If you have been to interviews, you would know that there is a common, rather, undeniable question that all the interviewers ask the candidates, and that is; “Why should we hire you?”

You just cannot avoid this question, even though you have listed in your resume, some of the extraordinary skills that you possessed. Been there, done that all!

Probably this is the reason, some people decided to satiate the skill thirst of the interviewers and stated some of the mind-boggling skills in their resumes.

So here, I am going to narrate to you, 8 hilarious skills that people added to their resume which cracked the interviewers up:

1.  A young lad who applied for the post of an application programmer, explained his skills something like this: 

I am boiled rice which is eaten with curd! *Talk about metaphors* 😛 I am like a boiled white rice (having a good understanding and conceptual knowledge of core programming concepts, database and its concepts for the backend, server-side programming, technologies, frameworks, etc, for business layers or middle layer, design patterns for best practices, UI for frontend or presentation layer).

This white rice is used to prepare any type of rice items i.e can be used to make curd rice (PHP developer) or lemon rice (Java developer) or rice bhaat (.net developer) or ghee rice (mobile developer) or any type of rice (XYZ developer team).

If you aren’t laughing already, I don’t blame you for your HQ!

2.  Under the tab “Course Completed” in the resume, this over enthu candidate wrote:

Morning and Evening exercise! Completed with total energy!

Who would have thought of that, now? Well, maybe this was put in all hilarity but, nevertheless, the applicant ended up facing the consequences.

3.  In the “Objective” section of a neatly aligned resume a prospective job seeker jotted down: 

Objective: To dive into a swimming pool of gold coins like Uncle Scrooge McDuck.

Now that, ladies and gentlemen,  I call an absolute DARE!

4.  Another one took the skills part a bit too seriously and mentioned:

‘An exceptional poker player’!

While we do understand that playing Poker is a serious skill but may be not for a job application at IIT Mumbai! Well the lad was definitely interviewed. And during the interview, the interviewer called for a pack of cards and they played Heads up Poker for around 20 minutes. And that’s it. He never was selected!

5.  Don’t underestimate the power of a blood donating common man applying for a job:

Yeah! That’s right. Never ever do that!

A guy had applied for a management post and he had written “Blood Donation” under the “Achievements” section. How skilful and overachieved already!

6.  Failing a semester is no less a skill:

Especially when everyone in the bunch is hell-bent on pass with flying colours. This sirfira types interview candidate proudly mentioned that he managed to fail the semester in a class of 50 students.

What a skill man! What a skill!!

7.  Philosophy is a skill and it pays:

When a tad too philosophical guy summed up his CV in a rather melancholic tone

“The height of candle may differ, but they yield the same brightness. It’s not the matter of my experience, but it’s my ability that actually shines.”

And that’s it. There was nothing more to it. Take it or leave it! Huh!!

8.  This last resume rundown takes all the awards as the skills mentioned could not match anywhere with anyone: 

ACHIEVEMENTS – I came first in the school long distance race.

HOBBIES – Horse riding, I like going pub when haven’t got my kids. Looking after kids and doing stuff with them when they are not at school.

EMAIL ADDRESS – lazybum@fmail.com

ACHIEVEMENTS – Being Sober

ABOUT ME – I am me because I cannot be anyone else.

REASON FOR LEAVING LAST JOB – It was too much hard work.

PERSONAL PROFILE – I am a highly energetic person who can watch movies all day. I love numbers and I can count the beer cans I finish in a night. Me and my wife love working together because it saves the electricity bills! I can do tricky sums when I put my mind to it. I am Computer literate and I have a Facebook profile

Phew, weren’t these just some of the phenomenal skills?

Well, If you’re thinking to incorporate these into your CV, try it at your own risk.

Kaha suna maaf!

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So, here is the time when many school pass outs are looking for admissions in various disciplines, based on their aggregate scoring in the high school examination!

And that is one of the toughest phases of education, seemingly so, for all aspiring students.

But, are the marks alone enough for promising education and a sound career?

Are parents also looking at the placement statistics of the institution where the child is opting for higher education?

Is there anything else that the admission seeking students and their parents need to know, beyond their scores and their preferred courses & subjects?

Well, since ancient times, the great Indian thinkers have always looked at education as the means for enlightenment through intellectual and moral development.  Interestingly,  even the greatest western  thinkers of higher education like  John Henry Newman (1850’s), Franklin Bobbit (1940’s), and Martha Nussbaum (contemporary) have consistently emphasized that university education is primarily aimed at developing individual’s intellect and raise the intellectual tone of society

Peripheral factors like scoring and immediate placements, etc., cannot continue to be its prime motivators for long. The admission seekers and their parents have to look at higher education as training for life and for the last job rather than the first job. 

We are hereby proposing 11 cumulative questions that can help the parents and students need to know the thing before seeking College Admission to get clarifications about the core factors related the program of study and the institute they are opting for.

1. What are the goals and distinguishing characteristics of the curriculum? How does the curriculum address the need of broad based multi-disciplinary and interdisciplinary education? How are industry internship and service learning (e.g., social internship, etc.) incorporated in the curriculum? What kind of flexibility and choices are offered to the students in deciding the specific courses (subjects)?
2. How does the curriculum aim to engage the student with larger and deeper questions related to life, society, profession, business ecosystem, and sustainable development?
3. What is the process of curriculum revision? When was the curriculum revised last time? What is the process of revising the syllabus of specific courses listed in the curriculum? How many specific courses listed in the curriculum have been revised in the last three years? How many new courses have been added to the curriculum in the last three years? How does the education help for next 10 years.
4. What kind of text and reference books are used in courses? Are students necessarily engaged with world class books by internationally reputed authors or some low quality local books dominate student racks?
5. How many faculty members are there in the core discipline of the program? What is the student-faculty ratio in the core discipline? What is the typical class size? What is the average weekly teaching load of faculty? Do they have sufficient time to interact with individual students?
6. What are the qualification, teaching experience, non-teaching professional experience, and interdisciplinary exposure of the faculty members of core discipline? Where did they study and work before? What kind of participation do they have in professional and alumni networks? What kind of professional, research, writing, consultancy, or social interests do they pursue?
7. What faculty and student exchange programs are effectively operational in the institution? What is duration and nature of these programs? What fraction of faculty and students have benefitted from such programs in last three years?
8. In the last three years, how many students from the institution have won some international or national awards related to the core discipline?
9. In the last three years, how many students have gone for further studies at world’s top 200 universities/institutes with respect to the core discipline they are opting?
10. What kinds of opportunities are available to students for extra-curricular engagement? Do these engagements expand their aesthetic sensitiveness, creativity, self expression, social responsibility, and leadership abilities? How are extra-curricular activities integrated with their core discipline?
11. What kind of ecosystem, encouragement, and support are provided to students for creation their own startups? How many students and alumni have created their own startups in the last 3 years?

In the last decade, scoring and placement seem to have  become the most popular criteria and sometimes even the sole factor for assessing the quality of education. When  it comes to reporting educational news, a large section of popular media  finds placement related news to be the most  worthy positive aspect of campuses.

A large number of  institutes have started paying over-attention to the placement activity.  In our view, the present highly skewed trend is even more harmful than those days when the campus placement was of no or very little concern to the educational institutes, till 1980’s.    With the growing economy and opening avenues, there is no dearth of  jobs in some sectors.

Employers’   entry level manpower needs are so large that do not even bother to look at the quality of education and mark-sheets of the prospective young brigade.   And this is perfectly fine with respect to the nature of the work  assigned to most freshers at many companies. It is not intellectually very demanding or challenging and hence it does not require deep technical knowledge and high scoring.

Often an overall pleasing personality with potential to remain disciplined and learn on the job are  sufficient criteria for selection.    For example, for the last several years, each of the major IT service company is  recruiting  tens of thousands of freshers with or without distinctions. Obviously their needs cannot be fulfilled by few colleges.

Hence, they have to recruit  in large numbers at  hundreds of colleges all over the country. Much better quality jobs are available in smaller companies.

The admission seeking students and their parents should not consider campus  placement and scoring  as the only and a  very reliable/sustainable measures of the quality of education.  They need to look at the core factors to reliably assess the quality of education for a  long run, which help to sustain a lifetime.

We are sure that asking some of the above listed questions will help the admission seeking students and their parents to focus on the core factors at the time of such a crucial decision making.

Demanding and inquisitive students and parents will also create the required stimulus for the education community to reflect and respond with required improvements in our system.

All the very best to each one of you, seeking higher education and good jobs there of!

The post 11 Things Beyond School Marksheets That Young People Seeking College Admission Need To Know! appeared first on Youngisthan.in.

You got yourself inked in your second year of college following some of your peers or just because you thought body tattoos is the new trend or maybe the tattoos of different designs, shapes, colours, each with their own personal meaning attract you.

To you they display art and an expression of your own identity.

However, it is difficult to say what they might think of this art expression, especially if it is a conservative company or a government body.

Today body art is as commonly seen as fruits and vegetable sellers on the streets.

We all might know people who have got body art done or we ourselves might have several tattoos all over our body, not to mind the numerous ear piercings, the naval and eyebrow piercing.

Body Piercing

Tattoos on wrist, forearms and the nape of neck are a commonplace sight. However, looking at the competitive job interview scenario, the appearances and the first impression of the person matter much to the hiring manager and determine whether or not the candidate would be selected for the job.

Tattoo Art

However, it is presumed that since the tattoos and piercings are so prevalent in the present generation, it would be more than acceptable in the workplace as well. But this is not so. As much as your qualifications and experiences are important for the job, your presentation, body language, way of speaking and expressing yourself hold an equal value.

Not only do the tattoos and piercings make the interviewer question the trust factor that is, how much can they trust you but also judge you to be egoistic and having a lot of attitude problems only by your body art and this goes against their company and candidate policy as they prefer confident people yet someone who can be moulded and changed for the company’s betterment, someone who would gleefully accept duties given to them and not be too expressive about the responsibilities and company goals.

Tattoos and Job

The scene is a little different in creative organizations like an ad agency, a media organization or a young start-up company based on products and services for the youth.

Studies have however shown that mostly co-workers shy away from opening up to people with body art and piercings, especially with non-concealable tattoos. Also, most companies go by the rulebook that the candidate must not make the recruiter get distracted to something that is not important to the purpose of the interview itself or that makes the candidate look unprofessional.

Sometimes even coloured locks or bright-coloured hair streaks can also cause the tables not to turn in your favour. However, while some recruiters and co-workers might still consider the funky look stylish and cool, tattoos and piercings are still things that everyone is not quite open to, especially if it is not discreet. There is also a big, wide generational gap between people accepting tattoos and people considering it madness or a quirky activity that they can’t relate to.

Funky Hair and Job Interview

While for entry-level jobs, tattoo art might still be considered okay in companies but for senior positions, employers look forward to people who look and act more professional, responsible and mature. Tattoos and piercings are though expressive arts and is also growing as an industry yet the people getting them done are not always thought as responsible, matured and to say the least, professional.

While things differ from industry to industry, however, tattoos and piercings are believed to be making people less marketable. Though people who are smart, hardworking, intelligent and have showed team-playing skills before are given chances in an interview, people with concealed tattoos are preferred more than those who have non-discreet tattoos all over the place.

Tattoos though are becoming acceptable in the society with the passage of time, however businesses where client servicing is an important aspect avoid hiring full-arm-tattooed people.

For people to be more careful about their appearance in job interviews, employers must put up their policies on tattoos and body piercing online or on their vacancy ads and review such policies often, also ensuring that these policies are completely enforced in the company.

While semi-formal dress codes have become more acceptable, concealing tattoos with full-sleeves shirts or collared neck tops is advisable while going for the interview as you don’t want the interviewer to be taken aback by your appearance or in a worse situation that everything goes well in the interview but you fail to get any response from the company, only to know later that someone else has replaced you just because you appeared ‘unprofessional’ to them. You may deem the whole process as discriminatory however, the recruiters have their own valid reason to choose anyone without any tattoo or piercing over you.

Tattoo cover up sleeves

Before getting a tattoo made, you must think of the field you want to work in. if your career field is open to artistic expressions like for example a booking agency or a rather creative genre like even a PR firm or out and out journalist agency, you can freely get tattoos, bold hair colours and cuts and piercings wherever and however you want as they are more flexible in terms of appearance rules. But if you plan to enter a more conservative or traditional workplace set-up you better keep yourself from expressing your artistic side too much. In the case of the latter, you may even have to explain the reason for your tattoo or the meaning of the same during the interview. Ensure that the tattoo does not provoke any offensive or overtly sarcastic content.

Also take into account the company culture as you do not want to work in a company where your appearances matter more than your work!  The company may never say it out-front that they have a problem with your tattoos however, it will be all the more worse if you get terminated because of a work-related reason while the actual reason may be your non-discreet tattoos!

After all, if you can make a statement with your tattoo that screams your unique values and policies, you can surely make a career decision suited to your personality and interests! However, you may start with a company in a conservative manner but later when you prove yourself with your work, you can choose to show off some of your tattoos. You can alternatively choose to make your tattoos more private by having them at places nobody would dare to see – your own secret identity. (*winks*)

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