Sunday, November 18, 2012

Stop Youth From Dying In Sports

Recently the news media seems to be filled with one tragic story after another of youngsters dying from sports and/or other physically demanding activities. What in the world is going on with our youths' health?
Let me make this perfectly clear before continuing, I am not pointing fingers, assigning blame or declaring it's the work of the Lord for the rash of tragedies befallen our young athletes. I am simply sickened by the mishaps and want to call attention to them so perhaps someone smarter than I can arrive at an answer which will stop this appalling trend.
Although all of these deaths are awful, some can be contributed to being the result of a purely weird accident. A baseball player warming up before a game is struck by a thrown pitch and dies, I see no reason to go into the details of the event as the family has suffered enough, but it was a rare quirk of events resulting in the tragic accident.
This type of accident can not be avoided. I read a sudden gush of advice from self-appointed sports gurus about how and where to warm up, preventing players from being struck by bats and etc. The type of advice every baseball coach I've ever known automatically implements, because a whole lot of it is common sense.
Other events were of natural causes, heart failures, which were caused by unknown birth defects, which manifested when physically challenged with awful results. Again, there was no indication of a health issue, some medical professionals have declared it was inevitable and there was no way to alter the ending.
These passing's, although gut wrenching, are a fact of life where the "Good Die Young," and we are left to question the reasoning. I guess you could say if all the tragedies fell into these two categories, we could sadly go on our way and attempt to shrug off the depression with the knowledge there was nothing we could had done to prevent it.
However, the question I am wrestling with is "Is This Actually True?"
I originated long before the generation X, Y or Z, when a transistor radio was the newest of technological advance and it wouldn't be replaced by a newer version the following week. I suppose you could say we lived in a primitive time, but it was a time when full physical exertion of kids, from after school till nightfall, was the norm, not the rarity.
The only way you stayed inside on a sunny day was if you were sick, or as often was the case in my particular situation, grounded for being mischievous. The idea of playing games inside, toy soldiers or Barbie dolls, never crossed our minds when the sun shown.
Today too many of our kids shield themselves inside their rooms, behind closed curtains which shut out the sunlight, in order to play video games. I'm not smashing video games, well maybe, but I've never known of a pair of strong thumbs doing pushups or running the 100 yard dash. We have raised a generation of the most coordinated and quickly reflexed thumbs and fingers known to mankind, but the rest of the body is jell-o.
I'm sure it happened when I was a kid, but I don't ever remember a sports player dying at such a young age. Did the fact that we played baseball, football, soccer or basketball continuously from the age of 5 or 6 until our teens immune our bodies to a "Sudden Exertion Syndrome" which led to severe consequences. It only makes sense if your body is accustomed to being pushed from an early age, it would react better to stress at an older age.
Again, I'm not near educated enough to propose solutions to today's sports health issues, but as a former player and coach I will claim the right of experience, and my experience tells me we need to seriously look at the way our youngsters are physically developing, or not developing.
I read articles the U.S is behind All other nations in science and mathematics, yet we are also falling behind the world in physical fitness, which means we don't study or exercise. What the hell are we doing with our time?
I tend to ramble when I'm passionate about something and our Kids seemingly senselessly dying on the sports field is one such issue. I beg authority figures from parents, teachers, coaches and politicians to take a close look into the mirror and ask yourself if you're doing all you can to insure our kids live a long and healthy life.

Monday, November 12, 2012

Best Online Stock Trading Platforms

Best Online Stock Trading Platforms Reviewed
When it comes to choosing the best online stock trading platforms that are available to investors today, it is best to research the trading platforms that are well-known and reputable. An investor should never take a chance with some stock trading platform that nobody has ever heard of. There are enough risks in trading stocks and there is no need to make things any more difficult than need be. When comparing stock trading platforms it is often helpful for a stock investor to make a list of things that are important to them as a stock market trader. (i.e. cost of trades, stock research tools, ability to mobile trade, initial deposit required, etc...)
Popular Stock Trading Platforms & Services
Benefits offered by best online stock brokers:
  • Scottrade - Scottrade has been one of the top investing platforms online for years now and is a good option for most stock market investors. $500 minimum deposit to fund your investing account. No opening or maintenance fees are involved with your Scottrade account. Easy to open an account or transfer a brokerage account from another broker. Online trades are just $7 for stocks that are priced $1 and above regardless of frequency or your account balance. Trade options for just $7 plus $1.25 per contract for market and limit orders. Trade as often as you like without worrying about hidden fees. Easily monitor your investment account, research and trade from any Internet-enabled mobile devices. Research the stock market and get quick stock quotes. Stay up-to-the-minute with complimentary Dow Jones News.

  • E-Trade - E-Trade is another big player in the online stock market trading area and has been for over 20 years. Setting up an account on E-Trade takes about 10 minutes and you can trade free for 60 days. Easy, intuitive online investing and 24/7 customer service. $9.99 and less for stock and options trades. Over 8,000 mutual funds and 30,000 bonds available for trading. Innovative investing & trading tools to help investors make better trades. You get free independent research and a huge resource of investing information educational resources. Stocks, options, futures and Forex. Whatever you desire to trade, ETrade has you covered.

  • TD Ameritrade - Low, flat-rate $9.99 commissions for every online equity trade, regardless of account balance or how many shares you buy and zero maintenance fees. Trade free up to 60 days and get up to $600 in your account. Independent, objective investing research from S&P Capital IQ, Morningstar Associates, and ResearchTeam. Easy to use online trading tools. In business over 35 years, TD Ameritrade is a favorite among online investors.
The above online stock brokers are all reputable online businesses and have excellent reviews for thousands of stock traders. It is hard to go wrong by choosing one of best online stock trading platforms available and will make your future investments easier, more profitable, and more manageable than ever before.

Monday, November 5, 2012

Infinite Power of the Subconscious Mind

This week's article is about the infinite power of the subconscious mind to manifest your desires. Creating more what you want is challenging, as you've no doubt witnessed in your own life. Why? Well, you see at a deeper level we've all been conditioned to think and respond in a certain way as early as childhood. From the moment you were an infant, your parents or guardians instructed you how to behave - albeit in a loving a nurturing way for your greater good.
You were taught how to think and what to believe. Many of your beliefs were formed during an impressionable period of your life; which you possibly still hold true. Whilst I don't mean to portray a unpromising setting; my aim is to illustrate the context in which we create our lives.
The school you attended had an influence on your life. I still recall my high school teachers who formed many of my current beliefs. I attended a Catholic boy's school run by Christian Brothers. Our education had a strong foundation in religion, sport and academia. I enjoyed my time there, yet recall the disciplinary teachings imposed upon us.
I had very little say at such a young age as to which school I would attend. I recall my mother using her influence with the local church priest in my area to help get me admitted into that school - it paid off and the rest is history.
As an adult I have a different view of the world compared to my twenties. I've come to realise that most of what I was taught was not of my choosing. I have challenged many of these beliefs over the years as they no longer served ME. They were scripts passed down from my parents who inherited the same scripts from their parents - thus creating a generational hierarchy of recycled information.
The process of self awareness relies on the realisation that no one is at fault. Your parents, guardians or loved ones acted from their current level of awareness. The more we know, the greater the choices we have to live in accordance with a greater image of ourselves.
Accepting that many of our habitual daily actions are subconscious poses a challenge in some ways. If you desire one million dollars by the end of the year, is it possible that you're well equipped to manifest it? Unless you're Donald Trump or Warren Buffet, the chances of creating with certainty that level of wealth in a short period of time is highly unlikely, for a number of reasons.
Belief is one of them. You must, without doubt have an undeniable belief you can manifest one million dollars with every living cell in your body. By the way I'm using money as an example, since most people can identify with it as a source of financial stability.
Your belief fuels your mind. It is the ignition switch to manifesting with power and intent. It communicates with the subconscious mind by reprogramming and adjusting your thought landscape toward your desires. Adding emotion to it is akin to lighting the belief with a match - BAM!
If you've read stories about cancer survivors or anyone having endured a rescue ordeal, you'll note an undeniable BELIEF in the power of their healing or rescue. There was an inner knowing, despite physical evidence to prove otherwise.
The second reason is subconscious programmes. These may also be called subconscious beliefs (SB). A SB is a reaffirming thought system which your mind accepts as factual. An example might be: money doesn't grow on trees, hard work is required to achieve success or romantic relationships are hard work.
The belief is shaped first and then we look for evidence in our lives to substantiate it - not the other way around. Why would anyone want to believe that money is hard to come by, yet consciously wish to attract a million dollars? That would be self defeating. You're subconscious beliefs must match your conscious desires in order to create with certainty, more of what you desire.
Sounds easy? The challenge with aligning the subconscious mind (SM) with your desires is that many of your SB are deeply embedded within the recesses of your mind. Your beliefs have been archived for storage long ago and are rarely called upon for examination.
It would be akin to filing a book in a library's dungeon for storage and forgetting about it for years. Only when the library undergoes renovation it is accidentally stumbled upon accumulating dust; since it was never called upon for use.
But here's the kicker. When we're ready to examine the SB, it locks onto other similar beliefs by growing a network of similar thought patterns. Over time, when you have a belief that money doesn't grow on trees, the accompanying beliefs are given life and subsequently drawn into the storyline.
To break the cycle, it is vital to examine all the beliefs connected to the storyline. The good news is when examining the outdated belief; they fall away like trees in forest. Once you target the main tree, the other trees feeding off it consequently fall away. You're now ready to plant new, empowering beliefs which are aligned with your authentic self.
Tony Fahkry is an expert in integrating the mind-body connection with health & healing and personal growth to achieve greater human potential.

Monday, October 29, 2012

Reform for Sales Success

We don't typically use political jargon when referring to sales. Yet, aren't politicians always selling? They are either selling us, as voters, or they are selling other politicians on their ideas and programs.
As I read Decision Points- The Presidential Memoir of George W. Bush, I couldn't help but recognize some parallels. For instance, in the chapter titled Leading, the President discusses his decision that leads to the "No Child Left Behind" legislation and says the following: "You cannot solve a problem until you diagnose it."
While this isn't a huge "ah-ha" for any of us, he then makes a quantum leap to "Accountability would serve as a catalyst for reform". Again, this isn't big news. Everyone knows that, to exact change, one must implement a system to ensure that necessary behaviors are being performed. Right?
As I think about the dozens of sales organizations we have worked with over the years, in nearly every instance, the chief executive's objective is to achieve some variation of reform. While their companies are not broken, they are working imperfectly, producing less than desirable results. These executives need a different set of outcomes and they realize that change is necessary.
In his book, the former president goes on to discuss the fact that, as a nation, the USA finished 3rd from the bottom, above only Cyprus and South Africa in the subject of mathematics. Sad placement for our country, known as a super power and the most influential country in the world.
But how could this happen? Surely our educational programs include quality math curriculums. It turns out the curriculums are not the problem. Apparently a lack of accountability- no checks and balances- is to blame.
Apparently there were no accountability measures set up to track progress. This tracking would have helped schools and reformers determine how to best duplicate occurring success or failure. As it was, there was no record and therefore no statistics to which one might refer. Given a lack of measurable data, accountability was impossible and success, or lack thereof, became a judgment call.
Translating this analogy to the business of selling, this means that if there is anything in your sales results that you can no longer accept, you must reach beyond treatment of the symptom to find the root cause of a problem. Then set standards. Then track the data. Then compare the data to the previously set standards.
Achieving success is not a one-step process, done when goals have been identified. Achieving success is a continuous and on-going job requiring discipline and process.
In other words, if your sales are falling short, where are the choke-points? Do your salespeople fail in closing? Or do they not prospect consistently? Do they sell on price and neglect the value your product brings to the prospect? Does your sales team even know that you, as chief executive, are looking for volume? Or margin? Or to expand distribution into other vertical channels?
In other words, your company's choke points could span executive, management and sales teams. Minus a deep-dive to uncover all the problems, you might easily address the wrong ones.
However the following issues typically come to light when we perform our diagnostics to help companies discover their choke-points-- the first step to reforming for sales success.
• Crucial Elements of Success are specific strengths or weaknesses that impact an individual's ability to grow and to be coached. These crucial elements include desire, commitment, responsibility and outlook, traits that largely impact an individual's performance in life and in sales.
• Major Performance Factor are deficits that impact execution of ANY sales system. These factors include need-for-approval, money issues, poor record-collection, and non-supportive buy-cycle.
• Strategies and priorities for the business are not aligned between senior management and sales management, thereby creating a disconnect between what should be executed and what is executed.
• Hiring - the population that is supposed to execute the strategies and priorities are incapable of doing so because they are not the right hires-- wrong hiring criteria was used.
• On-boarding - Accountability standards to execute sales activities to drive early success are missing. Additionally, there is often a lack of a consistent process to keep a new hire's pipeline full.
These are some of the major issues we uncover as we help companies reform their sales organizations. While you may be successfully treating some of your company's symptoms, chances are there are deeper issues that will inhibit long term change and growth and, in order to compete in today's hyper competitive environment, these issues will require deep diagnosis and consistently implemented accountability measures.

Monday, October 22, 2012

Robbing the Country of $4 Trillion in Lunch Money Count As Bullying

The media have been gasping in horror over claims that Mitt Romney engaged in gay bashing 50 years ago in high school, including one iconic incident in which he brutally hacked off a gay student's bleached blond locks.
Except that said student, John Lauber, wasn't openly gay. When interviewed by the non-partisan Auto Weekly before the haircut story surfaced in the mainstream media, key witness Phillip Maxwell never even mentioned the supposedly traumatizing incident.
Maxwell, a Democrat, did offer that Romney was disciplined, focused, and smart, and would probably make a great president-points that somehow didn't make it into the trim 5,500-word Post piece, no doubt due to space restrictions. One tipoff that the Post may have been proffering a biased report was its admission that most of the five witnesses it interviewed were Democrats.
The Post originally reported that another classmate, Stu White, had "long been bothered" by the incident-then had to publish a correction stating that White never knew about the incident until an unnamed source relayed it to him several weeks ago.
Lauber's three sisters issued statements expressing their disavowal of the Post's portrayal of their deceased brother and their distress over his use as a political prop.
Other details of the report claim that Romney teased another closeted gay student at Cranbrook School, though the Post confesses that other students and even teachers used language similar to Romney's.
Liberal commentators have studiously ignored the 95% of the Post report that focused on Romney's leadership in dozens of school organizations, extensive community service, robust work ethic, and all-around popularity and joviality, even as cited by many of the "victims" of his pranks.
The Post notes that Cranbrook was especially strict, and that it frequently expelled students for tiny infractions. If Romney was breaking rules and causing mayhem left and right, he sure was discreet about it.
What do we know about Romney's character later in life? We know that, much more recently than high school, he risked his life to save a family of six and their dog from drowning in a boating accident in 2003. Have you heard about that in the Post recently? Do you think you would have heard about it had Barack Obama done the same thing?
We also know that in 1996 Romney shut down Bain Capital for a week and sent his 30-person staff to New York City to scour the streets looking for a partner's missing daughter, who had traveled there for a rave and been abducted while on ecstasy. In a campaign commercial for Romney's gubernatorial run, the partner tearfully credited Romney with saving his daughter's life.
Such stories belie the mainstream media's portrayal of Romney as lacking in humanity and prone to "targeting the vulnerable," as New York Times columnist Charles Blow put it. Targeting the vulnerable? Targeting the vulnerable for being in need of his life-saving assistance, perhaps.
How many lives has Obama saved with his bare hands or his personal financial resources?
Meanwhile, since we're talking about high school and character, we know from Obama's autobiography that he "enthusiastically" used marijuana and cocaine and abused alcohol to such an extent that he spent his last two high school years in a "daze." We don't know what bad behavior Obama might have been up to in his twenties, but we do know that he steadfastly refuses to release his college or law school transcripts.
More importantly, we know that while his political career was ascendant, the young Obama sleazily knocked his three respected opponents for the Illinois State Senate off the ballot in 1996, by challenging their candidacy petition signatures based on technicalities. He also eliminated another opponent for Senate in 2004 by forcing open his challenger's sealed divorce records.
We know that Obama hobnobbed with unrepentant domestic terrorists Bill Ayers and Bernadine Dohrn, launched his political career in their home, attended for 20 years the church of anti-American preacher Jeremiah Wright, possibly tried to bribe Wright into silence before the November 2008 election, and marched with the New Black Panthers five short years ago.
Paul Begala argues the Romney bullying stories show that the candidate is a "serial abuser of power." Begala claims that one can "draw a straight line" from the man who orchestrated the alleged hippie-shearing to the one who laid off hundreds of employees while at Bain and "slashed education" while governor of Massachusetts.
Serial abuser of power? How about applying that label to the president who exploded the number of czars in the federal government, regularly plots to embolden left-wing federal agency heads to act unilaterally if Congress won't immediately implement his plans, and brags about putting his boots on people's necks, kicking their asses, and punishing his enemies? How about the president who threatens the Supreme Court that they had better not engage in judicial review of his signature legislation? How about the president who forms an enemies list of private citizens who contribute to his competitor's campaign?
One commenter breaks down the Begala piece: "It is tough when you have to deconstruct a monogamous, nondrinking, nonsmoking, honest Mormon who pays millions in taxes and gives millions to charities. You have to resort to high school pranks to turn a good man into a bully."
A friend and I once debated which is more pathetic: a twenty-something or fifty-something left-wing radical. My friend argued the former, because the fifty-something has the strength of his convictions to hold them till adulthood. I argued the latter, since we often grow out of youthful indiscretions and poorly thought-out ideologies through experience and wisdom.
Romney may have been a bit of a bully 50 years ago, which he regrets and apologizes for. Obama flirted with radicalism in his youth, a dalliance that has since blossomed into a full-blown, committed relationship.

Monday, October 15, 2012

Will the True Victims Please Step Forward

Logic and good thinking is a hobby of mine. Conversely, dishonesty, misleading facts and poor thinking are very irritating to me which is why I probably I don't like most news reporting. I feel like a good value I bring is to help people see wrong assumptions and myths in the world around us, particularly in the financial world.
In the past I've resisted writing about housing, partly because I try to stick with issues that directly impact personal investing rather than broader issues of the world around us, but as Popeye would say, "That's all I can stand, I can't stands no more."
Let's talk about those who have experienced the loss of a home through foreclosure. What I won't dispute is the emotional difficulty of being in a situation where for whatever reason you are forced to move. Most of us have been in that circumstance for financial reasons, relationship reasons or career reasons. So by this, allow me to put the emotions of the situation aside and let's talk about the financial aspect of this.
Some of those who have been foreclosed on are victims. They were not educated on what they were doing. Others chose foreclosure as a logical alternative to paying a mortgage payment on a home worth half the balance of the mortgage - personally, I find no fault with this, accepting the negative consequence no matter what the result to the lender are simply the rules of the game. However, from my armchair observation I haven't heard this group complaining about losing their homes. Let me parse out a situation which is based roughly on national averages:
In 2004 a couple buys a home in Denver for $200,000 with a payment of $1,000. The home's value goes up to $250,000. In 2006, they decided to do what everyone else was doing at the time and cash out $50,000. By 2009, the market value of the home had dropped back down to $200,000 and the couple divorces and because neither of them could individually afford the home, they let it go (helping the decision is that they are upside-down on the mortgage). The foreclosure process takes 18 months between the month they last make a payment and when they got the eviction deadline. So, let's review the numbers, between buying the house is 2004 and when moved out was about 72 months. At $1,000 per month this is $72,000. However, they cashed out (tax free) $50,000 and they got free rent for 18 months (or a $18,000 savings). So 68 of those 72 months were free and they really only paid $4,000 (or what averages out over 72 months as less than $100.00 per month for six years).
Folks, it's simply not honest to look at these people as victims of the housing crisis. And foreclosure is far from a death sentence for one's credit - the couple would be able to buy a house three years after a foreclosure which puts us to today in the year 2012 in an environment where interest rates and housing prices are even lower than their first house.
The victim is the lender who took a large loss on a loan (my guess recouping $175,000 or so on a $250,000 loan minus the interest lost over a few years during the foreclosure process which of course extends several additional months after the people move out). Denver did not really have explosive housing growth like Florida or Arizona. We could run this scenario with those markets and you could easily imagine somebody cashing out a home and getting hundreds of thousands and not only living for free, but actually making money off their foreclosure.
Not everyone is in this situation and some people need help, but there are probably fewer victims than people simply going through foreclosure. It is not that I am unsympathetic, but as a whole although the banks have been villainized in the media, it's the banks who have taken more losses than individuals who we buying a home for the first time during the boom -bank loses are a shade less visceral level than for families.
Of course not all situations are like this situation; there are people who were elderly who cashed out or responsible buys who put 20% down and still became upside-down, but my guess is that a great deal of people approximately fit into this scenario.
The banks don't need an apologist. After spending almost a decade working in them in my career, I don't expect much love from my bank. Banks are what they are: for profit institutions. If you have money at a bank, just like any business you are getting a service with the assumption that they are making money off you. And there's no shame in this. However, in my opinion, someone who has enjoy free or reduced rent has in essence realized a profit not a loss, particularly if they carried out refinancings that gave them cash in excess of their cost. Financially, the homeowner was the winner and the victim was the lender.

Monday, October 8, 2012

Like It Or Not, It's Still Montana, USA

Montana is prettier, emptier and, if you catch it at the wrong time, colder than most places in the United States. But it is still part of the United States - even if the state Supreme Court wants to pretend that it isn't.
Five of the state court's seven justices recently expressed their disapproval of the U.S. Supreme Court's Citizens United decision by announcing that, due to Montana's special history, Citizens United does not apply beneath the famous Big Sky.
There is no chance that this position will stand. There will be no need to send in Federal troops, notwithstanding an old saying, dating back to the Gold Rush of the 1860s and 1870s, that "the Confederate Army never surrendered; it just retreated to Montana." But the state court's action, and the encouraging response it received from two members of the U.S. Supreme Court, is still disturbing.
Montana is one of a handful of states that have a highly developed sense of being unique by virtue of geography, history and local culture. I know Montana's perspective because I lived there for nearly seven years while I went to college and started my working career.
In 1972, shortly before I arrived, Montana wrote itself a brand-new constitution, filled with cutting-edge innovations such as guaranteeing the public's right to attend government meetings and see government documents. Montana has a deep-seated interest in maintaining clean, responsive and open government.
This is largely a reaction to the state's political history of corruption and exploitation at the hands of out-of-state corporate interests, which has gradually enlarged to a sometimes self-defeating mythology. Such corporate interests ran rampant in the early 20th century, most notably in the case of warring "copper kings," whose feuds ultimately resolved in the consolidation of power by the Anaconda Copper Company. Anaconda controlled most of the state's leading newspapers, and many facets of state and local government, until the late 1950s.
Steve Bullock, Montana's Democratic Attorney General, told NPR, "Our legislature, our judges, down to the local county assessors, were almost bought and paid for. Mark Twain even said that, you know, the amount of money coming in in Montana makes the smell of corruption almost sweet." (1)
In response, Montana legislators passed the state's Corrupt Practices Act in 1912. The law prohibited corporations from spending money to promote or attack political candidates, a position that Citizens United overturned by holding that corporations and labor unions have a free-speech right to spend their own money on political advertising.
Of course, Montana being what it was in 1912, there were ulterior motives for the passage of the Corrupt Practices Act. By that point, the state's most powerful interests had gained control of Montana's politics and newspapers. They did not need to spend money on political advertising; their editors, who ran the newspapers I later worked for, hyped or killed the stories they were told to hype or kill. The Corrupt Practices Act was designed to entrench Montana's then-existing power structure.
But the Montana Supreme Court cited the purportedly pure goals of the 1912 law when it took the position - one that it knew full well it had no power to take - that Citizens United has no force within Montana's boundaries. The Montana justices, in a 5-2 decision, argued that the state law somehow superseded the federal decision.
It is as though Mississippi had rejected Brown v. Board of Education, or as if California had ignored Loving v. Virginia. Imagine if the Florida Supreme Court had contended that the U.S. Supreme Court had no authority to rule on Florida's election recount in 2000's Bush v. Gore.
The justices in Washington rightly stayed the Montana court's decision. But two justices, Ruth Bader Ginsberg and Stephen Breyer, foolishly encouraged the state's position by arguing that the Montana case is a suitable vehicle through which the U.S. Supreme Court might revisit Citizens United, a decision from which both Ginsberg and Breyer dissented.
Would they feel equally disposed to review a state Supreme Court decision holding that Roe v. Wade is of no force and effect? I highly doubt it.
Reversal of the Montana ruling is a foregone conclusion. Even the Montana judges know this. Montana Justice James C. Nelson was clear about his personal issues with Citizens United in his dissent, but went on to write, "Like it or not, Citizens United is the law of the land as regards corporate political speech. There is no 'Montana exception.'" (2)
The question, then, is whether the Montana judges can get another shot at the Supreme Court simply by brazenly defying a two-year-old holding. It is noteworthy that Justice Sonia Sotomayor, who dissented in Citizens United along with Ginsberg and Breyer, did not join Breyer's memorandum calling for a rehearing. Neither did Justice Elena Kagan, who was not yet on the court when it decided the case.
A rehearing would be exactly the wrong response to Montana's defiance. The right response would be a summary reversal.
Assuming none of the justices who were in the Citizens United majority are inclined to revisit the issue, both Sotomayor and Kagan would have to join Breyer and Ginsberg in voting to hear the Montana case in order to get it before the court. Here's hoping at least one of them has enough sense not to do so. If we start inviting state courts to disregard Supreme Court holdings, there is no telling where that path could lead, other than "nowhere good."
I have a lot of affection for Montana and its residents, but the state is not nearly as special, nor as oppressed or vulnerable to oppression, as its people think it is. In the 30 years since I left Montana, its neighbor to the west, Idaho, has developed a significant technology industry. To the east, South Dakota has made itself a banking center, and North Dakota has become headquarters to an energy boom. What industry has Montana itself developed since I departed? Not much, except electronic gambling. Almost every bar in the state (this is a state with an amazing ratio of bars to people) has video poker and similar machines.
That's not oppression by out-of-state money. That's a symptom of a state that is too busy pitying itself to fully participate in the 21st century. I visit once or twice a year, and I feel sad for this place that I still care about.
Out-of-state money doesn't vote in Montana elections. It buys ads, as it does everywhere else, and those ads represent nothing more than political speech. For good or ill, Montanans will decide their own elections and their own fate. But Montana is still one of the 50 states, and the U.S. Supreme Court has legal jurisdiction over all 50 of them.

Monday, October 1, 2012

Things You Must Know Before Joining an MBA Course

MBA is a craze these days. Many youngsters plan to do MBA after their graduation. However not many of them really know what it exactly is and what they should really do to make most out of their investment. Most of these ignorant fellows end up in wasting huge money on an inferior institution that takes them nowhere in fact. Here are some things which you must know before opting for an MBA.
1. Nomenclature: MBA, abbreviated from Master in Business Administration is an internationally recognized PG course covering various business -oriented subjects, such as Marketing, Finance, Human Resources
2. Origin: Originated from the United States in the late nineteenth century, started in India in 1961 with IIMS that were not authorized to offer MBA degrees and were issuing PGDM (Post Graduate Diploma in Management).
3. First b-schools of India: IIM Calcutta was the first to be established with the collaboration of MIT Sloan School of Management. Next to follow was IIM Ahmadabad, in initial collaboration with Harvard Business School. In 1955, the University of Delhi initiated the Faculty Management Studies (FMS) and during 1968, first launched the MBA program for graduates.
4. Course to be selected from i) Full time and Industry Accepted ii) Regular 2 years iii) One Year Part time for executives iv) Distance Learning online by weekends v) Open University vi) Finishing School Concepts.
5. Specialization Subjects: General MBA provides options for Marketing, HR and Finance. IIMs and other top b-schools offer a number of electives that don't attract student. Job prospects marketing 70% finance & HR 10% and balance 10% covers all specialization. Don't get lured by low budget programs offering new specialization.
6. Special Courses: Select institutes marked 'specialized' for specialized courses. Choose to join IIFT for Foreign Trade or IRMA for Rural Management. Other specialized courses are International Business, Entrepreneurship, Media Management, Healthcare, NGO & Rural Development, Tourism and Travels etc. Private institutes charging fees less than Rs 6-7 lakhs can't provide good quality specialized courses.
7. Self-Interrogation: Sort out the pros and cons with regard to the course and institute you are going to select. What are your motivations such as prospective job openings or establishing your own business? Thinking of in-country education or abroad? Low budget course or high profile institutes? Financial resources available or intending to avail study loan. Which course with what investment gives you the optimum Return on Investment?
8. Selection procedure of foreign b-schools: The base is GMAT or Graduate Management Admission Test, TOEFL or Test of English as a foreign language and IELTS or International English Language Testing System. Letters of Recommendation and personal interviews are other means of selection. Join only the high-ranking ones.
9. Ranking of b-School is done by Bloomberg Business week, US news & World Report, Eduniversal, the Economist and FT.com. D& B gives list of all b-schools in India and interviews associated (dnb.co.in/indias) Leading Business Schools. Ranking up to top ten may be authentic while the rest may be manipulative, favoring particular institute.
10. Qualifying Ability: You are to score the minimum cut-off marks in Common Admission Test or CAT. Check your own past academic performance at matriculation or +2 levels. Your earlier good performance in mathematics and basic knowledge of Economics, and Quantitative Techniques, good communication skills in English, both written and spoken, involvement in extracurricular activities and perseverance will help you better after you join any b-school of your choice.

Monday, September 24, 2012

Type 2 Diabetes

Being overweight or obese are often problems for most people who are diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes. These diabetics are usually told weight loss intervention can help to control the disease as well as prevent damage to their heart and blood vessel disease.
Unfortunately, heart attacks are a prime cause of death in middle-aged people with Type 2 diabetes. Fatality rates are two to four times higher than those of middle-aged people without diabetes. Recent studies reveal between 35 and 50 percent of heart attack victims had abnormal blood sugar at the time of the attack. People with high blood pressure are also at a higher risk.
Researchers at the University of California in San Francisco, United States, however, who are concerned weight loss programs could have complications, undertook a study to ascertain what effects, if any, weight loss interventions could have on the bones of people with Type 2 diabetes.
Their study, published in the Journal of Bone Mineral Research in December 2011, included 1274 obese or overweight people diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes.
One group was given:
  • an intensive lifestyle weight loss intervention, while
  • the other group was given basic diabetes support and education over a period of one year.
At the end of the study weight loss, basic fitness, and blood sugar levels showed improvement in the weight loss intervention group. The bad news is the weight loss intervention group also demonstrated loss of bone mineral density in their hip and thigh bones.
People with diabetes can be susceptible to falls due to diabetic neuropathy and poor vision. Hip fractures can have serious consequences, sometimes requiring surgery, frequently limiting mobility, and sometimes even leading to death.
Fortunately, there are ways of fighting the loss of bone density. Bones need calcium, so getting enough calcium is one way of keeping your bones healthy.
  • a cup of unfortified oatmeal has 4 percent of the recommended daily allowance (RDA) of calcium for an adult, and a cup of fortified oatmeal has 10 per cent.
  • broccoli, spinach, kale, and turnip greens are good sources of calcium. One cup of spinach contains 20 per cent of the RDA of calcium for an adult. A cup of broccoli has 4 per cent and a cup of turnip greens provides 10 per cent. A cup of kale has 9 per cent, so have a big green salad for lunch.
  • calcium supplements are also available.
It's not enough though to just take calcium supplements or eat high-calcium foods; you need to cut down on foods that are diuretics: caffeine and alcohol.
To be used for bone growth and repair, calcium needs some help from vitamin D, which is often lacking in people with Type 2 diabetes:
  • getting a few minutes of sunlight every day without a sunscreen is helpful for making vitamin D,
  • foods such as soy milk can be fortified with vitamin D.
  • supplements of vitamin D are recommended for those who live in latitudes with little sunlight or cold climates or those who are unable to have much sun exposure due to lifestyle or dress.
Weight-bearing exercises are also important for growth and repair of bones, so take a walk every day in addition to taking in calcium and vitamin D.
If your bone density is lowered to the point of being dangerous, it is termed osteoporosis, and medications are available to treat it. Your bone mineral density can be measured and your doctor can prescribe much needed drugs if necessary.

Monday, September 17, 2012

What Is Facebook?

Electronic media trends are changing rapidly. A social networking website is an online platform where users can create a profile and share their thoughts that connects to other users. These social networking websites contain lots of features, providing avenues for both content evaluation and creation. Users share thoughts, photos, opinions and news. Traditionally, these websites allowed people to stay connected with family and friends, and individuals with similar interest to share. The top four social media networks worldwide are Facebook, Linked-In, MySpace or Twitter.
What is Facebook? Facebook is really a best platform. It's turning into an extremely significant platform for online communicating. It's speedily, turning into another type of marketing and interaction and advertising for a lot of businesses over the world. It's a continually expanding, online communicating and interaction source. Facebook is definitely a WWW is a social network website that allows people to share communications.
This platform is used by billions of people over the world, but only a few people know how to properly use this website. Facebook is often a widely used online networking program that allows peoples to share information with other people. It's an effective advertising and marketing resource that allows brands and services to get in touch and promote them. It's a wonderful website and advertising strategy to complement your online marketing technique. It's totally free of charge strategy, suitable as an online resource to offer your services and products. Facebook has consequently turned into an advertising and marketing strategy to attain a particular target customers quickly. It's now a popular focus on for social online marketing. It's an excellent learning platform for educators.
Facebook enables peoples to place their thoughts freely. It's much better for organizations and it allows you to gain knowledge from peoples you wouldn't ordinarily have contiguous exposure to, otherwise. It's used by all, not only the Athletic Individuals, Writers, celebrities, and Organization members. It's the open social networking platform; here peoples can compliment you honestly regarding your products and services. It's an uninterrupted pulse item that means it may really run your attention span. It's best for making a buzz about a cool service kick off or advertising and marketing of an active product or service. It's perfect for offering your services or products. It's the perfect location to market your services or products or site at this time as it's very hot.
Facebook is social media site that actually works similar to MySpace or Twitter. It's closer to blogs while MySpace or Facebook fits in the whole online community group. Facebook is really a social media site for keeping hooked up with family members, friends, organizations, co-workers, or communities with the same interests and hobbies. It has been a big part of my connectedness, my client base, with my past associates. It has been very accessible and I have had no issues with the services that Facebook provides.

Monday, September 10, 2012

Positive Benefits of Video Games

We all have read news reports about the negative influences of video games. It is true that these games can have some bad consequences on the child's behavior but there are also a lot of positive benefits. Video games engage children in many learning activities which help children learn certain skills. Computers are an important social tool in today's modern world and children should be given enough opportunities to play with them. Some studies have also shown that video games can teach children with attention deficit disorders to modulate their brain waves associated with focusing. With proper training these children have shown to improve their social and organizational skills.
Positive Benefits for Children
  • As Educational Tool-These games are fun and exciting for children so they stimulate learning.
  • Spatial skills-Spatial skills abilities help children visualize objects in two and three dimensions.
  • Goal Setting-Goals are set in every game and they need to rehearse these goals.
  • Maths skills-They see their scores while playing and hence learn some basic maths skills.
  • Language skills-They learn how to follow directions and read certain words like 'Go','Stop','Start'.
  • Social Skills-Children can talk about their passion with their friends in school and can make new friends who share a common interest.
  • Decision-making skills
  • It teaches Strategy
  • Teaches children Computer Skills
  • It teaches Memory and Mapping
  • Multitasking
  • Quick Reasoning and Critical thinking
Caution for Parents
  • Always remember that your supervision is a must if your child is very young.
  • Children must not be allowed to play these games for a long time as it can interfere with their home-work and other daily responsibilities.
  • You must monitor the effects of these games on your child's behavior. If you don't want him to play violent games then it's okay to be a little strict.
  • Engage your child in other activities by interacting with him, reading books,sports and even watching television. This will not make him addicted to these games.
Tips for Choosing Video Games
  • Check the ratings of the game and pick the ones that is acceptable to your family.
  • Look for games that involve strategy making and activities that stimulate your child's brain.
  • Choose a game that is appropriate for your child's age.
  • Encourage group play by picking games which involve multiple players.

Monday, September 3, 2012

Active Retirees Speak, Sell Books, Reports On Retirement Made Easy

Are you a retiree who is looking for something intriguing and fun to do, while making extra money? If your answer is yes, you are not alone. In fact, most older employees (65 percent) told researchers they would like to have some form of work in their retirement, according to a 2011 Harris Interactive survey of 1,001 people age 55 and older commissioned by Sun America.
Interestingly, of those surveyed few said they want full time work; only 4 percent told Harris researchers they want to work full time in retirement. Some 25 percent said they want to work part time in retirement, and 36 percent would rather to go back and forth between work and leisure, reports Dave Bernard for U.S. News.
If you find yourself looking for either full or part time activity to keep your brain active, while making some extra money, consider speaking before groups of pre and post-retirees about successful retirement ideas. A popular way to get started is speaking before a local organization or club, with a well researched book or report to sell at the back of the room.
With retirement a good topic to address (it should be, since baby boomers are starting to retire in large numbers), here are three important retirement questions that you could write a speech around:
-- Why are some people more ready for retirement than others?
-- Are there any specific issues that most people overlook when considering retirement?
-- Why is the idea of retirement difficult for some, and easy for others?
Any speakers who are fast on their feet with answers to questions like these should impress their audience. To prepare to speak before a group, here is some quick help in preparing your cheat sheet (or talking points) for your speech on making retirement easy, focusing on several or all of these questions.
Who really IS ready for retirement?
People who help or coach others to prepare for retirement often introduce some of the following issues to see if the people they are working with are retirement-ready:
--Do you believe your financial support plan covers you appropriately for the years ahead?
--Do you have other plans for your retirement (how you will spend your time)?
--Do you exercise for 20 minutes without a break at least three times a week?
All are appropriate questions, and even more like them come from The Retirement Readiness Assessment sponsored by My Next Phase. I took the online quiz and actually learned a few things about retirement readiness, so I challenge you to take it, too.
So, what appears to be some over-looked retirement issues?
While people who are retiring are typically advised to take stock of their financial resources, they don't always consider their psychological resources, says Nancy Schlossberg, Professor Emerita of Education at the University of Maryland.
Dr. Schlossberg has written extensively about retirement planning, noting that many baby boomers "didn't realize what was at stake when they left their jobs. They didn't think about things like how to structure their lives, their time, and how they might matter to others."
This researcher tells About Senior Living editor Shannon O'Brien that identity is key. "...when someone can say, for example, "I'm a professor," that's one thing, but when that identity is no longer there, it can be quite upsetting. It can take time to figure out a new identity."
Now, moving on to...
Why is retirement hard for some, and easier for others?
As a retirement blogger and author, I do not see this question asked often enough, and it is a good one. "Jacob" who blogs for Early Retirement Extremes, notes that how people approach personal finance makes a true difference, distinguishing why some people retire easier than others.
According to this "extreme" blogger: "To get ahead, you must either press the accelerator harder or ease on the brake. Apparently lots of people are not fully aware of just how hard they're flooring the brake. Therefore try this exercise. Every time you touch something [that you are considering for purchase], ask yourself whether this item has accelerated your income or whether it has decreased your savings."
Any other important, last-minute tips?
A wealth of retirement information is found online just by searching with the major browsers. I suggest taking a look at Investopedia, a particularly helpful site filled with many sophisticated ideas for soon-to-be retirees. Here is one of its many last-minute retirement tips:
Establish a Cash Emergency Fund to get you through the hard times. "It acts as a safety net in case something expensive or unplanned happens, such as medical expenses, market downturns or expensive home maintenance issues, just to name a few."
In fact, retirees are often advised to have three to six months of emergency cash reserves available separate from their investment portfolio. In normal economic times, this may be okay, but if the economic downturns, and the retiree is living off savings then it would help to add 12 to 18 months of cash to the investment portfolio to allow bonds and stocks to recover during bad times, according to Investopedia.
Are you ready for your retirement speech? With this information in hand, and your additional research, you should keep the attention of your audience. (Be sure to have your well-researched book or report ready to sell, and business cards to hand out.)
Susan Klopfer, author and speaker, writes on civil rights and diversity. Her newest books, Who Killed Emmett Till?" "Where Rebels Roost: Mississippi Civil Rights Revisited" and "The Emmett Till Book" are now in print and are carried in most online bookstores including Amazon, Barnes & Noble and in eBook versions on iBooks and Smashwords. "Where Rebels Roost" focuses on the Mississippi Delta, with stories about Emmett Till, Fannie Lou Hamer, Aaron Henry, Amzie Moore and many other civil rights foot soldiers. These books emphasize unsolved murders of Delta blacks from mid 1950s on. She is also the author of eBook, Cash In On Diversity. Klopfer is an award-winning journalist and former acquisitions and development editor for Prentice-Hall. Her computer book, "Abort, Retry, Fail!" was an alternate selection by the Book of-the-Month Club.

Monday, August 27, 2012

Self Mastery Can Improve Your Life

In the words of Leonard da Vinci "One can have no smaller or greater mastery than mastery of oneself".
Self mastery is the ability to recognize, understand and manage the different aspects of your personality, and in so doing, to create a higher quality of life experience. It is the ability to make the most out of your physical, mental and spiritual health and below are some areas of your life which will help you on your path towards developing effective self-mastery.
Vision: All self-mastery starts with you: the roadmap that you will create to take you to where you want to be. You need to be self-disciplined and committed to your vision and to always keep it in the forefront of your mind. Write your aims down, and share them with others, so that you will be accountable to yourself.
Accept people: Once you accept people for who and what they are, you won't waste time and energy being frustrated in trying to change them. Everyone is different and that means that we have to learn the life skill of people management. Not everyone thinks and acts as we would like.
Don't wait for perfection: Appreciate who you are, what you are, and what you have so far accomplished. You may not achieve the same results as your idealised role model but the important factor is to work your way towards getting there whilst not expecting it to happen overnight.
Look after your body: Your body is an incredibly complex machine that needs daily maintenance, so make sure you give it the nutrients and exercise it needs for optimum performance. If it becomes damaged in part, it has the ability to self-heal, provided you recognise the fact that you, yourself, need to help the process.
Self Discipline: People who demonstrate strong self-mastery are not controlled by their emotions. They learn to control their fears, their likes and dislikes, in order to move forward unencumbered by inner doubts but reinforced by facts and the unemotional assessment of risk, gain or loss.
Appreciation: Always be aware of the gift of health, the natural world, your family, your children, your education, your place in the community and in society, and the peace that spirituality can give to you in times of hardship or stress.
Communicate: You have the power to make someone smile just by openly smiling yourself and by making time to talk to others in a way that could make all the difference to their day.
Cognitive Restructuring: This technique involves modifying the automatic negative thoughts that occur in an anxiety-provoking situation, to a positive mindset that enables you to manage the challenge instead of mismanaging it. You need to always remind yourself of your natural talents and experience. If you convince yourself that you can win, then you may well do so. Unfortunately, however, the opposite holds just as true!
Concentrate: Try not to have a 'butterfly mind' that flits from one topic to another. Focus your mind on one thing at a time and gain the fulfillment of achieving a goal and then feeling that sense of satisfaction before moving onto something else.
Emotional Intelligence: Those that have gained self-mastery are usually well aware of other people's needs and emotions and take them into consideration when communicating. Of course, in a negotiating context, that can be the winning factor.
Let go: We are all reluctant to let go of the past and focus on the future. This is often because the past is more comfortable to deal with, as it holds no secrets, whereas the future is bound to hold many unknown challenges. However, letting-go is essential in order to move forward unencumbered with the 'baggage' of previous relationships.
Self-mastery is a life skill that takes times and effort. It's a continuous process that should be integral to one's daily life script for everyday living. Once you have mastered it, you will also be able to help others to achieve the same skill. And that in itself, can be one of the most satisfying and humbling experience of our own lives.
Written by Carole Spiers and reprinted with the kind permission of Gulf News.
Carole Spiers is a world authority on work stress, a BBC Guest-Broadcaster and author of a new book 'Show Stress Who's Boss!'

Monday, August 20, 2012

The Power of 10

I recently tried launching a product and like many entrepreneurs, money is tight and there is no room for any losses or miscalculations. I thought, wrecked my brain, and went through everything that I had learned in school reviewing my textbooks to see what types of marketing mix I could come up with to get this $19.95 product in the field to solve a problem of many highway motorist. The result of my research brought me back to my original issue, not enough capital to fund the launch.
My Story
April 2, 2012, my entire life changed forever and I mean forever. At the age of 56 while at work I had an acute asthma attack. You're probably saying what does this have to do with launching and marketing a product? We'll get to that. A few weeks earlier I visited my family doctor due to breathing problems. The pollen here in Charlotte, NC was seriously bad and the pollen conditions were being reported on the news as much as three and four times daily. My doctor treated me with a breathing treatment, some antibiotics, a portable breathing machine, and released me. The following week I was unable to get out of bed to even walk to the bathroom without seriously being out of breath. I was disciplined at work for calling out. A top performer, written up for the first time in my 47 years of working. That caused stress in my life and I went into work Sunday and Monday the 1st and 2nd of April 2012.
The morning of April 2, 2012 at 12:30 a supervisor passed by and asked if I was wheezing and my reply was "if you can hear me I guess I am" so I got up and took a breathing treatment and came back to my desk(1:00pm) immediately emailing my wife to come pick me up early from work because I thought I might have some difficulties later on; she was out at lunch and never got my message. At 2:30 I was unable to stand, talk, or breathe. I threw a pen across the room to get someones attention and they immediately called my wife and dialed 911. The next 1 hour was the longest hour in my life not being exhale, listening to the radio traffic when I hear my wife has arrived at the gate of my job in front of the ambulance and they veer off and go to the wrong building.
Finally, the emergency team arrives and immediately try to force air in my face and fight begins. Try pushing a needed product in the face of it's intended user. Regardless of the need there is still opposition to the delivery. I was told the EMT worked on me for about 15 minutes in the parking lot prior to the trip to the hospital. The critical part of this journey had just begun; I was resuscitated twice during the night; gone, dead. Hearing the many stories about this incredible battle with life, the miracle, along with a spiritual experience in the brightest light that I've ever seen along with a moving conversation that turned my entire life around which brings me to where we are now..The Power of 10.
The Service Industry and for as much any business can very well be a ministry if you are truly in the business to serve and help people. Notice I didn't say in the business for profit. Profits will come if you flow with your heart; your passion. How do you flow with your passion? Make sure you are doing something that you really are good at and you enjoy. Really simple. Why would you do something because there is " a lot of money in it" and you're stressed out daily because you are spending more time trying to get the education about the business while you are trying to make a profit? You are wasting time on something that doesn't express your heart, your passion.
I'm not trying to convert or sway you spiritually or cause conflict between you and your religious beliefs, but we are all created with one thing that makes us unique, DNA. This means that you have something that is especially made for you and only you can produce it. So going after a business because there is a lot of money to be made may not be for you if there is no heart or passion and is out of your character.
Try this, ask your friends, family members, and co-workers for their candid opinion. Let them know that you want to know the truth and you are not looking for compliments. You are searching for your natural and spiritual gifts and abilities. Yes this may mean that you have to step back and punt again, but I think you would feel a lot better doing something that you are passionate about.
Power of 10
The parable of the ten minas teaches that we are expected to use the gifts we've received from God to do good. We're to "invest" them so that they'll earn a return even greater than the original gift. This brings me to heart, service, and going back to basic teaching of giving. I was in Virginia Beach, Va for a family emergency sitting on my parents front porch when the words "Give it away" just exploded in my head. Who am I to argue with the Voice?
Here I was sitting on my parent's front porch in Virginia Beach, Va looking at my targeted market drive by one car after another. I introduced myself to a young man driving an older Nissan SUV that had been given to him with over 200,000 miles on it. I began talking to him about his vehicle and a product that I was going to give to him because I wanted to help him with the maintenance of his vehicle. What had I just done? I just established a relationship and a new friend.
My wife arrived about five hours later from Charlotte, NC and I immediately went over to my trunk, had him start his engine to let it warm up, and I applied the product to his engine and told him to just drive and tell me about it. When he came back after being gone for a few hours, he had cleaned the vehicle inside and out and began telling me how well the vehicle was running compared to several hours ago. He went to his pastor to tell about this man who had given him a gift that would allow him to keep his vehicle a little while longer while he was getting on his feet. He brought back his pastor and nine other men who needed the product for their older model, high mileage vehicles. A seed had been sown and my return was ten new clients. I did this again to another gentleman who was driving a Chevy Conversion Van, yes there are still some on the road, and the return was again ten plus some of his lodge members indicated they were purchasing also from the site.

Monday, August 13, 2012

Resume Tips for the IT Professional

According to U.S. News & World Report's article on "The 50 Best Careers of 2011," many technology positions made it into the top 50 list of careers providing overall satisfaction. They include computer software engineers, computer support specialists, computer systems analysts, and network architects.
So how are you making yourself stand out from the crowd of other resumes that employers are reviewing?
Finding a job in today's market is particularly difficult. However, there are resume tips to help IT professionals get noticed.
  1. Add "Technical Expertise and Certifications" at the top of your resume.
    Regardless of whether you have one year or 10 years of experience in the field, it is especially critical to effectively demonstrate technical knowledge and skills. What matters to most employers hiring an IT professional is not the years of experience you have to offer, but how current you are with today's latest technology, applications, and if you have the technical certifications to do the job. Highlighting your "Technical Expertise and Certifications" up front on your resume will immediately inform the employer that you have what it takes to do the job.

  2. Include a section on "Technical Skills."This is a section that allows you to outline all the specific technical language those in the field will be familiar with to demonstrate your familiarity with subject matter expertise and the type of technology-related working environments you have been exposed to. It's an effective and quick way to help employers see that you are relevant for the job. It also supports keyword searches for specific tools and technologies.

  3. Demonstrate achievements, accomplishments and results in "Professional Experience."
    This is where most IT Professionals go wrong in that they merely list their roles responsibilities and tasks. The problem is that hundreds of people in similar job functions can say the same thing so this does not differentiate you.

    If you are on the infrastructure side, detail the environment in terms of users, servers and locations. Then describe your performance. How do you rank against your peers in terms of productivity? Are you the 'go-to' person for any particular issues? Are you known for resolving issues on the first attempt?

    If you are on the applications or project management side, do not detail every project you did as they will not have the same kinds of projects. Instead, indicate the total number of initiatives you were involved in and only highlight the ones that you are most proud of. Also highlight whether you managed the full lifecycle, what tools, best practices and methodologies you used, and how good you are at working with disparate stakeholders to gather their requirements, drive consensus and ensure that what you are delivering is what they want.

    If you are new to the field, then you need to highlight the courses you took and projects you completed as part of your education. Include the number of hours of training and the technologies that you grasped.

  4. Apply relevant keywords to all parts of your resume.
    A majority of employers use scanning technology to help pull out the most relevant resumes to review, so the more keyword relevance you can offer in your resume, the greater the chance of your resume getting noticed. Carefully review the job posting on specific technical skills desired or required. Also look at other job descriptions for the same position on job boards to get a better sense of which technical skills are particularly desired. Apply those keywords in context at different sections of your resume. You want the regular HR person to understand what you have to offer as well.
The market for IT professionals is much stronger than others today and is very competitive. Use these tips to make sure your IT resume stands out.