How to Dress up for a Job Interview

When you are invited to an interview you need to consider that your first impression is going to weight heavily on the person who is interviewing you. If you make a great first impression then you can bet the interviewer is going to use the meeting to try and justify why you should be working for their company. Likewise, of you make a poor first impression you should know that in the back of their mind they are looking for reasons why they shouldn’t hire you.

First impressions count and the way you dress for success is one of the simplest and most powerful ways to portray an image of confidence, authority, success, style and self-esteem.

Here is a universal truth that you must keep in mind whenever you meet someone for the first time. “People almost always judge a book by its cover.” Our appearance is the single most important way we impact someone else when we first meet. Studies have shown the following

• 55% of the other persons impression is determined by our appearance
• 38% determined by how we speak, our tone, volume, diction, etc.
• 7%  of their impression is determined by what we say

 So what does this mean if you have a job interview?

1)     If you are in doubt find out the dress code in advance. You can call the company and ask the receptionist or a sales person: “what’s the dress code for your sales people, is it business casual or suit and tie?”

2)     If its business casual then dress one level better than you need to. If they work in jeans and T-shirts then wear a set of clean dress pents and a new T shirt or open collar dress shirt.  If the company’s sales team wears dress pants and jackets with no ties then wear a suit and tie. 

3)     It’s always smarter to dress better than is needed. You don’t want them wondering; “what were you thinking when you got dressed for this job interview”.

Don’t be afraid to invest a few Rupees in a new shirt and tie when you are job hunting, they will go a long way towards sprucing up a suit you may have had for a few years. Looking good will improve your confidence and help you move one step closer to landing that job.
By: Ibrahim Khalil
11-01-2012

How to Build Trust With Your Employees?

To be successful in managing employees you have to build a repertoire of skills to motivate employees. Creating a strong working relationship with each of your team members occurs when you increase trust with each member of your team.

A team is a group of people, each one influencing the effectiveness of the whole. A team is successful when they have a trusting relationship with their manager.

==>What is trust?

Their are several definitions though this is probably the one that is most familiar:

Trust: assured reliance on the character, ability, strength, or truth of someone or something b: one in which confidence is placed.

==>Here are some basic steps to building trust with your employees:

Be Honest

Tell the truth, as best as you know it. If you don't know the answer, let them know you will research the question. This is basic respect that we offer others and ourselves in our interactions.

Keeping Your Commitments

A manager that consistently follows up when they say or gives an update builds trust naturally with their employees.

Handle Mistakes Respectfully

Everyone makes mistakes! Choose your words wisely when you are handling a mistake with an employee. First of all, always discuss the issue in private and be upbeat about the problem.

This is such an important skill to develop as a manager and one that is the most challenging to master. Why? First of all, I believe we don't listen to ourselves, so it can be a bit daunting to listen to others. Yet, we must learn to listen to others to build our reservoir of trust with our team members.

Treat All With Respect

Yes, you will have employees that are much easier to interact with...that are normal. It happens in all relationships. The skill you need to acquire here is to master your emotions, treat all team members fairly and equal. Equal doesn't have to be exact. Equality is based on respect for what each individual brings to your team.

There is skill to building trust with employees. Once you learn and practice the aspects of building trust, you will experience a change in your employees. If your relationship has been shaky with your employees, it will take time.

Try This!

Take some time to evaluate how you build trust with your employees. What is the one thing you do now that increases the trust levels with your team members? Then what is one action that decreases their trust levels with you. 

Communicate the things you know for sure and then make you see those plans through. This will develop the proper pattern of communications and trust of management in future actions.

By: Ibrahim Khalil

15-08-2011

Self Esteem

Self esteem is central to our survival. It is the basis of our well being. Entire books have been written on the subject of self esteem and yet, there is no single one unifying definition of self esteem.A confidence and satisfaction in oneself.

I' have certainly come across enough people who gave up Counseling or Therapy simply because it made them feel bad. It was the only time in the week they found themselves talking about all the bad things in their life instead of actually doing something about them. So, is it possible to increase this magical, self esteem without touching on all that other complicated one? Self esteem is affected by 2 things; our core personality and how we treat ourselves. Most articles and publicity is usually concerned with the latter; how we treat ourselves. This is important, but equally, is our underlying personality make up. It is particularly of the reason personality traits, Self Defeating Personality Trait and Dependent Personality. If you happen to have high scores in either or both of these areas you will find it harder to increase your self esteem. Not impossible, but harder. You may experience an underlying feeling that no matter what you do, you just can't feel good about yourself. A belief that is unlikely to disappear over night, it can be effectively balanced by discovering alternative evidence. It often just doesn't feel right to start looking for it.

At the beginning of any therapeutic program for low self esteem it's really important to test not only the level of self esteem but also these important personality traits. With people that have high scores in both of these traits extra care and special attention needs to be paid to developing effective counter strategies. Although this sounds complicated, in reality it's not. There are many good questionnaires that will accurately measure not only self esteem but also other personality traits. These are usually conducted by suitably qualified and experienced psychiatrists or psychologists. The true source of self-esteem does not lie in achieving or not achieving a preconceived level of success or in obtaining (or failing to obtain) a certain status or even having or not having certain things, because the self cannot be defined by things or status; by positions or power. Granted we have been conditioned to believe that our self-worth can be gauged by those things that we have or do not have, but the true source of self esteem, of feeling worthy of happiness, comes from our ability to see ourselves as human beings and the ability to accept and respect ourselves exactly the way we are.

Does that sound too simplistic? Perhaps it does, and perhaps it will leave you with your eyebrows knit and asking "well, that's nice, but how does one go from connecting one's self esteem by ones successes or failures to seeing ourselves worthy of respect and happiness?" That, my friends, is the real challenge, for now that you know the true source of self esteem, it is time to learn how to build up that self-esteem so that you can view yourself as worthy of the respect and happiness that are your due.

Ibrahim Khalil 13/07/2011

Death Records

Social Security death records in the United States of America are kept in the Social Security Deaths Index (SSDI). The social security death records of people are near to a billion. The index is managed by the Social Security Administration (SSA) who handles all the requests that are forwarded by the people to them.
The social security death records keeps only records of people died since 1962. People who died before this year have no records in the death index. This is because, computerization of the deaths did not start until this time and when the death records were eventually kept in electronic formats; the earlier records are never added. Deaths are reported to the SS administration either when someone is notifying the administration to stop paying social security. This shows that some one is died. Whatever the case is, such people are required to present the certificate of deaths to the office as a proof of death. Looking for SS death records, there are two options, it is either you go the SS Administration or you go online to make a search. Usually, the online search is faster and easier. The important thing is that you need the name of the person you want to search. Another important thing is necessary, the social security number of such persons. The search takes only a few seconds and if there is a record of the death, then you will get results.
This service comes with a token out but for some web site, this offers is for free. One thing we all know is that, you don't have a say over whatever is free so if you really want reliable searches, then you might have to part with a few bucks to spend. Another thing you should know with the free services is that they don't update their directories as it costs money to have a regularly updated database of information.
They will let you find social security death records for free but not until you have bought some other expensive products of their and this is their clever move. This is why it is always better to stick with the paid services available. They are cheap and you can be sure of the accuracy of the information available for you. To visit the social security offices can be another idea to get your desired information without any problem for you.
Ibrahim Khalil 13/07/2011

How to increase Motivation

If you want to make things happen the ability to motivate yourself and others is a crucial skill. At work, home, and everywhere in between, people use motivation to get results. Motivation requires a delicate balance of communication, structure, and incentives. These 21 tactics will help you maximize motivation in yourself and others.

1. Consequences – Never use threats. They’ll turn people against you. But making people aware of the negative consequences of not getting results (for everyone involved) can have a big impact. This one is also big for self motivation. If you don’t get your act together, will you ever get what you want?

2. Pleasure – This is the old carrot on a stick technique. Providing pleasurable rewards creates eager and productive people.

3. Performance incentives – Appeal to people’s selfish nature. Give them the opportunity to earn more for themselves by earning more for you.

4. Detailed instructions – If you want a specific result, give specific instructions. People work better when they know exactly what’s expected.

5. Short and long term goals – Use both short and long term goals to guide the action process and create an overall philosophy.

6. Kindness – Get people on your side and they’ll want to help you. Piss them off and they’ll do everything they can to screw you over.

7. Deadlines – Many people are most productive right before a big deadline. They also have a hard time focusing until that deadline is looming overhead. Use this to your advantage by setting up a series of mini-deadlines building up to an end result.8. Team Spirit – Create an environment of camaraderie. People work more effectively when they feel like part of team — they don’t want to let others down.

10. Recognize achievement – Make a point to recognize achievements one-on-one and also in group settings. People like to see that their work isn’t being ignored.

11. Personal stake – Think about the personal stake of others. What do they need? By understanding this you’ll be able to keep people happy and productive.

12. Concentrate on outcomes – No one likes to work with someone standing over their shoulder. Focus on outcomes — make it clear what you want and cut people loose to get it done on their own.

13. Trust and Respect – Give people the trust and respect they deserve and they’ll respond to requests much more favorably.

14. Create challenges – People are happy when they’re progressing towards a goal. Give them the opportunity to face new and difficult problems and they’ll be more enthusiastic.

15. Let people be creative – Don’t expect everyone to do things your way. Allowing people to be creative creates a more optimistic environment and can lead to awesome new ideas.16. Constructive criticism – Often people don’t realize what they’re doing wrong. Let them know. Most people want to improve and will make an effort once they know how to do it.

17. Demand improvement – Don’t let people stagnate. Each time someone advances raise the bar a little higher (especially for yourself).

18. Make it fun – Work is most enjoyable when it doesn’t feel like work at all. Let people have fun and the positive environment will lead to better results.

19. Create opportunities – Give people the opportunity to advance. Let them know that hard work will pay off.20. Communication – Keep the communication channels open. By being aware of potential problems you can fix them before a serious dispute arises.

21. Make it stimulating – Mix it up. Don’t ask people to do the same boring tasks all the time. A stimulating environment creates enthusiasm and the opportunity for “big picture” thinking.

Master these key points and you’ll increase motivation with a bit of hard work.