Psychometric Test - An Important Selection Tool

Selecting a right a candidate, for the right job, at the right time is always being an endeavour of a good employer. Out of the skill, knoweldege and aptitude, that we look inot during the selction procedure, most of the companies ave started singling out the aptitude part, as the most important factor. The logic behind this is, that the candidates who are short-listed after scruitinising the resume, are supposed to posses more or less equal level of skill and knowledge.
What is most important, is to recruit someone who can get along fast with the exisitng team members.
It is of course very difficult to chose a right test. The deatils of the methods of selecting a test is nicely narate in one of the articles in www.homejob.in.
To access the article please click here.

Posted in Jobs & Careers | 10 Comments

Negotiation Skill - Importance & Techniques

Negotiation is an important tool, that all of us use at different times, at different phase of our life, to achieve different goals. The first time probably we negotiated in our life, when as a child we kept shouting for mother’s milk. The negotiations are typically tagged with a price, which may or not be expressed in monetary term. The price may be social recognition, peer recognition and many others. A negotiation may take place either on 1 to 1 or may involve more than two parties.
It all depends on how well one has prepared about the background and strength areas of the other side. It is also important to know the dynamics of the power game.To know more about it click here .

Posted in Dating, Romance & Relationships | No Comments

How to Succeed in the Interviews

Interviews are always being the nightmare for freshers. But, then there are tricks to be succesful in the interviews.
One must know what an interivew is, and how is it conducted, in order to be successful in the interview. On the other hand one should also take care of  the details of the company and the position in consideration.
Recently I came accross a nice article in homejob.in under the title How to Succeed in the Interviews.
You may click on the title to read the article. It is a nice eye opener.

Posted in Other Categories | 1 Comment

Are We Concerened?

Mr. Biswadeep Bhattacharya was brutally murdered by his father, Mr. Deepak Bhattacharaya, for Biswadeep’s failure to make it to the state TT championship tournament.  The father wanted to give a lesson to his son for non-performing.

Was it simply that he wanted to rectify his son or was he upset because his ego was not fulfilled?

It is a million doolar question. Today, the rate of child suicide is increasing rapidly, also such killings by the parents! And what is more? These parents want their wards to achieve results overnight.

It has been reported in many cases that parents took over their ward brutally due to failure of their wards to make it to their expected level. I think, one of the major cause behind it is the socio-economic structure of the country. We want to see our children to be successful with glory which we can enjoy at their cost.

Let us take the example of Biswadeep. He had an excellent career in table-tennins. He was inter school champion in All Bengal Table Tennis Chmpionship Tournament. He could not make it to the state chmpionship, because of his health problem, as he was suffering form a chest pain. His father first lashed him with an electric wire and then bit him up.

His frustration is well understood, but there could be a betterway to handle the situation. The police arrested Mr. Dipak Bhattacharya on the basis of the complaint of his wife, which states such frequent bittings to the sub-junior champ by his father in the past. The neighbours also concurred with this. They stated about the brutal trreatment to the sub-junior champ, whenever he lost a match. The boy used to hid to his neighbour’s house, as he knew if he was caught by his father, he would be tied with a lamp post, and be bitten up brutally.

Can this immatured and unwanted death of a talent work as an eye opener to us? can we be vocal against such ill treatment to the children?

Posted in Other Categories | No Comments

Conflict - Nature & Resolution

In any relationship the effective management of conflict decides the life and quality of the relationship.
According to Dr. K. G. Desai, former Head of the Department, Department PM & IR, TISS, “A conflict arises, when there is a common point to be achieved or arrived by and between two or more individuals or the ego states of an individual”.

Types of conflicts: - Depending on the genesis of the conflict, it can be divided into following three types: -

1. Approach - Approach Conflict -

When there is a common point to be achieved by the conflicting parties or the ego states of an individual, with the common gain of sense of achievement, the approach - approach conflict arises.

2. Approach - Avoid Conflict -

When the common point is featured with a lucrative gain on one hand and a substantial loss on the other hand, the approach - avoid conflict arises.

3. Avoid - Avoid Conflict -

When all the conflicting parties or the ego states want to avoid the common point, this type of conflict takes place.

All the conflicts can be divided in two major sub areas, viz. internal - when the conflict takes place in between the ego stages of an individual and external - when the conflict is takes place between two or more individuals. Below are few examples: -

Approach - Approach Conflict: -

Internal - An individual has got an excellent job offer, he always has thought of, outside his home town. He has a family to be looked after and can not leave his sick father alone.

External - Two or more individuals are striving for the maximum share of the same property. This is the most common pattern of conflict.

Approach - Avoid Conflict: -

Internal - A person has found a nice suit piece in a shop on his way back to home from his office. He wants to buy the suit piece, as he has really liked it. But, he is not carrying enough cash, and he is also not left out with enough to spend on his credit cards.

External - A student has secured his chances both in medicine and engineering. His choice is to opt for engineering, whereas his family members want him to study medicine.

Avoid - Avoid Conflict: -

Internal - A boy does not want to go back home from school, because he knows that he is going to be punished for something he has done before coming to school. He also does not want to spend time with his friends, because he does not want to disturb them before the examinations.

External - A fax machine is purchased for the office. Nobody has used it so far. Nobody wants to owe the responsibility of the decision during the audit.

Resolution of Conflicts: -

A conflict is normally resolved in the following manners: -

1. Surrender - One or more of the conflicting side gives it up. It is known as Win - Lose situation.

2. Compromise - All the conflicting sides come to an amicable solution. This is Lose - Lose situation, as none of the parties is satisfied with the decision.

3. Constructive Solution - It is a Win - Win situation and provides psychological comfort to all the parties, who are involved into the conflict.

How to arrive at a constructive solution: - Many books and articles are written on this. Of course the major role in resolution of any conflict is played by the communication pattern of the individuals. And one major factor that is simply unavoidable in resolving a conflict meaningfully is the body language.

A lot many books and articles are written on the subject. Some of which, I find very useful are: -

1. Born to Win - by Muriel James & Dorothy Jongeward

2. I’m OK - You’re OK - by Thomas Harris

3. Body Language - by Allan Pease

Posted in Dating, Romance & Relationships | 2 Comments

Time Management - 5 Essential tips

Successful utilization of time is the bottom-line for any successful venture. It is one single resource that can never be purchased but can only be spent. It all depends, how effectively we spend t, to be successful in life. All of us must have gone through various books and articles, and may be through some of the effective seminars as well. Yes, all of those definitely add a value and give some concrete guidelines to improve ourselves. However, many a times we find it difficult to follow the instructions in detail and create a flop of it. Here are some basic tips, which you may find useful.

1.      Before going to sleep every night plan 10 must dos for the next day and note it in a rough page.

2.      Square it down to 5 points, which are simply unavoidable.

3.      Finalize 3 points out of it that you simply can not leave incomplete on the next day. Please note it down in your diary, preferable with time tags on each of it, or with a priority level.

4.      First thing that you must do in the morning, after your first cup of your tea, is to look into your diary and plan a tentative work schedule to complete the three major tasks.

5.      Before going to sleep, you must mark all three, as completed task, and work on the schedule for the next day, in the same manner.

I am sure that if you can follow these simple steps, for a week at least, you will be able to see the changes in you time management. Kindly let me know if you could find it useful.

Posted in Jobs & Careers, Other Categories | 7 Comments

Career Planning - A Way to be Successful

It was 1994, when I was working as Area Personnel Manager with one of the MNCs, and I was sponsored for a Management Development Programme at XLRI. To my utter surprise, after spending 10years in my career, I found that I chose my career wrongly, which is creating job dissatisfaction for me.

It is a common phenomenon that people often complain about job dissatisfaction. Enough research was conducted in it, and mostly on working people. The variables for such research are of course taken from within the industrial parameter, and get clustered into the following categories: - Salary, Perks & Benefits, Work Load and Work Environment. However, a little effort is taken to find out the psychological inclination of a person and his suitability in his present profession. Most of the time the career is chosen either with the pressure from the family or peers or by ‘Whatever is available’ basis, rather than, “What suits me best”, basis.

The basic question is, “Is there a remedy to it?”

Yes, there is.

In the first place, we need to know what personality traits are decisive for a person’s career choice. According to Jim Barrett & Geoff Williams, as they have written in their book ‘Test Your Own Aptitude”, mostly a combination of degrees of the following traits is indicative: -

•  Factual  vs. Sensitive Inclination
•  Liveliness vs. Calmness
•  Passionate vs. Aggressive Orientation
•  Group  vs. Individual Inclination

Along with this the mathematical and analytical abilities plays a great role to decide about the psychological inclination of a person’s career choice. Remember low rate on any of the trait, does not disqualify, or makes a person unfit for job market. It only attempts to find out, as to, which career is the best suitable for the individual.

A few questions remain to be addressed, yet.

Q1. How do we find out, which trait is prevailing within me?

Ans. Any Career Counselor will be able to tell you this. You can also search for online tests for this. Some of the sites are: www.freewebs.com/wonderwing, http://Manas.askagent.com, www.assessment.com, www.peoplemaps.co.uk, www.mindtools.com etc.

Q2. What do we do, if I find the career indicated, is not matching my dream career?

Ans. It will simply mean that, you must make conscious effort to change your aptitude to be fit for your dream career

Q3. What if I am already employed and it is found that I am not fit for my profession?

Ans. There are various combinations available, and a Career Counselor will be able to guide you in this regard.

Posted in Jobs & Careers | 10 Comments