Thursday, August 30, 2007

Language Skills

Effective communication is essential in any job; if you are searching for a job, it becomes even more important. Language skills are very important, and can make the difference between success and failure in a job search. Because language skills are so critically important, this article includes some vital information to keep in mind regarding your language skills.

The native language that someone speaks-be it English, Spanish, French or even Swahili- is of course the main way that communication with others in their culture takes place. When looking to fill an open job, employers are always looking for someone who has the language skills to interact productively with co-workers, subordinates and superiors. This is why it is so important to speak your native language exceptionally well. Without solid language skills, a person is prejudged to be less educated than they actually are, and that spells disaster when searching for a job.

Beyond this, if you do happen to get the job, not being able to properly tell others something can lead to mistakes on the job, and in the worst cases, can lead to expensive mistakes, injuries, or even death. If someone cannot tell someone something in the case of an emergency, it can truly be a tragedy. This leads to the consideration of language skills in a second language.

Your chances of a successful job search can be greatly increased if you can speak a second language well. Especially in light of the increasing cultural diversity that so many countries are encountering given the modern world where people routinely relocate in search of better opportunities, the average person is bound to find themselves working with people who speak another language, causing a communication problem. If you are able to speak a second language well, this will be a huge plus in terms of the job search itself. As a matter of fact, those who are fluent in a second language often are able to secure well paying jobs in government, law enforcement, and more because of their ability to bridge the language barrier and simply get things done effectively and correctly. Language skills, as you can see, are not limited simply to one's native tongue.

If you do not have solid language skills, do not despair. There are a wide variety of resources available that can help someone to either sharpen skills in their own language or expand their abilities by learning to speak a second language fluently. If the second language that a person wishes to speak is in high demand in a given profession or community, many times, free training in the language can be obtained. Jobs can even be obtained upon the promise of learning a given language.

Be flexible, and take the chance- it could be the break that you are seeking! To sum it up, the more language skills you can develop, the better off you will be, whether you are looking for a new job or simply to improve your image in the eyes of others. To communicate well is to relate to others in a new way, and it will definitely be worth the effort.

Tuesday, August 28, 2007

Worker Skills and Job Requirements

understanding of the issues. In fact, the very existence of a skills
mismatch or skills shortage may be in doubt and is by no means as
obvious as often asserted.
The somewhat limited and not completely consistent data currently
available actually suggest that there is no evidence of declining
skill levels in the U.S. workforce. Although growth in educational
attainment decelerated in recent decades and cognitive test
scores are not much higher than 30 years ago, skill demands have
risen only gradually over time, with little direct evidence of any
recent acceleration in skill demands linked to growth in wage inequality.
Employers do complain about the skills of young workers
and high-school-educated workers, but it is unclear whether they
are dissatisfied mainly with workers’ cognitive skills or rather with
their effort and attitude. Also unclear is whether the decline in
workforce quality is a transitory, life-cycle problem of young adults
in general or a problem they will bear for all of their work lives, or
whether it applies only to some fraction of disadvantaged minorities.
Perhaps surprisingly, a lack of computer and other high-level
skills are not oft-cited complaints, despite the frequent focus on
computers as a principal source of skills change. Furthermore, the
claims of accelerating demand for college graduates also do not
seem to reflect employers’ expressed needs.
This study aims to improve understanding of the issues involved
in the skills mismatch debate. The first chapter provides some background
and an overview of the skills mismatch issue. The following
chapters review research on levels and trends in the skills workers
possess, the skills employers demand, and the evidence for skill
shortages or mismatches between the two. This tripartite structure
is dictated by the nature of the data, which precludes a unified treatment
of the question. There is limited reliable and representative
data on workforce competencies, even less on job demands, and
the evidence in each area is largely incommensurable. The need
for a standard, common set of measures for worker skills and job
skill requirements is the one key finding that emerges from this
review of the existing data.

Your Personal Skills

Knowing Yourself and Others

Paradigms

How Our Mind Works

Mental Maps

Perceptions

Myers-Briggs Type Indicator

Building Relationships

Effective Communication

Connecting with People

Establishing Trust

Face-to-Face Communication

Talking

Body Language

Listening

Active Listening

Asking Effective Questions

Influencing People

Rapport - the Key to Influence

Persuading People

Become a Master of Persuasion

Leadership

Leadership Attributes

18 Lessons for Leaders

Strategic Leadership Lessons

What Empathy Got To Do With It?

Coaching

Selecting an Appropriate Style

The Ask/Tell Repertoire

Coaching by Questions

Observing People

Negotiating

Taking Different Perceptual Positions

Conflict Resolution

Ten-Step Guideline - a Yoga Approach

Cultural Intelligence (CQ)

World Cultures

Eastern vs. Western Philosophy

Managing Cross-Cultural Differences

Yin and Yang

Integral Yoga

Enneagrams

Define Personal Skills!

The BBC is wondering about the way the French are keeping themselves slim. The first headline in the BBC Daily News is about "Fat-free France". Headlines seem interesting to mention in this post. News is based on coverage by the headline "Aged 11, I was too big for Paris" written by Caroline Wyatt from the BBC News, Paris. Skilled writing with catching headlines proves to be more clickable than dead writings.

Now if you look to it from this prospective which appears on those blogs I am publishing daily and connecting them together, you'll get the insight to healthy blogging. To your pleasure.