The art of getting interviewed

Generally, interviews are considered to be outside the 'control' of interviewee. But if you observe smart professionals, you will realise that they prepare on two different planks that help them substantially 'influence' the process of getting interviewed. With adequate preparation, you can definitely 'influence' the process of your interviewing, if not 'control' it.

1. Prepare on 'what you want to say about yourself'

a. First step is to write appropriate 'baits' in your resume for the interviewer to ask questions. For instance, if you have done some interesting work on a project in your college, you must write enough 'interesting' remarks about the project for the interviewer to 'compel' him to ask a question of that work. These are called as baits. If your resume is not designed properly with these baits, the interview is not in your control. Professional coaches do not just add ' flowery English language' in your resume, but they help you design these 'baits' in your resume so that you control the interview, not the other way around.  

b. Thoroughly rehearse on every 'bait' that you have included in your resume: Generally, interviews happen in English language. Therefore it is necessary to write the story around the bait, mug the story sequence, and then narrate it. Once you are sure you can remember the sequence and key words well, rehearse it infront of someone. Start with a close friend who understands your project, then rehearse with a friend who does not understand your project, and then with your parents. Everyone will give you 'feedback' that will help you to improve your 'narration'. Once you have got the narration in proper order, then try to shorten the narration time further. Some interviewers may not give you enough time!

c. Get ready to answer 'surprising' turns and twists in your resumes confidently: Be prepared for answering questions like: Why did you not do Electronics engineering when your father is an electronics engineer? Why did you miss one year after 12th ? Why did you do this course of Java in the second year? and so on. Also rehearse these answers, if you are not sure.

d. Prepare to answer typical questions. To get a glimpse of what questions are asked for different types of interviews, here is a sample .

e. Take adequate care of your body language: More than the content of answers, interviewer reads your body first and gets 'conditioned'. If your 'body posture' looks that you are not sure, despite your brilliant answer, the interviewer will get a wrong message.

On your own, you may find it difficult to know your body language. You may need to take help of someone senior enough to help you in this matter. It could be your parent, your professor, or some senior colleague of yours. Once again, a coach is more helpful in this matter.

2. Prepare for the 'audience' who is going to take your interview

Despite all your preparation, interviews get derailed when you encounter 'surprises'. One can only prepare oneself to reduce the surprises, not eliminate them. Here are the three important actions taken by smart professionals to reduce the surprises:

a. Understand the interviewer profile before going for a specific interview: If the interview is being taken by HR representative, be prepared for non-technical questions like 'Why did you do Engineering" and so on. HR is more interested in knowing the years of experience, the qualifications, and other family background. If there is any blip in the education period, be prepared to answer it confidently. For technical interviews, be prepared to answer the 'big' bait questions thoroughly.

b. Do a short research on the company background for which you are being interviewed: This knowledge is critical when you are applying for jobs where demand for jobs is more than supply, i.e for all freshers jobs or for your second job. At the minimum understand three elements of company: key differences of target company from other competing companies, the 'structure' of departments and offices in the target company, the strength and weakness of your job positions in that company ( is it in demand or is it run of mill position, for instance?).

You have to use different methods to get this information: Scan the websites, use the business analyst reports of the company issued by investment companies, talk with friends working in the company or sign up for different groups on the net and ask questions discretely.

Believe me, this does not take much time. Initially, when you are learning this, it may take more time; but as you become proficient in doing this, it will not consume more than a day.

c. Never ever answer any question that you are not sure about: Despite all the compulsion to answer all questions, answer only when you are confident. If you are not sure about anything, tell the interviewer that you are not sure and ask his permission to make an attempt to answer. Only if the interviewer gives you the permission, attempt to answer the 'unsure' question. In any case, it is better to say 'i do not know' than answer wrongly.

Retail industry offers good options for enterpreneurial graduates

Organised retail industry is growing at a rapid rate in India. Big Bazaar, Spencer, More, Smart, Hypercity are all springing up in the urban centres, and with them, we are seeing a new option for graduates, especially the entrepreneurial graduates. In order to understand the options available in retail industry, let us understand the structure of the industry.

In the lowest scale, retail is dominated by Supermarkets. A supermarket like Reliance or Spencer is a shop of approximately 3000-5000 square feet space, sells about about 3000 SKU's ( stock keeping units or identified unit of sale such as soap, sugar or curd) sells about 15-30 lakhs per month and employs about 15-25 employees. A hypermarket like Big Bazaar is a shop of approximately 20-30 K square feet, sells about 15000 SKU's, clocks a sales of about 3-5 crore per month. A mega-hypermarket like Hypercity or Metro has even higher square feet area like 80 K square feet.

All these shops have three sections: Sales floor employees who help customers buy a product, back end employees who interacts with suppliers to get the material of requisite quality and quantity and supporting employees like security, cashier and cleaning. Sales floor employees progress in the following hierarchy: customer sales representative > Team Leader > Department leader ( such as that of food) > Stores manager. Other positions are Regional office and Head office positions.

Working in sales floor is supposed to be the premium job and is also paid the best, followed by back end and supporting section in the descending order. One generally starts working from supermarket and move to Hypermarket and then to mega-hypermarket. Normally it takes about 10-15 years to become a store manager. A store manager of a supermarket may earn about 25K per month while the same store manager of mega-hypermarket will earn about 100K per month.

One can join a supermarket at the lowest level even after passing HSC. That is a huge advantage for an entrepreneur as he can gain the necessary customer knowledge and buyer market as well as learn the necessary skills. If you work on sales floor, you understand what customers want, how they buy, which products move faster in the market and so on. If you are working as a Buyer ( in back end section), you not only gain information about the best suppliers of a product, you also understand which products have better margins. For instance, you will understand that apparel section has higher profit margin than food section !

By the time you graduate, you have learnt the ropes of business and can make the next move. You can , for instance, start an apparel shop in an area that you know has market. Or you can decide to become an intermediate distributor of vegetables and fruits. Or you can just decide to have a repair shop for TV's.

Even if you decide to stick with employment, MBA can be a distinct advantage to move beyond the level of store manager. One can also move midway to Hotels and restaurants if one finds it as more exciting. I know of a person who decided to use his retail management expertise to start a franchise outlet of Macdonald. Not only the options are available, but they are available at the right age.

Do you see the advantages of working in retail?

Why should graduates prefer Sales function?

Last week, i was coaching a final year engineering graduate, Atish.

Atish was finishing his degree in Telecom Engineering. His marks for last three years were between 57%-59%, missing the first class by a whisker. His academic track record suggested that he was ill at ease in Engineering subjects. On the other hand, he seemed to be comfortable in 'extrovert' skills, which was noticed by his excellent rapport with friends from different culture and economic background, his participation in college events, his liking of people-related experiences. So i suggested him ' Why don't you make career in Sales'. He immediately retorted 'I do not like sales.'

Whenever i meet graduates, i encounter this general dislike of 'sales' function. So when i probed Atish, what does he not like about sales, he told me about one of his friend who was selling 'electronic components' to retailers. He said ' My friend keeps on moving from one shop to another, shows the catalog, takes the order ( or the money), and moves to the next shop. He is constantly travelling, staying in not-so-good hotels and is generally hassled'.

If that is the 'view' of sales, how can Atish want to go to Sales? Other graduates tell me about the FMCG 'salesman' they see at a retail Kirana stores, while some others tell me about the pharmaceutical 'salesman' they see in the doctor's consulting room. With this limited, and uncharitable view of a salesman, it is difficult to chose sales, even when it is the most appropriate function for someone like Atish?

On the other hand, see the other side of the story. In an organisation, Sales is the most critical function, because it brings in 'revenue'. And because it is a critical function, it is also the best-paid function. Without working in sales, it is very difficult to reach the top. And unlike other functions in an organisation, the correlation between your effort > output is the highest. You immediately know what you are doing wrong, because of which you can correct yourself quickly, and learn therefore at the fastest speed. What else you would want in a job?

I therefore feel very 'disturbed' when graduates avoid 'sales' function just because they are not fully aware of 'what is sales'. So here is an attempt to unblock the negative bias of sales.

Sales is a function where one has to convert a 'suspect' into a 'customer'. Marketing is a function that converts 'prospect' into a 'suspect'. For instance, marketing job is to get me 'interested' in buying 'sedan car'. They provide me lot of information ( in a broadcast mode) to convert me from a prospective customer into a suspect customer. Once i am interested in their car, and enter in the car showroom, it is the job of sales to convert me into their 'customer'.

Due to this correlation between marketing and sales, sales job have different shades of complexity. The complexity varies from type of product, nature of product ( must-have or nice-to-have), price of the product, type of customer ( is it specialist individual like a doctor or an entity like company).

The type of product varies from simple product selling > services selling > complex solution selling. Product can be as simple as soap or toothpaste or it can be as high priced as car or flat. Services can be as simple as selling repairing service of mobile to a complex selling of investment service. Solution can be selling a solution of 'method of testing a car's engine' or selling a solution of 'fitting a car body to the specification of a customer ( which Manu Chabria does when he makes vehicles for celebrities).

Complexity determines the skill requirement of 'sales' function. Low-priced products like soap are easier to sell than high priced products like flat. Must-have products like insurance are easier to sell than nice-to-have products like financial advice. And selling it to individuals is far more easier than selling it to companies. More complex and difficult is the selling, more is the 'specialised skill and knowledge' required. You cannot selling 'testing solution' to a car manufacturer until you completely understand his requirement, competitor's products and your product advantages. In complex selling jobs, 'marketing and sales' are almost bundled together. In lower complexity jobs like soap salesman, marketing and sales are unbundled.

While sales function combines your 'engineering knowledge' with your 'people-skills', design function combines your 'engineering knowledge' with your ' intrinsic technology skills'. Combinations are different, and if someone like Atish, who has a head start over others in terms of people-skill, should he not use this for his advantage by working in sales?

In technology selling, the complexity of selling is very high. It not only requires knowledge of product and technology, but it also requires another unique ability: converting extremely complex technological language into the language of buyer. This skill is so difficult to acquire, that in technology, 'sales' skills are more in demand than even 'design' skills. For instance, when you you think of Apple computer, whose name do you recollect? Do you remember Steve Jobs, the man who 'configured' and 'sold' the first computer, or do you remember Steve Woznaik, who designed the Apple computer?

Side Bar: Marketing is systematically taught in MBA courses because it is a 'thinking' competency. Sales, being a 'doing' competency, is still learnt best in a job. That is why many 'people-skill' graduates take up Marketing speciality in MBA. For engineering graduates, who do not like technology very much, getting into sales function is perhaps the best opportunity to enter this critical organisational function.

Drafting Resume - is it art or science?

For graduates, preparing resume is one of the most important aspect that can spell the difference between getting a good job and an average job. Let us see the cases of Ram and Anik.

Ram is graduating as a E&TC engineer from a metro town. His college, though not the best of lot, has a professor who was teaching in IIT, Mumbai. Because of his excellent credential, he got a very good assignment for a group of students from an excellent institute which does work in Astronomy. The project turned out to be so successful, that Ram's group has done follow-up work even after finishing final exam. Ram, appearing in one of the better MNC's in Bangalore, had prepared his resume. He had written about this project in 'three lines' in his resume of 2 pages.

Anik, on the other hand, has been a star student of a good college from Bangalore doing Biotechnonology. He was a GS of a college annual festival, represented his college in various forums, won debating prizes and represented his college in a famous Quiz competition. He had written an exhaustive resume of 4 pages.

Who do you think will get the job - Ram or Anik? I know it will surprise you. But both Ram and Anik cannot get the job they want, because they have not followed the three golden rules (at the minimum) of writing a good resume.

Rule 1: Write resume for a targeted audience. Graduates generally write 'everything' in the resume, without knowing the 'profile' of 'audience'. Imagine, you going to a automobile showroom, and given an exhaustive car brochure of 10 pages!Will you be able to interested in reading the brochure explaining features like 'how much torque is created by the engine'?

This is what Anik did in his resume. He wrote everything in his resume. The 'reader' is interested in 'specific items' that he can comprehend. Morever, graduates do not realise that their resume has two distinct audience : One is a representative of HR department who will shortlist the resume based on very generic criteria, and second is the functional specialist, who looks for very focused items in a resume.

Rule 2: Write resume like a brochure. Remember, your resume is a 'brochure'. A brochure is a short pithy document about a product to attract the 'audience' so that he/she is interested in knowing more about the product. Advertising professionals are masters in writing the most important aspect of product in a 1-page brochure!

Ram and Anik have committed the same error in writing their resume. While Ram downplayed and wrote very little about his important 'project work', Anik overplayed his wide variety of credentials and wrote everything. For Ram, it is important to learn the art of writing 'long' about his project without losing the interest, while Anil has to learn the art of writing 'short' without loosing the essential aspects of his background.

Rule 3: Resume is just one 'link' in the chain of your selection: To get selected in a job or assignment, an 'interview' is equally important after the resume is sent.

If you are buying a printer, after you read the 'brochure' of printer, you will like to verify the specified qualities of the brochure in the 'demo' of printer. It is same with your 'resume'. Your resume is your brochure, while your interview is the 'demo'. Interview is like a 'demonstration' of your stated qualities whose features have been written in your resume. ( i.e.brochure)

What could Ram have done to use this idea? Ram has done an excellent project in the final year. He could have written 'as much details as practical' about his project work in his resume to make the 'interviewer' ask him questions in the interview. If Ram does not write 'enough' in the resume, interviewer will not ask him any questions due to which Ram's work and qualities will remain hidden from the interviewer. Will Ram get the job he wants after the interview?

Ram therefore has to learn the art of writing about his project in a language that will invoke curiosity in the interviewer's mind and will 'compel' him to ask questions, which in turn will enable Ram to showcase his qualities.

How do you write your resume?

Why and how to do MBA?

Rancho, the hero of 3 Idiots, says to the heroine 'Your prospective bridegroom is a fool. He did Engineering, then MBA and now he is working for a Bank. If he had to work for Bank, why did he do Engineering?'. Is Rancho right in his criticism?

Let us delve deeper to understand the two forces at work that has made the above possible: Demand of MBA skill set and pipeline of graduates that feeds the demand.

Demand of MBA skill set has been growing

Demand of MBA skill set has been growing because the 2-year course in MBA produced three speciality skills ( especially in India) : Finance,Marketing and HR that were required by growing private sector companies.

The boom of investment banking (increasing mergers, share market access, and disintermediation of funds) specifically fuelled the need of finance skill sets. Even though courses like CFA have sprung up to meet the demand gap, the organisational 'angle' of MBA still make MBA the favourites. If you observe the salaries offered at MBA Campuses, you will still find 'Finance' hogs the limelight. Sales and Marketing jobs in companies today are still filled mainly by these MBA's. Personnel jobs, inside India, are still filled by HR MBA's.

It is a myth that MBA course is meant to develop the skill of 'Management' ( Managing people and business operations). As Management is a 'doing skill-set', short courses of Executive MBA are more suitable to develop this skill-set than the 2- year full time course of MBA.

Options for graduates ( the pipeline doing MBA ) are shrinking

While the demand for MBA skill set has been growing, the options for graduates - the pipeline that supplies graduates to MBA course for post graduation - have been shrinking.

On the one hand, the jobs for graduates have been shrinking because companies can afford to get post graduates at the same price. Company prefers to give a job to MSc instead of BSc, if it has choice. Jobs for graduates are also not growing at the same pace. For instance, while Engineering graduates have increased in number ( Every year more than 2.5 lakhs graduate as Engineers in India), jobs for technology skills have not kept pace with this number. Therefore, for average graduates, option of MBA has been a ticket for a safe job. Why should graduates not prefer to do MBA?

Rancho will ask me: Why do above-average Engineering graduates join MBA when they can get better technology jobs? They do it because they realise their mistake of choosing technology as their graduating path. As i have discussed in my blog for students, thinking competency folds in unpredictable ways.Even Noble prize winners move from physics to biology to chemistry. How can a engineering graduate know that he will stick to technology?

Scenarios of doing MBA course

In my coaching, i have observed four different scenarios of graduates doing MBA. I am narrating Engineering examples below because they face this dilemma strongly than other professionals:

Scenario 1: A IIT student wants to do MBA to change his graduating path, because he is sure technology path is not meant for him. Follow this approach, if you can manage to get admission in Grade I MBA Institutes - the top 10 institutes - like IIM's. If however you cannot get admission in Grade I Institute, work for few years, and change over to MBA. This is a better approach, because it is far easy to 'assimilate' the teachings of MBA after work-experience.

Scenario 2: A student from top Engineering institute doing Electrical Engineering is not very sure of his choices - whether to do post graduation in Electrical or do MBA. This student should work for 2-3 years in Electrical Engineering and take a decision later to continue with Electrical or change to MBA. Only 'Engagement' with the activity tells us what we want. Morever, moving from Electrical to MBA is possible after 3 years; the reverse movement is not available after 3 years.

Scenario 3: A student from an average Engineering Institute cannot get admission in Grade I MBA institute after finishing his graduation. In such a scenario, it is better to get admission in Grade II MBA institute with niche speciality. For instance, find a niche MBA, such as Rural Management.

Scenerio 4 ( alternative to scenario 3): If generic MBA is the only option, then you will have to do numerous things to exploit the advantage of doing MBA, such as focusing on specific industry like Banking or FMCG right from start, finding assignments with a live company and so on.This approach requires high degree of Career intelligence than other approaches.

Where do you fit?

Do not choose options for money?

While choosing their graduating paths, many students ask me if 'software' has a better future in terms of money, or if 'Accounts' has better potential of earning money? This is a wrong question to ask due to two reasons. One, money in a profession depends on the development of 'skill market' that are outside one's control or influence and two, future of a profession cannot be predicted in advance. Let me give you two examples.

Cricket was a non-earning game till 1980's. Even the best of the test-playing cricketers worked in companies to have the second income. I was quite surprised to see Eknath Solkar on a scooter in 1980 in Mumbai. The advent of TV and the success of world up in 1983 brought sea change in the revenues of cricket. Now even a player,like Yusuf Pathan or Rohit Sharma, earns enough from cricket without playing a single test. Even Sunil Gavaskar would be earning more money now than what he earned from his cricketing accomplishments.

Today, in the newspaper, i was reading about M.F Hussain's early life as artist. In 1950's, MF Hussain writes " ....we could not afford tea, so initially we used to order for two cups, then one of us would say that he wasn't in the real mood for tea and we used to cancel our one order". Post 1995, with the arrival of auction houses, picture has changed by 180 degrees. In 2008, MF Hussain's one painting sold at more than 1 million dollar !

This is what happens with any development of any market,be it product marke or skill market.

You are however lucky to be born in this era. Because, with globalisation & internet, the two drivers of growth, an individual with as narrow a skill as "teaching' alone can make enough money. Have you heard the story of Khan Academy? With penchant of teaching, this young man has got a funding of 1 million dollar. I know of a teacher in Vashi who trains mathematics to US students sitting in his house. Have you heard of man called Bansal who has changed the landscape of IIT coaching in a town called KOTA? His efforts has set up a coaching eco-system where a 'good teacher' can get a salary of 60 Lakhs pa in Kota..

Skill market today has undergone a significant transformation. Today, one can monetise a narrow 'skill' without depending on intermediary, such as organisation. Internet access has enabled one to cost-effectively 'reach' a very limited audience for a narrow 'skill'. This means that you can become 'best' in your area and expect the 'market' to fetch you the right revenue. You can do what you want without sacrificing 'money'.

Isn't that a huge advantage as compared to your grandfathers? My father waited for his retirement to do what he loved ( writing poetry) because he was born at the wrong time. You are twice lucky: one, because your father has created a platform for you to think beyond survival ( house and food!) and two, because the environment ( skill market) around you has changed to help you do what you like.

So, instead of thinking money as a criteria to decide your future path after graduation, either understand (your current strengths) what you are good at. Or understand what you like so much ( your current passion) that you will spare no efforts to be good at. Of course, i understand that finding both your passion or strengths is not a straightforward exercise. (We will discuss about 'how to do this' in the future.)

If you happen to possess a narrow skill, to monetise it well enough, you may face stiffer challenges and overcome taller humps ( which is possible to negotiate with higher career intelligence). But i can guarantee you one outcome: You will also be more happy with your life. If you however happen to possess a generic skill of technology, you still have to adequate career intelligence to ensure that , in you career, you will be 'happy' and have enough 'money'.

Post graduate options for Technology and Science graduates

I read Dipankar Gupta's article in TOI of 3rd June on why IIT's cannot be blamed for having a world class research set up.

Basically the article points out difficulty in setting an eco-system that research requires. It is not about having research budgets. IIT's, howsoever good it may be, cannot set up the eco-system by itself. It requires to work with industry. It is about working with other universities on topics of common interest. It is about getting the best talent, both as professors and students, to channelise the research. In short, those of you who wish to pursue PG options ( MS, Phd etc) after doing BE, BTech or MSC, have to pursue these options in other countries.

Who should pursue PG options

I have found it very easy to find which students are likely to pursue PG options. These students are the students who enjoy doing their graduation, who have a 'friend group' who like to take up challenges in a subject, who are amongst the 'top 20%' of the student in the class, and whose questions get answered diligently by the teachers.

Surprisingly, i have discovered that these students may not be the students who 'topped' in CET. Most of the time, they are in the 50%-70% percentile. Sometimes they seem to be 'ordinary' students. I know of a young student who was considered to be the last in the family in terms of his CET marks. ( By the way, Einstein could not get admission to Electrical Engineering course because of low marks ) But when he joined Engineering, he simply found his 'space'. I also know of a girl who was an average girl till BSC. While doing MSC, she found her footing, and went on to do PHD in Physics from US university. In short, your marks and earlier scholastic record may not give you any indication that you will pursue PG option.

How should one pursue PG option

More importantly, when you decide to plan for PG, plan on all the three items:

I. You need to find which university and college is right for your speciality.
II. You need to get adequate references to ensure that you will get admitted in the right college/universities.
III. You need to prepare adequately for GRE to get good score.

Adequate preparation is a key that makes a big difference in getting a PG degree versus getting an effective and useful PG degree.

I have seen students jumping to the easiest available option to join a course in not-so-good college, that they find it difficult even to get a job, leave alone PG research position. Sometimes, i have seen students, complete degrees by paying so much of money that they require another 5-10 years to repay the loan. Infact, you will find many students who live very very difficult lives in foreign countries because they are in this catch-22: neither can they find good jobs, nor can they return due to huge debts.

Out of these three items, students find lot of help on item III through coaching institutes. Many metro and Tier-I towns have GRE & Toeffel coaching institutes that can help student get good scores in these tests. They also advise in matters like writing a good 'brief', that is compulsory for getting a good admission. But they cannot provide specific assistance on item I and II.

However, students rarely work on item I, which makes it difficult for them to work on item II. This are the two items that make a big difference in the quality of PG option that you may pursue.