How to catch a Liar

Question :
How to catch a liar.

Raghavs Answer :
Liars generally tend to tell as if they are telling the truth. The reason for telling a lie is to avoid the consequences of telling the truth. The behavior of liars is quite strange while some one have the guts and audacity to tell the lie looking into the eye others take a beaten route of telling a white by avoid looking into the listener.

Unless someonen is a professional liar, it is not always easy to pass of a lie. One way is to look at the facial expressions and probe there are greater chances of being caught off guard !.

Here is an interesting article i found on the web regarding the Art and Science of Lyeing.

Raghav
Founder HRinIndia

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Of all stinging invectives, being called a liar is near the top. Fact is, though, if bona fide lie detectors existed, we'd all be guilty as charged.

According to an oft-cited 1996 University of Virginia study led by psychologist Bella DePaulo, lying is part of the human condition. Over the course of one week, DePaulo and her colleagues asked 147 participants, aged 18 to 71, to record in a diary all of their social interactions and all of the lies they told during them. On average, each person lied just over 10 times, and only seven participants claimed to have been completely honest.
The truth, according to social psychologist Leonard Saxe, director of the Steinhardt Social Research Institute at Brandeis University, is that the right pressures or incentives will cause anybody to lie.

To be fair, most of the time we're just trying to be nice. (When your girlfriend asks if she looks good in her new dress, most guys--if they know what's good for them--say yes.) Indeed, according to DePaulo's study, such "false-positive" fibs are delivered 10 to 20 times more often than spurious denials of culpability.

Thankfully, too: "We lie less frequently to our significant others because we're more invested in those relationships," says Jeffrey Hancock, associate professor of communications at Cornell University.

For all the Elliot Spitzers, Jeffrey Skillings and Bill Clintons in the world, studies show that men and women lie with equal frequency. One difference, according to a 2002 University of Massachusetts study conducted by psychologist Robert Feldman: Women are more likely to lie to make other people feel good, while men tend to lie to make themselves look better.
How to catch liars in the act? Traditional polygraph tests, around in some form or fashion since the early 1900s, use sensors to detect fluctuations in blood pressure, pulse, respiration and sweat in response to probing questions. Two problems with polygraphs: First, they only work about 80% of the time, according to the American Polygraph Association. Second, it's not like we are going to carry all that hardware to a business meeting or a bar.
While there is no surefire on-the-spot way to sniff out dissemblers, there are some helpful clues and tactics for uncovering untruths.

Skilled liars don't break a sweat, but the rest of us get a little fidgety. Four possible giveaways: shifty eyes, higher vocal pitch, perspiration and heavier breathing. Of course, not everyone who doesn't meet your gaze is a liar.

"Certain behavioral traits, like averting eye contact, could be cultural and not indicative of a liar," says Joseph Buckley, president of John E. Reid & Associates, which has provided interview and interrogation training to more than 500,000 law enforcement agents to date. The company is also the creator of the Reid Technique, a nine-step interrogation process employed by many U.S. law enforcement agencies.

Another clue: imprecise pronouns. To psychologically distance themselves from a lie, people often pepper their tales with second- and third-person pronouns like "you," "we" and "they," says Hancock.

Liars are also more likely to ask that questions be repeated and begin responses with phrases like, "to tell you the truth," and "to be perfectly honest," says Reid.
When telling the truth, people often make hand gestures to the rhythm of their speech. Hands emphasize points or phrases--a natural and compelling technique when they actually believe the points they're making. The less certain will keep gesticulations in check, says Hancock.
Something about the phone seems to bring out the liar in us. In one week-long study of 30 college students, Hancock observed that the phone was the weapon of choice, enabling 37% of all the lies, versus 27% during face-to-face exchanges, 21% using Instant Messaging and just 14% via email. Little surprise, perhaps: Most phone calls don't leave a record behind.
Will we ever come clean? Not likely. The subjects in DePaulo's study confessed that they would tell 75% of the lies again if given the opportunity. Chances are, they'd get away with it.

How to increase traffic and have more comments for my Blogs ?

Question

How to increase traffic and have more comments for my Blogs ?

Answer

so you write blogs and now want others to read and comment on your blogs.  Good to be a good blog you need to keep writing quite often.  Here are some interesting thoughts on how to invite comments from your readers.

Happy blogging

Raghav

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Jakob Nielsen’s latest study finds that 90% of online community users are lurkers (read or observe without contributing) with only 9% of users contributing ‘a little’ and 1% actively contributing.

So 1% of your blog’s users are actively engaging with your blog and the rest are at best occasional contributers.

The study isn’t just on blogging so the actual numbers could be more or less than these and would no doubt vary from site to site anyway - but the principle is true. The vast majority of readers leave a blog without leaving a comment or contributing to it in any way (and some bloggers like it like this and switch comments off - read more on whether to have comments on or off here and the up and downsides of comments on blogs here).

To some extent this is just the way it is and we probably need to just get used to it - however when it comes to comments there are some ways to encourage more interactivity on your blog:

10 Ways to Increase Comment Numbers on Your Blog

1. Invite Comments - I notice that when I specifically invite comments that people leave them in higher numbers than when I don’t. To some degree this confuses me as most of my readers know that they can leave comments on any post - but I guess inviting a comment triggers a response to some extent. Also keep in mind that new readers that are unfamiliar with blogging don’t always know about comments or how to use them - invitations to participate in well laid out and easy to use comments systems are good for helping them participate.

2. Ask Questions - Including specific questions in posts definitely helps get higher numbers of comments. I find that when I include questions in my headings that it is a particularly effective way of getting a response from readers as you set a question in their mind from the first moments of your post.

3. Be Open Ended - If you say everything there is to say on a topic you’re less likely to get others adding their opinions because you’ll have covered what they might have added. While you don’t want to purposely leave too many things unsaid there is an art to writing open ended posts that leaves room for your readers to be experts also.

4. Interact with comments left - If you’re not willing to use your own comments section why would your readers? If someone leaves a comment interact with them. This gets harder as your blog grows but it’s particularly important in the early days of your blog as it shows your readers that their comments are valued, it creates a culture of interactivity and gives the impression to other readers that your comments section is an active place that you as the blogger value. As the activity in your comments section grows you may find you need to be slightly less active in it as readers will start to take over on answering questions and creating community - however don’t completely ignore your comment threads.

5. Set Boundaries - I noticed that shortly after I set the rules for my comments section (with a comments policy) that my comment numbers jumped up a little. I’m not sure if it was just a coincidence or whether readers responded to knowing what was and wasn’t acceptable. It’s just a theory but I think a well managed and moderated comments section that is free of spam and that deals with well with people stepping out of line is an attractive thing to readers. I personally don’t mind people expressing different opinions to one another in comments but when I sense things are getting a little out of hand and too personal I often step in to attempt to bring some order to the situation (I rarely delete non spam comments). I find that people have responded to this and that comment threads generally stay constructive as a result.

6. Be humble - I find that readers respond very well to posts that show your own weaknesses, failings and the gaps in your own knowledge rather than those posts where you come across as knowing everything there is to know on a topic. People are attracted to humility and are more likely to respond to it than a post written in a tone of someone who might harshly respond to their comments.

7. Be gracious - Related to humility is grace. There are times where you as the blogger will get something wrong in your posts. It might be spelling or grammar, it could be the crux of your argument or some other aspect of your blogging. When a someone leaves a comment that shows your failing it’s very easy to respond harshly in a defensive manner. We’ve all seen the flaming that can ensue. While it’s not easy - a graceful approach to comments where you admit where you are wrong and others is right can bring out the lurkers and make them feel a little safer in leaving comments.

8. Be controversial? - I put a question mark after this one because it doesn’t always work (and I personally avoid it as much as I can these days) - but there’s nothing like controversy to get people commenting on your blog. Of course with controversy comes other consequences - one of which is the risk of putting off less vocal members of your readership.

9. ‘Reward’ Comments - There are many ways of acknowledging and ‘rewarding’ good comments that range from simply including a ‘good comment’ remark through to highlighting them in other posts that you write. Drawing attention to your readers who use comments well affirms them but also draws attention of other readers to good use of your comments section.

10. Make it Easy to Comment - I leave a lot of comments on a lot of blogs each week - but there is one situation where I rarely leave a comment - even if the post deserves it - blogs that require me to login before making a comment. Maybe I’m lazy (actually there’s no maybe about it) or maybe there’s something inside me that worries about giving out my personal details - but when I see a comments section that requires registration I almost always (95% or more of the time) leave the blog without leaving the comment that I want to make. While I totally understand the temptation to require registration for comments (combatting spam in most cases) something inside me resists participating in such comments sections. Registration is a hurdle you put in front of your readers that some will be willing to leap but that others will balk at (the same is often said about other comments section requirements that go beyond the basics). Keep your comments section as simple and as easy to use as possible.

So - what do you think? How have you increased the levels of comments on your blog (had to ask)?

Author : Darren Rowse
Source : Problogger.net

How to say "hi" to strangers ?

Question :
I am a very shy person and when i go to parties i feel alone. I want to mingle free but do not know anyone out there in the network. How do i say "hi" to un-known person ?

Raghav :
For approaching a stranger and wishing him you need to first -
have a positive frame of mind
present a cheerful disposition
Showing interest in others
Genuinely keen to strike a conversation
Make a beginning do not wait for others to wish you start yourself and say "Hi"
Introduce about yourself and give your visiting cards (carry them in plenty)
Ask few questions and listen carefully to the answers.

Here is an interesting article i fould on the web which helps you in conversing with the unknown people.

Raghav
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Dr. Mark Goulston thought himself a coward. At parties he would stand by the chip dip, never approaching people and rarely meeting anyone new. "My father was shy," says Goulston, "so I grew up thinking that 'assertive' meant 'pushy.' "
A psychiatrist in Santa Monica, Calif., Goulston knew all about social anxiety--and still he couldn't beat it. Then his first child came. "I wanted to be someone my daughter would grow to look up to, and I didn't feel at that moment that she would," he recalls. So at the next party he and his wife attended, Goulston set a goal for himself: "to meet three new people and have them be glad to have met me." Twenty-five years later, Goulston, 60, writes and lectures about overcoming anxiety and guides patients through the process.

Most people have some level of social anxiety, especially when it comes to meeting new people. We focus on the embarrassment and the rejection rather than the opportunity of a new business partner, sales prospect or friend. For some, making the first move can bring on everything from tense muscles to a slamming heart.

"Some of us are wired to enjoy making the first move in a social or professional setting, while others are more inhibited," says Byron Reeves, communications professor at Stanford University. "But it has nothing to do with intelligence or potential for success."

Don't look for patterns. Some people can call upon their suave selves in a professional setting but clam up at social functions; others can do their best George Clooney at a party but break out in hives at the thought of talking to new customers.

The good news is there are ways to cope. Dr. Goulston's strategy is something he calls the "FTD delivery." Hook strangers by asking how they feel, what they think, or what they have done or would do about a given topic. Focusing on them is a form of generosity--not off-putting aggression.

Beyond the ego-stroking, there is another benefit to making the conversation all about the other person: It takes the pressure off you. "When a person is focusing on themselves--wondering if they are blushing, sweating or trembling--their anxiety level increases," says Dr. Andrew Gottlieb, a clinical psychologist based in Palo Alto, Calif.

In stressful encounters, self-induced head-fakes are powerful palliatives. Before approaching someone, look for physical characteristics that remind you of a close friend or relative, suggests Dr. David Barlow, founder and director emeritus of the Center for Anxiety and Related Disorders at Boston University. Maybe the person's hair is like your mother's; maybe he smiles like your best friend. Focus on the similarities, and you can convince yourself, if only for the moment, that you are comfortable with a complete stranger.

Another trick is to rehearse icebreakers with a friend before going to a meeting or party. Practicing in advance helps you brainstorm things to say and build courage, says John Baldoni, a corporate communications consultant in Ann Arbor, Mich.

Bottom line: Believe in yourself and leave the chip dip behind. Says Goulston: "The best thing you can do is be sincere, generous and helpful to people--and hope that they are kind enough to reciprocate
Melanie Lindner, Forbes.com

Questions about Competency Mapping

Competency Mapping: What Is It and How It Can Be Done by Individuals

by Steve Garrett

Overview
Over the past 10 years, human resource and organizational development professionals have generated a lot of interest in the notion of competencies as a key element and measure of human performance. Competencies are becoming a frequently-used and written-about vehicle for organizational applications such as:
• Defining the factors for success in jobs (i.e., work) and work roles within the organization
• Assessing the current performance and future development needs of persons holding jobs and roles
• Mapping succession possibilities for employees within the organization
• Assigning compensation grades and levels to particular jobs and roles
• Selecting applicants for open positions, using competency-based interviewing techniques


What has not been written about or explored as much over the past decade are the answers to the following two questions:
1. How do competency-based human resource management methods of defining and measuring human performance impact individual workers? What impact does an organization’s use of competencies have on individual employees’ career management planning and actions in the long-term?
2. How can career management professionals help prepare their individual clients to identify and present their competency strengths in various work or job search situations?
The answers to these questions are the basis of this article. However, before I answer these questions, I need to lay a foundation with some definitions.
How Is “Competency� Defined in the Context of This Article?
Many definitions of the term “competencies� have arisen over the past decade.

The definition that I most prefer is as follows:
Competencies include the collection of success factors necessary for achieving important results in a specific job or work role in a particular organization. Success factors are combinations of knowledge, skills, and attributes (more historically called “KSA’s�) that are described in terms of specific behaviors, and are demonstrated by superior performers in those jobs or work roles. Attributes include: personal characteristics, traits, motives, values or ways of thinking that impact an individual’s behavior. *Figure 1 illustrates this definition.
Competencies in organizations tend to fall into two broad categories:

- Personal Functioning Competencies. These competencies include broad success factors not tied to a specific work function or industry (often focusing on leadership or emotional intelligence behaviors).
- Functional/Technical Competencies. These competencies include specific success factors within a given work function or industry.

The emphasis of this article will be on how both types of competencies impact the ways career professionals can advise their clients to use competencies in their personal career management efforts. In this article, however, the predominant focus will be on practitioners’ and clients’ work on personal functioning competencies, since they tend to differentiate success over time more often than do workers’ functional/technical competencies.

Three other definitions are needed:
• Competency Map. A competency map is a list of an individual’s competencies that represent the factors most critical to success in given jobs, departments, organizations, or industries that are part of the individual’s current career plan.
• Competency Mapping. Competency mapping is a process an individual uses to identify and describe competencies that are the most critical to success in a work situation or work role.
• Top Competencies. Top competencies are the vital few competencies (four to seven, on average) that are the most important to an individual in their ongoing career management process. “Importance to the individual� is an intuitive decision based on a combination of three factors: past demonstrated excellence in using the competency, inner passion for using the competency, and the current or likely future demand for the competency in the individual’s current position or targeted career field.

Although the definition above for “competency mapping� refers to individual employees, organizations also “map� competencies, but from a different perspective.

Organizations describe, or map, competencies using one or more of the following four strategies:
1. Organization-Wide (often called “core competencies� or those required for organization success)
2. Job Family or Business Unit Competency Sets
3. Position-Specific Competency Sets
4. Competency Sets Defined Relative to the Level of Employee Contribution (i.e. Individual Contributor, Manager, or Organizational Leader)

This article will not go into depth about the differences among the four mapping strategies. Instead, the focus here will be on ways that individuals need to present or demonstrate the use of the various kinds of competencies when interacting with organizations.

Research is ongoing about the nature of competencies that are important for success across many organizations. There are a number of sources that describe some very common personal functioning competencies found to be important for employees at all levels across organizations. One good quote in this area is from Michael Zwell (2000, pgs. 53-55), the author of Creating A Culture of Competence when he says, “From the body of competency research to date, a basic set of 6 competencies would differentiate the top quartile of performers from the rest in most positions in an organization: Initiative, Influence, Results Orientation, Teamwork, Service Orientation, and, Concern for Quality.�

In addition, research on the importance of �emotional intelligence� to organization success is starting to identify a number of emotional intelligence competencies. In particular, Daniel
Goleman’s work describes four categories of emotional intelligence: Self-Awareness, Self-Management, Social Awareness, and Relationship Management. (Goleman, 2002) A companion article in this journal issue by Kivland and Nass includes further information on this topic.

Although not included in the information above, the definition of a competency includes three elements:
1. A title
2. A brief high-level definition
3. One or more key behavioral statements

Below is a sample definition for one competency that has a connection to Zwell’s above list of differentiators and also to emotional intelligence. “Motivating Others� is an example of an important organization competency at a sales promotion agency that was my earlier client.
Motivating Others: Facilitating increased commitment, effort and results from others.
Key Behaviors [Behavioral Indicators]:
• Empowers others by inviting input to decisions and requesting appropriate assistance.
• Acknowledges the effort, achievements and contributions of others.
• Uses active listening skills regularly.
• Assesses each person’s hot buttons and adjusts style to get the best out of them.
• Encourages others to set challenging goals, give their best efforts and work to their potential.
• Helps others to feel important and respected.
Notice that the behavioral statements all begin with an action verb worded in present tense.

This format is important for completing the implied-but-not-written beginning to each statement, “The superior performer…�.

How Do Competencies Relate to Individual Career Development?
First and foremost, competencies must be demonstrated by individuals. Perhaps the most common place where they are demonstrated is within the scope of a particular job or project involvement. However, competencies are also developed and demonstrated by individuals in the following settings: volunteer roles in the community, professional associations, school projects, sports participation settings, and even within one’s own home life.

One of the first encounters with competencies for most individuals is in securing employment with a new organization. Organizations that are purposefully using cutting-edge methods to choose talent for positions or project roles are engaging in what is called “competency-based interviewing and selection�. These interviewing and selection methods are being used not only for hiring external applicants, but also for staffing internal roles, as described later in this article.

Many organizations that use competency-based interviewing and selection are also later using the same competencies to assess performance, to encourage future development plans from individuals, and to plan for succession in the organization. Therefore, the individual employees in such an organization will have an ongoing need to use and map their competencies.

Up to this point, I’ve implied that the main need for identifying and mapping competencies is for individuals who may be pursuing full-time employment with an organization. However, the need for mapping of competencies also extends to independent contractors seeking project work with those organizations that broker their services.

Take the example of The Fulcrum Network, an organizational development consulting brokerage organization. Fulcrum recently released a manual entitled “How to Hire the Right Consultant,� in which it identified 18 factors that can be used to evaluate consultants. (Fulcrum Network, 2002, pg. 10) Most of the 18 factors would be considered competencies, according to the definition included earlier in this article. (Note that the process for mapping competencies will not differ significantly for self-employed individuals from the process explained in a later section of this article.)

Why Should Individual Employees Map Their Competencies?
A list of compelling reasons includes, at a minimum, the following. An individual:
• Gains a clearer sense of true marketability in today’s job market; once the individual knows how his/her competencies compare to those that are asked for by the job market in key positions of interest.
• Projects an appearance as a “cutting-edge� and well-prepared candidate, who has taken the time to learn about competencies, investigate those in demand, and map his/her own competencies prior to interviewing.
• Demonstrates self-confidence that comes from knowing one’s competitive advantages more convincingly, and from being able to articulate those advantages in specific language.
• Secures essential input to resume development - a set of important terms to use in describing expertise derived from prior career experience.
• Gains advanced preparation for interviews, many of which may be delivered using a competency-based approach called “structured behavioral interviewingâ€� or “behavioral event interviewing.â€� (See the section below titled “How Does Competency-Based Interviewing and Selection Work?â€�)
• Develops the capability to compare one’s actual competencies to an organization or position’s required/preferred competencies, in order to create an Individual Development Plan.

Many organizations today are using the process of 360 degree feedback to compare an individual’s self assessment of his/her own performance against key position and organization competencies to the assessment of key “stakeholders� that the individual interacts regularly with. The 360 feedback received is then used as input to the Individual Development plan. David McClelland takes the position that “definitions for various competencies, which contain real-life examples of more competent behavior, provide specific guideposts as to how to develop the competency. The feedback information also provides a basis for career counseling or explaining why a person should or should not be promoted.� (McClelland, 1994, p. 10)

Claudette Nowell-Philipp, organizational career consultant, offers strong philosophical argument for the importance of an individual knowing and mapping his/her competencies as part of ongoing career planning inside an organization. Nowell-Philipp says that in today’s organizations, especially those going through fundamentalchange, it is essential to be able to “articulate your value-add and who you are, as a person and as a professional, in language that is common and accepted in the organization� (Nowell-Philipp, 2002). That prerogative implies the importance of competency-based self presentation: in one’s resume, in interviews, and in public functions where introductions and credibility are important.

But what about individuals who work in organizations (or have their own businesses) that do not hire, appraise or develop employees using competencies? There are several reasons for these individuals to map their competencies, as well:
1. If the individual ever has a desire to leave the current organization, it is very possible that competencies may be a part of the HR practices used by the next employer.
2. The true factors for success don’t really vary that much in most organizations. This is another way of saying that competencies tend to be valid across a wide range of jobs, work roles, organizations, industries, and professions. Therefore, even if competencies are not officially being used, they do indeed have a lot to do with success in most organizations. So an individual who is prepared with insight into his/her own competencies will probably be able to use them in service of success in the organization anyway.
3. If the individual is self-employed, then self-presentation of strategically-targeted competencies will be an essential every-day practice in order to develop new business.

(Remember the Fulcrum Network earlier example in this article.)
Based upon the above description of the benefits of competency mapping, and the likely organizational and self-employed applications of one’s competency map, it is probably clear by now that an individual needs to become very familiar with his/her own competencies and examples of when they have been demonstrated in the past.

Therefore, individuals need to build some time into their career management efforts to do the following:
Research (likely through informational interviews with key contacts) which competencies are in demand in their target organizations as a whole, and in particular positions of interest.
Map their current competencies, giving emphasis to those which appear to be in the most demand.
Integrate key current competencies into their resume, along with behavioral examples and key outcomes or results obtained.

Practice describing their competencies, complete with behavioral examples of past use.
Map their future development needs for additional competencies, based on their future career goals and the results of the informational interviewing noted above. One caution here: The Gallup Organization has recently presented the results of relevant research in their best-selling books First Break All the Rules, and later, Now, Discover Your Strengths. (Buckingham & Clifton, 1999) They caution that Strengths (talents, to which one has added knowledge and skills) may not be developable in many cases, and may need to be built into up-front hiring criteria as a result. So the caution with using competencies for development planning is this - be careful of spending too much time trying to develop a missing competency into a strength. Sometimes the implication may be for the individual to find a position that better matches his/her current strengths.

How Does Competency-Based Interviewing and Selection Work?
Competency-based interviewing and selection presupposes that a set of organization-wide, job family/department, or position-specific competencies have been identified by the organization. Interviewers are then trained in the art of Structured Behavioral Interviewing, which has several hallmarks:
A structured set of questions is used to interview all candidates. Each question is designed to elicit behavioral examples from the candidate which demonstrate the use of one or more key behaviors underlying each competency that is accounted for in the interview.
A team of interviewers is usually used and they typically divide the list of competencies among themselves so that each interviewer can focus on asking the related detailed behavioral questions and documenting candidate responses.
Interviewers typically ask open-ended and situation-based questions such as, “Think of a specific time when you faced ____________? How did you handle the situation? How did it turn out?�
Interviewers record evidence of behaviors that the candidate relates, and they ask probing questions to gather complete behavioral evidence that includes details of the circumstance, the actions taken by the candidate, and the results achieved. This process is called the CAR (circumstance, action, results) Model.
At the conclusion of the interview, all interviewers of a particular candidate meet and compare the behaviors they heard from the candidate that support the assertion that the candidate possesses a specific competency. If the candidate did not offer specific examples with relevant behaviors, after additional attempts at rephrasing the question or asking different but related questions, then the determination is made that the candidate does not possess the competency. (The underlying philosophy here is that the best predictor of future performance is past performance that was demonstrated by concrete, observable behavior.
A final hiring decision is made based on the total strength of competencies demonstrated by each candidate, compared with those competencies that are considered essential for success in the position and in the organization, and as compared with the competency strengths of the remaining candidates for the same position.
(A more in-depth description of the above may be found in another article by Simonsen and Smith that can found elsewhere in this issue of the Journal [CPaD Journal 18_4]).

How is Competency Mapping Carried Out by Individuals?

Individuals can complete their own competency mapping process by completing a series of logical steps, including:
1. Find and locate relevant competency resources.
2. Identify the individual’s current competencies and then determine the top competencies.
3. Define the top competencies with a list of behaviors the individual has demonstrated in the past.
4. For each key behavior, identify past performance examples.
5. Prepare verbal explanations of the examples, using the CAR Model. (Note: Completing this step of the process has considerable value for the individual. In addition to being used during interviews, situation examples will also be of great value when participating in a performance appraisal, in a proactive career networking situation, or in identifying future positions of interest either internal or external to the organization.)
6. Use the top competencies and key behavioral examples to write or revise the individual’s resume.
These steps are described below.
Step 1: Find and locate relevant competency resources.
The first action here must be to identify what types of competencies the individual most needs to focus on. The individual may be employed by or seeking employment with an organization that uses any one of the four ways of categorizing competencies that were identified earlier in the article: Organization-Wide Core Competencies, Job Family or Business Unit, Position-Specific, or by Levels of Contribution (i.e. Individual Contributor, Manager, or Organizational Leader).
Then, of course, the next action is to find a resource that covers the types of competencies the individual is focusing on.

Some primary options for competency resources would include:
1. A variety of competency listings and corresponding materials such as card sorts, are immediately available on the Internet. (Competency card sorts are decks of cards with individual competencies described on each card. They are useful for individuals during the sorting process, in determining the competencies that are part of their map.) Some of these resources are in the public domain while others are not. Some are available at no charge, and some must be purchased from private consulting organizations.
2. Numerous books on the subject of competency identification, available on the Internet, directly from publishers, and sometimes at bookstores. On-line booksellers are an immediate source of these items.
3. Local career coaches who are experienced in identifying competencies. (Note: the International Association of Career Management Professionals has an “Experts Section� on its website, www.iacmp.org that would be a good resource.)
4. Informational interviews with known experts in an occupational field, and within key organizations the individual is targeting in his/her career search. In order to increase the effectiveness of discussing the individual’s competencies during informational interviews, I do have one suggestion to make. Many subject-matter experts, both inside and outside of the human resource field, have little direct knowledge or experience with the language of competencies or behavioral science.

Therefore, I have found that it is beneficial for the individual to take a sample list of easily understood competencies, including their own top competencies, to their informational interviews. Such a visual aid will provide an example of how the person being interviewed can best support meeting the individual’s needs for information.
Step 2: Identify one’s competencies and determine their top competencies
As noted in Step 1 above, the individual can identify current competencies directly by using a card sort. Competencies can also be identified with the assistance of an experienced coach, either organically through sample interview questions, standardized assessments, answer and writing exercises, or through the use of a 360-degree feedback process (i.e., a full-circle multi-rater evaluation) where one is assessed by one’s supervisor, subordinates, peers, customers, clients, or others.

No matter which method is used, the individual should do a quick validation of the list of competencies that emerge to establish their face validity - in other words, a “reality check.� (A validation of this sort need not be scientifically done to add important value to the process.) Next, the individual should identify the four to seven Top Competencies that they believe are the most important to success at this point in their career. As described in the definition of a “Top Competency� earlier in this article, “importance� from the individual’s perspective is an intuitive decision based on a combination of three factors: (1) past demonstrated excellence in using the competency; (2) internal passion for using the competency; and, (3) the current or likely future demand for the competency in the individual’s current position or targeted career field.

Three primary ways of validating one’s competencies, and then determining the top competencies, include:
• A review of the list by an experienced coach who knows the client well, in comparison to an established list of competencies.
• The inclusion of the individual’s competencies in a 360-feedback or multi-rater evaluation process, if feedback is sought from others as part of the coaching process.
• Feedback from one or more trusted, experienced mentors.
Step 3: Define the top competencies using behaviors the individual has demonstrated through past performance.

Career or performance coaches who have expertise in resume writing often are ideally suited to assist with this task. It can be a somewhat time-intensive task, made easier by the use of competency development resource materials (see Step 1). One caution is to ensure that behaviors are worded to include specific, concrete action verbs (e.g. “Helps others see the personal benefits of doing their job well�) instead of vague, cliche-oriented wording (e.g. “Inspires others to go the extra mile�). Another suggestion is to limit the number of behaviors per competency to no more than seven, since the human mind starts to lose its focus once a list exceeds seven items in length.
Step 4: List performance examples of each key behavior
This is one of the most crucial steps in preparing individuals for competency-based self-presentation. In addition, it’s a step for which the individual owns the bulk of the initial responsibility, since the coach does not have easy access the individual’s library of all past experiences. Individuals should compose a list of their prior work experiences, projects, and volunteer roles. Then, under each entry, they should spend “quiet time� thinking of one or two concrete behavioral examples - times when they had positive results from their effort. More recent examples are most advantageous, as they tend to have greater “selling value.�
Most career coaches have probably encountered many scenarios where individuals state some difficulty and/or discomfort with coming up with specific examples of accomplishments for resume writing. A very useful technique for clients in envisioning their competency examples is to suggest categories of end results, and then ask the individual to brainstorm examples that fit under each catetory. *Figure 2 includes samples of end results.
Step 5: Prepare verbal explanations of the examples, using the CAR Model
Many career development practitioners have had experience in preparing clients to develop and present CAR examples. Provided below are a few tips for coaching individuals to come up with examples when they are confronted with unexpected interview questions, or requests for unusual examples:
Have written notes, with condensed CAR examples organized by competency, in one’s portfolio during an interview or performance discussion.
Take time to pause and think during the discussion - although silence at these times can be a painful experience to the candidate, when an example does not immediately come to mind. A quick glance at one’s notes during these times will be a great help, as well. The pausing technique requires individuals to develop an inner reservoir of tolerance for silence. Becoming comfortable with these moments of silence requires practice on the part of the individual. Our mainstream Western culture does not tend to reward silence, as does Eastern thinking and culture.

Ask the questioner to rephrase the question, if the meaning is at all unclear. This allows the individual more time to think, and may also result in a more clearly worded question from the questioner.

The following is a CAR example for the competency “Motivating Others� that might be used by a person conducting an interview for a new position. (Note that the example is based on the second behavior for Motivating Others that was listed earlier in this article.)
Interview Question: “Tell me about a specific time when you intentionally recognized the achievement or contribution of someone else, when it would have been perfectly acceptable to take the credit yourself or not mention the achievement at all.�
Circumstance: I was leading a project team tasked with writing 40 job descriptions inside a division of the large telecommunications company that I had been employed by for 8 years.

Our project team had been through a series of planning meetings to put together a project plan that spanned several months. It was time for us to give a status update to the Senior VP of Human Resources, before we began interviewing position incumbents and writing job descriptions.
Actions: I invited the rest of the project team (three other colleagues) to join in on the meeting with the HR VP. As part of the status update, I asked each team member to report on their insights to the project plan we had completed. I made a point of praising the level of teamwork that we had developed as a group, thus far in the project. In particular, I thanked one team member who had brought his MS Project expertise to bear in drafting the format of the plan we presented to the HR VP.
Results: The HR VP commented later that she was pleased to see the whole project team so engaged and involved. The other members of the team talked pointedly about their enthusiasm for the plan that lay ahead, and their excitement about our team-oriented way of proceeding. We even had some fun referring to our one team member as “the MS Project guru�, and he beamed from ear-to-ear. The project as a whole ended up being completed in a near-record three months of time, with numerous compliments around the organization about the quality of the final job descriptions.
Step 6: Use the top competencies and key behavioral examples to write or revise resumes
I will comment only briefly on resume-writing here, as this is a topic for another article.

But there are at least four areas where a competency-based approach to writing a resume has impact:
1. In writing a chronological resume, the competency titles and some of the behavioral action verbs should be integrated into the descriptions of ongoing responsibilities for each position.
2. In writing a functional resume, the headings of the functional accomplishment sections should tie very directly into the titles of the individual’s most important competencies. This is especially true for self-employed consultants, whose functional experience headings should correlate with their most important consulting service offerings. Those service offerings should be ones that incorporate the consultants’ top competencies.
3. In either version of a resume, accomplishment statements should form a solid core of information in the experience section. The verbal CAR statements previously developed can be condensed into ideal resume accomplishment statements.
4. The summary of qualifications section, usually found at the beginning of a resume, is an ideal place to list the titles of the individual’s top competencies, almost verbatim.

What Challenges Do Individuals Who Want to Map Their Competencies Face?


Yes, there are some challenges that an individual will have to surmount in order to truly integrate competency mapping into his or her career management efforts. It is important to highlight some of those challenges here, and to make some suggestions for overcoming them.
The first challenge has to do with the fact that effective competency mapping calls for some insight into the requisite competencies for success in the individual’s career field and in key positions of interest. It is often difficult to find competency-based position descriptions, or organizational lists of key competencies with effectively-worded behavioral definitions. And many of the key contacts the individual might seek out for informational interviews will not be used to describing success in an organization or position in competency terminology. So, the individual’s questions to their contacts about essential competencies for success in a position or organization may not be answered well or accurately. These factors will require the individual to do some guessing as to the most desired or required competencies.

This raises the second challenge. It will be a bit difficult for many individuals to create their own competency maps, given limited experience with competencies and their behavioral definitions, as well as some “blind spots� about their own prior accomplishments. The apparent solution is for the individual to find and hire an experienced career coach, as mentioned earlier. If this option is taken, the individual should use “due diligence� in selecting their coach by conducting thorough investigations of candidate coaches’ credentials and experience in working with the design, development and application of competencies in organizational settings. Many career coaches are experienced in working with their clients to identify knowledge and skills, but they may not be experienced in the more substantial practice of identifying competencies as they are used in organizations today. The major reason for this is that competencies include, in addition to knowledge and skills, other attributes such as traits, thought patterns, self-esteem, mindsets, and other characteristics that extend beyond one’s knowledge and skills alone. (This would be a good time for the reader to pause and review my earlier definition of a competency.)

A third challenge has been mentioned earlier. A common occurrence for many career consultants is encountering individuals who are less than comfortable putting the extra effort into (a) writing their CAR examples, and (b) focusing so much on accomplishments, since this activity often feels to them like self-congratulatory back-patting. The value of working with an experienced career coach to overcome these two barriers cannot be overestimated.
Fourth and finally, there is an issue also mentioned earlier that, based on the Gallup Organization’s research, many competencies may not be “trainable� or, can not be developed by an individual, no matter their level of personal effort. Suffice it to say here that a good career coach will do a great service to individual career clients by seriously focusing on the idea of position or career field “fit� in light of their current competencies, while advising them to be cautious about attempting to develop competencies that might not be developable.

Summary
The key purposes of this article were to:
1. Define and illustrate the use of the terms competencies, competency mapping and top competencies
2. Describe how competencies relate to individual career development
3. Explain why individuals should go to the effort of mapping their competencies
4. Describe how competency-based interviewing and selection work
5. Recommend a series of steps for individuals to use in doing competency mapping, with the assistance of an experienced career coach or counselor
6. Highlight the challenges that will be faced by individuals who want to map their competencies

The Six-Step Approach to Competency Mapping for Individuals was presented. The Approach includes the completion of the following steps:
1. Find and locate relevant competency resources.
2. Identify the individual’s current competencies and determine their top competencies.
3. Define the top competencies using behaviors the individual has demonstrated in the past.
4. For each key behavior, list past performance examples.
5. Prepare verbal explanations of the examples, using the CAR Model.
6. Use the top competencies and key behavioral examples to write or revise resumes.

A significant advantage of mapping one’s competencies has to do with using them for future development planning. Development planning in organizations spans a continuum from “not-done-at-all� to “very informal� to “very formal� processes.

Larger organizations that do practice the use of more formal development planning tend to have competency models and competency assessment tools, from which individuals and their managers craft future development plans. In some organizations, those development plans are part of the organization’s performance management process. In other organizations, development plans are completed confidentially, separate from performance management, for the individuals’ own career development benefit.
No matter how formal or informal and organization’s practices are regarding development planning, the important idea for the individual is to map his or her top competencies that are important to their future career passion and success. From among those top competencies, the individual needs to identify their current competency strengths, and also their future competency development needs. Great care needs to be given to crafting a development plan that puts equal or greater weight on using one’s competency strengths, rather than upon expending too many personal or other resources on trying to develop competency weaknesses into competency strengths. High levels of energy and motivation tend to surface for individuals who are focusing on better, more substantial uses of their competency strengths.
Significant competency weaknesses do need to be “managed around� through the use of such methods as delegating, partnering, and some personal modification of behaviors. This will require some planning on the part of the individual, and can be a very valuable part of development discussions with one’s manager, mentor, or career coach. But an approach that focuses on “fixing weaknesses and building them into strengths� tends to create a mindset of only grim determination, for both the individual and his/her manager/mentor/coach. This tends to sap energy from the individual that could otherwise be positively deployed in the arena of developing and/or better using current competency strengths. Competency mapping is a powerful and potent tool for making concrete and recognizable the employable assets that any individual brings into their career. Mapping one’s competency strengths might be one of the most powerful self-marketing tools available to both individuals and organizational talent management professionals today.

source : careertrainer.com

Ask - HR Outsourcing Questions

What is HR outsourcing ?
Raghav - Giving the responsibility of running the HR activities to a 3rd party service provider is known as HR Outsourcing.

Why outsource HR activities ?
Raghav- HR activites of a company are outsource when there are no internal resources or when there is a strong business case to outsource the function to a professional vendor for deriving on the competence for better results in HR.

What are the Benefits of HRO ?
Raghav - HRO can immensely benefit the company in many ways. Some of them are highlighted here :

Subject Matter Experts / focused handling of critical HR issues
Improve efficiency,
reduce costs,
update old technology,
not core business philosophy,
headcount reduction


What are the responsibilities of outsourced service provider ?


When to out source HR activities ?
Raghav
The HR activities to be outsource should be identified before hand and it can be all or some of the following activities

• Recruitment & Selection
• Compensation and benefits
• Performance Management System
• Learning and Development
  
• Employee communication
• Employee welfare
• Statutory Compliances relating to HR / Employment laws
  

How to effectively track the progress when HR is outsourced ?
Raghav -
Draw up a clearly defined metrics
Set up review mechanisms by having weekly / fortnightly / monthly meetings
Design & implement Dashboards or MIS reports which capture the essence of HRO
Look at SLAs and report non compliances

How to select a service provider ?
Raghav

• Identify the service providers
• Clearly define the scope of the HR services that need to be outsourced
  
• Long lists to short lists.
• Eliminate those that don’t meet essential requirements or you feel nervous about.
• Talk to the existing clients and take their feedback
• Visit their offices and talk to the staff to understand their capabilities
  
• Do reference site visits preferably arranged directly by you and not the vendor. Vendors will always pick their favorites.
• Invite no more than four to your premises to give presentations of how they will meet your requirements.
• Each one to do a half day presentation followed by a separate half day debate by the project team.
• Drafting the outsourcing agreement with Legal practitioners
• Negotiate hard to get the best price - but be reasonable
• Keep a service provider as a back up just in case your vendor is not able to deliver and you have to quickly move over to another !
  

What is Talent ?

Question

What is Talent ??

Raghavs Answer

TALENTS:

Those capabilities that individuals naturally exhibit based on experiences and knowledge gained early in life and/or those that the individual seems to be "born" with. Individuals tend to exhibit talents often and in diverse circumstances, and using their talents seem to give individuals energy and enthusiasm.
According to Marcus Buckingham, "Great managers... define a talent as "a recurring pattern of thought, feeling or behavior that can be productively applied." The emphasis here is on the word "recurring." Your talents, they say, are the behaviors you find yourself doing often. You have a mental filter that sifts through your world, forcing you to pay attention to some stimuli, while others slip past you, unnoticed. Your instinctive ability to remember names, rather than just faces, is a talent.
Your need to alphabetize your spice rack and color code your wardrobe is a talent. So is your love of crossword puzzles, or your fascination with risk, or your impatience. Any recurring patterns of behavior that can be productively applied are talents. The key to excellent performance, of course, is finding the match between your talents and your role.

Read - First, Break All the Rules, What the World's Greatest Managers Do Differently

What are Competencies ??

Question :

What are the "competencies" used in the selection, compensation, evaluation, and development of individuals ??

Raghavs Answer

SKILLS:

those capabilities that individuals gain from experience and/or learning, which exhibit an undertanding of how to do a certain task or job. Answers the "how to" questions. KNOWLEDGE:

those capabilities that individuals gain from experience and/or learning, which exhibit an understanding of concepts or data. Answers the "what is" questions.

STRENGTHS:

a combination of talent, skills, and knowledge that is applied, to move the individual or organization to success.

Collectively, these are often called "competencies" and can be used in the selection, compensation, evaluation, and development of individuals.

What if a company violates EPF Act provisions ?

Question :

I am working in a company and have now noticed that the company is collecting the PF amounts but is not depositing these at the EPF Office.

1. What are the liabilities for the company ?
2. Who is liable to be punished ? Management or HR ??
3. What i should do now ???

Raghav Answers

1. The liabilities are explained in the EPF Act 1952 and the same are given below.
2. Management and HR is also responsible for violations All those involved during the period of non remitting the PF contributions are liable to be prosecuted.
3. You should inform management to make payments forthwith. Else you should also report to EPFO as well as quit the company i fthey are not listening to your sane advise.

PROVISIONS OF EPF ACT 1952

Penalties.

(1) Whoever, for the purpose of avoiding any payment to be made by himself under this Act, the Scheme, the Pension Scheme or the Insurance Scheme or of enabling any other person to avoid such payment, knowingly makes or causes to be made any false statement or false representation shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to one year, or with fine of five thousand rupees, or with both.

(1A) An employer who contravenes, or makes default in complying with, the provisions of section 6 or clause a of sub-section 3 of section 17 in so far as it relates to the payment of inspection charges, or paragraph 38 of the Scheme in so far as it relates to the payment of administrative charges, shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to three years but –

(a) which shall not be less than one year and a fine of ten thousand rupees in case of default in payment of the employees’ contribution which has been deducted by the employer from the employees’ wages;

(b) which shall not be less than six months and a fine of five thousand rupees, in any other case:

Provided that the Court may, for any adequate and special reasons to be recorded in the judgment, impose a sentence of imprisonment for a lesser term.

(1B) An employer who contravenes, or makes default in complying with, the provisions of section 6C, or clause a of sub-section 3A of section 17 in so far as it relates to the payment of inspection charges, shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to one year but which shall not be less than six months and shall also be liable to fine which may extend to five thousand rupees:

Provided that the Court may, for any adequate and special reasons to be recorded in the judgment, impose a sentence of imprisonment for a lesser term.

(2) Subject to the provisions of this Act, the Scheme, the Pension Scheme or the Insurance Scheme may provide that any person who contravenes, or makes default in complying with, any of the provisions thereof shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to one year, or with fine which may extend to four thousand rupees, or with both.

(2A) Whoever contravenes or makes default in complying with any provision of this Act or of any condition subject to which exemption was granted under section 17 shall, if no other penalty is elsewhere provided by or under this Act for such contravention or non-compliance, be punishable with imprisonment which may extend to six months, but which shall not be less than one month, and shall also be liable to fine which may extend to five thousand rupees.

14A. Offences by companies

(1) If the person committing an offence under this Act, the Scheme or the Pension Scheme or the Insurance Scheme is a company, every person who at the time the offence was committed was incharge of, and was responsible to, the company for the conduct of the business of the company, as well as the company, shall be deemed to be guilty of the offence and shall be liable to be proceeded against and punished accordingly:

Provided that nothing contained in this sub-section shall render any such person liable to any punishment, if he proves that the offence was committed without his knowledge or that he exercised all due diligence to prevent the commission of such offence.

(2) Notwithstanding anything contained in sub-section 1 where an offence under this Act, the Scheme or the Pension Scheme or the Insurance Scheme has been committed by a company and it is proved that the offence has been committed with the consent or connivance of, or is attributable to, any neglect on the part of, any Director or Manager, Secretary or other officer of the company, such Director, Manager, Secretary or other officer shall be deemed to be guilty of that offence and shall be liable to be proceeded against and punished accordingly.

A related case is given below for ready references of what happens

Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) searched eight premises of prominent Mumbai builders and developers Hiranandani Brothers for under-reporting employee numbers and evading employee provident fund (EPF) payments.

A CBI official said the bureau suspects the Hiranandani brothers of conniving with four officials from the EPF Commissioner's office in Thane, and diverting the employer's contribution to the EPF to other sources.
The amount of evasion was not known since search and seizure operations had not been completed.

Despite repeated attempts, Hiranandanis were not available for comment on the development.

A late evening release from CBI did not mention Hirannadanis but said CBI conducted searches at seven premises in Mumbai after registering a regular case against four officials of the Regional Provident Fund Commissionerate, Mumbai and directors of a private group of companies having interest in real estate, hotel and resorts. During the searches, several incriminating documents were seized which are under scrutiny, the release said.

According to the FIR, during the year 2003-05, the officials of Regional Provident Fund Commissionerate, Mumbai and two directors of a private group of companies entered into a criminal conspiracy with each other for the purpose of cheating and prepared bogus bills of provident fund contribution of five companies of the group while such contributions were not paid. The companies were thereby allowed to get undue unofficial benefit of Rs 168 crore and corresponding loss to the government exchequer.

The release said it is alleged that the officers of the Regional Provident Fund Commissionerate had inspected the five firms of the group and found that for financial year 2004-05, the five firms had not paid provident fund contribution to the tune of Rs 8.47 crore. Subsequently, only a small amount of Rs 2.20 lakh was deposited towards PF liabilities. Further, during the financial year 2003-04 also one of the group of companies had to pay PF liabilities running into Rs 160 crore, but that was not paid.

Source : Business Standard 8th april 2008

How / Where do you find passive candidates

Question

Where / How do you find passive candidates ?

Answers

Raghav - Founder HRinIndia

Social networking platforms like linkedin and xing are becoming useful tools to target passive candidates.

Create and maintain a list of candidates whom you feel will help out in reaching to the 'target' candidates. Communication is key to get best results out of relationships both online and offline.

Raghav
Founder HRinIndia
www.hrinindia.in
9880080321

Jim Wahl [LION]

Manager of Talent Acquisition Systems at 7-Eleven, Inc. (jwahl01@7-11.com)

Referrals
LinkedIn

Cindy Cheran Lubinski - Executive Recruiter at Basilone Executive Search

As an Executive Recruiter, we cannot forget applicant recontacts. They are your eyes and ears to the job market. Too many times we overlook them in hopes of identifying NEW active candidates.

The other would be referrals. Too many times we neglect picking the phone up and just making the call. The majority of times the person you are calling is NOT going to be your candidate to fill the job; however they may lead you to that person.

Lynn Seiser Ph.D. - Seiser Institute of IdentityTherapy

In AIkido there is the rule of 10.
So, if some one give you 5 units of energy, you only have to give 5.
If they give 9, its easy to give 1.
If they give one, you have to give 9.

A passive candidate gives 1, so I must be more active and give 9.

My tools for find them is I must be active, visible, and available.

posted 6 days ago | Flag answer as...
Steve Delaney - Recruiter:

Best Answers in:
Using LinkedIn (1)

1. Confirmed relationships...Internal database, past referrals, previous candidates...
2. Social Networking i.e. LinkedIn, Facebook, ITtoolbox, Plaxo, JigSaw, ITLink, etc...
Links:
http://www.sjdelaney.com

Tim Chattaway - International Risk Recruitment Consultant at Genesis Computer Resources, London,
My diary, then referrals from people in my diary. Usually does the trick.

Octavio Ballesta - Management Consultant ♣ Corporate Strategist

Although referral is the classic approach to reach passive candidates, you could use Linkedin and particularly its Answers feature to identify effectively prospective candidates for current job opportunities:

- Linkedin like no other recruitment portal can offer the possibility of assessing the profile of different passive job applicants that in many cases are preferred for those companies looking for the best focused talent having the willingness of engaging a professional career in companies that prefer employee’s stability and career’s continuity over employee’s mobility and volatility.

- If you are looking for an expert in Business Development a good place to start is by reviewing the list of experts in Business Development and evaluate carefully both the profile as the questions that such passive candidate has developed and asked through the time that has been a Linkedin member. Unfortunately, Linkedin has not developed yet a versatile search feature where you can submit a query considering the expertise that a professional has gained in a given professional discipline for obtaining a reference or link to each one of the questions where the prospective candidate has gained expertise.

- If your customer has a very specific need to be fulfilled through a new job position, you could utilize the search utility of Linkedin Answers to get a set of possible aspirants to fulfil a job position characterized for a very specific competence, skill or knowledge. Let suppose us that you need to hire a manager with a good insight in Innovation and experience in Strategic Alignment. If this is the case you could utilize the following string: “Innovation" and "strategic alignment" to reach not just to the professionals that have posted questions related with such themes, but the professionals that have responded these questions and have gained valuable points of expertise.

- According to the needs and wants of your corporate customers you could design and post a set of specific questions that obeying to precise business necessities of your customers can offer you a glimpse about the capacity of seasoned and talented professionals in solving problems specifics to any given professional discipline or industry. If you are looking for a manager with experience in change management practices applied to transformational projects of corporate extent, a set of carefully designed questions involving coaching, cultural change, and change management amongst other aspect, can prove be very helpful to evaluate knowledge, skills, competences and speech of your prospective candidates.

- Although, not all the questions that a professional has answered in Linkedin could be a relevant and precise mirroring of his/her expertise, a careful analysis of the relevant questions conjugated with the positive recommendations given by co-workers, managers and customers with whom the prospective candidate has interacted can offer you a better perspective from this candidate than the obtained via a classic and static resume. The degree of activity of a professional in Linkedin can give you additional clues about his/her personality, professional development, willpower to socialize, professional interests, eagerness to collaborate and integrate teams, culture and professional expertise.

Finally, when you have finished your pre-selection of prospective candidates, if you have a Premium account in Linkedin, you will have the capacity to reach through InMails to anyone of 20 MM+ of Linkedin members. The most appreciable advantage that Linkedin offers you like a recruitment tool is that you have the capacity of getting touch with valuable passive candidates that could be in most of your recruitment processes a better option to satisfy the requirements of your corporate customers.

I hope this helps you.
Octavio
Dennis Comeau - denniscomeau.blogspot.com
LinkedIn
Networking Groups

Jonathan Foulds - George Butunoiu Executive Search
One web site like LinkedIn that is quite useful is www.xing.com
Links:
http://www.xing.com

John S. Rajeski
Aside from the previously mentioned methods of finding passive candidates; in the US, VLAB and/or SD Forum are excellent mediums.

Michael Goh - VP HR at Singapore Exchange Ltd
I'll elaborate more on 1 of the tools mentioned: referrals. Specifically, referrals by the business folks. They know the industry and its personalities, the good, the bad and the ugly. Once they have helped identified someone suitable, then the partnership between HR and the business kicks in to start the woo-ing.
Could be tough to gain the buy-in to such an approach though. Sometimes you have business folks who do not recognise that talent acquisition is the responsibility of everyone, not just HR.

Wei Luo
I enjoy reading Lynn's answer... "I must be active, visible, and available." - true to me !

Kristen Fife - Senior Recruiter, Author
Employee Referrals and LinkedIn.
I recently hired two LinkedIn passive candidates.

Tom Bambrick - Experienced Human Resources Professional

Referrals
Linkedin
Chuck Radcliff - Recruiter, Sales Process Facilitator
telephone
linkedin

Vincent Rush - Owner, Rush InternationalWhen I was a recruiter, I could sponsor lunch giveaways at resaurants where I knew the professionals all ate. I used to clean up on sorting through the fishbowls business cards. Most of the time they lead to referrals but during one 4 month stretch in 98, I made 4 direct placements and pocketed more that $37K in fees, strictly from "fish bowling".

The other effective way of getting passive candidates is your personal branding of your self and what experience your candidates have with you. It's the way you treat them and how you thank them for placing thier trust in you.

If done properly, they feed you candidates.

Yannik Gaehwiler - Associate at HireGround Executive Search
there are various different tools that can be used, all depending on the individual. I am more of a researcher, so I like to check out the competitors of my clients, and try and recruit out of there. This approach takes time and effort, but it can be the most helpful searching tool , because you know what you are getting. The other good tool to use is linkedin, because everyone is on there, active and passive seekers.

Kunal Malhotra [LION] - Product Management & Engineering hiring @ Google
Depends what kind of people you are looking for. In the technology space, besides the usual - linkedin & employee referrals, I've also had success tracking down people using certain websites such as ACM, Olympiads etc. Besides this, digging into the alumni associations (both university & corporate) could be quite useful.


John Ouellet - Sales and Recruiting Jedi Master
I would say first the old school answer, Job Fairs. I have made numerous placements off of Job Fairs over the years and a lot of people go them for the CEU's in Healthcare, not to look for a job, but they talk to you at least. It takes a little bit to figure out which ones are good though, but once you do it is worth it.

Direct Sourcing is the way to find passive candidates. Just call through a company (make sure you have a good script and prepare for rejection), but it is 2 fold, you find the names of everyone in the company to sell to and in the same token a passive candidate or two.

I also like to cold call of certification boards...
John Ouellet also suggests this expert on this topic:
Jeff Skrentny, CPC/CTS (AskJeff@JeffersonInc.com)


Lauren MacSorley - Recruiter at QVC, Inc.

- linkedin & other social networking tools
- keeping in touch with past applicants (they were once interested in working for my company... so they ususally love to hear from us again)

Marc LeVine
My huge database of industry contacts and my mouth!
Emon Talukdar
Assistant Manager
Sarika Bhujeja(sarika.bhujeja@gmail.com) - Lead Recruiter at 7N India
1. Social Networking sites like LinkedIn and different groups
2. Referrals and previous hired consultants

Osvaldo Danzi - Recruitment Manager at Manpower Professional
according with some of these answers, in my opinion, LinkedIn is the best recruiting site, without be effectively a recruiting site.
Its strong depend by the fact that all the recorded people is "informally" available to be contacted and, if you have a quality network you can reach the best candidates around.

I think that a "quality network" means that you must select and care your contacts;

- select through the main decision makers on the market, the best reference respect your business, the people that can be the "bridge" from you and the relevant candidates for your business.

- care through meetings, conference calls, business lunches or activity - where possible - that "link" the people between them.

It's useless to have 500 contacts or more and don't have really a "link" with them.

The second tools, NOT FREE. is advertisement on newspapers.

This is the main tool that I use so I can reach in a really few time the best candidates on a particular area, really interested "tomorrow" to have an interview with me, really motivated to change thei actual job, and in line with job description. Don't forget that a candidate that reply, let the job with a motivation and it's not so important how much earn more..
An hunted candidates, ASK 20% more and often use your offer to remain in his/her Company with an incentive on your salary..
Osvaldo Danzi also suggests these experts on this topic:
Paola Tamburini
Gianpaolo Alfano
Alexis Sottocorno

Marc Crouch - Executive Search Consultant at Integral Search
The best sources are, in order, direct headhunting (where you have a list of names and call them through switchboard), referrals, previous candidates, LinkedIn, and advertising.

So my top 2 are cold headhunting and referrals.
Richard Detoy - General Manager, Executive Search Solutions
In our industry the candidates are rarely part of social networking sites or visible to services such as LinkedIn. Accordingly, we do our work the old fashioned way, which means our top two tools are the telephone and our extensive candidate database built from years of using the telephone and recording the information.

Jesse Pinkoski - Project Coordinator at TopGrading Solutions

I would say #1 is the site we're on, LinkedIn. Alot of great talent is here, some have their full resumes (not so passive) some just have a quick snippit of their info which you can take and call into their company's switchboard and find them. #2 is probably referrals- Talking to the good candidates you know who know what value you can bring to their friends in similar positions, even if it's just from a general introduction standpoint for the future.

Fred Ernsting - Senior Account Manager - Onsite Recruiter
To find good passive candidates, consider the following:
1. Use those older resumes and applications of those candidates who applied to you or your peers for positions but whom were either not hired or whom were not looked into thoroughly. Not only can you "check in" with these folks to see if they are available, how things are going, what they might be looking for, etc. (this satisfies the WIIFM, or "what's in it for me" part of the call in the eyes of the person on the other end of the phone) but also, you can ask the key question, "Who do you know who might be qualfied for a [your open job title here] position?" This is a great way to learn about passive candidates who might be willing to make a move.

2. Call directly into companies, identifying target passive candidates by job title using Hoover's, Dunn & Bradstreet, etc. Having trouble getting past the gatekeepers? Call at night and leave a brief, attractive recruiting message if you must.

3. Keep good track in a database of those management or other professional people whom you call for reference checks. Over time you'll have a good supply of contacts. Many good passive candidates from this target group will either be looking around themselves or know someone who is. After all, how often have you called someone for a reference and the person you call says, "Let me close my door", then they ask how you might help them! These valuable reference contacts might just be the passive candidate you need to fill that next position!

*** Remember!!! When talking to someone to learn about other possible (passive) candidates, DON'T ask "Who do you know that might be interested in XYZ position?", but rather, ask "Who do you know that might be QUALIFIED for XYZ position?" Get names and phone numbers of target passive candidates. Then, find out from the passive candidate him/herself whether they are interested in making a move. ***

Source : Linkedin.com

Will you accept Video resumes ?

Question

There has been increased usage of videos - a short video of 2-3 minutes snap shot of the candidate.

As a recruiter will you accept or encourage video resumes for the purpose of hiring ?

Can you utilize this feature for all the positions or is it good for few ??

Raghav's Answer

Video resumes are a good way to see the candidate and view his verbal communication and his confidence. This can be used by the companies recruiters to screen some profiles which can then be called for personal interviews.

As a recruiter we do accept video resumes

No this cannot be used for all the positions

To make it more user friendly we should have a standard template of questions and ask the candidates to respond / giving information.

There should not be any bottlenecks with respect to the bandwidth which could be an issue for the job seekers

Raghav
Founder HRinIndia
www.hrinindia.in
raghav@hrinindia.in
9880080321

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