The ARLIS/NA Internship Award provides financial support for students preparing for a career in art librarianship or visual resources curatorship. The award grants $2,500.00 to the selected recipient to support a period of internship in an art library or visual resources collection.

The deadline for applications is October 15, 2008.

For detailed information about the award and application instructions please see the ARLIS/NA website:
http://www.arlisna.org/about/awards/internship_info.html

ARLIS/NA Internship Award Sub-Committee
Greta Bahnemann
Cathy Billings (chair)
Maureen Burns
Robert Gore
Rina Vecchiola

How to hire the best people you've ever worked with
June 6, 2007

There are many aspects to hiring great people, and various people smarter than me have written extensively on the topic.

So I'm not going to try to be comprehensive.

But I am going to relay some lessons learned through hard experience on how to hire the best people you've ever worked with -- particularly for a startup.

I'm going to cover two key areas in this post:

Criteria: what to value when evaluating candidates.

And process: how to actually run the hiring process, and if necessary the aftermath of making a mistake.

Criteria first.

Lots of people will tell you to hire for intelligence.

Especially in this industry.

You will read, hire the smartest people out there and your company's success is all but guaranteed.

I think intelligence, per se, is highly overrated.

Specifically, I am unaware of any actual data that shows a correlation between raw intelligence, as measured by any of the standard metrics (educational achievement, intelligence tests, or skill at solving logic puzzles) and company success.

Now, clearly you don't want to hire dumb people, and clearly you'd like to work with smart people.

But let's get specific.

Most of the lore in our industry about the role of intelligence in company success comes from two stratospherically successful companies -- Microsoft, and now Google -- that are famous for hiring for intelligence.

(I don't know if the new, MBA-heavy Microsoft still does this, but I do know this is how Microsoft in its heyday worked.)

For example, a classic Microsoft interview question was: "Why is a manhole cover round?"

The right answer, of course, is, "Who cares? Are we in the manhole business?"

(Followed by twisting in your chair to look all around, getting up, and leaving.)

Google, on the other hand, uses the metric of educational achievement.

Have a PhD? Front of the line. Masters? Next. Bachelor's? Go to the end.

In apparent direct contraction to decades of experience in the computer industry that PhD's are the hardest people to motivate to ship commercially viable products -- with rare exception. (Hi, Tim! Hi, Diego!)

Now, on the one hand, you can't question the level of success of either company.

Maybe they're right.

But maybe, just maybe, their success had a lot to do with other factors -- say, huge markets, extreme aggressiveness, right time/right place, key distribution deals, and at least in one case, great products.

Because here's the problem: I'm not aware of another Microsoft that's been built by hiring based on logic puzzles. And I'm not aware of another Google that's been built by hiring PhD's.

So maybe there are other hiring criteria that are equally, or more, important.

Here's what I think those criteria are.

First, drive.

I define drive as self-motivation -- people who will walk right through brick walls, on their own power, without having to be asked, to achieve whatever goal is in front of them.

People with drive push and push and push and push and push until they succeed.

Winston Churchill after the evacuation of Dunkirk:

"We shall not flag or fail. We shall go on to the end, we shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our Island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender."

That's what you want.

Some people have it and some people don't.

Of the people who have it, with some of them it comes from guilt, often created by family pressure.

With others, it comes from a burning desire to make it big.

With others, it comes from being incredibly Type A.

Whatever... go with it.

Drive is independent of educational experience, grade point averages, and socioeconomic background.

(But Marc, isn't a 4.0 GPA a sure sign of drive? Well, it's a sign that the person is driven to succeed on predefined tests with clear criteria and a grader -- in an environment where the student's parents are often paying a lot of money for the privilege of having their child take the tests. That may or may not be the same thing as being driven to succeed in the real world.)

Drive is even independent of prior career success.

Driven people don't tend to stay long at places where they can't succeed, and just because they haven't succeeded in the wrong companies doesn't mean they won't succeed at your company -- if they're driven.

I think you can see drive in a candidate's eyes, and in a candidate's background.

For the background part, I like to see what someone has done.

Not been involved in, or been part of, or watched happen, or was hanging around when it happened.

I look for something you've done, either in a job or (often better yet) outside of a job.

The business you started and ran in high school.

The nonprofit you started and ran in college.

If you're a programmer: the open source project to which you've made major contributions.

Something.

If you can't find anything -- if a candidate has just followed the rules their whole lives, showed up for the right classes and the right tests and the right career opportunities without achieving something distinct and notable, relative to their starting point -- then they probably aren't driven.

And you're not going to change them.

Motivating people who are fundamentally unmotivated is not easy.

But motivating people who are self-motivated is wind at your back.

I like specifically looking for someone for which this job is their big chance to really succeed.

For this reason, I like hiring people who haven't done the specific job before, but are determined to ace it regardless.

I also like specifically looking for someone who comes from some kind of challenging background -- a difficult family situation, say, or someone who had to work his/her way through school -- who is nevertheless on par with his/her more fortunate peers in skills and knowledge.

Finally, beware in particular people who have been at highly successful companies.

People used to say, back when IBM owned the industry: never hire someone straight out of IBM. First, let them go somewhere else and fail. Then, once they've realized the real world is not like IBM, hire them and they'll be great.

And remember, an awful lot of people who have been at hugely successful companies were just along for the ride.

Career success is great to look for -- but it's critical to verify that the candidates out of hugely successful companies actually did what they claim in their roles at those companies. And that they really get it, that the real world is a lot tougher than being IBM in the 80's, or Microsoft in the 90's, or Google today.

Second criterion: curiosity.

Curiosity is a proxy for, do you love what you do?

Anyone who loves what they do is inherently intensely curious about their field, their profession, their craft.

They read about it, study it, talk to other people about it... immerse themselves in it, continuously.

And work like hell to stay current in it.

Not because they have to.

But because they love to.

Anyone who isn't curious doesn't love what they do.

And you should be hiring people who love what they do.

As an example, programmers.

Sit a programmer candidate for an Internet company down and ask them about the ten most interesting things happening in Internet software.

REST vs SOAP, the new Facebook API, whether Ruby on Rails is scalable, what do you think of Sun's new Java-based scripting language, Google's widgets API, Amazon S3, etc.

If the candidate loves their field, they'll have informed opinions on many of these topics.

That's what you want.

Now, you might say, Marc, that's great for a young kid who has a lot of spare time to stay current, but what about the guy who has a family and only has time for a day job and can't spend nights and weekends reading blogs and staying that current?

Well, when you run into a person like that who isn't current in their field, the other implication is that their day job isn't keeping them current.

If they've been in that job for a while, then ask yourself, is the kind of person you're looking for really going to have tolerated staying in a day job where their skills and knowledge get stale, for very long?

Really?

Remember -- because of the Internet, staying current in any field no longer costs any money.

In my experience, drive and curiosity seem to coincide pretty frequently.

The easiest way to be driven is to be in a field that you love, and you'll automatically be curious.

Third and final criterion: ethics.

Ethics are hard to test for.

But watch for any whiff of less than stellar ethics in any candidate's background or references.

And avoid, avoid, avoid.

Unethical people are unethical by nature, and the odds of a metaphorical jailhouse conversion are quite low.

Priests, rabbis, and ministers should give people a second chance on ethics -- not hiring managers at startups.

'Nuff said.

One way to test for an aspect of ethics -- honesty -- is to test for how someone reacts when they don't know something.

Pick a topic you know intimately and ask the candidate increasingly esoteric questions until they don't know the answer.

They'll either say they don't know, or they'll try to bullshit you.

Guess what. If they bullshit you during the hiring process, they'll bullshit you once they're onboard.

A candidate who is confident in his own capabilities and ethical -- the kind you want -- will say "I don't know" because they know that the rest of the interview will demonstrate their knowledge, and they know that you won't react well to being bullshitted -- because they wouldn't react well either.

Second topic: process -- how to run the hiring process.

First, have a written hiring process.

Whatever your hiring process is -- write it down, and make sure everyone has a copy of it, on paper.

It's continually shocking how many startups have a random hiring process, and as a result hire apparently randomly.

Second, do basic skills tests.

It's amazing how many people come in and interview for jobs where their resume says they're qualified, but ask them basic questions about how to do things in their domain, and they flail.

For example, test programmers on basic algorithms -- linked lists, binary searches.

Just in pseudocode -- it doesn't matter if they know the relevant Java library calls.

It does matter if they are unable to go up to the whiteboard and work their way through something that was covered in their first algorithms course.

A lot of people come in and interview for programming jobs who, at their core, can't program.

And it's such a breath of fresh air when you get someone who just goes, oh yeah, a linked list, sure, let me show you.

The same principle applies to other fields.

For a sales rep -- have them sell you on your product all the way to a closed deal.

For a marketing person -- have them whiteboard out a launch for your new product.

Third, plan out and write down interview questions ahead of time.

I'm assuming that you know the right interview questions for the role -- and frankly, if you don't, you probably shouldn't be the hiring manager for that position.

The problem I'm addressing is: most people don't know how to interview a candidate.

And even people who do know how, aren't necessarily good at coming up with questions on the fly.

So just make sure you have questions planned out and assigned to each interviewer ahead of time.

I do this myself -- always enter the room with a list of questions pre-planned -- because I don't want to count on coming up with them on the fly.

The best part is that you can then iteratively refine the questions with your team as you interview candidates for the position.

This is one of the best ways for an organization to become really good at hiring: by iterating the questions, you're refining what your criteria are -- and how you screen for those criteria.

Fourth, pay attention to the little things during the interview process.

You see little hints of things in the interview process that blow up to disasters of unimaginable proportions once the person is onboard.

Person never laughs? Probably hard to get along with.

Person constantly interrupts? Egomaniac, run for the hills.

Person claims to be good friends with someone you know but then doesn't know what the friend is currently doing? Bullshitter.

Person gives nonlinear answers to simple questions? Complete disorganized and undisciplined on the job.

Person drones on and on? Get ready for hell.

Fifth, pay attention to the little things during the reference calls.

(You are doing reference calls, right?)

Most people softball deficiencies in people they've worked with when they do reference calls.

"He's great, super-smart, blah blah blah, but..."

"Sometimes wasn't that motivated" -- the person is a slug, you're going to have to kick their rear every morning to get them to do anything.

"Could sometimes be a little hard to get along with" -- hugely unpleasant.

"Had an easier time working with men than women" -- raging sexist.

"Was sometimes a little moody" -- suffering from clinical depression, and unmedicated.

You get the picture.

Sixth, fix your mistakes fast... but not too fast.

If you are super-scrupulous about your hiring process, you'll still have maybe a 70% success rate of a new person really working out -- if you're lucky.

And that's for individual contributors.

If you're hiring executives, you'll probably only have a 50% success rate.

That's life.

Anyone who tells you otherwise is hiring poorly and doesn't realize it.

Most startups in my experience are undisciplined at fixing hiring mistakes -- i.e., firing people who aren't working out.

First, realize that while you're going to hate firing someone, you're going to feel way better after the fact than you can currently imagine.

Second, realize that the great people on your team will be happy that you've done it -- they knew the person wasn't working out, and they want to work with other great people, and so they'll be happy that you've done the right thing and kept the average high.

(The reason I say "not too fast" is because your great people are watching to see how you fire people, and if you do it too fast you'll be viewed as arbitrary and capricious -- but trust me, most startup managers do not have this problem, they have the opposite problem.)

Third, realize that you're usually doing the person you're firing a favor -- you're releasing them from a role where they aren't going to succeed or get promoted or be valued, and you're giving them the opportunity to find a better role in a different company where they very well might be an incredible star.

(And if they can't, were they really the kind of person you wanted to hire in the first place?)

One of the good things about our industry is that there are frequently lots of new jobs being created and so you're almost never pushing someone out onto the street -- so don't feel that you're dooming their families to the poorhouse, because you aren't.

You're not that important in their lives.

I can name a number of people I've fired or participated in firing who have gone on to be quite successful at other companies.

They won't necessarily talk to me anymore, though :-).

Finally, although this goes without saying: value the hell out of the great people you do have on your team. Given all of the above, they are incredibly special people.

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Finding a Job Using Uncommon Search Tactics
By Anthony Balderrama, CareerBuilder.com writer

Rules are meant to be broken. Think outside the box. Be original. These are all clichés meant to inspire and remind you that creativity can often be rewarded in life.

Yet, even the most adventurous of us can't overcome our reservations when it comes to job hunting. Everything you've been told about the application and interview processes emphasizes being professional. Don't try to be funny in your cover letter. Wear a conservative business suit. Show how you'll fit in as one of the team. In other words, do what everyone else is doing.

For some people, that just won't do.

Tony Beshara, author of "Acing the Interview," has seen his share of unusual job search methods over the years, ranging from quirky to bold. And several of them have been successful.

"For a marketing job, the candidate bought a pair of baby shoes, wrapped one in a box along with her résumé and sent it directly to the hiring authority," Beshara remembers. "The box had a tag that said 'Let me get my foot in the door and you will be pleased.' When she went to the interview, she took the other shoe with her, which was a great way to start the interview."

Quiet and clever tactics don't work for everybody, though. Beshara recalls another job seeker who decided to wear a sandwich board that read, "Brand new, hardworking MBA needs work." He then stood at one of Dallas' busiest intersections during the morning rush hour.

"He had a job by noon."

Even advertising your job hunt to thousands of morning commuters seems insignificant when compared to the gutsy move of John Gaines, a copywriter in Seattle. During his weeklong freelancing stint at an ad agency, he decided he wanted a permanent position with the company.

"The Monday after my assignment ended, I came in early and fished some important-looking papers out of a recycling bin. I found an empty office with a computer whose monitor didn't face the door and sat in it surfing the 'Net for a few hours every day."

He walked around the office at regular intervals carrying the papers and interacted with other employees. If they asked what he was doing, he told them he was a freelancer who was "handling some paperwork." He eventually had another freelancing stint with them that became a five-year relationship.

Other tactics aren't as premeditated or elaborate.

When marketing and management expert Mark Stevens met with a candidate whose credentials showed great promise, he was disappointed when the interview didn't go well. The applicant wasn't engaged in the interview and as soon as he left he threw away his résumé.

"The next day, I received a FedEx package from him, with a book of poetry on human loss and a loving letter about how his mother had died that week," Stevens remembers. He knew he hadn't made a good impression and asked for a second chance. Stevens gave it to him and ended up hiring him.

When you're hunting for a job, keep in mind that these unorthodox methods worked for these job seekers. Not only did they have the guts to try them out, but they also encountered hiring managers who were willing to take their efforts seriously.

Although wearing a sandwich board on a highway isn't the most reliable way to land a job, that job seeker did set himself apart from the thousands of other new MBAs fresh out of school. In a competitive job market, look for any opportunity, big or little, to give yourself an edge over the other applicants.

Anthony Balderrama is a writer and blogger for CareerBuilder.com. He researches and writes about job search strategy, career management, hiring trends and workplace issues.

**************
CareerLeak Redefines Job Research

CareerLeak is simple; by focusing on the power of crowd sourcing, individuals can post, search and explore careers. CareerLeak is free and is an open community that encourages individuals to post their experiences in order to enhance the content of the site. This is not a site to rant a rave, rather an opportunity to post and search objective job profiles.

CareerLeak was established with the objective to remove barriers that job seekers encounter when searching for a job. These barriers include, lack of insight to company culture, manager quality, salaries, working environment, and more. Transparency will empower the job seeker by providing information that can help eliminate certain companies as potential employers. This is very similar to the way an employer screens its applicants, just reversed. In reality, the benefits of CareerLeak extend beyond being a tool for prospective hires and includes employers. An employer can not only get anonymous feedback from their employees, but theoretically have their applicant pool screened by eliminating employees that for one facet or another didn't match based on the applicant research on CareerLeak.com

Post Individuals who are currently working, or have previously been employed fill out simple surveys that intend to discover aspects of working for specific employers. Survey items include salaries, hours, education required, management abilities and more.

Search Surveys immediately become searchable. Prospective employees can explore what it is like to work at a company before they even apply. They can even find interview information that can help land the job they are pursing.

Explore Additional resources are available including articles, occupation profiles, and advice.

*******************

CareerLeak is a free user generated job site that focuses on insider information from real companies. The site operates like vault.com, but it is free.

We are fairly new, however you will see that the site has many substantial pages that will benefit your students.

From the CARR-listserv, I pulled this link to this great site with 94 job search resources!

94 ultimate networking, interviewing, negotiating, resume and job board resources find a better gig

at
http://www.journerdism.com/index.php/2008/02/24/94-ultimate-networking-interviewing-negotiating-resume-and-job-resources-find-a-better-job-and-stop-complaining/
or http://tinyurl.com/yqh3pv

If you think that there is any one particular link that is really good, leave a comment!

Ann Arbor SPARK Events and Updates

Mingle & Match
Sponsored by Ann Arbor SPARK and the Zell Lurie Institute
Calling all entrepreneurs who have great ideas and need talent and business development assistance! E-mail Amy@AnnArborUSA.org if you are interested in presenting.
Date: Thursday, August 7, 2008
Time: 5 - 7 p.m.
Location: SPARK Central, 330 E. Liberty, Lower Level, Ann Arbor
Cost: Free, registration is required. Attendees register here.
Click here for more information.

Hot Shots: Career Connections at Vinology
Sponsored by Ann Arbor SPARK, Chambers of Commerce of Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti, Eastern Michigan University, The University of Michigan, Washtenaw Community College and Washtenaw County's Department of Employment Training and Community Services
Date: Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Time: 5 - 7 p.m.
Location: Vinology Wine Bar, 110 South Main Street, Ann Arbor, MI
Cost: Free, attendees register here. If you are a company with open positions and would like to attend please e-mail Amy at Amy@AnnArborUSA.org.
Click here for more information.

The Business of Green/Annual Innovation Awards Featuring Thomas Friedman
Sponsored by Michigan Business Review and Washtenaw Economic Club

Date: Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Time: 10:30 a.m. - 2:30 p.m.
Location: EMU's Convocation Center, 799 N. Hewitt Rd., Ypsilanti
Please call 734.302.1719 for sponsorship information.

Career Services

Spotlight On: Niche Retail - Software Engineer
Description:
We are looking for a talented and successful Software Engineer to help develop eCommerce solutions and business enhancing applications. This is a full-time position on our Ann Arbor based development group.
Requirements:
- A bachelor's or master's computer science degree or five years experience in eCommerce solution development. - Minimum three (3) years experience using HTML, JavaScript, and CSS - Minimum three (3) years experience developing applications using Java - Minimum one (1) year experience with JSP, XML, XSL, MySQL databases and AJAX - Excellent communication skills
E-mail resume to jobs@nicheretail.com.
Website: http://niche.catsone.net/careers/index.php?m=careers&p=showJob&ID=10082

Area Events

Career Workshop Series for Job Seekers Ages 50+
Sponsored by Borders and AARP
Dates: Wednesday, August 6 and 13, 2008
Time: 7 p.m.
Location: Borders, 3140 Lohr Road, Ann Arbor, MI 48108
For more information: 734-997-8884

Encore Career Forum
Sponsored by Michigan Small Business and Technology Development Center (MI-SBTDC) and other partnering organizations
Date: Friday, August 22, 2008
Time: 8:30 am - 3 pm
Location: Washtenaw Community College, Morris Lawrence Building
Cost: $15 registration fee (includes lunch)
Register online on the Calendar of Training at www.misbtdc.org

The Dumbest Online Job Hunt Blunders
From 'Sexpig' Applicant to YouTube Flasher, Job Hunters to Cringe Over
Column By MICHELLE GOODMAN

When Cara MacDonald placed an ad on Craigslist for an administrative assistant, the last thing she expected to get was a peep show. But that's exactly what she found when one of the job applicants sent a link to her personal Web site, complete with YouTube videos.

"Intrigued and admittedly nosy," MacDonald followed the link, horrified to find a clip of the woman dancing provocatively in a lacy lingerie top and super-short mini skirt.

But that wasn't the worst of it.

"Periodically, throughout those five minutes of disturbia, she flashes the camera, and it's 'I see London, I see France -- she's not wearing underpants!'" said MacDonald, a member services manager at HigherBracket.ca, an executive job search site that caters to six-figure earners in Canada.

"I'm not sure I would even believe it if I hadn't seen it with my own two eyes. If only I could un-see it now."

Needless to say, the dancing queen wasn't contacted for an interview. After all, sex only sells if you want a job in the adult entertainment industry.

But posting suggestive videos of yourself on YouTube, filling your Facebook page with photos of your latest beer bong-a-thon, or blogging about how much you wish your current employer would implode, aren't the only ways to blow your chances of landing a new job. (Yes, Virginia, like it or not, hiring managers do Google you.)

Some digital deal breakers are less obvious. So, if you're thinking about using a personal site, an online resume, a job search site, or a social networking site to woo potential employers, listen up.

The Devil's in the Digital Details

In case no one's enlightened you, IM-speak like "would luv 2 work 4 u!" has no place in your cover letters, even those you e-mail or submit through a job search site like Monster. Same goes for smiley faces and any variation of the acronym "LOL."

But it's not just the text message set who make the mistake of letting down their digital guard while job hunting.

Nicole Cox, director of recruitment for Decision Toolbox, an online recruiting firm based in Irvine, Calif., found herself less than impressed with a candidate who entered his resume in the company's online database -- along with the username "Sexpig."

Continue reading at http://abcnews.go.com/Business/CareerManagement/Story?id=5483048&page=2

This may not be as true for special libraries, but it depends on the level of public access. On the flip side, companies such home internet providers, Amazon.com and other online book sellers will see a direct decrease in revenue as people tighten their belts and switch to using the free services at public libraries such as newspapers, magazines, internet services, and, of course, books. On a more positive note, Joanna and I have continued to meet with and hear from many organizations – libraries and many others - in the Ann Arbor and SE Detroit area and they are looking to hire.

The whole text for this bit isn't available, but you can listen to it online on the NPR website. Link below.

Libraries Shine In Tough Economic Times
Listen Now [4 min 7 sec]

All Things Considered, July 29, 2008

With the economy slowing, many Americans are doing research in the public library. Boyd County, Ky., Library Director Debbie Cosper says public-use computers are always full and people are checking out books rather than buying them.

by Tina Reed
Ann Arbor News
July 24, 2008

Apple's iPhone is much more than a cool gadget to Gaurav Bhatnagar, Hung Truong and Adam Torres.

This summer, the three graduate students at the University of Michigan School of Information have spent their time tinkering with computer code and mocking up sketches in an attempt to develop the next big geo-sensitive application for the iPhone.

Their business, Troubador Mobile Inc. - a rough configuration of their initials - is one of three student-launched business teams receiving venture capital help from Ann Arbor's RPM Ventures to launch business ideas this summer. The RPM-10 program, part of a partnership between the venture capital firm and the U-M engineering school's Center for Entreprenuership, gives students advice from the local business community, office space for 10 weeks and the money to get the idea off the ground.

The program is designed to get both undergraduate and graduate students thinking more about being entrepreneurs. It culminates in mid-August when the groups present their businesses to venture capitalists and the public.

The entrepreneurship program was modeled after similar ones around run around the country, said the center's director Thomas Zurbuchen. "For students, it is a continuation of the classroom,'' Zurbuchen said. And for RPM, "they get the first look at some potentially great companies.''

One of the other projects, Pacific Atlantic Entertainment Corp., is being built by undergrads in U-M's engineering and business schools as a campus Web service called Tradeversity to allow students to buy and sell books or find jobs.

Another project, CampusRoost Inc., is a group of three U-M engineering seniors who hope to create a one-stop Web shop for campus rentals.
They've helped about 25 incoming business students find leads on housing so far, said Jason Bornhorst, the group's chief executive officer.

"The biggest thing for all of us is, we go to work every day and we decide what we're going to do,'' Bornhorst sad. "And that's what determines our success.''

The hope from the businesses helping with the project - including Bank of Ann Arbor, Miller Canfield, McKinley real estate and Menlo Innovations software developing - is that the students will end up staying in Michigan and will build successful companies here in the future, Grover said.

"We take the long view,'' Grover said. "It might not help us today. But in five years, that's 15 student teams that might not otherwise have ever started their own business .... They're such talented people that we might've lost them to California, but this program could be the thing that keeps them here.''

For Troubador Mobile, the learn-by-doing process led its group members, who mostly have technology backgrounds, to figure out firsthand what customers want before they designed their product. They now regularly take their sketches out to passersby on the U-M Diag.

"Some of the things we thought were really cool were actually kind of creepy,'' Truong said. "But some of the things we though were kind of invasive, people were interested in.''

For example, Truong said, people weren't interested in an application that could tell users where their friends were at all times. They did like an application running in the background on the phone that could offer pop-up discounts from nearby restaurants.

The strength of the program is that it takes students without business backgrounds and teaches them the accounting, legal and market savvy elements that go into building a company, Torres said.

"For me, starting a company is such a mystifying process,'' Torres said. "I'm not the kind of person who thinks like an entrepreneur. I don't like to take financial risks. But this program seems to have brought out that entrepreneurial spirit in me."

The Rejection Letter I Wish I Could Send

If we had to make up a story for why you might be interested in our position, then interviewing you was too risky.

By CLEMENT VINCENT

Dear Unsuccessful Applicants,

By now you are in receipt of the generic, photocopied letter indicating that our tenure-track position was filled by someone other than you. Unfortunately, our letter gives you not a smidgeon of information about why you were not that person; you are left to divine what went wrong.

Ideally, I would call each of you to explain what we found wanting in your cover letters and CV's, but I suspect my university would never approve of that plan. Still, I want to let you know why we placed your applications at the bottom of the pile.

No secret formula exists for securing a tenure-track job, but there certainly are things you can do to make it unlikely you'll ever get one. To my dismay, many of you did them.

Surprisingly, about half of you didn't seem to take our detailed position announcement seriously. I wrote the ad meticulously, not just because the publisher charged for each word, but because our department has particular teaching needs.

Several of you were simply unqualified for the position. A law degree is not a Ph.D., and a Ph.D. in another discipline is not equivalent to one in our field — notwithstanding one cover letter colloquially inviting us to "think outside the box" in making a hire.

A few of you had doctorates in literature, religious studies, or political science, but those degrees do not give you a professional competency to teach our classes, even in this interdisciplinary age. In another cover letter, one of you promised to enter a Ph.D. program upon being hired. Surely we are not anomalous in preferring that our colleagues begin their graduate degrees before starting employment here.

Our ad also noted that candidates had to have the Ph.D. in hand before the start of the next academic year. Some of you were very creative in omitting the fact that your dissertation was nowhere near completion; your references were not so creative.

Several of you were perceptive enough to recognize that our university's mission includes the serving of minority students. A few of you, however, spoke rather ineloquently about that fact in your cover letters. What, exactly, did you expect us to think when you said you were "comfortable having Asian students" in your classes, or that you regularly give "extra support" to African-Americans? I happen to be of minority descent, and I found the implications of your brief discussion of racial matters to be bewildering, at best.

At a small university like ours, teaching is primary. Therefore, it was not a good idea for one of you to mention your personal Web site on your CV, because when I visited it, I read the part where you described your aspiration to be an independent scholar free from the obligations of a university career. Like teaching?

As noted in our ad, we are a teaching-oriented institution with some expectation of research for all faculty members. In the end, we decided to consider only applications that listed at least one peer-reviewed article or book. That principle helped me reduce the pile. Some of you stumbled here.

Not all publications are scholarly publications. Several of you claimed articles in print but neglected to say where those articles had been published. With a little digging, some of those interesting-sounding titles turned out to be opinion essays in local newspapers or guest columns in newsletters.

Some of you had a section on your CV's titled "Publications," but you listed submissions that were only under review at prestigious journals. Since many of those journals have acceptance rates of only 3 to 5 percent, we simply could not assume that your submissions would necessarily result in publications.

While a diversity of interests surely counts for much in an application, it was not a good idea to emphasize, as one of you did, your side interest in anarchism. Academe is surprisingly full of regulations. I asked myself, "Would a self-styled anarchist show up for classes regularly, turn in grades, attend meetings promptly, exhibit customary civility, and fulfill other expected academic obligations?"

Many of you did not tell us why you were applying for our assistant-professor job. To those full professors who applied, we were complimented that you assumed we possessed the rhetorical powers to persuade the administration to change the search in medias res. If you truly were willing to start over here at the assistant-professor level, you should have explained that in your cover letter. Perhaps your family lives near here? Such an explanation might have persuaded us to interview you.

Then there were several deans who applied for our position. Perhaps you wanted to return to full-time teaching, or maybe you just saw our position as a stepping-stone to a deanship here? You didn't say.

Similarly, for those tenured professors at more prestigious universities and elite colleges who applied, we had to wonder why you would be interested in coming to teach at our institution. In the absence of a stated reason, it seemed to me that you were just fishing for an offer that you could use as leverage to get a raise at your home institution. Some indication of your motives would have led us to give your applications more consideration.

In short, if we had to make up a story for why you were interested in our position, then interviewing you was too risky. There were many other applicants who stated in concrete terms why they wanted to teach on our campus. Here's the moral of all this: Every cover letter should state precisely and persuasively why the applicant is seeking the job.

A few of you seemed quite excited about fonts in your applications. I must tell you that wildly underlining or bolding phrases, or occasionally changing the font size for keywords, does not betoken professionalism. When I encountered such cover letters, it was hard not to hear the intonation of a desperate sales rep trying a bit too hard to close a deal.

Additionally, we set aside a few applications with cover letters that came across as arrogant. One of you stated that you considered yourself to be one of the few instructors in the country qualified to teach in our discipline. We couldn't help wonder how you would feel about your colleagues if we were to hire you.

Our job ad carefully explained that we are a religiously affiliated institution. Omitting any recognition of that fact in your cover letter wasn't a deal-breaker, but I wondered how well you knew our institution. Some of you discussed our religious affiliation, but it came off sounding like you didn't mind that we were religious, or you were congratulating us that we happened to hold some beliefs that you happened to hold. Letters of that sort raised all sorts of red flags about whether you would be a good fit here.

I should state openly that I tried to find out as much as I could about you by consulting the modern oracle Google. Yes, I did find those pages about you. You're surprised? At a university like ours, we have to be careful about whom we bring into our community. And yes, I did see the photos. When I also found all of your rantings — political, religious, autobiographical, and otherwise — I wondered whether you would say such things in classes to our students.

Perhaps you are reading all of this, and even though you didn't commit any of the application sins I have mentioned above, you still received our bland rejection letter. If that is the case, take heart. Your application survived several rounds of paring, and you know how to prepare a strong package. In the end, we had a handful of well-qualified applicants with only one job opening.

When we hire again in the new academic year, I will send you an e-mail message encouraging you to apply again. In the best-case scenario, you'll be able to respond and then reject me, saying you've already secured a tenure-track position.

Signed,

A Search Committee Member

Clement Vincent is the pseudonym of an assistant professor of philosophy at a university in the Midwest.

Baby Boomers Fuel Thriving Health Industry
Bright Economic Picture, but High Medical Costs Hurt Consumers
By SUSAN DONALDSON JAMES

July 17, 2008 —

Americans accustomed in recent months to a daily dose of gloomy economic news may find a silver lining in the health care industry as aging baby boomers fuel demand for drugs, health services and medical supplies, boosting the companies that make them.

Employers and investors have fought for relief this year as housing prices fall, gasoline and food prices rise and credit and financial markets continue struggle for stability.

But health care, which today makes up 16 percent of gross national product, three times as much as in 1960, according to Kaiser Foundation, is one of a handful of sectors like mining, farming and natural resources to thus weather the economic storm.

Companies like Johnson & Johnson, the biotechnology company Genentech and Abbott Laboratories saw big second-quarter profit gains. And the sector has steadily created new jobs during the past year.

The quickening economic strides come as more Americans are slowing down and getting older, but also living longer.

The number of Americans over the age of 45 has jumped from 77 million in 1990 to about 112 million people in 2006, according to AARP, the organization that advocates the rights of older people.

And according to a recent Kaiser Family Foundation report, the average American spends $7,000 annually on health care, much of that coming from growing millions of baby boomers approaching old age. "As baby boomers we have more access to health care," said Oscar Gonzalez, economist for John Hancock. "We are living longer, we use it more and we demand more from the system. You can have every kind of test from an MRI to replacement of hips and joints."

Drug Profits Soar

It's been a steady earnings season for many of the companies that make medical products.

Health care giant Johnson & Johnson posted an 8 percent jump in their second-quarter profits, with a boost coming from the new non-prescription allergy pill, Zyrtec, new Acuvue contact lenses for astigmatism and surgical products for treating obesity.

Sales of medical devices and diagnostics, led by joint replacements and diabetes and vision care items, jumped 12 percent.

"The penetration of drugs has increased, so more are available," said John Hancock's Gonzalez. "How can you blame us when they do us good? Why not take them?"

Genentech, the biotech firm, saw second quarter profits rise 5 percent due to strength from its blockbuster cancer drugs. The company added breast cancer to its list of uses for its drug Avastin earlier this year, in addition to colon and lung cancer, resulting in a 15 percent sales increase.

Sales of Rituxan, which treats non-Hodgkin lymphoma and rheumatoid arthritis, gained 12 percent.

And Abbott Laboratories Inc. announced a 34 percent jump, driven by robust international sales of its arthritis drug Humira and other medical products and its cholesterol pill Niaspan.

Health Care Jobs Booming

Along with the steady demand for health care products, the industry seems to be bucking the employment tide.

Total U.S. job losses for the first six months of the year have hit 438,000, with an average of 73,000 jobs lost each month, many in construction, manufacturing and employment services. Construction alone has lost 528,000 jobs since its peak in September 2006

But job openings in the health care field continue to grow, according a July 3 report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Since June 2007, health care has added 348,000 jobs. In June alone, 15,000 jobs were added in the field, 13,000 in ambulatory services.

Meanwhile, financial planners say health care companies are a good investment in bad economic times.

"I don't want to be giving stock tips," said Mark Johannessen, president of the national Financial Planning Association. "But for a long term investor, related stocks in the pharmaceutical industry and extended-care facilities are a reasonable place to be, especially if you take into account the baby boomers and their medical needs when they come of age."

Johannessen advises following tried-and-true investment rule of diversifying your portfolio, but he added that mutual funds that specialize in health care issues are a good bet.

Offering Second Careers

The burgeoning industry also offers job opportunities for baby boomers, many of whom are staying in the work place longer or returning to second-career jobs in health care after retirement, according to AARP, the organization that advocates for the rights of older Americans.

"But this positive economic news is not necessarily a good sign," AARP spokesman Jim Dau told ABCNEWS.com.

AARP commissioned a nationwide survey to determine how people age 45 and older were responding to the current economic slowdown. It found that 17 percent of younger boomers  ages 45 to 54  were making cutbacks on their medications because of the economic downturn.

Taking those types of medical shortcuts can have long-term medical and financial consequences, according to Dau.

There are also concerns that the growing acceptance and array of medical choices could lead to difficult economic decisions that don't always pay off in better health.

"Health care costs are exploding, and it has a huge impact on individuals, employers and government spending. This is the biggest issue we are looking at for the next administration," Dau said.

"The health care system's rapid adoption of emerging medical technologies has, in many instances, provided enormous clinical benefits, such as prolonged life and improved quality of life," according to a recent Congressional Budget Report.

Those technologies come at a price.

"Newer, more expensive diagnostic or therapeutic services are sometimes used in cases in which older, cheaper alternatives could offer comparable outcomes for patients," it said. "And expensive services that are known to be highly effective in some patients are occasionally used for other patients for whom clinical benefits have not been rigorously demonstrated."

'Walking a Thin Line'

The companies reaping profits say the effective and cost-conscious delivery of medical care is on their agenda as well.

"Access to health care is a critical issue to the country, and we are working with our industry peers to develop programs and make it more affordable through patient assistant programs and sensitive pricing," Johnson & Johnson Corporate Communications Director Bill Price told ABCNews.com.

Still, Gonzalez says Americans should not get too excited about the strong health care indicators, despite the bright  albeit short-term  investment and employment opportunities.

"The truth is on both sides," said Gonzalez. "Clearly, people are living longer. At the same time, there are more types of treatment available and new drugs that are costly to develop. Some of the costs come through increased profit, but over a long period of time, consumers, patients, Medicaid and Medicare absorb the costs.

"We are walking a thin line."

Copyright © 2008 ABC News Internet Ventures

Every User Deserves a Personalized Interface
July 16, 2008

One size does not fit all, at least when it comes to user interface design. Researchers at the University of Washington have come up with a system to automatically generate interfaces that fit the users’ vision and motor abilities, making clicking easier.

In a paper presented yesterday at the meeting of the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence, the researchers described a system, dubbed Supple, that puts each user through a test of mouse pointing, dragging and clicking skills. The system then assesses the person’s performance and automatically generates a personalized interface that improves the user’s performance when using a specific program. This is particularly useful for people who have trouble controlling a mouse or a pointer, such as disabled and elderly people.

Thus, Supple will build an interface with larger buttons and expanded lists for users with cerebral palsy, who move cursors spastically. If the user suffered muscular dystrophy and had trouble in moving the cursor, the system would generate an interface with smaller buttons and a condensed layout.

Supple can reduce the performance gap between people with disabilities and those users who don’t have any by 62 percent. Disabled users also say they prefer the custom-made interfaces, a University of Washington’s press release says.
—Maria José Viñas

-- iTrack Jobs
-- Posted Jobs (but not specific to SI).

Obviously, the iTrack jobs are the main ones you should be looking at. These are jobs that our recruiting partners (4235 companies, but who's counting?) post for you to apply to and also some jobs that our staff pulls and adds to iTrack. But what are these Posted Jobs?

SI contracts iTrack from a professional organization called NACE (National Association of Colleges and Employers) who contracts the software from a vendor called Symplicity.

Formerly, the jobs posted in the "Posted Jobs" section came from CareerBuilder. We had the option to approve the ones that we thought were relevant to SI students and alumni interests. All others would be not approved and thus went to the Posted Jobs section.

Today, I received an email that notified us that the relationship with CareerBuilder has been discontinued, but replaced with something even better. Here's the message we received from our NACELink contact:

"I am writing to inform you that CareerBuilder has discontinued their previous feed to NACElink CSM sites, and the link has been removed from your instance.

However, the good news is that your students already have access to those job listings through our partnership with DirectEmployers Association (DEA). The DEA JobCentral.com site has partnerships with individual member companies and other job indexing sites like: Indeed, SimplyHired and Google. Through those indexes the CareerBuilder jobs are represented. In total there are millions of jobs that can be searched on by your students/alumni through the NACELink Extended Job Search."

If you are curious about other schools that use this system, you can see them all at: http://www.nacelink.com/nl_schools_list_c.php

I've always been a big fan of the index job search sites such as SimplyHired and Jobster. So, this is good news and we should be seeing more jobs that fall under the "NACELink Multi-School Postings" category that are relevant to your interests and career pursuits.

One subscriber on the WRK4US list, asked the following:

"Does anyone have any experience in telling potential employers that, if they don't have a PhD-level job, you're willing to take anything - -absolutely anything - to get your foot in the door? I mean, answering phones, stuffing envelopes, ANYTHING.

Are there any tricks or useful 'angles' to take in bringing this up?

After two years on the market (with an expensive professional career coach) I am seeing virtually no marketable skills in my PhD, including teaching, since my program offered no real teaching experience, no preparation for academe, and left me too specialized for half the jobs and not specialized enough for the other half.

In job applications and networking I've been aiming both low and high, narrow and broad, and haven't gotten a single nibble on any application save one.

My field is environmental studies (maybe off-topic - is wrk4us for Humanities?) but I'm in a specialization with zero job marketability. (No space for details here, but trust me.)"

As usual, the responses were varied and many:

The trick is to remember that you *do* have skills. One way to identify your skills is to list *everything* you've done in the past few years - classes you've taken, research you've done, community service activities, etc. - and then match up that list of activities with a skills list. University of Illinois Urbana Champaign has a really nice list of skills for PhDs. Then, when you go to write your cover letter you can cull from this list the list of skills you do have and their supporting activities.

***********

*************

My brother recommended to me that I address my over qualification for a position in my cover letter and explicitly explain why working for the company (even being under-employed) was important to and related to my career goals - and how my qualifications might explicitly improve my performance in that position.

**************

A career counselor gave me two good suggestions for applying to jobs for which I might be perceived as overqualified.

1. An "objective" at the top of the resume. Sometimes, objectives are
sometimes a waste of space, but sometimes they can help you justify why you are a reasonable fit for an otherwise improbable job. So, eg.:

OBJECTIVE: To find an entry-level position that will allow me to gain
real-world experience in the such-and-such industry, helping me in my
long-term career goal of such-and-such.

2. A "skills" section right below the objective, listing a bunch of "menial" tasks. By putting these tasks on your resume, you make it clear that you're willing to do them--and you avoid having to say something desperate-sounding in your cover letter like "Despite my seeming overqualification, I am willing to do menial work such as answering phones and making copies." Your skills section could look something like this:

SKILLS
-------
Phones
Photocopies
Filing
Data entry
Word processing
Proofreading
Scheduling
Other office support tasks

Also, I would suggest that you create at least two resumes--one for applying to entry-level jobs and one for more senior jobs. Unfortunately, it's very hard to craft a resume and cover letter that make you sound like a good fit for working at a variety of levels.

**************

I'm curious to know - did you ever try that [see her reply below] and if so what was the result? Also, is there some sort of experience your brother is speaking from, such as being on the hiring end of this kind of situation?

In Reference to... "My brother recommended to me that I address my over qualification for a position in my cover letter and explicitly explain why working for the company (even being under-employed) was important to and related to my career goals - and how my qualifications might explicitly improve my performance in that position."

****************

My brother has a PhD in Biophysics and works for RAND Corporation as a research scientist/manager. He does a great deal of hiring and was giving me advice in that capacity. Whether the same advice holds for a position where they do not already hire PhDs is unclear (people at RAND are likely to have a greater understanding of the value of a PhD) I didn't take all of his advice (the job ad listed a minimum and then a preferred) and did not get an interview for that particular position - however, as those of us who have ever done statistics well know, correlation is not causation!

I tracked down the e-mail he sent me:

This looks like an interesting opportunity, although, as you said, you are over qualified. So, I think you need to address that up front, in your cover letter. Does the job list a minimum, but then a preferred? If so, my cover letter edits are not as applicable. I'd change the cover letter to something like this highlight right away that you are already doing this type of work

"I am currently performing all (many?) of the duties outlined for this position in my current job. This position matches my interests of continuing to [tasks you are doing and want to expand]. In addition, I would have an opportunity to expand my expertise by [xxx]."

"While I understand that you have advertised for someone with a bachelor's degree, I believe that my education and qualifications would add great value to the position. I have a doctorate in [xxx from xxx] and have held [job related] responsibilities at [places worked]. [Doing specific job related tasks] is a task that I enjoy and is the direction in which I have chosen to take my career. Having a PhD allows me [what value do you add over] junior staff would not be able."

**************

Has anyone on the list attempted to or thought about omitting the PhD from his/her resume?

*****************

I job searched without my MA or PhD for a while (actually, a career counsellor told me to do this) - I don't really think it made a difference. For the line of work I was trying to get into, it was less about what I *did* have (graduate degrees) than what I *didn't* (work experience).

As I mentioned, my best results came from re-packaging the PhD as a "large-scale research project".

******************

In reference to..."Has anyone on the list attempted to or thought about omitting the PhD from his/her resume?"...

I have wondered the same thing, particularly when one hears the recent college grads are able to find jobs without difficulty. I've thought about constructing a thin resume with most of my experience and education absent. Unfortunately, it would be fraudulent and would ultimately present problems. In my case, my work experience relates to my Ph.D. For others, however, simply omitting a degree might not be as problematic.

Still, I'm tempted to do it as a sort of experiment to see how much age discrimination is a factor.

*******************

Oh, I think many of us have thought about it, some have done it at different times, and it seems to be another of those things that we repeatedly discuss on the list without coming to any hard and fast conclusion.

(In reference to..."Has anyone on the list attempted to or thought about omitting the PhD from his/her resume?")

*********

Perhaps beating a dead horse here, but I'm asking myself the exact same question. I'm ABD in English, finishing this December, and beginning a Library Science program next month. I have had no success breaking into any kind of library employment, and am pondering how much I should omit of my education and university work experience (mostly teaching, some admin). I am VERY willing to do "menial" tasks--doesn't bother me one bit--but I feel I'm stuck in a over-and-unqualified neverland.

When the position says "Education: High school degree or equivalent," is there a way for someone with more education to remain truthful and still catch HR's attention as a potential hire?

***********

"When the position says "Education: High school degree or equivalent," is there a way for someone with more education to remain truthful and still catch HR's attention as a potential hire?"

This has come up before, but I simply cannot see omitting irrelevant qualifications from a resume as fraud. I don't put my one-month stint at Sam Goody on my resume; neither do I tell people that I tutored students in logic and music theory. This is not because I'm hiding anything: it's because the experiences are irrelevant.

Resumes are not CVs -- they are not exhaustive lists of your life's work. To treat them as such, in my opinion, reflects a misunderstanding of the difference between the academy and other professions.

***************

"This has come up before, but I simply cannot see omitting irrelevant qualifications from a resume as fraud."

I didn't mean to suggest that in all cases omitting the Ph.D. would constitute fraud. Rather, in my particular case leaving out my Ph.D. would also require deleting my post-graduate school work experience. That would mean striking out 15-20 years of my life, with nothing in its place. To fill that gap I would need to construct a fraudulent story. Obviously that would be counterproductive to my job search. Others who have spent less of their lives in the academy could more easily omit the degree. I certainly agree that the purpose of the resume is to highlight the experience and skills most relevant for the particular job one is seeking.

I make a point of not applying for jobs that ask for only a high school diploma since I don't think they will value the skills I bring. Oddly, I've seen a number of jobs for writers and positions at the local historical society that require only a high school degree. In my view, this practice demonstrates the low value placed on historical knowledge and writing skills at these particular organizations.

************

You can sign up to subscribe to the WRK4US listserv at https://lists.duke.edu/sympa/

Search for WRK4US.

You can access all of these guides online through the UM Career Center at their Vault Library.

Beyond the books, Vault also maintains a resource in which actual employees of different companies write honest but anonymous testimonies about what its really like to interview and work at a company. See examples:

Microsoft (Program Manager)
Expect numerous rounds of interviews. Microsoft will keep interviewing you until a group says "yeah, we're interested". If you keep doing well on your interviews, they'll continue to "source you out" to groups. But don't expect to get placed quickly - unless you are a true expert in an area that has an opening that fits you perfectly. I interviewed in this last round, over 20 times. My final interviews consisted of one that was 9 hours long (non-stop), and the final one was 11 hours, with time for lunch (but you were interviewed during lunch - so I had just 10 minutes to gobble-down my food at the end - then I was off to the next one). I interviewed with Devs, PMs, Testers, Dev Leads, GPMs, and finally a PUM who's really the person who tries to convince you to come to Microsoft (you know you're doing well at that point). Most of the questions today are not about "solve this crazy problem", or "how many toasters can you fit in the Empire State Building". Instead, they want to know how you might have handled a tricky situation in your past; how you would handle a particular problem. Some will still give you a problem, but expect you to get up and show that you can attack it, and get to some conclusion.

Royal Dutch/Shell Group (Geologist)
Shell continues to have one of the most bizarre interview processes in the industry. One question I was asked was "What do you think of manned exploration of Mars?" This is supposed to give the interviewee an opportunity to show creative thinking with no preparation. In another previous Shell interview I was asked "What do you think about tourism?". I have no idea what weight these questions are given, but the thing that seemed to get me hired the first time was a series of essay questions I answered where I related experiences with selling bananas in the Caribbean. Apparently the answers they valued were those demonstrating creativity and out-of-the box thinking. Those stories were apparently circulated at Shell among my managers because I was often asked about it. Shell's campus recruiting is often followed up by a full day 'interview' at a Shell location, which is a day of exercises in teamwork, analysis, and thinking skills.

Maersk (Management Trainee)
I went through a 3-round process. First, all applicants to ANY job in Maersk must take the Wonderlic Logic and Reasoning test. Second, the Predictive Index personality assessment is given to applicants. Between the 1st and 2nd interviews with a recruiter and the trainee program manager, I was required to write letters to each interviewer describing why (a) Telling Maersk about myself, and (b) the qualities that made me worth hiring for the management trainee program, and I had to provide 3 references. (MISE) The 3rd interview was an all-day affair, I was interviewed in 2 sessions by 2 vice-presidents at a time.

Toyota Motor Company (Specialist)
1) Explain a time where someone else held your work from being completed. (The key to answering this question is working in a team, using consensus-based decision making, and the importance of meeting deadlines).
2) Explain a time where you had to lead/accomplish a situation with little instruction or ability (The key to answering this question was how do you pick up cues on what is to be expected, how do you ask questions and follow-up with folks who may forget about your project, and following up with others).
3) Name a time where you were involved with a task or assignment that involved a lot of tedious work. (They key to answering this question is how reduce waste in your work through time management and prioritizing).
Other Possible Questions:
4) The Toyota triangle includes three factors: Quality, Cost, and Safety. Which would you consider the most important attributes? (The key to answering this question is Safety because your consumer and respect for others comes first. Then quality, making sure you make the best parts to further safety and keep customers satisfied. ... Read more

Vault also maintains several other resources including Industry Employer Guides, Career Topic Guides, 53 Occupational Profiles, Industry Research, Company Research, an Internship Database, and the "Vault Electronic Water Cooler". These are all great, well-informed, and useful resources. I recommend checking them out!