Archive for the ‘Career Development’ Category
10 iPhone Apps to Get You Back to School
Tuesday, September 7th, 2010To ensure you have a smooth transition when returning to schools, Mashable put together a list of great back to school iPhone apps.
Even though a new notebook can go a long way in preparing you for the new year, the iPhone also has a ton of apps that will help to get you organized and in the right mind-space to focus and learn.
Here is a list of the best back to school apps.
1. Open Culture
2. Mental Case
3. Rate My Professor
4. myHomework and iStudiez Pro
5. Free Translator
6. Chegg
7. Blackboard Mobile Learn for iPhone
8. Quick Graph
9. Formulus Free – Formulas for Calculus
10. Free Books
Download the Apps here
Source : Mashable
What do you think? What are your favorite school apps? Share your stories with us.
15 Essential Back to School Podcasts
Tuesday, September 7th, 2010With another long hot American summer coming to a close, many students are scrambling to get back into “learning mode” before school starts. One of the simplest ways to ease that transition is with podcasts. Whether your passion is American History, Science, English, Economics or Algebra, there’s probably an educational podcast out there for you.
While these programs probably won’t mirror your lesson plan, they will explore topics covered in class. Below is a sampling of some of the exceptional podcasts that both teach and entertain. Best of all – they’re free. Continue here
Source : Mashable
What do you think? What are your favorite podcasts? Share your stories with us.
Is a School-Year Internship is Right for You?
Tuesday, September 7th, 2010Between juggling classes, homework, student clubs and a social life, being a full-time student is no easy feat. Now imagine adding an internship to the mix. It can be done–and there are even those who have done it successfully–but it’s definitely not for everyone. To figure out whether you can add a school-year internship to your plate, try these six questions on for size.
1- Are you already acing your classes?
2- How will the internship add to your education and work experience?
3- What does the internship entail?
4- Can you get college credit for the internship?
5- What are your motivations for pursuing an internship?
6- What would you do with your free time if you didn’t intern?
Read complete article here
Source : VAULT
What do you think? If you do decide a school-year internship is right for you, what type of internships are you looking for?
Why do we celebrate Labor Day?
Friday, September 3rd, 2010For a lot of people, Labor Day means two things: a day off and the end of summer.
But why is it called Labor Day? Labor Day is a day set aside to pay tribute to working men and women. It has been celebrated as a national holiday in the United States and Canada since 1894.
The first Labor Day parade occurred Sept. 5, 1882, in New York City. The workers’ unions chose the first Monday in September because it was halfway between Independence Day and Thanksgiving. The idea spread across the country, and some states designated Labor Day as a holiday before the federal holiday was created.
Membership in labor unions in the United States reached an all-time high in the 1950s when about 40 percent of the work force belonged to unions. Today, union membership is about 14 percent of the working population. Labor Day now carries less significance as a celebration of working people and more as the end of summer. Schools, government offices and businesses are closed on Labor Day so people can get in one last trip to the beach or have one last cookout before the weather starts to turn colder.
Source : TLC
More resources:
- Tips for the Ultimate Labor Day Barbecue here
- 10 Ways To Celebrate Labor Day, Sustainable Style here
-Celebrate Labor Day With Five Hardcore Union Movies here
What does the American expression “We’ll discuss it after Labor Day” mean?
How to succeed as International Students in the USA?
Friday, August 27th, 2010Good-bye, summer — hello, school! The 2010-11 academic school year kicks off this week for most area schools.
Thousands of you from across the globe are traveling or returning to America in order to attend college or do internships. Congratulations on your achievements and first steps.
In the weeks and months to come, you will experience a wide variety of both encouraging and negative feelings, such as excitement, surprise, happiness, loss of identity, anxiety, disorientation and confusion, while facing language, academic and integration challenges. You will even sometimes feel like children.
Don’t worry. These feelings are normal. They don’t come to Stay. They come to Pass.
Be patient; your dreams will not come true overnight. But start now, and go with love and courage and confidence. It’s up to you what comes to pass, and if you keep your thoughts positive and strong: your dreams will come true. It’s just a Matter of Time.
As you might know, in 2006, I left my corporate job at HP France to move to Los Angeles as an international student. I wanted to improve my English language skills, learn about the American way of doing business and eventually start my own. More importantly, I was in search of making meaningful changes in my life in order to add value to my own existence while possibly making a positive difference in the lives of others.
My life in Los Angeles has been full of challenges, the biggest of which have been dealing with the unexpected, adjusting to my new environment and getting everything done within a time frame.
Thankfully, some great people both from my university, UCLA, and off campus taught me the skills that I needed, showed me around, helped me adjust to the American culture, and inspired me. Some also provided me knowledge and methods for a better understanding of the ins- and- outs of running a business in this country, encouraged me to challenge the conventional thinking, and helped me discover and articulate my greater purpose.
I am here today to share with you some my insights.
To reach your goals in the United States, I believe it’s important to:
- Believe in yourself
- Discover your driving motivation for action (purpose, cause or belief)
- Be disciplined and Stay on your chosen path
- Remain active
- Stay focused than to sit around complaining
- Speak up and Take Actions
- Take risks and be willing to lose yourself before reaping the fruits of your efforts
- Build your Network. “Your Network Determines Your Net Worth”
- Have an insatiable thirst for knowledge
- Be able to articulate clearly your value proposition
- Sharpen your personal brand to achieve career success
- Get out of your comfort zone
-Master Team working skills
- Familiarize yourself with the American business environment
- Challenge others and yourself to get results
- Don’t settle for anything less than your best
- Develop and master your capacity to think critically and independently
- Develop and master your ability to understand how people of different cultures and values think and behave
- Develop your communication skills
- Develop a global mindset
- Immerse yourself into the American Culture
- Volunteer into your communities
- Think out of the box
- Learn how to understand the greater context of problems
- Be intensely curious
- Accept others as they come
- Look at everything as an amazing learning experience
- See the opportunity in every difficulty
- Share your experience with others
- Be concerned with time limitations
- Listen up
- Read as much as you can –pick up books that you like, books you don’t like and books you never pictured yourself reading.
- Gain control over all the tasks and commitments that you need or want to get done
- Keep track of your goals
- Be accountable for your actions
- Have a stubborn insistence on pursuing our dreams.
Over all, it’s about maintaining a good life balance with the seven following building blocks :
1-Peace of Mind
2- Health and Fitness
3- Loving relationship
4- Control of my finance
5- Career goals that fit my personality
6- Pursuing my ultimate life goals
7- Life Balance (Career, Personal relationship, Friends and Family, Spiritual, Continuing education, Rest, Health and Fitness, Relaxation, Fun)
Finally, I will leave you with this quote that I learned from my mentor, Les Brown.
“If you want a thing bad enough to go out and fight for it, to work day and night for it, to give up your time, your peace and your sleep for it … if all that you dream and scheme is about it, and life seems useless and worthless without it … if you gladly sweat for it and fret for it and plan for it and lose all your terror of the opposition for it … if you simply go after that thing you want with all of your capacity, strength and sagacity, faith, hope and confidence and stern pertinacity … if neither cold, poverty, famine, nor gout, sickness nor pain, of body and brain, can keep you away from thing that you want … if dogged and grim you beseech and beset it, with the help of God, you WILL get it!” Written by author Berton Braley
Source : Les Brown – Live your Dreams. Click here to Listen to Les Brown.
Best Wishes,
Jean-Marc Dedeyne
contact us here.
Jobs With Flexible Hours…Who Wants One?
Thursday, August 26th, 2010“I want a job with flexible hours” is often something I hear from my friends and tons of people I meet. “I want to travel.” “I want to spend more time with my kids.” “I want to [fill in the blank].”
When you work a 9–5 it’s hard to maintain the kind of life that allows you to preserve your sanity, stay healthy, and well…enjoy the light of day. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not against having a stable full-time job – I’m simply an advocate for BALANCE. So recently, I’ve started asking around to uncover solutions.
How do people find jobs with flexible hours that pay the bills AND allow the freedom to go for a good long run in the mornings?
Here are a few avenues to consider:
1. Consulting
2. Provide a service for busy people
3. Join the Food & Beverage Industry
4. Sell stuff online
5. Join a Start-Up
As Monique Peltz, author of this article, said most of hers suggestions require a significant amount of time and effort to set up and manage. However, she looked at it from the perspective that once you successfully create these types of opportunities for yourself, you most likely will enjoy a flexible schedule.
Continue here
Source : YSN
What do you think? Please help out and share your bright ideas below in the comment section.
How to Leave Effective Voicemails In Your Job Search?
Wednesday, August 25th, 2010When networking, following up on an application, reconnecting after an interview, or for virtually any other aspect of a job search… talking to someone is always better than an email.
A professional voice on the phone is much harder to ignore than one of dozens of emails.
However, for most people, the majority of calls you make will initially result in leaving a voicemail than actually being able to catch someone on the phone.
So what can you do to improve your chances of getting a call back?
Here are some points to consider:
- Be prepared
- Make it Brief
- Let them know you’ll be back
- Be Pleasantly Persistent
- Say something like…
Read complete article here
Source : The Wise Job Search
How to nail an interview by video
Monday, August 23rd, 2010These days, a job seeker can land a job without ever setting foot inside the company’s office, traveling to the city where the office is, or even meeting the company’s recruiters in person — thanks to video communication tools such as Skype that connect employers with candidates over the Internet.
Several people in the career and job-search industry say video interviewing using remote technology software is on the rise for a broad swatch of industries and companies.
“This type of interviewing, for campuses as well as for businesses is becoming more and more prevalent,” said Doreen Amorosa, associate dean and managing director of MBA career management at the McDonough School of Business at Georgetown University.
Continue reading here
Who Do You Compete Against?
Saturday, August 14th, 2010Who Do You Compete Against? is the title of an enlightening and truly inspiring post written by one my mentors, Simon Sinek.
As Simon said, most people compete to beat others. This is true in businesses and for individuals. And as valuable as a competitive spirit may be, perhaps there is a better way.
To illustrate his point, he selected a video about Ben Comen that ESPN produced a few years
Ben Comen is a cross country runner who has run on the TL Hanna High School cross country team for five years, completing his senior season in 2004. Ben has cerebral palsy that affects his balance, so he has to work a little harder than his teammates. He typically finishes last in his races. Ben inspires.
His lesson is more valuable than perseverance. His lesson is more important that never quitting.
Ben shows us, that when you decide to compete against others, no one will help you. But when you decide to compete against yourself…everyone will help you.
More:
Ben Comen: Truly Living Without Limits here
What do you think? so, who do you compete against?
How To Achieve Your Childhood Dreams?
Tuesday, August 3rd, 2010Almost all of us have childhood dreams. When our parents ask us what we want to become when we grow up, some would say: “I want to become a doctor someday.” “I want to become a lawyer.” Or some would say “I want to become a famous singer or a famous Hollywood artist like my idol!”
We want to point you out to a remarkable speech by Ryan Pausch, Professor of Computer Science in Carnegie-Mellon University who has pancreatic cancer and died last July 25, 2008.
His last lecture was entitled “Achieving Your Childhood Dreams” delivered on September 18, 2007, and was watched by almost 12 millions of people on youtube. Ryan Pausch achieved a lot of his dreams: Walking in zero gravity, designing a theme park for Disney, helped develop Alice, a computer software used by the university, to easily create 3D animations, etc.
Here are some of the remarkable insights that he shared to his audience:
“Brick walls are there for a reason: they let us prove how badly we want things.” – because the brick walls are there to stop people who don’t want badly enough.
“It’s not about how you achieve your dreams but how to lead your life. If you lead your life the right way, the good karma will take care of itself. The dreams will come to you.
“Almost all of us have childhood dreams; for example, being an astronaut, or making movies or video games for a living. Sadly, most people don’t achieve theirs, and I think that’s a shame. I had several specific childhood dreams, and I’ve actually achieved most of them. More importantly, I have found ways, in particular the creation (with Don Marinelli), of CMU’s Entertainment Technology Center of helping many young people actually achieve their childhood dreams”
In this lecture, Ryan gave advice to students on how to achieve their own career and personal goals. He taught how to pursue our dreams. But the most important of all is that we should abide by the golden rule of life and that is to do good on others. By helping people to achieve their dreams, you are also helping yourself to achieve your own dreams.
So continue dreaming, do good to others and take action. Let’s achieve our dreams and once achieved, let’s also help others achieve their own dreams.
What are you childhood dreams? Are you chasing them? How do you lead your life? How do you want to help other achieve their own dreams?
Download Transcripts here
For more on Randy, visit here
Learn how to support the Randy Pausch Memorial Bridge, visit here