In the quest to hire the best employee, what to look for, in an interview?

The first rule of thumb of hiring is that a "person" in the hiring position will always hire someone, who is a little weaker than self and a weaker person will hire even a weaker person! 


Now moving on to one of the biggest dilemma of running a small business. How do you hire the "best"person for the job? Will it be a good choice? Will the new hire be a team player? Will the new employee suddenly become "Godzilla"? and on and on...........


Its not always about hiring someone with the perfect skills. It has a lot to do with finding the candidate with skills plus integrity, honesty, intelligence, ability to communicate and most importantly learn. And always try to consider your current employee’s as possible candidates for the new position. You may have the best fit right under your nose.


And never be afraid to ask some hard and direct questions such as, 
After taking the tour of our company what was the first thing you noticed?
In your present job could you explain in how you solved a real bug problem you were having?

When you reach the office in the morning what is the first thing you do after getting your coffee and why? How do you respond to someone that wants to know why your immediate boss is slow in responding to the clients? What would you do if a very important client suddenly tells you that they will never do business with the company again?

My personal favorite is body language, it will tell you almost everything you want to know!

And some people are pathological liars so when someone is telling the truth, the words, face and body language are all congruent.  It starts with a handshake, eye contact, sitting posture etc. A wet fish hand shake is a personal "deal killer" for me. You need a person with a direct eye contact and not an "avoider" If someone is sitting straight then its a good sign, a sloucher is not but the worst is some one sitting sideways or has the arms crossed across the chest. That's a sign of sheer defensiveness and confrontation. 

The better the liar the more convincing they will be, they may be able to put on a smile but it won’t look natural, or their eyes may not be smiling, they may be able to control their facial expressions but their body will be closed, not open and receiving. During the interview process, if you suspect that someone is not telling the truth, ask for more information on the topic and see if the lying signs are apparent to you.

The biggest mistake is to hire someone who seemed too good to be true, it will eventually turn out to be a big mistake. A lot of them out there, have been doing a lot of interviewing and they have it down perfect to the T. From the get go, they know just what they need to do or say to get the job. Stay away from the habitual "interviewers" 

Lastly, always discuss the job description in detail, salary, perks, bonuses, vacation, time off policies, raises, employee reviews, disciplinary policies, and the job expectations in advance. 

The most important fact of business hiring I have learned in India is that many times you are better off by hiring the "wrong person" for the "right job" instead of trying to keep looking for the right person for the right job.

~Dr V

Outsourced? Really?

As usual, I will once again touch a very sensitive and controversial topic. Please comment or email to further enhance the discussion.
There is so much hype about outsourcing these days that an average blue collared 'Joe' constantly thinks that he is out of that manufacturing job where his last two generations were working and is not being able to feed his family because of outsourcing. In Midwestern manufacturing State like Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, etc these feelings are rampant and average people think that because of some "gook" in or from SE Asia who is less qualified and is cheap, they are out of a job! Cheap he or she maybe but is certainly not any less qualified. And the cost of this 'cheap labor' eventually may go up with the supply and demand cycle. The debate here is not the education level, work ethics or not even the language? The real statistics is that outsourcing of US manufacturing jobs is such a low percentage of the US employment market that it actually maybe a non issue? As majority of outsourced jobs are actually in the IT sector which was never a US main stream job speciality and was mostly traditionally done by immigrants. In my own experience it has actually hurt the Foreign immigrants more than the local Americans. I have seen so many IT professionals who were courted by the big and small software giants in the 1990's and were paid heavily and were shown the "American Dream" to immigrate, who now either have no jobs in a foreign country or had to move back to India or China. They have suffered a major brunt of the IT outsourcing to India and other Countries just as much as average "Bubba" has! I even know of a few Indian origin people who lost jobs in Silicone valley and are back in India and are doing the same or similar job at a much lower remuneration's than in Silicon valley as now they have to compete with a lot more qualified and an ample young Indian workforce who are ready to work night and day and who have not seen the luxury of "clocking out" on bankers hours or are not used to a time and a half OT.
Even though US has lost only less than 1% of the manufacturing jobs to outsourcing, still, the jobs do go overseas and a lot of people lose their livelihood because of the outsourcing but can we just blame the "Asians" and not own up-to our own work ethics and our own really high "price point" of manufacturing due to Unions, overtime policies and local and federal tax ordinances. The big Corporations have to resort to outsourcing to be competitive with other MNC's to make profits in this Global economy. We also hear a lot about big corporations opening plants in emerging economies like India, China and Brazil etc lately. We see it on TV or read about it the press and we jump again and blame the 15% plus unemployment in Michigan on to these plants and the "Asians"! The truth is that we have lost the local end-consumer market shares of the US made products due to quality and pricing and we don't even have enough consumer population to go out and buy these products. We all know how much of population loss and outflow has happened in greater Detroit area alone.
Another hard fact is that we hear a lot about GM setting up a manufacturing plant in China or India only because that's where they are selling more (these cars dont come back to be sold in US) rather than trying to "offshore the neighborhood jobs" These emerging markets have the young, new products savvy, cash yielding population to buy these products these days. We need to change the mindset, change our skill sets and retrain our means and ways to earn the "Moolah" 'cos whether we like it not and whether we want to believe or not, the emerging economies do exist and are only going to rise in GDP, market share and power. We can't resist the global economic swing as the pendulum has already swung half way on to the other side!

What we need is to come out of denials and re-think our strategy to take on the World again. For example, take all the empty extra land around the Metro Detroit airport, even after the NWA/Delta hub expansion and think of a ancillary industries consortium where medium to heavy machinery flies in and gets fixed, repaired, retooled and fly out immediately. We can set up training schools around that area for tool and dye skills and so much more. There is enough hard working, skillful work force in Michigan to get together as a community and turn that Beautiful Great lakes region to one of the best in the Country once again. We took on the Hollywood project in Detroit area and is going well but I think the 40 cents on a Dollar cash-back to Hollywood fat-cats won't cut it for the hard working men and women of Michigan. We all know Granholm wasn't the smartest Governor around. She failed for me ever since she could not help save KMarts's headquarters in Troy. A few rich and well connected guys will get to those movie shoots, socialize with the stars and will push their kids in some odd small time acting roles and the real locals, who have dedicated their lifetime to Detroit will still get nothing! And if other states offer same to these studios they will abandon us and run. I get a little passionate when talking about Michigan! so getting back to outsourcing......

 I am including an article I read online and posted on facebook last year which gives a little insight in the "Outsourcing Issue".
~Dr V

Truth about Outsourcing, informative article!!

by Vik Ahluwalia on Friday, September 19, 2009 , reposted as original written by Alfred Chuang, chief executive of a Silicon Valley software firm.


"Outsourcing, currently a great concern of both employees and federal and several state governments. Of late, at least three state governments are considering bills to restrict outsourcing of jobs related to government services. In addition, many big software companies are the targets of union-organizing drives.

It’s important to point out that, although a large number of IT-related jobs are being outsourced to India and other places, it’s still a very small part—less than two percent of U.S. employment. Second, there are some natural limitations to outsourcing everything. There are many dangers of going abroad; for example, picking the right partner is tricky and getting along can be harder because of cultural and linguistic differences. Political stability, the protection of intellectual property, and the privacy of personal information make large-scale outsourcing dangerous. But most important, it should be remembered that it is the low-skill end of the software development jobs that are going, just like the low-skilled manufacturing jobs left the U.S. The high-skill end will remain in the U.S., and it behooves U.S. firms like TSS to enhance the training of its U.S.-based employees to do these high-skilled jobs. In addition, not sending jobs to places where it can be done more cheaply could well cost even more jobs in the long run. Using offshore workers helps companies remain competitive and focus on what they’re really good at. Outsourcing helps them maintain margins and create new jobs."

Business Acronyms

About two Decades ago or so, in my early days of business meetings, I still clearly remember that I used to go in to them thinking I am the smartest guy around! Half way in the meeting, when the other guys started to throw the 'terms' at me, my brain never comprehended anything beyond ROI....Sometimes I felt stupid? the other times a newbie? but it sure never felt good! Those days you just couldn't sneak on to your smartphone under the table and 'google' these terms either. Then overtime with my quest to be that 'smart know it all guy' which I still haven't mastered even so closely, I decided to joined MBA. It was like taking on a beast when family and work life was swinging on to the busiest end of the spectrum. One of my first tasks was to familiarize myself with some of these alien gibberish which only the polished and the seasoned business person could speak. I am still not versed with them all but I think after my first blog on professional services, this would be a great topic to cover early on in my series of business blog. There are about a few thousand of these acronyms and terms but I will mention the very few terms which we actually hear a lot lately. 
In my next blog I will try to tackle some more complex of these definitions and light explanation of the "terms" regularly used in the business world but are alien to us, God's regular people.

API – Application Programming Interface (an interface created on database or computer system to accept requests from other computers and third parties)
ASP – Application Service Provider (a company that offers services to its customers via a network)
B2B – Business to Business (companies that sell to other companies, like Oracle)
B2C – Business to Consumer (companies that sell to individuals, like GAP)
CAD – Computer Aided Design (tools and software used by engineers and architects to design)
CAGR – Compound Annual Growth Rate (a cumulative interest rate used by banks or within investment projects)
CEO – Chief Executive Officer
CFO – Chief Financial Officer
CMO – Chief Marketing Officer 
COO – Chief Operating Officer (head of operations)
CTO – Chief Technology Officer (responsible for the tech side)
CRM – Customer Relationship Management (a system to capture, analyze and store customer information in order to manage clients efficiently)
EBITDA – Earning Before Interests, Taxes, Depreciation and Amortization (an indicator of a company’s financial performance)
EDI – Electronic Data Interchange (a set of standards used to exchange data between different companies and organizations)
EPS – Earnings Per Share (is the ration between the profits of a company and the common shares)
ERP – Enterprise Resources Planning (a system that integrates all the data from an organization into a single location)
FIFO – First In, First Out (used both in computer programs and accounting; it determines that what comes first is handled first)
GAAP – Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (a framework used to carry out financial accounting within companies)
ICT – Information and Communications Technology (term used to encompass the fields related to IT and electronic communications)
ISV – Independent Software Vendor (a group of developers or company specialized in the production of software for a certain niche)
IPO – Initial Public Offering (when a company first introduces its shares on the stock market)
LIFO – Last In, First Out (used both in computer programs and accounting; it determines that what comes last is handled first)
LLC – Limited Liability Company (a legal entity where the owners are not liable personally)
MSRP – Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Price (a recommendation made by a company in order to standardize the price of its products across different places)
NDA – Non-Disclosure Agreement (a contract between two parties to secure the confidentiality of information)
NPV – Net Present Value (a method to valuate long term investments or projects)
OEM – Original Equipment Manufacturer (a company that manufacturers equipment that will be re-branded and sold by other companies; sometimes it refers to the reseller as well)
OTC – Over-The-Counter (trade of stocks or other derivatives directly between two persons)
P&L – Profit and Loss (also called Income Statement, is an accounting report used to outline how revenues are transformed into profits)
POS – Point of Sale (a checkout point in retail stores, or the hardware behind it)
RFP – Request For Proposal (an invitation for suppliers to bid on a specif task or service)
ROI – Return On Investment (ratio of money earned relative to total money invested)
ROS – Return On Sales (ratio of money earned relative to total sales)
SAAS – Software As A Service (software or applications that are developed on the web and the users access it via the Internet)
SOHO – Small Office/Home Office (refers to small or home office environments)
TCO – Total Cost of Ownership (a method to estimate all the costs – direct and indirect – related to a project or purchase)
TQM – Total Quality Management (a management strategy to raise the awareness of the whole organization towards quality)
TSR – Total Shareholder Return (a method of valuation which takes into consideration both dividends and share price gains)
VC – Venture Capital (a form of financing where the owners give up part of his business in exchange for cash the private investor)


Next business blog, more business terms! Please visit my medical blog too, I have some interesting topics out there.
~Dr.V

Professional Service and its intrinsic principles.

I thought that, I will start my "business advice blog" with a section on "services" as my very first topic in these series. I have a whole lot of personal experience in the professional service industry and I have been responsible for maintaining it too. I have successfully implemented these principles in medical field where its very difficult to keep each patient and/or their family happy and satisfied. Each one of them have a different set of expectations and the issues vary with their "personal faith" in the Doctor along with their personal set of medical and psychological frame of mind at the time of the particular injury or illness. I will try to keep this blog less medical and more general based on my "experiences" in general business areas and topics but of course I will at times gravitate to medical business management. So here we go......

For a common person, services are essentially intangibles. Their purchase do not result in the ownership of anything physical. Services are separately identifiable, essentially intangible that provides satisfaction of expectations, and are not necessarily linked to the sale of a product or another service. There are few basic principles of services, professional or otherwise.

Intangibility: No one can taste a doctor’s treatment, or touch a particular service experience but one can only "experience" it. So, the "Services are intangible". We need to make a conscious effort each time while providing the services so that we make this experience as memorable as possible.
Inconsistency: The second important point of services is, inconsistency with each client. Different clients have different expectations of their upcoming services. Service providers need to be able to alter their offered "services" to meet the expectations of their respective clients accordingly. Consistent quality delivered to a varied range of clients with "inconsistency", based on a clients current needs is the key.
Inseparability: Another basics of "services" is the simultaneous activity of production and consumption. It makes the production and consumption of services seemingly inseparable. Unlike the rule of supply and demand a high demand in clientage asking for professional services should never result in the lowered "services" or a client will surely dump you soon enough.
Inventory Retention: Services have little or no tangible components and, of course cannot be stored for a future use. Services are perishable and providers can, at best, retain their talents for future consistent utilization for old and new clients and the clients will retain them. Majority of us tend to go to the same barber/hairdresser for a reason!
Involvement: This part actually refers to the client in the professional service delivery process. A client should be given an opportunity every time to get the services altered according to their own expectations and unique circumstances.

I am sure I have touched some very basics of the "Professional Services" topic. I will keep updating this blog on various general business and finance topics, on a regular basis. Please email me if you have any questions about the topics, I cover.
~Dr. V