Wednesday, August 26, 2009

The perfect resume gets the perfect job!

Even if you’ve spent hours writing up your resume, days perhaps, if you haven’t proofread it at least once, you may be in danger of facing an interview rejection.

Rohit Kapoor just got out of college. Thinking he’d get into employment right away he sat down to make his resume. A week and some change after he’d begun, Rohit figured his resume was good to go, and he mailed it out to over 50 potential employers. Unluckily for Rohit, he had put in the time, but forgot to proofread his resume. It was full of typos and genuine errors.

His school dates, instead of reading 1985-2008, it read 1895-2008. Instead of reading that he studied public relations, it read that he had studied ‘public rations’. Funny, isn’t it? His potential employers didn’t think so. As a result, Rohit got not even one positive job-response to the resume he’d worked so hard for.

An important point to remember is that there is plenty of competition in the market today. If you do not portray yourself as top-notch, someone else will come along and bag the job that could have been yours to begin with.

One employer wrote back to Rohit explaining that if he could not display thoroughness in his resume – which was meant to be his initial introduction – they weren’t sure if he would be able to give the job the due it required.

Some important points to learn from Rohit:

  • Always proofread your resume, no matter how long you’ve worked on it.
  • Get a friend to look over it too. Their perspective will help to point out things you hadn’t noticed.
  • Come back to it at a later time when you are fresh and can read through it properly.
  • Reading your resume aloud to yourself will help you to check for grammatical errors and run-on sentences that can happen to even the best of us.
  • Leaving errors on your resume will allow employers to think that you are careless and inefficient. Don’t give them room for that.

Well, Rohit learned his lesson that day, but it’s an important point for all of us. He proofread his resume, got a friend to look over it too, and he’s now got himself the job he imagined he could have.

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Major metros on a hiring spree again

TJ InSite finds that recruitment in the major metros of the country is once again on the upswing

TJ InSite, the Research Wing of TimesJobs.com, India’s leading job portal, promoted by the Times Group, conducted a survey that captured the hiring sentiment amongst companies in India recently. The recruitment outlook amongst employers in the nerve centers of Delhi, Mumbai & Bangalore is once again on the upswing as employers plan to increase hiring in the next quarter, as reported by 42% of the employers in Delhi, 44% in Mumbai and 24% in Bangalore.

Commenting on this result, Mr. Vivek Madhukar, VP, TimesJobs.com said, “The positive hiring outlook of Employers in India is not unfounded, the Q-on-Q growth that India Inc. has witnessed both in terms of revenues & profits, and the continuation of government stability, policies & commitments, have brought a more optimistic business forecast for organisations.”

ITeS industry veteran Ms. Shailaja Puranik, Country Director & COO, Hays Business Solutions, remarked, “ Hiring has started across all levels in the last three months, across the ITeS & BPO industry, though at half the pre-September 2008 levels. However, the major change now is that the hiring is happening for the core groups of business and not for support functions. Hiring is taking place in new areas or where outliers have been weeded out. Salaries have remained at earlier levels.”

“Just in Time (JIT) hiring has begun in a small way,” said Mr. Ravishankar B, Senior Vice-President, Human Resources, HCL Technologies, as the company is scouting for niche skills in the experience range of three plus years. “Today there are definite signs of hiring. While specialized or JIT hiring is happening and people with niche skills and some experience are being sought, we are also entertaining walk-ins and have been calling for interviews. It is still too premature to comment whether this is a spike or a regular trend. I think we have to wait for two to three months to make such a comment.”

TimesJobs.com Research collated feedback from a wide range of corporate employers in Delhi Mumbai & Bangalore spanning sectors as diverse as IT, BPO & ITeS, Engineering, Logistics, Healthcare, Architecture, Hospitality, Travel & Tourism, Finance & Accounting and Sales & Marketing.

According to the study Delhi appears to be the most bullish with 81% of employers surveyed recruiting to Ramp Up for Growth over the next year. A majority of Mumbai corporates (57%) are also hiring to grow their businesses.

India’s Silicon Valley – Bangalore, seems to be returning to reality, after a knee-jerk mass-retrenchment execution undertaken in Q4 2009, 52% of the corporates surveyed are undertaking Replacement Hiring of HR reduced earlier, while the balance prepare to Ramp up for Growth over the next year.

India Inc Hiring

In terms of Experience Levels, for the Senior Managerial Grade, which forms the top of the corporate pyramid 9% of Corporates in Delhi, and 6% of Corporates in Mumbai, are looking for qualified people. The demand from Bangalore for this grade, however, is negligible.

The demand for Managers, with 3 to 8 years of Experience in Delhi is at 22%, Mumbai at 36% and Bangalore recruiting 21% of their total recruitment demand from this grade.

The demand for Executives with 1 to 3 years of experience have requirements from Delhi arriving at 52%; Mumbai at 39%; and 55% in Bangalore of total demand. This is closely followed by Freshers with 0 to 1 years of experience, constituting 17% of the demand in Delhi, 19% in Mumbai and 24% in Bangalore.

Of the Corporate Respondents from the IT Industry, 7% in Delhi, 16% in Mumbai and 12% in Bangalore, were planning to increase hiring and headcount over the year.

What is hearting to note, is this trend on employment. The TJ InSite Survey has shown that the major drivers of recent growth and employment in India, namely, the Sales and Marketing, IT, ITeS & BPO, BFSI, Engineering sectors have not just initiated replacement hiring, but have started recruitments to Ramp up for Growth.

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

Vande Mataram - Happy Independence Day!

“Who hath said thou art weak in thy lands
When the sword flesh out in the seventy million hands
And seventy million voices roar
Thy dreadful name from shore to shore?
With many strengths who art mighty and stored,
To thee I call Mother and Lord!”

“Mother, mother mine!
Mother sweet, I bow to thee,
Mother great and free!”

The seventy million has become many more, and India has only risen to be a stronger, greater, and more independent nation. Mother India - land of tradition, values, ethics, respect, rich vibrant colors, song, dance, culture, diversity, and experience. She has grown through the ages and changed with time, like an ocean flowing over the rocks, pebbles and sand on the sea shore.

From a time when women would scarcely be seen as equals, to a modern age where they are CEO’s, managers, trainers, corporate executives and more, we can see that India continues to change and grow, continues to be free and independent. Freedom.

We are free to choose our careers and paths. We are free. Free to worship as we please, free to go abroad, or to remain on our Motherland shores if we please. We are free.

On this day, we celebrate our 62nd year of freedom. We raise a toast to the great nation India is, has been, and will yet continue to be. We live in freedom! We celebrate that we walk in the land of the free.

Cheers to our Independence! Cheers to our celebrations for this happy day too!

Vande Mataram translation, courtesy of www.indianchild.com/

Swine flu affects work output

No puns intended, but swine flu has literally hogged the spotlight internationally. On the 2nd of May, 2009, Times of India reported 3 suspected cases. By the 7th of August, 2009, Economic Times reported a dramatic hike of 712 total victims having been infected with the deadly virus. Just days ago, BBC reported 6 deaths among the swine flu victims in India.


Newshopper.sulekha.com, reported “Since May 16, when the first case was reported in Hyderabad, more than 4,000 people have been tested for influenza A (H1N1) virus. Of these, 840 people have tested positive.”


They also had written of how a swine flu test kit will cost Rupees 5,000 for a regular test, and Rupees 10,000 once the victim is confirmed positive with the flu. Apparently it takes a minimum of six hours for the test to return with positive results.


But this no longer affects only personal lives. It affects companies and work output too. Some offices in heavily affected areas such as Pune, allowed their employees to work from home for as long as 10 working days so as to protect the employees, and in essence, their work output as well.


On these flu symptoms, Times of India wrote:


In children, emergency warning signs that need urgent medical attention include:

* Fast breathing or difficulty in breathing

* Bluish or gray skin colour

* Not drinking enough fluids

* Severe or persistent vomiting

* Not waking up or not interacting

* Being so irritable that the child does not want to be held

* Flu-like symptoms improve but then return with fever and worse cough


In adults, emergency warning signs that need urgent medical attention include:

* Difficulty in breathing or shortness of breath

* Pain or pressure in the chest or abdomen

* Sudden dizziness

* Confusion

* Severe or persistent vomiting

* Flu-like symptoms improve but then return with fever and worse cough


What can I do to protect myself from getting sick?


There is no vaccine available right now to protect against H1N1 (swine) flu. There are everyday actions that can help prevent the spread of germs that cause respiratory illnesses like influenza. Take these everyday steps to protect your health:


* Cover your nose and mouth with a tissue when you cough or sneeze. Throw the tissue in the trash after you use it.


* Wash your hands often with soap and water, especially after you cough or sneeze. Alcohol-based hand cleaners are also effective.


* Avoid touching your eyes, nose or mouth. Germs spread this way.


* Try to avoid close contact with sick people.


* If you get sick with influenza, you should stay at home and not go for work or school and limit contact with others to prevent them from getting infecting by you.


* Reduce the time spent in the crowded settings.


* Improve airflow in the living space by opening the windows and proper ventilation.


* Practice good health habits including adequate sleep, eating nutritious food, and keeping physically active.


This is advice to be heeded. What are you as a company doing to safeguard your employees against swine flu? What measures are you taking to ensure that in the long run, your work does not suffer? Write in and tell us and all our readers about it!

Tuesday, August 4, 2009

Gift something new this season

Hey guys and girls! What are you planning on gifting your brother or sister this holiday?


Why not gift them a successful start to a long, fulfilling career?


Many job sites are offering good discounts on their resume services and other career preparation tools in leiu of the seasonal festivities.


Grab your offer now, and invest in your loved ones future.