Until last week, Susan believed that she had a dream job with a major airline that others would kill for. Today, Susan is just a part of the statistics that marks one of the worst hit crises in the American economy.

The news that their airlines had a layoff plan came as a rude shock – none of the employees “saw it coming.” This kind of an experience can be traumatic to say the least.

As economic slowdown looms large over America and it is better to believe in the premise: bad news rarely announces its arrival. Though, there is no way to avoid the rough patches, there are options that can be kept ready as an insulation mechanism for one’s career.

Everyone keeps talking about what needs to be done in case of a layoff. How about looking at avoiding a layoff? In spite of it being too late for many to salvage the situation, for those who are still in their jobs, things can be controlled while there is time.

The Indispensable Employee

When pink slips are handed out, it is not just the few lucky ones that are left out but also the real hard workers – unless the company has major issues and large numbers are asked to leave. Many companies use termination as a tool to get rid of consistently underperforming employees. The best way of getting lucky at the workplace is to always be in the “wanted” list. Read the rest of this entry »

The economy in the United States is causing great concern for everyday citizens around the world. While top level executives are walking away with millions from failed companies, investors and employees are facing hard facts about their investments, their careers and their future. When you find yourself under the axe, your career aspects are bleaker across the board and if you’re not prepared for the possibility of lay-offs, you can be a tight spot both in the short-term and long-term.

Jobs and Recessions

There is little doubt there is a huge correlation between jobs and the economy. When the economy dips, companies trim the fat on their budgets. Often, this means non profitable departments are cut along with nonessential personnel. Contractors, freelancers and others might find themselves out of work for one company where they were duplicates of actual employees who must now shoulder more work for the same salary. Freelance individuals might find also themselves with more work as companies opt to outsource work to contractors rather than pay employee benefits and salaries.

In a recession, many jobs will be lost and the jobs that remain will become more cumbersome. Some fields will remain the same or even grow, such as the medical industry, virtually undisturbed by the economic conditions. Your plan for a bad economy should reflect your career track, your skills and your initiative. Read the rest of this entry »

Kinesthesia is our movement sense. It simply refers to an awareness of changes in momentum, balance, pressure and body position in general. It tells us all about how we are moving our bodies. Kinesthetic intelligence includes control of the bodily motions, the ability to handle objects skillfully and the gift for using whole body motions.

You would have seen or you could be one of those people, who are always on the move; who study while walking, whose body is forever active irrespective of what they are doing, even while watching TV. For the kinesthetic types, moving is fundamental and they often fidget if nothing else. It helps them concentrate better.

This “body smart” group as they are called affectionately includes overly active people who indulge in physical self and for whom learning is a physical experience. Read the rest of this entry »

Years of spending much more than their earnings have left a large percentage of Americans standing at the financial precipice. Studies show that 75% of Americans failed to pay their utility bills on time; about 39% of people who have mounting debts or bills say that they had to deplete their savings in order to pay off bills; around 30 percent of them accumulated credit card debt.

This is the worst possible situation anyone can get into – self-created, albeit unintentional. Debt is certainly not something that just happens as you go about your daily routine. Lack of knowledge on financial management in most cases leads to out-of-control debt. The partners in this financial demise are the financial giants making money out of the huge interests and fees they charge.

With the task of eliminating the mountain of debt staring on the face, most people wonder which outstanding bills to clear first. Setting up a debt plan works but it will work only if you discipline yourself to pay back the money within a specified length of time.

When in debt, it has to be done RIGHT NOW. Paying a little back is better than worrying and doing nothing about it. You will have to stick to the plan until the debt is completely paid.

Follow these steps to set up a debt payment plan:

Stop Using Credit

I cannot stress on this enough. There are no two ways about it and it has to be done if you want to get yourself out of debt. Read the rest of this entry »

A business is all about marketing. Even the best products and services fail if they are not promoted in a proper manner by reaching the customers. Social media helps build businesses gain responsive and highly targeted customers, while building rock solid relationships with potential customers and other entrepreneurs. A company’s brand through social media reputation is beginning to have more weight in the current day.

For many businesses, social media still remains a big question mark. Many are not sure if social media constitutes a medium that is largely untested. They wonder how a good brand can survive in the unpredictable environment of the online communities.

This is the reason why many companies are still not capitalizing on the huge opportunities those social media offers, such as connecting with high-quality business consumers. The advantages of social media far outweigh any disadvantages companies may be worried about.

Social media marketing is considered to be the future of online businesses. There are several social media available today for business people, such as blogs, audio, video and social networking sites.

Companies can leverage the power of social media by becoming a part of the online communities. Read the rest of this entry »

Employee evaluation or appraisal is a primitive administrative art that is considered by many to be a dirty job, as it involves one person judging another, which always leaves a sense of dissatisfaction and a doubt whether it is a foolproof method. However, it is done by each and every company, big and small, as it is essential for the growth of the company. In some companies, it is documented as a proper appraisal system; whereas, in others it is done informally.

The evaluation systems should be designed in such a way that they lessen any bias on employees. There is no one method that is better than another and it all depends on individual organizational setting. A method most suitable for one may spell disaster to another.

Reason for Evaluation

There are several reasons why employee evaluation is done. It is done to see if an employee deserves a change in position or compensation, to determine if an employee is performing well during training, to see if an employee needs to be terminated or just as part of a continuous research on personnel that many companies conduct.

Who is evaluating?

The next step is to determine who is going to perform this evaluation on a regular basis. This is based on the kind of information that is sought and it may involve one or more people. It is also a good idea to have the customers and co-workers provide evaluation, as well as the employees themselves evaluating their performance. This way all angles are taken care of and the evaluation is bound to be more comprehensive. Read the rest of this entry »

For many people, if there is anything that makes them feel like they are searching for a needle in a haystack; it is their search for a good web hosting company.

For every website launched, there is need for a web hosting company. A web host rents out space on a web server. The web pages are stored on their server and the host allows other people using the internet, to view these web pages.

With hundreds of web hosting companies to choose from, how does one go about finding the right one?

Word of Mouth

As with any other service, it is not possible to know how good a hosting company is until it is tried. Getting recommendations from others who are already using web hosting companies can be done by asking around.

Reliability

It is also important to know how long a web hosting company has been in business as well as the reliability factor.

Disk Space

Determining the amount of disk space one needs is important and that is always based on the number of pages on the website. Only a small amount of space is required if one is looking to host a website with less than ten pages. If the website is huge and is going to have thousands of pages, a lot of disc space is required. Most web hosting plans apply limits on the space that is provided, so it is important to make sure that these plans meet the needs. Read the rest of this entry »

One of the most useful tools of any business is the quintessential employee manual or handbook. It is a manual that is given to new employees on being hired, as a means to acquainting them with the company procedures, functions and policies. It is the most essential communication tool between the company and the employee.

The employee manual should be designed with a lot of thought and only those policies that are specific to the organization should be given and not general policies, making sure it is in an easily readable compact form.

Some of the main policies that may be included are:

Welcome Statement

To make new employees feel at home, most companies start with a warm welcome note from the CEO, which includes important details about the company; the creation, mission statement, goals as well as the role of employees in achieving those goals.

Orientation Process

Orientation process may include having the employee read the manual completely and some companies also allow new employees to use some office time in the first few days for reading it and schedule a conference to answer any questions they may have. Many employers also get an acknowledgment signed by the employee stating that the employee manual has been read and understood.

General Policies

The employee manual should contain the following basic policies of the company:

Attendance: This can be included to avoid any confusion over attendance expectations. Every company expects employees to arrive at the work place prior to the scheduled start time and be engaged with their work by the start time. Details of how time off should be requested and sick leave details are also outlined in this manual. Attendance is considered by many companies as an important facet of job performance. Read the rest of this entry »

A successful technology start-up as well as growth happens only in a situation where there is a healthy marriage of strong business management and resources.

The primary objective is to identify high-potential business opportunities that are technology-incentive and ensure all the resources are well-organized. An attractive opportunity is one that has a valuable and technically feasible product, a large potential market, competitive advantage sustainability and also a proven business model. It can either be based on an incredible breakthrough in technology or even an advancement of an existing technology; and it can either create a totally new market or target an already existing market.

This requires the right vision, compelling strategies and most importantly perfect execution, which makes all the difference between a good company and a great company. A good leadership, putting together a good team to get it going and working towards achieving the goal can guide the venture to success. Good technology startups provide immense value to the users and bring huge returns to their creators and investors.

In a technology start-up, some of the founders should be technical people. There have been instances in several start-ups, where the founders had to even look for hackers to help them create their product as they did not have the required technical skills. In fact, it is said that technical people are more important than business people.

The main element of a startup is to create a product or provide a service that customers need, spending as little money as possible.

The three factors to be taken into consideration are:

• Who are the customers?
• What does the product/service deliver?
• How is the product/service better than the competitors?

Once the resources are in place, then it is time for a formal well-made business plan that details everything, right from the needs of the customers, the technological solution, the goals, raising capital for the venture, setting objectives and milestones as well as target markets etc. This plan also takes into consideration any unforeseen challenges that may lie ahead, rather than a perfect hurdle-less roadmap to success, such as a contingency plan for either cash or personnel. This gives a broad view of the future of the business and more importantly how successfully one can bring the company to see that visualized future. Read the rest of this entry »

Anger is a natural emotion all of us experience in response to a perceived threat to or a violation of the self. We all have the right to be angry. In fact, not being able to express it can be harmful to the health and to our relationships. That sure does not mean we go around screaming at people we are angry at.

The way people react is conditioned by the social and psychological development. Anger is determined by the conscious and the unconscious mind, and this would influence the way people express their feelings, including anger.

When we bring our awareness into the expression of anger, it is said to have positive outcome and when we get our hurt feelings out, it helps our psychological health. Chronic anger not handled appropriately by expression can be very bad to health and even lead to diseases of the heart, gastrointestinal and skin.

Anger is expressed in several ways, by aggressiveness, assertiveness or by being passive. When we act aggressively and abuse the other person either verbally using words that hurt them or physically by using our fists, the relationship suffers; when we remain passive by denying this anger and we repress it by saying nothing about the issue, we suffer. The best way to express anger is by being assertive, which eventually helps resolve issues with discussion as well as enhances interpersonal relationships.

The first step to handling anger is to be aware of the danger signals that accompany anger, and then decide if a response is worthwhile and react accordingly. Impulsiveness never helps in any aspect of life. Giving ourselves time to think before taking an action, saves us a lot of trouble. Read the rest of this entry »