Ways to Strengthen your People Management Skills
If you think that only a company’s CEO should have good people management skills then you need to think again because you might be wrong. It does not matter who you are and what you do, people management skills are essential for almost everyone. You can make your life quite easy if you have good management skills. People paying attention to whatever you say is indeed a great thing and strong management skills can make it happen for you without much of an effort.
Now, gaining strong people management skills is not a big deal even if you do not have any at the present moment. All you need to do is get familiar with a few psychologies related to people management and then you can apply them in your daily life. One thing that you should always keep in mind while managing people is that you will have to understand them first so you will require a lot of patience as well. Let us take a look at a few tips which Read the rest of this entry »
10 Effective Ways to Manage Your Project
If you have been appointed as a project manager, you might be going through mixed feelings. At one place you must be happy that your company has appreciated your hard work and effort. But, you must be thinking to manage the project successfully. Handling responsibilities is not a very easy thing to do but it is not something impossible. As a project manager, you need to keep a few things in your mind and you will be all good to reach new heights of success. Following are a few effective ways to manage your project:
1. Objective of the Project:
It is very important to be clear about the objectives of the project. As a project manager, you would be handling a team of people so it is essential for you to know the most important thing related to the project i.e., scope of the project. Since you are responsible for everything related to the project, before starting off, if there are any confusions, get them cleared from your boss so that you know exactly what should be accomplished from the project.
2. Required Resources:
A project obviously requires a number of resources. You do not have to take care of the availability of those resources but you need to be precise of what are the requirements of your project. It is your duty to determine the amount of people, time and money required to finish the project successfully.
Effective tips to write your cover letter
I have seen, heard and read about people emphasizing a lot on the importance of resume. The whole attention is diverted towards resume that people tend to ignore the importance of a cover letter. Anyone who is looking for a job must realize and understand the importance of cover letter because you can create an impressive resume but if you do not have a powerful cover letter to support your resume, you are blowing off your chances of getting a job.
Before checking out a resume, mostly employers prefer viewing the cover letter because it says a lot about the job-seeker. If you do not have an impressive cover letter, employer won’t even bother looking at your resume. Writing an impressive cover letter is not at all a difficult task. You follow the tips mentioned below and you are good to go.
Important steps to take before writing a Cover Letter:
- Update your resume
- Research about the Organization you are about to apply for
- Go through Job description multiple times
- Be aware of the person who would be interviewing you for the position
Once you are done with gathering the importance information, you can start working on your cover letter.
Important Points of formatting:
Proper formatting is very important for a Cover letter. Make sure you
- Keep a proper check on line spacing
- You write the address on the top of the cover letter and it should always be at the left
- Always keep a distance of four lines between the next paragraph
- Enter date and then Enter the name of the concerned person
If you are not aware of whom to address, write down ‘To Whom It May Concern‘
Body of the Letter
The content of the cover letter is obviously the most important thing. Do not copy and paste the material as employers can easily get it plus, it will kill the entire essence of your resume. Do not get into useless stories as cover letter is supposed to be precise. Inform your employer the reason behind writing in the first few lines.
Once you are done with informing the reason, tell them what they really want to know i.e., Qualifications. While you are enlisting your qualifications, make sure you have Job description with you because you need to match your qualifications with the Job description.
After enlisting your qualifications, do mention your professional experience but make sure it is not the exact copy of your resume. Only mention the highlights so that in the end you can direct the employer towards your resume. At the end of the resume, make sure you request employer for an interview and mention your availability.
A few important tips:
- It should be visually appealing. Avoid useless formatting in the cover letter
- Avoid going over the top with style elements
- Always proofread your cover letter and resume before sending it out
- You should make a separate cover letter for different jobs
- Any grammatical or spelling mistake is a Big NO.
Green At Work
22 April is earth day. It is time to think about how you can lower your carbon footprint at work. Here are some green practices that you can adopt to do so.
1. Computers are the Culprits:
Even in standby or hibernate modes computers use energy. To reduce energy consumption by 60 to 70%, set your computer to sleep mode when not in use.
Green Fact: Almost two-thirds of the energy used by a computer is for the monitor, so turn it off when not in use.
2. Disconnect to Stop the Drain:
Laptop and mobile phone charger draw energy (up to 95%) when they are plugged in even if they are not attached to the device, so disconnect chargers when not in use.
Green Fact: Switching off cell phones while charging uses half the power.
3. Lose the Paper Trail
Print with discretion; use soft copies whenever, wherever possible. Install a duplex printer (which can print on both sides), to halve paper consumption and reduce energy consumption by almost 25%. Designate a recycle bin for used paper.
Green Fact: Fax-modems allow document to be sent directly from a computer without requiring a printed hard copy.
4. Go Light on the Lighting
Lighting constitutes 29% of office energy costs, so turn off lights whenever possible to lower bills and energy. Install sensor activated lights especially in seldom or periodically used areas.
Green Fact: Energy saver light bulbs can save up to 50% on lighting costs and energy.
5. Recycle, Refill & Reuse
Opt for refillable printer cartridges and stationery made from recycled materials.
Green Fact: Avoid using paper and Styrofoam cutlery and crockery; use reusable ones.
ICC World Cup 2011 – Group B Permutations
England’s tremendous comeback against West Indies gave them an 18-run victory in their must-win encounter in Chennai. With that victory, they have given themselves every chance of qualifying for the quarter-finals. South Africa are the only team from Group B who have ensured qualification and there are a number of possible scenarios that will decide both the teams qualifying and the position of the teams that qualify for the knockouts.
Case I: Bangladesh lose to South Africa and India beat West Indies
Bangladesh will be eliminated because of their inferior net run rate. South Africa will finish top of the group with ten points and India will finish second with nine points. England and West Indies will finish third and fourth respectively.
Case II: Bangladesh beat South Africa and West Indies beat India
England will be hoping this scenario does not happen. If Bangladesh beat South Africa, they will move to eight points and West Indies can also finish on eight if they beat India. With three teams level on points and number of wins, the net run rate will decide the standings. West Indies and South Africa will take the top two spots and Bangladesh the third spot. India will edge out England for the fourth position barring a huge defeat against West Indies.
Logic Counts
One day, a programmer’s wife asked her husband,
Can you go to the shop and buy a loaf of bread and if they have eggs, buy six. The programmer goes to the shop and returns with seven loaves of bread.
Useless Inventions
A man is smoking a cigarette and blowing smoke rings into the air. His wife becomes irritated with the smoke and says, “Can’t you see this warning on the cigarette pack? Smoking is hazardous to your health!”
The man replies, “I’m a programmer. We don’t worry about warnings; we only worry about errors.”
On Screen Keyboard
Microsoft Windows provides a accessibility utility named “On-Screen Keyboard“. This is not recommended for long and lengthy typing but it is very helpful for short tasks performing using keyboard or joysticks if required.
How can activate it?
