Valdar's Blog

Hiring practices, from job screening to interview construction, have undergone a dramatic transformation over the past decade. Despite all the changes, common resume myths continue to plague job seekers’ strategies at all levels. This article attempts to debunk some of these myths.

Myth 1: It’s all about the number of pages.

The one-page rule is probably the most common resume myth. Candidates, even senior executives, use microscopic fonts, leave off important information, use 0.1 inch margins, and resort to a myriad of unhealthy practices — all in an attempt to restrict their resume to just one page.

Many well-meaning college counselors advise their students to be concise and limit their resume to one page. That was important when you were a student with little or no experience, but why subscribe to the same wisdom after rising to the ranks of senior executive?

However, there is an opposing viewpoint. Some job seekers mistakenly believe that if they can somehow balloon their resumes to four or five pages, then they will be considered for higher-paying positions. What? Will someone offer me $250,000 simply because my resume is ten pages and redundant?

No. In every instance, content rules. The quality of experience should influence the length of the resume. If you have held only one job, then don’t try to create a five-page resume. If your background merits a lengthier resume, then don’t use eight point fonts in a desperate attempt to fit everything on one page.

Myth 2: Make up that degree – no one will know.

Lying on a resume is the worst mistake a candidate can make. Even if you pass the background check (which is very unlikely considering how sophisticated background checks have become), a savvy employer will discover the deception within days, if not sooner.

Apart from the legal ramifications, we live in a professional world that is influenced by social media. At the touch of a button, HR managers across the country can discuss their experiences. Maintaining a good reputation is more important than ever.

Myth 3: Your resume must have an objective.

The market is full of resume set-ups such as, “Seeking a position that will be beneficial and mutually rewarding and will make use of my experience and education.” If that is your idea of an objective, then don’t bother using one. Every inch of resume space is precious. Don’t waste it on generic information that can be found on almost every other resume. Every character that appears on your resume must position you as the perfect candidate for the job.

Of the 5,000+ resumes I have written, I may have used an objective for maybe a handful of candidates. In place of objectives, I often use what many experts call “branding statements” or “headers.” The concept can be explained with the help of an example. In the case of a clinical researcher, for example, a generic objective would be as follows:

Seeking a mutually beneficial position that will make use of my 10+ years experience in clinical research. An improvement would be:

HARVARD-EDUCATED CLINICAL RESEARCHER WITH 10+ YEARS PROFESSIONAL EXCELLENCE Worked with top five pharmaceutical companies. Leveraged clinical expertise to manage three blockbuster, multi-billion dollar molecules from Phase I to Market. The generic example does almost nothing to position the candidate but the refined version, in addition to serving as an objective, brings out three to four prominent strengths and an overall value proposition.

Whether you decide to use an objective or a positioning statement, refrain from presenting generic arguments.

Myth 4: Your references must be listed on the resume itself.

Normally, a separate page is used as a reference sheet. This not only protects the privacy of your references (imagine posting their contact information on every job board), but also makes the screening professional’s job a little easier.

Myth 5: I can use the same resume for multiple job targets.

This is a recipe for disaster. If your current resume focuses on your laboratory background, please don’t send the same resume for marketing positions. It is likely that you may qualify for multiple positions or be interested in pursuing alternate careers. If so, try to create a customized resume for each job target.

Remember: When it comes to a resume, never follow the “one size fits all” approach. These myths are just that legend. Use modern, up-to-date job search strategies to land your next $100K+ position.

‘Specialization’ is the term of the day. And with specialization comes ‘perfection’ which is what certain jobs demand.

There used to be a time when an employee in a BPO joined a company with the sole aim of growing up the ladder as early as possible, so that he could get off the “Calling job”, which he termed as monotonous and repetitive with no excitement. But as the industry matured, the options to grow vertically to a management position reduced and the responsibilities that came along with these management positions increased. Increased responsibilities meant additional burden, more stress and so on. Suddenly the odd new employee in a BPO realized that what he wanted is money and not position that demanded extra work, more burden and a life full of stress. He chose to be at the same position and did not want to opt for growth. But staying at the same position did not get him that extra money that was looking for and he started jumping jobs for an extra Rs. 1500. In doing what he lost was his continuity and his specialization.

With the industry, maturing companies too, have now realized that there would only be able to provide the best services if they are able to retain people and utilize their specialization. Employees who were in a certain role for some time knew the policies and processes in and out and were much better equipped to handle customers, thus generating better customer satisfaction. This is when they decided that they would empower their frontlines and give them additional benefits for staying in the current role. They also decided that they would not stop the growth of this employee in this process, rather would treat them as special – special employees of the organization.

This solved the needs of that employee wanting to stay in the current role and the organization who wanted to retain a specialized and exprienced employee.

With services like customer care, technical support, back end processing etc. requiring specialized hands, companies are now come up with this idea of rewarding employees who are in the core role in a BPO and wants to be in the same role, but at the same time are looking for better and increased salaries and a change in grades. These companies are paying such employees much more than what a management level employee at the same grade would get and in addition to this are giving them extra benefits.

So now, you have more reason to join a BPO. Grow with your favorite company and earn more while doing what you have always wanted to do.

The shortlisted candidates in the preliminary round are normally subjected to a group discussion. Group discussion is not something that is prevalent only in the BPO industry. Most of you would have seen it sometime in your career – in colleges, during entrance exams etc.

Most of you would define a Group discussion as a round in which there are a few candidates in a group debating on a certain topic. One would wonder then, as to why this round is called the group discussion and not the debate round. This is where the essence of the round lies. This round is a discussion on a topic rather than a debate. There would be a topic given to you by the organizer and you would be asked to discuss on it. Now it is your choice to speak for or, against it.

So what is it that the organizer or, interviewer as you may call him, looking for in this round. Is it the content, or something else? Normally people participate in a group discussion assuming that his content has to extremely good and that he has to stamp his supremacy in the discussion. In doing this he keeps arguing with the team, interrupting them and orating his content.

This is not what you should ideally be doing. The objective of a group discussion is to assess your thought process, your ideas, your participation and functioning within a group and your presentation. Remember that during the course of the discussion you should take notes on the ideas that the other group members have expressed. Your content has to be built on these ideas. Don’t just talk irrelavent things that you feel are important. Talk sense and talk relevant.

Never interrupt the other speaker. Wait for an appropriate pause and then speak. Agree or, disagree to what others have said and explain why you feel so. Be calm and patient. Maintain a medium tone of voice and don’t shout. Give other also a chance to speak. Most importantly ensure that you are neither the dominant speaker nor, the recessive one.

Keep in mind that it is not the content that the interviewer is looking for in a group discussion. It is how you are presenting it.

BPO Dairy

In the interview process series I would be discussing the various rounds of interviews that normally recruiters to BPOs follow. The rounds could vary according to company, but the purpose of each of these rounds would remain the same. Hence the discussion would be more generic than being specific.
In the first of my multi part series on the interview process, I would be discussing on the first round interview that is more often than not the same in almost all companies. We call it the PI round or, the Personal Introduction round.
What is this round and what is the purpose of this round?
As the name itself suggests this round is about introducing yourself to the interviewer. One may wonder as to why is this round so important and necessary when everything about myself is mentioned in my CV. You might have mentioned everything about yourself in the CV, but there are much more to it that it appears in the CV. When the interviewer asks you about you and your family and your work experience and educational qualifications, he is looking for things beyond what is written in your CV. This round is basically, an analysis of your temperament, attitude and approach towards things. When you talk about your family or, your colleagues in your organization, I am looking for cues to check how good a team player are you and how well do you gel with others. I am also looking for answers to questions like, are you understanding enough and how comfortable are you in a team?
In addition to this, the interviewer is also looking for information from you. Information that you have not mentioned in your CV. What is this information? At times you miss out on lot of things that you might well have been handling in your previous organization, in terms of responsibilities. You might also want to elaborate on the kind of role that you were into in your organization, the kind of process that you were working for, how simple or, how difficult it was and so on. These are information that helps the interviewer in deciding if you fit the bill.
Last but the most important, the interviewer is looking for answers. Answers to questions that he would have framed after scrutinizing and analyzing your CV. These questions are based on “misses” in your CV that go unnoticed. A break in employment, a contradicting depiction of your responsibilities, all these are some of these misses. The interviewer would be looking for genuine and appropriate responses to his questions so that he can consider you for the employment.

The PI round is more or, less the same for any levels of recruitments, entry level or, middle management. Preparing for this round can be a later discussion.

BPO dairy