The sole purpose of a Resume is to show the reader what you are
Many applicants believe that the purpose of a resume is to help them get a job. This is not true. The purpose of a resume is to help you get an interview. You will never be hired solely on the basis of your resume.
Resume is your selling document. It needs to be able to show your prospective employer that you are the person that they are looking for. This goes beyond experience, training and skills. It needs to demonstrate your personal strengths, capabilities and the type of person you are. The key to resume writing excellence is in presenting it the right way. Most people make the error of just listing their experience and qualifications, this ends up being a rather boring document. A good resume should not only demonstrate your skills and experience, but should also give the reader a good indication of the type of person you are. It needs to have personality.
If you are a new entrant in the job market, you need to perfect your resume before applying for your 1st job
Since you are fresh out of college, use your education as your strong point. Aggregate %, CGPA, accolades, club participation, etc. will be your focus
"Do I really need a resume? What should I write in my resume?"
These are questions which worry every college graduate looking for his/her first job. Welcome to the real world! Yes you really need to make your resume and how you present yourself in that resume will go a long way towards getting you your first job.
It's a myth that resumes of entry-level graduates are unimportant because they lack the 'pull' of experience. Nothing could be further from the truth. Not only is a well-made resume important for every job seeker, it is more critical for entry level graduates. A resume is a mirror of your professional identity. A well-defined resume impresses a recruiter. A sloppy resume immediately proclaims the candidate to be sloppy.
The objective within the resume should be clear, well-defined and short. It should be aimed towards getting a particular position in a specific industry. Thus your objective should talk about the following: Position wanted; Functional area; Industry wanted
The summary within the resume should sum up your resume in a nutshell and should be an opportunity to highlight your strengths. It invites the recruiter to read your detailed resume Sample :
"Masters in Computer Application with specialization in J2EE/Web Technologies. Great operational, communication and computer skills. Good academic record throughout. Among the top three students out of a batch of 120 students. Undergone Industrial training in a top petrochemical Company.
It is a good idea to include only those educational and professional qualifications which are relevant. Put your qualifications in a reverse chronological order i.e. the recent ones first followed by earlier ones. Entry level resume should also mention the names of their school and college, years in which they passed their board examinations. However, include your marks only you have shown a good academic performance.
Work experience - An entry- level resume cannot compete with resumes of experienced workers in the area of work experience. But don't forget to list internships, voluntary work and summer training that you have undertaken. How you present these is very important. Make sure you clearly define your duty and responsibilities during this training.
Read and re-read your resume for any mistakes. Check the facts, grammar, spellings.
Ideally restrict your CV to not more than three pages. After all you should have some matter to talk about during your interview.
Make sure your name, address, and a phone number appear on your resume and all correspondence, preferably at the top of the page.
Never send a résumé without a cover letter. The purpose of a cover letter is to express your interest in an organization and to request an interview. The opening paragraph must get the reader's attention and interest in your employment potential. This paragraph should also refer to the specific position sought and areas in your background that make you an attractive candidate for it.
The development section (usually one or two paragraphs) highlights specific aspects of your education, training, and experience that relate to the position or organization to which you are applying. It also refers the reader to your enclosed résumé for further details.
The concluding paragraph should request action by the reader. You should request an opportunity to meet with the person to discuss your qualifications and employment potential in greater detail. Include information on how you can be contacted by providing both day and evening phone numbers.
It also needs to be a concise document. Most employers will skim through all the resumes and put aside only 5-10 that might be worth reading. On average an employer will only spend around 1-3 minutes on each Resume. In other words your resume has to stand out from the others. This does not mean that the resume should be full of graphics, colours or printed on coloured paper. Employers feel that if you have to use gimmicks to impress them, then you probably don't have anything to offer. The resume needs to have a clean, professional look about it. It needs to be easy to read and should look balanced.
The format or style you choose depends on the type of resume that you require, but no matter which one, the resume should always be easy to follow and read. It is true that we are selling ourselves through our Resume, we have to explain what all are mentioned in our Resume, the way of presenting is important in an interview.
To create an impressive resume, you need to pay attention to content, format and writing style. Remember, this document is often the first glimpse get of you. What do you want company to know? What can you offer that makes you unique and perfect for the job? Resume writing seems to be the part that gives people the most trouble. It isn't that hard if you follow some guidelines:
Keep the words ‘current’ and ‘relevant’ in mind when you compose your resume. Company is looking for up-to-date resumes that clearly describe why you are right for the job in question. Keep your writing crisp, using bullet points wherever possible
Format your resume such that it is easy to read and scan. If you are submitting your resume online, use plain text.
Start talking about your major achievements early on. Be detailed, specific and quantify your work where you can e.g. managed a team of 10 members. This will allow you to stand out from the crowd and help them understand your level of expertise.
List a few of your interests outside of work. They appreciate well-balanced people who can add spice to their work environment.
Be honest. If inaccurate information comes to light later on in the recruitment process, you could lose your chance to join.
Write simply and clearly. Jargon may confuse and bad grammar or spelling will only create a bad impression.
Be sure your contact information is accurate, so that company can reach you if you have been short listed.
Provide two referees - tell how (and how long) you’ve known them. Ideally, you would list your most recent managers so that company can understand the current information related to you
Interview Tips
What is an Interview?
An interview is a face-to-face meeting, for the purpose of assessing the qualifications of a candidate for jobs or admission to educational institutions or for the purpose of obtaining statement or opinion of any respected person.
Nowadays, several success formulas have come out to see your victory during these stressful moments of an interview. But they would fail if you do not prepare yourself beforehand and practice. These are not any difficult tasks. They will require just 30 minutes of your 24 hours.
Here are some commonly asked questions –
Why are you here?! (never say ’’to attend this interview!’’. Say something like ’’I’m here to seek the position of.....in......’’)
Tell me something about yourself (always asked. Never say what’s already mentioned in your CV. You may talk about your birthplace, your family and your personal interests. Keep the entire answer to 5 or 6 lines maximum).
What are your strength and weaknesses?
What is your work objective?
In one sentence, tell me something about your personality
When do you get angry?
How quickly do you react to a decision?
Tell me something about your earlier company and your role in it?
Are you willing to work night-shifts?
What is a BPO (or the domain which you are appearing for)?
What does ’’customer-satisfaction’’ mean to you?
Give me a instance when a customer appreciated your service?
Why do you want to work in a BPO (or in the industry which you applied for)?
What is the biggest challenge facing by this industry today?
What, according to you, is the most important requisite for this job position?
Why do you want to work in our company?
Why should we employ you?
What do you know about our company?
What will you do if you’re not selected for this job?
It’s always better to be prepared. Regularly practice mock-interviews before the mirror. You’ll be able to notice your flaws and correct’em instantly.
More questions....
Expect some questions that are regularly repeated in many interviews. These questions form a base for the interviewer so that he can form a chain of questions from the answer you give. Let us list such questions, which we call Base Questions.
Tell me about yourself
What are your strengths and weaknesses?
Why Should We Employ You?
Why do you want to join our organization / institute?
What are your future plans?
Who is your role model and why?
What Salary Are You Expecting?
What do you know about our company?
These questions form the base for further questions. Let’s take an example scene
Him: What are your strengths?
You: I am honest, hardworking and reliable
Him: What makes you think you are honest?
You: I have never cheated with any person or never have lied to anyone.
Him: If suppose, you have to do a wrong stuff for the good of someone, then would you do it?
You: If it benefits someone then I won’t mind doing it.
Him: So this means you can break your honesty!
You: If only it benefits someone. Helping someone is a virtue and not a crime.
So, you see that the first question formed the base for the other questions that came up. The interviewer derives these questions from your answer. So think and talk. Never fall in the trap where the interviewer surrounds you with blames. This usually happens in a Stress Interview. So, prepare thoroughly for these questions and expect them coming towards you in an interview.
Dressing up
Sometimes, your dressing style can get you a job. However, this seldom works. But your outer appearance does make the first impact, which can make the interviewer have a preconceived notion that you are the one for the job. But I do not guarantee this will get you the job. Also, you cannot neglect it. Organisations like Jet Airways, Tata, Reliance, Wipro, etc. pay huge emphasis on your dressing. They prefer their candidates to come in formals.
Some companies are liberal with their dress code. In these companies you can go in jeans or any informal wear.
To get a good idea of the dress code, visit the company a day before your interview and get to know the work culture there. If there is a dress code, ask someone about it. Dressing does help and it gives the first impression about you to the interviewer.
Your conduct during an interview
Before entering the cabin, ask for permission. Like, ’’May I come in Sir?’’
After entering do not directly seat. It is bad manners. Let the interviewer ask you to seat. If he doesn’t then keep standing until he says the relieving words, ’’Please have a seat’’.
When you are seated, your legs should be firmly pressed on the ground. Your hands should not be on the table, and not folded. Have them on your laps. Sit erect and not bend.
Keep a smile going throughout the interview. This gives a suggestion to the interviewer that you are confident. The smile also reduces your stress and you feel comfortable. Try it if you want.
Never play with your hands or your pen or your tie. Be seated like a statue. Avoid clapping of hands. This is a sign of nervousness. The interviewer will quickly pick up your body language. And if he or she does not find you confident enough, they will just ask you to leave. So, never show sign of nervousness.
Do not stammer while speaking. Be fluent. The interviewer wants to see your chain of thoughts. They should keep coming one by one and in a continuous manner. Your voice should not be very loud, or very light. Speak as you speak regularly. Just be yourself. Do not enact anyone else and throw away your inferiority complex. You too are good like anyone else in the room. Have faith in yourself and God.
The most important document
Your resume or bio-data or curriculum vitae is the most important document. It should reflect your abilities, and should be true to very of its words.
It should start with your name, date of birth, address, phone number, E-mail address. Nationality and Marital Status can follow. Some company would like to know your height and weight. Give your height in Centimeters and weight in Kilograms. Then give your language capabilities. Then comes education. List all of them starting from SSC and ending up with the latest one. Write down the computer knowledge or any other professional education you had. Then comes experience. Give complete details of them by giving the duration, name of the company, location of the company, name of your designation, job description, salary last drawn and reason for leaving.
You can also state your expected salary. Feel free to write your figure. Then comes the reference. Give at least two. Then you can put in your interests, hobbies and achievements. Put in a photograph of yours. Add your signature at the end to ensure the authenticity of your resume. A complete and comprehensive resume is a very handy tool.
At the end of the interview, the interviewer may ask if you have any questions. You can ask questions like:
Tell me about your company?
Now that I have outlined my career goals, do you think you can offer me the opportunities I need?
What kind of training and learning can I expect in your company?
Describe the work culture and the management style of your company?
What is the long-term vision of your company?
Expect the unexpected
Sometimes you won’t directly go in an interview. The company would have planned a short listing method. So, you can expect a group discussion or a listening comprehension test, or an aptitude test prior to the personal interview.
You can also expect some really weird questions. Some may ask General Knowledge questions. The only advantage with these topics is that you can speak anything you want; if you can prove your stand. There is no right or wrong in these topics. So, expect the unexpected every time you step in for an interview.
Some words of wisdom
Usually, interviews are conducted in English. So never use any second language. Enjoy the moment, instead of getting stressed out. Be yourself. Be natural and normal. Show pleasing and graceful manners, sufficient politeness and verve. Speak more. Do not complete your answer in a sentence. Increase the quantity of your answers. This will impress the interviewer and he will think that you really know.
Always be relaxed. Being relaxed during interviews is difficult. But try to reduce your tension.
Always keep in mind that the person who will be taking your interview is a human being just like you. He is not going to eat you up. So maintain a calm head.
So, we wish you all best of luck for whatever interview you were going for. Just stay calm and focused. For the rest, leave it to the others.
After the interview
Before leaving the room, flash that billion dollar smile at all around and say an audible “Thanks” to the panel.
Don’t start calling up the HR department for the results the moment you reach home. Processing candidates takes some time. Be patient for about a week or 10 days and then give a call asking for the status of the results. In case they are not ready, politely ask how much more time the processing is likely to take. Here again, most companies do not inform candidates who don’t make it past the interview stage while very few do it.
Sit down and jot down the highlights of your interview on a piece of paper. Categories them into positive and negative. Try to recollect if you went wrong anywhere. A good post-mortem report will aid in ironing out any deficiencies and ensure that you don’t repeat the same mistakes next time.
An interview is a two-way process. The employer and you, both evaluate each other from different perspectives. In the short amount of time that you spend with the potential employer, you will either be accepted or rejected. Therefore, project yourself in a positive and enthusiastic manner that subtly convinces the employer that you are the right person for the job on hand. All the best!
Seven Ways to Impress
Be a good listener. Let your interviewer know that you're listening attentively by nodding, using facial expressions that make you look interested, leaning towards the interviewer, picking up on key words they've used and asking them to expand on subjects that genuinely interest you. But never interrupt your interviewer.
Be honest. If you don't understand a question, ask for an explanation. If you're faced with something you really can't deal with, be truthful about it - it's more impressive than pretending to have the answer to everything. Use get-out phrases like 'that's something I'd need time to think about' or 'that's outside my present experience' to give yourself a bit of a breather.
Be consistent. Many interviewers ask the same things in different ways as a means of checking you out. Listen to yourself as well as to them. If you feel you've made a mistake, put things right by saying, 'going back to what I said earlier about...what I really meant was...'
Avoid the temptation to talk too much. If there are awkward silences when you've finished saying what you want, don't fill them with nervous chatter. Some interviewers use silence to see how you'll react. Pass the lead back to them by pleasantly saying: 'Does that answer your question?' Also, stick to providing the answer requested - don't inundate the interviewer with information they don't need.
Be aware of your body language. Stillness is reassuring and fidgeting is a distraction. Looking your interviewer in the eye is essential, but don't overdo it - take your cues from the interviewer. A smile sets everyone at ease, but a constant grin is unnerving. Try to sit up straight. Leaning forward makes you appear attentive and enthusiastic - being slumped conveys boredom.
Be positive. Even if your last job was the pits, if asked for your reasons for leaving, don't let a negative word pass your lips. Never say anything unfavorable about your colleagues, boss or job - it'll just make you look bad. Instead, say: 'I genuinely enjoyed my last job, but I'm eager to move onto a different challenge and use the skills I've gained'. Then, impress them even more by stating how those skills match the job you're after.
If you're not asked about something that you feel is important, raise the subject yourself. This is your one chance to sell yourself, so don't waste the opportunity.
Basic Things
In addition to doing research and practicing your answers to common interview questions, you should be aware of general interview etiquette. Remember the following points when preparing for an interview:
Review your resume
Arrive at the interview ten minutes early to give yourself an opportunity to collect your thoughts and relax.
Dress appropriately for the position that you are applying to. Try to dress like the people who work there would dress if they were representing their organization at some function.
Make sure that you are clean, neat, and well-groomed. Interviewers do notice your appearance, and first impressions are critical in an interview situation.
Take a copy of your resume, transcript, references and perhaps a portfolio or work samples with you. Also take a pen and paper, as you may wan to record some important information.
TEN THINGS THAT AN INTERVIEWER LOOKS IN YOU!
Family Background
Education
Experience
Stability
Initiative
General Ability
Interpersonal Skills
Confidence
Aptitude
Pleasant Looks
Six Common Interview Mistakes
AVOID SIX COMMON INTERVIEW MISTAKES
Tip # 1: Don't discuss pay too early
As the manager of a software store for 10 years, I can honestly say that questions about pay in the first interview from anyone other than a temporary applicant always bothered me a little. Temp jobs aside, if you are not really out there just for the money, asking this question right out of the gate is going to make any other questions you ask sound conniving and insincere. Unless the subject comes up, don't wade into the issue of the pay in the first interview. You can talk about it after you impress the employer enough for a second interview.
Tip # 2: Talk tech to techies only
Feel free to discuss what you know, but remember: If you are talking to a nontechnical manager or human resources representative, you are not going to impress them with talk about life in the trenches. My previous supervisor was totally unimpressed with anything to do with technology. A sure way to put the man to sleep was to begin any story that had to do with computers.
When I interviewed for a previous position, the department manager actually had a technically savvy person participate in the interview to ask and respond to questions she would not understand. When I saw this tactic being used, I knew it was not a time to try to impress with a lot of techno babble.
Answer questions about your work history briefly and keep the tech comments to a minimum until you know the history of the company and the people involved in the hiring process. If you have questions about the technology in use at the site, keep your questions specific and relevant to the position for which you are applying.
Tip # 3: Keep your philosophy to yourself
If you hate Bill Gates, Windows XP, and the whole Office Suite, keep it to yourself. Ranting about your tech philosophy can ruin your chances at the position.
I once interviewed a young man for a retail sales position in a software store. When I asked about his opinion of the then-new Windows 98, the applicant ranted about "the revolution of UNIX" and loosening the grip of Microsoft on the PC market. I am not exaggerating; the man sounded like he was ready to sign on to a paramilitary group. I almost didn't have the heart to tell him my company was a Value Added Reseller for Microsoft.
Chances are, you will work with many people who need your help with one of the Microsoft products, so you don't want to blast the tools you will likely be using and supporting. If you are asked about how you feel about a product, be honest, but don't preach. The interviewer probably just wants to see how you respond to such questions.
Tip # 4: Don't climb the advancement ladder in the interview
If you are joining the ranks of a new company, the last thing the interviewer wants to hear is, "How fast can I get out of this job?" Do not ask about opportunities for advancement until the second or third interview. If you are joining a company just to advance into another position, silence is golden. Keep it to yourself unless the interviewer asks or unless it is somehow already known that you'll be advancing quickly. Remember that what you say now can come back to haunt you later. You don't want to brag to someone who might be under your wing after a promotion.
Further, you never know what may happen if you actually get the job. Learn to accept and adapt and, above all, be happy you have a job. Due to downsizing, a former coworker of mine did not move into the network administration position she wanted and was expecting to get. The bitterness fostered by her broken expectations eventually caused her to resign. In the tight job market of the time-similar to the one now-and with her lack of certified qualifications, she ended up seeking work at a local restaurant.
Tip # 5: Avoid the dreaded electronic interruption
Cellular phone and pager etiquette might seem a trivial thing to those that are hooked up, but you can kiss any job opportunity goodbye if you interrupt an interview to take a telephone call, especially if the human resources representative has a low tolerance for personal digital devices. Only if you are exchanging information by invitation should you reveal the fact that you carry a PDA. If you wear it on a belt loop or somewhere that is exposed, lose it, along with any other electrical device hooks and loops, and store them in pocket, purse, or briefcase. If you can't spare the time away from the rest of the world to do an interview, why are you applying for the job?
I have conducted training classes with people who, when asked to turn off their phones and pagers during class, place their devices in silent mode. When giving a lecture to a class or holding a discussion, watching a person being silently buzzed is terribly distracting and also aggravating.
If you think getting rid of electronic communications devices isn't important, just ask any human resources rep who has had a person answer a cellular phone during a job interview. Then ask if the person got the job.
Tip # 6: Remember to say thank you
Beyond thanking your interviewers for their time as you leave, it's vital that you follow up in written form. If the competition for a position is tight, a follow-up thank you note can mean a lot. If the manager is slow to hire, the arrival of a thank-you note can serve as a reminder about the candidate who's awaiting the manager's next move.
Just after you've completed the interview, take note of anything specific you discussed and make a point of referencing it in your thank you letter. Even a nice greeting card is better than nothing.
It may seem like a small detail, but the experts will tell you that this tried-and-true tactic really makes an impact. A coworker of mine, who successfully worked as a job coach, used to keep a stack of generic notes in her desk. When a participant in her program applied for a job somewhere, she would give the person one of these notes to have them drop in the mail on the way home.
Cover Letter Tips
Cover Letter
A cover letter’s primary purpose is to act as an employer’s introduction to your resume. Put simply, it is a brief outline of your career objectives, a summary of your previous work experience, and a list of some notable career highlights. This letter is all about who you are and what you do. The idea is to make this introductory top sheet interesting and so well written that, after reading it, the employer’s interest will be piqued enough to go on to read your resume.
It is always a good idea to send a cover letter with your resume — regardless of whether the employer requests one. It is proper business etiquette to send one, and it affords you another opportunity to sell yourself in addition to your resume. The main purpose of resume cover letters is to tailor your application to a specific job. Your resume acts as a general advertisement about yourself and the cover letter explains why your skills and work experience are applicable to the specific job. The resume cover letter also gives you an opportunity to show your personality, so use it.
If at all possible, you should address your resume cover letter to a specific individual within the company. Otherwise, your resume is more likely to get lost in the shuffle. Conduct a little research about the company or call them and ask who to send it to if a contact name is not overtly supplied.
In the standard resume cover letter format, the introduction should clearly state what position you are applying for. This should not only be the focus of the opening paragraph, but it should also be the focus of the opening sentence. One sentence should be enough for the opening paragraph of your resume cover letter, but you may want to consider using an additional sentence to mention the name of a personal contact within the company who recommended the job to you or to briefly mention your qualifications for the job.
The body of your resume cover letter should contain your sales pitch. Use several sentences to mention the specific job skills and accomplishments that make you the ideal candidate for the open position. Elaborate by using brief examples to explain why your unique job skills make you the right person for the job. Don't painstakingly list all your wonderful qualities; just stick to the qualities that are relevant to the open position.
Generally, a well written cover letter should provide answers to what the employers want to know:
Are you the kind of person they are looking for?
Do you have the relevant education, work experience and skills?
Can you handle the work demands, based on the job description?
Have you shown a commitment to this particular field of interest?
How well can you communicate with others?
Are you a team player?
Have you any leadership qualities?
Rules Of Cover Letters
The first rule of cover letters: Never use a generic cover letter with only: "To Whom It May Concern." With tons of work on your desk, would you be interested in such a mass mailing? You would probably consider it junk mail, right? You would be much more likely to read a letter that was directed to you personally and so would human resources professionals.
The second rule: Every résumé sent by mail or fax needs a personalized cover letter even if the advertisement didn't request a cover letter.
The third rule: Résumés sent by e-mail don't need a cover letter. Use only a quick paragraph with three to five sentences telling your reader where you heard about the position and why your qualifications are a perfect fit for the position's requirements. E-mail is intended to be short, sweet, and to the point.
General tips for effective cover letters:
Show that you know a little about the company, and that you are aware of their current problems, interests, or priorities.
Express your enthusiasm and interest in this line of work and this company. If you have a good idea that might help the employer resolve a problem currently facing their industry, offer to come in and discuss it.
Project warmth and friendliness, while still being professional. Avoid any generic phrases such as "Enclosed please find." This is a letter to a real live person!
Make a personal link to a specific individual in that company, if at all possible -- also called "name dropping." For example, "My neighbor, Phil Lyons, works in your research-and-development department, and from what he tells me about the company and its current directions, I think I could be a good fit for your team."
Set yourself apart from the crowd. Identify at least one thing about you that's unique -- say a special talent for getting along with everybody at work, or some unusual skill that goes beyond the essential requirements of the position -- something that distinguishes you AND is relevant to the job. (Then, if several others are equally qualified for the job, your uniqueness may be the reason to choose YOU.)
Be specific about what you are asking for and what you are offering. Make it clear which position you're applying for and just what experience or skill you have that relates to that position.
Take the initiative about the next step whenever possible, and be specific. "I'll call your office early next week to see if we could meet soon and discuss this job opening," for example. OR -- if you're exploring for UN-announced jobs that my come up -- "I'll call your office next week to see if we could meet soon, to discuss your company's needs for help in the near future."
Keep it brief -- a few short paragraphs, all on one page.
The Cover Letter is for anyone who needs an effective document that introduces you and makes potential employers want to read your resume. Most resumes should be sent with a cover letter.
In the conclusion of the resume cover letter, state your desire to meet with the company recruiter or hiring manager in person. To facilitate this, provide your preferred contact method and invite the employer to contact you at anytime to set up the interview. Close the paragraph by thanking the employer for considering your application.
BPO Career Tips
Education and Careers over the past two decades has undergone a sea change. Until 20 years ago there were limited careers and standard routes to those careers. Today a student on the threshold of College Education or opting a Career is baffled by the myriad options before him. With the advent of liberalization and the opening of the economy to the international world, innumerable career opportunities are being created all the times.
India has seen the limelight in the past few years shifting rapidly, first it was computer education and training in the early 90's, Y2K was the star during the closing years of the last century. Then as the dot com boom soared high, it was followed by B2B and B2C, followed by the SCM and CRM mantra. Today’s star goes by the name of BPO or Business Process Outsourcing. India is today at the core of the Outsourcing Revolution. However as outsourcing moves beyond just call centers and cost cuts, clients are looking for companies that can provide them with that competitive advantage and go with them where they can’t go alone.
What's a BPO Career all about? A BPO career revolves around the core activity of delivering business process outsourcing services. This involves voice (telephone) and non-voice (email, chat) based customer interaction services, transaction processing, telemarketing, technical support or analyzing of customer specific data. It also involves back-end jobs such as claims processing and processing of Finance & Accounting transactions.
In a growing BPO organization, career opportunities exist across various facets of the business - extending from the core contact center to support functions like HR, legal, marketing, quality, administration etc. Opportunities in the contact center include customer support, telemarketing, technical support and multilingual support (which require people having knowledge of foreign languages like French, Spanish etc.). Opportunities also exist for experienced people from various backgrounds and industries. - like hospitality, services and the retail industry.
In a growing BPO firm the career opportunities exists across various parts of business, from core contact center to the supporting functions like legal, HR, quality, marketing, administration etc. Opportunities in contact center involve telemarketing, customer support, telemarketing, technical support and multilingual support. Because of its vast English speaking population, India has become an ideal candidate for outsourcing US workload through business process outsourcing. English is a popular and well spoken language here. Indians learn English as their second language and are familiar with it. But speaking the global language is not the sole reason for this choice.
Advantage India
The fact that Indian labor is relatively cheaper than American, was also a valid argument for those in favor of outsourcing. Indian labor cost is almost one tenth as compared to American when it comes to the call center industry in particular. That stems from the facts that Indian standards of living are lower than Americans and that Indian pay structures vary greatly from their American counterparts. So America saves costs and benefits from the same by outsourcing its work to India. Call center units are not very demanding as far as qualifications and prerequisites are concerned. Most call center jobs require a basic understanding of computers and a good grasp over English. And the urban youth of India are computer literate graduates with a command over English language. This is the ideal unskilled labor that the call center industry is looking for.
Call centers are a phenomenon that has taken over the young crowd of metros in India by a storm. Its implications are social, cultural and economic. It is a new society of the young, rich and free, selling the new dream of an independent life to the regular desi.
With a bang in telecommunications and the boundaries of countries fast disappearing because of the Internet, the world is shrinking into smaller and smaller dimensions. It is getting slighter by the day and faster by the hour. Whether it is culture, arts or economy, you are no more in your own national space. The world has telescoped into one big melting pot of ideas. In this shrinking economy, India has made its presence felt in many fields. And the Call Center industry is one of them.
Future Growth of BPO in India
What started as a niche service provision has evolved into a whole new industry in itself. Call centers are organizations in countries where an offshore company services American customers for American clients. Although the business did start off with America, it is no more restricted to the United States only. Countries like Australia, Canada and The United kingdom have also started outsourcing their work to India. The work that is outsourced is from various industries like credit cards, healthcare products, personal care products and education.
Call center units are not very demanding as far as qualifications and prerequisites are concerned. Most call center jobs require a basic understanding of computers and a good grasp over English. And the urban youth of India are computer literate graduates with a command over English language. This is the ideal unskilled labor that the call center industry is looking for.
Call center executives only need to be trained in soft skills that include voice neutralization and accent training. This helps to give them an accent more familiar with the people they are going to be talking to. For Indians, this is a smooth transition. Ours is not a country that has evaded the influence of the West and Americanism has seeped into our daily lives like ink on blotting paper.
Soft Skills
Softskills is a sociological term which refers to the cluster of personality traits, social graces, ability with language, personal habits, friendliness, and optimism that mark people to varying degrees. Soft skills complement hard skills, which are the technical requirements of a job.
Softskills can also be an important part of the success of an organization. Organizations, particularly those frequently dealing with customers face-to-face, are generally more prosperous if they train their staff to use these skills. For this reason, soft skills are increasingly sought out by employers in addition to standard qualifications.
This section features various Softskills essential to succeed in any job environment. Check them out to explore the possibilities.
Time Management
Introduction to Time Management
(Work Smarter. Reduce the Stress of Work Overload).
Time management is about understanding the importance of managing priorities and applying techniques and tools to manage time regularly.
Effective time management leads to higher productivity and satisfaction both on the job and in you personal life. It leads to better work life balance and leads to lowering stress, higher poise and greater well-being.
Personal time management skills are essential skills for effective people. People who use these techniques routinely are the highest achievers in all walks of life, from business to sport to public service. If you use these skills well, then you will be able to function exceptionally well, even under intense pressure.
What's more, as you master these skills, you'll find that you take control of your workload, and say goodbye to the often intense stress of work overload.
At the heart of time management is an important shift in focus:
Concentrate on results, not on being busy
Many people spend their days in a frenzy of activity, but achieve very little because they're not concentrating their effort on the things that matter the most.
The 80:20 Rule
This is neatly summed up in the Pareto Principle, or the '80:20 Rule'. This says that typically 80% of unfocussed effort generates only 20% of results. The remaining 80% of results are achieved with only 20% of the effort. While the ratio is not always 80:20, this broad pattern of a small proportion of activity generating non-scalar returns recurs so frequently that it is the norm in many situations.
By applying the time management techniques you can optimize your effort to ensure that you concentrate as much of your time and energy as possible on the high payoff tasks. This ensures that you achieve the greatest benefit possible with the limited amount of time available to you.
Technique 1 : Beating Procrastination
(Manage Your Time. Get It All Done.)
If you’ve found yourself putting off important tasks over and over again, you’re not alone. In fact, many people procrastinate to some degree - but some are so chronically affected by procrastination that it stops them achieving things they're capable of and disrupts their careers.
The key to controlling and ultimately combating this destructive habit is to recognize when you start procrastinating, understand why it happens (even to the best of us), and take active steps to better manage your time and outcomes.
Technique 2 : Activity Logs
(Find Out How You Really Spend Your Time)
How long do you spend each day on unimportant things; Things that don't really contribute to your success at work? Do you KNOW how much time you've spent reading junk mail, talking to colleagues, making coffee and eating lunch? And how often have you thought, "I could achieve so much more if I just had another half hour each day."
And are you aware of when in the day you check your e-mail, write important articles or do your long-term planning?
Most people find they function at different levels of effectiveness at different times of day as their energy levels fluctuate. Your effectiveness may vary depending on the amount of sugar in your blood, the length of time since you last took a break, routine distractions, stress, discomfort, or a range of other factors.
Activity logs help you to analyze how you actually spend your time. The first time you use an activity log you may be shocked to see the amount of time that you waste! Memory is a very poor guide when it comes to this, as it can be too easy to forget time spent on non-core tasks.
Technique 3 : Action Plans
(Small Scale Planning)
So, you know that you need to produce a newsletter, organize a team-building session, put together a bid for a new piece of work, or organize moving Jenny's team up to the second floor. Exactly what do you need to do to achieve this?
None of these are major projects. In fact, you can probably think of all the steps in your head right now. But how do you ensure that you really have covered everything? Would anyone else know where you'd got to with the work if you were unexpectedly off sick for a few days? And are you quite clear about when you need to start if everything is to be done and dusted by the deadline?
An Action Plan is a simple list of all of the tasks that you need to carry out to achieve an objective. It differs from a To Do List in that it focuses on the achievement of a single goal.
Technique 4 : Prioritized To-Do Lists
(Your first step in beating work overload. )
By keeping a To-Do List, you make sure that you capture all of the tasks you have to complete in one place. This is essential if you're not going to forget things. And by prioritizing work, you plan the order in which you'll do things, so you can tell what needs your immediate attention, and what you can quietly forget about until much, much later. This is essential if you're going to beat work overload. Without To-Do Lists, you'll seem dizzy, unfocused and unreliable to the people around you. With To-Do Lists, you'll be much better organized and much more reliable. This is very important!
Whilst To-Do Lists are very simple, they are also extremely powerful, both as a method of organizing yourself and as a way of reducing stress. Often problems may seem overwhelming or you may have a seemingly huge number of demands on your time. This may leave you feeling out of control, and overburdened with work.
Technique 5 : Effective Scheduling
(Plan Your Time. Make Time for Yourself. )
Scheduling is the process by which you look at the time available to you, and plan how you will use it to achieve the goals you have identified. By using a schedule properly, you can:
Understand what you can realistically achieve with your time
Plan to make the best use of the time available
Leave enough time for things you absolutely must do
Preserve contingency time to handle 'the unexpected'
Minimize stress by avoiding over-commitment to others
A well thought-through schedule allows you to manage your commitments, while still leaving you time to do the things that are important to you. It is therefore your most important weapon for beating work overload.
Technique 6 : Personal Goal Setting
(Find Direction. Live Your Life Your Way.)
Goal setting is a powerful process for thinking about your ideal future, and for motivating yourself to turn this vision of the future into reality.
The process of setting goals helps you choose where you want to go in life. By knowing precisely what you want to achieve, you know where you have to concentrate your efforts. You'll also quickly spot the distractions that would otherwise lure you from your course.
More than this, properly-set goals can be incredibly motivating, and as you get into the habit of setting and achieving goals, you'll find that your self-confidence builds fast.
Some hints for effective time management:
Update your TO DO list daily - 15 minutes of investment will help you everyday
End of day: Review status
Status C- Completed, T-Transferred, A-Abandoned, I –In progress
At the end of day you will get a feeling of accomplishment
Deal effectively with interruptions
Do not over schedule
Keep Your list in sight
Delegate, if possible
Get Organized: Paper, e-mail
Do difficult tasks first
Throw away every information that you think you do not need
Think twice before you interrupt anyone, Their time is as valuable as yours
The most commonly accepted definition of stress is that stress is a condition or feeling experienced when a person perceives that “demands exceed the personal and social resources the individual is able to mobilize.” In short, it’s what we feel when we think we’ve lost control of events.
There are very many proven skills that we can use to manage stress. These help us to remain calm and effective in high pressure situations, and help us avoid the problems of long term stress.
Keeping a Stress Diary or carrying out the Burnout Self-Test will help you to identify your current levels of stress, so you can decide what action, if any, you need to take. Job Analysis and Performance Planning will help you to get on top of your workload. While the emotionally-oriented skills of Imagery, Physical Techniques and Thought Awareness, Rational Thinking & Positive Thinking will help you change the way you see apparently stressful situations.
During stress, the adrenal gland releases corticosteroids, which are converted to cortisol in the blood stream. These have an immunosuppressive effect. Dr. Lee Berk and fellow researcher Dr. Stanley Tan at Loma Linda University School of Medicine have produced carefully controlled studies showing that the experience of laughter lowers serum cortisol levels, increases the amount and activity of T lymphocytes—the natural killer cells. Laughter also increases the number of T cells that have suppresser receptors.
What Laughter Can Do Against Stress And Its Effects:
Laughter lowers blood pressure and reduces hypertension
It provides good cardiac conditioning especially for those who are unable to perform physical exercise
Reduces stress hormones (studies shows, laughter induces reduction of at least four of neuroendocrine hormones—epinephrine, cortisol, dopac, and growth hormone, associated with stress response)
Laughter cleanses the lungs and body tissues of accumulated stale air as it empties more air than it takes in. It is beneficial for patients suffering from emphysema and other respiratory ailments
It increases muscle flexion, relaxation and fluent blood circulation in body
Boosts immune function by raising levels of infection-fighting T-cells, disease-fighting proteins called Gamma-interferon and disease-destroying antibodies called B-cells
Laughter triggers the release of endorphins—body's natural painkillers
Produces a general sense of well-being
Technique 1 : Stress Diary
(Identifying the Causes of Short-Term Stress )
Stress Diaries are important for understanding the causes of short-term stress in your life. They also give you an important insight into how you react to stress, and help you to identify the level of stress at which you prefer to operate.
The idea behind Stress Diaries is that, on a regular basis, you record information about the stresses you are experiencing, so that you can analyse these stresses and then manage them.
This is important because often these stresses flit in and out of our minds without getting the attention and focus that they deserve.
As well as helping you capture and analyse the most common sources of stress in your life, Stress Diaries help you to understand:
The causes of stress in more detail
The levels of stress at which you operate most effectively
How you react to stress, and whether your reactions are appropriate and useful
Stress Diaries, therefore, give you the important information that you need to manage stress.
Technique 2 : Job Analysis
(The First Step in Managing Job Overload)
We have all experienced that appalling sense of having far too much work to do and too little time to do it in. We can choose to ignore this, and work unreasonably long hours to stay on top of our workload. The risks here are that we become exhausted, that we have so much to do that we do a poor quality job, and that we neglect other areas of our life. Each of these can lead to intense stress.
The alternative is to work more intelligently, by focusing on the things that are important for job success and reducing the time we spend on low priority tasks. Job Analysis is the first step in doing this.
The first of the action-oriented skills that we look at is Job Analysis. Job Analysis is a key technique for managing job overload – an important source of stress.
To do an excellent job, you need to fully understand what is expected of you. While this may seem obvious, in the hurly-burly of a new, fast-moving, high-pressure role, it is oftentimes something that is easy to overlook.
By understanding the priorities in your job, and what constitutes success within it, you can focus on these activities and minimize work on other tasks as much as possible. This helps you get the greatest return from the work you do, and keep your workload under control.
Job Analysis is a useful technique for getting a firm grip on what really is important in your job so that you are able to perform excellently. It helps you to cut through clutter and distraction to get to the heart of what you need to do.
Technique 3 : Performance Planning
(Planning to Manage Performance Stress)
We all know the feeling of sickness in our stomach before an important presentation or performance. We have all experienced the sweaty palms, the raised heart rate, and the sense of agitation that we feel as these events approach. We have probably all also experienced how much worse this becomes when things go wrong in the run up to an event.
This article helps you deal with this by helping you to prepare well for future performances.
The Thought Awareness, Rational Thinking and Positive Thinking technique that we look at later may be enough to help you manage the fears, anxieties and negative thoughts that may arise in a small performance.
For larger events, it is worth preparing a Performance Plan. This is a pre-prepared plan that helps you to deal effectively with any problems or distractions that may occur, and perform in a positive and focused frame of mind.
Technique 4 : Physical Relaxation Techniques
(Deep Breathing, PMR and the Relaxation Response)
Physical relaxation techniques are as effective as mental techniques in reducing stress. In fact, the best relaxation is achieved by using physical and mental techniques together.
These three useful physical relaxation techniques can help you reduce muscle tension and manage the effects of the fight-or-flight response on your body. This is particularly important if you need to think clearly and perform precisely when you are under pressure.
Technique 5 : Rational Positive Thinking
(Positive Thinking, Built on Firm Foundations)
Have you ever felt really stressed about something, only to see the stress vanish when you talk the situation through with a friend?
Quite often, our experience of stress comes from our perception of a situation. Often that perception is right, but sometimes it isn't. Sometimes we are unreasonably harsh with ourselves, or jump to wrong conclusions about people’s motives, and this can send us into a downward spiral of negative thinking.
Thought Awareness, Rational Thinking and Positive Thinking are simple tools that help you to change this negative way of thinking. This page teaches you how to use them.
Technique 6 : Building Self-Confidence
(Develop the Self-Confidence You Deserve!)
From the quietly confident doctor whose advice we rely on, to the star-quality confidence of an inspiring speaker, self-confident people have qualities that everyone admires.
Self-confidence is extremely important in almost every aspect of our lives, yet so many people struggle to find it. Sadly, this can be a vicious circle: People who lack self-confidence can find it difficult to become successful. After all, would you instinctively want to back a project that was being pitched by someone who was nervous, fumbling and overly apologetic?
On the other hand, you might be persuaded by someone who spoke clearly, who held his or her head high, who answered questions assuredly, and who readily admitted when he/she did not know something.
Self-confident people inspire confidence in others: Their audience, their peers, their bosses, their customers, and their friends. Gaining the confidence of others is one of the key ways in which a self-confident person finds success.
The good news is that self-confidence really can be learned and built on. And, whether you’re working on your own self-confidence or building the confidence of people around you, it’s well-worth the effort! All other things being equal, self-confidence is often the single ingredient that distinguishes a successful person from someone less successful.
In a challenging situation the brain prepares the body for defensive action—the fight or flight response by releasing stress hormones, namely, cortisone and adrenaline. These hormones raise the blood pressure and the body prepares to react to the situation. With a concrete defensive action (fight response) the stress hormones in the blood get used up, entailing reduced stress effects and symptoms of anxiety.
When we fail to counter a stress situation (flight response) the hormones and chemicals remain unreleased in the blood stream for a long period of time. It results in stress related physical symptoms such as tense muscles, unfocused anxiety, dizziness and rapid heartbeats. We all encounter various stressors (causes of stress) in everyday life, which can accumulate, if not released. Subsequently, it compels the mind and body to be in an almost constant alarm-state in preparation to fight or flee. This state of accumulated stress can increase the risk of both acute and chronic psychosomatic illnesses and weaken the immune system of the human body.
Build your fight responses and the flight response will reduce as handle stress.
"Nothing gives one person so much advantage over another as to remain always cool and unruffled under all circumstances."
'Mnemonic' is another word for memory tool. Mnemonics are techniques for remembering information that is otherwise quite difficult to recall: A very simple example is the '30 days hath September' rhyme for remembering the number of days in each calendar month.
The idea behind using mnemonics is to encode difficult-to-remember information in a way that is much easier to remember.
Our brains evolved to code and interpret complex stimuli such as images, colors, structures, sounds, smells, tastes, touch, positions, emotions and language. We use these to make sophisticated models of the world we live in. Our memories store all of these very effectively.
Unfortunately, a lot of the information we have to remember in modern life is presented differently - as words printed on a page. While writing is a rich and sophisticated medium for conveying complex arguments, our brains do not easily encode written information, making it difficult to remember.
The techniques listed here show you how to use all the memory resources available to you to remember information in a highly efficient way.
Using Your Whole Mind to Remember
The key idea is that by coding information using vivid mental images, you can reliably code both information and the structure of information. And because the images are vivid, they are easy to recall when you need them.
The techniques explained later on in this section show you how to code information vividly, using stories, strong mental images, familiar journeys, and so on.
You can do the following things to make your mnemonics more memorable:
Use positive, pleasant images. Your brain often blocks out unpleasant ones
Use vivid, colorful, sense-laden images - these are easier to remember than drab ones
Use all your senses to code information or dress up an image. Remember that your mnemonic can contain sounds, smells, tastes, touch, movements and feelings as well as pictures
Give your image three dimensions, movement and space to make it more vivid. You can use movement either to maintain the flow of association, or to help you to remember actions
Exaggerate the size of important parts of the image
Use humor! Funny or peculiar things are easier to remember than normal ones
Similarly, rude rhymes are very difficult to forget!
Symbols (red traffic lights, pointing fingers, road signs, etc.) can code quite complex messages quickly and effectively
Technique 1 : Designing Mnemonics: Imagination, Association and Location
The three fundamental principles underlying the use of mnemonics are imagination, association and location. Working together, you can use these principles to generate powerful mnemonic systems.
Imagination: is what you use to create and strengthen the associations needed to create effective mnemonics. Your imagination is what you use to create mnemonics that are potent for you. The more strongly you imagine and visualize a situation, the more effectively it will stick in your mind for later recall. The imagery you use in your mnemonics can be as violent, vivid, or sensual as you like, as long as it helps you to remember.
Association: this is the method by which you link a thing to be remembered to a way of remembering it. You can create associations by:
Placing things on top of each other
Crashing things together
Merging images together
Wrapping them around each other
Rotating them around each other or having them dancing together
Linking them using the same color, smell, shape, or feeling
As an example, you might link the number 1 with a goldfish by visualizing a 1-shaped spear being used to spear it.
Location: gives you two things: a coherent context into which you can place information so that it hangs together, and a way of separating one mnemonic from another. By setting one mnemonic in a particular town, I can separate it from a similar mnemonic set in a city. For example, by setting one in Wimbledon and another similar mnemonic with images of Manhattan, we can separate them with no danger of confusion. You can build the flavors and atmosphere of these places into your mnemonics to strengthen the feeling of location.
Technique 2 : The Link and Story Methods
(Remembering a Simple List)
The Link Method is one of the easiest mnemonic techniques available. You use it by making simple associations between items in a list, linking them with a vivid image containing the items. Taking the first image, create a connection between it and the next item (perhaps in your mind smashing them together, putting one on top of the other, or suchlike.) Then move on through the list linking each item with the next.
The Story Method is very similar, linking items together with a memorable story featuring them. The flow of the story and the strength of the images give you the cues for retrieval.
Technique 3 : The Number/Rhyme Mnemonic
(Remembering Simple Ordered Lists)
The Number/Rhyme technique is a very simple way of remembering lists in order.
It is an example of a peg system using – a system where information is 'pegged' to a known sequence (here the numbers one to ten) to create pegwords. By doing this you ensure that you do not forget any facts, as gaps in information are immediately obvious. It also makes remembering images easier as you always know part of the mnemonic images.
At a simple level you can use it to remember things such as a list of English Kings or American Presidents in their precise order. At a more advanced level it can be used, for example, to code lists of experiments to be recalled in a science exam.
Technique 4 : The Journey System
(Remembering Long Lists)
The journey method is a powerful, flexible and effective mnemonic based around the idea of remembering landmarks on a well-known journey. It combines the narrative flow of the Link Method and the structure and order of the Peg Systems into one very powerful system.
You use the Journey Method by associating information with landmarks on a journey that you know well. This could, for example, be your journey to work in the morning; the route you use to get to the front door when you get up; the route to visit your parents; or a tour around a holiday destination. Once you are familiar with the technique you may be able to create imaginary journeys that fix in your mind, and apply these.
To use this technique most effectively, it is often best to prepare the journey beforehand. In this way the landmarks are clear in your mind before you try to commit information to them. One of the ways of doing this is to write down all the landmarks that you can recall in order on a piece of paper. This allows you to fix these landmarks as the significant ones to be used in your mnemonic, separating them from others that you may notice as you get to know the route even better.
To remember a list of items, whether these are people, experiments, events or objects, all you need do is associate these things with the landmarks or stops on your journey.
Technique 5 : The Roman Room System
(Remembering Grouped Information)
The Roman Room technique, also known as the Method of Loci, is an ancient and effective way of remembering information where its structure is not important. As an example, it serves as the basis of one of the powerful mnemonic systems used to learn languages.
To use the technique, imagine a room that you know, such as your sitting room, bedroom, office or classroom. Within the room are objects. Associate images representing the information you want to remember with the objects in the room. To recall information, simply take a tour around the room in your mind, visualizing the known objects and their associated images.
The technique can be expanded by going into more detail, and keying information to be remembered to smaller objects. Alternatively you can open doors from your room into other rooms and use the objects in them as well. As you need them, you can build extensions to your rooms in your imagination, and fill them with objects that would logically be there.
You can use other rooms to store other categories of information.
There is no need to restrict this information to rooms: you could use a landscape or a town you know well, and populate it with memory images.
The Roman Room technique is just one way of representing your cognitive map of the information in an easily accessible way.
Using Concept Maps or Mind Maps to Remember Structured Information
Mind Maps are not formally mnemonics. They do, however, help you to lay out the structure of a topic as a clear 'shape' that you can remember easily. By seeing this shape in your mind, you can prompt yourself to remember the information coded within it.
This becomes even easier if you have coded this information using striking images.
Memory Games (Have fun, while you improve your memory!)
To remember things for a longer amount of time, you must connect the new information with information you already have, “committing” it to your long-term memory, which stores more information and, for a longer period of time.
There are, of course, many ‘serious’ techniques for improving your memory. But you can also have a bit of fun “working out” with memory games. There are several games to workout your memory, individually or in a team.
Story Telling
One way to remember the information you need to commit to long-term memory is to make up a story that “connects” the items or facts you need to remember, thus making them easier to recall. The idea here is that it’s easier to remember more information when one fact or item connects to another.
While making up the story, create a strong mental image of what’s happening. This helps to “connect” the data to an image and better cement it in your long-term memory.
Pexeso: Matching Pairs
Pexeso involves matching pairs of like cards or tiles from a large group, when one of each group is hidden.
You play Pexeso with a set of cards or tiles that includes pairs of picture or numbers. You can play using half a pack of standard playing cards – just remove 2 of the 4 suits, so you have just 2 aces, 2 kings, 2 queens and so on.
Start by laying out 24 of the cards, making sure the 24 cards consists of 12 matched pairs. Once face down, move the cards around so that you do not know where any single card is located.
Turn one card over at a time, take a look at the number or object, and then turn it face down again. Repeat this process until you turn over a card that matches a card you turned over earlier. Now find the card’s ‘mate’ by remembering from earlier where it is located. As you find a matched pair, remove them from the group. The number of cards dwindles until all the pairs are matched.
Time yourself and see how you improve (get faster) each time you play.
‘Blind’ Jigsaw Puzzles
Another fun and inexpensive way to give your concentration and memory a boost is the good old-fashioned jigsaw puzzle. Playing it ‘blind’ means without referring back to the picture on the box!
First, look at a picture of the completed puzzle. Give yourself a few minutes to commit it to memory.
Next, mix up the pieces to the jigsaw puzzle.
Now, work to put it back together without looking at the picture of the completed puzzle again (until you are done).
How to Remember Information for Exams
A very effective way of structuring information for revision is to draw up a full, cloud coded concept or memory map of a subject. This will help you to see the overall structure of the topic and show you the associations between pieces of information. A good concept map can be an effective mnemonic in its own right.
The problem with this is that you can forget the label on a line on a concept map. A more reliable method is to take your concept map, and break it down into a numbered list of important points. You can then use one of the peg techniques (see links above) to remember the items on the list. Alternatively you can use the journey technique for longer lists.
By associating items on a list with a journey, you can check that you have retrieved all items held by the mnemonic. Supporting facts can be associated into images or sub-mnemonics. These could be triggered by the landmarks if you use the journey system. Alternatively you can loosely associate this information with the facts coded.
Retrieving all the facts necessary to answer an exam question becomes as simple as running through the mnemonic in your mind. As you go, jot down the retrieved facts that are relevant to the question. Once you have written these down, you can apply any other mnemonics you have coded, or note any associated facts and connections that occur to you. This should ensure that you have all possible information available to you for examination preparation.
"Somewhere along the line of development we discover what we really are, and then we make our real decision for which we are responsible. Make that decision primarily for yourself because you can never really live anyone else's life." -- Eleanor Roosevelt
Decision making can be regarded as an outcome of mental processes (cognitive process) leading to the selection of a course of action among several alternatives. Every decision making process produces a final choice. The output can be an action or an opinion.
Human performance in decision making terms has been subject of active research from several perspectives. From a psychological perspective, it is necessary to examine individual decisions in the context of a set of needs, preferences an individual has and values he/she seeks. From a cognitive perspective, the decision making process must be regarded as a continuous process integrated in the interaction with the environment. From a normative perspective, the analysis of individual decisions is concerned with the logic of decision making and rationality and the invariant choice it leads to.
Decision making is the process of sufficiently reducing uncertainty and doubt about alternatives to allow a reasonable choice to be made from among them. This definition stresses the information gathering function of decision making. It should be noted here that uncertainty is reduced rather than eliminated. Very few decisions are made with absolute certainty because complete knowledge about all the alternatives is seldom possible. Thus, every decision involves a certain amount of risk.
Decision-making is about facing a question, such as, "To be or not to be?" i.e., to be the one you want to be or not to be? That is a decision. Humanity has always lived in the shadow of fears. Yet almost nothing was known about fear until Freud began the study of unusual phobias. A little later, some psychologists suggested that one dread is common to all mankind: the dread of death.
Management Science can help reduce or eliminate the fear of making wrong decisions by providing help with the decision-making process. In fact, management science's goal is to eliminate decidophobia. This is accomplished through the phased processes of management science that dissects the components of the decision into workable elements and allows one to proceed to the decision-making stage with sound knowledge on which to base one's choice. However, if you choose not to use management science, there are plenty of other ways to avoid making decisions.
There are several kinds of decisions we may encounter in our daily life to be made. Some of them are listed as follows:
Decisions whether
This is the yes/no, either/or decision that must be made before we proceed with the selection of an alternative. Should I buy a new TV? Should I travel this summer? Decisions whether are made by weighing reasons pro and con.
It is important to be aware of having made a decision whether, since too often we assume that decision making begins with the identification of alternatives, assuming that the decision to choose one has already been made.
Decisions which
These decisions involve a choice of one or more alternatives from among a set of possibilities, the choice being based on how well each alternative measures up to a set of predefined criteria.
Contingent decisions
These are decisions that have been made but put on hold until some condition is met. For example, I have decided to buy that car if I can get it for the right price.
Most people carry around a set of already made, contingent decisions, just waiting for the right conditions or opportunity to arise. Time, energy, price, availability, opportunity, encouragement--all these factors can figure into the necessary conditions that need to be met before we can act on our decision.
The Decision Environment
Every decision is made within a decision environment, which is defined as the collection of information, alternatives, values, and preferences available at the time of the decision. An ideal decision environment would include all possible information, all of it accurate, and every possible alternative. However, both information and alternatives are constrained because time and effort to gain information or identify alternatives are limited. The time constraint simply means that a decision must be made by a certain time. The effort constraint reflects the limits of manpower, money, and priorities. (You wouldn't want to spend three hours and half a tank of gas trying to find the very best parking place at the mall.) Since decisions must be made within this constrained environment, we can say that the major challenge of decision making is uncertainty, and a major goal of decision analysis is to reduce uncertainty. We can almost never have all information needed to make a decision with certainty, so most decisions involve an undeniable amount of risk.
The fact that decisions must be made within a limiting decision environment suggests two things. First, it explains why hindsight is so much more accurate and better at making decisions than foresight. As time passes, the decision environment continues to grow and expand. New information and new alternatives appear--even after the decision must be made. Armed with new information after the fact, the hindsighters can many times look back and make a much better decision than the original maker, because the decision environment has continued to expand.
The second thing suggested by the decision-within-an-environment idea follows from the above point. Since the decision environment continues to expand as time passes, it is often advisable to put off making a decision until close to the deadline. Information and alternatives continue to grow as time passes, so to have access to the most information and to the best alternatives, do not make the decision too soon. Now, since we are dealing with real life, it is obvious that some alternatives might no longer be available if too much time passes; that is a tension we have to work with, a tension that helps to shape the cutoff date for the decision.
Delaying a decision as long as reasonably possible, then, provides three benefits:
The decision environment will be larger, providing more information. There is also time for more thoughtful and extended analysis
New alternatives might be recognized or created.
The decision maker's preferences might change. With further thought, wisdom, maturity, you may decide not to buy car X and instead to buy car Y.
The Effects of Quantity on Decision Making
Many decision makers have a tendency to seek more information than required to make a good decision. When too much information is sought and obtained, one or more of several problems can arise.
A delay in the decision occurs because of the time required to obtain and process the extra information. This delay could impair the effectiveness of the decision or solution.
Information overload will occur. In this state, so much information is available that decision-making ability actually declines because the information in its entirety can no longer be managed or assessed appropriately. A major problem caused by information overload is forgetfulness. When too much information is taken into memory, especially in a short period of time, some of the information (often that received early on) will be pushed out.
The example is sometimes given of the man who spent the day at an information-heavy seminar. At the end of the day, he was not only unable to remember the first half of the seminar but he had also forgotten where he parked his car that morning.
Selective use of the information will occur. That is, the decision maker will choose from among all the information available only those facts which support a preconceived solution or position.
Mental fatigue occurs, which results in slower work or poor quality work.
Decision fatigue occurs, where the decision maker tires of making decisions. Often the result is fast, careless decisions or even decision paralysis--no decisions are made at all.
The quantity of information that can be processed by the human mind is limited. Unless information is consciously selected, processing will be biased toward the first part of the information received. After that, the mind tires and begins to ignore subsequent information or forget earlier information.
Some Decision Making Strategies
As you know, there are often many solutions to a given problem, and the decision maker's task is to choose one of them. The task of choosing can be as simple or as complex as the importance of the decision warrants, and the number and quality of alternatives can also be adjusted according to importance, time, resources and so on. There are several strategies used for choosing. Among them are the following:
Optimizing
This is the strategy of choosing the best possible solution to the problem, discovering as many alternatives as possible and choosing the very best. How thoroughly optimizing can be done is dependent on
importance of the problem
time available for solving it
cost involved with alternative solutions
availability of resources, knowledge
personal psychology, values
Note that the collection of complete information and the consideration of all alternatives are seldom possible for most major decisions, so that limitations must be placed on alternatives.
Satisfying
In this strategy, the first satisfactory alternative is chosen rather than the best alternative. If you are very hungry, you might choose to stop at the first decent looking restaurant in the next town rather than attempting to choose the best restaurant from among all (the optimizing strategy). The word satisfying was coined by combining satisfactory and sufficient. For many small decisions, such as where to park, what to drink, which pen to use, which tie to wear, and so on, the satisfying strategy is perfect.
Maximax
This stands for "maximize the maximums." This strategy focuses on evaluating and then choosing the alternatives based on their maximum possible payoff. This is sometimes described as the strategy of the optimist, because favorable outcomes and high potentials are the areas of concern. It is a good strategy for use when risk taking is most acceptable, when the go-for-broke philosophy is reigning freely.
Maximin
This stands for "maximize the minimums." In this strategy, that of the pessimist, the worst possible outcome of each decision is considered and the decision with the highest minimum is chosen. The Maximin orientation is good when the consequences of a failed decision are particularly harmful or undesirable. Maximin concentrates on the salvage value of a decision, or of the guaranteed return of the decision. It's the philosophy behind the saying, "A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush."
Quiz shows exploit the uncertainty many people feel when they are not quite sure whether to go with a maximax strategy or a maximin one.
Six Thinking Hats
"Six Thinking Hats" is a powerful technique that helps you look at important decisions from a number of different perspectives. It helps you make better decisions by pushing you to move outside your habitual ways of thinking. As such, it helps you understand the full complexity of a decision, and spot issues and opportunities which you might otherwise not notice.
Many successful people think from a very rational, positive viewpoint, and this is part of the reason that they are successful. Often, though, they may fail to look at problems from emotional, intuitive, creative or negative viewpoints. This can mean that they underestimate resistance to change, don't make creative leaps, and fail to make essential contingency plans.
Similarly, pessimists may be excessively defensive, and people used to a very logical approach to problem solving may fail to engage their creativity or listen to their intuition.
If you look at a problem using the Six Thinking Hats technique, then you'll use all of these approaches to develop your best solution. Your decisions and plans will mix ambition, skill in execution, sensitivity, creativity and good contingency planning.
To use Six Thinking Hats to improve the quality of your decision-making, look at the decision "wearing" each of the thinking hats in turn.
Each "Thinking Hat" is a different style of thinking. These are explained below:
White Hat: With this thinking hat, you focus on the data available. Look at the information you have, and see what you can learn from it. Look for gaps in your knowledge, and either try to fill them or take account of them. This is where you analyze past trends, and try to extrapolate from historical data.
Red Hat: Wearing the red hat, you look at the decision using intuition, gut reaction, and emotion. Also try to think how other people will react emotionally, and try to understand the intuitive responses of people who do not fully know your reasoning.
Black Hat:When using black hat thinking, look at things pessimistically, cautiously and defensively. Try to see why ideas and approaches might not work. This is important because it highlights the weak points in a plan or course of action. It allows you to eliminate them, alter your approach, or prepare contingency plans to counter problems that arise.
Black Hat thinking helps to make your plans tougher and more resilient. It can also help you to spot fatal flaws and risks before you embark on a course of action. Black Hat thinking is one of the real benefits of this technique, as many successful people get so used to thinking positively that often they cannot see problems in advance, leaving them under-prepared for difficulties.
Yellow Hat: The yellow hat helps you to think positively. It is the optimistic viewpoint that helps you to see all the benefits of the decision and the value in it, and spot the opportunities that arise from it. Yellow Hat thinking helps you to keep going when everything looks gloomy and difficult.
Green Hat: The Green Hat stands for creativity. This is where you can develop creative solutions to a problem. It is a freewheeling way of thinking, in which there is little criticism of ideas. A whole range of creativity tools can help you here.
Blue Hat: The Blue Hat stands for process control. This is the hat worn by people chairing meetings. When running into difficulties because ideas are running dry, they may direct activity into Green Hat thinking. When contingency plans are needed, they will ask for Black Hat thinking, and so on.
You can use Six Thinking Hats in meetings or on your own. In meetings it has the benefit of defusing the disagreements that can happen when people with different thinking styles discuss the same problem.
A similar approach is to look at problems from the point of view of different professionals (e.g. doctors, architects, sales directors) or different customers.
Problem solving forms an important part of thinking. Considered the most complex of all intellectual functions, problem solving has been defined as higher-order cognitive process that requires the modulation and control of more routine or fundamental skills. The nature of human problem solving methods has been studied by psychologists over the past hundred years. There are several methods of studying problem solving, including; introspection, behaviorism, simulation and computer modeling, and experiment.
Problems have some typical characteristics that can be summarized as follows:
Intransparency (lack of clarity of the situation) & Commencement opacity
Continuation opacity & Polytely (multiple goals)
Inexpressiveness & Opposition
Transience & Complexity (large numbers of items, interrelations, and decisions)
Enumerability & Connectivity (hierarchy relation, communication relation, allocation relation)
The resolution of difficult problems requires a direct attack on each of these characteristics that are encountered.
Some problem-solving techniques
There are many approaches to problem solving, depending on the nature of the problem and the people involved in the problem. The more traditional, rational approach is given in the following steps: Clarifying description of the problem, analyzing causes, identifying alternatives, assessing each alternative, choosing one, implementing it, and evaluating whether the problem was solved or not.
Some Techniques in Problem Solving are the following:
Cause and Effect Diagrams:
Cause & Effect analysis (or Fishbone Analysis) provides a structured way to help you think through all possible causes of a problem. This helps you to carry out a thorough analysis of a situation.
Appreciative Inquiry:
Another, more state-of-the-art approach is appreciative inquiry. That approach asserts that "problems" are often the result of our own perspectives on a phenomenon, For Example, if we look at it as a "problem," then it will become one and we'll probably get very stuck on the "problem." Appreciative inquiry includes identification of our best times about the situation in the past, wishing and thinking about what worked best then, visioning what we want in the future, and building from our strengths to work toward our vision.
Brainstorming:
Coming up with ideas is important, and brainstorming is a good way to do that. But, brainstorming won’t take the place of detailed financial analysis. And brainstorming won’t tell you who’s going to oppose your definition of the problem. And brainstorming won’t tell you how to persuade that person to support your definition or lead you to acknowledge that there may be merit in his or her position. Brainstorming is a useful technique, but not for all occasions.
Force-Field Analysis:
In general, force-field analysis is a useful technique for examining psychological and sociological factors or forces, but there are better tools available for diagnosing problems in physical systems.
Mind Mapping:
Mind Mapping is a useful technique that improves the way you take notes, and supports and enhances your creative problem solving. By using Mind Maps, you can quickly identify and understand the structure of a subject, and the way that pieces of information fit together, as well as recording the raw facts contained in normal notes. More than this, Mind Maps encourage creative problem solving, and they hold information in a format that your mind finds easy to remember and quick to review.
Grid Analysis:
Grid Analysis (also known as Decision Matrix Analysis, Pugh Matrix Analysis or MAUT, which stands for Multi-Attribute Utility Theory) is a useful technique to use for making a decision. It is particularly powerful where you have a number of good alternatives to choose from, and many different factors to take into account. This makes it a great technique to use in almost any important decision where there isn't a clear and obvious preferred option.
Decision Trees:
Decision Trees are excellent tools for helping you to choose between several courses of action. They provide a highly effective structure within which you can lay out options and investigate the possible outcomes of choosing those options. They also help you to form a balanced picture of the risks and rewards associated with each possible course of action.
Core Competency Analysis:
The idea of the “core competence” is one of the most important business ideas that has shaped our world. It is one of the key ideas that lies behind the current wave of outsourcing, as businesses concentrate their efforts on things they do well, and outsource as much as they can of everything else.
SWOT Analysis:
SWOT analysis is a great technique for identifying your Strengths and Weaknesses and study any Opportunities and Threats you face. It is also a powerful strategic planning tool used to evaluate a project or in a business venture or in any other situation of an organization or individual requiring a decision in pursuit of an objective. It involves monitoring the marketing environment internal and external to the organization or individual.
Performance is the results accomplished by an employee in meeting specific objectives or the development of competencies necessary for effectively doing a job.
Performance Management is a long term process that focuses on continuous performance improvement or "change" for short. Its goal is to create a climate of shared understanding about what is to be achieved, and then developing people to increase the chance that it will indeed be achieved. Performance management is a continuous process of supervisors and employees working together to:
Set performance expectations linked to organizational objectives
Establish criteria against which individual and unit performance can be measured
Identify areas for competency improvement
Provide performance feedback
Continually enhance performance
A lot of people associate performance management with the annual performance review. While it can and often does include performance reviews, it goes far beyond it in that it looks at performance improvement as a daily activity, rather than just a yearly event. Performance management is more about focusing on people, or to be more exact -- developing people so they can perform.
Performance Management helps organizations achieve their strategic objectives. It is a gateway that harnesses data from all corporate systems and aligns organizations together. The main purpose is to link individual goals and organizational goals so that the organization can be nurtured and grow.
Performance Management Instructors understand and use up-to-date training techniques and a variety of training methods, including lectures, discussions, individual exercises, role plays and visual aids, to give all participants the best opportunities for learning about employee performance management.
Corporate performance management
Corporate performance management improves the capability of a business. It provides three important values to the business. They are information delivery, performance oversight, and performance effectiveness. These values help to understand, manage and improve the business. Corporate performance management system coordinates the performance of managers, staff, customers and suppliers within an integrated environment.
The basic elements of corporate performance management (CPM) are providing information and strategy planning. CPM can provide the core decision makers direct access to required information. With a clear understanding of the facts of the business, informed decisions can be taken for boosting the performance. Performance oversight signifies an overall view of the business details. CPM provides the required performance oversight to the management which helps in optimizing the business. Performance effectiveness helps business executives as well as decision makers to set clear goals and work towards achieving them. CPM assures the necessary performance effectiveness.
Performance management process cycle
Planning
Planning is the first step in the performance management process cycle and provides the foundation for an effective process. Planning helps to encourage commitment and understanding by linking the employee’s work with the organization’s goals and objectives.
The planning phase also establishes expectations of how the work is to be performed. Results, rather than activities, should be the focus in evaluating performance. Expectations should be clearly stated and the results measurable. As an employee you need to clearly understand what is expected of you and how the work you do will be measured or evaluated.
Finally, mutual commitment must be established between the supervisor and the employee with respect to expectations. There is no recipe for gaining commitment, but open and honest two-way communication is an important first step. As the employee, you should be prepared to discuss your responsibilities, past accomplishments and future plans openly and honestly with your supervisor.
Managing
Managing is the second component of the performance management cycle. This step distinguishes performance management as a process from performance appraisal as an activity.
Every employee in a company is responsible for managing his or her own work performance. Within this context, managing consists of:
Maintaining a positive approach to work
Updating and revising initial objectives, performance standards and job competency areas as conditions change.
Providing feedback to a supervisor
Suggesting career development experiences.
Employees and supervisors working together, managing the performance management process.
Reviewing
Reviewing is the third step in the performance management process cycle. It includes:
Comparing actual results against expected results;
Receiving and providing feedback
Engaging in a constructive dialogue to reinforce positive performance and opportunities for improvement; and,
Recalibrating expectations for the next performance management process cycle: planning, managing and reviewing.
Performance management, a continuous process of improving performance, is a fundamental supervisory and employee responsibility. Understanding, valuing and actively participating in the three components of the performance management cycle will enhance your skills and performance. The time you commit to your performance management is an investment that will offer significant returns.
The objective of most performance interventions can be stated in terms of results or impacts, such as reduced turnover, improved efficiency, reduced costs, or better quality. These impacts or results are achieved by closing performance gaps, developing employees to achieve better results, improving process, and removing performance blocks.
This also has a reverse causality in that not only does great performance cause impacts, but impacts also cause great performance to continue since people tend to continue behaviors that are perceived to be effective.
Summary
Performance management helps organizations achieve their strategic goals. The main purpose of performance management is to link individual objectives and organisational objectives and bring about that individuals obey important worth for enterprise. Additionally, performance management tries to develop skills of people to achieve their capability to satisfy their ambitions and also increase profit of a firm.
Learning – is an experience that occurs within an individual that results in change in the way the individual perceives, understands and acts. It may be a result of training but can also occur through more informal or experiential methods such as mentoring, coaching, special projects, developmental assignments, etc.
"Learning strategies” or "instructional strategies" are the various methodologies used to involve learners in the training program, such as questioning during lectures, simulation with CBT, reflection after reading, etc. They are used to obtain the "learning objectives" which are the new behaviors that you want your learners to use when they return to their jobs.
The Learning Strategy offers a plan to create an environment within the Company where it is understood by all employees and managers.
What Can I Do To Increase the Effectiveness of the Learning Experience?
Getting someone to change their affective behavior is one of the hardest tasks to accomplish. That is because the training often threatens the learners' self-image. So, it becomes important to affirm the learner's core values, such as moral, social, religious, family, political, etc. Learners who attend training in which their beliefs or values are supported are much more likely to "let down their guard" and accept the learning points.
If Learners Expect to Fail, They Fail
Note that in winning, there is a positive feedback loop at work, with winning leading to higher confidence. Self-confidence, in turn, can be boosted through role playing situations, where players are asked to imagine certain successful situations (winning, not losing).
In training, we can use the same technique, or something similar, such as the learners obtaining a number of small victories (enabling learning objectives), this in turn leads them to being able to perform the more difficult task (terminal learning objective).
Situational Leadership
Situational leadership can be applied to training as it shows the two continuums of directing [the process] and supporting (achieving results or arousal) used in a supervision context:
Directing
Coaching
Supporting
Delegating
However, it does over-simplify the supervision/training process somewhat. Most two dimensional models do this, they simplify the subject in order to provide a solid framework to work from.
The Learning Zone
How do you know when you have reached the optimum arousal point for your learners? In sports, a player who is playing great is at the optimum arousal point and is said to be "in the zone." Achieving the optimum arousal level in a training environment puts students in the Learning Zone:
They become totally involved in the learning process by centering in on the task to be learned as non-learning stressors have been eliminated.
They loose self-consciousness of the fear they might fail and gain a desire to succeed as their emotions are now tied to the learning environment. Failing becomes challenges because they become more adaptive to the learning environment and they believe the learning environment will "fine tune" itself to meet their needs.
They have clear visions of what the task to be learned can provide as they know how it will help them in their future endeavors.
They have a sense of being in control of their learning environment as they are ripe for learning.
They become more intrinsically motivated (self-directed) because they want to learn the task (their focus is on the task rather than reward and punishment).
In closing, each task has an optimal level of arousal and the level of arousal includes anxiety, attention, agitation, stress, and motivation. The trainer's job is to help each learner reach their optimal level of arousal so that their focus is totally on the task to be learned.
Study habits
Always have the "big picture" before you especially when studying its parts or details When trying to remember things, close your eyes to get a “picture” or image of the information to facilitate recall or use flash cards with limited information so that you can "picture" details and concepts
Once a concept is grasped, Practice applying the information to new situations or progressive stepped learning in place of routine drill and practice that will challenge your attention span
Use mind or concept maps (rather than outlines) to organize writing assignments to visualize ideas, their connections, sequences, and conclusions Brainstorm using illustrations, mind maps and models
Look for alternative sources of visual material when you study videos, overheads and PowerPoint demonstrations, graphs, maps, and media programs
Critical Thinking
Critical thinking studies a subject or problem with open-mindedness. The process begins with a statement of what is to be studied, proceeds to unrestricted discovery and consideration of possibilities, and concludes with a pattern for understanding that is based on evidence.
Motives, bias, and prejudice of both the learner as well as the experts are then compared and form the foundation of judgment.
Think about what you already know about the subject. What do you already know that will help you in this study? What are your prejudices?
What resources are available to you, and what is your timeline?
Gather information Keep an open mind so as not to close your options and for chance opportunities
Think in terms of how you would demonstrate your learning for your topic. How would you create a test on what you have learned? From simple to more complex operations:
List, label, identify- Demonstrate knowledge
Define, explain, summarize in your own words - Comprehend/understand
Solve, apply to a new situation- Use your learning; apply it
Compare and contrast, differentiate between items- Analyze
Create, combine, invent – Synthesize
Assess, recommend, value- Evaluate and explain why
Think in terms of making your learning an adventure in exploration.
The following eight strategies encourage you to think productively, in order to arrive at solutions to problems. "These strategies are common to the thinking styles of creative geniuses in science, art, and industry throughout history."
1. Look at problems in many different ways, and find new perspectives that no one else has taken.
Leonardo Da Vinci believed that, to gain knowledge about the form of a problem, you begin by learning how to restructure it in many different ways. He felt that the first way he looked at a problem was too biased. Often, the problem itself is reconstructed and becomes a new one.
2.
Visualize
When Einstein thought through a problem, he always found it necessary to formulate his subject in as many different ways as possible, including using diagrams. He visualized solutions, and believed that words and numbers as such did not play a significant role in his thinking process.
3. Produce A distinguishing characteristic of genius is productivity
Thomas Edison held 1,093 patents. He guaranteed productivity by giving himself and his assistants idea quotas. In a study of 2,036 scientists throughout history, Dean Keith Simonton of the University of California at Davis found that the most respected scientists produced not only great works, but also many "bad" ones. They weren't afraid to fail, or to produce mediocre in order to arrive at excellence.
4. Make novel combinations. Combine, and recombine, ideas, images, and thoughts into different combinations no matter how incongruent or unusual.
The laws of heredity on which the modern science of genetics is based came from the Austrian monk Grego Mendel, who combined mathematics and biology to create a new science.
5.
Form relationships; make connections between dissimilar subjects.
Da Vinci forced a relationship between the sound of a bell and a stone hitting water. This enabled him to make the connection that sound travels in waves. Samuel Morse invented relay stations for telegraphic signals when observing relay stations for horses.
6.Think in opposites.
Physicist Niels Bohr believed that if you held opposites together, then you suspend your thought, and your mind moves to a new level. His ability to imagine light as both a particle and a wave led to his conception of the principle of complementarity. Suspending thought (logic) may allow your mind to create a new form.
7. Think metaphorically.
Aristotle considered metaphor a sign of genius, and believed that the individual who had the capacity to perceive resemblances between two separate areas of existence and link them together was a person of special gifts.
8. Prepare yourself for chance.
Whenever we attempt to do something and fail, we end up doing something else. That is the first principle of creative accident. Failure can be productive only if we do not focus on it as an unproductive result. Instead: analyze the process, its components, and how you can change them, to arrive at other results.