5 years

Today I complete my five years at ICON.... probably worthy day to remember...I have grown to great heights since my first day here... I have learnt a lot of things and honed my skills ...I have had my own ups and downs throughout these 5 years but overall when I think about it, its always been a happier tenure throughout....
I am not sure if I have achieved all this if I were with some other organization or my previous company..may be or may not be ...but as reality stands...this is the moment and whatever I have right now is something I never imagined 5 years before or when I made the decision to quit my ex-job.
I am definitely thankful to all the people who have made my journey comfortable from day One. I have build teams, interacted with so many people, and now it almost feels like a family probably a small group of people compared to what is prevalent in big IT players.
Some of the things that I enjoy while working here are ( I am not going to quote any negatives here..coz that is not the point behind this posting)
Freedom - I have all the freedom to do whatever I want (provided that's acceptable within the professional code of conduct :P) I can experiment new strategies and propose solutions....
Goto Guy- Being recognized as the goto guy from the begining that has got anything to do with the system, or a client audit or specific to India office for my department
Learning - From day one, I have learnt a lot of things.... be it domain, business, management, leadership and there has been always a new thing coming up my way. The most important learning from this company would be Work-Life Balance. Probably that is the most important thing that any software professional should be practicing consciously and consistently.

I wish I continue here as new challenges awaits me for next year... and I hope I will be successful in all the future assignments as I climb up the corporate ladder (I always anticipate a fall afterall its a ladder that I am climbing in)

"Fake" Resume

While adding new people to the board, I have come across many fake CV’s and people often ask me how did I find out they are faked one’s. There isn’t any pre-determined logic to implement. It is as simple as when someone tries to falsify their credentials, they are not as confident as they are with the truth.

Now let’s see some of the

1) Possible scenarios where people like to fake them on CV

2) Detailed Checklist to be used while screening.

Possible Scenarios

Arrears in College degree and pro-longed duration to complete them.

This can identified by the pass out year in the school, under graduation and post graduation. Each degree has certain specified time period to complete and if you find something different, probably you need to check with them.

Irrelevant work experience which is being combined as relevant

For example Overall 6 years of experience out of which 2 years as a lab assistant and 2 years as a faculty in some training institute and 2 years of programmer experience. Now the lab assistant and faculty experience is also faked as programming experience so that they try to apply for a Lead level programmer when they actually have level 2 programmers.

There was one guy who worked in my team was about to get a promotion and also fly to US for more training. During his visa application, he mentioned a totally different work experience history in his DS 157 form. I got little suspicious and tried to enquire more about those details and after several rounds of grilling; he accepted that he forged his CV. His promotion and trip was cancelled and he was placed on observation period for 3 months. Guess what – he resigned within a month.

Distance education degrees but projected as regular ones.

This happens most of the time in the post graduation; you will see an overlapping work experience with the academia experience.

I came across a candidate who has done Diploma regular degree and then a UG course through correspondence. But he was open and frank to let me know that it was a distance education. He also sounded confident that he has been able to rise up to this level with his own efforts by working part time. He was technically strong as well. I don’t see any possible reason why I shouldn’t hire him. Yes he was selected.

I am also aware that there are a number of consultant organizations which give fake experience certificates, pay slips for money. It is better to avoid such institutes and try with your genuine experience.

Now as such there are'nt any standard checklist, but this is something that I share out of experience (the so called "managerror experience" :D)

Checklist to be used while screening

1. When you check the experience level, check for relevant experience and also see the duration between joining month of the first job and last month of the current month (see people might have resigned recently). Also check for employement gaps in between

2. Check the academic pass out years for each degree and higher secondary school

3. What is the minimum duration that a person has served in a job position? It is better not to hire frequent job hoppers. There is no guarantee that the person will serve a minimal expected duration but still this data helps to know people's mentalit y about job shift.

4. Is there any specific certification that the candidate boasts about? if so test his knowledge to determine whether it is a genuine experience based certification or a test dump based certification. It is better not to clear any certifications just for the name sake using dumps.

5. Check for relevant roles and responsiblities in the past experience projects. A programmer cannot just have coding/programming as a responsibilities. A senior level programmer should have been involved in design reviews, code reviews, validation support, bugs co-ordination etc..

6. Check the languages and packages relevancy in the projects worked on. Some people like to list out a long list of tools and packages that they studied during college days or attended some 2 day training camp. The actual proficiency is with the tools and packages that you use everyday.

(I have trained a SQL certified person on how to work with enterprise manager - It is really a pitiful situation for you to claim that you are certified/proficient but never know any nuances of the tool)

7. Any gaps in job history must be justified with appropriate reasons. It is better to avoid peoples who state reasons like family problem, personal problem. I mean you have to quit a job for a reason like this then you are no good in balancing work-life relationship.

8. Some people write a resume that matches exactly to the job requirement. Usually from the internal referrals :-) nothing to worry but you must be assured that the candidate has the potential for doing all that he/she has mentioned in the resume.

9. Trust your instincts :D If you feel something is not right, it may not set right later.

Alright here is some intresting link that you may like. I was surprised to see there is a website addressing the similar issues about fake resumes and has got even more informations about them :-)

http://www.fakeresume.com/How_Common_is_Resume_Fraud.html

Final word to those who fakes the resumes

Do not spend your initial days loitering around for “better” opportunities and later get into all trouble.
Be proud for all that you have worked in past even though it might sound less challenging.
If you are caught please accept the truth dont try to act "over smart" it actually irritates the other person a lot.

Jump Analysis

Changing jobs is often a tough decision to make and it becomes even tougher when you have multiple offers in hand. There should be some strong reason why you would want to quit from your current employer. However the very astounding reason that everyone quotes for moving to a new job is just because of the salary. Yes money is important but money alone is not the deciding factor there are many parameters that should decide your job hop and certain things come to light only after you land up in the wrong terrain.

So I have come up with a jump analysis sheet, where you would list down your priorities about your job marked against your current and prospective employers.

Then rate them with below legend and finally sum up the results to see where your career stands. You can also add more weightage for some key factors like reporting structure, salary, growth as compared to low priorities like dress code, cafeteria However just keep in mind dress code, cafeteria, commutation might sound very low priorities but they will affect your day to day routine.
Even though this exercise will help you to make a well informed decision, you must be aware of the pro’s and con’s of the decision that you make and be content with your choice

Such a detailed analysis will help you to make better informed decisions.

P.S: I think this is posted during the wrong time of the year when there is layoff and job cuts happening everywhere, but I still believe India should be doing well for atleast in next two quarters till Q2 09. Have a safe jump.