What Your Consultant Should Not Do?

The problem is that many companies that offer Lean consulting do not do a very good job because they have merely jumped on the bandwagon. If you hire one of these companies then you are unlikely to get the results that you have paid for. You need to ensure that the company you hire is a good one; be sure to watch out that the companies do not do the following things:

1. Do a superficial assessment of your company. A really good consulting firm will take the trouble to study your company's current style of operation before it offers you any suggestions. Anything less than this will be completely useless and the results it offers will be short lived.

2. Hand you a Lean plan and expect you to do the rest. Keep in mind that one Kaizen event will definitely spark interest but will not be able to help your company make the necessary changes that will ensure success. The consultant ought to work with your people in order to chalk out a detailed plan for change.

3. Limit interaction to a few people in the organization only. Your business cannot become Lean only on the efforts of certain people; say senior or middle level management. This concept will only succeed if all levels of people in your organization participate willingly in it.

4. Keeps you dependent on it for guidance. If the Lean consultant does not work to develop Lean teams in your organization then you'll have to keep going back to it for consultancy. A good consultancy firm will mentor your company and provide sufficient training so that you can manage this independently.

The right consulting firm will ensure that your organization is well on its way to becoming Lean. You will find a significant improvement in the way your company functions and also in the way that customers respond to your products and services. The changes will be gradual and in small increments but will have long lasting impact on your company. Not only will your company be able to save a great deal of money this way but it will also be able to stay well ahead of competition.

How to Implement This Program in Your Organization?

It is a good idea to implement 5S because this will help increase your company's competitiveness. However, you are sure to find a few problems associated with implementing this concept. These problems generally arise from your employees' resistance to change. This is a very human failing and you should take steps to address it.

1. Don't implement this program without planning things carefully. Start by changing any one process, particularly one that is very visible. This will help build a lot of confidence in the process and will reduce resistance to future changes. Also, this will require less effort on your part. The logistics of making many changes simultaneously will be too big for you to handle.

2. Don't push through very big changes. This can antagonize your employees and make them fear for the future. If you make changes in small increments, but maintain the momentum then you will be successful in the long term.

3. Communicate the importance of these changes to your employees. Only if you have their whole hearted co-operation will you be able to push through this program. People at all levels in the organization have to understand the importance of this program and have to contribute accordingly.

4. Don't let systems revert to their original nature because of lack of follow-up. Invest time and money in a god training program and also in monitoring systems so that the changes are not forgotten or ignored. As a matter of fact, you will need to build on these incremental changes in order to take your company in a new direction.

As you can see, you need to have a great deal of patience in order to implement 5S in your organization. However, the results are well worth it. If you feel overwhelmed with the task ahead then it is a good idea to call in a management consulting firm to oversee the changes and set the right systems in place. You will be able to achieve a more efficient way of working and your customers will also notice the improvement in your products and services.

Top Tips on How to Interview Well

Know the Company

Interviewers expect you to have done your research so that you know about their company and their company's needs, and they will ask the difficult questions to determine whether you've done that research or not. It may help to remember that the interview is less about you and more about whether you can help the company with their needs. Focus your research on how you can solve their problem if you are limited on time to prepare.

Prepare Your Answers

Although you will not know the exact questions you will be asked, you can still be prepared with bullet point responses that cover a variety of situations. Generally speaking, hiring managers want to know about your background, your knowledge of the position (including information about their company), your skills, your personality, and your future goals. Consider using the STAR method to formulate your answers. STAR stands for:

· Situation - describe what the overall situation was 

· Task or problem - what issue did you face in that situation? 

· Action - what action or actions did you take to solve the issue? 

· Result - offer a quantifiable result of your actions.

This method helps you to accurately and appropriately describe your experiences and ensures that you are able to offer real results from those experiences.

Dress to Impress

No matter how casual the company culture, you should dress professionally for your interview. Your appearance will make an impression throughout your discussion, and you want that impression to underline your professionalism. When in doubt, wear a suit; it is always better to be overdressed than it is to be underdressed.

Have a Conversation, Not an Interrogation

If you believe that interviews should be questions on their side and answers on your side, you're not making the most of your interview. This is the ideal occasion for the company to get to know you, but it is also the ideal time for you to get to know more about the company and the position you're applying for. Ask appropriate questions as they come up so that you can engage your interviewer in a conversation that allows you both to learn more about each other and whether you and the company are a good fit for each other.

Send a Thank You Note

Let your interviewer to know that you are grateful for the opportunity they've given you by sending them a note expressing your gratitude. Though a hand-written note is always the preferred method, you could also send a thank you email. Whichever way you choose to go with expressing your thanks, be sure to thank every person involved in your interview process and make sure that your note presents you professionally. Good grammar, legible handwriting, and high quality stationary all help to make a good impression.

Seek Assistance From IT Recruitment Agencies

If you are short of resources and looking for the best candidate be it a hardware technician, PHP developer, network administrator or any IT professional, the most effective and fastest way is to contact a reliable IT recruitment agency that can help you find the desired candidate. Hiring employees involves a lot of time, cost and patience, as this is the most important resource that the company invests in. You wouldn't want to go wrong in hiring someone who is not worth the job. Seek help from the professionals who specialize in their job and are completely aware of all the requirements of an IT company.

These agencies act as a guardian to the IT companies and who do the entire task of interviewing, shortlisting and then selecting the most talented employees for them. The next most important thing that an IT company is worried about is the cost that involves in training. When hiring a recruitment agency you can even stay relaxed as some agencies these days provide IT training as well and send a highly trained candidate who would be productive on the day one itself. One can seek help related to hiring contract staff as well as permanent staff, an IT company has various segments and can offer help whether you looking for IT staff, analytics, IT executives, financial recruitment etc. These agencies are equipped with highly knowledgeable professionals who are proficient in conducting interviews and judging a candidate through their talking and gestures.

With complete understanding of the clients needs, research is done and interviews are conducted so that they can deliver you the most effective services well in time. Businesses are growing at a very faster rate and employing an HR just for the heck of doing research and hiring can be very costly. A HR has other functions to perform as well and finding the right employee involves time. These recruitment agencies act as a helping hand and even the candidate finds it convenient to deal with the agencies rather than directly speaking to the company. Top notch corporate firms, MNCs, & private organizations are seeking help from these agencies for employing candidates within the country as well as abroad. People seeking for jobs can easily get in touch with them and look for an ideal job as these agencies are tied up with the best companies and you can find a suitable job with convenience.

Ten Ways to Get a Job in the Legal Industry

1. Know your market: It is paramount, when you are seeking for a job in the legal industry that you do your research and conduct proper market research. You need to know what jobs, where and which opportunities or roles are available. When you take the time to understand the terrain of the general market, you give yourself a great chance of being a step ahead of the rest of your rivals.

2. Be Narrow: After an overall knowledge of the entire legal industry in your area, you will then need to narrow down your search to a specific area of focus. As a law student or recent graduate of a law, you might consider public-interest law, clerkships, internships or working for private firms. If you possess a legal support education, then you might go for jobs like being a paralegal or a authorized secretary. The point is, securing a job as a legal practitioner does not mean you can apply for all the jobs available, you need to be specific, and let all your options run down to a single point of focus.

3. Maintain the appearances: No matter how much faith you have in the solidity and viability of your C.V, it can still not take the place of your personal presence and appearance. What this means is that you don't expect your application to do the whole job for you, in fact, some employers wouldn't be so much impressed with whatsoever you've written. Instead, they want to assess you, your temperament, neatness, promptness, and mannerisms, etc. These and many other non-verbal clues are what your prospective employers are looking to see when you step inside the door. Little wonder then that "appearance is everything" couldn't be truer in a legal industry.

4. Build a Network: Networking in the legal industry is as necessary as in any other high-powered industry. It is essential to make and keep contacts within those in the industry that might be able to help you put a foot through the door. Sometimes, it is who and not necessarily what you know that makes any difference.

5. Go online: In today's world informational technology, many high profile and lucrative jobs are advertised on the Internet. Make sure you frequent many online job boards and postings. There are even some job boards that are specifically dedicated to the legal profession and they will help you filter your searches and quicken your hunting time.

6. Join Linked-In: Although this may to be the same as above, yet the difference is that on LinkdIn you are not actually submitting your resume to everyone you see, but instead, the website helps you connect and make contact with people in your line of profession. You have the opportunity to recreate online, what you might not be able to do offline, networking with relevant top shots in the legal industry.

7. Be ready: There is no point in searching for a job, connecting with people and entering the interview room without the adequate level of preparations on your part. Make sure you have all that would be required of you. Let your resume be up-to-date. Be adequately prepped for any sort of questions that you may be asked and know all you can about the history of the firm.

8. Consider additional training: If you are changing jobs or want to progress in your career, then consider taking additional training and classes. Doing this and with your working experience, will definitely boost your chances of getting the next job faster than others.

9. Go Pro-Bono: Volunteering for some profitless public law service can make your C.V look good. It will not hurt you to dedicate some free time to take on some public cases, though they may not pay you financially, but they will surely give you a cutting edge experience over and above your other job-seeking rivals

10. Come straight: When you are looking for a legal job, make sure you are truthful about your education, experiences and all other submitted information. Remember, that almost all legal firms do a basic background check on their prospective employees, you don't want to get caught lying.