TravelCent » Business

The Purpose of an Externship vs. an Internship

Scott — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 01:10:00 +0000

Deciding on a career path early on in the educational career can be nerve racking for many. If you don’t have any experience in the field you are pursing, it can be hard to judge whether or not you will like it solely based on classes. It is this lack of certainty that leads many students to change majors once, twice, and sometimes even three times before they complete a single degree.

For students who are further along in their studies there are internships. Internships are also a valuable tool for networking as well as gaining experience. While students can still change their minds about the field after an internship, typically they are available to help students prepare for jobs after college. Most internships are available for credit and some, like Southwestern Company , are paid while others are not.

In an effort to help students understand the fields that they will be entering, externships were developed. Usually much shorter than an internship, an externship gives the student an opportunity to shadow a professional in the field for brief period of time. There is not much emphasis on the student completing any work, it is more to help them experience the job first-hand and assess early on whether or not it is something that they want to pursue further. While most of the time externships are not paid or offered for credit, they can be a valuable tool for gathering contacts and making connections.

Wherever you are in the education process — investigating potential careers or filling out an application with a program like the Southwestern Company — both internships and externships can be important tools to help lead you into the future.

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The Purpose of an Externship vs. an Internship

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Getting Employees on the Same Page

Scott — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 01:10:00 +0000

Teamwork and perception have a lot to do with each other. The principles set down by Dale Carnegie speak very directly to the notion of how perception can determine reality , and a good, positive attitude in all things can truly change things. This works in personal relationships, social settings, and definitely has applications in the business world.

There are two challenges, then, for anyone who is in charge of a group of people, small or large. One is to get them to work toward a positive attitude , so that things can work like they should, attracting customers and success. The other, equally challenging, is to get them to work as a team with the same goals. This means learning as a group how to cultivate a positive attitude, and how to put it to good use as a team. Employee training is often seen as a necessary evil in the business world, but there are opportunities here for real, positive growth.

A good experience as a group can do wonders for morale and for motivation. This can really be any kind of experience at all, because the energy is raised as a group, and connections happen between people. By taking it to the next level, where working together becomes a welcome challenge, the energy is channeled right into the mechanisms of the company, so that real change can result. It’s not simply a question of getting your people to pay attention and focus, but to get them to the point where there is a real fire to make things happen. It’s a remarkable thing when it does happen, and there are techniques that seem to work every time.

Employee training can be an end in itself, where the team is finally on the same page, and the work can begin in earnest. It can also be a step toward leadership training , because good employees very often make great leaders. It’s a road to success, and the key is learning how to be positive together.

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Getting Employees on the Same Page

Choosing the Right Law Firm for Your Business

Scott — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 01:10:00 +0000

Having access to a quality, reliable and professional law service is an extremely important aspect of many life circumstances and most people don’t realize how valuable and essential this is until the need arises. At this point it can be extremely stressful and choosing the correct firm for whatever your particular need may be can be very confusing. This is one of the primary reasons why establishing your preferred law firm prior to an actual emergency or need is typically recommended. This is particularly important to businesses, who almost always need the services of a lawyer for one reason or another.

Finding the most suitable firm for any business can require researching various law offices and is frequently one of the most important aspects of its orientation and initial development. From the all-important articles of incorporation to approval of mutual ownership percentages it is almost always essential to have a qualified lawyer look over and sometimes even write the basic business paperwork. This process is just the beginning of what usually becomes an extremely important and enduring relationship and can make the difference between a company’s success or failure.

So, how does any company go about choosing the right law firm? Fortunately there are a few different options and approaches to answering this question. One of the popular ways is through personal recommendation and this is generally a solid regionally or city oriented manner of finding a quality law firm. Phoenix lawyers as well as those from other cities are generally best recommended through direct experience. However, it is important to research any potential legal candidate and there are various considerations and hallmarks to look for when doing this. One of them is to consider the length of time they have been in business and also to look at the size of the firm. Checking on them with the Better Business Bureau is also important. You can also call the firm and ask for an introductory meeting. This is going to be an important business relationship and making the right choice should be given the priority and investment it deserves.

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Choosing the Right Law Firm for Your Business

Companies & Communities

Scott — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 17:41:41 +0000

When you’re starting to think about having your own hot tub in your own yard, there’s a sense of excitement that just grows. You’ll be able to start considering all the fun details like the size, the style, and the special features, and then start to imagine where it might go in your house. You can daydream about parties you’ll have, as well as the many hours you can spend in solitude, as well as with the ones you love, enjoying the water and the lovely massaging jets. It’s a lot to look forward to, and there’s always more.

With choosehottubsdirect.com, you’re working with a company with a spectacular flair for excellent customer service. Their focus is on your needs rather than promoting the products, so that you’ll receive excellent treatment that is very personalized. Their reputation depends on your satisfaction, so it’s very important to them that they’re getting you exactly what you want, and they’re very skilled, and friendly, when helping you to find it. They have patience and understanding, and part of their successes come from a willingness to take time to have conversations with the customer, and this helps every step of the process go much easier, and insures that everyone is getting what they want in the deal.

They also have a splendid record for giving back to the community. Last year, after Hurricane Ike, they donated a portion of their profits to help the victims of this horrible disaster. This means that you’re not only working with a company that understands hot tubs, they also have a sense of compassion for other human beings. Being responsive, and willing to contribute, after a natural disaster, suggests a participation in the world that goes beyond the expected, and demonstrates real engagement with the community, and that’s an idea whose time has come. It’s wonderful to be thinking ahead, and seeing how a hot tub might change your life, but it’s also a pleasure to know that part of the action you’re taking part in is also helping others to change their lives as well.

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Companies & Communities

Making Happy Neighborhoods

Scott — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 18:48:33 +0000

Canada is one of the more remarkable places in the world. Those who live here understand that there are splendid things here that are difficult to find in other places. Our neighborhoods reflect the commitment and dedication of the generations that came before us, working to make sustainable places for our children to grow up in. They had a sense of civic responsibility that is inspiring to us. We at TransGlobe Property Management are working toward that level of commitment to the neighborhoods where you work and live. Our record for excellent customer service is an indicator for us that we’re on the right track.

Our relationship with you, then, is one that we consider to be ongoing. We have made it very easy, and even fun, to select possibilities for living and working on our user-friendly database, so you can start daydreaming about your new space right away. We realize that moving can be a big hassle, and is one of the biggest stresses people have in their lives, and we like to do our part to make it easier. We also know that there is a certain thrill about moving, when you start to think about the place you’ll soon be, how to decorate, where your belongings will go, and what the neighborhood will be like.

At TransGlobe Property Management, we’ve been working in the neighborhoods you’ll live, and doing our part to make changes for the lives of community members. We like to participate in charitable functions, because it helps us to bring our team together, and it also gets us out there, and more connected to life as it’s really lived. We love the neighborhoods here, and think it’s a truly special place. For this generation, and the memory of those who lived here before us, along with the safety and health of the generation to follow, we’re working together to make happy neighborhoods.

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Making Happy Neighborhoods

How to get a business idea

Scott — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 18:06:12 +0000

So you have always wanted to have your own business. And now seems like the perfect time because the numbers of jobs in your original field are dwindling and fast. Now is the time to think about where your real passion lies, or if you are not lucky enough to find passion, find something you can tolerate and do well. It’s time to take a bad situation and turn it around into something positive. It’s all about making the best out of it and looking outside the box for your next step, or venture in life.

When it comes to thinking outside the box, you can find ideas for making a successful business nearly anywhere. You should start out sitting down and making a list of all the times you were not satisfied with a service or a product you spent money on. Take the following example for instance.

Steve Barbarich was remodeling his home and had made his way into the bathroom. He ordered a bath tub for his home and thought it would fit perfectly in the space he had left for the tub. When the tub arrived it proved to be too big for the space. He bought to tub online, so he promptly contacted to company to try and get the situation remedied. The company was less than helpful. Barbarich, instead of just being an angry customer, turned his misfortune into a business venture. He started choosehottubsdirect.com and is selling hot tubs at great prices along with excellent customer service.

He took something that he saw was missing in the market and started a website to replace it and make it better. He ended up turning his bad customer service experience into an amazing business plan.

So if you are thinking about starting your own business, think about how you have been wronged in business, and maybe that could be your next business venture.

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How to get a business idea

Projects to Manage and Balance

Scott — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 15:21:12 +0000

Sitting in a lobby in one of the hundreds of Singapore Hotels, Sandra watched the travellers in a constant flow of coming and going. She was waiting for her inspiration, her muse to show as so to spark a new poem or a new short-story. This was her favorite way to be creative, to rely on the world’s population to make her living for her, even though they do not know that that’s their purpose when they come into Sandra’s view. Even if they read one of her pros or poems, they would be unaware that they were the project managers of her work. Demanding she create a project that will enhance their portfolio of awareness and bring in a wealth of understanding.

Sandra is an accomplished writer and poet. But, she never let herself be addressed as a writer or as a poet. She would instead request when being introduced at a bookstore or lecture hall, to refer her as simply an employee of the world. This always gets queer looks of non-understanding from the announcer and many of the audience members hoping for a glimmer to making sense of her and her writings. Sandra is all to familiar with this look and she makes a note of it in her future projects notepad of how she needs to allow another completely different project manager to put on her desk the project she thought was complete. This suits her well, for if she can make one person understand that they are her employer, her project manager and that it is her job to bring to task the very nature of the projects existence, then she herself feels accomplished and to finish the task that of their necessity of living their lives all worth while. This is Sandra’s talent, to find the balance in the project and make the project itself become a medium of conscious awareness. Nothing more than that will she create for nothing more is necessary. So, she waits in the lobby, waits for her that next project in need of balance to be placed on her desk of imaginations.

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Projects to Manage and Balance

Find Dining a must

Scott — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 15:17:01 +0000

My parents, no matter what their finances were, no matter if they were in a fight, always went out ‘Fine Dining‘ every Friday night. This is the one activity they would not give up. Even if they didn’t enjoy each others company for the evening, they enjoy the socializing with their favorite waitstaff, favorite Maitre’d and favorite bartender. My mom would tell them one of her new dirty jokes and my dad would flirt with all the females.

No matter where they were in the world, from Singapore Fine Dining to the obscure small towns like Harlan, Kentucky Fine Dinning, they would always make instant friends with the entire staff of the restaurant they were patronizing, by inviting the staff to come by the bar they would go to after eating and offering to by them drinks. My mother, when she and my father visited a friend in a small town in Germany, made instant friends with the Burgermeister who was dinning next to them at a Fine Dinning restaurant because she invited him to go for drinks afterwards at his favorite watering hole. Today, they still correspond back and forth via the mail.

It was a rare opportunity for me to be able to join them, when I was old enough, and witness how my parents transformed right before my very eyes from the disciplinarians of the house into the most wonderful and delightful people anyone would ever like to meet. My parents were fun to hang around with and truly a revelation I will always treasure along with my friends who were also invited a few times and treated to a night of dressing up to Fine Dine, drink and laugh all night long. Surprisingly, my friends always ask me how my parents are doing and if they’ll ever be invited to go out with them again. Surprising because they are what you’d call non-conforming agitators, but for some reason, getting a chance to dress up and go out for the evening with my folks made them forget about their resolve and just enjoy. I will forever be grateful to my parents showing me a side of life that I rarely get a chance to do, Fine Dine and for letting me see that they are some much more than my parents, they are a gift to treasure and enjoy.

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Find Dining a must

Chicken crossed the Road Less Travelled

Scott — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 22:18:02 +0000

You know that old joke? “Why did the chicken cross the road? To get to the other side.’ As a young girl in kindergarten, it didn’t get it. I didn’t get why that was funny or profound. To me it made perfect sense. Of course it crossed the road to get to the other side. Children, at that age, do take every statement literally. Sometimes I still do, and I get the weirdest looks from people. For example: I was staying in one of the Business Hotels Singapore for business. Earlier that day, in a business meeting with my clients, one of them say to get someone tonight to sign a document giving permission to access one of our online analysis statistics spreadsheets. I took that statement literally, maybe it was my jet-lag, but I waited until it was night to do this. I mean, I literally waited until dark! Needless to say, my client was very upset I took so long to get him access to this information. My boss, my colleagues and my client, in not so polite words, told me to reconsider my career.

I’ve actually been reconsidering my career, my life, my boyfriend, well every aspect of my life really. My career, well I’m just a glorified paper pusher. All my so called mainstream friends think I have a fantastic career; I get to travel across the world. I just get time in the other countries I visit for business to push more paper there. That day, in Singapore, I made a decision, I decided to take that road less travelled. To quit my well paying job, sell my big house, pull out my 401K, buy a used beat up RV and see what I’ve been missing. My boyfriend will break up with me, my friends will not understand and for sure my folks will disapprove. But, doesn’t sound wonderful? To drop out of the rat-race and join in the joy of not living up to other peoples expectations.

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Chicken crossed the Road Less Travelled

Hong Kong Waters

Scott — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 21:57:22 +0000

Consumers in Hong Kong are urged to respond in action to a global call for access to clean water. With the exception of the Water Supply Industry, all major utilities in Hong Kong are owned and operated by Hong Kongs private enterprises. In terms of price, returns, and productivity, the water supply industry in Hong Kong compared unfavourably with privately owed utilities. The financial performance of the Water Supplies Department (WSD) has been deteriorating in recent years, especially in the Public Rental Housing (PRH) arena. In order to improve the performance of the water supply industry, the Hong Kong Government should consider inviting the private sector to run the industry. Hong Kong can learn from other countries with regard to reforms made in the water supply industry

The travel industries such as the Best Hong Kong Hotels and Hong Kongs Technology Research Centers in a joint effort with the Consumer Council has collaborated with the Water Supplies Department to heighten consumer awareness of the importance and need of maintaining a high quality of water supply at the taps. Although the quality of treated water from the WSD fully complies with the World Health Organization guidelines for drinking water and that more that 99.9% of residence have government water supply in Hong Kong, discolored or dirty tap water remains a source of consumer grievance.

To arouse public awareness and help consumers in their choice of service providers, the Hong Kong Consumer Council has surveyed the market in the cleaning of water tanks. And today quality fresh water supply in Public Rental Housing blocks have a guaranteed certification from the Water Supply Department for Fresh Water Plumbing Quality Maintenance Recognition Scheme (FWPQMRS). The WSD encourage building owners to maintain their plumbing properly and to provide it’s tenants with good quality tap water. The public is further advised that the task of cleaning water tanks should be performed only by personnel with appropriate experience and supervised by competent personnel.

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Hong Kong Waters