4 Ways to Improve Your Marketability for Better Pay

Are you trying to improve your financial and career situation? Maybe you want a promotion, or you are trying to get a job. Perhaps you are trying to start a side business and want to let others know how valuable you are. No matter what you are trying to accomplish specifically, you need to improve your marketability if you expect to have success. You can’t expect others to hire you or pay you more money if you aren’t an attractive option.

If you are looking for ways to enhance yourself, and show your value to an employer, prospective employer, or a potential client, here are 4 ways to improve your marketability:

1. Develop an Area of Expertise

In most cases, being an expert in a specific area is more important than knowing a bit about everything, as many employers are looking for an expert in a particular area. If you can develop an expertise in an area that is in demand, your marketability goes up. Prove your expertise and capability in a certain area, and you might receive the raise you are looking for. As an expert, you are more likely to be in demand, and command higher pay.

2. Learn to Express Yourself Well

Increasingly, it’s becoming important to express yourself well. Develop better writing and speaking skills, and you will prove more valuable to your organization. Additionally, being able to express yourself confidently and well can aid you in salary negotiations, and other situations. Knowing the right thing to say, and how to say it, can open doors, whether you are interviewing for a new position, or whether you are making a business presentation to investors.

3. Act Like a Professional

Whatever the standard of professionalism in your field, make sure you adhere to it. You need to act like a professional if you want respect. A professional is punctual, acts appropriately, and is competent. When you act like a professional, you are more likely to be seen as an asset to an employer or a client. These days, acting like a professional also includes the information on your social media profiles.

Try to avoid making unprofessional comments during in-person conversations, and think about your posts before you make them. Remember that your Twitter rant about how much you hate your boss could make someone else think twice about hiring you in the future, for fear that you will say something unflattering about the company or the job.

4. Show a Positive Attitude

You might be surprised at how marketable you can be when you have a better attitude. Someone with a positive, can-do attitude is more likely to get the promotion or land the freelance gig than someone who is negative. This doesn’t mean that you have to put on a falsely cheery face. A positive person is one who looks forward, and is ready to solve problems. It’s about considering best practices, and showing confidence in your abilities. It’s also about motivating others to do good work. Show a positive attitude and professionalism, and you will be more marketable — and that means you are more likely to get that raise, or land a better job.

Maximize your PC performance with TuneUp

Speedtest.net: Because Speed Matters

 

Are you getting what you have paid for? By using Speedtest.net, you can consistently verify if your Internet service provider is delivering the connection speed they promised.


Sign up for a free account to more easily track your Speedtest.net results from multiple computers. It will also enable you to create Speed Waves, manage your test history, label and group your connections and reserve a unique Speedtest.net nickname!


MOBILE:


Get Speedtest.net for your mobile device.


BECOME A HOST:


Host a Speedtest.net testing server in your area.


SPEEDTEST.NET MINI:


Put a mini version of speedtest.net on your site.


Speedtest.net puts the most sophisticated broadband testing and analysis tools into the hands of anyone interested in finding out just how connected they actually are. This free service from Ookla opens hundreds of testing locations around the world to anyone curious about the performance of their Internet connection. Use our service to view your service's performance history, then share and compare with others near you - or around the globe.


Performing over 50 million tests every month, Speedtest.net is the global standard in Internet connection testing. Available on the web and on the iPhone and Android mobile platforms, the data collected powers the unparalleled global broadband statistics site Net Index where you can browse top bandwidth speed by country, or narrow down statistics to very specific locations.

Blogger Template Designer

Blogger Template Designer is a new way for you to easily customize the look of your blog. You can select a variety of templates, images, colors, and column layouts to make your blog an expression of you. To get to the Template Designer, just click on the drop-down menu of the gray Post List icon, and select Template. From there, you'll be able to choose and customize your template.
As you play around with the Template Designer, you’ll see a preview of how the blog will appear based on the choices you’ve made, which you can expand to by pressing the toggle to Expand Preview between the Blogger Template Designer dashboard and the preview. When you’re satisfied with the look of your blog, you can make them go live by pressing Apply to Blog in the top right hand corner of the Template Designer.
To get started with Blogger Template Designer, select a template for your blog from one of the professionally designed templates that are available. Each template appears as a large thumbnail that when clicked will show different variations on the template below that you can select by clicking on them. Note that clicking a new template will erase any customizations you’ve made on a previous template. Once you’ve chosen a template, you can continue customizing the look of your blog.
No matter what template you are previewing in Template Designer, you can always see what is currently live on your blog by looking at the Live on Blog thumbnail in the Template Designer control panel. You can also click on it to reset the template in the Template Designer to the live version of your blog.

Background

Even though you’ve chosen a template, you can still change the way that it looks. Using Blogger Template Designer, you can choose the background color or image for your blog and then play with the color scheme. To start customizing your background, click on the thumbnail under Background Image.
One of the best new features of Template Designer is the ability to change the color of your background image. This is possible when a background image has transparency. You can tell that a background image is transparent because it has a checkerboard in the top right hand corner of the image.
Once you’ve selected your image, you can change the color of the background by clicking on Main Color Theme and then selecting the color of your choice.
You can only change the color of your background if the background is transparent. Also, if the template that you chose has a grey background, you cannot change its color.
In addition to selecting and personalizing your blog’s background image, you can also choose a color theme to apply to aspects of your blog, including text and links. You can do this by playing with the Main Color Theme or by choosing one of our Suggested Themes. Changing the color theme of your blog will change the colors for all aspects of the blog template that can be changed.
Note: If background image is not transparent, themes will alter the text color scheme of the blog
Note: For information on uploading your own custom background image, please see our article on Adding custom CSS to your blog.

Layout

You can choose a variety of layout options for your blog, from one to three columns. These layouts feature drag and drop functionality for gadgets. You will also have a variety of layout options for the blog footer as well.
If you want to add or remove gadgets or edit gadget settings, you cannot do this through Blogger Template Designer. Rather, you have to do this on the general Layout tab.

Adjust Width

You can change the width of the blog, and the right and left columns by dragging the slider for the different parts of blog layout. Note that the options you see here correspond to the type of layout that you chose. If, for example, you chose a blog with left and right columns, you will see both left and right column sliders. If, however, you chose a blog with only a left column, you will only see that option here.

5 popular portable consoles

Portable consoles are very much alive as recreational devices. They are light and portable with rich graphics and countless features. Playing alone or with virtual companions using these devices is common with the internet connectivity. There are several choices when it comes to portable consoles but there are two big names in the game industry, with Nintendo and Sony dominating the scene.

• Flickr - Stunt of the Litter

The top of the list

1. Game Boy Advance - Featuring a 'clamshell' design, this model is the successor of the Game Boy Colour. It has a wide, colour lit screen and big buttons. The console is also backward compatible with older versions of the device such as the Game Boy. An upgrade to the version is the Game Boy Micro which is lighter and smaller. Its size was reduced to make way for portability and better graphics.

• Nintendo Wii

  www.johnlewis.com/nintendo-wii Buy Black Nintendo Wii online at John Lewis.
  

• Furniture

  mydecomarketplace.com Up To 50% Off Furniture. 1000s Of Products. Top Brands
  

• Psp Console at Amazon

  www.amazon.co.uk Low prices on Psp Console. Free UK Delivery on Amazon Orders
  

Sponsored by Yahoo

2. Nintendo DS - First released in 2004, the DS was the first series of portable consoles that feature double screens. Upgraded versions came out in 2006 with the release of the DS Lite, featuring richer screens, lighter weight, and longer lasting batteries. This time, there is internet connectivity as well as an online link to the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection. In 2008, a new version came out in the form of the DSi with its 3.5-inch screen and SD card slot. The latest version is the Nintendo DSi XL that is larger and favoured by game-playing adults.
3. Nintendo 3DS - Successor to the DSi light series, the 3DS features 3D graphics without needing special glasses to visualise the effects. It is also backward compatible with older versions of the series, meaning that older games played on the earlier models are compatible with the device.
4. Playstation Portable - Boosting top-notch graphics, the PSP is the first handheld game to use an 'optical disc format'. It has a large screen and several capabilities: multimedia, wireless connection, and connectivity with the PSP 3 and other PSP devices.
5. Playstation Vita - The newest to hit the market, Vita replaces the PSP. It is the first of its kind with a touch pad at the back of the device.

Future trends

As with all devices and gadgets, newer models are designed and developed all the time. The market for portable consoles is still expanding as there are only a few company names that made the cut in the fickle game industry. When the time comes for newer and better models with fresh functions and options, there is a rush again to buy these devices. From the casual player to the hardcore gamer, portable consoles are still making the news.

Importing from China made simple Part 3

Quickly learn the ins and outs to successfully 

run your import business with secrets only 

an expert can teach you.

How To Avoid China Factory Claims

The first thing you want to do, if you have not done so already, is to establish your own in-house quality control department. That is the first step to making sure that your company has the means to control the quality of all incoming samples or any other quality issues before you place any purchase orders.
At the beginning, you do not want to start with too large of a department because you will be learning from experience. Efficiency should be more important to you than size. The composition of your department depends very much on the nature of your import products. If you are in the textile business, you may want to hire a textile engineer plus one or two assistants. If you are in electrical or electronic products, you need to hire an electronics engineer plus one or two technicians.
To perform their quality tests properly, your specialists will need suitable technical equipment. A note of caution: do not jump the gun by establishing a fully equipped lab at this early stage. That would prove very expensive. The easiest way to determine the kind of technical equipment needed is to rely heavily on your engineers after they are hired. They will know what is needed and where to get it. A discussion about equipping the test lab can easily be included in the interview process for the engineers.
This is the most reasonable way to establish your own functioning quality control department at an affordable cost and in the least amount of time. The second step is to visiting your Chinese factories on a regular basis if you want to minimize your risk. As a businessperson, you regularly take precautions to protect your company’s interest and visiting your supplier’s factories needs to be included as an insurance policy.
If you want to avoid claims, you need to discuss your quality requirements in person with the factory management to make sure that they have clearly understood your quality requirements and will implement it accordingly during their production.
The third step is appointing an inspection company to perform an inspection for you. You can choose from the following three primary inspection methods:

• Initial Production Inspection (IPI)
• During Production Inspection (DPI)
• Final Random Inspection (FRI)

The most commonly used inspection method is the Final Random Inspection which is executed when a consignment is 100% manufactured and at least 80% packed.The fourth step is to provide precise information in your P/O, L/C and any other accompanying documents. That is often overlooked and many claims result from insufficient information from the importer to the factory. Having discussed your company’s specifications with the factory management in person, does not mean that you can omit such vital information in your documents later.
The fifth step is to include a specific provision in your contracts with Chinese suppliers requiring them to obtain and maintain sufficient product and general liability insurance with a reputable international insurance carrier.
Such insurance should not be seen as a replacement of the other four steps but it can become your backup. Following this 5-step procedure will surely help you to prevent most but not all claims with your Chinese factories.

Importing from China made simple Part 2

Quickly learn the ins and outs to successfully 

run your import business with secrets only 

an expert can teach you.

Archive for the ‘China Business Negotiations’ Category

Be Absolutely Prepared For Your Business Negotiations In China

If you want to conduct business negotiations in China, you better be absolutely prepared. You are far from home and cannot just run across town to fetch a missing document or your contract if you forgot to bring it along. Of course, you may be able to ask your staff, at home, to send you the missing information by e-mail but you may already have lost your face with your Chinese counterparts because you were ill prepared for the meeting.

Therefore, first make a plan about what subjects must be discussed with each of the companies you are going to visit. After that has been established, you have to prepare a checklist of the documents needed for each meeting. If you want to conduct successful negotiations with favorable results for your company, you had better have everything on hand instead of guessing what else might be needed.

I suggest using a notebook computer during your negotiations. Notebook computers can store all of your previous communication with your supplier along with copies of any documents that might be needed.

Paper Documents

However, during meetings with your suppliers you still may need a paper version of the documents to provide to the participants. It is usually not very convenient to present documents on your computer screen when several people attend your meeting. The completely paperless office is still a future illusion so you need to have hardcopies of the most important documents ready for your negotiations. If more copies are needed, your supplier can make them for you.

Help Your Chinese Partner Prepare

The meeting may only last 2-3 hours total but your preparations will probably need much more time if you want to be successful.

It is also common for your Chinese business partner to request a summary of the intended discussion points in advance. This makes perfectly good sense so they can also prepare for the meeting and can ask for additional information if something seems unclear.

Chinese senior managers seriously dislike being confronted with details they were not aware of and for which they did not prepare themselves. If you wait until the meeting before disclosing key information, the Chinese decision maker will loose his face. The result will be negotiations that go nowhere despite your perfect preparations.

Unfortunately, the preparations were less than perfect if you fail to cover the Chinese side of the equation. Not helping the Chinese prepare for the meeting is a formula for failure.

Importing from China made simple - Part 1

Quickly learn the ins and outs to successfully

run your import business with secrets only

an expert can teach you.

How Can Importers Save Cost During Their Business Trips To China?

The present economic downturn affects many facets of business including manufacturers in China and their overseas customers.
To completely stop importing is not an option because business must go on but perhaps on a smaller scale.
On the other side, factories in China are hungry for orders right now and starting an import business at these times is actually not a bad idea.
Cost saving is an important option to keep your business afloat even during difficult times.
Here is a summary of very effective methods of cost savings during business trips, that you may want to consider for yourself.

• Book a standard hotel room instead of staying at the executive floor. If you book a standard room you can save a substantial amount of money and can still enjoy a good night’s sleep.

• Negotiate room rates. Presently hotels are experiencing much lower occupancy rates and it is worth to bargain for a better rate especially if you plan to become one of their long-term customers.

• Fly Economy Class. If you book an economy class flight with one of the airlines famous for good in-flight service, you will also end up with a decent meal, better than average leg space, reasonably comfortable seats, and can still save a lot of money.

• Use public transport. Cities like Hong Kong, Guangzhou, Shanghai have an excellent public transport system that offers you a much cheaper and mostly faster alternative to taxis. Many hotels and fair operators offer free of charge shuttles buses to the exhibitions that you could use. You can save substantial money by staying further away from the exhibition centers in a comfortable hotel at a much lower room rate.

• Online Registration. Use the online registration services of the fair operators and receive your free of charge entrance badge in advance and avoid queueing at the entrance.

• Save on your meals. Why not try the much cheaper local food and reduce your dining expenses. A local noodle soup costs only a few bucks and tastes delicious. Instead of having breakfast at your hotel, you could visit one of the numerous coffee shops around your hotel area and get even a free coffee or tea refill.

• Shorten your trip or reduce number of trips per year. If visiting fairs in China is a must for you, perhaps you should consider to focus on the most important ones. In many cases there is a spring and autumn version of the same fair and you may want to skip the spring version because it may not have the same importance than the autumn version.

• Don’t miss out on anything by hiring a local Consultant. The American president is a very busy man and does not have the time to read all newspapers by himself. There are experts that do the clipping of vital articles for him and allow him to receive the necessary information. The same is true for importers. You cannot cover everything during your trip and you cannot visit every factory as it should be the case. In these difficult times you need the help of experts that are already on the spot. They can take over part of your duties even if you have decided not to travel to China. Their decades long experience with Chinese factories will help you to maintain your import activities and at the same time reduce your cost during importing substantially.

• 

Posted November 4th, 2009 in China Business Trips. 

iGoogle

iGoogle:

'via Blog this'

SOCIAL

MAKE EVENTS MORE PROMOINENT IN GOOGLE CALENDER

Google Calendar – http://calendar.google.com recently added more colours you can apply to entries to make them stand out. There’s also a handy new option called ‘Event Dimming’ , which reduces the brightness of past and recurring future events “so you can focus on today”. To Activate this, click the ‘Gear Icon’, choose ‘Calendar Settings’ and tick the two ‘Event Dimming’ boxes.

USE NEW KEYBOARD SHORTCUTS IN GOOGLE CALENDAR

Google Calendar has also added some new keyboard shortcuts to improve accessibility. For example press the ‘C’ key to create a new event, ‘/’ to start a new search and ‘+’ to add a new calendar. In ‘Agenda View’, you can use the ‘Up’ and ‘Down’ arrow keys to move between events, and the ‘Left’ and Right’ keys to move between dates.

PREDICT THE FUTURE USING  - YAHOO 4CAST

Yahoo 4cast – http://4cast.yahoo.com invites you to make predictions regarding specific topics and events. For example, you can guess when the iPad 3 will go on sale or estimate Google’s share price on a specific date. It’s just for fun, but accurate predictions earn you points on the leader-board, although the distant closing dates of many challenges mean you might have to wait a while for the results.

ADD PHOTOS TO TWITTER VIA TEXT MESSAGE

Twitter http://twitter.com now lets you directly add photos to your tweets without having to use a service such as TwitPic - http://twitpic.com. Even better, you can post an image directly to the site by attaching the picture to a text message and sending the SMS to 86444. Twitter will reply, asking for your username. Your phone network will need to be Vodafone, O2 or Orange.

TECHNOLOGY

TAKE FREE ONLINE TECHNOLOGY COURSES

WebWise - www.bbc.co.uk/webwise  the BBC’s’ beginners guide to the internet’, has added a four-part on-line video course – http://bbc.in/webwise278 to help net novices get to grips with technology. Topics covered include email etiquette, staying safe online, and using mobile phones, with each strand featuring a ‘mission’ element and a quiz that let you test out your new skills.

REMOVE DEVICES FROM ANDROID MARKET

The ‘My Library’ feature in Android Market – http://market.android.com keeps a record of all the apps you’ve installed on your devices. If you’ve just upgraded your phone and want to remove an old handsets detail’s from the library, go to ‘My Market Account’, Settings and click ‘Edit’ next to the device. Select the option ‘Hidden in Menus’ and click ‘Update’.

COMPARE THE PROGRAMS YOU BROWSE ON ‘Dowload.com’

Download.com – http://download.cnet.com lets you track and compare any software you’ve been browsing on the site. Click the ‘Recently Viewed Product’ link in the bottom-left corner of the page to display a list of programs, then choose ‘Compare’ to see side-by-side statistics, such as user ratings, file sizes and number of downloads.

Your Sitemap Details - XML Sitemaps Generator

Your Sitemap Details - XML Sitemaps Generator

Gadgets News & Reviews

Check out my Face Book Page - Gadgets, News & Reviews  page for more advice, news, new gadgets, safe sites to visit, software reviews and more...

5 FACEBOOK SECRETS

1)


The better Facebook – http://betterfacebook.net/ add-on for Firefox, Chrome, Safari & Opera lets you customise the social network’s interface with tabbed news feeds, colourful themes and a Friend Tracker tool that alert’s you when someone ‘unfriends’ you.



2)

Control who can see when you’re online by opening the Facebook chat box, clicking the settings icon and choosing Limit Availability. Select ‘Make me unavailable to’ from the drop down menu and tick the Acquaintances, Close Friends and / or Limited Profile options. Or just deselect ‘Available to chat’.



3)

Facebook Spectrum – http://www.facebookspectrum/ compiles statistical charts about your friends, such as who posts the most and their geographical location. Click the site’s ‘Log in’ button to grant it access to your account.



4)

Facebook’s new privacy settings let you control who can see photos you are tagged in. In Privacy settings, scroll down to ‘How tags Work’ and click ‘Edit Settings’. Click the drop-down menu next to ‘Maximum Profile Visibility’ to decide who can view images you’re tagged in. Click the ‘On’ option next to ‘Profile Review’ if you want to approve photos before they appear in your profile.



5)

To add ‘Smiley Faces’, weather icons and other symbols to your status updates, copy and paste them from Facebook Symbols – http://facebook-symbols.com/characters. Or press Alt on your keyboard in conjunction with the options at Alt-Codes – http://www.alt-codes.net/.