Considering Leaving Your Job ?

We all have bad days at work. But if that bad day is every day, it might be time to consider leaving your job. Some causes of job dissatisfaction are impossible to alter, and in this case employees may well be better off making a fast exit. With job vacancies increasing by around 1% in May 2008, according to the Office of National Statistics, now could be just the time to look for work. However, workplace discontentment may be improved without leaving your job – and in some situations, improving your current job may achieve a better outcome than looking for a new one.

Good work/life balance is currently a key government agenda, and having plenty of time to enjoy your social life and family, according to Cooper, is essential for enjoying your work. If you love what you do, but often feel stressed and overworked, there are steps you can take to improve things before you consider leaving your job.

Employees may also have poor work/life balance if they have no flexibility with their working hours. If you find your work rewarding, but hate the regimented hours and nine-to-five routine, it may be worth talking to your employer about flexible working – which includes condensing hours on certain days, some part-time working and occasionally working from home. Staff who are offered flexible hours claim to enjoy their work more, according to figures from Chiumento, so if you’re not enjoying your job consider whether flexible working would help.

If you don’t have workplace flexibility and you think it’s making you enjoy your job less, how do you go about changing things? Broadly speaking, you’re legally entitled to request flexible working if you’ve had more than 26-weeks continuous employment, aren’t an agency worker and care for a child or relative in some capacity. In this case, you can submit a request in writing (although employers can refuse on a number of very general grounds). If you’re not a primary carer you don’t have any specific legal rights to request flexible working, but that doesn’t mean you can’t ask. After all, making changes for existing staff is often more cost-effective for employers than going through the recruitment process.

Improved work/life balance may help some employees stay put, but what about those who aren’t interested in the work they do? Should they consider leaving their job?

If you’re not interested in the organisation you work for, it could be time to consider leaving your job for something you’re really passionate about. “When you follow your passion life becomes easier,” says Hambleton-Jones. “By this I don’t mean all your problems disappear, but at least you feel as though you’re swimming with the tide rather than against it.”

Feeling Stuck ?? Change Your Career Path

In a competitive job market, it's hard enough for job seekers on a steady career path to get their resumes noticed. If you are pursuing a new direction, it's all that much more difficult to convince hiring managers to take a chance on you.

A common mistake career changers make is to use the same resumes that worked in their previous careers when they're pursuing new ones. Instead, resumes should be reworked to emphasize key qualifications for new objectives. The best way to get started is to research the field you're trying to break into to understand what hiring managers want from their workers. Learn about the skills and other credentials that are important in your new career.

Write out a list of your most desirable, related qualifications; these should form the cornerstone of your resume. Next, select the most appropriate resume format based on the type of career change you are pursuing:

'Combination' Chronological
This one is best for career changers with transferable skills from a previous career.

Many career changers do well with a combination resume format, which is a chronological-style resume that leads with a qualifications summary. The summary emphasizes your most related credentials so hiring managers easily see you are qualified for your new goal. It is important for you to mention your new career objective, so employers don't assume you're staying in your old field. Your work history should focus on the skills, tasks and accomplishments most relevant to your new career.

Functional Resume
If you're pursuing a career that is very different than your former career, a functional resume is a good choice. This style allows you to draw out your related skills and downplay your work history.

Lead your resume with a career goal and qualifications summary, and then create functional categories that highlight your related skills and experience. Your work chronology is a simple listing at the end of the resume (include company name, city, state, job title and dates), with no job description for unrelated positions.

Resume Letter
Another strategy for career changers with minimal related experience is a resume letter, which is a cover letter that substitutes for a resume. A resume letter emphasizes your passion for the industry and any related experience/training, but its narrative format allows you complete control over the information you provide. Keep your letter focused on how your motivation, enthusiasm and passion for your new career would benefit the employer's operation. You will still need to have a more traditional resume format on hand in case it's requested, but the letter will serve as a good introduction and pique the hiring manager's interest in interviewing you.

Ten Tips to Boost Your Interview IQ

by Carole Martin

Even the smartest and most qualified job seekers need to prepare for job interviews. Why, you ask? Interviewing is a learned skill, and there are no second chances to make a great first impression. So study these 10 strategies to enhance your interview IQ.

Practice Good Nonverbal Communication
It's about demonstrating confidence: standing straight, making eye contact and connecting with a good, firm handshake. That first impression can be a great beginning -- or quick ending -- to your interview.

Dress for the Job or Company
Today's casual dress codes do not give you permission to dress as "they" do when you interview. It is important to look professional and well-groomed. Whether you wear a suit or something less formal depends on the company culture and the position you are seeking. If possible, call to find out about the company dress code before the interview.

Listen
From the very beginning of the interview, your interviewer is giving you information, either directly or indirectly. If you are not hearing it, you are missing a major opportunity. Good communication skills include listening and letting the person know you heard what was said. Observe your interviewer, and match that style and pace.

Don't Talk Too Much
Telling the interviewer more than he needs to know could be a fatal mistake. When you have not prepared ahead of time, you may tend to ramble, sometimes talking yourself right out of the job. Prepare for the interview by reading through the job posting, matching your skills with the position's requirements and relating only that information.

Don't Be Too Familiar
The interview is a professional meeting to talk business. This is not about making a new friend. Your level of familiarity should mimic the interviewer's demeanor. It is important to bring energy and enthusiasm to the interview and to ask questions, but do not overstep your place as a candidate looking for a job.

Use Appropriate Language
It's a given that you should use professional language during the interview. Be aware of any inappropriate slang words or references to age, race, religion, politics or sexual orientation -- these topics could send you out the door very quickly.

Don't Be Cocky
Attitude plays a key role in your interview success. There is a fine balance between confidence, professionalism and modesty. Even if you're putting on a performance to demonstrate your ability, overconfidence is as bad, if not worse, as being too reserved.

Take Care to Answer the Questions
When an interviewer asks for an example of a time when you did something, he is seeking a sample of your past behavior. If you fail to relate a specific example, you not only don't answer the question, but you also miss an opportunity to prove your ability and talk about your skills.

Ask Questions
When asked if they have any questions, most candidates answer, "No." Wrong answer. It is extremely important to ask questions to demonstrate an interest in what goes on in the company. Asking questions also gives you the opportunity to find out if this is the right place for you. The best questions come from listening to what is asked during the interview and asking for additional information.

Don't Appear Desperate
When you interview with the "please, please hire me" approach, you appear desperate and less confident. Maintain the three C's during the interview: cool, calm and confident. You know you can do the job; make sure the interviewer believes you can, too.

Easy Methode to Find Notebook Drivers

Many people, especially beginners, struggle in finding drivers for their laptops. In this article, I will illustrate two ways to help you find your laptop drivers quickly, and easily.

The first method we will consider is to visit a company's website, and attempt to find a 'Drivers' or 'downloads' link. If a similar link is not immediately apparent, look for a search box. Most laptop companies have a search box somewhere on the homepage of their website. Type the model number of your laptop into the search box and click search. Typically, you will be sent to an overview of the model you have entered. Look for 'Downloads' or 'Drivers' links. Hopefully, if this link is available, you can follow it to find the necessary drivers for your laptop.

For example, say you have a Dell Latitude D600 laptop, for which you wish to locate updated drivers. The first step is to visit Dell's website. From the first page, click on the 'Drivers and Downloads' section.

After clicking on the 'Drivers and Downloads' link, we choose the required model. In our example, it is Latitude.

Then we enter the model number (D600), followed by selecting our operating system. The Dell website will show a list of available drivers and software updates for your model. Select the driver you wish, and click 'Download'. What if you do not know the website of your laptop's manufacturer? Or, perhaps when visiting the website, you couldn't find the 'Downloads and Drivers' section? A second method for locating laptop drivers would be to visit Google (www.google.com), and entering, "Download (manufacturer) (model name and number) [type] driver" or "[type] driver for (manufacturer) (model name or number)" into the query box, substituting your own manufacturer, model name and number.

For example, if we wished to find the sound card for a Dell Latitude D600 laptop, we could go to Google. We would enter either of the following queries:

-"Download Dell Latitude D600 soundcard Drivers"

-"soundcard driver for Dell Latitude D600"

The driver download page for you laptop should appear near the top of the results returned by Google. Follow the link to the driver page, and proceed to download the drivers you need. These two methods should make it easy to locate the drivers you need for your laptop. Good Luck!

Down With Networking

by Elizabeth Freedman

Networking is probably one of the toughest and most important aspects of the job search..not to mention our careers and overall professional development. Unfortunately, it's also one of the most hated, misunderstood and, consequently, poorly practiced areas of the job search, too, which is probably why many of us dread networking altogether. Still, like it or not, we simply must do it. It's too difficult to land a job, an internship, or a new client today without networking.

However, there is good networking and bad networking. In fact, today you'll read many articles that declare networking passe, out-of-date, or yesterday's news, because networking often seems artificial and unsophisticated by today's more savvy job seekers. This is because of some of the images we all have of networking - where we call up someone we've never met to ask them for an informational interview or for coffee, for instance - seem forced and artificial.

Worse, networking gets a bad rap because people don't respect the time and effort of the person on the other end. Here's one scenario: A student contacts an alumna from his business school and speaks to her about her company, a place where he'd really like to work. The alumna spends 20 minutes of her time over the phone with the student, and tells him that, unfortunately, there are no open positions right now at her firm. The student, dejected, hangs up, and eventually moves on to the next alumnus. In the meantime, he's never sent her so much as a thank you note. That's impolite, and gives all of us networkers a bad rap.

Networking is also uncomfortable because we're approaching people we often don't know very well and asking them for something without necessarily giving something in return. We think, "What could I possibly offer Mr. Manager at Company X? I'm just a poor business school student/unemployed job-seeker/obsessed Britney Spears fan/chocolalic." No matter how lowly on the totem pole you may feel you reside, you always, always have something to offer in exchange. Let's say you're a student from China - consider offering some unique news or information about how business is done in your country. Provide a link to an article of interest. Offer your own analysis of the company's recent acquisition. You're so smart, you'll think of something to provide, and the sooner you start to view networking as a two-way road, the easier it will start to feel.

Starting now, instead of networking, think of relationship-building - and your new goal is to have as many conversations with as many people as possible. That's it. Unlike some networking, which ends once you've gotten what you want from the relationship (i.e., a job), having conversations with as many people as possible will help you build real, genuine relationships. Think about it: If you were working at a company, would you automatically help someone get a job there that you hardly knew?

By building relationships with people, you help them get to know you and your unique qualities, and you get to know them. By understanding them in a better way, you'll learn more about their company, their job, and - who knows - you may also learn that you actually don't want a job with that company, after all.

When you build relationships to last, rather than one-off networking calls or meetings, you'll have a much greater chance of someone actually passing your resume along to the right people and really going to bat for you than you might have otherwise. And, quite frankly, by demonstrating your interest in someone else for the long haul, you also demonstrate that you're a nice person - something that goes a long way in today's world.

Boost your creativity .......

It is refreshing to know and perhaps surprising to many that creativity simply happens of its own accord! One does not necessarily need to attend professional trainings or undergo extensive tutorials on how to become creative: it simply occurs at a certain moment in time, provided it is allowed the right environment to flourish. It is a skill that defies all boundaries related to age, gender, social status, education or experience. Every working individual has the right and the ability to be creative once he/she commits him/herself to develop their individual creative abilities. Setting goals, seeking assistance where needed, maintaining a conducive environment and allotting a certain amount of time daily to develop individual creativity are all good measures to take to nurture this key trait.

Creativity lies in the right hemisphere of the brain along with feelings, emotions and senses, while logic, reason and numbers lie in the left hemisphere (which is the analytic side employees more typically tend to use at the workplace). Employees often seem to overlook the fact that the two hemispheres of the brain can be totally in sync and creativity can be boosted with just a bit of the right kind of stimulation, the kind that can make them superstars at their jobs.

Dr. Robert Sternberg defines creativity as “the process of producing something that is both original and worthwhile” in his book “Creativity: from Potential to Realization (2004)”. Against popular belief, creativity is not restricted to artists, musicians, writers and directors; it actually is a universal and fundamental human “skill” that should be nurtured on a daily basis at both the personal and professional level.

is it possible that mobile phone transparent ?

A group of scientists at Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) has fabricated a working computer chip that is almost completely clear. The new technology, called transparent resistive random access memory (TRRAM), is described in this week's issue of the journal Applied Physics Letters, which is published by the American Institute of Physics.

The new chip is similar in type to an existing technology known as complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) memory -- common commercial chips that provide the data storage for USB flash drives and other devices. Like CMOS devices, the new chip provides "non-volatile" memory, meaning that it stores digital information without losing data when it is powered off. Unlike CMOS devices, however, the new TRRAM chip is almost completely clear.

The Korean team is also developing a TRRAM using flexible materials. Technically, TRRAM device rely upon an existing technology known as resistive random access memory (RRAM), which is already in commercial development for future electronic data storage devices. RRAM is built using metal oxide materials, which are very transparent. What the Korean team did was to build a chip by sandwiching these metal oxide materials between equally transparent electrodes and substrates.

According to the Korean team, TRRAM devices are easy to fabricate and may be commercially available in just 3-4 years. Don't expect them to replace existing CMOS devices, however. Instead, Seo predicts, the new transparent devices will drive electronics in new directions.

LTE Mobile Data Download Speeds reach 60 Mbps demos by LG

LG Electronics has developed the first handset modem chip based on LTE standards - which can theoretically support wireless download speeds of 100Mbps and upload speeds of 50Mbps. LG demonstrated the chip today at its Mobile Communication Technology Research Lab in Anyang, Korea, achieving wireless download speeds of 60 Mbps and upload speeds of 20 Mbps.

The fastest phones currently on the market use HSDPA technology and download at a maximum speed of 7.6 Mbps.

For the past three years, LG have been pursuing 3GPP LTE standardization, working to develop and test commercially viable LTE technology with around 250 staff. According to market research company Strategy Analytics, the global LTE handset market will double from 70 million sales units in 2012 to 150 million sales units by 2013. LG will continue to advance this technology and develop further technologies to maintain global leadership.

The first LTE mobile phones will likely reach the market in 2010.

Taiwan’s First Femtocell Network Installment by Alcatel-Lucent

Alcatel-Lucent has been awarded a Femtocell contract from Taiwan’s Chunghwa Telecom, to deploy Taiwan’s first femtocell network, which will enhance the coverage of Chunghwa Telecom’s mobile network inside homes and offices.

Alcatel-Lucent will supply Chunghwa Telecom with an end-to-end solution including its Base Station Router (BSR) Femto – which incorporates 3G W-CDMA radio access and core network elements into one unit. The deployment will include the company’s service routers and Home Device Manager fromMotive, now part of Alcatel-Lucent’s portfolio. Additionally, Alcatel-Lucent will be responsible for deployment, project management and end-to-end network integration for the project.

According to figures from the Mobile World subscriber tracker, Chunghwa Telecom ended September with just under 8.9 million customers - representing a market share of around 37%.

Alcatel-Lucent’s BSR Femto will use subscribers’ current broadband internet connection to transport voice and data traffic between the individual base stations and Chunghwa Telecom’s existing network, offering a cost-effective alternative to traditional backhaul methods.

The BSR Femto offers another key benefit to operators, which is its patented auto-configuration approach. This enables service operators to deploy and more easily manage large numbers of small, stand-alone base stations, which helps reduce the operational burden on operators while helping to ensure a simple, relatively trouble-free experience for end-users.