Many of us have a tendency of checking emails the moment we reach office but instead we should set a time aside for reverting to emails with a calm mind as email handling takes approx. 10-15% of the work day.

Any overloaded mailbox is frustrating but handling emails inadequately would waste a lot of work time. Email is usually also considered as a distraction because many of us have a habit of checking any email pop-up immediately and sometimes clicking into the inbox in order to check whether connectivity to network .

There are many email management best practices for making productive and effective reverts. But before applying any best practice you should ask yourself some sort of questions like:

• How much time do you spend daily on reverting emails?
• What type of emails do you actually receive?
• Do I need to revert all the emails?
• Which email is my first priority?
• Do I use sub folders or keep all emails in 1 folder only?

Make sure you have answers of above questions before applying any tips for effective inbox management. Here I am going to explain some of the outlook email management best practices that you can use to manage emails effectively. These email inbox management tips will simplify your day to day reply mail management or customer email management. Some people use email management softwares or email management tools to manage their inbox effectively. You can also go for some option.

Microsoft Outlook Email Management Best Practices

Find the list of points that you can use to manage your email inbox effectively.

1) Reply Mail Management: You can block your calendar for approx. 30-60 min for reverting on emails or for reply mail management and prioritize reverts basis email importance. You can also further categorize them in order to identify that which is to be reverted today or it is to be kept in follow-up. For this you can use the “flags” along with a set time notification for reminder.

2) Create Templates: We have a habit of typing emails but instead we can draft sample email responses as most of the queries received would be similar and using this template would save our time. You can also customize these templates basis the email requirement.

3) Read Pertinent Emails: If you receive 60 emails a day you are not required to read all of them as they might also include some advertising / information emails, group mailbox responses etc. You can just move them to the relevant folder and address them whenever required. This will reduce the number of emails available in the Inbox Folder.

4) Know What to Reply: Sometimes we receive lengthy emails which more or less look like an essay and most of us have a habit of reverting in the similar fashion. We should always focus into making our email content short and to the point. You can consider this point as a subpart of reply mail management.

5) Alternate Tools:  For short messages you can use alternate tools for communicating within the organization like skype etc. and avoid writing emails.

6) Email Header: This is something which should be clearly looked into whenever any email gets triggered into your mailbox. Most of the time the email is intended to someone who is marked in “To” and all marked in “CC” are just for information. You can ignore emails wherein you are marked in CC as that is just for information and no action is usually required on them. Even you can apply a rule to move all such emails in to a folder by applying below step by step process.

Tips: How to set rules for automatically transferring emails to a folder whenever in “CC” in MS Outlook?

1. Click at Home tab and go to its Ribbon area.
2. Click at Rules option
3. Select Create Rule
4. Here, you will get another window, here select Advanced options
5. Now Clink on where my name in CC
6. Select Next
7. Select folder where it is to be moved
8. Finish

7) Acknowledge emails: Whenever you receive any email and if you think this might take more than 1 day to revert, just send a small email acknowledgement to the sender. This is to notify the sender that you are working on the email and it might take a specific time for closure. This will avoid further email reminders on the subject.

8) Folders: Inbox zero is a very famous term which helps us minimizing the email count in the mailbox. You can have separate & specific folders for transferring emails for future reference. “Rules” option can be used for automatic transfer of emails to the specific mailbox folder. Read below tips to transfer emails to a specific folder automatically in Outlook.

Tips: How to transfer emails to specific folders automatically in MS Outlook?

1. Click on Home tab of Outlook and go to its Ribbon
2. Click on Rules
3. Select “Create Rule…” option
4. Select From, display New item , move item to folder
5. Click OK

9) Subject Line: Use similar subject line to track emails faster in your mailbox as tracking long email threads with different subject lines makes mail management more challenging.

10) Out-of-office replies: This is the most significant feature which you can use whenever you are on leave, left early for the day or in training and would not be able to revert to the sender instantly. By using this “OOO” feature you would be able to notify the sender about your availability and managing email response. Have a look at below tips to configure out of office in your outlook.

Tips: How to set “OOO” for specific time in MS Outlook? 

1. Click at File tab.
2. Then click at Automatic Replies (Out of Office)
3. Choose second option “Send Automatic Replies”
4. Click at the checkbox option “Only send during this time range”
5. Select Date & Time
6. Edit the content
7. Click ok

11) Email Answering: Every email which triggers the mailbox should be either answered, forwarded, archived or deleted. This will reduce the count of emails which are to be handled. You can also request for email delivery at a specific time but your outlook should be running during that time.

Tips: How to set delay delivery in MS Outlook?

1. Open New Email
2. Click on Options tab.
3. choose Delay delivery option.
4. Update details in the compose message window

12) Different Signatures: You can have different signatures for different set of replies sent to specific people. This will save time of drafting signatures.

Tips: How to manage signatures in MS Outlook?

1. Click at File tab of MS outlook.
2. Click at the Options
3. Another window will appear on your screen. Now click at Mail tab from left side pane.
4. Now click at Signatures tab from right side pane.
5. Click New to create signature
6. Click ok
7. Edit signature content
8. Click save

13) Use Voting Option: We usually sent a lot of emails wherein we have to collate responses in yes/no, true/false etc., so instead of doing manual work we can use the voting option available in outlook

Tips: How to set voting option in MS Outlook? 

1. Open new email
2. Click at Options
3. Now again click at Use voting options to select voting option.
4. Customize if required
5. Send email

Here, I have explained best way to manage emails in outlook. I hope you like this article. Please follow our Facebook page and Twitter handle to get latest updates.

Read More:

• 4 Areas you can focus to boost your Self Confidence
• How to Prepare for a Job Interview?
• How to Deal with Arrogant People at Work?

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The first thought which comes to the mind about interview is that on which side of the table are we going to be? Interview sessions are pretty hectic and painful for both candidate as well as the interviewer. But in general more pressure is on the candidate appearing for the job interview because this is the situation which is somewhat like a rapid Q & A round. We are judged on the basis of our answers to these questions. There is no second chance in interview and we cannot correct or modify our answers once said.

Preparation is 1^st and most important which a candidate should do whenever an interview call letter is received. Apart from curriculum preparation self-confidence, concentration and positive attitude are also similarly important. We can control our nervousness and give our best by focusing on interview, and avoiding the thought of other interviews and our fear of rejection.

Prepare for the Day

Normally there are a set of questions which everyone prepares for a job interview apart from their primary skill. These questions are like:

• Tell me something about yourself?
• Why do you want to join this company?
• Why do you think we should hire you?
• Describe your 2 strengths and weakness?
• What is your salary expectation?
• Any questions about the organization?

While everyone is busy preparing on the above questions, there are some small tips or points which a fresher usually misses while preparing for the D day.

1. Gather information about the company: This is the first and the most important point as this is the answer to the question “why do you want to join our company?” Whenever you appear for an interview you should know everything about the company like its history, products, function areas, market share, competitors, top management and employee reviews e.t.c. You can easily find this information on the internet or you can contact people in your network for gathering information.
2. Reach the venue on time: By reaching on time you reflect your quality of being punctual. Interviewers like candidate who are punctual and not those who report late for interviews and then give excuses of traffic jams and not being familiar with the locality e.t.c
3. Appearance: Your appearance should be professional and not casual as your first impression is the last one. Following are few points which require focus :
   1. Your outfit
   2. Your face expression
   3. Folder to carry resumes and certificates/documents e.t.c
4. Be confident: Most of us are in a habit of answering every question asked by the interviewer whether we know the answer or not, but actually we should avoid this. Instead we should simply say a “No” to questions whose answers we do not know and answer confidently for rest.
5. Work on communication: We should practice our replies at home preferably in front of mirror and should work on our communication skills. Whatever we say should be clear enough because interviewers use this in judging the candidate’s nature and competencies. While describing we should use some key words which can bring out our skills and strengths e.t.c

All above points will apply when you are attending a face to face interview. But there are other forms of interviews also like telephonic, through Telepresence wherein you are not facing the interviewer directly and you are judged on whatever you say.

Telephonic Interview: This kind of interview is used as a first level of selection so it is very important that you should focus and prepare for this religiously

• Listen patiently and answer to only what is asked.
• Do not elaborate and try to be descriptive
• Ask for feedback

Telepresence Interview: This type of interview is organized when the interviewer and the candidate are in different locations and interviewer is not willing to pay the travel cost to the candidate.

• You should be dressed properly.
• Consider this as a face to face interview only and answer the questions as you would do in a formal interview.

Sample Interview Questions & How to Answer Them

Below are some sample answers to generally asked Job interview questions.

(a)Tell me something about yourself: While asking this question interviewer wants to know about you as a person, so while answering you should be sure of what you are answering is correct and actual. You should not start your answer with “I am xxxx, have 2 sisters, parents e.t.c”. Instead your answer should start from your educational background, work experience, hobbies well supported with examples.

(b)Tell about your strengths and weakness: Most of the time the possible answer for strength is given as “I am good listener”, “I am positive” e.t.c. The answer should always focus around the requirements as mentioned in the job description.

Example: If you have come for a customer service interview so answer can be “I have good analytical skills which can be useful in resolving queries. I am a good listener and team player with good communication skills.”

For weakness the answer should not be like “I like completing work on time”, “I like stretching shifts” e.t.c. rather this question should be answered in a way wherein you can turn your negative aspect into positive.

Example:” I like completing my work before deadlines”. Hearing this answer the interviewer will think that if you are in a habit of completing work before time then you might make mistakes. So instead the answer should be “I like completing work before deadlines, but I divide my schedule in such a way that sufficient time is given for checking work.

(c) Where do you see yourself 5 years from now: This is a very tricky question and no one can answer this accurately. By asking this question the interviewer wants to know about your ambitions and whether you are serious about the job position or not. Most people respond by saying that “I want to be CEO or director of this company” which is not an intelligent answer.

Example: Answer can be “I want to see myself at a position in your company where I can grow and develop my skills which can further contribute towards personal and organizational growth”.

(d) Why do you think we should hire you: The interviewer wants to know about your skills of how better you can convince the interviewer to hire you? To answer this question you should be fully aware about the job responsibilities and company products.

Example: The answer can be “that my past job experience matches with the company profile and the responsibilities as mentioned for the new job.

(e) What are your salary expectations: The answer should not be accurate as 25 %, 30 % e.tc. After hearing this answer interviewer might feel that your focus of changing job is just monetary hike.

Example: Answer can be like “the market trend of salary hike for my position is between xx to yy and I am expecting a hike of XX % approximately. So would request you to give the best possible compensation for my skills and experience which match the current market trends also .

I hope you like this article. Please follow our Facebook page and Twitter handle to get latest updates.

Read More:

• SQL Server Interview Questions & Answers
• RedHat Linux Interview Questions & Answers
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• How to Improve your Self-Confidence to Crack a Job Interview?
• Visit this link to get more tips on Learning

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Let’s start with describing the difference between confidence and arrogance. Both the traits are considered as strong topics of debate as they contribute a lot in controlling human behavior. There is a thin line between confidence and arrogance as one attracts and the other resists. The difference between both traits can be defined by saying “arrogance requires advertising and confidence speaks for itself “.

For understanding whether you are confident or arrogant you should ask self some questions and a yes to the below questions means that you are part of the negative trait.

• Do you feel insecure by success of peoples around you?
• Do you like praises and seek everyone’s consent on situations?
• Do you have the “only me and I am right” attitude while having discussions?
• Do you like interacting to new people or enjoy working in your own network?

Characteristics of an Arrogant Person

Let’s understand characteristics of an arrogant person so that we can learn better way to deal with arrogant people. There is a strong relationship between confident and arrogant people and excess confidence can lead to arrogance sometimes. Below are some key differences between these two traits. Here, you can also understand the characteristics of an arrogant person by below comparisons.

1. Arrogant people are least approachable whereas confident people will help others.
2. Arrogant people would not want to come out of failures whereas confident people learns from failures.
3. Arrogant people do not entertain anyone while debating on topics whereas confident people will value thoughts of others too.
4. Arrogant people have the “I am the best” feeling and hate other’s success whereas confident people value and celebrate success of others.

If we talk about being confident or arrogant at work , it starts from the job interview session itself as interviewers are always looking for confident candidates with strong mind rather than who are just talking about their experience and awards. Below is a small example for better understanding:

Interviewer: How is your present job and why do u want to leave?
Confidant candidate: The job is really great, I am happy but want to leave for better exposure and learning.
Arrogant candidate: The job is really great and I am the best in the team. But want to leave because of monetary benefit.

Interviewer: Why should we hire you?
Confidant candidate: I have good amount of experience in my field and i would want to contribute towards your organizational growth.
Arrogant candidate: I have got many awards & appreciations for the work which I do so it would be good for you if you hire me.

Interviewer: How much salary hike would you want?
Confidant candidate: I am currently holding a salary package of X amount. You can give hike as per market standards.
Arrogant candidate: I am currently holding a salary package of X amount and 25 % hike would not be a challenge for your company.

Interviewer: Where do you want to see yourself after 5 years?
Confidant candidate: I want to learn as much as in can so that I can become an asset to the organization and also an inspiration for others. My growth in 5 years will be a reflection of my learning and sincere hard work.
Arrogant candidate: My goal is to become CEO or director of any company so that I can be on the top and grow in life.

Here, i have given some key ways to project confidence instead of arrogance at your workplace.

• Admit and accept mistakes
• Communicate effectively by respecting views of others
• Be open to learning
• Ask for feedback and work on improvements.

We have understood characteristics of an arrogant person with the help of above examples. Now let’s understand how to deal with arrogant people in below section.

Ways to Deal with Arrogant People at Work

Arrogance is a defense mechanism and people having this trait are a serious threat to the organization/team as they feel insecure. They can be easily judged by their body language, voice / expression and words. There might be few such people around you in the work area and dealing with them might be frustrating sometimes. You can follow below approach to deal with such people.

Listen Patiently

During a discussion with arrogant/overconfident people one can often be in a situation of argument. The common factors could be the topic of discussion and our professional relationship with that person. The best practice can be:

• Listen patiently
• Summarize the whole discussion and ask questions as arrogant people do not like questions and often try to run away from the situation.

Cross Question by Asking How To Do

Arrogant people have a tendency to divide and conquer so whenever you are in a situation when things are put on you then you can simply ask a quick question “How do you think we should do this?” This will leave the other person in a situation of confusion as he / she was not prepared for cross questions.

Remain Calm

While dealing with a negative and gossiper person at work it is important to remain calm and be good to them. The discomfort you are facing from them should not reflect in your behavior and your anger will only provide that person opportunity to trouble you more.

Understand Intentions

Try to understand the other person’s intention for identifying the below points:

• Why is he / she acting in this manner?
• Is anyone trying to change his mind?
• Possible ways to resolve that situation.

Be Interactive

We usually interact through emails, chats, calls but sometimes person available on the other side may misunderstand your thoughts and words. So it is important to also have face to face discussion in order to avoid misunderstanding and to increase the impact of conservation.

Perspective from Others

Share your discomfort with your peers, friends and managers if you trust them. They might have gone through the same situation during their professional career and would have some golden advice for you.

Ignorance

This is the last best possible effort which you can put from your side to control the situation and avoid argument.

Escalate to Higher Authority

Incase all possible efforts have failed in controlling arrogant coworker, then the last step is to escalate it to the management for intervention. This should not be followed all the times as excess use of this might force your manager to think that you are incapable of handling situations. This is effective in controlling arrogant people who often refuse to cooperate.

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Most Common Causes of Losing Confidence Level

The key factors of losing self-confidence at work are given in below points.

• Work Environment
• Job Satisfaction
• Team Coordination
• Lack of Resources

Work Environment

Work Environment is most important part to have a good confidence level. If work environment within your team is not good or you are not comfortable in the current work environment then it would create a problem for you and it will end up with lower self-esteem or say lower self confidence. This applies to any industry whether you are in Information Technology, Pharma, Finance, Insurance, Telecom etc.

Rather than keep thinking and taking stress about the work environment, you should work to face the reality. Here, first you should identify what is making you uncomfortable in current work environment? Ask some questions to yourself like:

• Is this uncomfortableness due to your Boss behavior?
• Is there too much workload?
• Is there conflict with teammate/s?
• Is there micro management in current work environment?
• Any other issue within the team?

Once you will have answer of above questions, you can easily identify what is the problem that are degrading your self-confidence.

You can speak to your supervisor if you are overloaded and has too much workload. If you have too much work then you might not deliver quality work that can reduce your confidence level. Try to track everything that you do in your job. That will help your boss to make a case in front of seniors to get additional resource that can share your load. Sometimes, our seniors are not aware of the amount of work we do because they have their own work so you need to track everything possible.

If there is any issue with any teammate or you supervisor has bossy nature then you should sit with them individually and figure out the problems between both of you. We are human and everybody has different point of view so we should respect each other’s view and move on. Act like mature person and sort out all issue rather than keeping it inside and harming your own career and growth.

If you still feel that things are not improving then it would be wise decision to change the team or and get some other work but believe me you might get similar people there also because as I said every person is different so better you should learn how to deal with such people. Try to be diplomatic in some cases.

Sometimes Work environment is good but work profile doesn’t satisfactory that also leads to losing your self-confidence. For example, if you are in IT support or Customer service then you have to do face to face interactions, telephonic conversations, email and chatting with customers or users. Sometimes you may face some agitated customers facing issues. But this situation should not affect your confidence level instead you should learn from these incidents for improving work and performance and how to deal with such users.

Always believe in yourself and have positive attitude towards work and do not let negative people affect your morale and performance. Things will become smoother if you trust yourself and carry positive attitude.

Job Satisfaction

Job Satisfaction plays key role for boosting your confidence level. If you are not satisfied with your job then you might lose your confidence level that directly impacts your personal growth. First find out why you are not satisfied in your current job. This might be due to several reasons. Some of the reason are:

• You might be in wrong profile.
• There is no work life balance in your current job profile.
• You don’t enjoy working at your workplace.
• You are not getting enough perks.
• Too much workload

You need to identify it and work towards increasing the job satisfaction. Don’t leave things as it is rather you should speak to your supervisor or your seniors to get things settle. To avoid any clash with your supervisor always perform assigned tasks religiously because any work done with full pride will enhance the confidence level too. Try to learn new things so that you can switch to another job profile that is as per your choice and area of interest. You should have proactive approach for getting yourself trained as per industry standards and requirements. This will help in performing the assigned tasks efficiently resulting into recognition from top management and monetary appraisals.

Job dissatisfaction is sometimes self-created and is the most common factor of losing confidence. We should focus on giving our best in whatever we do as this is the only thing which is in our control. If we will give our 100% and perform excellent then we would have a strong point to switch the profile or move to next level that will definitely boost the confidence level.

Team Coordination

Team coordination is also one of the prime factor that can be improved by respecting other’s viewpoint, reverting promptly, effective communication and not blaming others. Management support is the backbone for better team coordination and they should never entertain crying babies. So, initiative should be taken by you only and best viable solutions should be figured out well in advance before reaching out the management for issues and concerns. This will help in discussing and coming up to a best possible resolution.

As we know everybody is different in nature, thought and behavior so definitely if you do something then some of your teammates don’t like it even they might criticize you. Criticism should be taken positively and steps should be taken for improvements as we are the best judge for ourselves and know our strengths and weakness.

Team coordination becomes little different for newcomers. New comers are often bullied by seniors as a part of monopoly but this should not let anyone affect their confidence level and performance. Newcomers should focus on capturing as much knowledge as they can by being a good listener, putting up questions, monitoring past trends.

Lack of Resources

Sometimes we lose our confidence level if we do not have enough of required resources to perform our job. Sometimes we need right people to do right thing or we need right resources in place in terms of logistics or anything that impact your job delivery.

Feel free to raise your voice to the leadership or seniors and get anything needed for your delivery. Don’t hesitate otherwise you will be end up with lot of escalations because you are the person who can best judge what and how should any work be done in your area.

Sitting idle and leaving everything as it is is not a solution and anyway this will not help you to perform and grow in your career ladder. So, speak up, raise your concerns and ask for whatever is needed for your job.

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