Your Career Happy vs. Satisfied

Your Career Happy vs. Satisfied In the last nine years people ask me how things are going with JibberJobber.  I figured out a phrase that I repeat, which is as true today as it was when I first came up with it: Im happy, but Im not satisfied. This phrase replaced the other response I gave, which was that I wasnt happy with _____ (usually, the growth of the company, users, upgrades, etc.). In truth, I was happy and I didnt feel right about saying that I wasnt happy.  And finally, I realized that while I was happy, I simply was not satisfied. That meant that I wanted more, at the same time I appreciated what I had.  I was grateful, and ambitious. There seemed to be a subtle difference between those two words, but since I started using this phrase, there is a huge difference. So I ask you: where are you at with your career?  Can you appreciate, and feel grateful, for the opportunities that you have come across?  Are you happy with where you have been, and the trajectory that you seem to be on? I encourage you to find joy in the journey (this is something that has taken me years to figure out). That doesnt mean you have to just sit there and grin you can still be unsatisfied.  This doesnt have to make you unhappy, though. Unsatisfied means you are still ambitious, working towards the next thing.  It means you are still anxiously engaged in your career, and learning, and achieving, and mentoring.  You can be unsatisfied and still find joy in the journey. Ive learned that life is too short to be grumpy and feel slighted all the time.  Figure out where happiness and joy come from (they have a lot to do with attitude), and choose to be happy.  But that doesnt mean you have to be unsatisfied.  Keep thirsting for more, and better, and work for that.  Just be happy along the way. Your Career Happy vs. Satisfied In the last nine years people ask me how things are going with JibberJobber.  I figured out a phrase that I repeat, which is as true today as it was when I first came up with it: Im happy, but Im not satisfied. This phrase replaced the other response I gave, which was that I wasnt happy with _____ (usually, the growth of the company, users, upgrades, etc.). In truth, I was happy and I didnt feel right about saying that I wasnt happy.  And finally, I realized that while I was happy, I simply was not satisfied. That meant that I wanted more, at the same time I appreciated what I had.  I was grateful, and ambitious. There seemed to be a subtle difference between those two words, but since I started using this phrase, there is a huge difference. So I ask you: where are you at with your career?  Can you appreciate, and feel grateful, for the opportunities that you have come across?  Are you happy with where you have been, and the trajectory that you seem to be on? I encourage you to find joy in the journey (this is something that has taken me years to figure out). That doesnt mean you have to just sit there and grin you can still be unsatisfied.  This doesnt have to make you unhappy, though. Unsatisfied means you are still ambitious, working towards the next thing.  It means you are still anxiously engaged in your career, and learning, and achieving, and mentoring.  You can be unsatisfied and still find joy in the journey. Ive learned that life is too short to be grumpy and feel slighted all the time.  Figure out where happiness and joy come from (they have a lot to do with attitude), and choose to be happy.  But that doesnt mean you have to be unsatisfied.  Keep thirsting for more, and better, and work for that.  Just be happy along the way.

Interview well by knowing whats coming

Interview well by knowing whats coming One of the biggest mistakes you can make going into an interview is thinking youll do well because youre perfect for the job. Everyone who got an interview is a potential perfect fit for the job. Thats how they got through the resume screen. The interview is about something else: how you think, how you solve problems, how you react under pressure. And you are never quite sure of the quality the interviewer will focus on until you get a few questions. Until now. Now Glassdoor has launched an interview resource where you can report what sorts of questions you got from a given employer. This is a great moment in altruism, really, because you are helping other people to get a job without knowing how doing so will help you. So I like Glassdoors new idea right away, because of that. Because the very being of this tool assumes that people want to help each other. Ive sifted through lots of the questions and the first thing I noticed was that 90% of them are the kind you can study for. Thats because they are all versions of common questions, just like those I see in books that list the 200 most common interview questions (heres one). And, as always, you might think your interview will be a special case but it wont be. You can learn the right answer for each question and just tailor it to your own career. You can also learn from Glassdoor what sort of interview a given company favors. There is a tag cloud on the interview home page that is a laundry list of interview genres: behavioral, brain teaser, technical, and so on. For example, Microsoft is renowned for brain teasers (heres a book to study for those) and Deloitte is known for behavioral interviews (yes, you can study for that, too). Its fun to read some of the odd questions people get. For example, a question during an interview for a video journalist at Turner Broadcasting was, Who is the Minority Whip? And a question for an interview for a flight attendant at Southwest Airlines was, You have 1 seat left on a flight, and you have 5 passengers waiting on standby, a military man in uniform, a pregnant woman, a woman and her infant child, an elite customer (one who is a frequent flyer of SWA), and a gentleman trying to go see his ill sister. Who will be the one to get the empty seat on the flight, and why? (Answer: At Southwest, elite fliers get preference unless its life or death.) The other information people can share at Glassdoor is which companies have nightmare interviews. Which is not the same as which company has difficult interviews. For example, according to reports at Glassdoor, Amazon and McKinsey are difficult, but not a bad experience. Google is difficult, too, and also its an unpleasant experience. With all this data, Glassdoor will be the harbinger for which companies are bad to work for. Based on the interview process. Because Google is, right now, notorious for being a bad place to work. (Note: I cant find a good link. But people I know in the know tell me this is true all the time. Maybe someone will provide a link in the comments section.) I think the biggest problem with Glassdoor is that its not fun. People are very serious in these reports. So you might not be able to get that interview information other places, but if you want to read about the worst places to work, peppered with spice and snark, try the Consumerist. They did a final-four style playoff, with match-ups like Comcast vs Bank of America, and readers got to vote. While its too late to vote for the winner (AIG, is officially the worst company to work for) its not too late to vote for how the trophy should be delivered. In either case, though Glassdoor or Consumerist both are fresh foils for the BS lists that pop up every year about the best companies to work for.

How to Follow up When the Company Doesnt Make it Easy

How to Follow up When the Company Doesn’t Make it Easy Nicole wrote WorkSource to complain about how hard it is to follow up: “Some companies make it impossible for you to do a follow up call after you submit your resume. Either they keep their company name private, they wont take your call unless they have already called you. Is there any way to avoid this   its so frustrating!” Nicole â€" we agree â€" it is frustrating, but we don’t see an end to it any time soon.   Put yourself in the recruiter’s place for a minute.   They tell us that they receive an average of 100 â€" 200 applications for every job posting.  A great percentage of those applicants are more hopeful than qualified, which means that recruiters spend much of their time just looking for the few qualified applicants among all the hopefuls.   If they also answered calls from everyone who wanted to follow up, they’d never get anything done. So now you know why they don’t make it easy to make a call.   What can you do about it?   I’m going   to assume that you’re spending your precious time and resources applying only for jobs that you’re a good match for, and that you’ve targeted and customized your resume to include key words to make sure the recruiter knows you’re a good match. (If you’re chasing opportunities you aren’t really a good match for, all the follow up in the world won’t help.) Likewise, if the company name is not listed, you probably shouldn’t waste time trying to track the posting down.   But if you do know the company name, how can you find out what’s happening with a position?   This is where research and networking really pay off.   Part of your preliminary research into the company should include checking your network for possible contacts in the company.   The concept of six degrees of separation (also referred to as the Human Web) refers to the idea that everyone is on average approximately six steps away from any other person on Earth, so that a chain of, a friend of a friend, on average, will connect any two people in six steps or fewer. This is one of the best uses of LinkedIn. LinkedIn touts its ability to give you an “inside connection” to a company or job you are interested in.  When you follow a company on LinkedIn, you can see which of your connections are at that company or leverage your connections to help you find the right contacts at the company you are interested in.   You can also use the Advanced Search to find a user by keywords or companies. You can directly contact users through inMails or request an introduction through one of your contacts if you have common connections.   The site also recommends that you use it to research your recruiters or interviewers. You can learn more about their background to have an edge over the other candidates.   Trying to get information from a recruiter is hard; if you’ve established a relationship with someone at the company (or ideally, the actual hiring manager) it can be much easier to ask about the status of the job. Relationships take time, so you need to start now if you haven’t set up a LinkedIn profile or connected with professionals in companies you’re interested in.    Best of luck to you.

5 Ways to flub a job interview

5 Ways to flub a job interview We spend so much of our careers doing good work, meeting interesting people, and learning new skills. But it really all starts with one moment: the interview. Once you get there, you need to be able to package everything together for a nice, neat presentation thats memorable in exactly the right way. Here are five mistakes a lot of people make even people who are great at doing interviews: 1. Not preparing for a phone interview. Most hiring managers screen candidates on the phone before they bring the candidate in for an interview. This is to make sure there arent any glaring problems. A phone interview saves time. If you cant get the answers to basic questions right on the phone, theres no point in interviewers watching you botch those questions in person. Also, the hiring manager is looking for you to make a mistake that would rule you out. For example, not knowing that you shouldnt take a call with a screaming baby in the background. So instead of thinking of the phone interview as a precursor to the real thing, think of it as something you can prepare for.  Learn the rules. 2. Misunderstanding the point of a face-to-face interview. Hiring managers today have a lot of tools at their disposal to figure out if youre qualified for a job. The Internet reveals your history, and often the content and quality of your work;LinkedIn  can provide a plethora of references from people who have worked with you, whether you actually provide them to the employer yourself or not. And a phone screen can give a sense of your verbal abilities. So whats left? Whether or not you click with them whether they like you. Remember that intangible thing that happens on a date when you decide if you like the person or not? The same thing happens with hiring. This is what the face-to-face interview is all about. So make a great first impression, and focus on making sure the interviewer likes you. 3. Neglecting talking points. When  President Bush  walks into a press conference, he doesnt worry what journalists are going to ask him because he already has the answers hes going to provide no matter what the questions are. Such answers are called talking points. Politicians want to frame an issue, so they listen to a question and then decide which of their talking points theyll use to answer that question. In this way, each question theyre asked is an opportunity to get their own points across. I once had a media trainer teach me how to  stick to talking points, and it works for a wide range of situations including job interviews. You control what five topics you want to discuss, so you should pick five things about yourself that you want to get across in  an interview, and each point should come with some sort of story or example. You listen to each question and then figure out which point fits in well for a particular question. Youre not  George W. Bush, though, so you cant totally ignore questions that dont have pat answers. But youd be surprised how often you can answer an interview question with one of the five answers about yourself that youve prepared. This is a way to control an interview and make sure the focus is on your strengths. A great resource for helping you understand how to frame your answer for any question is the The Complete Q A Job Interview Book by Jeffrey Allen. 4. Thinking the job description is set in stone. When you start an interview, find out what youre interviewing for. Typically, the person who writes and publishes a job description is not the person making the hiring decision. Ask the hiring manager what the goals are for the position, and ask who the new hire will work most closely with so you know wholl have the biggest say in whether or not you get hired. And, if you get the job, remember that it could change all over again. Immediately. So dont ever assume you know what your job is until you investigate. The only constant about your job description is that you must  be invaluable to your boss  in order to succeed. 5. Failing to close. A job interview is a sales call, and all good salespeople know that  you dont have a deal until you close it. An almost-deal is not a deal, in the same way that a good interview is not a job. So toward the end of the interview, if you think things are going well, say, Do you have any reservations about hiring me? Most hiring managers will answer this question truthfully, and itll give you a chance to assuage their fears. This is a hard question to ask, because youll be faced with your weaknesses right there in the midst of the interview. But if you dont take the time to explain how youll overcome those weaknesses it wont come up, and youre much less likely to get the job.

How I Recruited My Winning Team

How I Recruited My Winning Team Photo Credit â€" Pexels.comToday I’m going to show you how I went about building a team to deliver a critical ITproject for a major European service provider. Along the way I’ll give you some insights into what people like meare looking for when we are recruiting. It’ll give you something to think about if you’re looking for a job yourself.I’ve been an IT project manager for more than 40 years. In the early years I made lots of mistakes â€" some of them make me shudder with embarrassment even today. But I had a lot of help as I went along and I got better at my job. Eventually I became something of a troubleshooter â€" going into damaged or failing projects and rescuing them.There were plenty of troubledprojects to go at â€"andthere still are.Researchby IAGindicates 68% of IT projects fail. This isn’t so surprising when we learn thataccording toCapterraas many as 75% of IT executives believe their projects are “doomed from the start”.evalFor this article I’ll pick j ust one of my projects, but I could really have chosen any of them. They all have a scary similarity.My recruitment challengeThis particular project was wellbehind schedule, massively overspent and unwanted by its customers. The reputation of the project team had hit rock bottom, soit wasn’t a nice place to be. Morale was draining away and key people were leaving the project.The word on the bazaars was that the project had gone wrong becauseof “management failures”. But as the new project director I had to make my own diagnosis and start turning things around quickly.I gave myself a week, to talk to as many of theparticipants as I couldâ€" in teams and individually. I discovered that the real failures were ones of communication and organization. Most of the managers were perfectly competent. But there were too many of them and there were far too many meetings and progress reports.So my first task was to reset the project and reorganize it into a more logical work-stream struct ure. I was able to let some managers go, and they were eagerlysnapped up by colleagues elsewhere in the company. I recruited all the new work-stream managers internally, mostly from the existing project team.I gave my work-streams a lot more autonomy than before and they had a lot more freedom over how they ran their delivery programmes. But I had found from experience that delegated authority only works if the centre is small but powerful. That’s where I concentrated my recruitmentAgain I looked internally first. In my experience it’s best to recruit from inside the company if you can, because it’s quicker, cheaper and more successful. And a lot better for the morale of your team.evalI was looking for two contrasting sets of recruits. Firstly, some wise heads with enough experience to spot problems early and give me good advice. Secondly, a team of energetic, persistent youngsters who I could rely on to monitor progress. I needed them topester the delivery teams to report pro gress consistently and surface issues early.For this latter group, I went to the company’s internal apprentices â€" teenagers straight from school, and new university graduates. They weren’t afraid of anybody and they wouldn’t take no for an answer.Going externalNot every position could be filled internally, so I went to the HR department and they gave me Brian to help me with external recruitment.In the past, I would have expected them to engage a recruitment agency who would want a job specification and a fee, and time to pull together a shortlist. But times have changed. This time, Brian asked me aboutthe type of people I was looking for, and we boiled it down to a few keywords. Brian tapped them into a search box on LinkedIn, and next thing I knew we had 100 LinkedIn profiles printed out. Two hours later we had whittled them down to a top 10 that I would interview by phone.evalThe following day I phoned the candidates, then Imade my decisions and the job was done.The winne rs had good LinkedIn profiles that contained the keywords I was searching on. Their profiles were full enough to be used as a general-purpose CV. Finally, they were compelling enough to catch myeye when we went through that initial scan.This is a great system, but I can see why recruitment consultants don’t like it. It threatens their role in the process and it forces the candidates to rely on general-purpose profiles. In the old days I was always taught to write a special-purpose CV, which was like a sales brochure selling me into the position I was applying for. But I was also taught that the customer is king, and using LinkedIn was great for me. I can see it being used more and more.Anyway I am happy to tell you the project reset worked. The new team gelled quickly, and before long we were hitting our milestones and winning over the skeptics. Furthermore, we forged a new plan that everyone supported, and we delivered it on time and within budget, thanks to a huge amount of dedi cated effort from hundreds of people, and considerable forbearance from our customers.Top tipsevalSo that’s the story of just one project. What are the main take-aways for someone looking for a better job today?Here are my four top tips:1. Who do you know?Remember most recruitment is internal. If you’re in a large company, that’s where your easiest opportunities will arise. But you must also cultivate relationships outside, so you aren’t tied to the same employer for ever.2. Do senior people know you?What do they think of you? How do you get to know them? One way is to find a mentor. That is, a senior figure who will get to know you and give you regular advice. Pick someone who is well connected and who can see opportunities you might not find on your own. Then when people are wondering about bringing in somebody new, your name goes up on the whiteboard.3. Will externalrecruiters find you?Have you listed all your key skills on your LinkedIn profile? Do you have endorsements from past colleagues? Is your career history short and snappy, and yet full enough toshow good detail about recent successes? Does it look good in a two-minute glance, and in a detailed read-through?4. Are you using social media?I’ve talked about LinkedIn, but of course you have a lot of choices these days. What are your interests and talents?Look for relevantspecial interest groups, and join them, and make yourself known in them. If you’re in a large company, maybe they have an internal social media network you can get involved in too.evalRemember every recruitment is a competition. Everyone wants to win it, butonly one person can. Let’s make it you.Did you find this article useful?Do you have any points to add from your own experience? Please leave a comment below.

The Complete Guide To GCSE Study Leave

The Complete Guide To GCSE Study Leave At the end of May, students across the country complete their GCSE examinations. These examinations are hugely important, and therefore the process of both studying for and taking the tests can be extremely stressful. As a parent, you might be wondering about the best way to help your child succeed, and as a student you might be juggling your exams with a range of other issues. The impact of these exams can affect the rest of your life, so therefore it’s really important you do the best you can.With this in mind, we’ve prepared a complete guide to GCSE Study Leave. This will include key dates, revision advice and organisation advice. With the help of our guide, you CAN make the most of your study leave, and achieve the best results possible!Key Dates 2015Under the current GCSE system, there are five main assessment bodies. These are:  AQAOCREdexcelWJECCCEA  Your school will choose the assessment body that it is using for any particular paper, but no school is tied to any one boar d. If you need specific details, it is a good idea to contact your child’s school to find out which exam board they will be using for a particular paper.Each exam board will run a slightly different timetable for their exams, and so therefore it is a good idea firstly to check with your school which board they are using, and then check with the board’s website to ensure you have all of the information you’ll need about the exam dates.With this in mind, below we’ve included some of the core dates for the core subjects, from each of the examination boards for 2015. Please be aware that some of the subjects are broken down over a series of dates/into a series of tests, and therefore it is imperative that you check with the relevant exam board’s timetable.  AQA GCSE 2015 KEY TESTING DATESEnglish Language: 02/06/15. 2 hours and 15 minutes.English Literature: 18/06/15-22/06/15. 1 hour and 30 minutes.Mathematics: 21/05/2015-11/06/2015. 2 hours.AQA GCSE Testing CalendarOCR GCSE 20 15 KEY TESTING DATESEnglish Language: 02/06/15. 2 hours.English Literature: 18/05/15-22/05/15. 1 hour and 30 minutes.Mathematics: 21/05/15-04/06/15. 2 hours.OCR GCSE Testing CalendarEDEXCEL GCSE 2015 KEY TESTING DATESEnglish Language: 02/06/15. 2 hoursEnglish Literature: 18/05/15. 1 hour and 45 minutes.Mathematics: 21/05/15-18/05/15. 2 hours.Edexcel GCSE Testing CalendarWJEC GCSE 2015 KEY TESTING DATESEnglish Language: 02/06/15. 1 hour.English Literature: 22/05/15. 2 hours.Mathematics: 21/05/15. 2 hoursWJEC GCSE Testing CalendarCCEA GCSE 2015 KEY TESTING DATESEnglish Language: 02/06/15. 1 hour and 30 minutesEnglish Literature: 18/05/15-22/05/15. 2 hours.Mathematics: 21/05/2015. 2 hours.CCEA GCSE Testing CalendarNow that we’ve given you some of the key dates, and information on where to find them, let’s start preparing for the exams!  How to manage your study leaveYour study leave will depend upon the school that you attend. Your school will have a system in place where they deci de upon the most suitable date, to best fit with your year group’s learning ability.Study leave is a really important period. You need to make maximum use of your study leave, in order to enhance your exam results.Below, we’ve created an in depth guide with tonnes of useful information on how to manage your study leave.Revision PlanOne of the most important things you can do to improve your learning, is to create a revision plan. This will help you to keep to an organised schedule, and not waste valuable time. Here are some tips on how to do this:Plan your revision early. This is fundamental. By the time you actually receive your study leave, you should have started revising anyway. Therefore, study leave should ideally be used as a means of ‘brushing up’ on information that you have already learned, rather than actually learning new information. This of course depends on when you are given your study leave. The majority of schools will give their students a few weeks maximu m. With this in mind, you need to make sure that you have planned ahead of schedule, to ensure that you can go back over each and every single one of your subjects. If you are taking a wide range of GCSE’s, then you will need more time to do this.Order your subjects. When you create your revision plan, make sure you order your subjects strategically. Remember that the skills involved in some subjects tie in or link with other subjects, for example English and History both incorporate essay writing skills. Layering your subjects in a way that each revision session will help you with the next, will greatly aid you when it comes to the exams.Don’t divide equally. One of the biggest mistakes that many people make when it comes to creating a revision plan, is to divide all subjects equally. This is unnecessary; you need to divide your time according to your strengths and weaknesses, and the content itself. For example, if you are someone who struggles with memorising things, then it would be a good idea to place a heavier focus where the memorisation of details (such as foreign languages) than topics such as English, where the content is essay based.Colour code. This is a great and fun way to improve your revision schedule. If you colour code each subject according to importance, you can be sure that you’ll stay organised. This can even work as a memory enhancing tool. You might see a certain colour in the exam and recall something important that relates to the subject.Hire A TutorThis can be a pricey, but extremely worthwhile option. A tutor provides you with comprehensive and experienced 1 to 1 support. There are tutors for the majority of GCSE topics, all of whom can be found via the internet or even in the yellow pages. Most people will hire a tutor long before their child even receives their study leave, but it is never a bad idea if you just want someone to help you go over existing knowledge. Remember that most tutors will be extremely experienced and often, can be the difference between a B and an A. Here are some things to look out for when you are hiring a tutor:Education and Experience. This goes without saying. Particularly if you are hiring a tutor for your child’s study leave, you are looking for someone who can bring their grade up in a short space of time. 4-5 weeks is not a huge amount of time, especially if they are only offering one 1 hour session per week. Therefore you need someone with proven experience in achieving immediate results.Teaching style. This is particularly something to look out for when reviewing self-placed advertisements from tutors. You need to think about how your child will respond to a certain style of teaching. It would be a huge mistake to hire someone who they won’t get along with, or respond to, so close to the exams. The tutor themselves needs to make your child feel reassured that they can get the best results possible.Price. While hiring a tutor can be a very effective option, if you are simply hiring someone for 4/5 weeks work then you need to consider the price. Don’t pay over the odds for someone just because you are hiring them short term. Lots of tutors will have a long term price plan in place, so ideally if you are interested in paying for a more expensive tutor, try to book them well ahead of the allocated study leave period.Background checks. Obviously, you’ll want to make sure that the tutor you are hiring is a safe and professional person, particularly if your child is visiting their home for their sessions.If you are interviewing prospective tutors, here are some questions that you might ask:What kind of academic training do you have?What qualifications do you have?Do you have your own transport?How much do you charge per hour?How many sessions can you offer per week?Could you describe your style of teaching?What kind of results do your students normally have?  WorkshopsAnother fantastic way to use your study leave, is to attend or even start up workshops. Workshops are a great learning tool, where groups of students who are learning similar material, gather together to help each other revise. Obviously, there are pitfalls. You need to be organised and make sure that everyone stays on topic. Here are some of the biggest advantages of using this method:Learning games. One of best things about a workshop is that it encourages learning in an interactive environment. Studies have shown that, provided they are conducted sensibly, these activities are hugely beneficial for a student’s memory. By making the revision topics more interesting, you are all more likely to engage in and learn the subject. For example, if you are learning history, take a number of relevant historical figures who are likely to come up in your exam, print a picture out and then distribute them around the group. Have the group ‘act out’ that character, their motivations and give examples of what that person did. Then have the rest of the class try to guess who that character is.Time management. This applies especially if you are running a workshop. It is crucial to have good time management when in charge of the activities, as you will need to organise each exercise efficiently and make sure everyone stays on track. This is good practice for your own exams, as you will need to ensure you use every moment effectively.Peer to peer interaction. Revision does not have to be depressing and dull. Remember that all of your peers are in the same position as you. Together, you can make revision fun! The more you enjoy the process, the easier it will be, and hopefully this will reflect in your results.Here are some of the questions you need to ask yourself, before you enroll in or start up a series of study workshops: Is there enough interest?What subjects do I want to focus on?How many people would I like to attend? Remember that the more people who attend, the more difficult it will be to control the group.How can I keep the session fun and interesting?How can I make sure that the session gets the best out of everyone?Does the session I am interested in attending suit my own learning style? If you know you are not someone who works well interactively, then don’t waste your time.What level are the people attending at? It’s all well and good attending more advanced sessions, but you need to understand the content being discussed.  Top Tips for Study LeaveHopefully the above examples should have given you a great idea of the type of things that you can do to enhance your learning experience whilst you are on study leave. Here is our comprehensive list of top tips, for what to do and what not to do during this period:Eat Healthy. This is really important. While you are studying, your body is using up energy, and therefore in order to ensure maximum results and focus on your work, you need to make sure you maintain a healthy diet. Your brain will work much better when kept healthy and nutritious.Take breaks. Studyi ng can be really stressful, therefore it’s vital that you give yourself breaks and time to rest. The best way to do this is to adopt an ‘hour on-hour off’ approach to revision. During your hour off, take yourself away from the work. Get out of the house, go for a run, try to forget about your revision and exams. Studies have shown that structured gaps in revision can lead to improved results.Remove distractions. During your study time, it’s really important that you remove all non- study gadgets, such as TV, IPod or your phone. We all know how easy it is to become distracted. If you can’t remove them then take yourself away from them, or give them to a relative to look after until you are done. You need to devote 100% of yourself to learning the material.Exercise. Exercise is a proven and fantastic way to keep yourself both mentally and physically fit for the upcoming exams. It keeps your body relaxed, and invites oxygen to your brain, which in turn will help you to focus better.Practice papers. This is the NUMBER 1, absolute best tip on the list. The best way to revise is to take practice papers. They give you an idea of how the paper itself will be structured, help you to practice working under timed conditions and make you feel more confident. No revision plan is complete without sufficient use of practice papers. Practice makes perfect!Equip yourself. This is a very basic organisational tip, but one that could come in useful. Prior to your study leave, stock up on all of the basics you’ll need. Notepads, pens, stickers, whatever you will be using to help you revise. You don’t want to forgo an important revision method simply because you ran out of resources. Prepare yourself beforehand, and you will have all of the materials needed for success.Stay calm. This applies for both parents and students. Parents, remember that this is a hugely stressful time for your child. They need 100% of your love and support, and therefore it’s really importa nt that you keep their home environment calm and stress free. Your child could be feeling on edge and under pressure, it’s vital that they know you are there to help them. Don’t nag them, and don’t put extra pressure on their shoulders. This will only lead to arguments, which won’t help under the circumstances. Try to show a real interest and willingness to help in any way that you can. For some parents, it can be difficult, particularly if you yourself don’t really understand the material they are learning. Always try to praise your child, even if they are struggling. Positivity will help both of you get through this period.Start immediately. Don’t make the mistake of putting off your study leave revision, simply because you have free time. This time is really really valuable, you need to make full use of it! The earlier you start, the better prepared you will be for the exams. This is where a detailed and structured revision plan will be the most useful.Prepare the nig ht before. On the night before the exam, make sure that you are completely organised. There is nothing worse than rushing around on the morning of the exam because you don’t know the location, don’t have the right equipment or have forgotten something. Get things ready; so that you can get a good sleep, have a healthy breakfast and be ready to tackle any exam.Believe in yourself. Remember that no exam can determine your entire future. If you believe in yourself, and perform to the absolute best of your ability, then you can always be proud of what you have accomplished. This entry was posted in Resources. Bookmark the permalink. Jordan Cooke How To Get A Hairdressing ApprenticeshipA Day In The Life Of A Royal Marines Commando

Writing the Perfect Resume Without a College Degree

Writing the Perfect Resume Without a College DegreeWriting the perfect resume without a college degree is a bit harder than it sounds. For starters, there are so many different types of courses that you can be in these days that people are looking for jobs based on their level of education rather than their job experience.You don't focus on your experience when applying for a job. If you have a degree, this is a must on your resume. They want to know how you learned what you know about the job and not the level of your education.Writing the perfect resume without a college degree does not mean that you write your own resume. It simply means that you take information from a resume and alter it so that it fits your needs.The best way to alter a resume to fit your needs is to see it as a library book. You need to make a few corrections here and there until you get it to meet your specific needs. Then you can tweak it to fit.There are websites out there that will tell you how to create a free resume that they will then place on websites that are looking for candidates for jobs that require a college degree. This is a good idea to have because there is no set amount of education that you need to have in order to get the job.Most of the time, an average person has some sort of training that makes them ideal for the position and not having a degree will not disqualify you. You will simply have to explain your reasoning in your cover letter or even in your resume.The types of courses that will show up on your resume include accounting, pharmacy, criminal justice, engineering, public safety, and a host of others. You will also be able to tell if you are eligible for certain positions based on your coursework as well.Sometimes you will be told what the requirements are for a position by the employer, but most of the time you will need to ask. It is also important to know that the required information will change from one job to the next. The job itself will often tell yo u what it requires, but they will change as the job changes.