Perot Systems (NYSE: PER), the Plano, Texas-based IT, BPO and consulting concern, is expected to underscore the importance of India and the Asia-Pacific region to its long-term growth strategy at a meeting of its Board of Directors in Bangalore later this week. The meeting is historic, as it is probably the first Board meeting of a major U.S. multinational IT corporation in India. In bringing the Board to India to review its corporate strategy, Perot Systems is signaling its commitment to seizing the global opportunities in the technology services industry.
As part of that commitment, Perot Systems now holds land for future expansion of its existing facilities, which are in Bangalore, Noida and Chennai. The company has 13 acres of land in Bangalore, 25 acres in Noida and recently significantly expanded its facilities in Chennai. These significant holdings highlight the company's focus on India as a key driver for business and as a source of talent. Perot Systems is fully aware of India's competitive human resource pool and diverse skill-sets and hence plans an aggressive recruitment posture, casting a wider net and looking at a broader spectrum of colleges and universities across the country. This, coupled with land banking, will provide scalability for future growth.
Other highlights of the India visit included the announcement and official induction of Mr. Anuroop (Tony) Singh (Member, Board of Directors) and Ms. Padma Ravichander (Senior Executive - India/Asia-Pacific Region, Managing Director - Technology Services) into Perot Systems.
Commenting on the emergent business opportunities for India, Mr. Ross Perot Jr., Chairman - Perot Systems said, "The Board of Directors of Perot Systems is here as a result of the hard work that has gone into building a strong global business. The company has achieved a lot in a relatively short time frame, but in many ways we are only just beginning to reach our potential, given the opportunities before us and the strength of our capabilities -- especially in India."
Perot systems President and CEO Peter Altabef said, "Perot Systems'' India operations are a cornerstone of our emerging global delivery model of integrated IT, BPO and consulting solutions. It is important for the Board to meet here as work to provide more solutions for our customers, opportunity for our employees, and value for our shareowners."
Source : Media Release Compiled by : Abijith I P
Saturday, April 02, 2005
Quarter million more BPO jobs by 2009
Call centre markets of India and the Philippines are set to see further boom through 2009, a study says.
The report, "The Future of Contact Center Outsourcing in India and the Philippines", published by Data monitor, an American analyst firm, predicts that over 2,50,000 new call center agent positions will be created in two countries by 2009.
And Philippines will be poaching the market increasingly, which India currently dominates.
USA and UK are the biggest clients in the call center industry. According to Data monitor, both India and the Philippines will see substantial growth in call centers.
With the US presidential elections are out of the way, US businesses will now be able to ramp up their offshore operations, via call centres, the report also said.
More firms are set to follow the likes of British Airways, Citibank, General Electric and HSBC, all of which have spun off a part or all of their operations to India. "Outsourcing providers are competing to run entire customer processes for their clients, rather than merely the voice-based call centre part," said Ryan Powell, call centre analyst at Datamonitor and author of the study.
"The fact that they are able to win this kind of work is testament to the efforts that have been placed on assuring quality control over the past year or so," Powell said.
Source : PTI Compiled by : Abijith I P
The report, "The Future of Contact Center Outsourcing in India and the Philippines", published by Data monitor, an American analyst firm, predicts that over 2,50,000 new call center agent positions will be created in two countries by 2009.
And Philippines will be poaching the market increasingly, which India currently dominates.
USA and UK are the biggest clients in the call center industry. According to Data monitor, both India and the Philippines will see substantial growth in call centers.
With the US presidential elections are out of the way, US businesses will now be able to ramp up their offshore operations, via call centres, the report also said.
More firms are set to follow the likes of British Airways, Citibank, General Electric and HSBC, all of which have spun off a part or all of their operations to India. "Outsourcing providers are competing to run entire customer processes for their clients, rather than merely the voice-based call centre part," said Ryan Powell, call centre analyst at Datamonitor and author of the study.
"The fact that they are able to win this kind of work is testament to the efforts that have been placed on assuring quality control over the past year or so," Powell said.
Source : PTI Compiled by : Abijith I P
India following America in jobless growth – in 2003-04 Indian corporations eliminated 3.1% manufacturing jobs with healthy growth in the economy
Indian corporations eliminated 3.1% manufacturing jobs while the economy grew a healthy 6 to 7% in that time frame. While the Information technology and Business Process Outsourcing created jobs, even including these jobs, the country lost 0.6% jobs.
The fact that the country lost jobs while growing at a brisk pace is scary. In United States the labor cost is high. Automation and Productivity rise make sense. But with already deflated labor cost in India, it does not make sense to lose jobs while the economy is growing. Experts are asking questions – what will happen if India hits a recession, which is very probable later this year. According to some, if a recession hits, India can lose in excess of 12% manufacturing jobs and 6% overall jobs. If the Western nations go into recession at the same time, outsourcing industry can actually lose a staggering 38% jobs and the country can lose close to 46% jobs. Hopefully nothing like that will happen. But just focusing and servicing on IT and Business Process Outsourcing can be catastrophic.
According to media reports in India, all is not that gloomy.
The services sector, in particular, created plenty of jobs, particularly in software and private banks. IT companies in software, hardware and data sourcing, created more jobs than any other sector: 26 IT companies increased their staff strength by 45,872 or 39.5 per cent, taking the headcount in the IT industry to 161,882 in 2003-04.
Private banks, which are expanding their retail business reach, added 5,551 employees.
Infosys Technologies remained the largest single recruiter in 2003-04, adding 7,988 IT engineers and managerial staff. Wipro added 7,422 employees, while TCS increased its headcount by 4,607 to 30,121.
Satyam Computer and HCL Technologies increased their manpower by over 4,000 each, while Digital GlobalSoft and ICICI Bank increased their staff strength by over 2,500 each.
Source : Indiadaily.com - Sunil Sen Compiled by : Abijith I P
The fact that the country lost jobs while growing at a brisk pace is scary. In United States the labor cost is high. Automation and Productivity rise make sense. But with already deflated labor cost in India, it does not make sense to lose jobs while the economy is growing. Experts are asking questions – what will happen if India hits a recession, which is very probable later this year. According to some, if a recession hits, India can lose in excess of 12% manufacturing jobs and 6% overall jobs. If the Western nations go into recession at the same time, outsourcing industry can actually lose a staggering 38% jobs and the country can lose close to 46% jobs. Hopefully nothing like that will happen. But just focusing and servicing on IT and Business Process Outsourcing can be catastrophic.
According to media reports in India, all is not that gloomy.
The services sector, in particular, created plenty of jobs, particularly in software and private banks. IT companies in software, hardware and data sourcing, created more jobs than any other sector: 26 IT companies increased their staff strength by 45,872 or 39.5 per cent, taking the headcount in the IT industry to 161,882 in 2003-04.
Private banks, which are expanding their retail business reach, added 5,551 employees.
Infosys Technologies remained the largest single recruiter in 2003-04, adding 7,988 IT engineers and managerial staff. Wipro added 7,422 employees, while TCS increased its headcount by 4,607 to 30,121.
Satyam Computer and HCL Technologies increased their manpower by over 4,000 each, while Digital GlobalSoft and ICICI Bank increased their staff strength by over 2,500 each.
Source : Indiadaily.com - Sunil Sen Compiled by : Abijith I P
Indian companies start providing technical know how for Pakistani BPO and IT companies – start of a new trend!
A midsize IT and BPO Company from Mumbai has entered into an agreement with a Pakistani firm to set up a call center in Pakistan.
According to media sources, Mumbai-based Spanco Telesystems and Solutions will help Millennium Software of Pakistan to set up and manage the call centre in Karachi for the latter's international and domestic customers. The call centre will provide complete customer relations management (CRM) solutions for Pizza Hut in Pakistan.
"We will provide know-how for setting up the call centre and also advise Millennium Software for operations, human resource practices and training," Ketan Choksi, chief financial officer of Spanco Telesystems, said.
"As the relationship matures between the two companies in the coming years, we will also look into the possibility of expanding the areas of business cooperation," he added.
This is not an isolated case. Many Pakistani companies are looking at Indian companies to provide the technical know how to jump ahead in the field of IT, call center operations and BPO in general.
Source : Indiadaily.com - Prabeer Laha Compiled by : Abijith I P
According to media sources, Mumbai-based Spanco Telesystems and Solutions will help Millennium Software of Pakistan to set up and manage the call centre in Karachi for the latter's international and domestic customers. The call centre will provide complete customer relations management (CRM) solutions for Pizza Hut in Pakistan.
"We will provide know-how for setting up the call centre and also advise Millennium Software for operations, human resource practices and training," Ketan Choksi, chief financial officer of Spanco Telesystems, said.
"As the relationship matures between the two companies in the coming years, we will also look into the possibility of expanding the areas of business cooperation," he added.
This is not an isolated case. Many Pakistani companies are looking at Indian companies to provide the technical know how to jump ahead in the field of IT, call center operations and BPO in general.
Source : Indiadaily.com - Prabeer Laha Compiled by : Abijith I P
Outsourcing's Next Phase Has Begun
Outsourcing in India has reached a near-term peak, and meaningful expansion from this point forward will result in higher costs and lower-quality delivery. Business leaders in Asia have been saying such things to one another for months now. Today, we are seeing deliberate action to move capacity from India to next-step destinations like the Philippines, China and Vietnam.
Even major business publications have picked up on the evolving situation. Both Forbes ("India: Good Help Is Hard to Find") and BusinessWeek ("India's IT Challenge") recently published feature articles that directly address the growing problems in India and the viability of the next-step destination countries.
Looking at current events in the Philippines, we can get a better idea what is going on. Sykes, a large U.S.-based contact center and IT support organization, has operations in both India and the Philippines. The company said it would shift much of its Indian capacity to the Philippines, where it already has 7,000 employees. "We moved calls to other facilities in Asia to get a higher rate of return," was the official statement from Dan Hernandez, Sykes'' vice president for global strategies. But knowledgeable observers in the region say that the rate of return differential must be large for a company of Sykes'' size and prominence to forgo India after already putting capacity in place.
Ambergris Solutions is another large contact center organization with operations in the Philippines. The company just received a $43.5 million investment through Telus International, a Canada-based global IT provider. Jim Evans, who played the key local role in coordinating the deal, says his company wanted a "strategic investment" in the outsourcing industry in Asia, and the Philippines offered the best long-term opportunity given all the options, including India.
As Asia-Pacific vice president for global business-to-business services provider GXS, Victor Lee oversees the professional and customer services operations in the region. His company made the decision to direct functions with a strong customer component to the Philippines because of better economics and results there. His company's analysis also indicated that costs were increasing disproportionately in India. As well, Lee feels that "having product development in India and professional and customer services in Philippines reduces risks."
More outspoken than most, Rick McGonegal is clear that India won''t be part of his company's plans for the foreseeable future. He is the managing director of RCG Information Technology, another good-size IT provider. The company already has a strong offshore presence in the Philippines and has assessed the Asia-Pacific region for future expansion. India, he feels, is already too crowded, with numerous companies all scrambling to hire from each other. The result is destructively high staff turnover rates, mounting salary costs and poorer English communications skills compared with that available in the Philippines. He also cited overstretched infrastructure in India as a further reason RCG wouldn''t consider this destination at present. According to McGonegal, his company has its "radar set on Vietnam and China" should its current best option of the Philippines give way.
Others that appear to be moving work to the Philippines include Hewitt, which has just started hiring staff for its newly commissioned business process outsourcing facility, and HSBC, the global banking organization, which got its BPO under way a few months ago. I am currently meeting with numerous early-stage entrants to the Philippines -- more than at anytime during the past three years.
As another anecdote, I spoke recently to the Texas-based global recruitment manager of a multinational technology company who needed help attracting Indians living in the U.S. and Canada to jobs back in India. This is no surprise, since there is strong demand for returnee management talent. But this fellow wasn''t looking for managers; he was looking for individual contributors with three years of Java/C++ experience -- a core skill that was once available in seemingly infinite quantities. He described, with great exasperation, the challenges his company faced hiring such people within India these days.
Long Live the King
No one is saying that the king of outsourcing will lose its dominance or its long-term attractiveness as an outsourcing destination. India created the offshore outsourcing model, and it will continue driving the industry forward because of its huge size and the remarkable competence of its managers.
If India does experience slower growth because of constrained resources in the near term, it is only because of its tremendous success over the past few years. India's recent hiring growth has been roughly double that of the crazy dot-com boom times in North America. So, current alleged constraints aren''t indicative of weakness but of great success.
Besides, while rising costs may be a big deal to business leaders who have to somehow budget for them, they probably don''t warrant the same degree of concern for individual workers, who see their paychecks rise by 30% from a well-timed job change.
If countries like the Philippines and Vietnam are better options today, it's only because they have been less successful at developing and attracting quality outsourcing employers in the past. The pioneering accomplishments made by India have now opened the door for these countries to receive their share of the blessings. And as for India, we can be sure it will soon be back stronger than ever.
Source : Richard Mills, CFA, is director of executive search firm Chalre Associates, based in Manila Compiled by : Abijith I P
Even major business publications have picked up on the evolving situation. Both Forbes ("India: Good Help Is Hard to Find") and BusinessWeek ("India's IT Challenge") recently published feature articles that directly address the growing problems in India and the viability of the next-step destination countries.
Looking at current events in the Philippines, we can get a better idea what is going on. Sykes, a large U.S.-based contact center and IT support organization, has operations in both India and the Philippines. The company said it would shift much of its Indian capacity to the Philippines, where it already has 7,000 employees. "We moved calls to other facilities in Asia to get a higher rate of return," was the official statement from Dan Hernandez, Sykes'' vice president for global strategies. But knowledgeable observers in the region say that the rate of return differential must be large for a company of Sykes'' size and prominence to forgo India after already putting capacity in place.
Ambergris Solutions is another large contact center organization with operations in the Philippines. The company just received a $43.5 million investment through Telus International, a Canada-based global IT provider. Jim Evans, who played the key local role in coordinating the deal, says his company wanted a "strategic investment" in the outsourcing industry in Asia, and the Philippines offered the best long-term opportunity given all the options, including India.
As Asia-Pacific vice president for global business-to-business services provider GXS, Victor Lee oversees the professional and customer services operations in the region. His company made the decision to direct functions with a strong customer component to the Philippines because of better economics and results there. His company's analysis also indicated that costs were increasing disproportionately in India. As well, Lee feels that "having product development in India and professional and customer services in Philippines reduces risks."
More outspoken than most, Rick McGonegal is clear that India won''t be part of his company's plans for the foreseeable future. He is the managing director of RCG Information Technology, another good-size IT provider. The company already has a strong offshore presence in the Philippines and has assessed the Asia-Pacific region for future expansion. India, he feels, is already too crowded, with numerous companies all scrambling to hire from each other. The result is destructively high staff turnover rates, mounting salary costs and poorer English communications skills compared with that available in the Philippines. He also cited overstretched infrastructure in India as a further reason RCG wouldn''t consider this destination at present. According to McGonegal, his company has its "radar set on Vietnam and China" should its current best option of the Philippines give way.
Others that appear to be moving work to the Philippines include Hewitt, which has just started hiring staff for its newly commissioned business process outsourcing facility, and HSBC, the global banking organization, which got its BPO under way a few months ago. I am currently meeting with numerous early-stage entrants to the Philippines -- more than at anytime during the past three years.
As another anecdote, I spoke recently to the Texas-based global recruitment manager of a multinational technology company who needed help attracting Indians living in the U.S. and Canada to jobs back in India. This is no surprise, since there is strong demand for returnee management talent. But this fellow wasn''t looking for managers; he was looking for individual contributors with three years of Java/C++ experience -- a core skill that was once available in seemingly infinite quantities. He described, with great exasperation, the challenges his company faced hiring such people within India these days.
Long Live the King
No one is saying that the king of outsourcing will lose its dominance or its long-term attractiveness as an outsourcing destination. India created the offshore outsourcing model, and it will continue driving the industry forward because of its huge size and the remarkable competence of its managers.
If India does experience slower growth because of constrained resources in the near term, it is only because of its tremendous success over the past few years. India's recent hiring growth has been roughly double that of the crazy dot-com boom times in North America. So, current alleged constraints aren''t indicative of weakness but of great success.
Besides, while rising costs may be a big deal to business leaders who have to somehow budget for them, they probably don''t warrant the same degree of concern for individual workers, who see their paychecks rise by 30% from a well-timed job change.
If countries like the Philippines and Vietnam are better options today, it's only because they have been less successful at developing and attracting quality outsourcing employers in the past. The pioneering accomplishments made by India have now opened the door for these countries to receive their share of the blessings. And as for India, we can be sure it will soon be back stronger than ever.
Source : Richard Mills, CFA, is director of executive search firm Chalre Associates, based in Manila Compiled by : Abijith I P
Unisys and Cognizant to add 10,500 more to their India outsourcing workforce
IT services major Cognizant Technology Solutions, today said it would hire 6500 people in the next nine months and announced that its Chinese centre would start operations in April. Addressing a news conference here, Lakshmi Narayanan, President and CEO, Cognizant, said the company planned to add 7,200 employees in the 2005 calender year, of which 85 per cent would be employed at its software development centres in India. "During the first two-and-a-half months of this calender, we have hired 700 people. In the remaining months, we will add another 6,500 people," he said, adding that the total employee strength of the company would exceed 22,500 by December 31, 2005. In 2004, Cognizant hired 6000 people. On the Chinese operations, Narayanan said the company's new development centre at Shanghai would commence operations next month. About six Chinese persons are currently undergoing training in Cognizant's Chennai office. Narayanan said about 25 local people would manage the facility. In 2007-08, Cognizant would consider ramping up its operations in China, he said. On the revenue front, he said Cognizant was aiming at USD 845 million for the 2005 calender, a growth of 44 per cent compared to 2004.
American IT services and product firm Unisys Corporation plans to ramp up its India workforce, including with its partners, to 4,500 by 2008, up from the existing 1,150 professionals, Unisys officials said on Monday. "Unisys has sourced globally for more than 25 years. Our current expansion in India is an extension of this strategy and is integral to growing our global capabilities," Unisys Chairman Lawrence A Weinbach said at the launch of its 1,000 seat new building in the city. Unisys outsources software work with four Indian partners - Hexaware, Caritor, NIIT and Tata Infotech - who jointly employ about 1,000 people. "The partners will add 1,000 more people while we will hire 1,000 more people in 2005," Unisys India Managing Director Mukul Agrawal said. He said Unisys has a roadmap to reach a strength of 4,500 people by 2008, which includes 2,500 people at its captive centre. "India offers lower cost of operations and there is a demand from our clients to move work to offshore locations," Unisys Global Sourcing Vice President Cal Killen said. Unisys last April said it would invest $180 million (Rs 810 crore) in India till 2008 and it has spent $10 million on the new facility, officials said. Unisys India will provide end-to-end IT services for its global customers, besides technical help desk support, BPO and IT sourcing.
Source : Media Release Compiled by : Abijith I P
American IT services and product firm Unisys Corporation plans to ramp up its India workforce, including with its partners, to 4,500 by 2008, up from the existing 1,150 professionals, Unisys officials said on Monday. "Unisys has sourced globally for more than 25 years. Our current expansion in India is an extension of this strategy and is integral to growing our global capabilities," Unisys Chairman Lawrence A Weinbach said at the launch of its 1,000 seat new building in the city. Unisys outsources software work with four Indian partners - Hexaware, Caritor, NIIT and Tata Infotech - who jointly employ about 1,000 people. "The partners will add 1,000 more people while we will hire 1,000 more people in 2005," Unisys India Managing Director Mukul Agrawal said. He said Unisys has a roadmap to reach a strength of 4,500 people by 2008, which includes 2,500 people at its captive centre. "India offers lower cost of operations and there is a demand from our clients to move work to offshore locations," Unisys Global Sourcing Vice President Cal Killen said. Unisys last April said it would invest $180 million (Rs 810 crore) in India till 2008 and it has spent $10 million on the new facility, officials said. Unisys India will provide end-to-end IT services for its global customers, besides technical help desk support, BPO and IT sourcing.
Source : Media Release Compiled by : Abijith I P
Oracle and Peoplesoft operations in India to be merged by June
Integration of operations of Oracle and PeopleSoft in India will be completed by the end of June this year.
"Full integration of operations of Oracle and PeopleSoft will be done by June end," Derek Williams, Oracle's Executive Vice-president for Asia-Pacific, said in a conference call.
Oracle had acquired PeopleSoft late last year and both companies have significant operations in India.
"All the operations of the two companies in India will be integrated by June end," a company spokesperson said.
So far, the merger of six of the 26 offices of both companies in Asia-Pacific has been completed.
After the merger, Oracle retained more than 75 per cent of the sales, marketing, consulting and back office staff of PeopleSoft in Asia-Pacific.
On the support and development side, the company has retained 90 per cent of the staff.
Going forward, Oracle sees India, China and Australia as key growth markets in Asia-Pacific.
"India is an important market for us and we continue to invest heavily in it. Development centres in India are churning out as many patents as the ones in the US," he said.
For growth, the company plans to focus on quality and execution and concentrate on financial sector, manufacturing, government, education, media, telecom and retail.
The focus for Oracle worldwide is business application software market where it wants to get the better of SAP.
Through acquisition of PeopleSoft and Retek it is building scale and solutions to take on the German giant.
Williams said Oracle has done well against SAP in India and made good progress.
"We are pleased with our strategy in India in application space," he said.
Source : PTI Compiled by : Abijith I P
"Full integration of operations of Oracle and PeopleSoft will be done by June end," Derek Williams, Oracle's Executive Vice-president for Asia-Pacific, said in a conference call.
Oracle had acquired PeopleSoft late last year and both companies have significant operations in India.
"All the operations of the two companies in India will be integrated by June end," a company spokesperson said.
So far, the merger of six of the 26 offices of both companies in Asia-Pacific has been completed.
After the merger, Oracle retained more than 75 per cent of the sales, marketing, consulting and back office staff of PeopleSoft in Asia-Pacific.
On the support and development side, the company has retained 90 per cent of the staff.
Going forward, Oracle sees India, China and Australia as key growth markets in Asia-Pacific.
"India is an important market for us and we continue to invest heavily in it. Development centres in India are churning out as many patents as the ones in the US," he said.
For growth, the company plans to focus on quality and execution and concentrate on financial sector, manufacturing, government, education, media, telecom and retail.
The focus for Oracle worldwide is business application software market where it wants to get the better of SAP.
Through acquisition of PeopleSoft and Retek it is building scale and solutions to take on the German giant.
Williams said Oracle has done well against SAP in India and made good progress.
"We are pleased with our strategy in India in application space," he said.
Source : PTI Compiled by : Abijith I P
Need for reengineering IT outsourcing – will TCS and Satyam chiefs elected as NASSCOM leaders be able to save Indian outsourcing boom?
What happens when a technology become dinosaur? Yes we call it the legacy system. India’s IT outsourcing has become a genuine “vintage car” – better put a legacy system waiting for a complete reengineering. The lack of talent, rising prices and lack of innovative products is hitting Indian IT companies hard. How long can you survive on exploiting cheap labor opines experts and International outsourcing pundits.
Indian IT needs new leadership. Otherwise India IT Outsourcing Inc. will face the same stagnation that Microsoft faces. Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) chief S. Ramadorai was on Thursday appointed chairman of the National Association of Software and Service Companies (Nasscom), the country's IT industry umbrella group. B. Ramalinga Raju, chairman of Hyderabad-based software maker Satyam Computer Services, was appointed vice chairman of Nasscom for fiscal 2005-06. The million dollar question is can these old guns who created the legacy of “taking someone else’s requirements and sit and write code blindly” be able to guide India into the next phase of software engineering?
In Europe and America, Oracle (Peoplesoft) and SAP faces a strange newborn competition from smaller companies that they never thought about. Large back office processing systems based on large traditional databases are being challenged by smaller Web based tools from companies one hundredth the size. India’s outsourcing will be now slowly replaced by US and European companies that have mastered the techniques of software engineering productivity in the last few years. Three or four very talented software engineers who also understand business and systems analysis can replace fifty Indian coders. The software engineering field is finally going through the maturity process where coding and traditional testing is replaced with business and systems analysis driven system generation through “configurations”. The new technology is astounding and will employ far less people but those who will work as software engineers will make four times what they make today.
Can Ramadorai of TCS and Raju of Satyam provide that kind of forward looking leadership as India faces the competition storm from all directions? Experts say these legacy systems reengineering experts will provide traditional leadership but will need others in their team to really compete with smaller and sharper companies from America and Europe.
Source : IndiaDaily.com Compiled By : Abijith I P
Indian IT needs new leadership. Otherwise India IT Outsourcing Inc. will face the same stagnation that Microsoft faces. Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) chief S. Ramadorai was on Thursday appointed chairman of the National Association of Software and Service Companies (Nasscom), the country's IT industry umbrella group. B. Ramalinga Raju, chairman of Hyderabad-based software maker Satyam Computer Services, was appointed vice chairman of Nasscom for fiscal 2005-06. The million dollar question is can these old guns who created the legacy of “taking someone else’s requirements and sit and write code blindly” be able to guide India into the next phase of software engineering?
In Europe and America, Oracle (Peoplesoft) and SAP faces a strange newborn competition from smaller companies that they never thought about. Large back office processing systems based on large traditional databases are being challenged by smaller Web based tools from companies one hundredth the size. India’s outsourcing will be now slowly replaced by US and European companies that have mastered the techniques of software engineering productivity in the last few years. Three or four very talented software engineers who also understand business and systems analysis can replace fifty Indian coders. The software engineering field is finally going through the maturity process where coding and traditional testing is replaced with business and systems analysis driven system generation through “configurations”. The new technology is astounding and will employ far less people but those who will work as software engineers will make four times what they make today.
Can Ramadorai of TCS and Raju of Satyam provide that kind of forward looking leadership as India faces the competition storm from all directions? Experts say these legacy systems reengineering experts will provide traditional leadership but will need others in their team to really compete with smaller and sharper companies from America and Europe.
Source : IndiaDaily.com Compiled By : Abijith I P
Tuesday, March 29, 2005
How to Spot "Red Flags" on a Resume
The purpose of a resume is to market a candidate by presenting their skills and achievements in the best possible light. But in difficult or static job markets there is more temptation than ever to bend the truth a little to get the job. This can leave the company with employees who can't do the job they were hired for or worse still, one whose mistakes cost money and undermine hard won customer relationships.
Identifying "red flags" will help you ensure that you can identify candidates with a depth of experience and expertise. Here are a few pointers:
Before sorting through your pile of resumes, have a checklist of essential skills, qualifications or attributes that are the "benchmark" for finding the right person. These include education, general and specific job experience, as well as skill and performance requirements.
Look for unexplained time periods that might indicate unemployment or a job the applicant doesn't want you to know about. Date-stretching to cover gaps is not uncommon. Check references to detect this.
Though employee mobility has increased, as a general rule more time in once place shows loyalty. You don't want to be hiring again in six months. However, even the best employees can sometimes have a short period in a specific role due to unforeseen, personal or uncontrollable circumstances.
Watch out for resume filled with vague responsibilities and claims. Enhancing job titles is common practice. Check for inconsistencies between title, responsibilities and salary. Look for very specific details of achievements and outcomes.
At the same time, don't be "dazzled" by an achievement-based style of resume. Go behind it to consider actual roles and responsibilities. Flag achievements and require the candidate to elaborate in the interview.
Salary is a common area for embellishment. This can be hard to detect, especially when you can't check with a present employer. Ask for evidence such as a contract, pay slip or bank statements. If you are suspicious, aim to uncover half truths in interviews by asking probing questions.
Check references. Always! Flag specific items to check with referees.
In today's market place employees can be highly mobile — both domestically and internationally. The internet has made it even more tempting to lie on a resume. There is no substitute for thorough checks on every critical aspect of a resume.
Source :
Identifying "red flags" will help you ensure that you can identify candidates with a depth of experience and expertise. Here are a few pointers:
Before sorting through your pile of resumes, have a checklist of essential skills, qualifications or attributes that are the "benchmark" for finding the right person. These include education, general and specific job experience, as well as skill and performance requirements.
Look for unexplained time periods that might indicate unemployment or a job the applicant doesn't want you to know about. Date-stretching to cover gaps is not uncommon. Check references to detect this.
Though employee mobility has increased, as a general rule more time in once place shows loyalty. You don't want to be hiring again in six months. However, even the best employees can sometimes have a short period in a specific role due to unforeseen, personal or uncontrollable circumstances.
Watch out for resume filled with vague responsibilities and claims. Enhancing job titles is common practice. Check for inconsistencies between title, responsibilities and salary. Look for very specific details of achievements and outcomes.
At the same time, don't be "dazzled" by an achievement-based style of resume. Go behind it to consider actual roles and responsibilities. Flag achievements and require the candidate to elaborate in the interview.
Salary is a common area for embellishment. This can be hard to detect, especially when you can't check with a present employer. Ask for evidence such as a contract, pay slip or bank statements. If you are suspicious, aim to uncover half truths in interviews by asking probing questions.
Check references. Always! Flag specific items to check with referees.
In today's market place employees can be highly mobile — both domestically and internationally. The internet has made it even more tempting to lie on a resume. There is no substitute for thorough checks on every critical aspect of a resume.
Source :
Wednesday, March 23, 2005
How to Manage Stress !!
Stress Management
What is Stress?
Stress is the "wear and tear" our bodies experience as we adjust to our continually changing environment; it has physical and emotional effects on us and can create positive or negative feelings. As a positive influence, stress can help compel us to action; it can result in a new awareness and an exciting new perspective. As a negative influence, it can result in feelings of distrust, rejection, anger, and depression, which in turn can lead to health problems such as headaches, upset stomach, rashes, insomnia, ulcers, high blood pressure, heart disease, and stroke. With the death of a loved one, the birth of a child, a job promotion, or a new relationship, we experience stress as we readjust our lives. In so adjusting to different circumstances, stress will help or hinder us depending on how we react to it.
Everyone experiences stress from time to time, so it is perfectly normal. However, normal doesn't necessarily mean healthy. Nor is it inevitable! Believe it or not, you can learn how to largely eliminate stress. I don't mean eliminate the pressures in your life - those will probably persist. The way I think of it, pressure is what is happening to you, but stress is how you react to those pressures. So, you can keep the pressure and get rid of the stress.
How Can I Eliminate Stress from My Life?
As we have seen, positive stress adds anticipation and excitement to life, and we all thrive under a certain amount of stress. Deadlines, competitions, confrontations, and even our frustrations and sorrows add depth and enrichment to our lives. Our goal is not to eliminate stress but to learn how to manage it and how to use it to help us. Insufficient stress acts as a depressant and may leave us feeling bored or dejected; on the other hand, excessive stress may leave us feeling "tied up in knots." What we need to do is find the optimal level of stress which will individually motivate but not overwhelm each of us.
How Can I Tell What is Optimal Stress for Me?
There is no single level of stress that is optimal for all people. We are all individual creatures with unique requirements. As such, what is distressing to one may be a joy to another. And even when we agree that a particular event is distressing, we are likely to differ in our physiological and psychological responses to it.
The person who loves to arbitrate disputes and moves from job site to job site would be stressed in a job which was stable and routine, whereas the person who thrives under stable conditions would very likely be stressed on a job where duties were highly varied. Also, our personal stress requirements and the amount which we can tolerate before we become distressed changes with our ages.
It has been found that most illness is related to unrelieved stress. If you are experiencing stress symptoms, you have gone beyond your optimal stress level; you need to reduce the stress in your life and/or improve your ability to manage it.
How Can I Manage Stress Better?
Identifying unrelieved stress and being aware of its effect on our lives is not sufficient for reducing its harmful effects. Just as there are many sources of stress, there are many possibilities for its management. However, all require work toward change: changing the source of stress and/or changing your reaction to it. How do you proceed?
1. Become aware of your stressors and your emotional and physical reactions.
Notice your distress. Don't ignore it. Don't gloss over your problems.
Determine what events distress you. What are you telling yourself about meaning of these events?
Determine how your body responds to the stress. Do you become nervous or physically upset? If so, in what specific ways?
2. Recognize what you can change.
Can you change your stressors by avoiding or eliminating them completely?
Can you reduce their intensity (manage them over a period of time instead of on a daily or weekly basis)?
Can you shorten your exposure to stress (take a break, leave the physical premises)?Can you devote the time and energy necessary to making a change (goal setting, time management techniques, and delayed gratification strategies may be helpful here)?
3. Reduce the intensity of your emotional reactions to stress.
The stress reaction is triggered by your perception of danger...physical danger and/or emotional danger. Are you viewing your stressors in exaggerated terms and/or taking a difficult situation and making it a disaster?Are you expecting to please everyone?
Are you overreacting and viewing things as absolutely critical and urgent? Do you feel you must always prevail in every situation?
Work at adopting more moderate views; try to see the stress as something you can cope with rather than something that overpowers you.
Try to temper your excess emotions. Put the situation in perspective. Do not labor on the negative aspects and the "what if's."
4. Learn to moderate your physical reactions to stress.
Slow, deep breathing will bring your heart rate and respiration back to normal.
Relaxation techniques can reduce muscle tension. Electronic biofeedback can help you gain voluntary control over such things as muscle tension, heart reate, and blood pressure.Medications, when prescribed by a physician, can help in the short term in moderating your physical reactions. However, they alone are not the answer. Learning to moderate these reactions on your own is a preferable long-term solution.
5. Build your physical reserves.
Exercise for cardiovascular fitness three to four times a week (moderate, prolonged rhythmic exercise is best, such as walking, swimming, cycling, or jogging).Eat well-balanced, nutritious meals.
Maintain your ideal weight.
Avoid nicotine, excessive caffeine, and other stimulants.
Mix leisure with work. Take breaks and get away when you can.
Get enough sleep. Be as consistent with your sleep schedule as possible.
6. Maintain your emotional reserves.
Develop some mutually supportive friendships/relationships.
Pursue realistic goals which are meaningful to you, rather than goals others have for you that you do not share.Expect some frustrations, failures, and sorrows.Always be kind and gentle with yourself -- be a friend to yourself.
====================================
Fortunately, stress management is largely a learnable skill. Most people can learn how to take the heat in their lives. Before we talk about how, let's consider what stress is in more detail. The way I think of it, stress is a "false alarm". What I mean is that it is the erroneous activation of the "danger alarm" system of the brain. I visualize it as a big red fire alarm inside the head. This is a system we are all born with and it is a good thing to have. However, the biological purpose of this system is to help prepare us for dealing with real, physical danger. When the danger alarm is turned on, it produces a physiological response called the "fight or flight" reaction, which helps us to fight the danger or flee it.
When you are in real, immediate physical danger, it is appropriate to feel afraid. Getting your body charged up with adrenaline may well help to keep you alive. However, most of the time when we feel stressed, there is no immediate danger, so it is a false alarm. The fire alarm is sounding, but there is no fire!
So how do you learn how to manage stress? There are basically two main ways:
1. Learn how to turn off the alarm system through various relaxation methods.
2. Learn how to not turn it on inadvertently in the first place.
Relaxation methods work on the idea that you can't be relaxed and uptight at the same time. Basically, anything you do that is the opposite of what the danger alarm system does will tend to shut it off. Some examples include:
- Deep breathing - taking deep, slow breaths rather than the shallow, fast breathing we feel when we are stressed. This really works physiologically to help shut off the danger alarm.
- Muscular relaxation - tensing and relaxing various muscle groups can work wonders. Try your neck and shoulders, your shoulder blades, your forehead and eyes, tensing these groups for a few seconds, then relaxing them. You can also combine this with deep breathing by inhaling while you tense, then exhaling when you relax the muscles. There are more sophisticated versions of these muscular methods, like the shower of relaxation and progressive relaxation.
- Visualization - imagine a very peaceful scene, like laying on the beach, out in a fishing boat on a lake, in a mountain cabin or whatever. It can be a real place or you can make it up. Try to invoke all your senses as you imagine being in this very peaceful, relaxing place. What do you see? What sounds are there? What sensations of touch, temperature or smell? For example, you might imagine the sun on your skin, the cool breeze on your forehead, the salt tang of the ocean, the grit of the sand.
Try all these methods and see which works better for you. Some people do better with muscular methods, others with visualization. All these can be learned quite readily and often work very well.
In the long run, however, it is better to learn how to avoid getting stressed out in the first place. So how do you do that? Well, the clue is in the visualization method. Thinking peaceful thoughts makes you feel relaxed. In imagining a peaceful place, you have also distracted yourself from whatever thoughts you were having before. This points out the basic premise of cognitive/behavioral psychology, that our feelings and behaviors are largely caused by our own thoughts. This is oversimplified, because there are many feedback loops that make the connection between thoughts, feelings and behaviors sort of like a chicken and egg problem. But the simple version of the cognitive theory is that peaceful thoughts cause relaxation and stressful thoughts cause stress.
In other words, the reason we get stressed out is not what is happening to us and not what happened in the past (at least not directly), but rather, how we are thinking about what is happening. Past experience does influence us strongly, but the medium of that influence is beliefs or thoughts. For example, if you were abused as a child, you might have developed the belief that you are worthless. It is this belief today that is making you feel depressed, not the fact of the abuse itself. This is a really neat, powerful idea because it means we can overcome the bad experiences of the past. It means we have power over ourselves, so we don't have to be victims of the past or of present circumstances!
The best way to manage stress is to learn to change anxiety to concern. Concern means you are motivated to take care of real problems in your life, but your danger alarm system is not erroneously activated. Changing your feelings is largely a matter of learning to identify and change the upsetting thoughts that are the immediate and proximate cause of upset emotions.
What is Stress?
Stress is the "wear and tear" our bodies experience as we adjust to our continually changing environment; it has physical and emotional effects on us and can create positive or negative feelings. As a positive influence, stress can help compel us to action; it can result in a new awareness and an exciting new perspective. As a negative influence, it can result in feelings of distrust, rejection, anger, and depression, which in turn can lead to health problems such as headaches, upset stomach, rashes, insomnia, ulcers, high blood pressure, heart disease, and stroke. With the death of a loved one, the birth of a child, a job promotion, or a new relationship, we experience stress as we readjust our lives. In so adjusting to different circumstances, stress will help or hinder us depending on how we react to it.
Everyone experiences stress from time to time, so it is perfectly normal. However, normal doesn't necessarily mean healthy. Nor is it inevitable! Believe it or not, you can learn how to largely eliminate stress. I don't mean eliminate the pressures in your life - those will probably persist. The way I think of it, pressure is what is happening to you, but stress is how you react to those pressures. So, you can keep the pressure and get rid of the stress.
How Can I Eliminate Stress from My Life?
As we have seen, positive stress adds anticipation and excitement to life, and we all thrive under a certain amount of stress. Deadlines, competitions, confrontations, and even our frustrations and sorrows add depth and enrichment to our lives. Our goal is not to eliminate stress but to learn how to manage it and how to use it to help us. Insufficient stress acts as a depressant and may leave us feeling bored or dejected; on the other hand, excessive stress may leave us feeling "tied up in knots." What we need to do is find the optimal level of stress which will individually motivate but not overwhelm each of us.
How Can I Tell What is Optimal Stress for Me?
There is no single level of stress that is optimal for all people. We are all individual creatures with unique requirements. As such, what is distressing to one may be a joy to another. And even when we agree that a particular event is distressing, we are likely to differ in our physiological and psychological responses to it.
The person who loves to arbitrate disputes and moves from job site to job site would be stressed in a job which was stable and routine, whereas the person who thrives under stable conditions would very likely be stressed on a job where duties were highly varied. Also, our personal stress requirements and the amount which we can tolerate before we become distressed changes with our ages.
It has been found that most illness is related to unrelieved stress. If you are experiencing stress symptoms, you have gone beyond your optimal stress level; you need to reduce the stress in your life and/or improve your ability to manage it.
How Can I Manage Stress Better?
Identifying unrelieved stress and being aware of its effect on our lives is not sufficient for reducing its harmful effects. Just as there are many sources of stress, there are many possibilities for its management. However, all require work toward change: changing the source of stress and/or changing your reaction to it. How do you proceed?
1. Become aware of your stressors and your emotional and physical reactions.
Notice your distress. Don't ignore it. Don't gloss over your problems.
Determine what events distress you. What are you telling yourself about meaning of these events?
Determine how your body responds to the stress. Do you become nervous or physically upset? If so, in what specific ways?
2. Recognize what you can change.
Can you change your stressors by avoiding or eliminating them completely?
Can you reduce their intensity (manage them over a period of time instead of on a daily or weekly basis)?
Can you shorten your exposure to stress (take a break, leave the physical premises)?Can you devote the time and energy necessary to making a change (goal setting, time management techniques, and delayed gratification strategies may be helpful here)?
3. Reduce the intensity of your emotional reactions to stress.
The stress reaction is triggered by your perception of danger...physical danger and/or emotional danger. Are you viewing your stressors in exaggerated terms and/or taking a difficult situation and making it a disaster?Are you expecting to please everyone?
Are you overreacting and viewing things as absolutely critical and urgent? Do you feel you must always prevail in every situation?
Work at adopting more moderate views; try to see the stress as something you can cope with rather than something that overpowers you.
Try to temper your excess emotions. Put the situation in perspective. Do not labor on the negative aspects and the "what if's."
4. Learn to moderate your physical reactions to stress.
Slow, deep breathing will bring your heart rate and respiration back to normal.
Relaxation techniques can reduce muscle tension. Electronic biofeedback can help you gain voluntary control over such things as muscle tension, heart reate, and blood pressure.Medications, when prescribed by a physician, can help in the short term in moderating your physical reactions. However, they alone are not the answer. Learning to moderate these reactions on your own is a preferable long-term solution.
5. Build your physical reserves.
Exercise for cardiovascular fitness three to four times a week (moderate, prolonged rhythmic exercise is best, such as walking, swimming, cycling, or jogging).Eat well-balanced, nutritious meals.
Maintain your ideal weight.
Avoid nicotine, excessive caffeine, and other stimulants.
Mix leisure with work. Take breaks and get away when you can.
Get enough sleep. Be as consistent with your sleep schedule as possible.
6. Maintain your emotional reserves.
Develop some mutually supportive friendships/relationships.
Pursue realistic goals which are meaningful to you, rather than goals others have for you that you do not share.Expect some frustrations, failures, and sorrows.Always be kind and gentle with yourself -- be a friend to yourself.
====================================
Fortunately, stress management is largely a learnable skill. Most people can learn how to take the heat in their lives. Before we talk about how, let's consider what stress is in more detail. The way I think of it, stress is a "false alarm". What I mean is that it is the erroneous activation of the "danger alarm" system of the brain. I visualize it as a big red fire alarm inside the head. This is a system we are all born with and it is a good thing to have. However, the biological purpose of this system is to help prepare us for dealing with real, physical danger. When the danger alarm is turned on, it produces a physiological response called the "fight or flight" reaction, which helps us to fight the danger or flee it.
When you are in real, immediate physical danger, it is appropriate to feel afraid. Getting your body charged up with adrenaline may well help to keep you alive. However, most of the time when we feel stressed, there is no immediate danger, so it is a false alarm. The fire alarm is sounding, but there is no fire!
So how do you learn how to manage stress? There are basically two main ways:
1. Learn how to turn off the alarm system through various relaxation methods.
2. Learn how to not turn it on inadvertently in the first place.
Relaxation methods work on the idea that you can't be relaxed and uptight at the same time. Basically, anything you do that is the opposite of what the danger alarm system does will tend to shut it off. Some examples include:
- Deep breathing - taking deep, slow breaths rather than the shallow, fast breathing we feel when we are stressed. This really works physiologically to help shut off the danger alarm.
- Muscular relaxation - tensing and relaxing various muscle groups can work wonders. Try your neck and shoulders, your shoulder blades, your forehead and eyes, tensing these groups for a few seconds, then relaxing them. You can also combine this with deep breathing by inhaling while you tense, then exhaling when you relax the muscles. There are more sophisticated versions of these muscular methods, like the shower of relaxation and progressive relaxation.
- Visualization - imagine a very peaceful scene, like laying on the beach, out in a fishing boat on a lake, in a mountain cabin or whatever. It can be a real place or you can make it up. Try to invoke all your senses as you imagine being in this very peaceful, relaxing place. What do you see? What sounds are there? What sensations of touch, temperature or smell? For example, you might imagine the sun on your skin, the cool breeze on your forehead, the salt tang of the ocean, the grit of the sand.
Try all these methods and see which works better for you. Some people do better with muscular methods, others with visualization. All these can be learned quite readily and often work very well.
In the long run, however, it is better to learn how to avoid getting stressed out in the first place. So how do you do that? Well, the clue is in the visualization method. Thinking peaceful thoughts makes you feel relaxed. In imagining a peaceful place, you have also distracted yourself from whatever thoughts you were having before. This points out the basic premise of cognitive/behavioral psychology, that our feelings and behaviors are largely caused by our own thoughts. This is oversimplified, because there are many feedback loops that make the connection between thoughts, feelings and behaviors sort of like a chicken and egg problem. But the simple version of the cognitive theory is that peaceful thoughts cause relaxation and stressful thoughts cause stress.
In other words, the reason we get stressed out is not what is happening to us and not what happened in the past (at least not directly), but rather, how we are thinking about what is happening. Past experience does influence us strongly, but the medium of that influence is beliefs or thoughts. For example, if you were abused as a child, you might have developed the belief that you are worthless. It is this belief today that is making you feel depressed, not the fact of the abuse itself. This is a really neat, powerful idea because it means we can overcome the bad experiences of the past. It means we have power over ourselves, so we don't have to be victims of the past or of present circumstances!
The best way to manage stress is to learn to change anxiety to concern. Concern means you are motivated to take care of real problems in your life, but your danger alarm system is not erroneously activated. Changing your feelings is largely a matter of learning to identify and change the upsetting thoughts that are the immediate and proximate cause of upset emotions.
Saturday, March 19, 2005
Staff shortage hits Pvt. banks
Attrition, Limited talent pool takes its toll; Salaries Witness a steady climb
INDIA'S private banking segment may well be growing at a fast pace but bankers are now encountering problems of attrition and inadequate manpower.
Over the last few months, bankers have been finding the going tough at a time when some of the foreign banks have been expanding their private banking business. Given the shortage of trained manpower for these operations, salaries have grown by close to 25 to 30% annually.
Says ABN AMRO Bank's country representative Romesh Sobti "There is a paucity for trained manpower. There is a limited pool in the industry and so there is movement happening between the players. Salaries are also going up." The problem is more acute in some of the other metros like Delhi and Bangalore.
"Other than metros it is very difficult to get people as supply is limited. There are not enough people with advisory and relationship management skills as the market is not deep." says Sharad Sharma head of private bank BNP Paribas.
Some foreign banks had been hit badly as they have lost 20% of their employees. These banks have around 20 to 30 people in private banking and last year most of them have seen four to five of their staffers leave on an average. ABN Amro Bank, BNP Paribas, and Deutsche Bank offer private banking in India other than private sector banks like HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank. Other players like HSBC, Citi, StanChart and ABN Amro offer high end retail banking which straddles between mass retail banking and private banking.
Manpower problems are commen in these segments. Players like Citi, HSBC and JP Morgan are looking at offering private banking in India while new players like UBS are also looking at entering the country.
In the private banking segment, a staffer who joins normally makes the progression from arelationship manager to a financial advisor and then to a private banker.
Bankers are adopting different methods to surmount the problem of attrition and the paucity of manpower. Some like ABN Amro are creating a pipeline. They are also picking up people from other segments like debt and equity capital market, mutual funds and insurance companies.
Others like BNP Paribas are promoting people from their own ranks to go for programmes like CFP and capital market programmes other than fresh recruitments
Private sector banks are not as badly affected as the foreign banks. Banks like ICICI Bank have one of the highest strenght of around 200 people which they plan to grow to more than double the strengt.
Source : The Economic Times, 19th March 2005.
INDIA'S private banking segment may well be growing at a fast pace but bankers are now encountering problems of attrition and inadequate manpower.
Over the last few months, bankers have been finding the going tough at a time when some of the foreign banks have been expanding their private banking business. Given the shortage of trained manpower for these operations, salaries have grown by close to 25 to 30% annually.
Says ABN AMRO Bank's country representative Romesh Sobti "There is a paucity for trained manpower. There is a limited pool in the industry and so there is movement happening between the players. Salaries are also going up." The problem is more acute in some of the other metros like Delhi and Bangalore.
"Other than metros it is very difficult to get people as supply is limited. There are not enough people with advisory and relationship management skills as the market is not deep." says Sharad Sharma head of private bank BNP Paribas.
Some foreign banks had been hit badly as they have lost 20% of their employees. These banks have around 20 to 30 people in private banking and last year most of them have seen four to five of their staffers leave on an average. ABN Amro Bank, BNP Paribas, and Deutsche Bank offer private banking in India other than private sector banks like HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank. Other players like HSBC, Citi, StanChart and ABN Amro offer high end retail banking which straddles between mass retail banking and private banking.
Manpower problems are commen in these segments. Players like Citi, HSBC and JP Morgan are looking at offering private banking in India while new players like UBS are also looking at entering the country.
In the private banking segment, a staffer who joins normally makes the progression from arelationship manager to a financial advisor and then to a private banker.
Bankers are adopting different methods to surmount the problem of attrition and the paucity of manpower. Some like ABN Amro are creating a pipeline. They are also picking up people from other segments like debt and equity capital market, mutual funds and insurance companies.
Others like BNP Paribas are promoting people from their own ranks to go for programmes like CFP and capital market programmes other than fresh recruitments
Private sector banks are not as badly affected as the foreign banks. Banks like ICICI Bank have one of the highest strenght of around 200 people which they plan to grow to more than double the strengt.
Source : The Economic Times, 19th March 2005.
Friday, March 18, 2005
Preparing for an interview
For many of us our career is a very important part of our lives and is vital for our emotional well being and of course our finances. The Psychic Guild will showcase tips each month for a better career and ways you can improve your career, employment opportunities and your work
Career: How to Give Job-Winning Answers at Interviews
Human Resources personnel, professional recruiters and various other career experts all agree: one of the best ways to prepare yourself for a job interview is to anticipate questions, develop your answers, and practice, practice, practice.
There are plenty of websites that offer lists of popular job interview questions, and knowing the types of questions to expect can be very useful. But knowing how to answer those questions can mean the difference between getting the job and getting the "reject letter."
HOW TO ANSWER QUESTIONS
First, know these important facts:
1. There is no way to predict every question you will be asked during a job interview. In other words, expect unexpected questions--they'll come up no matter how much preparation you do.
2. Treat any sample answers you find, such as in discussion forums, books or on Internet job sites, as GUIDES only. Do not use any sample answers word for word! Interviewers can spot "canned" answers a mile away, and if they suspect you are regurgitating answers that are not your own, you can kiss that job goodbye. You must apply your own experiences, personality and style to answer the questions in your own way. This is crucial, and it will give you a big advantage over candidates who simply recite sample answers.
3. Job interview questions are not things to fear, they are OPPORTUNITIES TO EXCEL. They allow you to show why you are the best person for the job, so instead of dreading them, look forward to them! The key is to give better answers than anyone else, and that's where your preparation comes in.
Career: How to Give Job-Winning Answers at Interviews
Human Resources personnel, professional recruiters and various other career experts all agree: one of the best ways to prepare yourself for a job interview is to anticipate questions, develop your answers, and practice, practice, practice.
There are plenty of websites that offer lists of popular job interview questions, and knowing the types of questions to expect can be very useful. But knowing how to answer those questions can mean the difference between getting the job and getting the "reject letter."
HOW TO ANSWER QUESTIONS
First, know these important facts:
1. There is no way to predict every question you will be asked during a job interview. In other words, expect unexpected questions--they'll come up no matter how much preparation you do.
2. Treat any sample answers you find, such as in discussion forums, books or on Internet job sites, as GUIDES only. Do not use any sample answers word for word! Interviewers can spot "canned" answers a mile away, and if they suspect you are regurgitating answers that are not your own, you can kiss that job goodbye. You must apply your own experiences, personality and style to answer the questions in your own way. This is crucial, and it will give you a big advantage over candidates who simply recite sample answers.
3. Job interview questions are not things to fear, they are OPPORTUNITIES TO EXCEL. They allow you to show why you are the best person for the job, so instead of dreading them, look forward to them! The key is to give better answers than anyone else, and that's where your preparation comes in.
Now, take these actions:
1. Make a list of your best "selling points" for the position. What qualifications, skills, experience, knowledge, background, personality traits do you possess that would apply to this particular job? Write them down and look for opportunities to work them into your answers.
2. In addition to any sample job interview questions you find through various resources, you absolutely must develop your OWN list of probable questions based specifically on the job for which you are applying. Put yourself in the hiring manager's shoes… what kinds of questions would you ask to find the best person for this job?
3. Write down your answers to likely questions. Study the job announcement carefully. (If you don't have one, get one!) Note the phrases they use when describing the desired qualifications. You'll want to target these as much as possible when developing your answers. For example, if the announcement says they want someone with "strong customer service skills," make sure you include "strong customer service skills" in at least one of your answers. That will make a better impression than saying "I helped customers."
4. Review and edit your answers until you feel they are "just right." Read them over and over until you are comfortable that you know them fairly well. Don't try to memorize them; don't worry about remembering every word. Practice saying them out loud. If possible, have a friend help you rehearse for the interview.
Be A (Short) Story Teller Make use of this old marketing tip:
"Facts tell but stories sell." During a job interview, you are selling yourself. Whenever possible, answer questions with a short story that gives specific examples of your experiences. Notice I said "short." You don't want to ramble or take up too much time; you want to be brief but still make your point.
For example, imagine two people interviewing for a job as a dog groomer are asked, "Have you ever dealt with aggressive dogs?" Candidate X answers, "Yes, about 10% of the dogs I've groomed had aggressive tendencies." Candidate Y answers, "Oh yes, quite often. I remember one situation where a client brought in his Pit Bull, Chomper. He started growling at me the moment his owner left, and I could tell from his stance he wasn't about to let me get near his nails with my clippers. I think he would've torn my arm off if I hadn't used the Schweitzer Maneuver on him. That calmed him down right away and I didn't have any problems after that." (NOTE: I know nothing about dog grooming; I made the Schweitzer Maneuver up for illustrative purposes.)
Don't you agree that Y’s answer is better? Sure, X answered the question, but Y did more than that-- gave a specific example and told a quick story that will be remembered by the interviewers.
In today's job market where there are dozens of highly qualified candidates for each opening, anything you do that will make you stand out and be remembered will greatly increase your odds of getting hired.
Keep the Interviewer's Perspective in Mind; Answer His "What's in it for Me?" Question
While many questions asked during job interviews appear to focus on your past accomplishments, here's an important tip: they may be asking about what you did in the past, but what they really want to know is what you can do NOW, for THEM.
The key is to talk about your past accomplishments in a way that shows how they are RELEVANT to the specific job for which you are interviewing. Doing advance research about the company (such as at their website or at www.hoovers.com) and the position will be extremely helpful.
Here's another example with X and Y. The interviewer asks, "What is the most difficult challenge you've faced, and how did you overcome it?" X answers with, "In one job I was delivering pizzas and I kept getting lost. By the time I'd find the address, the pizza would be cold, the customer would be unhappy, and my boss was ready to fire me. I overcame this problem by purchasing a GPS navigation device and installing it in my car. Now I never get lost!" Y answers, "In my current job at Stylish Hounds, management ran a special promotion to increase the number of customers who use the dog-grooming service. It was a bit too successful because we suddenly had more customers than we could handle. Management would not hire additional groomers to help with the workload. Instead of turning customers away or significantly delaying their appointments, I devised a new grooming method that was twice as fast. Then I developed a new work schedule. Both efforts maximized productivity and we were able to handle the increased workload effectively without upsetting our customers."
X’s answer shows initiative and commitment (he bought that GPS gadget with his own money, after all). But Y's answer relates specifically to the job they are applying for (dog groomer). And Y had done research about the company and discovered it was about to significantly expand it's dog-grooming operations. So picked an example from her past that addressed an issue the interviewer was likely to apply to a future situation in his company. See the difference?
Here's one more example. X and Y are asked, "What's your greatest accomplishment?" X answers, "I won two Olympic Gold Medals during the 2000 Olympics in the high-jump competition." Y answers, "I was named Stylish Hounds's Dog Groomer of the Year in 2003 for increasing productivity in my section by 47%."
X’s accomplishment is pretty spectacular. But remember the interviewer's perspective. He might be impressed, but he's thinking "What's in it for me? What does being a world-class high-jumper four years ago have to do with helping me to increase sales in my dog-grooming department?" Y's answer is much less spectacular than Joe's, but it's relevant to the position and indicates that Y has what it takes to be successful in this particular job. It tells the interviewer, "I have what you're looking for; I can help you with your specific needs."
Looks like Y has a new job!
Do Not Lie
Last but not least, tell the truth. It's sometimes very tempting to "alter" the truth a bit during a job interview. For instance, say you quit instead of being fired. But the risk of being discovered as a liar far outweighs the potential benefit of hiding the truth.
If you are thinking about telling a lie during the interview, ask yourself these questions "What is the BEST thing that could happen? What is the WORST thing that could happen? Is the best thing WORTH RISKING the worst thing?" In this instance, the best thing would be getting the job. The worst thing would be getting discovered as a liar, which could lead to getting fired, which could lead to unemployment, which could lead to more job searching, which could lead to another interview, which could lead to the stress of deciding whether to lie about just getting fired, and so on… a cycle that can go on indefinitely. Is all that worth getting the one job, perhaps on a temporary basis?
Always consider the consequences of your actions.
In Summary, Here's What You Need To Do When Preparing To Answer Job Interview Questions:
1. Study the job announcement.
2. Research the company.
3. Anticipate likely questions.
4. Prepare answers to those questions that are relevant to the position and the company.
5. Promote your best "selling points" (relevant qualifications, capabilities, experience, personality traits, etc.) by working them into your answers.
6. Practice. Practice. Practice.
Happy Job Hunting :-) !!
1. Make a list of your best "selling points" for the position. What qualifications, skills, experience, knowledge, background, personality traits do you possess that would apply to this particular job? Write them down and look for opportunities to work them into your answers.
2. In addition to any sample job interview questions you find through various resources, you absolutely must develop your OWN list of probable questions based specifically on the job for which you are applying. Put yourself in the hiring manager's shoes… what kinds of questions would you ask to find the best person for this job?
3. Write down your answers to likely questions. Study the job announcement carefully. (If you don't have one, get one!) Note the phrases they use when describing the desired qualifications. You'll want to target these as much as possible when developing your answers. For example, if the announcement says they want someone with "strong customer service skills," make sure you include "strong customer service skills" in at least one of your answers. That will make a better impression than saying "I helped customers."
4. Review and edit your answers until you feel they are "just right." Read them over and over until you are comfortable that you know them fairly well. Don't try to memorize them; don't worry about remembering every word. Practice saying them out loud. If possible, have a friend help you rehearse for the interview.
Be A (Short) Story Teller Make use of this old marketing tip:
"Facts tell but stories sell." During a job interview, you are selling yourself. Whenever possible, answer questions with a short story that gives specific examples of your experiences. Notice I said "short." You don't want to ramble or take up too much time; you want to be brief but still make your point.
For example, imagine two people interviewing for a job as a dog groomer are asked, "Have you ever dealt with aggressive dogs?" Candidate X answers, "Yes, about 10% of the dogs I've groomed had aggressive tendencies." Candidate Y answers, "Oh yes, quite often. I remember one situation where a client brought in his Pit Bull, Chomper. He started growling at me the moment his owner left, and I could tell from his stance he wasn't about to let me get near his nails with my clippers. I think he would've torn my arm off if I hadn't used the Schweitzer Maneuver on him. That calmed him down right away and I didn't have any problems after that." (NOTE: I know nothing about dog grooming; I made the Schweitzer Maneuver up for illustrative purposes.)
Don't you agree that Y’s answer is better? Sure, X answered the question, but Y did more than that-- gave a specific example and told a quick story that will be remembered by the interviewers.
In today's job market where there are dozens of highly qualified candidates for each opening, anything you do that will make you stand out and be remembered will greatly increase your odds of getting hired.
Keep the Interviewer's Perspective in Mind; Answer His "What's in it for Me?" Question
While many questions asked during job interviews appear to focus on your past accomplishments, here's an important tip: they may be asking about what you did in the past, but what they really want to know is what you can do NOW, for THEM.
The key is to talk about your past accomplishments in a way that shows how they are RELEVANT to the specific job for which you are interviewing. Doing advance research about the company (such as at their website or at www.hoovers.com) and the position will be extremely helpful.
Here's another example with X and Y. The interviewer asks, "What is the most difficult challenge you've faced, and how did you overcome it?" X answers with, "In one job I was delivering pizzas and I kept getting lost. By the time I'd find the address, the pizza would be cold, the customer would be unhappy, and my boss was ready to fire me. I overcame this problem by purchasing a GPS navigation device and installing it in my car. Now I never get lost!" Y answers, "In my current job at Stylish Hounds, management ran a special promotion to increase the number of customers who use the dog-grooming service. It was a bit too successful because we suddenly had more customers than we could handle. Management would not hire additional groomers to help with the workload. Instead of turning customers away or significantly delaying their appointments, I devised a new grooming method that was twice as fast. Then I developed a new work schedule. Both efforts maximized productivity and we were able to handle the increased workload effectively without upsetting our customers."
X’s answer shows initiative and commitment (he bought that GPS gadget with his own money, after all). But Y's answer relates specifically to the job they are applying for (dog groomer). And Y had done research about the company and discovered it was about to significantly expand it's dog-grooming operations. So picked an example from her past that addressed an issue the interviewer was likely to apply to a future situation in his company. See the difference?
Here's one more example. X and Y are asked, "What's your greatest accomplishment?" X answers, "I won two Olympic Gold Medals during the 2000 Olympics in the high-jump competition." Y answers, "I was named Stylish Hounds's Dog Groomer of the Year in 2003 for increasing productivity in my section by 47%."
X’s accomplishment is pretty spectacular. But remember the interviewer's perspective. He might be impressed, but he's thinking "What's in it for me? What does being a world-class high-jumper four years ago have to do with helping me to increase sales in my dog-grooming department?" Y's answer is much less spectacular than Joe's, but it's relevant to the position and indicates that Y has what it takes to be successful in this particular job. It tells the interviewer, "I have what you're looking for; I can help you with your specific needs."
Looks like Y has a new job!
Do Not Lie
Last but not least, tell the truth. It's sometimes very tempting to "alter" the truth a bit during a job interview. For instance, say you quit instead of being fired. But the risk of being discovered as a liar far outweighs the potential benefit of hiding the truth.
If you are thinking about telling a lie during the interview, ask yourself these questions "What is the BEST thing that could happen? What is the WORST thing that could happen? Is the best thing WORTH RISKING the worst thing?" In this instance, the best thing would be getting the job. The worst thing would be getting discovered as a liar, which could lead to getting fired, which could lead to unemployment, which could lead to more job searching, which could lead to another interview, which could lead to the stress of deciding whether to lie about just getting fired, and so on… a cycle that can go on indefinitely. Is all that worth getting the one job, perhaps on a temporary basis?
Always consider the consequences of your actions.
In Summary, Here's What You Need To Do When Preparing To Answer Job Interview Questions:
1. Study the job announcement.
2. Research the company.
3. Anticipate likely questions.
4. Prepare answers to those questions that are relevant to the position and the company.
5. Promote your best "selling points" (relevant qualifications, capabilities, experience, personality traits, etc.) by working them into your answers.
6. Practice. Practice. Practice.
Happy Job Hunting :-) !!
New MD Of Oracle India
Oracle India Pvt Ltd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Oracle Corporation has announced the appointment of Mr Krishan Dhawan as its new Managing Director. According to the senior Vice-President of Oracle Asia Pacific, Mr Keith Budge, “Mr Dhawan brings with him more than 25 years of experience in the financial services and IT enabled services sector, having worked with Bank of America for 23 years across Asia Pacific and American markets.” He will succeed Mr Shekhar Dasgupta who is expected to leave after the end of May 2005 to pursue a career in academia after having worked with the company for more than 12 years. During this period, Mr Dasgupta would remain with Oracle India as an advisor to the company.
Source: 02 Mar' 05 The Hindu Business Line Delhi Edition
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