CPR RECERTIFICATION

CPR certification is strongly recommended for most professions today, but for babysitters, private duty care providers, and other professional caregivers, it is a must. In spite of everything, CPR certification is still offered even in workplaces that are not necessarily involved in caregiving. In such cases, the course is provided to interested employees as part of disaster preparedness.

However, unlike some people think, a CPR certification is not valid for eternity; it needs to get renewed on a constant basis. In most cases, your certification will be valid for 1-2 years or thereabouts, but this depends on certification providers.

The best time to think about your CPR recertification or renewal is around six months before the actual expiration date, and this is especially true if your profession is tremendously strict about this kind of certification. Six months or thereabouts will give you more than enough time to plan and prepare for a renewal. You may no longer be in a position to get recertified if your certification has been expired for 30 days, in which case you will be obliged to retake the entire course.

If your CPR certification is from another country, it will not be recognized in the United States of America, but if it is from any of the 50 States, it will be recognized anywhere in the US until it expires.

Currently, there are two types of CPR recertification courses in the US, and they include the following:

• Challenge course – this one is usually uncomplicated, and it involves an analysis of the holder’s knowledge and skill. In short, it is only a testing session; there is no teaching or reviewing involved in the process.
• Renewal/review course – this one, as the title indicates, involves a review of the components of the program and is usually followed by a test.

If your profession requires CPR certification, it is the duty of your employer to provide the course and/or to advise you on which kind of renewal course to take. Talk to your direct manager or the HR department if you are unsure of which course to take.

However, if your employer doesn’t offer the course or you wish to take or renew your certification out of your own will, there are several options for you. To begin with, you may choose to take an online renewal course. This happens to be the most popular option today, but if you choose to take this route, be extra careful when choosing the provider as there are many amateur sites claiming to offer CPR recertification all over the internet.

Secondly, you may choose to check with your local hospital, fire department, or any other department in your area that is likely to offer the course.

A BASIC UNDERSTANDING OF FACILITY/BUILDING MAINTENANCE JOBS IN THE U.S.

Facility maintenance jobs, also known as building maintenance, involves the repair and maintenance of apartments, offices, schools, government agencies, and other job sites. A facility maintenance worker may be called upon to repair a broken faucet or to replace a broken window pane.

In short, he or she is responsible for all repair and maintenance work in the building or facility. As a result, a building maintenance worker or hand must possess all, or a variety of skills associated with construction.

Additionally, he or she should ideally be living in the building or facility so as to be able to respond to issues quickly. In most cases, he or she must be willing and ready to respond to calls 24 hours a day. The occupation involves both outdoor and indoor work.

Some of the basic skills involved in this career or occupation include plumbing skills, carpentry, masonry, painting, roofing, and electric wiring skills. Sometimes, the job entails heavy lifting, and the worker, therefore, needs to be fit and agile.

However, not all repair and maintenance jobs in a building are the responsibility of a facility maintenance worker. Sometimes, he or she may lack the expertise to carry out some jobs or tasks, and a licensed professional will, therefore, be called upon to take over temporarily.

Education Requirements and Qualifications

In most cases, a GED or high school diploma is usually enough to qualify for this kind of employment. However, most employers prefer candidates with a great deal of experience – something that is a real deal breaker for aspiring maintenance workers.

In spite of this, inexperienced individuals can always start as maintenance aides or helpers, interns, and apprentices, and work their way up. As mentioned at the beginning of this article, this kind of work is all about maintenance and repairs, and one of the best ways to learn the skills involved is through experience. As it happens, Internship and apprenticeship are all great avenues to gain experience.

Average Salary or Earnings

In the U.S., the average salary or rate of a building maintenance worker is $16.50 per hour. However, this rate generally applies to beginners or inexperienced workers.

An experienced employee is likely to pocket an average of $20 -$26 per hour. Hourly rates may vary from State to State or from employer to employer. Schools, colleges, and other government institutions tend to have plenty of opportunities in this line of work, and they are known to pay higher wages or rates than private employers.

 

Email Security – How Secure Is Your Email Account?

Are you in the habit of opening strange emails? If yes, don’t worry, you are not alone. Most people have admitted to opening whichever email sent to them without realizing how harmful it can be 😦

Email security is an issue that can no longer be ignored in today’s world where email has become customary in all organizations. With the daily threats of hackings, viruses spam, identity theft, phishing and the security of business information, email security should indeed be a priority for most if not all businesses and organizations 😦

A huge percent of computer threats have been proven to come in through vulnerable or insecure email accounts and email attachments that are uninspected or unscanned.

There are different means through which emails and email users can be protected and they include using security software and security technology. Installing security packages will go a long way in securing emails as will the practising of good security habits and policies.

These security packages will come in the form or virus scanners and spam filters which when used with good security habits will protect email accounts, passwords and the computer at large from these dangerous threats 🙂

The security of your emails begins with identifying the email addresses owned by you or your company. The next step should be to consider how often strange emails are opened by you or your employees. Strange emails could be those that are sent by people or companies that are unfamiliar. One thing you should be sure of is that your email provider and computer are scanning all attachments for viruses; after all, email security begins with you 🙂

What Is Adware?

Do you have your own computer/laptop 🙂 ? If the answer is yes, I bet you are a victim of Adware spying!  And it is affecting the performance of your treasured device 😦 .

Just like the name suggests, Adware has a lot to do with advertising. Also known as advertising-supported software, Adware can simply be described as any software package out there that renders or provides automatic advertisements for the benefit of its authors or manufacturers.

To come up with the appropriate adverts, such software will spy on you and collect your surfing habits and routines while you are online without your knowledge or permission.

“ 😦 Very sad, isn’t it?”

By secretly spying on you, such software will get an idea on where your shopping or business interests lie therefore deciding on the adverts to present on your screen and without your authorization.

Adware are common in software that come free or at a relatively low price. “Have you installed one lately 😦 ? I smell some trouble,”

To recover the cost of developing these software, the company will be counting on the income it will obtain from the companies that pay to have their adverts presented on your screen.

Other than through free or cheap software, adware can get into your computer as you surf the internet. This makes it possible for every computer out there to get infested with adware sooner or later.

Adware has been known to cause computer problems which can either be minor or major. It is possible for a single computer to become infested with several different adware programs which can create a number of complications which may include a slow operating system. Adware can also cause minor and major changes in the settings of an infected computer.

Adware and Changes in the Settings of an Infected Computer

In most cases, an adware infection will make changes on your internet browser. Some of these changes can be an altered homepage or the addition of a toolbar to your browser. While it is true that these two changes will not slow down your operating system, they can be quite annoying and bothersome.

Adware and a Slow Operating System

As we have already seen, Adware programs will always stalk you whenever you are online. For those who are not aware, all programs use the reserves of your processor and memory as they run and this includes the adware programs.

It is therefore quite obvious that the processor and memory of your computer will become overworked when several adware programs are running concurrently and this in turn makes your computer run extremely slowly. There are times when your computer will become so overworked that it completely fails to perform.

There are other ways in which adware programs harm your computer and they include attracting or pulling in new adware programs to your computer. This is especially true where you as the user have not bothered to take any action against the present adware programs.

The adware programs can also trick you into installing even more adware. You have probably noticed some pop-up windows that encourage you to click a button by giving you a “close window” option. The truth is that while you will still get to close the window by clicking, you will also have installed more adware in the process!

The good news 🙂 however, is that there are several programs for adware removal, some of which are free or for sale. The bad news 😦  is that most of these programs are actually meant to install even more adware.

In spite of this, there are genuine adware removal programs out there. However, there are serious cases of infection that can only be eradicated by the help of a professional.

The following tips will go a long way in helping you to protect your computer against adware programs:

• Be extra careful when opening strange email attachments.
• Whenever a pop-up window appears on your screen, use the X icon on the top corner to close it.
• Avoid downloading any files and programs that you are not familiar with.
• Scan your computer on a regular basis and make use of at least two programs for better results.

 

Surviving The Harsh Economic Times – The Perfect Financial Strategy

Everyone is looking for a way out of these harsh economic times and big companies and organizations have not been left behind either. The high inflation rate demands a highly effective financial strategy and as most organizations have discovered, downsizing usually is effective.

Downsizing, otherwise known as economizing works well as a financial strategy simply because it involves saving what is already available and directing it elsewhere. It involves tightening the belt and cutting back on unnecessary luxuries to cater for the basics whether it means selling off the family car/cars or shifting to smaller and less luxurious offices.