Top Java Developers Offer Advice to Students

Recently Gary, Sun Microsystems blogged on Java developers advising to students and I found the article interesting and Since 1999, java.sun.com writers have interviewed Java developers from diverse backgrounds and solicited their advice for students. In this article, 11 top Java developers share the fruits of long experience. Let me CTRL+C and CTRL+V all those excellent stuffs here.

Joshua Bloch: Write Lots of Code

When we ask Java developers about their favorite Java book, they repeatedly refer to Effective Java by Joshua Bloch. So his advice seems like a good place to start.

Chief Java architect at Google, Joshua Bloch is well known as the author of Effective Java, now in its second edition, and coauthor with Neal Gafter of Java Puzzlers.In a former life as a senior staff engineer at Sun Microsystems and an architect in the core Java platform group, Josh Bloch designed and implemented the award-winning Java Collections Framework and contributed to many other parts of the platform, including the java.math package.

Bloch holds a Ph.D. in computer science from Carnegie-Mellon University, where during the defense of his dissertation, which was open to the public, he arranged for his mother to ask a long technical question that he answered flawlessly after saying, “Awww, Mom!” He responded to another planted question with a rap song, backed by a recorded rhythm track played on a boom box concealed under the desk.

Bloch is fond of saying, “Computer science is an immature discipline, and I aim to keep it that way.”

Write lots of code. Have fun with it! Collaborate with people who are more experienced than you and learn from them. Join an open-source project. Code reviews are a great way to learn. Don’t be embarrassed when people find problems in your code; fix them and have fun watching your code and your skills improve. Oh, yeah, and go buy a copy of Effective Java.

Your book Effective Java is written for experienced Java developers. Do you have any advice for how a computer science major in college might benefit from the book? Or an experienced developer moving from another language to Java?

Many programmers find it useful to keep a copy at their desk so they can look at the code examples and such while they work. Also I’ve seen people use item references in comments explaining their design decisions. Needless to say, I’m honored that they’ve done so. As for programmers moving from another language, I think they’d do well to read a quick introduction to Java before tackling my book. Peter Sestoft’s Java Precisely would be an excellent choice.

What are some things you wish you’d learned in engineering school?

I wish I’d learned to play guitar better than I do, which isn’t very well. I wish I’d learned a foreign language. And art history. Also, it would have been nice to learn something about business and finance. That said, Columbia did very well by me. But I would encourage undergraduates to take the opportunity to acquire breadth while they still have time for it. They’ll have plenty of time for depth later.

Read the full interview with Josh Bloch.

Tor Norbye: Learn to Use Your Tools

Tor Norbye

Tor Norbye is a principal engineer at Sun Microsystems, where he has worked on development tools since 1996, most recently on the Ruby and JavaScript editors in the NetBeans IDE. He is also a cohost of the weekly Java Posse podcast and specification lead for Java Specification Request (JSR) 273. He has a master’s degree in computer science from Stanford University, where his classmates included Google cofounder Larry Page.

Three things.

1. Learn to use your tools. And I don’t mean just enough to get by. I mean really learn how to use your tools. Become an expert user. After you’ve learned all the items in menus and context menus, and after you’ve learned the most important key bindings, then Google “tips and tricks” for your IDE.

Learn how to use built-in code templates. Learn how to use the quick fixes. For example, in NetBeans, you don’t have to write the left-hand side in assignments when you’re calling a method. Just write this:

"foo".indexOf("o");

Move the caret inside indexOf, the method name, and type Alt-Enter. Assuming you’re calling a method that has a return value, and you’re not already reading the return value, NetBeans will generate the left-hand side of the assignment — including the type declaration — for you:

int indexOf = "foo".indexOf("o");

At this point, you’re in code-template-editing mode, so you can type a new name for the result variable.

Similarly in NetBeans, try typing newo and hit Tab. Go ahead. Try it.

And that’s just the editor. You also need to know how to properly use the debugger, profiler, and version-control integration.

2. Learn how to make trade-offs. When you’re a computer science student, you typically have programming assignments where the inputs and outputs are pretty clear, and the scope is limited. You can write a “perfect” program that’s well documented, elegant, fully tested, and correct. In the software industry, that’s often not the case. There’s a never-ending list of requests. You’ve often taken over somebody else’s code, and you’re not thrilled with the way it was written.

Then, at least for mature products, there’s also a pretty large number of low-priority bugs — bugs that are real but of limited impact, so they didn’t hold up the last release. What is more important: Add a feature that will benefit a lot of users, or fix a bug that affects almost nobody? Rewrite the code to make it more maintainable, something most programmers long to do? Spend time helping users of the current shipping version of the software? There aren’t enough resources to do everything, but they’re all important. So you end up having to time-slice to address at least some of these, and in addition, make hard choices.

And even if you have perfect time-management skills, or your manager makes priority choices for you, at the end of the day, as an engineer, the software discipline is also filled with trade-off choices. To speed up some code, you can make it faster by adding a cache — but that drives up memory consumption. Is that trade-off worthwhile? Congratulations, it’s your job to answer that one.

3. Finally, learn the platform APIs. There’s a huge number of well-written and performant classes in the Java platform, along with some utility classes around them. Make sure you have a good grasp of all the available functionality in the platform before you write your own code. For example, yes, there’s no reverse() method on the java.util.List interface. But not so fast — don’t write it yourself. There’s a Collections class that contains a lot of utility methods that operate on collections, like List, and it provides a reverse() method.

And if you’re building on top of a rich-client platform like NetBeans, or using other libraries like the Google Collections API or some of the Apache libraries, there’s a wealth of additional APIs you can reuse. For example, when I write my unit tests for NetBeans code, I can rely upon additional testing infrastructure written for NetBeans that make it simple to add performance-related tests or memory leak tests.

Read the full interview with Tor Norbye.

Chet Haase: Don’t Put Your Entire Application in One Method

Chet Haase is a senior computer scientist on the Flex SDK team at Adobe, focusing on graphics issues and features. In a former life, at the time of the following interview, he worked for Sun Microsystems as a client architect in the desktop Java group. He is coauthor with Romain Guy of the book Filthy Rich Clients: Developing Animated and Graphical Effects for Desktop Java Applications. He is also the author of a humor book, When I am King.What advice do you have for someone who wants to have a career creating graphics software?

Take the math courses you need. It doesn’t need to be higher-level stuff, but I’ve leaned heavily on linear algebra and some amount of calculus for a lot of what I’ve done.

What advice would you give to a programmer new to the Java programming language?

Don’t use line numbers. Don’t put your entire application in one method. Trust the garbage collector to do its job.

Is there anything you wished you’d learned in engineering school?

I actually could name lots of things I learned in engineering school that I wish I hadn’t wasted my time on. One big difference is that you work on new and small projects in school and huge and old projects in the real world.

For example, the code I work on at Sun is part of the JDK library that has been in constant development for well over 10 years. Frequently, the hard part of any fix or feature is not the functionality of the fix or feature itself, but rather how it integrates with all of the code around it. Does the fix break compatibility? Does it conflict with anything going on around it? Do you understand the context of the code? This is something that’s particularly difficult in old code bases in which the original developers have all left long ago. Does your team agree with and understand the changes?

I don’t know how to cover such topics in school effectively, especially in the tight time frames of individual classes, but the more students are exposed to team development, versus individual projects, the easier it is for them to become integrated into team development in the real world.

Related to team development, I think code reviews would be a great tool for school. I’ve probably learned more about coding practices and the code I work on through the reviews we do in the client group than in coding itself. You learn how others do things, you get objective perspectives on how you do things, and everyone comes to a shared understanding of how teams should develop common code.

Read the full interview with Chet Haase.

Ben Galbraith: Interact With an Expert

Ben Galbraith is a frequent speaker, independent consultant, conference producer, and author of several books. He is an experienced CEO, CTO, and software architect, and was hired in October 2008 by Mozilla to lead an initiative to create web development tools that will make life easier for web developers. He wrote his first computer program at age 6, started his first business at age 10, and entered the IT workforce at age 12. For the past few years, he’s been professionally coding in the Java language and was the top-rated speaker at the 2006 JavaOne conference.

I believe all software engineers should learn about how to ensure that their users have a quality experience. I covered some aspects of that topic in my 2008 JavaOne conference talk Creating a Compelling User Experience.

I think the roles of a software developer are a bit up in the air at the moment. Not many years ago, we developers were sort of gatekeepers: No software was created unless we wrote the code, and we interpreted designs and direction we were given as we thought made sense.

Now, there are a bunch of efforts by the platform vendors — Microsoft, Adobe, Sun, and so on — to empower a less technical audience to create software. Microsoft Expression, Adobe Thermos, and perhaps some future tool from Sun are all about letting a more creative, less technical person create user interfaces that in the past would have required all kinds of code and engineering effort.

This reflects an emerging trend in recent years to reify a new, highly technical designer, often called an interaction designer, as the leading force in software development, rather than engineers. To get a fascinating look at this effort, Google for a transcript of Alan Cooper’s keynote at the Interaction08 conference.

So how will software be developed tomorrow? And where do new entrants fit into all of this? Lots of different people can feel passionate about being involved in the creation of beautiful, compelling software. I think such people have got to figure out whether they are at heart an engineer — if they get their kicks solving hard technical problems — or if they are something else.

There will always be opportunities for great engineers, but as I said earlier, I think the number of these opportunities will shrink as other, less technical personnel play larger roles in the software-development process, using more productive, higher-level tools and frameworks than we have used in the past.

Newcomers should find one or more mentors as soon as you can. Google makes finding information easier than ever, but nothing beats interacting with an expert.

Read the full interview with Ben Galbraith.

Masood Mortazavi: Start Simple and Keep Learning

Masood Mortazavi, a software engineering manager at Sun, started his work with the company on the Java EE development team and as an expert in continuous availability issues and telecom collaborations with the Java software group. In recent years, he’s managed teams of engineers who contribute to open-source databases such as Apache/Derby, PostgreSQL, and MySQL.He has a B.S. (U.C. San Diego) and an M.S. (U.C. Davis) in applied and chemical engineering, and a Ph.D. in computational fluid dynamics with a dissertation titled Vortex-Vortex Interactions and PDF Methods (U.C. Davis). In addition, he has a master’s degree in journalism (U.C. Berkeley) and an M.B.A. (U.C. Berkeley), and he spent several years pursuing a second Ph.D. in the Graduate Group in Logic and Methodology of Science (math, philosophy, and computer science) at U.C. Berkeley, with a focus on foundations of math, theories of computation, and philosophy. He stopped work on his second Ph.D. soon after joining Sun in 1999.

Start simple. Learn the basics of the language, and even before that, make simple modifications to existing, running programs and see what happens.

Tap into the amazing online documentation resources.

Write the most advanced program you can concoct, choosing something that tickles your imagination, to stretch your own limits, and if you can, to stretch the limits of the Java platform.

Get involved and write programs for some commercial or open-source software that matters and that people actually use.

As you advance, select a great IDE to work with, say NetBeans. (Sometimes this is necessary earlier.)

Keep learning about the systemic use of Java in system programming. There are lots of pleasant surprises there.

Don’t forget that billions of dollars of revenue have been generated and millions of people have been employed because someone at Sun Microsystems invented Java, and a group of dedicated engineers kept producing innovations around it. So contribute to the goodness.

Can you name some things you wish you’d learned in engineering school?

Yes — more design, more marketing, more business, more economics, more management and organizational theory, and finally, more philosophy and art — all in that order or some other combination, to create a good mix of ideas.

Unfortunately, while going through four different University of California campuses, Stanford University, and some other schools as an engineering student and researcher, I didn’t observe an interest in bringing these other disciplines into the life of an engineering student. Unfortunately, students are kept in the silos of their own academic disciplines. Even in science and technology, they are divided into various minidisciplines with very little cross-pollination.

I myself did have some lucky breaks. For example, my Ph.D. advisor, Dr. Wolfgang Kollmann, was very open to my exploration of various areas. While conducting research in computational fluid dynamics with him, I also took advanced courses in biochemistry, embryology, linguistics, and linguistic neurophysiology, along with courses in art, philosophy, economics, and political science. I also worked on the university paper.

This is a very general problem in American education that probably exists elsewhere as well. We’re “mass producing” technologists and scientists with narrow focus and with little care for their development as leaders and creative inventors who can help us to disclose new ways of living, working, and prospering.

European engineering schools have had a tradition of teaching these other disciplines along with engineering. We cannot compete globally unless we train top-notch engineers who have a broad perspective about how their technical work fits into other domains and who understand the institutional place for technology. Otherwise, it’s highly unlikely that we will be able to continue to tap technology for the general social good, beyond the production of gadgets.

Read Masood Mortazavi’s blog.

Raghavan Srinivas: Don’t Be Overwhelmed

Raghavan “Rags” Srinivas, was, until recently, a technology evangelist at Sun Microsystems, focusing on new technology directions and trends. With 20 years as a software developer and 7 years in technology evangelism, his general area of interest is distributed systems, specializing in interoperability, mobility, and security. He publishes a standards column and has represented Sun at a number of standards bodies. Rags holds a master’s degree in computer science from the Center of Advanced Computer Studies at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette.

Don’t be overwhelmed by the language or the platform. If you break it down, the basics of the language are based on object-oriented programming, threading, concurrency, and event-driven programming. It’s necessary to become a master of these concepts since the rest of your career will depend on this foundation.

After that, one can specialize in one or multiple areas, which might involve designing GUIs, doing web stuff, JDBC programming, EJB/JMS programming, security, and so on. If one’s foundation is strong, it’s fairly easy to move from one area to another with relative ease.

Read the full interview with Raghavan Srinivas.

Cay Horstmann: First, Don’t Panic

Cay Horstmann is professor of computer science at San Jose State University in California. He was named a Java Champion in 2005, an award given to individuals working outside of Sun who have received special recognition from Java technology developers across industry, academia, Java User Groups (JUGs), and the larger community. He has a Ph.D. in mathematics from the University of Michigan, is the author of Core Java, and coauthor of Core JavaServer Faces.

First, don’t panic. When students first see the API with thousands of classes, they despair. I used to be able to tell them, “That’s OK, at least the language itself is very simple.” But that was before this:

static <T extends Object & Comparable<? super T>> T Collections.max(Collection<? extends T> coll

As a student, you need to stay within a safe subset of the Java language and the API so that you can use it as a tool to learn some good computer science.

Next, code. Professional programmers often forget how hard it is for most beginners to actually program. It’s so unlike most activities. The computer is unforgiving. When you’re wrong, you’re told very quickly that you were sloppy or stupid — not a good thing for a fragile ego. And when you are wrong, you need to stop and think. Random tinkering rarely gets you anywhere.

This is a really hard sell to today’s students. Your ego isn’t stroked very much, and you’ll get a headache trying to fix your mistakes. A career in divorce law sounds so much more attractive. But when you succeed, it sure feels good. The trick is to get students to that point.

Last summer at a faculty summit at Google, bigwig professors from big-name universities expounded on their efforts to reform the computer science curriculum and make it less focused on programming. The organizers from Google said, “That’s all fine and good, as long as the students can code when they graduate.”

Read the full interview with Cay Horstmann.

Arun Gupta: Try Different IDEs

Arun Gupta is a technology evangelist for web services and Web 2.0 apps at Sun. He was the spec lead for APIs in the Java platform, a committer in multiple open-source projects, a participant in standards bodies, and a contributor to Java EE and SE releases. He holds a B.S. in electronics and an M.S. in computer science, both from Delhi University, India.As a beginner, I used a lot of vi (visual editor). But now I’ve been using IDEs, like the NetBeans IDE, for the past couple of years, and I must say my productivity has gone up multifold. Specifically, features like boilerplate text, refactoring, and debugging are much easier to work with in IDEs than manually or using pluggable scripts in the vi environment.

For instance, if I’m writing a Java bean, then I need to give the class name, field names, and their types, and the rest of the boilerplate text of getters/setters is generated for me. I can set up a breakpoint when a particular exception is thrown, and the IDE will halt whenever that exception is thrown. I can change a class name or move it to a different package name, and all of its references are updated accordingly. These are simple but powerful examples.

And some IDEs have very powerful features such as remote debugging. The IDEs keep me focused on the logic part of my code and take care of code logistics for me. I really recommend that new users try out different IDEs and pick one of their choice. For instance, the NetBeans IDE is available free.

In school, I didn’t realize the importance of documenting. I would go through design, develop, and test cycles but would not document the design decisions or add comments in the code. This would make even my own code unreadable to me, sometimes a few weeks after I wrote it. UML designing and adding Javadocs liberally through the code has helped me write readable code.

Secondly, I wish we had more participation from industry in school. It would have been good for someone currently working in the industry to talk to us about industry trends, practices, and standards.

Every time I visit Delhi, I go back to my school, meet the faculty, and mingle with the students. I give a presentation on the latest industry standards in my field, discuss the importance of coding standards, and show code samples. During my last visit, I started working with some students on a new web services-related project and hope to inculcate in them the great coding practices that we follow at Sun.

Read the full interview with Arun Gupta.

Rick Cattell: Good Technology Is Only 10% of Success

Rick Cattell is an independent consultant in database systems and in engineering management. He was previously a Distinguished Engineer at Sun Microsystems and has worked most recently on open-source database systems and proprietary innovations in database systems. He served for more than 20 years at Sun Microsystems in management and senior technical roles, and for more than 10 years in research at Xerox PARC and at Carnegie-Mellon University, where he received his Ph.D. in computer science.Cattell is best known for his contributions to middleware and database systems — particularly enterprise Java, object-oriented databases, object/relational mappings, and database interfaces. The author of several dozen papers and six books, Cattell is also known for a talk titled “Things I Wish I’d Learned in Engineering School,” which he has presented at universities around the United States.

First, I didn’t realize how important it was, for me at least, to work on things that people are actually going to use. I didn’t realize that it wasn’t very satisfying to write research papers or even to build working systems if the results of my labor weren’t going to be used in the real world.

I also didn’t realize that good technology is only 10% of success. If your management doesn’t know how to manage a successful engineering project, or your marketing department doesn’t know how to access the customers, or doesn’t tell you what the customer wants, or if your lawyers don’t handle your intellectual property correctly, or if the chief architect doesn’t have the ability to create a consistent and simple architecture, then your work can be for naught, and you can spend years building things that never see the light of day.

Read the full interview with Rick Cattell.

Chuk-Munn Lee: Choose an Area of Your Immediate Need

Chuk-Munn Lee has been programming in the Java language since 1996, when he first joined Sun Microsystems in Hong Kong. Now based in Singapore, he works as a Sun Java technology evangelist and frequently helps individual developers and software vendors to architect and prototype both their server and desktop-based Java applications. His more recent work has focused on Swing-based client applications. He also keeps ISVs up-to-date on the latest developments in the Java platform and what’s on the horizon.

He graduated in 1987 from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology in Melbourne, Australia, where his favorite subject was compiler theory.

First and foremost, I would suggest exploiting the web. There’s tons of learning material. There are forums to post your queries and download open-source code. Getting books is another good way, but I’ve had people complain to me that the moment they buy any technology-related book, it’s already out-of-date. I suggest trying the local library or subscribing to something like Safari Bookshelf.

For a beginner, the plethora of Java APIs can be quite intimidating. Choose an area of your immediate need, for example, web programming, servlet/JSP/JSF, GUI, Swing, persistence, JDBC/JDO (Java Data Objects)/CMP (container-managed persistence), or what have you. Work on a project that gives you experience in using the API, the development tools, and the runtime environment. Keep the project manageable — I tend to pick something that is fun and that I can complete in three months max.

Read the full interview with Chuk-Munn Lee.

Tom Ball: Programming Is Still a Craft

Tom Ball is a software engineer at Google, working on Java development tools. He began working with Java in 1994 as part of Sun’s JDK, AWT, Swing, Jackpot, and NetBeans teams, and contributed to the JavaFX Script compiler team. He has no formal university education.Programming is still a craft, so the more you can work with senior developers, the more you’ll learn of the important stuff the computer science professors don’t teach. If you have time, join an open-source project and help out in any way you can to learn and to build credibility with your peers.

But don’t join every project you find interesting. I’ve seen many enthusiastic newcomers spread themselves too thin, overcommit, and thus not be taken seriously.

Finally, get to know the various Java communities through their forums and blogs, then join in. We’re a great group!

Read the full interview with Tom Ball.

See Also

Tom Ball: Interview and Blog
Joshua Bloch: Interview and Book, Effective Java
Rick Cattell: Interview and Home Page
Ben Galbraith: Interview and Blog
Arun Gupta: Interview and Blog
Chet Haase: Interview and Blog
Cay Horstmann: Interview and Blog
Chuk-Munn Lee: Interview and Java SE 6 Troubleshooting Article
Masood Mortazavi: Blog
Tor Norbye: Interview and Blog
Raghavan Srinivas: Interview and Blog

I wish all my fellow students to make sure that they follow all these tips to leverage their programming to code for the future and to code the future!!!!!

Making an Impact through Mini-Projects

From days of yore , education in India has been a very integral part of Ones life. Indian culture is stepped in education of different types – from the age old Gurukul system to the modern Montessori methods. Traditionally Education in India is looked upon by everyone as a holistic experience.

Engineering has become a core area where students step into in a large numbers. For Engineering Students  especially for Computer Science and IT students  it is important to pad up their industry skill-set before they are placed to compete in the global arena. Students nowadays are placed in their third year itself and the final year projects are being carried out in their fourth year leaving behind their practical skills during campus placements. Keeping this in mind many students have started doing mini projects. In some of the technical groups in which I am a member, nowadays I see my fellow students started with their mini projects.

Mini projects develops practical skills in students. In spite of all the theory we learn, the industry should also know our ability in completing projects using our own initiative. I am fascinated with the latest trends in attending internships from the companies as we get to learn lots more from these.

On-line mini Projects through sourceforge.net and other open source development initiatives will surely add value to our experience cloud. These projects would definitely benefit ourselves, but the very least we can do in our second and third year of our engineering would be to work on mini projects and present papers.

OSUM : Awesome Place for All Developers

Open Source University Meet-Up (OSUM) pronounced  as Awesome is a perfect Student Developer’s Community fostering all Open Source tools and training Students. I am fascinated to share things with my fellow beings, including my knowledge and experiences. This is Why I am also crazy about Open Source, as It allows us to share, recreate and lot’s more. There is no hassles in reviewing Copyrights. OSUM helps a Student developers community in the college to make sure that the members gets trained and well incubated with industry training before they are let out in the corporate world.

TOP 5 Reasons to JOIN OSUM:

• LEARN about Open Source Technologies and how they are opening up new career opportunities for students
• ACCESS free online web courses, webinars, tutorials and other resources to prepare for career enhancing certifications
• SHARE your technical knowledge with other students around the world virtually and on campus
• COLLABORATE with a global community of students via forum, campus events, webinars, etc.
• CONNECT and make friends with students around the world who are committed to Open Source just like you!

Join OSUM Community Now and connect with tens of thousands of student developers and over 900 student clubs from over 80 countries. Change (Y) Our World.

WANTED TECH GURU

Every once in a while ideas pop into my head. I can’t help it. Most are crap, but some warrant further investigation. Problem is that I do not have the technical knowledge to look into some of them and create proof-of-concept type applications. I’m pretty good with WordPress and Scripting, and Database development. One of my ideas would require using the Google Maps API for instance, others need somewhat sophisticated database operations or SMS interaction, or… who knows.

What I’ve been looking for for a while now is someone to collaborate with on these concepts, brainstorm about them and -if we feel there’s something to them- go ahead and realize them. This, of course, is not a job offer. Chances are you’ll never make a dime, but there’s also a slim chance we’d be the next Twitter, or even the next YouTube. So if you’re into PHP (Ruby?), javascript, and like exploring new technical developments, contact me. Who knows what it’ll lead to.

Sans Podcast

Resume Tips For New College Freshers

Around this time every year, most college grads start scratching their heads — almost to the point of baldness — wondering how in the world to write their first resume.To write a first resume that works, keep these four points in mind … 1) Act like a professional The competition for jobs is fierce right now, so you must present yourself in the best possible light. “The biggest complaint employers make about resumes from new college grads is their use of cutesy or inappropriate email addresses “For example, an email address like icarryagun@aol.com isn’t going to help your job search. “A close second in terms of things that annoy employers is poorly written resumes, with spelling errors, grammatical errors, passive language and other easily correctable mistakes,” 2) One page is a good length You don’t have to tell your life story in your first resume. Far from it. “Very few new college graduate resumes should be more than one page long,” “Any work experience not related to the job you’re applying for should be left off. Although it’s great that you had a paper route from age 10 to 14, for example, that isn’t relevant to an employer considering you for a civil engineering position,” Employers will be more interested in your academic credentials and experience you obtained while in school, so focus on that. 3) Stick to the truth Avoid the temptation to sprinkle your resume with buzzwords and skills you don’t actually have. “It annoys hiring managers when they call applicants for an interview, only to find they can’t explain what’s on their resume,” It’s more than annoying to claim more knowledge on your resume than you actually have. It’s flat out lying. And it will cost you dearly when an employer finds out — and they always do. 4) Finding a job is a full-time job Too many first-time job seekers believe employers will magically find them if they just post their resume to a few job sites. “Posting resumes to high-traffic job sites is just a starting point. New college grads need to use their career service offices. They need to network. In short, they need to regard the process of finding a job as a full-time job,” This final tip is the most important and the one that takes the longest to learn, in my view. Whether you’re a recent graduate or experienced professional, you should never sit back and wait for your next job to find you. Because you may be in for a very long wait.

 

Resume Tips – 3 Biggest Mistakes To Avoid In Resume Preparation

3 Biggest Mistakes To Avoid In Resume Preparation 1)Spelling Errors, Typo Graphical Errors and Poor Grammar 2)Long Resumes 3)Personal Information Unrelated to the Job

Resume Tips – 11 Quick Tips – How To Present well In Interview

11 Quick Tips – How To Present well In Interview Tip-1: Listen well Tip-2: Understand clearly what you listen Tip-3: Take time before you respond Tip-4: Make eye contact Tip-5: Use appropriate volume Tip-6: Avoid a monotone Tip-7: Slow down to the point Tip-8: Don’t mumble Tip-9: Pronounce your words correctly Tip-10: Use the right words Tip-11: Be polite, respectful and sincere

Resume Tips – Forget The Past .. Forget The Present…What NEXT?

Forget The Past .. Forget The Present…What NEXT? Hi, Job Seekers / Knowledge Seekers , I had plenty of experiences relating to job seekers struggles, as i spoken with lots of candidates. I want to share those sort of experiences to make you all strong. One among those candidates, talked with me long back and asked that how to get software job in MNC , as quickly as possible in any route. He is having average communication and average technical skills. He wants to get that job by using money power or influence. He is experienced in other industry and he wants to come in to this suddenly. I asked what the reason is, he told that i want to got to abroad to earn more money, so i have chosen software line. I told him clearly to update the skills what required for software job. But he neglected those words and after 6 months again he back to me and asked what to update to get the software job . I asked what happened these 6 months. He told that he invested nearly 1 lakh for training and placement assurance based institute and they cheated him. Next is he invested 2 lakh rupees to a consultant who promised to him that he will arrange a job in big MNC in different route. That person also cheated him. He felt lot depressed , he left his old job to get a software job. He is in deep depression. He Don’t have money even he don’t have moral support form friends and family members ,as he get cheated from others and lost all . So what NEXT? Like this lots pf experiences .For Lot people .I can able to say only one thing. Forget The past ,if you faced bitter experiences .You learnt lot form those , how you can lead a successful life. try to think what next. How you can able to get what you wish. You have to analyze clearly, whether you are eligible to get the software job or not. if so , what the industry is looking how you can able to update you skills and present those in Resume and at the time of interview. Everybody will get success, the only thing is needed is confidence ..Self confidence, NOT over confidence…..I can say… Forget The Past.. If you faced lots of Bitter Experiences…. Forget the Present if you are facing Bitter Experiences . ..Remember The past when you had Joy full moments …and Redefine the present for Golden Future. —————————————–Questions?——————————————– Ask Somesh , Main Objective To support job seekers struggles and show them path in getting a job with their talent.

Most Importance & Types of Resumes

Resume importance:                              The resume outlines your skills and experiences so an employer can see, how you can contribute to the employer’s workplace.  Resume is the first meeting between you and employer so the resume must be clear, simple and interesting. The purpose of the resume is to get the interview. After reading it, employers should want to get to know you better.           Your resume has been successful in gaining an interview. Therefore you have demonstrated your skills, knowledge and experience are of value to the organization. The most effective resumes are clearly focused on a specific job title and address the employer’s stated requirements for the position. Types of resumes:           Some of the types of resumes are ·   Chronological resume ·   Functional resume ·   Combinational resume *             Chronological resume: Best suited for entry-level job seekers or those who have stayed in the same field. Functional resume: Career changers and those job seekers with varied work experiences and accomplishments may want to utilize a functional resume style. *             Combinational resume: This form combines features from the chronological and functional formats. It is similar to a functional resume in format, but lists specific employment dates and positions as well. How do you decide whether to use a Chronological resume or a Functional one? The Chronological format is widely preferred by employers, and works well if you’re staying in the same field. *              Only use a Functional format if you’re changing fields, and you’re sure a skills-oriented format would show off your transferable skills to better advantage; and be sure to include a clear chronological work history!

Prove your resume as a unique one in the interview

Prove your resume as a unique one in the interview Preparing a resume                                                                                     Resume is a one or two page summary of your skills, accomplishments, experiences, and education designed to capture a prospective employer’s interest. The purpose of a resume is to secure an interview. It is the primary tool of your job search and may take several drafts to prepare effectively ·   Before you can write an effective resume, you must first be able to identify your skills and abilities as well as your special needs relating to the work environment, salary, geographic location, and people environment. This step will help you to develop a career objective. ·   List at least 10 skills, which you have developed in each area. Make a list of what you consider to be 5 great accomplishments in your life. What personal qualities helped you reach each goal? ·   As you organize your resume, keep in mind the needs of the employer who will be reading it. ·   Consider what the employer is looking for in a candidate and make it easy for the reader to pick out those skills by selecting appropriate categories, using underlining, boldfacing or capitalizing and presenting relevant experience and skill. ·   Use active language. Create An Image That Matches The Salary You    Want. A good resume predicts how you might perform in that desired future job. ·   Keep the overall length of your resume short. Depending upon your experience, one or two pages are ideal. A three-page resume should be considered only if it is absolutely necessary to do justice to your career experience.   ·   If you’re considering enclosing a photograph of yourself, don’t! It’s not necessary Avoid odd-size paper or loud colors   ·   Don’t include on your resume your height, weight, age, date of birth, place of birth, marital status, sex, ethnicity/race, health, reasons for leaving previous job, names of former supervisors, specific street addresses or phone numbers of former employers, salary information, the title “Resume,”

Mention Experience in your Resume Without Experience

List Experience without Experience-How?  If you haven’t got a job, how do you list experience on your resume? And if you haven’t got experience, how do you land a job? Jasmeet has just finished an MBA from an Institute in Delhi. Each day he opens the appointment pages of the papers with a lot of hope, but closes them a disappointed man. He knows he can’t do much about it: he just doesn’t have the experience. But that’s not something which should run him down. Like the best of corporations that have been built from scratch, the best of careers can also begin from zilch. So what do you do if employers stonewall you simply because you do not have experience? After all, you have to begin somewhere. Give these hints a go if you’re a first time job seeker, ‘with no experience’. PEG LOWER If you have to take a job a peg lower than what you expect, take it. Just make sure the company you join has equity. That way whatever you do here will add to your portfolio. You can get ahead in time, even if you have to start lower. A lot of people are disappointed in their jobs because their expectations were too high to begin with. You’ll get to the job you want. But you can’t skip the necessary steps that will take you there. After a point, what you’re doing is as important as your qualifications. Get good remarks entered in your record book. It’ll all make up for your temporary compromise. MAXIMISE YOUR ‘TRAINEE’ EXPERIENCE Many companies hire freshers only as trainees. Most trainees are not paid. The situation isn’t ideal, but it’s at least quid pro quo—you get your experience, they get an extra hand. A traineeship isn’t the most exciting prospect, but it isn’t the dumps either. You work with a peer group, learn team values, and work impossible deadlines—perfect fodder for future success. GATHER PROJECTS The more projects you have on your CV the better. Work on challenging projects, it’s the best way to learn. ETIQUETTE MATTERS Persuasion prevails. Don’t take a ‘no’ at face value, at least not always. Your persuasiveness will add a plus point to your profile. Especially in a marketing/sales opening. Always remember to write in to say thank you after an interview. It increases recall. It also tells your potential employer you have etiquette. For all you know, this might fill in for the lack of experience. BE INFORMED Research the company where you go for a job interview. It says that you’re not hanging out for just any company that comes your way. You’ve taken the trouble to learn more about the company you want to work with. That makes your coming for an interview an informed decision. APPLY AT THE RIGHT PLACE When you’re researching prospective employers, find out what qualifications a company prefers when they recruit freshers. Do they show a preference for a particular qualification sequence or specialisation? Apply to the companies that show a partiality to the qualifications you have. After all, a person who seems to be not getting a job anywhere may not be applying to the right places. STRESS THE LEARNING FACTOR Stress that you’re just raring to learn as much as you can. Companies like enthusiastic youngsters who’re ready to fit in with their way of working, who don’t come in with rigid mind-sets. KNOW WHERE YOU’RE GOING When an interviewer asks you where you see yourself in 5 or 10 years don’t say you don’t know, even if it’s true! Make a course for yourself, realistically ambitious. You don’t have to say exactly what you’ll be doing and in which company, but you can outline the kind of work of work you’d like to be doing or the challenges you see yourself as facing. HONESTY PAYS Be honest about what you can do and tell them your talents. Nobody is going to do that for you. At the same time don’t say yes, I’m really comfortable with speaking German if you know well enough that if you spoke to a German he’d tell you no speak English! Don’t take a rejection to heart. Just take it to head and perk up your determination. It’s very difficult to keep the chin up but remember there’s a job out there for you. Try hard enough and you’ll find it. Sooner rather than later. ZERO IN ON INTEREST AREAS You can also analyse your checklist and try to find out what you love and what you’re good at. Take advantage of self-assessment tools your career centre has to offer and maybe even sit down with a counselor to evaluate all this information.

 

4 Resume Tips- Four A’s for Success

First Tip – Abilities We all have skills and talents that separate us from our competitors. Demonstrate to the prospective employer what you are capable of doing, but do so in a way that expresses your enthusiasm and dedication to the job. Show the employer what you can do and how well you can do it. Are you proficient at a particular skill? Let the employer know. This is not just a boring list of what you have done before. It is a marketing piece directed at exciting the prospective employer about hiring you to be a part of the organization. Second Tip – Achievements What have you accomplished thus far in life and how will it enhance your ability to do a great job for your next employer? Don’t just list what you have achieved, but go the next step and be bold about what you have undertaken in the past. Give examples. If possible, use numbers to quantify the work that you have done. For instance, “Utilized new workflow procedure to increase the efficiency of the plant by 20%.” Be realistic, but don’t be afraid to sell yourself. Third Tip – Action Use strong action keywords (verbs) within your resume to convey your ability to take action. Showing problem solving skills and initiative are essential in today’s job market. Think of the responsibilities of your former employment and how you were challenged to excel. Focus on the challenges and how you overcame them. Define the opportunities where you used your resourcefulness and innovative thinking to do something in a different way and how it benefited the company you worked for. Fourth Tip – Arrangement Look at the overall layout of your resume. Demonstrating your amazing abilities and quantifying your accomplishments with bold action words are meaningless if they are convoluted in a format that is unreadable. Use a format that is recognized and that suits your background as well as your goals. The Four A’s of Resumes are important resume tips to keep in mind as they will guide you to prepare resume materials that are of the highest quality.

                                            

AVOID THESE 10 RESUME MISTAKES

Avoid These 10 Resume Mistakes 1. Resume lacks focus 2. Resume is duties-driven instead of accomplishments-driven. 3. Resume items are listed in an order that doesn’t consider the reader’s interest. 4. Resume exposes the job-seeker to age discrimination by going too far back into the job-seeker’s job history. 5. Resume buries important skills, especially computer skills, at the bottom. 6. Resume is not bulleted. 7. Resume uses a cookie-cutter design based on an overused resume template. 8. Resume lacks keywords 9. References are listed directly on your resume. 10. Resume’s appearance becomes skewed when sent as an e-mail attachment and/or resume is not available in other electronic formats.

                                     

3 Reasons For Rejection Of Resume – Ways To Avoid

Reasons For Rejection First impressions                      First impressions matter.Iif your resume does not attract the reader’s attention in the first 20-30 seconds then your chances of obtaining an interview are greatly reduced. An employer may have a hundred or more resumes to look through and probably only a couple of hours in which to make their selection. So put your work experience at the start of your resume, not personal or educational details, unless you have only just left education. What an employer really wants to know is why they should invite you for an interview. For this reason a short summary of your capabilities and/or a list of your major achievements can often be a good idea. This should make an employer want to invite you for an interview – but please be careful that you do not oversell yourself. Poor visual layout                      The visual layout of your resume is very important. Even though the wording you use may be correct, if people cannot find the information they want quickly they will move on to someone else’s resume. You should use plenty of ‘white’ space in your resume and appropriate headings and section breaks. Always use a word-processor/DTP package. Never use a typewriter, as you will look old fashioned and out of date. Use good quality paper, preferably 100gram for both your resume and cover letter. Length of resume                       It is usually best to try and keep your resume to two pages, unless someone specifically asks you for a longer resume. If you cannot keep your resume to this length then you probably have not understood an employer’s requirements. Employers do not want to know your whole life history – just enough to decide whether they should interview you or not.

4 Magical ways to improve Self Confidence that leads to Success

Devolop your confidence Here are some helpful tips to build self confidence one success at a time. 1. Make a list of your strong points. All the positive things about yourself and the things that you are good at doing. Think of compliments you have received or things that come easily to you. It doesn’t matter what it is, if it’s good, write it down. 2. Choose two of those things that you want to work on to improve even more. It’s important to succeed and by concentrating on the areas you are already good at you will have a better chance of becoming even more sure of yourself. Remember that success builds upon success. 3. Exude confidence even if you don’t feel like it. Talk to yourself in an encouraging way and stay away from negative thoughts and people as you can. Instead surround yourself with positive, confident, and successful people. This will become a habit and one that will build confidence. 4. Look at yourself in a different way than you are used to doing. It can change your life and help your confidence level to rise. See yourself as the self confident person you want to be and before you know it you will become that person.                                                            If you have a set-back do not let it get the best of you. Remember the times when you exhibited self confidence and how good it felt and then try again and each time will help you to build confidence and confidence building will become a way of life.

What new Experience you have in your life – Improve Yourself

What Are You Doing That’s Different to Last Year? What did you do yesterday or last week or last month that you had never done before? What new experiences are you having this year that you have never had in any other year of your life? What are you doing to make sure that your life is an exciting adventure rather than a boring routine? When a baby comes into the world it is born into an exciting place full of new and interesting experiences. For the first few years of life that baby is on an adventure of discovery. He or she learns to walk and to talk. She learns to feed herself. She discovers new sensations each and everyday. If you watch a baby exploring his world you will see what an amazingly interesting place this world can be. As we grow into children we learn new things, find new games to play and have new, interesting experiences. Life is still exciting. But somewhere along the way to adulthood most people fall out of “life the exciting adventure” and land in “life the dull routine”. What happened? Adults replace their childhood sense of adventure with a sense of fear. They are afraid to try something new in case it doesn’t work out. They are afraid of doing something different in case they look stupid. They are afraid to go somewhere that they’ve never been in case they don’t like it. They are living each day in fear and allowing fear to steal the excitement out of their life. Why not throw fear out of your life and rediscover the enthusiasm for living that you had as a child? If you want to discover the possibilities for your life you need to become an explorer, you need to try new things and find rewards that you didn’t even know existed. Here are a few possibilities you could try. As you read them watch your reactions and see if you are being ruled by fear or by the enthusiasm of possibility. - You could learn something new just for the fun of it. - You could go somewhere where you have never been before. - You could move to another country and live there for a few years. - You could give your old friends a break and find new friends. - You could take up a new hobby. - You could stop watching television. - You could learn a new language. - You could change careers - You could do something you’ve always wanted to but haven’t yet done.

What Employers Look in You during the Interview

What Employers Are Looking For When an employer decides to conduct an interview with you, there are certain things that they are looking for from you. Naturally, you are likely to focus on these things during an interview, but you should remember all of the tips in this manual because following those tips is what is going to make the employers see all of those things in you. Since everybody wants to have a leg up when it comes to an interview, it naturally seemed to be appropriate to let you in on what the employers are evaluating you on during an interview. So here is that list. • Your Enthusiasm: Employers want to know that you are willing and eager to be a part of their company. Being fully stocked with knowledge about the company is a sure fire way to show your enthusiasm. • Your ability to speak clearly: If you approach an interview mumbling and speaking slang, a prospective employer will not see you as a professional. • Showing your teamwork skills: You should show an example of your ability to work as a team during your interview. • Leadership skills: You should show your leadership abilities by approaching your interview with an offensive train of thought. • Problem solving ability: Employers needs to know that you can handle yourself when a problem arrives. • Work related experience: You definitely want to show that you have some experience in the field already, so that the employer knows that you will not be overwhelmed. • Community involvement: Employers love to see that you have done volunteer work. It shows that you take pride in your community, and a willingness to be a team player. • Company knowledge: Again, this stipulates that employers like to see that you have done your research about their company. It shows that your interest in working for them is sincere. • Flexibility: Employers want to know that you are able to go with the flow. It proves that they can depend on you later. • Ambition and Motivation: Ambitious people are generally motivated enough to make great improvements in the company as they are working their way up the ladder. Ambition usually means more money for the company. • People skills: Your ability to get along with others is very important to an employer. They need to know that you won’t ruffle any feathers when you are hired. • Professional appearance: Nobody wants a slob working in their office. Be certain to dress appropriately for the job that you are applying for. • Ability to Multitask: This is getting to be a very necessary skill in the workplace. Most days, you will be required to multitask. Even if you are not, employers need to know that you can do it without freaking out on them. • Computer ease: These days, just about every company in the world is running on computers. The ability to work a computer with at least minimal amount of ease is important. It is best to keep a leg up on the most common software like MS Office, Quark Express, and Linux. • Reliability: Employers want dependable and reliable people to work for them. Your ability to arrive on time is a good place to start when trying to prove that you possess this quality. Best of luck to you!

Increase your Self Control in 5 Ways

Increase Your Self-Control in 5 Steps     It takes self-control in order to reach your goals. You increase it the same way you beef up your self-confidence, by mastering smaller steps one at a time, and building up trust in yourself. Step One: Making the Commitment You’ll find your goals are easier to reach once you can focus on them in your mind. What exactly do you want to do? What – exactly – are the steps needed to take you there? It’s easy to say you want to live a healthier life, but you won’t accomplish anything by trying to cover everything at once. Look at your current abilities, and what you’re able to tackle right now. Using your strengths, how can reach your overall goal? Eating more Vegetables? Cutting down on smoking? Exercising with friends? Pin down your goal and focus your efforts on taking manageable steps in that direction. Step Two: Put it in Writing Making a commitment is a lot like making a map. It’s easier to follow your decisions when you’ve laid them down on paper. When you can see your plan, when you have a chance to check items off one by one, you feel powerful and in control of your situation. Writing things down strengthens you focus, and gives you a reminder of what you have to work on. Step Three: Kick into Action Start once you make your commitment. If you wait for the next day, or the next week, or after the holidays, etc you will keep coming up with reasons to avoid starting at all. Worse, you’ll find reasons to stop midstream. If you find yourself tempted, it may be a sign that your baby steps aren’t small enough. “Never drinking soda pop ever again” may work for someone who drinks a very small amount, but for someone who lives on carbonation, it’s not realistic. Remember, self-confident people honor their abilities and know their limitations. They don’t set themselves up for fairly. Be good to your spirit by setting goals that won’t drag you off-course. Step Four: Let the Daydreams Begin Motivation fuels your efforts. Daydreams fuel your motivation. Take some time today to imagine your success. See yourself drinking bottled water, or chewing on gum instead of taking a drag. Envision your thinner thighs or sparkling white teeth. Most importantly, see yourself smiling. While visualizing the life you want to lead is a powerful tool in creating the self-confidence, you can also use visualization techniques to fight off negative thinking. The next time stresses come to call, close your eyes for a moment and breathe deeply. Imagine yourself walking into a blooming garden. Stop in front of a rose bush, littered with vibrant blooms and wilting ones. Put on your garden gloves, and pick up your shears, then stop to smell the roses. With every sniff of a vibrant bloom, here the whispering positive messages in your mind. “You can do this.” “You will reach your goals.” “You deserve your success.” The wilted blooms have an acrid smell, and whisper negative comments. Snip them off the bush before they have their whole say, but them in your basket and once back in your office, throw them away. Step Five: Celebrate Your Success However little they may be, make a display when your plans reach fruition. It takes focus, commitment, and effort to make even the smallest baby step turn out. Take a moment to feel proud of yourself and realize that improving your life isn’t so tough. You may even want to reward yourself when you reach certain milestones, but be careful. You want to make progress for yourself, not for the latest CD or a new watch. Sticking to your goals isn’t so much about willpower as it is making your choices realistic, and aligning your actions with your overall purpose. Be forgiving, hopefully, and celebrate your successes. Soon you’ll be living the life that you want, and you’ll have the trust that you need to meet future obstacles head on. Best of luck to you!

Top 11 Principles to SUCCESSFUL life

Top 11 Principles to SUCCESSFUL life Success is not just reserved for a chosen few. Everyone, yes everyone, has the capacity to be successful in every area of his or her life. Success results from cultivating certain habits and sticking to them. Consistency is a must. Successful people have a certain type of personality. Successful people think in a particular way, talk in a particular way and act in a particular way. Do you want to be successful too? Here are 11 principles of success that are bound to help you if you follow them. 1. Develop a clear vision of what exactly you want to achieve in your life. Carry this vision in your mind at all times. This is the starting point to success. 2. Believe without any doubt that you will achieve your dreams. 3. Stay away from negative influences such as negative people, books, articles, etc. Surround yourself with things that boost your belief in yourself and your future success. 4. Take responsibility for your future. Do not depend on anybody. Take responsibility for your life and don’t doubt success. 5. Make a habit of repeating positive affirmations. Speak out your affirmations in present tense as opposed to future tense. Writing down affirmations is even more effective. This helps your mind stay fixed and focused on your goals. This is also a good way to build your self-confidence and deepen your beliefs. 6. Make a firm commitment to action. Once you decide to take action, stay committed and never give up! Once you deter from commitment, your belief becomes shaky and unstable. If this happens, your efforts will collapse like a deck of cards. You will have wasted all the time and energy you invested in your efforts. So stay committed. 7. Set a specific goal. If you know what you really want to achieve, you need to define it by making it a goal. Set specific goals. Your goals should be precise, measurable, realistic and timed. 8. Work out a plan of action. Break down your plan into smaller tasks or units. Do your task in smaller steps. Take one step or two each day while reminding yourself that each step is taking you closer to your goal. Your actions should be filled with faith, determination and purpose. Consistency is vital to reach your goal.  9. Never give up until you have achieved what you desire. Persistence is the key to success. Treat every failure as a learning opportunity. But push yourself towards your goal with stronger faith. 10. Maintain an attitude of gratitude, realizing that your dream is becoming a reality. Look around you and be grateful for things that you already have such as a home, loving family, etc.  Just stay grateful. 11. Be a giver – give your time, money and service to others. Be kind and generous to all. Now you know the principles of success.  Act on it with faith and persistence – and never give up!

Blowing off steam may bring your Goal Closer to Reality

When working toward a goal, it is common to encounter obstacles and stressful situations. The difference between those that go on to achieve their goals and those that do not is their ability to handle the stress and to move on. Therefore, it is a good idea to come up with a few different stress-busting ideas before starting your journey – and to avoid a few others that will get in your way. [b]Exercise Perhaps the best way to blow off steam and get rid of stress is through exercise. Many people that become stressed or angry begin to feel an adrenaline rush. If used inappropriately, this rush can be destructive. For example, if you yell at people or even physically harm people as a way to blow off stress, you will alienate others and perhaps find yourself in legal trouble. Exercise, on the other hand, provides you with a safe outlet for that adrenaline. It also releases “feel good” hormones that will make you feel better when you are done. In addition, exercise is healthy for you. The healthier your body is, the better capable you will be of handling stress when it hits you. Meditation and Relaxation Techniques Many people also used meditation and relaxation techniques to help themselves cope with stress. It is best to already have an established relaxation technique before you encounter stressful situations. Otherwise, you will have a difficult time successfully implementing these techniques if you only try to use them when you are angry or stressed out. When you engage in a relaxation technique, you concentrate on clearing your mind and controlling your body. Many individuals who use these techniques find that their thinking is at its clearest after engaging in meditation or relaxation. Once you have mastered these techniques at times when you are not stressed, you will be better capable of clearing your mind and getting your body under control when you are stressed. Talk it Out Sometimes, simply talking to someone is a great way to relieve stress. The person you talk to doesn’t even have to offer advice or solve your problem for you. The act of simply talking out the problem and knowing that someone is lending a sympathetic ear is often enough. In addition, talking through the problem often leads to moments of clarity and can actually help you find the answers to your problem. It is best to talk it out with someone after the initial adrenaline rush is complete. But, if you have an understanding spouse or friend, you might even be able to “vent” while you are still angry. Just be sure you are not verbally attacking or otherwise insulting that person while you blow off steam. What Not to Do Just as there are positive ways for dealing with stress, there are destructive ways. Those that utilize the destructive methods for coping are the ones that fail to meet their goals. Drugs, including cigarettes and alcohol, are a popular choice for those having difficulty achieving their dreams. Drugs of all types are unhealthy to the body and cause people to engage in destructive behaviors. In addition, most people who experiment with drugs become addicted. When this happens, the battle of addiction takes over and leaves no room for working toward goals. If you are someone who enjoys having a drink now and again, make sure you never do it in response to a stressful situation. Before you know it, you will become dependent on the alcohol in those situations and addiction will ensue.

How Infosys turns staff in to LEADERS

NEW DELHI: The spirit of professional growth keeps Infosys at the forefront of the fast-changing IT industry. This is quite evident in the fact that the company lays emphasis on its leadership development programmes designed to create leaders of tomorrow.1.What is the vision behind Infosys leadership programme? One of the areas for improvement was the need to have a structured way of developing leaders. So, the vision behind the leadership institute is to create leaders of tomorrow. Our programmes focus on nurturing leaders with a global perspective. We groom leaders and provide them the opportunity to shape the future of Infosys. Every year, we groom about 700-800 employees. 2.How do you identify the leaders in your organisation? There is no specific mechanism by which we identify leaders. We invite application from employees at middle and senior level management to undergo the leadership programmes. We also have a leadership competency department which evaluates these applications on the basis of these nine leadership competencies and selects employees for different set of programmes. 3.Can you throw light on your grooming process and the stages that the participants go through after being selected? Leadership is a continuous process. This is because leadership is all about mastering yourself at some level. Infosys leadership modules cover all sorts of programmes where employees are taught how to manage teams, negotiating, handling conflicts and cultural diversity. We have ‘Leaders Teach’ series where leaders actually share their experiences in particular area. Also, we invite speakers to discuss team strategies, share their experiences and involve teams in group activities. 4.How do you measure the success of these programmes? For every leader we develop a leadership index which is the ranking or the rating that he has been given on a five point scale against each competency. We measure each leader’s score at the year end and draw analysis. 5.How is your leadership programme different from  other IT majors Wipro and Satyam? Our aim is to ensure the proper execution of such programmes to groom potential leaders. We have a leadership index which measures how you have achieved and what you have achieved. So our programmes rate each competency. Also, our leadership development is not time-bound. It runs parallel in our day to day functioning. That is where Infosys makes a difference. We also emphasise that to develop a good leader, no one else can develop him, but himself. Only you as a person can develop yourself. We provide the frameworks and the support mechanisms, but the responsibility for development needs to taken by each leader. The definition of leadership that we have is that a leader must go above and beyond expectations. 6.What are the typical challenges that you have faced? The challenge is to get everyone spend an adequate time on development. To keep telling people to further develop is quite a challenge. This is where rating competencies help and we discuss with employees about the skills they have developed and areas of improvement. 7.What do you think should be the role of a leader in tough time ? In any situation, a leader should be able to bring in a lot of positive energy. A leader is someone who raises the confidence of employees and makes them believe that working in this team is a great experience. Employees get motivated when they feel they are adding value to themselves and the organisation. Also, one of the most important qualities of a leader is to listen.

18 Ways to Improve your Body Language

1. Don’t cross your arms or legs – You have probably already heard you shouldn’t cross your arms as it might make you seem defensive or guarded. This goes for your legs too. Keep your arms and legs open. 2. Have eye contact, but don’t stare – If there are several people you are talking to, give them all some eye contact to create a better connection and see if they are listening. Keeping too much eye-contact might creep people out. Giving no eye-contact might make you seem insecure. 3. Don’t be afraid to take up some space – Taking up space by for example sitting or standing with your legs apart a bit signals self-confidence and that you are comfortable in your own skin. 4. Relax your shoulders – When you feel tense it’s easily winds up as tension in your shoulders. They might move up and forward a bit. Try to relax. Try to loosen up by shaking the shoulders a bit and move them back slightly. 5. Nod when they are talking – nod once in a while to signal that you are listening. But don’t overdo it and peck like Woody Woodpecker. 6. Don’t slouch, sit up straight – but in a relaxed way, not in a too tense manner. 7. Lean, but not too much – If you want to show that you are interested in what someone is saying, lean toward the person talking. If you want to show that you’re confident in yourself and relaxed lean back a bit. But don’t lean in too much or you might seem needy and desperate for some approval. Or lean back too much or you might seem arrogant and distant. 8. Smile and laugh – lighten up, don’t take yourself too seriously. Relax a bit, smile and laugh when someone says something funny. People will be a lot more inclined to listen to you if you seem to be a positive person. But don’t be the first to laugh at your own jokes, it makes you seem nervous and needy. Smile when you are introduced to someone but don’t keep a smile plastered on your face, you’ll seem insincere. 9. Don’t touch your face – it might make you seem nervous and can be distracting for the listeners or the people in the conversation. 10. Keep you head up - Don’t keep your eyes on the ground, it might make you seem insecure and a bit lost. Keep your head up straight and your eyes towards the horizon. 11. Slow down a bit – this goes for many things. Walking slower not only makes you seem more calm and confident, it will also make you feel less stressed. If someone addresses you, don’t snap you’re neck in their direction, turn it a bit more slowly instead. 12. Don’t fidget – try to avoid, phase out or transform fidgety movement and nervous ticks such as shaking your leg or tapping your fingers against the table rapidly. You’ll seem nervous and fidgeting can be a distracting when you try to get something across. 13. Use your hands more confidently – instead of fidgeting with your hands and scratching your face use them to communicate what you are trying to say. Use your hands to describe something or to add weight to a point you are trying to make. 14. Lower your drink – don’t hold your drink in front of your chest. In fact, don’t hold anything in front of your heart as it will make you seem guarded and distant. Lower it and hold it beside your leg instead. 15. Realise where you spine ends – many people (including me until recently) might sit or stand with a straight back in a good posture. However, they might think that the spine ends where the neck begins and therefore crane the neck forward in a Montgomery Burns-pose 16. Don’t stand too close –one of the things we learned from Seinfeld is that everybody gets weirded out by a close-talker. Let people have their personal space, don’t invade it. 17. Mirror – Often when you get along with a person, when the two of you get a good connection, you will start to mirror each other unconsciously. That means that you mirror the other person’s body language a bit. To make the connection better you can try a bit of proactive mirroring. 18. Keep a good attitude – last but not least, keep a positive, open and relaxed attitude. How you feel will come through in your body language and can make a major difference. For information on how make yourself feel better read 10 ways to change how you feel and for relaxation try A very simple way to feel relaxed for 24 hours.

Why Applications are Rejected during the Interview

Some Major Reasons for Resume Rejection 1. Poor personal appearance. 2. Inability to express him/herself clearly. Poor voice, diction, grammar. 3. Lack of planning for a career; no purpose or goals. 4. Lack of confidence and poise; nervous, ill-at-ease. 5. Overemphasis on salary. 6. Unwilling to start at bottom; expects too much too soon. 7. Makes excuses; evasive; hedges on unfavorable factors in records. 8. Lack of tact. Lack of courtesy; ill-mannered. 9. Condemnation of past employers. 10. Fails to look interviewer in the eye. 11. Indecision. Merely shopping around. 12. Sloppy application. 13. Over-elaboration of details of experience. 14. Wants job only for a short time. 15. Little sense of humor. Cynical. 16. Lack of knowledge of field of specialization. 17. No interest in agency. 18. Emphasis on whom he she knows. 19. Unwillingness to go where the agency sends him/her.

Are you ready start looking for New Jobs – Ways for Job Search

NEW DELHI: The spirit of professional growth keeps Infosys at the forefront of the fast-changing IT industry. This is quite evident in the fact that the company lays emphasis on its leadership development programmes designed to create leaders of tomorrow.   1.What is the vision behind Infosys leadership programme? One of the areas for improvement was the need to have a structured way of developing leaders. So, the vision behind the leadership institute is to create leaders of tomorrow. Our programmes focus on nurturing leaders with a global perspective. We groom leaders and provide them the opportunity to shape the future of Infosys. Every year, we groom about 700-800 employees. 2.How do you identify the leaders in your organisation? There is no specific mechanism by which we identify leaders. We invite application from employees at middle and senior level management to undergo the leadership programmes. We also have a leadership competency department which evaluates these applications on the basis of these nine leadership competencies and selects employees for different set of programmes. 3.Can you throw light on your grooming process and the stages that the participants go through after being selected? Leadership is a continuous process. This is because leadership is all about mastering yourself at some level. Infosys leadership modules cover all sorts of programmes where employees are taught how to manage teams, negotiating, handling conflicts and cultural diversity. We have ‘Leaders Teach’ series where leaders actually share their experiences in particular area. Also, we invite speakers to discuss team strategies, share their experiences and involve teams in group activities. 4.How do you measure the success of these programmes? For every leader we develop a leadership index which is the ranking or the rating that he has been given on a five point scale against each competency. We measure each leader’s score at the year end and draw analysis. 5.How is your leadership programme different from  other IT majors Wipro and Satyam? Our aim is to ensure the proper execution of such programmes to groom potential leaders. We have a leadership index which measures how you have achieved and what you have achieved. So our programmes rate each competency. Also, our leadership development is not time-bound. It runs parallel in our day to day functioning. That is where Infosys makes a difference. We also emphasise that to develop a good leader, no one else can develop him, but himself. Only you as a person can develop yourself. We provide the frameworks and the support mechanisms, but the responsibility for development needs to taken by each leader. The definition of leadership that we have is that a leader must go above and beyond expectations. 6.What are the typical challenges that you have faced? The challenge is to get everyone spend an adequate time on development. To keep telling people to further develop is quite a challenge. This is where rating competencies help and we discuss with employees about the skills they have developed and areas of improvement. 7.What do you think should be the role of a leader in tough time ? In any situation, a leader should be able to bring in a lot of positive energy. A leader is someone who raises the confidence of employees and makes them believe that working in this team is a great experience. Employees get motivated when they feel they are adding value to themselves and the organisation. Also, one of the most important qualities of a leader is to listen.

 

 

 

 

 

 

INTERVIEW TIPS

 

1. Be on time!

Practice getting to the venue to see how long it will take. Public transport may be useless, the traffic may have been heavy, but however reasonable it won’t affect the fact that your chances are reduced if you are late. Always remember – You never get a second chance to make a first impression.
Aim to be early – you can always find a nearby cafe/shop/pub to wait in. And if worse comes to worst and you are going to be late, then definitely ring in and let them know.

2. Be Prepared!

Look at the employers’ website and learn something about the company before you attend your interview. Feed them the opportunity to talk proudly about something positive you have found.

3. Write down and practice possible questions!

Writing them down and practicing them with someone will make it easier to remember when you get to the interview. Use the third person when talking about the job. Avoid sounding as though you assume the job is yours.
It is fine to ask about the package on offer and accommodation – living in and living out are particularly relevant. Don’t forget to find out if the company will guarantee a resort or chalet – many will only allocate you a country. You could also try a fewer more testing questions such as how they differentiate themselves from their competitors or what they think the toughest/hardest part of the job is.

4. What are your weaknesses?

Don’t be Spud from Train spotting! ‘None…ah well, ah’m a bit of a perfectionist actually!’ Try to find an area of your experience/skill that is currently lacking. An interviewer will appreciate your candour – as long as whatever you disclose can be easily remedied.

5. You never get a second chance to make a first impression!

SMILE! Dress professionally in simple business attire. Just because you are going to be working in a ski resort does not mean you should wear Oakleys and a fleece to your interview. And don’t forget that firm handshake and to maintain eye contact – without glaring!

6. Be honest!

There really is no point lying about your background and/or skills. If you get caught, or even manage to get out to resort and then get found out, you can be sure you won’t be around for long! Job interviews are about matching needs – if there isn’t a good match, then chances are that the job won’t work out.

7. Check your CV for possible gaps!

Make sure you know how you are going to explain time gaps on your CV.

8. Talk about specific achievements!

Interviewers like to know how you felt about a particular success. Some will ask for specific examples of things you’ve done that you’re particularly proud of; how you solved problems; how you learned – and improved – from difficult situations.

9. Don’t talk too much!

Spud again – Communication is a two-way thing so give them a chance

10. Take a spare photo & CV with you!

Your interviewer won’t be expecting it so you will impress them. It also helps them remember you after the interview.

11. Be enthusiastic and positive!

Don’t criticize previous employers, particularly within the industry. Focus on positive achievements and views.

12. Be on time!

And finally, Don’t give up!
The fact is that you will not be offered every job however perfect you think you may be for it. Usually it’s because the interviewer was completely blind to the talent that stood before them. However, just on the off chance that it was not, feedback from interviews where you have been turned down can be invaluable for improving future results. Ask politely if they can give you any feedback for the future – there’s a job out there for you somewhere.

Best of luck!!!

COVERING LETTER’S GUIDE

What are Covering Letters?

A covering letter is a short letter or e-mail sent to accompany and introduce a CV or application form. It is normal and sensible practice to always send one to any employer with your CV, even if they are not expecting it. In many organisations, your CV won’t get to the right person otherwise. Your covering letter also allows you to draw attention to and expand on the most important points of your CV. It is important to produce a good covering letter; one graduate employer has stated that it often rejects CVs without looking at them if the standard of the accompanying covering letter is poor

Quick Guide to Covering Letters

A covering letter is one of the single most important factors affecting whether or not your CV will be chosen from amongst potentially hundreds which may apply for particular vacancies. Employers can be inundated with CVs and it is time consuming and difficult to look through all of these, particularly if they all look similar. Remember, make yourself stand out from the crowd!

• Use the covering letter as a way to highlight key skills, specific modules or work experience from your CV. which is relevant to the job you are applying for.
• It can be used to market yourself, stressing the relevant evidence from your CV
• Unless your handwriting is excellent, always type your covering letter. Pay particular attention to punctuation, grammar and spelling as employers are always critical of poor letters.
• Don’t send off a standard photocopied covering letter for each vacancy you apply for, employers often recognise this and find it insulting. Write a new letter for each job you apply for.
• You can keep a standard covering letter available and then tailor it to meet the differences in each application.
• Many smaller companies are looking for signs of commitment from potential employees and a good, well written and informative covering letter can help show this.
• Take time to structure your letter, it will help if you know something about the company beforehand as you will have some idea of what the company are looking for.
• Do emphasise how your work experience is relevant to the job. You will have learned many skills during this time and they can be highlighted in the covering letter.
• If you have not had a great deal of work experience, you can use the covering letter to explain how your degree subject has taught you valuable skills, for example, creativity, researching new ideas and a flexible approach to your work.
• If possible, address the letter to the person named as the recruitment point of contact rather than a standard Sir/Madam, again it demonstrates initiative and commitment.

Best of luck!!!

GROUP DISCUSSION

 

A group discussion (GD) is a simulated exercise, where you cannot suddenly put up a show, since the evaluators will see through you easily. In this page you can find tips on GD and how to handle them to ensure a positive outcome.

Here’s how most group discussions work

·  Normally groups of 8-10 candidates are formed into a leaderless group, and are given a specific situation to analyze and discuss within a given time limit.

·  The group may be given a case study and asked to come out with a solution for a problem.

·  The group may be given a topic and asked to discuss on the same.

A panel will observe the proceedings and evaluate the members of the group.

OBJECTIVE
Lets start from the basic. One needs to know what one’s objective in the group is. A good definition of your objective is – to be noticed to have contributed meaningfully in an attempt to help the group reach the right consensus. What does this essentially mean?

1. The first implication is that you should be noticed by the panel. Merely making a meaningful contribution and helping the group arrive at a consensus is not enough. You have to be seen by the evaluating panel to have made the meaningful contribution. What does that mean in practice?

·  You must ensure that the group hears you. If the group hears you, so will the evaluator. That does not mean that you shout at the top of your voice and be noticed for the wrong reasons.

·  You have to be assertive. If you are not a very assertive person, you will have to simply learn to be assertive for those 15 minutes. Remember, assertiveness does not mean being bull-headed or being arrogant.

·  And most importantly, you have to make your chances. Many group discussion participants often complain that they did not get a chance to speak. The fact is that in no group discussion will you get a chance to speak. There is nothing more unacceptable in a GD than keeping one’s mouth shut or just murmuring things which are inaudible.

·  Participate in as many practice GDs as possible before you attend the actual GD. There is nothing like practice to help you overcome the fear of talking in a GD.

2. The second important implication is that making just any sort of contribution is not enough. Your contribution has to be meaningful. A meaningful contribution suggests that

·  You have a good knowledge base

·  You are able to put forth your arguments logically and are a good communicator.

·  The quality of what you said is more valuable than the quantity. There is this myth amongst many group discussion participants that the way to succeed in a group discussion is by speaking loudly and at great length. One could not be more wrong. You must have meat in your arguments.

Therefore, think things through carefully.

——–” Always enter the room with a piece of paper and a pen. In the first two minutes jot down as many ideas as you can

.”

When you jot down points, keep these pointers in mind.
If it is a topic where you are expected to take a stand, say for example, “Should India sign the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty?” note down points for both sides of the argument. It will be useful on two counts –

·  One, if you do not start the GD and are not amongst the first five speakers and find that everyone in the group is talking for the topic, then it makes sense to take the alternate approach and oppose the topic even if you initially intended to talk for the topic.

·  Second, it helps to have a knowledge of how group members who take a stand diametrically opposite to yours will put forth their argument and to be prepared with counter arguments.

3. Everybody else will state the obvious. So highlight some points that are not obvious. The different perspective that you bring to the group will be highly appreciated by the panel. Some pointers on being relevant while having a different perspective are:

·  Be careful that the “something different” you state is still relevant to the topic being debated.

·  Can you take the group ahead if it is stuck at one point?

·  Can you take it in a fresh and more relevant direction?

4. The last implication is that you must be clearly seen to be attempting to build a consensus.

·  Gaining support or influencing colleagues is the mantra adopted by many a successful Business Leaders.

·  Nobody expects a group of ten intelligent, assertive people, all with different points of view on a controversial subject to actually achieve a consensus. But what matters is “Did you make attempts to build a consensus?”

·  The reason why an attempt to build a consensus is important is because in most work situations you will have to work with people in a team, accept joint responsibilities and take decisions as a group.

·  You must demonstrate the fact that you are capable and inclined to work as part of a team.

Best of luck!!!