Cheat Sheet to Your Best Interview Answers

Cheat Sheet to Your Best Interview Answers When preparing for your next job interview, youll want to have answers to these common job interview questions. These answers are just a guideline to follow. The most important thing to do is to be honest and be yourself when answering these job interview questions. 1. Tell me about yourself. Perhaps this the most common and famous interview question of all interview question. Tell me about yourself is the gateway to just about anything to wish to say which is why it can be tricky. When asked the question, the interviewer doesnt want to know where you were born or what color your hair it. This question prompts an answer that gives the interviewer a general answer of why you would be good for this job. Your answer may reveal some of your greatest achievements or how your past experience might relate to the job you are applying for. 2. Why would I hire you? For this answer you need to realize that the better answer you give, the easier it is for the employer. Its up to you so give the employer a reason to hire you. This is a great time to tell the interviewer about any past work experience you have. You might say, When I was working at XXX, I did XXX. I feel that experience will allow me to excel at this position I am applying for. Even better, think of a specific example or story to tell about a situation you have been in before and how that could be useful to the company. 3. What are you strengths Figure out 2-3 things about yourself that you really like about yourself and elaborate. Always give an example after you say your strength. For example, you may say you are dedicated. Then you should follow up with an instance when at your last you job, you had an important project due and you worked extra hours to make sure it got done. 4. What are your weaknesses? When answering the classic weakness question, you always want to give an answer that isnt really a weakness. You may say, I dont speak a second language, or when I start a project, I cant focus on anything else until I get it done. This shows that you are dedicated and hard working. You never want to truly bash yourself when answering this question. That isnt the point. The following examples here are easy to discuss and can lead to talking about future growth and learning. 5. What is the most important thing to you in a job? If there is something really important for you to have in a job, be honest and say it. Remember, a job interview is a tool to reveal the best fit for the company. If something is really important to you that the company doesnt offer, it is best to reveal it now. 6. What are you career goals? Employers want to know this to see what positions you might grow into later on if you were to be hired. They also want to know this to see how long you might stay with the company if hired. The company may be looking for a candidate they can groom into their next Senior VP. However, you are only looking for a job to cover you for the next couple of years, it might not be the best match. 7. Do you have any questions for me? Do your research ahead of time and if you truly have a question, ask it. When you ask legitimate, relevant questions, you show the interviewer you put in time to research beforehand. However, dont ever ask questions, just to ask questions or to look good. The interviewer will sense your lack of authenticity right away and that may hurt your chances. Make the time to think of an intelligent question about the job before hand. You may ask, What is a typical day like for this position? You can also ask, What opportunity for advancement does this position have? 8. Why did you leave your last job? Whatever the reason was, tell the story of why is was mutually beneficial for you to leave the company. Never blurt out, I got fired, and end it at that. It makes you look bad and can even make the interviewer feel uncomfortable. Prepare an honest story with a logical reason that doesnt reveal too much personal information or company gossip. If you did get fired, you can use this as an opportunity to discuss what you lessons you learned and what you would now do differently. Related: How To Prepare for Your Job Interview [8 Smart Ways]. Image: Shutterstock

Build Influence for Your Brand with Klout Lists - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career

Build Influence for Your Brand with Klout Lists - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career Measuring social media influence for your brand is a mark of expertise. While many tools measure authority, it is Klout that seems to stand out from the rest in terms of being the standard. One of the great features offered are Klout Lists, which can help you connect with other influencers in your niche, and gain more insight. In order to get started with Klout Lists, all you need to do is go to your Klout profile and select Create New List from the drop down menu of the right hand column. Recent moments is the default selection, which can be changed to any of your created lists. These influencers will be prominently displayed here, and you can create several lists based on categories. Naming your list can be creative, yet focused on the categories. For example, I chose to create a Marketing Mavens list. You have the option of making each list public or private as well. Choose a nice, and easy to understand description, then add Klout members from the search box provided. Not sure who to add to your new Klout list? Take a look at influencers in your brand’s Twitter and Facebook accounts, then search for them in Klout. Only those who are connected to Twitter and/or have a Klout account can be added. There are several advantages of creating Klout user lists for your brand, including industry comparison and analyzing Klout scores of those in your social networks. Once you have created a list, tweet it to your connections for more engagement. Your brand will not only be able to hone in more on high influencers in your niche, but will also be able to reach out and connect to new ones as you discover which connections have the most ‘clout.’ Learn how to improve your social media efforts by what your influencers are doing, and always be open to change in strategy through this process.

Is Your Office Killing You

Is Your Office Killing You The typical office worker spends 5 hours and 41 minutes at their desk.  Thats part of the 47 hours per week the average full-time adult employee is at work, according to CNN Money.  When youre doing anything that much, the chances are that some part of it is affecting your health in a negative way. Since youre the one who pays the highest price for whats happening to your body, it makes sense to be aware of them and take corrective action where and when possible.  From those office chairs you sit in nearly six hours a day to the bad boss whos beating you up emotionally, heres a look at the common work-related ways your office is killing you. All About Sitting All that time at your desk adds up.  Over the course of a year, its over 1,300 hours for the average adult who works full time.  Heres how all that sitting can affect you, and how to counteract it. Excessive time spent sitting has been proven in many studies to contribute to higher risk of heart disease and diabetes. If you must stay at your desk for long periods of time, you should shift positions every ten minutes, and get up and move about twice each hour. The challenge is that youre normally so engaged in your work you easily forget how quickly the time passes.  Solution: put a silent timer on your desk to remind you. Furniture that leads to poor posture can lead to back problems, carpal tunnel, bursitis, and arthritis, to name a few.  While currently available chairs, desks, and computer-related devices can be a great help, most offices dont keep up with the technology of much beyond the electronics.  Solution:  Pay attention to your posture and get in the habit of maintaining health-supporting posture.  Then, do some homework and find items that are easier on your body. Health.com is a great place to start. Indoor Smog? Modern offices are notorious for being well-sealed from the elements outside.  While thats great for regulating temperature, it also results in stale air thats been recirculated many times.  But how bad can that be?  Air pollution is the cause of between 5 and 7 million premature deaths.  And a whopping 4 million of those is from indoor air pollution! While its unlikely youre going to get the owner of the building to improve the HVAC systems, there are things you can do to counteract the negative effects.  That fifteen minute break you get every two hours?  Talk to your boss about breaking it into 7 to 8 minute breaks per hour and get outside, if possible.  Or, when the fifteen minute break comes up, head for the doors for a bit longer walk.  That addresses not just the air quality (hopefully its better outside!), but also the desk-sitting hazards mentioned above. And of course, if your office doesnt have a no-smoking policy, push to get one in place.  Second-hand smoke is a huge part of that poor quality indoor air thats killing you, and protecting your health should be as important to your boss as it is to you. Eating (and Snacking) Habits Just the fact that youre stuck at a desk for long hours means that food is going to be a part of that time.  While its possible to make eating at work an opportunity to treat our bodies well, few of us do. Grazing.  Call it snacking, munching, or grazing, its still the same thing.  Youre regularly putting food into your mouth and often not even consciously doing so.  Thats going to add to the days calories, even if its healthy foods like fruits, nuts, or veggies.  Even worse if youre indulging in sweet or salty processed snacks.  If you simply must have something at your desk, dont make it a whole package of anything.  Make a small portion   thats not a baggie stuffed full that would be a reasonable single serving.  Then eat consciously and make it last the day. Eating Out.  Everyone knows that virtually every food establishment out there tends to serve portions that are too large, and contain a crazy amount of calories.  For example, the ever popular Big Mac meal comes in around 1500 calories, with a huge dose of fat and sodium.  Dine-in restaurants arent much better.  If you find yourself too hurried in the morning to pack a truly nutritious lunch, do it the night before.  Better yet, spend an hour once a week and prepare items for the whole week. Not Eating at All.  Okay, you claim youre just too busy for lunch today.  I get it.  We all have those days.  If you had that nutritious lunch youd prepared at home, you could more easily eat it while you work (though eating at your desk should be limited).  But in general not eating is a poor solution to time management challenges.   Skipping lunch reduces productivity and energy levels, including your ability to think clearly.  Feed your body, and you feed your mind. That Bad Boss The notion of a toxic work environment  or only a bad boss isnt just an urban myth.  If youve worked with either, or are now, you know the reality of it.  It affects your stress levels, your job performance, and ultimately your career.  You deserve to have a boss who exhibits good leadership and personal skills. Speak Up.  Speak up and let your boss know how you feel. Ask them to listen to you and your ideas. Remind them that you are here to help the company and want to contribute to the overall goals of the team and business. If you don’t speak up, he or she may have no idea you’ve been feeling neglected and irritated at the situation.  Have a conversation  and see if you two are willing to get on the same page. If you must, talk with a boss higher up or human resources to get your voice heard. Know Your Rights.  You have rights as an employee, and it’s important you stand up for those privileges. For example, if you’re in construction, there are safety measures your boss must take to protect you. New York construction stairway accidents occur far too often. Bosses need to start being held accountable for the safety of their employees, and this also goes for how you’re treated in the workplace. Demand respect and hopefully it’ll be reciprocated. If it’s not, then you may need to report it. Don’t Panic.  Don’t panic and get all flustered. Do what you can and then start brainstorming other options. Remain calm so you can do your work and not let your boss get under your skin. Talk to a co-worker and see if they feel the same way. Brainstorm ideas for trying to make it a better work environment while you’re there. Start Looking for A New Job.  If nothing else, start searching for a new job. Sometimes bad bosses can’t be fixed. You may do everything in your power and yet he or she still acts like a child. If you can’t work with your boss, then it’s probably time to  start looking for new positions  within the company or outside at a new firm. Start the search early enough where your relationship with your boss doesn’t get too bad before you leave. . Main image credit.

20+ Best Business Development Interview Questions Answers - Algrim.co

20+ Best Business Development Interview Questions Answers - Algrim.co The business development role is increasing in demand. Below are my set of business development interview questions and answers. If you are trying to secure a position with this role, I have to tell you, there’s a great chance you’ll earn a wonderful income as well as continue to develop a career path that you’ll be highly rewarded in. The below business development interview questions and answers are here to help you in your next job interview. There’s a variety of questions that you can use to practice with a friend or family member in your delivery of the questions that might be asked of you during a job interview session. Most likely these sessions will happen in person, with someone part of the executive team. Given the fact that all business development roles are a leadership integrated position, you’ll have more interface with executive teams than you might think. The person you might be interviewing with is going to have a really strong knowledge of the company vision, this is someone who knows the future paths of a company by about 12-24 months down the line or sometimes even further. When companies start hiring business development professionals, they are starting to think about large scale deployment of their solutions. This is usually when the company has achieved a certain level of success already. If you have to think about it in terms of revenues, I would say most times you won’t see a company with less than $10M a year in net revenue hiring a business development professional. And if they are, it might mean that they have raised a significant amount of private equity and are planning on getting their solution into the market via direct channels. You being one of those direct channels. Your strong communication skills in this role is vital. You will be a voice of the company, communicating with external executives who have strong clo ut. If you are unable to show that you can represent the company in way that they appreciate, your chances of securing this job will suffer. Preparing for this interview means having a type of portfolio of your work in the past. While your portfolio of work most likely won’t be a creative one, it would be advised that you come to the table with some type of metrics and delivery of what you helped achieve. This may include what end solution you made, meaning a real product or an example of the service you executed. But ultimately, your metrics of time it took to procure a relationship and the amount of revenue you achieved from such a relationship will be really strong. Other metrics might include how much time you were able to save your team or something similar. Some type of internal number that showed you were able to represent the market opportunities in ways that not only helped the bottom line but helped the team compete in the market space they’re in, more efficiently. I would also recommend that you send a healthy amount of time learning about the space and the company you are applying for. Coming to the table without a strong foundation for your own personal guesses as to where the company may be heading will put you at risk of not being able to answer some of the curveball type questions that are asked. And I wouldn’t think of them as curve balls but as questions that sometimes come up in conversation, and are simply part of the natural flow to any sort of human to human interaction. You can learn a lot about a company by looking up their CrunchBase profile, understanding who their investors are as well as learning about what news events have happened recently, not only about their company in particular but the space they are apart of as well. This will just make you seem more informed to the person you are communicating with and help you achieve some common ground with that person to be able to build on. Before we begin I often times like to show people how others describe the role they are applying for. I think it can be helpful to see how others speak to the role in particular, which should be something you use and recycle in your own language for the position. Here's a video I found which I think is really insightful. In this video CEO Jason Nazar is going to go over the 10 keys to successful business development. Its great that this is coming from a CEO as well, because this is just the type of leader that you might have to report to. Why is business development in more demand? The business development role is becoming more in demand because of the rise of technology companies. Technology companies generally have a larger amount of product and software development talent than they do sales and business development talent. This is a balancing act that is always trying to be achieved by the leadership team. Business development professionals help secure larger sales opportunities as well as funnel those sales opportunities and their needs back to the software engineering department. Thus it helps achieve a better overall product and service while also scaling the sales and revenue of the overall company exponentially. This is what makes the role in large demand. Though, I would say, many call themselves business development professionals but have a difficult time achieving the KPI’s of the role, since it is largely driven by bigger sales/partnership opportunities than the traditional sales role. Business Development Interview Questions Table of Contents 1. What is business development? 2. What’s the difference between business development and sales? 3. What do you do when a client asks for a specific feature that you don’t have? 4. How do you transform your learnings into product? 5. What types of KPI’s do you follow as a business development professional? 6. How can business development professionals help guide the overall business? 7. Who are some of the departments you should be speaking to often as a business development professional? 8. How would you work with product managers? 9. Would you say partnerships are a big part of business development? 10. Is the business development role needed in more than just technology companies? 11. How do you measure your success? 12. What are some ways you manage clients expectations? 13. What are some ways business development can fail? 14. Can partnerships intersect with the business in a negative way? 15. How do you work with other business development colleagues? 16. How long does it generally take for business development roles to start reporting success? 17. How do you report to your team your ongoing discussions and work in progress? 18. How do you develop relationships in this role? 19. How do you interface with your relationships to let them know what opportunities exist? 20. What do you want to see from your other business development colleagues? 21. Do you have any questions about our expectations of the business development role here? Business Development Interview Questions & Answers 1. What is business development? Business Development is a fairly new type of role that was created to help intersect the need of the business to move forward with the sales in an evolutionary manner. Business Development not only helps move sales forward but it helps move the overall product and service forward as well. Business Development secures partnerships and opportunities in the market which is addressed by the existing offerings as well the future vision of those offerings. 2. What’s the difference between business development and sales? Sales is generally defined as a role where the professional helps move the overall revenue of the business forward by a repetitive process or a secured type of offering made by the business. This means there’s generally a particular playbook which the professional can follow in order to deliver something in the market that has been secured. In contrast, on the business development front, this role helps vet new future opportunities in the market which generally can be much bigger in terms of revenue potential. The business development role helps vet these opportunities by securing relationships and vetting their needs even if those needs aren’t immediately addressed by what already exists. 3. What do you do when a client asks for a specific feature that you don’t have? When a client asks for a particular feature, this is an opportunity to integrate the product development team. Sometimes, a feature may address a small need of the client, which is sometimes good and bad. If the small need is something very specific to that client, then it might not be advantageous to build out that feature unless there’s an agreed-upon revenue figure that makes sense for the business. In particular, you’ll want to ensure that the feature is something that more than just that one client may want to see. That way the entire product and service offering can move in an evolutionary manner. Related: Business Development Job Description: Salary, Duties, Skills 4. How do you transform your learnings into product? There’s a variety of ways to take what I learn and transform it into potential product development. The best way I can help the product development team is to essentially build a matrix of the questions and/or desires of our future clients or customers. In that matrix, we can start to understand who needs what and what the monetary value of that solution might be. If I deliver every single piece of information I get from the client, we’d end up with a product that doesn’t meet the needs of multiple companies in the market. 5. What types of KPI’s do you follow as a business development professional? The types of KPI’s business development professionals should be following include the number of partnerships we’ve achieved in the annual year, the amount of product insight we’ve been able to garnish and the overall revenue figures we’ve been able to drive forward because of those things. 6. How can business development professionals help guide the overall business? Because the role has close contact with the customers who can provide the future needs of the market, this role can help provide a high degree of market insight to the executive team who is helping to drive all department visions forward. This is a level of insight that you can only get by having deep conversations with the market. 7. Who are some of the departments you should be speaking to often as a business development professional? As a business development professional you should be speaking to a number of departments often. That includes your executive team, the sales team, the product owners and product managers. These are generally the people you will speaking with often to find intersections of your opportunities and opportunities that the business can start building towards. 8. How would you work with product managers? There’s a couple of different ways you’ll end up working with product managers. One way may be to help product managers get more traction on what they’ve already built. For instance, they may have built something they feel the market will respond to really well and you’ll be helping them to get it out there. The other way may be to vet future potential product opportunities and feed that information back to the product managers. 9. Would you say partnerships are a big part of business development? Partnerships are a huge part of this role. The development of partnerships often happens because what the client and the business development professional agree upon is something that’s not yet been created or developed by the product development team. So in those instances, a partnership is made to essentially fund the development of the solution that’s not yet in the market. Partnerships should be the main way business development professionals lock in revenue. 10. Is the business development role needed in more than just technology companies? Business Development roles are becoming high demand in more than just technology companies, yes. While its more often seen in technology companies because of the gap that exists inside their organizations, it is helping other industries realize that they may also have a gap. You’ll see this in manufacturing for instance, since their customers are often in need of new types of products that help them achieve their goals. 11. How do you measure your success? Measuring success in this role should be by the happiness of the partnerships that are being developed, the smoothness of the product development life cycles being in progress (meaning that you are helping the product development team offer better solutions) and the overall revenue of the company and/or its departments increase or increase in demand. 12. What are some ways you manage clients expectations? Managing expectations is a really important part of this role. Because of the fact that the client and the business development professionals are talking about future visions of service or offering, that means that there’s not something immediately available to buy. You have to manage the expectations of that client with regard to timing in particular. Because if they are looking for something that helps their teams move forward, then they have to manage that teams expectations, too. It can be quite complicated to get these many people on the same page. The best thing you can do is to embrace transparency and try to push forward on frequent updates as well as conversations with the client that help them inform their teams. 13. What are some ways business development can fail? There are so many ways that this role can fail. That’s why it can be quite intensive to be involved in this role. You are taking a fairly high responsibility position within the organization. You can fail in a variety of ways, first of which is to fail your client or partnership expectations. The other way is to fail your teams by not providing them with enough insight or deliverables in the market. You can also fail by taking too long to try and get solution in-market. These opportunities can take a long time to procure. So if you are not letting your managers and leaders know about the time it's going to take you, then you are essentially setting yourself and your team up for potential failure. 14. Can partnerships intersect with the business in a negative way? Absolutely. There’s definitely a risk that a partnership can carry the vision of the company a little too far. The risk is that one client might have heavier demands than the others and that can indirectly steer the direction of the company away from the core vision that the executives might have. This is why the role is really important to have clear lines of communication and a strict path of which the partnership should exist within. I don’t think there are many other ways that partnerships can interact with the business in a negative way. I would say the client being too demanding is the largest one. If we don’t meet those demands they may pull out of their monetary arrangement with us as well, which is a tough balancing act. 15. How do you work with other business development colleagues? Having a team of business development professionals can make for a really strong company foundation. Just having one professional might not allow for the type of blossoming outlook that an executive might expect in the next 12 to 24 months. Interacting with other colleagues in this role is pretty easy but also important to constantly to be collaborating. In particular, there’s one way this role needs to communicate with other colleagues, about which partnerships and relationships they are attempting to develop. If there’s potential overlap either within a category or even with the same type of business, then the whole role and department of business development lose its potential. This communication can be had pretty simply, with bi-weekly meetings or even just weekly emails back and forth. 16. How long does it generally take for business development roles to start reporting success? Because of the types of relationships that are being developed, a business development professional has a much longer sales cycle than a sales professional. For instance, a sales professional might be able to start closing sales within 3-6 months of getting into the market. A business development professional might take a lot longer than that. Because of the people they are speaking to in particular. It might be other members of an executive team at another company. These professionals are often more calculated in their decisions and thus it might take longer for them to commit to something. 12-24 months is often times the right type of cycle time it would take for this role to be reporting on success. 17. How do you report to your team your ongoing discussions and work in progress? Reporting is a big part of this role. Because you will be judged on the work you are doing, and that work has a really long cycle to it, you’ll be at the helm of your peers judging you. And if you don’t have frequent communication with them about what you are doing and why it's going to seem as though you aren’t making progress. There are all sorts of ways to report on progress, one of which is to show who are you developing relationships with and what companies they are apart of. The other is to show the types of conversations you are having with those relationships, that could be in the form of outreach or maybe something else. Every single business development professional needs to find their own way of reporting success. But the general need is the same, its vital to the rest of your team that you are being fully transparent with them about your progress and what might happen and when. 18. How do you develop relationships in this role? Developing relationships in this role is definitely one of the most difficult parts to the job. You really don't want to be speaking to just anyone, you need to be speaking to leaders of the organization that you are trying to help move forward. So, because of this, you should be relying pretty heavily on your personal network to get warm introductions with. Attending conferences can also help with this but it's not really the only channel. You just need to be in places where your target market is going to be and find ways to get a few minutes of their time to let them hear you out. Ideally, this isn't a hard sales pitch, it's just you telling that person that there's a really interesting opportunity available and that you should have more conversations down the line. You need to be looking at this as a multi-channel type of approach, developing core relationships any way you can. But the hard term here is relationships, not just sales opportunities. 19. How do you interface with your relationships to let them know what opportunities exist? Developing relationships isn’t the easiest. It would be considered the fostering part of the partnership opportunity. But once you do have a few relationships that have been fostered it's really important to start putting on your creative thinking cap. Remembering the vision of the company that’s being set by the executive team is really important. Then, you might have to really dig your heels into the company you are talking to and learn what their potential needs might be. Once you have this axis, putting together a pitch deck or presentation on what you feel the company can do to help them achieve their goals will be on your plate. This is why this role is very unique because it helps to carry a creative vision forward as well as a monetary one. 20. What do you want to see from your other business development colleagues? Ideally, you want to see a type of unified front for which the team is thinking about opportunities in the market. For example, one of the members of the team might be thinking about a particular industry or category for which we feel there are significant levels of opportunity. You want to see one of the colleagues controlling that category and reporting on the in-market movements they are making. You, then, as another member of the team can move forward on the category you are trying to control. Other ways this moves forward is by geography or maybe by something else, like companies who are already customers of ours that meet certain criteria. Its vital that each member is moving forward, reporting on their movement forward and that they aren’t deviating from the long-term plan. Any short-term thinking or deviation of the plans can impact the team pretty heavily and offset the goals of the business development department which is considered a type of ‘debt’. 21. Do you have any questions about our expectations of the business development role here? This is an opportunity for you to ask questions related to the expectation management of the role. For example, you really don’t want to get involved in a company that has near-term expectations for this role because it's not realistic for you. If they say something like, we’d like to see 5 partnerships in the next 3 months, unless they’re a company like Amazon or Google, it's going to be really hard. And that might set yourself up for a lot of potential failures. Be sure you are asking questions that help you understand if the company you are interviewing with really understands what this role is about and why it exists. There’s a lot of ways to do this but ultimately you will need to practice asking these questions in your own way as well as coming up with something on the spot depending on where the conversation is being steered. Be sure you are doing your homework about the company you are applying to and be sure you understand the stage of a company that is as well, the younger the company is, the more difficult it will be to garnish new relationships. Mostly because those executives won’t have a brand awareness to the company you are working for and you’ll have to essentially build that up for them. Conclusion & Prepping For Business Development Interviews This is a really sought after role. And honestly, there aren’t too many people out there who can fulfill it. If you are trying to secure this position, I would say you have a really great opportunity of developing a career which can be really fruitful. Your salary or compensation in this role is going to be much higher than that of a sales person and in terms of averages, will be higher than that of someone in the product development department as well. So your efforts in being well prepared is going to come in handy. Be sure that you are experienced enough to be applying for this position at the company level they are in. You really don’t want to ruin your chances of developing this career opportunity by simply not being experienced enough and convincing yourself that you are. Hopefully this article has helped you understand some of the needs of the role as well as some of the domain knowledge that you’ll need to have in order to be successful in it. If you have any questions please feel free to contact me and I would be happy to include other pieces of information on this article that might be helpful for other viewers. Related Hiring Resources Business Development Job Description Sample Business Development Cover Letter Sample

Heres the trick to starting your own society - Debut

Heres the trick to starting your own society - Debut This post was written by a member of the Debut Student Publisher Network. The truly career-ready dont follow trends, they make their own. Sonali Gidwani explains how you can do that by starting your own society. With everyone going to university and achieving 2.1s, it goes without saying that it’s important to differentiate yourself when applying for jobs and Masters degrees. Enter societies. The majority of people you know will be involved in a society in some way or another; be it as a performer on a dance team or on an “exec” (someone who is on the society’s executive team). Getting on execs and delivering results can add tremendous skills to your repertoire, and also looks fantastic on your CV. However, I am of the firm belief that you shouldn’t take up a leadership role if it’s for your CV alone. So, if there isn’t a cause that is to your liking, start your own. Yes, that’s right, not only does self-starting look great on your CV (honestly we’re more than pieces of paper but never mind), it’ll also show that you’re motivated enough to grow a society and enjoy yourself in the process. When you enjoy what you do, you’re more likely to gain from it, be it during your first job or at university. The University of Warwick has over 250 societies, the highest number of university societies in the UK and one of the highest numbers in the world. Even so, the SU is constantly dealing with applications from students to form new groups, which makes starting your own very competitive. To make things easier for you, I spoke to the co-founder and co-president of Warwick Travel Society, Simran Thakral. Why did you start Warwick Travel Society?   “I co-founded Travel Soc because I believed there was a genuine need for it at Warwick. personally, I was hugely disappointed there wasn’t one when I joined. This is because while other societies offer tours, it is mainly for the purpose of bonding over that particular society. Some of them are also heavily drinking-based, which isn’t for everyone. Our aim with Warwick Travel Society was to provide a solution, we connect people who love travelling and the aim of our tours is to explore culturally rich places.” What was the most difficult part about starting Warwick Travel? “The process is, unfortunately, quite bureaucratic. We had to collect at least 30 signatures from the student body, have at least 5 execs in place, and fill out a bunch of forms for the Students’ Union. The main thing they want to know if how our society will be different from other societies and what events would we be organizing. If they like you, they will call you for a 10-15 minutes meeting where you have to present your society. then they will either accept or decline your application.” What did you aim to accomplish this year? “We aimed to organise a tour for Easter, start a travel blog, and   have frequent socials. Which we did! We went on our first tour to Riga, Latvia, have started an excellent blog and society members have all bonded really well. My advice is, don’t be disheartened if you get rejected the first time round (like we did). if youre really passionate about it and can find equally passionate exec committee members and society members, you can still set up an unofficial society and reapply again, which is what we did. We only became an official society in our second term but still accomplished so much.” Images via Pramath Murphy Warwick Travel Society Warwick students can find the Warwick Travel Society on Facebook here Follow Sonali on Twitter @SonaliGGidwani Connect with Debut on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn for more careers insights.

Book review Birth of the Chaordic Age - The Chief Happiness Officer Blog

Book review Birth of the Chaordic Age - The Chief Happiness Officer Blog This is one of Dee Hocks favourite tricks to play on an audience. How many of you recognize this? he asks, holding out his own Visa card. Every hand in the room goes up. Now, Hock says, how many of you can tell me who owns it, where its headquartered, how its governed, or where to buy shares? Confused silence. No one has the slightest idea, because no one has ever thought about it. Dee Hock is the mastermind behind Visa and this book is part autobiography, part introduction to Dees thoughts on complexity theory and part social manifesto. His own personal story is interesting in itself. He worked his way up from a very poor background. His different jobs, his family life, his triumphs and failures make exciting stories, and the book shows how all this shaped his views on organizational theory. Views which are interesting today and were downright radical when he came up with them years ago. Dee had noticed, that the bureaucracy and tight control in many organizations did not produce good results. It certainly didnt produce a good working environment for the people in the organization. He tried time and again to improve the way things were done, succeeded every time, and was routinely slapped down for it. Yes, what youre doing has worked, results are good, people are happy. But youre not following The Rules. The ultimate vindication of his ideas came with the creation and enormous succes of VISA. The internal structure of VISA is based on Dees ideas on chaordic organizations and now links more than 20,000 financial institutions, 14 million merchants and 600 million consumers in 220 countries. Dee came up with the term chaordic after he was introduced to complexity theory. Chaordic systems live on the border of chaos and order, drawing on the best properties of both. Finally this book is a manifesto of a new way of organizing human endeavours. Dee writes in the book that: We are at that very point in time when a 400-year-old age is dying and another is struggling to be born a shifting of culture, science, society, and institutions enormously greater than the world has ever experienced. Ahead, the possibility of the regeneration of individuality, liberty, community, and ethics such as the world has never known, and a harmony with nature, with one another, and with the divine intelligence such as the world has never dreamed. When I read the book, I was inspired by both the man and the ideas. Dee Hock has held on to a desire to be true to his beliefs, and to do good. He has created tremendous results. And his ideas on chaordic organizations are extremely interesting. This is a great book from a great man. Read it! Read it! Read it! Read it! Read it! Read it! Thanks for visiting my blog. If you're new here, you should check out this list of my 10 most popular articles. And if you want more great tips and ideas you should check out our newsletter about happiness at work. It's great and it's free :-)Share this:LinkedInFacebookTwitterRedditPinterest Related

Writing About Research on Resume

Writing About Research on ResumeWriting about research on resume is a good thing to do in case you wish to impress your future employer. Writing about research on resume is a simple thing that you can do without even knowing that you're doing it. That's the main advantage of this writing technique.A vital part of resume writing is to tell what it is that you have done. And writing about research on resume can be easy if you are aware of some essential things that you need to keep in mind. Research on resume is just one of those essentials that you should keep in mind. When you are writing about research on resume, keep these basic points in mind so that your resume will be well received by the employer.You should be able to differentiate between research and opinion. If you say that you have conducted research for some other person, then make sure that you also mention that you conducted a study or experiment for him. Do not fall for the trap of giving a single thing that was done an d saying that it was researched.One obvious fact that should be mentioned here is that opinions are not really factual. On the other hand, facts are not opinions. Writing about research on resume can be easily done only if you will avoid giving one single opinion that is based on nothing.In order to avoid giving your opinion and telling a fact, it is important that you give the facts that you did based on your opinions. Give your conclusions, an analysis, a study that you have done and some other facts that are based on opinions. You will know when you are getting too close to giving an opinion based on facts.Before writing about research on resume, you should have an idea about the research that you have done. Then you can talk about how you would like your resume to be written as a whole. What you have said about the research should be in the resume, but do not forget to mention the date, title and location of the research that you have done.When you want to be successful with res earch on resume, then you should be able to explain what the subject matter of the research is. This will make the reader understand what is the purpose of your research and where it was carried out. If you cannot give any details about your research, then do not waste your time with research on resume. But if you can give some details, then you can write about your research on resume.The best way to write about research on resume is to give information about the subject in a clear manner. If you are unclear about what your resume is for, then it will be hard for the reader to find out what your research is about. So you should first ask yourself if the resume is for you or for someone else.