Post #2
What are Soft Skills?

Have you ever thought to yourself which soft skills are important for the job you are applying for? Have you ever had difficulty showing or “selling” these skills in your CV or during an interview? How can you know whether you’ve mastered a certain skill and what can you do to improve it?

First, let’s learn the difference between hard and soft skills. Hard skills are specific abilities which can be measured and defined. You can learn them in a classroom or through books and are easily identified on your resume.

Soft skills are subjective. They are broadly applicable and relate to the way you interact with other people. These skills tend to come from life experience or upbringing, but they can also be developed by self-aware individuals seeking to be more successful.

Hard skills are individual for each job and function, while soft skills are universal. Mastering soft skills will provide you with the freedom and flexibility to obtain any job position, provided that you learn the necessary hard skills.

We will start with arranging all the skills in to 7 groups:

1. Communication skills #communication@flessibilita
2. Leadership skills #leadership@flessibilita
3. Influencing skills #influencing@flessibilita
4. Interpersonal skills #interpersonalskills@flessibilita
5. Personal skills #personalskills@flessibilita
6. Creativity skills #creativity@flessibilita
7. Professional skills #professionalskills@flessibilita

Development of soft skills is an investment worth making! Watch the short What are soft skills?
video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tiy2LONr050
to get yourself hyped for our upcoming soft skill marathon:

#softskills@flessibilita

2 job openings in a state-owned company in international tax services directorate in Moscow.

Deputy Head of Department
5 years of experience (preferably BIG4)
The candidate should have experience working in taxes and be aware of the international agenda on taxation
Education in law/finance/economy
Level of English – advanced
Communication skills

Starting position
Higher education in taxes/finance/tax law/economy
English – advanced
No experience needed

PM us your CV if interested. All additional information will be provided over the phone directly by the company’s representative.

Tackle cases the consultant way! The new Structuring course will help you figure out how. Starting June 5. 2 spots left.

https://flessibilita.pro/structuring

#consulting #mckinsey #courses #flessibilita #cases #structuring

Post #3
1. Communication Skills
1.1. Verbal Communication

When considering communication skills, speech is the first type of communication you might think of. So, we’ll start with it.

Speaking often comes with anxiety. Nervousness stops you from thinking clearly and as a result you your speech either becomes too tense or you lose track at all. If you’re speaking to a partner, listening becomes yet another difficult task.

Watch this practical Stanford workshop on spontaneous communication.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HAnw168huqA

You will learn to manage any type of verbal communication, whether you’re speaking to one person in private or to the entire audience. It will teach you to manage anxiety, build a fruitful conversation and become an attentive listener.

Video Summary:
a) Learn techniques to manage anxiety while speaking
• Acknowledge anxiety
• Start with a question
• Use inclusive conversational language
• Stay in the present moment, be less concerned about the future

b) Ground rules
• Get out of your own way. “Calling the wrong name” exercise. Good for traffic jams.
• See things as an opportunity. “Imaginary gifts” exercise.
• Learn to listen to your partner. Spelling game.
• Tell a structured story. Problem-solution-benefit structure. What?-so what?-now what?

#softskills@flessibilita, #communication@flessibilita

Post #4
1. Communication Skills
1.2. Body Language and Physical Communication.

Part 1. Working on your body language before and during communication.

Neurologists believe our body is a more important instrument of communication than verbal language, which accounts for only 7% of communication, while the rest can be attributed to physical behaviour. It’s important to pay attention to facial expressions, gestures, the way we sit, how fast or how loud we talk, how close to our partner we stand, how much eye contact we make, posture, and tone of voice— all this speaks louder than words. Working on your body language can help you connect with others, express what you really mean, and build better relationships. It can show if you’re really listening or being truthful.

It’s true that physical communication doesn’t stop when you stop speaking. It’s an unconscious and natural method of communication and can’t be faked. Sure, you can learn certain postures or gestures, but unless you’re a professional actor or truly self-confident, it’s unlikely you’ll manage to take full control of your body and not give away your true feelings, for example, in a meeting.

A Harvard professor in social psychology argues that body language is an effective tool even before communication starts. Watch the following video and learn how to use body language to feel happy or powerful, as your body can influence your mind and affect the level of stress and confidence you experience before communicating. Your body language shapes who you are.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ks-_Mh1QhMc

#softskills@flessibilita, #communication@flessibilita

Aspiring management consultants, read this article to get an idea of how an ideal consulting candidate looks like. Put yourself in the shoes of the recruiter and consider this as a list of check-points which you need to reflect in your profile to pass screening and get invited for an interview.

https://flessibilita.pro/profile-of-a-consultant

#consulting@flessibilita, #application@flessibilita #письма@flessibilita
#resume@flessibilita, #CV@flessibilita, #резюме@flessibilita, #CL@flessibilita

Great news! Our good friend from MBB and a leading US business school agreed to teach an MBA-style course on Foundations of Management Consulting and Value Creation this summer. Details will follow soon. Stay tuned

#consulting #courses #foundationsofmanagementconsulting

Enrollment for the next Consulting Math course is open.
The course starts on June 17 and will run for 5 weekends.

🎓 Ideal student
- Professional with 3-5 years' experience
- Non-technical background (social sciences, liberal arts)
- Committed to catching up on previously ignored (or long forgotten) mathematics and becoming a quant through hard work

💡Highlights
- Deep-dives on quick mental math, estimation and precise computation, building formulae and equations, logical tricks, analysis of tables and charts
- 35 hours of practice in class (10 classes x 3.5 hours) on Saturday and Sunday
- Personal one-on-one feedback from the instructor
- A dedicated course book with theory and ~500 exercises

Learn more:
https://flessibilita.pro/consulting-math

#consulting #mckinsey #courses #flessibilita #math

New PST batch kicking off on June 24
Want to see more free PST prep videos? PM if interested!

💡 PST
- 75% success rate
- 33 hours of in-class prep (Saturday, Sunday) + 50 hours of homework
- Admission based on skill level
- Personalized feedback and follow-up materials
- Details and application:
https://flessibilita.pro/mckinsey-problem-solving-test-course

#consulting #mckinsey #courses #flessibilita #pst

A Product Manager opportunity for ex-management consultants. Still some strategy work, still some international travel, but also a chance to be responsible for the end result. See denoscription. PM if interested
https://goo.gl/lFWCjn
#job #consulting #productmanager #flessibilita

Post #5
1. Communication Skills
1.2 Body Language and Physical Communication.
Part 2. Reading other people’s body language.

Learning to read body language can be useful when giving presentations, during interviews or negotiations, and in meetings. It will help you adapt your own body language and shift your communication methods, if necessary.

When reading body language take the following steps:
1. First pay attention to eye contact.
2. Assess facial expressions.
3. Evaluate gestures and posture.
4. Consider how the person manages the space around him/her.
5. Watch how the person his face or body.
6. Assess the tone and intonation.

However, your interpretation of the person’s body language can vary. Even though body language is an international language, there are only 6 universally accepted emotional expressions: happiness, sadness, fear, disgust, surprise and anger. Other physical representations of emotion might differ depending on the country or culture. For example, in the Netherlands people touch the temple with the index finger to indicate someone (or an action) is smart or intelligent. Touching the forehead with the index finger means someone (or an action) is stupid or crazy. In Russia, these meanings are reversed. So if you’re working with foreigners, especially Asians, makes sure to study their body language customs.

Here are some sources which can help you study the different meanings of body language in greater detail:
• How to read body language. A few of the most common and simple body language examples by Business Insider.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nmp_-JByPa…
• Secrets of body language documentary with great examples of politicians during negotiations or famous people in contradictory situations, where body language gave them away.
https://documentaryaddict.com/films/secrets-of-…

Also for consideration:
• Watch the TV show Lie to Me where characters solve investigations by decoding facial expressions and body language of witnesses. We suggest watching the series in English, too ;)
• Body language dictionary where you can find an explanation in terms of body language and visual representation of any emotion.
http://www.bodylanguageproject.com/dictionary/…

#softskills@flessibilita, #communication@flessibilita

Post #6
1. Communication Skills
1.3. Writing

When speaking about work or career matters, there is one writing skill that you will need at any job or any position – the skill of writing e-mails and letters. If you want to master any type of written communication in English, we suggest you download MGIMO Business Correspondence book for Russian speakers (download here http://www.twirpx.com/file/639119/) and study it block by block, if possible - with a teacher who can correct you.

Here are a few more quick and simple writing tips:
• Structure. Whether you’re writing an e-mail, a press release, a report or a motivation letter, remember – structure is key. The reader should be able to easily follow your logic.

• Plain English. Don’t overcomplicate your writing with difficult tenses or jargon words. If you can use past, present or future simple in a sentence – use it. The reader will rarely appreciate the complexity of your language, but will love you for sparing his/her time.

• Emotional writing. Don’t overuse pompous words (extremely, strongly, greatly etc.) but at the same time don’t be too strict in writing e-mails, which are by nature a more easygoing method of communication. Try to even out the tone of your writing. Don’t be too emotional, yet try to come across as ‘open to dialogue’.

• Prepositions. Ex. At your disposal, for rent, in person, opinion on, meet the needs of etc. These small, yet tricky words give away your mastery of English. There are preposition exercises in the MGIMO textbook where you can practice. You can also ask your tutor to organize a preposition marathon for you, where you fill out pages and pages of prepositions until you make no mistake at all.

The essentials of writing and tips on writing all types of specific work documents can be found here -> https://www.skillsyouneed.com/writing-skills.html.

#softskills@flessibilita, #communication@flessibilita

General Resume Recommendations.

Recruiters spend 6 seconds screening the candidate’s resume, deciding whether to continue reading or not. Using the heat map technique we evaluate what are the most common resume mistakes and give tips on how to attract the recruiter's attention. 👀

https://flessibilita.pro/general-resume-recommendations

#resume@flessibilita, #CV@flessibilita, #резюме@flessibilita

Post #7
1. Communication Skills
1.4. Humor

Humor is a skill that can solve conflicts and manage stress. It’s an effective tool in public speaking and sales. Humor can help you bond with people and communicate your personality and friendliness.

If you’re not a great comedian no matter how hard you try, don’t push it. To compensate, make sure you work on your Positive Mental Attitude (PMA). Positive attitude is truly contagious. It creates great vibes at a workplace, diminishes stress and provides the right momentum.

Here’s a great starting video if you want to work on your humor skills. It will provide an exhaustive list of all types of humor with tips on how to develop them or when to apply them. Go ahead and watch it!

How to be funny video by Improvement Pill Video Summary:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?annotation_id=a…

1. Improve content (don’t repeat yourself)
• Exaggeration
• Misdirection
• Storytelling (funny events)
• Teasing (watch out not to be offensive)
• Sarcasm
• Puns
• Roleplay

2. Improve delivery
• Never laugh first
• Try diverse types of humor and adjust it to your audience (roleplay for kids, puns for MBA’s)
• Control nervous body language (slow down and open your body, improve tone)
• Maintain composure if your joke is a miss
• Watch stand-up comedians and take on their delivery skills

#softskills@flessibilita, #communication@flessibilita

Math might seem evil to some 👹
(I guess we'll settle on a different version though)

#fun #scarymath

Post #9.
1.6. Storytelling

As an experiment, a man once bought 200 objects for 129$ and sold them for 8000$. How did he do it? With the help of a story.

A story can be engaging and take over your critical thinking. As a result, you can pay 65$ for an object which is sold for 1$ in other stores simply because you are taken off guard. Why? You become emotionally invested, which means you are less critical, observant and objective. The same thing happens when we fall in love. We become more biased and less rational because we’re controlled by hormones. When hormones are released, they hijack the work of the cortex, throwing objectivity and criticism out of the window.

What if we used hormones to attract the attention of an audience in storytelling?

• Dopamine. When induced, it increases focus, motivation and enhances memory. To release dopamine, you need to create suspense and prepare a well thought out story.
• Oxytocin. When released, it increases generosity, trust and bonding. In storytelling, you generate oxytocin by creating empathy.
• Endorphins. To create endorphins, you simply need to make people laugh. As a result, people become more creative, relaxed and focused.
• Two other hormones, cortisol and adrenalin, are induced by fear. These hormones create intolerance, irritation, lack of creativity, criticism, impaired memory and bad decisions. Which hormones do you think are released in business meetings with tough clients and why? Would you agree that the speaker is accountable for the negative or positive attitudes of the audience?

To avoid inducing negative hormones you need to:
1. Believe you are a great storyteller.
2. Write down your stories.
3. Index your stories. Which ones create endorphins, dopamine or oxytocin?

Watch this informative video on hormones and storytelling: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nj-hdQMa3uA

#softskills@flessibilita, #communication@flessibilita

Post #10.

1.6. Storytelling. Part 2.

Storytelling is a timeless skill. Today it is especially important in business and marketing, because if you tell a good story people will buy it and will buy your product. But we’re not here to talk about marketing. We’re here to talk about storytelling which is required in networking and in communicating with colleagues at a business meeting or conference.

We all know people that are great storytellers by nature. They are the life of the party and the best person to go to lunch with. They fill in an awkward silence or tell a funny story to engage people around them and create a comfortable atmosphere.

“Those who tell the stories rule the world.” - Plato

The era of PowerPoint and status updates killed our ability to tell great stories and, hence, to communicate well. Generation Z representatives (post millennials) are having the hardest time. What if we changed that and learned to share great experiences not just through video or photographs?

Let’s practice storytelling. Write down a list of great (preferably funny) stories you can come up with any time. This is what you should remember when creating your story:

1. Define the main idea/mood/atmosphere you want to create or get across. Do you want to teach a lesson, make people laugh or share something personal, to engage people around you and make them open up?
2. Learn the story. Know the first and last lines by heart. The beginning of the story should set the stage, introducing the characters. The conclusion should be the emotional peak of the story.
3. Visualize your story with sounds, tastes, scents, and colors. Think of the verbal pictures you would want your listeners to see.
4. Remember: it’s more about the audience than about the story itself. Make sure the story is relevant and your audience is listening attentively. If not, work on your story some more to make it a thriller!

Write down one story a week and very soon you’ll have enough material for any situation! More tips on creating your story here: http://www.eldrbarry.net/roos/eest.htm

#softskills@flessibilita, #communication@flessibilita

Finally, as promised: an MBA-style in-person course about Big3 analytical tools for non-consultants. Naturally, taught by a seasoned Big3 consultant and a top MBA grad.

This course will be ideal for analysts in international companies and investment funds who want to learn the foundations of the consulting toolkit while not (yet?) in consulting. Advanced university grads are also welcome.

Students will be selected by the instructor based on an interview.

Unlike other courses, this one will not be repeated in the near future. So if you consider learning the foundations of management consulting, do it now.

For more information about time, syllabus, instructor, and admission requirements, follow this link:
https://flessibilita.pro/foundations-of-management-consulting-and-value-creation

#flessibilita #courses #big3 #consulting #consultingtoolkit

(Consulting) Resume Structure.

Are you writing a CV or a resume? What sections should it contain? How to write it, so that recruiters get your message and don't lose interest?

Although we in Flessibilità currently focus mostly on management consulting, this article should be useful for anyone writing or updating their professional or postgraduate resume. Enjoy ;)

https://flessibilita.pro/consulting-resume-structure

#resume@flessibilita, #CV@flessibilita, #резюме@flessibilita