How To Face An Interview (I)

Interview is an interaction between two or more people wherein the interviewer ask questions to the interviewee to get information from him.

Different companies have different rounds of an interview. Typically for any company the first round of an interview is a Personal Introduction Round also know as PIR. This round is a handy tool for the person who is taking an interview to eliminate the candidates as most of us tend to do mistakes while introducing ourselves. This can be avoided by making a conscious effort and a bit of practice. Just make a note of the things mentioned, it will definitely help to improve your chances of getting selected.

Before starting make sure that u take a deep breath and start so as to avoid any voids in between. Remember the old saying “First impression is the best impression.” The interviewer should be able to see the confidence in you the moment you utter your first sentence. Also remember that you are telling something about your own self and no one else would know about you better than you. While speaking don’t sound as if you have mugged everything, let the flow be natural. Most of the training institutes which train candidates on personality development, have a typical format to teach and all the candidates who take training will speak in the same format. If you have taken any training, just rethink and rewrite a new introduction for yourself.

While introducing yourself don’t go into much details about any unnecessary thing, For example, if you are telling about your graduation, just tell the stream and the year of passing. No need to tell about the percentage you secured and the institute, unless the institute is one of the top in its stream. Make sure you concentrate more about things like your strengths, hobbies, what you do in your free time etc. so that the person who is taking your interview will get an idea about what kind of a person you are. Try to give examples related to your statements. Don’t try to portrait yourself something which you are not. If you say anything about you which is not true, it will create a problem at a later stage.

Have a look at the sample Personal Introduction:

“Hello, My name is Sandeep, I was born in a village and brought up in Hyderabad. I an MBA from Osmania University with Marketing as the area of specilization. I have 2 years of experience in the field of Marketing. Coming to my family background, it comprises of five members. My father has a small business and my mother is a housewife. I have two younger sisters both of them are pursuing there graduations.

In my free time I love to spend time chatting with friends, listening to music and playing chess. I also like to travel to new places and meet new people, this being one of the reasons to choose marketing as my specialization in MBA.

I am a very fast learner and this really helped me when I joined a software company after completing my MBA. My job responsibility their was into online marketing which requires a lot of technical knowledge. Me being a non technical person had no idea about the stream. But I learned things really fast and picked up the pace faster than people who were from a technical background. My other strengths include positive attitude and I am adaptive to any kind of situation.

That is all I have to say about me at this point of time. Thank you for giving me this opportunity to speak something about me.”

This was just a small sample of self introduction. You can make changes and add things keeping this as an outline. Prepare your draft of self introduction well before and practice it at least ten times standing in front of a mirror, at the same time make sure that you do not mug it so as to avoid sounding mechanical. All the Best..

How to Face an Interview by Amit Kale

Listening Skills

Listening Skills:

What is Communication?

Though we all know that to communicate, there should be at least two people one is the person who is trying to communicate something and the other is the person to whom we are communicating  still many of us often refer communication as the ability to speak in a particular language. In communication, listening is equally important.

“Most of the successful people I've known are the ones who do more listening than talking." 

By Bernard Baruch

There is a major difference between hearing something and listening. In our daily routine, we hear many things including the sounds produced by the non-living things, it does not mean that we are listening. To listen we require focus and concentration.

Listening process has different stages, the first stage starts the moment you hear something. Sometimes at a time many sounds would go into your ears. The second stage would simultaneously start and is the stage of focusing or concentrating on a particular sound. In this stage you need to make a conscious effort to concentrate on only one particular sound. Then the third stage would follow which is the understanding stage, wherein whatever you heard you try to understand it.

If you ask me, “To become a Business Analyst, what all skills one must have?” Listening skills would be one among the top three skills which comes to my mind. Not just Business Analyst, take any profession, you would realize that listening is one of the most important skill that you should have to complete the given tasks effectively.

There are many advantages of good listening skills. If you listen actively you would have more number of friends. While with our friends we try to speak as much as possible, but as a human being it’s a general tendency that most of us like a person who listen and understand what we say. You would also be participative while in group if you have good listening skills, as if you listen and understand things you are more likely to reply accurately. Your productivity would automatically increase once you master listening skill.

The following are some of the tips to improve your listening skills:

Focus is the primary key for listening. Try to give maximum attention to the person who is trying to communicate. Do not pay attention to the other things around.

Let the person who is trying to communicate, finish first, then try to reply. Most of us never try to understand what somebody is saying and will be in a hurry to reply.

Try to figure out the big picture, when somebody is speaking something, just try to understand the bigger picture.

If you do not understand while you are listening, ask different questions until you understand it completely. It would also give the communicator the impression that you are listening.

Practice: Everyone knows that by practicing you can master any skill, listening is not an exception. By practice I mean you need to practice listening different types of sounds and in different types of situations / environments. For example:

1.    When you are in the office try to listen to different people right from the security guard at the gate to the MD, whomever you meet.

2.    When you have some free time, try to call the toll free numbers which have IVR options, try to concentrate and listen the different IVR options.

3.    When you are travelling, try to listen to the announcements made at the Airport/Railway Station/ Bus Stands.

4.    While driving, try to recognize different songs played by different people you come across.

5.    While shopping, try to understand the conversations between the sales people and different customers.

MBA Manual.,

Considered to be one of the most prestigious degrees around the world, Masters in Business Administration (MBA) is a post-graduate degree awarded to those who learn and master the skills of managing a business. As it is related to any business and not just a specific field, it attracts students from varied backgrounds.

In an MBA program, students study various applications of management principles, which are sure to be helpful in real life business situations. More than half of the MBA course concentrates on general management applicable to any business. The other part is a specialization in an area of one's choice.

Primarily one can specialize in the following areas in MBA:

1. Marketing

2. Finance

3. Human Resources

4. Information Technology

5. Operations

Now, what really makes MBA special...

1. Money: For many MBA aspirants, joining the course is nothing but an investment. They simply calculate the ROI before hand and then decide to join any college. In these cases, the main reason to join MBA is the pay package you are likely to get.

2. Education: It’s not just a matter of money; you can also see a drastic change in your own personality. You can feel the difference once you complete your MBA. You will get to learn a lot. Of course it depends on how serious you are while you are doing your MBA and from where you are doing it.

3. Launch pad for a great career: People say that there is no shortcut for success, but I think that MBA is a shortcut for your career. Simply put, a graduate with half decade of experience will hardly be given as much preference as a person with an MBA degree.

Now, let me list reasons why you really must opt for a course of this sort. But before I go on to list reasons of my own, here are a few I managed to accumulate from a sizable group of students who are pro-MBA. Some good, some not so good, here are they nevertheless:

• I want to pursue MBA because my dad asked me to do so
• I want a very good salary and I am told that I will get one once I finish MBA
• Just because everyone is doing, I am also interested to join
• I think there is a huge demand for people with MBA in the market
• I have nothing to do so thought to finish my MBA
• For the sake of an additional degree.
• I am too young to go for a job so I want to do MBA and then look for a job
• The Return On Investment (ROI) which I will get on MBA is higher when compared to the other degrees
• There really will be many more reasons, but reasons such as these aren't really enough. One should really understand what difference an MBA degree can make in one's career path and personality.

There really will be many more reasons, but reasons such as these aren't really enough. One should really understand what difference an MBA degree can make in one's career path and personality.

What recruiters look in an MBA grad?

If you are applying for a job on your MBA degree, then you must understand what exactly companies expect from MBA grads. The main reason why companies recruit MBA grads is to maximize their profitability with minimum resource utilization. Be it any specialization, an MBA grad is expected to use his management skills which he/she has learned in college and fine tune the business.

The following are some of the qualities which recruiters look for in an MBA grad:

Fast Learner: MBA grads are expected to be very fast learners. It is not necessary that one will get a job in the field of his choice. For most MBA grads, the role and industry they join as soon as they complete their degree is a complete new world. But the two years education behind them is sure to give them enough understanding about the general management in any business. The key lies in quickly understanding the business and industry to produce maximum output.

Resource Management: Once you join an organization you are expected to utilize the resources effectively. The mantra is 'minimum resources and maximum output'. One must have the ability to utilize the resources well. The subordinates are also resources of the company; one should also have the ability to manage people.

Business Development: Be it any specialization (HR, Finance, Marketing) MBA grads are always expected to be working towards the growth of the company as a whole. If you are an MBA grad hired by a company and you are not contributing much for the growth of the company, then there will not be any difference between a normal graduate and an MBA. So your presence should always be felt in the organization.

Ready to Accept New Challenges: Every organization prefers a person who readily accepts challenges. For a fresher, it is very much important to understand his role in the organization. As soon as the training period ends, the entire focus comes on performance. The more successfully you complete challenging tasks, the more you are valued in the organization.

These were some of the major things recruiters look for in an MBA grad, so if you are joining an MBA course make sure you concentrate on all these things and work on these lines to get an edge over others.

The Deadly Swine Flu....

Swine Flu….

Swine flu is an acute and highly contagiously disease, this disease is more common in swine or pigs. It is a contagious disease and can spread from one human to another. This virus was first detected this year in human beings in United States in April 2009. Since then we have a lot of cases of people who are affected by Swine Flu. Those who have heart and lung diseases are more prone to Swine flu.

The symptoms of swine flu are similar to those of normal influenza or flu:

• Cough
• Sore throat
• Severe Headache
• Body aches
• Fatigue
• Chills
• Fever
• Weakness
• General Discomfort

The swine flu in human beings is most contagious during the first five days of illness and for children it will be contagious for the first ten days. There are various ways by which this swine flu spreads. Between humans it spreads through sneezing or through cough. It also spreads if you happen to touch a surface of any thing which has the virus on it and then touching your own nose or mouth. It does not spread through food if properly cooked. The swine flu virus can stay live on a hard surface for 24 hrs and on a soft surface for 20 minutes.

Precautions to be taken to avoid Swine Flu:

• Frequently washing hands with soap can reduce the risk of swine flu, especially when you are in a public place. Washing hands with soap may kill the most of the germs.
• Keep your home clean with daily wiping it using bleach especially your wash area and your kitchen.
• Clean the surfaces of everything like TV, Refrigerator etc….. to get rid of the germs
• Do not touch your nose or mouth frequently unless you wash your hands properly with soap.
• Use tissues whenever you are sneezing or coughing and throw the tissue in the dust bin immediately after using.
• If you do not have a tissue handy, turn your face and put your hand covering your side while sneezing or coughing and immediately wash your hands with soap.
• Maintain basic hygiene, and try to get a minimum of 8 hours of good sleep so that your immune system will be intact to fight with it.

If you are already a victim of the virus:

• First contact your doctor so that he can take the samples and send it to the appropriate lab where the swine flu testing can be done.
• Avoid frequent contacts with your family and friends.
• Take a leave and be at home, do not go to the office/school/college.
• Cover your nose and mouth so that while sneezing or coughing the virus will not be transmitted.
• Everyone in the house should make a habit of washing hands frequently.
• Take complete rest so that the immune system of your body can fight well with the virus.

Papikondulu Trip.... A day long Cruising

After a month long discussion and research, we zeroed down on a place called Papikondulu in Andhra Pradesh. We started to plan an office colleague outing in the month of June. We thought of going out in the first week of July. Initially everyone was very much excited and thought that we will go for a week long tour to Kerala. We did an extensive research of the Kerala trip. We planned completely how to go, which all places to visit, and even what to wear on each day. But slowly out of our group of 10 members, people started saying no for the trip and finally we had to cancel the trip.

Then we changed our destination from Kerala to Vizag and again the same thing, we had to cancel the Vizag trip as well. Finally we thought of going to Papikondulu and we booked our tickets on the day of departure.

Papikondulu: It is a series of lush green hills, located on the bank of river Godavari in Andhra Pradesh.

To reach Papikondulu, we need to go to a place called Pochavaram which is 70 km away from Bhadrachalam (Bhadrachalam is a place where we have this famous Rama temple). We have a direct train to Bhadrachalam from Hyderabad (Machlipatnam Express). Bhadrachalam is around 282 Km from Secunderabad. The fare for a second class ticket in a train from Secunderabad to Bhadrachalam would be Rs. 147 per head. It is the cheapest mode of transport. But as we finalized the trip on the day of departure, we could not get confirm tickets for that particular train. So we had to select another mode of transport. For those who are going from Hyderabad, make sure that you book your tickets at least one week before. We booked Volvo tickets and finally were ready to go.

We started our journey on Saturday at around 11:45 pm. from Lakdi-ka-pool, Hyderabad. I guess there is only one Volvo bus to Bhadrachalam from Hyderabad. The bus was supposed to reach at 5:30 am on Sunday, but we reached to Bhadrachalam at around 7am. The Volvo dropped us near the RTC bus stand. As we did not book our hotel room in advance we had to take a single room just to fresh up and proceed. The charges for a single person to fresh up were Rs. 50 per head.

By the time we took bath and came back, the bus which could take us to Pochavaram was already left. Actually the Launchs start from a place called Sriramagiri and go till Papikondulu and come back, but since the water level is less many of the launchs shifted their starting point to Pochavaram.

As we missed the bus, we enquired about a taxi for both onward and return journey to Pochavaram. They were asking some where around Rs. 1600 for pick up and drop. Then we asked the three wheeled taxies popularly know as autowala and he was ready to drop us at the starting point of launchs and again pick us from there and drop back to Bhadrachalam. He charged Rs. 600 for 5 members.

While our journey to Pochavaram, we saw many small villages in between. Most of the houses in the villages where single storied huts. And while on our way, the morning breeze was so good and we felt so fresh that we forgot the complete strain of our journey from Hyderabad to Bhadrachalam.

We were not completely sure whether we will be able to catch a launch as we were very late. We enquired about it to the auto driver and he said that he will take us to Sriramgiri, from where we can expect launch.

We reached Sriramgiri at around 10.30 am, and luckily one launch was available for boarding. We took tickets and entered into the launch….

You can book a package tour from Bhadrachalam as well to avoid inconvenience. They will charge some where around Rs. 400 per head (including pick and drop from Bhadrachalam and the boat ticket). These people have some kind of boat owners’ association and the fixed rate for a complete Papikondulu trip from Sriramgiri was Rs. 250 per head. This includes a 6 hours boat journey and a lunch on an island near Papikondulu. A P Tourism has a package tour from Hyderabad. I personally found the A P Tourism package a little expensive and thought of going on our own.

Before going on the Papikondulu trip, we did a lot of home work. We tried to find out the best way to go and thought about booking an AP tourism package from Hyderabad. AP tourism offers a two day package tour including stay in a cottage on an island near Papikondulu and also complete food. But could not book AP tourism because of lack of time.

The launch which we entered was double decked. The lower deck of the launch had wooden flooring and cushion seats on all the sides of the deck. They also kept some plastic chairs and stools for sitting in the lower deck. We went straight to the upper deck as it is open and you can enjoy the entire scenery from there. The cruise in the launch arranged beddings to sit and there was a mesh covering more than half of the launch.

The launch started at around 10.45 am. Initially most of the people entered in the launch came on the upper deck as it is open and you can have a clear view of all the scenery. Somehow we came earlier than others so were able to grab a place in the upper deck. The Papikondulu trip is not just about the Papikondulu hills, it is also about the small islands which you can see while on your way to your destination.

Our first stop was at “Perantalapalli.” It’s a very good place with a small but beautiful water fall. We reached there and the cruise told us to come back within half-an-hour. You need to climb around 30 steps to reach a Ramakrishna’s Math.

When we reached there we saw water coming in from somewhere upwards. We thought of exploring and we went to find out the origin of the water. We reached to a place where there was a small water fall. The water here is very clean and cold and you can even drink it.

We played in the waterfall for a while and then remembered about the 30 minutes time. While we were coming back to the launch we found the cruise members in the mid way, they were searching us as the entire launch was waiting for us. We could not even see that Ramkrishna’s Math. We came back to the launch and it started immediately for the next destination.

Our next destination was Papikondulu Hills. I expected these hills to be very different from what we normally see, but there was not much difference. Not to mention, the scenery was un-describable. You need to visit once to believe it. As ours was a one day tour, we did not land on the island near the Papikondulu Hills. I guess the AP tourism cottages were there on one of the island near the Papikondulu Hill.

The Launch took a complete U-turn in Godavari and we started our return journey. We were told that there will be a lunch near the Papikondulu Hills. As everyone was very hungry we were just waiting to land on an island to have our lunch. We saw that all the launches were stopping at one place and there was a huge crowed. We reached this place and everyone got down to have lunch. There was a long queue for lunch. I remembered my college days when I used to stay in hostel and use to stand in similar queues for my lunch and dinner. Soon we reached near the counter and they served all the items. The food was good, we had rice, dal, sambar, cabbage curry, pickle, a sweet and butter milk.

After lunch we boarded the launch once again and were on our way back to Sriramgiri. On the lower deck, on one of the extreme end there was some place to sit. We sat there for a while by leaving our legs outside the launch. Due to speed of the launch and the flow of the water the water was touching our feet. I guess there we have two different rivers meeting each other. We have a river called Sabari and another is Godavari. River Sabari merges with River Godavari near Bhadrachalam. We were clearly able to see two different colored water.

While our return journey to Sriramgiri, most of the people on our launch slept. We reached back to our starting point at around 4:45 pm. Our autowala was waiting to pick us and take us back to Bhadrachalam. We asked him to drop us at the Rama temple of Bhadrachalam. We reached the temple at around 7:15 and took darshanam and once again took an auto to reach the bus stand. Our APSRTC bus was at 9 pm. We spent some time there at the bus stand and finally boarded our Supper Luxery bus for our return journey to Hyderbad at around 9 pm,……

Call Cabs in Hyderabad

Previously, I use to think that Hyderabadi autowalas are very rude and they do not listen to you. If you have an emergency you end up paying more to these greedy autowalas. But later on I discovered that it has nothing to do with Hyderabad city. Almost every city will have similar autowalas. They work on there own wish. They will be very rude by nature and will rarely agree to come to a nearer distance by putting the meter. They will ask much higher amount to travel a very little distance. One has to be always on the mercy of these autowalas.

But now the good news is, we have cabs which would cost you may be some times less than an auto. Thanks to the ever changing dynamic competitive environment. Lot many cab player have come up in the last five years. The most easy and affordable way to book a cab is through the apps of different cab providers. Few of them would give the first ride for free. It would be as simple as download the app, register with the cab provider and book a ride. The free ride would range from Rs. 100 to Rs. 600.

Few of them are charging as low as Rs. 25 as the minimum charges and then per kilometre it would be Rs. 10. For example: Taxi for sure would provide you a nano at Rs. 25 as minimum charges and Rs. 10 per km. But remember they would also charge something called trip charges at Rs. 1.25 per minute. Which means for example you are travelling a distance of 10km and the journey took 30 min to complete then the total fare would be 25 (Min Charges) + 100 (10x10) + 37.5 (Trip charges 1.25 * 30 min) = Rs. 162.5.

In future, maybe like other metro cities, in Hyderabad also the autos will be banned to enter into the main city. Government may also plan to give easier and cheaper loans to Autowalas to upgrade from an auto to a cab.

The following are the numbers of various Cabs who operate in Hyderabad:

1. Meeru Cabs :    040 - 44224422
2. Orange Cabs :    040 - 44454647, 66315555, 66325555
3. Dot Cabs :    040 - 24242424
4. Green Cabs :    040 - 24606060
5. Yello Cabs :    040 - 46464646
6. Cel Cabs  :     040 - 60609090
7. City Cabs  :    040 - 66206620
8. Easy Cabs   :     040 - 43434343 
9. Zee Cabs : 040 - 42424242
10. Sky Cabs : 040 - 49494949
11. Cab One : 040 - 71111111 

Apart from the above mentioned numbers, there are three more cabs which you can book which are very famous these days.

1. Ola Cabs : 040 - 33553355  
2. Taxi For Sure: 040 - 60601010
3. Uber Cabs : You need to download the app for uber. 

Simple go to the play store and search for uber app.

To get first ride for free please give the invite code as 

 
                                                           "amitk3738ue"
Uber and Ola are competing for the most economical cabs slot. Make sure you book a cab well in advance, otherwise for shorter distance these people would give some reason and say that the Cab is not available presently in the area which you mentioned. 

You can also know and compare the approximate cab bill before hand by using sites like https://www.cabdekho.com/

Common Admission Test (CAT) 2009

Common Admission Test more commonly know as CAT is an entrance exam for admission into the post graduate and fellowship programs offered by various management institutions across India. Among these institutes, Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) are the most prestigious institutes who offer post graduate and fellowship programs. CAT percentile is also considered by many other B-schools for short listing the candidates for GD and PI. Typically the admission to most of the B-schools in India is done in three different phases. The first would be the entrance exam, then GD and PI. Nearly 2 Lakh students appear for CAT every year and less than ten thousand would get a call from IIMs.

So most of the aspirants who appear for the CAT, think that it is impossible to get in to top 8000 who probably may grab an IIM call. But then one must understand that not all the students who pay the application fees and apply for CAT are completely serious about the exam.

Types of students who appear for CAT:

Students with Casual Attitude: Many of the students take CAT just because somebody else is also appearing, or because it’s a fad and once you graduate from IIMs you will get fat packages of salary. These people live in their own world and never realize the importance of the entrance exam.

Students with lack of confidence: A huge number among the 2 lakh junk falls in this category. They do not believe in themselves and still want to get admitted in to the IIMs. The first thing you should have is confidence and belief in yourself. If you do not believe in yourself then how can you expect IIMs to believe in you and give you admission? They will not even bother about you if you do not have self confidence.

Forced aspirants: In this category, the student is not interested but is forced to give CAT. He don’t even target the IIMs saying “its not my cup of tea.” But then if you see, most of the questions asked in CAT are based upon the topics which we studied in our school. You need not have to be genius in every field to crack CAT.

Serious but not focused: This category is of those students who are serious about CAT but are really scared and worried for nothing. Though if they wish they can do it, they waste their time in worrying about nothing.

Serious & Focused: These are the students who give tough competition to every CAT aspirant. They know they can do it and work hard to achieve it. So the real CAT competition is among this category student only.

Now you decide for yourself, how many students fall in each category and in which category you fall and prepare accordingly.

CAT 2009

CAT 2009 is likely to be an online test similar to GMAT. This year they are planning to take an online test in the span of 10 days. Daily three slots will be there and the test will be conducted for ten long days. So in all 30 different tests will be conduct across India in the span of ten days. Every test shall have a different set of question paper. But then the difficulty level for each test would be more or less similar.

Advantages of online test:

Ø There will be more than 200000 aspirants who will appear for CAT 2009. Online test will save a lot of time for correcting the papers and give out the results.

Ø CAT is conducted only once in a year, may be once it become online aspirants will have a chance to appear for CAT for more than one time in a year

Ø In a long run, the marginal cost to add a new aspirant to give the test will be lesser.

Disadvantages of online test:

Ø The test is conducted in the span of ten days and every day you will have three different slots, it means that there will be 30 different test papers at least. Though the authorities may take good care that the entire 30 question paper sets will have similar difficult level still there is a slight chance of partiality towards the aspirants.

Ø People who are from remote areas and do not have frequent access to internet, for them traveling to the test centre would be a hindrance.

Ø Also those aspirants, who are well versed with internet and the advance technologies, will have an edge on the others.

Ø It will be difficult for the students to go back to the question which is unattempted.

Ø In RC most of the students are habituated with underlining and circling important words or phrases, in online test it may not be possible

Ø Also for the rough work, in a offline paper-pencil test, you can do it on the question paper itself but in online test it will be difficult.