Learn to Separate Family From Work

Work at home parents face challenges that are rather unique. We have made the choice to work from home in order to have more time with our families. This is sometimes a decision that is at times wonderful and at other times monumentally bad. We wanted to work at home so we wouldn’t have to leave our children in the care of others while we trudged off to the trenches each and every day wasting precious moments not only working outside the home but during the commute each way as well.

Now that you’ve made the move to work from home, I’m guessing that you’ve noticed that the reality isn’t quite as rosey as the mental image was. The first weeks will be challenging but are also very important in establishing a routine with you and your family in regards to your workday. You must separate your business from your family and you must make them understand that while you are home, you must also work. This is sometimes hard for spouses to understand but establishing this early will save major problems later on.

Here are a few things you can do that will help you keep your business and your family separate.

•••1) Set business hours. This is as much for you as it is for other family members. A wise person once told me that until I treated my business like a business and took it seriously I could not expect anyone else to do so either. Take frequent breaks and be flexible with your children, but be adamant about keeping your business hours as sacred as possible. At the same time, when it’s quitting time, it’s time to quit for the day. Your family will resent your business if it constantly cuts into their time with you.

•••2) Don’t do housework during business hours. I plan my business hours after 10:00 in the morning so that I can get some housework done and a meal thrown into the crock-pot before beginning my workday. Whatever you need to do in order to keep from vacuuming, dusting, sweeping, etc. during your business hours is highly recommended. Making one exception is an open invitation for more to follow. Try as hard as possible to make this a rule and keep it one.

•••3) Don’t take personal phone calls during your business hours. This is a huge no-no. If it’s an emergency they will leave a message. I’m not talking about not answering the kid’s school or something like that, but do you really need to talk to your sister-in-law about the family reunion or should that wait until family time?

•••4) Be sure that you are working during your business hours. The more you actually get accomplished during your business hours, the less you will be distracted by during family time.

•••5) Delegate housework during your family time. If everyone works together on the unpleasant tasks, there is more time for family fun. That, more than anything else will be what your children remember about you working from home and what it means to them.

•••6) Don’t get so caught up in work that you can’t make time for your family when you need to. It’s a fine line sometimes between what we feel we need to be doing for them and what they really need us to do. Sometimes, it helps to take 20 minutes just to devote time to them and ignore the computer. Our family (at least for a vast majority of us) is the reason we work from home; don’t forget that as you work to build your business.

Keeping your family and business separate will bring great rewards. You will find that your family doesn’t resent your ‘office time’ because you are making sure that you have plenty of time for them and that you are still able to get a great deal of work accomplished because they don’t feel the constant need to interrupt. And also remember that there is no reason you can’t put your older children to work for you. This will give you good quality time together and still get office tasks accomplished. Those are memories that will be treasured by both of you.

By Adam Terebeckij

careers, Jobs Indonesia, Indonesia Vacancy

 

3 Steps to Finding and Starting a Real Work at Home Job

Not everyone who wants to work from home is interested in starting a home business from scratch. Some people would just like to work for an established company who would allow its workers to do the same thing they would be doing in a business office from home instead. These types of jobs are becoming more popular and possible. Here are 3 steps that could make your job from home experience happen:

1. Find a good job bank. A job bank is a source of job listings from companies interested in employing workers, similar to the classifieds in a newspaper. Be sure and look for a job bank that caters to persons looking for online, work from home, or work from your computer type jobs. What you are looking for are actual job listings, not ads on how to start a home business, although some may include these types of jobs. This is your first step, because this will be your source of possible job opportunities.

2. Set up your work from home office. Keep in mind that, while it is nice to have an actual home office, this is not necessary. Any corner, table, or private space where you feel comfortable doing the work required can work. The job description will usually specify what type of equipment is necessary to perform the job described. Usually all that is required is a computer and for some jobs, a phone with long distance. It all depends on the tasks you will be performing.

3. Decide what type of job is best for you. Most job banks list their jobs in categories. For example, www.jobstophome.com lists its jobs into categories such as business, clerical, customer service, engineering, programming, finance, creative art and design, human resources, sales, marketing, transcription, web development, writers, and miscellaneous. Look through various listings and consider what you would like to be doing, the hours you would like to work, flexibility, skills, equipment needed and the environment you will need to work in. For example, if there will be lots of phone work, you may need a space to work in that is quiet and allows you to talk without distraction or interruption versus a computer job that doesn't require much phone work and could work from virtually anywhere.

Finding a job in a work at home job bank has many benefits. It's less expensive than starting a home business from scratch, no face to face interviews, more variety to choose from, can work more than one if you need to , or use it as a second income to supplement your current job. The security in knowing there is something available to you that you can do from home sometimes is all you need to get you through a rough patch. And many times people who try the work at home method of making money find that they wouldn't have it any other way!

If you would like to learn more about where to find real work at home jobs, I highly recommend you visit.

By Ana Anderson

careers, Jobs Indonesia, Indonesia Vacancy

 

Relationship Marketing and Your Computer Consulting Business

Relationship marketing is a powerful tool that you must use to grow your computer consulting business. Relationship marketing is how I turned a simple website demo into $175,000 in service revenue over a period of a few years. When you use relationship marketing you don't waste your money on risky display advertisements, you don't have to cold call, you don't have to do any door to door selling, and best of all you don't even feel like you are selling.

Relationship marketing centers on conveying the right kind of professional image all of the time. It is crucial that in every situation you find yourself in, you remember that you are marketing your business. You are your business so what people think of you they will also think of your business.

Another important key to remember with relationship marketing is that every person you meet presents an opportunity to forge a relationship. Obviously networking opportunities are important to remember. But the area of relationship marketing that many people forget about is developing relationships within the businesses you serve.

You may have gotten a lead from one person at a company. Or you may have one key contact at a business you currently service. Those who are savvy at relationship marketing know that one contact is never enough. People change jobs and companies all the time. You don't want to lose a potential client or service contract because your key contact is no longer around.

When you use relationship marketing correctly you will develop relationships with more than one person at any business you enter. Think of every person as a potential source of business. Make sure you expand the scope of your accounts to at least a couple of people with whom you have a solid relationship.

The Bottom Line on Relationship Marketing

Relationship marketing is a critical element in your overall marketing strategy. You must always be aware of how you are presenting yourself. You never know when or where you will meet the next person with whom your relationship flourishes into a whole lot of business. The beauty of relationship marketing is that it seems like effortless selling but it is really the most powerful and effective marketing tool you can use.

By Joshua Feinberg

careers, Jobs Indonesia, Indonesia Vacancy

 

Public Relations: Training, Career and Jobs

A long time ago, advertising was considered the king of media and to make your presence known, you were required to spend big bucks in order to promote products and services. Big companies were undoubtedly the masters of the market because they were the only one who could afford to spend so much money on advertising. However, over the past few years, dramatic changes have taken place in advertising what with all the dotcom companies ingenuously using PR tactics to grab all the attention and make headlines. As a result of this, Internet websites were found to compete with large companies and would also gain market share in certain industries, thus paving the way for practically anyone to make use of these Public relations services and agencies.

Advertising is dead for a number of reasons. The biggest problem with traditional advertising was that it was not possible to determine how so much money was spent in advertising. Public relations on the other hand is all about getting paid for performing. If you have the best public relations people handling the job for you, their job is to make sure you are in the news, and that you stay there. Just one well worked out media release could get you huge audiences. And, audiences spell money!

How Public Relations got the best of Advertising

By opening the doors to audiences through pitch stories, public relations creates opportunities to increase sales and brand awareness. PR tools are highly respected because unlike advertising, there aren't any payments made for the publicity received. Public relations practices are essentially promotional tools that add to any product or service offerings. However, making a product or service stand out in a whole crowd is the ultimate goal of any PR campaign.

Undeniably, advertising did rule the market once upon a time and was considered the only solution to marketing and promoting products and services. However today, advertising has been exposed for what it basically is. So, instead of spending all that money on running ads in magazines or newspapers, why not try out PR and instead get free publicity for your products and services?

PR Training

Presently, public relations exists as a career option in government institutions and private companies that tend to market their products, services and facilities actively. Public relations training programs and courses are spread out throughout educational institutes.

Most Public relations persons are recruited from the field of journalism. Public relations officers are skilled and highly trained professional people with the required knowledge and expertise in certain areas like, account management skills, shareholder management during crisis, an introduction to financial public relations, the evolving role of the in house public relations professional, an introduction to consumer public relations, and and introduction to public relations software and so on.

What it takes to get started in PR: Firms and Agencies

There are many ways to kick start your career in Public relations. As opposed to common belief, people who belong to the 'talkative' category don't necessarily make good PR professionals. You need more than just the 'gift of the gab' to be successful in public relations. Apart from the ability to communicate clearly, you need to have excellent writing skills and also ability to work alongside different types of people while at the same time work independently.

While most organizations don't necessarily require a bachelor degree in public relations, people who are interested in getting into the field should be actively involved in work like law, language or business qualification or communications. Other than these educational qualifications, those graduates with work experience in areas like client servicing and customer relations will always have an edge over the others.

Public relations is unpredictable and extremely fast-paced. Depending on the organization that you represent or work for, certain events could take place and you can wave goodbye to regular work schedules. As a graduate, it is important to know and understand your job, to learn and grow, and to adapt to the working environment. The training is generally simple but demonstrating enthusiasm and energy is very important.

Public relations officers are required to do a variety of different things, so you will be able to enjoy your work. From meeting new and interesting people to traveling extensively, it can be a great job. The only drawback would be that you will be required to work for long hours, especially when a deadline is drawing near. If at all things go wrong, you will be required to think fast and act faster. In this field, crisis management and damage control is part and parcel of your work.

There are many activities involved in public relations. So, in an undergraduate course or program, students will most likely be exposed to many activities like publicity, research, advertising, mass media communications, organizational behavior, corporate communications, media writing skills, promotion, public affairs, marketing communications, public speaking, integrated marketing communications, media law and ethics and consumer behavior and branding.

Public relations professionals and practitioners work in industries like public relations consultancies, healthcare organizations, government agencies, public relations firms, public relations agencies, educational institutions and many are self-employed too.

By Natasha Bantwal

careers, Jobs Indonesia, Indonesia Vacancy

 

On Being a Video Game Programmer – The Perks and Pitfalls

What is it like to work as a video game programmer? It is considered by many game-playing children to be a dream job. Is it actually as good as it sounds? It certainly is an interesting life. However, as with anything else on this planet, there are both positive and negative sides to working as a video game programmer.

For the last 7 years I have worked as a video game programmer at three development studios: Activision/Treyarch, Visual Concepts and DiscoPixel, a new startup company. I have published titles for the Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo consoles. This article is a summary of some of the perks and pitfalls that I have experienced through my work at these companies.

Perk #1 – Make Games!

This one is pretty obvious, but the biggest perk of working at a video game studio is that you will be MAKING games. You will be helping build the next great game that potentially millions of people will play and enjoy. There’s an amazing satisfaction that stems from knowing that you helped make something big.

Perk #2 – Play Games!

In addition to testing and improving your current game every day, you’ll also be playing games made by other companies. There are few jobs out there where sitting down and playing a newly released console title is considered research. Companies definitely want you to stay on top of the technology and features of new games, and the only way to do this is by playing lots of games. At the companies I’ve worked at, I’ve never seen anyone get reprimanded for playing video games during the day.

Perk #3 – Independence

A great aspect of working as a video game programmer is the independence you are given. It is rare that you’ll have a manager breathing down your neck or double checking everything you do. To get hired into a development studio you need to already have excellent programming skills, so you are given a lot of freedom to make many decisions yourself. You may be assigned a general task to complete, but how that actually should be done, as well as how long it should take, are often up to you.

Provided that you can get your work done, the companies I have worked for generally seemed to be very willing to let me work on my terms. When I was tired or bored or lazy I could go play a game or relax somewhere without anyone complaining. Happy employees with improved morale make better games.

Perk #3 – Fun Office Environment

Everybody that works at a video game studio has one thing in common: they love games. If they didn’t love playing games they would never have been hired to make them. Because of this, the office setting often has fun or quirky things anywhere you look. Many people bring strange new objects to show off or play with during the day.

Most video game studios have lots of games and toys lying around to keep its employees entertained. A few things that I have come across at various studios: Arcades with free coin-op games, foosball tables, ping pong tables, razor scooters, board games, action figures, puzzles, daytime basketball games and giant stuffed animals.

Coming to the office still means you’re going to work, but there’s no reason why it can’t also be fun.

Perk #4 - Free Soda + Snacks

This perk is maybe not important to everyone, but it’s nice to know that you won’t go hungry working at a video game studio. I’ve never met a video game company that hasn’t offered free soda and snacks as part of the benefits of working there. I suppose being loaded up on caffeine and sugar helps boost productivity. During long days at the office, companies will typically provide free dinner as a thank-you for staying late. One company I worked for served fully catered meals from assorted restaurants every night for many weeks.

Pitfall #1 – Long Work Hours

Making video games is a lot of work. The amount of time needed to make the latest game seems to be growing exponentially. Development teams continue to get bigger and bigger every year, yet somehow the amount of work per person doesn’t seem to get any smaller. Games are very complicated. Also, the nature of games is that they must be fun, which is not always so easy to accurately pencil into a schedule. A lot of experimentation is needed, especially with new game concepts.

Before a milestone and especially a few months before a game is released, the work day will be very intense. The work has a way of very quickly piling up. New features and old bugs suck away all of your time. Working long nights or weekends is not uncommon. Fortunately, employees generally care about the games that they are making, and their passion helps energize them through these occasional long shifts.

The stress can get overwhelming, too. At one company I had a giant stack of bug reports waiting for me on my chair when I came into the office. I would work all day, scrambling to fix the bugs as quickly as possible, working on full blast all day and night. I’d go home for a couple hours of sleep, but when I’d return to work there would be a new, even larger stack of bug reports waiting for me.

Typically after a project has shipped there will be a period of downtime where the employees can get a chance to relax and recover. The work load will suddenly significantly reduce. One company gave bonus vacation time after a project shipped, and another put employees "on call" for about a month, in which they only had to come to the office if there was some kind of problem. It’s nice to know that your long work hours do not go unnoticed.

Pitfall #2 –Choosing What to Work On

Working on your own video games in your free time is a lot of fun. You get to choose exactly what game and tasks you want to work on, focusing only on the fun stuff. Anything boring can be safely ignored since the only audience is you. Unfortunately, this is not the case for large video game studios. There are many tasks to be completed, some of which are not too glamorous. Fixing console manufacturer standards violations or building data tools is not very exciting, but it still needs to be done by someone in order to ship the final product.

These tasks typically are given to people who are just starting out in the video game industry, perhaps as a rite of passage, but probably just because nobody else wants to do them.

In addition to the possibility of working on less glamorous tasks, you could be assigned a project that you are not fully interested in. Typically the company will let you work projects that interest you, but this is not always possible. A particular project could be falling behind schedule and it needs a few more employees to fix some bugs or add some new features. Or, the project you are interested in already has enough workers.

I think that the passion of the employees working at a video game studio is crucial to the success of that game. If you are not excited about what you’re working on, it will show up in the game you’re creating. To avoid any misunderstandings or letdowns, before deciding to work at a particular company, it’s important to find out what game you will be working on in addition to what tasks you will be assigned.

Pitfall #3 –Pay Not as Good (Maybe?)

I’ve heard from a few people that the pay working as a video game programmer is not as good as the pay working at more conventional companies. Business database programmers, for example, could be earning more money. This could be true. However, choosing your profession is not just about the pay. You spend a large percentage of your life at your job. Money is not everything. Choosing something that you enjoy is important, too.

I thought the pay at the companies I have worked at was very reasonable. There is also a large potential upside from royalty checks coming from a game that sells well, which has sometimes turned out to be significant. You will definitely not be living as a pauper if you get a programmer job at a video game company.

I hope that this article has been helpful towards learning a little bit about working as a video game programmer. As with everything in life, there are pros and cons to this profession. If what you have read sounds good to you, I hope you find that dream job making the next great bestselling game.

By Tom Bak

careers, Jobs Indonesia, Indonesia Vacancy

 

De-stressing at work!

Here are some of the important de-stress mechanisms that can help you bounce back to your health!

* To begin with take a few deep breaths, allowing your rib cage and belly to expand as you inhale.

* Exhale slowly.

* Seek a change in venue.

* Getting away from your work station, even for a walk to the water cooler, can help you collect your thoughts and refocus on the task at hand.

* Laugh! Read one of your favorite jokes or simply laugh aloud.

* Play with a stress-relieving toy or game like a mini-basketball hoop, dart board, foam stress ball or punching bag.

* Close your eyes and listen to soothing music.

* Visualize yourself relaxing at your favorite vacation spot or completing the big presentation with ease.

* Add helpful reminders to your screen saver, such as, "Take a deep breath," or add a phrase or joke that makes you laugh.

Watch out!

* Use good judgment and know what is appropriate for your workplace.

* Work Efficiently

* Keep your desk and your files organized to avoid wasting time shuffling through piles of paper.

* Go through your inbox at the beginning of each work day. Either throw away, file or follow up on each item.

* Prioritize a list of the tasks you need to accomplish that day.

* Delegate tasks to co-workers and assistants if possible.

* Finish one task before you go on to the next.

* Have someone else answer your phone if possible. Give instructions about calls you wish to take and those that can be returned later.

* Communicate effectively and plan carefully to make sure a job is done properly the first time around.

* Schedule time when you'll be available, and let colleagues know, to avoid constant interruptions.

* Close the door if you need to.

* Take breaks. A short walk or quick lunch away from the office will increase your overall productivity.

* Before leaving for the day, tidy up your desk and make a short list of projects you will need to do the next day.

* Try not to take work home. You need the break.

* Determine when you have most energy in a day and tackle the most important or most difficult tasks at that time.

* Recognize that certain days (usually Monday or Friday) are more hectic than others. Be realistic when scheduling those days.

* Exercise and a healthy diet boost your energy level and increase your productivity.

* If you get completely snowed under, hire an assistant from a temp agency to get you through the crunch.

By Prerna Salla

careers, Jobs Indonesia, Indonesia Vacancy