Work and its Secret - Swami Vivekananda

Ask nothing; want nothing in return. Give what you have to give; it will come back to you but multiplied a thousand fold but the attention must not be on that. Yet have the power to give: give, and there it ends. Learn that the whole of life is giving, that nature will force you to give. So give willingly. Sooner or later you will have to give up.

You come into life to accumulate. With clenched hands you want to take. But nature puts a hand on your throat and makes your hands open. Whether you will it or not, you have to give. The moment you say, "I will not". the blow comes; you are hurt. None is there but will be compelled, in the long run, to give everything. And the more one struggles against this law, the more miserable one feels. It is because we dare not give, because we are not resigned enough to accede to this grand demand of nature, that we are miserable.

The forest is gone, but we get heat in return. The sun is taking up water from the ocean, to return it in showers. You are a machine for taking and giving: you take, in order to give. Ask, therefore, nothing in return; but the more you give, the more will come to you. The quicker it will be filled up by the external air; and if you close all the doors and every aperture, that which is within will remain, but that which is outside will never come in, and that which is within will stagnate, degenerate, and become poisoned. Be as the river that is continually emptying itself into the ocean and is continually filling up again. Bar not the exit into the ocean. The moment you do that, death seizes you.

13 Things to never share with Colleagues!!

"It's a social environment as well as a work environment. However, you must remember while you can be friendly and develop a good rapport, business is business and friendship is friendship."

Most workers don't realize that what they say has as much impact on their professional images as what they wear, Lopeke says. People who say too much, about themselves or others, can be seen as incompetent, unproductive and unworthy of professional development.

To avoid your next case of verbal diarrhea, here are 13 things to never share or discuss with your co-workers.

1. Salary information
What you earn is between you and Human Resources, Solovic says. Disclosure indicates you aren't capable of keeping a confidence.

2. Medical history
"Nobody really cares about your aches and pains, your latest operation, your infertility woes or the contents of your medicine cabinet," Lopeke says. To your employer, your constant medical issues make you seem like an expensive, high-risk employee.

3. Gossip
Whomever you're gossiping with will undoubtedly tell others what you said, Solovic says. Plus, if a co-worker is gossiping with you, most likely he or she will gossip about you.

4. Work complaints
Constant complaints about your workload, stress levels or the company will quickly make you the kind of person who never gets invited to lunch, Solovic warns. If you don't agree with company policies and procedures, address it through official channels or move on.

5. Cost of purchases
The spirit of keeping up with the Joneses is alive and well in the workplace, Lopeke says, but you don't want others speculating on the lifestyle you're living –or if you're living beyond your salary bracket.

6. Intimate details
Don't share intimate details about your personal life. Co-workers can and will use the information against you, Solovic says.

7. Politics or religion
"People have strong, passionate views on both topics," Solovic says. You may alienate a co-worker or be viewed negatively in a way that could impact your career.

8. Lifestyle changes
Breakups, divorces and baby-making plans should be shared only if there is a need to know, Lopeke says. Otherwise, others will speak for your capabilities, desires and limitations on availability, whether there is any truth to their assumptions or not.

9. Blogs or social networking profile
What you say in a social networking community or in your personal blog may be even more damaging than what you say in person, Solovic warns. "Comments online can be seen by multiple eyes. An outburst of anger when you are having a bad day … can blow up in your face."

10. Negative views of colleagues
If you don't agree with a co-worker's lifestyle, wardrobe or professional abilities, confront that person privately or keep it to yourself, Lopeke says. The workplace is not the venue for controversy.

11. Hangovers and wild weekends
It's perfectly fine to have fun during the weekend, but don't talk about your wild adventures on Monday, Solovic advises. That information can make you look unprofessional and unreliable.

12. Personal problems and relationships – in and out of the office
"Failed marriages and volatile romances spell instability to an employer," Lopeke says. Office romances lead to gossip and broken hearts, so it's best to steer clear. "The safest way to play is to follow the rule, 'Never get your honey where you get your money.'"

13. Off-color or racially charged comments
You can assume your co-worker wouldn't be offended or would think something is funny, but you might be wrong, Solovic says. Never take that risk. Furthermore, even if you know for certain your colleague wouldn't mind your comment, don't talk about it at work. Others can easily overhear.

Things Bosses Don’t Like!!

We just go to work, do our job in a routine fashion without ever knowing what our boss wants. We seem to work hard, put in our best and feel that we have been performing extremely well at work. Our performance at work will be judged by bosses to whom we report and this where most of the people falter. When we report for duties we need to be smart and sharp enough to understand the things bosses don’t like. If we refrain from those actions and try to deliberately work to minimize on those complaints, we are bound to take our career to great heights. Here are their top complaints:

1. Procrastinating instead of acting on things. Do-it-later tendencies are a major source of delays, frustration and problem of others. It is a disease which needs to be weeded out.

2. Passing the buck. Many of us are unwilling to accept responsibility, make decisions, or admit it when we make mistakes. Act responsibly, take decision boldly and improve upon your mistakes as you trudge along.

3. Claiming to know how to do something and then messing it up. Jobs are often more complicated than they seem. Many of us charge right in without bothering to check carefully. We would well to remember, “When all else fails, read the instructions.”

4. Doing the absolute minimum expected instead of doing the little extra needed to excel. The result is mediocrity for the worker, the department, and the entire firm.

5. Delivering sloppy or unfinished work. It takes extra time and effort to correct deficiencies. When work is late everyone down the line feels the pressure.

6. Regularly going over the boss’ head. We may win an occasional battle, but we almost always lose the war.

7. Trying to work beyond our abilities. We all have limitations and it helps if we know where they are.

8. Constantly engaging in personal conversation, vicious gossiping, and idle socializing. This one is a bit of a dilemma. Personal conversations and socializing are the grease that keeps the organization working smoothly. The key is balance; striving to keep these things within reasonable limits.

9. Laziness. The willingness to work hard remains one of the key ingredients for success.

In other words, Attacking the jobs immediately with responsibility, taking decisions regularly, approaching the tasks step by step without messing it up, performing and carrying out duties diligently in terms of quality & quantity, correcting the deficiencies from time to time as we forge ahead, stretching ourselves well beyond our limitations, reporting to the boss with solutions / answers, remaining professional by limiting our conversations to work, willing to work when the chips are down are the hallmarks of excellent employee.

Following the above said principles passionately at work will not only make the boss like us but will also make us indispensable. BEFORE I COMPLETE I WOULD LIKE TO QUOTE A SENTENCE WHICH ROBIN SHARMA HAS WRITTEN IN HIS BOOK CALLED ‘THE GREATNESS GUIDE’.

“Become so knowledgeable, competent and brilliant at what you do that this firm can’t run without you.”

10 Tips to negotite a better deal!!

Some people were born to haggle, negotiate, cajole, whatever you call it. The rest of us need some guidance. Here are 10 great negotiating tactics to use next time you want to get more for less.

10. Start with the 15-to-20-percent rule
This one's for the shier, more nervous negotiators, the types who don't like to cause a big hassle to save some money—like, say, at least two of your Lifehacker editors. If you're unsure where to start knocking around prices, try starting with 15 to 20 percent less than your absolute top spending limit, as suggested by the Today show. It's basically marching up to the mark-up the seller is probably putting on the product you're trying to get, and moving incrementally down from there. Real simple, but you gotta start somewhere, right?

9. Ace your performance review, get a raise
Jump into that yearly chat blind, and you're likely to leave your supervisor thinking you're just a little better at FreeCell than he or she is. But if you've been quietly, easily building an accomplishments file, you've at least go something to talk about for more than five minutes. And if you know what they're looking for, your only job is to sell what you did, what you want to do, and how much it's worth to your company to do it for another year. Sounds simple? Unless you make it more complicated, it really is.

8. Know the salary you can really get
In a few rare cases, a salary is a stone-solid, non-negotiable marker. In most every job, though, it's up to you to explain your experience, know what your peers are getting, and defend your salary requirements. In our guide to knowing what salary to ask for, we suggested search sites like Glassdoor.com, PayScale, Indeed, and others. If you've got to shoot from the hip, aim higher than what you think you'll get, or aim really high and allow yourself to get knocked down—but only if you don't absolutely need that job.

7. Lower your credit card interest rate with junk mail
Seriously, all those pre-approved, APY-filled envelopes have to be good for something, right? Trent at The Simple Dollar blog suggests compiling them as part of a step-by-step guide to reducing credit card interest. Along with scoping out the offers on your card issuer's site, you arm yourself with a variety of competing rates you could easily get, get into the right frame of mind, and then call and force your way onto the phone with someone who can actually change things. Trent's post details the battle preparation in detail.

6. Just ask
Jason isn't afraid to reduce his bills by simply asking, and you shouldn't be either. It's not force of will or elegant pricing analysis you need to start chipping away at your bills. You're speaking to someone who wears a headset all day and hears almost nothing but complaints, so it's all about making yourself look good and getting on their good side. Soft-spoken curiosity about pricing, a congenial conveyance of brand loyalty, and being willing to move off what you think you want—say, lower premiums for your new car—and onto something you hadn't considered—"good driver" discounts, or savings for taking a safety course—can work wonders.

5. Keep quiet to press your point
Most of us are conditioned to avoid uncomfortable silences in conversations—that's part of the reason they design elevators to get you to your floor wihout a need for conversing (seriously they really do). But when you're angling for a lower price, a better payment, or some actual customer service, keeping quiet can speak volumes. A strategic silence can force your counterpart into action. If things get heated, silence can also keep you calm while playing with the yeller's mind. Either way, you've just won the battle of temperaments, and you're on your way to winning whatever war you're in.

4. Don't pay sticker price for your gadgets
It's easy to think of electronics stores as automated, margin-fixed resellers of whatever SonyAppleMicroSamsuVox want you to pay for. But that's not the case—not even at Best Buy—as every retailer has to make quotas, and you can help them decide to make you part of thier equation. Start by using internet print-outs to back up your stance on lower prices. Know the features you want, and do some research on the "value-added" services most shops will try to tack on, as recommended by HD Guru. If you're really hungry for an item, so hungry you'd risk not being a salesman's BFF, you could use a little protection plan switcheroo—although many of our commenters find it a bit troubling, and might suggest a more straight-forward tactic of leveraging a protection plan against what you really want to pay.

3. Buy at the right time
Eighty percent of success, the comedian once said, was just showing up. Get deep into the last 20 percent by showing up at the right time. SmartMoney's multi-market guide suggests buying airline tickets on a Wednesday, around 21 days before a flight, hitting the mall for clothes on a Thursday night, six to eight weeks after a new fashion roll-out, and wedding dresses, believe it or not, between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Our commenters have a few other suggestions on perfectly timed deals, too, well worth the scroll-down.

2. Walk into a car dealership with no fear
Rob Gruhl is the guy friends call from the dealership (literally) when they need buying advice. His presentation on car buying explains the basic and advanced jujitsu of bare-knuckled negotiating on your wheels. He says to give yourself plenty of time, get your own financing, never trade your old car into the dealer, get the "drive it off the lot" price rather than deal with a multitude of rebates and financing offers, and don't buy extras—not yet, anyways.

1. Write a letter to reduce your rent
Real estate prices are dropping, rents are going with them, and yet your landlord is hitting you up for an increased rate. You don't have to take that. The Wall Street Journal, in a feature on how to reduce your rent, prints a firm-but-not-smug form letter (which we reprinted in our post) that explains in detail why you deserve to stick to your current rate: You've been a good payer, you have a better credit history than the newer tenants next door (hopefully), and it would really stink if someone had to find a new tenant right now (said without any kind of Mafioso inflection). Why do all the passive-aggressive lifting when the WSJ and its rent-savvy writers have done it for you?

Stop being Bossy!!

1) Let go of perfectionism. Sometimes we're bossy because we want things done right, and there's nothing wrong with striving for a job well done, is there? The thing is, there's more than one way to achieve a good result, and just because your way is the most efficient way to get from Point A to Point B doesn't mean it's the best way. By assuming your way is the best way, you lock out the creativity of others, and you also chip away at morale. Both of these things are limiting factors in the long run, and that's not a good result.

2) Be patient. When you're used to being in the role of leader (or dictator or tyrant, in the eyes of others) it can be excruciating to step aside and wait for someone else to step up, and even more torturous to watch them fumble at a task that you can accomplish so quickly and easily. But what's the rush? Will it really be the end of the world if things don't go as smoothly as planned? Relax. Take a deep breath. Wait.

3) Invest in people. Many bossy people focus their attention on incompetence, and they fail to notice potential and progress. Try to be more alert to people's individual talents. Give positive feedback. Lots of it. Don't just see people as tools, as a means to an end, as machines. In order for people to think for themselves, they need to learn, and in order to learn, sometimes we need to make mistakes. Trust them, and give them a fair margin of error. Let them know that you're there to help, but don't watch over their shoulders or take over their tasks.

4) Improve your communication skills. Many times it's not what you say that comes off as bossy, it's how you say it. Your tone and phrasing can make a person feel like an incompetent cog in a machine, or it can make them feel like you're inviting them to reach a worthwhile goal with you. Learn How to Practice Nonviolent Communication and How to Give a Feedback Sandwich.

5) Strive for consensus. Nothing fosters team-building like consensus-building. Even though it's more time-consuming than democratic voting (i.e. majority rules), the consensus process is more likely to result in all parties reaching common ground. You can be a facilitator, ensuring that everyone's opinion is heard, and that a decision is made that is satisfactory to everyone involved.

6) Ask for honest feedback. Explain to people that you know you can come off as bossy or domineering sometimes, and you'd like to change your style. Ask them to let you know when you're coming off as bossy, whether by pulling you aside, or even by sending you an anonymous note or e-mail. Be humble and request their help.

Being bossy does not necessarily make you a good boss. Following the steps in How to Be a Good Boss does.

Handling Off The Wall Interview Questions!!

by Michelle Vessel
[Hcareers Newsletter March 12, 2009]

To prepare for your big interview, you've done everything that conscientious jobseekers are supposed to. You've updated your resume, researched the company to which you're applying, picked up your lucky interview suit from the dry cleaners, and spent hours poring over how-to guides and interview tips.

Then, minutes after striding into the meeting room, greeting the interviewer with a firm handshake, and breezing through introductions and icebreaking small talk, it happens: the hiring manager hits you with a question so bizarre that you find yourself thrown completely off balance.

A Method to the Madness?

Whether it's a question about what kind of tree you would be or the powers you would have if you were a superhero, it can be difficult to recover your composure when you're surprised with a silly, unusual, or even borderline-inappropriate interview query. But according to Vicky Jones, career coach and author of 301 Smart Answers to Tough Interview Questions, today's jobseekers should walk into an interview prepared to field even the most seemingly inane questions with professionalism and a touch of good-natured humor.

Thanks to resources like the Internet and the entire cottage industry of how-to interview guides, the average applicant today is so well-versed in job search basics that the same old typical interview questions often don't do much to help the hiring manager uncover hidden strengths and weaknesses. Hence the increasingly prevalent trend of shaking up the standard interview process a bit by hitting jobseekers with a few unexpected questions that require some on-the-spot creative thinking.

Think Before You Speak

So the next time a hiring manager asks you to name five historical figures you'd like to invite to dinner or want to know what kind of animal you'd like to be, don't panic. Use these easy-to-remember techniques to stay poised, think fast on your feet, and deliver an answer that will score some serious points.

1. Keep your cool.
Often, hiring managers pose unusual questions deliberately in order to see how you respond to the inherently stressful situation of being pushed outside your comfort zone. No matter what kind of query gets thrown your way, resolve to maintain your poker face. If you appear to be visibly shaken or suddenly lose your train of thought, it could reflect poorly on your ability to think on your feet.

2. Acknowledge the lighthearted nature of the query.
Most hiring managers recognize that their off-the-wall questions are humorous, and as such, they often pose them with a touch of levity. Even as you hang on to your inner sense of calm, it's okay to respond with a chuckle and state that you certainly didn't prepare an answer to that question beforehand. By acknowledging the humor of the question, you can deflect the tension of the situation and buy yourself a few precious extra moments in which to collect your thoughts.

3. Look for the question behind the question.
The majority of hiring managers out there don't pose unusual interview questions just to amuse themselves. Instead, they're trying to gauge your ability to respond under pressure and think outside the box - and to learn a little more about you in the process. No matter how bizarre the question may be on the surface, it was probably deliberately formulated to compel you to reveal some nugget of truth about yourself. Try to figure out what the question is intended to reveal, and develop an answer that fits the bill.

4. Aim for an answer that combines creativity, personality, and genuine self-awareness.
An unusual interview question offers you a unique opportunity to flaunt your creativity and drive home some of your most appealing qualities and skills without succumbing to interview overkill. Avoid obvious cliches and expected answers, but don't go off the deep end by answering with an equally off-the-wall response.

5. If all else fails, fall back on polite redirection.
If your interviewer poses a question that leaves you speechless, or more pointedly, that makes you feel uncomfortable in anyway, state respectfully that you'd prefer not to answer and ask to move on to the next topic of discussion. While this may not be the option that helps you carry the most favor with your prospective employer, it's a viable last resort if you find yourself truly stumped or uncomfortable.

Don't let an unusual interview question throw you off your game. Instead, take it in stride and formulate an informative but interesting answer that will help ensure that you come out on top.

Leader or Louder - Michael O'Brien!!

A new study finds that the person who displays the most obvious characteristics of a leader isn't always the best person for the job. Confidence and outspokenness do not necessarily translate into ability, it finds.

When it comes to leadership positions, most credible theories assert that people cannot attain such a position simply by behaving assertively and forcefully; rather, they need to possess superior task abilities and leadership skills.

But in a new study out of the University of California at Berkeley and published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, the authors assert that individuals who are "high in trait dominance" -- or have the tendency to behave in assertive, forceful and self-assured ways -- attain influence because they behave in ways that make them appear competent, even when they actually lack competence.

Co-authors Cameron Anderson, an associate professor of organizational behavior, and doctoral candidate Gavin Kilduff also found that individuals higher in trait dominance were rated as more competent by fellow group members, outside peer observers and research staff members, even after controlling for the individuals' actual abilities.

The research is based on two tests they devised to determine how easily someone could take over leadership of a small group -- independent of whether they were qualified to do so.

The first test involved 68 undergraduate students, who were broken up into groups of four and told to organize an imaginary nonprofit group. The work sessions of the teams were videotaped and the members of the groups later watched the tapes and rated each other on both their level of influence and their level of competence.

Independent judges also viewed and rated the team members' performance.

The researchers found that both the judges and the team members deemed the most outspoken team members as possessing higher levels of general intelligence, among other traits.

A second test, involving 100 different undergraduate students, was then undertaken to determine if the people who talked the most did so because they had the most to offer.

This time, the four-member teams competed against other teams for a $400 prize by solving math problems taken from the Graduate Management Admission Test. Before the problem-solving began, though, the team members divulged their real-world SAT math scores to the researchers, but not to their team members.

After the second round was completed, the same results were found: The people who spoke up most often were rated as leaders as well as math whizzes.

But Anderson and Kilduff also found that those highly rated team members were not the ones who gave the most correct answers; nor were they the ones whose SAT scores suggested they would be the most competent in the test.

In fact, the people who were the highest rated were the ones who simply offered the most answers, whether right or wrong.

The results were unexpected, Anderson says.

"What surprised us the most was the strength of the effects we were observing," he says. "Dominant people were so confident in their competence, even though they were no more competent than anyone else.

"To put it more concretely, dominant personalities (those in the top quartile on dominance scores) gave answers 63 percent of the time, whereas less-dominant personalities (those in the bottom quartile on dominance scores) gave answers only 36 percent of the time -- even though, again, these two groups of people were equally competent."

Marshall Goldsmith, a New-York based executive coach and author the new book Succession: Are You Ready?, says he isn't surprised by the findings, adding that he teaches in the M.B.A. program at the University of California at Berkeley.

"When you ask people to pick the leader in the room, it's not going to be the person who sat there in silence," he says. "Would you be shocked if the opposite was true? Of course you would."

He says that successful people are "delusional. The more successful we become, the more delusional we become," meaning that leaders often think highly of themselves, independent of their credentials, and thus will speak out based on their self-opinion.

So does the research suggest people follow a "fake it 'til you make it" approach to gaining leadership positions?

"It doesn't mean they're faking it," Goldsmith says. "They probably do believe they are competent. ... Successful people do tend to have an unrealistically positive self-image. We're not as good as we think we are, but the fact that we think we're great, encourages us to try more, demonstrate more self-confidence and become better than we would have, if we didn't have that positive self-image."

But, as the research points out, he says, leaders need to get ongoing feedback from people around them "so they don't live in their own little world of godliness."

"There's a thin line between self-confidence and arrogance. It doesn't take much to cross the line," he says.

Fred Foulkes, director of the Human Resources Policy Institute at Boston University's School of Management and a professor in the organizational behavior department, says that the findings are not unusual, but he doesn't necessarily put a lot of stock in them.

To determine who will make the best leaders, Foulkes says, it's better "to give less weight to interviews and superficial-type things and really look at the overall process."

"Most times, selection is much broader than these types of impressions; it can be a long and drawn-out process," he says.

It's also not clear how well the results of this experiment would transfer to the real world of business as the assessment of leadership skills is a much more complex undertaking than the experiments indicate, he says.

Anderson, the study's co-author, agrees that more than a cursory assessment is necessary.

If an organization is "trying to pick the 'right' people, in terms of who is actually the most expert and skilled, gather more data on them instead of relying on first impressions and their apparent confidence," he says. "And use more objective tests of ability before trusting in someone's competence, if at all possible."

HR executives scouting for future leaders should be wary of just using confidence as an indicator of ability, he says.

"Yes, confidence and ability are often correlated, as when people who are truly talented exhibit more confidence in their opinions and ideas," Anderson says. "But, often confidence and ability are only mildly related, or even unrelated."

[About the Author: Dr. Michael O'Brien is the founder of O'Brien Group and has been a pioneering force in the field of Executive Coaching. Michael is the author of the book Profit From Experience: A guide to knowing yourself and influencing others (Berkley, 1998; O'Brien Group, 2003), and has written numerous articles on the role of executive development and organizational change.]

Pay for Performance:Jason C. Kovac

It is hard to turn on the television, pick up a newspaper or magazine, or power up a computer without seeing a flood of stories on rising unemployment, the credit crisis or bailout packages. These are the signs of a down economy, or specifically, a recession.

This is a cyclical process. Employees are connected with job security, so they are afraid to spend money. Because they don't spend money, organizations aren't turning profits. Because organizations aren't turning profits, some are cutting head counts, which starts the process over again, compounding employees' fears about job security.

However, during economic downturns, not every employee gets trapped in the cycle. Smart organizations will use the downturn to make strategic hires. And they will look for opportunities to recruit key talent from vulnerable competitors.

Performer Hierarchy
Employees are the backbone of any organization. Employees come up with ideas, build and sell products, work directly with internal and external customers and represent the organization. Within organizations, there is a hierarchy of performers: high performers, average performers and poor performers.

In most cases, the high performers are the top producers, the idea generators and potentially the top leaders, though not necessarily managers, in the organization. High performers are the employees who will lead the organization in the future.

These high-performing employees are vital to organizational survival, especially in bad economies. They are also in high demand in the labor pool. In order for organizations to thrive, they need to ensure they are retaining their own "A" players, as well as attracting new ones to keep the talent pipeline full. This push/pull of labor ignites a war for talent at a time when recruiting would seem to have fallen to the bottom of many talent management priority lists.

Pay Cuts for Performance?
During down economies, it is vital for organizations to determine which employees are key to organizational survival and ensure those employees are motivated to stay. One of the strongest motivators for attraction and retention is compensation. Unfortunately, during economic downturns, organizations have less revenue and, therefore, decreased pay for performance dollars.

Pay for performance can be defined as the link between pay, in whole or in part, to individual, group or organizational performance. If the individual, group or organization does well, pay increases, and vice versa. As organizations bring in less revenue, the amount they can spend on pay-for-performance dollars diminishes.

Some organizations try to spread the money so that each employee gets some additional pay. This is commonly called the "peanut-butter approach." Spreading the money to all employees, however, can be a de-motivator for high performers, especially when they know other employees have contributed less.

Equal distribution of limited pay-for-performance dollars might seem like a good idea, but the move could backfire. Just as talent managers need to encourage and reward high performers during good times, an organization is especially dependent on top performers to pull the organization through during down times.

For those who are thinking, "Well, worrying about how to best allocate merit increases is a nice problem to have, especially since these days, the reality is more about pay cuts."

Shouldn't the concept of pay for performance apply to salary reductions in the same way they do to salary increases? Instead of simply cutting pay a flat percentage across the board, should HR be more strategic about it by cutting the low performers more than the high performers?

This has become a hot topic at HR watercoolers and opinions on the matter vary widely, but one thing is certain. Pay-for-performance differentiation can send a strong message to employees and, as such, should be used wisely and well.

[About the Author: Jason C. Kovac, CCP, CBP, is a practice leader for WorldatWork and the author of three books including Elements of Base Pay Administration.]

Smart Questions to Ask the Interviewer!!

Many job seekers have been taught that interview success depends solely on their ability to answer the questions put to them in an impressively professional and knowledgeable manner. However, while the answers you offer up will play a big part in determining how you come across in an interview, they're really only one piece of the puzzle. In fact, some job search experts say that the questions that you pose in an interview can be equally important in helping you make a positive first impression.

A Two-Way Street
Although the hiring manager clearly has the upper hand in most interview situations, that doesn't mean that he or she should be the only one asking questions. According to Tony Beshara, author of Acing the Interview: How to Ask and Answer the Questions that Will Get You the Job, the best interviews are more like lively back-and-forth discussions than one-way interrogations.

By preparing and posing a few pointed questions of your own over the course of the interview, you'll be able to accomplish two important tasks. First, you'll highlight your ability to think on your feet, respond to emerging situations, and analyze information quickly. Second, and perhaps most importantly, the right questions will allow you to get a better sense of what it's like to work for the company - and help you figure out if the position is right for you.

What Should You Ask?
The questions you pose to the hiring manager should include queries you have prepared in advance of the interview, as well as follow-ups relating to topics that come up over the course of the discussion itself. Use these tips and techniques to craft questions that will help you succeed in your next interview.

1. Avoid the obvious.
Although you can definitely boost your profile by posing the right kind of questions, not every query will score points. Don't ask questions to which you already know the answer, or that you should have been able to find out on your own with a little pre-interview research.

2. Involve the interviewer.
Rather than focusing solely on the company as a whole, personalize your questions by targeting the interviewer's experience with the team. Ask the hiring manager to recount favorite experiences or to discuss the company's main strengths and challenges.

3. Delve deeper.
Try to formulate in-depth questions that showcase your analytical ability. Take the information the interviewer provides and use it as a jumping-off point to move towards a deeper understanding of the issues at hand. Rather than responding with surface-level questions, kick things up a notch, focusing on more complex queries that begin with words such as "how" or "why".

4. Put a positive spin on things.
Even when you're asking pointed questions, there's no need to submit your interviewer to the third degree. It's important to come across as enthusiastic and optimistic about the position and the company's prospects, even when you're digging deep for more information. If the company is facing tough market conditions or stiff competition, ask about these challenges in a way that conveys your confidence in the organization's ability to thrive in even the grimmest of circumstances.

5. End with a call to action.
After you've put a number of in-depth, intelligent questions to your interviewer, your last question should always focus on the next steps in the hiring process. Ask about the schedule for making a decision, or whether you can provide any additional information. It's always to your advantage to leave the interview with a clear understanding of what comes next, so take this opportunity to ask a few questions about the way that the process will unfold.

By posing a few questions of your own in your next interview, you can showcase your analytical skills and uncover new insights about the company and the position. If you want to land your dream job, all you have to do is ask!