How to Answer – Tell Me About Yourself

Considered as an interviewer's nuclear weapon and an interviewee's trigger for a heart attack.The question Tell me about yourself is the oldest and one of the most asked questions throughout the history of humankind and its professional journey. With its inventor unknown (for obvious reasons), it remains one of the biggest unsolved puzzles for several reasons.

 One, there is no wrong or right answer to it, Two, it is usually not asked with any intention at all (except to get things going and possibly, to check communication skills as well), Three, it is almost always the one to give away more negative vibes than positive, Four, there is not even a proper template to lay over some content for it.

 So, taking the three points in consideration here is a quick guide to the fourth problem. But first, take a look at the variations of the question itself, and a general comment to understand them.

Tell me about the variations!

·         What should I know about you?

·         How was your journey so far? or How did you reach where you are?

·         Summarise your life till date!

·         And with recent trends in consideration, What would you write in your Social Media Account bio?

And so on...

Tell me about the answer!

Ah, the answer! It has been a long time since I've been answering the question. And it was into a job once, that I personally approached the interviewer who interviewed me, and asked, What did you wanna know? What did you expect?  and he said, Whatever gets you on the job?

And what gets you the job are three factors: Skills and Knowledge, Approach and Practice, Results and Analytics. And based on it is a template devised to segregate content and deliver it in the right order, making a total of three kinds of answers.

The Opening

Start off unconventionally, really! Any job over the world requires thinking, quick thinking. You can start off with a quote you like to work on, or what your friends/colleagues call you and the reason for it; in short, bring in an interesting element and start off by explaining it with you and your past as examples or data points of any kind. It helps give a direction to tread on towards a good answer. A few opening lines to look into are:

Greetings, my name is ABC XYZ

·         but my colleagues like to call me PQRS while friends call me LMNOP because back in school... (and you start off on your past)

·         and was brought up among/in/with/by DEF who, combined with my schooling, triggered... (start off on your developmental journey)

·         and am an inquisitive reader since my school time, reading HIJ in class... (explain how your hobby/habit/skill shaped you)

·         and I like to live based on the saying... (explaining how it defines you and your past)

The Content

Once you have gained the flow using an opening, you need to deliver the required details of the above-mentioned nature within the story. Depending on the job profile, previous experience, and your personality, there are three ways to deliver it. The opening can also be chosen or formulated accordingly.

·         Skill-First Approach is when you start to highlight your skills and how you developed them through your journey. Can be enhanced with an overview of the knowledge acquired. Also, this leads the interview towards topics that one knows of further down the line, and can be helpful. Example: ...triggered an interest in writing while in school, which aided by the communicative nature and reading habits of mine, went on to get me a job in content writing, my first job. As the content was related to marketing endeavors, I read and developed skills related to SEO, affiliate networking, etc which were sharpened with the help of my manager. Later... (and so on) and is recommended for freshers, low-experience individuals, ones transitioning industries, and good for everyone too.

·         Experience-First Approach is the one where basic skills are sorted in out initially, and then, short story-like descriptions of work are given out. It is to highlight the approach you use and the practice you have had in your work. This often leads interviews to instant planning and tests and are a good way to highlight such skills. Example: ...saying "Efficiency lies in the little grey area between perfection and deadlines." Which has driven my schooling and higher-level academics with good grades alongside extensive co-curricular activities! And I practiced the same in my previous jobs like we had these print material to be delivered every weekend and we used to finish it on a basic level by Wednesday noon, grilling it further for a day to make it the best possible version of it. 

    

     This lead to impressive designs with timely completion which is what matters to me... and is recommended for intermediate experienced individuals, fresher with intern/co-curricular/volunteering experience, and anyone with experience, especially in newer or unconventional jobs.

·         Result-First Approach is for those who have achievements to speak of or the work profile is output oriented like sales jobs. It can be used to highlight either or both the results and the analytics around it like profits, lead generation, rank improvement, resources saved, etc. This doesn't give out much direction to the interview a little further but gives out impressive data for discussion during that. Example: ...back in school, I maintained very good relations with my seniors and teachers, which often helped my friends hide behind me and thus, the nickname. Also, the same skill, when I used professionally, led to better client relations and gave us much more freedom and flexibility to work that led to overall improvement in everyone's work and reputation gain, both online and offline bringing XYZ organic leads... and is recommended for sales and marketing experienced individuals, individuals with analytical profiles like accounts, legal, etc, technical operations job, etc.

The Conclusion

To reach conclusion is often the most difficult part of the answer, and also, one that gets tested very less as well. Also, if the answer is leading on to questions that can be asked or details that can be interviewed upon, it generally gets interrupted and gives a continuity to the process, eliminating the conclusion. Still, it is essential to have a clear conclusion in mind. Conclusions can range from an ambition statement, a vision and/or mission statement, or just a marginally smaller goal or next step you look forward to. A well-drawn conclusion reflects a lot of good traits in an individual. A conclusion can look something in the lines of:

·         ...with the prospectus I am here for, I intend to move forward with data analytics as my expertise, along with acquiring certification in it.

·         ...working with XYZ opens up the prospectus of growing in the industry in which I plan to do an MBA and further my career.

·         ...with my current understanding of the organization's goals, the new verticals that they are looking into are also the ones I intend to grow myself with further experience and guidance.

Final Form

The final form should be a content along the lines of above points or any other approach as may deems fit, but must maintain a flow and integrity. The overall speaking time should be no less than a minute and no more than three. Recommended speaking time for an answer is around two to two and a half minute. Give the opening and initial introduction 10-20 seconds, the conclusion should take another 10-15 seconds, rest must be managed and engaged with the main content.

Remember, a storytelling format will always tend to impress and give the benefit against small mistakes and casualness of information. Since, it is about the past, its best to begin mid-way from school and move quickly to college/professional life. It is, however, not negative while using a mixed content approach, fixing emphasis on a certain set leaves a better impact for most. However, it varies from person and profiles as well.

Lastly, remember the interview is not about you, neither the interviewer is there to bring you down or something like that, nor it is just about just the job. It is about You doing the Job for and with the Organization. And that is what you need to project.

Be Careful When You are on a Job Search! 5 Things to Look In For Signals

Looking for jobs itself is a walkthrough into experiences one may not have seen. Job search for most of us is the first step into the real world and the first look into its bright and dark sides. And ever since recruitment has taken the form of business as a recognized industry, the bright has got brighter and dark, darker. In countries like India, where unemployment is almost a phenomenon, the business is taking a toll on both, job seekers and recruiters. The reason being, setbacks in culture and technology, and most importantly, lack of awareness.

 As a part of the industry and access to in-depth insights, there are certain suggestions for job seekers to make it a better experience. Cause it's always better to learn from other's fall (experience) than to fall ourselves and learn. Let's break it down to the different aspects of the industry to get a better understanding of it.

 Job Portal

Commonly called job search engines, the portal hosts both candidates, and recruiters and consultants to provide an easy process for recruitment. Generally, job postings, job search are browsed by candidates with details about posts including job details, company details, contact details. From the other side, recruiters and consultants browse candidate profiles to search for prospective employees. This is how we understand job portals as the Shine.com team while making sure at least the recruiters are verified before allowing to use the database. Although, there are websites that host similar functionality but are classified websites with adverts on it generally called advertising platforms. The points to be noted here are:

·         Using Advertising Platforms require a little care since the recruiters and postings may not be verified. Look for details and descriptions, weigh the content (for grammar and composition, relevance of data, etc.) and look for company and contact details (at the right place). Most fake posts will not have contact details in proper place but in descriptions and mostly without the company name. And almost all real recruiters will provide the official email address as the quintessential contact detail, if not anything else.

·         Explore the website and go through its functionality, social media profiles (if available) to verify it is a portal and not an advertising platform. Do not upload the resume or provide contact details (except email for signing up) before making sure of it. Some features can help differentiate portals from others like recruiter profiles, company profiles, emailing and/or contacting recruiters from the portal directly, privacy settings (especially for contact details), customer support, etc.

·         Complete the Profiling with all the relevant details and keep them updated with time. Also, visit the portal regularly to see if any communication or views have been made on your profile. Provide details of the kind of jobs and its aspects that you are looking for. In short, do the formalities with a practical approach and be updated.

Example: Say you are searching for Reliance job vacancies, look for the email address with a Reliance related domain, look for the phone number for the location, cross-check from the internet. A Reliance vacancy of local scale may still not have such details but can be checked from the address and other aspects.

HR Consultancy

HR Consultancy firms are the ones that manage recruitment process for either or both, job seekers and employers. In which case, there are two scenarios that develop. One, where job seekers hire them to search for jobs of relevant nature. Two, companies hire them to search for candidates and do the initial screening for the openings. Either of the scenarios, what needs to be noted is:

·         Charges are levied for the service. If they come from the employer's end, it is borne by the employer. If one hires them, it has to be borne by them and this is where things may go wrong. On the darker side of the industry, a lot of lobbying goes on on this front. Check the credentials of the consultant, their registration certificates, billing information, etc to verify. Also, seek contact details of companies and employees they have put together and meet them. Check their contacts and relevance in your industry too.

·         Offerings by HR consultants are common, regarding professional courses, training programs, etc to enhance professional strength. If it seems important, check the affiliation and other details of the courses, verify certificate value, and look for multiple options for the same as well.

·         Be Warned, the above two are the points where the lobbyists try to make quick money out of candidates. Especially, they seek registration fee, and later, force into unnecessary training and coursework and then, leave the candidates in dark. The signs to flag them are, unnecessary interviewing and pitching for a registration fee, not disclosing name and contact of the employers, little to no knowledge about job prospectus, unverifiable bills and receipts or no issuing of them, etc.

Example: Scenario: Say you are contacted for Reliance vacancy by a consultant, if they interview on phone and send you details for further test and interview directly to a Reliance office, then it is genuine. If they ask you to come down for an interview at their own center, FLAG, possibly they'll seek registration fee as well.

Scenario: You contact (on call or revert for the email) through an advert and are asked to come down to interview at a non-official address (not of the employer) FLAG, you are being funneled for above. Similarly, you get in touch with a consultancy and they interview you directly without any lead, FLAG. Similar irrelevant happenings, suggestions, visits, communications, etc are all FLAGS.

 Referrals 

In the world of extensive networking opportunities, referrals are one of the best bets and also, a very difficult approach as well while looking for a job. Referrals are best supported through industry experts and reputed educationists, however, they are not limited to it. Working freelance or on short-term contracts are one of the best ways to network professionally and in the process, useful referrals can be found as well. Also, referrals can come from established employees as well, but networking or reach still is essential.

 The only care that needs to be taken care of with referrals is, the person should have sufficient reputation, should know them enough and be known to them enough as well to validate your professional potential. And most importantly, they should either come through a reliable channel or found by you.

Job Fairs

Job fairs are a fairly new concept, introduced to tackle the communication gap between recruiters and job seekers. It also takes the competition on standardized levels. A job fair works, with similar functions to a portal, in two ways. One, by providing candidates with information about vacancies and opportunity to apply for it in person along with meeting a representative personnel. Two, by providing companies to target their recruitment process without confining themselves, gather the database of candidates, and create their talent pool. Informed actions in a fair can get the job done, just know these:

·         Be Informed about the recruiters, companies, and other professionals attending the fair, a thorough examination of the brochure will give all the information. Plan and explore the event according to your requirements and interests. 

·         Interact with professionals, not just recruiters but other individuals with experience (never know when you land a referral). Especially while exploring industries that do not fall into your direct domain, listen and exchange information, there are always hidden prospectus waiting. Interacting with the recruiters may also provide leads other than the ones already on the table, but only a healthy impactful interaction can extract it.

·         Regulate your activities to a limit and instead, give quality time to certain prospectuses. Also, regulations should also extend towards approaching consultants representing recruiters and/or multiple employers. Such a case simply beats the cause fair stands for. There are other self-imposed regulations that one needs because they are under constant watch of many recruiters.

LinkedIn

This is currently one of the most reliable and widest network for professional networking and subsequently, job search. Unlike other social networks, it follows a rather targeted approach with features aimed at professional works only. To use linked in for job search requires a certain understanding of the network, but with it, it is fairly easy and adopted by most of the organizations as one of the go-to channels for recruitment. What you need is:

·         Share your experience, knowledge, connections, opportunities through creating or just sharing quality content on the channel. Filling in just the profile with relevant content about your experience and professional and academic prowess can give an edge in the job search.

·         Activity among and outside your connections can help build reliable professional relations. Searching for a job, you can ask your connections' permission to include them as references to give a review if asked for. Relevant and honest references are a great way to strengthen profile. 

·         An Updated Profile to give the best information on your professional life for recruiters to go through. Also, keeping it updated (and switching on public updates) will keep you active among your network. Also, can serve as a motivation towards undertakings to increase professional prowess. Also, skills backed by people among your connections validates them as well.

·         Network among the people in your industry and related industries, especially recruiters. Connecting with them provides one, updates on openings as they update them, two, send your updates among them to present your progress, three, find individuals who may be potential referrers for you. 

Doing everything together may prove to be tiring, confusing, and complicated. Use all the medium wisely and give the due time and effort they require. Job portals require time periodically to update and rest can be invested in search. LinkedIn and other networks require less but regular time. Job fairs are scheduled events, informed well in advance and are manageable accordingly. Keep an open mind with consultants but also, careful approach. In all these processes, keep an eye out for individuals who can provide referrals, learn from everyone and have healthy professional relations. And elevate your search to a good level that you can stand out among the crowd and finally succeed. Persistence, folks, is the key!

Yes, we know that Job Search could become tricky sometimes, but if you use right rules and Job Search techniques, your dream job can actually just click away from you!

HR Lessons From The Analysis of Flipkart, Snapdeal and Patym Jobs

Flipkart, for all that matters, took the nation by storm, through its first-in-the-market edge and some of the highest levels of funding raised. Toe to toe was SnapDeal and PayTM. And when looked at, they all looked pretty much the same in every aspect except PayTM's payment banking. And one of the most common subject matter they shared without any dispute was the work culture. And against them stand giants as Amazon and Alibaba, with strict corporate cultures and customer driven approach.

Before we delve into the realms of what kind of experience Flipkart jobs are or that of Amazon, let's take a quick glance at the histories first.

·         Flipkart with its decade-long run has seen some of the biggest funding, staying independent, and currently, almost on the verge of collapsing in a financial strain.

·         On the other hand, a history of SnapDeal news points towards a tough struggle against Flipkart jobs. Raising a lot of funds, it eventually went under the indirect umbrella of Alibaba.

·         PayTM again wasn't able to maintain its independence and got under the shadow of Alibaba. Although, had it got just a few years of freedom and support, the payment bank it finally is would have kept it supported, especially after the excessive market capitalization after demonetization of 2016.

Let's get back to the common grounds! So, the work culture of these organizations boasted an open and free environment with utmost levels of flexibility. And in that many thrived and many perished, many saw whole different forms of opportunities. However, there are very few cases of a general career in these organizations, the sort where people move step by step and grow consistently. It took some study to actually understand what was happening, so here is the analysis.

Openwork culture, traits, and compatibility:

·         An open work culture, in its most accepted forms, puts emphasis on depressurizing employees and giving them the freedom to work on their own terms. For the most part, it improves the general performance of individuals and smaller teams, brings out the versatility of employees, and redistributes powers. It also closes hierarchical gaps and streamlines work.

·         Creative, self-motivated individuals thrive in such environments. They get the freedom they need to harness their energies. However, those with aggressive and diplomatic attitude may pose a threat to the organizational health because of lack of hierarchical structure.

·         Individuals with calculative aptitudes and balanced behavior face problems but can be overcome with minor modifications. The changes are on an individual level and need to be identified and applied soon.

·         The ones with under-confidence and those who need guidance often find it difficult in such environment. These are the ones with shortest runs.

A · open culture is a place for ideas and innovations. They seed and bring unconventional strategies to tap into markets, like Flipkart’s Big Billion Day, which also points to lack of experience or calculations. Also, the developmental pace is fast for the organization and slower on more segregated levels.

·         Aggressively natured individuals can find it stimulating, motivating, and progressive for themselves. A general dissatisfaction may arise due to individual devaluation but are driven to drive. These are also the second to exit.

·         Strategic thinkers and cautious individuals are generally dissatisfied with work, but also find the results and the experience itself as a learning opportunity. Also, these are the ones that bring untested and innovative ideas on the table (to get them tested). They are mostly happy and also, the biggest contributors to the organization since they get to play a lot.

·         Individual with group dependencies are often the most satisfied employees and also, a strong foundation for the organization to stay up on.

·         And lastly, open work culture also gives space for socializing and inter-personal interactions. It helps build very strong teams and internal support mechanisms. It improves the learning curves of employees. It further adds to group approach and takes away individual value. Also, the general integrity of the organization is always compromised due to conflicting individual values and lack of general organizational ethics.

·         Extroverts and introverts, both find the environment a little overwhelming and conflicting to individual needs. Same goes for creative and intellectually strong. Any individual with a little too inclination on either side of any traits will be hampered.

·         People with a balanced approach, ambiverts, positively diplomatic, with traits more of managerial nature are the ones that deal with it best and are at complete ease.

Amazon's strict culture and compatibility:

The corporate culture like the one Amazon offers, is a strict set of rules, regulations, and goals. Keen eyes watch over most works, the hierarchy is well-defined and so are the responsibilities. Social characteristics of the job are minimal. Learning is slow, growth itself is a dependent phenomenon. Innovations in such culture are less and calculated. While decisions are made strategically and with foresight, meaning a lot of calculation and experience used, but less gained. Almost everything in direct opposite of open culture.

·         Individuals with the most combination of traits will be dissatisfied and will stay for short to intermediate periods. However, those who show progressive combination attitude will be acknowledged to move up in their limited period. Mostly, because of strict goals and values. Most upper-level employees are employed separately than internal filling mostly due to the same reason.

·         Very specific traits like strategic thinking, intellect, diplomacy, and so will certainly find it compatible with their nature. People with consistency, persistence, and such values may keep in too. Most traits are redundant in such a culture because only the required are appreciated, rest kept out of sight.

Comparing the environment itself shows how recruitment industry needs more data and analytics on both, organizations and individuals to get to work together. However, the most part of the downside is faced by individuals than the organization itself. Yet, if compatibility check is done properly, it may lead to higher job satisfaction and higher growth. There is still a lot to study and analyze to get such Amazon jobs in place, and the HR industry and maybe, even the organizations and individuals may need to evolve accordingly.

Career Wish list, Career Planning with Endless Opportunities!

Wish lists, they are everywhere around us. And why wouldn’t they be, after all a fragment of every human mind functions solely as a wish list. The part of us always keeps planning and influencing choices; making us question where we stand and where we could; where are we going and where we must and on and on. Much of our momentary to lasting existential crisis originates from this fragment only.

So, why not document and bring the fragment to a physical form, to keep together and our careers too. And to make sure, things are ticked every now and then. Yet the concept may seem a little vague. So just think about it a bit.

Career, what does that mean?

The whole set of professional undertaking that takes care of the following: Financial Security, Social Security, Psychological Well-being, and Miscellaneous Fulfillments alongside the experience and other gains. That's what a job is all about, right? Often the intrinsic requirements and priority order may deviate from the general understanding of one or more. Say social security may mean being recognized as a member but not much involvement into it and having a simple, uneventful life in peace, alongside an eventful career. And for the same, a career can be planned well to achieve that.

                                                                                                                             

Wishlist, how does that add up to the career?

We all have requirements; needs, wants, and desires. Needs are quintessential stuff, want is added bonus over needs to enhance our being, and desires are the topping, redundant but important for the mind. Any career will take care of the needs, hence, the needs and desires are what will direct career path(s) and thus, the concept of the wishlist.

And what will it be?

Just like any e-commerce store, a wishlist is the set of things that you don’t have now, but your intent to own them as and when possible. It is a list of exact items, particular and precisely representing the product wanted. And the funny thing is, just like the e-commerce stores, life also presents alternate choices for all (inspired by your wishlist) with slight to little extra deviations. So the wishlist must essentially be about precise things in the lines of

·         Company/Employer List: The companies, after extensive research, that one would wish to work for or with. No need to specify a reason for any but an abstract statement can be given to make sense of the lot.

·         Post and Responsibility: The different kind of jobs and the levels at which one would wish to stand at, possibly, with a tentative timeline which will eventually aid in the next point. They may be conflicting, unrelated, and/or there may be multiple sets of work profiles one would want to move along with.

·         Salary Graph: A number of earnings (along with savings) one wishes to receive in return for the works. This has to be adjusted for inflation from time to time to keep its relevance.

·         Location and Settings: The places one feels for, in terms of living, visiting, exploring, settling down, and so. Settings refer to the general setup around, that would please the mind irrespective of the locations but dependent on lifestyle and choices. Both dependent on job location.

·         Culture: The kind of societal setups one wish to spend time in and can differ for work, personal, family, and other scenarios.

·         Education and Literacy: What to learn, what to get certified in, and similar endeavors that will impart self-value and value in setups.

·         Aspirations: This is one complicated point, say you want to live a peaceful life after retiring at 40 in a seaside village, then everything above will work accordingly. Any conflicting material may pose problems here. Also, this is the only one thing that needs reality check according to above.

·         End Goals: End goals may or may not be there, having one though will help keep things clear but still it is optional. Afterall at this time, all your jobs have been successfully completed.

There may be other factors that may be included in the career wishlist, everything revolving around your career and professional life and aspects that it’ll directly affect.

 The Advantage of a Career Wishlist

For one, it is a plan in itself, one without instruction and scalable opportunities. And the plan-like aspect of it will aid in:

·         Career Wish List will give you directions and motivation to keep going.

·         It will help you take up tasks, assignments, undertaking as a well-thought-out decision.

·         It will serve as a long-term to-do list keeping you on tracks, and suggesting what to research and look out for.

·         It will keep track of your undertakings, and deviations from expectations, maintaining pure rationality and reflecting on reality.

Just bear in mind, it’s your wishlist, and just like you, it needs to be dynamic.

·         Review it from time to time, make adjustments.

·         Don’t make sacrifices (it’s a wishlist, c’mon) but do purge it as necessary.

·         Don’t be practical in it but be practical about it, as the career is your only priority.

·         The point is, it is for you and should work for you, and in return make you work on and for yourself too.

 So, get going and start a career wishlist now. Take out a nice diary or open a digital notebook and start scribbling jobs.