7 Things To Keep in Mind Before Opting For a Start-Up

Who doesn’t want to step away from modern slavery- corporate firms suppressing your ideas and stealing your peace of mind while paying you peanuts in return?

Not everyone is built for the corporate culture, and with more and more people opting to start their business ventures, the startup culture is trending everywhere.

But startups can be tricky for the very reason that the idea is so popular and widespread. The entire process is also very challenging and result-driven.

Here are a few things that you should keep in mind before opting for a startup.

Networks:

You need to up your networking game by meeting as many like-minded people as possible- investors, strategists, entrepreneurs and industry experts- and look to these people for their inputs and assistance. This will increase your expertise in the field.

Review:

You need to make sure that you have a brilliant and innovative idea to act on, even if it means second-guessing, speculating and asking others for feedback.

You need to get an idea of how sellable your business is before you decide to launch it.

Assume:

You never really know what assumptions may work for you. You never know how successful your idea could turn out to be.

So feel free to assume some things and then look for unusual solutions for various issues. Even if your assumption turns out wrong, you will only learn from the mistake.

Competition:

Look for options that lesser people are opting for because trending startup options will be full of competition, and establishing yourself in those fields will be difficult.

Problems:

The initial stages focus more on solving the smaller issues than tackling the big problems.

Demand and Supply:

A careful market review will make you realize what product is in high demand by the people. If you can capitalize on this data, you will surely be successful.

Funding:

Always keep your funding options handy, as none of your ideas will ever manifest into reality without capital. Whether it is crowdfunding or sponsors, you should always be prepared.  

Now that you know these tips, set out to conquer the startup world!

15 Tricky Google Interview Questions

Competitive tech giants like Google are known for asking the weirdest, puzzling, most convoluted questions that are designed to test your ability to perform under pressure.

Unlike other jejune job interview questions, these questions will force you to use your critical thinking skills and gauge your problem-solving capabilities.

Having said that, some of their questions were so tricky that they had to be banned from being asked!

Every year, Glassdoor, a career website, publishes a list of the most bizarre questions asked by some of the biggest tech companies including Google.

These are our top 15 picks of the trickiest questions Google has asked in their interviews:

1. “Why are manhole covers round?”

2. “Design an evacuation plan for the building.”

3. “Name a prank you would pull on x manager if you were hired.”

4. “How many ways can you think of, to find a needle in a haystack?”

5. “Estimate the number of tennis balls that can fit into a plane.”

6. “Describe Adwords to a seven-year-old.”

7. “How much should you charge to wash all the windows in Seattle?”

8. “Explain the significance of ‘dead beef’.”

9. “How many piano tuners are there in the entire world?”

10. “How many times a day does a clock’s hands overlap?”

11. “Do you have an IQ of more than 130?”

12. “What is the weight of the empire state building?”

13. “Tell me what happened when a man pushed his car to the hotel and lost his fortune?”

14. “How would you solve homelessness in downtown San Francisco?”

15. “How many cars travel across a bridge each day?”

Most of us would have never even mused over these things. Pat yourself if you could crack some of these questions without looking at the answers.

Wish you all the luck if you’re preparing for an equally tough interview.

Do let us know if you ever land yourself a job with one of the best employers in America, Google!

3 Ways to Become a Successful Entrepreneur

Most entrepreneurs began small. With limited resources, limited experience and miniature teams, they just had one resource- persistence. It isn’t a one-day job to be a successful entrepreneur. It takes grit, interpersonal skills, expertise, and relentless efforts to be at the top of the market.

And things may go awry, but then you got to maintain your calm. A positive approach, humility, perseverance, and an organized outlook towards your business will enable you to be at the top of the game.

Here are a few tips on being a successful entrepreneur:

Be passionate about your work:

Your efforts will be half-hearted if you don’t love what you do. Entrepreneurship thrives on passion. You need to have the conviction to go the extra mile for your business enterprise. If you don’t believe in your idea yourself, you can’t sell it to others.

So keep at it, and never lose the respect you have for your job. You may encounter obstacles, but that shouldn’t impact your drive in any way.

Small steps are the key:

Don’t take huge leaps, or you’ll come further backwards from where you started. Some people invest their entire capital in one venture and achieve success, but it’s a matter of luck and achieving success like that is not very common.

Constantly evaluate your risks, and start small. This will help you analyze your venture, and you will be able to manage any losses easily while gaining experience in the bargain.

Small accomplishments are always better than huge failures.

Take a cue from other entrepreneurs:

Learn from the success and failure stories of other entrepreneurs. Spend a few years under the tutelage of an experienced and successful entrepreneur or business mentor.

Apply for an internship or be a part of their team. This will help you pick up nuances and set your enterprise with all the knowledge in hand.

Well, hope these tips get you started in the right direction.

5 Tips for Quick Decision-Making

Decision-making can be a severe challenge for some people when priorities are messed up; making those choices can drive us insane.

But like everything else in life, decision-making is a systematic and logical process.

Here are a few tips to make good and quick decisions to avoid missing out on the more incredible things in life.

Make a deadline:

Set a time frame for making your decisions. The pressure of this deadline will prompt you to quickly weigh the pros and cons of a situation before concluding.

This will force you to act quickly, and you can also set a timer on your phone to achieve this. This helps you to stay alert and make decisions quickly.

Make it about extremes:

In certain situations, there are many options for you to weigh in. You might want to explore grey areas, which make it even more confusing to reach a decision.

Just compartmentalize your choices into good or bad. In this case, make it about black and white. This helps narrow down your options and make better decisions much quicker.

Pick it out randomly:

This seems kiddish, but it works when your decision is too hard to make. Write all your possible choices on separate pieces of paper, fold them up, put them in a jar, shuffle, and pick out one chit from the lot.

This random selection will help you make a choice, especially when there’s little difference between the alternatives.

You could also do this by choosing the priority of tasks you’re least willing to perform.

Make it all about now:

Don’t base your decisions on long-term goals. Sometimes looking at the bigger picture can make you choose the wrong things in life. This also exhausts you mentally as you start over-analyzing your alternatives.

Just keep yourself armed for the situation at hand and decide what suits your present interests best. If you keep pondering the future, you will lose out on your present.

Be prepared for the worst:

One thing that keeps us from making a decision is the fear of a negative outcome. This leads to overthinking, and we put off the decision for later.

This means that we no longer have control over our lives. This is worse than a bad choice. Fear of failure should not keep us from deciding the course of our lives.

Please take it in your stride and have the courage to face any outcome that comes your way.

6 Tips to Relax During Exams

Exam days are full of stress and panic, especially when you haven’t studied all year. Exams can give you nightmares, so it is better to relax while preparing.

Here are a few tips on how to do so:

Work out as much as possible:

This helps reduce your cortisol levels and shoots up your endorphin levels. This also increases the blood flow to your brain hence increasing your concentration.

Eat healthy:

Avoid sugary and fattening foods. This leads to drowsiness and lethargy. Have a high-protein breakfast with green vegetables and healthy sprouts for lunch.

This will keep you active and refreshed. Avoid caffeinated drinks and look for other alternatives.

Keep yourself hydrated:

Avoid caffeinated drinks and drink copious amounts of water. This will help you focus for longer intervals, and you’ll be less drained out.

You can also have coconut water which is an excellent hydrant. This will keep you fresh for a long time.

Spend time outdoors:

Go outside your room and breathe some fresh air. Spend some time in the garden. This keeps you refreshed and stress-free and also helps you focus better when you’re back to your books.

Sleep well and take more breaks:

Take a 15 minute break every one hour. Otherwise, whatever you study will vanish, and you’ll not be able to retain anything. And, never pull off an all-nighter.

Lack of sleep will leave you less energetic to write an exam the next day. The brain needs 7 to 8 hours of good sleep to perform well on exam day. Make sure your room is dark and cool when you sleep.

Don’t Cram:

Don’t mug up your syllabus at the last moment. A large amount of syllabus will increase your stress, and whatever you study will escape your memory in no time.

So approach every topic proactively without rushing or urging to cram it up.

If you have exams anytime soon, do follow these tips.

How To Dress For An Interview: Important Dressing Tips

To create the best first impression, you should wear the appropriate outfit for your interview. Interviewers spend only a few minutes with each candidate, and they form opinions within seconds after looking at the candidate.

While the dress code may be different with each company, you must follow some general guidelines if you want to be hired after the interview.

Interview Dressing Tips

You should choose your interview outfit based on the employer, location and time of the year. When in doubt, choose traditional outfits.

  • Men can always choose dark-coloured suits with matching ties to create a good impression. In most cases, dressing down is not appropriate.
  • Women have various options, but you should be comfortable with what you wear. Suits are always a safe bet, but make sure that the skirt is long enough to sit comfortably.
  • You can also wear other workplace outfits if suits are not your style.
  • Professional hairstyles are best for interviews as they appear less messy.
  • While choosing accessories, ensure that they are not loud. A briefcase or interview bags are more appropriate than a purse or a clutch.
  • The interview is not the right place to make a fashion statement, and your dressing style should be elegant. If you have piercings, remove them and wear an earring maximum.
  • Cover up your tattoos if they showcase your wild lifestyle.
  • Your attire must be properly washed and pressed before the interview.
  • Your shoes should be clean and polished.
  • Keep your hair and nails appropriately trimmed ahead of the interview.

Professional dressing shows your interest in respecting yourself, interviewers and the company. Dressing wisely also increases the chances of landing the job if all other things go well!

Top Tips to Get a Promotion

In this competitive world, every person is in the serious hunt for a better life than they presently live. For this, immediately after their studies, they tirelessly try to get hired in any job of their course.

After attaining the job, their next immediate target would be promotion.

Getting a promotion is not that easy for any normal employee. They need to have perfect planning, which must be strategically followed over time.

Here are a few steps that can be followed to get promoted to the hierarchy level.

Prove yourself:

The first thing which is very much needed for any employee to get promoted is dedication. He needs to prove himself among all. He needs to be unique where the exact needs to be reflected in his work.

Seniors support:

For any junior employee, senior support is essential for him to develop in his work and grow in the company.

He needs to design his work, which must synchronize with the senior official’s goals. If he proves himself and satisfies them, there are many probabilities to top the promotion list.

Backup plan:

If he has worth in his work, there would be many doors which invite him to work in their company with the better packages.

So, he can demand his senior officials to hike the salary package and even the promotion.

Hope these tips showed you a clear picture of what you need to do next.

 

Qualities of A Great Boss At Work

While hiring candidates for your company, an attractive salary package will increase their interest in your company. Once these candidates become your employees, your job as a boss is to make sure they love their workplace.

Most of the employee’s rate job satisfaction higher than their remuneration package. They would want to work for a great boss even for slightly lower pay, and they won’t be ready to put up with a monster even if the salary is good.

Qualities of an Ideal Boss

He is passionate and inspiring

As a boss, you have to inspire and lead your team. Show your passion for your company, and your employees will reflect your attitude.

Nobody wants to work for a boss who doesn’t care if the company moves forward.

Communicates effectively

Create an environment where the employees can communicate without any hassle or restriction. Most of the problems can be solved with effective communication.

Employees who feel that their voices are heard will be naturally motivated to be better at their jobs.

He is honest

Modern-day organizations follow a flat hierarchy to encourage forward-thinking. Being honest with your opinions will encourage your employees to trust you even more.

Appreciate your employees where the credit is due and point out the mistakes without being rude. Your employees will be happier because they do not have to figure out what you mean.

Encourages work-life balance

Photo by cottonbro from Pexels

Your employees are humans, and they need to be satisfied with their jobs. It is possible only if you provide a platform that offers work-life balance.

Respect your employees and let them know that you value their time and effort as a leader.

Employees are the vital resource of your organization, and your qualities will determine whether they excel or fail at their job.

How to Keep Cool in Interviews?

Getting nervous right before your interview is exceptionally normal. However, sweaty palms, flushed face, and shaky voice won’t help you get your dream job. You have to learn how to stay calm to cope with the uncomfortable reactions of your body.

The nervousness will increase multiple times if you appear for an interview for the first time without any experience.

Let us help you with some tips that will help you to stay calm during your interview.

How can You Keep Calm during Interviews?

Prepare properly

Lack of preparation is one of the common reasons for anxiety before an interview. Ensure that you prepare thoroughly for the discussion, learning about the company and job requirements.

Conduct a mock interview in front of the mirror. Rehearsing your speech will help you with the natural flow during the interview.

Develop a positive attitude

Positivity will help you greatly in getting your dream job. If you can visualize your success, you can achieve it.
It will also help you display your confidence and keep your face relaxed.

Learn relaxation techniques

Despite all the preparation, you can get interview jitters just minutes before the interview. Learning relaxation techniques will help you calm your nerves and reduce the stress hormone.

You can listen to soothing music and learn relaxation breathing to relax anywhere.

Get enough sleep

It can be hard to fall asleep the night before the interview, but a good night’s rest will help you to wake up refreshed in the morning. Always try to schedule the interview in the morning to focus on the interview energetically.

Having a light breakfast will help you to concentrate on the job interview instead of thinking about getting a break to eat.

That’s it. Just maintain your calm and take your time before answering any question.

Good luck, go ace it.

What are the Problems faced by Most Job Seekers?

Many people believe that it is very easy to find a job as the process has become very simple and convenient thanks to technology. Many job portals maintain a website where organizations post their vacancies.

A job seeker needs to read the job posts, decide which one he wants to apply for, and click the necessary options.

But things are often not that simple! Why?

Well, for starters they are a lot of problems that are faced by job seekers from time to time.

Major Problems faced by Job Seekers

Insufficient Salary

The income or salary the job position offers often determines whether a job seeker wants to join a company. But many companies do not provide sufficient salaries as they already have many people competing for a job position.

Inadequate Information

Lack of information is also a problem faced by job seekers. Sometimes companies will not provide the expected salary range and leave comments like “as per industry standards” or “negotiable” in the pay column.

It is a negative approach and does not give the candidate a clear picture of the expectations.

Lack of Comprehensive Opportunities

Job seekers also find a lack of adequate opportunities. There are many online job portals, but very few of them are regularly updated. The candidates who search for jobs extensively may lack comprehensive opportunities.

Stiff Competition

The number of people actively looking for a job is enormous. According to Glassdoor, a single job offer from a corporate gets around 250 resumes.

The high competition puts off many promising candidates, and they get discouraged in the recruitment process.

Delay in Communication

Sometimes companies take a long time to communicate with the candidates about the results of an interview. It leads them to look for other opportunities even when they have cleared the interview.

These are the troubles that a job seeker can run into when looking for a Job. More effort is required from employers and the recruitment agencies to counter the problems except for the high competition which cannot be addressed.

But despite all the troubles and challenges job seekers face, you should never stop looking.