, with trembling hands you try to unlock your cellphone, but put the wrong code, you try again and this time you are in, you press the read message and spontaneously thank Allah that it was not your greatest fear come true but a message again from your carrier about their new way to exhaust your mobile balance.

So how do you feel about it when you get a wrong message at a very wrong time? Do you get pissed off like me or start saying your prayers that you finally have been able to receive a new message?

BTW, if you are not the one likes to get spam messages either  from carriers themselves or from any advertisers then here are some interesting findings. Most of you guys are probably aware of this shoe company  Timberland but not many of you probably be aware of the class action law suite settlement against them. check this link.The crime was actually being committed in 2003, the company was sued in 2005 by Jeff Weinstein of Chicago and just had the settlement a few months ago.  A huge whooping $7 Million Dollars Fund for everyone who has received a message from them in all these years (2003-2008). That makes at-least $150 for each recipient.  Here are some more details. Pretty interesting?

Now you must be thinking that hey receiving unsolicited/forced sms is not as bad as it may look provided we too have a Jeff Weinstein in Pakistan.

ok, stories apart, tell me do you really like to get such sms. Don’t you think at times they can be pretty annoying and in certain cases can lead to swear accidents. (although you are not supposed to check your sms on the road while driving but well we do that all the time as if this is an adventure as well.)

So what is the role of government in such a case. They did what they are good at. i.e., passed another bill. Here is the cutting regarding the new cyber laws coming directly from the presidency.
You can also check a very hot discussion here on our all time favorite blog of dear Dr. Awab..

Well it is still unknown on how they are actually going to implement it as it has not been put forward in the assembly as of yet and besides I do get local spam  emails every now and then. So there is a lot to be done.

Coming back to the topic, may be that is the reason why the un-wanted SMS, even when the new law clearly points out that you do not send any sms  as well,  are on the rise. people are not afraid of the laws. companies are not afraid of the laws. I remember some time back there was a post on developing a DNC (Do Not Call) list and giving that to the carriers so that people like me could opt-out  from getting any such call but I guess PTA is least botherd about any development in this regard. So I am not sure if there would be much interest in developing and maintaining a DNSMS (Do not SMS) list but at-least what these carriers could do is provide an opt-out way in their messages to give me my freedom back of not receiving any offer from them. The point they are missing is that they are inflicting more damage to their brand then making people use their new services. I for one, would hate and never use such a service and I am sure there must be many more who take their freedom as seriously as they could. SPAM is SPAM in any form. Either it is an email, a phone call or SMS, as long as they do not have explicit conscent by me to receive such messages and as long as they do not provide a clear way to opt-out, this should be considered as a pounishable crime.

And btw, just to mention, if I have to call on their paid number to stop receiving their messages, that’s even bigger nonsense, why on the earth I would like to get charged for a service which i never wanted to have at the first place. These companies have huge budgets at least they can afford to integrate an opt-in and opt-out system with their sms messages so they could at-least give us a feel that they really care about us and not there to bug us with their wrong messages with extremely efficient odd timing.

PS: Did anyone actually ever take a look at any form you fill up while you get a new sim? I mean, back then, I did not but I am not sure if they have any thing related to receiving of messages in that form or in their terms and conditions.

PS2: I intentionally have not added spam messages sent by individual advertisers. Sure they also bug but their frequency is very limited and in most of the case they offer some thing better than a new ring tone.

http://pakalert.wordpress.com/2008/11/15/a-second-911/

Well,  I know another 9/11 has been speculated to great extent but I was thinking that although America want’s to disarm the only (declared) Muslim nuclear power from its nuclear assets in any case but can they really afford to have such kind of massacre on their own land, especially with the new party and supposedly liberal President in the white house?

No!

They can’t afford to have it especially at such a time when their economy is almost broke already and a large number of Americans are suspicious about the first attack as well. But they really need to get their objectives, i.e.,creating a reason to disarm Pakistan from Nuclear weapons. So what could look like a possible solution in this situation is use someone else’s land and what better option could have been than India?

So I see a relation here. A second 9/11 may not took place far far away from us if it really has to happen. It may very well be planned in our neighbourhood as well. And the recent Mumbai attacks can be part of a greater conspiracy for a collective attack on Pakistan.

Please share your views.

faqt ik qatra aanso Ramadan ki pyaas hey!

Mallal ki gharri ho,
sar uth jaye Khuda ki terf,
aankh mein kuch nammi tu aaye

Mehromiat ka ho ehsaas,
ik aah ban key dil mein dab jaye,
a’shk aik hi nikley, kuch aajzi tu aaye

Ya tashakur key hooN jazbaat
qadmoN mein us key gir jaye
Izhaar ki surat mein kuch bandgi tu aaye

na gunwana essey, bas essi ki hi aas hey
Tauba kerna ka tujhey kuch ehsaas hey?
faqt ik qatra aanso Ramadan ki pyaas hey!

Let’s hope Allah Kareem help us spend this holy month of Ramadan in a better way. Let’s pray that this Ramadan kareem we repent before our Creator and get the companion ship of Holy Prophet in Jannah.

Aaye dua kerien key yeh Ramadan hammarey ander key saarey gand nikal ker hamien sheeshey ki terhah shafaaf ker dey.

Aaye dua kerien key es daffa ki eid pey hamien wahi khushu haasil ho ju Hazrat Muhammad (Peace be upon him) ney bataya hey key rooza daar ko hoti hey .

Ameen!

National Response Center for Cyber Crimes (NR3C) is co-hosting the InfoSec 2008 – 4th International Conference on Information Security being held in Marriott Hotel, Islamabad on 27th August, 2008. Most important thing is that many distinguished Pakistani & International speakers will participate including Mr. Zahid Jameel of DNDRC fame. He will be speaking on cyber crimes and cyber prosecutions even his role has been very controversial on this subject. Well, I am concerned now. I don’t know how many cases have been resolved by NR3C so far and if they have played any role in the infamous djuice.pk case. But I really appreciate them for co-hosting such an event to help generate some awareness regarding IInformation Security.

On the contrary side, I do not see any professionalism (at least by looking at their website) at all. They look like typical Govt. employees who are least bothered on how their site looks and do not understand the vital role it can play to help spread their very cause. I have taken a few more screen shots (well, you can say I’m getting habitual on making screen shots.) to show the layout and information problems with their site.

Another thing I have noticed is that they do not have any information of this event on their site. Come on, don’t you think that the people most related to such events check website of the host?Should I come all the way from Lahore to attend this event as much as I want to when I do not see any info on your site about it? Is it intentional? Thanks God, that I have received the info from a reliable source so I may go and check it out but heck, for the sake of all other related parties please do provide some details on your site as well. For those who want to attend the events can download the pdf invite and call following person for more details.

Invitation to InfoSec 2008 – 4th International Conference on Information Security, Islamabad. (Please right click to save as)

KHAWAJA Mohammad Ali, CISA

Regional Coordinator

National Response Centre for Cyber Crimes (NR3C)

Federal Investigation Agency (FIA)

Government of Pakistan

Karachi Regional Office

Direct: +92.21. 9266 007

PBX: +92.21. 926 NR3C

Fax: +92.21. 9266 733

Emai: khawaja.ali@nr3c.gov.pk

This also reminds me of a projector presentation for Gulf Information Technology Exhibition (GITEX), Dubai along with a few awareness screen savers and posters on Information Security I did few years back for a big Saudi Giant Al Faisaliah Group and Al-Elm Information Security.

Posters:

Screen Savers:

Projecter Animation:

You can see it at the very top. Full width can be viewed here.

I still have some more unfinished story boards which I can “donate” for the cause of Information Security Awareness. NR3C, let me know if you want to take a look at it or anyone else.

I would report back if I could attend that event and provided, FIA did not arrest me to confessing the crime of illegally entering to PKNIC domain panel. But in any case, please leave some comments if you like to.

Here is a better course of action for you.

Come into Politics, please!

In the current scanario,  Mr. Asifali Zardari, would never get you back on your seat and may use all of his might to keep you ou of judiciary. On the other hand, Mr. Nawaz Sharif would never rest un-till you are back on your seat and cancel the NRO. So it would be much better of a choice to not being played by both parties and come into the Politics. Join a party which you think is better than all or else form your own Political Party. Come into the competition, Really, we are all tired of seeing old faces with new tricks. They does not seem to amuse us any more. We need a real man to see where these leaders could not. We want you to lead us toward a better Pakistan and a prosperious Pakistan.

Please Help us save the remains and build a stronger nation.

LONG LIVE PAKISTAN. Insha Allah!

Well, it was a regime spanned on almost a decade. Now as he has left now, the most important thing is how we are going to deal with the impeachment process. Is their a deal been already made for a safe passage or he is going to face the court?

Considering our past record, no armed official has ever been put to Jail or faced trial in the 61 years of history. So I am pretty confidant to say that he will get a safe passage. Chapter closed.

Question is, who is going to be the next president of Pakistan? The real battle begins. Now we will start seeing all the tu-tu, mein-mein, chik-chik between the coalition parties every where. I am not a pro-Musharaf but the leadership we have is not any better than him. Infact, everything seemed alright before the incident of Lal Masjid and Chief Justice. The things I am going to be worried from now on are.

- Would there still be selections based on merit as I have seen that happening in the past in many departments.

- Would the new leadership will accept the media in the current form? Can they let them enjoy so much liberty-to-air almost anything?

- Would they actually start doing something to make the life easier for a poor man now they have solved one major issue according to them?

Well, I am sure many more questions will come up in every ones mind soon. Let’s see how many answers we get from them.

Do you Thank Allah Everyday being a Muslim?

I thank God every day that when I was a kid I got the affection, love and care that I deserved from my family.

I thank God every day that I am being taught that your mother is your key to go to heaven. If you want to make your God happy then try to make happy your mother.

I thank God every day that I am being taught that husband and wife share a divine kind of love and companionship and know how to sacrifice for each other and how to see only the good in each other.

I thank God every day that I am being taught that if you are lucky enough to become parent of a daughter, treat them well and you will be a companion of Holy Prophet (PBUH) in heaven.

I thank God every day that I am being taught that the children should be raised by their own parents and not in a day care system. So that they may not grow up with some kind of love complex and with insecure feelings.

I thank God every day that I am being taught that kids, even when they grow up and become adults, should respect us as parents and would not raise their voice in front of us or let us feel ashamed or disgraced in front of others.

I thank God every day that I am being taught that grand parents are a blessing to the family and to be taken care with love and extreme respect rather them sending to old homes only to be met on the mother’s father’s or parents day.

I thank God every day that I am being taught that to honor my words and fulfill promises and to remain true to my friends no matter what the loss and gain would be.

I thank God every day that am being taught that all the neighbors should be treated just like a big family and you should not only know if some one is ill in whole vicinity but go to him and do some part in taking care of him.

I thank God every day that I am being taught to remain honest in my business, pay taxes, do not hold the money and give at least 2.5% share of my profits and reserves to poor and needy each year and been advised to give more if you seek Allah’s companionship.

I thank God every day that I am being taught to forgive others no matter what they have done to us for a greater reward in the life here after and to get closer to the Creator but to not have a second thought to fight back with everything we have got if some one rages a war against us.

I thank God every day that I know we have given a Role Model in the shape of the purest soul of all our beloved Holy Prophet (PBUH) who has established a great Muslim state in a very limited time with a strong followers base and have an outstanding history which puts Him at the top of greatest man ever in the world even in the eyes of those who do not follow his path.

I thank God every day that I have to bow my head in front of my creator 5 times a day each and every day till my death, when the day just starts by the dawn, when the sun is jut passed my head, when its afternoon and when its going to set and when the night takes over the light so you may not forget your purpose of existence and refresh some of the Holy Book in each prayer as well to not let your worldly desires over come you and to  remain human through out the day.

I thank God every day that I know this life is given to me as a test to see whether I still give thanks to my Creator and obey him instead of forgetting him and forgetting my purpose of existence, making my own morals of right and wrong and think that I am on my own and can do whatever my heart desires.

I thank God every day that I know the purpose of my life is to proves God’s will as a testimony that the human being will still obey his creator even after giving him a free mind with his own will power.

I thank God every day that I am born as a Muslim and pray to become a better Muslim each and every day.