04.30.06
Posted in Career, News at 2:03 am by Paloma Cruz
SitePoint has a list of questions, a self-assessment to help you determine if you’re ready to be an entrepreneur. Listed below are just a few.
Not everyone is suited to it. If you can answer “yes” to the majority of these questions, then working from home may be for you:
- Are you well-organised?
- Are you easily self-motivated?
- Can you set your own work timetables?
- Can you work with occasional distractions?
- Are you sufficiently self-disciplined to keep your nose to the grindstone?
- Do you have good time-management skills?
- Can you work alone, or is your personality better suited to a team setting?
- Can you set goals for yourself, and stick to them?
- Is there a space in your home for you to set up exclusively as your office?
- Do you have all the equipment necessary to operate an efficient, professional office?
- Can you manage without traditional office support, and resources?
- Will you be able to cope in relative isolation, without the social interaction which a corporate office provides?
Found via LifeHacker.
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04.29.06
Posted in General at 11:31 pm by Paloma Cruz
I’m a month away from needing to sign my new lease, or rather from having my lease expire. I don’t want to sign a new one. I haven’t started looking for a new place to live.
The apartment upstairs is leased to an older couple, their daughter and her little girl. Who actually lives there are the daughter, her hoodlum boyfriend and her over-exuberant little girl.
When they had a superbowl party that had them jumping up and down so much that the glasses in by cupboards were clinking, I went upstairs to complain. They didn’t apologize and they didn’t stop. When I had to go upstairs at 11 p.m. because the little girl was exercising by running from one side of the apartment to another (I could make out her little patter, amongst the BOOM BOOM when she jumped off something) they told me she was asleep. And the noise continues.
I’ve complained to the apartment complex. At the first few times it was recommended that I try to work something out with the neighbors before complaining officially. Then, when it got to the point where we had to complain, we were told they would take care of it. And still it continues.
I don’t want to look for somewhere to live. I don’t want to change apartments. Mom likes this one, mostly. But we can sometimes smell the smoke from the apartment upstairs (they are all smokers). And the noise gets annoying. And it’s much too small.
Tomorrow I have to go and pay the rent. I will take that opportunity to talk to the apartment manager about my options in renewing my lease… or not renewing it, as the case may be.
The truth of it is that I don’t want to have to deal with this right now. On top of having to look for a job and still dealing with the death of my father, I don’t need this.
Maybe I can get a three or six month lease to give me some time to look for another apartment. Maybe that will work.
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04.27.06
Posted in Career at 12:31 am by Paloma Cruz
9 tips for running more productive meetings
– from 43 Folders
- Circulate an agenda
- Have a theme
- Set (and honor) times for beginning, ending, and breaks
- No electronic grazing. Period.
- Schedule guests
- Be a referee and employ a time-keeper
- Stay on target
- Follow up
- Be consistent
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04.26.06
Posted in Career at 12:25 am by Paloma Cruz
Minipreneurs Test the Entrepreneurial Waters with Online Ventures
– reported by Monster.com
Entrepreneurial projects can consume your life. No wonder so many people with limited time and funds defer their dreams of starting a business. But with the help of online technologies, millions of people are keeping their day jobs while trying entrepreneurship as minipreneurs.
As defined by trendwatching.com, a firm that tracks and analyzes consumer trends, minipreneurs are a “vast army” of consumers-turned-entrepreneurs operating minibusinesses, often as part-time ventures, with the aim of experimenting with entrepreneurship and making extra cash.
[snip]
According to trendwatching.com, several factors have converged to cause a boom in minipreneurial ventures. The most prominent include the Internet-enabled global marketplace, making niche markets profitable, and a highly developed “network of intermediaries, tools, resources and processes.”
Included in this “ecosystem,” as trendwatching.com terms it, are open-source software; free or inexpensive Web hosting systems; Google Talk, Skype and other free telephony systems; inexpensive Internet advertising and bartered ads; PayPal and other online payment systems; and product-selling services, such as Lulu.com for on-demand publishing and CafePress.com for peddling mugs, T-shirts and other items.
[snip]
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04.25.06
Posted in General at 12:23 am by Paloma Cruz
How to Write a Thank-You Note
– from The Morning News
[snip]
I assure you, writing thank-yous is easier than you remember. Get yourself some stationery, plain note cards or a selection of attractive postcards (yes, postcards are perfectly acceptable!), and proper postage. Avoid the pre-inscribed ‘Thank you!’ cards in loopy script, as there are times you’ll want to write notes where that aesthetic feels all wrong. Better to choose paper you like. Stay away from full-size sheets – note cards are best, as your message will be brief, and would look silly swimming around on a page that large. Store all of these items somewhere easily accessible and preferably in plain sight so you won’t hesitate too long or forget too easily. Say, the top drawer of your desk or on a bookshelf at eye level or below.
[snip]
The six point rule to learn:
- Greet the Giver
- Express Your Gratitude
- Discuss Use
- Mention the Past, Allude to the Future
- Grace
- Regards
Found via LifeHacker.
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04.24.06
Posted in Career, News at 6:13 am by Paloma Cruz
Boom is Back for MBAs, Students Field Flurry of Offers
– reported by HispanicBusiness.com
[snip]
About 63 percent of the graduate admission council’s survey respondents said the economy is “not weak.” The figure was 45 percent in 2005 and 18 percent in 2004.
With more than 416,000 jobs added in January and February, this year’s 1.4 million college graduates should enjoy the best entry-level job market since the dot-com collapse in 2001, according to an annual outlook released by global outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc.
“The market for grad students - especially those with marketable skills in the private sector - is great,” says John A. Challenger, the consultancy’s chief executive.
This year, employers are most interested in hiring MBAs to fill finance-related positions, the GMAC study found. Other popular employment sectors for new MBAs include consulting, general management, human resources, information technology, operations and logistics.
[snip]
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Posted in Career at 12:11 am by Paloma Cruz
8 types of meeting attendees
– by Jonathan Grubb
Some personalities that come out in meetings, especially at big software companies.
A short list:
- The Talker
- The Boss
- The Sigher
- The Lurker
- The Stealth Lurker
- The Meanderer
- The killer
- The productive, reasonable contributor
Found via LifeHacker.
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04.23.06
Posted in Career at 12:05 am by Paloma Cruz
The Common Mistakes New Managers Make
– reported by the CareerJournal.com
Initiative, skill and dedication may be the reasons you were promoted to management, but those qualities may not make you a good manager.
[snip]
Here, we examine five common new-manager missteps and ways they can avoid them.
1. Taking On Too Much Yourself
2. Refusing to Ask for Help
3. Failing to Plan
4. Jumping the Gun
5. Overrelying on Your Title
[snip]
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04.22.06
Posted in Career at 12:03 am by Paloma Cruz
“If you don’t trust your associates to know what is going on, they’ll know you don’t really consider them partners.”
–Don Soderquist, vice chairman, Wal-Mart
found on Fast Company
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04.21.06
Posted in Career at 6:20 am by Paloma Cruz
How to Handle Common Interview Questions
Part 2 in a 4-Part Series
– found at Monster.com
[snip]
In this series, we’ll look at some common questions and what you should consider when formulating your responses. Work through each potential question, creating your own responses, and you will be in great shape for your next interview. It helps to write out potential answers. Even better: Practice aloud with someone.
[snip]
Questions to anticipate:
- Tell me about a time you faced an ethical dilemma.
- Tell me about a time when you failed.
- Tell me about a project you worked on that required heavy analytical thinking.
- Why do you want to leave your current position?
- What book are you currently reading?
Continued from part 1.
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