HR News from the industry

Global HR consulting firm Hewitt Associates had apparently botched up big time for allocating retirement funds for former Enron employees, and is likely to be fired from the job.

How ironic that a job site needs to layoff its own employees. Sadly, Monster in the USA is slashing 800 jobs :-(

HR Consulting firm Towers Perrin acquires employee survey and research firm ISR. Towers-Perrin has still not entered the Indian market. I wonder if they are missing the bus in one of Asia's most dynamic markets ?

ZDNet advises recruiters to look for alternate professions because it feels:

Once employers start offering serious money to any Tom, Dick, or Harriet that can find them the talent their looking for, it hardly makes any sense for them to take the relatively monolithic approach of using single professional recruiter or recruiting firm to get positions filled.

I disagree, a recruiter will always be needed, its just that the barriers to entry will be very high (compared to the low levels right now). It's a little similar to the example that CRM software did not eliminate the needs for salespeople :-)

Maybe now is the right time to be a banker!

Workers are more likely to leave a job in 6-12 months now. No we are not talking about India, but Singapore.

Watson Wyatt Worldwide takes over German firm Heissmann, an actuarial, benefits and human resources consulting firm.

Indian Finance Minister urges businesses to go global

Probably the first time that the FM has urged companies to go the inorganic way to global growth! In an interview with NDTV he said:

Having built large business in India, I sincerely hope Indian business will not be content with that. And in a globalized world, the only way you can protect your business is to acquire global leadership. And while organic growth is certainly welcome, given the pace of globalization, the pace of M&A's and amalgamations; if you wish to retain your leadership position, you have to go the inorganic way. Today we support Indian industry going global to acquire business abroad. We have the resources, we can afford to give the foreign exchange, we have the human resources (and) we have a huge market in India. So that's the way to go.

NDTV: Will government provide funds for M&As?

Chidambaram: I don't think funds are a problem. We have had major acquisitions in the last 12 months, the Tatas acquired Corus, Suzlon acquired a very large wind energy company. They have had no difficulty with funds. But whenever they came to us for any kind of support or comfort, we have given them that support and comfort. And if Indian business wants foreign exchange, that is also available today. So this is the time to go global.

The big issue when M&A happens, specially in the services sector that does not have too much IP assets, is the focus on retaining key talent. That unfortunately is not something that the Finance Minister can help, but as we have seen lots of businesses are willing to pay a premium to key leadership and other employees to retain them in the case of a acquisition.

As the Economic Times reports:

Some of the big ticket M&As that have resulted in mega buck pay-outs to employees in the recent times include Lowe, Mastek, Intelenet, Manpower, Grow talent and Gallup MBA, just to name a few.

Take the most recent case of ad agency Lowe. Last Friday, all permanent employees at the ad agency Lowe — from the managing director down to the peon — were laughing their way to the bank. The payout to some of the employees on account of 51% stake sale in the firm to global major, IPG, touched Rs 1 crore.

However, that needs to be thoughtfully done as in Lowe's case, they went by the letter and not the spirit, resulting in the freelancing consultant creative folks not getting a paisa from the payout.

Learning for organizations, go global, acquire, but be sure you treat the people with sensitivity and think through three times about repercussions of any decisions.

Find San Francisco jobs at SanFranJobs.com.

The factors of success

Rashmi has a good roundup of the recent disclosures by IIM Bangalore. She then says:

Someone should now study the co relation between ranks at the time of admission
and ranks while on campus. And ten years later, co relate the same two ranks with the individual's performance in the corporate world. I am sure some formula taking into account size of company, designation, pay packet, role, reporting relationships and so on could be figured out as a metric of 'success'.The analysis should include a 33% weightage to an interview where personal satisfaction and that elusive thing called 'quality of life' is factored in.

We've wondered also in B School and later, who would be 'successful' later. Eight years later, I can seriously say that there is no correlation between success in the classroom and success in the work place.

That's because success in life and career depends on three things, intellectual capital (for which there are metrics a.k.a. marks from 10th, 12th, graduation, PG), social capital (which focusses on how you get along with others, and can focus on the emotions of others and empathise with them) which are judged very imperfectly through Group Discussions, and references. But the most important thing for success is taking a decision. After all the analysis, the thought, the deliberations, a manager or entrepreneur has to take a decision and therefore take an action.

That involves taking a leap of faith. That can't be foretold by any test or even by observation in a GD. The only data that can predict this is looking at past actions and how many people have taken that leap of faith. Such instances are rare in the life of a person who is sitting for an exam like the CAT or XAT without ever having worked in the past.

In my batch, when I look at successful people, I observe people who were the bottom 25% of the class along with people who were the top 25% of the class too. I see very intelligent classmates stagnating in their roles either having made the wrong career choices or having a cruel organizational restructuring subvert their roles.

Yes, luck is also a big factor. That is what makes life so unpredictable and therefore much richer to experience :-) One does not always appreciate it when that is happening to oneself, but in hindsight, luck makes the personal, the individual side of us, shorn of intellect and reason, more resilient.

Do you agree? Has luck played a role in your career? What can you do to increase your luck? I have a theory, but I'd like to hear from you :-)

The Professor as the Headhunter

From Businessweek.com The Professor Is A Headhunter

"Around the country, B-school and undergraduate professors with ties to big companies routinely recommend their best students as potential hires. Of course, recruiters continue to avail themselves of campus job fairs and more traditional means of scouring for talent. But more often than most students realize, money is part of the recruiting process. Sometimes the school benefits, as happens at the University of Houston. In other situations, professors themselves receive the corporate largess.

Direct payments to professors who offer recruiting tips are rare, according to company and campus officials. Instead, professors who receive corporate consulting fees or research grants sometimes pass along promising names as part of their relationship with companies hungry for talent."

Yes, for lots of students the recommendation of their professors is seen as objective and can really tip the scales between choosing which workplace to join. How much longer before companies in India add this aspect to their 'campus relationship program' ?

Indian recruiters search for elusive talent as jobs, salaries increase

From Forbes.com Indian head hunters search for elusive talent as jobs, salaries increase:

"'The boom is across all sectors,' says vice president Sampath Shetty at TeamLease Services, one of India's major staffing companies. 'Many sectors which were not recruiting earlier have woken up. Engineering companies, shipbuilding, metals, power and infrastructure are all growing at a faster pace compared to the last two years and they've suddenly realized that they need people. Financial services like banking and insurance have taken off. Retail, real estate, hospitality and the rest of the services sector are also seeing very healthy growth. The corporate world needs experienced people to lead some of these high-growth verticals.'

Shetty estimates there is a need for about 5000 vice-presidents over the next two years across all sectors.

As the M&A party continues and Indian companies increasingly make foreign acquisitions in the western hemisphere, recruitment consultants concur that there is a demand for dynamic and knowledgeable leadership to establish new verticals and integrate existing businesses.

In the meanwhile, companies have resorted to project based hiring to get their work done. Like Mumbai-based stockbrokers India Infoline who paid out 10 mln usd merely as a joining bonus to four senior officials from the French banking group Credit Lyonnais to help them set up their investment banking division.

Service sectors like aviation, hospitality and retail all have a significant number of foreign nationals already to overcome the shortage of pilots, general managers and other key personnel.

Korn-Ferry International's managing director for India Deepak Gupta says a recent joint survey on leadership in Asia conducted by the company found that developing leaders for the future and succession planning are the top talent management priorities for companies, particularly for their Asian operations.

Dale Carnegie India chairman and managing director Pallavi Jha says, 'Companies today are concerned about the shortage of skilled personnel and the availability of future leaders and managers.'

She adds, 'Its probably one of the reasons that the average age of the CEO has reduced. Today, there are CEOs who are about 35 years of age which was unheard of earlier. As a result, we run a lot more executive coaching programs with regard to various aspects of leadership training.'

However, even she is quick to point out that there is no substitute for experience."

Yes, there are too few good talented leaders and suddenly too many opportunities. I guess people like AK Menon are also feeling the brunt as job offers get rejected by choosy and picky talent every day :-)

If you're part of a growth industry (and indeed, all industries today are on a growth mode) what are you doing to retain and develop talent? In fact one of the recent Aditya Birla ads on TV these days is showcasing them being best employers and how a GM from their aluminum business can move laterally to their sunrise insurance business.

So do you know where your top talent is negotiating a role at this very moment?

What does a HR Generalist do?

Lots of time people approach me and ask "I've been approached for a HR Generalist role. What does a HR generalist do?"

The answer varies depending on the industry and organization being discussed.

In general (!) generalists are the "Jack of all trades", they are the 'relationship managers' of HR, constantly talking to business leaders and employees. The focus always has to be to gather feedback on the HR processes in place and also to listen to the needs of the business and employees that is not getting addressed.

A HR generalist seldom does any design and development of HR processes and systems. That is the job of the specialists in HR, like Compensation, Recruitment, Training & Learning and Systems.

Because the HR generalist is first point of communication with the employees and business unit leaders they are the people who get to know the "bugs" in the various processes. In fact, the difference in the specialists and generalists is usually the focus. The specialists focus on the universality of people needs across business units and locations. The generalists tend to focus on the specifics of the business they look after and the exceptions.

Yes the head of HR role is a generalist role too. So if you aspire to be a VP of HR then be sure to spend a large part of your career as a generalist :-)

Checkout jobs in Austin at itzbig.

Reliance sued by McKinsey

In the split between the Ambani brothers looks like McKinsey & Company's left wondering whom to hand over their invoice of Rs. 27 crores (US $ 6.7 million)

According to a winding-up petition filed by McKinsey last Thursday, Reliance Industries refused to pay the dues after RCom shifted to Anil Ambani under the settlement between the two Ambani brothers in 2005. RCom, in turn, refused to pay up on grounds that it had not signed any deal with McKinsey.

According to a winding-up petition filed by McKinsey last Thursday, Reliance Industries refused to pay the dues after RCom shifted to Anil Ambani under the settlement between the two Ambani brothers in 2005. RCom, in turn, refused to pay up on grounds that it had not signed any deal with McKinsey.

This is probably unique because it is perhaps the first time that the Firm is suing an Indian client, and that too such a high profile business group. Personally, I feel that RCom should pay, considering that it was transfered to the Anil Ambani group along with all assets and liabilities. It is unlikely that they did not have knowledge of McKinsey & Company's pending invoice !

Book Review: Fun Works

Author Leslie Yerkes' people contacted me and asked me if I'd like to review her book "Fun Works" second edition and I agreed straightaway.

Let's face it, you can be doing either great work with great people or lousy work with co-workers who grumble all day long. Fun as a concept differs from people to people. For some people doing challenging work itself may be the idea of fun. For others the fun may be in the way people interact with each other and not the work itself. And for a rare group fun pervades all kinds of organizational culture and processes.

In the original edition Yerkes had studied a group of organizations and come up with 11 principles of "work/fun fusion". In this book she revisits these organizations after some time and sees whether they are prospering or not. She finds that if the "hard science" has been flawed (i.e. the business model or strategy) then post 9/11 these organizations have had trouble surviving, however, if that has been correct, then the "soft science" of the culture that fuses work and fun has caused the organizations to bounce back better.

So what are the Fun/Work Fusion Principles that Yerkes talks about?

1. Give permission to perform
2. Challenge your bias
3. Capitalise on the spontaneous
4. Trust the process
5. Value a diversity of fun styles
6. Expand the boundaries
7. Be authentic
8. Be choiceful
9. Hire good people and get out of the way
10. Embrace expansive thinking and Risk Taking
11. Celebrate

This is a book that's written with guts and instinct, and not really with too much research based data as to why certain organizations were chosen and others were not. However, there is a lot of wisdom that Leslie Yerkes writes in this book, along with lovely quotations from great thinkers on what is work and fun and their relationship together.

All in all, a great read.

Rob starts MBA By Blog

Rob, the popular Businesspundit blogger has launched a collection of the most educative business blog posts by bloggers and he's called it MBA By Blog.

Yes, I've contributed a post (or two) to it too, let me know if you can find where it is :-)

More about the site here.

"Sorry, You're Late!"

Since some of you loved R Karthik's previous post on Holmes, here's another one by him this week. Thanks for the mails and comments of concern about my health, and am much better now. This weekend I shall be holding on to my copy of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows and will pretty much be incommunicado ;-) See you next week !

Showing up late for an appointment can altogether ruin, what could otherwise have been turned into a profitable business deal!

One feels silly and helpless to watch that 'fruit of opportunity' slip off your hand and fall because you did something as unprofessional as that.

In the context of business meetings or interviews, traits such as punctuality of the candidate (in terms of showing up on time for the appointment), physical grooming etc are only hygiene. It does not give any unique edge but lack of such traits when exposed through such one-off incidents show the candidate in poor light; especially when the outcome of the meeting would make or break the inherent opportunity to further the deal.

I was based out of NCR that time around and a short advertisement floated in 'Times Ascent' by one of the leading international language trainers company caught my eye. They had called for applications to full-time language trainer positions for their corporate and individual clients. As my reaction often is, on seeing such ads, I got intrigued by the latent opportunity it presented to me. And I decided to make a counter-offer to the proposition. I wrote a nice letter (email) titled 'An Expression of Interest' to associate with them as a freelance trainer. In the mail I gave them reasons why they should consider the proposition and my candidature.

How being a HR professional, I had a vocation for training and helping others in the learning process, how my strengths in communication (language being the vehicle for exchange of thoughts) would lay the foundation for my success as a language coach and how I was willing to spend my leisure time over weekends towards this opportunity. Well, I usually get a kick out of doing such stuff; cold calls or letters applying for all sorts of freelance positions trying to do something interesting and benefit out of the learning from the experience. Despite the focused and professional approach, those sharp and powerful cover letters or applications I sent out- the doors of opportunity I knocked never opened. And I would just keep attempting for the heck of it, knowing fully well that there is not going to be even an acknowledgment.

But I was simply thrilled to get a reply for this email from the firm saying they wanted to assess me before having a face to face discussion. Bingo! To me that was success and I jumped at the chance. The 1^st level of assessment was personal and they chose to have it done over email itself. A set of questions were asked about how and why I thought I was capable of taking up such an assignment, what strategies would I adopt to coach a group of complete beginners and so on. They were happy with my responses to their queries and called for a 2 ^nd level of language proficiency assessment followed by a discussion. The date and time was fixed and communicated to me.

The day finally arrived and I still can neither figure out why nor forgive myself for the manner in which I carried myself to that meeting. I started late from Noida; got dropped off midway by a friend and took a rickshaw from there onto the venue in Delhi only to reach there half hour late. By the time the language assessment test for the day had just begun. They were conducting it for one whole batch of applicants and I was told "Sorry, You're late!" I screwed up myself all the good results I had produced thus far with respect to that opportunity. Also all the respect and leverage I gained in their eyes thus far was sent down the drain. It would have been a great experience in my career getting into something like that. Last and not least I deprived myself off the opportunity to earn some extra bucks every month.

Smartness pays off; Lousiness pays off almost immediately!

The Consultant Detective

Guest post contributed by R. Karthik. I will be back with regular postings soon, as I am down with viral fever :(

Pursuit of a career in Consulting calls for a reasonable level of subject matter expertise. Specialized knowledge is rather a sine qua non to get started with your practice in the chosen realm. The sheer diversity of domains on which consulting can be practiced itself stands testimony to this fact. Medicine, Human Resources (several micro-verticals within) Strategy, IT, Taxation, Astrology and then there are also specialists who offer consulting services on niche areas such as social media & blogging ('The Imagence Partners' for example).

One of the reasons I admire 'Consulting' as a profession is that one can consult on virtually anything.

Ever wondered what (competencies) on earth could a consulting practice be built around if it were to deal with crime detection? Arthur Conan Doyle-the creator of Sherlock Holmes describes his profession as one of a 'Consultant Detective'. When faced with the most eerie and macabre of crimes ever committed, Holmes would employ his superior powers of reasoning to construct a working hypothesis and lead the investigation to successful closure. Regarded widely as the last court of appeal to his clients-poor and the rich alike, he was often roped in to solve those cases which the official force would give up declaring "a weird and mysterious puzzle" or at worst "a joke". For Sherlock Holmes however, this was the chosen occupation and he excelled in this career with the help of his keen observation & logical reasoning. As a professional, he combined these skills with his other strengths viz. sound knowledge of the geography of London, techniques of quickly disguising oneself, appreciation of different national cultures, familiarity with the elite class of London/Europe & other reigning families in various fields (who are the most vulnerable to crime). Beyond and above all these, Holmes was endowed with what most of his contemporaries from Scotland Yard were found wanting in-common sense. With a remarkable eye for detail, he mastered the science of crime detection to the extent that he wrote 'monographs' (akin to collaterals/case-studies for documention of projects completed successfully). Even his leisure-time pursuits were in a way complementary to his profession and would help him make informed guesses to further his hypothesis in some cases. Classic examples are the study to identify different kinds of cigars from their ashes, different types of reptiles, their venom and the effects of its sting.

Around the world, fans admire Sherlock Holmes for his remarkable politeness yet graceful aversion for women, his passion for his profession, his distaste for money and not to discount, his famous quotes. When people stood amazed at his success in solving mysterious crimes, he would state in a matter-of-fact tone " It is my business to know what others do not". When his clients would ask a bill to be presented for his services, he would most often resign in style stating " The Profession is its own reward".

That Holmes was only a figment of the author's imagination does not still cloud his fame and fanfare.

Even unto this day there are people visiting 221b, Bakers Street, London in the hope of seeing the house where the world's most-adored detective lived in; only to discover 'Sherlock Holmes Memorial Museum ' and the fact that such a man existed only in print

Reason for Attrition - Not keeping commitments

When I wrote this post I missed out on one of the most basic reasons for employee attrition - not meeting stated commitments.

Check this email that an MBA student of the class of 2007 sent me a few months after joining one of the leading US based IT consulting firms.

Hi Gautam,

How are you? I needed a little help from you. As you know I joined XYZ Corp. as business consultant as a campus hire.

However, the job turned out to be very different from the way it was projected, even the commitments made at the time of the hiring no longer stand true because of a change in a lot of things on the organisational scale.

Thus, the experience in this past two months has been really bad, wanted to change jobs.

Am not the kind of person who changes job so fast, was planning to stick to XYZ no matter what at least for a year, but the more time i spend here, realising that the more am losing as my job is equivalent to a call center job, just reading out regular lines to customers! with no defined career path and experience here only gives me more calling jobs...

So was wondering if I can forward my CV to you and see if anything can be done!

Please let me know

One of the cardinal sins of recruiting and doing huge damage to your employment brand on MBA campuses is not honoring your commitments. Organizations that do that, destroy their brand for coming years too. With demand for good management talent far outstripping supply that is pretty suicidal to do. Campus recruiting should be a carefully crafted long term initiative not short term at all.

Oh yes, and if you are looking for a fresh MBA in marketing from a decent B School, let me know.

The Age of Self-Promotion

You might not realise this reading this blog, but I am quite a bit of an introvert. I find meeting people and interacting with them with any amount of engagement quite strenuous and it is something that drains my energy.

I don't know if that has something to do with it, but the reality is that I find the idea od self-promotion quite obnoxious. Today on Linkedin Answers I posted a question, and when someone mailed me that he found the question a "lead generation trap" I promptly took the question down, even though I didn't find any clause on linkedin that says that using answers for such a purpose is discouraged. It says in fact "if you are asking a question in order to recruit or advertise, or announcing your own job search, you must indicate that while creating the question with the checkboxes provided."

However, on a personal level, I could not even bear it that one person thought I came across as self promoting. Which is why I took the question down.

So when Tom Peters posts about Donald Trump here and here, and ask does "Excellence in 'Brand You' Development" trumps (pun intended I suppose ;-) skill?" I surely wish it does not. However, in today's age we always see that any kind of promotion makes even a mediocre skilled person do much better. Take the example of David Beckham in football (or soccer, if you are in the US). Sure, Beckham is talented, but the rewards he gets are not commensurate with his skills as a player alone. In fact more talented football players than him exist, but are not as famous as he is.

So is this age as unfair as the ages that preceded it? What is objective skill and talent?

Should I shamelessly self-promote myself or not? Oh don't bother answering. I can't.

Employee Engagement and Organizational Citizenship

Prasad raises a good point by invoking a fable to reiterate the fact that if employee engagement is to succeed it should recognise and celebrate the essential nature of the parties involved.

This raises the disturbing point, that is employee engagement ever possible in organizations as we know them?

The one defining factor of organizations (no matter if they are new economy or old, clicks or bricks!) is that they put the individual subservient to the needs of the organization. As an old Japanese saying goes "The nail that stands out, always gets hammered in"

As Prasad says:

The defining feature of employee engagement is 'discretionary effort' put in by the employees. If employees have to get motivated to put in the 'discretionary effort', just speaking to them and telling them what is happening in the organization (and even just listening to them) won't be sufficient. To get discretionary effort, both the hearts and minds of the employees have to be engaged. Often this calls for interventions to improve the person-job fit, the performance management/rewards system and the organization culture. Of course, it is much easier to hold communication meetings than to ensure that employees are in those jobs that leverage and celebrate their key talents/abilities/interests! But if the objective is to have the type of 'employee engagement' that motivates employees to stay on and to put in discretionary effort, peripheral interventions (like communication meetings, 'fun & games HR' etc.) might not be sufficient.

So how do you know that employee engagement is truly taking place? Well, if employees are engaged, they exhibit Organizational Citizenship Behaviors which is a five dimensional contruct involving Altruism, Courtesy, Civic Virtue, Conscientiousness and Sportsmanship.

So according to this view, employee engagement should not really be the dependent on individual teams or managerial efforts. It should be a factor that is dependent on the individual. Trying to build employee engagement is therefore trying to also change individual values of people. How desirable is it?

These are questions that HR and OD people should be grappling with. As Peter Block said in the updated edition of Flawless Consulting, in Shadow Side of Consulting chapter, "who are we to arrogate ourselves the right to "intervene" into a system?"

Integrate Blogger Atom feed and Feedburner feeds

The best thing so far about the Google acquisition of Feedburner for a blogger like me is to find out how many people actually get my feed.

The way to do this is to go to Settings on your blogger dashboard, click on settings, choose site feed and then type in the feedburner URL. Check image below:


This will redirect your blogger account's feeds to feedburner to give you a full number on the people reading your feeds. Check the jump (more than double!) in my feedburner stats thanks to the integration of both the counts.

Microsoft moved to Vancouver

Seems like Microsoft has found a way across the H1B visa cap in the US. The beneficiary however would be Canada and not the US.

As Jenna says on the Technical Careers at MS blog:

Microsoft believes that Vancouver is an international gateway to the world and an attractive destination for Canadians and people from other countries around the world looking for highly skilled jobs. And since we have development centers around the world both within the US and outside the US, what is just one more office? We are delighted about expanding Microsoft Canada's presence to the greater Vancouver area with the Microsoft Canada Development Centre.

So, what does this have to do with the US H1B visa cap? Not only will this be a full development center, but it will also be a great alternative location for some of the new hires into Microsoft who have not been able to get their H1B visas this year due to the limited quota. Since Vancouver is just a short train/car ride away, it will be easy to stay in touch.

Richard Florida blogs about how that would impact Canada and what the US is losing out on:

So the development work, the salaries and tax revenues go to Canada not the US. And of course those all important technology spillovers and clustering get built in Vancouver strengthening its already significant research base and university infrastructure.

As Gandhi said: “I do not want my house to be walled in on all sides and my windows to be stuffed. I want the cultures of all the lands to be blown about my house as freely as possible. But I refuse to be blown off my feet by any.”

Replace cultures with talent and you know what nations should do :-)

Rate the posts

Now you can rate the individual blog posts by clicking the stars below them, thanks to the really cool widget by Spotback.

The cool thing is the highest rated items also get ranked in the Top Rated Sidebar which you can see on the right hand sidebar of this blog.

A huge thanks to Osnat Vider from the Spotback team who mailed me and told me about their widgets :-)

Interning the way to a job

If you are a college graduate and want to work without doing a further education post-graduation you might want to look at working as a temp or as an intern.

There is no stigma these days in working as a temp. Temping in fact, is becoming more and more common with large recruiting firms opening temping divisions and large international temping firms coming down to India.

Internships are done during college vacations and I foresee a lot more employers start interning processes to get to great talent sooner rather than compete with them as they graduate.

In this context it would be interesting to read what has happened in the last decade in the US

Today, few employers with such formalized college recruiting programs hire only the graduates. They now almost all hire students for internship opportunities and then hope to convert 75, 80, or even a higher percentage into permanent, full-time, entry level employees.

So if you are a fresh graduate or still completing your graduation temping or interning is the best way to find out if that great career you so desire is right for you.

If your college has tie-ups with certain employers for internships then you can apply through them. Focus on what is relevant to your line of study and the industry you might be interested to carve a career in.

If your college does not have such tie-ups, take the initiative and start such link-ups with industry. Talk to the campus recruitment incharge of the firms you are looking at and invite them to your college. Involve your professors if your college does not have a separate position for placement officers. In fact, your professors could help you out with contacts of the college alumni in the industry.

Focusing on the financial services industry like insurance and banking, along with retail and telecom, all of which are exploding - and a huge fight for talent is ensuing - would be a great idea to start with.

FabCity has a job for a blogger

[Hat Tip Prof. Madhukar Shukla]

Is this the start of a trend?

I hope so :-)

http://www.fabcity.in/jobs/fab-jobs.html

WANTED: Blogger wanted for FabCity.in

[Posted 17 June 2007]

Requirements: You must:

1. Be informed about what is happening in the semiconductor industry in India
2. Know what readers want to know about and provide it
3. Write with authority on the semiconductor industry in India
4. Be able to express yourself articulately and rationally
5. Be able to produce original editorial content, consistently
6. Write great headlines
7. Provide regular contributions focusing on the emergence of Fab City, Hyderabad
8. Be able and available to write 3x200 word blog postings per week and respond to comment feedback
9. Be able to build up a community around the blog, building it up into a highly relevant authority over time
10. Be familiar with using blog technologies

How to apply: Write to us explaining how you meet the above requirements.

Yes, it's a bonus if you have your own blog and can demonstrate your ability to write on the semiconductor industry in India. Yes, it’s a bonus if you can write about Fab City developments.

Please provide links to your blog or any blog postings you have made and that are related to this job. Tell us why you should be the Fab Blogger.

Payment will be made monthly via PayPal. We pay a flat rate per post.

Clear and accurate English is required. All applications are in confidence.

Apply Now!

What HR help do organisations want?

On this blog I've always tried to give my perspective and take on things but this post is about asking you...

1. What are the biggest HR challenges that you see in your organizations?
2. Where can your HR function require external help from a small consulting setup like Imagence Partners?
3. The other request is, if you feel that our firm can help your organization in any way, can you introduce us to the decision maker?

Feel free to leave us a comment for the first two questions, and email us if you'd like us to work with you.

Have a great week ahead :-)

Weekend Links

Entrepreneur Abhishek Rungta has some contrarian advice for wannabe entrepreneurs
"I strongly suggest that a new business should be started during the "low-tide", i.e. when markets are not doing well and industry sentiments are not positive. It helps in many ways"

How does Open Space, a large scale interactive process (LSIP) work? Anecdote blog points us to a video on YouTube

Steve Pavlina has a post on how to make a smart decision in 60 seconds.

Tom Peters shares why "low cost" will never be a lasting advantage. Love that quote "Things that are too good to be true are too good to be true."

Ryan Healy on Brazen Careerist shares the Gen Y view on holidays and work, and can they be the same thing.

The Evil HR Lady on "Title Mania". Hmm... I wonder why it's called man-ia ;) ?

Ouch ! Shivam, I assure you, such HR people are the exception. I hope.

Dealing with the multi-round interview

More and more organizations are switching to the multi-round interview process. Specially for senior management roles.

The first reason for that is, these roles require more complex interactions than they used to earlier. In a world of collaborative and marix-reporting relationships people are now bringing those relationships also to interview the prospective candidate.

No longer is it just the HR interview followed by the hiring manager interview.

So what do you do when you are in the चक्रव्यूह of the multi-round interview.

1. Keep your patience - Often questions will be repeated. Specially around the resume. So resist the urge to yell "But I already answered this question three times ago". The focus is not your answer, really. The focus is the rapport you are building.
2. Resist the urge to ask - why this interview. If you are being considered for the role of a marketing manager and the national sales manager and the product development manager are also interviewing you, the focus is on the collaborative work you might be doing with them in the future.
3. Use the interviews for your purpose - Get as much different data points about the role than just from the hiring manager. So ask the other people what they see as the challenges for this role. What would their expectation be from a person in the role etc.
4. Remember that the biggest decision is by the person whose headcount you are going to be - Find that out and impress that person the most :-)

What has been your experience if any, with a multi-round interview?

Interesting blogosphere reads

Now I can share with you what interesting items I am reading on the blogosphere, thanks to a widget from Google Reader.

If you scroll down the blog, you will find a list of 10 'interesting items' from the blogosphere at the bottom of the right hand sidebar.

Enjoy :-)

Orkut to Facebook

Is it my imagination or are more and more Indians migrating to Facebook (my page) from Orkut (my profile) ?

And surprisingly, it's not the youngsters and the college going crowd that was Facebook's original social network in the US, but more of the young professional crowd that is migrating to Facebook in India.

In face, as this blog post shows Facebook could potentially rival Linkedin.

The other reason why Facebook would be favored by this crowd, IMHO, is that your friends' details are not automatically open to others to see.

The Twitter like "status" settings is also something that Orkut lacks.

Others agree with me too, apparently.

Google vs Microsoft

Thanks to Heather's post I stumbled upon this blog which shows (apparently) an internal Microsoft email that compares how Google is a place to work compared to Microsoft.

Some interesting perspectives from the note (which is by an ex-Microsoft employee, who joined Google and was later hired back into Microsoft)

The culture at Google is very much like the old culture at Microsoft – back when the company felt like most employees were in their mid 20’s. These kids don’t have a life yet so they spend all of their time at work

Most people don’t actually have a 20% project. Most managers won’t remind you to start one.

There is no career development plan from individual contributor to manager. Basically if you get good reviews, you get more money and a fancier title (“Senior Software Engineer II”) but that’s about it.

Google has no facility for career growth. Microsoft has more, but could do better.

a “Developer” gets a workstation, a second workstation or a laptop, and a test machine. You’re free to visit the Tech Stop to swap any of the machines for any of the others in those categories.

Seems like free food at Google is a big deal, and from friends who have visited the Googleplex at Mountain View I have heard first hand accounts of rave reviews about the food. Seems like "free lunch" does get you a lot of employee benefits ;-)

Oh, and incidents like this posting by an anonymous Microsoft employee posting internal emails also is a challenge to both Microsoft and Google's approach to employment branding.

As more and more transparency rises amongst people, and organizations start losing control of communications, how are HR and communications people within organizations ready to handle the changing times?

Talent Management tops European HR challenge

From Consulting times:

European companies will face five major human resources challenges in the future, with managing talent being the most critical, according to a recent survey of more than 1,350 executives from 27 countries in Europe. The survey was conducted jointly by The Boston Consulting Group (BCG) and the European Association for Personnel Management (EAPM).

And from the same issue:

Recruitment is now the top problem for more than half of all UK companies ahead of business strategy or management, a new study by KPMG and the Recruitment and Employment Confederation has found. The study reveals that the battle for skills and talents compels UK employers of all sizes and sectors to reconsider how they manage recruitment and staffing.

Quitting Strategically

As this post from Ed Batista shows Drucker said it, Gallup research said it and now Seth Godin is saying it too. And it holds true for both individuals as well as organizations.

When you are focussed on excellence and really bent on making a dent in the universe, concentrate on building your strengths rather than trying to build something that you might not have.

Cults and Cultures

One of the first paradoxical things we learnt during our Organizational Change and Development about the pros and cons of organizational culture.

Simply put, if you ask me whether a firm should have a strong culture or not, the answer would be - it depends. During a time when the firm is doing well, a strong culture is an asset. It enables one to build its strengths and run with the wind behind its back.

However, during a time of change, whether evolutionary or revolutionary, a strong organizational culture can soon get rooted in the 'old ways of doing things' focussing on the rituals of the past rather than the meaning behind those rituals.

However, if an organization builds a culture that values learning (not just at an individual level, but also at an organizational level) then it can avoid the pitfall of the strong culture during bad times. Yes, a very strong culture without an emphasis on learning, and focusing on "we are the best the way we are" is the sign of a cult.

The distinctive difference between a cult and culture is the cult's focus on arrogance of knowing all the answers. In that connection check this insightful post by Prof. Sutton Arrogance: Google's Achilles' Heel?

Query from a recruiter

I got this from a mail, and while I sent an email with my ideas, I have to admit, I am really out of my depth (and breadth) here. So any of you have any suggestions for the writer of this email?

Let me introduce myself.My name is M and i am leading a small team
of it-recruiters in Bangalore in a consulting firm.I have read your
blog...and i must say...ur a huge closet of coveted information and
priceless tips!!

I have a small tip to ask of you...
For the longest time i have struggled with making my recruitment team
more efficient.Especially ones that work on portals.One of the issues
that i have been unable to find a good solution is for that of
"duplication" of resumes sent by our competitors to our corporate
clients. This really hurts our numbers. I have tried multiple things
including trying to increase the speed of my shortlisting process so
we can get the resume to my clients desk sooner.But it hasn't helped
much.If you have any insight on this matter it would be worth its
value in gold for me...:)

Would really appreciate any direction u can give me....

The only help I could provide was writing this mail back... but if you have better ideas (I am sure you will have!) then leave it as a comment for M here.

Sorry, I really don't know how you can increase that, except by getting resumes of people who haven't posted it on portals.

If your competitors are pulling out the resumes and submitting them without checking with the people, I think on the long term that will reflect well on you.

Who should judge a leader

Evidently some leaders feel that only other leaders can judge them, but in reality becoming a leader means opening yourself up for judgement at all times. By subordinates, customers, stakeholders, shareholders and customers.

One of the key skills that people aspiring for a leadership role is to cultivate openness for feedback. And also understand that more negative will come their way and any good job done will be assumed as 'it was expected'.

On some other aspects, some people feel that there should be less transparency about leader, er, CEO compensation.

Manager's role - comment

Karthik wanted to leave a comment on the post "The Manager's role in development" but as he said, maybe it deserves a post of it's own

Quite so Gautam!

Some haunting dialogues from 'The Godfather' echo this thought.
In an attempt to placate the dethroned counsellor of the don's family, the semi-retired Vito Corleone says "Tom! i never thought you were a bad consigliere; i thought Santino was a bad don, rest in peace"
Yet another instance in the movie, when his temperamental son interrupts a serious discussion, he says "i have a sentimental weakness for my children and i spoil them as you can see! they talk when they should listen"

In 'The Gladiator', the roman emperor says to his son while explaining why he chose someone else to succeed him-"your faults as a son is my failure as a father"

I think of this role (that of a manager in development of subordinates) as one that has got to be balanced...a harmony to be struck between time spent by manager on his own deliverables and towards subordinate development.

A personal belief of mine is that the extent to which a manager exposes his work to his team can determine how fast they develop to assume larger roles. This complements another popular belief that making oneself obsolete and dispensable for the current job by coaching down-the-line team for that role is a sure-shot formula for swifter upward movement in a hierarchy!

It is truly 'leader-like' for a manager to own up and say all discredit for poor results rests with me while all credit for good work goes to my team.
Jim Collins establishes through research in 'Good to Great' (kind of a sequel work to 'Built to Last') that all leaders of Great companies had this attribute which he calls "looking out-of-the window" and "into-the-mirror" philosophy.

A great leader when lauded for excellent results says "look out of the window-its my team that shines" and when he is ripped for poor output takes it all on him standing before a mirror trying to examine what's wrong with him.

R.Karthik

Weekend Silliness part deux

HR is finally the HeRo...

Now HR cannot act. He cannot dance. He cannot be made to look good.Thankfully, he realises this and does a smart thing. He plays himself.

Currently reading: Made to Stick

As someone who often gets into anxious mode because the 'best ideas' don't always gain currency, this book is an eye opener. It features what are the characteristics that make ideas 'stick' (yes, I know the word sounds like something from the dot com boom, but it's very apt)

Chip and Dan Heath show that ideas that stick have six characteristic

1. Simple
2. Unexpected
3. Concrete
4. Credible
5. Emotional
6. Story

That's SUCCES :-))


Here is the blog too.

Weekend silliness

Phew ! Thank goodness !

Mingle² - Online Dating

Football and Organizational Behaviour

Trust a HR Consultant to make the connection and surprisingly, make sense too !

The recent phenomenon of a lots of people quitting their jobs to start out on their own could probably be the 'umar pachpan ki dil bachpan ka' syndrome where they are stuck in organisations which move much slower compared to their aspirations. Being on your own allows you to pace the work according to your expectations and capabilities and gives you the requisite job satisfaction which eludes one in a large organisation.

So my simple thought to all these organisations is to bring about an alignment between the expectations and capabilities of people and the speed at which the processes move in the organisation to ensure that the frustation levels reduce, which will also reduce attrition in the long run.

Some questions

John Hagel who's joined Deloitte & Touche USA LLP with a mandate to establish a major new research center in Silicon Valley, reflects on some questions that are, to put it mildly, thought-provoking.

This is my favorite item:

Can the firm survive as the action flows to the edges?

The early view of the Internet was that it would be a catalyst for the fragmentation and marginalization of firms. Tom Malone at MIT wrote an interesting book forecasting the rise of the E-Lance economy.

An alternative view suggests that firms will unbundle and rebundle in ways that lead to even greater concentration and consolidation (although paradoxically at the same time facilitating more decentralization and power at the edges). In the process, the rationale for the firm will fundamentally shift – from Ronald Coase’s classic view of the firm as an institution designed to economize on transaction and coordination costs we are likely to shift to a rationale focused on accelerating talent development.

Read the rest yourself!

Are you an enlarger ?

Whatever you do. whatever you want to do, chances are that your industry/work/career is going through some fundamental shifts.

It's not really possible for us to anticipate and plan for all expected and unexpected changes. Sometimes the experts are not correct. Most of the times they are really wrong.

So what can you do?

You can embrace what Prof. Udai Pareek calls the "Enlarging Style" which can be found out through his Life Orientation Inventory.

Here's more about the two styles the inventory measures, enlarging and enfolding:

Pareek, Udai (1995). Life-Orientation Inventory. (ETS# TC019558) Inventory uses an organizational and career context to allow a person to assess his or her life style orientation within the framework of "enlarging" or "enfolding". The enlarging life style is oriented toward innovation, change, and growth. The enfolding life style is oriented to the goals of tradition, stability, and inner strength.

I've personally thought that in most aspects of my life I am an enlarger, and in some cases I behave like an enfolder. I wish Prof. Pareek blogs about his reflections on the inventory today.