Wednesday, 11 March 2020

"Job - Candidate Assessment " made easy

Dear Recruiter In my yesterday's post , I talked about GRAPHICAL PROFILES of a Job-seeker , generated when he submitted his RESUME on ( now de-hosted ) job portal ...www.IndiaRecruiter.net What are these Profiles ? # Skills Profile ( 3 Main Skills of the Candidate ) # Project Profile # Salary Profile # Tenure Profile # Career Profile # Education Profile What does these profiles tell you about that candidate ?

SKILL PROFILE

The “Skills Profile” is a group of 3 graphs, which specify the top three Skills for a particular candidate. What each of these graphs shows is the standing of a candidate relative to his co-professionals present in our database. The graphs show the “Raw Score” of a candidate based upon the keywords present in his resume and the “Percentile Score” with respect to other co-professionals. The graphs also show the sample size i.e. the no. of co-professionals with whom the candidate has been compared. The graphs also show the mean, +1 sigma and -1 sigma values which determine the trend followed by 68% of the sample population. If a candidate’s standing falls before -1 sigma line, then it means that he/she holds a very low score and if he/she falls beyond +1 sigma, then it means that he/she lies amongst the cream of the population.

PROJECT EXPOSURE

The “Project Exposure” graph shows the different Projects that the candidate has worked upon, over the years of his academic and professional career. It indicates the no. of projects he/she has completed during a particular period. Plus, it shows the Key skill (technology) that is used for a particular project and the duration taken to successfully complete the project. The table below (“My Projects”) shows the complete details of the Projects that the candidate has worked upon.

SALARY PROFILE

The “Salary Profile” graph shows the relative standing of a candidate amongst his co-professionals with respect to his salary. It is an indication that helps you to determine if the candidate is overpaid or underpaid in his current job. The graph also shows the mean, -1 sigma and +1 sigma values. The table below the graph shows the trend, the candidate’s standing, and the no. of candidates having salary which is less than, equal to and more than the salary of the present candidate. It also shows the total sample population.

TENURE PROFILE

The “Tenure Profile” graph shows the relative standing of a candidate amongst his co-professionals with respect to his tenure. It is an indication that shows how stable a candidate is. It helps you to determine if the candidate is a ‘job jumper’ or a ‘contented cow’. The graph also shows the mean, -1 sigma and +1 sigma values. The table below the graph shows the trend, the candidate’s standing, and the no. of candidates having tenure which is less than, equal to and more than the tenure of the present candidate. It also shows the total sample population.

CAREER PROFILE

The “Career Profile” graph shows the trend that a candidate has followed over the years of his career. It indicates the no. of years he/she has remained at a particular designation level. The graph also have a table which shows the date of generation of the graph, the current age, the age when passed the first degree/diploma, the years taken to pass the second degree/diploma, the age at which the first job started, the years elapsed since first degree / diploma and the total years of experience indicated. You can easily come to know of any ambiguity in the data provided by the candidate by glancing through the table. The number in the 2^nd row and 4^th row should normally match. Similarly, the number in the 5^th row and 6^th row should match. Plus, the sum of the numbers in the 2^nd and 5^th, or 2^nd and 6^th, or 4^th and 5^th, or 4^th and 6^th rows should be equal to the number in the first row

KARMASCOPE

Skill 1

JAVA

CORE JAVA

UML

SERVLETS

JAVA

HTML

Skill 2

SQLSERVER

SECURITY

DATABASE

Skill 3

VISUALBASIC

CONTROLS

The “KarmaScope” is basically the list of keywords for the three top Skills that the candidate claims to have knowledge about. You can ask questions based on the keywords shown in the KarmaScope.

EDUCATION PROFILE

The “Education Profile” graph shows the trend that a candidate has followed over the years of his academic career. It indicates the no. of years he/she has taken to pass a particular education level. Plus, it shows the degree passed at each level and the no. of years taken to successfully pass the degree.

Tuesday, 10 March 2020

Unanswered Questions

Dear HR Manager / Headhunter,

You always had many questions to ask candidate during a personal interview. But unless you made meticulous notes on the candidate’s text resume printout beforehand, you tend to forget ( to ask ), quite a few.

And, unfortunately, the text resume itself cannot answer your questions!

Whereas, a “Profiles”, not only raises relevant questions, our graphical / relational presentations, even answers most.

Listed below, are these questions that “Profiles” asks – and answers too!

Career History

• What is his total experience? Does this match with the experience required for our position/vacancy ?

• During this “total experience”, how many jobs has he changed ?

• Does he seem to be a “job-jumper” ?

• Does he seem to have stuck to the same organization for a long time? What could be the reason ?

• Does he seem to have stuck at the same “Designation – Level “ for a long time ? Was he “un-promotable” ?

• He seems to have got very frequent promotions /salary-raise. Does he come through as a “Fast Track”

Candidate ?

• Given his “Average/Longest/Minimum” tenure with the companies where he worked, how long can we expect him

to stay with us ?

• He is in his current job for less than a year. Why is he keen to quit within such a short period?

• Is he plateauing ? i.e. rose very rapidly in early years but now seems to have slowed down.

• In terms of the size/turnover/reputation of the companies where he has worked, does he seem to have steadily

“progressed” ? Are there any reversals ? i.e. leaving a large/organized company to join a small/family owned

company.

• Has he spent his entire career in one city or is he mobile ?

• Does his “Total Years of Experience” tally with his current age ? If not, does he seem to have “inflated” his

experience ? Or, he should have got 20 years of experience by now, but graph shows only 12 years ! Has he

failed to “list” some “unfavorable” tenures ? e.g.: where his services were terminated or where the service was

“temporary / contractual” ?

• Did any of the companies that he worked for, belong to his father/relative? If so, what was his designation/salary

during such tenure? Was that commensurate with his qualifications/experience?

• During his career, were there any periods of “self-employment” ? If so, has he listed those in his “Career History”

section? What factors made him “start / give-up” such self employment ?

Salary

• He seems to have picked-up a huge salary-jump, every time he changed jobs. What kind of salary-increase

Would he expect us to offer to motivate him to change ? Can we afford ?

Would that upset a lot of our existing employees and demotivate them ? Would we be upsetting the apple-cart ?

• Has his salary kept pace with his rise up the career ladder ? Is his salary lagging behind/ way ahead of a majority

  of his co-professionals ? How does it compare with similar professionals in our organization ?

• What seems to be his “trade-off” between

  a) Salary

  b) Designation Level ?

Would he be prepared to accept

. Same salary ( his current salary ), if offered a higher / better designation ?

. Same designation ( his current designation ), if offered a higher salary ?

Academic Inputs

• At what age did he pass

. SSC

. HSC

. Bachelor’s Degree

. Master’s Degree

Do these seem reasonable ?

• What no. of years did he take to pass

. Bachelor’s Degree

. Master’s Degree

Does he seem to have taken longer than stipulated period ? Could he have failed once – or more ?

• Were any of these qualifications obtained through “Correspondence – Course” ? or through “Part-time study” in

evenings ? If so, for how long ?

• What about the educational institutions/universities that he attended? Are these recognized/reputed/accredited

institutions?

• Why did he not pursue higher studies in the same institution/university ? Why did he have to go to another

state/country ?

• Is there an “overlap” between

. Completion of his education, and

. Start of his first job ?

If yes, how did he manage that ?

• If there is a substantial “gap” between

. Completion of his education and

. Start of his first job

Then, what did he do during that period ?

• He seems to have obtained more than one degree/diploma during the same year. How did he manage that ?

Dear HR Manager,

Are there any questions that profiles fail to answer? If so, please send me an email. Who knows, we may manage to develop a better / different profiles that manage to answer your question!

===============================================

A Page from www.IndiaRecruiter.net ( now de-hosted ) dated 16 Nov 2007

https://web.archive.org/web/20080115193004/http://www.indiarecruiter.net/wfrmUnansweredQusestions.aspx

Saturday, 7 March 2020

Jumping onto Reliance Retail Bandwagon

Context :

Tech startups test new models for a foothold in grocery retail

Extract :

Which Tech Startups ?

Ø Express Stores

Ø Behtar stores

Ø Gully Network

Ø Good-Box

Ø ShopKirana / Need Square

Ø NIFLR [ ankur@niflr.com ]

Ø Jumbotail [ karthik@jumbotail.com / ashish@jumbotail.com ]

What “ new models “ ?

Ø Co-branding

Ø Efficient Supply Chain [ connecting retailers directly with brands ]

Ø In-store Experience

Ø Customer Engagement

How executed ?

Ø Merchandizing

Ø Inventory Procurement

Ø Invoicing

Ø Financing

Ø Branding / Brand Partnership

Ø Self-Check-out

Ø Online Ordering

Ø Customer Relationship Management Tools

Ø Analytics

Ø Logistics

Ø UPI – QR Code-based Payment solutions / POS solutions

Ø Digitization and Ledger Solutions

Quotes :

Ø Ajay Nain ( Founder , Gully Network Retail )

[ ajay@gullynetwork.com / hello@gullynetwork.com / 13ajaynain@gmail.com ]

“ Physical retail is such a large, fragmented, differentiated and unorganized business that no one solution can fit this underserved market

Our thesis is that small shops need a 360 degree handholding to embrace technology to cope with the ever-dynamic purchase behavior of consumers and generate additional income other than their primary business “

Ø Sumit Ghorawat ( CEO, ShopKirana )

[ sumit@shopkirana.com / info@shopkirana.com ]

“ Kirana stores in India will take their own journey to be the STORES of the FUTURE.

Our aim is to work on taking these steps with them “

Ø Abey Zachariah ( CEO, Goodbox )

[ mayank@goodbox.in / pinky.banthia@goodbox.in / anand@goodbox.in ]

“ It has become an imperative for kiranas ( corner stores ) to use technology to even survive in the future “

What is the Reliance Retail bandwagon ?

In my blog : MA = DA x 4,000,000 ? [ 17 July 2018 ]

I envisaged Reliance Retail “ Game Plan “ as follows :

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

SALES :

All of your merchandize will be available for selection / ordering on our ONLINE web portal

This online presence of your merchandize will expand / extend your " reach " to thousands of consumers in your neighborhood

You will need to only focus on OFFLINE ( across-the-counter ) sales to consumers who walk into your store

For OFFLINE sales , we will install in your stores , all the necessary Computers / POS terminals / Routers / Internet Connections / Mobile Wallet Payment systems and an end-to-end , RETAIL MANAGEMENT software

All of your OFFLINE sales data will get transferred to our Central Server

SUPPLY :

We will deliver to your store , all merchandize on " Consignment " basis

This means , you do NOT need to pay us for what we deliver to you store !

Till sold , all goods in your store will be our " stock "

This way , you do NOT need any " Working Capital " as far as your stocks are concerned

We will also tie-up with the manufacturers

You don't need to have any interaction / dealing with the manufacturers

INVENTORY :

On a continuous basis , our web server will keep a track of each and every item of merchandize sold from your stores

Our Server will calculate , your " Stock Movement "

Based on this data , our Server will compute / set for each item :

# Minimum Stock Level

# Alarm Stock Level

# Stock Re-Order Level

# Re-Order Quantity ( Minimum Batch Size )

Based on this logic , our Server will instruct the relevant " Merchandize Manufacturers " ( or their dealers / stockists ) , to deliver the stipulated " Re-Order Quantities " to your stores

A " Re-Order Instruction intimation " , will get delivered to your computer

Upon arrival , you will need to update the data

From time to time , our Software will also figure out your current stocks of " Extremely Slow Moving " and " Obsolete / Expired " items , and arrange for " Return Delivery " , which you will need to enter in your database

DELIVERY :

Not only we will deliver the merchandize to your store , but we will also pick up " Ordered Items " ( for ONLINE orders only ) , from your store and deliver the same to your customers !

Initially we will employ manual " Delivery Persons " for this but , before long , we will deploy a fleet of autonomous DRONES for this purpose

This fleet will cover " Kirana Stores " and " Online Customers " , located in pre-designated areas , covering 4 sq km ( 2 km x 2 km )

We are in talk with www.What3Words.com , to enable precise delivery through your 10th floor window !

These drones will get their " Delivery Instructions " directly from our Web Server , for all ONLINE orders

When these drones arrive at your Store to pick up the items ( to be delivered ) , they will transfer ( Blue Tooth / NFC ) and display on your Computer screen , following data :

# Online Order Number / time / date

# Items covered with description / value of each

# Customer Name / Address

# Mode of Online Payment / Bank Details

# Your online account CREDIT details , giving,

( Sales Value ) - ( Purchase Price )

" Purchase Price " of goods in your stock will be

based on FIFO method

FINANCE :

As explained earlier , you will have a bare minimum need for " Working Capital " , since all of your stock will be on " Consignment " basis

We will collect the " ONLINE PAYMENTS " directly from the customers and " Credit " the same to your " online sales account " with us

Against same account , we will " Debit " the " purchase price " ( price at which you purchase the merchandize from Reliance ) of the goods sold

Our server will also take care of all GST payments and filing of GST returns

As far as OFFLINE sales is concerned , all the data captured through POS terminal will get transferred to our Central Server

MARKETING :

Not only will we carry out all marketing for your ONLINE sales , we will help you with your OFFLINE marketing , through introduction of the following technology-enhanced features :

# Arranging a better display of merchandize on your shelves / re-arranging of shelves

# Introducing Augmented Reality ( AR ) for clothes / fashion goods in " Trial Rooms " for

giving the customers , an experience of " touch - feel - looks "

# Introducing Robots to answer customer inquiries

# Eliminating " Check Out Counters " , based on " Payments through Bio-metric

Recognition " of customers

# Embedding RFID sensors in each item of merchandize and RFID readers embedded in

Shopping Carts

# Improving your window display thru rotation

# Introducing music

# Eventually replacing " Physical " merchandize with " Holographic Display " of

merchandize on your store shelves !