Archive for the ‘Career Development’ Category
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Job Opening: Staff Reliability Engineer - Needs Root Cause Analysis Skills
Tuesday, March 9th, 2010Job Opening: Efficiency & Test (Reliability & Asset Management) Engineer - Marafiq - Yanbu Industrial City, Saudi Arabia - Need Root Cause Analysis Facilitator Skills
Tuesday, March 9th, 2010Career Development: Should your Resume be Chronological or Functional?
Monday, March 8th, 2010There are two basic formats of a resume. Since an employer will spend less than 30 seconds forming an initial impression of a resume, it’s important to know which format is best for you. The two formats are chronological and functional.
A chronological resume lists each previously held position in order by date with the most recent position listed at the top of the resume. A chronological resume is best for a person who has:
- a focused career path
- no significant gaps in employment
- a steady advancement in his or her career path
Sometimes people decide to change careers or take time out from a career to raise a family or retrain. A functional resume is a better fit for that type of person. A functional resume emphasizes specific experience and is not listed in date order. The experience, training or volunteer work the person has that qualifies him for the position he/she is applying for would appear at the top, even though it is not the most recent. A functional resume is best for a person who has:
- just graduated from college
- little or no work experience
- large gaps in employment
- worked in a variety of fields
Remember, the point of a resume is not to get a job, but to get an interview. Your experience and training should be listed in a way that will catch an employers interest long enough to call you for more information. The format you choose could very well determine whether you get the interview!
Job Opening: Minnesota - Xcel Energy - Nuclear Human Performance & Safety Manager
Thursday, March 4th, 2010Nuclear Human Performance and Safety Manager located in Minnesota.
Qualified candidates must possess a Bachelor’s degree in a human performance or safety related field. Minimum of 5 years of demonstrated leadership experience with 2-3 years Supervisory experience. The selected candidate will lead the creation and implementation of the Human Performance (HU) and Safety policies and practices that will achieve industry best in the areas of Human Performance (HU) and Safety. Set the vision and strategic planning to integrate human performance and safety initiatives into the business operating strategies. Partner with corporate leadership to develop related policies that ensure a strategic and collaborative approach to achieving alignment.
No agencies. Unable to support sponsorship.
Email your resume today to Eric.Ramberg@xcelenergy.com
Best Regards,
Eric Ramberg
Eric.Ramberg@xcelenergy.com
612-330-7961
Job Opening: Waterloo, Ontario, Canada - Research In Motion - Problem Specialist - Needs Root Cause Analysis Skills
Wednesday, March 3rd, 2010Problem Specialist 904174 – Research In Motion
Location: Waterloo, Ontario
**please send resumes to cdecarlo@rim.com**
Research In Motion Limited® (RIM)® is a world leader in the mobile communications market and has a history of developing breakthrough wireless solutions. RIM’s portfolio of award-winning products, services and embedded technologies is used by thousands of organizations around the world and includes the BlackBerry® wireless platform, the RIM Wireless Handheld™ product line, software development tools and software/hardware licensing agreements. RIM is seeking driven individuals who can take our wireless data products to the next level in the global wireless market. Are you ready to make a difference in the world of mobile communications with RIM?
POSITION SUMMARY
BlackBerry Problem Management is key in the identification and resolution of issues to maintain the high availability of the mission critical BlackBerry Service. The Problem Specialist will play a key role in leading critical event investigations that occur on the BlackBerry Infrastructure.. The candidate will be responsible for collaborating with team members and support teams with the intention of identifying root cause and preventative actions to ensure that BlackBerry Operations achieves 99.999% uptime for the BlackBerry Service. The successful candidate will have to be innovative and attuned to dealing with operational critical events.
RESPONSIBILITIES:
- Investigate Problems through to resolution.
- Manage Problem Reviews involving teams from various disciplines to drive the investigation of technical issues.
- Generate in-depth Root Cause Analysis reports in relation to critical network events, which include investigation, writing and approval of the report.
- Problem Action handling to ensure actions are identified, assigned, tracked, followed up on and closed.
- Provide and review brief summaries of Problem Investigations to the executive level of RIM.
- Maintain Problem Management documentation and investigation findings associated with this role.
- Working as a Strategy Owner; collaborate with colleagues, team leadership and BlackBerry Support teams to enhance the business delivery of Problem Management
ESSENTIAL SKILLS AND QUALIFICATIONS
- Minimum 5 years of IT operational experience in an medium to large sized corporation and/or high availability environment with experience in managing the resolution of business critical and time sensitive events.
- Minimum of 5 years previous experience using negotiation, influencing, and facilitation skills in a business or IT environment.
- The ability to translate complex technical scenario details into a plan of action to drive resolution.
- Experience within the Incident/Problem management support roles
- A track record of initiative, leadership and self-direction; identify a problem, propose a solution, and make it happen
- Experience within an ISP, telecoms or wireless environment is desirable
ADDITIONAL ASSETS
- Worked in any of the following areas:
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- Network Operations Centre
- Data Centre as a technical resource
- Worked in a complex networking environment
- Worked in a business critical and/or mission critical environment.
- Educated to Degree level/Diploma level or equivalent experience
- Knowledge of ITIL/ITSM particular problem management.
If you’re driven to take wireless technologies to the next level, it’s time you join the team at RIM. We offer a challenging environment that fosters creativity and rewards excellence. Employees also have use of our award winning BlackBerry!
© 2009 Research In Motion Limited. All Rights Reserved. The BlackBerry and RIM families of related marks, images and symbols are the exclusive properties of Research In Motion Limited. RIM, BlackBerry, “Always On, Always Connected” and the “envelope in motion” symbol are registered with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and may be pending or registered in other countries.
Research In Motion is an Equal Opportunity Employer.
Job Opening: Nottingham, UK - Jenrick Engineering (FMCG Industry) - Maintenance Engineer - Needs Root Cause Analysis Skills
Sunday, February 28th, 2010Job Opening: Sayre, PA - GE Capital - Quality Assurance Specialist - Needs Root Cause Analysis Skills
Saturday, February 27th, 2010Facilitate the investigation of root cause and determination of corrective action for customer complaints, regulatory escapes, and final inspection non-conformances.
See:
Job Opening: Benicia, CA - Bio-Rad - QA Specialist II - Needs Root Cause Skills
Saturday, February 27th, 2010Experience: 2-5 years in regulated industry (medical device, pharmaceutical, biotechnology). Familiarity with failure investigations, root cause analysis, change control, validation, & design control. See:
Job Opening: Washington State - Senior SRO that has experience in Root Cause Analysis
Friday, February 26th, 2010Job Opening: UK - IT - Infrastructure Engineer - Needs Root Cause Analysis Skills
Friday, February 26th, 2010Job Opening: Bridgeport, TX - Encana - Contract EHS Field Coordinator - Needs TapRooT® Root Cause Analysis Skills
Thursday, February 25th, 2010Job Opening: Cincinnati, OH - Belcan - Operations Superintenent - Needs Root Cause Analysis Skills
Thursday, February 25th, 2010Job Opening: Ventura, CA - Aerotek Energy Services - Safety Specialist - Needs TapRooT® Root Cause Analysis Skills
Thursday, February 25th, 2010Career Development: Top Four Tips to Remember Names
Monday, February 22nd, 2010
I admire people who can always remember a name, but I’m not one of them. I’ve never been creative enough to use the trick of associating a name with something about the person (like, David Bayer has thinning hair … at my age, everyone’s hair is thinning so that would just confuse me more). The ability to remember names is a valuable business skill so I have picked up some tips I can use. Here are four ways to help remember important names in your networking and job searching:
Focus on the person, not yourself. This is in the #1 spot because it truly is the #1 tip. If I’m too focused on how I’m presenting myself or on what brilliant thing I want to say next, it totally blows any chance at name recall. The truth is, most of the time we can’t remember a person’s name because we were thinking about something else when we were introduced to that person.
Verify the name. Names have many variations. William may prefer to be called “Will” but the conference planner’s assistant typed “William” on his badge. Here’s your chance to verify the name, “Hello, William … oh, do you prefer William or … ?” “I prefer Will.” “Okay, Will, are you enjoying the conference?” Verifying the name will allow you to repeat it several times without being obvious that you’re using a memory trick.
Hear the name, speak the name, listen to yourself say the name. Studies show that if you don’t repeat those actions within the first 10 seconds, you”ll forget the person’s name. “Hello, David, nice to meet you.” “So, David, what are you working on at the Mill?” “Traveling anywhere this summer, David?” If repeating the name makes it too obvious that you are using the repetition method, look at the person and say the name silently to yourself several times when the person takes a drink, turns to say something to someone else, or some other appropriate moment that doesn’t steal your focus from what the other person is saying. Or, do what Franklin Roosevelt did and picture it written across the person’s forehead.
Ask how to spell a difficult name. Just like studying for the spelling bee — focusing on the spelling of the name will help you with recall. Another way to keep it in your mind is to imagine writing it letter by letter.
These tips will help you recall a name, but it they fail, there is nothing wrong with honesty, “I remember you well, but your name just slipped my mind!”
Job Opening: Head of QA & Testing - Cambridgeshire, UK - Radio Systems - Needs Root Cause Analysis Skills
Thursday, February 18th, 2010Job Openings: Positions Require TapRooT® Root Cause Analysis Skills
Wednesday, February 17th, 2010Here are some of the recent job opening that require TapRooT® Root Cause Analysis Skills …
Quality Performance Analyst - Cape Canaveral, FL - Iap Worldwide Services
Instrumentation & Controls Systems Engineer - Roxana, IL - ConocoPhillips
Program Improvement Coordinator - Washington, DC - TRICARE Management Activity (Consultant)
Job Opening: Prodution/Maintenance/Quality/ Health/Safety/Environment - Abu Dhabi, UAE - Mechanical Services/Technology Company - Candidate Needs Root Cause Analysis Skills
Tuesday, February 16th, 2010Job Opening: Mechanical Engineer - Savannah, GA - Food Refining Industry - Needs Root Cause Analysis Skills
Tuesday, February 16th, 2010Job Opening: Quality Engineer, Failure Analysis - Santa Rosa, CA - L3 Communications - Must Be Able to Find Root Causes and Develop Corrective Actions
Monday, February 15th, 2010Job Opening: Quality Assurance Specialist - Ireland - Merck - Needs Root Cause Analysis Skills
Saturday, February 13th, 2010Job Opening: Dallas, TX - Quality Specialist - Nestle Waters - Needs Troubleshooting & Root Cause Analysis Skills
Wednesday, February 10th, 2010Job Opening: New York, NY - Applications Analyst - Continuum Health Partners - Needs Root Cause Analysis Skills
Wednesday, February 10th, 2010Job Opening: Batesville, IN - Continuous Improvement Specialist - Hill-Rom - Needs Root Cause Analysis and Corrective Action Skills
Wednesday, February 10th, 2010Job Opening: Nigeria - Briscoe Properties - Project Manager - Needs Root Cause Analysis Skills
Wednesday, February 10th, 2010Job Opening: West Point, PA - Reliability Engineer - Merck - Needs Root Cause Failure Analysis Experience
Tuesday, February 9th, 2010Job Openings: Need TapRooT® Root Cause Analysis Skills
Tuesday, February 9th, 2010Health & Safety Specialist - Ventura County, CA - Aerotek
Quality Superintendent - Boron, CA - Rio Tinto
Executive Assistant - Baltimore, MD - Constellation Energy
Mechanical Engineer - Port Reading, NJ - Amerada Hess
Safety & Environment Representative - Lewiston, NY - NYPA
EHS Rig Specialist - North Dakota - International E&P Company
Maintenance Support Technician - Hickory, NC - CertainTeed Vinyl Plant
Contract EHS Field Coordinator - Bridgeport, TX - EnCana
CQI Manager - Orlando, FL - Oceaneering
Safety Specialist (Oil & Gas Onshore E&P) - California - National Resource Solutions, Inc.
Quality Engineer - Montgomery, PA - RF Micro-Wave technology company
Operational HSSE Supervisor - Middle East - Cameron
Quality Performance Analyst - Cape Canaveral, FL - iAP Worldwide Services
Instrument & Electrical Control System Engineer - Roxana, IL - ConocoPhillips
Maintenance Specialist - Houston, TX - Oxy
Career Development: Interview Myths That Keep You From Landing The Job by Captain George Burk
Monday, February 8th, 2010The economy stinks! Jobs are scarce and the jobs that are available, people scramble to fill them. Unemployment, according to many “experts,” is the highest since the late 1970’s and many people have simply stopped looking. While jobs are scarce, advice for job searchers is abundant. With the abundance of this information, there always seems to be as much confusion about what advice to accept and what to ignore.
Kara Greene of Career Counselors Consortium and executive coach Barbara Frankel and this writer (guest columnist, Captain George Burk), offer a few tips that can help job seekers stand out from the competition, avoid some of the major pitfalls and, hopefully, get the job.
The tips are useful for any type of organizations—public, private and non-profit.
The bold quotes are some interview gaffes by job candidates. I didn’t make them up.
Hard to imagine anyone could be so dumb and have so little common sense and personal decorum. The examples, based on a survey of 3,061 U.S. hiring managers and human resources professionals by Harris Interactive found the top 10 most outrageous mistakes.
Myth #1. Ask questions at the end of the interview. There’s an element of truth in this bit of advice. Be prepared to ask questions that relate to the job. The myth is that you must wait until the interview’s over or it’s your turn to speak.
The interview is a two-way street. You want them to hire you and you want to make sure it’s the type of organization where you want to work. When you wait for the interviewer to ask you if you have any questions, “it becomes an interrogation instead of conversation,” says Greene.
“Candidate answered cell phone and asked interviewer to leave her own office because it was a private conversation.”
Approach the interview as a sales call. The product you’re selling is you and you’re selling yourself to the employer. “You can’t be passive in a sales call or you aren’t going to sell your product,” Greene says.
For example, Frankel says, if the interview says, “Tell me about yourself,” you should first respond to that question and then complete the response with your own question, like, “Please tell me more about the position.” The interview should be a dialogue, not a one-way discussion.
“Candidate told the interviewee he wouldn’t be able to stay with the job long because he thought he might get an inheritance if his uncle died—and his uncle ‘wasn’t looking too good.’”
Myth #2. It’s okay to have flaws. That’s life and reality. Almost every interviewer will ask you to name at least one flaw. Often, job seekers are told to avoid the question completely by providing a “good flaw.” An example of a “good flaw” is “I’m too committed to my work.” Generally, this kind of response serves to hurt you more than it helps. “Every competent recruiter can see right through that,” Greene says of faux flaws.
“Candidate asked the interviewer for a ride home after the interview.”
Recruiters conduct interviews all day, every day. They’ve seen it all and have an innate ability to see through candidates who try to dodge questions.
For those who may consider themselves nearly perfect and “flaw-free,” earth to candidate…everyone has weaknesses. But, according to Frankel, supply your interviewer with one genuine flaw, explain how you are working to correct it, and then move to a new question.
“Candidate smelled his armpit on the way to the interview room.”
Myth #3. Identify all of your strengths and skills to the employer. Certainly, you want the interviewer to know why you are a valuable candidate, but a literal “laundry list” of your skills and abilities won’t win you any points. What you will be asked in an interview is what can go wrong in certain scenarios and how you would respond.
“You don’t want to list a litany of strengths,” Frankel said.
Often, some of the more typical responses are, “‘I’m a good communicator,’ ‘I have excellent interpersonal skills,’ ‘I am responsible,’” Greene says. “You have to give accomplishments. I need to know what did you accomplish when using these skills.”
“Candidate said she could not provide a writing example because all of her writing had been for CIA and it was ‘classified.’”
Green recommended doing a little “spade work” before the interview so you can be better prepared to answer this question. She tells clients to find out as much as possible about the potential job role and the organization. “What makes an interview powerful is to give an example related to their particular needs or challenges that you have demonstrated in the past.”
Generally, provide three strengths, with examples. You will get much further with a handful of real strengths than an unconvincing list of traits.
“Candidate told the interviewer he was fired for beating up his last boss.”
Myth #4. Let the employer know your salary expectations. Salary is one of the most difficult questions to answer in an interview. The fact is you don’t have to answer when asked about your desire salary.
“When an applicant was offered food before the interview, he declined saying he didn’t want to line his stomach with grease before going out drinking.”
According to the book, Acing the Interview: How to Ask and Answer the Questions that Will Get You The Job, a good answer would be “I want to earn a salary that is commensurate with the contributions I can make. I am confident I can make substantial contributions at your firm. What does your firm plan to pay for this position?”
Greene suggests a response similar to: “I prefer to discuss the compensation package after you’ve decided that I’m the best candidate and we can sit down and negotiate the package.”
“A candidate for an accounting position said she was a “people person” not a “numbers person.”
Myth #5. The employer determines if you get the job. Yes, the employer is obviously the one who offers you the position, but interviewees have more control in the hiring process than they realize. According to Greene and Frankel, candidates have a larger say in the final hiring decision than they believe.
“Candidate flushed the toilet while talking to the interviewer during a phone interview.”
Greene says, “They should call the interviewer or hiring manger and say: ‘I’d really like to be part of the company.’ It can’t hurt, it can only help you.”
Send a “Thank you“ note to the interviewer and follow-up periodically. Once a month until the position is filled is a good rule of thumb, twice a month at most. You want to show your continued interest but, at the same time, you don’t want to come off as a pest.
An email thank you from a web site or directly from you is fine. But, when you know the interviewer’s (hosts) work or home address, a written note with postage and mailing it shows a personal touch and that took the time to write to them. It adds an extra touch. Most of your “competitors” don’t follow-up with any type of a “Thank you.” They choose to take way of least resistance and effort…and wonder.
Remember: there are three types of people: Those who watch what happened; those who wonder what happened; and those who make things happen.
“Candidate took out her hair brush and combed her hair.”
Acing the interview encourages candidates to conclude the interviews with one question: “Based on your interview, do you have any concerns about my ability to do the job?” If the answer is yes, ask the interviewer to be explicit. “Deal forthrightly with each concern.”
Some other blunders and other detrimental mistakes candidates made during an interview: dressing inappropriately was the biggest mistake a candidate could make.
Talking negatively about a current or former employer was second and appearing disinterested was third.
Other mistakes included appearing or sounding arrogant, not providing specific answers and not asking good questions.
“If a candidate is overly negative, plays the blame game, is easily frazzled or doesn’t come prepared it usually ends up a red flag for employers,” said Careerbuilder.com spokeswoman Rosemary Haefner.
“We have met the enemy and he is us.” ~ POGO, cartoon character
I opened a Fortune Cookie this week that was with our meal.
“You will live the life that makes all others not envious, but proud of you.”
I can only hope and pray it is so!
====================
Authored by: Captain George Burk, USAF (Ret), Plane crash and burn survivor (excerpts from Karen Noonan, TradePub.com). Captain Burk is a motivational speaker, author and writer, and we are pleased to announce that he will be a speaker at the 2010 TapRooT® Summit in San Antonio, Texas October 27-29, 2010. For more information about Captain Burk contact him at:
www.georgeburk.com
800-769-8568
480-212-6321 cell
