Top 10 Tips To Handle Interview

This was originally published here: Top Tips to Ace the Interview for a Beginner

These few tips are mostly for those, who are entering the corporate world for the first time. You would have applied for various jobs and would be expecting an interview call. These are some tips, over and above what you would already know about “How to ace the interview”

1. Carry a couple of hard copies of your resume and a few photographs. Proactively offer one copy, with your photo pasted to the interviewer. Many times, the interviewers meet many candidates and therefore miss out remembering all the faces at the end of the day, when they compile their remarks. A photo would help them remember you distinctly over others.
2. Organize the contents of your resume well.  Do not try to hide facts. Avoid some of the high sounding words in the summary section. Mention all personal details in the end, including your place of stay, some amount of family details, references etc.  Take time and put in effort to update your CV regularly.  Avoid using the standard templates as some of them are not suited for our environment. At no cost should there be spelling mistakes. Please understand the spell checkers do not distinguish between words “Career” and “Carrier”. Please understand that the former is the correct word and not the latter. Most resumes have the latter!
3. Carry copies of all your certificates and any reference letters. It is advisable to carry all these in a zipped folder, and organized in flaps or dockets. Many times, candidates fumble and drop papers on the interview table.
4. Find out the directions to the venue a day in advance and never be late for the interview. Reaching about 5-10 minutes earlier is perfect. Reaching too early is not also good.
5. Do some research about the prospective employer (go through their web site) and do a Google search to see if they have been in the news recently. Try to know what the company mainly does. If the company has a website, check out their career openings. This will give you an idea of the type of hiring’s the company does. Check out who are in the top Management etc.
6. If you are asked questions on your career plans, or where you see yourself after, say 10 years, don’t say standard things like – you would like to be a Manager etc.  Be creative and say- that you would like to master and do well in your first 2 years and then realistically evaluate your strengths vis a vis the organizational need. This reply will impress upon the interviewer, about how mature you are and that you do not day dream.
7. If you have a subject question, for which you do not have any clue of the answer, admit frankly your ignorance. Do not bluff or beat around the bush and expose your ignorance in other areas as well! Ask the interviewer guidance on where you can learn more about the topic, thus showing your curiosity.
8. After the interview, if you are given a chance to ask questions, ask intelligent questions, like your role and learning opportunity. Show inquisitiveness, and enthusiasm. Do not ask stupid questions like compensation, travel allowances, leave etc.
9. After the interview, send a simple “Thank you” note to the interviewer, if you can manage to get their email id.
10. Do Not pester to know the outcome of the interview, but ask, if they want to share any feedback with you. If you do not receive any reply within a couple of days, you can conclude that the result is not positive. If the employer is considering you even in the shortlist, they will keep you engaged.

Author

The author, B Mohan Kumar, is a serial entrepreneur and founder of Trusted Technology Solutions and can also be reached at bmk@ttspl.com.

Autobiography of a Red Blood Cell

(Readers are advised to read the complete article, as the key message  conveyed in the end can be appreciated only after going through the initial paragraphs)

I was born from the realms of the bone marrow. I keep moving and every few minutes, I reach the lungs, where all the carbon dioxide that I carry, goes away from my body and fresh oxygen molecules cling to me. From here I start my journey but I do not decide where to go. The pressure on me increases, after I reach the heart. Like faithful soldiers, we are sent off to different parts of the body to deliver oxygen to the cells. Sometimes I have to go long distances and sometimes not too far. When we are going with the flow, our surrounding temperature is regulated by the liver, which also gives sugars and other chemicals, which are our comrades, till we reach our destination. As soon as we reach a starving cell, the sugar which traveled with us is taken by the cell and oxygen from us. When we give away Oxygen, the cells give us carbon dioxide to us to take back to the lungs. We complete our mission in less than a minute. Sometimes we have seen that our friends go away from the body. This happens, if there is a cut and then some of us are knocked out.

I tirelessly carry oxygen from the lungs to different parts of the body and return to the lungs with carbon dioxide. In each leg of the journey, I travel through the heart twice. After doing this for about 120 days, I breakdown and part of my remains get converted as bile and stored in the gall bladder. My friends and I do not fight over on who is doing a better job. We do not ask the destination, where we want to carry oxygen or say that one of us like to travel to the brain or do not want to go the the skin on the foot, where it is very cold.

During my life span, I encounter many environments. I never decide, what i should do, but what ever i am made to do, i do it. Let me also tell you that all of us do not end as bile in the gall bladder. Some of us come out of the body, if there is a cut we die when we dry up. Some of us are taken out and stored and then used in other bodies. They call that blood bank.

I am very small compared  to the whole you, but you are not too different, compared to the cosmos.Just as I am , but a small component of your living body, so are you a very small part of the cosmos. Our similarities are many, but there is a lot of difference in the way we think.

You think, you are master of your destiny and you can plan, control many things. I live my life and go with the flow. I do what I am supposed to do. Both of us do not decide, when we are born, nor do we know, when, how and where our end will be.

So learn a simple lesson from us- Go with the flow and your creator will take care of you

Apply Apply -- No Reply

The original was published here: http://www.thecareermuse.co.in/2013/01/22/apply-apply-reply/

This was it:

How many of you are frustrated, that you do not hear anything after you have applied for a job?

Some of you might have received a response and then the employer or the consultant would have reverted back to you with a set of questions and more details about the job. After you promptly reply, there is a silence and no communication what so ever.

Initially you hope that your reply would have landed in the Junk mail folder or got lost in the innumerable email replies the recipient would have got. You send another follow-up mail, but there is no reply to that as well. What could have gone wrong?

This is a typical scenario and millions of people would vouch for this. After responding to this job alert, the scene described above plays out. How is that over 95 % of the applications get rejected? Here is the trade secret.

Many recruiters have become smart. They embed a lot of subtle queries in the original body of the email. If the position is for a Quality or Testing Engineer, they would expect you to be detail oriented. What I mean is that you must have patience to read a long email and be able to follow simple instructions. Your temperament gets assessed, when you reply to these mails. As an example, they might ask you to elaborate on your specific experience of using a certain tool or domain on a cover note. This request might be embedded within the body of a long email. Many respondents, who just scan through the emails, might miss this aspect, and would just revert back with a standard reply template. It is very easy to conclude, if the applicant has read the email thoroughly or not. The other glaring example is when the recruiter asks for the current postal address, and the respondent many just mention the current location ( just the city). This goes to prove that the applicant does not know the difference between postal address and location.

Many times the applicants use canned replies to queries or even furnish details that are not even asked for. At other times, they avoid furnishing some parts of the details sought for. Examples of these are: Current compensation, expectation, reason for seeking change etc.

The general job seeker approach is – throw as many stones as possible and definitely some mangoes will fall – real wishful thinking !

The advice is: Apply selectively and take time to formulate an appropriate cover note. You might be able to apply for only 2-3 positions a week and definitely, you would get a reply to at least one. Your efficiency is higher than 40 %, whereas if you apply in bulk, by responding to all and sundry opportunity, you may not get even a single reply in a month, which means your conversion efficiency is less than 1 %. All this goes with a rider that you have substance in your CV and relevant experience to back you up for the position applied.

Good Luck !

Food for Thought

Theory of Limits

Many of us in the corporate world are used to top line and growth. In the world of business and commerce, an organization is judged by how much the company's revenues have increased compared to the past period. Growth is measured by the number of people added, the profit margin etc. This is the MATERIAL world. In real life, we chase growth, which is actually RELATIVE. Growth is always with respect to something - prior standards or others. Growth encompasses everything from income to profit to career growth. It is considered a measure of failure, if we have not grown, promoted etc. Profit is no longer a dirty word. Ambition, Career growth  etc. are virtues in the current world.

Let’s take the case of any organism - even the human body. We continue to grow till we reach adulthood, after which physical growth is not a sign of good health. When the body cells multiply and grow beyond the natural limits, it is nothing but, cancer!

Law of Conservation

Every student of Thermodynamics knows that there is something called as Carnot efficiency. This is the limit, which nature had put on efficiency of any natural process. There is also a law of Conservation of Mass & Energy, but there is no such law of Conservation of Profit & Loss in commerce! In fact, one man’s gain is other man’s loss. Accountants may not agree, but then, when there is situation of all around profit or gain, it is the universe which is at a loss. This is because the use of natural resource to have the profit has not been accounted in the input side of the equation.

Concept of Contentment

Let us understand what contentment is, by way of a simple arithmetic equation:

It will not be wrong to define contentment as follows:

                            Happiness

Contentment = ----------------

                             Growth

Now let us analyse this equation.  We say, once I build a house, my children are settled in life, after I retire, ad infinitum...... I will be happy and contended, as we would have achieved whatever we wanted from life. Thus Happiness & Contentment are directly proportional.

Let's understand the implication of denominator of the above equation.  Growth is, increase in demand, size, desires and needs. This growth is against the law of nature, as we have seen what an unlimited growth of an organ means - it is cancer, Also we need to understand that increase in cost, profit , revenues are all relative, anytime where money is used as a unit of measure. A liter of oil has the same calorific value, whether it is today or tomorrow, but it's cost & price would have changed. In reality nothing has changed. The change is virtual or Maya. So when we talk of growth, we are talking of Maya and as growth increases, contentment decreases.

We have all along talked about material growth & not spiritual growth. Spiritual growth does not follow the laws of Mathematics and Sciences.

Determinate?

Let us imagine of having a piece of string. The boundary condition is that the ends of the string are held in our hand as shown below:

The other scenario is when the string is floating in free space as shown below:

It can take any shape. At some instance, it is likely that the string will have a determinable shape, and in this case, let us take the 2 imaginary points A & B, when it is in a straight line for making the discussion simple.  

What is the similarity and difference in the above 2 scenarios?

At some point of TIME, both segments of the string may have a similar shape i.e a straight line, or more generally a shape that can be determined and defined. The difference is that in the former, the ends of the string are held and therefore there is a tension in the string between the ends. It is this force at the ends of the string that gives it the shape .In the latter, there is no tension between the ends.

Life is exactly like the string in the second case.

The ends are indeterminate – like the string. We operate in a limited boundary and define the various milestones. We are happy when some or many events fall in place as predicted, but we fail to understand that these truths are just an illusion, like the points in the second string and not permanent.  Points A & B are analogous to birth and death, both of which are not in our control, as in the string in the second case, and yet we take pride in how much control we have on the various points, between A & B.

Adjectives

We use adjectives to qualify nouns – No big deal, all of us know this!  But then, these qualifications are RELATIVE and are with respect to some norm or standard. A strict boss, a kind person, a smart employee, an intelligent boy etc.  Do we not pass judgement while affixing these adjectives?

Who determines strictness, kindness, smartness, intelligence…………………? Aren’t these very relative and subtle? What purpose do they serve? 

Let me give an example here, which many of you from the corporate world can relate. There are many times, when we say:  “He is a good candidate “, OR “He is a reject “- a remark made mostly based on their knowledge of the subject.  The truth is that no one is good or bad. Only that this person is not aligned to a specific requirement, at this moment in time. What is knowledge – is a subject in itself.

We can comprehend the above, but what we fail to comprehend and internalize is: what is “success” and “failure”?  We are quick to label someone as successful, based on our frame of reference and not on the beholder’s frame.  A little reflection will convince you that this is the truth. 

Now that you have agreed on this concept, let me stretch this logic a bit further. Let me illustrate this with a simple analogy here. Our ears can hear sounds only of certain frequencies and SEE light of a band of frequencies. Does that mean, there are no other frequencies of sound or light? Of course not, and science as it exists today has proven that communications happen beyond the above ranges.  So it will be wrong to conclude that there is no music or beauty in the other frequency range of sound or light.

We have always believed that human form is the ultimate in terms of evolution from other species, as far as our definition of good, great, intelligent etc. are concerned.  This is because we SEE manifestations of behaviour and we have defined them as good or bad.  There are certainly other organisms, which can communicate and enjoy at other frequencies, which are beyond our comprehension.  This being the case, it is quite probable that the “Lower” forms of organisms are really the “Higher” form – closer to the SUPREME.  Do we not often allude to “the good old days” and how things were much better, in the days of yore?  Is this not contrary to the direction of evolution? 

What we have been trying to grapple above is the circular nature of life / evolution / duality – In reality there is no beginning or an end, which means evolution has no direction. What we perceive as duality is only relative. When we say that the second’s needle of a clock moves in a clockwise direction, it is true, when viewed from the front of the clock, but when viewed from behind the clock, the same second’s needle is moving anti clockwise. That is the conundrum. 

The Selection and Recruitment Game

Introduction

Staffing is one of the most critical functions for the success of any Organization. This article demystifies the function and explains how one can go about the whole process. This white paper can be a useful reference document for corporate staffing manager as well as for the practicing recruitment consultant.

Background

The Staffing Manager must be very clear about the background of the vacancy to be filled. The likely scenarios could be a replacement, or an absolutely new requirement. If it is a replacement, the situation gets more complicated. It is possible that the current incumbent is still continuing in the job and the management is considering getting a replacement without the incumbent’s knowledge. The sensitivity of such a situation is imaginable. It may also be possible that the subordinates would be eyeing the job and when they come to know from the grapevine that they are not being considered in the race, the morale takes a beating and the new incumbent will have a tough time. The easiest case is when the vacancy is for a new position or when the current incumbent is also involved in the selection process.

The Process

ü  The first step to the whole process is defining the requirement vis-à-vis the above background. There must be absolute clarity on the role, the reporting relationships, the performance measurement parameters and the compensation envisaged for the position. Quite often, some of these are left vague in the hope of attracting all potential candidates. The ulterior motive is often to save cost, but the end result is a huge waste of time and money, which is not accounted. This happens by way of refused offers, meeting many candidates than really required etc.

ü  Depending on the background, one must determine the approach to be followed. This is akin to the “Make or Buy” decision taken in the conventional manufacturing industry. The options available to the Staffing Manager is either to get external help or fill the vacancy by using the recruitment team’s effort internally. If the decision is to do so internally, the choices are again to advertise the position in newspapers, business & trade magazines, internet portals or employee referrals. Only when confidentiality is an issue, would an advertisement using a post box number advised. However, research has shown that these options do not attract the best and the expense is a sunken cost. Advertising, directly with the company name, logo has a lot more advantages, including a lot of mileage for the company. However, it may be counterproductive if the company directly advertises similar jobs too often.

ü  If the decision is to seek external help, then help is available at hand. They come in various forms and names viz: placement agencies, recruitment consultants, Search firms, Executive Search Consultants or manpower consultants. All permutation and combination of the words are there in the industry. However there are some distinctions between those who add value to the whole process and those who just “peddle” resumes.

The basic distinction is of those who act as a consultant – like any management consultant, valuing inputs based on time spent and those who just broker a deal. For the former, there is seldom any clash of interest on the process or the end result. Such firms are hard to come by. Their professional fee is normally “fixed “and is retained in nature. A diluted version of this is the firm, which engages itself on a retained basis to work for the client, with deliverables clearly laid out. “Retained” concept is that in which the firm is paid periodically on achievement of milestones, irrespective of the outcome. The down side is that the payment is a percentage of the compensation offered and obviously there is a conflict of interest.

The other is the “contingency” model, where in the payment is made only on success. The downside is that there are too many players and commitment of the firm is suspect. However this is a very cost effective model, if a right firm is identified and the user also patronizes just a couple of firms. 

Once the decision on the selection of type of firm is firmed up, the other point on the decision tree is whether to advertise or not. The fundamental issue that would come up is twofold:

1)      An advertisement most often taps the active job seeker, though not hundred percent of the time. The respondent to an advertisement has shown his willingness to seek a change. The timelines can be adhered to very comfortably, but the copy of the advertisement must be very specific, without frills. An effective advertisement is one that produces a good % of shortlist against the total responses. An approach highly recommended for middle and junior level openings.

2)      If the potential candidate is to be identified without placing an advertisement, the approach is normally to rely on a database held by the selection firm or search by mapping the market and headhunting to identify the passive job seeker. This might apparently reduce the cost of advertisement, but the downside is that the candidate acts like a superstar, the compensation to be offered gets bloated and timelines are longer.

   Beyond this point the other steps in the recruitment process are very straightforward. The incumbent is interviewed, references checked, and an offer made. The interviewing process could be either a general profiling, a detailed competency based assessment or a combination of the above. Competency definition for a job and its assessment is a specialized subject on its own. Reference checking is an art and is a delicate subject. It must be exercised with caution and this also requires specialist skills. Making an offer, getting it accepted and subsequent follow up, till the incumbent is actually on board, is required to close the loop.

Conclusion

Most often, the point of contention about effectiveness of recruitment by an internal staff member vis-à-vis an external consultant arises, because of large communication gaps in the earlier part of job definition process.