Thursday, March 4, 2010

The Importance of the Interview

Most people who have hiring responsibilities have a pretty good idea of the levels of education and experience they’d like to see in a job applicant for a particular position.

Very often – and more often than one might think – the following personal characteristics make the difference between the person getting the job and the others who applied for the job:

Presence

The applicant’s first impression is very important. In fact, it ripples through the entire interview. Do what you can to create a positive presence through manners, wearing the appropriate clothing to the interview, making sure you’re well-groomed and having a relaxed, confident manner.

Ability to communicate

How well do you communicate to the interviewer? Can you communicate your ideas clearly at the level the position requires? Your interviewer will generally assess both content and delivery of communication.

Motivation

Do you have a positive, enthusiastic approach? Do you sound and look confident that you can handle the job?

Intelligence

Your answers to questions, your questions to the interviewer and your demonstration of creative and imaginative capabilities will all be considered by the hiring person. Although your grade levels achieved in post-secondary education are important, they are not always considered to be a reliable indicator of success on the job.

Energy levels and general alertness

These motivational forces underlie the other four traits listed here.
These traits are not as easily measured as skills, education or experience levels, but they do play an increasingly important role in how you present yourself to the interviewer.
By studying these traits you can help create a positive image of yourself in a job interview.




Note:- GIS Training is available in Bhopal. For more please contact to 8349675112 or mail me at shailendrasonekar@gmail.com.

Job interview Tips

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A job interview is a process in which a potential employee is evaluated by an employer for prospective employment in their company, organization, or firm. During this process, the employer hopes to determine whether or not the applicant is suitable for the job.
1. Role
A job interview typically precedes the hiring decision, and is used to evaluate the candidate. The interview is usually preceded by the evaluation of submitted résumés from interested candidates, then selecting a small number of candidates for interviews. Potential job interview opportunities also include networking events and career fairs. The job interview is considered one of the most useful tools for evaluating potential employees. It also demands significant resources from the employer, yet has been demonstrated to be notoriously unreliable in identifying the optimal person for the job. An interview also allows the candidate to assess the corporate culture and demands of the job.
Multiple rounds of job interviews may be used where there are many candidates or the job is particularly challenging or desirable. Earlier rounds may involve fewer staff from the employers and will typically be much shorter and less in-depth. A common initial interview form is the phone interview, a job interview conducted over the telephone. This is especially common when the candidates do not live near the employer and has the advantage of keeping costs low for both sides.
Once all candidates have been interviewed, the employer typically selects the most desirable candidate and begins the negotiation of a job offer.
2. Process
A typical job interview has a single candidate meeting with between one and three persons representing the employer; the potential supervisor of the employee is usually involved in the interview process. A larger interview panel will often have a specialized human resources worker. While the meeting can be over in as little as 15 minutes, job interviews usually last less than two hours.
The bulk of the job interview will entail the interviewers asking the candidate questions about his or her job history, personality, work style and other factors relevant to the job. For instance, a common interview question is "What are your strengths and weaknesses?" The candidate will usually be given a chance to ask any questions at the end of the interview. These questions are strongly encouraged since they allow the interviewee to acquire more information about the job and the company, but they can also demonstrate the candidate's strong interest in them.
Candidates for lower paid and lower skilled positions tend to have much simpler job interviews than do candidates for more prestigious positions. For instance, a lawyer's job interview will be much more demanding than that of a retail cashier. Most job interviews are formal; the larger the firm, the more formal and structured the interview will tend to be. Candidates generally dress slightly better than they would for work, with a suit (called an interview suit) being appropriate for a white-collar job interview.
Additionally, some professions have specific types of job interviews; for performing artists, this is an audition in which the emphasis is placed on the performance ability of the candidate.
In many companies, Assessment Days are increasingly being used, particularly for graduate positions, which may include analysis tasks, group activities, presentation exercises, and Psychometric testing.
3. Types
3.1 Behavioral
A common type of job interview in the modern workplace is the behavioral interview or behavioral event interview, also called a competency-based interview. This type of interview is based on the notion that a job candidate's previous behaviors are the best indicators of future performance. In behavioral interviews, the interviewer asks candidates to recall specific instances where they were faced with a set of circumstances, and how they reacted. Typical behavioral interview questions:
  • "Tell me about a project you worked on where the requirements changed midstream. What did you do?"
  • "Tell me about a time when you took the lead on a project. What did you do?"
  • "Describe the worst project you worked on."
  • "Describe a time you had to work with someone you didn't like."
  • "Tell me about a time when you had to stick by a decision you had made, even though it made you very unpopular."
  • "Give us an example of something particularly innovative that you have done that made a difference in the workplace."
  • "What happened the last time you were late with a project?"
  • "Have you ever witnessed a person doing something that you felt was against company policy. What did you do and why?"
A bad hiring decision nowadays can be immensely expensive for an organization – cost of the hire, training costs, severance pay, loss of productivity, impact on morale, cost of re-hiring, etc. (Gallup international places the cost of a bad hire as being 3.2 times the individual's salary).
3.2 Stress
Stress interviews are still in common use. One type of stress interview is where the employer uses a succession of interviewers (one at a time or en masse) whose mission is to intimidate the candidate and keep him/her off-balance. The ostensible purpose of this interview: to find out how the candidate handles stress. Stress interviews might involve testing an applicant's behavior in a busy environment. Questions about handling work overload, dealing with multiple projects, and handling conflict are typical.
Another type of stress interview may involve only a single interviewer who behaves in an uninterested or hostile manner. For example, the interviewer may not make eye contact, may roll his eyes or sigh at the candidate's answers, interrupt, turn his back, take phone calls during the interview, or ask questions in a demeaning or challenging style. The goal is to assess how the interviewee handles pressure or to purposely evoke emotional responses. This technique was also used in research protocols studying Stress and Type A (coronary-prone) Behavior because it would evoke hostility and even changes in blood pressure and heart rate in study subjects. The key to success for the candidate is to de-personalize the process. The interviewer is acting a role, deliberately and calculatedly trying to "rattle the cage." Once the candidate realizes that there is nothing personal behind the interviewer's approach, it is easier to handle the questions with aplomb.
Example stress interview questions:
  • Sticky situation: "If you caught a colleague cheating on his expenses, what would you do?"
  • Putting you on the spot: "How do you feel this interview is going?"
  • Popping the balloon: "(deep sigh) Well, if that's the best answer you can give ... (shakes head) Okay, what about this one ...?"
  • Oddball question: "What would you change about the design of the hockey stick?"
  • Doubting your veracity: "I don't feel like we're getting to the heart of the matter here. Start again - tell me what really makes you tick."
Candidates may also be asked to deliver a presentation as part of the selection process. The "Platform Test" method involves having the candidate make a presentation to both the selection panel and other candidates for the same job. This is obviously highly stressful and is therefore useful as a predictor of how the candidate will perform under similar circumstances on the job. Selection processes in academic, training, airline, legal and teaching circles frequently involve presentations of this sort.
3.3 Technical
This kind of interview focuses on problem solving and creativity. The questions aim at your problem-solving skills and likely show your ability and creativity. Sometimes these interviews will be on a computer module with multiple-choice questions.
3.4 Telephone
Telephone Interviews take place if a recruiter wishes to dwindle down the number of prospective candidates before deciding on a shortlist for face-to-face interviews. They also take place if a job applicant is a significant distance away from the premises of the hiring company such as abroad or in another state.[4]
4. Controversies
In many countries, employment equity laws forbid discrimination based on a number of classes, such as race, gender, age sexual orientation, and marital status. Asking questions about these protected areas in a job interview is generally considered discriminatory, and constitutes an illegal hiring practice. However, many employers ask questions that touch on these areas.
5. Validity and predictive power
There is extant data which puts into question the value of job interviews as a tool for selecting employees. Where the aim of a job interview is ostensibly to choose a candidate who will perform well in the job role, other methods of selection provide greater predictive power and often lower costs. Furthermore, given the unstructured approach of most interviews they often have almost no useful predictive power of employee success.
Honesty and integrity are attributes that can be very hard to determine using a formal job interview process: the competitive environment of the job interview may in fact promote dishonesty. Some experts on job interviews express a degree of cynicism towards the process.



Note:- GIS Training is available in Bhopal. For more please contact to 8349675112 or mail me at shailendrasonekar@gmail.com.

Stesalit Hyderabad Kolkata : GIS Application Developer

Stesalit always offers distinct paths to those who join with a career in mind. Boasting of a world-class work environment with an open & broad-minded work culture, Stesalit provides a holistic compensation structure where-apart from a fixed salary-employees can look forward to a highly rewarding performance bonus.

Current Openings
* AutoCAD Engineer
* Project Leader-Architecture
* Draftsman
* Project Engineer(Electrical or Mechanical)
* Senior GIS Application Developer
* GIS Developer
* .NET Project Leader
* .NET Developer
* Database Administrator
* Manager–Legal
* Sr.Manager–Finance
* Junior Accountants

Employee Benefits
Stesalit has proven to be one of the best employers in the Industry in its Geography. Stesalit management believes that this is an industry that is in its nascent stage in India. Therefore, Stesalit invests lot of time in career planning for all its recruits. This type of planning not only provides them with a well-paved path for growth and future but also creates a good pool of personnel that will enable the industry to mature and grow to international standards.

Please send your CV to: hr@stesalit-inc.com

Global Delivery Center
25/1, Rustomjee Street,
Kolkata: 700019, India
Phone: +91 33 2460 2501/2494/2947
+91 33 2440 0695
Fax: +91 33 2460 2494

Hyderabad
Arya 1, V Floor, Plot No 13,
P.G. Road, Secunderabad-500003,
India
Phone: +91 40 4020 0962
US #: +1 201 336 0155

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

NASS info suitable for GIS applications

News
Written by Staff
Wednesday, 03 March 2010 08:00
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) has announced the release of new satellite images depicting agricultural land cover across most of the nation for the 2009 crop year. The images, referred to as cropland data layers (CDL), are a useful tool for monitoring crop rotation patterns, land use changes, water resources and carbon emissions.

These crop-specific, digital data layers are suitable for use in geographic information systems (GIS) applications. They can be used by agribusinesses, farmers, government agencies, researchers and academic institutions to study pesticide risk, epidemiology, transportation, fertilizer usage, carbon dioxide flux and other topics.

The entire inventory of CDL products, including metadata and accuracy assessments, is available online at the USDA National Resource Conservation Service’s Geospatial Data Gateway: http://datagateway.nrcs.usda.gov and at this NASS Web site: http://www.nass.usda.gov/research/Cropland/SARS1a.htm.

Leica Introduces Zeno GIS Series to the US Market

Leica Geosystems announced that their new Leica Zeno GIS series enters the U.S. GIS data collection market with rugged products. Leica Zeno GIS is part of the Leica Viva family of products.

According to the announcement, Leica Geosystems' survey technology is now extended into the GIS market. With the new product introduction of the Leica Zeno GIS series, users can manage and maintain assets, inspect infrastructure, respond to emergencies, ensure public safety, explore natural resources and conduct as-built and incident mapping with ease. The Leica Zeno 10 provides a color graphic display in portrait format and a numeric keypad. Alternatively, users have the choice to select a full functioned model - the Leica Zeno 15 with a full QWERTY keyboard and a display in landscape format.

The announcement stated that dual-constellation tracking guarantees higher productivity with more satellites available - in particular in urban canyons and in areas where tree canopy blocks the number of visible GPS satellites

According to Leica, the new Leica Zeno Field software is an OEM version of ESRI ArcPad 8 and provides a full range of functions to easily control the integrated GNSS receiver and to manage the data collection process such as GNSS raw data logging, easy handling of GNSS real-time configurations, feature accuracy management, and an automated workflow between the field and office.