It is here that your resume plays and important role. A lot of applications are rejected at the resume-screening exercise itself because they just don’t look like what a good resume should.

This is a much better and viable solution to preliminary screening for the recruiters. They then need to interview only the ones whose resume has been short-listed. This would then mean that you need to have a catchy resume which would catch the attention of the screeners when they are screening through the thousands of applications that they have received.

What is the definition of a catchy resume and how will you write one? If you are looking for a dictionary definition of a catchy resume then I am sure you would not find one. Also the definition of a catchy resume might change with the nature of the person who is screening the CVs. Does this mean that there is no set standard or, guideline to write a good resume? Absolutely not. There are quite a few guidelines that could help you write a good resume.

The next question would be – Would you be able to write one? Yes, of course you would be. But then why do you need to spend your time and energy on something which would still be an experimenting for you. The easiest and best option hence is to get your resume written by professional writers who know the standards of a good resume and have written thousands of such resume.

Hiring a professional resume writing service is hence not a bad option at all. There are very good and industry top resume writers like the people at employment boost who can get this work done for you. They have extremely talented copywriters who write these resume for you after considerable amount of research of what content in your resume would sell well.

Employment boost has more than 15 years of experience in the field of resume writing and has written thousands of resumes. This gives them the benefit of understanding which resume sells and thus tailoring your resume according to the position that you are applying for.

When you hire professional resume writers, it is always good if you get some extra support from them. Not all resume writers would give you this support unlike Employment boost. Employment boost does not rely on a robot to read through your requirement and then just write a resume for you. They ensure that they work with you in person. In addition to resume writing services, they also offer job placement assistance as well.

It is a good idea to hire a professional resume writing service to write the resume for you. But at the same time you should also ensure that you are getting it done from the right pe0ple. Doing a bit a research about the company offering such services is always good.

• Be confident of what you are saying. But at the same time be cautious to not be overconfident. Maintain a normal pace and tone of speech.
• Use examples and instances wherever required, to add value to your responses.
• Don’t interrupt the interviewer because this shows you are either under-confident or, over-confident.
• Don’t just start off immediately as the interviewer finishes his question. Take a few seconds to think and decide on your response. About 3 seconds is an ideal pause before you answer.
• Never start your responses with “Okay”.
• Be enthusiastic and maintain appropriate posture. If you are sitting in a chair with arms (which you would be) rest your hands on the arms of the chair.
• Do not play with your fingers.
• Do not tie your arms in front of you if you are sitting in a chair without arms.

Succeeding in an interview does not entirely depend upon the responses that you give. Though there would be questions where the response is of prime importance, I should say that your success has much more to do with the way you have responded to your questions.

As per the latest news, Satyam BPO has finally closed a deal that was in the pipeline for some time and consequently required about 5- additional heads. Hence they have started recruiting for this business that they have just bagged.

“We are recruiting as per requirement for a particular new business which we have bagged recently,” confirmed Manjula Manjotra, head of Global Marketing and Communications (GM&C), Satyam BPO Limited.

“According to the requirements of a client, who has given a new business order, a batch of freshers have been recruited by the company. The brand Satyam perhaps still sells. None of our clients have backed out,” a senior employee of Satyam BPO said.

In the midst of the crisis that Satyam was going through, the employees were staring an uncertain future. In one of my previous blog, I had mentioned that the employees of Satyam BPO should remain calm untill the tide is over. Now that Satyam BPO is recruiting, they should be fine and should look forward to their career growth.

There are also talks of the BPO arm of Satyam being up for sale and reportedly, Essar Group’s outsourcing firm Aegis BPO is on the verge of approaching Satyam Computers for a possible buyout of its BPO operations. If this happens, then employees of the company would have more reasons to rejoice.

Nipuna is the BPO arm of Satyam and has been in business for some time. It has offered stability and growth to its employees, thanks to the kind of businesses it has been handling. But what is in store for its employees is still a question without answers.

A look at similar instances from the past could give confidence to all of you who are going through this crisis situation. Satyam is a huge company to be dissolved overnight. The most viable option in front of the government and the corporate world is to put Satyam into some kind of acquisition or, takeover process. If that be the case then there is a bright future for all the employees.

So my advice like anybody else’s, at this point would be to remain calm and watch the proceedings. Have confidence in yourself. Your experience of all these years is more than enough to get you a job of your choice if you decide to change jobs tomorrow. So why go for an inferior option today, thus destroying your careers. Let the tide get over and you would see better days.

All the best to all of you.

{Software and BPO industry body Nasscom on Wednesday said the business process outsourcing (BPO) sector is not in the danger of losing jobs due to the ongoing economic downturn rather a net hirer in the current fiscal. In a statement Nasscom said,
"Media reports suggest that the Indian BPO industry will see 2.5 lakh job losses by the first quarter of 2009, in the wake of downturn in the US and other developed economies. Nasscom’s research and interaction with its member companies is not in support of this statement."
Our detailed industry performance and forecast for FY’09 will be released in the next fortnight. However, on employment the industry will continue to be a net hirer in FY’09 as a direct corollary of industry growth and fears of large scale job losses at an industry level are unfounded." The industry body’s comment comes in the wake BPO Industry Association president Samir Chopra stating that "severe job loss is expected because of recession. We are going to request for a fiscal package from the government, but if that doesn’t happen, then there be huge amount of losses in terms of manpower. I think a quarter of a million jobs will go." The $11-billion BPO sector employs about seven lakh people.}

So now that should be encouraging for everyone, I believe.

Read the entire report here – http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Business/India_Business/No_job_cuts_in_BPO_sector_Nasscom/articleshow/3819113.cms

Also at the same time, another major BPO in India, Infosys, was awarded a five-year, multi-million dollar contract for information technology work by the British drug maker, AstraZeneca. Under the agreement, Infosys will deliver application maintenance services to AstraZeneca’s global operations in areas including manufacturing, supply chain, finance, and human resources

There need not be a conclusion to this post because any reader would now be confident of the fact that "BPOs are here to stay and make it big".

The Barack Obama effect is another syndrome that is very fast catching the BPO population. You might find people in groups, standing at a canteen or, in the cafeteria discussing what would happen to the BPOs, now that Obama has been elected the President of the US. His policies were clearly against outsourcing and that would mean loss of jobs in the BPOs again. As such companies were now handing over the pink-slip toits employees and there were huge retrenchment happening.

The problem with most of the people working in BPOs is the fact that they tend to speak on subjects that they don’t really research about and know much about. Gradually these casual talks take the form of a rumour and tend to hurt everybody from the employees to the employer. Having said that, I would certainly want to discuss on the subject in question so that at least a few of us understand what the actual story is.

It is true that Obama has said something about outsourcing. What precisely is it that he has said? In one of his speeches he happened to say that "he would bring back jobs to America – jobs that are being offshored to countries like India, by withdrawing subsidies that companies outsourcing such jobs normally receives". It is indeed true that he wants to cut down on the jobs that are bing outsourced. But is it possible for one president to decide one fine morning that he would stop ‘Globalization’. Of course, not. Globalization is a phenomenon on which many a country, even the ones like that of America thrives and survives. Cost effectiveness, economies of scale and quite a few things are all what globalization has leveraged. So withdrawing a subsidy to a company that outsources business is a very small part of the benefit that such a company derives from outsourcing. In addition to these subsidies, there are multiple other advantages that these companies get by outsourcing their businesses. Will they be willing to sacrifice all of that? They have to be given quite a bit of compensation in order to do that. Is it possible for Barack Obama to do that? The answer would be a big "NO".

Finance minister Chidambaram was the best to sum it up. Chidambaram, who said he was speaking as an individual and not for the Indian government, maintained that the Indian software and information technology-enabled services industry should not be worried over Obama’s policies.’A comment here or a comment there on outsourcing should not bother us,’ he said when asked to comment on the promises by Obama during his campaign to look into the issue of Americans purportedly losing jobs to countries like India.’Once he is in office, he will realise that this is an inter-connected world and countries have to work together.’

So, just chill guys. There is no threat to the outsourcing industry. There could be a slight decrease in the growth, but the outsourcing industry is here to stay.

There is uncertainity also in the air and in the corporates. Employees are feeling insecure about their jobs and corporate are laying off people in heaps just because they have lost major businesses.

But what does this financial meltdown have in store for the BPOs and its employees? I would not want to sound too positive here and act as if there is nothing. Rather I would be very candid and direct in my language. That has already scared you, right? I know.

Yes, it is true that the financial meltdown will have its impact on the BPO industry. The otherwise steap growth that we have been witnessing throughout will witness a slight slowdown. This is but obviously because of the reduction in the amount of business coming into the outsourcing industry. A few BPOs who have been running processes for specific segments in the financial sector, would be the worst hit. These BPOs would have lost a few of their businesses and would hence be looking to layoff its employees or, redeploy them to other processes.

BPOs that are not financially sound will also be impacted to a great extent because of the cash crunch that the financial meltdown has put them into.

So employees in these kind of BPOs have to be extremely cautious and should watch out for signs. Know your company in detail and understand if they are financially strong. You can look out for options in better and financially sound organizations, though the fact remains that there are very few companies that are hiring right now. But under no circumstance should you panic.

Employees working in financially strong and huge brand names, this will also include all captive businesses, need not panic. Understand the fact that your organizations are capable of withstanding such meltdowns and can take care of their employees and businesses. So stay tight in your positions. A big advice during this tough time is "don’t look out for changes". Companies would hire you today and you might vene be lured with the good salary package, but…you would not know the financial situation of the company. What if tomorrow, they close down and you are rendered jobless? So employees working in captive BPOs, and brand names, stay tight in your positions.

Like all tough times, these trying times would also move and the growth of the BPO industry would be back to normal.