Consultant of the Month – February

Holly Mashburn has been part of our team since October of 2009. She continues to do exceptional work for Kavaliro onsite at Crystal River Nuclear Plant working her way up and being promoted four times, most recently just last week! We appreciate how Holly represents the Kavaliro pillar of commitment and continues to reflect a positive light for us with PGN.

What to do if you get laid off

It’s not pretty, but it happens to everyone at one time or another: you were laid off. One day you had a job, and the next you are unemployed. What do you do? Panic? Watch daytime television? Not if you want to find another job! Looking for work is a full-time job, so you better have a plan.

1. Get out there.

Reach out to your contacts. You’re not necessarily asking them for a job, but you’re aiming to get the word out that you are available again and see what companies are hiring.

Join industry networking groups or at least industry groups online. Don’t write off social networking sites like LinkedIn and Twitter. These sites will allow you to get your updated information out there and make new contacts to help you in your job search. You can also learn a lot about a potential employer and the corporate culture through a company’s site.

2. Create a job.

Fill your new found time with projects that will help you stand out from the crowd. Volunteer for friends that have businesses. If you can keep you skills sharp and avoid a large gap on your resume, then the time donated is well worth it!

Start a blog about your industry highlighting your expertise. You don’t have to be in a specialized industry to write a blog. There are blogs about everything from HR to operations and warehousing to turbines. Your goal is to make a name for yourself and make connections that you wouldn’t have made otherwise.

Get active on Twitter. You should tweet about industry happenings and your take on it. You want to impress your potential employer and be seen as an expert in your field. Don’t just tweet about that new movie you saw or the weather; make sure your peers and industry execs can’t wait to see what you’re going to tweet next!

3. Explore

Check out all of your options for your job search. In addition to the popular job searching sites like Careerbuilder, Monster and Indeed, consider working with a staffing firm. Professional staffing firms are experts at matching job seekers with positions. They often have access to job openings before they hit the Internet, and they have relationships with the people doing the hiring (as opposed to having your resume in the HR inbox with the other thousand applicants).

Losing your job isn’t the end of the world. Just ask the 8 percent of Americans who are currently without work. But you can’t wait for the right position to fall in your lap. Take control of your job search and you might be surprised at the results. Talk to as many people as possible and present yourself to the world as the authority you are. You’ll find the right fit in no time.

- Stephanie Bruha is operations manager at Kavaliro.

5 Tips for the Workplace

Have you gotten into a rut at work? Would you like to be more engaged, satisfied and fulfilled in your work? Would you like to be more productive and feel a greater sense of accomplishment at the end of each day? Well you can. It just takes a desire and commitment to renew your habits and routines. Follow these tips and you’ll see your work life improve. And that improvement will trickle into the rest of your life.

Planning. Establish a routine of planning your week and your day. This will allow you to have your most productive week all the time. Start your day an extra 15 minutes early to do this planning. Write down the top one to three most important things you must do that day. And most importantly, set and reach your goals! Use the power of intention to get there! (This is what adds jazz to your life. And focusing on your future helps you get through challenging times.)

Take Breaks. It’s a fact that taking breaks will increase productivity. It’s been proven in studies. If you need to find someone to help ensure you take a morning and afternoon break.

Choose Happiness, Humor, Enthusiasm, Gratitude, Kindness and a Positive Outlook. Being productive and competitive in business doesn’t mean that you have to be serious all the time. Smiling doesn’t mean you’re not working hard. Enthusiasm doesn’t mean you’re not competitive. Being positive doesn’t mean you’re blind to challenges. Choose to enjoy your time at work. Find others who are like this and spread good cheer. It’s contagious and it grows. Try to avoid gossip and negative chat. It can be tempting, but it doesn’t serve anyone well, including yourself.

Face the Tough Stuff Head On. If there is something difficult that you must do, just bite the bullet and do it. Don’t put it off. Do it first thing in the day. It’s like jumping into a cold pool. Just count to three and do it!

Adapt. Adaptation is the number one survival skill of living organisms. Those that don’t adapt, become extinct. In the work world, the same is true for companies, whole groups and for individuals. Be open to change. Give it a chance. Adapt to new things while using your experience to guide you, and you will have great success.

– Michael Groeneveld is a resource manager at Kavaliro

Help Us Fuel The Community!

Sparked from the “60 Minutes” documentary on the homeless situation right here in Central Florida, Kavaliro saw an opportunity to make a difference as a Central Florida business. Being that commitment is one of our core values, we wanted to make the commitment to the community in which we live, work ,and play by providing ongoing food contributions to a local program. Each quarter we will have a “Kavaliro Fueling the Community” food drive in which we will request 2 food items to local school children in need.

This quarter we are asking for CEREAL & POP TARTS. February 1 – 15 we will be setting up bins in the Central Florida area and asking friends, family, colleagues and complete strangers to help feed our children.So start looking for those Buy One Get One Free deals and stocking up for February!

Lisa Moore
Kavaliro
3504 Lake Lynda Drive
Suite 175
Orlando, FL 32828

Tyger Danger
Uproar
121 S. Orange Avenue
Suite 1430B
Orlando, FL 32801

Sheila Lafont
Fairwinds Avalon Park
12800 Tanja King Blvd.
Orlando, FL 32828

Pat Moore
Great American Insurance Company
1060 Maitland Center Commons Blvd, #100
Maitland, FL

Amy Gausz
PULAU Corporation
12633 Challenger Pkwy, Ste 200
Orlando, FL 32826-3248

Allena Bailey
Workable Solutions
7120 Lake Ellenor Drive
Orlando FL 32809

Joe Liguori
Pizzeria Valdiano
Lakeside Village
1610 Town Center Drive
Lakeland, FL 33803

Pointe Orlando
9101 International Drive Suite 1036
Orlando, FL 32819

Waterford Lakes Town Center
421 N.Alafaya Trail
Orlando, FL 32828

Winter Park
510 N. Orlando Ave Site 103
Winter Park, FL 32789

Ashley Liguori
Baldwin Bark
4836 New Broad St.
Orlando, FL 32814

Barbara Couillard
The Moat
4250 Alafaya Trail #100
Oviedo, FL 32765

Danielle Peppler
NSI Orlando
1315 S Orange Ave
Suite 1B
Orlando, FL 32806

Amy Moore
LoyalSource
13001 Founders Square Drive
Orlando, FL 32828

Craig Froehlich
UCF Strategy, Marketing, Communications and Admissions
12443 Research Parkway, Suite 301
Orlando, FL 32826

Jen Foristall
Magic Curtain
Magic Curtain has a big mainstage show of “Annie” at Timber Creek High School performing arts center- Feb 2-4th. A bin will be there during the show. They are offering $1 off ticket at box office when someone brings a food donation to the show!

America’s New Energy Job Boom

America’s shale oil and natural gas industries could lead to massive job growth in this country and produce millions of jobs over the next decade. Just ask the folks from North Dakota where once sleepy, rural towns are now experiencing a job boom reminiscent of the gold rush days of the 1800s. Not only is unemployment the lowest in the country at 3%, the average oil and gas salary in North Dakota is $90,000 a year and people in fast food restaurants are making $20 dollars an hour.

States such as North Dakota, Pennsylvania, and Ohio are using new hydraulic fracturing or “fracking” technologies to extract natural gas from deep under thousands of feet of shale rock. Fracking is one of the most remarkable breakthroughs in the energy exploration business in the last 50 years. It not only has reduced America’s foreign oil consumption from 60% in 2005 to 47% in 2010 and made the U.S. the largest natural gas producer in the world. The natural gas and oil sector has created over 1.5 million jobs since that time. In addition, recent analysis by PriceWaterhouseCoopers states that more than 1 million jobs could be produced in the manufacturing industry alone by 2025 to support the demand to produce the equipment used to extract the gas. This does not even include the service and construction jobs that will be produced to support these workers and industries.

Could states like North Dakota lead the country to increased prosperity and keep the economy out of another recession? North Dakota is among the five fastest growing states in terms of percent increase – along with Texas, Utah, Alaska, and Colorado. All of these states have strong job growth and are experiencing energy booms. Significant economic investment in shale industries is also occurring in other states that have large natural gas reserves. The Marcellus Shale formation which runs through from southern New York through Pennsylvania and into parts of West Virginia and Maryland is believed to be the second largest natural gas deposit in the world and could be produce huge economic returns. These could mean thousands of high paying jobs over the next couple of years.

In addition to driving job creation, shale gas recovery can be the game-changer to the U.S. becoming more energy independent and result in lower energy costs to American consumers. In fact, the U.S. has now become a net exporter of fuel for the first time in nearly 20 years. There are however several factors that could hinder this new energy development; these include regulatory obstacles, environmental concerns, and increased government intervention.

As with any boom, there are potential problems and the jury is still out on the health risks as a result of all this new drilling. Protests of hydraulic fracturing drilling have sprung up throughout the country. These are mostly in response to concerns over the environmental impact in the communities where fracking is largely taking place, such as Pennsylvania and Ohio. The largest concern is on the potential to impact local drinking supplies. The risk is that the chemicals used in the fracking process will flow back into the local aquifers and contaminate the drinking water. Other concerns are on the impact to the landscapes and the air quality where the drilling is occurring. This type of new drilling does leave a footprint and can impact local ecosystems. There will continue to be vigorous debate regarding these matters going forward; nevertheless, the prospective job growth from shale oil and gas exploration in this country is undeniable. Could the country’s next gold rush be upon us?

- Rocky Fullerton is a veteran of the energy industry and has more than 15 years’ experience in developing and deploying Information Technology and Smart Grid focused solutions. http://rfenergy.wordpress.com/