Tag: RECRUITMENT

Degrees Of Knowledge

 

That is the question.
That is the question.

 

There was a time when a degree was the most important thing in the world. The image was common: a newly graduated student, dressed up in freshly-ironed formals, sitting in a line of similar-looking youngsters outside the cabin of the boss, as the receptionist called them out, telling them it was their turn for the interview. Hundreds of Hindi movies must have these kind of scenes.

However, voices in the present environment point to something else. Increasingly, the narrative that is most widely heard is that a degree is not important anymore. Your skills matter. Your knowledge matters. Your experience matters.

One website goes on to take a look at the mindsets of people in India, and how much importance they give to a degree. Accordingly, in the 1980s, “Bachelor’s degree felt like a God-like paper.” Cue the interview scenes mentioned in the opening of this article. Then came the 90s, and apparently, “the Bachelor’s degree lost its charm and you needed a Master’s degree to be recognised.” The 2000s saw the importance of degree sharing its space with “experience and pay-scale.” 2016 onwards, in the current scenario, “college degrees are barely considered when it comes to job and career opportunities.”

This is true in a way. All of us have heard about famous people who dropped out of prestigious institutions, and went on to become extremely successful. In fact, these people and their lives are often used as testimonials to the narrative: you don’t need a degree to be successful.
Forget about these famous examples, many of us know people, within our close circles who have made their lives well, and they don’t happen to possess a degree.

There is another scenario that is getting increasingly common: people who do jobs which are completely different from the subject they hold their degrees in. Engineers becoming film-makers, businessmen and -women, writers is not a shocking story. Or perhaps not pursuing a Master’s in the subject you did your Bachelor’s in is no big deal. So many people around us have done it.

All this leads us to a question which might actually be called a FAQ- a frequently asked question- is a degree important now?
And the answer, contrary to the popular narrative is not a simple YES or NO. In fact, the dreaded two words could be considered an answer: it depends.

Let us think about it.
Why are we starting to believe there will always be a disconnection between one’s degree and one’s skills and knowledge?
Can a person who has a Commerce degree suddenly get a job as an Architect?
Even if the person has a deep interest in the subject, and has studied a lot about Architecture in his free time, would he be able to match the level of an A-grade student of Architecture who has put in time and efforts in the degree? Many colleges and universities have made internships mandatory or at least they are encouraged so that one doesn’t fall behind in the experience aspect.

A person with a BSc in Microbiology might be very well-read and interested in Theoretical Physics. But does that mean she can simply become a Professor of Theoretical Physics based just on her interest as opposed to a person who possesses multiple degrees on the subject?

A graduate in English might be able to teach basic level Computers in primary schools. Should he teach at a college level, is the question.

The debate about the importance of a degree should not be reduced to simplistic answers.

Some ‘shifts’ or choices of professions are relatively easy. This might come across as a little unfair but it is something to think about. Avenues of writing, marketing, the fine arts, entrepreneurship require innate skills, or at the very least some sort of training. But you could train for them on your own. There are online and offline courses offered, books available. And you just need a portfolio in some cases to prove that you are indeed good at it, even though you might not hold an official degree in the subject.
Sometimes, the candidates are provided training by the company they will be working at.

There are countless scenarios in accordance to the profession one decides to go for.

One thing clear from all of this is that you need skills and education. Degree or no degree is a complex issue. Famous college dropouts like Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, the late Steve Jobs did have a very deep understanding of what they excelled at. They were “educated” in a way a degree could not do it. How many of us have that vision and courage? More importantly, how many of us have that drive and self-motivation or the resources to be educated, with or without the pressure of a degree?

It is important to have a plan if you do decide to not go for a degree-based education. Skills and knowledge are important. The question is in what way the degree or the absence of it would or would not contribute.

Success And Productivity Are Closely Related

An organization’s culture is determined by its beliefs and comprises of everything it does. It not only affects the way in which the organization is managed but also the manner in which it processes the products and provides services to the customers. Work culture is continuously subject to change and is very fragile. When the culture of an organization is spoken of, the behaviour patterns of the employees and their standards that bind it together are usually referred. Actions speak louder than words and the behaviour patterns of employees are most strongly influenced by the leaders of the organization.

success-productivity

Productivity is closely related to the culture of an organization and the habits of the employees. There are more than 7 billion people on Earth, so there is no chance that a single model can suit everyone but there are methods that work for the majority of people. In the past, women would spend a lot of time in the kitchen trying to make dinner. They had to do everything manually while today a number of tools are used such as mixer, blender and dishwasher. These electrical appliances have decreased the time for cooking while the productivity has increased. This is a life hack which implies that it is better to benefit from the progress made and utilize the right tools to master the performance.

Productivity is the technique of getting the company’s products and services to the customer with the best quality and at the lowest possible cost. It involves customer needs and labour relations. Good management plays an important role in productivity which leads to the success of a company. If the management is to transform the work climate into an ever-lasting culture for success, it should focus on the various areas of improvement such as decision-making structure, organizational clarity, Human Resource development and relationship of the Management to culture.

The goals and plans of the organization should be perceived by the members in order to achieve success. The main purpose of the structure is to initiate decision making and facilitate the ideas into reality. Corporate culture emerges from the top and hence the top management’s responsibility is to recruit, train and teach managers well so that they, in turn, provide role models for the employees who are in their charge. The manner, in which these managers behave, the way they lead and think, sets a climate and eventually a culture for success.

If the combination of capital, values, beliefs, creativity, and human resource management of an organization is not success oriented, then the outcome will be a failure. The quality of products and quality service influence a company’s cultural values. The production practices and products reflect the creativeness and innovation. A successful company always treats its people with dignity and respect. Successful companies follow the basic values and beliefs. Providing top quality products or services virtually affects every function of these companies and they hold this belief that it is essential to achieve excellence. They are responsive to the customer needs and guidelines are established that provide regular feedback and coaching by the supervisors. These companies have frequent open communications and a feeling of informality. They emphasize on a go-with-the-flow attitude.

Tips on how to recruit employees fitting the company culture

Recruitment is not just to expand a firm’s work force but to increase the proficiency of the firm altogether. Many make a common mistake of judging people by their curriculum vitae and skill sets while overlooking their temperament and character. This often causes workplace tension and results in decline in moral among the work force. The process of recruitment is not just interviewing and selecting the candidates. Just asking some questions randomly or according to the candidate’s curriculum vitae will just not make the cut. Reason is that the candidates may answer it accurately but it will not give you a clear picture of their temperament and mindset. To judge whether a candidate is fit for the culture of your company or not, can be found out by following some interview tips and tricks. Such few pointers are discussed below on how to choose a candidate fitting your company’s culture.

Recruit Employees Fitting The Company Culture

  • The candidates must previous experiences

The candidates must be asked about their previous experiences for a good start as an interviewer, you could always ask the candidates about their past working experiences. This will give him an opportunity to Speak, and for you to judge him, from whatever he speaks. As the candidate enumerates his/her past experiences, many things can be noted from that. For eg , his/her communication skills, Flow of the thought process, his/her abilities to handle things. Further, this can be elaborated by asking, his/her achievements/failures in various jobs. At the back end Interviewer can analyse, how similar or different are these things as compared to the Employer Company.

  • Ask reasons for a “Change”

The reasons of the incumbent, for looking for a Change should always be explored. This will give the Interviewer an insight on, what is it that is hurting/itching the candidate. And whether the same/similar parameters exist in your company. In case such conditions, for which the candidate is running from, are existing in your company also, then the chances of his surviving with your company are less. If so please clarify this point at that time itself, so that if he joins, he knows about these parameters. If the candidate’s reasons for a change are satisfied, then chances of his sticking to your company long term are good.

  • Sceptical approach

Sceptical approach on candidates’ answers is a must The aforesaid point may sometime backfire your true intentions as some sly candidates may grab hold of this opportunity and exaggerate the minor difficulties that they face in their current employment, with an overreacting tendency. These candidates may be weeded out by sceptical questionnaire from your front. This kind of interrogative interview from you & other interviewers would create a pressure on these candidates and would reveal their folly. These candidates treat discipline and deadlines as difficulties which is definitely a pre-requisite for any office work culture.

  • The diligence of the candidates

The above points unfolds the fact that whether the candidates have faced difficult work place experience or not. If the answer is yes then the question that comes up is how the candidate coped up with that situation. Here is where you would get a complete mind set analysis of the candidates. If you get the hint that the candidates have persevered through the tough times all while trying to uphold the moral of the team and deliver the project then the candidates would be a better fit than candidates who have bailed themselves out in such times.

  • The candidates educate

It is mandatory to let the candidates educate about your firm’s work culture after the conclusion of the interview session you must educate the candidates about the code of conduct, ethics and ambience of your firm. These know how must be handed to the candidates in written document of articles and acknowledgement. Well, the document must be served only if the selection is penultimate. Candidates choosing to abide the term of your company will definitely fit its culture.

Wishing you All the Best for a Successful Recruitment.

How To Protect One’s Brand On The Social Media

The social media is the trending and the most liked mass communication platform of today’s world. Almost anybody and everybody linked to the internet is part of some of the social media sites. From people to companies and from institutes to governments everyone is on the social networking for either spreading awareness or promoting brand or any other purpose. But like everything, social media also has its own set of perils. Social media is also a platform for deliberate cyber crimes that could tarnish ones brand identity and set up fraud accounts for financial benefits.

But for this, one should not restrain from promoting one’s brand because that will harm the progress of the business. To avoid such predicament the firm should take steps to protect the welfare of its brand. Some such steps are discussed below.

protect-smo

  1. The firm should devise a sound social media policy

By implementing a social media policy the firm will have a clear method of operation on the social media platform that will ensure protection of brand form malicious attacks and campaigns. Social media policy is a set of rule and regulations of the firm that all the works must abide by. This can be defined as a summed up form of different notions like mission and vision of the firm, social responsibility of the firm, security and industrial protocols of the firm, brand practises and guidelines and lastly, the firm laws.

  1. The firm should educate its employees accordingly

The social media policy of a firm will be able to protect the brand only when the employees are knowledgeable about it. The taskforce must be made aware of the brand’s social media policy, its pros and cons and risk management schemes.

  1. The password should be a difficult one

The easiest way to compromise one’s social account is by protecting it by a very predictable run on the mill password. Password is the primary wall of defence for social media account and it must be made almost inexpendable, if not completely. The ways to secure a password are to make it complex by lengthening it while incorporating special characters and alphanumeric. Two factor login, where one has to pass through two gateways like password and Captcha/OTP, or centralized password managers can also be used to secure the social account.

  1. The firm must have a social activity monitoring system

The monitoring system will serve for both looking out for fraudulent activities and keeping track of promotion of brand and traffic inflow in the account. The monitoring system will also facilitate customer reporting and post approval systems in order to keep vigilance on brand defamation and impersonation.

  1. The firm must stop hashtag hijackers beforehand

Hashtags are campaigning part of a brand identity and hijackers use them to defame a brand’s name by circulating ill rumours. The firm could prevent such happenings by promoting all possible hashtags from the very start of any campaigning with a neutral yet positive vibe.

Well when all said and done, a social media contingency plan must be placed at heart’s space at all times, because it is better to prevent such happenings than to cure them. After all, a brand’s identity is its main asset.

Success Traits for Interview

When you apply for a post, you think that whatever is mentioned in the advertisement will be looked by the person sitting in the interview room. You focus a lot on the technical aspects, job knowledge, and profile. However, to your disappointment, the interviewer asks a few questions related to it.

He is keener to know about what are the challenging situations faced by you. When did you implement your technical skills to resolve a business problem? What is the most stressful moment in your life so far? How do you visualize the shape of your field after five or ten years down the line?

What is the interviewer trying to assess? He is trying to find out a few traits that stand out you differently than others. These qualities overshadow your technical skills.

Here are ten important qualities that you must possess to become successful in the professional life.

You can tell about your growth path precisely

success traits

If you can tell about the career path precisely and keenly, then it is a good thing. You know your strengths and weaknesses. Interviewer understands that you have followed your passion and vision carefully and keenly.

There is another important aspect. You should be able to explain about the career path going forward. Experts say that employee should look ‘self-directed’ instead of being directed by others. Those who look confident can drive the things better.

You can tell about success stories

When interviewers ask about your success stories so far, they expect precision. You should be able to tell what exactly ‘you’ did in the project? What was your contribution ad how did it help the project’s success?

When an employee talks to the point about the contribution, it gives an impression that he has really worked on the project. It is not a story cooked for the sake of interview. It is not required that you climbed Mount Everest or got a Gold Medal in Olympics. The achievement could be small but meaningful.

You know what you can do the best and what are your limitations?

Your employer wants to hire you because he expects that you can fulfill the expectations, rather you perform beyond expectations. You are asked about what is that you are proficient into. That task will be given to you. It is expected that you do it well. Hence, you should tell about the expertise.

If you are a genius in MS Excel, then mention that confidently during the interview. It creates a positive impact. In case the interviewers go into deeper, then you should not disappoint them.

You can think independently, but take the team along to achieve it

A leader should be visionary. He should lead the team by giving unique ideas. It is possible only when the leader thinks independently. However, it is impossible to take the idea forward without the support of your team.

For this reason, during the interview, you should emphasize on your ability to think independently and differently. However, you should show the ability to lead the team to implement the idea. People love to hire great thinkers who are also great leaders. When smart people are there to brainstorm, the company achieves unprecedented growth.

You should not be ashamed of showing your ambitions!

Is it a bad thing to be over ambitious? At least entrepreneurs don’t think it bad. Ambitions are good because they drive a person to work hard and achieve excellence. It means that you don’t like to be confined into the routine framework. You love excitement and challenge. You want to climb high and high on the ladder by mastering new skills and abilities.

From the organization’s perspective, it is a good thing. You can be a driving force for others in the organization. You can set new benchmarks of success. Therefore, don’t hide your ambitions but put them assertively and positively.

Show your interest in learning new things

Sometimes, interviewers play a trick. They understand your interests and liking first. Then, they inform that you are being hired for a profile that requires a totally different skill set. What will you do in such situation? Mostly, people fall in the trap and refuse the proposal.

Interviewers assess your ability to swim against the current. The more willing you are to learn new skills; the higher you can reach the organizational hierarchy. Hence, don’t refuse the proposal blindly. Inform that the profile requires different skills, but you are ready to learn the same.

You are goal-oriented

Show that you are a person who sets the goals and achieves them diligently and precisely. You love challenges and feel proud in conquering them.

All these are the traits of winners. No organization would like to recruit losers. Showcase your skills well to hit the Bull’s Eye!