Chinese New Year is just around the corner. By now, everyone should have finished spring-cleaning their house (mm, some busy people might still be struggling with the spring cleaning). But aside from cleaning up the house, perhaps now is also a good time to look at your list of friends and do a spring cleaning too.

Here are some of the things that you want to think about when you’re cleaning up your list of friends:

Negative-minded people – people who are demotivated beyond repair. They see the bad side of everything. And they are pretty pessimistic. Anything hopeful will disappear when it reaches them. To make things worse, some of them are not willing to change to be more positive. Such friends, we can try to help but in the end, it is really up to them to change themselves. One thing we have to be careful is not to let their negative mindset influence us.

Complain king/queen – this is quite similar to the first type. These individuals will have nothing but complaints coming out from their mouth. They will complain about everything – from the sky, traffic to the people walking along the road. Avoid such people especially when you’re not in a positive and upbeat mood.

Abusive – some friends are pretty abusive and this is one of the worst around. You don’t deserve such treatment. Abusive people, be it friends, colleagues, spouse, or family members, should not be given priority in our life.

Opportunists - there’s nothing wrong with being an opportunist. But if you have a friend who only look for you when they need help, I don’t see any reason why you should keep them in your list. If you still want to keep them, then put them at the bottom of the list.

Backstabbers – another type of friends that you should avoid at all cost. But the truth is, it’s hard to tell who is the real backstabber. So be extremely careful when dealing with this. If you’re unsure, just follow your gut feel. Don’t listen to other people too much because you won’t know who is the real backstabber. But once you’ve confirmed who is behind all the mess, avoid them!

MIA (Missing in action) – the other type of friends is the type who will disappear for very very long time. People who don’t care to keep in touch with you for an extended period of time. Well, maybe they are busy with their personal life and work, but if this goes on for too long, it’s bad for the friendship. You can try to take the initiatives, but it won’t work out unless it’s from both sides. As people say, friendship is like a pot of plant. It’ll wither if you don’t water it regularly.

I know some of those listed above are not very damaging but most of them are. If you want to lead a positive life, then choose your friends and people you hang out with carefully. And for those which are not very damaging, put them down at the bottom of the priority list because …well, we only have limited time in a day. We can only focus on that many friends at one time. Better to focus on those who are worthy of our time.

If you have someone who falls into 1 or more of the categories above, and you rather not remove them from the list, then do spend some time reading one of my older post – “Have someone negative around you and want to kick him away?”

Hope it helps.

And happy Chinese New Year in advance

Start saving money when you don’t need them. Start selling your products when you’re not fighting for survival. Start hunting for jobs when you don’t need one.

Start doing something when you’re not desperate for it.

I think things are getting very desperate for this kid

Those are the tips given by various career, motivational and marketing gurus. And I couldn’t have agreed more.

I’m currently at a stage where I’m pretty desperate for a good paying job – which is pretty rare this year. I’ve yet to mass email my CVs out but I’m planning to do that soon. The thing is, with my current mindset, it’ll be very risky to go for any job interview.

Because desperation will not help anyone in the job interview. Eagerness, yes but not desperation. If you’re desperate, you will become very nervous and might not be able to answer some of the important questions thrown at you during the interview. You are not the actual YOU and if faced with a difficult interviewer, you will be forced to the corner. And that is not a situation you want to be in.

Maybe that is why the experts always tell others to apply for a job or a better opportunity, when you are not desperate for it. Because you still have the power to say NO. If you’re desperate, you will lose that power and everything might backfire.

Remember, do that something when you are not desperate in order to get the best out of it (I think I’ve been telling people to attend a job interview with a nothing-to-lose mindset).

As for me, I believe I can change my mindset quite easily. After all, I’m not that desperate yet. I’m still better than lots of people out there who are without a job.

p/s…. this applies to other things too. Businesses should not be selling stuff ONLY when they’re on the brink of closing down. People should not start saving up for the emergency ONLY when they’re jobless and have no money to survive. And programmers should not try and finish a project ONLY when the deadline is 24 hours away.

It's important to network with other people

People always say that it is important to have good contacts during good and bad times. And I believe so. After my recent experience, I’ve realized that having a good list of contacts is a very important asset. A priceless asset.

After the announcement from the bosses, I immediately sent out SMSes and Instant Messenger messages (YM, MSN, etc) to my contacts that I need help and maybe ideas. I’m glad that a lot of them have replied me with kind messages and some offer to keep a lookout for opportunities for me, and some even told me which company is hiring.

And for those who prefer to keep to themselves (some geniuses are like that), maybe it’s time for you to get to know more people and spread your network.

Last but not least, a big thank you to every single one of you who have offered to help out. Whatever the outcome, I’m just glad that most of you have responded to my ‘SOS’ message.

It is good to ask questions during job interviews because it shows that you are interested in the job and you are eager to join the company. But whenever you have the urge to ask questions, try to think about the questions first because asking something irrelevant and stupid will not only annoy the interviewers, but it will definitely make them remember you – remember you so that they won’t hire you.

Mmm, maybe this can be used in job interview instead?

A friend of mine recently interviewed a fresh graduate. The fresh grad was doing fine in the interview until the question & answer session where he took out an A4 paper full of questions. He started asking whether the office is safe, the surrounding area is safe, will there be terrorist attack since it’s near KLCC, the working culture, will people work late, is there compensation for OT, is it easy to get food, how’s the traffic, etc.

The questions were so annoying that my friend replied the candidate “Our office is very safe but if you step outside of our building, I cannot guarantee if you will get robbed”.

So the next time you attend a job interview, be careful of what you ask. Keep the questions at a tolerable level….and also make sure they’re relevant. Remember that the Q & A session is like a bonus round. If you do well, you’ll most probably give a good impression…..but if you don’t do well……..you’ll definitely get a very bad impression. So if you seriously don’t know what to ask….just keep quiet.

And if you really want to ask, here are some ‘strandard’ questions.

• How’s the working culture like?
• What kind of tools is the company using?
• How many employees?
• What is the organization’s plan for the next five years, and how does this department fit in?

For more examples, head over to – HERE.

Hope it helps

Today, my company informed my team that a change is needed. The management folks intend to move us from one department to another department – from Java technology to Microsoft technology. This is because there’s no project in the pipeline for the Java team but there are few big projects for the Microsoft team. Thus the management team asked us if we are willing to switch over.

This kind of situation is pretty n

Anyone wants to change to this job?

ormal nowadays since most companies no longer hire you for a specific skill ONLY. They want you to be as flexible as possible or in other words, provide as much value as possible to the company. So if you are willing to switch and remain flexible, the management team aka bosses can be sure that they can rely on you whenever there’s a shortage of headcount in other projects. This way, the company can reduce the expenses needed to hire someone new – and of course, get the most out of the people they’ve hired.

But let’s forget about the company for now…let’s talk about the individuals. What kind of answer do you think you will give, if you were in such a situation? Is it a good or bad thing if you are in such a situation?

Well, just like everything else, there are pros and cons. In my opinion, asking you to change department is much better than a salary cut or a retrenchment. Also, you get to learn something new (most of the case, trainings will be provided) and this new skill might become more valuable than your previous skills.

But that’s just how I think. At the end of the day, it really depends on what you want to achieve from the current job. Here are few factors to consider.

• Do you love your current company and are planning to stay longer in the company?
• Will there be a pay cut if you switch? If yes, how significant is it?
• Will trainings be provided?
• Are there any other projects in the pipeline for your current role?
• Can you find a better job out there?
• What’s your goal and objectives for doing whatever you are doing now? Start your own business? Be a consultant?
• Do you prefer to be a specialist (harder to find job but with higher pay) or a generalist (easier to find job but with lower pay)?
• If you choose not to switch and prefer to sit idling around….is your boss okay with that?

In fact, there are a lot to consider but all of the questions drill down to 2 main things – will your financial condition get affected and what is your plan for the future?

For example, people like myself would not mind switching since what I want to learn is the domain knowledge/operation and not just the technical side of things. I am the type of people who don’t like to get tied down or limited by a single thing. It’s just too risky that way….and too boring. Furthermore, my ultimate dream is to start my own business which does not really require me to know that specific skill. Because…well…an entrepreneur (a poor one especially) has to know EVERYTHING, not just a singe skill.

But enough about myself. What about you? If you were in such a situation, will you be willing to change? Do you mind letting go the years of experience you’ve obtained previously?

p/s… most bosses love employees who are worth more than they have been hired for. For example, it would be better if an employee knows multiple skills since the bosses can easily place him/her in any project to “fill in the gap”. Such employee is a valuable asset to the company (and they are not as expensive as the specialist).