4 Tips for Finding a Job This Holiday Season

4 Tips for Finding a Job This Holiday Season4 Tips for Finding a Job This Holiday SeasonWith shopping, vacations and the general desire to reduce stress during the holidays, December is a tempting time to take a break from the job search. After all, nobodys hiring during the holidays- right?Wrong. At year end, lots of companies are finalizing their budgeting for the following calendar year, spending whats left this year for fear of losing it, and making hiring decisions accordingly. And, with some of your competition taking it easy, there may be no better time to snag the perfect gift for yourself a new position. Heres how1. Take Advantage of the Holiday CheerWe all know that most jobs dont even make it to the job boards- they are either filled internally or through word of mouth recommendations. Holidays give you a great excuse to check in with your network and find out what might be available. Get your foot in the door with an informational interview, especially at a time when ever yone is in the holiday spirit.2. Holiday Cards are not Just for Loved OnesTheres more to the job search than submitting your resume for every opening you find. Its about maintaining your contacts and keeping your name top of mind with those involved in the hiring process. So when you are mailing those holiday cards out, take the time to send some holiday well-wishes to those in your professional network.3. Companies Make New Years Resolutions TooEveryone starts out with high hopes for the coming year, and every company will want to start off 2014 with a bang. In order to get the ball rolling, they will want to hire in December and spend the remainder of their 2013 budget in the process. The end of the year is the perfect time to spend whats left- why shouldnt that extra budget item be you?4. Parties are Networking OpportunitiesIf all else fails, take advantage of holiday gatherings involving friends and/or family. You never know who will be there, and it may open up some opportuniti es for you to make a good impression. Make sure to have a good time, share your job search story without coming across as desperate or pushy, and try to meet as many new people as possible while solidifying your existing relationships. And whatever you do, dont drink too much or ruin someone elses experience with a sob story.

Deconstructing the Deepwater Horizon Blowout

Deconstructing the Deepwater Horizon Blowout Deconstructing the Deepwater Horizon Blowout The April 20, 2010, explosion on the Deepwater Horizon drilling platform that took 11 lives and spread a massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico has focused attention on the safety of offshore oil and gas well drilling. Just what caused the massive blowout? What steps do drillers take to prevent blowouts? Why didnt those work and what should be done differently in the future?As of yet, we still dont have all the answers. What we do know, though, is that oil wells will continue to be drilled under ocean depths of 3,000 feet, putting equipment under high pressureof more than 2,300 pounds per square inch. This is what makes getting natural gas and crude oil out of the briny depths so difficult. From the moment a drill bit penetrates the reservoir, a race is on to ensure that blowouta surge of oil and gas up the well borewont occur.The Drilling ProcessTo maintain appropriate pressure and keep fluids from seeping into the surrounding rock, a fluid made of barium sulfate-enhanced mud is added to the well bore. Once desired depths are reached, a casing wider in durchmesser than the drill pipe is lowered into the well. Next, a cement slurry, containing additives to keep it from hardening on its way down, is pumped into the annulus, the space between the casing and the rock, displacing the muddy drilling fluid.Once the annulus is filled, the cement is allowed to harden, and the slurry is replaced with fluids containing dissolved calcium chloride salts with densities up to 11.6 pounds per gallon or bromide salts with densities of 11.5 to 19.2 pounds per gallon.That cement creates a watertight seal between the oil- and gas-bearing rock and the well bore. To ensure that seal is tight, two, sometimes three, pressure tests are performed at two-hour intervals, and cement slurry is injected at high pressure to fill any leaks in the cement sheath that are detected. For the final step, dril lers position a cement plug that operating personnel will drill through to let the oil and gas flow into the wellbore once production begins.Its blowout preventer failed to function.It appears that no major problems occurred during the Macondo wells drilling conducted by Transocean, Ltd., the worlds largest offshore drilling contractor. And two of the tests performed on the cement seal by Halliburton Services, the largest cementing services company, indicated it welches tight. A third test, however, provided anomalous results, which Lamar McKay, president of BP America, later called worrisome during testimony to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce. In the same hearings, Steven Newman, president of rig owner Transocean, said the tests indicated something happening in the wellbore that shouldnt be happening.Nevertheless, Tim Probert, president of weltweit business lines and chief health, safety, and environmental control officer for Halliburton, testified that after reviewing t he test results, BP, the final arbiter of all Macondo operations, decided to proceed, putting the 10-year-old, 450-ton Macondo blowout preventers to the ultimate test.The Blowout PreventerSince its invention in the 1920s, the blowout preventer has significantly improved oil-field safety, earning the Cameron blowout preventer used at Macondo ASME Mechanical Engineering Landmark status in 2003. In normal drilling operations, the drill pipe passes through a cylindrical channel that runs through the blowout preventer and into the wellbore. In the event of an explosion, the blowout preventers rams, each of which has an upper and lower shear blade, cut through the channel, crush the pipe, then form a seal to block fluid flow.In the Macondo blowout, just before Halliburton placed the final concrete plug, high pressure forced the oil and gas into and up the wellbore. The blowout preventer valves and the shear rams designed to cut through and seal the drill pipe failed, allowing the oil and gas to surge up to the rig floor and trigger the fatal explosion. The subsequent escape of hydrocarbons created the massive oil spill that hit the Louisiana coast in mid-May.The Macondo blowout preventer had been deemed by maintenance records to be in good operating condition, so its failure is mysterious. Investigators focused their attention on whether modifications made over the years could have contributed to why its valves did not close. Leakage of hydraulic fluid from the valves might have been a contributing factor.The blowout preventers shear rams, the final line of defense, may also have come up short. To allow for the high water pressures of great ocean depths, the drill pipe used was much thicker than the standard variety. It may be that the shear rams werent strong enough to make that crucial cut.Until forensic tests of the blowout preventer, now underway at a NASA facility in New Orleans, are complete its impossible to know its role in the failure. It is safe to say, ho wever, that probably no one single cause triggered the blowout.More likely it was multiple failures in critical systems that set in motion the fatal chain of events that plunged the Gulf Coast into disaster.Adapted from Avoiding the Blowout, by John K. Borchardt, for Mechanical Engineering, August 2010.From the moment a drill bit penetrates the reservoir, a race is on to ensure that blowout- a surge of oil and gas up the well bore- wont occur.

Find a Job Faster with These 5 Tips

Find a Job Faster with These 5 TipsFind a Job Faster with These 5 TipsWhen youre looking for a job, time can seem to move so slowly, especially if its been an unexpected job loss. Most job seekers are on the hund for tips, tools, and resources to help them find a job faster and beat the competition. Below, weve compiled five ways job seekers can focus their efforts to speed up their job search.Here are five tips to help you find a job faster1. Learn to unlearn, and learn again.Even if you dont recognize them, you likely have some bad job search habits that you need to ditch. Focus your energy on unlearning undesired behaviors and tasks, then compile new skills and behaviors to learn. By learning new skills, and ditching the undesired or unneeded ones, you improve your chances since employers are looking for job seekers with current skills.2. Use professional job search services.Theres no harm in using the resources available to you. Professional job search services can help in creati ng an environment where you can succeed. People and resources to consider includeCareer coachesResume writersProfessional membership organizationsCareer assessmentsCover letter writersHeadhunter or recruiter3. Build a job search team.You dont want to go through your job search alone. Whether youre feeling stuck in a rut or bursting with positive news, you need a support team to keep you on track and share your success with. Employ your friends, family, and network to provide you with the support, direction, and accountability you need.4. Focus on the details.Success can be found in the details. Revamp and perfect your cover letter and resume so that employers feel you are talking directly to them. Create a portfolio or website showcasing your best work. And, dont forget to manage your social media profiles. HR professionals and hiring managers are looking at all the different pieces of who you are to make a decision. Make your best impression by focusing on the details and keeping t hings professional.5. Create a plan.You wouldnt buy a car or a house without a plan, so why would you approach your job search without one? You shouldnt. To find a job faster, you need to set goals and outline a plan for how you will conduct your job search. Then, you need to make sure to work towards your goals, and revisit your plan as time passes. While your timeline might not go to plan, it will go much more smoothly and quickly than if you simply winged it.Find more job search tips hereReaders, what tips would you offer job seekers who want to find a job faster? What actions should they take to improve their chances of finding a job quickly? Share with us below