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A Brilliant Interview
Some, rather most organizations reject his CV today because he has changed jobs frequently (10 in 14 years). My friend, the ˜job hopper™ (referred here as Mr. XYZ), does not mind it. well he does not need to mind it at all. Having worked full-time with 10 employer companies in just 14 years gives Mr. XYZ the relaxing edge that most of the ˜company loyal™ employees are struggling for today. Today, Mr. XYZ too is laid off like some other 14-15 year experienced guys “ the difference being the latter have just worked in 2-3 organizations in the same number of years. Here are the excerpts of an interview with Mr.XYZ :
Q: Why have you changed 10 jobs in 14 years?
A: To get financially sound and stable before getting laid off the second time.
Q: So you knew you would be laid off in the year 2009?
A: Well I was laid off first in the year 2002 due to the first global economic slowdown. I had not got a full-time job before January 2003 when the economy started looking up; so I had struggled for almost a year without job and with compromises.
Q: Which number of job was that?
A: That was my third job.
Q: So from Jan 2003 to Jan 2009, in 6 years, you have changed 8 jobs to make the count as 10 jobs in 14 years?
A: I had no other option. In my first 8 years of professional life, I had worked only for 2 organizations thinking that jobs are deserved after lot of hard work and one should stay with an employer company to justify the saying ˜employer loyalty™. But I was an idiot.
Q: Why do you say so?
A: My salary in the first 8 years went up only marginally. I could not save enough and also, I had thought that I had a ˜permanent™ job, so I need not worry about ˜what will I do if I lose my job™. I could never imagine losing a job because of economic slowdown and not because of my performance. That was January 2002.
Q: Can you brief on what happened between January 2003 and 2009.
A: Well, I had learnt my lessons of being ˜company loyal™ and not ˜money earning and saving loyal™. But then you can save enough only when you earn enough. So I shifted my loyalty towards money making and saving “ I changed 8 jobs in 6 years assuring all my interviewers about my stability.
Q: So you lied to your interviewers; you had already planned to change the job for which you were being interviewed on a particular day?
A: Yes, you can change jobs only when the market is up and companies are hiring. You tell me “ can I get a job now because of the slowdown? No. So one should change jobs for higher salaries only when the market is up because that is the only time when companies hire and can afford the expected salaries.
Q: What have you gained by doing such things?
A: That's the question I was waiting for. In Jan 2003, I had a fixed salary (without variables) of say Rs. X p.a. In January 2009, my salary was 8X. So assuming my salary was Rs.3 lakh p.a. in Jan 2003, my last drawn salary in Jan 2009 was Rs.24 lakh p.a. (without variable). I never bothered about variable as I had no intention to stay for 1 year and go through the appraisal process to wait for the company to give me a hike.
Q: So you decided on your own hike?
A: Yes, in 2003, I could see the slowdown coming again in future like it had happened in 2001-02. Though I was not sure by when the next slowdown would come, I was pretty sure I wanted a ˜debt-free™ life before being laid off again. So I planned my hike targets on a yearly basis without waiting for the year to complete.
Q: So are you debt-free now?
A: Yes, I earned so much by virtue of job changes for money and spent so little that today I have a loan free 2 BR flat (1200 sq.. feet) plus a loan free big car without bothering about any EMIs. I am laid off too but I do not complain at all. If I have laid off companies for money, it is OK if a company lays me off because of lack of money.
Q: Who is complaining?
A: All those guys who are not getting a job to pay their EMIs off are complaining. They had made fun of me saying I am a job hopper and do not have any company loyalty. Now I ask them what they gained by their company loyalty; they too are laid off like me and pass comments to me “ why will you bother about us, you are already debt-free. They were still in the bracket of 12-14 lakh p.a. when they were laid off.
Q: What is your advice to professionals?
A: Like Narayan Murthy had said “ love your job and not your company because you never know when your company will stop loving you. In the same lines, love yourself and your family needs more than the company's needs. Companies can keep coming and going; family will always remain the same. Make money for yourself first and simultaneously make money for the company, not the other way around.
Q: What is your biggest pain point with companies?
A: When a company does well, its CEO will address the entire company saying, ˜well done guys, it is YOUR company, keep up the hard work, I am with you. But when the slowdown happens and the company does not do so well, the same CEO will say, œIt is MY company and to save the company, I have to take tough decisions including asking people to go. So think about your financial stability first; when you get laid off, your kids will complain to you and not your boss.
Comment Please :)
Q: Why have you changed 10 jobs in 14 years?
A: To get financially sound and stable before getting laid off the second time.
Q: So you knew you would be laid off in the year 2009?
A: Well I was laid off first in the year 2002 due to the first global economic slowdown. I had not got a full-time job before January 2003 when the economy started looking up; so I had struggled for almost a year without job and with compromises.
Q: Which number of job was that?
A: That was my third job.
Q: So from Jan 2003 to Jan 2009, in 6 years, you have changed 8 jobs to make the count as 10 jobs in 14 years?
A: I had no other option. In my first 8 years of professional life, I had worked only for 2 organizations thinking that jobs are deserved after lot of hard work and one should stay with an employer company to justify the saying ˜employer loyalty™. But I was an idiot.
Q: Why do you say so?
A: My salary in the first 8 years went up only marginally. I could not save enough and also, I had thought that I had a ˜permanent™ job, so I need not worry about ˜what will I do if I lose my job™. I could never imagine losing a job because of economic slowdown and not because of my performance. That was January 2002.
Q: Can you brief on what happened between January 2003 and 2009.
A: Well, I had learnt my lessons of being ˜company loyal™ and not ˜money earning and saving loyal™. But then you can save enough only when you earn enough. So I shifted my loyalty towards money making and saving “ I changed 8 jobs in 6 years assuring all my interviewers about my stability.
Q: So you lied to your interviewers; you had already planned to change the job for which you were being interviewed on a particular day?
A: Yes, you can change jobs only when the market is up and companies are hiring. You tell me “ can I get a job now because of the slowdown? No. So one should change jobs for higher salaries only when the market is up because that is the only time when companies hire and can afford the expected salaries.
Q: What have you gained by doing such things?
A: That's the question I was waiting for. In Jan 2003, I had a fixed salary (without variables) of say Rs. X p.a. In January 2009, my salary was 8X. So assuming my salary was Rs.3 lakh p.a. in Jan 2003, my last drawn salary in Jan 2009 was Rs.24 lakh p.a. (without variable). I never bothered about variable as I had no intention to stay for 1 year and go through the appraisal process to wait for the company to give me a hike.
Q: So you decided on your own hike?
A: Yes, in 2003, I could see the slowdown coming again in future like it had happened in 2001-02. Though I was not sure by when the next slowdown would come, I was pretty sure I wanted a ˜debt-free™ life before being laid off again. So I planned my hike targets on a yearly basis without waiting for the year to complete.
Q: So are you debt-free now?
A: Yes, I earned so much by virtue of job changes for money and spent so little that today I have a loan free 2 BR flat (1200 sq.. feet) plus a loan free big car without bothering about any EMIs. I am laid off too but I do not complain at all. If I have laid off companies for money, it is OK if a company lays me off because of lack of money.
Q: Who is complaining?
A: All those guys who are not getting a job to pay their EMIs off are complaining. They had made fun of me saying I am a job hopper and do not have any company loyalty. Now I ask them what they gained by their company loyalty; they too are laid off like me and pass comments to me “ why will you bother about us, you are already debt-free. They were still in the bracket of 12-14 lakh p.a. when they were laid off.
Q: What is your advice to professionals?
A: Like Narayan Murthy had said “ love your job and not your company because you never know when your company will stop loving you. In the same lines, love yourself and your family needs more than the company's needs. Companies can keep coming and going; family will always remain the same. Make money for yourself first and simultaneously make money for the company, not the other way around.
Q: What is your biggest pain point with companies?
A: When a company does well, its CEO will address the entire company saying, ˜well done guys, it is YOUR company, keep up the hard work, I am with you. But when the slowdown happens and the company does not do so well, the same CEO will say, œIt is MY company and to save the company, I have to take tough decisions including asking people to go. So think about your financial stability first; when you get laid off, your kids will complain to you and not your boss.
Comment Please :)
Technology And Time Management
“We have neither the means nor the desire to stop the march of technological progress.”-Charles Tillinghast, Jr.
There are two parameters for doing any activity: the quality of the activity and the time that you take to complete the activity. There is an important parameter called ‘cycle time’, which is the minimum time that you need to successfully complete a task with out sacrificing the quality. In the context of the growing competition, you need to compress the time that you take to complete any task. We cannot take the same time that we took a few years ago.
Time being a very limited resource we need to do lot more things with in less time. We may not have the time that we had at our disposal a few years ago. Just think how much time we took to construct a house; what was the length of a movie film, the time we took to prepare our lunch, etc! Do we have that much time now?
Hence there is no other alternative except to reduce the time duration for completing any activity. This is possible only when we have the latest technology in our chosen field. Some examples are as follows:
Manual writing > typewriting with a manual type writer > typewriting with electronic typewriter > typing on a computer.
Manual accounting > accounting on excel > accounting through software.
Writing an article ourselves > dictating to a scribe > using a Dictaphone > using voice recognition software.
Sending a mail through courier/post > faxing > emailing > image scanning.
We are much ahead of the above examples. I would suggest that we brainstorm for our own businesses on many other technological improvements in our organization which can cut short many of our manual activities.
There are two parameters for doing any activity: the quality of the activity and the time that you take to complete the activity. There is an important parameter called ‘cycle time’, which is the minimum time that you need to successfully complete a task with out sacrificing the quality. In the context of the growing competition, you need to compress the time that you take to complete any task. We cannot take the same time that we took a few years ago.
Time being a very limited resource we need to do lot more things with in less time. We may not have the time that we had at our disposal a few years ago. Just think how much time we took to construct a house; what was the length of a movie film, the time we took to prepare our lunch, etc! Do we have that much time now?
Hence there is no other alternative except to reduce the time duration for completing any activity. This is possible only when we have the latest technology in our chosen field. Some examples are as follows:
Manual writing > typewriting with a manual type writer > typewriting with electronic typewriter > typing on a computer.
Manual accounting > accounting on excel > accounting through software.
Writing an article ourselves > dictating to a scribe > using a Dictaphone > using voice recognition software.
Sending a mail through courier/post > faxing > emailing > image scanning.
We are much ahead of the above examples. I would suggest that we brainstorm for our own businesses on many other technological improvements in our organization which can cut short many of our manual activities.
Develop Signals
“They can because they think they can”- Virgil
People can interrupt your flow of work. Drop in visitor could take away your time. While you should handle such interruptions tactfully, you should also maintain good inter personal relationship and rapport.
Sometimes you may have an embarrassing situation where you are cornered by talkative people. You may find it embarrassing to tell them that you have some other work. You may think that the other person may mistake you if you interrupt his flow. At the same time, you may not be able to continue the conversation. How to deal with such a situation?
A busy company executive whom I know told me that he had a tactic for doing this. He had devised a signal with some of his assistants. When the assistants noticed him rubbing his ear lobe, it meant that they should come to his ‘rescue’. One of his assistants would barge into say that he was needed urgently somewhere! He said that it never failed. Another senior executive of a company will have his secretary to interrupt a meeting if extends beyond 25 minutes. His secretary will come and remind him about his ‘next appointment’.
You have to accept others as they are. They do not have the intention of wasting your time. However, they may not know your compulsions for your time. You need tact to deal with a situation like this.
Do you have any such tactic? Please Comment
Read more…
People can interrupt your flow of work. Drop in visitor could take away your time. While you should handle such interruptions tactfully, you should also maintain good inter personal relationship and rapport.Sometimes you may have an embarrassing situation where you are cornered by talkative people. You may find it embarrassing to tell them that you have some other work. You may think that the other person may mistake you if you interrupt his flow. At the same time, you may not be able to continue the conversation. How to deal with such a situation?
A busy company executive whom I know told me that he had a tactic for doing this. He had devised a signal with some of his assistants. When the assistants noticed him rubbing his ear lobe, it meant that they should come to his ‘rescue’. One of his assistants would barge into say that he was needed urgently somewhere! He said that it never failed. Another senior executive of a company will have his secretary to interrupt a meeting if extends beyond 25 minutes. His secretary will come and remind him about his ‘next appointment’.
You have to accept others as they are. They do not have the intention of wasting your time. However, they may not know your compulsions for your time. You need tact to deal with a situation like this.
Do you have any such tactic? Please Comment
share the good practices
Here's an article, which if applied to our lives, can bring out the difference and change the ordinary to the unique...
There was a farmer who grew superior quality and award-winning corn. Each year he entered his corn in the state fair where it won honor and prizes.
One year a newspaper reporter interviewed him and learnt something interesting about how he grew it. The reporter discovered that the farmer shared his seed corn with his neighbors'.
“How can you afford to share your best seed corn with your neighbors when they are entering corn in competition with yours each year?" the reporter asked.
"Why sir, "said the farmer, "didn't you know? The wind picks up pollen from the ripening corn and swirls it from field to field. If my neighbors grow inferior, sub-standard and poor quality corn, cross-pollination will steadily degrade the quality of my corn. If I am to grow good corn, I must help my neighbors grow good corn."
The farmer gave a superb insight into the connectedness of life. His corn cannot improve unless his neighbor's corn also improves . So it is in the other dimensions! Those who choose to be at harmony must help their neighbors and colleagues to be at peace. Those who choose to live well must help others to live well. The value of a life is measured by the lives it touches.
Success does not happen in isolation. It is very often a participative and collective process. So share the good practices, ideas, new learning's with your family, team members, neighbors... and enjoy the collaborative growth...
There was a farmer who grew superior quality and award-winning corn. Each year he entered his corn in the state fair where it won honor and prizes.One year a newspaper reporter interviewed him and learnt something interesting about how he grew it. The reporter discovered that the farmer shared his seed corn with his neighbors'.
“How can you afford to share your best seed corn with your neighbors when they are entering corn in competition with yours each year?" the reporter asked.
"Why sir, "said the farmer, "didn't you know? The wind picks up pollen from the ripening corn and swirls it from field to field. If my neighbors grow inferior, sub-standard and poor quality corn, cross-pollination will steadily degrade the quality of my corn. If I am to grow good corn, I must help my neighbors grow good corn."
The farmer gave a superb insight into the connectedness of life. His corn cannot improve unless his neighbor's corn also improves . So it is in the other dimensions! Those who choose to be at harmony must help their neighbors and colleagues to be at peace. Those who choose to live well must help others to live well. The value of a life is measured by the lives it touches.
Success does not happen in isolation. It is very often a participative and collective process. So share the good practices, ideas, new learning's with your family, team members, neighbors... and enjoy the collaborative growth...
Technology & Methodology
“The great end of life is not knowledge but action”- Thomas Huxley
It is important to distinguish between the two words ‘technology’ and ‘methodology’. Methodology is a series of steps or methods to accomplish a task. You can easily follow a few steps to get a result. For example, if you want to switch on the television, the steps you should follow are given in the manual. If you follow the steps, the television will be on. You do not have to know anything about the technological aspect of the television such as the circuit diagram. You do not need to know how picture tube is connected with the electrical circuit. In this world, you can survive just by knowing the methodology.
However, technology means how things work. Technology takes into account the principles under which things are configured and how the various components are connected with each other. While methodology will give you the barest minimum for survival, when you are stuck, you need the technology to solve the problem and trouble shoot. For example, when you switch on the television and the television does not function it means that your methodology has failed and what you need is the technology.
In every job that you do, the basic skills are the methodology. By knowing the basic skills you will succeed. However, if you want to excel you need the technology. Technology of living takes into account the range of your skill set and skill inventory. With ordinary communications, you can succeed to some extent. However, you should go into the various dimensions of communication so that you are able to communicate in most difficult situations. For example, assertiveness is a communication technology. Negotiation skill is a communication technology.
It is important to distinguish between the two words ‘technology’ and ‘methodology’. Methodology is a series of steps or methods to accomplish a task. You can easily follow a few steps to get a result. For example, if you want to switch on the television, the steps you should follow are given in the manual. If you follow the steps, the television will be on. You do not have to know anything about the technological aspect of the television such as the circuit diagram. You do not need to know how picture tube is connected with the electrical circuit. In this world, you can survive just by knowing the methodology.However, technology means how things work. Technology takes into account the principles under which things are configured and how the various components are connected with each other. While methodology will give you the barest minimum for survival, when you are stuck, you need the technology to solve the problem and trouble shoot. For example, when you switch on the television and the television does not function it means that your methodology has failed and what you need is the technology.
In every job that you do, the basic skills are the methodology. By knowing the basic skills you will succeed. However, if you want to excel you need the technology. Technology of living takes into account the range of your skill set and skill inventory. With ordinary communications, you can succeed to some extent. However, you should go into the various dimensions of communication so that you are able to communicate in most difficult situations. For example, assertiveness is a communication technology. Negotiation skill is a communication technology.
Offer To Meet People In Their Place
“The world is full of willing people. Some willing to work, the rest willing to let them.”- Robert FrostVery often you would have experienced a situation where the drop-in visitor is not leaving the place even after the purpose of the visit is over. One of the embarrassing things to do is to ask a person to leave your place. They may consider you impolite and mistake you. Owing to power and other equations you may find it difficult to ask people to leave your room/cubicle. At the same time, you may not be able to concentrate on your work.
Whenever you have to meet a person, meet him in his seat rather than in your seat. Whenever somebody says he will come to meet you, offer that you will go to his seat. This will give you an option to get back to your seat after the meeting is over. When an outsider wants to meet you, consider whether you can have the meetings in a common place such as a mini-conference room.
You may design a sticker reading ‘I do not want to waste any more of your time!’ Your visitor will be intelligent enough to understand the hidden message!
Remember that the time management has to be combined with tact and in trying to save your time you should not land up making enemies.
Remember: enemies are not born, but made and developed!
Trim, Edit, Compress, Simplify, Improve….
“Beware, lest you loose the substance by grasping at the shadow”- Aesop
Your activities cannot take the same amount of time it took sometime back. You need to constantly innovate and find out how to do the same thing in a different, but more effective way. We need to believe that work and time are not directly proportional.
More work need not mean more time. This is possible only by being flexible in the process of our working. We should be focused on our goal and be flexible in our approach to reach the same. This is possible only if we are willing to trim, compress, simplify and improve our approach.
Recently I came across an interesting skill called ‘competitive intelligence’. In simple terms it means collecting intelligence from our competitors to know how they are better than us in what they are doing and applying the same to our work.
You should watch others performing and notice in what way their approach is better than yours. We do it day in and day out observing competitors websites, but somewhere we are not following the same competitor intelligence with in our organization. We should also apply the same thing in our personal lives.
If you are a trainer, watch how others are training. If you are a manager, watch how other managers are managing their work and teams. Take the best processes from others and then apply the same to your job.
Keep an open mind to learn from others; seniors, peers and even juniors. Somebody said that mind is like a parachute and it works only if it opens! Innovation and improvements apply not only to organizations but also applies to individuals in the organization. Consider the whole world as a large university where you can learn a lot from others.
This mindset not only gives you the much needed variety, but also takes the boredom from your job.
Your activities cannot take the same amount of time it took sometime back. You need to constantly innovate and find out how to do the same thing in a different, but more effective way. We need to believe that work and time are not directly proportional.More work need not mean more time. This is possible only by being flexible in the process of our working. We should be focused on our goal and be flexible in our approach to reach the same. This is possible only if we are willing to trim, compress, simplify and improve our approach.
Recently I came across an interesting skill called ‘competitive intelligence’. In simple terms it means collecting intelligence from our competitors to know how they are better than us in what they are doing and applying the same to our work.
You should watch others performing and notice in what way their approach is better than yours. We do it day in and day out observing competitors websites, but somewhere we are not following the same competitor intelligence with in our organization. We should also apply the same thing in our personal lives.
If you are a trainer, watch how others are training. If you are a manager, watch how other managers are managing their work and teams. Take the best processes from others and then apply the same to your job.
Keep an open mind to learn from others; seniors, peers and even juniors. Somebody said that mind is like a parachute and it works only if it opens! Innovation and improvements apply not only to organizations but also applies to individuals in the organization. Consider the whole world as a large university where you can learn a lot from others.
This mindset not only gives you the much needed variety, but also takes the boredom from your job.
Form The ‘Completion’ Habit
“Get a good idea and stay with it, and work it until it’s done and done right”- Walt Disney
We may have a habit of leaving things incomplete whenever we are interrupted and going to the next issue. A normal day is a day full of interruptions. A perfectly uninterrupted day is not possible.
As you are working, you may be interrupted by telephone calls, visitors or any other type of interruptions. While you are doing a job and if you are interrupted in between, go back to the same job which was interrupted and do not pick up the next job unless you complete it.
It is likely that you will be asked to handle an equally important task in hand. Do it accepting it as a reality. However, after the interruption is over, go back to the interrupted task.
It is something like undertaking a travel. When your journey is interrupted due to traffic jam, or diversion, you accept it as a reality and take a deviation. You join the main road after the interruption is over. Keep this example in mind next time you are interrupted.
Remember what Edward Deming said: ‘Constancy of purpose and consistency of action’. The ability to bounce back after an interruption is a very critical skill for succeeding in life.
If you do not follow the above tip, it is likely that you may not find time to complete the interrupted task.
We may have a habit of leaving things incomplete whenever we are interrupted and going to the next issue. A normal day is a day full of interruptions. A perfectly uninterrupted day is not possible.As you are working, you may be interrupted by telephone calls, visitors or any other type of interruptions. While you are doing a job and if you are interrupted in between, go back to the same job which was interrupted and do not pick up the next job unless you complete it.
It is likely that you will be asked to handle an equally important task in hand. Do it accepting it as a reality. However, after the interruption is over, go back to the interrupted task.
It is something like undertaking a travel. When your journey is interrupted due to traffic jam, or diversion, you accept it as a reality and take a deviation. You join the main road after the interruption is over. Keep this example in mind next time you are interrupted.
Remember what Edward Deming said: ‘Constancy of purpose and consistency of action’. The ability to bounce back after an interruption is a very critical skill for succeeding in life.
If you do not follow the above tip, it is likely that you may not find time to complete the interrupted task.
Anticipate Interruptions
“If you are going to panic, at least panic intelligently”
It is ideal to think there will be no disturbance during the day. In reality, there could be interruptions such as excessive traffic, lack of cooperation, power failure, vehicle break down, etc. As you get up in the morning, think what are the things that are likely to go wrong and anticipate them. At the same time, do not become too pessimistic. Anticipating interruptions will help you plan your day despite external situation. Anticipation is different from ‘looking forward’ to interruptions. That will make you pessimistic. When you get an opportunity think and take preventive actions.
Keep an interruption log. As you work in a day, you may come across many interruptions such as telephone calls, visitors, etc. It is likely that we may be under the wrong impression that a specific thing or a specific person is interrupting us. It may or may not be true. For one complete week maintain a log of interruptions, wherein you put the name of the person and the time when you are interrupted. Also mention whether the purpose for which you were interrupted was for ‘A’ issue, ‘B’ or ‘C’ issue. After collecting data for one full week, analyse the same. You will know the pattern in which your interruptions took place.
You may find that one particular person interrupted you most often. This will indicate what you should do to stop this interruption. This will help you to find a solutions to prevent this interruption. Try for a week and see for yourself.
Please note that you have to manage people interruptions tactfully without sounding arrogant.
It is ideal to think there will be no disturbance during the day. In reality, there could be interruptions such as excessive traffic, lack of cooperation, power failure, vehicle break down, etc. As you get up in the morning, think what are the things that are likely to go wrong and anticipate them. At the same time, do not become too pessimistic. Anticipating interruptions will help you plan your day despite external situation. Anticipation is different from ‘looking forward’ to interruptions. That will make you pessimistic. When you get an opportunity think and take preventive actions.Keep an interruption log. As you work in a day, you may come across many interruptions such as telephone calls, visitors, etc. It is likely that we may be under the wrong impression that a specific thing or a specific person is interrupting us. It may or may not be true. For one complete week maintain a log of interruptions, wherein you put the name of the person and the time when you are interrupted. Also mention whether the purpose for which you were interrupted was for ‘A’ issue, ‘B’ or ‘C’ issue. After collecting data for one full week, analyse the same. You will know the pattern in which your interruptions took place.
You may find that one particular person interrupted you most often. This will indicate what you should do to stop this interruption. This will help you to find a solutions to prevent this interruption. Try for a week and see for yourself.
Please note that you have to manage people interruptions tactfully without sounding arrogant.
