BullzI Inc.

Category: Opinions

  • A year should have six months, better still four

    Here is a typical conversation between recently hired Bright Spark and Boss.

    BS, ‘I think I’m stagnating!’

    Boss, ‘What? You have been in this assignment for only 3 months!’

    BS, ‘Yes, it has already been 3 months and I am not doing anything new.’

    So BS is sent to meet HR Head.

    HRH, ‘ We have plans for you. Over the next one year we will groom you to take on higher responsibilities. In two years time you should be heading your own business unit’.

    BS, ‘ Two years? Jeez! I will be an old man by then!’

    So What Has Changed?

    1. True, the young have always been impatient, restless and definitely more fickle. This was always tempered by the steel of  the experienced and older majority at workplaces. However, in today’s world, where the demographics are sharply tilted in  favour of youth and workplaces have become increasingly younger, it is but natural that this restlessness and impatience will spill over in the workplace as well. It is not neccessarily a good or bad thing, it is just the way it is.
    2. Consider the rapidly changing landscape of products and technologies. Where the radio and TV had 30 years between them, the computer cum tv cum radio cum camera cum mobile phone and the voice only mobile have just five!
    3. Consider also, how Google, Wiki, Facebook (between 3 and 7 year old themselves) have changed the way we socialize, communicate and view our horizons. Now consider how Digg It and Twitter may well replace these. You are beginning to get a sense of the speed of the escalator we are on.
    4. Mr BS spends easily and has thus rollercoastered into a lifestyle ahead of the curve. He lives on loans and EMIs because he believes tomorrow will be a better  brighter day. So his happiness with a rise in pay is a function of when the new EMIs hit his bank account.
    5. Everything is operating at higher RPMs and more KMPHs. Especially in the context of our ‘developing’ country, new ideas, newer opportunities, new ways to spend money are being cranked up in this accelerating machine.
    6. The millenial employee is a product of this very machine.
    7. The concept of time has undergone a change and maybe the bosses, products of another century, have not noticed.

    New Measure of Time

    The traditional measure of time, in relation to employees, has been a year. In most jobs, for a majority of the young BSes, this represents a lot of days to feel you are going nowhere.

    If we could break this up into 2 or better still 3 parts then we could introduce a set of milestones that are always round the corner.

    • Self -development Milestones
    • KRA Milestones
    • Compensation Milestones
    • Growth Milestones

    The organisation would also benefit from having systems that will be more aligned to deliver, greater speeds and also provide more flexibility in business planning.It does not represent any increase in cost but certainly requires a lot more time invested in employee appraisal, feedback, compensation management and so on. This would have the positive effect of creating an environment where the employee sees, within the time frame of his attention span, growth for himself and positive intent from the employer.

    Sales people have lived with systems very similar to these for a long time now though it has usually been linked to only one parameter – sales and incentives. It is well documented that companies where incentives are paid out more frequently have found it easier to motivate and retain employees.

    Of course many of the basics about human nature have not changed. People will still prefer to work in an environment that is enriching and promises continuous growth. However, the understanding of time frames do require tweaking, to be more alligned to the new generation

  • HR Practitioner – Married But Available

    No, this not about me.
    No, this is not an ‘innovative’ job posting.
    No, there are no mistakes and it says exactly what it was meant to.
    Married but Available (MBA) is the second book in the series by Abhijit Bhaduri of the life and times of Abbey (http://www.harpercollins.co.in/BookDetail.asp?Book_Code=2108). In the first book titled Mediocre But Arrogant (yes, MBA and yes, it is a great insight), Abbey gets his MBA in HR from an institute in Jamshedpur. And starts his career at the bottom of the HR pile in a manufacturing company.
    This second book is about the first ten years of his work life. Outstanding read if you want to pick up some wonderful insights on HR from one of the leading HR thinkers in the country. The story is one that a lot of people will identify with – the insecurities, competitiveness with batch mates, failed/failing marriages, demanding bosses, neglected families etc. It is a story about the ‘corporate types’ from corporate India and wrapped within these threads are the author, Abhijit Bhaduri’s take on HR – the protagonist Abbey is an HR practitioner.  As he works through positions in the factory, to the Chairman’s strategy unit and an M&A, Abhijit touches upon some key HR issues that are worthy of debate.
    1.    Learn the ropes from Ground Zero
    –    Abbey, the MBA is posted in a small industrial township, learning people management at the shop floor. He resents it, wants to be in the corporate office and get himself a fancy designation. Sounds familiar? The lessons learnt on the shop floor are absolutely invaluable, that too under the guidance of someone with experience but no degree. Underlines the fact that there is no alternative for ‘Being there and doing that’.
    So it is absolutely necessary to be in the trenches to be a general or is that just an old fashioned notion in today’s world of email, best practices and technology?
    2.    Incentives can be two edged swords
    –    Abbey experiments by incentivising one worker for doing a dangerous job. Workers appreciate his gesture but a deluge of others all performing the same dangerous task follows it. This causes its own problem, as Abbey has to progressively reduce the incentive for the job. What started as a positive exercise rapidly degenerates into a dispute.
    If an incentive is being ‘misused’ in spirit but not technically what should be done?
    3.    Fairness has to be demonstrated even when you retrench someone
    –    Abbey is made responsible for a massive downsizing and restructuring exercise. Despite the bitterness, mistrust and unhappiness this move causes in the factory, Abbey never gives up on communicating clearly and consistently and genuinely trying to help the retrenched workers to rehabilitate.
    Is the future welfare of retrenched/downsized employees the responsibility of the company, specifically HR?

    Lets hear your views.

  • Its Never Too Late

    The first day of school our professor introduced himself and challenged us to get to know someone we didn’t already know. I stood up to look around when a gentle hand touched my shoulder.

    I turned around to find a wrinkled, little old lady beaming up at me with a smile that lit up her entire being.

    She said, “Hi handsome. My name is Rose. I’m eighty-seven years old. Can I give you a hug?”

    I laughed and enthusiastically responded, “Of course you may!” and she gave me a giant squeeze.

    “Why are you in college at such a young, innocent age?” I asked.

    She jokingly replied, “I’m here to meet a rich husband, get married, and have a couple of kids…”

    “No seriously,” I asked. I was curious what may have motivated her to be taking on this challenge at her age.

    “I always dreamed of having a college education and now I’m getting one!” she told me.

    After class we walked to the student union building and shared a chocolate milk-shake.

    We became instant friends. Every day for the next three months we would leave class together and talk nonstop. I was always mesmerized listening to this “time machine” as she shared her wisdom and experience with me.

    Over the course of the year, Rose became a campus icon and she easily made friends wherever she went. She loved to dress up and she reveled in the attention bestowed upon her from the other students. She was living it up.

    At the end of the semester we invited Rose to speak at our football banquet. I’ll never forget what she taught us. She was introduced and stepped up to the podium. As she began to deliver her prepared speech, she dropped her three by five cards on the floor.

    Frustrated and a little embarrassed she leaned into the microphone and simply said, “I’m sorry I’m so jittery. I gave up beer for Lent and this whiskey is killing me! I’ll never get my speech back in order so let me just tell you what I know.”

    As we laughed she cleared her throat and began, ” We do not stop playing because we are old; we grow old because we stop playing.
    There are only four secrets to staying young, being happy, and achieving success. You have to laugh and find humor every day. You’ve got to have a dream. When you lose your dreams, you die.
    We have so many people walking around who are dead and don’t even know it!

    There is a huge difference between growing older and
    growing up.

    If you are nineteen years old and lie in bed for one full year and don’t do one productive thing, you will turn twenty years old. If I am eighty-seven years old and stay in bed for a year and never do anything I will turn eighty-eight.

    Anybody can grow older. That doesn’t take any talent or ability. The idea is to grow up by always finding opportunity in change. Have no regrets.
    The elderly usually don’t have regrets for what we did, but rather for things we did not do. The only people who fear death are those with regrets.”

    She concluded her speech by courageously singing “The Rose.”

    She challenged each of us to study the lyrics and live them out in our daily lives. At the year’s end Rose finished the college degree she had begun all those years ago.

    One week after graduation Rose died peacefully in her sleep.

    Over two thousand college students attended her funeral in tribute to the wonderful woman who taught by example that it’s never too late to be all you can possibly be.

    Source: This story came to me through many forwards. I am still looking for the original source to thank. I thought it was just too inspiring not to share.

  • Learning has nothing to do with age

    This story/experience came out of my conversation with Sanjeev where we were discussing learning/ unlearning, the older we grow how much more difficult it becomes etc etc. – that sort of stuff. In an attempt to allegorize, he launched into this whole story of how he at the age of 46 learnt to swim from none other than his 6-year-old son. And then promptly asked if I could write about it. Needless to say, I froke. But… it was a great story. While retelling it, I paused often to absorb the very native lessons and realizations that happened along the way, which I wanted to share. This is my (slightly) tweaked version of Sanjeev’s story. Read on.

    In what must have been a state of the Zen ‘satori’ (read a highly avoidable state, for both adults and kids, but especially for kids), my 6-year-old son suddenly realized his immediate mission. To learn to swim. And “Dad” being the greatest (a regrettable lapse in foresight I can see now), I was to be his teacher. Very gravely and matter-of-factly, my son announced it over breakfast on a beautiful Sunday morning which instantly ceased to be beautiful. You see, I did not know how to swim.

    To make matters worse, I just did not believe that I could learn at my age. My age being all of 46 (read highly confidential info). I was swamped by a chaotic avalanche of thoughts/emotions/fears /inhibitions, plus extremely disturbing visions of my self undergoing an incredulous (read humiliating and traumatic and….) inspection by all kids and their accompanying parents at the pool.

    Someone once said and I paraphrase here – ‘The greatest battle is the one that you fight within’. It was while I was thus battling really hard within to overcome my lesser self so to speak, I came up with the most painful (malignant) realization. That I was not only as programmed as any other conditioned guy, I was equally hypocritical as well. Because it was not so much that I was afraid to learn at my age but that I could not bring myself to own up to the fact that I was indeed afraid and most of all from the thought of the world at large (read my son’s friends, their parents etc) witnessing my embarrassingly inhibited status.

    So there I was stuck in a crucifying limbo till I realized that my celebrated status with my son (along with my floundering self esteem) was on a fast track to facing mortifying extinction. And so, in order to save both from an untimely end, besides recognizing (however grudgingly) an opportunity to let go, I gave in.

    Realization/Lesson 1: Conquering inhibitions borne of age-old conditioning can be very hard. But it’s the first critical step in the process of learning or better still, unlearning…
    So began an adventure that almost ended before it started with my trying to find a coach (read ‘The Right Teacher’) who would teach me and my son. Together, since that was the point. Well, feeling much like an aging institution, I took my place next to a bunch of raring-to-go kids, all sizes and shapes, with their accompanying mothers seated at one side, all of them staring fixedly, unabashedly at my back. I squirmed like a leech with chicken pox, imagining them sniggering behind my back. It was far, far worse than anything I had imagined. Much later of course, I discovered that my imagination too was every bit as narcissistic as I was. The proud mamas’ sitting by the pool had much better and well-defined things to do than stare at me. They were only concerned with their kids’ learning and watching over them like hawks. No one, repeat, no one probably paid me any attention at all.

    Anyhow, getting back, standing alongside the bachhaparty, the coach refused to take me in the same class on account of my being ‘older’ and ‘senior’. And I felt like thanking him. What with his unfailing politeness in calling me ‘sir’ despite my earnest protests, I’d had it. After a lot of brouhaha, he relented and gave me a separate time slot. Except that he wouldn’t teach me since there was nobody else in that slot. I was left fuming and feeling like an idiot while he just smirked around, idling by as if I didn’t exist. It was then that I decided to not only learn to swim. And from that smirking coach alone.

    Realization/ Lesson 2: Obstacles or barriers often evoke sheer bullheaded persistence. It’s a perverse motivator that works superbly on some people (especially those who are natural aberrants). In this case, ‘finding a teacher’ turned out to be one such barrier.

    The next day saw me going to the same class as that of the kids but on the opposite end of the pool. Doing exactly what the kids were doing. Ignoring the mutinous glare of the coach, I carried on practising on my own, blithely unconcerned. It was the coach’s turn to fret and fume and my turn to get some kicks (and I did…painful ones trying to get it on my own). On the other hand, it was pure joy to watch my son mastering it much much faster than I. And that’s when I hit on a plan that was truly a masterstroke (even if I say so myself)

    Realization/Lesson 3: Creativity is a natural by-product of constraints or difficult circumstances.

    I asked my son to be my coach. This was a total turnaround from the original plan of my teaching him. As I watched my son assimilate this, it dawned on me that with this role reversal could turn out to be extremely rewarding for both of us. It turned out to be a blast, the greatest fun time my son or I had ever had. After everybody would leave, my son would teach me with all the earnest energy that only a 6-year-old can exude. Giving me an invaluable insight that one can learn from anyone irrespective of age if you are open and the other has something valuable to offer. Fired with a zeal to teach dad (greatest notwithstanding) a thing or two, I learnt from my son underwater heroics, breaststrokes and most of all, I learnt to lose my fear of water. I thoroughly enjoyed being in the water now on a hot summer’s day. Of course, this was besides giving me a taste of my own bitter pill- additional 20 penalty strokes, 2 mins underwater instead of I min if I repeatedly erred etc etc. So, apart from having a brilliant time with my son, for me, perhaps the biggest achievement was the unshakable reinforcement of the belief that if we put our minds to it, nothing is impossible.

    Realisation/Lesson 4: Learning is an age-less process. It constitutes living as opposed to existing.

  • Conversations of a CV Crime

    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.

    Alap GhoshThe 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

  • Social Networks : Great Places to find Good Talent

    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.

    Alap GhoshThe 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

  • Using blogs to promote, showcase and manage talent

    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:

    Alap GhoshThe 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

  • Nurturing to grow strong roots

    One day I decided to quit. I had spent years trying to be successful and things just did not seem to move forward at all.
    I quit my job, my relationship, my spirituality. I wanted to quit my life. I went to the woods to have one last talk with God .”God”,I asked, “Can you give me one good reason not to quit?” His answer surprised me “Look around” He said. “Do you see the fern and the bamboo? “Yes”, I replied. “When I planted the fern and the bamboo seeds, I took very good care of them. I gave them light. I gave them water. The fern quickly grew from the earth. Its brilliant green covered the floor. Yet nothing came from the bamboo seed. But I did not quit on the bamboo. In the second year the Fern grew more vibrant and plentiful. And again, nothing came from the bamboo seed.But I did not quit on the bamboo”.
    “In year three there was still nothing from the bamboo seed. But I would not quit. In year four, again, there was nothing from the bamboo seed. Then in the fifth year a tiny sprout emerged from the earth. Compared to the fern it was seemingly small and insignificant.
    But just 6 months later the bamboo
    rose to over 100 feet tall. It had spent the five years growing roots. Those roots made it strong and gave it what it needed to survive.”

    Source: Preachings from a religious text

  • Focus for success

    An ambitious and restless shishya was getting impatient with his guru’s style of teaching one lesson at a time. He wanted to learn everything quickly and reap the rewards of this learning quickly.
    He finally expressed his desire to complete his course quickly and move to the next phase of his life. The guru nodded his head and told him to come to him early next morning.
    Next morning when the student arrived, he found the guru waiting for him near the chicken coop. He then let the chickens free and asked the student to catch them all in the next one hour . The student ran about trying to catch one and then the other and finally at the end of his hour got exhausted and sat down dejected as he had not been able to catch any. Then the master told him, now I ask you to catch only the one with the ribbon round its neck. The student got up and despite all the other chickens running around him just went after the ribboned one and caught it with time to spare!. The master smiled and said “Focus is not our ability to stay attraced to the ‘one’ but also the discipline to avoid the distractions of the ‘ninety nine” .

    But does this story apply to us in the age of multitasking? There are many things that we want to achieve in our life, but the trick is to focus on the most important goal at that time and work towards achieving it instead of running after many things at the same time.

    Source: Trainers Forum

  • The Right Fit for Job Satisfaction

    Two camels (a mother and a baby) were lazing around, when suddenly baby
    camel said:
    Baby: “Mother, mother, can I ask you some questions?”

    Mother: “Sure! Why son, is there something bothering you?”

    Baby: “Why do camels have humps?”

    Mother: “Well son, we are desert animals, we need the humps to store water
    and we are known to survive without water.”

    Baby: “Okay, then why our legs are long and our feet rounded.”

    “Son, obviously they are meant for walking in the desert. You know with
    these legs I can move around the desert better than anyone”, said the
    mother proudly.

    Baby: “Okay, said baby camel.”Then why are our eye lashes long? Sometimes
    it is bothering my sight.” said baby camel.

    Mother: “My son, those long thick eye lashes are your protective cover.
    They help to protect your eyes from the desert sand and wind.” Said mother
    camel with eyes brimming with pride.

    Baby: “I see. So the hump is to store water when we are in the desert, the
    legs are for walking through the desert and these eye lashes protect my
    eyes from the desert. Then what exactly are we doing here in a zoo???”

    Source : Trainers Forum