Latest news with #Agile
Time of India
a day ago
- Business
- Time of India
7 mid-level careers where soft skills matter more than degrees
In today's dynamic job market, soft skills are no longer just 'nice to have'—they're a core currency of career success. While degrees still play a role in certain fields, many mid-level jobs now prioritize people skills, emotional intelligence, and leadership ability over academic qualifications. This shift opens up exciting career pathways for individuals who've gained experience outside traditional education routes or are looking to pivot into new roles using their interpersonal strengths. Here are seven such careers where your ability to connect, lead, adapt, and solve problems matters more than what's on your resume. Project Manager One such role is that of a Project Manager, where leadership, time management, and communication skills are essential. These professionals are responsible for coordinating teams, managing timelines, and ensuring that projects are completed on budget and on schedule. While certifications like PMP or Agile training can be helpful, what truly sets a project manager apart is their ability to motivate diverse stakeholders, resolve conflicts under pressure, and adapt quickly to changing circumstances. Many successful project managers rise through internal promotions, having proven their capability in related roles, rather than starting with a degree in project management. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Book 3 & 4 BHK apartments from 4.65 Cr* in Sec 22, Gurugram Ambience Creacions, Gurugram Learn More Undo Sales Manager Another example is a Sales Manager, a role rooted in trust-building, negotiation, and strategic persuasion. Here, performance speaks louder than paper qualifications. Sales managers are often former top-performing sales representatives who understand customer psychology and have a knack for coaching others. Their success hinges on motivating teams, handling objections, reading client needs, and steering high-value deals—all of which require people-centric skills more than a formal business degree. A sales manager with a proven track record and emotional intelligence can easily outshine someone with advanced credentials but little on-the-ground experience. HR Business Partner Working as an HR Business Partner is also a highly soft skill–oriented mid-level role. While many HR professionals have degrees in management or human resources, what propels them into strategic roles is not academic background but the ability to build trust, handle sensitive situations, and mediate conflicts with discretion. HRBPs are liaisons between leadership and employees, and success in this role requires diplomacy, communication finesse, and an understanding of team dynamics. Professionals from varied HR backgrounds—recruitment, employee engagement, learning and development—can transition into this role by leveraging their people-handling skills and strategic mindset. Customer Success Manager For those with a talent for empathy and problem-solving, becoming a Customer Success Manager (CSM) can be a perfect fit. CSMs focus on ensuring clients are satisfied, supported, and successfully using a product or service post-purchase. Rather than technical expertise, what matters most is the ability to listen actively, offer clear guidance, and manage relationships. Many CSMs come from customer service, account management, or even teaching backgrounds, proving that strong communication and client advocacy can carry more weight than a degree. Operations Manager The role of an Operations Manager also stands out as one where execution matters more than credentials. Tasked with overseeing day-to-day business functions—from logistics to team efficiency—operations managers must be quick problem-solvers, excellent communicators, and highly organized individuals. Their success is determined by how well they can manage workflows, motivate teams, and respond to crises. While some may have degrees in business or management, many operations professionals work their way up from team lead or supervisory roles, earning trust through reliability and a clear understanding of how things work on the ground. Marketing Manager If you have a creative mind and can read people well, becoming a Marketing Manager or strategist might be a strong fit. These roles are deeply reliant on understanding consumer behavior, telling stories, and coordinating campaigns. A successful marketing manager blends analytical thinking with emotional appeal—crafting narratives that resonate and managing diverse teams to execute them. Portfolios and results (campaign ROI, reach, engagement) matter more than your alma mater. Many marketers rise through content creation, social media, or brand roles, with little to no formal education in marketing. Product Manager (Non-technical) Lastly, the role of a Product Manager (Non-technical) is increasingly accessible to those with diverse professional backgrounds and strong interpersonal abilities. These product managers act as the bridge between users, designers, and developers. Their key assets? Clear communication, user empathy, and the ability to align competing priorities across teams. Many product managers come from backgrounds like business analysis, customer support, marketing, or even education. What matters is not a computer science degree but the ability to understand user needs, prioritize features, and collaborate effectively across departments. Is your child ready for the careers of tomorrow? Enroll now and take advantage of our early bird offer! Spaces are limited.
Time Business News
4 days ago
- Business
- Time Business News
Customizability is the Heart of Modern Test Management
Today, software moves at a breakneck pace, and anything short of a perfect user experience quickly feels like yesterday's news. Quality-assurance folks stand on the front line, but even the best testers need tools that clear a path instead of piling on obstacles. The real question is simple: Do they spend more time adapting to the software than the software does adapting to them? Customizability is the feature that makes that question matter. A team chasing a single playbook-template died on the last consensus; surely we all felt the funeral. Today, somebody is running Agile while another sprints DevOps and yet another clings to a Weather-beaten Waterfall apron. Stack those warring timelines on top of ever-shifting stakeholder demands, and any rigid test manager snaps like an old paper clip. Kualitee sidesteps that crunch, ruggedly configurable and built to let testers, scrum-masters, and nervous product owners mould every board, label, and report until it feels custom-made- even if tomorrow's features will undoubtedly wreck the illusion. Mandating a single set of rigid workflows on a development group often derails the rhythm of an Agile sprint. The move feels like asking a jazz band to play a metronomic march. Fixed data fields make it clumsy to log artifacts that matter on that particular project or that week. Carbon-copy reports reach stakeholders looking like photocopies of yesterday's news. When the software bends in only one direction, real teams pay for it in lost pace and missed context: morale dips as customisation feels impossible, velocity shrinks when extra clicks stack up, and trust erodes as decision-makers get half-baked numbers. Reduced Efficiency : Teams waste precious time working around the tool's limitations instead of focusing on testing. : Teams waste precious time working the tool's limitations instead of focusing on testing. Lower Adoption & Frustration : QA engineers resist using tools that feel cumbersome and don't reflect their reality. : QA engineers resist using tools that feel cumbersome and don't reflect their reality. Incomplete Visibility : Decision-makers lack the specific insights they need because reports are generic. : Decision-makers lack the specific insights they need because reports are generic. Scalability Challenges : As your team or project complexity grows, a rigid tool simply can't keep pace. : As your team or project complexity grows, a rigid tool simply can't keep pace. Compromised Quality: Vital context gets lost, and critical testing scenarios might be overlooked due to workflow mismatches. Kualitee recognises that every organizations quality-assurance routine resembles a distinct fingerprint, and that insight informed the platform's development. Test management boards, workflow stages, and reporting vistas can all be reshaped by users rather than forced into a one-size-fits-all mould. Customizability functions less as an optional add-on than as the architectural philosophy woven into the product code. A brief outline of the approach follows: Deep Custom Fields & Data Capture: Go beyond standard fields. Define custom fields for Test Cases, Test Runs, Defects, and Requirements to capture precisely the data that matters to you . the data that matters to . Track project-specific metrics, environment details, risk levels, compliance requirements, or any other unique information crucial for your context. No more squeezing square pegs into round holes. Flexible Workflow Configuration: Don't adapt your process to the tool; make the tool adapt to your process. Kualitee allows you to define custom statuses and tailor workflows for defects, test cases, and requirements. process. Kualitee allows you to define custom statuses and tailor workflows for defects, test cases, and requirements. Map your unique SDLC stages, approval processes, and bug lifecycle seamlessly within the platform. Support Agile sprints, Kanban boards, or traditional phases with equal ease. Personalized Dashboards & Reporting: Gain actionable insights, not just generic data. Create custom dashboards that put the KPIs you care about front and centre for every team member and stakeholder. care about front and centre for every team member and stakeholder. Design bespoke reports with the specific filters, groupings, and visualisations needed to track progress, identify bottlenecks, demonstrate coverage, and prove QA value to management. Eliminate data overload and focus on what drives decisions. Granular User Roles & Permissions: Ensure security and streamline workflow with highly customizable role-based access control (RBAC). Define precisely what different user groups (Developers, Testers, Managers, Clients) can see and do within Kualitee. Protect sensitive data while enabling seamless collaboration. Seamless Integration Flexibility: True customizability extends beyond the tool itself to your entire toolchain. Kualitee integrates effortlessly with the tools you already use (like Jira, Jenkins, Slack, GitLab, GitHub, Azure DevOps, and many more). Create a tailored ecosystem where information flows automatically, eliminating silos and manual data entry, boosting efficiency across development and operations. Choosing a test management tool with Kualitee's level of customizability delivers profound advantages: Boosted Productivity & Efficiency : Eliminate friction. Teams work naturally within familiar, tailored workflows, focusing energy on testing, not tool workarounds. : Eliminate friction. Teams work naturally within familiar, tailored workflows, focusing energy on testing, not tool workarounds. Enhanced Team Adoption & Morale : When the tool fits like a glove, teams embrace it. A customised environment reduces frustration and empowers testers. : When the tool fits like a glove, teams embrace it. A customised environment reduces frustration and empowers testers. Superior Visibility & Control : Gain crystal-clear, relevant insights tailored to each stakeholder's needs. Make data-driven decisions with confidence. : Gain crystal-clear, relevant insights tailored to each stakeholder's needs. Make data-driven decisions with confidence. Effortless Scalability & Adaptability : As your projects evolve, methodologies shift, or teams grow, Kualitee scales and adapts with you. Future-proof your QA process. : As your projects evolve, methodologies shift, or teams grow, Kualitee scales and adapts you. Future-proof your QA process. Higher Quality Outcomes : Capturing the correct data in the proper context within streamlined workflows directly translates to more thorough testing, faster bug detection, and ultimately, superior software quality. : Capturing the correct data in the proper context within streamlined workflows directly translates to more thorough testing, faster bug detection, and ultimately, superior software quality. More substantial ROI: Maximise the value of your test management investment by ensuring the tool perfectly aligns with and enhances your unique operational reality. Excellence in software delivery hinges on the freedom to shape testing tools around real-world workflows. Customizability is no longer a fringe benefit; it has become the bedrock upon which agile QA departments stand. Teams boxed in by rigid protocols compromise both speed and morale. Kualitee rescues practitioners from that bind by placing an adaptable framework in their hands. If you are ready to turn test management into a self-designed engine for quality work and rapid releases, the platform awaits. A tour through Kualitee's deep feature set reveals options to reconfigure dashboards, map unique metrics, and automate at every layer. See firsthand how the service moulds itself to the needs of any team rather than demanding that teams bend to its will. Stop adapting to limitations. Start customising for success with Kualitee. TIME BUSINESS NEWS
Business Journals
06-06-2025
- Business
- Business Journals
South Florida ORBIE Leadership Award recipient: For World Fuel's Jeff Smith, innovation and a people-first culture are key to making an impact
Jeff Smith, who retired as chief operating officer of World Fuel Services at the end of 2023, has been named the recipient of the 2025 South Florida ORBIE Leadership Award. The honor recognizes a global career built on pioneering digital transformation and cultivating high-performing teams. Smith's leadership philosophy centers on a simple, yet powerful, idea: Talent and culture are the true differentiators of great companies. As COO of World Fuel Services, he turned that belief into action, cultivating efficiency and dexterity in how the company responded to challenges using LEAN principles and people-first decision-making. That operational precision was forged over more than 35 years of experience across continents and industries — from semiconductors to finance. Smith's career highlights, which he'll share during a keynote address at the South Florida ORBIE Awards celebration June 13 at The Diplomat Beach Resort, are a case study in iteration. At IBM, he led a global IT organization of 20,000 and spearheaded the company-wide Agile transformation. At Allied Signal/Honeywell, he launched a global SAP rollout across 17 countries, cutting projected timelines by more than half through an international team rooted in diversity of thought and unified by a shared goal. At Suncorp, following the economic downturn that started in 2008, he architected a transformation of the company's digital insurance self-service platform. His teams built it using the cloud, making the financial services provider one of the first to use cloud technology. In every challenge, Smith consistently applied what he learned early in his career at LSI Logic: that shared sacrifice, collective learning and scalable simplicity often outperform hierarchical command-and-control. 'My view is you should always give preference to the people doing the work over people leading the work,' he says. 'We're paid a premium to lead, so we should be homing in on creating a productive environment for them.' Smith breaks it down further: 'What does great mean? Is that small teams that are building great software? Does that mean great customer service? Does it mean that we can take a problem and break it up? I've spent my career kind of chasing that — the more you can make it clean and simple, the easier it is to scale.' His formula for high-performing teams prioritizes building diverse teams who are engaged by meaningful work. The work must be distributed at a sustainable pace, and finally, results must be continually measured and tracked. At IBM, he implemented a quarterly leadership review system that evaluated every leader on six tangible dimensions — team formation, work distribution, measurement, talent development, learning from others and influence. He also published Net Promoter Scores for leaders, asking direct reports whether they would recommend their manager or their squad to a peer. The transparency raised expectations and elevated performance across the organization. Smith's influence is still felt globally. He currently serves on the boards of ANZ Bank, PEXA and Sonrai Security. A native of Ohio and graduate of Miami University and San Jose State University, he's lived and led in the U.S., Australia and around the world. And while his accomplishments are many, what sets Smith apart is his ability to scale not just systems, but people. His advice to business leaders aspiring to be true community partners is to believe in the potential of people. He recalls a transformative insight from Steve Jobs, who once shared how Pixar hired musicians and artists to become software engineers because they had the grit and logic to succeed. 'We applied that in South Florida, too,' Smith says, 'creating career paths for people with nontraditional backgrounds. Don't look at it as a cost or as a contribution, that you're there to help people with money. You're there to help them find a great career and have a happy life. If you build the right environment, anyone can thrive.' Asked what makes a great leader, Smith advises not to get caught up in the noise of the company landscape. 'You want to create clarity of purpose, put together a good, productive environment, and inspire people to do great things. It's pretty simple.' From building software that transformed a global semiconductor industry, to reshaping IT at IBM, to coaching next-generation talent in Miami, Smith's legacy is one of clarity, compassion and continuous reinvention. The 2025 South Florida ORBIE Leadership Award celebrates not just a career, but a mindset — one that will continue to shape teams, cultures and companies for years to come.
Time of India
03-06-2025
- Business
- Time of India
5 career certifications that instantly make your resume stand out to recruiters
5 career certifications that instantly make your resume stand ou A dding a certification to your resume won't guarantee a job, but it can demonstrate initiative, up-to-date skills, and a willingness to learn—traits that many employers value. With the growing availability of short-term, skills-focused programs, certifications have become an accessible way to supplement your education or work experience. Some can be completed in just a few weeks, others in a few months, but the right one can help you stand out—especially in competitive fields or during a career shift. Here are five certifications that are often recognised by employers and can strengthen your resume, depending on your career goals. Google Career Certificates This set of online programs covers areas like IT support, data analytics, UX design, and digital marketing. The content focuses on practical skills and job readiness, and it's designed to be accessible to beginners with no prior experience in the field. These certificates have become popular among people looking to enter the tech industry without a formal degree. While completion alone doesn't guarantee employment, it can help candidates demonstrate foundational knowledge and a self-starting mindset. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like 무릎에서 소리나거나 무거운 느낌 드는 분만 읽으세요. 큰딸민지 더 알아보기 Undo Certified ScrumMaster (CSM) Scrum is a widely used project management framework, especially in industries where Agile methods are common. The Certified ScrumMaster credential offers a structured way to understand Scrum principles and practices, with a focus on team leadership and iterative workflows. While it's more common in tech-related roles, Scrum is also used in marketing, product development, and even education. People in project coordination or team leadership positions may find it useful for understanding how to manage workflows more effectively. CompTIA A+ This entry-level certification covers core IT skills, including hardware, networking, and troubleshooting. It's often a first step for individuals aiming to work in technical support or other IT-related roles. Since it is vendor-neutral, it provides a broad foundation rather than training for a specific system. While some employers may look for hands-on experience, CompTIA A+ can help applicants signal readiness for junior IT positions or internships. HubSpot Content Marketing Certification This free course focuses on the fundamentals of content marketing—planning, creation, promotion, and analysis. Although it's primarily geared toward marketers, it can also be useful for business owners, content creators, and communications professionals. It's a relatively short certification and doesn't replace formal marketing training, but it can help fill gaps in understanding for those new to the field or transitioning from another role. Data Analytics Certificates (Google or Microsoft Power BI) Certifications in data analysis are increasingly valued as more industries rely on data to make decisions. The Google Data Analytics Certificate and Microsoft's Power BI certifications are two popular options, each with its own focus. Google's program introduces tools like spreadsheets, SQL, and Tableau, while Power BI emphasises dashboard creation and business intelligence reporting. These credentials won't turn someone into a data scientist overnight, but they can help candidates show they've taken the initiative to learn core skills that are applicable across many industries. Certifications aren't magic bullets, but they can be helpful tools—especially for people looking to change careers, fill skill gaps, or add weight to their resume when experience is limited. It's important to choose programs based on your goals, interests, and the type of roles you're targeting. Not all certifications carry equal weight across industries, so doing a bit of research before investing your time and money is always a smart move. Ready to navigate global policies? Secure your overseas future. Get expert guidance now!
Metro
01-06-2025
- Business
- Metro
You can get free electricity today for three hours - here's how
One of Britain's largest energy suppliers is giving away three hours of free electricity to thousands of people today. Customers signed up to Octopus Energy Agile tariff will be able to make use of free electricity from 11am to 3pm today. As we're coming close to 12pm, that means you have just three hours left to claim the free energy. Those benefiting can use as much electricity as they want during the window. Users received an alert from Octopus energy earlier today letting them know that they can claim their free electricity. This is happening because Octopus Energy Agile offers customers electricity prices that change every half an hour, based on the wholesale price of energy. So when the wholesale price of electricity drops, the price you pay falls too. Across the UK, whenever more electricity is generated than consumed, energy prices fall – sometimes to the point where prices hit zero or even drop below. To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video When prices go below zero, suppliers are paid to take energy off the grid. More Trending Under Agile Octopus Plunge Pricing scheme, this means users get paid for the electricity they use during these negative pricing events. This happened on Saturday, when users were paid to user power during the afternoon dip in energy demand. But prices can also spike during the high demand periods. View More » The scheme incentivises users to shift their daily electricity use outside of peak times to save even more money. To benefit from Octopus agile pricing, you first need to be an Octopus Energy customer. You will also need a smart meter. Then you can swap from a standard Octopus tariff to Agile. If you are switching from a different supplier, it takes 14 days for Octopus to connect to your smart meter so they can read it. Once connected and Octopus will send you an email asking you to accept the Terms and Conditions. Then you'll be switched automatically to tariff Agile Octopus. If you want more tips and tricks on saving money, as well as chat about cash and alerts on deals and discounts, join our Facebook Group, Money Pot. MORE: Here's how you can find out if you're owed money from your state pension MORE: Schools should teach money management after teens turn to AI for help, parents say MORE: Warning as building society to cut interest rates on dozens of accounts
