Quality of entry-level talent worries IT companies

 

MUMBAI: Indian companies are increasingly complaining about the lack of quality talent at the entry level and more so in the IT/ITeS services space which recruits fresh graduates in huge numbers. According to a research conducted by a consulting firm, the findings of which were exclusively shared with TOI, only students from tier 1 engineering colleges, like the IITs and NITs, which constitute 4.5% of the overall engineering graduates, are fit to work in software products firms like Microsoft and Google given the kind of skills these companies need. On the other hand, 45% of students from tier 1, 2 and 3 colleges are employable by IT/ITeS services companies like Infosys and Wipro, reflecting the hiring challenges these technology firms grapple with in a fast-changing industry.

Overall in 2012, nearly 51 lakh students graduated in India, out of which 45.7% were from the arts stream, said Knowledgefaber, a Bangalore-based research & consulting firm.

Engineering and technology graduates made up 3.56 lakh of the overall talent pool at the graduate level. However, Knowlegefaber's research found that there are huge regional imbalances in the availability of engineering graduates. Four states (Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra) together have more than 70% of these graduates. To add to this concern is the question raised on the quality of engineering schools in India and the quality of graduates coming out of these colleges, said the research.

"Customer needs are changing and technology developments are placing greater demand on the industry. Outstanding interface skills, deeper domain knowledge and awareness of the business context has become a 'must have' for today's professionals. Not all colleges that churn out students have been able to build these skills into their curriculum, thereby necessitating companies to bridge the skill gaps and bring about standardization of capability, among students hired from different parts of the country," said Hari T, chief people officer at IT services firm Mahindra Satyam.

This is the reason why companies will have to hunt for talent beyond the IITs and NITs. "Across industries, companies are looking to hire from tier 1 engineering colleges but the competition is very high and it represents less than 5% of the overall talent pool. We feel it is best recommended to look at talent in tier 2 and 3 cities," said Amit Goel, CEO, Knowledgefaber.

Computer science and IT accounts for nearly 32.5% of the fresh engineering talent in India while electronics and mechanical stream comes in second and third with 21.8% and 17.7% of students opting for these streams, respectively.

Sangeeta Lala, senior VP & co-founder at TeamLease Services, said, "IT graduate freshers are not usually skilled with new technologies like cloud computing, making them a less preferred option for companies. These companies would then look to internal scaling or experienced candidates who are readily deployable with the knowledge of new technologies."

Many IT firms have set up huge training facilities to help these graduates scale up, which experts say is the way forward. Also, they have facilitated tailor-made courses to bring about the right talent on board. "Through new hybrid models, corporates are sponsoring academic institution-specific courses, selecting the students as per their needs, providing the content and course material related to their industries and business, which is actually increasing the possibilities of employment for students," said Sunil Goel, MD , GlobalHunt India, a recruitment firm. 

Fake rupee notes on the rise, in India and abroad 

 

It is a battle bank tellers seem to be winning. They spotted 5.2 lakh fake notes in 2011-12 compared with 4.4 lakh notes in 2010-11. In percentage terms, data from RBI show, there was a 19.6 per cent rise in the number of counterfeit currency notes detected in 2011-12 over the previous year.

Not that the counterfeiters are discouraged. On an average, around 3.9 lakh fake currency notes were found every year between 2007-08 and 2011-12, according to an RBI research paper put out last week.

The more enterprising are palming off the fakes abroad. RBI data show that the value of fake rupee notes impounded in Switzerland’s banking system trebled in 2011 over the previous year.

In terms of the number of pieces of counterfeit currency impounded, the Indian rupee is not at the top, with more US dollar, euro and Swiss franc notes caught by bankers. But it was significantly higher than the number of British pound, renminbi, rouble and rand clones impounded. Until 2009, the number of fake Indian currency notes detected in Switzerland was minuscule compared to other currencies. But in 2010, there was a sharp rise in the number of rupee notes impounded at 212 and in 2011, a five-fold jump to 1,144.

Beware the Rs 100 notes

Also, contrary to the general practice of suspecting Rs 500 notes, you should be wary of Rs 100 notes, the data show. These account for 56 per cent of the counterfeit bank notes detected in India.

The Rs 500 denomination notes made up a third of counterfeits detected. Notes of Rs 1,000 denomination accounted for 5.2 per cent, but even fake notes of Rs 10, Rs 20 and Rs 50 denomination have been detected.

 

New Website launched by Trivia Softwares:applekidspreschools.com

M/s Trivia Softwares has launched new website for Pre School based in Thane. The new website is called Apple Kids Pre School

The website is simple package website

Best Practices during First Job Interview

Having your first job is an exciting preposition for all fresher candidates, but as soon as they face the HR or the management of the company they are faced with various dilemmas which can make or break their career. This is because except for some good colleges or training institutes they are not taught how to approach the HR team or management of a company.

Most training is provided only in On Campus interviews where the big companies come and select candidates as per their needs. This is where the trouble starts, Most big companies only select candidates who are best in their class and have an outstanding academic record, but what about the hundreds of other students who have not been selected?

They will try to search out for jobs in thousands of small and medium enterprises spread across length and breadth of the country. The candidates are influenced by their colleagues  already placed in big organizations about the Pay Package they are getting and other benefits and expect the same treatment to be given to them by their employers as well.

But here is the catch:
1.You are not going in some big organization expecting a big pay because if you were that capable then you should have qualified for campus interviews as well.
2.Currently global economy is in a mess, and thus even experienced people are sometimes forced to negotiate on their pay package, in such a scenario you are just a fresher with no knowledge of how things work in real industry.


To get out of this mess remember one golden rule:

Lower your expectation and try to get as much experience as possible.

Here are some tips which will help you to get an advantage over others looking for the same job as you

1.Give yourself the edge – do your research
Researching the company before the interview will give you an edge in understanding the company’s needs. The more you know about a company the stronger your chance of succeeding at interview.

Reference libraries, the internet (Companies Website) and trade press are good sources of information. Where discretion allows, contact people you know in the industry that have experience of the prospective employer. 

Hiring Managers and HR personnel frown upon interviewees who fail to prepare well for interviews. They expect you to have a reasonable understanding not only of their products and services but also of the history and future direction of the business. More importantly, an interviewer will be impressed by your interest and motivation.

---

Potential employer

• Study their web-site
• Understand their history
• Understand their territory coverage (office locations and presence)
• Analyse their financials and performance (company accounts where available)
• Appreciate their philosophy, corporate messages, brand values, and key competencies
• Appreciate their organisational structure
• Understand their business direction and growth aspirations

Services

• Understand the product and service range
• Find out who the competitors are
• Identify USPs and potential barriers to sale

Market

• Who is the key demographic the product/service is aimed at?
• Who will be the end users?
• Who are the key competitors?
• What are the routes to market?
• How is the brand received in the market?
• Is there any upcoming legislation that will affect performance?

The role

• Gain a full and proper understanding of the job description
• Understand the main responsibilities involved 
• Prepare a plan of action (e.g.how you would run your territory/manage your workload)
• Find out specific examples of duties and how your experience relates

The interview

• Find out who is conducting the interview? Their names, titles, and history
• Try to understand their key drivers and what qualities they seek in potential applicants
• Enquire whether there will there be a practical or skills test
• Enquire about the specific format of the interview

2. Confirm the contact detailsMake sure you have all the details you need, directions to your venue, the name of the interviewer, a contact number should you need to call them en route and the correct time.
If you require parking, check that there is space available and if it needs to be allocated.

3.On arrivalIf driving – make sure you park in the correct place so as not to be interrupted during the interview or worse still, get a shock when you leave.
Always make sure you switch your mobile phone off; there is nothing more distracting than a mobile ringing or vibrating during the interview.

4. Interview attire

• You should always dress professionally for interviews, and gentlemen, unless you're told otherwise, we recommend you wear a tie.
• Even if the company has a casual dress code, interviewees should dress in a smart business suit. It is always better to be too smart than too casual.
• Dress appropriately to the role applied for; the vary nature of the Finance, Leasing and Banking world implies smart business attire as a pre-requisite. Remember, rightly or wrongly, interviewers may let your appearance influence their judgement

5. Time keeping .

• Good timekeeping provides your interviewer with evidence of commitment, dependability and professionalism.
• Leave for your interview in good time - always allowing for unforeseen delays.
• If you think you are likely to be late, call us immediately so we can advise the interviewer accordingly.
• Try to arrive at the interview location 15 minutes early.
• This should leave you with adequate time to report into reception and collect your thoughts in preparation for the interview.

 

5 Top interview mistakes done by freshers

Normally having your 1st job is fun as well as exciting. Fresh out of college and rearing to go is the attitude most freshers have in themselves. but soon after 2-3 interviews freshers get dejected and frustrated from constant rejections by HR departments of reputed companies.
Its time that freshers should do some self inspection before even going for their first interview. Most first interviews land as disasters as interviewers are looking for the best skill set and attitude in a candidate and fail to get in most.

Here is a list of 5 top interview mistakes done by freshers:

1. Call the management or HR of the company and ask for CTC offered.
2.  Boast of skills to increase expected CTC.
3. Not knowing the exact job position offered and asking the HR or management about it.
4. No knowledge about what company does
5. Poor dress sense while going for an interview.

Many freshers face these mistakes and don't realize why  they have not been selected in interview.

So we say that remove all ego and attitude and go to an interview with a mind of a learner who is able to adapt to any circumstances.

What Does a Website Cost?

What Does a Website Cost?

Years ago, I even took the time to create a whole write up on the topic over on my main site entitled “What Does a Website Cost?” and to this day – even after years of being up (and years of edits) it’s still one of the most popular pages and definitely the most commented.

This is a question that we field all day, every day.
As either a potential designer, developer, freelancer, or the owner of a website design business it’s important that you know how to answer this question and understand what your competitor is charging as well as how you can create value.
And, on the flip-side, if you’re a business owner looking for information on the cost of developing your own site (either using a service, or hiring a developer) you need to understand the many levels of answers that can come from such a broad question.
In both cases – it’s important to remember that although a website is a “digitized” item, a website is still a product, but it’s also a service.
Except there are two problems – they’re nothing like conventional products, and “service” is a four letter word in this industry.
There’s a whole relationship (between you and your client, or you and the company you hire to do your website) that crops up through the process of web development, and this relationship, as well as the ongoing support that continues AFTER the site has launched is what separates this “product” from others.
If I had to make a comparison, I’d say pricing (and building) a website is a lot like pricing (and building) a new home. 
Whether you buy a home from a new development, or have one custom built. The process is very much like (and sometimes as complicated and as costly) as building a home.

Website Pricing

pricing (and building) a website is a lot like pricing (and building) a new home. 

The reason it’s so hard to simply give one a price for a website is there are so many damn factors involved – even outside of the technology (which matters A LOT!).
Here’s a short list:

1. Client Server/Hosting Requirements – Who is hosting? Email? Who is setting that up? What if something happens to email? What kind of server will it be hosted on? Does the client have access? Do YOU have access? Hosting problems alone take 2 – 10 hours initially to address on EVERY project – and problem account for about 10 – 20 hours of support during any given year for a client.
2. Scope – What does the client want? What does the client NEED? Two very different things.
3. Who is the Client – I’m going to quick address business owners here – who are you? Are you picky? Are you easy to deal with? A good web development company will do one of two things – either read you well, or structure their contract for it not to matter (ie hourly). However, in either case the easier you make it to work with you, the less expensive a site will tend to be.
4. Client’s Technical Knowledge – More highly technical clients don’t have to learn how to maximize their web browsers or, and this one still gets me!, understand why there are “bars” on the side of their website (the background of a site in a fixed width design is called “bars” here). The more hand holding a client needs (or the less IT staff they have) the more time it will take to complete the project and have them satisfied.

These are just a few items that impact the overall cost, and they don’t even begin to touch upon budget, or design/back forth.
But, as they hinted at – websites, be it coding, or communicating, take time.
Time is precious; time is valuable. As a freelancer you must value your time. As a business owner you have to understand the time it takes you to “figure out how to build” a website, takes away from other items that lead to making money and a living.
“Do you want to specialize in HTML, CSS, Javascript, etc. or do you want to be running, growing, and profiting at your business?”
(That was a good line dev in case anyone ever asks you why you cost so damn much!)

Which btw – I have a quick side story. A friend of mine, a highly technical friend mind you, studied and literally took 6 weeks straight to build his companies website (he was managing the company at the time and has since graduated to president). At the time he was paid Rs. 3000/hour. Much less than your average web developer. However, factor in ALL of his time and he spent nearly $6000 of his company’s time. All for a static site that wasn’t even search engine optimized and frankly looked pretty bad! (Okay… I did help out a bit).
Point is, it almost never pays to have some “figure out” how to build a website within a company. It doesn’t make time, or financial sense. – Now learning how to edit/update a CMS on the other hand – does – and we’ll get back to this in a moment.

And then there’s everything that comes AFTER a website is launched (and the things you or your team should be looking at during development…) THE MARKETING!

You also need to evaluate the best ways to market your clients’ website, once you’ve launched. If you design a website that doesn’t get found, then your client will not appreciate the fact that you charged him or her ANYTHING to build their site. Knowing how to market for your client takes experience.

Real World Website Pricing Breakdown

First, there are services (and for the majority of this article I’ll ignore these). There are a ton of services out there that can get you up and running quickly, easily, and in some cases freely. I’m a huge fan of “WordPress.com” for anyone looking to simply build a blog and get their voice on the web. Although Tumblr does have such nice templates, many of them you have to pay for, and I find the traffic from WordPress.com much better. In future posts we may highlight many of the free and inexpensive web services available.
Okay, here we are.

Basic Website – Rs. 2000 – Rs. 5000

After spending a significant amount of time (over a decade in this industry), we’ve determined that the market average for a baseline website is Rs.2000 – Rs. 5,000. I’ve seen much, much higher. And, I don’t recommend going with anyone who charges less because the quality of the work will negatively (and directly) correlate to the price decrease.
With a basic website, you’ll have a simple online brochure made out of a boilerplate template (or format) where your customers and clients can review your products and services. The basic website may be your best salesperson, working 24 hours a day by just showing up. It’s your marketing tool to get your message out to the world. It provides a digital launch pad, where you can showcase your products or services. Most web developers will install Google Analytics too.

Custom Website – Rs.6000-Rs.15000

If you can think it, it can be designed in this price range. They may not be as fully functional, but they will be beautiful. At this spending level, you will find a website that is custom-tailored to meet your specific market needs.
At this price point, you can expect the beginning of the “wow-factor” from your web design team. You will not typically find features of audience interactivity, ecommerce, or content management.
Going back to the Basic Website, the website pricing is calculated at the same rate. These websites take much more time to build since they will include custom CSS and XHTML coding so that the website will show up the same on virtually every interface. Again these websites will be optimized for Google, Yahoo, and Bing so that they will rank better in organic keyword searches.

Content Management System (CMS) – Rs.10,000- Rs 60,000

A website designed and built with full CMS integration will typically run from Rs.10,000 to Rs. 60,000 with an average of Rs.20,000, depending on your specific needs and the extent of the customization requested. These websites will be designed with both functionality and appearance in mind. Custom art design and mid-level functionality will be included. You will be able to manage and update all of your content through the installed CMS interface. You can have an infinite number of pages (depending on the amount you want to spend for the time it takes to create them). With CMS you can manipulate, upload and change the pictures, content, and blog all day long. (You’ll soon discover, if you don’t already know, that updating your website can quickly become consuming).  
This is our most popular product package at  M/s Trivia Softwares
By enabling a CMS interface, these websites are designed to be user-friendly (as user-friendly as possible for a non-tech inspired individual). You won’t be billed for the time that it takes to make the minor changes and small adjustments that may become costly.
These sites will be laced with the ability to get “social”. You will be able to build a reputation through your BLOG. Depending upon the specifics of the agreement, you should be able to expect some keyword research to help you get started.
Aside from Flash Art creation, these sites will remain in the ballpark I’ve outlined above. And, as always, you can expect SEO and Analytics Tracking for these types of web properties.

The Grand Slam Package– Rs.65,000- Rs. 1,00,000+

Highly complex websites can be very expensive to create. Social Networking, Advanced Blogging, and Web Application Development will raise the price tag. There are a limited number of companies that can perform well in this arena, and most of them will charge you a consulting fee (the initial consultation with M/s Trivia Softwares is free).
These websites aren’t some of the really good sites we’ve visited.  Falling in this price range are sites like Facebook.com, Orkut.com, and BestBuy.com. These sites will have been coded from scratch, along with the applicable application programming. Websites in this price range require an extreme investment in time to research, develop and implement the software necessary to integrate the entire website in one seamless design.
It’s more expensive to build a website when you consider the actual cost in terms of hours. There is a distinct difference between amateur websites and the work of a professional development team. While it may cost more money to build the website in the first place, by hiring a professional you will realize a return on your investment (assuming that whatever you’re selling isn’t garbage).

 

 

Trivia Softwares Launches Nebula Infotech Website

M/s Trivia Softwares launched website for M/s Nebula Infotech.


Website URL: Nebula Infotech