Guest post by Leslie West.

There are a lot of reasons people don’t get jobs. Sometimes the guy or woman, who came in after you, just blew you out of the water. It happens. So we just have to push forward and onward to the next opportunity. There will always be some aspects of the job hunt that we can never change, and there will always be a few barriers that keep doors locked. The good news is, in some cases, it’s within your power to obtain the key.

A Criminal Record

Unfortunately for some people a little bit of bad judgment can go a long way into their future. Some mistakes we can learn from and move on while others continue to haunt us for much longer than we could have anticipated. For many people a criminal record is that ghost.

In addition to applications which always ask about a criminal past, background checks are becoming more and more of a common practice in the work place.  Online criminal checks make it easy and affordable for companies to screen any potential employee, which means that, aside from traffic tickets, any previous infractions could be red flags. That’s why it up to you to take steps to control what’s on your own report.

If you have a major conviction in your past, this may be a moot point. But for some smaller indiscretions there are options. If you have any concerns the first step is to run a background check on your self. If you can find it, so can a potential employer. The next step is to find out if you qualify to have your record expunged. There are several criteria which must be met to qualify for this, so it’s probably best to seek legal to determine if you meet the requirements. If you are a Canadian citizen, you will want to look into the record suspension and pardons process. In Canada you may be able to have your slate wiped clean without an attorney.

Wherever you live, a criminal record can be a huge deterrent for employers, especially with an increasingly competitive job market. It’s important to know what a record search will turn up on you and whenever possible, take steps to make that as favorable as possible.

Skill Limitations

Not everybody can be an electrical engineer or a master carpenter. There are some talents which take years to acquire and even longer to master. It’s hard to make a career change into a highly specialized trade without substantial education and training periods. However there are some abilities you can acquire in months or even days that can help make you infinitely more marketable to potential bosses. There are a number of skills like typing, html, management, and Microsoft office proficiency, which will always be useful, and will always look good on a resume. Then there are other competencies like a second language, Adobe Photoshop or other advanced computer programs which are more tailored to specific career tracks.

The first step is to identify the holes in your resume, or what skills are needed to land your dream job. Then you need to determine the best way to go about acquiring the knowledge you need to become a standout candidate. The fact is some training can be done through a weekend certification program, while others may require online schools or even a semester at a local community college. Finding out what you can afford in terms of time and tuition can feel stressful, but in the long run it’s far less stressful than remaining in a dead end job or unemployed because of a lack of education.

Personality Issues

This is a big one. Every company has their own sort of atmosphere. More and more business are beginning to look at new hires in terms of how they will assimilate into the corporate culture. In order to get hired interviewers must feel confident that you will “fit in” at the office. That doesn’t mean you have to be the person that everybody wants to sit with at lunch. It’s not a popularity contest. It’s about making day to day operations run smoothly. If a lot of verbal communication is required among team members, a job candidate must be able to articulate themselves. If the environment is fast paced or competitive, newbies must be able to run with the pack and not crack under pressure. Anger management, organization, time management and even hygiene are all personality issues which can be deal breakers in an office setting.

If personality issues have been a problem in the past, make sure you address them on your own time before you go into a new situation. It’s impossible to think that everyone is always going to get along. To imagine there will never be any head butting or friction on the job is delusional, the trick is to find a way to deal with whatever comes at you in a professional manner. If issues with co-workers have ever cost you a job, spend some time doing serious introspection before trying to get back on the job horse. Because if you don’t get to the root of your issues, then it’s likely history will repeat itself.

The most important thing is not to shoot yourself in the foot from the word go during interviews. It’s never a good idea to bad mouth anyone from your former job. Even if he was a real jerk. Unfortunately hiring staff are just as likely to question your version of events as they are to take you at your word. Just to be on the safe side, be diplomatic and kind and never mention any interpersonal issues, or try to place the blame on “the other guy”. In the end it only makes you look just as bad, or worse.

While some things will always be left to fate when it comes to our career paths, there are some aspects which are well under our power to control. In order to maximize your potential for employment it’s important to recognize what parts of your self you can work on to become as marketable as possible. If you focus on self-improvement over self-pity you will have taken the first and most important step toward your new future.

About the author:
Leslie is a writer for Canadian pardons a site specializing in assisting Canadian citizens in obtaining pardons and record suspensions. She has served on numerous interview panels and has been a team manager for several years.

Tweet This Post

Guest Post by Alexis Bonari

If it seems as though you are starting to take forever to finish work assignments or if you feel as though any task that is given to you makes you want to run and hide, you may be suffering from work burnout. Extremely long working hours, unrealistic deadlines and other tedious work related problems can start to contribute to low moral and a reduction in productivity. Below are a few more indicators that you may be starting to run on empty:

• Trouble getting out of bed when its time to go to work
• You are starting to come to work later more often
• Your job performance is starting to get you down
• A feeling of being withdrawn
• You are constantly watching the clock
• The stress of work is starting to effect your home life
• You are starting to get into arguments or disagreements unlike before with your superiors
• You feel no progress is being made even though you feel you are trying your best

If these symptoms sound like something you can relate to, it might be time for a change.
Below are a few helpful hits to get you back on your career track.

1. Schedule
Time management can really help you rebound from job exhaustion. If you feel like you are taking on much or more then you can handle, prioritise, you may realise you are creating unnecessary extra pressure. Try keeping a simple record of what is expected from you at work and see it as one project at a time. If you have a presentation and emails pending, do the task most needed first them move on from there.

2. Hone on the Pressure Source
Understanding what contributes to the pressure and what makes your decline in motivation can help you move in a more positive direction. Really think about what has been adding to your burnout: Is it the feeling that projects of work projects being  out of control? Have your own actions maybe added to the problem? For example, you may have made an overly ambitious time line for having an assignment done, creating unnecessary stress and worry for its success. Small changes in your routine, such as seeking help  from your manager when you have too many assignments, can help lighten up your load.

3. Its OK To Get Some Help
Common symptoms of burnout is feeling of isolated. You may think no one will understand or complete the project as well as you based on your knowledge of it, but someone else might bring in a fresh outlook and take away some of the burden.
It’s perfectly alright to let others in on the fact that your having a hard time and need some help. As long as you do it professionally you wont be perceived as a complainer, Just address the specific issue and ask for the best way to achieve it.

4. Break Time!
Even if you’re working long hours, you will def need a recharge. Take 10-minute breaks throughout your workday. Even if all you can do is stretch or go for a quick walk. Eat lunch at your desk instead of outside. Going outside, can give you a new outlook on your situation and you will return with a new outlook and energy.

Stress is normal for any job, but when it gets out of hand, it’s important to be proactive. Burnout can effect your job performance but most of all your overall life. If you just make a few easy adjustments, you can regain your ability for optimal job performance and stress free living.

About the Author:
Alexis Bonari is a freelance writer and blog junkie. She is currently a resident blogger at College Scholarships.org. In her spare time, she enjoys square-foot gardening, swimming, and avoiding her laptop.

Tweet This Post

“Employees are the heart and soul of every company. Vineet Nayar’s book tells the story of how management can step out of the way to let employees lead– and to let engagement and productivity soar.” –Tony Hsieh, CEO, Zappos.com

With personal experiences and insightful leadership approach, Vineet Nayar puts forward a well tested and new management mantra for the world to see and follow – Employees First, Customer Second. It certainly is not a radically new concept – employees have always been the main and best asset of a company but how many organizations actually respect and most importantly implement this concept in totality? Of the thousands of large and mid size companies I can think of only a few. A company culture that fosters and strives to develop and train employees as well as clarifying the overall vision of the organization has helped HCL rise like a phoenix above all odds in the last few years to become one of the top runners in the IT industry in India and the world. It was not so long before when the employee motivation and enthusiasm was at the bottom rungs, but through careful analysis and a change in the management style, Vineet Nayar, the CEO of HCL Technologies Ltd., has been able to turn around the graphs from negative to a solid positive for his company and has made Employee First, Customer Second (EFCS) not only a catch phrase but a model to follow. And that is what the book is about – an inspiration to the managers, a wakeup call for the HR to model open employee appraisals and a motivating read for any entrepreneur who in future will or has employees to nurture.

The EFCS model is based on 5 main tenets:

1. Accepting imperfections as catalysts for transformation
2. Seeding trust by stretching the envelope of transparency
3. Reversing accountability by bringing the bottom to the top
4. Decentralizing decision-making
5. Collaborating to create value

Through this philosophy Vineet Nayar has been able to achieve transparency and accountability within the organization, two very important attributes most valued by the employees. Through such a culture employees find motivation and pride in working for the company and of course quality work and loyalty follows.

The book takes us through some examples and experiences on how their smart service desk, transparency in performance reviews, interactive meetings, career planning and development initiatives, reward and recognition portal, face to face interaction with the customers and effective feedback process has resulted in satisfied employees and an increase in revenue for the company.

 Employees First, Customers Second: Turning Conventional Management Upside Down not only depicts the journey of HCL from the slowdown days to the fresh new achievement of being the forerunner in the IT industry it is also a brilliant leadership manual for those who wish to learn from others’ experience and implement what has been well tested and liked by employees. After all, it is tough to find, motivate and retain good employees; so developing and taking good care of the best asset of your company should always be a priority.

Find this book at Amazon.

About the author: Vineet Nayar is the CEO of HCL Technologies Ltd., India’s leading global IT Services Company. Fortune magazine called his leadership style The World’s Most Modern Management and the London Business School cites him the leader of organizational innovation.

Tweet This Post

iimjobs.com – an exclusive job portal for MBAs from premier business schools in India released the findings of second MBA Salary Survey. The survey was conducted to understand trends in compensation of MBAs from top business schools in India.

The survey was administered from May 16 to 31, 2010 with over 5600 MBA graduates sharing their salary data anonymously. (Note: this survey is conducted in India tabulating Indian MBA graduate salaries)

“We conduct this survey every year to help professionals benchmark their salary against their peers in the Industry. We made sure that we didn’t collect any individually identifiable information to maintain confidentiality during the whole process. The data was then tabulated based on area of specialization and years of experience. The areas being covered as part of this survey are – Finance, Marketing, General Management/Consulting, and Systems (IT)”, said Tarun Matta, founder of iimjobs.com

Salaries grew fastest at 12.7% for professionals working in IT sector, taking them closer to their batch mates working in Finance and Consulting. Average salary for MBAs working in IT sector was observed to be 12.9 lakhs for 3 to 4 years of experience and 17.3 lakhs for 5 to 7 years of experience.

Professionals in Sales & Marketing saw 11.8% growth in compensation this year. Average salary for MBAs working in Sales & Marketing was observed to be 9.8 lakhs for 1 to 2 years of experience, 13.6 lakhs for 3 to 4 years of experience and 18.1 lakhs for 5 to 7 years of experience.

Average salaries in Finance was observed to be 11.5 lakhs for 1 to 2 years of experience, 14.3 lakhs for 3 to 4 years of experience and 19.6 lakhs for 5 to 7 years of experience.

Average salaries in Consulting grew around 7.6% and was observed to be 11.5 lakhs for 1 to 2 years of experience, 14.7 lakhs for 3 to 4 years of experience and 18.4 lakhs for 5 to 7 years of experience.

“Even though, salaries in finance and consulting didn’t increase as much as other sectors, the average salaries were observed to be higher than sales, marketing and IT. Finance and consulting still remain top choices for MBAs graduating from top business schools”, added Tarun Matta, founder of iimjobs.com

“We also collected attrition data this time. Attrition rate was observed to be highest at 13.6 % for Finance graduates with 3 to 4 years of experience. It was lowest at 6.9% for professionals in General Management/Consulting. Average Attrition rate was 11.2%”, said Tarun Matta, founder of iimjobs.com.

Contact: info@iimjobs.com

Tweet This Post

No matter how sane and sound advice you receive on working from home the roadblocks are ever present and often times tough to navigate. An effective work-from-home routine depends on how well you manage to navigate past these obstacles and eventually work toward eliminating some of them.

Child care Dilemma

If you have young kids at home it is best to have them at school or under child care when working from home, it is extremely tough to concentrate on work and work for few continuous hours if you have the child being taken care of at home. At most circumstances it must be avoided but what if you cannot afford it. There are some state based subsidized child care programs that you could go for but in the  recent times (and also very relevant article from NYtimes on how Cuts to Child Care Subsidy Thwart More Job Seekers says) the government has slashed off these programs – well what do you do?
Millions of people at home are trying to supplement their income or even launch a home based business, you do not have the funds for expensive childcare, it’s kind of this vicious circle where you need time to make money and you need money to get some time to do so. Tough tough indeed!

Defining Time Frames for Work and Family

Most people working from home say that it is tough to know when to end work and give complete attention to family and household chores. Work transcends the boundaries mostly when you have the computer on all the time or feel the constant urge to check emails or to know what is happening on the blogosphere to twittersphere.

Spouse Family Support

If your spouse expects you to run the household errands while working from home and also get all the chores done because you “were at home” then it sure is a stressor roadblock. When you are on the ramp or even accelerating toward your goals to bring in a stable income the time on the ramp may offer little or no income flow and that can be frustrating, if your spouse expects you to bring in a certain amount of income as a requirement or an expectation, it adds on to the pressure. And of course, if you are home and “not making money” then you could be well expected to get the house work done and not leave it to the one who is the sole earner for the family. It’s always an uphill battle on the ramp!

Family / Friends Visiting

If you have close family staying with you for a short or extended period of time and you are in a project time crunch, it kind of becomes necessary to be at work and even cut down on the lunch time – and at times it becomes difficult for others to understand that working from home actually means “working” it is similar to an office space completely devoted to work but since you are “at home” the expectations are not the same anymore.

What are your thoughts on this issue and what solutions would you suggest? Please comment.

Tweet This Post

With hundreds and thousands of resumes being submitted for one single job opening, the only way you can make the recruiter open your resume is by having a smart and unique cover letter (and of course the other way is when you have a direct reach to the hiring managers). Remember that the employers are seeking the best candidate for their offered job description and it is to you how you can make yourself stand out. Here are the 4 secrets to the first step to get their attention, through your cover letter:

1.     Attention Grabber Headlines

Start your cover letter with bold headlines, above the greetings. Grab the attention in the first statement itself and be clear. For example: 

I am seeking an opportunity to Interview for the position of ….. Job ID 123 (if this position has been advertised under a certain ID/number)

2.     List your Qualifications

And do not beat about the bush. 

“The description of the open position as a senior software developer suits me perfectly. As you would see from my resume I qualify for all required attributes expected for this job description but I would also like to know about your other expectations on this job. I look forward to meeting with you and I hope you would be more than satisfied with my qualifications here over the past 12 years of my experience as a software developer:

… list your top experience/qualifications here … (upto 5 should be sufficient)

3.     Availability and Request

The cover letter should never exceed more than one page (well unless absolutely necessary) and use as many bullets and short paragraphs as possible. Follow the list of qualifications with a short paragraph on when you could be available to for a meeting; suggest something like: “I am usually available on Mondays to Thursdays between 1:00 pm and 4:00 pm. It would be great to meet in person and answer any questions that you might have for me. It would be great if you can suggest a time that suits you the best.”

4.     Now Ph Number and a Friendly Cyber Handshake

“I am looking forward to your reply to discuss the possibilities of making it as an employee of ABC (the name of the company you are applying for), it would be a privilege to be a part of this dynamic team. You may contact me at any time at my cell phone: 123 456 7890”

The secret is how effectively you can ask and present yourself in the short space you have for the cover letter. Follow these tested tips and see how you can increase your success factors of getting that important phone call!

Good luck!

Tweet This Post

I strongly believe that adversity and challenge are the essential elements of life which one must welcome now and then, it is nothing to shy away from or feel intimidated. Only through these hurdles we learn to leap higher and emerge stronger along the way or at the end.

Recently I came upon this very inspiring and informative article on Entrepreneur magazine about Tina Aldatz of Foot Petals who runs a $10 million company with 17 employees and three offices. And it all started when she was finding a solution for herself to wear high heels without the pain, Aldatz burned her feet as a child and wearing heels was a big issue for her since she was in the fashion industry. Over the last few years she had a plan and worked hard on it and finally has a great product which sells well and helps people find relief wearing high heels for longer hours. What’s to be noted in her story is how a challenge helped her find a solution to a problem and helped her reach heights which she would not perhaps achieved as an employee to a company. And so goes the story with many entrepreneurs who have taken upon a challenge in positive or negative way to churn up huge profits or better still to make the world a better place.

Adversity and failures are part of our lives, it is only when we learn how to turn it around to our benefits that we realize why they were such an important ingredients that have perhaps given more than what a smooth and tension free life would not have.

In the current world scenario where the economy is fluid and the concept of a stable vocation or income stream on unstable grounds, we are more than ever before exposed to challenges and problems that we would not have thought about. It seems daunting and the pressure affects us in many ways, but then again these challenges nudge us to go a step further than our present efforts, and how wonderful would it be if let us leap higher that what we would have done had we not encountered the challenge in the first place!

We often underestimate our abilities because giving up is much simpler than fighting back – that is what deprives us of the chance that destiny had offered – to find out how resilient and robust we actually are.

So next time when something knocks you down, I hope you not only fight to rebound back but come back on destiny to make your own path – your path to a new success goal – a destination that is larger than your present dreams but with a clarity and practical plan to get there.

“Opposition is a natural part of life. Just as we develop our physical muscles through overcoming opposition – such as lifting weights – we develop our character muscles by overcoming challenges and adversity.”

 Stephen R. Covey

How have you turned a challenge or a problem to your benefit? Would love to hear your thoughts or ideas, do share in the comments please.

Related Posts:

• 3 Ways to Eliminate the Core Reasons of Stress during Job Search
• Layoff Back off! You can’t get me Down
• 5 Essential Tips on Thriving after a Layoff
• Down Economy Sprouts Entrepreneurial Bloom

Tweet This Post

“I’d like to define vocation as the tug we feel toward the life that is right for us, the life that is truly our own.” – Peter Buffett, Life Is What You Make It

The first thoughts I had when holding a book written by Peter Buffet (yes, the son of the billionaire investor Warren Buffet) was why would this person talk about life is what you make it, when he is the one born with the silver spoon? This was anticipated and pretty much thought about as you get an instant answer reading the abstract of this book “You may think that with a last name like his, Buffet has enjoyed a life of endless privilege. But… that is the only inheritance handed down from his parents was a philosophy: Forge you own path in life.”

And that is exactly the subtle message that Peter conveys in this amazingly down to earth book, Life is What you Make of it, which reaches out not only to those starting on a new career but also largely to parents on how to set expectations for their kids or teenagers.
On rewards and lavish gifting Peter says; “In the normal course of things, rewards come gradually. That is part of the suspense and joy in life – that we sense ourselves moving forward, gaining in competence and knowledge, and being compensated for our progress, whether in money, or professional advancement, or creative satisfaction. Success, however we define it, happens little by little.”
Well said. How often we tend to make it easy on ourselves by gifting our kids based on not what they need but what they want – or is a trend with their friends or society – thereby taking away from them the most valuable lesson of life – your own experience to find out what is right and what is wrong.

This is also very true in this present world where everyday there is a lure of making easy money and when people need it the most in current situation, the short term ‘success’ in making a few bucks can affect their long term goals and benefits. If you are out there either making it big or just starting out on a new career, Peter’s new book has the most inspiring message for all of us -  taking on the reins of your destiny, living the life to the fullest, luck, timing of the luck happening to us, patience, trust and how we use our time – some things very basic and often we tend to overlook or ignore as we go on with our lives; all these have been brought in beautifully together in this book.

It is a life’s perspective from someone who has gone through trial, error and a varied experience which many of us have gone through or are presently going through but that makes life what it is – complete and rich with experience which is yours and no one else can make what you can out of the time you have.

As a career writer, I found this book very inspiring for my audience and young students who are stepping into this world which largely depicts affluence and making ends meet is not a struggle anymore, there is more likely a chance of falling for the short cut to success or even just spending what you have and finding later on that on the financial front we were perhaps never taught what we should have been.  The true path to success is – through honesty, confidence, peace of mind, philanthropy and just going the experience and journey of making it to you success goal by doing what you want.

A highly inspiring book for anyone from age 16 to 100, it brings to you insight and in depth thoughts from a person who had the chance of growing up in affluence and an influential surname which could take him anywhere but he decided to follow – Life is what YOU make of it. Interspersed with guidance on how anyone can really follow their dreams, it is this combination of Peter’s life experiences with inspirational advice that developed Life Is What You Make It into a rewarding and poignant read.

Find your own path to fulfillment.

Peter Buffett is an Emmy Award-winning musician, philanthropist and Random House-published author. Know more about him and his book at http://peterbuffett.com and look up the excerpts of this book at http://www.peterbuffett.com/bookexcerpts.pdf .

Tweet This Post

“Given the volatile economy, rising costs of living, and likelihood that safety nets like social security and savings may not cover expenses when you are older, it is imperative that you start now to find the work that engages your heart and soul,” Anderson writes in the introduction to her new book, Work with Passion in Midlife and Beyond: Reach your Full Potential & Make the Money you Need.

An extremely inspiring title indeed and a very helpful book for those who are contemplating a career change, or have been in a layoff and see the need to reinvent themselves to achieve success in their careers.

I couldn’t agree more when I during the first few pages of the book I came across this statement: “Identifying and facing your fears is a crucial step in the first stage of change.”

The book revs up in a gentle massaging way, the author focuses your attention on how to streamline your life – the mental preparedness is essential to any strong beginning and if you need a major re-work in your life to begin on a fresh start to rewrite your story of life. You might wonder if you go through the first 80 pages of this book as to why it was so important t0 re-visit my triumphs and failures in life and why I need to clarify more on who I am today? But then, look again, the title of this book has an important word “passion” for those in midlife and beyond, and it is through revisiting your life history and an in-depth analysis of your present stand you slowly start seeing the light – to create a template of success to find the work you would love to do – when work is no more work, it is a passion and true bliss.

Some wonderful thoughts that I truly loved in this book are:

• Notice what you enjoy that others think is hard work.
• A sense of timelessness is another clue that you are on the passion path.
• Your mind is on what’s in front of you, like a child on the beach with a bucket and shovel building a sand castle.
• Parcells’s third rule of leadership is to set and reach small goals. When people set small, visible goals, he says, and they achieve them, they get it into their heads (their subconscious) that they can succeed.

I admired deeply the authors’ take on providing us with a step by step look at some must do action items, it not through reading, inspiration alone that one can achieve the path to success; you achieve so by crafting practical goals and time bound action plans. Perhaps this book could have achieved more if it had the worksheets and all, but hey at time you just need such a book to motivate you to action, to clear up the many cobwebs of mind and the surroundings and at times you just need such a book to put your legs up and soak up some wise valuable suggestions and insights on how your personality type influences success in a particular career.

Nancy Anderson takes a good take through this book on streamlining life midlife, post-retirement or after a layoff and can be many such women would find a lot in common to some of the stories which the author narrates throughout the book and will find helpful as they search for a new career or job or perhaps it is the right time to reinvent and start something new altogether!

 Learn more about Nancy Anderson and Work With Passion In Midlife And Beyond here.

Tweet This Post

When are you making a presentation at your workplace? At the seminars, meetings, expos, sales presentations? Think again, presenting is much more diverse and is an inherent part of today’s workplace. Not only in a meeting but when putting up a proposal on why you must expect a pay increase this year, discussing your performance reviews or trying to move on to a more satisfying project, you are using your presentation skills to make the mark. And of course your main presentation skills are put to test during the interview process which is your make or break chance of getting that job.

Howsoever you use these skills, there are primarily three different levels of presentation skills that you use in your career:

• Business Presentation skills
• Public Speaking
• Communication Skills

Note that all three of the above involve formal or informal levels of presentation, but they are used at different levels and chances are that all of the above may not pertain to your present career but I am sure you are using one or more of these time and then at work or in your personal life. Let’s see how we can define these:

Business Presentations

Business presentations may or may not involve public speaking. During such a presentation you are using your persuasion, influencing skills or trying to convince a buyer into buying your product or service. Often business presentations are there to seal a deal or foster collaborations and/or mergers. Negotiations also fall in the business presentations category.

Public Speaking

Public Speaking largely involves speaking to a large audience or at least a group of people. Here you are presenting or perhaps promoting a product or service that your audience must know about. Speaking in expos or workshops is where you are using your public speaking skills.

Communication Skills

Communication skills are something that you are using daily at your workplace and in personal life, communicating with your colleagues, manager or with a face-to-face meeting with a customer or a remote client.

Evaluate which of the above skills are most relevant to you and which ones you would give yourself a thumbs up or a thumbs down. Note which skills you need to work on first and prepare an action plan on how to enhance your knowledge and experience in these areas.

The Difference between a Presentation and an Effective Presentation

How many times have you sat through a presentation which was “just another one” – a regular “nothing special”  presentation which fails to leave a mark on the audience. And how have you felt after witnessing an awesome presentation that leaves you feeling either ecstatic, o impressed or motivates you to take an action (either on buying a service that was offered or a course of action that was proposed during the presentation)? That is truly the difference between a “sleep inducer” and a energizing presentation. To be truly successful and effective in presenting skills, see if your presentation is achieving the following:

• Well practiced and timed speech
• Confidence and honesty in what you are presenting
• Effective tone and vocal variety in your speech
• Catching attention right from the introduction and maintaining audience involvement
• Wrapping up your presentation with a general Q&A with the audience or some sort of feedback to monitor any unaddressed issues that you can either cover there or later on

 If you can achieve the above and can see that you have truly engaged audience interest – there you go you just made a successful and effective presentation. Don’t work toward getting things done, strive to do it more effectively with success as the final goal. Also think about how you can make your next presentation unique and stand-out from others or your previous ones. Doing the same thing over and over again does not lead to better success.

A Leader must be a good Presenter

If you wish to lead a team to success one day or are currently on it, then just be ready to work on your presentation skills now. Presenting well does not only mean that you are working on giving flamboyant presentations, but it truly means how effectively you can influence and charm others to get the work done or a sales deal sealed right there on.

How to get Experience?

Some of the easy ways to hone your presenting skills is to join a Toastmaster’s group or start a new one at your workplace, taking seminars and courses (which can be expensive but if your company can reimburse you for such courses, take on the initiative to enroll in a couple of them). Another effective way is to take initiative to present in meetings and later in large gatherings to practice your presentations skills. Practice makes perfect – nothing else!

But none of these methods will be effective if you do not ensure a proper feedback process, either by recording (video/audio) and self-evaluation or through a feedback process where you actually get to see or hear your audience respond to the effectiveness of your presentation. Do better by learning from this process and avoid previous mistakes.

And always remember that good presenters can be motivators and movers and shakers of an organization, they are sought after to present the product or service in a client presentation or large expos and get into the good books or upper management faster. And if you really want to move up on the corporate ladder, then this is an essential skill you must strive to perfect.

Presenting for Introverts

However all said, it is not easy for everyone to be up there and make a jaw dropping presentation and take on the deal in the first go. It takes time and practice and also depends on your skills and your personal outgoing attitude. For most introverts presentations can be mighty scary and bring jitters and sweats which can be demoralizing. However you must not let this be a drawback to your career. Learn to identify how you can use your “other” skills for example making effective presentations online or on special software can help divert the main emphasis on “you” to something awesome that you have done. Just finding new ways to present is also something that can make you more confident. And confidence in yourself and your skills is the key to success in anything!

What do you do to better your presentation skills at your work?

Related Posts:

How do you Brainstorm?

Self Promotion for Introverts – A book review

5 Essential Tips to Influence and Persuade Others at the Workplace

Poor Communication Skills can Cost you the Job

Tweet This Post