What is INITIATIVE...!

Every company has a performance appraisal system in place to measure the effectiveness of its employees.
Employees are normally rated in most of the companies in the above categories. Apart from the above non performance category is also there, which is not depicted here ) . Needless to say everyone wants to be rated Outstanding.
What is the yard stick and how do you measure these aspects?

* Employee "A" in a company walked up to his manager and asked what my job is for the day?
* The manager took "A" to the bank of a river and asked him to cross the river and reach the other side of the bank.
* "A" completed this task successfully and reported back to the manager about the completion of the task assigned. The manager smiled and said "GOOD JOB"

Next day Employee "B" reported to the same manager and asked him the job for the day. The manager assigned the same task as above to this person also.

* The Employee "B' before starting the task saw Employee "C" struggling in the river to reach the other side of the bank. He realized "C" has the same task.
* Now "B" not only crossed the river but also helped "C" to cross the river.
* "B" reported back to the manager and the manager smiled and said "VERY GOOD JOB"

The following day Employee "Q" reported to the same manager and asked him the job for the day. The manager assigned the same task again.

* Employee "Q" before starting the work did some home work and realized "A", "B" & "C" all has done this task before. He met them and understood how they performed.
* He realized that there is a need for a guide and training for doing this task.
* He sat first and wrote down the procedure for crossing the river, he documented the common mistakes people made, and tricks to do the task efficiently and effortlessly.
* Using the methodology he had written down he crossed the river and reported back to the manager along with documented procedure and training material.
* The manger said "Q" you have done an "EXCELLENT JOB".

The following day Employee "O' reported to the manager and asked him the job for the day. The manager assigned the same task again.

"O" studied the procedure written down by "Q" and sat and thought about the whole task.
He realized company is spending lot of money in getting this task completed. He decided not to cross the river, but sat and designed and implemented a bridge across the river and went back to his manager and said, "You no longer need to assign this task to any one".
The manager smiled and said "Outstanding job 'O'. I am very proud of you."

What is the difference between A, B, Q & O????????
Many a times in life we get tasks to be done at home, at office, at play….,
Most of us end up doing what is expected out of us. Do we feel happy? Most probably yes. We would be often disappointed when the recognition is not meeting our expectation.

Let us compare ourselves with "B". Helping some one else the problem often improves our own skills. There is an old proverb (I do not know the author) "learn to teach and teach to learn". From a company point of view "B" has demonstrated much better skills than "A" since one more task for the company is completed.

"Q" created knowledge base for the team. More often than not, we do the task assigned to us without checking history. Learning from other's mistake is the best way to improve efficiency. This knowledge creation for the team is of immense help. Re-usability reduces cost there by increases productivity of the team. "Q" demonstrated good "team-player" skills,

Now to the outstanding person, "O" made the task irrelevant; he created a Permanent Asset to the team.
If you notice B, Q and O all have demonstrated "team performance" over an above individual performance; also they have demonstrated a very invaluable characteristic known as "INITIATIVE".

Initiative pays of every where whether at work or at personal life. If you put initiative you will succeed. Initiative is a continual process and it never ends. This is because this year's achievement is next year's task. You cannot use the same success story every year.
The story provides an instance of performance, where as measurement needs to be spread across at least 6-12 months. Consequently performance should be consistent and evenly spread.
Out-of-Box thinkers are always premium and that is what every one constantly looks out for. Initiative, Out-of-Box thinking and commitment are the stepping stone to success.
Initiative should be life long. Think of out of the box.

Recession is coming - Tips

The recession looks very eminent. It is really time to take pro active steps to avoid a painful time in the next two years which is how long the recession is expected to last. 

1. Don't take any loans; buy homes, properties with loans, or even cash. Keep as much cash as possible.

2. Pay off as much of personal loans, private loans, as debt collection will be hastened.

3. Sell any stocks you can even at lower prices.

4. Take money off from Trust Funds.

5.  Don't believe in huge sales forecast from customers, be extremely prudent, lowest inventories, reduce liabilities.

6. Don't invest in new capital.

7. If you are selling homes/ properties/ cars, do it now, when you can get good prices, they are going to fall.

8.  Don't invest in new business proposals.

9. Cancel holiday plans using credit cards.

10. Don't change jobs, as companies will retrench based on 'last in first out'.

Stay cool, wait, and if you took all of the above actions and more, you probably will be better off than many.

India and all those self economies will be the most protected, but not gullible.

Europe may be a little stronger, but not China , another giant place! 

Who sets global crude oil prices?

As crude oil is setting the global economy on fire and igniting fears of recession, there is a frequent question people ask. Who sets the oil prices?

The answer generally comes: oil price is set by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, a permanent intergovernmental oil organisation, created in 1960 by Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela.

But the fact is that it is not OPEC that sets the global oil price. One of the most common misconceptions about OPEC is that the organisation is responsible for setting crude oil prices.

Although OPEC did in fact set crude oil prices from the early 1970s to the mid-1980s, this is no longer the case. It is true that OPEC's member countries do voluntary restrain their crude oil production in order to stabilise the oil market and avoid harmful and unnecessary price fluctuations, but this is not the same thing as setting prices.

In today's complex global markets, the price of crude oil is set by movements on the three major international petroleum exchanges, all of which have their own Web sites featuring information about oil prices.

They are the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX, http://www.nymex.com), the International Petroleum Exchange in London (IPE, http://www.ipe.uk.com) and the Singapore International Monetary Exchange (SIMEX, http://www.simex.com.sg).

OPEC does not control the oil market. OPEC member countries produce about 45 per cent of the world's crude oil and 18 per cent of its natural gas.

However, OPEC's oil exports represent about 55 per cent of the crude oil traded internationally. Therefore, OPEC can have a strong influence on the oil market, especially if it decides to reduce or increase its level of production.

Source:Rediff Money

US Client Interactions - Useful Tips

Dealing with any clients in services is an art. In the case of IT, we primarily deal with American clients. It is useful to know how the English language works with them. Some of us may hesitate to speak to the client because we are not confident. When we practice the following tips, we can boost our confidence.

Interactions with American clients - Useful tips

1. Do not write "the same" in an email - it makes little sense to them.

Example - I will try to organize the project artifacts and inform you of the same when it is done

This is somewhat an Indian construct. It is better written simply as:
I will try to organize the project artifacts and inform you when that is done


2. Do not write or say, "I have some doubts on this issue"
The term "Doubt" is used in the sense of doubting someone - we use this term because in Indian languages (such as Tamil), the word for a "doubt" and a "question" is the same.
The correct usage (for clients) is:
I have a few questions on this issue

3. The term "regard" is not used much in American English. They usually do not say "regarding this issue" or "with regard to this".
Simply use, "about this issue".

4. Do not say "Pardon" when you want someone to repeat what they said. The word "Pardon" is unusual for them and is somewhat formal.

5. Americans do not understand most of the Indian accent immediately - They only understand 75% of what we speak and then interpret the rest. Therefore try not to use shortcut terms such as "Can't" or "Don't". Use the expanded "Cannot" or "Do not".

6. Do not use the term "screwed up" liberally. If a situation is not good, it is better to say, "The situation is messed up". Do not use words such as "shucks", or "pissed off".

7. As a general matter of form, Indians interrupt each other constantly in meetings - DO NOT interrupt a client when they are speaking. Over the phone, there could be delays - but wait for a short time before responding.

8. When explaining some complex issue, stop occasionally and ask "Does that make sense?". This is preferrable than "Do you understand me?"

9. In email communications, use proper punctuation. To explain something, without breaking your flow, use semicolons, hyphens or paranthesis.
As an example:
You have entered a new bug (the popup not showing up) in the defect tracking system; we could not reproduce it - although,
a screenshot would help.

Notice that a reference to the actual bug is added in paranthesis so that the sentence flow is not broken. Break a long sentence
using such punctuation.

10. In American English, a mail is a posted letter. An email is electronic mail. When you say
"I mailed the information to you"
, it means you sent an actual letter or package through the postal system.
The correct usage is:
"I emailed the information to you"

11. To "prepone" an appointment is an Indian usage. There is no actual word called prepone. You can "advance" an appointment.

12. In the term "N-tier Architecture" or "3-tier Architecture", the word "tier" is NOT pronounced as "Tire". I have seen many people pronounce it this way. The correct pronunciation is "tea-yar". The "ti" is pronounced as "tea".

13. The usages "September End", "Month End", "Day End" are not understood well by Americans. They use these as "End of September", "End of Month" or "End of Day".

14. Americans have weird conventions for time - when they say the time is "Quarter Of One", they mean the time is 1:15. Better to ask them the exact time.

15. Indians commonly use the terms "Today Evening", "Today Night". These are not correct; "Today" means "This Day" where the Day stands for Daytime. Therefore "Today Night" is confusing. The correct usages are: "This Evening", "Tonight".
That applies for "Yesterday Night" and "Yesterday Evening". The correct usages are: "Last Night" and "Last Evening".

16. When Americans want to know the time, it is usual for them to say, "Do you have the time?". Which makes no sense to an indian.

17. There is no word called "Updation". You update somebody. You wait for updates to happen to the database. Avoid saying "Updation".

18. When you talk with someone for the first time, refer to them as they refer to you - in America, the first conversation usually starts by using the first name. Therefore you can use the first name of a client. Do not say "Sir". Do not call women "Madam".

19. It is usual convention in initial emails (particularly technical) to expand abbreviations, this way:
We are planning to use the Java API For Registry (JAXR).

After mentioning the expanded form once, subsequently you can use the abbreviation.

20. Make sure you always have a subject in your emails and that the subject is relevant. Do not use a subject line such as HI .

21.Avoid using "Back" instead of "Back" Use "ago".Back is the worst word for American.(for Days use "Ago",For hours use "before")

22.Avoid using "but" instead of "But" Use "However".

23.Avoid using "Yesterday" hereafter use "Last day".

24.Avoid using "Tomorrow" hereafter use "Next day".

10 Tips for Effective E-mail

10 Tips for Effective E-mail


Think before you write. Just because you can send information faster than ever before, it doesn’t mean that you should send it. Analyze your readers to make certain that you are sending a message that will be both clear and useful.


Remember that you can always deny that you said it. But if you write it, you may be held accountable for many many moons. You may be surprised to find where your message may end up. (As an example of “What Not to Do” in Ellen Dowling’s Writing Strategies class?)



Keep your message concise. Remember that the view screen in most e-mail programs shows only approximately one half of a hard-copy page. Save longer messages and formal reports for attachments. On the other hand, do not keep your message so short that the reader has no idea what you’re talking about. Include at least a summary (action or information?) in the first paragraph of your message.


Remember that e-mail is not necessarily confidential. Some companies will retain the right to monitor employees’ messages. (Refer to #1 and #2, above.) Don’t send anything you wouldn’t be comfortable seeing published in your company’s newsletter (or your community’s newspaper).


Don’t attempt to “discipline” your readers. It’s unprofessional to lose control in person—to do so in writing usually just makes the situation worse.



Don’t “spam” your readers. Don’t send them unnecessary or frivolous messages. Soon, they’ll quit opening any message from you.


DON’T TYPE IN ALL CAPS! IT LOOKS LIKE YOU’RE YELLING AT THE READERS! Remember, if you emphasize everything, you will have emphasized nothing.


Don’t type in all lower case. If you violate the rules of English grammar and usage, you make it difficult for the reader to read.


Use the “Subject” line to get the readers’ attention. Replace vague lines (“Information on XYZ Project,” or “Status Report Q1”) with better “hooks”: “Need your input on Tralfamadore Project,” or “Analysis of recent problems with the new Veeblefetzer.”


Take the time to poof-read your document before you sent it. Rub the document thru the spell checker and/or the grammar checker. Even simple tips will make you look sloppie and damage you’re professional credibility.

What is NAV?

What is NAV? How it affects your MF Investment


The NAV (Net Asset Value) of a mutual fund has not been correctly understood by a large section of the investing community.

This is quite evident from the fact that mutual funds had been recently collecting huge corpus in their New Fund Offers, or NFOs, whereas the collections in the existing schemes were negligible.

In fact, investors sold their existing investments and invested in NFOs. This switch makes no sense, unless the new fund has something different and better to offer.

Misconception about NAV

This situation arises from the perception that a fund at Rs 10 is cheaper than say Rs 15 or Rs 100. However, this perception is totally wrong and investors would be much better off once they appreciate this fact.

Two funds with same portfolio are same, no matter what their NAV is. NAV is immaterial.

Why people carry this perception is because they assume that the NAV of a MF is similar to the market price of an equity share. This, however, is not true.

Definition of NAV

Net Asset Value, or NAV, is the sum total of the market value of all the shares held in the portfolio including cash, less the liabilities, divided by the total number of units outstanding. Thus, NAV of a mutual fund unit is nothing but the 'book value.'

NAV vs Price of an equity share

In case of companies, the price of its share is 'as quoted on the stock exchange,' which apart from the fundamentals, is also dependent on the perception of the company's future performance and the demand-supply scenario. And hence the market price is generally different from its book value.

There is no concept as market value for the MF unit. Therefore, when we buy MF units at NAV, we are buying at book value. And since we are buying at book value, we are paying the right price of the assets whether it be Rs 10 or Rs.100. There is no such thing as a higher or lower price.

NAV and its impact on the returns

We feel that a MF with lower NAV will give better returns. This again is due to the wrong perception about NAV. An example will make it clear that returns are independent of the NAV.

Say, you have Rs 10,000 to invest. You have two options, wherein the funds are same as far as the portfolio is concerned. But say one Fund X has an NAV of Rs 10 and another Fund Y has NAV of Rs 50. You will get 1000 units of Fund X or 200 units of Fund Y.

After one year, both funds would have grown equally as their portfolio is same, say by 25%. Then NAV after one year would be Rs 12.50 for Fund X and Rs 62.50 for Fund Y. The value of your investment would be 1000*12.50 = Rs 12,500 for Fund X and 200*62.5 = Rs 12,500 for Fund Y. Thus your returns would be same irrespective of the NAV.

It is quality of fund, which would make a difference to your returns. In fact for equity shares also broadly this logic would apply.

An IT company share at, say, Rs 1,000 may give a better return than say a jute company share at Rs 50, since IT sector would show a much higher growth rate than jute industry (of course Rs 1000 may 'fundamentally' be over or under priced, which will not be the case with MF NAV).

***********%%%%%%%%%%************

All about Mediclaim

Mediclaim: What you need to Know!


Let me emphatically state: Everyone needs a medical insurance cover. Everyone should get one.

In case you still don't have one and are keen on shopping around for a cover, here's what you need to look for.

Let age work in your favor

The premium is what you pay every year to the insurance company. This is the cost of the cover. The cover is the actual amount that you are insured for.

You can pick your cover and the insurance company will pick its premium.



The premium will depend on your age and the cover. The older you are, the more expensive the premium.

Let's say you take a Rs 1,00,000 medical insurance cover from the National Insurance Company Ltd.

Age (years) -------Annual premium
Till 35 ----------- Rs 1,310
36 --------------- Rs 1,425
46 --------------- Rs 2,039
56 --------------- Rs 2,322
66 --------------- Rs 2,598
71 --------------- Rs 2,784
76 --------------- Rs 3,445

However, the above premiums are before service tax and education cess. So this is what the premium will work out to.


Basic Premium --------> Rs 1,310
Service tax(12.24%)---> Rs 160.34
Education cess ---------> Rs 3.21
Net premium ----------> Rs 1,473.55088

So, whatever age you are, the premium is fixed.

If you buy the policy when you are 25 and pay Rs 1,310, then, when you turn 36, it goes up to Rs 1,425.

If you look at it from this point of view, then it does not make a difference when you take it. Because, when you grow older, you will pay a higher premium. The benefit lies in the fact that the younger you are, the lesser the illnesses or sicknesses you have so everything is covered.

When you take a medical insurance policy, your pre-existing illnesses (the illnesses you currently have) are not included. So it is best to take it when you are totally healthy.

Get your family insured too


Just married? Then take a cover for yourself and your spouse.

Have a child? Cover your child too. These days, doctors often ask that the children be admitted into hospital for observation when sick.

Let's say you are a family of three. And each of you gets insured for Rs 1,00,000. Then you will get a 5% or 10% discount on the premium you are paying for all these policies. For more than one cover, the insurance companies give a discount.

But, if you fall ill and your expenses come up to Rs 1,25,000, you will not be covered for Rs 25,000 since your individual limit is Rs 1,00,000.

Know what is not included

Everything and anything is not covered. Please do your due diligence before opting for a policy.


Go through the list of exclusions in detail. You don't want any rude shocks later.

Any sickness or disease that you had before you took the policy will not be covered. These are known as pre-existing illnesses.

Some insurers specify they will not cover obesity related illnesses, expenses related to terrorist acts or war or riots.

Expenses arising from HIV, use of alcohol or drugs, or a suicide attempt are never covered.

Certain ailments like sinusitis, ulcers or cataract may not be covered initially -- say, in the first year or so of the policy. While in the first month or so, nothing may be covered except accidents.

Be clear on repayment

You will get an identity card when you take the policy. The insurance company will have a tie-up with a number of hospitals. If you use the card there, you will not have to make any payment; the insurance company will directly pay the hospital. This is known as the cashless benefit.

If you do not check into one of these hospitals, then you will have to make the payment yourself, produce bills to the insurance company and then get reimbursed.

Look at other aspects

There is a personal accident cover which only covers accidents and disabilities arising from accidents.

There is also a critical illness cover which only covers major illnesses. This time, the insurance company will pay you a lump-sum amount (whatever you are insured for) when the illness is diagnosed


These can be added to your Mediclaim.

There is also the cash benefit. This is the allowance the insurance company gives you and is a cash amount for the time you spend in the hospital. You can take this in addition to your normal insurance policy.

For instance, Bajaj Allianz refers to this as Hospital Cash. In addition to your normal premium, you will have to pay an additional premium if you want this benefit. Let's say you are 28 years old, you want a cash allowance of Rs 1,000 per day when you are hospitalised and you want this benefit for 30 days; the annual premium you need to pay may just be around Rs 600. So, during a year, a total of 30 days will be covered.

You have a wide choice

You have many insurance companies offering medical insurance.


According to the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority, here are the Web sites of some of the players listed in alphabetical order.
Bajaj Allianz General Insurance Co. Ltd
ICICI Lombard General Insurance Co. Ltd
IFFCO Tokio General Insurance Co. Ltd
National Insurance Co.Ltd
The New India Assurance Co. Ltd
The Oriental Insurance Co. Ltd
Reliance General Insurance Co. Ltd
Royal Sundaram Alliance Insurance Co. Ltd
Tata AIG General Insurance Co. Ltd
United India Insurance Co. Ltd
Cholamandalam MS General Insurance Co. Ltd
HDFC-Chubb General Insurance Co. Ltd

“Get Insured Be Secure”

All About LTA

All About LTA


Want to go on vacation at your employer's expense? Well, you are entitled to it.

Leave Travel Allowance is actually a rather simple tax-saving benefit that covers your holiday expenses.

Here, we give you a low-down on LTA.

What's covered?

Only the travel costs, not the eating and partying or hotel bills.

So, whether you fly, hop on to a train or take public transport, you can show the ticket and claim your LTA.

What if you want to travel by a car? If a car is owned by a central government organisation like ITDC, the state government or the local body, LTA is permitted.

If you could not get public transport and resorted to private transport, try and get a bill. If the bill is not accepted by your employer, you can always file an income tax return, claim an exemption and get a refund.


How often can you claim it?

Twice in a block of four calendar years.

In case you were unaware, LTA is not related to when you started your employment. The government fixes blocks of years.

These blocks are not financial years (April 1 to March 31); they are calendar years (January 1 to December 31).

The current block is 2006-09: January 2006 to December 2009.

The earlier one was from 2002-05: January 2002 to December 2005.

During this time period, a person is entitled to two LTA claims.

A person can get an income tax exemption for two journeys in a block of four calendar years. But he can make a trip only once in year.

No time for a holiday?

Then you can carry it forward.

One LTA can be brought forward and claimed in the first year of next block.

Let's say you do not take your LTA in 2002-05. Or that you use only one LTA. This means you will be able to take the pending LTA in 2006. This means that, in the 2006-09 block, you will be totally entitled to the three journeys.

And if you switch jobs? You can get the LTA not only from present organisation but also from the former employer, if the concession is lying unutilised.

Let's say that, in the 2002-05 block, you claimed LTA in 2003. In 2004 you switched jobs. You can still claim your second journey with your new employer. Of course, your new employer will ask to look at your earlier tax returns to see whether it has been claimed or not.

Who's covered?

Your family. This term is quite wide; it includes yourself, parents, siblings dependent on you, spouse and children.

For children born after October 1, 1998, the exemption is restricted to only two surviving children (unless, of course, one birth has resulted in multiple children like twins and triplets).

Well, what if your spouse is also employed? It does not matter, your spouse too is covered.

What if you don't take it?

If LTA is not utilised, it gets added to the entire salary. And then you are taxed on it.

Let's say you and spouse are both employed and both have LTA as part of the salary package. Your LTA is Rs 20,000 and hers is Rs 20,000 too.

Both of you and your child go for a holiday. The tickets for the three of you amount to Rs 15,000. You supply the tickets to your office and this amount will be eligible for a tax deduction, the balance Rs 5,000 will be taxed. You can claim exemption only to the tune of your expenditure.

Now, if you claim this, your wife will not be able to claim this same holiday from her employer. Her Rs 20,000 will be taxed. Unless another holiday is made and she claims it.

Or, let's say that you spend Rs 30,000 on tickets but your LTA is just Rs 20,000. You can claim up to Rs 20,000 and tell your wife to claim her ticket from her employer.

So go and catch that plane or hop onto a train. Not only is a holiday good for health but can also be a tax haven.

Quick tips

i. You can get LTA only if you have applied for leave from your company and have actually travelled.

ii. If your family travels without you, no LTA can be claimed. You have to make the trip, either by yourself. If claiming for family, you should travel with them.

iii. You will need to keep your air, rail or public transport ticket. Or, if you rented a car, give the bill issued by the car rental company.

iv. International travel is not valid. It must be within the country.

v. Though you can claim two journeys in a block of four years, you can claim the LTA benefit just once in a year. You cannot claim both the journeys in one year. So, if you make two trips in a year, you lose one. A way out is to claim one and make your spouse claim the other.


Authour: Meenakshi Subramaniam is a former IRS officer residing in Kolkata.

Crack Telephonic Interviews

How to Crack Telephonic Interviews


Most BPO and IT companies have begun saving time and effort by conducting initial rounds of interviews by telephone before calling candidates for a personal round to their offices. BPOs and ITs use telephonic rounds to assess candidates for the roles of customer service or outbound sales executives.

Going by the job advertisements, you may typically have to call a number provided exclusively for interviews. Given this, then, your voice and the way you project yourself over the phone can make all the difference.

The flip side
The absence of a visual clue is the biggest disadvantage. While the interviewer can't see your new formal attire, your great smile and positive body language, you, on the other hand, also tell when you've lost the interviewer's attention.

Prepare for an excellent show
Start by visiting the employers' Web site and learn about the firm. Most companies upload the job specifications in the 'Career' or 'Work With Us' sections of their site. This will give you a fair idea about the key skills required for a certain role.

Make notes
Keep some notes ready about the job description, your key strengths and accomplishments. It is a good idea to keep your resume in front of you as well. Remember, they can't see if you have these documents for review.

Mock calls
Call a friend from your landline and ask him or her to listen to your voice. Maybe it is shrill; maybe you speak too softly or too fast to be understood. If possible, call someone you know who already works for a BPO and request him or her to critique your voice.

When you make that call
First, get to the point, and fast. The employers are already expecting calls from candidates, so don't waste time giving them a reference of where you saw their advertisement or asking them if there are any openings. Greet them, state your name and get to the point. For instance: 'Good morning. My name is Rashmi Chopra and I am calling from (location). I am a commerce graduate and would like to interview for the position of tele-sales executive.'

Keep notepad and pen ready
Write down their questions so you can stay on track while answering. Too often, people forget the original question and beat around the bush. Stay on target.

Sound energetic
Your voice is your only sales tool. Do not allow yourself to sound tired or uninterested over the phone. Sound energetic and excited, even if you are asked the same question again. Keep a glass of water ready.

Keep distractions away
Log off your computer (if you can't get away from instant messengers and other services that make a noise). Switch off your cell phone and stereo system, and ensure there no cell phones nearby that may cause disturbance. They sabotage your concentration when you need it most.

Call from a landline
Cell phones and cordless devices rarely allow your voice to sound as clear as it does on a standard landline, so avoid using them for interviews.

Be courteous
Try not to speak over the interviewer or cut him off. If you do, say, "I apologise for interrupting, please complete your question" and let the interviewer continue.

When you are through
Thank the interviewer for his or her time and state that you look forward to hearing from the firm. If they call you for a personal round, ask about the documents you should carry with you. Do not disconnect the call until the interviewer has hung up.

“Prepare for that telephonic interview, and you are halfway there.”

Skills requried for Job-Hunting Freshers

Top Ten Skills Freshers Need


The Job market, for young graduates, has never been better. There are opportunities galore in booming service sectors like BPO, retail and hospitality. Most of these jobs are customer centric and call for certain unique skill sets. BPOs and multiplexes hire fresh graduates as customer service/sales executives, while retail stores look for shop floor executives, supervisors and managers.

"The job market is currently demand driven and youngsters with good communication skills and a positive attitude will be spoilt for choices," says Prashant Kuruvilla, VP (HR) at Delhi based E-soft Technologies. So, if you are a fresh graduate looking to make a career in the service industry, here are the 10 key customer service skills you must brush up on.

Language skills

Good communication is the lifeblood of the service industry and it is important that your language be devoid of grammatical errors. While we have all learnt the basics of grammar, the most important attributes in spoken English are sentence construction (your ability to form meaningful sentences) and word order (ability to use the right words as per the context). Speak to people in English as far as possible and watch English news channels and sit-coms. The objective here is to develop conversational skills.

Vocabulary

You need to have the words in your vocabulary to tackle all kinds of challenging communication and customer service scenarios. You should be able to demonstrate a satisfactory use of word choice so your customer maintains confidence in your skill sets. Follow the TIS rule (Think it, Ink it, Sink it). When you come across a new word, make a note of it in your personal diary and read it out loud at least three times.

Pronunciation

You need to speak with clear pronunciation and diction so it does not interfere with overall communication with a customer. Institutes like the British Council offer courses in communication skills for call centres and service oriented jobs. These programmes also help you to neutralise your accent and sound more professional.

Tone

It is important to speak with an upbeat, positive tone that reflects empathy and concern for your customer.This enables you to connect with customers and colleagues and also build long lasting relationships. Negative emotions like anger, sarcasm, impatience, etc. can easily be communicated through your tone, so it is important to focus it.

Listening, a must

Good listening skills will help you understand the main ideas of the person you are communicating with. It also enables you to understand the specifics of a particular situation you could be dealing with. Good listening skills will also ensure that you provide appropriate answers to customers' questions and understand the emotional clues he or she may drop.

Problem solving

You should be committed and have a sincere desire to solve a customer's problems. Your ability to ask the right kind of questions will be a key factor in providing an effective solution. You also need to prioritise your time and understand a customer's needs and wants.

Flexibility

You must be able to adapt to a customer's unique needs and changing circumstances. Be open to change, be willing to take the customer's feedback and act on it. Being flexible also helps you identify new business opportunities and generate more sales for your organisation.

Initiative and proactiveness

It is important to anticipate a customer's problems. Apologise and correct a mistake rather than hide behind the company's policies. Walking the extra mile for a customer will cement the relationship and lead to repeat business.

Professionalism

You need to be friendly and courteous, yet professional. Being direct and expressive helps you build a strong relationship with the customer. Conveying respect for the customer, team members, company and competitors is also important, as this demonstrates confidence in self and the organisation. A professional attitude will leave the customer with a positive feeling.

Task orientation

As a customer service professional, it is important to strike a balance between the job at hand and relationship / rapport building activities. While you need to engage in building a positive relationship with the customer, you must keep issue resolution and meeting targets as the top priority. "Most tele-sales consultants keep sweet talking with customers without asking for the order (closing the sale). This is ineffective as the objective of the organisation is also to generate sales and profits," says Kanishka Malhotra, Managing Partner at Hotel Solutions India, New Delhi.

“Brush up on these skills and success will definitely be a lot easier to come by.”

All about HRA

What you MUST know about HRA


House Rent Allowance is an allowance given by an employer to an employee. The sole purpose of this is to meet the cost of renting a home.

Here, we hope to clear the doubts you may have about HRA.

Do note, when we refer to salary in this article, it encompasses basic component and the dearness allowance.

1. You can claim HRA if you fulfill these three conditions:


~ You have an HRA allowance as part of your salary package.
~ You are staying in a rented accommodation and paying rent for it.
~ The rent exceeds 10% of your salary.

2. You can claim rent given to your parents. Let's say you live with parents and pay them rent. This makes your parents the landlords. One of them will have to declare it in his/ her personal income tax return to prevent litigation in the future.

3. You cannot claim rent paid to spouse. The relationship between a husband and wife is not commercial in nature; a husband and wife are supposed to stay together. So payment of rent to a spouse will not be accepted by the income tax authorities.


4. You will need to keep all your rent receipts since it is the only proof that you are paying rent. HRA exemptions are only available on submission of rent receipts or the rent agreement. However, if the HRA is upto Rs 3,000 per month, then receipts/ agreement is not mandatory. It is only when your HRA exceeds this amount that you will have to keep the receipts.

But it is wise to still keep them because, at the time of assessment, the Income Tax Officer may demand the receipts/ agreement.

5. The actual HRA you will be entitled to will be the least of the following.

~ The actual amount of HRA received.
~ 40% of salary. This increases to 50% if you are renting out the house in Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai or Kolkata.
~ Rent paid minus 10% of salary (basic component + dearness allowance)


6. The HRA that does not get exempted is taxed. Let's see how it works with an example.

Assumptions

HRA per month = Rs 15,000
Basic monthly salary = Rs 30,000
Dearness Allowance = Nil
Monthly rent = Rs 12,000
Rental accommodation is in Mumbai.

Exemption


Actual amount of HRA = Rs 15,000

50% of salary = 50% x (30,000 + 0) = Rs 15,000

Actual rent paid - 10% of salary = Rs 12,000 - [10% of (30,000 + 0)] = 12,000 - 3,000 = Rs 9,000

Rs 9,000 being the least of the three amounts will be the exemption from HRA. The balance HRA of Rs 6,000 (15,000-Rs 9,000) is taxable.

7. If you took a home loan for a home in one city but reside in another, you will be entitled to:

~ Tax benefit on principal repayment under Section 80C
~ Tax benefit on interest payment under Section 24
~ HRA benefit


Or, even if the home is in the same city but is not ready forcing you to rent a place, you will still be entitled to all the above benefits.

Of course, you can claim tax benefits on the home loan only if your home is ready to live in during that financial year. Once the construction on your home is complete, the HRA benefit stops.

If you took a home loan, got possession of the house, have rented it out and stay in a rented accommodation, you will be entitled to all the three benefits mentioned above.

However, in this case, the rent you receive would be considered as your taxable income.

8. Let's say you took a home loan and have bought a home but are not residing in it for genuine reasons.

It could be that the home is at a considerable distance from your work place. Or, it could be that the home is rather small and your parents are living in it so you have to stay elsewhere.

Though your rental accommodation and home are in the same city, you can still get all the benefits.

~ Tax benefit on principal repayment under Section 80C
~ Tax benefit on interest payment under Section 24
~ HRA benefit

However, it is necessary you have some of your belongings at your home (the one you own) and you stay there on and off on during weekends and holidays.


Despite this, if your employer does not agree and denies your tax benefits, you will have to claim it at the time of filing your tax returns.