Plant Life to Essential Skills for Plant Engineers

Plant Life to Essential Skills for Plant Engineers Plant Life to Essential Skills for Plant Engineers Being a plant engineer can require people skills, problem solving, and the willingness to sometimes get over theless glamorous aspects of engineering. For Mike Cramer, lead plant engineer at FuelCell Energy, Danbury, CT, it comes down to efficiency. Working much more on the operations side, he focuses heavily on final assembly and conditioning. He finds an apt comparison is looking at fuel cells like batteries. If short one battery, the whole series of batteries wont work, he says.My role is first maintaining production and keeping it to the schedule. First, quality and above that, safety, he says. The main goal is to come up with ways to make production easier so that it can aid safety ergonomics, cost reduction, and cycle time.Problem solving is one of many skills that make a good plant engineer. Image FuelCell EnergyAnd the problem solving? Try having to move 110,000 pounds. In th is case, it comes down to utilizing air pallets, a type of load-moving equipmentthat usescompressed air in order to make it possible. Only needing four people for the move is the target here. This, he reminds, also has a clear effect on cost reduction. It could be in saving the time of everyone leaving their job for five to ten minutes for movement, he says.They also have to drive the air pallet onto the stacking fixture. Its about five feet square, thousands of pounds and needs to be placed within 15,000th of an inch. It could take 20 minutes or even four hours when you consider the tiny room for error in backing up the trailer.Analytical AbilityThe challenge, regardless of the goal, is to live up to their joke of how the workers want the task to seemnice and boring. And often they achieve this, allowing the team to focus on supplier questions or track quality issues. Its about understanding better what to spend time on and what is waste.While Cramer finds the analytical ability co mes naturally to some, for others, I see engineers believing they find a problem and they will come up with a solution right away without understanding the root cause. In other words, he says good luck with that.When he started, it was one stack accomplished a year. Cramer believes his patience has helped him be a part of what is now 200, annually. But there are other improvements to come as he thinks LEED manufacturing programs will grow, lowering cycle time for materials entering and leaving the plant as finished goods, along with finding the balance between high quality and efficiency.Path to PlantThe best path to plant engineer? Have strong experience with how machines work and how to design them to get a nice mix of the theoretical and the practical, he says. Students should also look for projects in school where they have to learn how to work with different people in cross functional teamsand not just engineers. since it wont be that way once they enter the profession, he says .Beyond technical skill, have a willingness to find out how the business runs, dont just have tunnel vision towards your job.And maybe, just maybe, be prepared to move some massive weight.Eric Butterman is an independent writer. Have strong experience with how machines work and how to design them to get a nice mix of the theoretical and the practical.Mike Cramer, FuelCell Energy

How to Answer Strange Interview Questions and Land the Job

How to Answer Strange Interview Questions and Land the JobHow to Answer Strange Interview Questions and Land the JobAs if interview questions werent already stressful enough, it binnenseems hiring managers have collectively decided to kick it up a notch. What are we talking about? Strange interview questionsIf you were an animal, which one would you be?Tell me about the most awkward moment in your life.Would you rather fight 1 horse-sized duck, or 100 duck-sized horses? (Actual Whole Foods Market interview question)How many basketballs would fit in this room?So, when a job interviewer asks about your most creative Halloween costume, how do you answer without giving them the whole deer-in-headlights look?Give them a smile (but not a creepy one)A calm smile can buy you some time as long as you dont let it linger so long that it turns into a panicked smile. The whole point to these questions is to create an opportunity for the hiring manager to observe how you handle the unexpected and see how well you can think on your feet. Hopefully your reaction will show how unfazed you are by the question. At least, thats the ideal response.For a lot of companies, questions like this are a way to see if you have the right cultural fit for the company. If you take yourself too seriously, you might risk coming across as a poor fit. So, smile it allows your interviewer some insight that you are ready and willing to take on any unusual challenges.Buy a little timeJust because youre ready and willing doesnt mean you can actually come up with a decent response off the top of your head. Buy a little time if you need to. Questions like this warrant time-buying comments like theseHuh, and I thought Id be ready for anything. Lets seeWow. Ive never been asked that before Youll have to give me a second.Thats a great question Let me think about that.Be enthusiasticKeep in mind that these questions almost never have a right answer. The key to your response is answering coherently and ent husiastically, and not what the content of your answer might be. If youre a funny person and it comes naturally to you, it could be the perfect outlet to use some SFW humor. If humor doesnt come naturally to you, its probably not a good time to start working on it. Itd be a shame to dismantle the great impression youve been giving during the rest of the interview.Take a moment to absorb the question and dont get too wrapped up trying to think of something particularly clever. Focus more on being genuine than being hilarious. Smile, respond carefully and enthusiastically, and move on.Follow up with your own questionA great way to wrap up your response is to ask your interviewer how they would have answered the question or what some of the best responses were from other interviewers. Its an entertaining way to demonstrate your interest in the company culture.The next time youre in a job interview and they ask something unexpected like, Tell me your favorite joke, dont think of it as a time to panic but rather an excellent opportunity to show off your quick wit and your ability to have a little fun.

This is why groups struggle with making decisions often

This is why groups struggle with making decisions oftenThis is why groups struggle with making decisions oftenI recently got back from a motorcycle rally across the Sahara.There were 26 teams in the rally, and each one had a different plan. They ranged from extraordinarily detailed (my, admittedly older, group) to Head west and hope for the best (the younger folks).I found it interesting that while everyone welches competing in the same race, there were multiple realities being used to plan the event. For example, there was one spot on the trip where we found urselves facing a river that was overflowing onto the road and the connected bridge. We had to cross this bridge to continue, but the river made it tricky.To some, this was a sign of worse things to come and a reason to turn back. To others, it was just another obstacle to cross. No big deal. Even within our own group, we had divisions between the more adventurous and more conservative planners.Ive been thinking about this since I got back- and have come to a conclusion about planning and making decisions in high-stakes situationsEven when everyone has the same goal, the focus and plans can be quite differentBy the second day of the rally, we were already a little behind schedule due to the fact that we simply werent traveling as fast as wed planned.Everyone had different ideas about why we were going slower than anticipated and what could be done about it. That evening, half of our group decided to push on- to reach the next town before nightfall- while the other half decided to stay at the town we were in.The group who went ahead was focused on the plan. They were thinking about how to get back on track and meet the deadlines wed set earlier.The group that stayed behind (my group) was focused on trying to understand the situation and how to react to it. Yet even within that unit, there was controversy. People had different assumptions about what was happening. Some were thinking about quitting, others we re considering pushing on with the other group.Later that night, my group got a call from the people who had moved on. One of our friends had fallen and hit his head, and it was possible that he was badly hurt. Later, we learned that he was okay, but his motorcycle was broken- which meant that group ended up even farther behind waiting to get it fixed.The same situation, two very different outcomes. So, if youre trying to achieve the best possible end result, how can you decide between the many different perspectives within a group?When youre trying to make a decision, theres no way to be completely objectiveWe all love being right.Right?The truth is, our decisions are filled with distortions and biases. Its a difficult concept to internalize, but theres no reason to believe your decisions are less biased than anyone elses.However, dont automatically assume that just because something is biased that its wrong. Bias is a distortion- often a lens that you use to make sense of the worl d.Take the investment world, for instance. Warren Buffett and George Soros are two of the best-known investors, but they have very different ways of looking at the world. Buffett is very focused on the margin of safety. He looks at how much downside protection he has, how many real assets are there, and things of that nature.Soros is very focused on the macroeconomic situation and gross economic assumptions. Hes not nearly as concerned with the balance sheet and hard assets in the way Buffett is.Neither one is wrong. Theyre both very good at what they do, but they have their own conclusions. Its the same world and same reality- but a different perspective.To understand how to make a decision, you have to triangulate the different viewsYou can use a change in perspective to your advantage. When youre looking at a situation, it pays to think of how someone whos different from you would assess the issue.It could be a friend you know well but who isnt there at the time. It could be a co worker or a sibling. It could even be a historical figure whose biography youve just read. No matter who you consult, all these examples are a form of reference class forecasting.There is quite a bit of research on this topic. Evan Polman, an assistant professor of medicine at Wisconsin School of Business, has published extensively on the topic, including his research published in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, Information Distortion in self-other decision making. One of the techniques he describes for improved decision making is to visualize your decision as someone elses. This allows you to gain some perspective- to see the forest for the trees, in a sense.A different perspective can help balance your decision-making and allow you to see the situation through multiple lenses. The challenge then is to triangulate on the perspectives, understand the underlying reality, and change what you believe based on whats happening, rather than what you want to happen.The diffi cult part, obviously, is not over-weighing your own perspective on the situation. Its tough to treat every viewpoint as equally valid as your own, but it can be done. And if you can accomplish that feat, you can be confident that your high-stakes decision is at least a well-considered one.This article was originally published on Quora.

Essential Skills for Todays Nurse Practitioners and Physician Assistants

Essential Skills for Todays Nurse Practitioners and Physician AssistantsEssential Skills for Todays Nurse Practitioners and Physician AssistantsEssential Skills for Todays Nurse Practitioners and Physician Assistants BlackHealthcare facilities constantly recruit new nurse practitioners (NPs) and physician assistants (PAs) for their ongoing healthcare hiring needs. These healthcare practitioners fill an important role in healthcare, often giving facilities the capacity to spend more time with patients without having to hire additional physicians.NPs and PAs receive a lot of medical training focused on clinical information and skills, with an emphasis on making patients better. Yet even great clinical skills are often leid enough to be a successful healthcare provider today.New models of team-based medicine and patient care scores require your PAs and NPs to collaborate and clearly communicate. If your providers struggle in these areas, reimbursements may be impacted as well your onlin e reputation when patients share negative feedback online.When its time to hire, what skills should you look for in a nurse practitioner or physician assistant? The following traits can help you get startedClinical skills While clinical skills may be just one of many abilities needed in todays healthcare world, they are still extremely important. Make sure your eignung hires have the skills you need or the ability to learn them. Even better, consider whether they have skills and knowledge to pass on to your current staff.Communication skills Verbal and written communication skills are the most important skills an NP or PA should possess. Whether working with staff or patients, these skills are vital to conveying the message with consistency, clarity and compassion. Make sure you ask about and determine potential candidates communication philosophies and skills.Flexibility This skill is key to working in the healthcare field. Being able to provide backup is often required to propel t he hospital toward future success. In addition, its more than just working the hours, it also applies to working with people of differing ages, backgrounds and personalities. Make sure candidates are aware of whats expected on the flexibility front so there are no surprises after they start working.Life balance A good work life balance creates a better employee, makes your facility more productive and helps prevent burnout. An NP or PA who comes across as a workaholic may be good for your facility in the short-term but likely will lead to long-term burnout. Look for people who do more than just medicine. They will be happier and are likely to relate better to patients as well.Collaborative skills Along with being flexible, it is important to adapt to changes in the healthcare market. Hospitals rely on their NPs and PAs to work well with others, and this includes both hospital staff and patients. Good candidates will have examples of past collaboration and a willingness to work toget her as a team.Listening skills One of the most basic ways to connect with another person is to listen. NPs and PAs often find themselves in the role of patient advocate and likely will have more time with patients than physicians. They can also be strong advocates for your facility and your mission. They will be able to build positive relationships with both with patients and within the organization with their listening skills. Time management skills Being able to schedule your time effectively is imperative in any career but of utmost importance for NPs and PAs. These providers are often called upon to fill in gaps and see patients quickly and seamlessly. Time management is an extremely important skill to have, so make sure your applicants have it. Poor time management leads to even bigger problems down the road and creates more stress for all staff.Organizational skills Going hand-in-hand with time management is organizational skills. Knowing how to effectively chart EMRs and fill out paperwork is extremely valuable in new NPs and PAs.Culturalfit This characteristic may be the most important on this list. Does the candidate understand your mission and vision? Will he or she fit in with the company culture and people already on staff? If not, you may find they just dont fit in, which can create an environment where none of your staff is happy.Tyler Black is the vice president of allied staffing at CompHealth. He places PAs, NPs, therapists, pharmacists and other allied health professionals in permanent, locum tenens and travelling positions around the country. For more information visit CompHealth online.

Why Almost Everything Youve Learned About Resume Cover Letter Samples Is Wrong and What You Should Know

Why Almost Everything Youve Learned About Resume Cover Letter Samples Is Wrong and What You Should Know The Truth About Resume Cover Letter Samples Not to mention, it may bedrngnis always tickle your employers fancy should they know you need to jet. There is going to be recessions where it is not possible to find work. Look for the resume you want. Referrals and letters often apply your letter to a large illustration of it needs to incorporate a separate. Have a look at our price calculator to determine what your perfect price for the paper is Get in touch with the business and find out who the titelbild letter needs to be addressed to. Your cover page must concentrate on the capabilities which can assist you throughout. There are hundreds and hundreds of positions. Resumes cover letters and whats the letter. AusAppPathways Free app that will help you explore careers that may begin through an apprenticeship or traineeship. Furthermore, youre able to learn about maintenanc e careers and search for mechanic jobs on Monster. A Startling Fact about Resume Cover Letter Samples Uncovered Theres no correct or wrong method to create a cover letter, but should you abide by the guidelines below you may be assured your letter will cover all the important info. When youre writing cover letters to apply for jobs, it is a fantastic concept to reassess examples of cover letters that are related to the job that you are applying for. Therefore, the ideas that are employed in your cover document has to be well-formatted and hold the potential to provide you outstanding job offers. Ensure it is sure you have not prepared a lengthy cover page for your goal. By way of example, perhaps you were a manager of a bakery in earlier times but need to submit an application for a writing position. Thus, its not a letter for an answer to a specific job post. Your boss might offer you a superior advice and assist you further. If you are able to get your cover letter into the hands of a hiring manager, youll have far better success. If you employ the name of someone who the hiring manager doesnt trust or respect, you can damage your odds of being contacted for an interview. Never assume that you didnt get the job until youre provided a definitive answer. Make certain that you have not wasted the period of employer in praising yourself and mentioning the information thats not linked with the post that is applied by you. You might not need a level to do the job however, youll definitely need it to find the job. Resumes and use as youve got experience. No one wants to hire somebody whos just desperate for work, any job. If youre searching for jobs as a Field Technician, youre want to be sure youre utilizing the best job seeking skills. Things You Wont Like About Resume Cover Letter Samples and Things You Will Even in the modern society of angeschlossen applications, its still important to get a well-written cover letter. Just as youve got to disci pline yourself to rewriting your application materials, you must decide on the number of positions youre asking for a day. A guide sections deliver visual examples to just repeat of cover. More than two pages can decrease the interest of the particular person whos interpreting your letter. Read my essay writing service reviews and my guide to selecting the very best service for everything you want to understand about how to pick the best writing businesses. Before you choose to compose your cover letter, you have to assess yourself first if youre up for the duties a social media managing position entails. Its vital that the service you decide on knows for sure theyre only selecting the ideal essay writers. In a nutshell, the service exists, so should you wish to use it in order to find a top essay, thats reason enough.

2014 the Most Popular Jobs of the Year and What You Need to Land Them

2014 the Most Popular Jobs of the Year and What You Need to Land Them The job market continues to be highly competitive and low on jobs, but 2014 has been good year formany industries. This list shares the most popular jobs across industries and details what you need in order to land these sought-after positions. This way, you can find availablejobs that both match your skills andpay well. Dental HygienistsThis career requires less study time than most medical careers, and the pay is quite good compared to most entry-level medical jobs.Required Qualifications Accreditation from the American Dental Association.Salary $68,886Veterinary TechniciansWith advancesin veterinary health care, vet techs are receiving better pay to do their jobs, which includes performing tests, making diagnoses, and treatinganimal health conditions.Required Qualifications Pass the National Veterinary Technician Exam.Salary $28,080Fitness TrainersMany new fitness programs cropup each year, and the fitness industry continues to grow at a healthy pace. That means there are more and better paying jobs to go aroundRequired Qualifications Certification of Professional Trainer.Salary $43,572Database AdministratorsIn this digital world,data must be consistently and immediately available. As a database administrator, you will create and work with software to store and retrieve that data, organize databases, and ensure database security is up to par.Required Qualifications At least an Associates Degree in Computer Science.Salary $64,591Medical AssistantsMedical assistants perform administrative tasks and aid in clinical tasks. These assistants are hired by private physicians, chiropractors, ophthalmologists, podiatrists, and other doctors. This career provides medical students with a way to gain work experience and earn a living while studying.Required Qualifications Certification from the American Associatio n of Medical Assistants.Salary $32,519Software EngineersWhether you create apps for mobile devices, software for companies, or large computer systems, the demand for software engineers is always increasing, thanks to the popularity of digital technology.Required Qualifications Bachelor of Science in Software Engineering.Salary $61,035Medical Record and Health Information TechniciansHospitals and clinics always need technicians to organize and store their records, enablingdoctors and nurses to focus on treatingpatients. Its like working as a filing clerk in a hospital.Required Qualifications Register with American Health Information Management Association.Salary $31,554Physicians AssistantPhysicians assistants provide healthcare services overseen by a certified doctor, offering preventative, therapeutic, and diagnostic services in the fields of pediatrics and family medicine.Required Qualifications Accreditation from the Accreditation Review Commission on Education for the Physician Assistant.Salary $93,741Physical Therapist AidesPhysical therapist aides assist in the rehabilitation and training of those with physical disabilities, offering services in hospitals,clinics, and private residences.Required Qualifications High School Diploma.Salary $49,663Network Systems AnalystsNetwork systems analysts are tasked with ensuring that company and corporate networks continue running smoothly, and they are the problem-solving IT specialists that every company needs.Required Qualifications Network Analyst Certificate, Bachelors Degree in Computer Science, Management Information Systems, Information Science, or Systems Engineering.Salary $56,280