Working Smart: The Importance of Being on Time

By Elizabeth Hanink


Time — as my father-in-law (and Benjamin Franklin) used to say — is money. The follow up, of course, is that we have no right to anyone else’s money; so quit wasting your employer’s by being late. You may think that’s an unnecessary reminder, but, interestingly enough, not all employees recognize when they are late.


Take, for instance, the employee that punches in on time but then ever so comfortably settles in. First comes the stashing of personal items. Then comes the requisite cup of coffee, a quick bathroom break, and don’t forget the greetings that are necessary all around. By the time real work starts, a good 10 to 15 minutes are gone. There are no specific statistics, but do the math. Multiply by five days a week, times several, even tens, of employees, and you are talking a hefty hunk of change.


Then there are the folks who are late in the ordinary fashion: late for arrival, late for meetings and on it goes. The strange thing is that the events that cause people to be tardy are sooo predictable: lost keys, heavy traffic, dawdling kids. In short, people are usually late for preventable reasons. If they were organized, disciplined and competent, what difference would misplaced keys make? A second set would be nearby. Basing the time you need to get to work on the best of all possible worlds is foolhardy.


Vince Lombardi has my vote on punctuality: “If you are 15 minutes early, you’re late.” If you want someone with more authority than a football coach, how about Louis XVIII’s line: “Punctuality is the privilege of kings.”

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Working Smart: Balancing Work and School

By Elizabeth Hanink

Are you realizing that more skills will pay more bills? If so, you might be taking a short brush-up or certificate course, or you might be diligently pursuing a license. Maybe you work part time while you earn your college degree. In any case, balancing work and school is a true challenge, especially if you add family responsibilities.

Start by realizing that you can’t do everything. Some things need to go. Begin with the optional. Limit socializing to one night a week. Forego TV or surfing the Internet (or whatever you do for leisure) until there’s a school break. Exercise should be the last activity you cut back on, unless your training requires a serious daily commitment. Even so, this isn’t the year for a marathon. Do two after you graduate.

Be careful of volunteer commitments. Yes, they are worthwhile; but unless you can strictly limit your time, it is easy to overdo this category just because it is so necessary.

Realism in your schoolwork also helps. Exceptions exist, but for the most part no one needs to make straight A’s. At this point in your life, maybe a B and your sanity are sufficient. Likewise with your job commitment. You do owe your employer your best for the time you are paid, but ease up on overtime and other “extras” that until now were easy to do.

People rarely regret their education. They often look back and regret not trying a little harder to get more.

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How Sharp Are Your People Skills at Work? Take This 5-minute Quiz

By Kathy Simmons

The ability to interact with your boss and co-workers can make or break your career. Studies have shown that IQ takes second position to emotional intelligence in determining outstanding job performance and long-term success. Now, more than ever, you need to pay attention to your people skills to be hired, kept and promoted.

In the words of John Hancock, “The greatest ability in business is to get along with others and influence their actions.”

Emotionally intelligent people have mastered the art of living in harmony with others. They respond appropriately when conflict arises, and seem to know the right thing to do regardless of the circumstances. Does this description fit you?

Measure how sharp your “soft” skills are by taking the following quiz:

1. A co-worker criticizes your idea in front of the boss. Which best describes your reaction?

a) Immediately remind the critic of his most recent flawed idea.

b) Say nothing. You'll vent with co-workers later.

c) Become angry and demand to know why the critic is being so non-supportive.

d) Thank the critic for his input, and promise to take the feedback under consideration.

2. Your boss is acting differently lately. She has been much less communicative and friendly. You would be most likely to…

a) Avoid her. Otherwise, you are likely to stay on her bad side.

b) Schedule a meeting and ask for her feedback on your work performance.

c) Assume she has personal problems and ask others if they are aware of details.

d) Begin working on your resume. You would rather quit than be fired.

3. You’ve just found out that you are the target of a nasty rumor at work. Which of the following best describes your response?

a) Do nothing. Rumors have a way of blowing over eventually.

b) Make it a point to find the source of the rumor and confront him or her aggressively.

c) Create a rumor about someone else to take the spotlight off yourself.

d) Become depressed and distracted.

4. A less-talented co-worker is promoted to a position you hoped for. How would you handle the disappointment?

a) Start looking for another job.

It’s obvious your talents are not appreciated where you are.

b) Resolve to make life difficult for the co-worker. She’ll earn that promotion!

c) Ask the hiring manager what areas you could focus on to be a stronger candidate in the future.

d) Pout, and hope someone notices your hurt feelings.

5. Your raise was much less than expected this year. How would you deal with the bad news?

a) Take a few extra sick days. That’s your way of evening the score.

b) Ask your co-workers how much they got. Then decide if yours was fair.

c) Go to your boss’s boss and express your disappointment.

d) Ask your boss what accomplishments would warrant a

re-evaluation in six months.

6. You discover that you made a huge mistake that will cost the company plenty of money. What is your solution?

a) Immediately bring it to your boss's attention and ask for advice on minimizing the damage.

b) Resign as quickly as possible.

c) Try to cover up the error as smoothly as possible — and hope nobody looks too carefully.

d) Blame others for their contribution. You won’t take the heat alone!

7. One of your co-workers regularly gossips about upper management. She seems to know quite a bit of information and it’s hard not to listen. You would be most likely to:

a) Listen eagerly, but never repeat what you hear.

b) Tell her in no uncertain terms what you think of her lack of loyalty.

c) Let your boss know she is gossiping.

d) Tell her you would rather talk about other things — then change the subject quickly.

BEST ANSWERS:

1. d, 2. b, 3. a, 4. c, 5. d, 6. a, 7. d

6-7 correct: Your soft skills are razor sharp! You consistently display maturity when it comes to coping with the inevitable conflicts and disappointments that arise at work.

4-5 correct: Most of the time your soft skills are sharp, but there are times you fall short of behaving professionally. Watch your tendencies to retaliate or take things personally.

3 or less correct: You have significant deficiencies in your soft skills. To raise your awareness in areas of emotional intelligence, start by reading any of the following books:

· Working With Emotional Intelligence, by Daniel Goleman

· People Skills, by Robert Bolton

· Be Your Own Executive Coach : Master High-Impact Communications Skills, by Peter Delisser

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Did You Know? Facts about Social Media

By Working World Staff


Google's corporate philosophy embodies such principles as “you can make money without doing evil” and “work should be a challenge and the challenge should be fun.”



SOCIAL MEDIA JOBS (that didn’t used to exist)

Online Talent Scout
Discovers talent online, matching up creators of obscure YouTube videos with the online divisions of traditional media companies and ad agencies.

Social Media Marketing Manager
Sets up and manages a company’s social networking and bookmarking sites like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Delicious; might write company blog.

Reputation Manager
Scours social media sites and addresses negative, inaccurate or damaging content about the company.



FACEBOOK EMPLOYEE PERKS

• Cost of breakfast, lunch and dinner for employees at the Palo Alto headquarters: Free
• Additional cost to invite friends to dine: $0
• “Baby cash” payment given to employees who become new parents: $4,000
• Annual daycare reimbursement for employees with kids under 5 years old: $3,000
• Reimbursement on monthly gym fees: 50 percent
• Number of annual sick days: Unlimited

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BlackBerry Messenger Jadi Platform Jejaring Sosial

Kompas

SAN FRANCISCO, KOMPAS.com - BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) yang merupakan salah satu fitur andalan BlackBerry selama ini hanya dapat dipakai sebagai instant messenger antarpengguna BlackBerry saja. Namun, ke depan, layanan BBM tak lagi eksklusif setelah Research In Motion (RIM) memutuskan untuk menjadikannya sebagai platform jejaring sosial.



"Para pengembang bisa mengambil aktivitas sosial di BBM dan memasukkannya ke dalam aplikasi buatannya yang dijual di App World," kata Mike Lazaridis, Chairman dan Co-CEO RIM dalam RIM Developer Conference di San Francisco, Senin (27/9/2010).


Lazaridis menekankan bahwa BBM akan diarahkan menjadi platform layanan jejaring sosial yang semakin luas. Misalnya diintegrasikan dalam aplikasi game sehingga pengguna BlackBerry dapat mengundang pengguna lainnya untuk bermain bersama dengan satu klik di aplikasi tersebut tanpa harus masuk ke layanan BBM.



Bagi para pengembang aplikasi akan disediakan application programming interface (API) agar dapat memanfaatkan akses ke layanan BBM. Namun, belum ada pengumuman resmi kapan BlackBerry Social SDK akan tersedia bagi para pengembang.



RIM mengkalaim saat ini ada 28 juta pengguna aktif BlackBerry Messenger di sleuruh dunia dan tumbuh 1,5 juta pengguna baru setiap bulan. Dengan menyediakan akses BBM ke dalam aplikasi, RIM telah menciptakan jejaring sosial mobile yang sangat besar.

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Great Resume Tips for Non-Writers

By Suzette Dean

Most often, even with the help of thousands of resume tips found on the internet and in books, writing a great resume can be a pain - especially for non-writers. While it's true that a resume is the advertising of yourself, it does not have to be written as a literary piece. A resume is just a simple statement of facts as to what you are capable of doing that will contribute to the growth of the company you're interested in joining. The first resume tip is to write the resume as straightforward as you can, highlighting your accomplishments and backing them up with numbers and concrete examples.

It is not right to think that a resume should be written in an artistic manner. The resume, being something that involves writing, is what intimidates those who have no inclination for prose. In the first place it's not compulsory that everything that you write in your resume is in complete sentence format. For the most part, bullet points will do. All resume tips say that your resume should be brief, concise and factual. You must also know that even for writers, it's often difficult to start any document, but once you have started it everything else will fall into place. Of course you start with writing your name, address and contact details at the upper left part of a plain white or ivory paper. If you have a unisex name such as Renee, Ali and Alex, don't forget to include the prefix mister or miss.

Now here are some resume tips for the content. Being a document that highlights your best professional assets, it's not a narration of your previous jobs, but of your accomplishments that are relevant to the job you are applying for. Limit the information that you will write down on your resume to that which is related to the job you are applying for. Relative to this, replace the phrase "tasks include" with "accomplishments were".

How about a resume tip on deciding whether to write your job experiences in a chronological or functional order? If you are just sticking to one field and have been upwardly-moving, chronological order will do. If your focus is your skills that are applicable from one field to the other, the functional order of work experience is better. If you are a fresh graduate, highlight your accomplishments from school, both formal and non-formal trainings and seminars that will contribute to your performance in your first job. Again, don't forget the resume tips on choosing only the relevant information, which also goes for your personal data.

You are not alone in your struggle to come up with a great resume that will make the employer want to interview and eventually, hire you. Above any other thing, it's your honesty, skills and determination that will sell you to the interviewer. Anything phony and fancy will show, so always strive for the truth in advertising yourself- and that's one of the best resume tips that you'll ever get.

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Secretary's Role

Etymologically, the secretary or the secretary comes from the word 'secret' meaning secret or private. From the meaning of its constituent words are then created an operational definition that refers to someone who is entrusted to a private or personal matter. On a broader scope, the definition of the secretary and then adjusted to the task performed both for individuals, businesses, civil society and community. M. Braum and Ramon from Portugal, secretary defines as:

"An assistant to a chief of WHO takes dictation, prepares correspondence, receivers visitors, checks or Engagements of his official appointments, and performs many duties related That increase is the effectiveness of the chief."

But besides working on clerical tasks, the role of secretary in the companies it is often far exceed that. A secretary is sometimes also acts as his boss's right hand. Not only must perform the function in but also outside. He not only should be responsible and take care of all the needs of leaders and companies, but also must appear on the front lines to keep the image of a company or organization.

Judging from the structural enterprise, the position of secretary is looking beyond the level of management or decision makers. But in reality very great influence in the political secretary to the company because he was very close to the circle of power. He knows all the secrets of the company because it is always involved in the execution of operations. Even the secretary sometimes it can take over the boss in decision-making or supervising the running of the company if the leader was not in the office.

Seeing a pretty broad responsibilities, of course it takes a person who has technical expertise and a certain personality to a degree for a professional secretary. Adequate administrative capability necessary to do routine tasks that are a lot of paperwork associated with the form letters and important documents. Mastery of technology tools and computer applications is required in order expedite and facilitate all matters which had been completely computerized.

As a bridge between leaders and subordinates or outside parties, a secretary should be able to absorb all the information to then be submitted to the parties entitled to receive it. Therefore, the ability to communicate is a key skill in playing the role as a 'funnel' leadership. Expertise in foreign languages like English is absolutely required to support all forms of relations with outsiders, especially foreigners. In fact, mastery of other foreign languages were also sometimes be a demand for the creation of a broader relationship with the various parties.

In addition to hard skills above, the personality of a secretary also participated in a good or bad influence on the management of a company's image because of his role which often doubles as a public relations. Prajudi Atmosudirjo in his book entitled Fundamentals of Business Administration (Business Administration) says that a good secretary should have a nature-friendly, sympathetic, charming, capable of dealing with all kinds of people, kominikatif, cooperative and polite. In their work, he should be careful, honest, skillful, initiative, and a quick thinker. In terms of appearance secretary should look smart, professional, interesting but still polite. Because of his job so much, he must have mentally tough, do not stress easily and quickly surrendered.

Seeing the qualifications secretary is a very complex, it is no wonder that this profession more occupied by women. During this time, the profession is still associated as secretary of women's work. This is because the secretary job requires precision, tidiness, friendliness, and flexibility in serving and communicating that is identical to the female personality. Negative assessment of the profession during the secretary who, it often appears that the secretary of the capitalize enough beauty also supposed to dieliminisir, because the secretary must also have the ability and competence are good also.

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Rabeg Khas Banten

Jakarta - Sup khas Banten ini unik rasanya, mirip dengan semur daging Betawi. Kuahnya kecokelatan dengan rasa manis pedas yang cukup nendang! Isinya perpaduan antara daging kambing dan sapi yang empuk. Penasaran dengan hidangan para Sultan Banten ini? Cobain yuk!

Kalau sedang berjalan-jalan di kota Serang, Banten, hidangan yang satu ini wajib di coba! Rabeg namanya, mungkin terdengar asing tapi jangan salah rabeg menjadi incaran para wisatawan yang tengah bertandang di kota Banten. Menurut cerita, rabeg adalah hidangan para Sultan Banten pada masanya khususnya pada masa pemerintahan Sultan Hasanudin Banten.

Rabeg biasa disajikan saat acara-acara khusus masyarakat Banten seperti akikah, sunatan, dan perkawinan, khususnya untuk masyarakat Serang dan Cilegon. Tapi kini rabeg sudah bisa ditemukan hampir di setiap sudut kota Serang. Salah satunya adalah rabeg H.Naswi yang sudah cukup melegenda.

Warung sederhana yang letaknya tepat di depan rumah tahanan kota Serang ini tak pernah sepi pengunjung. Baik penduduk sekitar Serang, ataupun para pendatang yang memang sengaja mampir. Warung Rabeg H.Naswi tidak hanya menyediakan rabeg, tapi ada pilihan lain seperti sate sapi, ayam, dan kambing, aneka sop, dan nasi rames.

Berhubung saya penasaran dengan rabeg, jadilah saya memesan seporsi rabeg dan seporsi sate sapi. Rabeg adalah salah satu kuliner yang sudah mengalami akulturasi rasa dari masyarakat Arab dahulu kala. Rabeg disajikan dalam porsi yang tidak terlalu besar, hanya dalam mangkuk kecil seperti soto Kudus. Warna kuahnya kecokelatan, sepintas tampak seperti semur namun dengan kuah yang lebih encer. Aroma lada, kayu manis dan bawang yang menguar saat rabeg diaduk langsung menggelitik hidung.

Saat dicicipi, wow! Paduan kuah kaldu yang manis, pedas, dan gurih jadi satu bikin kombinasi rasa yang enak! Jejak minyak yang tertinggal tidak terlalu berlebihan. Meskipun kuahnya encer tapi tidak mengurangi rasa sama sekali. Rasa kuahnya
ringan namun bumbunya mantap!

Saya menambahkan sedikit sambal rawit hijau ke dalamnya, dan sensasi rasanya jadi makin enak! Apalagi setelah disuap dengan acar timun dan wortel yang asam segar. Potongan dagingnya tidak terlalu besar, namun pas. Dagingnya sangat empuk, saya tidak menemukan kesulitan saat mengunyahnya. Menurut si empunya, daging ini dimasak cukup lama dengan api yang kecil sehari sebelumnya sehingga dagingnya empuk dan matang merata.

Rabeg ini tidak hanya berisi daging sapi saja, tapi juga ada potongan iga kambing. Daging pada iga nya pun empuk dan tidak berbau sama sekali. Sedangkan sate sapi ini berukuran tidak terlalu besar, sepintas tampilannya sama saja dengan sate ayam.
Yang unik adalah bumbu kacang yang digunakan untuk melumuri satenya. Bumbu kacang ini cenderung encer tidak kental seperti kebanyakan sate.

Warnanya pun cokelat terang, dengan meninggalkan sedikit jejak berminyak. Soal rasa, tentu saja berbeda. Bumbu kacang ini cenderung lebih gurih, sangat berbeda dengan sate yang ada di Jakarta. Kalau untuk saya, saus kacang ini saya tambahkan dengan sedikit sambal dan juga kecap baru pas rasanya.

Supaya makin afdol, saya tak membuang kesempatan mencicipi emping Serang yang terkenal tipis gurih dan renyah. Dikunyah sembari menikmati rabeg..hmm..benar-benar sedap! Seporsi rabeg plus nasi dan juga sate sapi dihargai Rp 15.000,00 saja. Hmm..harga yang cukup murah untuk rasa yang enak! Jika Anda sedang berada di kawasan Serang, tak ada salahnya mencicipi kuliner Sultan Banten yang sudah melegenda ini.
Sumber: Detik Food

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