Sunday, May 27, 2007

Dressed For Success

How to Dressed For Success

Isn’t it true that you want to impress your clients, win contracts that are great for your company and “breathe” professionalism throughout your whole person? To achieve these objectives it’s not enough to only be as competent and informed as possible, you also have to win your credibility and to impose yourself through a proper wardrobe – which by the way has different rules, depending on the work area.

Working in a corporation
If you are working in a law company, a bank or a consultancy, the best is to pick classic and stiff clothes, two pieces suits with pants or skirts, which would have to come in neutral colors like: black, grey, military green or different shades of brown.

Working in a looser or modern environment
Are you working in publicity, journalism at a newspaper, radio or television? Then you probably want to have an apparition as distinctive as possible, less orotund and to be, at the same time, wearing comfortable clothes. With all these said, it is still important to remember that you have to wear decent clothes, adapted to the requirements of your profession. The so called “casual – elegant” style is the best choice in your case. You can wear here jeans, a blouse or a coat as long as they are a little formal and the colors not too bright.

Working in service industry
If you are working in a hospital, restaurant or beauty salon, your image has to be the image of an adorable person on which you can reply on at all times. The classic deux-pieces are not fit here because you are not after imposing over your interlocutor. However, If you like wearing a suit pick happy pale colors or even red can be worn in this case. Also, you can wear sweaters, shirts and blouses with funny drawings or designs on them.

No matter what your working place is, sometimes you might find yourself holding in your hand an invitation to a rather select and pretentious event, an on that invitation you can read the words : black tie. Don’t know what that means?

Actually it is all about a dressing “code” which in our present day is not as strict and rigorous as in the past centuries. This means less rules but because of this the borders between formal and casual are very subtle and there can appear confusions. Here are the most important three styles included in this code when it comes to party invitations.

Formal
This term says basically that we cannot wear jeans. The formal code applies to events like cocktails or parties, and we will dress accordingly. Black makes an excellent choice when faced with this situation. For men, tie is a must, even if they don’t like wearing it.

Black tie
Any evening dress and assorted purse for women and for men dark suits with ties assorted.

Casual
In this situation, you can wear something less conventional – still you have to be a pleasant and carefully arranged apparition, especially if it is a work party. A suit is ideal both for men and women, regardless of the moment of the day. Jeans are to be worn only if they are simple, without any “fashionable” add-ons. Men can wear the pants from a suit and a colored shirt.

For a successful person you must take care about your dressing style.

Friday, May 25, 2007

Search for Jobs - Which Company?


Search for Job - WHAT TYPE OF COMPANY IS FOR YOU?

When choosing the company you are going to work for, an element you have to keep in mind the relational culture of it. This is extremely important. Because of this many people with good jobs have given up their job for another similar one with less financial advantages but better people and professionalism.

Trying to write strict and limited compartmental prescriptions for the employees seems a little too pushy. And it because this type of prescriptions simply don’t exist! This is a type of analysis has the purpose to refrain the classification of the relational culture to only two types, to identify their characteristics, forms and the members that generate them. from here, everyone can build their own compartmental model that can help them perform as good as possible in the company. This model can presume anything, from changing the perception over work to leaving the company whose values inflict with personal values.

In a company there can coexist, in a determinant relationship, two relational culture levels.

The visible level, determined by:

-The physic products of the company (building, offices, furniture, uniform, cars) for the personnel
-Verbal products (way of speaking). This element belongs t o each company and through them there can be speculated affirmations regarding the value of the company.
-Compartmental products – rituals and ceremonies whose existence permits the company to show its identity, offering to all the employees the sensation of belonging to the group.


The invisible level – is given by the values, the capacities, the knowledge, motivation and satisfaction of every employee of the firm.

If we go from the criteria of efficiency, the relational and organizational culture can be divided in:

Relational culture of progress:
the personnel of the firm is able to achieve purposes in a short time, values of the employees are linked as: action, change, development. It can exist in two forms: democratic or dictatorial.

Relational culture of regress:
personnel values tend to make them work less and less. This goes especially to over-centralized, state organizations. Employees take chances because the boss wants to, without being aware of the necessity for that specific chance. they will continue working just like before, only that now a new manner would be asked for, so they will continue working badly, with poor results.

Before applying for a job to a company, consider the above factors.

Sunday, May 20, 2007

Adware & Spyware


What is ADWARE AND SPYWARE

Adware is any software application software which makes banners appear the whole time it is in function. Also, the adware program can install components that will transmit information about the user and its behavior and this work on his PC. Unlike spyware programs, the user is asked when the program is being installed. Actually, an adware application is the application that, along with its basic functionality, has a different one, the one that makes it show commercials once in a while, downloaded periodically from certain internet servers.

Spyware is a program, usually downloaded from the internet, which sends information about the user without him knowing it, every time he connects to the internet. Usually, the packages sent contain marketing information and not confidential information, although some programs can do that too.

Even if some applications are both adware and spyware, this is not a generally true situation. Most of the times spyware applications have installed themselves and they are working without the user knowing it, opposing the adware applications that cannot be installed without the consent of the user.

For a long time quality and free software was installed and used for free but once the complexity of the programs became greater their costs have risen till the point the developers just had to find out methods to diminutive them. One of the easiest ways was delivering along with their programs application like adware and spyware. On the other hand, many commercial programs became usable freely and legally by passing the line to the adware category.

From the harmless intention of showing some commercials and till elements of analyzing and stocking information about the user and his software or hardware configuration the developers had to install on the target computer supplementary modules. If at the beginning it was only an engine that downloaded commercials and showed them in pre-calculated windows, the adware industry has evolved and grew a great bit since then. Now they use different instruments, from altering your browser and its settings and till launching background applications that monitor your PC activity.

Among the effects that follow installing spyware and adware are the next ones:
-Adding links to various magazines
-Adding new commercials on the web pages, sometimes replacing the existent ones
-Monitoring browser behavior in commercial purposes.
-Gaining access to passwords and credit cards.
-Slowing down the computer.
-In some cases they can call telephone numbers with high costs.
-Changing the browser’s homepage in commercial purposes.
-Strange icons and new software might appear on the desktop.


You can enter their online sites and try the services for free, then decide what to use.

Beware of Services you're receiving if it's free.

Sucessful Job Interview


TIPS FOR A SUCCESSFUL JOB INTERVIEW

Find out as much as you can about the company you intent to work for. Try to document yourself about everything and a thing the job you are competing for can include, the products and the services the company offers. Knowing these things will make you feel more confident when you will be asked specific questions about the company.

Make sure you are carrying with you a copy of your CV, written in a professional manner, including all details that could be of interest for that specific company.

Look your interviewer in the eyes, because this thing shows that you have confidence in yourself and that you are focusing on the subject. Show some enthusiasm towards the firm you are trying to work for.

Dress up as professional as possible. If the company style claims the wear of a suit, the wear that suit and look as presentable as possible because that is most important and it will make just the difference you need.

Try to answer the questions, in not more than 60 seconds. That doesn’t mean that you have to answer with simple yes and no, but long answers will make the interviewer lose his interest. And you might also lose you concentration.

Listen carefully and answer to questions directly. If you did not understand a question, ask them to explain it better to you, do not answer unless you are sure what you have been asked.

Prepare to tell them what your past activities have been and the way you consider they can influence your carrier. Give some examples that can end up leaving a good impression of you.

Ask questions. The questions you will ask show that you are proactive and that you want to make sure this place is indeed the right work place for you.

Send a “Thank You” note at no more than 2 days after the interview. Express your interest towards the job you are interested in and thank them for their time. Even if you end up not being interested in the job anymore, you can never know if that person can’t become a great contact person for you.

Best of Luck for Your Bright Future.

Tuesday, May 15, 2007

Time Management


FIVE TIPS TO SAVE YOUR TIME

1. Do certain things fewer times

Things that can be done less or things that can be done once instead of twice are those things that will help us save a lot of time. Clean your house once every ten days instead of every 7 days – you can do that, it’s normal and the house won’t get dirty in those three extra days.
Make a work report every six week not every four weeks if possible.
Keep meetings to inform yourself on ongoing projects twice a month not every week. And the list of things that can be done fewer times can go on forever.


2. Compete with yourself! - Focus

Watch the clock and settle to finish an activity by a certain hour. Focus, get rid of anything that could distract you and work more efficiently.

3. Ask more out of 15 minutes.

Can you find 15 minutes a day that you could use more efficiently? Is there lost time in your activities? Or maybe a less important activity you can give up on? If you manage to save 15 minutes every day, you will win in fact 91 hours every year!

4. Do a list of little activities that don’t take you more than a couple of minutes.

Of course, we usually want to deal with the important problems first. But when we feel tired, stressed, in a bad mood, we find it hard to concentrate and we lose our time forcing ourselves. A list of simple activities will help you finalize something and push up your productivity. And obviously it is always better to know you did something, even is it is small, than to realize you haven’t even started anything.

5. Work on a certain project over a certain period of time.

Rather than to try and finalize an activity at once, it is better to tell yourself: “ I will work on this for 15 minutes and see how much I can get done during this interval”. Focus and try to do all you can during those 15 minutes. This is an excellent advice to solve problems or projects you avoided lately.

Time Management is an essential skill for us.

Thursday, May 10, 2007

Fish as Pets


FISH AS PETS – A COLORFUL EXPERIENCE

If you want something new for your house or office, think about fish and aquariums… big aquariums, because they go with these times’ fashion.

The little golden fish wondering alone around his bowl seems to be long forgotten.

Instead of the little bowl, there are now huge aquariums, mounted on the walls or even enclosed in them, containing lots of colored fish, sand, lights, little stones and aquatic vegetation. Optionally you can choose a little castle of house to make the décor unique and fantasy-lie.

This idea has been adopted from restaurants, clubs or other public locations, but now it applies to homes of animal lovers, fish lovers especially.

You have decided to adopt fish because you like them or because you heard they bring prosperity and well-living to your life. Either way, you have to know how to take care of them because they are not just a decorative object; they are living beings that can’t take care of themselves.

They are going to need your full attention and care, they will totally depend on you. Here is some general advice, general because each species act differently and has different needs:

What do we need?
We need an aquarium, a thermometer, a heating system, a water filter, and plants to oxygenate the water, sand and little stones, and a source of light for the plants.

How do we actually do it?
Before placing the fish in the aquarium, the water needs to be left alone 24 hours and its temperature has to be of a minimum of 22-23 Celsius (it can differ for some species). The water is not changed all at the same time, it needs to be changes in several stages, 20% on each stage.

How do we feed fish?
Twice a day, we give them the dried food, the life food or the frozen one, depending on the species.

How do we treat sick fish?
The most common illness encountered amongst fish has as an exterior effect the apparition of some white pits on the flippers of the fish. In such situations, treatments are administrated in the aquarium to prevent the illness from spreading to the other fish too. For the right treatment, you have to go to a fish heath shop.

Another rule in fish illnesses of any type is to just raise the temperature of the water in the aquarium and to dissolve some salt in it.


Relax and enjoy your life with fish (not by eating!!!)

Sunday, May 06, 2007

Mistakes in a Job Interview


Six common mistakes during a Job Interview

1. You talk too much

The advantages of the fact that you are open to discussions and you are decided to persuade the fact that you are the best can turn against you. There is the risk of boring the other person with so many details and you can even look like you don’t have the capacity to concentrate on one given subject.

2. You don’t listen

Assure that the answers will are about to give is the one the question is asking for. This is a test that will demonstrate the employer that your future project will follow the exact steps he’s expecting.

3. Falling for it

An experienced recruiter will set you the trap of relaxation, trying to make you believe this is an interview with a little importance. This does not mean that you have to avoid jokes or affirmations that have nothing to do with the professional area, but you must always promptly go back to the subject of the discussion.

4. You are trying to take the lead

If you try this you can seem arrogant. Companies tend to search for people that can work efficiently in a team. When talking about thinks you’ve done on previous jobs try to use instead of “I” the pronoun “We” as often as possible.

5. You don’t ask questions

Try and make a discussion as professional as possible, asking questions that are right on the subject. Make realistic observation regarding the company and avoid emphasis.

6. You are late

Many employers can’t understand why the candidates continue to be late, so being on time or not has a great importance in their decision. If you can’t make it on the settled hour, call in time and try to reschedule the meeting, depending on the person that conducts the interview.

Avoid these mistakes and Be success in interview.

Tuesday, May 01, 2007

Creative Thinking


Adventures in Creative Thinking

More than One Way to Skin a Cat

How many times have you caught yourself saying that there could be no other solution to a problem – and that that problem leads to a dead end? How many times have you felt stumped knowing that the problem laying before you is one you cannot solve. No leads. No options. No solutions.

Did it feel like you had exhausted all possible options and yet are still before the mountain – large, unconquerable, and impregnable? When encountering such enormous problems, you may feel like you're hammering against a steel mountain. The pressure of having to solve such a problem may be overwhelming.

But rejoice! There might be some hope yet!

With some creative problem-solving techniques you may be able to look at your problem in a different light. And that light might just be the end of the tunnel that leads to possible solutions.

First of all, in the light of creative problem-solving, you must be open-minded to the fact that there may be more than just one solution to the problem. And, you must be open to the fact that there may be solutions to problems you thought were unsolvable.

Now, with this optimistic mindset, we can try to be a little bit more creative in solving our problems.

Number 1: maybe the reason we cannot solve our problems is that we have not really taken a hard look at what the problem is. Here, trying to understanding the problem and having a concrete understanding of its workings is integral solving the problem. If you know how it works, what the problem is, then you have a better foundation towards solving the problem.

Not trying to make the simple statement of what problem is. Try to identify the participating entities and what their relationships with one another are. Take note of the things you stand to gain any stand to lose from the current problem. Now you have a simple statement of what the problem is.

Number 2: try to take note of all of the constraints and assumptions you have the words of problem. Sometimes it is these assumptions that obstruct our view of possible solutions. You have to identify which assumptions are valid, in which assumptions need to be addressed.

Number 3: try to solve the problem by parts. Solve it going from general view towards the more detailed parts of the problem. This is called the top-down approach. Write down the question, and then come up with a one-sentence solution to that from them. The solution should be a general statement of what will solve the problem. From here you can develop the solution further, and increase its complexity little by little.

Number 4: although it helps to have critical thinking aboard as you solve a problem, you must also keep a creative, analytical voice at the back of your head. When someone comes up with a prospective solution, tried to think how you could make that solution work. Try to be creative. At the same time, look for chinks in the armor of that solution.

Number 5: it pays to remember that there may be more than just one solution being developed at one time. Try to keep track of all the solutions and their developments. Remember, there may be more than just one solution to the problem.

Number 6: remember that old adage," two heads are better than one." That one is truer than it sounds. Always be open to new ideas. You can only benefit from listening to all the ideas each person has. This is especially true when the person you're talking to has had experience solving problems similar to yours.

You don't have to be a gung-ho, solo hero to solve the problem. If you can organize collective thought on the subject, it would be much better.

Number 7: be patient. As long as you persevere, there is always a chance that a solution will present itself. Remember that no one was able to create an invention the first time around.

Creative thinking exercises can also help you in your quest be a more creative problems solver.

Say For example :

Take a piece of paper and write any word that comes to mind at the center. Now look at that word then write the first two words that come to your mind. This can go on until you can build a tree of related words. This helps you build analogical skills, and fortify your creative processes.

So, next time you see a problem you think you can not solve, think again. The solution might just be staring you right in the face. All it takes is just a little creative thinking, some planning, and a whole lot of work.

Everything is by practice.