Jobs in Pakistan, Jobs in Middle East

According to a fresh study the number one cause hiring managers send away candidates is: poor communication skills.

It would be sensible to grind up presentation skills if you hope to land that dream job. A fresh study by ‘The Society of Human Resource Management’ has established recruiters are not delighted with applicants with bad vocabulary and an incoherent manner of expressing themselves. Applicants would even fare better if they showed up late to the interview. So how do you make yourself a great speaker in the minds of your listener? Preparation!

Here are 15 factors you should focus on when preparing. Preparation is not only getting your resume and certificates in a file. No, there is more! There are other factors you should consider when preparing:

1. Prepare for tough questions before the interview.
2. Use specific, 60-second answers.
3. Check out the company’s website.
4. Speak to people who work there.
5. Make sure you know who you are going to meet with.
6. Don’t only focus on information.
7. Think about how you are presenting.
8. Body language says a lot about your level of interest in the conversation.
9. Pay attention to eye contact, voice inflection and posture.
10. And try not to tap your pencil on the desk or check your watch.
11. Avoid misunderstanding by using examples.
12. Use examples of what you have done in other job settings.
13. Explain how you cut costs or improved productivity.
14. Dress for the occasion.
15. Make sure your clothes are ironed, your hair is brushed and your tie is straight.

Your immediate boss or the person to whom you have to directly answer for your responsibilities or the in charge of your section — whatever you call him / her — may become a problem sometimes! It is often noticed at workplace that the senior colleague of yours to whom you have to directly answer becomes a nuisance for many reasons. He /she might be insecure because he / she may have realised your potential and might consider you a ‘threat’. In this situation he /she may start finding out ‘ways’ to trouble you in order to ruin your job image in front of the manager or the boss of the entire organisation usually called as ‘General Manager (GM)’, CEO, Director, etc. If your boss starts irritating you for reasons such as asking you to sit late, reach office earlier than your usual time, keeping an eye on each and every activity of yours such as what you are doing on your computer, which websites you are surfing, to whom you have been meeting in office, etc. These are the signs of being insecure and if your immediate boss is doing any such thing, you definitely are in trouble and need to look for ways to avoid these problems.

First and foremost way is to not give him /her any opportunity to point finger at you. Be punctual, remain disciplined, perform all your tasks on time, don’t do unnecessary phone calls (in front of him / her), avoid being too social in the office and try to remain focussed on your work only. (Avoid long chats with colleagues, avoid gossiping and other such stuff).

If you have other colleagues who are working at your level (under your immediate boss), beware of them as they might be working as ‘spies’ for your immediate boss! Avoid badmouthing about anyone especially your ‘immediate boss’ in front of your colleagues as they might leak out your opinions about him /her, which will be harmful for you.

Remain in touch with the Director or CEO of the organisation. Your better relations with the authority figures will compel your immediate boss to avoid conflicts with you and he / she will not misuse you for any reason.

If all this is not working for you and your immediate boss has really become a nuisance for you who does not let you sit relaxed even at your home and keeps you troubling by ordering official work through phone calls and emails; who scolds you and insults you in front of the other staff then it is the time to take action. Talk to your manager! Inform him / her about your sufferings. He /she may either move ‘you’ to any other section or change your ‘immediate boss’!

Good luck!

You must have expertise of using MS Office, Photoshop, and other important software because you can’t work in an office without having the skills in the said software packages. But in addition to these, there are other skills too that are often underrated but are far more important than having a know-how of using software and these skills contribute a lot towards strengthening your position at the job place.

Be friendly

Subtracting Saturdays and Sundays, we have to spend 40 hours every week in the office and of course who would want to spend a major part of his day with a difficult colleague! An easygoing, helpful and co-operative colleague is the one who is always in demand and is appreciated and respected by everyone. Being friendly does not only mean that you remain polite only with your co-workers but giving respect to the cleaning staff, peons, waiters and office boys is equally important.

Be a good writer

This is the era where everyone is communicating via email and text messaging and remains in touch through networking websites where nothing but your writing skills count when you write on your friends’ walls, comment on their photos, etc — you won’t be able to make a right impression if you are not good at writing. So having expertise in writing is very very necessary these days to build your reputation and enhance your career prospects.

Diplomacy is the key

You find many different types of colleagues at workplace — majority of them are unlike your expectations and you find it hard to cope with them. Here comes the role of ‘diplomacy’ when you can put to use your flexibility and politeness and come with rather rational solutions of difficult problems without creating mess. In addition to being polite, it is also important to remember your limits while being friendly and if someone is not interested in sharing his/her personal matters with you, showing reluctance and minding your own business would help you a lot.

Talk to the point

In this fast paced era, you need to learn the skills of talking to the point and getting right info in lesser possible time. So learn to ask exactly what you want to know, avoid being vague and unnecessarily prolonging your talk time (both face-to-face and on phone) — and while writing emails too, (here comes the test of your writing skills)! An email or a written form of communication too, is required to be direct, to the point, concise yet polite.

Do you have close friends at your job place? Beware! Making friends (close friends) at workplace is not recommended by career experts as it may prove to be risky!

A close friend is supposed to share your secrets that should not be made public but if you have told your thoughts and plans to a close buddy at your office, it can be dangerous — what if he/she turns against you in the time to come, then he/she (if not a decent person) may take advantage of knowing your weak points and may harm you in such a way that affects your job. Therefore, be very much careful while making friends at workplace. It is ok to be social, talk and meet everyone but having one or two very close buddies who share your secrets, go out with you, know about your family and its affairs and also visit your home very frequently can be risky so think about it!

The best approach is to have a circle of colleagues in the office but maintain a reasonable distance with them such that neither you feel isolated nor you become so much attached with them that if in future you may wish to detach from them, it becomes difficult!

The issue is rather more serious for women as they may share more secrets with each other, which eventually may turn out to be dangerous for them. Girl colleagues often seem sharing with each other the secrets of their personal relationships, domestic affairs and money matters too. This is not only an unprofessional attitude but highly risky for your reputation as well. Your female colleague knowing all about your secrets may misuse you in the time to come if differences arise between two of you. She may disclose your personal matters in front of other colleagues which will become a cause of embarrassment for you! Besides, it is also harmful for your job as your seniors and boss may start judging your character and it might influence their decision at the time of giving promotion or an increment in the salary.

It is a fact that every human being needs someone with whom he/she can share his/her problems, with whom he/she can feel safe and secure, to whom he/she can call a true and sincere friend. But seeking such kind of friendship is risky when it comes to your profession. Therefore, be very very careful in making friends at your job place and always remember that being alone is better than being trapped in a wrong relationship.

Creating a good impression on employer is as necessary as being skilful in your job. No matter how excellent your academic record is, no matter how valuable your experience is, if you don’t pay attention to little things discussed below, you can make a terrible impression on your employer and consequently losing the opportunity.

Don’t do homework on the company

An employer is not interested in you if you are not interested in his company. Therefore, before meeting the employer, do reasonable research on his company — go through its website, search the internet to get any available information about the company, case studies, report, press releases, etc. When you will discuss these things during your interview, it will create a good impression on the employer that you are interested in his organisation and have done your homework efficiently.

Keep cell phone switched on during interview

If your cell phone is constantly ringing while you are talking to your employer, it will annoy him and think of you as a non-serious and unprofessional person. Therefore, keep your cell phone either switched off or on ‘silent mode’ (not even on vibration mode), so that there doesn’t happen anything that distracts you or your employer during interview.

Don’t burden the HR manager with too many emails

While you are sending your CV to any company, don’t send your resume in bulk from many job posting websites and also don’t cc to everyone in the company. Send your resume once and only to the concerned person i.e. Human Resource Manager or whoever is handling the hiring matters.

Follow through text messing

The employer will never tolerate an unprofessional behaviour — follow through text message is one example of the unprofessional attitude. If you have given an interview; and you want to keep track of what is going on at employer’s end then wait for about two weeks then give him a call but never send a text message, which shows a casual and careless attitude towards work.

Undue giddiness

A little sense of humour along with right facial expressions count a lot during a job interview but unnecessary excitement as well as laughing loudly only add to your bad impression on the employer. Therefore, remain composed and decent while expressing your funny side in a reasonable way.

Gift-giving is a Sunnah practice and all of us should give presents to our friends and family members in order to express our love and respect towards them. However, giving gifts at job place to our colleagues and boss is a little trickier task and we need to be extra cautious while doing so as a small act of carelessness can ruin our image and put us in trouble.

Here are a few dos and don’ts about gift-giving at your workplace:

Don’t get personal with a formal boss

If your boss (male or female) remains reserved and doesn’t get mixed-up with you, be extra cautious in giving him/her any gift. Try not to get personal while choosing a gift for an introvert boss — it might offend him/her. Be formal in selecting a gift for such bosses such as coffee mug, pen, calendar, wall clock or a diary.

On the other hand, if you share a friendly relationship with your boss, you can be a little informal while choosing a gift but don’t be ‘too informal’ as a boss is a boss after all and you must keep a distance between you and him/her for a healthy office environment. To friendly and sociable bosses, you can choose to give a bouquet of flowers (roses are a strictly no!), any special plant, gift card, candy box or beautiful candles.

Remain within your budget

Choose what you can easily afford — don’t be extravagant in order to impress your colleagues or boss. It’s not the price of gift; it is the spirit and affection behind the gift — that matters! So you can show your appreciation towards your colleagues or boss simply by presenting them an inexpensive gift with nice compliments.

Choose after hours to give the gift

Don’t give your present to colleagues or boss in front of all — it may create a bang at the job place, which is not healthy and it might offend the gift receiver as well. Choose the time when the person to receive the gift is alone in his/her office — lunch hour or after hours — any time when there is not a crowd around the person to whom you want to present the gift.

Don’t give cash

Never give cash as a gift to your colleagues or boss — no matter how friendly relationship you share! Choose any formal or informal gift depending upon your relationship level but ‘cash’ as a gift item is simply a no, no! However, gift certificates, shopping coupons, meal deals and club membership cards — as far as you can afford — are okay as gifts.

Choosing the right gift, for the right occasion and presenting it in the right manner can help you improving your relationship with your boss and colleagues, which will ultimately make for you, your office, a comfortable place to work.