Hire Tough, Manage Easy and 25 Other Workplace Truisms

Hire Tough, Manage Easy and 25 Other Workplace Truisms Hire Tough, Manage Easy and 25 Other Workplace Truisms With the range of clever sayings and life truths it is only fitting there be a set of truisms for the work environment. Take a look at a list of 25 workplace truisms- a compilation of both humorous and serious truths.People dont leave jobs, they leave managers.When you dont know what to do, walk fast and look worried.Anger is never about the thing you think youre angry about.If youre miserable, quit your job and do something else. If youre leise miserable, its you.Success is based on current behavior, notlage past performance.No one gets sick on Wednesdays.People wont perform for those they dont respect.The workplace is about business, not you.If it wasnt for the last minute, nothing would get done.If youre not passionate about what youre doing, you wont be successful at it.The customer isnt always right, but hes still the customer.The longer the title, the less important t he job.Confidence comes from success, knowledge comes from failure. Experience is the combination of both.All vacations and holidays create problems, except for ones own.Dont jump ship before you hit the iceberg.Its not what you say its how you say it.Stay away from office romances. They always go wrong.There is never enough time to do it right the first time, but there is always enough time to do it over.The CEOs secretary is almost as powerful as the CEO.If you are good, you will be assigned all the work. If you are really good, you will get out of it.The boss isnt always right, but shes still the boss.You are always doing something marginal when your boss drops by.Dont gossip. The coffee machine is a minefield in the workplace.You can go anywhere you want if you look serious and carry a clipboard.Hire for attitude and train for competence.Have you heard more office truisms than the ones mentioned? Or do you have your own? Share your truths below

Career After the Military Get Hired Fast With This Veteran Resume Guide

Career After the Military Get Hired Fast With This Veteran Resume GuideCareer After the Military Get Hired Fast With This Veteran Resume GuideIf youre a military veteran, looking for a civilian job can feel like traveling to a very different world. Youre just about to enter the private sector. And theres no doubt that its views about language, culture and hierarchy are different from those you were used to before.But dont worry. This guide will help you overcome most obstacles and succeed in launching a new career.Lets take it from the top - by putting together your battle-ready military veteran resume.Its a part of your application that will play one of the main roles in helping you make a smooth transition into civilian life. However, to reach the port you must learn to navigate the sea of new career opportunities and master the art of translating your military experience into civilian terms.By the end of our guide, you will end up with an all-in-one document that will summarize y our professional past, highlight your military achievements and make clear what youre passionate about.Table of Contents1. Have a clearly defined objective2. Skip the military jargon3. Identify your value and skills4. Prioritize the details5. Use action verbs and power adjectives6. Make your veteran resume easy to read7. Attach the titelbild letter8. Emphasize your specialized training and educational background9. Put your awards and accomplishments on display10. Proofread, proofread, proofread1. Have a clearly defined objectiveBefore departureing to write your veteran resume, reserve some time determining what precisely it is youre seeking in your future career. Research occupations closest to the jobs you held while on duty. Try to find industries that normally employ people with your training and skills. Dont also hesitate to contact other former members of the military that have already switched to a civilian career. These people can give you useful tips and advice that will hel p you along the way.So, where to start looking for a job? Here are a couple of websites helping military veterans find meaningful post-tafelgeschirr careers National Veterans Foundations Job CenterMilitary.coms Job SearchVets.gov Careers and EmploymentVetNets Veteran Career tafelgeschirrCareerOneStops Veterans Job FinderVeteran Jobs MissionHire Heroes USAOnce you determine what kind of job youd like to apply to, you can customize your veteran resume to address the requirements of a specific position. Its important to focus your skills and experiences to appear uniquely suited for the job. Your resume will then act as a homing missile rather than just being a carpet-bombing attempt of an overly generic application.2. Skip the military jargonA military resume and a civilian resume are two completely different beasts.Your veteran resume is sure to get more attention if you make some effort and change the military parlance into more common vernacular.First of all, you need to become mor e approachable. Chances are that the recruiters arent veterans. Therefore you should start by broadening your specific skills into abilities that your target company could find useful. Demilitarize your Military Occupational Specialty (MOS), job titles, accomplishments, duties, and awards so they can resonate more with civilian hiring managers. In fact, translating your military skills and experience into easy-to-understand civilian terms is a no-brainer. There are tons of sites available to convert them for you. Theyll take your military branch, MOS code or job title and come up with a list a list of civilian job titles and in some cases, actual open positions.Check them outCareerOneStops Military to Civilian Occupation Translator. Its sponsored by the U.S. Department of Labor, so the information provided is reliable.O*Net OnLines Military Crosswalk SearchTAOnlines MOS Code to Civilian Occupations TranslatorTAOnlines Jobsaurus.How to describe your military experience in civilian te rms.Military.coms Skills TranslatorVets GOV Skills TranslatorPay attention to any abbreviations and acronyms that youd like to use in your resume. Although they are common in the military, most civilians have no clue what they mean. Take time to spell them out for your potential employer.3. Identify your value and skillsYes, you definitely need to frame your resume in a civilian format. But on the other hand, dont shy away from stating why military experience is an invaluable asset that recruiters should be aware of.It doesnt really matter if you were involved in tactical operations, communications, engineering, or artillery. All of these are useful and marketable skills that you can apply directly to the civilian workplace. Instead of just listing the assigned responsibilities, you need to explore the power of paraphrasing. Describe the skills that you gained from your role in the military. Show off your technical, interpersonal, and leadership prowess. For example, lets say you wo rked in artillery. You definitely dont want to say you shot at people or killed someone. Talk about the ability to work under pressure and assess situations quickly instead. Another example. As a member of the infantry, you might want to say you patrolled a base and engaged in combat. But what about just claiming that you created a safe environment for 500 people?4. Prioritize the detailsRemember that your veteran resume is not your autobiography. Its impossible to describe in detail everything youve done in your entire military career. Frankly speaking, HR managers have too little time for too many applications. Make their job easier. The shorter you make your resume, the better.Narrow down the content of your resume to only whats pertinent to the job opening. Its just like an advertisement. Put a spotlight on your selling points and exclude everything thats irrelevant for the moment being.Ideally, your resume shouldnt extend over one page. Once it does, its extremely easy to lose the readers attention.5. Use action verbs and power adjectivesRecruiters are not fond of hearing the same old stories over and over again. Only by making conscious decisions can you bring fresh, authentic language to your veteran resume. Get rid of those worn-out phrases and words. Write short descriptions starting withaction verbs insteadSupervised and helped develop a new surveillance system that increased productivity by 55%.Demonstrated and presented proper procedures for testing smoke producing munitions.Successfully led 20 airmen in key projects at Creech Air Force Base. We met all milestones and deliverables in record time. Directed new method of operations for wide-ranging management of military construction projects. Negotiated and administered over $10 million worth of military contracts annually. Coordinated daily office routines for 30 staff members. Once your verbs start feeling good, its time to harness the power of adjectives, too. Use them to add color to your person ality and skills.6. Make your veteran resume easy to readDont forget to make your resume stand out and be visually appealing. Keep these three areas in checkBullet points. Use them especially when listing your skills, responsibilities or qualifications. Headings and sections. Give your veteran resume some structure and divide it into sections. Use a larger font for headings and bold them.Fonts. Tradition wins over creativity. Being unconventional almost never pays off, so its better to stick with basic fonts like Arial, Times New Roman, Helvetica, Georgia or Calibri.7. Attach the cover letterYour resume is an inevitable part of your application. But a strategically targeted cover letter can be yourultimate weapon to win the job. It lets you address a particular job and employer directly. Dont ever use the generic To Whom It May Concern. Do your homework to find out the name of the HR manager who will be reviewing the application.Also, dont use it to summarize your resume. Build upon the information and explain why the job appeals to you and whats your motivation behind your application. Dont forget to emphasize any specific skills that make you qualified for the position.If you want to create an outstanding cover letter that will resonate your passion for the job, check out also our cover letter guide.8. Emphasize your specialized training and educational backgroundUndoubtedly, the military provides some of the best leadership and technical training in the country. Featuring your specialized training will send a clear signal about the types of skills you have developed in the service. This will help dispel any doubts about your job qualifications right off the bat.Your life before the military matters, too. Most veterans have some educational background outside of what they gained through the military service. So if you attended any type of technical school, vocational training or university, put it into your resume.Dont forget to include the details, too - t he dates you studied, your major/focus and other non-military certifications youve received. 9. Put your awards and accomplishments on displayAs a veteran, youve surely had opportunities for advancement and commendation. Lay out a blueprint of your military career to indicate you performed your duty well and advanced your career accordingly.Use numbers to quantify your achievements whenever you see it fit. What was the number of soldiers under your supervision? How many patrols a week did you carry out? And how many awards and medals did you earn?Acronyms never tell the whole story. When listing the actual awards, add one or two sentences about why you got them to describe your accomplishments in civilian terms. First, list the recognitions in a separate Awards section. Then elaborate on them in your Work experience section to show youve delivered outstanding military serviceAwards.Navy/USMC Achievement Medal, 12 Air Medals, etc.Work experience.Earned numerous awards, including Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal and numerous Air Medals for the participation in border patrolling, medical evacuations of military and civilians, and special operations.10. Proofread, proofread, proofreadI bet you wouldnt ever think of entering combat without double-checking every single little detail like the supply of ammunition or the functionality of your gun. The same goes for your resume. Dont miss proofreading it before you hit the Send button on your keyboard. Take some time to review your veteran resume for basic mechanics like format, spelling, dates and overall design. This will give you 100% confidence that youve done a great job in creating a bulletproof document that conveys everything you want recruiters to know about you and your military career.The times they are a changinIts true that career changes are hard. But as a military veteran, youve been shaped by your unique experience and developed skills that many recruiters look for.Hopefully, this guide has shown you a way how to advance your career and make a smooth transition into civilian life. If you use it to your advantage, theres a land of success lying ahead of you.Good luckShare Your Feedback or Ideas in the Comments

The Little Rocket Engine That Could

The Little Rocket Engine That Could The Little Rocket Engine That Could The Little Rocket Engine That CouldCubeSats are space age hitchhikers, miniature spacecraft that fly into umlaufbahn aboard rockets whose primary payloads are full-size satellites. Measuring about 10 centimeters on each side and weighing less than 1.5 kilograms, CubeSats often ride for free. And, like their human counterparts on Earth, they are often dropped off short of where they want to go.Because beggars cant be choosers, CubeSatswhich could perform tasks as varied as monitoring disasters and repairing orbiting structuresmust use their own propulsion systems to get to their destinations to make the adjustments needed to stay there or go to another location or even to reach escape velocity and travel to interplanetary space.Paulo Lozano and his team at MITs Space Propulsion Lab have developed a unique kind of rocket engine for these microsatellites. Dubbed the ion electrospray propulsion system, the electric e ngine fires tiny streams of ions that push these mini-spacecraft into desired orbits and keep them there.Using semiconductor manufacturing technology, Lozanos team creates chip-sized thruster modules that measure only 10 x 10 x 2.5 mm and could comfortably fit on a dime. An engine that controls yaw or pitch might use four modules, while a main propulsion engine would house many mora, depending on the amount of thrust required.The thruster modules themselves consist of an array of hundreds of small volcano-like cones called emitters. Instead of burning chemical fuels, they accelerate ions out of openings so small, their diameters are measured in nanometers and their thrust in nanonewtons.If you take a mosquito, cut off its antenna and divide it into maybe 50 sectionsone of those sections would be a nanonewton in weight, Lozano said.Because a pound of thrust translates into 4.8 billion nanonewtons, it would take about a million billion ion engines to produce the thrust of just one of the five rocket engines on the first stage of the Saturn V moon rocket.Yet, given enough modules firing over a long enough time, an ion engine will vault a CubeSat from a low earth orbit (2,000 km or lower) into a 36,000 km geosynchronous orbit, or even beyond the clutches of Earths gravitation and onto the moon or other planets. It can do it with only 150 g of fuel and mucksmuschenstill leave 70-90 percent of the CubeSat free for critical sensors and electronics.No other propulsion system comes close.The Anti-RocketFor conventional space rockets to escape Earths gravity, they have to generate a lot of thrust and burn a lot of fuel. A rocket that relies on chemical combustion must carry 20 to 40 times more fuel than the weight of the payload. Starting from a launchpad, it will burn through that fuel in minutes to reach escape velocity, just over 40,000 km per hour.Lozano developed his electrospray engines for spacecraft that are already in orbit and that no longer have to do that ty pe of heavy lifting. They can travel and maneuver with far less thrust.In fact, ion engines use fuel so parsimoniously that they can fire for prolonged periods, shut down, and then fire repeatedly without fully depleting their reserves. The thrusters accelerate ions to many times the velocity of a chemical rockets exhaust, producing more thrust than might be expected from such a small stream of ions. As long as time is not an object, firing long bursts of high-speed ions provides all the thrust needed to accelerate CubeSats into higher orbits and beyond.While rocket scientists typically describe engines as firing, this is misleading. Firing is to ion propulsion what filming is to digital videos. Electrospray engines do not ignite. They have neither the bell-shaped nozzle that characterizes rocket engines, nor the valves, regulators, and pumps.Instead, ion engines use passive capillary action to wick propellantan ionic liquid such as a salt solutionfrom a plastic holding tank through a porous substrate and up to the cone emitters. There are no moving parts. Since ionic liquids already contain ions, there is no need for a reaction chamber to ionize particles.custompagebreakThe cone-shaped emitters accelerate ions through an electrical field generated by the CubeSats batteries, which are recharged by solar panels. It takes a mere 5W of electricityat voltages up 1,000 Vto produce a field at the top of the thruster modules emitters, where the propellant rushes to meet the vacuum of space.The trick to building a successful ion electrospray propulsion system, Lozano explained, is to increase thrust density by jamming together as many emitters as possible. A single 1x1cm module may contain 400 or more emitters. Add enough modules to a 10cm x 10cm CubeSat surface and total thrust approaches the millinewton sortiment.They produce little force, but because they can fire for a long time, you accelerate the spacecraft to a velocity that would be impossible to get with a ch emical engine, Lozano says. That is a big value.Electrospray engines also differ greatly from another form of ion propulsion, plasma ion, which also eschew chemical combustion for the efficiency of the electron. Plasma engines have repositioned Boeing satellites already in geosynchronous orbit since the 1990s. Last year, for the first time, they pushed two Boeing satellites from low Earth to geosynchronous orbits.Like ion electrospray engines, plasma engines fire for long periods of time. While they take up less room than chemical rockets, which are 90 percent propellant by weight, plasma engines are still bulky. To start with, they require fuel tanks of compressed fuel, usually an inert gas. Xenon is a popular choice because it compresses well for storage, ionizes easily, and has high mass that produces more thrust than would a lighter atom when accelerated.A regulator metes the gas through pipes and into a reaction chamber. There, a discharge cathode injects high energy electrons into the gas, producing a plasma. An electromagnetic field contains the plasma, which is then accelerated through an electrically charged grid at very high speeds.It takes power to operate the discharge cathode, magnetic containment, and acceleration grid. Boeings electric satellites operate at 3 to 9kW, compared to 5W for Lozanos ion electrospray system.You have thrust that is about an order of magnitude higher than what we have now. If you wanted to substitute that thruster for ours, you would need an area about 10 times larger, Lozano said.At first, Lozano tried to miniaturize plasma engines to fit CubeSats, but they were too complex to fit into their 1,000 cubic centimeter volume. He turned to ion electrospray engines as an alternative. Without valves, pipes, pumps, and pressurized tanks, they are to conventional and plasma electric rockets what thin LED displays are to cathode ray tube TVs.MissionsIn some ways, Lozanos transition to ion engines mirrored his own journey from gun powder to electricity and then space travel as a child in Mexico City.It was kind of normal, during the holidays, for people to set off fireworks all the time, he said. We would get their gunpowder for our own explosives. We blew up a lot of stuff.But as Lozano, now a MIT associate professor of aeronautics and astronautics, grew older, he was drawn more towards electricity than explosions, spending time in bookstores because public libraries in Mexico City were scarce. While electromagnetism might seem safer, it too had its hazards. I got shocked many times, he recalled.He also fell in love with space travel, thanks in large part to Star Trek, Star Wars, and Battlestar Galactica.In all the science-fiction movies and television programs, for me the most exciting part was always the enginesStar Warss TIE and X-Wing fightersand how they were able to move around so quickly, he said.Its not surprising that Lozano merged his love for electricity with his interest in rocket engines. After all, the TIE in TIE fighters stood for Twin Ion Engines. Building the ion drive, Lozano said, has fulfilled one of my dreams.While no one is going to confuse a CubeSat with a TIE fighter, the tiny satellites are surprisingly versatile. This is because ion engines can drive and reposition CubeSats during long missions and still leave lots of room for electronics and even mechanical devices.Developers hope to take advantage of this flexibility. They are contemplating missions that range from removing debris and nonfunctioning satellites from orbit to nudging existing satellites onto new flight paths. CubeSats, working alone or in groups, could become the maintenance staff of space, inspecting, docking, assembling, and repairing orbiting structures. They could even be used to explore interplanetary space.custompagebreakLast year Lozano and his team of a dozen post-docs, graduate students, and undergraduates, sent three of their engines to NASA for evaluation. Engineers at NASA Glenn Re search Center in Cleveland, Ohio, are now putting the engines through their paces to understand their behavior.Electrospray thrusters are very new. But more and more people are realizing that they may be the way to go in electric propulsion, because they have so many advantages, Lozano said.A big advantage, when asking for permission to hitchhike a ride into orbit, is that ion electrospray propulsion engines cannot explode and destroy a rockets primary payload.By definition, chemical thrusters can blow up and people dont want to put a $500 million satellite in danger, Lozano says.Even plasma engines are vulnerable because they store gaseous fuel under high pressure. Ion engines, on the other hand, do not contain combustible materials, pressurized containers, or even moving parts. Unlike the firecrackers of Lozanos childhood, they are very, very safe.If you can demonstrate that what you have cannot blow up, then people are happy with you, he said.Scaling UpA second advantage of ion e ngines is their modularity and, consequently, scalability. Need more thrust? Just add more modules, Lozano said. A small CubeSat, for example, might host four thrusters to handle attitude control and main propulsion. A larger CubeSat might need 16 for these functions. The only limitation is the surface area on which the modules can be mounted.Even then, engineers could design satellites to provide more area, if needed. They could, perhaps, add thrusters to pop-out structures that deploy like solar panels once in orbit.Another approach, which Lozano and his team are investigating, is to find better propellants.There are hundreds and thousands of possible propellants described in the literature, so it is very unlikely that we are using the optimal one, he said.While CubeSats are a near-term opportunity, Lozano aspires to greater things. Ultimately, he hopes to make ion engines powerful enough to propel full sized satellites that weigh thousands of kilograms.We are about an order of ma gnitude lower in thrust density compared to the plasma thrusters that put the Boeing satellites into their orbits, Lozano said.A big obstacle to powering such large objects is doing the one thing that ion electrospray engines cannot do Get satellites moving quickly. Conventional chemical engines can boost navigational and communication satellites from low earth to geosynchronous orbits in a few days of repeat burns. Lozanos ion thrusters would need weeks, even months, to make the transition.Still, that might not be such a bad thing, considering the weight savings possible with ion engines and the long lifespan of these spacecraft, Lozano said.After all, the satellites are going to survive for 15 years or so. Their owners really arent going to care if they cant invoice their use for the first three months, he said.Lozano is working with a spinoff company, Accion Systems (Accion is short for accelerated ion), to commercialize ion engines. The companys executives are mostly youthful sp ace propulsion specialists. In addition to Lozano, the advisory board includes Steve Isakowitz, the president of Virgin Galactic, and Bill Swanson, the former chairman and CEO of Raytheon.In 2015, Accion signed a $3 million Department of Defense research contract, cashed its first commercial checks, and won a Fortune magazine contest by convincing judges it could eventually grow into a $1 billion company.More to the point, Accion is readying hardware that is scheduled to fly one mission this year and a second in 2017. Next years mission features a larger ion engine that could take a CubeSat beyond the pull of Earths gravity.While Lozano is notably reticent about mission details and what entity is underwriting them, he says that the flight, if successful, will demonstrate the ability of ion engines to send CubeSats on escape trajectories and interplanetary maneuvers. He also confirms that the target of the 2017 mission is the moon, noting that were not going try to land on itbut we m ight hit it.Which is certainly a long way for a hitchhiker to travel.Greg Freiherr is a Wisconsin-based technology writer.As long as time is not an object, firing long bursts of high-speed ions provides all the thrust needed to accelerate CubeSats into higher orbits and beyond.