Thursday, April 29, 2010

Love in Life

These videos are absolutely meaningful ! Thank You Dey and Beautiful Individuals.

Take your records, take your freedom

In between the lines reading that . . .

* Why do people constantly perform poorly?
** Why do people constantly perform well?

"Miles from where you are
I lay down on a cold ground
Afraid that something picks me up
And sets me down in your warm arms "

Time Pressure

Loss that brings fortune
Honesty
Fake images
Fear I do not accept but I am being fed from you, you, you
Support or Collaboration Needed but not Provided. Not asked.
Then no claims and complaints.

Life is beautiful - ALWAYS! Find your own side of medal: shining or dusty...






Wednesday, April 28, 2010

misTAKE

Mistakes are beautiful for they show you your stupidity and uncertainty.



I do not like last sentence. Wisdom is another part to be discovered.

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

10+10 = ....

Yesterday I reached one of the goals I have put for myself 260 days ago: in my MC term in AIESEC in Latvia I will attend/facilitate/coordinate/organise minimum 10 conferences. 10 months and 10 conferences. Does it equal to 100 new friends? 100 discoveries? 100 new places? 100 hours of preparaion?

It is much more than 100 new things. It is my life that I enjoy a lot. It is people around who create these opportunities, these environments. These are obstacles on a way that I may like to struggle with or that I get disappointed of if they are unreasonable. These are moments of creativity, long moments of unbelievable happiness, moments of being in comfort zone, adjusting to its stretches and unfortunately not getting out of it; these are lovely AIESEC dances, short and long sugar cubes from AIESECers that warm you up, especially when you miss those people. This is AIESEC.

In 24 days I am leaving Latvia. The story of another great personality is to be lived in AIESEC in Latvia in 2010-11. This person- whoever you are- is going to be lucky because it will be his/her best life experience!

Elite Recruiter

One of the moments I really enjoy in AIESEC is interacting with AIESEC people.
Well, I love people in general :)

Today I read one interesting article 18 Ways You Know You Are an Elite Recruiter, and would like to make some parallels with AIESEC eXPerience. They may not be so serious; I aim at presenting to you the best moments of being in AIESEC and developing HR field.
So here we go: 1st statement is from the article and 2nd statement is personal sharing.

You know you are an “elite recruiter” if . . .

1.You get referrals from candidates you turn down for a position. - You meet applicants for your positions later at some joint projects, and you work with them together for another common goal. And you do not remember that you turned them down before. As a result, you make friends with them fast and keep these relations for a long time.

2. Your hiring managers ask you who they “should hire” … and listen to your advice - We coach our members on what people we need in our organisation. Right people in the right place for the right job!

3. Candidates seek your input on preparing for the interview with the hiring manager. - Knowledge management and coaching are our tools.

4. Your candidates seek your council on deciding between competing offers, knowing that you aren’t just trying to fill your own position, but truly want what’s best for them. - Competency Model helps us to identify what people are needed for a role as well as members themselves decide whether they would like to take up a role in a project or go on exchange.

5. You keep track of all the people you have hired, and keep up an ongoing relationship with 90% of them - Member Tracking Tool as one of the examples of our tracking system. Social life is at a quite good level maintained by those who wish so. Believe me, it happens not only during conferences :)

6. You track your performance (quality, efficiency, responsiveness/delivery) on a quarterly basis - Performance management is another example to track ourselves, be more ambitious and reach the stars!

7. You quantify the ROI of your services to your key stakeholders - It is one of the values we respect and follow: Demonstrating Integrity - walk the talk.

8. You have clearly written quarterly performance improvement goals - Review and Analysis quarterly.

9. You spend time each week helping those less fortunate find employment, craft a better resume, prepare for an interview, etc - Team days locally, nationally, globally are a part of our business culture. Member Education Cycle includes various educational activities to prepare our members to become change agents possessing specific behaviours and competencies.

10. You invest at least 15 minutes to an hour developing a written — hour by hour — daily plan of action that you deploy before each day. The most successful recruiters are religious planners - Planning is 80% of your success. The one who is successful may stick to the 80/20 rule (or 20/80 :) it works differently, right? ;)

11. You stick to a schedule where during certain times of the day you are simply making calls and don’t allow for outside distractions - Making calls is sometimes a success for our members, and sometimes can become a fiasco. But drop-in visitors are permanent features of AIESEC life :)

12. You have received gifts from candidates/hiring managers for “changing their life” for the better - In AIESEC we call it "Sugar Cubes"- we leave a note after conferences are over, and it's powerful!

13. Your hiring managers ask for your assistance in creating the job description, and you’re able to guide them in a consultative way to determine what needs to be accomplished, instead of a list of intangibles - Typically, it is one of the duties in Talent Management manager job description.

14. Your hiring managers ask for your assistance in creating interview guides which will help them discover the candidate’s true capabilities - Read #13 statement pls :)

15. Your candidates turn into “centers of influence”: those people who are well-connected and to whom you can always turn for help on difficult searches - That's your professional network: locally, nationally, internationally.

16. Your outside clients see you as an expert on what’s going on in the marketplace and even in their industry - That's why the companies that understand AIESEC product partner with us on a long term basis. Each party benefits a lot and enjoys mutual cooperation.

17. You get referrals without even asking - All you need is to drop a mail to people who know you well and can endorse you.

18. People who seek your assistance have heard about you from more than one person - True. Especially when they add you in Facebook, you have a slight idea how you may know them. Apparently, you may have 1-5-34-76 common friends. Network.

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Saying that ...




Life is beautiful!
And I'm loving life!
Love
Increases
Fantastic
Emotions!

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Inspired!

Many years ago I was striken by a thought: how do I want my children remember me? What education will I provide for them? How do I want them to behave? What values will I teach them? What my children will look like in 21st century?

And then I had bunch of thoughts, I was looking back at my parents and what they taught us, their kids ( and we are still kids for my Dad and Mum- my brother and I ). And I wanted different things, for instance, that my Mum would actually raise my first child, or at least assisst me a lot in this, and things like that.

But now I'm questioning myself: why do I need to teach my kids about life? Why don't they themselves discover it and learn from their successes and failures, from their steps into making the world a better place?

We, adults, often make things complicated than they are actually. Why not to try opposite action: kids teaching us how to live.

I recommend you to watch this TED talk Adora Svitak: What adults can learn from kids
Any comments? Let's discuss it, I'm interested to hear your opinions on this video.

Monday, April 12, 2010

Thursday, April 8, 2010

Paris Je t'aime

I never knew the charm of spring
Never met it face to face
I never knew my heart could sing
Never missed a warm embrace
'Til April in Paris.
Another dream should come true soonish :)

Monday, April 5, 2010

My Floating March

It's a sunny soft day in Riga now, I'm listening to Keith Urban, and cherishing my dear memories from 2 last weeks in March. 10 days in St Petersburg, Russia and almost 6 days in Sialuai, Lithuania with great personalities have marked another chapter in my life.

It is of my nature to document every event I am a part of so to get happier when I list them in my soul.

St Pete chapter:
Being in Russia for 10 days was a quick feeling of being home. It has felt so not only of being surrounded by the spoken and written Russian language everywhere, but also the specific atmoshpere I was in. I am hundred times thankful to my friend Sasha who created the best warming reminder of how it looks like to live with your parents and still being independent! As well as I am grateful to Sasha's parents who treated me as their daughter and took care of every single minute I was to spend in St Pete!

A stunning architecture of the city fulfilled me with different emotions: I was living for 10 days in the place that was a beginning of Russian history. I spent days in Pavlovsk and in St Pete where Russian Tsars and Queens had taken significant decisions that affected greatly not only Russia but the rest of the world as well. I have visited the first house of Peter I, and read his correspondence with an English Queen. He was right saying "Russian people will benefit from my initiative of building The Window to Europe. But it is up to them to decide how they hold the balance between being authentic and modernised". Another matter I admire Peter I for is how farsighted he was. He mentioned that construction that the city was under should positively reflect its development and maintain a strong image of Russia minimum for 3 centuries. I reckon his long term plans have brought its fruits so far. Last but not the least why I admire Peter I is for my hometown. It was built in 1720 by Peter I order after Russians and Germans investigated our land was rich of natural resources, gold mainly. I don't want to go into details and approve who should be chanted in this case: our people that possess this land or foreigners that researched it. What is important is that Ust Kamennyi fort had become a home for many people since 1720, and is the dearest town for me.

At last, an important explanation of my visit to a fabulous city is an AIESEC conference, aka REC for WEST region. I should say only one thing: I love AIESEC conferences in Russia. Because they are like conferences in my Local Committee AIESEC Almaty. It is culture of excellence, it is give-and-take energy 24/7, it is striving for more and less blaming, it is being a part of solution not of a problem. Let's assume it has not always been so, but what I've lived through was definitely striving for more and being open and honest about one's own aspirations and motives. I am so much sure of an immense growth in AIESEC Russia next years due to its leaders- new and current members who have just got their minds shifted about spanless opportunities the world is having.
Moreover, some particular people have made my REC experience an unforgettable one: Dinar and Nikita, I truly enjoyed working with you in one team for Leaders track- I still adore your working styles, and love your jokes. As Dinar said, По Чесноку! :) Thank you to our Pleasant Things team- Dinar and Yigit, you have made me do pleasant things I have never done at conferences! :) The Duck team- Delya, Katya and Lida- huge thanks to all of you for taking us on the roof at cold night and giving us a warm welcome and a round of appreciation. Thank you to Organising team and AIESEC in Russia team for making this conference happen they way you needed it to be. And big private thank you goes to Tanya, the conference manager and Richard, the Chair. I can't say more.

Baltic chapter:
Though it was a bit hard physically in the begining of my arrival to Sialuai to concentrate on other tasks of the conference, and I thought I would not discover a lot of new things for myself, I have reached new peaks of self effectiveness and self importance. It is a long story, so I would rather give you an insight of my sequent loud and wild AIESEC Baltic conference. I am of an opinion that if something attracts you - jump into it! So I jumped into my new role as a Newies Track Manager, and am still loving people I have closely worked with: the FACIlitators team of 4 young minds from 3 different countries in Central Europe with their ideas worth trying and succeeding in all their efforts they put into making the very first conference for 40 new members of AIESEC in Estonia and Latvia! Petras, Giedre, Filip and Kerli, the days and nights we spent discussing and debating are the best memories of Synergy! Random laugh, warm hugs, pleasant tears, and dear people are the treasures one can find at AIESEC conferences. I have found mine, and I am silently happy. A special thank you goes to my old friends I have spent minutes with. You know what an important event Synergy has been for me.

Want to say that being physically exhausted, emotionally poor but irressistibly happy is a priceless gift one can live in his lifetime.



On a windy cold changeable day in St Pete Sasha's friends and I having fun in Pavlovsk



My REC team


Newies FACI Olympic TeaM Synergy FACI team (partially)