Self employed or being employed ends the teen moments of any general population, responsibility has a greater share in this change of paradigm. The motivation that drove me to write this piece was the questions posed to me on every new intake in the university. The most popular session which has lively two-way interaction has always been about the prospects one’s course has in the job market. The questions every year in and out are nearly the ones from same template, such FAQs:

1.       Where can AAAA course graduates get a job in?

2.       Are BBBB courses  highly paid?

3.       We have so many Uni’s and so many graduates, can all of us get job?

4.       I haven't heard of this CCCC course, should I stay or change to a more familiar one?

5.       What’s the difference between DDDD & EEEE both are nearly similar, where does the change occur?

6.       I don’t think I am tailored for this profession.

7.       I have never heard of this course, I came in because was advised to register for it.

8.       My friends are all in that field, should I change to that course.

The above are some of the question painted in their minds when they walk into ending their teen years. There so many factors involved in searching for the most appropriate job.

            Firstly one should profile oneself first, where he or she is cut out for. We need to understand, there are characters whereby:

            i.      Love desk job.

            ii.     Love lotsa interaction.

            iii.    Love being bossy.

            iv.    Love managing.

            v.     Love experimenting.

            vi.    Love travelling.

            vii.   Love anything away from humans.

            viii.  Hate monotonous routine.

            ix.    Hate getting dirty/oily/dusty.

            x.     Hate being dictated upon.

            xi.    Money is everything.

            xii.   Future needs to be secured.

            xiii.  Welfare job gives satisfaction.

So it is utmost important you derive satisfaction from the job which in turn will be a joy to work in even though multiple extrinsic working environment  stresses will act upon.

All fresh graduates need to remember one GOLDEN QUOTE, there is no ideal environment whereby best job, best pay, best boss, etc will be showered upon. Thus stop being choosy grab whatsoever offer which comes along with respective skills and blend in accordingly to your own characteristics like listed above.

There are ample advice's in the web on preparing for job interviews, etiquette attending interviews, choosing jobs etc. What are you going to do once you have landed on a job offer and you have accepted it? The next two to three years is going to be the defining moment in your life. The first steps you are going to take is going to be the one chiseled into to the last. Your first few weeks/months/years:

1. Ask as many questions possible (but don't be a pain in the @#$* by annoying with your questions).

I get it, you will be wondering, I am asking you to ask questions and at the same time telling to be cautious. Asking question is an art, ask questions relevant and important in your job line of fire. Not simple & logical ones, and also not technical ones for a newbie whereby you cant even digest the explanation. Whom are you going to ask?? Boss, colleagues, technicians, clerks, operators.... Now, your boss (generally speaking) they want solutions NOT QUESTIONS. Colleagues: Welcome to company politics, they are usually the best ones BUT also it can turnout to be a nightmare. Shed, hide, delete, throw away your EGO, go down to ask with all others at all levels AGAIN RELEVANT AND ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS. Wrong questions might make you a fool!!

2. Visibility: Yup that's the ball game.

What visibility here, show yourself everywhere, take responsibility, throw in your voice (in meetings, ideas, solving problems etc). Don’t shy away, if you can’t be an alpha male/female, make sure your in the dynamic personality team.

3. No "Tai-Chi" shows

“Tai-Chi” is a term coined within the industrial fraternity for a person whom is dynamic, vocal, omnipresent at all issues BUT DOES NOT DO ANYTHING!!. He is easy to spot, flatterer, sweet talker, famous in pushing-“tai chi” jobs. Please do not adapt such an attitude,  sincerity coupled with passion in doing work is utmost here.

4. Record 

Yearly appraisal is very important at manufacturing or at any jobs, recording tasks with proofs, accolades filed in, white papers, awards etc, will ease your yearly appraisal process. This records will also help you in defending and justifying your work performance.

5. Jumping jobs or loyalty

A sensitive area for both the employer and the employee, an area where has been in dispute for a long time. The employer feels they have given ample, the employee feels he is not valued, thus he leaves and the employer disappointed.

Now, for newbies put aside your feelings, grow up in the job for the next two to three years. Jumping jobs just to get better remuneration package might look good due to $$ BUT in actual situation your CV will reflect your JUMPS and paint you bad. Value the opportunity given by the employer, response to it by showing your loyalty and commitment (remember all those flowery words you used in your resume, are those to deceive?). Learn the job, learn the nooks and corners available, at the end it will surely be recognised and being a long term employee will surely benefit in most cases.

6. OT

Another sensitive matter, there are personalities:

i.                     Staying back and not doing anything for the sake extra hours OT

ii.                   Some create job for justification

iii.                  Some search for extra hours jobs for justification

iv.                 Some are required to stay back BUT they don’t

v.                   The rare ones, they stay back to learn new stuffs BUT they NEVER claim

I am not here to advise what is right and wrong, I know it aint my money or anyones cash BUT it’s the company’s cash, STILL there must be conscience and ethics in this matter. At the end of education, it is not about money, status, fame etc BUT its about CHARACTER (my teacher says this often to me). You are given the carte blanche within the manufacturing floor to move, learn and adapt, use it to the maximum and learn the job.

7. Mea Culpa

To do a mea culpa requires guts, in the manufacturing floor it requires more than guts. Owning up to ones responsibility due to some mishaps or failures is important. For a newbie, you better do it, don’t shy away or let someone take the blame.

This are to the best of my knowledge, some tips and guides recollected walking down the memory lane, all the best on the new job.

(Taken from http://tradesensation.com/)

"RIGHT PROPOSAL GETS YOU HITCHED WITH!!..WRONG PROPOSAL GETS YOU REJECTED"...rc

It’s the first step anyone takes or faces when entering the universe of research. I have chosen Two words in my first sentence which are ‘takes’ and ‘faces’, one who has willingly chosen the path of research, whom has done some background work, knows the expectations, while the latter are those who took the plunge, its sort of an acid test. The third category will be the ones whom have done their graduate final projects diligently, they will also be in the former definition. Irrelevant which field research is being done, science or non-science, the rituals and oblations are the same.

Getting into the proposal, what are the main sections’ which needs to be written?:

i.                     Introduction/Overview/Background

ii.                   Problem Statement

iii.                  Objectives

iv.                 Scope

v.                   Methodology

If you have noticed, buffet protocols are never adhered, majority rush in, start piling up and building mountains on their plate. When congregated back on their table, you will see another mini-buffet arranged in the table itself, and rest is history. In the end food is wasted, missed some small crucial items, stuffed with their favourite food and rest becomes waste. WHY I chose this example, because the same happens in early stage of research and proposal writing. Lucky ones with a good articulate supervisor will be guided well, but in research it is believed the boat must be sailed alone, thus another common buffet debacle waiting to happen.

HOW do we start the Introduction section? Let’s pick a common layman discussion topic for this purpose. Hmmm  lets write a research proposal on a ‘A Study On Choosing An Appropriate Hobby For Either A Blue Or White Collar Working Class Person’. The topic is neither biased to technical nor arts, it’s a daily common social interactive scene in a human’s ecosystem. Getting now to writing, how are we going to start this?, lets zoom into the topic, WHATS the most general and common substance. We can either start with ‘HOBBY’ or ‘WORKING CLASS’, if its hobby than, the first paragraph should start describing about hobbies. Hobbies ranging from kids to adults, past times to serious ones and there some which has become a business. THIS is what I call roaming around from an aerial perspective, the first phase of narrative should just be on the superficial depth of hobby. If we are going to start with “WORKING CLASS’, than a general description of working class and its definition. Once this is done, segregation and explanation between both the white and blue collar will come in.

My advice would be, start with the ‘HOBBY’ and later explain about the ‘WORKING CLASS’, you guys can ask now WHY such?. Hmmmm…it takes time you see to put in the right words to explain so it will be easier to comprehend and digest. It goes like this, a sales man has to explain all his products than lets the customer choose accordingly within their specified constraints. So in this case we have to explain ‘HOBBY’, than get into ‘WORKING CLASS’, and the latter also has the embedded tip in extracting the “PROBLEM STATEMENT”. In this aspect, the flow of narrative is smooth……to be continued (tight schedule...will be back)

RESUME WRITING TIPS

by R.Charan

(Taken from:http://www.reliancestaffing.com)

A RESUME is a preface or a preview of a person prior to an engagement, thus it is an important document reflecting a person’s character. The resume plays a pivotal role in both potential employers and employees role finding a suitable candidate or landing a suitable job respectively. Having this mind, a job seeker has to craft and layout his resume accordingly, he has to load the correct information whom most employers would seek. Here in this piece, i will try my best to touch base at all the sections of a resume and the critical errors most candidates do.

The Poster:

Hmmmm, you guys must be wondering whats this, most resumes will feature a picture of the candidate and the contact information. Why i labelled it poster, because a picture paints a thousand words, a candidate’s appearance says a lot about the person. So, please do choose an appropriate image of yourself which has decent and disciplined outlook, have this in mind general employers are still in the orthodox mindset region. See the images which is better?

(taken from http://www.callmeshallow.com/)

(Taken from:http://watermarked.cutcaster.com/)

Next please and please do give the correct information, specifically the contact number, one ring and you should answer, unless if you envision yourself as the next Steve Jobs, calls can be raining onto you, but in reality 90% of the job seekers want in.

The Introduction:

In this section (About, Motivation, Objective..etc a few titles to write about introduction) fresh graduates generally will state their preferred job designation and a few words on their contribution and motivation. In this description all should take note to present short and crisp BUT creating attention on wanting to know more of the candidate. Too much of flattery and flowery words puts off any reader, the axe will go down even before other information are looked upon.

Education:

All fresh graduates need to understand their highest qualification is your degree which was pursued, thus always your latest education level should reflect first and not your early years. Employers will zoom into the latest so ‘paint’ the most wanted first. Another reminder, do not state details, such as listing of subjects taken, a resume must always be simple and precise. The other information's bring along during your interview session.

Experience:

Obviously fresh graduates do not have this, but still there are elements related to experience during your tenure of studies and semester breaks. So its here we need to dig up what we have learned and adds value. For an example your final year project (if true effort has been put into it) reflects independent research, project management, problem solving, knowledge contribution and more, this will surely be one your major trump cards. The other which would be relevant is the industrial training and the knowledge gained. This two will provide any potential employer an overall picture of the candidate, further thorough analysis will be done during interview session, whereby if the candidate fails to demonstrate what he or she has written, it will reflect badly on one.

Skills/Honours/Activities:

Common error here, always fresh grads do is to list frivolously all skill sets under the roof. For an example to let this message sink in, ‘using microsoft word’ for an graduate will it be a skill? No, there is no need to list this types, you are expected and must have mastered this similar skill sets. Next, you will be asking me, what are the skills to be listed than? Here is where you have to play your cards well, some of you may have several skills acquired, and can demonstrate well in all.
Guess the current generation here are well versed with the game DotA (Defense of the Ancients), you will surely pick an hero with its unique abilities (which you well trained with), during the game the choice will demonstrate the tactical advantage your hero has over the other. Choosing the same character for all scenarios would be disastrous(Mega Kill). Thus its the same here in the skill listing, choose the appropriate accordingly by evaluating the company. Having C Programming skill, will be useful for an electronic or software based company, but for someone applying into food manufacturing this would be irrelevant. So list the skills wisely and make sure you have mastered them accordingly, do not overstate the ability. If you are an beginner, be humble and honest enough to own up.

Cover Letter:

The final garnishing act, here most of us would prepare a generic cover letter for all the companies. It is not a grave mistake to do, it is just not healthy. Take your time do some background search on the company, reflect this information in the cover letter, this might buy you a second look by the potential employer. Do not state any personal problems, on how desperately need the job due to personal reason, all writings and information must be professional. 

The Others:

Grammatical error, poor command of English and silly typing mistakes, this are a errors which can’t be tolerated. This puts off any reader looking into your resume, please get at least someone to vet through the resume. The other element, resume length maintain it within 3 PAGES, maintain short, concise and precise information listings.

(Taken from:http://www.eduers.com)

Effective Way To Write Reviews On Literature 

by R.Charan

Whats in it?.. Literature Review (LR) is the mini library of your chosen project. Whats the approach for this?  C.R2.W is the formula, but its the basic. LR writing is an art, a summarizing art, it has its expert levels from Basic, L1, L2, L3 and advance. 

With just L2 level technical writing skill, your LR will definately stand out among the general research population....MORE TO COME

PUBLISH or PERISH...

by R.Charan

Publications is one of the main barometer used to measure the work done on research. Whats your research worth like?. This outputs will answer the question.

The questions surrounding your work done in this matter:

1. Is my data enough for publication?

2. If i submit will they even review it?

3. I am shy, i feel the results arent good enough.

4. Mine is Social Science not Engineering or Science, hard to find sources to publish?

5. Should i publish for indexed Conferences or Journals?

6. What kind of work level suits conferences?

7. Is this data suffcient for Q1, Q2, Q3 or Q4 journal?

8. Bottomline i am confused dont know where and what to submit?

In the research world currently its 'PUBLISH or PERISH' (just because i am saying this, doesnt mean i agree to it or disagree). This is the current certification for research workers, avoiding it would be dterimental.

The questions list can keep on going, there are more to it than the above.............

PROPOSAL

by R.Charan

Proposal preparation is always the first hurdle any researcher will face, and it’s the basis of your research EVENTHOUGH there are chances direction might change in later stages.

            Here guide will be given in the assumption topic and area of research is known. There will be no extra dwelling in areas where variables thrive, thus questionscan be posted or mailed (if confidentiality is required).

            Proposal just like any structured writings as its main bodies, it may vary between institutions but the it always (to the best of the author’s knowledge) will revolve aroun

I.    Introduction/Background

II.   Problem Statement

III.  Objective

IV.  Scope

V.   Proposed Methodology (Not Always)

Writing guide and tips: post your questions....