Author Archive: Competad

In Advancing Your Career, Does Looks Matter?

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It would be a very comforting world if only our career’s success is purely relative to our talent, perseverance, and skills. In the real world however, have you ever considered that there may also be factors unrelated to these that play a crucial role?

In my experience in the corporate world, I have seen managers talking amongst each other after a final interview, sharing their thoughts about the potential candidates for an office staff position. One very interesting conversation I heard was about the candidates’ physical appearance. To quote one of these managers, he said, “Okay sana kaso mukhang katulong, di nya ba alam na final interview ito?” (She is okay but she looks like a housemaid, does she know that this is her final interview?). In another circumstance, a colleague who is doing workforce and scheduling task shared that when he was doing his final interview, his boss said, “Why are you wearing a jersey shirt? Did you think this is a basketball try-out?” Lucky for him there was no other qualified candidate, otherwise he would not have landed the job.

Studies have proven that a person’s looks truly has an effect in his success in the corporate world. American sociologist Dalton Conley and an associate conducted a correlation study between that shows that when women gain weight, there was a decrease in the level of their job prestige as well as their income. Another study funded by Procter and Gamble, and reported in the New York Times, showed that putting make up (provided it is not overdone) improves people’s perception of her likeability and competence. In a survey amongst employers conducted by National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) three-quarters of the participants responded that the applicants grooming would have an impact to their opinion of the candidate. Numbers don’t lie and we can definitely see that physical appearance has a huge impact in one’s success.

Professional Looks

Despite these proofs, many hiring professionals would deny that a woman’s physical appearance has a great influence in their decisions for hiring. To most hiring professionals, appearance is considered a very superficial basis for assessment and using it is supposedly highly frowned upon. Reality however teaches us that it has an impact in the selection process and it is backed-up my many studies.

In light of this, what does a professional need to do to get ahead of the race? Some people may take interest in plastic surgery to make their facial features better. In Korea for example, a study showed that almost 20% of women have undergone some form of plastic surgery. This is according to the International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons. Koreans believe that a beautiful face is key to a person’s success.

Not everyone however agrees to or can afford undergoing plastic surgery to improve their looks. Not only is it costly, it also comes with great risks. We have seen celebrities who have gone under the knife and ruin their looks rather than improve it. Fortunately, there are other ways of improving ones looks.

Dressing well is one way that a person can improve his physical appearance. A person who is well dressed is perceived to be of a good social stature and education. While this cannot always be true, we have undergone a lot of unconscious social conditioning that programs us with this kind of pre-conceived notion. This is the reason why most sales person would be wearing a coat and tie or long-sleeves with collar rather than a jersey shirt. We tend to respond better to a person who is dressed well. It is therefore not a luxury to invest on good clothing that you can use for your day-to-day professional look as well as for special events. Observing basic personal hygiene also improves that way a person looks. Trimming your nails regularly, combing your hair and tooth brushing — all of these activities help you maintain a better looking self. Taking a bath everyday ensures that you remove dead cells that make your skin look dry and unhealthy. Simply following our regular hygiene definitely impacts our physical appearance. Regular exercise and a healthy diet are also key ingredients to improving ones looks. Obesity is rarely seen as ideal and that goes the same to being severely underweight. Eating right ensures that you get a good amount of nourishment for your body to build muscles and a healthy percentage of fat (yes, we need fat). A regular exercise regime ensures that the body maintains a good metabolic rate that results to proper functions of your body system and a normal processing of nutrients. For women, using make-up is also a very good way of managing your physical appearance. Make up improves likeability and perceived competence. However, applying make-up can be a tricky form of art. It can make you or break you. You should get the right blend – not too much, and not too less. You should also pick the right kind and color that matches your skin. You can decide to learn more about applying make-up by going online, reading about it, checking make up tutorials, and attending make-up education workshops.

Looking good physically may be easy to overlook as we want to focus on working and making the most out of the limited time in our day. However, it is still very important, that as you work your best, you also look your best. They say dress for success and this may be something that is trivial but worthwhile of your efforts and investments.

If you would like invest a reasonable value to learn more about proper professional make-up, COMPETAD Training and Professional Development is offering a workshop about this in March 2017. Check out this link for more details: Basic Face Make-up Workshop 2017. This is an intimate small-group workshop so you can truly learn and ask questions from our make-up expert.

 

 

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Coaching People and Maximizing Your Influence

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by Philip Nucleus Sia I

When you hear the word coaching, what probably comes to mind is the idea of telling people what they need to do, like in a basketball team’s huddle. So when you take on a role in the corporate world that requires leading people, you’d probably see it normal that bosses would do the same. While it is true that you sometimes need to give instructions to people, there is more to it than just that. Let us learn and see what other things comprise the recipe for good coaching so we can be more influential in leading people.

Coaching involves building a relationship. As a pre-requisite to coaching, it is important that you know who you will coach. Knowing their personality will help you choose the right words and the motivational points that will influence the person. While you do not need to know every minute detail about the person to achieve this, you have to learn about the reasons that your employee is working with you. Every person has a dream or a goal, albeit some are not aware how they can achieve them. As a leader, you have the power to help the person realize those goals by guiding them. Let them see how their actions now can help them get to those goals. When doing your coaching, you can connect their personal goals to the tasks they need to do. This provides them with the inspiration to work on tasks with less supervision. In a country like the Philippines, where we value the concept of “pakisama” (getting along with others) very much, being a leader requires that you know who you are working with in order to be effective. So go talk to your direct reports about personal matters, say hi to them every day. Thank them for coming to work. Ask them about how their family members are doing. It isn’t prying into their privacy. It is learning more about them so you would know how to help them.

Coaching requires listening. While it can be tempting to be the one talking during your coaching session, it woulld be great to show your employees that you can listen. You have probably experienced at a certain point working with a manager who only gives orders. How does it make you feel? Does his actions positively influence how you work? Does it inspire you? Needless to say, very few people would like someone who does not listen. When you listen, not only do you encourage the person to see you positively, it also allows you to filter between excuses and real reasons. Ask questions to solicit a conversation. Let the person tell you what happened based on their perspective. This will allow the person to think through and reflect on their own mistakes. Not all questions are good however so you have to be cautious about what you ask. Questions that assume that the employee is at fault may result to further damage such as, “Why didn’t you do anything about it?” Questions that start with “Why” generally encourage a defensive behaviour so stay away from questions like those — use What, Where, When, and How. Questions such as, “What happened?” “Where do you think you can make a difference?” or “How could you have helped the situation?” are very powerful questions that allow your employees to reflect. Encouraging this kind of reflective thinking helps people get out of their learned helplessness, which may minimize your supervising work later on. It is important to ask questions that are blame-free and neutral.

Coaching must have a call for action. After each of the coaching sessions, it is important that we ask the person what they will do if they are faced with a similar situation. This allows you to check what learning they got from your coaching. This also provides them with accountability and ownership for their promised solution. If the action solely came from the leader, employees may be impartial about the required action thereby resulting to a lower level of commitment. This commitment increases when the leader knows how to solicit an action item coming from the employee themselves. Sometimes, when employees could not come up with solutions, it is important for a leader to guide the employees through a series questions. Your ability to do this will help improve your scope of influence among your direct reports.

If you would like to learn more about how you can be a more effective coach to your direct reports, or if you would like to learn the art of asking questions that will guide your employees, you may attend our workshop on coaching. We also offer in-house workshops. Please contact us through (02) 433 3342 or (+63) 998 562 49 85.

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Staff Training: A Worthwhile Investment for your Human Resource

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Any business regardless of industry needs some form of training for their employees. You may require your new staff members to undertake some training which can be job specific or of general importance. This equips them with the rudimentary pieces of information they need to perform their job at an acceptable level. But as they stay longer in the company, they still need to have more training than just that.

Some companies see continuous training as a cost-generating process or function that has a small added value. To some it may be seen as a mere requirement for ISO audits. For others, it is just a day where employees get to skip regular work. For these reason, some companies get service from training providers possible without regard to the quality and appropriateness of the training they are getting. Sometimes, they put training at the bottom of the priority list. But there are a lot of reasons why HR professionals should consider training as a valuable investment for their business.

First, high-quality training provides individuals a sense of development. This means that other than improving the skills they need for their job, they feel that the company is showing a genuine commitment to progress their careers. Developing some expertise and learning new techniques motivate people to do better in their work. It also builds excitement and a sense of change, which battle rust-out. Rust out is when employees develop distaste for their work as a result of doing tasks again and again in the same manner over long periods of time. Having the feeling of development and change among your employees ensure that they have a steady flow of motivation and empowerment to perform their jobs well.

The second benefit of quality training is that it allows you to retain your employees. A recent survey showed that up to 40 percent of employees who receive poor to no training at all tend to leave and seek better opportunities within the first year. In the Philippines, the BPO community puts a lot of efforts in ensuring efficient training processes as they have seen a similar trend. Employees leave as early as within the first 6 months because the training has not been sufficient to the requirements of their job. A good training experience provides employees with the confidence to see that they can perform the expectations of their tasks over a long period of time.

Another benefit of high-quality training is an increase in yield and revenue. If you have productive individuals and you are retaining your employees, you can ascertain a higher and consistent productivity which translates to a better earning for your company. With more workers retained, the need for over-time work is less and production becomes more efficient. With less need for replacements, you can also avoid the high costs of hiring and replacing employees.

With these, we can see that despite the initial costs, training pays back your investment indeed. Every company is in need of training and there is always something that you can help your employees learn so that they can be motivated. Whether it be job specific training such as Customer Service, Communication Skills Training, Engineering Specific Courses, or a more general training like Leadership, Work-Attitude and Values Enhancement, Personal Financial Management, etc., there will always be a pool of rich learning opportunities that you can give to your employees so that they can be a better individuals employed in your company.

To learn more about how you can provide high-quality, tailor-fitted training to your staff that is truly worth your investment; please visit us at www.competad.com. We provide a range of training from soft skills to electrical engineering. You may also contact us at (02) 433 3342. You may also like us at facebook: www.facebook.com/competad.

 

To download a copy of our 2017 calendar, you may click here: competad-training-calendar-for-2017

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Protective Relaying: Power System Protection Seminar Series

Course Duration: 2 Days

A very important part of any electric power system is Protective Relaying. While usual operations may not require its analysis, troubleshooting any unusual changes, faults, and disturbances makes a good understanding of it a necessity. Protective relaying requires specialization and knowledge of all aspects of electrical power generation from production, to distribution, and consumption.

The training offers a strong foundation knowledge about applications and advances in protective relaying that is very useful in planning, operating, and managing electric power systems.

Who Should Attend:

This course will enhance the understanding and increase competencies for:
 Design Engineers
 Project and/or Construction Engineer
 Utility and/or Maintenance Engineer
 PEE, REE or graduate of Electrical Engineering

Topics to be Discussed:

A. Power System Protection
 Review on Fault Calculations
 Feeder Protection
 Time Overcurrent
 Instantaneous Overcurrent
 Directional Overcurrent
 Example Calculations
B. Power System Protection 2
 Differential Protection
 Transformer Differential
 Generator Differential
 Bus Differential
C. Power System Protection 3
 Line Protection
D. Power System Protection 4
 System Grounding
 Generator Protection
E. General
 Protection requirements
 Protection zones
 Primary and backup protection
 Fault Discrimination
 Protective Relay Performance
 Information Application
 Per unit Calculation Review

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Comprehensive Power Transformer Preventive Maintenance

Course Duration: 2 Days

The 2-day course (16 hours) will focus on the Preventive Maintenance of Electrical Transformers. A basic understanding of a transformer and its construction will be discussed, and the theories of the electrical test to be performed. Proper procedures on testing will also be discussed on the first day. All procedures will be based on the InterNational Electrical Testing Association (NETA). On the second day, safety and testing procedures will be implemented before hands on training. Testing of power transformer will be performed.

Objectives: 

The objective of this seminar is to inform the participants of the importance of preventive maintenance of power transformers, its major components, and to guide them on the testing and evaluation of results of the power transformer.

At the end of the program, the participants will be able to: 

  • Explain different types of transformer
  • Know the major parts of a transformer
  • Discuss the nameplate data
  • Know the safety procedures in preventive maintenance of transformer
  • Discuss the electrical testing performed on transformers
  • Evaluate electrical test results gathered
  • Knowledge in present technologies in preventive maintenance of transformer

Methodology: 

Classroom discussion and hands-on training

Topics to be Discussed:

DAY 1

  1. Introduction
  2. What is a transformer
    • History
    • Principle
    • Types and Design
    • Construction
    • Cooling Classification
  • Components and Indicators
    • Major Components
    • Indicators, Alarms
  1. Nameplate
    • Nameplate data
  2. Importance of Preventive Maintenance of Power Transformer
  3. Theory and Procedures for Transformer Electrical Test
    • Visual Inspection
    • Insulation Power Factor Test
    • Insulation Resistance Test
    • Transformer Turns Ratio Test
    • Winding Resistance Test
  • Special topics
    • Excitation Test
    • Impedance Test
    • SFRA Test
    • DGA and Oil Quality Test

DAY 2:

  1. Safety procedures in Testing
  2. Hands on Power Transformer Testing (As per ASTM NETA Guidelines)
    • Insulation Power Factor Test
    • Transformer Turns Ratio Test
    • Winding Resistance Test
    • Insulation Resistance Test with P.I.
  • Evaluation of Results
  1. New technologies in testing
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Thermographic Surveying Course

Course Duration: 1 Day

Infrared thermography is one of the most valuable tools available for inspecting electrical systems. Too often, however, the use of the technology falls short of its potential full value. Why? A primary reason is our failure to understand the basic heat transfer science involved and, thus, misinterpret the thermal signature of a component possibly headed toward heat-related failure.

Objectives: 

This course will present case studies that present real problems that the thermographer will experience in the field. This course objective is to give a proper training to engineers engage in this field, giving them a good understanding of radiation laws and parameters to take into consideration when carrying thermographic inspections and measurement. Participants learn to avoid costly mistakes.

Who Should Attend:

  • New Thermographer Surveyors.
  • Those intending to buy or use Infrared Thermography.
  • Service Providers providing Infrared Thermography services; and
  • Maintenance Engineers who are interested to learn Infrared Thermography as an advance tool in maintaining their own facility/assets.

Topics to be Discussed:

1. Infrared Safety.
a. Blast Hazard.
b. PPE.

2. History of Infrared Thermography.
a. Electromagnetic Spectrum.

3. Uses and Applications of Infrared Thermography

4. Thermal Instrumentation Overview.
a. Contact Sensor.
b. Non-Contact Sensor.
c. How does Infrared Camera work?

5. Basic Thermal Science
a. Definition of Heat.
b. Temperature vs. Heat.
c. Temperature Defined.
d. Units for Measuring Temperature.
e. Absolute Temperature Scales.
f. Relative Temperature Scales.
6. Basic Heat Transfer

a. Direction of Heat Flow
b. Conduction
c. Convection
d. Evaporation / Condensation
e. Radiation
f. Black Body
g. Real Targets

7. The Infrared Camera Measurement Functions
a. Level
b. Span
c. Isotherm
d. Spot Meter
e. Area Function
f. Image Capture

8. Thermal Image Interpretations & Shooting Techniques
a. High Emissivity
b. Low Emissivity
c. Thermal Gradient
d. Thermal Analysis
e. Thermal Tuning
f. Palettes
g. Reflection Recognition
h. Avoiding Spot Reflection

9. Reporting and Documentation.
a. Methodology.

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The Philippines HR Group Summit 2016

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The Philippines HR Group has successfully concluded its first publicly-held learning event last 18 November 2016 at the MK Tan Hall Bayanihan Center in Pasig City. The Philippines HR Group is an online-based group that was established in July 2015. Its mission is to create an avenue that promotes and fosters individual and organizational effectiveness by developing and offering an array of innovative, diverse, and cost-effective yet valuable events, programs and activities for Human Resource Professional and People Managers alike. The organization is composed of three groups led by Mr. Darwin Rivers – The Philippines HR Group Moderators and Administrators, The Philippines HR Group Mentor’s Circle, and the Philippines HR Group Core Volunteers Team. As it has been our advocacy in promoting learning and development among professionals in the country, The COMPETAD Team is proud to be part of the Core volunteers group that has helped make the event possible.

The highlights of the event were inspirational talks from nine of the country’s top HR Professionals. In the morning session, we listened to Mr. Sonny Santos (Chief Equipping Officer – WSPH Training & Consulting) who warmed up everyone as he spoke about the evolution of Human Resources. Then, Mr. James Estrada ,who has over 4 Decades of HRM Leadership Experience /Labor Relations Expert, heated it more with a discussion on Labor and Employee Relations. This was then it was succeeded by Mr. Danny Pancho (Former Director – People Management Association of the Philippines) who gave great ideas about rewards management. Before we went on Lunch, we also revisited our knowledge about HR Core Values from Ms. Elvie Garcia (Managing Partner – OpisHR Consultancy) where she has widened our horizon about how HR professionals must see themselves and their own values in their line of work as practitioners.

In the afternoon, we started by hearing about Corporate Social Responsibility from from Mr. Jay Jaboneta (Strategic Advisor at Institute for Solidarity in Asia/ Fire Starter and Chief Storyteller at Yellow Boat of Hope Foundation. Then, Ms. Susan Ople (Former Undersecretary DOLE/ Founder – Blas Ople Policy Center (BOPC)) gave a very informative talk about the current issues, trends, and challenges inthe Philippine’s labor condition. After that, Ms. Michelle Cordero-Garcia  provided an insightful talk about retaining employees and hiring new talents. Ms. Cordero-Garcia was recognized by CHRO Asia, a high-level global professional body for Human Resource Leaders, as one of the Top 100 Most Talented HR Leaders. After that, we learned more about Training Management when Mr. Edwin Ebreo (President of ExeQserve Corporation) shared his experiences to us. Lastly, we were energized by a very humorous and reflective talk about Promoting Work-Life Balance from Ms. Daphne Granfil (CEO of DBG Training Management and Public Relations Consultancy).

Aside from the knowledge-enriching experience, the event was also spiced up by games and prizes from the sponsors, including a raffle in which the major prizes were a hotel accommodation in Boracay and another one in Baguio. The summit was attended by 226 delegates from different companies all over the country, which includes delegates from the provincial regions. It was truly a memorable and worth-while learning experience. Congratulations and more power to the Philippines HR Group in advocating such a wonderful event. This truly shows your passion and commitment in upholding your mission to the HR Community!

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Managing Time and Avoiding Stress

Time Management is one of the basic skills that you need to acquire as you go through your daily work. Some tasks are routine. These may be easily handled, however we are not in a perfect world, so when mixed with some time-stealers and unplanned tasks or activities, time management can be quite daunting to accomplish. We only have a fixed 24-hour day that sometimes we feel it isn’t enough to do all the things we need to do. However you decide to spend it is up to you, but it is always a healthy idea to spend some amount of work-life balance so that you can avoid excessive and prolonged stress that may lead to depression and a wide range of other long-term physiological effects.

Managing your time starts with understanding a few important concepts: Biorhythm, Procrastination, Activity Planning, Workspace, and Delegation. Let us take a look at these important concepts and see how these affect our time management.

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Biorhythm is also known as circadian rhythms. It came from the Greek term bios, which means life, and rhuthmos, which means regular recurring motion. This tells us that our body, being the creatures-of-habit that we are, functions with regularity. Some of us are more energetic at night while some are more active during the earlier part of the day. To maximize our time, it would be good to identify which parts of the day we are most active and energetic so we can put the more complex and meaningful tasks on those parts of the day.

Procrastination is another concept we need to understand in managing time. Procrastination is setting aside an activity that you can do now and deciding to do it at a later time. As a worker, we need to understand what procrastination level we are at. Like most things, awareness is the start of change. Identify if you are a procrastinator and decide to make a change.

Our workspace is one thing that we usually take for granted, but it is a very important factor in managing time. A cluttered work station is almost always a time stealer as it usually takes time finding what something amidst the mess. Aside from that, it also creates a barrage of silent attention stealers shouting “Deal with me!” for you. An organized workstation can help your mind become at ease. Our minds usually respond well to an orderly environment. It allows us to keep our focus on the important things.

One way to effectively manage your activities within a fixed amount of available time is activity planning. You can plan your activities for the day so you can allocate ample time to accomplish them. Activity planning also helps you break down complex tasks into smaller, more manageable ones. This allows you to eliminate unnecessary stress. The next time you encounter an overwhelming task or a big project that seems too arduous, try activity planning. It definitely helps!

Lastly, when you have the opportunity, delegation is also an effective way of managing time. There are tasks you can delegate both at work and at home. Delegation can also be quite tricky to do. You need to consider the right person for the task. Sometimes, it can be confusing what you can delegate or not. As a key guide, you can always ask a few questions: 1. Is the task not too complex and someone has the right skill level to handle it? 2. Does the task not require extreme confidentiality? 3. Does the task keep me from high priority activities? – If you answered yes to all three questions, then you can delegate the task.

Understanding these five concepts is only the start of how you can manage time. You can still find out more ways on how you can manage your time. There isn’t a cookie-cutter approach for all challenges in managing time. One situation can differ from another. If you would like to learn more about managing time, you can also contact us or check our training calendar by clicking this link.

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Transformer Insulating Oil Analysis

Test-transformer-oils

Course Duration: 8 Hours

This 8-hour practical course provides you with methods and procedures used internationally. This course will be discussing on predictive, periodic or condition based maintenance methodologies in oil filled power transformer maintenance. This will focus mainly on analyzing transformer insulating oils and what corrective actions can be done within the data given by the laboratory.

Objective:

  • Have basic knowledge about transformer insulating oils.
  • Know different characteristics of transformer insulating oils.
  • Have knowledge on what tests to conduct in insulating oils.
  • Know proper sampling techniques in transformer tanks.
  • Interpret laboratory data and correct present abnormalities in the system.
  • Knowledge in present technologies in transformer and transformer oil maintenance.

Who Should Attend: 

This course will enhance the understanding and increase competencies for:

  • Engineers & technicians in the utility, transmission, and generation sectors that operate and maintain oil filled power transformer in substations.
  • Engineers and electricians in commercial and industrial field that maintains oil filled power transformers.
  • Electrical engineering graduates who would like to be test and applications engineers and Technicians for substation.

Topics to Be Discussed:

  1. Introduction to Insulating Oils and Power Transformer
  2. Characteristics of Insulating Oils
  3. Maintenance on Oil Filled Power Transformer and Oil Itself
  4. Mineral Insulating Oils Tests (ASTM, IEC and IEEE C57.104 Guidelines)
  5. Moisture in oil
  6. Sampling Techniques and Procedures
  7. Interpretation of Data (DGA and OQT)
    1. Most commonly used Techniques
    2. IEEE Guidelines C57.104
    3. Gas Ratios
    4. Duval’s Triangle
    5. Corrective actions
    6. New Tests and Technologies in the Industry
      1. Online and Offline Tests
      2. Dielectric Response Analysis
  8. Case Studies

Register Here!

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