This is a major mistake often seen among the youngsters and fresh candidates at the interview desk. Many youngsters join jobs, especially easy to get through kind of jobs just because of salary attraction. What they fail to see is that the company is hiring them for some good reasons of its profit, not to do charity. All that interest them is salary package. Often such candidates turn really impatient and just cannot wait till the interviewer asks him or her about expected salary package. Such candidate looks for an opportunity and whenever the interviewer is found little quiet, soon shoots questions like ‘How much are you planning to pay for this job?’ or ‘What will be my salary package if I am chosen for it?’ Well, such questions may not only irritate the interviewer, you may also lose chance to impress him forever. Ask about salary package only when the interviewer gives you come hint or asks you directly about your expected salary figure. Too much proactive effort from your side will invariably send wrong messages across.
Do not forget, it is you who is being interviewed; not the person sitting across the table. Maintain interview decorum. Too much of interest and questions may make you appear too bossy, picky and irritating. It is good if you have queries in store for the interviewer, it is always appreciated. But shooting such questions at the wrong time may spoil your entire effort. Shoot all questions you have regarding the company background or places of operation or anything specific about the job profile – only when you are asked. The interviewer may specifically ask you ‘Do you have any questions to ask?’ and that time you can shoot your questions. If you are not asked, towards end of the interview process you may proactively ask some questions. But keep it short. Make sure questions are sensible, smart, logical and not personal.
Often the interviewer makes the candidate feel relaxed, at ease and comfortable. Interviewer may crack some jokes, share light moments to see how you are exactly behind the shield of formal attire. But such atmosphere doesn’t permit you to forget all interview decorum and get personal. Even if the situation is light hearted do not suddenly get personal and shoot questions like ‘Sir, what does your name mean?’ or ‘Madam how many years you have been working in this company?’ Such abrupt questions may instantly make the interviewer feel uncomfortable
Follow these tips and do not make a mistake being proactive at the interview desk.
]]>Do not forget the medium, it is digital in nature not a physical form; here the recipient has much lesser span of attention and retention level. So do not bombard with information and lessons at a go, stretched for hours. An ideal lesson should not necessarily be more than 20 minutes long at a stretch. If the lesson is too long, you can break it into follow up modules and deliver in the next session. This way learners will pay more attention towards your lectures, will be more interested in it and also wait for the follow up sessions.
Internet as a medium is challenged by the fact that it lacks physical contact, proximity and its benefits. Don’t let it come between your relationships with your students. If you make yourself available just for the lessons of 20 minutes and disappear for a whole week, unless you are really famous, there are chances students may forget you or choose someone else over you who are more approachable. So do not commit this mistake. Stay in touch with the students, as much as you would have done in classroom situation. Make yourself approachable and available for any information, clarifications or help by sharing personal contact information like your business telephone number, email address and the like. It will help them to feel confidence and faith in you.
It’s important to engage your students. You may throw questions and ask them to mail you the replies or ask for feedback. You may start a thread in a forum or any blog, asking your students to participate actively and comment. Or motivate them to make some interesting video on the topic and upload, while others can put their opinions.
Gear up, let the online lesson be really interesting.
]]>First of all, know what you want to do. What’s your goal? Does your goal match with your skills? Often youngsters remain confused about jobs, designations, skills required and get convinced by what others are doing or what is highly paying. Never do this mistake. Know what you wish to do and if it suits your skills or not. If you wish to be a school teacher, stay determined. Whatever may come your way, you have to be firm with your decision. Don’t get lured by other job profiles.
From where will you come to know about the job opportunities? You may not know each job recruiter personally. So start registering yourself in different job portals. Pick up the popular ones and also niche job portals which specialize in an area of job like academics and media jobs etc. Submit your resume there, write a nice cover letter and finish your personal and professional profile. Mark all the areas of work, from which you wish to receive job alerts in your mail inbox. Make sure you complete all details, more explicit your profile is higher are the chances of getting interview calls. Apart from regular job alerts, make an effort to visit the job portals regularly and do a manual search for new job opportunities.
Look out for the job opportunities in your local dailies. You may refer to the job category of your interest like ‘academics’, ‘media’ etc. Browse these job advertisements regularly. They may ask you to send resume by email or post. Do the needful.
At times forced CVs do wonder. If you are eyeing at a company in particular, but in recent times they haven’t advertised for upcoming vacancy you may give an extra effort towards the same and send your resume. In such case, if they like your resume they may call when a vacancy crops up in future.
These are the few ways of job look out. It will ease the process of job hunt.
]]>We often make our resumes unnecessarily long stretched over pages. Always remember, an ideal resume should not be more than two pages. For fresher or junior employees pages shouldn’t be more than one and half page. Unless you are into profession for more than 15 years and head superior positions like Managing director, CEO your resume shouldn’t be too long. Make it crisp, compact yet all inclusive.
We often write things randomly, without maintaining order. An ideal resume should never be clumsy in terms of order of happenings in your life. As for example, state your present job on the top, followed by the earlier one, followed by the one before that and ending work experience column with the first job of your life. Same rule goes for other sections like academic qualification. Always mention latest happening first, followed by the earlier ones. It helps the recruiter know what you are doing in present.
It’s often seen applicants don’t take resume much seriously and treat it as an informal affair. People often put informal email addresses on their resume like – [email protected] or [email protected]. They show immaturity and casual approach of the applicant. Make a formal email account which sounds formal, containing your name or initials and use the same for all job applications.
People often commit the mistake regarding alignment of text. People often put text in center alignment. It jeopardizes balance. Put every text towards left of the page, including name and contact information on the top.
To convey maximum information people are often tempted to write in paragraphs. Don’t do it, it’s dangerous. No one likes to read paragraphs. Put all information in short bullet points or break into points with enough space in between to show distinction of the points. Write in small crisp sentences while conveying all important information like – name of course, name of institute, place, percentage, year of passing.
Once you control these mistakes, your resume can get even better.
]]>Simplicity is the key to success of web writing. Unless your message is well comprehended by all, the whole purpose of writing will go in vain. Keep it simple yet strong, crisp yet impactful, creative yet relevant. No one is interested in reading pages after pages, so keep it short but powerful, including all important things you wish to communicate to your visitor. You can’t beat around the bushes and for the sake of creativity commit the mistake of losing focus. Stick to your topic, stay relevant.
Often web contents are seen repetitive, vague, and lacking concrete substance. But if a website is not informative, doesn’t convey anything meaningful even a good style of writing can go wasted. So, know what all to be included, what are the important points and include them all. Don’t beat around the bushes.
Structure your write up properly, in a smooth flow moving from one thought to another. One sentence should be well connected to the next, but shouldn’t convey the same thing. A well-knit writing with a smooth flow will make reading pleasurable and beneficial for the reader. There shouldn’t be any disconnection. Many writers often use too many conjunctions to make the write up well-knit. But conjunctions show writer’s weakness. Instead, you may change paragraphs to convey different things.
Next time keep these few simple tips in mind while writing web content. It will be easier for you to craft captivating and effective web content.
]]>Here are few tips for your help.
Many of us often commit the mistake of carrying pending work home and working overnight on the same. It not only brings stress to us, but also frustrates other family members. They feel deprived of your precious time and company. If you are a family person and have kids in the house, they may feel distant and neglected. Keep your work limited within your office only. Stay late, finish work and come home relaxed.
Many of us don’t carry work home, but just can’t forget office work even after leaving office. Remember even if you are not physically occupied with work, you may be mentally occupied. Learn to mentally switch off too immediately after work. Don’t come back home with work related worries, office conversations lingering over phone, mails. Just switch yourself off, if not your phone. Don’t overdo your office happening descriptions with family members. They may feel bored.
Your stress and depressed face will make your beloved ones unhappy too. Try to come home with a smile on your face. If it doesn’t come naturally to you, pretend to be happy. Initially it will be frustrating, but slowly your fake smile will turn into your natural smile and you will come back home with a genuinely happy mood. Talk to all, laugh together, eat together, watch television together, and go out for movies or dinner. Soon you will wait for every evening and come back home with sheer energy.
Often aimless evening doesn’t motivate us enough to return home on time. Keep a program scheduled for every evening post work, inspiring you to return home as soon as work is finished. It could be cooking, decorating room, dining out with family, watching film at home – anything of your choice.
]]>What samples to show and what not to show, and how many to show? These questions often haunt a freelance writer, more so because there is no one right answer to this. Every client is different so is there demand, and so is the solution to that.
The question is then how to decide what to show and what not to show? As said, there is not any definite answer to this question, but I can tell you about what I do when it comes to hunting writing gigs. That will help you devise your plan of action.
The first step in the process is to see what client is asking for, as sending relevant samples is what you should do. Sending a sample of how-to article to a client who wants a sales page will do no good. Similarly sending a sample of an article to one who is asking for a press release will also not get you the job.
If you have written on the topic related to project advertise then send that sample, but while doing so do keep the following tip in mind.
This is very important. We all grow one article at a time, so sending a sample that you wrote 2 or 3 years back will do more harm than good, as it will not demonstrate you current style. Do not mistake in thinking that writing style is static; rather nothing is more organic than writing style. The more you write the better you become. You should, therefore, send the samples that you wrote in last month, or last to last month. Do not send any sample that you wrote more than 6 months back.
As many as required to get the work. This is a judgment call you have to take. If the work advertised is going to last long than I provide more samples and if it is a small project then I do not send too many samples, or too many types of samples. It also depends on what a client is asking for.
This is how I decide on what samples to send and how many to send. I hope this will help you decide as well.
]]>In the following paragraphs, I am going to talk about 3 indicators that tell you that it is you who is stopping you from getting hired, and when I said you, I meant your habit.
Nothing is perfect in this world; neither you nor any job. If you are waiting for a perfect job to fly from the land of fairy and set down in your lap then I am afraid to say the wait is going to be rather long. Meanwhile, I would recommend bagging a not-so-perfect job that matches your skill set, and which can provide sufficient money for you to survive on.
Be realistic. Weigh every aspect of the dream job you want, and see what all you can let go. You will soon be employed.
Are you relying on just one technique to search for the job? Do you feel uncomfortable trying out different job-search tools and techniques?
To catch a lot many fish, a fisherman needs to have a net that is wide enough and strong enough. Similarly, a job hunter needs to widen his net using all the possible tools and techniques to land up in a good job, which sadly enough, very few people are doing, for they are slave of their habit of using one tool.
This is stupendous mistake committed by a job hunter. No one wants someone who has an ego as big as the size of the Milky Way. I know your ego is comparatively smaller in magnitude, but why does not it reflect in the cover letter you send out? Why your cover letter is talking too much about “I”?
Writing I, I, and I will not land you up in a job, forget about a good job, as no one cares how smart, talented, Einstein-esque you are. Your interviewer cares only about his needs, and about an employee who can meet that need. I know what big a dork he is, but at the end of the day, he is the one who will sign your paying slip, month after month.
Wouldn’t it be smart then to satisfy his needs by talking about his company and how you will add solve the problem he has in a cover letter? From where I am standing, it would be smarter, far smarter to this than to talk about I, me, and myself.
If you, unknowingly, committed any of these mistakes then it is time to undo them, should you want to get hired. After all, we call it habit because we do it unknowingly, as a habit.
]]>There is only one thing that significantly affects the conversion rate of visitors into customers. No, it is not the layout or a design or cool graphics or awe-inspiring animation. It is the website copy that makes the conversion rate surge up or dive down. High-converting website copy follows a set of principles which I am going to share here.
Some headlines work better than others. Most of the people err here. When it comes to writing headline for a post, all they do is write whatever first comes to their mind and use it as title. What possibly could be worse than this — not writing the copy at all?
Do not commit this mistake. Think hard before writing a headline. I will suggest you to write 10-15 versions of a headline before choosing any one.
USP stands for Unique selling proposition. In the beginning, you would like to know what is that one thing that you would want to talk on a webpage. Do not build too many selling propositions in a web page. This will confuse your audience. Yes, even two is too many in this context.
Your copy should not waver. It should be laser focused on the promise it is attempting to deliver on. Do not let is waver even for one word. Keep your audience and its needs in mind when writing copy. Use your audience’s language to communicate.
Copy that builds on the promise made by the headline converts better. Do not just write anything on your web page — you can do that but you should not — as it will dilute the effect of the proposition made in the headline.
People do not care about data and stats as much as they care about story. Tell them anecdotal tales and they will believe you. Give them data and they will yawn.
These are some of the principles of copy writing, which you should include in your writing to make your web page convert like crazy.
]]>This is as important as conducing a Google search. Twitter search will not only help you find people to network with, but it will also help you search for jobs. Just type in the keyword or hash tag to find the right person to network with. Do not add just anyone because you can. You will not want to get 1000s of useless tweets every single day.
This is a classic mistake. Most of the newbie do exactly that and end up becoming frustrated of twitter because of the low quality tweets in the timeline. You should follow people back, but only those whose tweets you want to receive. Do not follow everyone. You start doing that and you will start getting more invites. Spammers love this, so do not be the love interest of a spammer.
Check out whom your friends are sending DM (direct message) to. These people could be the potential target of your networking effort. Keep a close watch on whom your friends are talking to, and follow those whom you deem suitable.
Promoting yourself is an important part of networking. Tell people who you are, and what you stand for. They will not know this if you do not tell them. Tweet links to your work, and add call to action in the tweet. This way you will be seeding your expertise in the community, which definitely will fetch desired result.
Networking takes time and effort, but the return is always good, so do not hesitate in putting time into it. I want you to start working on above suggestions now. You will see the difference.
]]>I am narrating here my discussion with him because I want to tell the readers that no matter what, feedback given by your client “about your work” matters a lot. His reaction to your personality may not matter, but for the work you have done for him, it does matter.
Having said that, I must say that your client’s feedback is not the final word on the quality you are able to produce. It is just a reflection of the kind of work you have produced for the client. You need to ask yourself where you have erred, and you should try not to repeat the same mistake again with another client. One feedback may not hurt you, but quite a few will blow a serious dent in your reputation.
Always keep your eyes and ears open, and welcome feedbacks with open arm. This is how you will grow.
]]>In this article, we will see what you need to do to get clients from twitter.
Will you like to do business with sexykitten, or hotrode? I am sure you won’t, regardless of how smart hotrode or sexykitten is. This is the power of name. A good name creates a positive image, whereas, a bad name ruins the party. Use your real name or business name for the twitter profile. If your name or business name is already taken then use something close to that, but spare yourself the horror of bad names.
Like a real name, a real picture helps create a positive image in the mind of onlookers. Do not go for cool looking cartoons, or any other thing. Let your prospect know that you are a real person behind the twitter profile by giving a real picture.
If you do not know this then let me break the good news that you can brand your twitter profile the way you want. I will suggest you customize the background of your twitter profile with your corporate brand identity.
Your one-line twitter bio says a lot about you. People get influenced reading that, so it better be good. Make your twitter bio forceful and SEO-friendly.
Many people leave URL field empty. Do not commit this mistake. Use a proper working URL in your profile. This will work as a door to your website.
Create a list of the tweets from your industry and make it publicly available. This will give your prospect an idea about how closely you follow the changes in your industry. He may regard you as a leader of the pack, which will mean more business for you.
]]>A checklist offers many benefits, and unlike its how-to part, it does not require us to invest lots of time reading it. A checklist offers the following benefits:
One must keep a checklist handy whenever one embarks upon a new job. As said above, it will prove to be a very valuable tool right from the beginning.
]]>Before beginning to write, gather some key information related to the topics you are going to write about in the article. Do not waste your time in finding every aspect related to the subject at hand. Find only what is necessary to explain what you want to write. Once they are handy, stop researching.
Switch off your cell phone or put it in silent, remove your landline cord (if you cannot put it in silent), log out from your mail as well as social book marking accounts, log out from all instant messaging services, and also remove the internet connection for the time being.
Be quick and write down the bullet points that you are going to cover in the article. It should not take much time, if your pre-writing research is in place.
Avoid using backspace and delete key when you are writing. Leave the editing work for later. Right now focus your energy on crafting the piece.
Do not waste a life time editing an article. This is nothing but a sheer waste of time, unless you are sending your article for some research or academic journal. Remove the issues you had while writing the article.
Follow these steps and your writing will be quick. Do you wish to know how much time did it take me to write this short piece? Well it took me 9 minutes to write all this. It could have been 6 or 7, if I had not fall prey to editing while writing. Hope, you will not make the same mistake that I did while writing this, and get the work done real quick.
]]>Nothing tastes sweeter than success, and nothing prepares you for success like failure does. Success in nothing but a journey from smaller failure to a bigger one with a scope for introspection and analysis at every juncture. If you want to succeed then do not abstain from failing. The more you will fail the more experienced you will have.
What turns a failure into a success? Is it skill or is it tenacity? Be tenacious and exercise persistence until you succeed. A person is not a loser or cannot be deemed as a loser until he quits.
People who are afraid of growing never succeed. To succeed in your chosen field, you need to keep yourself apprise of the knowhow of your field.
Do not get caught in the analyzing mindset. There will no better time than “NOW” to take action. Do not become victim of analysis or paralysis.
There is a difference between one who touches the sky and the one who sniff the soil all their life. And that difference lies in the willingness to help. Keep helping people, and you will learn many things in the process.
Helping others selflessly is how you build network of trusted friends. Be willing to give, just asking for something in return will not help you build a network.
Be honest to yourself and others. Do not brag or lie.
Nothing backfires as strongly as does overpromising and under delivery. Do more and promise less.
Indulging in a blame-game is a typical mindset of loser. If you have erred, accept it, learn from it and move on. There is no point in playing blame-game. As it is, no one is going to believe you.
Saying no is very important. If you do not know how to effectively say no without antagonizing the recipients then you will either end up having more foes than friends, or you will end up wasting time doing things that does not matter to you.
]]>The first thing you should do is figure out the nature of the question. An illegal question does not refer to a question that is criminally liable, but rather just a question that an interviewer is not allowed to ask. Questions like these are from topics that cannot legally have a bearing on whether or not you get a job. Such as questions about race, sex, age, health, disabilities, and religion. Any of these could be mentioned unintentionally in the forming of a question, but all are illegal for an interviewer to ask you.
It’s necessary for you to understand that in most cases an illegal question comes up as a mistake from the interviewer. Oftentimes these are asked with no intention to discriminate against you. But rather these are attempts by the interviewer to be friendly, or to relate to you. This way the can get a better feel for how you would fit in with the company. But usually through inexperience, instead of doing that through legal means, they accidentally slip into an illegal pitfall by asking you a personal question.
In this case you have two polite options for answering the question and moving the interview forward. The first option is that you could answer the question. But in answering, make sure that it’s a question you feel completely comfortable answering, and preferably answering n brief. Then try to move on to a different topic. The second option is to essentially ignore the question and move the interview forward by focusing on a different work related topic of yours.
Either option works well, and will keep an interview’s flow without making for an uncomfortable situation on either side. Try to stay professional and courteous, with a positive disposition, as you always should during any interview. If you can follow that model, and not flinch under the pressure of an illegal question, you’ll be just fine.
]]>Pick out what’s important to you at a job. For most people a good job has decently high pay, good opportunity for industry growth, and plenty of job openings so that you have a good chance of getting a job. Those requirements are usually a good place to start. Industry growth is important, so that your company can stay relevant, and you can ensure a reasonable amount of job security. When they’re hiring for more opposed to fewer job openings, you have a better chance of getting a job. High pay speaks for itself. Who doesn’t want that?
From that you can formulate a list of the job openings that best fit what you’re looking for. Then you can concentrate on those openings. Do your research about the companies offering the work, and tailor your cover letter and resume to apply to each company individually. Putting in the personal touch will separate you from the field, as most people use generic cover letters and resume formats. Even though that’s a huge mistake, as they’re easily spotted by hiring managers, and are very frowned upon.
If you find you have more than one offer, weigh the options between both jobs. If job stability isn’t a huge concern, and you’re willing to take the risk for a chance at more money, go for that job. Weigh your comfort zones against what’s available to you, and choose the job that you’re most likely to succeed with. Making a name for yourself in one place carries weight in the IT world, so take advantage of your opportunities.
]]>Once you are done with writing the article or memo, close the document and divert your attention from it for 10-15 minutes. Do some other work and do not think about the document. This will free up your mind, and next time when you will proofread the document, you will not be primed with the content, which will help you see the errors.
Yes, this helps. By reading your document out loud, you are not only employing your eyes, but you are employing your ears and voice as well in proofreading, which matters a lot. Sometime things that look good, doesn’t sound good.
This is another valuable insight that will help you in proofreading. If you cannot find errors while reading your document from start to finish, try reversing the process. Reading the document backward will give you a virtual fresh pair of eyes.
There are certain words, certain phrases or certain grammar or punctuation mistake you tend make more often than other mistakes. Make a note of those mistakes and focus on finding such mistakes.
Using the search feature of your word processor can also be a good way to find out common spelling errors. Replace it with correct ones, and for this you may use replace feature.
]]>First off, and I can’t stress this enough, dress the part. If you’re interning at a big time corporation, and you see the rest of the interns dressed anything but professionally, do not follow their example. Buttoned shirt and tie should be a no brainer for every day that you are there to intern. This way your appearance meets your attitude, creating a good impression that you are there to work and to learn. That’s what companies want.
Get to work before the boss. That way you can show that you are committed to the tasks at hand, as well as learning everything you can. A boss will put more into your internship if you show the initiative to take advantage of everything they have on offer.
Know the easy stuff, like making coffee, working a copier and fax, the simple office tasks in and out. There’s a certain amount of grunt work that interns are meant to do, and all of these fall into those categories. The faster you can work through them, the faster you can get down to the real aspects of your job.
Finally, do the best you can. Internships are really you volunteering your time, but don’t think that just because you aren’t being paid you shouldn’t work hard. Being a hard worker with a good attitude and willingness to get the job done will put you into the memory of your coworkers and boss. That can be invaluable when you’re looking to get a job somewhere down the line. Not to mention top performers in internship positions can even be offered full time positions from the companies they are interning with. Work hard and you just may get yourself a job.
]]>1. Not following submission directions. This is a huge negative before you’ve even got your foot in the door. Not following directions makes you look unable to follow directions, and not many people are interested in hiring a difficult employee to deal with.
2. The dreaded typo. Spellchecker is your friend, but isn’t 100% accurate, so always, always proofread. Read everything at least twice, and once backwards so that you can ensure all mistakes are completely eradicated.
3. Listing non-job related information. The hiring manager that’s handling your resume doesn’t care about the info that doesn’t apply to that job, so don’t waste their time by adding unnecessary fluff.
4. Improper format. All resumes basically follow the same exact format, and most corporations use this format to quickly scan through their masses of resumes. If they find one that doesn’t follow the guidelines, usually they lose interest, as being different in the corporate world is never a good thing.
5. Don’t refer to yourself. Whatever you do stay away from words like “I” or “me”, as referring to yourself on a resume is unprofessional, and makes you look bad. It’s your resume, they already know that it’s about you.
6. Don’t make yourself look well-rounded. Most people think that if they seem to have a broad skill set, there will be more availability for you at a particular corporation. This isn’t true at all. You want to describe a very specific skill set, as that’s what the job you’re applying to is looking for.
7. Writing too much. Most people make their resumes much too long, loading the page with senseless facts, or worse, droning on for more than one page. Your resume is supposed to be a short document to introduce a potential employer to your work experience, emphasis on the short. A hiring manager’s time is valuable, they don’t want to read through pages of content, they want to get a feel for you as quickly as possible.
8. Inappropriate email address in your contact information. There are a plethora of sources which offer you an email address for free, take advantage. If you have something controversial, or possible offensive in your email address, don’t use it when you’re applying for a job. You’re expected to be professional, an inappropriate email isn’t exactly that.
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