Curry favour
Special Correspondent Mar 28 , 2012 , 12.15 PM IST |
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Can you bribe a multinational company (MNC) in India to get a job? According to media reports and surveys, you certainly can. “After government jobs, MNC jobs are the most valued,” says Mumbai-based HR consultant D. Singh. “So it isn’t surprising that there should be a rate card there too ...
Who’s the boss
Darren Dahl Mar 28 , 2012 , 12.15 PM IST |
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At Quickoffice, which sells software that allows users to create and edit documents on mobile devices, Alan Masarek always enjoyed getting deep into the numbers of his business — almost as if he were chief financial officer instead of chief executive. That is because Masarek, who helped found the Plano, Texas, business in 2002 ...
Be positive
Special Correspondent Nov 12 , 2011 , 09.06 PM IST |
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According to psychologist Dan Goleman, how well we manage our attitudes and behaviours is more important than actual intellectual abilities when it comes to success at work. Goleman turned traditional assumptions about workplace success on their heads in the ’90s...
Beat the naysayers
Special Correspondent Nov 12 , 2011 , 09.22 PM IST |
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Have you visited an office where everybody grumbles? Public sector banks of just a decade ago would have fit that category. The darwan wants to know what you want. He’s been asked to identify and keep out terrorists and bank robbers. If he saw one of them, he would run a mile — and the bank would give him an award for having raised the alarm.
A downward spiral
Louis Uchitelle Nov 12 , 2011 , 09.25 PM IST |
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Just outside the Prairie town of Pella, Iowa, seven vast buildings, each painted brick red, are lined up along a highway bordered by grain fields. These single-storey structures have no smokestacks or any other indication that they are, in fact, very busy factories.
Three shifts of workers produce machines that bale hay, dig trenches, reduce tree branches to wood chips, ...
Race against the machine
Steve Lohr Nov 12 , 2011 , 09.33 PM IST |
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A faltering economy explains much of the job shortage in America, but advancing technology has sharply magnified the impact, more so than is generally understood, according to two researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Ticket to work
Special Correspondent Dec 28 , 2011 , 05.42 PM IST |
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Whenever jobs are hard to get, the first target of the unemployed is the migrant.You can see it in the US where the techies are up in arms over the invasion of intelligent Indians. Whatever the reason — perhaps the cream of the nation still wants to go abroad...
Hire in the mire
Prasun Chaudhuri Dec 28 , 2011 , 06.06 PM IST |
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Ajay Shome was all set to hop jobs for the sixth time in his career. The 35-year-old investment banker was to take charge of the Calcutta-based insurance wing of a European bank by December. He was verbally assured of the job (“it’s a done deal”) after the interview in early October.
Tricky choice
Robert W. Goldfarb Dec 28 , 2011 , 06.11 PM IST |
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It’s understandable that many recent college graduates view themselves as the generation that opportunity forgot.
Should companies invest more on recent graduates and new hires despite the downturn, asks Robert W. Goldfarb
Tweet dreams
Special Correspondent Jan 31 , 2012 , 01.50 PM IST |
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The average tweet either makes you red (through embarrassment) or see red (through anger). That’s all very fine when you are sitting in the audience and tweeting about a particularly bad speaker. He, or people close to him, could be bugged when the tweet reaches them.
Ask for that raise
Special Correspondent Jan 31 , 2012 , 02.19 PM IST |
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So you’ve been keeping your head down, working as hard as you can — glad, you tell yourself, that you even have a job. But you’ve been doing that for several years now. And in that time, the cost of your health insurance has gone up, along with college tuition, petrol and a host of other things. Your pay, meanwhile, has been stagnant.
Most favoured professional
Special Correspondent Feb 11 , 2012 , 01.12 PM IST |
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MBAs always make news. It could be because of the fat salaries they command, or the fat salaries they don’t command. Curiously, all this may happen at the same time. The Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) don’t need to advertise themselves; but the guys who go through such institutions aren’t MBAs.
Quote it right
NEW YORK TIMES NEWS SERVICE Feb 11 , 2012 , 01.12 PM IST |
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When I first started as a freelance writer, I was eager to sell myself — but not eager to discuss money. So I more or less took whatever was offered.
Then I read somewhere that no matter what price new employers state, you always say in a polite but firm tone, “I expected more.”
A fair deal
NYTNS Feb 11 , 2012 , 01.12 PM IST |
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As a flare-red sun set, a group of labourers in their 20s and 30s gathered on the bare floor of a battered house wedged beneath power lines in an industrial part of Jakarta. They were members of a confederation of workers, one of the largest trade unions in Indonesia, whose slogan is “Young, brave, militant.”
The Road to the Top
Massachusetts Institute of Technology Careers Office (MITCO) Feb 23 , 2012 , 04.40 PM IST |
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Western magazines for aspiring MBAs and business executives have long been conducting surveys on “The route to the top”. Times have changed. More popular today is “The route to a job”. The percentage of direct recruitment is coming down. The summer internship used to be a break between two stressful academic sessions. Now it’s deadly serious. If you prove your worth, you may be invited to join the company once you graduate. If you are not invited, other potential employers will ask you why.
All work, no play
NEW YORK TIMES NEWS SERVICE Feb 23 , 2012 , 04.11 PM IST |
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As a full-time mother, Yara Marquez doesn’t have a boss. But when she goes on vacation, she has work to do beyond caring for her 1-year-old son. “If I’m not on Facebook, I don’t feel like I’m doing my job,” said Marquez, 22, of Waltham.
Office blues
NEW YORK TIMES NEWS SERVICE Feb 23 , 2012 , 04.10 PM IST |
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It’s lonely at the top, or so it is said. But in fact, it doesn’t matter where a person is in the office hierarchy — employees at all levels become lonely, even when other workers are all around them.
Double bonanza
Indicus Analytics Feb 23 , 2012 , 04.11 PM IST |
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You can make out it is the season of increments when there are regular news reports of strikes and agitations. Air India pilots are threatening industrial action. Their fat pay cheques have been delayed, so they might have justification. At Coal India Ltd (CIL), consumers have demanded a reduction in coal price, so the 12.5 per cent increase from January 1 has been rolled back.
Revenge of the multitaskers
NEW YORK TIMES NEWS SERVICE Feb 23 , 2012 , 04.41 PM IST |
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It’s a far different work world today than it was even 10 years ago. Technology and the economy have converged to create a set of priorities and preoccupations that are unique to our times. Here are just a few workplace and employment issues that are likely to stir debate, frustration and a search for solutions this year.
Perfect goodbye
TeamLease Survey “Impactful exits” Mar 2 , 2012 , 03.52 PM IST |
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The most famous exit interview in history was when Robert Clive, the conqueror of India, returned to the UK. In 1772, the UK Parliament started an inquiry into the corrupt practices of the East India Company. Squarely in the dock was Clive, who got away with the defence that he had not made as much money as he could have.
Maids in Manhattan
NEW YORK TIMES NEWS SERVICE Mar 2 , 2012 , 03.56 PM IST |
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By summer 2018, thousands of people who spend their days changing sheets and towels in hotel rooms across New York City could be the envy of the blue-collar world, earning nearly $60,000 a year with a promise of full medical benefits for their families and pensions when they retire.
What do CEOs do all day?
Harvard Business School Mar 11 , 2012 , 02.06 PM IST |
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CEO baiters, and there are lots of them these days after the widespread publicity to the excesses of US companies, will tell you that once you reach the top spot, you stop working. Unhindered by tame boards, you spend your time making money or building your ego and image for post-retirement ambitions. Perhaps you want to become president of the country; you have such people in India too.
Dark age
NEW YORK TIMES NEWS SERVICE Mar 11 , 2012 , 02.06 PM IST |
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It is one of the biggest conundrums of an ageing society: Americans have salted away $11 trillion in retirement plans, yet millions still risk running out of money in old age.
High but dry
Mar 19 , 2012 , 12.28 PM IST |
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Robert Walters, says the official website, "is one of the world’s leading specialist professional recruitment consultancies with 47 offices spanning 23 countries". One country that has escaped its wid e coverage is India.
Get it right
NEW YORK TIMES NEWS SERVICE Mar 19 , 2012 , 12.28 PM IST |
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The study is certainly provocative. Even after taking into account factors like income and education, the authors concluded that people with relatively high IQs typically diversify their investment portfolios more than those with lower scores and invest more heavily in the stock market.
Men at work
NEW YORK TIMES NEWS SERVICE Mar 19 , 2012 , 12.29 PM IST |
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Since time began, it seems, people have been putting off till tomorrow what they could have done today — berating themselves and inconveniencing others in the process.
Interview alert
Mar 24 , 2012 , 01.53 PM IST |
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A job interview has sometimes been likened to a game. The interviewer knows who you are and what you are. His job is to find out what you think. From the other side of the table — assuming you get to a one-to-one stage — you too know what he wants. Your best effort should be to let him win the game while giving the impression that he only just about managed to do so, that you are intelligent, only he is that tiny bit better.
Ask for it
Special Correspondent Mar 28 , 2012 , 12.17 PM IST |
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One of the most difficult situations in the workplace is when you have to ask your boss for a raise or promotion. The problem is that if you really deserved it, it should have come without your asking. So you have the lurking fear that you may hear something you don’t want to, that the boss thinks you are not good enough.
So long, farewell
Special Correcpondent Apr 8 , 2012 , 12.22 AM IST |
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After many months of suspense at engineering major Larsen & Toubro (L&T), a successor to chairman A.M. Naik has finally been announced. According to a press release issued by the company, “The board of directors of L&T decided to bifurcate the role of chairman and managing director into two positions.” K. Venkataramanan becomes CEO & MD from April 1 while Naik will continue as group executive chairman for another five years.
The brand bazaar
Brand Finance Global 500 Apr 13 , 2012 , 05.48 PM IST |
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The value of a brand depends almost entirely on how you look at it. Campaign Asia-Pacific has published its list of Asia’s Top 1,000 Brands 2011. Leading the pack is Sony, followed by Samsung, Panasonic, LG and Canon. This is not about Asian brands but top brands in Asia. So the global big boys do get a look in. Apple is No. 6, HP No. 7, and Google No. 8. Coca-Cola is at an unlucky 13. In India, the ranking is Sony, Samsung and LG with Amul checking in at No. 5 and Kingfisher at No 7.
Big switch
NEW YORK TIMES NEWS SERVICE Apr 13 , 2012 , 05.49 PM IST |
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n 2007, Kurt Edwards figured he would be stacking and racking 80-pound boxes of dog food and celery in the back of a grocery store for the rest of his working life. And he was fine with that.
Oil rush
NEW YORK TIMES NEWS SERVICE Apr 20 , 2012 , 04.53 PM IST |
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Last spring, Bob Ripka decided the time had come for drastic change. His once-robust income from his job at a printing company was dwindling. His family lost their house in the real estate crash. And employment prospects around his home in Minnesota appeared scant.
Public image
Special Correspondent Apr 20 , 2012 , 04.53 PM IST |
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Jin Liqun, the supervising chairman of China Investment Corporation, China’s sovereign wealth fund, says that European workers are slothful and indolent. The companies and economies have to buck up before they get Chinese money.
Wider net
NEW YORK TIMES NEWS SERVICE Apr 27 , 2012 , 02.23 PM IST |
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The leading trade organisation for advertising agencies is intensifying efforts to cast a wider net when recruiting employees with an initiative aimed not only at students, but also at talented younger people who work in other industries.
Parting notes
NEW YORK TIMES NEWS SERVICE Apr 27 , 2012 , 02.23 PM IST |
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We’ve all dreamed about it at one time or another — that exquisite moment when we finally muster the courage to tell the boss what we really think.
Heir apparent
Special Correspondent May 10 , 2012 , 06.04 PM IST |
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Succession planning can be a double-edged sword: that promising executive may remain with the company if he knows he can be a potential honcho but that may also give him a swollen head
Tight spot
NEW YORK TIMES NEWS SERVICE May 10 , 2012 , 06.07 PM IST |
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We all have heard — or at least seen in the movies — great stories about people who are working in soul-destroying jobs, then quit in some spectacular fashion and move on to fabulous second careers.
I do, you do, voodoo
Special Correspondend May 17 , 2012 , 04.48 PM IST |
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In these hard times, people are turning to God and even witchcraft for a job
THE NEW A, B, C
Special Correspondent May 23 , 2012 , 07.05 PM IST |
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Job slang is getting younger while college slang is getting older
On your own
Special Correspondend Jun 12 , 2012 , 07.32 PM IST |
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Where do engineers go to when they are past their initial jobs? It could be anywhere. But the one thing that you can be fairly sure of is that they will no longer be engineers. Some desert the profession even before they have started. They are those who opt for MBAs. If it is a good school — an Indian Institute of Management, for instance — they are considered lucky. So what happened to the mad craze to get into the Indian Institutes of Technology?
Net work
NEW YORK TIMES NEWS SERVICE Jun 12 , 2012 , 07.34 PM IST |
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Facebook’s success has spawned a multimillion-dollar boom in social networking. There are networks for photo-sharers, for children and for workers inside companies. Yammer and Jive, for instance, promise to energise employees and increase their productivity by enabling fast information sharing.
Desk devils
Special Correspondent Jul 20 , 2012 , 11.10 AM IST |
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Politely point out your colleague’s irritating behaviour to make your office a fun place
Road rage — the expression, not the actual incidents — is gaining respectability in India. The newspapers report daily of people jumping out of cars and hitting.....
Fair match
Global Hiring Trends 2012 by Career Directors International Jul 25 , 2012 , 10.30 AM IST |
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Your résumé can be business card-sized or long if you pack in value
The signs are ominous. Jobs are going to grow scarcer this year. According to the International Labour Organisations (ILOs) Global Employment Trends 2012, the best ...
Bleak future
NEW YORK TIMES NEWS SERVICE Jul 25 , 2012 , 10.40 AM IST |
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New York City’s job picture is grim, especially for its coloured citizens, finds Joseph Berger
Atiya Cheatham woke up two hours earlier than usual, murmured her daily prayers, brushed and curled her long ebony hair ...
Best… but not really
Special Correspondent Jul 31 , 2012 , 03.46 PM IST |
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Indians follow the 3S principle — salary, safety and success — when it comes to selecting the best job.
Praveen Gandhi has one of the best jobs in India. That’s according to...
Richie rich
NYTNS Jul 31 , 2012 , 03.51 PM IST |
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Despite protests from shareholders executive pay just keeps climbing, finds NATHANIEL POPPER.
The most-heard complaint about big business these days, one seemingly tailored for the 99 percent...
Smell the coffee
NYTNS Jul 31 , 2012 , 03.54 PM IST |
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Attractive beverage areas are an important contributor to productivity, finds Phyllis Korkki.
What is one of the most important decisions a company can make? It’s where to put the coffee....
Curse control
Special Correspondent Aug 8 , 2012 , 03.59 PM IST |
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Swearing at work can damage your career.
Work, Oscar Wilde said, is the curse of the drinking classes. If you curse at work, however, you don’t need to take to drink...
Take a break
Phyllis Korkki Aug 8 , 2012 , 04.05 PM IST |
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Taking frequent breaks at work improves productivity, finds Phyllis Korkki.
Want to be more productive? Keep your nose to...
Happy go lucky
Special Correspondent Sep 5 , 2012 , 05.20 PM IST |
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Indian workers may not be the best in the world but they are definitely the happiest..
Wanted: jobs
Floyd Norris Aug 16 , 2012 , 04.09 PM IST |
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The unemployment rate is spiking across Europe, finds Floyd Norris.
In unemployment, as in many other areas, Germany ...
Sound of music
Amisha Padnani Aug 16 , 2012 , 04.12 PM IST |
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Listening to music helps improve work at office, finds Amisha Padnani.
The guy in the next cubicle is yammering away...
The laziest country in the world
Special Correspondent Aug 16 , 2012 , 04.09 PM IST |
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The Americans might seem a hardworking people but they beat the Bongs in laziness.
The laziest state in the US is Louisiana. It is a ranking...
Data deluge
Steve Iohr Aug 16 , 2012 , 04.16 PM IST |
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Big Data has sprung from the confines of technology circles into the mainstream, says steve lohr
This has been the crossover year for Big Data.....
Ray of hope
NYTNS Aug 16 , 2012 , 04.45 PM IST |
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US job growth not strong enough to shrink the army of unemployed
The US added more jobs than expected last month, offering a pleasant....
Hitler hirer
Understanding the Race for Impact; FutureStep Aug 28 , 2012 , 06.21 PM IST |
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Tough recruitment procedures are necessary to separate the sheep from the goats..
Apple vs Android
Nick Wingfield Sep 5 , 2012 , 05.17 PM IST |
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Patents case puts Apple closer to fight with Google, reports Nick Wingfield.Steve Jobs minced ..
Luck by chance
Steven M. Davidoff Aug 28 , 2012 , 06.30 PM IST |
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Selecting a chief executive is anything but a perfect process, finds Steven M. Davidoff
Winner takes it all
Steven M. Davidoff Aug 28 , 2012 , 06.33 PM IST |
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SILICON VALLEY CHIEFTAINS RULE WITH FEW CHECKS AND BALANCES, says STEVEN M. DAVIDOFF
Silicon Valley is different, they say...
A pink slip, again
NEW YORK TIMES NEWS SERVICE Sep 19 , 2012 , 05.45 PM IST |
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If you get laid off more than once, it may be time to look for a new profession
Down but not out
Alina Tugend Sep 19 , 2012 , 05.47 PM IST |
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Job hunting a lot like dating, says Alina Tugend
Looking for talent
Special correspondent Sep 19 , 2012 , 05.52 PM IST |
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When his back is to the wall, the Indian knows how to change and survive. So there is a chance that we’ll bridge the skills gap
Caffeine Fix
Special correspondent Oct 11 , 2012 , 02.12 PM IST |
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Coffee may be winning in the popularity stakes but it will be a while before tea time becomes coffee time
Beach office
Special correspondent Oct 17 , 2012 , 06.24 PM IST |
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In the office of the future the chances are that dummies will be doing facetime while the talent are free birds who can work from where ever they like
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