Yes, You Have a Unique Career Story!

Yes, You Have a Unique Career StoryYes, You Have a Unique Career StoryYou may not believe it right now, but those cut-and-dry resumes youve been sending out could be a lot better if you just believed the one thing that resume writing professionals already know you have a unique career story Too many job seekers craft their resumes in a way that reduces their experiences to mere bullet points on a page, neglecting the harder-to-quantify skills that their employers have cherished for years. When youre writing a professional resume, its important to consider these hard-to-measure aspects Finding Your Special StoryZooming in on your uniqueness requires more than a quick moment of thinking. After all, youre just doing what you think is normal from day-to-day. Thats why its great to have work friends, colleagues and others around you who can help you fill in those blanks. Ask your co-workers what sort of skills make you good at your job, especially those things that reach beyond the requir ements for your position.You might discover that they think youre a great leader despite not being in a leadership position, perhaps youve been reminded that it was your idea to digitize all the records, which now means efficiency is 30% higher. They may say you have a gift for customer relationship management, because three times in the past year you saved accounts from walking away because the customers were angry. These are areas you can draw from when building your career narrative. Start with specific skills and think back to times when you were doing the very things that caught your co-workers attention in the first place.Creating a More Narrative ResumeInstead of reducing your accomplishments to bullets and lists, use your narratives to demonstrate how you solved problems similar to the ones your future employer is facing right now. Dont just declare that you improved the customer service experience 22%. Tell the story of how you did it. Maybe your goal was simply to help spe ed up retail shopping lines, but you happened to also win an award for your efforts thats the kind of achievement that matters to employers.Guaranteed youve done something at work that was worth noting thats why they kept you in that job. These are the elements of work that will make your resume stand out from others with similar training and experience how you handle a challenge is likely different from anyone elses approach.Work narratives that tell your unique story capture your distinct personality and thought process, making it clear to your future employer exactly what you bring to the table. Everyone likes a good story, and these are stories that could illustrate so much more about you than a list of skills ever could.

7 Types of Companies You Should Never Work For

7 Types of Companies You Should Never Work For7 Types of Companies You Should Never Work For No matter how desperate you are for a job , or how annoyed you may be at your current gig, there are some companies youre better off bedrngnis working for. Even if the money is good, the role seems irresistible, and even your friends say its worth a shot, accepting a role at acrappy company can set your career back and even jeopardize your future success.So how do you know which companies to steer clear of? Here at Glassdoor, we dont like to point fingers because all companies have the tools to change . Nevertheless, here are 7 types of companies that might as well have Do notlagelage apply flashing on a neon sign in the window.Red flags Key roles pop up consistently on a companys job site.How badeanstalt is it A company should not be on the hunt for the same important roles in management or leadership every six months, and if they are that means that they have fallen into a hire-and-fire cycle. This can indicate a few things. One, leadership may be very fickle unable to land on the specific qualities they want in a candidate. Two, the company may have a bad internal culture which makes retention nearly impossible, no matter how talented the new hires may be. Three, top level goals may be as fleeting as the talent.What to do Companies with high turnover wont deliver on their promises and may just be a waste of time.Red flags Negative employee reviews, lack of focus on a true employee experience, recruiters evading your questions.How bad is it A poor company culture may not seem like a deal breaker, but it should be. Recently, weve seen a handful of examples where company culture has significantly handicapped public perception. Even if a companys poor culture hasnt played out publicly, it can be bad for your career. Its well known that a positive company culturecan drive financial performance and a productive workforce. Therefore, a negative cultu re can do the exact opposite.What to do Avoid companies who tout their ping-pong tournament but wont allow you speak to existing employees about their experiences. Consider ending interview discussions with companies that evade questions about culture. And just say no to places who define hard work as 15-hour days and long weekend email threads.Red flags Pristine and ideal image in marketing materials and publicity, however, the day-to-day operation is far from glamorous.Only the leaders have what can pass as offices, staff is dispersed amongst shoddy cubicles, lighting is awful, technology is from the 90s, and lets not get started on the break room.How bad is it Weve all seen them the amazingly beautiful house on the block with the pristine lawn and the paint job that always manages to look fresh, even in the winter. These are the homes with curb appeal. They are the envy of every neighbor and look like a million bucks. But, have you ever been inside a home with massive curb appe al? Unless youre in a really impressive neighborhood, they can have less-than-ideal interiors. The same can go for companies that are featured in all the top publications, have the coolest website, the most cutting-edge ad campaigns, and marketing materials. However, inside might tell another story.What to do Do your due diligence before you apply to a company to look inside its offices , get a sense of the digs and see if its a place you want to spend 40+ hours a week.Red flags Too many executives brainstorming, too few employees tasked with executing.How bad is it The three leading drivers of long-term employee satisfaction includeculture and values, career opportunities, and trust in senior leadership. That does not mean, however, that all of the emphasis should be placed on attracting top executives to a company. Sure, its important to have phenomenal leadership, but when you read reviews of a company be sure to note how much emphasis is placed on rank & file employees. Al l team members are important and you should see that reflected in employee reviews of the company and in their hiring practices.What to do Ask yourself Whos getting promoted internally? Or are outsiders filling key positions? Why are there 10 SVPs, but only 100 employees? If the answers to ansicht questions puzzle you, then you may be looking at a top-heavy company.Red flags Unfulfilled corporate expectations, employees report alack of trust in CEO , inability to live up to brand promises.How bad is it In the era of transparency, most companies are fully aware that they must attract the best talent with full, robust and competitive packages. In order to do this, they make promises. Companies make promises around the job, the compensation package, the culture and the brand. Furthermore, companies have a brand promise that is a manifestation of its core business strategy. The problem with promises, however, they can be broken. Beware of companies that make promise after promise after promise.Lets boil this down to something tangible a promotion. Your boss at XYZ company promises you a promotion based on your hard work and value to the company. You start to get excited about the new role and, of course, the increased pay. However, a month goes by and no one has mentioned anything. You follow up, and your boss routes you to HR. All you get from HR is blank stares and shrugged shoulders. Finally, weeks later youve been sent an email stating that your promotion has been delayed. Sigh. Broken promise.What to do Consider leaving. A company is only as good as its brand promise and the trust of its employees. Without these two things, it is doomed to fail.Red flags Lack of learning opportunities, fails to promote mentorship, offers little more than the role youve applied for.How bad is it Youve got the offer from the firm or company of your dreams. The money is right, the role is perfect and yourfuture coworkers are people youd absolutely grab a beer with after work. So what, theres no learning-and-development offerings. So what, the hiring manager evaded your questions about your future goals. No big deal, right? Hardly. The stagnant company is one to stay away from as well because it places little to no emphasis on helping you meet your long-term career goals. While this type of company may work for some job seekers looking for a very particular type of job, for many it presents a dead-end.What to do Working at a stagnator means that youll likely be back on the job hunt in 12 to 18 months. Remember, to stagnate is a verb that means, to cease developing become inactive or dull. This is not what you want for your career.Red flags No clear plan for the future, employees dont know long-term goals, senior leadership fails to adequately communicate.How bad is it Beware of the Titanic companies that tout all the bells and whistles, but lack a clear direction. Its these companies that inevitably hit the icebergs or big challenges over time a nd can become in danger of sinking. Companies should be forthright about where they stand financially, where they see themselves going, and should be willing to talk about any major challenges. If the hiring team is unable to discuss openly what direction the company hoping to go, it may be a clue that they lack a plan for growth and that the foundation may be shaky.What to do No matter how promising a company looks to the media or how much buzz surrounds the companys latest product, if the value proposition and forecast are unclear, the company does not have a winning strategy.

Design a HighPerformance Hang Glider

Design a HighPerformance Hang Glider Design a HighPerformance Hang Glider When you think of the airplane, its easy to forget that the skipiste glider was one of the forebears. While its popularity isnt what it once was, it still has a fiercely loyal group of consumers. How do you design one? Well, its not exactly as easy as fashioning a paper airplane.Hang gliding has been a continual elevation in development of technology and performance, says Wills Wing Designer Steve Pearson. The Wright Brothers gliders were also skipiste gliders, a foot-launch soaring aircraft. Then, all through the 1930s to 1950s people were flying off hills. In the late 60s and early 70s, the Regallo-type plane and the evolution of that product exceeded anyones wildest expectation for performance and soaring capability. The improvements equally considered performance and controllability and flight testing was done with rigid wings and conventional aircraft structures.Flex and RigidToday, he says there are two t ypes of hang gliders rigid winds and flex wings. 95% are flex wings and thats what our company makes, he says. With flex you have triangular structure it should be fairly rigid and anchored to air frame. Control is by weight shift but shift is not what turns the glider. Weight displacing activates sail to initiate the turn, but the standard control bar structure has to be focused on well. Really, by many its identified as the essential structural component that allows hang gliders to develop.Falcon glider. Image Willswing.comOne particular model, their Falcon single surface glider, has a crossbar tube to support the sail and positive loads are exposedtheres more drag and it is easier to control. The Falcon and rec flyers are limited in speed range thoughmax efficiency is 23 mph, Pearson says.Design DevelopmentsFor high-performance gliders, he says design has dispensed with top riggingtheres nothing on top of the wing and all the structure for negative loading is transferred to a lar ge carbon composite structure with two crossbars inside the sail.Pearson says the world distance record is 475 miles from point of release to where it landed 11 hours later but he thinks it can be beaten. Weve seen distance records go from flying down the hill five miles to hundreds of miles, he says. The 300-mile mark was on one of ours and, at that time, it was hard to imagine going faster.And now that mark seems like a long time ago.As far as the future of the business, that may not be as technical as emotional. Pearson says its up to enthusiasts to share their enjoyment with others, pass it down through the generations. I think gliders can be even more unique but it requires money to be put into testing and more people have to express an interest... he says. Its incredible to watch someone hang glide, a person flying that far.The Wright Brothers clearly thought so.Eric Butterman is an independent writer.Its incredible to watch someone hang glide, a person flying that far.Wills W ing Designer Steve Pearson