Direct from Cloud

SAP lost $1.3 Billion after 11 days trial against Oracle Vs SAP Intellectual Property rights!!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Abhishek Porwal) — Tue, 23 Nov 2010 22:31:00 -0800

According to Bloomberg, $1.3 Billion is the 23rd largest settlement money ever paid for a verdict involving Software Piracy & Copyright infringement, earlier in quite similar case of copyrights Infringement between RIAA & Media Group Inc., amount paid for settlement was $136 Million however doesn’t compete anywhere with the amount claimed against SAP at US district court in Oakland, CA.

All this started when SAP acquired TomorrowNow Inc., in year 2005, a third-party support provider for customers running PeopleSoft and J.D. Edwards (JDE) software, and started offering an incentive program in order to lure customers away from rival Oracle Corp.

This acquisition took place during the same time when Oracle was acquiring PeopleSoft Inc. (Including JD Edwards), therefore, being a prominent third party support provider for PeopleSoft & JD Edwards, TomorrowNow was used as a “Sales driver” to take business away from Oracle resulting in Copyright Infringements of Oracle’s Intellectual property rights, For more than 3 years, It’s not only illegally downloaded Oracle’s software, Source codes but millions of Oracle files too and then reselling that software and related services to its own existing customers. (Means huge loss in reverse business)!!!

Interesting fact is that, prior to acquisition SAP’s top officials (Including Ex- SAP CEO Leo Apotheker, Now CEO at HP) were quite aware of TommorrowNow indulged in illegal practices even though it din’t stop until Oracle filed suit in year 2007 and within the following year itself on Oct 22nd 2008, SAP closed TomorrowNow.

Some board executives from SAP said; they had assumed that this practice has been freezed however nobody ever followed up; according to their official testimony, SAP admitted liability, damages and copping to contributory liability which includes its own negligence in the matter.

To read SAP’s statement visit; http://www.tnlawsuit.com/

On Nov15, 2010, in a recent statement given by SAP AG Co-CEO Bill McDermott told a jury that “TomorrowNow was not a big driver of software sales and wasn’t a very successful concept” during the trial at federal court (Oakland, CA)

Oracle counted it’s monetary damages around $1.65 Billion for abusing the intellectual property rights while SAP’s legal panel came with a figure nearby $40 Million (way less than what oracle claimed) leaving the fact that SAP-TomorrowNow must have made around $800-900 Million over three years (2005-08)

The jury had to decide first based on Hypothetical situation for both sides, from the day SAP acquired TomorrowNow (Knowing the fact that it’s a reputed Third party service provider to PeopleSoft & JD Edwards) with a mindset of 3 years strategic plan for luring PeopleSoft & JD Edwards customers and shifting them to SAP platform later on adding good numbers in SAP’s customer base through it’s “Safe Passage” programme.

PS: An overview about SAP’s “SAFE PASSAGE” programme.

By year 2005 till 2007, TomorrowNow was the only company reputedly known for third party maintenance for PeopleSoft, at that time they had about 65 customers, including 24 out of Fortune 500.

Now under the blockbuster “Safe Passage” programme SAP clearly meant to help existing PeopleSoft customers who avails services from TomorrowNow would get a credit towards the purchase of SAP Software to replace the existing PeopleSoft system.

Not sure, whether the settlement amount has to be paid by SAP or not but certainly it looks that this case will get stretched further for quite some time. An SAP spokes person told Bloomberg that “We are, of course, disappointed by this verdict and will pursue all available options, including post trial motions and appeal if necessary.” This will unfortunately be a prolonged process and we continue to hope that the matter can be resolved appropriately without more years of litigation. The mark of a leading company is the way it handles its mistakes. As stated in court, we regret the actions of TomorrowNow, we have accepted liability, and have been willing to fairly compensate Oracle. Throughout this matter, our customers, employees and partners have stood by us and, for that, we are grateful. Our focus now is looking forward, helping our customers be best run businesses, and extending our legacy of industry leadership well into the future. We thank the jury for its diligent service through this lengthy trial and the Court for its supervision of this complex case."

Top 10 IT Certifications for IT Administrators, Networking and Security Personnels

noreply@blogger.com (Abhishek Porwal) — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 18:14:00 -0700

Information Technology field is getting wider & specific day by day so there it demands an expertise in certain areas and just to fullfill that part Top IT Solutions providers have re-invoked thier Education Pattern in terms of certifications, these certifications specify the one's ability on a certain technology or domain.

IT certifications have always been popular amongst IT folks all around the world since it guarantees some preferance over others those are not certified, these preferences could be in terms of your Salay Hike, Job title etc.

Now a days even a mid sized IT company demands someone who holds certification with in the required technical area like as; Oracle Database Administration, SQL Server Database administration, Microsoft .Net, Sun JAVA, IBM WebSphere, Quality Assurance, ERPs - SAP, Oracle, MS Dynamics to name a few...

With the economy back in green, IT jobs too are back. Keeping this in mind, technology research firm Foote Partners recently listed IT certifications that could be considered "hot" in the coming months and can land you in a good position..

CISA - Certified Information Systems Auditor :

CISA is a professional certification for Information technology audit professionals sponsored by the Information Systems Audit and Control Association (ISACA). Candidates for the certification must meet requirements set by ISACA.

For more information visit :- http://www.isaca.org/

VCP- VMware Certified Professional :

The VMware Certified Professional program recognizes individuals who demonstrate technical expertise with VMware’s Virtual Infrastructure, With virtualization technology becoming hot, it is little surprising that VCP program is in demand.

For more information visit :- http://www.vmware.com/

GIAC Security Audit Essentials :

This certification is quite essential for professionals those are planning to enter the information security industry who are tasked with auditing organization policy, procedure, risk, or policy conformance.

For more information visit :- http://www.giac.org/

Certified Information Security Manager :

The Certified Information Security Manager® (CISM®) certification program is developed specifically for experienced information security managers and those who have information security management responsibilities.

For more information visit :- http://www.isaca.org/

Check Point Certified Security Expert :

CCSE has been designed for more experienced security professionals, CCSE NGX certification is one of the most highly recognized and respected vendor-specific security certifications available.

CCSE NGX certification is an advanced core security certification.

For more information visit :- http://www.checkpoint.com/

Check Point Certified Security Administrator :

This certification is a foundation of Check Point certifications, CCSA NGX certification validates a Security Administrator's ability to maintain day-to-day operation of Check Point security solutions and ensure secure access to information across the network.

For more information visit :- http://www.checkpoint.com/

Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer (Security) :

MCSE certification provides an individual's skills in designing, implementing, and administering infrastructure for business solutions based on Windows Server 2003 and Microsoft Windows 2000 Server.

For more information visit :- http://www.microsoft.com/

Certified Wireless Security Professional :

CWSP is claimed to be an advanced level certification that measures the ability to secure any wireless network. A wide range of security topics focusing on the 802.11 wireless LAN technology are covered in the coursework and exam, which is vendor neutral.

For more information visit :- http://www.cwnp.com/

GIAC Certified Intrusion Analyst :

GCIA is an information secrurity certification for individuals who are responsible for network and host monitoring, traffic analysis, and intrusion detection. GIAC Certified Intrusion Analysts (GCIAs) have the knowledge, skills and abilities to configure and monitor intrusion detection systems, and to read, interpret, and analyze network traffic and related log files.

For more information visit :- http://www.giac.org/

Cisco Certified Network Professional :

Cisco Certified Network Professional (CCNP®) validates the ability to plan, implement, verify and troubleshoot local and wide-area enterprise networks and work collaboratively with specialists on advanced security, voice, wireless and video solutions. The CCNP certification is appropriate for those with at least one year of networking experience who are ready to advance their skills and work independently on complex network solutions.

For more information visit :- http://www.cisco.com/

This top 10 Certification category is based on scenario when someone start his or her career as a Fresher or newbie, there are many more certifications available from top companies those are also in very much demand.. however these certifications are either too costly or demands quite good amount of experience to pass.

Companies those are Hiring in 2010

noreply@blogger.com (Abhishek Porwal) — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 12:21:00 -0800

After facing a Huge jobs turmoil in 2008-09 in each industry vertical, there are still couple of companies who've sustained not only to hold up on it's existing Workforce but also managed to get new projects from thier clients and thus are in a Hiring mode enthusiastically.

Here I'm going to talk about few specifics of 5 out of 22 companies which are still counting on thier Human Resources and amongst the best companies to work for.

This article is Inspired from a Series of Financially Fit posted in Yahoo Finance and adds couple of other information about these company's Strengths & Weeknesses.

These 22 Best Companies to Work For have at least 500 openings each, totaling more than 87,750 jobs. How these companies are doing? What are they looking for in a new hire? Before you apply, check out these excerpts from our interviews with HR professionals and others in the know.

1) *** Edward Jones ***

2010 Best Companies rank: 2

Industry - Investment Services

Revenue - ▲ $3.8 billion USD (2008)
Statement of Financial Condition

Business Model -

Edward Jones financial advisors sell commission-based and fee-based financial products. Offices are usually staffed by two associates: one Financial Advisor (see Financial Adviser, a licensed broker) and one Branch Office Administrator. The one-broker-per-office model allows clients to choose their broker directly and deal with just that broker. This model also allows the firm to open offices in areas and towns where a large office staffed by many brokers would be unprofitable. This model is also the reason that Edward Jones currently has the largest number of branch offices among brokerage firms in the United States.

Current openings: 631

Financial advisors and branch office administrators.

Edward Jones' career site: http://www.careers.edwardjones.com/

What are you looking for?

For financial advisors, we look for... self-starters who enjoy working with and helping other people. For branch office administrators... we look for energetic individuals who can take the initiative to anticipate client and financial advisor needs.

Any secrets to impressing your recruiter?

For financial advisors: Our recruiters approach each candidate from a career management standpoint, attempting to ensure each candidate has a solid understanding of the work, the emphasis on putting clients' interests first and the appropriate commitment level to be successful.

For branch office administrators: Our recruiters are impressed with a candidate's past work experience and stability or loyalty with past employers. We look for an affable personality to meet and greet our clients. --Interview with Regina DeLuca-Imral, spokeswoman

2) *** Wegmans Food Markets, Inc. ***

2010 Best Companies rank: 3

Industry - Retail (Grocery)
Revenue - ▲$4.8 billion (2008)
Revenue Growth (1Yr) - 6.70 %

Business Model

Wegmans Inc. is a 71-store supermarket chain with stores in New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland and Virginia. Wegmans has been named one of the "100 Best Companies to Work For" by FORTUNE magazine for eleven consecutive years, ranking #3 in 2008. Known for its fresh produce, restaurant-quality prepared foods, artisan breads, consistent low prices and incredible customer service,

Current openings: 1,500

Mostly in store operations, including customer-service team members, chefs, team leaders and department managers. There also are opportunities in distribution and manufacturing.

Wegmans Food Markets' Careers site: http://bit.ly/bZVvR5

What are you looking for?

We look for employees [who] are food enthusiasts and passionate about providing incredible service to customers. Because we focus on helping customers make great meals easy, we look for employees willing to share their knowledge.

Any secrets to impressing your recruiter?

We focus on people who have diverse experiences and ideas, and exemplify our values by caring about and respecting others. We also look for people committed to continuously learning. --Interview with Wendy Gallucci, spokeswoman

3) *** Qualcomm ***

2010 Best Companies rank: 9

Industry - Wireless (Telecom)
Revenue - ▼ US$ 10.416 billion (2009)
Total assets - ▲ US$ 27.445 billion (2009)

Total equity - ▲ US$ 20.316 billion (2009)

Business Model

Qualcomm is the inventor of CDMAone (IS-95), CDMA 2000, and CDMA 1xEV-DO, which are wireless cellular standards used for communications. The company also owns significant number of key patents on the widely adopted 3G technology, W-CDMA. The license streams from the patents on these inventions, and related products are a major component of Qualcomm's business.

Current openings: 617

Engineering and business positions such as Linux software engineers, digital design engineers, 4G systems engineers, patent counsel, Smartbook architects, and product marketing director.

Qualcomm's career site: www.qualcomm.com/careers/index.html

What are you looking for?

Candidates that have a passion for technology, a desire to innovate, and the skills to exceed the expectations of our customers.

Any secrets to impressing your recruiter?

An impressive candidate does their research on the company and on individuals they are going to interview with. They are also self-aware: confident in their strengths and honest about areas where they can improve. --Interview with Talia Tortora, corporate communications

4) *** CISCO ***

2010 Best Companies rank: 16

Industry - Computer Networking
Revenue - ▼ US$36.117 billion (2009)
Total assets - ▲ US$68.128 billion (2009)[1]

Total equity - ▲ US$38.647 billion (2009

Business Model

Cisco (CSCO) is the leading supplier of networking equipment and network management for the Internet. Products include routers, hubs, ethernet cards etc. In late March 2000, at the height of the dot-com boom, Cisco was the most valuable company in the world, with a market capitalization of more than US$500 billion.In July 2009, with a market cap of about US$108.03 billion, it is still one of the most valuable companies. CSCO was voted stock of the decade on NASDAQ

Current openings: 595

45% are in Cisco's engineering and design organization, with job roles requiring networking, software, and/or electrical engineering expertise. 25% are in services, with roles for engineers (advanced and technical services) and project managers. Most opportunities are in sales, finance, marketing, IT, manufacturing, supply chain and HR.

Cisco's career site: www.cisco.com/web/about/ac40/about_cisco_careers_home.html

What are you looking for?

First and foremost, strong collaborators. Candidates should have a focus on execution; they should be able to accelerate delivery of a product or project in a manner that meets quality standards while emphasizing speed and impact. We look for people with a track record of continuous learning who have been innovators -- and even disruptors -- within their respective disciplines.

Any secrets to impressing your recruiter?

Know the needs of the organization for which you're applying. Listen well and ask good questions. Chances are, if a candidate is being interviewed, Cisco already has a sense that he or she possesses the requisite knowledge, skills and experience. The interview team is assessing "organizational fit," and whether the candidate will be successful leveraging his [abilities] to make a sustainable impact. --Interview with Jennifer Ho, HR communications manager

5) *** Ernst & Young ***

2010 Best Companies rank: 44

Industry - Professional Services
Revenue - $24.523 billion USD (2008)

Business Model

Ernst & Young (EY) is one of the largest professional services firms in the world and one of the Big Four auditors, along with PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), Deloitte and KPMG.Ernst & Young is a global organisation of member firms in more than 140 countries. According to Forbes magazine, as of 2008[update] it is also the 9th largest private company in the United States.

Current openings: 622

Opportunities in a wide range of areas, including finance, taxes, supply chain, customer, strategic direction and program management; IT, people and organizational change consulting. Skills in demand include finance transformation, business performance management, procurement, logistics, pricing as well as Oracle, SAP, Hyperion and other technology platforms and tools. Experience in restructuring, valuation, transaction integration and transaction tax also is in sought.

Ernst & Young's career site: www.ey.com/US/Careers

What are you looking for?

In addition to having the requisite technical experience, we want candidates who are truly proactive, strong team members. [They should be] highly adaptable to change and have a high amount of intellectual curiosity.

Any secrets to impressing your recruiter?

Have a positive and enthusiastic attitude, be passionate about what you do, and describe specific experiences and results you've achieved [as well as] what you want to achieve. --Interview with Larry Nash, recruiting director

Conclusion -

Required Skills on which Recruiters of hiring companies are counting on Job Seekers are;

Candidate's past work experience and stability or loyalty with past employers.
An affable personality and commitment towards continuous learning.
Self-awareness: confident in strengths and honest about areas where you can improve.
Be clear about why you want to work here and always ready to answer situational based questioning
Positive and enthusiastic attitude, be passionate about what you do.
Consider jobs outside of your area of study, be open to relocation, and refer a friend to a recruiter if the job is not right for you.

Recruitment using LinkedIN

noreply@blogger.com (Abhishek Porwal) — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 13:03:00 -0800

Social Media Marketing Mistakes Your Company Must Avoid- Seriously

noreply@blogger.com (Abhishek Porwal) — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 12:59:00 -0800

Which Social Networking Platform you are using to grow your business?

noreply@blogger.com (Abhishek Porwal) — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 12:53:00 -0800

Innovative Recruiting Through LinkedIn- Basic (Free) Account By Rithesh Nair

noreply@blogger.com (Abhishek Porwal) — Wed, 3 Feb 2010 22:22:00 -0800

Sourcing / Recruiting Linkedin for Free

View more presentations from Rithesh Nair.

Google experimenting with it's UI (User Interface), is that the BING feel?

noreply@blogger.com (Abhishek Porwal) — Fri, 4 Dec 2009 10:29:00 -0800

Google is currently experimenting it's make over, the user interface part after being in relatively static interface for so long (approx for more than 10 years)...Now,the first curious case comes in my mind.. how would it be experiencing a new face? after getting habitual of old & simple classic look since it's launch in year 1997, it sounds really challenging for it's users to adopt it easily, that's why this new UI look is still being experimented and currently in it's Beta Phase.

You can also participate in this experiment and can easily play around while putting more color on the google homepage and can also allocate your search result with permanent sidebar like we've in BING (A Search Engine from Microsoft)....

Let's find out how you can install this new version.

You just need to visit www.google.com (make sure it shouln't be country specific and user must be signed out from any google services)

(Image 1) - Before

Than paste the following into the address bar of your browser opened up with google.com

javascript:void(document.cookie="PREF=ID=20b6e4c2f44943bb:U=4bf292d46faad806:TM=1249677602:LM=1257919388:S=odm0Ys-53ZueXfZG;path=/; domain=.google.com");

After performing this task, you instantly become a new participant of google's latest and more all en-compassing prototype test- the one with a new logo, buttons, and always visible left hand sidebar with results... I'd mention again (LIKE BING) :) lol

if your above script executes successfully, you would experience a brand new User Interface like following.

(Image 2)

(Image 3)

Screenshot Source - Special Thanks to Philipp at Blogoscoped

Your results may vary based on your browser type since this script appears to work only in Firefox
As an experiment, I tested the search string on various browsers:

Results:

Chrome: Fails, uses old layout

Firefox: Works, shows new layout

IE: Fails, uses old layout

Opera: Fails, uses old layout

Safaris: Fails, uses old layout

(This was done on a 64-bit version of Vista with SP2)

This new look got mixed response from all users around the world, Some of them really liked the new look and some of them just didn't .... the people who don't like this new face complain about the colours and find it quite similar to BING, few of them said if they want to use a Bing like interface they would use Bing then however they like GOOGLE the way it is. some of them think that Google is facing tough competition from Bing and that's the reason Google is following up the Bing's way to save it's monopoly in Search Engines category.... and at the same time other bunch of people find it really cool and classy since they were sick and tired of looking at the same page for over 10 Years....

Well, in my view Google has it's own look and identity which makes it very simple and classic for any average user, i think it's good to have a change but users should've freedom to opt for any kind of User Interface based on their comfort level like; google is already providing this kind of combination in it's E-mail Service (Gmail) and Social Media Website (Orkut.com) where user can opt for Old Classic view or recently launched new User Interface (Quite similar to Facebook)

Let me know what do you all think of this experiment and How did you like this peace of Information.

Any comments or suggetions will be highly appreciated.

Stay Hungry Stay Foolish, A Speech extract of the commencement addressed by Steve Jobs (CEO of Apple Computers & Pixar Animation Studios)

noreply@blogger.com (Abhishek Porwal) — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 12:33:00 -0800

This is the text of the Commencement addressed by Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple Computer and of Pixar Animation Studios, delivered on June 12, 2005.

Drawing from some of the most pivotal points in his life, Steve Jobs, urged graduates to pursue their dreams and see the opportunities in life's setbacks—including death itself—at the university's 114th Commencement on Sunday in Stanford Stadium.

I am honored to be with you today at your commencement from one of the finest universities in the world. I never graduated from college. Truth be told, this is the closest I’ve ever gotten to a college graduation. Today I want to tell you three stories from my life. That’s it. No big deal. Just three stories.

The first story is about connecting the dots.

I dropped out of Reed College after the first 6 months, but then stayed around as a drop-in for another 18 months or so before I really quit. So why did I drop out?

It started before I was born. My biological mother was a young, unwed college graduate student, and she decided to put me up for adoption. She felt very strongly that I should be adopted by college graduates, so everything was all set for me to be adopted at birth by a lawyer and his wife. Except that when I popped out they decided at the last minute that they really wanted a girl. So my parents, who were on a waiting list, got a call in the middle of the night asking: “We have an unexpected baby boy; do you want him?” They said: “Of course.” My biological mother later found out that my mother had never graduated from college and that my father had never graduated from high school. She refused to sign the final adoption papers. She only relented a few months later when my parents promised that I would someday go to college.

And 17 years later I did go to college. But I naively chose a college that was almost as expensive as Stanford, and all of my working-class parents’ savings were being spent on my college tuition. After six months, I couldn’t see the value in it. I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life and no idea how college was going to help me figure it out. And here I was spending all of the money my parents had saved their entire life. So I decided to drop out and trust that it would all work out OK. It was pretty scary at the time, but looking back it was one of the best decisions I ever made. The minute I dropped out I could stop taking the required classes that didn’t interest me, and begin dropping in on the ones that looked interesting.

It wasn’t all romantic. I didn’t have a dorm room, so I slept on the floor in friends’ rooms, I returned coke bottles for the 5¢ deposits to buy food with, and I would walk the 7 miles across town every Sunday night to get one good meal a week at the Hare Krishna temple. I loved it. And much of what I stumbled into by following my curiosity and intuition turned out to be priceless later on. Let me give you one example:

Reed College at that time offered perhaps the best calligraphy instruction in the country. Throughout the campus every poster, every label on every drawer, was beautifully hand calligraphed. Because I had dropped out and didn’t have to take the normal classes, I decided to take a calligraphy class to learn how to do this. I learned about serif and san serif typefaces, about varying the amount of space between different letter combinations, about what makes great typography great. It was beautiful, historical, artistically subtle in a way that science can’t capture, and I found it fascinating.

None of this had even a hope of any practical application in my life. But ten years later, when we were designing the first Macintosh computer, it all came back to me. And we designed it all into the Mac. It was the first computer with beautiful typography. If I had never dropped in on that single course in college, the Mac would have never had multiple typefaces or proportionally spaced fonts. And since Windows just copied the Mac, its likely that no personal computer would have them. If I had never dropped out, I would have never dropped in on this calligraphy class, and personal computers might not have the wonderful typography that they do. Of course it was impossible to connect the dots looking forward when I was in college. But it was very, very clear looking backwards ten years later.

Again, you can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.

My second story is about love and loss.

I was lucky — I found what I loved to do early in life. Woz and I started Apple in my parents garage when I was 20. We worked hard, and in 10 years Apple had grown from just the two of us in a garage into a $2 billion company with over 4000 employees. We had just released our finest creation — the Macintosh — a year earlier, and I had just turned 30. And then I got fired. How can you get fired from a company you started? Well, as Apple grew we hired someone who I thought was very talented to run the company with me, and for the first year or so things went well. But then our visions of the future began to diverge and eventually we had a falling out. When we did, our Board of Directors sided with him. So at 30 I was out. And very publicly out. What had been the focus of my entire adult life was gone, and it was devastating.

I really didn’t know what to do for a few months. I felt that I had let the previous generation of entrepreneurs down – that I had dropped the baton as it was being passed to me. I met with David Packard and Bob Noyce and tried to apologize for screwing up so badly. I was a very public failure, and I even thought about running away from the valley. But something slowly began to dawn on me — I still loved what I did. The turn of events at Apple had not changed that one bit. I had been rejected, but I was still in love. And so I decided to start over.

I didn’t see it then, but it turned out that getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything. It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods of my life.

During the next five years, I started a company named NeXT, another company named Pixar, and fell in love with an amazing woman who would become my wife. Pixar went on to create the worlds first computer animated feature film, Toy Story, and is now the most successful animation studio in the world. In a remarkable turn of events, Apple bought NeXT, I retuned to Apple, and the technology we developed at NeXT is at the heart of Apple’s current renaissance. And Laurene and I have a wonderful family together.

I’m pretty sure none of this would have happened if I hadn’t been fired from Apple. It was awful tasting medicine, but I guess the patient needed it. Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick. Don’t lose faith. I’m convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. You’ve got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don’t settle.

My third story is about death.

When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like: “If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you’ll most certainly be right.” It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: “If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?” And whenever the answer has been “No” for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.

Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure – these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.

About a year ago I was diagnosed with cancer. I had a scan at 7:30 in the morning, and it clearly showed a tumor on my pancreas. I didn’t even know what a pancreas was. The doctors told me this was almost certainly a type of cancer that is incurable, and that I should expect to live no longer than three to six months. My doctor advised me to go home and get my affairs in order, which is doctor’s code for prepare to die. It means to try to tell your kids everything you thought you’d have the next 10 years to tell them in just a few months. It means to make sure everything is buttoned up so that it will be as easy as possible for your family. It means to say your goodbyes.

I lived with that diagnosis all day. Later that evening I had a biopsy, where they stuck an endoscope down my throat, through my stomach and into my intestines, put a needle into my pancreas and got a few cells from the tumor. I was sedated, but my wife, who was there, told me that when they viewed the cells under a microscope the doctors started crying because it turned out to be a very rare form of pancreatic cancer that is curable with surgery. I had the surgery and I’m fine now.

This was the closest I’ve been to facing death, and I hope its the closest I get for a few more decades. Having lived through it, I can now say this to you with a bit more certainty than when death was a useful but purely intellectual concept:

No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don’t want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life’s change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true.

Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.

When I was young, there was an amazing publication called The Whole Earth Catalog, which was one of the bibles of my generation. It was created by a fellow named Stewart Brand not far from here in Menlo Park, and he brought it to life with his poetic touch. This was in the late 1960’s, before personal computers and desktop publishing, so it was all made with typewriters, scissors, and polaroid cameras. It was sort of like Google in paperback form, 35 years before Google came along: it was idealistic, and overflowing with neat tools and great notions.

Stewart and his team put out several issues of The Whole Earth Catalog, and then when it had run its course, they put out a final issue. It was the mid-1970s, and I was your age. On the back cover of their final issue was a photograph of an early morning country road, the kind you might find yourself hitchhiking on if you were so adventurous. Beneath it were the words: “Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.” It was their farewell message as they signed off. Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish. And I have always wished that for myself. And now, as you graduate to begin anew, I wish that for you.

Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.

Thank you all very much.

Steve Jobs

Selling yourself / Becoming more Enterprising- Need of Personal Branding through Social Media .... (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google, MySpace)

noreply@blogger.com (Abhishek Porwal) — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 15:07:00 -0700

Have you ever thought of most possible ways of getting a job? think once... or may be twice too since time is changing every now & than and things are changing too... earlier, things were very traditional and straight.. however due to over educated population all around ..... the same simple concept is on toss.... "High Supply and Less demand" .... to battle up with this kind of situation Top consulting firms or MNCs have tighten up their hiring strategy which is as good as Charles Darwin's "Survival of the Fittest" ..... the one who will justify all the needs and conditions based on the company's profitability will get a job or else will go for Fishing :)

These changing hiring strategies could also demands multiple roles in a same resume with same or less salary or may be multiple responsibilities to be executed within the same working hours ..... bottom line is that "Multitasking is in Demand!... "

Now, after understanding the above scenario ... let's get back to our main subject ...How to sell yourself creatively..? or Need of becoming more Enterprising ....?

Having your resume posted in several job boards like; Monster, Naukari, Dice etc. wouldn't identify you much more like an active or passive job seeker since posting a resume on one of the pay boards limits who can search the resume to only those who pay heavily for a user license. Also, Users spend a lot of time posting thier resumes to each of the job boards...

Now the time demands to think out of box in a more creative way where your profile is accessible to potential employers without any heavy cost.. or may be with no cost.. thus there is a need to be associated with others, become more accessible to others ... in a simple way there is a need of Networking with like minded people.. Now a days, Social Media has emerged as one of the most favouraite platform for any kind of networking whether it is based on Personal level or enterprise level... The active job seekers can utilize this platform in more efficient way to get more out of it....

if we discuss the latest developments in any industry, social media is a prime target for everybody, here we would specificially discuss about IT Staffing industry... for an example..

Facebook is continuing to add more job related content and users can add their job history to their Facebook profile. ResuWe allows it's users to have their Facebook friends comment and make recommendations on their resume. ResuWe also allows it's users the ability to tweet their resume and have a vanity ResuWe URL which will allow user's resumes to be searched and viewed via the Open Web.

following the same path Google has also announced last week that they struck a deal with Twitter to include real-time tweets in Google's search results. Even passive job seekers are actively creating thier profiles and putting all thier work experience in a hope to get more better oppourtunity someday or the other..

With a 9.8% unemployment rate (US BLS September, 2009) and a slowly improving economy, workers unhappy with their current job may still be hesitant to actively start looking for a new position. This information, coupled with more and more companies spending money on technologies involving open web searches to find passive candidates, are reasons why to be a passive job seeker.

And for all the job seekers i would revise the same comment by Seth Godin on Personal Branding....

"I think if you're remarkable, amazing or just plain spectacular, you probably shouldn't have a resume at all" However what you must have in you are; Humbleness, Positive attitude and a deep sense of cooperation.

Dice.com has more to offer :- Offering Recruiters Something Extra, Passive Candidates Search

noreply@blogger.com (Abhishek Porwal) — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 13:36:00 -0700

In the changing scenario, where every single company is trying to find alternatvies for Job boards to reduce down thier expenses .... they could probably do so with the help of Web 2.0 (A Revolutionary Concept in Enterprising world).......... However on the other hand.. to strengthen thier market value Job boards companies are also paying enormous attention towards adding new features for searching active and passive candidates in order to justify thier need even in the tough economy....

Specifically Dice.com has always appears to become Number 1 in upgradation and adding something new everytime ........

Let's explore more about it............

Dice.com recently debuted two new tools. One will help with your sourcing research and the other promotes the passive candidate who may be overlooked by tech recruiters seeking fresh candidates.

Dice.com, the IT job board, introduced a new search result report that allows recruiters to toggle between the results that meet their criteria and other candidates who also match the criteria, but who haven’t been active on the site for a year.

Tom Silver, senior VP North America of parent company Dice Holdings, said the thought of offering additional results came about because more than half the searches on Dice are for candidates who have been active in the last 90 days. In their quest for fresh job seekers, recruiters were missing candidates with equally good skills.

“So,” says Silver, “We wanted to make it easier to see older candidates. We’re just trying to prompt recruiters to look at the entire database.”

Recruiters now get the results they asked for, as well as a tab that allows them to see candidates who first submitted a resume more than a year ago and haven’t been back since. The passive candidate results have all been filtered by Dice to make sure the email addresses are still current.

Why pick a year instead of six months? For the same reason eggs are sold by the dozen and reunions are celebrated in 5- and 10-year increments. “When you talk to people you hear they want to go a year back,” Silver explains. “It’s a natural calendar thing.”

Dice’s new feature is a curious twist on the usual recruiter pursuit of the passive candidate, a subject that’s come in for some ethical give and take in this economy.

Job boards typically don’t see a lot of searches for candidates a year or more old. Job board sourcing is almost by definition a search for candidates who can fill a req now, so limiting results to 60 or 90 days is fairly typical. Job board denizens are, by definition, active job seekers. Thus aged resumes are inventory that is just not all that valuable, one reason the big boards encourage candidates to regularly update their profiles and resumes.

By offering up vintage candidates who now may have another year or more of experience and maybe even stronger skills, Dice is encouraging recruiters to look at job boards a little differently — as a rich repository of passive candidates, which may be why there is no current plan to offer up fresh resumes to recruiters searching for older ones.

It’s actually quite a clever approach: Give recruiters exactly what they want, but tease them with easy access to vintage candidates they wouldn’t otherwise see. A value-add that may raise the value of aging inventory, and benefit once-active candidates.

What do recruiters who have tried it say about the new feature? It’s “yummy,” Silver told me. Seriously.

Revolutionary Recruiting in the year 2049 - From Web 2.0 to Web 29.0? By Fraser Hill

noreply@blogger.com (Abhishek Porwal) — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 12:31:00 -0700

What if we had a crystal ball and could look ahead 50 years to see what the recruiting trends will be. How will people be recruiting? Will it be some with the aid of some high tech "Web 29.0" job boards?

If we go back 50 years ago, how useful would a crystal ball have been then? Had any of us had a crystal ball we could have predicted many things and by now been richer than Bill Gates and Warren Buffett 10 times over. That's because we could have foreseen the explosion of contingency recruitment, contract and temp recruitment, job boards, ATS technology and the list goes on. Recruitment as we know it today didn't exist 50 years ago, so how will it look 50 years from now?

With the internet, job board advertising and email usage dominating the contingency recruitment market over the past 14 years or so, recruiters have had more and more opportunity to be lazy. In theory a recruiter can get a job emailed from a client, post the job on a job board, get the responses, exchange emails with potential candidates and forward the top three to the client. In theory that recruiter can make a placement with very little interaction with either the client or the candidate. This is not recruiting!

50 years from now it's easy and scary to predict how little interaction a recruiter may need to have in the process. Maybe computers will replace the need for recruiters in 50 years? We can all argue that this could never be, but with a large percentage of contingency recruiters already working as "administrators" and not much more, we can be forgiven for observing a trend curve pointing towards automation.

I feel very fortunate though to have a crystal ball. (-: I know what effective recruiting is going to look like in 50 years, and even 100 years from now. How can I possibly know this? Well it's the same reason that in 2009 so many contingency recruiters miss a trick. With a very high percentage of competing recruitment companies relying almost exclusively on job board advertising and their outdated databases of candidates, they're all fighting over the same candidates.

These are the 10% or less of the working population who are actively looking for work. In 50 or 100 years one thing is not going to change drastically. The percentage of people who are not actively looking for work will remain the high majority. So whether it's today or in 100 years, why go fishing in the same pond as thousands of other recruiters? Why not take a leaf out of our high end head hunting friend's book and start to focus on the population of the workforce who are not looking?

Mapping out company organization structures and headhunting shouldn't only be for board level executive positions. Just because someone is not actively looking for work, it doesn't mean to say they'll not be open minded to a conversation about a potential career move. In 50 years, picking up a phone and asking an employee of a well respected company if they are "open minded to a conversation about a potential career move right now", will be no different to doing that today. A high percentage of them may not be open to moving, but will be open to hearing about what's going on in the market. This is where relationships starts. This is where quality referrals happen.

Of course the cynics are going to say "well it takes too long to headhunt candidates when I can just be advertising for positions". Well how long does it take to work on a position only to find out your candidate has already been forwarded? I'm not talking about giving up your job board subscriptions and focussing exclusively on headhunting. Why not do both, and over time I believe job board administrator recruiters will develop a much more rewarding career. Who knows, maybe you'll like it so much you'll be around in 50 years to tell the ERE community about your "most successful half century ever".