Things Employers Want to See on Your Resume

• 2-minute read •
While job search strategies may have shifted with the advent of social networks and more recruiting taking place online, one constant remains – you need a solid resume, say our career experts. Whether you present this in standard written form or via your profile page on networking sites such as LinkedIn, your resume is the first impression an employer has of you as a viable candidate.

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Employers Are at War for Talent, Here’s How to Win as a Job Seeker

• 2-minute read •
Now may be the time to get a better job, better pay — or both.
As the economy continues to heat up, employers are having to fight harder to recruit and retain the talent they need. This is good news for people looking for new jobs — especially those who may have been biding their time when unemployment was higher — and for people hoping to improve their situation at their current jobs.

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What Employers Want from Job References

• 2-minute read •
A great resume and solid interview skills may place job seekers in the running for a position, but a survey conducted by OfficeTeam, a leading staffing service, finds that the results of a reference check can really be what makes -- or breaks -- a job search. Hiring managers interviewed for the survey said they remove about 21 percent of candidates from consideration after speaking to their professional references.

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What Are Employers Asking Your References?

References are often the last step in the screening process before an employer extends an offer. While every company has a different policy on references, most still ask for them. What a reference says, or doesn't say, can sometimes make the difference between getting an offer or not.
Greg Szymanski, director of human resources at Geonerco Management in Seattle, says that when employers contact references, they're looking to determine if the candidate is the person who presented himself in the interview. "Often what's not said is more important than what is said. And hesitations and dancing in a reference's answers are very telling."
The questions employers are asking
Employment verification: The standard questions a hiring manager will ask are ones related to your employment. The employer will want to verify that you did indeed work with this reference, the dates of your employment and the reference's relationship to you (boss, peer, etc.). Sean Milius, president of the Healthcare Initiative, an affiliate of global recruiting firm MRINetwork, says employers also want to know why you left. "It is very important that their story matches that of the candidate," Milius says. "If the candidate says it was a 'mutual parting,' but the reference says they were let go or laid off, there will be a problem. The candidate should always be truthful when asked why they left, as the potential employer will check out their story."

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Evaluating Employers

Knowing the company you plan to join should be an important part of your job search.

It allows you to get a preview into the organisation and find out if you will fit in and enjoy your new job. It should give you information to answer the question- Do your goals match with those of the organisation?

You do not want any unpleasant surprises once you have changed your job. You would also not welcome a move which turned out to be detrimental for your career. In order to reduce dissonance post a job-change, it is advisable then to research your prospective employer thoroughly.

When and how should researching the prospective employers be done?

Research the prospective employer before applying for the job
At the outset you need to draw up a list of organisations that you would be interested in applying to, based on broad indicators like industry, product/services offered and your prior experience. This would, of course, be done keeping in mind your career goals.

The second step would be to evaluate each of these prospective employers against a set of criteria established by you. This set should be as detailed and exhaustive as possible in order to give you as much relevant information as you can get regarding the organisation. This evaluation should enable you to classify companies into two groups- the ones that you definitely need to apply to and the others that do not fit in with your career goals.

The third step would be to send your resume to the short-listed organisations and wait for interview calls. The information you have gathered during your research of the company would help you give better and well informed answers regarding the organisation you are interviewing with, the work you think you could be doing there etc. This will project you as a keen and dedicated candidate who has done his homework and is aware of the company. And of course, once you are made a job offer your research will help you decide if the job and company fit in with your career plans.

The focus of this article will be on the second step i.e. evaluating your prospective employers before you apply for specific job positions i.e. before you send out your resume.

Establish criteria and prioritise what is important for your job
To evaluate prospective employers, you need to establish certain criteria. A detailed list of criteria should cover different aspects such as the organisation culture, its market reputation, its growth prospects, requirements of your job etc. Once this exhaustive list has been drawn up, you also need to prioritise what criteria are important for you in your job. This will help you to compare different job offers and choose the one that satisfies your requirements the most.

This is what your detailed list of criteria could look like. You could divide the criteria into different categories:

The company background

1. The industry that the organisation is in
2. The products/services that the company deals in
3. When the company was set up
4. Number of offices/branches in various cities
5. Size of organisation-its turnover, employee strength

Performance of the company

1. Its turnover and other financials-profits etc.
2. Market share of its products/services-is it a leader?
3. Growth prospects of the company
4. Current and future expansion plans/objectives
5. Its competitors
6. Company reputation amongst customers/suppliers
7. Company problems/needs

Human Resources

1. Organisation structure
2. Quality of personnel
3. Working environment
4. Corporate culture/philosophy
5. Company salary structure
6. Increments pattern
7. Performance appraisal systems-is company a meritocracy?
8. Management style
9. Importance of training programs
10. Any plans for re-structuring

About your prospective job

1.Job description/requirements
2.Match with your existing skills and education
3.Frequency of travel
4.Chances of transfers
5.Benefits package
6.Work hours likely
7.Job location- city/upcountry; urban/rural
8.Opportunities for promotions/advancement
This list has 30 criteria listed and you could add some others that you can think of. An research like this on your prospective employer would provide invaluable information to help you decide on the most suitable employer for you that would match your needs and your career goals.

Word-of mouth a significant source of information 
This list can serve as an excellent guide to gather information on the prospective employer but the important question here is from what sources? The information source needs to be reliable, accurate and up to date.You could use alternative sources of information for this purpose such as:

-company home pages
-investment portals
-libraries
-stock exchange/CMIE compilations
-company annual reports/brochures
-trade associations like FICCI
-newspaper/magazine articles
-word of mouth
A few comments on these information sources. Company home pages are useful, however you need to remember that they will tell you what they want you to know in order to project themselves positively. Not that there is anything wrong in that. It's just that you could also look elsewhere.
One of the significant sources is word of mouth, that is talking to people currently working in the organisation or people who have earlier worked in that organisation and have since left. This could give useful information on work environment, organisation structure, job content, management style and personnel. You would get a real feel of what the organisation is like from these first hand accounts.

Let's hope an exhaustive research like this of your prospective employers ensures that you take the right decision and join a great place to work!
Apply Now - Resume or CV with Job Post Title
Email: jobs@aarenconsultants.in

Workplace learning most valued by employers

Every workplace provides opportunities for learning if only one is willing to seek them. Read about some work experiences that employers look for in their workforce as well as future employees.

You will be far more useful in production than in human resources, I am issuing a transfer order,” said the General Manager of the plant where I was working 20 years back. I was an ‘HR specialist’ who had just joined this plant after completing my two year specialization in HR from a reputed institute. The transfer order to production department, at one stroke, threatened to wipe out whatever market value I had acquired after doing my specialized course. “If I wanted to be in production, I would not have joined human resources,” I said to myself. However, in those days, it took some time to get an alternate job and while waiting for the right opportunity outside the organization, I had no choice but to move to production. Very soon I was training workmen in the coil making section of high tension motors. In spite of myself, I got interested in the manufacturing process and before long we managed to double the output of coils being produced in this section.

I stayed on with the organization and eventually was moved back to HR, but in one of my next job interviews in a consulting firm, I was recruited, not because of my knowledge in human resources, but because of my cross-functional exposure, which I could leverage in business process re-engineering projects that they did for clients.

What I thought was a professional disaster (transfer to production) turned out to be the biggest investment in my development. If you have worked for some length of time, like me, you too will have many examples of valuable learning that come out of unanticipated and often unwelcome situations. The reality is that you may not be working in a great place to work, but you will still have great learning if you are willing to seek it.

What kind of learning is most valued by the best workplaces in their employees, particularly young employees? Here is what I learnt after speaking to some of them.

Domain Knowledge

On one hand, there is a feeling that industry continues to reward shallow performance in industries like IT and ITeS; while on the other hand, there is continued dependence on the west for cutting-edge scientific talent in industries like biopharmaceuticals. The Intel advertisement that says, “Our heroes are different from yours” is a case in point of an organization communicating the need and celebrating super experts in the domain.

Flexibility to cope with different business situations and adaptability

The nature of products and services keep changing all the time. An employee may join the financial services to sell simple products like savings account, but may have to shift to insurance products due to changes in regulations.

Result orientation and execution ability

A quarter is all that one has today to prove his abilities. Any amount of case study analysis in class does not guarantee actual execution skills. Some MBAs might look at job requirements as the ability to motivate a team and delegate work. Very soon, one realizes that you have to get your hands dirty and deliver.

Understand global business environment

What POSCO, the mining and metals multinational has to learn about local conditions in Orissa; Vedanta, an Indian company in the same industry, is learning in Zambia. This also assumes that tomorrow’s sought after employees will be adept at using technology to navigate the real and the virtual world.

Partners in co-creating future business

More organizations, particularly the best workplaces, will encourage employees to co-create new businesses. There will be many more examples like the Kaya Skin Clinic of Marico and Google products like gmail, which are all created as a result of employee entrepreneurship.

To really build your knowledge and skills in the above areas it is not good enough to be more savvy, and sharper in many ways from the preceding generations. It requires professionalism (keeping commitments) and high ethical standards. It also means more maturity and emotional intelligence. Indeed, if you look at any of the popular “reality shows” on television, you will be forgiven for jumping to the conclusion that the opposite is true!

And above all, it requires ability to manage your physical, emotional, intellectual and spiritual health and balance.

Apply Now - Resume or CV with Job Post Title
Email: jobs@aarenconsultants.in