It has been busy, busy and busy over the past few days.
Transition to new job role is working fine, Tier 2 application with extension of visa successful, Santa coming to us in different forms and much more. The year end is keeping us in high spirits till now.
Another one on those Bray Leino trainings – Influencing Skills!!! It is absolutely a great skill to develop (or further develop) in professional as well as personal life. The one which I attended was quite generic; still there were many things which were food for thought. For example what is a fair mix of extrovert and introvert types? The trainer listed down many characteristics for each of them. Certainly introverts and extroverts have their own favourable and unfavourable factors. One among them was Extroverts are ‘annoying’ and Introverts are ‘boring’. Not necessarily always, it depends on contexts/situations they are in. So a fair mix of both should be considered while dealing with people.
You are on managing a meeting or delivering a presentation; and you get a room full of extroverts. The audience are on a race to talk, talk and talk sometimes to prove their point; or to rebut someone else’s. And some techies in the audience try to question the presenter to prove him/her and the audience that ‘I know more than what you know’. There are presenters who take it in a very constructive way, but often I have seen people getting annoyed with that (I have had to deliver only very few technical presentations in my life, and they were when I started my career as a software engineer). Rest of the presentations in my life were more or less on management side. However, no one expects anyone to know everything about what they present – you could very well be frank and say ‘I am not sure about that, can I confirm and get back to you!’. Also getting an audience full of introverts is not very exciting. You need a good degree of challenge to keep you going anywhere.
One of the key points on influencing people, group of people or an organisation is that can you predict or later determine the degree to which you did the influencing? That was a perfect question as I have never given it a thought. Influencing skills in my professional life has had direct results as well as indirect ones. But then, determination of the degree of it isn’t easy. May be it can be measured relatively. For that, you need someone else or a group of people to do the same which isn’t the case often with work environments.
Another interesting section of the training was that the trainer asked everyone to identify a person who has influenced them in their lives. It was a very open question that it could have been anyone in personal life or professional life. It is not a matter of thought for me as I have the clear cut answer for the person who has influenced me the most in my life – that is my father. The group had a wide variety of answers which ranged from ‘my grandson’ to ‘Mahatma Gandhi’. Mahatma Gandhi was identified by many in the room as one with great influencing skills; and I was the single Asian in the group. It added on to my pride being an Indian.
For me, most of the times I realise when I am getting influenced by people. It can be their power, character, efficacy, skills and the likes which have an effect on me. On the lighter side, I have been a victim of these many times. Anywhere any time,
- when I was in school I was influenced my by teacher,
- at home I was the best influenced by my parents which is my pride
- when I grew up though I don’t like to accept I was influenced by a good mix of people – say friends, my crush-list ones, even celebrities and many more
- when I found my MAN in life I am heavily influenced by that person
- In professional life you have many models in front of you who you accept and like to follow; also proud to say they influenced you.
And I am confident on my influence on certain people who I think should be influenced by me. But, can certainly have further development in the area.
Thursday, 18 December 2008
Wednesday, 3 December 2008
Braggadocios!!!
Having been living for one third of an average human life-cycle I have developed certain strong likes and dislikes! I think I am going to indite on my dislikes now and this doesn’t necessarily mean or one should speculate that I am a negative person. I am NOT. Well, can’t really say I am the most optimistic too. But, I am sure my optimism levels have improved especially over the last couple of years and I can see I am reaching there to the most optimistic levels.
Now, it is about certain dislikes or aversions I am getting stuck to in a very hard way. The main one on this is on Braggadocio – the word is new to me. But it is all about boasting and the big talks. I just cannot stand it these days and get awfully annoyed by braggarts. It is a perfect abhorrence for me. I have realised that I have started reacting to those of this kind – whether it is genuine or fake. Being a sort of person who is relatively slower in reacting to repugnance and with a relatively higher reaction time I am sure if I am experiencing expeditious reactions with such occasions it is just not me. In simple terms boasting can be of in any form, in all walks of life, anywhere and anything for one to do
For example,
Some people desperately try hard to prove who they are and how good they are. Good on what? Anything! Usual ones being on their brains, academics, jobs, speaking skills, artistic talents, and what not! Even on their swearing skills!!!– If one is good, do they really have to try hard to prove? On a personal perspective I feel if someone is trying to boast on somethingt – true or fake; it is simply because they have an inferiority complex on it, or they just doubt if they are accepted in that way – that is simply lack of confidence.
Some others try to boast on their social set up – Who I am? Where am I from? Who is who? And who are my people – friends, family, colleagues, even their Exs. I pity these types. It is very much true that you should be proud of who you are and on your whereabouts. But it is an absolute ridicule when they go around and exercise hard to prove that.
Another type is on the asset which is now on the material aspects. What have I got? Acres of land, Unlimited account balance, Lamborghini, luxury homes and what not? People here even try hard to prove how great they are by saying their post codes just because it shows how posh the place of your living is! How strange!!!
There are even worse ones – emphasis on how good you look! These types are quite funny because it is one of the eye-front evidence. People can see how good you look – lol! Beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder and so this one is totally different. There is no point in boasting on this because people feel and think different. And people who find you good looking will keep finding it no matter you keep saying it or not. If they don’t, you can’t just change it too.
Some of the typical statements that I have come across which would like to highlight are
- you know how much I earn? … (are they ready to share it?)
- you know my project will not work/run without me… that is a FOOL (who doesn’t realise the things around...Ha-ha)
- you know I am a …(caste/origin) and my family is …(come on…who cares these days?)
- you know I own a multimillion ….(house/car/holiday home/ lan/jewellery…can be any strange thing in this world)…(so….?)
- you know I have been to ….(places) all these places…lovely holidays…(is that a recommendation to visit those places?)
- you know my friends are all ….(who’s who)…(why should I bother?)
- you know I am a great …(singer, dancer, painter, player …flirt…and what not) and won several prizes…(really???...haha)
- you know I have been educated in …(best schools in Universe)…(Ooooo…somehow it doesn’t show!)
This list is just unbounded. I am not saying mentioning about your holidays or your family is just gasconading. I am sure any human being would have been through situations like this and will be smart enough to figure out what I am trying to express here. It is just how you put it and something on the lines of attitude.
I am not trying to say I am the Ms Perfect and Ms Ideal out here. I must have also done my bits of boasting in life which might have well annoyed people. But since when I realised this is something which can really put people OFF I have not done any deliberate efforts to become a braggart! I am sure I will watch myself as far as I can on. If you can’t just take it yourself, how can others?
Now, it is about certain dislikes or aversions I am getting stuck to in a very hard way. The main one on this is on Braggadocio – the word is new to me. But it is all about boasting and the big talks. I just cannot stand it these days and get awfully annoyed by braggarts. It is a perfect abhorrence for me. I have realised that I have started reacting to those of this kind – whether it is genuine or fake. Being a sort of person who is relatively slower in reacting to repugnance and with a relatively higher reaction time I am sure if I am experiencing expeditious reactions with such occasions it is just not me. In simple terms boasting can be of in any form, in all walks of life, anywhere and anything for one to do
For example,
Some people desperately try hard to prove who they are and how good they are. Good on what? Anything! Usual ones being on their brains, academics, jobs, speaking skills, artistic talents, and what not! Even on their swearing skills!!!– If one is good, do they really have to try hard to prove? On a personal perspective I feel if someone is trying to boast on somethingt – true or fake; it is simply because they have an inferiority complex on it, or they just doubt if they are accepted in that way – that is simply lack of confidence.
Some others try to boast on their social set up – Who I am? Where am I from? Who is who? And who are my people – friends, family, colleagues, even their Exs. I pity these types. It is very much true that you should be proud of who you are and on your whereabouts. But it is an absolute ridicule when they go around and exercise hard to prove that.
Another type is on the asset which is now on the material aspects. What have I got? Acres of land, Unlimited account balance, Lamborghini, luxury homes and what not? People here even try hard to prove how great they are by saying their post codes just because it shows how posh the place of your living is! How strange!!!
There are even worse ones – emphasis on how good you look! These types are quite funny because it is one of the eye-front evidence. People can see how good you look – lol! Beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder and so this one is totally different. There is no point in boasting on this because people feel and think different. And people who find you good looking will keep finding it no matter you keep saying it or not. If they don’t, you can’t just change it too.
Some of the typical statements that I have come across which would like to highlight are
- you know how much I earn? … (are they ready to share it?)
- you know my project will not work/run without me… that is a FOOL (who doesn’t realise the things around...Ha-ha)
- you know I am a …(caste/origin) and my family is …(come on…who cares these days?)
- you know I own a multimillion ….(house/car/holiday home/ lan/jewellery…can be any strange thing in this world)…(so….?)
- you know I have been to ….(places) all these places…lovely holidays…(is that a recommendation to visit those places?)
- you know my friends are all ….(who’s who)…(why should I bother?)
- you know I am a great …(singer, dancer, painter, player …flirt…and what not) and won several prizes…(really???...haha)
- you know I have been educated in …(best schools in Universe)…(Ooooo…somehow it doesn’t show!)
This list is just unbounded. I am not saying mentioning about your holidays or your family is just gasconading. I am sure any human being would have been through situations like this and will be smart enough to figure out what I am trying to express here. It is just how you put it and something on the lines of attitude.
I am not trying to say I am the Ms Perfect and Ms Ideal out here. I must have also done my bits of boasting in life which might have well annoyed people. But since when I realised this is something which can really put people OFF I have not done any deliberate efforts to become a braggart! I am sure I will watch myself as far as I can on. If you can’t just take it yourself, how can others?
Monday, 1 December 2008
Unadulterated Carnage – Where is it going?
Wednesday night when I was catching up on some of the old Koffee with Karan episodes in Youtube, there was a loud wail from SreeRaj – ‘Look at this – Its in Bombay’. It was on the terrorist attacks in TV – the massacre! And Ommy God – it was unbelievable on the first sight. Bullet Sprays! Grenades! Hostages! And what not – Unadulterated Carnage. We watched the live telecast in Sky news for hours and it was heart breaking.
Next day morning in train I got the metro and there was this huge media hype – inferences and interpretations – One of them said the gunmen were typically focusing the Britons/Americans and asking for their passports for verification! And one of the victims told a fellow victim to say he was an Italian if asked – What difference does it make to the gun points? Did they really target foreigners? Then, they could have manipulated something of the same in a foreign country! When you see the plight of innocent inhabitants in the city from here what more can you do rather than worry on the same. I had checked and made sure my friend who has recently settled in Mumbai and her folks are fine. Thank God – though the incident happened near her Bro’s office they were all luckily saved. And she was mentioning that it was a nightmare and everyone is scared to get out of home even now. The recent forecast says 119 dead!!! And rest of the recent news came upon on the Google search, in fact the initial search results are ‘Mumbai Terror Attacks Hit India Tourism at Start of Peak Season’ and ‘Cricket's future in Asia in jeopardy due to terrorist attacks’. Media covers more on the business aspects and in a bigger picture. Now, how long does it take for the city and its inhabitants to come back to normal life? (Typed up until this on 28th, Friday)
The whole milieu around us creates the effect of the Mumbai devastation - an aura of disasters and nightmares. You get to hear about the incident from everywhere – you call back home, friends on phone, e-mails and even someone new you meet in an Asian shop. My colleague was talking about it this morning. Yesterday when we stopped at Spice Lanka for some South-Indian food stuff, we happened to meet a guy who works with the Cleveland Police – and he was saying that he is totally disturbed with the Mumbai attacks and is sticking to VandeMatharam. We realised the effect is not just there – its all over the world! No matter if you are a Mumbai resident or not! However, the death toll has gone up to 200. Thank God, things are almost settled now and it is repairs time now there for people and place.
Mumbai is one of the places which I have always fancied (for a visit/holiday; somehow not to live). I am definitely going to stop over there on my next visit to India – probably April/August. Seems like a long wait for that though.
Well, here is the start of another week. Ooooo….December!!! And 2008 is going to see its end! Should have to think and analyse my year 2008. May be in another piece of writing by the end of this year. Start of December doesn’t seem very favourable for me. My train was delayed for 25 minutes in the morning. It was snowing in the morning and it was absolutely freezing. As the train was late I got into another train; unfortunately it was one of those cross country ones and I didn’t think much. As I purchase advance tickets from Transpennine the Cross Country Company didn’t accept my ticket. The conductor was quite rude and made me buy another one for which my young person’s discount was not accounted. This was when the train was jam packed; he could have easily accepted (I had a ticket though – I wasn’t travelling for free). However, adding on my frustration in the morning the guy who sat next quite annoyed me with his attitude. This is the last thing you want to happen on a snowy Monday morning.
Next day morning in train I got the metro and there was this huge media hype – inferences and interpretations – One of them said the gunmen were typically focusing the Britons/Americans and asking for their passports for verification! And one of the victims told a fellow victim to say he was an Italian if asked – What difference does it make to the gun points? Did they really target foreigners? Then, they could have manipulated something of the same in a foreign country! When you see the plight of innocent inhabitants in the city from here what more can you do rather than worry on the same. I had checked and made sure my friend who has recently settled in Mumbai and her folks are fine. Thank God – though the incident happened near her Bro’s office they were all luckily saved. And she was mentioning that it was a nightmare and everyone is scared to get out of home even now. The recent forecast says 119 dead!!! And rest of the recent news came upon on the Google search, in fact the initial search results are ‘Mumbai Terror Attacks Hit India Tourism at Start of Peak Season’ and ‘Cricket's future in Asia in jeopardy due to terrorist attacks’. Media covers more on the business aspects and in a bigger picture. Now, how long does it take for the city and its inhabitants to come back to normal life? (Typed up until this on 28th, Friday)
The whole milieu around us creates the effect of the Mumbai devastation - an aura of disasters and nightmares. You get to hear about the incident from everywhere – you call back home, friends on phone, e-mails and even someone new you meet in an Asian shop. My colleague was talking about it this morning. Yesterday when we stopped at Spice Lanka for some South-Indian food stuff, we happened to meet a guy who works with the Cleveland Police – and he was saying that he is totally disturbed with the Mumbai attacks and is sticking to VandeMatharam. We realised the effect is not just there – its all over the world! No matter if you are a Mumbai resident or not! However, the death toll has gone up to 200. Thank God, things are almost settled now and it is repairs time now there for people and place.
Mumbai is one of the places which I have always fancied (for a visit/holiday; somehow not to live). I am definitely going to stop over there on my next visit to India – probably April/August. Seems like a long wait for that though.
Well, here is the start of another week. Ooooo….December!!! And 2008 is going to see its end! Should have to think and analyse my year 2008. May be in another piece of writing by the end of this year. Start of December doesn’t seem very favourable for me. My train was delayed for 25 minutes in the morning. It was snowing in the morning and it was absolutely freezing. As the train was late I got into another train; unfortunately it was one of those cross country ones and I didn’t think much. As I purchase advance tickets from Transpennine the Cross Country Company didn’t accept my ticket. The conductor was quite rude and made me buy another one for which my young person’s discount was not accounted. This was when the train was jam packed; he could have easily accepted (I had a ticket though – I wasn’t travelling for free). However, adding on my frustration in the morning the guy who sat next quite annoyed me with his attitude. This is the last thing you want to happen on a snowy Monday morning.
Friday, 21 November 2008
The new Tier Systems
Well, this week was one of the most confused and indecisive ones. SreeRaj is on a permanent job with an employer’s work permit for the skilled worker. And the leave to remain (called visa) expires on the 31st of December 2008. Our thoughts a couple of years back were to move from UK by the end of this year. But now, we have changed our minds and are likely to be here. So, another couple of year’s extension for this work permit can give us indefinite leave to remain in UK otherwise called Permanent residence (PR- which is different to citizenship). His employer is more than happy to give this extension. As this consultancy group shifted its main base from Netherlands to England, HR department experienced some problems with paper works and they couldn’t apply for the extension earlier (as always!!! I expected this as I had the first hand HR experience –and there is no point in winging or blaming anyone for HR specific paper works).
Meanwhile UK Border Agency has changed the Immigration system to Tier 1, 2, and 5. All the Highly Skilled Migrants Programme (HSMP) people should now be applying through the Tier 1 system whether it is a new application or an extension. A point based system with some bits of difference from the old rules. This one went active on June 2008. One of the striking points of this is on the maintenance funds- the candidate who is applying for Tier 1 should be having at least £800 in his/her bank account EVERYDAY(each single day) for the last 3 months from the time of application. This must have been an unexpected one for quite a few I suppose. And we heard a friend of ours got his application rejected because his account balance was less than £800 for one day in the last 3 months when he made the application; and had to leave UK. And if you have dependants with you, then you should have a maintenance fund of £533 for each dependant; again EVERYDAY for the last three months. Oops– A guy with a wife and 3 children (if above 18) should have £2932!!! Detailed and more information can be obtained from UK Border Agency website. I appreciate the UK Border Agency website as it gives clear cut information including the point’s calculator to check if you qualify for Tier 1 (former HSMP) even if you are from outside of UK.
However, our case falls under the Tier 2 system which is now a new piece of software where the employers can issue a Certificate of Sponsorship (CoS) , a unique number to the skilled worker they wish to keep with them. For this the employer needs to obtain sponsorship license from the UK Border Agency. This makes it extremely difficult for new work permit applications; in fact the UK Border Agency says 200,000 fewer jobs in UK for overseas candidates, with a point’s calculator again. All this is clear and SreeRajs’ employer who has the sponsorship license is all set to go, and we would (hopefully) not have a problem as this is an extension for the existing work permit; also the points based system seems quite favourable for us. To make a new Tier 2 application the employer will have to prove (with solid evidence) to the UK Border Agency that despite numerous efforts to recruit a EU person to the same skilled job (mainly engineering jobs and certain specialist skills), they couldn’t get anyone. And that is the reason they are offering to a non-EU person and hence need a Tier 2 for him/her (no wonder 200,000 fewer jobs!). This online system was expected to go live months back, but unfortunately it didn’t! Now, this is expected to go-live on 27th November midnight. And by 28th November it is expected that SreeRaj will get the CoS, again it is a Friday and may not be very easy to catch hold of people. So, may be on Monday, 1st Dec 2008. But that leaves us only less than a month of leave to remain in UK to make the visa application.
This morning I rang up the UK Border Agency Work Permits Customer Contact Centre in Sheffield to check if this can be an issue; and they confirmed that as long as you have leave to remain in UK this shouldn’t be a problem. But being a sort of person who worries too much, I explained the whole situation to them including our indecisive situation. I was directed to the UK Immigration Services for further clarification which is a 087...number and I got through after half an hour of waiting time. Spoke to one of the Immigration Services Consultant who assured that as long as you have leave to remain in UK you can submit your application and it should be processed normally. And, confirmed that your application will not be rejected on the grounds that you have less than a month to remain in UK. So, that’s how things are at the moment.
However, need to check more on the Tier 1 system regarding the time frame you need to make the visa application. As both of us qualify for the Tier 1 application, in case if the Tier 2 doesn’t work (I am being on the extreme here I know) can go through the Tier 1 system. There had been a lot of thinking and discussions happening over this last week.
Meanwhile UK Border Agency has changed the Immigration system to Tier 1, 2, and 5. All the Highly Skilled Migrants Programme (HSMP) people should now be applying through the Tier 1 system whether it is a new application or an extension. A point based system with some bits of difference from the old rules. This one went active on June 2008. One of the striking points of this is on the maintenance funds- the candidate who is applying for Tier 1 should be having at least £800 in his/her bank account EVERYDAY(each single day) for the last 3 months from the time of application. This must have been an unexpected one for quite a few I suppose. And we heard a friend of ours got his application rejected because his account balance was less than £800 for one day in the last 3 months when he made the application; and had to leave UK. And if you have dependants with you, then you should have a maintenance fund of £533 for each dependant; again EVERYDAY for the last three months. Oops– A guy with a wife and 3 children (if above 18) should have £2932!!! Detailed and more information can be obtained from UK Border Agency website. I appreciate the UK Border Agency website as it gives clear cut information including the point’s calculator to check if you qualify for Tier 1 (former HSMP) even if you are from outside of UK.
However, our case falls under the Tier 2 system which is now a new piece of software where the employers can issue a Certificate of Sponsorship (CoS) , a unique number to the skilled worker they wish to keep with them. For this the employer needs to obtain sponsorship license from the UK Border Agency. This makes it extremely difficult for new work permit applications; in fact the UK Border Agency says 200,000 fewer jobs in UK for overseas candidates, with a point’s calculator again. All this is clear and SreeRajs’ employer who has the sponsorship license is all set to go, and we would (hopefully) not have a problem as this is an extension for the existing work permit; also the points based system seems quite favourable for us. To make a new Tier 2 application the employer will have to prove (with solid evidence) to the UK Border Agency that despite numerous efforts to recruit a EU person to the same skilled job (mainly engineering jobs and certain specialist skills), they couldn’t get anyone. And that is the reason they are offering to a non-EU person and hence need a Tier 2 for him/her (no wonder 200,000 fewer jobs!). This online system was expected to go live months back, but unfortunately it didn’t! Now, this is expected to go-live on 27th November midnight. And by 28th November it is expected that SreeRaj will get the CoS, again it is a Friday and may not be very easy to catch hold of people. So, may be on Monday, 1st Dec 2008. But that leaves us only less than a month of leave to remain in UK to make the visa application.
This morning I rang up the UK Border Agency Work Permits Customer Contact Centre in Sheffield to check if this can be an issue; and they confirmed that as long as you have leave to remain in UK this shouldn’t be a problem. But being a sort of person who worries too much, I explained the whole situation to them including our indecisive situation. I was directed to the UK Immigration Services for further clarification which is a 087...number and I got through after half an hour of waiting time. Spoke to one of the Immigration Services Consultant who assured that as long as you have leave to remain in UK you can submit your application and it should be processed normally. And, confirmed that your application will not be rejected on the grounds that you have less than a month to remain in UK. So, that’s how things are at the moment.
However, need to check more on the Tier 1 system regarding the time frame you need to make the visa application. As both of us qualify for the Tier 1 application, in case if the Tier 2 doesn’t work (I am being on the extreme here I know) can go through the Tier 1 system. There had been a lot of thinking and discussions happening over this last week.
Disclaimer: The information presented in this blog are strictly personal opinions and is not a source of any legal information; so no one has the right to use this as any source of proof. Again, these are my personal opinions and hence no one can use this against me in a court of law or in any other way. Thanks.
Wednesday, 12 November 2008
Options and Priorities - can find a balance?
These days the normal reads everywhere are on global recession, credit crunch, market crisis and the likes. Any magazine will feature a couple of pages on money saving tips! It ranges from - book your holidays early, eat healthy from local markets, find budget restaurants, switch your energy supplier, hunt for offers and promotions - to the ‘Recession Wear’ in the French capital – new ways to cope by top brands like Louis Vuitton, Carlo Brendalli and many more.
While browsing through Shortlist just got to see a bit of news on Dubai, saying Dubai does culture by investing on an art museum. Good idea for impinging their ethnicity!
It is supposed to be one of the fastest growing cities and is predicted to overrun London by 2012 in business. Main business being tourism and real estate it seems! Oil reserves are not the main catch unlike fellow UAE cities. I guess it already swarmed over London in traffic and accommodation expenses. I have this friend in Dubai who says people who cannot afford homes in Dubai live in Sharjah and drive 3 hours up and down for work (6 hours in road on a good day…I shouldn’t mourn about mine then!). The point to be noted here is that the whole deal is for a 25 km drive. And to avoid the traffic they begin their day at 4 am in cars to their destination and sleep in car parks.
This friend who lives in Dubai on her recent visit, who we call an envoy of the place has tried to sway some of us to move to Dubai. The start was all on congenial aspects of Dubai – the HUGE take home u can dream of (no taxes!!!), any style of living options to choose from in Dubai – posh as well as reasonable (unlike London! She could very well relate it as she was a London resident a couple of years back), shopping options – local as well International, eat outs and nightclubs – from budget Malayali restaurants to Burj Ul Arab, local public schools to Cambridge School and American Univeristies, and on top of all it is only 4 hours away from home land.
As the conversation went on the other side of the coin was also divulged like the learning aspects. It was something personal to this person as she experienced a better learning curve and job satisfaction in UK. There may be difference of opinion on this with many Dubai resident professionals I suppose, not a categorical case here. Especially when Dubai is attracting or I would say buying in specialists and professionals for their Dubai Internet City, Dubai Media City, Dubai Financial Market and the likes. Top IT giants and financial leaders have invested in heavily. Head hunters are on the run it seems even during this ‘recession’! On the investment side, this friend who tried to enter the property ladder was taken a step back when she heard the market price of a single bedroom apartment as 1.3 million. It is not one of the Palm Islands or The World bit by Nakheel! Another point was the expected one on the extreme heat and chilling cold and sudden change of weather conditions. How can you complain too much on weather especially when you are living in North England?
It is shame that we didn’t get to spend a couple more of days in Dubai when we stopped over early this year. All we could do was the Desert Safari and a night drive to the city and both were quite enjoyable. We did recognise the shopping options as we found Debenhams next door to Nalli Silks. What more can you expect in terms of options! And the new International terminal is referred to ‘feel of heaven’ (yet to see this as we found the old one terrible with more living and non-living things than its capacity!). The place and its prospects have the pros and cons like any other place and like what this friend says, it is all on priorities. If this is the time in life when you feel ‘make money’ and you have the right skills, give it a try – may be the best choice for you! This girl guaranteed SreeRaj with three times more take home income (excluding accommodation, medical insurance and yearly travel tickets to base land) for the specialist area of his work and experience. And Projects Management is definitely on demand, so it wouldn’t be hard for me to find a good bargain it seems. It is definitely good to know that you have options; and the stress is again on priorities.
While browsing through Shortlist just got to see a bit of news on Dubai, saying Dubai does culture by investing on an art museum. Good idea for impinging their ethnicity!
It is supposed to be one of the fastest growing cities and is predicted to overrun London by 2012 in business. Main business being tourism and real estate it seems! Oil reserves are not the main catch unlike fellow UAE cities. I guess it already swarmed over London in traffic and accommodation expenses. I have this friend in Dubai who says people who cannot afford homes in Dubai live in Sharjah and drive 3 hours up and down for work (6 hours in road on a good day…I shouldn’t mourn about mine then!). The point to be noted here is that the whole deal is for a 25 km drive. And to avoid the traffic they begin their day at 4 am in cars to their destination and sleep in car parks.
This friend who lives in Dubai on her recent visit, who we call an envoy of the place has tried to sway some of us to move to Dubai. The start was all on congenial aspects of Dubai – the HUGE take home u can dream of (no taxes!!!), any style of living options to choose from in Dubai – posh as well as reasonable (unlike London! She could very well relate it as she was a London resident a couple of years back), shopping options – local as well International, eat outs and nightclubs – from budget Malayali restaurants to Burj Ul Arab, local public schools to Cambridge School and American Univeristies, and on top of all it is only 4 hours away from home land.
As the conversation went on the other side of the coin was also divulged like the learning aspects. It was something personal to this person as she experienced a better learning curve and job satisfaction in UK. There may be difference of opinion on this with many Dubai resident professionals I suppose, not a categorical case here. Especially when Dubai is attracting or I would say buying in specialists and professionals for their Dubai Internet City, Dubai Media City, Dubai Financial Market and the likes. Top IT giants and financial leaders have invested in heavily. Head hunters are on the run it seems even during this ‘recession’! On the investment side, this friend who tried to enter the property ladder was taken a step back when she heard the market price of a single bedroom apartment as 1.3 million. It is not one of the Palm Islands or The World bit by Nakheel! Another point was the expected one on the extreme heat and chilling cold and sudden change of weather conditions. How can you complain too much on weather especially when you are living in North England?
It is shame that we didn’t get to spend a couple more of days in Dubai when we stopped over early this year. All we could do was the Desert Safari and a night drive to the city and both were quite enjoyable. We did recognise the shopping options as we found Debenhams next door to Nalli Silks. What more can you expect in terms of options! And the new International terminal is referred to ‘feel of heaven’ (yet to see this as we found the old one terrible with more living and non-living things than its capacity!). The place and its prospects have the pros and cons like any other place and like what this friend says, it is all on priorities. If this is the time in life when you feel ‘make money’ and you have the right skills, give it a try – may be the best choice for you! This girl guaranteed SreeRaj with three times more take home income (excluding accommodation, medical insurance and yearly travel tickets to base land) for the specialist area of his work and experience. And Projects Management is definitely on demand, so it wouldn’t be hard for me to find a good bargain it seems. It is definitely good to know that you have options; and the stress is again on priorities.
Thursday, 6 November 2008
Guy Fawkes this week!
Guy Fawkes and BonFire was new to me a couple of years back. SreeRaj had explained the Gun Powder Plot and Guy Fawkes story to me in 2006. But then in 2007 when BonFire time came again I asked ‘what is this for?’. Short time memory!!! But in 2008, I could relate some bits and pieces of it. Halloween was pretty quiet for us; you cannot expect much when you live in an apartment. It was last year when we had dozens of kids knocking at your door all dressed for Halloween.
Yesterday there were fireworks held near High Street by Northallerton Council. After a marathon to catch an earlier train to reach home on time to see the fireworks I was too tired to walk to the ground to see this, car parking would have been a nightmare if we opted that. But, I didn’t want to disappoint my better half as it was his birthday; and after all we said council is celebrating his Birthday. So, came home dumped all my stuff, didn’t even bother to change from office wear we did walk to the ground near High Street. It was only a ten minute walk though.
On fireworks, the ones I have come across are with the local festivals like Diwali, Onam etc in India. I was never a big fan of these. I like the light part of it, not the sound at all. But its less of an effect here I guess. Yesterday night was foggy with a little rain as well. I could not have enjoyed a bit of it if not for my jumper, huge winter coat, woollen socks, gloves, hat and boots. Felt a bit comfy!!! I am already into my typical winter style especially at nights if I am out. The sight of fireworks was good. They had half an hr of fireworks followed by the bonfire. There was Guy Fawkes positioned on top of the junk wood!!! The ground was horded with people, never knew there were that many people living in that posh little village. There were these kids with their fluorescent light sticks, all those junky funky star war stuff, balloons, the moon rider and the likes which kept them occupied. Not many little ones seemed to enjoy the fireworks. Some of the kids were bawling hard, ‘I don’t want to see this!!!’. We had plans to catch up some of our friends there, but it wouldn’t have been a facile task to locate anyone in the foggy, rainy night with a flock. So, we walked back home when Guy Fawkes was about to be burned.
Last year we had seen the fireworks held at Saltwell Park which was huge. The one this year was ok with relatively less innovative patterns. However when you have the bigger patterns getting showered on top of your head you tend to enjoy it; I got the feeling that I am getting blessed lots; crazy me! It was even colder that time I guess. But none of them can be compared to the Thrissur Pooram. I have seen it only in TV, but had seen the sample one held there a week before the original Pooram which was the biggest I have ever seen.
Yesterday there were fireworks held near High Street by Northallerton Council. After a marathon to catch an earlier train to reach home on time to see the fireworks I was too tired to walk to the ground to see this, car parking would have been a nightmare if we opted that. But, I didn’t want to disappoint my better half as it was his birthday; and after all we said council is celebrating his Birthday. So, came home dumped all my stuff, didn’t even bother to change from office wear we did walk to the ground near High Street. It was only a ten minute walk though.
On fireworks, the ones I have come across are with the local festivals like Diwali, Onam etc in India. I was never a big fan of these. I like the light part of it, not the sound at all. But its less of an effect here I guess. Yesterday night was foggy with a little rain as well. I could not have enjoyed a bit of it if not for my jumper, huge winter coat, woollen socks, gloves, hat and boots. Felt a bit comfy!!! I am already into my typical winter style especially at nights if I am out. The sight of fireworks was good. They had half an hr of fireworks followed by the bonfire. There was Guy Fawkes positioned on top of the junk wood!!! The ground was horded with people, never knew there were that many people living in that posh little village. There were these kids with their fluorescent light sticks, all those junky funky star war stuff, balloons, the moon rider and the likes which kept them occupied. Not many little ones seemed to enjoy the fireworks. Some of the kids were bawling hard, ‘I don’t want to see this!!!’. We had plans to catch up some of our friends there, but it wouldn’t have been a facile task to locate anyone in the foggy, rainy night with a flock. So, we walked back home when Guy Fawkes was about to be burned.
Last year we had seen the fireworks held at Saltwell Park which was huge. The one this year was ok with relatively less innovative patterns. However when you have the bigger patterns getting showered on top of your head you tend to enjoy it; I got the feeling that I am getting blessed lots; crazy me! It was even colder that time I guess. But none of them can be compared to the Thrissur Pooram. I have seen it only in TV, but had seen the sample one held there a week before the original Pooram which was the biggest I have ever seen.
Friday, 31 October 2008
November - Melancholy Moods
Followed by the resume revamp there was an application which I had made on an open internal requirement within my present organisation. I was really interested in the role and this was exactly something to which I wanted to progress in my career. Well, I had invested quite a bit of my time and effort for the application and was very happy when I was successful at the application level. The internal application process is quite complex where you need to clearly describe your competence against the desirable and essential competencies with relevant evidence in the projects. This one had a list of 20+ on which I had spent considerable time on drafting my application. When I had passed the stage of application progress, I had a serious thought on this and did a quality preparation for the interview as I knew progressing from an analyst role to a manager role is not that easy within any organisation.
You expect certain type of ‘usual’ questions in any interviews. For example, ‘tell me about yourself; tell me about your present job’. But in this case the interview style was quite different on very high application level questions. The interview lasted for more than an hour and by the time I was out of the room, I realised I was sweating and drained out. Is that nerves??? May be…But then, I am sure I didn’t have a confidence problem. Also, I had done my home work for the preparation too. Each of the questions made me think and think, speak up and almost give alternate options for all answers. It was mentioned during the start that there are no right/wrong answers or tricky questions. It was just to know how you suit to the proper project management role. However, after the interview I was very happy that I got a chance to experience such a drilling down interview and expected a very good feedback even if I was rejected. But then, yesterday afternoon while I was on a middle of my ‘Presentation Skills’ training from Bray Leino I was offered this role…WOOHOO!!! Was excited …wanted to share the good news with SreeRaj; who was busy so left a voice mail. He was pleased and gave me a call back later. Then, spoke to Mums/Dads and was then settled for a bit. May be that I was so excited I couldn’t think straight during the training course. I had accepted the offer later on in the evening. Now, it’s left with my present and future line managers to negotiate start date, hand over contracts and the likes.
Talking about the course on Bray Leino Presentation Skills: There were times in my life when I used to run away from stages, presentations and talking in public. But then this has changed over the time. But then can’t really say that I have always delivered effective and impressive presentations. This may be due to a variety of reasons, say the strength of content, organisation and plan of presentation, style and of course knowledge of audience too. But then there were times when I was specifically recognised for my presentation skills during my previous jobs and MBA course.
The training with Bray Leino was more or less an eye opener. You have numerous things to improve on and it works on a CI theory – Continuous Improvement. It was more or less proved to you through your presentations. My presentation to the training group on the first day bagged me a good mix of positive and negative feedback. No, you should say ‘can improve on’ rather than negative. The feedback touched out on all aspects ranging from the theme of your presentation to the timbre of your voice. You analyse yourself after the presentation and you realise from the group feedback that you weren’t that awful as you thought. The basic principle is the horizontal plan and then PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE. I think the same logic applies to report writing as well.
One of the interesting sessions was on the tapping therapy, emotional freedom techniques and much more. I am not entirely sure on the extent to which you can rely on them, but then may be it works as its all about nerves and your brain. The emphasis all the way was on confidence. I have realised how my confidence levels have gone high over the years. I can handle people and even crowds, talk talk and talk. But then there is always this element of confidence which I seem to be missing occasionally – especially when you think, ‘Oh, I am going to look stupid!, What would they think of me?’ ‘Am I saying the right thing?’…But then, no one expects you to be perfect. As long as I am not in a debate I have taught myself to handle these situations – whether it is work related or not. In a debate, I often feel it is always the ego in you make you work which is sometimes good.
I am vaulting from topics after topics for no reason. May be that’s the Friday effect. The weekend is not planned at all. Halloween night today, and this is not making a big difference with us. I completely forgot about Halloween and realised it when I got a free crème egg along with Yorkshire metro today morning. It is too cold to go out and do something actually; the weekend doesn’t seem to be any better too. But I am expecting some kids from the neighbourhood for chocolates. And the cooking bit tonight as SreeRaj is back home after 3 days in Birmingham and is complaining on the food he had to have for the past 2-3 days. So, that’s it for the week. Had an eventful week! - Interview, Good news on a friend who is blessed with a baby, a bit of sad news on a friend who is returning to India finishing contract in UK, Interview Results and so much more I am pleased that I found out the result of the interview otherwise I would have at least thought about it during the weekend. It’s start now- November, it is said that melancholy moods are associated with this month. Quite suits for this winter (supposedly autumn)!
You expect certain type of ‘usual’ questions in any interviews. For example, ‘tell me about yourself; tell me about your present job’. But in this case the interview style was quite different on very high application level questions. The interview lasted for more than an hour and by the time I was out of the room, I realised I was sweating and drained out. Is that nerves??? May be…But then, I am sure I didn’t have a confidence problem. Also, I had done my home work for the preparation too. Each of the questions made me think and think, speak up and almost give alternate options for all answers. It was mentioned during the start that there are no right/wrong answers or tricky questions. It was just to know how you suit to the proper project management role. However, after the interview I was very happy that I got a chance to experience such a drilling down interview and expected a very good feedback even if I was rejected. But then, yesterday afternoon while I was on a middle of my ‘Presentation Skills’ training from Bray Leino I was offered this role…WOOHOO!!! Was excited …wanted to share the good news with SreeRaj; who was busy so left a voice mail. He was pleased and gave me a call back later. Then, spoke to Mums/Dads and was then settled for a bit. May be that I was so excited I couldn’t think straight during the training course. I had accepted the offer later on in the evening. Now, it’s left with my present and future line managers to negotiate start date, hand over contracts and the likes.
Talking about the course on Bray Leino Presentation Skills: There were times in my life when I used to run away from stages, presentations and talking in public. But then this has changed over the time. But then can’t really say that I have always delivered effective and impressive presentations. This may be due to a variety of reasons, say the strength of content, organisation and plan of presentation, style and of course knowledge of audience too. But then there were times when I was specifically recognised for my presentation skills during my previous jobs and MBA course.
The training with Bray Leino was more or less an eye opener. You have numerous things to improve on and it works on a CI theory – Continuous Improvement. It was more or less proved to you through your presentations. My presentation to the training group on the first day bagged me a good mix of positive and negative feedback. No, you should say ‘can improve on’ rather than negative. The feedback touched out on all aspects ranging from the theme of your presentation to the timbre of your voice. You analyse yourself after the presentation and you realise from the group feedback that you weren’t that awful as you thought. The basic principle is the horizontal plan and then PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE. I think the same logic applies to report writing as well.
One of the interesting sessions was on the tapping therapy, emotional freedom techniques and much more. I am not entirely sure on the extent to which you can rely on them, but then may be it works as its all about nerves and your brain. The emphasis all the way was on confidence. I have realised how my confidence levels have gone high over the years. I can handle people and even crowds, talk talk and talk. But then there is always this element of confidence which I seem to be missing occasionally – especially when you think, ‘Oh, I am going to look stupid!, What would they think of me?’ ‘Am I saying the right thing?’…But then, no one expects you to be perfect. As long as I am not in a debate I have taught myself to handle these situations – whether it is work related or not. In a debate, I often feel it is always the ego in you make you work which is sometimes good.
I am vaulting from topics after topics for no reason. May be that’s the Friday effect. The weekend is not planned at all. Halloween night today, and this is not making a big difference with us. I completely forgot about Halloween and realised it when I got a free crème egg along with Yorkshire metro today morning. It is too cold to go out and do something actually; the weekend doesn’t seem to be any better too. But I am expecting some kids from the neighbourhood for chocolates. And the cooking bit tonight as SreeRaj is back home after 3 days in Birmingham and is complaining on the food he had to have for the past 2-3 days. So, that’s it for the week. Had an eventful week! - Interview, Good news on a friend who is blessed with a baby, a bit of sad news on a friend who is returning to India finishing contract in UK, Interview Results and so much more I am pleased that I found out the result of the interview otherwise I would have at least thought about it during the weekend. It’s start now- November, it is said that melancholy moods are associated with this month. Quite suits for this winter (supposedly autumn)!
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