SUCCESS

1. Build teams. "It's very hard for anyone to be able to understand all facets of a problem, especially when you're dealing with complex problems with the real opportunity to make the world better. You need to have a lot of perspectives. It doesn't mean you can't be the executive and make the decisions about what needs to be done for the best interest of your project, but you have to have a team of people you trust around you to provide support and perspective."

2. Forgive people. "You've got to forgive people. You come in contact with a lot of people, and they will disappoint you at times. Give them a chance to surprise you again."

3. Put your ideas into action. "Success is 1 percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration. I don't care how good you are, how many good ideas you have-a great idea on the back of a napkin is worth the price of the napkin. A thought has zero value without execution behind it. You've got to start putting the pieces together. It's the middle of the sandwich that makes the sandwich what it's worth. The bread is the ideas, the concepts, how it looks from the outside. The inner workings differentiate true winners."

4. View adversity as a learning opportunity. "The great surgeons are not the ones who never make a mistake-they're the ones who can get out of any crisis. That's what great success is to be."

5. Take care of your body. "The body is the temple of the soul. If your body is not tuned up, if it's not healthy, it's not going to be a good place for your mind to live. And so all the greatness you had in front of you starts to slip away as you get pulled away by inabilities of the mind to maintain its high levels of function. Maintaining body health is critical."

3 gift ideas

Whether you need to choose a birthday present for Aunt, an off to college gift for your nephew, or something for Grandpa, your choice will be a lot easier if you can narrow it down to a theme. If you know that your recipient loves the outdoors in one form or another, your life will be that much easier. The really fun thing about outdoor inspired gifts is that they span all price ranges and age groups. It’s just as lovely for a child to collect beautiful seashells, put them in a vase with a ribbon as it is to order a top of the line hammock where Dad can enjoy the sounds of nature and ignore the grass cutting chores. Here are 3 of some of the best outdoor inspired gifts I’ve seen people give or receive. Some are inexpensive, some aren’t. However, all of them will be treasured for years to come.

1. From the heart. Of course, the least expensive way to go is to create something from items you’ve collected in some way. Don’t think this option is just for children! A lot of people on your list may truly have everything they need. Or you may be looking for an emotional gift that doesn’t come in a catalog. Try writing the name of a newborn in the sand, take a photo and put it in a lovely frame. It’s simple, cheap, and sure to be loved by new parents and grandparents.

2. Functional. For anyone with a real passion for camping, hiking, or some other outdoor sport, there are sure to be a ton of great gadgets that they would love to have, but just can’t or won’t buy for themselves. Find out if they get any specialty magazines and catalogues or pick the brain of others in the sport. Bikers, kayakers, rock climbers and even bird watchers all have specialty items for their sport. Sport related blogs are likely to have great ideas.

3. High impact. Maybe you want your gift to make a statement, and be something that your loved one will use, look at and remember for years. Obviously a big ticket item like a canoe a pair of airplane tickets to Timbacktoo will be memorable. However, even without spending quite that much you could give something like a chimenea or a pair of Adirondack chairs that will be enjoyed year round by several people. If you tend to let gift giving stress you out, just remember to focus on a theme. Pick one or two interests and go from there. The thought, combined with actually knowing how someone prefers to spend time, can combine for an ideal nature inspired gift. The other great part about this gift giving method is that you actually have a plan. It doesn t matter who you are giving to, or what the occasion is.

Now you have a step by step approach that will help you choose meaningful gifts that others will love and remember.

do's of Internship

DO accept work is different: School tends to be a solitary activity. There are group projects, but at the end of the day you are judged mostly on your own personal performance. Work is different; your performance often affects other people's ability to get their job done. So when you miss a deadline, everyone can suffer, not just your grade. This is just one way that school can be different from the workplace. Do some prowling with new co-workers or former interns to find out more of the rules for being successful in your new workplace.

DO be proactive: Don't just wait for great projects to fall into your lap. Go hunting for them. One simple way is to ask your boss, "What is a good thing for me to work on when you're busy and I don't have anything specific to do?" Also be on the lookout for interesting projects and assignments that no one else will touch, because they may give you more room to experiment, learn and grow. Just because you're low person on the totem pole doesn't mean that you have to get stuck with projects no one else wants.

DO network with peers: Most interns focus on sucking up with their boss and other experienced workers. Don't overlook networking possibilities with other interns. You can learn a lot from your fellow interns, and their network can be a great place to meet people. Also, the intern pool can be a great, safe place to develop your networking skills.

DON'T disappear. Don't allow yourself to play it safe by remaining invisible.

Use these tips and you won't be running around in circles after college. You'll leverage your internship to land a great job.

Demand for Talent

Despite the recent debacles at the Wall Street, the future demand for talent in the Indian financial sector will out-number the supply, thus creating a skills shortage in the Banking, Financial Services and Insurance Sector (BFSI). According to a report release by Confederation of Indian Industry & ICRA Management Consultancy Services (IMaCS), the total incremental demand for manpower in the Indian BFSI sector will be over 4.5 to 5.0 million per annum by 2015. The report was released at the CII Global Summit on Skills Development 2008 held in New Delhi on September 17-18.

The report titled 'Skill Gaps in the Banking and Financial Service Industry says, "We envisage that by 2015 the opportunity landscape in financial services will have 4.5 to 5.0 million new (incremental) jobs to offer, considering the likely improvements in the economic output and labour productivity. The employment opportunities envisaged are likely to emanate mainly from the banking and Non-banking financial services."

The report has divided the skilled human resource needed in BFSI sector into four categories: Minimal Education, Skill Category level 1, Skill Category Level 2, and Specialized Skills. Minimal Skills category comprising of 'feet on street' workforce like collection agents will have 15% of total jobs. Customer Service Representatives & Insurance marketers, representing Skill Category 1, will have 65% of the jobs. 'Branch managers, credit managers, marketing managers' representing Skill Category level 2 will have 15% of jobs in the sector. Finally, at the top end of the pyramid, specialized skills like risk management, high-end quantitative analytics, investment bankers, fund managers etc will have 5% of the jobs.

Earlier, addressing a panel discussion on skills development in the financial sector, Ms Rita Soni, Country Head, Yes Bank, said, "We believe in adopting creative approach to HR management. We hire executives from variety of sources: employee referrals, recommendations by NGOs, in house training initiatives like Yes School of Banking and so on."

Veteran academician, former VC of IGNOU and Chairman of KNI, Dr Rakesh Khurana said, "Inspite of the recent meltdown of the Wall Street, the demand for trained manpower in the Indian financial sector will remain. Indian financial sector has some of the largest players including LIC which has largest number of policies in the world, or SBI which has largest number of account holders. Yet, there is a huge untapped segment for the Indian financial market."

The two-day CII Global Summit on Skills Development was inaugurated on September 17 by Mr Oscar Fernandes, Minister of State (Labour & Employment) Independent Charge Government of India.

SEC bans short-selling in 799 financial stocks

By Amol Agarwal - 19/09/2008

SEC has now banned short-selling in stocks of 799 financial companies. List of banned stocks is here. SEC statement says that it has taken these steps in coordination with FSA. FSA has banned 29 stocks from short-selling. List of stocks is here

SEC’s ban ends on 2 Oct 2008 but FSA’s is a longer ban till 16 Jan 2009. FSA statement says:
“While we still regard short-selling as a legitimate investment technique in normal market conditions, the current extreme circumstances have given rise to disorderly markets. As a result, we have taken this decisive action, after careful consideration, to protect the fundamental integrity and quality of markets and to guard against further instability in the financial sector.”

This is a classic case of repugnance good and short-selling being limited to only text-books. When prices rise and are seen to be away from fundamentals, all say it is very difficult to say what is the fundamental price. Hence bubbles are ignored and preference is being given to markets to correct the excesses. However, when they fall, we see such reactions.

Why not some ban on long buy when prices are rising like they are falling now? Then most financial players will cry foul, socialism etc. However, now players will say this is needed as markets are irrational etc.

I hope now the experts in India don’t say such things don’t happen in developed financial systems. Or cry foul when such decisions are taken in India……when developed economies can’t afford short-selling in times of distress, it is too much to ask emerging markets to fact the music.

 

10 common resume mistakes

Resume readers tend to have very little patience, and will sooner reject your application than consider calling you for answers. Here's a list of the most common resume writing and CV mistakes found on many applications.

Resume is too long or too short –you won't win any prizes for writing “War and Peace”, nor will you gain any extra points for trying to write your entire career history on a postage stamp.

Too "fluffy" – "conscientious”, “dedicated” or "good communicator” are great words but most companies will expect you to substantiate your claims with skills and corresponding competencies to match.

No value add – if your resume appears similar in skill set to that of 20 or 30 other applicants, there's a good chance you'll go on the "maybe pile" and never actually get a call. Your resume needs to scream out to the reader, offering something others simply don’t have.

No focus – listing everything will cloud a resume. Is the employer looking for a “one glove fits all”, or do they want someone with focus? We can tell you now...it's focus.

Visually unappealing – how your resume looks is as important as the words it contains. That's why you should be careful with the appearance of your resume. As many as a quarter of candidates with otherwise excellent resumes ruin their chances with bad layout.

Grammar mistakes and typos – a rushed document can be spotted a mile away, and it’s even easier to spot a badly written resume when there’s a number of redlines under each word!

Irrelevant data – we can all be proud of our extra curriculum activities, but sometimes these can work against you. Ensure that any additional activities have some direct relevance to your career, for example "trained in responsible serving of alcohol" isn't so relevant if it was 20 years ago and you're now looking for a CEO position!

A picture can say a thousand words - these days it's not always necessary to have your picture on your resume, however if one is required, ensure that it has a "professional image".

Password protection - if you feel it's truly necessary to password protect your document, then only protect changes to the document, don't leave them trying to guess how to open your resume in the first place.

Web based resumes - employers like to collate all resumes before reading them and prefer to read from a standard format. Although on-line resumes are great interactive pieces of work, avoid using these forms of trial service unless you know the reader is expecting more than a word document, or make sure you have a Word version available for download

Ways to make decision

How to cope with Work pressure

Generally, job stress is referred to as challenges on the work front, but the concept of work related stress is entirely different from challenges. A challenge motivates an employee to learn and master new skills whereas job stress depletes the energy as well as the enthusiasm to work. There could be a number of signs of job stress such as lack of proper sleep, loss of concentration, anxiety, depression and even physical illness.

Causes Of Job Stress - Read on...