Tuesday 23 September 2014

11 Resume Myths Busted: Realities Revealed


Crafting the perfect résumé is a hard-enough challenge before trying to factor in all the myths there are about the process. However, some of those common myths — including your résumé can't be more than one page or it's OK to have some white lies on your résumé — hold very little water among companies looking to hire employees. To separate fact from fiction, several experts gave the truth behind some of their favorite myths on what companies look for in a résumé. 
Myth: Grade point average is a top consideration
Truth: I don't even consider it when I am interviewing potential employees. I know that a 4.0 can mean that you took relatively easy classes to pad your GPA. I also am aware that you can be excellent in your major and have non-related topics destroy your GPA. For me, that was Spanish and statistics, neither of which is necessary or relevant in my chosen line of work. What I am more interested in is examples of your work as a showcase of your ability. – Shelli Dallacqua, president, Shelten Media
Myth: Résumés should be one page.
Truth: Résumés are allowed to be two pages unless you are stretching the information. One page just isn't enough, unless you are right out of school. — Jill MacFadyen, career and outplacement coach
Myth: Achievements should be highlighted in a separate section.
Truth: By separating accomplishments from the experience, recruiters are more likely to overlook this section. Instead, showcase them by bulleting them in the relevant sections. —David Hardtke, chief data scientist, Bright.com
Myth: Résumés should have your entire work history.
Truth: If you have been working for 30 years and the first few years were in an outside field, you can certainly drop selective things. Same thing is true about internships after you have 10 to 15 years of experience, unless those internships or prior employers and your work are awesome examples of what you are capable of or the employer's name itself may garner some interest. – Tiffani Murray, résumé writer and career coach, Personality on a Page
Myth: Your résumé should be general to increase your chances of getting a job.
Truth: Highly customized and targeted résumés are the only ones that are successful in securing interviews that can lead to job offers. Instead of marketing a general résumé, job seekers should take the time to do extensive research to understand the required skills, expertise, experience and qualifications for their job target. This information can used as a guideline for tailoring résumés and other marketing materials. – Abby Locke, executive career architect at Premier Writing Solutions
Myth: Paper résumés are enough.
Truth: LinkedIn is changing hiring. In another few years, employers will not be able to hire without it and the LinkedIn profile is replacing the need for a résumé. – Tom Armour, co-founder High Return Selection
Myth: Don't include social media information.
Truth: Because most recruiters are now visiting your publicly accessible social media pages anyway, it is a good practice to include them in your contact information on your résumé. Specifically, you should include a link to your LinkedIn profile. Just make sure to keep your social media pages consistent and professional. Information on your LinkedIn profile should match your résumé — be sure to check that dates of employment and other key facts are consistent. — Eric Semon, director of customer success Hiring Thing
Myth: White lies are OK
Truth: Honesty is the best and only policy.  A résumé is a factual history of your work experience. Do not embellish or overstate your accomplishments or responsibilities. Employers value integrity and you demonstrate that by being honest and forthright in all your interactions, starting with your résumé. Many companies will use outside firms to perform verifications with prior employers and schools. – Lynne Sarikas, director ofNortheastern University's MBA Career Center
Myth: A PDF is better than a Microsoft Word document
Truth: Résumés should not be posted in PDF format. PDFs can sometimes prevent keyword- scanning software on job boards or applicant-tracking systems from picking up critical information that allows you to be found or captured — in essence making you invisible. —Megan Pittsley-Fox, career coach, résumé writer and recruiter at Work Life Careers
Myth: A good résumé will get you a job.
Truth: A good résumé will get you an interview. Once you are in front of the hiring manager, you will need to sell yourself even better than the résumé sold you to gain the phone call. The résumé is only one step in the very involved job search process. – Melanie Denny, professional résumé writer and president Résumé Evolution
Myth: Don't sweat the small stuff on your résumé — a few grammatical errors or typos are expected.
Truth: Sweat the small stuff because it shows that you pay attention to detail, and are serious and professional. Otherwise, you come across as careless and most employers don't want to hire careless people.


Monday 22 September 2014

FIND THE FUND




Want to study abroad but concerned about how to finance your education?
Here are a few awards that can aid you in your pursuit of a degree in some countries
Studying abroad is an expensive proposition, but some financial support can ease your cost burden -completely, if you bag an all-expenses-paid scholarship. You can find a host of full or partial scholarships and fellowships for different levels of study, from various governments (including Indian), universities, trusts, companies and other organisations. A good point to start your search for funds is the website of the embassyhigh commission or the education promotion agency of the country you wish to study in or of the institution you intend to attend. Here is a small slice of numerous awards for international students in different parts of the world:

UNITED STATES
Fulbright-Nehru fellowships: These include a broad range of awards like the Master's, doctoral and postdoctoral fellowships among others. The fellowship benefits include J-1 visa support, round-trip economy class air travel from the fellow's home city to the host institution, fees, living and related costs. However, sometimes the fellowship may not cover the entire costs and the awardee may have to supplement grant benefits through other resources.
● Rotary scholarship: Rotary offers fully-funded academic fellowships to study at its peace centres in different parts of the world, including the US. These cover tuition and other fees, room and board, round-trip transportation and all internshipfield study expenses. The fellowships are for short-term courses as well as full-time Master’s lasting for 15-24 months with a practical internship.
● Inlaks Shivdasani Foundation scholarships: Meant for postgraduate (PG) level study in the US and in Europe, the scholarship pays for tuition fees, living expenses and one-way travel for a specified period. In the case of specific programmes, the financial coverage would be discussed directly with the candidate.
UNITED KINGDOM
● Commonwealth scholarship and fellowship plan: The scholarships are for PhD programmes of up to three years’ duration (one year for a split PhD), one-year taught Master’s and six months of clinical training. These are for engineering and technology, science (pure and applied), agriculture, social sciences and the humanities. Winners receive funding for economy, return international travel, tuition fee and maintenance and other allowances.
The fellowships are for postdoctoral study.
● GREAT scholarships: GREAT provides 370 scholarships worth about Rs 100 million to Indian students in 260 undergraduate (UG) and PG courses at 36 UK institutions. The award value varies from institute to institute.
● Gates Cambridge scholarships: This covers the full cost of studying for a full-time PG degree in any subject at Cambridge. Apart from the airfare, visa costs and tuition fee, students receive a maintenance allowance. They may apply for discretionary grants like family allowance, academic development funding, among others, as well.
● Rhodes scholarships India: Funding PG study at Oxford, this award provides for all fees, a personal stipend, private health insurance and airfare costs.
EUROPEAN UNION
Erasmus+ scholarships: These fully-funded awards cover all costs including travel, living, insurance and visa. Under Erasmus+, India is a partner country, permitting Indian universities to link up with their European counterparts to become a member in a consortium.


AUSTRALIA
Australia awards: Funded by the Australian government, these international scholarships and fellowships offer the next generation of global leaders an opportunity to undertake study, research and professional development.
● International postgraduate research scholarships (IPRS): These scholarships are aimed at international students to pursue a PG research qualification in Australia and gain experience with leading Australian researchers.
● Joint academic scholarships online network (JASON): Developed jointly by a number of universities, it is meant to assist PG aspirants find information regarding funding opportunities through various scholarship programmes run through universities, charitable foundations, government and private institutions

NEW ZEALAND
New Zealand India sports scholarships: These were recently launched for Indian students intending to study Bachelor's degrees, graduate diplomas or PG sports-related programmes at New Zealand universities, institutes of technology and polytechnics in 2015.
A New Zealand government funding scheme means that all international PhD students accepted for enrolment in New Zealand pay a substantially reduced tuition fee.

 Source - times of india sep 22

Thursday 18 September 2014

Bright kids fly out with scholarships



Funding Comes From Cambridge, LSE and Ivy League Universities
For the cream of Bangalore schools, the world is in their pocket. It's raining    scholarships, making the foreign education dream all too real.
Students of the class of 2014 at the International School Bangalore (TISB) have got a whopping $9.1 million in scholarships to study in foreign universities. Anindya Sharma from National Public School, Indiranagar, got a 100% scholarship at the prestigious Cambridge University .
“The scholarships are from prominent universities like London School of Economics, Russell Group Universities, UK, Stanford University , California Institute of Technology . The scholarships are only going up every year,“ said NPS chairman K P Gopalakrishna. At Canadian International School, all 54 students have got scholarships to the tune of $1.6 million, said school executive director Shweta Sastri.The story is no different at Indus International School (IIS) where at least 50 students have got $4.22 million to study undergraduate pro grammes at foreign universities. Lt. Gen (retd) Arjun Ray , CEO of IIS, said the quality of teaching, job opportunities abroad and research facilities in these universities is attracting students.
Interestingly , it's not just UK and the US. At Greenwood High International School (GHIS), 15 students have obtained scholarships worth $1.7 million. GHIS trustee Niru Agarwal said students are also heading to Singapore.
This year, around 20% of students got scholarships at Inventure Academy. Nooraine Fazal, managing trustee and co-founder of IA, said the entire four-year programme got a $350,000 scholarship while last year's scholarshipamount was significantlylower.The scholarships take care of tuition fee and living expenses, she added.
Santanu Das, principal of Sarala Birla Academy, said, “Around 60% of our students got the scholarship, approximately each student got $5,000 in scholarship on which they will go abroad to pursue UG courses in industrial engineering, journalism, sound system and other subjects.“
THIS HIGH SCORER IS ON A ROLL
Clocking 97.6% in his Class 12 examination, Anindya Sharmafrom NPS Indiranagar bagged the Dr Manmohan Singh Award given by the Cambridge Trust. The 100% scholarship from the prestigious Cambridge University takes care of his tuition fee and boarding.
Winning is second nature for him. He won the bronze medal and a Best Solution award at the World Olympiad in Beijing, and was placed among the top 1% at the Physics Olympiad. “I'm taking up a four-year course in computer science and mathematics at Cambridge. I had to choose between IIT Chennai, IISc Bangalore, Indian Statistical Institute, Chennai Mathematical Institute and Cambridge. I'm looking forward to do research in computer science with mathematics once I complete my course,“ he told TOI.



Source : TOI 18th Sep 2014