YouTube Star Goes Viral with Glitter Bomb, Part 1

YouTube Star Goes Viral with Glitter Bomb, Part 1 YouTube Star Goes Viral with Glitter Bomb, Part 1 YouTube Star Goes Viral with Glitter Bomb, Part 1Mark Rober welches fed up. Packages delivered to his Northern California home began disappearing from his doorstep.So the mechanical engineer with a mischievous sense of humor, a talent for making cool videos, and a popular YouTube channel, exacted what he called engineering revenge.He built a glitter bomba booby-trapped fake packageand left it on his doorstep for thieves to steal. When the unsuspecting criminal opened the package, it smothered them with a pound of glitter and lots of foul-smelling spray. The glitter bomb also housed four hidden smartphones, which tracked the package via GPS, and recorded the thieves reactions getting pranked.But Rober didnt keep their humiliation to himself. He shared it with the world.The result welches, Package Thief vs. Glitter Bomb Trap, a slick video that Rober wrote, narrated and produced. It used security cameras to show thieves, sometimes wearing backpacks, grabbing the package. The smartphones in the device caught their reactions when they were sprayed with glitter and the spray after opening it.Listen to ASME Techcast Renewable Energy Experts Shine Light on Solar Farms and GridsLoading the glitter bomb. ruf Mark RoberRober posted it on YouTube in mid-December. Within one day, it garnered nearly 12 million views. By late January, nearly 54 million people had seen it. It also aired on CBS Los Angeless evening news, thanks to a family member who is one of the anchormen. In roughly one month, his subscribers skyrocketed by nearly one-third, to six million.Thats the cool thing about being a mechanical engineer, Rober said. If you have an idea, unlike most of the people in the population, you have a much better opportunity to build something physical that achieves a task.The glitter bomb certainly did that, surprising and shaming local package thieves. Yet it is only the lates t success for Rober. Over the past seven years, he has parlayed his penchant for complex and zany devicesand slick videos that explain how they workinto a career as a celebrity YouTube personality.It was a surprising turnabout for an engineer who had spent years equipping Curiosity Rover for Mars.Editors Pick How Engineers Can Resolve Conflict and Save Their BusinessThe 39-year-old California natives love of mechanical engineering started with high school physics, where he learned nature was predictable, understandable, and followed a natural order that could be explained through mathematical equations. He loved physics so much, he still dreams of returning to it as a teacher. But Rober chose to pursue mechanical engineering because of the way it embodied those natural laws.I just feel that what you see is what you get, he said. You can actually see the equations in action as physical things you can touch.He earned an undergraduate mechanical engineering degree at Brigham Young Univ ersitys Ira A. Fulton College of Engineering and Technology and joined NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., in 2004. While there, he earned a Master of Science degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Southern California.JPLs creative environment ignited his own creativity, Rober said. His job was designing mechanical parts and instruments on CAD systems and testing them for projects such as the Curiosity Mars rover.But it was ratsdead rats, specificallythat prompted one of Robers first inventions.Rats lived under the building Rober and his boss worked in, and the animals would die in traps platzdeckchen for them. The potent smell would penetrate the building, so Rober wired the traps to his smartphone so it lit up to alert him when the animals got stuck, allowing someone to come and remove them right away, said Brian Okerlund, JPLs group supervisor for mechanical engineering and design.It became clear to Okerlund that Rober was not your typical mechan ical engineer.Hes way out there, he said. He was a very creative individual who brought a lot of fun to the workplace.Okerlund encouraged him to take on more creative projects, such as leading technology seminars. His enthusiasm was infectious, he said. From that aspect, it was kind of hard to see him move on.It was the zany, outlandish Halloween costume Rober built in 2011 that proved the game-changer, and the video he made about it launched his YouTube career.Robers costume was a T-shirt in which he cut a hole in the middle of the front of, and another in the back, both the size of an iPad screen. He taped one iPad to the inside of each hole, then FaceTimed the two iPads with each other. With their cameras pointing outwards, the effect made it look like you could see through the shirt. Rober painted fake blood around the large holes and the iPad 2 Halloween Costume-Gaping Hole in Torso video was born. mora than 8.2 million viewers have seen it on YouTube.That was just an idea I ha d that I thought was cool, and it went pretty viral, Rober said. I thought that was a pretty cool feeling and I decided I would make monthly videos. That was seven years ago. And Ive literally made one video a month since then.The success led him to launch in 2012 his technology-based costume company Digital Dudz.First-month sales reached $250,000, Rober said. The costumes were sold in the United States and Canada. One year later, Rober sold it to Morphsuits, a Halloween costume company in the United Kingdom, for an undisclosed price.Rober left JPL that year to work as a creative designer for Morphsuits. Two years later, he took an RD job with a Silicon Valley technology company as a new products creator/designer. He would not name the company because he agreed to keep it confidential upon accepting the position.Robers inventions are typically mechanically complex a dartboard that moves to catch or avoid a players darts (which took three years to build) a rock-skipping robot a lemon -powered car. But theres a zaniness to them too, like something out of a childs fantasy the worlds largest super soaker, a snowball machine gun. They come alive in Robers slick videos, which he writes, shoots, narrates, and edits to tell how he built each invention.Their combination of wild exuberance and deep technology have earned him guest appearances on Jimmy Kimmel Live, two TEDx talks, and a slot as a host on Discoverys Science channel.I really do get as stoked and excited about these projects, as it hopefully comes across on camera, he said. I think thats what resonates with people.Read Part 2 on how Rober made the glitter bomb.Carol Lawrence is an independent writerRead More Exclusive Stories from ASME.orgArtificial and 3D-Printed Skin Advances for Robots, HumansMarkforgeds Greg Mark on 3D Metal Printing, Additive ManufacturingUniversal Robots Grabs New York Stock Exchange, Manufacturer AttentionThats the cool thing about being a mechanical engineer. If you have an idea, unl ike most of the people in the population, you have a much better opportunity to build something physical that achieves a task.Mark Rober

Multi-Society Joint Rail Conference to be Held Next Month in P...

Multi-Society Joint Rail Conference to be Held Next Month in P... Multi-Society Joint Rail Conference to be Held Next Month in P... Multi-Society Joint Rail Conference to be Held Next Month in PhiladelphiaMarch 10, 2017 The 2017 Joint Rail Conference (JRC 2017), the engineering communitys premier annual technical railroad event in the United States, is only a few weeks away. The conference, which will be held from April 4-7 in Philadelphia, Pa., will encompass the many different disciplines that are involved in freight and passenger rail transportation, including mechanical, electrical, civil, and systems engineering, as well as rail safety, planning, design, manufacturing, financing, operations, and management.The conference, which will take place at the Doubletree by Hilton Philadelphia City Center, is sponsored by ASME along with a number of other organizations including the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineer s (IEEE) the Transportation Research Board (TRB) of the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine the American Railway Engineering and Maintenance-of-Way Association (AREMA) and the American Public Transportation Association (APTA).The meetings technical tracks will focus on a variety of topics related to the rail industry, including railroad infrastructure engineering, rail equipment engineering, signal and train control engineering, service quality and operations research, planning and development, safety and security, energy efficiency and sustainability, urban passenger rail transport, electrification, and vehicle-track interaction.This years conference will feature presentations from notable members of the rail industry, including Jeffrey D. Knueppel, general manager of the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) Devin Rouse, staff director of the passenger rail division of the Federal Railroad Administrations Office of Safety and A ndrew Wood, executive project director for Amtraks Tier III Trainset Project Management Office.The 2017 Joint Rail Conference will also feature a special Grand Challenge Competition, during which attendees can pitch their solutions for reducing the number of train accidents in the United States to a panel of experts, and technical tours of SEPTAs Fern Rock Shop and the transportation authoritys new Crum Creek Viaduct. To learn more about the Grand Challenge Competition, visit www.asme.org/events/joint-rail-conference/program/grand-challenge. For more information about the technical tours, visit www.asme.org/events/joint-rail-conference/program/technical-tours.To learn more about the 2017 Joint Rail Conference, or for information on registration, visit www.asme.org/events/joint-rail-conference.

Flying to Space on Butterfly Wings

Flying to Space on Butterfly Wings Flying to Space on Butterfly Wings Flying to Space on Butterfly WingsYouve heard of the schmetterlingsschwimmen effect the flap of a butterflys wings in Ecuador could result in a tornado in Kansas. Two mathematicians will use the phenomenon to explore something that seemingly has little to do with butterfly wings cutting the cost of space travel.Those decreased costs could, in turn, open up the final frontier to greater exploration.If we could harness the dynamics behind the butterfly effect we could move spacecraft with very little fuel, extend the life of satellites, or send robots to the moon inexpensively, says Rafael de la Llave, a Georgia Tech mathematics professor.He has teamed with a mathematician at Yeshiva University and designers at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory to apply those dynamics to space mission design. Dr. Marian Gidea (left) is researching mora efficient routes for space travel with doctoral students Wai-Ting Lam ( center) and Maxwell Musser. Image Yeshiva UniversityThe butterfly effectalso known as the Arnold diffusion mechanismstates that small amounts of force, applied at the right moments, can produce large effects over time. It offers a way to understand and mathematically describe what happens when a simple physical system is modified slightly, de la Llave says.To visually depict the dynamics induced by the butterfly effect, de la Llave attaches two one-inch-diameter hex nuts to strings of the same length, which he then hangs them from a clothesline.With the hex nuts at rest he taps one and it begins to swing softly. Within seconds the other nut also begins to move. Eventually the two hex nuts begin oscillating as they transfer energy from one to the other. Where mora hex nuts are called into play, theyd soon begin to exhibit more complicated geometric patterns as they oscillated. And it all started from that first, small tap.If we could harness the dynamics behind the butterfly effect, we could move spacecraft with very little fuel, extend the life of satellites, or send robots to the moon inexpensively. Prof. Rafael de la Llave, Georgia TechFor another example, think of a person who pushes a child on a playground swing. Even though the person gives only a tiny push each time the swing comes back, the amplitude of the swing keeps increasing, says Marian Gidea, professor in Yeshiva Universitys graduate programs in mathematical sciences who is part of the project.Now the goal is to make those oscillations mathematically explicit, in the words of de la Llave, in a way that can be applied to space flight.Spacecraft typically follow conical routes that have been found to use the least fuel. But those routes still require long detours to get to the final destination. Those detours, of course, burn fuel.The dynamics behind the butterfly effect can be used to find the small forces that result from the intertwining of the natural gravity of the moon, sun, and planets. Thos e forces open up space superhighways that spacecraft can glide along without burning any fuel at all, Gidea says.Adding small maneuvers at precise times and locations along the pathways could save even more fuel, he adds.For space missions, rather than a parent pushing a swing, the tiny first flutter is the combining of the gravitational tides from stars, planets, and moons that eventually opens a space superhighway, Gidea says. Because celestial bodies are moving all the time, the formula is needed to continually find the superhighways, de la Llave adds.The first flutter could also be that of a rocket engine firing at just the right place in its flight when a boost is needed to accelerate orbit, Gidea says. For the project, mathematicians Gidea and de la Llave are charged with applying the Arnold diffusion mechanism to find those first pushes and follow them as theyre amplified over time.In timeand with advancing technologytheir method might even allow spacecraft to visit the moons of Jupiter systematically, de la Llave says.If we want to go around jumping from moon to moon, applying these new advances in mathematics can help us get there at much, much lower cost, making such a mission so much more doable, he says.Jean Thilmany is an independent writer. For Further Discussion

4 Salary Negotiation Tactics to Get the Salary You Deserve

4 Salary Negotiation Tactics to Get the Salary You Deserve4 Salary Negotiation Tactics to Get the Salary You DeserveAwesome You created an awesome resume, applied for a job, nailed the interview, and got the job offer you worked so hard for. But hold on just a minute before you shake their hand and take the position, your employers will want to know what your salary expectations are.Navigating salary negotiations is one of the scariest parts of getting a job. If you ask for too much, you risk offending your new employer or starting off on the wrong foot, or worse, the employer taking back the job offer entirely. If you ask for too little, you risk selling yourself short.Negotiating your salary can be hard, but dont let that stop you from asking for a fair wage.Learn these four salary negotiation tactics to get the compensation you deserve.1. Dont Jump the Gun on Salary NegotiationResist the impulse to ask about salary until you are actually offered the position. Until then, the focu s should be on selling your hard and soft skills, learning more about the company, and building a positive rapport with the hiring manager.If the employer asks you what you would like to be paid, calmly answer that you will consider a salary or wage based on the job offered once the responsibilities and duties attached have been elaborated upon.2. Do Your Research on Your ortPrepare yourself for your negotiation by researching the job and employer before you walk into the interview. Its especially helpful to check online to see the average pay for the job through companies like PayScale and Glassdoor, though make sure to take how much experience you have into account.Of course, every employer offers different benefits, such as salary increases, commission, bonuses, benefits, and expectations, such as the hours that youll be expected to work. Keep these factors in mind when youre deciding on what you think a fair salary should be.3. Be Prepared to NegotiateNow that youve researched a nd weighed the pros and cons of your new job, youre ready to share your thoughts with your employer.If youre nervous, set aside some time before your interview to rehearse negotiating in the mirror or with a friend. Keep practicing until youre able to make your case with confidence.4. Dont Rush to the Finish LineIf youre not happy with the salary your prospective employer has named, ask if you can have a day to consider the offer. This gives you the opportunity to do more research to see if the salary theyre naming is actually fair, and it gives them a gunst der stunde to increase their proposed amount when you return the next day. You may be pleasantly surprised with tomorrows offerIf you take the time to research your position and confidently ask for whats fair, chances are that youll get the salary that you want.What If I Dont Get the Salary I Want?If you dont get the offer youre looking for, dont be discouraged. It could be that the companys budget simply doesnt allow for your p roposed salary, or maybe they just want to see you in action before offering a higher wage.See alsoPersonal Branding Tips to Get NoticedIf youre dissatisfied with the salary that your prospective employer offers, ask yourself if youre able and willing to work for that salary. If you cant accept, you can seek other opportunities with a clear conscience.On the other hand, if youre able to make that salary work, consider the advantages and disadvantages of the job, its positive and negative factors, and the future opportunities it may lead to. You may find that its a good career move to take the job, even if it pays a little less than youd like.Regardless of whether you choose to take the job or not, appreciate that youre making an informed and confident decision that is taking you closer to your dream career.Learn MoreDont forget the most important step of getting the job you want. Take advantage of Resume.coms resume templates to get the resume that will make sure youre negotiating y our salary with confidence

Learn About Position Grade Levels

Learn About stelle Grade LevelsLearn About Position Grade LevelsMany organizations, institutions and governmental bodies (state and local governments, the federal government, and various agencies) use a position/employee grade-leveling system that helps differentiate between positions and standardize compensation across equivalent skill sets and responsibilities. The creation and maintenance of a system of standardized employee grade levels help ensure fair compensation for the saatkorn level of work across different departments and divisions. Consider, a typical software firm that employs programmers, testers, support specialists, sales representatives, marketing specialists, project managers, human resource managers, accountants and so forth. It would be challenging to ensure consistent and fair compensation across these many different roles without creating some form of standardization mechanism. Factor in the reality that for every position title, there are varying levels, includ ing juniorchef or senior roles for managers and individual contributors and you can imagine the potential for confusion without an organized system.The position or employee grade level system does just that. Sample Position/Employee Grade Level Descriptions Here are examples of employee grade level descriptions from individual employees up to the Vice President level. Level A Entry Level Individual Contributor Individuals at this level usually follow standard work routines. They also do the following Work under close supervision (generally).Typically have very little decision-making ability.Have no budgetary responsibility or ability to spend without approval.Require (typically) less than three years of relevant experience. Level B Experienced Individual Contributors Individuals at this level usually have procedural or systems experience. They also do the following Work under general supervision.Make decisions based on established procedures.May have nominal budgetary responsibi lity or ability to spend.Require three to five years (typically) of relevant experience. Level C Managers and Senior Technical Professionals and Individual Contributors Individuals at this level must have command of the procedures and systems used. They also do the following Work to specific measurable objectives (generally) requiring operational planning skill with little direct supervision.Have considerable latitude for making decisions within their unit.Have involvement in the hiring, development, and related personnel processes.Have budgetary responsibilities (typically).Exercise crucial people skills.Require five to seven years of relevant experience. Level D Directors Individuals at this level must have a thorough understanding of the theoretical and practical application of the principles of their profession. They also do the following Work to broad goals for their area of responsibility.Have significant latitude for making decisions for their operational or functional units. Have hire/fire authority over team members.Have direct expense responsibility for significant departmental or unit budgets.Exercise essential people skills.Require eight to ten years of relevant experience. Level E Vice Presidents/General Managers Individuals at this level are seasoned professionals in their field of expertise. They do the following Give strategic guidance to the units under their control.Develop and direct short and near-term goals for their units.Exercise broad decision-making latitude within their functional units.Have complete budgetary control over the functions under their control.Make use of essential people skills, including the ability to develop subordinates.Require more than 10 years of relevant experience. Position Grade Levels and Compensation Levels The above position grade levels will be governed by a set of compensation parameters described as a compensation grade level. Every different position level will have its own range of salary, from low t o high. Additionally, there may be several layers of the compensation grades where the low, high and midpoint salaries vary from level to level. Consider that the Level C Managers category may include junior manager, manager, and senior manager designations, all with their own compensation ranges. Development of Grade Levels The process of developing, implementing and then refining position and compensation grade levels over time is typically the responsibility of the human resources department. Consider a vice presidents request to create an all-new position. She would work with the human resources team in the following process Describe the nature, scope, and responsibilities of the new role in detail.Define the criteria for education and background experience required for the role.Evaluate the budgetary and decision-making authority of the role.Look at the expected career progression for the position.Compare the role to others in the department.Compare the role and job paramet ers to outside examples. Once the above is completed, the human resources executive would decide which level the position falls into. After this position leveling is resolved, the compensation matrix would be applied and low, mid and high point positions for compensation would be documented. Marketplace compensation data for equivalent positions in similar industries would be used to compare the internal assessment to the external realities. The Bottom Line This detailed and involved process helps ensure consistency for the treatment of all employees, regardless of their functions or primary vocations.

Make a Resume - Overview

Make a Resume - Overview Get the Scoop on Make a Resume Before Youre Too Late Make certain if theres a watermark on the paper that its facing the right way and regardless of what you do, ensure it remains readable. A resume is a significant tool only as long as you treat it like one. Ensuring your categories are well organized is a fast approach to help set you in the yes pile and keep you from the trash pile. Share your work when youre completely pleased with your design and work, you can share it to the world via your social networking accounts, personal site, or many different different channels you might utilize. Youre able to import the simple information from social media such as Google, Facebook or Twitter. Blogging and societal media are both expert pursuits. Theres a difference between tweaking your resume to stay current and viable, and lying to obtain work. Hiring managers skim your resume, and several of them spend under a minute reading the full thing. Youre j ust working to make sure that you maximize their knowledge of what a wonderful fit for them you might be. The issue is, each job differs and what each hiring manager is searching for is different. The simple truth is, acquiring a simple personal site that highlights your abilities and more importantly your personality go a ways to creating a 3 dimensional persona for the hiring manager. The work, which demands the complete attention and a crystal clear mind. fruchtwein people today look at writing a resume as just something youve got to do to have a job. Ensure you didnt miss whatever could cost you the job that you dream about Resume temporary software automates the early phases of the recruitment procedure. Theres a new need to create your resumestand outto applicant tracking systems and hiring managers. If youre developing a Squarespace website for your job search or private brand, you may want to add your resume to ensure it is accessible to prospective employers, contact s, and clients. If youre a management student, you have to know about sales strategy and management abilities. Details of Make a Resume An employer needs to be able to get in touch with you by making only one call. Companies are constantly searching for talented team members. Adhering to a thriving internship its not uncommon for employers to create a full-time job offer to their intern. Type of Make a Resume 17% chances your cover letter is going to be read 1. Together with thethree main sections to include in a resume, it is advised to tailor your resume to your private profile with the addition of different subheadings where youre able to develop the appropriate details. Your resume structure will also permit you to incorporate some achievements. In addition, there are a few instances of cover letters. Characteristics of Make a Resume Even in case you havent been in school for quite a while, its totenstill important to demonstrate your education level. Needless to s ay, you are going to write what degree youve got. If youre applying to a job that explicitly needs a particular degree or a fresh graduate with very little or no work experience, it would be far better write off your education instantly following your summary. Ideally, select an activity that youll have the ability to continue into college. There are lots of good resources to find an Internship. The essential point to obtain an Internship is that you have to be having an extra skill besides Academics. With the rising demand, it is rather simple to land that job with an appropriate skill set and experience. So, the next thing to do is to earn a decent resume, mentioning your abilities and talent. There are many diverse rules to follow and so many possibilities to produce a job-costing mistake. Speaking of unique, the main target of your resume is to make you stick out from the remainder of the folks applying for equal job and another means to create that happen is to use acti on verbs and power words (also known as resume verbs). The point is to grab focus at the correct keyword phrases to make maximum effect. For almost whatever you want to include on a resume, theres a category to help organize it. For instance, you may find decent details on the subject of How to stop a youngsters hysteria. Fortunately my family and friends in the states are extremely encouraging and supportive. If you can imagine anything that youve spent a substantial period of time doing for a worthwhile reason, it can most likely be counted as an extracurricular activity. Anything more than a few sentences is likely to be ignored.

The No. 1 Reason Job Seekers Make Bad Career Decisions

The No. 1 Reason Job Seekers Make Bad Career Decisions We spend about a third of our days at our jobs, and yet roughly 70 percent ofus are unhappywith our careers.While a lack of praise from leadership can explain this unhappiness, the jobs fit may be a problem, too. Its not necessarily that an employeeisnt smart enough to do the job theyve chosen even the smartest people make poor career decisions. Rather, poor career choices often happen because a person doesnt have all theinformation they need to make a decision that will positively impact their long-term career goals.In fact, a lack of information is the No. 1 reason why job seekers make bad career decisions.I often see job seekers say yes to any and all job opportunities given to them by recruiters without thinking about the long-term consequences of taking oneach job. It is important that, instead of jumping at every offer, professionals take time to scope out the whole situation and really thin k through the impacts of their decisions.Here are a few steps you can take to make learning a part of your decision-making strategy for long-term career successRecognize Learning as the SolutionYou can certainly learn how to make the right move at the right time, so its important to recognizelearning itself as a job search solution and career success principle. Learning gives you the opportunity to research and gather the information you need to make better decisions.Learning is not just limited to what you read in books you can learn from experiences, podcasts, career consultants, coaches, mentors, and peers.Love the Learning ProcessLearning should be a lifelong pursuit, so its vital that you learn to love the process. Many top industry leaders and influencerseven go so far as setting aside five hours for dedicated learning every week.By learning to love the learning process, you can establish learning as a habit. As a result, youll be spending time every week growing your career a nd speeding up your job search.Remain in Student ModeBeing in student mode means being in a constant state of learning. When you are in the student mode, youre always looking to gain insight. This will help you mora easily find the information you need to reinvent yourself when the climate for your industry changes, or you require new skills to excel in your career path.Celebrate Each MilestoneJust as it is important to love the process of learning, it is also important to celebrate each milestone that you reach. Acquiring a new skill doesnt come to anyone easily. Treat yourself to something nice when you master a new ability or otherwise accomplish your goals.Making a smart career move requires more than knowing how to do the job for which youre applying it also means understanding your whole career so that you dont deviate from the plan.Being in thestudent mode on a consistent basis allows you to stay ahead of the curve and beat your competition whenever necessary. Education and t raining are the pathways to job search and career success, so take time to learn everything you need to in order to have the career you desire. Proactively pursue connections with those who can teach you the skills you require. That is how you will become a well-rounded professional who can handle themselfat work.By making lifelong learning a cornerstone ofyour career plan, you will set yourself up to make smarter short- and longterm career decisions.Nader Mowlaeeis an engineering career coach and recruiter who is motivated by building confidence in engineers.

Coast Guard Rescue Swimmer Training

Coast Guard Rescue Swimmer TrainingCoast Guard Rescue Swimmer TrainingThe Coast Guards rescue swimmer training school has one of the highest student attrition rates of any special operations school in the military. Roughly 75 to 100 students go through 24 weeks of Coast Guard Rescue Swimmer school in Elizabeth City, North Carolina, and just over half of them complete the course successfully. Some years, the dropout rate for this program has been as high as 80 percent. And this is from a pool of candidates of Coast Guard personnel who are conditioned to be able to swim well. Its definitely not a job for the faint of heart. Requirements for Coast Guard Rescue Swimmers Rescue swimmers must have flexibility, strength, endurance, and be able to function for 30 minutes in heavy seas. This is obviously far and above the normal lifeguard course youre not just treading water, youre expected to be able to hold your breath, and perform challenging tasks. Rescue swimmers need to be able to p rovide basic life hilfestellung for whoever they may be rescuing, of course, and their training will include emergency medical training (EMT) course. But its not the standard EMT training its for rescues to be conducted in the open seas under extreme conditions. Standards for Coast Guard Rescue Swimmers The required monthly physical training fitness regimen includes a 12-minute crawl swim of 500 yards or longer, a 25-yard underwater swim and a 200-yard buddy tow. Those are in addition to performingpush-ups, sit-ups, pull-ups, chin-ups, just like other military fitness tests. Here are the minimum fitness requirements for each category ExerciseMinimum StandardPushups50Sit-ups60Pull-ups5Chin-ups5500-yard swimCompleted within 12 minutes25-yard underwater swimRepeat 4 TimesBuddy Tow200 yards Lessons for Coast Guard Rescue Swimmers The 137-page operations manual includes lessons in eight different water deployment procedures, 11 ways to approach, carry and release a survivor, seve n ways to release equipment for Navy and Air Force flyers and ways to detangle the services different parachutes and backpacks. Rescue swimmers also must have the skills to provide basic pre-hospital life support for rescued individuals. And as part of their training, candidates must complete a four-week emergency medical training course at the Coast Guard EMT school in Petaluma, California Training Regimen for Coast Guard Rescue Swimmers Adding even more pressure during training, instructors treat candidates with a strenge ausbildung sergeant style. But this is perhaps the most crucial part of the training if these candidates cant endure extreme conditions, its going to be hard to rescue someone in distress. Candidates selected for the school must first go through what is called the airmen training course. The four-month-long course, which, despite its name, has nothing to do with the Air Force, helps prepare candidates for the grueling rescue swimmer course. The first six week s of the four-month course is loaded with rescue swimmer training. While they are going through the swimming and classroom phase of their training, candidates also must attend classes to learn about the aircraft they will serve on. Finally, before graduating, candidates are required to pass a test involving multiple rescue scenarios.

Refresh your resume in 5 steps (while employed)

Refresh your resume in 5 steps (while employed)Refresh your resume in 5 steps (while employed)It never hurts to freshen up your resume with new achievements and an eye toward the future of your career, especially while employed. Shifting technology makes what to include on your resume even more tricky. Do you include an objective? What about your LinkedIn profile? How do you make your resume less boring?Print out your resume and get your red pen ready. A hard copy lets you see details you might otherwise reisepass over. Heres what you need to do to liven your resume up1. Keep the format simpleOddly formatted resumes are the bane of hiring managers existences. The creative colors, spacing, and various fonts become an eyesore, making you stand out in a different way than what you intended. Saving the file as a PDF keeps the data from warping when opened in different software.Keep the format simple and intuitive for others to navigate. A sans serif font is easiest on the eyes, and dont go crazy with bold, italicizing and underlining. Balance white space with content. Information on your resume should be quick and easy to locate, not give you a headache.Save the creative design for the creatives. If youre a designer or creative,consider designing an infographic resumeto let your resume showcase your skills in a sensible and helpful way. Your resume should easy to peruse and relevant to the job role and industry.2. Make cutsYoud be surprised aboutwhat you dont need in a resume. You wont be surprised, though, to know that managers are skimming for required details that categorize you according to assumption rather than talent. Try these tipsIf youre not a new graduate, eliminate the year of graduation. Cutting the date lets them measure your merit while adding up years.Take out References available upon request. Thats obvious.Delete soft skills. Save job intricacies for the interview, and list the measurable achievements.Leave out high school and college accomplishme nts if it was years ago. Focus on now.Goodbye, Objective section That detail is for your cover letter.Consider deleting your address. Most of the time, thats added to a database as you apply, or is filled out during paperwork. Some managers may assume you cant handle the commute. A telephone and email address is enough.3. Add linksInclude relevant social media and professional links in your resume. Does your industry require you to network and recruit new business and professionals? Does your role deal with marketing or influencing, especially as an industry expert?Convenientlylink hiring managers right to the information they need in one resource. List your Twitter, LinkedIn, blog and new digital publications. Use hyperlinks with relevant text, instead of lengthy URLs, and only use when appropriate.4. Engage with active verbsResumes are polluted with passive word choices, especially when it comes to overused verbs. You dont want your resume to sound like a life coach giving a TED t alk while jumping out of a plane. However, your resume showcases your talents and how you performed within your job role. Your word choices can disempower you. Use active verbs.Be precise, accurate andengage with compelling verb choices. Ditch these terms led, helped, handled, worked and responsible for. Imagine your verbs as the pull back on an arrow before hitting the target - the force and energy required to snag the job. Avoid clichs, such as go-getter.Did you lead a project? Try chaired, headed, executed or coordinated. Had a vision come to life? Try devised, launched, pioneered or spearheaded. Save the company budget? Try diagnosed, deducted, consolidated or conserved. Active verbs dont have to be flashy to catch attention.5. Use keywords to your advantageTechnology has made the hiring process easier for management, by allowing software to scan resumes for details that match the job description. Usekeywords to your advantageby placing them, where relevant, in your resume.Do y ou have a copy of your job description? Look up alternative names for your role (or desired role), and analyze what keywords are used. Dont lie and dont copy the job description word for word. Yet, realize that your resume isnt likely getting a first pass by a human being. Dont leave out specific software, years of experience and desired qualifications that are listed if you have those.Youll also find specific language with strong word choices unique to that industry and described in ways you may have not considered. Your cover letter and interview will also benefit from this knowledge. This strategy is particularly helpful when analyzing job descriptions for a role that you wish to grow into as your career develops. Start tailoring your resume nowTrends in what makes a proper resume shift on the whims of manager preferences, but a little common sense maintains certain rules. Simplicity is key, even in an age of developing technology. Focus on precision, hard numbers and active voic e when sharing your achievements on your resume. Just a few changes will refresh your resume and give it the pep needed to reach for your career goals.This article first appeared on YourCoffeeBreak.

This is the most important skill nobody taught you

This is the most important skill nobody taught you This is the most important skill nobody taught you Before  dying  at the  age  of 39,  Blaise Pascal  made huge  contributions  to  both  physics and mathematics,  notably  in  fluids,  geometry, and  probability. This work, however,  would  influence more than just the  realm  of the natural sciences. Many fields that we now  classify  under the heading of social science did, in fact, also  grow out  of the foundation he helped  lay.Follow Ladders on Flipboard!Follow Ladders’ magazines on Flipboard covering Happiness, Productivity, Job Satisfaction, Neuroscience, and more!Interestingly  enough, much of this was  done  in his  teen  years, with some of it coming in his  twenties.  As an adult, inspired by a  religious  experience,  he actually started to move towards philosophy and theology.Right before his death, he was  hashing  out  fragments  of private thoughts that would later be  released  as a collection by  the  name  of  Pensées.While the  book  is mostly a mathematician’s case for choosing a life of faith and belief,  the  more  curious thing  about  it is  its  clear and  lucid  ruminations  on what it means to be human.  It’s a  blueprint  of our psychology long before psychology was  deemed  a formal  discipline.There is  enough  thought-provoking  material in it to quote,  and it attacks  human  nature from a variety of  different angles,  but one of its most  famous  thoughts  aptly  sums up  the core of his argument:“All of humanity’s  problems  stem from  man’s  inability to sit  quietly  in a  room  alone.”According to  Pascal,  we fear  the  silence  of existence,  we  dread  boredom  and  instead  choose  aimless  distraction,  and  we  can’t help  but  run from the  problems  of our  emotions  into the false comforts of the mind.The  issue at the  root, essentially,  is  that  we  never  learn  the  art of solitude.The  Perils  of Being ConnectedToday, more than ever, Pascal’s message  rings  true.  If there is one word to describe the progress made in the last 100 year s,  it’s  connectedness.Information  technologies have dominated our cultural  direction.  From the telephone to the  radio  to the TV to the internet, we have found ways to bring us all closer together, enabling constant  worldly  access.I can sit in my office in Canada and transport myself to practically anywhere I want through Skype. I can be on the other side of the world and still know what is going on at home with a quick browse.I don’t think I need to highlight the benefits of  all this.  But  the  downsides  are also beginning to show.  Beyond the current  talk about  privacy and data collection, there is perhaps an even more  detrimental  side-effect  here.We  now live  in  a world where  we’re  connected  to  everything  except  ourselves.If Pascal’s observation about  our  inability to sit quietly in a room by ourselves is true of the  human condition  in general, then the  issue has certainly been augmented  by an order of magnitude due to the options available t oday.The logic is, of course,  seductive.  Why be alone when you never have to?Well,  the answer is that  never being alone is not the same thing as never feeling alone.  Worse yet,  the  less comfortable you are with solitude, the  more likely it is that you won’t know yourself.  And then, you’ll spend even more time avoiding it to focus elsewhere.  In the process,  you’ll become addicted to the same technologies that were meant to set you free.Just  because we can use the noise of the world to  block out  the discomfort of dealing with ourselves doesn’t mean that this discomfort goes away.Almost everybody thinks of  themselves as self-aware.  They think they know how they feel  and what they want and what their problems are.  But the truth is that very few people really do.  And  those that do will be the first to tell  how  fickle  self-awareness is and  how much alone time  it  takes to get there.In today’s world,  people can go their whole lives without truly digging beyond  the surface-level masks they wear;  in fact, many do.We are  increasingly  out of touch with who we are, and that’s a problem.Boredom  as a Mode of  StimulationIf we take it back to the fundamentals - and this is something Pascal touches on, too -  our  aversion  to solitude  is really an  aversion  to boredom.At its core,  it’s not necessarily that we are addicted to a TV set  because there is something uniquely satisfying about it, just like  we are not addicted to most stimulants  because the  benefits  outweigh  the downsides.  Rather,  what  we are really addicted to is a  state  of  not-being-bored.Almost  anything  else that controls our life in an  unhealthy  way finds its root in  our realization that  we dread the nothingness of nothing.  We  can’t imagine just  being  rather than  doing.  And therefore,  we look for  entertainment, we seek company, and if those fail,  we chase even higher  highs.We ignore the fact that  never facing this nothingness is  th e  same as never facing ourselves.  And  never facing ourselves  is why  we feel lonely and anxious  in spite of being so intimately connected to everything else around us.Fortunately, there is a solution.  The only way  to  avoid being ruined  by this fear  -  like any fear - is to  face  it.  It’s to  let the  boredom take you where it wants so you can deal with whatever it is that is really going on with your sense of self.  That’s when  you’ll hear yourself think, and that’s when you’ll  learn to engage  the parts of you that are masked by distraction.The beauty of this is that, once you cross that initial barrier, you realize that  being alone isn’t so bad.  Boredom can provide its own  stimulation.When you surround yourself with moments of solitude and  stillness, you become  intimately  familiar with your environment  in a way that forced stimulation doesn’t allow.  The world becomes richer, the  layers  start to peel back, and you see things for what they rea lly are, in all their wholeness, in all their  contradictions, and in all their unfamiliarity.You learn that there are other things you are capable of paying attention to than just what makes the most noise on the surface.  Just because a quiet room doesn’t scream  with excitement  like the idea of  immersing  yourself in a movie  or a TV show doesn’t mean that there isn’t depth to explore there.Sometimes,  the direction that this solitude leads you in can be unpleasant, especially when it comes to  introspection  - your thoughts and your feelings, your doubts and your hopes - but in the long-term, it’s far more pleasant than running away from it all without even realizing that you are.Embracing boredom  allows you to discover  novelty  in things you didn’t know were novel;  it’s like being an unconditioned child seeing the world for the first time.  It also  resolves  the majority of internal conflicts.The TakeawayThe more the world advances, the more stimulation it w ill provide as an  incentive  for us to get outside of our own mind to engage with it.While Pascal’s generalization that a lack of comfort with solitude is the root of all our problems may be an  exaggeration, it isn’t an entirely  unmerited  one.Everything that has done so much to connect us has simultaneously isolated us.  We are so busy being distracted that we are  forgetting to tend to ourselves, which is consequently making us feel more and more alone.Interestingly,  the main  culprit  isn’t our obsession with any particular worldly stimulation.  It’s  the fear of nothingness  -  our  addiction to a state of not-being-bored.  We have an instinctive  aversion  to simply  being.Without  realizing the value of solitude, we are overlooking the fact that,  once the fear of boredom is faced,  it can actually provide its own stimulation.  And  the only way  to  face it is to make time, whether every day or every week, to  just sit - with our thoughts, our feelings, with a m oment of stillness.The  oldest philosophical wisdom in the world has one piece of advice for us:  know yourself.  And there is a good reason why that is.Without  knowing ourselves, it’s almost impossible to find a healthy way to interact with the  world  around us.  Without taking  time to figure it out, we don’t have a foundation to build the rest of our lives on.Being alone and connecting inwardly  is a skill nobody ever teaches us.  That’s ironic because it’s more important than most of the ones they do.Solitude may not be the solution to everything, but it certainly is a start.Want to think and live smarter?  Zat Rana  publishes a free weekly newsletter for 30,000+ readers at  Design Luck.This  article  was originally published on  Design Luck.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

5 Career Lessons You Need to Remember to Get Ahead -The Muse

5 Career Lessons You Need to Remember to Get Ahead -The Muse 5 Career Lessons You Need to Remember to Get Ahead The longer we work, the more we learn: what not to do during an interview, how to deal with a bad boss, when it’s appropriate to ask for a raise. But some of the key things we uncover from our career failures, challenges, and achievements tend to get lost in the sea of knowledge we pick up on a regular basis. And it’s about time we had a refresher. So, here are five career lessons we know all too well, but need to be reminded of if we want to keep moving forward. 1. Your Next Mistake Won’t Be Your Last You may think this time things will be different, but chances are another mishap will come along. Not because you’re destined for failure, but because making mistakes is all part of the process. Rather than believe you’re flawless and nothing can go wrong, accept that obstacles are bound to show up and that you’ll be prepared for them when they do. This is how you’ll ultimately build mental strength and set yourself up better for success. Read This: How to Recover From a Huge, Huge Mistake at Work 2. You Have to Ask for What You Want It would be awesome if your boss just handed you that raise or promotion, but the reality is it all lies on you. If you want something, ask for it (and prove why you deserve it). No one can read your mind but you, so the only way you’ll turn thoughts into actions is to actually act on them. Read This: Expert Advice for Getting What You Want 3. Career Happiness Requires Work You may admire those around you who leave work in a chipper mood every day, and wonder what their secret is. Maybe they got lucky, maybe they’re more talented than you, maybe they’re better connected. But the real secret is that that person worked really hard to get where they are. They may not have always loved their job, but they put in their due diligence- networked, submitted tailored applications, worked crappy jobs, and took on side gigs. Everyone deserves to love their career, but more importantly everyone has the ability to do so. It won’t happen immediately (read on for why), but if you set your sights on seeking happiness, you’re that much closer to reaching it. Read This: It’s Not Your Job, It’s You: The Real Reasons You’re Unhappy at Work 4. Success Takes Time Just as being happy in your career doesn’t come with the snap of your fingers, reaching success takes time- and accepting this requires patience. More importantly, success doesn’t happen by taking one giant leap. Don’t discount the little steps you take along the way- they may seem insignificant and tedious now, but two, five, 10 years from now you’ll be glad you took them. Read This: 3 Reasons You Can’t Take Shortcuts on Your Path to Success 5. Work and Life Aren’t Mutually Exclusive Trying to keep work at work sounds good in theory, but it’s just not the case anymore (you can blame technology). Because we all know that when things aren’t going so great in our personal lives, it can be difficult to focus on the task at hand. On the contrary, when work is a struggle, it’s hard to enjoy our time outside the office. This means that work and life should be treated equally and in tandem. Our decisions should align with our values outside work, while our choices should support the lives we want to create. Read This: 5 Lies You Believe About Work-Life Balance That Simply Aren’t True We hear these (somewhat clichéd) lessons all the time, but every once in a while we need a reminder of why they’re so important. Because if we keep these top of mind, we can ensure we’re heading down the right path.

Ideas for Temporary Summer Housing for Interns

Ideas for Temporary Summer Housing for Interns Ideas for Temporary Summer Housing for Interns A summer internship can be a great opportunity, but when it is in a different city from where you live or attend school, housing can be a challenge. Resources like intern housing can match interns with property owners who have rooms or apartments available to rent on a short-term basis. Schools, employers, and fellow interns also can be good resources for finding suitable and affordable housing. Explore all options to make sure a lack of housing is not the obstacle that keeps you from a great internship opportunity. Potential Resources If obtaining your internship through a specific college or university department, check to see if they participate in any programs that help place interns in housing. Even if your adviser cannot direct you to a specific placement program, she likely has contacts she can connect you with who may be able to help with housing. Schools help students set up internships on a regular basis, so it is a good bet that relationships have been built over time that can help you in your search. If your internship is near another college or university, that school may offer temporary housing on campus. Your current school should be able to direct you to other schools that offer such services. If the employer who is hiring you for the internship regularly hires interns, it might also have established relationships with local property owners who can provide interns with housing. While organized programs will be more likely with larger employers who hire many interns, even smaller businesses in smaller cities are likely to have informal connections that can help. If your school or your employer are not able to connect you with housing, they may still be able to connect you with current or recent interns who found housing in the same city where you will be working. These fellow interns may be able to provide you with leads to housing, and they also are most likely to be honest about which properties are the best, and which ones should be avoided. If your internship is in a large metropolitan area, its possible there are local services available that connect interns with housing. Some internet research or a call to the right department in City Hall might lead you to such a group or neighborhood organization that facilitates such connections. Specific Examples In addition to general resources, its important to be able to see some specific examples of groups that help provide housing. While not all of these examples will be applicable to your specific circumstances, they may offer some additional ideas about where to look. Some of these groups might also be able to connect you with similar options in the city where you will be working.   American University is Washington, D.C.s most attractive housing option for visiting interns. It offers competitively priced housing in an ideal location for students coming to the nations capital.Educational Housing Services offers safe, affordable student living in New York City and elsewhere for students from across America and more than 50 countries. Call 800-297-4694.  Georgetown University Summer Housing offers housing for interns, other students, and even those attending professional conferences. Its located on the Potomac River and the surrounding area offers cultural activities and social life. Reach out by email at  conferencehousinggeorgetown.edu  if youre not already affiliated with the university. Housing options in Washington, D.C., are offered through the National Organization for Women Action Center. Visiting students will be on the front lines of the womens rights movement. NOW also offers its own internships.  The International Student House in Washington, D.C.,  offers residences to thousands of eager young men and women who annually descend upon Washington for graduate work, scholarly research, professional training, internships, and the American experience. Call 202-232-4007 for more information.   New York University Summer Housing provides a residence hall that will offer a safe and convenient place to call home while taking classes, working, or interning in New York City.The Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) in New York City offers summer intern housing that features loft-style apartments with 24-hour security, air-conditioning, city views, full kitchens and bathrooms, wireless Internet, and cable TV- at no additional cost.The New School Summer Housing in New York City offers affordable summer housing in the Greenwich Village, Chelsea, and South Street Seaport areas for interns, associates, visiting scholars, summer clerks, summer program students, and visiting groups.  Call 212-229-5459, ext. 3610.   The Orlando Area Student Intern Society offers safe, affordable, short-term housing for interns in the Orlando, Florida area. It also works with local employers to offer students an internship placement service.The Catholic University of America provides summer housing to individuals who are in Washington, D.C. for educational purposes. This includes internships, co-ops, research, and educational study.The D.C. Housing Guide lists housing options for students doing internships in DC.Washington Internship Student Housing (WISH) is a good choice for students who want a location close to the nations capital, Congressional offices, the Library of Congress, the Supreme Court, and metro stations. Call 202-548-2720 for rates and further information.

People dont want new, they want the familiar done differently

People don’t want new, they want the familiar done differently People don’t want new, they want the familiar done differently I’ll admit, the bento box is an unlikely place to learn an important business lesson. But consider the California Roll - understanding the impact of this icon of Japanese dining can make all the difference between the success or failure of your product.If you’ve ever felt the frustration of customers not biting, then you can sympathize with Japanese restaurant owners in America during the 1970s. Sushi consumption was all but non-existent. By all accounts, Americans were scared of the stuff. Eating raw fish was an aberration and to most, tofu and seaweed were punchlines, not food.Then came the California Roll. While the origin of the famous maki is still contested, its impact is undeniable. The California Roll was made in the USA by combining familiar ingredients in a new way. Rice, avocado, cucumber, sesame seeds, and crab meat - the only ingredient unfamiliar to the average American palate was the barely visible sliver of nori seaweed holding it all together.Familiar done diff erentlyThe California Roll provided a gateway to discover Japanese cuisine and demand exploded. Over the next few decades sushi restaurants, which were once confined to large coastal cities and almost exclusively served Japanese clientele, suddenly went mainstream. Today, sushi is served in small rural towns, airports, strip malls, and stocked in the deli section of local supermarkets. Americans now consume $2.25 billion of sushi annually.The lesson of the California Roll is simple - people don’t want something truly new, they want the familiar done differently. Interestingly, this lesson applies just as much to the spread of innovation as it does to tastes in food.For example, the graphical user interface, a milestone in the popularization of the personal computer, used familiar visual metaphors like folders, notepads, windows, and trash cans to appeal to mainstream users terrified by the command-line interface (perhaps even more than the thought of eating raw fish). The compute r underneath was the same, however, the familiar veneer suddenly made it accessible.Quaint but unnecessary representations of the familiar became a hallmark of Apple products. As Claire Evans wrote for Motherboard, “While under the direction of the late Steve Jobs, Apple’s design aesthetic tended heavily towards the skeuomorphic. The Apple desktop calendar, famously, is rendered with accents of rich Corinthian leather; its bookshelves gleam with wood veneers, its chrome always brushed, its pages stitched and torn, its tabletop felt green.”Now that Apple serves a generation familiar with how its products work, it can shepherd them from California Rolls to sashimi, so to speak. “We understood that people had already become comfortable with touching glass,” explained Apple’s Jony Ive. “They didn’t need physical buttons, they understood the benefits.”However, Apple still uses its tried and true methods whenever the company wants users to adopt a new behavior. For examp le, the rebranded Apple Wallet helps users feel comfortable with the technology by making payment options look just like mini credit cards. Even though there’s no technical reason to do so, Apple understands the power of the familiar.(Un)familiarity breeds contemptAs I wrote about in my book, Hooked, unfamiliar products and interfaces are more difficult to use and can impede adoption. Several psychological phenomena conspire to make us resist the atypical.According to BJ Fogg of Stanford’s Persuasive Technology Lab, “non-routine” is one of six “Elements of Simplicity” - the factors that affect the likelihood of any particular human action occurring. Fogg wrote, “When people face a behavior that is not routine, then they may not find it simple. In seeking simplicity, people will often stick to their routine, like buying gas at the same station, even if it costs more money or time than other options.”Of course, we also have a love for “new and improved” but in rel atively modest proportions. “New and improved” is great for things we are already familiar with - like cereal and dish soap - but not for products where we lack a frame of reference.Unfortunately, our aversion to things that are outside the norm is particularly hard on companies producing radical innovation - no matter how beneficial they may be. If using a new product does not feel familiar, it faces severe challenges. According to Fogg, “People are generally resistant to teaching and training because it requires effort. This clashes with the natural wiring of human adults: We are fundamentally lazy. As a result, products that require people to learn new things routinely fail.”What’s your California roll?When describing the Apple Watch, Jony Ive said his goal was to build “the strangely familiar.” The smartwatch is exactly the kind of innovation that is still too new for all but the most early of early adopters. And yet I’ve obsessed over the details of the Digit al Crown, an esthetic adopted from traditional watchmaking. Clearly, I’ve knows what he’s doing - industry analysts expect the company to sell 19 million units this year.As the pace of innovation accelerates, human behavior, not technological restraints, will be the deciding factor of whether products are adopted or discarded. If new products and services are to positively impact our lives, they must find a gateway into our daily routines. The familiar done differently is the way to users’ minds and hearts - and sometimes their stomachs.Here’s the gist: The California Roll introduced Americans to sushi by using familiar ingredients arranged in a new way. The California Roll Rule: People don’t want something truly new, they want the familiar done differently. Things that are truly new need to use familiar mental models to gain user adoptions (i.e., Apple’s use of skeuomorphs.) Unfamiliar interfaces are more difficult to use and impede adoption. If your new product or service is not engaging users, ask “What’s my California Roll?” This  column  first appeared at  Nir and Far.

How to create a resume that will slay

How to create a resume that will slay How to create a resume that will slay The resume you submit to a recruiter is how you make a first impression. Obviously, you want it to wow recruiters, and leave them wanting to know more. The single most challenging thing about the job search process is getting a recruiter interested in you just by this one-page document.In this day and age, technology permeates into all aspect of our lives and has revolutionized the way recruiters view job applicants. Companies have begun using Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) as a tool to quickly distinguish which candidates they want to move forward in the application process. The system scans resumes for specific “keywords” and a bit of contextual elements, so recruiters no longer have to read over every single application. Unfortunately, this can lead to well-qualified applicants being looked over just because they lacked whatever the system was programed to look for.Tailoring your resume so that it’s laid out correctly and contains right the verbiage, keywords, and overall message is critical to landing a job. Not to mention, you are blindly sending an email to an inbox flooded with messages from others who are just as eager as you to getting hired. How you communicate your past job experience and skills is just as important as having them. Our hope is that by the end of this post you will know how to tailor your resume to be memorable, polished, and effective.LayoutHow your resume is presented will influence how you are perceived. Most people are surprised to learn that the font style, font size, and font color of a resume can help or hinder your chances of getting a response. Each career field has different standards for what they see as an acceptable resume layout. For a corporate position, go with a resume with a simple layout, clean lines and minimal coloring except for black/white (maybe a pop of blue to give it some pizazz). If you are going for a graphic design position, take that chance to flex your design skills and create an extraordinary b ut effective layout. Scouting the web, we have found some of our favorite free resumes templates on canva.com.TopThe top half of your resume is where a recruiter should be able to do a quick scan and find your contact information, education, and skills. Avoid being too wordy and bland with this top section, especially when highlighting your skills. If nothing you say catches the recruiter’s eye, you likely will be skipped over.SkillsAgain, your skills should go in the top section of your resume. As mentioned priorly, oftentimes, companies have “keywords,” that they use to describe their employees. Finding out what these are only takes a tad bit of online research, and can really intrigue a recruiter when they see these keywords on your resume. Make sure the skills you are listing are not only applicable to the position, but also to yourself. Do not just plop down random adjectives that sound impressive as this will shine through as being staged and even presumptuous. It may so und time-consuming to have different resumes for each role you apply for, but we do promise you it can make a significant impact. The resume you submit for a position in human resources should not highlight the same skills you send in for a sales position. They are two completely different roles that value different types of skill sets. Your skills should be written in a bullet format, and I encourage you to be creative with the verbiage.Here are some tips to communicate your soft skills…For a sales role, instead of saying “strong communication skills” say “dynamic speaker.” Another way of saying “works well in groups,” is “collaborative team member.” Keep the number of soft skills you list to a minimum, and always include any of your certifications or hard skills, such as SEO, Indesign, etc. Brainstorm skills that make you qualified for the position, and highlight them in the top third of your resume.BottomThe bottom portion of your resume is where you should list your professional experience. For each position, do not forget to include your job title, when worked, and what you accomplished while you were there. Use an action verb or numerical evidence when describing your accomplishments, as they are more concise and vividly demonstrate your role. Words like “led,” “generated,” and “spearheaded” are all great first words to use here.Landing a job after university or trying to move up in rank when you are mid-career are two of the biggest challenges we as professionals face, which makes the effectiveness of your resume a fundamental part of your success. Be proactive, and seek out what your target employers are looking for, but be sure that your resume is an authentic representation of yourself. When you put in the work, it will be sure to pay off.This article was originally posted on YourCoffeeBreak.co.uk.

This is what half of American parents would take a pay cut for

This is what half of American parents would take a pay cut for This is what half of American parents would take a pay cut for Would you take a pay cut for better quality childcare?More than half of American parents said they would accept a pay cut in order to work for a company that provides quality care, according to a new survey, powered by KinderCare with Harris Poll.The 2019 Parent Confidence Report found that 55% of parents were open to less pay for better company provided childcare, while 67% reported that they believe their employers should offset the cost of childcare for employees.Shockingly, many parents don’t feel the love from their employers. Only 22% felt they were supported as a parent by an employer and 19% claimed that their bosses supported them.“Workplaces are being challenged to transform their culture and support employees more, both personally and professionally,” the study says.It’s not exactly surprising to see parents wanting more from their employers from child care. The US Department of Agriculture said that childcare costs on average $12,350 to 13,9000 a year in the US.In states like Massachusetts, the average annual cost is double with childcare averaging at $34,381 -per-year.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

Featured Resume Template from Diana YK Chan

Featured Resume Template from Diana YK Chan Featured Resume Template from Diana YK Chan In conjunction with Jobscans new resume optimization checks which include formatting checks for headings, dates, file types, and more weve invited career coaches and resume writers to share exclusive resume templates with our readers. Next up is Diana YK Chan out of the Toronto area. Be sure to follow her on LinkedIn and check out her website. Learn more about Jobscans new resume checks at the bottom of this article, or try them out for yourself. About Diana YK Chan Diana YK Chan is the Founder of My Marketability based in Toronto, Canada. As a Career Coach Speaker, she empowers ambitious professionals to own their greatness with confidence and stand out as top talent to get hired faster. Diana is known for helping people change careers, get multiple job offers, receive huge salary increases, and join top companies like Google, Facebook, LinkedIn, and PwC, Deloitte etc. She has served new grads to C-level clients from around the globe, representing a diverse range of industries and professions. She offers: 1-on-1 Career Job Search Coaching 1-on-1 Interview Coaching, Writing Service for resume, LinkedIn profile, cover letter, elevator pitch Before this, Diana was a Recruiter for Google and MBA Recruitment Manager for Ivey Business School. She has reviewed 20K+ resumes, conducted thousands of interviews, and knows what it takes to brand yourself as a sought-after professional and leader. Download Dianas resume template Download .docx Why do you recommend this resume template? I recommend this resume template because its simple, clean, easy-to-screen. A touch of colour makes it modern, fresh and and eye-catching in key areas that recruiters screen for. When choosing a resume template, you want to choose something thats easy to follow. It doesnt need to be fancy but should look polished. Consistency in the formatting is important. Whats new at Jobscan Jobscans resume optimization tool  now checks your formatting based on applicant tracking system and recruiter best practices. New intelligent checks make even the best resume templates more ATS compatible and recruiter-friendly than ever. ATS Checks Hard skills, soft skills, and keyword matching Job title and education matching ATS-friendly section headings  NEW ATS-friendly date formatting  NEW ATS-friendly file type  NEW Need more ideas? Check out Jobscans new  ATS-friendly resume templates. Get a bonus template by signing up here. Recruiter Checks Measurable results, word count, and words to avoid Sentence length  NEW Predicted skills missing from the job description  NEW Industry-specific insights  NEW Keep an eye out for additional new features. Jobscan is updated every two weeks and new formatting checks are on the way!

How to Deal With Sexual Harassment in the Workplace - The Muse

How to Deal With Sexual Harassment in the Workplace - The Muse How to Deal With Sexual Harassment in the Workplace When Alicia Raimundo took an internship-type role at a tech company, she was one of the only women working on her floor. There were frequent flirtatious and unwelcome comments about, for example, how sexy she looked when she wore a dress. “I saw boundaries being crossed but felt powerless to do something about it,” Raimundo says. “It felt like picking battles and I wasn’t picking that one.” That is, until one day when a male colleague- senior to her but not in the same reporting line- came to her cubicle and grabbed her butt uninvited. In any other context, she would’ve slapped him, she says. But she couldn’t imagine slapping someone at work, the sound reverberating across a quiet office as heads turned. How could he feel entitled to touch her like that? There was a voice in the back of her head that blamed herself, and besides, she says, when you’re a student, an intern, a new hire, you “feel like you have no power and are very easily replaceable.” That moment in her cubicle, however, after weeks of words that made her extremely uncomfortable but felt harder to parse or categorize, “made it clear to me: This is harassment. This isn’t a funny joke.” Raimundo’s story is hardly unique. LeanIn.org and McKinsey’s 2018 Women in the Workplace study found that 35% of women have experienced some form of sexual harassment over the course of their careers (the share jumped to 45% of women working in technical fields, 48% of lesbian women, and 55% of senior-level women). And men experience sexual harassment as well; they filed about 16% of total sexual harassment complaints with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) in 2018. Even when you know that what’s happening isn’t right, it can be intimidating to try to figure out if it crosses the line into something legally wrong. And deciding what to do about it can be just plain overwhelming- especially while you’re stuck in an emotionally draining and sometimes traumatizing situation. We’ve got a primer to help you understand what sexual harassment is, make sense of your options, and take care of yourself in the process. What Is Sexual Harassment? Who’s Covered by Sexual Harassment Laws? Okay, But What Does Sexual Harassment Look Like IRL? What Can I Do if I Think I’m Being Sexually Harassed at Work? How Do I Report Sexual Harassment if I Decide I Want To? Will I Be Retaliated Against- and What Can I Do if I Am? What Should I Do to Take Care of Myself? Before you read on, an important note: While we interviewed lawyers for this story, we are not lawyers ourselves, and every case is different. So please consider this a general resource to help you get started and, if you need it, seek personalized advice specific to your situation from an actual lawyer! What Is Sexual Harassment? Legally, sexual harassment is actually a form of sex discrimination under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which also protects employees from discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, and national origin. On its website, the EEOC, which is the federal agency tasked with enforcing employment discrimination laws, explains that: Unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature constitute sexual harassment when this conduct explicitly or implicitly affects an individual’s employment, unreasonably interferes with an individual’s work performance, or creates an intimidating, hostile, or offensive work environment. EEOC That’s a lot of language to unpack, but it’s probably more helpful to look at the two categories lawyers generally talk about when they’re discussing sexual harassment. 1. Quid Pro Quo Quid pro quo is a Latin phrase that literally translates to “something for something” or “this for that.” In this context, it might look like, “You [go on a date] with me, I’ll give you the job. You have sex with me, you’ll get to keep your job,” explains Karen Elliott, a management-side labor and employment attorney at Eckert Seamans in Richmond. When someone explicitly states or even implies that agreeing to sexual favors or romantic involvement will affect or determine whether you get the job, keep the job, get the promotion, get the raise, get the bonus, or get a fair performance review, that’s sexual harassment. 2. Hostile Work Environment But there are also countless kinds of sexual harassment that don’t include propositioning for sex as a condition of employment or advancement. These include sexual advances, innuendos, and comments as well as any other unwelcome conduct on the basis of sex that, according to the EEOC, “is severe or pervasive enough to create a work environment that a reasonable person would consider intimidating, hostile, or abusive.” One extreme incident might be considered severe enough that a court would rule it created a hostile work environment, but often it’s smaller incidents that repeat and accumulate to become pervasive. In other words, “it’s on a daily basis, on a weekly basis. It’s been going on for years. It’s so ongoing that you simply cannot ignore how a person would be affected by it,” says Silvia Stanciu, an employment litigator at the New York firm Phillips Associates. Note: The person or people affected don’t have to be the ones offensive comments or jokes were directed at. Maybe they weren’t even part of the conversations, but overheard them- that’s enough. The law does not spell out exactly which behaviors and what frequency would make something rise to the level of a hostile work environment, and so it’s left up to the court’s interpretation- and that depends on the time and place. “What courts accept as creating a hostile work environment is changing dramatically,” says Elliott. The same goes for what’s being considered severe or pervasive. “This is a law that grows as societal norms change and the courts have accepted that change in how they’ve applied it.” It also depends where you are and whether the judges on the bench in that area are more liberal or conservative. Who’s Covered by Sexual Harassment Laws? Federal law covers employers in the private and public sectors that have 15 or more employees. The EEOC emphasizes that the harasser can be the target’s direct supervisor, another supervisor, a co-worker, or someone who isn’t an employee at all (like a client or customer), and that the harasser can be of the same or opposite sex as the victim. Many states and cities have their own anti-discrimination laws, and it’s always worth reading up on what additional protections the laws relevant to you might cover. For example, New York City’s Human Rights Law covers all employers in that city with four or more employees. You can find a quick overview of state laws here, but your state or local government website will usually have more specific information. Okay, But What Does Sexual Harassment Look Like IRL? Let’s start here with the caveat that the specifics of a case are important and that different courts might rule differently on some matters. But here are several examples of behavior or incidents that, if unwelcome, could constitute sexual harassment in the workplace. (This is by no means a comprehensive list!) Comments about someone’s appearance Conversations, questions, and stories about sex Staring and looking up and down Following someone around Rumors about someone’s sex life or use of sex to get ahead Suggestive emails, text messages, or other communications Sexist comments that are not necessarily sexual Vulgar language, jokes about sex (or gender), innuendo, and music with sexually explicit lyrics Displays of pornography or sexually explicit or degrading materials (including posters, calendars, drawings, emails, screensavers, and more) Unwanted touching or physical contact Requests for sexual favors and pressure for sex Threats based on rejection of sexual advances Rape and sexual assault What Can I Do if I Think I’m Being Sexually Harassed at Work? This is a personal decision, and in order to figure out the right path for you, you might have to seek out legal advice tailored to your situation. But here are a few things you can do to start. 1. Document It While you decide what else you want to do, if anything, you can begin keeping a record. “We recommend that our clients have some kind of a log of the incidents that are happening,” says Stanciu. “General kinds of complaints give the company unfortunately a little too much leeway,” she explains. If you decide to report sexual harassment, it’ll help if you’re able to point to specific dates and very specific comments or behaviors. So when that colleague brushes up against you again or your boss makes yet another dirty joke at the staff meeting, write it down. The advocacy and policy organization Women Employed recommends jotting these notes down in a bound book and keeping it at home (or elsewhere outside your office). This way, if you report the harassment to your employer or the EEOC, you’ll be able to present detailed examples. If you turn to a lawyer, Stanciu says, they’ll probably have you put together a timeline and it’ll be much easier if you’ve been recording incidents along the way. You might ultimately decide to do none of those things, but it doesn’t hurt to document just in case. 2. Make It Clear It’s Unwelcome Since the key element of sexual harassment is the fact that the conduct is unwelcome, make it clear that’s the case, if you feel safe doing so. Elliott recommends trying this approach first particularly when dealing with behavior that is obnoxious and offensive but not necessarily predatory. For example, she says, you could try saying: That kind of conversation is inappropriate in the workplace. It makes me uncomfortable. It makes all the other women uncomfortable. Please stop doing it. You shouldn’t communicate in that way. It’s offensive to me. Please stop talking to me that way. I do not want to date you. Do not give me any more compliments. It makes me uncomfortable. If the harassment continues and you later decide to take your complaint to the employer, it can help to be able to truthfully say that you’ve made it clear the conduct is unwelcome and asked for it to stop. 3. Consult a Lawyer Theoretically, you don’t need a lawyer to report sexual harassment to your employer or file a charge with the EEOC. But if you find the situation confusing, need advice on whether certain behaviors constitute sexual harassment, or have reason to worry that your employer won’t respond kindly or effectively to a report, you might want to seek legal advice. Some firms offer free consultations. Look for plaintiffs lawyers, or those who represent targets of sexual harassment rather than employers. You can consult directories from the American Bar Association, the National Employment Lawyers Association, or the nonprofit organization Workplace Fairness. Alternatively, there are advocacy organizations such as Equal Rights Advocates that offer free legal advice, counseling, or referrals. 4. Make a Change In a perfect world, there would be no such thing as sexual harassment. In a slightly less-than-perfect world, reports of sexual harassment would be met with swift action and no negative consequences for the victim whatsoever. Unfortunately, although the number of complaints filed with the EEOC has increased in the wake of the #MeToo movement, and the conversation has certainly evolved over the years, the reality still isn’t perfect or even slightly less-than-perfect. All that’s to say that you might decide for various reasons not to report sexual harassment. But that doesn’t mean you should have to continue to endure it. It might be the right time to begin a job search that will allow you to give your notice and leave for a new opportunity or, if it’s feasible financially, to quit first and then begin applying for new roles without the specter of sexual harassment looming over your everyday life. If you do decide to report the harassment, read on to learn more about your options. How Do I Report Sexual Harassment if I Decide I Want To? You have several different options if you decide you want (or need, for your safety) to report sexual harassment. As always, the “best” decision will depend on so many factors, and it’s wise to seek advice specific to your situation as you figure out how to proceed. Option 1: Go to Law Enforcement On one end of the spectrum of what constitutes sexual harassment is conduct so severe it’s criminal. When it comes to sexual assault or rape at work or off site- on a business trip, for example- you might want to go directly to law enforcement. “I’ve had cases where we encourage our clients to go to the police,” says Stanciu. “If they feel mentally prepared and if they’re comfortable with that, we encourage clients to file [a] police report.” Option 2: Report It According to Your Company’s Policy Companies will often have policies and instructions laid out about how to report sexual harassment. Check your employee handbook, paperwork you received during onboarding, your employee portal, or anywhere else official documents live. Note: In most cases, an employer can’t be held liable unless it’s aware of the harassment. In other words, if you don’t tell them, not only do they not have the chance to do the right thing (which one hopes they would), they can also claim later that they didn’t even know it was happening. Your company’s policy might direct you to your own supervisor, the harasser’s supervisor, anyone in the supervisory chain of command, someone in HR, or some other representative or mechanism. If the organization is large or decentralized, the first step might be an online form or an employee hotline. It’s important to note that once you tell anyone in your organization’s management structure (even if it’s not your own boss) they must report it to HR. One caveat: You might consider seeking legal advice and/or going through another channel “if the policy was one where it was very clear that it was not reasonable for you to use it, like the supervisor is the harasser and that’s the only person you can report to,” says Christopher Kuczynski, Assistant Legal Counsel at the EEOC, or you know from past instances that reporting at your organization is ineffective. Be sure to keep up your documentation efforts during this part of the process. “We always recommend that you ask for something in writing to verify that you’ve made a complaint,” Stanciu says. If your company won’t provide you with a copy of your complaint record, send a follow-up email with a summary to whoever you made your verbal complaint to, in order to create a paper trail. That way, the company can’t later claim you didn’t say anything and, should you need to escalate things, you’ll have a clear record of the chain of events. Stanciu also recommends asking for a timeline so that you know when you can expect to hear back and continue to follow up if you don’t. The company will likely conduct an investigation and make some sort of decision about next steps. They may not share every detail of the findings or outcomes with you, but ideally they’ll keep you updated at least in general terms. The company doesn’t necessarily have to fire the harasser or take the particular action you’d want, it’s only required to make the harassment stop. Note: If the behavior you’ve reported is extreme, says Ernest Haffner, Senior Attorney Advisor at the EEOC’s Office of Legal Counsel, the company should take steps to separate you and the harasser immediately, so that you’re not in danger while it conducts its investigation and determines what steps to take. Option 3: Go Through Your Union If you’re a member of a union, you can also speak to a union representative. “That’s someone who can serve as the go-between between the employee and the company,” Stanciu says, “if the employee either doesn’t feel comfortable going directly to speak to the harasser or going to speak to HR or if there is no HR.” The union could help navigate the reporting process with your employer. Keep in mind, however, that if your harasser is also a member of the collective bargaining unit, the union is there to protect and advocate for them as well. In some cases Haffner has seen, a company will fire or discipline the person who’s been accused of harassment, but then through union intervention, “they’ll find that there wasn’t sufficient evidence or that the discipline was overly harsh. So they’ll reinstate the person.” Option 4: File a Claim With the EEOC or Local Agency At any point, you can also choose to file a charge with the EEOC or with a state or local Fair Employment Practices Agency (FEPA). In fact, you’ll have to do so before you can file a lawsuit related to sexual harassment under federal law. You can look up the EEOC field office that covers your zip code here and also find out whether there’s a FEPA near you by clicking on “State and Local Agencies” in the menu that appears. Don’t forget that there are deadlines. You have to file within 180 days of the last incident of harassment, or within 300 days if there’s also a state or local agency that enforces a similar law. (These deadlines are different if you’re a federal employee or applicant.) Once you file a charge, the agency investigates and determines whether “there was cause to believe discrimination occurred,” Kuczynski says. If the agency finds no cause, it’ll give you a Notice of Right to Sue, and you can pursue a lawsuit on your own. If the agency finds there is cause, they might try to resolve the situation directly with the employer in a process called “conciliation,” litigate it themselves (rarely), or again give you a right to sue letter so you can go to court with your case. Option 5: File a Lawsuit Once you receive a right to sue letter, you’re free to file a lawsuit, but must do so within 90 days. Discuss the best step forward in your particular case with your lawyer, but keep in mind that a lawsuit may prove to be a difficult process. “The client has to be completely prepared that it will be uncomfortable, that they will have to reveal certain information about their own lives, about their own performance, about an array of things,” Stanciu says. If you’re arguing for emotional distress damages, for example, your medical records and even notes from therapy sessions might be fair game for both sides to pore over and analyze, she explains. “A lot of things come out in litigation that people are not prepared for.” A 2018 study from the University of Massachusetts Amherst Center for Employment Equity found that only about a quarter of those who pursued sexual harassment charges via the EEOC or FEPA received monetary compensation. The average award amount was $24,700 and the median award amount came to $10,000. Just 1% of awards exceeded $100,000 and “only 12% of charges lead to a managerial agreement to change workplace practices.” And although it’s not clear what the results are for those who file lawsuits, one of the report authors, CEE professor Donald Tomaskovic-Devey, explains that recent research “suggests for all discrimination lawsuits that both the size of monetary awards and their frequency are no better in the courts.” Will I Be Retaliated Against- and What Can I Do if I Am? The sad truth is that reporting sexual harassment can and often does have negative consequences for the person who brought the complaint. Raimundo, for example, reported the butt-grabber to HR, with the support of her supervisors (both of whom worked remotely). “I think he got a talking to,” Raimundo says, because he became “a lot more angry with me. He went out of his way to be as unhelpful as humanly possible and create problems for me.” The UMass study found that 68% of sexual harassment charges filed with the EEOC or FEPAs between 2012 and 2016 included allegations of retaliation, and nearly as many (64%) were associated with job loss. “Retaliation is quite common,” echoes Haffner. It might mean getting fired, demoted, or transferred, but it can also take other forms. Sometimes the harassment itself increases or intensifies. In cases where a complaint is made about a popular employee, Haffner says, co-workers often ostracize the person who spoke up. It’s hardly surprising, then, that many people don’t report. The UMass study estimated that roughly 5.1 million people experienced sexual harassment each year, but only between 25% and 40% of them made an internal report to a supervisor, HR, or a union, and only 0.18% filed a charge externally with the EEOC or FEPA. “Women will tell me, they’ll say, ‘I worked for years in the company. I was always known as well, she’s the woman who got so-and-so fired,’” says Elliott. She emphasizes that even if the harasser is found guilty, “many women would tell you they feel like their careers are over in that company and they have to leave. So it is a big decision to go forward.” Retaliation may be common, but it’s not legal. So while it’s understandable that a fear of reprisal often keeps people quiet, remember that any retaliation is another claim you can file against your employer. And that claim can hold water even if the original complaint doesn’t. In other words, if you report sexual harassment and it turns out that the behavior in question doesn’t actually meet the legal definition of sexual harassment, you can still have a case for retaliation if you were fired or shunned for making the complaint. In short, if you believe you’ve been retaliated against, you can report that as well, whether to your employer or the EEOC. What Should I Do to Take Care of Myself? Regardless of the path you decide to take, dealing with sexual harassment can be a fraught and arduous process. Don’t forget to take care of yourself- physically, mentally, and emotionally. Find Your Support Network It’s always a good idea to surround yourself with supportive friends, family, and mentors, but it’s all the more important when you’re facing something as mentally and emotionally taxing as sexual harassment, says Lisa Orbé-Austin, a psychologist and executive coach at Dynamic Transitions Psychological Consulting. Look outside of your workplace to find a small but solid group of folks you trust and have established relationships with and, as much as you feel you can, talk to them about what’s been happening, Orbé-Austin suggests. That way you’ll know “you’re not doing this alone, but you’re doing it with an informed group of people who are close to you and [can help you] make strategic decisions about what you should do next.” Those decisions will likely be complicated and hard to make. Lean on your network for advice when you could use it, but remember that “there’s no one right or wrong way to do things,” says Orbé-Austin. She emphasizes that even those closest to you will be influenced by their own perspectives, histories, traumas, and biases. “You have a right to whatever you decide, and once you move forward in a way that you feel is thoughtful and informed, it’s not helpful to hear people questioning your decision,” she explains. If they continue to cast doubt on the calls you’re making, you can say something like: Thank you for sharing your opinion. I understand that it comes from a place of trying to support me. But it’s not helpful and it’s not what I need right now. Instead what I need from you is XYZ. If your friend or family member can’t agree to stop disagreeing, you might want to take some space while you’re dealing with this. Turn to Professionals No matter how much your core support group loves you, they don’t necessarily have the expertise to help you in every way you’ll need. In addition to consulting a lawyer for advice about how to approach various interactions and situations at work from a legal perspective, Orbé-Austin urges you to consider reaching out to a therapist, a career coach, or both. A therapist, she explains, can help you with validating and processing your experience and figuring out how to keep yourself safe and healthy starting from the moment you feel something’s amiss and onward through the long-term consequences. For Raimundo, throughout her “real and shitty” experiences, both at that internship and in another situation when she was harassed, “therapists were a godsend,” she says. She later went on to become a mental health advocate. When workplace sexual harassment brings up previous sexual trauma, as it sometimes does, it’s particularly important to turn to a mental health professional. Take a look at what kind of help you might be able to access through your health insurance or other benefits, or use a directory like the one offered on Psychology Today (you can sort by location, insurance, and issue, such as “sexual abuse”). Even after a harassment experience is “over,” it can continue to affect your work in terms of how able you are to take on a new role or enter a new system, how competent you believe you are, and how you feel about your colleagues, bosses, and mentors, Orbé-Austin says. “It can make you feel very, very wary about taking career risks.” Orbé-Austin has worked mostly with women and has seen them shut down and take a step back in their careers to “an easier position that feels doable in a safe environment that feels predictable.” Some also fear retribution in professional networks and circles, hesitating to network or apply for jobs because they worry certain contacts have been compromised. A career coach, in addition to a therapist, could help you strategize around some of these thorny issues. Practice Self-Care Sexual harassment is “a really intense, awful experience that’s very depleting,” Orbé-Austin says. “And so you have to be very conscious of making sure that you are filling yourself with things that make you feel buoyed and that you have energy to face what’s happening in whatever way you choose to do that.” In other words, although you might be overwhelmed and drained, it’s important to make time for meditation, exercise, or any other “positive activities that fill your tank,” as Orbé-Austin puts it. Self-care, she says, “helps with resiliency. It helps with feeling less reactive.” She notes that you probably won’t want to do anything extra, but you should book self-care activities into your calendar. “You’re going to have to embed them into your ritual to make sure that you are taking care of yourself and feeling grounded in your life and in the routines that give to you.” That might mean taking regular yoga classes or playing those weekly pick-up basketball games, spending time drawing or signing up for that pottery workshop you used to love, practicing your religion or pursuing some other form of community affiliation, or anything else that is healthy and positive and might help you cope. Be mindful that you turn to activities that are purely helpful rather than ones that have negative consequences, such as overeating, drinking, or using drugs. Find a Community and Help Others When you’ve been a target of sexual harassment, it’s easy to struggle with isolation and, even though it’s unequivocally not your fault, with questions like, “What did I do?” and “What did I say?” “It’s really important to find communities where you start to realize you’re not alone by far. You’re so not alone,” says Orbé-Austin, who touts the benefit of finding a professional or other association where you can interact with, lean on, and eventually even mentor others. “It can be really helpful when you have felt victimized to then support people who’ve also been victimized,” Orbé-Austin says. “It can be really powerful.”