HR Trap Question --- What is your expected compensation?

HR Trap Question --- What is your expected compensation?

Don’t fall for it; learn how to negotiate your compensation. Here’s how –

1. Analyze & Understand Your True Worth

Conduct benchmarking. Research and get an understanding of how much people at your level with identical expertise & skills are earning in the market. Robust market understanding of one’s salary value is strength.

2. Never Skip the Salary Requirement

While filling job application forms, one should never leave the salary requirement blank. Generally, No response works against the job seeker. It appears the job seeker is ignoring what the employer has asked.

Recruiter may filter out such applications while narrowing down from the pool.

3. Defer the Salary Discussion

One can defer the discussion, by saying it depends on factors like benefits and other intangibles being offered by the company. Since knowing your magic number benefits the recruiter, chances are they’ll press you for it. Divert the discussion & defer it until after the employer has shown solid interest in you.

4. Offer a Broad Range, if Answering becomes absolutely necessary

When asked the question, a candidate should specify his or her own range - and that range should be such that its low end should be close to the high end of the employer's range.

Your earlier research on the company will guide you here. You may also ask the interviewer where they consider their salaries fit relative to their industry standard.

5. Key is to be Ambiguous

You can sound vague here. You may tell the company that you have no specific salary requirements but that your pay has been in the X to Y range in the past few years. Also you are open for negotiation with consideration to flexible.

Forget being a Good Manager… Be a Good LEADER first!!!

Forget being a Good Manager… Be a Good LEADER first!!!

 

A Leader must be trusted and respected. Many managers believe that their position, experience, or intelligence is enough to make them a leader. Not true. If you don’t have the trust and respect of the people around you, you can’t lead them. To lead one must develop certain qualities and attributes. However, qualities as a person’s character and personality are very difficult to learn. The qualities and attributes that can be worked upon NOW are as follows:

1. Trustworthiness – First & Foremost is “Integrity in action.” A leader must be inherently honest to build the trust of those around him.
2. Fairness – Leader must “tough but fair.” People will respect leaders who are tough on them as long as what they demand is considered fair.
3. Unassuming behavior – We often witness, when people achieve a position of significance, they let their ego get the best of them and become arrogant. It’s difficult to be an arrogant or pretentious leader.
4. Listening - A strong leader is a good listener. Many managers believe that when they are put in a position of authority, they should be the one talking and giving orders. Instead, they should focus on listening even more. Managers who don’t listen can’t really be leaders because they won’t know what’s truly happening around them. Feedback from people around you is the key to success.
5. Open-minded - Leaders don’t believe they have all the answers. Instead, they are confident and secure enough to know they don’t and that it would be smart to listen to what others have to contribute.
6. Sensitive towards People - To get people to openly share with you, they must believe you care about them as individuals and about their ideas. If you can’t develop a rapport with people, you can’t lead them.
7. Sensitive towards Situations - “Situations are created by people and must be dealt with by people.” Often a manager is put in a position where he or she has to resolve disputes or disagreements. A leader can analyze the situation, consider the feelings of those involved, make a prudent decision, and communicate it effectively. It doesn’t mean everyone involved will like or agree with the decision, but if the manager can display sensitivity to the people and the situation, he or she is likely to be an effective leader.
8. Initiative - It’s an attribute, not a quality, and therefore can be learned. To be a leader, a person must be willing to take action. When opportunities present themselves, a leader takes the initiative and pursues them relentlessly.
9. Good judgment - A leader with good judgment has the ability to consider the facts available and other potentially relevant information and has the intuition to combine what is known and unknown to make the best decision. It’s as much art as science, and good leaders understand they will never have all the information or perfect data and is comfortable acting with what he or she has.
   
10. Broad-mindedness - Ability to see the BIG picture. A good leader doesn’t get mired in every last detail but can step back from situations to consider many alternatives. 
11. Flexibility and Adaptability - A true leader must be able and willing to change direction quickly or admit when he or she has made a mistake. A leader is open to change and can adapt easily when necessary.
12. Capacity to make sound and timely decisions - If there’s one thing all successful leaders share, it’s the ability to make decisions. And if a leader is to be successful, those decisions must be made after appropriate consideration. But indecisiveness kills the ability to lead.
13. Capacity to Motivate - Many people associate the capacity to motivate with a fiery leader or an eloquent and effective speaker. And passion and strong communication certainly can aid in one’s ability to lead, but it takes more to motivate others. The courage of your convictions, a certain degree of confidence, and a shared purpose also are necessary to get others to follow you.
14. Sense of Urgency - A good leader favors action over inaction. A good leader wants to move quickly and make things happen. Slow, reactive, passive people don’t tend to end up in leadership roles—and for good reason.

10 RETENTION STRATEGIES that can be implemented IMMEDIATELY

10 RETENTION STRATEGIES that can be implemented IMMEDIATELY

1.     Competitive compensation - Just a reasonable compensation alone can’t assure employee loyalty. If an organization offers below-market salaries, it is likely for its employees to lookout for better avenues.

a)       Benchmarking & Industry Surveys can be used as tools to stay informed on wage trends.

b)       One time performance pay for meeting specific goals aligned with business objectives can be introduced.

c)       Exit interviews data can reveal the main reasons of pain points amongst the departing employees. HR can then collate & use this data to make corrective actions.

d)       Let employees decide their own reimbursements/flexi salaries.

e)       HR can run periodic Employee Engagement Surveys, to find out what perks, benefits and forms of compensation other than money will help keep employees motivated.

Incentive policies, awards and recognition like "Best project", "contribution", "mentorship", Individual/group recognition at departmental/organization levels are few outstanding examples of recognition strategy.  Eg. Pay Exception is a procedure at FedEx, which allows managers to recommend and give exceptional pay increases to their highly performing employees when it is not covered by normal policy. Intel Technologies has cash bonus plans and performance based bonuses for employees.

2.     Various Benefits & Perks - Although benefits are not a key reason why employees stick with a company, however the offered benefits must be better as compared to competitors and like minded industries.

a)      Group Medi-claim Insurance Scheme and Personal Health Care (Regular medical check-ups)

b)      Corporate Credit Cards and Discount Coupons

c)       Cellular Phone/Laptop and other latest technology on-board

d)      Interest free loans for higher educations

e)      Performance based quarterly incentives

f)       Flexi-time and Flexible Salary Benefits

g)      Wedding Day and Birthday Gift

h)      Own a car policy

i)        Sabbaticals

 

3.     Retention Bonus - Seniority-based rewards such as a paid membership in a club after an employee's professional association after one year, a paid membership to a local gymnasium after two years, and full reimbursement for the cost of the employee's formal dress are some new & trending retention tools.

4.      Managing Superior –Subordinate relation - We all know people leave or stay because of their bosses and not the companies. Organizations need to make sure that Managers aren't driving technologists away. Harp upon the competencies and substantially invest in human capital. Managers' leadership, communication and interpersonal skills should be honed through coaching, training and feedback. These key skills must be rated in their evaluations, and compensation to performance should be tied up.

5.     Roles & responsibilities needs to be dovetailed - Employees should know what is expected of them every day, every month and every year, what types of decisions they are allowed to make on their own, and to whom they are supposed to report. These things sound simple but play a major role because contented employees achieve amazing things. Clear vision, robust and consistent communication, teamwork and respect for efforts should be provided. Organization’s vision/mission should be clearly and regularly communicated.

Eli Lilly & Co.(India) Pvt. Ltd has a Red Book on Code of Business Conduct which provides standards for conducting business consistent with the company's legal obligations, global policies and core values. There is a structured training program on the Red Book and the employees are required to sign the Responsibility Statement of the Red Book to certify that they agree to comply with the principles and values.

6.      Development opportunities – Career path makes sure employees know what they must do to earn and go in for progression. A clear professional development plan gives employees an incentive to stick around. Do away with your PMS if it has turned to NOVA (Non Value Added Activity) and go in for instant performance rewards. Think! Think out of the box! Sabbatical policies providing fees & time for higher studies are amongst the best & trending ways of assuring employee loyalty.

7.     Process Owner – A process owner responsible for implementation of retention strategies must be nominated. If customer returns, in-house rejections and non-confirming products can have a process owner as a countermeasure why not a process owner for retention strategies implementation. Think better, think bigger, think brighter, think broader, think bolder, think positive and set higher audacious goals.

8.     Employee Engagement Practices – 

a)      One idea: Ask employees what they want more of and what they want less of – Capture Voice of Employees

b)      Value addition in terms of ASKPT (Attitude, Skills, Knowledge, Practices, and Trust) has to be the end product.

c)       Stay Interviews and its implementation, call back your employees and ensure ombudsmen concept. 

 Mindtree Consulting has been active in its social responsibilities. MindTree has identified social responsibility as one of its core values and therefore, regularly encourages it in the organization. It has adopted an old age home and a home for children of Sri Lankan refugees in Bangalore. Every third Saturday, MindTree employees visit these places and spend half a day with the inmates there.

9.     CBIC’s & CFT’s -  It takes effort to build an effective team, but the result is greater productivity, better use of resources, improved customer service and increased morale. Give great emphasis on cross functional approach as it endorses acceptance and accountability.

a)      Make sure everyone understands the department's purpose, mission or goal.

b)      Encourage discussion, participation and the sharing of ideas.

c)       Rotate leadership responsibilities depending on your employees' abilities and the needs of the team.

d)      Involve employees in decisions; ask them to help make decisions through consensus and collaboration.

e)      Encourage team members to show appreciation to their colleagues for superior performance or achievement.

Sapient Corporation has a practice known as "Team Storming". When a team (project team or an internal team) has worked very hard, teams from across the office get together and storm the team with a 'goodies' basket to recognize the team and lift their morale.

10.  Fun@Work is Must - Celebrate successes and recognize when milestones are reached. Buffet lunches, birthday parties, employee picnics and creative contests will help remind people why an organization is a great place to work.

The companies organizes cultural program as and when possible but most of the times, once in a quarter, in which all the employees are given an opportunity to display their talents in dramatics, singing, acting, dancing and sports programs such as Cricket, football, etc

5 CRITICAL HIRING MISTAKES

5 CRITICAL HIRING MISTAKES

****Err Wrong Recruitment!!!****

 

Selecting the Right Person is so basic to SUCCESS, yet many Recruiters do it wrongly. Find out Why & What to AVOID.

 

1.      Clarity on What You Are Looking For

Closing an open position is always a priority but being in a hurry to do so may lead to hiring of a wrong person. Better to wait for few more days than hiring a wrong candidate. This mismatch results in reduced productivity, low morale & often termination. Recruiter should think of filling the job, not replacing the person.

 

Whenever there’s an opening, the job description should be revised according to the changes in organizational strategies. Perhaps anticipated changes suggest that someone with a different skill set would be a better fit for the long term. Or maybe it’s time to think about some restructuring based on the future or based on analysis of how this job or a group of jobs could be done better.

2.      Minimal Source for Candidate Pool
It seems simple to hire today—hit one of the big job sites and go at it. But most experts recommend using more than one source for candidates. It will improve the candidate pool and support diversity initiatives. Therefore, please contact Salient HR Management for all your Hiring Needs.

3.      Casual, Erratic or Illegal Interviewing

Casual - Casually interviewing, that is, being unprepared, results in not gathering enough information to make a reasonable hiring decision. Also, lack of interest will leave the best candidates unimpressed.

Erratic - Poor interviewing techniques, poor selection of questions fails to probe deeper. Similar interview style & questions should be practiced with all the candidates to do a beeter evaluation & make a rational choice.

Illegal - All interviewers need to be trained to avoid questions or comments that can appear to be discriminatory, for example, questions about gender, race, national origin, religion, and age. The courts will assume that you asked the questions because you needed that information to make your decision. That leaves you wide open for a discrimination lawsuit based on asking the question.

4.      Poor Selection

Especially if you have not done a good job of gathering information about candidates, it’s easy to rely on one of these misleading factors:

• Halo - This means being swayed by one factor that’s great while ignoring other important factors that are poor.
• Extraneous - This means being swayed by an unimportant factor like successes in areas not related to the job.
• Glibness - This happens when you have an inspiring and enjoyable chat but fail to get around to talking about business.
• Background - This means being swayed by an impressive degree or a list of impressive people and companies with whom the person has worked, while ignoring the fact that there is no evidence the person can do the job.

5.      Background Check
Background Checks play a vital role. It can save the recruiter from taking the wrong plunge. Therefore, please contact Salient HR Management for all your Background Check Needs.