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There are many great paying finance careers for those who qualify. Very few of these jobs are available to those who do not graduate college with a degree in business, and many finance jobs require advanced secondary schooling to achieve an MBA. A career as an actuary is a great way to go for those with the requisite experience and who are into statistics. So just what is it that an actuary does for work?

The primary responsibility of an actuary is to estimate the chances of calamities taking place. These experts in statistics will take raw data and calculate the chances of death occurring in a certain situation or estimate the likely cost of damage should a storm strike a certain area. An actuary may also be called upon to estimate monetary damages for things like prescriptions recalls or the estimated impact of faulty materials in cars.

An actuary could estimate the impact to a payday loan service for a major rate change or the illnesses that could arise from polluted drinking water. Actuaries make some great money as far as finance careers are concerned. Starting pay is routinely over $55,000 and veteran actuaries can make in the neighborhood of $200,000 a year.

In order to become an actuary, you need to be certified as such. There is a certification exam that you can apply to take after you’ve completed your schooling an achieved your degree in actuarial science. If you aren’t particularly impressed with the starting salary, it’s fair to assume you will make more money in just a short period of time once you exhibit your skills as an actuary.

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Management Strategies

NEW YORK - JUNE 24: Job seekers look for empl... 

Image by Getty Images via @daylife

The job of management has never been more important. Finding ways to keep the company flourishing, while at the same time keeping the employees and customers happy, is not only management’s job, it is the key to the success of the business.

In this troubled economy, keeping spending to a minimum is very important. Making every company dollar work to the fullest will taking planning and strategy, with all employees from the lowest paid to the highest level of management participating completely.

Start by keeping everyone informed. Employees who are constantly worried about their jobs are not performing at their best. Have frequent meetings, let everyone know where they are doing great, as well as where improvement is needed. Good strong leadership will be able to spot the potential problems, settle them quickly, and keep everyone on the right track.

The management team should be hiring the people who are good for the job, as well as training them well, making sure they are well versed in all aspects of the job they have signed on to do. A good team is able to communicate well with one another, being able to ask questions and knowing that someone knowledgeable will be able to answer their questions. Marketing your business in tough times will take some pretty clever planning. Make sure you have a marketing team that is up to the challenge.

Businesses can survive a recession. No one knows how long it will last, but a smart management team can help their employees weather the storm, and be a better team because of it.

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4 Tools Every Business Should Use

A successful business has to have the right tools in its toolbox. Although the toolbox should be full of many things, there are four that every business should use. These don’t include computers, cash registers, or fleet cars. They’re much more broad and philosophical, but if you use them, you’ll be successful as your business grows. Therefore, make these things part of your success strategy.

1. Education. An educated staff is an effective staff. People on your team need to be knowledgeable about your industry, but they need to have good business knowledge in general, too. If you find the right person without the right degree, you may want to offer a sign-on bonus that covers the cost of online classes. Whatever you do, invest in a well-trained staff.

2. Excellent Customer Service. Even if your small business never interacts with the general public, there are people that you call customers. Make sure your well-educated staff is prompt, responsive, and excellent with their work. Good manners and business etiquette will give your team just the right polish to put you ahead of your competition.

3. A Solid Marketing Plan. If you don’t have a strategy, how do you plan to succeed? So many small businesses fail because there was never a plan. A dream is great, but it won’t keep the doors open. If you’re weak where business planning is concerned, consider enrolling yourself into some online classes.

4. Budget. Make sure you make an annual budget, and then follow it! No money, no business.

If you keep these four tools in your kit, you’ll be successful.

 

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Marketing to Young People

If your business is being built on serving customers for years to come and you are not just hoping to make a bunch of money in an instant, then marketing to youth is important. For most people their business is intended to grow over a period of time. They project the growth and plan for the future and how the business will develop. Well, if you business is meant to grow, one of the best markets to maintain some focus is on the future customers, some of whom might not purchase your product or service today. The youth are your market of tomorrow.

If you are a business that provides services to adults, all your effort will not be lost by offering information about your business to teenagers or college students. In the future they will probably be looking for the services you are providing and at that time, you want them to be thinking about your business.

There are many ways to market to the youth of your community but it is important that you contact them in a way that they are interested in listening. Today the youth interact more in the electronic world than on paper. Advertising to teenagers in the newspaper would probably be lost. Not only the location that you market to youth is important but also how you communicate is important. One opportunity is to hold contest, such as an art contest directed toward youth. The winner may have created the design for your next marketing campaign for youth.

The main point is that people get older and they fall out of your customer base. It is important to regenerate that base using as many methods as are available.

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How Good is Your Business Strategy?

How’s the business strategy? Can it hold up in 2011, no matter what happens? Because, let’s face it, the state of the economy is best guessed because nobody know what’s going to happen. Here’s some additional questions that might be helpful in answering those questions.
Do you see a lot of businesses that do exactly the same thing? If so, how is this business different, what makes it stand out from the rest? Originality is extremely valuable and rare.
The economy is unstable and which way it’s going in 2011 is anyone’s guess. What if unseen factors render the economy even slower than it is now? Can the business stand as the strategy is now? Is there a plan B in place? If there isn’t, get one.
Have a Star on Staff? What if They Quit?

Does the business rely heavily on one of it’s leaders? If so, does the strategy cover retaining that person?  Many people are expected to modify careers, if not jobs, in 2011. Can this business survive if people want raises and bonuses? If the economy continues to pick up, these questions will have to be considered and added to the business strategy.
In the last ten years, look how much technology has grown. What if an expensive technological gadget comes out and not getting it meant losing business? Does the business strategy cover that? Blockbuster is bankrupt now because it didn’t prepare for the effects of new technology.
What if the times require the business to conform, or change? What if the business was paperback books but everyone wanted tea with their reading? Does the business strategy allow for changes, even drastic ones? Nokia began as a wood pulp company and Gucci started out as a saddle maker. Can the business strategy embrace new market transitions without tossing out strategies? Don’t be afraid of change, keep open to new ideas.
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Managing Invested Properties

As an investor, it can become difficult overseeing properties that are owned. Indeed, as part of any company’s focus strategy, a line needs to be drawn in respect to the group’s area of expertise. For an investor, it should not have to extend to other aspects of owning a property.

This is seen when the managing and day-to-day activities of a property are considered. From the perspective of an investor, many types of properties that have been obtained by investing money must be managed. If you, for instance, are running a condo, hotel, or other type of business that must be operated, there is a better way than overextending your reach.

Of course there are other dangers besides becoming a manger when you are an investor, though this is troubling enough. Once you cross the line between these two labels, you may be doing too much work in the next regard. You have also probably missed opportunities to extend your investments and earn higher returns.

One strong method of curing this problem is utilizing a property management company. If you allowed a Scottsdale property management firm to handle operations at a rental at that location, for instance, it would handle all of this work. Running the day-to-day events, firms like this in many of your rentals’ locations could save you a lot of time and money.

A property management company can save investors time and money. By keeping these roles separate, investors can do what they do best, allowing companies in this industry to bring their expertise as well. Consider what a property management firm can do for your properties. As many have found, it can be a great way to cover operations of the property that an investor doesn’t need to be concerned with. Take the opportunity to address what is best for your investments in regards to how they are managed.

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Not as Much Hiring Going on Except for Google

Creative things are happening in this global recession; people are either going out of business or they’re making it big, and there isn’t much left in between. People are trying things from cross-trained employees that are shared to collaborating on storefronts and workspaces, where businesses share everything but the profits.
In a survey done by the Wells Fargo/Gallup Small Business Index it was found that the number of businesses hiring were about the same as the number of businesses that didn’t hire in 2010.  It reported that 48% of businesses that did some hiring stayed with the number of employees needed to meet the demands of their customers, while only 9% hired more than was needed in anticipation of needing them down the line.
Of the remaining businesses that hired, 42% hired less than they needed, giving reasons such as worries about finances and a glut of resumes from less than adequately skilled people. Even when the money is coming in, people find it hard to trust and predict what moves to make next. However, it’s also a situation that could quickly turn around with the right circumstances.
At the opposite end of the spectrum, Internet giant Google announced that it would be hiring 6,000 new people this year across the globe, and it received a record 75,000 resumes in one week. That’s more than the population of the town Google’s headquarters is in (Mountain View). This record beat the previous high record in May ‘07 by 15%, making it the biggest hiring spree in the company‘s history.
In 2010 Google added 4,500 positions, mostly in engineering and sales, and the new 6,000 will be across the board and around the clock in an array of positions, according to Google executive Alan Eustice, senior vice president of engineering and research. Market Watch says Wall Street has always disagreed with Google’s mass hiring practices, but Google responded that hiring huge numbers is required for their intense move into multiple new markets.
Filed Under: Hiring, Management Tagged With: , ,

Beginning Management

So, you’ve been working very hard at your position and demonstrated your abilities on several different projects – BRAVO! You receive a meeting notice from your boss and you are told that she appreciates your efforts and that you’re being considered for the Management track. Once again – BRAVO!
Going back to your desk, a question starts to lumber around in your head: What does a manager DO? You’ve had them, but have never been one. What do they do?
Well, the easy part of the answer is that management is a skill that can be learned. The first step in the lesson plan of how to do so is to learn the basics: Plan, Organize, Direct and Control.
For the Planning skill, you need to train yourself to look at the big picture and try to anticipate positive and negative impacts to the team, department, project, etc…. Sometimes, this type of planning will be strategic, while other times it may be preventing disaster.
Hand-in-hand with the Planning skill is the ability to Organize. Whether you are setting up a new department or leading a team on a small project, decisions need to be made on resourcing (both people and infrastructure), effective communication, tasks to be accomplished and the roles needed to accomplish them.
After Planning and Organizing, Directing is important in order to keep the team or your staff headed in a like-minded direction. Making sure that everyone is clear on goals and how to accomplish them, along with ensuring that everyone has all of the tools needed in order to reach them, can go a long way to instilling confidence in your skills as a manager.
Finally, any manager needs to be able to exert Control over their people. This does not mean barking out orders from behind your desk. It does mean providing guidance and leadership by DOING, not TELLING how to do.
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Business Tips: Increasing Productivity Through Incentives

It might sound a bit silly to have to reward employees for doing their job but many companies are finding out that incentive programs are actually very beneficial when it comes to increasing the productivity of their employees.

The idea of work based incentives goes back hundreds of years ago. However, due to the increase competition within the market companies are working more than every to entice their employees to work faster, better and harder than ever.

If you are looking to start a work based incentive program in your company there are a number of ways that you can offer incentives. Here is a look at some work based incentive programs that companies have developed.

General Contests. General contests are work based incentives that allow any employee who reaches a specific level within the company to be entered into the contest. This general line is usually the company’s “bottom line” that they expect workers to work at. It encourages everyone to work at a level that will keep the business in operation.

Achievement Incentives. Companies have started to develop achievement incentives. These are usually contests or rewards that are given to special employees that have gone above and beyond what the company asks for in regards to work. These type of incentives encourage employees to work beyond the norm in order to get that extra special incentive.

End of the Year Bonuses. Employees need to have incentives to keep working hard all throughout the year and that is where the yearend bonus comes in. Companies will look at an employee’s overall work history for the year and reward incentives, usually cash for a job well done. The bonus will be based off of a number of factors and will keep the employees wanting to do a good job all year long.

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Employee Retention Tip: Ways to Make Your Company More Employee Friendly

Employee Retention Tip: Ways to Make Your Company More Employee Friendly

People want to work for companies that make it feel as if they care about their employees. When an employee feels as if they are cared by the company they are more likely to stay with the company, which will result in less turn over and more productive employees. However, not every company knows how to take an employee friendly route.

Here are some aspects that every company can start to implement to make their company employee friendly and encourage employees to stay employed with them.

Develop Time Off Policies. Try to develop a time off policy for employees. These can be detailed arrangements of what is expected of employees when they need to ask off of work, how often they get vacation time, what they do for breaks and meals and other time off factors. The more detailed the arrangement the less likely there will be to be any type of surprises for employees. It will also make employees feel as if they are cared about because the company takes the time to develop these time off policies.

Develop Employee Programs. Companies love to make business relationships. Many companies combine that business relationship with employee retention. A lot of businesses are starting to develop employee programs that encourage employees to stay fit, offer discount at stores and other types of incentives. These incentives for being an employee with the company will show that the company really does have a care for their employees and likes to keep them as part of the team.

Free Products and Services. Many companies can afford to offer their employees free services or products for the company that they work for. It not only helps your employees feel better about being a part of a team but it can really look good to customers that the company offers its services to employees free of charge.

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