Is HR Recruiters hiring a right Candidate

Companies often complain about not being able to find exceptional employees who can meet the challenges of their business.
In many companies the human resources department is responsible for filling all vacancies.
This is partly because there is a shortage of skilled people in India, but sometimes it’s also because the right talent has not been spotted.
In many companies, the human resources department is the primary source for recruitment and is responsible to fill all vacancies. The department manager who has a vacancy gives the HR department a job description and a list of basic qualifications and experience needed for it.
This is a good plan in theory – the HR department concentrates on its expertise of recruitment, while department managers concentrate on their expertise of running departments and meeting business targets.
In reality, however, this plan doesn’t always work. HR is great for mass recruitment or for hiring people at junior levels where the job profile is standardized, such as software programmers or sales people. But at senior levels, HR managers are sometimes not in a position to find the right candidate for the job, thus creating a bigger problem for the organization.
In India, typically senior HR executives spend their time on compensation and performance appraisal-related issues, leaving the task of recruitment to junior and middle-level HR personnel. Herein lies the crux of the problem.
The relatively young HR executives often don’t have enough knowledge of their company’s business or industry that is needed to find appropriate candidates for senior-level jobs.
Suppose there is a job opening for an investment banker. The head of investment banking may tell the HR department to find a candidate who has exposure to the “buy-side” and is from a private-equity firm. If the recruiting HR person is not well-versed with the investment banking world and the financial industry, he or she might not understand what these terms mean. A junior HR person might feel awkward or scared to go back to the investment banking head to get more details about the job role and qualifications. The result could be an inappropriate shortlist of candidates.
A good recruiting manager should keep up with changes in job profiles and the business, as the company grows. But given the fast-changing nature of business today, department managers are not always able to update HR quickly, says Vishal Trehan, country head, broking and distribution at Fortune Financial Services India Ltd.
Assume that a brokerage firm which has traditionally dealt in stocks decides to expand into bond-trading during an economic downturn, when people don’t want to invest stocks. The company might need to make this shift very quickly, to keep up with competition. But it could take a long time to explain the intricacies of the bond-world to the HR department, so that they can source the right candidates.
There are other reasons why relatively inexperienced HR professionals make hiring mistakes.
In one recent example, a middle-level HR manager rejected a senior candidate (with more than 15 years of experience) shortlisted for the position of stock research head. The HR manager felt that this candidate was “throwing names” because one of his references was the chairman of one of India’s largest financial services firms. This shows the ignorance of the HR manager because in reality, senior stock research analysts often interact with top officials of the Indian corporate world.

Mayank Chandra
One way organizations can tackle these issues, Mr. Trehan suggests, is by having different recruiters dedicated to different units of the business. In a financial services company, it could mean having an HR person who only focuses on investment banking jobs, another one who looks at stock research, and so on. These specialists then would be clued in to the trends in that business and better meet the hiring needs of each unit.
However, this is a costly proposition and might not be possible for all companies. The next best solution is to involve the department manager, who is, after all, best-suited to understand the job requirements thus find the ideal person.
When assessing a candidate, a department manager would typically concentrate on finding the best person to meet the department’s goals.
The HR manager, however, might be more concerned about other things like cost, and the candidate’s “soft skills”. They get caught up in what Dr. Sanika Kerkar, head of talent acquisition at RPG Life Sciences, calls “intent hiring”. In other words, HR cares more about whether the candidate will fit into the company’s culture, or the specific team, and so on. While this is very important, it can delay the hiring process because measuring these intangible aspects can take a long time. This could be a problem in the current fast-growing economy when companies need high-quality employees quickly.
For all these reasons, when it comes to hiring employees at mid to senior-level jobs, it’s imperative that department managers be involved throughout the process. The HR department can prepare a basic shortlist based on the resumes, but the department manager should be part of a panel which interviews the candidates from the initial phase itself.
Ultimately, the department manager has to get work out of these employees.
Mayank Chandra is a managing partner at Antal International Network, an international executive search firm headquartered in London. You can write to Mr. Chandra, who is based in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, at mchandra@antal.com.

Bamboo or Fern

The fern and the bamboo seeds are planted together.Taken equal good care equal light. equal water.The fern quickly grew from the earth. Its brilliant green covered the floor.Yet nothing comes from the bamboo seed.?In the second year the Fern grew more vibrant and plentiful.And again, nothing came from the bamboo seed.In year three there was still nothing from the bamboo seed. ?In year four again there was still nothing from the bamboo seeds ?Then in the fifth year a tiny sprout emerged from the earth. Compared to the fern it was seemingly small and insignificant.?But just 6months later the bamboo rose to over 100 feet tall.It had spent the five years growing roots. Those roots made it strong and gave it what it needed to survive.Did you know, that all this time we have been struggling, we have actually been growing roots?

"Everybody’s time will come

if they persist and do not quit.

People who are bamboo will rise high"

How high ? as high as they can

Walt Disney was turned down 302 times before he got financing for his dream of creating the "Happiest Place on Earth".Today, due to his persistence, millions of people have shared 'the joy of Disney'.

Colonel Sanders spent two years driving across the United States looking for restaurants to buy his chicken recipe. He was turned down 1,009 times! How successful is Kentucky Fried Chicken today?

Having said this, keep in mind that you must constantly reevaluate your circumstances and the approach you are using to reach your goal.

There is no sense in being persistent at something that you are doing incorrectly! Sometimes you have to modify your approach along the way.

Every time you do something you learn from it, and therefore find a better way to do it the next time.

Human Balance Sheet

WE are so busy in building our assets, reducing the liabilities and dealing in shares and analyzing our profit and loss that we forget that there is a bigger balance sheet of life.

This bigger balance sheet (which we forget to balance) starts with birth as an opening account and death as a closing account with our KARMA AS PROFIT AND LOSS and God as the auditor.

Our Birth is our Opening Balance

Our Death is our Closing Balance

Our Prejudice Views are our Liabilities

Our Creative Ideas/ Good Deeds are our Assets

Heart is our Current Asset

Soul is our Fixed Assets

Thinking is our Current Account

Goodwill & Achievements are our Capital

Character & Morals, our Stock-in-trade

Friends are our General Reserves

Values & Behavior are our Goodwill

Patience is our Interest Earned

Children are our Bonus Issues

Education is Brands/Patents

Knowledge is our Investment

The profit or loss is our KARMA Earned.

So, before the INCOME-TAX assessment (arrival of death),

Love is our Dividend
Brain is our Fixed Deposit

Problem solving

In Los Angeles, California, a luxurious high-rise apartment building was on the brink of bankruptcy.

Tenant after tenant turned in notice and moved out. To owners of the building, the mass exodus made no sense. Their beautiful, well-kept apartments offered a sound bargain in a safe neighborhood. So why were people abandoning what should have been a renter’s paradise?

The building’s management company hired a problem-solving group to get to the bottom of the mystery. After interviewing residents and former residents,

the problem-solving team presented its findings:

People were moving out because the apartment elevators were too slow.

A team of troubleshooters flew in to solve the problem. They gathered cost and labor estimates on several options, from repairing the old elevators to putting in new ones. But every option proved too expensive.

Defeated, the management company had just about decided to sell the building, when the youngest member of the team took a creative look at the problem.

The real problem, he suggested, wasn’t the elevators. The real problem was that tenants got bored waiting for the elevators. His solution?

Entertain tenants who were waiting for the elevator. Install flatmonitor computer screens that flashed the day’s top headlines, weather, sports results, and even a trivia question or two. Pipe music into the elevator waiting areas. Add tasteful yet provocative paintings and sculptures to the waiting area to stimulate interest and discussion.

His creative solution worked. The tenants, busy reading the computer monitor, soothed by relaxing music, or admiring the art, quit complaining. The exodus ceased. The building was saved. And one creative problem solver had made his mark.

No matter what job you take, not a day will pass without some kind of problem. Certain basic skills can equip you to turn those problems into opportunities.

Become a problem solver where you work, and you’ll make yourself an asset to your company.

Some people make things happen. Some people watch things happen, and some people say what happened.

—Casey Stengel, Hall-of-Fame baseball manager

A Short story potraying leadership

Emperor Akbar once saw a tribal women deliver her baby in the middle of the forest without any help and resume her journey home carrying a large bundle of the fire wood. Highly impressed, he ordered that, henceforth, women in his harem would not get any medical aid to deliver babies.
Much alarmed, the royal women appealed to Birbal for help. A couple of weeks later, when Akbar was strolling around in the garden with Birbal, he was shocked to see his precious rose plants had all withered. Naturally, he was furious with the gardener.
Birbal then intervened and said that forests have mighty trees though no one ever bothers to water and nurture them. Why then should roses be pampered?
Akbar got the hint and withdrew his order about abolishing medical attention to the women I his harem.

There is an excellent leadership moral in this story. Think about it for a while and then scroll below for the answer.
Yardstick for one cannot be applied to another. Everyone needs an appropriate environment to be nurtured to his/her full potential.
Some situation or followers might need an autocratic kind of leadership where the followers are clearly instructed and closely directed.
A different situation or followers might need a participative kind of leadership where every body's views/opinions are taken but ultimately the leaders have the final say.
Another kind of situation or followers needs an autonomous kind of leadership where the followers have the independence to take their own decisions.

Creating a Talent pipeline in India

In the past decade, many companies operating in India witnessed tremendous year-over-year growth and a consequent surge in stock prices. This delighted executives and shareholders alike -- but the good news represented only one side of the story.

This growth resulted in enormous gains in job creation. The downside to this success has been its accompanying problems: finding the right people in a tight job market, managing double-digit attrition levels, and keeping employees who can easily jump to another company engaged in their work.

Subsequently, a curious paradox emerged. India -- the world's second most populous country, with more than 48.7 million college graduates -- faced a talent crunch. To tackle this problem, most companies followed a conventional path: They created internal learning departments. To cater to this demand, an entire training industry took shape. An estimated 1 billion USD or more is spent by India, Inc. each year on various people-development interventions.

Many Indian companies adopted a one-size-fits-all approach to creating learning solutions.

Human capital research indicates that in some leading IT companies, employees spend up to 5% of productive time in development interventions. Indian companies in the services industry are estimated to spend approximately 2% of their annual revenues on training and learning.

It's time for a reality check.

Despite enormous budgets for learning centers, executive education, assessment centers, and psychometric profiling, the return on the investment in training seemed to yield very little besides burnishing a company's résumé or boosting its employer branding efforts. Very few companies can link this investment to improved profitability, productivity, or any other corporate performance measure. So in spite of the best intentions of management teams to create a beneficial learning climate, development programs aren't producing the desired results. What went wrong?

A defective approach

For starters, many Indian companies adopted a one-size-fits-all approach to creating learning solutions. Packaged workshops on topics such as communication skills and effective negotiation became the norm. This was perpetuated by "cults of personality" -- enthusiasm for trainers who possess an extraordinary ability to dazzle. They leave behind an admiring audience but ultimately instill very few improvements in relevant knowledge or skills of the participants. Inevitably, leaders realized that the impact of such sessions was minimal, and their lack of measurable results reduced these interventions to feel-good sessions.
In response, companies adapted constructs such as competency frameworks, performance benchmarking, job shadowing, and the like to measure the efficacy of developmental interventions. Those approaches are similar to the assembly-line method that manufacturing organizations employ in production. They follow a model that emphasizes getting all employees in a role to adopt a "right" set of behaviors, rather than pointing them toward attaining outcomes that will move their team or the organization forward. There are several problems associated with this approach:

Requiring all employees to perform a rote set of behaviors isn't just impossible -- it's counterproductive. Yet far too many management approaches try to enforce standards by asking employees to follow a fixed set of actions in a given situation. Decades of studies in positive psychology indicate that people are far more likely to perform their best when managers define the right outcomes then let employees find the shortest and best path to those outcomes.

Most competency frameworks are limited in their effectiveness because they don't link to measurable performance outcomes. These programs might start with good intentions; they often begin by defining a few strong core competencies. But over time, they become simply a list of behaviors that employees must follow. The end result is that performance suffers. (See "Good Competencies, Bad Competencies" in the "See Also" area on this page.)

The ratings tend to be perception-based rather than performance-based. In our experience, most such frameworks were used largely for end-of-cycle assessment as part of a performance management review and not employee development. Some companies even went to the extent of providing a drop-down menu in their appraisal forms that would help the manager identify the competencies they wanted to develop in an employee from a predetermined list. This discourages employees from coming up with innovative ideas and encourages them to perform tasks at a rote or minimum level -- and nothing more. And the arcane language used in the frameworks made using a competency system difficult for managers.
Keeping in mind that many companies are invested in these approaches, what is the solution to getting the best out of learning and developmental programs? Here are two options to consider:
• Create learner accountability
• Use outcome-based assessments

Creating learner accountability

In most businesses today, corporate learning is "owned" by the organizational development or HR teams. And most often, needs assessment for training is done by managers. Managers determine a worker's "areas of weakness," then consult with employees on how to improve. This approach can be self-defeating and demoralizing for the workers, leaving them disinterested or uncommitted to the process.
• If companies want development to be real and lasting, it's crucial to engage employees in the learning process.
• If companies want development to be real and lasting, it's crucial to engage employees in the learning process rather than arbitrarily directing them to attend learning events. Employees should be given an opportunity to articulate their development needs because they know what skills and knowledge they need to acquire to improve their performance.

Managers must also be open to employees' learning style preferences, matching employees' developmental experiences with how they learn best -- whether that's on the job, in a classroom, or through one-on-one coaching. And when employees advocate for specific training programs for themselves, they should connect that program to a key business measure that they are responsible for achieving and present a case for why this program will help them achieve it.

After training occurs, the organizational development team or manager should create opportunities for employees to apply their new learning so the organization can reap the benefits of the investment. The organization should also build a framework for providing feedback to the employees on their performance following the training experience, which completes and reinforces the learning cycle.

A vice president of one of India's leading beverages company, a man who has "seen it all," now swears by the effectiveness of driving learning from the bottom up. "My team members are people who do their jobs well and know what they have to accomplish, so they tell me what they need to learn to fulfill their goals," he says. "I ensure that they get the learning opportunities [that] they feel will work best for them." He notes that this might mean facilitating a management development program for one employee, an assignment abroad for another, and structured mentoring for still another. "It's all about finding what works best for each individual," this executive says.

The more involved employees are in identifying their development needs, the more involved they feel in the learning process. This can create greater buy-in into existing frameworks. When employees become responsible for their learning, they may be able to see how improving their skills and knowledge can increase their contribution to the organization.
• Using outcome-based assessments
• From the perspective of both managerial action and employee engagement, it's important for companies to focus on the outcomes that need to be achieved -- for the employee and for the organization at large -- then let employees find their own best way to achieve those outcomes. This will encourage employees to think flexibly in the methods they employ -- and about the training and development they may need to achieve those outcomes. Defining the expected outcomes also provides an excellent framework to measure an employee's success using a "management by objectives" approach.

Much remains to be done to develop and engage talent in India. Human capital is still India's most valuable and least understood asset. But one thing seems crucial for every manager to ponder: how best to encourage each employee to define his or her own development needs.

This process will not be quick or easy. It will demand significant realignment of the role that the manager and learning teams will play in the employee's career. But the good news is, the companies that are able to make this transition will stand to gain the best of what each person has to offer.

"The steps in our work, and indeed that of most businesses, are so dynamic that there is no need to standardize them for team members," says the executive vice president of a leading IT services firm. "It binds them and tests their patience. The key to success from here on is in letting them find their own path." In this executive's experience, every person whom he believed knew the steps well and was encouraged to find his or her own way to do the work better delivered extra value to the organization -- whether it was in cost reduction, productivity, or innovation.

There can be no better endorsement of this approach. It remains to be seen, however, whether more leaders will follow it in the future.

Source: Unknown

Improving the Way You Feel About Yourself

Improving the Way You Feel About Yourself
"Self-esteem is the reputation we acquire with ourselves."- Nathaniel Branden, self-esteem researcher and theorist.

Having a strong sense of self-esteem is a key part of feeling happy within ourselves, and of feeling that we're succeeding in things that matter.

Positive self-esteem helps you be yourself, handle adversity, and believe that you'll win through, despite setbacks. It's an inner force that sustains you, and gives you the courage you need to succeed.

Low self-esteem does the opposite. It's connected to self-doubt, and to a general feeling that you're not quite good enough to meet life's challenges. In fact, low self-esteem is used to diagnose many mental disorders, and it can be associated with anxiety, sadness, hostility, loneliness, and a lack of spontaneity.

What Is Self-Esteem?

You're probably familiar with the idea of self-esteem. It's often associated with self-confidence, but self-esteem is more than just confidence - it goes deeper. In fact, some people argue that you can have self-confidence and still have low self-esteem - most notably if you approach life with a "fake it 'til you make it" attitude (in other words, "pretend" until you succeed).

Healthy self-esteem doesn't involve faking anything. And although there's significant debate over the definition of self-esteem, a leading theory is that it's a combination of two factors: competence and worthiness. Nathaniel Branden says the following in his book "The Psychology of Self-Esteem":

"Self-esteem has two interrelated aspects: it entails a sense of personal efficacy and a sense of personal worth. It is the integrated sum of self-confidence and self-respect. It is the conviction that one is competent to live and worthy of living."

Competence and Worthiness

The competence element of self-esteem deals with how far you believe that you have the skills and abilities you need to succeed in areas that matter to you.

This isn't generalized success. It's specific to areas of your life that are particularly important to you. For example, if you can sing and dance and entertain a crowd like no one else, that won't contribute to positive self-esteem if what you really value is academic success. Likewise, if you rise to the top of your profession, but you're not proud of that profession, it's unlikely that you'll feel a strong sense of self-esteem as a result.

It's this idea of "value" that brings us to the other element of self-esteem: worthiness. This is where you express your overall evaluation of yourself. It's based on your values, and on whether you behave in a way that is consistent with these values. Together, these factors influence whether you believe you're "good enough", and whether you like and respect the person you are.

By combining competence and worthiness, and by looking at how they relate to each other, we get a full and dynamic definition of self-esteem. Just feeling good about yourself isn't self-esteem. There has to be a competence element, so that your behaviors result in positive actions, not destructive ones. Too great a sense of worthiness can lead to conceit, and even narcissism. Healthy self-esteem keeps those things in balance.

Improving Self-Esteem

Now that you know what self-esteem is, you're in a better position to improve yours in a robust and balanced way.

Here are some tips for improving your self-esteem:
• Think about yourself positively: You are the only person who can change your view of yourself. No one else can give you self-esteem - you have to build it by thinking about all of the positive things in your life. Make sure that you get into the habit of positive thinking, and learn how to detect and defeat patterns of self-sabotage. Be your own best cheerleader and supporter!
• Take pride in your accomplishments: When you do something well, celebrate it. Don't wait for someone else to tell you how wonderful you are: tell yourself!
• Set goals: The more you achieve, the better you'll feel about yourself. Goal setting is a great technique for targeting, tracking and recognizing success. It helps you to build competence and, from this, build a sense of pride and a feeling of worthiness. Make sure that you embrace goal setting!
• Be consistent: You improve self-esteem when you act in ways that are consistent with your values. If you find yourself in a compromising or difficult situation, do all that you can to make a decision that is consistent with these values. Achieve your goals with integrity, and don't undermine your self-esteem by cheating, or acting in a dishonest way.
• Remember that you aren't perfect: Don't be too hard on yourself. We all make mistakes, and that's often OK, just as long as we learn from them. The standards you have to meet are your own: stop worrying about what others think, and focus on the great things about yourself. If you do, your inner confidence will shine through, and more than compensate for any shortcomings you might have.
• Look after yourself physically: Being active can improve self-esteem. Activities that improve your health help you feel more in control, and give you a sense of satisfaction that carries though to other areas of your life.
Key Points

The way you think is key to your sense of self-esteem. You're the one in control, and you can make a difference. If you like yourself, and believe that you deserve good things in life, you'll have high self-esteem. If you dislike yourself or criticize yourself excessively, you won't.

Having healthy self-esteem is important, because it helps you deal with life's challenges and achieve the things that matter most to you. As such, make a commitment to yourself to value what you do and who you are!

A Short Story - To follow

A tailor was at work. He took a piece of cloth and with a pair of shining, costly, scissors, he cut the cloth into various bits.

Then he put the pair of scissors at his feet. Then he took a small needle and thread and started to sew the bits of cloth, into a fine shirt. When the spell of sewing was over, he stuck the needle on to his turban.

The tailor's son who was watching it asked him: "Father, the scissors are costly and look so beautiful. But you throw them down at your feet. This needle is worth almost nothing; you can get a dozen for an anna. Yet, you place it carefully on your head itself. Is there any reason for this illogical behaviour?"

"Yes, my son. The scissors have their function, no doubt; but they only cut the cloth into bits. The needle, on the contrary, unites the bits and enhances the value of the cloth. Therefore, the needle to me is more precious and valuable. The value of a thing depends on its utility, son, not on its cost-price or appearance."

Similarly, there are two classes of people in the world-those who create dissensions and disharmony, who separate man from man; and those who bring about peace and harmony, who unite people.