What makes YOU special?

Take a look at the following list of 35 things that make you special. It’s like a life inventory. When you consider all the questions, you’ll get a sense of how your life is at the moment, and how you could change it to bring out YOUR special uniqueness.

1. Personality
What is your personality? Take a look at the following personality types according to the Enneagram. Are you:

An idealistic Reformer,
a caring Helper,
a success-oriented Achiever,
an introspective Idealist,
an idealistic Reformer,
a caring Helper,
a success-oriented Achiever,
a sensitive Individualist,
an intense Investigator,
a security-oriented Loyalist,
a spontaneous Enthusiast,
a powerful Challenger,
or a reassuring Peacemaker?

2. Signature style
What’s your signature style? Are you engaging, entertaining, moving, intense, funny, bold, ditzy, serene, boring, or threatening?

3. Beliefs
What do you believe about life, the universe, or about yourself? Do you have religious beliefs? Do have beliefs about yourself that limit your potential? Complete this quiz to find what your limiting beliefs are.

4. Spirituality
Are you drawn to the mysteries of life? Do you use spiritual practice, i.e. meditation, prayer, or other to nurture your spirituality?

5. Aspirations
What are your aspirations? Do you strive for a cause that is greater than you?

6. Dominant sense
Each of us has a dominant sense through which we experience the world. What is your dominant sense? Is it sight or sound or touch? To find out do the test here.

7. Thoughts
What kind of thoughts are mostly in your mind? Are they daydreams, or thoughts focussed on your current project? Is your mind usually focused on the past, on the present, or on the future?

8. Goals
What are your goals? Have you recorded them? Which goals we choose, and whether we set them determines a substantial part of our uniqueness. Click here to learn how to set goals.

9. Creativity
Are you creative? Do you create at work, or write, paint, cook, or in any other way? Often people who are creative are more lively and happier than those who are not. Find out what makes us creative.

10. Happiness
How happy are you? Take the test here to see how happy you are. Find out what authentic happiness is.

11. Attitude
What is your habitual attitude? Is it negative or positive? Our attitude is shaped by influence and association, beliefs, thoughts, expectations, and self-talk. How was your attitude shaped?

12. Attraction
What are you drawn to? What are your favourite colours? What’s your favourite music, climate, or food? What kind of people do you like? Read the rest of this entry »

13. Genes
We are shaped by both heredity, as well as environment. What traits have you inherited from your parents that make you unique?

14. Body
The size and build of our body is genetically encoded. However, how we care for our bodies determines what it looks like. Check out the following questions: Are you slim or overweight? Are you fit or out of shape? Are you flexible enough to touch your toes? Is your body able to practise sports, or dance, or do yoga, or train in martial arts? If you have a physical disability, are you stretching your capability to the limit, or not?

15. Face
The face is a mirror of the soul. If we are kindly and upbeat, our face looks animated and relaxed. If we feel down, or anxious or ill, our face looks tight and grey. What is your face like? Do you take moments to relax your face?

16. Ethnicity
What is your ethnic origin? Are you proud of your culture of origin and your ancestors, or not?

17. Culture
What is your culture? Is it followed by the majority or a minority of the people around you? In what way does your culture influence your life?

18. Voice
We are born with a particular voice and its resonance, tone and pitch. However, it can be developed - as actors and singers know. What is your unique voice like?

19. Diction
Do you speak with an accent or a dialect? The way we pronounce the language we use is a unique marker.

20. Gender
Gender is only partly determined by body formation. What masculine and feminine traits do you see in yourself?

21. Health
Good and bad health are life’s gift and burden. What really shapes our uniqueness is the attitude to health. What is your attitude? Are you pro-active or passive? Do you complain or actively seek healing?

22. Hormones
Hormonal patterns determine whether we are tired, or hungry, or irritated, or lustful.
What hormonal patterns or surges are noticeable in your life and how do they influence you?

23. Age
Age is a biological factor. But it is also influenced by the mind. Do you feel old and unfit, as well as low on energy and drive? Or do you feel vitally alive, energetic and youthful? If you want to feel youthful, you need to put effort into keeping your mind and body in good shape. How do you keep in good shape?

24. Intelligence
Being intelligent is not only having a high IQ. Intelligence is now seen to include social, emotional, and physical aptitude. Your mix of these strands of intelligence is what makes you unique. How do you maintain and develop your intelligence?

25. Life experience
Each of us has a unique experience of life. Used wisely, experience is valuable because we can recognise patterns and respond appropriately. Which life experience has shaped you most?

26. Childhood
The childhood we experienced in the past makes us unique today. What was your childhood like? How has it shaped you? If your childhood included traumatic experiences, what have you undertaken in order to heal from them?

27. Trauma
What kind of life crises have you experienced? Have you integrated them, or are they still unresolved? (My upcoming Ebook From Tragedy to Triumph: How to Win Through a Life Crisis explains how to integrate difficult experiences).

28. Opportunities
We have all encountered different opportunities in life. What kind of opportunities have you encountered or created? How have you responded to them? What we make of opportunities is part of what makes us special.

29. Relationships
Whom and what we relate to makes us who we are. Which human beings do you love or feel connected to? Whom do you feel disconnected with? What about the environment - do you love nature, or the city? What is your relationship to animals - which are your favourite animals?

30. Learning
Your stance towards learning makes you unique. Is continuous learning important to you or not? Do you like formal study or informal learning? What kind of learning environments work best for you?

31. Habits
How do you spend your time on a regular basis? How much time to you spend on passive recreation, such as TV? Do you have an unpaid activity that you enjoy? How important is this activity to you?

32. Work
Most people spend more time at work than asleep. How we spend this big chunk of our life makes us unique. What do you define as your main work? Do you work for yourself or work for others? Do you work mostly alone or with a team of others?
Are you passionate about your work or is it a chore? Do you earn enough to keep yourself going or are you struggling financially?

33. Quirks and foibles
What are your quirky habits? As I said in the introduction, these foibles can be the thing that people enjoy about us.

34. Communication style
Psychologists pinpoint four different communication styles. Are you a Relater, Socialiser, Thinker, or Director? Check it out on this site.

35. The life journey
Each of us is on a unique life path. Which path we follow defines a part of our uniqueness. What path have you chosen?

What strikes me is that we are able to change most of these variables! What makes us truly special is how we spend our energy, thoughts, and time, as well as how we respond to whom and what we encounter.

It’s in your power to evolve and bring forth the unique, special person that you are. That’s an awesome responsibility.

Policies & Procedures

ATTENDANCE POLICY

Your attendance is extremely important to the success of The Company. We expect employees to strive for perfect attendance and to arrive for work on time. We recognize that, on occasion, you may not be able to come to work or need additional time before you arrive. Sickness and other emergencies cannot always be anticipated and may require you to miss all or part of your workday.

If your need for time off is foreseeable, you must provide as much notice as possible. If your need for time off is not foreseeable, you must provide as much notice as practicable, but in no event less than one (1) hour prior to your normally scheduled starting time. Of course, if you cannot contact by yourself, you must have someone do it for you.

When you contact your reporting authority you must let them know for how long you will be out and when you expect to return or, as the case may be, arrive for work.

• Employees desirous of taking leave should give a leave letter in writing to their respective Team Manager. The printed format will be available with the HR and Admin Department or the front office. Leave is subject to approval from the concerned authorities.
• SMS will no more be accepted as a mode of official communication.
• No leave will be granted unless it’s a matter of utmost emergency or valid reasons.
• The first authority of informing about your absence would be the Manager the number being 9962036262 or 43561352. The responsibility of being update with the contact phone numbers would lie with the employee. If the manager were on leave the next person of contact would be the respective Team Managers to whom you are supposed to report.
• Excessive absence, or lateness and excessive patterns of absence or lateness may lead to disciplinary action, up to and including termination.

PUNCTUALITY POLICY

Reporting for work regularly and on time is essential, since lateness or absence interferes with the daily running of The Company and laces an extra workload on your fellow employees. Please use your personal time to schedule business, medical and other appointments which conflict with your work schedule. Failure to report to work on time is cause for disciplinary action, up to and including discharge.

· All the employees should be at the workplace at 9.00 a.m. No reasons will be considered for the delay. The attendance register will be taken out at 9.15 a.m.

· If an employee doesn’t show up to the office before 10 a.m. without notice, the termination letter will be dispatched to his contact address on the same day. No claims can be made later. The employee will not be paid his/her due salary, relieving letter or references from the seniors.

· If any senior authority is found to provide reference to a dismissed employee, their services will be terminated too without notice, relieving letter or references.

NON DISCLOSURE POLICY

All employees at one time or another will receive or be exposed to personal, privileged and/or confidential information. That information may concern other employees, the company’s operations, customer lists, company affairs, product development, trade secrets, business models or other organizations with which we do business. You are obligated to ensure that this information remains confidential and is not disclosed. This is true regardless of whether you are actively employed, on leave or your employment with The Company ends (for any reason). Employees who disclose such sensitive information will be disciplined, up to and including immediate termination or legal action.

In addition, employees are not permitted to photograph, record, photocopy, and soft copy or otherwise preserve company forms, lists or other materials belonging to The Company without prior authorization. This is especially critical for items that were prepared or saved for an employee's own or someone else's current or future use. No employee can take the information out of The Company either in person or whatever medium not mentioned here.

PROBATION POLICY

The period of probation shall be six months for employees. The performance of a probationer will be appraised at the end of this period. Accordingly, the probationer is either confirmed or the period of probation extended or his services discontinued.

The Probationary Appraisal Form (Annexure X) is the final step in process of assessment of probationers. The appraisal shall form the basis of either confirming an employee, terminating his services or extending his probation period.

Upon successful approval from the management, a confirmation letter or an extension letter will be issued.

JOB TRAINING POLICY

Every employee has room to expand upon their skills by learning from their co-workers, training programs and other independent means. When you were selected as an employment candidate, you already possessed some of the skills required to perform the basic requirements of your job. We will develop your skills beyond this foundation.

During the first few weeks of your employment with us, one or more peers in the daily requirements of your position will train you. We will expect you to learn the training materials and policies given to you during this time. We understand it can be overwhelming, however we expect new employees to "hit the ground running" as our work environment is quite competitive and fast paced.

Our goal is to qualify employees during training- not disqualify them. Please ask questions or let a manager know immediately if you feel you are falling behind, receiving contradictory information or do not understand any aspect of your responsibilities.

TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT

Training needs shall be an outcome of the Performance Management Process as well as the business needs of the organization. Training shall be in consonance with the Business Strategy of the organization and in line with the overall development of the individual.

Training need analysis shall comprise of ascertaining the Individual needs and the group needs

The identification of individual needs will be done at the Performance Appraisal Meeting when the Development Plan of an employee shall be worked out. This will be communicated to the employee during the Performance Appraisal Discussion with his/her Reporting manager.

PAY POLICY

Direct deposit is the preferred method by which employees are paid. The salaries will be paid on 10^th of every month and will be directly deposited to their respective corporate account.

Employees should keep the concerned authorities informed as early as possible, if their account information is changed for any reason.

HOURS WORKED POLICY

All full-time employees are paid for their full day work from Monday to Friday and half-day work on Saturdays. Employees are not paid for lunch and therefore must clock out before dining and clock in upon return to the work area. All employees -- full-time and part-time -- will be furnished with a daily or weekly work schedule. Daily starting times, lunch period and leaving times may vary from day to day.

The office boy will go out thrice a day, for breakfast, Lunch and once in the evening. This facility has been arranged to the benefit of employees and shouldn’t be misused. Employees can place their order at once. He will not be allowed to go beyond the stipulated times.

LEAVE POLICY

Employees who have completed three months of service in The Company would be entitled to one paid leave per month subject to the approval from the concerned authority. The leave cannot be carried forward or encashed. If an employee takes more than the specified leave, the salary will be deducted commensurate to the number of days of leave and as per the existing rules. The rules can be discussed with the manager.

Employees who haven’t completed three months of service are not entitled to any leave whatsoever except for special permissions granted by the manager.

EMPLOYEE CONDUCT POLICY

Every employee is expected to act in a professional, responsible, and courteous manner at all times. Clearly, such behavior fosters a positive and productive working environment. Conversely, inappropriate or unprofessional behavior is disruptive and unproductive. Moreover, inappropriate conduct is cause for discipline, up to and including immediate termination.

Of course, in the context of this manual, it is impossible for The Company to identify all standards of conduct that are unacceptable. Again, The Company demands that employees act in a professional and courteous manner. We expect that employees will use common sense and good judgment in achieving this goal. However, The Company’s judgment, and not that of any individual employee, is the benchmark for what is acceptable and what is not. An employee’s conduct is not made acceptable solely because the employee believes it to be. Nor may an employee excuse his or her conduct because this manual does not specifically prohibit the objectionable conduct. The Company expects that employees recognize that inappropriate conduct, from rudeness to theft, is unacceptable. The decision as to what is inappropriate is left in The Company’s hands and sole discretion.

TEAMWORK POLICY

Our success begins and ends with teamwork. It is expected that each person will do their part to avoid situations that disrupt or promote others in their group to act in ill-will, to be insubordinate to a supervisor or to intentionally sabotaging the efforts of other employee teams or departments.

Teamwork is promoted when everyone acknowledges the team leader, respects the leaders judgment and authority and follows through on requests / directives without questioning them in a hostile or demeaning way. Mutual respect is the underlying factor. If someone is known to intend harm against the company or a team, please see your manager.

PERFORMANCE EVALUATION POLICY

Performance observations are conducted on a daily basis through interactions between managers and peers. These observations help managers and employees to determine the context for which a formal performance evaluation will transpire. It is not necessary for a manager to privately meet an employee each time an assessment is conducted.

Performance reviews are one method by which The Company builds a case for each employee's attitude, strengths and areas of improvement. Although a wage change may be given during a review, completion of a Performance review is not a guarantee to expect changes in compensation. Many other factors are related to the frequency and amount of compensation changes if they occur.

The Performance reviews of all the employees will be held twice a year, once in January and once in July.

Managers must formally record in writing an opinion of each employee under their direct supervision who has been with the company for more than 90 days. Human Resources will notify managers of those employees who are due to be reviewed.

Upon conclusion of the evaluations, each employee will have time to read the evaluation and respond for the permanent record. Following the employee's review process, they will have an opportunity to formally critique their direct supervisor with the Human Resource manager present. This bottom up evaluation will also be recorded in the Manager's file.

PROMOTIONS POLICY

It is the policy of The Company, wherever possible, to fill vacancies with qualified employees from within The Company. Promotion to all positions is based on, among other things, individual ability, efficiency, qualifications, performance, good attendance and punctuality, educational background and length of service.

CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIPS POLICY

All Employees deal with our customers (Clients and candidates). No matter what your position, every employee impacts the customer in some way. Employees are reminded to promote The Company just as they would represent their families. This means being friendly and courteous.

The methods adopted by the employees that can enhance customer relationships are to answer phones before three rings, transfer office calls correctly, follow through on promises, give updates if necessary, greet walk-in customers or just smile and say hello. Treating others as you expect to be treated goes a long way in customer service relationships.

RESIGNATION POLICY

If you decide to leave The Company, we ask that you give your Manager at least one months’ courtesy notice. Resigning without notice means you will not be entitled to receive the final payment. The concerned authorities upon receiving the resignation letter will give resignation acceptance letter.

Please keep in mind that as an “employee at will” once you give notice, The Company may decide it is not necessary for you to work out the entire duration of your notice.

The identification card, HR handbook and the database should be submitted before leaving The Company.

NON CLIENTS POLICY

Following separation from employment, The Company does not allow employees to work for organizations that are our clients. Although you have every right to seek gainful employment, our clients would benefit greatly from your experience and expertise. It is up to us to determine whether our secrets are intentionally compromised, and if so, to prosecute to the fullest extent of the law.

Former employees are encouraged to make notice to the manager if they expect to accept a client's offer of employment. The Company will decide whether an opportunity exists for our policy to be violated.

DRESS CODE POLICY

A strict dress code should be followed to ensure an appealing atmosphere. Your manager will review the dress code and personal appearance standards for your job position with you. The purpose of The Company dress attire and personal appearance standards is to present a professional, fresh, and neat appearance.

CELL PHONE POLICY

The use of a personal cell phone while at work may present a hazard or distraction to the user and/or co-employees. This policy is meant to ensure that cell phone use while at work is both safe and does not disrupt business operations. Unless otherwise authorized, employees may only use personal cell phones for an emergency.

TELEPHONE AND COMPUTER USE POLICY

The Company understands that when employees work during the week it is occasionally necessary to conduct personal business during office hours. However, employees should limit their personal use of the telephone and computer during office hours. Telephone and Internet systems are provided by The Company at its expense for business use, all messages sent by or received on those systems are company documents. The Company reserves the right to access and to disclose the content that you send or receive on any of the systems.

Given the ever-changing nature of these technologies, it is impossible to catalogue all possible abuse or misuse. Nevertheless, employees are strictly prohibited from using any technology to view, listen to or communicate offensive, defamatory or disruptive content.

The Company will periodically audit its systems, including e-mail and Internet access, to determine whether there is evidence of abuse or misuse.

Employees who abuse this policy are subject to disciplinary procedures up to and including discharge.

EMPLOYEE SUGGESTIONS POLICY

The company strongly encourages employees to offer suggestions that will improve any aspect of our operations. Please bring any suggestions to the attention of your reporting authority or the manager, or if you prefer, in writing or mail. While we welcome anonymous suggestions, we encourage employees to take credit for an idea. When circumstances warrant, employees will be rewarded for any suggestion that assists us in enhancing our company.

GRIEVANCE PROCEDURE POLICY

Work related problems can arise in any place of employment. We hope individuals will try to reconcile differences on an individual basis. Should this not be possible, to resolve a problem quickly and fairly, The Company has developed a grievance procedure using the following steps:

1. If you have a problem, notify your next reporting authority immediately. Most difficulties can be settled promptly at this point.

2. If the problem is not resolved to your satisfaction you (and a co-worker of your choice, if you wish) may go to the manager and verbally explain the problem to him/her; or you may instead submit the problem to him/her in writing or mail. This step should be taken within five (5) working days after your reporting authority has given his/her decision or after the incident giving rise to your grievance, whichever is later. If the circumstances require it, the previously identified official will conduct an investigation.

Following his/her investigation, the manager will respond in writing to your grievance. The decision shall be final.

CHANGE IN STATUS POLICY

Changes in status may affect your eligibility for benefits, amount you pay for benefits, delivery of your paycheck and other issues. It is extremely important to keep your personnel records up-to-date by notifying The Company in writing or mail, of any change in status.

Notify Human Resources if any of the following or any other information you feel is important to be updated, have changed or will change in the near future:

1. Legal name
2. Home address
3. Home telephone number
4. Person to call in case of emergency
5. Number of dependents
6. Marital status

HANDBOOK DISCLAIMER POLICY

I understand that I am responsible for reading the handbook, familiarizing myself with its contents, and adhering to all of the policies and procedures of Dewdrop Career Solutions (P) Ltd whether set forth in this handbook or elsewhere.

The policies, procedures and standard practices described in this manual are not conditions of employment. This manual does not create an express or implied contract between The Company and any of its employees located in Bangalore, Chennai or any other designated locations where this manual is applicable. The Company reserves the right to terminate any employee, at any time, with or without notice or procedure, for any reason deemed by it to be in the best interests of the Company.

I understand that the information in this handbook represents guidelines only. The Company reserves the right to modify this handbook, amend or terminate any policies, procedures, or employee benefit programs whether or not described in this handbook at any time, or to require and/or increase contributions toward these benefits programs.

All personnel policies contained herein were adopted by The Company and supersede previous policies. We periodically review personnel policies in part or as a whole, to ensure that they continue to reflect current thinking in the field of Human Resources Management and are consistent with trends and legislative requirements.

I further understand that no manager or representative or The Company, other than a Senior Officer of The Company, is authorized to enter into any employment agreement on behalf of Dewdrop Career Solutions (P) Ltd, other than the Managing Director or the C.O.O. I also understand that any such agreement, if made, shall not be enforceable unless it is a formal written agreement signed by both, an authorized Dewdrop Career Solutions (P) Ltd Senior Officer and me.

I also understand that this manual is the property of, and is to be returned to the Human Resources Department should my employment be terminated.

E-recruitment is the name of the game

Riding on the back of a war for talent, online recruitment is steadily gaining a bigger share of the recruitment pie. While IT and ITeS companies have been their traditional clients, companies from diverse sectors such as auto components and pharma today are relying on online recruitment to fill up their vacancies. According to industry estimates, between 30% and 40% of placements are now made through the Internet, either through job sites of individual companies or through online recruitment agencies.

The IT sector was the first to move online. IT companies usually need to hire a large number of people. Therefore, IT human resources departments and job seekers are tech savvy and have access to the Internet at all times. However, with Internet penetration increasing to over 60 million users, and other industries like engineering and telecom, automobile and machinery, construction, pharma, banking, insurance and financial services also now growing rapidly and recruiting in large numbers, online recruitment has pretty much become the gold standard for all human resources departments.

Explains Jobstreet.com CEO Anand Iyer, "Companies look at e-recruitment when they start recruiting in large numbers. This is, typically, the case when a company is ramping up, hiring in thousands to set up a new centre." Jobstreet has a database of more than 5 million resumes with BFSI (banking, financial services and insurance), technology, telecom and pharma companies accounting for its clients.

According to experts, the job search market including print medium and placement consultants will grow from Rs 1,500 crore in the financial year 2006 to over Rs 2,800 crore in financial year 2011 at a CAGR of 13.4%.

During the same period, the online segment is expected to grow at CAGR of 31%, gaining market share from the print and consultant segments and hence, is set to improve its market share of 10% in financial year 2006 to 21% in financial year 2011.

The benefits that online recruitment offers against traditional methods of recruitment have won it loyalists. The recruitment industry is highly information dependant. Online recruiting enables the industry to have access to a lot more information in lesser time. Says Hitesh Oberoi, COO, Info Edge, which owns naukri.com having a database of over 11 million resumes, "It's cheaper, faster, has global reach, works 24/7, allows you to target your search and also enables you through the right software tools to manage your recruitment process. On the other hand, job seekers take advantage of the filtering tools to filter out unsuitable jobs, making their search more efficient and convenient."

A few other advantages emanate out of the benefits that one gets out of process automation like email campaigns, search resumes and applicant tracking. Online recruitment also brings down the cost per hire due to technology deployment. "Going through a placement house means payment of one month's salary for every successful recruitment. Whereas going through a job portal would cost much less, and you also build up a database over time," points out Iyer.

It is the database of potential employees that is the goldmine for recruitment agencies and employers alike. Recruitment service providers use the database to select suitable candidates, headhunt the rest, and select the most fitting profiles. However, it is up to an organisation to effectively deploy this resource in their business, as sometimes there are discrepancies. "We witness significant inefficiencies in recruitment and thus, higher costs after using online recruitment. This may appear paradoxical," says Aditya Narayan Mishra, general manager, Ma Foi Management Consultants Ltd. This happens because an online tool helps one reach out to a wider community but not essentially the right group of candidates that the organisation targets.

However, having received hundreds of applications, one has to deploy resources to study them, scrutinise and interview them. "Many a time, we discover that the applications received are far higher than what is desired and most of them are from desperate job seekers rather than the brilliant candidate that the organisation should be targeting," he adds.

Traditional placement agencies are, however, unfazed at the growth of job portals. In fact, recruitment agencies are one of the biggest customers of job portals. Large recruitment service providers can also host online recruitments without much difficulty. Most of them also have their own online and offline database, though that may not be available to clients or candidates. Agrees Oberoi, "The online recruitment sites will not replace offline placement agencies. In fact, placement agencies are our clients. Increasingly, however, advertising from print will move online."

But there is space for both. It is also increasingly difficult to survive in isolation. Says Jacob Samuel, associate partner, Elixir Web Solutions, an HR recruitment firm, "Of course, there is space for both. In fact neither can operate effectively in isolation. Recruiting is a lot more than merely finding people." Online recruiting is a tool which when coupled with strong recruiting and probing skills will get you the best yield. When used in isolation this might actually result in the loss of some potential top-notch candidates that no organisation can afford in this day and age, with the raging war for talent, he points out.

A significant drawback in the evolution of technology is the loss of human interaction, which is applicable to the online recruitment process. In India, the cultural shift is a challenge in the online recruitment space, as organisations prefer to deal with people rather than e-mails. This is especially true for the hiring for senior executive positions. Traditional recruiting channels would be more appropriate keeping the confidentiality and the extent of networking and assessment in mind.

However, for larger volumes online recruiting would help reach out to more people and facilitate a larger pool generation. When it comes to short-listing and screening candidates, interviewing, negotiating and finally convincing candidates to join a particular company, offline placement agencies have a distinct advantage.

With online recruitment come online assessments. Impersonation and fudging during online tests are issues that sometimes keep companies away from online recruitment. However, job portals say that they have devised ways to restrict these if not completely prevent them.

Most companies go for proctored assessment that is supervised rather than unproctored assessment that's typically used to weed out unwanted candidates. "If unsupervised testing is conducted, we always recommend that further testing be completed later in the recruitment process to confirm and validate the results of the unsupervised test," points out Mark Cadman, managing director, e-bilities Pty Ltd. The Australia-based company has tied up with Ma Foi to offer online pre-employment screening tests.

HOW TO WIN CANDIDATES

Fundamental Techniques in Handling People

1. Don't criticize, condemn or complain.
2. Give honest and sincere appreciation.
3. Arouse in the other person an eager want.

Six ways to make people like you

1. Become genuinely interested in other people.
2. Smile.
3. Remember that a person's name is to that person the sweetest and most important sound in any language.
4. Be a good listener. Encourage others to talk about them.
5. Talk in terms of the other person's interests.
6. Make the other person feel important - and do it sincerely.

Win people to your way of thinking

1. The only way to get the best of an argument is to avoid it.
2. Show respect for the other person's opinions. Never say, "You're wrong."
3. If you are wrong, admit it quickly and emphatically.
4. Begin in a friendly way.
5. Get the other person saying "yes, yes" immediately.
6. Let the other person do a great deal of the talking.
7. Let the other person feel that the idea is his or hers.
8. Try honestly to see things from the other person's point of view.
9. Be sympathetic with the other person's ideas and desires.
10. Appeal to the nobler motives.
11. Dramatize your ideas.
12. Throw down a challenge.

How to Change People Without Giving Offense or Arousing Resentment

Consultants job often includes changing your people's attitudes and behavior. Some suggestions to accomplish this:

1. Begin with praise and honest appreciation.
2. Call attention to people's mistakes indirectly.
3. Talk about your own mistakes before criticizing the other person.
4. Ask questions instead of giving direct orders.
5. Let the other person save face.
6. Praise the slightest improvement and praise every improvement. Be "hearty in your approbation and lavish in your praise."
7. Give the other person a fine reputation to live up to.
8. Use encouragement. Make the fault seem easy to correct.
9. Make the other person happy about doing the thing you suggest.

Democrates

The Democrats seem to be basically nicer people, but they have demonstrated time and again that they have the management skills of celery. They're the kind of people who'd stop to help you change a flat, but would somehow manage to set your car on fire. I would be reluctant to entrust them with a Cuisinart, let alone the economy. The Republicans, on the other hand, would know how to fix your tire, but they wouldn't bother to stop because they'd want to be on time for Ugly Pants Night at the country club.