So, what are the languages you should get trained on? Well, that entirely depends on your needs, especially the places where you do business and the people you do business with. For all practical purposes, English is the language of business, and hence, all executives should be proficient (if not fluent) in this language. Also, to add to that, if you are doing business in Chile or any place in South America, knowledge of Spanish is a must. Learning a language for business involves much more than memorizing some common expressions, such as greetings or appreciative remarks.

While it may take years to understand the subtle nuances of any language, with the proper language teaching guidance, enough can be learned in mere months to suffice for most business interactions. When you speak the client’s language, both literally and figuratively, you not only forge a personal bond but also show that you care. In other words, learning a language is a demonstration of dedication. Also, it helps you in difficult situations like contract negotiations where inability to understand a language can give the opposing party the upper hand. Thus, expertise in languages can make you an expert in business. Therefore, if you want to know where such expert English courses and Spanish courses are offered, you should certainly check out Executive English Solutions course offerings. We are confident you won’t be disappointed.

-Howard Spencer

Director EES Chile

The GMAT has long been accepted as the de facto standard test for admission to b-schools worldwide. Not surprisingly, there is a gamut of study sources out there. One of the first challenges you will face in breaching the 700 barrier is in determining the best way to prepare. While you, as an applicant, may greatly benefit from specialized guidance as offered by 700PLUSGMAT, there’s no harm in doing some preparation yourself. That brings us the question – which is the best GMAT study resource available?

Now, “best” is a matter of opinion, and different people may have different perceptions. With that being said, I have always found The Official Guide for GMAT Review to be the best study resource out there. If you think this through, it makes sense to go for the OG, as it is popularly called. When you buy a new television, you refer to the manual provided by the manufacturer for guidance. Considering that the OG is published by the Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC), the same body that conducts the GMAT, this choice is logical.

You can purchase the OG directly from the GMAC website  or  Amazon

As of today (August 2011), the OG is in its 12^th edition and includes:

• A total of 907 questions and thorough answer explanations for each
• 100-question diagnostic test
• 807 practice questions in order of difficulty
• 270 essay topics, sample responses, and scoring information
• Comprehensive math and grammar reviews
• The truth about the Top 10 GMAT myths
• Tips to prepare for the GMAT exam

Of course, if you have the time (and the money), you can also pick up The Official Guide for GMAT Verbal Review and The Official Guide for GMAT Quantitative Review as well. There is no overlap of content between any of these Official Guides.

-Howard Spencer

Director EES

The Common Aptitude Test, GMAT’s  equivalent in some parts of the world, exemplifies some sharp contrast in test design: while the Common Aptitude Test  has sections on Quantitative Ability & Data Interpretation and Verbal Ability & Logical Reasoning, the GMAT scored applicants on Verbal and Quantitative aptitude, with a different section on Analytical Writing Assessment (AWA). On first glance, you can see that Data Interpretation is not something the GMAT tests on, with Logical Reasoning being lightly covered by AWA.

Now, this latest development seems to address this issue by adding a new section called Integrated Reasoning where test takers will need to interpret charts, graphs, and spreadsheets, determine the relationships among data points, and answer interactive questions that will test their analytical skills. Additionally, they will also need to respond to inputs over headphones to gauge their auditory learning capability; something similar is already in place for the TOEFL (Test Of English As a Foreign language), often a requirement for admission to b-schools where the medium of instruction is English and the applicant is not a native in that language. The official press release and additonal information about this change  can be found at the GMAC website.

While GMAC says that this change will make GMAT more reflective of what MBA students experience in school, its rivalry with ETS’s (Educational Testing Services) GRE (Graduate Record Examination) and the fact that the latter is finding increasing acceptance among b-schools would have definitely influenced this decision.

One of the important pieces of advice I can give an applicant is to replicate the test environment as closely as possible. In other words, go through the test-taking experience multiple times before the actual test. You must have often seen that a test-taker, in spite of stringent preparation and encouraging scores on practice tests, can fail to translate that into an excellent score. The complaint, often enough, is that it was just not his/her day.

By replicating the test experience, you can make the test day, “your day.” And by replicating, I don’t mean just taking multiple practice tests; while that is certainly important, these practice tests must be taken in a simulated environment that resembles the test center. In other words, follow strict timing, take breaks that are within allowed parameters and insulate yourself from all distractions.

The official GMAT site, www.mba.com, provides applicants you a valuable resource that helps you achieve just that, and for free! It is the GMATPrep software that allows you to take two free tests that closely resemble the actual GMAT. However, note that the Analytical Writing Assessment (AWA) section is not timed; ensure that you do time yourself during your preparations. Also, and this is something not many know, you can take more than two tests with this software; just delete the cache (or failing that, uninstall and reinstall the software) to get completely different questions the next time you run the softwareyou to that top b-school you dream about.

-Howard Spencer

Director

700plusGMAT  at EES Chile

The MBA is one of the most prized degrees in the corporate world. However, even amongst MBAs, there’s a clear demarcation between a “top 10 MBA” and “the rest”. While there are different opinions regarding which business schools make up the elite 10, there’s broad agreement that Harvard, Stanford, and Wharton definitely make the cut. In fact, there’s actually an unofficial acronym, “HSW”, that is part of MBA students’ and applicants’ vocabulary to represent this Holy Trinity. So, what are the challenges of getting accepted to a top 10 MBA program?

One is the obviously fierce the competition. On the average, there are 20 applicants competing for every single seat in such programs. Consequently, only the best of the best make the cut. This gives rise to the inevitable question, “How does an applicant ensure that he or she is the best of the best?”

Since the programs want diversity in their classes, being unique helps. For example, if the applicant is a bullfighter or deep-sea diver, that job description will definitely stand out from the others in the applicant pool. Therefore, an applicant, while sending the applications, is advised to focus on any unique experiences that can be translated into credible lessons to be used in corporate life. Since this information can only be conveyed convincingly through the application essays, they assume a lot of importance.

Of course, there’s no denying the importance of a good GMAT score. While the applicant may not have a lot of wiggle room as far as past experiences go, performance on the GMAT is something that is always open to improvement. For busy professionals, it always better to take professional guidance like that provided by Executive English Solutions. In order to get entry into the top 10 MBA programs, it’s important to breach the 700 barrier.

-Howard Spencer

700PLUSGMAT Chile

The General Management Aptitude Test GMAT is by far one of the most competitive exams in the world. Annually, more than 110,000 MBA program candidates take the exam n an effort to get into business schools worldwide . The General Records Exam, GRE is another test that is used by several schools to screen applicants, mostly for admission to science, finance and engineering programs. However, in the recent past, MBA program have started accepting the GRE for the admissions process.

Regardless of which exam you are taking, there are certain strategies that will improve your performance on the big day. Here are a few helpful pointers to improve your exam taking skills:

1. TRY TO SIMULATE THE EXAM TAKING EXPERIENCE
Replicate the test taking experience by closely following the exam rules. This includes, adherence to time limits for each section, recreating the test environment, in terms of ambient noise. Oddly, the silence at testing centers can be distracting; if you follow this tip, you will not be one of them. The old adage “practice makes perfect “ needs a corrective, “Perfect practice makes perfect”. If you practice doing things incorrectly, you are only engraining bad habits. However, obvious this may seem, it’s amazing how many test takers practice under conditions nothing like those that they’ll face on exam day. By practicing, under strict time and test conditions, you become knowledgeable about the test instructions and can pace yourself properly throughout the test and are much more likeley to achieve a score similar to that of your simulations.

2. REST AND GET A GOOD NIGHTS SLEEP
Although some of you may feel you study better at night, the night before the test should be exclusively for rest. Otherwise, when you sit down for the test during the day, your body, and by extension your brain, will be tired and unable to function at full potential.

3. EPECT HE UNEXPECTED
Murphy’s Law says that anything that can go wrong does go wrong. Your alarm may not ring, there may be a pile-up on the highway and your car may run out of gas with no station in sight. To prevent such accidents of fate, plan for all contingencies – set up a second alarm or get a friend to call you, know about alternate routes and keep your car tank full. And remember to leave home early.

-Howard Spencer
700PLUSGMAT Chile

English, for all intents and purposes, is the language of the world. Even though more people speak Mandarin Chinese a as native language, if all speakers around the world are considered, especially those who speak English as a second on third language, English will be at the top. Moreover, it is the most popular language in the two most powerful economic engines of the modern world – the United States of America and the European Union – and hence, is by far the most important language for international business.

It is therefore clear that executives of all levels need to be fluent in English to ensure business success. This is especially relevant today with business crossing geographical boundaries, where often, the bridge between different countries and disparate cultures is the English language. When there is a demand, there will obviously be a supply; hence, this demand for business English education has resulted in a surfeit of executive training firms. However, like men, not all training firms are equal.

What differentiate a premier executive training firm from the rest are its record and its staff. If the firm has a record of consistent successes in imparting business English education, and if its staff includes certified and experienced trainers, then it may be a wise choice to invest in its business English course offerings. At EES Executive Solutions Chile we offer only the most highly  trained instructors, top quality educational materials, excellent customer service  and an ISO 9001:2008 quality control system to provide consistent world-class language training for professionals and organizations.

Our  language training offerings are not restricted only to Chile. We have affiliate centers in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and New Zealand as well. Backed by years of experience and staffed by instructors with CELTA (Certificate in English Language Teaching to Adults), TEFL (Teacher of English as a Foreign Language) and TESOL (Teacher of English to Speakers of Other Languages) certifications, EES is the ideal place to learn English for business.

-Howard Spencer

Director EES Chile

Cross-Cultural Training and Global Effectiveness

In 2005, American journalist and author Thomas Friedman published the highly popular book The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-First Century. In it, he explored the phenomenon of globalization that has enabled business to transcend geographical distances and political borders. With the spread of the Internet and companies doing business in multiple countries, we are essentially living in a global village without borders.

One thing that is an outcome of globalization is the meeting of cultures. Now, there are considerable differences between different cultures in different countries. In order to prevent a clash of cultures that may disrupt business, it is necessary for firms to embrace all cultures, especially in areas where they have a physical presence. This can be achieved through cross-cultural training.

Cross-cultural training is not only the learning of different languages, though admittedly language training is a very important part of the process. Cross-cultural training also includes teaching people how different cultures perceive the same thing in different ways. It includes training for executives in gestures, habits and overall behavior. For example, in Japanese culture, a bow from the waist is the traditional gesture for greeting someone. Even for the bow, there are subtleties like the person of a lower designation bowing lower when meeting someone of a higher designation.

Cross-cultural training provides many of the “soft” skills that are necessary for business success. While “hard” skills like education and work capability are undoubtedly important, “soft” skills distinguish the great from the good in business. They demonstrate a company’s extra efforts to satisfy customers.

If your company is not prepared to impart such training in-house, you may choose to outsource it to a specialized firm. At  EES Executive English Solutions Chile we have the  required skills and experience to succeed in this challenging role. EES courses emphasize not only the importance of language skills but also in the key role that culture and customs play in a globalized market place.

-Howard Spencer

Director,  EES Chile