Tuesday, November 26, 2019

Being a Code Enforcement Officer

Being a Code Enforcement OfficerBeing a Code Enforcement OfficerCities and counties adopt building codes and to keep people safe and to keep their jurisdictions appealing places to live. Building codes set the minimum standards for construction and renovation of buildings. Land use ordinances set forth regulations on what sorts of buildings can be on pieces of land and the standards for maintaining the land and structures. Code enforcement officers make koranvers building codes and land use ordinances are obeyed. When a citizen takes out a permit, chances are a code enforcement officer will look into the project a time or two while the project is in progress and again once it is done. The code enforcement officer ensures the project meets building codes. It gives the property owner a good degree of confidence the contractor has done the project correctly and safely. In addition to construction projects, code enforcement officers make sure property owners follow land use ordinances. F or instance, code enforcement officers investigate when someone makes a complaint about a lawn or vacant lot that hasnt been mowed for several weeks. Many cities have ordinances about how tall grass can be before it becomes an eyesore to the community. A career as a code enforcement officer requires the abilities to learn ordinances, to apply those ordinances to real-life situations, to explain decisions and to communicate tactfully in difficult situations. With unterstellung abilities, code enforcement officers can handle just about any work problem thrown their way. The Selection Process Code enforcement officers are hired using the normal government hiring process. Many jurisdictions require code enforcement officers to have some sort of certification or license related to building inspection. It makes sense because they often check the work of licensed tradesmen like plumbers and electricians. A license or certification gives a code enforcement officer de facto credibility w ith the workers whose work they verify is done up to standards. The Education and Experience Youll Need To be considered for a code enforcement job, most organizations require a high school education and some experience in the construction industry. Some require a college degree in a field related to the position. Again, code enforcement officers inspect and approve the work of licensed tradesmen, so they need to be able to communicate with these experts in a professional setting. As has been mentioned before, many organizations require some sort of licensure. What Youll Do Code enforcement officers are important local government professionals who play a vital role in keeping a community safe and appealing. They keep it safe by ensuring buildings are built and remodeled so the structures will stay standing and will function properly. Not only will the roof stay up, but also the electricity wont cause a fire, the plumbing wont leak, the walls will be appropriately insulated, and mold wont accumulate in hidden nooks and crannies. Code enforcement officers help retain the communitys appeal by enforcing land use ordinances. They make sure zoning laws are followed, graffiti is quickly abated, and unkempt properties are maintained by their owners. Doing this job well requires several abilities. First, code enforcement officers must learn and apply the building codes and ordinances they are charged with enforcing. They need a strong working knowledge of these rules and must be able to tell the difference when these rules are followed and when they are not. Second, code enforcement officers must be able to explain their decisions. When they say something isnt up to snuff, the people who are supposed to bring the project or property into compliance need to understand what is deficient and how that deficiency should be remedied. It isnt enough to point out errors. Officers help people come into compliance. Third, code enforcement officers must be able to communi cate tactfully in difficult situations. Many times, citizens are not going to be happy with a code enforcement officers decision. An officers decision could delay a construction project which will cost the contractor or the property owner money - perhaps lots of money. When money is involved, things can get heated quickly. It is vital that code enforcement officers retain their cool in these situations. As a government agent, the officer must retain a professional demeanor, de-escalate situations when possible and know when to walk away from someone who wont have a reasonable interaction. What Youll Earn The US Bureau of Labor Statistics does not keep data specifically on code enforcement officers however, it does keep data on construction and building inspectors and compliance officers. A code enforcement officer position is a hybrid of these two jobs. In 2014, the average salary for construction and building inspectors was $58,430. At the same time, the average salary for comp liance officers was $68,000. As with any government job, experience plays a large role in determining an employees salary. New code enforcement officers can expect to make below average salaries whereas those with a bit of tenure can get closer to the mean. Those nearing retirement tend to make the most money.

Thursday, November 21, 2019

5 Ways to Have a Better Relationship With Your Boss - The Muse

5 Ways to Have a Better Relationship With Yur babo - The Muse5 Ways to Have a Better Relationship With Your BossProductive, respectful relationships between a babo and his or her employees is key to any companys success. While the boss top priority is likely to have hardworking employees who fulfill his vision for the company, its a safe bet that hed also like to have mora than superficial relationships with the people he works with every day. After all, he probably spends more time with his staff than he does with anyone else.Of course, theres something in it for employees, too The boss plays a key role in advancement opportunities, so the more he knows you, your work, and your work ethic, the more likely you are to be rewarded. A healthy, respectful relationship with your manager can improve your morale and productivity, and ultimately, it can boost your career. If you want a relationship that goes beyond we get along fine, here are five suggestions for building a stronger alliance with your boss. 1. Take the Initiative to Set Up Monthly MeetingsWhen I first started my business, it was easy to meet with each employee almost daily, because I only had five employees. Now, with 19, it is more difficult to check in with every employee every day and keep tabs on all the tasks that each person is working on. So its important that my employees take the aktion to set up individual meetings with me throughout the month. This helps me know whats going on in the business- and shows me that they care about their jobs and are keeping my goals and expectations in mind.Your boss may be busy, but as an employee, you can and should take the initiative to meet with your boss one on one at least once a month. Use that time as an opportunity to discuss the status of your current projects, to present your ideas for the future, and to check in to make sure youre on track with your boss goals and strategies. 2. Demonstrate Your Innovation and InitiativeEvery CEO or manager wants a company full of motivated and productive employees. Showing that youre excited to take on on new projects will help both you and your boss be more successful. If you work in an office where people are constantly pitching ideas for new products, services, projects, or process improvements, dont be afraid to raise your hand and volunteer to take the initiative on something. If suggestions arent free flowing, keep a running list of your own ideas and offer them up at your monthly meetings with your boss. Being innovative and taking initiative shows your manager that youre invested in growing with the company, and that is bound to lead to a better relationship between the two of you.3. Strive for Open CommunicationHow many times have you told your boss that one of his or her ideas isnt so great? Its a scary conversation for any employee, but its an important one. There have been a number of times that Ive shared ideas with employees, and theyve come back and suggested- politely of cours e- that my idea may not be the best route. The reason I dont get upset is because, along with the rejection of my idea, they present a suggestion for something else. Or, better still, they consider how they can adapt my idea and make it work more effectively. The key is to remember that you were hired because you have a specific set of skills that the company values and, often, can offer a different perspective than your boss can. Feeling comfortable enough to disagree with your boss and have an open line of communication will build a strong relationship- one in which you know the best ideas will always rise to the top.4. Remember Your Boss Is Human, TooMost leaders come to work with their professional game face on, armed with a to-do list a mile long. They spend their days focused on moving the company closer to its goals. However, even leaders appreciate when their employees see them as something more than the guy or gal who signs their paychecks. In a previous article where I dis cussed the questions you should ask your employees to keep them happy and loyal, I suggested that leaders ask their team, How was your weekend? However, I think it goes both ways Employees should take the time to ask their boss questions like, How are you? or Did you do anything fun this weekend? This isnt about being best buddies or feeling like you need to hang out together outside of work- its about communicating on a more personal level. 5. Be YourselfYouve probably heard some of your co-workers refer to their work wives or work husbands. Its usually said in jest, but theres some truth to the sentiment- many of us spend more time with our colleagues than we do with our actual families. And sometimes that commitment can cause friction at home or resentment at work. But unless your boss is famous psychic Theresa Caputo, he or she will have no idea that theres an issue brewing in your personal life. I would always rather have employees tell me when something at work or at home is a ffecting the rest of their lives than to wonder why their productivity has suddenly dipped or why theyve developed a bad attitude. So, if youre a parent whose office hours are taking a toll on your family, propose a schedule that allows you to work from home part-time. Or, if youre a part-time college student who needs some extra time off during finals week, see if there is a way to make up the time elsewhere in your schedule. Ask for what you need and be willing to compromise, and your relationship with your manager will be better for it.Keep in mind, your goal shouldnt be to become best friends with your boss. Instead, focus on establishing good communication skills and building trust- and the rewards will follow. Photo of boss laughing courtesy of Shutterstock.com.

Wednesday, November 20, 2019

How to Select and Contact Your References Find Your Dream Job

How to Select and Contact Your References â€" Find Your Dream Job How to Select and Contact Your References - Find Your Dream Job Before even applying to any jobs, it is important to have a list of references ready. Today, you will make a list of employment references, which you will readily be able to hand to a hiring manager when he or she asks for it. Typically employers ask for the list of references after an initial interview, although some will ask for references along with all the other initial job application materials. Get References Ready Before You Need Them The advantage of asking now is that you do not have to scramble to get references when an employer asks for them. Asking someone to be a reference (especially asking for a written reference letter) at the last minute is not only stressful for you, but can put a lot of pressure on the person you are asking. Getting your list ready ahead of time will save everyone a lot of stress later on. Think of Who to Ask You should have 3 - 5 names on your reference list. Make a list of former bosses, co-workers, colleagues, vendors, or customers who know your skills and attributes. If you are in college or graduate school (or if you are a recent graduate), include professors with whom you have worked closely. If you are new to the workforce, or have not worked in a few years, you can also ask someone for a character or personal reference. This can be written by a neighbor or acquaintance who may not have worked with you professionally, but who can attest to your skills and attributes. From this list, select 3 - 5 people who fit the following criteria: You believe they know enough about your work ethic to give you a recommendationYou think they will give you a positive reference. If you had negative interactions with this person in the past, or if you think they have any reservations about you, do not list them as a reference.You should feel comfortable that they will be professional in their comments to any potential employers. If someone thinks very highly of you, but often comes across as unprofessional or rude, you might want to consider another reference. They are easy to get in touch with. It is a definite put-off when a hiring manager cannot reach one of your references. Consider skipping over potential references who are currently traveling, or who are not good at responding promptly to emails and phone calls. How to Ask Before listing these 3 - 5 people as references, you need to get their permission. Send them a letter or email (or a LinkedIn message) giving them a little bit of information on your job search.   Here’s how to ask for a reference. Let them know what type of positions you will be applying for, so they can tailor their resumes to fit your industry. Then ask, “Do you feel you know my work well enough to write me a good recommendation letter?” or “Do you feel you could give me a good reference?” Phrasing the question in this way gives your contact an easy out if he or she does not feel comfortable writing you a glowing recommendation. Also be sure to offer each potential reference an updated copy of your resume and any other information about your skills, so he or she can be kept up to date with your experiences. Create Your List Once you have heard a positive response from 3 - 5 potential references, you can create your reference list. Dont list references on your resume or cover letter. Instead, have your references on a separate page that you can give to employers when they ask for them. Make sure to include each reference’s name, job title, company, and full contact information (including work address, phone number and email). Make sure the information you include is up to date. Ask the contact to confirm his or her contact information if you are uncertain. Say Thank You! Keep your references updated on your job search. Let them know who might be calling for a reference. When you get that dream job, be sure to send each reference a thank you note for their help in the job search process.

Tuesday, November 19, 2019

11 Unique Jobs to Apply to Today

11 Unique Jobs to Apply to Today 11 Unique Jobs to Apply to Today Are you looking for a new job, but aren’t exactly sure what you want to do? Sometimes it takes reading through job descriptions you’ve never heard of to help you understand your skills sets - and to find a job you would actually be perfect for! Whether you’re looking for a career change or a new gig that’s more interesting than your current one, these unique jobs might be the new position you’re searching for. Plus, these opportunities are available now! What they do: Home caretaker for sick or disabled persons. Companies hiring: 1 st Choice Home Health Care, Family Support Resources, Valleyview of Owatonna Assisted Living, Above & Beyond HomeCare, Inc., Alegria Community Living, Visiting Angels & more What they do: Legally hacks an organization’s computer and network systems in order to identify security vulnerabilities. Companies hiring: Lenovo, The Bonadio group, Dark Wolf Solutions, Fortego, Frontier Technology Inc., PwC, CME Group, MidPoint Group LLC., Kingfisher Systems, ACI Worldwide, Red Ventures, Accudata Systems Inc.  & more What they do: Recruits applicants and hires candidates for companies. Companies hiring: Neat Capital, Stillwater Human Capital, MBS Associates, R&R Employment, Safire Partners, Fircroft, OnDeck, Corvias Group, Forge, Wish  & more What they do: Uses art to therapeutically assist patients. Companies hiring: Veritas Collaborative, Recovery Centers of America, Peninsula Regional Medical Center, Strategic Behavioral Health, Hartford Healthcare, Saint Peter’s Healthcare System, American Health Companies  & more What they do: Manage daily farm operations. Companies hiring: Fishkill Farms, AGJobs LLc, Shenandoah Seasonal, State of Colorado, The Greenhorizons Group of Farms Ltd., Bluff Creek Farms & Indian Hills Farm, Martin Farms, Willmar Poultry Farms, AHRC Nassau, PGIM  & more What they do: Identify and manage vegetation for pruning and removal. Companies hiring: UPE Resources, EQUS, City of Forth Worth, Texas, Brandt, DeKalb County, Eversource Energy, North Carolina State University, The Tree Doctor, Inc., Hill International, The Greener Side, Inc.  & more What they do: Test games or software for bugs, issues and to gauge how difficult it is to understand. Companies hiring: Reality Break Escapes, Publishers Clearing House, 22 nd Century Staffing, High 5 Games, DXC, GameChanger, Nexon  America Inc., Big Huge Games, IGT  & more What they do: Tastes, produces and molds chocolate - the perfect job for a chocolate lover! Companies hiring: Schakolad Chocolate Factory, Pavilions, Chanson, Ethereal Confections, 1-800-Flowers.com, Ghirardelli, Godiva, The Cosmopolitan  & more What they do: Collects, organizes and archives historical information. Companies hiring: Premier Exhibitions, Kramlich Group, Galesburg Public Library, DAR, Goucher College, Gagosian Gallery, Hudson Library, Virginia Department of Health, Smithsonian, Norfolk State  & more What they do: Reads and reports data on energy meters. Companies hiring: AES Corporation, Utility Resource Group, LLC, Consumers Energy, Page Utility Enterprises, Olameter Corporation, AMS, Alliant Energy, American Water, Consumers Energy, HKA Enterprises, ACRY Inc.  & more What they do: Transport goods and materials from place to place. Companies hiring: Averitt Express, Larlham Enterprises, Dominant Express, Southern Shred, AAA City Plumbing, Earth Solutions, Whitfield Transport Inc., M & L Food Co., Upper Valley Produce  & more

Monday, November 18, 2019

Travis Kalanick resigns as Uber CEO - heres his resume

Travis Kalanick resigns as Uber CEO - heres his resume Travis Kalanick resigns as Uber CEO - heres his resume Love him or hate him, Travis Kalanick, the now former CEO of Uber, is a leading name in the entrepreneurship field. The ride-sharing company  changed every single market rule businesses  thought they knew, disrupted a  leading industry and became the poster child of the sharing economy. Just think  how many times youve heard the quote Uber, the world’s largest taxi company, owns no vehicles. But now Kalanick has resigned and he will be needing a resume to land his next gig we imagine what this could look like.Travis Kalanick Resigns as CEOLate on June 20 news spread that Travis Kalanick is stepping down from the position of CEO. According to The New York Times pressure for this change came from several large investors in Uber who demanded a change in leadership. All of this comes after a long period of scandals and public scrutiny.To his credit, Kalanick issued a very level statement, saying “I love Uber more than anything in the world and at this difficult moment in my personal life I have accepted the investors request to step aside so that Uber can go back to building rather than be distracted with another fight. The investors in the company, although initiating the CEO break-up, have kind words to say, as well:There will be many pages in the history books devoted to @travisk very few entrepreneurs have had such a lasting impact on the world.- Bill Gurley (@bgurley) June 21, 2017A week earlier,  the entrepreneur  decided to take a leave of absence for an indefinite period of time. His letter stated  his need to work on Travis 2.0:Breaking: Uber CEO Travis Kalanick memo to employees on his leave of absence. Full text. @NPR pic.twitter.com/tCE4bZ2C0u- Aarti Shahani (@aarti411) June 13, 2017Kalanick is the bad boy of entrepreneurs. He is ready to bend laws, find loopholes or outright break rules in order to get ahead of competitors. Hes been known for spearheading a lot of crazy ideas, including identifying individual iPhone users, and geofencing Apples headquarters to hide the prohibited practice.  These morally dubious moves  are a major factor in establishing Ubers dominant position on the market. Still, a companys CEO is the leading model employees follow and that has left a mark on Uber. After all, when you know something about Kalanick, its not surprising that Ubers official values include Meritocracy and Toe-Stepping and Principled Confrontation.Kalanicks ResumeWe decided to look beyond the  controversies  Uber faces  and focus on Travis Kalanick himself. So heres what we imagine his resume would look like:You can argue that his behavior leaves a lot to be desired. But his experience as an entrepreneur shows true  business savvy. His entrepreneurial experience started off early he dropped out of UCLA to found Scour, a search engine and file sharing service. The company saw major success, but got sued by 30 companies for copyright infringement the sum amounted to $250bn, which Kalanick aptly compared to the gross domestic product of Sweden. To protect the companys assets, he filed for bankruptcy a trademark bending all rules move which we see in his career time and time again.Related articles:Creating an effective personal resume: the complete guideFrom uninspired to proud. My self discovery with How I got an internship at TeslaWhen there is a great idea,  Kalanick is ready to do what it takes after founding his second company Red Swoosh, he  received no salary as CEO for the first 3 years, before securing a  $1.7m investment from Mark Cuban, and eventually selling the company for $18.7m.Then came Uber and, as they say, everything else is history. Fast Forward  to 2017 and the company is present in more than 450  cities, has a valuation of nearly $70bn and is a leading tech disruptor. However, PR crises arise and weve seen them handled less than ideally. Recently the company lost 200,000 users so many that it had to automate its account deletion process for the first time ever!Still, Kalanick leav ing the Presidents advisory council  and Ubers internal policy  struggles  are good first signs of major changes both for Kalanick The Person and Kalanik The CEO. So even if this leave of absence is just a prelude to a more permanent change in his responsibilities, with a resume like that, who wouldnt seriously consider hiring you?As a form of closing, let me leave you with the best explanation of Kalanick we found during the research for this piece. Mark Cuban said to the New York Times:Travis’s biggest strength is that he will run through a wall to accomplish his goals. Travis’s biggest weakness is that he will run through a wall to accomplish his goals. ?? Reply Austin on June 23rd, 2017 - 4:29am Love the resume template. Did you design it? Reply Vassilena Valchanova on June 23rd, 2017 - 6:35am Sure did, Austin ?? You can check all template and section options by signing up at .com Reply Hussain Ullah on June 21st, 2017 - 12:57pm Yes nice Reply Luis Lanz on June 21st , 2017 - 1:40pm Which template is that, seems to be powerful ! Reply Vassilena Valchanova on June 22nd, 2017 - 6:31am Hi Luis! The resume is using our compact template that works well when you want to add a lot of content on one page. Reply Lauren Foley on June 21st, 2017 - 3:47pm I am very disappointed in . I regularly use the service and am always very impressed with the friendliness of all the staff that work there but this article and the fact that it was delivered straight to my inbox leave a bad taste in my mouth. The fact that you consistently look beyond his behaviour to focus on how great a business man he is is deplorable. He was/is the CEO and his behaviour and leadership is directly reflected in how Uber conducts business. Sexual harassment scandal after sexual harassment scandal says a lot about how Kalanick leads that company and culture and the fact that we are here celebrating his amazing business acumen is shocking and insulting to all the women who had to leave the company as a result of harassment. Very disappointed with this article. Reply Vassilena Valchanova on June 23rd, 2017 - 6:54am Hi Lauren,I think youre raising some nice points and its true Kalanick is a very controversial person. Without a doubt his strive for success at all costs and disregard for the rules has had an impact on the culture of Uber. Come on, they have “Meritocracy and Toe-Stepping” as an official company value!BUT what we do at is to help people put their best foot forward while also showcasing their personality. And this is why we deemed a resume of the bad boy of the startup world to be a nice exercise in this. I imagine if Kalanick does his own resume, hed put forward his entrepreneurship experience and past successes, while also featuring the somewhat dubious hacks Uber has done under his rule to move in front of the competition.That said, were not aiming for this resume to present the full picture the media articles weve cited are doing a much bett er job at that.Who would you like to see us make a resume of? Wed be happy to hear suggestions you deem worthy. Reply Doncho on June 26th, 2017 - 8:30am Come on, they have “Meritocracy and Toe-Stepping” as an official company value!Well, maybe theyre truly honest about their company and how they do business internally and externally?Therere many companies, which embrace Meritocracy and Toe-Stepping as values, but hide behind great company values and principles? At least at Uber, they are brutally honest ?? ?Otherwise, I dont think Id work for them. At least not today. Reply Ru-g on June 27th, 2017 - 8:47am Yeah n admiration from here. I think the concept is from Airbnb and all credit for innovating Airbnbs idea other than that not much to praise him that much Reply Cae Silva on June 26th, 2017 - 10:52pm Just for the sake of comparing, how about Lyfts CEO Logan Green? There seem to be quite a contrast between both, right? Reply Bailey on June 25th, 2017 - 7:58pm Thank you Laura. Not using ever. Reply Dr. Blondie on July 3rd, 2017 - 8:07pm You are simply overcomplicating. just simply took the opportunity and made a CV of a man who has been one of the most influential business leaders in the world. I did not think for a second that the authors of this article wanted to praise him. Reply Monirom on June 26th, 2017 - 2:17pm Lauren Foley is correct. Your users are disappointed. The move made here smacks less of trying to put the candidates best foot forward and more of opportunism. Youre trying to benefit from someone elses circumstances. Be it the Kalanick, who Im sure didnt authorize nor condone the blog post nor the women who were harassed by the culture at Uber.It seems as if you skirted the legal use of his likeness by wrapping up this effort in a blog post, therefore qualifying as editorial use. Also citing articles that show youre aware of Kalanicks run ins with crossing the line, as a way of distancing yourself from his controversies, is ak in to saying, I cant be racist, some of my best friends are black.It shows a lack of sensitivity and it shows that youre out of step with your users.COMPLETELY TONE DEAF.To answer the question posited earlier in this blog post, with a resume like that, who wouldnt consider hiring you? Any company that wants to steer clear of any controversies or liabilities dealing with sexual harassment, any company that respects their female employees, any business that has scruples.Maybe aligning your brand with a controversial disruptor would be more forward thinking if the rules were bent versus broken. In case you need a refresher, Business Insider just recapped the Uber 2017 year thus far, it is not flattering.businessinsider.com/uber-scandal-crisis-complete-timeline-2017-6 Reply Ankush Gambhir on July 2nd, 2017 - 12:14am Nice read, thanks for posting Vassilena. How did you manage to gather so much on Travis book of life captured in resume snapshot. Interesting to know however. Reply Vassi lena Valchanova on July 3rd, 2017 - 12:15pm Hi Ankush!Its actually a team effort of the whole marketing team here. We always try to do rigorous research when were preparing that kind of popular resume examples. We read up on the person quite a lot so that we not only get the facts right, but also feel the style of the person and try to imagine how theyd write up their own resume. ReplyLeave a Reply Cancel replyYour email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *CommentName * Email * Website Subscribe now for moreSee more great content and inspiring examples of resumes done right each month!. Subscribe You're subscribed! Latest posts See all posts by Eric D. Halsey The Resumes of Chernobyl by Eric D. Halsey 4 Ways Creativity Can Improve Your Resume by Katherine (Tori) Lutz How to Create a First Year Elementary School Teacher Resume

Sunday, November 17, 2019

7 Job Interview Mistakes to Avoid

7 Job Interview Mistakes to Avoid 7 Job Interview Mistakes to Avoid 22Congratulations! You’ve been asked to interview for the job. You’ve followed directions, made a great first impression, and the company is interested in seeing if you are as good a fit for the position as they think you are. Let’s be clear about something- they do think you are a good fit. There isn’t an employer out there that has the time to interview candidates that haven’t been up to snuff. The flip side of this is that the competition can be fierce at this stage and it won’t take much to take yourself out of the running. Here are seven job interview mistakes to avoid: Don’t be late. Know the route for getting to your interview and how long it will take. Don’t forget to factor in parking and getting to the actual office you are meeting at. Allow extra time in case something unforeseen happens to cause a delay. Finally, make sure you have a good phone number for the interviewer handy in case something completely out of your control occurs. Don’t dress inappropriately. It’s not a night out with your friends, it’s a job interview. Be sure your clothes are professional, clean, and neat. Plan your outfit in advance- don’t cause unnecessary stress by waiting to pull that suit out of the closet only to find a missing button or a stain you forgot about. Always have a plan B, just in case. Knowing what to wear on a job interview shows a professional commitment to your career. Don’t wait to be “on.” Assume that the interview is starting the moment you hit the door of the building. Be professional and polite. Treat everyone you encounter with respect and a smile. You never know who is around and watching. Don’t bring distractions. Resist the urge to bring in a bottle of water or a cup of coffee. The last thing you need is the risk of a spill, not to mention anything that takes your attention away from the conversation. And please, for the love of all that is a good job, silence your cell phone. Speaking of your phone, the distraction issue is a particularly important consideration for acing a phone interview. Be sure all background noise is turned off and that you are in a space where you can completely focus. Don’t talk too much (or too little). I know. This seems like a no-win, but really its simple. Answer the questions you are asked fully, but be careful to not repeat yourself or go on and on. One of the risks of talking too much is that you will say something you didn’t intend to say. That being said, it is just as important to not be too brief in your responses. This will be perceived as a lack of interest or enthusiasm for the job. Don’t be negative. Was the commute to the interview brutal? Did it feel like the world was working against you this morning? Keep it to yourself. Even joking about how bad your day is going is not a good way to start an interview. On that same note, don’t badmouth previous jobs, bosses, or coworkers. Regardless of how much truth there might be in your complaints, it will not impress the interviewer. Don’t be unprepared. Research the company and be prepared to talk about it and ask questions. Know your resume and come armed with specific examples that show you possess the skills that are on it. Come to the interview knowing your career goals and be able to discuss your plan. When you are truly prepared to talk to an employer about the company, the job, and the fact that you are a great fit for the role, it helps an interviewer feel confident about making an offer. Most of these tips basically come down to taking the interview seriously and putting in the effort to execute it successfully. Be on the lookout for resources that will help improve your interview skills.  Be professional and meaningful in each step of the process and you are sure to land a great job! Readers, have you ever left a job interview feeling like you made a mistake? Share your job interview mistakes in the comments below!

Saturday, November 16, 2019

How to Make Your Employee Benefit Presentations Fun

How to Make Your Employee Benefit Presentations Fun How to Make Your Employee Benefit Presentations Fun Even though Employee Benefits is a great business area to work in, the related topics can seem very dry to people who are forced to sit through onboarding or open enrollment presentations. Why? The majority of benefits presentations deal with statistics, facts, and other figures, which can be too complex for the average employee. This is no fault of the presenter, but when material like this is presented, the whole meeting can quickly become boring, causing people to check out.   Live presentations are a critical aspect of regular benefits communication; so you might as well learn how to rock them the right way! By doing so, you will ensure that employees have a better understanding of the overall benefits package your company is offering and take advantage of as many group benefit options as possible. You want your audience excited about participating in the benefits program.   Ready to transform your employee benefit presentations from dull to brilliant? Here are some tips for making benefit informational events much more enjoyable. #1 - Use Stellar Visuals You should always have some great visuals ready for your employee benefits presentation. Use PowerPoint or another professional presentation software to create these visuals, which should include high-definition videos and images. Try to limit the use of graphs, pie charts, and flowcharts. These will only bore and maybe even confuse your employees if too much is thrown at them at once. Include plenty of fun stock imagery, and limit the words that appear on the slides. Remember, you want your audience to listen to your voice and not become overly concerned about whats on the slide.   #2 - Make Materials Interactive To keep your audience engaged, be sure to make the presentation interactive. Provide hand-outs so everyone can follow along. The hand-outs can also be used to take notes or write down questions. If you only use digital media for the presentation, offer a poll or survey to the audience to keep them interested and involved.  Refer employees to a copy of the company policy handbook if they seek more information after the presentation.   #3 - Avoid Reading Directly from the Slides If you created the presentation via PowerPoint, it is likely that you have text on those slides. Whatever you do, avoid reading from the slides while presenting. When you read directly from the slides, you will quickly become monotone, which puts people to sleep. Prepare by taking good notes. Speak freely during the presentation, injecting emphasis and excitement into your voice.  Make eye contact with the audience, utilize good body language, and don’t stand in one spot for the entire presentation. Walk around, engage with your audience, and be attentive to their mood. Keep your conversation natural and show that you are an expert in this area.   #4 - Use Appropriate Work Humor There is nothing wrong with using appropriate workplace humor during a benefits presentation. Just make sure it is clean and fun. The humor must be relevant to what you are discussing. You can share a favorite story from your personal work experience that relates to the topic - one that your audience might enjoy or could learn from. For example, recall a humbling event that you later laughed about. Avoid using humor that could potentially offend or that is racially, gender, politically, or religiously biased. Use visuals on your slides to emphasize the humor.   #5 - Collaborate with Peers on the Presentation It is sometimes beneficial to collaborate with others (with a peer or another member of your human resources team) on the presentation. Instead of being the lone wolf at the front of the room, ask a colleague to make the presentation with you. Some possible ideas are that you could ask the corporate wellness representative to help you talk about an added perk or include someone from your companys retirement fund administrator. This will add a second voice, keeping the audience interested as you take turns presenting information. Prepare extra time when there are two presenters, and be sure to introduce your guest presenter at the start of the meeting.   #6 - Provide Short Snippets of Information You need to avoid offering too much or too little information during an employee benefits presentation. You should provide useful information in short snippets as much as possible. When you hit a topic that requires 10 discussion points, try to whittle them down to about 5 points if you can without sacrificing important information. In any benefits communications effort, this will help you get your main points across without overwhelming the listeners. Remember, you can always supplement your presentation with a personal meeting with any of the attendees, email follow-up, or hold a second session that goes into greater detail about a specific benefit.   #7 - Always Welcome Questions at the End At the end of the presentation, welcome questions from the audience.  They will likely participate, especially when interested in the topic.  Should no one ask a question, have some prepared that you can present and discuss. Limit the question and answer session to between 15 and 20 minutes. Then, provide your contact information, including an email address, so that employees can follow up with more questions or concerns. The tips outlined above should provide guidance. Keep your presentation interesting, fun, and to the point for the biggest impact.

Friday, November 15, 2019

5 ways to deal with being fired and move on and succeed

5 ways to deal with being fired and move on and succeed 5 ways to deal with being fired and move on and succeed History is filled with trailblazers who were fired - often publicly - before finding success in their chosen field.Steve Jobs  was a wealthy, global celebrity when he was forced out of the billion-dollar company he had sacrificed everything to build.  Oprah  was fired from a reporter role early in her career, which led her to a more junior role.  Walt Disney  had a similar story, being fired from the Kansas City star for “lack of imagination and no good ideas.”We read these stories, and  so many more like them, and hope the best is likely yet to come. But finding out you are being forced out of your job is difficult, no matter how many inspirational stories you hear.How to Process Losing Your JobHearing the words, “You’re fired,” or “We have to let you go,” can be devastating.It’s not easy, but as you walk down the hallway with a cardboard box containing your never-used stapler and mug full of pens you’re entitled to, keep your chin literally and figuratively high .It’s natural to feel a sense of loss, lack of control, anger, fear, and devastation. Take the time and space to process these complicated emotions so that they don’t come back to haunt you. Feel sorry for yourself; let it out. Your routine has been interrupted, your relationship with former colleagues changed. It’s a lot to take in, give yourself a break.But, once you’ve taken time to process your emotions, focus on what you are going to do next and how you are going to find your next job. Continuing to sulk, remain angry, or dwell on the unfortunate situation won’t help you change what has happened.Ways to Bounce Back When You Get FiredHere are a few ways you can move forward and get your career back on track:1. Try to figure out what went wrongIt’s likely you weren’t made privy to the precise reasons your employment was terminated, but try to evaluate and understand as much as you can.Think about the  performance discussions  you had while in your role - what were your shortcomings? What were you praised for doing well? How can you improve? If you have trustworthy former colleagues, ask them for their input.Now’s the time to gather as much candid feedback as possible to improve your performance moving forward.2. Think about what you want your next move to beYou’ll likely be in a hurry to secure another job and get back to a normal routine, but you shouldn’t blindly commit to your next position. It’s important you first consider everything you want and need out of your  career.Perhaps the path you were on wasn’t the right one; it’s OK to use this detour to take a different direction.3. Make a plan of actionOnce you’ve decided what you want your next move to be, it’s time to get back in the  job search.Before getting in touch with anyone or sending anything their way, make sure your resume, social media profiles, and other personal branding pieces - your portfolio website, for example - are up-to-date.Start by letting people i n your network know you’re looking for a new job, and work on broadening that network. Ask your connections to put you in touch with anyone that can help, go to networking events, or join alumni associations.4. Create a list of referencesBefore you start applying for any new positions, contact your former managers and colleagues and ask if they would be willing to talk with potential employers about some of what you accomplished while working with them. Depending on the circumstances, you can reach out to the employer you were forced to leave.What’s most important is that you choose references who can vouch for your  positive performance.5. Spend your time outside of the office wiselyIt might take a little while for you to fully be back in the driver’s seat, so make sure you spend that gap period wisely.Freelancing, volunteering, continuing education, new certifications, or taking time to build your skills show a potential new employer you didn’t let this time go to waste.He lp is available if you need to talk through the job lossGetting fired isn’t easy. Even if you were struggling in the position or not satisfied, losing your job can feel like a personal failure. After all, so much of your identity is tied to what you do for a living.If you feel a storm of emotions after being involuntarily forced out of your job, consider talking to a therapist. A licensed professional can assist in processing the loss and help you approach your job search in a healthy way: working through issues you might have had at your last job and ensuring those issues don’t arise in the future.This article was originally published on Talkspace.

Thursday, November 14, 2019

9 ideas that summarize the future of work (and how you can prepare for it)

9 ideas that summarize the future of work (and how you can prepare for it) 9 ideas that summarize the future of work (and how you can prepare for it) Work as we know it has changed.Human progress is inevitable. And progress is impossible without change.The industrial revolution required routine skills. Most of them are no longer sufficient to thrive and do better in the current evolution of work.William Gibson once said, “The future is already here - it’s just not very evenly distributed.”Today, any field including, legal, finance, biotech, infotech, nanotech, energy, healthcare, education etc. is wide open to revolutionary transformational developments.Automation may put a third of a million retail employees out of work in the next eight years, according to the British Retail Consortium.There’s a major shift happening in the skill sets people need to stay relevant.Highly skilled expertise are becoming mundane, thanks to automation.So far, humans are vastly superior at any work that relies on creativity, entrepreneurialism, interpersonal skills and emotional intelligence.The future is uncertain.It’s even a lot more frig htening when you think about everything machines can take away from you.One of the most important ingredients to success in life and business is the ability to adapt as technology changes and new trends emerge in a fast-paced digital world.Global connectivity, intelligent machines, and new media are some of the most important drivers that are reshaping how we think about work, what constitutes work, and the skills we will need to be productive contributors to the world in the near future.Without continual growth and progress, such words as improvement, achievement, and success have no meaning., said Benjamin Franklin.The rise of smart machines and apps, our computational world, super structured organizations and the globally connected world are driving change like never before.People are afraid of losing their jobs. There is always the risk of getting fired.But you can change that.You can start preparing yourself for the future of work by investing in yourself and what matters to yo u. Building a reputation as an expert in your field is the ultimate form of career insurance.1. The rise of the obsolete class“Status quo, you know, is Latin for, ‘The mess we’re in.” - Ronald ReaganA lot of people who are concerned about the future of work have no idea what skills to study or master.Nobody wants to waste time and money acquiring skills that won’t be of use in the future.We will gradually reach a period where some human skills will not be needed. Competing against robots is already a lost battle for humans.Better and cheaper robots will be able to do most of our routine tasks that require little or no creativity.Some specific sectors will be affected more than others.We have almost reached a point in history where AI is suitable for doing almost all administrative tasks.If the key requirements of your job are repetition and repeatability, you are probably not safe.Driverless cars are forecast to make up 75% of all traffic by 2040.Imagine how many people w ill be unemployed in just the transportation industry(transformation of all the infrastructure around the job, from training to petrol stations).At some point in the future, it will be unsafe and illegal for humans to drive. That’s crazy and scary, but yes, we will get there.You can’t fight innovation or disruption.But you can change with time to be relevant when the future is here.You can be superior at what you do.You should be mastering the right skills.2. A certificate is no longer sufficient to be indispensable at workWhy are some people easily outsourced, downsized, or freelanced into obscurity, while others have their pick of opportunities?It’s now more essential than ever to become indispensable.Your employer expect you to know a lot more than just what you studied at school. A degree is no longer sufficient to be indispensable at work.Most people are replaceable at their jobs. But they can do something about it.Amy Hoover, president of Talent Zoo explains: “As they say, everyone can be replaced. But to be indispensable means that you are so good and efficient at your job, that your boss and co-workers don’t want to imagine replacing you,” she says. “You are the go-to person they count on; the one who simply gets things done.”What you know now may not be the only skills required to occupy your current position.Each generation, and even within a single decade, we see some jobs largely disappear, while other new ones pop up.According to one unpublished study, the coming wave of technological breakthroughs endangers up to 47% of total employment in the US.When you think about your career path or your life’s work, you need to consider both your skills and your personality traits.Don’t aim to fit in but be different.If you left your current job today, how easy can your employer replace you?3. Machines have no empathyArtificial intelligence robots will have no sentimental affection for us. Emotional intelligence (EI) plays a role in every thing.Highly emotionally intelligent people rank high on responsiveness, empathy, listening, and self-awareness.And they excel at interpersonal interaction.The reason emotional intelligence is so widely valued is pretty simple: “It plays a role in everything,” A.J. Marsden, a professor of psychology at Beacon College, tells Fast Company, like “task performance, contextual performance, interactions with customers and peers” - the list goes on.People skills are so important now and will continue to be in high demand in the future.EI allows us to create relationships with others, provides insights into people’s motives and allows us to predict responses.Any discipline that benefits from the emotional intelligence that only humans can provide will be in high demand.If you are not a people’s person, it’s not too late. You can still learn how to better relate with others.You will need soft skills to thrive in the future.4. Why critical thinking crucial to your success“Cri tical thinking is a desire to seek, patience to doubt, fondness to meditate, slowness to assert, readiness to consider, carefulness to dispose and set in order; and hatred for every kind of imposture.” - Francis Bacon (1605)The ability to actively and skillfully conceptualize, apply, analyse, synthesise, and/or evaluate information gathered from, or generated by, observation, experience, reflection, reasoning, or communication, is of immense importance to work.It will continue to be a huge asset to your employer.They are desirable skills you should develop. Decision making and problem-solving require gathering reliable information, evaluating the information for a variety of solutions and selecting the most appropriate option based on the criteria and situation.People who can look at problems from a different angle often end up solving them in completely unexpected, often elegant ways.At the same time, they expose how narrowly the majority had viewed the problem, or whether it ev en was a problem.Creative thinkers are innovative and inventive and are more likely to devise new ways of doing things that add value to the work environment, making systems and procedures more efficient.Creative thinkers can offer new perspectives about the job and the company. And they will be indispensable in the near future.5. Improve your virtual collaboration skillsFor many employees, spending every day in an office is no longer a necessity. A lot more companies are now embracing virtual collaboration.The ability to use tools and resources to communication with teams from different locations more important than ever.The need to communicate with and lead remote teams is creating a new management style, not necessarily difficult to learn, however, teamwork may need to unlearn and re-learn new ways to interact better for higher productivity.Many larger companies have been embracing remote workers, at least partially, including powerhouses like Apple, Amazon, Dell, Intuit and IBM. This full list of the 100 top companies with remote jobs in 2015, by FlexJobs.The ability to work with on site and remote teams will even become more crucial in the years ahead.You can start learning how virtual tools work now to be prepared and ready when management starts to embrace the idea of remote work.By 2020, an Intuit study estimates that more than 40% of the American workforce, or 60 million people, will be independent workers - freelancers, contractors, and temporary employees.The report further states that, working in the cloud is increasingly shifting work lives away from corporate offices altogether and toward an in-my-own-place, on-my-own-time work regimen.The possibility that your company will work with a lot more freelancers is very high.6. Adaptable is probably more important than talentIt is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is the most adaptable to change. - Charles DarwinWe live in ever- changing world which is unlikely to ever slow down. So, what mattered yesterday (e.g. skill, knowledge, social circle, etc.) very much so might not be worth a dime tomorrow.Change used to be slow and incremental: now it is rapid, radical and unpredictable.Adaptability enables us to dwell on new circumstances and stay on top of the situation.Of course, this skill is best when combined with insight, giving us fresh perspective before the change itself.Growth depends on how adaptable you are.To stay relevant, most companies will need people who can change with time.7. Digital and media literacy will be paramountEveryday life is now abuzz with varying new media types and platforms.And they keep changing.The ability to make connections and engage audiences across vast, differing networks is paramount. Can you connect the dots in your industry when it comes to interpreting social data?Customer demands will always change.How soon can you identify a shift in consumer trends?Can you predict and follow trends in your industry and most importantly take advantage of them?Whereas it used to be sufficient to sell a product and receive revenues, customers now seek to connect with other like-minded individuals to get the most value in the long run.Can you think ahead of them?Business communications have gradually shifted to mobile devices.New and emerging communications tools like slack are making it a lot more easy to work and stay in touch with colleagues and team members.Businesses are now embracing text, chat, video, file sharing, and screen sharing in addition to email and phone communications at the workplace.How much of these tools do you know and most importantly, can you use them without a struggle?Not sure what skills you should be developing? Start asking questions, attend conferences and take relevant online courses to upgrade yourself and prepare for the future.8. Boost your creative intelligence skillsThe innate human ability to create cannot be toppled by machi nes. With time AI will eventually develop creative ideas but humans will still be in charge of most creative industries.Anyone can drop a complaint into the suggestion box, but the mark of a truly great employee is coming up with solutions to pressing problems.Shows that you care - not only about your own career, but about the long-term health of the business as well. Think about something relevant or moving or the best way to get your company closer to its goals.9. How humans can work with machinesIs it time to rethink your career?You need to start spending time preparing for the future even when there are more important things to do in the present and even when there is no immediately apparent return to your efforts.In my recent book, Working in the Gig Economy: How to Thrive and Succeed When You Choose to Work for Yourself, I reveal how to successfully navigate the new flexible and changing world of work, and pitch yourself as an indispensable expert in your industry.If you find yourself trapped for the foreseeable future because you are stuck in a soul-crushing job, remember, you always have two obvious options: settle or plan for a career change.Don’t be afraid of the unknown if you decide to pursue your life’s work, because everything is unknown.And if you decide to do work that matters to you, don’t stop because nobody’s buying it, sponsoring it or sharing it yet.Show up every day and work on your most important life work. It matters that you show up.Whether the outcome is magnificent or eternal, whether it changes people’s lives, changes the world, changes you or groundbreaking, it matters that you show up.If you pursue your dreams long enough, compounding takes effect. Momentum will surge.Most people can’t show their most amazing work to the rest of us because they fear criticisms. They feel inadequate.They are scared people will think it’s not good enough. Others are living in their comfort zones because of fear.But remember everything great happens outside your safe zone.Choose to reinvent your career and make the most of the exciting, and promising future of work.If you’re not sure what you want to do next, yet you know you want a change, you should go ahead and get started, with a focus on strengthening your core skills.In research-backed Working in the Gig Economy: How to Thrive and Succeed When You Choose to Work for Yourself, I share practical ideas for starting a career you deeply care about. It contains true stories of successful freelancers who have reinvented themselves by choice.Praise for “working in the gig economy”“The global economy is changing and the very definition of “job” is changing right along with it. Thomas Oppong provides a step-by-step playbook to help you make a great living doing what you love.” Todd Henry, author, The Accidental Creative“Work is changing. It’s a great opportunity to realize your creative destiny. But only if you adapt. Working in the Gig Economy is t he roadmap to get you there.” David Kadavy, bestselling author of The Heart to Start“Technology is advancing at an exponential rate enabling solo entrepreneurs increasing power to thrive in this growing gig economy. Working In The Gig Economy provides a powerful guide to help you thrive now and in the future, buy it today!” Daniel Burrus, author and leading futurist on global trends and innovation.Dig deeperIf you enjoyed this post, you will love Postanly Weekly, my free weekly digest of the best posts about behavior change that affect health, wealth, and productivity. Join over 49,000 people on a mission to build a better life.This article first appeared on Medium.

Tuesday, November 12, 2019

6 Biggest Advertising Failures of All Time

6 Biggest Advertising Failures of All Time 6 Biggest Advertising Failures of All Time Advertising isnt a science. You can have all the data in the world at your disposal, and you can employ the brightest minds in the industry, but you cant predict how well a campaign will do. Agencies put work in front of focus groups and adjust their campaigns accordingly, but its still a rare ad that hits it out of the park. And some are spectacular failures. A few disastrous campaigns stand head and shoulders above the rest for one reason or another. These bad ads actually boosted sales in some bizarre cases, but there was no getting around the negative press and horrendous feedback they brought on the brands. 1.  DiGiorno’s Pizza: #WhyIStayed Sometimes a quick tweet on a trending hashtag can be brand gold. The famous Oreo tweet “You Can Still Dunk in the Dark” was published during the 2013 Super Bowl blackout and it cost almost nothing, yet it garnered more publicity than the multi-million-dollar spots that aired that year- or didn’t air, depending on the time. But social media trends are here one minute and gone the next, and that can sometimes present a problem. The trick is to react to something quickly enough to ride the wave, but carefully enough to get the tone and the meaning right. Sadly, DiGiorno’s pizza jumped on the trending #WhyIStayed hashtag without understanding what it implied. #WhyIStayed was, and still is, a campaign to raise awareness of domestic abuse. Victims have used two different tags- #WhyIStayed, and #WhyILeft- to highlight the many reasons they remained trapped in a horrible situation for years. DiGiorno’s misread the hashtag entirely and wrote “You had pizza.” The condemnation was swift and brutal. The community manager responsible started personally replying to every tweet to apologize, using the official DiGiorno’s account. It was a real mess that could have been easily avoided if someone had just spent 60 seconds on research. 2.  Bud Light: #UpForWhatever Another hashtag, another marketing disaster. This time the brand in question didn’t jump on a trending hashtag but instead created its own. In theory, it’s an interesting idea- quite a few people would admit to being “up for whatever” after a few beers. And the campaign itself made good on that idea, with a Super Bowl ad that gave one Bud Light drinker the night of his life: a limo ride with Reggie Watts, professional styling by Minka Kelly, going to a party with Don Cheadle, and playing ping-pong with Arnold Schwarzenegger. Awesome! But things took a nasty turn when the advertising campaign spilled over into other tactics, such as the label on the bottle. The phrase “the perfect beer for removing ‘no’ from your vocabulary for the night” went into the territory of date rape. Budweiser apologized and the offending bottles were removed from circulation, but the damage had been done. 3.  Coca-Cola: New Coke The cola wars were in their prime in 1985, and Pepsi and Coke were sparring it out with full blown ad campaigns. The Pepsi Challenge seemed to prove that people actually preferred the taste of Pepsi to Coke in a blind taste test. That worried the people at Coca-Cola. In fact, it worried them so much that they decided to change the product’s 100-year-old formula...again, before doing their research. They launched New Coke to the world in April 1985 before they realized that the data was wrong. Yes, people initially liked the Pepsi flavor over Coke- that first taste in a sip test. But overall, more people preferred the slightly less sweet Coke formula when drinking a whole can. Coke’s decision to up the sweetness of its product failed miserably. Millions of dollars were spent on the reformulation, new packaging, and ad campaigns, but the efforts actually tarnished the company’s image. Pepsi got a big bump from the New Coke disaster. Coca Cola announced in July, just a few months later, in July, that it had made a huge mistake and that the old Coke was returning. Some people think it was a cunning move to get people loving Coke again, but thats probably not the case considering the amount of money that was wasted and the stain on the company’s image. 4.  Starbucks: Race Together Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz is a polarizing figure, to say the least. Hes involved his company in some rather controversial topics over the years, including same-sex marriage and gun control, so it didn’t seem like a big leap for him to dive into the race relations pool. The campaign was kicked off in the New York Times with an unmissable all black full-page ad containing the phrases, “Shall We Overcome?” and “RaceTogether,” along with the company logo. It soon became evident to customers that the chain wanted to talk to them about race relations in the U.S. Schultz had been working with employees for months on the subject, encouraging them to talk about racial issues with those who stopped in for a cup of joe. Big mistake. You want a coffee jolt and maybe a snack when you go to Starbucks. You do not want to be confronted by a barista who asks you how you feel about affirmative action or the disproportionate number of African Americans in prison. This is a topic that can cause extreme tension, to say the least, and even physical reactions. Luckily, Schultz realized what a mistake he had made after just six days, and he pulled the Race Together campaign. 5.  Ford: Edsel Ford released a new car to the American public on September 5, 1957. It was going to be the big one, designed to provide a premium experience for the middle class, a car with style and refinement. It oozed sophistication. Ford was so confident in its creation that it sunk over $250 million into the project, roughly $2.1 billion in today’s dollars. The car was the infamous Edsel. It was a perfect storm of hubris, expectation, and ignorance. It all started with focus groups and endless polls designed to find out just what the American people wanted, but then the research was ignored in favor of designs that were already in the early stages of production. The “please all of the people all of the time” mentality resulted in 18 different variations of the Edsel being presented at launch. The data collected was also ignored when it came time to sell the cars, with scientifically formulated methods being dumped in favor of some very sketchy tactics. The first models pushed on the general public werent ready. They had oil leaks, sticking trunks and hoods, and a variety of buttons that would have confounded Einstein. To add insult to injury, the company kept trying to push different versions of the Edsel over the next few years. But no one wanted the car. It was considered a horrible piece of machinery, and Ford lost $350 million on it at the end of the day- $2.9 billion when adjusted for inflation. 6.  Hoover: Free Flights It’s not often that a marketing campaign self-destructs so badly that it brings the company to its knees, but this classic goof did just that in 1992. Hoover is a name synonymous with vacuuming, particularly in the U.K. That kind of brand name recognition is gold, so youd think it could withstand a marketing campaign that was a little off in the financial calculations. But Hoovers gaffe went way beyond some crummy math. The company had a massive backlog of ageing stock that it wanted to shift, and shift quickly. Someone thought the best way to do this would be to offer the customers a deal they couldnt refuse- two free plane tickets to the U.S. when they purchased more than £100 ($135) in Hoover products. It was an insane deal, virtually unaffordable. Updated for inflation, that would the equivalent of spending just $236 to receive about $1,500 in airfare. Hoover was basically giving every customer over $1,250. Of course, the general public flocked to get the Hoovers, and the demand was too much for the company to handle. Over 222,000 people managed to get their round-trip tickets, and Hoover was over £50 million- $68 million- in the hole. That would equate to around $120 million today. The company couldn’t handle that kind of loss, and the British division of Hoover was sold off to the Italian manufacturer Candy. The lesson: Run your marketing idea past a few of your company’s accountants before committing to a project. Hoover has never fully recovered from the debacle.

Monday, November 11, 2019

Students Tour Two of Elon Musks Facilities in California

Students Tour Two of Elon Musk’s Facilities in California Students Tour Two of Elon Musk’s Facilities in California Students Tour Two of Elon Musk’s Facilities in California By Benedict Bahner, ASME Public Information This past summer, Edison Universe and ASME gave 45 undergraduate students the rare chance to get an in-person look at the headquarters for Tesla Motors and Space Exploration Technologies Corporation (SpaceX), two of inventor and entrepreneur Elon Musks state-of-the-art production facilities in California. The students also had the opportunity to interact with human resources recruiters and engineering interns currently working at the companies. The tours of Tesla and SpaceX, which were both held July 13, were organized by Edison Universe, the not-for-profit parent company of the annual Edison Awards program, and ASMEs Students and Career Development staff. The tours were offered to students who had participated in recent ASME competitions. Rare Opportunity Musk, a champion of commercial space travel and sustainable automotive technology, was the recipient of the 2014 Edison Achievement Award for the innovative contributions he has made throughout his career. Musk offered students the chance to visit the world-famous headquarters of his two companies a rare opportunity, as tours of this kind are seldom granted to the public. Edison Universe reached out to ASME to find top engineering students to take part in the tours. ASME student member Jennifer Wei, now a junior at Olin College in Needham, Mass., was one of the 20 students who boarded a tram to take a tour of the factory floor of the 132,000 square-foot Tesla engineering and design center in Fremont, Calif. There, she and the other students saw a number of Tesla electric vehicle prototypes, including the Tesla featured in Iron Man, and were shown the process for building a Tesla from start to finish. We really got to see the different steps, said Wei, who is co-leading her schools ASME Human Powered Vehicle Challenge team. And it was interesting to compare their process, for instance, with how we built our vehicle, even though ours is designed at a much smaller scale because we just build one vehicle for competition. But there are still some similarities between the two processes. As the tour continued, Wei said she was also surprised by the facilitys open working environment. I thought it was unusual that they have a very open workplace, said Wei, who is pursuing a degree in electrical and computer engineering at Olin College. The office space was an open floor with a lot of tables. Even in the factory, there were sections where there were many tables and people working. A lot of startups have that kind of work environment, but you dont hear of many larger companies being set up that way. Eric Buck, an ASME student member from California Polytechnic Institute and a member of his schools ASME Human Powered Vehicle team, was also among the lucky students on the tour. It was really exciting, he said. I could have spent weeks in there. There was a lot to see, and it was really interesting how they move the cars around. Theyre up above everyone on a kind of ceiling that moves them around to different sections of the facility. ASME student member Daniel Smith was among the 25 students who were invited to take a walking tour of part of the main SpaceX headquarters in Hawthorne, Calif. a more than 500,000 square-foot facility where the Dragon cargo space capsules and the Falcon 9 rockets that launch them are built and tested. The site also houses a mission control center from which those launches are guided. We saw actual hardware that was being prepared to go into space, Smith said. You could see people working on it, which was very cool. In addition to getting a glimpse of the clean rooms where SpaceX employees worked on Cargo Dragon, the students had the experience of seeing engineers 3D printing metal parts for the engines. That was a technology I had heard of, but this was my first time seeing it applied. They also had friction stir welding, which they use to weld their fuel tanks together, another technology that Id heard of, thought was cool, but was getting to see for the first time in person. After each facility tour, the students met with representatives from each companys human resources department. During these sessions, the HR representatives discussed the qualities they were looking for in prospective employees and interns and offered to review each students resume. The HR representatives also encouraged the students to apply for the companies student internship programs. Richard Livingston, a mechanical engineering major in his senior year at Brigham Young University who took part in the SpaceX tour, was so impressed with the tour that he submitted an application. It seems to me that they really value each of their employees, he said. And their interns could work 40 to 50-plus hours a week not as gofers but as engineers doing real work for the company. The people there really liked it. So that left a positive impression on me. Edison Universe was proud to honor Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, with the 2014 Edison Achievement Award, and were privileged to offer tours of the Tesla and SpaceX factories to outstanding engineering students from ASMEs prestigious engineering contests, said Mindy Manes, chief operating officer of the Edison Awards. These organizations and students embody the legacy of Thomas Edison. If youre an engineering student interested in working on real world projects? Learn more about the internships and co-ops available at Tesla Motors and SpaceX.

Sunday, November 10, 2019

What Is So Fascinating About Objectives for Resume Examples?

What Is So Fascinating About Objectives for Resume Examples? The most important thing is to just incorporate an objective if it isn't generic. As a guideline, you don't need to use each bit of the formula for your resume objective. In the same way, a resume objective is among the very first parts of information about you that a hiring manager sees. It is far easier for a hiring manager to discover that value in a brief paragraph than attempting to piece it together from a lengthy history of qualified experience and education. A well-written one is going to impress on the hiring manager the methods by which you are a best candidate for the job. You need to not just catch the hiring manager's eyeyou have to make sure they study your statement and say Whew! Before going out on a work hunt for a new position in the specialty of social work, you must make certain your resume is all up to the endeavor. If you're going to compose an objective statement, it should be specific. Your resume is exactly the area you want to brag about what an awesome professional you're. An objective is a brief statement that clarifies your goals about the kind of employment desired and the way in which your skills make you a nice fit. Highlight your transferable abilities, which are those which it is possible to use from 1 job to the next irrespective of the position. When you're crafting your resume objective, you should concentrate on particular abilities and experiences which are directly associated with the job. A crystal clear statement about how you'll utilize your strongest relevant abilities and professional experiences to satisfy the specific role you're applying for 3. An objective must be personally-tailored to the employer. Generally, it is used by someone who has recently graduated or has very little experience. Ultimately, stating it is optional, but it can help convince employers that you know what you want and are familiar with the industry. My aim is to find the job. Uploading to our resume database requires you to make an account. If not, you can opt to publish References seen on request. Lists, as a rule of thumb, are also simpler to write. Use a couple of sentences maximum. You ought to have five objective statements. It's usually sensible to incorporate 2-3 recommendations at the conclusion of the resume. Long paragraphs may drop the reader's interest. This example statements may provide you a few ideas about how to compose a productive objective. Your bullet points ought to be targeted at the job which you're applying for. Begin with your latest experience and include a number of the points from the subsequent categories. Check to be sure you're providing all of the info required and clearly define your skill sets when it comes to application requirements. There's basically no guaranteed answer for this query but here are some suggestions which will be (with a little bit of luck) useful for you just if you are still not receiving any phone calls. The perfect format for your resume is shown in the example that you will just need to adjust for your own personal situation. Many times there's a particular format required and if you don't refer to resume examples then you may not know that requirement in any way. It is possible to also Simple Resume Template. You should make certain to select a format that's easiest for you. No matter your degree of work experience, your resume format is crucial to making your application stick out. Produce your own CV template.

Saturday, November 9, 2019

What You Dont Know About Accounting Resume Skills

What You Don't Know About Accounting Resume Skills The True Meaning of Accounting Resume Skills Along with having the ability to provide improved services to their customers, adaptable individuals are somewhat more likely to learn and grow in their careers due to the fact that they see each new challenge as a chance to learn and test their abilities. You also ought to figure out ways to demonstrate your analytical abilities and detail-oriented strategy. There are different types of programs that may run various accounting tasks. Perform a number of tasks. Becoming well-organized is an excellent approach to demonstrate to your coworkers and manager that you're reliable, competent and equipped to acquire the job finished. In that instance, you can require a bookkeeper resume instead. Needless to say, each job will call for various abilities and experiences, so make certain you read the job description with care and concentrate on the skills listed by the employer. In addition, should you're attempting to obtain a job which is outside your existing specialty, you will need to TARGET your resume to prove to the hiring manager you have the skills to do the job. If you've got an executive-level job and decades of experience, you might not have the ability to fit all your skills, qualifications, and accomplishments on a single page. Hard skills are skills it is possible to learn through study or skills that it is easy to quantify. Thus, you've got relevant experience. Work experience also needs to be in reverse chronological order. Becoming a Senior Accountant is no simple job. The MBA is a vital differentiator. Economics is another superior course. If you're not a member of an accounting, organization, or professional organization, it's simple to join. Being organized allows you to supply a more proactive service as an alternative to a reactive one. Model your career objective following this example. Requirements to become an accountant vary based on specialization, but nonetheless, it generally contains a simple college degree in accounting and finance and certification with an expert agency. In order to make the most of your accounting and finance resume, it's also wise to have an MBA or some equivalent small business education also. Excel will not be sufficient. Accounting Resume Skills at a Glance In a few minutes, you'll have a flawless instance of exactly how incredible you are as a prospective hire. You still have a possibility of finding the job. You are going to have better possibility of finding the job. Instead, read the work offer. Every candidate who's searching for a work wish to make a professional resume for her or his interview. If you've got at least 10 years experience, is it totally fine to exceed 1 page for your resume. Instead, you also need to think about your years of experience. The Supreme Approach for Accounting Resume Skills Accountant Resume A resume will be required by employers if you're asking for a job as an accountant. Deadlines need to be met. In the event the client demands an answer or for something additional to happen then it's your duty to make sure that it's carried out. It's necessary to comprehend the type of resumes preferred by the establishment that you desire to work for. A superb relationship can be constructed over time by ensuring that each one of the accounts are catered for. A premium quality sample accounting resume will contain all the key terms and phrases an employer will be searching for a number of times throughout the resume. Another task for CPAs is when the business should receive their taxes in order. For instance, accountants might operate to minimize a customer's tax liability by taking a look at their finances. Many accountant resume samples that you will discover online do not supply the degree of detail required to assist you to structure yours. Both allow you to make date or useful resumes. Our resume builder (you're able to create your resume here) will provide you tips and examples about how to compose your resume summary or another section. Likewise, you've got to clearly articulate your instructions. Word Application design templates are simple to discover or position on the web and can be downloaded to secure more use.

Friday, November 8, 2019

Key Pieces of Resume Template College Student

Key Pieces of Resume Template College Student If parents are anticipating home visits, they might have to correct their expectations. Students may acquire weight during the very first year eating an excessive amount of fat, starch and junk food. Moreover, they can confuse stress with the signs of depression. They may need to talk about switching roommates if the situation becomes intolerable for example, if a roommate is abusive. Resume Template College Student: No Longer a Mystery Despite their very best efforts, their plans wind up going horribly wrong. No matter your degree of work experience, your resume format is vital to making your program stick out. If you're fortunate enough to locate a job that is connected to your major, you will acquire experience in your preferred field, placing you ahead of your peers. Finally, in the procedure for getting an education, the most crucial project you'll work on at SCC is you. The Key to Successful Resume Template College Studen t Students might feel confused and bewildered from time to time. They may become excited about whole new areas of study and may change their career goals and major plans. They can change advisors. A College Student resume should showcase superior multitasking abilities and the ability to stay organized and on-task during the day. Studies demonstrate that Vitamin D increases a constructive and focused mood. Stress is a significant issue for college students throughout the usa. Last, extracurricular activities concentrate on institutional objectives, such as building and sustaining community on campus in addition to student retention. There are different activities you attend. Students have opportunities to better their leadership and interpersonal skills while also boosting their self-confidence. They come to the realization that life is not as easy as they might hope for. What Is So Fascinating About Resume Template College Student? The following ideas can help you develop what you will want to be successful in graduate or medical school and beyond. A thorough education section is the meat of a university student resume, so make sure to don't brush over it. The very best and worst portion of college is the flexibility it gives. The college student resume template has to be effective because it wil l ensure the very first interview call. Next, you are going to find out how to earn a college resume prepared for the big leagues! If you're a high schooler that has been accepted to a college already, you may also state your college's name and the date you will start attending. Learn ways to succeed in college. You've precisely what it requires to be successful in college. 11 Another one on the list is an absolutely free student resume template made by Paul Jansen. Students that are in undergraduate education level can use the samples from Undergraduate Student Resume template to acquire a notion of a comprehensive content when writing a resume to be able to find the interest of the employers. Irrespective of your degree of job practical experience, your resume structure is important to making your application stick out. Regardless of your level of job practical knowledge, it is crucial to making your program stand out. By customizing your resume for the job which you want, you can show employers you've got the abilities and experience they're searching for. 1 strategy is to incorporate a succinct explanation next to every job. A resume provides a summary of your work experience. Maintaining an updated resume template is necessary for all ages of workers, since you don't know when that wonderful opportunity will strike. Get the Scoop on Resume Template College Student Before You're Too Late Second semester is one which is rough for lots of people whom I've talked to on campus. You're going to see the very best college application resume on Earth. Your resume will be broken into sections. You might share a home with your First-Year Seminar classmates or select a hall with a global theme. For instance, you will be picking a major that will ascertain the kinds of classes you will specialize in. Students interested in fine arts have various extracurricular opportunities in which they may actively participate. If you're a gamester whiz, perhaps a rock climbing class will open up a complete world for you. The RA can assist with that as well. Getting your very first internship is a huge thing. See the included Internship resume for a complete example.

Thursday, November 7, 2019

What Absolutely Everyone Is Saying About Objective Statement for Resume

What Absolutely Everyone Is Saying About Objective Statement for Resume Objective Statement for Resume Features A well-written one is going to impress on the hiring manager the methods by which you are a perfect candidate for the job. As soon as you've set goals for your business, you should figure out how you'll reach them. For instance, a job applicant could possibly be interested in both an overall management team position, along with an advertising job. Simply comply with the directions and ideas, and you'll learn precisely how to capture the attention of hiring managers. The 30-Second Trick for Objective Statement for Resume My purpose is to find the job. There are a lot of ways to compose an employer-centered objectives. Much like the problem formulation, the total objective ought to be framed within a sentence. A clearly defined career objective will convey skills, training and experiences you will bring to a particular organization if you're given the opportunity. An objective is a brief statement that clarifies your goals about the sort of employment desired and the way in which your skills make you a nice fit. Resume Objectives for Career Changes When you choose to create a career change after years in 1 field, a resume objective might help to indicate to a future employer how you believe your particular experience may translate to a different kind of position. A very clear statement about how you'll utilize your strongest relevant abilities and professional experiences to satisfy the specific role you're applying for 3. When you're asking for work, your very first purpose is to let employers know your abilities and talents align with the needs of their open position. Choosing Good Objective Statement for Resume A Career Aim, Personal Statement or Profile can be a helpful method of flagging an interest and techniques for a specific career on your CV, particularly in case you have no appropriate degree or employment experience to present your CV focus. You may recycle the exact info, but be sure you change the presentation to fit each individual program. For applicants who have any degree of experience whatsoever, really specific detail is required here. Don't hesitate to browse back to our home page and look for any specific statement example which you are looking for. By making an extremely very good impression right from the beginning, such statements definitely force the employer to go through the remainder of your resume too. Your one statement will either set a negative or positive effect on the interviewer. You're wondering in the event that you should have a statement on top of your resume to grab the hiring manager's interest. You might also have a peek at some useful resume keywords to further boost your resume. Thus, make certain your objective for wanting the job communicates the essential benefits you're going to be bringing to the employer for a cook. When re-entering the workforce, it can be difficult to understand what information to include, but you might want to keep off detailed information about the reason behind the gap in your work history, especially if it is a lengthy gap. One of the ways that you can use to demonstrate your point is by dressing appropriately for the huge moment. What You Don't Know About Objective Statement for Resume Even though it's not a strict requirement to incorporate a resume objective in your resume, a well-written objective is able to help you catch the eye of the recruiter. Still others are very unstructured, leaving the applicant free to deal with a wide variety of matters. Resume objectives can be a little controversial. If your objective is powerful enough, the employer is going to be held on to reading the other components of the resume, which increases your odds of winning their hearts. Introducing Objective Statement for Resume The use of job specific resume objective is only going to be targeting the job which you've i ndicated in the statement. It is an important part of any job resume. If your Objective says you're searching for a full-time job and you're asking for a part-time internship, you will probably be disqualified immediately. To be able to prepare adequately, these advice will be convenient. Whatever its purpose, the content has to be presented in a fashion that will give coherence to the entire statement. Savvy resumes are anchored by a comprehensive summary that permits the reader to rapidly find salient info about the applicant. Objective Statement for Resume - Overview If you wish to put in an application for a lifeguard position, your resume objective should mention all certifications you have gotten. My aim is to give safety for OIDV survivors and their children in a place that's often neglected. Career goals for nurses are determined by the person. Your nursing career goals are very likely to change through the years.

Tuesday, November 5, 2019

The Dos and Donts of Resume Templates 2019

The Do's and Don'ts of Resume Templates 2019 Additionally, there are a few handy methods to help you craft a successful resume. Bear in mind, when you've finished personalizing your resume, you're not prepared to fill out an application yet. The very first key is to realize how resumes are organized. Diploma Resume Format Sample Resume Format There are a number of important aspects that compose a perfect resume. Only professionals in some specific careers should think about utilizing a graphical resume design. In the Summary of Qualifications section, you concentrate on your qualifications and skills pertinent to the job you're applying for. Your skills have to be rejuvenated, too. While you might be proud of accomplishments from 20 decades past, it is crucial that you concentrate on what you recently accomplished. You may download some templates with no price tag and present your skills in the neatest possible way. For that reason, it's strongly advisable to select an easy, short and to-the-point resume template in 2019. The template is simple to customize and edit in addition to print-ready. A few of the templates are free while others cost a couple of dollars. For example, if the hiring manager would like you to focus on your skills specifically, you have to make sure you pick up a skills-friendly template. An enterprise letter is an expert item of correspondence. Once you are finished with selecting the appropriate resume template word, now is the time to submit an application for the proper jobs. The files are print ready and simple to edit to your own details. Don't forget, the resume isn't a static document! The only issue with resume template Microsoft Word might be that it isn't easy to edit. Business cards are also included to finish the look. In the internet world, you will find numerous on-line portals where you could find professionally created templates. The whole assortment of resume templates is composed of an array of creative resume designs. Our creative templates let you stick out from the crowd. You can also alter the font if you wish (and the exact same goes for every single template in our list). Any resume template word you pick is a prudent distribution of your professional and individual experiences created to maximize the impacts of the page to highlight your finest traits. The upcoming free resume template is devised in the shape of a brochure. Edit like you are editing your resume template. Resume Templates 2019 - Overview It's ideal for a professional who works in social networking or internet marketing. The web has affected people's reading behavior through the years. Try to remember, when choosing a resume, select a design that sits most in accordance with the form of job or business you are applying for. When you're asking for a job which relies on the strengths of the person, you will need a resume template that you may inject a little more personality into to make it pop'. Each one of our creative style templates provide a perfectly balanced mixture of personality, professionalism and a little style. Generally, selecting the best resume template is hard, as nobody can be certain in regards to the hiring manager expectations. Keywords from the work announcement has to be utilized throughout the resume to reveal the reader that you're capable of being the candidate they are trying to find. Possessing a 1 page resume is advantageous for most job applications due to the way the hiring procedure is made today. You only ought to put jobs on a resume that relate to the role accessible. Infographic resumes aren't for everybody, however, and occasionally a traditional resume will be more appropriate, based on the circumstance.