The Higher The Unemployment Rate The Less Relevancy Unions Are

The Higher The Unemployment!

   

It looks as if our economic recovery in 2012, if you can call it that, may not be sustainable. Even with this little uptick we are watching the unions grow in power and try to take advantage of the incremental increases in corporate profits. The corporations are building up their war chest so they can have the cash they need for expansion as the economy gets good and as the fog of uncertainty subsides. However, apparently it appears that the unions want that money for themselves. That shortsighted thinking could cost many of them their jobs.

Further, the unions must realize that if the unemployment rates get back up to 10% their relevancy will also dissipate. If unions make demands, corporations can merely close down, re-group, and hired cheaper labor elsewhere. Not to mention the fact that many corporations which have been in the manufacturing sector have purposely kept some factories open in the United States even though they are not as profitable due to union demands, lawsuits, rules and regulations, and US taxes. Do you doubt what I'm saying? You shouldn't, and it's not just China either.

Did you know Mexico is now the fourth largest automobile manufacturer? It's true. Six or seven years ago Mexico was only in sixth place for car exports. Today, they're right behind Japan, Germany, and South Korea. When unemployment is high, unions are less relevant because the workers under their ranks should be happy to have a job, and when they go on strike, they end up doing more damage for their members than if they didn't do anything.

Recently, US Airways had their flight attendants vote to go on strike during the Christmas holiday. Talk about socking it to a company when they really could use some quarterly profits to appease their shareholders after some rather dismal economic years in the airline industry. All those flight attendants are going to end up doing is sending more business to the competitors, and weakening the company. A weakened company cannot pay higher salaries, better benefits, or pay the cost to satisfy all the grievances of whining unions.

It is interesting that the unions are causing unemployment rates to go up, and yet at the same time as they do they are losing more power to serve their political will. Maybe in the end that is a good thing because it prevents them from getting out of control as the public and private unions have in Greece, Spain, Portugal, Argentina, Italy, and other nations. It's not that the unions haven't overstepped their bounds here the United States, they certainly have.

The future problems we will have with underfunded pensions, increased healthcare costs, and lack of government services not to mention the high prices we pay for all the goods and services we buy, well, much of that we can blame on the unions. It seems to me that the unions are their own worst enemy, but it is amazing when you state that fact and look at the evidence, that they certainly don't want to hear it. It's as if they have their own little religion all to themselves. That's pretty amazing, we live in interesting times. Please consider all this and think on it.
 

Lance Winslow has launched a new provocative series of eBooks on Business Topics. Lance Winslow is a retired Founder of a Nationwide Franchise Chain, and now runs the Online Think Tank; http://www.worldthinktank.net

www.thinkdoctor.co.uk

 

Question To Ask At Interview: The Most Common Ones

   

Talking about job interview, you may remember an old saying "victory loves preparation". This saying means simple: if you want to be successful in most situations, then you need to be prepared well. Job interview is no exception. After a series of written test, you finally come to the most determining test called interview. Many applicants fail to pass this test but you can overcome it with some tricks. Learning the questions is one of the ways you can do to pass the interview. Of course, not all of interview questions you find on Internet or books will be asked during your interview session. However, there are common questions that usually interviewers always ask to the interviewee. Below are some of the examples:

1.Why are you interested in applying for this job?

This is considered as one of the most predictable questions in almost all interview sessions. The purpose of asking this question is to measure how far you have made a research about the company. The employer expects that you have obtained information about their company be it about their profile, achievements or the latest issues about them. To impress your prospective employer, try to mention some features of the company such as their public image, their increasing sales or their great human resource management.

2.How do you lead a team?

Many job positions involve people management. This position requires you to plan and organize the team in order to complete the task well. The interviewer needs to know your role in a group and our ability in focusing on targets and goals.

To answer this question well, try to describe a situation, your role and the overall task you need to complete. Make sure that you also mention problems that arouse and you how you handle them. Examples are always important to convince the interviewer so don't forget to give as many as examples on how you lead a team.

3.What are your weaknesses and strengths?

It's impossible that everyone doesn't have weaknesses. However, it doesn't mean that you can tell it honestly to the interviewers. A classic strategy is by telling a strength that sounds like a weakness for example "I'm an ambitious person" or "I'm a perfectionist person". This answer has been used many times by interviewee and the interviewer knows this trick. The best way to tell your weakness without making yourself look weak is by choosing a weakness that you are trying to improve. For example: "I'm a little bit forgetful but I try to overcome it by writing down the tasks I need to complete on a piece of a paper and stick it besides my computer. Now, I hardly miss the tasks I need to do with that help."


Remember that you are not suggested to deny your weaknesses. This will make the interviewer assume that you are arrogant.

 

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Ana_Marina_Rainelda

www.thinkdoctor.co.uk
 

Do You Give A Good Interview?

   

When we speak at job fairs on the topic of interviewing, we know that our audience want to learn how to land their dream job. We think there's a lot more that goes in the process - here are the cliff notes:

#1 - Organize your job search. If you don't understand what companies and jobs are best for you, how can you be successful in the interview process?

#2 - Research the company, and most importantly study the job description. What clues you have are largely woven into this document - albeit usually lacking in the total picture of what is and can be expected of you once you land. It's OK to pass on a job because the company is not a fit for you. Build your negotiation matrix on the deal breakers. For example, do you need medical insurance? Make sure they have it or can pay enough so you can purchase yourself.

#3 - Quality, not quantity - it doesn't do you any good to just apply using the same resume to 100 different positions. Take the time to tune your resume and cover to the job description. They are scanning and rating your submission based upon this anyway - and it will really allow you to talk about the results you've produced that are relevant to the company.

#4 - Who do you know? Hit LinkedIn and Facebook company pages; read the details on the company execs and get a professional intro to the company to support your case. You are the one who must articulate your value above the competition.

#5 - Do a Mock Interview - this is a great reason to hire a career coach. They can tape you, and give you a report card in specific areas that you will be rated on. Interview questions are usually organized into three types: Behavioral, Functional and Stress - look up some of these and prepare.

#6 - BrandYou - do you have a great LinkedIn profile? Have you searched for your name to see what comes up? Privatized your personal social activity so that your prospective employer doesn't see you singing with a lampshade on your head at that party?? Your brand is summed up of all the information they receive on you - cover, resume, web, referrals (those you provide and those you don't know about). Take the time to have a solid results-oriented story ready for the 'Tell Me About Yourself' question you will get.

#7 - Make a friend. Just because you're not a fit for this position doesn't mean they don't have another or a colleague in another firm that is looking.
And - if you are the interviewer, preparing 5 minutes prior to your candidate arriving doesn't do serve either of you. Having a weak job description doesn't either. We help as many companies fill positions as we do clients engaged in a job search.

So tell me - what is your favorite interview question?

Grace Lanni is a serial entrepreneur supporting her clients launching start-up businesses and expanding existing ones in the areas of operational efficiency, sales, marketing, professional branding, career transition, and more.
 

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Grace_Lanni

www.thinkdoctor.co.uk
 

You're a Fake: You'll Go Far!

   

Amy Cuddy a social psychologist lecturing at Harvard Business School, has proven that you can fake it until you become it. In experiments conducted with Dana Carney, she proved that striking 'power poses' for just 2 minutes before an interview, can increase the projection of self-confidence and the chances of being hired. This is basically how the experiment went:

1) Subjects had to prepare a 5 minute presentation about their dream job before a job interview, in which they were to be evaluated, filmed and hired on the strength of how they appeared on camera. At this point, some people develop shingles...

2) They then had to convince 2 evaluators why they thought they were suited to this dream job without lying or misrepresentation. If you think this is stressful, hold on, it gets worse.

3) The evaluators were trained to show no non-verbal expression. This would usually spike the stress hormone, cortisol. For many, this is like sinking in 'social quicksand';
4) The interview was filmed and watched by two further evaluators who assessed the performance of the interviewees, or masochists, whichever term you find more accurate.

Interviewee Preparation:

5) Apart from the requirement of remaining conscious throughout, the interviewees prepared the speech and were then split into two groups. There was the control group and one that performed 2 minute 'power posing exercises', holding 2 such postures for a total of 180 seconds.
All exercises were performed before the interview, rather so that interviewees weren't labelled insane...

Findings

Those that were chosen by the evaluators, who were totally unaware of the interviewee preparation and control group, were those that stuck the power poses before the meeting. Now, that doesn't mean that the power posers walked in like cowboys or Wonderwomen. What happened was that they simply manifested a comfort in their own skin, and real zest.
It is these latter two factors, that further research has shown, that are the sole qualities that can win pitches. Content matters of course, but it pales into less significance in the presence of a lack of awkwardness and the presence of enthusiasm.

What this means for your Pitches, Presentations and Interviews:

Preparing for even 2 minutes before a pitch, presentation or interview can change your behaviour. Here's how you do it:
Before an interview: stand up in the waiting room. Moving around will help with the nerves and when you're being fetched, you're not peering over your I-Phone, hunched and looking up like an abandoned puppy, but you are literally and metaphorically on the same level as your interviewer, from the start.
Ensuring that you do a posture check, checking that you're shoulder are low, back straight, eyes straight ahead and torso open will make you feel more confident than when you're hunched and looking down.

Space, power and status are related:
a) in a presentation, you can control your nerves rather than have them control you simply by moving around. This releases energy, ridding you of shaky voice, hands and legs, as well as projecting an appearance of self-assurance. Weirdly enough, you start to feel that self-assurance.

b) in an interview, pressing yourself against the desk can make you feel like you're in combat with the interviewer. It can also give you the appearance of a school child hauled up in front of the head teacher. Your breathing will also more likely to be around the chest area, which generates adrenalin, making it more difficult to control nerves and shakiness in the voice and body.
If you were to pull your chair back and angle it slightly, this will help you to breath deeper, giving you a steadiness and confidence:

You'll also have the room to be more physically expressive, avoiding whacking the desk when you need to use gesture. For panel interviews, simply move the chair back further from the table for the same reason and so that you don't have to turn your head 180 degrees like some horror film puppet in order to address the panel. And lastly...

c) Smile. Even a fake smile, such as the one you make when you hold a pencil between your teeth, will generate serotonin, the feel-good hormone. It also gives your voice a lift when speaking so you sound more upbeat as well. Instant feedback to which you and others will react.

 

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Alison_Kemp

5 Most Common Mistakes Made by Contractors

Contracting is a great alternative to a full-time job but it also means you need to watch out for yourself much more than a company's full-time employee does. Here are the 5 most common mistakes we've seen contractors make that are completely avoidable and inexcusable.

1. Shy About Self Marketing or "I'm an introvert!" excuse
Contractors/Consultants often believe if they keep their head down and do a good job - nice things will happen to them. They forget good things can happen only to people who put themselves in positions to have good things happen to them. Almost everyone now has a Facebook, LinkedIn, or Twitter account Use these to highlight your skills and experience and what you know and care about.
Get Endorsed: Your customers/hiring managers may love you so why not get endorsed on your public profile, so anyone looking at your profile knows this without even asking.

2. Not Networking Till its Required- "I know a few recruiters" assumption
Chances are the recruiters you know moved on, lost that client, changed their focus and are not looking out for you. Don't wait till you need a job to start networking and connecting. This should be an ongoing exercise and not a last minute scramble.
"Won't I get spammed"? Most recruiters have 'plenty of fish' and even if you are a 'Rockstar' they won't bug you if you don't respond as you could report them as spam and no one wants that.
So get out there and start networking with people you find interesting. Unlike at a party, in the online world you can pick who you want to network with.

3. Not Staying Current on New Hiring and Staffing companies- "I know everything" assumption
Don't lock yourself to a single client company or a staffing agency. New companies are getting funded every day and new companies are moving into your town every day and are hungry for talent and paying higher rates. Don't have time to read Techcrunch, Geekwire, PSBJ, Seattle Times- several sites let you track and follow companies. Setup alerts to stay abreast- Google Alerts, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn

4. Not Staying Current with Skills- "I'm good at what I do" assumption
As a contractor you never know when you will become redundant. There is no HR/Training department that is mandating you attend trainings. Projects get scrapped, deprioritized and contractors are the first to let go. You need to keep abreast of what skills are hot. The best way to do this is to keep an eye on what positions are coming available, what skills are being sought and why?

5. Not Knowing Your Market Rate- "My pay is good. My buddy told me so!" assumption
Your buddy probably doesn't know any better and your recruiter has no incentive to tell you otherwise. Unfortunately contracting rates are a "Zero Sum" game. The staffing company gets to keep the portion of the rate they don't pay you. Try to keep the staffing company markup reasonable by knowing what your market rate is.

There are plenty of sites like PayScale, salary.com that give you this information.
Don't make these mistakes and you'll be ahead of the majority of contractors and can enjoy the benefits of the independent contractor life.
 

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Pradeep_K_Chauhan

Psychometric Testing - A Necessity For Modern Organizations

   

Psychometric tests have been used since the early part of the 20th century. They were originally developed for use in educational psychology. These days, outside of education, psychometric testing has taken an entry into the business world, mostly used in the recruitment or selection process, development, training, performance management or rewards. Psychometric tests are a way of assessing a person's ability or personality in a measured and structured way. They are used to measure the individual differences such as ability, aptitude, interests, personality and other aspects.


Psychometric testing gaining popularity in organizations Psychometric tests are developed especially to reduce the problems encountered by employees and managers of organizations. Such as, one of the biggest problems employers face today is the quality of the staff they hire. The reason is easy to understand; interviews don't necessarily give the right picture about the candidates. Interviewee's generally come with some prepared questions and in the short time available it is difficult to judge a candidate's capabilities. A bad hiring decision can be costly and time consuming.

Psychometric assessments play an important role by being consistent and impartial and they can enhance the objectivity of the selection process. They are standardized in terms of the questions asked, the time allowed, and instructions given, which means all candidates are placed on an equal footing, making the assessment fair and objective. By reducing selection errors, organizations can reduce staff turnover, training costs, lost opportunities and stress to individuals. So this is the reason psychometric testing has now become widely accepted as a benchmarking tool in the selection process.

How is it beneficial?
If psychometric testing is done properly it is beneficial for both employers and candidates.
• They are useful for "sifting out" large number of applicants at an early stage.
• Honest answers to the questions on behalf of the candidate, coupled with intelligent interpretation of those answers by the employer, can produce a perfect employee/job match, which ultimately is in everyone's interest.
• Furthermore they can also provide management with guidance on career progression for existing employees.

How is Psychological Assessment done?
Mostly the assessment is done through paper and pencil tests or these days some companies even administer them. The candidates may be asked to take the test in an assessment centre, test centre, office premises or online. The results are then tabulated and interpreted according to the guidelines. This reduces the element of human bias. Now a days, many management institutes have established Psychometric Laboratory in their premises. They are making the future managers aware about the importance of psychometric testing in the organizations.

One such innovative step is taken by the Asia- Pacific Institute of management and MBA College through the establishment of Psychological Assessment for Enhancement (PACE). It provides a structured and organized approach to psychological assessment and training for the students to enhance their growth and development. PACE looks after the overall personality of the students. The methodology involves subjecting the students to a variety of standardized psychometric tests which could help to identify the core dimensions of a student's personality.

Which are the Indian companies using Psychometric Assessments in India?
Organisations Such as UB Group, Hindustan Motors, Arvind Mills, i-flex Solutions, Bharti, Touchtel, Sanmar, i-Seva, Wipro, and Cisco have utilized psychometric tests to assess candidates and select the right employee. Ms. Ambrien Ahmed has been with Asia Pacific Institute of Management for the past two years. She has four years of work experience in the field of psychological assessment and counseling in variety of settings.

She has successfully organized and conducted several workshops for various corporate and schools on self-awareness, stress management, anger management, time management, changing habits, confidence building, teacher's effectiveness and other behavioral training programs. She has four research papers to her credit, of which, two are published in journals of repute. Ms. Ahmed has also participated and presented paper in various national and international conferences. She is a life time member of Indian Society for Technical Education.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Ambrien_Ahmed


www.thinkdoctor.co.uk


www.thinkdoctor.co.uk

How Psychometric Testing Can Help You Find Your Perfect Job

   

The job market in the UK is now more competitive than ever. The struggle for jobs and the amount of competition for each place means employers are now taking extra measures to ensure they employ the right candidate. It is also means that job seekers are investing more effort into their job search in a bid to get ahead of the pack and hopefully secure their perfect job. One of the extra measures that are being taken is the use of psychometric testing to identify a person's suitability to a chosen career or job role and involves a number of assessments and consultations.

Psychometric testing is the study of the many facets of an individual's character. It has grown in use in recent years due to its ability to identify the interests, attitude and personality traits of an individual which help to determine an individual's suitability for different types of job roles.

There are many factors which influence an individual's character. Psychometric assessments measure a number of these factors including a person's behavioural tendencies in certain situations and their aptitude to carry our particular tasks. It is this sort of insight why psychometric tests have become so popular within the recruitment industry. By establishing if an individual shows the correct mind set and aptitude to complete certain tasks then employers can match these results to their own job specifications to decide whether the candidate is the correct person for the job.

However it is not only employers that benefit from the results of these psychological assessments. Although people will believe they know what they are interested in and their goals, psychometric tests go into great depth and detail and outline your strengths and weaknesses as a human resource. By meeting with a trained occupational psychologist you will be able to outline your desires and ambitions and closely find the career most suitable for these ambitions.

Now it has been explained why psychometric tests are so important within the recruitment process, exactly what the tests consists of will be looked at. The range of assessments go into great depth. With the range of human emotions and characteristics examined, completion of all questionnaires and assessments can take around 5 to 6 hours. After these questionnaires and assessments psychometric testing can continue with one-on-one consultations with occupational psychologists where in detail personal circumstances, desires and ambitions are discussed.

You can't pass or fail psychometric testing. The objective of all psychometric assessments are to build an accurate profile of who an individual really is, what they are motivated by, their strengths and weaknesses, values and beliefs and ultimately what motivates them to get up in the morning.

If you are currently looking for work, or contemplating a career change a psychometric test can dramatically help you find what you want from your future career and identify suitable job roles.

 

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Leo_Solomon