I rarely go off topic on my blog. But this post is an exception. I read a lot of Resumes on a voluntary basis of young people mostly without work experience and looking for jobs in India. Here are the ten most common mistakes that can occur on a resume/CV

1. CV is too long: For a fresher one page CV is good. If you cannot restrict it to one page two pages are more than enough. A 20 page CV would surely head to the trash can in most of the cases.

2. CV has typographical errors: If we can not write one or two pages error free why should anyone hire us?

3. Balance between Black and White Spaces: If a CV is written on 10 font or smaller it will appear too black and reading it would be a strain on the eyes. A CV with lots of blank spaces (white spaces) gives an impression that we have nothing to say.

4. Burying important information somewhere in the middle: The opening of the CV is the prime space, do’nt put useless information there and bury the important ones in middle of other things.

5. The CV is not targeted to the job: The job wants you to be outgoing, good at teamwork and be able to work under stress. Your CV talks about C++, Numerical abilities and poetry writing. Is there a match between the job and the applicant?

6. Poor Formatting: There are many beautiful templates available on the net or with Microsoft Office. Use them, you can rarely go wrong with formatting then. The CVs look professional too.

7. i instead of I: Use of i instead of I irritates the hell out of the reader.

8. SMS Language: SMS language is for texting and maybe for FB but certainly not for your CV.

9. Objectives: Many employers in India still prefer to see what are your objectives at the top of the CV. Give it a clear thought. It is your prime selling space.

10. CVs off the net: If you pick up large parts of the CV from the internet, it is no longer about you! You know your strengths the best, if you do not put in the effort to showcase them, no one else can do it for you.

And as a bonus tip, if you asked someone for the feedback on your CV and came back with the same mistakes the next time around too, it once again irritates the hell out of them!

                          

Chitra's Jewel Art- My Earrings

I started interacting with Chitra over her other blog, about temples. Then one day we connected on Facebook and then I discovered Chitra’s Jewel Art. I have to admit I am not very fond of jewelery. But earrings are an exception. And I just way to lazy to go out and shop as well. So I really liked the idea that I can order it over the internet.

In the picture is my first round of purchase from Chitra. Second round is on the cards. Thank you Chitra.

PS. Chitra never asked me to do this post, it is my way of saying thank you.

                          

Bright and Sunny

The picture and the matter of this post are somewhat unrelated. The only relation between the picture and the post is bright and sunny, that is how the flowers look to me. That is how my outlook is these days, now that I have finally completed my grading for the semester.

How I feel about grading? Rather than trying to talk about it myself, I will quote from ‘What I Talk About When I Talk About Running’ by Haruki Murakami. On page 67-68 of this book he says

Even now, whenever I run a marathon my mind goes through the same exact process. Up to nineteen miles I’m sure I can run a good time, but past the twenty-two miles I run out fuel and start to get upset at everything. And at the end I feel like a cat that’s run out of gas. But after I finish and sometime has passed, I forget all the pain and misery and am already planning how can  run an even better time in the next race.

And this he wrote after running in marathons for twenty plus years! Now I do not have a teaching experience of twenty years yet but I can take a bet that I will feel the same way about grading copies after I have accumulated 20 years of experience!

No, the parallel is not between how he feels fine up to nineteen miles! I do not like grading from the word go itself. It is not even about how he forgets the pain and plans about running again, I never look forward to grading copies, period.

The parallel I see is between how his feelings do not change towards running a marathon even after running for twenty years. He always goes through the same cycle!

My cycle feels like this, I drag myself to pick up the first few copies, grade them hesitantly wondering if I am being consistent or not. Then I somehow force myself to reach the middle of the pile (and by this time I start hating almost everything) and then I tell myself that after the half way mark the numbers are steadily going to decline. I almost can’t believe it when I am at the last few but I also have a strong urge at this stage to slack off that I resist with all my might. And it is bliss when I am staring at the last copy I have to grade. After that I can look forward to doing things that I enjoy much more in my job. It has been eight years now and this is a consistent pattern.

I am glad to read there are others (and people like Mr. Murakami)  who go through the same cycle of feelings irrespective of the experience they accumulate. Next time when I pick up my pile for grading, I will try not to feel too despondent about my not being able to learn from experience!

                          

I have come across many a times in people’s signature lines- Sent via Blackberry by — and I often wondered why someone would like to attach that in a signature. Looks like some people for sure wish to remove it.

(I have quoted his signature line on the blog with his permission)

                          

Read an interesting New York Times (2008) about Siemens and its involvement in Bribery across the globe.

                          

I recently started using Twitter. I got interested after I read Max repeatedly talking about it on his blog. Given my fascination for all things online how long could I resist it?

Then I got a Tweet about Methodspace, a research methods community space (in Beta) by SAGE and at a conceptual I just love the idea.

                          

Just came back from a class the read that in the Satyam Computer’s balance sheet of 5361 crore , 5040 crore is fictitious money and and accrued interest of 376 crore is non-existent! Some accounting I must say. I hear you say something about having auditors? Well PricewaterhouseCoopers are said to be the auditors of this Satyam Fraud.

Here is what I read at the Economic Times-

Raju’s letter to the company board revealed a fraud of unprecedented proportions. He states that Satyam’s balance sheet as on Sep 30, 2008, carries an inflated (non-existent)cash and bank balances of Rs 5,040 crore (as against Rs 5,361 reflected in the books).

Further, it carries an accrued interest of Rs 376 crore which is non-existent. The books carry an understated liability of Rs 1,230 crore on account of funds arranged by Raju, and an over stated debtors position of Rs 490 crore (as against Rs 2,651 crore in the books).

                          

I was talking to my younger nephew yesterday (Brat 2) and I could hear the excitment in his voice so clearly even across many thousand miles on the phone. Along with many friends, they had organized a local football tournament for under 16 and under 12 age group and they had over 100 people participating (that would be around 10 teams of 11 players).

He apparently officiated three matches and showed two yellow cards! You should have heard the glee in his voice over giving the yellow cards!

On a different note, Sesha and I have been playing Badminton (a game where I have found it difficult to take a game off him, but in TT it is the other way round) and I managed to win two out of three games from him! Both of us are surprised. Have to bug him to do more exercises daily.

                          

Well, those responsible were plain to see – a phalanx of UBS chief executives in expensive suits, on a raised dais, bathed in spotlights. It was not the best public relations image.

The Swiss know that UBS bosses earned among the highest salaries in Europe. Added to that were huge bonuses which they continued to award themselves even as the financial crisis unfolded.

I think there is more irony than humor and like everyone I am also wondering, when will all this end. I would also be very curious to see if there is a fundamental change in the executive salary structure by the time this crisis has played itself out.

                          

Construction in Gurgaon

I have putting my camera phone to use. This is a construction site in Gurgaon. In spite of the Hard Hat sign there were so many people down there without a hat of any kind.

A few days back we were having a discussion on Indiamike that has some relevance here. Haylo, an Indiamike member who works as a highway engineer made the following remark (emphasis mine) in context of cars being driven on the wrong side of the road-

“I have to say that as a highway engineer who is used to working to the constraints of Chapter 8*, the way that highway maintenance is handled in India, and the potential for resultant chaos and worse totally horrifies me. As for the things I’ve seen on construction sites, don’t get me started, I’ve closed down sites for far less back home! *shudder*

*Chapter 8 of the UK Traffic Signs Manual, a HUGE set of regulations covering every aspect of safety at roadworks. Put it this way, insomnia is never a problem in my house..!”