Doldrums of the Alternative

One among the largest of all kinds of political party seems to be in doldrums. Many years back when we were much younger, I remember our parents talk much about the quality of leaders, all that the party was representative of; most of them were thought to be well (educated, behaved, mannered, spoken, understood, accepted, represented, ground rooted, hard working,  people-conscious),  and all that stood for wellness along with a clean image. This feature stood out when all that was reported was of corruption in and around the other large party that had governed us for so long … !

It seemed for some time.. yes.. we had found an alternative, and perhaps this competition among them to represent us would lead to a better governed system. Alas… power corrupts  and one can see that it has been no different, whether it has been a few states where they got to represent or when they clobbered a workable coalition, they were no different…. all that greedy, self -centered, nepotists, attention seeking and ready to do anything for power seekers had trespassed into this so called think thank, and got the better of them…!

Come on guys, dont you see we have a better alternative than what you all stood for at one point…or that it seems we have someone there who is willing to make the difference felt, and he has had his point proven right… I guess its time to get the act together…or let the doldrums….wash you all away!… we are watching..!

 

New Posts

I had discontinued posting on this site once I started using our corporate blog site at www.greyflex.com. Thereafter each time I thought to comment on anything, I wouldn’t be sure if it was appropriate to put them on the corporate website which is visited by clients and users.

And so, I have returned to write here on all that creeps into me all the time… watch out!

 

Transition !

There’s been a small break from my writing due to a new business process engaged by us recently. Activity in business is rare these days and therefore it is a good news considering the turtle pace of deals and action seen in business all-around. The client has been magnanimous to offer us this deal considering that we are yet operating at a smaller scale and on successful implementation the scale seems quite promising. Scaling up fast is possible when you are small and the opportunity is big .

Here I write on client business transition, which is an exciting phase in business. The business then has the opportunity to experience a new process, manage a new process, implement a new system and if all components in the process runs well, reward comes in the form of added bottom lines. A new process for a client brings in excitement and needs to be carried out at a fast pace which often  can be extremely de-settling for the set internal processes. Its like stirring a bowl with mud and water, and then you suddenly see a colloid of brownish liquid till the mud actually settles down and then there is clarity. The water gets it clarity with the passage of time and everything looks settled and is back to normal. Similar is the reaction, with colleagues, associates and even family members when the equilibrium is disturbed from an otherwise set eco-system.  The effect of the stir is quite different on each of these individuals.

From an account manager’s perpective, responsible to such a client, one would wish that the stir settles down instantly and clarity is available quickly. While most account managers would wishfully want such improbable to occur, the length of passage of time will test the nerve of even an otherwise cool mind. It becomes important for the account manager to be able to see clarity because a query from the client in unclear waters can be extremely unnerving leading to the feel of being out of control. A feeling such as this will be the last thing an account manager would ever wish. Though one would want to, there is certainly no escape from the extreme chaos that is bound to happen within the existing systems and the way of doing things. A new process; a new role; changed systems; often warranted by such transitions, can get colleagues & associates, grapple at the pace, and usually leads to bursts of stress and excitement getting the whole ecosystem tense.

To complicate matters further, family chips into the chaos not realising that people involved in transition sometimes unconsciously carry home this experience. They are not unreasonable in their quest to know the reasons of chaos, but explaining chaos requires patience which is generally thin in such circumstances .

I believe, it is during such turbulent times, the tough get the opportunity to prove themselves and clear the stir. It takes attention, commitment, willingness and pace to settle  the process and revert to stability. It is probably an opportunity as well for everyone in the process to align and check each other on reliability and adaptability. Transition in business teaches you valuable lessons, and the gripping experience, like all times is unique and worth each penny being an entrepreneur.

 

Relevant Experience Factor

It is fun on assignments which involves creativity. One could wonder the extent of creative skills possible on recruiting assignments. When a sector is dynamic, evolving and fast growing, client companies allow recruiting agencies the liberty to look for various options in the market. New roles; new positions; facilitates career moves across skills and sectors, thereby making the whole transition interesting to change seekers and facilitators.
 
I remember distinctly, with the Insurance sector liberalised in late 2000, we were exposed to recruiting in the exciting Insurance space. This space had till then invoked an image of the elephantine PSU, Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) of India which is managed by the Government. The potential of business opportunities in the sector and the extent of career aspirations that were possible in this segment suddenly dawned on us when we met up with young Human Resource professionals from the newly launched  private life insurance joint venture company. 

The opportunity was exciting as we reviewed the database of experienced professionals from various other segments and uged them to explore the new option; as we got into dialogue with educational institutions to initiate freshers to evaluate new career avenues. The dearth of otherwise eager talent to manage this kind of business process, made it creative, fulfilling and meaningful to move people across sectors and skills and get them to accept good positions, career growth and better salaries.

Over the last year or so, with the sluggishness in various sectors, most companies are back to what we call as the relavancy factor. Probably for want of training time, they’d insist on evaluating resumes of candidates with just the similar experience, thereby reducing the role of recruiting firms to being mere resume pushers and end up hiring people only from the relevant sectors and with relevant skills. While such moves could result in short term gains of minimising transition cost of positions left vacant within a project, I believe it could have cascading effect over an extended period with monotony creeping in leading to attrition.

If time is not a serious constraint, client companies should push recruiting firms to offer candidates with relevant attributes and attitude, and not just relevant skills. Training specific skills may perhaps not turn out to be as expensive as attrition.

 

Dr Randy Pausch

I knew of Dr. Randy Pausch, just the day he died. He inspires. I’d pray for his soul to rest in peace.

 

Moving On..

In the last six years of my consulting practice as a recruiter, I have had the privilege to interact with a few hundred people and transact their career movements. I’d in my posts share some interesting notes on these interactions. As a practice I would stick not to reveal name/organisation.

A challenge, we face as a recruiter is to believe in the stability of a candidates term in a position and map the natural growth from the position. It is very common to come across many who look for a change in job within short span of time of their joining new assignments (anything less than 6 months is usually considered very short span). Before discussing such profiles with a client, we get the candidate to explain us the reasons, and tend to believe in the reasons offered. The usual reasons include a role mis-match or the work environment not being as conducive as they would have expected.

More often in such scenario by the time they actually reach the interview rounds and discussion table, many tend to get wary of their own explanation on having had to look for a change. They probably over time introspect; during the process are not able to invoke the same conviction with which they began; and are eventually not able to get the prospective employer to see their point of view.

Weariness on self conviction at any stage of interview process actually jeopardises the candidature, irrespective of career levels. This holds as much good for being confident on technical skills as well as on personal skills.

The most cited reasons for rejection in personal interview processes are lack of energy, vibrancy and conviction. One could make the mistake of making a wrong move, even if it was un-intentional, but may not have the luxury of being able to rectify it, unless we are able to admit it; accrue honest reasons for such a move and carry on with conviction to another opportunity.

 

Confidence

Confidence motion won, trust lost and citizens eye-washed. We have always known to have very short memories. All that have concerned us for 4 long years has now been forgotten and there is jubilation over the accomplishment to offer nuclear power to us, the citizens, to eradicate poverty, and which may reach us in 6 years! No other PM has staked so much ever on a deal, but then there was never an issue to  cover up many other…!

 

Job Opportunities

In the Business – HRM Process I’d update about some of the exciting recruitment projects we currently manage. Readers interested in knowing more about these requirements could please email me at praveen(at)greyflex(dot)com.

 

We at GreyFlex HR Consulting currently are on look-out for,

• CNC Machines Sales and Service Engineers located at Chennai and Cochin.
• Fresh HR MBA aspirants have project openings at Mumbai.
• Textile industry professionals in managing sourcing quality, production, and planning have senior opportunities at Bangalore.
• Premium School HR post graduates have opportunities at Bangalore.

 

Watch out for this space more often!

 

n-deal Hype

The parliament debates on confidence in the Government, over the n-deal, which apparently will generate 6% of our energy usage in around 6 years. One can not but help wonder, seems more of a leading eye wash over issues on price-rise, inflation, decline of business opportunity, and corruption. I’d also wonder, the ruling alliance manages to accomplish this almost everytime they near completion of the term. What’s next?