All posts by Guest Blogger

guest blogger, Interviews, Planning

5 Tips to Help You Stand Out In An Interview

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After all the hard work you put into making your CV stand out and impressing an employer with your application form, it’s the best feeling in the world when they want to meet you in person for an interview. But now is not the time to relax, this is where the hard work really starts. Now it’s time to really sell yourself and stand out from the other 10 or 15 people they may be interviewing! Here are a few tips to help you do that:

  • First impressions count – It takes between 5 and 30 seconds for a person to make their judgement about you, and once they’ve made their assumptions it’s very hard to change their mind! So it’s really important to create the right first impression in an interview. Obviously the way you dress will be one of the first things they notice about you so keep it smart and well-groomed, and avoid too much jewellery or excessive perfume/aftershave. If you’re not used to wearing smart clothes wear them in the house a couple of times to get used to them and ensure you feel confident and comfortable. Carry yourself confidently, head up, shoulders back and offer a firm, confident hand-shake!
  • Speak slowly and clearly – It’s perfectly natural to be nervous in an interview but there are ways you can ease your nerves and appear more confident. Speak slowly and clearly, there may be one interviewer asking the questions and another one recording your answers so think before you speak and don’t talk too fast! If English isn’t your first language you may want to consider taking a course to improve your conversational skills. Most cities in the UK have a language school. Taking English Courses in Manchester, London, and Birmingham etc is useful as larger cities provide more opportunities to practice your conversational skills.
  • Being preparedResearch the company – Every company worth working for will have a website, so use it! Look for key information such as the roots of the company, any future visions they have, their ethics and morals etc. If there’s not enough on the website then it’s a good idea to give them a call or visit their premises to ask a few questions. It’s good practice to structure your research as a SWOT report: Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats. Look at what the company does well already, areas they could potentially improve on, what’s happening in the industry that could provide good opportunities, and any external threats from competitors or the economy.
  • Preparation is key – There are certain interview questions that always get asked, such as “Why do you feel you’re right for the position?” and “Where do you see yourself in 5 years time?” So prepare some answers to several commonly asked questions and you’ll feel more confident when these questions arise. Try to think of several situational stories/anecdotes that demonstrate your skills, for example if you’re asked about a time when you gave great customer service, be specific, talk about specific situations and customers. Make sure you know what the job description and person specification are for the role and answer questions accordingly to demonstrate how you meet the employer’s needs.
  • Ending on a good note – Make sure you’ve prepared 2 or 3 questions to ask the interviewer at the end of the interview. Try asking them things like “What does your training plan offer?” or “How much scope is there for personal development?” Questions like this show that you’re interested in the company and a long-term future with them. It’s also good practice to thank the interviewer for their time, perhaps followed up by an email the following day. Little touches like this may make you stand out more than other candidates.
guest blogger, Observations, Planning, Project Management, Project planning

The 5 Laws of Social Project Management

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Classic project management in many ways is no longer realistic in today’s world. The tough economy
has provided the perfect opportunity to encourage self-motivation and independence
amongst employees. A new approach to project management has emerged; social project
management. Social project management incorporates both social technology and software with the
basic elements of traditional project management. One important aspect of social project
management is having an online project management tool like LiquidPlanner, which brings together social
technology and an adaptable project management architecture.

The 5 Laws of Social Project Management

The 5 laws of social project management shown here illustrate
how and why social project management can be so effective when it allows the unique abilities of each team member to contribute in a collaborative environment towards a shared project goal. Learn social project management laws, like
why autonomy and transparency must be maximized in social project management, and how projects
can be managed to allow every team member to contribute fully and efficiently.

Published by LiquidPlanner

guest blogger, Project Management Software, Project planning

Why Project Management Software is Important for Your Business

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The goal of project management software is to support your organizational team with collaboration, achieving milestones, keeping the work budget within given limits and effectively completing the work on schedule. A project management software system can help you to manage complicated projects and avoid the common pitfalls of doubtful roles, communication gaps, complex tasks and insufficient responsibility.

Project management software is becoming an essential part of the present day business world. It manages the action of planning and acquiring the required people and resources, keeping costs within budget and scheduling limits. In any kind of industry (and some of the most common include construction, IT, architecture, software development and banking) you can use it to manage projects effectively and efficiently. The global project manager, along with other team leaders, uses this software to evaluate, plan, schedule, and manage the projects. However the project management software can also enhance the productivity of the entire project team.

Project management software includes programs that companies use to plan tasks in corporate programs (rather than ‘projects’). The software enables the manager to monitor the results of team members, restrict cost issues and ensure effective completion of corporate initiatives. Indeed it is often quoted as one of the easiest ways to enhance the process of efficiently allocating talent.

 

What makes for good project management software? Firstly using it will make your working existence more organized and structured and, ultimately, simpler. Secondly, everybody in your organization should be able to use and understand the application within a couple of days, with hardly any training needed.

Project management software is a good way to control four of the key project factors: work, time, budget and personnel. With the aid of relevant software, viewing the progress of a project should be simple. What’s more, viewing the length of time a specific project needs means that you can plan tasks accordingly. Project management software that includes time monitoring tools will also allow you to look into the performance and achievement records of personnel.

Organizing people and projects can be a frustrating and tiresome task, but if you understand the proper application of project management software, you’ll be able to easily handle all tasks, projects and team people. This can help in staying up-to-date with the marketplace changes, and you’ll be able to plan your moves accordingly.

Project Management Software and collaboration software provide many services. Let’s talk about a few of them:

  • Team collaboration: Forget office conference rooms and late evening conferences. No need to travel to different locations for discussions and demos. Your team and clients can collaborate online. It will save energy and keeps your team and clients up to date with the latest information.
  • Versatility: Web project management software provides versatility in company projects. Online project software typically provides up-to-date dashboards for rapidly reviewing the latest events in a project. When combined with online collaboration, these tools can keep everybody in your team on ‘the same page’ and helps to ensure each group or resource knows what others are doing. This then allows project managers to assign tasks and to-do lists, monitor progress, schedule due dates, accomplish key events, and much more.
  • Accountability: When used well, the software increases personal and financial accountability. The majority of the online project controlling system provides graphs, feedback, time sheets, key events and task assignment. The more sophisticated or specialized ones also monitor project costs, checks expenses, adjust assets and provide estimations about future project expenditure.
  • Organization: Effective resource management is flexible. The project controlling system handles all assets-employees, free-lance talents, budget and time. Often knowing your teams’ potential and effectively applying their abilities can mean the difference between failure and success. The right resource management enables you to build a thriving team.

Your company is important, and so is your ‘bottom line’. If there is a means to increase your productivity and improve your profits, why not take advantage of it?

Whether opting for online or stand-alone software, do try to make use of the many reviews available. They honestly do assist you in find the solution that best matches your needs, and (most of the time) are genuinely written by people who have used the program.

Author Bio:

UntitledSeamus Collins has 18 years of experience in the Project Management industry, and has completed assignments with leading global companies in China, Argentina, Israel, Malaysia, the UK and the USA. He is also the founder and owner of Velopi, – a PMI Registered Education provider that has helped hundreds of people obtain their PMP certification

Careers Advice, guest blogger, Project Management Contractors, Recruitment

You are not ‘contracting’ – you are starting your own business

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At some point during your job hunt, you will ask yourself whether contract positions are worth considering. The promise of high day-rates and more freedom is certainly appealing, but there is much more to contracting than simply doing the same work for more money. There is the additional risk you accept of being out of contract for long periods. You can wave goodbye to paid sick leave and holidays.

You will also need to consider the way you operate. Umbrella companies can leave you with the worst of both worlds: continuing to be taxed as a permanent employee, whilst shouldering the risk of being self-employed. Setting up your own limited company will give you more freedom, but you have to operate as a business or risk being taxed under IR35 legislation.

ContractingIR35 is a tax legislation designed to pick up people who are in so-called ‘disguised employment’. Put simply, if HMRC decide you are actually acting as an employee rather than a business, you will need to pay tax accordingly. This can be more costly than a permanent job as you have to factor in the costs of Employers’ National Insurance. If you are operating outside of IR35, as most contractors are, there is the risk of a considerable tax bill if you’ve accounted incorrectly.

The best way to avoid falling foul of IR35 is to look at contracting for what it really is: you are an entrepreneur running your own small business. Do it right and not only will you avoid tax shocks, you can actually build your business and increase profitability. Here are a few of ideas to get you started:

  • Outsource some routine work. www.sidekicking.co.uk specialise in subcontracting for IT Professionals. They can create dashboards, communication plans – even write up your meetings based on your whiteboard photos. As well as providing you evidence to pass HMRC’s ‘Actual Substitution test’, this will also allow you to work more efficiently – taking on more or higher value contracts;
  • Consider taking on fixed-price pieces of work, or work with additional payments for hitting key milestones. Let’s be honest, you wouldn’t be contracting if you were not confident in your ability to get things done. Fixed-price contracts or contracts with milestone payments can be more lucrative than pure day-rate contracts and will be attractive to the companies you work for as their risk will be greatly reduced;
  • Market your company and build your brand. It is surprising how many contracts are initiated through networks rather than job boards. Build a presence on Linked in and create your own company page. Raise your profile further by writing white papers on areas of expertise and maintaining a blog.  Don’t confine your marketing to the Internet. Business cards are still an important networking tool to use at meetings, conferences and networking events.

So there we have it. What started as a simple job search has resulted in you becoming director of your own limited company, subcontracting work and taking on lucrative fixed-price tenders. What started off as a desire to avoid IR35 has propelled you into running your own small business. Congratulations and best of luck for the future.