You must be prepared to answer this trick question. If you answer the question as it is asked, you could easily damage your chances of getting the job. By trying to throw you off guard, the employer can see how you might react in similar tough situations on the job. I have often asked this question to groups of job seekers, and I usually get one of two types of responses. The first response goes like this:
"I really don't have any major weaknesses." That response is untrue and evasive. The other type of response I usually get is an honest one like this:
"Well, I am really disorganized. I suppose I should do better at that, but my life has just been too hectic, what with the bankruptcy and embezzlement charges and all."
Although this type of response might get an A for honesty, it gets an F for interview technique.
What's needed here is an honest, undamaging response followed by a brief, positive presentation to counter the negative. The best approach is to present a weakness in a way that does not harm-and could help-your ability to do a good job. Here are some examples:
Sample Answer #1
"Well, I have been accused by coworkers of being too involved in my work. I usually come in a little early to organize my day and stay late to get a project done on time."
Sample Answer #2
"I need to learn to be more patient. I often do things myself just because I know I can do them faster and better than someone else. This trait has not let me be as good at delegating tasks as I want to be. But I am working on it. I'm now spending more time showing others how to do the things I want done and that has helped. They often do better than I expect because I am clear about explaining what I want and how I want it done."
These responses could both be expanded with the Prove-It Technique, but they successfully use the Three-Step Process in answering a problem question, as outlined in chapter 1. In both cases, the answers responded to the question as it was asked, but they did so in a way that presented the weakness as a positive.
"What Sort of Pay Do YouExpect to Receive?"
If you are unprepared for this question, any response you give is likely to damage your ability to get a job offer. The employer wants you to name a number that can be compared to a figure the company has in mind. Suppose that the employer is looking to pay someone $36,000 a year. If you say you were hoping for $40,000, you will probably be eliminated from consideration. The employer will be afraid that, if you took the job, you may not stay. If you say you would take $29,000, you will make it nearly impossible to negotiate for a higher salary if you are offered the job. Or the employer might decide that your skills are worth less than what the job requires.
This question is designed to help the employer either eliminate you from consideration or save money at your expense. You could get lucky and name the salary the employer had in mind, but the stakes are too high for me to recommend that approach.
Employers often use discussions of pay in an initial interview to screen people out. Because you aren't likely to get a firm job offer in a first interview, your objective should be to create a positive impression and not be rejected. If the topic of pay does come up, avoid getting nailed down. Here are some things you could say:
"Are you making me a job offer?" (A bit corny, yes, but you just might be surprised at the result.)
"What salary range do you pay for positions with similar requirements?"
"I'm very interested in the position, and my salary would be negotiable."
"Tell me what you have in mind for the salary range."
"I prefer to hear more about the position before I can come up with a solid number."
Put off discussion of pay until you are sure it's the real thing and not just part of a screening process. See chapter 8 for more information on how to talk money when the time is right.
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
How do you prioritize your work?
Prioritizing is not easy. You must determine what needs to be done and how much time you have to do it in. Normally you should not make your schedule so tight that you won't have time for setbacks or research. Make a list of things to do: you should start with the most important and time sensitive issues. On your list you should list the due date of your projects. Always give yourself at least 2 days before, if possible. If your projects are daily then give yourself at least 1 to 2 hours deadline before the due date or time. If you can color code your list such as (Red) urgent, must do right away, (Blue) projects with deadlines within a weeks time (Purple) daily jobs that can be done at any time. Cross off things as you finish them and add as needed. Keep this in your computer but also print a copy and keep it somewhere where you can see it.
Monday, June 28, 2010
How do you reduce manpower if there are 16000 employees in an organization?
Reducing Manpower
Three primary methods, layoffs, atrition or early retirement bonuses. Unfortunately, layoffs end up causing more problems than they are worth. People tend to start looking for jobs when they see their co-workers get laid-off. Attrition just allows people to leave without hiring someone else to fill the spot. Necessary positions are re-filled from within the company.
Attrition and early retirement take a little longer, but give the employees much more confidence in the company, and end up with valuable employees staying.
Increase management to staff ratios:
Increase employee to employer ratio:
In an organization of 16,000 employees, there will be many levels of management with in the organization. If the organization were to assign lower level employees to any one manager, they would then be able to reduce employee numbers. This is where middle management has its problems during recessions etc.
For e.g. (NB: unrealistic and oversimplifying):
If a company has 128 employees to manage and each manager in the organization has 2 people under them, the organization diagram will look like this: 1 > 2 > 4 > 8 > 16 > 32 > 64 > 128. This means that there is 8 tiers in the organization, and most importantly, 126 managers looking after 128 workers.
As opposed to having a structure where each manager looks after 4 people, again with 128 workers, the structure will look like so: 1 > 4 > 16 > 64 > 128. In this case, there is only 5 tiers, and only 84 managers looking after 128 workers.
This difference of 42 managers is a huge reduction in the workforce. As seen, to do this the organization must demand more from management, which could be done through a number of ways like training or higher wages. But in doing so, the manpower required in an organization will be greatly diminished, especially the larger an organization is, i.e. 16,000 employees.
Three primary methods, layoffs, atrition or early retirement bonuses. Unfortunately, layoffs end up causing more problems than they are worth. People tend to start looking for jobs when they see their co-workers get laid-off. Attrition just allows people to leave without hiring someone else to fill the spot. Necessary positions are re-filled from within the company.
Attrition and early retirement take a little longer, but give the employees much more confidence in the company, and end up with valuable employees staying.
Increase management to staff ratios:
Increase employee to employer ratio:
In an organization of 16,000 employees, there will be many levels of management with in the organization. If the organization were to assign lower level employees to any one manager, they would then be able to reduce employee numbers. This is where middle management has its problems during recessions etc.
For e.g. (NB: unrealistic and oversimplifying):
If a company has 128 employees to manage and each manager in the organization has 2 people under them, the organization diagram will look like this: 1 > 2 > 4 > 8 > 16 > 32 > 64 > 128. This means that there is 8 tiers in the organization, and most importantly, 126 managers looking after 128 workers.
As opposed to having a structure where each manager looks after 4 people, again with 128 workers, the structure will look like so: 1 > 4 > 16 > 64 > 128. In this case, there is only 5 tiers, and only 84 managers looking after 128 workers.
This difference of 42 managers is a huge reduction in the workforce. As seen, to do this the organization must demand more from management, which could be done through a number of ways like training or higher wages. But in doing so, the manpower required in an organization will be greatly diminished, especially the larger an organization is, i.e. 16,000 employees.
How long does it take to earn a bachelor's degree in business?
It should take 4 years if it's from a reputable university. There are many other programs that are less but 4 is best.
How do you write an acknowledgment?
An acknowledgment is just a fancy term for thanking the people who helped you out. If you are writing a report or formal essay or any other type of scholastic paper, you would want to include teachers who helped, any person who did anything for you or gave you information, and any organization or company who assisted you in any way.
You just write down the name of the person or organization and what they did to help, such as "I would like to thank Wiki Answers for providing information on how to write an acknowledgment."
You just write down the name of the person or organization and what they did to help, such as "I would like to thank Wiki Answers for providing information on how to write an acknowledgment."
Why is management theory important?
Management Theory's Role and Importance Management theory is important because it is the study of how to make all the people in your organization more productive. If you are self employed and have other working for you, or you outsource certain jobs you are unable to do, then you know how hard it is to find qualified competent professionals to provide you a service or work for you. You want to maximize labor productivity and learning how to manage people is the key.
My View: by Kayors
The key to business management is to maximize productivity. However, while management theory does aim towards getting a group of entities to achieve a certain goal, it does not necessarily achieve in making people more productive towards this cause.
Times are shifting rapidly and the loss of key gurus, like Peter Drucker, in recent times, bears certain implications.
I believe the key contribution in having management theory lies in what has been achieved by the differing schools of thought within our history. This may serve as a guide but one must also bear in mind management is not just a science, but also an art.
There are many benefits to knowing management theory. First of all management theory doesn't just teach someone how inspire employees to be more productive, it also shows managers how to be good bosses. It is key for them to know how to deal with issues that may happen in the workplace, they have to efficiently deal with these issues and simultaneously maintain a stable or improving level of productivity. With management you have to balance a multitude of tasks daily and being familiar with management theory can help greatly.
My View: by Kayors
The key to business management is to maximize productivity. However, while management theory does aim towards getting a group of entities to achieve a certain goal, it does not necessarily achieve in making people more productive towards this cause.
Times are shifting rapidly and the loss of key gurus, like Peter Drucker, in recent times, bears certain implications.
I believe the key contribution in having management theory lies in what has been achieved by the differing schools of thought within our history. This may serve as a guide but one must also bear in mind management is not just a science, but also an art.
There are many benefits to knowing management theory. First of all management theory doesn't just teach someone how inspire employees to be more productive, it also shows managers how to be good bosses. It is key for them to know how to deal with issues that may happen in the workplace, they have to efficiently deal with these issues and simultaneously maintain a stable or improving level of productivity. With management you have to balance a multitude of tasks daily and being familiar with management theory can help greatly.
Saturday, June 19, 2010
How are Great Organizations Measured?
The writer of “YOU CAN WIN” book, “SHIV KHERA” writes:
Great organizations are not measured by wages and working conditions. They are measured by feelings, attitudes and relationships.
When employees say: “I can’t do it!” There are two possible meanings. They don’t know how to or they don’t want to. If they don’t know how to, it is the issue of training but if they are saying they don’t want to, it may be an attitude issue (they don’t care) or values issue (they believe they shouldn’t do it).
Great organizations are not measured by wages and working conditions. They are measured by feelings, attitudes and relationships.
When employees say: “I can’t do it!” There are two possible meanings. They don’t know how to or they don’t want to. If they don’t know how to, it is the issue of training but if they are saying they don’t want to, it may be an attitude issue (they don’t care) or values issue (they believe they shouldn’t do it).
Opportunity
- Opportunity is always under our feet. We don’t have to go anywhere. All we need to do is recognize it.
- When people don’t know how to recognize the opportunity, they complain of noise when it knocks.
- The same opportunity never knocks twice. The next one maybe better or worse but it is never the same one.
One day one of my friends complained about his job to me. He said: “I am fed up with my job. I have gotten too tired. I want another job because the current organization doesn’t value my works. Bla Bla Bla… I want to resign.”
Finally, he was asked for a job interview in a big organization where anything he needed was provided to him. He successfully received the job offer after several interviews with high salary. He didn’t agree with the period of contract which was 3 months. He didn’t accept the job offer and continued with his current job until he found a job with the same salary, different position and even worse than his current job. There he came to know that he lost the opportunity. He could have joined that job and the company may have continued the contract with him. He didn’t recognize the opportunity well.
- The same opportunity never knocks twice. The next one maybe better or worse but it is never the same one.
If he was a positive thinker, this opportunity would bring success and progress in his career. He was a negative thinker and thought it would block his way to success.
- When people don’t know how to recognize the opportunity, they complain of noise when it knocks.
- The same opportunity never knocks twice. The next one maybe better or worse but it is never the same one.
One day one of my friends complained about his job to me. He said: “I am fed up with my job. I have gotten too tired. I want another job because the current organization doesn’t value my works. Bla Bla Bla… I want to resign.”
Finally, he was asked for a job interview in a big organization where anything he needed was provided to him. He successfully received the job offer after several interviews with high salary. He didn’t agree with the period of contract which was 3 months. He didn’t accept the job offer and continued with his current job until he found a job with the same salary, different position and even worse than his current job. There he came to know that he lost the opportunity. He could have joined that job and the company may have continued the contract with him. He didn’t recognize the opportunity well.
- The same opportunity never knocks twice. The next one maybe better or worse but it is never the same one.
If he was a positive thinker, this opportunity would bring success and progress in his career. He was a negative thinker and thought it would block his way to success.
Saturday, June 12, 2010
Attitude in examples
Someone once came to Blaise Pascal, the famous French philosopher and said: “If I had your brains, I would be a better person.” Pascal replied: “Be a better person and you’ll have my brains.”
The Calgary tower stands at 190.8 meters. The total weight of the tower is 10,884 tons of which 6,349 tons are below ground (Approximately 60%).
This shows that some of the greatest buildings have the strongest foundations. Just like a great building stands on a strong foundation, so does the success. And the foundation of a success is attitude.
People are the most valuable assets of an organization
Experience has shown that human resources is the most valuable asset of any business. It is more valuable than capital or equipments. (Unfortunately, it is also the most wasted. People can be an organization’s biggest asset or biggest liability).
You might have noticed that some organizations or countries are more successful than others. That’s because the human resources of that organization thinks and acts more efficiently. Those successful organizations have invested in more valuable assets, the people working there. The success of an organization depends on the quality of the people working there.
You might have noticed that some organizations or countries are more successful than others. That’s because the human resources of that organization thinks and acts more efficiently. Those successful organizations have invested in more valuable assets, the people working there. The success of an organization depends on the quality of the people working there.
Attitude
There was a man who made a living by selling balloons. He had all colors of balloons including red, yellow, blue and green. Whenever his business was slow, he would release a helium-filled balloon into the air and when the children saw it go up, they would come to this balloon seller and wanted to buy one. The children would come to him, buy balloons from him and his sales would go up again. One day, a small boy came to him and asked him: “If you release a black balloon, would it also fly?” The balloon seller replied: “Son, it isn’t the color of the balloon, it is what is inside that makes it go up.”
Conclusion:
The same thing applies to our lives. It is what is inside that makes us feel proud or be respected by others. The thing inside us that makes us go up is our attitude.
(For more information, check the book “YOU CAN WIN” written by “SHIV KHERA”)
Conclusion:
The same thing applies to our lives. It is what is inside that makes us feel proud or be respected by others. The thing inside us that makes us go up is our attitude.
(For more information, check the book “YOU CAN WIN” written by “SHIV KHERA”)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)