Teens and Students need inspiration to acquire new mindset

It is not enough for parents to empathize with their children about the difficulties and challenges of growing and learning. What is required instead is to inspire the child to practice and adopt new habits. How do you do that? By fostering a sense of direction, encouraging a child to always live with a positive mental attitude, encouraging initiative, creating a pleasant environment and security. These habits if introduced to the child early in their lives will create new mindsets, positive attitude and become inherent in a child for the rest of his/her life. The child will grow having confidence and positive self-image and excel in life. It is this attitude that needs to be transmitted by both parents and educators, that will eventually build a well-grounded young adult.

The importance of career guidance in school and the need to work on the mindset of children cannot be emphasized enough. No one does this well than Edward James Olmos from the movie Stand and Deliver. This 1988 film dramatizes the work of Jaime Escalante, a dedicated mathematics teacher who leaves his steady job to join Garfield High School in Los Angeles County in California, determined to change the system and challenge the students to a higher level of achievement.

Garfield High School was a rowdy school where very little teaching and learning took place, where violence by both pupils and school officials was the order of the day. While Escalante teaches math’s 1A (basic arithmetic), he realizes that his pupils can progress, so he decides to teach them calculus. Escalante develops a programme in which his pupils can rise to take AP (advanced placement) calculus by their senior year. The challenge is that Escalante does his work in an environment where pupils are faced with poverty, high crime, drug abuse and teenage pregnancy.

With Escalante to help them, the young people soon find courage to distance themselves from society’s expectations of failure cast upon them.

Teaching and bringing up a child requires a three prong effort – A tripartite involving the parent, educator and child. The need to wake up to a purpose and to achieve a goal is fundamental to a growing child. It needs to be emphasized however, that where a child is not receptive to this tripartite, the tripartite will fail. The child’s unreadiness, and unwillingness to accept or listen to advice and guidance can jeopardize this relationship and the child will be the one who suffer the most. It is therefore important that continuous inspiration from the parent, guidance from the educator and willingness to learn from the child should always be present. It is only when all three parties understand this, and makes an effort to work at this relationship will the mindset and attitudes of teens change and the excellence expected of them, will prevail.

Justice Mandhla is the author of What they did not teach you in school: Life Long Learning Tips to land a job straight out of school and he spends a great deal of his full-time writing days researching and writing about job search strategies.

See more at: http://www.mystudent4life.com

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Use your transferable skills to get a job you want

The biggest problem some people have is that they do not have any experience. Whether they are a fresh graduate, or a mother hoping to work for the first time in order to add to the household income, there are a number of reasons why some people's resume might run into a blank. But just because you have not done any internship or held any jobs, it does not mean that your resume needs to stay empty. You just need to highlight your transferable skills.

What are Transferable Skills?

Transferable skills are skills you have managed to develop in your life. It is not limited to a job, but encompasses a multitude of areas: positions held in organizations, your hobbies, sports, personal interests, class projects, or even responsibilities at home. Any skill that you have acquired from these familiar tasks that can be applied to a position you are interested in is a transferable skill.
How to Recognize Your Transferable Skills
Everyone has a transferable skill. Think about it: we all enjoy doing something; even the blandest person has a hobby. And no matter how hard we escape it, nearly everyone has chores. By recognizing the roles we have done and breaking them down, we can easily identify which skills we have become “experts” in and how they can translate into personal strengths.
Try looking back to the past four years and inventory your life. To make things easier, divide it into four different sections: academics, extra-curricular activities, personal hobbies and interests, and what you are responsible for at home. List down the different activities that fall under it, why you are good at it, or why you enjoy doing it. Also take note of the success, or goals that you might have for a particular activity.
You skills may sound boring, but they are the backbone for qualities that nearly all jobs look for: organization and analytical skills.
All jobs involve some form of problem solving. Whether you are delivering packages for FedEx or managing a sales team, there will be several instances where your analytical skills will be called upon to produce a viable solution. A physics problem, which combines Mathematics and Logic, requires a great deal of analysis in order to solve. So a background in physics, even if it is just from a high school organization, can increase the value of your resume and boost your employability.
Having good organization skills is also a key ingredient in your resume. Nearly all jobs, starting from an entry level receptionist to a busy CEO, require you organize several items at once. Multi-tasking is not an easy task, but is something that we successfully deal with everyday. Maintaining your weekly budget and juggling school, for example, is quite a challenge. You can try emphasizing your organizational skills by highlighting your success in assisting your mother with the weekly shopping, while at the same time, assisting a busy community club president.
By listing down your activities, and breaking them down into specific tasks, you can identify key skills that can apply to a specific job. One way of knowing is to compare your skill set to that of the ones required for a job. Most companies list down their specific requirements on a job posting, so simply copy them on one column. On the other, write down all the transferable skills that you listed earlier.
If a skill you listed matches a specific job requirement, cross it out. After you are done, run through the remaining entries on your list and check if these skills are really not required to enable you to excel in this position. If it still isn't, then leave it out of your resume. Your employers are only interested in skills that will help you perform this job; anything else is just a distraction.
Remember that just because you are a student or a fresh graduate, it doesn't mean that your resume needs to stay empty. While most employers understand that your experience may be limited, it won't convince them to hire you if they do not know what you are capable of. After all, that is what listing your job experience is all about - illustrating that you can do the job. By emphasizing your transferable skills, you not only provided evidence that you can do the work, but that you may even excel in it.

Transferable skills fresh graduates can capitalize on:

• Ability to meet deadlines, thrive under deadline pressure: Nobody knows what running after a deadline is like more than a college student. With papers, projects, and presentations in a number of subjects, an average student faces more deadlines than an average executive, and all of this done in roughly three months.
• Ability to handle multiple tasks: People often forget what a boiler room college was like. Students nowadays have to juggle the demand of taking multiple subjects, having a social life, and in some cases, cramming in a part time job. This is even more than what an average office worker can handle!
• Ability to achieve goals: Students achieve a number of milestones while they are in school: getting straight A's on a particular subject, honor classes, winning athletics, or even graduating in less than four years. Any goals made in those four years are an example of how employers are picking a winner in you.
• Ability to adapt: This is a typical entry level interview question: tell me of a time where you dealt with something difficult in school, and how did you get around it? School, like the workplace, is an environment that is forever changing, and potential employers need to know that you are able to keep up.
• Writing skills: And you thought that the last time you would write a paper would be in school! Jobs that require a lot of writing are more common than most people think, and can be found in virtually every industry. Whether it's writing reports, handbooks, or manuals, there is always some form of paper work to do. So potential employers try and judge your writing skills even from day one and nothing shows that more than a well written resume and cover letter!
• Research skills: This is one area that recent graduates excel in: Research. Not because the skills they picked up researching papers and projects is still fresh on their minds, but they have the advantage of being on the cutting edge of technology. Very few top level executives are as adept with a computer as a student is, so if they want to keep ahead of the times, they need to employ more young people who are already proficient with the Internet and technology.



Transferable Skills: A Closer Look

When it comes to skills, there are areas that recruiters pay more attention to than others, mostly because they are the ones that are required in several positions. These are in the areas of Communication; Research and Planning; Human Relations; Organization, Management and Leadership; and Work Survival.
These five areas represent skills that you can bring into every possible position, and for virtually any field. Having one or two skills from any of these areas will not only annotate the fact that you do not have an extensive professional experience, but will make you a serious contender with people who have.
The key is to recognize these skills, and working them into your resume. A functional resume, will be an ideal type of resume to use in this case, because it pays more attention to your skills than qualifications and experience.
Many things are at stake in a job interview and sometimes it is your responses that can make you win or lose a job. Certainly we do not want to take job interviews lightly. But at the end of the day, it helps to know that a job interview is very simply a conversation.
A job interview is a dialogue between two parties who are trying to figure out if they can work well together. Your employer wants to know if you are the best person for the job, and you’d like to know if they are the organization you’d want to work with. The only way to accomplish this would be to talk.
Think of it this way: what if you had to entrust your most important possession to a stranger? Whatever this possession is, it is something that is very precious to you and you’ve given it the best care possible. A lot of your time and money are also at stake if this possession isn’t properly attended to. In this case, wouldn’t you want to interview the stranger first before giving them your trust? Wouldn’t you like to find out who they are and be assured that you are choosing the right man/ woman for the job?
The same goes with companies. In a way, a company is like an owner’s/ employer’s most prized possession. It cannot be given to any stranger unless one is sure that the stranger is competent and can be trusted.
Thus the goal of a job interview is (a) for employers to get to know you better and (b) see if you are the best person for the job. Your goal in response is to show off your strengths in the most genuine and honest way--- not to put on a show. You want to help the company understand why you are their best option.
Thinking of a job interview as a conversation can help remove that ‘interrogation’ feel and make you see your interviewer as less of a monster and more like an ordinary person like yourself. Hopefully, this can help you relax more. Besides, the mere fact that the company wishes to interview you is a good sign. It means that they are open to considering you for the position. If they’ve reviewed your resume before inviting you to an interview, then better news! They’ve likely found something in your resume that grabbed their attention.

See more at http://www.mystudent4life.com/

Job Search Preparation

In these tough economic times, many graduates and school leaving students can get bogged down by the pessimism that a profitable and satisfying career can’t be found. Worse, there are those who are even doubtful if they’ll land a job!
A look around delivers more discouraging news. Open the paper or watch the news and you’ll be bombarded with more discouraging information. Companies are laying off employees in record numbers. Many school leaving students struggle to find jobs. Some graduates even choose to migrate overseas in search of greener pastures.
Contrary to popular sentiment, opportunities are everywhere--- you just have to know how to hunt for them. More so, you do not have to content yourself with whatever is out there. You have the power to create your own opportunities.
The aim of this report is to walk you through the key areas of job search process.

The 4 pillars of job hunting are;

1. Self assessment
2. Research
3. Choosing a career
4. Developing a plan

Self assessment

If there is a question that none of your high school teachers can answer, it is this: “Who are you? Knowing one’s self is the first step in any job-hunting experience--- as well as most things in life! It is something that you have to accomplish on your own; no one else can define your identity except for you. The more authentic to your own self you are, the better able you’d be in handling the challenges that comes with joining the work force.

Research

Careers are probably one of the things where people have strong pre-conceived notions: doctors, lawyers, and engineers make a lot of money, and get a lot of respect. Truck drivers don't. So do secretaries, because all they ever do is type and answer the phone. Sound familiar?
All of this can be avoided if you knew what exactly each job entails: that a truck driver, although menial work, offers several opportunities for travel, and even promotion. The secretary positions nowadays do more than type and answer the phone, but perform a lot of the research needed by their supervisors, and giving them an insight to the industry, and a fast track to management. And that doctors, although noble, work in grueling shifts and rarely dictate their own schedule—unless they have graduated to being specialists a few decades later.

Choosing a career

Ask yourself, “Is this something that really interests me?” Based on your earlier research, ask yourself if this is something that you can see yourself doing passionately for the next 3-5 years of your life. If you're already thinking of what to do next even before you submit an application, then maybe this isn't the job for you.
Growing up, we are inundated by these myths surrounding several jobs, most of the time aided by our parents or society. This is why a lot of university students end up taking the wrong course, why people disregard certain jobs as being too easy or too low only to end up being overwhelmed in a job where they're miserable.
The fact is no one can really know the ins and outs of a particular job until they have done the research, which one needs to do before they commit themselves to a career.

Developing a plan

Applying for a job is a lot like managing a big project—it takes a lot of time, research, assessment and most of all, planning.
A Career Plan is a road map that lists your various goals throughout your career. Writing down your goals not only makes things more concrete, but breaking them down into detailed steps will make them a lot more feasible.
The best way to chart a career path is by writing down where do you see yourself in five years, or maybe even ten. While it can be intimidating to write down your plans for the next three to ten years, bear in mind that career planning is an ongoing process. Charting your career also means charting the changes that happen to you. Whether your priorities change, or you feel the need to go faster or slower, having a career plan is meant to keep you focused, not to limit you.

See more at http://www.mystudent4life.com/

How to Help Your Unemployed Child to Find a Job through These Hard Times?

Your child has spent a great deal of time and hard work to get the qualification that she now holds. You as a parent spent thousands of Rands for your child’s education but she is still sitting at home with her qualifications without a job. The economy is not about to change and government promises to create more jobs is not happening. The question to you as a parent is what can you do under these circumstances? Sit back and wait for the economy to improve? Continue to pray and hope for the best? These are not viable options if you take into account that your child may be exposed to a lot of wrong things at home whilst you are at work. You know what I am talking about; drugs, pregnancy and HIV/AIDS are rampant in our country. I do not think any responsible parent would like to see her child exposed to these social ills. What then can you do as parent? There are couple of things you can do to help your child. Among others, keep your child busy whilst you are at work. I don’t mean giving your child home chores, these are fine but the child need to wake up in the morning with a sense of purpose. She needs to know when she wakes up in the morning what she is waking up to do, besides the home chores. Are you sure as a parent whether your child is prepared and ready when she is called for interview tomorrow? Does your child know how to conduct herself in front of the interviewing panel? It’s possible that she may have sent hundreds of resumes to hundreds of companies, but if she is not job ready, she will be waiting for a long time for a call to start on her new job. That call may not even come. Do you know why? If your child is not job ready no matter what qualifications she holds she will not get the job if she is not job ready. How do you assist your child to be job ready? You don’t have to spend thousands of Rands again; after all she does have the qualifications. She even completed extra classes on computer classes. Maybe she may not have the necessary experience. But how is she going to acquire experience if she is not given an opportunity to work and acquire experience, because experience is acquired through being given a job?
I will now answer some of the questions I posed above to help you take a decision that will help your child get that next job fast.
Get your child books, not any books but books that can help her to be job ready and to find a job fast.
The second question I would like to respond to which I think is bothering a lot of parents is the question of experience. How do employers expect our children to have experience if they are fresh graduates and students? What counts are the times she spent volunteering and the skills she had acquired. Let me tell you this, I have been a Human Resource Manager for more than 30 years and I have employed children fresh from school based on the potential of the child and the exposure a child has acquired through internship and volunteering for no pay and demonstrating her leadership skills in those environments. You may be thinking that may be because I am a Human Resource Manager and I practiced some nepotism and hired all my children. Far from it, you see all my children are not employed in my company. I am employed in a government department and none of my children are employed in government. I will confess to this though, I gave them the advantage other children do not have, I gave them all the tools, strategies and methods used by hiring managers – they had an advantage of my skills and insider information regarding hiring and interviews. All these skills are illustrated in clear and easy steps in a book you will find below.
The book in question has been designed and written for all people interested in finding a job fast – whether your child is just beginning to look for a job or she has been looking for some time without success the steps found in this book are the single most important elements to get your child a job in a matter of months. Any of the steps mentioned in the book are indispensable tools which many parents used to help their children to get work more quickly. You see, they realised that sending hundreds of resumes to hundreds of companies did not help.

Today you have the chance to give your child a second chance at finding a job using this knowledge. It is organized and provided in well defined and clearly structured steps. One such book I know of which has prepared my own children is “What They didn’t Teach You in School: Life Long Learning Tips to Land a Job Straight out of School by Justice Mandhla. This book is obtainable from most online bookstores including Kalahari.net and Amazon.com. Parents in and around Johannesburg can obtain the copies of this rare book from the following shops: Hems Bookstore, Ransom enterprises, Park Meadows, Kiosk 6 Opposite Mr Price in East gate Mall their telephone numbers are 072 669 6593/ 084 381 2444 or you can contact Limbada & Company School Books & Stationers, 22 Diagonal Streets Johannesburg at telephone numbers 011 838 6326.
For this book I am offering you as a parent a second chance at seeing your child employed.
You can also contact us at: Life Long Learning, Box 51136, Protea Glen 1818 or Fax us at 086 685 7642 or Email: learninglife@mweb.co.za.
Our website: www.mystudent4life.com


Justice Mandhla is the author of What they did not teach you in school: Life Long Learning Tips to land a job straight out of school and he spends a great deal of his full-time writing days researching and writing about job search strategies.
See more at http://www.mystudent4life.com/

Employer Employee Relationship

Buy my book:What they didn't teach you in school:life long learning tips to land a job straight out of school

Choose employees who know the proper boundaries for employer/employee relationships and make sure they can expect the same from you.
And by the way, if you expect these qualities and this kind of loyalty from your employees, you need to also demonstrate them and be a good example. Again, you will set the tone and environment of your business. If you want to retain your good employees, you’ll need to provide them with a safe and pleasant working environment, offer competitive benefits and wages, offer them potential for personal advancement and/or monetary reward, and show them appreciation, consideration and respect. In other words, give them a reason to stay with your company!
Don’t forget to encourage your employees and help them stay positive. Don’t forget that they are human beings with real feelings and real lives outside of your business. While your business may be one of the most important things in your life, in all fairness, it doesn’t hold the same regard for your employees. They may appreciate and value their job, but your business isn’t their baby and you can’t expect them to make the same sacrifices and spend the same amount of time on it that you do. Don’t make unfair demands of your employees. Be honest with them and don’t cheat them out of what you owe them. Don’t ever develop the attitude that you don’t owe them anything.
Do all that you can do to provide your employees with good benefits, such as health insurance and paid holidays. When you provide these things for your employees, you are showing that you do value them. In return, your employees will provide great customer service and build relationships that result in growth and revenue for your business. They will come to work happy rather than dread another day working in your business.

Justice Mandhla is the author of Boost your Sales and Attract New Customers and he spends a great deal of his full-time writing days researching and writing about marketing and advertising strategies.

See more at http://www.businesslearning4life.com/

What qualities do you look for in a good employee?

You’ll want to find energetic people who have the physical and mental endurance to complete tasks in a timely manner and contribute to each assignment with enthusiasm.

You’ll want hire people who will take initiative. You don’t want to have to babysit employees who have no sense of what needs to be done or how to do it, or who just wait around to be told what to do. People with initiative find out what needs to be done and find a way to get it done.

You’ll want to hire people with a cooperative attitude. The last thing you want to do is struggle with someone who refuses to do things the way you need it done in conjunction with the rest of the team. While there is nothing wrong with creativity and thinking outside the box, lack of cooperation by even one employee can create serious problems in productivity. Cooperation is not only productive, but is infectious and quickly spreads to other employees and eventually even affects customers in a positive way.

Hire people who can be trusted to be dependable or you and your other employees will constantly be compensating for the lack of dependability.

Hire people who take ownership of their employment. These employees have a sincere desire to benefit their company beyond what their job description might demand. These are the employees who take pride in their work and in the business. Employees who desire to grow with the company are more easily retainable than employees who are just there to put in their hours and get their paycheck.

Hire people who are pleasant to be around. No one wants to work with grumpy, negative people. Negative people will affect every employee in your business and also your customers. Every employee will occasionally have a bad day, but for the most part, you should expect your employees to be at least pleasant, if not cheerful, at work.

It goes without saying that you want employees who are trustworthy and honest. Do your duty and carefully screen employees before hiring them. It’s better for you to find out that they are dishonest by talking to their previous employer or by doing a background check on them, than by firsthand experience. Dishonest and untrustworthy employees can be a severe liability to your business. Don’t risk it.

Justice Mandhla is the author of What they did not teach you in school: Life Long Learning Tips to land a job straight out of school and he spends a great deal of his full-time writing days researching and writing about job search strategies.
See more at www.mystudent4life.com

Recognition of Prior Learning

Recognition of prior learning (RPL) is the recognition by some South African Universities of any learning that occurred before the applicant decided to formally register for an academic qualification.
• The RPL programme enables you to gain recognition and credit for what you already know and can do.
• You receive credit for what you have learned from your experience rather than from the experience itself. For instance, if you have worked as an HR Practitioner for ten years, you will have learned a vast number of skills such as, how to facilitate a simple disciplinary hearing, how to manage the everyday Human Resources Administration and how Skills Development and Training is conducted.
• These are the kind of skills that you could receive credit for.
• RPL makes it possible for you to earn credit towards a University academic qualification and thus to receive recognition for skills and knowledge you already possess.
The RPL process uses a variety of tools to help you reflect on, identify, explain and show past learning that you’ve gained through formal and informal study. You may have gained your learning through work, life experience, training, independent study, volunteering, on-the-job training opportunities, travel, community activities, family activities and experiences, hobbies or by any other means.
You may apply for Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) for a specific subject if you can prove you’re already competent regarding the specific subject.
The learning outcomes of a subject are the competencies (skills, knowledge and attitudes) you’ll be expected to have gained by the time you’ve completed that subject. Your task will be to compare the learning that has occurred during your adult life with the learning outcomes of the subject for which you want to apply for credit. You‘ll have to show that you meet the set requirements or learning outcomes of those subjects.
As part of the RPL process, the Skills Development Facilitator will help you to identify your skills and knowledge, and to write them up in a portfolio. The portfolio of evidence will then be sent to the University for Assessment to determine whether your learning will be recognised. The university may subject you to other assessment methods such as challenge examinations, interviews or an RPL assignment.

This website provides quality advice and career-focused lifelong learning principles.
To learn more visit: www.mystudent4life.com