January 2018

Everything you include in your resume has one purpose — to position you for the role. You need to think strategically when deciding what to include. Is it relevant to the hiring company’s needs? Does it bolster your application?

Some people give up and just include everything, winding up with a resume that is 3,4 or even 5 pages long. The problem of course, is that no-one will read all that information, so even the most salient points will be lost.

In all but the most extreme cases, your resume should be no more than 2 pages long and this means you do have to make hard choices.

Put your reader first

Once you know what the company is looking for, it’s much easier to decide what to include or leave out. resume with impact are those which tie in what you offer to what the company requires. Your offer can encompass different aspects of your background — achievements, skills, employment history, and so on — but focus it on the hirer’s needs by pruning out the less relevant parts of your background.

Work out what to highlight

Company and sector research and the wording of the job ad should help you identify what the company wants from an ideal candidate. Address these key requirements in prominent places in your resume — in your professional profile/career summary and in the skills and work experience sections.

Deciding what to leave off

Keep an eye on the length of your resume. If it goes beyond two pages, it’s probably too long. Don’t make your resume look cramped by squeezing in information, instead decide what’s relevant and edit or merge the rest.

The following information can almost always be deleted:

Interests and hobbies. If you’ve achieved something noteworthy or relevant pursuing an interest, slot it in somewhere else in your resume or put it in your covering letter.

“No-no” details such as date of birth, marital status, religion.

Superfluous information such as driving licence, references, school grades.

Irrelevant information that blurs the focus of your resume, such as very old or temporary jobs.

Remove negative information

You don’t have to explain why you left previous jobs or mention health problems. Remember that anything you include may be discussed at interview, so consider which jobs you can safely leave off — perhaps those you hated or where you didn’t get on with the boss.

“For admission help, enquire here”

Interviews have always been a nerve racking experience. Everybody gets the jitters when it comes to interviews. Relax! Don’t panic. You need to overcome the nervousness. There are some tips and tricks which can help you in getting your dream job. Lets find out how to overcome fear of interview & some useful tips to crack job interview.

Understanding the requirement

Read the job description carefully. It is important to understand what is expected from you and whether you fit in that given profile or not. Analysing your personal strengths and weakness alongside helps in deciding how well the job suits you and how to approach the interview.

Know the employer

Study about the company where you are appearing for the interview. Know their history, vision and objectives so that you are able to answer questions on it. Research well on their future plans so that you are able to align with your job role and how you can benefit them in the long run.

Prepare well in advance

You must be prepared for the basic interview questions. Make a list of common interview questions – like your introduction, your hobbies, your interests, why should they hire you, etc. Practice them well before your interview and try to make them interesting!

Punctuality matters

You must reach the company on time for the interview. It creates a bad impression if you are late for the interview. Try to reach 10 minutes before the call time. It is an important step towards creating a good first impression.

Always be confident

No matter how nervous you are, always look confident. Nobody will want to hire a person who is nervous during the interview, as it creates an impression of inability of the candidate to handle workplace situations.

Honesty counts

Be honest in your responses to interview questions. Lying at any point may back fire in the future. You are not supposed to know everything, so it is okay to accept it humbly. It’s better than giving a wrong response and creating a wrong impression as well.

“For admission help, enquire here”

Many schools offer a specialized master’s certification in human resources as well as an Master Program with a human resources focus, but choosing the latter option gives students a wider knowledge of general business practices as well as human resources skills, experts say.

Millennial students considering business school ranked human resources as one of the top 10 industries they’d like to pursue, according to survey results published this year by the Graduate Management Admission Council.

Business school and human resources experts say this concentration is an ideal fit for certain people. At many companies, human resources professionals are key for shaping the organization’s strategy and development. People in this field tend to be most interested in the type of workers that will help achieve a company’s mission.

A good human resources student is “someone who’s interested in human capital, someone who’s interested in managing talent, someone who’s interested in making an impact, someone who’s a good problem-solver,” Once they graduate, they can go into any number of human resources jobs, perhaps as an analyst or as a member of a company’s rotational program, where they’ll move through different departments within the company’s human resources division.

The job market for human resources professionals is competitive, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, but those who enter with an Master Program may have an advantage.”Candidates with certification – particularly those with a concentration in human resources management – should have the best job prospects,” according to the bureau’s website..

Experts say it’s important for Master Program applicants to look at several aspects of a school’s program when deciding which program will prepare them for the field and the job market.

Today’s human resources professionals may have to interact with stakeholders from various departments of a business, such as finance or accounting, experts say. This can increase the need for some human resources professionals to have an Master Program Certification background because of the breadth of the Certification.

“For admission help, enquire here”

It’s appraisal time! Many companies conduct periodic reviews to give feedback on performance to their employees and to assist employees in developing their career. This appraisal period may be of six months or one year depending on company policies. Performance appraisal is the right time to ask for your promotion as well as salary raise.

Don’t assess actual performance — most of the assessment that managers complete focuses on “the person,” including characterizations of their personal “traits” (i.e. commitment), knowledge (i.e. technical knowledge) or behaviors (i.e. attendance). While these factors may contribute to performance, they are not measures of actual output. If you want to assess the person, call it “person appraisal.” Performance is output quality, volume, dollar value, and responsiveness.

Infrequent feedback – if the primary goal of the process is to identify and resolve performance issues, executing the process annually is silly. A quality assessment/control program anywhere else in the business would operate in real time. At the very minimum, formal feedback needs to be given quarterly, like the GE process.

Non-data-based assessment — most processes rely 100% on the memory of those completing the assessment because pre-populating the forms with data to inform decisions would be too difficult (cynicism). In addition, most assessment criteria are “fuzzy” and subjective.

Lack of effectiveness metrics — many accept that the goals of the process are to recognize results, provide feedback to address weaknesses, determine training needs, and to identify poor performers. Unfortunately, rarely do process owners ever measure their processes’ contribution to attaining any of these goals. Instead, the most common measure relating to performance appraisal is the percentage completed.

Lack of accountability – managers are not measured or held accountable for providing accurate feedback. While they may be chastised for completing them late, there is no penalty for doing a half-assed job or making mistakes on them, which is incredibly common. One firm attempting to remove a troublesome employee found that the manager had rated the individual the highest within the department and awarded them employee of the year.

“For admission, enquire here”

Your resume has a single task— catch the eye of the recruiter and get you shortlisted from a bunch of qualified candidates. It is not an autobiography, but a sales pitch telling a story in a visually appealing manner, while highlighting key elements to get a favourable decision. It is not based on lies or fiction that can destroy your career. Here’s how you can spruce up your resume.

What will you include?

Make your story relevant and not comprehensive. Tailor your resume to the job description provided. Talk about latest job first —in reverse chronological order and keep education below work experience. Include your hobbies only if you are a fresher and can showcase your extracurricular achievements instead of professional experience. If you have 15 to 30 years of work experience, club the first 10-20 years under a single heading. To share additional details, include your LinkedIn profile, your website containing your design portfolio or your finance blog that demonstrates your market expertise and reputation.

Display due diligence

Avoid careless mistakes on your CV as it conveys either a lack of seriousness about the job or worse – an inability to do a job well. Use a spell checker for errors. Read each sentence backwards to weed out similar sounding words and typos. Read it aloud to see if the sentences make sense. Click on each link on the pdf to see if they work. Finally, have at least two other pairs of eyes rechecking your hard work.

DON’T RISK YOUR CAREER

Forge it

It’s a terrible idea to forge a document to get a job. A fake experience letter, photo-shopped salary slips or a fraudulent degree are caught during the employer’s verification process with a past employer or university, leading to a criminal case at worst and negative references in the industry for the rest of your career.

Jazz up your past

It’s easy to lapse into overselling and claim sole responsibility for someone else’s achievement or inflate one’s skills. Recruiters have tons of experience with candidates and ask detailed or indirect questions to expose the truth about how the only real contribution was accompanying the boss on sales calls.

Mess up online

Online social verification is the done thing. Every employer will check out potential hires on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and even coding platforms if relevant. If not yet done, it’s time to tidy up your professional profile and clean up your angry rants, embarrassing pics and posts to the extent possible.

Pile on the lies

Worse than lying on a resume is trying to cover it up or defend it thus increasing the negative consequences. If you have already submitted or posted a false resume, choose to correct it or withdraw your application before you are in the docks. If that is not possible, come clean at the earliest and apologise for the error.

“For admission, enquire here”

Human Resource managers may ask tricky HR interview questions to save time and try to figure out what kind of employee you really are. Joyce Lain Kennedy, a nationally syndicated careers columnist says outlines the 10 Trickiest Interview Questions & Their Answers

Kennedy says that even if job hunters have rehearsed anticipated topics, an unexpected HR interview question may jar loose an authentic answer that exposes hidden problems. Don’t miss the true intention of a seemingly harmless interview question. Kennedy offers the, the real meaning behind them and how best to answer each.

• How quickly do you adapt to new technology?

“I can adapt quickly to new circumstances. Since I am clear about my job role and I am mentally prepared to take up challenges, I feel I have the capacity to learn fast and apply my new knowledge. During my student life, I had to clear new papers and projects in every semester and thoroughly enjoyed doing it. Similarly, I will enjoy picking up new technologies in my professional life as well.”

• Are you open to take risks? or Do you like experimenting?

“It is always good to venture into new waters and new technologies. I am a very adaptive person and my diligence helps me pick up new stuff quickly. Experimenting or taking risks can yield both good and bad results, but the exercise in itself is a great learning experience. Such experiences generate experts and I want to become an SME or a JAVA subject matter expert someday.”

• What are your future goals? Tell me about your short term and long-term goals?

“I’ve picked up Marketing Automation basics during my first job, which lasted for two years. Now I am prepared to take up a bigger and more challenging project. I want to see myself as a marketing analyst in the next two years, that would be my short-term goal. Following which, I would see myself as an end-to-end Digital Marketing Strategist or a Manager in the long run.”

• What motivates you?

“Meeting the set target within an assigned deadline motivates me the most. When I do so, I get a sense of accomplishment and fulfillment. When this is coupled with an award, I feel all the more motivated. All in all, I like to achieve milestones, so that I can look back at them and say to myself, ‘Yes, that was my achievement.’ Visible results also motivate me.”

“For admission, enquire here”

Maintaining your career/academic and personal life can get pretty hectic sometimes. Most adults can probably admit to having their school or work life intrude on their relationships or families and vice versa. Being able to strike a balance between your professional and personal lives can help you become more productive and less likely to burnout. This balancing act takes careful planning and preparation, but it is possible.

Set priorities. To successfully walk the tightrope between professional and personal you need to understand where your priorities lie. Therefore, in a pinch or when faced with an urgent circumstance, you aren’t conflicted about what’s most important to you.

Create a list of the most significant aspects of your life. Of course, you might include items like family, romantic relationships, work, and spirituality. You might also include volunteering, staying active, maintaining a social circle or other passions.

Review your list and rank these items starting with #1 as the most important, #2 as the second most important and so on. Your rankings will show where your priorities lie. That way you can be sure to make an effort to incorporate these top priorities into your daily and weekly schedules

Create a schedule and try to stick to it. If your week goes by in a blur and you are unable to recount which tasks you do on which days, it can be helpful to spend a week logging everything you do.[3][4] After this week has passed, you will have a better idea of how to factor in different work/school assignments and personal activities or errands into your schedule. www.iibmindia.in

• It can be most helpful to develop a weekly schedule involving all the constants like work, classes, church, and social activities with other one-time events. Then, each night before map out a daily to-do list of the individual tasks you need to get done based on your priorities.
• For your daily schedule, highlight the three most important tasks you need to get done each day (aside from actually going to work or going to school).These might be professional items like working on a presentation or personal items like going to the dentist or your daughter’s ballet recital.
• You may even create two separate lists if this one is to constricting – one with three major tasks for work/school and one with three major tasks for home. As long as you have accomplished these 3 to 6 tasks each day, you will have been productive.

Eliminate distractions. You’d be surprised how much distractions are impeding on your time and productivity. Research estimates claim most people spend about 20 minutes of every hour handling unplanned distractions. As a result, about two whole hours of each day is spent trying to refocus after being distracted. If you can minimize the distractions in your professional life, you can prevent it from constantly interfering with your personal life. Try these tips to eliminate distractions:www.iibmindia.in

Focus on important rather than urgent tasks – urgent tasks are reactive-based, important tasks are proactive-based

• Turn off the notifications on your phone or computer
• Create a clean and clutter-free work space
• Put your phone away
• Close any programs you’re not actively using
• Get water, snacks or visit the bathroom during routine breaks to minimize physical interruptions

 “For admission help, enquire here”

First impressions may not be the last, but they definitely are lasting. A new job, a different role and bigger responsibilities can mark the beginning of a major career transition, especially if it’s a dream project that you had been eyeing. It is important to prepare oneself in order to avoid being overwhelmed by change.

• Prepare Before You Turn Up

Research is the key to any job as much as it is a new project or assignment. Know your company well, its stakeholder, products, and most importantly, its culture. The first few days in the office is going to be about orientation and a blur of names, rules, HR formalities and regulations. Give yourself a bit of a head start by reading the company website followed by its LinkedIn page. Get to know the company values by researching about the top management and the board of directors through published material on the Internet.

• Talk Less, Listen More

When in team meetings listen more and imbibe the knowledge imparted. Take notes during meetings and do not hesitate to ask questions. Keep the questions short and make a note of the answers you get to the questions. While your opinion matters during part of group discussions and brainstorming sessions emphasise listening over speaking. The most rookie mistake that people make during their first few days in a company is to come under the impulse of “taking the stage,” of speaking before the other one could say what he intends to or very often say something generic and clichéd without giving any actual insight.

• Dress for Success

When moving to a new organization, it is important to understand culture and dress accordingly. It is not only important to wear what is followed by code, but it is important to look the part that you are hired for. Do not over-dress or under-dress. This could have a negative influence on your employer and team members and could even overshadow your efficiency and personality. Grooming is a part of any workplace. Whether your office follows a formal dress code or casual dressing, being well-kept is key to making a good impression.

• Be Confident, Not Over-Confident

If you don’t have confidence in yourself to understand your abilities and the value you add, it could be holding you back from reaching your full potential. At the same time, over-confidence, also termed as ‘star sickness’, presupposes that we are absolutely pleased with ourselves which means that there is no need to grow. Star sickness lowers the level of self-criticism. It seems to you that you make everything ideally. You just do not have any shortcomings!

“For admission help, enquire here”

Year 2018 is here and a bevy of new year resolutions are popping into every one’s mind. One common one is the about career enhancement.

Every employee or job seeker hopes to come across ‘that opportunity’ that can turn his fortune around and catapult his career into another dimension. We at wish all the best to our users for the coming year.

No 1 – Resume: Your CV sells you to the firm. First thing to do this year is review your resume. Is it updates with all your latest qualifications? Does it have any spelling mistakes? Is it too long and boring for a recruiter to read? And, most importantly do you have a cover note ready with it?

No 2 – Interviews: You’ve sent your CV and are now waiting for an interview call. Job interviews can be nerve-wracking if you aren’t comfortable with ‘selling’ yourself but believe it or not, being skilled in interviews is something you can learn. An interviewer will make a judgement, so it’s important to make sure it’s a positive first impression. Pre-interview research is so important. When the interviewer is enquiring about experience, take this opportunity to relate the skills acquired in previous positions to the role that you are applying for.

No 3 – Fit in the work environment: In a rapidly changing work environment, it becomes essential to keep up. For a healthy and happy workplace, building trust among employees is essential. This keeps the employees stress-free and mentally fit. The best way to achieve this is by continuing to challenge oneself at the workplace.

No 4 – Salary negotiation: You may have an idea of what you are worth based on anecdotal information about what people like you are paid, but you will need something a little more scientific if you are to convince a future employer. Have a comparison list with you in the interview. Add any extra skills you believe are important for the role. This gives you a physical list of your strengths as compared to the employer’s needs, and a negotiation base.

No 5 – Highlight your tech savvy abilities: With the advent of digitisation the preference of employers have changed. Traditional methods of working are bygone, recruiters are looking for employees who are tech savvy and understands its operation well for smoothing functioning of work. “For admission help, enquire here”