THE BALANCE BETWEEN RISK TAKING AND EXPLOITING BUSINESS - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 21 Words: 6283 Downloads: 10 Date added: 2017/06/26 Category Business Essay Type Research paper Did you like this example? This dissertation tackles the difficulties companys face, when managing risk and exploiting opportunities and where the limit is drawn between the two. Its based on a journal the high performance business, by Bill Spinard, Craig Faris, Steve Culp and Paul F. Nunes. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "THE BALANCE BETWEEN RISK TAKING AND EXPLOITING BUSINESS" essay for you Create order The intention of this report is to provide a foundation for indication on current practice in this area and to make some suggestions for next steps. In looking at organizations that excel, we identify ingredients that appear to be common to those that achieve success through innovation and well-judged risk taking. By understanding why some businesses fail and some succeed could be explained by the risks some avoided and the opportunities some never took. An entrepreneurial skill that should be possessed by business men and woman are that they should not be frightened to take risks, as risks could bring change and could be advantageous in some instances. But risks are expensive and could mean failure, and failure does not always mean bad as the staying down is not successful and learning from mistakes is essential for any business. Any company that does not take challenges does not know the difference between succeeding and failing even though they might make a profit, usually such co mpanies arent flexible to change as it only knows one thing or has one strategy etc. According to Frederick Funston, Stephen Wagner and Henry Ristuccia, like people, companies die. A 1997 study indicated that an average life span of successful companies is 50 years maximum and even less for smaller companies, and its safe to say that the economic crisis 2007-2009 has proven that this mortality rate of enterprise is not just an aftermath. As the enemy of risk is; order, the degree of recent loss and public outrage has caused many to cast the failure to properly understand and manage risk as the root and, therefore, the most forceful and top-of-mind business concern of our time, as corporate risk taking and management involves unquestionably human factors, such as management and communication skills and judgment, as this matter might have become very personal for, directors, senior executives, investors, managers, and the general public as the demands for greater liability and precisi on reach extraordinary levels. ABSTRACT As enterprise leaders want to manage difficulty, prepare their companies for the unforeseen future that is changing and reduce uncertainty, especially for the next killer risk or the next opportunity. Whilst the recent past has made a case for revisiting how risks are conventionally understood and managed, for many the way forward remains unclear, by beginning with the responsible one and the one with authority. Business leaders are understandably concerned with: according to D.G. Jones and M.R. Endsley Shaping the right balance between board oversight and executive management. Defining the appropriate level of risk taking for their enterprise. Improving transparency and oversight for the board and other key stakeholders. Gaining first-mover advantage through the identification of black swans, both uncommon opportunities and unexpected interference. Taking a longer-term perspective for success that can still accommodate the need for survival in the short term. Fin ding the unexpected before it finds them and thus becoming more proactive. The art of governance and leadership is primarily about decision making and judgment: Who gets to make the main decisions that affect the life and death, success or failure of the enterprise. One key lesson of these disorderly times is that critical risks need to be addressed by the leadership and the board. A more systematic way to make decisions about risks and reward should be consulted by senior executives. Boards need to better understand what the key enterprise risks are, what types of relevant information need to come to their attention, and what comprises their role with regard to management. Ultimately, risk related decisions are made at every level in the enterprise daily and everyone in the enterprise has a role to play. Although CEOs and chief risk officers make different decisions than the rank and file, it is possible and necessary that they all share in an understanding of key processes, too ls and decision-making skills. This is the starting point for a discussion about risk intelligent enterprise management, since value and risk cannot be meaningfully separated. Risks to existing assets must be protected against and other certain risks must be taken to create new value. Risk which is defined by G. Johnson, K. Scholes, and R. Whittington (exploring corporate strategy) as: concerns the probability and consequences of the failure of a strategy. Risk is an aspect of acceptability (concerned with the expected performance outcomes of a strategy and the extent to which these meet the expectations of stakeholders), which an organization faces in pursuing a strategy. A risk can either be high with major long-term programmes if innovation, where there are high levels of public concern about new developments, by developing a better acceptance of an organizations strategic position is at the core of good risk assessment. Risk is usually associated by Financial ratios Sen sitivity analysis Stakeholder reactions. By Dennis Brown A new approach to risk is risk intelligence, conventional risk management has focused on avoiding the risks to a business strategy, rather than understanding and managing the risks of the strategy itself. While the protection of existing assets is necessary, it is not sufficient for competitive advantage. Unfortunately, when risk is defined by an organization only as the failure to adequately protect existing assets and prevent loss (unrewarded risks), the rewards of reasoned, calculated risk taking (rewarded risks) are often neglected at potentially high cost to the companys future success. Avoiding the risks of non-compliance with regulations, operational failures and lack of integrity in financial reports are essential activities but are not sufficient for competitive advantage, and a diet of pure risk aversion likely will lead to extinction. Enterprise survival is more than just staying out of trouble; it is also abo ut creating new and future value to ensure the highest return on investment. New business models; shifts in the competitive landscape, consumer preferences and behaviors; and new technologies all demand enterprise quickness and resilience. Risk includes the potential for failure that could result in loss, harm or missed opportunity the risk of functioning. Risk intelligence is both the capability to effectively act upon intelligence in order to achieve the desired results and produce. Some level of failure is essential for experimentation and innovation. The enterprise needs to determine acceptable versus unacceptable differences between actual and expected performance. Otherwise, intolerance of any level of failure will lead to risk. In this broad context, success often requires the embedding of risk intelligent capabilities throughout all levels of the organization. Opportunities: G. Johnson, K. Scholes, and R. Whittington a favorable or advantageous circumstance or combina tion of circumstances, a favorable or suitable occasion or time. A chance for progress or advancement, an opportunity is an auspicious state of affairs or a suitable time. High performance requires a keen understanding of not only a companys appetite for risk but also its capacity to manage that risk effectively. Companies that walk that fine line between the two can better protect themselves and pursue new marketplace opportunities. FINDING THE BALANCE Companies have chosen to slow down and play defense as the economic meltdown has caused distress. Though understandable, that approach wont light any fires under corporate performance, or fuel a recovery. On the other hand, some companies appear ready to go on offense with spending sprees. Hundreds of companies are sitting on millions of cash or by cutting jobs and cutting down on capital spending. But can they spend that money cautiously, bearing in mind the painful risk management lessons of the recent past? Both situations emphasize an immature capability in the global business community: a keen understanding of not only a companys appetite for risk but also its capacity to administer that risk effectively. Companies that achieve a balance between the two can better protect themselves and practice new marketplace opportunities. G. Johnson, K. Scholes, and R. Whittington appliance of this protracted concept of risk-bearing capacity is something new to the field of risk and perfor mance management for non-financial companies. It is a measure of a companys resiliency and alertness-an estimate of its ability to take on new opportunities, as well as the scope and type of economic shocks it can bear without a serious decline in its operational effectiveness. By using a risk-bearing capacity analysis companies can balance their appetite for risk taking against their ability to manage those risks. Neither too cautious nor too reckless, they can adjust either their capacity or their appetite to make wise and ultimately successful investment decisions. The failure to effectively manage risk by companies, governments and households is at the heart of the current economic crisis. But doubling down on bad bets and taking bigger chances in a desperate bid for much-needed growth is not the solution for business. Nor is the answer to become as cautious as to leave opportunity on the table. This new approach to risk can help companies find the path that is right for them, h elping them bring risk appetite and risk capacity into balance. The capacity to effectively understand and bear risk to support profitable growth involves much more than just sound financial management and the building of capital reserves as important as those are. It is also more than defensive posturing sounding the alarm and then circling the wagons. Risk-bearing capacity is multidimensional, comprising at least five components: financial strength, management capacity, competitive dynamics, and operational flexibility and risk management systems. Effective risk-bearing capacity analysis can help companies establish stronger links between strategy and operational planning, which enables them to optimize capital allocation, identify additional resources available to seize opportunities, craft much more relevant and powerful performance metrics, and achieve better focus on performance reporting. Risk-bearing capacity also expands the traditional idea of risk management beyond financ ial resources, focusing a company on a broader picture of management processes, operations, systems, leadership and culture that can increase resiliency in the face of setbacks, and improve quickness to pursue new opportunities. That is, it helps a company deal with both the downside and the upside of risk-to play defense as well as offense. High performance requires a strong appetite for risk, but one that is balanced with an equal capacity for bearing risk. Taking on too much risk eventually leads to trouble, but taking on too little when the company is highly successful can cause underperformance. Companies seeking their very best performance, therefore, need strategies to bring their risk appetite and risk-bearing capacity into balance. At times bad things happen to good companies, but some of those things are more predictable than others, effective management of risk bearing capacity enables companies to deal more effectively with two types of adverse events. First are in cidents that occur semi-regularly and have a modest impact on the company, such as foreign exchange fluctuations, input price volatility, labor issues. These events rarely come as a surprise, and most management teams have experience in responding to them. The financial impact of such incidents is generally minimized by adjusting the selling price or the level of reserves such as cash. Secondly are the low-probability but high-impact events, the failure of a major supplier, including the loss of a major manufacturing facility, natural disasters. These events are the ones that nightmares are made of crises that can stop a company in its tracks, or drive it out of business completely (G.A. Cole). Few companies can afford to set aside sufficient capital to protect against these infrequent occurrences; instead, these events are usually mitigated through disaster recovery, insurance and business continuity plans. A high-performance business, however, will excel in managing this kind of a dversity. It will have in place the means to work around the event faster than its competitors, along with the resilience to bounce back sooner. Analysis of a companys risk-bearing capacity does not produce a single number or one easy answer. Rather, such analysis looks at the interaction of several dimensions that, acting together, can make a company more resilient and better able to take on appropriate risks. DIMENSIONS TO MAKING COMPANY MORE APPROPRIATE FOR RISK TAKING: Financial strength This element is the easiest to measure as it can be considered a refinement of established financial measures and ratios such as cash flow at risk and debt equity. Traditional solvency parameters include credit rating, trading multiple, strength, cash generating capabilities, leverage, and diversification. Management capacity Managerial capacity is an evaluation of the effectiveness of management processes, and how well they are employed to add value to the shareholder-a kind of blend of investment analysis, corporate governance analysis credit rating. Management capacity covers the depth and breadth of the management ranks, it also covers the leadership experience with executing the strategic plan and in resolving and bouncing back from crises. Competitive dynamics Competitive dynamics refers generally to a companys position in the marketplace comparative to competitors and market trends past, present and future. Operational flexibility Operational flexibility is the evaluation of a companys ability to react to market developments and trends while still maintaining strategic focus and financial continuity. It includes components such as production line switch ability or alternative supply chain sourcing capabilities. Risk management systems Risk management systems include the technology, people, processes people, and systems that a company employs to identify mitigate measure and monitor its risk exposures and that protect its solvency and stability during extreme events. The protective dimension includes business continuity, planning, disaster recovery, and crisis management planning. The evaluation of risk management systems relative to leading practices provides a view of how effectively a company understands and manages both downside and upside opportunity risk. With the lack of effective risk management systems, the ability to leverage risk-bearing capacity is significantly diminished. A risk-bearing capacity analysis looks at these five dimensions individually and in interaction with one another to provide both qualitative and quantitative indicators of overall capacity, as well as currently employed and identified reserve capacity. Companies miss opportunities and leave money on the table. In this case, several underlying causes may be at work. Strong financial performance (driven by either internal or external events) may be providing a high level of capacity, but it is short-circuited by cultural conservatism or poor integration with strategic planning. Management may be a root cause here. THE ESSENTIALS OF RISK MANAGEMENT The board or senior leadership may have a high risk aversion due to earlier corporate travails; or they may not adequately understand the financial tools, such as leverage, that are available to exploit resources and seize opportunities. Alternatively, a strong focus on operational flexibility may be driving an overall increase in risk bearing capacity but may not be matched by similar growth in risk taking within the companys strategic evaluation and planning processes. Where the appetite for risk is greater than the risk-bearing capacity, companies are either strategically overextended or unable to achieve their strategic objectives. In this situation, companies are involved in strategic plays or operational approaches that are unsustainable, which degrades their financial performance. By appearing vulnerable, they set themselves up as potential targets for competitors. The strategic challenge is how to bring the two measures into balance, especially in an environment of both gre ater market uncertainty and commensurately greater market opportunities. Fortunately, there are solutions, depending on what is causing the imbalance for instance, if risk-bearing capacity is low and appetite is high, companies can grow their capacity or shrink their appetite. Or if risk-bearing capacity is high and appetite is low, companies can similarly reverse the course of each. These strategies are not entirely exclusive, as many companies should seek to simultaneously grow both capacity and appetite to reach their full potential. In this situation, companies are involved in strategic plays or operational approaches that are unsustainable, which degrades their financial performance. By appearing vulnerable, they set themselves up as potential targets for competitors. The strategic challenge is how to bring the two measures into balance, especially in an environment of both greater market uncertainty and commensurately greater market opportunities. Fortunately, there are soluti ons, depending on what is causing the imbalance. For instance, if risk-bearing capacity is low and appetite is high, companies can grow their capacity or shrink their appetite. Or if risk-bearing capacity is high and appetite is low, companies can similarly reverse the course of each. These strategies are not entirely exclusive, as many companies should seek to simultaneously grow both capacity and appetite to reach their full potential. Mitigating risks in the early stages of development saves resources. Additionally, by reducing exposure in some places, the ability to better manage risk can provide capacity that can be employed elsewhere. Taking it a step further, an increased understanding of how risk actually affects the investment portfolio can improve investment performance and extend capacity for new opportunities. An appetite for risk that exceeds the capacity to manage it can be spotted in several ways. Some more obvious signs include a rapid increase in scale, perhaps f rom merger activity; a substantial increase in leverage; or a significant commitment to new markets or new offerings-or both. Companies with too little capacity also often find themselves realigning performance expectations-that is, they under-perform relative to their original investment plan for strategic opportunities, and then regularly adjust the plan downward. Simply listening to the market and your employees can also provide valuable insights. Negative analyst reports or a decline in share price or credit rating without a corresponding decline in current financial performance may indicate the market thinks you are moving too far, too fast. Similarly, unexpected management departures or increases in voluntary turnover may suggest a loss in employee confidence in your strategy. The signs of being too conservative-having a risk-bearing capacity that can accommodate a bigger appetite-can be more elusive. Playing it safe is so often considered a virtue that failing to take advanta ge of a reasonably large appetite for risk might be seen instead as wise discretion. At some point, however, justifiable caution turns into unjustifiable tentativeness. Look for historically high levels of cash not connected with particular market conditions, or a sustained reluctance to spend cash reserves. Another warning sign is a high hurdle rate for new initiatives. In this situation, management demands to see a high expected return on internal resource allocation before it will approve a new project. This approach often reduces the number of potential opportunities considered, and therefore can also reduce risk exposure to a degree. According to D.G. Jones and M.R. Endsley But a .hurdle rate that is significantly above the cost of capital can indicate a strong aversion to risk and an unwillingness to step out into new areas. Unnecessarily high dividends may also be a sign of an appetite too modest for a companys risk-bearing capacity. The market may signal a risk appetite p roblem with a decline in share price not related to current earnings and not shared by competitors due to market conditions. Investors may not be confident that the company will pursue market opportunities with vigor. On the people side, if competitors are snatching up top talent, it could be a sign that youve lost your spark and arent offering your employees enough good opportunities. In a world of limited financial resources and uncertain market conditions, it is critical that companies neither overextend nor underutilize their risk-bearing capacity. A company that operates beyond the boundaries of risk capacity can destroy company value and even endanger operations. But playing it too safe means missing opportunities for growth and profitability. All too often, a company only addresses the question What is our risk appetite? implicitly. There is no explicit discussion of the balance between risks and opportunities, between risk appetite and strategic goals. As a result, the appro ach remains haphazard and intuitive instead of structured and reasoned. Companies will benefit from a much more explicit discussion, definition and implementation of risk appetite. It will allow them to link risk management to performance management. A clear definition of risk appetite, risk tolerance, risk targets and risk limits at all relevant levels in the business is an excellent basis for effective ERM, for embedding risk management into day-to-day decision making, for balancing opportunities and risks. By articulating its risk appetite, a company can focus in one comprehensive process on what might create value, sustain value and diminish value. Do we know the key risks to which our company is exposed? Are these key risks a logical consequence of our strategy? Are we taking the right risks to give us a competitive advantage? Is our actual risk level consistent with our risk appetite? If board members and executive managers have difficulty answering any of these questions, it is time to talk risk appetite at the top level. A good description of a companys risk appetite will have qualitative as well as quantitative elements. On various issues, it may include definitions of what is acceptable and what is not. A company might state it does not accept any risk of regulatory infringements. Or a company might decide that it will only approve expansion in new business areas if and when it has gathered sufficient knowledge of the specifically business issues and risks involved, and if the organizational and technical infrastructure is in place to effectively manage these risks. Once the organizations overall risk appetite has been clearly defined, the board and executive management should communicate it broadly throughout the organization to ensure all actions of the company are in line with the risk appetite. At the same time, executive management should operationally the risk appetite in various steps and for all relevant risks and business units. Again, this top-down process is similar to the one normally followed in performance management. Risk appetite regarding the companys strategic goals should be translated into risk tolerance for specific categories of risk, e.g., strategic, operational, financial and compliance risks. More operational than risk appetite, risk tolerance expresses the specific maximum risk that an organization is willing to take regarding each relevant risk (sub-) category, often in quantitative terms. Obviously, for each risk category, the resulting risk tolerance should be in line with the organizations risk appetite. In the area of human resources, for example, a company can define its risk tolerance regarding overall staff turnover: it should not exceed 15% per year. In a next step, management can cascade risk tolerance further down the risk management pyramid and set risk targets for different business units. A risk target is the optimal level of risk that an organization wants to take in pursuit of a specifi c business goal. Through the risk target, a company defines the desired balance between risk and reward. The risk target correlates risk tolerance to specific business plans and business metrics. Setting the risk target should be based on the desired return, on the risks implicit in trying to achieve those returns and on a companys capability of managing those risks. A risk target for a business unit selling products that become obsolete quite quickly could be to realize 30% of sales from products that have been on the market for less than two years. The risk target can be expressed as a point between an upper and a lower risk limit: thresholds to monitor that actual risk exposure does not deviate too much from the desired optimum. Breaching risk limits will typically act as a trigger for corrective action at the process level. If a business unit reaches the upper risk limit, it will have to manage down its risk level, unless a new analysis of the risk/return balance justifies the r isk position. If a lower risk limit is breached, i.e., if the actual risk taking falls below a minimum, the business unit should add more risk unless the return on this extra risk taking is not deemed adequate. For example, a company could set its minimum/maximum limits for annual asset turnover at 1.5% and 2.5% respectively, or a company could determine minimum and maximum limits for warranty claims: 2% and 5% of units sold. A company can monitor and manage its most important risk targets, limits and tolerance through a set of key risk indicators (KRIs). KRIs can be expressed in a variety of units, according to the specific risk under discussion: a percentage of faulty products, a number of hours lost due to work-related accidents, a monetary value such as net debt or a ratio, e.g., EBITDA/interest expenses. Of course, great care should be taken when defining a KRI: is the KRI really measuring what we want it to measure? And if so, are we measuring it correctly? In order to balance risks and opportunities correctly and to obtain the best possible alignment of performance management and risk management, each KRI should be linked to a key performance indicator (KPI). KPIs have long played an essential role in performance management. As explained in our paper A new balanced scorecard. Measuring performance and risk, one of the most effective ways to link performance and risk management is to integrate risk factors and risk management in a companys performance management tool of choice. Currently, the Balanced Scorecard (BSC) is by far the most popular such tool. For each of the four main areas in the classic BSC (market; operations; organization), a company defines its goals and the related KPIs. By enhancing the BSC with KRIs, a company can integrate performance and risk management; it can measure and monitor performance and risk at the same time, as part of the same process. If you must play, decide on three things at the start: the rules of the game, the stakes, and the moment to quit. Chinese Proverb Time is an essential factor in defining risk appetite and risk tolerance. In business, too, the time horizon of a risk is an essential element in defining the risk appetite. When this time aspect of risk is not taken openly into account when discussing appetite and tolerance regarding specific risks, confusion is almost inevitable. Normally, executive management and the board tend to have a longer, more strategic time horizon when they talk about performance and risk than lower management that is often focused on meeting quarterly or at the most yearly targets. A longer time horizon, however, comes with a different risk appetite and risk tolerance than a short one. Companies should realize this and communicate these differences explicitly, in order to avoid confusion and misunderstandings that will only detract from the effectiveness of its risk management. Two managers cannot come to a common view on risk appetite and risk tolerance if one of them exclusively fo cuses on strategic risks over the next 10 years, while the other is fully absorbed by the risks of not making the quarterly numbers for financial performance, customer satisfaction or product quality (G. Johnson, K. Scholes, R. Whittington). COUNTERING THE FLAWS: TEN ESSENTIAL SKILLS The authors (Frederick Funston, Stephen Wagner and Henry Ristuccia) have identified 10 essential risk intelligence skills that correspond with and counter the 10 fatal flaws. These can be used to help exercise better judgment and make better decisions under even the most uncertain and chaotic conditions: 1. Check your assumptions at the door The greatest source of risk and opportunity lies in ones assumptions. Author Nassim Taleb has used the metaphor of the black swan to describe the mental models people create that lead them to believe that extreme events are exceptionally rare. He argues that these black swans cannot be predicted. However, the authors believe that conventional assumptions can be seen as the white swans and their direct opposite are the black swans, which may either be killer risks or enormous opportunities. Simply conducting business based on tradition, habit or operating on autopilot can lead to a businesss downfall. Among other differences, in contrast to the formal, hierarchical corporate structures common to the industry. By understanding current assumptions about the business environment and the existing business model and describing their antitheses, enterprise leaders can identify the characteristics of major shifts in advance and whether they are beneficial or adverse. They can defend against adverse black swans or they can become the industry black swan by changing the conventional model and adopting an offensive position. 2. Maintain constant vigilance A study reported in an aerospace medical journal found that 80 percent of accidents are caused by operator error and 80 percent of operator errors are caused by lack of vigilance or situational awareness. Once the signals of a shift (black swan) have been identified and the shifts implications understood, the enterprise can set up early warning systems that enable rapid detection and provide the opportunity for first mover advantage. This is not about prediction; its about awareness and early detection, which enables preparation and rapid adaptive response. In situations of sudden, sharp change, information overload, isolated communications, lack of a shared central nervous system, or perceptual blind spots become barriers to information sharing. How does one identify a weak signal amidst a lot of background noise? First, know what you are looking for (black swans), then set up signal detection mechanisms, develop a range of potential responses and then maintain constant vigilance. These same concerns apply to failures to see shifts in the industry business model. Success tends to breed complacency and a resistance to change that which has produced past success. Effective signal detection systems are a challenge to develop, but if people can become more alert to signals that may contradict their current worldview, it can lead to major opportunities and better defenses. 3. Factor in velocity and momentum Opportunity is brief and disaster can strike swiftly. Bad things often seem to happen much faster than good things, yet conventional risk assessments typically evaluate likelihood and not swiftness. Only those who are adequately prepared will have the ability to respond quickly and the resilience to overcome adversity. The news is often replete with stories of business failures, product recalls, tainted products and services, executive scandals and corporate malfeasance. How can companies identify such risks before they manifest themselves? The ways in which crises and their effects develop vary with their velocity and momentum. So instead of asking, How likely is it that this event-good or bad-will happen? ask instead, How good or bad can it get, and how fast can it get that way? Those questions help frame what the organization must do to improve its resilience and agility regardless of the size of the risk factor. 4. Manage the key connections The difficulty and interconnectedness of the global business environment mak es it very difficult to see how one set of events can affect another. This skill and the corresponding tools help the enterprise understand its critical dependencies, how long it can go without them, and how it can improve its chances of survival. Managing key connections requires in-depth understanding of the organization, knowing where vulnerabilities lie and making conscious decisions about which ones to accept and which to mitigate. Without the resulting transparency, the enterprise may be unprepared for either profound disruption or opportunity. 5. Anticipate causes of failure One of the greatest challenges for any enterprise is to discuss constructively how it might fail so that it can act to prevent such failure. Perhaps the second greatest challenge is to identify potential failure quickly and escalate it to the appropriate level for remediation. Certain organizational cultures inhibit such communication and often delay or misrepresent critical messages. The beneficial i dentification and timely communication of failure or potential failure is an essential skill. One tool of quality and process improvement, Failure Modes and Effects Analysis (FMEA), poses forward-looking questions to help locate areas of risks or the possibility of missed or sub-optimized gains. 6. Verify sources and corroborate information When it is too good to be true, it often is not believable. Given that risk management aims to develop the best intelligence available to support decision-making, it is essential to have both credible sources and substantiate information to exercise the best judgment under the circumstances. The board is ultimately responsible for governance of the enterprise, but management is responsible for managing the business, including identifying key risks and avoiding them or accepting and mitigating them. Management has to provide reasonable assurance to the board that the risks that are being taken to create competitive advantage are within the app roved risk appetite and that controls are in place to detect and either prevent, correct or escalate risks to existing assets. 7. Maintain a margin of safety High leverage and low liquidity leave no margin for safety. No margin for safety leaves a margin for error. Leaders need to maintain confidence in their abilities, while also knowing their limitations. No leader or organization is too big or too smart to fail, to take the wrong risks, or to become overly leveraged. This skill focuses on ways to establish and maintain an appropriate margin of safety. 8. Set your enterprise time horizons Recent emphasis on immediate profit over sustainability and long-term growth can lead to shortness where enterprises choose to maximize short-term gains in ways that jeopardize their chances of long-term survival. The attitude and practice can be changed, but leaders have to also bring analysts and investors around to a longer-term perspective, favoring quick profits over longer-term perf ormance results in an enterprise and an economy that cannot create or sustain long-term growth. It sometimes becomes easier for directors to focus on the oversight of compliance at the expense of competitiveness. This skill helps leaders to remain mindful of critical strategic considerations at all times to ensure continuation of success in areas that require long-term thinking, such as global competitiveness, RD investments, environmental sustainability and corporate responsibility. 9. Take enough of the right risks Competitive advantage requires calculated risk taking. All risks cannot be eliminated and not all risk-related decisions will be correctly made. Every organization needs to understand what risks it is taking and decide whether the potential for reward warrants the risk or not. The enterprise needs to distinguish between risks that are right or wrong for the enterprise and its current capabilities. Risk appetite defines the types of risk that leaders are willing t o take (or not take). Risk appetites will vary according to the type of risk under consideration. Using a risk intelligent approach, companies need to have an appetite for rewarded risks, such as those associated with new product development or new market entry, and ought to have a much lower appetite or tolerance for unrewarded risks, such as non-compliance or operational failures. While the CEO proposes risk appetite levels, the board ought to approve them or challenge them and send them back to the CEO for adjustments based on an evaluation of their position with business strategy and stakeholders expectations. 10. Sustain operational discipline Sustainable success demands discipline. This is the final, vital risk intelligence skill because without it risk intelligence cannot be implemented or maintained, assumptions will not be challenged; warning signals will not be detected, transmitted; potential causes of failure will not be addressed; sources will not be verified. The a bsence of operational discipline can undermine a successful enterprise, but most enterprises do not attain success without a high level of operational discipline. It is operational discipline that enables organizations to survive crises and to maintain high standards of performance and integrity while experiencing extraordinary success (G.A. Cole). CONCLUSION Risk is a fundamental part of business. But that doesnt mean all risks are the same. Companies that focus on the wrong risks are wasting their time and money and ultimately, short-changing their shareholders. A delicate balance between risk taking and exploiting business opportunities, winning businesses will be those that are best able to balance coping strategies, which are defensive and focused on avoiding downside risks, with an increasing mix of exploitation strategies, which embrace risk and make the most of the opportunities it presents. Surviving and thriving in the uncertainty and turbulence that has characterized the first decade of this century requires unconventional thinking and calculated risk taking. To do this well, the enterprise needs to be viewed holistically. Between the two extremes of life and death, people and companies have choices to make and options to explore by way of adapting and possibly extending their longevity and success. The successful enterprise incorporates risk intelligence into the ways it understands and manages the business. Risks must be taken to seize opportunities, and they must be managed not simply avoided. They must also be analyzed for their complexity and interactivity. Anticipation and preparation are the key to survival and success. As Hippocrates reminds us, judgment will always be difficult. Consistent practice of the 10 skills we have described can aid superior judgment. One of the greatest challenges of effective enterprise management with regard to defining roles and responsibilities is the fine line between board oversight and management execution. The boards role is to oversee but not manage. Generally, the board should take the longer view, assessing alignment of risk appetite with managements decisions and recommendations but without actually attempting to directly manage risks themselves. This is a difficult and delicate task in which to achieve the right balance. Directors need to have reasonable a ssurance that executives are appropriately managing the risks that do not need to come to the boards attention. It is also essential that the board obtain independent reassurance that managements reports are reliable. For those decisions that do come to the board, it can judge for itself how well the risks are being managed. Boards and management have to work together to ensure that what they each think is happening is actually happening. Organizations cannot allow their hope to become their only strategy.

The American Civil Liberties Union - 1233 Words

without consequences. This practice is corrupt and police officers who act in these ways should be reprimanded and potentially fired for these actions. Some officers go beyond the law in ways they should be incarcerated as well. America’s governmental practice of excluding these police officers is only promoting these behaviors, and a stop should be put to them. By implementing stricter consequences, officers would be more conscious in their actions but now, it affects them as well. Another strong bias displayed in the judicial system is the obvious bias in criminal sentencing in the court. Many studies support the conclusion that people of color are sentenced longer in prison for the same crime as a white person (McElrath, Tran, and†¦show more content†¦The problem usually with wrongful convictions is impulsivity. The fact that the person on trial is a person of color drastically improves the chances of being convicted without going through all motives of an investigation, which obviously are given to white people because of their lower chance of getting convicted wrongly. This is a prominent bias, that a person of color is always guilty of their crime. These findings show that people of color and white people are not being treated the same in the eyes of the law. How is it possible to feel safe with all of these findings stacked up against you? It just isn t feasible. Kenneth Rouse still remains on death row to this day. Some possible solutions to this is simply more diversity in the judicial bench. America needs to have a criminal justice system that represents the diversity of America. When people think of America, they think of the many faces that occupy our country. Unfortunately, this is only embraced by some. It is impossible for someone to completely understand all circumstances of someone s situation without first experiencing similar or the same realities. A white person simply does not know what it is like to be a black person in society. This goes along with the concept of privilege, something everyone has in different amounts, and something in which few people will acknowledge. This goes along with gender, and sexuality. A center for AmericanShow MoreRelatedThe American Civil Liberties Union1714 Words   |  7 PagesThe American Civil Liberties Union is a large and influential non-profit organization that was founded in 1920. The American Civil Liberties Union is a nonpartisan group that serves to protect the individual rights and liberties of American citizens and is considered a powerful interest group, especially within movements that advocate civil rights and civil liberty. 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Racial profiling, as stated by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), â€Å"refers to the discriminatory practice by law enforcement officials of targeting individuals for suspicion of crime based on the individual s race, ethnicity, religion or national origin† (â€Å"The Reality of Racial Profiling†). RacialRead MoreRacial Profiling And The American Civil Liberties Union998 Words   |  4 Pageshold a variety of meanings. As defined by the American Civil Liberties Union, however, racial profiling is the discriminatory practice by law enforcement officials of targeting individuals for suspicion of crime based on the individual s race, ethnicity, religion or national origin (â€Å"Racial Profiling†). Every day, blacks are stopped much more frequently for aimless searches and minor infractions than their white counterparts. Several African Americans share experiences like these, such as Roscoe

Overnutrition and Undernutrition Free Essays

Overnutrition and undernutrition ‘Beware of diet crazes’ – Sunday Telegraph 13. 02. 05 Question 1: What is meant by the term ‘fad diet’? Fad diets are eating programs that are genuinely unbalanced, unhealthy and do not provide enough nutrition for the body. We will write a custom essay sample on Overnutrition and Undernutrition or any similar topic only for you Order Now The people that follow fad diets will eventually become malnourished under nutrition. Fad diets are created usually for weight losing purposes Question 2: Identify 3 fad diets and outline the features of each. -Cabbage Soup Diet: The cabbage soup diet is about consuming a low calorie cabbage soup over seven days. It is considered as fad diet because it is designed for short-term weight-loss that requires no long-term physical activities. The diet contains a soup in which the ingredients are mostly vegetarian. It is claimed to lose about 4. 5 kg in a week but base on diet experts, most of the weight loss are water. -Three Day Diet: The three day diet is now one of the most popular short-term diets. The diet contains a guide for three days with low fat, salt and calorie meals for breakfast, lunch and dinner. It is very unhealthy as its lack of carbohydrates and protein. Therefore it is not recommended to be used anymore than three days. -Grapefruit Diet: The grapefruit diet, also known as the Hollywood Diet is a short-term fad diet that has existed in the United States since 1930s. It involves eating half a grapefruit or drinking grapefruit juice with each meal and significantly reduce the calorie intake, often under 800 calories per day. Like all others fad diets, it is not recommended for regular use. Question 3: Celebrities have access to additional resources, to aid them in achieving weight loss, that are not generally available to average person. What are they? Most celebrities are very rich. They can have access to many different resources that help them achieving weight loss. A common example is personal trainer. The trainers are dietary and weight loss professional that knows many efficient ways and helpful tips that will help training, exercising and having a diet more effective than normal. Another source that will aid them is expensive exercising machinery. With these machines, the exercises will become more complicated and therefore, burnt more calories. Question 4: Explain why fad diets particularly the low carbohydrate diets, are damaging for children. Fad diets usually contain low or even non-carbohydrate diets which are very bad and can even cause fatal disease if it is used over a long period of time. As a child grow up, carbohydrate is the most essential and important mineral needed for the body to fully function. Consuming a fad diet for a long time not only will not give the body enough energy for activities but also can slow down the growing process and might cause the child to become abnormal compare to other child in both height and strength. Question 5: Explain why carbohydrates are so important in our diet. Carbohydrates are very important. They serve as the main source of ‘fuel’ to the body. Without them, all the organs in our body may not function properly. For example, our nervous system cannot sustain unless is given an energy source to work, and that is of course carbohydrates. Also, our muscles and other important organs such as eye need carbohydrates to keep working. If there are not enough carbohydrates then it may cause to us tiredness and will affect our daily life. Question 6: What long term effects could a low carbohydrate diet have on people’s health? A low carbohydrate diet could cause some serious illness to our body over a period of time. Some of those illnesses are deadly such as heart disease or a higher risk of cancer. Lack of carbohydrate will also cause your organs to malfunction. Examples are reduced eye sight or lung diseases. Question 7: Identify 2 food allergies from which Australian commonly suffer. One of the most publicised food allergies is intolerance to peanuts, which affects about one in 200 Australian children. Peanut intolerance can become so severe that it triggers anaphylaxis, a severe allergic reaction that can be fatal. Lactose intolerance is a common food sensitivity that occurs in people who react to lactose found in milk and dairy products. Some food addictives, MSG flavour enhancer and strawberries can also cause allergies. Question 8: Investigate and evaluate one fad diet, examining the features and possible implications to health. You need to: a/ Identify one fad diet. b/ Outline the features of this diet i. e. which foods are included and which foods are prohibited. c/ Discuss possible implication to health. Fad diet: Three Day Diet * The Three Day Diet is one of the most common fad diets around the world. It claims to reduce your weight up to 4. 5 kg after 3 days. The diet contains a plan of meals (breakfast, lunch and dinner) for over 3 days with low calorie and fat foods. * Features: * Inclusion of many different meals (mainly low energy snacks) like boiled eggs or crackers. * Most meals include a vegetable and fruit serve * Coffee is included a lot. * Non-sugar appetiser is also in the diet. * Milk must be drunk after breakfast and dinner. * Prohibited food: * Sugar is not allowed along side with oil or fat. * Carbohydrates since it have a lot of energy. * Possible implication: The consequence of this low carbohydrate diet is obvious. It may reduce your weight you will eventually end up gaining as the weight loss is mostly water. Using this diet will make you become tired due to not enough energy is provided caused be the lacking of carbohydrates. Repeating this diet will severely damage your nervous, muscular and respiratory system of your body since they need the energy from carb ohydrate. Diseases will therefore become created and sometimes can be fatal. Factors That Influence Food Selection ‘School canteens forced to improve nutrition content of snacks on offer’ Sunday Telegraph 13. 2. 05 Question 1: List some popular foods sold in school canteens during the 1980’s and 1990’s. Some popular foods sold in school canteens during the 1980’s and 1990’s are potato chips, fizzy drinks, meat pies and lollies. Question 2: What advisory body was established to assist school canteens in implementing healthier food choices? The New South Wales School Canteen Association was established to assist school canteen in implementing healthier food choices. Question 3: Identify and explain the strategy that was implemented by the State Government in May 2004. The Healthy School Canteen Strategy, launched in May 2004 has prohibited schools in NSW selling high-fat, high-sugar foods more than twice each term. A menu guide was established, which divides foods into three colour groupings aimed at encouraging canteens to serve more wholesome foods and less of the ‘takeaway’ style meals. Question 4: Outline the menu guide that was established to aid the school canteens in categorising various foods. The menu that was established has three categories: green, amber and red. Each colour represents a different group of food base of their nutritional values and healthiness. Green: foods in the ‘green’ category should be offered abundantly, including items like bread, pasta, fruit, lean meat, chicken, fish and dairy products. -Amber: foods in the ‘amber’ group includes pizza, low-fat muffins, pies and ice blocks that should be chosen carefully and served in smaller quantities. -Red: the foods in this group are co nsidered unhealthy, filled with sugary and fatty products. They include deep-fried food, soft drinks, lollies and cream buns. Food from this group is allowed to be served twice a term at special events, such as that last day of school. Question 5: Outline the main reasons for developing this strategy. Provide statistical evidence. The main reason behind the development of this strategy is because of the obesity of many children over the entire Australia. More than 25 percent of children in Australia are overweight or obese, which is one of the highest rates of childhood obesity in the development world. This is due to the fast-food-eating habits that have been developed along side with the growth of many large fast food restaurants. Question 6: Design a new canteen menu for our school based on the above strategy. You need to: * Include green, amber and red foods in the correct proportions * Include a variety of fresh and semi-processed * Include drinks, meals and snack. Canteen Menu The foods will be classified into category of healthiness: green, amber and red. Example: Food name – type of food (fresh, hot food, snacks or drinks) – Colour classification. Menu: * Meat pie (available with chicken, beef and vegetable) – Hot food – Amber * Sausage roll (medium or large) – Hot food – Amber * Instant noodles – Hot food – Amber * Potato chips – Hot food – Red Bread roll and vegetable soup – Hot food – Green * Pasta – Fresh – Green * Spaghetti – Hot food – Amber * Hot dog – Hot food – Green * Fruit (apple, orange, banana, mandarins) – Fresh – Green * Fish and rice – Hot food – Green * Potato chips snacks – Snacks – Amber * Burgers (av ailable with chicken and beef) – Hot food – Amber * Juices (available with orange, apple and grape) – Drink – Green * Chocolate bars (Mars, Boost and Snickers) – Snacks – Amber * Lasagna – Hot food – Amber * Water – Drink – Green Breakfast only: * Hash browns – Hot food – Amber * Egg and bacon – Hot food – Amber How to cite Overnutrition and Undernutrition, Essay examples

Implications of Management Skills and Competencies

Question: Discuss about the Implications of Management Skills and Competencies. Answer: Introduction New Zealand, once the wealthiest and most advance country of the world is facing challenges in keeping up with the fast-faced global environment internationally and domestically. The case study of Netflix has brought an outcome of the reasons as to why New Zealand is facing such problems. It has emphasized on three points which include issues like brain drain, finances, the unwillingness of overseas investors, and employee retention (Zhu, 2014). The article also emphasises on the lack of managerial skills required by the leaders of the company to bring success to it. The third point emphasized by the case study is the requirement of a new business model or redesigning of the old one as per the new global changes. As per them the changing markets and technologies have led the stakeholders and funders more guarded regarding their investment and later the profit earned though it. This essay critically analyses the issues and view point on the actuality of the problems (Bagire and Namada , 2013). Thesis Statements The case study has concluded that there are a regular brain drain, financial issues and problem in retaining employees. The reason of these issues is the lack of opportunities in New Zealand. The economic growth of New Zealand has decreased since the global crisis of 2008-2009. Though New Zealand has come up with some primary industries to increase its economic growth but still the New Zealanders are emigrating in search of better career options. Managerial skills are required here to help the company in retaining its employees. These managerial skills are needed to be developed. Another issue is the low amount of wages that company offer to their employees, this make them go for a search of a better option outside the country. New Zealand has no or a few big industry players like manufacturing units, automobiles companies, semiconductors, or aerospace. People wanting a career in these fields have no opportunities in New Zealand so they emigrate (Tyson, 2012). Another author says tha t the reason for all the problems is the underperformance of the industries of New Zealand (NZIER, 2011). It is true that New Zealand is facing a lot of issues with all the sectors operating here, and measures are needed to be taken to solve these issues, or it will lead New Zealand to more economic disasters. It becomes very important for the business sector of New Zealand to work out measures that will help in bringing improvement in the current issues. As told before New Zealand does have primary industries which can be used to bring strength to the business sector of the country but they will not be sufficient to overcome the economic crises and remove all the financial issues that the country is facing. As per Yukl, it is necessary that the current situation of the countrys business sector need to be analysed and then an understanding of the managerial requirements and its development should be managed. According to him, the managerial qualities required to overcome these issue s are learning to advocate the change, encourage innovation, facilitate collective learning and envision change. These behavioural changes in managerial skills will help in improving the current conditions (Yukl, 2012). The second thesis statement emphasized by the case study is that the managers of New Zealand business sector lack effective managerial quality and to improve that the development of managerial skills in the leader becomes necessary. The case study has determined three managerial skills which can bring the maximum change in the situation of the New Zealands business structure. The three managerial skills are the capabilities of managing organisational renewal and uncertainty; to handle the relationship web with stakeholder a manager needs political and interpersonal skills and a skill of systematic approach in managing limited resources and people. A study conducted by Dayal Talukder, Brent Hawkins states that the managers of New Zealand believe that on the job experience is sufficient for them to perform successfully in the business and the improvement of managerial skills through coaching is not important (Talukder and Hawkins, 2014). This traditional approach of the managers needed to be changed, and they should be told that it is very much possible to develop a managerial skill in a person. The current issues of brain drain, finances, and retaining of employees and the required managerial skills are associated with each other as these are the major issues that the country is facing, and solution for removing these issues are in improving the suggested managerial skills. It is true that improving managerial skill will help in retaining employees as the manager with his skill of managing people able to retain the employee that will also decrease the problem of brain drain. Management of stakeholders and partners will handle the issue of financial problems and attract investors. The uncertainty in any business is a part that cannot be removed. Thus, the skill of managing the uncertainty is also proved to be a beneficial skill for a manager. The leadership and management skills substantially impact an organisational performance. The flourishing of innovation and skill development is only possible if the manager is skilled. They help in achieving the targets set by the company and enhance the productivity growth of it (Green, 2010). The case study has specified the few important managerial skills which majorly covers the currently identified issues. It is important that more studies take place, and all the managerial skills required for the improvement of the business sector of New Zealand are identified and added in the learning phase of the management. One such study emphasises on few keys that are necessary for a manager to have and they are integrity, honesty, trustworthiness, and creativity. This will help in enhancing the innovativeness of the business and the power to face competitions (Cumin, Talukder and Hawkins, 2012). The third statement emphasised in the case study is the requirement of the change of business model that New Zealand business sector is following presently. As per the case study, there is a requirement of solving issues like brain drain finances, and employee retention. These problems, when diagnosed, stated that improvement in managerial skills would help in solving the issues. But, the case study clarifies further that just by improving the managerial skills will not be able to overcome the issues that New Zealand business sector is facing (Zhu, 2014). It is necessary to introduce a new business model or redesign the current business model. Managers are asked to improve their managerial skill and manage within the limited resources that are available to them which ask the business model should also change which can make the limited resources sufficient to attain the target and its procedure. The business model required here should emphasise on the phrase trim the fat and without c reating employee redundancies enhance the quality of work. This business model will include quality management, working collaboratively; enhance personal performance, and lean production (de Menezes, Wood and Gelade, 2010). Although just based on the survey of 265 chief executives it is difficult to decide the exact business model that will act the most beneficial, but focusing on the three managerial skills required and the related problems need to be solved few changes can be determined and applied in the business model. A business model defines the manner in which an enterprise works. Which means the reflection of managements hypothesis on customer want, like how, when, and what. To meet them managerial skills are required, and therefore the proper business model is required (Teece, 2009). The new business will not only identify the managerial skills of the leader, but the ability of the entire management hierarchy will improve. Thus, the emphasis of the case study on the new bus iness model or redesigning of the old one is very important to achieve the other two statements give in the essay. The new business model may include strategies like training, job design, improved selection, and team-building. These strategies will not only help the managers to attain the target the company has set, but the overall development of the whole organisation will take place (Kaushik, Pennathur and Barnhart, 2010). Conclusion This article helps in clearing a current picture of New Zealands current business sector. As per the article, the survey conducted includes more about 265 chief executives, whereas there are more than thousand of companies operating in New Zealand. One could not determine the correct result with only one-fourth of the actual operating organisations. Also, there is no equal ratio in sectors those who have answered the survey. A clear picture can only be attained when most of the management answers the survey and then a diagnosis is done of the factors due to which the companies of New Zealand are facing so many problems. The article to determine the issues and problems that the country is facing in the recent times, but a proper solution to any of the problems are not being suggested anywhere in the article. The best part of the article is that it has divided the issues and problems into two parts and that helps in clarifying the issues and problems in details and its outcome is well- partitioned. Thus, to conclude the exact outcome of the issues in New Zealand and finding their solution a more detailed survey is required. References Bagire, V. and Namada, J. (2013). Managerial Skills, Financial Capability and Strategic Planning in Organizations.AJIBM, 03(05), pp.480-487. Cumin, D., Talukder, D. and Hawkins, B. (2012).Managerial skills and competencies in NZ o rganiz atio ns: a cause for concern. [online] www.worldbusinesscapabilitycongress.com. Available at: https://www.worldbusinesscapabilitycongress.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/Brent-Hawkins_ICL-Business-School_Paper_Managerial-skills-and-competencies-in-NZ-organizations-a-cause-for-concern-.pdf [Accessed 21 Sep. 2016]. de Menezes, L., Wood, S. and Gelade, G. (2010). The integration of human resource and operation management practices and its link with performance: A longitudinal latent class study.Journal of Operations Management, 28(6), pp.455-471. Green, R. (2010).Management Matter in New Zealand- How does manufacturing measure up?. [online] worldmanagementsurvey.org. Available at: https://worldmanagementsurvey.org/wp-content/images/2010/07/Report_Management-Matters-in-New-Zealand-How-does-manufacturing-measure-up.pdf [Accessed 21 Sep. 2016]. Kaushik, A., Pennathur, A. and Barnhart, S. (2010). Market timing and the determinants of performance of sector funds over the business cycle.Managerial Finance, 36(7), pp.583-602. NZIER, N. (2011).Working paper 2011/3 Industry productivity and the Australia - New Zealand income gap. [online] www.fedfarm.org.nz. Available at: https://www.fedfarm.org.nz/files/2011---NZIER-NZ-v-Aus-Productivity.pdf [Accessed 21 Sep. 2016]. Talukder, D. and Hawkins, B. (2014). Managerial skills and competencies in New Zealand organisations: a cause for concern: International Journal of Economics and Business Research: Vol 8, No 2.International Journal of Economics and Business Research. [online] Available at: https://www.inderscienceonline.com/doi/abs/10.1504/IJEBR.2014.064117 [Accessed 21 Sep. 2016]. Teece, D. (2009).Business Models, Business Strategy and Innovation. [online] www.businessmodelcommunity.com. Available at: https://www.businessmodelcommunity.com/fs/root/8jig8-businessmodelsbusinessstrategy.pdf [Accessed 21 Sep. 2016]. Tyson, S. (2012). The Handbook of Research on Comparative Human Resource Management20131Edited by Chris Brewster and Wolfgang Mayrhofer. The Handbook of Research on Comparative Human Resource Management . Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing Limited 2012. 704 pp., ISBN: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ 10: 184720726X; à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ 13: 978à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ 1847207265.Personnel Review, 42(1), pp.127-129. Yukl, G. (2012). Effective Leadership Behavior: What We Know and What Questions Need More Attention.Academy of Management Perspectives, 26(4), pp.66-85. Zhu, Y. (2014). The Mediating Effects of Managerial Skills on the Relationship Between Managerial Values, Ethical Leadership, and Organizational Reputation.Journal of Asia-Pacific Business, 15(4), pp.335-359.

Relative Importance of Economic free essay sample

Discuss the relative importance of economic, social, cultural and moral considerations underlying Canada’s migration policy. Canada is the world’s second largest surface area, with a population of 33 million. It is a rich resource base for industry with fertile soil, plentiful power supplies, well developed modern industries and a highly urbanised population. About 70% of Canada’s workforce growth comes from immigration and currently one in five Canadian workers are foreign born. Canada’s establishment and economic growth are directly attributable to immigration, but the country has always operated a highly selective system with policies changing due to the economic, social, cultural and moral needs of the country at that time. Between 1870 and 1918 was known as the ‘Open Door’ policy. The main need at this moment in time was economic and for infrastructure development, especially a rail network. In the west of Canada the main industry was agriculture and the East was mainly manufacturing. We will write a custom essay sample on Relative Importance of Economic or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page A rail network was then essential to link the two and create an integrated economy. This stage was called Open Door because there was no restriction on numbers into the country, but there was some cultural considerations underlying this policy as well. The migrants sought were almost exclusively from the USA, UK, NW Europe to reflect Canada’s customs and ideals. Therefore, the government could control racial composition of migrants. From 1919-1929 immigration became more selective and the main focus underlying the migration policy was social. Prospective migrants had to pass a literacy test. Migrants were separated into those from ‘preferred’, such as from the U.K and were given financial assistance, and ‘non preferred’ countries. ‘Non-preferred’ countries included Russia. Immigrants from here were only admitted in times of need for the lowest-paid jobs, and there were still restrictions. This shows further cultural considerations in the policy. The non-preferred list also had a ‘non-acceptable’ category which included ‘visible minorities’ (e. g Chinese, who worked for the rail companies). The Exclusion Act in 1923 prevented Chinese immigrants bringing family members with them. This is a big example of the cultural considerations being used to change the policies. Unemployment rose significantly between 1930 and 1945 (The Great Depression). All migration was suspended, except under the family reunion category. The next stage between 1946 and 1960 had the aims of increasing in-migration and both cultural and moral considerations were major parts of the policies created. The immigration Act of 1952 reflected the ethnically selective nature of the Canadian Immigration. Groups could be refused entry on grounds of nationality, citizenship, ethnic group, occupation, class, ‘peculiar’ customs etc. After many years of racist undertones in policies there was a turning point between 1960 and 1986. An immigration act in 1967 sought to enrich and strengthen the cultural and social fabric of Canada. Attention switched to the skills of the migrant rather than the country of origin. This showed a switch from cultural and moral considerations in the policy to social. Preferred and non-preferred countries were abandoned for a points system which was much fairer. From 1986 to 1993, economic was the main consideration underlying the economic policies. Migration was now seen as a long term demographic solution due to a changing population. In more recent years the points system has been modified with moral considerations for everyone.

How to Write a Great College Essay, Step-by-Step

How to Write a Great College Essay, Step-by-Step SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips Writing your personal statement for your college application is an undeniably overwhelming project. Your essay is your big shot to show colleges who you are - it’s totally reasonable to get stressed out. But don’t let that stress paralyze you. This guide will walk you through each step of the essay writing process to help you understand exactly what you need to do to write the best possible personal statement. I'm alsogoing to follow an imaginary student named Eva as she plans and writes her college essay, from her initial organization and brainstorming to her final edits. By the end of this article, you'll have all the toolsyou need to createa fantastic, effective college essay. So how do you writea goodcollege essay? The processstarts with finding the best possibletopic, which means understanding what the prompt is asking for and taking the time to brainstorm a variety of options. Next, you'll determinehow to create an interesting essay that shows off your unique perspective and write multiple drafts in order to hone your structureand language. Onceyour writing is as effective and engaging as possible, you'll do a final sweep to make sure everything is correct. This guide coversthe following steps: Organizing Brainstorming Picking a topic Making a plan Writing a draft Editing your draft Finalizing your draft Repeating the process Feature Image: John O'Nolan/Flickr Step 1: Get Organized The first step in how to write a college essay is figuring out what you actually need to do. Although many schools are now on the Common App, some very popular colleges, including University of Texas and University of California,still have their own applications and writing requirements. Even for Common App schools, you may need to write a supplemental essay or provide short answers to questions. Before you get started, you shouldknow exactly what essays you need to write. Having this information allows you to plan the best approach to each essay and helps you cut down on work by determining whetheryou can use an essay for more than one prompt. Start Early Writing good college essays involves a lot of work: you need dozens of hours to get just one personal statement properly polished, and that's before you even start to consider any supplemental essays. In order to make sure you have plenty of time to brainstorm, write, and edit your essay (or essays), I recommend starting at least two months before your first deadline. The last thing you want is to end up with a low-quality essay you aren't proud of because you ran out of time and had to submit something unfinished. Determine What You Need to Do As I touched on above, each college has its own essay requirements, so you'll need to go through and determine what exactly you need to submit for each school. This process issimpleif you’re only using the Common App, since you can easily view therequirements for each school under the "My Colleges" tab. Watch out, though, because some schools have a dedicated "Writing Supplement" section, while others (even those that want a full essay) will put their prompts inthe "Questions" section. It gets trickier if you’re applying to any schools that aren't onthe Common App. You'll need to look up the essay requirements for each college - what's required should be clear on the application itself, or you can look under the "how to apply" section of the school's website. Once you've determined the requirements for each school, I recommend making yourself a chartwith the school name, word limit, and application deadline on one side andthe prompt or prompts you need to respond to on the other. That way you'll be able to see exactly what you need to do and when you need to do it by. Decide Where to Start If you have one essay that's due earlier than the others, start there. Otherwise, start with the essay for your top choice school. I would also recommend starting with alonger personal statement beforemoving on to shorter supplementary essays, since the 500 - 700 word essays tend to take quite a bit longer than 100 - 250 word short responses. The brainstorming you do for the long essay may help you come up with ideas you like for the shorter ones as well. Also considerwhether some of the prompts are similar enough that you could submitthe same essay to multiple schools. Doing so can save you some time and let you focus on a few really great essays rather than a lot of mediocre ones. However,don't reuse essays for dissimilar or very school-specific prompts, especially â€Å"why us† essays. If a college asks you to write aboutwhy you're excited to go there, admissions officers want to see evidence that you're genuinely interested. Reusing an essay about another school and swapping out thenames isthe fastest way to prove you aren't. Example: Eva's College List Eva is applying early to Emory University and regular decision to University of Washington, UCLA, and Reed College. Emory and Reed both use the Common App. College Essay Prompt University of Washington December 1st 600 words Discuss how your family’s experience or cultural history enriched you or presented you with opportunities or challenges in pursuing your educational goals. OR Tell us a story from your life, describing an experience that either demonstrates your character or helped to shape it. University of Washington December 1st 300 words The University of Washington seeks to create a community of students richly diverse in cultural backgrounds, experiences, and viewpoints. How would you contribute to this community? OR Describe an experience of cultural difference or insensitivity you have had or observed. What did you learn from it? UCLA November 30 1,000 words total Describe the world you come from - for example, your family, community or school - and tell us how your world has shaped your dreams and aspirations. AND Tell us about a personal quality, talent, accomplishment, contribution or experience that is important to you. What about this quality or accomplishment makes you proud and how does it relate to the person you are? Common App November 1 650 words 1. Some students have a background, identity, interest, or talent that is so meaningful they believe their application would be incomplete without it. If this sounds like you, then please share your story. 2. The lessons we take from failure can be fundamental to later success. Recount an incident or time when you experienced failure. How did it affect you, and what did you learn from the experience? 3. Reflect on a time when you challenged a belief or idea. What prompted you to act? Would you make the same decision again? 4. Describe a problem you’ve solved or a problem you’d like to solve. It can be an intellectual challenge, a research query, an ethical dilemma-anything that is of personal importance, no matter the scale. Explain its significance to you and what steps you took or could be taken to identify a solution. 5. Discuss an accomplishment or event, formal or informal, that marked your transition from childhood to adulthood within your culture, community, or family. Emory University 500 words November 1 Last August, Susan Grant, chief nurse executive for Emory Healthcare, said this of Emory’s choice to treat patients with Ebola: "We can either let our actions be guided by misunderstandings, fear and self-interest, or we can lead by knowledge, science and compassion. We can fear, or we can care." Consider her idea of doing what is in the public interest despite potential cost. Please discuss an example in your life or the life of another that's come to your attention. OR In the spirit of Emory's tradition of courageous inquiry, what question do you want to help answer and why? Reed College Jan 1 200-500 words For one week at the end of January, Reed students upend the traditional classroom hierarchy and teach classes about any topic they love, academic or otherwise. This week is known as Paideia after the Greek term signifying â€Å"education† – the complete education of mind, body and spirit. What would you teach that would contribute to the Reed community? Even though she's only applying to four schools, Eva has a lot to do: two essays for UW, two for the UC application, and one for the Common App, plus the supplements for Reed and Emory. Manystudents will have fewer requirements to complete, but those who are applying to very selective schools or a number of schools on different applications will have as many or even more responses to write. Since Eva's first deadline isearly decision forEmory, she’ll start by writing the Common App essay, and then work on the Emory supplement. (For the purposes of this post, we’ll focus on the Common App essay.) Colored paper clips: functionaland fun! (At least if you love organization.) Step 2: Brainstorm Next up in how to write a college essay: brainstorming essay ideas. There are tons ofways to come up with ideas for your essay topic: I've outlined three below. I recommend trying all of themand compilinga list of possible topics, then narrowing it down to the very best one or, if you're writing multiple essays, ones. Keep in mind as you brainstorm that there’s no best college essay topic, just the best topic for you. Don’t feel obligated to write about something because you think you should - those types of essays tend to be boring and uninspired. Similarly, don't simply write about the first idea that crosses your mindbecause you don't want to bother trying to think of something more interesting. Take the timeto come up with a topic you’re really excited about and that you can write about in detail. Want to write the perfect college application essay? Get professional help from PrepScholar. Your dedicated PrepScholar Admissions counselor will craft your perfect college essay, from the ground up. We'll learn your background and interests, brainstorm essay topics, and walk you through the essay drafting process, step-by-step. At the end, you'll have a unique essay that you'll proudly submit to your top choice colleges. Don't leave your college application to chance. Find out more about PrepScholar Admissions now: Analyze the Prompts One way to find possibletopics is to think deeply aboutthe college's essay prompt. What are they asking you for? Break them downand analyze every angle. Does the question include more than one part? Are there multiple tasks you need to complete? What do you think the admissions officers are hoping to learn about you? In cases where you have more than one choice of prompt, does one especially appeal to you? Why? Let's dissectone of the University of Washington prompts as an example: "Discuss how your family’s experience or cultural history enriched you or presented you with opportunities or challenges in pursuing your educational goals." This question is basically asking how your family affected your education, but it offers a number of possible angles. You can talk about the effects of either your family life (likeyour relationship with your parents or what your household was like growing up) or your cultural history (like your Jewish faith or your Venezuelan heritage). You can also choose between focusing on positive or negative effects of your family or culture.No matter what however, the readersdefinitely want to hear about your educational goals (i.e. what you hope to get out of college) and how they're related to your personal experience. As you try to think of answers for a prompt, imagine about what you would say if you were asked the question by a friend or during a get-to-know-you icebreaker. After all, admissions officers are basically just people who you want to get to knowyou. The essay questions can make a great jumping off point, but don’t feel married to them. Most prompts are general enough that you can come up with an idea and then fit it to the question. Consider Important Experiences, Events, and Ideas in Your Life What experience, talent, interest or other quirk do you have that you might want to share with colleges? In other words, what makes you you?Possible topicsinclude hobbies, extracurriculars, intellectual interests, jobs, significant one-time events, pieces of family history, or anything else that has shaped your perspective on life. Unexpected or slightly unusual topics are often the best: your passionate love of Korean dramas or your yearly family road trip to an important historical site. You want your essayto add something to your application, so if you’re an All-American soccer player and want to write about the role soccer has played in your life, you’ll have a higher bar to clear. Of course if you have a more serious part of your personal history - the death of a parent, serious illness, or challenging upbringing - you can write about that. But make sure you feel comfortable sharing details of the experience with the admissions committee and that you can separate yourself from it enough to take constructive criticism on your essay. What do you see when you look in the mirror? Think About How You See Yourself The last brainstorming method is to consider whether there are particular personality traits you want to highlight. This approach can feel rather silly, but it can also be very effective. If you were trying to sell yourself to an employer, or maybe even a potential date, how would you do it? Try to think about specific qualities that make you stand out.What are some situations in which you exhibited this trait? Example: Eva's Ideas Looking at the Common App prompts, Eva wasn’t immediately drawn to any of them, but after a bit of consideration she thought it might be nice to write about her love of literature for the first one, which asks about something "so meaningful your application would be incomplete without it." Alternatively, she liked the specificity of the failure prompt and thought she might write about a bad job interview she had had. In terms of important events, Eva’s parents got divorced when she was three andshe’s been going back and forth between their houses for as long as she can remember, so that’s a big part of her personal story. She’s also played piano for all four years of high school, although she's not particularlygood. As for personal traits, Eva is really proud of her curiosity - if she doesn’t know something, she immediately looks it up, and often ends up discovering new topics she’s interested in. It’s a trait that’s definitely come in handy as a reporter for her school paper. Step 3: Narrow Down Your List Now you have a list of potential topics, but probably no idea where to start. The next step is to go through your ideas and determinewhich onewill make for the strongest essay. You'll thenbegin thinking about how best to approach it. What to Look For in a College Essay Topic There's no single answer to the question of what makes a great college essay topic, but there are somekey factors you should keep in mind. The best essaysare focused, detailed, revealing and insightful, and finding the righttopic is vitalto writing a killer essay with all of those qualities. As you go through your ideas, be discriminating - really think about how each topic could work as an essay. Butdon’t be too hard on yourself; even if an ideamay not work exactly the way you first thought, there may be another way to approach it. Pay attention to whatyou're really excited about and look for ways to make those ideas work. Once you have a bunch of "idea"s, you have to decide which one really stands out. Does ItMatter to You? If you don’t care about your topic, it will be hard to convince your readers to care about it either. You can't write a revealing essay about yourself unless you write about a topic that is truly important to you. But don’t confuse important to you withimportantto the world:a college essay is not a persuasive argument. The point is to givethe reader a sense of who you are, not to make a political or intellectual point. The essay needs to be personal. Similarly, a lot of students feel like they have to write about a major life event or their most impressive achievement. But the purposeof a personal statement isn't to serve as a resume or a brag sheet - there are plenty of other places in the application for you to list that information. Many of the best essays areabout something small because your approach to acommon experience generallyreveals a lot about your perspective on the world. Mostly, your topic needs to have had a genuine effect on your outlook, whether it taught you something about yourself or significantly shifted your view on something else. Does It Tell the Reader Something Different About You? Your essay should add something to your application that isn’t obvious elsewhere. Again, there are sections for all of your extracurriculars and awards; the point of the essay is to reveal something more personal that isn't clear just from numbers and lists. You also want to make sure that if you're sending more than one essay to a school - like a Common App personal statement and a school-specific supplement - the two essays take on different topics. Is ItSpecific? Your essay should ultimately have a very narrow focus. 650 words may seem like a lot, but you can fill it up very quickly. This means you either need to have a very specific topic from the beginning or find a specific aspect of a broader topic to focus on. If you try to take on a verybroad topic, you’ll end up with a bunch of general statements and boring lists of your accomplishments. Instead, you want to find a short anecdote or single idea to explore in depth. Can You DiscussIt in Detail? A vague essay is a boring essay - specific details are what imbueyour essay with yourpersonality. For example, if I tell my friend that I hada great dessert yesterday, she probably won't be that interested. But if I explainthat I ate an amazing piece of peach raspberry pie with flaky, buttery crust and filling that was both sweet and tart, she will probablydemand to know where I obtainedit (at least she will if she appreciates the joys of pie). She'll also learn more about me: I love pie and I analyzedeserts with great seriousness. Given the importance of details, writing about something that happened a long time ago or that you don’t remember well isn't usually a wisechoice. If you can't describe something in depth, it will be challenging to write a compelling essay about it. You also shouldn't pick a topic you aren't actually comfortable talking about. Some students are excited to write essays about very personal topics, like their mother's bipolar disorder or their family's financial struggles, but others dislike sharing details about these kinds of experiences. If you're a member of the latter group, that's totally okay, just don't write about one of these sensitive topics. Still, don’t worry that every single detail has to be perfectly correct. Definitely don’t make anything up, but if you remember a wall as green and it was really blue, your readers won'tnotice or care. You don't have to know exactly how many dewdrops there were on the leaf. Can It Be Related to the Prompt? As long as you’re talking about yourself, there are very few ideas that you can’t tie back to one of the Common App prompts. But if you’re applying to a school with its own more specific prompt, or working on supplemental essays, making sure to address the question will be a greater concern. Want to write the perfect college application essay? Get professional help from PrepScholar. Your dedicated PrepScholar Admissions counselor will craft your perfect college essay, from the ground up. We'll learn your background and interests, brainstorm essay topics, and walk you through the essay drafting process, step-by-step. At the end, you'll have a unique essay that you'll proudly submit to your top choice colleges. Don't leave your college application to chance. Find out more about PrepScholar Admissions now: Deciding on a Topic Once you've gone through the questions above, you should have good sense of what you want to write about. Hopefully, it's also gotten you started thinking about how you can best approach that topic, but we'll cover how to plan your essaymore fully in the next step. If after going through the narrowing process, you’ve eliminated all your topics, first look back over them: are you being too hard on yourself? Are there any that you really like, but just aren’t totally sure what angle to take on? If so, try looking at the next section and seeing if you can’t find a different way to approach it. If you just don't have an idea you're happy with, that’s okay! Give yourself a week to think about it. Sometimes you’ll end up having a genius idea in the car on the way to school or while studying for your U.S. history test. Otherwise, try the brainstorming process again when you’ve had a break. If, on the other hand, you have more than oneidea you really like, consider whether any of themcan be used for other essays you need to write. Example: Picking Eva's Topic After brainstorming, Eva has a list of five possible topics: Love of books Failed job interview Piano Parents’ divorce Reporting Eva immediately rules out writing about playing piano, because it sounds super boring to her and it’s not something she is particularly passionate about. She also decides not to write about splitting time between her parents because she just isn’t comfortable sharing her feelings about it with an admissions committee. She feels more positive about the other three, so she decides to think about them for a couple of days. She ends up ruling out the job interview because she just can’t come up with that many details she could include. She's excited about both of her last two ideas, but sees issues with both of them: the books idea is very broad and the reporting idea doesn’t seem to apply to any of the prompts. Then she realizes that she can address the solving a problem prompt by talking about a time she was trying to research a story about the closing of a local movie theater, so she decides to go with that topic. Step 4: Figure Out Your Approach You’ve decided on a topic, but now you need to turn that topic into an essay. To do so, you need to determine what specifically you’re focusing on and how you’ll structure your essay. If you’re struggling or uncertain, try taking a look at some examples of successful college essays.It can be helpful to dissect how other personal statementsare structured to get ideas for your own, but don't fall into the trap of trying to copy someone else's approach. Youressayis your story - never forget that. Let's go through the key steps that will help you turn a great topic into a great essay. Choose a Focal Point As I touched on above, the narrower your focus, the easier it will be to write a unique, engaging personal statement.The simplestway to restrict the scope of your essayis to recount an anecdote, i.e. a short personal story that illustrates your larger point. For example, say a student was planning to write about her Outward Bound trip in Yosemite. If she tries to tell the entire story of hertrip, heressay will either be far too long or very vague. Instead, she decidesto focus in on a specific incident that exemplifies what mattered to her about the experience: her failed attempt to climb Half Dome. She described the moment she decided to turn back without reaching the top in detail, while touching on other parts of the climb and trip where appropriate. This approach lets her create a dramatic arc in just 600 words, while fully answering the question posed in the prompt (Common App prompt 2). Of course, concentratingon an anecdote isn't the only way to narrow your focus. Depending on your topic, it might make more sense to build your essay around an especially meaningful object, relationship, or idea. Another approachour example student from above could take to the same general topic would be to write about her attempts to keep her hiking boots from giving her blisters (in response to Common App prompt 4). Rather than discussing a single incident, she could tell the story of her trip through her ongoing struggle with the boots: the different fixes she tried, her less and less squeamish reactions to the blisters, the solution she finally found. A structure like this one can be trickier than the more straightforward anecdote approach, but it can also make for an engaging and different essay. When deciding what part of your topic to focus on, try to find whatever it is about the topic that is most meaningful and uniqueto you. Once you've figured that part out, it will guide how you structure the essay. To be fair, even trying to climb Half Dome takes some serious guts. Decide What You Want to Show About Yourself Remember that the point of the college essay isn’t just to tell a story, it’s to show something about yourself. It's vital that you have a specific point you want to make about what kind of person you are, what kind of college student you’d make, or what the experience you’re describing taught you. Since the papers you write for school are mostly analytical, you probably aren't used to writing about your own feelings. As such, it can be easy to neglect the reflection part of the personal statement in favor of just telling a story.Yet explaining what the event or idea you discuss meant to you is the most important essay - knowing how you want to tie your experiences back to yourpersonal growth from the beginning will help you make sure to include it. Develop a Structure It’s not enough to just know what you want to write about - you also need to have a sense of how you’re going to write about it. You could have the most exciting topic of all time, but without a clear structure your essay will end up as incomprehensible gibberish that doesn't tell the reader anything meaningful about your personality. There are a lot of different possible essay structures, but a simple and effective one is the compressed narrative, which builds on aspecific anecdote (like the Half Dome example above): Start in the middle of the action. Don't spend a lot of time at the beginning of your essay outlining background info - it doesn't tend to draw the reader in and you usually need less of it than you think you do. Instead start right where your story starts to get interesting. (I'll go into how to craft an intriguingopenerin more depth below.) Briefly explain what the situation is. Now thatyou've gotthe reader's attention, go back and explain anything they need to know about how you got into this situation. Don't feel compelled to fit everything in - only include the background details that are necessary to either understand what happened or illuminate your feelings about the situation in some way. Finish the story. Once you've clarified exactly what's going on, explain how you resolved the conflict or concluded the experience. Explain what you learned. The last step is to tie everything together and bring home the main point of your story: how this experience affected you. The key to this type of structure is to create narrative tension - you want your reader to be wondering what happens next. A second approach is the thematic structure, which is based on returning to a key idea or object again and again (like the boots example above): Establish the focus.If you're going to structure your essay around a single theme or object, you need to begin the essay byintroducing that key thing. You can do sowith a relevant anecdote or a detailed description. Touch on 3 - 5 timesthe focus was important.The body of your essay will consist of stringing together a few important momentsrelated to the topic. Make sure to use sensory details to bring the reader into those points in time and keep her engagedin the essay. Also remember to elucidate why these moments were important to you. Revisit the main idea.At the end, you want to tie everything together by revisiting the main idea or object and showing how your relationship to it hasshaped or affected you. Ideally, you'll also hint at how this thing will be important to you going forward. To make this structure work you need a veryspecific focus. Your love of travel, for example, is much too broad - you would need to hone in on a specific aspect of that interest, like how travelinghas taught you to adapt to event the most unusual situations. Whatever you do, don't use this structure to create a glorified resume or brag sheet. However you structure your essay, you want to make sure that it clearly lays out both the events or ideas you’re describing and establishes the stakes (i.e. what it all means for you). Many students become so focused on telling astory or recounting details that they forget to explain what it all meant to them. Your essay has to be built step-by-step, just like this building. Example: Eva's Essay Plan For her essay, Eva decides to use the compressed narrative structure to tell the story of how she tried and failed to report on the closing of a historic movie theater: Open with the part of her story where she finally gave up after calling the theater and city hall a dozen times. Explain that although she started researchingthe story out of journalistic curiosity, it was important to her because she'd grown up going to movies at that theater. Recount how defeated she felt when she couldn't get ahold of anyone, and then even more so when she saw a story about the theater's closingin the local paper. Describer her decisionto write an op-ed instead and interviewother students about what the theater meant to them. Finish by explaining that although she wasn't able to get the story (or stop the destruction of the theater), she learned that sometimes the emotional angle can be just as interesting as the investigative one. Step 5: Write a FirstDraft The key to writing your first draft is not to worry about whether it’s any good - just get something on paper and go from there. You will have to rewrite, so trying to get everything perfect is both frustrating and futile. Everyone has their own writing process. Maybe you feel more comfortable sitting down and writing the whole draft from beginning to end in one go. Maybe you jump around, writing a little bit here and a little there. It’s okay to have sections you know won’t work or to skip over things you think you’ll need to include later. Whatever your approach, there are a few tips everyone can benefit from. Don't Aim for Perfection I mentioned this idea above, but I can't emphasize it enough: no one writes a perfect first draft. Extensive editing and rewriting is vital to crafting an effective personal statement. Don’t get too attached to any part of yourdraft, because you may needto change anything (or everything) about your essay later. Also keep in mind that, at this point in the process, the goal is just to get your ideas down. Wonky phrasings and misplaced commas can easily be fixed when you edit, so don't worry about them as you write. Instead, focus on including lots of specific details and emphasizing how your topic has affected you, since these aspects are vital to a compelling essay. Want to write the perfect college application essay? Get professional help from PrepScholar. Your dedicated PrepScholar Admissions counselor will craft your perfect college essay, from the ground up. We'll learn your background and interests, brainstorm essay topics, and walk you through the essay drafting process, step-by-step. At the end, you'll have a unique essay that you'll proudly submit to your top choice colleges. Don't leave your college application to chance. Find out more about PrepScholar Admissions now: Write an EngagingIntroduction One part of the essay you do want to pay special attention to is the introduction. Your intro is your essay’s first impression: you only get one. It's much harder to regain your reader's attention onceyou've lost it, so you want to draw the reader in with an immediately engaging hook that sets up a compelling story. There are two possible approaches I would recommend. The â€Å"In Media Res† Opening You’ll probably recognize this term if you studied The Odyssey: it basically means that the story starts in the middle of the action, rather than at the beginning. A good intro of this type makes the reader wonder both how you got to the point you’re starting at and where you'll go from there. These openers provide a solid, intriguing beginningfor narrative essays (though they can certainly for thematic structures as well). But how do you craft one? Try to determine the most interesting point in your story and startthere. If you're not sure where that is, try writing out the entire story and then crossing out each sentence in order until you get to one that immediatelygrabs your attention. Let's look at some examples from real students' college essays: "Bottom of the ninth, two outs, the Red Sox down by four. We needed a miracle." Daniel J Shinnick, Connecticut College "I strode in front of 400 frenzied eighth graders with my arm slung over my Fender Stratocaster guitar - it actually belonged to my mother - and launched into the first few chords of Nirvana's 'Lithium.'" Anonymous, University of Virginia Both of these introsthrow the reader right intothe middle of the action. In the first, the game is already mostly over, and as we later find out, his sister is undergoing brain surgery the next day. The immediacy of this intro ("We need a miracle") gives a sense of high stakes, even though we don't know what the real topicis yet. In the second, the author jumps rightinto the action: theperformance. You can imagine how much less exciting it would be ifthe essay opened with an explanation of what the event was and why the author was performing. The Specific Generalization Sounds like an oxymoron, right? This type of intro sets up what the essay is going to talk about in a slightly unexpected way. These area bit trickier than the "in media res" variety, but theycan work really well for the right essay - generally one with a thematic structure. The key to this type of intro is detail. Contrary to what you may have learned in elementary school, sweeping statements don't make very strong hooks. If you want to start your essay with a more overalldescription of what you'll be discussing, you still need to make it specific and unique enough to stand out. Once again, let's look at some examples from real students' essays: â€Å"Pushed against the left wall in my room is a curious piece of furniture.† Neha, Johns Hopkins University â€Å"My name is Brontà «, and if you ask me, I’ll tell you my favorite book is Jane Eyre. This may or may not be a coincidence.† Brontà «, Johns Hopkins University Both of these intros set up the general topic of the essay (the first writer's bookshelf and and the second'slove ofJane Eyre) in an intriguing way.The first intro works because itmixes specific descriptions ("pushed against the left wall in my room") with more general commentary ("a curious piece of furniture"). The second draws the reader in by adopting a conversational and irreverent tone with asides like "if you ask me" and "This may or may not be a coincidence." I wouldn't recommend this intro - it's a bitof a cliche. Don't Worry Too Much About the Length When you start writing, don't worry about your essay'slength. Instead, focus on trying to include all of the details you can think of about your topic, which will make it easier to decide what you really need to include when you edit. However, if your first draft is more than twicethe word limitand you don't have a clear idea of what needs to be cut out, you may need to reconsider your focus - your topic is likely too broad. You may also need to reconsider your topic or approach if you find yourself struggling to fill space, since this usually indicates a topic that lacks a specific focus. Eva's First Paragraph I dialed the phone number for the fourth time that week. "Hello? This is Eva Smith, and I'm a reporter with Tiny Town High's newspaperThe Falcon.I was hoping to ask you some questions about - " I heard the distinctive click of the person on the other end of the line hanging up, followed by dial tone. I was about ready to give up: I'd been trying to get the skinny on whether the Atlas Theater was actually closing to make way for a big AMC multiplex or if it was just a rumor for weeks, but no one would return my calls. Step 6: Edit Aggressively No one writes a perfect first draft. No matter how much you might want to be done after writing a first draft - you musttake the time to edit. Thinkingcritically aboutyour essay and rewriting as needed is a vital part of writing a great college essay. Before you start editing, put your essay aside for a week or so. It will be easier to approach it objectively if you haven’t seen it in a while. Then, take an initial pass to identify any big picture issues with your essay. Once you've fixed those, ask for feedback from other readers - they'll often notice gaps in logic that don't appear to you, because you're automatically filling in your intimate knowledge of the situation. Finally, take another, more detailed look at your essay to fine tune the language. I've explained each of these steps in more depth below. First Editing Pass You should start the editing process by looking foranystructural or thematic issues with your essay. If you see sentences that don’t make sense or glaring typos of course fix them, but at this point, you’re really focused on the major issues since those require the most extensive rewrites. You don’t want to get your sentences beautifully structured only to realize you need to remove the entire paragraph. This phase is really about honing your structure and your voice. As you read through your essay, think about whether it effectively draws the reader along, engages him with specific details, and shows why the topicmatters to you. Try asking yourself the following questions: Does the intro make you want to read more? Is the progression of events and/or ideas clear? Does the essay show something specific about you? What is it and can you clearly identify it in the essay? Are there places where you could replace vague statements with more specific ones? Do you have too many irrelevant or uninteresting details clogging up the narrative? Is it too long? What can you cut out or condense without losing any important ideas or details? Give yourself credit for what you’ve done well, but don’t hesitate to change things that aren’t working. It can be tempting to hang on to what you've already written - you tookthe time and thought to craft it in the first place, so it can be hard to let it go. Taking this approach is doing yourself a disservice, however. No matter how much work you put into a paragraph or much you like a phrase, if they aren't adding to your essay, they need to be cut or altered. If there’s a really big structural problem, or the topic is just not working, you may have to chuck this draft out and start from scratch. Don't panic! I know starting over is frustrating, but it’s often the best way to fix major issues. Unfortunately, some problems can't be fixed with whiteout. Consulting Other Readers Once you’ve fixed the problems you found on the first pass and have a second (or third) draft you’re basically happy with, ask some other people to read it. Check with people whose judgment you trust: parents, teachers, and friends can all be great resources, but how helpful someone willbedepends on the individual and how willing you are to take criticism from her. Also, keep in mind that many people, even teachers, may not be familiar with what colleges look for in an essay. Your mom, for example, may have never written a personal statement, and even if she did, it was most likely decades ago.Give your readersa sense of what you’d like them to read for, or print out the questions I listed above and include them at the end of your essay. Second Pass After incorporating any helpful feedback you got from others, you should now have a nearly complete draft with a clear arc. At this point you want to look for issues with word choice and sentence structure: Are there parts that seem stilted or overly formal? Do you have any vague or boring descriptors that could be replaced with something more interesting and specific? Are there any obvious redundancies or repetitiveness? Have you misused any words? Are your sentences of varied length and structure? A good way to check for weirdness in language is to read the essay out loud. Ifsomething sounds weird when you say it, it will almost certainlyseem offwhen someone else reads it. Example: Editing Eva's First Paragraph In general, Eva feels like her first paragraph isn't as engaging as it could be and doesn't introduce the main point of the essay that well: although it sets up the narrative, it doesn't show off her personality that well.She decides to break itdown sentence by sentence: I dialed the phone number for the fourth time that week. Problem: For a hook, this sentence is a little too expository. It doesn't add any real excitement or important information (other than that this call isn't the first, which can be incorporate elsewhere. Solution: Cut this sentence and start with the line of dialogue. "Hello? This is Eva Smith, and I'm a reporter with Tiny Town High's newspaperThe Falcon.I was hoping to ask you some questions about - " Problem: No major issues with this sentence. It's engaging and sets the scene effectively. Solution: None needed, but Eva does tweak it slightly to include the fact that this call wasn't her first. I heard the distinctive click of the person on the other end of the line hanging up, followed by dial tone. Problem:This is a long-winded way of making a point that's not that important. Solution: Replace it with a shorter, more evocative description: "Click. Bzzzzzzz. Whoever was on the other end of the line had hung up." I was about ready to give up: I'd been trying to get the skinny on whether the Atlas Theater was actually closing to make way for a big AMC multiplex or if it was just a rumor for weeks, but no one would return my calls. Problem: This sentence is kind of long. Some of the phrases ("about ready to give up," "get the skinny") are cliche. Solution: Eva decides to try to stick more closely to her own perspective: "I'd heard rumors that Atlas Theater was going to be replaced with an AMC multiplex, and I was worried." She also puts a paragraph break before this sentence to emphasize that she's now movingon tothe background info rather than describing her call. There's a real Atlas Theater. Apparently it's haunted! Step 7: Double Check Everything Once you have a final draft, give yourself another week and then go through your essay again. Read it carefully to make sure nothing seems off and there are no obvious typos or errors. Confirm that you are at or under the word limit. Then, go over the essayagain, line by line, checking every word to make sure that it’s correct. Double check common errors that spell check may not catch, like mixing up affect and effect or misplacing commas. Finally, have two other readers check it as well. Oftentimes a fresh set of eyes will catch an issue you've glossed over simply because you've been looking at the essay for so long. Give your readersinstructions to only look for typos and errors, since you don't want to be making any major content changes at this point in the process. Thislevel of thoroughness may seem like overkill, but it's worth taking the time to ensure that you don't have any errors. The last thing you want is for an admissions officer to be put off by a typo or error. Example: Eva's Final Draft (Paragraphs 1 and 2) "Hello? This is Eva Smith again. I'm a reporter with Tiny Town High's newspaperThe Falcon, andI was hoping to ask you some questions about - "Click. Bzzzzzzz. Whoever was on the other end of the line had hung up. I'd heard rumors that the historic Atlas Theater was going to be replaced with an AMC multiplex, and I was worried. I'd grown up with the Atlas: my dad taking me to see every Pixar movie on opening night and buying me Red Vines to keep me distracted during the sad parts. Unfortunately my personal history with the place didn't seem to carry much weight with anyone official, and my calls to both the theater and city hall had thus far gone unanswered. Once you've finished the final check, you’re done, and ready to submit! There's one last step, however. Step 8: Do It All Again Remember back in step one, when we talked about making a chart to keep track of all the different essays you need to write? Well, now you need to go back tothat list and determine which essays you still need to write. Keep in mind your deadlines and don't forget that some schools may require more than one essay or ask for short paragraphs in addition to the main personal statement. Reusing Essays In some cases, you may be able to reuse the essay you've already written for other prompts. You can use the same essay fortwo prompts if: both of them are asking the same basic question (e.g. "how do you interact with people who are different from you?" or "what was an important experience and why?"), or one prompt is relatively specific and the other is very general (e.g. "tell us about how your family shaped your education" and "tell us something about your background"),and neither asks about your interest in a specific school or program. If you choose to reuse an essay you wrote for a different prompt, make sure that it addressesevery part of question and that it fits the word limit. If you have to tweak a few things or cut out 50-odd words, it will probably still work. But if the essay would require major changes to fit the criteria, you're probably better off starting from scratch (even if you use the same basic topic). Crafting Supplemental Essays The key to keep in mind in when brainstorming for supplemental essays is that you want them to add something new to your application. You shouldn't write about the same topic you used for your personal statement, although it's okay to talk about something similar, as long as you adopt a clearlydifferent angle. For example, if you're planning to be pre-med in college and your main essay is about how volunteering at the hospital taught you not to judge people on their appearance, you might write your secondary essay on your intellectual interest in biology (which could touch on your volunteering). There's some overlap, but the two topics are clearly distinct. And now, you're really, truly, finally done. Congrats! What's Next? Now that you know how to write a college essay, we have a lot more specific resources for you to excel. Are youworking on the Common App essay? Read our breakdown of the Common App prompts and our guide to picking the best prompt for you. Ormaybe you're interested in the University of California? Check out our complete guide to the UC personal statements. In case you haven't finished the rest of the application process,take a look atour guides to asking for recommendations, writing about extracurriculars, andresearching colleges. Finally, if you're planning to take the SAT or ACT one last time, try out some of our famous test prep guides, like "How to Get a Perfect Score on the SAT" and "15 Key ACT Test Day Tips." Want to improve your SAT score by 160points or your ACT score by 4 points?We've written a guide for each test about the top 5 strategies you must be using to have a shot at improving your score. Download it for free now:

How to Write a Letter of Intent (With Examples)

How to Write a Letter of Intent (With Examples) By now, you probably think you’re familiar with all the pieces of an application package and process. You have your resume (or CV), your cover letter, your list of interview questions. And if you have those together, updated and ready to go, awesome! But there’s another potential piece lurking out there: a letter of intent. Wait, what? Is that the same as a cover letter? And if not, how do you write one? Spoiler alert: a letter of intent is not the same as a cover letter. They’re similar (being letters and all, and focused on yourself), but are actually used in different situations. Your cover letter is what you write when you’re applying to a specific job you found through traditional channels (online job search, referral, recruiter). It details why you’re a great fit for this particular job. A letter of intent is what you write when you’re coldsHi,[No opening]Hey hiring manager,Dearest sirs and madams of JobTech, Incorporated,Good examples: To whom it may concern:Dear JobTech team,As with any professional correspondence, you don’t want to seem too stiff or formal, like you’re writing a letter from a Victorian template or a bad spam email asking someone to send money to a deposed prince overseasPlease allow me to introduce myself. I am Jean, slayer of sales goals and allMy name is Jean Smith, and I am writing to you today to submit my resume for consideration on your Sales and Marketing teams. As a proven leader with more than a decade of beating aggressive sales goals and working with diverse teams to produce great results, I am very interested in opportunities to bring that experience and growth to JobTech.With 12 years of experience in Sales and Marketing in a variety of different roles (from an alls[No closing] Jean SmithCall me please,Email me if you read this,Bye,Fondest wishes to you and yours,Good ExamplesSincerely,Best wishes,Regards,Go with one of the classics, because they’re used for a r eason. If you sound too stiff and formal, it comes off like a holiday card. If you reiterate your call to action, it can carry a whiff of desperation. Just get out gracefully and quickly once you’ve said your piece.Assess Your Final DraftAt this point, you’re ready to send it off, either in the mail, handing it off, or sending it through the Internet tubes. Let’s take a last look at the good examples put together, Jean’s better draft.Dear JobTech team,My name is Jean Smith, and I am writing to you today to submit my resume for consideration on your Sales and Marketing teams. As a proven leader with more than a decade of beating aggressive sales goals and working with diverse teams to produce great results, I am very interested in opportunities to bring that experience and growth to JobTech.With 12 years of experience in Sales and Marketing in a variety of different roles (from an all-hands-on-deck startup to a Fortune 500 company), I know I can bring a st rong, customer-oriented strategy to your company. Since graduating with a B.A. in Marketing from Benjamin Franklin University in 2005, I’ve built my career on using customer data and strategic campaigns to get results. Most recently, as Sales Leader at Career Industries, my innovative sales strategies and overhaul of our social media lead generation program increased widget sales by more than 200% from 2013 to 2016. While my time at Career Industries has been a valuable experience, I’m ready to move on and grow into a senior manager position that better blends sales, marketing, and innovative strategy. Based on JobTech’s commitment to being on the cutting edge of widget sales, I believe my skills and background jibe well with that mission.I look forward to talking with you about my qualifications, and potential opportunities with JobTech. I am attaching my resume, and have a comprehensive career profile at www.joblinkcareernetworking.com/JeanSmith. If you have a ny questions, please don’t hesitate to reach me at J_Smith@emaildomain.com. Thank you for your time and consideration!Regards,Jean Smith