Archive for January, 2010
Posted on January 28, 2010 by Tahlent Team
Location: Mumbai
Vacancy: Business Analyst (Mechanical)
Experience: 7 years
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Location: Hyderabad
Vacancy: Managers – Environmental/Process Engineering
Experience: 15-20 years
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Location: Bangalore
Vacancy: Marketing Communication Executive
Experience: 2-6 years
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Location: Delhi/NCR
Vacancy: Online Marketing Manager / Internet Marketing Manager
Experience: 11-16 years
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Location: Kolkata
Vacancy: Quality Assurance Executive
Experience: 2-4 years
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Location: Gurgaon/ Delhi
Vacancy: Professional Sales Closer, BPO operations
Experience: 1-10 years
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Location: Chennai
Vacancy: Customer Support Advisor
Experience: 0-1 years
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Location: Pune
Vacancy: Online Content Writer
Experience: 0-2 years
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IMPORTANT NOTE: These listings are compiled from third-party sources. Tahlent does not accept responsibility for the validity, reliability or accuracy of the openings posted, or of the employers named here. Job-seekers are advised to be cautious and verify the information thoroughly before applying.
Tags: Bangalore, Chennai, Delhi, Gurgaon, Hyderabad, India, india jobs, job openings, Jobs, kolkata, Mumbai, NCR, positions, Pune, Secunderabad, Talent, talent search, vacancies
Posted on January 22, 2010 by Tahlent Team
Investment banking has suffered some tarnish at the end of the last decade, when the fall of some big players triggered the market collapse of 2008 and the ensuing economic crisis. There are now much tighter controls over investment banking firms and its employees are under closer surveillance. However, as a career option, investment banking continues to be lucrative.
What is investment banking all about?
An investment banker’s job involves raising equity and debt capital for companies. Investment banks provide a slew of finance-related services to companies, which include underwriting and raising capital by issuing equity or debt securities and facilitating mergers and acquisitions. In all of these transactions, an investment bank acts as an intermediary between investors and the issuer. Investment bankers may also help a company restructure its equity or debt to emerge from a financial crisis.
Who can be an investment banker?
Investment banking demands much more than a regular 9-to-5 job. It is a career for the clever and the stout-hearted, for it brings the burden of extreme stress and pressure. Additionally, investment bankers carry great responsibility because their advice is key to the success of their customers and the future of their finances. On the flip side, it is extremely lucrative to graduates who have the physical and mental stamina to withstand such pressure. By making an early start in this career, you stand to gain. Investment banking is open to all graduates but students qualified in accounting and finance are best-equipped to get ahead in this line of work. But it takes more than good grades. You must be tenacious, hard-working, quick at comprehending trends and must possess excellent interpersonal skills. Investment banks seek applicants with high academic achievement, involvement in campus leadership positions, stellar communication skills and internships at well-regarded companies and nonprofit organizations. Many successful investment bankers are completely self-taught and owe their success to a keen pursuit of their chosen trade. They watch markets and stocks closely, remain clued in to the performance of companies by performing competitive analysis, and scan the corporate world for high performing scrips. Once they help their customers taste success, investment bankers can hope to grow in reputation and personal wealth.
What are the jobs available in investment banking?
There are a number of job options available within the domain of investment banking. You may start off in Industry Coverage, tracking a specific industry vertical. Later, you may turn your interest in Corporate Finance into a strong career path, helping companies raise capital. You may also cut a career stream in Debt Capital Markets or Equity Capital Markets, where you help companies originate new issues of debt or equity. You may choose to specialize in Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A), an important source of fee income for banks, and make solid careers with employers like Goldman Sachs, Lazard and Morgan Stanley. Project Finance is another stream within investment banking that offers a lucrative career and helps bring money into new markets and new countries. Sales and Trading offer some of the most desirable jobs in investment banking, and involve undertaking transactions in equities, bonds, forex, options or futures with traders at commercial banks, investment banks as well as institutional investors. Structured Finance, another job stream, involves the creation of financing vehicles to redirect cash flows to investors. The Derivatives business, which involves options, swaps and futures, is highly lucrative and advertises some of the hottest job vacancies on Wall Street. Many investment banks offer Advisory Services, and jobs in this line of work involve determining a client’s value and options for creating value. Equity and Fixed Income Research involves visiting companies and making heavy telephone contact with institutional investors in order to buy or sell recommendations to investors about a stock or bond. Other job areas within investment banking include International Sales, Public Finance, Stockbroking, Retail Brokerage, Institutional Sales, Ratings Analysis and IT & Systems.
If you are energetic with excellent communication skills (especially interaction skills like negotiation and persuasion) and strong valuation skills, you could forge a lucrative and satisfying career in investment banking.
Tags: Advisory Services, Corporate Finance, Debt Capital Markets, Derivatives, Equity and Fixed Income Research, Equity Capital Markets, Industry Coverage, Institutional Sales, International Sales, investment banking, IT & Systems, Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A), Project Finance, Public Finance, Ratings Analysis, Retail Brokerage, Sales and Trading, Stockbroking, Structured Finance
Posted on January 21, 2010 by Tahlent Team
Location: Mumbai
Vacancy: Senior Translator, leading Japanese software company
Experience: 4-5 Years
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Location: Kolkata
Vacancy: Key Accounts Manager, Telecom major
Experience: 6-10 years
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Location: Delhi
Vacancy: Production Manager
Experience: 10-14 years
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Location: Hyderabad
Vacancy: Hardware Design Engineer, leading chip manufacturer
Experience: 4-8 years
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Location: Pune
Vacancy: Mainframe Developer, leading Indian software company
Experience: 1-3 years
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Location: Bangalore
Vacancy: Graphic Designer, Advertising company
Experience: 2-5 years
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IMPORTANT NOTE: These listings are compiled from third-party sources. Tahlent does not accept responsibility for the validity, reliability or accuracy of the openings posted, or of the employers named here. Job-seekers are advised to be cautious and verify the information thoroughly before applying.
Tags: Bangalore, Delhi, Hyderabad, India, Jobs, kolkata, Mumbai, Pune
Posted on January 16, 2010 by Tahlent Team
Many people who commute to regular day jobs are very happy with the orderly rhythm of their lives. If you are one of them, this article is not for you. But if you feel straitjacketed in a cubicle job, if your dreams are too big for your workstation, and if you feel that your current job demands only a fraction of your skills and potential, you may be overcome by diminishing ambition and an overwhelming sense of frustration in your current job.
Read on. This article is for you.
Consider this: Maybe it’s time to break free. But remember, your self-imposed freedom is hard-won and takes a lot of back-breaking work before it is worth the effort. A home-based business requires extraordinary discipline in order to survive and eventually to succeed. Think over your decision several times and be absolutely sure that you are doing the right thing by leaving the security of your job for an independent home-based career.
First off, be sure that your skill is conducive for a work-from-home model. Accounting, writing and editing, translation and transcription services, illustration, graphic design, web design, travel agency, teaching music or dance, technology consulting and advisory services are more suitable for those who aspire to work from home. Network assiduously and test-market your offering by doing some research and speaking to contacts who you think will be potential clients.
Next, ensure that you have enough savings to shore you up in the event your business plans fail to realize profits within the required time. It is important to have enough money in the bank to see you through six months without a job. This time window is a bare minimum and may vary depending on your credit position.
Ensure that your home-based office is well set up and provided with everything you need to run a client-friendly business. Choose reliable service providers and ensure that your utility bills are paid. If you intend to employ other people to help you with the business, make sure that your contract clearly sets out terms and conditions such as minimum working hours, leave, medical facilities, and other benefits and privileges.
Register your company and ensure that your paperwork is complete before you begin soliciting business. Set up separate bank accounts — a current account for your business and a savings account for yourself. Make sure your service tax account and company PAN account are set up and other regulatory requirements are met before you begin doing business. It is equally important to define your rate card, set up your website and print your business cards so that you can make an impact as soon as you begin. It makes sense to initiate all of these efforts before quitting your current job.
The one big thing missing from your life once you leave an office environment will be the all-too-familiar water cooler conversations. Make up for their absence by networking actively and building connections consciously. You must set aside a small fund for business lunches and cocktails. As a self-employed professional, you can claim tax rebate on such expenditure.
Go online. If you a freelancer, ensure that your social networks are well set up. If you are a writer, editor, translator or other creative professional, it makes sense to create a profile on web communities offering services to freelancers.
Get noticed. Find out the best ways to advertise and market your business. For instance, if you decide to make a living from teaching dance or music, make sure your posters are on display at the local cafe or restaurant. Make cold calls and request meetings with potential clients if you offer technology consulting services or other advisory services. Publish a classified advertisement in a newspaper or magazine that is widely read and circulated. Ask for customer testimonials and publish them on your website and business collateral.
Focus and find the heart of your business. Initially, you may grab everything on offer in order to pay the bills. However, as your business starts to make money, you may find it prudent and practical to start focusing on core skills or specific kinds of work. Develop a specialty and be really good at it.
Make sure your home-based business doesn’t leave you too busy to enjoy life and spend time at home. Work-life balance is critical. Ensure that you have clearly defined working hours and if you do have to bend these rules occasionally, make sure you compensate by taking the odd day off.
Finally, just to pep you up, here’s a verse from an old poem that you might want to memorize every time you feel overconfident or under confident about your decision.
If you can dream – and not make dreams your master;
If you can think – and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same
- From If by Rudyard Kipling
Tags: Entrepreneurship, freelance, freelance career, home-based business, self-employed professional, self-employment, work from home
Posted on January 8, 2010 by Tahlent Team
Despite our academic achievements, some of us stumble when it comes to a simple everyday requirement: written communication. Especially so in today’s “SMS age”, where the truncated lingo of text messages and email shorthand has crept into business communication and threatened to make it unclear and ineffective.
While business communication has certainly become less formal and more forthright all over the world, there are certain limitations to the liberties one can take while addressing employees, superiors, customers, clients, investors or other stakeholders.
First of all, it is important to know that the basics of good writing apply to business communication as well. Clarity and brevity are therefore vital for the effectiveness any kind of business writing – from emails and memos to annual reports and presentations.
Here are a few tips to help you spruce up your business writing:
- Know your audience: Write with a clear idea of whom you are addressing.
- Write with impact: Drop the passive voice and use active verbs and energetic language.
- Write with purpose: Before you put pen to paper or fingertip to the keyboard, understand what you want your writing to achieve.
- Write to elicit a reaction but not to provoke: There’s a thin line between writing that inspires and writing that insults, and you should be careful not to cross it.
- Never let clarity be the casualty: You don’t have to dumb down your writing but make sure everyone understands the words and phrases that you use. While it is good to consult the thesaurus to avoid repeating the same word, be reasonable while selecting your synonyms. Write to express and not merely to impress.
- Be credible, not over the top: Use facts wisely to support your arguments. Never underestimate your readers’ intelligence or take them for granted.
- Join the dots: Organize your thoughts. Set different ideas off in different paragraphs. Make clear transitions between them. Make sure your writing has flow.
- Revise religiously: Read your writing carefully. Tighten loose language. Run spelling and grammar checks before hitting the send or print buttons.
- Be judicious with the delete button: Look out for potential troublemakers in your written draft. Weed out slang, jargon, cliches and overused words. Be tough on bad spelling and incorrect usage. Spell-check and fact-check, especially with proper nouns and titles. Remove words with potential double meanings. Use politically correct, gender-sensitive and inclusive language. Ensure that no racial, religious or other sentiments are hurt by your writing.
- Follow the cheat sheet: Make a list of business writing tips and display it prominently near your workstation. It will help jog your memory and inspire others near you to write clearly.
Tags: annual reports, business communication, business writing, customer communication, effective writing, emails, official communication, official emails, shareholder communication, written communication
Posted on January 4, 2010 by Tahlent Team
With the ill-effects of the recession fading away, employers are creating new job opportunities and looking for talent to fill positions. While finding new recruits should not be difficult, employers must focus on finding the right people for the job. More importantly, they must put in place strategies to ensure that they can retain their new recruits.
Here are few tips:
Hire right talent
Start on the right foot. Rather than make the mistake of hiring the wrong candidate to meet a target, focus on hiring the the right people. If you outsource your hiring requirements to an external agency, be clear and uncompromising about job descriptions and eligibility criteria. It’s better to delay hiring than hire the wrong person for the job.
Strong team player
While interviewing candidates for the job, look beyond the CV. Study attitude in addition to aptitude. Do background checks with the aim of finding out if the person you are looking to hire is a good fit with your work culture and ethos. Carefully consider if he or she will get along with the current team. During recruitment interviews, ask probing questions to learn more about his or her outlook and orientation with regard to teamwork and collaboration.
Communicate policies clearly
The recession has made employees more and more suspicious of company policies. More often than not, they will make plans to leave you sooner if they suspect that you are not being clear in communicating your policies. Ensure that official communication reaches all employees through an official channel. If necessary, have these policies reiterated to them through a special point of contact.
Work-life balance is critical
Employees have realized that a healthy work-life balance is their right. If your company does not already take measures to encourage this, it’s time to review your policies. Provide that your work environment and policies are accommodating of the needs of your employees’ family time and needs. At the same time, ensure that employees are made accountable for the time they spend away from the office by putting in place efficient time management and reporting measures.
Give recognition and share positive feedback
Happy employees are more productive. Put in place measures to encourage and reward performance at various levels. Commend exceptional performance widely across the organization. Groom leadership by inviting top-performing employees to contribute to important, high-visibility initiatives.
Tags: advice, Career advice, communication, Employee retention, employee satisfaction, feedback, happy employees, official communication, recession, recognition, retention strategies, rewards, Talent, tips
Posted on January 1, 2010 by Tahlent Team
Analysts everywhere are awaiting the end of a decade that has seen at least two economic upheavals. In 2001 the bursting dotcom bubble caused a major shakeup among Silicon Valley startups, spreading gloom across the world. Late 2008 witnessed the fall of Lehman Brothers and the domino effect on the global economy that resulted in widespread job losses, slashed budgets and political repercussions.
Business-watchers are optimistic that the new decade will bring good tidings. They say that there are encouraging signs that the recession is showing signs of easing. While the economic slowdown led to across-the-board cost-cutting and dealt a harsh blow to face-to-face networking events in 2009, it forced serious professionals to go online. It made them rethink and redefine their networking strategies.
People are now networking in more and more dynamic ways. Video résumés, mashup profiles and online portfolios gained importance as job-seekers tried to gain a foothold in the slippery market.
The growth of wireless communications clearly led the way in 2009, making the mobile office a reality. At the same time, the rising popularity of tools like Google Wave enabled teams to collaborate across geographies and time zones while allowing companies to keep operating costs low while driving up productivity.
Online, business networking has acquired a personal touch. Signs of change are showing in networks such as Facebook, which initially began as a platform for university grads to connect with each other but now sees increasing traction with advertisers and brand marketers, making them attractive to job-seekers.
These trends reflect an upbeat mood in the jobs market. The Wall Street Journal reported in December that recruiters expect a 19% rise in executive-level jobs in the first half of 2010. The Christian Science Monitor warned that the growth of the jobs market may be “agonizingly slow” though the outlook is good for small and medium businesses, which will lap up many job-seekers. There is good news for fresh graduates, too. Job fairs, which were not fashionable in 2009, are showing signs of a revival.
The trends go to show that no matter at what pace the economy recovers, smart business networking holds the key to success in 2010. Are you ready?
Tags: 2010, business networking, economy, fresh graduates, job fairs, Jobs, networks, new year, small businesses, social networking, startups
