Showing posts with label Career. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Career. Show all posts

Tuesday, July 04, 2017

Inspirational Quotes

An unusual collection of quotes about success, serf-improvement etc.
Here:

http://best-quotations.com/inspirational.php



Friday, December 17, 2010

Resume overused words

Top 10 overused buzzwords in LinkedIn Profiles in the USA – 2010


  • 1. Extensive experience

  • 2. Innovative

  • 3. Motivated

  • 4. Results-oriented

  • 5. Dynamic

  • 6. Proven track record

  • 7. Team player

  • 8. Fast-paced

  • 9. Problem solver

  • 10. Entrepreneurial

Friday, March 13, 2009

"Like's" & "don't like's" in a Resume

Here is a list of "likes" and don't like's" in a Resume (found it in Guy Kawasaki's blog)

Here’s What I Like:
  1. A direct style: use blunt, short words. Most resumes are scanned, not read.
  2. Looks: like a middle-aged man’s apartment. Nice and tidy.
  3. Objective: be direct; your objective is the job you’re applying for.
  4. Verbs ending in “d”: shipped, launched, built, sold.
  5. Results: not responsibilities or experience — but what responsibilities and experience helped you accomplish.
  6. Bullets: 3 ñ 4 results per job.
  7. Numbers: increased traffic from Google 230%, decreased ad spending 40%.
  8. Grades: your GPA, even if it was ten years ago, if it’s over 3.5.
  9. Reviews: ratings from your last review, especially useful if you worked for a tough grader like Microsoft
  10. Honors: we’ll interview an employee-of-the-quarter, every time.
  11. Promotions: if your role changes, highlight that as two jobs.
  12. LinkedIn endorsements: persuasive, even from your friends; excerpted & linked.
  13. A link to your blog: a blog gives you online street cred. For some, it is your resume .
  14. Themes: whether you care about customer service or agile software, tell a consistent story from job to job.
  15. Hobbies: I always want to meet people with fun hobbies. And that’s all a resume is: a request for a meeting. At Plumtree, we received a resume from a Playboy model. A colleague forwarded it to me with a note reading, “I’ve never asked you for anything beforeÖ” I feel the same way about cyclists.
  16. Two pages, max: if you’re under 30, one page.
  17. Anything you did that showed initiative or passion. Eagle Scout. Math Olympics.
  18. Email to the CEO: it takes chutzpah & resourcefulness to go straight to the top. The email address is easy to guess.
  19. Customization: tailor your resume & especially the cover letter to the job.
  20. Completed degrees: I’ve hired plenty of folks a few credits shy of a degree. Some were great; many couldn’t finish what they started. If you have time now, finish your degree.
  21. Gmail address: or your own domain. Nothing says “totally out of it” like an AOL address.
Here’s What I Don’t Like:
  1. Churn: stints at two or more employers of less than two years.
  2. List of generic skills: just show what you actually accomplished at each job.
  3. Typos or misspellings: About half the resumes I get are addressed to “RedFin.” For the other words, spell-check!
  4. Photos: my favorite was of a candidate in tennis whites with a racket.
  5. “Proven”: as in “proven leadership.” We all still have something to prove.
  6. Printed resumes: email a Word document, web page or PDF.
  7. Buzzwords: search bots love it, actual people don’t.
  8. Wordiness: yes, this is the pot calling the kettle black…
But this is just one person’s (very opinionated) opinion

Thursday, March 05, 2009

Are you a professional?

"So learn this as a first lesson about life. The only successful beings in any field, including living itself, are those who have a professional viewpoint and make themselves and ARE professionals" — L. Ron Hubbard

  • A professional learns every aspect of the job. An amateur skips the learning process whenever possible.
  • A professional carefully discovers what is needed and wanted. An amateur assumes what others need and want.
  • A professional looks, speaks and dresses like a professional. An amateur is sloppy in appearance and speech.
  • A professional keeps his or her work area clean and orderly. An amateur has a messy, confused or dirty work area.
  • A professional is focused and clear-headed. An amateur is confused and distracted.
  • A professional does not let mistakes slide by. An amateur ignores or hides mistakes.
  • A professional jumps into difficult assignments. An amateur tries to get out of difficult work.
  • A professional completes projects as soon as possible. An amateur is surrounded by unfinished work piled on top of unfinished work.
  • A professional remains level-headed and optimistic. An amateur gets upset and assumes the worst.
  • A professional handles money and accounts very carefully. An amateur is sloppy with money or accounts.
  • A professional faces up to other people’s upsets and problems. An amateur avoids others’ problems.
  • A professional uses higher emotional tones: Enthusiasm, cheerfulness, interest, contentment. An amateur uses lower emotional tones: anger, hostility, resentment, fear, victim.
  • A professional persists until the objective is achieved. An amateur gives up at the first opportunity.
  • A professional produces more than expected. An amateur produces just enough to get by.
  • A professional produces a high-quality product or service. An amateur produces a medium-to-low quality product or service.
  • A professional earns high pay. An amateur earns low pay and feels it’s unfair.
  • A professional has a promising future. An amateur has an uncertain future.

The first step to making yourself a professional is to decide you ARE a professional.

Are you a professional?

Monday, October 27, 2008

14 things to do if you are laid off from a tech job

A post from Rafe Needleman, CNet

I saw a great piece of advice in a recent story on U.S. News & World Report called 10 things to do on the day after you're laid off: "Write a thank-you note to your former boss." I like that. It can't hurt, and if your boss hears of openings elsewhere, you're now that much more likely to get the referral.



Geeks and other tech employees are a little different from the vanilla workforce, though, so I wanted to put together a list of specific things that people in our part of the economy might want to consider if they're let go. Here's the rundown.




1. Get involved in an open-source project
It's where the most interesting and influential products are being developed, and more importantly, many open-source projects are filled with people who are also connected to companies that pay their engineers. Plus, obviously, working on a development project will keep you sharp and expand your skill set.


2. Go to start-up fairs
Wherever people are pitching new businesses, be there. They're all hiring. If not now, then soon. I am partial to the Under the Radar series (I helped start them and moderate at many of them), and there are several a year. Update: I just talked with the organizers of the next UTR event, which focuses on mobility startups, and they've created a special pink slip discount: $200 off admission, includes entry to the opening night reception for even more networking. There are 20 tickets at this rate.


3. Get project work
You may not have a daily gig, but you still have your skills, and there are people who need them. Head over to a project marketplace like oDesk or eLance and pick up some work.


4. Update your profiles
Go to your pages on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter etc., and let people know you are available for new projects. While you're at it, proactively send out notes to your trusted associates that you are looking for work. As we say here at CNET: "duh."


5. Learn some new skills
No, I don't mean to learn Rails if you're a Java guy. That's obvious. I mean cooking, rock climbing, riding a motorcycle--something that you didn't have the time to do while you were an FTE.


6. Answer some questions
Scan Friendfeed and Twitter Search for people asking questions in your areas of expertise, hang out in message boards on things you know stuff about. You'll see what's going on in the industry, you might be able to help people out (always worthwhile), and you might also land a tip for a gig.


7. Get a girlfriend or boyfriend
Don't let the fact that you have no job, per se, slow you down. You can still earn some dough. You will have more control over your schedule. And you can spend some of your newfound time with your new friend, assuming this friend doesn't have his or her own 18-hour-a-day engineering job.


8. Campaign in a swing state
Hurry up, though.


9. Take some time off
"Invest a little and travel to a seaside town in Mexico, even if it's just a few days. Mexico is easy to get to, it might be cheaper to live there, and lying on a beach is certainly not a bad way to contemplate what you want to do with the rest of your career. At the very least, you'll see people who get by on a lot less than we make."


10. Move out of the Bay Area
Just a thought: This is a very expensive place to live, and the economy is heavily tilted to tech. If you have other skills, you might find a better market for them elsewhere, and it will be less expensive to maintain your lifestyle. Plus, you can continue to do project work.


11. Buy a new rig
Yes, you're going to have to do the obvious and odious task of taking a financial inventory and cutting back on your expenses, but you will also need current tools to pick up projects. You'll be more positive about working on those projects if you're doing it on a shiny new system configured just the way you like.


12. Take pictures
Put your $1,500 dSLR to use by selling stock-art pictures of household objects to Fotolia, ShutterStock, iStockphoto, StockXpert, etc. "It's cheap for people to buy images compared to the traditional stock (photo) market, but it can be lucrative over time because images sell over and over. I've made money without trying too hard. But quality standards are going up, so you can't just upload any old crap. Brush up on your model releases."


13. Volunteer
"It can build new skills (like leadership), a new portfolio. Someone capable of making their kid's Boy Scout troop turn a profit suddenly looks a lot more proactive than the shlub who catches up on reruns while waiting for Craigslist to pay off."


14. Start your own company
If you have some savings and can afford to work for peanuts (or less), it's a great time to start a company. Without the annoying distraction of a booming economy, you can focus on building a product to solve a problem you know people will have again when the economy loosens up. There is still funding, even, for early-stage companies. What should you build? We leave that as an exercise for the reader.

Saturday, July 21, 2007

What we should learn in school (by G.Kawasaki)

Compare your answers to what you learned after a few years in the workforce. It seems to me that schools often teach the opposite of what's necessary for the real world. Perhaps in school people have plenty of time and no money, so long papers, emails, and presentations are not a problem. However, people in the real world have plenty of money (or at least more money) and no time. This is a list of what I wished I learned in school before I graduated.

1. How to talk to your boss. In college, you’re supposed to bring problems to your teachers during office hours, and you share the experience of coming up with a solution. In the real world, you’re supposed to bring solutions to your boss in an email, in the hall, or in a five-minute conversation. Typically, your boss either already knows about the problem or doesn’t want to know about it. Your role is to provide answers, not questions. Believe it or not, but in the real world, those who can do, do. Those who can’t do, share with others who can’t do.




2. How to survive a meeting that’s poorly run. Unfortunately, it could be a while before you run meetings. Until then, you’ll be a hapless victim of them, so adopt these three practices to survive. First, assume that most of what you’ll hear is pure, petty, ass-covering bull shiitake, and it’s part of the game. This will prevent you from going crazy. Second, focus on what you want to accomplish in the meeting and ignore everything else. Once you get what you want, take yourself “out of your body,” sit back, and enjoy the show. Third, vow to yourself that someday you’ll start a company, and your meetings won’t work like this.




3. How to run a meeting. Hopefully, you’ll be running meetings soon. Then you need to understand that the primary purpose of a business meeting is to make a decision. It is not to share experiences or feel warm and fuzzy. With that in mind, here are five key points to learn about running a meeting: (1) Start on time even if everyone isn’t there because they will be next time; (2) Invite the fewest people possible to the meeting; (3) Set an agenda for exactly what’s going to happen at the meeting; (4) End on time so that everyone focuses on the pertinent issues; (5) Send an email to all participants that confirms decisions reviews action items. There are more power tips for running good meetings, but if you do these five, you’re ahead of 90% of the world.



4. How to figure out anything on your own. Armed with Google, PDFs of manuals, and self-reliance, force yourself to learn how to figure out just about anything on your own. There are no office hours, no teaching assistants, and study groups in the real world. Actually, the real world is one long, often lonely independent study, so get with it. Here’s a question to test your research prowess. How do you update the calendar in a Motorola Q phone with appointments stored in Now-Up-To-Date?



5. How to negotiate. Don’t believe what you see in reality television shows about negotiation and teamwork. They’re all bull shiitake. The only method that works in the real world involves five steps: (1) Prepare for the negotiation by knowing your facts; (2) Figure out what you really want; (3) Figure out what you don’t care about; (4) Figure out what the other party really wants (per Kai); and (5) Create a win-win outcome to ensure that everyone is happy. You’ll be a negotiating maven if you do this.



6. How to have a conversation. Generally, “Whassup?” doesn’t work in the real world. Generally, “What do you do?” unleashes a response that leads to a good conversation (hence the recommendation below). Generally, if you listen more than you talk, you will (ironically) be considered not only a good conversationalist but also smart. Yes, life is mysterious sometimes.



7. How to explain something in thirty seconds. Unfortunately, many schools don’t have elevators or else students would know how to explain things in a thirty-second elevator pitch. Think mantra (three words), not mission statements (sixty words). Think time, not money, is the most important commodity. Think ahead, not on your feet. At the end of your thirty-second spiel, there should be an obvious answer to the question, “ So what?” If you can’t explain enough in thirty seconds to incite interest, you’re going to have a long, boring career.



8. How to write a one-page report. I remember struggling to meet the minimum page requirements of reports in college. Double spacing and 14 point Selectric typewriter balls saved me. Then I went out into the real world, and encountered bosses who wanted a one-page report. What the heck??? The best reports in the real world are one page or less. (The same thing is true of resumes, but that’s another, more controversial topic for unemployed people who want to list all the .Net classes that they took.)



9. How to write a five-sentence email. Young people have an advantage over older people in this area because older people (like me) were taught to write letters that were printed on paper, signed, stuck in an envelope, and mailed. Writing a short email was a new experience for them. Young people, by contrast are used to IMing and chatting. If anything, they’re too skilled on brevity, but it’s easier to teach someone how to write a long message than a short one. Whether UR young or old, the point is that the optimal length of an email message is five sentences. All you should do is explain who you are, what you want, why you should get it, and when you need it by.



10. How to get along with co-workers. Success in school is mostly determined by individual accomplishments: grades, test scores, projects, whatever. Few activities are group efforts. Then you go out in the real world the higher you rise in an organization, the less important your individual accomplishments are. What becomes more and more important is the ability to work with/through/besides and sometimes around others. The most important lesson to learn: Share the credit with others because a rising tide floats all boats.


What about freeloaders? (Those scum of the earth that don’t do anything for the group.) In school you can let them know how you truly feel. You can’t in the real world because bozos have a way of rising to the top of many organizations, and bozos seek revenge. The best solution is to bite your tongue, tolerate them, and try to never have them on the team again, but there’s little upside in criticizing them.



11. How to use PowerPoint. I’ve seen the PowerPoint slides of professors—it’s no wonder that most people can’t use PowerPoint to sell hybrid cars when gas is $10/gallon. Maybe professors are thinking: “This is a one-hour class, I can cover one slide per minute, so I need sixty slides. Oh, and I’ve written all this text already in my textbook, so I’ll just copy and paste my twelve-point manuscript into the presentation.” Perhaps the tenure system causes this kind of problem. In the real world, this is no tenure so you need to limit yourself to ten slides, twenty minutes, and a thirty-point font—assuming that you want to get what you want.



12. How to leave a voicemail. Very few people of any age leave good voicemails. The purpose of a voicemail is to make progress towards along a continuum whose end is getting what you want. A long voicemail isn’t going to zip you along to the end point of this decision. A good model is to think of a voicemail as an oral version of a compelling five-sentence email; the optimal length of a voicemail is fifteen seconds.

Two power tips: First, slowly say your telephone number once at the beginning of your message and again at the end. You don’t want to make people playback your message to get your phone number, and if either of you are using Cingular, you may not hear all the digits. Second (and this applies to email too), always make progress. Never leave a voicemail or send an email that says, “Call me back, and I’ll tell you what time we can meet.” Just say, “Tuesday, 10:00 am, at your office.”



One last thing: the purpose of going to school is not to prepare for working but to prepare for living. Working is a part of living, and it requires these kinds of skills no matter what career you pursue. However, there is much more to life than work, so study what you love.

Monday, October 23, 2006

The cardinal rules of email etiquette

  • NEVER TYPE IN ALL CAPS. THAT’S LIKE SCREAMING. REALLY!
  • Be wary of any kind of attachment - even if it comes from someone you know.
  • If a file you wish to send is larger than 2MB, think twice before sending it.
  • HTML stationery is annoying; if you don’t need to use it, don’t.
  • Use BCC instead of CC to keep other email addresses private.
  • Don’t delete relevant information when you reply to someone.
  • If you can’t spell well, rememmber to run a spell check before sending.
  • Try to keep your messages as short as possible - you’re not writing a novel.
  • Never send emails when you’re mad - wait until you calm down first. Trust me.
  • Triple-check that you’re not sending a message to someone who shouldn’t see it.
  • Remember that when you send something electronically, it has the potential of “living” forever.
  • Before you forward an email joke, make sure it’s funny first. Please?

Thursday, July 13, 2006

Cracking under pressure

Here is an old article from New York Times. I think it's interesting and usefull


Cracking Under the Pressure? It's Just the Opposite, for Some

By ANAHAD O'CONNOR

Published: September 10, 2004


FFor Michael Jones, an architect at a top-tier firm in New York, juggling multiple projects and running on four hours of sleep is business as usual. Mr. Jones has adjusted, he says, to a rapid pace and the constant pressure that leads his colleagues to "blow up" from time to time.

A design project can drag on for more than a year, often requiring six-day workweeks and painstaking effort. At the moment, he said, he is working on four.

But for Mr. Jones, the stress is worth it, if only because every now and then he can gaze at the Manhattan skyline and spot a product of his labor: the soaring profile of the Chatham apartment building on East 65th Street, one of many structures he has helped design in his 14 years at Robert A. M. Stern Architects.

"If I didn't feel like I was part of something important, I wouldn't be able to do this," he said.

Mr. Jones belongs to a rare breed of worker that psychologists have struggled to understand for decades, not for the sheer amount of stress they grapple with day to day, but for the way they flourish under it. They are a familiar but puzzling force in the workplace, perpetually functioning in overdrive to meet a punishing schedule or a demanding boss.

To colleagues, these men and women may seem simply like workaholics. But psychologists who study them call them resilient, or hardy, and say they share certain backgrounds and qualities that enable them to thrive under enormous pressure.

"People who are high in hardiness enjoy ongoing changes and difficulties," said Dr. Salvatore R. Maddi, a professor of psychology at the University of California, Irvine, and the author of a forthcoming book, "Resilience at Work." "They find themselves more involved in their work when it gets tougher and more complicated. They tend to think of stress as a normal part of life, rather than as something that's unfair.''

Chronic stress has been linked to an array of illnesses, including heart disease and depression. But people who cope successfully, studies have found, punch in at work with normal levels of stress hormones that climb during the day and drop sharply at night. Their coworkers who complain of being too stressed have consistently higher levels of hormones that rarely dip very far, trapping them in a constant state of anxiety.

At the same time, resilient people seem to avoid stress-related health and psychological problems, even as colleagues are falling to pieces, say researchers who have studied strenuous work environments.

"Some of it is genetic, some of it is how you were raised, and some it is just your personality," Dr. Bruce McEwen, director of the neuroendocrinology laboratory at Rockefeller University, said.

People who thrive under pressure do not necessarily seek out particular professions, researchers say. But whether they are on the trading floor or the campaign trail, they all appear to have had early experiences in difficult environments that taught them how to regulate their stress levels. They can sense when they are reaching their breaking point, and they know when to take a walk or turn off the ringer.

In some cases, these people subject themselves to stresses of their own making, driven by an unconscious urge to conquer pressures that dogged them as children or young adults, said Steven Kuchuck, a psychotherapist in New York who treats many patients who seek out demanding jobs and relationships.

"There's this strong desire to go back to similar sources of stress that they grew up with in an effort to master it," Mr. Kuchuck said. "Some people will say 'No, I don't like a lot of stress,' but they find themselves in one stressful job after another, so there must be something that's pulling them."

Mr. Kuchuck has also seen the opposite: people who crave a frenzied career because they feel their childhoods were not stimulating at all.

But regardless of what propels people to push themselves, what allows them to prosper, psychologists say, is a strong commitment to their career, a feeling of being in control, and a tendency to view stress as a challenge rather than as a burden.

People's attitudes toward their jobs and the degree to which they feel they make a difference by showing up each day have long been considered powerful indicators of how well they will do. Being just another cog in a machine with no say over what happens is almost guaranteed to cause burnout. But even in the most grueling work environment, people can cope if they feel they have some control.

Studies of professional musicians show that people in orchestras are often less satisfied and more stressed than those in small chamber groups because they lack autonomy, according to Dr. Robert M. Sapolsky, a professor of biology and neurology at Stanford and the author of "Why Zebras Don't Get Ulcers." Orchestra musicians are at the mercy of their maestro's every whim. For years, they had no power even to take regular bathroom breaks.

"The people who are under someone's thumb, who are low-ranking and don't have any decision-making,'' Dr. McEwen said, "these are the people who always experience more anxiety."

People who exhibit hardiness are reluctant to cede control. They are also less likely to feel victimized by their bosses or by unpredictable life circumstances. When there is a crisis at work, they can tough it out because they accept a harsh workload or the occasional pink slip as an unsavory but inevitable part of life, psychologists say.

"They know there'll be different challenges, some you can't even anticipate, yet they train their minds to say these things are expected," said Dr. Robert Brooks, a clinical psychologist at Harvard Medical School and the author of "The Power of Resilience."

Anticipating troubled waters can decrease vulnerability to stress-induced diseases. In the early 1980's, Dr. Maddi of U.C. Irvine followed hundreds of employees at Illinois Bell when its parent company, AT&T, was facing federal deregulation. More than 10,000 people eventually lost their jobs.

"There was suicide, depression, anxiety disorders, divorces, heart attacks, strokes - all the things that could be attributed to massive stress," Dr. Maddi said.

But while about two-thirds of the workers in Dr. Maddi's sample unraveled, the other third thrived. They survived the incident with their health intact and hung onto their jobs or moved to another company where they quickly climbed up the ranks.

When the researchers went back and reviewed their first set of interviews, they found that many of the people who made it through unscathed had stressful family backgrounds - constant moving, their parents getting divorced - and were more likely to describe change as inevitable.

"Some of the people who cracked had initially taken a job with Bell rather than I.B.M. because they believed it was safe and didn't want any disruption," Dr. Maddi said.

Stress is unavoidable, so bracing for it every now and then is the best way to cope. But people who are on constant alert may be suffering from an anxiety disorder, psychologists say.

Those who collapse under the pressures of the workplace are prone to envision every worst-case scenario, while resilient people think of how a greater workload, for example, might lead to a promotion. In studies, researchers have found that perhaps the only time pessimists thrive is when they become lawyers.

"If you're drawing up a contract, the ability to see every foreseeable danger is something that goes along with pessimism, but it's also what makes a good lawyer," Dr. Martin Seligman, a professor of psychology at the University of Pennsylvania, said. "The problem is, not only are they good at seeing that the roof might collapse on you, they're also good at seeing that their mate might be having an affair, that they're never going to make partner."

But one way to overcome cynicism and exhaustion, said Dr. Andy Morgan, an associate professor of psychiatry at Yale, is with a sense of personal accomplishment.

An architect who toils six days a week, regularly burning the midnight oil, like Mr. Jones, can be happy if a glimpse of the Manhattan skyline illustrates the value of his efforts.

"When you feel that you're accomplishing something, it's akin to a sense of control," Dr. Morgan said. "When people start feeling that what they're doing is not meaningful, then they take more sick days, begin looking for another job, and complain of health problems."

Monday, July 10, 2006

Bill Swanson's full list of rules

  • Learn to say, "I don't know." If used when appropriate, it will be often.
  • It is easier to get into something than it is to get out of it.
  • If you are not criticized, you may not be doing much.
  • Look for what is missing. Many know how to improve what's there, but few can see what isn't there.
  • Viewgraph rule: When something appears on a viewgraph (an overhead transparency), assume the world knows about it, and deal with it accordingly.
  • Work for a boss with whom you are comfortable telling it like it is. Remember that you can't pick your relatives, but you can pick your boss.
  • Constantly review developments to make sure that the actual benefits are what they are supposed to be. Avoid Newton's Law.
  • However menial and trivial your early assignments may appear, give them your best efforts.
  • Persistence or tenacity is the disposition to persevere in spite of difficulties, discouragement, or indifference. Don't be known as a good starter but a poor finisher.
  • In completing a project, don't wait for others; go after them, and make sure it gets done.
  • Confirm your instructions and the commitments of others in writing. Don't assume it will get done!
  • Don't be timid; speak up. Express yourself, and promote your ideas.
  • Practice shows that those who speak the most knowingly and confidently often end up with the assignment to get it done.
  • Strive for brevity and clarity in oral and written reports.
  • Be extremely careful of the accuracy of your statements.
  • Don't overlook the fact that you are working for a boss. * Keep him or her informed. Avoid surprises! * Whatever the boss wants takes top priority.
  • Promises, schedules, and estimates are important instruments in a well-ordered business. *You must make promises. Don't lean on the often-used phrase, "I can't estimate it because it depends upon many uncertain factors."
  • Never direct a complaint to the top. A serious offense is to "cc" a person's boss.
  • When dealing with outsiders, remember that you represent the company. Be careful of your commitments.
  • Cultivate the habit of "boiling matters down" to the simplest terms. An elevator speech is the best way.
  • Don't get excited in engineering emergencies. Keep your feet on the ground.
  • Cultivate the habit of making quick, clean-cut decisions.
  • When making decisions, the pros are much easier to deal with than the cons. Your boss wants to see the cons also.
  • Don't ever lose your sense of humor.
  • Have fun at what you do. It will reflect in your work. No one likes a grump except another grump.

Sunday, July 09, 2006

Office Wisdom

David Brent's Office Wisdom
From the British sitcom "Office"

  1. Eagles may soar high, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines.
  2. Lack of planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part.
  3. There may be no 'I' in team, but there's a 'ME' if you look hard enough.
  4. Process and Procedure are the last hiding place of people without the wit and wisdom to do their job properly.
  5. Remember that age and treachery will always triumph over youth and ability.
  6. Never do today that which will become someone elses responsibility tomorrow.
  7. Every time you open your mouth you have this wonderful ability to continually confirm what I think.
  8. Show me a good loser and I'll show you a LOSER!
  9. Put the key of despair into the lock of apathy. Turn the knob of mediocrity slowly and open the gates of despondency - welcome to a day in the average office.
  10. It's the team that matters. Where would The Beatles be without Ringo? If John got Yoko to play drums the history of music would be completely different.
  11. What does a squirrel do in the summer? It buries nuts. Why? Cos then in winter time he's got something to eat and he won't die. So, collecting nuts in the summer is worthwhile work. Every task you do at work think, would a squirrel do that? Think squirrels. Think nuts.
  12. When confronted by a difficult problem, you can solve it more easily by reducing it to the question, "How would the Lone Ranger handle this?"
  13. Accept that some days you are the pigeon, and some days you are the statue.
  14. If your boss is getting you down, look at him through the prongs of a fork and imagine him in jail.
  15. If you can keep your head when all around you have lost theirs, then you probably haven't understood the seriousness of the situation.
  16. You don't have to be mad to work here! In fact we ask you to complete a medical questionnaire to ensure that you are not.
  17. If you treat the people around you with love and respect, they will never guess that you're trying to get them sacked.
  18. If at first you don't succeed, remove all evidence you ever tried.
  19. You have to be 100% behind someone, before you can stab them in the back.
  20. If work was so good, the rich would have kept more of it for themselves.
  21. Those of you who think you know everything are annoying to those of us who do.
  22. There's no 'I' in 'team'. But then there's no 'I' in 'useless smug colleague', either. And there's four in 'platitude-quoting idiot'. Go figure.
  23. Know your limitations and be content with them. Too much ambition results in promotion to a job you can't do.
  24. Make good use of your cylindrical filing unit, the one you mainly keep under your desk.
  25. Quitters never win, winners never quit. But those who never win and never quit are idiots.
  26. If you're gonna be late, then be late and not just 2 minutes - make it an hour and enjoy your breakfast.
  27. Remember the 3 golden rules: 1. It was like that when I got here. 2. I didn't do it. 3. (To your Boss) I like your style.
  28. The office is like an army, and I'm the field general. You're my footsoldiers and customer quality is the WAR!
  29. Set out to leave the first vapour trail in the blue-sky scenario.
  30. Statistics are like a lamppost to a drunken man - more for leaning on than illumination.
  31. A problem shared is a problem halved, so is your problem really yours or just half of someone elses?
  32. Is your work done? Are all pigs fed, watered and ready to fly?
  33. You don't have to be mad to work here, but you do have to be on time, well presented, a team player, customer service focused and sober!
  34. I thought I could see the light at the end of the tunnel, but it was just some b*stard with a torch, bringing me more work.
  35. Avoid employing unlucky people - throw half of the pile of CVs in the bin without reading them.

Wednesday, July 05, 2006

Parent - A Job Description

PARENT- Job Description


This is hysterical. If it had been presented this way, none of us would have done it!!!!?

POSITION :
Mom, Mommy, Mama, Ma

Dad, Daddy, Dada, Pa



JOB DESCRIPTION :
Long term, team players needed, for challenging permanent work in an, often chaotic environment. Candidates must possess excellent communication and organizational skills and be willing to work variable hours, which will include evenings and weekends and frequent 24 hour shifts on call. Some overnight travel required, including trips to primitive camping sites on rainy weekends and endless sports tournaments in far away cities! Travel expenses not reimbursed. Extensive courier duties also required.



RESPONSIBILITIES :
The rest of your life. Must be willing to be hated, at least temporarily, until someone needs $5. Must be willing to bite tongue repeatedly. Also, must possess the physical stamina of a pack mule and be able to go from zero to 60 mph in three seconds flat in case, this time, the screams from the backyard are not someone just crying wolf. Must be willing to face stimulating technical challenges, such as small gadget repair, mysteriously sluggish toilets and stuck zippers. Must screen phone calls, maintain calendars and coordinate production of multiple homework projects. Must have ability to plan and Must be willing to be indispensable one minute, an embarrassment the next. Must handle assembly and product safety testing of a half million cheap, plastic toys, and battery operated devices. Must always hope for the best but be prepared for the worst. Must assume final, complete accountability for the quality of the end product. Responsibilities also include floor maintenance and janitorial work throughout the facility.



POSSIBILITY FOR ADVANCEMENT & PROMOTION :
None. Your job is to remain in the same position for years, without complaining, constantly retraining and updating your skills, so that those in your charge can ultimately surpass you.



PREVIOUS EXPERIENCE :
None required unfortunately. On-the-job training offered on a continually exhausting basis.


WAGES AND COMPENSATION:
Get this! You pay them! Offering frequent raises and bonuses. A balloon payment is due when they turn 18 because of the assumption that college will help them become financially independent.
When you die, you give them whatever is left. The oddest thing about this reverse-salary scheme is that you actually enjoy it and wish you could only do more.



BENEFITS :
While no health or dental insurance, no pension, no tuition reimbursement, no paid holidays and no stock options are offered; this job supplies limitless opportunities for personal growth and free hugs for life if you play your cards right.