Who had the last laugh?

I recently interviewed a senior leader for a client assignment that I was running. I am not sure if the client will hire this individual, but I am definitely going to present this individual as a very good candidate for the role.

This is one person that stands out among many of the people I have met over the last few months. And I asked myself what was it about this person that made him stand out? There were other candidates who had better experience, better pedigree, and various other credentials.

But the one aspect that seemed to make a difference is humour, or rather his sense of humour.

I remember distinctly that this individual had high energy, was not cagey nor over-enthusiastic, was not condescending nor apologetic. He was pleasant, sure of himself and had a crisp and clear way of presenting his responses. And most importantly, he a good sense of humour.

I have had interactions with candidates in the past who come across as cynical and sarcastic. And the sarcasm is directed towards their employers, colleagues or even head-hunters! And it was clear that the cynicism was dragging the individual into a vicious downward spiral.

But, I digress! Coming back to the individual I was talking about.

He clearly used his positivity and his fine sense of humour to great advantage.

Is humour a good idea, especially in formal situations like job interviews? Does it always work?

• Humour works if, and only if, you are able to carry it off well, and it is not a forced effort. If you are not feeling comfortable enough to use humour, any forced effort would only back-fire.
• Humour works if the people you are interacting with, are able to appreciate the humour. The last thing you would want is to give some stiff-upper-lip executives the impression that you find the whole exercise 'a laugh'.
• Humour works once you have established your credibility and have developed a connection/ rapport with the individual(s) you are meeting. Trying to tickle their funny bone too early in the interactions would leave them wondering what you found so funny!

Humour, if it flows naturally, and is well used, could be a great way of engaging with the people across the table and taking the discussion up a few notches. It clearly helps you make a favorable impact and stand out vis-a-vis the competition.

Use humour well, and you could well have the last laugh!

Are you a lifer?

Recently most of you in India would have come across this article about the near zero-attrition among the senior management in companies like ITC and HUL (Zero attrition at senior management since 15 years; remuneration & reward strategy cited as main reasons - bit.ly/xTuQ1a). The article went on to enumerate the reasons for these exceptions in today's corporate environment.



Photo credit : http://bit.ly/zAbxRQ

 Most organisations spend a huge amount of time, money and effort in reducing attrition, especially at leadership levels. High churn at these levels creates instability within the organisation, uncertainty in the ranks and ultimately below-par returns for all stake-holders of the organisation.

But is zero-attrition practical? And more importantly, is it desirable in today's context?

It definitely seems to be a desirable attribute for the organisation, but is it desirable for you and your career?

Senior leaders with relatively stable career graphs are viewed in a positive light by hiring managers or board members of companies. But what about leaders who have spent their entire career lives in a single organisation? Here are a few thoughts :

• If an organisation is able to provide growth, stability and reward to an individual, there is no reason for the person to move. (Remember our parents who spent their entire career in single organisations/government jobs and retired with all the benefits? They couldn't bring themselves to think of moving out of those jobs.)
• But in today's context, you do not come across too many organisations where you can bet your entire career on. You still have the government jobs and some rare companies like ITC & HUL, but these are exceptions.
• Professionals have far more risk-appetite today and are willing to move companies for professional growth. And, unlike in the past, there are various options available out there. And such jumps are no longer viewed negatively.
• What this trend has given rise to is an entirely different perspective of 'lifers', or people who have spent a lifetime in an organisation. (People who have spent 12-15 years or more in an organisation tend to be viewed as lifers by hiring managers!) Lifers actually get looked upon with a pinch of suspicion!!!
• Has this person stayed on in this organisation because she didn't get head-hunted by anyone else?
• Is this person too risk-averse and not willing to move out of her comfort-zone?
• Is this person too used to working in a certain environment? Will she fail if she is put into a different setting?
• This person has not demonstrated the ability to move into a new organisation and deliver in a completely new setting.
• Did this person grow in the organisation by virtue of being the only person left behind? Have all the good people left leaving behind only the average performers?

So zero-attrition and lifers would be great indicators for organisations, but may not necessarily be good for you and your career.

And the worst thing that can happen to a lifer is suddenly finding yourself being let go by your organisation and feeling like a deer staring at the headlights of a speeding truck on the corporate highway!

Don't let this happen to you!

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! :) )