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Showing posts with label INTERVIEW. Show all posts
Showing posts with label INTERVIEW. Show all posts

Friday, 19 February 2016

03:04

Top 10 Tips to Crack Job Interview

Top 10 Tips to Crack Job Interview

Top 10 Tips to Crack Job Interview

There are some tips and tricks which can help you in getting your dream job…Lets find out how to overcome fear of interview & some useful Tips to Crack Job Interview.

1. Overcome the Fear of Rejection / Losing: 

Firstly lets understand why we fear the interview, answer is very simple..its not fear of interview but fear of rejection so it is very important to overcome the fear of rejection…How can we overcome the fear of rejection?
It is very easy to handle this fear, by simply changing your attitude and approach towards interview…Self confidence is very important in regard…

2.  Understand Job Requirement:

 It is very important to understand what is job profile and whether u fit in this profile or not…Always ask for Job Description before appearing for interview…Identify your strengths & be clear on what kind of candidate organization is looking for..It will help you to decide your approach during course of interview.


3. What all you are bringing it to the table? 

Always think that if u need this particular job then at the same time, organization is also looking for good candidate…During interview always focus on what all skill sets you will bring to organization & how it will benefit the organization in long benefit…Job is also doing a business, in our daily life if we buy any product or hire any service..we always look how this product or service will benefit us similarly you are also doing business with organization and try to showcase how organization is going to benefit if they offer this job to u.

4. Probable Questions & Answers:

 Once you are clear on Job Requirement, make a list of probable questions and their answers i.e. what all an interviewer can ask you..If need arises take help of your friends who are in similar position or industry…Trust me if u do this exercise seriously, you will be able to find out atleast 80% of questions which can be asked during the interview.


5 Never Fudge or fabricate your CV:

 Its a biggest and most common mistake by most of candidates..My sincere advice never ever fudge your CV…Organizations are smart & they will find out very easily that you have fabricated your CV. It can create problem for u in future and can even spoil your career, so always be honest in your approach.


6. Never Argue with Interviewer:
 

It is advisable not to enter into any kind of  argument with Interviewer during interview..Lets accept that the person who is taking the interview has more experience, just listen & don’t argue to justify your point..I am not saying don’t put across your point but put it in a positive manner & don’t argue to justify that your are correct.


7. Be Honest & Flexible:

 Always be honest during interview..If u don’t know any answer just accept the same rather trying to give wrong answers…Besides knowledge, organizations give lot of importance to people who are honest in approach and also flexible in their approach…Never be rigid in your approach as business environment is changing very fast these days…Organizations always give importance to ppl with flexible approach rather rigid in nature.

8. Ask for feedback at the end of Interview: 

Before the interview closes, ask for feedback from interviewer irrespective how your interview went..It gives very positive impression about candidate…Organization feel that candidate has positive attitude & is willing to accept feedback

9. Salary Negotiations:

 Never ever ask for unrealistic salary hikes as it gives impression that you are not serious about the job and just changing the job for money….Kindly do your homework before salary negotiation i.e. with your experience and for the particular job profile what is industry benchmark…For junior and middle management, normal salary hike is in the range of 25% to 40%…Also in some of critical job profiles like treasury in banking you might get very high salary hike.

10. Never ditch the organization after accepting the Job: 

Again very common mistake and some pepole have habit of keep trying in various organizations for better package after receiving job offer & if they get another job, they simply say NO before joining..Trust me it can spoil your career in long run and you will never be able to reach top management with this attitude…World is very small and in this networked age you can’t hide these kind of actions…In future you will again come across same people & then no one will hire, if they find that you indulged in these tactics..If u don’t wish to join then pls don’t accept offer letter but after accepting if u say NO then it is totally unethical and unprofessional.

Thursday, 31 December 2015

05:12

The Energy Startup Conundrum

The Energy Startup Conundrum

An inventor of a storage technology tries to outlast a brutal stretch for new energy companies.

The Energy Startup Conundrum

Danielle Fong has a clever way to widen the use of renewable power: take the electricity produced by, say, a wind farm and use it to compress air in carbon-fiber tanks. When the wind quiets down, use the compressed air to drive an electric generator, eliminating the intermittency that consigns wind farms to a small role on the grid. The concept isn’t new, but it has been limited because air heats up as it is compressed, making it difficult to store. Fong figured out that spraying water into the compressor to cool the air makes it possible to store so much energy that it could be cheaper than using batteries. 

You’re planning to begin pilot tests in 2016. Why is it taking this long to scale up your technology from the lab?

We thought that we would be out in the market about twice as fast. We were going to cut some corners by converting an off-the-shelf natural-gas compressor. Ultimately, we decided that would be too much of a compromise. In early 2012 we decided to switch and just go directly to the product that we would ultimately want.

Why hasn’t the money you’ve raised been enough?

It’s not actually a lot of money compared with how much it takes to develop an engine, for example, or a compressor. Say you’re a power plant company, and you’re trying to make a better gas turbine. Even when you hit volume, you’re going to be spending more than $100 million, maybe a couple hundred million dollars. Who writes those checks? There just aren’t that many. There used to be. Those times are over. Now what you need to do is figure out how to get to a commercial scale so that you can bring the unit cost down without spending that kind of money.


And yet you still need to raise more money.?

Our plan has us going profitable on less than $30 million [of] additional capital. Technically, we wouldn’t need to raise money after that, if all goes according to plan.

Does it frustrate you that in other tech sectors, money is very easy to come by?

I will admit a fair amount of frustration. There are a dozen venture-funded apps to pick up your dry cleaning.

It must seem both promising and daunting that the opportunity is so huge.?

We need energy storage in the terawatts. We’re talking about getting to half a megawatt [with each of LightSail’s storage machines]. That’s a factor of a million. That’s where my head is at.

Saturday, 22 August 2015

02:03

Peekawoo.com : The all-female startup company from the Philippines

Peekawoo.com : The all-female startup company from the Philippines

Peekawoo.com : The all-female startup company from the Philippines

THE INTERVIEW
VALENICE BALACE
FOUNDER/CEO AT PEEKAWOO.COM


Can you tell us about your humble beginning as a Founder and CEO at Peekawoo.com?

Well, I was like everyone else I had a day job and it was in that point that I had extra money to either save it in a bank or invest it in a business. So I decided to do business. I started with almost 100K for the development and design of the first version of Peekawoo.

It took a while to do the first version because we only had enough money for a part time employee and it took him 3 months to finish the prototype of the site. We tested it out and we got a 50 of our closest friends and family to test it out which was successful.

When we decided that this was worth it we went to look to hire. It was hard because developers didnt want to leave their day jobs for a startup and when someone was willing it was for a part time gig. 3 months after no luck looking for a developer and for some reason giving up was one of the options I was able to pitch to Kickstart.

And from being accepted in Launch Garage, i had to quit my day job and honestly that was one of the hardest decisions I had to make. I was with them for almost 5 years and I assume that I’ve already made a name there. I mean people knew me and I was doing great. And moving to something new and totally different was a bit scary, frankly speaking.

But i decided to take the leap and so far it was the best decision I’ve ever made.

Can you tell us about Peekawoo.com?

Peekawoo is a speed dating website which is fun, friendly and wholesome. We aim to put back the fun in dating and take the pressure out of it. In Peekawoo it’s all about the “spark” the “chemistry” you get to speak to a person for 2 minutes and if you decided that you’re conversation wasn’t such a struggle to do you can like her and if she likes you back you get each other’s facebook/ twitter contacts.

Why being a founder is your passion?

This is a hard one, but to quote Forbes magazine: 

“Founder is a label with some amount of prestige. It carries connotations of creativity and innovation, determination, native intelligence, and a sense of fearlessness. Founders create something from nothing.”

I couldn’t think of a more perfect group of sentences to describe what I love doing and what I am. I love doing products, I could do this till I’m old. I love being creative with the things I only have at my disposal it challenges me and the happiness that you feel once you’ve pulled it of is priceless.

Can you tell us more details about your job or profession?

Well generally founders are responsible for literally everything the company does and what it stands for.

But in a nutshell there are just 3 main things:

#1 Make sure your product is working.

#2 Funds Management. (1) Spending (2) Cash Inflow and (3) Getting investments

#3 Make sure everything and everyone involved is in the same page you are in terms of what the company is, what it stands for and what it is trying to achieve.


Where do you work? can you tell us your roles and activities in the company?


Well there’s 4 main branches:

1. Content

2. Marketing and Sales

3. Technical

4. Project Management

What is success to you?

Success to me in terms of Peekawoo (well, besides getting millions of dollars :P ) would be I don’t have to put up ads to get users to join. Where people talk about Peekawoo as if they don’t have any other choice for a dating site. 

Memorable moments as a Founder and CEO at Peekawoo.com?

When we were mentioned by a female guest at BoysNightOut. That’s when I knew people knew about us. And it felt great. It wasn’t just a number where we announce that we have 15,000 users. Our users actually tell the world they are users.

What can you contribute to our Society as a Founder and CEO at Peekawoo.com?

Well I’ve been pitching to people from Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and Japan. They all say that we’re the first all female start-up and surprisingly doing a dating site. 

That’s something Pinoys can take proud of. As a founder I want the Philippines to be on the map for innovative apps. And when that day comes men and women from the Philippines won’t just be good in development. They can actually make great products.

(Note: 65% of our users only come from the Philippines and 35% come from Indonesia, India and Malaysia)

Any other hobbies aside from a Founder and CEO at Peekawoo.com?

Well I love creating things as a past time. I love DIY projects like making a chair :) making accessories, I used to join christmas bazaars and I love cooking :)


What’s your motivation in life?

All the girls who think they don’t have a choice, girls who settle. Girls who sacrifice themselves and what they believe for some boy who doesn’t deserve them. 

There are a million guys in the world and that’s why I made Peekawoo for women and men to meet them.
01:45

Meet Mapping Megan the travel blogger

Meet Mapping Megan the travel blogger

Meet Mapping Megan the travel blogger

What is your humble beginning as a travel blogger?

I began blogging way back in 2007 when I left Australia for a gap year in the UK. The blog was pretty bad back then – 2,000 word write ups detailing every boring detail about each day – it was more of a personal diary for my friends and family to keep up to date on my travels, though going back through old blog entries I can’t believe people got through those ridiculously long posts!!
The blog progressed over the years, and come 2013 I realized people actually did this, traveling and blogging about it, for a living – who knew! So I completely revamped the blog and what was once “Where in the World is Megan Claire” as a personal travel journal for family and friends, is now “Mapping Megan” which is a professional travel resource offering tips, stories, photography and advice to anyone who cares to stop by!

How did you started blogging as your passion? 

I moved to the United States after getting married to a US Citizen, and there was a 3 month period of time after arriving before I could get a work permit. Because Mike had to work to cover our expenses, I threw myself into creating my blog as a brand, and became completely addicted to the blogging process.
I’ve always been passionate about both traveling and writing, however it was this period in my life which allowed me the time to sit down and combine it into a project which is now blogging!

Can you tell us more details about your job or profession?

I have a degree in both Journalism and Law, and before I moved to the United States I was a family law paralegal, pursuing a career in law. Now I’ve realized that with enough passion and hard work, your dream job truly is achievable, so I’ve put my legal career to the site to focus on travel writing – something I am much more passionate about.
I make my money through freelance writing jobs – writing for other online publications and magazines, as well as through advertising via my website and social media campaigns promoting different companies who align with my own values and brand.
Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine this kind of career was a possibility.

What is success to you?

Simply being happy – and this is why I believe I’m successful. I’m at a stage where I am truly happy with what I’m doing everyday, and I’m happy with my life because of it.
I don’t need to be earning 6 figures from blogging to view myself as successful – being successful to me is living a life you love, and spending each day doing something which you enjoy.

Memorable moments as a Blogger?

Being chosen to represent DoubleTree by Hilton as their brand ambassador for their recent DTour campaign – this was a huge campaign which saw us travel throughout Central and South America to blog from their hotel locations. All expenses of the trip were covered, and then I was paid on top of that for my time promoting the brand.
This was a dream come true, and was my first real gig as a paid travel writer. We were treated like VIP’s in every destination we went to; it was an incredibly memorable trip!


What can you contribute to our Society as a Blogger?

Inspiring others to live a more fulfilling and passionate life. I truly believe that if more people got out there and traveled, the world would be a much better place.
Travel teaches people about diversity, tolerance, flexibility and an appreciation for world cultures, amongst a range of other valuable life skills and qualities. If more people traveled and gained these insights, this is how we change the world.

What’s your motivation in life?

To be happy and pass that happiness onto others. One of my main motivations in travel blogging is to inspire others so that they have the opportunity to experience the same wonderful things I have.
When I receive emails saying that I’ve inspired someone to change their life, or to make the decision to quit their job and travel; inspired someone to follow their dreams; that to me is the ultimate mark of success. At the end of this all, if I can say nothing more than I know I have reached one person and they’ve gone out and traveled because of something I wrote or said – the whole process was worth it.

What can you share or advice to all aspiring Blogger?

Realize that it’s a lot of work, but with the right passion, determination and motivation, you can succeed and make it work. The majority of travel bloggers don’t last the first year – they fail because they give up.
Start with realistic expectations that it will take a good year or two to build a following and establish yourself as an expert within your niche, and then the money and the travel perks and product reviews will follow.

Any dialect or language you know?

I’m fantastic at charades and improvising sign language! I learned Japanese in high school, however unfortunately I am horrible with retaining languages. I learn a few basic phrases, enough to get by, in each new language of the destination I am visiting, but beyond that i stick to sign language and charades…which usually breaks the ice and makes for pretty enjoyable interactions with locals anyway!


00:41

Meet the PHP Developer

Meet the PHP Developer :

Meet the PHP Developer 

Why being a Senior PHP Developer is your passion?

I love coding, and I love challenges. I love to always go beyond my limits, and create something new everyday. Being a developer pushes me to do all those stuffs, and more!

Can you tell us more details about your job?

I am the team lead of PHP developer of 24/7 International in Unilab. We are the one who introduced the open source to UNILAB as an in house product because they use to outsource every website before. We started in a small experimental team before (2012) and is now a 14 strong unit.


Where do you work? can you tell us your roles and activities in the company?

As a team lead, I am usually the consultant and third level support. I do both the code and infrastructure design. Everything must be approved and signed off by me before development.

What is success to you?

There’s 2 benchmark on me on success.
1. When my client (boss) and my team is happy
2. When my family is happy

Success is not measured by how much money I make (though it counts ^_^) but by how many people I can satisfy with my work.


What can you contribute to our Society as a Senior PHP Developer?

Well, being a corporate developer, it doesn’t stop there. I am very active to the open source community. I was once the core developer of Kunena (now Fireboard), the most famous forum extension in Joomla. I still contribute to open source until now but I’m more focused on my career and clients.

Any other hobbies aside from being a Senior PHP Developer?

I am also a freelance project manager and consultant doing other projects during my free time on clients outside the country. I cater on mobile applications and client/server applications. Other than coding and management, I’m a tech enthusiast. I love gadgets, and how to improve our home using all the gadgets I find. I’m also into movies and manga (like most nerds do, LOL). When given opportunity, I also love teaching other people how to create websites and giving them some pointers on how to do it very fast (single application in an hour or less?).

What’s your motivation in life?

My family, if I don’t have my wife and my 2 kids, I would’ve stayed in my parents house and just sleep and eat all day (LOL)


Memorable moments as a Senior PHP Developer?

When a certain company needs my help badly, they offered double of what I’m asking. It was the best day of my life. Also, the cloud knowledge certainly pays off.

What can you share or advise to all aspiring Senior PHP Developer?

Always be the best you can. Be competitive, and always learn the latest technology. It will help you sooner or later. And if you have nothing much to do, surf the net and look around, you might find some hidden treasures around that might help you on your career!

Any dialect or language you know?

HTML, JS, ASP, CGI, Perl, Python, PHP, C#, C, C++, Cobol, PHP, Ruby on Rails, Yii, Red Bean, mySQL, Code Igniter, Cassandra DB, noSQL, HTML5, Laravel, (this is the non nerdy part) Tagalog, Cebuano, and English

Friday, 14 August 2015

11:07

25 Marketing Mistakes That Hurt Startups

25 Marketing Mistakes That Hurt Startups

25 Marketing Mistakes That Hurt Startups

Mistakes To Avoid in Startup Marketing

Marketing is extremely important for any company, startup or not. Did you know that some marketing techniques can hurt your startup more than help? Let’s look at 25 marketing mistakes that may be slowly killing your startup’s marketing plans.


1. Not Engaging With and Listening to Customers

As a growing, early-stage startup, your ultimate goal should be to build a product that people will love and cannot go without. What is one crucial element in building that product? Critical feedback from real-world product focused customers. Some startups focus on building the product without getting that crucial feedback and listening to customers what they need and want.
However, it is important to take this feedback lightly, in the case of the customer giving the feedback being totally wrong. In many cases, customers want more and more, but in the end, it is genuinely not what they really needed.


2. Avoiding Multiple Marketing Channels

Focusing on only one aspect of marketing will ultimately hurt your startup. For example, writing an amazing and viral-worthy post and hitting the publish button will not magically bring readers and fans to that post. You need to write it, market the post on social media, repurpose it, and spread it across all of your marketing channels. Not just one.


3. Not Tracking and Measuring Data

Whether it be general website traffic, conversions, social media, blog traffic, shares, or happy customers. Track and keep record of everything that is measurable, this will never hurt you, and is generally not time-consuming. Everything needs to be tracked and measured for success.


4. Not Modifying and Re-testing

Never believe your product is perfect or totally finished which can’t be improved upon. No product is perfect. Constantly look for innovative improvements and advancements for your product, while talking and listening to your loyal customer base for critical feedback.

5. Not Creating Goals

Creating simple, clear, and concise goals will help you keep your eye on a consistent goal throughout any marketing or startup events. This will keep everything you do consistent and moving forward towards a rewarding finish line, further avoiding any marketing mistakes.

6. Not Leveraging Social Networks

As a basic rule, go where your customers are. If you are only using Twitter, what if all of your potential customers are on Facebook? Take the time to determine where you customers are talking and living their online life, and get your company there also.

7. Not Blogging

Companies that blog get 55% more internet traffic and over 70% more customer leads than companies that don’t actively blog. Blogging helps gain customers by providing them with quality educational and informative content while also drastically aiding your search engine ratings. If you’re not blogging, you’d better start!


8. Not Using Social Sharing Buttons

Utilizing social sharing tools on your website, blog, and in your product encourages your users to share what you are offering. It also makes it easier and faster for them to hit a button and click publish within 30 seconds vs. copying your website’s link and pasting it into their social network update form. Which way would you choose?

9. Not Offering Subscription Options

Also within the social realm, offering a way to subscribe to updates and news to your company easily and quickly with a click of a button is an important marketing element. Include a link to your social network profiles on your website and blog, along with a way to subscribe to an email newsletter from your company. If you don’t have either of these, get them, quickly!


10. Not Taking Advantage of Landing Pages

Having dedicated landing pages for your startup’s products is a way to actively pursue personalized prospects. Especially useful while advertising, you can create landing pages with discounts and special deals for customers that are directed to that particular page. You can also use landing pages for growing your newsletter and social subscription numbers, distributing ebooks, infographics, and many,many other uses you can think of!


11. Not Optimizing Your Website For Mobile

Approximately nine in ten smartphone owners (87%) use their smartphones to connect and browse the internet. 78% of these smartphone users say they go on their smartphones to use the internet on average, everyday. What this means for you is, you need your website to work well on mobile devices.

12. Starting Too Big

Many new startups make the terrible mistake of thinking the bigger their marketing plans and activities are, the better the results and profit they will see. Though starting big may look great, focusing on many marketing channels on the same level for each, is how your marketing plan will work.

13. Keeping a Constant Eye on Competition

Checking in on your competition can prove wise. However, keeping a constant eye on your competition and watching their every move may actually hurt you. Startups need to stay innovative, energetic, and constantly working to improve their product. But constant worry about what your competitors are doing, can essentially block your ability to do just that.

Instead of focusing on competition, look back at mistake #1 and watch your customers with a close and constant eye.

14. Focusing on the Short-Term

Instead of staying short-term minded and focusing your startup to the short term, revert your mind and startup goals to be long-term centered. When making decisions, big or small, always look at the long term.

15. Not Identifying Your Target Audience

Clearly knowing in your marketing plan what type of user base you are targeting will make your marketing and your overall startup venture, much easier. Plan out what type of person you are targeting, industry, location, and any other demographics that may be crucial to getting customers.


16. Not Setting A Budget

Ideally, what does building and running a startup come down to? Money. Money may not be everything to a startup, but it makes up a big percentage. If you do not budget your marketing plan correctly, you may be investing all of your money into an advertisement that isn’t working. Test everything, and do as much as you can without spending much money on traditional advertising. Sometimes in the beginning, having the mindset that you do not have any money to spend on marketing can drastically increase your chances for success.


17. Not Having A Press Kit

A press kit serves as a bundled kit of information about your company to help journalists and bloggers learn and write about your venture, making it an easier and faster process for everyone.
Why do I need a press kit for my startup?
It gives bloggers and press a complete bundle of all the information they need, and all the information you want them to have and know.
Gives the bloggers quality media like photos and product images you completely approve of, and if used, will further to enhance the publicity for the public and for you.
Having a press kit available on your website allows any visitor to gain access to it instead of having to contact your startup.
It acts as an aid for your marketing efforts and ideally works day after day without further work from you or your marketing team. *

18. Not Utilizing Great Customer Reviews as Testimonials

Testimonials can drastically increase sign-ups and sales for your project. Why? First off, they build trust. Your testimonials are your current customers personally telling your potential customers what is so great about your product or service, in a non-sales pitch way, unlike the rest of your website’s content. Testimonials can have the power to change the minds of even the most skeptic of website visitors.

19. Hiring A PR Team

Having publicity and people talking about you is great, PR is great. However, an early-stage startup does not need a fully-fledged PR team, at least not in the beginning stages. Don’t let anyone convince you otherwise, this is a big waste of money that unfortunately, many startups get misled into. PR plans at an early-stage startup should be pursued within your team and be spread across your marketing channels.

20. Ignoring SEO

Search engine optimization may not be as hyped as much as it used to, but it is still very important. It helps in general raise your website’s credibility, allows customers to find you more easily and quickly, and some more benefits to it. I wouldn’t advise to dedicating your whole marketing time to it, but never ignore it and keep the best practices active for effective results.


21. Neglecting Social Media

There is not right way to use social media, but there is no doubt a wrong way! Neglecting your social media accounts by not maintaining, updating, or it posting quality and original content are all ways you should not be using your social media profiles. Just like your blog, your social media profiles need to create value and insight for your customers.


22. Cold Emailing Potential Customers

First came cold calls, then came cold emailing, and, in the past this marketing strategy was an effective one. However, nowadays, this startup marketing technique should at most be avoided. Cold emailing may turn up a few sales, but only after creating a poor and spammy reputation for you for numerous other prospects you emailed. Take the time to look at each marketing technique to decide whether it’s right or not for you company.


23. Website Surveys to New Visitors

No-one really genuinely likes surveys, especially those that are new to your website and have absolutely no idea what your site looks like, and what it’s about. You would be surprised by the number of companies popup surveys to visitors that are just new to the site. This is one of the most effective ways to turn away a new prospect on your website.


24. Not Telling A Story

To be great at marketing, you need to tell great stories. Throughout all of your marketing work: social media, blogging, outreach, and advertising needs to be centered on telling the story of how your product is the best available option.


25. Doing Everything Yourself

There is a good reasoning behind why many companies have large marketing teams – marketing is not mean’t for just one. Marketing is a huge task and takes up a lot of time, all while having all kinds of other business related work piling up. It may be smart to hire an extra hand for marketing or to assign marketing tasks to other employees who can also focus on marketing related work. Assigning to other team members will decentralize the tasks from you unto other minds, further decreasing the probability of marketing mistakes.