Personal Development Blog

Job Search Tips for Experienced Individuals

2011-11-11T14:48:00.001+05:30

This article is for those who acquired additional educational or technical qualifications in order to advance in their chosen career.

If you are one of the above-mentioned experienced individual, with recently acquired qualifications you can start by talking to your boss or your line HR and find out whether there are any suitable job opportunities for you within your organization. You can also simultaneously, start scanning the internal job openings postings for positions that suit your current qualifications.

There are also other alternatives if you are seeking to enhance your career growth outside your present organization. Among the job search alternatives open to you, the following are very effective:

Internet and newspapers job postings
Networking
Executive recruiters

Internet and newspapers job postings:

The most popular Internet job boards are Monster.com, CareerBuilder.com, and Dice.com etc., In addition to these job boards, there are other job boards specifically catering to specific skill sets or professional qualifications.

In order to carry out a successful job search you also need to know how to use these job portals effectively. So before you start your job search, ensure that you list:

Job responsibilities
Job title
Software, hardware programming skills

Do not limit your job search to your current designation-use these as your search terms in the key word search field. You should also use synonyms of the terminologies in order to cull the best jobs on offer.

Networking:

Networking is an effective way to advance in your career and for widening your job search. As an experienced professional, you would have established relationships with other professionals. You can use this network and judiciously mix it with the contacts you established in social networking web sites to enlarge the scope of your job search. By dropping subtle hints and sometimes-outright request, you use your network to do the job search for you.

Executive recruiters:

For experienced individuals, Executive recruiters/Headhunters are an attractive job search option. Organizations contract these Executive recruiters in order to fill in senior level vacancies. In fact, some companies rely entirely on Executive recruiters to fill their critical positions. Some of these recruiters have openings that are never advertised openly on job boards. Executive recruiters also provide the sort of anonymity that a senior individual crave for during the job search.

Therefore, senior individuals looking for career growth opportunities either within the organization or outside their current employment can conduct a successful job search by judiciously leveraging the power of the Internet, the strength of their professional network and the anonymity of Executive recruiters.

Job search: Reduce your dependence on job boards

2011-11-10T18:02:00.001+05:30

It is becoming increasingly evident that recruiters are moving away from job boards and relying on social networking sites to network with job seekers.

In fact, assorted studies and research have revealed that networking is the most effective job search method and scores over other traditional job search methods because networking opens hitherto unknown professional doors.

Relying entirely on job boards is a passive job search method and primarily reactive in nature. Due to its passive nature, it tends to lengthen the job search process.

In addition to the above-mentioned reason, over-reliance on job boards involves a lot of time and effort to track and apply for jobs online. However, as the success rate is low and success far between it largely turns out to be unproductive activity.

This where networking- a combination of connecting one on one with professionally likeminded people and online social networking will always be the best method to search for a job.

Therefore, rely on the job boards to help you identify opportunities and utilize it in tandem with a concrete job search plan aligned to your career goals and career growth ambitions. Leverage the strong professional network you have built to shorten the interview cycle; your job search will be a success.

Deloitte Report-Revolution/Evolution in HR 2011

2011-06-08T10:43:00.002+05:30

A succinct whitepaper offered by Deloitte on the challenges, issues and core trends in HR. The whitepaper suggests a five phase evolution from 'nothing' to 'leading' and identifies eight entry points. Download the PDF here…

Barriers to Succession Planning

2011-06-08T10:39:00.003+05:30

A report, released Tuesday by the Partnership for Public Service and Booz Allen Hamilton, found that succession planning efforts are often constrained by a lack time, inadequate funding-the perennial bogey, limited accessibility to candidates and an inability to forecast attrition rates.

Download the report (PDF) here…

Communication Strategy

2011-01-31T18:04:00.001+05:30

To create a communication strategy that describes the engagement principles, organizational vision, and goals with clarity, simplicity, focus, and relevance.

To establish a communication strategy that filters out the white noise and broadcasts a unified voice that is understood across different media and enhances employee engagement.

The message should be conveyed at a level by which employees can form opinions and conclusions.

Typically, the communication strategy task force must spend time researching and discussing what employees like, what motivates them, and how to use this information and connect with them.

Importantly, the task force should understand the employee’s perception and conduct dip stick surveys to monitor the effectiveness of the communication strategy.

1. Awareness about organization goals and vision and engagement principles.
2. The appropriateness of the message, method and tools used.
3. Measuring and monitoring the quality of behavior changes.
4. Ascertain and ask for suggestions on how to ensure the behavior change strategy is integrated and sustained into the existing DNA of the organization.

How to inspire with your communication.

2010-12-17T18:14:00.000+05:30

Smart leaders know that communication is all about defining a purpose and getting people to align their behavior to achieving it. A simple way to do this would be to inspire with your communication.

These tips will provide you with the framework to inspire others with your communication.

Be honest when communicating: It will establish the fact that you are person who values integrity.

Be consistent when communicating: It will establish you as person who has a clear vision and a well-defined path to achieve it.

Be aspirational when communicating: It will bring home the fact that you know how benefits of achievement will positively affect every one.

Contribute Effectively During Meetings

2010-12-12T19:30:00.000+05:30

Meetings are a productive group approach to solving problems. It is also an opportunity to enhance your professional standing and make a positive contribution to the larger interests of the organization.

If you attend meetings as a participant, here are some tips to make effective contributions to the meeting.

Go prepared:

Understand the agenda of the meeting and plan your responses or the observations to the group. This will help you make valuable contributions to the topic under consideration.

Speak when you have something to say:

Speak up when you have something worthwhile to say .This will reveal you as a person who can contribute to the organizations cause.

Express dissenting views:

Never, hesitate to share diverse opinion or express dissent. Disagreement is fine, as long as it makes everyone realize the importance of doing due diligence. However, take care to express it in a non-aggressive manner.

Show interest:
Even if you find the ideas unoriginal; be attentive and always maintain a professional demeanor.

Follow-up:

Not following up on the work done in the meeting is a waste of an organizations time. Start thinking about how you can implement the strategies in your department or your team. This will help you to make suggestions that are valuable during the follow up meeting.

Definitions and Dimensions of Leadership

2010-11-21T17:11:00.000+05:30

Leadership is influencing people by giving them a sense of purpose, pulling them in the right direction, and motivating them to achieve goals.

However, leadership has other dimensions, like the ability to transform a vision, conducting effective organizational changes, and commitment to values.

Leadership: Ability to transform vision into reality:

A leader’s ability to engage various stakeholders and make them believe and commit themselves to transforming his vision into reality in an organization is one dimension of his leadership quality.

Leadership: Ability to build organizations:

The ability to build organizations is another dimension of leadership. A leader has to analyze and find solutions to the simmering problems. He has to prioritize the challenges and take on the one that will create a positive impact and at the same time ensure that he binds the organization together.

Leadership: Ability to be a role model:

Yet another dimension to leadership is the ability to embody values and professional ethics. This is the most critical dimension as it inspires trust, implies accountability and demonstrates dedication to the vision or to an organization.

How to develop others.

2010-11-06T10:22:00.001+05:30

Most organizations expect their executives to be people developers and look upon this ability as a key performance criterion. In fact, they expect them to identify, develop and harvest their direct reports abilities.
Beyond that, organizations expect executives to create a challenging environment and an atmosphere of trust by providing a positive feedback.

This is often an intimidating task for a new executive as they are also on a learning curve. However, it is not as daunting a task if done correctly and with a right attitude. Here are some basic steps you can follow and develop others.

Invest some time and help others plan to improve on their weaknesses or develop their strengths.
Offer accurate and fair assessment based on dispassionate assessment of their strengths and weaknesses.
Provide prompt feedback when they execute challenging tasks.
Suggest training and developing activities that helped you develop yourself.
Provide them with a new perspective on the tasks they routinely execute.

The steps mentioned above are simplistic, but executives’ particular of developing others can gain traction either by expanding on these 5 steps or even adapting them to their business environment.

3 Tips for building a career

2010-04-09T16:56:00.000+05:30

Once the first dash of novelty wears off a job, most of us fall prey to dissolution and stop looking at the job as a means to a career. Instead, we mentally regress and accept it as means for making a living.

So how can one change our mindset to making a career instead of working a job?

Michael Santarcangelo shares 3 concepts from his experience adapted to the focus of making a career instead of working a life.

1.) Strive for integration over balance.

2.) Simple trumps complex.

3.) Enjoy the journey.

So what do you think? Can you change your life from mere scratching around to finally taking charge and having a fulfilling career?

A familiar dilemma.

2009-12-31T17:56:00.000+05:30

Image by Cyril Cavalié via Flickr

This cusp, the New Year eve, brings with it the familiar dilemma of trying to understand whether this is the time to introspect or is this the time to plan.

This twilight, make one wonder if it is a time to start afresh or to continue.

More fittingly, is this time to sigh or is this the time to welcome a new year and the opportunities in its fold.

Personal Space: How close is too close?

2009-12-30T06:00:00.000+05:30

Image by kait jarbeau is in love with you via Flickr

The simplest way to make a person uncomfortable is to invade his personal space. The simple acts of getting too close either face-to-face or even when standing side by side will make a person retreat either physically or mentally.

Therefore, it behooves on us to understand what personal space is and how to respect it. For if you are too close or too far away during a conversation with your client or customer you will lose their attention quickly and you will fail to achieve your objectives.

According to Rinda West, "We garden in fairly small plots where we seek to create sanctuaries that will shelter us from the pressures of our crazy lives. If the lake and the parks give us our big expanses, our personal gardens offer us enclosed spaces, retreats, where we can relax, meditate and feel safe."

Therefore, when someone stands too close it makes one uncomfortable. This may be because one becomes self-conscious or feels threatened by the other person taking (invading) your personal space.

This invasion of personal space elicits either fight or flight response. The person might get irritated and become aggressive or he may move away either physically or tune out mentally.

This is not the ideal response when we are trying to persuade a person. When we are convincing others, we need them to be receptive and responsive and hence learning to respect personal space is important for personal success.

So here is a video that illustrates how close is too close when it comes to personal space.

Why loneliness is catching?

2009-12-28T06:00:00.000+05:30

Image by Mario Aguirre (a.k.a. Rantes) via Flickr

Why do behavioral scientists believe that loneliness is catching?

What this drives home is that loneliness can be surprisingly unrelated to one’s actual social situation. The psychological definition of loneliness is “perceived social isolation.” As Cacioppo emphasizes, this means that loneliness and solitude are not the same thing. “Loneliness isn’t being alone, it’s feeling alone,” he says. A person surrounded by others can be lonely if he doesn’t feel like he has a meaningful connection with any of them.

Long-term thinkers make better decisions

2009-12-27T12:46:00.000+05:30

It appears you take decisions based on how you perceive future.

A pair of Kansas State University scientists observed that people who tend to think in the long term are more likely to make positive decisions about their health, whether it's how much they drink, what they eat, or their decision to wear sunscreen.

Relationships: Dealing with conflict -2

2009-12-24T06:00:00.001+05:30

Now that we know that unresolved conflicts cause untold harm, let us first understand how to deal with it.

It is imperative to understand when two individuals are involved conflict in one form or the other is inevitable. Hence there is no need to take make it a life and death issue.

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Similarly deal with issues causing the conflict immediately. Putting it off to later date only increases the chance of failure and decreases the opportunities for resolution. Understand once for all that conflict fails to mend with time.

It is important to subjugate ones perspective and understand the other person’s point of view. If you are able to do that more than 75% of the issues are resolved.

Conflicts are emotionally charged issues. Therefore, it is important to separate your emotion from the issue, but at the same time, understand that the other person’s emotions are mixed in this.

To put it simply, do not bring emotional baggage, slights and insults into the already charged up atmosphere. Address the issue dispassionately even if the other person speaks disparagingly about you, because resolving the conflict is more important than scoring points or causing emotional scars.

Relationships: Dealing with conflict -1

2009-12-23T06:00:00.001+05:30

Image by Rishi S via Flickr

Relationship brings intimacy but also develops enmity. What starts of as a charming quirk or an unwitting behavioral error, soon gathers mass and tends to solidify into a major interpersonal conflict.

Individuals react to conflicts in different ways. Some may use physical strength, other may use a loud voice to drown out the opposing voice, and some just have the habit of withdrawing into their own self-leaving the conflict to exacerbate.

However, an unresolved conflict is like a festering wound. The parties involved keep going back to it. The one who wants the conflict resolved will make snide remarks in order to provoke the other. In turn, the one who avoids conflict will either ignore it or choose to bring other unresolved issues into it.

Unfortunately, the longer the conflict is unresolved the costlier it becomes in terms of relationship. Therefore, resolving conflict is beneficial for the longevity of healthy relationship.

Have you overestimated what you can achieve in one year?

2009-12-22T06:00:00.000+05:30

Image via Wikipedia

The biggest gift you can give to yourself is to realise that the timing of a project or goal is more often than not totally in your control.

It is like we have set the ball rolling and now we need to be of service to that goal. Responding to its needs, nurturing it and taking action wherever necessary, but, at the same time, taking our own agenda out of the picture and trusting that if we are truly following our heart, our passions, then it will happen.

I have been practising this over the last couple of months and although I have not yet totally mastered it (not by a long chalk!) I have found that when I can see my projects through this lens I am able to step back and see what is the best next step. Interestingly what I have found is that when I do this then things do actually begin to move.

More here.

Personal Development: Continual learning is the key

2009-12-21T06:00:00.001+05:30

Image by Development Works Photos via Flickr

Continual learning advances personal development skills and enhances career growth.

This learning can be acquired on the job or if necessary by the way of online tutorials or even by taking part time courses. Continual learning is important because it not only develops self-awareness, which in itself is a key personal development skill, but it also increases your chance for career growth.

Dan Moran explains how continual learning help in developing your personal development skills and in career development.

What does facing challenges mean?

2009-12-20T06:00:00.000+05:30

Image by lism. via Flickr

Some young people choose to participate in diverse and challenging activities, remain motivated in the face of obstacles, and persist until they accomplish their goals. These youth are said to have initiative. Initiative is the motivation to direct effort toward achieving challenging goals and remain determined even when things get difficult (Larson, 2000).

Developing this initiative requires three key things: intrinsic motivation; deliberate, goal-directed action in real-world situations and sustaining goal-directed efforts over time (Larson, 2000). What this means is that young people with initiative:

Are personally invested in their activities;
Exert attention, effort, and concentration in complex and challenging real-world situations; and
Continue working to achieve their goals, even if it involves re-evaluating and adjusting their strategies in the face of setbacks (Larson, 2000).

Similar to initiative, the concepts of "self-efficacy" and "self-regulated learning" have also been used to describe young people that are motivated and persistent. Self-efficacy refers to a person's belief in their ability to achieve what they set out to do (Bandura, 1986; Bandura, 1997). Young people with a higher sense of self-efficacy set more challenging goals for themselves, try harder, persevere in difficult times, bounce back more quickly after failures, and are eventually more successful (Bandura, 1986; Bandura, 1993; Pajares, 2002; Schunk, 1994; Schunk & Zimmerman, 1997; Zimmerman, 1994; Zimmerman & Bandura, 1994). Such young people believe that their abilities are not inherent and unchangeable, but are, instead, a set of skills that can be learned and further developed (Bandura, 1993). These youth consider errors and mistakes part of the natural learning process, and they focus on the improvement of their personal abilities rather than comparing themselves to others (Bandura, 1993). They also believe that their environments and outcomes are controllable and changeable, and that they are capable of determining their own outcomes (Bandura, 1993). Finally, these youth are self-regulated learners who realize their strengths and limits, set their own goals, adopt their own strategies for achieving these goals, and monitor their own progress (Zimmerman, 1989; Zimmerman, 2002).

More facts on facing challenges here.

Taking the initiative

2009-12-19T06:00:00.001+05:30

It is Colin Powell who said, "Good leaders don't wait for official blessing to try things out. They're prudent, not reckless. But they also realize a fact of life in most organizations: if you ask enough people for permission, you'll inevitably come up against someone who believes his job is to say "no." So the moral is, don't ask. Less effective middle managers endorsed the sentiment, "If I haven't explicitly been told 'yes,' I can't do it," whereas the good ones believed, "If I haven't explicitly been told 'no,' I can." There's a world of difference between these two points of view."

If you are keen to develop in your personal life as well as in your career then taking initiative matters and here are some tips that help you take the initiative.

Develop Memory Power

2009-12-18T06:00:00.000+05:30

If any one faculty of our nature may be called more wonderful than the rest, I do think it is memory. There seems something more speakingly incomprehensible in the powers, the failures, the inequalities of memory, than in any other of our intelligences. The memory is sometimes so retentive, so serviceable, so obedient; at others, so bewildered and so weak; and at others again, so tyrannic, so beyond control! We are, to be sure, a miracle every way; but our powers of recollecting and of forgetting do seem peculiarly past finding out.

-Jane Austen

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How to control your thoughts?

2009-12-15T06:00:00.001+05:30

"In the same way if I really see what thought does, thought comes to an end. Whatever thought does it breeds misery, sorrow, conflict, and when thought realizes that, it will come to an end by itself, the vicious circle is broken; thought, which means time, has come to an end." - Jiddu Krishnamurti

‘Conducting’ a Team

2009-12-14T06:00:00.003+05:30

The art of leading a team or doing without doing.

Hat Tip: mick's leadership blog

Mind Control-3

2009-12-10T06:00:00.001+05:30

Image by drinksmachine via Flickr

What are the benefits of mind-control?

It is difficult to answer such a question and one is forced to answer obliquely.

Let us look at it this way, if one fails to control his mind; then even in favorable conditions he will fail.He will also leave everyone aghast at how he has failed to use his potential to maximum.

It is given that a man with a uncontrolled mind will fail to make his way up on his career as he will be found wanting at crucial junctures.

However, a man whose mind is under control will succeed even in adversity. You can find that the quality of his work is higher than those around him.

He has immense faith in himself and also develops the confidence to take challenges in his stride for as Napoleon Hill said, " Whatever the mind of man can conceive and believe, it can achieve. Thoughts are things! And powerful things at that, when mixed with definiteness of purpose, and burning desire, can be translated into riches".

Mind Control -2

2009-12-09T06:00:00.000+05:30

Image by Marshall Astor - Food Pornographer via Flickr

The secret to achieving mind control is simply one of practice and persistence.

However, one cannot just will one’s mind to concentrate without understanding the nature of the mind.

In addition to it, one must also learn certain techniques and practice them assiduously to achieve a supremely concentrated mind.

However, the first step to mind control is the realisation that it is not an act that reaps instant gratification and will definitely cause inner torment.

It is also an endeavor that one will repeatedly fail. The antidote to it is persistence that one will have to have in abundance.

For mind, control is not easy and as Lord Buddha points out:

“If one man conquers in battle a thousand men a thousand times and if another conquers himself. he is the greater conqueror.”

Now are you ready to become the greater conqueror by conquering one’s mind?