What Employer Looks in Interview

Its better to be rejected for what you are rather than to be selected for what you are not.

This is the bottom line of all interviews that you give. A offer letter is not the measure of a successful interview, the process is to find a right fit of the job and the candidate. Following are few factors that an employer look in a candidate :

1. Does the candidate meets the qualification criteria i.e is he/she is overqualified or under qualified or sufficiently qualified. Many companies prefer not to higher rankholders or first attempt passouts, the reason, is not their ability, but the ability of company to justify the resources.

2. How exactly a candidate fit into the profile being offered : Each profile has a different set of requirement in terms of knowledge, working hours, interaction, interpersonal skills, traveling, relocation, growth etc. A job requiring frequent transfers or frequent travels, will be offered to bachelors  since they have less of family responsibilities.

3. Will the candidate be able to adapt to working culture. Like a person having worked in a process oriented  company will be difficult to adjust in person oriented company and vice versa. Thus most of the time we face find it difficult in switching industries. For Ex. In IT industry people from all sectors join, but it is rare for IT industry professionals to find room in manufacturing or banking.

4. Will the candidate be stable. A dynamic candidate, no matter how good at work, will not be stable in static profile. The personal situation of the candidate, also help in determining the stability of candidate.

5. Will the candidate actually join : At the time of interview mostly candidates agrees to most of the asks, however, on closer scrutiny they find the option nonviable, thus such offers candidates rejects the offer post obtaining offer letter, this leads to long delays in recruitment process. To avoid such things interviewer themselves makes the assessment of the practicality of the situation.

6. Will the company offer adequate compensation : The compensation being offered, will it be exciting enough for the resource to join and continue.

 All these points are being closely evaluated by interviewer, while deciding. Thus a offer goes to most suitable candidate and not the best candidate.

If one evaluate above reasons and the interviews being faced by them, they will surely find some of the above circumstances coming in their way of getting offer letter. Thus, one should not be dishearten about not getting offer letter, may be the company found you overqualified for the open position.

Simply speaking not qualifying a interview should not always be interpreted as lack of ability, rather should be evaluated as mismatch of expectations.

Private Cloud - Revolutioney Delivery Model or Simple Financial Engineering

Cloud Computing is being projected as next big thing in IT. Each company is coming up with their own set of offering and lapping up the customer with pay as you use model.

Their are multiple models in work for cloud. But let us start by first understanding the meaning of cloud computing and basic models at work for the same.

Cloud Computing : This is a model wherein a service provider offers pay per use model to its clients. Clients can lease storage space or processing power or applications from the service provider and the price being charged is only for the resources being used by the client. This is like extending the T&M rate card for resources to infrastructure and Software service.
Thus multiple benefits flows to end customer like :
   1. No upfront investment in IT infrastructural cost

   2. Competitive cost - Since vendor is enjoying economies of scale in cost like hardware and hosting, thus the benefits trickle down to customer

   3. Sharing of Resources : The resources will be shared across multiple clients, thus fraction of cost only to get charged.
   4. Better Up time & SLA : Vendor will be able to give better SLAs in comparison to owned infrastructure. 
   5. Elasticity : The customer can release the additional units not being used and at the same time can increase the same without any hassle.
   6. Easy Entry & Exit : Minimum or nil exit cost.

Owing to above benefits the cloud is being considered to be a win - win situation for both vendor and customer.

The cloud is being divided in two parts :

1. Public Cloud : This is a cloud where sharing of Infrastructure is being done across customers. Example of it can site like Big Daddy, Google, Sales Force and other such sites which offers hosting space to users and the features

2. Private Cloud : This is same as public cloud, with an additional feature of customization being done to suit the needs of the customer, like extra layer of security or data privacy being added.

Conceptually private cloud seems to be a good business and technical model. Which have the economies of scale and security of hosting model where customer owns and manage the entire infra.

But the devil is in detail. Private cloud if we look closely is more of a hosting model. The client though will not have the infrastructure in its name, but will effectively pay for the same. Let us try to look at the pricing model  of a private cloud for a full scale Integrated Service Deal, involving hardware, software, Implementation, and maintenance. Each of this element has its own pricing method, lets deal with each one :

1. Infrastructure :

This will include components like Servers, racks, routers etc. In this case the hardware to be deployed will be customer specific, since hardware is derivative of application requirements, response time, Up time and security being required, the combination of this is unique to each organization with minimal capability of being shared with any other organization. In such scenario, wherein hardware is being set up for one particular customer, the cost will have to be recovered from such customer only.
    Recovery to be made on pay per use model on monthly basis. Unit rate are to be agreed, with necessary checks like minimum commitment, ARC/RRC etc. The vendor will thus has to ensure recovery of following at minimum commitment :
    a. Cost of Hardware - Or cost plus minimal profits
    b. Finance Cost : Since the money is invested upfront and recovery is made over time, thus finance cost also needs to be recovered.
    c. SLA/Contingency : This will depend on how the deal has been negotiated. If possible, vendor will try to recover even the possible SLA/contingency cost at minimum commitment level.

2. Applications :

This is a tricky area, since their are multiple vendors and varying terms. Most of the licenses are named licenses, especially the end used licenses, typical case in point being ERP licenses. Thus, this does away with any benefit of cloud. However, their can be Server licenses which can be shared across multiple users and bought in as pool. However, such licenses are on rental model and again pay per use. The cost of licenses in such case is considerably higher than the named licenses. Again, the vendor has to recover the following cost from the customer at minimum commitment:

    a. Cost of Application/License - Or cost plus minimal profits
    b. Finance Cost : Since the money is invested upfront and recovery is made over time, thus finance cost also needs to be recovered.
    c. SLA/Contingency : This will depend on how the deal has been negotiated. If possible, vendor will try to recover even the possible SLA/contingency cost at minimum commitment level.

3. End User Computing

This will cover the end user devices like desktop, laptop, routers, switches etc. These assets will be handed over to customer and loses their value quickly. A used laptop will have a little rental value especially when it has to be used over a larger period. And these assets also have higher wear and tear. Again, the vendor has to recover the following cost from the customer at minimum commitment :
    a. Cost of Equipment - Or cost plus minimal profits
    b. Finance Cost : Since the money is invested upfront and recovery is made over time, thus finance cost also needs to be recovered.
    c. SLA/Contingency : This will depend on how the deal has been negotiated. If possible, vendor will try to recover even the possible SLA/contingency cost at minimum commitment level..

 4. Customization/Implementation/Migration Cost

In large deal, vendor offer migration as freebie, and pay out of their margins. The same can happen in cloud computing. But in case of customization and Implementation, specialized skills are being used, which are expensive and since higher time duration is involved thus amount at stake is also higher. The cost of implementation is a account specify cost thus has to be recovered from the customer at minimum commitment:
     a. Cost of Implementation - Or cost plus minimal profits
     b. Finance Cost : Since the money is invested upfront and recovery is made over time, thus finance cost also needs to be recovered.
    c. SLA/Contingency : This will depend on how the deal has been negotiated. If possible, vendor will try to recover even the possible SLA/contingency cost at minimum commitment level..

5. Run & Maintenance Cost:

Their are multiple kind of cost involved under this head. This will include software ATS, hardware AMC, and also the cost of infra and apps FTEs managing the infrastructure and applications. This cost will be yearly cost and will not be incurred in case of premature termination. However, this is fixed for a year i.e. AMC/ATS paid at the beginning of the year to be recovered. Thus following cost to be recovered in from customer at minimum commitment:

    a. Cost of AMC/ATS paid - Or cost plus minimal profits
    b. Finance Cost : Since the money is invested upfront and recovery is made over time, thus finance cost also needs to be recovered.
    c. SLA/Contingency : This will depend on how the deal has been negotiated. If possible, vendor will try to recover even the possible SLA/contingency cost at minimum commitment level..

6. SLA penalty :

The SLAs in case of private cloud will be computed on multiple parameters, which will be same as in case of  any other project. However, the penalty will be levied on the monthly rate being charged, since that is only finance number being present in entire deal. This increase the risk and penalty cost multiple times. Since a network switch failure will lead to penalty being levied on entire monthly payment, which also includes recovery towards hardware and software. In a way penalty recovery for small components can be much higher than the business impact and cost of component/service being impacted. The vendor will have to necessarily have to cover his risk by ensuring penalty ceiling.

Owing to above factor, their is very limited window of benefit to customer. This model will also have very little upward or downward flexibility, since the entire infra is for a single customer, any increment beyond under utilized capacity will be charged extra and nothing and any downward movement will be prevented by minimum commitment, at which vendor is recovering its cost.

This model will also not have a free exit option. Since, vendor has incurred cost for specific to customer, he will have to recover the same, either at the duration of contract or at the termination of contract.

To summarize, though public cloud is a good concept and works for both vendor and customer, but private cloud is only a fancy financing arrangement, which works for none on following basis :

1. Customer has to pay all vendor cost as minimum commit
2. Anything paid over and above minimum commit is a pure margin to vendor.
3. Both the party gains or loses bases on other party,
      a. if contract operates at minimum commit, the vendor do not make any margin,
      b. if contract operates at Maximum capacity, the customer pays huge margins to vendor
      c. if contract operates at projected capacity, vendor makes neutral margin and customer also do not overpay, however, then their is no benefit of the model.
4. In case of premature termination, customer pays entire cost of hardware, without any lien on the same.


Thus on above account, the private cloud model is more of a financial engineering than a technological engineering.

English Vinglish - Presence of Love, cannot compensate for absence of Respect

Rating : Very Good

The movie starts with a everyday scene from our own house. The leading lady of the house putting all efforts and energies for the greater good of all family member and then squeezing out some time to pursue her hobby of making ladoos. But as it happens in our family, despite her doing everything, she fails to meet upto the expectation of her teenage daughter and husband. She is good at cooking, takes care of kids and Mother in Law, is a dedicated wife, but what she is not is being good at English. It is her lack of English knowledge, that she faces constant frowning from her daughter and lack of respect from husband, The relationship of Shashi and her husband, though not falling apart, but lacked the warmth. Then, came the turn, where she takes a tour to New York for helping her sister in preparation of her niece's wedding, here not only she recover her lost self esteem but also do away with her weakness in English.  In New York, she makes new friends, learn English, helps in preparation for niece's wedding. 

The narrative is simple and message is clear.. respect your mother for what she has, rather than criticize her for what she lacks. You may love her, but respect is equally important.

The simplicity of the movie is the highlight of the movie, the subtle inclination of Shashi & the French Cook, towards each other, both communicating in partial English and partial French and Hindi. Most of the characters have made their presence felt, and takes the story forward.

At the end you wonder, how does Barfi scores over EV to get nomination for Oscars..

  

How to Prepare for CA Exams

A lot has been said about the manner in which one can prepare for CA. The course material alonwith the examination pattern makes it one of the toughest exam in India to pass. But if approached systematically, a lot more productivity can be achieved with the same efforts.
Before coming to exact topic, I would like to tell you a little about myself. I am a average student like most of us, however was able to get through the CA exams in first attempt single sitting only. However, while doing so, I realized that there are certain small plans that we can make and that helps a lot in final exams. We all are not gifted with the great brain, but whatever little we have , we have to use the same to analyze our strengths and weakness and then work in a manner to overcome that or at best bypass them. I adopted the same strategy in my preparations, let me elaborate on some of the methods:

1. Plan:
a. This is one of the most initial requirements. Our plans for study should be made well in advance, and the same should be made at the earliest possible time i.e. from the time of the enrollment for the exams.
b. The plan should take in consideration all our weaknesses, the plan should never be very aggressive, and rather the same should be pretty conservative only. For instance, even for the subject that you are sure that you require less days, then also you should put enough buffer into that for some contingencies
c. No matter what, once the plan has been finalized, you should stick to the plan, you can better the same, and generate some additional time, but should never cross the timeline.
d. The planning can be done in following manner:
i. Macro Planning: Needs to be done on the overall basis on the subject level. Following can be the suggested milestones:
1. Course Coverage: Initial months should be allotted to cover the course, depending upon your preference and ability; one can cover many subjects at the same time or one subject at a time.
2. Revision 1: This should be done in 50% of the time taken cover the first Course coverage
3. Revision 2: This should be done in 50% of the time taken to do the first revision
ii. Micro Planning: This needs to be done for each subject. Analyze the scanner for each subject, and arrange the chapters in manner of their importance. When we say important, it means evaluating the effort to be made in each chapter vis a vis the benefit from the same. I use to divide the number of pages in that chapter with the marks expected from that chapter. This use to tell me the most efficient chapter i.e. the chapter in which I need to spend the minimum time but I will get the maximum marks. This also helps in covering the maximum course, at the last whatever chapters remain; they are the ones which if not covered, will not lead to major damage.


2. Revision: Revision is one of the most important aspects of the exam preparations. All of us has are not the same, thus have different memory retention capacity, however, majority of us requires to do revision of complete course on the examination night. Now this is a important thing, if you have not tried to do complete revision at least once, before in one day, you will struggle to cover the same on the examination night. Thus while making the overall examination plan, make sure you plan your learning curve in a manner, that the last revision before the start of the exams is done in a single day i.e. nothing more than 24 Hrs. Once you have done this kind of revision, you will gain whole lot of confidence that you actually are prepared for the exams, and this confidence will be based on actual fact, rather than some suitable assumptions.


3. Notes: Notes are very important from the revision point of view. Just remember, whatever you have studied during the entire year does not matter, if you are not able to revise the same. You need to know, what all the things that you need to revise, and this is where your notes will be handy. Not only is the fact that notes are important, but more important the familiarity with the notes. If you use, pre printed notes of someone else, then that will not be as fruitful, as your notes. Making your own notes for all the subjects will require lot of effort, but are we not talking about one of the toughest exams. There are many ways of preparing the notes:
a. Marking/Writing on the books: Just mark/underline the portion that you wish to revise; you can also add your own comments on the book. By doing so, you will be able to do revision of the entire book in no time. But if you are marking on the book itself, then give number to the pages on which you are doing so, this will help in making sure, that in subsequent revisions you do not miss anything, and will also let you know how many pages you actually needs to revise.
b. Making Notes: This is one of the most tedious and herculean task, but also the most rewarding and satisfactory one. Making your own, notes is like writing a book, in your style for yourself only. The revision of the notes in your handwriting is also faster than the marking on the book. The best part of doing this, is the reuse value of such notes, some of the audit notes that I made in CA Inter, were used in exact form and manner in CA final, or some notes of economics in class 12th were a lot helpful in CA Foundation. These notes also help you in your post qualification work.

4. Simulation: There are many things for which simulation can be done, some of them are :
a. Examination time: You should plan your study hours in a manner, such that, your brain is most active during that time of the day on which exam needs to be written. For Ex. If exam timing is from 10.30 AM in the morning, then in your daily schedule, you should start your study at around 7.30 AM, such that your mind is developed in a manner to give maximum output at the time of 10.30 AM. Nothing can be worse than not being able to attend the paper properly because of feeling sleepy, or because your mind is not at its best at the time of exam.
b. Writing: Practice whole lot of writing, this will not only help improve your writing speed but also develop stamina for writing. Many of must have experienced pain/stiffness in our hands at the time of writing exams, this is caused by lack of writing habit.
c. Dummy Papers: Just try to attend some of the test papers under examination conditions, if possible. I never practiced this, so will not be able to detail on the same.

5. Estimating Marks: Some of us have a habit of estimating the marks that they will get in the paper that they have just written. Never do this. The estimates so made are not helpful at all, since whatever be the result of your estimate, you will either carry excitement or sadness in your mind for the next paper. Both of this will harm your preparation, best approach is to just forget what has happened, whatever you had written in the exam was the best that you could have done in that situation, and once out of the examination hall, nothing can be done in relation to the same. However, the revision of the next paper is in your hand, so make sure that you do not screw the thing that is in your hand, for the thing that is not in your hand.

6. Weightage to Different subjects: Many of us have a tendency of focusing on some particular subject for more marks and less on others. This is a risky approach, although If it works, then you are through but in case it do not, then you may be screwed in no time. Give all your subjects the time that they deserve, because in this approach of fortifying one subject, in case you misfire in that particular subject, then you are doomed, and at the same time, even in case you are able to give your best shot in that subject, then also you may fail the exams because of the other subject, which you have not been given adequate time. However, in case you give requisite time to all subjects, then you can get passing marks in all of them and any one or all of them can give you the required aggregate.

7. Single Group Vs Both Group: Here again it is based on the individual preference, but attempting both group is better than single group, this is because of the following reason :

a. Hey why you want to prolong the ordeal, both groups will mean that you have successfully avoided six months of extended study.
b. Career : Initially whether you realize or not, but both groups in first attempt gives you a whole lot of mileage, and this gives a whole lot of edge to your career, and this advantage continues for long time. After six years of qualifying also, consultants still ask whether you have qualified in first attempt single sitting or not.
c. Money : Think about, being able to earn six months early

8. First attempt: Never undermine the importance of first attempt. First attempt comes only ones in life, and do not miss this opportunity. Your career will depend a lot on this; the ones with first attempts are mostly able to get the premium in job market.


The above points summarizes my experiences of studies in CA, I hope you may find some of them good enough to execute.

   

How to benefit from Personal Loans

Executive Summary:

Personal loan by some school of thoughts is considered to be untouchable due to its many disadvantages, but some amount of financial modeling can make this very product very useful in number of ways i.e.  Liquidity, Return, and Availability. By following a model of PL, FD and OD, one can not only have easy access to credit, liquidity, but also earn good rate of return from the same.

Article Body:

Yes, the same is true in financial terms all that we need to make the same happen is some smart planning.

Our elders and many financial planners advice us against personal loans or any other kind of consumption loans, primarily because of following reason:

1.       They bear high rate of interest i.e. in range of 16% to 18%

2.       Mostly do not lead to asset creation and leads to avoidable expenditures

3.       Sucks a part of our liquidity in form of EMIs

4.       In case of default, will have negative effect on your CIBIL report

5.       Prepayment penalty, even if you want to repay them early

However, even a stopped clock is right twice a day, the same is true with personal loans. These loans have all the above shortcomings, but still are one of the hottest selling products for the day. The reason is the simplicity in obtaining them. For salaried people they are even more simply to obtain and in case of need, they tend to avail the same.

Now let us try to see, how we can use these loans creatively, to make sure they end up earning for us. Following are the steps that we can follow:

1.       Avail a Personal Loan of Rs. 1,50,000.00 for a period of 3 Years. The prevailing rate of interest on same is around 16% P.A.

2.       Deposit the same in FD. The rate of interest is around 9.75% P.A. for 3 Years

3.       Against this FD, take Overdraft. OD can be availed of up to 95% of the FD value. And rate of interest will be 2% higher than the FD rate.

 After doing so, let us a see what happens at the end of 3 Years:

1.       You would have repaid Rs. 1,89,847.98 as your EMI of the Personal  Loan

2.       You will get Rs. 1,98,291.84 as FD maturity value.

3.       This is to say that you got Rs.  8,443.86 Higher than what you paid as EMI of your personal Loan.

Now, entire transaction will result into following benefits:

1.       During the entire 36 months, you have liquidity of up to Rs. 1,42,500.00 in your OD Account

2.       Your effective rate of interest will be 11.75% PA, which is one of the best rates available after the housing loan rates available at this point in time.

3.       The inherent advantage of OD is the applicability of interest rate on daily balance, such that whenever you have surplus amount you can put it in your OD, and reduce your interest liability

4.       You can also start transferring your salary in OD Account; this will ensure your ideal cash save interest @ 11.75% instead of earning 3% PA in saving bank account.

5.       You do not have to make any upfront investment to make this liquidity

6.       In case you are not able to arrange for some EMIs in between, you can avail of the OD facility to avoid any penal charges

7.       The major benefit of this model is that, at the end of 3 Yrs, you will end up having cash in hand and that to more than what you have paid in absolute terms.

As in case of all other things, this model is also not without its share of pitfalls, which you can avoid by acting with some financial discipline.

The OD should is an additional liquidity that should be used judiciously in case of need only. When utilized, endeavor should be made towards repayment of the outstanding balance at the earliest. Even if you can keep your salary in this account for some days of the month you will be able to reduce a great deal of your interest cost.

If you intent to use, the OD fully for the entire duration, this model will not be of any benefit to you. Rather you would end up paying 2%-3% more than what you would have paid under simple personal loan.

One can use different investment instruments in this case instead of FD. One example of the same is Gold. With quick and easy loans available against gold, it will also be a good option and going be last few years rate of return on gold, one can enjoy even greater return in case of gold.

Thus, going with personal loan, is a good option, all you need to make sure is that you have necessary financial discipline for the same.