July 22, 2008
Welcome
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Many young professionals today start into their first job without any defined goals or objectives, says Ronnie Ferez @ RealWorldReally . Here is a great article for starting out on the right foot. The steps from the article are listed here:
1. Project where you want to be 10 years from now. Set SMART (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Time-Bound) career goals. If you are currently a Marketing Staff now, you might want to consider becoming a Marketing Manager 10 years from now. Then start setting, and writing, those career goals and objectives.
2. Build your core competencies. Your core competencies are special job skills and knowledge that make you effective and efficient in your job. Develop them. Learn new things about them. Learn new technologies that will make you more competitive. If you are aiming at climbing the corporate ladder, then better start acquiring those core competencies required to be successful in your chosen expertise.
3. Expand your influence. Develop your leadership and people skills because top jobs required these skills.
July 14, 2008
Culture, Job Search, Networking
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One natural development in our society from the increase in two-income families is that families are eating more meals on the go. This has contributed to strong decline in proper dining etiquette and table manners that used to be commonplace. Many colleges and universities have begun implementing dinner etiquette seminars and programs in order to better prepare their students to enter the demanding business world.
Many people might wonder why dinner etiquette skills are important in business and industry. Certainly, some industries have greater demand for these skills, but building better rapport with bosses, colleagues, and clients is always more possible if they appreciate the basic etiquette and manners you demonstrate.
The reality is that many business and organization meetings and decisions happen around a dinner table. Meetings with clients often include lunch or dinner. Bosses sometimes take their employees to lunch to discuss important issues. Coworkers sometimes use a meal outing as a way to build camaraderie. These job-based requirements have prompted many companies to use meal-centered interviews to see if they would be embarrassed to introduce the person to a client or partner.
There are too many detailed rules of dinner etiquette for us to explore them all here, so let us focus on a couple suggestions in sometimes overlooked areas that make a difference:
1) Don’t focus on the food – What does this mean? One thing to keep in mind in professional meal situations is that dinner etiquette is about making the other personal comfortable and you look professional. Be cautious about ordering your favorite food if it means getting spaghetti sauce on you or them, or having a thick sandwich that you can get your entire mouth around. Order something easy to eat and do not overdo it.
2) Your mom is not watching – When we are little kids, our parents often cut our meat into little tiny pieces before tending to their own meal. This is not the way of the proper etiquette eater. Meat, such as steak, chicken, or fish should be cut one piece at a time. In the US, we typically cut with our right hand and bring the bite to our mouth with the left. More formal European styles require switching the fork to the right hand after each cut.
