How to write a CV&Cover Letter (1)

Hi all,
I know that what I’ll talk about is not so related to the previous posts or even to what the blog seems to be about , but in sha2 allah I’ll make a short series of posts about “HOW TO WRITE A CV & COVER LETTER..” , as it is so important thing and we all have to know about it.
I feel that I really want to share my knowledge about this topic with the others to help all to write there CVs effectively & I hope that it helps ISA…

So let’s start doing this..

*What’s a CV?
CV is the initiatives of Latin words which are: “Curriculum Vitae”
And its translation is: course of someone’s life.

*We hear about CV, Resume and Profile... So what are the differences between them?

- CV: A detailed Biography.
- Resume: A brief written account of personal, educational and professional qualifications and experience.
- Profile: A paragraph explaining about yourself and your experience.

*Why we need a CV?
It is the first impression to get to the interview.

CRITICAL FACT:
Employer (HR) scans CV in 10 seconds!!!!!!!

*What does a CV contains?
1- Personal information.
2- Career Objective.
3- Education.
4- Experience.
5- Others.

In sha2 allah in the next post I’ll take each element of them and talk about it in more details... C U soon :)

Improving Your Creative Abilities

* Now It's the time to begin practicing together , The following are some steps that helps us to improve our creative Abilities , So Let's do it :

Keep track of your ideas at all times. Many times ideas come at unexpected times. If an idea is not written down within 24 hours it will usually be forgotten .

Pose new questions to yourself every day. An inquiring mind is a creatively active one that enlarges its area of awareness.

Keep abreast of your field. Read the magazines, trade journals, and other literature in your field to make sure you are not using yesterday's technology to solve toady's problems.

Engage in creative hobbies. Hobbies can also help you relax. An active mind is necessary for creative growth.

Have courage and self-confidence. Be a paradigm pioneer. Assume that you can and will indeed solve the problem Persist and have the tenacity to overcome obstacles that block the solution pathway.

Learn to know and understand yourself. Deepen your self-knowledge by learning your real strengths, skills, weaknesses, dislike, biases, expectations, fears and prejudices.

Learn about things outside your specialty. Use cross-fertilization to bring ideas and concepts from one field or specialty to another.

Avoid rigid, set patterns of doing things. Overcome biases and preconceived notions by looking at the problem from a fresh view point, always developing at least two or more alternative solutions to your problem.

Be alert in your observations. Look for similarities, differences, as well as unique and distinguishing features in situations and problems.

Be open and receptive to ideas (yours and others). New ideas are fragile; keep them from breaking by seizing on the tentative, half formed concepts and possibilities and developing them.

Adopt a risk taking attitude. Fear of failure is the major impediment to generating solutions which are risky (i.e., small chance of succeeding) but would have a major impact if they are successful. Outlining the ways you could fail and how you would deal with these failures will reduce this obstacle to creativity.

Keep your sense of humor. You are more creative when you are relaxed. Humor aids in putting your problems (and yourself) in perspective. Many times it relieves tension and makes you more relaxed.

So .. What Makes Creative People Creative ?!

Now after being obvious to all of us the negative attitudes that block creativity , Let's sum up some of the Characteristics of the Creative Person:

1. Curious.
2. Seeks problems.
3. Enjoys challenge.
4. Optimistic.
5. Able to suspend judgment.
6. Comfortable with imagination.
7. Sees problems as opportunities.
8. Sees problems as interesting.
9. Problems are emotionally acceptable.
10. Challenges assumptions.
11. doesn't give up easily, perseveres & works hard.

Why we are not Creative ?

Many times we ask " WHY WE ARE NOT CRAETIVE ?"

The answer will appear when we know The Negative Attitudes That Block Creativity..

1st Attitude :- " Oh no, a problem ! "

The reaction to a problem is often a bigger problem than the problem itself. Many people avoid or deny problems until it's too late, largely because these people have never learned the appropriate emotional, psychological, and practical responses. A problem is an opportunity. The happiest people welcome and even seek out problems, meeting them as challenges and opportunities to improve things.

*Definition : A problem is:

1. seeing the difference between what you have and what you want.

2. recognizing or believing that there is something better than the current situation.

3. an opportunity for a positive act . Seeking problems aggressively will build confidence, increase happiness, and give you a better sense of control over your life.

.. Hope that we all now try to change the old definition of the problem & work with the new one :)

2nd Attitude:- "It can't be done"

This attitude is "surrendering before the battle". By assuming that something cannot be done or a problem cannot be solved, a person gives the problem a power or strength it didn't have before. And giving up before starting is of course self fulfilling. But look at the history of solutions and the accompanying skeptics:

" man will never fly, diseases will never be conquered, rockets will never leave the atmosphere, and many other things ....".

Again, the appropriate attitude is summed up by the statement:

"The difficult we do immediately; the impossible takes a little longer."

3rd Attitude:- " But I'm not creative "

Everyone is creative to some extent. Most people are capable of very high levels of creativity; just look at young children when they play and imagine. The problem is that this creativity has been suppressed by education. All you need to do is let it come back to the surface. You will soon discover that you are surprisingly creative.

4th Attitude:- " That's childish "

In our effort to appear always mature and sophisticated, we often ridicule the creative, playful attitudes that marked our younger years. But if you solve a problem that saves your marriage or gets you promoted or keeps your friend from harm, do you care whether other people describe your route to the solution as "childish" ?

Remember that sometimes people laugh when something is actually funny, but often they laugh when they lack the imagination to understand the situation.

5th Attitude:- " I might fail "

Thomas Edison - in his search for the perfect filament for the incandescent lamp - tried anything he could think of, including whiskers from a friend's beard. In all, he tried about 1800 things. After about 1000 attempts, someone asked him if he was frustrated at his lack of success. He said something like: "I've gained a lot of knowledge, I now know a thousand things that won't work."

Fear of failure is one of the major obstacles to creativity and problem solving. The cure is to change your attitude about failure. Failures along the way should be expected and accepted; they are simply learning tools that help focus the way toward success. Not only is there nothing wrong with failing, but failing is a sign of action and struggle and attempt much better than inaction. The go-with-the- flow types may never fail, but they are essentially useless to humanity, nor can they ever enjoy the feeling of accomplishment that comes after a long struggle.
Suppose you let your fear of failure guide your risk taking and your attempts. You try only three things in a year because you are sure of succeeding. At the end of the year the score is: Successes 3, Failures 0. Now suppose the next year you don't worry about failing, so you try a hundred things. You fail at 70 of them. At the end of the year the score is Successes 30, Failures 70. Which would you rather have three successes or 30 ten times as many? And imagine what 70 failures will have taught you.

" Mistakes aren't fun, but they sure are educational."

Finally We all do things from the above so we have to practice hard to stop doing them .. I'm sure that we will feel the difference soon :D

What is CREATIVITY ?

Let's Know What is CREATIVITY ??

* An Ability:

A simple definition is that creativity is the ability to imagine or invent something new. Creativity is not the ability to create out of nothing, but the ability to generate new ideas by combining, changing, or reapplying existing ideas. Some creative ideas are astonishing and brilliant, while others are just simple, good, practical ideas that no one seems to have thought of yet.
Believe it or not, everyone has substantial creative ability. Just look at how creative children are. In adults, creativity has too often been suppressed through education, but it is still there and can be reawakened. Often all that's needed to be creative is to make a commitment to creativity and to take the time for it.

* An Attitude:

Creativity is also an attitude which is the ability to accept change and newness, a willingness to play with ideas and possibilities, a flexibility of outlook, the habit of enjoying the good while looking for ways to improve it. We are socialized into accepting only a small number of permitted or normal things, like chocolate-covered strawberries, for example. The creative person realizes that there are other possibilities, like peanut butter and banana sandwiches, or chocolate-covered prunes.

* A Process:

Creative people work hard and continually to improve ideas and solutions, by making gradual alterations and refinements to their works. Contrary to the mythology surrounding creativity, very, very few works of creative excellence are produced with a single stroke of brilliance or in a frenzy of rapid activity. Much closer to the real truth are the stories of companies who had to take the invention away from the inventor in order to market it because the inventor would have kept on tweaking it and fiddling with it, always trying to make it a little better.
The creative person knows that there is always room for improvement.

Why This Blog ?!

Al salam 3alaykom ..
I've created this blog to post topics about creativity & how to be creative and a lot of other topics about how to develope ourselves to be effective and creative peoples ..
By the way i'll never forget that i'm a developer & designer :D.. so there will be some topics about designing and coding ...
Hope that you like this blog and it will be useful ISA :) ..