Career Development Plan for a Newly Recruited MBA

Alice asked the March Hare in 'Alice in Wonderland'-"which road shall I take?" the March Hare asked in return "that depends upon where you want to go." Alice looked somewhat bewildered and said, "It doesn't matter." The March Hare looked at her intently and then said "Then it doesn't matter which road you take."

The anecdote stated above quite clearly brings out that one must know where one wants to head to i.e. the goal one wants to achieve before one makes a leap into this world. The same thing applies to one's career - a person must be aware as to what his ultimate ambition in life is and then accordingly work towards it. At our organization we help our managers identify their aim in life and provide guidance and support to them to help them achieve it by charting out a career development plan.

A career is a sequence of positions occupied by a person during the course of a lifetime. A well-managed career is the inherent need felt by each and every employee. Over the past few years the companies have been recruiting a lot of MBAs at various hierarchical levels in the organization. The career development holds importance not just for the individual involved but also for the company in order for it to effectively harness the human resources it has. In light of these, the company is proposing a career development plan of a newly recruited MBA and the career development process to be followed towards the successful accomplishment of that plan.

Career development, hence is an exercise ensuring enhancement of employees' capacity and capabilities, not only for the personal betterment of the employees but also to ensure the meeting of current and future business needs. Career development is an ongoing process and requires a sense of continued commitment from both the newly recruited MBAs and the top managers of the organization. The process of career development has hence, to be carried on a shared basis.

The process of Career development involves useful inputs from both senior level MBA and the person who has been recruited recently into the organization. The benefits of the programme would accordingly be available to the individual and to the organization. It is hence a programme for mutual benefit of the individual and the organization.

For formulating the career development plan the following assumptions have been taken into account:

ASSUMPTIONS
1. The hierarchical structure across various departments is more or less similar as can be gauged from the organization structure attached along with.

2. The organization is a manufacturing organization dealing in various products and these products are grouped under various brands. At the Asst. Manager and Manager level, the persons are incharge of a product or at most two. The Senior Manager is responsible for a group of products that may fall under the same or different brands. Hence a Senior Manager has quite a few Managers and Asst. Managers under him.

3. The proposed career plan has been given for only one MBA who would be joining in at the Asst. Manager level in the Marketing division of the company. Similar plans for people joining in other departments of the company can be framed. This would not require much modification as the organization structure of the company across various departments has been taken to almost similar.

4. The HR Chief in conjunction with Senior Managers of all the departments would frame the proposed career development programme. This would help getting the coordination of all the departments in pursuing with the plan. Also the cross-functional transfers would become relatively easier once all the departments are serious about the programme and coordinate for its successful implementation. This would also help establishing a positive atmosphere in the company in favour of the programme.

5. The given plan is only a tentative one. Periodic modifications to the plan would be undertaken in light of any relevant changes. The diversification of the company would mean acquisition or start of new businesses. Based on such developments suitable changes would have to be incorporated in the plan.

6. The manager of the department, in which the MBA has joined at the Asst. Manager level, would frame the plan, in active consultation with the new MBA. He is the right person for initiating this process as he would be best aware of the performance of the MBA on the job and would be in a better position to assess his skills.

ADVANTAGES TO THE NEWLY RECRUITED MBA

Every individual would like to control his destiny. He would like to chart out a wonderful career for himself. At our organization we provide the MBAs with just that opportunity.

"Dive headlong and learn to swim, it is not just important, it is critical for survival."

In the competitive world of today, in order to remain a high performer and to best serve the organization, for which they are working, the MBAs today have to constantly keep themselves abreast of the changing requirements. The programme provides the MBAs with sufficient number of avenues from time to time to hone his skill and develop his competencies.

The programme would also enable the individual to realise some of his latent skills. The programme would serve as a means for the MBA to climb the organization hierarchy and take up higher posts in the company on a later date. The successful execution of the programme would help the MBA discharge his job responsibilities in a more effective manner.

Advantages to the company

The advantages the programme for the company are the following:

* With the corporate world undergoing rapid changes employee retention has become a very critical issue. Increasing competition within the industry has led to an increased demand for MBAs. The company has to strive hard to retain high performers. The company has to constantly look out for ways and means to recruit talented people and more importantly to retain them. A lure of better pay packets implies that these MBAs would be on the look out for jobs. A career development programme coupled with various other factors provides an effective means for attracting, retaining and developing the employees.

* To be able to maintain a competitive edge in a constantly changing environment the organization needs to hone the skills and develop competencies of the newly recruited MBAs. The programme also helps the organization realise the latent talent of its MBAs. A well thought out career development programme serves that purpose.

* Having a well developed career development programme definitely improves the motivation level of the new MBAs. This helps improve their performance on the current jobs. Besides it ensures a much better performance for the organization both in the short and the long run. .

* The programme would help establish a transparent mechanism and a system of open communication in the organization. Such a transparent environment would help bring forth invaluable suggestions for any job/exercise carried out by the organization even though they may not be directly related to that job.

CAREER DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME AS A PART OF OVERALL SUCCESSION PLAN OF THE COMPANY

To ensure smooth running of business the companies have to adopt a proactive approach. Gone are the days of stable workforces. We are currently operating in a highly volatile environment wherein the companies have to strive hard to retain high performers. Earlier succession plans were merely replacement plans wherein whenever any key post fell vacant the organizations used to look at persons immediately below that level as possible successors. However, now the concept of succession plans has undergone a change. The main objective of the succession plan of the company is to ensure leadership continuity

CAREER DEVELOPMENT A Process OF SHARED Responsibility

Any programme on career development cannot be a success unless and until a joint effort is made by both the company and the individual (in this case the new MBA). Wholehearted commitment from the top management is undoubtedly the starting point of this programme, one must remember that the programme would be an exercise in futility till the individual is also serious about the entire effort. The following are the essential prerequirites for the successful implementation of the programme:* The objectives and purpose of the programme need to be spelt out right at the outset to ensure that all the parties involved in the programme are well aware of it.

* A wholehearted commitment from top management is needed not just in letter but in true spirit.
* An active participation from the MBAs (for whom the plan is being set up) needs to be secured. They must be convinced about the merits of the programme (personal as well as organizational for them to give their full cooperation.
* A system of open communication needs to be established throughout the organization so that all the involved parties are aware of the minutiae of the programme. Moreover, transparency needs to be built within the system to ensure that the programme carries out on a smooth and fair basis.
* Since the cross-functional development of employees is an inherent part of the programme a committed effort from all the departments to this effect has to come forth. To be able to successfully execute this, the programme has been framed by the Senior Managers of various departments.

PROCESS OF CAREER DEVELOPMENT

A new MBA enters an organization with certain goals and aspirations. The first introduction that the person gets to an organization is through the induction programme.

The induction programme must make the new MBA aware of the vision, mission, objectives, organization structure, communication channels, roles and tasks expected of him, organization culture, values etc. Having gone through the induction programme the new MBA feels a lot more comfortable in the organization and he can get started on his work with much more devotion and commitment.

The first question that needs to be addressed at this stage is when the career development programme should start for a newly recruited MBA. The first step towards career development plan for an MBA would start approximately 6 months after the date of joining the organization. This is just about the time when the first performance appraisal of the person would have been completed. Thereafter, performance appraisals every 6 months would provide information about the person's performance on the job.

The performance appraisal holds importance in this regard because there is a close linkage between the performance of the person and the initiation and continuation of his career development plan.

The career development exercise has to be taken up for those persons whose performance on the job is as per or exceeding established standards. These are the MBAs having high potential and hence a career development plan for such employees needs to be charted out. For the MBAs whose performance is for certain reasons below the expected standards, he/she needs to be motivated to improve the performance in his/ her current sphere of activities. As the performance of these MBAs improves on the current job, a career development plan for them would also have to be framed.

Having identified the MBAs for whom the career development plan needs to be charted out, the following process needs to be started.

Analysis of MBAs current skills and competency gaps

STEP 1: The MBA and the manager separately assess MBA's skills and competencies.

STEP 2: The manager then analyses both the assessments.

STEP 3: The manager then arranges for a discussion with the MBA. He must set out quite clearly the purpose of the discussion. At this stage a two way discussion takes place between the Manager and the newly recruited MBA. During the course of the discussion the two exchange views and jointly try to find out MBAs skills, competencies, strengths and weaknesses. An effort to achieve a fit between organizational and individual goals is made.

The concept of Johari Window needs a special mention out here. Every person has certain strengths and weaknesses, which are known to both the person and to the persons who come in contact with him. However, there will be such traits, which the individual is not aware of. But after going through this process of career development, the individual would become aware of such traits. At the same time the organization would also become aware of certain traits about the MBAs which had not been noticed by it so far. Thus the process would prove to be beneficial to both the individual and the organization

Career Planning

STEP 4: The manager initiates efforts to set up a career development plan for the MBA. Also he explores various development opportunities for the MBA to be carried on during the course of MBAs stay with the organization. Various actions that need to be taken, to accomplish each of the identified plan steps, and the timeframe within which they are to be achieved. Also he tries and assesses how much resources would be required in finishing of various stages of the plan.

STEP 5: The manager at this stage also identifies various barriers that might disrupt the progress of the career development plan.

STEP 6: The manager then shows the proposed draft for career development plan prepared by him to the MBA. Any changes that might need to be incorporated are brought on at this stage and the development plan is finalized.

STEP 7: Follow up and review of the plan and the development process need to be done on a periodic basis (taken as 6 months in this case) in light of the changing circumstances.

THE PLAN

As per the company's induction policy, the MBA (who has just completed his post graduation in management) would join in the organization at the Asst. Manager level. The company has a practice of providing relevant and enriching job to the new MBAs.

Given below is the career plan for a person who joins in as an Asst. Manager in the Marketing Division of the company. As is clear from the structure of the company, an MBA could join in as an Asst. Mgr.- Sales or an Asst. Mgr.- Distribution or an Asst. Mgr.- Advertising

The job responsibilities of the Asst. Manager - Sales would include:1. Achievement of sales target for the product of which he is incharge 2. Customer evaluation3. Overall product promotion in the specified area of operations4. Helping the top management in setting the credit policy. He will provide the inputs relating to his area of operation.

The job responsibilities of the Asst. Manager - Advertising would include:1. Forming a media plan for the product under him2. Formulation of the advertising budget for the product under him3. Recognition of various promotional opportunities4. Contacting advertising agencies and doing the necessary dealings with them

The job responsibilities of the Asst. Manager - Distribution would include:1. Maintaining of dealer relations.2. Establishment and constant review of channels of distribution for the product under him.3. Ensuring timely delivery to wholesalers or retailers.

As stated above, the Asst. Manager's performance would be appraised from time to time. Based on the appraisal reports and the discussion of Manager with the MBA (Asst. Manager) his skills and competencies and his areas of interest would be identified. Based on all these the Asst. Manager would be provided with sufficient opportunities from time to time to take up responsibilities as Asst. Manager of some other operation within the same department. Like Asst. Manager sales could be given a chance to take up job as Asst. Manager Advertising or Asst. Manager distribution. This would enable the MBA to get a complete picture of the job in various operations within the marketing department.

Also to ensure the development of cross functional skills the Asst. Manager would be given opportunities to take up job responsibilities in other departments at the same level. This practice is in line with the company's policy of building managers with a general managerial perspective, as this would help them in performing their tasks in a much better way at the senior managerial levels.

The above plan of shifting the MBAs from one area to another including interdepartmental shifts would be followed up by periodic discussions with the MBA to build in a system of reviewing of career plan from time to time. The MBA would be given a choice to stick in the area of his interest.

The organization follows a system of merit based promotions. This helps building a healthy competitive atmosphere in the organization. The MBAs performance would be evaluated in light of the job responsibilities discharged by him and the skill enhancement undergone by him. The Asst. Manager would be promoted to the ranks of a manger in a period of 3 to 5 years. The Asst. Manager could become the Manager of either the department (Marketing in this case) in which he got his first appointment or if he so wishes and provided his performance and skills warrant, he could become a Manager in the department (other than Marketing), in which he has had sufficient exposure in the last year and a half.

As the Manager Marketing division (of a given product), the individual would be expected to carry out the following job responsibilities:

1. Setting up of target level of sales for Asst. Managers for the given product and ensuring that Asst. Managers working under him achieve the sales targets.

2. Reviewing and finalizing the advertising budget and media plan (for the product under his operation) prepared by the Asst. Manager and getting it approved.

3. Efforts to ensure a congruity between sales, distribution and advertising efforts of the product under his operation.

4. Looking out for opportunities for new or more efficient dealer networks and making continuous efforts for reduction in selling and distribution costs of the company.

5. Suggesting new means of promotion for the product.

The company would continue introducing new products in future. Based on the manager's performance, he/she could be asked to undertake launch of the new product. This would provide a challenging opportunity to the manager and would prove to be useful when the person would be held incharge of various products as a Senior Manager. The performance of the manager would be reviewed on a periodic basis. A manger would take something like 5-8 years to become a Senior Manager.

The senior manager would be heading the various product managers. His job responsibilities would include:

1. Setting the overall sales targets for all the products under him and ensuring that the targets set are achieved.

2. Review and compilation of overall advertising budget and media plan for the various products under him.

3. He could even be held incharge of an entire brand depending upon the range of products in that brand.

4. Framing of dealer related and credit policies for all the products under him.

5. Setting up of price of various products in conjunction with Senior Manager of the Finance division.

6. Looking out for opportunities for market potential of products and setting out plans for which all products could be launched in future.

The job of Senior Manager provides enough opportunities to the person to develop his skills and competencies, as he would be exposed to variety of products whether under the same or different brands. This would help the person identify the strategic issues involved in marketing products of different kinds.

A senior manager would get promoted to the ranks of Vice President, Marketing in a span of 8 - 11 years.

The job responsibilities of a Vice President, Marketing would include the following:

1. Set/Approve the sales targets for all the products and ensuring that they are achieved.

2. Compilation of overall advertising budget and media plan for all the products.

3. Framing of overall distribution, pricing, credit policies for the company.

4. Taking strategic decisions on launch of new products and launch of existing products to new markets.

The Vice President would form part of the Board of Directors and would be involved in taking of various strategic decisions relating to overall company matters from time to time. The Vice President would get promoted to the ranks of CEO in around 6 - 8 years.

Besides the above stated plan it would be worthwhile mentioning that the above is only an indicative plan. A manager who consistently performs well on the job and who keeps acquiring new skills and competencies would obviously have an accelerated ascendancy up the organization. Also the company is planning to diversify in near future. A direct offshoot of the efforts of diversification of the company would be opening up of new avenues for promotion. It would also lead to more challenging job assignments.

PLANNED TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT

Besides the normal job providing adequate learning opportunities, the company intends to hold the following development programmes from time to time for management cadre at all levels. Such programmes would quite obviously lead to enhancement of skills and competencies of managers besides keeping them up to date with the latest developments in the managerial arena and industry.

Conference Programmes: The company intends to hold various conferences and seminars from time to time. This would help the managers to get exposed to the ideas of speakers who are experts in the fields. The topics that might be covered under conference may range from specific managerial techniques to broad topics such as relationships between business and society. The conferences would be made absorbing by ensuring a careful selection of speakers and by introducing two way communications and discussions. Some of the conference programmes organized by the organization in the past few years include:* Time and stress management* Conference on inter personnel skills* Conference on computer graphics

UNIVERSITY MANAGEMENT DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMMES: The company intends to stay in constant touch with major business schools for conducting various management development programmes. These programmes intend to expose the managers in theory, principles and new developments in management. Also such programmes a valuable interchange of experience among managers. The areas that have been covered in the last few executive programmes include:

* Managerial process and organisational behaviour.

* Modern methods for quantitative and qualitative decision making

* Assessment of personal values and goals

Every manager would be expected to attend Management Development Programmes of atleast 3 weeks every year. Out of these 3 weeks atleast 1 week should be in area other than the one in which the manager is working as part of his regular work schedule with the company.

LABORATORY TRAINING: Programmes involving case discussions, role plays, computer simulations, management games, problem solving exercises, group discussions have been organized by the company in the past and would continue to be organized in future to ensure that managers learn to apply various managerial techniques to decision making in simulated work situations.

TEAM BUILDING SKILLS: The company would lay special emphasis on building team skills in managers. The nature of work that a person would have to handle in the company would require people to come together and pool in their efforts for successful completion of tasks. Also individuals contribution as a team member would form an important part of his performance appraisal. Hence the company would organize special seminars, lectures, role plays for building and promoting team skills in managers at all levels.

Besides the above mentioned programmes the managers from time to time would be given opportunities to write proposals for new systems, procedures and policies that could help bring efficiency in organization's operations. They would also be encouraged to take up take up readings on various issues on a regular basis. For this purpose the company also has a well set up library that houses many interesting and enriching books, magazines and journals. The managers would also be free to use the CD-ROM and Internet facilities for widening the scope of their knowledge.

Last but not the least, it must be remembered that without the combined effort of the entire organization the programme would remain an exercise in futility

source:http://www.indianmba.com/Faculty_Column/FC726/fc726.html

Sharpen your Management Skills

The following skills are must haves for any manager:

1- Technical skills: which is related to your management job description. This skill set helps you manage the portfolio that you are responsible to achieve its goals as set by your manager or management team.

2- People skills: Managers manage teams usually. You people skills is mandatory in order for you to lead a group of colleagues. Also, this skill set is required to manage your own manager!

3- Leadership skills: This set of skills deals with your ability to achieve the goals set for you by your management. Problem solving, creative thinking, and new ideas developments are good examples.

Of course, the knowledge level of each of these skills depends on your level of management that your belong to. For instance, top level management focuses on achievement skills. Technical managers need high level of technical skills. However, all type of managers need people skills.

The above were the Basic management skills that are must haves. Depending on your job description and what is expected from you, you might need to improve and develop the following managerial skills to fit your role as a manager and your level of management:
1. Innovation
2.Vision
3. Creativity
4. Motivation
4. Quality assurance
5.Customer care and customer service
6. Discipline
7. Coaching
8. Training and leading by example
9. Developing others
10. Mentoring and Promoting staff
11. Decision making
12. Negotiating
13. Planning
14.Presentations
15. Prioritizing
16. Organization
17. Time management
18. Leadership
19. Communication
20.Listening
21. Performance appraisals planning
22. Counseling
23. Handling grievances
24. Delegation
25.Information Technology
26. Financial
27. Commercial (eg, budgets, profit & loss, cashflow, etc)
28. Managing inter departmental relationships
29. Chairing meetings
30. Follow up
31.Business writing
32. Recruitment: interviewing and selection
34. Administrative
source:http://www.skills-guide.com/management-skills.html

Personality Development is a key to career development

Many of us wonder if Personality development is possible considering the fact that many personality theories suggest that we are born with our personalities.

Personality is our psychological behavior that affects the way handle people around us and the situations we encounter in life. You hear the term; he has a cool personality or he has a high temper personality. Both descriptions attempt to describe the person’s interaction with people and situations.

In order to decide on the best way for personality development is to understand what determines our personality in general. In line with this site’s way, we will avoid the theories and academic jargons.

Our Personality is decided by three main factors:

1. Heredity of our genes

2. Our Environment

3. The Situation we handle.

Let’s us drill down a little bit.

Heredity of our genes refers to how we were born. The genes we inherit from our biological parents play a big role in our personality and our personality development. Our physical facial attraction, gender, muscle, reflexes, energy levels, hair are all decided in the chromosomes of our genes.

What support the above are many researches. There is a famous study which covered more than a 100 separated twins at birth. This study found these twins drove the same car type and model, names their dogs the same names, take their vacation two thousands miles away from home within couple of blocks from each others! Other research found that children inherit shyness, fear and distress.

Our Environment

It is not surprising that the cultures that we grow within play a big role in our personality and personality development. Think of yourself as an example. If you grow in a religion related culture, your principles in life would be different to a person who grows up in an non-religious culture. Your principles, ideology and way of dealing with other might follow what your religion teaches you.

This is different if religion is not part of your culture where you tend to gauge right and wrong based on other factors that are taught in religions. An interesting theory of personality development shows that the first born child in a family is more concerned with social acceptance, more ambitious, more hardworking, more cooperative, more dependent, more prone to guilt feelings, prone to anxiety, and less aggressive that the second and third child of the same family. This is another evidence of the effect of our environment on our personality development.

You would also notice a certain behavior associated with certain cultures and nationalities.

The Situation we handle

The above two factors of our personality equation might give “stereo typing” people a breathing space. However, it is not meant to should they consider the third factor in our personality development; the situation we handle. This is because no matter what is the culture you were raised within and the genes you have, you personality development can improve if you handle the situation in a well educated manner. By this we mean that no matter who you are, you can be trained to handle the same situation in the same way that another person who has different genes and cultural background handles the same situation.

This is why customer service agents are trained to handle customers in the same way. Their personality development training as a customer agent focuses on certain ways to handle angry customers, answer them in a certain way, learn their name at the beginning of the phone call, learn when to call the supervisor, learn how to manage anger. The language skills of these customer agents might be different, but they sometimes sound the same personality to all of us. This is because their personality training intended to focus them on the same customer handling no matter what their home born personality is.

source:http://www.skills-guide.com/personality-development.html

Effective Time Management make you Money and reduces Stress!

No need for time management courses!!, just Read On, it is simple.

Lack of effective time management leads you to feel stressed out at work or home. It makes you feel not accomplishing “anything”. Don’t attend courses (!!), just read on. Time management skill can be learned easily.

Time management techniques are second nature to all of us once we know how to plan and schedule our lives efficiently. You can simply have a to-do-list hanging in front of you, plan it all in your head, or use the latest Personal Digital assistance (PDA) which alerts you for the next task in your life. The to do list helps you prioritize: what is important and what is urgent.

Effective time management is all about setting your priorities right to achieve a certain goal by the end of the day, week, month or year.

We live in a fast forward world. Everything tries to grab our attention when we are awake: the TV news, TV ads, billboards in the streets, newspapers, magazines, colleagues, kids, mom, dad, brothers, sisters, phone calls in the office, mobile phone…..etc.

Signs of lack of effective time management:

If you have the following “symptoms”, they you most probably require our time management tips in this site:

Cannot find things

Missing appointments

Forgetting important appointments

Always late for your appointments

Unprepared for your meetings

Over working while other colleagues watch and can afford a cup of coffeeAlways tired and stressed

When you have to set an appointment, ask yourself the following:

What was planned originally for the same time?

What other things are important to attend?

What do I miss if I don’t attend?

Can I ask someone else to attend or help (Delegation)

Now, let’s have a look on what usually wastes your time:

Unplanned meetings or appointments

Lengthy phone calls

Unscheduled coffee break imposed by a fried, neighbor or a colleague.***S250.shtml***

The effective time management solution:

Effective time management skills require that you change your lifestyle drastically. You need to plan and organize your life in a way that is totally new to what you are used to. To gain the effective time management skills, consider the following:

1- Identify what wastes your time:

Some suggestions in this matter from our own experience might help:

a. TV: this is the worst enemy of effective time management!

b. Phone calls (unless it is your job to answer the phone!)

c. Internet surfing

d. Emails readinge.

e. Email notificationsf.

f. Meetingsg.

g. Traffich.

h. Saying yes to new tasks at work that should be done by someone else normallyi. Doing everything yourself (not delegating)j.

i. Too much reporting and documentation of what you do for livingk.

j.A process or a system

These are suggestions to what could be wasting your time on daily basis. You might want to use this template to list the things that you do on daily basis and see how much of that matches our list.

2- Effective time management tips:

a. Challenge everything that you think is a waste of your valuable time and space. Start with the TV programs! Their time schedule should never ever control your life. Use a tape recorder if you have to.

b. Remember that the process or a habitual system is meant to assist you and not to stress and stall you.

c. Prioritize your daily activities. Consider how many hours you intend to spend at work, for example. Your to do list should start with the highest priority task. More on this below.

d. Avoid meetings for the sake of meetings. Attending meeting that cannot start without you might be a good practice.

e. When you attend a meeting, show up on time and excuse yourself at the end of the scheduled time.

f. Show respects when you decline a meeting request or when you shorten a lengthy phone call.

g. Explain to everyone that you have a schedule and you must stick to it.

h. Delegate tasks that other can do. Others could be a colleague or a partner.

i. Find a space for yourself at work and at home. No interruptions for 15-30 minutes. Listen to yourself only. Music in the background can help. Lock the door, unplug the phone, and switch off the mobile.

j. Plan your weekend as you like and not as others like.

k. Always be firm, but diplomatic with others about your schedule.

l. Question deadlines set by others. Make them realistic. If everything is urgent, nothing is really urgent.

source:http://www.skills-guide.com/time_management.html

Our Job Interview tips put you ahead of other candidates.

Our first job interview tips advice is: before you go to your job interview, do your homework

.You should research as much as you can about the company, its current activities, chairman, board of directors, CEO, the person you are meeting, products, services, markets, competitors, trends, and priorities.

Use the Internet, it is the mother of all resources.Practice our sample job interview questions and answers. Dress for the job interview to get the job. Remember what is your resume. Memorize the job description.

Our next job interview tips asks your to control your body language. During the job interview, try to smile as much as possible and whenever is suitable. Have a direct eye contact with the person addressing the questions.

Think and stay positive during the interview. If you miss out on this job, you will get another one. It is a matter of time if the job market is hot.

Allow a lead time to arrive at the interview. Stay relaxed…it is only a job interview. If it is your, it is yours and you will get it

.Make sure you have a firm handshake...time to stop reading and getting ready to show off!

source:http://www.skills-guide.com/job-interview-tips.html

Effective Business Presentation skills is for

Effective Business Presentation skills is one of the most important leadership and management skills. Your ability to communicate your ideas, inventions and messages will help you lead and manage your team, followers or audience.According to research, the importance and value of any Effective Business Presentation skills relies upon the following factors.

1.7% for WHAT is being presented
2.40% for WHO is presenting
3.53% of HOW s/he presents

In order for you to be a good presenter, you need to learn the good presentation skills techniques. We list these techniques from few training seminars that we attended as well as our own experience built over the years.

Effective business presentation skills also require that you design your presentation before you deliver it.Effective business presentation skills require that you exhibit confidence and relaxed. Here are some good presentation tips.Your good preparation and rehearsal of your presentation reduces your nerves tension and helps you avoiding errors.So, in order to acquire the above mentioned presentation skills techniques, you need to plan your presentation.You need to keep in mind that 60% of your presentation is read from your body language.The following are good presentation plan guidelines for Effective Business Presentation skills:

1- Know and understand the type of audience and their motivation to attend:This is one of the most important steps in planning and preparing your presentation. For example, presenting to a group of technical people is different from presenting to the board of directors who are mote business focused.Consider the following questions and possible answers which will help you in step 2 of preparing your presentation’s objectives:·

Know what Turns on your audience?·

Do they like the subject or not?·

Are they pro or against the presentation content in general?·

Are they the decision makers or decision influencers?·

How much do they know about the subject of your presentation?·

What are their motives to attend your presentation: is it a day off the office or are they coming to make a decision about what you are trying to sell?· Are they innovators or conservatives against your idea being presented?· Do they like you in general?· What is their background or education: can they understand your language or jargons? There is no point to present in English to a Japanese executive if his English language skill is limited!·

Are their local customs prejudges against your race?· Who is the key decision maker in the audience?

2- Set the objectives according to what you found in Step 1 above·

What do you want to accomplish: communicating a new idea, selling a new product or idea? Do you want a decision to be taken or just to accept the concept?·

. Ask yourself: What should my listeners take away from my presentation?·

. Make your objective practical, doable, clear, direct, precise and positive.·

. You objective should be the focus of your presentation in terms of what you say, present, collect information about and conclude your presentation with.

. For example, if you want a decision to be made immediately, present your implementation plan. Decide what you want to say first, second and last. Stay precise and focused on the main objective. Everything else that you say or present should serve your objective communication.

.3- Collect the information that suits the audience and objectives

.4- Set the structure of your presentation

5- Decide on the suitable visual aids of your presentation

6- Read the presentation from the audience point of view and notwhat you deeply knowledgeable of.

7- Rehearse the presentation few times to fit within the designatedtime frame from you by the organizer

8- Seek feedback after your do your presentation.

source:http://www.skills-guide.com/presentation_skills.html

Effective Business Presentation skills is for

This job Hunting guide helps learn how to find a job

This job hunting guide should explain to you the best options on how to find a job while avoiding the associated stress that job hunting could bring to your health.Always keep in mind that job hunting is a stressful task. It requires a lot of dedication and time. You current employment status should decide your job hunting strategy. Being employed relaxes the atmosphere a bit. Being unemployed will cause a lot of anxiety to you during the job hunting process.

So, it is always a good practice to look for a better job while you have a job.To avoid this stress or even depression, you need to believe in yourself and capabilities and stay positive. This job hunting guide will help to do just that. Your patience until you find the job that is right for you is critical. So, sleep, eat and socialize well as if you have a job. That also helps you when you go to a job interview as you can control your body language and hide your anxiety.So, hopefully you are psychologically ready to start your job hunting.You next step according to our job hunting guide will be to identify what type of job you are looking for. Consider the following factors:

What skills do you have that makes you special for any employer?
What benefits and values do you bring to the new employer? This covers your previous experience.
Where do you want to work? Would you consider moving house for a new job?
Do you want long or fixed hours of work?
Do you require flexible hours (especially for moms)?
Do you prefer to mix work with your daily life to balance the family requirements (especially for dads)?First, let us agree on one fact: hunting or finding a job depends on your experience (including your age), education, skills and the current economy and Job Market conditions.

Latest research in the USA job market showed that university degree holders make US$23,000 more than non-degree holders. So, adjust your job hunting strategy according to your situation.Luckily, your prospective employer might agree to interview you because you enjoyed this job hunting guide. You need to keep in mind that this employer is looking at how you can help him to develop and make more revenue for his business.

In return, he will help you by recruiting you and paying you a salary.So, before you jump to the job interview, put yourself in the shoes of your prospect employer and think as s/he does. What benefits and values you will bring to his/er organization if s/he recruits you.Considering the above facts, think about the employer that you seek. Are your looking to join a large company? If so, you need to consider that you will be an employee number is such a large corporate. They might pay well, but they do rounds of cost cutting, ie sackings.Small businesses (5-100), on the other hand, will recruit you if you possess certain values and benefits that will prosper their business.

They might pay little bit less or even more compared to a large corporate. Hopefully, you will become a milestone in no time if you prove how valuable you can be to the company. Usually, in small businesses, you get better yearly pay rises if the company is doing well.So far, our job hunting guide lead you to know who you are in terms of your skills set, the job that you are looking for, the type of employer you want and perhaps the company name that you desire to work for.My name is John Smith, I’ve a BSc in Computer Science.

I know Perl programming language with 5 years experience and I seek employment with a large software house in Washington DC. I don’t mind long working hours. I enjoy hi tech.Sounds it is a good time to write your resume or CV. job hunting guide also helps you with a the good resume writing guidelines.

Our Job hunting guide provides also a free sample resume for you. Your resume should sell you to an employer. It opens all the doors to get you at least a job interview with your prospective employer.Get your marketing material ready, ie. your resume or CV. It is time to start selling your skills to prospective employers.Next in our job hunting guide, let us go through your best job hunting options. Keep in mind this fact: most good jobs are never advertised.

Employers usually look for certain skills. Managers ask their friends if they know someone who can do XYZ tasks. They are looking for a recommended candidate from a trusted source.This means that the best way to find jobs is to network around. By networking, we mean social friends, family, previous jobs colleagues, neighbors, university days’ colleagues, peers at work, people you meet at conferences…etc. Just spread the word that you are looking for a job. This should handle the hidden job market for you.

Once something pops up, your network will inform you.Your best second option is your local newspapers. Respond to job advertisements by sending a covering letter and your resume.A third option is the recruitment agencies. They advertise in the newspapers and on the Internet. Check for a suitable job that is close to your skills and send a covering letter and the resume.You must have heard that the Internet is the best place for job hunting.

There are many sites that advertise jobs in almost every category in every country worldwide. Blue chip companies also advertise jobs in their website under their career sections. Our own job hunting guide advises you not to waste much time on these sites.Many job sites promise you that once your place your resume at their website’s database, they will find an employer who is interested in interviewing you.

Most people who placed their resumes at these sites were very disappointed and most of the time frustrated. You are not the problem. The job search site is. You name lives in a database awaiting someone to search for it! So, give these sites a ago, but don’t hold your breath for a quick call. Don’t spam your resume, though.You can consider subscribing to job alerts by email from online recruitment agencies such as jobserve.com or monster.com.If you want to work for a government agency, send your application to the state employment services.

These agencies usually advertise in newspapers or on their internal notice boards.Hopefully, once you disseminate your resume around, you will be called for a job interview. There are many do’s and don’ts to be considered during job interviews. Here is guide for your job interview tips, common job interview Questions and answers, and how to control your body language at these job interviews.We provide here is a free sample resume for your reference associated with a sample resume covering letter.

source:http://www.skills-guide.com/how_to_find_a_job.html

Career planning refers to different things at different

Career planning is something that we start thinking about from the age of 5 or 6. You might have dreamt of becoming a pilot, an astronaut, a teacher, a soccer player, just to name few careers that we all thought about.As you grow older, your career planning becomes more realistic. You start thinking about the factors that are important to you in order to build a clearer picture about your career.

You would think about your priorities in terms of skills, interests and what motivates you (ie gets you out of bed every morning).The first step in your career planning should focus on one thing: your skills. Your Self knowledge involves identifying your individual skills that relates to the career that you dream of.Your career planning should consider your Abilities (aptitudes), skills, Interests, values, your personal motivations, your qualities, and your dream lifestyle.However, when you think of your career planning, consider the constraints that should govern your dream to make it more realistic.

You cannot become a brain surgeon if you cannot afford the medical school requirements or you cannot stand on your feet because you have a bad back.Career planning help is always there to assist you know what you really want in case you feel that you don’t know what to do in this life!To make certain that a career will really suit you, you need to research thoroughly any types of career which appeal to you. This is career planning in simple terms. Search similar and related occupations by considering carefully how closely they fit your own personal skills.You might be capable of doing many jobs.

The key success factor of a career is to be happy and fulfilled by the job that you have. There should be a fair match between your skills, abilities, values and the demands of your chosen job or career. This allows you to focus on your skills development and job seeking activities on areas that you know you will enjoy and are therefore more likely to be successful.A proper career planning ensure that when you start a job, you will be motivated to excel in this job.

Your energy levels will be boundless. Success in such careful selected career will come naturally. You will be confident of your direction in life and will enjoy life more. Also, opportunities will come your way, you will be poached by the best employers.If you feel that you are miserable in your current job, you are not alone. Almost 50% of workers are dissatisfied with their jobs globally. This means one of two employees aren't getting the satisfaction they deserve from their careers.Certain jobs requires certain skills.

You may not have it all for a particular job. Certain manager worry about sacking people because that have been in the job for ages. They prefer to keep them on the payroll because “they have been here for ages”. Well, this is the wrong attitude in today’s work environment. If you don’t sack these employees now, a second round of retrenchment might reach them when they are 50 years old. At the age of 50, finding a job is more difficult for many people.In summary folks, find the job that you like and enjoy. This will ensure that your job will like you.

Improve the Skills Within for your Career Development plan

This SKILLS Guide provides practical andfree advice for your Career Developmentplan.Should you pursue project managementcareer path, sales, marketing, or anyother career, we help you here find yourskills within rather than lecturing you.The advice that follows is organic fromthe roots of our own experience.

This sitesummarizes our 20 years of globalexperience with Blue-Chip Companies.We avoid the academic jargons in thiswebsite. Instead, we utilize and sharethe practical experience and advice thatwill assist your career development plan.Our guidance provides you with the summary of many books, courses,training, and seminars.

Our practical experience that we gained over theyears is yours, for FREE.We all start our careers after we graduate from a certain degree; Highschools, College, academy, University, Post graduate school, businessschool or even a training academy.

Usually, and this is just right, weaccept our first job offer to gain more experience and improve our careerplanning.We help you sharpen your own thinking in order for you to take on yournext career challenge. We share with you what we have learned aboutleadership, writing a resume for a successful job hunting, presentation,management, and work related stress management, just to name a fewskills. Enjoy the menu on the left side.Your career plan requires a skill guide. The Internet is full of skills relatedsites that will attempt to sell you something.

This site does not.We built this site to make our experience available to our friends' careerdevelopment plan. You are a friend.What is Career Development Plan?We all start our careers after we graduate from a certain degree; Highschools, College, academy, University, Post graduate school, businessschool or even a training academy.Usually, and this is just right, we accept our first job offer to gain moreexperience. But is this right? Read On...We always think of how to develop our career. This is referred to as ourcareer development plan.

You would hear the term "My career is importantto me" from many ambitious new job starters. Well, what these ambitiousemployees need is a good skills improvement guide to plan their careers.A sample Career development plan requires that you identify the what isrequired for your career planning. For example, if you want to the CEO of acomputer company, your technical skills won't get you their. Yous samplecareer plan should focus on the leadership, management, presentation,financial, and people skills for example.This site sheds some light about a sample career plan. As such a plan mightbe difference from person to another, you should look at the overall picturein general and understand what your career requires.

source:http://www.skills-guide.com/