Author Archives: schatzi

Things to Consider While Changing Careers

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Changing career is a big decision and should not be taken in haste. Different people have different reasons for changing their career. Some want better paying jobs, some want good designations, others want career satisfaction and fulfillment, and so on. 

If you are also planning to change your career, then you should consider the following points –

Appropriate Reason For Change

A mere argument with your superior should not be a reason for a career change. Take sufficient time to think why you want to switch your career. Money, boredom, and problems with superiors or colleagues are not the right reasons for leaving your current job.

Inter-department Transfers

It is not necessary that you should leave your present job for changing career. Lot of organizations allows their employees to work in different departments depending on their interests and skills. You should check such opportunities in your own organization before taking the call.

Skills

Identify the skills that are required for the new career option that you are planning to take up. If someone else is successful in a particular career, it doesn’t mean that you too will be successful in that field. You must possess the required skills, training and qualifications meant to get in to that career. Otherwise, you should plan to attend the school to prepare yourself for that.

Interests

You should choose a career that best suits your interests. People who love their jobs are successful.

Research

Do as much research as possible on your new career options. Discussing about it with people in a similar field will help.

Some of the important things to check while taking up the new role are:

– What will be the salary?

– Will you be able to maintain your current standard of living?

– What will the job description?

– What will be your career path?

– What all incentives will you get?

– How much traveling will be required in your new job?

– Do you have to relocate for the new job? Does the new job require frequent relocations?

– How demanding will be the new job? Will you be able to maintain work life balance or not?

Volunteer or Internship

To know about any field, you can temporarily volunteer to work in that field or take up internship. This will give you hands-on experience and hence will help to make the right decision.

Network

Once you are sure that you want to change the career, you should seek help from family and friends working in the same field. They can help you to find the right job. You can apply for jobs through various job portals and consultants.

When switching career, it is wise to consider your skills, interests, and qualifications. Changing career not only affects you but also your family. Hence, it is advised that you should consult and seek advice from your family members before taking this decision. Do not decide changing career overnight. Take sufficient time to do the research and weigh all the pros and cons of your present and future job.

The Basics of Hiring a Coach

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Hiring a coach can be one of the most luxurious, convenient and comfortable transportation options that available today. A coach is a large motor vehicle which can transport a large number of passengers on long distance trips. They have a luggage hold which is separate from the area where the passengers are seated. They are also equipped with more comfortable seats and sometimes, even a toilet, to ensure the comfort and convenience of passengers on long trips.

Companies that offer private hire vehicles usually offer coach hire services as well. They usually have a wide range of different coaches which can accommodate different numbers of passengers. If you need to hire a coach, you can easily search online for some companies which offer them. Make sure to check the types of coaches that they have for hire and the available inclusions and facilities that come with each coach.

Hiring a coach would especially be useful for companies who are having an outing for its employees. Each department could have its own coach to transport them to their destination. Radios can sometimes be requested so that there would be a mode of communication among the coaches. It would not only offer a convenient mode of transport but also a cost-effective one.

Coaches can also be hired for large groups of tourists. Travel agencies can hire them when giving day tours or tours in the country. Tourist guides can make use of the microphones which are usually available in coaches to describe the view outside the window as they pass by it. They can also hold games and other activities during the trip to make it as pleasurable as possible.

There are also some who hire coaches for their business or personal needs. As a matter of fact, if there would be a large number of people that need to be transported for a business trip, hiring a coach would definitely be better than using public transportation or renting several cars in terms of the cost and the convenience.

Aside from using it for transportation, coaches can also be used for special events and occasions such as weddings and parties. A lot of people who are hosting events actually now prefer hiring coaches.

You also have the option of hiring a coach which comes with luxurious features such as reclining seats, DVD players, refrigerators, stereos, reading lights and drink machines to make your trip as pleasurable and enjoyable as possible. Luxury coaches can also have sleeping quarters, wireless internet connections, lounge areas and even PSPs and PlayStations for kids.

Overall, hiring a coach can offer a great way to travel to another destination. You can choose from the smaller coaches that can hold about 20 to 25 passengers to the bigger ones which can transport 50 or more people. With all the space and comfort and convenience features that it offers and at the rate they can be availed of today, it is not surprising how much the demand for them has increased in recent years.

Federal Law Enforcement Courses

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Federal Law Enforcement is undoubtedly one of the most intensive jobs to train for and fulfill in both physical and mental capacities. Training for any job in the this field can be pursued by following in one of two directions. There is the category of general federal enforcement training courses or there are those courses which involve a more specialized agency-based training program.

General federal law courses typically begin at any college or university with various disciplines when it comes to majors and specific courses. Criminal justice is just one of the degree programs you can pursue on your way to more specialized training in law. Taking courses at a college or university for about 2 to 3 years will then enable you to be more prepared to move on and take more specific federal courses at a law enforcement training center. Admissions to such federal law enforcement courses require that 2 to 3 years post secondary education as a prerequisite to their more specialized programs.

In addition to the general courses, there are the specialized agency-based specific courses. These types of courses are typically governed by whichever federal agency you are hoping to work for in the future. Agencies such as the FBI, ATF and so forth are those where admissions involve a sum of previous college courses, placement tests, experience and personal interviews. In these cases, many possible candidates typically complete at least 2 years of law enforcement training at the college or university level before even applying to attend federal law enforcement courses.

Whether you take the general route or the more agency-specific route when taking courses, it is apparent that the best way to be really prepared is to pursue college level courses first for 2 to 3 years, getting to know the field and what it is going to take to go forth from there.

Once you are into whichever courses you wish to pursue, dedication and a real desire to serve and protect are imperative in motivating students to excel in such intensive, focused programs.

Mentors and/or upperclassmen can be valuable sources of information and encouragement along the way. Successfully completing federal law courses will then put you on the road to being the federal law enforcement officer you want to be, working with whatever agency specializes in your chosen field. Once you are through the training there are many options in Federal Law Enforcement Jobs.

Making Money Online Writing Web Content

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Internet is a goldmine for those who wants to work at home. There are literally hundreds of ways one can earn over internet. This is more true for the writers. Because the idea of internet is mainly based on the written content. There are billions of pages already available for internet users. Everyday thousands of new websites are coming up. They need more fresh and original content. Here comes people like you who writes for money.

Web writing does not need much start up cost to start with. You just need to have Internet connection, e-mail address and word processing program to get started. You can use free word processing software like Open Office. You can also use writing software like Windows Live Writer that can make your job much more easy with the option to save your draft. You don’t necessarily need a website. But, if you have your own website and preferably a blog to showcase your skill this can work as a live portfolio.

Web content writing is different from the print writing. You need to stay right on the content through your article. Article are typically between 250 to 2500 words. But, on an average the length varies between 350 to 850 words. Another great difference in the web content writing is the use of keywords. Keywords are the phrases that people use to search content using search engines. There may be thousands of content in the same topic. Using the keyword in the content is one of the factors for which a particular content comes up in the first page of the search result or languish in the last page. This is called SEO content writing. Search Engine Optimized content writing.

It’s not very easy to find high paying jobs where you’ll get author credit also. So, your best bet is going for ghost writing. Ghost writing is where you write for money. Once you get paid the buyer can do anything with the content. It’s his content now.

Web content writers can earn many ways as a writer. Online freelancing is a very lucrative but, often risky business to get into. Freelance writers have many option ghost writing, self publishing, copywriting, blog article writing, content writing. There are scores of freelance writing sites where you can find jobs.

Getting started as a writer online is relatively easy. For the starters it’s always advisable to start writing for the revenue sharing article site. This will not give you much of income opportunity initially. but, you can test your writing skill. You can understand how people are reacting to your content. Also it’s very easy to get exposure to a huge audience.

For the starters it’s better to use freelance job sites to get assignments. There are many classified sites where you can find writing jobs. There are many websites that offer freelance writers with proper credit and payment. Blog networks like Today offer very good opportunities.

The business of only freelancing is full of all kinds of scam. It’s very easy for a newbie to fall victim of an online scam. Many time it may happen you may not get paid for your work. Or they may delay your payments for some reason or the other. It’s better to have other source of income initially. Once you’ve established your self and you’ve some loyal customer base then freelance writing can be the most rewarding home work.

Sales Training Consulting – How to Get the Most Out of Your Investment

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When investing in sales training or any training for that matter, one of the chief concerns is how to maximize the investment. The return on investment when you train sales people is a little easier to quantify versus training in soft skills such as communication, leadership, etc. To calculate the return, you can simply look at the sales numbers before the training and after the training to see the return. However, there are some things to consider to maximize the return on investment. Let’s look at a few steps you can take to ensure you get the most out of your investment.

One way to maximize your investment is to select the right type of firm for the training. A couple of things to look for in a sales training firm are experience in sales and experience in training. There are a lot of consultants that were formerly great sales people, but that does not necessarily make them great sales trainers. Just as selling requires skills unique to selling, training also requires skills unique to training. When selecting a consultant ask about their sales and training background.

To get the most out of the training, the training has to meet certain training standards. Training is not a lecture. In any training program, you want to have a show, model, do process. First you show the salesperson what to do; then you model what to do; then you have them practice what to do. This is really the only way to train sales people. Ideally this is done in a classroom environment on or off the company site.

Another thing to keep in mind is the amount of material that will be covered during the session(s). If you are training on the entire sales process, it is better to cover the material over a period of time. Bringing sales people in for three to five days of “intense” training does not work very well. The reason it doesn’t work is the mind cannot absorbed too much at one time. At the end of three days, what was covered on day one is completely lost. It is better to train over a period of time.

Training over a period of time allows for the development of skills. You may have heard that training and development go together. They do! Training is teaching someone a new skill. Development is helping someone use a skill more effectively. When you invest in sales training consulting you want to make sure the consultant has a process to help your sales people implement what they have learned in the classroom. This does not have to be a complex process. It could range from a checklist to follow-up coaching sessions.

Getting the most out of your training will require a few simple actions. If you follow the suggestions outlined here, you will be successful in getting a good return on your investment.

College Stress Relief: What Do We Really Learn About Relieving Stress In College?

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I don’t know about you, but I certainly didn’t learn much about coping with stress when I was in college. Granted, that was back in the late 1960s. But the lack of knowledge about how to deal with stress is still very evident on most college campuses today.

Even worse, when I was in college (Duke University), not only did I learn next to nothing about how to relieve my stress, but I picked up many new unhealthy habits, attitudes, and philosophies that guaranteed me to have lots of unnecessary stress in my life.

Missed Opportunity

Today’s college students might be under even more stress than in past decades, but are they being any better prepared for coping with it?

I don’t think so. And this is a huge missed opportunity.

Think about this: why do we really send our kids to college? Is it so they can learn calculus, economics, chemistry, biology, or the physics of throwing a Frisbee?

No. We send our kids to college, and pay the staggering tuitions, because we hope those four years of education and socialization will prepare them well for life.

We want our kids to be happy, successful, and yes we want them to be highly educated. We want them to be successful at whatever career choices they make. We want them to be happy and successful in their relationships with others. We want them to make a positive difference in the lives of others, and most of all we want them to be happy with themselves.

We want them to be confident, optimistic, and have good self-esteem. We want them to feel good about themselves, even when things don’t go perfectly in their lives. And we want them to know how to deal with adversity, which they will inevitably experience, without going off the deep end or otherwise damaging themselves or others around them.

We Want Our Kids To Be Stress Free

When you really get down to it, we want our kids to be as successful and happy as they can be, and we want them to have as few nasty problems in life as is humanly possible. To my way of thinking, this means we want them to have very little “stress.”

Yet how much of the money we spend on their college education goes to quality training on how to cope with stress? Even if by some major fluke they end up taking an official course in college on how to cope with stress, how well are they really being educated? Aren’t they just going to get indoctrinated into the same “stress management mentality” that is already a major part of the problem?

And are our kids likely to get a good “education” in how to cope with stress from hanging out with their friends or other campus peer groups? It’s very unlikely. What’s more likely is that, like me, they will just pick up or reinforce bad habits of thinking and coping, that will haunt them like a bad plague for the rest of their life.

We Need A New Approach

Let’s face it. Our kids are not going to learn very much about stress (at least what’s really true about it) from those who are in charge of their college education. If it’s going to happen, as I think it should, it’s going to have to come from others who have a strong track record of successfully helping people to cope with stress.

With the problem of college stress growing every day, we need to seek new ways to better prepare college students for dealing with the many pressures and problems they are likely to encounter. This is not only important for the years they spend in college, but it is even more critical for preparing them to lead low-stress lives once they graduate.

Copyright (c) 2012 M.C.Orman, M.D., FLP

Teenagers With Autism Transitioning to High School

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Thoughts of Springtime bring different images to mind, rain showers replacing snow, flowers, new growth on trees, baby animals, etc. If you are a parent with a child living on the Autism Spectrum Springtime also brings up other images. The school year is ending, if it has been a “good” year, you might be sad to see the year end. If it has been a “bad” year, you are happy to have survived. But whether or not the school year has been “good” or “bad” one thing is certain, change will quickly be upon you and your family. The end of this school year means that in a few short months the next school year will begin. How do you prepare your teenager for that? Helping your teen prepare for a new teacher and a new grade can be challenging, but some transitions are more complicated than others. The years that require moving to new schools seem to be the most overwhelming. Thoughts of moving from elementary school to middle school, middle school to high school and high school to college brings terror to many parents. And those of us who have been through it know what it does to our kids.

We haven’t done the high school to college transition yet, but I remember clearly the transition from middle school to high school. It was “relatively” smooth. Planning started early in 8th grade. We were fortunate in that the high school was right next door to the middle school so for the last semester of 8th grade my teen was able to “work” in the high school library as an aide during his free period. This allowed him to become familiar with the school, the people and routine. It also got him use to going into the building. Having more say in the classes he took in high school was another positive thing for him. He carefully studied the list of offerings and made his selections (he actually figured out his plan for all four years, before his first day of 9th grade). There were some glitches. Some adjustments had to be made after school started. But it was clearly a much smoother start then middle school. Things that stand out that really help:

He had a case manager that he met at the end of 8th grade. His case manager talked to him about his goals and the courses he would need to meet these goals.

He was familiar with the layout of the school. He had one place, the library, where he felt really comfortable.

Before school started we took his schedule and walked around the building, located all his classes, found his locker, and worked the combination.

We arrived at school early each day so he could avoid the mass confusion at the lockers right before the bell rang.

Once school started his case manager checked in with him frequently to make sure things were going well. This was his go to person for questions/problems. This was not a long and involved meeting, usually they spoke briefly in the halls between classes.

The locker area was crowded, my son’s assigned locker was in the middle of a row and thus he did not use his locker at school. But he was allowed to have two sets of books, one set at home, and the others kept in various classrooms, thus sparing him the necessity of going to his locker between classes.

Lunch was another issue with crowds and noise. Finding a relatively quiet place to eat was a priority, but not an impossible task. Lunch time clubs have allowed for peer interaction but in a less crowded forum.

No two teenagers are alike, and what works well for one might not work for another, but we have found that by collecting ideas that have worked for others, we come up with ideas we have not thought of and some of these ideas turn out to be very successful. These are some of the things that worked well for us and we hope we have given you an idea or two that you had not thought of before.

The Background of Education – Students and Teachers

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In most countries, education is divided into main three parts: primary school, high school and college or university. Education is a process of learning new things in life. Education includes new knowledge and skills. The basic of education is reading, writing, calculating, speaking and listening.

There are two types of education. The first is formal education and the second one is informal education. Formal education means a student is needed to go to an educational institution and achieve good result during the end of the education processes. Informal education means new knowledge is being taught throughout a person’s life. This includes knowledge, skills and values taught by parent or other people except from teachers or lecturers. The examples of values are obedience, honesty and fairness. It is being taught everywhere, every time. It is usually being taught from one generation to another generation. They can use it during their daily life.

A student is referred to a person who pursues his or her education in all walks of life. Anyone who is studying in a particular of time is called a student. This is regardless of age. There are two types of students that is a full time or a part time student. A full time student is a person who is studying on a full time basis. The main occupation is as a student. A part time student is a person who takes studies as a part time occupation. They normally have a job in the same time. This includes studying at a night school taking an English course.

Students need to understand the knowledge given to them. They are later assessed by exams or tests. Exams and tests are being done to test the understanding of students.

There are many types of names we refer to a person who is giving education. For example, a teacher for primary and high school, a lecturer or professor in college and many other more. The main responsibility of a teacher or lecturer is to assist student in the studies. They are paid for their services. Therefore they should teach students sincerely and patiently.

Making Money Online Writing Web Content

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Internet is a goldmine for those who wants to work at home. There are literally hundreds of ways one can earn over internet. This is more true for the writers. Because the idea of internet is mainly based on the written content. There are billions of pages already available for internet users. Everyday thousands of new websites are coming up. They need more fresh and original content. Here comes people like you who writes for money.

Web writing does not need much start up cost to start with. You just need to have Internet connection, e-mail address and word processing program to get started. You can use free word processing software like Open Office. You can also use writing software like Windows Live Writer that can make your job much more easy with the option to save your draft. You don’t necessarily need a website. But, if you have your own website and preferably a blog to showcase your skill this can work as a live portfolio.

Web content writing is different from the print writing. You need to stay right on the content through your article. Article are typically between 250 to 2500 words. But, on an average the length varies between 350 to 850 words. Another great difference in the web content writing is the use of keywords. Keywords are the phrases that people use to search content using search engines. There may be thousands of content in the same topic. Using the keyword in the content is one of the factors for which a particular content comes up in the first page of the search result or languish in the last page. This is called SEO content writing. Search Engine Optimized content writing.

It’s not very easy to find high paying jobs where you’ll get author credit also. So, your best bet is going for ghost writing. Ghost writing is where you write for money. Once you get paid the buyer can do anything with the content. It’s his content now.

Web content writers can earn many ways as a writer. Online freelancing is a very lucrative but, often risky business to get into. Freelance writers have many option ghost writing, self publishing, copywriting, blog article writing, content writing. There are scores of freelance writing sites where you can find jobs.

Getting started as a writer online is relatively easy. For the starters it’s always advisable to start writing for the revenue sharing article site. This will not give you much of income opportunity initially. but, you can test your writing skill. You can understand how people are reacting to your content. Also it’s very easy to get exposure to a huge audience.

For the starters it’s better to use freelance job sites to get assignments. There are many classified sites where you can find writing jobs. There are many websites that offer freelance writers with proper credit and payment. Blog networks like Today offer very good opportunities.

The business of only freelancing is full of all kinds of scam. It’s very easy for a newbie to fall victim of an online scam. Many time it may happen you may not get paid for your work. Or they may delay your payments for some reason or the other. It’s better to have other source of income initially. Once you’ve established your self and you’ve some loyal customer base then freelance writing can be the most rewarding home work.

Learn Piano – Tips That Will Help

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Piano-learning need not be difficult. If you are someone who wants to learn piano, there are several basic things you need to know. Listed below are various things that will give you an overview of what it takes to learn to play the piano.

The Piano Or The Keyboard?

The piano is a must-have for those who can afford it. It can be really expensive to buy a new one so you can also consider buying a used piano. If you plan to buy a used piano, make sure that it has been well-maintained so that the keys and the pedal work. However, if you are on a short budget, you can also by the keyboard. It is electrically operated and you can also buy a pedal for it. It doesn’t give you the whole set of keys that you see in the piano but it gives you a range of keys that are most often used.

The Appropriate Guidebook

You will need to find an appropriate guidebook that will teach you the different basic things you need to know in piano-playing. They will contain the notes, the chords, and all that. They will also be able to provide you with simple music pieces that you will use during your beginner lessons.

Learning The Notes And The Grand Staff

The notes and the grand staff are the basic components in a piano music sheet. Therefore, you will need to familiarize yourself with the different notes and their corresponding beats. You will have to know their different positions in the grand staff and in the piano keys.

Learning The Different Chords

Piano chords are simply the different combinations of notes that are used together in a single hit. You will need to memorize these note combinations because you will also be using chords during piano-playing.

Learning The Correct Hand And Finger Movements

Yes, there are correct hand and finger movements. Basic music sheets will contain notes that have numbers in them. They correspond to the different fingers in your hands. You will have to get used to playing this way because it will help you memorize the keys to be played in a specific music sheet and you will, eventually, learn to play the music piece without having to look at the sheet anymore.

Learning the correct hand and finger movements will also help you play as gracefully as you can manage. You will not like to jump from one key group to another while playing and take too much effort to do that.

Learning The Correct Body And Hand Posture

There is a correct body posture for piano playing. There is also a proper hand posture for it. This will help you play better. Learning the correct postures will also help lessen the cramping and numbness that you may feel after playing for long hours.

Conclusions

It is easy to learn piano. If you are determined enough, you will be able to learn how to play the piano in a short while.