4 Things To Consider When Choosing a College

If you are thinking about entering college for the first time, or if you are planning on returning back to school, you really should choose a learning institution that concentrates in the field of your desired career major.  Keep in mind that some schools are favorably recognized for providing a quality education and for its selection of degree programs and thus meet the needs of prospective students more than others. There are so many colleges to choose from, but you will need to apply to an accredited college that offers a degree or certificate in your desired discipline. You should also take into account the cost of your education and the distance you will need to travel as well. Finding any college is easy but selecting the most suitable college will take time and thorough research. Here are beneficial tips for choosing a college that is right for you.

How to Become a Hospital Radiology Technician

Learn how to become a hospital radiology technician and you will have a high level of job security. Radiology technician jobs are expected to grow rapidly in the future. It is projected that by 2018 there will be 251,700 jobs in this field. The highest paid technicians made $75,000 in 2008 and the average pay was about $42,710. As a hospital radiology technician, you will be doing X-rays, Cat-Scans, and Magnetic Resonance Imagining (MRI), and mammography procedures. Keep on reading to learn more about becoming a hospital radiology technician. 

How to Decide on the English Major

The English major is very a rewarding major in college.  There are so many doors that can open for those who choose the English major and earn a degree.  The English major offers a variety of career choices.  For example, there are many who major in English, earn the degree, and become professors, high school teachers, editors, publishers, professional writers, novelists, journalists, etc.  In fact, many lawyers actually majored in English for their Bachelor’s and/or Master’s degrees.  The English major also teaches people how to become more analytical and articulate writers and readers.  This article will provide information that will help college students decide if the English major is right for them.  This article will also teach students how to major in English. 

HOW TO PLAN YOUR CAREER

Choosing a career is a difficult matter, in the best of times. Add to this opinions of friends and parents, and the young person is caught up in a confusing situation where making a decision is almost impossible. We give here a model which can help young people to choose a career, gain competencies required for it, make decisions, set goals and take action. The decision for each individual is different, since everyone is a distinct individual. This model is helpful not only for freshers but also throughout one's life. 

Self Assessment

This step involves gathering information about yourself to make a decision about a career. By developing an understanding of self (values, interests, aptitudes, abilities, personal traits, and desired life style) you should become aware of the inter-relationship between self and occupational choice. 

One can start by (a) Learning interests, abilities, skills, and work values, (b) Listing accomplishments, (c) Understanding physical and psychological needs, (d) Assessing aspirations and motivation level, and (e) Deciphering personal traits and characteristics. As you begin to develop a better understanding of yourself, you will gain self-awareness, improve self-confidence, understand the importance of time management and also develop personal as well as professional management skills. 

Some ways in which self-assessment can be done are described here. For example, one can take exploratory
 classes or attend workshops for study skills, or join activity clubs or professional clubs. One must be careful that one should allow regular time for leisure, hobbies and friends and not get involved in work all the time. 
  One should identify one's personality style and see what one is best suited to. Also identify work values and gain a positive attitude. For instance, one should develop interpersonal skills in expressing feelings and ideas and interact with people.Self-defeating behaviour should be got over with. 

Academic and Career Options

 

After you have completed your self-assessment, you must identify academic and career options available. This step allows you to investigate the world of work, narrow a general occupational direction into a specific one through an informed decision-making process. You will begin to identify potential careers, gather information about those careers, and match the career information with the results from your self-assessment. Once this is done, one should learn about academic and career entrance requirements. Explore how and where you can get the education and training required. Identify institutes where you want to apply. Also assess job market trends and have a second plan ready, consisting of academic and career alternatives. 

 

Competency Areas

It is important to improve competency all the times. One must gain research and investigative skills, practice decision-making, develop problem-solving skills and take up critical thinking exercises. One must also increase understanding of how abilities, interests, and values match career/academic requirements. 
To gain competency, one should interact with professionals, meet academic advisors and career counsellors, discuss with professors, or attend courses and workshops in areas where one can learn skills. Skills that can be thus acquired are: communications,computer knowledge, foreign languages and international studies. A youngster must make it a point to attend job and career fairs, participate in the Study Abroad programme, or take up a part-time job. Students abroad are known to start small businesses in order to enhance their skills. 
The next step helps you to evaluate occupational choices and gain practical experience through internships, co-operative education, summer jobs, volunteer work and campus activities. You will begin to make more specific decisions about occupational choices. Here too, increase your competency levels by learning communication and interpersonal skills. Confidence-building is very important at this stage. Time management techniques should also be picked up. 
 
At this stage too, one should participate in the Alumni programmes of your college, work part-time or during summer to acquire new skills and practice public-speaking in classes or in organisations, tutor students in various subjects, or join a professional organisation. 

Ideal Life Style Inventory

Mark each item that best describes how important these things are to you. This inventory is designed to help you identify values. It is not scored. 
Live in a House: Very Important Moderately Important Not Important
Live in a Rural Area: Very Important Moderately Important Not Important 
Entertain at Home: Very Important Moderately Important Not Important 
Spend Money: Very Important Moderately Important Not Important 
Frequent Travel: Very Important Moderately Important Not Important 
Have Many Possessions: Very Important Moderately Important Not Important 
Have Lots of Money: Very Important Moderately Important Not Important 
Live Close to Recreation: Very Important Moderately Important Not Important 
Live Near Cultural Centres: Very Important Moderately Important Not Important
Access to Movies, Restaurants: Very Important Moderately Important Not Important
Time Alone: Very Important Moderately Important Not Important
Active Member in Community: Very Important Moderately Important Not Important 
Access to Education: Very Important Moderately Important Not Important
Live Near Place of Work: Very Important Moderately Important Not Important 
Work Only for Money: Very Important Moderately Important Not Important 
 
Once you have answered the questions above, you will be in a good position to select the job you want. Of course, it is not always possible to get a job that perfectly matches what you have in mind. 

Allow yourself to dream, fantasies, and have fun. Project yourself into the future, five to seven years from now. Imagine in a two-day time span what you would ideally be doing. Talk about where you would be living
 and who else might be there. Use as much detail as possible in your fantasy; the weather, lifestyle, co-workers, leisure activities, responsibilities, etc. 

Meet professionals

Now start finding out about your occupational prospects. Find out about the major duties and responsibilities involved, products made or services provided by this occupation, specialisation within the occupation and the tools used in the occupation. Findout also about the education, training or experience needed for the occupation. Match personal qualifications, skills, and abilities required for the occupation and fill in the gaps where you do not have such skills, such as typing or computer knowledge. 

Assess whether you like the working conditions: some jobs may require odd hours of duty or frequent travel. Are you up to facing these? Find out about future prospects and outlook for the occupation. The normal methods of entry into the occupation will be found in newspapers and magazines. Observe the people in the occupation and see the personality characteristics of typical people working in it. Sales jobs, for example, require extroverts and you should be able to match your personality with what you observe. 

Make an informational interview questionnaire and talk to people in the occupation. The following questions could act as a guide: 

a) How did you get into this occupation/organisation?
b) How did you become interested in this occupation/organisation?
c) What entry-level jobs might qualify a person for this field?
d) What is the progression of jobs from the beginning to the top?
e) What responsibilities and duties do you have in your work?
f) Who are your customers? Who are your competitors?
g) What essential abilities are needed to do your job well?
h) What preparation, education, training, or background is required entrance into this field of work?
i) What is the guiding philosophy of the organisation?
j) What personal traits, values, and interests are necessary or to succeed and advance in this occupation/organisation?
k) What are the major frustrations, annoyances, or sources of in the occupation/organisation?
l) How much time do you spend at work? 
 
Meeting professionals helps a lot and clarifies many doubts in one's mind. However, it is necessary to know someone for honest answes. If you do not know a person, chances are that you will not be able to get honest answers. 

Matching skills with requirements
 

The basic idea of the above model is to match one's skills with what is required for the job. Once an assessment is made, one will be better able to know one's personality and choose a career accordingly. Very
 often, this is not done. Thus, people find themselves in jobs in which they have no interest in. A person who has been involved in books all his life, is suddenly asked to deal with customers or a person who has been an extrovert may find himself in a banking job where all he has to do is keep ledgers. It is to avoid this kind of a thing that building inventory helps. 

At the same time, the model helps you assess the skills needed to work in certain careers. If you want to do
management, for example, it is advisable to take up jobs so that one acquires confidence and also knowledge about the industry. This will also help in selecting the kind of industry that you want to work in. 
 
The model is not perfect, but gives invaluable pointers about one's personality and indicates how to choose a career.


Source :  http://competitionmaster.com

CAREER PLANNING - WHAT AFTER REJECTION

YOU had, you think, prepared very well for the crucial interview. You are likely to say it to yourself and others, “I left no stone unturned.” Yet, the outcome was disappointing. You start cursing your “luck” or you may, in a fit of bad temper, debunk those who decided against your selection. You begin to nurse a grudge. This will eventually further damage your future prospects. It is better to be rational, objective, look for soft spots and convert them into plus points. That’s the only way from rejection to selection.

Lots of factors can prevent you from getting a job. Many of them you have control over, while others you don’t. By controlling those you can and thinking reasonably

about those you can’t, your chances of taking a healthy perspective toward this whole job-research issue are better.

Rejection is part of the process; however, by keeping your self-esteem and not rejecting yourself, your opportunity for success in the next interview is that much greater.

Why do you (applicant) get only a stony silence from prospective employers after your interview?

Lack of proper preparation. This usually means misdirection or lopsided emphasis on non-essentials. Many aspirants, for example, plunge into the re-digging of the academic subjects they had studied in college or university. This is innocence (read ignorance)!

Those facing you at the interview have already formed a fair idea of your academic status and calibre. They have the record sheets with them. They have the degree certificates, too. Ditto your other achievements and their record.

They have probably conducted their own entrance, too. All in all, it means that they have a full picture of what you have achieved in the academic and theoretical sphere of your study.

Then, why this interview? You may ask. It is simple. They want to “see” the “man” behind the academic facade!

I illustrate this point from the life of a great literary figure—Dr Samuel Johnson. It was said of him that he made a “sad spectacle” in society. The reference was to his ugly physical appearance.

But anybody who “met” him and had a few minutes of conversation with him found that he was the most brilliant, wittiest conversationalist of his time. Those who came to scoff remained to listen to him. Such is the magic and power of personality. And this comes out in interview.

A girl candidate who had a string of degrees was asked the meaning of the phrase “literary coxcomb”. She flustered and fired offensive replies thinking that it was a hit at her academic status. Nothing of the sort. It was a question rather aimed at her area of interest and she could have cashed in on the opportunity.

The conclusion drawn was that the thick layer of academic had not permitted refinement of culture to seep into her mind. It was all on the surface. It also revealed that the candidate was highly conceited and the poise and confidence she exuded was shallow.

Thirdly, she unwittingly revealed that a little knowledge is a dangerous thing. Her approach was raw, unpolished. Because a girl who has several degrees in her bag is supposed to have rubbed into her personality some of what she has studied. It is like perfume. It naturally gets on to your skin or garment.

Many  aspirants “show” scholarly pose, concealing their real personality. They wrongly think that the more learned you are, the more unkempt your personality. This is negative attribute and no amount of “scholarly sophistication” can compensate for it.

So, if you have been rejected, tell yourself that there are reasons for it, emanating mostly from your own self. Take stock of yourself. Groom yourself well. There is always another chance—somewhere.

The chance will be lost again if the candidate fumbles and fails on some vital points. The candidate should bear in mind that the prospective employer is a professional who neither gives nor takes concessions. He is somewhat of a perfectionist

with exacting standards. He looks upon his future employee in long-range as he is going to work with him for years.

Be sure you are communicating your positive, marketable points to him or her through the interview. We all have marketable characteristics or experiences, and before the interview ends the interviewer should hear about them.

Source : http://competitionmaster.com  

7 Things Teachers and School Administrators Should Learn from Steve Jobs

The untimely death of Steve Jobs, the man behind the iconic Apple computers, Ipad, Iphone and Pixar has brought to life many valuable lessons in life. He is astoundingly a leader and man of vision where many who are in the area of education, leadership and management could learn from. Here are the seven striking things from the self titled article of Erick Jackson The Top Ten Lessons Steve Jobs Can Teach Us - If We’ll Listen.

1. Never fear failure – Many are afraid to do experiments, even innovate and most importantly changes what one has been used to do through the years. Many, in the field of education are succumbed to that culture of fear of going out of their shell, of the box, of their comfort zones. That’s why we tend to live and follow the shadows of others whom we admire instead of just having them as our inspirations instead of doing our own marks, our own legacy. Jobs however didn’t. He went on for his passion. For it, he was later fired by the successor he picked as a CEO only to be taken again, when the Company he himself built is on the brink of collapse. It was one of the most public embarrassments of the last 30 years in business. Yet, he didn’t become a venture capitalist never to be heard from again. He didn’t start a production company and do a lot of lunches. He picked himself up and got back to work following his passion. Eight years ago, he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and told he only had a few weeks to live. As Samuel Johnson said, there’s nothing like your impending death to focus the mind. From Jobs’ 2005 Stanford commencement speech:

“No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don’t want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life’s change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true.

"Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary."

2. Don’t care about being right. Care about succeeding – I am just like many who worry about what others will say about me. This most of the time limits my ability to try new things. To innovate and course things up. Jobs used this line in an interview after he was fired by Apple. If you have to benchmark on others’ great ideas to make yours better, do it. You can’t be married to your vision of how a product is going to work out, such that you forget about current reality. When the Apple III came out, it was hot and warped its motherboard even though Jobs had insisted it would be quiet and sleek. If Jobs had stuck with Lisa, Apple would have never developed the Mac.

3. Find the most talented people to surround yourself with – There is a misconception that Apple is Steve Jobs. Everyone else in the company is a faceless minion working to please the all-seeing and all-knowing Jobs. In reality, Jobs has surrounded himself with talent: Phil Schiller, Jony Ive, Peter Oppenheimer, Tim Cook, the former head of stores Ron Johnson. These are all super-talented people who don’t get the credit they deserve for it all went to Steve Jobs. Just like the CEO played by Dominic Ochoa in our popular TV series 100 Days, he hired Sophia to do great jobs for him and the company. Though of course he recognizes Sophia’s contribution, still, as the lead role in the company, he takes all the credit.

4. Expect a lot from yourself and others – There were reports of Steve Jobs negative treatment of his employees as a result of himself being a perfectionist. From our own perspective, it would be very humiliating and we’ll of course be furious to have a boss or superior like him. But what it tells us loud in clear is to understand the motive. In the popular theories of leadership, it is the other way around. That is the leaders are the one who should be good listeners, etc. On the contrary, it should not be the case. Understanding Steve Jobs as a great innovator and visionary, the bottom line is that he is in touch with his passion and that little voice in the back of his head. He gives a damn. He wants the best from himself and everyone who works for him. If they don’t give a damn, he doesn’t want them around. And yet — he keeps attracting amazing talent around him. Why? Because talent gives a damn too. There’s a saying: if you’re a “B” player, you’ll hire “C” players below you because you don’t want them to look smarter than you. If you’re an “A” player, you’ll hire “A+” players below you, because you want the best result.

5. Live simply-  Even when Jobs can afford to buy elegangly and luxuriously in a billionaire mansion and drive a Porche or a Limousine, he chose to live simply in a house reminiscent of the 60’s.  What he has in his home are some few painting stuff, a mercedez in his garage and $100,000 stereo system, the only luxurious equipment he has.  It would be funny of a $5 Billion dollar month but it is true.

Again, you can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.

6. Listen to that voice in the back of your head that tells you if you’re on the right track or not – Most of us haven’t put this to good use. When an idea snapped in our mind that we can do something differently and most efficiently, we just neglect the though until it was totally forgotten. For example, an idea of new technique that will help make our pupils become one hundred percent readers in just a semester. Because we might be considering it complicated and difficult to do, set it aside. But just like ordinary dedicated teachers, Steve Jobs has always been a restless soul. A man in a hurry. A man with a plan. His plan isn’t for everyone. It was his plan. He wanted to build computers. When Jobs first saw an example of a Graphical User Interface — a GUI — he knew this was the future of computing and that he had to create it and he did. That became the Macintosh.

7. Anything is possible through hard work, determination, and a sense of vision – When our superiors tell us to do something, don’t say you can’t do it. Only those who don’t have the guts reject new assignments. The same with school heads who as a result of promotion or a long stay in the assignments they learned to love and live with have suddenly need to be moved out to a new place to start all over again. When Jobs returned to Apple in the 1990s, a company he built from scratch, it was weeks away from bankruptcy. For the many, out of pride they wouldn’t desire to go back to a company whom you built disposed you of before. Jobs simply didn’t. His failure before where he learned from, made him succeed to make it the biggest company in the world today.

Just like Steve Jobs, who’s contribution made our lives easy, may all of us, teachers and school administrators be able to make a contribution in our respective stations that many will benefit from even in so doing will not make us popular and unacceptable in the work place where we belong.

 (Gilbert M. Forbes is a practicing educator and a public school principal and school administrator for seven years.  He regularly reads and blogs and has been active in the area of educational reforms and environmental protection as his personal advocacies.)

Source : http://factoidz.com  

Why engineering grads go for MBA

MUMBAI: Every year lakhs of Indian students apply for admission to engineering colleges. And a large majority of graduating engineers apply for admission to business schools.

It is as if the realities of yesteryears, when medical and engineering careers used to be the top two priorities, has not entirely rubbed off but has been slightly modified. With more and more engineering graduates turning towards managerial careers, it is no wonder that some of the top Bschools, such as IIM Ahmedabad and IIM Calcutta, have more than 90% MBA students with engineering backgrounds.

What is the reason for the same? Are engineers not excited about a technical career anymore, or is it the demand of the workplace that drives them towards management careers?

Vijay Mhaskar, Vice President, Information Management Group, Symantec elaborates the job market situation. "With increased pace of innovation and global competition, technical talent in India has been groomed to meet the requirements of global coordination and collaboration.

The demand for managing large scale projects required technical talent to take on the role of project managers. This eventually led to the need for management skills and people were hired for their technical knowledge coupled with management skills. The Indian software industry, for instance, has witnessed a tremendous evolution - from piece-meal development to complete product ownership."

While engineers have shown an increasing preference for managerial roles, at the same time the need for technical expertise has not diminished. In fact, it has increase further as countries, including India, are realising the importance of developing innovative engineering solutions indigenously.

For this reason, engineering talent must not completely be devoted to managerial positions. "The industry requires both - technical and management talent. In order to encourage engineers to follow their passion for technology through a career on the technology side an eco-system needs to be established.

From the colleges where engineers learn, to the software firms where they put learning to practice, should provide guidance that moving to the management track is not a default option. With great compensation in technical profiles, engineers can pursue careers without giving up their passion for technology," adds Mhaskar.

The other side of this debate is that engineers who turn into managers and leaders in organisations need not completely give up their technical creativities. Often, it can be a mix of both. A high ranking manager can also be a technology expert. This is the exact basis of Symantec's Techtracs programme, in which they encourage and build upon technical talent of engineers. In this programme, they have very senior positions for Distinguished Engineers and Fellows, apart from Senior Technical Directors.

Mentoring and guidance, whether for a managerial or a technology based career, is a critical success component. An engineer, who is capable of giving an organisation or a country the next breakthrough in technology or in an architectural design, should not be wasted on a pure management role.

At the same time, one cannot follow a deterrent approach where you stop them from completely moving to management. Instead, it should come more as an encouragement to pursue engineering roles. Higher designations and pay packages is only one side of the coin. Engineers will only be truly engineers when they are in it for the love of it.

Source :  http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/

BEST CAREER OPTIONS WITH YOU IN INDIA

Choosing a proper career option is not an easy task. There are several factors which you need to consider when you choose a career for yourself. The first and foremost question that you must answer is whether you would obtain proper job satisfaction by choosing the stream. The job or career path that you choose should provide you with sufficient scope to develop and grow. Frankly speaking it should have a well pay. It is always better to opt for a career stream which offers a lot of added benefits in terms of work quality and exposure. Before looking for these qualities in a job stream, it is also essential to make sure about your credentials.Your choice should be something suited to your skill sets. You should spend some time reflecting on your talents and personality before you decide for a stream for yourself. Be sure about all your strengths and weaknesses and then begin with the process of resume preparation. 

This article discusses some guidelines that need to be kept in mind when career options are considered. Make a list of the activities that you enjoy the most. You may enjoy reading books and magazines a lot. If those catchy magazines and news papers attract you a lot, then you are better fit for something like an editor or a book publisher. The task of an editor is never that easy. It has a lot of challenges and make sure you are trained enough for that purpose.

Are you one of those who enjoy using electronic gadgets? 

Does the mechanism of working of these gadgets deeply interest you? 

Do you develop a curiosity in you every time you see sophisticated machines? 



If your answer is yes, then nothing can be better for you, than a job of an engineer. Engineering in itself is a very vast stream; it is not simply restricted to web technologies or software industry. This field has a lot to offer in other aspects like mechanical engineering, civil engineering etc. There is lot of scope and large number of companies that can satisfy your urge to know things. You may even chose for somebetter career options like research oriented activities. 

If you are one those having a lot of sympathy for the sick and old, if you feel an inner urge to relief the ailing people from their diseases then it is better for you to chose the field of medicine. This field is very vast in itself. It comprises of various kinds of specialists and technicians. You can opt for being a surgeon or a medicine specialist. You may even prefer being an ultrasound expert technician. This field will allow you to do some good work for the mankind. You will get a lot of opportunity to serve people and cure them from illness. By being an expert in diagnosis you will prevent the spread of several infectious diseases by detecting them early and within time. You may even develop better cures and treatments by proper research. Thus you have a lot of options to choose from.

Source :  http://www.recruitment4u.in