Smart Answers to Stupid Interview Questions

 

A job interview is a weird experience. Sometimes you to go a job interview and meet wonderful, sparky people you could talk with for hours. Other times you show up and your first thought is "I wouldn't work in this toxic waste dump for ten million dollars."

The traditional interview format is a big part of the problem. Somebody came up with the standard, lame interview script sixty or seventy years ago and it's still going strong.

The standard interview script is brainless and insulting and it doesn't even do a good job of separating the best candidates from the worst ones. Still, people who are afraid to try new things don't dare deviate from it.

You know the script I'm talking about. It's the one with these three stupid interview questions in it:

• What's your greatest weakness?
• With all the talented candidates, why should we hire you?
• Where do you see yourself in five years?

It isn't the interviewer's fault that they ask such thoughtless and uncreative questions. Somebody told them to. I wouldn't count out an entire organization just because somebody uses some of these dog interview questions, but if everybody in the joint is stuck in the same sixty-year-old interview-script time warp, you may want to keep looking.

As a manager, you don't have to ask the standard, stupid job interview questions when you interview candidates. Here are ten smarter questions you can use instead.

As a job-seeker, you get to decide how to answer stupid job interview questions when they come up. You can go the good-little-sheepie route and give the standard answer, like this:

THEM: With all the talented candidates, why should we hire you?

YOU: Well, I'm hard-working and I've got a lot of experience, I'm loyal and thrifty and never come late to work, and besides that I walk old ladies across the street.

People tell us all the time "I went to the interview and the words that came out of my own mouth horrified me. I felt like a brown-noser and a suckup. I don't talk that way in real life. I fell into the script and I couldn't climb out!"

We've all been there. You're likely to fall into the good-little-sheepie job seeker script by accident if you don't prepare yourself in advance. You can get off the script and stay human in a job interview, and you'll be happy if you do.

For starters, if you shake up the script and give your interviewer an answer s/he wasn't expecting, you'll force him or her to think. That's good. You'll be more memorable that way, and if the interviewer is horrified that you'd step out of the box, what does that tell you?

It tells you that you don't want that job anyway.

Here are our three stupid interview questions and a choice of two answers for each one. The first answer is the standard sheepie answer, and the second one is for use when your mojo is high and you feel like busting a frame and growing your muscles a little.

Stupid Interview Question: "What's your greatest weakness?"

SHEEPIE ANSWER: "I'm a hard worker, and I can be too hard on myself and other people when I think that either me or somebody else could give a little more to a project."

HIGH-MOJO ANSWER: "I used to obsess about my weaknesses. I used to think I had a million defects that needed correcting, and I read books and took classes to try to improve on them.

Gradually I learned that it makes no sense for me to work on things that I'm not great at, and it makes no sense for me to think of myself as having weaknesses. These days I focus on getting better at things I'm already good at -- graphic design, especially."

Stupid Interview Question: "With all the talented candidates, why should we hire you?"

SHEEPIE ANSWER: "I've been working in this arena for sixteen years and I've got a great track record."

HIGH-MOJO ANSWER: "That's what we're here to figure out, I guess! I can't say that you should hire me.

There might be somebody else who's perfect for the job - you've met the other candidates or will meet them, and of course you know more about the needs here than I do.

I can say this - if this match is meant to be, both of us will know it."

Stupid Interview Question: "Where do you see yourself in five years?"

SHEEPIE ANSWER: "Working hard here or in another Financial Analyst role, with luck moving up to Senior Financial Analyst and being more involved in strategic investments than I've been so far."

HIGH-MOJO ANSWER: "Exploring one of my passions, undoubtedly -- maybe in Finance, or my interest in ecommerce or in an international role. I have a lot of passions!"

You get to decide how far to turn the mojo dial in every interview. You already know how it feels to sit in the chair and play the Good Little Job Seeker. What would happen if you stepped out of the box on your next job interview, and played yourself?

Southernmost point

Palin family in Alaska brawl: 'Alcohol was believed to be a factor'

Police confirm ‘verbal and physical altercation’ took place outside house party in Anchorage, where former governor Sarah Palin was reported to have shouted: ‘Do you know who I am?’

• Share4374
• inShare4
• Email

• Tom McCarthy in New York
•  
• The Guardian, Friday 12 September 2014 21.53 BST
• Jump to comments (570)

Sarah Palin. The Anchorage police department said: ‘We are reviewing the case to determine whether charges will be filed.’ Photograph: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

For once, there were no cameras rolling.

Since her ill-fated 2008 run for vice-president, Sarah Palin and her family have been a constant television presence, appearing in their own reality show and, more recently, on her very own Sarah Palin channel.

The most dramatic recent chapter in the Palin story appears, however, to be documented only by witness accounts – and an evolving police report. Alaska authorities are considering filing criminal charges related to a large fistfight said to involve multiple members of the family in the Overview neighbourhood of Anchorage last Saturday night.

Palin family members were present at a party where 20 people ended up in an alcohol-fuelled melee in the front yard, police spokeswoman Jennifer Castro told the Alaska Dispatch News.

Sarah Palin herself got in on the action, ABC News reported in an interview with a party attendee, who quoted the former governor as screaming at unknown combatants: “Do you know who I am?!”

Palin was the 2008 Republican vice-presidential nominee and currently is host of Amazing America with Sarah Palin on the Sportsman Channel. She and husband Todd are the parents of five children, at least two of whom were central protagonists in the weekend brawl, according to Alaska politics blogger Amanda Coyne, who wrote:

The owner of the house gets involved, and he probably wished he hadn’t. At this point, he’s up against nearly the whole Palin tribe: Palin women screaming. Palin men thumping their chests. Word is that [daughter] Bristol has a particularly strong right hook, which she employed repeatedly.

The Anchorage police department confirmed on Thursday that a “verbal and physical altercation” had taken place outside the residence, where a party was being held in part to celebrate Todd Palin’s 50th birthday.

“We are still reviewing the case, along with our municipal attorney’s office to determine whether any charges will be filed,” Castro, the police spokeswoman, told the Alaska paper in an email.

“A preliminary investigation by police revealed that a party had been taking place at a nearby residence and a fight had broken out between multiple subjects outside of the residence,” she added.

“None of the involved parties wanted to press charges at the time of the incident and no arrests were made at the scene. Alcohol was believed to have been a factor in the incident. Some of the Palin family members were in attendance at the party.”

In a Facebook message posted on Sunday wishing her husband a happy birthday, Sarah Palin said she had been “travelling” on Saturday.

In Coyne’s account, the fight began after Track Palin, Palin’s oldest son and an Iraq war vet, arrived at the party in a “stretch Hummer” and saw an ex-boyfriend of his sister Willow, 20, with whom he traded words.

The next day, in an unrelated incident, a 25-year-old man from Florida was arrested on felony stalking charges after he climbed on to a third-floor balcony of Bristol Palin, the family’s eldest daughter said to have a good right hook. The man had sent Bristol Palin “approximately 1,000 Facebook messages”, she told police.

Palin is unpopular in the state she formerly led. A Public Policy Polling survey last month found that only 36% of voters in the state have a favourable opinion of Palin, versus 55% who view her negatively.

"I owe America a global apology. Because John McCain, through all of this, John McCain should be our president."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/09/12/sarah-palin-apology_n_5810808.html?ncid=fcbklnkushpmg00000013

NTSB: Crew Mistakes, Fatigue Caused UPS Crash

The August 2013 crash of a UPS cargo plane short of the runway in Birmingham, Alabama, was caused by a combination of crew errors and pilot fatigue, the National Transportation Safety Board said in its final accident report released on Tuesday.

 

UPS disagrees with the findings, saying the carrier provides adequate rest for crews and that fatigue should not have been included as a factor. The cargo airline and its pilots union were both kicked off the accident investigation team last month after publicly sparring about the cause of the crash before the official report was made public.

 

Ultimately, however, the NTSB determined that crew mistakes were the primary reasons for the accident, which killed both pilots when their Airbus A300-600 slammed into the ground less than a mile from the runway during a pre-dawn approach to Birmingham. Specifically investigators faulted the pilots for failing to make proper altitude and descent rate callouts and for not aborting the landing attempt during the unstabilized approach.

 

As they prepared for the flight the pilots can be heard on the cockpit voice recorder complaining of being tired and saying that cargo pilots should have been included in new federal rest and duty-time regulations. 

 

A UPS spokesman, however, rejected the notion that fatigue played a role in the crash.

 

"It is difficult to understand how the NTSB reached its conclusion regarding fatigue related to night flying when the pilot had not flown in 10 days and the first officer was off eight of the previous 10 days," the company spokesman told The Birmingham Courier-Journal.

 

Based on the investigation, the Safety Board issued 20 recommendations, including calls for the FAA to require crews to brief each other on fatigue before each flight and for UPS and its pilots union to work together to develop a better rest-management program.

Read more at http://www.flyingmag.com/technique/accidents/ntsb-crew-mistakes-fatigue-caused-ups-crash#g6TVVsJBS3Rae5Zy.99

Magneto Ignition Systems

The fuel air mixture in the combustion chamber needs to be ignited at the correct moment to ensure efficient combustion and power generation by the engine. This is the job of the ignition system, be that the old fashion magneto of the good old days or a modern fully electronic microprocessor controlled FADEC system we see more and more each passing year.

For obvious safety reasons the ignition system may not rely on the aircraft electrical system and must be dual and each system operates one of the two spark plugs in each cylinder.

These ignition systems apply to AVgas (spark ignited) engines and not to diesels, which are compression ignited engines.

Before we head on to sophisticated electronic ignitions we will discuss the good old magneto ignition from a bygone era. Mainly as you will still find these in the original and certified aircraft engines.

Magnetos are basically small generators with a transformer and a breaker switch and include a distributor to guide the high voltage to the spark plugs, and this will be the subject of this page.

Ignition

The sole purpose of the ignition system is to supply a high energy spark at the right moment thereby igniting the fuel air mixture so that the engine can start its power stroke. Such a system consists of a number of components:

• The source for the spark, either electronic or mechanical (magneto)
• Distributor to direct the spark to the correct cylinder/plug
• High tension leads to conduct the spark
• Two spark plugs per cylinder which ignite the mixture

Magnetos

These use a strong magnet rotating inside a coil. The magnetic field generates a voltage in the coil which is transformed to a higher voltage by a secondary coil with much more windings than the primary coil. A breaker contact in the primary coil circuit interrupts the flowing current and this interruption causes the magnetic field to collapse thereby generating a very high peak voltage in the secondary coil. This peak voltage is then conducted to the correct spark plugs by the distributor and high voltage leads.

Two magnetos are connected in such a way that one drives the top spark plugs and the other the bottom plugs on the engine (LEFT and RIGHT really means TOP and BOTTOM). The magnetos generate power independently of the aircraft electrical system, so that in the event of flat battery during flight the engine will keep running.

Timing

Timing is of the essence here, the breaker points (with parallel capacitor) are driven by a small cam and opening at the correct crankshaft angle. That's usually 25° BTDC (before top dead center). Also parallel connected to the breaker contact and capacitor is the ignition switch, either L or R. Which effectively stops the spark when closed.

Distributor

The distributor is also part of the magneto. Its function is to guide the high energy voltage to the correct spark plug through one of the high tension leads. As each cylinder fires every two revolutions of the crankshaft, the rotor in the distributor must therefore rotate at half the crankshaft speed.

Harness and Spark plugs

The ignition harness shields the high voltage and conducts it to the spark plugs, often bound together. The wires are screened or in a metal braid or conduit to shield the radio against the high frequency ignition interference.

A spark plug has a central electrode and a metal body which are screwed into the cylinder. Ceramic insulation is used to insulate the central electrode from the engine. Built into the spark plug is a resistor giving a short duration spark and protection against corrosion of the electrodes; it also suppression radio frequency interference to some degree.

Two spark plugs and separate ignition circuits are used per cylinder for redundancy, safety and better ignition and combustion of the mixture.

Impulse coupling

During starting of the engine, its crankshaft rotates very slowly (around 120 RPM) and the magnetos at 60 RPM. Generated voltage is very low at that point. The ignition timing is normally fixed at 25° BTDC, and this is too early at this low RPM. Should a cylinder fire it would probably cause a violent kickback (rotates momentarily in the wrong direction) and that will damage the starter and maybe more.

A device called a impulse coupling is used to retard the ignition timing to almost at TDC and an acceleration of the magnet (with a coiled spring) in the magneto to spice up the voltage to help igniting the mixture at TDC. When the engine fires and its RPM rises the timing is set back to 25° for normal operation (between 500 and 2700 RPM). The moment the engine fires and runs idle the impulse coupling detaches and timing is reset to 25° BTDC

On some engines a vibrating system is used to create a shower of sparks with the left magneto when starting during these low RPM operations.

http://www.experimentalaircraft.info/articles/aircraft-engines-ignition.php

A little sunlight, at the perfect angle

A little sunlight, at the perfect angle, can make things look a little unnerving! Amazing!

Dubai Airports approved for $32bn expansion

Dubai Airports today welcomed the announcement by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai endorsing the AED120bn (US$ 32bn) expansion of Al Maktoum International at Dubai World Central (DWC) which will ultimately accommodate more than 200 million passengers a year.

The development is anticipated to be the biggest airport project in the world and will be built in two phases. The first phase includes two satellite buildings with a collectively capacity of 120 million passengers annually, accommodate 100 A380 aircraft at any one time and will take between six and eight years to complete. The entire development will cover an area of 56 square kilometres.

More than its size, the new airport’s uniqueness lies in a radically new approach to ensure that the latest technology and efficient processes will cut the time spent completing travel formalities and reduce walking distances, enabling passengers to make fast and efficient connections between hundreds of destinations worldwide.

The decision follows months of planning by the key stakeholders in the aviation sector, including Dubai Airports, Dubai Airports Engineering Projects, Emirates airline and dnata, to ensure that a design was selected that facilitates the future growth of Dubai’s aviation industry.

With passenger traffic expected to reach almost 100 million at Dubai International by the end of 2020, the further development of DWC will be a vital step towards providing the necessary facilities to accommodate passenger and cargo growth in the decades ahead and pave the way for Emirates to relocate their intercontinental hub operations to DWC by the mid-2020s.

Paul Griffiths, CEO of Dubai Airports, thanked Sheikh Mohammed for his visionary support of the project, and described the new airport as a vital investment in the future of Dubai. He confirmed that the aviation sector was projected to remain a cornerstone of Dubai’s economy, and was expected to support more than 322,000 jobs and contribute 28 per cent of Dubai’s GDP by 2020.

“Our future lies at DWC. The announcement of this AED120bn development of DWC is both timely and a strong endorsement of Dubai’s aviation industry. With limited options for further growth at Dubai International, we are taking that next step to securing our future by building a brand new airport that will not only create the capacity we will need in the coming decades but also provide state of the art facilities that revolutionise the airport experience on an unprecedented scale,” said Griffiths.

Source and image: Dubai Airports

Aircell rebrands as Gogo business aviation

Gogo Inc., a global aero-communications service provider, announces that Aircell, the company’s business aviationdivision, has rebranded as Gogo Business Aviation.

The Aircell brand can be traced back 23 years to the company’s original founding in 1991. Gogo Business Aviation will build on the Aircell tradition using the same people, passion and culture of innovation that made it business aviation’s most trusted in-flight connectivity brand. The only company to offer all three of business aviation’s most popular network technologies – Gogo Biz®, SwiftBroadband and Iridium – the company offers solutions to fulfill any customer need, aircraft type or geography.

As Gogo continues to expand its leadership position, its business and commercial aviation divisions now share a single, global brand. Operationally, the divisions will continue exchanging expertise and technologies while remaining solely focused on their respective markets.

“Gogo’s mission is to advance aviation by connecting every aircraft with the most trusted communications services on and above our planet. Having our commercial and business aviation divisions share a brand will make more people aware of the full breadth of our business,” said Michael Small, Gogo’s president and CEO. “The rebranding will also help travelers recognize their favorite Gogo services, whether they’re aboard an airline, corporate, fractional or charter aircraft – anywhere in the world,” concluded Small.

“We’re thrilled to introduce Gogo Business Aviation as the next evolution of our brand,” said John Wade, Gogo Business Aviation’s executive vice president and general manager. “The past five years has seen a remarkable menu of in-flight capabilities emerge for business aircraft operators, including Internet, e-mail, voice, texting, personal smartphone usage, movies, TV episodes, news, weather, cockpit data and more. And at the same time, the onboard equipment has become orders-of-magnitude smaller, lighter and more affordable. These truly are exciting times.”

Source and image: Gogo Inc.

Military plane crashes in Gulu, pilot ejects to safety

GULU – One person on-board a military aircraft escaped with his life after the plane he was flying crashed in the northern Ugandan district of Gulu on Thursday.

 

Colonel Joseph Balikuddembe, the Uganda People’s Defense Forces 4th Division Second-in-Command, said the plane crashed shortly after take-off from the 4th Division’s airbase.

 

The white L39 jet owned by the Uganda People’s Defence Forces was being flown by a trainee pilot, Emmaneul Sajjabi, who ejected the plane when it developed problems, in flight. 

 

“We use the plane for training purposes and routinely test our pilots on the same craft,” said Balikuddembe. 

 

The incident occurred in Patek Parish, Bobi subcounty.

 

The pilot sustained minor injuries and was moments after the crash taken to St. Mary’s Hospital, Lacor in Gulu Municipality.

 

Ambrose Otema who witnessed the air mishap said smoke billowed from the aircraft at around 12.30pm before going down.

Tanker fleet used to deal with massive fires in California

Fixed wing air tanker and helicopter operators are helping firefighters get the upper hand on a massive fire which has been burning for the past month in the Klamath National Forest along the California-Oregon border. Known as the Happy Camp Complex fire, the lightning-sparked conflagration has torched nearly 100,000 acres and is currently just 30 percent contained.

“Of our 10 tankers working right now throughout California and Oregon, seven are in southern Oregon or northern California,” said Dan Snyder, Chief Operating Officer of Missoula, Montana-based Neptune Aviation Services. “All seven have been deployed at different times on the Happy Camp Complex fire throughout the past month. In fact, we have had as many as five tankers working on that fire simultaneously since it started in mid-August.”

The tanker fleet, Snyder reported, is a combination of BAe 146 regional airliners, recently modified as aerial tankers, and the company’s legacy P2V Neptunes. Those operating on the Happy Camp Complex fire have been flying out of Medford, Oregon. Each aircraft is supported by two flight crew members, and two mechanics. The fixed wing tankers are operated under US Forest Service (USFS) exclusive use contracts.

On September 5, CHI Aviation moved a Bell 205 helicopter, along with a pilot, mechanic and fuel truck driver, to the Happy Camp Complex fire, according to Larry Kelley, the company’s Boise, Idaho-based Director of Fire Operations. The Bell 205 had been at Trinity, California, from which it had been deployed on fires in the Shasta-Trinity National Forest since June. Kelley said that two additional helicopters, a Bell 205 at Salmon, Idaho, and a Bell 212 at Hood River, Oregon, are available for dispatch to the fire, if needed by the USFS. All three are under exclusive use contracts.

“The helicopter is being tasked with whatever the Forest Service requires it to do, for as long as it’s needed,” said Kelley. “That includes water drops, and transportation of firefighters and supplies.”

Source and image: AHSAFA

Airbus opens training center in Monterrey

VivaAerobus, the low cost carrier serving Mexico, has chosen “Training By Airbus” to provide simulator trainingand courses for pilots, maintenance personnel, flight operations engineers and cabin crews in Miami and Monterrey, Mexico. The 10-year agreement includes more than 25,000 flight training hours for approximately 750 pilots. VivaAerobus, which is in the process of converting to an all-Airbus operator, has ordered a total of 52 A320 Family aircraft.

Full-flight training for VivaAerobus pilots has been ongoing at the Airbus Training Center in Miami, and by early 2016 VivaAerobus will start training at a new satellite training operation in Monterrey’s North International Airport located on the campus of the University of Nuevo León.

This will be the second Airbus Training Center in Mexico housing an Airbus A320 simulator. In June, Airbus announced that it would open a training center in Mexico City by 2015. 
“As a low cost carrier, getting the best quality training for our staff is important to maintaining world class safety standards," said Juan Carlos Zuazua, CEO of VivaAerobus. “Having Airbus train our crews locally in Monterrey supports our ability to keep costs down and continue to deliver the lowest possible fares for our customers."

“The State of Nuevo León is proud that Airbus has chosen Monterrey as a location for their next training center,” said Dr. Jesús Ancer Rodríguez, Chancellor of the University of Nuevo León. “Airbus and its customers will surely benefit from Monterrey’s highly qualified aviation industry, and the University of Nuevo León is the perfect location to foster such skilled professionals.” 
“The Airbus Training Center in Monterrey will build on Miami’s success by bringing our state-of-the-art training services and experienced instructors directly to VivaAerobus, consequently supporting their growth by increasing the productivity of their pilots, engineers, maintenance and cabin crews," said Rafael Alonso, President of Airbus Latin America and the Caribbean.

Source and image: Airbus

IT in aviation training: a call for evolution

major aircraft manufacturers sharing a backlog of over 10 000 aircraft, MRO providers worldwide are finding themselves under increasing pressure to introduce new means designed to meet the demand for appropriate support of the rapidly growing global fleet. Meanwhile, as a large portion of services in the industry is still heavily reliant on human labour, a peaking demand for appropriate technical training is not expected to drop any time soon. In such an environment, the introduction of innovative IT-solutions can not only improve some of the training-related processes but also enable service providers to significantly cut costs.

During the last decade or so IT has truly changed the wayairlines conduct business. According to SITA, the level of IT operational spending by carriers worldwide topped $10.8 billion in 2013. The majority of carriers anticipate another increase in the airlines’ IT budget in 2014. However, the implementation of informational technologies in maintenance operations, let alone technical training, is definitely lagging behind. Meanwhile, as costs related to maintenance typically make up to 17% of all operating costs, it is the area in which technology can be used to optimize operations and boost profits.

“There is a set of major factors currently contributing to the increased IT spending within the aviation industry, including higher airline profitability, next-generation aircraft and engines, as well as cloud computing, mobility and advanced analytics,” shares Kestutis Volungevicius, the Head of FL Technics Training. “Moreover, as changes in the aviation industry are happening at an increasingly rapid pace, the demand for faster training solutions rises accordingly.”

According to FL Technics Training, the retiring current generation of technicians along with the on-going fleet renewals might drive the aviation industry to the point when the lack of qualified aviation specialists will eventually interfere with its expansion plans. Data by AWIN indicates the overall rate of technical personnel eligible for retirement should reach 9.6% this year, followed by 11.3% in 2015 and 13.3% in 2016. “Add the need to support new sophisticated solutions implemented in new generation aircraft, and you will find yourself in a highly competitive business environment with a booming demand for relevant specialists and training services. As a result, training providers are in constant search for innovations which would enhance and facilitate the training process with quality, flexibility and cost effectiveness in mind,” says Kestutis Volungevicius.

Normally, the duration of a typical technical training-related trip is at least 4 days. Considering the fact that an individual specialist usually requires approximately 3 training courses per year to maintain and raise his qualification, this adds up to over 280 hours or almost 35 working days, which an average MRO professional currently spends in training-related travels on a yearly basis. Meanwhile, the approximate average expenses on a trip with a two-night stay may reach up to $800-$1 400. Needless to say, in an economic environment which presupposes cost cutting and maximized efficiency this is not something an MRO provider can really afford.

“As the costs of training are constantly rising, more and more distance training solutions, such as online courses, are emerging worldwide to aid both individuals and organizations in reducing their course-related travel costs and allowing to avoid the need for lengthy trips to the training facilities,” comments Kestutis Volungevicius. “In an industry where every second and every dollar matters, the decision to opt for such services and implement the modern technologies alongside regular training solutions might actually might become the critical aspect in gaining the much-needed competitive edge,” concludes the Head of FL Technics Training.

Source and image: Avia Solutions Group / Fl Technics Training