Casual Articles - Business

How to Quit a Job?
Leaving a job is often a difficult step. Sure, there is the exciting opportunity to do something different, but if have been with an employer for over a year this can become an emotional step. People leave jobs for various reasons. The old job might just plain and simple suck. The pay is lousy and the boss is behaving like a dictator of a 3rd world country. Or the job might be target of outsourcing and the employee is pro-active by looking for his/her own way out. Or the job is a dead end. No opportunity and the daily routine is boring. It could also be that the immediate co-workers and managers are just not as nice and that there is no great work relationship that makes the employee to love to go to work. A not so exciting job can still be a great place to work if you have great co-workers and managers around. Work is about money, but the socializing part is important, too.We're not trying to get into the reasons for leaving a job here for the matter of this article. However - we want to concentrate on the actual part of resigning from a job. And again - there are several different ways of leaving a job. If you absolutely do not care about your old job you could just leave but this step can have severe impact on your career down the road. Keep in mind that employers like to check the places you worked at before they want to hire you. These sins of the past might come back and hurt your reputation. "Oh, he left that job without any

for you is only short term and it is one of the quickest ways of destroying trust amongst your team.

Question your commitment and work ethos continually-Are you really giving 100% effort all the time? If not-why not –do you need to seek help or are you just being lazy?

Don’t lie! It’s infectious in a team environment. If you want a day off- take a leave day-don’t keep re-burying your grandmother!

Admit when you are wrong in a discussion-and apologise!

Don’t moan and grumble about work – if you don’t like being there –Leave!

2. Communication

If You Don't Know What Kind Of Job You Want -- Deciding On Which Job That Is Right For You
Now days, most people do not start a job with the knowledge or belief that they will be doing the same job for the rest of their life. As technology and the way we work changes, many people expect to have several job or career changes during their working life. So how you decide as to which job or career is the one for you?Finding the job that fits your personality, your lifestyle and your skills is not easy. The best place to start in with a personal evaluation and inventory of your skills. So site down with a pen and paper and make a list of 10 things you are good at and 10 things that you are bad at. The list 10 of your personal traits:* Are you artistic or logical? * Are you tidy or methodical? * Are you a night person or a day person? * Do you work better in a group, leading a group or alone? * How much risk do you take?Now list down what you want out of your job: * Do you want security, variety, travel etc? * How much money do you want to live on? * Where do you want to work? * What kind of hours do you want to work. Flexible/changeable/fixed etc.?Lastly list your professional skills and experience.Once you have done this list no more than 5 different careers that you think you would like to have. Go onto a major career job board and search for the job titles that you think you may be interested in. Look very carefully at

The second in a series of 2 articles giving a slightly different viewpoint on effective team building, condensed from an original seminar presented by the author, John Roberts. John is a Freelance Training Consultant and director of JayrConsulting Ltd. Part 1 ( Another Brick in the Wall ) dealt with selecting and building the initial team. Part 2 deals with the culture that need to be in place to run the team really effectively. The ideas expressed are personal opinions built up from many years of experience in the Electronics/Aerospace industry, the Armed Forces, the Telecoms industry and the Training industry. There is no suggestion of this being a 100% solution applicable to or workable in all situations, but it is aimed at getting people to think outside of the norm and question the ‘normal’ way of doing things.

1. Honesty – The Key!

It really is that simple! The basic foundation of building and running REALLY successful teams is TOTAL honesty! Sounds simple, but it can be one of the hardest things to implement due to existing workplace cultures and peoples long-term conditioning to them. If you are not prepared to implement this culture change, you will only ever have functional ‘teams’ that are purely paying ‘lip service’ to the whole idea of team building.

Being honest starts here! You cant pretend to be honest, or only implement some parts of it, either as a team member or as a team leader. If you are not going to give it 100% - Give it up, because the rest depends on this to work properly!

There are two separate parts to honesty within the team scenario and both are equally important:

(a) Being honest with other people

You have to learn to be honest with everyone. If someone is not performing properly-Tell them as soon as possible, and help them to overcome the cause. If someone is performing well-Tell them as soon as possible, and help them to do even better.

If there is good news about the project/team/company-Tell people as soon as possible, without hiding things and deliver praise where appropriate. If there is BAD news about the project/team/company-Tell people as soon as possible, without hiding things and discuss what can be done about it at a team and personal level-ask for input and ideas to resolve things. Most people can handle most situations well, as long as they feel they are being kept informed and involved.

Make sure that you are doing your share of the teams work, to the best of your ability. If the team are having to cover for you, you are not being honest with them.

If you make a mistake- admit to it, as soon as possible and if necessary get help to resolve it. If you try and hide your mistakes you are not being honest and it just leads to more work for others in the long run. Don’t perpetuate rumours! It is one of the fastest ways to break down trust in a team culture. If you don’t know something is a fact-don’t repeat it!

(b) Being honest with yourself

For a lot of people this can actually be extremely difficult to achieve, due to long term conditioning in a competitive work place, but once started it tends to build on itself as long as everyone is really committed to long-term success of the team building process. You have to really look at yourself deeply and honestly and work at correcting your individual behaviour patterns and shortcomings.

If you can’t cope with something-tell someone and get some help with it. No one is perfect and we all need help sometimes. In a good team environment, nobody is going to think less of you for requesting help-just the opposite if it helps to get things done.

Be honest about your skills and abilities starting with your c.v. !). If not you will be found out eventually, but by that time, you may have let a lot of other people down!

Don’t steal credit/ideas from other people and put them forward as your own. Any gain for you is only short term and it is one of the quickest ways of destroying trust amongst your team.

Question your commitment and work ethos continually-Are you really giving 100% effort all the time? If not-why not –do you need to seek help or are you just being lazy?

Don’t lie! It’s infectious in a team environment. If you want a day off- take a leave day-don’t keep re-burying your grandmother!

Admit when you are wrong in a discussion-and apologise!

Don’t moan and grumble about work – if you don’t like being there –Leave!

2. Communication

How To Prepare For A Telephone Interview
It is important to prepare thoroughly for your telephone interview.Begin by studying the job description and the candidate profile. This will enable you to identify the company's particular needs and demonstrate that you possess the skills required to meet them.Find out all you can about the company's products, services, history, and culture. Make a special effort to identify any areas where your skills and experience may be of particular value.Familiarize yourself with the company's website and be prepared to comment constructively upon it if asked.Prepare a list matching your accomplishments to the company's stated requirements. Keep this list in front of you during the interview and refer to it at every opportunity.Specify and quantify your accomplishments, e.g. 'increased sales by 35%' or 'reduced overheads by 27%'.Interviewers are keen to hear about relevant challenges or problems you faced in the workplace, the specific actions you took, and the measurable results you achieved. They seek to identify key competencies such as communication skills, analytical skills, teamwork, drive and initiative. Be prepared to give examples of how and when you have demonstrated these key competencies.To get the feel of being interviewed over the phone, compile a list of probable questions and ask a friend use them in a simulated phone interview. Prepare your answers carefully, using key words and phras

mple, but it can be one of the hardest things to implement due to existing workplace cultures and peoples long-term conditioning to them. If you are not prepared to implement this culture change, you will only ever have functional ‘teams’ that are purely paying ‘lip service’ to the whole idea of team building.

There are two separate parts to honesty within the team scenario and both are equally important:

(a) Being honest with other people

Make sure that you are doing your share of the teams work, to the best of your ability. If the team are having to cover for you, you are not being honest with them.

(b) Being honest with yourself

Be honest about your skills and abilities starting with your c.v. !). If not you will be found out eventually, but by that time, you may have let a lot of other people down!

Don’t steal credit/ideas from other people and put them forward as your own. Any gain for you is only short term and it is one of the quickest ways of destroying trust amongst your team.

Question your commitment and work ethos continually-Are you really giving 100% effort all the time? If not-why not –do you need to seek help or are you just being lazy?

Don’t lie! It’s infectious in a team environment. If you want a day off- take a leave day-don’t keep re-burying your grandmother!

Admit when you are wrong in a discussion-and apologise!

Don’t moan and grumble about work – if you don’t like being there –Leave!

2. Communication

SEO Jobs - A New Freelance Writing Opportunity
SEO jobs are one of the most popular forms of freelance jobs on the internet, those are an excellent way of making an income as a freelancer, there is a lot of demand for SEO work and if you can produce results, you will get paid very well. For those people who like puzzles, freelance SEO jobs, is a great option.SEO jobs has its roots since the beginning of the Internet, when marketers realized that they were able to manipulate search engine rankings with keywords and meaningless content, a whirlwind of keyword stuffed all the web pages displayed across the internet.All marketers want to push their web pages and their products to the top of the search engine results in order to get traffic and potential customers. SEO jobs have become very important, because this way, companies increase their traffic and their profits.Years ago, people could find web pages with only a few paragraphs with large blank areas in the web page, but if you highlighted these blank spaces with your cursor, then you could see a massive strings of invisible keywords. Search Engine Optimization writers used these invisible keywords in text, to rank the web pages to the top of the search engine listings.Today search engine programmers, have refined their search algorithms to ignore those keyword stuffing. With this great change, the search engines rank web pages with more relevant content, without stuffed keywords.ut the project/team/company-Tell people as soon as possible, without hiding things and deliver praise where appropriate. If there is BAD news about the project/team/company-Tell people as soon as possible, without hiding things and discuss what can be done about it at a team and personal level-ask for input and ideas to resolve things. Most people can handle most situations well, as long as they feel they are being kept informed and involved.

Make sure that you are doing your share of the teams work, to the best of your ability. If the team are having to cover for you, you are not being honest with them.

(b) Being honest with yourself

Be honest about your skills and abilities starting with your c.v. !). If not you will be found out eventually, but by that time, you may have let a lot of other people down!

Don’t steal credit/ideas from other people and put them forward as your own. Any gain for you is only short term and it is one of the quickest ways of destroying trust amongst your team.

Question your commitment and work ethos continually-Are you really giving 100% effort all the time? If not-why not –do you need to seek help or are you just being lazy?

Don’t lie! It’s infectious in a team environment. If you want a day off- take a leave day-don’t keep re-burying your grandmother!

Admit when you are wrong in a discussion-and apologise!

Don’t moan and grumble about work – if you don’t like being there –Leave!

2. Communication

Mortgage Broker Training Article: What Do You Think?
Mortgage brokers, I have a fun test for you. This test will give you an idea of your ability to think through situations. Believe it or not, no matter how fun it is to answer these questions, this exercise is still relevant to generating realtor business. Are you ready for this? Here we go:Question #1 – There are 6 eggs in a basket. 6 people each take 1 egg. How can it be that 1 egg is left in the basket?Question #2 – Acting on an anonymous phone call, police raid a house to arrest a suspected murderer. They don’t know what he looks like, but they do know that his name is John. Inside, they find a carpenter, a cab driver, a mechanic and fireman playing cards. Without asking his name, they arrest the fireman on the spot. How did they know they had their man?Question #3 – A man escaped from prison and is making his way home on foot. After walking about 2 miles from the prison on a rural country road, he notices a police car coming towards him. Despite knowing that all squads will be looking for him, he ran towards the car. Only when he was about 10 feet away did he turn and run into the woods. Why did he run towards the police car?You will find the answers to these questions at the end of this article. So what is the point of presenting you with these questions? The above scenarios were designed to test an individual’s lateral thinking ability. What exactly is lateral thinking?Lateral thinking is approachin

t it!

(b) Being honest with yourself

Be honest about your skills and abilities starting with your c.v. !). If not you will be found out eventually, but by that time, you may have let a lot of other people down!

Don’t steal credit/ideas from other people and put them forward as your own. Any gain for you is only short term and it is one of the quickest ways of destroying trust amongst your team.

Question your commitment and work ethos continually-Are you really giving 100% effort all the time? If not-why not –do you need to seek help or are you just being lazy?

Don’t lie! It’s infectious in a team environment. If you want a day off- take a leave day-don’t keep re-burying your grandmother!

Admit when you are wrong in a discussion-and apologise!

Don’t moan and grumble about work – if you don’t like being there –Leave!

2. Communication

Training / Presentation: How to Manage You People Well
As a training manager, there are two important aspects to managing your people well: hiring, supervising, and motivating (managing with your people) and building up corporate support for your department (managing for your people). Unfortunately, training is not well understood by some executives, and its benefits can be hard to assess. Even a good training manager’s department risks cuts by cost-conscious administrators convinced that training is an unnecessary expense. In The Secret of My Success, a cinematic fairy tale about life in corporate America, Michael J. Fox gets scolded his first day on the job for speaking to a senior executive: “Never consort with a suit unless the suit consorts with you first.” As a training manager, however, you had better be prepared to consort with “the suits” from Day One. Managing for your people is a pro-active strategy that constantly demands selling your department’s services and widening the base of organizational support for the training function.All of our experts agree that the actions of the manager of training are critical to the department’s survival, and important for the long-term health and continuity of the organization itself. In an era of cost cutting and corporate mergers/takeovers, a training manager must make sure his or her department is 1) visible, 2) credible and 3) perceived to be as integral to the organization’s growth as it really is. This can be accomplished by means of

for you is only short term and it is one of the quickest ways of destroying trust amongst your team.

Question your commitment and work ethos continually-Are you really giving 100% effort all the time? If not-why not –do you need to seek help or are you just being lazy?

Don’t lie! It’s infectious in a team environment. If you want a day off- take a leave day-don’t keep re-burying your grandmother!

Admit when you are wrong in a discussion-and apologise!

Don’t moan and grumble about work – if you don’t like being there –Leave!

2. Communication

Communication is one of the most important factors in successful teams. To be effective it must be continuous and completely OPEN – both between team members and between the team leader and their team. There should be no secrets. The team need to know how they are affected by corporate plans and decisions. Members need to know if they are doing things correctly. The team leader needs to know if their team members have any ideas or problems that should be acted upon. People respond better if they know the facts – even to bad news! (I had a team where they all volunteered to take a 10% pay cut to save a team member from redundancy, when the financial figures were explained to them openly!)

This DOESN’T mean that you need to have interminable ‘formal’ team meetings! People should be encouraged to talk to each other and to the team leader all of the time. A good team leader will set aside time every day, (YES, you can do it, if you are organised!), purely to get around and talk to their team. The better your communication is, the less meetings you will need to have!

3. Trust

Trust between team members and between the team and team leader MUST be absolute. If you don’t trust people to get on and do their job – why are they in your team? If you trust people to do a job, you have to relinquish power to them to make their own decisions – and they have to be responsible for those decisions! Team members must have trust in the team leader – that they have their best interests at heart and are working for team rather than individual success. In the ultimate team, people have to depend on each other for their lives – that can only be done with trust in your fellow team members.

4. Conflicts and Compromise

Teams are made of PEOPLE! You have to expect conflicts and confrontations. They should not be arbitrarily stamped upon – people have to be made aware that at some point they will have to compromise with other people in order to continuing functioning as an effective team. Members should be encouraged not to hide conflict, but to work it out and arrive at a compromise. The team leader should try and be aware of any conflicts and help to resolve them where necessary. Don’t expect your team to never argue – they are all different people, and just like in a family, there is nothing wrong with a healthy argument, as long as it is resolved

5. Chinese Councils

ALL team members should have an input to planning and decisions concerning the team. People in the team should be treated as equals. The team leader is not in that position because they are ‘better”, it’s just that they have different skills to the others. The team leader is not the only person that may have good ideas and should always be willing to accept input from others and where necessary amend plans and decisions concerning the team and its objectives. However, everyone should be aware that at the end, the team leader has the ultimate responsibility and therefore the final say in any decisions, having taken into account the input from other team members. This should be a regular ongoing procedure.

6. Assessment and reward

Forget ‘Annual Assessments’, Competency grids and pay rises based on individual performance! What matters is, “Is the TEAM successful?” The team leader should be constantly aware of how team members are performing and giving them feedback and assistance where necessary as the project progresses. It is no good leaving it until some later point to let people know if they are not achieving what is required or patting them on the back if things are going well. People need constant feedback –with honesty! Reward should be based on the success (or failure!) of the whole team, not individuals, so that people are encouraged to make sure that everyone in the team is pulling together to achieve the team goals –not trying to score ‘smarty points’ for their own individual advancement. (This would not work in a ‘sales’ environment, which is why sales people tend to work as individuals rather than as teams!)

7. Buddies

Team members must all be ‘Buddies’ with each other. This doesn’t mean that you have to be close friends or socialise with each other! What it means is that team members have to support one another at all times. Everyone has ‘off da

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What's the Best Background Check Company?

A good background check company will facilitate the hiring process for an organization by providing them with accurate and up-to-date details of their candidates. The company should have the resources to retrieve in short time information such as credit records, social security numbers, driving record, criminal records, and educational background.

How to Manage Sales By the Numbers

I hated math in high school, which explains why I struggled through Algebra One two times and finally passed it my senior year. I hadn’t expected math to become a major influence in my life. I didn’t care how many apples Johnny had to have if he needed to eat one, three time a day over 14 days. I didn’t like apples that much. I didn’t get it then, but I love numbers today and I like apples too.

Spring Cleaning For Your Home Office (In 2 Hours Or Less!)

Take 2 hours this spring to devote to cleaning up your home office! It doesn't have to be a long or dreaded project! Just follow these simple steps.

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