Get that job 2- Women's special

On the occasion of Women's Day, why not have a special on our blog too. After all Spearhead Intersearch is 60% female, and that too, now, after the conscious effort to have "gender balance" the other way round!

It is a well known cliche that women have to work twice as hard to go half as far as men. One of my earlier blog posts deals with disparity in pay among women and men workers in India. In the organized sector women still usually get roughly 60% of the salary that men get doing the same job. There are still lot less women in higher positions than even equal opportunity providers would want. Even in companies with woman CEOs, there are so few women in the pipeline for the top jobs, that it is unnerving.
It has been noticed that there are three kinds of women who get into the workplace as far as career goes.

• The first is the women who would like to work till they have kids and settle down. These form the bulk of the working women's population.
• Then there is the kind who work for some time, take a break for kids and then come back to work. For them working is more of a financial or personal necessity, after they have taken care of their responsibilities.
• Then there is the third kind, the companies' dream woman-worker- the careerist- who keep to their job with sincerity, with the driving ambition of rising to the top. This is the kind of employee who is encouraged to achieve, in quite a few companies today. The drive and ambition of these women are an inspiration for young girls around the globe.

But everyone is not made of the stuff Indra Nooyi has. Therefore, what about mortals like us, who have to handle home and hearth, children, shopping, and almost everything one can think of?

• One of my daughters friends mum is a mother of two. She works in a software firm in a mid-management position, where she has reached after 8 years of hard work. Now with a child in Std 2 and another is UKG, she is struggling to cope with the pressures of motherhood and work. She told me to look for a job for her which would allow her to work part time, or work from home. It was only saving grace that her husband works on UK timings and is usually there to bring the kids home from school. Today she was there at 3.30 pm at the school and told me her company has shifted her timings from the usual 9- 6pm to 7 am to 3 pm three days a week. Now she can be there to get her kids home and be with them for 3 of the 5 working days too. She loves her workplace, she wants to rise in her career, but she does not want to let go of the joys of motherhood either. Her company must be commended for keeping all her dreams in place.
• A friend of mine joined a bank from campus, and in the last ten years has quickly risen to the position of VP. The birth of a daughter came as a blessing and joy to the couple, but without family to support them in Delhi, she quickly had to decide to take a break till her daughter is old enough to put in play school.
• My cousin, another bank employee for about 15 years now, is a branch manager in Bangalore. Was, I should say, for the only way she was going to work in a city like Bangalore was having her parents from Dehradun over to look after her 4 year old. It was only a matter of time before they all realised it was not feasible any more, and now she has taken a sabbatical till she can rejoin.

Here too, these women are valued employees in a very woman- friendly environment. Their jobs will probably be waiting for them when they get back, probably they would have missed out on a couple of promotions and increments, but still, they have made their mark and they will survive.
I was lucky enough to be in a company which allows women to work from home when they have problems. But what if my company didnt allow me to work from home. With no family in Chennai and a small kindergarten going child, I would have two options- leave my child in the care of help at home or in a creche, or to leave my job and stay at home till the time my child was old enough to fend for herself. I would not have chosen the first option. What if I just needed the time off to recover from an illness.

• One of my candidates had to leave her job after her rat fever would not let her work for months. Now after 6 months of rest and recovery she is back to searching.

What if I just need the rest after having slogged for years, after all, any woman does the job of three men. Wife, home maker, mother, cook, cleaner, driver... name it. What if you just need the holiday to recahrge your batteries for a year.
So what is in it for women like us all over the country. How do we get back to the workplace after 2 or 3 years of break. Here are some tips:
Be positive: It always helps if you approach your renewed search with a positive frame of mind. It will clearly show in your interviews and reflect in your communications. A confident attitude will impress any panel. Whatever you did in your sabbatical, you know what you bring to the table and the company should know it too.
Take a course: There might have been something you would like to brush up on while you had been on a sabbatical. An online course would be an added qualification and send the message to your prospective employer that you are not just wasting anyone's time.
Prepare your CV anew: Nowadays most employers appreciate the need to take time off for ones children, to upgrade skill sets. But it should reflect in your profile. Update your profile with relevant skill sets for the company or industry you would like to present yourself to. In other words- customize. You should write a clear opening statement which would state that your time off has given you the opportunity to think of the growth path you need to take and hence you are looking for that kind of an opening. It does not matter if this statement is the whole and indelible truth.
Get your references in order: A good reference in often the clincher for a job. Make sure you have the best references you can offer right there in your profile. Keep your references informed that they might get calls from consultants or company HR. The words "Available on request" will not help, trust me.
Be aggressive in your search: Approach consulting firms. Call old colleagues, friends and people in power, whoever would be able to help you. Repeat after me- There is no shame in linking with someone after a period of time in order to get a job.
Start off temporary if you wish: Maybe your child needs you half the day but you can take the morning to work. Look for temp jobs if they are available instead of waiting for the time when you will get the whole day off. This will be a hue positive in your profile when you want to get back full time.
Know that it will take time: It would definitely take more time than, say if you were actively searching for a job while you were working. Take it in stride and dont lose hope. A probable time line would be about 6 to 7 months.
And then just follow the steps to get hired that I have enumerated in my earlier blog.

Get that job- How not to get lost in the resume crowd

Are you a dynamic sales professional who has worked in the finance industry for the past 14 years and worked your way up from trainee to Regional Manager? Are you an IT professional who would love to get into a start up kind of environment to use your 15 years experience to build a company as an intrepreneur? Are you looking for a job change, and felt that monster.com would be the right place to start?

Well, guess what. A million other people had the same bright idea. 

Have you ever been to the monster/ naukri/ jobsahead-s of the world? As consultants we have. And if I am looking a for a dynamic sales manager for a leading bank to handle regional level sales- chances are that I might find you but the chances are much higher that I never will. All those "highlighted" or "premier" profiles included.

If you have something unique to offer, if you value your experience, then, in a pile of resumes is the last place where yours should be. By all means, post your profile (At senior levels, its a different story altogether, we will tackle that in a later post) but there are ways to get a much better result for your job search efforts.

Head hunt the Head hunter: If you are at mid management level waiting for your next big break, then search out those who will be able to give you the break. There are the placement agencies who usually have all levels of jobs at most companies. There are some specialised agencies who deal with particular segments, like there are some firms who deal only with insurance companies. There are executive search firms who deal with senior level assignments. The last usually have fewer options, but usually they have the best options and would deal with your resume in the most professional manner. 

Where will you find them? Usually a google search will suffice. Otherwise, look out for editorial articles in business papers and job supplements. They have quotes from consultants and search company managers and heads. Find them out on the net, call into their offices and ask to talk to a consultant in their office. Sometimes a company will have consultants who are experts in a particular industry. But often any consultant will help you out at this step, either by pointing you to the right person or asking about your details.

Choose how many places you would like to send your profile: If you are desperate to  move, I would suggest choose the top 10 consulting firms from every metro city, especially if location is not a constraint. If you are keen on any city, target the top 10 firms from that city. If you are taking it slow, 2-3 consulting firms, the best available in the cities, should be targeted. It is wise not to limit yourself to one or two consulting firms overall. No firm would have their finger on the pulse of every good company in any industry out there.

Be clear in your communication: It is important for the consultant to immediately know the following: your industry, number of years of experience, designation, company, city, age, more often than not your ctc, and what you are looking for. So if you are a Regional Head of Sales in ABCD Bank, XYZ division, in Chennai, with 12 years experience at 16 lakhs ctc per annum, and you are looking for a bank or any financial institution at a national role which will give you required growth in career and ctc, and you can move to any metro city: all this needs to be mentioned.

You should be asked to send in your profile. Please mention that it needs to be confidential and any further action on your profile needs to be taken with your go ahead only. Give all details on your profile as to your requirements (location, role, CTC) in the very beginning in a short note addressed to the consultant. For eg: if you dont want to go to Delhi, please mention in on the profile itself. That makes it much easier to remember you and chances of your being contacted for a Delhi job are minimised. If you dont have any such hassle, dont mention anything. If you have a limited period choice, mention the time period. Eg: "Cant move out of Chennai till 2013. After that, location not an issue." Always mention date in your profile.

Follow up, Follow up, Follow up: You need the job. You need to be seen, to be remembered. The buzz word here is "top of mind recall". Whenever I have a finance opening, I should think of you. The trick is to keep yourself in the mind of the consultant without becoming irritating. I would suggest calling weekly at the beginning and then sending weekly mails and calling up occasionally. Hopefully, you wont have to wait for that long, but the average time to get interviews after one starts searching aggressively is 3-4 months. So stay in the "top of mind" till then.

Be honest with your consultant: The three people you should hide nothing from: Your doctor, your lawyer and your consultant. Complete honesty is not just advisable for your benefit, it is also necessary for the consultant to fight on your behalf. Believe me, your consultant would love it if you got the job. She gets the bonus on your joining. Make friends with her and she will fight your case for your dream job, even if you took a two year break in between to go see the world!!

Ensure that your profile is treated with due respect: Make sure that you will be asked and consulted with before your profile is sent to any company. Ensure that full confidentiality will be maintained. You dont want your boss finding out about your job search. If you are not sent the Job Description and company details in a mail after the consultant calls, drop the consulting firm from your list. It is your career on the line, and any good consultant would respect that more than anything else.

So dont just wait for some random person to catch you on the internet. Get out there and start making your own opportunities.

What is the age for entrepreneurship- 25 or 45?

Mark Zuckerberg started Facebook at age 19, Larry Page and Sergey Brin started Google when they were both 23. But the image of the young entrepreneur is just that... an image, as new research suggests. Turns out, the average founder of a high tech start up is not a brash brilliant young-un, but a mature 40- something.

Vivek Wadhwa is a Duke University scholar who studied 549 technology ventures. It turns out that a 40 year old engineer or businessman with family is just at the right age to get tired of working for another company and starting off on their own. And they have better success rates too. They are the ones who have the industry and domain knowledge in the fields they are starting off in. They also have a wide network which they can put to good use, including financial support and capital.

This is from Time magazine which reported some time back that in US, the highest rate of entrepreneurship has shifted to the 55- 64 age group, with people above 55 almost twice as likely to found successful companies than people in the age group of 20- 34.

In India, a study by National Knowledge Commission, done among 155 entrepreneurs had one fourth under the age of 35. The median age at which they became entrepreneurs was 27. Usually in US as in India, older entrepreneurs deal with complicated technological companies in IT hardware, biotechnology, heavy engineering or energy. Whereas younger entrepreneurs will have tech start ups with hugely popular software or hot apps or other easy to understand products. In the Indian study ‘Idea-driven’ motivators were found to be more significant for entrepreneurs above the age of 35 and exert a minimal influence on those below 35. Further, ‘market opportunity’ was a far significant motivating factor for the below-35 age-group compared to those above that age.

There is a huge advantage due to this for our rapidly ageing demographic. Whereas across the world the population is ageing, India's population is still relatively young. (50% of its population below the age of 25 and more than 65% hovers below the age of 35. It is expected that, in 2020, the average age of an Indian will be 29 years, compared to 37 for China, 39 in USA, 45 in European Union and 48 for Japan) And that means, as this generation ages, innovation will increase and hopefully, there is likely to be a boom in entrepreneurship and business in this country in the next 10-30 years.

Ten buzzwords to avoid in your profile, Linked-in or otherwise

Long awaited, why-didnt-I-think-of-it-before moment. Linked-in, the professional network which has 135 million members now, has come up with the most overused words and phrases in members linked-in profiles in 2011. The top ten overused words in the USA are:

• Creative
• Organizational
• Effective
• Extensive experience
• Track record
• Motivated
• Innovative
• Problem Solving
• Communication skills
• Dynamic

Apart from being heavily cliched, these words actually say nothing about a persons professional capabilities and yet we keep using them, sometimes all of them, to show the world how good we are at work. I am personally guilty of using creative, motivated (mine was one step further "self motivated) and problem solving and communication skills. 

Having seen thousands of profiles till date, I can vouch that these words do not really work in themselves. They dont improve your value on paper one bit unless you give examples of how creative you were or how you solved some problem with an innovative idea. Isnt everyone effective really? It goes to really saying that just like everyone else on this planet, you are actually doing your job and finishing whats to be done. Extensive experience and track record: Anyone doing something for more than 2 years will have extensive experience in that subject. Anyone would have a track record. Those words dont add a thing to the sentence and is slightly irritating, because I know somewhere that you have run out of things to say now. And what about dynamic. What exactly does it mean in the context of your work. If you are a bank manager are you dynamic, does that mean you can jump around everyone's cubicles all day? Or if you are a sales manager, does that mean you have a lot of energy? Is that not why you are a sales person in the first place? Once you break dynamic into smaller parts, thats when you will come up with the exact words you would like to use in your resume.

Worldwide the number one buzzword in various countries were

• Creative: Australia, Canada, Germany, USA, Netherlands, UK
• Multinational: Brazil
• Dynamic: France
• Effective: India
• Problem Solving: Italy
• Motivated: Ireland
• Managerial: Spain
• Track record: Singapore

The job market is getting more and more competitive and for senior managers, any lax in their effort at providing the company with a well formed and worded resume shows lack of motivation and effectiveness (chuckle). Therefore, the trick is to keep the words beside you and think what they mean. If there are specific examples of the traits these buzzwords describe, it would be best to line them up. Leave out words like motivated and effective and dynamic altogether, these are things which are very well expected from a senior experienced professional.

Using examples and specific instances makes your profiles unique to you and describes "you" and not another million people on this planet. And it is "you" you are trying to sell to a prospective employer. 

The fall and fall of Education in India

To add to my post on "Education and Employment" earlier on this blog, here are some more startling details which have come out today. Mint reports:

" A global study of learning standards in 74 countries has ranked India all but at the bottom, sounding a wake-up call for the country’s education system.

It was the first time that India participated in the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), coordinated by the Paris-based Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). India’s participation was in a pilot project, confined to schools from Tamil Nadu and Himachal Pradesh.
only 12% of students in Himachal Pradesh and 15% in Tamil Nadu were proficient in mathematics against an OECD average of 75%; when it came to scientific literacy among students of class X, the proficiency level in Tamil Nadu was 16% and in Himachal, 11%, as against an OECD average proficiency of 82%.

In Malaysia, 56% of students were proficient in reading and 41% in mathematics. Similarly, in the United Arab Emirates, the mathematics proficiency levels was estimated at 49% and for reading, 60%. Like India, both countries participated for the first time."

India which has prided itself historically in its education system, has to wake up and soon. There has been a lot of talkin the last year about how the US education system is faltering and how the "east" is taking over. Examples cited are from China, Japan, S Korea, even places like Malaysia and Philippines. No one talks of India. Maybe the reason shows. Mint also reports:

"Not everyone agrees. The study may not be based on an apple-to-apple comparison, says Vipul Prakash, managing director of Elixir Consulting, a recruitment process outsourcing firm.

“If you look at the entire people entering the workforce, you may find lack of quality. But if you take the top 10% then they are perhaps the best in the world. This 10% is quite a large number which is giving India a competitive upper hand.”"

Its not about having the top 10% being talked about. The top 10% of the country will end up leaving the country to pursue greener pastures on foreign shores. The rest of us will enter the job markets here. And it is the next 50% which will form the army of the biggest companies in India, the field force, the sales teams. 


The Times of India was reporting in the last few days about the lack of International Schools in Chennai, and how that has pushed Chennai into the last few cities in education standards. In any city, are International Schools then, the answer to our prayers? Starting at 12 lakhs fees per annum for a kindergarten seat, an international school is out of reach of almost everyone apart from business families and CEO kids. At least the middle classes can send their kids to private schools with no worry about the basic infrastructure. But what about government schools? Tamil Nadu's chief minister made history by providing free laptops to students recently. A great thought, no doubt, but how sustainable and repeatable is it? Will they do this to everyone every year? Can it be repeated across the country in all the states? 


And how good are teachers who we send our kids to? Recently in both US and UK, a large percentage of teachers failed basic tests. Is this country considering testing out teachers too? Which bright mind wants to come down to teaching students at a school level? With the pay structures as it is, is it surprising that not one of the bright kids I once knew have actually gone into teaching? They are bank managers, or consultants, or if any, they have gone into professorship into private MBA schools. If we dont have good teachers how do we get good students?


 Is it time the government woke up to quality of infrastructure in schools, increasing number of schools, and getting better teachers? A lot has been done for sure, providing mid day meals, monetary incentives, etc, but how much of it is tangible benefits for those who it is meant. How useful is an incentive of Rs 1000 for 100% attendance in the year (as reported in TN in today's paper). 


Organizations like Eureka Child in Chennai are working along with the school system of the government to provide students in 100 villages of Tamil Nadu a more holistic education. They build their own material, go to the village schools and create a parallel learning system along with the school syllabus. Maybe it is time to create more organizations like Eureka.

PIOs returning - India providing the right pull? (or Recession forcing NRIs to return?)

Last month I got a call from a PIO (Person of Indian Origin) finance professional from US, to talk about opportunities available in India that would suit his level of seniority and who would provide him an attractive remuneration, not comparable to what he gets there of course, but at least at par with market standards here. The reason he wants to relocate is manifold- the next big break in the US looks less lucrative at the moment, his parents are in Chennai, and he would love his children to stay at close quarters with grandparents, and of course both he and his wife, an HR professional were bound to get good opportunities at present in this country.

The Link, an Indo Canadian web news paper reports

"Krishna Kumar and Savita Murthy, a couple working for a financial institution and a telecom service provider respectively in New York, were in Bangalore in November to attend job interviews because of uncertainties in the US job market. “They mailed their CVs in early September and headhunters could line up some decent interviews for each of them. The husband has attended seven interviews and the wife attended four. Both are currently finalizing their respective new jobs and are expected to move back to India soon,” said K Shivaram, a close relative of the couple.

Another couple currently working in Berlin and Paris is moving back to Pune with their 12-year-old daughter. “The wife who works in a French bank has been pink slipped and her term ends on December 31,” said an acquaintance who did not want to be named....

What is significant is that these Indian-origin executives who are now looking to return home are coming in at salaries similar to what they were getting abroad. There are, however, certain sectors which have generated more traction than others. For instance retail, FMCG, financial services, IT, mining and power have benefitted from these highly-qualified Indians looking to come home.

Kishore Biyani-led Future Group is the midst of one such recruitment action. “We are improving our systems and processes, an area that as an organization we are focusing a lot on. The expertise brought about by these people at the back-end and supply chain management areas is something we required,” said Sanjay Jog, Chief People Officer, The Future Group, India’s largest retailer which runs stores like Big Bazaar and Pantaloon. The retailer hired a number of key executives, all of them Indians who have come from international markets, in the last couple of months. While Manoj Agarwal came from Procter & Gamble’s US operations based in Cincinnati who is now heading the project management office at the group, Anurup Pruthi was earlier with Burberry, UK, who is now the chief executive for Digital Services and heads the captive BPO and technology services for retailer. Another Indian to have joined the group is Prasad Menon from the UK operations of Nokia who is heading Product Information Management Services (PIMS) for Future Group."

Just today I got a call from a 30 year old from UK. After completing his degree there he has been working on a contract basis with one of the top 5 accounting firms. He is confident his contract will be renewed but he is currently open to check out what India has to offer for his area of expertise. And truth be told, I suspect, he wont have long to wait.

Article in Mail Today on Cyrus Mistry: Jyorden comments

Behemoth can do without surname By Lalatendu Mishra in Mumbai

THOUGH he does not have the illustrious Tata surname but Cyrus Mistry is certainly no outsider plucked from obscurity. The elevation of the 43- year- old engineer to the top post of the Tata conglomerate will only add to the salt- to- software brand value.

Cyrus, in the capacity of the member of the highest decision- making body of the Tata group and a distant relative of the Tatas, is the son of Pallonji Mistry — who owns 18 per cent of the Tata group.

Brand and marketing experts said the choice of Cyrus as the successor would in fact help the brand grow stronger.

“ It is a good choice. He is young and is very appropriate for a young country. With him in the drivers seat the Tata brand value will be enhanced,” said Jagdeep Kapur, chairman & managing director, Samsika Marketing Consultants.

“ What is important is the ability of the person to steer the group to the next level. Cyrus is a good professional and certainly has the acumen to do that,” he said.

Some analysts also believe that the Tata brand has grown so large that it does not require the surname to support it any more.

“ It has become an international brand and does not depend only on a surname that can add value to it. The name

Tata is synonymous with trust, reliability and ethics. If the new person with a different surname imbibes these values, then it would have more positive effect on the brand,” said Rajesh Srivastava, a marketing expert.

He said there will be no kneejerk reaction from either the industry or the market, as they view the development in a longterm perspective since a lot of thought has gone into the selection of Cyrus.

“ Today Tata is known as international company with Indian origin. Because the candidate has been selected merit, it has given a very strong signal of continuity of Ratan Tatas legacy who has transformed the group in the last years,” said Jyorden Misra, managing director ( India), Spearhead InterSearch.

Chandrajit Banerjee, head the CII, applauded Wednesday's announcement, calling it exemplary move that speaks volumes about the norms corporate governance at Tata.

“ CII commends the leadership in the Tata Group for setting standards which would be benchmark for large global corporations,” Banerjee said in statement

Women make better recruiters than men?

Greg Savage in his blog "The Savage Truth" finally put in words what Ive suspected all along, at the cost of being sexist. Really, otherwise, why would the majority of recruiters in any agency at any level, in any market be overwhelmed by the number of women working there vis a vis men?

The reasons Greg enumerates are quite simple

Here is why;

• I have found women are far better listeners than men. They are more empathetic. It helps, because they get deeper into the candidates true motivation, the client’s real needs… and they make a better match. Bluntly put, many woman recruiters simply care more about the human element. It might not sound ‘commercial’ but actually it means they end up with more satisfied customers, and over time, that pays.
• You are not going to like this guys (and before you lynch me, remember, I am one of you) but women are more resilient than men. Sure, often they show frustration and emotion much more readily than the average guy, who tends to suck it up and try to tough things out. But actually I have found a steel backbone in so many women in this business. They cry a lot, but they bounce back! They keep going. Maybe it’s fear of failure. Maybe it’s just pure inner strength. I can’t count the guys who have lasted 6, maybe 12 months and dropped out, telling all and sundry as they leave to go back into banking or accounting, that “recruiting is not a real job after all”.
• And then there is the money. Mostly, recruiters get paid on results. The more you bill, the more you earn. And in a world where women routinely earn less than men doing the same job, that’s very attractive indeed. Indeed, women have told me straight out. “In this job I can earn more than the person sitting next to me, man or woman, because it’s a level playing field. I bill, I earn. It’s transparent. And I love that!”
• Its all true of course, all the above reasons, and in very equal markets that may well be all. There is another reason for a market like India for this to be true. There are lots more women than men studying HR in various business schools. And they all come out into the job market, and there are so many executive search firms/ HR firms which do temping or recruitment/ placement firms out there, that it becomes a very viable career option. So at the onset, the number of women entering the workplace in this industry is more. Men would probably rather go into sales or "banking or accounting".
• There is another factor in Indian recruitment firms. The industry is almost uniformly less paid than any other. Once men have a family, if they are the primary bread earners, junior or consulting positions in placement firms might not be a viable option for them. An HR Manager role in an IT firm, for example will be more lucrative, though infinitely less interesting as a job. Unless s/he has his own company, or s/he is at a senior or partnership role, it often does not make sense for an individual with high ambition to keep going in this industry. Often it is women with families, who prefer a more friendly work environment and flexible hours, which are usually provided given the nature of the job, who make it for long years. And of course it is a job which suits them, communicating, creating relationships, handling difficult personalities and ego-s, come to women naturally due to our social conditioning.
• For the full blog from "The Savage Truth": "Sorry guys, women are better recruiters than men"

Education and Employment: How large is the gap in India

How much have we heard about the number of engineers, masters degree holders, PhDs, doctors etc India produces "every year". Here are some statistics:
·         In 2008, it is estimated that 3.5 lakh engineering degrees, 23,000 engineering Masters degrees and about 1,000 PhDs were awarded in India. The number of engineering graduates in India produced annually: 350,000. Compared to India, the United States produces 70,000 engineering graduates. Europe produces 100,000 engineering graduates.
 India also produces 60,000 MBAs every year.
·  The number of doctors registered by different state councils stood at 6,68,131 during the year 2006 giving a doctor to population ratio of 60:100000. Total number of doctors in India about 4.5 lakhs.

However this figure for engineers at least included “diploma engineers” who were not true engineers at all. India actually had only 102,000 real engineering graduates in 2002. This went up to 222,000 in 2006 and may be double that in 2011. India does have some excellent engineering schools, but McKinsey estimates that only 25% of Indian engineering graduates are good enough to work for multinationals (and only 15% of finance graduates and 10% of those with degrees of any kind.)

These figures are reflected in an article in The Economic Times: To read the full article go here.

      The increase in our education levels has been accompanied by a decline in quality, creating a growing pool of unemployable collegegraduates. 

The India Human Development Survey, conducted by the National Council of Applied Economic Researchand University of Maryland, provides a striking example. In this survey of over 41,000 households conducted in 2004-05, each cohort is more likely to finish college than the previous cohort. Among males born in 1930s, only 4% completed college. Among those born in 1970s, 13% completed college. 

However, even on rudimentary skills such as ability to converse fluently in English, these new college graduates appear to fare more poorly than the college graduates of their fathers' generation. 

Of male graduates born in the 1930s, 53% are fluent in English compared to only 31% among those who were born in the 1970s. This does not mean that the number of English speakers in India has gone down since rising education levels make up for some of the quality decline. 

However, had these new graduates retained the same skill levels as those born in 1940s, India would have had 50% more English-speaking college graduates. Since English fluency brings enormous economic returns, and increases wages by at least 12%, this increase in English speakers would have had enormous economic dividend. 

We have few other markers of skills to compare across generations. If we were to give mathematics tests to adults, it is most likely that we would also see a decline in simple skills such as dividing fractions or solving basic algebraic equations. 

What accounts for this decline? Part of the answer lies in the speed with which enrolments have risen. Rising demand for higher education can no longer be met with traditional colleges and a host of creative solutions ranging from private colleges to distance education are being embraced with little attention to quality. While students must meet some minimum standards to pass the examination, rote learning to prepare for the examination has become the norm. 

But the other part of this answer is even more intractable. As enrolments rise and education is no longer the preserve of the elite, greater demands are placed on educators to teach students who are first-generation learners.

Unequal pay for equal work: Will women ever get paid at par? My suggestions.

1976 is the year in which Indian Government decided finally that women and men will be paid the same amount of money for the same amount of work. This happened in USA in the 1963 and in UK in 1970. A recent study in UK has shown that women in 2010 were paid 17% less than men at similar level. In US the difference is 13 %. Women in UK have complained that they are perceived to be flippant about ambition and drive and are seen to be just waiting to get married and have kids. It is estimated that at mid management level in the financial sector, the wage difference in London would be around 40 to 60%. That is like working half the year for your employer for free if you are a woman, and anyway, it is a well known fact, that, to get the same amount of respect in the workplace, women need to work twice as hard.

Talk of unfair.

Lets see where India stands. The Equal Remuneration Act seeks to address the issue of payment of unequal wages to men and women. It makes it compulsory for employers to pay women wages equal to those paid to men for performance of the same work.  Section 4(1) states:

"No employer shall pay to any worker, employed by him in an establishment or employment, remuneration, whether payable in cash or in kind, at rates less favourable than those at which remuneration is paid by him to the workers of the opposite sex in such establishment or employment for performing the same work or work of a similar nature."

India has the distinction of being the lowest ranked in gender parity among the BRIC nations. This was revealed in the Gender Gap Report of 2010.


"According to the Annual Survey of Industries of 2004-05 the gender pay gap for regular workers in the formal or organized sector was 57%, which is much higher than among casual workers in the formal sector which was over 35-37%. And in agriculture, where an estimated 60% of all operations are handled exclusively by women, the hourly wage rates vary from 50 to 75% of male rates. In case you thought the gender gap is restricted to the lower levels of workers, a survey done by the World Economic Forum (WEF) last year showed that there is a yawning gender gap in the corporate sector too. The average annual income of a woman is $1,185, less than a third of a man's $3,698 in corporate India. The survey, based on responses of 60 of the 100 best employers in India, showed that women employees held only 10% of the senior management positions in two-thirds of the surveyed companies. The government is no better as an employer. Two of its much touted welfare schemes, Integrated Child Development Services ( ICDS) and National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) — rely on the underpaid work of lakhs of women who are paid "an honorarium" well below the minimum wage." (Times of India article)

Initiatives like www.paycheck.in, by IIM Ahmedabad, has a "salary survey" gives people like me a chance to check my salary vis a vis, industry, region etc. When I tried it, it was not working, but I hope it will work soon and I can check my status. Maybe initiatives like this will be a way to track salaries across industries and levels, as well as cities.

As an ambitious hard working woman who handles home, child and work, while the husband goes to office, comes back and is tortured by the hard choice of lounging on the sofa or bed, I feel terribly short changed. Did women really bite off more than they could chew when they decided they could handle it all, alone! While men had the added benefit of a second income and could go about buying the expensive camera or phone? And what about the men in your own workplace. Could you imagine taking maternity leave for 3 months or a sabbatical and then getting back to work and getting a fair deal out of it? All my girl-friends who have quit their job to have babies are afraid they will be out of the rat race when it comes to the next promotion or salary increase. So some of them are too afraid to quit and continue to work, leaving a 3 month old with a hired nanny, which means guilt, heart break and tears. Men dont have to deal with that. Its not even an option.

Here are some of the companies which have been voted to the top 50 for four consecutive years as "best for women"

• Accenture
• Barclays
• J P Morgan
• KPMG
• Microsoft
• PepsiCo
• PWC
• RBS

So, what if you are not working in a company which takes care of you anyway. According to me here are some pointers a woman can take if she is serious about not being treated unfairly.

• Find out what your market worth is. Job vacancies for similar positions online etc can help.
• What does your company pay: Many companies do not reveal their pay, but if yours do, go for it. Ask HR.
• Take a stand: OK, you are serious about your job and know you do it well. Talk to your line manager. Keep financials on your fingertips. If you are handing a Rs 2 crore project, talk about it and negotiate. Think like the boss. Why should he/she entertain your proposal? If you are bringing something unique to the table, you should be remunerated for it. Have a talk on your ambition and that you will not leave the job once you have a child. Talk about your seriousness and sincerity at the workplace.
• Emotion never takes you anywhere. Believe in yourself, your work and your proposal.
• Learn to negotiate: with numbers, not emotion. Never threaten to resign, you might be asked to do it. Be level headed and remember, your boss can only say "no". 
• Go well prepared into a meeting: Think of what arguments your boss may have against your raise. Prepare answers to them.
• Always do it face to face: An email will only complicate matters and create misunderstandings.

If you, as a woman, feel that you are being short changed in your organization, and your voice is not heard, you might want to get support from your female colleagues facing the same situation or even resort to the law, if push comes to shove.

Best HR Practices

As countries all over the world struggle to come out of the recession, the focus of attention has more than ever before shifted to the HR. The stress is not just to come out of the recession safely but to continue to excel in the fields of sales, customer service and technological innovation. The companies now have to retain talent and have to train, educate and mentor them to provide that extra punch in the days to come. In this scenario, how do some companies come on top of the “Best places to work for” list? Why do employees stick around in one company while in another, there is a high rate of attrition. The answers lie, as always, in the people and policies of the organization.

Here is what 20 years of experience of ‘Great Place to Work’ (www.greatplacetowork.in) say: High levels of trust between employees and managers are a common feature of all companies which feature high in their list consistently. They have thus come upon a “definition” of a great place to work: a place where people "trust the people they work for, have pride in what they do, and enjoy the people they work with". The worth of happiness in a company depends on three kinds of relationship as the company found out- between employees and management, between employees and their company or job, and interpersonal relationship in employees.

The first step towards a great HR policy is to create a recruitment and selection process in tandem with company policies and culture. The best companies in the world like Google, Microsoft, Infosys, lays a lot of stress on a strict entry tests, to take the best talent available. Best Employers like Titan Industries, Bharti and HDFC usually go for the top performers in business schools, or in the industry and then groom them to be top performers and give them an environment to take the company to the next level. GE has a separate program to identify top performers across universities, companies worldwide, and their own workforce, and then train them centrally to take on global issues.

To create good relationship between employees and management a workplace needs to have an open management system with open flow of information where knowledge is shared across the hierarchy. Google Inc has been consistently rated the best company to work for by their employers not only at their headquarters in California, but also here in India. The company owes its success to high level of trust among its employees, low politics and its culture of sharing resources, knowledge and wealth. The work environment in Google is not that of an office but of “dream-houses for these geeks to retire to when they want to create something innovative and state of the art.” Technology thrives on commitment, and Google recognizes commitment, by creating the environment where people can be creative, independent and totally “geeky”!

In fact, the best companies all share the open secrets of creating happy employees. The basis is to build a culture of trust and commitment, as Make My Trip, another success story, believes in. Not only do they align their HR policy to the overall business strategy of the company, they also increase employee commitment and capability by their performance management, potential assessment, competency enhancement, programmes as well as career planning. Building trust is very important, therefore there is complete transparency and fairness in rewards, promotions and hiring. Their performance incentives are part of Best HR practices across industries. Employees get ESOPs and can calculate their own bonuses, which are linked to performance. They also believe in creating a “family atmosphere” in the workplace to create friendly sociable workers. Offsites are common, birthdays and festivals are celebrated in-house. There is a feedback mechanism for all HR practices and communication is encouraged.

Infosys Technologies has been voted best employer for many a year in HR surveys. Though it is one of the biggest employers in India, the company retains its small-company feel and culture. Their selection process is bias free and tough equally for everyone. All employees go through regular training and chosen ones take on higher responsibility. The company was one of the first to offer ESOPs and they have performance linked compensation and reward structures, based on individual, team and company. They also make the workplace safe, by providing health facilities, play facilities, crèche services and on call doctors. Workplace safety and hygiene are the first step to building a happy workplace. Wipro too has laid great stress on this factor. Their Performance management, which includes evaluations and feed-back are regular. Many organizations lay a lot of stress on fair performance management systems with 360 degree appraisals and feedback mechanisms. This gives way to training programs to build competencies and also to highlighting best performers and good reward and recognition facilities. Adi Godrej, chairman of the Rs 7500 crore Godrej group leads the company in stating that employees are his company’s greatest asset, and not brands. He states that his employees have strong performance linked bonus system and are provided stock options at all levels of management.

LG believes in sharing wealth not just within the company but also without, through their CSR activities. To ensure a “culture fit” employees take psychometric tests, and eligible employees are then groomed and trained to not just attain productivity but also encourage innovative problem solving. They have “Pizza Meetings” where communication is encouraged in departments. HR is very active and regularly meet up with employees, and there are help desks to address professional issues. LG also has an internal Energy, Environment, Safety and Health Department, yoga, games and singing clubs, and regular training programmes like the “Joyful Working” program to alleviate stress and reduce stagnation. This has ensured LG to be one of the highest recruiters as well as high productivity in the last years. In fact open house discussions and feedback sessions are a part of many top organizations.

Hospitality and retail are two of the primary industries which need very high customer- employee interaction and the success of companies depend highly on customer satisfaction. In this setting, employee satisfaction is paramount. Marriott makes managers responsible for the satisfaction of subordinates. In training sessions the mentor is called a “buddy”, a precursor of friendly work environment in the organization. “Work- Life Balance” is stressed and there is an employee grievance redressal system in place. The results are all there to see. In 2003 90% of employees surveyed, expressed “great pride” in working for the hotel chain. Taj Group of hotels includes all employees, including contingency workers in their programs. Year 2008-2009 was celebrated as the “Year of the Associate” to engage employees and create a workforce with pride in their employer, enhance morale and take bonding with organization to an all time high.

“Happy Families are all alike, unhappy families are unhappy in their own way” begins Leo Tolstoy in Anna Karenina. Companies are much the same. The benchmarks are simple and are for all to use. A combination of these few HR best practices can make any organization a “happy” place to work for and create productive, committed and loyal employees.

This article has been published in the People and Management magazine from Spearhead Intersearch.

Intersearch Conference in Russia

Intersearch Worldwide had its annual Conference 2011 in St Petersburg in Russia. Intersearch Russia played gracious hosts.

The Annual Conference is a partners meet of course, and I was there as the winner of the Intersearch Training Program, 2011 held in Ghent. My presentation to the partners about how consultants see the future and how Intersearch should change, was well appreciated.

Otherwise it was a time of electing board chairperson/ members/ new members, and it was time of dining, wining and revelry. St Petersburg is an amazing city, a link between the Russia of old and the waiting future, somewhat like my presentation about Practice Groups.

From India, the partners who participated was, Srimanto from Bangalore and Indraneel from Kolkata.

Executive Search to be on rise rest of this year

Here is an article which talks about AESC, Association of Executive Search Consutants, view of the coming days in the business.

Demand for executives is set to improve over the rest of the year, as executive search professionals give a positive outlook for the remainder of 2011.

According to the Association of Executive Search Consultants’ (AESC) latest Outlook Report, executive search professionals gave a 66% positive prediction for their industry in the second half of the year.

The greatest optimism came from consultants in Asia Pacific and the Americas. The consultants predict that China, Brazil and India will see the greatest shortage of executive talent in the second half of 2011, while the Energy/Natural Resources sector will have the biggest growth in senior hiring.

The General Management/CEO/COO function is expected to see the greatest shortage of talent worldwide in the second half of 2011, followed by Business Development and Engineering. In order to keep up with the demand, over half the search firms surveyed plan to hire more consultants and researches from July to December 2011.

Commenting on the report, Peter Felix, President of the AESC, says: “I am delighted to see that confidence within the executive search industry remains at a high level on a worldwide basis, in spite of continuing economic uncertainty in many countries.

“All this points to the re-emergence of executive talent scarcity and the critical need for organisations to find top quality leaders in the new dynamics of world markets. The executive search profession looks forward to strong demand for its services in helping clients to plan and execute their talent management strategies for the future.”

Hospitality industry in India booming

At long last hospitality has "arrived" in the country.
The slump which affected tourism worldwide, did little to affect India as the country gets not just the curious tourist but a large number of business travelers. Also, while the world reeled in the aftermath of a recession, Indians shifted focus from international travel to domestic travel. Domestic tourism is huge in India, amounting to more than 650 million in 2009 itself. 
Large hotel chains are scrambling over each other to find their place in the sun in the metro cities. And not so large hotels are forming chains in the up and coming locations as well as in metros to provide a not-so-expensive option to guests who want service without having to empty their pockets.
On the one hand large chains cant get enough. Carlson will open 19 new hotels which will take the number of hotels this chain has in India to 50 by this year end, and they plan to reach 100 by 2015. Carlson has the brands Radisson®, Country Inns & Suites By Carlson(SM), Park Inn® and Park Plaza®.
In fact across various segments the hotel industry is expected to add 70000 to 80000 rooms in these two years, according to experts.
Several international chains including Sheraton, Holiday Inn, Intercontinental, Hyatt, Radisson, BestWestern, Days Inn, Hilton, Quality Inn, Ramada Inn, Meridien, Kempenski, Four Seasons Regent, Accor, and Marriott International are entering or expanding their hotel network in India.
It is not just large international hotel chains but all sectors cashing in on the trend. We have currently assisted a start up hotel company find their CFO and are still searching for their marketing and operations heads. This particular company is planning to build hotels in the 3-4 star category in locations of pilgrimage importance. The idea is to give the pilgrimage traveler a much better hygienic option than your regular hole in the wall, but at much more reasonable rates than the currently available 5 stars. Thus you also have the hundreds of "boutique hotels" available now in cities, which are actually 2-3 start hotels which are very reasonable and provide clean rooms with good enough amenities for the business traveler.
With India slated to have the largest 10 year growth potential in tourism worldwide, the demand will only grow and hospitality is bound to grow along with it.
(See below for article on jobs in hospitality industry)

Intersearch Academy Program 2011 in Ghent, Belgium

The InterSearch Academy Program for consultants was held in Gent in Belgium this year. The InterSearch Academy was founded in order to share knowledge capital in the InterSearch community of over 90 offices worldwide. This year the participating countries were Brazil, Belgium, Finland, Malaysia, Germany, Japan, India, Ukraine and Hungary. The three trainers were the very experienced and senior members of InterSearch, David Wouters of InterSearch Japan (front row, blue tie), Andras of Hungary (Right behind David) and Michael Gross of Germany (back row, second from right).

The three day program was held at the Gent Marriot hotel and consisted of training program modules, case studies, a Strategic Management presentation competition in groups and a sight seeing dinner tour of the beautiful city of Gent.

The Program was a huge success with lots of active discussions in groups and fierce competition in the Strategy presentation. The company is now planning to make Programs like this a more regular feature in the Academy and include more number of countries, of the 40 countries InterSearch is present in currently.

The main learning for everyone from this program was that different people from different countries and extremely different cultures can come together and form a successful partnership, share ideas. Every country, or region has different problems and provides custom made solutions. Europe is very different in work culture and attitude towards executive search from Asia, yet, partner companies in both places are not just surviving but flourishing with their own set of unique solutions within the wider framework of InterSearch World Wide.

The main need which came out as part of the program is to build more connecting fibres across partner countries, and make InterSearch more saleable in all countries. To build a strategy which provides the most balanced solution to communication lags and using all our global resources to the fullest by everyone concerned. This is the next step in InterSearch Worldwide.