Hiring.... what's your source?

My boss was discussing sourcing strategies with me for next year, and he mentioned that we need to increase our hiring through internal referrals to 40%. Isn't it ironic that the very next day, I read the article in Times Of India talking about internal referrals keeping best talent out of companies.

The article gives some impressive figures, such as 85% of recruitment happening through specialist agencies in mature markets like UK.Still in a market like India, where talent needs to be engaged with the organisation, most of the organisations feel that a mix of different sourcing avenues is a good idea for getting the best talent.

Different sources of hiring which any company can use are as follows : 

traditional sources of hiring

1. job portals - like naukri.com, monster.com
2. placement agencies
3. employee referrals
4. Internal transfers
5. campus hiring

other sources of hiring which can be explored :

1. social media - linkedin , facebook, twitter
2. training institutes
3. job fairs
4. other industries where people may use similar skills.

I am still not sure, the best percentage for various sources of hiring... but I believe that  focus should be on two things while hiring. 

1. Quality of profiles for timely closure of position

2. Cost of hiring

sell present life to start second act in life ? Yes! one guy is doing it.

Shane Butcher

Would you like to sell everything off, whatever you have accumulated till now, and restart your life all again.  I really like the whole idea of restarting the life from the scratch. I always thought, if my life would have been like a computer. I would love to format it every time it gets virus infected and reboot it. But as of now, there is a guy in america who is trying to format his life in a little different manner.

Shane Butcher, an american, resident of florida is selling his business chain of video games stores focused on retro titles “ R U Game?”, a waterfront home on tampa bay, three cars, a rental condo a couple of kayaks and all other stuff for $3.5 million and with this money he wants to start the second act of his life, from the scratch.and the best part is, he is not going it because he is in dire need of money. He has also offered to  stick around for next six months as a mentor to the person who buys his business. He is doing it just for the sake of doing it, to restart his career and his life. 

This 29 year old american with wife and a nine month old daughter wants to explore the world, before settling down with his second career. 

Butcher says that normally people invest in lot of assets and die with it but he wants the returns earlier and thinks that perhaps someone else will like to buy the whole package together what he has assembled for himself. 

I am not sure, if anyone in India would like to do this kind of crazy thing. Or is it really crazy enough? 

GoDaddy opens Indian office

GoDaddy, the largest seller of domain names and SSL certificates opened its India office last month. Go daddy has hired Rajiv Sodhi - former microsoft India SMB head as its India MD. In June this year, local customer care executives were hired and trained in Hyderabad.

Now you can buy the domain names and server space from GoDaddy.com  or GoDaddy.in in Indian rupees through net banking or cash cards. As per the company, currently it has 1,20,000 customers in Indian market, which they want to grow further by providing simple products at competitive prices along with industry best customer service based in India. 

Why I would love to die working at Google?

This is really unheard of in any corporate. Is it going to affect and change the benefit policies of other companies? I am not sure. In today’s time when Indian corporates are actually trying to save cost and reduce benefits, which may be as basic as covering parents under medical insurance, its really pleasing to see how Google is being generous and showing the caring attitude towards its staff. I am sure, if not all at least few of the top rung companies would like to have similar benefits to show they really care for thier employees.

Google is going to introduce generous death benefits for its employees here in India. For US employees of the company, these benefits are effective since last one year.

1. The family of deceased “googler” will get half of his salary for next ten years.
2. Any stock options will vest immediately, means the bereaved family can sell or transfer the stock as per their own choice.
3. $1000 per month will be paid to each and every child of the deceased staff uptill the child completes 19 yrs of age ( or 23 yrs, if he is pursuing full time education)
4. All staff is eligible under this policy, irrespective of their joining date or designation.

Now I would definitely love to die being a googler. 

Whom should you look upon as MENTOR ?

Mentor is a person who shares wisdom and impart knowledge to someone who is less experienced. The term has been adopted in english from Greek Mythology.

As per the Greek Mythology, Mentor  was friend of Odysseus and in charge of his son, Telemachus. When odysseus left for the trojan war, Athena, goddess of wisdom in the disguise of Mentor encouraged Telemachus to stand up against the suitors and to find out about his father.

Many times, pressures and stress of corporate life, puts one in situation which is beyond one’s control.  At such moments of dilemmas, we would love to have a mentor, who can actually encourage us and provide practical guidance / plan to follow.

Though few companies in India, have started with formal mentorship program, still it requires better efforts towards effective implementation of the same.

But what should you do, if your company doesn’t offer formal mentorship program. What kind of a person you can approach to as a mentee or protégé to get the required advice. Who would be the best person to help you out as a mentor. How to find right mentor to answers to my queries or issues?

Frankly speaking, its difficult to choose your own mentor. But still, I would like to discuss few things here which may help you in your search for right mentor, who guide and provide you practical advice about your professional life.

Short term career planning:

First and foremost, decide what is your short term career plan. Where do you see yourself two years down the line. Decision can be in terms of organisation, position, role, salary or anything else. Once decided, try to find people who are already on that position or working in that particular role and if possible people who have grown from the position which is similar to you in present. If this person has gone through similar situations as you are currently going through, he/she will be able to understand you better and will be able to provide you correct and effective guidance tips.

Your relationship with this person can be more casual. He / she can be someone with whom you can go for a coffee or dinner. You should be comfortable enough to discuss questions and different ways to approach the various issues troubling you.

Long term career path:

I am sure, like me, you also must be wondering sometimes, what should you do with your career. Should you just change a job, or is it a career change that would help you in reaching your goals. Should you do some course or certification which may help you in the longer run or do you need more hands on experience in any particular trade to promote your career. These may be few strategic decisions which can steer your career in right direction. To help you in guiding and advising on such critical issues, you need someone more experienced who understand the industry and corporate culture pretty well.  This kind of mentor, may change throughout your career and may be more than one person as well.

Relationship with this kind of mentor grows gradually.This person may be your college professor or ex boss who understands you, your aspirations and can help you in sidestepping your weaknesses and working on your strengths.

There may be lot of people in your whole career whom you can turn to for advice or guidance but its always better to identify few key mentors who can ensure that you continue on the right path in smooth manner towards your career goals. 

Employee Engagement - Why is it stagnant?

As per a report in Economic Times a global study conducted by Hay groups revealed that employee engagement levels are stagnating. Employees are not willing to go to the extra mile for their organisations.

Below are few pointers, which I personally think are contributing to low levels of commitment.

• Employees are not emotionally bonded with organisations
• Organisations are not aligning personal goals of employees with organisational goals.
• No career paths defined for employees.No long term plans for employees from organisation side, which gives an impression to employees that they are in the organisation only for short term period.
• Employees see how organisations treat their peers, and create the impression about the trustworthiness of organisation.
• Organisations taking advantage of employees, whenever they have to. But not compensating enough for the skills of employees. 
• HR heads of the organisations, want  HR managers and executives to take care of other employees. But they do not take care of the employees in HR department, which leads to low morale in the HR department itself. 
• Organisations are still not process oriented but their functioning is people depandant.

The above mentioned views are my personal views. And I am keen to discuss it with other HR professionals. 

The complete article in economic times can be read here.

the Super Temps - freelancers

How come, whenever I start thinking of doing something, suddenly i see the articles around referring to the same.

Yes! I am talking of blogging and freelancing. It has been on my mind since long now. I even tried doing it once, but failed, due to bad planning. But still, somewhere deep in my heart I believe that i can be a success in it. Mainly, because i am interested in it. And I really want to do it. And as they say, when there is interest and passion, then its not work. Its fun all the way.



 In today's economic times, there is an article on freelancing. There are many successful people who are moving to freelancing and bloggers. Below is the world of freelancers depicted as in the article by Economic Times.

Would seriously work towards making easeworks  as an interesting professional blog for you all. 

The Bounce Back Book

The Bounce Back Book

Interesting news...

Got to know that that per capita income of India has rose to over Rs. 54000/- in 2010 - 2011 against Rs. 18450/- in 2001-2002. This is an annual average of 12.8% per annum during this period.

Kolaveri Di...

Ok guys.. so the whole India is dancing on "Kolaveri Di" . So let me at easeworks also share the lyrics for all of you, and make your monday happening..
Here is the video

yo boys i am singing song
soup song
flop song
why this kolaveri kolaveri kolaveri di
why this kolaveri kolaveri kolaveri dirhythm correct
why this kolaveri kolaveri kolaveri dimaintain this
why this kolaveri..di

distance la moon-u moon-u
moon-u color-u white-u
white background night-u nigth-u
night-u color-u black-u

why this kolaveri kolaveri kolaveri di
why this kolaveri kolaveri kolaveri di

white skin-u girl-u girl-u
girl-u heart-u black-u
eyes-u eyes-u meet-u meet-u
my future dark

why this kolaveri kolaveri kolaveri di
why this kolaveri kolaveri kolaveri di

maama notes eduthuko
apdiye kaila sax eduthukopa pa paan pa pa paan pa pa paa pa pa paansariya vaasi
super maama ready
ready 1 2 3 4
whaa wat a change over maama
ok maama now tune change-u

kaila glass
only english..
hand la glass
glass la scotch
eyes-u full-aa tear-u
empty life-u
girl-u come-u
life reverse gear-u

lovvu lovvu oh my lovvu
you showed me bouv-u
cow-u cow-u holi cow-u
i want u hear now-u
god i m dying now-u
she is happy how-u
this song for soup boys-u
we dont have choice-u

why this kolaveri kolaveri kolaveri di
why this kolaveri kolaveri kolaveri di
why this kolaveri kolaveri kolaveri di
why this kolaveri kolaveri kolaveri di

Hyundai launched EON

Hyundai has launched EON, the latest in small car segment. With a strating price of 2.7 Lakh, its a direct competition with Alto of Maruti Suzuki. Lets see, if the car market gets hot with the latest entrant.

Business Awareness 2

Question	Answer
As per 2011 census, what is India's population?	121 Crore
As per Planning Commission, what is the per capita consumption limit to be considered poor in India.	Rs. 32 in Urban India and Rs. 26 in Rural India

Business Awareness

Question	Answer
Name the Chief Executive of UBS Ag Bank who resigned in the wake of an unauthorised trading scandal that surfaced in September 2011	Oswald Grubel
Who has launched "Brio" - a low price compact car in September 2011	Honda

Reverse Brain Drain

Saw this advertisement in today's Mint. This talks about a job fair in US for Indian jobs.. This is called changing times.

Are we really so busy to be aware about happenings of our environment

I was talking to my friend, who is AVP in one of the leading KPOs, and I just told him about google buying out Motorola's phone division. I was surprised that he didn't know about it. He told me that he is too busy to check on news....

I faced this problem with students of MBA students, who were so much ignorant about current happenings, but i realised that same goes with experienced professionals as well, who are so ignorant about various happenings in our environment. Hence i decided to update the news updates on my blogs...


Hope, my blog readers get the value addition through these news updates.

Regards,

Kyunki har ek friend zaroori hota hai

We have seen it, hymn it, we have exchanged different texts based on this advertisement. We all, OK.. almost all have identified with this ad.. and now there is some more details about how this campaign was created.

Today, Indian advertising is getting creative again, there are so many new advertisements being launched and all are very interesting. As of now, here is the link to a news article about two campaigns, Airtel, " har ek friend zaroori hota hai" and " Hum mein hain Hero" of Hero Moto Corp.

Click here to read the complete article about these two campaigns.

Life is here... NOW...

“For just one second, look at your life and see how perfect it is. Stop looking for the next secret door that is going to lead you to your real life. Stop waiting. This is it: there’s nothing else. It’s here, and you’d better decide to enjoy it or you’re going to be miserable wherever you go, for the rest of your life, forever.”

— David Foster Wallace

Dont stuck with Perseverance... Also Let Go...

A very nice article in today's Times of India, speaking tree section, written by Mr. P.V.Vaidyanathan. If you want, you can write him to his mail ID, vaidyanathan.pv@gmail.com

He talks about two major qualities of any human being "perseverance" and "letting go". A lot of times, because we are so attached to the subject, that its difficult for us to let go. We do not understand the importance of letting go. Also a lot of times, we do not understand the meaning of letting go. In this article, he has tried to make us realised that perseverance and letting go are not two different sides of the coin, but they both are required to succeed in life.

This article says that we need to follow perseverance for sure, but finally we don't need to stuck to that idea, if its not working. And this happens lots of time , life is a hit and trial. Unfortunately, GPS was not discovered before life... :) Hence we need to do our best, and after that just leave it to that higher one, universal power, who is there to steer our life. Though we can push the car of our life to our best, still once it starts, our driver ( that universal power) knows where it has to go.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Perseverance and letting go are both positive qualities that we all possess. However, despite their being life-enhancing qualities, these are often complementary and even antagonistic to each other, and need to be employed in sequence, and at the right time, rather than in isolation for us to achieve success, peace and harmony.

‘Try, try till you succeed’ is something we’ve all been taught in school. Success is 99% perspiration and 1% inspiration, we’re told, to highlight the importance of hard work. And work we must, for that is the very nature of life. Karma Yoga, as outlined in the Bhagavad Gita by Krishna speaks highly of work as a form of worship. Swami Vivekananda persuaded his followers to work ceaselessly till the goal is reached.

Success is determined by a combination of factors. Hard work is only one of them. Besides hard work, we also need talent, inspiration, creativity, luck and destiny. While most of us work hard, true success and joy come only to some, while most others have to remain content with whatever they get.

This brings us to the relationship between perseverance and letting go. Perseverance is the quality of sticking to one’s job and to one’s goals, come what may. Letting go, on the other hand, is exactly the opposite. It consists of putting one’s faith and trust in a higher power, whether we call it God or destiny, waiting patiently for results. While these two qualities may seem to be opposites they are, in fact, not so; they are complementary to each other.

Every venture, dream and project needs divine grace for its successful completion. Those who decline to believe in the power of the unknown are likely to continue struggling and will have to depend solely on their own efforts. They could meet with limited success, often hitting roadblocks which seem insurmountable or which drain away tremendous amounts of time, energy and money. The human mind and the ego are such that giving credit does not come easily. This is not only true where other people are concerned, but our mind and ego often do not even want to acknowledge the Power that runs the universe, day in and day out, without exception. Not wanting to give credit to God, destiny or fate, and wanting to corner all the praise is one reason why people find it difficult to let go and trust.

Hard work and perseverance are absolutely necessary, doubtless. But somewhere along the course, after having exhausted all human possibilities, one must learn to sit back, be detached from the outcome of our efforts, and hand over our endeavours to a higher power. How and when to do this is purely an intuitive or instinctive phenomenon. When we sincerely let go, not out of laziness, complacency and lethargy but after having done our very best, it is then that the process of life shifts to another plane, with the unseen hand coming into play. And the power or destiny works in myriad ways. A chance meeting, something overheard or read in the newspapers, the stirring of a memory, a different thought process, sudden release of funds that had dried up – something is likely to happen, which would put our work and project back on track.

When success becomes palpable, it is important to remember and acknowledge and give thanks to existence, without proudly proclaiming that everything was achieved only by our own perseverance.

source: timesofindia, dated, 19th May 2011
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/opinion/edit-page/To-Persevere-And-Let-Go/articleshow/8419976.cms

Jumping Juhi is insecure from her own assistant

Have you forgotten Juhi..

How can you?

She is the one and only HR DON.. Yes, HR don, because she feels that its only her.. and her that all should look upon when need arises. Though she doesn't know much about HR, but she got promoted to this position only because of her tenure and contacts within the organisation. GOD SAVE THE ORGANISATION.. & GOD SAVE JAGAN...

Jagan - Juhi's assistant.. From some time, Juhi is feeling that Jagan is getting more prominence in the organisation. And why not, its only Jagan who empathize with employees, its him who provide employee friendly solutions. He doesn't keep things lingering. He closes all issues on time. And thats why, most of the employees feel more comfortable with him. Anyways, Jagan is only an assistant manager - HR, and Juhi is Head HR.. Still she is getting insecure. Now thats really absurd. Isn't it.

But believe me, this is reality of many organisations, where people feel insecure of their subordinates and create blockages so the subordinate doesn't grow within the organisation. Unfortunately, they forget that one can hide a rose, but can not hide fragrance of a rose.

Jumping Juhi is an imaginary character. All her similarities to people around us is coincidental. Jumping Juhi is a light hearted series to portray work related scenarios in a fiction mode. The intention is not to malign anyone's image or to make fun of anybody.

Log on to Facebook or Twitter... Next HR interventions would be online

Yes... its increasing. What else we would have expected. I believe every month, we get one or the other news report stating the future of recruitment in the industry. Trend of hiring through social networking is increasing.

Facebook and Twitter are going to become next naukri or monster ? Its too early to say, but not impossible.

But is the industry ready for it? I am not sure. How many corporates have their pages on Facebook? How many HR fraternity members are really active on Twitter? We should be ready for the next wave of hiring. We should understand, that it takes time to build one's credibility on social networking sites as well. You just can not create your account on day one , and expect hoards of people flocking to your account by next day. It works differently. And HR fraternity needs to understand this and be prepared for the change.

How many companies provide access to social networking sites like facebook and twitter? Very few. Because of company policies, we can not afford to miss the bus. We, HR people need to make our management understand the importance of social networking sites. Its simple marketing. If my target audience is online, then why i should not be. I as a HR person, is selling my company's brand.. and i should do it where my target market is.

Ok.. If you say that you are a HR professional who is not into recruitments, and hencec these online trends doesn't bother you. Think twice... Online employee engagement may not be a well heard term as of now, but pretty soon it would be. In today's time, we talk about work life balance. We know that if a person is not leading a happy personal life, he would not be able to contribute to professional life. We also talk about engaging not just employees but also families.

All these and other initiatives can be supported with facebook or twitter. For any HR intervention to be successful, there needs to be buy in of the employees. Fortunately facebook and twitter are tools, which already have buyin of employees.. We just need to go online, and start engaging these guys.. Share latest happenings of your company.. Share birthday wishes.. Celebrate family occassions online.. I am sure, it would not only make your employee feel proud when on his facebook wall, he has birthday wishes from his company. But it would also help company creating better brand. Its improving your EVP(employee value proposition). Its creating your employer brand.

Ok ... so here is a mean tip... for all those mean HR guys.. Its also easy to keep a tab on the happenings of employees' life outside office... (dont take it too seriously..if your employees get to know of your mean intentions... your initiatives would back fire).

You can also read the article published in Economic Times today which talks about the hiring trends through facebook and twitter.

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/news-by-industry/jobs/facebook-twitter-are-new-hiring-hotspots/articleshow/8382598.cms