Look ma, I have super-powers!

Gone are the days when companies hired specialists. Those were the days when, as an experienced leader, you knew what was expected of you in your area of specialisation. You were considered an expert in your specific domain and companies sought you out for your expertise.

Image courtesy : http://bit.ly/uZHQgi

But times, they are a-changing... and how!

Job descriptions for senior leadership roles are beginning to sound more like descriptions of caped super-heroes who handle multiple emergencies while flying around in colorful underwear!

Let me explain. I recently was helping a client identify a global IT services delivery head. In the days of yore, a delivery head was just that, a person whose responsibility was to oversee quality delivery of IT services projects for the clients and ensure that people and processes were in place. But the client wanted someone who could handle this role effectively as well as help with identifying new service lines, defining go-to-market strategies, provide sales teams with compelling pitches, make client presentations and establish credibility to swing deals. The only requirement missing in the job description was the person having to wear tights and colorful underwear!

This is a trend I am noticing across industries as well as across roles within organisations. In the continuous effort to reduce costs, create significant differentiation and deliver higher value, companies are looking for the core leadership team across functions to have a holistic view of the markets, clients and the business.

So what does this mean for you and your career? How do you address this requirement, especially when you do not have super-powers?

Companies may not be looking for Superman, but they definitely expect you to have super-powers like each member of the Fantastic Four! For many of us, it is more of a case of having the powers within us, but not knowing it yet. Remember Darth Vader telling Luke "The Force is with you, young Skywalker, but you are not a Jedi yet."

The trick is to, as Mufasa grandly announced to a confused Simba, "Look inside yourself, Simba. You are more than what you have become. You must take your place in the Circle of (corporate) Life."

Here are a few pointers that could help you break through some of these walls :

• Remember, while companies are looking for super-heroes, there are not too many people out there who meet all the criteria.
• While companies are looking for super-heroes, they want the ideal candidate to be specialised/ experienced in the specific function they are expected to lead.
• Take every opportunity in your current role and organisation to go beyond your comfort zone and are of specialisation so that you build a range of skills.
• Work on your resume/profile to highlight the multiple skills that you have gained over time, even if these skills are not as strong as your core functional skills.
• Work on gaining knowledge in these unrelated areas. Network and interact with colleagues and friends in unrelated areas; read as much as you can about these areas; use opportunities to participate in training programs to hone these skills.

So go forth. Remember, the force is with you!

Is it about the money, honey? No, don't be funny!

Image courtesy : http://bit.ly/vUqZcS

Recently the CEO of Heidrick & Struggles, Kevin Kelly, was in India and during his interactions with the media he mentioned that CEOs don't always get motivated to move for higher compensation. And that at this level the bigger motivation is the challenge and the ability to make an impact.

Sonal Agarwal, CEO of Accord Group, in her recent article in the Mint, also elaborately discussed this topic of compensation and what you should bear in mind while negotiating an offer, especially if you are changing industry or country (It's not always about the money!).

I wanted to share a few thoughts based on my recent interactions with a few people on this topic. (Well, this happens to be a topic which most people want to discuss with us folks! :) )

• Compensation is a very important reason why you are staying in a particular company or why you want to move to another company. It might not be the most important or the only reason, but it surely plays a big role.
• As you move higher up in an organisation, or as you spend time in your career, compensation tends to move lower down in your list of reasons for making career move decisions. (If this is not true in your case, then that's ok too. But you might like to ask yourself, why this is the case!)
• I have also noticed that, all things being equal, people who have moved jobs frequently, especially after 12-15 years of their overall experience, tend to draw lower compensation packages than the ones who have not.
• Sometimes it doesn't seem fair that some companies or headhunters do not consider you for a role because your compensation is lower than that of the other candidates they are considering, despite your experience. But compensation does tend to be a proxy barometer of your competencies and achievements. And many hiring officials tend to have misgivings about you if your compensation is lower than the average drawn by your peers in the industry.
• As a corollary, getting a job-offer which pays you far higher than your current compensation and much higher than the average compensation for the industry could lead to a tricky situation. This usually happens when a company is starting operations in the country and does not have a benchmark to go with, or is using internal parity with a country with much higher PPP, or is trying to start a new business and assumes that you will be able to deliver.
  This situation could create problems at multiple levels :
• The company might realise that they are over-paying and want to scale back later, which leaves you in a difficult situation.
• Or worse still, they might decide to eliminate the role and bring in someone at a lower level.
• The company might expect you to deliver impractical numbers and results and you inadvertently end up becoming a non-performer.
• Moving to another company also has its own challenges since you are over-priced. And any attempt by you to peg your compensation back to reasonable market-levels also tends to create misgivings in the headhunter or company officials.

If you are looking to make a change it is important for you to have a clear plan on how you would address the compensation related discussions - what you expect, what is non-negotiable, what does the company pay other leaders, etc.

Compensation might not be the biggest reason for business leaders in making their career move choices, but it is definitely a big reason for many conversations breaking down between companies and people they are trying to bring on board.

So its not all about the money... but then its also about the money, honey!

Do yourself a favor, don't do any of these!

Here's a couple of things which stood out over the last few weeks while I was wondering what should be the topic of my next blog post.
These are things you should avoid as much as possible when you are in the process of making your next career move :

1. Turning up late for your interview. Or worse, not turning up at all. And then coming up with the most inane excuses.
If you are running late because of some unavoidable reason then it's best to call and let the coordinator or the interviewer know that you are running late. Even if it creates a bad impression, it's far better than the impression you would create by not informing at all.
Similarly if you are not able to turn up, make it a point to call as far ahead as you can and request for a rescheduling of the interview. Most people understand, and if they are keen on you as a candidate they will accommodate your request.

2. Chasing aggressively after the interview. It is important to follow up after an interview to understand where you stand and what happens next.
But at the same time it is important to know where to draw a line and where not to go overboard. Following up too aggressively gives the hiring team a wrong impression and makes them wonder if you are 'over eager', which is never a good thing!

3. Moving too soon. No matter how extenuating the circumstances, moving jobs within 6-12 months of your joining reflects poorly on you. Especially if your reason is that the position or scope was far lesser than what you had imagined it would be, or that the culture of the place did not meet your expectations.
At senior levels you are supposed to have a much better idea of the company, its culture, the organisation structure, peers, etc before making the move. If you discover these issues soon after moving and then decide within a year to move again it gives people the impression that you don't think through your decision and make hasty choices.

4. Sometimes I receive mails where people not only share their profiles but also their current compensation package as well as their expectations from the next job. That's a clear no-no! It might seem fairly obvious to most of us, but I'm always surprised by the number of people who still do this.

5. And there are those mail bloopers. Where someone sends me a mail telling me how gifted he/she is and the big difference he/she could make to any organisation he/she joins. And then I notice that the mail is cc'ed to more than a dozen other people from various search firms or placement companies!
Well, no prizes for guessing what I would have done with that mail!

You can't afford to be passive!

If you've read my previous post (When it pays to be passive!) I won't blame you if you assume that I can't seem to make up my mind!

Some people wrote back after the last post and that triggered this follow-up post. So here goes :

The most important point I was trying to make in the previous post is that hiring managers/ companies/ search consultants tend to be biased towards candidates who are not actively seeking a job-change.



Image : sheelamohan / FreeDigitalPhotos.net



But if you do not have that luxury and if you are actively looking for a change, then you definitely cannot afford to be passive. In an ideal world, you are well networked and very well-established in your career, where people seek you out as soon as they hear that you are possibly looking for a change.

But if you are not being approached by people with job offers, you have to go out there and seek opportunities. Yet, you have to do that without coming across as too desperate. You do not want people treating you like an insurance sales-person where they politely excuse themselves or just don't return your calls and messages.

So how do you walk this thin line? Here are a few thoughts to keep in mind to help you in your job search :

(you could also read this related post by the Career Sherpa (Hannah Morgan) at Job Seekers: Change How You Look for Work)

1. Make friends :

The best way you can get a job is your friend referring you to her friend, a hiring manager, who's looking for people.

I can say from my own personal experience; I have at least 4-5 people reaching out to me everyday wanting to meet me or speak to me. While I try speak to as many of them as possible, I do not manage to meet everyone. But I always meet people who are referred to me by my friends/ clients/ colleagues/ etc.

What this means is that you should have been actively networking before you needed to look for a job. You should be reaching out to all the people you know when you are looking for a job (and you'll be amazed at the number of people you know, if you sat down and made a list).

And don't stop at just telling them that you are looking for a job. You'll be far more effective if you could tell them specific things they could do to help; and you'll be surprised at the number of people who are willing to do their bit! (that's assuming you've been building up your quota of good karma over time! :) )

2. Begin before you need to begin :

This would be one of the most important pieces of advice for people who are in leadership positions.
It pays to be connected with other leaders in your industry. It also goes a long way to be connected with the hiring managers and search consultants in your market/ sector. And there are many ways to do this, but that would be the topic of another post.

The key is to be well-connected with the relevant people so that people keep talking to you about opportunities, even when you are not actively looking for one. Do not reject these opportunities outright. Engage with the people who are reaching out to you, understand & evaluate such opportunities and if you are clear that you do not want to make that move yet, help them with references of other credible professionals you know of.

There is nothing more powerful in the world of hiring managers and search consultants than a good deed! These good deeds will come around and bail you out when you are actively seeking a job.

3. Meet people :
In today's world, technology allows us to connect with people around the world without leaving our desk. And this is the reason why most people, when searching for a job, are shooting out hundreds of mails and messages with the hope of landing one.

But nothing is more effective than a face-to-face meeting. (Remember how easy it is put off a person trying to reach you over the phone, than someone waiting for you in the meeting room outside.) Use every opportunity to meet people. Start with your own friends, acquaintances and ex-colleagues. This adds a completely different sense of purpose and seriousness to the whole exercise and the people you meet would be far more inclined to act on your behalf and make that all-important reference introduction.

4. Meet friends of friends :
Use a simple sales-person technique to significantly improve your chances of meeting people most likely to be able to help you with your job-search. Ask every person you meet to give you a few references! You could ask them to do a telephonic or email introduction and then follow it up with a request for a meeting.

Its the simple law of exponential growth. You'll be amazed at how quickly and widely the net spreads!
But while this is happening, it is important to keep track of all the connections. Note all the introductions made and the referee and follow up with all the introductions to their logical conclusion.

Remember to thank the people who have given you the reference.

In fact, remember to thank all the people who have helped you in your job-search exercise! These are 'brownie points' you earn, the good karma you accumulate.... and they will again come to your rescue some other rainy day!

When it pays to be passive!

Most of us through our professional lives have been oriented and rewarded by being aggressive or assertive or actively pursuing our goals. Initiative and enterprise is always appreciated and these are considered to be wonderful traits in any true-blue professional.

But unfortunately these very same traits become counter-productive when you are a job-seeker.

Let me explain.

Image courtesy : http://launchpadu.com/2011/07/the-hidden-job-market/

When companies are looking to hire senior executives they tend to be biased towards professionals who are not actively looking for a change. I am not sure if it has to do with human psychology, but hiring managers tend to be somehow wary of people who are actively hunting for a new job. And this is also how search consultants view active candidates vis-a-vis passive ones.

They prefer to believe that they searched the market, identified some solid candidates and wooed one of them to finally come across and join their organisation. And if they come across a candidate who is as competent and with the necessary pedigree, sills, experience, etc., but who is actively looking for a job they somehow tend to rate him a few notches lower than the previous category of candidates.

Somehow the assumption is that the active job-seeker might be enthusiastic about the opportunity because she needs a job at this point of time, and therefore might not be the best choice for the job.

So what do you do if you are an active job-seeker and are genuinely interested in this particular opportunity? Here are a couple of points to keep in mind :

- Never come across as being over-enthusiastic or eager about the job.

- Communicate a clear logic and reasoning for being interested in this opportunity and what you would be bringing to the table.

- Try to get someone to sell your candidature for you; be it your referee in the company or the search consultant.

- Do not follow up too often directly with the company representatives; it is advisable to follow up with your referee or the search consultant.

- And finally remember, if they need you as badly as you need this job, they will pursue you!

And what if you are a hiring manager and you are evaluating active and passive job-seekers for a position?

- Keep in mind that an active job-seeker could possibly be a better fit for the role than the passive person you are wooing. It would serve you best if you keep aside your bias during the evaluation process.

- Try dig deeper and understand why the person is looking for a change. Why is she keen on the company and this opportunity? Do some referencing and enquiries on your own.

Sometimes being a little aloof and playing 'hard to get' (without being rude or obnoxious) makes you a lot more appealing and valuable to the suitors out there! (Sounds like dating advice? Well, you'll be surprised at the similarities. Maybe its time to discuss your pre-nuptials! :) )

Your call is important to us!

Photo credit : Ambro

Our first interactions with a search consultant or a hiring/ business manager in a company is through a phone conversation. Many of these conversations are the usual connecting or following up or discussing specific details, but often these conversations also tend to be part of the formal interview/ selection process.

And because its a phone conversation many of us tend to under-estimate it and do not accord it the seriousness and important it is due. We assume that we are good at phone conversations, that we do not have to dress formally, travel to the company's office, etc. and therefore we will be able to wing it comfortably.

But we could actually mess up the conversation and blow up our chances of moving to the next stage. A good phone interview can make all the difference between moving to the next round or losing out an opportunity of joining your dream company.

Here are a few tips on how you could ensure that your phone interview is a success :

1. Scheduling :
- ensure that you schedule the phone interview at a time when you know that it would not clash with any other appointments
- try schedule it when you are at home or in office and not while you are on the road, especially if you are driving
- ideally you could try do the phone interview over a land line so that there are no issues of dropped calls, poor signals, voice quality, etc.

2. Background preparation :
- the advantage of a phone interview is that you can refer to documents or websites while speaking on the phone
- use this advantage to keep background data on the company, the interviewer and your own resume accessible so that you could refer to them when you are on the call

3. Right ambience :
- if you are at home during the call, try find a quiet corner where you will not be disturbed by family member, pets, visitors, etc.
- switch off the television & stereo; mute the phone so that other calls don't disturb you during the interview; switch off call-waiting on your phone for the duration of the interview
- ensure that someone will answer the door during the call; if you are alone it is advisable to switch off the bell or to leave a note at your door asking people to return later

4. Conduct :
- it is acceptable to take some time before responding; this allows you to think through your response and refer to data if required
- keep your responses crisp and articulate clearly (doing a practice call with a friend/ mentor is advisable; you'll be surprised how we sound to people when we are trying to speak formally on the phone; this also helps us become aware of the 'aahs' and 'hmms' in our conversations)
- some people prefer pacing while speaking on the phone; but if you are seated at a table you could refer to websites and documents during the call
- body language makes a difference even in a phone interview; smiling during the conversation actually translates into a positive state of mind and better interactions

5. Follow-up :
- after a phone interview it is a good practice to send an email to the interviewer thanking them and also checking with them if they would like any additional follow-up information from your end.

Phone interviews are a critical part of the selection process and I hope these few tips go a long way in your acing the interview!

Do you have any questions related to this topic? Or do you have any suggestions/ ideas you would like to contribute? Add your comment to this post or write in to me at ckguruprasad@gmail.com.

Resignations are like divorces! Or, are they?

Resigning from your job is like going through a divorce. Some might argue about which one is tougher. But that is not our topic of discussion today.

Some senior professionals are resignation veterans and have no trouble going through the process without much trouble. But for most others the entire process can be a stressful, emotional and sometimes traumatic experience.

Here are a few tips on how you could smoothen this entire transition out of your current company.

1. The resignation letter - this is the first step that triggers of the entire process. In most cases it is advisable to have a chat with your manager/ boss about your decision before hitting them blind-side with an email resignation, especially when you or your manager is on a vacation!
(More on this in the next post!)

2. Preparing for the reactions - this is something that most people are least prepared for. There are a wide range of possible reactions that you could come across. And it helps to be mentally prepared for them.
Some of the possible scenarios could include :

a. Extreme displeasure - this catches most people by surprise. The reactions could range from being immediately escorted out of the building by security, to a verbal lashing by the manager, to cold hostile treatment by the entire team, to outright refusal to help with your resignation.
Some managers would even go to the extent of trying to jeopardise your move by speaking to the people in the company you are moving to.
These reactions can never be planned for and can be traumatic if you were not expecting them.

The best way to deal with such reactions would be to
- inform the hiring manager in the new company so that they are aware of the situation
- exit as quietly and as quickly as possible
- not get locked into a verbal/ mail duel with your manager/ colleagues
- take legal advice if contractual obligations are not being honoured or if statutory requirements are not being addressed eg. relieving documents, sign-offs, etc.

b. Emotional blackmail - this is usually witnessed when you have been with the company for a significant period and have built strong relationships within the organisation, especially with the senior management.
You are suddenly made to feel guilty about abandoning the company mid-way; and you are also told about how critical you are for the company's future and how the management has a lot of plans for you and your growth in the company.
Handling this is completely a personal choice. But if you are very clear about moving on then it is best to stand your ground firmly and handle the pressure gracefully and sensitively.
You could best demonstrate your appreciation and concern by helping plan and execute a smooth transition.

c. The counter-offer - this is a common response to most resignations, especially if you are a critical resource for the company.
There is no right way to respond to a counter-offer. But the most important point is to be appreciative of the overtures and to deal with the entire exercise in a sensitive manner so that people are not offended or hurt.
If you are very clear about moving on, then it is best to be upfront about it so that you do not get drawn into multiple discussions on the counter-offer which will only leave the current employer feeling offended and rejected.
And if you want to accept the counter-offer then it is best to inform the new company and the hiring consultant as at the earliest possible.
It is important to keep a few points in mind during this entire process :
- why did your company wait for your resignation to make you the counter offer? Does it mean that you were not able to establish your true value during the appraisal process? Or does it mean that your company doesn't value its employees adequately?
- will your acceptance of the counter-offer cause resentment among the management and your peers? Will they feel arm-twisted or black-mailed? That could then reflect in the way you are treated in the organisation.
- will the hiring consultant/ company feel that you were never serious about joining them and only used their offer to negotiate better terms in your company? This could affect your credibility in case you would ever want to go back to the consultant/ company.

d. CYA tactics - this is also a typical reaction if your current manager/ superior feels that his/her credibility with the management would be affected or that his/her performance would take a hit because of your resignation.
Your resignation has now created a problem for your manager which he/she now has to fix. A replacement has to be identified and the performance gap has to be filled.
He/she also, most likely, has to explain or justify to the management about your decision. And it is far easier for them to explain your exit if they can present you in poor light. Which usually explains the nit-picking and fault-finding with your work during the notice period.
There is not much you can do here, except staying calm and working on an agreed list of deliverables before your last day. It is important for you to ensure that you also get an agreement on the items to be delivered by the company and ensure that you get a closure on these items.

e. Balanced acceptance - this is one of those rare things that happen to a few people whose stars are aligned and who have built up considerable good karma! Here the manager/ superior understands that you have made up your mind and gracefully lets you leave after a quick transition.

3. Serving the notice period - during the notice period you should keep a few points in mind.
- make sure you do not bad mouth the management, company, managers or peers
- stay focused on leaving on a good note
- agree with your manager on how you would go about informing your colleagues and clients
- give a balanced and honest feedback during your exit interview
- make sure that you have made a list of paper-work to be completed and get it completed

I realise that there are many more aspects associated with a resignation. Divorces are never simple or easy. But thinking through your resignation and being mentally prepared for different scenarios would definitely help in smoothening the process.

Please send in interesting or traumatic resignation experiences that you would like to share. Also let me know if there are any other aspects of the resignation process you would like me to cover in my next post.

Avoid 'shot myself in the foot' disease!

I was recently meeting some candidates for a fairly senior-level position in a client company. One of the candidates just didn't show up for the meeting. This was after some mail exchanges, a confirmation mail and a calendar invite sent from my side.


Image: Phiseksit / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

 After waiting for about 10 minutes I tried calling this person's mobile phone. I was disconnected the first time. When I tried again, his wife answered the phone and informed me that he was 'unwell' and therefore couldn't answer the phone!

Now you would say that it is possible that he was really so unwell that he couldn't inform me in advance nor could he ask his wife to send me a message requesting for a change in schedule. But he well and truly shot himself in his foot by not making any attempts to contact me after this incident to apologise or to request for a reschedule.

He was obviously not interested in the role, but because of the way he dealt with it, he obviously faces a good chance of getting black-listed by most hiring or search firms.

Many senior-level people sometimes tend to do similar serious 'shooting their own foot'. And this can badly dent your credibility and image in the job world. Its a very small world out there!

Here are some things you can avoid doing and save yourself from the 'shot myself in the foot' disease. (Most of these sound obvious, but its amazing how often we see people ably demonstrating them!)

- There is nothing wrong in turning down an offer if you are not convinced about the company or the role or if the compensation package doesn't match your expectations.
But what is a clear 'no-no' is indicating your interest in the role, discussing the offer in detail, negotiating the compensation and then doing a disappearing act! Many professionals go through this process to negotiate a better deal with their current employer without realising the long-term impact of such actions on their credibility in the job market.

- And sometimes some job-seekers disappear in a similar fashion, but land up in a completely different company. And the search consultant and the potential employer have been kept in the dark about this possibility. This too reflects poorly on the individual and over time he loses the trust of hiring managers.

- But I think the worst of the lot are individuals who have accepted the offer letter, agreed on a joining date, and have constantly engaged with the search consultant and the hiring/ business manager throughout the process, and then have not showed up on the day they were to join. And they have not given any intimation to anyone about their change of plans! (This is literally like shooting yourself in both your feet!)

Some of the other minor symptoms of this disease include :

- Not showing up for the interview
- Turning up late without bothering to inform the relevant people
- Misrepresentation of information
- Providing fake documentation (eg. experience certificates)
- Bad-mouthing their previous managers/ colleagues/ companies

(This is only a representative list. I would like you to add to this list based on your own experience with people with this disease!)

Nobody understands me!!!

While most people normally tend to take their entrepreneurial leap after spending about 15-20 years in corporate careers, some like me have tended to flow against the tide. I started off as an entrepreneur and only recently moved into a corporate job. Most entrepreneurs I know find it very difficult to get back into corporate life and remain serial entrepreneurs for life.

I recently had two people reach out to me for some inputs and advice. Both had decided to scratch their entrepreneurial itch and now, after marking time in the entrepreneurial wilderness, wanted to get back to the relative comfort and safety of corporate life. But while one sounded completely lost and upset and bitter with his attempt at getting a job, the other sounded far more in control. And therein lies the story for this post!

And here's my version of the entrepreneur's guide to re-entry into the corporate atmosphere without getting burned in the process :

1. Hiring consultants and hiring managers in companies don't see you as demi-gods. It is very likely that they assume you failed at your entrepreneurial stint and are now looking at getting back.

It is important for you to highlight key achievements and specific metrics of your solo flight which they can co-relate with the typical skill-sets and competencies that they are looking for in potential candidates for jobs.

2. Most hiring folk have no clue of who you are and what your claim to fame is. And this is because you dropped off their radars ages ago. And now when you are trying to make an entry with a crash of cymbals and the glare of pyrotechnics in the background, they are not impressed nor are they willing to stick their necks out and recommend an unknown person to their clients or senior management.

During your entrepreneurial stint, it is important for you to network and stay connected with the thought leaders, fellow professionals and your own set of well-wishers and friends in the industry. One effective way of doing this is put together a set of advisors who could help you with valuable inputs for your venture and also double up as a reference group when you are looking to get back.

3. When you approach hiring consultants they are not sure how to slot you and which opportunities would be relevant for you. You come across as a 'jack of all trades, and maybe master of none'!

It is best to position yourself for very specific roles with a focused list of competencies when you approach consultants. It also helps if you define a specific set of roles in a defined list of companies instead of casting the net too wide.

4. You might assume that based on your entrepreneurial experience you would be the perfect choice for the CEO role in most companies. But don't be surprised or get offended when you are politely ignored.

Though the entrepreneurial stint does give you some unique skill-sets it doesn't necessarily make you the best candidate for a CEO role in most companies. There are the issues of scale, culture, processes, politics, etc. And most companies are looking for very specific skill-sets or experience and you come across as a generalist. Long-distance high-precision sniper rifle vs. a 12-bore shotgun, if you get what I mean!

But I have noticed that if you have worked on building your network, built credibility and reputation in the industry, and defined your career trajectory clearly then you have a clear edge over others in the job market!

So here's to a safe re-entry and a happy landing! :)

Why are search consultants so rude?

I obviously seem to have touched a raw nerve with my previous post - Why are recruiters so rude? I got a few comments from both sides of the divide. I would use them in a future post to list out the points and counter-points put up by some of the readers.

I had promised to cover the search consultants in this post.

I am listing out some of the most common peeves people have against search consultants and my suggestions on how you could address them :

1. They are so inaccessible in the first place! They just refuse to acknowledge our attempts to reach out to them.
Executive search consultants work on exclusive, and usually confidential, assignments for their clients. They are retained by corporates to help identify some very key, senior leaders for their business. These consultants then usually map and head-hunt people with very specific skill sets, pedigree and experience.

Given the exclusive nature of their work, search consultants work on a select set of assignments in a year. But they have hundreds and thousands of people reaching out to them in the hope of finding a dream job. Now these consultants are not in the business of finding jobs for people who reach out to them. They are in the business of searching for the ideal candidates for specific positions that their clients want to fill.

Most of the assignments these consultants are working on require people with more than 15-18 years of experience with very specific leadership skills and competencies.

So its no surprise that these consultants not only seem inaccessible, but also come across as not being responsive, sensitive or caring.

2. Is it necessary to woo a consultant? Why should I approach them? Let them approach me. They need me more than I need them.
In today's corporate environment it is increasingly important for you to be connected with a few good search consultants. Many companies use search firms for some of their key leadership hires. These roles will not come your way through job portals or through your personal networks.

It is also important for you to understand the role the search consultant plays for the hiring company and for you as a candidate. The search consultant is not just a resume-pusher (though many of them do just that). The companies trust their advice and opinions when it comes to their senior hires. You too should build a relationship with some good consultants where they become your 'trusted career advisors'.

And this relationship is a mutually beneficial one and cannot be only one-sided. There is a chance that they will reach out to you because of your achievements and your reputation, but the chances of them reaching out to you with your dream job are greatly improved if you have maintained a relationship with them.

3. How do I get the search consultant's attention? How do I reach out to them?
Don't reach out to a search consultant!

Especially when you are desperately looking for a job.

The best thing you could do is position yourself as a strong, potential candidate that they would reach out to whenever they are looking for strong candidates for their clients.

Search consultants always have a set of professionals they track through every career move and stay in regular touch with.

Now the question is - how do you get into a search consultant's list?

Here are a few tips to keep in mind :
- Make a list of the key consultants across some of the key search firms that cater to your specific industry.
- Now try establish contact with these consultants where you simply introduce yourself without sharing your resume. You could do this by finding their e-mail ids from the search firm websites or by connecting with them on LinkedIn.
- Request your friends/ colleagues to introduce you to the top consultants in your industry they have a good rapport with.
- Keep in touch with them and update them about your career moves and introduce them to good candidates whenever they are looking for people.
- Share details of your articles/ blogs/ tweets/ events which position you as a subject matter expert or as a key person in the industry.
- Do not give them the impression that you are hounding them.
- And the most effective way is to let your work speak for you and to let others do the talking on your behalf!

4. They don't seem to understand my profile and skill sets. They are not willing to look beyond my obvious skill sets. They cannot seem to think beyond some specific profiles.
The onus of positioning yourself with the relevant consultants in the search industry industry is upon you!

Please remember that these consultants are not in the business of understanding your uniqueness and finding you a job!

You have to build these relationships over time which then ensures that a few key consultants understand your achievements, your skill sets and competencies and your career aspirations. Only then will they reach out to you with opportunities which are in line with your dreams and expectations.

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Please write in to me at ckguruprasad@gmail.com or post your comment if you have any other questions on this topic of working with search consultants.

Why are the recruiters so rude?

Why are these recruiters so rude??? They never respond to mails or return my calls! And it was they who reached out to me in the first place!!!

This is a complaint I hear very often from a lot of friends and acquaintances. Especially when they learn that I am a search consultant! And they don't mean just the hiring/ HR manager in organisations, but also search consultants in various firms.

Now here's something I would like to mention upfront, almost like a disclaimer :
Please remember, there are good and bad professionals in every business, and it is no different with the recruitment business. Like in most industries, for every good recruiter, there are scores of incompetent, ineffective, indifferent and sometimes indiscreet recruiters.

Here's a few tips/ facts to keep in mind when you are dealing with recruiters/ HR managers/ search consultants :

I. The recruitment manager in the company :

- The recruitment/ staffing manager in a company typically has to deal with hundreds of resumes for every position they are trying to fill across all levels. They are not interested in finding you a job or enhancing your career. They are only interested in filling the position and achieving their recruitment numbers. And some of them have pretty large number of vacancies to fill. (Many companies do work at making this process as smooth and professional as possible for the applicants, but you will hear more complaints than praises since rejected applicants, who are the majority, normally tend to feel humiliated or offended by the end of the process.)

- This might not be as bad for some of the senior level hiring since the number of candidates are far lesser in number. But the candidates at that level too feel as upset, if not more so, because they are far more sensitive to being rejected. (You have to admit, we also have larger egos at this level! :) )

- The best way to deal with this is not to have any major expectations from the hiring managers beyond the basic professional courtesies and niceties. And don't be surprised if you don't get that too. Don't be upset or lose all hope if they don't respond to your mails or return your calls. They will write to you or call you only if they have a reason to. And your reaching out to them is not reason enough for them to respond!
Don't take it personally, because they are not singling you out. They don't know you from Adam, or Eve for that matter!

- But you can still stand out and get through all the clutter by making your resume do the talking for you. (Click here for tips on how you can make your resume count.)

- And there's absolutely no point in losing your cool or being rude in turn, because it only makes things worse for you. If there was any chance of your being shortlisted, you would just blew it away!


II. The recruitment/ placement consultant :
- You would typically go through a similar experience when you are dealing with recruiters from contingent hiring firms. They get paid only after the company selects a candidate presented by them. So don't be surprised if they are not paying much attention to you as you wax eloquent about your career aspirations! They are only interested in your resume which they can push along with a dozen or more others to the next company who has asked them to send resumes.

- But for certain positions this is the best way or the only way to go! So it helps if you are able to find out the relevant recruitment agencies who handle most of the hiring for the positions you are interested in within your industry. Maintain a list of these companies and their contact details. And write in to them and send in your updated resume whenever you are on the lookout for a job or a change.

- Again, don't expect them to respond back to you when you reach out to them. They would be interested in you in the beginning for as long as you are a potential candidate for them. After that you are just another resume in their database which might be pulled out for the next assignment in another company.

- Being networked and finding some connection to these consultants always helps. Connect with them on LinkedIn or try find any friend/ colleagues/ acquaintances who will be willing to put in a personal word for you with these individuals.

- In such cases, where the company is using multiple recruitment agencies to hire people, they would also usually be looking for people directly. If you are looking for a change or a new job, you should make a list of all the companies that you would like to join, send your resume to the email id they typically provide on their website and also keep checking the jobs section for specific openings and apply again to the email ids provided.

- Here again, networking and staying connected with the relevant HR and business people in these companies through LinkedIn and through friends/ ex-colleagues is very important.

III. The search consultant in a retained executive search firm :

(This is a completely different animal and it requires a separate post which will follow shortly.)

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So what has been your worst experience when dealing with hiring managers/ recruiters?
And maybe you have some memorable experiences to share as well!

(Do comment on this post or write in to me at ckguruprasad@gmail.com. If I use your experience or respond to your queries in my post, I will not mention any names of individuals or companies, so you can be rest assured.)

Why didn't I make it past the interview?

As business leaders climb up the corporate ladder, job switches typically reduce (though some still keep striving to be exceptions to this rule) and they are usually lulled by the fact that they don't need to seek out opportunities, but are usually head-hunted by companies or recruiters.

Some have this notion that they do not have to go through any formal interviews, instead there are only conversations with the key people in the hiring company.

While it is true that these hiring interactions with the company officials tend to be conversational, it is these 'conversations' that finally decide the fate of the person in terms of getting that juicy job or being politely told by the search consultant that the 'client was very impressed, but they felt that the profile didn't match the role'!

And in most cases the other person who landed the job might not have been far better suited for that role than you were, but her 'conversations' went far better than yours did. And I personally believe that it finally boils down to how better prepared you were for the interview in the form of a casual conversation or discussion.

And here are a few pointers for you to be better prepared for your next interview. (This holds equally true for the initial round of discussions with the search consultant the company has retained.)

1. First impressions matter (I know that sounds cliched)! Exude energy, confidence and let your clarity of thought come through in your interactions.

2. In many cases, you will be dealing with a search consultant initially before finally meeting the client. Many senior executives feel miffed at having to deal with a consultant. But you have to remember that the client has retained this person to identify & short-list the possible candidates for this role. It makes sense to treat this part of the process with the same level of seriousness as you would the interactions with the company officials.
Remember, if you are the right person for the role, the search consultant wants to get selected as much as they want to do the right thing for the client. Give the consultant the relevant information they are seeking to help them establish your fit for the role.

3. Some consultants will do a very superficial assessment, but some others will be very detailed. And going through a detailed process with the consultant will actually prepare you for the interaction with the company officials.
For each competency/ strength, be ready with specific examples and with as much quantifiable detail as possible including names, initial revenues, ending revenues, budget, savings, number of people on the project, length of time, etc.

4. Probe the consultant and the company officials for the success factors of the role they are trying to fill. Try get a clear rounded picture of the person they are looking for.
Control the flow of the conversation such that you are able to present the relevant information (your competencies and the evidence) based on this information which super-imposes you into the role in their minds.

5. In all your interactions during the process (and sometimes the process can be fairly elaborate with as many as 5-6 interviews spread over 3-6 months!) be genuine. Don't try to come across as someone you are not because you would end up in a job which you will not enjoy doing! Attitude is everything, but it has to be the right attitude and it has to be 'your' attitude!

6. Questions will be asked. There will be probing. And sometimes you might not even realise it. But when you are asked for information answer as succinctly as possible. You can always elaborate if you have the opportunity after that. Don't over-sell; be enthusiastic, yet measured. Never be overly casual or flippant, even if the people you are meeting come across as being very casual and friendly!

(I regularly come across people who, when asked a question, will be expansive and meander, and at the end of the narrative I am still none the wiser!)

7. And finally, remember the first point about 'first impressions'? That also includes personal grooming and appropriate dressing. And turning up on time!

(More on this in a later post.)

All the best for your next round of 'conversations'! :)

Social media for the beginner CXO

In the recent past, most magazines (online & offline), blogs, portals have been highlighting the importance of social media for companies as well as professionals, with some of them dedicated to CXOs.

But a quick survey of social media sites like LinkedIn and Twitter (we'll keep FB out of the picture on the simple principle that most of us are not interested in social presence to be 'Liked' by scores of followers!) shows us that most of the CXOs of the top Indian corporates (with the few exceptions like @anandmahindra) do not have active Twitter handles or LinkedIn profiles. Interestingly, many of the companies themselves are present on these platforms. The companies whose heads have active social media profiles are largely online, web-based businesses.

So is an active profile on these social media sites over-rated and superfluous? Not at all! I personally believe that over the next 5 years most CXOs will be 'socially' active. Most of the 'one and two downs' today are already active online and these are the CXOs of tomorrow.

So if you are not there yet, how do you go about it? And how active should one be? And where?
Let me try address some of these questions here.

- As a first step, set up your LinkedIn profile. Keep it as updated and complete as possible. Link it with your official/ regularly used email id so that you can actively respond to connection requests. Connect with your peers and other relevant people in your industry and related industries.

- Set up your Twitter handle even if you don't have time to tweet regularly. This prevents someone else squatting on your Twitter handle. And here too, follow the relevant people and companies. (And a place like Twitter also allows you to keep abreast of your industry and market news.)

- You don't need to keep people updated about that dinner you had with your prospective client. But make it a point to respond to people who reach out to you. Try contribute to discussions around your areas of interest.

- Be clear about your objective on the social media platforms. Is it building your brand/ equity? Is it positioning yourself as a subject matter expert? Is it to stay abreast of key developments in your industry and areas of interest?

- Whatever be your objective, do not expect immediate results. You have to stay connected, contribute and build your credibility over time.

- Your credibility & brand on social media is also that can as easily be destroyed as it can be built up. You have to measure your words & opinions before putting them out there. You can be dead sure that anything controversial or scandalous will spread faster than wild fire!

- Never make the mistake of assuming that your personal tweets/ status updates/ comments will be strait-jacketed and will not be seen/heard by the people who you interact with online professionally. The lines are very blurred and if you do not want people to get details of your 'wild' side, then its best to steer clear from it altogether! (One way around this is to maintain completely separate online identities.)

- A word of caution here! Social media interactions can be fairly addictive and you can very easily over-indulge.

- Social media interactions cannot be outsourced. Asking your EA to update your status to 'Feeling centred while watching the sunrise at Ananda' isn't going to work! :)

- And the most important aspect to remember is that social media is not free! It takes up your most valuable resource - time. So you have to tread this landscape very judiciously!

So here's to oodles of social capital for you. See you online soon! :)

Resumes still matter!

Resumes still matter!

I've been in the search industry for only a year, but I would already have received and gone through a few hundred resumes till date. And given the industry I am in, I receive resumes of some very seasoned executives from a wide gamut of companies.

But there are only a handful of resumes which stand out and catch my attention! And I am quite certain that it would be the same for the hiring managers and executives who are reviewing these candidates for various roles.

I have listed out a few pointers which could help you make your resume 'stand out' and get noticed. (These are ideas based on my own observations as well as suggestions I have borrowed from other experienced fellow professionals.)

1. First impressions count. Format it well. Keep it clean, elegant & professional. Ask a friend to help if you are not good at formatting yourself. (Send your resume as a PDF document and not as a Word document. This ensures that the recipient sees your resume the way you intended.)

2. Spell-check. Nothing is a bigger turn-off than spelling mistakes in your resume. Sounds obvious doesn't it? But it still amazes me how people send me resumes with spelling mistakes in them! And I don't mean the 'rogue apostrophes' which slip through the spell-check. Get 2-3 people to go through your resume and help identify such problems.

3. Customise. If you have enough information about the role then make the resume read like a 'sales proposal' where you are addressing the specific requirements listed by the company.
- Prioritise your skill-sets based on the company and the role
- List your experience based on the relevance and not necessarily by chronology

4. Remember that most people looking at your resume don't have time to read everything you are saying. So what do you do?
- List accomplishments & not responsibilities
- Knock off the objective and hobbies and references, unless they are relevant to the role
- Don't use long sentences or paragraphs. Bullet points work best.
- Keep your resume to 2-3 pages max. Anything more than that, people will only be searching for information they want to see and you stand the risk of their missing out something important.

5. Avoid hyperbole and buzz-words! Instead provide facts & examples of what you have achieved. Its so much more credible to know you are a problem-solver when you give an example than stating that you are one!

6. Nobody is interested in you! The people who are hiring you are interested in themselves and what you can do for them and the company. Let your resume communicate how you are not only relevant, but someone they should definitely be talking to! And communicate this in the first half page of your resume.

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One of the biggest mistakes people make is to pick up the 'perfect' resumes from various online resources and then just fill in some data. It sticks out like a 'wolf in sheep's clothing'!

Before writing your resume, start with a blank sheet (or a new document on your laptop) and list out what are the 3 key marketable skills that you would like highlight to the company. And then have a list of examples, successes, awards, etc. which help establish these skills.

And then make sure these come through clearly in your resume.