4 Reasons You Should Consider Working for a Startup

4 Reasons You Should Consider Working for a Startup4 Reasons You Should Consider Working for a StartupElecting to work for a startup is a big decision, given that the failure rate of venture-backed startups is on average between 60 to 79 percent, according to investment firm Cambridge Associates.So, why should you consider working for a company that you know has a more than 50-percent chance of failure? Here are four major reasons you might want to work for a startup.1. Opportunity to take on new responsibilitiesWorking for an established company with a long history means that in most cases, your job will be predictable and you will do similar things for an extended period of time. In contrast, working at a startup requires agility, as you will need to continually adapt and change what you are doing based on customer feedback.As a result of this constant change, startup employees have lots of responsibilities outside their job descriptions. New scenarios will arise that will require the most suitable person to step up to do the job. By taking on new responsibilities, you can gain valuable skills that could help you land a promotion or another job down the line.2. Collaborative environmentAt a startup, the internal structure is usually flexible, meaning you can to talk with all kollektiv members and contribute to discussions whenever you have an idea. At a larger company, the bureaucratic structure can make it very difficult to get your ideas across to the CEO.Given this flat structure, most decisions at startups are made by the group as a whole, incorporating viewpoints from different team members. For example, if you work in marketing, you might request feedback from developers and designers at your firm in order to understand their views of your product and determine whether they align with users expectations.3. Ability to innovateWhereas larger corporations may have strict processes in place that you have to follow, startups often have more room for innovati on. If you come up with a promising idea, you can typically communicate it to management with ease, given the flat structure of the organization. And if a higher-up decides your idea is worth implementing, the implementation process will probably occur much more quickly than it would at a big corporation.Timmy Ghiurau, one of the first employees of The Eye Tribe- a startup later acquired by Oculus- highlights the culture of innovation he experienced when working thereWorking for a startup is a great experience since it focuses a lot on the product and the core team in the beginning, thus giving you the opportunity to have your ideas and your voice taken into consideration. The benefit of working in a startup is that it cuts all the corners and redundant processes that are normally found in big companies. It can be an inspiring environment where you have the courage and experience to start something on your own as well.4. Job satisfactionFinally, at a startup you are often just a ste p away from the customers, so you can see first-hand how your team is creating value for them. You can contribute to the startups significant milestones, such as the first 10.000 followers on social media and the first 100.000 unique users.You can actually observe how your career, expectations, and responsibilities increase after each achieved milestone. It feels like being part of a family, of something special that is having a real impact.In order to land a job at a startup, be sure to update your resume and tailor it to the company.Andrei Kurtuy is the CMO and one of three co-founders of Novorsum. An idealist and optimist, he believes we should always strive for improvement and efficiency. In his free time, he loves running, reading, and wandering around cities to discover new places.

Important Job Skills for Engineers

Important Job Skills for EngineersImportant Job Skills for EngineersEngineering is one of the fastest growing and most exciting fields today, offering new college graduates significant earning potential, job stability, and plenty of personal satisfaction. There are manydifferent jobs available for engineers. Not everyone can be an engineer, however, as the demands in terms of skills and knowledge are intense. Education and Job Requirements Most aspiring engineers will need at least a bachelors degree from an engineering school or university, and the best-paid engineers usually have a masters degree or Ph.D. in their field. Besides the proper educational background and relevant technical experience, you will need to demonstrate many so-called soft skills in order to advance your engineering career. Soft skillsare those whichrequire interpersonal adaptability among different kinds of people, problems, and situations. For example, leadership and communication are interpersonal skill s that successful engineers employ on a regular basis. These soft skills complement hard skills, such as programming or a working knowledge of chemistry. What Kind of Skills Do You Need to be an Engineer? There are several different branches of engineering, each with distinct technicalskill sets. Within a given field, credentials and expectations may vary significantly among these various fields of engineering. When youre applying for jobs carefully read the job descriptions specific to your field and emphasize the hard skills applicable to your education and experience in your resume, titelblatt letter, and interview. In contrast, the soft, or social skills will vary less from one industry of engineering to another. Initially, these soft skills may not seem quite as important as the hard skills, but most interviewers will pick up on interpersonal deficiencies in your interview. Further, technically-trained engineers often struggle to obtain promotions after they are hired if th ey lack the soft skills described below. Industry Skills Because engineers operate in a variety of industries, some hard skills are vital only to specific industries. That being said, each hard skill below is important in most engineering work. Engineers are creators in everything from biology to computer programming. Naturally, they need the technical skills to succeed. Depending on the complexity of the field and project, more formal education is often required. Computer ScienceProgramming LanguagesStatisticsSystem Design and AnalysisConceptual, Logical, or Physical Data ModelingProcess ManagementAdvanced PhysicsStructural AnalysisNanotechnology Communication Engineering is very technical and relies on concise and accurate communicationbetween colleagues. But you will also have to communicate with people outside of the field, such as clients and sometimes the general public, who do not have a technical background. Its important that you are able to translate your specializ ed knowledge into terms that those within and outside your department can understand.Due to the highly technical demands, communication often proves one of the most challenging soft skills for engineers. Complexities have to be broken down into digestible words and concepts for your peers and managers. Emotional IntelligencePresentation SkillsActive ListeningMotivationNegotiationAbility to Clarify and ParaphraseStress Tolerance Project Management Frequently, engineers manage teams and must integrate with auxiliary departments while trying to meet deadlines on a budget. Because of the administrative demands required of most engineers, many of them go on to become CEOs and thought leaders. Like other professionals that need project management skills, some engineers seek aProject Management Certification. Some companies will offer their engineers the opportunity to get certified in project management. If you seek employment as an engineer and already have a bachelors degree, you ca n often find graduate programs at low cost that help you take and pass the PMI exam. Another type of project management training familiar to engineers isSix Sigma training. Based on the Japanese model of Just-in-Time Manufacturing, project managers trained in Six Sigma achieve colored belt titles (similar to martial arts) indicating their level of skill and achievement. Strategic PlanningRisk ManagementLeadershipCommunicationOrganizationSchedulingQuality ControlCritical Thinking Teamwork Engineers almost never work alone you will work with a wide range of employees, both fellow engineers and people outside your department, to bring your projects to fruition. This is the essence of department integration andcollaboration. You need to beable to work collaborativelywith different types of people at every level, applying skills as varied asverbal communicationand appropriate body language to goal-setting and prioritizing problems. You need the character and integrity that will induc e other people to trust you and rely on you as you all work together. Creativity Engineering is fundamentally about problem solving and multi-tasking, and that means finding new ways to apply existing knowledge- a trulycreative process. You may be attracted to engineering because of its creative element. If you dont think of yourself as the creative type, you can practice thinking outside the box through unrestricted brainstorming, daydreaming, and play. Computer Modeling Computer modeling is the creation and maintaining of computer models which become simulations of complex systems. While modeling is not unique to engineering, it has become a critical component in many fields where engineering is vital. These models are used to predict how quickly a planned stadium might be evacuated in an emergency, how a power plant might behave if a critical component fails, and more. Not all engineers need the programming expertise to build models, but you willneed to understand how mod els work so that you know what kinds of problems can be simulated and what the simulations mean for your project. Higher Mathematics Gone are the days of calculating by hand and with slide rules, but the existence of computers does not free you from the need to understand math. In fact, since computers can only follow instructions, engineers must first figure outhow to solve numeric problems on their own before they can tell a computer what to do. Attention to Detail Projects in engineering are extraordinarily complex. They involve dozens, if not hundreds, of people. A small mistake at any point during planning, development, or construction can result in failure. A failed project not only loses money but could also injure or even kill people. More Engineering Skills While the skills above highlight to most important hard and soft skills required of top engineers, there are several others. If you love complexity and understanding the building blocks of innovation, many of these skills will come to you naturally. Reading ComprehensionInformation OrderingDeductive ReasoningInductive ReasoningExperimentationIndependent ThinkingDeterminationInvestigationDesignOngoing ImprovementKey Performance Indicators (KPI) SoftwareComplianceGovernment ContractingHigher National Diploma (HND) in Relevant Subject MatterCommercial AwarenessEnvironmental AwarenessConstructionManufacturingEfficiencyConfidenceAeronauticsData AnalysisCEngEquipment DiagnosticsTroubleshootingInventory ManagementStatisticsCity PlanningInfrastructural Design Review a Resume Sample Review a resume example for an engineer. Engineering Resume How to Make Your Skills Stand Out Research Your Industry Engineers build, create, and modify in anenormous variety of complex fields. Whatever your industry, take time to research the specific technical skills required by employers.Match Your Skills to the Job When interviewing for an engineering position, make sure that your resume matches your skills, particularly the ones potential employers are looking for. In your cover letter and in the interview, it is appropriate to highlight any notable projects in which you played a role.Be Prepared to Share Examples Since engineers often manage others, it can be helpful to come to an interview prepared to share real-life examples of when you solved problems the situation, the problem, the outcome, what you did well, and how you might handle it differently the next time.

Resume Example Consultant Targets In-House Work

Resume Example Consultant Targets In-House WorkResume Example Consultant Targets In-House WorkAn example of a before and after resume for marketing executives in brand management.This months Does My Resume Stink contest winner, John Doe, has director-level experience in multiple areas of marketing strategies and brand management.He has also developed a strong consulting client base because of this expertise.Now on to this months before and after resume examplesAppealing to an employer and a freelance client The first step in the writing process welches to develop a strategy to separate him from equally qualified professional peers. This can be challenging for someone like John, who is pursuing multiple job opportunities, using multiple areas of expertise. It had to appeal to both a potential employer and a potential client.After two years of independent consulting in 2007 and 2008, John wanted to return to a corporate environment. He welches considering two career directions targeti ng a large or global company or perhaps a smaller, regional firm. He hoped to wear multiple hats and play an integral role within an organization.Therefore, I decided to present the last two years of work as a consultant in exactly the same manner as his previous corporate employment focused on skills, knowledge and experience to leverage his strong background in various capacities. Last, given there was no information included about past employers on the original resume, we added context for those that were bedrngnis name brand.Streamlining a crowded formatJohn tried to make his original resume stand out by adding a prominent red square at the top left edge of the resume. But a resume needs to be written for computer scanning as part of an Applicant Tracking System (ATS). I was not sure how a keyword scanner would read the box, so I decided it was too risky to include.The original resume had no easy way for a reader (or ATS) to extract areas of expertise from the job content. By s eparating these into a simple table format in the new resume, this section now allows for a quick visual review. It also includes keywords for a computer to scan. Each of these items is a place holder which can be edited for different opportunities.The content was crowded, with no spaces between bullets, so nothing stood out to attract the reader. Also, there was a very wide left margin, so it gave the document a lopsided look and did not make full use of the available writing space.We corrected the formatting to let the information breathe and tell the story.Johns original profile covered a lot of his work experience, but nothing stood out. The new resume includesA headline that places him at a director levelA strong statement that he offers marketing strategies and brand management, including clear subsetsA brief paragraph that matches how he describes himselfA listing of industry experience as a separate paragraphThese are all important selling points.Deciding what to condense an d what to expandIn the new resume, the duties are condensed in to the first two lines for individual jobs, instead of multiple bullets.Marketing roles are not always measured by tangible specifics, like sales numbers and quotas. We had to find other ways to make it clear that John gets things done that really benefit the organization. I decided to bold general categories as an alternative to inserting bullets.Each job has four to six sections, some of which list high-profile clients. It expands the resume from two pages to three, but I thought a two-page resume would understate what he has to offer. A quick review of just the bolded words gives a summary of how Johns career has progressed into areas of more responsibility and impact.In an effort further to condense the dense information, we also combined education, training and publication into one section because there was just one listing under each. I included the publication because it differentiates him from other marketing pro fessionals. I removed most of the award listings from the original resume because they were older or no longer relevant. However, the 2001 Presidents Club award is included as a separate bullet. It is unusual that a partie in a marketing role is recognized through the Presidents Club, so this can be a good talking point in an interview.SummaryEven if brand management is your expertise, it is hard to step back from your own professional background, and objectively convey what you have to offer. A resume writer is trained and experienced to play that role in the collaborative writing process.John now has a master resume that clearly presents him as a senior executive with both broad and deep experience in all aspects of marketing strategies and brand management. He can make a strong contribution as a key member of an executive team by providing strategic planning and expertise. He has a strong record of developing and managing profitable initiatives.His new resume is crisp, profession al, easy to read and can be edited for different opportunities.