Career Focus

Before writing a winning resume you need a clear sense of you career path like what career best matches your individual abilities. If your major in college was finance then a career in journalism is probably not for you. Potential employers who read your resume want to see that your skill set is relevant to their current opening. Placing your chosen career focus as a sub-heading under your name helps to demonstrate why you are a perfect fit for an organization.

Short Bio

You should write a short outline of qualities or assets you bring to an organization. Your outline should be in a short paragraph or a bulleted list form and similar to a sales pitch. This is your opportunity to sell yourself to potential employer. Try to answer these two questions:

1. Who are you?
2. Why are you perfect candidate for this position?

Focus on Needs of Company

You should do enough research on companies that you are applying to. Research will help you to create a good understanding about company’s products and services. You should highlight corresponding information about you within your resume.

Use Action Words

You must use action words in your writing to propel reader through your resume. You can use keywords like developed, enhanced, managed and assessed. These are keywords that exist in computerized employment systems, often look for when sifting though job applications. Using a variety of action words in your resume allows it to standout from rest.

Include Relevant Information

One of the biggest mistakes people commits when writing a professional resume is including irrelevant personal information. If you are applying for a job as a bank teller it is not necessary to include details about your job as campus counselor five years ago. Your resume should be clearly written to showcase only those skills that can be applied to current job posting.

Understand Credits

Don’t assume that all your credits from one college will be accepted by another. Transfer students might end up having same course twice, once at their original school and again at college to which they transfer. To avoid this situation student should contact to college where they plan to transfer and ask for recommendations about which courses to take. Programs at community colleges are often aligned with programs at major university with same state so transferring to college of same state as your current school can help you avoid re-taking courses. Students can also take credit for classes taken at out-of-state colleges and foreign country colleges. Although there is a great chance that these students will need to take some courses twice.

Powerful Application

A transfer student should have a comprehensive application to new college. The basic difference between completing an initial application and a transfer application is that transfer application might not require report of students SAT or ACT scores. Transfer application focus on grade point average student’s resume, recommendation letters and personal essay. Transfer students need to maintain at least a B average overall in academic, grade level courses. Involvement in extracurricular activities provides a good point to place in resume.

Get to Know Your New School

Students who become comfortable at their first college and then end up feeling displaced and homesick while moving to a different school. It is important that students get to know their new schools before showing up on first day of class. Students can do this by personal connection with administration while they are being planning their credits and by getting involved in extracurricular activities or sororities and fraternities that have sections in new school as well. Transfer students should also find it helpful to attend freshmen orientation sessions at new school and to make several trips to new campus and town before classes begin.

Hiring and Recruitment

The selection of employees through recruitment and hiring strategies plays a vital role in success or failure of a company. MBA student with a human resource emphasis should spend a lot of time with projects focused on how to recruit and select potential employees. Some projects evaluate and test different recruitment strategies like effectiveness of online job posts as compared with printed classified posting for a given company. Hiring projects might also include effective execution of interview techniques for selection of most qualified candidates.

Employee Training

Newly hired employees will necessitate preliminary and ongoing training at their new jobs. Human resources MBA students have a number of project ideas accessible that deal with how to train new employees. For example students can appraise use of various technologies like software, audiovisual materials, online resources etc. in helping training of employees within a given company. Another project can involve a cost benefit analysis of different strategies for continued employee training, e.g., professional conference, online forums or seminars.

Performance Evaluation

Performance evaluation is most important function of HR. It helps to evaluate productivity of employees. MBA student with an HR focus can choose from a number of projects dealing with performance evaluation of company employees. For instance, MBA students might compare relative strengths of performance evaluation methods like critical incident strategies, 360 degree appraisal, weight checklists, essays and training scales with an aspiration of designing performance evaluation standards to meet needs of a specific company. Another project might involve implementation of specific company criteria for indentifying promotion or future training options for a given employee, based on his or her evaluation.

Customer Relations

In addition to recruiting, training and hiring its own employees, a company’s HR department also takes accountability for customer relationship management. For an MBA student, this means undertaking projects that spotlight on fostering and maintaining client relations. Possible projects include technology to design and implement a sales and marketing strategy for companies in an emerging business sector like green business. Another project might be evaluating company call centers and implementing new strategies to increase call centre efficiency.

Balancing Work and Study

The balance can be tricky on the whole for students who are working full time while they are enrolled in a university. Even when there is time to get all required classes, additional time is needed to complete assignments and research. If either work or study is extremely stressful for student, the quality of both research and assignment can suffer. These stresses increase drop rate among part time students as compared to other students. For a student who already has a job and not enough time to study, the persuasion to simply give up graduating can be great.

Families and Children

Several part time students are older and already have careers, marriages and children to deal with. Children demand lot of time and care. You cannot leave them in day care for prolonged periods of time because it will cause feelings of guilt and anxiety in parents who are spending their lot of time at work or at school. Partners also might feel neglected. If children are not in school then they are not experiencing same difficulties and cannot understand situation. It is not necessary that spouses are totally supportive. In a married or domestic situation occurrence of pregnancy also leads to a major interruption in academic progress.

Lack of Momentum

Full time students can properly spotlight on studies and give their full time and energy to studies. Attending class for five days a week and working frequently on academic subjects puts a student into a particular frame of mind that is conducive to going well and completing university. If this schedule is broken up and mixed with work, family, children and other responsibilities, it can be more difficult to maintain energy and enthusiasm required to perform well academically. If students are working in their study fields then they face less difficulty with job because work and study tends to reinforce each other and progress along similar paths.

Avoid Fast Food

You should stop buying fast food if you really want to save money. Definitely buying fast food is convenient but if you add up how much you spend on fast food each week then you will definitely find that this same amount can be stretched much further at a grocery store. You can prove to yourself that how much you can save by tracking your fast food spending just for a week. Use same amount of money at grocery store in following week. You will be surprised how much more you can get for each penny.

Stay On Campus

You should stay on campus because gassing up car to drive off campus can add up to a heavy price at pump. College campuses are designed to accommodate lifestyles of those who live there. If you can find a way to meet your needs in campus then don’t bother to leave.

Plan Efficient Trips

You can plan efficient off-campus trips. When you try to do everything in campus then ultimately you will need to leave for some change. You can significantly reduce your fuel cost by making these trips as productive as possible. Plan your expedition so that you can run all your off-campus errands in one trip. Better yet, bring your roommate along and split cost.

Use Secondhand Goods

You can take advantage of secondhand goods. You can buy secondhand text books but by assuming their proper edition. Likewise small kitchen appliances, clothing and even furniture which are easily available at local resale shops at prices well under retail and in well condition also. Garage sales are another excellent way to find secondhand bargains.

Learn Free Enjoyment Activities

You can learn what activities you can enjoy for free, instead of choosing entertainment that costs money. You should enjoy the culture of your college town and look for opportunities to visit local parks or museum. You must familiarize yourself with various free activities your local library offers. You can enjoy through social interactions without spending too much time and you can also state a night game with your friends.

After implementing money saving tips in your daily routine you should put money that you are saving into a bank account so that you will find it when you really need it.

1. Collect your all application documents and list of university requirements for application letter. You must consider what university is asking you to write about in your application letter.
2. You can create a rough outline of your application letter by writing down the points you want to address and organize them in a logical manner for your ease.
3. You should write your letter in first person because application letters are personal statements and it is acceptable to use “I” pronoun.
4. You can make your application memorable by including personal stories or anecdotes. You might want to cross all obstacles to apply for college or follow a role model who has inspired you to pursue higher education.
5. During writing your letter, refer to application-letter timely you were given by university. Every paragraph you write should relate to university requirements directly. Avoid rambling or using empty sentences.
6. Try to keep your statement brief and within word-count set forth by university. Keep your writing as concise as possible.
7. You should proofread your letter or have someone with proofreading skills to do so. Make corrections as needed.
8. Avoid overuse of “I” in application letter include it periodically to personalize letter.

Don’t exceed word count, which may propose you cannot follow directions. This does not bode well for university application.

]]> http://www.universities-in-europe.com/tip-to-write-an-application-letter-for-university.html/feed 0 http://www.universities-in-europe.com/tips-to-develop-online-course-policies-in-higher-education.html http://www.universities-in-europe.com/tips-to-develop-online-course-policies-in-higher-education.html#comments Fri, 09 Jul 2010 11:02:13 +0000 Albertwales http://www.universities-in-europe.com/?p=662 Online college degrees save students to barrel their way through traffic or sit in a stuffy class. Online courses are gaining popularity and higher education now looks a bit different as compared to decades ago. Online courses can unfamiliar territory for teachers and professors accustomed to classroom instruction. In development of online courses, it is crucial that certain policies are established and enforced. Designing policies for higher education online courses doesn’t have to be difficult, with just few adjustments to the process for developing traditional course policies you can develop an online course syllabus that will meet requirements of teachers and students. Both teachers and students can take benefit from set of guidelines and clear boundaries in online classroom.

1. You should check to see if university or college has comprehensive policies that relate to any classroom platform, whether online or residential. For example your educational institution should have convenience options for those with documented disabilities. These options will look diverse in distance learning environment. The Association on Higher Education and Disability has special interest Group pertaining to online and distance-learning students. Implementation of this policy will provide every student an excellent learning experience.
2. Every online coach should recognize and abide by a strict privacy policy. The U.S Department of Education offers information concerning to legislation and regulations of Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA). This policy is principally important for online environment due to possibility of technological mistakes. Guidelines need to ensure that they are emailing to correct students all times. A couple of wrong clicks of wrong button can seriously violate FERPA guidelines, which guarantee that student’s grades and professional information, are kept private and secure.
3. You should establish a firm academic honesty policy. Due to vagueness of online courses some students are tempted to cheat in exams and turn in someone else paper or try to copy past from outside source. The academic honesty policy should educate students about danger of plagiarism. In addition instructor should alert students about the use of plagiarism detection tools like SafeAssign or Turnitin.
4. To ensure that online classroom is structured and challenging the institute should clear classroom guidelines to students. It is important that students should stick to an attendance policy, assignment deadlines and high level of “netiquettes”. For example Blackboard is a popular online platform that offers AttendancePro. It can track student’s activities and progress through course. An instructor will feel a stronger connection to students with helpful tools. Classroom guidelines are important for both instructor and student as reasonable boundaries in an often impersonal environment.
5. You should make every policy highly accessible. Once a student logs in to his/her class, a clear list of every course policy should be available. The instructor ought to direct his/her students about policies when needed. This will ensure that online course is thorough, controlled and conducive to learning environment.

If your educational institution is in the process of launching its first online course then these policies can evolve over time. Always remember that new procedures require tweaking.

Prepare for Presentation

You should prepare ahead of time for oral presentation. You should take notes, conduct research and then practice speaking in front of mirror, a close friend or relative. You should be sure that you know all information and understand it. Some students can become anxious over the fact that they cannot know information as they should, as a result  students become overwhelmed and nervous on the day of actual presentation.

Dress Accordingly

You should dress accordingly while giving an oral presentation. For example if you are a business or law student and you are wearing a T-shirt with beach shorts during presentation then you will probably not be taken seriously. You should dress in business style cloths and act accordingly. A well dressed presenter can deliver a confident speech and other students will definitely learn from him/her.

Stay on Task

You must present only necessary slides, text or pictures during oral presentation. You should be sure to show each item in clear, concise and easily readable manner for other students or those who are attending this presentation. Refrain from over presenting a topic to the point where listeners will become restless or bored. Try to present only relative information, instead of adding fillers to gain a mandatory time limit that can be required by professors or teachers.

Create Connections

You should connect to other students during oral presentation. You should wait for questions that students can have, instead of getting up, giving a speech and then automatically sitting back down. If a particular student ask any question then you should clarify his/her point, address him/her with name before answering question. You should use chalk board or a dry erase board to write down keywords and emphasize on important points that you have been trying to convey to students.

Hand-Outs

You must offer handouts to students after oral presentation, unless there is something particular that needs to be addressed before end of speech. Sometimes giving these handouts to students before presentation is over will allure students into reading them and not paying attention to speaker. You should make it sure that information in handout is easy to read and key points of topic are highlighted for each student to see.

By following above mentioned tips you can make your oral presentation effective.

It is an important day for all students so you are in need to be fully prepared before going to college or university.

1. You should arrange transportation early in advance, so you are not late on this big day. You can do car pooling with other students because it is a great idea. This will provide you an opportunity to share your experiences and be stress free during your journey to the university.
2. You can pack some snacks in case you feel hungry. Although there will be places for food all around the campus but you may not have sufficient time to go there and buy food for yourself. Certain activities during an orientation are very time constrained and you don’t get enough time for break.
3. If it is a hot day then make sure to pack some water bottles. It is a good idea to take a bag pack with the stuff you can use like a note book, pencil, granola bars, napkins, document folders and other miscellaneous stuff.
4. If it is cold then make sure to take a jacket with you to keep you warm during the day and night. You should also check for weather updates before leaving. If it might rain then make sure to have your umbrella ready inside your bag pack.
5. It is also great idea to take your camera with you so you can take various pictures of new campus to make first day of college or university memorable. Make sure to make new friends and enjoy your time of orientation.

Facilitate Yourself with Best Education

You must give yourself best education as you can. Although genes answer for about 80 percent of your intelligence and education plays the next biggest role. You should develop different hobbies like reading and solving crossword puzzles, logic problems and jigsaw puzzles. You can enroll in continuing education courses. Make it a priority to learn at least one new thing every day.

Eat Like a Smart Person

A balanced diet helps in alleviating your brain chemistry which in turn makes you think more proficiently. Some certain foods are stand out as having most powerful brain boosting effects like fish that increases the speed of brain waves. Caffeine is also very helpful as it can speed up your synapses and improve your short-term memory.

Get Plenty of Quality Sleep

Various studies have shown that your brain remains very vigorous while you sleep. It process short term memories and filing them away into long-term storage, as well as performing other routine maintenance. You must aspire for 7-8 hours of sleeping every night to give your brain enough time to stay organized.

Avoid Alcohols

You must limit your consumption of alcohol and other intoxicants. The droning you feel from drinking alcohol is actually the result of dying brain cells which can never grow back.

Listen Classical Music

Various studies have shown that the brain’s spatial IQ improves for 10-15 minutes after listening classical music which commonly resembles brain waves in rhythm and timing. Although this so called Mozart Effect is highly contentious and has its share of cynics. The bottom line is listening classical music probably won’t make you any less intelligent, but it also may not have long term effects on your IQ.