The Context Machine

The process of finding out about a job, getting interviewed, and eventually receiving an offer for employment starts with networking. By networking I don’t mean sending out hundreds of copies of your résumé unsolicited to H.R. managers throughout the country, but by establishing contacts with people who may be in a position to hire you or refer you to someone who is in the position of hiring… you!

In my area of expertise, corporate aviation, there are several key players as well as smaller, less known operators. Jet Aviation, TAG Aviation, and Netjets are some of the larger companies and they all have a staff of qualified flight attendants or cabin service representatives on hand. In addition, smaller players including Pacific Jet, Clay Lacy Aviation, and New World Aviation are part of the charter market. Finally, you have a whole host of independent flight departments with one or two or more aircraft. Some of these operators utilize larger cabin aircraft and are in need of flight attendants. You could send out a copy of your résumé to every single company that flies a Falcon, Gulfstream, Bombardier, BBJ, or any of the other larger cabin jets. You may get an interview, but you’ll also spend an excessive amount of time researching names, addresses, paying for postage, paper and more. Instead, the best way to land a job according to Richard Bolles, author of the acclaimed job hunters and career builders guide, “What Color is Your Parachute?” is through networking.

Networking involves making plenty of people contact. Some of the best ways of having contact with others is at a convention [in our case, the NBAA Flight Attendant Conference or NBAA general conference]; over the internet via message boards [such as this one]; while flying a trip as a contractor; working for a company in another role [e.g., as a dispatcher, flight manager, etc.]; or through a friend already in the business.

Successful people establish a list of contacts from the smallest lead [e.g., a receptionist or switchboard operator at a charter operator] to doing voluntary work on an association’s newsletter or with a steering committee for the same type of organization. Each person you come into contact with is a potential person who may know of someone in the business or know of a job opening. Conversely, unsuccessful people rely too much on waiting for a phone call, for an answer to an unsolicited letter, or by not going out to meet people face to face. Quite simply it takes a lot of phone calling, pavement pounding, and other forms of action to land the job that you want. Plus, it takes someone with dedication, professionalism, zeal, enthusiasm, confidence, and a caring attitude to help make things work. If you are not confident of your abilities, you will have a much more difficult time landing a job.

Before you establish contact with anyone it is extremely important to have a top notch résumé. Make sure that there are no spelling errors, grammatical mistakes, that it is formatted professionally, printed on bond paper and that you include correct contact information such as your name, address, phone numbers, and e-mail address. You can be the most talented person in the world, but your résumé could look awful. Busy employers look at résumés and toss the unprofessional looking ones away [or they file it away for a predetermined amount of time]. You also need: three top notch references [don’t list them on your résumé, but be able to furnish them upon request]. Emergency training is very important to have - agencies such as Jet Professionals insist on it; most of the larger operators require it as well. Additional training including galley services, a wine class, emergency training, can all help you out.

Finally, when you do receive a call — even if unexpected - be prepared to interview on the spot. Most interviewers will screen you on the first call and you will need to sound sharp as well as be focused. Be prepared to give a concise background on who you are and what you can offer the company. Do not focus on your needs, but focus on the company’s needs and how you will benefit them. Do not expect them to be thrilled by your focusing on yourself. This business isn’t about you — it is about the customers and the company. Successful candidates know this and they are the ones who will be hired, trained, paid well, and otherwise be perceived as being an asset and not a possible detriment to the company.

Matt runs the Corporate Flight Attendant Community, the top resource center on the internet for business flight attendants. Matt assists potential candidates with resume and cover letter writing, marketing, job leads and tips, relevant articles, and a dynamic message board community. You can view his site at http://www.corporateflyer.net.

In a previous article we discussed the basics of what a router did. We’re now going to get into a more detailed, and yes technical, explanation of how packets are transmitted as well as a few other tech specs of how routers work. So put on your learning caps because you’re in for a real mind bender.

Internet data, whether it be in the form of a web page, a downloaded file or an email message, travels over what is called a packet switching network. Basically what happens is that the data is broken up into individual packets because there is only so much data that can be transmitted at one time. Each packet is about 1500 bytes long. Each packet contains quite a bit of information including the sender’s address, the receiver’s address and of course the information being sent which includes the order of each packet how it should be put back together so that the end user can make sense of the data. The packet is sent off to its destination based on what the router believes to be the best route to follow, which is usually the route with the least amount of traffic and if possible, the shortest route. Each packet may actually given a different route depending on conditions at the time, which in a high traffic network can change every second. By doing this, the router can balance the load across the network so that no one segment gets overloaded. Also, if there is a problem with one piece of equipment in the network, the router can bypass this piece of equipment and send the packet along another route. This way if there is a problem, the entire message will still arrive intact.

In conducting this process, routers have to speak to each other. They tell each other about any problems on the network and make recommendations on routes to take. This way, paths can be reconfigured if they have to be. However, not all routers do all jobs as routers come in different sizes and have different functions.

There are what we call simple routers. A simple router is usually used in a simple small network. Simple routers simply look to see where the data packet needs to go and sends it there. It doesn’t do much else.

Slightly larger routers, which are used for slightly larger networks, do a little bit more. These routers will also enforce security for the network, protecting the network from outside attacks. They are able to do a good enough job of this that additional security software is not needed.

The largest routers are used to handle data at major points on the Internet. These routers handle millions of packets of information per second. They work very hard to configure the network as efficiently as possible. These are stand alone systems and actually have more in common with supercomputers than with a simple server one might have in a small office.

In our next instalment we’ll look at how to actually trace the path that a message has taken and some examples of transmitting packets.

Michael Russell
Your Independent guide to Routers