5 Ways to Prepare for Applying to Business School

There are a lot of reasons why you want to get into a top MBA program. One reason is that you’ll be going to school with other future stars in the business world, which gives you great opportunities for networking. Another reason is that these top schools bring in recruiters from top companies, which means you will be more likely find a high-paying job upon graduation. So what can you do to improve your chances of getting into a top program? Here are some tips.

1. Start Early
If you’re in the position to do so, you’ll want to start preparing for business school early — a few years before, if possible. If you wait till the last minute, it will be reflected in your application. While you’re still working on your bachelor’s degree, or in the years that follow if you take some time off, start building up what is needed for your application. Work hard in college to have a good GPA, which is important for some schools. Take plenty of time to prepare for the GMAT so you can get a good score. The higher the score, the better.

2. Focus on Career Goals
Find jobs that allow you to work on your leadership skills and that focus on your future career goals. Volunteer at a local charity, helping the charity using skills you want to strengthen. For example, if marketing is where you want to use your MBA degree, use your marketing skills to get the charity noticed. Track how your strategies increased donations to the charity.

3. Be Yourself
Let yourself shine through on the application. What makes you unique will help you get into the right school, not what makes you the same as all the other applicants. Business schools want innovative thinkers, not cookie-cutter MBA candidates.

4. Choose the Right People for Recommendations
It may seem like the obvious choice to ask the most prestigious person you know to write your letter of recommendation, but it’s more important what the letter says than who wrote it. If the letter sounds generic, like the person doesn’t really know you that well, it won’t have much weight. Choose someone who can give specific examples of your teamwork skills, leadership qualities, and ethics.

5. Make the Most of Being Wait-Listed
If you’re put on the wait list for the school of your choice, don’t give up. You can take advantage of this time. Let the admissions committee know if you’re promoted as work, obtain a couple more letters of recommendation, or retake the GMAT to see if you can improve your score.

When it comes to applying to business school, it’s all about creating a well-thought-out plan and then executing it to the best of your ability. Use these tips to help you prepare to apply to your MBA program of choice. Which business school will you apply to?

Filed Under: Guidance

Youngsters Are Showing More Interest In Business Than A Regular Job

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Couple of decades ago, there was not much support from the families if their children wanted to start a business. This was especially true with parents who have worked for decades in a regular 9 to 6 job and do not have a business background. The fear of the unknown and how their children will manage their future made them think this way. The financial insecurity which comes with any business till the business starts and the unknown associated with making profits is also a major reason for families not supporting entrepreneurship as a career. As any business might collapse due to external parameters and people end up in debt, parent’s preferred their children to get a secure job. However, the trend has changed in recent times.

Survey suggests that youngsters, who pass out of either management or engineering college, have a passion for business. They want to be entrepreneurs and be creative. With innovative ideas for business and passion for the same, they refuse to settle for a normal job. Seeing their passion and drive for their business ideas, most parents encourage them to forgo regular job and try their hand in business. There are also different banks which support small scale businesses which provide loan for a feasible business idea. A good business plan can help in securing these loans.

However, nothing can compromise on the hard work and diligence that an individual has to put in to succeed in his or her business. The fact that more and more youngsters are moving in this highly risky path proves that youngsters are surely interested in doing business.

 

 

 

Filed Under: Business Finance, Ethics Tagged With: , ,

Auto Finance Made Simpler

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Availing Auto Finance is nowadays made very simple by the numerous banks. Buying a car is not a problem at all nowadays. Comparing with the situation couple of decades ago, securing an auto loan was very difficult and the process itself was complicated. However, now-a-days, you can walk into an automobile showroom and they arrange for secured loan on the spot. However, before going for an auto finance, one has to decide few things. The first important thing is to decide about the car itself, the kind of car you want to buy. You will also need to decide on your budget as you will have to be paying the monthly installments. When deciding on the budget you have to take into consideration, the fuel efficiency and the maintenance expense that the car would require.

Another important tip is that banks might be willing to give a huge finance depending on your salary. However, you should be able to pay the monthly installments which might be very high if you are going for high-end car. So you should see how much you can afford to pay monthly than how much finance you are getting from the bank. Auto finance is so simple these days that with a couple of documents such as house and salary proof, bank statement you can get a loan. If you already have an account with that bank, things are even simpler. With auto finance made easier, people who never dreamt of owning a car can afford it now. This is especially true in developing countries. Avail the loan and see the difference.

 

Filed Under: Business Finance, Ethics Tagged With: , ,

Top 10 Weirdest Job Interview Questions

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Because the job market is so competitive these days, employers are constantly on the look out for innovative ways to learn about their applicants.

One way that a potential employer can gain some insight about a job applicant is to pop quiz them with weird or interesting job interview questions. Here are ten of the weirdest that you may ever hear.

  1. What sign are you? Although astrology may not seem important in a job search, your star sign may give a potential employer some insight about who you are. From school astrology to work astrology, astrological signs are becoming increasingly prevalent in giving insight into a person’s basic traits.
  2. What kind of tree would you be, if you were a tree? It would be good to have an answer to this prior to your interview, especially if the interviewer should happen to ask you why.
  3. What kind of animal are you? Here is another creativity question. Be prepared to answer this to show that you can think on your feet. Have a solid answer that you can reasonably explain if the interviewer asks why you chose your answer.
  4. Who was the worst boss you ever had? It would be safer to say that you have never had a bad boss, but that every boss provided a unique challenge, learning experiences and the like. Be positive about past jobs and supervisors.
  5. If you were a super hero, what would your superpowers be? This is another creativity question, giving insight into who you are as a person and showing the interviewer that you can think on your feet.
  6. Describe yourself in three words. Be humble but be positive about yourself, using truth to describe yourself with words like “hardworking,” “organized” and “detail-oriented.”
  7. What would your last three supervisors say about you? Be honest, but do not say anything bad about yourself. Turn any potentially bad things into opportunities for growth or improvement.
  8. If you won money in the lottery, how would you spend it? This question gives insight into what your life plans are, and tells the interviewer a little more about who you are as a person.
  9. If there was a news story for your life, how would your headline read? Give an answer that gives insight into your personality and creativity, as well as that you can think on your feet.
  10. Do you have any questions for me? This question always seems bizarre when asked, but it is a very telling question and you must answer it correctly. Come prepared to hear this interview question by researching basic information on the company beforehand and preparing a list of questions about the interviewer or the company.

You should definitely be prepared for curve-ball questions like these during your job interviews. Interviewers are looking for quick-thinking employees who can problem solve, recall information and come up with answers quickly and effectively.

What’s the strangest question you’ve ever been asked dring an interview? What was your answer?

Filed Under: General Business Codes, Human Resources Tagged With: , , ,

Business Schools Are In Demand

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Business schools or colleges are in demand these days as more and more youngsters are looking towards entrepreneurship as their future career. The concept of the business school is simple. It’s for people who have an idea of what business they want to do but are not sure how to go about it. Business schools help in evaluating whether their business idea is feasible and if its, the educations helps them to develop a business plan. This helps them in securing a loan from a bank. The schools can go on to help in finding a suitable location and help in marketing with the individual continuing her course in the institution. Though these courses can be expensive, it’s a small amount to be paid to start your own business with the help of experts in different field.

However, like any other course one has to check the reputation of the institute and probably interact with the previous batch students before enrolling. Business schools are different from management courses. The major differences being you are developing your own business while you are doing the course. There are different experts who have established businesses whom you can consult during these courses. There are also regular interactions and brainstorming sessions with the students so as to help other students with their business. Though this concept is very new in some countries, it’s catching up as there many people who are showing interest in starting their own business. Just choose the best way forward.

 

Filed Under: Ethics, Uncategorized Tagged With: , ,

The Code to Using Other Businesses to Run Smoother

 

Finding ways to make your business run smoother can lead to a lot of advantages that helps you compete against other organizations in your industry.

Your company, however, is not an island unto itself. There are numerous companies out there that offer the types of services that you need to make your own business more successful. By learning more about businesses that make your own business run smoother, you might find that you can create a more efficient, profitable organization that meets consumer demand more effectively that your competitors.

Online Signature Businesses

Your business can waste a lot of time waiting for documents. In some instances, you might have lost deals because an important document got mislaid in the mail or a contract arrived just a few hours too late. An online signature service can help your business send and receive signed documents without any worry.

One of the most notable features of an online signature service is that it can help you save time. You don’t have to wait for documents to reach your clients and business partners through the mail. You don’t even need to wait a couple of hours for a courier service to deliver the document to a client on the other side of town. Online signature services deliver your documents almost instantly, regardless of where they need to go. It doesn’t matter if your client lives across town or in Asia.

These services provide a fast, secure way for you to send them important papers and receive signed documents within minutes.

Some of the top online signature businesses include:

  • EchoSign
  • DocuSign
  • eSigTek
  • AlphaTrust PRONTO Online

Online Fax Services

Fax machines are cumbersome, frustrating and expensive, yet somehow they have remained a staple of the business world. You don’t have to struggle with an unruly fax machine to send documents, though. Instead, you can use online faxing. There are services like Metrofax that have mobile apps (they recently did an update) available for managing faxing when not at your computer.

Other online fax services to consider include

  • eFax
  • Fax Zero
  • Got Free Fax

Explore the features of these businesses to determine whether they can help your company function more smoothly.

These are just a few of the companies that can make your business run smoother. You should also consider exploring VoIP services like Skype, online management software developers and performance tracking software to find ways that you can address problems within your company.

Now that you’ve learned a bit about companies that can help your business operate better, which option will you explore first?

Filed Under: General Business Codes Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Code For Avoiding Hotels on your Next Business Trip

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The summer looms before you, an unhappy season. It’s meant to offer endless shores and hot mornings, the slow greets of waves; but instead it promises tedium. The only thing to shake up your summer is your annual business trip- a thing of glory and networking.

It also doesn’t have to be accepted.

No business trip hould be defined by the limitations of poor lodgings (and really, no company should put you in poor or shady lodging anyway).

Rental homes allow that to happen, providing a wealth of advantages that cannot be ignored, as well as the space, freedom and probably a better internet connection to do business. Here are some reasons to choose a vacation home over a hotel when on a business trip.

Pennies Saved, Rewards Earned

Budgeting is such an ugly notion. It demands too much and its effects rarely satisfy, force you to bear the confines of a hotel. But the refusal of luxury still requires dollars and, often, you can’t even spend a week on your vacation. The cost is too high. Rental homes, however, provide relief. These massive lodgings enable a company to reduce expenses due to how many can stay in one.

Their rates favor wisdom, not excess; and they even offer such values as the ability to cook meals (rather than ordering penny stealing room service). Money is saved.

Peace and Privacy

It’s the shriek of children, the slam of doors, the shove of luggage against the wall: hotels rattle with unfortunate sounds, force you to suffer echoes. There’s no quiet to be found. There’s no seclusion to seek. There’s only the thin walls and cheap plaster, with all noises creeping between. Rentals avoid this, however. All homes provide peace — with no crowds to battle or conversations to share. They’re separated from all distractions, enabling you to focus on your work and not what’s going on in other hotel rooms.

Luxury Squared

The world is defined to tiny corners, the small pathways beside a bed. A hotel is stuffed with endless rooms, has shoved them in inelegantly — sacrificing comfort for extra lodgings. And the burden belongs now to you. You can’t move. You can’t breathe. Instead you’re trapped on the sheets, claiming what little space you can and elbowing to find room away from your coworkers.

This isn’t the purpose of a business trip; it’s merely the effect. Rentals allow you to find comfort, however. All homes are large, affording easy floor-plans and extra footage. There’s no longer a struggle for elegance. It’s instead experienced in every inch.

Clean Sheets, Friendly Spaces

It’s a suspicious stain. You stare at it, uncertain of its origin, unwilling to reach out and guess the texture. It’s sprawled across a bed, was hidden beneath the covers (discovered only as you pulled them back, went searching for spiders. You saw one nesting in the corner earlier. You’ve been fretting ever since). And you try to curl yourself around it, avoiding the splatter. It’s a reflection of the room itself — the dirty walls and questionable carpets. A hotel is… filthy. Vacation rentals, however, are not.

These are homes and are treated as such. They’re meant to please: offering clean spaces and well-maintained furnishings. The intention isn’t to let customer after customer ruin the decor. It’s instead to ensure those customers are offered an experience they’ll enjoy.

Redefine your business trip. Escape the terrors of hotels. It’s time for something better — rent your pleasure.

Filed Under: General Business Codes Tagged With: , ,

The way to do a simple breakeven analysis

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Breakeven analysis is a common analytic approach. It is all about knowing how much costs you will incur and how much profit you will make. But in certain organizations this might not be simple. There could be hidden costs, suppressed costs, and predicted costs. Much the same way there could be predicted profits. All these have to be factored in.

Before determining costs you have to know the type of costs. They are fixed and variable costs. Fixed costs are static costs. They remain the same over a period of time. An example of a fixed cost is office rent. It remains the same for at least a year. Similarly, insurance, and IT infrastructure are fixed costs. Some companies tend to allocate their own items under fixed and variable costs. It is left to the company to decide which of its expenses are fixed and which are not.

Variable costs are non-static costs. Sudden expenses in the middle of a financial year can be deemed to be variable costs.
You need to ascertain the breakeven point. You might not want to factor in predicted revenues. It all depends on how your accounting practice is defined. For example, if you predict sales of so and so volume in a particular month, then you have a predicted revenue figure. But the question is if you are going to sell your product for the same price during this month.

Once you have all your income listed out, all you need to do is simple math. If your costs are still outweighing your income, then you have not broken even. If your income is more, you’re profitable.

 

 

 

Filed Under: Business Finance Tagged With: , ,

The Code to Investing in Site Usability

The highest traffic numbers don’t mean a thing if your guests aren’t able to easily understand how to use your site once they arrive at the landing page. If it looks too complicated or various features simply don’t work, an unvested user will simply move on to the next choice–your competition.

On the other hand, a visually-appealing page with simple navigation and intuitive features could translate into an engaged user who sticks around long enough to become a dedicated customer. Let’s take a look at a few more reasons why you should invest in your site’s usability:

Educated Customers are More Valuable Customers

By creating a usable site, your customers are more apt to look around the site to learn more about your product offerings. If you provide great information, many Internet users will come to depend on your site as a trusted source. This usually means they will return to purchase from your site again, and they may recommend you to their friends and family.

Reduce Your Overhead

A highly-usable site can reduce your overhead in addition to driving sales. Customers who are comfortable navigating your site and feel like they understand the product line have less need to email, call or chat with your customer service staff.

By knowing more about what they are buying, they will also be less likely to return the product they ordered. This will reduce your restocking and inventory management costs.

Usability Features

So, what makes an extremely usable site? Here are a few pointers to help you get started:

• User-friendly navigation - This should include text links that are consistent from page to page, a site map, easy-to-use links to return to the home page and a search bar.

• Clear, simple content – Use scannable content and put the most important information in an easy-to-find location. Use contrasting background colors that leave the text clearly visible.

• Use consistent branding - Make pages and colors consistent, develop a customized error page and use your company’s logo, slogan or tag-line on every page.

• Solicit user feedback – Provide a user-friendly method for your customers to tell you how you’re doing. Address their concerns whenever possible.

• User-test the site – Although you should always test your site in-house, don’t stop there. Either hire a group of typical users to test your site or contract this task to a third-party provider.

An Example of a Site that Did it Right

If you’d like to see a great example of a business that has recently made changes to dramatically increase their usability, check out the Metrofax redesign. This successful business supports online faxing to and from almost any platform imaginable. Because this is a very user-intensive service, it was critical to improve site usability in order to compete in Metrofax’s industry.

With improved site usability, your business can not only earn higher traffic numbers but increase its customer base and revenue at the same time. How will you make your site more usable?

Filed Under: General Business Codes Tagged With: , , ,

The Code for Working Women and Maternity Leave

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Although pregnancy is an exciting time for most women, this can be the first lesson in juggling family and the workplace. Most employers are understanding of these needs, but some just don’t seem to get it.

If you plan on working after your child is born, keep these tips in mind:

Informing Your Employer

While you’re not obligated to tell your employer the second you find out you’re pregnant, it might be a good idea to let them know before you show up in maternity clothes. Depending on the company, you should either let your CEO or line manager know first.

When you give your happy news, inform them of your anticipated due date and how long you plan on taking for maternity leave. If you have a critical position, offer to train someone to fill in for you while you’re gone. You should also plan on taking a few phone calls or emails while you’re away if a problem comes up.

The Length of Maternity Leave

 

Although federal law, The Family and Medical Leave Act, requires most employers to give you up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave when you have a child, the vast majority of companies provide four to six weeks of pay to the expectant mother.

Dad’s can also take 12 weeks of unpaid leave through the FMLA, but few employers offers paid paternity leave. Unless you occupy a key position that the company can’t do without, you’ll be able to return to your existing position or a comparable one.

When possible, you should give your employer about 30 days notice that you’ll be taking this time.
If your employer doesn’t offer paid maternity leave, try to save up sick time and vacation time so you won’t have to eat into your savings while you’re recovering from your pregnancy and taking care of an infant. To protect your rights, visit sites like Family Planning to learn everything you can about taking maternity leave.

Plan Your Return

It won’t be as simple as you think to return to work. While your job may be waiting, you have to find dependable childcare from a provider you trust before you can start working again. This could mean using a traditional daycare center, finding a small daycare provider who works from a private home, or hiring an in-home babysitter or nanny.

While a dedicated care-taker is the best option for some, many can’t afford it. Regardless of your choice, make sure the person or center is qualified and doesn’t have a ton of pending complaints.

Many mothers don’t count on how emotional it can be to return to work. While your new baby is too young to have separation anxiety, you might have a little bit of your own. After all, who could ever care for you precious little one better than you? Some new moms go back to work part-time at first to ease back into a 40-hour work-week.

While a career and a family definitely mix in the modern world, this situation adds a complex layer to starting a family. How do you juggle your job and your family obligations?

Filed Under: Guidance, Human Resources Tagged With: , , ,
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