Intersearch Academy Program in Frankfurt, Germany, 2014

Intersearch World Wide Academy is celebrating its decennial year and this special session was held at Frankurt. Started in 1999, the Academy has come a long way in training and exchanging ideas for over a decade. This year was a special as it marks the 10th anniversary and also housed the largest number of participants from 14 countries.

Krithi Achia (Chennai, 2nd row from below, 2nd from right) and Spandan Mohanty (top row extreme left) were Intersearch India's participant in the 2014 Academy. This is the second time India is participating in the Academy. I talked to them about their experience.

Payal: How was the program? 

Krithi: The program began with welcome drinks and informal introduction of all the participants. We were also introduced to the Board members. There was a welcome note from Peter Waite and a formal introduction of all the participants. The 3 instructors Andras Lipcsei (Hungary, 2nd row from top, 2nd from right), Micheal Gross (Germany, row below Anras, white shirt, with glasses) and Micheal Coughlan (ireland, top row, second from right, blue shirt) took us through various nuances of search beginning with an introduction to InterSearch World Wide – what is it and where it goes. Our Vision, Mission, profile and statistics. The sessions included changing market trends, Case study on Using Linkedin, sales promotions, marketing actions, managing client relationships, SWOT analysis and so on. The sessions were lively as every member had a lot to contribute to enhance best practice sharing. We were divided into 3 groups and group tasks were assigned to be followed with a presentation the next day. We also had 3 members who were attending the academy for the 2^nd time share their experience.

The day concluded with a team dinner in the city; a place to eat typical German food with ale and beer.

Day 2 was very interactive. It began with presentations from the 3 groups followed by discussions.  Individual marketing PPTs were completed and the program concluded with presentation of Graduation Certificates.

The finale was a formal dinner with the board of Intersearch Worldwide on the banks of river Rhine.

Spandan: "Diversity: the art of thinking independently together" said Malcolm Forbes, and we had a first hand experience of that in Frankfurt.

Located centrally at the Westin Grand Hotel in Frankfurt, with a lot of top banks in the vicinity, the academy was right at the centre of financial hustle bustle. I was proud to see our very own, State Bank of India there, in the midst of all the global banks.The academy was well managed by the three instructors where they made it more interactive in nature thereby encouraging more discussions and debates. Good practices in various participating countries were discussed and every member was enriched.

The case studies and role plays were fun and interactive and gave a real time feel. We had to sell a difficult Cross Border assignment, an easy cross border assignment and an assignment in troubled waters. Theory met practice and we could get a real time feel of the usual problems faced in such scenarios. Overall a very enriching experience and a great value add for our business.

We also had a first hand experience in visiting an authentic German restaurant and the food there.

Payal: What was the learning on Intranet which was the focus of a lot of discussion this year?

Krithi: The use of intranet was introduced and various aspects/platforms were shown which helps in cross border coordination. Case studies and role plays were enacted and it made the session more fun and had a real time feel. The open discussions helped all understand the process and work style of every country member.

Spandan: The Intersearch Intranet, intersearch.me, is one of the great initiatives by Intersearch to share and work on cross border assignments. With all features of a social network, this has added advantages of uploading important presentations and documents, different practice groups and client lists across the globe. The ISAR management shows the ongoing cross border assignments and the intranet has all the facts and figures to support our Global Business Development efforts.  

Payal: How did you feel meeting so many fellow colleagues from different countries?

Krithi: Meeting fellow colleagues from different nationalities and diversities was a special feeling. Finally there was a face and personality to all the interactions we have had over intersearch.me.

Spandan: When geographical reach and diversity is one of your core strengths as a firm, the importance of an Academy grows manifold. This year's academy in Frankfurt was another step in this direction by Intersearch to bridge the experiences of all member countries and give a platform to researchers for idea exchange.

We started with an informal ice-breaking session and by the sheer diversity of nationals involved, this was a very different experience, especially for me. There were Germans, Belgians, Chinese, Polish, Ukranians, Colombian, Spanish, British, Brazilian, Middle East.

Payal: What was your biggest takeaway from this experience?

Krithi: A great platform to meet fellow colleagues from different countries. Returned home with an enriching experience and 20 close friends. Looking forward to attend the academy again, this will not only help in networking but enhancing best practice sharing. 

Spandan: At the end of it, the biggest takeaway was that we came back with 20 close friends across the World and that is the power of Intersearch. 

Our previous experience with the Academy can be read below: http://spearheadintersearch.blogspot.in/2011/04/intersearch-academy-program-2011-in.html

Social media mistakes which might make you lose your job

A 2014 Jobvite survey shows what kind of social media mistakes can ruin your prospects at your workplace. Apparently 93% HR managers review your social media presence and activity before hiring. We certainly do!

Whats scary to the social media enthusiast is this: 55% of them have reconsidered a hiring decision after reviewing the social media profiles of their candidates, and more than 60% of those were not finally hired. Here is the link to the survey:
https://www.jobvite.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Jobvite_SocialRecruiting_Survey2014.pdf

How do you keep your social media sites clean? This article has some good tips: http://time.com/money/3019899/10-facebook-twitter-mistakes-lost-job-millennials-viral/

Which site should you be on for HR to reach you? LInked in is used by 79% respondents, 26% through Facebook and 14% through Twitter. Nearly all hiring managers used Linkedin for searching, contacting and vetting their candidates. Facebook is used for showcasing an employer brand mostly and to get referrals. Facebook is also used for vetting candidates and see what they have been up to.
What should you NOT do on your social media pages?

• Make references to illegal drugs. 83% recruiters would leave you out at this stage!
• No no to sexual posts. 70% dont like it.
• Profanity is disliked by 2/3 of recruiters
• Guns
• Alcohol
• Bad spelling and grammar: 66% would kick you out for that
• Political affiliations are not welcome

So what DO you do to stay in the good books?

• Highlight your charitable actions- donations, or the weekend teaching volunteering you did would impress 65% recruiters.
• Include examples of work if you are in writing or design. Recruiters are looking for that. Hard skills should also be showcased, as also industry related posts. These count in the things a recruiter is looking for on your page, especially the ones used specifically for a job search like Linkedin.

TIME also has an article that summarises the findings.

http://time.com/money/3510967/jobvite-social-media-profiles-job-applicants/?xid=timefb

Job Interview? Making an impression before you speak.

It does not take long for an interviewer to form an opinion of a candidate. Often the interview is over even before it started. Especially in jobs where appearance is important it is imperative to make an impression even before you sit and start speaking. It starts from the time you enter the interview room. People will make assumptions about you in the first few seconds of entering a room and that will cloud the entire discussion thereon. Here are a few short tips, inspired by a TIME magazine article, you can cop to make a positive impression.

• Before the meeting, go into the wash room, look into the mirror and say- "I am the best" as many times as you want to build confidence... believe me, that works better than anything else. Even if there is no mirror available, say it loud over and over.
• Take care of your posture when you walk in the door. Pull yourself up to full height, shoulders back and relax. If you cant relax, force yourself. It works.
• Try not to look unsure or anxious when entering the room. Take a deep breath outside the door and open with a smile on your face. Try to look relaxed and happy to be there.
• Whatever you are carrying in your hands, shift it to the left hand before entering. The right hand should be kept free for shaking.
• Keep sunglasses inside a bag, not on your head, not hanging out of your shirt.
• Body language matters. So avoid hugging your portfolio with both hands, or crossing your arms, or anything that suggests that you are not comfortable.
• Once you enter the room, greet the people there, shake hands and before sitting, zero in on a place to keep your things. It is better not to keep bags on the table. The table can be used to keep your portfolio or diary or any papers. Bags should be kept by the feet. Phone must be in the bag and on silent mode.
• There is a 3-minute rule which says that you should speak within the first three minutes of entering the room. Even if it means asking for a glass of water, let the interviewer hear your voice. It works by making the interviewer tune in to your voice and it also makes you feel confident.

Image: Recruitingdaily.com
Apart from dressing the part, which is an altogether different subject of discussion, body language and how one carries oneself matters a lot in the interviewing process. A confident and relaxed approach, more often than not, will will the battle for the job seeker.

Gender stereotypes which work against men

A recent comment by a colleague set me thinking. Case in point was the new Havell's ad campaign with the tag line- I am not a kitchen appliance. The message being, stop treating women like they are there to serve you.

A lot is being said about this series and its been doing its rounds in the social media sites. One of the comments quite common comes from men, young men, unfortunately, is this- what about men- are they expected to work outside the house and come back and cook as well, while women will put their feet up and relax and use their husband as an ATM and also force him to make his dinner? (All actual quotes made by various people on the website).

However, the company has not meant this ad to appeal to every socio economic class.My bai wont buy a Havell's coffee maker or a juicer. It is definitely targeted at the upwardly mobile young educated urban woman (or man) who are working and tending to home at the same time, and super stressed about how to manage it all. Ask me!

My colleague had said that men are targeted in stereotypes as well, only men dont get to speak up. And that got me thinking. And then I came across this video from March 2014:
http://www.france24.com/en/20140307-interview-anne-marie-slaughter-new-america-foundation-international-womens-day-work-career-balance/

Here Anna Marie Slaughter talks about women and fair workplace practices and among other things that, "If there’s to be true equality among the sexes then the next phase of the women’s movement needs to be a men’s movement, says noted American feminist, Anne-Marie Slaughter. As we mark International Women’s Day, Men should not be stigmatised if they take time off work to raise children." (France24.com)

Hence, men being ATM is not exactly the stereotype that men should be fighting against. That is still directed against women. They should be fighting against this- that men are the bread earners while their women can stay at home either to study, or to take care of the house, or as primary care givers to their children.

Men have equal right to take a sabbatical especially as young dads. Why is it a social norm that women take maternity leave and many dont get back to work in order to take care of the child, but the man has to work, no matter what! Often, as in my husbands case, that work meant he didnt and still does not see his daughter for days. He out before she is awake and in after she has slept. I have often heard him say that he wishes I had a job which could sustain us, so that he could take a year off and really concentrate on the growth and development of his child. And that, readers, is a fundamental human right!

So I say this to all young men, speak up! Today! Before it is too late and you have spent your life slogging in an office realising only when your child has grown, that you have missed the golden years. If your partner has a job which can sustain the family, by all means, take time off. Dont go by social norms set by a traditional mindset which is not relevant any more. Take the Parental Sabbatical which till now is a mostly female domain. See your child grow and be a part of that!

Go ahead even if you are not a dad. If you wish to get that MBA, or if you want to hone your photographic skills, or if you have a great idea for a novel- go ahead and take time off. There should not be any stigma attached to it just because you are a man! 

Gender free job applications: Does it really work?

Here is a question for women job seekers: Does putting your gender in your CV immediately reduce your worth?
Many experts think so. Women are certainly under valued in most industries around the world, and equal pay still seems a distant dream. So often a women with equal credentials and equal job experiences with a man will end up short changed in the salary department.
So some companies came up with a novel idea. Just remove gender from your CV.
This will put all CVs immediately at par and there will not be scope for discrimination, they say. However, I have a question. The job is not given, nor salaries decided, looking at the CV of a person. This is done post a meeting. So when the interview panel meets a group of relevant "equal" candidates, some male some female, what is to stop them making the same mistake of hiring the female candidate at lower salaries, or even rejecting the female candidate prematurely.
Here is another article on the topic I really loved. As this says, it is "almost great".

Gender-free job applications? It's almost a great idea- Sara Musgrave

I’m looking to go back to work.

To that end, I saw a head hunter yesterday. I’ve been out of the market for a while now (having chosen to start a family) and I wanted some advice about what I suspected might not be an easy "re-entry". I work in finance, and before relocating back to Sydney managed to claw my way up the greasy pole to become a partner within my company in London.

The headhunter was very helpful. “These days, it’s all about cultural fit,” he insisted. “Sure, everyone shortlisted might be able to do the job,” he said, but “are they the right fit for the organisation? Will they contribute to the prevailing culture? That’s what the CEO really wants to know.” He raised my CV. “And you won’t find that in here.” He smiled. “It’s reading between the lines that really matters and that’s where I come in.“

I smiled back. Absolutely. "Fit", I get it, "the prevailing temperament…" I twisted my wedding ring. "It’s of paramount importance. Especially in finance."

But what does "cultural fit" actually mean? Is it really just a euphemism for being able to make employment decisions based on cultural issues rather than merit?

Later that day, something about the conversation played on my mind. And it wasn’t until I read about the radical new action being taken by the Bank of Queensland (BoQ) that I realised what it was.

The Bank of Queensland announced yesterday that it will remove gender from resumes under a new measure aimed at boosting the number of executive women in its workforce. BoQ human resources general Manager Ian Doyle said all identifying factors – name, age, gender, address – would be removed from resumes submitted for senior roles in the hope of getting a “stronger pool of females coming through.”

Bank of Queensland chief executive Stuart Grimshaw said the banking sector has one of the largest pay gaps between men and women, and an internal survey found Bank of Queensland matched the industry’s gap of about 30%. “I have a son and two daughters,” he said and “I want to create a positive change within the industry where everyone has the same opportunities to succeed.”

Sex discrimination commissioner Elizabeth Broderick said the initiative was “quite revolutionary.” It’s worth noting here that this initiative didn’t happen in a vacuum. Elizabeth Broderick and Stuart Grimshaw have form. In April 2010, Broderick was instrumental in bringing together some of Australia’s most influential and diverse male CEOs and chairpersons to form the Male Champions of Change group. The group aims to use its influence to bring women’s leadership issues to the national business agenda. Stuart Grimshaw is a male champion of change in Queensland; other members include the head of Woolworths, Qantas, ANZ, the Commonwealth Bank and David Jones. The boys are doing some good work; you can read their 2013 report here.

What the Bank of Queensland is doing is fantastic. Gender bias is real, whether it’s conscious or unconscious. Therefore removing gender from CVs will remove the gender bias. Problem sorted, right?

Well, maybe not. Because when I think about my CV, I immediately begin to worry about the three year gap between the years of 2009 and 2012. When it all comes to an abrupt halt and there is just a big, white space on the right hand side of the CV instead of the name of a blue chip company name and the title of "partner". I worry about what my prospective employer will say about that. All that time out of the market. All those lost client relationships.

But then I raise my head defiantly, and write in “chose to stay at home full time and take care of my child", quickly followed by “but now I want to come back to the corporate world full-time.” I add that I have “100% child care facilities in place” and am “ready/willing/able to work regardless of whether the job goes into the evening or weekend”.

What else can I say? That’s the real elephant in the room. And calling me Samuel instead of Sara isn’t going to change that. Not all women have a gap on their CV. I get that. But a lot do, and unless we can think up a way of addressing that, anonymously taking gender off the CV is little more than lip service. As the head hunter said, it’s the reading between the lines that really counts.

By the way, after meeting with the head hunter yesterday, I took off my wedding ring. I’m not really married. I’m actually a single mum, but I’m not stupid enough to tell him that.

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/may/08/gender-free-job-applications-its-almost-a-great-idea?CMP=soc_567

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.

Having effective and efficient meetings

The article from LiveMint where MD of Spearhead Intersearch, Jyorden Misra was quoted, excerpts. For the full article go to http://www.livemint.com/Leisure/rOdmG3Po96SVN1JGdnS9aJ/Talking-heads.html

In his new book Read This Before Our Next Meeting!, Al Pittampalli writes that the modern-day meeting is not a tool to share information that could be sent out in an email or a free-flowing session to generate new ideas. What it is, is an opportunity to support decisions.

“Team meetings are an important tool for managing a team’s tasks and ensuring productivity, but they can lead to a loss of interest among people if overdone or if conducted without adequate preparation and leadership skills,” says Prashant Bhatnagar, director (hiring) at technology firm SapientNitro in India. Gurgaon-based Bhatnagar says that at SapientNitro, 30-40% of the senior management’s time is spent in “team and functional meetings”, and at the junior to mid-level, employees spend 10-15% of work hours in meetings.

First, some ground rules

Team members at ThoughtWorks conduct a 7-minute daily meeting, standing up

Going into the meeting, there must be a clear agenda, an outline of possible solutions and alternatives, and a proposed decision—the merits of which can then be debated in the meeting, says Pittampalli.

He adds that we engage in many different kinds of interactions in the office—the one-on-one conversation, the group work session and opportunities to brainstorm.

There’s another set of “meetings” that is becoming popular in the modern Indian office, the daily update. Teams huddle around to talk about the previous day’s achievements, where they got stuck and the tasks to be completed that day.

At financial services firm Bajaj Capital in Delhi, “there’s a 7-minute daily huddle, in which the teams highlight three things that happened yesterday”, voice any dependencies on others and set the tasks to be completed on that day, says Sunaina Mattoo Khanna, executive vice-president and head (HR), Bajaj Capital. “That meeting can’t be more than seven-eight people,” she adds.

Problem areas

Post-its dot a wall of the ThoughtWorks office

Bringing the laggards up to speed during the meeting can, of course, be a huge waste of time for others. Jyorden T. Misra, managing director at Spearhead InterSearch, a network of executive search firms, agrees. “Most often, people don’t do the preparatory work for a meeting and a lot of things are developed in the meeting rather than being researched beforehand,” says Delhi-based Misra.

Misra adds that we need to look at the anatomy of meetings. If you have an hour at your disposal as the meeting leader but it gets wrapped up in 15 minutes, end it quickly rather than letting it drag on, he suggests.

Ravi Dawar, India director of finance at medical technologies firm Becton, Dickinson and Co. (BD), says: “Open-ended, undefined and exceedingly long meetings add no value to the organization and often lead to delayed decisions.”

Gunjan Shukla, general manager (Pune) at software firm ThoughtWorks Technologies (India) Pvt. Ltd, says there are other ways to share ideas. Instead of calling others away from their workstations, hold on to that thought, and let the team come back to you when they can all spare some time to hear you out, she says.

Ideas mill

Colourful Post-its dot one wall of the Pune office of ThoughtWorks. Each Post-it is an idea on how to solve a problem, or even a new problem the team could develop and market a solution to. And once that concern is out there for others to see, it elicits responses from them, triggers new ideas in their minds, and allows employees to do this “interaction” with the idea when they are free, rather than being called away from their desks at an inconvenient time.

There’s another solution that Shukla says works well for her office: Teams can indicate entire chunks of time—“core working hours”—during the day when they will be unavailable for meetings. “Teams get to decide core working hours. Only certain meetings can violate these core working hours, like when we have a senior executive visiting the office (from overseas),” she explains.

Misra says at Spearhead they make the employees in charge of meetings by turns. The meeting leader is then in charge of outlining a clear agenda for the meeting and communicating it to the other attendees, collecting the necessary data points around the meeting, distributing copies of the necessary documents and presentations to everyone well in advance, Misra explains. That person also gathers intelligence from other team members regarding updates on their work.

Misra says this level of pre-meeting preparation has had two interesting outcomes for Spearhead. When employees talk to each other periodically to learn what has been keeping them busy in the workplace, it helps develop a greater appreciation for what they each do. Another plus is that if someone calls in sick or has to go out for work-related travel on the day of the meeting, the meeting in-charge can fill in for them, he says.

Dawar agrees: “The meetings are pre-scheduled to ensure effective participation and also agendas are circulated well in advance. In case of presentations, the presenters share the presentation and pre-reads ahead of the meeting to enable informed and productive discussions during the meeting.” This also addresses a key spoiler in the modern-day meeting: non-participation. Employees who come to meetings unarmed with information on what it is about, or data points to back their views, often have little of value to contribute.

Our coverage on Livemint: Digital Clutter: Can your online footprint affect your job/ hiring opportunities?

Get rid of digital clutter

Old posts can be embarrassing—scan and delete them from your old social networking sites

Subhashish Bharuka

Privacy settings are tedious, but well worth the effort

Facebook rolled out Graph Search in the US last week and plans to expand it to other users in short order—it’s going to be easier than ever for people to find your posts.

Your online footprint is larger than you remember. Did you ever have an Orkut account? What about that old Myspace profile, or Flickrpage? Everything you posted to them is still online today, unless you delete the posts or make them private. Today, it’s possible to get fired, end up in a broken relationship or in extreme cases, get booked for a comment you’ve put up on your Facebook wall.

Jyorden T. Misra, managing director of Delhi-based Spearhead InterSearch, a global executive search firm, says: “Social media profiles are checked as a part of the due-diligence process by many organizations today. There have been instances where candidates who were otherwise qualified were rejected because of lifestyle traits displayed online; references to drinking, drugs, bad-mouthing of their co-workers and employers.”

Deepak Kulkarni, director, HR, Asia Pacific, Bristlecone (a Mahindra Group consultancy service), adds, “At Bristlecone we use social media to validate the information provided by the applicant, to help make a decision on the interview.”

So how do you deal with this online “clutter”?

Filter access: Social networks like Facebook let you set different privacy levels. Want to keep your party photos for friends to see? Make sure they’re the only ones who have access to them. On Twitter, remember that everything you say is public. If you want to use Twitter to keep up with friends and share off-colour jokes and photos, then change the account settings to private.

Set a cut-off: Facebook’s Timeline includes the very handy feature of letting you control privacy by year—the year when you started working is usually a good point to draw the line between public and private space. We’ve all said and done stupid things in college—but even if that was 10 years ago, it’s not a good idea to air them for your boss too. Jump to the date, and set everything before that to private. After that, you can scan your timeline and mark some chosen items as public if you want. This isn’t just for Facebook either because recruiters often check LinkedIn and Twitter too.

Check those apps: Facebook and Twitter use something called API authorization through which you can grant access to your account to third-party applications. This is pretty cool for the time when you want a game to tweet your high score, or when you want to run the birthday calendar app on Facebook. But often, you’re giving those apps access to your personal information, and giving them permission to post on your behalf.

Check the apps that have access on these and other networks; you’ll find many apps which you activated years ago and haven’t used since. Remove their access rightaway. Do you need all the other apps that remain? If the answer isn’t a resounding YES for any app on the list, remove that one too.

Automate clean-up: Want to get out of Facebook, and don’t want to leave any traces behind? Download Facebook Scrubber. It’s free, and removes all the information you’ve ever uploaded to Facebook. After that, you can delete that account with confidence.

If you’re not ready for the nuclear option, then check out SimpleWash. This free app lets you pick and choose the content you want to delete, from photos and posts to likes.

SimpleWash also works with Twitter; the app scans all your updates, looking for offensive language and references to drugs and alcohol. Then you can choose to delete the content or leave it. And in case the automatic search doesn’t find something you remember, you can use the search bar to find things too. While you’re at it, you can also use Tweepi to delete the Twitter followers you don’t interact with—this reduces the odds that you’ll forget about someone following you and make an inappropriate post.

Go hands on: This is the last step but possibly the most important one. Once you’ve run SimpleWash, take a scan through your Facebook Timeline to make sure that there’s nothing objectionable left. With Twitter, scanning through all your tweets is difficult, but All My Tweets is a free tool that helps—it lists every tweet you’ve ever made on a single screen, so you don’t have to scroll through page after page to check if SimpleWash missed anything.

For older networks which you don’t use actively any more? It’s best to just delete or lock down the account.

Social Media as part of hiring policy

              
        While there is some data on companies using social media sites for recruitment purposes which shows that more than half of companies have used social media sites for recruitment, there is almost no data on how many companies use these sites for purposes such as backgrounds check or pre hiring checks. However, based on our own talks with clients, it is clear that the percentage of companies doing this is quite small. There is a reason for that.

Social media sites like linkedin, facebook, twitter are excellent ways of identifying qualified relevant candidates; connect with them and complement the overall hiring process. But taking the decision of not hiring a candidate based on what is posted on these sites, may make the company liable to law suits based on discrimination. No company would want to be in that position. Hence, not many companies will ask the interviewee about their facebook user id. We will also see more and more companies making explicit rules of how to use social media sites for their hiring practices. However, posting such things as drinking binges, drug use, or even spelling and grammar mistakes can bias the company against hiring a certain candidate, if the company decides to go through the social network profiles of the potential candidate.

On the other hand, a company can use social media for a two pronged recruitment purpose. On the one hand, they can create a presence which helps in building a brand identity, and increasing brand loyalty among job seekers or potential employees of the company. They can also use it to post jobs and create awareness of existing positions among active as well as passive job seekers. On the other hand, the company may be able to identify relevant candidates to contact for positions in the company. This makes the hiring process more efficient.

2.      Inappropriate content: We still dont know of instances in India where an employee has been fired because of inappropriate content. This is more prevalent among school students who are warned, suspended or rusticated for posting against teachers or the school. However, there have been instances of employees being warned against making derogatory comments. In some cases, social networking sites have been banned from the office altogether and in others employees have been gagged on networking sites against speaking about their employers.

Today, whoever uses networking sites is also careful enough not to comment about their employer or manager. Not only will it harm their present situation, it will also permanently scar their profile in the eyes of future employers.

3.          Social media profile screening has been complementing our hiring methods for some years now. Linkedin was originally created as a professional networking platform and today more than 90% recruiters are using it in some form in their hiring process. More than 50% use facebook for the same purpose. Today with this kind of technology becoming part of hiring, it becomes even more important for the screening process to be more stringent. Ironically, this screening is best done by an experienced head hunter, who, I dare say, can easily separate the wheat from the chaff, even from a linkedin.com or a facebook.com!

What you wish you'd known before your job interview: Pinterest

Saw a great pin on pinterest and thought of sharing it here...

Boss from Hell: Dealing with bad boss (Anger management in the workplace: Part 2)

In the previous blog post I had talked about the colleague from hell which makes one lose ones marbles in the workplace. But a bad workplace is just as bad as a bad boss. The top reason why a person leaves a job is a bad boss. So what do you do when...

YOUR BOSS SHOUTS AT YOU FOR NO FAULT OF YOURS

One might immediately think of harassment. One might think that one’s boss is bullying. The immediate reaction may be anger and frustration. One might think of resigning or even shouting back.

Think: If it is a genuine case of harassment or bullying, the first reaction should be no reaction at all. If it is a regular incident, one can gather evidence to support the claim and then take it to a higher authority. One can even garner support from colleagues and fellow supporters.

If however, it is a one off case, and not severe or lasting, one may bring it to the notice of the boss. If the boss had no intention of hurting, he/she would immediately understand if an explanation is given to the innocence of the victim/ employee.

Do:Communication is essential. If the issue is harassment or bullying, help should be sought. Otherwise, there should be free and frank discussion with the boss about the behaviour which might dissipate the situation. In case of an apology from the boss, the employee may be gracious in acceptance.

Dont do: Make false allegation of harassment. If the case is one off and not severe or lasting, this might result in the termination of employment for false allegation. One should never lose ones cool and shout back at a boss. One should also not stay silent and let him/her get away with occasional abuse.

And what do you say of the boss who will inevitably call you when you are in the middle of a romantic candle-lit dinner, and ask you to make a client call RIGHT NOW!

WHEN YOU GET A WORK-RELATED CALL ON A VACATION

Resentment and frustration may be the result of work spilling on to weekends or vacations.

Think: It is now a common thing to be working on weekends or vacations for many. Sometimes if the vacation is quite long, more than 5 days or so, one might be expected to clear ones mailbox periodically. Also one should realise, people do not remember differences in time zones or movements of others all the time. If it is urgent, try to delegate the work to someone in the know. If it is not urgent, one may want to remind politely that one would deal with this once he or she is back.

Do: This is not a potentially damaging situation. If it is very urgent situation which require only ones own involvement, then one needs to put in that work. Otherwise one may either delegate or push the work till the date of return to office.

Dont do: Shut down all communication especially if it is a long vacation.

Also, use of racial or gender biased words or comments in the workplace is a definite no-no. It is not just disrespectful, it also shows lack of self confidence and perhaps also low self esteem in the person doing it. One is often tempted to say something rude and hurtful to the cause of the anger, but it is always going to be construed into your being unprofessional and irrational.

So while it is never a good thing to give in to the anger boiling within you, it would be easier on your career and image to take a deep breath, count backward from 100, and channelise the wrath into constructive matters.
The Hindustan Times Brunch article can be found here http://www.hindustantimes.com/Brunch/Brunch-Stories/Why-so-angry/Article1-1087690.aspx