Author: admin

Dear reader, this article does not talk about you or anyone you know. This is completely fictitious and characters used here are a figment of my imagination. If you think you or someone you know has been quoted here, I’ll be offended. Because if at all, I’m taking inspiration from someone, it’s me. For your ease of read, this article is written conversation style with each participant’s thoughts in brackets.

This is an imaginery situation of the most cardinal, yet most performed crime of job hunting – the rigging of a CV – in progress. The recruitment consultant (RC) is as responsible for such a crime being committed as is the jobseeker (JS). Much like a Bollywood story, there’s drama, controversy, music, love, sleaze and a twisty happy ending, at least for the JS and RC. Let the games begin.

Act 1 Scene 1 / Day 1 Seed 1 / Resume 1 Version 1

Bee bada boop bada boop bada bee / Tum to thehre pardesi / dil mein mere dard-e-disco (Corny ringtone on JS’s cellphone)

JS: Haan hello

RC (Twinkly, bubbly, cheerful voice OR sexy seductive deep voice): Hi, JS. My name is Shefali (or some other name that sounds like a woman you were in love with in college but never gave you any wind). I’m calling from Lots-of-Cash-and-Then-Some-More Recruitment Consultants with a job offer. Can I speak with you now?

JS (sudden change in voice, sounding like AB in Shahenshah or Hema Malini in any movie): Yes, yes of course you can.

RC: Okay, great. I understand that you are working with Already-Ripped-Off-Once Media?

JS: Yes yes of course I am.

RC: And you’ve been here for how long?

JS (caught on the wrong foot, what could be the right answer): First, what is this job about? (slight giggle escaping the lips at the apparent presence of mind while furiously working a provable work duration)

RC: This job is with Will-Pay-You-Loads-If-You-Say-The-Right-Things Media. The profile is for Group Head-Sitting Around. The job is located in your current city. We believe this is the best opportunity for you. Could you tell us a bit about yourself?

JS (crapping in the pants): Before that, could you send me the job description please? You have my email address?

RC: Sure, I can and yes, I have your email address. Is it sirbluffalot@reallyalot.com?

JS (not wanting to offend, but not giving any answers): You have done your homework, I see.

RC: Yes we have. You come highly recommended.

JS (holy crapalooza, someone recommended me): Who was it?

RC (smugly, winning confidence, changing topic): I have my sources. We also have jobs with If-You-Aren’t-Working-For-Them-You-Should-Die Technologies and Yet-Another-Social-Network, that you might fit into.

JS (by now, almost ejaculating, deep AB voice gone two sentences ago): Oh, oh, great. Send me the profile. I’ll read it and send you my CV ASAP.

Act 2 Scene 1 / Day 2 Seed 2 / Resume 2 Version 1

RC: Hey there JS. Remember me? RC?

JS (Return of Sexy Voice): Hey, Shefali (or whatever).

RC: I got your resume. Very impressive. But a few corrections that I’ve discovered might help your resume make a good impression.

JS (Exit sexy voice, Enter gay mariachi): Really, really? Wow! You guys are so smart.

RC: (Giggles!) First, they need someone responsible. Your resume says you’ve worked 3 years with your present company as senior manager. You need to show more responsibility.

JS (sweating brow, hyperventilation): NOW WHAT DO I DO?

RC: Relax, we’ve faced this lots of times. In this work summary, simply add “3 years as a senior manager with Already-Ripped-Off-Once Media, with increasing responsibilities year on year, working towards Vice President.”

JS: WILL YOU MARRY ME?

RC: (Giggles again, this time clearly fake) Another thing I noticed about your resume. You don’t have an MBA.

JS: I gave the entrance exam a year ago. I flunked it. My sister’s best friend’s brother was getting married, and I was really disturbed.

RC: Okay, then make sure you mention somewhere in the introduction that you’re “pre-MBA”.

JS: God, you’re so smart.

RC: And finally, your expected CTC is almost double more than your current CTC.

JS: Yes yes, I figured that Group Head – Sitting Around should fetch that much. Plus, Will-Pay-You-Loads-If-You-Say-The-Right-Things Media just got funded by MoneyBags Ventures. And that the CEO golfs as a hobby. They should be loaded.

RC: Right, but their finance controller and HR head are a bit … how can we say … conscious of what they pay. Can you settle for 90%? We can’t loose the commission either, so we’ll try our best to negotiate down to a 90% increase.

JS: Oh sure, sure. I’ll compensate by asking for a closer appraisal. (think to himself, I’ll also download more stuff and chat more so that my social life makes me feel better about the lost opportunity).

RC: I’m going to need a few references as well.

JS: Oh cool, you can call Mr. Marriageable-Daughter-Courting-Me. He was the head of admin in my last company. You can also call MyDrinkingBuddy and MySmokingBuddy. Both have worked with me previously.

RC: Great. I’ll set you up for an interview right away.

JS (Thinks to himself, face to face, I don’t have Google and can’t give bad network excuses): Please ask them for a telephonic interview first. I’m going on some business (read native place) for the next week.

RC: Okay, but you will meet them right?

JS: There’s a Provogue sale next week. I can meet them the week after.

RC: Provogue sale?

JS: Did I say that out loud. Sorry. Ignore.

RC: Okay bye.

JS: Bye (my love)

And so, JS builds himself a resume that makes him worth 90% more than he is. And he gets hired. Let’s examine why this may happen.

1. Zero Validation
   No one is telling Will-Pay-You-Loads-If-You-Say-The-Right-Things Media whether JS is saying the right things. There are several validation methods that hiring companies might not use. Background check services, calling references, blind calling references. But the biggest hurt comes because there is too much trust in too new a relationship with a recruiting consultant. Check with your existing recruitment consultants if they have background check methods or even validation methods before they push you a resume. Know new recruitment consultants before trusting them. Work with them for a while. Measure their performance. Know the team there that is going to be hiring for you. Good consultants will always give their views and fitment points, expect them. Only then, be safe in skipping a step. Even yet, make sure you have an audit process in place for the consultants every quarter or two.
2. Hiring in a hurry
   Bringing people on board is more sensitive than employers will allow themselves to believe. Especially SMEs. Agreed, when you’re starting up or scaling up, people acquisition urgency is imperative. But don’t let that be a reason to hire at random or unchecked, based on paper or first impressions. Plan your resource needs at least two quarters in advance. Hire over a longer period of time. That way there’s enough time for good resources to live out their notice periods before joining you, and get initiated correctly to their jobs.
3. Maskers or Fakers
   There’s not always lies on a resume. There’s cloaking, highlighting, underplaying, enhancing, beautifying and much else. There are special professional services that begin with a promise to make a drab resume likeable and land up making it too good to even belong to the jobseeker. Read the resume “carefully before investing“.
4. Conventional thinking
   Sure, ask for the obvious – resumes, salary slips, references. Then shock jobseekers and ask for visiting cards, Form 16 / tax returns, contracts, appointment letters. It is your right to seek information from those that you hire.

Ingenious resume hacks? Read below:

• A junior member in a team claims to have been responsible for ‘creating the strategy that changed the fortune’
• Claims to have ‘grown sales by 40% ‘ in 4 months (and forgetting to mention that the brand was just 6 months old)
• Pre-MBA, currently pursuing an MBA, Completing an MBA (in the first month of the first sem)
• Adding “Sr.” before the actual designation
• Unimaginable sales commission claims (to hike up the CTC)

For more tricks of the trade, visit www.fakeresume.com. BIG WAKE-UP CALL. And JS and RC, remember that once on the job, the truth will always catch up. Often, before three months after joining.

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The guest author, Alap Ghosh, has 8 years of in-the-middle-of-all-the-action experience in enterprise, portal and mobile products and solutions. Having worked with the top technology and media convergent companies of the country, Alap spends most of his time connecting brands and agencies with technology to create better internet properties and new-age inventory. Connect with Alap by email or on LinkedIn or on Facebook

Before we proceed further, dear reader, this article assumes you know the ABCs of social networking. If not, do read Social Networking on Wikipedia. Though it may sound like a normal “What is social networking” piece, it’s not.

We, Indians are natural born networkers. We may not realize this, but we’ve been networking all our lives without ever recognizing it as such. Right from our parents (and the Stanford Graduate uncles) to our bosses, the sales guys on the third floor and the hot corporate communications lady, we’re surrounded by people that are networkers and those that inspire networking. Every celebration, festival, occasion, event and get-together (eeps!) brings us closer to our own trusted (?) circle of people. We engage in introductions, small talk, exchanging information, eying prospective mates (mostly for others) and occasionally come by some good talent. There’s a huge (prolonged) flurry in local and international web revenue companies to capture this inherent behavior. Though the pitch may not be the same, the underlying intent is to take our offline social behavior online.

Now, recruiting from your network is always a good thing. Your network connects you with people that you trust, who in turn refer you to the best people that they have known, thereby providing more of an assurance of the right fit than a recruitment agency can.

The Social Network Hiring Landscape

Considering this, we already have a significant presence on social networks like Orkut, LinkedIn and Facebook. Why I haven’t considered veterans like Ryze and MySpace and new players like BigAdda and iBibo, is because though they do bring value, they really don’t solve a problem, yet. Orkut wins because of its simplicity, LinkedIn for its rigidity and Facebook for its relationship enforcement.

So, how different are social networks from profile pages of yesteryears (read Yahoo Profiles and the like). Unlike profile pages, social networks build connectivity between people and their value networks. A person on a social network will always be connected to his friends, peers and acquaintances such that while wanting to connect with someone, one will always have a path of introduction to walk. Orkut does it flimsily, LinkedIn does it with force (and payment) and Facebook does it with relevance.

Value networks not only form people connectivity, they also form credibility. So a person’s value network can always be looked up for information and validation. Also, great talent hangs out with great talent. A great worker’s value network is the best place to find similar people. Knowing which communities / networks the worker belongs to adds insight on what the worker finds important to stay in sync with.

The Actuals

Getting down to hiring from a social network isn’t too hard. Chances are you’re already part of Orkut, Facebook or I’m sure, LinkedIn. It’s easy to join too, if you aren’t on. The first step to good hiring is a complete profile. People aren’t going to be interested in you if you aren’t going to have much to say about yourself, even if you’re CEO.

1. Pull people for your requirements + Push jobs out to your network A complete profile is usually a good method to pull good talent. For all you know, people are searching for either you, your skills or your company. You could also use features like Posts on Orkut Communities, Asking Questions on LinkedIn Answers and Facebook Flyers, Facebook Posted Items and Posts on Facebook Networks.
2. Compare people applying for a job A great utility for any social network is to compare people for a job. In a pre/post interview feedback exercise, ask which social networks the jobseekers belong to. Compare their profiles, networks and participation to get an interesting insight on what they have put on for display (or haven’t).
3. Conduct better interviews Using social networking profiles of jobseekers, you could learn a lot about their personality, their strengths and weaknesses and their ability to make decisions and live by them. Interviews can become stronger and more revealing if a person’s unbiased public profile is studied.
4. Establish credibility + Find Non-Suggested References + Perform Checks Social networks give you access to a person’s past (as long as it’s declared). On networks like LinkedIn, an incomplete profile could spell disaster (here’s what to do to avoid it). Profile completeness shows a clean career path and good relations with previous employers and peers. Having found a good talent, try using tools and search to find out who worked with the jobseeker at companies of interest to you. Get in touch with them (free on Orkut and Facebook, either cumbersome or paid on LinkedIn). In most cases, people are only glad to help. This method of reference checks works better since you might land up getting unprogramed or unbiased responses.
5. Make Orientations Easier In the time takes to get on-board (notice periods at exiting companies), new recruits can familiarize themselves with people in your company by introducing themselves informally through social networks, finding common friends and interests with them, learning about your corporate culture and ethics and in general, self orienting themselves to your company.
6. Keep your enemies closer Not really :), but learning what teams are being formed at your competitors’ sides, the connections that they are making and the people they are hiring always makes for good strategy. You might just find your next trump card hiding in a lowly position at a competitors’.
7. Build on your brand as an employer Though this topic deserves a full story, presence on a social network or networks can do wonders to your brand value as an employer. Having a LinkedIn profile makes you search engine friendly, jobseekers looking for reverse references from employees or more information on an opening just becomes a whole lot easier. Being on more youth friendly social networks casts an impression of a comfortable and energetic work environment. Again, this has to be a conscious focused activity like any brand building activity and silent communities and incomplete profiles could do more damage than good.

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The guest author, Alap Ghosh, has 8 years of in-the-middle-of-all-the-action experience in enterprise, portal and mobile products and solutions. Having worked with the top technology and media convergent companies of the country, Alap spends most of his time connecting brands and agencies with technology to create better internet properties and new-age inventory. Connect with Alap by email or on LinkedIn or on Facebook

Blogs have become an obvious part of the modern internet surfer’s daily dosage. With 15.5 million blogs being actively published, nearly everyone online has come across some sort of information on a blog. If you are already familiar with what blogs are, skip the next section. Else, read on. We’re going to talk about giving your otherwise silent employees an active voice, with blogs helping you discover and nurture hidden talent in your organization.

What are blogs?

In the olden days, scientists published their journals directly onto paper for their peers to read and pass judgement on. The premise of this action was three pronged:

• To validate their work
• To build credibility among peers
• To create recorded knowledge that can be used by anyone from their peer group over time.

Blogs are the new journals. They are used by just about anyone who has something to express. They form searchable archives of daily activity, findings and information gathered, acting like pools of knowledge that help people discover each other.

Blogs (short for “weblog”) are internet applications that act as journals or logbooks. Though blogs can be used in various ways to propagate a message or an agenda, most blogs currently online perform exactly the function that they were meant to i.e. publishing a record of activities and events that influence people and perspectives.

Blogging on the job

Blogs are easy to maintain for the employee. Often, employees that have a role that contributes to their daily enrichment, blog daily. Others are more infrequent either because of their social orientation, job role, availability or aptitude. In many cases, entire departments or entire companies can also maintain a single blog. Blogs offer rich categorization for people to find and read content easier. And with RSS (rich site summary) and email subscriptions, blogs often get fetched directly and loyally into a single or easily accessible location by its audience.

Making good talent find you

Employee blogs show the quality of work that your company has to offer. They also reflect how an employee feels while working with you, how they are rewarded for their work, how their work is recognized by their peers, what are their goals and ambitions and how the company is helping them achieve them. Department or company blogs reflect the mindset of the company as a whole, showing how the company is living its mission and vision. Prospective employees, when exposed to these facets of employees and companies, get an accurate picture of themselves in the same company, influencing their decision to approach you, work out a good deal with you and work for you.

Spotting good, maybe hidden talent within your own organization

When employees blog, they are (or at least should be) encouraged to write honestly, forthrightly and without an agenda. This promotes a healthy sense of belonging and gives them a strong voice. Blogs go beyond visible perceptions and showcase an employee’s uninhibited outlook to their work and their life. Often, this voice and outlook speak out louder in text than in meeting rooms, events and discussions, allowing HR managers and management to spot good talent that could be groomed and nurtured into becoming excellent. This requires a significant involvement in reading blogs. Managers have to monitor several indicators – skills like commitment, consistency, taste and quality, the blog’s contribution to the blog owner’s peers and others.

Distributing information and gathering feedback informally

Department and Enterprise blogs replace a lot of internal practices. A company blog will replace your newsletters, notice boards, announcements, event updates, suggestion boxes and resource manuals. When employees get to comment or rate a published piece, they provide feedback in a low-friction productive and collaborative environment. Honest opinions, reasoning and decisions are collected and available for all to see, making the quality of work produced by employees improve while also helping you recognize and focus on talent.

Bringing blogging into your culture

Adopting blogs as an HR tool is easy. At times, it’s as simple as signing up for one of several free blogging services, like Blogger or WordPress. For a more secure, hosted, knowledge centric environment, you should try www.cyn.in, which is available both secured-online and in your secured intranet. If a one-blog-for-each-employee blog network interests you (recommended in media, research and knowledge-worker heavy companies), there are several easy platforms available that are capable of managing huge centralized network.

To blog or not to blog

Of course, four corporate entities should be consulted before planning a blog rollout.

• Corporate Communications
• HR
• Marketing and Sales
• IT & Legal

And yes, in this order of importance. IT is last, because with the paranoia of data security looming, IT might not allow themselves to agree to even a single blog. Corporate communications show the company in its true positioning. They will choose how the outsider world, investors, share holders, customers and prospective employees should see the company. They will choose what parts should be accessible internally and externally. HR comes next in choosing their goals for talent management and hence a roll-out method. Marketing and sales should ideally choose topics and themes. IT & Legal will create ground rules and policies for responsible, collaborative blogging.

Some examples of really good company blogs and blog networks:

• Direct2Dell
• IBM Developer Works
• Sun Microsystems: A great blog network … Rohan Pinto’s blog is a classic example of an employee blog, within Sun’s networks.
• McDonalds
• Southwest Airlines
• WalMart
• Yahoo Yodel Anecdotal – Brilliant example of what we’re trying to explore here.

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The guest author, Alap Ghosh, has 8 years of in-the-middle-of-all-the-action experience in enterprise, portal and mobile products and solutions. Having worked with the top technology and media convergent companies of the country, Alap spends most of his time connecting brands and agencies with technology to create better internet properties and new-age inventory. Connect with Alap by email or on LinkedIn or on Facebook

This question might sound like something that pops out of a handbook for beginning recruiting. Or worse, a high school morality quiz. Still no one has come up with a convincing enough answer. This one is going to stir a mad debate. But then that is the intention. 🙂

Who would you rather hire? A management graduate with the best academic record or a college drop-out with the best performance record. Give reasons why.

Send in your reply as a comment to this post. Those who are in to read, read the comments to this post.