Board of Governors Approves Organizational Structure Changes at April Meeting

Board of Governors Approves Organizational Structure Changes at April Meeting Board of Governors Approves Organizational Structure Changes at April Meeting Board of Governors Approves Organizational Structure Changes at April MeetingLast month at the ASME Board of Governors (BOG) meeting, members of the Board approved two motions that will result in the forming of a new ASME sector and the renaming of an existing sector. The meeting took distribution policy April 8 at the Liaison Hotel in Washington, D.C.During the meeting, the Presidential Task Force on Organizational Structure under ASME President Said Jahanmir gave its final report, which included a number of recommendations for the Board to consider. ASME President-Elect Richard Laudenat then presented two motions that were based on the work of the task force. The Board of Governors approved both of the motions, which are intended to help reengage section and technical division members with the Society.The first motion approved b y the Board called for the dissolution of the Societys current Group Engagement Committee and the subsequent formation of a new Member Development and Engagement (MDE) Sector to provide governance for sections, student sections and membership development. Once the new MDE Sector is established, the current chair of the Group Engagement Committee, John Mulvihill, will be appointed as its interim senior vice president. Mulvihills responsibilities will include developing the new sectors organizational structure and operating documents, which will be presented to the members of the Board of Governors for review during the anliegen Board meeting.The Board of Governors also approved the renaming and restructuring of the Technical Event and Content Sector, which will now be known as the Technical and Engineering (TEC) Communities Sector. The current senior vice president of the TEC sector, Richard Marboe, will work with George Papadopoulos, the incoming SVP to develop operating documents a s well as a reporting and governance structure, taking into account the recommendations of the Task Force on Organizational Structure. These documents will then be presented to the BOG for review during the fall Board meeting.

3 Tricks to Staying Organized During an Intense Job Search

3 Tricks to Staying Organized During an Intense Job Search3 Tricks to Staying Organized During an Intense Job SearchDuring a recent presentation for college students, this question came up If I have applied to at least 20 jobs, what should I do when a recruiter calls about my application, and I have no idea what position they are calling about? Managing the job search process in 2016 can be tricky. It seems that every company and every social media site has an online method to submit your resume, many roles sound very similar and company names arent even listed with some postings. To add to the complication, most firms do notlage have a method to confirm that your resume was received or a process to alert applicants when a role has been filled. And finally, some of the largest and most desirable employers have a habit of contacting potential candidates weeks, months or sometimes a year after a resume was submitted. To make a great impression when you are often flying blind requires some strategy. Here are some tips for successful job search management. 1. Document. Once you apply to a role or forward your resume to any potential employer, record what you did. The easiest way to do this is to create a spreadsheet with the following columns company, contact name, role, date applied, source (how you discovered the opening), results and follow-up items. This spreadsheet should be your constant companion while searching. It allows you to quickly recall information if an unexpected recruiter calls you. It tells you if you really have applied to a million places or your five actual applications just felt exponentially greater. It can be a reminder to follow up on openings if you havent heard anything and to check to see if new, potentially better-matched positions have been posted at desired companies. If you keep track of follow-up items, you have a legitimate reason for a second email. You could write something like this Dear So-and-So, I hope all is well. In ou r previous conversation, you had mentioned that May was Awesome Companys busy season. I would welcome the opportunity to discuss how my background would be an ideal fit for your customer support role to assist with the increased volume of customer needs in the late spring. Please let me know if I can provide mora information or answer any questions about my skills. It is impressive (and often effective) to send a well-crafted and well-timed follow-up email. Frequently, hiring is not about finding the perfect person, but rather the best combination of skills and personality to match the demand you have right now. A tracking system can aid in staying on top of proactive opportunities to generate interest in your background. 2. Fake it professionally and strategically, of course. Now that you have documentation established, it is time to master the art of sounding prepared when you are actually clueless. Back to the original dilemma What do you do when a recruiter calls, and you dont know the job or company from which they are calling? If you can professionally answer an inbound call and be attentive, take the call. The benefit of taking a call as it comes in is that busy recruiters often keep calling through their list of qualified candidates until they fill any available prescreening or interview slots. Letting a call go to voicemail may result in an opportunity for the next candidate in the resume pile. Experienced recruiters should give you an introduction that jogs your memory of the role and company. However, if you are still unsure, it is totally acceptable to say, I am so glad you contacted me. I do not have easy access to my job search notes at this moment. Can you remind me of the position, so that I can speak more specifically about my relevant skills and interests? If it is not displayed on your caller ID, it is an excellent idea to ask the caller if she can repeat or spell her name and her best contact number, just in case theres a phone issue or a dropped call. You will sound so much more professional when you follow up with Cindy Smith from accounting versus Some lady from your company just called me about a job. 3. Look for the next step. If you receive an initial call, express your interest in continuing the process and ask about next steps. If you completed an in-person interview, thank the interviewer for her time, remind her of your continued interest and ask about next steps. Send thank-you notes (or emails) to each person you speak or meet with assuring them of your interest in the next steps. In short, find some next steps. Document the timing of each interaction and update the follow-up items column. Then, make sure you act on those items. Imagine if you were a farmer and just threw your seeds haphazardly on your property. If you dont know where the seeds are sown, you have no way to ensure the most valuable crops get ample sun, fertilizer and protection from pests. The farmer who waits to see what happens has d one nothing to control the outcome of his planting. The same is true in undertaking a career search. One of the greatest errors in job searching is the lack of follow up after sending in a resume. Maybe this is because job seekers have no record of where they applied. Maybe it is because they are afraid of what to say in a follow-up call. Regardless of the reservations, tracking your actions and following up is a critical part of a successful job search. If you find a way to be politely persistent, you will distinguish yourself and have a better chance of achieving your goals more quickly.

New Technologies Open Vast Oil Reserves

New Technologies Open Vast Oil Reserves New Technologies Open Vast Oil Reserves New Technologies Open Vast Oil ReservesBehind the recent headlines of offshore spills and Middle East uprisings, there has actually been some good news for the U.S. oil industry. Reports in early 2011 focused public attention on something oil industry insiders have known for years significant oil and gas plays lie beneath vast areas of the upper midwestern United States, practically begging to be tapped. And when they are, the nations foreign oil imports could plummet by mora than half within a decade. The news just keeps getting better for producers active in the largest of these fields the 25,000-square-mile Bakken Shale in the Williston basin of Montana, North Dakota, and adjoining Canadian provinces. Doubling U.S. Reserves In the mid-1990s, the U.S. Geological Survey estimated the amount of technically obtainable oil in the Bakken at about 151 million barrels. By 2008, technological advances had pushe d that estimate to 3 billion4.3 billion barrels, more than 25 times the previous forecast. Conventional triole techniques have only been able to extract a fraction of the available crude at the Bakken Shale.In early 2011, independent oil and natural gas exploration and production company Continental Resources of Enid, OK, was projecting an ultimate Bakken recovery of an astounding 24 billion barrels of oil, enough to make it the worlds largest oil discovery in the past 3040 years, and more than enough to double current U.S. reserves. The catch is thatthe Bakken does not give up its riches easily. Conventional exerzierening techniques have only been able to extract a fraction of the available crude. The Bakken is a tremendous resource for North Dakota and our nation, said Ron Ness, president of the North Dakota Petroleum Council. But even with the best technology available today, we can only recover about 5% of the Bakken oil resource in this tight shale rock. Nonetheless, excitement about the play grows as technologies such as horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing become more effective. Horizontal drilling puts the well casing in contact with far greater surface area of the oil lager than vertical methods, making recovery from shale faster and more efficient. Horizontal Drilling Is the Key Compared to vertical methods, horizontal drilling puts the well casing in contact with a much greater percentage of the oil reservoirs surface area, making recovery from shale faster and more efficient.In modern horizontal drilling, producers drill straight down until they hit shale, and then use directional drilling techniques to bend the drill string in parallel to the shale layer. Downhole motors and advanced measurement using drillingsensors at selected intervals along the drill string help the crew above ground steer the drill and make real-time adjustments based on directional data. Multistage hydraulic fracking increases the speed and precision of the fracturin g process, increasing cost-effectiveness and production output. Area residents and environmental groups have raised concerns about possible effects of this method on groundwater and air quality, but environmental impact studies suggest that horizontal drillings effects are comparable to conventional techniques. North Dakota and the other states with large oil plays are relishing some long-sought economic benefits from this latter-day oil boom.Bakken-style horizontal drilling is expensive upfront, but the success and yield rates can easily offset the higher initial investment. Producers report that about 99% off their wells are productive, and 90% are profitablea track record that traditional vertical wells cant touch. North Dakota and the other states with large, previously unobtainable oil plays are relishing some long-sought economic benefits from this latter-day oil boom. North Dakota has tripled its oil production over the past four years, becoming the fourth largest oil-produci ng state, and production continues to grow rapidly, Ness said. North Dakotas 3.8% jobless ratethe nations lowestis another byproduct of the boom, as companies struggle to find skilled workers to maintain a drilling pace of 1,800 new wells per year. Engineering Companies Stand to Gain The oil and gas industry has added more than 20,000 new high-wage jobs in the state, Ness said. North Dakota is attracting all types of engineering companies to the state as we invest billions in infrastructure. We need more companies to do the work. The ongoing technical challenge to extract even more crude from shale will continue to lure engineers to the region for decades. This will attract the great minds of the future, Ness said. The ability to recover the other 95 out of every 100 barrels of oil in the ground awaits better technology. Michael MacRae is an independent writer.North Dakota is attracting all types of engineering companies to the state as we invest billions in infrastructure- we need more companies to do the work.Ron Ness, president, North Dakota Petroleum Council