TED TALKS for Aviation Job seekers

By now, everyone has heard of “TED Talks,” right? If not, then a little background: TED—short for Technology, Entertainment and Design—is a nonprofit devoted to spreading ideas.

TED Talks are usually in the form of short, powerful presentations that are typically under 20 minutes. (If you’re curious, you can view more info here).

Although TED talks originated in the technology field, they have morphed into an excellent resource for advising any and all business professionals.

As someone who loves to learn and strives to constantly evolve, I find TED Talks to be a quick, easy and cost-conscious way to gain a little insight into our professional worlds, some of which just might give you the edge you need to land that perfect job or hire an excellent cultural fit.

Now that you have a little background on them and understand how they may have meaning for you, I wanted to share some videos of the TED Talks that I think are quite inspiring.

And they just might inspire our fellow business aviation job seekers and hiring managers to get in a better mindset. After all, when you start to think about the hiring process differently, you begin to stand out from the crowd.

 

Following are five TED Talk videos for aviation job seekers and hiring managers:

1. Why the best hire might not have the perfect resume

Regina Harley - TED Talk for aviation job seekers By Regina Hartley, Human Resources Manager, UPS
Filmed September 2015 at TED@UPS

Commitment: 10.5 minutes

How often in our bizav industry have we come down to a choice between a job candidate with a perfect resume and one who has fought his or her way up through difficulty? In this talk, Human Resources exec Regina Hartley explains why professionals in her field should always give a “scrapper” a chance.

Ms. Hartley, who herself grew up with a lot of challenges, knows that those who struggle the most against a lot of odds often develop the grit and determination to thrive in an ever-changing workplace.

For a takeaway, I think this sums it up: “Choose the underestimated contender, whose secret weapons are passion and purpose,” Hartley says. “Hire the Scrapper.”

Watch the full video

Read the transcript

 

2. Why you will fail to have a great career

Larry Smith TED TalkBy Larry Smith, Professor of Economics, University of Waterloo

Filmed at TEDxUW in 2011

Commitment: 15 minutes

Larry Smith, who is a professor of economics at the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada, prides himself on coaching his students to find careers they will truly love.

He’s a well-known storyteller and an advocate for youth leadership, and he has mentored many of his students on start-up business management and career development.

It almost goes without saying that hiring managers in our field will benefit from Smith’s insights and unique approach to mentoring. Oh, and one of the start-ups he advised in its infancy was Research in Motion (RIM), maker of the BlackBerry, which isn’t too shabby!

One of the quotes from him I particularly like is: “Wasted talent is a waste I cannot stand.”

Watch the full video

Read the transcript

 

3. The career advice you probably didn’t get

Susan C TED Talk for aviation job seekersBy Susan Colantuono, CEO and founder of Leading Women

Filmed at TEDxBeaconStreet, November 2013

Commitment: 15 minutes

As a woman looking back on my early years in this industry, I can’t begin to count the number of times I wish someone had just said, “Why don’t you try doing it this way, instead of that way?”

Whatever the topic might be, Susan Colantuono, the founder and CEO of Leading Women, knows the drill and knows how women can help advance themselves in business.

By the way, her firm is one of the world’s premier consulting firms supporting corporate initiatives to advance women and close the leadership gender gap.

In her talk, Colantuono speaks to those female professionals who might feel that they’re doing everything right at work, taking all the right advice, but simply aren’t moving up the career ladder. “But why is that?” you might wonder.

Colantuono answers the question by sharing a simple, plainspoken piece of advice that you might not have heard presented in this way before. And although her talk is aimed at women, it has universal takeaways for members of both sexes, including new grads and midcareer workers.

Watch the full video

Read the transcript

 

4. Your body language shapes who you are

Amy Cuddy Ted Talk for Aviation Job SeekersBy Amy Cuddy, Social Psychologist

Filmed at TEDGlobal in June 2012

Commitment: 21 minutes

We’ve all gotten the body language lecture, about how important it can be to getting ahead, right? How about it?

Do you every find yourself hunching over, crossing your legs, or maybe wrapping your ankles around one another?

Amy Cuddy, who’s a social psychologist, discusses some of the ways we can tweak our body language to not only improve our interactions with others, but also to communicate confidence, trustworthiness, and poise—especially in that all-important job interview.

As Amy notes, “ . . . our bodies change our minds and our minds can change our behavior, and our behavior can change our outcomes.”

Watch the full video

Read the transcript

 

5. What makes us feel good about our work?

Dan A Ted TalkBy Dan Ariely, Professor of Psychology and Behavioral Economics, Duke University

Filmed at TEDxRiodelaPlata in October 2012

Commitment: 20 minutes

I don’t know about you, but I absolutely love the aviation industry and the job I have. And in this insightful talk, Duke University Psychology and Behavioral Economics professor Dan Ariely discusses specifically what gives us real satisfaction in our work and what helps us stay motivated.

He explains that, when we take the time to think about how people work, we might naively believe that all they care about is making more money. He says that it’s an incredibly simplistic view of why people work, and what the labor market looks like.

As he says about the issue: “The bad news is that ignoring the performance of people is almost as bad as shredding their effort in front of their eyes . . . The good news is that by simply looking at something that somebody has done, scanning it and saying ‘uh huh,’ that seems to be quite sufficient to dramatically improve people’s motivations.”

Watch the full video

Read the transcript

 

Your Turn

So that’s just five of many dozens of TED Talks that I’ve found to have relevancy for aviation job seekers and hiring managers alike. Great ideas like those presented by the above and their peers can go a long way toward helping us break free of the behaviors and stereotypes that might be holding us back as we seek new career opportunities or try to facilitate the hiring process in aviation.

Have you seen or do you know about a TED Talk that you found insightful for your own professional advancement? If so, please share a link to it or let us know below where we can find it.

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