Tips to boost your interview skills
The smartest and most qualified job seeker has to prepare for a an interviews. There is no second chance in interviews so the first impression we make in the interviews matters a lot. Here are some tips to enhance your interview skills.
- Develop good nonverbal communication: Your boys language makes lots of difference. Your sitting posture, eye contact, firm handshake etc. matter a lot from beginning to end of an interview.
- Dress properly for an interview: It is important to look professional in interviews so dress accordingly. Dressing properly also gives you confidence while talking in interviews.
- Listen actively: All the interview process the interviewer is giving you loads of information if you miss it you loose on lot of things. So communication and listening skills are must.
- Do not talk too much: Telling the interviewer more than required is a mistake. This generally happens when you are not prepared for the interview and you start rambling. Make sure that you talk in the contest of job posting, you skills matching for the job requirement.
- Do not e too familiar: The interview is a professional meeting to talk business. It is not the place to make friends. It is important to be energetic and show enthusiasm but do not overdo it.
- Use appropriate language:As mentioned earlier interview is a professional meeting and be careful while articulating your words. Avoid slangs and references to age, race, religion etc.
- Don’t show attitude:Attitude plays a major role. You may be a super gem and bossting with confidence but do not overdo it. Balance your confidence, professionalism and modesty.
- Be Smart in answering questions:When the interviwer asks for an example from your past experience/behavior give them the example if not your you are not answering a question and also missing an opportunity to prove your skills and ability.
- Ask Questions:When asked if you have any questions most of us will say “NO” which is a wrong answer. It is important to ask questions that shows your interest in job and the company. Ask questions about the company the business of the company. The best questions come if are listening actively durig interviews.
- Don’t appear desperate for the Job: Maintain the 3 C’s (cool, calm,confident). Do not go with a please hire me kind of an attitude because it kills your confidence. Make sure you can do that job be confident and make the interviewer belive that you are the right person.
Euro 2008 semi-finals and finals schedule (India and US time)
After twists and turns the semifinal lineup for the Euro 2008 is ready. With most of the big teams and favourites of the tournament bowing out we have 4 teams who fought hard with some breath-taking performances and they totally deserve to be in this spot. For all those who are soccer crazy and do not want to miss the semi finals and final here is the schedule.
| Semi-finals | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date | Time | TV Channel | Teams | Venue |
| Wed, 25th June | 12:05 a.m. (India) 2:30 p.m. (US) |
ESPN | Germany vs Turkey | St. Jakob-Park , Basel |
| Thu, 26th June | 12:05 a.m. (India) 2:30 p.m. (US) |
ESPN | Russia vs Spain | Ernst Happel Stadion , Vienna |
| finals | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date | Time | TV Channel | Teams | Venue |
| Sun, 29th June | 12:05 a.m. (India) 2:30 p.m. (US) |
ESPN | Winner of Semifinal1 vs Winner of Semifinal2 | Ernst Happel Stadion , Vienna |
It will be a treat to watch all these matches. My personal favourites Russia and also Germany but I did like Russian to take this title as they have not won any European title after the collapse of USSR. Germany vs Russia in finals wow what a match it is gonna be.
Motivating Subordinates makes a Difference
Motivating people is one of the important quality a manager must possess. If the manager provides proper motivation to the team, the team will do wonders in terms of performance and growth of the organization and individuals. Some tips how a manager can motivate subordinates:
- Appreciate a well done Job - A small appreciation for a job done makes a huge difference to the morale of the team member. All hard working people need is a small recognition in terms of appreciation that keeps them going and motivates them to perform at their best.
- Encourage new ideas, creativity and initiatives - Everyone in the team is smart, creative and has great ideas they just need some guidance on how to start thinking on those terms and that guidance can be provided by the manager. This gives them sense that other than routine work they are getting chance to learn new things which keeps them motivated to work.
- Involving them in decisions that effect them - People don’t just want a job they need something more that makes them feel that they are part of the team. It is a win-win scenario for the individual and the team.
- Share your future plans with the team - Get them involved in the process. This provides them inspiration which is the key to employee motivation.
- Create a motivating evironment- Everything from the your office decor, the furniture, the meeting schedule, your time management will effect the enivironment. Do not make team members hit the ground while coming to office on mondays or make them live for their weekends. Work environment has big impoact on the productivity.
- Give the people inspirational Goals - Doing this will give them a job of motivating themselves or in other words keeps them self motivated.
- Monitory Compensation- This can be also one of the reason for demotivation. In such situation if a manager can pull in the HR and asking them to justify for the compensation company is providing and address the concerns of the team members this issue can be sorted to great extent.
Other than these there may be lot of other aspects and ways of motivating people but these are few that I have learnt from my experiences. Another important thing is a person who has the desire to grow and flourish in a company is highly self-motivated and it is the responsibility of the manager to keep up the motivation level by providing proper guidance to grow in the company.
Tips for Managers - Florence Stone
Florence Stone, a spokeswoman for American Management Association offers a list of mistakes managers must avoid:
- Giving vague assignments. Employees who are confused and frustrated will do the work and if it does not meet the expectations of the manager it will further add to their frustration and upset them.
- Saving the most interesting work for themselves and giving routine work to the employees. This way they loose the chance of giving new learning oppurtunities to other staff and grow their skill sets.
- Taking on work being delegated to a staff member because of their incapability to do it, rather than sitting down with the employee and discussing the further work and following through.
- Trying to impress their new boss and taking away all the glory from staff and peers.
- Spending their time on other non-important issues rather than concentrating on those activities that are good for business, organizations mission and team’s growth.
- Not maintaining proper contacts or network with their colleagues and team members. Colleagues and team members represent great information resource.
- Avoiding confrontations with poor performers. Never ignore troubled and trouble making workers, rather talk to them come to a consensus and sort out the issue.
- Rewarding mediocrity. Reward those people who truly deserve the recognition and reward everyone equally.
- Failing to recognise good work.
- Focusing on mistakes rather than learning opportunities they can provide.
All these points are so true but we hardly find any manager following these. Seriously speaking, if managers follow all these simple points the team they manage would be the best in the organization with amazing performances and results.
Tips for First time managers - Jim Lynch
Jim Lynch, director of the Association of Professional Office Managers and has more than 25 years of managerial experience, says managers must remember they are the liaison between upper management and the employees. Managers hear both sides and must listen and adapt to both. The tips he offers are mentioned below.
- Gain senior management’s confidence and respect.
- Don’t ignore problems — identify and resolve.
- Question past practices.
- Identify and implement efficiencies.
- Thoroughly research all sides of issues.
- Make decisions — do not waver.
- Take initiatives. See what needs to be done and do it. Don’t wait for tasks to be assigned.
After reading this one can understand how important a mangers role is. Manager is the liaison between upper management and employees which shows how important the position is and how active and calculated he/she should be because his decision are going to make lot of difference and any communication gap may lead to severe consequences. A manager must be ready to take initiatives, make decisions, think of good changes. All these qualities are a must for a manager to make sure that employees as well as the company succeeds.
Tips for First Time Managers - Joyce LeMay
Joyce LeMay has more than 20 years of experience as a manager and chair person of department of business and human resource programs. Acoording to her the key to thriving in each new position is to keep learning. She says that new managers needs to be patient and continuously build their skills. “Mentors are key to improving the success of new managers,” she says. Some of the tips/advices LeMay offers are mentioned below.
- Take time to understnad the business in which you are operating.
- Develop Time-management skills.
- Practice active listening skills.
- Know how to motivate and lead employees.
- Don’t stay isolated in office.
- Don’t pretend you know all the answers.
- Don’t take all the credit.
- Don’t expect employees to be perfect.
- Learn to delegate effectively
All these advices are so true but I hardly see these practices being followed in today’s corporate world. I agree that the managing style and functions differ from company to company but some core management principles (as I call them) mentioned above remain same across all the companies. These skills are must for all the managers for their own growth and also for the career of their subordinates.
iPhone 3G release by Apple
Apple released it much awaited iPhone 3G the upgraded version of the existing one in the market. The gadget would be officially released on July 11 in 22 countries. The Apple CEO Steve Jobs unveiled iPhone 3G in his Worldwide Developers Conference(WWDC) keynote address from San Francisco. The key features in the latest version of iPhone are categorized into:
- 3G + GPS Support
- Enterprise Support
- SDK for Third party applications
- Releasing the phone in more countries
- Affordable Prices
Steve Jobs addressed all these very effectively and gave good description all the features mentioned above.
3G + GPS : The new iPhone supports 3G technology which makes it 2.8 times more faster than the current iPhone that runs on EDGE. Steve Jobs gave a demo of this live by opening a website on 2 different iPhones. The iPhone with 3G support took 21 secs. to open the site where as it took 59 secs . for the iPhone that was running on EDGE. This is quite remarkable. The new is iPhone also comes with GPS support which I think is pretty cool.
Enterprise Support: The new iPhone 3G completely supports Microsoft exchange and Apple have worked along with Cisco to provide networking solutions which is quite incredible.
SDK (software development kit): This is the best part of the new release. Apple has provided a robust tool kit that enables developers to create their software for iPhone. The tool includes XCode the platform for writing code for the phone, a iPhone simulator software to check the software one has created and only that we can connect the phone to the mac and check the amy new application one has created then and there.
Demo of some of the applications developed was also given. The applications were developed ebay, typepad, associated press, SEGA, Pangea, loopt etc. All these applications are pretty amzing and I am sure will be of lot of use. The best application I would say is Cow Music that helps to create our own music. So I am sure lot of cool applications will be made in future on new iPhone 3G.
Releasing iPhone in more Countries: Apple has an aggressive target of releasing the phone in 70 countires which is exciting to know. But on July 11 it will be releasing it in 22 countries as of now.
Cost: The iPhone was priced for $599 when it came into the market for the first time it costs $399 now. The best part is the new iPhone with 3G and other features is going to cost you only $199 for 8gb and $299 for 16gb. The 16gb piece comes in 2 colors black and white.
I have mentioned only some of the features but the iPhone 3G is a must possess gadget and I would say a wonderful release by Apple and I am sure this would change the world of mobile phones. you can find the complete keynote address of Steve Jobs at http://events.apple.com.edgesuite.net/0806wdt546x/event/index.html
Rafael Nadal - French Open 2008 Champion
Rafael Nadal of Spain crushed Roger Federer of Switzerland 6-1, 6-3, 6-0 during the Men’s Singles Final match of the French Open 2008 at Roland Garros. It was a comprehesive victory for the spaniard over the world number 1 and cemented his title of “KING OF CLAY”.
The finals was a one sided and Federer was not even close to his potential, that shows how dominating Nadal was. The facts that he did not loose even one set in the whole tournament and equalled Bjorn Borg’s record of 4 consecutive french titles shows how good a player he is on clay.
As for Federer, the world number 1 was never in the match. It was like he had come prepared to loose the final. Still cannot believe Federer lost the a set by 6-0. The kind of unforced errors he was making were so unlikely of him.
I am sure fedex will be waiting to meet Rafa in wimbledon starting on June 23 and take a revenge of this defeat. But his dream of conquering Roland Garros is pushed to next year and I hope he comes with better strategies to play Rafa next year as you need something more to beat the spaniard on clay.
Transport Issues in Hyderabad
The Andhra Pradesh government looks like is back of private transport operators and trying to all possible ways to collect money from them.
First they tried it by asking them to pay additional Life Tax for their vehicles and then they backed off from that when the operators threatened to go on a indefinite strike.
This time they thought of collecting 12.5% VAT on their income and again the operators have gone on a strike. This time the government is also adamant and is not reconsidering their decision which means no school buses, no office cabs and private buses for people to go to their native places. Now the auto drivers are going on strike demanding to increase minimum charge as the fuel charged has increased. So there is no means of public transport apart from APSRTC buses and railways which is not enough for the people of Hyderabad.
People are already facing problems commuting to office and schools. When is this going to end and when are things going to be back to normal?
Fuel Price hike in India
We all are aware of increase in fuel price which is Rs 5 on petrol, Rs 3 on Diesel and Rs.50 on Domestic gas.
Some of the petrol bunks across the country were closed 2 days before the rise in fuel prices saying they are out of stock. How cheap is that everyone knows that they are doing this only to make more profit after the price hike.
The rise in fuel price gave an opportunity for the opposition political parties to try and gain political mileage out of the situation. They started by calling for a bandh in different states and agitating by stopping vehicles on highways and in the cities causing hell lot of inconvenience to the common man.
Is the government really going to reconsider the hike in prices? why are people agitating and calling bandh? who is going to benefit from this? The business and offices are closed, the transport is stand still who is going to bear all this loss?
Everyone knows that government is not going to reconsider the fuel hike though the some of the state governments like Andhra Pradesh is not going to implement the cooking gas hike and delhi government is charge only Rs. 10. The recovery of losses that would incur because of this bandh and agitation will definitely be put on the shoulder of the common man. So do we really need this bandhs? Is their no other way of solving this issue? Is this how India is shinning?