The importance of a strong CV

Senior executives looking to further their careers during 2008 may be overlooking their best asset – their own CV.

Boardroom appointment experts, Directorbank say four out of five CVs they receive are unlikely to secure an interview in today’s competitive market.

 

Directorbank have found that 20% of their candidates initially undersell their achievements by listing what they have done, rather than the impact they had on a business and the challenges they overcame.

 

High quality candidates seeking a new appointment or a portfolio career in private equity backed businesses and the wider corporate market may not have written a formal resume of their experience for many years. Candidates used to being headhunted for top jobs often assume a successful track record speaks for itself.

World’s largest suspension bridge to connect Africa and Asia

Tarek Mohammed Bin Laden, half-brother of Osama Bin Laden and head of the Saudi-based Bin Laden Group, has unveiled plans for a £10 billion mega-project designed to connect the Asian and African continents across the Red Sea.

Under the proposal, a 17 mile bridge dubbed ‘bridge of the century’, with a centre span of 3.1 miles, will cross the strait of Bab el Mandeb. The bridge will consist of a viaduct connecting Yemen to the island of Perim, followed by a 2 mile overland stretch, before the final 13 mile link across the Red Sea to Djibouti, including an 8 mile suspension bridge as its centrepiece. Once completed, this new suspension bridge will outstrip the 2.4 mile Akashi-Kaikyo Bridge in Japan as the longest suspension bridge in the world and will include a highway and railway, allowing the daily transport of 50,000 rail passengers and 100,000 cars across one of the busiest shipping lanes in the region.

Construction work on the project is to include the development of luxury twin cities at either end of the bridge with the aim of promoting economic development in both Yemen and Djibouti and generating at least 100,000 jobs. Not only will the proposed bridge directly benefit the economies of the two countries, but by providing a direct transport link between Asia and Africa, it is also hoped that trade in Middle East fuel-stuffs as well as African crops, raw materials and services will be greatly facilitated.

The involvement of the Bin Laden family in the project has however raised unease over potential US investment in the project. However, although currently at the design stage, Noor City Development Corporation of Napa Valley, California, has agreed to build the ‘bridge of the century’ scheme. Construction work is expected to take 9 years for completion, while support will be provided by the presidents of both Djibouti and Yemen, along with the land required for the project.

My First Job Interview

Hello readers,

Please give me some of your time; I would love to share my first job interview experience with you. I actually was invited to a firm run by someone I admire so so much because of the kind of inspirations I derive from him. On getting there, though I couldn’t make it first thing in the morning like most interviews, I was welcomed by what I may say cold faces. Someone met with me, since I couldn’t talk with the MD who invited me over as he was busy (they are always busy). He just asked a few questions for what I came for and told me to wait. I was thinking I was waiting to see the MD but no, this man came back after about 30 minutes and said I was actually to meet with him in about 15 minutes. So out of idleness, and I took my phone, thank God for GPRS, I got on the internet. While I was checking up on my mail, a thought came to me, what if this is an interview what would I say I knew about their company? Immediately I changed address and searched for their company website. While I was digging through their profiles, he came back holding a piece of paper and said “alright Tope I would like to learn a few things about you”. My mind was thinking ‘why do I have to tell you about myself’, but I saw seriousness in the whole thing and I sat up. The company site still loading more pages on my phone, I had to put it off. “Tell me about yourself”. It now dawned on me that this must be HR here, this is an interview.

Scruffy, Ill prepared and Negative: Today’s Jobseeker?

The UK is a nation of flustered interviewees. Job hunters are arriving for interviews across the country late, unprepared and scruffy. Research released today from Onrec has highlighted the seven deadly sins candidates are most likely to commit in interviews.

The Seven deadly interview sins:

• Not doing your homework – Not preparing for the interview or doing any background research on the company
• Negativity – Criticizing and being unprofessional about their current employer or colleagues
• Boredom – Chewing gum on arrival and showing a lack of enthusiasm
• Arrogance – Being arrogant, over-confident and pushy
• Sexism – Not shaking the interviewer’s hand, especially if they are female
• Inappropriate dress – Body decorations including piercing, tattoos etc
• Bad first impressions – Poorly written and designed CVs are a huge turn-off

This research, conducted amongst 1,013 UK recruiters reveals the extent to which candidates are not doing themselves justice. Over three quarters (80%) of those surveyed said candidates with bad breath or unkempt hair blow their chances of selection before even entering the interviewing room and those who arrive late or are unenthusiastic about the role cut their chances even further. Two thirds (60%) cited little things such as having a weak handshake and not enough knowledge about the company as factors that can send CVs crashing to the bottom of the pile.

The research also reveals almost half (48%) of recruiters are still receiving CVs by post compared to more efficient and savvy methods such as email.

source: ICE recruit news

IMPACTS OF CELL SITES ON THE ENVIRONMENT

Pressing issues as sustainable development, especially dealing with telecommunications and the environment we live in, is an important topic for discussion. This research note may be viewed on request. 

Abstract
Development is no doubt facilitated by some industrial activities. The ecosystem has always been challenged by these, and activities such as wireless telecommunication and technology are now common place around the world. Much of this technology relies on radio frequencies and the concern is that exposure to such electromagnetic fields may have significant impacts on the environment.

Fixed antennas or base stations form a core spot on the wireless technology platform. Wireless local area networks (WLANs) are increasingly installed in homes, offices and public places to allow for high speed internet access and services.

Alteration to the balance of the ecosystem when locating and constructing cell sites is worth reviewing. Epidemiological concerns such as increase in brain cancer, leukemia and other cancers, cardiac, neurological and reproductive health effects are also worth enumerating. There is a question of waste management as a result of abandoned or old telecommunication equipment as new technology produces new devices and an issue of air pollution from the exhaust of the energy generation facilities especially in developing
countries.

British Chevening Scholarship

I received a mail about the above mentioned issue from someone at the British council here in Nigeria, it says that Application for 2008/2009 Chevening Scholarship will be opened around 1, May 2007, and preliminary application forms will be available for collection from any of the British Council Offices in Lagos , Abuja , Kano and Port-Harcourt at no cost.

Find the basic requirement for the Chevening Scholarship below:

• First Degree (Minimum of Second Class Upper Division)
• Established in a career/work experience with potential to make positive impact on the future of Nigeria
• Aged between 25-40(men) and 25-45(Women)
• Funding is for post graduate studies only.

Stay tuned and good luck.

Young engineers’ shift

culled up from ASCE international newsletter

“Those young engineers who strive to no longer be engineers,” Le Figaro (online), February 28, 2007— For several years now, more and more engineering graduates in France are looking to work in other fields such as banking, finance, accounting, consulting, or marketing, among others, to reap the higher salaries found there, according to an article in the French newspaper Le Figaro. A recent study indicates that graduates of scientific and technical fields hold almost 20% of the positions in such other professions. One major consulting firm plans to seek half its 850 recruits among engineers. A representative of the firm praises these graduates as possessing the talent for synthesis and rigor, traits prized among consultants, according to the article. For some engineering graduates,

Who are you?

Personality Quiz – Strengths
Hello folks, my apologies on you not seeing articles earlier, just been a little tied up. Don’t worry; I have a very interesting piece here for you. Wow! It’s called the personality quiz and it is aimed at helping us to get to know the type of person we really are. Please read the directions on how to answer

Directions: In each of the following rows of four words across, choose one word that most often applies to you. Continue through all the lines; be sure an answer is chosen against each number. If you are not sure of which word “most applies” ask your spouse or friend to check through the blog and answer it on your behalf, or just think of what your answer would have been when you were a child. Please compose your answers in a comment or mail me at twiznigeria@gmail.com; I‘ll send you your personality assessment and profile.

Hello world!

Imagine a world without worries, imagine a car running on water, imagine the earth without gravity. All things are possible. On this blog, we are not limited to conventional perceptions of tradition. There is nothing to high enough to reach, all things are really possible.

 

My name is ‘tope, I run this blog. I hope to share with you relevant issues as may concern our right to living the life we have imagined. I believe I can be a spark to ignite the fire of change and progress to the citizens of our world. As you flip through the articles, kindly express your judgments or say perceptions on what you feel about the whole blog and it‘s contents.

 

Just today, I saw myself writing an essay – a world bank essay, that was advertised on my faculty‘s notice board. Though I wrote the topic down the first time I saw it. In my mind, I honestly thought it was far-fetched to write an international essay. Some days ago, out of curiosity I went researching the topic, possible information concerning such, and steps to answering it. I began to see how possible it was to do anything you set out to achieve