Shahriar Allen, VP Managed Network Solutions, Panduit Corp. (UPI Enterprise)m USA

Client Testimonial of Craig Hufford, Practice Lead for NextGen Global Executive Search in Enterprise Telecom and Mobility

Which brings us to the ultimate marriage between broadband carriers, mobile network operators, and utility providers. Certainly access to smart meters is preferred over mobile devices – especially the consumer market. The industrial market has heavily invested in moving from old SCADA type industrial control systems with printers and ethernet connections to wireless enabled Remote Monitoring and Alarm/Access Control. Making all of this work will require comutations that are more intutive and use distributed intelligence – as cognitive radio suggests.

Now for an excerpt from an excellent article by Christine Hertzog

Wireless ubiquitous networks are the communications foundation for the Smart Grid as well as the Internet of Things. Cellular, WiFi, 6LoWPAN and other communications technologies and protocols will enable electricity consuming and producing devices to be remotely monitored and managed, which in turn foster optimized awareness and use of resources. And in the best sense of recycling, many of the early lessons learned about Smart Grid deployments can and should be applied to projects focused in smart cities and the Internet of Things (IoT).

Here are a few observations:

1.The growth of wireless communications will stress existing bandwidth allocations of licensed versus unlicensed spectrum. The latest research is focused on cognitive radio technology, which is part of the nascent 5G or fifth generation of wireless technology, and it could help address spectrum stresses by dynamically allocating unused or underutilized licensed spectrum for temporary unlicensed applications.

Adrian Popescu, a leading researcher of the technology and professor based at Sweden’s Blekinge Institute of Technology, stated that “5G focuses on architectural and networking upgrades to 4G,and one of the key features is pervasive wireless computing and communications. Cognitive radiois a promising technology that helps 5G avoid spectrum constraints and thus achieve the vision ofubiquitous networks.”

The concept of cognitive radio is already actively practiced by drivers in major Chinese cities. Here, lane markings, akin to spectrum allocations, are merely suggestions for placement of vehicles, and driverse fluidly shift lanes to avoid congested intersections, sometimes straddling two lanes to create a newand temporary lane. This style of driving also elegantly illustrates the ideas of very decentralized and distributed intelligence, with each vehicle performing as an intelligent agent to optimize routing.

That has interesting implications for the Smart Grid and the larger IoT because it could enable applications that need infrequent transmissions of data that may range from just a few data bits toindicate a change to status to bulkier video communications regarding perimeter intrusions or camera-based inspections of remote sites.
Click here to view the rest of the article from The Energy Collective.

1) Enthusiasm — Leave no doubt as to your level of interest in the job. You may think it’s unnecessary to do this, but employers often choose the more enthusiastic candidate in the case of a two-way tie. Besides, it’s best to keep your options open — wouldn’t you rather be in a position to turn down an offer, than have a prospective job evaporate from your grasp by giving a lethargic interview? These insights will enable you to win at the interview .

2) Technical interest — Employers look for people who love what they do, and get excited by the prospect of tearing into the nitty-gritty of the job.

3) Confidence — No one likes a braggart, but the candidate who’s sure of his or her abilities will almost certainly be more favorably received.

4) Intensity — The last thing you want to do is come across as “flat” in your interview. There’s nothing inherently wrong with being a laid back person; but sleepwalkers rarely get hired.

By the way, most employers are aware of how stressful it can be to interview for a new position, and will do everything they can to put you at ease.

The Other Fundamentals

Since interviewing also involves the exchange of tangible information, make sure to:

• Present your background in a thorough and accurate manner;

• Gather data concerning the company, the industry, the position, and the specific opportunity;

• Link your abilities with the company needs in the mind of the employer; and

• Build a strong case for why the company should hire you, based on the discoveries you make from building rapport and asking the right questions.

Both for your sake and the hiring manager, never leave an interview without exchanging fundamental information. The more you know about each other, the more potential you’ll have for establishing rapport, and making an informed decision.

Basic Interviewing Strategy

There are two ways to answer interview questions: the short version and the long version. When a question is open-ended, I always suggest to candidates that they say, “Let me give you the short version. If we need to explore some aspect of the answer more fully, I’d be happy to go into greater depth, and give you the long version.”
The reason you should respond this way is because it’s often difficult to know what type of answer each question will need. A question like, “What was your most difficult assignment?” might take anywhere from thirty seconds to thirty minutes to answer, depending on the detail you choose to give.

Therefore, you must always remember that the interviewer’s the one who asked the question. So you should tailor your answer to what he or she needs to know, without a lot of extraneous rambling or superfluous explanation. Why waste time and create a negative impression by giving a sermon when a short prayer would do just fine?
Let’s suppose you were interviewing for a sales management position, and the interviewer asked you, “What has been the size of budgets you have managed?”
Well, that’s exactly the sort of question that can get you into trouble if you don’t use the short version/long version method. Most people would just start rattling off everything in their memory that relates to their sales experience. Though the information might be useful to the interviewer, your answer could get pretty complicated and long-winded unless it’s neatly packaged.

One way to answer the question might be, “I’ve held sales management positions with three different consumer product companies over a nine-year period. Where would you like me to start?”
Or, you might simply say, “Let me give you the short version first, and you can tell me where you want to go into more depth. I’ve had nine years experience in managing sales teams in consumer product sales with three different companies, and held the titles of regional, national, and director of sales.  What aspect of my background would you like to concentrate on?”

By using this method, you telegraph to the interviewer that your thoughts are well organized, and that you want to understand the intent of the question before you travel too far in a direction neither of you wants to go. After you get the green light, you can spend your interviewing time discussing in detail the things that are important, not whatever happens to pop into your mind.

Don’t Talk Yourself Out of a Job

I’ve got a friend who’s the VP (hiring manager) of an aerospace company. He told me once that he brought a candidate into his office to make him a job offer. An hour later, the candidate left. I asked my friend if he had hired the candidate.
“No,” he said. “I tried. But the candidate wouldn’t stop talking long enough for me to make him an offer.”
Don’t misinterpret me. I’m not suggesting that an interview should consist of a series of monosyllabic grunts. It’s just that nothing turns off an employer faster than a windbag candidate.
By using the short version/long version method to answer questions, you’ll never talk yourself out of a job.

The Prudent Use of Questions

Beware: An interview will quickly disintegrate into an interrogation or monologue unless you ask some high quality questions of your own. Candidate questions are the lifeblood of any successful interview, because they:

• Create dialogue, which will not only enable the two of you to learn more about each other, but will help you visualize what it’ll be like working together once you’ve been hired;

• Clarify your understanding of the company and the position responsibilities;

• Indicate your grasp of the fundamental issues discussed so far;

• Reveal your ability to probe beyond the superficial; and

• Challenge the employer to reveal his or her own depth of knowledge, or commitment to the job.

Your questions should always be slanted in such a way as to show empathy, interest, or understanding of the employer’s needs. After all, the reason you’re interviewing is because the employer’s company has some piece of work which needs to be completed, or a problem that needs correcting. Here are some questions that have proven to be very effective:

• What’s the most important issue facing your department?

• How can I help you accomplish this objective?

• How long has it been since you first identified this need?

• How long have you been trying to correct it?

• Have you tried using your present staff to get the job done? What was the result?

• What other means have you used? For example, have you brought in independent contractors, or temporary help, or employees borrowed from other departments? Or have you recently hired people who haven’t worked out?

• Is there any particular skill or attitude you feel is critical to getting the job done?

• Is there a unique aspect of my background that you’d like to exploit in order to help accomplish your objectives?

Questions like these will not only give you a sense of the company’s goals and priorities, they’ll indicate to the interviewer your concern for satisfying the company’s objectives.

Prepare Yourself by Giving It Some Thought

Here are seven of the most commonly asked interviewing questions. Do yourself and the prospective employer a favor, and give them some thought before the interview occurs.

[1] Why do you want this job?

[2] Why do you want to leave your present company?

[3] Where do you see yourself in five years?

[4] What are your personal goals?

[5] What are your strengths? Weaknesses?

[6] What do you like most about your current company?

[7] What do you like least about your current company?

The last question is probably the hardest to answer: What do you like least about your present company?
I’ve found that rather than pointing out the faults of other people (“I can’t stand the office politics,” or, “I don’t get along with my boss”), it’s best to place the burden on yourself (“I feel I’m ready to exercise a new set of professional muscles,” or, “The type of technology I’m interested in isn’t available to me now.”).
By answering in this manner, you’ll avoid pointing the finger at someone else, or coming across as a whiner or complainer. It does no good to speak negatively about others.
I suggest you think through the answers to the above questions for two reasons.
First, it won’t help your chances any to hem and haw over fundamental issues such as these. (The answers you give to these types of questions should be no-brainers.)
And secondly, the questions will help you evaluate your career choices before spending time and energy on an interview. If you don’t feel comfortable with the answers you come up with, maybe the new job isn’t right for you.

Money, Money, Money

There’s a good chance you’ll be asked about your current and expected level of compensation. Here’s the way to handle the following questions:

[1] What are you currently earning?

Answer: “My compensation, including bonus, is in the lower 200s. I’m expecting my annual review next month, and that should increase my value to my current employer.”

[2] What sort of money would you need in order to come to work for our company?

Answer: “I feel that the opportunity is the most important issue, not salary. If we decide to work together, I’m sure you’ll make me a fair offer.”

Notice the way a range was given as the answer to question [1], not a specific dollar figure. However, if the interviewer presses for an exact answer, then by all means, be precise, in terms of salary, bonus, benefits, expected increase, and so forth.
In answer to question [2], if the interviewer tries to zero in on your expected compensation, you should also suggest a range, as in, “I would need something in the lower 200s.” Getting locked in to an exact figure may work against you later, in one of two ways: either the number you give is lower than you really want to accept; or the number appears too high or too low to the employer, and an offer never comes. By using a range, you can keep your options open.

Some Questions You Can Count On

There are four types of questions that interviewers like to ask.
First, there are the resume questions. These relate to your past experience, skills, job responsibilities, education, upbringing, personal interests, and so forth.
Resume questions require accurate, objective answers, since your resume consists of facts which tend to be quantifiable (and verifiable). Try to avoid answers which exaggerate your achievements, or appear to be opinionated, vague, or egocentric.
Second, interviewers will usually want you to comment on your abilities, or assess your past performance. They’ll ask self-appraisal questions like, “What do you think is your greatest asset?” or, “Can you tell me something you’ve done that was very creative?”
Third, interviewers like to know how you respond to different stimuli. Situation questions ask you to explain certain actions you took in the past, or require that you explore hypothetical scenarios that may occur in the future. “How would you stay profitable during a recession?” or, “How would you go about laying off 1300 employees?” or, “How would you handle customer complaints if the company drastically raised its prices?” are typical situation questions.
And lastly, some employers like to test your mettle with stress questions such as, “After you die, what would you like your epitaph to read?” or, “If you were to compare yourself to any U.S. president, who would it be?”
Stress questions are designed to evaluate your emotional reflexes, creativity, or attitudes while you’re under pressure. Since off-the-wall or confrontational questions tend to jolt your equilibrium, or put you in a defensive posture, the best way to handle them is to stay calm and give carefully considered answers.
Whenever I hear a stress question, I immediately think of the Miss Universe beauty pageant. The finalists (usually sheltered teenagers from places like Zambia or Uruguay) are asked before a live television audience of three and a half billion people to give heartfelt and earnest responses to incongruous questions like, “What would you tell the leaders of all the countries on earth to do to promote world peace?”
Of course, your sense of humor will come in handy during the entire interviewing process, just so long as you don’t go over the edge. I heard of a candidate once who, when asked to describe his ideal job, replied, “To have beautiful women rub my back with hot oil.” Needless to say, he wasn’t hired.
Even if it were possible to anticipate every interview question, memorizing dozens of stock answers would be impractical, to say the least. The best policy is to review your background, your priorities, and your reasons for considering a new position; and to handle the interview as honestly as you can. If you don’t know the answer to a question, just say so, or ask for a moment to think about your response.

Wrapping It Up

At the conclusion of your interview, you can wrap up any unfinished business you failed to cover so far, and begin to explore the future of your candidacy.
During your interview wrap-up, it’s a good practice to make the interviewer aware of other opportunities you’re exploring, as long as they’re genuine, and their timing has some bearing on your own decision making.
The fact that you’re actively exploring other opportunities may affect the speed with which the company makes its hiring decision. It may even positively influence the eventual outcome, since the company may want to act quickly so as not to lose you.
However, your other activity should be presented in the spirit of assistance to the interviewer, not as a thinly veiled threat or negotiating tactic. I’d advise you to play it straight with the interviewer.
And remember to maintain a positive attitude. In today’s job market, you’d be surprised how often victory is snatched from the jaws of defeat.

The better your interviewing skills, the greater your chances of getting the job.

Mobile Device and Apps Usbaility Testing and Battery Life

Beyond functional features, the two main components of user experience that need to be evaluated and tested prior to launch are usability and battery consumption. As a concise guide on batteries in mobile devices, this document outlines background knowledge, experimental findings and some lessons learned on battery testing and, power profiling of mobile devices and applications, and design considerations for optimizing battery life in smartphones. See White Paper

First we need to understand the reality that in the USA, we have been producing a declining number of electrical and computer engineers for two decades – especially USA natives. Graduates numbered 14,584 in 2004-05, but declined to 14,209 in 2005-06 and 13,783 in 2006-07. Master’s degrees also dropped in the same time period, recording a significant decrease from 41,087 in 2004-05 to 38,451 in 2005-06, followed by a smaller decrease to 37,320 in 2006-07. Enrollment of U.S. citizens in graduate science and engineering programs has not kept pace with that of foreign students in those programs as new foreign student enrollment for 2008-2009 increased by approximately 16.0% from the previous academic year.

The reason why is apparent.  Since the federal government took over education with the Department of Education in 1979, our elementary schools and high schools have declined.  I am 53 years old and graduated high school in 1976.  In 8th grade, I had a reading level as a senior in college because I was encouraged by my father and teachers to read.  And when I went to elementary school, it was all about reading, writing, and arithmetic.   No sex education or social engineering classes.  And there was competition where the winner of a spelling bee or attendance or math or science project would receive a certificate and/or trophy.  Just as in life there are winners and losers -  and no one should receive a trophy just because they tried.  And if you did not win, so what?  I was taught to keep trying.   And I spent 2-3 hours a day in homework from elementary all the way through high school.   In elementary and high school  we were encouraged to join clubs and be involved.  Me -  I chose football and Key Club.  Those two things taught me competition, being a team player, and giving of my time to my community.  And the focus on high academic standards prepared me for college.  Today our schools focus on “feel-good” social engineering and teaching children political and social correctness rather than the 3 Rs and molding children for a bright future.

The “education bubble” has come about doe to the federal government’s free-spending ways.  We re broke as a nation and cannot continue to give student loans to those whose GPA is not deserving.  And like my family did for me and my siblings, it is a parent’s sacrifice and savings to put a kid through college.  Or going to school at night while working full time like my father did.  Or going via the GI Bill by serving in the military.  Or busting your butt in 2 years of community college like my own son did (who then received full scholarships for bachelor and master based upon his grades). And my son is not becoming a lawyer or marketing guy, but graduates with his MS in Physics next year.

Scientists and engineers today make up only 4% of US employment; even doubling their number would in itself have a modest overall impact on the economy. Rather, the point is that scientists and engineers contribute disproportionately to the creation of jobs for the other 96% of the nation’s workforce by generating knowledge, by innovating, and by establishing new companies based on that knowledge and innovation.

On the wireless components and infrastructure side: There may be loads of RF network engineers and deployment engineers looking for work, but not in other areas. For one, infrastructure systems design engineers, those who know hardware and embedded combined, and MSEEs are in short supply. But the problem gets worse. Many mobile apps development vendors use IT developers for web based apps, but when it comes to desktop applications, Android and iOS SDKs and APIs, and mobile standards, these companies need actual degreed engineers who have the education and expertise to develop complex computational and algorithm based apps.

The outlook for 2012 and beyond is worse unless we dramatically increase H1B visas. or years, when it comes to economic downturns like the one we are in now globally, I have been screaming from the highest hill that allowing Human Resources to focus on “cost-per-hire” when the obvious shortage requires a balance including “quality-of-hire”. Hiring based on saving money via CPH is short-sighted and fails to take into account the production value and retention of A and B players which is what recruiting via QOH methods does.

It amazes me how often I hear “we can recruit on our own as so many people looking for work” and Hiring Managers who tell me “HR sends them garbage resumes, but the corporate decision makers have their hands tied.” If you are a handset manufacturer, infrastructure vendor, RF components vendor, there is an actual shortage. And when you need sales engineers, FAEs, project managers, and vendor-facing, or customer-facing engineers where the candidates in USA must be able to speak plain understandable English, the shortage is even greater.

First they want all worked unionized immediately. That was tried in Soviet Union and look what it has done to European countries that are at or near total bankruptcy. Raise the minimum wage immediately to $18/hr. Create a maximum wage of $90/hr. to eliminate inequality. Okay now this is simply idiotic. Imagine a couple that invests $100k to open a restaurant and now have to increase dishwasher, bus boy, cooks, and prep workers to that wage? Now tell me who is going to pay $15 for a hamburger in order to pay for these wages? And what Doctor who spent 7 years in school and 2 years in residency or a CEO with 20+ years building billion dollar businesses work for that? Plus since this would all mean no profits, you can kiss goodbye to retirement investments as no one would buy any stock to invest in anything. Do these idiots think the federal government can do all the investing? Have these OWS actually seen the great job they have done with USPS and Freddie Mac? If you want that kind of wage automatically remember this – wages are earned by skills and accomplishments of your work. As Abraham Lincoln said, “You can have anything you want – if you want it badly enough. You can be anything you want to be, do anything you set out to accomplish if you hold to that desire with singleness of purpose.”

Okay now this one is just funny – Institute a 6 hour workday, and 6 weeks of paid vacation. When was the last time you heard of great inventions by private companies in France? Institute a moratorium on all foreclosures and layoffs immediately. Again silliness here – banks go out of business and companies go out of business. So where do you now get your groceries, gas, and other needs now that a company that is forced to reduce their workforce cannot and had to close their doors?

Repeal racist and xenophobic English-only laws. Hello!!!!!! Have you any idea what the cost involved printing multiple language signs, documents, and interpreters? If I move to Brazil, is it not my responsibility to learn Portuguese?

Open the borders to all immigrants, legal or illegal. Offer immediate, unconditional amnesty, to all undocumented residents of the US. Stupid, stupid, stupid. What other response can I make?  Create a single-payer, universal health care system. Does not work in UK or Canada which are MUCH smaller than USA, so what makes you think it will work for a country more than 3 times the size of those two countries combined?
Pass stricter campaign finance reform laws. All campaigns will receive equal funding, provided by the taxpayers. I agree with that.

Institute a negative income tax, and tax the very rich at rates up to 90%. LOL! Seriously half the people pay NO income tax at all – that is the problem. We already have a progressive tax system. And don’t give me that crap about it was 70% or 90% before Reagan and Kennedy. If you knew your history, you would know that that was for the ultra-rich who paid that – not the $250k to $5M per year income people of today.
Allow workers to elect their supervisors. What? Are you insane? Investors and Board members and the corporate officers decide who is a supervisor. It is their investment – their money – or the official hired to manage their investment that makes that decision.
Lower the retirement age to 55. Increase Social Security benefits. Okay, so by the time you finish college at age 22 you expect a part time 30 hours per week work life of just that of just 33 years? Since the life span is now in the late 70s and 80s, you want only 1/3 of your life to contribute taxes but yet want all of these benefits? Where will that money come from? If you tax everyone making over $90 per hour at 90% of their income, that will not even cover 2% of the total costs to pay for what you want. As Dwight D. Eisenhower stated: “Every step we take towards making the State our Caretaker of our lives, by that much we move toward making the State our Master.”

Create a 5% annual wealth tax for the very rich. Okay so 90% plus 5% – you want to keep 95% of someone’s money in taxes? Where is the desire to work to create wealth?
Ban the private ownership of land. Now this is insanity. Our founding fathers came here to get a piece of their own land – my house IS the American Dream.

Make homeschooling illegal. Not only are you bigots toward people of faith, but I went to high school BEFORE the feds created the Dept. of Education and believe me we were all fine with local school boards running things.  Reduce the age of majority to 16. Personally I would prefer that no one under the age of 30 gets to vote – that is just an opinion. But honestly until you have to pay for your own roof over your head or save to buy a house or start a family, you have no clue about anything other than tweeting and messaging and MTV.

Abolish the death penalty and life in prison. We call for the immediate release of all death row inmates from death row and transferred to regular prisons. In the South we prefer chain gangs because they actually work. And the death penalty carried out within the 2st year of sentencing would go far in detracting criminals from heinous crimes.
Ban private gun ownership. Have you heard of the Constitution? Are you even remotely clued into what give me liberty or give me death means? Do you understand that state militias exist from the beginning as a warning to the federal government? As Benjamin Franklin said: “They who would give up an essential liberty for temporary security, deserve neither liberty or security.”

Yesterday Verizon announced a bigger move into M2M2P communications, especially for enterprise business customers (see Connected Planet interview http://bit.ly/ugu2zI)
A near-infinite number of IP addresses by the increasing use of IPv6 also means that mobile wallets, vehicles, and smart meters outside the home to security, energy, appliances, and medical devices inside the home – all can be managed by your smartphone or mobile tablet.

M2M2P is the missing link for both consumers and business alike and is more palatable to a growing economy (as reluctant taxpayers refuse more tax hikes and detest the idea of “cap and trade taxes”). For consumers, they will have the ability to manage heating, cooling, lights, appliances, and more according to their own comfort and budget. For business, this reduces production time, increases the lower cost of JIT inventories, and manages the transportation costs. M2M2P without the over-regulation of cap and trade means that the economy can grow in the 21st century according to the proven method that works – supply by business that meets the demand of consumers and businesses alike.

Imagine if you will how medical cost can be lowered, preventative diagnostics increased, and the communications between doctor and patient makes for better assessment and treatment methods.  Here is another good reason for de-centralizing federally controlled healthcare and putting the control back to the patient-doctor relationship and states to allow for real competition among heath care insurers.

For enterprises, moving away from costly data centers to more efficient  mobile cloud computing and hybrid apps reduces capital expenditures and increases business efficiency  in predictive decisions based on synthesized data as well as workforce mobility.  As an executive recruiter, it still amazes me that most companies have still not embraced the reduction in facility cost and benefits resulting from telecommuting and/or allowing employees to work from home.  With Skype video, enterprise based private social networks, dropbox, and cloud computing, many positions from systems and software engineers to sales to marketing to finance do not require those additional facility, relocation, and benefits costs.

In an economic downturn, when I hear a client tell me they want a local person only to avoid relocation expense, my reaction is “Okay, so you do not want the ideal candidate or the “A Player”. Correct?  Because by limiting the candidate pool, two things are likely to happen.  For one, the local “A Player” you want will is employed and paid well and the increased compensation you will pay is equal to or more than the relocation cost; and second, it is smart to identify and recruit from a larger pool outside of your locality and do you REALLY need for that employee to work AT your facility when they can work from their home office?

The other benefits of M2M2P are the ability to drive innovation for businesses – which is what has always made the USA the envy of the global community.  Personalization based on Web 3.0 serves businesses to better deliver according to consumers’ needs and preferences while at the same time driving companies to reengineer their processes and business models. From being able to adjust orders and delivery to multifunctional kiosks to “click to chat” windows, companies can better serve both B2B and B2C customers alike.

By combining the  growing list of  semantic web 3.0 technologies, Android and iOS and both public and private social network applications with 5G networks, M2M2P can be realized and spark a growth in the USA economy that we have not seen in more than a decade.  In order for this to happen, we MUST decentralize the federal government and unleash the might of the American spirit – which has always been driven by individual initiatives and business innovation without the obstruction of overburden regulations.

Opportunity

If you’d like to be at the center of resolving technical and business issues within the RAN wireless ecosystem from the terminal battery and mobile chipset of the handset to the RF components in the base station of the radio access network to the mobile backhaul, this is a unique opportunity.  In carrying out industry research, helping to develop workshop agendas by networking and talking to engineers at all levels, and leading working groups that actually solve problems, you will make an impact on the entire wireless supply chain.

This is an opportunity to be a Program Manager for a RAN engineer, product manager, or pre-sales engineer to make a difference by researching and discussing current design issues and future trends in 4G, LTE, handsets, mobile chipsets, MIMO, backhaul solutions, antennas, pico, femtocells and DAS, smart wireless, and much more.  You will engage with CTOs to senior engineers and business leaders across the global ecosystem, help to develop workshop agendas, and lead working groups.

Overview

Our Client facilitates workshops that that deliver unfiltered real time insight into vital technology, market and ecosystem evolution in the wireless industry.  They have built a technology-neutral global community of hundreds of companies such as mobile operators (from Verizon to Orange to China Telecom), cellular infrastructure (from Alcatel-Lucent to Nokia to ZTE), Mobile/Portable Terminals (from Motorola to Apple to Samsung), RF Components (from Intel Mobile to Texas Instruments to Marvel) and Telematics (from BMW to Denso to Toyota), as well as the technology suppliers which serve this dynamic market.

By attending these workshops, these leaders come together as a community to:

• Identify new markets, products & service opportunities
• Illuminate potential technology issues and supply chain gaps
• Network with firsthand knowledge experts in R&D, product management, and technology strategy.
• Explore common objectives and constraints with 360 degree expert level input
• Candidly analyze the risk / reward profiles of future technology generations, continuing, emerging and disruptive business models.
• Validate company propositions, roadmaps and market position

The 1 to 3 day workshops are held primarily in North America and Europe (<12 per year) and bring together the CTOs/VPs/Directors in technology strategy who work for the mobile operators, radio access network infrastructure vendors, RF components subsystems vendors, mobile chipsets, and handset ODM/OEM together to address current and future technical issues with an audience of systems architects, RAN engineers, handset product management, mobile chipset and RF components engineers.  Within the workshops, in addition to keynote speakers, there are smaller panels, working groups, attendee discussions, and networking that allows the different players within the wireless supply chain to arrive at a working consensus dealing with the technical and business issues from handset battery to mobile network backhaul.

Specific Role and Responsibilities

In this role, you will work with the team to identify workshop topics and agendas, working group topics based upon end of workshop surveys and research, lead working groups, manage group conference calls, database updates and project materials. Assist with marketing and branding including messaging, email marketing, and product marketing management relating to workshops and working groups.  This includes making customer care calls and communications with existing members of the consortium, conduct proactive membership prospecting, carry  out ongoing research of the relevant wireless sectors in order to assist with annual workshop topic planning and member surveys, and participate in conducting   in-person and online surveys of members.

The Ideal Candidate

You are currently a RAN Engineer. Product Manager, or Sales Engineer engineer for a wireless infrastructure vendor, mobile handset or device OEM, wireless components manufacturer or mobile operator, with 5 to 8 years of experience in the wireless industry. In particular, you are in an outward facing role (vendor-facing or operator as your customer).      If your experience is primarily on the OSS, VAS, core network, or IP network side, or cell site construction or engineering services deployment, you are NOT a fit for this role.

Intangible Traits of the Ideal Candidate

You understand the value and importance of building and maintaining relationships (internal and external) and are a customer focused team player with very good social, oral, and written communication skills.  You are not afraid to sweat the details while being willing to understand the “big picture”, as you are capable of seeing the “whole” rather than the “parts”.  In addition, you have demonstrated excellent group leadership, project management, organizational skills including file management, workgroup collateral management, and leveraged social networking tools.

Upside

Having developed over the past 12 years, our client has become well known within the wireless industry for their workshops and working groups.  As a small company operating in this dynamic and continually evolving market place, our client hits well above its weight and this role offers the right person an opportunity to grow and be part of the small senior management team (moving to Director level) within a few years.

They provide a competitive base salary with bonus, 401k, major medical.  It is casual business atmosphere and for candidates outside of the local area will require relocation to Bucks County, PA.  Relocation package to move household goods and transport vehicles.  The company virtually has no competitors in their space and has always been cash positive.

Marc Weinberg, Vice President Sales, Alcatel-Lucent, USA

Client Testimonial of Kelley Dorsey, Practice Lead for NextGen Global Executive Search in Mobile – Content, Apps, Media