Management Goon: Cover Letter – How not to read it!

There is one key rule in management: never hire anyone desperate or stupid enough to work for someone like you. Unfortunately, at some point in your management career you may need to replace an employee who was smart enough to quit.

If and when this happens, you will probably come across something known as a “resume” and its useless cousin, the “cover letter.”

Back when people used typewriters and an archaic delivery system known as the Indian Postal Service, cover letters served the important function of protecting resumes against damage caused by psychotic postal workers.

Since the advent of email sometime around 1972, resumes have been sent via email. Today, the purpose of a cover letter is to avoid attaching a resume to a completely blank email, which is frowned upon in some cultures.

You will recognize a cover letter by its adherence to the following format:

Beginning: Blah-blah-blah. Blah-blah-blah.
Middle: Blah-blah-blah. Blah-blah-blah-blah.
End: My resume is attached.

While most managers read only the resume, you should always print out and read the cover letter as well. This is a handy way to kill time and avoid doing actual work. Perhaps more important, it can serve as inexpensive gift wrap, lining for a birdcage, or holiday party confetti.

Under no circumstances should you pay attention to the following:

Ability to structure a coherent sentence
Typos, misspellings, and grammatical errors simply indicate that the candidate is either not particularly detail oriented or not particularly bright. Hey, as long as you know how to type “LOL” and “RU free 4 lunch?” you’ll probably be just fine here, right?

Hidden insights into character
Ramblings about being pursued by CIA operatives and/or having one’s brain scanned by aliens are probably just conversation fillers. Similarly, threats of physical violence against you or the company are often just idle boasts.

Knowledge of the company
The rocket scientists over in HR claim that a candidate should display some basic familiarity with the company or industry in which the company operates. But seriously, if the candidate knew anything about the company, why would he be applying?

Ability to persuade, sell, or inspire
Last time I checked this was a workplace, not Hallmark Channel. Next.

Above all, try not to think too deeply. About anything. Ever. No one ever got promoted by thinking.

If you want to make enemies, try to change something – Woodrow Wilson

Background checks in India - Why they Fail!!

In a growing economy like India, companies are often seen in a mad rush to hire in the hundreds. Tight timelines for hiring and cost-consciousness often tempt recruiters to go easy on checks and verification.

And it is not hard to get fake documents in the country. There are close to 7500 companies in India, which operate just for providing fake employment and educational certificates, according to a report by First Advantage, a background screening company.

The company discovered this startling number during the process of education verification on prospective hires that it conducted for its clients. Among the discrepancies found in the second quarter of 2014, anomalies related to employment, address and education antecedents were at 60.4%, 15.9% and 6.0% respectively.

Who does these checks in India?

In India, the prevalent norm is for human resources (HR) to conduct a reference check from past employment based on the information provided by a candidate. The authentication of residential addresses, educational and criminal records is typically outsourced to third party background verification companies.

These agencies usually take between seven and 10 days to give a report and charge between Rs. 2,000 and Rs. 3,000 per candidate. The fee goes up in case of extensive checks and for senior level hires.

Despite the growth in the number of screening agencies, most companies are yet to give pre-employment background checks the importance it deserves.

About 90% of organized sector undertake some form of checks while 95% companies in the unorganized sector are still hiring without any background check.

Learn from IT firms

Executives involved in background checks say IT and ITES, banking and financial services and FMCG sectors are way ahead of their peers in sectors such as telecommunications, manufacturing, retail, hospitality, healthcare, travel, education and entertainment.

It is an investment as background checks help in safeguarding organizational assets, promoting safety at workplace, reducing turnover owing to right hiring, safeguarding company reputation, avoiding legal action and inspiring confidence in customers and shareholders,

IT companies such as Tata Consultancy Services, Infosys Technologies and Wipro are known to show zero-tolerance towards corporate fraud and fraudulent employees. Punitive actions include termination of services and blacklisting such candidates and recruiters.

In fact, the industry body for technology companies, National Association of Software and Services Companies, maintains a centralized database of IT and ITES employees and third-party verified information on education, experience history and personal details of these professionals.

Job portals such as Naukri, Monster and communities such as CiteHR forums also alert users of blacklisted candidates. But this is not enough for carrying out checks. There is no single platform for non-IT/ITES companies where details of fraudulent candidates and recruiters can be found.

Also, what makes the process of background verification difficult and cumbersome is the lack of a centralized repository of information, defined processes and procedures to conduct checks at educational institutes, police stations or courts.

But with newer forms of white collar crimes emerging, perhaps it is time that companies go the extra mile and conduct thorough background checks on prospective employees. 

Better to be safe, than sorry.

When a thing is done, it's done. Don't look back. Look forward to your next objective.

Become a better Manager - Keep your hands on skills razor sharp!!

It starts when you land your first management position. Suddenly, you’re splitting your time between telling other people what to do and actually doing stuff yourself. And as you climb further up the chain, the balance shifts and you spend more and more time managing people, projects, budgets, and bosses. Then, one day, you realize that the unthinkable has happened: you’ve been so busy managing a team that you’ve let your hands-on skills deteriorate.

As you advance in your career, you will frequently hear that it’s not your hands-on skills, but rather your ability to lead your team to success that matters. I would never suggest that leadership ability is not critical to your advancement. It certainly is. But I would also suggest a supplement: pick a skill and keep it sharp. Keep it razor sharp. Having a relevant, current, hands-on skill is one of the best things you can do as you advance your career.

Recruiting Magnet

The single most important thing you need to do as both an advancing and established manager is to recruit and retain the very best talent. The best talent always has options and is always looking for the most engaging, rewarding, and interesting place to work. As a recruiter, you’ve got to present your organization and — more importantly — yourself as the most interesting person for whom to work. You need to let your candidates know that you’re going to challenge them. One of the best ways to do this is to show them just how much you challenge yourself.

Hands-on technical candidates want to know that their potential manager is going to give them the opportunity to work with current technology. What better way to demonstrate that than to be hands-on with current tech yourself? Candidates want to know that when they get excited about some new coding design pattern, their boss will engage with them about it. Furthermore, where are you going to find these very best candidates? Like all good recruiters, you’ll do best if you meet them where they are. You are far more likely to find like-minded candidates by staying hands-on with a current technology, and attending MeetUps and other groups yourself.

Find Something You Love

I joined The Times Group in 2008 as Corporate Head – Gujarat, India. I knew nothing about Corporate Culture or anything about driving Corporate Sales and Content Validation or Communication at Corporate level. I was just plain good in Motivating and adapting very fast to any environment. To learn the skills to a new level, I went to Indian Institute of Management (IIM) – Ahmedabad for a Management Development Program and started loving every aspect of my role in the Company. Wanting to round out my development background, I chose to learn Communication Strategies and Men and Women at Work. It empowered me to excel in my selection of candidates for my core team. Introductions made for great opportunities to continue that. I not only learned how to hire Managers and Executives for Corporate team but also to evaluate their skills.

So I went to IIM – Ahmedabad again and took some classes. I figured that there might be some students worth considering as candidates and at the very least, I’d learn a bunch. While it turned out that none of my fellow students were a good fit, I had learned enough that when I began my search for a full-time hire, I was able to attract a truly talented PhD-holding Corporate Strategist who was able to bring our ideas to life.

People Want to Know

Shortly after I joined KForce Inc and was placed in X Projects at Google Inc, my boss wanted to introduce me to the board of directors as the newest addition to the team. After giving a bit of preamble about how important technology is to our mission and how excited he was to have me on board, he relayed the story of me taking an Corporate Strategy class and how I had a team that defied odds and was able to work at 110x (x being the Cost to the Company to maintain the team). His real story to the board was that he hadn’t just hired another Program manager, but rather someone who is current, relevant, and would be able to attract talent to push the mission forward. The board’s reaction was universally approving.

Razor Sharp, Always

It’s an enormously worthwhile endeavor to keep learning new skills, even if you choose one that you don’t employ in your current gig. Whether it’s during one-on-one sessions or at a full team lunch, the boss who can talk turkey is the kind of manager who retains their best talent. If you can think of this as a hobby and not as work, all the better. Think of the glow on your face when you tell your friends about your favorite hobby. Now imagine having that same glow when you are relating your new skills to your colleagues. It will help you recruit, retain, and relate to the very best candidates. No matter how high up the technology food chain you get, having a few razor sharp skills will always pay dividends.


Good Management is the art of making problems so interesting and their solutions so constructive; that everyone wants to get to work and deal with them.

Job Hunt Simplified - The Approach

Job Hunt Simplified

In this economy, just showing up no longer counts. Jobs are no longer doled out to the deserving. Instead, they’re given to those that are the most qualified, the best prepared, and who prove that they want it the most.

This is my way of telling you not to start the job hunting process unless you’re willing to make it your relentless pursuit to end up in a hiring manager’s short list — the top three candidates of all the people who applied for a given job — every single time.

Tall order? Maybe. Achievable? Absolutely.

So what can you do today that will make an immediate and positive impact on your job hunt? Start refining the jobs you’re going to apply for.

GET REAL:

When candidates come into my office, I always ask what jobs they’re applying to. Nine out of ten times, the person has virtually no strategy around their company selection. Many can’t even remember where they’ve already applied. While this chaos and inability to focus may be caused by the ease of one-click applying (we call that “impulse shopping”), there is a better way.

Stop and really consider each role before you hit “Apply”. Do you really have a shot at it or are you just wishing? If it’s the latter, keep digging and networking. You want to begin to train your brain to consider the roles where even upon viewing you know you have a good chance of not only being invited in to an interview, but short listed for final rounds. Once you start evaluating companies based upon your ability to make it onto the short list, you’ll begin to evaluate the jobs you’re targeting in a whole new light.

Also, be sure not to become dejected if you make it to the late rounds but don’t ultimately get the offer. Honestly, you should feel as though you’ve won just by making into the top three. After you make it beyond that point, it’s as if a brand new interview process starts — one that’s based much more on personality, company fit, and how much you click with the hiring manager. And even if you don’t land the offer, you’ll still be in their memory and they’ll likely call you when a similar position opens up. The lesson here is that you can’t win every time, but if you interview well, you’ve done some good work that might just pay forward down the line.

Here’s how to step back and get laser-focused so you can win, place, or show. Let me make it real for you.

1. Create a “Target” spreadsheet in Excel.

Column A = Target Company

Column B = Target Title

Column C = Date Applied

Column D = Priority

Your Excel should look like the image below;-)

2. List the last 20 jobs you’ve applied to or have your eye on.
Only fill in columns A, B and C. If this takes more than 30 minutes, you’re doing something wrong, and I’m not talking about your Excel skills.

3. Prioritize. 

Go to the Priority column (“D”) and assign a rank to each job, with #1 being the one you believe you have the best chance of landing based upon how much your professional chops match the company’s needs. If you find any jobs on the list that can’t legitimately see yourself landing, assign them a zero.

4. Sort. 

What jobs made it to the top of your list? Are you excited about them? Do you believe that you have a better than average chance of making it onto a hiring manager’s short list based on the qualifications assigned to the role? If so, you’re in a good place to continue on. If not, you should be real with yourself and try this exercise again with more realistic jobs. This isn’t to say that you can’t have an occasional stretch position on your list. You certainly can and should, but each job can’t be a hail mary.

Over the next month, challenge yourself to re-prioritizing each time you apply to a new job. Spend 80% of your time focusing on the 20% of the jobs you can land and excel at.  Soon you’ll naturally begin to narrow down that enormous list of jobs from long shots to sure shots.

The Takeaway

Do the critical prep work worthy of the “best you” and pick the roles where you know you can actually win, place or show. It’ll be a heck of a boost on your job hunting confidence when you start earning your way into the winner’s circle, time after time.

A goal is a dream with a deadline....   Napoleon Hill