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Important Networking Follow-Ups: How to Get Those Job Leads Calling When you leave a networking event, you may be buzzing at the prospects offered by all of those new contacts you made, but soon, the cold reality sets in. How will you be able to convert those contacts you made over a glass of wine into valuable business opportunities for you? Successful networking is all in the follow-up. If you’re looking for a job, following up is all the more crucial. Without touching base after a networking event, you become just another face in the crowd of job hunting hopefuls. The first important rule for following-up with networking contacts is to lay the foundations for the follow-up during the initial meeting. At networking events, there can be a lot of empty promises thrown around. Use that first meeting to convey the message that you haven’t gotten caught up in “networking fever” but instead that you are very serious about exploring the job opportunity that you’re discussing with your new contact. Ask the contact when would be a good time to follow-up with them, and then reiterate the information back to them at the end of your conversation: “I look forward to speaking with you Friday at 2 p.m.” If they don’t give you a specific time, then suggest one to them. This rule holds true even if your contact is giving you a lead on a job not with them but with another contact of their own. Let them know you appreciate the information by saying, “Thanks. I will plan on calling Mary on Monday afternoon at 1 p.m.” Not only will this convey your seriousness about the opportunity presented to you, but it may also get you some handy inside information, as the contact may reply, “Oh, no, Mary will be out of town until Thursday – call her then.” The next important rule to networking follow-ups is to follow up with EVERY lead a contact gives you. If a contact suggests that you call someone whom you know won’t really be able to help you in your job search, call him or her anyway. Otherwise, when your contact finds out you aren’t taking their advice, they may just decide not to give you any more the future and any business person can tell you that you never know from whom the most valuable lead will come some day. Keep the lines of communication open by giving any and all suggestions a whirl. Last but not least, do the actual following-up. Follow up with your contact exactly when you said you would, and in the exact manner you said you would (phone, email, letter, etc). If for some reason you can’t make contact at the arranged time, keep trying. If you haven’t made arrangements for a follow-up with a contact, then the rule of thumb is to follow-up with them as soon as possible after meeting them. Try to at least send an email or letter the next day saying what a pleasure it was to meet and that you look forward to talking more in the future, and then say in that note when you plan to follow-up with your contact by phone. Then, of course, stick to that new follow-up obligation. Even if the promises made by a contact while networking don’t pan out for you on the job front, don’t cross them off of your contact list. Keep them in the loop about your job search and your career goals. While they may not have been able to make if happen for you this time, you never know what they might be able to do for you in the future. Your most promising business contact may be someone you already know.

To Enter or Not to Enter Writing Contests (writing contests) If you are a freelance writer, it is because you love to write. Why not put those abilities to use and enter a writing contest? You have nothing to loose and a lot to gain. You can find writing contests by simply searching the Internet. Writing groups and message boards may also have listing for these contests. No matter what you writing genre maybe poetry, fiction, non fiction, there is a contest out there for you. Read about them and choose which ones are right for you. It is not necessarily about winning or loosing but about the experience and knowledge that you gain to get there. Whether you win or not there are still valuable things that can be learned or gained by entering into contests. Entering writing contests will help you hone the skills that you have. Try something new, you may choose to write in a niche that you normally wouldn’t. You get constructive criticism from someone new. Someone that doesn’t have to worry about hurting your feelings and that is unbiased can be a wonderful asset to your career. The feedback you receive can be invaluable to you. It will get your name out there and give you a place to showcase your work. Depending on how good your story, if you make it to the next round your writings could be in front of editors and agents. This feedback and criticism is even more important than the first. Do not your eggs all in one basket. Enter a couple contests to get multiple feedback sources. Not every editor or agent is going to agree. By entering multiple contests and find common points about your writing that need perfecting you will be able to concentrate on a general consensus about your abilities. There are some downsides to entering writing contests, too. Chances are that a simple contest is not going to launch your career into star status. Do your research just as if you were going to write an article about contests. For many contests you give up your rights to your entry whether it wins or not. You need to decide whether or not you are willing to give up all rights to your story. If you win it is not a big deal, but if you loose your giving your work away. Are you willing to do this? Research the contest. You can search the Internet for reports or opinions on contests run by the company. You can find valuable information on if the contest is legitimate, if entering has had any effect of previous entrant’s careers, and if it is really worth it in the long run. The bigger and well-established companies will give credibility to your work if you win. But the bigger and more well know the companies are will also bring in tougher competition with well know authors. Some companies offer contests as a disguise. Yes they will give away prizes and declare winners but their main goal with the contest is advertising. It can be in the form of offering you to buy obscure book featuring your contest submission. Sometimes it is an editing company that offers a discount for its services or a company that will offer you discounts on writing classes. A writing contest is just a possible stepping stone. Whether it helps you or not is the unknown, but it definitely won’t hurt you. It may help you reach the next level of your career. You and only you will be able to make the decision on whether or not writing contests are a good move for your career.

How to Use a Sample Written Proposal (sample written proposal) Writing a proposal is not an easy feat. For many, it is one of the most difficult things they will ever do in their entire lives. However, there is help for those who are confused about the proposal writing process. A sample written proposal can be used as a guide for the confused writer, and can help them with the process of writing their own proposal. Proposals usually have seven components, which include the Table of Contents, Mission Statement, Abstract, Statement of Need, Project Rationale Incorporating Literature Review, Project Narrative, and Attachments. All of these features can be found in sample proposals, which provide writers with an example of how these sections should be organized. A table of contents is used to provide a comprehensive guide to the proposal, so that readers are able to find what they need and find areas of importance within the proposal. A sample written proposal is an excellent guide to writing a mission statement. A mission statement should be 50 words or less, and states the mission of the project. The statement is used to clarify and state the project’s primary goal, and allows the reader to instantly understand what the writer is proposing without reading the entire proposal. The second section of a proposal is the abstract. It is vital to a proposal that an abstract is well-written, and initial proposal reviews or “first cuts” are often based on the abstract. The abstract of a proposal should be written after the mission statement, and should be changed over time, as the proposal develops further. Most proposal drafters will see that abstracts should be clear and understandable to all readers, including lay readers, and should be suitable for publication. Proposal abstracts should be written in third person, and should include objectives, methods to be employed, and the possible impact of the proposed project. Statement of need is the next part of a proposal. Many writers could benefit from a sample proposal when writing this section, because some drafters tend to write about more than one problem, or present their problem incorrectly. The Statement of need is the section where the drafter presents the problem that must be solved. In this section, drafters should avoid circular logic in the development of their statement of need, as it decrees that the lack of a solution is the problem. It is important to use logical progression in the statement of need, and the proposer must prove that they have an understanding of the problem. The statement should be closed with a discussion of what else is being done to solve the problem, and lead into the narrative with a description of how your idea is different and essentially better than all others. The Project Rationale Incorporating Literature Review is the next section of a proposal. All samples written proposals will have this section, as proposals must incorporate a theoretical basis with a discussion of literature. The rationale for the project should come from evidence found in the relevant literature. A sample written proposal will show drafters how to develop this section and show them how all proposals should incorporate current research into their projects. The project narrative is the sixth section of the proposal, which has six main sections. Some organizations require different proposal narratives, so in this aspect, it may be better to obtain sample proposals from several different organizations. The six sections of the project narrative section of a proposal include goals and objectives, proposed activities, facilities, resources, and project management, evaluation, outreach and dissemination, and sustainability. The final section of a proposal is the attachments’ section. Generally, attachments include the bibliography, letters of support/endorsement, and letters of publication. Drafters can also benefit from a sample written proposal when creating this section, as it will provide an example of how the section should be organized and incorporated in the overall proposal. Writing a proposal is an extensive project, and sample proposals can be used to reduce pressure while providing the proper form needed for an excellent proposal.