"continued career success" after merger

continued career success
A merger can be a dreadful occurrence for many employees. However it does Not has to happen that way. It can be an opportunity for promotion, depending on how you view and work around it.

The recent reports had forecasted that more merger will take place due to economic pressure.

Here are some tips to help you to manage the transition and emerge stronger:

a. work on your fact finding and research.
Do both the secondary and primary researches. Primary researches are ones that you go direct to the sources and you are the first owner of the data. Secondary research is when you research on somebody's work, their books, reports,blogs etc.

b. Build the network:
It can be official and personal. In some region, the personal networks are highly valued. It is the relationship that build up the business. In the emerging chinese economy, it help to know the owner personally.

c. Understand the new culture.
Know the new management style, their expectation and modus operandi. Embrace and work within it. You will be a loser if you remain holding to the old way of doing thing. Do not be tempted by the notion of the ' the good old days'. Organization is the work of a group of people, sometime the dynamics of the group is more important then the individual performers.

d. Be seen to contribute.
There is no point to be the good man behind the horizon. Find opportunities to propel yourself into the lime light.

These are some of the tips to ensure your "continued career success" after a merger

Character of good leaders

Successful companies put extra importance on leadership. The example set by GE had demonstrated this. Leadership is viewed as the most important elements required for a company's success. Effective leaders are produced by effective persons built upon a personal characters. You cannot separate the leadership and the personal traits.

The followings are the critical characteristics of effective leaders.

1. Highly ethical person.

Ethic is the study of rights and wrongs and the relationships of means and the ends. Ethical leader will not abuse his power for personal gains and glory. Unethical ones will be found to accumulate personal wealths for himself or his family at the expense of the mass.

2. High Energy.

He will appear to have an unlimited amount of energy that is used to drive the visions. He knows the different between what are important and do not waste time on the petty issues.

3. Discipline.

The leaders have the discipline to pursue the plan. The priority are being set, modified and followed through.

4. Courage.

To bold enough and willing to take the necessary risks. He has the courage to overcome the challenges that he faces.

5. Commitment.

The commitment and dedication will be transferred to the orgaisation. You will find the whole organisation will be committed to meeting the goals.

6. Goal orientation.

Setting the goals of the organisation and able to get the total forces within the organisation to pursue the intended goals.

employability - the pencil approach

The pencil approach will help you to boost your employability in time of turbulence.

Many people are affected by difficult economic situation. Some will be unlucky and are not able to retain their jobs. If you are one of them, do not let the situation dampen your spirit to boost your employability.

Here are some suggestion how to move forward. The approach is know as 'pencil approach'.

1. Plan
The plan is the advance work you have to do prior to the actual effort to get the job. Do research on the job opportunities that suit your qualification and your interest. Review your resume, and update with your new skills or qualification. The resume has to be revised to suit the targeted jobs.

2. Exercise
To face the challenges, we have to be at the top health, both the physical as well as mental. The key to healthy body is the moderate intake of food and continuous and consistent exercises.

3. Network
Not all jobs are advertised in the paper or in the webs. Many companies would prefer to use networking to fill up a vacancy. This is especially true if the vacancy is in small number and demanding a generic skills. It is expensive and time consuming to advertise in the newspaper.

4. Communication
This skill is critical for all levels of jobs. It is more in demand for jobs that involve direct dealing with customers.

It is important for us to sharpen our skills, both the verbal and written communication. Reading books and practice what we had read will be beneficial.

Beside the writing and verbal skills, we also need to develop our listening and well as our non verbal communication. The non verbal communication would have some cultural connotation, as it may be interpreted differently by different groups.

5. Learn
Learning is a continuous activities. It can be in the form of additional qualification or skills. Keep track of the happenings in your profession and events in your country.


Appreciation
Reference was made to thestar,com.my on an article by Paul Lim, a certified ACTA trainer.

Handling Your Retrenchment in your next interview.

Being retrenched is both affecting your financial and social standing. You may feel really down, but the stigma of being redundant is less today. This is because, more and more company retrench there staff as part of their corporate restructuring, downsizing, outsourcing and cost-cutting exercises.

The main issue is to get the next job. Most will find it difficult to tell interviewers and potential employers about it as they have the impression that employers are viewing the retrenched staff unfavorably. Employees are actually concerned about the reasons of the retrenchment. No employers would like to employ a poor performer or one with attitude problem and become a source of conflict.

Some job seekers also believe that once a potential employer knows that they are currently unemployed, they will lose their bargaining power and be offered a far lower salary than if they were still employed.

However, if you choose to hide the information, the effect can be worst off.

This Is a Small World.

With the advance in information flow, it is not difficult to know the status of the applicants and the reasons for exploring new position. If the applicants choose to hide his real status, it may create the negative impression on the applicants, as it appears that they are truthful about vital data. This alone makes the candidates look suspicious, and the employer may draw negative conclusions about his departure from his previous job.

So, the issue is, how do you tell the potential employer that you had been retrenched without giving a negative impression on your eligibility for a job?

What can you tell interviewers so that your job status is a non-issue?

These are the suggestions:

1. Get an official statement

When staff members are notified of an impending downsizing exercise, there is usually an official statement or story from the company's senior management.

Affected employees should speak to their direct superior or human resource manager to get more information.

Common reasons include cost-cutting measures (where entire teams have been disbanded), the relocation of operations to lower-cost sites, the outsourcing of a function to a third party or the cessation of certain jobs altogether.

Repeat the official story to potential employers in a matter-of-fact tone, without any trace of bitterness.

2. Pre-empt the question

Candidates will invariably be asked why they are looking to change jobs.

When asked, those who are still employed will typically state that they are looking for new challenges or new growth or a better environment in which to excel.

If you are an unemployed candidate, it is okay to tell your potential employer that you have been affected by a restructuring exercise.

It might be even better to tell him the facts before being asked, thereby getting it out of the way early so everyone can focus on the key objectives of the interview — how you, the candidate, fit the role requirements.

3. Offer referees

Another way to erase any doubts about your performance is to offer your potential employer the chance to speak to a referee.

In this instance, the best referee is obviously a direct supervisor or someone fairly senior who has worked closely with you in the recent past. It does not matter if the referee has also been affected by the restructuring.

4. Highlight pertinent details of the restructuring

Give the interviewer important information such as how many people were affected by the restructuring, which location the operation has been moved to, how the former employees' responsibilities have been divided up, what the new structure looks like and so on.

Such information points to the fact that your exit from the company was not performance-related.

Moving Forward

Look on the bright side. Being in transition gives you several other positioning advantages.

This can be an opportunity to venture into a new field. You can be very direct and open about the fact that you are pursuing many other job opportunities and are currently speaking to several potential employers. This can be used as an effective negotiation tool.

Being in transition also does not mean that you should succumb to pressure to lower your salary expectations.

If you have a solid track record, it is possible to maintain or even increase your salary because of the value you will bring to the role and the market forces of supply and demand. .

Sources:

ST/ANN

* Article by Chee Sze Yen, senior consultant, DBM Singapore, a global human capital management firm that provides transition services.

Extracted from Thestar published on 3 nov 2010

barriers to listening

Have you ever experience a situation when you are trying to woo a lady of you choice and you get distracted by the strong music. This is happening all the time in different situations, at work or during family outings.

The surroundings can be a barrier to you listening skill. The noise in the room, poor acoustics, bad odor, extreme temperature and uncomfortable chair can distract your attention and affect your listening. In order to improve the communication, the noises and barriers have to be removed.

The other barrier to listening is psychological. You can be very sad, or upset about some other things or you had something against the speaker. Basically the barriers to listening can be summarized under the following headings:

1. Too many distraction - There are many other things fighting to get the attention of the listener. The noise from radio, tv, the people that pass by, all can be a distraction. The mind will naturally filter out the least relevant items.

2. You think you know the subject - With this in mind, you can jump to th conclusion and interrupt the conversation. There may be details that he has missed.

3. The gap in the speed - A speaker can speak at the rate of about 150 words per minute, whereas our mind can manage about 400 word per minute. So the mind actually has some gaps to play with, and this enable him to venture into different areas. Without proper discipline, it is easy for the listener not to listen to the speaker.

4. Lack of knowledge on how to listen. Average people will spend more time to listen compared to other skills like reading and writing. The other skills are being taught and researched, but not many people undergo a training to listen effectively.

Charting Your Career

Like an organisation or a business entity, your career needs to be planned and work upon to increase its chance to reach the intended target. Please do not assume that the employer will be managing your career.

There are basically 2 important issues in charting your career.

1. Setting the vision or target

2. Working on the steps to achieve the target.

It seem to be so simple and straight forward, but the implication is great. It reminds me of my schooling days, in year ninth, the best student was a girl, and when asked what she wanted her career to be, she said she wanted to be a nurse. And later, I found out that she actually became a nurse, despite her outstanding academic result.

This demonstrates the difficulty of setting the target, if it is too low, you would be wasting your talent, if it is too hight, it would be beyond your capability.

The followings are the 4 steps to create your career map:

1. Examine your current position. Write down the details of the following items:

- job title

- salary and benefit

- key responsibility

- existing skill

- future prospects

2. Identify your long term goals

- identify at least 5 goals. It is important that the goals to be smart, i.e specific, measurable. attainable, relevant and time-bound.

3. Plan your future career

For the next five years, identify the job you are eyeing, identify the skills and knowledge required for the job and link it to the long term set goals.

4. Create a detailed action plan.

Identify the objectives and the skills you need to achieve both the short term enabling goals and identify the plans to achieve the required skills.

THE DOMAINS OF THE GOALS

There are many areas where you may need to focus your goals. The list are given below, which may not be similar to your intended order.

a. Money matter - you may like to put a target of your intended salary, or monthly savings or money related life-style.

b. Social Standing - You may want your career to position you in the circle of the elite, or social class.

c. Skills building - The career can be a steeping stone to develop skills that can be used for other purposes. Some of the questions that can be asked are:

- which of the existing skills would you like to develop or master?

- Which skills do you like to learn?

- which skills will support me to get my objectives?

d. Personal life - The career can be viewed as one of the elements of your life plan. So having a clear objective of your life plan will help you to construct the career plan. Some of the relevant questions in you life plan can be:

- if you had passed away, what do you like people to remember you as?.

- Assume if you are doing to die tomorrow, what are the things that you regret that you had not done?.

The career map, just like the road map, can help you to reach your destination. It will give the logical path and the steps to be taken in you move to reach the destination

Get Yourself Headhunted

It must give us the nice feeling to be headhunted. It is a form of recognition by the other organisation about your value.

Employers are very critical of getting the right people for the important positions in his organisation. They are very specific of their requirements and likely to get the services of headhunters to fill up the posts and they are very particular of trying their best to get the correct people..

What actually they are searching and what are the traits that attract the headhunters,

1. The Background.
Where you come from, your background and social networks are important for some positions. This is because the social positioning reflects the nature of a person. The upbringing will in a certain degree influence the personality and the thought.

2. Expertise in the field.
Before the headhunter does the search, he would talk to the industry and get some informations or leads. That mean the chosen person will be well known to the industry. He may had spoken in a seminar or had written papers. He would be of better value if he had a track record of performance.

3. Value added skills.
In the present global setting, certain skills stand out compared with the others. These are the skills that can transgress across the cultural boundaries. Some international corporations are looking for individuals with overseas postings, wide educational exposure or able to speak the alternate languages. For that reasons, the younger managers are recommended to gain experiences in working oversea.

4. Career Experiences.
To gain sufficient experience in any areas, an employee had to spend some time in that role or function. Depending on the type of job, certain position will require a detail depth. However there are positions that are looking for the breadth. The wider and variety of experience will indicate flexibility and ability to face different challenges.

So whatever areas of work you are doing, do think of the short term objective and a longer term interest.

Thank You.

joha rahman

getting the best job

Reading the recruitment pages in the national newspaper can be an entertaining past time, even though you are not looking for work. There so much information available, some of the advertisements are very informative and eye-opening. It describe the jobs and the expectations, reading them would give ideas on the type of jobs available in the market.

There are also advertisements made through agencies and recruitment houses, with as little information and minimum details, and in some cases the name of the potential employer is not not even given. I would recommend not to consider these advertisement, for all you know, you may be applying for your own position in the company you are working.

With the internet technology, the company can make a headline worldwide. You need an interesting job and the skill to market it. Remember the job that made the headline a few years ago, a job in the Hamilton Island off the Great Barrier Reef in Queensland Australia. The job had over 34,000 entrants.

Another interesting job just creep up.. a premium chocolate brand, Cadbury is looking for a chocolate tester, and the job pays 35,000 pounds. Who ever says that you have to be smart and earn a shiny college degree to get a well paid job.

extracted from Soo Ewe Jin, the star 25 Oct 2010

Tips for successful negotiation

Most of us were not born with the skills for successful negotiation, but it has to be learned. We may not realize it, the skills for negotiation are being learned and practiced by toddlers at the early age. The 2 year old knew very well how to get things from their parents, it work using some sort of inborn instinct. However most are lost as we grow.

Here are five tips to help us to get what we want in a negotiation:

1. Do your Homework.

We need to know and understand the other's needs, wants and their bottom line. Get as much information from the webs, get the important leaders in the organisation. Check the trade magazines, blogs, podcasts and webinars for information.

2. Engage the opponents

Use the initial meetings to gather and recheck the informations that you had gathered. Build up rapport and establish trust. Use active listening. It will be helpful if we have in our team a person who can master what others are thinking.

3. Assess

Assess what you know and what you do not know. Test the possible option using phrase such as "What would you say if... " or "Let imagine that..."

Answering a question with a question can be used as a technique.

4. Recommend

When the time comes, then you or they have to make the recommendation or proposal. It does not matter who start first. But if they start first is in fact better, it is because there are times that their offer is better than expected. If their offer is too low, you can always interject.

5. Document it

The deal is not completed until the document is drawn and signed. Accurate note taking make it easier.

At the end of the day, it has to be a win-win situation. All parties to be treated fairly and each will leave the meeting and feel satisfied. It will pave a path to a future business relationship.

Changing Jobs

When a company is undergoing changes, you will notice that a large number of the staff will be restless and start to toy with the idea to change job. Some may label them as the group who is afraid to face challenges, and some will be marked as living in the comfort zone.

But the reality is different. It is accepted fact that office politic will affect the career of a staff. It would be natural for anyone to promote someone who he trusts, and the trust is built upon the knowledge on his capability and past experience.

How would you approach other companies in the time of changes. Enclosed are some tips on how to go about looking for alternative career:

1. networking
You can start talking to 2 or 3 peoples senior to you in the same industry. Get how they feel about the situation and how best to use you skills and knowledge. They may have some ideas about the companies that are interested to talk to you.

2. Career alternative
Consider other jobs. It is advisable to change either the job OR the industry and not both. This is because changing both will demand heavy relearning on your part.

For example, if you are a Scheduling Manager for an Airline, it is safer to look for a career in other airlines with different job specification OR get a job as Scheduling Manager in other industry such as in shipping.

This is because of the knowledge involved, to do the job well, you will need both the jobs knowledge as well as the industry knowledge.

3. Consider the transferable skills.
Some type of skills such as accounting, IT, HR and Public Relation are transferable from one industry to the other.

4. Basic Search
Ask the basic questions based on the principles of good job search:

a. What is your Key assets and deliverables.
b. Who can assist you and who can open the door of opportunities.

Changing job is one of the main causes of tension and stress. Take it in steps. It is always a prudent practice to accumulate physical resources, like some cash for emergency, to make sure you can effort the transition.

Education and Career - career cluster

library
Career selection and career potential are closely linked to the education. As such, the concept of career selection had to be understood and the actual selection is to be thought well before his first day in college. Unfortunately, majority of the students will not be able to do it, mainly due to the lack of awareness and knowledge.

The thought behind it is simple, you choose the cluster of profession you like to get into, and that will be the guide for you to choose you course and the major.

I had come across an article on the career cluster. I think it is very useful and I like to share this with the readers. I hope it can highlight the concept and assist the students to select the courses.

The article is below..

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Since 1960s, career cluster resources have been used as career exploration and planning tools in schools, learning communities, and organizations across the nation. Career Clusters is a system that matches educational and career planning.

Step 1: Identifying Career Cluster Interest Areas

Career clusters are groups of similar occupations and industries. When teachers, counselors, and parents work with teens, college students, and adults, the first step is to complete career cluster assessment. The assessment identifies the highest career cluster areas. Career assessments show teens, college students, and adults rankings from one of the following 16 Interests Areas or Clusters:

1. Agriculture, Food, & Natural Resources

2. Architecture & Construction

3. Arts, A/V Technology & Communication

4. Business, Management & Administration

5. Education & Training

6. Finance

7. Government & Public Administration

8. Health Science

9. Hospitality & Tourism

10. Human Services

11. Information Technology

12. Law, Public Safety & Security

13. Manufacturing

14. Marketing, Sales & Service

15. Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics

16. Transportation, Distribution & Logistics

Step 2: Exploring Career Clusters and Related Careers

After pinpointing the highest career clusters, teens, college students, and adults explore the different careers and create education plans. Career cluster tools used in career and educational planning include:

• LISA: A comprehensive career cluster database
• Models
• Brochures
• Pathways
• High school plan of study
• Interest and Skills Areas
• Crosswalks

After completing a career cluster assessment, teens, college students, and adults look at web sites, career models, brochures, pathways, and high school plans. One of the most unique comprehensive career cluster resources is the Louisiana Integrated Skills Assessment (LISA), an Internet program. LISA lets you explore career clusters, careers, abilities, training requirements, and more. There are 3 steps in the LISA program:

STEP 1: Click here to select a Career Cluster

STEP 2: Click here to select a Career Group

STEP 3: Explore Occupations within this Career Group

In Step 1, when you choose a career cluster, you will see a description of the cluster. When you select a career group in Step 2, you see different careers. Finally, in Step 3, you see a wealth of information:

• Job descriptions
• Educational and training requirements
• Crosswalks, for example ONET, DOT, GOE, and other codes
• Abilities
• Knowledge
• Skills
• Tasks
• Work Values
• Labor Market Information

Even though LISA is an awesome program, in classroom or workshop settings, you need printed materials. When using printed materials, the career model is the best place to start. Models provide excellent overviews listing the cluster definitions, sample careers, pathways, knowledge, and skills. Visual models show career clusters, the cluster subgroups, and related careers. Models are an excellent way to introduce career clusters.

For presentations, workshops, and group discussions, the career cluster brochures provide additional information. Adults and teens read about the different careers that are available in each career cluster. Teachers, counselors, and parents use the brochures to solidify adults' and teens' potential career or educational decisions. The brochures cover topics such as:

• Definition of career clusters
• Careers
• Career pathways
• Employment outlooks
• Skills
• Credentials

Teachers, counselors, and parents use career pathways for more detailed information. The career pathways are subgroups or areas of concentration within career clusters. Each pathway contains career groups. The career groups have similar academic skills, technical skills, educational requirements, and training requirements. Career pathways are plans of study that outline required secondary courses, post secondary courses, and related careers. The career pathways are essential tools that teachers, counselors, parents, and other adults use to give educational planning advice.

Several web sites feature High School Plans of Study. These study plans show required, elective, and suggested courses for each grade level. The school plans also match the career clusters to related careers, career pathways, and post-secondary options. Teachers, counselors, and parents find that these school plans are guides for selecting the right high school courses to match potential careers. Beyond high school, the Utah System for Higher Education has created a College Major Guide. Parents, teachers, and counselors can use the guide to match college majors to Certificate and Degree Programs.

Additional Resources for Counselors and Teachers

For planning curriculum and educational programs, there are detailed Knowledge and Skills Charts and Cluster Crosswalks. The knowledge and Skills expand upon the information listed on the career cluster models. For each knowledge and skill area, there are performance elements and measurement criteria. Crosswalks show the relationships between career clusters and other career models:

Career clusters build a bridge between education and career planning. Different types of career cluster resources are available: videos, web sites, booklets, brochures, activity sheets, and workbooks. Teachers, counselors, and parents use career cluster resources to successfully complete career and educational planning.

Resources:

American Careers Career Paths, Career Communications, 6701 W. 64th St., Overland, KS 66202, 800-669-7795

Career Click, Illinois Department of Employment Security,33 South State Street, Chicago, IL 60603, (312) 793-5700

CIP Code Index by Career Cluster, Adult & Postsecondary CTE Division, Bureau of Career and Technical Education, 333 Market Street, Harrisburg, PA 17126, (717) 772-0814

Cluster and Career Videos, Career One Stop, U.S. Department of Labor, Frances Perkins Building, 200 Constitution Ave., NW, Washington, DC 20210, 866-4-USA-DOL

College Major Guide Utah System for Higher Education, Board of Regents Building, The Gateway, 60 South 400 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84101-1284, (801) 321-7100

Find Careers (Videos), iSeek Solutions, Minnesota State Colleges and Universities, Wells Fargo Place, 30 7th St. E., Suite 350, St. Paul, MN 55101-7804

High School Plans of Study, New Hampshire Department of Education, 101 Pleasant Street
Concord, NH 03301-3860, (603) 271-3494
Introduction to Career Clusters, Career Education, Glencoe/McGraw-Hill, P.O. Box 543
Blacklick, OH 43004-0544,

Louisiana Integrated Skills Assessment (LISA), customized Internet version of OSCAR, a product of the Texas Workforce Commission/Career Development Resources, TWC/CDR, Austin, TX 78753

Maryland Career Clusters, Maryland State Department of Education 200 West Baltimore Street Baltimore, MD 21201,

Rhodes Island's Career Clusters, Rhode Island's Career Resource Network, 1511 Pontiac Avenue, Cranston, RI 02920, 401-462-8790

School to Career Clusters, State of Connecticut, Department of Labor, Job Bank, 645 South Main Street, Middletown, CT 06457, (860)754-5000

States' Career Clusters Initiative (SCCI), 1500 W. Seventh Avenue, Stillwater, OK 74074
Career Pathway Plans, Career Cluster, Knowledge and Skills Charts

VTECS Cluster Frameworks, VTECS, 1866 Southern Lane, Decatur, GA, 30033,404-679-4501 ext 543

What are Career Clusters? Career Prospects System, New Mexico Career Resource Network, CAREER TECHNICAL AND WORKFORCE EDUCATION BUREAU (CTWEB), Education Building, 300 Don Gaspar, Santa Fe, NM 87501, (505) 827-6512

Dr. Mary Askew specializes in Holland Codes, career cluster, and transferable skills career tests, websites, and books for adults, high school students, college students, and teens. Find easy to use, yet comprehensive career resources. Move towards your career potentials athttp://www.hollandcodes.com Contact Dr. Askew at learning4life@qwest.net Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Mary_Askew

Job Interview - questions and answers

Getting through a job interview is the mean to get a job. If you are going for your first interview, you need to review how it should be done.

Some interviewers take the care to break the ice and reduce the tensions and apprehension of the interviewees. There may be the "small talk" about common topics such as the weather, the traffics etc.. There may be the interviewers who purposely induces more tension, " I want to see them handling the tension..".

You can check the video on how to handle some of the issues of over-qualification, what to say and what not to say.

Tool to Improve Customer Services

Good customers services is essential to compete in the market economy. It is an integral components of the product delivery. The interacting with a customers is made through a contact point and it is important to plan each contact point to leave a positive impression on the customers. Each industry has its own points of contacts. For an airline, the main contact points are as follows:

1. The online of phone flight booking.
2. The airport check in.
3. The boarding movement.
4. On flight services
5. Post flight services.

Service industries can learn the tools from manufacturing industry to improve the quality and delivery of their products. The manufacturers have been using both the Six Sigma and Lean methodologies in their processes.These methodologies had been used successfully to identify causes of waste and defects and the services business are eying to implement them.

The 6 sigma methods was invented by Motorola in 1980s and popularised by GE. It involves the systematic data collections and process analysis tools using hypothesis testing tools to identify the cause and effects.

Each of the Six Sigma tools follow the prescribed process of DMAIC:
a. Define the problem
b. Measure it - identify the measurement requirements and measuring methods, capture the data.
c. Analysis - using the selected statistical tools.
d. Improve the processes , measure the new process and if it is satisfactory then:
e. implement and control it.

Six sigma is a measure of deviation or error of 6 parts per million outputs, so each of the main contact points to be monitored and control to ensure compliance to standard.

It is noting that, the physical components of the airlines products, such as the aircraft amenities the food can be duplicated by the competitors. However a good customers service is harder to copy and it can become a differentiating points for the airline.

Note: Although, the article consider the customer as the external customers, you may be involved in serving the internal customers who in turn serve the paying external customers. The internal customers deserve similar quality of service.

"get noticed at work"

It is important to "get noticed at work" to ensure that you have a better chance for the next available promotion. Do not let yourself be invisible and beyond the radar of you boss. If you are in that situation, we have some tips to get noticed.

1. create positive impact.

Remember the time of the interview, when you wanted the job badly, we were planning on how to create a positive impact in the interview. That frame of mind and the desire to create a positive impact is important. Use the first opportunity available to impress your bosses and make sure that people know about your contributions and the positive impacts you had produced.

2. Add value to the business

Your efforts should add value to the company. Not withstanding the sectors your are working, look for ways that you can add the value to your organisation.

3. Upgrade your skills.

Take the opportunity to volunteer for additional tasks that will upgrade your skill and at the same time add value to the organisation.

4. Be honest

Everyone makes mistake. Be honest if you had created a mistake and try to find solution to rectify the mistake. The real issue in on how to resolve the problem.

5. Remember the basics

Despite the big plan, it is important to remember the basics, be at work early and leave slightly late. Keep record of your achievements, volunteer works and stay update.

Another important thing is to create a networks of friends, be ready to help other and be honest about it. The network may be a valuable support for you promotion.

job application - getting the first interview

If you are a fresh graduate, getting the first interview can be an apprehensive experience. You may be wondering what to prepare, what to wear and what to say in the interview.

The best way is to get some feedback from the experienced persons. Your friends or family members must have gone trough some sort of interview. Get the tip from them.

Sometime we are more comfortable with a specific mode of communication. The young generation will be very familiar with e-mail and texting. However their parents may prefer the face to face interaction and building network. It is good to have a good working knowledge of all and specialized in one of two communication skills.

The video here shows some tips on getting your first interview.

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making a winning speech

As you ascend higher in your career, the ability to makewinning speeches is becoming more critical. Many analysts put the ability of Obama to delivery his mesmerizing keynote in 2004 as the single most important reason for his rise to the presidency.

What made him so charismatic? Why did the American listen to him and vote him?. The followings are the noted techniques that enriched his delivery.

1. Give them hope. This can be done if you yourself believe and remain hopeful. When the going gets tough, people are facing uncertainty, not sure of the future, you have to come strong and provide the reason why optimism is the right course. Despite the unpopular war in Iraq and the worst recession, Obama brought the message of hope.

2. Project Yourselves as a winner. A act with confident whatever the challenges you are facing. Put yourself as positive and healthy. Look at how Obama handled his earlier defeat at Hampshire. He delivered a speech full of optimism that rally his supporters behind him. This was what he said.. "we know the battle ahead will be long. but always remember, no matter what obstacles stand in the way, nothing can stand on the way of millions of voices calling for change.."

3. Use of Rich Imagery. To help the audience to create the mental pictures through your words, use the five senses of virtual, auditory, kinesthetic, smell and taste images. In 2004, Obama painted a picture of the hope, when he said..." it is the hope of slaves sitting around a fire singing freedom song, the hope of a young naval lieutenant bravely patrolling the Mekong Delta..."

4. Use of Figurative Language. The use metaphor will greatly strengthen your point. It is a way to give a new meaning to your words. The like of the cold war, when Churchill created the term.."the iron curtain" to describe the Russian.

5. Employ contrast: When Armstrong landed on the moon in 1969, he said,.. "one small step for man, one giant step for mankind". The method was used by Obama when he said.."tomorrow you will be able to choose a policy that invest in middle class and create jobs that this economy will grow so that everybody has a chance to succeed. Not just CEO, but secretary and the junitor.

Making speech is part of the necessary tool to influence others. Depending on the situation, the speech can be delivered with the intention to attract the emotional or the intellectual side of the listener.

Get Promoted

job progression
Moving up the rank in your job progression requires careful planning and proper execution. This is because the corporate world is very competitive, volatile and unpredictable. The best way to do is, to move up the ladder step by step and take time to scan the surrounding and reequip yourself.

Here are some tips:

a. Inspire trust.
In most cases, the bosses are under pressure to deliver and he is struggling to find someone he can trust to do the job. Trust has to be earned and the normal way of gaining trust is to deliver the assigned jobs. To be able to perform the task is only the starting point, as for you to move into the management position, you need to demonstrate the management capability.

Managing capability is different from the production capability. This is because, managing is getting the jobs done through other peoples. So beside the tasks skills, a manager has to have the human skills. There is a lot to learn in this area, the domain of knowledge include the affective domain, dealing with the soft aspect of the job.

b. make yourself indispensable.
Build up your capacity and offer to help the company and your bosses in his main areas of concern. It is important to make your boss looks good within the organisation. If you had done that, mot likely your boss will appreciate and depend on you for further assignments.

c. Know Your Job.
This is the most important, If you are promoted to a higher position, take time to learn and find ways to get people to advise you. You may now be responsible for other people's career, so be sensitive to their needs. It may be worth to remain at a certain level and build up your knowledge, rather than climbing up the ladder too quickly.

d. Lead wisely.
If you promotion is purely based on merit, then you can safety be proud and confident in your new post. Of course there will be jealous and dissatisfaction especially among your colleagues and more those who had be longer in the company.

selecting your new job

I had been thinking and asking the question... "how does a new college graduate select her or his job?".

It seem to be a simple and straight forward question. However, when I asked some of the colleagues at work, majority said that the job selection was left to the game of chance. It was either the first one available, or they stumbled upon the advert in the paper or even they followed their friends.

I came across this video in the tube. I thought it is good. At least the proper process was followed when they do the self assessment to check our strength and preferences. They even provide the solution and the actions to be taken, in term of what additional skills and knowledge if you happen to choose a job beyond your present skill level.

The video shows Northwest Michigan Career Planning and Career Assessment Workshop.

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selecting your new job

I had been thinking and asking the question... "how does a new college graduate select her or his job?".

It seem to be a simple and straight forward question. However, when I asked some of the colleagues at work, majority said that the job selection was left to the game of chance. It was either the first one available, or they stumbled upon the advert in the paper or even they followed their friends.

I came across this video in the tube. I thought it is good. At least the proper process was followed when they do the self assessment to check our strength and preferences. They even provide the solution and the actions to be taken, in term of what additional skills and knowledge if you happen to choose a job beyond your present skill level.

The video shows Northwest Michigan Career Planning and Career Assessment Workshop.

.............................

Jobs Interview Tactics

Getting through the interview is the way to get job.
I find this video is helpful to prepare for the interview. Of course do not expect miracle from a 7 minute video. But it help to understand different style of interviewers and get yourself prepared for it.

The key to success is preparation. Preparation can only be done with knowledge.