1 .Recruitment: If you wanted to find a job, how would you go about it? It is now illegal in many countries to discriminate against candidates on the ground of sex, race and disability. But how real are so called equal job opportunities in your opinion.

Check job boards. Many companies and recruiters use them to find the right candidate. Define the top job boards for your skill set and put your resume there. Choose a catchy, succinct headline that encourages the reader to open the attachment. Many show when your resume was last updated. To avoid getting shifted deeper into the pile of applicants, update it weekly.

Contact headhunters. Senior-level professionals are recruited almost exclusively though recommendation or by headhunters. We know about jobs that will never be advertised and we have experience finding openings. If you work with a headhunter, choose carefully. Identify several (but no more than five) whom you trust and be prepared to follow-up.

Prepare for the job interview: Develop your personal "elevator pitch". Many structured interviews, particularly those at large companies, start with a question like "Tell me about yourself." The interviewer doesn't want to hear about grade school or growing up. This is a work and experience related question with a right answer: in two minutes or so, the interviewer wants to understand your background, your accomplishments, why you want to work at this company and what your future goals are.

Make a list of work-related skills you'd like to learn. Your employer will be interested in hearing about how you intend to become a better employee. Think about which skills will make you more competent in the position you're applying for. Find some books and upcoming conferences that would significantly improve your abilities. In an interview, tell the employer what you're reading and learning, and that you'd like to continue doing so.

Prepare for a behavioral interview. You might be asked to describe problems you've encountered in the past and how you handled them, or you'll be given a hypothetical situation and asked what you would do. You might also be asked questions looking for negative information. They'll basically want to know how you'll perform when faced with obstacles in the position you're interviewing for. Be able to give honest, detailed examples from your past, even if the question is hypothetical (e.g. "I would contact the customer directly, based on my past experience in a different situation in which the customer was very pleased to receive a phone call from the supervisor"). You might find yourself listing facts — if so, remember that in this kind of interview, you need to tell a story.

Discrimination and harassment in the workplace can come in many forms, and although such misconduct can sometimes be overt, it can be subtle or even concealed. To my mind discrimination still exists in the workplace today despite laws put into place to protect employee rights.

Women’s rights in the workplace include many facets, such as the right to work if pregnant. An employer cannot exclude a woman from a position due to pregnancy as long as she can perform satisfactorily. Employers cannot refuse to hire any person due to marital status, gender or age. People may experience racial discrimination in the form of harassment around the work place – for example, being called racial slurs or having derogatory remarks made toward them regarding their skin color or ethnic background. Other forms of racial or ethnic discrimination are not as obvious, and may include preferential or negative treatment, being passed up for a promotion or being paid at a different rate because of race or ethnicity. The federal Age Discrimination in Employment Act prevents companies from discriminating against applicants and employees over the age of 40, meaning these employees may not be treated unfavorably. Favorable treatment of employees over 40, however, is allowed.

2. Advertising: What advertisements have caught your eye recently? Explain why you consider them to be successful. What are the most effective ways of promotion of the goods? What are the advantages and disadvantages of using famous people in advertising?

Adidas has launched its £50m-plus global World Cup ad campaign featuring stars including Lionel Messi and a new track by rapper Kanye West. Adidas is positioning the campaign as the biggest global push in the company's history.

The ad, called Leo Messi's World Cup Dream, has been directed by City of God's Fernando Meirelles. Using the strapline "All in or Nothing" the campaign features some of the world's best footballers, including Luis Suarez and Dani Alves. Part of the campaign will allow fans to click on an "all in" button or a "nothing" button, the same options Messi is given in the TV ad. Official World Cup sponsor Adidas announced a tie-up with rapper West in December, although it did not then specifically say he would pen a track for the campaign.

Effective ways of promotion of the goods

Contests

Contests are a frequently used promotional strategy. Many contests don't even require a purchase. The idea is to promote your brand and put your logo and name in front of the public rather than make money through a hard-sell campaign. People like to win prizes. Sponsoring contests can bring attention to your product without company overtness.

Social Media

Social media websites such as Facebook and Google+ offer companies a way to promote products and services in a more relaxed environment. This is direct marketing at its best. Social networks connect with a world of potential customers that can view your company from a different perspective. Rather than seeing your company as "trying to sell" something, the social network can see a company that is in touch with people on a more personal level. This can help lessen the divide between the company and the buyer, which in turn presents a more appealing and familiar image of the company.

Branded Promotional Gifts

Giving away functional branded gifts can be a more effective promotional move than handing out simple business cards. Put your business card on a magnet, ink pen or key chain. These are gifts you can give your customers that they may use, which keep your business in plain sight rather than in the trash or in a drawer with other business cards the customer may not look at.

Causes and Charity

Promoting your products while supporting a cause can be an effective promotional strategy. Giving customers a sense of being a part of something larger simply by using products they might use anyway creates a win/win situation. You get the customers and the socially conscious image; customers get a product they can use and the sense of helping a cause. One way to do this is to give a percentage of product profit to the cause your company has committed to helping.

Advantages:

• Celebrities can enhance brand equity and increase name recognition.

• Endorsers can freshen or add a new dimension for a brand. If the celebrity is known worldwide, they can even bring in international consumers.

• A celebrity can build brand credibility – if someone so famous uses it, it must be good.

• They can bring a distinct personality to the brand.

Risks:

• Endorsers are people  and people make mistakes . Unfortunately, the mistakes of celebrity endorsers are played out in front of the public.

• Similarly, a celebrity could lose their fame/relevancy or they could simply change their image. This could result in a contradicting image of endorsed brand.

• Consumers may be skeptical – does the celebrity really use the product that they endorse?

• The cost of paying a celebrity to endorse your product can be astronomical. Can you afford to take a loss if they don’t bring in the revenue you anticipated?

• Just because someone is famous doesn’t mean they are a fit with any given brand. Will your consumers feel a connection with the celebrity?

3. Marketing: Market research is a long and expensive process. Why is it so necessary? What are the main goals of market research? Is it not possible to create a demand for a new product rather than trying to cater for an existing demand? What types of market research do you know?

It is a very important component of business strategy. Market research is a key factor to maintain competitiveness over competitors. Market research provides important information to identify and analyze the market need, market size and competition.

Identify potential customers

Who is going to use your product/service? How old are they? Are they male or female? Are they married, single or divorced? Do they have children? Where do they live? What is their level of education? and so on.

Understanding your existing customers

Why do customers choose your product over competitors? What do they value? Is it service, product quality or the prestige associated with consuming your product/service? Who influences their buying decision? What magazines do they read? What websites do they visit? What do they enjoy doing?

Set realistic targets

From the information you collect you’ll be able to set realistic targets for areas such as growth, sales and the introduction of new products/services.

Develop effective strategies

From your research you’ll be able to make informed marketing decisions about how to price your product/service, how to distribute your product/service, which media channels to use (eg: newspaper, radio or direct marketing) or whether to develop a new product/service. It will also help you make an informed decision about starting, building, consolidating, diversifying or reducing business activity.

Examine and solve business problems

If you’ve identified a business problem, research will help you work out what is happening. For example, if your sales have fallen you might discover that brand awareness has also fallen, or that a new competitor has entered the market or a substitute product has become available.

Prepare for business expansion

Research will help you identify areas for expansion and test the market’s readiness for a new product/service. For example you could be looking to open a new retail store and you need to find the right location or you could plan to make changes to your distribution channels (eg: from home parties to retail) and need to determine how that will affect your customer base.

Identify business opportunities.

Your research could identify new business opportunities. You may find an un-serviced or under-serviced market. You could identify changing market trends such as population shifts, increasing levels of education or leisure time which bring new opportunities.

Reduce the risk of product/business failure – there is no guarantee that any new idea will be a commercial success, but accurate and up-to-date information on the market can help a business make informed decisions, hopefully leading to products that consumers want in sufficient numbers to achieve commercial success.

Forecast future trends – marketing research can not only provide information regarding the current state of the market but it can also be used to anticipate future customer needs. Firms can then make the necessary adjustments to their product portfolios and levels of output in order to remain successful.

The ultimate goal of consumer research is to serve as the voice of the consumer.