New Article: Seven Rules Of Creativity You Should Know

If you’re want to live the creative life, you need to know the rules of the game. There are 7 basic rules of creativity that every creator should know to flourish
1. Create Something Every Single Day

Persistence is key when it comes to creativity. Every day you create, you are exercising your creative muscles and becoming bigger, better and more confident with what you do. You’re also keeping the momentum going which is essential to living the creative life. Create something every single day and you’ll quickly see your creativity flourish.

2. Always Have Your Basic Tools at Hand

Always have your most basic creative tools at hand and you’ll never be stuck with an idea and no way to express it. Your most basic tools might be as simple as a sketchbook and pencil, or as complex as an entire creativity on-the-go kit complete with all the tools you need to create on the spot wherever you are. Whatever it is, make sure you have it on hand for when inspiration strikes.

3. Believe In Your Creativity

To live the creative life you need to believe in your abilities and set out to express them creatively every single day. Without the belief, staying focused and creatively productive can be tough! Importantly, you need to believe in your creativity before anyone else can, so if you’re ready to make your mark, start believing in your own creativity today.

4. Cultivate a Creativity Habit

Forming a creativity habit is essential to living a creative life. Set aside as little as 30 minutes a day, and choose a set time and place to make it happen. Stick to it and show up to create every day, even when you’re feeling uninspired and out of ideas. Of course you can go on and create for much longer than your set time each day but it’s a minimum and a start to get you going. You’ll be surprised at the difference it will make to your creative output over the course of a week, month and year!

5. Limit Your Options to Focus In

As a creator, you instinctively think that having options would a great thing but it can actually make the creative process much harder. Give yourself some self imposed boundaries to create within such as specific creative medium, theme or a time limit. Limiting your options by setting these rules of creativity will help you focus in and spark unique ideas you never would have thought of before to create something truly amazing.

6. Embrace Your ‘Bad’ Ideas

Embrace all your ideas, both ‘good’ and ‘bad’, and give them a go before dismissing them. It’s easy to make a judgement on a half formed idea but until you have further developed it, your assessment of it as a ‘bad’ idea is just a hunch. Some initially bad ideas can form into something amazing so give them a fair go, to form into something wonderful first.

7. Join a Creative Community

There’s nothing more powerful than joining a creative community. Whether it’s online or in your local area, joining together with other creative people and sharing your experiences, challenges and successes is a powerful way to propel yourself to living a fulfilling creative life every single day. Your creative community will be there to support you through both good and bad and cheer you all the way. Being part of a creative community is one of the most crucial rules of creativity because it will help you keep going even when things get tough.

Faculty Of Education (EDIFIERS) Award Nominee List

As part of the aim of achieving the proposed goal of the EDIFIERS dinner and award night, the planning committee have decided to publish the award nominee list. Please note that every person/group on this list have been critically examined via valid psychometric criterion but you are very free to reprimand us with your comments. The nominee list are as follows:

Enterprenuer (Male)

Atkins - CEO Atkins Clothings (G&C)

Femi - CEO Fm Designs (Eco)

Seun Fash - CEO Faces Events (G&C)

Enterprenuer (Female)

Sheedar Sparkles (Acc)

Wunmi (Bbe)

Rita (Acc)

Dayo (Acc)

Most Creative

Tutu-Abinibi Creations (Eco)

Ty Make Overs

Herbeeke Glamour (Eco)

Charity (Heera Beads)

Ope Oluwo

Best Class Rep

Abbey (G&C)

Remi (Bbe)

Emeka (Bus Admin)

Columbus (Eco)

Abbey (Sos)

Most Fashionable (Male)

Mayowa Mirage (English)

Sheni (Acc)

Olumide (Eco)

Amaechi (Eco)

Most Fashionable (Female)

Wunmi (Bbe)

Nike Anjorin (G&C)

Labake (G&C)

Nike Meadows (English)

Most Beautiful

Charity (Bus Admin)

Lizzy (Science)

Jade (English)

Ronke Giwa (Eco)

Most Handsome

Amaechi (Eco)

Laphemzy (Science)

Olumide (Eco)

Williams (Science)

Ibk (G&C)

Bold 5

Sheeda Sparkles (Acc)

Precious (G&C)

Balkis (Acc)

Damilola (Pol)

Dayo (Science)

Top Model

Ronke Giwa (Eco)

Jade (English)

Tomi (English)

Tutu (Eco)

Elezabeth (Bus Admin)

Zanna (Eco)

Political Icon

Tobi (Acc)

Shile (Eco)

Mr. Ben (Sos)

Badmus (Pol)

Tunde (Sos)

Deji (G&C)

Sir Teejay (Science)

Senator AZ (efm)

Remy (efm)

Akogun (sshe)

Ben 10 (csit)

Most Expensive (Male)

Mayowa Mirage (English)

G Money (Acc)

Akt (Eco)

Olumide (Eco)

Golden Milex (Bus Admin)

Imole (Eco)

Ligali (Sshe)

Owolabi (G&C)

Doyin (Sshe)

Most Expensive (Female)

Nkem (Bus Admin)

Charity (Bus Admin)

Labake (G&C)

Teni (G&C)

Entertainment Icon

Ydiz (Bus Admin)

Zanna (Eco)

Cupcake (G&C)

Sign P (Bus Admin)

Buje Budanu

Ligali (Sshe)

Akt (Eco)

G. Money (Acc)

Doyin (Sshe)

Take Home To Mama

Wunmi (Bbe)

Fisayo (English)

Yinka (Acc)

Sumbo (Eco)

Tutu (Eco)

Sophisticated (Male)

Mayowa Mirage (English)

Kunle Pegasus

Imole (Eco)

Olumide (Eco)

Sophisticated (Female)

Nkem (Bus Admin)

Charity (Bus Admin)

Wunmi (Bbe)

Most Attractive

Ronke Giwa (Eco)

Lizzy (Science)

Nike Meadows (English)

Tope (Npe)

Jade (English)

Best Clique (Male)

Atkins & Friends (G&C)

Kezman & Friends (Eco)

Ydiz & Friends (Bus Admin)

Paulo & Friends (Science)

Energy & Friends (Acc)

Long Man & Friends (Sshe)

Best Clique (Female)

Labake & Friends (G&C)

Alice & Friends (Hds)

Dayo & Friends (Science)

Sola & Ronke (Eco)

Ope & Friends (Acc)

Musical Act

Ydiz (Bus Admin)

Sign P (Bus Admin)

Tunny (Eco)

Mac B (Acc)

Mr. Ben (Sos)

Sola Marvellous (Bus Admin)

Miss Endowed

Cupcake (G&C)

Jennifer (Eco)

Dami (Pol)

Precious (G&C)

Wunmi (Science)

Influential

Sir Teejay (Science)

Badmus (Pol)

Tobi (Acc)

Cupcake (G&C)

Shayo (English)

Most Popular (Male)

Paulo (Science)

Tobi (Acc)

Shabalala (G&C)

Emeka (Bus Admin)

Senator AZ (efm)

Most Popular (Female)

Lizzy (Pol)

Labake (G&C)

Shayo (English)

Cupcake (G&C)

Ebony (Male)

Golden Milex (Bus Admin)

Zanna (Eco)

Kiwi (Science)

Damola (Eco)

Ebony (Female)

Sola (Eco)

Yinka (Acc)

Balkis (Acc)

Oyinda (Science)

Olamide (English)

Best Couple

Columbus & Titi

Oluwo & Ope

Akt & Taiwo

Emeka & Dammy

Baby Edifier

Akt’s Baby

Oluwo’s Baby

Mr. Personality

Ibk (G&C)

Remi (Bbe)

Miss. Personality

Nkem (Bus Admin)

Easter (G&C)

Most Reserved (Male)

Paul (Biology)

Gabriel (Eco)

Most Reserved (Female)

Seun (Eco)

Easter (G&C)

Portable

Wunmi (Bbe)

Fisayo (English)

Nike Anjorin (G&C)

Victoria (Acc)

Ope (Acc)

Eniafe Abosede (Sos)

Korede (G&C)

Sport Icon

Salome (Sshe)

Akogun (Sshe)

Longman (Sshe)

Zyno (Sshe)

Ib (Eco)

Faculty Of Education Ambassador

Tobi (Acc)

Zanna (Eco)

Ydiz (Bus Admin)

Badmus (Pol)

Please remember that you can express your discomfort with any of the nominees and also tell us those you deem legible for any category that we missed out via your comments. For inquiries call Zanna on 08054075500, BB Pin: 25E23D53.

New Article: 10 Extremely Useless Things You Need To Let Go of in Your Life

Sometimes in life, you feel like you don’t have the ultimate control. You feel like a puppet on a string that wants to break free, but doesn’t know how.  It’s really quite simple.

A serenity prayer sums it up pretty nicely: “God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can; and wisdom to know the difference.”

In order to gain control over your life you need to let go of your bad patterns, especially these ten.

1. Toxic people

In my opinion, this is probably the most important one. Why? Because toxic people can cause all the things bellow: worries, violence, revenge, guilt, judging—and the list go on. There is a good book by Dr Lillian Glass calledToxic People. I suggest that you read it. It gives you countless example on how people can affect you, how to deal with different levels of toxicity and who the toxic people are: a friend who back-stabbed you in order to get your job, a boss that destroys your self esteem, or a mother that always puts you down.  There are 40 types of toxic people that can destroy you. Do yourself a favor: unplug.

2. Worry

Worrying is useless. Being cautious is not. There is a fine line, so make sure you do not cross it. When going on a trip, it is smart to prepare for all eventualities, but worrying will only make you miss out on things. You can’t prevent accidents from happening by worrying. Sometimes you may even cause them. So our advice is: don’t worry; be prudent.

3. Violence

Violence tears you up inside. It is a backlash of being unhappy and it is really difficult to let go of. But you must. There is no recipe on giving up violence, but by letting go of the things that make you unhappy you will also get rid of the need to cause violence. Here I’m just going to quote Dr Martin Luther King Jr: “Man must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression and retaliation. The foundation of such a method is love.”

4. Revenge

Revenge may be good, but not the “an eye for an eye” type. As Frank Sinatra said: “Success is the best revenge.” All the other actions will make you the same as your attacker.  Sure, it’s good to give people a taste of their own medicine, but by doing so, you may become like them. 

New Article: How To Get More Visitors To Click And Promote Your Website

If you’re wondering whether your website is good enough, I’ll give you the answer: No, it’s not.

How can I be so sure? Because every website can be improved. There is no website in existence where 100 percent of the visitors take the precise action the website owner wants. Which means there’s always room for improvement.

This leads to the next logical question of how to improve your website. To answer this, start by figuring out the primary goal of your page. Is it to generate online sales, get prospects to complete a form, encourage visitors to call you or get folks to click to promote your site on social media?

nce you understand your goal, work backwards. That is, think about the path through which visitors must travel to achieve this goal. For example, if you sell one product on your website, the desired path for visitors to take might be to visit your homepage, click your product sales page to learn more about your offering, click the order button to get to your order form, then complete the order form to arrive at your thank you page.

This path is known as your conversion funnel, and the key to success is to improve or optimize every piece of the funnel. For example, let’s assume that on your website 30 percent of visitors to your homepage then go to your product sales page. Twenty percent of those visitors proceed to your order form. Finally, 40 percent of the remaining visitors complete the order and arrive on your thank you page. In this case, 2.4 percent of all visitors completed the funnel, also known as a 2.4 percent conversion rate.

The key to improving your conversion rate, and the success of your website, is to improve each page in your conversion funnel. In fact, if you increased the conversion rate of each page in your funnel by 10 percent, then your overall conversion rate grows a whopping 33 percent.

Unfortunately, most entrepreneurs and business owners fail to measure their website’s conversion rates. Even when they do, most inevitably only look at their overall conversion rate. Rather, the key is to assess the conversion rate of each page in your funnel. Then improve those pages and see exponential increases in your overall conversion rates.

How do you increase the conversion rate of each page? There are many factors to consider and ideas to try, from changing your choice of text, modifying text size and/or font choice, adding new images, modifying your layout and changing the background color of your page.

Importantly, track the conversion rate of each of your pages both daily and monthly. On a daily basis, your rates might fluctuate quite a bit due to small sample sizes. When viewing your results on a daily basis, make sure there are no dramatic conversion drops which are often caused by a page, image or video not loading. And importantly, make sure your pages are improving daily. On a monthly basis, see how your pages are performing and spot which ones are decreasing in effectiveness and thus need to be improved.

In summary, it’s the individual pages in your website’s conversion funnel that determine whether your website performs well or not. Fortunately, if you monitor and improve these pages, you will convert significantly more website visitors into leads and clients, and gain significant competitive advantage.

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New Article: 6 Ways to Get Your Resume Past the Resume Filter

Applying for jobs used to mean driving, walking, or taking public transportation all over town dropping off resumes and filling out applications. These days, you can apply for hundreds of jobs a day from your computer, as you have an internet connection. In the process of transitioning online, many businesses have automated the first few steps of the application process, and, just like any other automated process, you can game the system if you’re smart about it.

If you need help getting past the resume filter in the job application process, here’s what you need to do:

1. Read the Job Description

It sounds obvious, but it’s amazing how many people just read the job posting title, scan over the requisition, and go immediately to apply. This is how you end up at a job you don’t like. As much as you need money, you don’t want a job you completely hate. You will inevitably loathe certain aspects of your job, so don’t make it harder on yourself. Read the job description and make sure it’s something that: a) you want to do, and b) you’re able to do, competently. If you’ve only had a paper route and a McJob in high school, you have no business applying to be the Vice President of anything. Read the job description so you understand completely before applying.

2. Identify Required Qualifications

When reading the job description, check out the qualifications. Employers will list the minimum requirements that they’re looking for. These qualifications ARE the resume filters, so if you don’t meet these qualifications, you’ll be filtered out.

It literally works like this: if I’m only looking for people with a Bachelor’s degree, my resume filter will only show me applicants who have a Bachelor’s degree listed on their resume. Think of it as a multiple choice scantron – if the answer is C and you filled in A, you got the question wrong. There are no second chances with automation; if anything is listed as “required” or “qualifications,” you won’t get past the filter without it. It is very black and white, with no gray areas.

3. Identify Desired Skills

Many jobs list desired skills, as well. That’s letting you know that once your resume meets the minimum requirements to move past the resume filter and be shown to a human being, they’re going to show preference to applicants with the desired skills. A Bachelor’s degree may be the barrier to entry, but they’d love to see a Master’s degree. The Master’s degree is only “desired” and not “required” though, so make up for it in other ways. Companies are willing to train the right person.

4. Be Sure Your Resume and LinkedIn Profile Show Qualifications

I know this sounds obvious, but it’s shocking how many people think certain skills are assumed. Just because you have prior sales experience, it doesn’t mean you know Salesforce. If I’m asking for a job related to Salesforce, you need to have Salesforce listed on your resume, and you should probably have your experience level listed, as well. There’s a chance I’ll have a Salesforce test in the interview, so don’t list it unless you are sure you can pass that test, however. Also, don’t just list your work history–make it meaningful.

You’ll do yourself a favor by updating your LinkedIn profile to match your resume. Also, make a quick scan of your social media presence. The time between interviewing and hiring you is normally when an employer does a background check online. Discrepancies will be noted, and you will be questioned on them, so don’t list something on your resume that contradicts your public LinkedIn profile.

5. Upload a Resume and/or Connect to LinkedIn to Extract Data

It’s time to upload your resume. This sounds easy, but it takes vigilance. In most cases, data from your resume (or LinkedIn profile) will be used to populate a web form. Double-check that each field is filled out correctly. Some optical character recognition (OCR) and data extraction programs have trouble compiling info, so you may have your email address listed as a former employer, or other such oddities. Pay special attention to any fields with an asterisk next to them, as these are required fields, and you won’t make it past the resume filter without these.

6. If You Want It, Then You Better Put a Spin on It

It’s never a good idea to lie on a job resume. Lying about a qualification will get you past the resume filter, but you’ll eventually get caught (most likely in the interview). Telling someone you have $100k in sales looks great, but you’ll eventually have to back that up, and if you’ve never sold so much as a cup of lemonade as a kid, you have no idea what it takes to make $100k in sales. You may know all the terminology, but if you can’t close the sales and meet your numbers, you won’t last at that job, and you’ll be worse off than you were before.

However, don’t be afraid to talk yourself up; you likely have more skills than you realize. If you’re tech-savvy, computer skills beef up your resume and can set you apart from the crowd – just don’t claim any certifications you don’t have unless you’re sure you can obtain them prior to employment (and understand those certifications cost time and money you may not have). I once told a hiring manager I was an expert with MS Access, even though I’d only touched the program twice in my life. Although I didn’t actually know Access at the time, I knew Excel, and picked it up successfully before anyone noticed.

7. Email the Hiring Manager

Despite all our technological advances, there’s still no replacement for good old human contact. If you can find a name of the person hiring, or you know anyone on the inside, email them. They may be able to pull your resume out the bunch, even though it wouldn’t normally have made it past the resume filter. Nepotism, cronyism, and favoritism are very much alive and well in the world, and you shouldn’t be afraid to use them to your advantage. At the very least, sending the email may make the person like you enough to overlook a few shortcomings that the machines would not have. You have nothing to lose by trying.

As you can see, a little experience and a lot of common sense can go a long way to securing employment. With so many HR processes being automated by machines, you can easily navigate through a large volume of job applications. The more jobs you apply for, the more likely you are to get hired. Incorporating the above steps into your daily job search routine will ensure you spend as little time as possible looking for a job.

If you made it past the application stage and scored an interview, make sure you look your best.

New Article: Five Tips For Your First IT Internship

You’ve gotten your first IT internship, and it starts soon. How can you not only do well in this internship, but make it count towards your long term career success? Learn some tips for your first IT internship in this article.

1. Ask Lots of Questions

You know when people say “don’t ask stupid questions”? Well I don’t think that’s true at all. Especially when it comes to internships for your career. It’s better to ask as many questions as you can, even if they do seem stupid. To really learn a lot and do well in your internship, it’s a good idea to ask a lot of questions. Ask your boss, ask your colleagues, ask people you see around the office. This is the best way to learn. Word will get around that you’re the intern. Everyone knows what it’s like to start a new role, especially when you’re young, so they will likely offer their help. Asking lots of questions is a good way to learn about your role, the company, and the industry you’re working in.

2. Make A Good Impression

This tip might seem pretty obvious, but it’s important to make a good impression. A good impression means making sure you create positive thoughts with your employer, both immediately and in the future. They should be able to think of you and immediately think that you are hard working and professional. This is important both for starting an IT internship and if you’re starting a new IT job. Some of the ways you can do this include:

• Dress professionally for the office. If you’re not sure what to wear, ask before you go to the job. The rules depend on the company’s dress code, which means you could be wearing a suit and tie, shirt with suit pants, or a collared shirt with jeans. Any combination like this is common in office environments, so make sure you find out which one is appropriate.
• Arrive on time and don’t leave early. One of the most common mistakes young IT workers make is arriving late to work. It sends a very good message if you constantly arrive on time or early for your work day. If your day starts at 9, don’t arrive at 9:10, arrive at 8:45. It’s better to be early. Also, the same goes for leaving on time. It’s better to leave after your set finish time than before it.
• Focus on work. Don’t let the distractions of the outside world interfere with you when you’re meant to be working. This includes phone calls, personal browsing, Facebook, sending text messages and running errands. Leave this for your lunch break or after work.

3. Take Lots Of Notes

When you start a new role as an IT intern, it can be quite overwhelming. It’s a good idea to get a pen and paper and take notes wherever you go. Write down the things that you learn, people’s names, systems, dates, plans, and decisions that are made. It’s useful to do this as it helps you remember things, it helps you learn, and it can help when looking back to things at a later date. Take your notepad and pen to any meetings you go to and take notes there. Bring it when you go to other people’s desks, in case you need to write something down. It might sounds like a lot of work, but if you’re able to remember something or help someone because of some notes you took, it makes it worthwhile.

4. Find Out The Chances Of A Full Time Position

Many companies that offer internships also have openings for full time positions. These positions could start straight after the internship, or they could be available at a later date when the student graduates. Other organizations don’t offer a chance for these to turn into full time positions. Other companies only offer them to the best interns, with most of them missing out. A good thing to do while on your internship, perhaps near the end, is to find out the process for moving into a full time role. If you like the job you’re doing, or like the company and want to get a full time role with them, it’s a good idea to ask. Ask your boss how the process works, ask them if they offer full time positions to those interns who are interested. They should be able to tell you how it works, or show you someone who can. If all else fails, at least you got some good experience with a company, and you could even apply for a full time position when you graduate using the normal methods, such as via job ads.

5. Remember Everyone’s Name

A great way to stand out from other interns, and even other employees, is to remember everyone’s name. You’ll likely meet a lot of people on the job, and it can be hard to remember everyone’s name. It will be worthwhile if you can, though. Try writing them down after you meet them. Write down something that you remember them by (that isn’t personal or insulting). If you meed one of the General Managers, write down their name next to GM so you can remember. If you remember where they sit, or where you saw them, write that down too. Little notes like this can help you remember people’s names. Other people will also come to you and ask for names of others if you remember names well, which also makes you stand out.

I hope the tips in this article are useful to you if you’re starting an internship soon. Good luck!