My thoughts

My startup learning

2011-08-16T13:44:00.001+05:30

I left my cushy job a couple of months ago to become a full time entrepreneur. After working with companies of varied sizes and nature, I took time off to pursue my dream of setting up my own enterprise. This has been one of the most humbling experiences in my life till yet and this short journey has taught me a more than what I had learnt in my past career of 15 years.

I thought it would be a good to list an account of my learning based on my last entrepreneurial journey. I am mentioning below my learning as my suggestions to anyone who intends to start a business. In fact these are a few of the many things I would keep in mind during my next entrepreneurial stint (never say never).

Don’t waste your time in creating that “perfect” offering: I am not saying that you should not aim at achieving perfection or don’t focus on quality, but it just delays your launch and the opportunity may be high-jacked by someone else in the market. Also, we try to perfect the product / service based on our own assumptions of what the user wants. Get your product out and market response will help you perfect your offering.

Grab that space: If you are launching an innovative product / service, grab that space. Announce your entry. Try and position yourself with the market leader and focus on the innovation. Try spending time with the journalists and bloggers who focus on that industry domain. Give demos and share your thoughts and passion. Note: Please remember that your innovation or offering should be news worthy. PR is something that cannot go wrong.

Don’t overstaff: One of common problem with people who leave their well paying jobs during mid career is that they assume certain things as granted. One of the most dangerous things is to start hiring people reporting to you to do things for you. This action stems out of the fact that we start taking our self worth for granted basis our last job. We start assuming our self image / value and start believing that certain things are not worth our time. Ur necessity to do things ourselves is low and we start hiring a support team. This is one big cause of increased cost and depletion of funds.

You don’t necessarily need a proven team: We tend to believe that proven teams comprise people who have worked with large corporate and brands for the last couple of years. Some of these guys could have been pure lucky. Believe me, it is a different ball game when you are playing with someone else’s money while your own income is secured. Proven teams to me are people who are self-starters not backed by brands, but most of these guys are busy with their own ventures. While building my next business, I would rather go with young, inexpensive people who are hungry to achieve results. Larry & Sergey did not have a proven team when they started Google.

Do not ask everyone for advice: Select the people whose advice you matters to you and stick to it. Don’t ask just anyone or everyone for advice on what you should be doing. Each one has his/her own experience basis which they will guide you, while your circumstances and nature could be very different. Also, you cannot trust everyone with your business plan. I would think it is better to carefully select a mentor and one or two advisors with whom you can discuss your business. Ensure there is no complicit of interest. I would also think it is wise to share some small token stake. People work more willingly for their own interest.

Don’t insist on a VC fund to sign a NDA: Venture Capitalists are approached with various business plans each day. Some of these could be similar in nature your business. It is unfair to believe that no one else could think the way you think and VC should not meet anyone else because they have met you. When I joined Google, I was bustling with ideas, till such time that I saw many of my, so called “unique” ideas had been in the development stage, if not already developed and scrapped ;-)

Focus on cash flow: Nothing is more important in a start up than having enough money to pay your bills. This means that you structure your business and deals with short business cycle and payment terms. It may take time for you to get profitability but in short term, having cash to keep the operations live is important. Keep the costs low. It is important that the founders take just the lifestyle fee than the market salary till such time that the business attracts funding enough to be able to afford that. While I say this, I also believe that founders must pay themselves first. You are the only indispensable employee of your company till it has grown and has investments from third parties.

Set realistic & measurable goals: While it is good to plan for the Rs. 100 crore milestone, it is equally important (if not more) that you focus on how to achieve that first Rs. 1 crore. I have seen that when we keep our ambitions very high, we tend to spend as if we have already achieved that target and alienate ourselves from the reality. Break your large ambitions into small and short time milestones and track them.

Focus on sales: A person like me who has the passion for creating new products and taking them to the market, get carried away with the picture of creating that perfect product that we keep delaying the sales process. Nothing is more important than bring in revenues. So keep your focus on sales and your product can keep getting refined and evolved, in fact even better with continuous customer feedback.

One last piece of advice for budding entrepreneurs is that if you have a dream then live your dream and do not operate from the fear of failure. It is more fulfilling to live with a business which has not taken off than to live with regrets of not trying. Your business did not fail, it’s the way you did it which failed.

Managing the brand YOU on social media

2011-04-07T18:36:00.001+05:30

During one of the training sessions I got convinced that a human being is a meaning making machine. He continuously gives meaning to everything he sees and hears and then quickly reacts to that meaning he has himself given. And the fact is that YOU are what others see you as. In today’s world when people are using social media to communicate and interact, it is becoming increasingly important to be able to manage your image online. People get in touch with their school time friends after years on Facebook, recruiters search for candidates and then hiring managers do their initial background check on Linkedin and once an opinion is formed, it is tough to change it.

Here are some suggestions on managing your identity and brand on Social media. These are not hard and fast rules but are points to keep in mind and are subjective enough to suit different people based on their backgrounds and professions. Some of the suggestions are:

01. Be real: Its no more about fake personalities anymore. Try to be authentic and do not imitate others. Be conscious of how you would like to be known as or seen as. Remember, people form opinions of you. Your profile is an extension of yourself.

02. Share: Information, pictures, articles, anything of interest that you would want your community to see, watch or read. Focus on what your community needs to know, when it is about them, you are better accepted.

03. Create a circle of influence: Its all about the community. People will follow you on twitter, friend you on Facebook and connect with you on Linkedin. You will be known by the community you are a part of. Market yourself in such a way that you are well accepted and respected in your community.

04. Engage & Not sell: Social media is not about selling your products or services. Its about conversations that happen within communities. If you are able to engage in conversations and create a positive influence, people will buy the products or services you suggest.

05. Build credibility & respect privacy: If you are member of a community, you need to bring value to the other members. If you are able to do so and support them, converse with them, you will enjoy the credibility of theirs, which will go a long way. But, while you create conversations within the community, you need to be sensitive to the privacy of other group members. You need to think of yourself someone who respects others in your group and maintain your image as someone who can be trusted.

06. Maintain consistency: You profile needs to be consistent with what you do. It would be funny to see a doctors profile online look like that of a DJ. Most people do not see the importance of customizing the Twitter profile page and put a short bio there. And, once you have done that, do not change that too often. If you keep changing your the way your profile looks, your community will be confused and in all probability you will not be able to create a brand for yourself online.

07. Maintain reputation: Your reputation goes a long way. Be careful of what you say and do online. Do not forget that the community that you are connected with online is made up of human beings.

08. Target & Leverage: Identify your objectives and then target the social media accordingly. Identify and connect with the right audience leverage being there. Listen to what they are saying and one way to demonstrate that you are listening is by commenting on their posts and re-tweeting to your community.

Social Media Marketing and Brand Engagement

2011-03-01T14:16:00.000+05:30

Social Media Campaigns are more than banner advertising, pop-ups, search marketing alone. They are about creating rich experiences through meaningful engagements.

It is interesting to see how the Social Networking websites are being adopted by brands for their communication needs. Actually, it gets me thinking on what is it that excites the marketers about Social Networking? The more I think, I am convinced about its similarities with the age old marketing concept of word-of-mouth. It is the strongest influencer that drives sales. Looking from the consumers’ point of view, it is trustworthy and true compared to any edited content such as advertising or PR. And, this word-of-mouth is happening all the time on these Social Networking sites. Haven’t we seen status messages like… “xyz sucks”… “I have updated to xyz phone”…. “love the new xyz app”… “ bought a new xyz and loving it”. These conversations are continuously happening online and brands may choose to participate in then or ignore them.

Consumers are not buying purely because of persuasive buying. I have observed the growing trend of potential buyers going online to search for product reviews and video demonstrations before making their well informed purchase decision with motivation and unbiased feedback. They get to see the feedback of the existing users and comparisons drawn by them. If you need validation for what I am saying, go search for reviews and un-boxing of your favorite phone on YouTube and check the number of views on these videos, you will understand the point I am making. The fact is that brands really do not have much choice on social media participation.
Unfortunately, some of the young Social Media Marketing companies are creating Facebook pages and getting a couple of thousand users to like that page and then claim to be SMM experts. To me Social Media Marketing goes beyond this. Its about an integrated approach to engaging the user in a manner that he “willingly” wishes to participate in these conversations. It has to work hand in hand with the complete marketing strategy of the brand and integrate with the overall communication & marketing plan of the organization and must not be treated in isolation.

Apart from looking at driving sales, Social Media Marketing plays an important role in reputation management and building a connect. Consumers are sharing their feedback, grievances, likes / dislikes with others online. And the design of social media is such that it could spread like viral. As a brand, it is imperative to be able to listen to your customers and be able to steer such conversations to manage the image of the brand. Today, it is possible and imperative for marketers to create a community of its loyal consumers online, and if it does so, it could do anything with that community, whether it is sales, using the community as an advocate of the brand, engage in focus group discussion etc.

Being a good boss / supervisor. My journey of insightful learnings...

2010-08-28T16:48:00.003+05:30

“Personality traits of a good boss” has always been a debatable topic. This has been something that I have discussed several times with many people during my career since the time that I was a new kid on the block till now, when I hold a responsible position. Here is my "personal opinion" of the qualities that I have found in some of my favourite bosses, which also includes my idol - my father.

During my last assignment at Google where I was leading the Content Partnerships for India and was working on the official launch of YouTube in India, I realized that my reporting manager did not ever get into micromanaging his team. This was completely in line with the hiring philosophy at Google that focused on spending time to hire people whom you consider smart and then trust them to do their job. This also made me believe that people do not purposely make mistakes. If you go back to introspect on decisions that went wrong, in most cases you would find that you would have probably taken the same decision that they took under the circumstances at that time.

Something that I learnt during the time I was assisting my wife in her start up, I realized that young professionals like to be challenged at their work. You could push them, but you must also know when to back off to get the best out of them. I remember the time when we were working against stringent timelines that we had set for ourselves and I was pushing my team, I was advised by one of my advisors to rather share with them the objective of why it was important for us to meet the timelines and then back off. This worked and the team ensured that we delivered the results not only within the time, but also with the desired quality.

In my most recent assignment, I was faced with challenges within my first few days of joining, with some legacy issues. I learnt that your team members are as important as your clients if not more. Saying “Thank you” and “sorry” could do miracles. A team which I felt was complacent and not used to working beyond hours started doing their extra bit to help me meet some unreasonable requests of a client which saved us from embarrassment. At the end of the day, we deal with people, in any role and for anything. Showing respect is the least that we can do.

Being fair is the most important trait of a good supervisor. I once read that people who play favourites have priorities that may not be understandable by all. This raises concerns among the rest of the team and creates a divide among the team members which ultimately reflects on the company’s performance. While I say fairness is important, there may be situations where you may need to make exceptions for certain humane reasons. These will be well supported by all other team members.

Trust is another factor. After working with some of the American organizations, both large as well as start ups, I learnt a beautiful thing from my senior colleagues. They trusted each employee fully till that person broke the trust. On the contrary in few of the other organizations I term “conservative”, I find this trust missing. These companies would frame policies assuming that people will misuse them.

Another learning from my latest assignment is that it was important to have fun. People work not just for money but to learn new things, meeting people, enhancing their skill sets etc. Most people in India spend a large part of their day at work which makes it imperative to have an environment where having fun is not looked at as a “non-serious behaviour”. I realized it when someone actually pointed out that my predecessors used to share their time with the team playing table tennis or going out on the weekends and how that created a bond that I realized my team saw as a void. The moment I started spending time with my team playing ping pong or just sitting and sharing a cup of tea, made me a part of them instantaneously. I thank them for providing me this space to learn something so important.

Rewarding people for their hard work is an important thing for any manager to do. People love to be recognized for the efforts that they have put in for the company’s success. As I mentioned earlier, money is not the only thing that people are here for. They need to feel satisfied that they have contributed to the success of the business.

JRD Tata during his farewell speech from Air India said “People come and go, companies remain”. This brings up another very important learning which is that we as bosses or supervisors must never think that we are indispensable. I have worked in some critical roles earlier, but nothing in those organizations ever changed after I moved on to my newer assignments. It is so important to be grounded.

As a boss / supervisor, it is your duty to create a team that you can be proud of. Another thing that I learnt during my stint at Google is that the only one time that you can say that you are the best is when you are the only one. Your each hire has to be better than yourself. As a boss, it is your role to sell them the goal and give them the direction. You are there to make profit and you hire people because you know that you cannot do it alone.

When you hire the best, then you give them the freedom to perform. Like you, your team members also have their experiences and an opinion. Listen to them and you may be surprised that at times they may come up with a better point of view. This may not be true for all your employees, some of your team members may be fresh into work and there it becomes your responsibility to mentor them and teach them the skills that helps them to help you.

Never play one person against the other. As a good boss, you have to be above petty office politics. Credit snatching does not work and if you are confident of your team, there should be no reason to feel threatened when your team suggests something better than you, in fact that should make you proud that you hired the right person. You must make such people feel valued. In the early days of my career, I learnt from Mr. Siddharth Ray (the founder of Data Access, a start up which worked as a partner of PCCW of Hong Kong) that your employees can go ahead and add so much more value to the business if you make them feel empowered, respected and valued.

As a boss, you must inspire. One of my favourite bosses, Mr. Rajesh Sawhney, then COO of Indiatimes who currently is the President of Reliance Entertainment, always led by example. He would set achievable goals and helped us win business. The time that he would spend with us sharing with us our strengths and helping us overcome our weaknesses helped me reach where I am today.
I thank all the people who have generously spent time in teaching me the values which has helped me make friends in the industry who trust me.

Indian Lawyers can now get LL.M in US Laws without leaving India

2010-03-02T12:24:00.002+05:30

During my stint with the two American organizations I worked with, I always asked myself a question that “Why don’t they train the Indian lawyers on US laws?” I have always felt that it is so very important for the legal counsels for US based companies who start their offices in India, to have complete understanding of the US laws which can facilitate quicker decision making. Apart from the speed of decision making, it also helps in reducing the risks emerging out of decisions based on lack of knowledge.

I am happy to see that someone has taken notice of this and done something about the need of the hour. I understand that an institute called Florida Coastal School of Law has started a LL.M. program for Indian lawyers to get trained in US laws. It also comes at a time when few of the legal firms are believed to have shown interest in starting their offices in India whenever the opportunity exists. This 13 subject course with 2 credits each aims to offer a LL.M in US laws at the end of 53 weeks and even permits the graduates to appear in American Bar exams in a few states in the US. I think this is a brilliant opportunity for Indian lawyers. I am not sure how much it costs, but I believe the fee is a fraction of what it costs for someone to go and attend a residential program in US.

Thanks to Tact Education & Knowledge Systems (www.teks.in) to facilitate this and hope they take notice of many more of such opportunities for all streams of education.

Entrepreneurship cannot be taught but can be learnt

2010-01-05T12:20:00.001+05:30

It is my pleasure to sit on the board of one of the successful management institutes in India and see things from the other side of the table. One thing that I have lately observed is that our education system, especially the one at the Post Graduate level has always stressed so much on the “quality of job” as the most important success parameter, that right from the time the student is considering which B-school to apply to, he starts judging the institute and the courseware by the successful placements the institute has had in the past. To me it appears that we may be taking away the ability of the students to learn to take risks (read calculated risks) by creating so much pressure on him on this one success parameter. It seems that we may be creating excellent managers but very scared entrepreneurs.

During some of my recent stints with global organizations one thing that I recognized was that these companies had grown not only because they had people working for them who had great experience and academic backgrounds, but more because they hired people who could think and work like entrepreneurs. The basic difference between these two sets of people was that a person with entrepreneurial bent of mind thought holistically and not just about his expert area. I am not saying that being an expert is bad, but I am just trying to say that do not ignore other aspects of business while you think of your expert area.

Now, coming back to my basic question, “Can Entrepreneurship be taught?” I personally think that though the aspects of entrepreneurship can be explained but the ability, the willingness and the eagerness to take risks is something that comes naturally. Rather than teaching “entrepreneurship”, the management institutes must explore ways to let people identify these traits and nurture these basic abilities in their students.

Starting an “entrepreneurial program” can do only so much. What we lack in our systems is to give practical exposure and an opportunity to actually experience entrepreneurship. Some institutes like the IIT’s and IIM’s have done this with success and it shows in the number of successful enterprises that have been created by the past students of these institutes. I have always loved the “culture” of entrepreneurship that is there at Stanford and have wondered what is so different there.

I believe that we need to give an honest opportunity to our students in India. They get stopped by basics of starting business, lack of moral support and mentoring. It is time for successful entrepreneurs to give back to the society by training these students by experiential process rather than creating merely theoretical classroom sessions.

After much deliberation, I am taking this responsibility to create a group of likeminded people who can share their experience and knowledge to mentor such students who are keen to experience entrepreneurship and create enterprises which they dream of. The structure is a simple collaboration between students with a rock solid idea and though process creating confidence on his / her ability to execute (business plan), the education institute and a team of mentors who can guide them and support these students with their industry network. Wondering what to call it, I think I will call this project “Anirudha” which means “being unstoppable & boundless” and invite entrepreneurs and successful managers to come forward and create a generation of young entrepreneurs who not only create a support system for themselves but opportunities for others as well.

I invite ideas and suggestions to make “Anirudha” a reality.

Pitching for your big idea

2009-09-23T15:40:00.002+05:30

Have you ever come across a situation that you have a good idea (at-least you think it is good) but pitching it to your boss or a potential investor was terrifying? And, it’s because you have a lot to lose.

We human beings are very scared to being rejected. We take it so personally that we start feeling that it was not our idea that was rejected, but it was we who got rejected. Its a very uncomfortable situation be in. I recently went through this experience last week when I encountered questions that I was not prepared with and thought that it was the end of the project. It was sickening to see someone reject something that I was in love with.

It was then I gathered myself and reminded myself from a recent development course that I attended where we are taught the art of communication in a way that it “touch, move & inspire” people that we communicate with and “enrol” them in our ideas. But what is even more important is the process of preparation and the fact that we cannot be stingy in devoting time in planning.

I then sat down and started writing down what is important for me to create an effective pitch. Some of the things that came to my mind were:

Who are you pitching to?
Identifying the right person whom you should be pitching to is the key. Does the guy you are pitching to have the authority to decide or is he the expert in the domain to judge. Once you have identified your target, find out about his / her personality, his views or any information you can know about the person. When you pitch to this person, your job must be get him to understand why your idea is doable.

The idea is the reason why you are pitching. Prepare your pitch well.
We must master the art of trying to summarize our idea and then create a story. And this summary must be able to grab the targets attention in no time. Once you grab the attention then begin your story. Don;t be afraid to share your concerns and difficulties you envisage, no one got businesses rolling without facing difficulties. Identify the challenges that are faced today and how your idea can transform these challenges into making things better. The greater the challenges, more convincing will be your idea.

Create different presentations for different needs.
I have learnt that people are in their mood swings when they meet you. They can decide to even reduce the time made available to you for your pitch. I would suggest that one must be prepared with shorter pitches when you go for your meeting. Or even vice versa. The guy may get interested and may want to know more and so you must have a slightly more elaborate pitch presentation handy with you.

Be prepared for questions.
The only way to kill your brilliant idea and initial pitch is by not being ready with the possible questions. People are very interested to know what you need from them.
Also, if the pitch is rejected, be prepared to ask why your pitch has been rejected. This information and explanation can help you polish your next pitch.

Do all doctors need a website?

2009-07-10T18:04:00.000+05:30

I would say that there is no definite answer. My guess is that in a world where more and more people are becoming net-savvy, patients and their families would go online to find a doctor and then get more information about the doctor. This is especially important for doctors who are looking for patients from overseas, where internet may be the first source of healthcare information.

Let us look at what kind of doctors need a website. Primary care physicians and doctors offering specific procedures like Dentists, Plastic Surgeons, Dermatologists and Ophthalmologists would benefit from having a website of their own where they could share information about their practice. For specialists like Cardiac surgeons and Neurosurgeons it may not be necessary to have a website but will be very useful. They are specialists to whom patients are referred to. Patients use referrals and do not “buy” services. However, a well designed website could offer useful information about the practice and also make the patient more comfortable. These websites can offer pre and post operative information which could be very useful for the patient. But, in these cases a poor website can do more harm than good. The content on a physician’s website could vary. It will depend on the speciality, but then there are some items that every site will need. For example every site must have the Location of the practice, Contact Information, Timings, whether credit cards are accepted or not, Physician’s training, certifications and affiliations. Also, if you have good testimonials, it is good to have it on the website.

Hospital based physicians and also other service providers like an Anaesthesiologist or a pathologist may feel that they may not need a website. Again, it may not be necessary but it will not hurt. In case of hospital based physicians, it a very effective medium to publish your papers and offer useful information for the patients. Also, for Pathology labs and Radiology labs, it may be a very effective medium for patients to know the services provided, how equipped the laboratory is and billing practices.

Having a website is one thing, but having a well designed website is another. Patients may find information about you, but it may not be necessary that they will be able to understand it. So make it easy to understand on doctor’s own website is great. The doctor’s website should be unique to the doctor’s practice style and speciality. It definitely is a good investment for every doctor to make. For doctors, take some time and spend some money to do it right though, or don’t do it at all.

Should doctors have a website?

2009-06-24T17:01:00.000+05:30

It is now becoming imperative for a Doctor to have a website. With the Medical tourism industry taking off, Internet is the most turned to source for getting medical information and searching for a doctor. For an overseas patient, it is most comforting to put a face to a name and also see pictures of the clinic / hospital facilities.
Some doctors fear that having a website may be seen as advertising, it should be best understood as the only way of educating patients and facilitating useful information. Doctor can “refer” patients to your website at the end of the consultation, so they can educate themselves. It has also been found useful in imparting knowledge on post operative care to the patients. For doctors in private practice, the website provides value-added services for the existing and new patients, by providing details as to the timings of the clinic and how to get to the clinic. Doctors could also offer convenience of getting online appointment and accessing patient records. It is also a very powerful tool for enabling contact between Doctor and Patient.While having a website is one thing, Doctors must have realistic expectations of what their website can do for them. In India, the number of Internet users is not yet as high as in the USA, so Doctors should not expect patients to start pouring immediately with the website goes live. Just having a website is not enough – remember that there are over a million websites out there. Doctors need to promote their website actively. Online promotion usually means registering the site with all the relevant search engines, so people can “find” you. Today the “Online Social Media” also plays an important role. Having cross linking with popular health portals can help patients get access to your website. Offline promotion plays a very important role. Having the web URL on your Visiting Card / Prescription and in the waiting area can be very useful.
Today, getting a website does not cost much. You could get a website listing for as low as Rs. 2500/- and a website with own domain for about Rs. 5000/-. Many doctors do go in for a custom made website which can cost anything between Rs. 15000/- to Rs 50,000/- depending on the functionalities being provided and the team developing it. Developing a website and maintaining it can be time consuming and is better left to the professionals. There are many companies developing websites in India, but then there are a few that specialize in healthcare domain. Mansai Media (www.mansaimedia.com/medicalwebsite ) is one such company. The company offers not only websites but also doctors listing. Basic listing for the doctors comes free of cost. The company also takes up assignments to create a professional image for your clinic which includes logo and stationery design.

Interview tips

2009-06-16T15:02:00.001+05:30

INTERVIEW TIPS

Finally the interview call letter is in your hand! The organization thinks you may be the right person for the job, and so it entails that you ought to vindicate his thoughts. If you really want to make it, it’s important that you prepare yourself for the interview and brush aside all nervousness and negative feelings.

Going through the following interview tips and practicing them might just do the trick and clinch the job for you!

INTERVIEW TIPS:

Take some time out and do some research on the organization. Go through its website carefully, noting down its profile and details about its other aspects such as operations, its statistics, product profile and services among others.

Make a checklist of things or issues you do not want to talk about. This is because, usually during interviews candidates tend to talk bout things they never intended to and offer uncalled for information. Making a checklist will ensure you do not broach those topics unless pointed questions are asked, in which case you need to be honest and to the point. It is also wise to remember to avoid talking about irrelevant issues like your petty habits or your family’s medical history!

A prospective employer may also want to gauge how you react to pressure. So some tricky questions may be asked with an intention of catching you unawares or throwing you off balance. Just be aware of this possibility and maintain your cool.

While you should answer the questions of your interviewer as naturally as possible, your answers should reflect the following traits on your part:

a) clarity of thoughts and intentions
b) maturity
c) honesty
d) presence of mind
e) open to new ideas
f) fine conceptualization skills
g) sound knowledge of the fundamentals

Dress up formally and neatly. Your dressing style and grooming is strong indicator of your personality and forms the first impression. Therefore it is imperative you are formally dressed and neatly groomed, taking care that your hair is trimmed and shoes polished. At the same time, don’t overdress!

Read up the day’s news paper so that you are aware of the current issues as your employer might want o test your knowledge of issues in the limelight.

Carry all your important documents such as the call letter, your resume, certificates and your references neatly filed in a folder and do check them before you leave for the interview.

It is better that you travel with a time and tested mode of travel , rather than experimenting with something new, as you could end up being late. It is better to reach the interview venue 10-15 minutes before the allotted time.

Making your perferct resume

2009-06-16T14:54:00.002+05:30

THE PERFECT RESUME

The resume is what initially speaks for you. It is a vital document that has the potential of impressing the employer and clinching the job for you. It is an important tool in your hand that might just get you the job you want. Therefore, it is imperative that your resume be nothing less than perfect!

Where do I begin?

IDENTIFY YOUR GOAL: before you begin, it is important that you identify the kind of work you want to do. For example, if you want to continue in the same field and job profile you have been working on till now, you don’t need to think much, but in case you want switch your job profile or diversify into a related field, you will have to identify your goal. This may require you to introspect and do some self assessment.

Once you have identified your goal, you have a target job in mind. This will help you to include all the details that will be relevant to the job you are seeking.

UNEARTH ALL YOUR QUALIFICATIONS AND ACCOMPLISHMENTS

Spot out and write down all your qualifications and achievements till date. This will include your educational qualifications, work history and/or training certifications on the job or otherwise, special achievements and strengths. Your special achievements and skill strengths will set you apart from other candidates with similar qualifications. It is ideal if your achievements have been in the field pertinent to your target position.

How do I identify my strengths and achievements?

Sometimes people find it difficult to recognize their best skills and may overlook some of their finest attainments. To help you find out what have been your achievements, look at the work you are currently doing or have done till now from the employer’s viewpoint. Has your work benefited your organization? And if so in what way?

If you have done something in your work, you feel particularly proud of, and then it is accomplishment. If possible, analyze it in terms of a challenge, action and result form. For example, what was the challenge and what was the subsequent action that you took? What was the result of your action? If possible quantify your result. You could mention percentages, money amounts or time frames etc., which could add that much needed punch to your resume.

THE VISUAL EFFECT

Analyze your resume impartially. Does it have it in it to stand out among a pile? Will your goals, qualifications and achievements catch the employer’s eye?

The visual effect of your resume is extremely important. It is not necessary to restrict yourself to a single page. What is more important is that you present your most pertinent qualifications and skills with clarity and in a concise manner.

THE FIRST 15 SECONDS

Most employers spend only 15 to 20 seconds in their first glance through a resume. Your resume should be able to catch his attention in this initial 15 seconds, encouraging him to read more. Keep this in mind while you write your initial summary, weeding out irrelevant facts.

The characteristics of an effective resume are:

- A resume should be visually effective that draws attention of the employer. The font should be clear and clean
- A summary of your qualifications that is authoritative and commanding that aims at the job you are applying for
- You should include your achievents in the summary as well as the work history, in order to reinforce them.
- The relevant keywords and phrases highlighted and placed suitably throughout your resume
- An effective and clearly written work history which highlights earlier job profiles which are most relevant to your target job
- A section on your qualifications which will include your educational qualifications, and professional developments such as workshops, seminars attended or training sessions and certifications.
- A list of technical skills if so required

THE INTIAL SUMMARY

The initial summary which you will write on your resume is like the catch line of an advertisement. It will serve to ‘sell’ you to the employer. Highlight and mention all your skills, strengths and capabilities which relate most to the job you are applying. Apart from this, the quality of your writing matters too. You should write concisely, using your best language. Use strong effective words which will make an impact.

WORK HISTORY

Don’t fill up your resume with a list of all the jobs you have held since high school. Mention the jobs which best illustrate your skills and strengths for the present job you are eyeing, and your experience of other jobs can be included separately under additional experience. Validate everything you wrote about your skills and work experience in the summary by going into a little detail. Mention how your skills benefited the organization you worked in. Here too, organize the information such that you mention your most pertinent work experience.

EDUCATION

An outline of your educational qualifications comes at the end. However, if some of your qualifications are relevant to the job you’re seeking, you can mention the synopsis earlier after your initial summary.

Be sure to mention details like the degree, college or institution, location and the grades achieved. Include any seminars attended and any certifications acquired in the continuing education section.

ADDITIONAL POINTS:

You are on the verge of a strong resume. Remember these additional points and you are almost done!

- Write down all relevant personal data. it should include your contact numbers and e mail
- References are only included at a later stage when your candidature is well under consideration.

Hyundai service commitments...

2007-02-11T16:58:00.000+05:30

This was a couple of months ago when I went to get my car serviced from one of the leading (so called leading) service centers of Hyundai in Delhi. I had been getting my car serviced from this service center for so many years as I have Hyundai cars. After the service, I collected the keys and drove the car out of the service center. I noticed that there were some spots on the bonnet of the car and I stopped to clean it. To my horror i realized that these would not go. I took it back to the service center and showed them the spots. They tried to scriub it off but the spots would just not go. When I mentioned to them that these were spots which were on the car when i took the car the guys just turned hostile and challenged me that these were not from the service center. I had no way and took it to the other service centers and got them tested. I was told that this is due to Battery water which may have got spilt on the bonnet. When I went back to the service station to let them know the same, they just would not accept and told me to go ahead and file a complaint with the company and be assured that nothing would happen. This kept me wondering if this is the kind of response that we expect from a company as reputed as Hyundai which is one of the market leaders of cars in India. Unfortiunately, the only respite that I had out of this whole issue is that I donot buy anymore Hyundai vehicles. Apart from that, I wonder if customers like me have anything that we can do even in the economy which we claim to be customer centric.

Herby goes bananas: Spontaneity Works

2007-02-09T16:39:00.000+05:30

Herby goes bananas: Spontaneity Works

Spontaneity Works

2007-02-09T16:22:00.000+05:30

I was a little worried when I saw the first episode of KBC – Kaun Banega Crorepati (Indian version of “who wants to be a millionaire”) with Shah Rukh Khan this year. He seemed not to be comfortable and was seen making efforts to be as mature sounding as Amitabh Bachan. He just could not be like him. I thought this program was doomed even before it started. To my surprise, after the 3rd episode, Shah Rukh Khan changed the way he was conducting the game show. He was more relaxed and into the game. This made me think what was different between his first episode and now. The only thing that I could figure out that he was being himself and spontaneous. Its was not about what he was doing, it was about who he was. He was having fun on the show and fun replicates itself when encouraged. The game today is more fun that I had thought it would be with Shah Rukh Khan. He has kept away from using big and not so easy to understand words. He has kept it simple enough to touch everyone’s heart. I read somewhere that one should capitalize on the spontaneous, keeping it simple by not over thinking it. I guess it works for Shah Rukh Khan and KBC.