3 Easy Ways to Submit More Successful Job Applications

3 Easy Ways to Submit More Successful Job Applications3 Easy Ways to Submit More Successful Job Applications4Little tweaks to your job application process can make a big difference when it comes to its effectiveness. Here are three easy ways to submit more successful job applications.If youre job searching, you might feel compelled to rush through applications in order to apply to more jobs. Its a common mistake that causes people to waste valuable time and effort sending out applications that, quite simply, arent going to be considered. Why? Because hiring managers are also rushing, and they only spend about 15 to 30 seconds reading your cover letter and resume before making a decision about your job application. Job applicants with successful job applications are the ones who get leidiced.Heres how to make every single application count, in order to submit more successful job applications.1. Slow down. Its counter-intuitive, but rather than pumping out as many applications as possi ble, slow down. You might apply to fewer job postings, but your applications will stand out as being more focused and applicable (pun intended) to the job you want. Be sure to read and act on every instruction given by the company so that recruiters dont have an excuse to weed you out prematurely.2. Send out a resume and cover letter exclusively for THAT one job.We say it a lot, but thats because its important- dont send the same letter and resume to every job for which youre applying. Customized resumes and unique cover letters are better for the following reasonsThey help you get past Applicant Tracking Systems that look for keywords specific to the job posting.They show recruiters youre a serious candidate who actually wants THIS job, not just ANY job.They help you avoid the common mistake of addressing your letter to the wrong company or person.3. Ask someone else to read your cover letters and resumes. The person you ask to proofread your resumes and cover letters doesnt have t o be a writing whiz or an expert recruiter. Simply having another set of eyes on your job application documents will help you find that one silly little mistake that might, sadly, doom your chances at an interview. If you dont want to ask a person, you can always ask our partner Grammarly to proofread for youWe know unterstellung tips are obvious, and we state them a lot, but thats because theyre true and because so few job seekers actually follow these instructions. If youre one of the few stellar job seekers who already takes advantage of these easy ways to submit more successful job applications, congratulations Its attention to details like these that will put you in front of the job search pack.Readers, what are your tried-and-true, easy-to-execute tips for successful job applications? Share them in the comments below

The Truth About Resume Writers

The Truth About Resume Writers The Truth About Resume Writers Barbara Safani has had enough of ill-informed and condescending critiques of the professional resume writing industrySo please, if you have been reading the advice of people who are bashing the resume writing industry, take a moment to reflect on how condescending their advice is. You are an intelligent consumer. If some aspect of a resume writing service doesnt sit well with you or you arent convinced that the person has a valuable service to offer, dont use them. Become an educated consumer, ask questions, and shop around. At the end of the day its about the strength of the relationship between you and the writer and the confidence you have in their abilities based on your knowledge of the service. The whole thing is well worth a read. Its just plain lazy to lump an entire industry into one big blob and then insult the entire blob. Like anything else, there are good and bad resume writers and as a consumer, youre perfect ly able to make a good choice. If youre currently working on doing that, heres my advice on choosing a professional resume writer.

Why job titles get in the way of growth in the workplace

Why job titles get in the way of growth in the workplaceWhy job titles get in the way of growth in the workplaceWe dont know how attached we are to something until we let it go.As I finished delivering my keybedrngnise, the room welchesnt just filled with applause - the entire floor welches covered with small pieces of paper.The audience loved your talk, but the cleaning people will hate you, one of the organizers told me laughing.I was invited to speak about the democratization of leadership in agile organizations. Our attachment to titles inhibits organizational growth - thats why I encouraged people to let go of it both physically and metaphorically.I asked participants to write down their name and job title. All at the same tore their business card saying at once Im no longer (their job title), Im just (their name).Ive facilitated this exercise several times before. However, watching close to 1,000 people letting go of their title-attachment simultaneously was a powerful and en ergizing experience. We usually dont realize how much we suffer until we get rid of what was causing the pain.Innovation feeds off of diversity of thoughts. Titles hinder it by silencing outspokenness and individual perspectives - people keep their best ideas to themselves.You are elend your titleThe ability to drive change is elend directly correlated to a title - everyone in the organization has the responsibility and capacity to lead.Most people let a job title define their identity, self-esteem, status, and more. Thats why we get attached to that line underneath our name we want our fair share of recognition. However, we are more than just a title - peoples contributions shouldnt be limited to the position they hold.Job titles tend to create divisions rather than foster collaboration.Tearing ones business card is a powerful icebreaker to level-set a team. It creates awareness of how titles get in our way - everyone acknowledges the elephant in the room.Letting go of ones tit le - both mentally and physically - is a powerful way to release that emotional pressure. But, most importantly, it sends a clear message. We encourage the team to prioritize quality over egos - an idea matters more than who authored it.Embrace your vulnerability, dont hide behind your title.I remember consulting a University in Europe - the CEO was frustrated with its toxic culture. They are all backstabbers and passive-aggressive, I remember her telling me during our first call, They cant see each other in the eye.Not surprisingly, during the first team offsite, she was the only one who couldnt tear her card. Even her direct reports had no problem of letting go of theirs - everyone was willing to become more vulnerable in front of each other, except her.Im not judging this woman - she couldnt take the challenge. It was easier for her to blame the team. Letting go of ones title is not about making us all equal but about sharing accountability - the entire team owns the probl em and is responsible for solving it.The same happens on the opposite side of the spectrum - employees use the (lack of) title as an excuse not to step up when needed.Its easier to hide behind a title than to be accountable.Five ways to overcome the title biasLetting go of ones title doesnt necessarily getting rid of formal titles but of the nobility status. Some organizations have replaced job titles by fancier ones but fail to remove the illusion of power - attachment to authority still gets in the way.Tearing a business card is powerful, but its just a metaphor. To overcome the title bias requires addressing established behaviors.1. Titles inhibit candorMost people feel intimidated by their bosses - a Harvard Business Review survey reveals that most people trust a stranger than their manager.Psychological Safety is key to encourage people to speak up without the fear of being judged or punished. Building trust takes time and must be nurtured continually - keep an eye on how s afe your team feels.Do your team members speak up or do they censor their best ideas? Be mindful of both your verbal and non-verbal cues - are you promoting or hindering open conversations? Saying the organization is safe but not paying full attention can be perceived as you are dismissive.2. Titles create an authority biasThe opinion of the boss promotes groupthink. Once their manager speaks up, most people change their opinions.If you are the most senior executive in the room, be the last one to speak up. To avoid the authority bias, make sure everyone shares their opinion before you do. If you are anxious, capture your thoughts on a post-it. Listen and pay attention - dont let your perspective become everyones way of thinking.3. Titles feed the illusion of powerMost organizations correlate titles to authority - being the boss equals being right. Most people have an issue with embracing their own vulnerability they use a title to protect themselves.Global studies reveal that 79 percent of people quit their jobs for lack of appreciation. When you dont need to protect a perfect image of you as a leader, its easier to value the good within your team members. Reflect, is your self-image getting in your way?4. Titles protect comfort zonesThe (lack of) title is way out - its a common excuse for not taking on more responsibilities. And to expect someone else to do things for us.Titles protect us from stretching beyond our comfort zone. Senior managers use them to hide their vulnerability those in the lower-ranks dont step up because they dont have the right title. What about you?5. Titles hide our blind spotsSenior executives see differently as I wrote here - they observe the whole picture and visualize a better future. However, that asset can also blind them - they assume everyone sees what they see.For example, 89% of bosses believe employees quit because they want more money, but only 12 percent of employees actually leave for that reason. Letting go of yo ur title is also about not being blinded by your position. Its acknowledging the gap between your perspective and your teams.Make sure everyones on the same page rather than assuming they see what you see.- - - Share your thoughts. How do titles get in your way?Gustavo Razzetti is a change instigator that helps teams lead positive change. Author, Consultant, and Speaker on team development and cultural transformation.This article first appeared on Medium.

Tips for Turning an Internship Into a Full Time Job

Tips for Turning an Internship Into a Full Time JobTips for Turning an Internship Into a Full Time JobMany employers who offer internships do so as a way to try out and recruit new full-time employees. Even though internships are a way for students to gain experience and learn more about a specific career field of interest,they are also a way for organizations to try out individuals and decide how well they fit within the overall culture of the organization. Many employers use their internship programs as a proving ground for the hiring process and are able to save money in their recruitment efforts by trying out potential new employees prior to extending an actual job offer. If you are interested inturning an Internshipinto a full-time job after graduation, you can use some specific techniques to increase your chances of getting hired. Make a Good Impression As an intern it is your responsibility to show your supervisor and others within the organization that you have what it ta kes, both personally and professionally, to fit in with the corporate culture. Taking time to learn about the mission of the organization and what it values in its employeescan provide essential information on how the company identifies and definessuccess. Develop Professional Goals Identifying your professional goals and finding a rewarding internship that meets your expectations will be more beneficial to your skill development and future career aspirations than accepting just any internship thats available. Internships are designed to prepare applicants for future jobs and careers,and finding an internship that will help you accomplish your professional goals will also assist you in being a more competitive candidate in your future job search. Develop a Strong Relationship With Your Supervisor Be sure to keep your supervisor abreast of your work and accomplishments by checking in frequently and making sure you are meetingexpectations. Once you have identified your job res ponsibilities and you understand your supervisors expectations, work hard to demonstrate your personal initiative and your ability to work both independently and as part of a gruppe. Developing ?professional connections as an intern will give you a head start in developing a professional network. Develop a Strong Work Ethic Establishing a willingness to get the work done at all costs while maintaining a positive attitude gives the employer confidence that you will become a valuable member of the team if hired as an employee. Complete Assigned Projects on Time If you foresee a challenge with a deadline on a project you are working on, make sure you notify your supervisor and ask for any input he/she might provide or ask for an extension to get the project completed. Be sure that you offer a valid reason for the project delay such as other unforeseen problems or other work priorities that needed to be addressed prior to getting the specific project completed on time. Always Follow Company Rules and Established Guidelines Becoming part of the corporate culture includes learning the established dress code of the corporation. It also means learning time allotted and whats expected for established lunch periods and breaks. Take your time to learn the rules and guidelines expected by the organization before jumping in and making any serious mistakes. Also, check out company policy on personal emails, phone calls, and internet use to avoid any awkward and embarrassing situations. Seek Input From Supervisor and Colleagues on Your Job Performance Communicating with employers on your job performance will provide an opportunity for you to improve and make the necessary changes during the course of your internship. This input can be crucial in helping you to improve your job performance through clarification of the supervisors expectations. Problems can often be avoided once expectations have been openly communicated and everyone is on the saatkorn page. Tackle Easy, Repetitive Tasks With Enthusiasm The employer will trust you to complete more difficult tasks once they recognize your ability to handle the small stuff. Asking for additional and more challenging work will be accepted more positively by an employer if youve accepted responsibility for the more tedious tasks that are required to do the job on a daily basis. Identify Issues Not Currently Being Addressed by the Organization You can offer your insight on problems you identify and discuss how you might solve that problem or fill that need within the company. Employers seek people who can think out of the box and identify solutions to current problems that management may not have yet identified or addressed. Be prepared to offer solutions that you think might work to solve a specific problem or situation. Develop Rapport With Co-Workers Employers seek individuals who can work well in a team environment and who have particular strengths that will add to the overall accomplishments of the group. Show Initiative Illustrating your interest in developing new knowledge and skills relevant to the position will boost the employers confidence in your willingness and initiative to do a good job. Showing enthusiasm and offering to attend workshops or seminars will increase your understanding of the business and will make a favorable impression on your supervisor. Ask for Additional Work If you do not have enough work to do, be sure to check with your supervisor to see if theres any additional work you can do. If not, check to see if you can assist others in getting their work completed, which may also teach you new skills in the process. Join a Professional Association Participating inprofessional associationsprovides students with an excellent opportunity to meet people currently working in the field. Through professional associations, students also learn what professional journals people in the field are reading as well as about entry-leve l job openings that may be currently available in other organizations. Express Your Interest in Working for the Company By expressing an interest in the company, youare letting the company know that you consider the organization a place that you would like to work. Even though there may not be any current positions available, by letting your supervisor know that you would be interested in working for the company, you will be more likely to be contacted once a position opens up. Networkingis about relationship building. Once you develop a strong networking group, you will develop a better sense of what it takes to be successful and learn how to create a network that can assist you in accomplishing your career goals. Having amentorwhomyou respect will help to make the internship experience much less stressful. The mentor will also provide you with someone to learn from and a place to get your questions answered. Seek out a professionalmentoryou trust, and dont be afraid to ask tha t person questions and for suggestions on ways you can improve your performance and increase your current level of knowledge and skills. You can ask what it takes to move up in the field, both in the organization and in the specific industry. Once you establish a strong network and gain experience in your field, you too will have the opportunity to assist new professionals who are interested in breaking into the field. The professional relationships you develop during yourinternship experiencewill also be part of yourprofessional networkof people who can attest to your knowledge and ability to do a good job. Your future relationships with your network must be nurtured and continued long after your internship has ended to keep it alive and well. Express Your Appreciation Once you complete your internship, a short thank-you is always appreciated and will leave a favorable impression with the employer. If you are returning to college, be sure to stay in touch with your supervisor a nd colleagues and take the time to inquire about potential job openings they anticipate in the future.

Understanding Graphic Designer Resume

Understanding Graphic Designer Resume Possessing a measurable task on resume will offer you an advantage. Creating an effective resume is the secret to success whether youre fresher searching job, experience candidate looking to have a better job opportunity, freelancer or a seasoned candidate from a different field searching for a work change. There are many ways to make your resume even more interesting and grabbing any job you desire. How to generate your resume stand out from the remaining portion of the applicant pool. Make certain that you have a minumum of one example for a time you demonstrated every one of the top five skills listed here. A better approach to showcase your skills is to produce an attempt to discover clever strategies to add them in the experience bullet points. They would also increase your chance of getting hired, so you might as well include them. Strong planning abilities and organization are traits which are highly desired in an employee, particu larly in the plan world. Communication is a top skill valued in virtually every profession, but it gets especially vital in the plan industry. Consequently, communication skills are essential to the job. Therefore, they are really important for the job. Some of your advertising skills will inevitably appear in the resume itself. Given below are the key skills. Its possible to pick the resume abet that specializes in the kind of career youre maddening to pursue. You will need experience to acquire experience. Resume is about your skills, forte and your work experiences which generally consist of a couple of pages. Time Management Most graphic designers are continuously juggling a number of projects at the same time. Photo Editing A number of graphic designers are continuously dealing with numerous projects simultaneously. Although black and white resume is the most effective suitable option for professionals, designers may be in a position to bring some colours to their r esume. Designers will almost always realize that including the Adobe Create Suite is a terrific starting point. If youre fluent in Adobe InDesign, you are probably able to leave off that you understand how to utilize Microsoft Word. Things You Should Know About Graphic Designer Resume Regardless of whether you are searching for experienced or fresher graphic designer resume, the internet always has the choice to offer you best satisfaction when it has to do with the collection of designer resumes. Possessing a well-designed graphic design resume with the ideal contents would become your key in receiving the job that you desire. Even when you arent actively searching for employment, your resume is a significant bit of your digital portfolio. Mainly, the very first thing that youve got to work on should become your portfolio. Heres What I Know About Graphic Designer Resume The overall rule for graphic design resumes is to put in a internetadresse to your site or internet port folio. You are able to use beautiful fonts and graphics to showcase your skills, but make sure that the key resume information is clear. Any creative art is a lot more captivated than text or another gimmick. Your portfolio, resume, cover letter or some other document which you might use for the application ought to have a design thats consistent. A Huge selection of designer resume template makes it easy and possible that you produce the variety of the perfect resume. You have to have the ability to push beyond your comfort zone when it has to do with generating designs. You can select the best features that let you to receive the best advantages of your perfect resume. Utilizing the most suitable colours may give you the benefit of invoking different emotions of your employer. Graphic Designer Resume As its the opening of your CV, you should provide a good beginning to your resume with an excellent beginning. If youre just beginning or youre searching for a new niche, u tilize a resume objective. Hence, graphics today has come to be among the most pivotal necessities for nearly all industries and specifically for marketing their goods. Remember there are a number of other candidates making an application and writing their resumes to standout from various other candidates. The Foolproof Graphic Designer Resume Strategy The superior thing for graphic designers without an experience is, its simple to find some. The ideal place to look is the work description. In any event, you will want to reveal your education in the very best light to stand out like Warhol. In most instances, the reply is NO. Why Almost Everything Youve Learned About Graphic Designer Resume Is Wrong Cover letter is quite a bit more important that adds plus point to draw an employer. For some employers, cover letters are the most important portion of a work application. You might also include what it is youre capable of in your job application letter by enumerating a numb er of the vital duties and responsibilities you do best.

What Does Construction Management Resume Mean?

What Does Construction Management Resume Mean? Hiring managers dont devote plenty of time reviewing resumes. There are lots of easy-to-obtain certifications that may set any work seeker besides the competition. Your resume objective lets you present your very best information at the cover of the page where hiring managers are most likely to shell out time. It can be very hard to boil down why you should have work in only a few sentences, but keep in mind that your resume is mora than just your career objective. The Number One Question You Must Ask for Construction Management Resume Design and Planning Whether youre designing the project yourself or next somebody elses plan, you will need to understand how to read a blueprint. Just make sure to have permission first. As our project manager, your job is going to be to coordinate people and processes to ensure our projects are delivered in time and produce the desired effects. You are able to then go ahead in the event that yo u satisfy the demands of the building project manager job to generate a great objective statement for your resume by highlighting the important qualities that you possess. Its simple to understand why the appeal of a project management career can be quite strong. A project organization will typically be terminated while the mission is accomplished. Additional the role permits the project manager the chance to see very clearly the fruits of their labor. An entry-level construction resume objective is written by somebody whos new in the subject of construction business and is searching for a job at the entry-level. The particular qualifications that individuals want to meet will vary based on the precise job that theyre seeking. While obtaining a job for a construction laborer isnt too difficult, people who would like a more advanced and better paying construction job require a way to stick out from the crowd. Construction Management Resume Secrets That No One Else Knows Abou t Our resume builder will provide you with tips and examples about how to compose your resume summary. The qualifications summary may be highly effective tool to secure you the interview. The qualifications summary is put close to the top of the resume. Therefore if youd like to go noticed instantly, you should incorporate an overview of qualifications on your resume. The Dos and Donts of Construction Management Resume Your construction resume should concentrate on skills like physical strength, equipment operation, and dependability. Welding demands a great deal of physical labor, therefore its also important to include your physical capabilities. Entry-level construction jobs typically dont have any educational requirements, though large school-level training programs are sometimes a huge help. Construction management training can be found through certificate programs and undergraduate and graduate degree programs. New Questions About Construction Management Resume It i s possible to also list your LinkedIn profile in case you have one. Your resume objective must reflect what you might have to offer and the way that it might be beneficial for the hiring company. Recruiters will immediately notice what you may bring to the corporation. Construction Management Resume Secrets When it has to do with researching the company, there are several things which you ought to look for. Be certain to include any construction-related knowledge you can have. For this reason, youve got to consider the best method to present your abilities. Regardless of what, be certain to include relevant skills in your resume. As a consequence, theres huge demand for construction apps. The construction resume templates are quite simple to use. If you would like to work in a construction firm, you have to find resumes beforehand. The building business is beautiful in its egalitarian structure for expert advancement. You have to have a concept of the post youre applyi ng for. Some folks might think that an elaborate layout is better, but in the instance of a prosperous construction resume, easy and professional is the best way to go. Because you are relatively new, nobody expects you to be ideal. The exact same way you compose any other resume. Life After Construction Management Resume The employer might be searching for experience and abilities in specific phases of construction. To earn a strong construction labor resume, you must share your unique talents in the building industry. You will need to find more in construction job provides online. Summer employment in the building business is also readily available to construction management students. Building a professional resume can look to be an intimidating task when youre applying for employment. As a Project Manager, its imperative that you carefully analyse your previous experience, identifying the strengths and key skills that you need to offer. Dont neglect to incorporate a c areer objective simply because you lack experience. Dont discredit your preceding experience simply because it was not full-time.

Qualities Employers want most out of their Employees

Qualities Employers want most out of their Employees While every employer needs a unique set of qualifications and experiences for a given position, they also expect a general set of personal characteristics that are often times considered even mora important than your professional and educational background. Not only do the personal traits you convey affect the chances of receiving a job offer, but they eventually play a factor in how much you get paid for what you do. While there are many positive qualities that come together to make a valuable employee, some are in more demand than others. Topping the list of desired traits is intelligence. This factor is so important because most of the productivity and potential contributions an employee with make to an organization over his or her career are governed by level of intelligence. Intelligence is a blanket term encompassing such skills as plannin g, organization, problem solving, and priority setting abilities. Other factors generally referred as part of an individuals intelligence are psychological flexibility and the ability to adapt to changing circumstances, common sense, level of curiosity, and drive to ask useful questions.Leadership ability is another highly sought-after characteristic involving willingness to take charge of, and manage, a group of individuals with diverse personalities, abilities, and skill sets, and to accept responsibility for the actions of a greater whole without making excuses. A related quality that employers look for is integrity. An individuals level of integrity describes his or her honesty and loyalty to those working with or around that individual and to the employer.Employers want likable people. Teamwork is a foundational construct for any organization and vital for business success. Working well with others, persuasiveness, charm, sense of humor, and empathy all contribute to how likabl e you are. In buchung to become a desirable candidate, an employer must see that you can work well with others.Somewhat related to intelligence, competence is a must in any job. Employers want employees who can simply get the job done no excuses, no hassles, no procrastinations. Competence utilizes ones ability to set priorities and concentrate only on relevant tasks while he or she focuses single-mindedly one a job until its completion.More abstract traits such as bravery, determination, self-motivation, inner strength, perseverance, and boldness are also qualities employers want in their workers. Uncertainty and the potential for failure are regular occurrences in life, both professional and personal. However, the willingness to take calculated risks and accept challenges in the face of this reality means you can be relied upon to stick your neck out and go the extra mile for your company under risky circumstances. And even when things dont go as planned, you remain persistent, co nsistent, and calm under pressure.

5 insider secrets every first-time solo traveler should know

5 insider secrets every first-time solo traveler should know5 insider secrets every first-time solo traveler should knowWelcome to paradise, solo travel wannabe. Youre gonna love it. Were so excited youre diving into an adventure on your own. Here are five secrets to solo travel that all first-timers should know.1. Research a lot, plan a littleIf youre like us, you want answers to every question before the questions even come to mind. So read everything you can about your destination. Maybe even look at some maps to orient yourself in the place (or places) youll be. Familiarize yourself with the currency and the most popular tourist spots.Follow Ladders on FlipboardFollow Ladders magazines on Flipboard covering Happiness, Productivity, Job Satisfaction, Neuroscience, and moreBut youll want to leave room to discover what you like when theres no one else dictating a schedule. When traveling with your family or friends, their tastes and preferences obviously factor into your travel styl e. But on your own, you might discover you have a completely different pace than youd previously thought. Leave room in your itinerary for change.2. Do exactly what you wantYou are the only person going on this adventure. That means you get to choose exactly what you want to do. Forget about what other people do when they go places, what the must-dos are and what everyone on Instagram seems to deutsche bundespost about most. Do what calls to you. If the Eiffel Tower isnt your thing, skip it.3. Be honest about your needsIf you burn easily, this is not the time to skimp on sunscreen (even though theres no one around to remind you to apply it). Travel brings out a lot of qualities you didnt know you had, but it wont change how quickly your skin turns red.Dont worry, youll get a tan just by being out and about.The same thing goes for your tendency to get hungover- if only that condition paused for vacation- or any allergies. If you have long-term injuries, dont push yourself too far. Thatll only slow you down on your days of exploring.However, dont underestimate your fitness level. Your energy somehow magnifies when youre the only one who picked the hike/swim/trek. Just bring an extra snack bar to keep your calorie levels matching your travel-induced endorphins.4. Bring half the things on your packing listWe promise you do not need four colors of lipstick - cross our hearts. You also dont need three sundresses and two pairs of sandals. One backup charger is plenty and you can always buy more shampoo if you run out (you really dont need to pack that in your suitcase).We know, you want to be prepared. But unless youre heading deep into the outback, you wont be out of civilization to pick up some necessities while traveling. Keep your luggage light and your body will thank you when theres no one else to carry it on and off the airplane.But to play devils advocate, if four shades of lipstick make you happy, theyre easy to shove in a bag. This trip is all about livi ng your dream. You do you.5. Make friends with other travelersTraveling solo is a great way to get some alone time with yourself to recharge and reorganize your thoughts, but it also gives you the opportunity to make new friends along the way. Some parts of travel are just more fun when youre meeting new people so dont be shy and exchange numbers with that friendly stranger that you met on the plane - you have nothing to lose just as long as youre meeting up with them in a public place. Apps likeCouchSurfingmake meeting new friends easier by safely connecting you with locals that offer lodging and tips about what to do and see in the area.This article originally appeared on Swirled.You might also enjoyNew neuroscience reveals 4 rituals that will make you happyStrangers know your social class in the first seven words you say, study finds10 lessons from Benjamin Franklins daily schedule that will double your productivityThe worst mistakes you can make in an interview, according to 12 CEOs10 habits of mentally strong people

Nanotechnology Aids the Cancer Fight

Nanotechnology Aids the Cancer Fight Nanotechnology Aids the Cancer Fight Nanotechnology Aids the Cancer FightThe Nanotechnology Startup Challenge in Cancer is a chance for ideas to find a homeand hopefully a chance to ultimately save lives.The mission for what we do is to identify breakthrough innovations and help them reach commercial potential, explains Jonathan Lui, managing director of The Center for Advancing Innovation. We found there is this subset of these technologies that havent been commercialized but have a lot of taxpayer dollars put into research and are very good inventions. A competition can possibly help them move forward. There are many projects that have potential but they just fall by the wayside. This is a way to bring them back into play.The Challenge, which had to partner with the National Institute of Health (NIH), welches an opportunity to sift through patented nanotechnology cancer inventions in the National Cancer Institute patent portfolios and get teams to compete in order to carry them to fruition, he says. This is really like a startup accelerator model to get these technologies out into the market, he adds.The requirements for a team involved what certain participants brought to the table. We require them to have someone with a business background, a legal background, and a scientific background, all important skills to help in moving forward, says Lui, who has a bachelors degree in operations research and industrial engineering from Cornell University. Teams picked one of the available technologies and developed their best form of a business model for it.Whitney Grither (right) of Washington University in St. Louis receives her teams award. Image The Center for Advancing InnovationEvery technology in the program will have five to ten teams developing their best business practices, he says. There are different stages evaluation stages to weed some teams out an elevator pitch executive summary they will have to deliver a full bus iness plan ten-page pitch deck twenty-minute live pitch session and financial models. Were trying to select the best team and best model for every invention put in the program.There were five finalists and five winners in the most recent competition, with the latter receiving a cash prize of $2,000, likely to be used for costs ahead, such as possible incorporation.Looking back, one of the standout technologies in the competition to Lui was a novel lipid kusine nanoparticle for releasing on demand for cancer treatment, utilizing infrared light and allowing for a very local release to avoid certain negative effects. But there were others that were also strong, he says. It just shows you what might be at your fingertips.Gaining Valuable KnowledgeAnother payment, beyond the cash prize, are the lessons learned.This can be a training ground that they can use to get future work off the ground, understanding that you may have to execute how to make it viable financially, not just have a pro duct thats interesting. Lui says presently some who were involved in the contest are progressing at different rates but there is reason for optimism.The hope is one day well look back and see some of this work having changed lives, he says. Sometimes something just needs a jumpstart. Hopefully this has done that.Eric Butterman is an independent writer. For Further DiscussionThe hope is one day well look back and see some of this work having changed livesJonathan Lui, The Center for Advancing Innovation

All About Being a Digital Forensic Examiner

All About Being a Digital Forensic Examiner All About Being a Digital Forensic Examiner There’s little question that technology has significantly changed the way police do business. Just as true is the notion that our ever-advancing technology is changing the type of crimes that police detectives investigate altogether, hence the rise in digital forensics jobs. Cyberspace is increasingly becoming a “high crime neighborhood,” and the need for a police presence is readily apparent. That’s where the field of digital and multimedia sciences and people like John Irvine come in. One of the pioneers of the digital forensics field, John was conducting computer investigations before most people knew there was such a thing. Currently, he serves as the Chief Product Officer for CyFir, which offers a remote digital forensics and incident response platform. John is also an adjunct professor of digital forensics at George Mason University, where he teaches Legal and Ethical Issues in Computer Forensics. He holds a Master of Science degree in  Information Systems and a graduate certificate in software systems engineering. He’s been working in computer forensics since 1997 in both the public and private sector, including work with the FBI, the DEA, and numerous private consulting firms. He also volunteers with the Arcola Volunteer Fire Department. As busy as he is, he found the time to answer some questions for us about the rapidly growing field of digital forensics and what it’s like to work in the industry. Interview With Digital Forensics Expert John Irvine Tim Roufa: You have years of experience in digital forensics, to the point that youve established yourself as a recognized expert in the field.  It obviously takes a lot of hard work and education to achieve what youve been able to, but how did you get your start?   John Irvine: Completely by accident!  Like most stories of great careers, I fell into it because of happenstance, not planning.  I’ve always had a great interest in technology.  As a kid, I put together the first PC clone on the block.  Also, from the age of about five, I knew I wanted to be an FBI agent.  Eventually, the two interests dovetailed. While sitting in my office working in software project management one day, the urge struck me to finally reach out to the FBI.  This was before the Internet was, well, the INTERNET, so I couldn’t easily get information online.  I called my local FBI field office, left my name and address on the answering machine for interested candidates, and answered “yes” to the question asked about having computer skills. I received what I call the “So You Want to be a Special Agent?” package a few weeks later.  I opened the brochure, and the first page blew away my lifelong dream in one sentence. My career as an FBI agent ended before it started with the requirement for 20/40 uncorrected vision or better.  In a time before the wonders of LASIK, I was about 20/2000. In the back of the packet was what looked like a 17th generation, badly skewed, almost illegible copy of a job posting for a “computer specialist” that had apparently been included because of my stated ability with computers.  I thought, “Well, maybe I can fix printers or something for the FBI.  At least that will get me in the door.”   I sent my resume to the HR person listed on the job description, and I received a call about a week later from one of the program managers at the FBI’s Computer Analysis Response Team.  He said, “Your resume was routed to me because you said you were a ‘computer generalist’ in your cover letter.  What do you know about computer forensics?” “Nothing,” I replied.  He said, “Great. Come in for an interview.”   TR: How did you first become interested in digital forensics? JI: In the interview, the people with whom I met told me that I could be a geek with bad eyesight and still help catch the bad guys.  Apparently my generalist abilities- meaning I could effectively use different operating systems and had pretty good knowledge of both hardware internals and major applications- would be a great fit on their team.   That was really all I needed to hear.  I thought I had been playing with Linux and Mac operating systems in addition to Windows just for fun; I didn’t realize it was all setting the stage for a future career. TR: Besides your forensics experience, youve spent a lot of time working for the federal government. Did that experience help prepare you for your current career? JI: Before working for the FBI, I had spent quite a lot of time as a government contractor.  In fact, during my senior year of high school, I would leave when the bell rang and would drive up the street to a defense contractor where I worked as an assistant to the directors of HR and Special Security.  Later on, I worked for a software company that had a number of government customers.   In addition to already having a security clearance at a very young age, that experience helped me by exposing me to a number of different hardware platforms, software applications, and- most importantly- different types of people in the government and professional world.  Regardless of how it looks, computer forensics is as much about the people who use the computers you analyze as it is about the hardware itself. In the second part of our interview with digital forensics professor and expert John Irvine, we learn about some of the pitfalls of the profession and he explains why this job isnt for everyone. The Digital Forensics Career Path and Pitfalls TR: Between your bachelors degree in management, your software engineering certificate and your masters degree in information systems, how well do you feel your degrees prepared you for your career path? JI: Each of those programs brought something to the table for me working in computer forensics.  First, I think it’s important to say that computer forensics is NOT a computer science discipline.  It’s as much an investigative function as it is a technical challenge.  If either skill set is missing, one will have a much harder time working successfully in the field.   The MS in Information Systems helped by giving me a better understanding of operating systems, file systems, and computer mechanics.  However, my BS in Management was equally helpful with my coursework in psychology, sociology, management, and accounting.  I can’t really give an edge to one degree over the other for usefulness in the field. That said, I want to make sure I say a few things.  Computer forensics is an apprenticeship discipline.  More programs have come about in recent years- the one in which I teach at George Mason University included- that offer excellent coursework in computer forensics.  However, you really learn the trade once you’re in a seat working on real cases alongside a senior examiner.   Also, you do NOT need to have a programming background to work successfully in the field.  In fact, I’ve had significantly better luck training investigators in the technical details of the job than I’ve had in teaching programmers methods of investigation and art of “the hunch.”  If one doesn’t have a technical background in school, that is NOT a deterrent to getting into the field. TR: Youve worked in both the private and public sectors, performing much of the same work. How would you describe the difference between the two? JI: The largest differences between working in public and private sectors are generally procedure and speed.  In the federal world, one’s procedures are generally (but not always) heavily prescribed, and speed of production is generally less critical (with some notable exceptions).   In the commercial world, procedures are largely driven by personal experience or your employer’s preferences, and the speed of production is much higher.  I’d spent four months on a single hard drive once with a federal employer because of the amount of data it contained, but in the commercial world, you usually aim for a turnaround time of days or weeks at most. TR: What is a typical workday like for a digital forensics analyst or examiner? JI: The workday for a digital forensics professional is anything but typical.  Depending on the organization for whom you’re working, you might be working a steady stream of child pornography cases, or you might be analyzing subjects so high profile that you’re watching them on CNN while you’re doing the work.   However, you can often expect to be in an overly hot office (because of the number of computers at your desk overpowering typical office air conditioning), and you’ll get very good at piecing together one working component from a bunch of non-functioning ones. Much of your day will be spent on documentation.  You might be writing a report of analysis, peer reviewing another examiner’s report, or noting everything you did when performing an exam.  The best examination in the world is useless if you can’t communicate clearly in a written report that can be easily understood by an agent, officer, lawyer, or jury.  Plus, if your written report is poor, it will naturally call into question your technical abilities by those who try to read it. Depending on where you work, testifying in court is a potential part of performing digital forensic analysis.  If you’re working in a law enforcement environment, it’s almost guaranteed, but even corporate forensics personnel might have to testify during an unfair termination lawsuit or to support subsequent law enforcement action from tracking an intrusion.  Some examiners I’ve known are great behind the keyboard and can write fantastic reports, but they fall apart when called to testify in court. TR: You wrote an article titled The Darker Side of Digital Forensics. Can you tell us a little bit about some of the pitfalls of the job? JI: You’re actually referencing a blog post I wrote an eon ago that was picked up by a few digital forensics outlets and has been reposted time and time again.  I had no idea it would have such “legs” when I wrote it; I was just amazed that people who wanted to get into the field still had no idea what it really entailed. Computer forensics has been a fantastic career for me, but there are definitely pitfalls.  In fact, the first two class sessions that I teach are centered around the realities of the job, and I’m shocked every time when I find out that I’m the first person that has told my students what the work is really like after they’ve chosen it as their degree field. I don’t have scientific numbers, but I’d estimate about 70 to 80 percent of computer forensics cases worldwide are related to child pornography.  The closer you get to state and local law enforcement, the higher that number goes.   Even if you’re concentrating on computer intrusions and incident response, you’ll often find child pornography as a purpose or result of the intrusion (or simply existing on the computers you examine from the regular user of the machine).   Exposure to child pornography, particularly for eight hours a day, 40 hours a week, 52 weeks a year, takes its toll.  It’s not just looking at still pictures.  You’re watching the videos, too, and you’re seeing and hearing everything. If you can keep doing it, you’ll most likely develop a very dark, graveyard sense of humor to combat it.  I also volunteer with a fire and rescue squad, and you see much of the same humor there; it’s a coping mechanism developed by people who work in the more grim areas of life. Also, depending on the work you’re doing, you’ll be exposed to graphic images and text of murder, torture, rape, terrorism, and just about any crime, depravity, pornography, or deviance you can imagine. Computers are excellent tools for good, and they’re also excellent tools for committing crimes and spreading hate.  As a computer forensic examiner, you’ll be exposed to all of it, day in and day out.  In one group we had a joke that riffed on a commercial at the time talking about people who “surfed to the bottom of the Internet.”  We added, “…and then our team gets a shovel and starts digging.” Because of the work and the content to which an examiner is subjected, many people who enter the field don’t last.  On average, I’d say about 50 percent of the people who get into it leave within about two years.  That seems to be the mark when an examiner has had enough cases under his or her belt to become either weighed down by (or immune to) the exposure.  If you can make it past the two-year mark, you generally have a long career ahead of you in computer forensics. A Changing Discipline TR: With such rapid advancements in computing technology over the past decade, how has the field of digital forensics changed over your career? JI: Computer forensics has changed tremendously from when I started in the 90s.  Back then, you looked at every file on a hard drive (because you could), and mobile devices weren’t even a thought.  Floppy disks would come in by the hundreds, but now, you never see them. Today, the amount of data is so vast that you have to be much more pinpoint in your searches, and mobile devices are an equal- if not more important- subject of examination.   Additionally, the depth of tools has changed significantly.  In the early days, most tools were written by cops who had taken a few programming classes or who were self-taught.  We had dozens of single-use utilities that we would cobble together to do an examination.   Now, the tools are much more professional and multi-purpose.  A good examiner will still have a large “toolbox” from which to work, but he or she has much better base platform options for performing the overall examination.  The industry is always trying to move to the magic “find all evidence button,” and some tools are edging close to that for certain types of cases. Politically, the types of cases have shifted tremendously.  Originally, computer forensics was mostly used by law enforcement for criminal cases.  After 9/11, much of the work shifted toward counterterrorism.  Now, computer intrusions are the hot topic, and many careers have moved toward incident response.  The field changes tremendously with the times. TR: Currently you serve as Vice President for Technology Development at CyTech Services. If you can share them with us, what sorts of innovations have you been able to have a hand in over your career? JI: Making the move to CyTech Services has been a fantastic one for me.  In my position, I not only am able to use my computer forensics experience, but I can also use my background in software project management.  CyTech produces CyFIR Enterprise (CyTech Forensics and Incident Response) for performing enterprise computer forensic investigations.   My contribution here is further development of the tool with a practitioner’s eye.  For example, CyFIR’s architecture allows investigators to search every node on an enterprise network at once for forensic data- without requiring users to stop work for a lengthy imaging process.   If there’s a malicious code outbreak in an organization, CyFIR has the ability to locate all affected machines within minutes instead of days or weeks.  This is huge when performing incident response, e-discovery, or internal investigations on a large enterprise network or when responding to a multi-store point-of-sale compromise that is stealing credit card data from checkout lanes.  The old thinking of “image everything and sort through it later” just doesn’t fly anymore in an enterprise context. While not an “innovation” per se, with my management background, I have been exceptionally lucky identifying candidates who make outstanding forensic examiners.   Resume inflation is, unfortunately, a large problem in our industry, and someone who looks great on paper might have only a buzzword-level knowledge of actually performing an exam.  Through an interview process I’ve developed over time, I’ve been extremely successful in finding the right candidates with the skills necessary for the position. On the educational side, I’ve been able to pass my knowledge and- more importantlyâ€"my experience to future generations of forensic examiners.  During those first two days of class that I mentioned, I find that one or two people each semester will tell me that they didn’t realize what they had bargained for when they started the program and thank me for letting them know what the job was like, because they didn’t feel comfortable performing that kind of work.   At that point, I am able to guide them into a computer security program that won’t have the same kinds of content issues waiting for them in the future.  Likewise, I can pretty quickly identify the students who really seem to have “the knack,” and I can help point them in the right direction to start their careers. In the final portion of our interview with digital forensics expert John Irvine, we learn why the field is so important, what aspiring examiners can earn, and what you can do to get started in a career as a digital forensic expert. Why Digital Forensics Is so Important, and How You Can Get Started TR: Why is the field of digital forensics so valuable to governments and corporations? JI: Digital forensics is valuable to both governments and corporations for exactly the same reason- information.  Whether that information is evidence for a federal criminal case or knowledge of an insider stealing corporate intellectual property for a competitor, digital forensics professionals provide data that the customers otherwise do not have available.   In very simple terms, one could liken the job of a digital forensic examiner to that of a photo developer.  For example, if I have an undeveloped roll of film in my hands, that’s almost useless to me as any kind of evidence.  However, if someone develops that film into pictures (or recovers data from a hard drive in our case), that content can provide everything the prosecutor, HR manager, or corporate security officer needs. Now that I think about it, I need to come up with a new analogy for the future.  Kids in school today probably don’t even know what a “roll of film” is anymore! TR: What do you enjoy most about your job, and why do you continue to do it? JI: Digital forensics appeals to me on a number of levels.  First and foremost, it allows me to make meaningful contributions to the safety and security of people without being restricted by the physical limitations of eyesight or age.  I might not be the agent chasing someone down an alley, but I might give that agent the data from the subject’s cell phone that seals the case and opens three more. Next, digital forensics deeply appeals to me because it’s a hybrid of my love of law enforcement and intelligence (my TiVo is filled with cop and spy shows) and my inner geek.  If you watch those shows, you’re even seeing an evolution of those characters on screen.  Fifteen years ago, they were the über-nerds with broken glasses and awkward social graces.  Now, the computer forensic examiner usually has a dry sense of humor and a great sense of style! TR: What does it take to be successful as a digital forensics examiner or analyst? JI: Primarily, it takes a sincere passion for justice (and I’m using that in an all-encompassing term) with a love of things technical.  If you have those two items, you’re well on your way. Formal educational programs are available now which didn’t exist just a few years ago, and it’s well worth taking the time to investigate them to see what each has to offer.  Additionally, many of the forensics tools out there have classes (using the tool sold by the company, my own included) that can get you started. As I tell my students, the field requires a very strong sense of personal responsibility.  You need to be willing to put your name and reputation on the line with each case you analyze because you could very well end up in court based on the contents of your report.  If you lack conviction, grace under pressure, or candor, this is absolutely NOT the career field for you. Lastly, being successful is helped tremendously by finding a good mentor in the field and working shoulder-to-shoulder with that person while you learn the trade.  Schools can give you a great foundation, but case experience helps you put people behind bars. TR: How much should your average digital forensics examiner expect to earn, and how much might they earn if they become reputable and/or go to a private firm? JI: Digital forensic salaries vary widely, and as of recently due to sequestration and market saturation of people trying to advertise themselves as computer forensic examiners who aren’t, salaries are starting to come down.  (Much of the responsibility there rests with bad hiring managers who can’t determine a candidate’s true skill set.) However, in general, a person with talent should be able to find positions between $60-$80,000 at a junior level, $80-$120,000 at a mid-level, and up to and over $150,000 at a senior level.  That said, I’ve known some amazing examiners who were in positions paying only $50,000 per year as local police officers, and I’ve known lousy examiners who made more than $250,000 per year because they marketed their name well. In very general terms, forensic examiners make the most in defense litigation cases or in e-discovery if they can run a large number of cases at once (and bill multiple clients).  Those salary levels are typically followed by federal government contractors, federal government employees, state government employees, military, and finally local government examiners, respectively. Commercial salaries run the gamut depending on experience, size of the company, and corporate interest in forensics (either because of proactivity or public embarrassment). TR: What advice do you have for someone who is trying to decide whether or not they want to work as a digital forensics examiner, or for someone just starting out in the field? JI: Read this article!  Seriously, I would spend a little time on LinkedIn and reach out to people in digital forensics to ask them many of the same questions you’ve asked me.   Find people who work for the organizations or companies you want to work for and let them tell you about the day-to-day grind.  I field one or two inquiries a week through either my LinkedIn or school email addresses, and I’m happy to offer my advice depending on their individual situations. If you have a little money to spend, I’d suggest signing up for one of the training classes offered by the large computer forensic tool manufacturers to get a feel for what’s involved with the work and the ways in which it’s done.   If the class holds your interest, I’d look into the excellent programs in some universities at either the BS or MS levels (like the Masters of Computer Forensics available from George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia, where I teach). TR: If you have anything else youd like to add about your career or the field in general, please feel free to share it. JI: Computer forensics definitely isn’t for everyone, and that’s OK.  Before spending a lot of time or money, find a digital forensics professional in your area, offer to buy him or her a cup of coffee, and pick their brains for an hour.  Most of us are more than willing to share our knowledge, as that’s how we came up ourselves.   Digital forensics is a growth field (let’s face it, computers aren’t going away anytime soon), and there’s plenty of work for everyone.  However, if you don’t value truth and aren’t able to stand up for your work in the face of adversity, you won’t last long in this business where reputations are everything.   I may not know a given forensic examiner personally, but I can guarantee you that I’m one phone call away from someone who does, and those unofficial “hall files” get passed around between examiners quickly.  One instance of poor candor or lack of responsibility can end a career in its tracks. All that said, it’s been a fantastic field for me, and I’m grateful to everyone I’ve worked with in the past for the lessons they’ve taught me and the experiences that they’ve imparted.  It’s been a wild ride.

6 Keys to Succeeding at a Job Fair

6 Keys to Succeeding at a Job Fair 6 Keys to Succeeding at a Job Fair "Here. Take my résumé," demanded a desperate job hunter at a recent job fair, as he thrust his document over the shoulder of someone standing between him and the human resources staffer at her company's table. Not surprisingly, the staffer took it, tossed it on to a pile of résumés, and remained focused solely on the person directly in front of her.Another job hunter was seen trolling the room, scooping into a large bag all the goody giveaways he could find on the employers' tables: pens, candy, water bottles, etc. He left behind all of the literature describing the companies and their open positions. Assuming he wouldn't be remembered, he made another pass around the room, trying to get the recruiters and hiring managers who were on hand to pay attention to him. He had already branded himself a taker instead of a networker, and no one gave him the time of day.Sadly, these are depictions of job hunter activity at recent events recently observed in the greater Boston area. Job fai rs are great networking events. However, for them to be effective, remember these key points:1. Figure out what kind of job fair is the right one for you. Whatever you think about Gertrude Stein's famous assertion, "Rose is a rose is a rose," there are real differences among job fairs.Some fairs are open house style functions hosted by a single company with many jobs to fill. Others are organized and run by companies whose business it is to gather a variety of employers with jobs to fill together. Some are aimed at recent college grads or entry-level professional type positions, while others are geared to more seasoned individuals. Industry groups or alumni associations conduct still other events, each with their own specific type of job seeker as their target audience.2. Provide your résumé when you register online. Often, those conducting the job fair try to collect résumés during registration. Typically, they will then make the résumés they amass available to the employers at the fair. This way, even if you don't get to speak with someone at the event, an employer can contact you if you're a strong potential fit for a role they're seeking to fill.3. Research employers that will be present. When you register for a job fair, it is important to understand what companies, nonprofits and governmental entities will be present. Check out their websites, and research them on LinkedIn, Facebook, Glassdoor.com and similar websites to stand out from the rest of the crowd. You should be able to begin a conversation with something along the lines of, "I understand that your company is…"4. Know your target jobs at each company. When you're researching companies, be sure to investigate what jobs they have open that match your credentials. Figure out which ones are realistic, and key in on those companies when you first enter the job fair. Even if the people present who are representing the company aren't recruiting for those specific roles, taking a few minutes to show them you've done your homework could ensure they take your résumé back with them and get it into the right hands.5. Bring plenty of résumés and business cards. You never want to get caught short of résumés or business cards. While you are walking around the room, you just might meet another job hunter that can become a valuable part of your network. There might be more than one company representative at any given table, and so on. Wherever possible, the goal should be to get a card for every one that you give away so that you can follow up after the event with a short email.6. Keep the employer's needs in mind. Be aware of what is going on in the room around you. Employers attend to meet lots of people, and not to be monopolized by just a few. You'll be appreciated if you keep your conversation focused and brief when there are several others waiting to speak with a given company representative. Remember, unless there are few people around, job fairs are typically not for long conversations or full-scale interviews. Treat them as opportunities to introduce yourself and to begin a discussion that can be continued later.Job fairs present a great opportunity to actually have the personal contact with employers that you lack when submitting your résumé online. These can be great networking events when you take the time to fully prepare and engage in targeted purposeful conversations.Happy hunting!Arnie Fertig is the head coach of JOBHUNTERCOACH.COM, where he utilizes his extensive background in HR Staffing and as owner of a recruiting company to help mid-career job-hunters land their next job. Arnie provides one-to-one coaching services to individuals throughout the U.S. in all aspects of the job hunt, including: resume writing, personal branding, utilizing social media, enhancing networking skills, preparing for interviews, and negotiating compensation.

Melinda Gates likes to do this odd thing to jumpstart her morning routine

Melinda Gates likes to do this odd thing to jumpstart her morning routine Melinda Gates likes to do this odd thing to jumpstart her morning routine Melinda Gates is known as Bill Gates’s wife, but she’s long become equally known as a supporter of women through her various organizations and philanthropies. She fights for women’s rights as the co-head of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, funds female entrepreneurs through her investment firm Pivotal Ventures, and donates billions a year to charity with her husband. Her new book is “The Moment of Lift: How Empowering Women Changes the World.”She told The Cut about her morning routine â€" it turns out she’s a morning person.“I like to get up around 6:30 a.m., and I spend that first hour in ‘quiet time.’ I do meditation, some stretching, yoga, and I always do some kind of spiritual reading, like Mark Nepo’s  The Book of Awakening. Even if it’s cold here in Seattle, I’ll get outside. I really like to go in the lake when it’s cold outside, or get my feet out in our yard, in our garden. Then I try to have a quick breakfast with my daughter Phoebe, who is a sophomore in high school. I’m from Texas, so about once a week I’ll eat huevos rancheros, which is my all-time favorite. Sometimes I’ll just have a grab-and-go muffin or yogurt, or oatmeal in the winter. Then I’ll go into the office, either at the Foundation or my Pivotal Ventures office.”Gates says she slugs down black coffee but tries to have her final cup by 1 p.m. In the evenings, she has a totally sane “no work after dinner” rule that she made up about four years ago. She told The Cut:“I generally have a couple cups of black coffee in the morning, but I’m 54, so I try to stop having caffeine by 1 p.m. And I love iced tea - I grew up in the South, so I have a lot of good memories of being with my mom after school. She would sit down, even though I was one of four kids, and would make us each a glass of iced tea. We’d sit and talk, and she’d listen to my day. I still have iced tea every day.”You might also enjoy… New neuroscience reveals 4 rituals that will make you happy Strangers know your social class in the first seven words you say, study finds 10 lessons from Benjamin Franklin’s daily schedule that will double your productivity The worst mistakes you can make in an interview, according to 12 CEOs 10 habits of mentally strong people

3 Ways to Be Successful at Your New Job - The Muse

3 Ways to Be Successful at Your New Job - The Muse 3 Ways to Be Successful at Your New Job Beginning a new job can be charged with an odd combination of excitement, fear, and anxiety. You’re pumped to start this chapter of your professional life. You’re scared of all the new stuff you’ll be required to learn. You’re worried about fitting in (or worried that your boss is worried), catching on quickly, and exceling in your role. These feelings are all completely normal. While you probably won’t be able to extinguish all of them in your first week or month, you can minimize them by having the right mindset. If you want to be successful, you’ve got to go in on solid footing. Your goal is to build trust early on, get noticed before you accomplish some major initiative, and give yourself the option of making this a long-term career stay. Here’s how to do it: 1. Rather Than Thinking You Can Rest Now That You’re Employed, Think About What’s Next Regardless of your shiny, new title, always remember that you’re the CEO of your own career. Having a CEO mindset means being willing to take a proactive versus reactive approach to your work. That means not only working with the agenda your manager establishes for you but also setting actionable goals for yourself. You need to do the work you’re given and assigned, and you need to identify opportunities that are within your reach, even if they aren’t in your job description per se. A CEO mindset also requires building relationships across the company- not just in your department with people on your team. It means staying focused on your professional development by staying on top of industry news, trends, and the latest research. It means delivering more than what’s expected of you. When you have a true CEO attitude, you aren’t just going to work each day and getting paidâ€"you’re thinking big, building a bright future. 2. Rather Than Only Collaborating With Your Team, Think About What You Can Learn From All Your Colleagues Most people think of informational meetings solely as an opportunity to build their network outside of their company or to network for a new job. But if you want to increase your influence and learning curve when you begin a new position, it’s in your best interest to schedule these meetings after you’ve landed the job. Think of these in-house informational meetings as providing a unique opportunity for you to meet your colleagues and learn about the company’s mission and trajectory- beyond what you gleaned from your interviews or any onboarding. It’s a great way to introduce yourself, establish your role with the organization, and build your personal brand with respect to what’s going on inside the company. Once you identify individuals within your department that you’d like to get to know, request 15 minutes of their time within your first few weeks at the job. For a productive meeting, prepare in advance: Learn as much as you can about the person and her background. Remember that the focus is on the other personâ€"you’re there to be a sponge and soak up her wisdom and experience. Each meeting is a chance for you to build upon a network of allies, an asset no matter where you are in your career. 3. Rather Than Assuming All Is Well, Schedule Your Own Performance Reviews Approach your new job with genuine curiosity and a longing to consistently improve, and you’ll reap the rewards. Although a lot of companies require annual or bi-annual employee performance reviews, waiting until you’ve been at the company for six months or even a year to get solid feedback isn’t going to help you grow. Instead schedule your own performance reviews and arm yourself with questions for your manager about where you are and what you could be doing better. Consider scheduling regular mini-reviews on a monthly basis with your manager, team, and colleagues. Don’t assume because you haven’t received any constructive criticism that all is running smoothly. Some managers have a hard time dishing out truly negative feedback, but if you mistake silence for praise, you’re not going to be making much of a mark for yourself. By directly requesting information on how you’re doing, you establish the precedent that you care, that you want to be given direction and insight that’ll help you help the company Remember that no job is new forever. Change is scary and it can be hard to get ahead when you’re simply trying to learn the ropes, but mindset changes make it possible to succeed early and often. Plus, it’s to your advantage to stoke the fire and be consistently curious and eager to engage with your colleagues in departments near and far. Lastly, if your dream job is to one day be a CEO, there’s no time like the present to develop and hone that mindset. Photo of woman on her first day of work courtesy of Eric Audras/Getty Images.

Engineering Paves The Way For Safe Sustainable Ambulance Patient Transport Care

Engineering Paves The Way For Safe Sustainable Ambulance Patient Transport Care Engineering Paves The Way For Safe Sustainable Ambulance Patient Transport Care Engineering Paves The Way For Safe Sustainable Ambulance Patient Transport Care (L to R) WPI undergraduate student Jonathan K. Graziasi,UMass/Memorial EMS, Dr. Paul D. Cotnoir, PHd WPI ambulance vibration experimental setup showing maniken, vibration recorder hook-up WPI undergradate student Nicole Klegrateio prepares to record vibration data Engineering students at Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Worcester, Massachusetts, are working with the emergency medical service (EMS) at the University of Massachusetts Medical School to modernize ambulances for more effective patient transportation. These projects have linked the world of mechanical engineering with that of emergency medical care in a unique and thought provoking manner. One such research project resulted in the authors Phd dissertation entitled, Ambulance Vibration Suppression Via Force Field Domain Control. This PhD dissertation experimentally characterized the vibration amplitude, frequency, and energy associated with ambulance travel and defined the relationship of the vibration to safety, comfort and care of ambulance patients. Further, the experimentally derived vibration data were used to characterize road forcing functions that simulate typical ambulance travel over the undulating surface of a variety of common road surfaces. In the future, this could be used to help design a workable vibration attenuation solution for emergency medical vehicles and any equipment which may have to be used in such a vehicle. The benefits of this study are widespread and encompass the needs and comfort of patients and members of the EMS community alike. The project also underscores the benefits of analyzing a problem in one discipline (negative health effects of ambulance vibration) by using tools from another discipline (vibration analysis of machine tools). The safety and comfort of passengers in acute care vehicles is an issue of major interest. In addition to the risks associated with motor vehicle accidents, ground transport of injured patients exposes both the patient and ambulance EMTs to possibly hazardous shocks and vibrations generated by travel at moderate to high speeds over uneven road surfaces. Due to the already compromised health of most ambulance patients, the road shocks can negatively affect brain, organ and muscle-skeletal structure and function, raising the chances of negative health outcomes. In addition, the bouncy ride in the patient compartment of an ambulance can significantly exacerbate the difficulty EMTs may have in performing such routine procedures as starting intravenous lines, hearing heart and breath sounds or performing any of a multitude of tasks which require skilled eye-hand coordination and sensory input. The current interest in health care reform and patient-centered care is creating significant pressure on the industry to continually improve services and expand the level and quality of care which can be provided. Studies from all over the globe associated with ambulance modernization have revealed a need for greater patient comfort and safety during transport in order to reduce the likelihood of ride-induced patient trauma, increase the occupational safety of EMS crews, and to increase the scope and raise the standard of care of mobile, in-route treatment. In a rather serendipitous occurrence, the authors PhD advisor at MIRAD Laboratory, WPI, Dr. Mustapha S. Fofana has spent a good part of his career delving into the mathematical aspects of the vibration analysis and control of machining, specifically concentrating on the elimination of chatter induced problems. When Dr. Fofana was approached by the University of Massachusetts Emergency Medical Service to study ambulance modernization, the link between patient care and vibration (chatter) attenuation in ambulance design, seemed to become a problem whose potential analysis might yield to the same engineering methodologies utilized in the study of machining phenomena. The first step in solving any engineering problem is to attempt to completely understand the root causes and fundamental nature of the problem. A team of WPI graduate and undergraduate students was assembled to do just that. Experimental procedures were designed and carried out to acquire vibration data on four, typical US-manufactured Type I or Type III ambulances from three New England emergency medical services. The ambulances were driven over four different road surface types at three constant speed settings. Emergency vehicles and drivers were provided to the team by the UMASS Memorial Emergency Medical Service, the Putnam CT Emergency Medical Service, and the Woodstock CT Volunteer Fire Association. Also, rental of vibration measurement hardware and software from Instrumented Sensor Technology of Okemos, MI was provided at a substantial educational discount in support of this work. The goal of this initial work was to characterize the vibration amplitude, frequency, and energy associated with ambulance travel and the attendant impacts of road-induced vibration on patients and crew. This data would help us to better understand the nature and magnitude of ambulance vibration and could later serve as a database from which potential vibration attenuation solutions might arise. WPI power spectrum density curve showing how energy content of ambulance vibration is in the exact range which can lead to physiological impact. The results of the teams road studies indicated that average vertical vibration amplitudes of .46 to 2.55 m/sec2 were recorded in the patient compartments of the four ambulances. Power spectrum analysis of the data revealed that the vibration energy and resulting vertical acceleration forces were concentrated in the .1 to 6 Hz range. The original vibration data was used to define relationships between ambulance vibration and the impact of whole body vibration on human physiology and performance. When compared with known whole body vibration data, these average acceleration forces could have potentially negative medical implications to patients with a variety of compromised health conditions. They were in excess of what is considered to be a normal human comfort level for vibration, and most definitely were in a vibration spectrum which could present impediments to performance for the medical team on-board. The vibration levels measured all had ramifications for the safety, comfort and care of ambulance patients. Phase portrait analysis combined with the power spectrum data revealed the presence of nonlinearities, stochastic fluctuations and time delays inherent in the data. From this data analytical forcing functions which describe the vibrations encountered in a typical ambulance ride were developed. The forcing functions and ambulance vibration model were utilized to derive a generalized equation for the control of vibration attenuation solutions to accommodate the nonlinearities, stochastic fluctuations and time delays present in the ambulance vibration data. As a result of this study, a library of vibration data for ambulances travelling at various speeds over various road services now exists and can be used by medical equipment manufactures to aid in the design of their mobile medical devices and vehicles. The WPI team is working now to make this data available to the medical device and vehicle industry. Going forward, the WPI team will explore the development, vehicle retrofit, and test of a physical vibration attenuation control system based on the models developed in this study. Other areas of exploration include the possibility of employing the model to improve the design and performance of any medical or life-saving equipment which must be used in a mobile environment, including a whole host of vibration-resistant health monitoring systems, like defibrillators and EKG machines. In addition, the valuable forcing function data could be used to develop vibration isolating stretchers and mattresses, alternative stock suspensions for ambulances, the design of smaller, lower payload ambulances which could utilize softer suspensions. The use of the vibration data to develop an interactive simulation to help train ambulance drivers to operate vehicles in a vibration sensitive manner is also being explored by the author and a team of video game designers at Becker College in Worcester. The broader significance of this work lies in enhancing the patient-centered care associated with ambulance travel by improving patient comfort and safety through the assessment and administration of mobile medical interventions with improved precision, accuracy and safety. Author Paul D. Cotnoir PhD, P.E. Department of Design, Becker College, Worcester MA

The Secret to Answering Behavioral Interview Questions

The Secret to Answering Behavioral Interview Questions Behavioral Interview Questions The Secret to Answering Behavioral Interview Questions Some of my favorite jokes begin as stories; you know, the ones that start with: So, this guy walks into a bar, or These two frogs are sharing a big lily pad, when all of a sudden Stories can be effective ways of telling a joke or describing an event. They can also make a difference in the job interview as you try to convince a hiring manager that you're the right person for the job. They're the best way to answer behavioral interview questions. Hiring managers ask these questions to get a feel for how you acted in particular work situations to see how you might act in similar situations in the future. Here are three examples of behavioral questions a job seeker might face in an interview: You say on your resume that you closed three major projects in the same month. How did you organize your workload? Tell me about a time when you had to make a decision that didn't please everyone? Your background tells me you're an idea person. What was your best idea and how did you come up with it? You can make your answers strong and convincing by preparing them in a three-part story format. Learn all about it in this new article in's Learning Center, How to Answer Behavioral Interview Questions. It includes a downloadable worksheet that you can use to prepare stories that are based on accomplishments you cite in your resume. You can also use it for other behavioral interview questions, such as how you dealt with a stressful situation or how you put in extra time to get a particular job done right. In the end, you want to make sure your answers support the skills and personal attributes that are critical to the job and the employer. Do that thoroughly and confidently and you just might get the offer.

Boost Your Job Search With Seasons Greetings

Boost Your Job Search With Season's Greetings Boost Your Job Search With Season's Greetings How the right mix of season’s greetings and (humble) self-promotion will help you land new job leads.I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: The holidays are a great time to reconnect with your network. Whether it’s via email, an e-card or a traditional card, use your holiday greetings to benefit your job-search efforts. Here are five items to include in your holiday messages to keep your job search moving forward during the holiday season.(1) ContextIf you’re sending a note to someone you haven’t spoken to in a while, jog their memory. Mention when you last communicated with one another or how you first met. Don’t be afraid to personalize the message by bringing up little details you know about the person, such as a shared interest.(2) AppreciationThis is a great opportunity to thank each recipient for their support over the past year. Whenever possible, be specific. Thank them for taking the time to speak with you about a particular company, or for introducing you to someone who works for your target employer.(3) UpdatesUse this message to communicate any developments in your job search and reiterate your career goals. For example, you might mention which organizations you’ve been speaking with, or what professional development activities you’re doing to keep your skills sharp. This is especially helpful to send to your professional references.(4) InterestIf you’re reaching out to a recruiter or hiring manager whom you met in the past, reiterate your interest in working with their organization. This is especially useful if you made it to the final interview round but did not get the job. This way, if things don’t work out with the other candidate, you’ve done something nice to keep your brand top of mind.(5) Call to actionSimilar to your cover letters, your message should contain what marketers refer to as a “call to action.” Don’t leave the ball in their court. Close your message with a next step, such as an invitation to mee t for coffee in the New Year. This will give you another reason to keep the communication going throughout January.On behalf of Ask Amanda and Ladders, I’d like to wish you and your families the happiest of holidays and all the best in the New Year! “Season’s Greetings” image courtesy of Paperless Post

Dave Carvajal Explains What It Takes to Lead a Startup

Dave Carvajal Explains What It Takes to Lead a Startup Dave Carvajal Explains What It Takes to Lead a Startup Are You Ready to Lead a Startup? Ask Dave Carvajal Do you know what it takes to be a leader? Dave Carvajal does. The startup world is an exciting place. With constant change, novel experiences, innovation, and collaboration, working at and leading a startup requires a certain level of adaptability that according to Dave Carvajal, founder of the executive search firm Dave Partners not everyone possesses. There is a clear distinction between entrepreneurship and leadership. Not every entrepreneur can cross the chasm to become a leader, Carvajal explained. But why trust Dave Carvajal's opinion? Simple: It's what he does for a living. For over 20 years, Carvajal has helped companies develop their recruitment teams and fill their open positions with boundless energy and charisma. After working for two years in Prudential's investment-banking analyst program at the beginning of his career, Carvajal found his true calling in the world of talent acquisition. He left the world of spreadsheets and derivatives behind to work for one of New York City's top executive-search firms. Later, he joined HotJobs.com, now known as Yahoo HotJobs, as a co-founder and Vice President of Human Resources, building out the team and exceeding projected goals within the company. Carvajal then moved on to cultivate the team at TheLadders, now known as Ladders, where he continued to make a name for himself in the recruiting industry. After a shift in perspective and passion, Carvajal decided to leave the corporate world for a more entrepreneurial venture, becoming the go-to expert for filling leadership roles and curating executive teams for newly created technology startups. Helping companies, such as Tumblr and Shutterstock, build out their internal recruitment and leadership teams, Carvajal knows what it takes to be successful as an executive at a startup and has even written a book about it titled, Hire Smart From the Start: The Entrepreneur's Guide to Finding, Catching, and Keeping the Best Talent for Your Company. On top of helping entrepreneurs find success in the startup world, Carvajal's book also taps into his philanthropic side 100 percent of the proceeds from his book will be donated to Room to Read to promote literacy in the developing world. However, before you can use Carvajal's advice to help land a leadership position, you need to figure out if being a leader is right for you. There is a clear distinction between entrepreneurship and leadership. Not every entrepreneur can cross the chasm to become a leader. Are you ready to lead? Start by doing some serious soul-searching to determine if leading a startup is what you really want. Carvajal suggests asking yourself the following seven questions: Do I really want to do this? Am I prepared to roll up my sleeves? Can I handle the time commitment required, including possible all-nighters? Am I willing to do what it takes to make this successful? Will the sacrifices I need to make be worth it to me? Is this a team that I fit well with? Do I believe in the values, mission, and culture of the company? Once you are 100 percent certain this is your next step, you need to know what recruiters, like Carvajal, look for in startup leaders. What are the key qualities that separate successful candidates from the rest? To be an executive leader, you need humility Carvajal's job is to take fledgling, technology startups and find candidates to create an efficient executive board with the goal of exponentially growing the companies' revenue by millions of dollars. In order to find the right leaders to reach these formidable goals, Carvajal utilizes psychology to identify leaders who possess the right combination of competence, confidence, and skill. Studies show that people with a high level of confidence in their abilities often overestimate their actual skill level. Using this logic, one of the best qualities to look for in an executive leader is a quality that, according to Carvajal, is largely underestimated in American business today: humility. The best leaders are committed to continuous self-improvement. In order to learn and grow, you must have an openness that humility allows, revealed Carvajal. To be a leader at a startup requires people who are able to adapt, collaborate, both lead and follow, and inspire others around a vision. There needs to be a level of agility that allows leaders, and, by extension the company, to zigzag and build a meritocracy where the best ideas rise to the top. The best leaders are committed to continuous self-improvement. For Carvajal, this means learning agility, being scrappy, leading by example, and demonstrating equal comfort as player and coach, are all things that matter at startups. Admittedly, these soft skills are hard to demonstrate via a resume and during the interview process. So, how do you show headhunters and employers that you have the qualities they are seeking? Demonstrate your ability to build structures To be considered for a startup leadership position, you need to highlight the areas of your experience where you successfully have established structures and previously led teams or business units. According to Carvajal, there are two types of people in the workforce: those who are good at building structures and those who are good at following the structures created before them. The candidates who have spent a majority of their career in large, corporate environments may not be adept at creating the structures that a startup needs to grow and flourish. If I can find someone who has experience building structure and scaling organizations in terms of the infrastructure, processes, system, and people, I would much rather choose the person with that proven experience than take a chance on someone who's never done it, has very rarely done it, or has done it without success, Carvajal explained. While Carvajal admits it's not a complete deal-breaker to have little experience in this area, highlighting instances where you helped develop an internal structure, led teams on different types of projects, or created teams within your company will propel you forward in the application process. Proven like-to-like experience in scaling and building structure is the best example to show on a resume and demonstrate in an interview, Carvajal adds. He also noted that to stand out, a candidate should be able to adeptly talk about a problem set they've tackled and how their experiences of both success and failure inspired new approaches and ways of thinking. But, what if you don't have solid, concrete experiences to bring up? Don't worry! There are still ways to showcase your best self in hopes of landing the job, according to Carvajal: Learn: Research how the greatest companies make the best hires. Focus on what these companies do and want not what you do and want. Network: Get to know the best people in your industry. The best jobs are often not advertised, and since headhunters target the best people in the field, it's beneficial to be in those circles. Get your resume professionally written: Your resume should read like a marketing brochure, highlighting your benefits to the employer. Most resumes are a poorly written collection of accomplishments that read like a technical manual not the cohesive career story you want to sell to employers. Create your own personal blueprint: Write down what drives, motivates, and inspires you at work to anchor yourself when applying for new positions. Use social media: Share original content around how you have succeeded in overcoming some challenge, achieving high measure of growth, or even explaining what you learned after a work failure and how you would apply that knowledge next time. While this seems like a lot of effort, Carvajal did share this tidbit of advice to help keep your leadership job search and your career in perspective: Provide value. Keep your head down, stay focused, and remain driven to help achieve the company's mission. Does your resume showcase your leadership potential? We can help with a professionally written resume! To learn more about hiring, recruiting, and making yourself the best candidate for an executive position, check out Carvajal's latest book, Hire Smart From the Start: The Entrepreneur's Guide to Finding, Catching, and Keeping the Best Talent for Your Company. All profits go to the literacy charity, Room to Read. Recommended Reading: 10 Powerful Changes for Your Senior-Level Resume 5 Ways to Evaluate Company Culture During a Job Interview Want to Work for a Startup? Talk to David Gaspin

The Honest to Goodness Truth on Ad Resume

The Honest to Goodness Truth on Ad Resume For example, if you've got an important employment gap since your final position, you might want to use a functional resume rather than a chronological one. Analyze the job-posting and the rest of the available information pertaining to that position, comb the corporation's website, speak to folks working for the organization and speak with those who are in exactly the same field. For this reason, you must identify which position you are looking for. If you are not sure, it's worth your time to get hold of the agency and ask which would be most suitable for the position. In case you have no less than a couple of years of digital marketing and advertising experience, utilize a resume summary. Let's imagine that your resume is the sole key to receiving the job. An offer will construct your confidence for the job you truly want. Obviously, if a work offer looks too great to be true, it probably is. The Key to Successful Ad Resume Keeping up a strong tone shows hiring managers which you are confident and have what is necessary to join the team. The details here are needed so if one is regarded as a possible employer, it is going to be simple for the enterprise to get in contact with the applicant and be scheduled for an interview. In preceding decades, applying to a different job was simple. Try to remember, the organization may be called to confirm your employment. Only one paragraph is sufficient for devoting to the qualification portion of your abilities. Just match your qualifications to every facet of the position you're applying for. Never, under any conditions, say you don't have any questions. Have a look at documentation on how best to do it here. The New Angle On Ad Resume Just Released So make an outstanding impression the very first time if you truly want the position you're applying for. In a CV, for instance, if you're asking for work in education, you may want to place your teaching experience on top of your CV. If you are in possession of a very good work history, even when you lack a level, you're going to be preferred as you're able to assume the position with little if any training with your hands-on knowledge coming handy. To begin with, you derive the knowledge. The Ultimate Ad Resume Trick Make sure that you do not incorporate any salary data in your cover letter. Your resume must earn a statement about not only w ho you are but how you're able to benefit the business. Your cover letter is crucial to your success. An excellent cover letter might be absolutely the most crucial step in securing a new job. Targeted cover letters are the way to generate a fantastic impression. There are a lot of tactics to really start the letter. Click to make a new email. Proofread your cover letters and ask somebody else to proofread too. Top Ad Resume Choices You'll still give numbers to show your knowledge. Let's start with a fast overview of resumes, because they are more familiar to the majority of American writers than CVs. To begin with, make a simple collection of digital advertising skills, like the one below. Using Craigslist to market your house business is a simple and cost-effective approach to bring attention to your company. A strong resume is the very first step to gaining the interest of hiring managers and receiving your foot in the door for an outstanding advertising agency. You'll probably need to do a few touch up spots following your third application, but only utilize as much mud as you demand. Your resume must stick out from dozens or even hundreds of different appl ications if you want to find a call back. Craigslist is an excellent method to draw attention to your company at no expense to yourself other than a tiny moment. Not everybody wants a resume. Nobody can guarantee that somebody else is likely to offer you a job. Rather than posting your work post in every work website and FB groups in your vicinity, try out the next strategy next moment. The Key to Successful Ad Resume Get on the telephone and call anyone who might have the ability to provide you information. When posting your resume online, read the site's privacy policy to view how your information is going to be used. Missing contact info. Be absolutely, positively certain to set your contact data in the huge box by means of your ad.