Category: Careers Advice

expert career advice to help career professionals gain promotions and increase in job salary

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Advice for a Career in Music

Career Advice for a Career in Music

Success is not always evaluated by how much money you have earned. It sometimes depends on your passion and interest also.

If you are good at playing with sounds, you can obtain some sound advice from the professional experts for creating your career in music production. Here are some of the tips from the experts.

Set Up Your Own Coaching Business 

Think, Start and Know Environment through Online Music Production Courses:

Start: You can start with a unique idea right from your mind. At the end of the day, the creative as well as concrete idea will win the position, irrespective of the different editing manners and styles. Even if it is an entire line of crazy parts and bits, it can glue with you more or less like a phrase.

Think: You can start thinking as a cinematographer when you are taking the online music production courses. Just as the cameraman possesses a limited space for shooting, the sound engineers are provided with a finite space of sound on the soundstage. If you lose your focus, your sound will not be clear to the ears of the audience just as the cameraman if loses focus, the details of the picture will slowly reduce their importance.

Know Your Environment: You must know your environment before you start creating your music track. If you are producing music tracks in your studio, you must possess a certain level of comfort within that particular place. If you are in a travel mode all the time, try using your ears and your laptop to be accustomed to your environment.

Skills, Feedback and Investment with Online Music Production Courses:

Learn Techniques: Try learning good skills and techniques through your music courses. It is not all about some finger skills on different instruments. You are required to have a proper knowledge of the programs to make your track sound good by combining all the chords and the grips with the scales.

Obtain Honest Feedback: You must try to obtain honest and instant feedback from the listeners. Sometimes, music can take a shape after long hours if you are creating it alone. But if you are in a company, you can trust several ears and can get feedback and ideas to create the track within a very short period of time. You must be sensitive enough for expressing yourself honestly and be prepared for the criticism. If you are inviting critiques, you are actually doing a favor to yourself for improving your quality.

Investment: You must be prepared to invest your own money at any point of time during your music production. In the initial stages, when the records have not started selling at a great pace, you can keep aside some money for investing in your studio at hard times. If you have created a unique idea of making an interesting video and no one supports the budget, try to make the video by your own investment.

Good Sound And Mix Effects With Online Music Production Courses:

Start Good: You must start your track with good quality sound without any effects and modification at first.

Mix Reverse: If you want to focus on something keeping the other background music quieter, you can choose to mix in the reverse style. You must realize that making your music louder will not provide you with an easy solution.

Whatever be your track, you must keep an open mind and create your unique style in the music production industry. The music production courses are always available online at a very reasonable tuition fees from where you can gain the ultimate knowledge about the music production.

Author Bio:

Danielle Stevens is a career counselor currently attached to a consultancy agency. He advises students about suitable career paths. He is very enthusiastic about blogging and enjoys sharing his views and experience with everyone.

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How to Build a Solid Career in Business Finance as a Lease Administrator

Start a Career in Business Finance as a Lease Administrator

For the business or finance graduate acquiring a degree is only the beginning. You need to look at the diverse career options open to you. You need to evaluate the job scenario and understand which industrial sectors have the most potential for new professionals.

The finance industry is known to be multi-faceted and offers a wide spectrum of positions. Financial services boast of a number of sub-industries covering niche opportunities. The best way of locating a dream career in business finance is by doing adequate research and finally, locating the job that is truly compatible with your interests and skills.

Business finance implies management of money and assets and is fundamental and critical to any organization. The primary objective of business finance is increasing profits and minimizing financial risks and concerns. Business finance encompasses a multitude of varied occupations. Lease financing and lease administration is something that is catching the fancies of many and is pretty much in demand.

Lease Administration Job Role 

Lease Administration generally involves, but not restricted to receiving rents from properties owned and paying rent for leased properties. Lease administration is fundamental to accounting, legal and administrative requirements usually relating to real estate portfolios.

Job responsibilities of lease administrators would include accounting and processing, lease review and abstracting, lease audits, lease renewal options, CAM charges, repairs and maintenance, occupancy cost analysis, management and reporting, operating expense review and document maintenance and storage.

Once a lease agreement is signed, lease administrators are in charge of managing and monitoring rental payments, coordinating tenant alterations if any, and handling lease amendments whenever necessary.

Relevant Career Information

A lease administrator oversees and tracks the leases of various rented facilities in the company’s portfolio. He is responsible for following the leases of various financial transactions including rents, renewals, sublease payments, property expenses and taxes.

Lease administrators are responsible for processing the leases for ensuring that all information is logged onto a precise database, filled properly and most importantly accurate. Lease administrator needs to oversee and ensure that billings as well as all financial transactions are actually being managed properly and on time. They are required to inform the concerned people regarding late payments or missing payments.

Educational Qualifications Required for a Lease Administrator 

Most employers are looking for lease administrators having at least a bachelor’s degree in business, or finance, or accounting from any reputed and accredited university or college. However, it would really be an added advantage if a candidate completed his master’s degree in any one of the relevant streams or had a substantial experience and exposure in the real-estate sector.

Those aspiring for a career in lease financing and administration should start preparing themselves from school itself. They should concentrate on finance, business administration, communications, real estate, and accounting right from school days.

Job Skills 

Lease administrators should possess excellent computer skills. They should have a sound knowledge of word processing, spreadsheets, the Internet and the database software. The aspiring candidate should be well-organized. He should possess a keen eye for detail.

Lease administrators should have exceptional communication and interpersonal skills. They should be able to communicate clearly, identify any problems and effectively resolve issues and potential conflicts.

Career Outlook

As per the information revealed by the U.S. BLS (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics) job opportunities for real estate, properties, as well as, community association administrators, including lease administrators, have been projected to grow roughly at a slower-than-avg. rate of 6 percent from the year 2010 to the year 2020.

It is reported that actually these managers received a median wage of $67,541 and the salary would usually range from $57,170 to $88,675.

Author Bio

Mathew Hasselhoff is a certified career counselor, attached to a renowned consulting firm in the USA. He enjoys blogging immensely. 

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Gain These Skills to Become an Engineer

Engineering is one of the most sought after professions from a long time.

It is popular for many reasons that include the amount of creativity and education it involves, it pays you well, and most of all the effect that engineers can have on the human civilization through their inventions and innovations is unmatchable.

The tall skyscrapers that line the entire skyline of cities like Mumbai, New York and London are an example of an engineer’s extraordinary prowess.

It was in earlier times the most respected profession and engineers of those times were even more diligent as they build wonders like Pyramid of Egypt and other magnanimous structures without the help of modern machinery. Thus, it leaves little doubt that one should, if he or she could, follow a career in engineering.

For success in engineering career, to have technical acumen is not enough. There are many other things that matter and play a great role for employment and advancement.

Let’s discuss few of them in detail:

Subject knowledge

It is important for each engineer to have the knowledge in his/her field. For an example, a Mechanical Engineer must have the basic knowledge of fluid mechanics, manufacturing processes, CAD/CAE etc. Awareness of all the newest development in the field is very much important. It helps an engineer to build his/her own identity. Irrespective of the career you pick in future, do not forget to be up-to-dated with the latest advancements and technologies.

Analytical and creative thinking

Look around to your surroundings attentively as few of the most advanced and modern gadgets and technologies are created just while sorting out daily issues starting from a smartphone to an e-commerce. Engineers are always expected to be more creative and analytical. They can link any knowledge to completely a different thing to solve any problem.

Application of the knowledge

Securing excellent grades is not just enough. Application of that knowledge is more important. Good knowledge in any subject does not always mean that the person can solve a real-time issue. Employers always wish to recruit engineers who not only holds good marks on a subject but they also look for those who can call upon the appropriate skills as and when needed. So, start developing projects that can let your application skills evident.

Information literacy

This is very obvious that in a span of four years, one cannot excel and meet each demand of the industry in the current market. But, new jobs always look for latest technical advancement. Therefore, be information literate. It enables one to start as well as complete any project from the scratch. It is actually an ability to cope with the latest trend.

Multi-disciplinary

The culture these days in the workplace is very different from the past. At present, engineers need to work in inter-disciplinary teams with various projects that are multi-disciplinary in nature. A very common example is of an electronics engineer who needs to team up with computer engineers, designers, project managers and others in order to finish up a particular project like in a mobile technology. If he/she understands this basic division of work then definitely it will become easier to survive in this highly competitive era.

Zeal to learn

One of the most important things that make an engineer perfect is the zeal to learn more innovative things. This will not only make a person a better engineer but a better human being too.

It is a very true and thoughtful saying that, “the day a human being stops learning is the day he dies!” This is really true and therefore one should follow this mantra to be more successful professionally and personally.

Apart from these five points there are many more important aspects that make an engineer a perfect professional which includes acquaintance with computers & IT, familiarity with industry standards, communication, adaptability, creativity etc.

Author Bio

Saurabh Tyagi is a writer, social media enthusiast and a keen watcher of latest job trends. He is currently associated withNaukri.com, a leading online recruitment company in India. When he is not writing, you will find him reading about the latest in technology and new media.

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Student career guide: Have you selected the right cloud computing career direction?

With the growing popularity of cloud computing applications for businesses of all kinds and sizes, the need arises for professional cloud skilled labour.

Which path will you choose for yourself?

The rise of cloud computing technology can be unnerving for some in the IT industry, but for many it provides a straight shot at fast-tracking their career growth and plumping up their bank accounts. However, if you are looking to venture into cloud computing you will need to select a specific path, and know which skills are more valuable to possess.

In the US alone, there are nearly 4 million jobs for cloud computing professionals, according to a study by Forbes. The median remuneration is $90,950. Worldwide, there are over 18M jobs, with about 40% coming from China.

There is a growing need for use of hybrid and full cloud computing solutions, and with it the demand for people who can facilitate this cloud migration. Qualified candidates today still have the option of selecting from among over fifty jobs, though this will likely reduce over time.

Selecting your cloud career calling

There are two ways to establish your cloud computing career: first, you can become an IT pro with specialized cloud skills or go for IT administration which requires cloud architecture expertise.

Businesses looking for specialized cloud computing/development expertise are already matched with cloud service providers like Google Cloud Platform, MS Azure and Amazon Web Services. Positions within these organizations often involve up-and-coming DevOps automation processes/tools, typically within recently established enterprise groups.

Given the emerging trends in container and Docker technology, the market demands experience and knowledge in creating portable applications with containers. Knowledge of Docker is still highly desirable, since it is the preferred container technology for most providers. It would also be useful to have container-clustering expertise, like in Docker Swarm and Google Kubernetes systems

Building your career and the cloud

Most jobs today demand for specific cloud skills, with AWS jobs leading the pack, Google and MS experts coming after. These skills include development, operations and configuration positions, and can fetch the qualified candidate $110K-$220K dependent on other factors.

Businesses with openings for cloud architects are looking for someone to define the cloud, i.e. take then from business requirements to actual deployment. These are jobs associated with businesses that have not fully defined their cloud needs and require assistance in this. It may also involve outlining the extent of present private/public cloud, or building from the ground.

Cloud solution architects need to have strategic knowledge of as many cloud computing providers and technologies, and the expertise to create hybrid plans according to enterprise needs and business goals.

Remuneration packages lie between $150K and $250K, varying according to experience and location. Consulting firms are willing to pay more, but this will come with a lot of travel, meaning you plate will be full most of the time.

Conclusion

Investing in cloud computing expertise today is definitely a wise career move. However, cloud computing technology is quite fast-moving, meaning that you’ll have to put in a lot of extra work to ensure you remain current and relevant.

Author Bio

Felix Marshall is an IT enthusiast who contributes articles for various sites.

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Pursue Successful Career in Printing Services

Printing industry is quite a progressive industry and there is a wide spectrum of jobs available in this sector. Printing workers are involved in the production of print material in primarily three main stages namely prepress, press and both binding & finishing together.

Printing workers have the responsibility of reviewing specifications, calibrating printers or colour settings, identifying and fixing issues related to printing equipment and also, assembling pages.

The printing process involves three stages and in very small print shops it is common for one person to handle all three stages. However, mostly print shops have different sets of workers who specialize in jobs related to particular stages of the printing process.

Specialist Printing Workers

Prepress Technicians:

These workers render specialist printing services. They help in preparing print jobs and perform a number of tasks for assisting in converting pictures and text into finished pages and preparing the pages for printing.

Some prepress technicians called prefight technicians are responsible for taking images from customers or graphic designers and checking them for completeness.

They are responsible for designs and job specifications from clients’ electronic files or submitted sketches in order to make sure that everything is perfect and error-free and that all pictures are included.

A set of prepress workers specialize in a photographic process called Cold Type Technology for making offset printing plates.

This is a complicated process that involves chemical exposure and ultraviolet light through which pictures and text of any print job are left to harden on metallic plates so that they become water-resistant.

The print technology has recently made a lot of progress and has adopted revolutionary technology known as the direct-to-plate technology. Prepress technicians are now required to directly send the data to plating systems, thereby excluding the necessity for the customary photographic technique.

Printing Press Operators:

These workers specialize in preparing, running and maintaining printing presses. Their responsibilities vary as per the kind of press they would be operating.

Conventional printing processes such as gravure, lithography, letterpress and flexography are known to use a roller or plate carrying the final image and then the image is copied to paper.

However, in modern times, non-impact processes are becoming popular. Plateless processes include digital, ink-jet and electrostatic printing and are effective in duplicating, copying and specialty as well as document printing.

Nowadays commercial printers are used by digital presses mostly. Printing press operators learn to prepare, run as well as, maintain whatever printing presses they are operating.

Binding and Finishing Staff:

These workers are responsible for integrating printed sheets into a finished item such as catalogue, magazine or a book.

Their responsibilities are as per what they are supposed to bind. Often some binding and finishing tasks require only a single step. Preparing newspaper inserts or leaflets, for instance, simply needs a single folding and trimming.

Binding magazines and books would involve several steps.

Bindery workers are responsible for assembling the magazines or books at first from flat, large printed paper sheets.

Then they are supposed to operate machines that are used for folding printed paper sheets into signatures or groups of pages that are organized and arranged sequentially.

Then bindery workers are responsible for assembling signatures in the correct order and joining them by perfect binding or saddle stitching.

Requisite Skill-Set

Printing workers should possess excellent communication skills as they need to communicate with clients and understand their precise requirements.

They should possess basic computer skills and should be conversant with the publishing software.

They should have an eye for detail and possess basic math skills that are essential for coming up with estimates of amount of paper and ink required for a printing job. They should definitely have mechanical aptitude as well to be successful in their profession.

Educational Qualifications

Prepress technicians should acquire a formal Post-secondary Non-Degree Award or they could opt for an Associate’s Degree from a reputed technical school or a junior college, or any well-known community college.

Printing press operators as well as binding & finishing technicians should acquire a High School Diploma and should ideally complete Post-secondary coursework that is usually offered by vocational schools and community colleges.

Those aspiring to pursue management jobs in design or printing may opt for a Bachelor’s Degree Program in Graphic Design. Printing workers need to constantly update and upgrade their skills to stay abreast with recent developments in the printing industry.

Author Bio

Charles Denver is an experienced engineer turned career counselor who has been attached to a digital printing business for more than three decades. He has now taken to blogging, and tracks down new and innovative technology to analyze the impact it may have on the current printing market scenario.

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What You Need To Know About Building a Career as an Electrician or As a Carpenter

Two important careers you can build in the construction industry are either as an electrician or as a carpenter. Below are some of the useful things that you should generally know about starting or building a career in these two professions.

 Career as an Electrician

What the job entails

Most electricians choose to specialize between construction and maintenance jobs but at the end of the day, both skill sets will be useful to an electrician in general. Dealing with high voltage wiring as well as installing and maintaining data, voice and video wiring is also a part of this ever-evolving career.

A large percentage of electricians is self-employed and works in residential, industrial and commercial sites. Electricians like most other crucial service jobs, have to work full time, after normal work hours and even over the weekend.

While at the job, electricians don’t shy away from getting into little dirty spaces that are uncomfortable in order to get the job done and for this reason they are susceptible to minor injuries such as shocks, and scalding.

This is the reason why it is important to take up a course that will instruct you on what you need to know.

There are several electrician courses in London that you could take to help you avoid any injury or harm.

Educational and training background

In order to be a skilled electrician, most people usually go through some sort of apprenticeship course on top of having some formal educational background.

A good apprenticeship course requires a specific number of classroom and on the job hours in order to get accreditation to work in most well-paying electrician jobs. Such a course can take as long as four years to complete.

Career as a Carpenter

What the job entails

Despite what most people think, a career as a carpenter doesn’t only involve knowing how to work with wood.

You also need knowledge on working with other materials such as fiberglass, plastic and drywall. Being precisely able to follow specifications and blueprints is what distinguishes the good carpenters from the ordinary ones because of the quality of work that they are able to produce.

A carpenter should be able to assemble, build and repair structures and fixtures using the different materials mentioned above but especially with wood.

Most carpenters find their careers in the construction industry where the jobs are full time and often require adherence to strict deadlines. There are many other carpenters who also find a career as self-employed craftsmen.

Being a carpenter can be a physically demanding job because you will need to be on your feet or on your knees throughout most of the day, and you will also need to lift heavy materials.

Educational and training background

There are several ways to get into a career as a carpenter and most of them will involve some on the job apprenticeship and academic or classroom time.

The options mainly include taking an apprenticeship course, a graduate course or a contractor’s on the job training.

Author Bio:

Susan S. Martinez has been a career counselor for the last 15 years. She recommends electrician courses in London and other practical skills to everyone she meets who wants to build confidence and skills that they can earn some money from. Visit her blog for more information.

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A Manchester Career Advisor Shares The 3 Ss For a Successful Career Choice

I have met hundreds of career professionals in their late 20’s looking for a career change because they choose the wrong career/university course.

Choosing the right profession is key to a work-life balance. The ideal position creates motivation, decreases workplace stress and increase your chances of promotion, higher salary and career happiness.

But how do you choose the best matched job role? Today a Manchester Career Advisor will share the secret of career options using the 3 S’s for a successful career choice

The First S – Strengths

The best career choice is role that naturally utilizes your natural strengths.

First write a list of all your strengths, skills and qualities. Reread past employer appraisals and add to your list the strengths your previous employer said you had. Ask friends and family members what they believe is your natural talent.

Think about the duties you enjoy doing, the task that you find a breeze to complete and the skills that you have now, that you had as a child.

Circle the strengths that you, previous employers and family members all stated

The Second S – Your Story

Next, think about you and who you want to be. Imagine writing a character from the story of your future.

This character is you at your best. When you think about you at your best, what is important to this you? What does this you value? What do they believe in? How do they act? Who do they associative with? What are their aspirations and goals?

What is important to this version of you?

The Third S – Simple Irritations

Do you find that little things annoy you? Some of these irritations annoy you but not others. This is because we all have our own personality type, stress inducers and motivational traits.

Think about how you work best and what styles of work increase stress. Do you work better alone or within a team? Do you preference following procedures or having creativity? Are you interested more in people or systems?

Do you work more productively starting and finishing one task or do you enjoy the challenge of multitasking? Are you an organised individual who works with dairies, to-do list and in a neat and tidy environment or can you work in a mess, with information scribbled on post-it notes stuck under a book?

List what approaches to work motivates you and which working styles stress you?

Putting the 3 S’s Together

With a list of your key strengths, your story (your values and beliefs) and your motivational and stress indicators.

You can now match these to career ideas. If, as an example, creatively, innovation and design was a current theme you know a career in the art and design sector would suit you best.

Once you have spotted your common theme Google “theme Careers” IE “Art and Design Careers” Google will collate Art and Design job profile and job descriptions for you to examine. Read the various related roles and circle any duties that you would enjoy doing on a day to day basis.

The job description with the most circled duties will be a suitable role for you

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Why You Should Join a Fitness Academy and Develop a Strong career in Health Management?

There is no doubt healthcare industry has become one of the most dynamic industries in the world with ample number of job opportunities. Among several developed sectors, modern health care industry is demonstrating immense potential that has already made the industry among the top sectors.

Efficient health care management is one of the most important imperatives for any country in the world that can even sustain a stable growth rate. However, health care industry needs skilled and efficient workforce in medical science and they should be well aware of new technology used in health care industry.

Make Your Choice a Social Mission

Initiatives taken by health care executives can improve the life of millions of people no matter which part of the world they are residing at. Health care executives are working in the industry with a sense of social mission and they immensely care about people they serve.

Hospitals and other organizations, related with health care service are the largest employers in many communities, their service positively influences the health and well-being of a large part of population and that is why health care executives are highly respected across the world.

Build Your Career in Health Care Industry

An education in health care management can lead you to a different direction. In order to pursue a traditional career in health care management system, educated people in this industry tend to work in various areas like pharmaceutical companies, management consulting, health insurance companies, etc.

The skill and experience one avails from a health care management program always provides a competitive advantage within the health care industry.

Once you are in this field, you will be able to avail several opportunities such as health care executives, administrators, clinical managers, nursing home administrators or fitness trainers.

A degree in health care management can enable you to be part of team that has been assigned to explore the medical tourism sector of a region.

In addition, for building a strong career in health care management, you can checkout the keleven’s career guide for fitness trainers.

Courses and Eligibility Criteria

Health care management courses and programs always consider diverse management principles like communications, account management, operations and other options available in health care industry. If you want, then you can go for both graduation and post graduation degree courses or you can pursue a diploma in health care management.

If you already have completed course in subjects like life science, microbiology, medicine, pharmacy, physiotherapy, biotechnology, veterinary science, nursing or paramedics, then you can easily pursue a career in health care management.

Continual Self Improvement

Health care management is a kind of career that offers continual self-improvement and education and most importantly, employers always encourage professionals to learn more for professional development.

Many health care organizations often consider in-service training or tuition remission to keep their professional updated with latest technologies in health care industry.

However, innovation and the process of self-skill development will be part of your job in health care industry since the day you start.

Excellent Earning Potential

Students pursuing career in heath care management would have excellent earning potential. A graduate student can easily expect from $50,000 to $ 100,000 as starting salary per year.

In addition, senior health care executive with a bit experience can earn near about $200,000 from his industry. Those who want to shine in the fitness sector can also check recent examiner’s article on becoming a personal trainer.

Therefore, pursuing a career in health care industry would definitely be dream come true experience for you through which you can earn both social respect and financial advancement.

Author Bio

Michelle Rose is a personal trainer who maintains a strong career in health management.
She writes many blogs about varied career tips in the fitness training industry

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Ease Your Admission into a Post-Graduation College with these Interview Questions

Most of the post-graduation colleges admit students by testing their capabilities through different procedures.

One of these hurdles that the students face is the interview round that takes place mostly as a final test before starting the curriculum. So, it is important to prepare yourself with the common interview questions and tackle them in a way that makes your way smooth inside the institute.

Read the following article to get a hang of the interview questions and how to deal with them.

Getting to the interview in itself means that your application has displayed your abilities to an extent. The interviewer further wants to test your skills and commitment. Interviewers also want to see how you will fit into the institution or a research group. These questions have a specific meaning and the interviewer exactly know what to ask.

The questions would definitely depend on the course that you are getting into but some of the typical questions with not so typical answers are listed here. Having a look at them once before you are appearing for the course will ease your process of admission to the course and getting to know what is the interviewer expecting out of them.

 

Let’s take a look:

Why do you want to take up this program/course?

With this question the interviewer wants to understand how passionate you are for the course or the program that you want to pursue. Referring here to modules and projects about or a paper from your undergraduate course that further developed your interest. Explain to the interviewer that why this course is important in order to achieve your career aim.

Take for example you are seeking admissions to MS courses in UK or an M.Tech course in US, or a M.Com degree in India you will have to know that how a particular course will draft your career. It is possible that you may need to discuss your plan in detail, so you should better be prepared for it.

Why do you choose this University?

Another hurdle that you may need to clear is to make the interviewer believe that you have chosen the best university for you. The familiarity with the departments related to your research and how well it is known in the academic community should be your main focus. Do not try to butter them, just simply tell them how being here will help you tailor your career path.

Secondly, highlight the research aspects of the course that you find attractive, the methods, the structure of the program and display your firm believe in the college.

For example picking one of the above mentioned examples, MS colleges in UK would like to know what search do you have about the college you have chosen and what about the other colleges offering same course in UK.

What are your five years goal?

You may think that once you are out of the room, the interviewer may not even remember what you said. Still, you have to be prepared to the fullest because they are not interested in your five year plans, rather they are interested to know about your organizing skills, planning skills etc.

Not only do they test the skills but also become sure that you will be committed to the course for the entire tenure and have plans to take it further.

How will you be beneficial to us?

To ensure success, do not list your skills. Rather give examples of your achievements in the past. Research about the competencies that the universities are looking out and try linking your skills to the competencies required. What they want to know is:

  • Your achievements weather from earlier courses or work if any
  • How are you a performer?
  • Will your skills benefit the course in some way

Which part of the course were you the most interested?

The question is designed to understand weather you have a genuine enthusiasm for the study or not. Again explain your career path and how important this course is to you. Even you do not have a set plan, display interests that make you a serious student. 

What are you as a person?

Getting to know about your interests and future plans, the interviewer now will shift the focus on if you are going to be a healthy part of the system. In other words, he will want to know if you will be able to adjust to the environment that the university offers to the students. You may offer your strengths and weaknesses here. You may talk about:

  • Your accomplishments in extracurricular activities
  • Contributions made in previous academic session or work (if any)
  • What do you like

You can talk about yourself as much as you wish to do, just remember you have to leave a positive impact when you leave.

Final Words

Your goals will define your career path and will help you answer most of the questions, some listed here; some may come up randomly. You never know what the interviewer can think!

Also, keep in mind a formal attire when appearing for an interview. The way you dress up ends half of the interview; in a positive or a negative manner depends on you.

AUTHOR BIO

Akansha Arora is a professional writer and blogger who loves to pen down her views on a number of topics that interest a reader. She writes keeping in mind the current scenarios and wishes to keep her readers well informed.

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Tips to Prepare a Career Emergency Plan

One of my friends called me some time back completely panicked. The reason? She was about to be laid off by her employer and did not know what to do! I tried to calm her down and asked, “Do you have a career emergency plan?” But she had no idea about what this career emergency plan is! Well, do you know, and do you have a back-up plan for your career emergency? If not, read more…

Why do you need a career emergency plan?

Just as emergency plans are made to meet crisis such as an earthquake or fire, our career plan also needs an emergency plan to meet the last minute changes or situations.  Many people continue with their current job for years without getting an idea of where they are heading in their career.

Nowadays, one can come across one or the other news about job cuts, companies planning to downsize, etc. This could certainly raise a question- “Is your job at risk?” In fact, no job is 100 percent secure. Companies hire when their business demands and cut some jobs when required. In that case, a career emergency plan can help you not to hit the panic button during a layoff, career change, or finding a better opportunity.

Hence, it is always advisable to prepare yourself for a ‘pink slip’. Here’s how you can create your perfect career emergency plan:

How to prepare for it?

  • Keep looking for new opportunities

The simple rule is to stay in an unexpected game. Do not stop exploring new or better career opportunities even if you are comfortable in your current job. A plan ‘B’ is always recommended in the form of a continuous or a passive job search.

  • Maintain your emergency fund

Save on your unnecessary expenses and save a major amount from your paycheck to maintain an emergency savings fund. Proper financial planning can help you to meet your expenses in case of any critical situation like a sudden layoff.

  • Keep updating your resume and online profiles

It is always good if you keep updating your resume and online profiles on professional social networking sites like LinkedIn. Keep on adding your latest accomplishments, skills, projects, career plans, etc.

  • Compile a list of your dream companies

A clear focus on your preferred employers/companies makes it easier to search a new job. Hence, prepare a spreadsheet and include important details such as company name, website, contact details, and job page links.

  • Build your network

Maintaining a strong career network helps a great deal in finding a new job and circulating your resume in the right hands. Social networking platforms such as LinkedIn and Twitter offer a great place to connect with people across the geographical boundaries. Hence, if you are looking for a job abroad or in your own country, your career network can play a vital role in updating or referring to a relevant job. All you need to do is to keep your network informed about what you are looking for.

  • Stay in touch

Creating profiles on social media platforms and joining groups is not sufficient to get great results. It is vital to manage your network regularly and reach out to all your contacts. Retweeting posts, inviting others to join various groups, complimenting them on their accomplishments, etc. are some ways to stay in touch with your network.

  • Identify your career ‘Non-Negotiables’

In situations like layoffs, it is natural to get panic and tempt to take up any first job that comes your way. However, this might turn up to be worse when the decision taken in a hurry makes you search your job again after six months. Hence, prepare a list of the factors that you prefer in your new job.

The best way to sail through a bad stage in your career path is to have a ready action plan. Take out some time from your daily work schedule for all the above-mentioned points- social networking, profile updating, looking for new opportunities, and maintaining an emergency savings fund.

Good luck!