Can't call method "prepare" on an undefined value at E:\\Pinnacle\\DiversityLink\\cgi-bin\\job_post_test.pl line 37

You have to admit, that's a pretty clear explanation of what's gone wrong. To translate that from geek-speak to English, what it's saying is that Perl can't call the prepare method on an undefined value. And this goes back to the post I did yesterday that encouraged you to program defensively -- always check what the return status is on calls like this, in order to avoid failures like the one you're seeing.

Imagine you're doing a simple task, like frying some eggs for breakfast. You need to get the eggs out of the fridge, find the pan, turn the ring on, wait for it to warm up, crack open the eggs, season to taste, and serve. Some of these steps depend on the previous steps. If you skip the step where you turn on the ring, the eggs aren't going to cook. If you're out of eggs, nothing much is going to happen -- the pan's warm, you have your seasoning ready, but no breakfast.

The DBI documentation is pretty clear (and I've been using it for 25 years); you have to 1. Connect to the database; if that doesn't work, nothing else matters. 2. Prepare the statement handle; you may have a DB connection, but if your prepare fails, you can't do anything. 3. Execute the query or command, and check the return status; it may have failed (wrong number of bind variables, for example). Sometimes, 4. You also do a fetch using the statement handle. Afterwards, you clean up after yourself and 5. Finish with the statement handle and Disconnect from the database.

I would add that for a test script, it's fine to put the credentials into the script, but for anything you're considering having anybody else use, I strongly advise you put the credentials in a separate file that is not put into version control. Credentials should never be put into version control.