If you hire someone who requires a huge amount of training-time in soft-skills, then you are losing out on two accounts. Your money is going down the drain for that someone may never pick up the subtler humane skills required to deliver results in the workplace. It is like a guy who either knows the crunch of numbers or simply doesn’t. The BPO business is like that — either your employee knows how to convince people or just doesn’t. You might have a chap suave enough to bowl you in person but becomes a cold sponge over the phone or writes such inane emails that even your most loyal customer may be irked. So even if this prospective employee does well in his stint as a trainee, he’ll collapse and be naturally weeded out once he hits the floor. This obviously translates into loss of hard cash for you. But notice the loss your company suffers from the trying to train someone innately unsuitable for the job. If you put pen to paper, that translates to a lot of money!

Then there are folks who’d want to join you for the carrots you provide. That promised part-time MBA, that trip abroad, those gala feasts and the happy atmosphere your ad – people put in the papers for you. Let’s do some number crunching: first that huge colorful ad in the big dailies, then the money gone in  hiring fancy people to just put in the ad ( c’mon you’d have just as easily written those lines, otherwise you’d be a no-good boss), then you have that time wasted interviewing the wrong people, not to count the costs. And for all this waste of money and time, you get the wrong people — those who turn up believe in the eternal student syndrome. After they do their MBAs they feel they’ll be ready to deliver. And you must be feeling the same, otherwise why on earth would you paint an everlasting happy-playground for your employees. You’ll be attracting only the lighthearted or fair-weather people then. You need committed people who’ll feel they have a stake in your company. Those guys need not be wooed with goodies and freebies. You need people who do not believe in free lunches. Don’t follow the stick and carrot policy. It will surely backfire. Your rewards should come in due time without rosy future promises and a commitment on your part to stick with the employees through thick and thin. Pink slips are never the right option for the right employees how hard the going gets for you.

So next time when you recruit, make sure of not promising the sky. Tell your future employee that life is not so cool after all and the most exciting of things tend to drag. See who are still interested and you’ve got winners now!

]]> http://jobscj.wordpress.com/2008/07/30/dont-promise-the-earth/feed/ 0 Rhapsodysinger http://jobscj.wordpress.com/2008/07/09/when-a-company-has-to-be-frank/ http://jobscj.wordpress.com/2008/07/09/when-a-company-has-to-be-frank/#comments Wed, 09 Jul 2008 12:41:14 +0000 The Hero with a Thousand Faces http://jobscj.wordpress.com/?p=15 ]]>

Interviews in our country are mostly one way processes. The answers should only come from the person being interviewed. And without fail, the successful interviewees either give answers by rote or toe the expected official line. That is about all that happens in an interview room. The harm to both parties is incalculable: the company inevitably suffers due to the wrong people filling its key positions and the employee, since this is the wrong job for her; either has a breakdown along the way or just feels plain cheated. Resentment on both sides is the result.

So what should be the key elements for a good interview, especially for MNCs and BPOs?

When a person is willing to lay his cards on the table and take negative feedback in the same vein as he would receive positive feedback, then we know we are dealing with someone mature, someone indeed wise. & it is not too much to expect a company to be a bit more focused and self-conscious about the services it offers. Thus, the best way to go about an interview is to prepare a very succinct power-point presentation detailing the salient points of the company’s history and markets:

Original goals of the company

This whole show can be designed for and shown on a projector to a roomful of prospective candidates. This is the best that a company can do in an interview. Gone are the days when an interview was a monologue; now the company too needs to showcase itself for that last minute-before-the-interview drawing out of talents from its future human resources. The presentation needs to be done professionally and with open mind. Now we are ready to move on to the portion where you, the employer can reasonably expect a fair assessment and some honesty from the interviewee. Let none be in any unreasonable hurry — not for getting jobs, nor you be too eager to hand over your stakes to a person immature and still dependent on papa and mama.

We shall deal with the basics of what questions should be asked to the candidates. Just in case you have your next interview scheduled before I post : here is something to go by:
REJECT ANYONE WHO ONLY FINDS IMMEDIATE FAULTS WITH YOUR SETUP. UNLESS THE CANDIDATE SIMULTAENOUSLY COMES UP WITH AN ALTERNATIVE, THEN TERMINATE THE INTERVIEW AND CARRY ON. It is a sign of being grown up when we are able to posit viable alternatives to what we think is flawed. Otherwise all criticism is destructive and such fault-finders will only rake up trouble for you in the long run!

A typical interview lasts 5/10 minutes and even then most of the time goes in inanities on the part of the interviewer: will you be willing to work night shifts? We will pay you so much etc. It is best to have a short presentation on the company’s motives/ modus operandi prepared for the employee and when she enters the room ( or when a group) assemble, show them the video/power-point presentation and then have a group discussion, an HR quiz to know what they are thinking after seeing what your company is all about. You can ask questions like: do you think we could do better from the way we function? Is there any way you see yourself implementing these ideas someday with us? Why would you not go to a better company given our small scales? Well, if you caught me lolling, would you tell me honestly or would you let it go?

The questions need to be tailored beforehand and the reactions analyzed by trained counselors. The answers will at least get rid of most of the flotsam jetsam who might enter your company.

We will next talk of what information you need to give your employees about yourself, without saying too much, that will get you the best hands you can possibly want.

Who is the right sort of person for working/being hired by you?

Before I answer this question, let me first dispel two myths about BPOs. It is important to clear the air even before you start hiring or you will end up hiring the wrong people.

Myth #1: BPO jobs demand no entrepreneurial skills.
Truth #2: BPO jobs demand no entrepreneurial skills from only the clerk. The creative ones among us can find newer methods to deliver the services that are demanded by clients. Let me give an example how the truly gifted can carve for herself a unique niche within the BPO/KPO industry. It is commonly held that this sector is best run through the Six Sigma Protocols. What is this Six Sigma process and what are its applications? Six Sigma is used for routine tasks and is used to save operational costs through the streamlining of routine activities like delivering parcels for a courier company, servicing customers with technical help for an electronic product and so on. This same Six Sigma breaks down in one-to-one human interfaces. It is precisely at the instant when a call-centre executive talks to a customer trying to sell insurance, say, the Six Sigma loses value. Here the entrepreneurial skills of the executive come into play. How better can I pitch my sales? Is it proper that to this client, who is so grumpy, I appear so cheery? What does his voice tell me? All these parameters and more have to be assessed by your employee within literally milliseconds. This is where the individuality of the employee comes into play.

The present structuring of the whole BPO/KPO industries is based on the SIX SIGMA protocols: get them, train them, and let them loose. This is the sure fire way to waste both crucial financial resources and human resources. Your training makes zombies of your most important assets and the money spent in terms of both raw cash and time/manpower is an ultimate waste. As you have to understand that your call centre or back-office cannot be manned by robots, so also the people you hire need to understand that they are not parts of processes. Rather they are the process…the process is not something rigid but something which brings optimal long term results. In the short term acting like zombies may yield results but then when customers tire of the old ways, then you have got a problem in your hands.Myth #2: In BPOs one can’t/shouldn’t stay long with the same company. Or working for a company.
Truth #2: When an employee is loyal then the company wants to keep her. But when does an employee feel a sense of belonging to an organization? Only when he or she feels appreciated and there is an honest appraisal on both sides. There is no such thing as a company or a firm. Of course they exist on paper but the reality is that people work for other people. The first lot we call employees and the latter, the company. So if a company is willing to go a step forward and see to the needs, both psychological and financial of the employee then the employee feels a sense of security. This is important for thus grows a sense of being responsibility towards the company: I too am an owner, my decisions count. The newly joined might want the coffee-break at 3am and not 4am. Be attentive and listen and sincerely see what you can do about this simple request. This then will be the beginning of a healthy dialogic relationship between you and your employees. Japanese Corporations have succeeded so well by not giving the short shrift to their employees. The Japanese model works better than the US model of kick-assing employees. Most US businesses are being taken over by the Japanese. LOL.

So we are searching for employees who will be able to function within this Six Sigma Protocol and at the same time will be able to negotiate the chasm between abstract inhuman process-systems and the emotionally charged world of regular human interactions. And we want kids who are not heartless, kids who will be assets to the hiring company and will not bolt the day a better offer arrives. The present recruitment process does in no way look for these qualities in possible employees.

Soft skills by themselves are of no use unless the candidate possesses an outgoing personality. Today I’d like to discuss some of the qualities which are desirable in all marketing professionals, especially those who are in the BPO, KPO sectors.

Part I

We have to keep some realities in mind. Call centre jobs are like all other jobs insofar as they provide a degree of financial security and a sense of belonging to a larger group. The innate desire of young people is to see themselves as part of something larger. This is partly satisfied through their induction into call-centre teams. But this is about where the similarities with other jobs and BPO jobs end.

The first thing that strikes innumerable kids who have quit the BPO industry is the monotony of the job. They had never figured that these dream-jobs were oral clericalism! They had never figured that they would have to sell the company’s products no matter what. They never figured that they had to be affable throughout their shifts. These kids feel betrayed and swear never to work for any BPO ever again. The BPO industry needs to wake up and do a check: why are bright kids leaving us?  We pay good money; we are giving them moral support through our counselors, darn! we are providing the kids with MBAs! What are they complaining about? The shifts are taxing, but then so many are adapting! I’d say that the answer to your attrition problem does not lie in getting the gals with the right soft skill. The answer lies in getting the right type of people in the BPOs. To use psychology: you need extraverted people with soft skills. And even if the latter do not have adequate soft skills, they’ll adapt and fight their own inhibitions. A person might be brilliant with their English but is mentally unsuitable for balancing deadlines, monthly targets and at the same time accommodating personal dreams. There should be psychological screening, & not merely HR screening, before one is allowed/offered a job at a BPO. This is in the interest of both the hiring company and the employee. The company insulates itself from attrition and target-related issues while the employee is saved much pain which invariably follows a wrong career choice. In fact, the psychological profile may even help the possible employee find the right career. A happy employee saves money for any company.

Key areas which need to be kept in mind while hiring people are:

• Does the candidate have the ability to take rebuffs in a team-situation?
• Does the person show easy signs of irritation?
• What does she/he expect from the job?
• Is the candidate impulsive? Etc…

To be continued tomorrow.

Our outsourcing industry suffers from three diseases:

a) Lack of soft-skilled personnel.

b) High attrition rate.

c) Huge HR expenditure for recruitment drives.

& all these when the Indian economy is slumping. Small outsourcing companies will either be forced to wind up or will have to just settle for less qualified manpower.

This is the beginning of the vicious circle:

Ø Settle for less (due to relatively poorer HR mechanism)…naturally poor service

Ø Customer dissatisfied

Ø Takes business elsewhere

If you are a small start-up or an established family business in the BPO, KPO or for that matter, any other small business you cannot afford to hire expensive media spin-masters. In fact, employing office-ridden media-managers will drain you of valuable resources. You need to save every paisa in these hard times.

I have a few suggestions for your company:

• The answer lies in taking your recruitment drive to tier-two/three/fours cities. There is a huge workforce waiting there who are soft-skills ready. Keep in mind that our smaller towns have convents, colleges run by missionaries and there aspirations are a bit low in terms of money.
• Outsource your recruitment drives. You need someone to liaison with college students hungry and desperate for jobs and making their futures. You need to capture young people right from their college days. To do this, you need someone familiar with the student community and small town India.
• We are a team of educational professionals who are willing to help you grow by giving you the best in terms of manpower, a steady stream of employable youth and freeing you of any headaches of trying to figure out whom to hire and from where.

Our website will be shortly up and running…but before that once again let me recapitulate what we will provide you:

ü At a negligible cost you will be recruiting soft-skills’ ready students.

ü No more costly newspaper ads. No worries about conducting interviews. Just let us know what you want and we’ll do the rest. We even have a psychiatric counselor in our team to evaluate and connect you with the best candidates.

ü Your new employees will NOT DEMAND huge initial salaries.

ü Tapping potentially untapped markets.

You can be in any part of India…just set up an appointment with us at ceo@jobscj.com

Leave the rest to us.

Look out for daily updates…