Job Offers Archives - Page 2 of 5

Resigning With Grace – How to Resign like a True Professional

by sincera | Dec 22, 2016 | Job Offers, Managing Yourself, Resignation

As professionals, it is only natural that we may want to quit the job we currently have, in order to move on and progress – for whatever reason we may have. There could be many reasons for us wanting to quit and we could be quite distracted/disturbed when the moment of truth approaches. Anger, nostalgia, pride, nervousness, a sense of loss, excitement are only some of the emotions you could be experiencing in your notice period, leading up to your last day. However, no matter how you feel, a graceful exit is a non- negotiable. Here are five things that need to be done, for resigning with grace, and leaving behind respect for you as a true professional:

Resigning with Grace: Prepare them. And yourself.

If it is in your control, prepare your manager/team in advance about your exit. It is bad enough for them that you’ve chosen to move on. The news should not be jolting. Have a conversation in person with your manager first. Be clear and courteous, and serve your notice period if that is what your manager needs. The time in hand will allow your work to come to a closure, a suitable replacement can be brought in and it is respectful!

Resigning with Grace: Stay honest and polite in your exit interview

Exit interviews are not venting sessions. But if you value your time at the organization and care for them, it is important that you give honest feedback about your experiences. Don’t trash talk. Tell them what you feel. You can be honest, but not rude. We believe many conversations must take place to make the world of work a better place. And if something needs to be addressed, exit interviews are the places to share.

Resigning with Grace: Reach out to all the teams

If you have been a person who has worked with multiple teams in the organization, and have some skills which others depend on, inform them about your exit. It is only fair that you make an open offer to them regarding working on transitioning anything that they need from you. That way they won’t be left in a vacuum.

Resigning with Grace: Celebrate your journey

For whatever reason you quit, once you decide to cross the bridge, know it is a new beginning. Your work stint would have brought you in contact with different kinds of people, allowed you to pick up skills, taken you towards your calling and helped you grow as a person. Celebrate that. The farewell might be a difficult time, an emotional time as well. But bringing in some joy, appreciation and fun will make your experience extremely worthwhile. And help reinforce the all-important friendships with the now ex-colleagues. Remember that it is these relationships that are the true assets that you take along with you.

Resigning with Grace: Allow and acknowledge the possibility of a future association

You never know when you may feel the need to associate in some way with an organization you leave, in the future. Be it in terms of work, or partnering with a colleague, reference from your manager, anything. It can happen. Don’t burn bridges. Leave a door open. Send appreciative emails/messages, be thankful. Tell your team/managers that at some point you would love to associate again. For an organization, it is always good when ex-employees come back to contribute again. As they say, it is a very small world!

Given the multitude of circumstances we may leave under, it may be difficult to leave on a good note. However, to end the post with the same note we started it with, resigning with grace is a non-negotiable! Have similar thoughts? We would love to know! Do share your experience with us.

Changing Jobs? 5 Tips for a Smooth Job Transition

by sincera | Dec 16, 2016 | Career, Job Offers, Managing Yourself, Resignation, World of Work

If you’ve made up your mind to change jobs, the transitional period between quitting and looking for a new job, or joining a new job you may already have landed, can be quite unsettling. But remember, “this too shall pass”. In this post, we suggest 5 tips to help you with a smooth job transition.

Think it through

Is your decision to quit a well thought out one or an impulsive one? If impulsive, then think it through once again. Career decisions need to be gradual and well researched, not sudden and abrupt. Of course, we agree that you do need to take risks at some point in your career if you really believe it is for the best. However, diving headlong into something you have absolutely no idea about, leaving behind a secure job and pay, can be a tad too risky.

Do a SWOT Analysis

A SWOT Analysis is a Strengths Weakness Opportunity and Threats Analysis. Use this opportunity to assess yourself along SWOT lines. Think about your new job and relate your Strengths and Weaknesses to it. Think about the Opportunities and avenues that the new venture will open up for you. At the same time, assess the potential Threats to your career if you decide on changing jobs. Write these down for clarity and talk to a senior colleague or friend who’s been working for some time and has an idea about the high and low tides of the job market. It is seldom wise to make such decisions in isolation. Talking always helps.

Make peace with your decision to quit

If you haven’t been impulsive and have thought this job transition through, you need to put behind any feelings of guilt you might be experiencing. Be loyal to yourself first, and then the company. You may have had a long and fruitful association with the organization, however, if you have realized there is no more scope for you to grow as a professional and that you desire more from your career, resigning is the best thing to do.

End Well

If you’ve been reading our previous posts, you must have noticed the stress we have been laying on this particular point. We are going to repeat it for you anyway. No matter what the reason for your resignation is, you must end your relationship with your current organization gracefully. It is more important for you to end well than start well, if you’ve landed a job with another company, you’ve quite obviously already made an impression! Ending on good terms, despite differences, sets you apart as a thorough professional.

Handover

The notice period will be your last few working days at the organization before your job transition. Winding up can be an exhausting process. Give the organization what you owe it and, make sure you receive what the organization owes you. Discuss this with the HR to avoid any last minute confusion regarding your cumulative pay at the end of your notice period, and/or any bonuses, benefits, insurance, share values you should receive.

Bonus Tip : Keep Calm and Chant “this too shall pass” – the odds of faith in the face of doubt! 🙂

Be #HappyInTheNow 🙂

Your Job Search Websites Checklist – Top Job Portals – Part II

by sincera | Nov 23, 2016 | Job Offers, World of Work

Carrying on from where we left off [Part I], here is the second part to the top job hunt platforms in India. Here are some of the best job portals/platforms you should definitely check out when actively looking for a job. Not all jobs are posted on all sites. Companies and agencies have their own favourites. So, it definitely makes sense for you to have four or five platforms on your checklist for searching for the best jobs for you and for having your resume up there. Read on!

SimplyHired

This awesome job portal makes the excruciating process of hunting for and landing the dream job a breeze. It searches thousands of job sites and companies as per your listed preferences to give you relevant results. Additionally, it also connects your online social networks with your job search with its “Who do I Know” feature which helps you find friends and personal connections at each company apart from your job search results.

The interface does a broad search across the Web, including job boards, company career sites, newspapers, non-profit organizations, and even government sites to give you the a thorough results. Creating an account allows you to name, save, and manage searches; manage email alerts; revisit jobs you’ve already viewed; rate and save notes about jobs you’ve viewed; and block specific companies or sites from showing up in your searches. Also, Simply Hired has a blog which offers excellent advice for job seekers. Have a look here – http://www.simplyhired.com/blog/

Indeed.com

Indeed works as an aggregator of job listings. In this it tries to emulate Google, at least in look and feel. It allows you to put location and keywords related to the kind of job you are looking for. It then shows a list of results like a Google search result page, and clicking on a link takes you to the actual job listing, where you can apply for the job. Based on your searches, it also starts recommending jobs for you. You can also post your CV on this website so that recruiters can find you. This site is definitely worth a try to get an idea of relevant job listings without having to scour various job-hunt websites manually. A definite must-have on your list of job platforms to get an overview of what the market has to offer.

Quora

We are pretty sure many of you are already familiar with this platform and are wondering why is it listed here, in a post for job search platforms. While it may not be your conventional job hunt portal, Quora is an excellent informal environment to seek answers to anything regarding the company you are applying to, ask how referrals work, about your to-be boss, colleagues, even the lunch hours… Just about anything!

The best part is, you don’t have to worry about disclosing your identity since you can ask the questions anonymously. Oh wait, that is not the best part, the best part actually is all these answers are given by actual professionals who are in the game. Multiple answers often find their way into interesting (sometimes unpleasant) conversations. Go by the number of up-votes vs downvotes for the answer you are referring to and you shall have a fair idea.

Hirist.com

Hirist has a neat, no-frills, minimalist website with no advertisements on their homepage, which goes a long way in gaining the user’s trust because it gives the professional feel. The categorization of jobs is well thought out. In agreement with the overall minimalist theme, the job listings offer the most essential information like location, designation, etc., and one can view details by clicking on the links. One interesting feature is that you can tick multiple job listings that you are interested in and apply to all of them at once. Although not as big as some of its competitors, Hirist is neat and easy to use, and hence is worth a try.

Shine.com

In addition to job-listings, Shine provides the Shine CareerPlus service that aggregates various online and offline courses and certifications available to enhance your skills. These are meticulously categorized and hence it is easy to find what you are looking for. You can also find useful compilations of LinkedIn articles and blogs related to career advice, interview preparation tips, resume formats, resume review services, etc. to boost your chances of getting the job you are looking for.

Glassdoor

A free jobs and careers community, Glassdoor gives you a sneak peak into jobs and companies. The information on the site is employee generated which makes it genuine and dependable, well mostly. You get access to anonymous salaries, interview questions, work culture and ethics, reviews and more. This search engine might be comparatively new, but is surely worth giving a try – especially when all this useful information is available completely free!

Real-time Networking

All said and done, you should never fall out of touch with this one! Believe me, this is the foundation of all the wonderful platforms that have come up. If people did actually meet and talk and brainstorm and network, we really wouldn’t have to go through the trouble of building complex virtual systems of networking to make it easy for people to meet and interact. Make sure to make an effort to meet interesting people you connect with, once in a while. Who knows they might bring along someone really interesting you wouldn’t have otherwise met. Do not underestimate the power of virtual connectivity, and surely do not overestimate it, some very interesting and powerful people are still yet to be bitten by the virtual bug!

New job portals are coming almost every month. We and our readers need Your help to keep this post relevant and current. What have we missed? What other job portals or sites have you used that you think should be included in this checklist ? We would love to hear back from you.

Your Job Search Websites Checklist – Top Job Portals – Part I

by sincera | Nov 22, 2016 | Job Offers, Resignation, World of Work

The title of the post says it all, so let’s dive right into learning about some of the best job portals you should definitely check out when actively looking for a job.

Monster

Monster is how it all began. This site is the one of the oldest job portals in the world and has very successfully managed to sustain itself still as one of the most efficient search engines. The site not only lists full time jobs, it also lists part time and hourly jobs in every career field that there is. Monster (monster.com/monster.co.in) goes beyond simply listing jobs, it also publishes tons of relevant career related articles and advice.

The privacy feature on Monster works as a boon if you do not want a company to come across your resume, and especially if that company is currently where you are working at! Speaking of sustainability (and scalability) of a business model for over 2 decades in the most fiercely competitive market – the internet, Monster has probably been able to thrive and grow by constantly innovating. It is the father of the BeKnown application for Facebook, which allows you to take your job search to the biggest social network in the world.

Naukri.com

is another job-hunting behemoth of India that has been around since 1997. Naukri has a well organized website, advertising jobs by sector, location, designation, skills and company. It also provides career services by the name of Naukri FastForward, which include resume writing help, resume reviews as well as getting connected with recruiters in your domain. Having survived tough competition for decades, the quality of these services can be trusted.

It shall come as a surprise to none that LinkedIn is the world’s largest network of professionals, approximately 225 million! LinkedIn has surely become the go-to site for job hunters and for employers alike. The user interface is fairly simple, your profile on LinkedIn is your resume which lists all your work experience and skills and connects you with other professionals. The site also directly lists jobs by employers.

A unique feature of LinkedIn is its inbuilt referral system, if one of your LinkedIn connections is LinkedIn with a professional at a company you are applying or wish to apply to, you can ask them to connect you. A lot of companies require you to just apply through your LinkedIn profile, which is increasingly becoming a trend. It is surely worthwhile to spend some time every once in a while updating your profile and connecting through LinkedIn just for the sake of networking, even if you may not be actively looking for a job at the moment.

Sheroes.com

Sheroes is a Careers community for women in India. Sheroes has a group of mentors to coach women and help them find the perfect job. Much more than a job-listing search engine, Sheroes organizes events in major cities across India frequently and has succeeded in forming a community of over 5000 ‘Sheroes’ – women who have benefited from this website. Along with job listings including flex-work opportunities relevant to women, this website also provides the opportunity to connect with a lot of people who have been through the job-hunting process.

Craigslist

Craigslist is what you might call your old school classifieds gone tech savvy. Starting from jobs, to housing, goods and services and even romance and advice, it has it all! The good thing about Craigslist is employers directly post their requirements and it is not moderated, also, it specializes in finding jobs in your vicinity. On the flipside however, the listings are way too broad and you may have to spend some time trying to narrow down on your searches, also, it does not have a feature where you could post your resume or sign up for emails.

Facebook

Though one wouldn’t say Facebook is competition for all the other platforms listed here, one wouldn’t be wrong in saying that it is more than just social networking, it is more than just check-ins, pictures and posts. Employers and job seekers alike are increasingly taking to Facebook to look for jobs and also for reviewing their prospective employees or employers. The free Facebook page facility has been a blessing for especially the startup scene, in trying to draw attention to the work they are doing and also post their requirements for employees/entrepreneurs. The highly successful Delhi and Bangalore Startups pages are only two examples of the same. Also, while you are on Facebook looking for a job, do spend some time cleaning up and organizing your profile, it really means more than you can fathom!

Read on in our next post for all the other top job portals /channels/platforms that you need to check out when searching for a job.

Happy Hunting!

Stop! Before You Say Yes To The Job Offer – 5 Questions You Must Ask Yourself Before Taking A Job

by sincera | Nov 19, 2016 | Job Offers, World of Work

In our previous post, we spoke about what the five most important questions are that you must ask your prospective employer before accepting a job offer. In this post, we talk about the more important bit – the five questions you need to ask yourself before accepting the offer.

**Do I really want this job?**

Answer the question in all sincerity and honesty. Understand what the profile expects of you and if you will be able to deliver. Go through the job description again and check if this was what you had signed up for. Once you receive the job offer, it is important to understand if you are taking up the job because you need it or you want it. Of course, we all need to earn money. That in itself though, may not sustain as motivation enough in the long run. Analyze what your motivation is for taking up the job and whether it is going to be sustainable in the long run.

Am I getting what I deserve (in terms of salary and benefits)?

The pay package you receive can sometimes be the only thing to pull you out of bed on groggy Monday mornings. While the negotiation ideally should have been done before you received an offer, make sure you do not settle for less than what you think is a fair deal. Also, it must be a package. Consider the additional benefits that you should be receiving like transport, accommodation benefits, and tuition reimbursement should you decide on further education. You may also compare the package you are receiving to that of friends or colleagues holding similar positions.

Can I grow here?

This question will be your moment of truth. For a healthy career graph, the job offer should give you scope to grow in terms of responsibilities as well as financially. Ask yourself if the job will provide you sufficient opportunities to grow and learn as an individual and professionally. It should also be an opportunity that makes use of your talent and skills, only then will you truly enjoy what you do.

Do I see myself blending into the work culture here?

You must realize that you would be spending about eight hours, if not more, on an average per day at your chosen work place. Give the work environment and culture some serious thought before committing. If possible, also try to meet and interact with your future co-workers, especially if you are going to be working as a part of a team. A lot of times, this may not be possible practically.

A good way to go about it through the official route, would be connecting friends or acquaintances working in the company informally. However, your informal interaction must be strictly in a professional manner. It should not affect your reputation or career if you go ahead and join. Virtual spaces like Quora, Glassdoor and LinkedIn are your safest bet, to give you an idea about how happy employees at the given organization are, and what their views are regarding the work culture there.

Will I be able to maintain the work-life balance?

All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. If the job schedule is so tough that it will keep your nose to the grindstone, you will get frustrated with it very soon. “Me time” is more important than we give it credit for. Ask yourself if your work life will complement your personal life and whether it will allow you enough breathing space. Whether the work hours be flexible? If you will get enough paid leaves? And if you will have enough time to enjoy a fulfilling personal life? Do you think you will look forward to Monday mornings? (Well, said no (wo)man “yes” ever!)

So before you say yes to a job offer, weigh the pros and cons very carefully to arrive at a decision. Spending some time introspecting about how you actually feel about taking up the offer is something worth doing especially if this is something you have been looking forward to for some time now.

In short, look before you leap!

Stop! Before You Say Yes To the Job Offer – 5 Questions You Must Ask the Employer

by sincera | Nov 16, 2016 | Job Offers, World of Work

If you’ve been waiting long enough for that job offer, it is likely that you would say “yes!” immediately. However, let’s agree that most of the times, decisions made on an impulse may not be the best ones, especially when they are regarding your career. When you receive the job offer, the first thing you should ask your prospective employer is for a deadline to seal the deal. A cooling period of at least 24 hours is necessary before you accept or decline the offer, even if you may have made up your mind regarding the offer before you even got it. Here are a list of five questions you absolutely must ask the employer before accepting the offer.

What is the salary structure and the benefits plan?

You may have fought tooth and nail while negotiating the numbers to get your salt’s worth, however, numbers are more complicated than one might think. Ask clearly regarding your take-home amount after tax, bonus and incentives (and its basis for calculation). Find out about your employee insurance benefits. There are many kinds of insurance, like health, maternity, et al. Make sure you know what the insurance covers. Ask in detail regarding transport and accommodation reimbursement, if any. Make a list of all the benefits you can think of, and know other people receive in similar kinds of jobs, so that you don’t forget. Ask the organization to list the benefits they finally agree upon, on paper, before you accept the offer.

Will my moving expenses be covered?

It is not unusual for companies to pay for your moving expenses (which is equal to the transport expenses for you and your stuff), in fact, it is expected (though not mandatory). If they do not mention the details regarding the reimbursement of your moving expenses, make sure you ask. Most companies also arrange accommodation (which includes meals) for you while you house hunt and are in the process of settling in. Understand the rules of the reimbursement carefully to avoid complications later. If they do not have a policy of providing for moving expenses, try and negotiate for one.

Are the work timings flexible? Will I have the option to work from home on certain days?

Is it going to be a typical 9 to 5 job with strict sign ins and sign outs or can it be a flexible one? If yes, what are the terms and conditions of the flexibility? Ask in detail regarding the timings and also if you have the option to work from home on a rain check day. Do ask about the consequences in case you fail to adhere to the rules for timings if they are not flexible.

How many paid holidays do I get?

Balancing work and life is tough and paid holidays are a crucial determinant for the balance 😉 While you may feel inhibited asking about holidays even before starting work, it is very wise to go ahead and ask anyway. No point whining over it once you’ve accepted the offer. Also make sure to find out if your holidays can roll over from one calendar year to the next.

Will the company support my decision to continue my education in the future?

If your plan is to achieve some work experience and continue with further education few years down the line, you may as well discuss about the company’s policy to support employees’ education. Find out about the tuition fee reimbursement, if any. Of course, if the company does invest in your education, it would expect you to come back and resume work post your studies. If not reimbursement, the company may also provide loans with a subsidized interest rate. Even if you may not be planning on getting another degree any time soon, it is anyway wise to find out in detail regarding their policies for employee education before accepting the offer. It is essential to keep polishing your skill set and education is one of the best ways to go about it.

These are the five crucial questions that we think you must ask before saying aye or nay ! There are also a few important questions that you must ask yourself before accepting the job offer, read more on that here. Do you think there are other equally or more important questions? We would love to hear from you.

And if you have asked yourself these questions and have decided to go ahead and accept the job offer, we at OBOlinx wish you much success in this new step of your career journey!

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