Latest Careers Articles

3D Capabilities Profile

Fri, 27 Aug 2010 05:08:13 -0600

3D Capabilities Profile is a structured framework for comprehensively capturing or profiling one’s capabilities. Using this, we can profile our capabilities, assessment of which is the first step towards career development. Similarly, employers or organizations would be able to use the framework to profile the capabilities of its employees to focus its development effort.

The highlights of the 3D Capabilities Profile:

1. Comprehensiveness: It is applicable to individuals in any function or industry and covers all areas one’s talent, professional and otherwise.

2. Structured: It takes one from a macro to a micro level in a step-by-step manner.

3. Universal: It is applicable to individuals across geographies and levels in organizations.

The profiling involves two dimensions:

1. The capabilities we possess and

2. The proficiency in the capabilities

(Batting maybe one’s capability; the related aspect or proficiency would mean how well one bats.)

Our 3D Capabilities profile would therefore cover both these aspects i.e. profile the capabilities or skills we possess and the proficiency levels in these skills or capabilities.

Career development or employee development would mean either/and:

1. Acquiring new capabilities or skills

2. Improving our proficiency levels in the capabilities or skills

Structure for capturing capabilities

1. Function

Example: HR, Arts, Software Development, Accounts and Sales etc.

2. Industry

Example: Financial Services, Software, Automotive, Oil & Gas etc.

3. Roles

Five broad clusters of roles that anchor around one key element or core competence. A position in an organization maybe a combination of these five roles in varied degrees. From each of these roles, different kinds of deliverables are expected.

Example:

• Operations

• Manual or low skills individual contributor

• Knowledge-centric or high skills individual contributor

• People influencer

• Business manager

4. Functional specialization

Areas within the function—specializations that the function provides. A simple way to understand specialization is to take the case of doctors. We have doctors specializing in different areas of medicine, such as orthopaedics, dentistry, surgery etc.

Example:

Software – Applications development, Mainframe, Testing etc.

HR – Recruitment, Compensation & Benefits, Training & Development etc.

5. Functional skills

Example:

Programming languages – C, C++, Java, etc.

HRIS – SAP, Peoplesoft,

Finance & Accounts – Financial Accounting, Laws such as Companies Act, Auditing etc.

6. Behavioral/Soft skills Typically enables performance in one’s role

Example: Communication, Delegation, Team management, Interpersonal skills etc.

7. Business/Managerial skills Typically enables performance in one’s role

Example: Operations management, Marketing, Information Systems, Organizational change etc.

8. Avocational skills (Hobbies and interests) Our interest areas, not necessarily related to our profession

Example: Yoga, Languages, Sports, Music etc.

3D Capabilities Profiler is a menu-driven tool that helps us capture our capabilities and skills. It is pre-loaded with skills in different functions and specializations, and so helps us identify the skills or capabilities we have with little effort.

We need to understand what roles mean in detail. We will discuss that later in this document.

Proficiencies

Proficiency is defined as the ability to handle a certain level of complexity.

Complexity, in turn, depends on:

1. The amount of information to be processed

2. Number of variables

3. Interdependency of variables

4. Prior information available

The complexity can be viewed for each of the roles, for example

• Number of people to be managed

• Area covered under a salesman

• Number of products or service lines

• Intricacy of a subject matter

• Tolerance of error

• Mix of technologies to be applied

• How dynamically the technology or subject is changing

We define proficiencies at three levels (Level 1, Level 2 and Level 3)

A simple way to understand the different levels would be to know the flair in the subject area, complexity of problems that we can solve, ability to create things with the subject or skill.

When we say that I am able to converse with some difficulty in a particular language, I am at Level 1. In Level 2 of proficiency, I am able to converse with ease making little or no mistakes. In Level 3, I am able to converse in imaginative ways.

In the case of roles, we can look at Levels of proficiency differently. One would typically move up proficiency levels with practice and experience at some complexity level. After we reach a high proficiency level of a certain complexity level, we move on to a low proficiency level of the next complexity level.

The aim is, therefore, to move up the proficiency as well as the order of complexity.

From a role perspective, the proficiency levels have to indicate the complexity level.

For example, suppose a salesperson has reached a proficiency level of three (high) in his current role, which is managing his territory. Then he needs to be assigned to a higher level of complexity (say, given the responsibility of the sales of a region), where he may actually move to level 1 proficiency.

Roles

Roles essentially mean how we deliver value in creating a product or service—how we use our capabilities and aptitude.

Functional specializations are the focus or a unique cluster of knowledge and skills, within a particular frame.

People generally perform five roles regardless of whether they work for organizations or independently. These five roles are universal and are good indicators of how we align our aptitude to how we create value.

Let us look at these five roles:

1. Operations

2. Manual or low skills individual contributor

3. Knowledge-centric or high skills individual contributor

4. People influencer

5. Business manager

Operations:

1. Involves coordination with different functions, including those outside our function (A production manager, for example, needs to coordinate with finance, purchase, R&D and HR)

2. Involves following a regimen, process, series of activities (Examples: a production cycle, sales process, customer support process)

3. Involves managing people, allocating tasks, ensuring productivity

4. Involves negotiating for resources—time, material, money

5. Involves troubleshooting in the process and making improvements (Example: plant breakdown, sudden change in frequency, leakages in the pipeline, increase in defects)

Individual Doer:

1. Involves the complete work of an individual or (only an individual’s efforts (Examples: carpentry, programming, fitting, drawing)

2. Involves applying skills in analyzing problems and identifying solutions or creating something

3. Involves taking instructions from others and following the instructions

4. May involve dealing with the end user directly, understanding their requirements, and meeting them

Knowledge provider:

1. Involves good understanding of a particular subject or knowledge area

2. Involves expert or specialist problem-solving using our knowledge and advising (Examples: an Tax counsellor analyzing my income, applying tax regulations, and advising me on the tax savings; an Urban Transportation specialist guiding city planners on designing the right kind of transportation system for the city)

3. Involves advocacy – giving advice and guidance (an insurance domain expert advises the insurance application development team, a marriage counselor counsels a couple)

4. Involves taking decisions independently and owning those decisions

5. May involve dealing with the end user directly (in the case of a Doctor it does; in the case of a Urban Transportation specialist, it does not)

Influencing others:

1. Involves selling products or services or ideas to others (Example: soaps, healthcare plan, insurance policies)

2. Involves understanding the behaviour of people (could be based on age, geography, culture, earnings, education and so on)

3. Involves expanding network and connecting with people

4. Involves negotiations (could be prices, product or service options, trade-offs)

5. Involves comfort in managing or working with emotions of people (some refuse to take up managerial positions saying that they are not comfortable in dealing with other people’s emotions)

Business management:

1. Involves managing a business unit, responsible for its financial performance (Examples: revenue, P&L, growth rates)

2. Involves taking risks on investments (Examples: make or buy, should we invest now or later, should we set up a new office in a different city or not)

3. Involves bringing people of different functions together to create value

4. Involves spotting and building on opportunities for business enhancement

Proficiencies for the five roles

Proficiency is our ability to handle a certain level of complexity. The measure of complexity varies for different roles. Lets us look at some of the examples of the indicators of complexity or measures we use for proficiency in each of the five roles.

Operations:

1. Size of the operations (number of people managed, size of the budget, spread of operations)

2. Sensitivity of the operations (tolerance for error, speed at which decisions have to be taken, the impact of decisions)

3. Criticality of the operations (financial value, strategic value, life cycle of the operations)

Low skill individual contributor:

1. Nature of skills (availability of the skill, competition)

2. Working conditions (where the skills need to be deployed and when)

3. Contextual variety (different contexts in which the knowledge is deployed)

High skills individual contributor:

1. Knowledge area (level of specialization, exclusivity, pace of changes within the knowledge area)

2. Contextual variety (different contexts in which the knowledge is deployed)

Influencing:

1. Nature of product or services (niche market segment or product/service/idea, competition, people’s awareness about it)

2. Diversity of the audience (demography, culture, geography)

3. Value of the product or service or idea (criticality, sensitivity, financial or non-financial value)

Business management

1. Financial value or the Net worth of business (size, growth, number of people, spread)

2. Nature of product or services (competition, market opportunities, process, and technology)

3. Organization complexity (demography of people in the organization, functions, skills, geography)

What Should Students Do to Apply for a Research Grant?

Fri, 27 Aug 2010 03:35:57 -0600

A lot of students who are interested in a scientific research have an opportunity to apply for a grant in a scientific research.

What can give you the best chance of getting such grant?

1.First of all, one should know that before applying for a grant, he/she should find the granting agency, which will be appropriate for you.

2.You should better search for this information on the Internet as it is the best source. Some databases have links to these organizations.

3.As a matter of fact, you should use any opportunity to find out as much as possible about the granting organizations from journals, newsletters or even from teachers and friends. The more you know, the better you are equipped.

4.It is very important to know that you cat meet the deadline for the grant and all eligibility criteria. You should write your proposal in the format stipulated by your chosen organization, so, you should find out all the details in advance.

5.Today you can fill out the application online.

6.Every application includes the following parts: Objectives, Background and rationale, Experimental design and methods, Critical appraisal and limitations of the proposed research.

7.In the “Objectives” you should include your plans and objectives for the grant period.

8.In the “Background and problem”, you should introduce the problem related to your research. You should outline what is already known about this problem and what gaps you think might be considered.

9.Remember, the last paragraph is the most important in this section. You should define your goals and what you will achieve if the research will be successful.

10.In the section “Experiments design and methods” you should clearly describe what you are going to do to achieve your objectives.

Something Important You Should Know about the MBA Degree.

Thu, 26 Aug 2010 12:40:21 -0600

Master of Business Administration (MBA) is a postgraduate degree for students who want to obtain the degree in business administration. It is a very demanding, and the most prestigious course. Students master all up-to-date principles of management that can be applied to any business situation. As a matter of fact, all prestigious business companies require this degree from the applicants as it is a guarantee of profound knowledge and high proficiency.

So, the most frequently asked question is whether to do an MBA or not.

1.First of all, you should know that applying for the degree in MBA is possible only when you have a work experience in this area. You should gain at least four years of work experience.

2.Actually, lots of universities and business schools around the world offer this degree, however, you will still face a stiff competition.

3.There are many types of MBA degree. The most common are: Accounting, Business Management, E-Business/E-Commerce, Economics, Entrepreneurship, Finance, Global Management, Human Resources Management, Information Systems, Marketing, Operations Management and some others.

4.The master of business administration is considered to be one of the most prestigious degrees. If you posses it, it means that your will have better opportunities to get a good job and to achieve a career success. Most of employers highly appreciate specialist with MBA degree and distinguish them among other candidates.

5.Actually, this degree is valuable for any career. It will help you with your career growth.

6.However, you should remember that getting a postgraduate degree in MBA is rather expensive. Sometimes it can be four or five times as the average year salary.

7.And the last thing, there are many different types of programs, the MBA degree is also available online nowadays.

What Are The Responsibilities of Members of the Union?

Thu, 26 Aug 2010 11:56:12 -0600

Student union is the kind of organization that is run by students and aimed at representing and protecting students’ rights. It is also responsible for the recreational activity of all students and for the improving of their social and academic life.

Membership in the student union is a very responsible task. One should have a strong motivation and a great desire to be an active member of the student union. As a matter of fact, the demands that a candidate for the membership should meet, are very strict.

1.The candidate should be responsible and organized.

2.He/she should be highly motivated to carry out different responsibilities related to the organizational activity of the union.

3.Moreover, he/she should have high grades in all disciplines in order to be a good example for other students.

4.The candidate should have a creative thinking in order to be ready to find different approaches to the problem.

5.And one more thing, if you become a member of the union, you should think about interests of all students but not about one’s benefit.

Every member of the student union has definite duties and responsibilities.

Let us consider those responsibilities:

1.Every member should be ready to provide every student with his/her help and assistance. Any student may ask for any kind of assistance and members of the union should find the way to solve the problem.

2.Every member is a part of a single body, consequently, every member of the union represents the whole student body.

3.First of all, every member should think about improving students’ social and academic life.

4.Members of the union are in charge of the recreational activities for students.

So, if you want to be a member of the student union, you should be ready to take an active part in all its activities.

What Should You Know about Student Union of Your University?

Thu, 26 Aug 2010 11:43:54 -0600

It goes without saying that every student would like to be a member of a student union of his/her university. Well, as a rule, the reason of this desire is a personal benefit. However, some students really want to make their valuable contribution to the improvement of the student life at the university.

At any rate, before becoming a member of the union, one should find out about it as much as possible.

Here are some general positive and negative sides of every student union.

Let us start with positive sides.

1.A student union is an official organization that represents students’ self government at the university.

2.The aim of every student union is to represent and protect rights and freedoms of every student.

3.The members of the student union fight against any kind of discrimination among students, including racial, social and gender discrimination.

4.This organization is responsible for the organization of recreational activities for student and for the involving of every student in the social life of the university.

5.Another important task of this organization is to maintain interrelations with students from other universities and colleges of their native country as well as with student unions from other countries.

Apart from positive sides there are some negative sides that should be considered.

The negative sides of the student union:

1.Some student union may protect rights and freedoms of all students and, at the same time, ignore rights of one student.

2.Moreover, there are student unions that care about the image of the organization rather than about students’ life.

3.The members of the student union may be involved in the illegal activities, such as drug consuming, occultism or sexual discrimination.

So, one should think twice before becoming a member of the student union.

IT Recruitment Agencies Sydney, IT Recruitment Agency Sydney From Nspire Recruitment

Thu, 26 Aug 2010 01:24:15 -0600

Nspire Recruitment is an IT recruitment agency specializing in IT recruitment solutions. They are an industry catalyst by way of empowering their clients with choices which will save time and money. Nspire IT Recruitment agencies act as a trusted executor for their clients to unlock the value in their business through way of making the right recruitment decisions. Their IT recruitment Agencies in Melbourne focus on accurately capturing their clients and candidates requirements, thus ensuring that they get it right the first time.

Nspire Recruitment was established through a passion for delivering exceptional service and best value outcome results. With 7.9% fee of service for permanent recruitment, they pride themselves in offering their clients impeccable quality of service and speed to market. With lower operational costs, they can pass on the cost savings to their clients whilst not impacting on their quality service. IT Recruitment Agencies Melbourne is successful through way of personalizing their service with customers and candidates. At Nspire Recruitment they partner with their clients to achieve the best business outcomes by understanding their needs and providing tailored recruitment solutions. They think outside the box and offer their clients innovative solutions. Their testimonials are evident of Nspire Recruitment’s commitment to consultative quality recruitment services. They cover a wide range of areas including Canberra, Melbourne and Sydney. Nspire Recruitment IT Recruitment Agencies Sydney has been a great resource for all companies not only assisting them to find great candidates but passing on relevant industry information and insights. They are having experience in identifying and recruiting IT specialists for clients. The ongoing task of trying to find Recruitment Agencies to fill your role can be difficult and time consuming. Nspire Recruitment is a revolutionary way of working with the right recruitment agency. No more uncertainty with fees, no more worrying about whether the agency specializes in the area you need and no more hassle shopping around the different agencies. With extensive experience within the recruitment sector, IT Recruitment Agency Sydney understands the needs of companies. The steps for filling out their job openings are that you need to submit the job specification and they will contact the relevant recruitment agency for you in the nearby area, there is no haggling on placement fees as you decide what fee you would like to pay and they automatically email the relevant recruitment agency without your contact details and then you have to agree to the terms to give your contact details.

Important Things You Should Know About a Scientific Career.

Tue, 24 Aug 2010 01:04:59 -0600

Studying in college or university almost all students already know what they are going to do after graduation. Some of them want to find a job ant to make a career, some students want to start their own business and some students want to continue their postgraduate studies. Actually, there are two ways of the postgraduate studies. The first one is to get a postgraduate degree and the second one is to make a scientific career. As a matter of fact, not many students want to choose a second variant. One should be sure that he/she is ready for a scientific research and that he/she posses necessary skills and abilities.

Let us consider the peculiarities of the scientific career.

1.First of all, it is always new discoveries and persistent work.

2.A scientific career presupposes a new research in the field of science you are interested in. This research should be related to your profession in order to make a big time in it.

3.In addition, your research presupposes different experiments that not always end up with success. So, be ready to find new solutions to the problem. Moreover, it is a very time consuming work, it can take several months and even years.

4.Remember, scientific career is more about science rather than money, so, you must be passionate with your line of work. Student must be ready to devote all his/her time to his/her research and to work harder than ever to achieve a significant result.

5.Scientific career presupposes a constant self-development. You should be aware of all new things in your line of work, get prepared to enhance your knowledge almost every day.

6.Finally, it is important to know what you want and the way to achieve it. If you feel that you are ready for developing a scientific career and you are interested in a new research, than go ahead.

Important Things You Should Know About a Scientific Career.

Tue, 24 Aug 2010 01:03:19 -0600

Let us consider the peculiarities of the scientific career.

1.First of all, it is always new discoveries and persistent work.

2.A scientific career presupposes a new research in the field of science you are interested in. This research should be related to your profession in order to make a big time in it.

5.Scientific career presupposes a constant self-development. You should be aware of all new things in your line of work, get prepared to enhance your knowledge almost every day.

6.Finally, it is important to know what you want and the way to achieve it. If you feel that you are ready for developing a scientific career and you are interested in a new research, than go ahead.

Career and Self-Development Are Two Interrelated Things.

Tue, 24 Aug 2010 00:10:53 -0600

Most of people are firmly sure that career success depends on the self-development and vice versa. Actually, they are quite right. You should not bother about your career if you do not want to work hard and to develop your skills and abilities. Consequently, it is very important to define your purpose and the way to achieve it.

So, let us define the way that will include some steps for the fulfillment of your career plans.

1.First of all, you should be firmly sure that you are ready for the constant self-development.

2.Then, you should clearly comprehend what your plans are and what plays a crucial role for your self-development.

3.Take into consideration all your skills and abilities. Define what your weak points are and what skills you should improve and which ones you need to acquire.

4.It is very important to work out a plan. It can be a long-term plan, a short-term plan or an every-day plan.

5.An every-day plan is the most difficult to fulfill, however, it is the most important. It is a starting point for your future career growth. Only an everyday work can guarantee your future success.

6.There are some unpredictable situations that can prevent your plans. In such case you should have a plan B. Thus, you will be ready to meet difficulties and to fulfill everything that you planned.

7.Career and self-development take much of your time and efforts. That is why your time management skills can help you with organizing your personal time. Moreover, you should evaluate your abilities and to get ready for hard work in order to accomplish all your plans.

8.And finally, your self-belief and positive outlook on life are crucial things that will provide you with the additional help. People say, you will get that what you want, so thing only positively and you will definitely get positive results.

How to Achieve All Your Personal Goals? Several Useful Tips.

Mon, 23 Aug 2010 23:14:35 -0600

Every person has different career plans and different purposes. Some people want to earn money, some people want to move up the career ladder and some people want to have a strong and happy family. In general, each of us has his/her own life goals. At the same time, each of as wants to continue his/her self development. As a matter of fact, some people say that self-development does not depend on your career. Actually, your career may be a result of your self-development. Moreover, those options are important for achieving your personal goals.

Let us consider several useful tips for achieving your goals.

1.The first thing you should remember is that your self-development is a starting point for choosing a career and achieving goals.

2.Consequently, it is very important to understand what you want and what a sphere of your future work as well as what you want to achieve. So, it is very important to find a right way to improve your abilities and to enlarge your knowledge.

3.Well, after defining the sphere of your activity and personal goals, you should evaluate your abilities and skills. After that, you may think over abilities and skills that you should develop for achieving your plans.

4.It is very useful to mark out the terms for the achieving of your purpose. Define long-term and short-term purposes. Make a plan, define some steps and try to follow these steps every day.

5.It goes without saying that it is quite difficult to carry out all the options of your plan in time and properly as there is always something that prevents you.

6.In order to prevent the unexpected events and situations which can influence your career planning one should work out a fallback plan that can help you to overcome all unpredictable situations.