First Impression Tips...

When you’re interviewing for a job, one of the keys to success is your first impression. If you’re about to go in for an interview, maybe its time to re-evaluate the first impression you give off. Do you come off as likable? Do you exude professionalism and charm?

The goal of every first impression is to stick to a person’s brain. You want them to instantly like you and to keep thinking about you hours or even days after your first met them. Here are few things we can all do to give a killer first impression.

Dress to impress. You don’t want to walk into an interview looking like a slob. If you look sloppy, people will assume you do sloppy work. Look neat and presentable. Also, dress so you’re fit in with the people who are interviewing you. For attorneys that means conservative suits, white shirts, and ties. If your job is more creative, say like a graphic designer, dress so it looks like you are creative.

Look fit. People are attracted to people in good physical shape. If you are out of shape, start heading to the gym everyday for 30 minutes of cardio and strength training. Also, quit eating junk and start eating healthy.

Give an impressive hand shake. The first handshake is a key part in giving a good first impression.

Focus on speaking. Speak clearly and at a moderate pace. Work on varying your voice intonation. You don’t want to come off as a monotone bore. Also, speak the language of the person interviewing you. Avoid slang and jargon not associated with the job you are interviewing for. Use proper grammar and vocabulary that reflects a higher education. If people can’t understand you, its hard for them to like you.

Use the person’s name. Using the interviewers name makes the conversation more personable. It also shows that you were paying attention during introductions and that the other person was important enough for you to memorize their name. However, avoid overusing a person’s name. Too much name use is off putting because it sounds fake and a little bit creepy.

Let the person know you’re listening. If it looks like you are not listening, people will be turned off. Give subtle hints that you are listening such as looking the person in the eye, nodding, and saying an occasional I see. Also, ask questions about what someone had just said. It shows you have been paying attention and that you want to know more about what they are saying. Finally, don’t interrupt.

Shine the spotlight on the other person. The secret to charm is directing attention away from you and on to the other person. Avoid blabbing about yourself and start asking questions about the other person. Great questions to ask in an interview include:

* How did you end up at (name of company)?
* What drew you to (name of company)?
* What do you like most about working at (name of company)?

You will not only get key insights about your potential employer, but the questions also require the interviewer to talk about themselves and people love talking about themselves.

How To Care For Your Speaking Voice..

Your voice is a powerful but delicate instrument. With the right care, you can both protect your voice and use it to your best advantage. Start by caring for your voice with this five-step approach. One: Breathe deeply. You can speak only as well as you breathe. The voice, after all, is a wind instrument. You need to supply it with ample air in order to power your talk. Before getting up to speak, find a place where you can pause quietly for awhile. Do a few breathing exercises. Take deep (diaphragmatic) breaths to supply your voice with air. Beginning speakers often hurt their voices because they aren't breathing deeply enough. When you breathe in, your stomach should push out. When you breathe out, your stomach should push in. Place your hand on your stomach when you're practicing your presentation. See if you're bringing air all the way down into your diaphragm. Breathe deeply even as you make your way to the front of the room. Pause for a few seconds and breathe as you look around the room. Taking even one additional deep breath will help your air supply and give your voice more support. Two: Learn to relax. Tension in your upper body diminishes the power of your voice and can cause hoarseness. Over time, it can adversely affect your throat and can lead to vocal chord damage that is sometimes serious enough to require surgical repair. Through vocal warm-up exercises, you reduce tension in your shoulders, neck, and throat. As you exercise, allow your body to breathe naturally. Relax your body and let whatever tautness is there flow out each time you exhale. Three: Condition your voice. Try some tender loving care on your voice. Try gargling, which helps assure that your voice is in the best possible condition. This is especially helpful if you happen to have a cold on the day you're presenting. A teaspoonful of salt and a teaspoonful of baking soda dissolved in a cup of warm water make a simple solution that will wash away phlegm, allergens, and other irritants. After you gargle, coat and soothe your throat with a cup of herbal tea or decaffeinated tea, with plenty of honey. Four: Hydrate. Drink plenty of water before and during your talk. Talking for long periods can dry out your vocal apparatus, making it more prone to damage and fatigue. Avoid foods and beverages that impair your voice. Avoid spicy foods, which can increase the production of stomach acids. Avoid alcohol, which dehydrates. Alcohol, of course, can also impair your performance (not to mention your judgment.) And avoid caffeine, which also dehydrates. Besides, it's a diuretic, and as such can cause other problems. Be aware of any medications you may be taking, such as allergy pills, which can dry out your throat. If you must take your medications without exception, it becomes even more important to hydrate before you speak. Five: Empower Your Voice. There are several ways you can do this. One of the best things you can do is get a good night's sleep. You'll have more vocal energy and will avoid sounding tired. Once you've begun speaking, open your mouth wide. You can't have a big sound unless, to put it bluntly, you have a "big mouth." And do use large gestures. Besides helping you to emphasize a point, large gestures from your shoulders actually reduce upper body tension and empower your voice.

Discover the work you born to do.. p

Discover the work you born to do It seems ingrained in us to either sacrifice our dreams and our deeper self in return for a regular salary, or follow our heart and do something that inspires us and is meaningful, but holds no hope of financial success or security. The dilemma? Do you go for the money or the love and meaning? You can have both, but you need to move beyond the idea that work is something negative, and must involve sacrifice, pain, or boredom. Too few of us truly understand the vocational dimension of work – that it can be a blessing that we love, and which allows our unique gifts and talents to flow out and serve others. Some of the ways to discover the work you have born to do. 1. Through your inspiration, joy and a sense of calling It is the work that would inspire you, you feel called to and your heart calls you to. It is what you are naturally drawn to and curious about. It is what you would most love to do. 2. Behind your greatest resistance The twin soul of inspiration is resistance, and often the work you’d most love to do is what you spend most time and energy procrastinating about, avoiding, making excuses why you haven’t done it and talking yourself out of. Most people are beaten by their resistance and never reach their full potential. 3. In your shadow life The talents you have disowned become your unlived life, which you can only see in others. You can be close to the work you’d love, but you are more comfortable seeing other people’s creativity and talent – afraid to acknowledge your own. Begin to put own your talents out there and move them towards the centre of your life. Your playing small doesn’t serve the world. 4. Under the statement “I don’t know” Often we genuinely don’t know, but with good questions and coaching, we can reach clarity. I don’t know also masks I am afraid to know because then I’d have to change, and that scares me even more. We can confuse I don’t know what with I don’t know how. Don’t deny what you know you’d love to do because you don’t know how you could do it and succeed with it. You can learn. 5. Through your naturalness, seen in the eyes of others A great blind spot most of us have is to our natural abilities and talents. We value struggle, not ease, so don’t value or even see what comes easily to us, and can easily dismiss it, missing our own unique brilliance. Notice how others acknowledge and appreciate you. 6. In your lost dreams and your underutilized talent Often, as children, we do know what we’d love to do, but we can be actively discouraged from it, criticized for it or somehow abandon our passions to join the grown up world of working for money. You can go back and reconnect with what you loved, and sometimes this can be painful but poignant. 7. Behind a wake up call or even a crisis A refusal to listen to our intuition and deeper self could precipitate a full-blown crisis. Things fall apart and we can feel awful, but so many people speak in retrospect about their illness/redundancy/bankruptcy being the best thing that ever happened to them. It got them back on track to a greater and more authentic life, but they needed to be broken open, allowing the phoenix to rise from the ashes.

How to Find an Invisible User on Yahoo! Messenger

Find who are hiding from you..

Many people nowdays prefer to stay offline while using Yahoo! Messenger - mostly done to avoid someone. There are many ways of finding people who are online but yet invisible.

Doodle Method
1. Double Click on the user whose status you want to check.
2. A message window will open.
3. Click IMVironment button, select See all IMVironments, select Yahoo! Tools or Interactive Fun, and click on Doodle and put a buzz.
4. The last step and the most important step. After loading the Doodle IMVironment and after keeping a buzz , there will be two possibilities.
a) If the user is offline, the Doodle area will show “waiting for your friend to load Doodle” continuously.
b) If the user is online (in invisible mode), after few seconds (it can take up to one minute, depending on connection speed), you will get a blank page. So the user is online!

Go head and find who are hiding from you..

Have fun.....

How to Take Criticism..

Taking criticism

Consider the source. You’re going to receive criticism from thousands of people in your lifetime. It’s important to remember that not all criticism is created equal. Determining the source of the criticism and the motivations behind it will help you know how to handle it.
If you think the source of your criticism isn’t genuinely interested helping your improve, take their criticism with a grain of salt. At the same time, be sure to honestly assess your critic’s point. Some people are too quick to write off criticism by saying, “They’re just jealous!” Maybe so, but be sure to thoughtfully evaluate the feedback before dismissing it.

Shut your trap and listen. Fight the urge to argue with the person or explain your mistake, and just listen to your critic. You’d be surprised what you can learn if you simply soak it in.
Don’t take it personally. Don’t take the criticism as a personal attack on you. Try to detach yourself as much as possible from your actions or work when receiving criticism so you can look at it objectively. This can be hard to do, particularly if you put a lot of time and effort into something. But trust me, if you make this a habit when receiving criticism, you’ll save yourself from a bruised ego.

Ask clarifying questions. Make sure you’re on the same page with your critic by asking clarifying questions. Clarifying questions are particularly important if your critic is giving vague or ambiguous criticism. For example, if your critic tells you your report isn’t clear, ask them where things start to get murky and suggestions on how it can be improved. By asking questions, you create dialogue between you and your critic, which in turns fosters co-operation and an atmosphere for mutual improvement.

Take ownership of your mistake. When someone brings a legitimate mistake to your attention, don’t get on the defensive and start making excuses for it. Take responsibility for your actions. Many young men today don’t want to own up to their mistakes. They’re always putting the blame on something or someone else. These men will be stuck in eternal mediocrity because they will never accept their need for improvement. While denying your mistakes can keep the heat off for a moment, it will greatly impede your personal progress in the long run.

Thank your critic (even when they handed your butt to you). Always thank your critic. This can be difficult. No one seriously wants to say, “Thanks for showing me that I was wrong!” But swallow your pride and sincerely thank your critic. They took the time to sit down with you and point out areas where you can improve. The least you can do is say thanks.

Take action and follow up. After you’ve received your criticism, take action immediately. After you’ve taken action, make sure to follow up with your critic and let them know how you’ve rectified the problem. This shows that you actually listened to the criticism and respected what the person had to say.

Get a Better Pay Package

So you think you need a bigger pay cheque. With rising prices of fuel and food, who can blame you?
Yet asking for more money is, for many, about as appealing as negotiating a mine-ridden maze.
It seems straightforward: Approach the boss, tell him how the company is failing you and how much happier you would be if you were better compensated.
The boss might agree and set the lumbering bureaucratic machinery in motion to give you what you want. Or he might blow up and send you packing.
Human resource experts and company heads told the media that chancing your arm over pay is perfectly acceptable in today's work environment.
But they stress that you must first be sure that you have indeed made a 'significant contribution' and that the firm can actually afford your raise.
Here are some suggestion tips to get you ready for the all-important meeting.

Do your homework
Just as you would not buy stock without reading up on the firm. Do not go into the meeting blindly.
Research the market rate for the skills and experience you have before approaching a salary negotiation.
Do this by approaching recruitment professionals who know market trends, looking at salary guides firms sometimes produce or checking job ads which sometimes include salary pointers.

What to ask for
Both monetary and non-monetary compensation are important negotiable areas, say experts.
While an immediate pay rise or bonus is clearly desirable, you should consider benefits such as gym memberships, parking privileges, flexible working hour, more leave time as well as incentives such as stock or shares options.
Some organizations, for instance, has an employee share purchase plan to encourage staff to own the organization's share - so they feel like they have a stake in the company.


How to ask: Valid and Invalid reasons
Experts say you ought to highlight your contribution to the organization - but do not appear demanding or overly aggressive. If you have taken on additional tasks or done work outside of your job scope, document it and then emphasize this to show your flexibility and willingness to contribute more than what is in your job description.


Appropriate increment percentage to ask
First, be aware of what the market is paying for your type of job in your industry and how your company is performing.
While there is no set formula for how much to ask, try phrasing the discussion along the lines of you being a little disappointed with your increment or you feel you should earn more because you have done well.
'Don't just say 'I expect an x per cent increase' with no logical argument, as it will look like you are plucking figures from the air'.


Timing is key
Be aware of your firm's performance. If it is struggling or has just laid off staff, there is little chance of a pay rise for you. Some firms evaluate pay only during performance or appraisal reviews, or before finalizing the annual budget.
Avoid times when your boss is under deadline pressure, stressed or struggling to play catch-up after a two-week absence.


Be realistic
At all times, be aware of what the market is paying for your type of job in your industry, as well as how the market and your company are performing. Do not be arrogant, stay calm and do not commit the ultimate blunder: thinking you are indispensable and waving a letter in the air.

Tips for time management..

Time Managment

How often do you find yourself wishing there were 48 hours in a day? Do you find that your to-do list is frequently left untouched? Managing time effectively is one of the key challenges for a successful life.

Break it up: Break up your large tasks into small and manageable ones. Start by estimating the effort needed to accomplish a particular job. Write out a sequence of activities that are needed in order to complete it, along with an estimate of how long each will take. Now take them on one at a time, and periodically monitor how much time you’re actually taking, compared to the plan. This is a very important part of time management, and with practice you’ll be able to get it right!

Prioritize your work: List out all the tasks you must carry out to achieve your goal and put them in order of importance. This enables you to tackle the most important and beneficial jobs first. If there are too many high priority jobs, you’ll either have to rearrange your schedule or delegate some of the work. This helps you focus on doing things that are really critical.

The 80:20 rule says that 80% of unfocused effort generates only 20% of results and the remaining 80% of results are achieved with only 20% of the effort!

Plan the unplanned: Things rarely turn out the way we intend them to. Time management teaches you to keep aside some time for those inevitable crises. Often not budgeting for those extra hours might itself create a crisis!

Keep an activity log: We already talked about the need to monitor progress. You can do this by maintaining an activity log, which helps you track the way you use your time - how much time are you actually spending in productive work and how much are you wasting? Are there some tasks that could be done in a more efficient manner? The goal of time management is to answer such questions. Analyze the log at the end of each project to identify possible areas of improvement.

Make reminder lists: Unless you have the memory of an elephant, it’s not likely that you’ll remember everything that you need to do. Make a to-do list for the day or week. This will ensure that you don’t forget to do something, or worse, miss that all important customer appointment!

Do the unpleasant bit first: Procrastination is our biggest obstacle to effective time management. We all have our pain points, and it’s only natural to put-off those jobs for as long as possible… or when they’ll probably blow up in our faces. Discipline yourself to do at least one “unpleasant” task each day, and watch the results.

Ease your work plan: Hey, good time management isn’t only about work. Make sure you’ve set some time aside for your personal life as well. It’s amazing how you can improve your effectiveness at work by striking the right balance.

Crack Campus Interviews

Campus Interview … Hmm… is what one looks forward to with enthusiasm, fear and excitement towards the beginning of the final year .

For some it's a make or break, atleast that's the way it's looked at and for some it's a matter of pride. The constant thought in one's mind is - what shall make this click! What is it that the interviewer is looking in me!

Here's what we look for when we visit the various campuses. This by no means is an exhaustive list but is a good indication of the expectations and the mean s to meet these.

Know Thyself

Not everyone is good in each and every field. Each one of us has our fortes and weaknesses too. But that's not a stumbling block! What we look for are people who know their area of specialization and are an expert in it. Therefore, it pays to be a master in some fields if not the jack of all.

The most common mistakes many make is to profess knowing a field of which they know little about. Remember that huge and bulky resumes are as tough to read as they are to make. So, identify your skill set, and keep your resumes simple and straight. Know your limits and polish on your strengths.

Testing What You Know and NOT What You Don't.

Many interviewers may ask the student the subjects that she/he wishes to be interviewed upon. Never end up choosing a difficult subject that you know only little about, rather choose the one you are most confident of.

Rack Your Brain - Analyze

The interview is not just limited to testing your knowledge base, but we are also interested in knowing your ability to apply it. Often questions that need to be solved then and there are asked. Now keep in mind - the right answer is not the only thing being looked at. The focus area is also the way in which you attack the problem i.e. approach to problem solving is equally important.

So, remember to put your thinking caps on!

Ask for Help!

In spite of the fact that you may know something very well, it might just slip your mind. Who better to ask for help than the poser of the question (of course, don't try this too often!)!

Remember the interviewer is not there to grill the confidence out of you, but to bring forth the best in. Just in case you are stuck, ask for a hint. Things might just click. Also, stay alert for clues.


Be Calm, have Clear Verbal and Sound Non-Verbal Communication

Calmness shows emotional maturity. True, being calm in a job interview is a difficult proposition, but then that is where it is required! Calmness does not imply being unenthusiastic or apathetic during the interview, but knowing that you are nervous and not letting it come in the way. A clear verbal communication implies clarity of the thought process.

One should also watch out for the impressions made in non-verbal communication. Body language and facial expressions can assist you in establishing a good rapport with the interviewer. Pauses, silences and gestures may all indicate what you mean, understand, or would like to emphasize.

Two-Way Exchange Process

The interview process is a two-way exchange of information. Make sure you also understand about the company, its activities, job requirements. The company is in need for good candidates and you need a good company to launch your career.

Interview is an opportunity to present yourself and your skills to your best advantage. Make sure you make the most out of it. And YOU are the best one to do it!!

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