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5 Basic Technology Skills Every Employee Must Have

5 Basic Technology Skills Every Employee Must Have

by | Jan 10, 2018 | Career, World of Work

Whether you are a journalist, an entrepreneur or an architect, there are certain basic technology skills that every employee needs to be familiar with. Basic technology skills are a hit not just with recruiters, but also a necessity as per industry standards. Also, spending some time to acquire these tech skills can take you a long way in terms of being self-sufficient. What are some of the must have technology skills? Read on to know!

  1. Emailing

    While many of you would think this barely belongs in this list, because it goes without saying for one to be familiar with this skill. However, it is not enough to just know how to email. Knowing basic email etiquette, and how to structure emails is an equally important aspect. Paying attention to the font style, font size, subject line, how you greet and sign off, and even spacing of the paragraphs – these are some of the skills you need to apply while using  email. These little things do go on to make a big impact. Read here for the basics for writing a professional email.

  2. Being familiar with Spreadsheets

    Whoever thought knowing how to work with spreadsheets is just for accounting roles and the likes, could not be more mistaken. Almost every imaginable white collar  job today needs one to have at least basic spreadsheet skills. Familiarizing yourself with tools and techniques of spreadsheets will help you take on tasks with greater efficiency. There are ample courses online to help you learn the basics of Excel. For a crash course however, have a look at these tips and tricks for Excel. 

  3. Presentation Skills

    Once again, regardless of which sector you work in, knowing how to create visually compelling presentations is a skill that will take you a long way. Moreover, all employers look for this skill as an expected pre-requisite in the skill set of potential employees. While pitching an idea or during discussions, you can create compelling presentations with basic tools to get your point across in an impactful and effective manner. Many online platforms offer basic courses that you can master in as little time as 4 weeks! Check platforms like Coursera for courses that might interest you.

  4. Key-board Shortcuts

    Knowing small tech hacks can indeed boost your productivity to a great extent. It is a worthwhile effort to learn the basic shortcuts for actions like copying, pasting, switching tabs, and so on, for the device you use to work on. To learn the short cuts for Apple, click here. To learn the short cuts for Windows, click here.

  5. Social Media Awareness

    Being aware of, and having a presence on social media is a sought after trait by most companies. In fact, many recruiters go through the social media profiles of prospective candidates before shortlisting them for a role. How you use social media can have a profound effect on your career – for the better or for the worse. Knowing how to use platforms like LinkedIn is crucial and can give you leverage in terms of your reach. Just being social media savvy is not enough, it is also important to know the social mistakes you cannot afford to make as a professional. Want to know more? Read here.

Many competent professionals still may prefer manual functioning to technology, however, without basic tech skills, one might end up missing out on opportunities. Indeed, a lot of times it is also inertia to learn or adapt to what seems difficult at first. But as most of us know from experience, it is simply a bridge that must be crossed and you will realize that acquiring skills is only a way of being more productive and doing more!

Happy life-long learning!

Social Media Resume – The Basics

Social Media Resume – The Basics

by | Nov 21, 2017 | Communication, Social Media, World of Work

Before we delve into the basics of the Social Media Resume, and what makes for a great one, let us understand what a social media resume really is. Simply put, a social media resume is your online presence, across platforms of social media. Lets tweak that a little bit, a social media resume is the ‘quality’ of your online presence.  It is the quality of your social media cv that attracts recruiters and hiring managers to you, rather than you scouring for job opportunities. About 80% of job opportunities are channeled through networking, and a strong social media resume is a powerful way of changing the meaning of networking in the current day context.

Simply existing on various forms of social media, most importantly on LinkedIn does not qualify for a great social media resume. It is your engagement, and the quality of content that you put out which determines the strength of your social media resume. Earlier, we ran a hugely popular series on personal branding. Building a good social media resume is strongly intertwined with the principles of personal branding. Through social media, you put out who you are, i.e., you put out your personal brand, because you are your own personal brand.

Based on the strength of your social media resume, you can attract your dream job opportunities. Here are 5 ways of building a strong social media resume.

  1. Consistency is everything

    You may have an account on every social media platform that exists. However that is to no avail unless you are consistently active on them. Being regular and updating frequently is an imperative to having a consistent and powerful social media presence. Make sure your profiles are updated. It is also important to engage in conversations and discussions relating to topics of your interest. The form of engagement could range from commenting on articles to writing your own articles and posting them.

  2. Understand the unique use of each platform

    Every social media platform has a unique selling point. In order to make the most of the social media platforms you use, understand the uniqueness of each of these platforms. For example, Instagram is a very visual platform, allowing you a number of tools to express yourself and the work you do through photographs. Facebook is a multipurpose platform that also allows you to network. While LinkedIn serves as an information base, and the best place for off-line professional networking. By understanding the unique use of each platform, you can curate the content you put out accordingly. This also helps you to keep in mind the very specific target audiences for each kind of platform.

  3. Integrate your social media profiles

    If you have a blog or a website, you could integrate all your social media profiles into it for keeping them all synced, and easily accessible to recruiters. Most platforms allow you to create social media badges which you can embed into your blog/ website. One pointer before you go ahead and integrate your social media platforms is to keep in mind how your profiles would appear to a potential recruiter. Before you integrate your social media profiles, go through them with a fine tooth comb and scour for anything that may come across as unprofessional. In short, look for any social media mistakes that may stand out for a recruiter.

  4. Be responsible

    We began this post by stressing on how a social media resume isn’t very different from having a personal brand. A social media cv is powerful because everything about you, your qualifications and your aspirations are out there. This kind transparency and outreach lend a kind of validity to ‘you’, which is why a powerful social media resume has the potential to attract recruiters.

    Being responsible about what you speak and choose to put out is a ground rule for not just personal branding, but any form of social media interaction (and otherwise!). Remember that when you put out or say certain things on interactive platforms, people listen to it and engage with it in a conscious as well as subconscious manner. That is the power of personal branding and social media. Therefore while you have access to a wide range of liberties to make speak your mind and make yourself heard, make sure that you do so responsibly.

The secret to a great Social Media Resume is having an impressive online presence. Have you come across a great social media cv, you’ve had a chance to learn from? Comment with links below and we’d be glad to feature your thoughts in our upcoming blogs!

The Work from Home Woes and Dealing with Them

The Work from Home Woes and Dealing with Them

by | Nov 13, 2017 | working from home, World of Work

If you are someone who works from home, chances are you are constantly struggling to balance your expectation of productivity versus the reality. Working from home affords you a number of comforts such as flexibility over your schedule, time saved due to lack of commute and not to mention comfy clothes! To every situation however, there is a flip-side. In this post we explore what we call Work from Home Woes, and explore ways of tackling them.

Work From Home Woes #1: Procrastination

The very first obstacle that every professional who works from home encounters is procrastination. When you work from home, you begin the day with the illusion that you have the entire day to get a task done. This thought enables you to put off your work until the very last-minute and then you realize that the day is almost over! It is only then that you rush to finish the tasks, often working into late hours which has an adverse impact on your work life balance.

Procrastination is a vice that most of us face, whether we are working from a formal environment or from home. To tackle this, make your mind up to follow the “eat the frog” method, first thing in the morning. No, we are not suggesting you eat harmless froggies for breakfast, but what it means is, get the most difficult task out-of-the-way, the first thing in the morning. Once that is done, your productivity gets boosted automatically.

Work From Home Woes #2: Distractions

When in a formal work set up, distractions are comparatively fewer because work spaces are designed keeping this aspect in mind. You are less likely to spend time on the phone, or on Facebook when you know your supervisor may pop up unannounced. Besides, watching colleagues working spurs you into action, and you are less vulnerable to getting carried away by distractions. However, when you work from home you are prone to a zillion distractions, and even end up creating them for yourself. The television, noisy neighbors or family members, Netflix – the list would really never end if we started.

The solution here is to create a distraction free work zone, even if you are working from home. There are a few simple ways you can do that. Take care of the physical aspects such as letting your family know that you are working and to call upon you only when absolutely necessary. Remove the clutter from your work space, so it helps you retain your focus on work. Put your phone on silent, and disable notifications for your desktop. One effective way of dealing with distractions which may be internal or external is to divide up your day and tasks into 60 or 90 minute slots.

Simply focus on the one task for the allotted time, completely tuning out from everything else that may pose as a distraction. Another way of making this sustainable, and feeling good about yourself is setting simple rewards at the end of the day – if you feel satisfied with your productivity. A piece of cake, or an extra hour of Netflix – simple, yet effective. Like Tony Robbins once said, “feed your focus, starve your distractions”, and soon there will be no distractions.

Work from Home Woes #3: Isolation

It may get a bit lonely when you work from home. If you are an entrepreneur or a part of a team which functions from remote locations, the odds are you don’t get to have a lot of human interaction on a day-to-day basis. This can get to even the most introverted people. When you work from a formal set up, you meet colleagues and have a chance at engaging in conversation. Whereas, working from home minimally limits that option.

In which case, you have to make up for face time by consciously increasing your interaction with your team and peers through intensive communication and collaboration. Pick up the phone and talk to people more, take every opportunity to collaborate, create mailing groups to inform and be informed – just because you are not physically present in the office doesn’t mean you can’t be a present and active member of your team. If you are an entrepreneur, make it a point to be a part of groups of similar people who meet up once in a while and exchange ideas. A healthy dose of interaction is absolutely crucial to your productivity.

Work from Home Woes #4: Lack of Routine

Working from home comes along with that amazing feeling of being your own boss. There is however, a slight (not) problem attached. This knowledge of being your own boss can often induce a lack of discipline in your routine. Which means, you end up feeling unproductive – one of the worst feelings ever.

Even if you work from home, especially if you work from home, create a strict routine for yourself. Have a morning routine where you wake up at a fixed time every day. How you start your day has a definite impact on the progress of your day. Exercising and getting some fresh air, and a good breakfast is an imperative to having a fulfilling and productive day, or so we believe. Even if you do not have to go out to get to your workplace, make sure that you set strict working hours for yourself. Get to your desk by 9 AM, or a time you feel suits you, and go through your day in a time bound manner – just like you would if you were working in a formal environment.

Work from Home Woes #5: Getting bogged with Domestic Drudgery

Another peril of working from home is getting bogged down with domestic drudgery. There are ample things that we allow ourselves to procrastinate with – cleaning, organizing, doing our laundry, the list goes on. Being present at home while working does not help take your mind off from the dishes or the laundry or the cooking that needs to be done. This can retard your productivity to a greater extent than you can imagine. Domestic chores take up a lot of time. If we allow ourselves to get distracted by them, they won’t ever stop snatching our attention away from tasks that really need it.

So we’re saying…

Let go of things that do not need your immediate attention. Prioritize and see if a certain domestic task is a priority. While this may be an exception, do not make it a rule. It is worthwhile seeking help with the chores, so you are not constantly struggling to maintain balance. Speak with your family and divide up the chores. You could also hire a help if you are in a place to afford it. Delegating these tasks go a long way in fueling your productivity.

Being able to work from home can be the best thing that ever happened to you. Only, you need to be able to tackle the woes we just spoke about. And like you just read, it may not be all that difficult to put those woes away. All it takes is a strong mind, and a healthy body. With that combination, there will be no mountain you cannot scale – we mean it in a literal and metaphorical sense. Working from home can feel like a blessing – you get the gift of time because you end up saving so much time. Which means, you have a chance to get more done, and also a chance for more ‘me – time’. Win – win, then? We’d say yes!

What Makes for a Good Profile Picture

What Makes for a Good Profile Picture

by | Nov 9, 2017 | Social Media, World of Work

Social media today, is a crucial part of the world of work. It would not be far-fetched to stress on the inter-dependency of these two realms. It is true that a potential employer can decide whether or not to give you a chance for that much awaited interview simply by going through your social media profiles. Also, as a candidate, one would be extremely naive to think that potential employers don’t do a background check, of which your social media profiles play a big, big role.

When we speak about social media profiles, what is the first thing that stands out? Your profile picture. Your profile picture speaks volumes about you on social media. Why? Because that little image is what you chose out of the several, hundreds of photographs you may have of yourself, as your identity on the given platform. A picture speaks more than a thousand words. Therefore, it is true that your profile picture is the very first impression you cast on your employer.

So what makes for a good profile picture? Here are a few things that will help you.

  1. The resolution of the photograph

    The first, most basic requirement for a good photograph is that it should be clear and visible. Not grainy and pixelated. Ensure that the photograph you choose to use has your face visible in it. Ensure that the photograph has been taken in proper light, and is not a cropped out version of another photograph. Cropping a photograph renders it grainy and pixelated, in most cases. The idea behind a profile picture is that the person looking at it should know how you look, and not have to imagine a ‘version’ of you based on what is visible in the picture. The first most important quality of a good profile picture is that it should be high-resolution, or at least clear.

  2. You in the photograph

    The second most important thing about a good profile picture – how you come across in the picture, or what you seem to be doing. It’s very difficult to get this wrong, but strangely enough there are examples we have seen which compel us to include this pointer as a part of the post. Remember that regardless of which social media platform you are choosing a profile picture for, they are all fodder for recruiters or potential recruiters. Which means, irrespective of whether or not the said social media platform is a ‘professional’ one, it is highly recommended that you choose a professionally appealing photograph. While it doesn’t necessarily have to be a corporate head shot, take care that it isn’t at least a photograph of you playing beer pong.

  3. A selfie never works

    Yes, no matter how good it is. A selfie comes across as unprofessional. Let’s not be lazy and get a decent photograph!

  4. It needs to be a recent photograph

    It is probably not a good idea to have a photograph from years ago as your profile picture, in which you look absolutely nothing like you do presently. If in doubt, show the photograph to colleagues or friends. You know that it won’t work if you get a response akin to “no way, that can’t be you!” The whole point of having a profile picture is to be visible, be found. So make sure you look like who you look like, for real!

  5. Not inappropriate and not boring

    Now that is a real challenge. While you certainly don’t want to have a party picture on, you also don’t want to appear boring. It is a good idea to try and find a photograph which reflects your field of work in some way. Once again, if you are unsure about whether or not the chosen photograph would work, run it by a trusted friend or colleague.

    Ending this post with a re-affirmation of why it matters so much to invest time in choosing the right profile picture.

Employers spend an average of 6 seconds looking at a LinkedIn profile and 19% of that time is spent looking at the user’s profile picture. Research suggests that it only takes 1/10 of a second for someone to form an impression about you. So make sure it’s a good one! Source.

The Power of Brand ‘You’ – Our Pick of Favorite Personal Brands

The Power of Brand ‘You’ – Our Pick of Favorite Personal Brands

by | Sep 22, 2017 | Personal Branding, World of Work

If you have been reading our recent posts, you might find this post particularly interesting. As a part of our ‘personal branding’ series, we bring to you the third post on some of our favorite personal brands, through which we illustrate good practices in personal branding.

What is personal branding? Simply put, it is about “brand you”! Personal branding is nothing but using the forms of social media (which you already use) with the specific purpose of promoting your interests and outlook. If you are doing it for your homegrown business/ initiative you would have a very clear purpose. Similarly, in case you are doing it only for yourself and not a specific initiative, it would be more of your views and ideologies about things you believe in.

Personal branding done right can trigger a positive influence in a bigger way than you can imagine. What do we mean? Have a look at the following personal branding examples – some big, some small, a mix of organisations and individuals. But what is common amongst them all is the terrific value they add to the most popularly abused, and the most easily available resource – social media.

Elephant Journal  

This online platform is your gateway to mindfulness.  “It is about the mindful life”, is their tagline, and they couldn’t have described themselves more accurately. Elephant Journal started as a magazine in 2002. Through their journey they realized that the brand would survive and grow better  in the online realm (it was also a conscious, mindful decision made to save paper and ink). Through consistent efforts via the content they curate, they have been able to amplify their reach like never before.

What makes this platform a go-to place for mindfulness aspirants and practitioners is the outlook they perceive towards everyday life and things through a lens of mindfulness. “The mindful life is about yoga, organics, sustainability, conscious consumerism, enlightened education, the contemplative arts, adventure, bicycling, family…everything. But mostly it’s about this present moment, right here, right now, and how we can best be of benefit, and have a good time doing so.”

A good personal brand is one which is able to maintain a consistency in their content and also generate content which speaks whatever the current language is, yet in a tone and manner which is distinct to the personal brand. Elephant Journal is an excellent example of this rule for personal branding.

Homegrown

They describe themselves as – “India’s leading provokers of unfiltered conversation. For the urban Indian who cannot be confined.” We only need to look homeward to realize that we are living in an age of censorship. The political and social climate of our country by and large has been extremely intolerant, and one that gags (quite literally) any voice of dissent. Platforms such as Homegrown are a challenge to such intolerance by generating media which is unafraid to speak up, and speak out.

What distinguishes Homegrown as an exceptional personal brand is their passion to bring out content that is not mainstream – across genres of culture, politics, fashion, food or lifestyle. Homegrown is also a great example of how networking makes all the difference for the success of personal brands. A lot of their content is based on collaborations with other artists / brands/ individuals in the form of features. The brand focuses on constantly diversifying and playing with the content that it generates, yet keeping its core values and principles in tact.

Humans of New York

Probably one of the best examples of how personal branding makes a big difference even at a micro level. It started as a humble project by New York photographer Brandon Stanton in 2010, with the aim of photographing 10000 New Yorkers, to create an “exhaustive catalog of the city’s inhabitants.” Today, seven years down the line, the Humans of New York team (yes, from an individual to a team!), is bringing to us deeply moving stories from 20 different countries, and has published 2 best selling books!

The HONY story is a goal as far as personal branding goes. One of the golden rules of personal branding is bringing out a story  through the brand. To remember that what you are marketing should be seen as an extension of you. And that itself becomes the unique selling point (USP) for the service or product you are putting out. Your branding strategy should have a voice, which should be no one else’s but yours. It should speak about what you believe in, and what you don’t believe in. And how these ideologies connect with whatever you are trying to sell. While that sure may be a challenge, the HONY example has shown us how it is to be done.

Idalia Candelas

Idalia Candelas is an illustrator from Mexico. The series she is most famous for is the A Solas series of illustrations, in which she captures through strikingly beautiful art, how living alone can be an empowering and enabling experience for women. Her art goes against the popular notion of how heartbreaking it is for a woman to be on her own, and the popular characterization of “lonely”. Her art expresses beautifully without any words, that there is a difference between loneliness and solitude. “I like to show women who exist in solitude but do not suffer”, is how she describes these illustrations.

Though you can’t call this a very mainstream example of personal branding, the reason why we have this on our list is to make that exact point. Don’t worry about your personal brand making it to the mainstream. Focus more on your unique reason to have the brand you want, and have it reflect through the work you put out. While it may take a bit longer to gain traction than the other seemingly ‘more popular’ brands, your uniqueness will contribute to building a solid foundation for your brand in the longer run.

What helps these personal brands get the reach they have today? It is their focus on building a story through building a brand, but more than that, the focus that personal branding is really brand “you”. While each of these examples are under the category of personal brands, it is still apparent how very different they are from one another. Another commendable quality for all these brands above is the essence of responsibility they carry through their voice. What also makes these brands successful is their adherence to the five golden rules of personal branding:

  1. Remember it is not just about the product, it is also about you.
  2. Being responsible in the kind of content you curate and generate.
  3. Utilizing the maximum potential of social media.
  4. Networking
  5. Investing
    (To know more, read here)

Personal branding is one of the most powerful forms of marketing that exists in the modern time and day. It is an opportunity to create a visibility and a unique identity for ideas, principles and and values you believe in – in whatever way you choose to put it out there.

Need more reasons why personal branding is so powerful? We leave you with these statistics on the value of personal branding:

  • “When brand messages are shared by employees on social media, they get 561 percent more reach than the same messages shared by the brand’s social media channels.
  • Brand messages are re-shared 24 times more frequently when posted by an employee versus the brand’s social media channels.
  • On average, employees have 10 times more followers than their company’s social media accounts.
  • Content shared by employees receives 8 times more engagement than content shared by brand channels.

The bottom line is that we trust people more than we trust brands, and we engage with people more than we engage with brands.” And in that lies the power of ‘personal branding’, no matter who you are, or what your objective may be.