Importance of Remote Work for Employees and Companies

Work from home may have emerged as a new trend after the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the seeds for remote work had been sowed way before the outbreak. According to the State of the Remote Work Report of 2019, about 44% of employees who are engaged in IT jobs were already working from home.

This shift towards the work from home model indicates that it comes with its own set of advantages. Here is an overview of the importance of remote work for employees and companies:

Benefits of Remote Work for Employees

Employees engaged in remote work enjoy the following benefits:

Striking Work-Life Balance

As more and more employees work from home, they no longer have to deal with rush hour and tedious commutes. It unlocks several possibilities in terms of how they wish to redirect this time. Resultantly, they focus more on themselves and achieve the perfect work-life balance.

Employee Well-Being

IT jobs are notoriously known for being highly stressful. However, when remote work enters the scene, employees know that they no longer have to put up with relocating for attractive opportunities, commuting, or long hours at work. Not having to attend office also limits their exposure to potentially sick or unwell commuters and coworkers. Therefore, it boosts their overall health and well-being.

Higher Employee Engagement

According to a Gallup study, remote working grants job flexibility, which results in higher employee engagement. An engaged employee will be more enthusiastic, positive, and energetic. Most importantly, they will have a positive outlook on their project and overall employment.

Greater Productivity

The autonomy granted by remote work allows employees to prioritize the tasks at hand and work in a self-paced manner. It also eliminates any office-related distractions that may bring down their productivity. The freedom to work in a familiar and comfortable environment will also boost their morale and help them deliver better results.

Work From Home Advantages for Companies

Companies can enjoy the following benefits of remote work:

Lower Operations Cost

With remote working staff, companies no longer have to invest in rent, utilities, and infrastructure to maintain a physical office. Interestingly, a survey highlighted how 44% of the workforce in IT jobs would be okay with a 10% pay cut if they get the chance to work from home. Naturally, such trends will cut down operational costs.

Access to Wider Talent Pool

The modern-day workforce belongs to a generation where they can communicate and operate effectively. As a result, companies no longer have to restrict their search for talent within a specific geographical location. Hiring candidates from all over the world grants you access to the top talents at best salaries.

Employee Retention

Providing a favorable and nurturing work environment enhances employee satisfaction. As a result, employees are less likely to consider switching their job. The reduced turnover rate also cuts down on the hiring and training costs.

Increased Profitability

Employees that work from home are 40% more productive, deliver products with 40% fewer defects, are less prone to absenteeism, and stay with organizations in the long run. Naturally, these trends indicate a marked improvement in your company’s bottom line. Furthermore, pair it with reduced operational costs and other benefits, and you will get almost 21% higher profitability!

Final Thoughts

It is evident that we are currently experiencing a remote work revolution.

When one considers the factors mentioned above, it becomes apparent that work from home benefits companies and employees alike. While 2020 may have accelerated the adoption of a remote working model in IT jobs, it is not merely a transitory phase but a permanent solution.

Global Technology Hiring Platform | Tapresume

Few Tips to take the Right Steps Towards a Great IT Career

Overview

The technology industry is a great place to work – we can call it one of the progressive places to work, where you get an opportunity to work on solutions to problems that impact millions of people, apart from having loads of fun. In fact, it is the dream of every fresher or even a professional, who has spent a couple of years in non-IT sectors to get a foothold in the IT industry. But, the big question is how do you make the final cut? Here are a few tips, which we had underlined to get started. Of course, the biggest success factor would always be your motivation to get into this industry, apart from having the penchant for technology, innovation, and passion to make a difference in the lives of millions of people.

Be active in social media sites

Social media is all about connections and making new acquaintances – not just personal, but also professional. So, the first step is to create your own persona in any or all of the social media sites – Twitter, LinkedIn, Tumblr and FaceBook, which creates the first impression on the employer who might be willing to consider you. Also, ensure that your profile is up to date, apart from following interesting people to learn how they leverage the platforms.

These aspects are important because employers will search and explore facts about you, as your social media profile might not be linked to your resume or website. Another important aspect to adhere is to avoid pornographic or obsessive content on your social media handles, as employers might shy away and may not turn up again.

Showcase your skills

This world is full of advertising and even the minutest detail need to be advertised or highlighted to draw the attention of someone. Hence, if you are a developer, then showcase your skills on Github. In case you are a designer, create an account on Dribble or Behance account. Another good way to highlight your skills is to write a blog or a couple of blogs in Medium or Wordpress that can create a positive impression on your candidature that lets you stand out among the crowd. 

Have a project that talks about your expertise

Having a project that you can show it to a potential employer can go a long way in building a good rapport with your prospective company or the boss, who is going to hire you. Exhibit your skills in such a way that you enjoy doing things, thereby exuding confidence that you have the requisite skills that you had showcased in your resume. The bottom line is always doing some homework on your skillsets or collaborate with your peers to develop a project, say a student body website, while still pursuing your course. Remember, you need not be a developer or a designer to get started. Even if you are a marketing guy, try and enhance the marketing for small business online. Also, if you want to get into content writing, improve the content on a brand website. If you have done this before you attend the first interview, you would definitely make the first cut among thousands of applicants for sure.

Develop contacts with interesting people

One of the easiest ways to get into the tech industry is by forging new contacts and connections.  Such connections greatly help you to get the right job.

Have a good resume

Prepare a good resume that highlights all your important attributes that can make a difference to the employer. If you are a fresher, you may not have much to showcase on the experience front and hence it’s better to highlight your school or college projects, achievements, awards and other aspects that can catch the attention of the recruiters. Also, it's a good practice to keep your resume as black and white, since most of the companies would print the resume before they call you for an interview. Ensure a standard 2-page rule for your resume and have a readable typeface that is comfortable on the reader’s eyes. Also, it is better to have a good photo on your resume if you are submitting the resume in a job fair, as people tend to remember faces better when they have hundreds of resumes to go through.

Send a good email to catch the attention of the recruiters

Once you are fine with your resume, compose your first mail which should sound polite and assertive. Be friendly in your emails. Avoid writing ‘Dear’ or ‘Yours Sincerely’; compose the mail in such a way that you know and respect them. Your the focus should be more on how you can help the company, rather than highlighting how good you are.

Good dress etiquette is important

Don’t be too formal in dressing. Just smart-casual should be fine if the company is small. Wear formal shoes and always be at ease with the interviewers.

Ace the interview perfectly

Before you get into the interview mode, research and understand the company thoroughly, rather than showing off your blank face at the interview. Always expect some open questions in the interview. If you think that user experience is important for a project, highlight that aspect and gauge their expectations. It’s also a good idea to ask questions such as the company culture, business model and the team members you would be working with to check whether you are the right fit for the company or not.  If you think there is a mismatch, it's better not to pursue the job further.

Lastly, if you cannot make it, don’t get disappointed

IT industry is quite dynamic with changing priorities and expectations. So, don't get disappointed if you cannot make the final cut or still worse if the job you had applied does no longer exist, though you had qualified for the interview. Always have a positive mindset, assuming that there are a lot of many opportunities to fish out in the IT Ocean. Try to work on some technology projects to improve your professional credibility.  Be updated constantly and keep looking for the IT trends that are shaping the job market. We are sure you would definitely make it one day.

Hiring Tips for Medium-Sized Companies

Carving an effective hiring strategy for a small or medium-sized company is not as simple as one assumes. Medium-sized businesses need to understand and overcome a few pitfalls before they embark on the right hiring strategy. It’s interesting to note that medium-sized businesses tend to hire faster than their larger counterparts, due to simple hiring strategies, less complex processes or even the passion to build a great workforce within a short period. However, with a lot of hiring challenges to abound, mid-sized organizations have started identifying the gaps in their hiring processes and set up a mechanism to revisit their hiring process for better outcomes.

It cannot be denied that the biggest challenge faced by the small and medium-sized businesses today is finding the right talent within the shortest possible time. As bigger companies have their HR departments, established branding and resources to reach out to a cross-section of their candidates, often it is the small and medium-sized companies, who face the music to hire the skilled talent.

In this blog, we present five hiring tips for medium-sized companies to select the best talent, given their limited resources and infrastructural constraints.

1. Define clear cut expectations upfront

To get the best candidate to join your company, it’s a common practice for you to paint a rosy picture of your company and the benefits that the potential candidate can expect. While this is a great start to bring in the right talent, however, you need to clearly state what your company expects from the potential candidate. For instance, some companies expect their associates to maintain a strict schedule, while some might be flexible with timings.  Such policies should be properly communicated to the prospective candidates upfront including consequences they might face if they fail to comply. Additionally, it’s also helpful to define what qualifies a candidate needs to have to be effective in the job before the recruitment process even commences.

2. Leverage the right talent assessment tools

It’s not about the great qualifications or experience, you might look into the prospective hires; you also need to dig deep into their personalities to assess their attitudes, energy levels and the passion that they bring to your organization. When an associate fits in within your company’s culture, he/she tends to exhibit higher levels of job satisfaction, be more productive, perfectly gel with co-workers and also exhibit loyalty to your organization.

In the present technological landscape, employers have a wide range of options to collate and analyze data that lets them filter the prospects to include only those who could be their right fit for the position. Fortunately, even mid-sized organizations can have access to such low budget tools to devise customized questionnaires to assess the suitability of the candidates.

3. Develop a consistent talent acquisition strategy

Hiring practices differ, based on the industry, organization’s size or even organizational culture. You need to establish a proper system in your organization to hire the top talent, wherein the processes defined within this system should be consistent for hiring candidates across any position. Requiring one associate to face an exhaustive hiring process while another being hired, based on a simple telephonic round can lead to utter confusion and frustration. Hence, a uniform recruitment strategy enables employers to make perfect choices, while minimizing the risk of hiring a bad fit within the shortest time.

4. Take adequate time and don’t rush

Don’t compromise on the quality of the hire, just to fill the position within the shortest possible time to impress your leadership team. Slow down your recruitment process and perform a thorough screening before you even schedule an interview for the prospective candidate. Remember, the time and cost of high turnover are much greater than devising a perfect screening and selection process.

5. Prepare well to ask the right questions to your prospective associate

It’s not a surprise that as an interviewer, you too need to be prepared to ask the right questions to the interviewee to arrive at the right hiring decision. Though you might have got an idea about the potential candidate, having a face to face interaction can be a major influential factor to get the basics right. You need to establish a frank discussion stating the real facts about your organization, the job role and what is being expected from the person who fills it. Apart from that, you need to ask questions to get a clear picture of the prospective associate to assess whether he or she comes with the right attitude and experience, needed to perform the job perfectly.

With the above tips, we hope you establish a strong hiring strategy including robust planning and screening processes to select the right candidates to help build a strong organization.

Booming IT sector of India

IT is driven by innovation, and every wink of a second, you find new developments happening somewhere in this world. Earlier, only developed economies, notably the USA was leading the innovation race. However, from the past few years, even developing economies is picking pace and are not behind in grabbing newer opportunities in innovation and product transformation, translating to more number of jobs in these emerging segments.

According to a new study, India is leading the IT race among all the emerging economies, generating a surplus of opportunities. This survey has identified the country’s five most attractive IT professions that are trending the job market currently.  Accordingly, this survey has thrown open some interesting insights to draw our attention:

• Technology roles in India have been burgeoning consistently over the past five years, as more companies are enhancing their IT strengths.
• Employers are ready to pay for top-notch talent in the areas of development, analytics, and data.
• An increase in technology jobs by 8% in five years from February 2014 to February 2019.
• The dramatic increase of technology jobs by over 31% in the past year, 2018 itself.
• Increase in the median annual salaries of tech workers by over 1,500,000 rupees (approx. $21,100), ranking them among the highest earners in the country.
• The concentration of the majority of jobs in large metros like Bengaluru (25%), Pune (9%), Hyderabad (8%), Chennai (7%) and Mumbai (5%).
• Development, analytics, and data are the segments where employers are willing to pay for the top talent.

From the above insights, one can draw a clear cut conclusion that the right talent is the new engine driving the IT companies to grow.

So, guys and gals, it’s time to pull up your socks and be prepared for the next IT revolution to grab the best opportunities that come your way. Make hay while the sun shines!

Top paying IT jobs, you should never miss!

Indian IT companies are booming, so the number of job openings posted frequently on various job portals. With exciting opportunities opening up across several key domains like development, analytics, and data, it's time for professionals to grab the best opportunities in the above segments. This micro article throws some valuable insights about the five best highly paid jobs, currently trending in the job market. So, let’s have a glance to get started on the same:

1.     Data warehouse architect

This is one of the hottest professions that is transforming the landscape of business intelligence (BI).  In computing terminology, a data warehouse is a system for reporting and analysis, which forms an integral component of business intelligence. The major role of a data warehouse architect is to design such data warehouse systems and enhance the current systems to support businesses. For a qualified data warehouse architect, the median annual salary is Rs.1,500,000 (approx. $21,110), while the upper annual salary is Rs.2,500,000 (approx. $35,228).

2.     Senior technical lead

In the IT sector, this role is quite common and offers immense potential for future aspirants. Typically, the role of a technical lead within the realm of IT development is to design and build complex software solutions. For a qualified and experienced senior technical lead, the median annual salary is Rs.1,200,000 Indian rupees (approx. $16,909) and upper annual salary is Rs.2,500,000 (approx. $35,228).

3.     Analytics manager

We are living in the world of analytics. Right from our day to day consumer products to complex business and industrial applications, analytics is driving innovation and powering our decisions. Within this perspective, the role of a data manager is indispensable, occupying a crucial role within the innovation eco-system. Using the ability and knowledge to analyze and assess complex data sets, the Analytics managers integrate their technical skills and industry knowledge to power businesses with their decision making processes.  A qualified and reasonably experienced analytics manager could expect a median annual salary of Rs.1,150,000 (approx. $16,207), while the upper annual salary could be Rs.2,400,000 (approx. $33,828).

4.     Technical project manager

This is one position that is showing consistent growth and holds lots of promise now and also soon.  The role of a technical project manager is to lead assigned projects and manage each project's life cycle from conception to final sign-off with the emphasis more on technical soundness and efficiency of the resources. The median annual salary of a qualified and a reasonably experienced technical project manager is Rs.1,000,000 (approx. $14,096), while upper annual salary is Rs.2,400,000 (approx. $33,828)

5.     Lead developer

A developer is the core team member of a software development team, while a lead developer is a manager who assumes responsibility across multiple projects that may range from app development to generation of programs. The median annual salary of a lead developer is Rs.1,000,000 (approx. $14,096), while the upper annual salary is Rs. 2,400,000 (approx. $33,828).

From the above article, it is evident that IT roles are diverse across different domains, and it’s only the passion and skills that drive the new generation to dizzy heights of success, be it in terms of money, position and above all the valuable knowledge they gain through innovation. 

Eight tips to build a great gender diversity workplace

Gender diversity has become a common talk in workplaces to ensure that the fair sex gets a better deal in the otherwise male-dominated workplace. Often, we find a lot of articles and news items in media talking about woman power and empowerment with gender diversity being at the pivotal point of discussion. Now, the next question that crops up is how well your organization scores in gender diversity? If your workplace is still dominated by male associates, then you score poorly in gender diversity. However, if you are really serious in improving gender diversity by providing great opportunities for women, then this article is just for you, where we provide a few simple tips and pointers.

1.     Devise an unbiased and fair recruitment policy

 When you think about gender diversity, the first thing that comes to our mind is does your company has a fair recruitment policy that can encourage women to fill male-dominated roles? If you are yet to figure out on this, this is the right time to work on an unbiased recruitment strategy that encourages prospective female associates.

Earlier, there used to be marked discrimination in the hiring pattern in several industrial segments, skewed towards the male associates. In fact, it's been an open secret that some jobs are only reserved for men, due to the tough nature of these jobs. However, in recent years, particularly the IT sector has witnessed a sea change in the way recruitments happen and now the gender bias is slowly blurring with women getting the equal number of opportunities as their male counterparts.  So, devise the right recruitment strategy and show it in action, rather than on paper, giving a good chance for female candidates to show their mettle in the tech. industry.

2.     Project your company as diversity friendly

As part of your recruitment strategy, you need to sell yourself as a potential employer, who believes and fosters a diversity-friendly culture. Publish quotes from existing female associates that talk positive about your organization, promoting a positive aura among the prospective female associates.

3.     Be the leader in the team

Within your team, you need to be a champion of women’s causes and support women, wherever required. In order to ensure they provide the best services in your company, it’s imperative for managers to promote and encourage their skills on par with their male counterparts.

4.     Mentor young lady associates

Hiring women associates in the workplace are just a small tip of an iceberg. In order to sustain and contribute to the bigger vision of your company, these young associates need strong leaders and senior figures, who can mentor and train them with the required skills to excel in their respective professions.

5.     Give a fair chance to women to rotate roles

In order to empower women in your workplace to make them multifaceted and multi-talented, you need to encourage women to rotate roles to get a taste of various skill sets. This way, women tend to learn a lot, gain valuable exposure in multiple domains and gain the confidence to take up bigger and more responsible roles in the near future. 

6.     Provide an opportunity for women in succession planning

What happens if you leave the organization or you retire after a couple of years as a senior leader? Who is going to succeed after you? This is the right time to give an opportunity for female associates, who are equally capable to manage the mantle of responsibilities, handled by you earlier. You need to review the succession plan of your entire company and tackle the areas which fail the diversity test. Hence, if you set an example at the top level, things become easier for you to build a great gender diversity organization.

7.     Provide liberal leave benefits for female associates

This is one of the best ways to ensure that your female associates stick to your organization for a longer time. Granting suitable maternity (and of course paternity leave) for female associates is a great step forward for female associates to fulfill their personal commitments and revert to work when everything has stabilized at their personal levels. In fact, a paid maternity leave would definitely work wonders for your female associates and also instill a sense of security in their respective jobs.

8.     Encourage more work-from-home options

A great step towards women empowerment is to offer adequate work from home (WFH) options, as and when the situation arises. This way, your associates would stay connected with your organization for a longer time, while channelizing all their energies to produce the best output in line with your company’s vision and objectives.

The above tips would definitely go a long way in forging a great diversity friendly workplace, though the road towards achieving this might be fraught with challenges. However, with the right commitment, attitude, and resources in hand, we are sure you would definitely build a great organization that respects and encourages women on par with men at all times.