Tuesday 27 October 2009
Sunday 25 October 2009
The land of opportunity?
When questioned about the enormous income inequality in the United States, the cheerleaders of America’s unfettered markets counter that everybody has a shot at becoming rich here. The distribution of income might be skewed, but America’s economic mobility is second to none.
That image is wrong, and these days it abets far too many unfair policies, including cuts in essential programs like Head Start or Medicaid. The poor, we are told, can use their own bootstraps. President Bush got away with huge tax cuts for the rich in part because nonrich Americans, who make up most of the population, believe everybody has a chance of making it into the club. Unfortunately, the American dream is not that broadly accessible.
Recent research surveyed by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, a governmental think tank for the rich nations, found that mobility in the United States is lower than in other industrial countries. One study found that mobility between generations — people doing better or worse than their parents — is weaker in America than in Denmark, Austria, Norway, Finland, Canada, Sweden, Germany, Spain and France. In America, there is more than a 40 percent chance that if a father is in the bottom fifth of the earnings’ distribution, his son will end up there, too. In Denmark, the equivalent odds are under 25 percent, and they are less than 30 percent in Britain.
America’s sluggish mobility is ultimately unsurprising. Wealthy parents not only pass on that wealth in inheritances, they can pay for better education, nutrition and health care for their children. The poor cannot afford this investment in their children’s development — and the government doesn’t provide nearly enough help. In a speech earlier this year, the Federal Reserve chairman, Ben Bernanke, argued that while the inequality of rewards fuels the economy by making people exert themselves, opportunity should be “as widely distributed and as equal as possible.” The problem is that the have-nots don’t have many opportunities either.
From:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/13/opinion/13fri2.html
Saturday 24 October 2009
4steps to minimize risk of failure in a small business
Step 1: Analyze your competition. Duration: 1 day
Detailed market research really is a whole other post by itself and is beyond the scope of this article, but for basic purposes use SEOBook.com’s keyword suggestion tool to look for top searches. Find several key phrases that people are searching for, then head over to Ask.com and use their “expand your search” and “narrow your search” tools to find what else people are typing in. You can also use Google’s Keyword Tool for more suggestions.
Take the top 3-5 phrases and take a look at the ads that show up on Google’s Sponsored Links. Read their salesletters and note down the good parts, and figure out how you could improve on their offers.
• Can you offer more credibility with your product?
• Can you provide a better offer than they do?
• What about your pricing? (Don’t slash your prices to undercut the competition; instead, figure out how you can provide more value for the same price by giving bonuses and such)
Now is a great time to start building your swipe file as well.
Step 2: Set up the website for your product or service. Duration: 1-2 days
Step 2: Set up the website for your product or service. Duration: 1-2 days
Start writing your salesletter by using the bits and pieces you like from your competitors. Rewrite it so you’re not outright plagiarizing their work. Your salesletter should be about 300-700 words long and must be able to:
• Attract your customer’s attention
• Gain their Interest
• Build their Desire for the product
• Inspire them into Action
At this stage, you don’t need to hire a copywriter just yet. This four step process, AIDA for short, is a fundamental copywriter’s formula for a good salesletter and should do for now
Step 3: Set up your AdWords account and test your product. Duration: Less than 1 day
Once you’ve signed up for Google AdWords and put in your credit card information, set up a new campaign and create two ads to test. Write your ads so that it highlights your differentiators. Write a compelling headline, use the first 35 characters to highlight the main benefit for your customer and the second 35 characters to state your offer.
Use keywords that have high commercial intent (to determine this, use Microsoft’s AdLabs tool). It’s ideal to aim for the first or second position with your ads; however, if your keyword is the slightest bit competitive expect to pay at least a dollar per click for positions 1-3. This could get very expensive, and since we don’t know what type of ads work just yet, we’ll save this for when we’ve actually gathered enough data.
For our test purposes, set your maximum CPC at $1.00. You’ll only pay approximately half of that — that way, your $500 budget will get you around 1,000 visitors which should be sufficient data during this test period.
Step 4: Test, tweak, and then test some more. Duration: 5-7 days
Take your overall budget and spread that out over 5 days to determine your campaign’s daily budget. At the end of each day, look at your click-through rate for each of the ads. If one ad seems to be pulling much better than the other, delete the less-effective ad and use the one that gets more clicks. If you created a different campaign for search network and campaign network, switch all your ads to the one that pulls better.
If your product doesn’t seem like it’s bringing in “sales” (you’ll know through Google Analytics), don’t give up yet.
It might be that your ad is irrelevant to your product. If it’s not the ad, then maybe the salesletter is the problem and you might have to test a different offer. Maybe have a better guarantee (“we’ll refund your money and pay you an extra $50 if you don’t like it” is a great guarantee) or include more bonuses. And if it’s not the offer, maybe you need to sell a different product altogether.
It’s only once you’ve gone through your ads, your offers, and your products will you be able to determine whether that particular market will bite. If the market is the problem, then maybe your business idea isn’t all that great and you need to move on to the next one.
Page: http://www.geekpreneur.com/4-simple-steps-to-minimize-failure-for-your-next-business-idea
Detailed market research really is a whole other post by itself and is beyond the scope of this article, but for basic purposes use SEOBook.com’s keyword suggestion tool to look for top searches. Find several key phrases that people are searching for, then head over to Ask.com and use their “expand your search” and “narrow your search” tools to find what else people are typing in. You can also use Google’s Keyword Tool for more suggestions.
Take the top 3-5 phrases and take a look at the ads that show up on Google’s Sponsored Links. Read their salesletters and note down the good parts, and figure out how you could improve on their offers.
• Can you offer more credibility with your product?
• Can you provide a better offer than they do?
• What about your pricing? (Don’t slash your prices to undercut the competition; instead, figure out how you can provide more value for the same price by giving bonuses and such)
Now is a great time to start building your swipe file as well.
Step 2: Set up the website for your product or service. Duration: 1-2 days
Step 2: Set up the website for your product or service. Duration: 1-2 days
Start writing your salesletter by using the bits and pieces you like from your competitors. Rewrite it so you’re not outright plagiarizing their work. Your salesletter should be about 300-700 words long and must be able to:
• Attract your customer’s attention
• Gain their Interest
• Build their Desire for the product
• Inspire them into Action
At this stage, you don’t need to hire a copywriter just yet. This four step process, AIDA for short, is a fundamental copywriter’s formula for a good salesletter and should do for now
Step 3: Set up your AdWords account and test your product. Duration: Less than 1 day
Once you’ve signed up for Google AdWords and put in your credit card information, set up a new campaign and create two ads to test. Write your ads so that it highlights your differentiators. Write a compelling headline, use the first 35 characters to highlight the main benefit for your customer and the second 35 characters to state your offer.
Use keywords that have high commercial intent (to determine this, use Microsoft’s AdLabs tool). It’s ideal to aim for the first or second position with your ads; however, if your keyword is the slightest bit competitive expect to pay at least a dollar per click for positions 1-3. This could get very expensive, and since we don’t know what type of ads work just yet, we’ll save this for when we’ve actually gathered enough data.
For our test purposes, set your maximum CPC at $1.00. You’ll only pay approximately half of that — that way, your $500 budget will get you around 1,000 visitors which should be sufficient data during this test period.
Step 4: Test, tweak, and then test some more. Duration: 5-7 days
Take your overall budget and spread that out over 5 days to determine your campaign’s daily budget. At the end of each day, look at your click-through rate for each of the ads. If one ad seems to be pulling much better than the other, delete the less-effective ad and use the one that gets more clicks. If you created a different campaign for search network and campaign network, switch all your ads to the one that pulls better.
If your product doesn’t seem like it’s bringing in “sales” (you’ll know through Google Analytics), don’t give up yet.
It might be that your ad is irrelevant to your product. If it’s not the ad, then maybe the salesletter is the problem and you might have to test a different offer. Maybe have a better guarantee (“we’ll refund your money and pay you an extra $50 if you don’t like it” is a great guarantee) or include more bonuses. And if it’s not the offer, maybe you need to sell a different product altogether.
It’s only once you’ve gone through your ads, your offers, and your products will you be able to determine whether that particular market will bite. If the market is the problem, then maybe your business idea isn’t all that great and you need to move on to the next one.
Page: http://www.geekpreneur.com/4-simple-steps-to-minimize-failure-for-your-next-business-idea
Thursday 22 October 2009
Think and grow rich - Accurate thinking
Questionnaire
1. Why is it a surprise that people take time to learn the rules for accurate thinking?
-Because the rules are really clean and simple
2. Accurate thinking is bases on two fundamentals - what are they?
-Inductive reasoning & deductive reasoning
3. With inductive reasoning what do you act on?
-Hypothesis or what you asume the facts to be
4. With accurate thinking you have to separate fact from...
-Fiction
5. Facts should be separated into classes - name them
-Important facts & unimportant facts
6. What is an important fact and how can I distinguish from an unimportant fact?
-An important fact is any fact which will aid you to any extent whatsoever & all other facts as far as you are concerned are unimportant and you should waste no time with them
7. Most opinions are without value because they are based on...
-Pride, prejudice, beliefs, poor evidence, inccurance, etc.
8. What was the sentence with the President Woodrow Wilson?
-"I cannot answer your question because I have no facts on whichdebased on opinion"
9. The more succesful a person is the less he is inclined to...
-Express wild and justify opinons about anything
10. What was the question to ask to help someone being misled by unsound opinions from people?
-How do you know?
11. As your birthright you were given the privilege of controlling...what?
-Your own thoughts
12. What were the rules to follow that if you memorise them give you top rating as a thinker?
a) Never accept the opinions of other people as being facts until you've learn the sources of the opinons and satisfied yourself of their accuracy
b) Free advice will bear the closest of examinations until it is safe. This advice is worth exactly what it costs
c) Alert yourself inmediately if you hear anyone speaking about...
d) In asking others for information do not disclose to them what you wish the information be
e) Remember that anything that exists anywhere throughout the universe is capable of prove
f) One of the great unexplainable miracles consists in the fact that both truth and falsehood carry with them a silent invisible meaning of identifying themselves as true
g) Follow the habit of asking: How do you know? when anyone makes a statement you cannot identify as true
13. What was the final word of warning? What is the greatest handicap in the business of accurate thinking?
- Study yourself carefully and you may discover that your own emotions are your greatest handicap in the business of accurate thinking
There are a few answers a could not get because I didn't understood the man :(
1. Why is it a surprise that people take time to learn the rules for accurate thinking?
-Because the rules are really clean and simple
2. Accurate thinking is bases on two fundamentals - what are they?
-Inductive reasoning & deductive reasoning
3. With inductive reasoning what do you act on?
-Hypothesis or what you asume the facts to be
4. With accurate thinking you have to separate fact from...
-Fiction
5. Facts should be separated into classes - name them
-Important facts & unimportant facts
6. What is an important fact and how can I distinguish from an unimportant fact?
-An important fact is any fact which will aid you to any extent whatsoever & all other facts as far as you are concerned are unimportant and you should waste no time with them
7. Most opinions are without value because they are based on...
-Pride, prejudice, beliefs, poor evidence, inccurance, etc.
8. What was the sentence with the President Woodrow Wilson?
-"I cannot answer your question because I have no facts on whichdebased on opinion"
9. The more succesful a person is the less he is inclined to...
-Express wild and justify opinons about anything
10. What was the question to ask to help someone being misled by unsound opinions from people?
-How do you know?
11. As your birthright you were given the privilege of controlling...what?
-Your own thoughts
12. What were the rules to follow that if you memorise them give you top rating as a thinker?
a) Never accept the opinions of other people as being facts until you've learn the sources of the opinons and satisfied yourself of their accuracy
b) Free advice will bear the closest of examinations until it is safe. This advice is worth exactly what it costs
c) Alert yourself inmediately if you hear anyone speaking about...
d) In asking others for information do not disclose to them what you wish the information be
e) Remember that anything that exists anywhere throughout the universe is capable of prove
f) One of the great unexplainable miracles consists in the fact that both truth and falsehood carry with them a silent invisible meaning of identifying themselves as true
g) Follow the habit of asking: How do you know? when anyone makes a statement you cannot identify as true
13. What was the final word of warning? What is the greatest handicap in the business of accurate thinking?
- Study yourself carefully and you may discover that your own emotions are your greatest handicap in the business of accurate thinking
There are a few answers a could not get because I didn't understood the man :(
Wednesday 21 October 2009
The Golden Rule
If two parties are on opposite sides of a contract and they want to reach a win-win resolution, that means that they must observe the Golden Rule during negotiations. Specifically, both parties must treat each other fairly and be completely honest. They also need to communicate openly and not withhold relevant information. There should be full disclosure of any facts relevant to the transaction.
Respect is one of the most important elements of treating people well. Both parties must respect each other’s time, needs, finances, family situation, and any other circumstance that may affect the negotiations. As part of showing respect, each party should treat the other party professionally and conduct themselves professionally. There should never be anger or raised voices.
Both parties should be committed to a resolution that will be agreeable to both of them. Neither party should ever look for ways to take advantage of the other party. Before the negotiations start, they should both agree to a method of resolving an impasse on an important issue. To avoid the expense and delay of litigation, they should agree to have the issue decided by a mediator. They should also agree to abide by the mediator’s decision.
Both parties should greet other with courtesy, and they should be on time for meetings. They should also abide by any time limits set for the meetings, but agree to schedule a follow-up meeting if they still have issues to resolve. They should keep confident any information that either party wants to keep confident. Once they reach an agreement, they should reduce the agreement with complete accuracy.
At the end of the meeting, they should shake hands and thank the other person for their time and courtesy. The Golden Rule is so simple. It is also appropriate in any situation, even in business.
Respect is one of the most important elements of treating people well. Both parties must respect each other’s time, needs, finances, family situation, and any other circumstance that may affect the negotiations. As part of showing respect, each party should treat the other party professionally and conduct themselves professionally. There should never be anger or raised voices.
Both parties should be committed to a resolution that will be agreeable to both of them. Neither party should ever look for ways to take advantage of the other party. Before the negotiations start, they should both agree to a method of resolving an impasse on an important issue. To avoid the expense and delay of litigation, they should agree to have the issue decided by a mediator. They should also agree to abide by the mediator’s decision.
Both parties should greet other with courtesy, and they should be on time for meetings. They should also abide by any time limits set for the meetings, but agree to schedule a follow-up meeting if they still have issues to resolve. They should keep confident any information that either party wants to keep confident. Once they reach an agreement, they should reduce the agreement with complete accuracy.
At the end of the meeting, they should shake hands and thank the other person for their time and courtesy. The Golden Rule is so simple. It is also appropriate in any situation, even in business.
Tuesday 20 October 2009
Monday 19 October 2009
Marketing Judo Book
I finished reading the marketing Judo book. I think it is really interesting and useful for entrepeneurs and people with ideas to start a business by their own, it shows you a lot of things that even when they seem pretty obvious, are common mistakes of business entrepeneurs. The most important points of the book for me are:
*Get the basics right- this is probably one of the most important points of the book. "Getting the basics right" involves believing in your business, having patience to let your business grow, knowing your opponents weaknesses and your own strengths, etc.
*Everywork is important- You have to pay the same attention to everydetail, all the people who contributes to run your business are needed, for example, if you have a restaurant, to succed, you need to have as good service as good food.
*There are no quick fixes or shortcuts in creating and building a new business or bran in today's fast changing world- You need a lot of patience to let your business grow, because it will take time and a lot of effort, don't think that you'll be a millionare in a second.
*Use your common sense- As it says in the book, this probably sound stupid, but if you pay attention there are thousands of businesses and companies not doing this. As they grow they forget their initial aim and it suddenly makes them fail. Just keep an eye on people's needs and try to satisfy them.
*Identify big compannies and work out how you can do what they can't- When you are a big company, your reactions are slower, because you need more time to notice what's happening and most of all big compannies make their standarts lower to expand (when their standarts are lower, they stop satisfying people at 100%), other problem with big compannies is that they lose the familiar touch with their customers.
*You have to believe that nothing is impossible- If you don't believe in the capacity of your own business, who will do it? You have to be completely convinced of that your business can be succesfull and of that you can achieve your goals.
*You can appear bigger than you are using your brains not budgets- One good example I saw in the book was looking for good points to settle your business, like if you are going to start a restaurant brand (even a local brand) people is more alike to know and try it if you are next to recognized brands (McDonalds, Pizza Hut) or in important places (Airports, International places like Disneyland).
*Laurels could also become wreaths if you rest on them too long- Don't stop taking care of your business when you succed, because the market is always changing and you have to keep improving and innovating, otherwise someone can play judo with you.
*Using your size to your advantage, Fit, Fast and Focused
A good example of Marketing Judo Succes are Walkers the crisps. They have the characteristics of the best small company because they don't rest in their laurels even when they are in the top of the market. They keep innovating with new flavours and ways to get publicity and promotion and they preserve their origins even when they are owned by a huge company (Pepsi).
Sunday 18 October 2009
Investigation for exposition, Why does the UK not join the Euro?
*The uk prefers not to join because they are then seperated from having the same currency levels as the rest of europe, and by having it this way, they can take advantage of having a better currency, and make a killing off of trading. it's all really a grand scheme, but it works, and no one complains about it, because the currencies are very close, but when you take the marginal revenue of imports and exports, they do make money off of it.
Friday 16 October 2009
Mary Kay Ash biography
Founder of a cosmetics empire
Mary Kay Ash of Mary Kay Inc. was born on May 12, 1918 in Hot Wells, Texas. When she was six years old, she had to look after her ill grandfather while her mother was the working to provide for the family. Throughout her life, Mary Kay's mother had a huge impact her daughter, and she attributed her indomitable spirit to her mother who encouraged her with the words, "You can do it."
She started studying as a doctor and selling part-time, but she proved so adept at selling that she soon did it full time. She sold products for Stanley Home products and went on to World Gift.
At World Gift she eventually became a sales director, but was passed over for promotion so many times, that she decided to call it quits after 25 years of corporate sales.
She turned her attention to writing a book which turned out to be the plan for her business. On
September 13, 1963, with $5,000 in savings, she opened her dream cosmetics business with her son Richard Rogers. She had bought the formula for a skin-care cream and started operating from a small Dallas storefront. With nine salespeople, or beauty consultants as she called her team, they made nearly $200,000 profit in the first year of operation.
The company's success soured, especially after an interview with her on 60 minutes. She also had the trademark reward for her top salespeople: pink cadillacs. The company went public in 1968, but went private again in 1985. To this day, it remains one of the largest private firms in the US. Mary Kay Inc. also rates well in Best Company to Work For surveys that is done on a regular basis.
In 1987 Mary Kay Ash retired and became chairman emeritus of the company. Mary Kay measured her company's performance on P&L, not profit and loss as in many other companies, but rather, People and Love. By 2004 the company had sales of over $1.8 billion in 30 markets and had an independent salesforce of 1.3 million.
Mary Kay Ash left the world a poorer place when she died on November 22, 2001. Her son, Richard Rogers, continues to build the company he helped to create with her. The Mary Kay Ash charitable foundation also continues to make contributions to cancer research and preventing violence against women. She once said that, "My goal is to live my life in such a way that when I die, someone can say, she cared". And Mary Kay Ash did.
She was so coooooool!
Mary Kay Ash of Mary Kay Inc. was born on May 12, 1918 in Hot Wells, Texas. When she was six years old, she had to look after her ill grandfather while her mother was the working to provide for the family. Throughout her life, Mary Kay's mother had a huge impact her daughter, and she attributed her indomitable spirit to her mother who encouraged her with the words, "You can do it."
She started studying as a doctor and selling part-time, but she proved so adept at selling that she soon did it full time. She sold products for Stanley Home products and went on to World Gift.
At World Gift she eventually became a sales director, but was passed over for promotion so many times, that she decided to call it quits after 25 years of corporate sales.
She turned her attention to writing a book which turned out to be the plan for her business. On
September 13, 1963, with $5,000 in savings, she opened her dream cosmetics business with her son Richard Rogers. She had bought the formula for a skin-care cream and started operating from a small Dallas storefront. With nine salespeople, or beauty consultants as she called her team, they made nearly $200,000 profit in the first year of operation.
The company's success soured, especially after an interview with her on 60 minutes. She also had the trademark reward for her top salespeople: pink cadillacs. The company went public in 1968, but went private again in 1985. To this day, it remains one of the largest private firms in the US. Mary Kay Inc. also rates well in Best Company to Work For surveys that is done on a regular basis.
In 1987 Mary Kay Ash retired and became chairman emeritus of the company. Mary Kay measured her company's performance on P&L, not profit and loss as in many other companies, but rather, People and Love. By 2004 the company had sales of over $1.8 billion in 30 markets and had an independent salesforce of 1.3 million.
Mary Kay Ash left the world a poorer place when she died on November 22, 2001. Her son, Richard Rogers, continues to build the company he helped to create with her. The Mary Kay Ash charitable foundation also continues to make contributions to cancer research and preventing violence against women. She once said that, "My goal is to live my life in such a way that when I die, someone can say, she cared". And Mary Kay Ash did.
She was so coooooool!
Thursday 15 October 2009
Some information, origins of subliminal advertisement
In 1957, market researcher James Vicary claimed that quickly flashing messages on a movie screen, in Fort Lee, New Jersey, had influenced people to purchase more food and drinks. Vicary coined the term subliminal advertising and formed the Subliminal Projection Company based on a six-week test. Vicary claimed that during the presentation of the movie Picnic he used a tachistoscope to project the words "Drink Coca-Cola" and "Hungry? Eat popcorn" for 1/3000 of a second at five-second intervals. Vicary asserted that during the test, sales of popcorn and Coke in that New Jersey theater increased 57.8 percent and 18.1 percent respectively.
However, in 1962 Vicary admitted to lying about the experiment and falsifying the results, the story itself being a marketing ploy. An identical experiment conducted by Dr. Henry Link showed no increase in cola or popcorn sales. A trip to Fort Lee, where the first experiment was alleged to have taken place, would have shown straight away that the small cinema there couldn't possibly have had 45,699 visitors through its doors in the space of 6 weeks. This has led people to believe that Vicary actually did not conduct his experiment at all.
However, before Vicary's confession, his claims were promoted in Vance Packard's book The Hidden Persuaders, and led to a public outcry, and to many conspiracy theories of governments and cults using the technique to their advantage. The practice of subliminal advertising was subsequently banned in the United Kingdom and Australia, and by American networks and the National Association of Broadcasters in 1958.
But in 1958, Vicary conducted a television test in which he flashed the message "telephone now" hundreds of times during a Canadian Broadcasting Corporation program, and found no noticeable increase in telephone calls.
In 1973, commercials in the United States and Canada for the game Hūsker Dū? flashed the message "Get it". During the same year, Wilson Bryan Key's book Subliminal Seduction claimed that subliminal techniques were widely used in advertising. Public concern was sufficient to cause the FCC to hold hearings in 1974. The hearings resulted in an FCC policy statement stating that subliminal advertising was "contrary to the public interest" and "intended to be deceptive". Subliminal advertising was also banned in Canada following the broadcasting of Hūsker Dū? ads there.
However, in 1962 Vicary admitted to lying about the experiment and falsifying the results, the story itself being a marketing ploy. An identical experiment conducted by Dr. Henry Link showed no increase in cola or popcorn sales. A trip to Fort Lee, where the first experiment was alleged to have taken place, would have shown straight away that the small cinema there couldn't possibly have had 45,699 visitors through its doors in the space of 6 weeks. This has led people to believe that Vicary actually did not conduct his experiment at all.
However, before Vicary's confession, his claims were promoted in Vance Packard's book The Hidden Persuaders, and led to a public outcry, and to many conspiracy theories of governments and cults using the technique to their advantage. The practice of subliminal advertising was subsequently banned in the United Kingdom and Australia, and by American networks and the National Association of Broadcasters in 1958.
But in 1958, Vicary conducted a television test in which he flashed the message "telephone now" hundreds of times during a Canadian Broadcasting Corporation program, and found no noticeable increase in telephone calls.
In 1973, commercials in the United States and Canada for the game Hūsker Dū? flashed the message "Get it". During the same year, Wilson Bryan Key's book Subliminal Seduction claimed that subliminal techniques were widely used in advertising. Public concern was sufficient to cause the FCC to hold hearings in 1974. The hearings resulted in an FCC policy statement stating that subliminal advertising was "contrary to the public interest" and "intended to be deceptive". Subliminal advertising was also banned in Canada following the broadcasting of Hūsker Dū? ads there.
Monday 12 October 2009
Teacher of Biology job description
Title: Teacher of biology
Job purpose:
Join an experienced and friendly Science Department for either a full-time or part time position. Teach Biology for IB students, by making activities, having normal lessons and testing them.
Key responsibilities:
1-Take care of the progress of all your students
2-Make a system to mantain your classroom disciplined
3-Help students with problems
4-Give a monthly report of how the course is going to the principal
5-Respect the school rules
Requirements:
*Inmediate start
*Must have experience of teaching GCE A Level Biology
*Evidende of having the right to live and work in the UK
*Be prepared to undergo a Criminal Records Bureau check
Extra information:
-School located in Headington
-Science department benefits from well resourced laboratories and full IT support
-Send a cv if you wish to be considered
Job purpose:
Join an experienced and friendly Science Department for either a full-time or part time position. Teach Biology for IB students, by making activities, having normal lessons and testing them.
Key responsibilities:
1-Take care of the progress of all your students
2-Make a system to mantain your classroom disciplined
3-Help students with problems
4-Give a monthly report of how the course is going to the principal
5-Respect the school rules
Requirements:
*Inmediate start
*Must have experience of teaching GCE A Level Biology
*Evidende of having the right to live and work in the UK
*Be prepared to undergo a Criminal Records Bureau check
Extra information:
-School located in Headington
-Science department benefits from well resourced laboratories and full IT support
-Send a cv if you wish to be considered
Recruitment advertisements
-Person to teach biology in IB course, experienced and responsible
-Literature teacher for IB course, experienced. Well paid job.
-Smart, experienced and responsible teacher of History for IB course.
-Prepared and competent person to teach Arts in IB school.
I'm not sure of how to write recruitment advertisements, but I tried. I found this guide, but I can't make all that fit in 10 words or less:
1-Consider what exactly the job is. You may know the job title, but are you totally clear what the role involves? The better you understand the role, the clearer your ad will be.
2-Who is my ideal candidate? It is useful to build a mental picture of the sort of person you, and the existing team, see fitting in. When it comes to wording your ad, write as if you were speaking to your imaginary candidate.
3-What skills am I looking for? It is tempting to request high-level academic qualifications to try to filter out weaker candidates, but exam results aren’t necessarily the best indicators of workplace ability. You may be better off asking applicants to demonstrate their financial, people management and organisational abilities.
4-What experience must applicants have? It is common practice to include in the ad the minimum number of years’ experience you will consider. This, however, fails to acknowledge the efforts of younger candidates who may have fast-tracked through their careers. It is a good idea, instead, to state the precise areas of experience you are looking for e.g. ‘experience of account-handling clients worth over £5million a year’ or ‘proven track-record of exceeding sales targets by more than 10% per quarter’.
5-What extra-curricular activities am I interested in? It can be a useful exercise to ask applicants to include details of their non-work interests and achievements. This can often be a good indicator of a potential candidate’s social skills, determination and their attitudes towards others.
6-What response do I want to get from the ad? It is worth considering what level of response you hope to achieve prior to placing your ad. If the role is specialist and senior, you may prefer to receive six excellent applications rather than 60 average ones. On the other hand, for a graduate trainee position you may prefer a bigger choice. The more specific your wish list, the fewer, better targeted, responses you are likely to receive.
7-What facts must I include? At the very least, your ad should include: the name and address of your company with a brief description of the nature of the business; the job title of the position being advertised and a summary of responsibilities; special requirements (including out-of-hours working or travel); closing date for applications; and details on how to reply, and to whom.
8-How do I reflect the personality of the company? A recruitment ad is a marketing opportunity, so it is a good idea to reflect the company’s brand values in your layout. For example, you should always use your corporate logo, colours and, if appropriate, your strap line. Typefaces, too, can be used to reflect the personality of your company; Comic Sans is light-hearted, whereas Times New Roman is fairly formal. Your choice of wording is extremely important – too complex and you could give the impression of inaccessibility, too jocular and you may lose credibility. It can be a good idea to ask existing employees to compare your proposed wording with their experiences of the company.
9-How can I make the ad stand out? Once you have decided where you are going to place your ad, take a look at your competition. What other companies, and what positions, is your ad vying for attention with? Then consider how you can word your ad (particularly the headline) so that it stands above the rest. You may be able to claim you’re the country’s ‘leading supplier’ or that you offer ‘unparalleled’ management training.
10-Have I made the job look attractive? Put yourself in the role of a potential applicant and ask yourself: ‘If this was my area of expertise, would I be tempted to apply for this role?’. If the answer is ‘no’, then the ad isn’t doing its job. Find out what attracted the existing team to apply for their jobs and use that information to structure the ad. For example, you may find that training is a key motivator or that the financial package was a major draw. Play on your strengths and keep the ad benefit-oriented.
-Literature teacher for IB course, experienced. Well paid job.
-Smart, experienced and responsible teacher of History for IB course.
-Prepared and competent person to teach Arts in IB school.
I'm not sure of how to write recruitment advertisements, but I tried. I found this guide, but I can't make all that fit in 10 words or less:
1-Consider what exactly the job is. You may know the job title, but are you totally clear what the role involves? The better you understand the role, the clearer your ad will be.
2-Who is my ideal candidate? It is useful to build a mental picture of the sort of person you, and the existing team, see fitting in. When it comes to wording your ad, write as if you were speaking to your imaginary candidate.
3-What skills am I looking for? It is tempting to request high-level academic qualifications to try to filter out weaker candidates, but exam results aren’t necessarily the best indicators of workplace ability. You may be better off asking applicants to demonstrate their financial, people management and organisational abilities.
4-What experience must applicants have? It is common practice to include in the ad the minimum number of years’ experience you will consider. This, however, fails to acknowledge the efforts of younger candidates who may have fast-tracked through their careers. It is a good idea, instead, to state the precise areas of experience you are looking for e.g. ‘experience of account-handling clients worth over £5million a year’ or ‘proven track-record of exceeding sales targets by more than 10% per quarter’.
5-What extra-curricular activities am I interested in? It can be a useful exercise to ask applicants to include details of their non-work interests and achievements. This can often be a good indicator of a potential candidate’s social skills, determination and their attitudes towards others.
6-What response do I want to get from the ad? It is worth considering what level of response you hope to achieve prior to placing your ad. If the role is specialist and senior, you may prefer to receive six excellent applications rather than 60 average ones. On the other hand, for a graduate trainee position you may prefer a bigger choice. The more specific your wish list, the fewer, better targeted, responses you are likely to receive.
7-What facts must I include? At the very least, your ad should include: the name and address of your company with a brief description of the nature of the business; the job title of the position being advertised and a summary of responsibilities; special requirements (including out-of-hours working or travel); closing date for applications; and details on how to reply, and to whom.
8-How do I reflect the personality of the company? A recruitment ad is a marketing opportunity, so it is a good idea to reflect the company’s brand values in your layout. For example, you should always use your corporate logo, colours and, if appropriate, your strap line. Typefaces, too, can be used to reflect the personality of your company; Comic Sans is light-hearted, whereas Times New Roman is fairly formal. Your choice of wording is extremely important – too complex and you could give the impression of inaccessibility, too jocular and you may lose credibility. It can be a good idea to ask existing employees to compare your proposed wording with their experiences of the company.
9-How can I make the ad stand out? Once you have decided where you are going to place your ad, take a look at your competition. What other companies, and what positions, is your ad vying for attention with? Then consider how you can word your ad (particularly the headline) so that it stands above the rest. You may be able to claim you’re the country’s ‘leading supplier’ or that you offer ‘unparalleled’ management training.
10-Have I made the job look attractive? Put yourself in the role of a potential applicant and ask yourself: ‘If this was my area of expertise, would I be tempted to apply for this role?’. If the answer is ‘no’, then the ad isn’t doing its job. Find out what attracted the existing team to apply for their jobs and use that information to structure the ad. For example, you may find that training is a key motivator or that the financial package was a major draw. Play on your strengths and keep the ad benefit-oriented.
Thursday 8 October 2009
Aclaration
'For our homework we have to design a poster for the Lapdesk and design a logo. These are my designs, I am not actually making or selling the Lapdesk'
Wednesday 7 October 2009
Job descriptions
Job descriptions are written statements that describe the duties, responsibilities, most important contributions and outcomes needed from a position, required qualifications of candidates, and the reporting relationship of a particular job.
The process of developing a job description helps you articulate the most important outcomes you need from an employee performing a particular job. A job description is also a communication tool that tells coworkers where their job leaves off and the job of another starts. A well-written job description tells an employee where their job fits within the overall department and the overall company.
Example: IT Manager Job Description
ROLE-SPECIFIC COMPETENCIES
Networking
-Assists in the planning and implementation of additions, deletions and major modifications to the supporting regional infrastructure.
-Implements network security at the regional level as established by corporate Security Director.
-Oversees the administration and maintenance of the company's infrastructure, and directs more junior Innovators when necessary.
-Oversees the administration of the company's WAN.
Telephony
-Manages and develops upgrades to the company's telephone system at the regional level.
-Oversees all telephone changes, including routing for seating assignments.
Training & Lab Maintenance
-Oversees the administration and maintenance of computer stations and software for company training programs and the Learning Studio and provides additional support if necessary.
Internal Systems
-Oversees troubleshooting, systems backups, archiving, and disaster recovery and provides expert support when necessary.
-Works with project teams to help implement Internal Systems.
Help Desk Administration
-Oversees all help desk activities at the regional level.
Responds to escalated help desk issues.
-Oversees the administration and maintenance of our tracking software.
-Interacts with internal clients on all levels to help resolve IT-related issues and provides answers in a timely manner.
Asset Management
-Builds and maintains vendor relationships and manages the purchase of hardware and software products.
-Manages the purchasing of all software, hardware and other IT supplies at the regional level.
-Ensures that company assets are maintained responsibly.
CAREER PATH CORE COMPETENCIES
Communication
-Facilitates team meetings effectively.
-Holds regular status meetings with team.
-Keeps team well informed of changes within the organization and general Etensity news.
-Effectively communicates relevant IT-related information to superiors.
-Delivers engaging, informative, well-organized presentations.
-Resolves and/or escalates issues in a timely fashion.
-Understands how to communicate difficult/sensitive information tactfully.
-Relays relevant IT-related information to the company in a timely manner.
Management
-Initiates and implements improvements in all areas of IT responsibility.
-Serves as main point of contact on all IT-related matters for the office assigned.
-Responds/acts on upper-management direction .
-Identifies and provides standards for gathering information for use in trend analysis and reports information to company management.
PROFESSIONAL QUALITIES
Leadership
-Challenges others to develop as leaders while serving as a role model and mentor.
-Manages the development of team by ensuring, when possible, that project tasks are in line with each Innovator's career interests.
-Inspires coworkers to attain goals and pursue excellence.
-Identifies opportunities for improvement and makes constructive suggestions for change .
-Manages the process of innovative change effectively.
-Remains on the forefront of emerging industry practices.
Teamwork
-Consistently acknowledges and appreciates each team member's contributions.
-Effectively utilizes each team member to his/her fullest potential.
-Motivates team to work together in the most efficient manner.
-Keeps track of lessons learned and shares those lessons with team members.
-Mitigates team conflict and communication problems.
-Plans and facilitates regular team activities outside of the office.
-Client Management
Manages day-to-day internal client interaction
-Sets and manages internal client expectations.
-Communicates effectively with internal clients to identify needs and evaluate alternative business solutions.
-Continually seeks opportunities to increase internal client satisfaction and deepen client relationships.
ORGANIZATIONAL RESPONSIBILITIES
Innovator Development
-Conducts effective performance evaluations and mentors those with less experience through formal channels.
-Helps team execute career development plans.
-Seeks and participates in development opportunities above and beyond training required by Etensity.
-Trains other innovators and clients through both formal and informal training programs.
-Encourages more junior Innovators to take responsibility for their development within the company.
-Challenges fellow Innovators to progress toward their professional development goals.
Internal Operations
-Suggests areas for improvement in internal processes along with possible solutions.
Leads internal teams/task forces
-Approves team members' time and expense reports in a conscientious and timely manner.
-Reviews the status reports of team members and addresses issues as appropriate.
-Complies with and helps to enforce standard Etensity policies and procedures.
The process of developing a job description helps you articulate the most important outcomes you need from an employee performing a particular job. A job description is also a communication tool that tells coworkers where their job leaves off and the job of another starts. A well-written job description tells an employee where their job fits within the overall department and the overall company.
Example: IT Manager Job Description
ROLE-SPECIFIC COMPETENCIES
Networking
-Assists in the planning and implementation of additions, deletions and major modifications to the supporting regional infrastructure.
-Implements network security at the regional level as established by corporate Security Director.
-Oversees the administration and maintenance of the company's infrastructure, and directs more junior Innovators when necessary.
-Oversees the administration of the company's WAN.
Telephony
-Manages and develops upgrades to the company's telephone system at the regional level.
-Oversees all telephone changes, including routing for seating assignments.
Training & Lab Maintenance
-Oversees the administration and maintenance of computer stations and software for company training programs and the Learning Studio and provides additional support if necessary.
Internal Systems
-Oversees troubleshooting, systems backups, archiving, and disaster recovery and provides expert support when necessary.
-Works with project teams to help implement Internal Systems.
Help Desk Administration
-Oversees all help desk activities at the regional level.
Responds to escalated help desk issues.
-Oversees the administration and maintenance of our tracking software.
-Interacts with internal clients on all levels to help resolve IT-related issues and provides answers in a timely manner.
Asset Management
-Builds and maintains vendor relationships and manages the purchase of hardware and software products.
-Manages the purchasing of all software, hardware and other IT supplies at the regional level.
-Ensures that company assets are maintained responsibly.
CAREER PATH CORE COMPETENCIES
Communication
-Facilitates team meetings effectively.
-Holds regular status meetings with team.
-Keeps team well informed of changes within the organization and general Etensity news.
-Effectively communicates relevant IT-related information to superiors.
-Delivers engaging, informative, well-organized presentations.
-Resolves and/or escalates issues in a timely fashion.
-Understands how to communicate difficult/sensitive information tactfully.
-Relays relevant IT-related information to the company in a timely manner.
Management
-Initiates and implements improvements in all areas of IT responsibility.
-Serves as main point of contact on all IT-related matters for the office assigned.
-Responds/acts on upper-management direction .
-Identifies and provides standards for gathering information for use in trend analysis and reports information to company management.
PROFESSIONAL QUALITIES
Leadership
-Challenges others to develop as leaders while serving as a role model and mentor.
-Manages the development of team by ensuring, when possible, that project tasks are in line with each Innovator's career interests.
-Inspires coworkers to attain goals and pursue excellence.
-Identifies opportunities for improvement and makes constructive suggestions for change .
-Manages the process of innovative change effectively.
-Remains on the forefront of emerging industry practices.
Teamwork
-Consistently acknowledges and appreciates each team member's contributions.
-Effectively utilizes each team member to his/her fullest potential.
-Motivates team to work together in the most efficient manner.
-Keeps track of lessons learned and shares those lessons with team members.
-Mitigates team conflict and communication problems.
-Plans and facilitates regular team activities outside of the office.
-Client Management
Manages day-to-day internal client interaction
-Sets and manages internal client expectations.
-Communicates effectively with internal clients to identify needs and evaluate alternative business solutions.
-Continually seeks opportunities to increase internal client satisfaction and deepen client relationships.
ORGANIZATIONAL RESPONSIBILITIES
Innovator Development
-Conducts effective performance evaluations and mentors those with less experience through formal channels.
-Helps team execute career development plans.
-Seeks and participates in development opportunities above and beyond training required by Etensity.
-Trains other innovators and clients through both formal and informal training programs.
-Encourages more junior Innovators to take responsibility for their development within the company.
-Challenges fellow Innovators to progress toward their professional development goals.
Internal Operations
-Suggests areas for improvement in internal processes along with possible solutions.
Leads internal teams/task forces
-Approves team members' time and expense reports in a conscientious and timely manner.
-Reviews the status reports of team members and addresses issues as appropriate.
-Complies with and helps to enforce standard Etensity policies and procedures.
Tuesday 6 October 2009
Monday 5 October 2009
Lapdesk Poster
'For our homework we have to design a poster for the Lapdesk and design a logo. These are my designs, I am not actually making or selling the Lapdesk'
My "poster" :D
My "poster" :D
Sunday 4 October 2009
Lapdesk slogans:)
-Because we know what's the best for you. Lapdesk.
-Bybye problems, hello comfort. Lapdesk.
-For your own rest, get a lapdesk!
Those are my three favorites:)
-Bybye problems, hello comfort. Lapdesk.
-For your own rest, get a lapdesk!
Those are my three favorites:)
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