Abhijit Bhaduri’s Blog
I write about careers, skills and the world of work. The cartoons and sketches are mine.
Using AI to Improve Talent Acquisition
While the job descriptions may be the same, you probably do the same job very differently from your predecessor. Personality shapes several aspects of the role – our ability to bounce back after rejection (Sales roles); risk taking ability; our method of competing with others or even how much we voluntarily socialize with colleagues can be traced to personality. A caveat: use a personality assessment tool that is scientifically validated and reliable. Humantic uses AI to assess the candidate for Big Five personality traits without requiring her to answer a questionnaire.
Building India as a talent-hub
Automation may require an estimated 375 million workers to reskill for new jobs by 2030. New jobs are being created that have never existed before. Being a standup comedian is a thing now. As is the role of a ‘Tweeter-in-Chief’ that Twitter it looking for to run its Twitter account. The position requires a “fun, creative person with story-telling skills”.
What is the best use of your mentor's time
Knowing what you want will help you to articulate what you’re seeking advice on. Going in to meet your mentor without knowing what you want to meet for can be a waste of time for you and your mentor. Think of the meeting like a conversation—not a question-and-answer session. Make it a free-flowing and spontaneous dialogue. If you have a doubt or apprehension, or if you wish to seek a clarification, do it in the moment.
9 Dimensions of Organizational Culture Employees Care About
Repairing a broken culture takes much longer. A number of start-ups laugh at these needs of articulating values. Quite often the founding team gets together and chooses values that support revenue growth but ignore elements like diversity, respect etc that they think comes in the way of achieving scorching rates of growth. There is no doubt that it is well worth the investment.
Coursera Global Skills Index 2019: 3 skill sets that make you employable globally
2 out of 3 people in the workforce in developing countries lag behind in at least one of these three skills. The educational institutions are lagging behind in most of these countries. That means having a degree is no guarantee of employability. The skills required to do most jobs are evolving quickly. The employers in every country need to invest in upskilling, reskilling, and deep-skilling the employees on a continuous basis.
How to Fix Your Hiring Process
People are the greatest competitive advantage. Yet most companies struggle to recruit, train and retain capable workers. Nothing seemed to have changed since 2008. Here is what NYTimes found in 2008"Managers surveyed by the firm blamed everything from short-term financial pressures — which keep them from investing in talent development — to less-than-capable human resource departments for the persistence of the problem."
The Boundaryless Talent Pool - Digital Nomads
Neelima and Shivya are two samples of what lies ahead for HR. The talent pool is soon going to become location-independent. These are new kinds of careers that did not exist before. This work is being done by a boundaryless worker whose office is their mobile phone. Their resume is on social media.
Platinum status on an airline - how it happens
I have never won the Olympic Gold medal. I never aimed for it either. No really. Why should I settle for Gold when I could go for Platinum. In case you are that person who likes to read the last page of a murder mystery to find out the murderer's name and mobile number, this article is for you. Yes, I did achieve my goal. You are lucky one who will learn the secret without shelling out the fee I paid. Yes, nothing in this world is free, except unsolicited advice.
Work-Life Balance: Putting It In Perspective
A time strapped brain on a treadmill may improve the hours logged but does not generate better ideas. Innovation needs time for us to join the dots that were previously not connected. As the Monster tagline suggests, “Find Better Faster”. Are the employers listening?
Courage and Inspiration: The New Leadership Standard
The most inspiring name on the 2019 list of leaders is Greta Thunberg. She is a 16 year old student activist who is campaigning for climate change. On Twitter page she describes herself as "a 16-year-old climate activist with Asperger [syndrome]". Her work on climate change earned her a nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2019. Making her a year younger than Malala who won it at the age of seventeen.
How to Succeed as a Freelancer
Freelancers are growing in many white collar jobs and especially in places like India. When the individual negotiates the payment directly based on their expertise, they make more money. The platform like UpWork and LinkedIn become merely meeting places. Digital Nomads and fly-in experts use the platforms to get discovered. By showcasing their expertise and their reputation across the network they get discovered by the buyers with deep pockets. The more in-demand their expertise is, the higher the premium the buyer will pay.
Unethical behavior of a colleague - should I report it?
I have been working abroad as an IT specialist for 20 years. Under my stewardship, one of the projects, which was outsourced to an Indian company, faced some delays. Blaming me unfairly for the delay, a co-worker accused me of being racially biased & not protecting the interest of my organization. I was very upset with his accusation and it led to a heated altercation. ... wait there is more to it.
What is Bharat Searching For
If there is one shift that clear, it is that consumers want to know more, and “do-it-yourself” queries are increasing. In a year’s time half of retail will be influenced by digital. Bharat's search history shows that it will be an informed consumer who will walk in to the store.
Eklavyas who create many Dronacharyas
It is time to rewrite the story of Eklavya and Dronacharya. Eklavya was a mythological character in the Mahabharata. He was a commoner who was denied the opportunity to learn archery from Dronacharya — the royal teacher. The unfazed Eklavya went back to the forest and built a statue of the guru and began practising archery. The self-taught archer became as skilled as the princes who were being taught by the master. This is where the story needs to be updated.