A guidance to pass CeMAP exam

Passing CeMAP exam is never an easy task. It is quite complicated and daunting as the syllabus for the exam is quite expansive and humongous. You will have to dedicate a lot of quality time and patience in order become a certified mortgage broker. In fact, you will have to prepare ahead of months from the examination day in order to cover each and every aspect, revise them considerably and give a fair shot at the examination. Clearing this CeMAP exam opens up an opportunity for you to practice as a professional at UK. You get a wonderful package and a secure livelihood which is exactly what most people expect.
However, passing such an exam is never an easy task. You can either choose to study on your own or attend any of these professional CeMAP courses provided by several training institutes. These institutes have qualified and trained teachers to help you understand the subject and work towards clearing the exam. They also provide all the materials you would ever need to pass the exam with flying colors. However, you can also choose to study on your own at your home. There are several websites online aiding for the same cause. You can find all the course materials, model exam papers and other solution for you to prepare on your own from your home itself.
From personal point of view, one would say that the former is always a wiser choice as these people are more dedicated towards helping you pass the exam and they are quite knowledgeable about how the whole system works. Do not take things too lightly when it comes to CeMAP. Today it has become quite mandatory for everyone to pass the certification in order to serve the mortgage industry. You’ll have to shed in a lot of hard work and smart work to become a professional CeMAP Mortgage Broker.

Shijina is an expert SEO copywriter for CeMAP. She has been written many articles like CeMAP training, CeMAP courses,Home study CeMAP,FREE CeMAP Guide Book,CeMAP 1,2 and more, For more information visit our site cemap-training.com.

Become a good trainee mortgage adviser by CeMAP training

If it is your intention to embark on a career as a mortgage advisor and be successful and earn fabulous income, then the obvious route is to first become a Trainee Mortgage Advisor and arm yourself with Certificate in Mortgage Advice and Practice (CeMAP) qualification.

You may not need academic qualifications to be able to pass the CeMAP exams but the one thing you will positively need is a strong urge to succeed in a highly competitive industry.

The CeMAP consists of three different modules - the module one and two offer aspirants the knowledge and skills required to function as mortgage advisors. Module three comprises of objectivity based questions to test the applicant's ability and aptitude to apply the understanding received from 1 and 2 modules.

To acquire CeMAP qualification, you must achieve examination passes in each of the three CeMAP modules, namely:

CeMAP Module 1 – UK Financial Regulation
CeMAP Module 2 – Mortgages
CeMAP Module 3 – An assessment of mortgage advice knowledge

But as long as you do not hold the CeMAP qualification, you are barred from doing consultancy services on issue related to mortgage. Once you obtain the certification, you can either get gainfully employed or act as a freelancer to recommend lenders to the public.

In either case, you can expect to earn handsomely. CeMAP training courses are essentially designed for individuals who are new to the mortgage industry and without any mortgage background whatsoever. Though CeMAP was earlier more of an aptitude test conceived by the institute of Financial Services (IFS), it is today a nationwide familiar NVQ level 3 qualifications.

The test contains three main papers - multiple choice of 100 questions for CeMAP 1 & 2 and sixty subjects for CeMAP 3. To achieve overall pass and obtain CeMAP qualification, you need to pass each of the 3 CeMAP modules.

Aspirants wanting to take CeMAP training can easily find some well-organized CeMAP courses run by reputed and reliable training companies. There are different types of CeMAP training that are available – classroom course, home study course and online course. There is also the seminar method of learning primarily meant for busy working professionals who are in a hurry to obtain CeMAP certification. These crash courses generally extend up to 3 days and very intensive in nature.

Most CeMAP course costs include all training materials, IFS CeMAP mock exam papers, exclusive training guides and revision notes plus all-round support. Today, CeMAP training course also comes in the form of lively CD-Roms. This is a complete training course designed to fully prepare you for CeMAP certification

You should however exercise caution when selecting the CeMAP training company as many organizations may be far too commercial-minded, relieve you of your money and provide inadequate support. The right CeMAP training institute will not only teach you the course content but guide you on the exam techniques as well. Please also make sure that the CeMAP training company you finally select assures you of success in the exam or agrees to offer free training for the subsequent attempt.

Even if you join any leading training CeMAP training company, please remember that it calls for dedication, concentration, hard work and the determination on your part to succeed and obtain the coveted certification.

Shijina is an expert SEO copywriter for CeMAP. She has been written many articles like CeMAP training, CeMAP courses,Home study CeMAP,FREE CeMAP Guide Book,CeMAP 1,2 and more, For more information visit our site cemap-training.com.

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Learn the CEMAP Secrets

If you wish to embark on a promising career in the mortgage industry – be it as an employee or as an independent advisor – you need to arm yourself with CeMAP (Certificate in Mortgage Advice & Practice) qualification. In fact, to render advice to the public in mortgage matters, it is mandatory that the mortgage consultant possesses CeMAP qualification.


To acquire CeMAP qualification, there is no prescribed minimum academic qualification and there is also no need for any industry experience. All that is required of you is a strong aptitude and a passion for the mortgage profession.

To achieve an overall pass in the CeMAP, you need to pass each of the following three CeMAP modules:

• CeMAP 1 - UK Financial Regulation (divided into Units 1 & 2)
• CeMAP 2 – Mortgages (divided into Units 3, 4, 5 & 6)
• CeMAP 3 - Assessment of Mortgage Advice Knowledge (divided into three parts, A, B & C)

To succeed in CeMAP examination, you have three different types of training programs and you can opt for the one that best meets your requirements.

Intensive Class room training - This is by far the most common training option available and the usual format is - CeMAP: 5-day course (Monday to Friday 9AM to 5PM). As the syllabus to be covered is rather vast, the CeMAP trainer has to drive the group at a fixed speed in the 5-day intensive course. If you think you are not best suited to this style of learning, you need to think of an alternative training method.

Home study program online (distance learning) - If you consider it difficult to take a week away from work for attending intensive classroom program, a home-based online learning option might prove to be a better alternative. Many trainers offer a well- developed computer-based CeMAP study software package. This learning methodology will contain everything that is included in the intensive classroom courses. Interestingly, many trainers also provide with live telephone and email back-up support, seven days per week.

One-to-one training - From start to finish, this method will usually take a fortnight to complete and you may have noticed that this dedicated one-to-one training option is only as expensive as the group training course. The one-to-one training session can be conducted at a location in your area as that will save you time and money. You will get the full attention of the trainer instead of sharing it with others in the group.

Shijina is an expert SEO copywriter for CeMAP. She has been written many articles like CeMAP training, CeMAP courses,Home study CeMAP,FREE CeMAP Guide Book,CeMAP 1,2 and more, For more information visit our site cemap-training.com.

Top five career investments for 2012

It’s almost New Year’s, and it’s time to get serious about investing in yourself, your career and your immediate future. January is just around the corner and that’s reason enough to take action and hold you accountable for a new beginning.
1. Smaller networks of influential people: Invest in a smaller, more focused network of people that can add value to your career and assist give you the insights you require to broaden your perspective. Making the right choices in people will save you time, money and frustration.
2. Improve your speaking and negotiation skills: Speaking and writing represent two of the most significant skills for career success. Mastering the art of communication is more important than ever at a time when trust and relationship building is at a best.
3. Develop your wealth in resources: Entrepreneurship isn’t just a business term anymore; it’s a way of life. You don’t require being an entrepreneur to be entrepreneurial. In fact, entrepreneurship isn’t just about making cash but rather about creating the wealth in resources that authentic relationships can bring.
4. Play a more active role in the industry you serve: If you want to advance in your career, give back to your industry. You may be a hero inside the corporate walls, but what do you mean to the industry that your company is serving? Make a mark and leave your legacy on your industry. Be active, contribute and earn respect from your peers. Down the road they may assist your career. Learn how the industry allowed them to be successful.
5. Evaluate your investment and your own progress each month: Always work to get better yourself by evaluating your own performance. Write your career goals down, and the steps wanted to get there. Evaluate the outcomes each month and course-correct as required. While getting feedback from your peers and your boss is extremely significant, over time you must learn how to evaluate yourself. If you believe that you need to get better your self-discipline – hire a coach.
2012 will be your year if you focus, invest, and stick to your plan!

Amazing 5 Tips to improve Personality Development

Being a human being, you should achieve your personal goals, dealing with others and coping with situations in our life as they happen is also very important. Personality development helps to increase your efficiency and enhance yourself as a person achieving success in all your activities. Keep in mind, it is an ongoing process and it never ends, and so these 5 tips for Personality Development need to be adhering to no matter at what stage of your career or life you are in.

1. Keep flashing a sunny smile - People undervalue the significance of a bright smile and keep a glare on their face. Smiling faces convey a positive signal to others and you are supposed as a warm person ready to accept others in your life.. People can find it easy to work and interact with you.

2. Make Way for Colorful Clothing - Among prominent Personality Development Tips is the way you dress up and dress code manner will shows your personality. Using bright colored apparels will make you feel livelier from inside. And when you start to feel well from inside, it reflects on your personality very quickly and people will interacts you and it will create good impression of you with others.

3. Experience Diverse Things - Doing a lot of things widen your horizons and viewpoint and also helps in developing people skills is one of the most important Personality Development Tips.

4. Be Grateful - People will appreciate you when they know that you remember their efforts and practices. Being social helps in numerous ways and you will be surprised by others and people are more than ready to help you when you are in distress.

5. Be Responsible- Do not always cribs about things and other people. Do not blame others for your failures and take responsibility for your actions and be a reliable person, this will show your Personality Development.

Personality Development Tips are common for everyone and not just for those who facing problem or difficulties in their lives. You will being surprised and amazed at how just a little effort on your part will changes your Personality Development. These tips not only bring the success that you achieved in your life, it also shows your efforts and quality of your life.

Quick Tips to Get New Readers

1. Tell a Story - Create a hook or theme for each of your articles. Incorporate a story that your audience can connect to or relate to instead of just plainly stating facts. How you choose to present information to your audience can make a big difference. A well-written story will attract more readers.

2. Speak to 1 Person - Use your article to communicate directly to a single reader. Focus on using "you" instead of "he", "she", "they", etc. This influences the readers perception that you are speaking directly to them and not to just anyone out in cyberspace. Plus, if it's your first impression with a reader, it's a great way to start forming a relationship for the future.

3. Provide Original Information - Deliver your story and information in a fresh and original way. Your originality is what will set you apart from other authors. Remember, quality still matters, and having an original article is just part of the equation. You also need to make sure your article is built soundly with proper grammar and punctuation.

4. Draw Inspiration - Use experiences in your everyday life for writing inspiration. Live in your niche and bring your personal experiences and stories into your articles. Try to write those ideas down that come to you right when they pop in your head. Then you'll have them ready for when you have time to write.

5. Be Creative - Tell a new story with every article you write. Break the mold and get creative. The more you incorporate your creativity into your articles, the more likely you'll start to gain a wider audience.

Is your boring job leading you to burnout? here are 5 tips

Each morning you wake up and crib about going to work. When you are at office, you feel the clock hardly ticks and at the end of the day you can?t wait to get out of office. In simple words, you are bored of your job. What should be done?

Researchers of University of Zaragoza in Spain believe that if you do not do something about your job and continue to get bored, it will eventually lead to a burn out. Burnout is a psychological term for the experience of long-term exhaustion and diminished interest.

Sometimes only a change of viewpoint is needed to convert a tiresome duty into an interesting opportunity so here are a few tips on how you can save yourself from burn out.


Create New Challenges:

Challenges are a key factor in your job. Every day when you encounter different challenges, you grow as a person and as an employee. If your job does not have anything interesting you will have to explore the dimensions of your job and see if you could make your profile more worthwhile. Setting up goals, thinking of how to make your job creative and how to improve your productivity is something you can concentrate on. Take the initiative to create challenges for yourself.

Asking for more responsibility:

If you continue to do the same thing again and again, and you're good at it, people are going to keep asking you to do that one thing, That may be fine as far as

your boss and the company are concerned, but it means that you may be unfulfilled and that your professional skills are declining over time. Your boss's job is to get the job done, but it up to you on how you can grow professionally.

Improve your skills:

Choose a skill that you often felt that needs more of your attention, sharpening and polishing. It is the best opportunity to work on your skills and it will be useful for y

ou in future to get a new job. Whether it is computer programming, writing, working with Adobe InDesign, or whatever, you can perfect it.

Add variety:

Variety is a great way to spice up boring tasks. Try doing your activity in a new way. See if there is a different method for solving the same problem. Having routines can keep you

productive, but if you are starting to procrastinate, try switching things up to make it more engaging.

Reclaim Your Sense of Humor:

It doesn't seem funny when you lose your motivation and can't seem to find your way. The best way to change this is by simply deciding to do so. Look for the humor i

n things large and small, even in taking yourself so seriously to begin with. With a little change of perspective, the world can seem like a whole lot nicer place and that goal of yours not quite so out of reach.

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Ten Tips on Career Advancement

1. Talk to Your Boss

Sit down and have a very direct and pointed conversation with your boss about your future in the company. Stress that you want your job performance to meet the company's goals. Share your own career goals. Your boss will respect this display of confidence and maturity.

2. Ask for More Work

Volunteering to help out other departments or teams -- or simply asking for more responsibilities -- increases your value within the organization. Asking for additional work shows an interest and desire to help your department and company to succeed. It also puts a spotlight on your value to the business.

3. Volunteer for Boards

If you have your career set on something beyond what you are doing in your present position, seek out opportunities to volunteer or serve on advisory boards, where you can build a reputation as someone who is passionate and dedicated to your particular target industry.

4. Sharpen Your People Skills

Strong interpersonal skills play a crucial role in gaining the respect of your boss and co-workers; they will also attract the notice of outside influencers who might open new doors of opportunity for you. Be friendly, outgoing, and personable. Listen carefully to people, and practice being a clear and effective communicator.

5. Be Innovative

Never be afraid to think outside the box and put your business acumen to work. Stay on the lookout for creative solutions to problems that will make you -- and your boss -- look good.

6. Find a Mentor

Develop mentoring relationships, either inside or outside of your company. Recent studies have shown that four out of five promotions are influenced by a mentor higher up in the company. Mentors are also great sources of information and career guidance.

7. Sell Yourself

Learn the fine art of self-promotion. If you have had major accomplishments or created successful programs, make sure people know about it -- especially those in influential positions who could help you advance professionally. Let it be known that you are seeking a promotion or the next step up in your career.

8. Keep Learning

A proven way to advance in your career is to be continually acquiring new knowledge. Stay on top of trends or developments in your field and make sure that your current résumé reflects those needed skills.

9. Expand Your Network

Strengthen your personal network by joining professional organizations, attending industry conferences, or even volunteering. The more people who are aware of your strengths and abilities, the better your chances of hearing about any new opportunities that might arise.

10. Build Your Reputation

In business, your reputation is the most valuable thing you own. Be known for being dependable, professional, and cooperative. Act and look the part by dressing professionally. Make a name for yourself by attending conferences, delivering speeches, or writing articles.

Tips for interview

Research thoroughly about the company you are going for an interview. Find out the business of the company, what are the skills they are looking for, how you can contribute to the company's growth, company's prospects, your growth prospects etc. etc. Use your network to find out about the company, talk to career consultants to find out, look out on the internet.

If company has a web presence, visit their web site and note down all the factors, which will help you arrive at a decision. Make a list of questions you may have come up. These can be asked and get answered at the time of interview.

Talk to friends/acquaintances in the company to find out the inner details.

Dress formally for the interview, but don't overdress. Dress what is appropriate in your climate.

Always reach 15-30 minutes earlier than the expected time. You can use effectively utilize that time to make observations about the company and its employees.

If possible, get the interview scheduled in the morning hours, the time when both you and the interviewers are still fresh.

About the questions asked, always reply to the point. Do not repeat the same thing and politely decline, in case you don't know the answers. No one is supposed to know everything.

Look straight in the eyes of the person while talking. This shows your confidence.

Always have your doubts cleared at the end of the interview. Ask all the questions you had made a list. This shows you are sincere and have done your homework before appearing for the interview.

Never ask for the salary figures/details in the interviews. Leave these questions for later.

If an expected salary figure is asked, politely tell that it should be commensurate with your skills and experience. If still pressed for figure, give your currently drawn salary and ask for an appropriate raise over it.

At the end of the interview, always thank the interviewers and shake their hands.
Last but not the least, whatever may be your requirement for the job, never show your desperation for it

The most useful Tips for Starting a New Career in SEO

Are you thinking about starting up a new business in search engine marketing?

With recent economic trends, there are a lot of businesses that really do need help with legitimate relevancy building SEO strategies. Search engine marketing skills are the order of the day.

When I first started with my own studies of SEO or search engine optimization back in the 90s, the big search engines at the time were Webcrawler, Infoseek (an optimizers dream) and Lycos, then came Altavista, Magellan and Excite, Inktomi, Hotbot. And do you remember Northern Light? These were all around before Google which was launched. But back in the early days, even the acronym of "SEO" had not been really formed. I think most people referred to early search engine optimization as "Web Positioning."

So fast forward to today.

One of the great things that has occurred with the search engine industry is the great opportunity for people who have always wanted a business all their own. A business that you can literally operate from any city or town or location of choice. With people fine tuning their SEO skills they can also choose from different types of work, based on their own niches or choices.

I am sharing just a few tips for starting a new SEO career today, for those of you interested in starting a successful search engine marketing business and want a few of the smartest tips for starting your own SEO business.

Tips for Starting a New Career in SEO

One of the things to keep in mind is how you can become uniquely different than the competition. Everyone talks about setting themselves apart, but have you really refined the vision for your new SEO business. Assuming you are serving a client base offering SEO services to others, how will you be different than everyone else? The best formula to use is creative thinking and brainstorming with someone as a brainstorming partner. You need someone you can trust and someone who is good at brainstorming. As you fashion certain ideas, you want to allow yourself the liberty to believe that literally, anything is possible. Dream big, for your new business.

Keep your SEO skills fresh and continually growing

Regardless of where we are in our knowledge and skills - we must continually stay fresh and growing. As you have already probably surmised, it's competitive out there. So the first step is to get comfortable with your own SEO skills and get yourself up to speed with all the latest. This is probably the first and single most important step in building your brand new SEO business. You need to start by at least gaining a true comfort level with your own skills and understanding. Maybe you already have that comfort level, but maybe you feel like you would like some personalized help to catch up. Whatever your situation, take the step you need to get solid understanding and balance before you get involved with demanding clients. You need to have the peace of mind knowing how you can make each of your new client's profitable with the minimum of stress. One excellent bit of advice is to spend some time working on your own Web sites right after you train so you can quickly build that confidence you need. Working on your own Web site gives you the complete liberty to create exactly what you want, without interference. You can do the job the way you know it should be done and you could do some affiliate marketing to make a little income too, while you practice and fine tune what you've learned. Once you have that SEO comfort level, then you can consider taking on new clients. I said earlier, that creative thinking is great for the purpose of brainstorming. But next to that comes the element of implementation. Creativity is great but it must go hand in hand with the activity which is essential to see your business become a reality. Attitude and positive thinking are very great to keep motivation up but unless activity is going on you cannot succeed. Creative thinking is great for new idea generation but the other essential half you need is an action plan. Nothing truly exceptional is ever built without dedicated hard work and the mindset of giving it 100% of all you got. You need to stay focused on your plan of action to see you business established, take root and grow. You need to lift your sights a little higher than just obtaining good rankings these days. You need to know that with each client you take on, you can find ways that will make them profitable with your results. Make that one of your objectives and you will be applying the beginning of wisdom as part of your foundation. This can really accelerate the popularity and the reputation that follows your work. Your client needs profitable results in true sales and conversions too. Being able to make a client profitable is what can build your reputation ultra-quickly. After all, that is the reason 99% of the time they are hiring you. Fulfill this objective over and over again and your services and fame will spread. Remember that in the search engine marketing business, you want to build your reputation to beyond the clients expectations for every project you handle. You don't want to aim for just an occasional success story....but a stream of success stories one after the other. This can be achieved once you have your comfort level with your skills and then using wisdom in how you grow your business. Once you get a hold of this, it's your reputation and your proven SEM batting average that begins to quickly turn the tides and make a whole new way of doing business for you. The first thing you start to see is referral business. Instead of chasing down new clients - you begin to see your profitable clients referring new business to you. One Final Tip... How much do you enjoy your SEO or Search Engine Marketing work. How passionate are you about your SEO work? It is very important to build your business based on some aspect of search engine marketing that you are passionate about. It makes a huge difference when your clients see how much you love your work and as long as it is your business, why not excel in something you enjoy doing. It does not make sense to build a career around something you are not passionate about as long as you have the choice (and you do.)

new 15 career tips for recent grads

Do Your Research

Before you go in for your interview, be sure to research the company you are applying to. By having an in depth understanding of the company as well as some background information on whoever is interviewing you, you will come across as prepared and interested in the company.

Practice Interviewing

Take time to practice interviewing before you go in for an interview. Have a family member or friend ask you the most common interview questions so you can be polished and know what you are going to say ahead of time instead of winging it.

Come Prepared With Questions

At the end of any job interview, the interviewer will ask you if you have any questions for them. Make sure you have a few questions to ask the interviewer. This can be anything from “what do you like best about your job?” to “how would you describe the work atmosphere here?” By asking a few questions, you show interest in the interviewer and the company.

When in Doubt, Dress Up

If you aren’t sure what kind of dress is expected of employees, be sure to go more formal than informal. By dressing up, you show that you are professional and that you are taking the interview process seriously.

Be Flexible

When applying for jobs, be flexible about where you apply. Don’t limit yourself to just one city or one company. Keep an open mind about all potential opportunities.

Keep Building Your Resume

While you apply for jobs, continue to build your resume. Take on an internship, volunteer, or take on a part time job. By continuing to build your resume and increase your skill set, you make yourself more marketable to potential employers.

Figure Out Where You Are Going Wrong

If you aren’t landing any jobs, take a look at where you are going wrong. If you aren’t getting any interviews, go back over your resume and spruce it up by getting more experience or adding information to it. If you are getting interviews but not jobs, practice your interviewing skills so that you can be more successful in your interviews and potentially get job offers.

Utilize Your Network

Reach out to the people in your professional network for their assistance in your job hunt. Oftentimes when it comes to getting hired, it’s not what you know but who you know. So send along your resume and have your contacts pass it along to anyone they know at their

Don’t Rely Solely on the Internet

When searching for a job, don’t depend solely on the Internet. Be sure to attend job fairs, industry events, and utilize other networking opportunities to get your resume out there.

Have an Elevator Speech

An elevator speech is a 30 second spiel about your experience and career goals. Having an elevator speech is not only a great way to quickly introduce yourself at networking events but is also a good way to answer the “tell me about yourself” interview question.

Sign Up for LinkedIn

LinkedIn is a great way to get all of your professional contacts in one place for networking. Sign up for LinkedIn, add everyone you know, and make sure to fill out your profile completely. LinkedIn also has a job search tool, so take advantage of that.

Send Thank You Notes

After every interview, be sure to send thank you notes to each person who interviewed you. Sending a thank you note shows that you appreciate the interviewer’s time and gives you an advantage over candidates who don’t send thank you notes.

Do What You Love

No matter what, take a job that you will love. If you don’t, you will be miserable and probably won’t end up staying at your job very long. Be sure you are happy with what you are doing.

Don’t Get Discouraged

If you are getting lots of rejections, don’t get discouraged. Remember that times are tough right now and getting a job is hard. Keep sending out your resume and stay positive.

Utilize Your School’s Resources

Most schools will give graduates access to their career center up to one year after graduation. So head on over to your career center to get your resume critiqued, practice your interviewing skills, and check out recent job postings.

ELEVEN CAREER TIPS FOR THE YEAR 2011

1. Take responsibility for your own career development. Many large organizations have scaled back on training and development-a common outcome of the economic downturn-and small companies can rarely provide significant support. Simply put, your career rests in one set of hands: yours.


2. Be strategic. Have a long-term career strategy or, at the very least, a sense for where you’re headed. Ask yourself, “What do I really want to do?” or “Where do I see myself in five to ten years?” Seek people in similar roles and ask for their advice.


3. Work in step with your company’s goals. Connect the dots from your role to your company’s vision and key objectives. How does your work align with the organization’s goals? What can you do to maximize your contributions?


4. Be customer-centric. Whether your customers are internal or external, know their wants and needs, and be fervent about meeting them. Bring the voice of the customer into your day-to-day work and let it enhance your decisions and deliverables.

5. Collaborate. Working with and through others is requisite to innovating, creating, and producing business results. Adopt a mindset for teaming and collaborating, and put it into daily practice.


6. Hone your communication skills. Communication skills can make or break careers. Pick one area that needs your attention-considering skills such as listening, presenting, influencing, persuading, or distilling messages-and commit to improvement. Take a class, practice with a trusted friend or colleague, or join a group such as Toastmasters.

7. Cross over functionally. Many successful executives have risen through the ranks by taking cross-functional roles, such as moving from finance to sales or from marketing to IT. Follow their lead and you can grow your skills, your network, and your political capital.

8. Expand your experience. Volunteer for special projects or assignments that are outside your everyday role. Discuss your goals with your boss, an HR representative, or a senior leader, and ask for help in finding opportunities to broaden your experience base.


9. Find a guide. Mentors can serve as influential role models and provide important guidance for your career. Reach out to a potential mentor within your company or industry and see if he or she would be open to mentoring you for a specific purpose and timeframe.

10. Network-now. The best time to increase your network is today. Starting now, get involved in groups such as professional associations, charitable organizations, or even sports leagues. Step into leadership roles and make your expertise known.


11. Specialize. Today, companies look for specialists, not generalists. Develop a personal brand, distinguish your skills and strengths, and determine how to best market yourself.

Graphic design career tips

The Graphic Design Career is a fast growing career that is becoming more and more competitive with every passing day. People are realizing how much money is available and how flexible the graphic and web design career really is.

1) Get Experience Doing Graphic Design Work & Working with REAL Clients

In design school, they don’t really focus on how to assess a client’s needs, wants, mood swings, and basic demographic factors. They certainly do not teach you how to learn basic communication principles, how to follow-up correctly with a prospective graphic design client. Academia is a long way away from perfection. That means it’s time for you to educate yourself on how to do REAL graphic design and get the wheels in motion so you can slowly but surely climb the ladders.

2) Choose Between Freelancing & Getting a Graphic Design Job

If you have never freelanced before, I recommend working as a freelancer on a strictly part-time basis to test the waters, while working a graphic design job prior to committing yourself to full-time freelance work or you may be conditioning yourself for disappointment. Get a handle on how to manage a project and a REAL deadline, and then start to learn how to manage a client. Remember, clients are REAL people. That means, real problems. A client may attempt to get you to complete work for free, forget or miss a payment, procrastinate in getting you content so you can complete their website design.

3) Graphic Designers Should Stick to What They Are Great At

If you enjoy working with vector graphics, you could familiarize yourself primarily with Adobe Illustrator, and perhaps specialize in icon-creation or acquire some knowledge of Adobe Flex and design interfaces for cell phones and other mobile devices. If you can’t take your hand off of a lead pencil crayon, it may be a good time to consider doing concept artwork for video games. If find yourself constantly doodling or drawing logos, icons, and enjoy coming up with tag-lines, become a branding and logo design expert.

4) Graphic Design Career – Start Small, Think Big

You are young, talented, and can afford to avoid some mistakes that could be avoided. Now, to a creative person, even the thought of writing an agreement or contract is daunting, so either get it done by a legal professional or suffer the consequences. Focus on what you do best and remember the rule of numbers – the more people you talk to, the more projects you will acquire. Keep going. Go to networking sessions, industry meetups, and other social events. Social media and email are mostly useful for follow-up. Don’t give up, but be smart and avoid setting yourself up for failure.

Five Tips for Young Professionals

When making forecasts about your career future, one thing is sure: it’s going to be buffeted by change. As a young professional, you can take steps to be ready for some likely twists and turns.

Get on a learning curve
Identify what you need to learn in the next http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=13657256six months and create a plan for accomplishing this goal. Continue to set learning agendas for yourself. As the world keeps changing, successful professionals will stay up with new developments.

Be technically knowledgeable
Virtually all work in the future will require technical competence. You don’t have to be a programmer, but you should be competent on basic computer systems and software programs and aware of how technology can be applied.

Improve your personal-interaction skills
More routine work will be automated, leaving employees to do what’s left. Young professionals will stand out if they can interact with and manage people effectively.

Be good at balancing work and life
As work spills over into life, and vice versa, professionals must know when work starts and stops and help other employees to set those boundaries as well.

Take time to look over the horizon
Be a futurist. Cultivate the ability to forecast what’s just around the corner, so you can prepare for it.

6 Tips to Help Young Professionals Fit In

1. Dress well
Even if the company is “business casual” you can’t be that way. You can’t wear the uniform until you’re part of the team. The best rule of thumb is to dress at least one step above whatever everyone else is wearing, and to wear a suit if anyone at the company wears a suit. Don’t just do in with a shirt and tie. Wear the jacket, too. Look professional.

2. Don’t text
Younger generations love to text. Generally speaking, texting at work should be kept to an absolute minimum. Texting while driving is incredibly stupid, illegal, and can get someone killed. Texting while at meals with another person is incredibly rude. The phone/computer should be turned off during any business meetings, any business lunches, or anytime you are supposed to be interacting with real-world people.

3. Work must be produced
We value you for the work you produce, not just for existing. This means you have to actually do something during the work day to get paid and get ahead. Some of you work very hard, and some of you don’t. This is to the ones who don’t. Unemployment is not fun. Neither is living with your parents until you’re 40.

4. Be respectful
You’re not dealing with someone who is a social equal. When you’re interviewing for a job, or working on a job, you’re dealing with someone who is your boss. Even if you have a friendship with him or her outside of the office, while you’re at the office you need to treat this person with the atmost of respect. If you cannot be respectful to your boss, you probably will eventually be looking for another job.

5. Understand life and work are not fair
You may think it would be fair for you to get highly applauded and given time off because you worked 80 hours this week. Life isn’t fair and neither is work. Learn it. Live it. Know it. If you get a “good job” for a job well done, you’re lucky. If you get a “thank you,” you’re even luckier. If your boss gives you time off to go snow-boarding or jump out of a perfectly good airplane, or whatever, you’re very, very lucky. Probably what will happen is you’ll get a nod, and everyone will get back to work. Your accomplishments won’t be celebrated. You aren’t going to get a parade. Live with it. The rest of us have been living with it all of our lives.

6. Manners, manners, manners
Behave yourself and remember your manners. A belch at dinner is not funny anymore. Shoving your way into an elevator before everyone is out is not acceptable. And so on. If you don’t know manners, buy one of the many great business etiquette books on the market.

Top 8 telephone Interview tips

The following 8 quick telephone interview tips will help prepare yourself for a successful call.

1. DO SOME RESEARCH
Try to find out who will be interviewing you. Will there be multiple people on the call? If possible get their names and titles. Become familiar with these before the call and you will have one less thing to worry about during the call.

2. ORGANIZE YOUR THOUGHTS
Make a list of your accomplishments, goals and strengths. On another list write out your weaknesses and what you are doing to overcome them. On a third sheet write down why you are interested in the company.

3. PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE
Never forget that a telephone interview is still an interview. Take time to practice interview questions with friends or family. Ask them to provide honest feedback so you can improve your responses. Mock interview questions can easily be found on the internet or the bookstore.

4. DO A SOUND CHECK
During the mock interview, have your friend ask you questions both over the phone and in person. Make sure that he/she listens not only for content, but also tone, rate and clarity of your speech. If possible, record yourself speaking. Are you speaking slowly and clearly? Can you easily be heard?

5. FIND YOUR LOCATION
Stake out a quiet space to occupy during your interview. Ideally, there should be a comfortable place to sit as well as a table to lay out your papers.

6. ORGANIZE YOUR PAPERS
Have a copy of your resume and cover letter close at hand. Take out those lists you made while organizing your thoughts. In addition keep any notes related to the company that you feel may be helpful during the call.

7. GATHER YOUR WRITING TOOLS
Place a notepad and several pens or pencils on the table. These will be helpful in writing down notes, questions and most importantly, your interviewer's names

8. ELIMINATE DISTRACTIONS
As the appointed hour draws near, make sure that the television and the radio are turned off. Exit your email and turn off your computer screen. If possible, disable your call-waiting.

Career advancement tips

Career advancement is a long term process and results in future development of an individual. Every individual at the start of their career is inexperienced but with the passage of time he gets more better and it is career advancement.

Go one step further

As a professional who wants to advance in his career, you must always be prepared to go an extra mile and do more than the minimum job requirement. This shows that you are enthusiastic and have the desire to learn and progress.

Take initiative

If you want to become successful, you have to be proactive and well prepared to take initiative rather than waiting to be asked to take care of a job.

Keep learning

Even when you have been in the professional field for months and years, you have to keep the learning process going, as there is always the need to update the existing skills that you possess and learning new to keep up with the rest.

Be innovative

Be creative and come up with new ideas and suggestions not only on specific projects, but also for the general benefit of the company.

Accept your mistakes

A successful professional is one who is ready to accept his mistakes and is able to learn from them. If you are stubborn and refuse to admit that you were wrong, there is no room left for growth and development.

Focus on long term goals

Career growth is all about long term goals so instead of focusing on what you are learning and gaining in the short term, pay attention to the long term benefits and gains.

Share your views

You must share your views and ideas in meetings to make a place for yourself. If you keep silent and are reluctant to share views, the seniors perceive you as a laid back person who is not interested in contributing to the team.

Invest in connections

Networking and making connections is the most important part of career growth as the more people you know in your field, the greater are the chances of your success.

Top career change ideas

Top seven career change tips is mention below:

1. Forget Job Titles
Job titles really inhibit your thinking. If I asked you to list all the jobs you could think of, you might come up with a couple of hundred before you ran dry. In reality there are thousands of jobs out there that you would never identify under your own steam, so forget the job title and focus instead on the key themes that are important for you in a job.

2. List what you dont want to do
This is often quite easy to do if you are in a job you hate and it is a very useful exercise. It helps you focus on the aspects of a job that really drive you nuts and then also pick out those that are annoying in your current job but actually you would be prepared to put up with to some degree in a different situation.

3. List what you think you should want to do
What do you think your career should look like? What pressure are you putting on yourself to confirm to certain expectations. Just check with yourself whose rules you are following here. Who exactly says that your career must look like this?

4. List what you would do if anything were possible
Yes, you are allowed to take the brakes off here and create a big dream. Forget the constraints you put on yourself, wherever they come from.

5. List what you would do if you gave yourself permission to say that you want it
So often, we limit the possibilities in our lives because we just dont allow ourselves to want something. Maybe you want to earn lots of money but that seems too greedy. Maybe you want to have an easy, quiet job - but that seems too lazy. Maybe you want to set up your own business but you cant because you have to think about so many other people in your life first.

6. Reinvent yourself
If you could rewind the tape on your life and re-run it, what would you do? If you could dump all the stuff, the rules, the history that you have gathered on your journey through life to this point and travel light without the baggage, where would your journey take you? What would the new you look like and what work would this new person be doing?

7. Think big and think small
Your new career does not have to be something world changing and grand. If you want to change the world, great! Go ahead and build your new career around this big vision. But if you feel drawn to operating on a more local scale, thats fine too. Small changes can be just as transforming for your career and your life as big ones, so dont be fooled into thinking that bigger is necessarily better. Career change success is about finding what feels right for you.

Top Interview Tips

The job interview is your chance to impress the interviewer with your skills and confidence.

Before the Interview

Review the job duties included in the Vacancy Notice.
Research the department.
Dress professionally. Don’t wear perfume or cologne.
Bring extra copies of your resume.
Bring a pen and paper to write down any information you might need to remember.
Prepare a few questions to ask the interviewer.
Prepare answers to any questions you think you might be asked (see sample questions below).

At the Interview

Arrive on time. Try to be a few minutes early if possible.
Try to relax. Be yourself.
Show self-confidence – make eye contact; answer questions in a clear voice.
Remember to listen.
Think before answering questions. Try to make your answers as clear as possible.
Avoid negative body language – crossing your arms, swinging your foot or leg, slouching, covering your mouth while speaking.
When given a chance, ask any questions that you have prepared in advance. You can also follow up on anything that the interviewer tells you during the interview.

After the Interview

End the interview with a handshake and thank the interviewer for his or her time.
Find out when the department plans to make a hiring decision.
Follow up with a short “thank you for the interview” note.

Top career advancement tips

Every individual seeks advancement in their living especially when it comes to their career. Career advancement means the updation of an individual in regards to his particular skills and accomplishments. Career advancement is a long term process and results in future development of an individual. Every individual at the start of their career is inexperienced but with the passage of time he gets more better and it is career advancement.

Career advancement starts from the very first job you pursue, as you get more exposure towards work you are ready to face more challenges.

An individual must posses an established position in the work place, as it is one of the vital tools for advancement in career.

Have a chat with your boss regarding your performance and promotion in the company, this will let you know where you stand at your present work place.

People concerned about career advancement should always have ability to achieve higher learning goals, gaining knowledgeable skills and should be updated with the latest trend in the industry.

Be an effective listener as well as a clear communicator, as this will help an individual to influence others and achieve goals in his career.

If you additionally wish to work for some other department of your business let your employer know your desire to work for those as well along with your current business line. Proper action taken at right time helps an individual to achieve their goals.

Build a strong relation with your colleagues, as this will help you to know about your weaknesses and strengths at your work place.

Every firm seeks the best employee in the industry, and for being the best there should be abundant of innovative ideas and an intellectual thinking. So train your intellect for new ideas and innovations.

Also individuals with more experience and few skills have more chances for advancement, so learn from all your jobs. Each job will teach you something and the gain will be beneficial for your career advancement.