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More people are limited by their beliefs than by the realities of the opportunities. Here are two questions to help you check on your beliefs:

1. Do you believe that only those with advanced degrees can gain and succeed in senior management positions at top-performing companies?

2. Do you think that leading a technical team isn’t possible unless you graduated from a top college?

If you answered “yes” to either of these questions, you are mistaken. You may be confusing credentials that are helpful for getting job interviews with the knowledge and skill required to perform well as a leader in a successful organization. Let me explain.

Most people who are in senior management positions or who lead technical teams do have college or graduate degrees from excellent schools. All but a few of those leaders completed their educations before they started working at career-related jobs.

As new graduates, these people faced a substantial challenge: Everything learned in school had to be applied in a work environment they were just learning about. There’s a problem with this approach to preparing for a career: New graduates may not understand how to connect their learning to what needs to be done at work.

For instance, unless someone says to you, “Apply the Pythagorean theorem (an understanding of geometric relationships that allows you to calculate the length of one side of a right triangle when you know the length of the other two sides) in this way,” you may not realize that you should be taking that aspect of your geometry training and using it to gain insight into the work-related questions you need to answer.

Many business leaders have recognized that it’s difficult to properly apply theoretical knowledge to practical problems without a lot of practical experience, and many leaders have responded by providing task-specific training at work.

Researchers have shown that this work-centered approach to learning is a good idea when learners have lots of chances to apply new learning right away. When that happens, the new knowledge and skills are much more often applied correctly. The lesson is that learning about a theory and practicing how to apply the theory should never be very far apart in time.

Learning through on-the-job training is fine if your company’s leaders provide the opportunity, but today many organizational leaders prefer to hire people with proven skills and experience rather than upgrade the skills and experience of those who already work for their organizations. As a result, many employees run the risk of becoming stuck in low-level jobs because they have rusty skills that they aren’t sure about when or how to apply to their work.

What can ambitious employees do then? Well, they had better take charge of their education and be sure that they can apply what they learn to their work and future career. I was recently reminded of this lesson while corresponding with Mr. Christian Jonsson, a 2004 MBA graduate from Rushmore University.

After playing executive roles in several international companies, in 2001 Mr. Jonsson joined Oriflame Cosmetics, a successful, fast-growing global company, to direct its information technology (IT) operations. In that position, he has played a major role in setting the company’s direction and implementing new strategic plans.

If you have met many people who head IT operations, you know that they usually either have impressive academic backgrounds in software and hardware or in finance.

By contrast, in 2001 Mr. Jonsson had neither kind of academic background: He had a high school degree and was mostly self-educated about computing as well as about finance. Asked to characterize his pre-MBA education, Mr. Jonsson described himself as “well-educated but not highly educated.” He had simply learned on the job by doing and supplemented those successful experiences by attending appropriate management seminars and IT courses.

In 2003, Mr. Jonsson realized that he could be even more effective at work if he gained a better and deeper understanding of international management and strategy, entrepreneurship, and finance. An MBA degree seemed like an obvious solution to fill those learning needs, but there was a problem: It’s not practical for a company to lose its IT director for two years while he’s away studying theory.

Mr. Jonsson recognized that a better approach would be to continue working and study business during nights and on weekends. If the new knowledge could be directly applied to Oriflame Cosmetics, that would be ideal. Discovering that Rushmore offered such a program, he easily persuaded Oriflame to underwrite his tuition fees.

In addition to knowledge about the specific business subjects that he studied while earning an MBA degree, Mr. Jonsson’s studies also helped him gain skill in learning new subjects and applying new knowledge to his daily work. These successful new experiences built on the sound foundation of his proven ability to learn new skills at work.

Since graduating from Rushmore, Mr. Jonsson has used his MBA studies to help him implement several new programs for Oriflame and to participate more in the company’s business planning. As an example of these new programs, Oriflame established a new governance method that ensures that IT issues will be dealt with in a more coherent and structured way.

In the future, Mr. Jonsson intends to keep learning while on the job. He is also thinking about starting a doctoral program at Rushmore and writing a business book.

With his respect for learning and applying knowledge to work, Mr. Jonsson would be the last person to advocate that people who want to be in top management skip college and graduate school.

What advice does he offer? He strongly urges everyone to get as much practical training as possible. He is convinced that the abilities to learn and apply new learning on the job are what separate high performers from everyone else. He also advocates that you should be continually gaining knowledge and improving your ability to use what you know at work.

Here are some questions to help you assess how well you are learning on the job:

1. What disciplines (ways of approaching problems) did you learn in school that you use at least once a month in your work?

2. What disciplines did you learn after you graduated that you use at least once a month in your work?

3. What disciplines do your peers and those in higher positions regularly use well that you do not yet apply well?

4. What disciplines could you learn from seminars, discipline-related courses, and in-house training that would allow you to be outstanding in applying critical disciplines to your work?

5. What do you need to learn to do to be able to enter top management?

6. How can you better combine your learning with on-the-job experience in applying what you learn?

Donald W. Mitchell is a professor at Rushmore University, an online school, where he teaches how to create flexible strategies for businesses and nonprofit organizations. For more information about ways to engage in fruitful lifelong learning at Rushmore to increase your effectiveness and improve your career, visit

http://www.rushmore.edu

Eating cold beans out of a tin and scraping together two pence pieces for a pint of lager on a Monday night are the stereotypical activities associated with student life. Moving from this paradigm into a world where, suits, briefcases and feet on corporate ladders are part and parcel of everyday life can come somewhat as a shock. The most trying time, between graduating and getting that first pay check can be toughest ordeal. Without the security of even a miniscule student loan, and the burden of passing yourself off as a professional to prospective employers, job searching can be a difficult time both economically and emotionally. Here we endeavour to ease the transition by providing you with top tips that pave the way to professionalism with success.

The number one tip has to be to keep thrifty with the pennies. During your years as a student, you will have learned to prioritise your spending (admittedly on cheap beer!), and this is a skill that you’ll have to keep utilising until you get that first pay check. It can be difficult, not only while you are job searching but during that first month of employment. Coping with the social demands of a well paid job can be tough until the cash comes rolling in, so make sure that you set aside an allowance that will enable you to get to know your colleagues on a social level.

The other necessity to fund frugally is a well stocked professional wardrobe. During interviews you will have to make an impression that reflects your dedication to embarking on a career, and is a match for already established professionals. First impressions count, so invest in one well cut suit. The thrifty way of going about this is to scour charity shops and E-Bay for a well known make of suit such as Paul Smith or Vivienne Westwood. Buying these suits new can cost in excess of 500 quid, but on the vintage resale market, can be scooped for a bargain price of as little as 50. Don’t worry too much about how well the item fits, as a trip to any high street tailor can see yo8ur suit fitting like a glove for an extra 20 quid.

Getting noticed for fashion prowess cannot happen until you get through the door in the first place, so to do that you need to dress up your CV in the same way as you plan to dress up yourself. Keep in mind that some companies have human resources departments that receive hundreds of unsolicited CVs a week, and possibly thousands when a post is advertised. The trick here is to get your CV noticed by making it stand out from the rest yet remain professionally appealing.

Utilise your IT skills to prepare a well structured and to the point CV. Choose a clean yet slightly unusual font and use a slightly different colour for headers and sub headings. Keep information relevant and concise, with the most important information at the head of the CV, so that the recruitment department do not need to search for information. An additional feature to consider is creating an online presence that can act as an electronic portfolio for prospective employers. This not only frees up the CV from detailed information, it shows that you are au fait with new media and understand its importance in the modern world of work.

The final tip for a job search is to not lose faith, and to keep at it. Keeping a positive frame of mind will give you a mental and emotional advantage over your competitors, and show you as the stronger candidate during interview stages. Even though the search for work can be a long and arduous task, keep the student mind frame of basic living and a carefree attitude of a hopeful future until the time comes where your feet are firmly on the path of career confidence.

Dominic Donaldson is an expert in the recruitment industry.
Find out more about job search and how best to find the job of your dreams at Need A Job.

Everyone knows that having a good relationship with his/her manager is really important. Some managers make that easy for their direct reports. Sometimes because of the manager’s style or workload, the manager seems unapproachable. Employees then feel that they can’t get their questions answered or worse that their questions are not important or proper to ask. Whether your manager is helpful or not, here are 10 questions that you have a right to ask. Use them at appropriate times. The ones dealing with promotion can be saved for a time when you think you are ready and the time is right.

1. What are you being measured on this year and how can I help you to achieve your goals?
Partner with your manager. Listen carefully because it is the key to your success. It will help you to help your manager to achieve his/her objectives for the year.

2. How will I be measured?
If you don’t know the answer to this one, it is important to ask. What are the key job measurements? It is not fun to get to a yearly appraisal and find out you are being measured on something you never knew about and did not concentrate on.

3. What skills do I need to develop to advance my career?
As you begin to think about future assignments it is worthwhile knowing what your manager believes are the most important skills to have. You may or may not agree with what your manager says but it is worth listening to his/her perspective.

4. What would you recommend I do to improve that skill or skills? Is there training available? Could a mentor help me? Is there a project available that I could work on to grow those skills?
These are all legitimate questions once you know you have a skill that needs to be developed.

5. What are the strengths that you see that I have that you believe will help me advance?
You know what you see as your strengths but your manager may have a different perspective. This is an appropriate question to ask particularly during a performance review.

6. Do you do a written performance review every year of the members of your group?
If your manager doesn’t do one each year, is there someone else who does? Find out who gives input to this evaluation. Early on in your relationship you will want to know the answers to this. Knowing when the review is scheduled and who is responsible for it will help you to be prepared.

7. What would you see as my next step in advancement?
This is a question you want to ask to get your manager’s perspective. You may not agree with him/her but at least you know what his/her thinking is.

8. Is there a possibility that a position like that would be available here?
Sometimes your next step may be at another company. A manager might not say that but the answer to this question will give you a sense of what is available for you in your current company.

9. Is there a process for promotion within the company? Can you explain it to me?
Most large companies have a list of people ready to be promoted. If you are not on that list, getting a promotion is difficult and sometimes impossible. Before you look within your company for advancement be sure you follow the process. I’ve known people who lined up a “next job” but were denied it by their current manager who had not been asked about the promotion until it was a fait accompli. Include your manager in your planning process when you target a promotion to an internal position.

10. How and when do I get to be part of the promotion process?
Getting on that promotion list may be a question of being visible to a whole set of managers not only your own. With your managers support you can get to be part of projects that expose you to other groups and managers.

Alvah Parker is a Practice Advisor and Career Transition Coach as well as publisher of Parker’s Points, an email tip list and Road to Success, an ezine. Sign up for these publications on her website
free monthly publications
Alvah may also be reached at 781-598-0388 or at asparker@asparker.com.

Reaching the top at work is the dream of most employees. Getting there, however, can sometimes seem to be impossible.

It seems that no matter how hard that you work or how much effort you put forth, you never seem to get any closer to the pinnacle of success. There are a few simple tips which may help you attain your dreams.

The first step to success is to set goals. Decide what you want out of your career and then formulate a plan to attain it. You should write down what you hope to accomplish and set a date by which to attain it. Many people set this as five or ten years. Try to choose a goal that is attainable. Most of us would like to be a company president by the time we are thirty, but that is not very realistic for many people. You must also avoid setting your goals too low. Something that is easily attainable usually turns out not to be very rewarding in the long run.

Once you have written down that which you hope to achieve, you must now decide what is required to attain it. Research and discover what skills are required to obtain the position that you desire. Some of these you may already possess. For those that you don’t, explore hbdifferent avenues to gain the training that you need. This could include attending classes on-line courses. Some qualifications may be self-taught through reading the latest business publications or searching the internet. You must commit yourself to learning whatever is necessary to prepare yourself for the future.

One of the biggest obstacles to success is low self esteem. You need to do an honest self-evaluation. Discover what your good traits are and begin to work on your bad ones. If you do not see yourself as a success, no one else will either. When examining yourself, ask someone close to you how they feel about you as a person. Be open to criticism and work on the areas they suggest. You also need to get to know yourself. You need to decide what you expect out of life, not what you hope for. You must figure out what motivates you but also what inhibits you. Once you begin to know yourself, you must love yourself. Self-approval may be the most important factor in achieving success.

When working to achieve success, staying motivated is important, especially when dealing with the long term goals. You may become frustrated and tired of waiting to attain what you want. You must not give up. You may begin to feel that your task is impossible. Nothing is impossible if you set your mind to it. The higher you set your goals, the longer it takes to achieve them. Instead of concentrating on how far you have to go, try focusing on how far you have already come. Remember to keep a positive attitude, continue to work hard, and learn all that there is to know and your goals are attainable.

Sharon Alexander - Claim That Job.com

For more career management information and to get a free job hunting report, visit Claim That Job.com

Lately all the economic news has been going from bad to worse around the world and people a scared about another depression heading our way. Why would anyone want to consider training to become a real estate agent at this time? Well, the truth is that while there is nothing we can do to change the immediate turmoil, we can implement actions that will improve our future.

Real estate is not going away. Yes, the markets are a little more than down and out, but overall the housing industry is like Rocky and now matter how big of a beating it takes, it will stagger back onto its feet and end up victorious. This article is going to take a look at why real estate training is still a good idea to consider.

First, your competition is disappearing. Over the boom of the last decade, everyone and their grandmother decided that they could get rich buying and selling real estate too. Now we are seeing all the part timers and pseudo professionals disappear, and the real estate world is primed to prune itself down to the true professional brokers and companies. This means there will be much more business to go around for well trained agents that add value to the real estate transaction.

Second, you can diversify your income and career opportunities. With the collapse of the financial markets spilling over into main street business, many companies are cutting back on hiring and shedding jobs. Real estate training will allow you exposure into new fields such as commercial property, rental property management, and home appraisal, which can be done as part time work for extra income. And in the scenario to your current job is terminated, you will have much wider options and a deeper resume to show.

Third, the bottom is coming and so is the time to buy. No one can time the market and no one is saying that real estate has turned the corner yet, but analyst estimate that housing will stabilize and begin to pick up sometime in the next year.

By planning for your future and beginning training for real estate now, you will be ready to take advantage of the market turnaround when it happens. You do not want to wait and begin your training when everyone else is already diving back in because you will miss out on the early part of the resurgence.

Fourth, real estate is still the greatest creator of wealth out there. The home is still the biggest investment most people make in their life. If you are at the heart of understanding how that investment works, then any real estate classes and seminars you attend now can pay off for years and years to come.

Remember that planning for the future means seeing beyond the present and taking action. Real estate training now, can have a big impact on the future of your career and investing experience.

James provides information about the real estate training through his real estate training guide.

Attending college can be both challenging and rewarding. It is likely that you will take classes that push you to your limit, but you will likely feel a great sense of achievement after making it through.

It is important to take on challenges while you are in college, because this is how you will develop and grow as a person. One way to challenge yourself while in college is to consider a college internship.

A college internship can be a great way to take the knowledge you have gained in your classes and apply it to a work place setting. Many students take a college internship during the summer following their junior year of college.

The majority of internships are taken at this time because most students have a solid idea of what they would like to be doing after they graduate and will be more likely to fully apply themselves to the college internship as opposed to students during their first or second years in college.

Finding a college internship that you would like to apply for and would really like to be chosen for can sometimes be a challenge. It can be stressful trying to figure out the amount of relevant job experience that you will be able to gain from some college internship opportunities and you certainly do not want to choose the wrong one.

When you are looking for internship opportunities, be sure to thoroughly read through the job postings before filling out any applications. You should read through the job posting a few times just to make sure that the college internship would be one that you would enjoy and that would be relevant to your career field.

After you have found a relevant internship posting and have applied for the position, you will hopefully be chosen as one of the candidates that the company would like to interview. Although you can learn a great deal about the position from the original job posting, you should ask specific questions during your interview that will give you a better understanding of what type of work you would be doing on the job.

Most employers will have a job description of the internship that they may be willing to give you. You can ask questions such as how many projects you could expect to work on and how much freedom you will be given on projects. There are many stories of students that accept an internship offer only to find out that it falls below their expectations, that the position is not relevant to their field of study.

To avoid having this happen to you, research the job postings that you are considering applying for, and be sure to ask detailed questions during your interviews.
By taking these steps, you will hopefully find a position that fits well into your career aspirations and that will give you enough experience to land a great career after college.

More information on College Works Painting, College Works Painting community benefits for students and College Works Painting FAQ in your area is just a click away.

In order to find yourself a job, you need to decide what it is you want to do. Are you looking for a job which is similar to your previous roles, or do you want to move up a level? Maybe you want to change industries or maybe your requirement is that it pays the bills. Either way it’s important that you make a decision, since your perfect job will not just fall into your lap. You need to set your goals before you can achieve them.

Once you have decided on the kind of job you are looking for, you can begin to write a CV around this preference and base all your job applications upon it.
Devise some sort of timetable, detailing the minimum amount of time you should spend on a daily or weekly basis to find a job.

To start with, you should focus on creating an effective and impressive CV. After this you should spend time registering with recruitment agencies, looking at recruitment websites, reading the local and national press for jobs, finding trade journals which may contain job adverts, sending out speculative letters to potential employers, applying for advertised jobs, customising your CV to suit certain job descriptions, chasing up old contacts to find out about job vacancies, checking the local job centre, and following up on any correspondence you sent out.

You can send the same CV and cover letter to employers and recruitment agencies alike. Maybe you could even enter their contact details into a database and mail merge your covering letter. This way you can improve efficiency and apply for more.

You can apply directly to companies, by phoning them up and asking about any vacancies. Also ask for the correct person to address your CV to.

Sometimes it can be difficult to stay motivated on the job hunt, particularly if you don’t receive responses from your application. It can feel like no matter what you do you will never find one! But stick with it, you will find something eventually.

Finding a job can feel like a job in itself. As long as you can stay productive on a daily basis, and keep your stress levels down so you’re not slitting your wrists about your unemployment, something will come along eventually.

Keep reading the job descriptions that you are applying for, and tailoring your CV and cover letter to suit the employer and role. Update your expertise and don’t sell yourself short.

Check4Jobs are a quick and easy to use job search engine and CV Database.

www.Check4Jobs.com

Managing human resources is not an easy task. I am sure at some point we have all found ourselves in the situation where looking for work is taking its toll. I personally recall having finished my degree trawling the agencies, submitting CV’s, thumbing through papers and searching the internet and job centre for work. The reality is that at the same time, there were literally thousands of people in the same situation, all vying for work and a foot on the career ladder.

It was something that I moaned about constantly, begrudgingly following the same faces from one recruitment agency to the next, filling out forms at chatting about what wage I thought I was worth. There seemed to be a multitude of questions that I neither knew the answer to, nor wanted to know the answer to, but the employment agency was determined to get an answer.

What didn’t really occur to me was the massive task that lay ahead of these people to match me to the right job. Somehow I thought that they had my sole interests logged into their internal filing system and my dream job would materialise within a few hours. It transpires that this is not the way the system works and they actually have to juggle thousands of potential applicants on a database and match them up with their clients.

This is pretty big business, and quite often, I was informed by a stern looking clip board wielding recruitment consultant that if I was looking for that kind of work, I would have to be signed to their agency exclusively. I hedged my bets and figured that maybe they had my interests at heart above and beyond the other agencies. The truth is, they had probably invested in a better database management system and were confident that they could match me to my desired employment status and didn’t want another agency poaching their business.

Fair enough I say, the purpose of their existence is to provide a client with an employee, and a potential employee with work! Sourcing, selecting and screening is a task that needs to be conducted efficiently and accurately. The rate of positive matches determines the future of the employment agency themselves. Since it became apparent that they didn’t use a personally tailored system to meet my requirements - which involved keeping a picture of me on their desk as a permanent reminder of my currently unemployed status - I wondered just how on earth they go about matching personnel to position.

It transpires that a clever recruitment software system can be used, which basically logs in the details of all the folks looking for work, their skills, desired job status, and what they may be will to accept in the meantime. It also has all the client information on, from available positions, to profiles of preferred employees. Rather than a puzzle-style match the pair system, the recruitment software solution filters the information to produce possible matches for client and jobseeker.

This method is evidently more successful than the do it yourself approach that many unemployed people choose to undertake. It is also because the agency system is more successful that is making it even more difficult to source work under ones own steam. Many companies choose to only advertise through an agency as it saves money on having an in-house human resources team and it also save time and money when it comes to screening applicants. So next time you are trawling high street agencies in search of work, be thankful that a system is in place, weaving its wondrous web toward gainful employment.

Dominic Donaldson is an expert in the sofware industry.
Find out more about Recruitment Software solutions and how they can help match the perfect client to the perfect applicant at Inter Software.

Chiropractors, also known as doctors of chiropractic or chiropractic physicians, diagnose and treat patients with health problems of the musculo skeletal system and treat the effects of those problems on the nervous system and general health.

Recently, the chasm between chiropractors and medical doctors has started to narrow as they have begun to share information and provide each other with more insight into their respective methodologies, practices, and treatments. The diagnosis and treatment of vertebral subluxations is one of the sticking points between medical doctors and chiropractors. Since there is often some disagreement between these two groups about what constitutes a spine that is out of alignment.

Many chiropractors who own their own practice or are part of a group practice take on some of the administrative tasks of running a business. Chiropractors are also trained to provide nutritional and lifestyle counselling and to prescribe therapeutic exercise. Chiropractors evaluate and treat a patient with muscular, nervous, and skeletal systems.

Like other health practitioners, chiropractors follow a standard routine to get information needed to diagnose and treat patients. As in other health related occupations, empathy, understanding, and the desire to help others are good qualities for dealing effectively with patients.

Because chiropractors emphasize the importance of healthy lifestyles and do not prescribe drugs or perform surgery, chiropractic care is appealing to many health-conscious Americans. A quick visit to the chiropractor and a healthier lifestyle can usually eliminate any problems. You should always talk to your health care professional for diagnosis and treatment.

Their goal is to offer a diagnostic treatment plan, including possible referral to other healthcare providers. Over 30 million Americans experience back pain on a regular basis. Chiropractors typically offer four very useful solutions, besides their own pain-relieving services, to this problem.

Studies have shown that over 80 percent of pregnant women experience back pain, as early as the first trimester of their pregnancies. Chiropractors are able to ease most of their patients pain, but many do not feel it necessary to see a chiropractor if they are not experiencing any pain.

Because there are major philosophical and theoretical differences between the ways in which chiropractors and medical doctors treat back pain. There has always been a rift between these two groups. When you visit a chiropractor for the first time, you will probably be asked for a general medical history and also asked to complete a questionnaire about the type of back pain that you are having.

Chiropractors often treat lower back pain and musculo skeletal conditions such as arthritis. However a lot of people find that they benefit from regular checkups at intervals of anything from 2 to 6 months depending on individual needs. This can prevent further painful episodes from occurring.

All boards require the completion of a 4-year program at an accredited chiropractic college leading to the Doctor of Chiropractic degree. To practice as a chiropractor, you’ll need at least two years of college plus the Doctor of Chiropractic degree, which takes four years to earn.

A good Osteopath and a good Chiropractor should achieve similar results when treating patients but you probably won’t get either to admit it. It is common to treat patients in their 80’s and 90’s.

Getting your staff to effectively handle and track your referrals for chiropractic marketing. About 52 percent of chiropractors were self employed.For patients whose health problems can be traced to the muscular skeletal system, chiropractors manually adjust the spinal column.

Many chiropractors are solo or group practitioners who also have the administrative responsibilities of running a practice. Like other health practitioners, chiropractors are sometimes on their feet for long periods.

All States and the District of Columbia regulate the practice of chiropractic and grant licenses to chiropractors who meet the educational and examination requirements established by the State. Newly licensed chiropractors can set up a new practice, purchase an established one, or enter into partnership with an established practitioner.

Employment of chiropractors is expected to increase 14 percent between 2006 and 2016, faster than the average for all occupations. Self-employed chiropractors usually earn more than salaried chiropractors, although they must provide for their own health insurance and retirement.

To be licensed, chiropractors must graduate from an accredited chiropractic educational program and pass stringent national examinations, administered by the Chiropractic Examining Board (CCEB), as well as a provincial exam.

Jim Woodall, has 49yrs business Exp.,visit his website chiropractors,at http://jwoodl.com/chiropractors, lots videos, news and articles. Get 3Free mktg Ebooks at http://freegiveaways.jwoodl.com/index.html no obligation

In planning their businesses and careers, many people make the mistake of believing that the future will be almost exactly like the past. Applying 20-20 hindsight, they carefully prepare to avoid repeating mistakes that others have made.

Unfortunately, optimizing a solution to deal with past conditions often leaves them totally vulnerable when new conditions emerge.

Here’s an example of this kind of thinking. In consumer products, very few new offerings succeed in gaining enough consumer acceptance to be profitable.

Not wanting to launch unsuccessful new products, Procter & Gamble (P&G) used 20-20 hindsight to conclude that rigorous market testing by offering new products initially in a medium-sized city was a good way to avoid big failures.

That approach worked well for many decades, allowing P&G to outperform those who didn’t do such rigorous pre-launch evaluations.

Unfortunately, P&G eventually had difficulty in testing its new products. Competitors learned that poor results in such geographically limited test would lead P&G to delay introducing a new offering.

As a result, competitors would hit test markets with huge amounts of advertising, free samples, coupons, trade discounts, and new offerings that would never be used against a full-scale product introduction.

As a result P&G’s tests often failed, even for products that were ready to be successfully launched.

After two decades of slowed progress with new products due to such opposition, Procter & Gamble learned that its test-marketing program needed to be changed.

By making more extensive introductions following good research results without test markets, Procter & Gamble became much more successful in offering its innovations.

In the field of corporate strategy, being more flexible has been taken a step further: The most effective companies set their strategies based on the assumption that future conditions cannot be predicted and are likely to be much different from the past.

As a result, the most effective companies often sketch out a number of very extreme scenarios and identify strategies that will leave the organization much better off under any imaginable circumstance.

Naturally, these organizations still have to be agile in adapting to unanticipated changes when they occur. As an example, I’m sure that few companies considered strategies for dealing with the kind of worldwide credit crisis that emerged in the summer of 2008.

Even as the credit crisis was occurring, its eventual shape was unclear. Being fast on your feet was critical.

This corporate lesson applies to individual careers: The jobs that people prepared for while young may not be around by mid-career . . . or even next year. What will preparation for a flexible, successful career look like?

I recently corresponded with Dr. Dietrich Roeben, a 2004 Ph.D. graduate of Rushmore University, to find out what conclusions he has drawn from his success in moving across different management fields and countries in agile fashion to engage in fascinating new challenges.

Let me tell you a little about Dr. Roeben. He grew up in rural northern Germany where he enjoyed many of the outdoor activities that continue to bring him happiness.

After earning a technical undergraduate degree in Industrial Engineering and Management at TU Berlin, he graduated with an MBA degree at the University of Derby in the UK.

He next gained the equivalent of a Master of Science degree at his alma mater, TU Berlin. Four years later, he was admitted as a member of the Chartered Institute of Management (UK).

By building strong technical and management skills, Dr. Roeben ensured that he could fill a much wider variety of roles than people with only technical or management training.

That gave him a major advantage at the beginning of his career, an advantage that has continued to provide benefits.

Many German graduates intend to spend their careers working for export-oriented companies in Germany. Dr. Roeben took a different path: He exported himself and began working for a number of non-German companies in locations outside Germany.

These assignments took him as far afield as Nigeria. Naturally, it didn’t hurt in making these moves that Dr. Roeben is fluent in four languages (German, English, French, and Dutch).

By diversifying his cultural and language skills, he became even more valuable to potential employers.

While succeeding in these initial assignments, Dr. Roeben took as many courses as possible to gain more insights into his field and new industries.

In the process, he tested his learning by writing papers sharing his observations about the subjects that interest him.

These continuing education efforts helped make him aware of new trends and conditions that he and his employers needed to address. The papers also raised his visibility and credibility with potential employers.

The post-graduate learning and writing whet his appetite to write a doctoral dissertation about the strategic aspects of operations management. Unfortunately, he found that prospective employers didn’t want to provide him with any flexibility at work to allow for doctoral studies.

Taking a traditional full-time job, he decided to work on his doctorate while commuting and traveling, during the evenings, and on weekends.

During his doctoral program, he sought the career counsel of a friend who worked in recruitment for a large company. She reported that her company was looking for people who would be flexible and freely admit that only the next 12 months can be planned with any certainty.

That advice provided quite a jolt to Dr. Roeben because despite his career flexibility he was used to thinking in terms of continuity in his business planning!

Here are the conclusions he drew:

“Within the last decade the speed of corporate change has increased to levels that only a few employees can cope with. Careers that have been well planned end when once reputable companies can’t pay their bills anymore.

“Once ’safe’ jobs in previously stable industries are not safe anymore. I assume the person who can deal with these changes is the previously mentioned flexible person operating in an organization with a one-year planning horizon.”

If he wanted to work flexibly in locales around the world, it didn’t make sense to enroll in a Ph.D. program that had to be done in a specific location.

As a result, he chose an online program where he could have access to top professors online to advise him without needing to meet with them face-to-face.

Dr. Roeben was happily surprised by increasing his flexibility in ways that he didn’t expect after starting his doctoral studies.

Improved time management was the first new flexibility he gained: He learned that he could engage in his doctoral studies anywhere . . . on a train, on a plane, or sitting in a park near home.

Although sitting at a quiet desk is more productive than mobile studying, he learned that you can still get a lot accomplished wherever you are.

The second lesson was that technology could help him get more done. Loath to drag around a laptop computer during his extensive travels, Dr. Roeben discovered that a handheld PC was extremely helpful for taking notes, organizing his thinking, and writing.

Finding that this method helped his Ph.D. studies also led him to begin using the handheld PC for his business work.

Discovering that a more focused work style felt comfortable, Dr. Roeben began to yearn for opportunities to become an entrepreneur where he could move faster than in his big-company roles.

He also developed a desire to teach and plans to make both activities priorities. Expanding his experience and skills in those dimensions would give him even more career possibilities.

After earning his Ph.D. from Rushmore, Dr. Roeben realized that complacency is an enemy that has to be continually addressed: “We need to question the way we do things more often.”

Keeping his newly found focus, he quickly turned his dissertation into a management book, Planning and Controlling the Outsourcing and Maintenance of Technical Services (Books on Demand, GmbH, 2005).

In addition, he worked at two different jobs, one in Europe and one in the Middle East, that have given him the chance to develop new knowledge and skills. As a result, he has published papers that draw on these new experiences.

He is also looking for an opportunity to gain a teaching university appointment while holding down his day jobs.

What will the future hold for Dr. Roeben? Only time will tell, but his sensitivity to overcoming complacency, anticipating the need to change, focused work style, continual learning, and ability to make good use of technology will serve him well.

I wouldn’t be surprised to find him earning another doctorate in a different discipline.

What are the lessons for you? You prepare for your career differently. In doing so, you should assume:

1. you won’t be working for your current employer a year from now.

2. you won’t be doing your current type of work five years from now.

3. that your best job opportunities are not in the country where you live now.

4. that you need to learn new skills that you haven’t been introduced to yet.

5. that your job prospects will depend on your becoming a world-class authority in some important area that you don’t yet know about.

I wish you well as you begin to increase your flexibility to gain from these new perspectives.

Donald W. Mitchell is a professor at Rushmore University, an online school, where he teaches how to create flexible strategies for businesses and nonprofit organizations. For more information about ways to engage in fruitful lifelong learning at Rushmore to increase your effectiveness and improve your career, visit

http://www.rushmore.edu

The UK environment industry is estimated to employ 400,000 people in 2007 and is worth approximately 25 billion GBP. Environmental consultancy is a rapidly growing industry sector and is predicted to achieve over 9% growth throughout 2008, due to government legislation that companies must adhere to in their business practices and developments.

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) was formed in 2001 due to the failure of the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (MAFF) to manage the outbreak of foot and mouth disease which devastated livestock farming throughout the United Kingdom. MAFF was thus merged with the Department of Environment, Transport and the Regions (DETR), creating DEFRA, which states their objective as being ‘to enable everyone to live within our environmental means’.

Environmental consultants provide an essential service in many areas, including carbon foot-printing, environmental planning, environmental economics, local authority waste management, renewable energy sources and sustainability assessment, to name but a few. Much of the environment industry operates on a specialist consultancy basis; however, many companies also have internal departments that offer expertise or which are responsible for subcontracting relevant specialist environmental consultants.

The environment industry is continually evolving, responding to ongoing corporate responsibility, risk and image requirements. Before planning permission can be granted for any given development, there is DEFRA legislation in place to ensure that certain environmental requirements are met. While an environmental consultant’s duties will vary dependent on what specialised sector they are consulting in, some general traits remain consistent.

Environmental consultants generally collate and evaluate information from sources and format this data into scientific policy reports that can support applications for planning permission or any other associated developmental legislation. Environmental consultants will also support the client at any applicable meetings and make presentations of data collated during environmental surveys and research, evaluating any potential environmental risks.

A major role of environmental consultants is to devise and implement practical environmental management systems to ensure that legislation remains adhered to and that the environmental impact of specific activities remains within the limits of any given legislation. Some consultants focus more on the public relations side of environmental development and are vital links for initiating corporate environmental sponsorship agreements.

The current concerns regarding climate change have cemented public interest in the protection of the environment at domestic, industrial and corporate levels and been the driving force behind the continual legislative regulations that have been imposed on the corporate world. The legislative minefield of the environment industry has rendered the role of environmental consultants indispensable and the industry is expected to grow in future.

Dominic Donaldson is an expert on environmental consultants and a regular contributor to trade publications on the subject.

Never express yourself more clearly than you are able to think.

–Niels Bohr

When I launched the 400 Year Project (a program to demonstrate ways to make 400 years of normal improvements in only 20 years to be completed by 2015), I had no idea how to do the task.

But I knew that I needed focus. Having to report of my progress was the device I chose . . . and it worked!

The semiannual steering committee meetings provided a helpful discipline for the project in the early days. I was always thinking about how to produce something new and improved that could be shared in six months or less.

We developed a habit of making the fall meeting a little more formal than the spring one and holding it at a special location.

Steering committee members were encouraged to bring spouses and children to the fall events, and there was a festive atmosphere as we pondered ways to make more progress and to share our messages.

Following the kick-off meeting, I learned my lesson about how difficult it is to create a useful meeting video.

Instead of the handheld video camera we used in 1995, the video producer would set the stage, put up lights, add microphones, do endless lighting and sound checks, and direct the action.

As a result, we have an excellent video report lasting nine minutes from the 1996 fall meeting. Why only nine minutes? People have short attention spans.

The cover of the VHS box displays the four Tobi Kahn paintings from the second commission, the BYRKA series representing health, happiness, peace, and prosperity that were unveiled at the one year anniversary of the project.

People could take the recordings home and play them. We could also send copies to steering committee members and clients who could not attend the session.

After two years, I found that the video production was driving the meeting rather than the other way around. Also, our producer took a job where he could no longer be available to create the videos for us, and we were never able to find an acceptable replacement.

In fact, we didn’t turn our last shoot into a finished video.

As had been my habit for all of our learning organizations, I also wrote reports for those who simply wanted to read about the key elements of what we had covered. What impact those reports had I’m not sure, but it made me feel more virtuous to write them.

Despite the excitement Carol Coles and I felt for the project, it was soon clear that the steering committee’s interest was waning. Attendance kept dropping from progress meeting to progress meeting.

An unexpected benefit came from this fall-off in interest: Our steering committee became more candid with us about what they perceived to be the limitations of the project.

Through these years, our most devoted steering committee members were Robert L. Guyett, Robert P. Kanee, Richard E. Koch, and Michael A. Sharp.

We cannot thank them enough for the support, encouragement, and suggestions they provided. We also appreciate all of the help everyone who ever joined the steering committee gave us.

Peter Drucker was a tougher critic of our efforts. While our steering committee would be pleased that we were still plugging away on what they felt were the most important areas, Peter expected us to be making breakthrough progress.

To him, the process for advancement was pretty clear: We needed a major company to begin using the project’s insights as a laboratory to develop the model for future performance. With each visit, we reported no progress on that front.

Peter was encouraging, however, by reminding us that every major company in the United States turned him down originally when he wanted to study management before General Motors finally agreed to let him in the door.

What are the lessons for you?

1. Set up progress report dates that cannot be shifted.

2. Share your reports with people who you greatly respect and who won’t pull any punches.

3. Keep changing the way you report in order to make the information more helpful.

4. Be always planning what you need to do today to be ready for the next two reports.

Good luck!

Donald Mitchell is an author of seven books including Adventures of an Optimist, The 2,000 Percent Squared Solution, The 2,000 Percent Solution, The 2,000 Percent Solution Workbook, The Irresistible Growth Enterprise, and The Ultimate Competitive Advantage. Read about creating breakthroughs through and receive tips by e-mail through registering for free at

http://www.fastforward400.com

As an older jobseeker, you may feel left out by the current job market. Whether you’ve been made redundant, been out of work for some time or just fancy a career change, you should make sure that your CV is hitting the mark in a new climate. If young recruiters don’t seem to respond to your CV, you may be the victim of age discrimination. Your CV could be responsible, making you look past it or over-the-hill.

There are many ways you should look at updating your CV, to sell your skills and experience to potential employers. Steer clear of including out-of-date technology skills, Don’t use outdated industry terminology, and make sure your CV isn’t following conventions which are archaic.

Industry Technology
When applying for jobs, look at the job description (and others in the industry) and see what technological skills employers are looking for. Find out which skills are missing from your CV, and look into learning more to fill that technology gap. You could try adult-education classes, or even e-learning.

More importantly, make sure you are using the correct terminology for your technological skills as this can be the most obvious sign of someone who is “out of the loop”.

Terminology
If you have just been adding to your CV over the years, then earlier entries are likely to be using outdated terms. One way to bring this terminology up to date is to read industry-specific publications and replace the outdated words with the current terminology.

Job descriptions in your desired field can help you update the language on your CV. Learn to use these new words as you might have to talk about them in interview at some point.

Format & Style
You should make sure that your CV reflects today’s trends in CV format and style. Some of the older “golden rules” of CV writing don’t apply any more. And they date you instantly.

CV’s no longer need to be limited to one page, as it limits your ability to show off all your skills and expertise. Two pages is generally quite standard, but if you feel you are perfectly suited to the job and have three pages’ worth of relevant skills and experience then you might as well share these with your potential employer.

Look at your references. It is not even strictly necessary to put “References available on request” at the end of your CV, since the availability of good references is assumed. There is no need to list every job you have ever held and devote an equal amount of space to all of them. Your employment history should go back as far as is relevant and only include jobs which actually relate to the post you are applying for. Think about your CV as a press release, and it is completely up to you what to include and omit.

Check4Jobs are a quick and easy to use job search engine and CV Database.

www.Check4Jobs.com

These days, it may seem more difficult to find a job after graduating from college, as so many teenagers elect to attend college after high school than have in the past. It now seems that going to college is becoming a necessity if one wishes to find a job, just as a high school diploma was on par previously.

So what is one to do if they wish to set themselves apart from all the rest after their undergraduate career? Locating and participating in a college internship has become a very effective way in bolstering your resume for recruiters and employers upon graduation.

Not only does its presence on a resume serve a candidate well, but also the experiences and values one can gain by participating in an internship are numerous. As many kids turn to college after graduation, finding a college internship can help separate you from the pack of those whose similar resumes must seem repetitive to recruiters sorting through piles of new candidates’ paperwork.

By no means should the experience be deemed strictly for resume building purposes. Embracing the skills and new lessons you can learn interning for a company is important, as this practical knowledge will surely come in handy later in one’s career.

Also, do not get any old internship you can find. Try to get one that sparks your interest and has some relevance to the career path you wish to take later in life.

If you find your internship boring and pointless, it almost defeats the entire purpose of it.
The real world knowledge you will gain through a college internship will be evident to the employer or recruiter you are trying to impress.

Sitting through numerous interviews trying to fill the position you are applying for, as well as countless past interviews, interviewers begin to get a feel for judging a candidate’s competency and experience by speaking to them. If you are ‘winging it’ it will show in your interview, as your answers will probably be shoddy and sloppy.

Speaking from actual experience and answering questions with some experience in the real world will allow you to provide thorough, well-informed answers to an interviewer’s questions and prove your qualification for the position. It is never fun to stumble through an interview; it can take away one’s confidence and become an embarrassing episode for a candidate trying to gain some interviewing confidence.

Participating in a college internship may help to provide the applicant with the ability to speak with confidence on subjects they have become well versed in over the course of the internship. While having a college internship on your resume by no means guarantees you a job once you graduate, many companies prefer to hire their own interns to new full time positions upon graduation.

Also, interviewing skills are priceless, speaking from one’s own experiences only gives the applicant the ability to confidently answer any questions the recruiter may have about their qualifications. And, as always, a good GPA is usually important to employers hiring recent college graduates.

More information on College Works Painting, College Works Painting tips and College Works Painting FAQ is just a click away.

Today’s students have grown up in an era of economic prosperity, but how are they going to deal with an economic recession? With many losing their jobs, and firms cutting back on training and recruitment, it could be the worst time to graduate.

The once buoyant graduate job market is starting to look a little bleaker, with the collapse and nationalisation of several banks this year. The graduate job market relies on jobs in the financial services sector.

At the start of this year’s recruitment cycle, of the top 100 graduate recruiters, 46 were in jobs related to finance. This has been true for years. Between 2003 and 2008 graduate vacancies in accountancy grew by 80%. Jobs in City investment banks grew by 100%.

For the first time since 2003, the total number of vacancies advertised by the top hundred recruiters has fallen this year. This is largely due to the impact of financial services sector being in turmoil.

But not all employers in the financial services sector seem to be having such a hard time, some haven’t been too badly effected. PricewaterhouseCoopers, the UK’s largest graduate recruiter still plans to recruit 1, 200 graduates this year, KPMG 1, 000, Deloitte 1, 000 and Ernst & Young 750.

High street banks are also still recruiting graduates, possibly because they fear that missing out on one year’s graduates can have long term implications when the economy picks up. Maybe they are being optimistic about the length of the recession we are entering.

Graduate recruitment is time-consuming and expensive, but managers believe that cutting back will cause problems with their talent strategy further down the line.

So how are students reacting to the recession? Whilst many live in their student loan and parental hand-out bubble, at least students of economics will understand the implications of the recession.

In research conducted by student representative officers at the University of Liverpool, a quarter of those interviewed were concerned that the global economic downturn would have a negative impact on the value of their qualifications, and 16% said it would make them more likely to consider a postgraduate course. This is a small portion, leading to the conclusion that a large amount of students don’t see the recession as having any impact upon the value of their degree.

As competition for jobs increases, employability skills and extracurricular activities will become even more important. In a volatile economy, graduates will need more than just a good degree to stand out.

John McE writes on behalf of Commercial Finance People, a financial recruitment consultancy, which was established in 1998 to place candidates in asset finance jobs, invoice finance jobs and banking jobs

Many people work with abusive and intimidating colleagues. The situation is especially difficult when they are in positions of seniority. Speaking up carries the risk that you will damage your career. Keeping quiet carries the risk that you will damage your health!

Most of us start out by putting up with abusive behaviour. Confronting it is too difficult and the stakes are too high. As time goes on we become stressed; we are permanently exhausted; we dread going to work. Eventually we ask for a transfer or leave the company. Less often we explode with pent up frustration and anger.

While confronting abusive people is always difficult, it is possible to set up a conversation where you can safely speak about how you feel and then ask that you talk through the problem.

Consider a situation where one of the executives in your organisation is constantly finding fault with your work and criticizing you in front of others. You do not understand where this is coming from and you find it hard not to be defensive. You decide to talk to him. You know it will be a difficult conversation because he is touchy and likely to blow up at the least provocation.

Keep in mind that you are having the conversation to clear the air and put your relationship onto a better footing. You might even find the person is surprised by your reaction and had no idea he was coming over as intimidating. Also remember that in some way you might be part of the problem!

First decide exactly what you are going to confront. You have to choose between talking about the pattern of the behaviour, or describing just one example. In this case, it would be safer to choose one instance and hope that he will pick up on your feelings about his behaviour as a whole.

A safe question that would get you started could be: Can I talk to you about something that is concerning me. This opening draws his attention to the conversation and sets a serious tone, without going into the content of the issue.

Then be very clear and specific about the behaviour that is upsetting you. If you choose one example of behaviour, speak up soon after it occurs, when you both have a clear memory of what was said. Keep it short. A long list of what he said or did will start to sound like an accusation and risk your getting an explosive reaction.

You might say: This morning when you gave me feedback on my project report you did so at my desk in front of the team. When you raised your voice, I noticed others looking over at us.

When you have described the behaviour that you find upsetting, describe how you feel about it. Choose your words carefully and use them tentatively. You could say: Maybe you do not intend this but sometimes I feel like you think I am incompetent.

Then invite the person to talk to you. You could use a very open question such as: How do you see it? Or you could be even less confrontational and say: Is there something I do that is creating the situation between us?

Listen very carefully to their reply. You may find it difficult to acknowledge that their view of the situation differs widely from yours and you may feel defensive if you are told that your own behaviour is at fault.

There are always two sides to a story. You will only get to the bottom of a problem when you have heard both of them. Then you can decide what can be done to resolve the situation.

Maureen Collins has a B.Sc. degree in Psychology from Edinburgh University and over 25 years of consulting experience. She specialises in communication in the workplace. In Straight Talk, she trains people how to handle difficult conversations, on difficult topics, with difficult people. Get free Straight Talk Tips. http://www.straight-talk.co.za

If you are an older person and you get laid off from your job because of cut backs or you think that the company might have just let you go because of your age, you might not be as alone as you think. This very thing happens to some people, and the company might just say that the job that you are doing went out of the company. In other words, they are trying to weed out the older workers. When an older person gets let go, it is harder for them to find other work because most companies don’t want to spend the time and money it would cost them in terms of training.

It is just not the labor companies that will let someone go because of age. The military is another one that will try to get someone out of the service before they can draw their petition simply because they can. If a company or the military can find something to use against that person that might give them another reason to let them go, they will use all means to do that very thing.

These older workers might be the best or one of the best these companies has working for them because they might work even when sick, never take a vacation, will work all holidays, or might not ever miss a day of work. If this company has to cut corners, however, they will try to get the ones that are close to their retirement age or the ones that have been using their insurance the most first.

The problem is that most of the older workers aren’t at retirement age but might be close, and most or some of them wouldn’t be able to pass a drug test. Most of them might be on medicine that will show up in a drug test that this new company doesn’t want or won’t work with if this person has to take this medication. Most of these people will have only the insurance from their old company and if they have to go to another job, they could run into a problem of being able to get their medicines that they will need because some of these new companies don’t let these new people have insurance until they have been with this new company for a certain number of months, which will cause problems for some of these older workers.

Aydan Corkern is a writer of many topics, visit some of her sites, like
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The unemployment rate in our country has been slowly rising over the past year or so. At this point it has not gotten too out of hand as yet, but who really knows what the future holds for those of us who are employed by an individual or even by a large company. Companies are going out of business or merging with other companies a lot in recent months especially, and this sometimes mean that all employees are put out of work or at the very least some layoffs take place because of down sizing or a merger.

Some employees that get laid of might get it a little better than others when they are at least given some sort of notice that there job are going to be let go temporarily or there job is eliminated completely. The very fortunate newly unemployed might be entitled to some sort of severance pay, but that does no happen for the majority of us. Sometimes there is not even any notice given to people who are laid off. If you are able to draw unemployment benefits at least for a while, it is better than nothing, but it can still make it difficult to get by.

Even unemployment benefits run out after a while and hopefully you will have been able to have found a new job by the time that happens, but not everyone is lucky enough to find new employment by that time. If you do not, it could means weeks or even months of no income coming in at all until you do. This can cause people to lose their home, their car, insurances, and even the ability to put food on the table for themselves and their family. People who are put in this position often have no alternative except to turn to public assistance like food stamps in order to survive.

Unemployed people that are used to working regular and are faced with going without a paycheck for weeks on end will sometimes end up taking what ever job they can find just to get any money coming in. It can be very difficult to go from making fifty thousand dollars a year down to twenty thousand or even far less depending on how much over minimum wage they can get. If you think you are in any danger of losing your job at all, it can be a very wise idea to start saving as much as you can now and begin the process of looking for other employment just so you do not end up having to work in a fast food joint for a lot less than you are making now

Aydan Corkern is a writer of many topics, visit some of her sites, like
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With the economy on the brink of collapse and the employment situation in this country in an unstable condition many people are looking to better their lives with an additional means of income or another career altogether.

Many people have gotten into a rut in their jobs in that this is all they have ever done and to think about changing is a scary thought. When faced with company downsizing and corporate mergers many are forced to take the leap and find another way to make a living. For many of these people a multi level marketing opportunity is just what the doctor ordered.

There is low start up cost and the potential for success is hard to pass up. The fact that people who are already successful are willing to work to help you to become successful also makes this an interesting proposition.

When you consider the fact that you don’t have to go back to school or move to another location in the country to get started also makes it worth a try.

There are many ways to choose a multi level marketing opportunity. Some offer great products that are usually better than what you can buy in the store. Others offer services in many different industries. I personally look for companies that have products or services that I would want to use for the rest of my life whether or not there was any money involved.

Many people get into these companies solely to get rich quick and that is not a good reason to start. In the first place if you get rich it will seldom come quickly. There is a lot of work involved because after all this is a business.

One has to work diligently and spend time assisting personally sponsored and other downline people to help them to become successful to see the riches that come later. It goes back to the principle of farming. The farmer has to plant many acres of whatever crop he plans to harvest. After planting comes cultivation which takes months and then he has to wait for growth. Many months later if he has done his part in planting and cultivating he can celebrate in a great harvest.

If the farmer decides to skip any one of the steps in the process he knows he will not have a successful harvest. Multi level marketing opportunities are no different from farming. There are certain things that if you do them you will be more successful and if you don’t do them you very likely will fail. Companies have training programs and methods of presenting their product that have proven to be successful.

The problem that many people make is in trying to build their business in a way that is not in line with what the company has laid out. This very seldom works.
Just like in marriage or relationship one needs to commit to it to make it really work well. Because there is little start up cost, sometimes it is difficult to see the potential in the business. I know franchise owners who don’t make nearly the money that people who have built successful multi level marketing opportunities make. And the time freedom is just a very nice plus.

Lee Hooker is a Multi Level Marketing seasoned veteran.
His website is a
complete training camp for new and experienced multi level pros to
gain new knowledge. 3 Get your training here You can visit his site at:

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The collapse of Northern Rock, HBOS and now Bradford and Bingley spells bad news for banking and IT sectors, but the credit crunch does present new opportunities for outsourcing, as experts predict outsourcing in the banking and IT sectors is to increase during these times of financial uncertainty.

41 per cent of financial services managers questioned in a survey conducted by the Management Consultancies Association (MCA) and the British Bankers’ Association (BBA), expect to increase outsourcing because of the credit crunch.

The survey found that 90 per cent of the companies had already outsourced parts of their business, but only 54 per cent of the managers thought their organisation knew how to get good value from out sourcing.

89 per cent of those interviewed believe that there hasn’t been a significant loss of jobs as a result of outsourcing, and 58 per cent believe that out sourcing has made their businesses more competitive.

Connect, an IT support company, have revealed figures which show that IT outsourcing in particular, is increasing as a direct result of the credit crunch.

Mark MacGregor, Chief Executive of Connect said that they have experienced a 75% rise in IT support enquiries, mainly from sectors worst-hit by the credit crunch, such as Financial Services.

The trend is most prominent in middle sized companies employing between 50 and 500 people, where the costs of running their own internal IT department is seen as an unnecessary overhead.

However, it is predicted that hardware and software vendors will suffer as a result of the credit crunch, as companies hold back on hardware and software upgrades, such as dualcore PCs or updating operating systems to Windows Vista, in order to decrease immediate IT expense.

Financial concerns are expected to drive businesses away from licensed-software deals offered by companies like Microsoft and from running their own in-house IT support teams.

A move towards online software is expected, and a move towards open-source software which can be tailored to a companies’ needs without infringing on copyright regulations.

The credit crunch is predicted to produce a stream of new and renegotiated IT outsourcing deals as companies look to make extra savings on existing contracts. Outsourcers can expect tough demands from banks, but can also expect longer contracts because of such changes.

We can expect the credit crunch to erode IT jobs from high cost areas such as London and New York, to lower cost sites in the East such as Delhi, or smaller areas in the West such as Bristol or Bournemouth.

The worst hit is likely to be contract workers, recent research indicates that the long-term jobless rate among IT contractors has risen from 4.4 percent, at the end of 2007, to 5.5 percent in March 2008. Fears over job security among contract workers are growing.

Despite a predicted fall in It spending, the Economist Intelligence Unit suggest that the drop in IT spending will be below the general spending decline. It is argued that the It industry is diverse enough to weather the storm.

As companies shut offices and try to reduce overheads, more businesses are expect to adopt remote-working models. The government is currently having a consultation about new flexible working legislation due at the end of the year.

Many employees could find themselves liberated from their desks, with the growth of broadband and various secure virtual private networks aiding this development.

Check4Jobs are a quick and easy to use job search engine and CV Database.

www.Check4Jobs.com

Do you have a boss who…
Changes priorities often, giving you one direction then suddenly sending you off in a different direction entirely?

Changes priorities but doesn’t inform you? When you finish a project, do you often hear, “Oh, no. You shouldn’t have done THAT. That changed.”

Doesn’t give you timely feedback on your work, so you don’t even know if you have been successful? Doesn’t have the time to show you appreciation with a “Thank you” or a “Hey, good job”?

Micromanages every little thing to the nth degree? Is a “Big Picture” type, giving you a sense of what needs to be done but no real direction?

If any of these sounds familiar - or if you have a different, difficult scenario with your boss - you are experiencing Tough Boss Syndrome. Don’t despair! You can empower yourself to get what you want and need.

The key is influence, which is not manipulation, but rather the ability to shape someone’s behavior positively. You can get the results you want and simultaneously build a better relationship with your boss when you influence him or her to be more communicative with you, shaping behavior in a way that improves the relationship.

Most tough boss problems center on communication. With better communication, you can influence your boss more effectively and with less effort. Consider the following questions and actions. All of them will not fit every boss, so choose those you think would be most appropriate for your situation.

1. How does my boss like to receive information?
How much information does your boss like to have? And what’s the best way to deliver it? Is he or she detail-oriented or more interested in The Big Picture?

Some bosses prefer e-mails; others favor hard copies of reports. Still others want face-to-face daily, weekly, or bi-weekly meetings. The easiest way to find out what your boss prefers is through straight forward communication, asking, “How do you like to receive information? When? And how much detail do you like?” Or ask peers who already have successful relationships with the same boss.

2. How much should I involve my boss?
Some bosses feel they need to be included in all decision-making while others are more hands-off. Micromanagers, for example, have a strong need for control, and while you can’t change their personalities or argue away their tendencies, you can find ways to influence them to tell you exactly what they need to know in order to feel comfortable without infringing on your need for autonomy.

An influencing conversation with a micromanager might sound like this: “These are the projects I’m doing and the decisions I am likely to make over the next six weeks. I know you’d like to know some of my decision-making criteria, so I will send you an e-mail every Friday that details the decisions I have made and why I’ve made them. If I do that, will you allow me to make those decisions as I assess the information?”

3. How can I solve my boss’s problems?
Like it or not, your boss’s problems are your problems. If you can figure out what keeps your boss awake at night and then find ways to help solve these problems, you will be a better influencer.

Though you can’t force your boss to disclose problems, you can offer: “If there’s something you want to talk to me about, I’m available for that, and I have the skills to help you in those areas. If you think so, too, the door is open for you to talk to me.”

4. How can I make clear to my boss what I want?
Don’t be shy about asking for what you want. When your boss can give it to you - more responsibility, coaching, or a corner office - ask for it. You may initially have to work up your nerve, but you will earn the respect of your boss, even a tough one.

In fact, when asked, a majority of bosses say that they wish that their employees would just come right out and ask for what they want instead of being evasive, timid, or passive aggressive about their needs and wishes.

5. Do I need more responsibility or less?
Do you feel like you’d enjoy more responsibility, in order to have a sense of accomplishment and to make your job more interesting? Or are you overburdened and stressed out so you’d like less responsibility or a different type of responsibility? Either way, you’re in an influence situation and need to ask for what you want.

Responsibility also means not being a victim; responsible people make changes when they find themselves in a situation they can change. They don’t blame a boss for never talking to them, for example, but instead influence him or her to talk to them more when they need it. When you don’t take responsibility for making a change or getting what you need, you end up blaming your boss, the organization, or your co-workers. Ask yourself, “What can I do about this?”

6. How can I make my boss’s job easier?
Influence and negotiation are very similar; basically, everything’s a trade-off. You can make your boss’s job easier by doing something you know he or she isn’t very skilled at or feels burdened by, such as putting together PowerPoint presentations, for example.

Offer to help by doing this for a few hours every week, while influencing your boss to relieve you of work you don’t want to do. “I’ll be glad to put together those PowerPoint slides,” you might offer, “and what I need from you is to take some of my filing work and give it to someone else.” Create a win-win situation when you offer your boss a mutually
beneficial deal.

7. How can I make my boss look good?
One of the best ways to improve your relationship with your boss is to find ways to make your boss look good in the eyes of his or her boss and customers. If you can do this, your boss will be much more likely to listen to you and grant your requests.

For example, if your boss rarely lets others in the company know about the great things your team is doing, tell him or her that you believe that is important. Show that you’re willing to take on some PR for the boss and the team by offering to talk to other teams for five minutes at their staff meetings or to put a little blurb in the company newsletter about some of the great things that your team is doing.

8. How can I offer my boss feedback?
As people move up in an organization, the amount of feedback they receive lessens. In fact, upper managers and CEOs often feel as if they work in a void because they rarely receive clear, honest assessments of their actions.

Notice when your boss’s work is particularly strong or beneficial to the organization and give positive feedback and encouragement to continue. Be prepared to offer constructive criticism if asked, but remain aware that sometimes bosses need a simple, sincere statement of praise for a job well done, just like you do.

9. What’s the best way I can influence my boss?
Most communication problems with a tough boss result from not understanding. Influencing your boss requires a good pair of ears and some patience, so really listen to your boss’s expectations and challenges. On a regular basis, ask your boss what he or she expects from you, then summarize back what you’ve heard.

You may feel silly at first, but you will experience far fewer misunderstandings and missed connections. Your boss will know that you have correctly heard what;s been said.

Don’t stop with your boss
Everybody loves to work with somebody who listens, who cares, and who understands. Its an essential part of being a great influencer. Listening in a purposeful, skilled way will give you the opportunity to really know what your boss is about.

Though these tips are specifically for tough bosses, you can easily use them in all of your relationships, including those with your colleagues, customers, spouses, kids, parents, and friends. When you practice your influence skills and experience the positive changes, you’ll want to use your influence to turn all of your relationships from tough to terrific!

Alan Vengel is a consultant in management training and organizational development and
author of The Influence Edge - How to Persuade Others to Help You Achieve Your Goals. He offers
cutting edge training and skill building workshops on influence and negotiation.
http://www.vengelconsulting.com.

What is it ‘exactly’ that motivates people? Money? Prestige? A key to the executive wash room?

Frankly, I doubt weather any of them individually work very well or for very long. Yes we all need money. We have to feed and house ourselves and our families and most people want to enjoy a lifestyle that allows some luxury, but beyond the basic needs of survival, it’s the desire for money that is the motivator, not the cash itself.

And why do we desire money?

In the short term, if we’ve never had much money before, it may initially be for material possessions that we think show status and success, but in the longer term it’s probably not so that we can fuel our consumer society.

It’s much more likely that we crave the recognition of a job well done, that an unexpected rise in salary implies.

We all want to be appreciated, to know that we are contributing and that we are considered to be an important member of the team. Yes, a hike in salary says that - but it’s the thought that counts.

What for example, is likely to be the greater motivator, a 20 per cent increase that the employee had the wait for, fight for and threaten to leave for, or 5 per cent increase given freely when it wasn’t expected?

What’s more romantic - a big bunch of expensive roses on your wife’s birthday (just like you get her every year) or a bunch of classic daises collected from the garden for no reason at all? What’s more, small increases can be given often, multiplying the motivational effect. But there’s more to life than money.

The biggest motivator of all time must be recognition and appreciation and the simple words ‘thank you’ that many employers forget.

Yes, good business is fair trade, the employer employs, the workers work, at the end of the week it’s all square. But just saying “Thank you, I really appreciate all you have done this week, well done!” is more powerful than a few extra pounds bonus. Both would be better of course!

There are lots more things that employers can do to attract, motivate and retain the very best people. Here is a short list:

1.) Be flexible, Allow people the time they need to live their lives. If they need to leave a few minutes early, why not. The time will come, when the big order comes in, that the time can be repaid.

2.) Remember a birthday.

3.) Buy something thoughtful for Christmas.

4.) Give a small gift for no particular reason.

5.) Write a personal letter to your team.

6.) Include employees in major decisions, get their input and ideas.

7.) Reward people with responsibility.

8.) Delegate some good/exciting tasks, not the ones you don’t want.

9.) Take staff to visit clients.

10.) Take people out for lunch occasionally.

11.) Include some overseas travel if possible.

12.) Map a career path and show how you are working to help them achieve it.

13.) Allow their job to evolve to match their talents and interests.

The list could go on for pages. The important message for employers is that staff motivation doesn’t have to be expensive, but the cost of replacing good people is!

If you treat people well and show them that they are valued, money is of a lesser importance. If you don’t, high wages is the only tool you’ll have left.

Remember too, something small given freely and unexpectedly is more powerful than something large given under pressure. It’s best to get in early with the daises rather than at the last minute clutching the roses.

For more information on working in London or to find financial jobs in London in some of the City’s most prestigious companies including investment banking jobs visit Financialjobsinlondon.com.

The health care careers industry is ideal place to look when considering a change in your job. There are positions available form entry level to specialized careers with further education and training. A commitment and dedication is all it takes to have success in health care careers. Becoming a medical assistant is a position within almost anyones grasp.

Why Become A Medical Assistant

For every area of the health care industry support staff is a integral part of the overall success of the field. Medical assistants are the backbone of support for doctors offices, hospitals and clinics. Entry in to the medical assistant field is relatively simple comparatively specking. Once established as a medical assistant the opportunity for advancement is significant.

What Are Medical Assistant Responsibilities?

The job description for medical assistants is extensive. Medical assistants will be asked to perform a number of tasks including administrative duties, taking patient histories, and preparing examination rooms. Medical assistants are the quintessential support staff, for doctors. Their support is imperative to make a medical office run smoothly.

Who Should Consider Becoming A Medical Assistant

At the heart of anyone who wants to become a medical assistant should be a desire to serve. Good interpersonal skills are a must. Medical assistants will be in direct contact with people throughout their day. The medical assistant candidate should be a person who is detail oriented. Above all else a medical assistant should be flexible, as tasks and responsibilities will change minute to minute.

What Kind Of Training Is Necessary to Become A Medical Assistant?

While formal training is not required most employers desire someone who has at least some training or practical experience in a health care facility. You will enhance your chances for employment significantly with training and education. Many community colleges offer certificate programs to prepare student for becoming a medical assistant and offer job placement assistance. Programs are usually one or two years. Once your training is completed expect to medical assistant earn continuing education credits as require by employers.

Opportunity For Advancement

Many a heath care worker starts a career becoming a medical assistant. Moving on to becoming a nurse or specialized technician is a smooth and natural transition. Many facilities will pay for your education should you decide to pursuer other opportunities.

Consider becoming a medical assistant a entry level position. It is quite possible after working as medical assistant you find you have found your niche. If not you will be exposed to many areas and careers you may choose.

D.J. Raymond is an accomplished writer and writes about health care careers. To learn more about more about Become a Medical Assistant and more visit Health Care Careers for more articles and information

You may be sitting at home thinking about your job and realizing that you just do not like what you’re doing. Well the interesting thing is that surveys show most Americans are not at all satisfied with their work. Actually, it is extremely rare that someone who has a regular 9-5 job would actually enjoy it. I know this sounds depressing but what you should realize that your feelings towards your job are not unique.

Most people who do re choose a career find themselves happy with their new selection. Again, more good news. This means that when you’re contemplating what career you should change to you should always revert back to the career choices you thought about as a child. No, rock star and astronaut are probably not applicable but most people will find a passion for a career like a police officer or a firefighter. These kinds of careers offer people more than just monetary benefit. You see, the thing most people find disappointing about their jobs is not the money. In fact most people think that the money they are getting is fair for the amount of work they are putting in.

Instead, most people point out that they just don’t have any passion for the work they are doing. I know I used to fit into this category and I’m sure more than a few people have ended up in jobs that they hope to never again do. Again, this is good news if you fit into this category. What this means is that many other people in your exact same situation who switch jobs and become more happy in their new career.

Therefore, if you are unhappy the first thing you need to do is admit it to yourself. The next step is to decide where you might be happier and make a list of what you might instead want to do. Don’t worry about practicality or money, all of this will come later. Once you’ve made this initial list, then all you need to do is start working out the potential perks and cons.

The way to do this is start incorporating those nitty parts of life we ignored previously–what kind of requirements might you need to become a police officer? What about becoming a police sheriff? Each job has a different set of prerequisites and each job has a different pro con list. I would suggest you thoroughly look over every set of options before deciding what your new career will be.

Eric Johnson shows about getting new career options including how to become a sheriff so they can start other endeavors.

To succeed in a job interview you need to be ready, you need to be sharp, and you need to be on time! It can be a stressful business, and going to an unsuccessful job interview can be soul destroying.

Even if your interview goes well, don’t get too excited; propel that energy into preparing for your next even better interview! Here are a few more pieces of advise to help you prepare for your interview.

Can you succinctly explain what you have to offer?
It is useful for employers if you can give a concise summary about yourself, your skills, expertise and industry knowledge. If you precisely summarise the reasons why you are the perfect for the job, you are more likely to attain it, or at least make it back for second and third interviews.

Can you list your top five accomplishments?
A list of your top accomplishments, particularly in relation to their impact on the employers initiatives, can help employers to predict your impact on the organisation. Accomplishments can be anything from personal, to educational and vocational. It gives employers a chance to associate your skills with some genuine attainment, and a reason to remember you.

Are You Prepared To Answer The Toughest Questions?
There’s no point just hoping that tough questions won’t come up in your interview, you need to be prepared for them. If there are gaps on your CV then be ready to be asked about them. If you have been fired or made redundant in the past, be prepared to answer questions about it. If you currently have a job you will be asked why you want to leave. Interviewers will be able to see you squirming and will lose confidence in you as a result. Be ready for the worst possible scenario.

Do you know how to find out your interviewer’s motivations to understand how best to answer their questions?
Without knowing why your interviewer is asking the questions he or she is, how will you know if your answers fulfil their criteria for a perfect candidate? Research by reading similar job descriptions or talking to an expert about what is needed to do the job, then you will have a much better idea of how to target your answers accordingly.

Relax and be personable in your interview. Use open body language (but not too relaxed!) and make eye contact with your interviewer. Make sure you communicate all your relevant skills and experience and be truthful about yourself as a person.

Check4Jobs are a quick and easy to use job search engine and CV Database.

www.Check4Jobs.com

Not so long ago I realized that I had let my years in high school slip by and I was very unsatisfied with just being a burger flipping minimum wage earning citizen. Instead I started working towards the profession I wanted. I soon found that my local police sheriff was up for reelection and I soon realized that becoming a sheriff was a profession I was into.

I did some background research and soon found that this profession is most definitely not as hard as I had initially thought. Actually, it was harder than I thought but I then realized that it could be done moderately easily if a person started doing it in steps.

You see, the first thing I had to do was become a police officer. Now obviously this is harder than it sounds, becoming a member of the police force is hard enough in itself without any other aspirations. However, if you break the task down into the steps you’ll soon find it’s only hard on paper. So the first step to it is going to college and becoming an officer of the law.

To do this it should be noted that you will of course need a squeaky clean record (they do not accept cops with prior convictions and in fact look down on people who have arrests or even holding periods on their record). So if this is the case than you should most definitely check with your police department (think New York Police Department or Los Angeles Police Department) and find out if your record is as clean as you hope it is. Also find out if any spots you have can be resolved and if anything you have on your record is admissible by police officer standards.

Additionally, keep going and finding out what else needs to be done. Sheriff is not like CEO or head police chief. No, becoming a police sheriff means becoming elected. That means that in order to become a sheriff you need to run a political campaign and try to figure out how to win your particular county over. Now the problem with this is that some of us, no matter how good we may be at a job or how devoted we may be, might be really awful politicians.

In this case, you are probably better off hoping to go for some high level of police duty and trying your best to achieve this first. Another con is that there is only one sheriff per county. So your reigning sheriff might be around for quite some time and may be quite reluctant to give up his or her position.

Eric has been working to build a blog around showing people how to become a sheriff and other related careers. You can read more about his work and about his journey where he is on his way to becoming a sheriff.

Coding is as much an art as it is a science. For example, if the surgeon removes an appendix at the same time he does the operating the way the coder sends the information to the billing department can make a difference of thousands of dollars. This is why coders have gained so much more recognition in the past few years.

The medical and healthcare industry continues to grow at a rapid rate. With this growth come the jobs. However, Medicare and third party insurance companies have put in place strict compensation guidelines that health care professionals must follow in order to get paid.

Job description

Medical coders analyze the health care providers documentation so they can record information for the health care reimbursement process, and assist in medical research and statistics. Although many doctors would rather collect payment immediately after the office visit or hospital stays, it is just not possible today. Majority of people now have health insurance. To get reimbursed, fees for medical services need to be handled by filling a claim with the patients health insurance providers, government entities, or managed care organization.

The medical coder does not make up codes or code from memory. Each type of encounter, services, supplies and procedures, tests and treatments provided to a patient have a code which consists of a set of numbers and combinations of sets of numbers. Even simple complaints such as a bruised elbow have a specific code. The coder selects appropriate codes from different existing coding systems for different purposes.

Filling a claim for reimbursement involves examining patients records; identify diagnoses then selecting the appropriate codes for the services preformed. It is the responsibility of the medical coder to correctly code data from the medical record into alphanumeric codes.

In order to find the codes, the medical coder uses standard industry code books: ICD for diagnoses, CPT for procedures and HCPCS for Medicare claims. Medical coders also have to enter these codes into databases and submit associated claims electronically for each encounter efficiently.

Medical research constantly leads to new discoveries. Medical coders must be up to date with new approaches and techniques and understand them when filling a claim. In order to stay current, medical coders are expected to takes classes throughout their career.
Requirements

There are over 10,000 codes that a coder has to choose from. Coding is anything but simple. Therefore employers prefer to have trained, certified employees. A medical coder should be proficient with different types of regulations, insurance plans and codes. Those looking to become medical coders should have high school courses in algebra, biology, computer skills, English, typing, office procedures, data processing, and health occupations/medical professions education. An associates degree is highly recommended and is generally two years in lengths.

Medical cod