The worst things you can say in your resume

Our job involves among other things, going through resumes, scores of them in a month, and then pouring it into a different mould, one we have, over years of experience, realised works well. And we leave out a lot, and add in a lot more. This is our "value add" as consultants to you- the candidate. However, "value add" is not a term we keep in your profile if we are representing you to a client, if you are still using it in your resume.
I have been thinking of collating a list of things you should not be doing to your resume, as a continuing series to my previous blog posts on the subject. But someone else beat me to it, and did a pretty good job in the process. So to make my job easier let me just quote from here. CareerBuilder surveyed more than 2000 HR recruiters and listed the terms that just dont "value add" to your resume.

The Worst Resume Terms

1. Best of breed: 38%
2. Go-getter: 27%
3. Think outside of the box: 26%
4. Synergy: 22%
5. Go-to person: 22%
6. Thought leadership: 16%
7. Value add: 16%
8. Results-driven: 16%
9. Team player: 15%
10. Bottom-line: 14%
11. Hard worker: 13%
12. Strategic thinker: 12%
13. Dynamic: 12%
14. Self-motivated: 12%
15. Detail-oriented: 11%
16. Proactively: 11%
17. Track record: 10%

If you still have these terms on your profile, this may be a good incentive to change. Also here are some tips about how you can make the first glance at your profile work in your favour.

1. After the name, mention  your age, location and education.
2. Make an executive summary: CareerBuilder website also says that a hiring manager spends at an average 30 seconds on every resume. Our job is to spend enough time on it to ensure that the hardest hitting effect can be made in the very first 30 seconds. 
3. What to include in the Executive Summary: Number of years of experience, industry, functional exposure, and the companies you have worked in with the years listed below. Eg: XYZ Ltd (2006-2010)
4. Then start your detailed resume. This works like the Newspaper. A short introduction to you personally as a headline, then the all important first paragraph is the executive summary which will inform the HR manager all s/he needs to know in short. Then s/he can go over and glance over to the details. The Executive Summary also serves another purpose. This works well as a recall factor. Many times I have noticed the hiring manager recognise the profile after glancing at the executive summary. Remember the thing about first impressions?
5. Start with the present job and work back. It seems obvious but many people still start at the beginning and work to the present. That is just not relevant for the job you are gunning for.
6. After every company name, location and position, please provide some information on the company, a web link or a couple of lines, the size of the business, revenue etc. This is a great help for the hiring manager to shortlist candidates when the size of the company matter.
7. Provide team details. If you lead a team, mention number of team members at the very beginning, especially if the role requires a team leading capability.
8. The personal details can be listed at the end. Even if you are going for a header or footer for every page, maybe its a good idea not to have it in bold large letters. Normal letters work just as fine.
9. While writing age, please mention date of birth. Many candidates only write an age, but one is never sure how old a profile is.
10. Mention important points, especially if relevant to the job, in bold. Do not use bold and underline or italics together. Bold will do the trick.
11. It is always better to list "Responsibilities" and "Accomplishments" both for every job separately, and not all together at the end of the profile. This is especially important. The hiring manager would want to know how your responsibilities have increased and how you have continues excelling at your job in a sequenced manner.

And finally, there ARE words you can  use to pack a punch in your profile. These words are generally specific example words, which will provide a hiring manager with instances proving your worth, and not vague terms meaning nothing much in the end. This was also found from the above survey.

The Best Resume Terms

1. Achieved: 52%
2. Trained/Mentored: 47%
3. Managed: 44%
4. Created: 43%
5. Resolved: 40%
6. Volunteered: 35%
7. Influenced: 29%
8. Increased/Decreased: 28%
9. Ideas: 27%
10. Negotiated: 25%
11. Launched: 24%
12. Revenue/Profits: 23%
13. Under budget: 16%
14. Won: 13%

Read more: http://www.inc.com/suzanne-lucas/hiring-challenged-sift-for-these-17-worst-and-15-best-resume-phrases.html#ixzz2yDAOdIyI

Is Microfinance the new investment banking: Growing popularity of the industry in MBAs and senior professionals

In 2009, Suresh K Krishna, Managing Director, Grameen Koota, at a speech at the International Convention of Microfinance, organized by Institute of Applied Management stressed the need of management graduates to join the microfinance sector and take it forward professionally. Recent trends among B schools show that graduates are, indeed taking his words seriously.

The microfinance industry in India, which can trace its origins to the early 1970-s, faced its worst crisis in end of 2010- 2011. The Andhra Pradesh Govt, in October 2010, passed the legislation effectively shutting down all private sector microfinance institutions in the state. But with the RBI in control now, things have started improving.  

However, as the industry revived and microfinance companies again started seeing profits the changes were not only inevitable, it was already being planned. While rates of interest decreased, there were significant developments in the technological application and cost effective management techniques. The most important need of the hour was to hire suitable talent to lead the microfinance institutions into the next level of effectiveness and efficiency. And hence, the need for management graduates with training in the tools of the trade to do this.

On the other hand are the new breeds of management graduates who are also looking to make a difference in their society, in their surrounding environment. Students from premier B schools, IIMs and XLRI are now willing to forego hefty pay packages to join a micro finance institution and make a difference. Thus in 2011, Janalakshmi Financial Services, hired their first IIM graduate from IIM Lucknow. More recently, they again hired, this time from IIM-B. And the good news is the level of interest Janalakshmi created in IIM-B. they had received 17 resumes from the passing out batch. They have also hired from TISS, Tata Institute of Social Sciences and other management schools. In 2014, they are returning to the IIMs for placement season. Suffice it to say that V S Radhakrishnan, the MD and CEO of Janalakshmi, is an IIM-A graduate himself. While Bandhan Microfinance has hired from IIMs (16 in 2013), other institutions like Ujjivan have gone for institutes like XIM, Bhuvaneshwar or TISS.

While Indian students show a growing interest in the Indian microfinance industry, this interest has come to our notice from foreign universities too. From London Business School to Seoul University, from Nigerian University to Middle Eastern colleges to Carnegie Mellon, there are students from all over the world who wants to be part of the microfinance industry and ready to work in India.

Most of the above is true for seasoned executives who have scored in boardrooms for some time now. While they have already tasted success in their respective industries and companies, they are not averse to having microfinance in their repertoire. In fact, as an executive search firm, we have seen the change in the last few years, where it has not become relatively easy to convince anyone on taking up an opportunity in microfinance.

Whether it is Suresh Gurumani, who had joined SKS as CEO from Barclays Bank, or its present CEO M R Rao who joined SKS from ING Vysya, it is evident more than ever now, that microfinance is indeed the new investment banking. And it is not just the bankers who are looing up and noticing such opportunities. High ranking executives from companies like Walt Disney, Sony, Reliance Communications, Asian Paints or even E-Bay has been keen on trying out opportunities with companies like Grameen Koota, Hope Microfinance or Madura Microfinance Ltd. And yes, incidentally many of them also happen to be IIM graduates.

With new technology and new processes in place, microfinance institutions see themselves as any other bank but with smaller valuations. And they are planning to grow. However not all companies can yet pay B school graduates what they expect. So many companies have started internship programs with students from business schools, both from India and abroad. And there are plenty of students interested, says C S Ghosh, chairman and MD of Bandhan, who goes for talks at IIM Calcutta.

But what are they getting in return, apart from giving back to society. It is also bringing them adequate exposure which will stand them good stead in their careers later in life. Microfinance is banking with the poor, and this field knowledge gives them the knowledge base to go on for bigger assignments.

While the option is easier with management graduates, the pay factor is more intensely felt in the case of senior executives. While some companies are indeed willing to match other industries for the right person who will catapult the company to a different league, many microfinance companies are still struggling to pay the high salaries senior executives can command in the market. However, it is often seen that executives are often more willing than not to take a cut in their pay in order to be part of the new era of microfinance. What excites them is the opportunity to make a real positive difference to a company which will take them ahead and meet or exceed their goals. These people are great change managers with the zeal and ability to lead companies into a growth oriented future.  

A report on Hiring in the Steel and Mining industry in India in 2013

Mining is one of the core sectors of our economy, contributing 2% of GDP and also linked to the growth of other core industries like power, steel, cement which in turn affect manufacturing, industrial production, automotive and other industries. After growing an average of 4.8% from 2006 to 2011, for two years after that the industry saw negative growth. The mining industry suffered from harmful policy, regulatory, land and environmental issues, which resulted in mining projects getting stalled.

Only very recently the mood has been on the upswing both in the mining as well as in the steel industry. This has been the result of government efforts on the one hand, and also to various firms going ahead with their expansion plans both in the country and abroad. The government of India has allowed 100% FDI in the Indian Steel sector. The Ministry of Steel ecently set up the Steel Innovation Council. This promotes ideas for the growth and development of the sector. They have also roped in the Tanzanian Govt to cooperate in steel and mining. Recently, the government invited Polish companies to join hands with Indian firms to share technical knowledge and knowhow in mining and steel sectors. While research and development in the sector is being encouraged and funded by the government, urban need for steel is also increasing. Globally there is high demand for steel to build infrastructure and industrialization.

This also goes to show that once the domestic mining and steel industries do well, it in turn affects domestic companies in their growth and expansion worldwide, thus making it imperative to hire world class talent.

JSW Steel plans to commission a new steel manufacturing unit in Bellary by March. This will in turn help in the company meeting its demand for the auto industry. The US subsidiary of Hindalco, Novelis is going to invest US $ 205 million in their facilities in USA and Germany. Their growth plan for the next few years, in aluminum are 30% y-o-y.  GVK Power and Infrastructure Ltd is growing in their dredging as well as mining sites in Australia and Germany. Tata Steel will manufacture rails for high speed lines in Saudi Arabia. SAIL, Steel Authority of India Ltd has taken up modernization and expansion projects in all its plants to increase capacity.

All these expansion and growth plans have already spurred on companies to increase their entry level hiring. Campus hiring or entry level hiring is not just important, it is essential when an industry is reviving or growing. These are the young women and men who will shape the future of a company. From production engineers, quality management professionals to functional professionals like HR, Marketing or finance, requirement in all these hiring areas are bound to increase.

Having said that, hiring at junior and senior levels have very different approach. While campus hiring and advertisements work for junior level hiring, senior level hiring need much more attention and expertise to execute. A CXO level profile needs to have technical capability but added to that are the soft skills and the ability to grow the company not just in the domestic markets but internationally, as many companies are thinking of now. Hiring of top level executives is often outsourced to consulting firms which have just that level of expertise to know who would be the right person for the company at a CXO level. And if companies like Tata Steel and Hindalco are thinking of expanding their presence as well as their capacity, there are plenty of smaller firms who are also looking at expansion in the coming year. They need the right person at the helm to lead the company in the right direction. While many companies may be looking to getting into a professionally run set up, there are also some who are dealing with the wrong kind of person at the top which is stalling the company from growing.

Recently we were approached by one such steel and metal company which had this very problem. They were being affected in their plans of an overseas acquisition because of their leadership which was undermining the morale and thus production of the company.

However, a company is not just made of its CEO and shop floor workers. Good quality talent is also required at the middle management levels. When companies start doing well, attrition in this industry is also bound to increase. So firms would also do well to keep a good back up of mid level management personnel who can be called upon at such times, so that overall productivity or morale of the company does not diminish.

Another development over the years have been the mining and steel industry’s relationship with their surrounding society. There have been public opposition and conflicts over operations or development of many plants. So the industry has started to become inclusive of its environment and thus embracing corporate social responsibility. This effort required experienced people to lead their agenda in helping the industry create a positive image, while creating jobs, wealth and improving the livelihoods of those in surrounding areas.    

Thus hiring, even in core industries like steel and mining, cannot be seen as a one off sensation. “People” are what links the entire organization as well as the surrounding environment, and good hiring practices at all levels, are what will make the differences in a positive growth in the immediate future on the industry as well as long term revenue generation for the country.