5 Ways To Keep Workplace Clean
Go PaperlessWherever and whenever possible, make optimum use of the digital medium. Not only is it a great way to be environmentally more sustainable, you’re also reducing clutter thanks to less paper on your desk. You can go a step further by cancelling magazine subscriptions and opting for online ones instead.
Undertake Regular AuditsTo keep a regular check on your workplace cleanliness, inspect items on and around it. Dispose redundant things and follow this process frequently to maintain a clean desk.
Avoid Snacking at Your Desk
Plastic wrappers from a bag of biscuits and the box your takeaway sandwich came in, among other things, all add up to make your desk look messy. Employees should be encouraged to avoid eating/snacking at their workstation.
Get Creative Plastic organizers to hold papers, documents and files can be a great way to keep your desk clean. Employees can also get creative and use plastic cups to hold stationery. Instead of using multiple notebooks and diaries, keep one notebook handy to ensure that all your information is stored in a single place
Clean Up at the End of the DayTo ensure that you don’t have to return to a messy desk in the morning, spend a few minutes cleaning up the evening before. It’s prudent to have a fresh slate to start work every day. This makes employees more productive as well.
Undertake Regular AuditsTo keep a regular check on your workplace cleanliness, inspect items on and around it. Dispose redundant things and follow this process frequently to maintain a clean desk.
Avoid Snacking at Your Desk
Plastic wrappers from a bag of biscuits and the box your takeaway sandwich came in, among other things, all add up to make your desk look messy. Employees should be encouraged to avoid eating/snacking at their workstation.
Get Creative Plastic organizers to hold papers, documents and files can be a great way to keep your desk clean. Employees can also get creative and use plastic cups to hold stationery. Instead of using multiple notebooks and diaries, keep one notebook handy to ensure that all your information is stored in a single place
Clean Up at the End of the DayTo ensure that you don’t have to return to a messy desk in the morning, spend a few minutes cleaning up the evening before. It’s prudent to have a fresh slate to start work every day. This makes employees more productive as well.
Skills To Be An Ideal Job Candidate
When hiring, companies are 100 per cent sure about what they want. However, unfortunately job seekers are often not sure about what they want, and that stops them from effectively communicating that they might be the best candidate for the job.
Potential
Companies are always on the lookout for long term potential to support their brand.
They want motivated personnel who’re excited about their role in the company and the company’s future.
Creativity
Businesses often run in a set pattern. However, when the tide turns you know who’s been swimming naked. A company knows every time economy changes or the competition introduces a new product/service, the company strategy has to change accordingly. In such cases they need creative people with unique problem solving skills to step in a tweak ongoing processes. Show them how you tackle challenges and opportunities, and they will ask you to come on-board.
Ability to Adjust
Most of us spend a LOT of time at work, and while you may get to choose your friends, you don’t have that option with colleagues. However, in a workplace there are unwritten rules of being understanding, respectful and reliable.
Ability to add Value
Employers want people who’ll add value to the organization and make money for them. If you’re not able to convince them your skills would help them make money, why should they hire you! After all, a business is not the same as charity. The key here is to quantify your work. Make sure they see value in you.
Brilliant CV
First impressions are lasting ones and brilliant CVs does just that. However, you should NEVER lie in your CV, but make sure several people review yours for content and style. Get somebody from the same industry to review yours. They’ll understand better what employers would be looking for in a CV, and make sure you give it to them they way they like it.
Relevant work Experience
Companies are often unable to garner the time to mentor freshers. Hence, quality references to substantiate your work experience would take you a long way. However, make sure you don’t add irrelevant experience. That’s a great put-off. Like bad odour, or garish clothing.
Strong online Profile
Social networking is a double edged sword. Today’s employers often check up a candidate’s online profile before handing over the job letter. This includes their personal life, likes and dislikes, political views, and so on. It’s essential you keep your digital footprint dirt-free while job hunting.
Multitasking
Business Models are changing at a breakneck pace today. If a candidate expresses interest in learning new skills and stepping up his quality of work, that’s always an added bonus. This goes on to show they’re passionate, dedicated, and inquisitive. Companies love such people.
Enthusiasm
If you express keen interest in your job, employers would know they can count on you to get the job done. Every enterprise would love their most impressionable people to lead the company’s image. Just an enthusiastic ‘Good Morning’ or ‘Hello’ can go a long way.
Cultural fit
Each organization has a unique organizational culture. While Job seekers are pressed to make sure they ‘stand out’, hiring managers look for people who can ‘blend in’. Look for ways to express your flexibility, leadership or ability to work as a team to achieve a common goal.
Potential
Companies are always on the lookout for long term potential to support their brand.
They want motivated personnel who’re excited about their role in the company and the company’s future.
Creativity
Businesses often run in a set pattern. However, when the tide turns you know who’s been swimming naked. A company knows every time economy changes or the competition introduces a new product/service, the company strategy has to change accordingly. In such cases they need creative people with unique problem solving skills to step in a tweak ongoing processes. Show them how you tackle challenges and opportunities, and they will ask you to come on-board.
Ability to Adjust
Most of us spend a LOT of time at work, and while you may get to choose your friends, you don’t have that option with colleagues. However, in a workplace there are unwritten rules of being understanding, respectful and reliable.
Ability to add Value
Employers want people who’ll add value to the organization and make money for them. If you’re not able to convince them your skills would help them make money, why should they hire you! After all, a business is not the same as charity. The key here is to quantify your work. Make sure they see value in you.
Brilliant CV
First impressions are lasting ones and brilliant CVs does just that. However, you should NEVER lie in your CV, but make sure several people review yours for content and style. Get somebody from the same industry to review yours. They’ll understand better what employers would be looking for in a CV, and make sure you give it to them they way they like it.
Relevant work Experience
Companies are often unable to garner the time to mentor freshers. Hence, quality references to substantiate your work experience would take you a long way. However, make sure you don’t add irrelevant experience. That’s a great put-off. Like bad odour, or garish clothing.
Strong online Profile
Social networking is a double edged sword. Today’s employers often check up a candidate’s online profile before handing over the job letter. This includes their personal life, likes and dislikes, political views, and so on. It’s essential you keep your digital footprint dirt-free while job hunting.
Multitasking
Business Models are changing at a breakneck pace today. If a candidate expresses interest in learning new skills and stepping up his quality of work, that’s always an added bonus. This goes on to show they’re passionate, dedicated, and inquisitive. Companies love such people.
Enthusiasm
If you express keen interest in your job, employers would know they can count on you to get the job done. Every enterprise would love their most impressionable people to lead the company’s image. Just an enthusiastic ‘Good Morning’ or ‘Hello’ can go a long way.
Cultural fit
Each organization has a unique organizational culture. While Job seekers are pressed to make sure they ‘stand out’, hiring managers look for people who can ‘blend in’. Look for ways to express your flexibility, leadership or ability to work as a team to achieve a common goal.
6 Essential Skills To Go Ahead In Career
Understanding BusinessIf you do not understand your company’s cash flow well, you will never know why you were replaced by someone. If you don’t understand business, you will not align your interests to that of your firm’s and, thus, miss out on the most valuable growth and learning opportunities.
Promoting YourselfInvest in learning how to craft a good CV and get short listed for roles. Practice hard for interviews and learn to sell yourself in short interactions. Finally, learn to stand up and advertise yourself and your accomplishments so that rightful credit and resources come to you.
Creating Time
To create time, spend your first 10 minutes to plan your work day. Start your day early, deal with most important tasks first, convert critical tasks into a daily routine, set deadlines, do not multitask and lock yourself into 2-4-hour blocks for completing projects.
Building ConnectionsThe ability to relate to people and build lasting connections is essential for your success. Make a start by reaching out to people you are genuinely interested in. Invest time on find out how you could add value to their lives or careers or progress. Show up for people through simple gestures like wishing them on life events, calling them and meeting them.
Listening With IntentionListening intently means to respond in such a way that the speaker is encouraged and continues to speak. Suspend your judgement while he is speaking and accord respect to his views even if you ultimately disagree. Finally, summarize what you hear before you choose to speak.
Taking DecisionsAsk yourself three questions before taking any decision every time: Will it take you a step ahead towards your career goal? Will it enhance your profile? And, finally, will it generate avenues for growth? Then compare the costs of your decision versus the benefits it will generate for your company, team and you. Your decision making will improve if you take risks, fail and learn from your blunders.
Promoting YourselfInvest in learning how to craft a good CV and get short listed for roles. Practice hard for interviews and learn to sell yourself in short interactions. Finally, learn to stand up and advertise yourself and your accomplishments so that rightful credit and resources come to you.
Creating Time
To create time, spend your first 10 minutes to plan your work day. Start your day early, deal with most important tasks first, convert critical tasks into a daily routine, set deadlines, do not multitask and lock yourself into 2-4-hour blocks for completing projects.
Building ConnectionsThe ability to relate to people and build lasting connections is essential for your success. Make a start by reaching out to people you are genuinely interested in. Invest time on find out how you could add value to their lives or careers or progress. Show up for people through simple gestures like wishing them on life events, calling them and meeting them.
Listening With IntentionListening intently means to respond in such a way that the speaker is encouraged and continues to speak. Suspend your judgement while he is speaking and accord respect to his views even if you ultimately disagree. Finally, summarize what you hear before you choose to speak.
Taking DecisionsAsk yourself three questions before taking any decision every time: Will it take you a step ahead towards your career goal? Will it enhance your profile? And, finally, will it generate avenues for growth? Then compare the costs of your decision versus the benefits it will generate for your company, team and you. Your decision making will improve if you take risks, fail and learn from your blunders.
Tips For First Week In Your New Organization
Carry a notebook
Yes. Seriously! Take a diary and a pen wherever you go. Jot down answers offered by people. Which means that you are asking tons of questions. This is the right time to ask since no question is too dumb when it comes from a new joiner. Secondly, when there is an information overload in the first few days, pen down relevant data as it comes along. This will free up your mind to pay attention to the next lot without having to remember everything simultaneously. Finally, during the first few days, you will get to generate a number of new ideas. Write them down as they occur. After you learn the ropes, refer back to your notebook to pick and implement the best ones.
Smell the coffee
Where is the coffee machine? Where is the mop in case you spill the coffee? How do you get a printout? Who do you go to if you cannot log in? Where can you go for a quick takeaway lunch? Where is the closest medicine store? What are alternate routes to work? Figure your way around the office during the day and the neighbourhood after work to get logistically sorted before the real action begins.
Chase the blue monkey
The blue monkey is a rare species. When you join your new job you will notice a number of blue monkeys distinguished by different communication styles, approaches to work and ways of getting stuff done. Chase them down to comprehend them. Restrain your judgment while you embrace the diversity in views. Later, as you gain acceptance, you can contribute to everyone’s learning.
Catch up daily
Make it a point to catch up with your immediate boss every day during the first week. If your boss is away, call her. If she is super busy, meet her for a minute. Use that time to keep her updated on your progress. This helps your boss suggest a course correction in case you are barking up the wrong tree, appreciate you for your initiative and keep you in her radar.
Keep a promise
This is a golden opportunity to make that life-changing habit you always wanted. Since no one knows your old work-place reputation, there is no baggage. Feel free to create your new public image. Since your daily routine changes with a new job, it’s a great time to piggy back a chosen habit into it. Want to start exercising? Walk to the third stop and then board the bus home. Want to overcome poor time management? Craft a time table on day one and follow it meticulously one day at a time.
Find your future
How will success be measured for you? Fathom out prospects from your role and what constitutes a gold medal. This knowledge is meaningless unless you identify the line of authority and people who hold the keys to your success. Next what are the challenges you are likely to face in your quest. How will you get the resources released to overcome obstacles? Make sure you steer clear of second-hand opinions and double check conclusions.
Make a plan
Take time during your first weekend to absorb experiences from the week. Now set specific professional goals for the year and write them down. Never mind if you haven’t yet received a target sheet from your boss. You can always incorporate that. Break down each goal into quarterly or monthly chunks. Work backwords to figure where you want to be at the end of your first month at work. Now make a clear action plan and take it forward one month at a time.
Yes. Seriously! Take a diary and a pen wherever you go. Jot down answers offered by people. Which means that you are asking tons of questions. This is the right time to ask since no question is too dumb when it comes from a new joiner. Secondly, when there is an information overload in the first few days, pen down relevant data as it comes along. This will free up your mind to pay attention to the next lot without having to remember everything simultaneously. Finally, during the first few days, you will get to generate a number of new ideas. Write them down as they occur. After you learn the ropes, refer back to your notebook to pick and implement the best ones.
Smell the coffee
Where is the coffee machine? Where is the mop in case you spill the coffee? How do you get a printout? Who do you go to if you cannot log in? Where can you go for a quick takeaway lunch? Where is the closest medicine store? What are alternate routes to work? Figure your way around the office during the day and the neighbourhood after work to get logistically sorted before the real action begins.
Chase the blue monkey
The blue monkey is a rare species. When you join your new job you will notice a number of blue monkeys distinguished by different communication styles, approaches to work and ways of getting stuff done. Chase them down to comprehend them. Restrain your judgment while you embrace the diversity in views. Later, as you gain acceptance, you can contribute to everyone’s learning.
Catch up daily
Make it a point to catch up with your immediate boss every day during the first week. If your boss is away, call her. If she is super busy, meet her for a minute. Use that time to keep her updated on your progress. This helps your boss suggest a course correction in case you are barking up the wrong tree, appreciate you for your initiative and keep you in her radar.
Keep a promise
This is a golden opportunity to make that life-changing habit you always wanted. Since no one knows your old work-place reputation, there is no baggage. Feel free to create your new public image. Since your daily routine changes with a new job, it’s a great time to piggy back a chosen habit into it. Want to start exercising? Walk to the third stop and then board the bus home. Want to overcome poor time management? Craft a time table on day one and follow it meticulously one day at a time.
Find your future
How will success be measured for you? Fathom out prospects from your role and what constitutes a gold medal. This knowledge is meaningless unless you identify the line of authority and people who hold the keys to your success. Next what are the challenges you are likely to face in your quest. How will you get the resources released to overcome obstacles? Make sure you steer clear of second-hand opinions and double check conclusions.
Make a plan
Take time during your first weekend to absorb experiences from the week. Now set specific professional goals for the year and write them down. Never mind if you haven’t yet received a target sheet from your boss. You can always incorporate that. Break down each goal into quarterly or monthly chunks. Work backwords to figure where you want to be at the end of your first month at work. Now make a clear action plan and take it forward one month at a time.
7 Skills To Master To Land a Dream IT Job
User Experience Design
Internet growth rate is on its all-time high in India. The rapid increase in the internet user base has surged the use of computer languages. Programmes such as HTML, JavaScript and CSS are similar to any common languages today. These computer languages were utilized in a specific sector once to develop and program things, however, they have found ways to numerous non-IT sectors too. These languages thus make an important addition in your CV.
Mobile App Developments
The technology is stepping into every sphere rapidly and with time experts have discovered ways to make it smart and easily usable. The increasing mobility has surged the number of mobile devices and also new technologies being used in the same. Application developers are benefitted from this surge. There is a huge demand for mobile app developers in the IT sector as every technology is turning mobile. Mobile application development enables the developers to present their ideas on different possible platforms.
Ruby on Rails
Developers can create full-featured, high-quality and object-oriented web applications with the aid of Ruby on Rails. One can get to understand the entire process of how to create dynamic database-driven applications using the framework of Rails. This particular skill is an add-on for job seekers searching for job in the field of web designing and application.
Data Analytics
Candidates with a sound knowledge of numbers and the ability present to analyze from the prevailing trends always have an upper edge that others. If a company is running a website it is necessary to know how one can strategize the content and generate maximum traffic. Candidates with knowledge of data analytics are the need of the IT sector today. Thus the same skill can make your resume more attractive to recruiters
Networking Certifications
There are hardly any offices today that aren’t using computers. Workplaces are embracing the advancing technology and work is thus turning computerized. This also brings surge in the need for network engineers and systems managers at workplaces. Candidates looking for pursuing a career in hardware and networking should avail for networking certifications which enhance their resumes.
Ethical Hacking
There are some drawbacks to the rise of technology as well. With time the safety of the data and security of the confidential information of the companies stored on the systems or cloud has become the main concern. To meet this, companies hire employees that can stiffen the security on the data, and decrease the vulnerability of the data to threats. This refers to ethical hacking. It aims at correcting loopholes to provide protection against illegal hackers
Agile Methodology
The traditional methods of software development have taken a new form and are being replaced by new set of technologies. One such software is agile which is perceived as more collaborative and flexible to employees and thus it use in the IT sector is increasing. With the rising competition candidates must be updated with the latest skills in the sector to stand out.
Internet growth rate is on its all-time high in India. The rapid increase in the internet user base has surged the use of computer languages. Programmes such as HTML, JavaScript and CSS are similar to any common languages today. These computer languages were utilized in a specific sector once to develop and program things, however, they have found ways to numerous non-IT sectors too. These languages thus make an important addition in your CV.
Mobile App Developments
The technology is stepping into every sphere rapidly and with time experts have discovered ways to make it smart and easily usable. The increasing mobility has surged the number of mobile devices and also new technologies being used in the same. Application developers are benefitted from this surge. There is a huge demand for mobile app developers in the IT sector as every technology is turning mobile. Mobile application development enables the developers to present their ideas on different possible platforms.
Ruby on Rails
Developers can create full-featured, high-quality and object-oriented web applications with the aid of Ruby on Rails. One can get to understand the entire process of how to create dynamic database-driven applications using the framework of Rails. This particular skill is an add-on for job seekers searching for job in the field of web designing and application.
Data Analytics
Candidates with a sound knowledge of numbers and the ability present to analyze from the prevailing trends always have an upper edge that others. If a company is running a website it is necessary to know how one can strategize the content and generate maximum traffic. Candidates with knowledge of data analytics are the need of the IT sector today. Thus the same skill can make your resume more attractive to recruiters
Networking Certifications
There are hardly any offices today that aren’t using computers. Workplaces are embracing the advancing technology and work is thus turning computerized. This also brings surge in the need for network engineers and systems managers at workplaces. Candidates looking for pursuing a career in hardware and networking should avail for networking certifications which enhance their resumes.
Ethical Hacking
There are some drawbacks to the rise of technology as well. With time the safety of the data and security of the confidential information of the companies stored on the systems or cloud has become the main concern. To meet this, companies hire employees that can stiffen the security on the data, and decrease the vulnerability of the data to threats. This refers to ethical hacking. It aims at correcting loopholes to provide protection against illegal hackers
Agile Methodology
The traditional methods of software development have taken a new form and are being replaced by new set of technologies. One such software is agile which is perceived as more collaborative and flexible to employees and thus it use in the IT sector is increasing. With the rising competition candidates must be updated with the latest skills in the sector to stand out.
How To Build Strong Base For Job Promotion?
Balance the ladder
When you climb up a ladder, you not only need to balance your feet but also the ladder. Similarly to get promoted you need to learn not only how to manage the team reporting to you but also how to manage upwards. Like you have established a strong working and inter-personal chemistry with your team, have you done the same with your boss and other managers? Invest time and figure out what are their KPIs and work styles and how can you help them achieve their individual goals. Like you expect complete loyalty from your team, give unstinted support to the ladder above you. Only then does the entire ladder balance well enabling you to climb up quickly.
Say No
The only limited resource in your career is your time. Almost all other resources required for success have immense flexibility and can be obtained with some effort. The best time management skill is the ability to say “No”. Say “No” to demands on your time that do not add value to your immediate and long term goals. Refuse tasks where there are no specific measurable outcomes. Turn down opportunities and meetings that will occupy your time without advancing you towards your defined goals.
Pick up the Hammer
Figure out activities which will help you make the maximum impact at your workplace. How will the impact be measured and attributed to you? Once you have identified the numbers you want to reach in a week, month and year, write down a time-bound plan of how you will get there, what resources you will need and what time you will invest. Stick to the plan rigorously and review yourself against it at the end of each week. Make adjustments as you follow the plan. At the time of promotion, your achieved numbers speak the loudest.
Own the Company
Be immensely curious about everything that is going on. Pause and think about what each event or activity means for the company. As you go along, you will acquire the attitude of a company owner. Everything that occurs will have a reason and impact on either the company’s revenues or costs.
Your communication style will evolve into that of an entrepreneur focused on success. Your actions will align to the company’s unspoken needs. Over time, you will also be the first person consulted for every project. Employers tend to promote company owners before mere employees.
Seek the Critic
Do you face criticism on your outputs? If not, then you won’t get promoted since your work has no space to improve and evolve. If your boss isn’t criticising, you have stopped mattering. If your team does not criticise, is it because you react defensively and no one wants to give you feedback? Seek people who are willing to critique what you are doing and express gratitude when they do so. Getting feedback from your team means that you have earned their trust. Filter and use all feedback to improve and work towards the next level.
Speak up
You demonstrated your sales expertise when you made your CV, sold yourself during the interview and got this job. Now are you doing the same to achieve your annual goals? Go sell your plans to your team, make a presentation to your managers, and seek resources for your targets. As you achieve goals, sell your achievements to your boss. Demonstrate how they fit in with his and the company’s goals. Your emails and conversations recording your achievements constitute the CV that will be evaluated during promotion-time.
Pick your Investments
Choose the people who you will invest time in. List down five people with who you spend the maximum time at office. Your performance is likely to be the average of these five. Are you spending a lot of time with gossip mongers and non-performers? You are unlikely to get far since their image will stick to you. Where possible, choose projects and teams where you spend time with people in the fast track, who are both professional and ambitious.
Face the Sun
No one appreciates the rain while commuting to work. Similarly, no one likes a wet dishrag at office who is constantly whining. If you carry a sense of entitlement on account of your education, seniority, past work-ex etc, you will find detractors. Choose to be optimistic and cheerful. Your attitude will attract energetic team members. Your sunny attitude makes it easier for your boss to discuss new projects and responsibilities with you and thus earn you the next promotion!
When you climb up a ladder, you not only need to balance your feet but also the ladder. Similarly to get promoted you need to learn not only how to manage the team reporting to you but also how to manage upwards. Like you have established a strong working and inter-personal chemistry with your team, have you done the same with your boss and other managers? Invest time and figure out what are their KPIs and work styles and how can you help them achieve their individual goals. Like you expect complete loyalty from your team, give unstinted support to the ladder above you. Only then does the entire ladder balance well enabling you to climb up quickly.
Say No
The only limited resource in your career is your time. Almost all other resources required for success have immense flexibility and can be obtained with some effort. The best time management skill is the ability to say “No”. Say “No” to demands on your time that do not add value to your immediate and long term goals. Refuse tasks where there are no specific measurable outcomes. Turn down opportunities and meetings that will occupy your time without advancing you towards your defined goals.
Pick up the Hammer
Figure out activities which will help you make the maximum impact at your workplace. How will the impact be measured and attributed to you? Once you have identified the numbers you want to reach in a week, month and year, write down a time-bound plan of how you will get there, what resources you will need and what time you will invest. Stick to the plan rigorously and review yourself against it at the end of each week. Make adjustments as you follow the plan. At the time of promotion, your achieved numbers speak the loudest.
Own the Company
Be immensely curious about everything that is going on. Pause and think about what each event or activity means for the company. As you go along, you will acquire the attitude of a company owner. Everything that occurs will have a reason and impact on either the company’s revenues or costs.
Your communication style will evolve into that of an entrepreneur focused on success. Your actions will align to the company’s unspoken needs. Over time, you will also be the first person consulted for every project. Employers tend to promote company owners before mere employees.
Seek the Critic
Do you face criticism on your outputs? If not, then you won’t get promoted since your work has no space to improve and evolve. If your boss isn’t criticising, you have stopped mattering. If your team does not criticise, is it because you react defensively and no one wants to give you feedback? Seek people who are willing to critique what you are doing and express gratitude when they do so. Getting feedback from your team means that you have earned their trust. Filter and use all feedback to improve and work towards the next level.
Speak up
You demonstrated your sales expertise when you made your CV, sold yourself during the interview and got this job. Now are you doing the same to achieve your annual goals? Go sell your plans to your team, make a presentation to your managers, and seek resources for your targets. As you achieve goals, sell your achievements to your boss. Demonstrate how they fit in with his and the company’s goals. Your emails and conversations recording your achievements constitute the CV that will be evaluated during promotion-time.
Pick your Investments
Choose the people who you will invest time in. List down five people with who you spend the maximum time at office. Your performance is likely to be the average of these five. Are you spending a lot of time with gossip mongers and non-performers? You are unlikely to get far since their image will stick to you. Where possible, choose projects and teams where you spend time with people in the fast track, who are both professional and ambitious.
Face the Sun
No one appreciates the rain while commuting to work. Similarly, no one likes a wet dishrag at office who is constantly whining. If you carry a sense of entitlement on account of your education, seniority, past work-ex etc, you will find detractors. Choose to be optimistic and cheerful. Your attitude will attract energetic team members. Your sunny attitude makes it easier for your boss to discuss new projects and responsibilities with you and thus earn you the next promotion!
10 Decisions That Can Ruin Your Career
Following Your Passion
If your passion is playing the guitar or physical adventure, you can choose a career in a band or the armed forces respectively. However, both choices can limit your income generating ability. This could leave you resentful later in life when you seek wealth. Know that your passions are not permanent. Realize that the world pays for what it needs and pays well only if you are very good at delivering it.
Accepting the bird in Hand
Though at first glance the first opportunity that comes your way seems better than opportunities you cannot see, accepting it is not always the best decision. The endowment effect causes you to ascribe a higher value to what you own and prevents you from working towards a better opportunity. Think before you accept the first offer on the campus and avoid getting on to a sub-optimal career trajectory.
Finishing your Education
Done with graduation? Good. Finished your postgraduate professional course? Great. Done with your education? Bad decision! While you may heave a sigh of relief with a coveted degree under your belt, it is only good enough to give you a great first job. Later opportunities are an outcome of skills you learnt at your current job. When your formal education ends, your on-the-job learning begins and this phase should last your lifetime.
Switching jobs for Salary
At any point of your career, the highest paying job amongst competing opportunities is probably pointing towards a dead end. Choose it only if it is your last job before retirement. Consider the demand-supply dynamics for your skill set. A job that offers higher long term rewards is attractive to more applicants like you and thus employers would prefer to offer lesser compensation in the short-term. Where long-term career growth or returns are missing, employers offer higher compensation to attract you and your competitors.
Choosing a bad life Partner
If your life partner is not aligned with your professional ambition, your career will plateau. A huge amount of your bandwidth will be expended in getting a buy-in for every career move, every late night and every weekend spent on work. This will leave little motivation to put in the effort needed to succeed.
Settling roots too Early
Choose a city to settle down early in life and you are blinded to opportunities that could take you places. Buy a house and move into it early in your career and you are unable to rationally evaluate opportunities that either require a long commute or a change of house.
Avoiding Sales
You have decided to never be a salesperson? Terrible decision. Know that at every point in your professional life, you are required to sell if you wish to succeed. Sell yourself at the interview, sell your achievements during appraisals, sell the benefits of your output to a client, Sell your ideas at a meeting. Recognize that sales is part and parcel of every role you choose, so welcome opportunities to get better at it.
Forgetting your job Friends
Every time you switch jobs, you leave behind a set of friends made at your old workplace. As you get caught up in your new role, those relationships fall by the wayside. Not only do you lose an external professional support system, but also on great job opportunities in the future. The best job opportunities are never advertised on job boards or to headhunters. They go to individuals referred in by employees who know about the vacancy. So keep your past relationships alive.
Changing Careers
Are you a pilot who is fed up of flying or a software engineer who is done with coding? You switch careers and find yourself starting afresh in a temporarily exciting job. You find yourself at the bottom of the heap, where your past experience is not acknowledged. People your age are ahead of you and will continue to remain so. Sticking to one career gives you exponential benefits with increasing experience so change careers with caution.
Not following your Passion
Not following your passion can also be a terrible decision to make. A persistent and dedicated person is more likely to succeed at any career over a lazy, talented one. However, persistence and effort are not genetically encoded. You can work harder and longer and succeed faster than anyone else only if the work interests you. Without passion, you will never be able to put in the time, commitment and sacrifice that lead to success.
If your passion is playing the guitar or physical adventure, you can choose a career in a band or the armed forces respectively. However, both choices can limit your income generating ability. This could leave you resentful later in life when you seek wealth. Know that your passions are not permanent. Realize that the world pays for what it needs and pays well only if you are very good at delivering it.
Accepting the bird in Hand
Though at first glance the first opportunity that comes your way seems better than opportunities you cannot see, accepting it is not always the best decision. The endowment effect causes you to ascribe a higher value to what you own and prevents you from working towards a better opportunity. Think before you accept the first offer on the campus and avoid getting on to a sub-optimal career trajectory.
Finishing your Education
Done with graduation? Good. Finished your postgraduate professional course? Great. Done with your education? Bad decision! While you may heave a sigh of relief with a coveted degree under your belt, it is only good enough to give you a great first job. Later opportunities are an outcome of skills you learnt at your current job. When your formal education ends, your on-the-job learning begins and this phase should last your lifetime.
Switching jobs for Salary
At any point of your career, the highest paying job amongst competing opportunities is probably pointing towards a dead end. Choose it only if it is your last job before retirement. Consider the demand-supply dynamics for your skill set. A job that offers higher long term rewards is attractive to more applicants like you and thus employers would prefer to offer lesser compensation in the short-term. Where long-term career growth or returns are missing, employers offer higher compensation to attract you and your competitors.
Choosing a bad life Partner
If your life partner is not aligned with your professional ambition, your career will plateau. A huge amount of your bandwidth will be expended in getting a buy-in for every career move, every late night and every weekend spent on work. This will leave little motivation to put in the effort needed to succeed.
Settling roots too Early
Choose a city to settle down early in life and you are blinded to opportunities that could take you places. Buy a house and move into it early in your career and you are unable to rationally evaluate opportunities that either require a long commute or a change of house.
Avoiding Sales
You have decided to never be a salesperson? Terrible decision. Know that at every point in your professional life, you are required to sell if you wish to succeed. Sell yourself at the interview, sell your achievements during appraisals, sell the benefits of your output to a client, Sell your ideas at a meeting. Recognize that sales is part and parcel of every role you choose, so welcome opportunities to get better at it.
Forgetting your job Friends
Every time you switch jobs, you leave behind a set of friends made at your old workplace. As you get caught up in your new role, those relationships fall by the wayside. Not only do you lose an external professional support system, but also on great job opportunities in the future. The best job opportunities are never advertised on job boards or to headhunters. They go to individuals referred in by employees who know about the vacancy. So keep your past relationships alive.
Changing Careers
Are you a pilot who is fed up of flying or a software engineer who is done with coding? You switch careers and find yourself starting afresh in a temporarily exciting job. You find yourself at the bottom of the heap, where your past experience is not acknowledged. People your age are ahead of you and will continue to remain so. Sticking to one career gives you exponential benefits with increasing experience so change careers with caution.
Not following your Passion
Not following your passion can also be a terrible decision to make. A persistent and dedicated person is more likely to succeed at any career over a lazy, talented one. However, persistence and effort are not genetically encoded. You can work harder and longer and succeed faster than anyone else only if the work interests you. Without passion, you will never be able to put in the time, commitment and sacrifice that lead to success.
6 Tips For A Successful Career Change
Here are our seven most important questions to ask yourself when you’re considering a career change
Could you fix what’s wrong with your current job?
When you’re considering a career change, sometimes it’s wiser to try to fix the problems with an existing job instead of stepping into the unknown with a new one. Does your dissatisfaction come from the job itself, or is it more to do with a difficult boss or a feeling of boredom that might pass, given time? Is there something you could do to change that? Could you find a job in a different department within the same company? Could you ask for a promotion to keep you engaged, or a pay rise to make you feel more valued? It’s worth exploring every avenue of possibility before you decide to make that big move.
Have you done the necessary self-reflection to find out what you really want from a new career?
A frank, thorough self-assessment of your values, skills, passions and interests is crucial when you’re considering a career change. That way you’ll be much clearer on whether a new career is really the answer. List out the things you love doing, the things you dislike, take a personality or assessment test to figure out what makes you tick, and ask yourself whether your passions and values align with the type of job or industry you’re interested in. For a more objective view, it can be helpful to ask a trusted colleague or boss about how they would describe you and your strengths and skills, as well as areas for development. Understand yourself fully, and you’ll be much more likely to enjoy and succeed in the new career you’ve set your sights on.
Are you being realistic?
It pays to have a reality check before jumping feet first into a new career. Connect with someone who’s already in the job you’re considering and ask: What is the job really like and what does it involve on a daily basis? Is it what you think it is? Does it pay enough? Do you have to work irregular hours? Once you feel sure it’s really what you want, find out how the person got their job – that will help guide you on what next steps you need to take. Also try to get information on how competitive the field is and what its longer term prospects are so you’re prepared for the future.
Do you have a professional development plan in place?
If you’re going ahead with a career change, it’s vitally important to develop a clear, structured professional development plan that helps you to understand exactly what you need to do at every stage of the career change journey. By setting clearly defined career goals and mapping out the steps you need to take to get where you want to be, you can more easily navigate towards your ultimate vision. Find out more about how to write a career plan here
Do you have the right skills and experience to succeed in a new career?
When you’re moving into a new industry rather than just changing jobs, some of your skills might be transferable but you might also need to gain additional skills. Are you prepared to re-train or start as a trainee or intern to gain the relevant experience? Can you support yourself financially if your salary decreases? Is it better to delay resigning until you’ve laid the groundwork to make entry into a new industry easier?
Have you fine-tuned your job search skills?
Looking for a new career can be a full-time job in itself. Before you commit to a career change, ensure you prepare yourself by updating your resume, writing a persuasive, dynamic application letter template, polishing your interview skills and utilizing key job search channels and business networking opportunities for your industry. A career change requires reflection, planning and commitment. Ask yourself these all-important questions before you embark on the search for a new career, and you’ll increase your chances of success.
Could you fix what’s wrong with your current job?
When you’re considering a career change, sometimes it’s wiser to try to fix the problems with an existing job instead of stepping into the unknown with a new one. Does your dissatisfaction come from the job itself, or is it more to do with a difficult boss or a feeling of boredom that might pass, given time? Is there something you could do to change that? Could you find a job in a different department within the same company? Could you ask for a promotion to keep you engaged, or a pay rise to make you feel more valued? It’s worth exploring every avenue of possibility before you decide to make that big move.
Have you done the necessary self-reflection to find out what you really want from a new career?
A frank, thorough self-assessment of your values, skills, passions and interests is crucial when you’re considering a career change. That way you’ll be much clearer on whether a new career is really the answer. List out the things you love doing, the things you dislike, take a personality or assessment test to figure out what makes you tick, and ask yourself whether your passions and values align with the type of job or industry you’re interested in. For a more objective view, it can be helpful to ask a trusted colleague or boss about how they would describe you and your strengths and skills, as well as areas for development. Understand yourself fully, and you’ll be much more likely to enjoy and succeed in the new career you’ve set your sights on.
Are you being realistic?
It pays to have a reality check before jumping feet first into a new career. Connect with someone who’s already in the job you’re considering and ask: What is the job really like and what does it involve on a daily basis? Is it what you think it is? Does it pay enough? Do you have to work irregular hours? Once you feel sure it’s really what you want, find out how the person got their job – that will help guide you on what next steps you need to take. Also try to get information on how competitive the field is and what its longer term prospects are so you’re prepared for the future.
Do you have a professional development plan in place?
If you’re going ahead with a career change, it’s vitally important to develop a clear, structured professional development plan that helps you to understand exactly what you need to do at every stage of the career change journey. By setting clearly defined career goals and mapping out the steps you need to take to get where you want to be, you can more easily navigate towards your ultimate vision. Find out more about how to write a career plan here
Do you have the right skills and experience to succeed in a new career?
When you’re moving into a new industry rather than just changing jobs, some of your skills might be transferable but you might also need to gain additional skills. Are you prepared to re-train or start as a trainee or intern to gain the relevant experience? Can you support yourself financially if your salary decreases? Is it better to delay resigning until you’ve laid the groundwork to make entry into a new industry easier?
Have you fine-tuned your job search skills?
Looking for a new career can be a full-time job in itself. Before you commit to a career change, ensure you prepare yourself by updating your resume, writing a persuasive, dynamic application letter template, polishing your interview skills and utilizing key job search channels and business networking opportunities for your industry. A career change requires reflection, planning and commitment. Ask yourself these all-important questions before you embark on the search for a new career, and you’ll increase your chances of success.
Best Companies to Work For In 2015
Seven hundred companies signed up for India’s Best Companies to Work for 2015. Over 1.8 lakh employees across 20 sectors were surveyed, making this the most comprehensive survey of workplace culture in India. Let’s take a look at the top 10 Best companies to work for in 2015.
RMSI, Rank: 1
RMSI is an IT services company based in the National Capital Region offering GIS (geographic information system), modeling & analytics and software services. The company edged past Google India, which has consistently topped the survey for five consecutive years. RMSI had topped the rankings in 2009. For almost a year now, RMSI has been busy communicating its core values, mission, culture and vision across to all its employees. The company focuses on simple employee engagement practices like holding timely workshops to help employees develop life skills.
Google India, Rank: 2
At Google, an HR activity that translates into employee satisfaction is that they can play a role in managing how their careers are shaped. Every employee takes ownership of their career. They manage their own career and are supported by their managers in the process. This process helps employees feel a sense of empowerment to take critical decisions about what they want to do as a next step to build their career. They are also working on building a more transparent HR system where there isn’t just an annual performance appraisal by managers and peers but also a system by which employees can evaluate their colleagues to give real time feedback. Google has also put its weight behind preventive health checkups for spouses of employees (unique to India) as well as educating employees against unconscious biases.
Marriott Hotels, Rank: 3
Every person who works for Marriott is called an ‘associate,’ not an employee. Many of the employees have worked for more than 10 years, even as Marriott in India is just 15 years old. Marriott’s culture is simple – ‘Take care of the associates’. The company has retained this policy for almost 86 years. They believe that this makes the employees take care of their customers and which in turn helps in customers coming back to their properties.
American Express, Rank: 4
To help its young employees find a personal – professional balance, Amex introduced a ‘Smart Savings’ programme in July last year that enhances overall financial wellness of employees. With access to an online portal and an onsite helpdesk, employees are educated and updated on their earnings and long term savings. The company has an active Women’s Interest Network that helps enable relevant forums and benefits such as Mothers’ nursing rooms in major offices.
SAP Labs India, Rank: 5
Toast, eggs, dosas and juice – it’s all on the breakfast menu at the SAP Labs cafeteria. While the menu may seem fairly standard, the breakfast itself is not – it’s prepared by none other than senior management.
Women employees, in particular, have much to cheer about, as in the last year, SAP Labs India has upped its paid maternity leave to 20 weeks from the legally mandated 12. Paid adoption leave is also available for 20 weeks.
Godrej Consumer Products, Rank : 6
It is the culture of empowerment, recognition, engagement and happy work environment that makes GCPL a great place to work. “For us the critical things are (spread on) three dimensions– of being able to provide our employees with great careers, great rewards and great engagement and also a fourth dimension of a great environment. the company’s approach to recruitment, when it rolled out an innovative campus initiative called LOUD (Live Out Ur Dream), to identify some of the most passionate and creative individuals and the kind that would be the next generation of Godrej employees.
Intuit Technology Services, Rank: 7
At Intuit, diversity isn’t only about gender. LGBT issues are at the forefront, with the company initiating dialogue through the Pride Network, launched in October last year. Also, employees are encouraged to innovate on new projects outside their own, as part of “unstructured time” or about 10% of their working hours. These solutions can be turned into products during innovation jams and incubation weeks, and later tested on customers.
Accor Hotels, Rank: 8
Accor Hotels has introduced a suite of in-house training academies to train and polish their talent further. Academie Accor India is a self-sustaining virtual training headed by a dedicated India campus manager and supported by 27 multibrand certified trainers to ensure access to training, learning and development opportunities for all Accor employees.
Forbes Marshall, Rank: 9
Diversity is something Forbes has actively pursued. At 22%, it has among the highest proportion of women employees, especially for a manufacturing company, but Forbes feels that this can be bettered. The company was among the first to recruit interns from Kashmir a few years ago and it tries to ensure adequate geographic and community representation across all its business units and teams. There is an all women group called ‘Apna Adda’ which provides a platform for the women to get together and discuss all kinds of issues, whether related to their professional or personal lives.
Lifestyle International, Rank: 10
The company believes in work-life balance, and introduced flexible working hours (with a two hour window in the morning and evenings), for employees. Corporate Theatre is an innovative and informal learning technique based on the street play methodology that is being used to educate, enlighten, entertain and engage Landmark employees. Their trainers have been certified on Corporate Theatre by professional theatre artists through a 4 day certification program, who in turn enact policies of the company to employees.
RMSI, Rank: 1
RMSI is an IT services company based in the National Capital Region offering GIS (geographic information system), modeling & analytics and software services. The company edged past Google India, which has consistently topped the survey for five consecutive years. RMSI had topped the rankings in 2009. For almost a year now, RMSI has been busy communicating its core values, mission, culture and vision across to all its employees. The company focuses on simple employee engagement practices like holding timely workshops to help employees develop life skills.
Google India, Rank: 2
At Google, an HR activity that translates into employee satisfaction is that they can play a role in managing how their careers are shaped. Every employee takes ownership of their career. They manage their own career and are supported by their managers in the process. This process helps employees feel a sense of empowerment to take critical decisions about what they want to do as a next step to build their career. They are also working on building a more transparent HR system where there isn’t just an annual performance appraisal by managers and peers but also a system by which employees can evaluate their colleagues to give real time feedback. Google has also put its weight behind preventive health checkups for spouses of employees (unique to India) as well as educating employees against unconscious biases.
Marriott Hotels, Rank: 3
Every person who works for Marriott is called an ‘associate,’ not an employee. Many of the employees have worked for more than 10 years, even as Marriott in India is just 15 years old. Marriott’s culture is simple – ‘Take care of the associates’. The company has retained this policy for almost 86 years. They believe that this makes the employees take care of their customers and which in turn helps in customers coming back to their properties.
American Express, Rank: 4
To help its young employees find a personal – professional balance, Amex introduced a ‘Smart Savings’ programme in July last year that enhances overall financial wellness of employees. With access to an online portal and an onsite helpdesk, employees are educated and updated on their earnings and long term savings. The company has an active Women’s Interest Network that helps enable relevant forums and benefits such as Mothers’ nursing rooms in major offices.
SAP Labs India, Rank: 5
Toast, eggs, dosas and juice – it’s all on the breakfast menu at the SAP Labs cafeteria. While the menu may seem fairly standard, the breakfast itself is not – it’s prepared by none other than senior management.
Women employees, in particular, have much to cheer about, as in the last year, SAP Labs India has upped its paid maternity leave to 20 weeks from the legally mandated 12. Paid adoption leave is also available for 20 weeks.
Godrej Consumer Products, Rank : 6
It is the culture of empowerment, recognition, engagement and happy work environment that makes GCPL a great place to work. “For us the critical things are (spread on) three dimensions– of being able to provide our employees with great careers, great rewards and great engagement and also a fourth dimension of a great environment. the company’s approach to recruitment, when it rolled out an innovative campus initiative called LOUD (Live Out Ur Dream), to identify some of the most passionate and creative individuals and the kind that would be the next generation of Godrej employees.
Intuit Technology Services, Rank: 7
At Intuit, diversity isn’t only about gender. LGBT issues are at the forefront, with the company initiating dialogue through the Pride Network, launched in October last year. Also, employees are encouraged to innovate on new projects outside their own, as part of “unstructured time” or about 10% of their working hours. These solutions can be turned into products during innovation jams and incubation weeks, and later tested on customers.
Accor Hotels, Rank: 8
Accor Hotels has introduced a suite of in-house training academies to train and polish their talent further. Academie Accor India is a self-sustaining virtual training headed by a dedicated India campus manager and supported by 27 multibrand certified trainers to ensure access to training, learning and development opportunities for all Accor employees.
Forbes Marshall, Rank: 9
Diversity is something Forbes has actively pursued. At 22%, it has among the highest proportion of women employees, especially for a manufacturing company, but Forbes feels that this can be bettered. The company was among the first to recruit interns from Kashmir a few years ago and it tries to ensure adequate geographic and community representation across all its business units and teams. There is an all women group called ‘Apna Adda’ which provides a platform for the women to get together and discuss all kinds of issues, whether related to their professional or personal lives.
Lifestyle International, Rank: 10
The company believes in work-life balance, and introduced flexible working hours (with a two hour window in the morning and evenings), for employees. Corporate Theatre is an innovative and informal learning technique based on the street play methodology that is being used to educate, enlighten, entertain and engage Landmark employees. Their trainers have been certified on Corporate Theatre by professional theatre artists through a 4 day certification program, who in turn enact policies of the company to employees.
How To Get Noticed By Recruiter In 6 Ways.
Put Yourself Out There
Assuming you already have a presence on LinkedIn, there are a few simple ways to use the platform to make yourself easy for hiring managers and recruiters to find Add examples of your work (i.e., presentations, articles, projects, videos) that show off your talent.
Are there specific brands and companies you’re interested in working for? If so, follow them on social media channels like LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat. Share their news with your own circle so they can see that you’re helping to spread the word about what they’re doing. If it’s a small company, there’s a good chance the social media manager will notice and follow you back. As per research, 52% of hiring managers are checking candidates’ social media presence before reaching out. So, be smart and use this as an opportunity to make yourself look smart and up on the latest trends relevant to your industry.
Connect and Reconnect, Constantly
Let’s not even call it “networking” because that has the word “work” in it and, really, building relationships with people shouldn’t be work at all. It should be fun. It should also be done all of the time not just when you need something like a new job (or someone to cat-sit for you when on vacation). If you lightly stay in touch with friends, colleagues, former co-workers, and others in your circle throughout the year, they’re more likely to reach out to you when they hear about a cool job opportunity especially at their own company, since bringing in good talent will make them look good (and probably score them a referral bonus if you get hired).
Find Recommendation
Speaking of which, often it really is all about who you know. A recent survey by LinkedIn found that 16% of employees were already connected to a person at the company before getting hired there, so having an ally inside the organization is a big advantage. Also, if you know someone or someone who knows someone at a place where you really want to work, let him know you’re interested and it may raise your chances of being approached when a relevant position becomes available. If you don’t know any employees, think about whether you have connections with others associated with the company, like a consultant, vendor, or client, who can help put in a good word for you.
Be Your Own Best Agent
Promoting yourself is not entirely comfortable for most people—mostly because it feels a lot like bragging. But staying top of mind and reinforcing your value is a great way to get noticed—and ultimately poached. Google yourself and see what comes up. That’s what a recruiter, competitor or HR person will see when he or she searches you. If your LinkedIn profile pop up first (and you have a custom URL), nothing can be more awesome than this.
Assuming you already have a presence on LinkedIn, there are a few simple ways to use the platform to make yourself easy for hiring managers and recruiters to find Add examples of your work (i.e., presentations, articles, projects, videos) that show off your talent.
- Ask colleagues, former co-workers, and clients for recommendations
- Write and share interesting blog posts on your topics of expertise, which—if you
- have a point of view and strong writing skills—will get read, shared, and liked.
- Optimize your profile for keywords so that you’ll come up in search results
Are there specific brands and companies you’re interested in working for? If so, follow them on social media channels like LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat. Share their news with your own circle so they can see that you’re helping to spread the word about what they’re doing. If it’s a small company, there’s a good chance the social media manager will notice and follow you back. As per research, 52% of hiring managers are checking candidates’ social media presence before reaching out. So, be smart and use this as an opportunity to make yourself look smart and up on the latest trends relevant to your industry.
Connect and Reconnect, Constantly
Let’s not even call it “networking” because that has the word “work” in it and, really, building relationships with people shouldn’t be work at all. It should be fun. It should also be done all of the time not just when you need something like a new job (or someone to cat-sit for you when on vacation). If you lightly stay in touch with friends, colleagues, former co-workers, and others in your circle throughout the year, they’re more likely to reach out to you when they hear about a cool job opportunity especially at their own company, since bringing in good talent will make them look good (and probably score them a referral bonus if you get hired).
Find Recommendation
Speaking of which, often it really is all about who you know. A recent survey by LinkedIn found that 16% of employees were already connected to a person at the company before getting hired there, so having an ally inside the organization is a big advantage. Also, if you know someone or someone who knows someone at a place where you really want to work, let him know you’re interested and it may raise your chances of being approached when a relevant position becomes available. If you don’t know any employees, think about whether you have connections with others associated with the company, like a consultant, vendor, or client, who can help put in a good word for you.
Be Your Own Best Agent
Promoting yourself is not entirely comfortable for most people—mostly because it feels a lot like bragging. But staying top of mind and reinforcing your value is a great way to get noticed—and ultimately poached. Google yourself and see what comes up. That’s what a recruiter, competitor or HR person will see when he or she searches you. If your LinkedIn profile pop up first (and you have a custom URL), nothing can be more awesome than this.
Is it the time to look for another job?
1. Has your job become monotonous?In order to advance in your career there is a need for the continuous acquisition of new skills and knowledge. If you acquire more knowledge your foundation will become stronger and you will have ability to grasp even more knowledge. If you are not doing any challenging work your professional development will start to stall. In that case, ask the manager for more responsibilities and challenging work. You can also raise the hand for volunteering in things like contribution in trade magazine or speaking at agreements. In case you want to face new challenges consistently there are always many things you can be part of.
2. Not interested with your new job responsibilities?
If your company has changed course in terms of products or services, or if your responsibilities have changed, you might not be enjoying the day-to-day tasks as much as you once did. Find out whether the change is permanent or if you’ll be doing more interesting work again in the future. At the same time, it’s also possible that you’ve simply become more interested in another professional area that your current employer doesn’t cover.
3. Are you losing interest in or disliking the work? Are you able to realize your ambitions?
If you accepted the position with the understanding that you’d be able to progress in the company but you’re still in the same position after a couple of years, then you should assess whether that’s due to a lack of performance or a lack of opportunity. If it’s due to your performance, then you should find out how to improve, since you’re likely to run into the same problem with another employer. However, if there simply aren’t enough opportunities, then maybe another company has more to offer.
4. Are you having problems with your team or supervisor?
Interpersonal relationships can be a source of stress and unhappiness with your job. Quitting a job because of this isn’t advisable, because you could very well encounter personality clashes at the next company. Instead, try to work things out with your colleagues. Read up on establishing rapport and being a good team player. If necessary, initiate a conversation to clear the air.
5. Do you want to work in a more exciting environment?
For some people, a stable and organized work environment is conducive to being productive. For others, an exciting and unpredictable environment drives them to perform well. If your current work environment isn’t providing you with the stimulation you need to feel truly engaged and do your best work, then it could be time to move on to a start-up or emerging industry where stakes are high, structures are less formal, and processes are still in the establishment phase.
2. Not interested with your new job responsibilities?
If your company has changed course in terms of products or services, or if your responsibilities have changed, you might not be enjoying the day-to-day tasks as much as you once did. Find out whether the change is permanent or if you’ll be doing more interesting work again in the future. At the same time, it’s also possible that you’ve simply become more interested in another professional area that your current employer doesn’t cover.
3. Are you losing interest in or disliking the work? Are you able to realize your ambitions?
If you accepted the position with the understanding that you’d be able to progress in the company but you’re still in the same position after a couple of years, then you should assess whether that’s due to a lack of performance or a lack of opportunity. If it’s due to your performance, then you should find out how to improve, since you’re likely to run into the same problem with another employer. However, if there simply aren’t enough opportunities, then maybe another company has more to offer.
4. Are you having problems with your team or supervisor?
Interpersonal relationships can be a source of stress and unhappiness with your job. Quitting a job because of this isn’t advisable, because you could very well encounter personality clashes at the next company. Instead, try to work things out with your colleagues. Read up on establishing rapport and being a good team player. If necessary, initiate a conversation to clear the air.
5. Do you want to work in a more exciting environment?
For some people, a stable and organized work environment is conducive to being productive. For others, an exciting and unpredictable environment drives them to perform well. If your current work environment isn’t providing you with the stimulation you need to feel truly engaged and do your best work, then it could be time to move on to a start-up or emerging industry where stakes are high, structures are less formal, and processes are still in the establishment phase.
You got the job ? Now What…
Realize getting the job is not an Achievement
No doubt everyone’s first step is to get the job. But after that also no one can rely on that job for long- term security. You can lose your job anytime when Manager feels that your work is invaluable for the organization. Don’t waste your valuable time over things like, “I have just joined the organization and need to know the people around me”, “Satisfied with the salary plus incentives provided by the organization and hence early start in the work is of no use.”
Care a little more than everyone else.
There are many people who don’t care about the excellence or their growth in the organization and also least care about the customer services. When you show a little extra care to the client as compared to the other people in the company you are likely to get more business compared to others. Not only this, the satisfied clients can also refer you.
Know what other people in your organization are working on.
Connect people within your organization. Spend time thinking about who in your external network can help you with your work. Become a bridge builder. Bring opportunities, new deals, more business, or increased media exposure. Assistants are easy to replace. Cubicle employees are being commoditized. It is quite difficult to find a bridge builder. They are the one who knows how to connect with others and is impossible to replace. Your boss knows this. You should too. If you want a promotion, become a master connector. If you like people and want to succeed in life, become a master connector.
Think and Leverage.
Even if it is your first day on the job, think about what your ideal next move would be. One more essential thing to add here, don’t leave chance to prove yourself at any point of time. Cultivate new skills within the organization. Get new ideas on the table and discuss that with your boss so that you are valuable to the organization and can get long term stability with promotion in the same organization.
No doubt everyone’s first step is to get the job. But after that also no one can rely on that job for long- term security. You can lose your job anytime when Manager feels that your work is invaluable for the organization. Don’t waste your valuable time over things like, “I have just joined the organization and need to know the people around me”, “Satisfied with the salary plus incentives provided by the organization and hence early start in the work is of no use.”
Care a little more than everyone else.
There are many people who don’t care about the excellence or their growth in the organization and also least care about the customer services. When you show a little extra care to the client as compared to the other people in the company you are likely to get more business compared to others. Not only this, the satisfied clients can also refer you.
Know what other people in your organization are working on.
Connect people within your organization. Spend time thinking about who in your external network can help you with your work. Become a bridge builder. Bring opportunities, new deals, more business, or increased media exposure. Assistants are easy to replace. Cubicle employees are being commoditized. It is quite difficult to find a bridge builder. They are the one who knows how to connect with others and is impossible to replace. Your boss knows this. You should too. If you want a promotion, become a master connector. If you like people and want to succeed in life, become a master connector.
Think and Leverage.
Even if it is your first day on the job, think about what your ideal next move would be. One more essential thing to add here, don’t leave chance to prove yourself at any point of time. Cultivate new skills within the organization. Get new ideas on the table and discuss that with your boss so that you are valuable to the organization and can get long term stability with promotion in the same organization.
5 Ways To Be Efficient At Networking Etiquettes
Don’t be Shy
The first rule of networking is to not just sit on the sidelines. Being an introvert will not help. Do not shy away if you have to take lead to get a conversation going. You just need to get out of your comfort zone first. Don’t be a wallflower and stick to one corner of the room. Instead, introduce yourself to as many new people in the room as you can.
Do not Hard Sell
It is better to warm up first rather than straight away jumping to sell your product or service. While networking, one must remember to first get comfortable with the new connections and this may take time. It is better to wait rather than jump the gun.
Never run out of Business Cards
Always ensure that you are stuffed with enough business cards before getting into any networking event. One thing that turns off is when people say that they just gave out their last card. It is important to load yourself with enough cards before stepping out for networking.
Follow Up
Networking is a continuous process. It has to be followed up but politely. Post the ritual of exchanging cards and numbers, it is best to catch over a mail after a couple of days. A follow up is part of networking. In fact, a hand written note with a polite message is the best follow-up
Stay away your Cell Phone
Focus is very important while networking. Distractions at your end may leave the new contact with a bad impression. Mobile phones should be kept on silent at these times. Constantly checking you phone when interacting with someone is not only rude but also makes it look like you are not interested in what the other person is saying.
The first rule of networking is to not just sit on the sidelines. Being an introvert will not help. Do not shy away if you have to take lead to get a conversation going. You just need to get out of your comfort zone first. Don’t be a wallflower and stick to one corner of the room. Instead, introduce yourself to as many new people in the room as you can.
Do not Hard Sell
It is better to warm up first rather than straight away jumping to sell your product or service. While networking, one must remember to first get comfortable with the new connections and this may take time. It is better to wait rather than jump the gun.
Never run out of Business Cards
Always ensure that you are stuffed with enough business cards before getting into any networking event. One thing that turns off is when people say that they just gave out their last card. It is important to load yourself with enough cards before stepping out for networking.
Follow Up
Networking is a continuous process. It has to be followed up but politely. Post the ritual of exchanging cards and numbers, it is best to catch over a mail after a couple of days. A follow up is part of networking. In fact, a hand written note with a polite message is the best follow-up
Stay away your Cell Phone
Focus is very important while networking. Distractions at your end may leave the new contact with a bad impression. Mobile phones should be kept on silent at these times. Constantly checking you phone when interacting with someone is not only rude but also makes it look like you are not interested in what the other person is saying.
Five Questions Every New Employee Should Ask
Every organization demands certain attributes or skills to achieve success. An insight into those on the very first day can give you a head start in a new job.
History of the RoleIt’s most important to know that whether the position you have been hired for is ‘new’ or a ‘replacement’. If the role is new, then one should be able to check the proper route map of one’s growth and if it’s the replacement then one should know the exact reason for the same. These two questions will support you to estimate the elevation of your career graph.
Expectations from You Most organizations fail to spell out clear expectations with time frame. Ask for it in writing, ask questions on the same, and seek clarity before going about achieving it. It’s important that one should have an understanding of the management’s expectations.
Understand the Vision of Co
It is important to know where your company is heading and what its growth aspects are for the coming year
Appraisal NormsMost organizations have annual appraisals and appraisal parameters come as surprise to many at a late stage in the year. Knowing them right at the beginning will help focus better on areas that will decide your next increment and promotion
Qualities NeededThis is a chance for you to understand your strengths and how it matches with the current set of expectations. Also it helps you understand your areas of improvement.
History of the RoleIt’s most important to know that whether the position you have been hired for is ‘new’ or a ‘replacement’. If the role is new, then one should be able to check the proper route map of one’s growth and if it’s the replacement then one should know the exact reason for the same. These two questions will support you to estimate the elevation of your career graph.
Expectations from You Most organizations fail to spell out clear expectations with time frame. Ask for it in writing, ask questions on the same, and seek clarity before going about achieving it. It’s important that one should have an understanding of the management’s expectations.
Understand the Vision of Co
It is important to know where your company is heading and what its growth aspects are for the coming year
Appraisal NormsMost organizations have annual appraisals and appraisal parameters come as surprise to many at a late stage in the year. Knowing them right at the beginning will help focus better on areas that will decide your next increment and promotion
Qualities NeededThis is a chance for you to understand your strengths and how it matches with the current set of expectations. Also it helps you understand your areas of improvement.
5 Essential Office Etiquette Tips
1) Appropriate Dressing
While some companies seem to be relaxing dress codes for employees, there are some fine lines which shouldn't be crossed. One should dress comfortably and in business casuals — not being bound by ties and jackets. Having said that, office wear should be subtle and professional. Torn attire, apparel with obscene/offensive messages don't belong in an office.
2) Maintain Eye Contact
Some of the bigger concerns around office etiquette these days are looking into your computer or smartphones when someone is talking as it's disrespectful. Be receptive to those who are talking and do not look elsewhere.
3) Mind Your Language
One must ensure that one is using the right words and tone, at the right time. Don't lose your cool and bash people up with your words. The same goes when you are drafting emails — they don't carry your emotions, so watch for what you send.
4) Be On Time
While one is often at the mercy of traffic these days, try and keep your commitments and appointments as much as you can. Wasting someone's time is disrespectful. Plan and help others plan by giving them enough advance notice for a meeting.
5) Be Responsive
Some companies are moving away to an open door culture, and are designing workspaces keeping that in mind. Everyone has smartphones these days, and it would help to keep yours on silent or vibrator mode to avoid disturbing others. Acknowledging missed calls, and mails is also important. Basically, respond to people when they try to connect; you may not always be able to resolve all their queries or answer positively but a response gives closure to a correspondence
While some companies seem to be relaxing dress codes for employees, there are some fine lines which shouldn't be crossed. One should dress comfortably and in business casuals — not being bound by ties and jackets. Having said that, office wear should be subtle and professional. Torn attire, apparel with obscene/offensive messages don't belong in an office.
2) Maintain Eye Contact
Some of the bigger concerns around office etiquette these days are looking into your computer or smartphones when someone is talking as it's disrespectful. Be receptive to those who are talking and do not look elsewhere.
3) Mind Your Language
One must ensure that one is using the right words and tone, at the right time. Don't lose your cool and bash people up with your words. The same goes when you are drafting emails — they don't carry your emotions, so watch for what you send.
4) Be On Time
While one is often at the mercy of traffic these days, try and keep your commitments and appointments as much as you can. Wasting someone's time is disrespectful. Plan and help others plan by giving them enough advance notice for a meeting.
5) Be Responsive
Some companies are moving away to an open door culture, and are designing workspaces keeping that in mind. Everyone has smartphones these days, and it would help to keep yours on silent or vibrator mode to avoid disturbing others. Acknowledging missed calls, and mails is also important. Basically, respond to people when they try to connect; you may not always be able to resolve all their queries or answer positively but a response gives closure to a correspondence
Five Skills Today’s Employers Want
Communication Skills
The most significant step towards getting through the interview process is to polish your communication skills, both written and verbal. This is the best way to stand out in the crowded candidate market and it also aids in building a strong professional network.
Attitude For Leadership
It is not just the academic record and domain expertise that matter these days, but also your proficiency to be a leader that companies look out for. Not everyone can master this skill; however, one can work on building their inherent leadership qualities by taking initiatives and responsibility.
Being a people’s person and a team player
Good interpersonal skills are a key to securing your dream job. Having this skill reflects that you are sociable and can work harmoniously with others. Interviewers will most likely test your ability of being a team player through questions relating to real-life scenarios. Some interviewers give a lot of importance to the extra-curricular abilities of the interviewee – excellence in sports, participation in student organization activities, community assistance roles with NGOs etc – to judge the individual’s ability to work in teams and inspire innovative ideas.
Problem Solving And Analytical Skills
Impromptu thinking and problem solving skills are the qualities that prospective employers look for in candidates. So it is essential to build on these capabilities and flaunt them when you present yourself in the job market as this will help you gain bonus points.
Open to learning and being pro-active
It is vital for a candidate to come across as independent and not someone who needs to be pushed for a task to be completed. In addition to this, out-of-the-box thinking and innovative ideas can get you the competitive corporate advantage. Interviewers will also try to gauge if a candidate is open to maintaining a continuous learning curve to re-skill themselves in a dynamic workplace and stay ahead.
The most significant step towards getting through the interview process is to polish your communication skills, both written and verbal. This is the best way to stand out in the crowded candidate market and it also aids in building a strong professional network.
Attitude For Leadership
It is not just the academic record and domain expertise that matter these days, but also your proficiency to be a leader that companies look out for. Not everyone can master this skill; however, one can work on building their inherent leadership qualities by taking initiatives and responsibility.
Being a people’s person and a team player
Good interpersonal skills are a key to securing your dream job. Having this skill reflects that you are sociable and can work harmoniously with others. Interviewers will most likely test your ability of being a team player through questions relating to real-life scenarios. Some interviewers give a lot of importance to the extra-curricular abilities of the interviewee – excellence in sports, participation in student organization activities, community assistance roles with NGOs etc – to judge the individual’s ability to work in teams and inspire innovative ideas.
Problem Solving And Analytical Skills
Impromptu thinking and problem solving skills are the qualities that prospective employers look for in candidates. So it is essential to build on these capabilities and flaunt them when you present yourself in the job market as this will help you gain bonus points.
Open to learning and being pro-active
It is vital for a candidate to come across as independent and not someone who needs to be pushed for a task to be completed. In addition to this, out-of-the-box thinking and innovative ideas can get you the competitive corporate advantage. Interviewers will also try to gauge if a candidate is open to maintaining a continuous learning curve to re-skill themselves in a dynamic workplace and stay ahead.
10 Life Skills That Every Young Professional Should Have
How to just be honest
When you’re late to an appointment, it’s tempting to pin the blame on gridlock or train delays. It is recommended to apologize instead of giving details. ‘I planned poorly’ is a hundred times better than risking your integrity by inanely blaming traffic.’
How to receive criticism
No one likes to be told they’re wrong or even that they could be doing something more effectively. It’s easy to resent the person critiquing you, or completely ignore them. In order to succeed in life you should always accept criticism and always respond positively to it and never think ill of people who point out your mistakes.
How to start an interesting conversation
Conversation-making is probably the most underrated skill for the person who is shy and finds it difficult to interact with the other person. But the experience suggests that if you dare to strike up a discussion with the person next to you, you might very well end up with a new friend, a business connection, or some novel insights on an old topic.
How to ask for something you want
The ability to ask is the easiest, most underutilized skill to catapult your career. But if you don’t muster up the courage to request a raise, a promotion, or a bigger sales deal, you have no chance of getting it. If the thought of requesting what you want makes you anxious, the user suggests practicing in non-work-related contexts. For example, you could ask a vendor at a farmer’s market for a lower price on your vegetables. The more you put yourself in uncomfortable situations ‘the more likely you’ll decide they’re not that uncomfortable after all.
How to keep your promises
Maybe you told a friend you’d show up to his birthday party, or maybe you agreed to finish an extra assignment for your boss. Whatever the situation, you should make good on your word. ‘Break your promise and people lose trust and faith in you, which, over time, is very hard to mend.
How to communicate effectively
No matter your career field, you can always improve the way you speak and write. ‘Think about ways to challenge yourself and tweak how you write an email or behave in a meeting. During your next team meeting, resist talking about your idea or opinion right off the bat. Instead, count to five, and if you still feel like you have something relevant to contribute, speak up. On the flip side, if you’re shy, challenge yourself to say what you’re thinking, instead of remaining silent.
How to be resilient
Your twenties [are] a time when most are relatively free of the responsibilities that will increase into your thirties and forties. This is a great time to experiment, fail, and bounce back. Learn how to ride out failure and persevere. Life is full of challenges. The twenties are a great time to toughen up and start teaching yourself how to be emotionally and mentally resilient enough to weather both the joys and hardships to come.
How to demonstrate good table manners
A lot of interviews take place over meals, ‘Chewing loudly, or eating with your mouth open, licking fingers elbows on the table, just shows a lack of manners and social skills. Good table manners are key, whether you’re at a lunch interview or a meal with a friend.
How to manage your anger
You can channel your rage and frustration in positive directions instead of lashing out at the people around you. (For example, research suggests that anger can stimulate creativity, at least temporarily.) Your anger can empower you to do the unthinkable and unimaginable things, if you just learn the art to master and manage your anger.
How to live within your means
Young adults should think carefully about all their expenditures. Luxuries are a wonderful thing only if you can truly afford them. Don’t be a slave to funding a lifestyle that will not last. Learn to live modestly and save up, and then you will have earned the right to purchase yourself some treats, in moderation.
When you’re late to an appointment, it’s tempting to pin the blame on gridlock or train delays. It is recommended to apologize instead of giving details. ‘I planned poorly’ is a hundred times better than risking your integrity by inanely blaming traffic.’
How to receive criticism
No one likes to be told they’re wrong or even that they could be doing something more effectively. It’s easy to resent the person critiquing you, or completely ignore them. In order to succeed in life you should always accept criticism and always respond positively to it and never think ill of people who point out your mistakes.
How to start an interesting conversation
Conversation-making is probably the most underrated skill for the person who is shy and finds it difficult to interact with the other person. But the experience suggests that if you dare to strike up a discussion with the person next to you, you might very well end up with a new friend, a business connection, or some novel insights on an old topic.
How to ask for something you want
The ability to ask is the easiest, most underutilized skill to catapult your career. But if you don’t muster up the courage to request a raise, a promotion, or a bigger sales deal, you have no chance of getting it. If the thought of requesting what you want makes you anxious, the user suggests practicing in non-work-related contexts. For example, you could ask a vendor at a farmer’s market for a lower price on your vegetables. The more you put yourself in uncomfortable situations ‘the more likely you’ll decide they’re not that uncomfortable after all.
How to keep your promises
Maybe you told a friend you’d show up to his birthday party, or maybe you agreed to finish an extra assignment for your boss. Whatever the situation, you should make good on your word. ‘Break your promise and people lose trust and faith in you, which, over time, is very hard to mend.
How to communicate effectively
No matter your career field, you can always improve the way you speak and write. ‘Think about ways to challenge yourself and tweak how you write an email or behave in a meeting. During your next team meeting, resist talking about your idea or opinion right off the bat. Instead, count to five, and if you still feel like you have something relevant to contribute, speak up. On the flip side, if you’re shy, challenge yourself to say what you’re thinking, instead of remaining silent.
How to be resilient
Your twenties [are] a time when most are relatively free of the responsibilities that will increase into your thirties and forties. This is a great time to experiment, fail, and bounce back. Learn how to ride out failure and persevere. Life is full of challenges. The twenties are a great time to toughen up and start teaching yourself how to be emotionally and mentally resilient enough to weather both the joys and hardships to come.
How to demonstrate good table manners
A lot of interviews take place over meals, ‘Chewing loudly, or eating with your mouth open, licking fingers elbows on the table, just shows a lack of manners and social skills. Good table manners are key, whether you’re at a lunch interview or a meal with a friend.
How to manage your anger
You can channel your rage and frustration in positive directions instead of lashing out at the people around you. (For example, research suggests that anger can stimulate creativity, at least temporarily.) Your anger can empower you to do the unthinkable and unimaginable things, if you just learn the art to master and manage your anger.
How to live within your means
Young adults should think carefully about all their expenditures. Luxuries are a wonderful thing only if you can truly afford them. Don’t be a slave to funding a lifestyle that will not last. Learn to live modestly and save up, and then you will have earned the right to purchase yourself some treats, in moderation.
7 Myths Of Decision Making
Myth 1: Experts don’t make disastrous choices.
Often the most damaging decisions come from experts. Why does that happen? It happens because for many decisions that have very serious implications, we usually depend on experts. Due to such passive, unguarded acceptance, when the experts go wrong, their bad decisions can have devastating consequences. Expert failure ‘usually is the worst kind of failure’ and ‘it’s the overconfidence of experts that can result in spectacular mistakes.’ Normally we think of failure in terms of a deficiency of knowledge, but the truth is that society is suffering far more from failures because of expertise.
Myth 2: Teams take wiser decisions than individuals
Team decision is defined as mode of thinking that people engage in when deeply involved in a cohesive in-group, when the members’ strivings for unanimity override their motivation to realistically appraise alternative courses of action. Moreover, group think cannot be countered by having more knowledgeable members in the team. Also, involvement of too many people can aggravate the chance of making mistakes.
Myth 3: No one remains locked in a bad decision, knowingly
When we make a choice that doesn't work out, we find it remarkably difficult to cut our losses and walk away. Whenever we overinvest our time, energy, or resources in a choice that falls short of the desired return, we have a tendency to stay locked in it in the anticipation of change of fortune. Many a time, we find ourselves so much committed to a decision that we are unable to walk away from it.
Myth 4: More information leads to better decision making
There is a common misconception that availability of more data improves the quality of decisions. Giving people extra bits of information doesn’t improve their chances of getting it right. It only improves their belief in the accuracy of their own opinion. What is important is to know what problem one is trying to solve and how to effectively utilize the existing data for that purpose instead of seeking additional data and muddying the waters.
Myth 5: Decision making is purely a logical process
Brain science makes it clear that mental processes, which we’re not conscious of, drive our decision making and logical reasoning and are often just a way to justify emotional choices. Research has also proved that no one makes a decision based on logic alone. Consciousness is no more than a passive machine running one simple algorithm — to serve up what’s already been decided, and take credit for the decision.
Myth 6: Good decisions bring predictable outcomes
Decision making is not fortune telling. So it’s unwise to expect that good decisions will necessarily bring predictable outcomes. Moreover, such an expectation implicitly restricts the decision space to the known. In a volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous (VUCA) environment, decision making largely depends on transformational thinking and risk-taking ability. Bad Outcomes’ raises an alarm on the fallacy of outcome-based mindset towards decision making. There’s plenty of random noise in competitive decision making and many outcomes are outside a leader’s control due to dependencies on various environmental factors.
Myth 7: Good decisions are independently vetted by many
J K Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone was rejected by 12 established publishers before Bloomsbury eventually accepted it. Clearly, in this case, all those 12 publishers independently arrived at a wrong choice.
Even Bloomsbury was tentative, as they decided to go ahead with a first print run of only 500 copies. In one interview, Nigel Newton, the chairman of Bloomsbury Publishing, revealed that although he took the manuscript home, he didn’t read it immediately. However, his eight-year old daughter Alice liked the initial few chapters so much that she pestered her dad for a few months to know what would come next.
This example illustrates that multiple people can sometimes independently arrive at a wrong decision; almost as if all of them have a common cognitive ‘blind spot’. So, it may not be prudent to have high confidence on a choice only because it is vetted by majority.
Often the most damaging decisions come from experts. Why does that happen? It happens because for many decisions that have very serious implications, we usually depend on experts. Due to such passive, unguarded acceptance, when the experts go wrong, their bad decisions can have devastating consequences. Expert failure ‘usually is the worst kind of failure’ and ‘it’s the overconfidence of experts that can result in spectacular mistakes.’ Normally we think of failure in terms of a deficiency of knowledge, but the truth is that society is suffering far more from failures because of expertise.
Myth 2: Teams take wiser decisions than individuals
Team decision is defined as mode of thinking that people engage in when deeply involved in a cohesive in-group, when the members’ strivings for unanimity override their motivation to realistically appraise alternative courses of action. Moreover, group think cannot be countered by having more knowledgeable members in the team. Also, involvement of too many people can aggravate the chance of making mistakes.
Myth 3: No one remains locked in a bad decision, knowingly
When we make a choice that doesn't work out, we find it remarkably difficult to cut our losses and walk away. Whenever we overinvest our time, energy, or resources in a choice that falls short of the desired return, we have a tendency to stay locked in it in the anticipation of change of fortune. Many a time, we find ourselves so much committed to a decision that we are unable to walk away from it.
Myth 4: More information leads to better decision making
There is a common misconception that availability of more data improves the quality of decisions. Giving people extra bits of information doesn’t improve their chances of getting it right. It only improves their belief in the accuracy of their own opinion. What is important is to know what problem one is trying to solve and how to effectively utilize the existing data for that purpose instead of seeking additional data and muddying the waters.
Myth 5: Decision making is purely a logical process
Brain science makes it clear that mental processes, which we’re not conscious of, drive our decision making and logical reasoning and are often just a way to justify emotional choices. Research has also proved that no one makes a decision based on logic alone. Consciousness is no more than a passive machine running one simple algorithm — to serve up what’s already been decided, and take credit for the decision.
Myth 6: Good decisions bring predictable outcomes
Decision making is not fortune telling. So it’s unwise to expect that good decisions will necessarily bring predictable outcomes. Moreover, such an expectation implicitly restricts the decision space to the known. In a volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous (VUCA) environment, decision making largely depends on transformational thinking and risk-taking ability. Bad Outcomes’ raises an alarm on the fallacy of outcome-based mindset towards decision making. There’s plenty of random noise in competitive decision making and many outcomes are outside a leader’s control due to dependencies on various environmental factors.
Myth 7: Good decisions are independently vetted by many
J K Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone was rejected by 12 established publishers before Bloomsbury eventually accepted it. Clearly, in this case, all those 12 publishers independently arrived at a wrong choice.
Even Bloomsbury was tentative, as they decided to go ahead with a first print run of only 500 copies. In one interview, Nigel Newton, the chairman of Bloomsbury Publishing, revealed that although he took the manuscript home, he didn’t read it immediately. However, his eight-year old daughter Alice liked the initial few chapters so much that she pestered her dad for a few months to know what would come next.
This example illustrates that multiple people can sometimes independently arrive at a wrong decision; almost as if all of them have a common cognitive ‘blind spot’. So, it may not be prudent to have high confidence on a choice only because it is vetted by majority.
7 Tips for Successful Career Planning
Make Career Planning an Annual EventMany of us have physicals, visit the eye doctor and dentist, and do a myriad of other things on an annual basis, so why not career planning? Find a day or weekend once a year or more often if you feel the need or if you’re planning a major career change and schedule a retreat for yourself. Try to block out all distractions so that you have the time to truly focus on your career what you really want out of your career.
Map Your Path since Last Career PlanningOne of your first activities whenever you take on career planning is spending time mapping out your job and career path since the last time you did any sort of career planning. While you should not dwell on your past, taking the time to review and reflect on the path – whether straight and narrow or one filled with any curves and dead-ends will help you plan for the future.
Reflect on Your Likes and Dislikes, Needs and WantsChange is a factor of life; everybody changes, as do our likes and dislikes. Something we loved doing two years ago may now give us displeasure. So always take time to reflect on the things in your life — not just in your job — that you feel most strongly about. Make a two-column list of your major likes and dislikes. Then use this list to examine your current job and career path. If your job and career still fall mostly in the like column, then you know you are still on the right path; however, if your job activities fall mostly in the dislike column, now is the time to begin examining new jobs and new careers.
Examine Your Pastimes and HobbiesCareer planning provides a great time to also examine the activities you like doing when you’re not working. It may sound a bit odd, to examine non-work activities when doing career planning, but it’s not. Many times your hobbies and leisurely pursuits can give you great insight into future career paths. Think you can’t make a hobby into a career? The great painter Paul Gauguin was a successful business person who painted on the side. It actually wasn’t until he was encouraged by an artist he admired to continue painting that he finally took a serious look at his hobby and decided he should change careers. He was good at business, but his love was painting.
Look Beyond Your Current Job for Transferable SkillsSome workers get so wrapped up in their job titles that they don’t see any other career possibilities for themselves. Every job requires a certain set of skills, and it’s much better to categorize yourself in terms of these skill sets than be so myopic as to focus just on job titles. For example, one job-seeker who was trying to accomplish career planning found herself stuck because she identified herself as a reporter. But once she looked beyond her job title, she could see that she had this strong collection of transferable skills — such as writing, editing, researching, investigating, interviewing, juggling multiple tasks, meeting goals and deadlines, and managing time and information — skills that could easily be applied to a wide variety of jobs in many different careers.
Set Career and Job GoalsDevelop a roadmap for your job and career success. Can you be successful in your career without setting goals? Of course. Can you be even more successful through goal-setting? Most research says yes. A major component of career planning is setting short-term (in the coming year) and long-term (beyond a year) career and job goals. Once you initiate this process, another component of career planning becomes reviewing and adjusting those goals as your career plans progress or change – and developing new goals once you accomplish your previous goals.
Explore New Education/Training OpportunitiesIt’s somewhat of a cliche, but information really does lead to power and success. Never pass up chances to learn and grow more as a person and as a worker; part of career planning is going beyond passive acceptance of training opportunities to finding new ones that will help enhance or further your career. Take the time to contemplate what types of educational experiences will help you achieve your career goals. Look within your company, your professional association, your local universities and community colleges, as well as online distance learning programs, to find potential career-enhancing opportunities — and then find a way achieve them.
Map Your Path since Last Career PlanningOne of your first activities whenever you take on career planning is spending time mapping out your job and career path since the last time you did any sort of career planning. While you should not dwell on your past, taking the time to review and reflect on the path – whether straight and narrow or one filled with any curves and dead-ends will help you plan for the future.
Reflect on Your Likes and Dislikes, Needs and WantsChange is a factor of life; everybody changes, as do our likes and dislikes. Something we loved doing two years ago may now give us displeasure. So always take time to reflect on the things in your life — not just in your job — that you feel most strongly about. Make a two-column list of your major likes and dislikes. Then use this list to examine your current job and career path. If your job and career still fall mostly in the like column, then you know you are still on the right path; however, if your job activities fall mostly in the dislike column, now is the time to begin examining new jobs and new careers.
Examine Your Pastimes and HobbiesCareer planning provides a great time to also examine the activities you like doing when you’re not working. It may sound a bit odd, to examine non-work activities when doing career planning, but it’s not. Many times your hobbies and leisurely pursuits can give you great insight into future career paths. Think you can’t make a hobby into a career? The great painter Paul Gauguin was a successful business person who painted on the side. It actually wasn’t until he was encouraged by an artist he admired to continue painting that he finally took a serious look at his hobby and decided he should change careers. He was good at business, but his love was painting.
Look Beyond Your Current Job for Transferable SkillsSome workers get so wrapped up in their job titles that they don’t see any other career possibilities for themselves. Every job requires a certain set of skills, and it’s much better to categorize yourself in terms of these skill sets than be so myopic as to focus just on job titles. For example, one job-seeker who was trying to accomplish career planning found herself stuck because she identified herself as a reporter. But once she looked beyond her job title, she could see that she had this strong collection of transferable skills — such as writing, editing, researching, investigating, interviewing, juggling multiple tasks, meeting goals and deadlines, and managing time and information — skills that could easily be applied to a wide variety of jobs in many different careers.
Set Career and Job GoalsDevelop a roadmap for your job and career success. Can you be successful in your career without setting goals? Of course. Can you be even more successful through goal-setting? Most research says yes. A major component of career planning is setting short-term (in the coming year) and long-term (beyond a year) career and job goals. Once you initiate this process, another component of career planning becomes reviewing and adjusting those goals as your career plans progress or change – and developing new goals once you accomplish your previous goals.
Explore New Education/Training OpportunitiesIt’s somewhat of a cliche, but information really does lead to power and success. Never pass up chances to learn and grow more as a person and as a worker; part of career planning is going beyond passive acceptance of training opportunities to finding new ones that will help enhance or further your career. Take the time to contemplate what types of educational experiences will help you achieve your career goals. Look within your company, your professional association, your local universities and community colleges, as well as online distance learning programs, to find potential career-enhancing opportunities — and then find a way achieve them.
Morpheus Human Consulting Director Kailash Shahani Article On Top 5 Career Mistakes You Will Regret
Not networking at company events
It is essential especially in large organizations to take actively part in company events as it builds a strong relation between the employers and employees. It is not possible to be acquainted with everyone in big companies which is the result that these events are organized by the employers. At the time of promotion employers tend not to choose the person of whom they’re only vaguely aware.
Make decisions based on money
“Money doesn’t count success, job satisfaction does”. It is advisable to choose the career as per your passion, skills rather than depending on the money. Most of the time is spent at your workplace so make sure you enjoy it. Enjoying the workplace without passion is not possible. So “Chase your passion, Chase your dreams.”
Missing opportunities to help others
Remember you work for the organization, so don’t just think about yourself. Instead you should think in a way if company will grow and reason behind that growth is you then may be sooner or later you are bound to get the reward for that. Getting a reward from the peers and colleagues can be helpful for wining a long game in your career
Not speaking up in project meetings
Project meetings are kept so that the project managers take the valuable input from every employee. Being silent at that point can put a negative thought about you in employers mind. Also you might be under appreciated by everyone in that meeting which can affect your reward points as well as promotion.
Avoid making mistakes
Escaping from mistakes can lead you nowhere. As said “Every person learns from mistakes” so if you are willing not to do any mistakes you are even learning anything. But making the same mistake again and again can risk your career. So make mistake but make sure it is different every time.
It is essential especially in large organizations to take actively part in company events as it builds a strong relation between the employers and employees. It is not possible to be acquainted with everyone in big companies which is the result that these events are organized by the employers. At the time of promotion employers tend not to choose the person of whom they’re only vaguely aware.
Make decisions based on money
“Money doesn’t count success, job satisfaction does”. It is advisable to choose the career as per your passion, skills rather than depending on the money. Most of the time is spent at your workplace so make sure you enjoy it. Enjoying the workplace without passion is not possible. So “Chase your passion, Chase your dreams.”
Missing opportunities to help others
Remember you work for the organization, so don’t just think about yourself. Instead you should think in a way if company will grow and reason behind that growth is you then may be sooner or later you are bound to get the reward for that. Getting a reward from the peers and colleagues can be helpful for wining a long game in your career
Not speaking up in project meetings
Project meetings are kept so that the project managers take the valuable input from every employee. Being silent at that point can put a negative thought about you in employers mind. Also you might be under appreciated by everyone in that meeting which can affect your reward points as well as promotion.
Avoid making mistakes
Escaping from mistakes can lead you nowhere. As said “Every person learns from mistakes” so if you are willing not to do any mistakes you are even learning anything. But making the same mistake again and again can risk your career. So make mistake but make sure it is different every time.
Morpheus Human Consulting Director | Kailash Shahani | Article On Top 5 Resume Mistakes To Avoid
Grammatical Mistakes
Grammatical error in resume sounds a small error but in real it can kill your prospect with recruiter. The easy way to avoid grammatical mistakes is to tell someone else to proof-read your resume as with their help your resume can be typos error-free.
Ignoring Keywords
Right keywords should be added for your resume as most times resumes prior to physical approach are evaluated electronically. Improper use of keywords can land you in a place where your resume doesn’t even get shortlisted in first electronic screening round of resumes
Outdated Resume
Update your resume for every job you apply for. Make sure that you are adding your skills after every job. Also make certain other changes as pre the demand of the year in your resume.
Length
Your resume should highlight specific work of every job instead of explaining in detail. To increase the readability of your resume, use formatting techniques like bullets and short paragraphs. It is advisable to make one page resume for your 5 years of work experience.
Creative Formatting
Showing creativity in your resume is not acceptable. As many experts has said “Substance matters more than the style”. Keeping this in mind make sure font of your resume is understandable and less creative.
Grammatical error in resume sounds a small error but in real it can kill your prospect with recruiter. The easy way to avoid grammatical mistakes is to tell someone else to proof-read your resume as with their help your resume can be typos error-free.
Ignoring Keywords
Right keywords should be added for your resume as most times resumes prior to physical approach are evaluated electronically. Improper use of keywords can land you in a place where your resume doesn’t even get shortlisted in first electronic screening round of resumes
Outdated Resume
Update your resume for every job you apply for. Make sure that you are adding your skills after every job. Also make certain other changes as pre the demand of the year in your resume.
Length
Your resume should highlight specific work of every job instead of explaining in detail. To increase the readability of your resume, use formatting techniques like bullets and short paragraphs. It is advisable to make one page resume for your 5 years of work experience.
Creative Formatting
Showing creativity in your resume is not acceptable. As many experts has said “Substance matters more than the style”. Keeping this in mind make sure font of your resume is understandable and less creative.
Morpheus Human Consulting Director Kailash Shahani Article On Job Search Plan
Introspect
Understand your skills, knowledge and according to that plan an organization you would like to work for. And be smart enough to make the best use of your talent in that organization.
Allocate
Job Search is quite time consuming spending your whole day in it is pointless as you can allocate the remaining part of your time in some other essential work. It is advisable to utilize the first half of the day in following up with the companies you have applied
Set a Deadline
To set a deadline for your job is quite crucial. A timeline of roughly 100 days should suffice in most cases. Use the first 20 days for research and sending out applications. Allow companies to get back in the remaining time
Use Resources
Be actively present on social media sites as now-a-days many companies (most probably start-up companies) are more active on social media. Optimize your LinkedIn profile to get more job offers from different companies as per your requirement.
Update Skills
Being on sabbatical for long time isn’t the explanation for not updating your skills in your job profile. You are advised to identify a new skill or any new language which you would like to work on and add that in your profile so that the employers will come to know about your talent and passion towards work.
Understand your skills, knowledge and according to that plan an organization you would like to work for. And be smart enough to make the best use of your talent in that organization.
Allocate
Job Search is quite time consuming spending your whole day in it is pointless as you can allocate the remaining part of your time in some other essential work. It is advisable to utilize the first half of the day in following up with the companies you have applied
Set a Deadline
To set a deadline for your job is quite crucial. A timeline of roughly 100 days should suffice in most cases. Use the first 20 days for research and sending out applications. Allow companies to get back in the remaining time
Use Resources
Be actively present on social media sites as now-a-days many companies (most probably start-up companies) are more active on social media. Optimize your LinkedIn profile to get more job offers from different companies as per your requirement.
Update Skills
Being on sabbatical for long time isn’t the explanation for not updating your skills in your job profile. You are advised to identify a new skill or any new language which you would like to work on and add that in your profile so that the employers will come to know about your talent and passion towards work.
Morpheus Human Consulting Director | Kailash Shahani | Article On | 6 Email Etiquettes That You Should Be Familiar With
It’s been more than 2 decades that we had started using emails which make the topic sound purposeless But it’s not true there are lot of features, which are listed below, that has to keep in mind before composing an email:
TO,CC and BCC:
“To” is for the individual or individuals who has to act upon the email while the persons in “CC- Carbon Copy” are supposed to keep an eye on the email and are not responsible for the reply of the email. Individuals in “BBC-Blind Carbon Copy” are the ones who can read the mail without the knowledge of main recipient as well as the Bcc'd recipients.
Subject Line:
Subject line is quite essential part of the email which helps the reader to get the idea about the body of the mail according to which the recipient can also decide whether to junk your mail, read it later or open instantly. So make sure the subject line is eye catchy and give a brief idea about the body of the mail.
Body of the copy:
Greet the person before jumping directly on the purpose of the email. And keep your mails short, simple and easily readable for the receiver.
Spelling mistake:
Spelling mistakes, grammatical errors are not at all acceptable in the mails. Also remember not to use Mr, Mrs, Ms with the first name. For example if you want to write an email to John Reddy, you should address him as Mr Reddy instead of Mr John. Know the gender of the person before using the “honorfic title” before the name.
Closing the email:
It is essential to close an email properly. “Sincerely Yours”, “Warm Regards”, “Looking Forward To Hear From You” or whatever you want to use but to keep in mind the email closure should be according to the tone of the message.
Sending an email:
Don’t just send the email as soon as you are done typing it. Take time for the proof-read of the mail - correct grammatical errors or spelling mistake if any then send the mail.
TO,CC and BCC:
“To” is for the individual or individuals who has to act upon the email while the persons in “CC- Carbon Copy” are supposed to keep an eye on the email and are not responsible for the reply of the email. Individuals in “BBC-Blind Carbon Copy” are the ones who can read the mail without the knowledge of main recipient as well as the Bcc'd recipients.
Subject Line:
Subject line is quite essential part of the email which helps the reader to get the idea about the body of the mail according to which the recipient can also decide whether to junk your mail, read it later or open instantly. So make sure the subject line is eye catchy and give a brief idea about the body of the mail.
Body of the copy:
Greet the person before jumping directly on the purpose of the email. And keep your mails short, simple and easily readable for the receiver.
Spelling mistake:
Spelling mistakes, grammatical errors are not at all acceptable in the mails. Also remember not to use Mr, Mrs, Ms with the first name. For example if you want to write an email to John Reddy, you should address him as Mr Reddy instead of Mr John. Know the gender of the person before using the “honorfic title” before the name.
Closing the email:
It is essential to close an email properly. “Sincerely Yours”, “Warm Regards”, “Looking Forward To Hear From You” or whatever you want to use but to keep in mind the email closure should be according to the tone of the message.
Sending an email:
Don’t just send the email as soon as you are done typing it. Take time for the proof-read of the mail - correct grammatical errors or spelling mistake if any then send the mail.
Morpheus Consulting Director Kailash Shahani Article On Top 6 Best Industries To Work In
Government
The biggest advantage of Government job is “Job Security”. Moreover the working hours in government job is quite less as compared to other jobs. Benefits and perks in Government job does not depend on your performance. So you are bound to get the increment irrespective of your performance.
Real Estate
Real Estate is considered as one of the best industries to work in. With the fact that population is increasing every year which results in more demand of real estate agents, brokers, architects. On every sale real estate provides huge commission alongwith the flexibility in managing work at anytime. It’s an extra ounce of liberty that makes it easier to maintain a life outside of the office.
Hospitality
Now food is the basic necessity of life and hence hospitality industry is good to work in. Hospitality provides career stability as the demand of food can never stop. There is always a reason to celebrate somewhere. Whether you need a conference room or resort to spend some time with your family you will be in need of hospitality industry. In the end who doesn't love good food, especially when served on a silver platter.
Logistics
Every company uses logistics for planning and execution of the distribution of resources. Without logistics the resource management would be a chaotic process. As per survey, logistics job will increase by 30% in next 5 years. Irrespective that logistics are in demand it offers rewarding work environment considering both teamwork and community.
IT
The IT sector plays a huge part in driving forward the nation’s innovation and productivity. Meanwhile, a study by Microsoft has predicted the creation of almost 80,000 new IT jobs over the next four years in the UK. Challenges, when met, are rewarding -- another reason to choose and stay in IT. Those who want to work in IT are typically quite intelligent with unique attributes and skills. IT attracts the analytical thinkers and technically inclined of the world. If you have these qualities and skills, you can find a home in IT.
Employment services
Consulting is also considered as the best industry to work in. If you are in the search of high challenging environment, consulting is what you are looking for. Joining a consulting firm is one of the quickest and most effective ways to build a vast and valuable network. While working in consulting you can learn team-work, you can also have great learning curve across different verticals.
The biggest advantage of Government job is “Job Security”. Moreover the working hours in government job is quite less as compared to other jobs. Benefits and perks in Government job does not depend on your performance. So you are bound to get the increment irrespective of your performance.
Real Estate
Real Estate is considered as one of the best industries to work in. With the fact that population is increasing every year which results in more demand of real estate agents, brokers, architects. On every sale real estate provides huge commission alongwith the flexibility in managing work at anytime. It’s an extra ounce of liberty that makes it easier to maintain a life outside of the office.
Hospitality
Now food is the basic necessity of life and hence hospitality industry is good to work in. Hospitality provides career stability as the demand of food can never stop. There is always a reason to celebrate somewhere. Whether you need a conference room or resort to spend some time with your family you will be in need of hospitality industry. In the end who doesn't love good food, especially when served on a silver platter.
Logistics
Every company uses logistics for planning and execution of the distribution of resources. Without logistics the resource management would be a chaotic process. As per survey, logistics job will increase by 30% in next 5 years. Irrespective that logistics are in demand it offers rewarding work environment considering both teamwork and community.
IT
The IT sector plays a huge part in driving forward the nation’s innovation and productivity. Meanwhile, a study by Microsoft has predicted the creation of almost 80,000 new IT jobs over the next four years in the UK. Challenges, when met, are rewarding -- another reason to choose and stay in IT. Those who want to work in IT are typically quite intelligent with unique attributes and skills. IT attracts the analytical thinkers and technically inclined of the world. If you have these qualities and skills, you can find a home in IT.
Employment services
Consulting is also considered as the best industry to work in. If you are in the search of high challenging environment, consulting is what you are looking for. Joining a consulting firm is one of the quickest and most effective ways to build a vast and valuable network. While working in consulting you can learn team-work, you can also have great learning curve across different verticals.
Morpheus Consulting Director Kailash Shahani Article On Advice You Need To Succeed In Your First Job
As a fresher to make your first job successful you need to make following transitions:
Love your job
To be successful in your first job you need to love what you do. Looking for ideal job in order to be happy in life is a myth. In-fact the truth is we need to adapt ourselves to anything we do. As a fresher you should give a try to opt for startup companies which will pay less but you will get to learn many things which prove to be very much helpful for your future. Being a fresher you should not be bothered about the money; knowledge should be your main aim.
Keep patience
Start of your career can be quite challenging. You need to face many ups and downs while keeping in mind that every day cannot be a good day in a professional life. Remember, don’t get discouraged when things don’t go your way and find ways to always stay motivated and productive. And if you want a job in your passion you need to have lots of patience. Always search for someone who is more experienced than you and the one to whom you respect also.
Be Flexible
As a fresher you won’t be always given a task related to your job profile. Don’t hesitate to try new things as it can helpful also to discover hidden talents inside you. Always keep in mind no experience is ever wasted and to say “no” being a fresher can be difficult also.
Ask questions
There will be some questions that seem to be stupid for you but asking the question and clearing the doubt can prove to be more helpful and sensible thing to do as you have just started your career as a professional person without any work experience. But avoid being overly needy. Always try your best to learn things on your own rather than being dependent on the manager for the same. Making mistakes is fine for every company as long as you are learning from them and not repeating it again.
Respect everyone
Make sure to maintain good relationships with your managers and colleagues and take the initiative to help others when needed. Be generous with “thank you” and “I’m sorry”. Showing gratitude is the simplest way to feel better. It will not only lead to great work relationships but it will also increase productivity and efficiency at work.
Love your job
To be successful in your first job you need to love what you do. Looking for ideal job in order to be happy in life is a myth. In-fact the truth is we need to adapt ourselves to anything we do. As a fresher you should give a try to opt for startup companies which will pay less but you will get to learn many things which prove to be very much helpful for your future. Being a fresher you should not be bothered about the money; knowledge should be your main aim.
Keep patience
Start of your career can be quite challenging. You need to face many ups and downs while keeping in mind that every day cannot be a good day in a professional life. Remember, don’t get discouraged when things don’t go your way and find ways to always stay motivated and productive. And if you want a job in your passion you need to have lots of patience. Always search for someone who is more experienced than you and the one to whom you respect also.
Be Flexible
As a fresher you won’t be always given a task related to your job profile. Don’t hesitate to try new things as it can helpful also to discover hidden talents inside you. Always keep in mind no experience is ever wasted and to say “no” being a fresher can be difficult also.
Ask questions
There will be some questions that seem to be stupid for you but asking the question and clearing the doubt can prove to be more helpful and sensible thing to do as you have just started your career as a professional person without any work experience. But avoid being overly needy. Always try your best to learn things on your own rather than being dependent on the manager for the same. Making mistakes is fine for every company as long as you are learning from them and not repeating it again.
Respect everyone
Make sure to maintain good relationships with your managers and colleagues and take the initiative to help others when needed. Be generous with “thank you” and “I’m sorry”. Showing gratitude is the simplest way to feel better. It will not only lead to great work relationships but it will also increase productivity and efficiency at work.
Morpheus Consulting Director Kailash Shahani Article On Tips To Stay Motivated And Positive While Job Search
Stay Positive and motivated during the job search by:
1. Coming up with job search goals
Treat your job search as a project with tangible goals. Figure out how many hours per week you will be focusing on the job search and assign the hours to specific tasks with related goals. For example, 10 hours will be spent networking with the goal of connecting with five people per week. Having weekly tasks and goals keeps you focused.
2. Not getting lazy
Just because you don’t have a job to go to doesn’t mean you should lounge around. Aim to make things happen! Treat job searching like your full-time job. Before getting the day started, freshen yourself up as you would for work and stick to a routine for job searching. You may start the day with checking email, making phone calls, then applying to jobs by lunch and leaving the afternoon to networking with others and researching for other job opportunities. When you stick to a schedule, you work more efficiently and there’s less of a chance for you to get lazy.
3. Re-examining your resume and LinkedIn profile
If you haven’t updated your resume in a while or it’s not bringing in results you want, it’s time to re-examine it. Same goes with your LinkedIn profile. When you do, you build stronger tools to work with in your job search and you will feel a greater sense of confidence.
4. Networking with others
Job networking has a greater effectiveness rate at helping you find a job than other methods like the job boards and recruiters. It can also help you stay motivated. When you talk to others in the field asking for advice, it can feel like you’re getting closer to where you want to be because you have connections with insiders. Often, your job network can also share with you similar challenges they may have faced and offer insight to how they went about the situation, which in turn helps you reflect and react appropriately.
5. Doing something on the side while unemployed
When the job search begins to feel like it’s dragging on, look to do something on the side that may help you maintain your skills or help you build new skills that will be helpful on the next job. Whether it’s volunteering a few hours a week, taking on temporary work, or taking a class, it can help give you a lift or inspiration to stay motivated. It also gives you something to add to the resume so it doesn’t look like you did diddly-squat while unemployed. Finding a new job takes hard work, and finding a new job that you will love will take extra patience. Utilize these tips to help keep you going. Soon before you know it, the right job offer will come through!
1. Coming up with job search goals
Treat your job search as a project with tangible goals. Figure out how many hours per week you will be focusing on the job search and assign the hours to specific tasks with related goals. For example, 10 hours will be spent networking with the goal of connecting with five people per week. Having weekly tasks and goals keeps you focused.
2. Not getting lazy
Just because you don’t have a job to go to doesn’t mean you should lounge around. Aim to make things happen! Treat job searching like your full-time job. Before getting the day started, freshen yourself up as you would for work and stick to a routine for job searching. You may start the day with checking email, making phone calls, then applying to jobs by lunch and leaving the afternoon to networking with others and researching for other job opportunities. When you stick to a schedule, you work more efficiently and there’s less of a chance for you to get lazy.
3. Re-examining your resume and LinkedIn profile
If you haven’t updated your resume in a while or it’s not bringing in results you want, it’s time to re-examine it. Same goes with your LinkedIn profile. When you do, you build stronger tools to work with in your job search and you will feel a greater sense of confidence.
4. Networking with others
Job networking has a greater effectiveness rate at helping you find a job than other methods like the job boards and recruiters. It can also help you stay motivated. When you talk to others in the field asking for advice, it can feel like you’re getting closer to where you want to be because you have connections with insiders. Often, your job network can also share with you similar challenges they may have faced and offer insight to how they went about the situation, which in turn helps you reflect and react appropriately.
5. Doing something on the side while unemployed
When the job search begins to feel like it’s dragging on, look to do something on the side that may help you maintain your skills or help you build new skills that will be helpful on the next job. Whether it’s volunteering a few hours a week, taking on temporary work, or taking a class, it can help give you a lift or inspiration to stay motivated. It also gives you something to add to the resume so it doesn’t look like you did diddly-squat while unemployed. Finding a new job takes hard work, and finding a new job that you will love will take extra patience. Utilize these tips to help keep you going. Soon before you know it, the right job offer will come through!
Morpheus Consulting Director Kailash Shahani Article On 5 Ways To Maintain Work Ethics
Head offices are mostly at a certain distance from cubicles. It is essential to maintain certain behaviors during official hours and also when you are within the office environment.
Don’t use regional languages:
You should avoid talking to team members in group meetings in your regional languages as the others (one who doesn’t belong to same region) might feel excluded
Be sure with communication:
In most of the MNC companies employees interact with each other over emails, video conferencing and chats. So make sure you are expressing yourself very well in terms of your ideas to team members
Maintain your workstation:
It is the most common point among all that one should be concerned with. You should always keep your work-station clean and maintain personal hygiene. Always make sure your standards of personal hygiene and cleanliness are up to scratch.
Respect The Workspace
Put in the extra effort to ensure your colleagues don't have any concerns about your habits. Keep common areas like restrooms and kitchens tidy, keep your voice down while on the phone, and conform to organization-mandated dress codes
Follow seniors
Often, the best way to go about adopting a certain model of behavior is to watch how the seniors do it. Executives higher up the corporate ladder can set an example for their juniors on workplace etiquette.
Don’t use regional languages:
You should avoid talking to team members in group meetings in your regional languages as the others (one who doesn’t belong to same region) might feel excluded
Be sure with communication:
In most of the MNC companies employees interact with each other over emails, video conferencing and chats. So make sure you are expressing yourself very well in terms of your ideas to team members
Maintain your workstation:
It is the most common point among all that one should be concerned with. You should always keep your work-station clean and maintain personal hygiene. Always make sure your standards of personal hygiene and cleanliness are up to scratch.
Respect The Workspace
Put in the extra effort to ensure your colleagues don't have any concerns about your habits. Keep common areas like restrooms and kitchens tidy, keep your voice down while on the phone, and conform to organization-mandated dress codes
Follow seniors
Often, the best way to go about adopting a certain model of behavior is to watch how the seniors do it. Executives higher up the corporate ladder can set an example for their juniors on workplace etiquette.
Kailash Shahani explains how certain decisions restrains the path of success
Kailash Shahani – Managing Director of Morpheus Consulting elaborates how some of the career decisions can affect your long term goals. I have discussed following seven career decisions that can affect one’s professional life.
Passion: Now passion is something that everyone wants it to be the part of their job. But remember one thing if you are going behind your passion make sure you excel in it and won’t lose hope in the middle of the path of success. At the end making money is the main criteria and if your passion doesn’t surpass it then one should surely think of something different. Please note that world will pay you for your passion if you stand out in it.
First glance acceptance: Acceptance of opportunity that first comes in your way is not always right as that makes you away from list of opportunities. So always think before the acceptance of the first job offer as that can be your first path to success and hence taking time to rethink on the first job offer can prove beneficial for you.
Job Switching: If you are getting the maximum salary in the job in your particular field that means it’s your dead point because you don’t have any goals before you to achieve. And one should always go for the high paid job in the particular field when you are sure it’s going to be your last job before retirement.
Education: Everyone thinks that after graduation or the post graduation the study matter ends and the only thing that you need to focus on is the job. But that’s not true. Once you start with the job you will get to learn many new skills and these skills would help you to go through the new opportunities in the long run.
Early settle down: Settling down early in life is not a good option as it binds you to go to different places with different opportunities. So always give a thought before settling down as it leads to either long commute or change of house
Avoiding Sales: To succeed in life you have to be a salesperson like at the time of interview you need to sell yourself, for appraisals you have to sell your achievements, for clients you have to sell the benefits of your output and you have to sell your ideas at the time of meeting. It might be clear from all these points to you that selling is the most important factor for every person.
Change in career: Set your goal before you enter in any field as thinking to change the field in the middle can be critical. And to start again with the new field as a fresher can be challenging. People with the same age like you will always be ahead of you as they have chose that field at their early age of job. So sticking with one career can increase your graph of experience exponentially.
Passion: Now passion is something that everyone wants it to be the part of their job. But remember one thing if you are going behind your passion make sure you excel in it and won’t lose hope in the middle of the path of success. At the end making money is the main criteria and if your passion doesn’t surpass it then one should surely think of something different. Please note that world will pay you for your passion if you stand out in it.
First glance acceptance: Acceptance of opportunity that first comes in your way is not always right as that makes you away from list of opportunities. So always think before the acceptance of the first job offer as that can be your first path to success and hence taking time to rethink on the first job offer can prove beneficial for you.
Job Switching: If you are getting the maximum salary in the job in your particular field that means it’s your dead point because you don’t have any goals before you to achieve. And one should always go for the high paid job in the particular field when you are sure it’s going to be your last job before retirement.
Education: Everyone thinks that after graduation or the post graduation the study matter ends and the only thing that you need to focus on is the job. But that’s not true. Once you start with the job you will get to learn many new skills and these skills would help you to go through the new opportunities in the long run.
Early settle down: Settling down early in life is not a good option as it binds you to go to different places with different opportunities. So always give a thought before settling down as it leads to either long commute or change of house
Avoiding Sales: To succeed in life you have to be a salesperson like at the time of interview you need to sell yourself, for appraisals you have to sell your achievements, for clients you have to sell the benefits of your output and you have to sell your ideas at the time of meeting. It might be clear from all these points to you that selling is the most important factor for every person.
Change in career: Set your goal before you enter in any field as thinking to change the field in the middle can be critical. And to start again with the new field as a fresher can be challenging. People with the same age like you will always be ahead of you as they have chose that field at their early age of job. So sticking with one career can increase your graph of experience exponentially.
Morpheus Consulting Director| Kailash Shahani | Explains As How To Make Your Resume Effective?
Writing an effective and creative resume that gets results can be a daunting task. But if a few of the simple things are taken care of, your chances of being shortlisted for the interview enhance significantly. Here are a few of the tips that will be immensely beneficial for any candidate, irrespective of the industry or organization they are applying to.
1. Be Clear
Determine your job search objective prior to writing the resume and structure the content of your resume around that objective only. If you write your resume without having a clear objective in mind, it will come across as unfocussed to those who read it.
2. Purpose of resume
You don't need to go into detail about every accomplishment. Strive to be clear and concise. The purpose of your resume is to generate enough interest in you, to have an employer contact you for an interview.
3. No grammatical mistake
The language should be simple; the flow of language should be simple and grammar absolutely correct. The format must be chosen carefully and consistency should be maintained throughout. Use a font size no smaller than 10 point
4. Use Bullets
To improve the presentation and comprehension, use bulleted sentences. Resumes are read quickly (a resume gets an attention of 30 sec on an average) this bulleted sentence format makes it easier for someone to quickly scan your resume and still absorb it. Take the time to determine which bullets most strongly support your job search objective. Put those strong points first where they are more apt to be read.
5. No irrelevant points
Accent the positive and leave off negatives and irrelevant points. Lead with your strengths. Focus on the duties that support your objective.
6. Explore your knowledge
Rather than going into depth in one area, use your resume to highlight your breadth of knowledge. That is, exploring your knowledge on resume helps the interviewer to know about you more closely.
7. Mention Reporting
If you have reported to someone important such as a vice president or department manager, say so in your resume. Having reported to someone important causes the reader to infer that you are important.
8. Character Limit
Limit the length of your resume to 1-2 pages. Help the reader to scan your resume efficiently and effectively.
9. Take suggestion
Since you are so close to your situation, it can be difficult for you to hit all your high points and clearly convey all your accomplishments. Have someone review your job search objective, your resume, and listings of positions that interest you.
10. Remember;
Use your resume to obtain an interview, not a job. Most prospective employers decide whether or not they want to interview you after reading the first few lines.
1. Be Clear
Determine your job search objective prior to writing the resume and structure the content of your resume around that objective only. If you write your resume without having a clear objective in mind, it will come across as unfocussed to those who read it.
2. Purpose of resume
You don't need to go into detail about every accomplishment. Strive to be clear and concise. The purpose of your resume is to generate enough interest in you, to have an employer contact you for an interview.
3. No grammatical mistake
The language should be simple; the flow of language should be simple and grammar absolutely correct. The format must be chosen carefully and consistency should be maintained throughout. Use a font size no smaller than 10 point
4. Use Bullets
To improve the presentation and comprehension, use bulleted sentences. Resumes are read quickly (a resume gets an attention of 30 sec on an average) this bulleted sentence format makes it easier for someone to quickly scan your resume and still absorb it. Take the time to determine which bullets most strongly support your job search objective. Put those strong points first where they are more apt to be read.
5. No irrelevant points
Accent the positive and leave off negatives and irrelevant points. Lead with your strengths. Focus on the duties that support your objective.
6. Explore your knowledge
Rather than going into depth in one area, use your resume to highlight your breadth of knowledge. That is, exploring your knowledge on resume helps the interviewer to know about you more closely.
7. Mention Reporting
If you have reported to someone important such as a vice president or department manager, say so in your resume. Having reported to someone important causes the reader to infer that you are important.
8. Character Limit
Limit the length of your resume to 1-2 pages. Help the reader to scan your resume efficiently and effectively.
9. Take suggestion
Since you are so close to your situation, it can be difficult for you to hit all your high points and clearly convey all your accomplishments. Have someone review your job search objective, your resume, and listings of positions that interest you.
10. Remember;
Use your resume to obtain an interview, not a job. Most prospective employers decide whether or not they want to interview you after reading the first few lines.
Morpheus Human Consulting Director | Kailash Shahani | Article On Career Change Advice
1. Make sure you can live on what your new career pays
Whatever your dream job is the first thing you need to do is make sure you can survive on whatever you'll make. Research the positions you're interested in and head over to Glassdoor to get the options regarding your career.
2. Revise the skills required for that career
It goes without saying that before you can make a smooth move into a new career or field, you'll need the skills required to be applicable in that field. Here are a few ways to get your skill set up to par:
· Research About Your Field
· Build Your Network In That Field
· Strengthen Your Resume
3. Get some experience in that
Getting a job with no experience is next to impossible, Well, it's not impossible to get some solid, usable experience in your chosen field without leaving the one you're in. Here are a couple of options to show off—your experience in your chosen field.
· Use Your Skills for Personal Projects
· Intern or Volunteer
· Freelance
Career Change Mistakes to Avoid:
Following points should be avoided before making any change in your career field:
1. Change in career without a plan:
Successful career change can often take months to accomplish when you have a strategy, so without one, you could end up adrift for an even longer period. Having a detailed action plan is essential to your success.
2. Career change because you hate your job:
Don't make the mistake of confusing hating your current job with hating your current career. Take the time to analyze whether it's just the job/employer/boss that you hate, or whether it's the career/skills/work that you dislike.
3. Career change solely based on money/benefits
Certain career fields are very alluring because of the salary and other benefits they offer, but be very careful of switching careers because of all the dollar signs. Keep repeating to yourself, "money won't buy me happiness." Remember that you may make more money, but if you hate your new career, you'll probably be spending that money on stress- and health-related expenses.
4. Switch in career because of outside pressure
Don't let your parents, significant others or anyone else influence your career choice. They don't have to live that career every day, you do.
5. Change in career without refreshing networks
Don't ever attempt a career change alone. As soon as you have identified the career field you want to switch into, begin developing new network contacts within that field so that it can guide you throughout the transition. Networking is essential for all job-seekers, but even more so for career-changers.
6. Career Change based on other’s success in that field
Don’t go behind to change the career because your best friend or neighbor is successful in a certain career. Do the research before jumping into it. Many job-seekers switch careers on the assumption that “Grasses are always greener on the other side”
Whatever your dream job is the first thing you need to do is make sure you can survive on whatever you'll make. Research the positions you're interested in and head over to Glassdoor to get the options regarding your career.
2. Revise the skills required for that career
It goes without saying that before you can make a smooth move into a new career or field, you'll need the skills required to be applicable in that field. Here are a few ways to get your skill set up to par:
· Research About Your Field
· Build Your Network In That Field
· Strengthen Your Resume
3. Get some experience in that
Getting a job with no experience is next to impossible, Well, it's not impossible to get some solid, usable experience in your chosen field without leaving the one you're in. Here are a couple of options to show off—your experience in your chosen field.
· Use Your Skills for Personal Projects
· Intern or Volunteer
· Freelance
Career Change Mistakes to Avoid:
Following points should be avoided before making any change in your career field:
1. Change in career without a plan:
Successful career change can often take months to accomplish when you have a strategy, so without one, you could end up adrift for an even longer period. Having a detailed action plan is essential to your success.
2. Career change because you hate your job:
Don't make the mistake of confusing hating your current job with hating your current career. Take the time to analyze whether it's just the job/employer/boss that you hate, or whether it's the career/skills/work that you dislike.
3. Career change solely based on money/benefits
Certain career fields are very alluring because of the salary and other benefits they offer, but be very careful of switching careers because of all the dollar signs. Keep repeating to yourself, "money won't buy me happiness." Remember that you may make more money, but if you hate your new career, you'll probably be spending that money on stress- and health-related expenses.
4. Switch in career because of outside pressure
Don't let your parents, significant others or anyone else influence your career choice. They don't have to live that career every day, you do.
5. Change in career without refreshing networks
Don't ever attempt a career change alone. As soon as you have identified the career field you want to switch into, begin developing new network contacts within that field so that it can guide you throughout the transition. Networking is essential for all job-seekers, but even more so for career-changers.
6. Career Change based on other’s success in that field
Don’t go behind to change the career because your best friend or neighbor is successful in a certain career. Do the research before jumping into it. Many job-seekers switch careers on the assumption that “Grasses are always greener on the other side”