South Korea Beckons: Global Awareness and Cultural Sensitivity Strategies for Western Technical Communicators

For the past four years, I've lived outside India. Being an expatriate has given me a unique perspective; it has made me more responsive toward the issues of global awareness and cultural sensitivity. More importantly, working as a technical communicator in East Asia has rewarded me with firsthand experience of the cultural differences and their implications on both my professional and personal life. Through this article, I'd like to share my experiences—good and bad—with Western technical communicators, about what it's like to work for a Korean company.

Overcoming Cultural Pangs

As an expatriate in Korea, it took me just one week to realize how different Korean culture is compared to Indian culture. The Japanese occupation and the war with North Korea have left footprints on modern Korean culture.

The traditional values in South Korea stem from deep-rooted Confucian ideology. Confucianism or "The School of the Scholars" revolves around social, political, philosophical, ethical, and religious thoughts that have influenced the culture and history of South Korea up to the 21st century. Nowhere is this more evident than in Korea's corporate system.

Learning to Appreciate a Different Culture

As more and more workplaces become multicultural, there's a great sense of appreciation and respect toward employees from different countries, cultural backgrounds, or ethnicities. Take South Korean conglomerates like Samsung, for instance, where the concept of "global" employees has become quite popular. At Samsung, you're more likely to meet contract employees from India, China, Russia, Ukraine, Japan, Germany, America, France, Turkey, Philippines, and Belarus.

Technical communication also requires sensitivity to diverse cultures. As professional technical communicators, we need to be more aware of cultural differences. By considering the cultural makeup of our audience, we can cater to their needs, without inadvertently causing any embarrassment or resentment.

Differentiating Between High-context and Low-context Cultures

If you're writing for high-context cultures, such as Korea, Japan, China, or France, which assume that readers of technical documents should have enough knowledge about the subject before they begin reading, focus on the amount of detail you need to provide. Generally, technical documentation from high-context cultures offers little detail or explanation.

On the other hand, writers in low-context cultures, such as the United States, India, United Kingdom, or Germany, are expected to provide more detail in technical documents, since it is assumed that their readers know very little or nothing about the subject. Unsurprisingly, technical documentation from low-context cultures is far more comprehensive and elaborate than technical documentation from high-context cultures.

Knowing how much information to provide in a particular culture helps writers communicate more effectively. By considering the cultural background of your audience, you won't overwhelm them with too much information (in high-context cultures) or too little information (in low-context cultures).

Respecting the Hierarchy

In every culture, unwritten rules govern many interactions. Understanding these rules can help you succeed in that culture.

Confucianism has introduced a structure of hierarchy, rather than a matrix, in most Korean organizations. Professionals are hired on merit, in tandem with social considerations. School affiliation and age play a major role in most hiring decisions in Korea.

Koreans place a lot of emphasis on title; it could be said that nowhere in East Asia does title hold more prominence than in Korea. Try addressing a Korean colleague of the same age group but higher designation with his name, and chances are you'll be asked to prefix a title. If you don't use a title to address someone higher in the value chain, Koreans are likely to consider you disrespectful or discourteous.

If the distance between top- and bottom-level organizational hierarchies is wide, technical communicators should resort to formal communication. If the culture encourages a flat organization, the communication automatically becomes less formal.

In order to succeed in a Korean company, you must consider the hierarchy between you and the final decision maker. Allow everybody in the middle to give their opinion and be included as much as possible.

Some Differences Between Korean and Western Workplaces

• According to an in-depth analysis of the "2004 Time Use Survey," South Koreans spend more time at work than Westerners. Most Korean managers throw a fit each time a subordinate enters the premises late, even by a minute. Koreans are sticklers for punctuality, and most jobs vary from 30 to 40 hours a week, but you'll always be encouraged to spend more time at work. If you're interested in working in Korea, and you're accustomed to flex time and telecommuting, be prepared to make some major adjustments to your lifestyle.

• In most East Asian nations, cultures tend to be collectivist. In other words, people pursue group objectives and respond to the groups' needs. But again, several Western countries propagate individualistic culture, where personal achievement holds more prominence than other things. If you know your audience and their cultural orientation, choosing between "me-oriented" or "we-oriented" writing shouldn't take long.

• People in East Asian countries—mostly Korea and Japan—prefer indirect modes of communication to direct modes of communication. Countries like the United States, India, and Canada typically prefer direct communication. Each approach has its advantages and disadvantages. Koreans tend to shy away from Westerners who are loud, direct, or candid in any form of expression. In the Western world, it might be okay to ask questions, such as age and rank. However, in this part of the world, it's considered inappropriate to ask many questions during meetings or conference calls. If you sit quietly and absorb everything that's thrown at you, you'll probably fare better than someone who doesn't. People in East Asian cultures also generally do not contradict their supervisors or seniors as a point of respect.

New Field, Greater Challenges

Technical communication is a new and emerging field in South Korea—not many Koreans consider it a separate profession or a true academic discipline. In fact, very few know what we do and confuse technical communication with advertising, journalism, translation, or technical marketing.

In an exclusive interview with JoongAng Daily, a leading South Korean newspaper, Sohn Eun-rag, deputy director of the policy department at the National Statistical Office, stated that out of 1,414 job categories listed with the Korean government, "technical writer" was still classified under "translator," implying that technical communication in Korea continues to remain unrecognized as a government-designated job. There could be many factors attributing to this, says Sohn, who feels that the field is relatively new—with only a limited number of technical communication practitioners, academicians, or service providers.

Changing the current scheme of things requires a gigantic effort and a fair bit of evangelism. Lack of proper technical communication education or training in Korea only makes it harder to cover enough ground. But on the bright side, less awareness about our profession also means that the market is ripe for exploration.

According to Chang Seok-jin, director of the Korea Technical Communications Association (KTCA), the product liability law passed in 2002 brought about a paradigm shift in the way Korean companies look at user manuals. Under the law, if a Korean company was found responsible for financial or physical damage as a result of its badly written instruction manuals, it could be booked for legal punishment.

More Opportunities for Practitioners, Service Providers, and Academicians

As technical communication tries to establish a foot-in-the-door here, big Korean companies like Samsung, Hyundai, and LG are creating opportunities for practitioners and service providers from foreign countries, inviting them to experience, and be a part of their multifaceted culture.

A typical "work profile" for technical communicators in such companies will include writing such things as reports, business letters/memos, instruction manuals, sales and marketing materials, data sheets, proposals, e-communication, and translation materials.

Also, premier Korean universities are now inviting outstanding international scholars and academicians, mostly from native English-speaking nations, to teach technical communication. For instance, the College of Engineering at Seoul National University (SNU) is planning to start a full-time degree course in engineering general and convergence technology, which includes technical writing as one of its main subjects. SNU sees two distinct advantages with such an arrangement—first, it will promote diversity of its faculty, student body, and curriculum; and second, it will beef up its position on the global map.

The University of Science and Technology (UST), a group of public universities and research institutions located in Seoul, Suwon, Seongnam, and Daejeon, provides special courses in technical communication and technical writing. Ewha Woman's University also offers a master's degree in professional writing and technical communication.

For miscellaneous short-term programs, visit the Korean Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), which has a five-week intensive summer program to provide communicative practice in English.

How Technical Documents Are Written in Korea

Korean companies don't understand why technical communication is important. For them, it's always an afterthought or an additional burden. The result is, more often than not, poor quality documentation that smacks of inaccuracies and inconsistencies. 　

What surprised me when I started to work for Samsung was that some business units (BUs) recruited floor secretaries to write and format their user manuals in English. Other BUs relied on their internal resources (such as subject matter experts, programmers, design engineers, field application engineers, supervisors and managers, public relations officers, sales and marketing staff, and IT specialists) to write or structure technical documents. None of these people had real-life exposure to technical communication in their previous roles; also, they weren't obliged by management to take up formal education or training in technical communication.

Among the most valuable and frequently used resources of Korean writers are digital and online dictionaries and thesauri, translation tools like Hunmin JungUm Global, and guidelines and standards documents for specific industries. Legacy documents are quite popular, too, as are technical documents from peer companies and subject-matter consultants.

Problem Areas

There are no technical publication departments or content business groups per se in most Korean organizations. Additionally, Korean companies lack the experience in setting up technical publication departments. The biggest surprise, however, is the absence of any accurate terminology for technical communication in Korean.

Companies here rarely focus on maintaining standard workflow processes, and they hardly use technology or tools for sharing critical information. Even Korean employees don't share information frequently—if someone leaves the organization, they take the information along with them.

In the past, Korean companies have been on the receiving end of customer wrath due to poorly produced user documentation. Current technical documents do not meet users' satisfaction either, and there are immediate problem areas that need to be addressed.

Most Korean technical writers have never lived in an English-speaking country, and they are used to writing long and unwieldy sentences, laced with grammatical mistakes, colloquialisms, and formatting issues. Making improvements and reducing the cost of creating, editing, and managing content has now become a critical strategy—something that did not exist in Korean organizations in the past.

Some of the bigger problems that continue to haunt the technical communication industry in Korea include: a lack of professional technical communication training on tools and the English language; the inability to hire local/foreign technical communication practitioners who are "right" for the job; few company-/enterprise-level style guides and prescribed patterns, templates, and standard formats to follow; inadequate ethical considerations; and a lack of usability testing.

Also, considerable inconsistencies exist between the writers' criteria and the users' standards of what comprises an effective document. The biggest discrepancy lies in honesty—there's no such thing as copyright in Korea, or if there is, most Korean writers and managers are blind to it. Over the years, the need to hire foreign technical communication practitioners has increased tremendously in Korea. Several factors that have fueled this demand, including globalization, customers who discovered inconsistencies in technical documents, difficulties with translation, and issues with comprehension.

The Role of STC and the Technical Communicator Network

Before we start analyzing the role of the Society for Technical Communication (STC) and Korea's Technical Communicator Network (TCN) in elevating the technical communication profession, it's important to understand how Koreans view the English language in general.

Previous studies on the English language may not have centered on writing, let alone technical writing. Almost all Koreans start learning English—both in its written and spoken variants—from as early as the third grade. They are adept at reading English; what they truly lack is the chance to practice speaking it with a native. And while written English is required for university graduation and for attaining employment with big companies in Korea, no one learns to write well.

Some Korean companies like Samsung require a good score in Test of English for International Communication (TOEIC). However, even with so much focus on it, English has failed to become the preferred language for communication in Korea. Until it becomes sufficiently widespread, Koreans are unlikely to communicate in native English text or use its rhetorical styles.

In order to disseminate information, awareness, and understanding of the technical communication profession in multicultural, professional, and business organizations in Korea, STC started a Korea Chapter in 2006, which currently has 21 members. In addition to the STC Korea Chapter, technical communicators in Korea can collaborate via Technical Communicator Network (TCN), a relatively unknown entity in Korea with more than 550 registered members. According to Mr. Yoon G. Won, president of TCN Korea, these numbers are going to increase in the coming years.

What Lies Ahead

The profession of technical communication will eventually grow in Korea, but it will take a long time for the profession to fully realize its social responsibilities. In the meantime, technical communicators eager to work in Korea must understand the social, cultural, economic, and political environments in which Korean companies operate.

Academicians should focus on developing students' knowledge and competencies in the use of English language for intercultural communication in business and professional contexts. By opening new university-level programs, they would help technical communication become the most sought after profession in Korea.

Practitioners should also learn the customs and the language of another culture. For instance, without sufficient knowledge of written and spoken Korean, foreign writers will always remain ill-equipped to explore the manner in which Koreans write about technology in their own language.

Finally, my recommendation for dealing with intercultural issues is to have an open mind and heart. While we are all unique in some ways, at the core we're all the same. Our values, goals, and daily issues are pretty much the same. We might exercise different practices and customs, but they all fulfill the same basic needs or desires.

One thing I can say for sure: obtaining the necessary knowledge and skills to survive in a culture and practicing those skills until they become second nature requires effort, but the rewards are both heartwarming and dramatic.

STC 55th Annual Conference – My Travelogue (Part 1)

Most of you must've at least skimmed through the countless articles and blog stories on STC's 55th Annual Conference held in the heart of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania from June 1-4, 2008. For me, this event was a part of the bigger world, which had eluded me for the last seven years of my professional life. It was a chance to meet the veterans, majority of whom I have admired for a long time. It was also a great networking opportunity, besides the usual hullabaloo of sessions, panel discussions, and exhibitions. Being in the States also meant experiencing a new country, a new place, and a new culture. Overall, it was an experience to remember.

Here's how it all started for me:

May 29, 2008

1. Woke up quite early in the morning, even though my flight from Incheon to San Francisco (SFO) was scheduled to depart at 2:10pm.
2. Had to run an errand to my office for procuring the username and password of the company laptop. Yes, I did not carry my Dell XPS M1530 this time. Turns out the username was administrator and the password, blank.
3. Called Eun-kyong, a family friend, and asked her what she'd like for a gift. "Anything!" back came her reply. On my persistence, she revealed her favorite colors were red and black, not pink, which by the way, is a very popular color in Korea. Eun-kyong, like all other Korean women in their late 30s, thinks she looks plump in pink, lol!
4. Called a taxi to reach Hotel Plaza (just for the record, if you are staying in the Suwon area, it can take you more than an hour to reach the Incheon airport – either by car or by bike. So, taking a limo from Hotel Plaza to Incheon Airport is quite reasonable if you ask me. Besides, it only costs a paltry USD12.) The taxi arrived in merely five minutes [as a matter of fact, Korea is renowned for its pali-pali (or quickly-quickly) culture]. Not surprisingly, the driver wanted to strike up a conversation with me in Korean. We tried to get it going for sometime, but on realizing that neither of us were good at understanding the other, we preferred to remain silent for the rest of our journey. Works like a charm!
5. Thankfully, the limo departed on time. Unfortunately, the driver discovered quite late that the rear glass of the limo was broken. And just when I thought of asking the driver why the bus won't start, all hell broke loose. He grabbed the nearest microphone, and started making an annoying broadcast, lo and behold, in Korean. Failing to figure out what exactly was going on, I turned to the guy behind my seat. Turns out, he was Japanese. Actually, the driver was arranging for another limo.
6. Reached the Incheon airport way ahead of time. The weather was fantastic – bright and sunny – precisely how it should've been. Who would've imagined that it was raining like cats and dogs up until the night before?
7. A big, pleasant surprise awaited me at Incheon. My economy class ticket from Incheon to SFO was automatically upgraded to Business class. Also, I was greeted by a Greek goddess at the Asiana Airlines counter, who delivered the good news to me: "Special offer extended for Samsung employees only!" Tada!
8. However, my happiness was short-lived. My flight was delayed by five hours due to some technical glitches in the Airbus. I rushed to grab my free food coupons from the airlines helpdesk. Most Korean passengers in my flight were frantic with anger and frustration, while others were perplexed about what was going on (rotfl!)
9. I hit the book shack, and grabbed a Mitch Albom novel, "For One More Day." For more details on this book, refer to http://www.albom.com/films_fomd.html.
10. The rescheduled flight started exactly at 7:10pm instead of 2:10pm. Finally, I breathe a sigh of relief!
11. On the plane, I met an interesting older person from Boston. This person, perhaps in his late 60s, was born in the States, and had lived all his life there with his wife and his only son (who by the way, has moved to some other city in the States; sorry, can't remember the name!) Interestingly, his accent hinted to me that his ancestors must have descended from Korea or some similar ethnicity. This man, too, looked like a Korean, but didn't know a dime about the country, let alone its language or its people.
12. Reached SFO at almost 2pm. The flight took more than ten hours to reach SFO from Incheon. Needless to say, all my batteries were exhausted by that time. Didn't have enough time to see the airport. Rushed straight to the domestic terminal for catching the connecting flight to Philly.
13. Only an hour was left for the connecting flight to Philly, and the line for security check seemed like the stretch from Jammu to Kanyakumari. To make matters worse, the security personnel literally glanced over my shoes, my bracelets, my watch, my belt, my wallet, and believe it or not, even my glasses. Whoever said common sense prevails?
14. Somehow made it to the connecting flight, only to realize that the seats were smaller in this jet, and the leg space, even smaller.
15. As luck would have it, I couldn't sleep at all on the flight from SFO to Philly. Besides, I was not impressed by the unfriendly staff in that particular United Airlines domestic flight – the stewardesses wore a dry, weary smile. And just when I thought it couldn't have gotten worse, one of them announced, "We only offer paid beverages for USD5 on this flight." I could clearly see the writing on the wall. In all likelihood, this was my last flight with United Airlines.
16. Reached Philly at about 10:30pm in the night, but the airport wore a deserted look. Quite unflattering to say the least.
17. Just as I made a quick trip to the comfort station, I was dumbstruck at the use of technology everywhere, even in the most unlikeliest of the places. Everything is huge in the States.
18. Met a cool Afro-American driver, and instantly struck up a conversation with him to know more about the city, which many say, is the city of brotherly love. During my half an hour journey from the Philly airport to the Club Quarters Hotel, I gained a lot of insights about the city from the driver, who interestingly, has been working as a driver for the last 18 years. The normal charge for a taxi from the Philly airport to the Club Quarters Hotel is USD28.50; however, this driver drove me in a chic limo, so I was more than willing to pay him USD30.
19. The Club Quarters turned out to be a much better hotel than I anticipated. Unlike other hotels in Philly, the prices in this one are low, while the quality is high. Neat and clean hotel, with an extremely friendly staff. The best part was a free wi-fi connection (if you were staying in any other hotel in Philly, you have to pay for availing the wi-fi services.)
20. After checking in the hotel, the receptionist asked for my credit card in order to cover accidentals. She handed over my room's swipe card. Turns out, if you are a customer in this hotel, you had to swipe this card for just about everything, even in the elevator (phew!)
21. Couldn't sleep properly due to the jet lag. I literally forced myself to sleep at 4am.

May 30, 2008

22. The next morning, I decided to have breakfast in the hotel itself. The Club Quarters has a cool Italian restaurant inside its premises called Davios. A simple bread omelet with fresh orange juice and coffee turns out to be quite expensive. Wrong decision!
23. Decided to check out the venue of the STC conference, so reached the Mariott at around 10am.
24. A Victorian-style "open-air" trolley parked near the hotel caught my attention immediately, and before I knew, I was on it, taking the city tour. Right decision this time, but at a heavy price tag once again. The ticket was priced at USD27.
25. Took the complete bus tour, and saw most of the tourist spots in Philly from outside like Independence Visitor's Centre, Betsy Ross House, National Constitution Center, Chinatown, Hard Rock Cafe, City Hall, Basilica of St Peter And St Paul, Rodin Museum, "Rocky's Steps" Museum of Art, Eastern State, Penitentiary, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia Zoo, Franklin Institute Science Museum, Logan Circle, Academy of Music, Antiques Row, South Street/ Head House Square, Society Hill Sheraton, Penn's Landing/ Waterfront, and Old City/ Christ Church. What fun!
26. Returned to the hotel, which was five blocks away from the Mariott. Ordered lunch from an Indian restaurant called "Passage to India". Bad food, plus expensive. Another blunder!
27. Decided not to step out of the hotel for rest of the day. First, I was terribly exhausted. Second, I had to download and install the trial version of Adobe Technical Communication Suite on my company's Sens x06 notebook, since the pre-conference certificate program was going to start from the next day. To my surprise, I found out that Adobe had taken off the trial versions for some of its selected products from its website until July 1, and Technical Communication Suite figured in those selected few. I reached out to Peter Grainge, and he offered to help. Peter tried to contact the support guys at Adobe, and even downloaded the trial CD on his website. However, on that particular day, none of his approaches would work. Eventually, I decided to go at the venue without the software installed on my system. I was appalled, and I say this without having any intention to offend Adobe, that the customer support at Adobe could not provide a timely resolution to my problem (actually they couldn't provide a resolution at all!) I tried calling their customer support two times that day — no response the first time, and the second time, my call was redirected to an Indian call center executive, who took the call, but failed miserably at providing a resolution! I was sure that emailing Adobe would work, but the results were far from encouraging! Maybe it was just one of those bad days, where nothing worked regardless of the effort.
28. Slept for a few hours, but not enough to let go of my jet lag. Don't exactly remember what I did after that, except I ate the same food I had for lunch.

May 31, 2008

29. Reached the Mariott at 7:15am, only to realize later that I was the first person to reach the venue. While I was checking the several pre-conference certificate programs, I met Keith Dover from Southwest Power Pool. I ran into Keith quite often at the STC conference, and even met his wife during the Stars of Philadelphia tour (more details on this tour later!)
30. While I was hanging out at the venue, trying to figure out how many pre-conference sessions were in progress simultaneously, I met Sandra Shambaugh, mother of a 13-year-old daughter from Florida, who had also enrolled for the Adobe Technical Communication Suite boot camp. Among all the attendees for the Adobe boot camp, Sandra and I clicked right from the word go.
31. One of the main reasons to arrive early at the venue was to meet my instructors, Kevin Siegel and Matt Sullivan, so I could request a trial CD of the Technical Communication Suite software from them. Unfortunately, none of them were carrying one. Kevin, who was teaching RoboHelp and Captivate on the first day of the camp, requested Matt to help students with the installation of the software. In the meantime, Kevin asked me to use his laptop for working on the software. He trained us on RoboHelp, which in my opinion does not have a big learning curve. I would say that I enjoyed listening to him.
32. During lunchtime, I sat with attendees from the Usability workshop. Incidentally, I ran into Leah Guren there. Leah is the Director of Training for In Other Words, Israel.
33. After the first day of boot camp ended, I bought a long-distance calling card, and called my folks in India. The rest of the evening was spent with STC members who traveled along with me on the Stars of Philadelphia optional tour.

(To be continued...)

IT Slowdown in India Might Just Be a Faux Pas

It happened in 2001 and it's happening all over again. Among all the talk of a booming Indian economy and rising employee wages, the slowdown in the Indian IT industry has reared its ugly head for the second time in less than a decade.

Premier institutes in the country like the Indian Institute of Technology are already facing the music, with companies like International Business Machines Corporation (IBM), Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC), Hughes Software Systems (HSS), and Hindustan Computers Limited (HCL) deciding to cop out of placements this year. Even leading Indian IT service providers like Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Wipro, and Infosys have decided to go slow on their hiring spree. One can only imagine the plight of thousands of IIT graduates passing out this year!

To make matters worse, TCS has shown the door to more than 500 employees with less than five years of experience, citing performance issues. IBM, too, laid off around 700 employees, mostly novices.

That's certainly one part of the equation. Contrary to popular belief, NASSCOM, a leading trade body that represents the chamber of commerce of IT and IT-enabled services (ITeS) industries in India, predicts that the number of jobs in this sector will continue to rise in 2008. According to NASSCOM, both IT and ITeS will be home to an additional 4 million people this year, contributing towards 7% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and 33% of the foreign exchange inflows in India.

Lomesh, a technical writer working at TCS, Noida, stated,

"I think there are many factors contributing towards the slowdown in the Indian IT industry. Recession in the U.S., drop in the U.S. dollar value against the Indian rupee, and emergence of cost-effective markets elsewhere are some of the factors that may have led to the recent layoffs and less hiring in India. However, companies like TCS and IBM have their operations all over the world, not to forget, they also have a huge workforce."

"As far as the numbers are concerned, both 500 and 700 may seem large. However, this still constitutes a minuscule percentage of such a company's workforce. Software professionals in India just cannot sit on their laurels and enjoy big packages anymore. We, in India, should get ready for the tough competition from our counterparts in Latin America, China, Southeast Asia and other parts of the world," he concluded.

Cost Arbitrage and Quality Pressures
Ironically, the 12th Annual Salary Increase Survey from Hewitt Associates showed that India Inc. enjoyed the highest salary hikes in the world last year, averaging at 15.1%. Analysts at Hewitt predict an increase of 15.2% this year. In the last five years, no other country in the world has come close to India if you compare the salaries inflation in excess of 10%.

In my humble opinion, downturn in the U.S. has little to do with the IT slowdown in India. I think that cost arbitrage, skills shortage, and declining quality of work might be the actual culprits. As employee wages continue to rise in India, the cost advantage for offshoring is slowly diminishing. Barring costs, other recurring issues like shortage of skills and quality pressures, keep haunting the Indian IT and ITeS industry.

Echoing the same sentiments, Vijay Tase, Owner, Peer Technical Services Pvt. Ltd., Mumbai, said,

"I'd agree that almost every decision related to offshoring or outsourcing has a financial motive behind it. However, another equally important issue is that of quality, which in the end bear financial consequences. To maintain the quality of products or services under any kind of outsourcing model is difficult. It's hard for any company headquartered in the U.S. to maintain quality when outsourcing work to smaller (or any size for that matter) U.S.-based outfits, let alone outsourcing outside the U.S. This is a result of the cultural differences (professional and social) between the two parties."

Tase makes an interesting observation about the quality of work in an outsourcing model and the amount of resources needed in order to maintain that quality.

"In harsh economic conditions, such things usually come to the fore and form a decisive element when looking at options for change. Not only does one need to carefully analyze the quality of work coming out of the outsourcing model, but also the amount of resources that need to be expended to keep that quality. The amount of management time that goes in maintaining high quality can be excruciatingly large. A company might spend the same resources managing quality in outsourced work in good as well as bad times, but in bad times it simply becomes a particularly thorny aspect."

Reaching an Equilibrium between High-tech Jobs in India and Elsewhere
WRAL Local Tech Wire Publisher and Editor, Rick Smith, argues that layoffs in India point towards an equilibrium reached between high-tech jobs in the country and high-tech jobs in North America (or the higher-cost countries.)

I'd certainly beg to differ!

Just imagine, a highly-skilled professional like a Software Architect can command up to U.S. $200/hour or more in the U.S. Not sure if someone with comparable skills in India can earn that much.

While companies like IBM, Accenture, and Hewlett-Packard (HP) have outsourced more than 10% of their workforce to India, most of these jobs do not go beyond simple execution or maintenance tasks.

Chaitra Venkatesh, a techie with Advice America, said,

"To meet the manpower demand, companies cast a wide net for new employees. Now the pressure on margins moves on to break the linear-growth relationship between employee numbers and revenue, and a drive to do high-end work is resulting in companies doing away with the non-performers."

It will not be fair to say that layoffs in India are a direct corollary of this equilibrium. Additionally, those affected by this slowdown must remember that a layoff is not the end of the road. In fact, if you continue to reinvent and innovate, it might just be the beginning.

Differences in Work Culture
In one of her blog posts on this subject, Sarah O'Keefe, Founder and President, Scriptorium Publishing Services,
wrote,

"I think it's fair to say that many Indians are shocked by this development. At least one person says that the interviewers should be let go because they did a bad job of evaluating people. Others are wringing their hands over ruined careers because the layoff means a black mark on your resume. And with much sympathy, I say to them, "Welcome to our world." Layoffs are a fact of life in the U.S."

Sarah, by the way, started her company following a layoff. According to her, most people in high-tech have had a layoff (or two or three) in their job history.

"The "I've been laid off and my life is ruined" perspective is no longer valid in North America. Layoffs happen, and everyone knows it. For those Westerners who are concerned about losing their jobs to low-cost competition, layoffs in India might be a sign that the outsourcing trend is slowing down. Which, if you're in the U.S. job market, means less competition for you. Maybe."

While I completely understand where Sarah is coming from, I do not think the work conditions in India can be compared in the same vein with the U.S. or elsewhere. It's like comparing apples to oranges.

To put the work culture differences into perspective, Samartha Vashishtha, Senior Technical Writer at HCL Technologies, offers some useful insights,

"Yes, layoffs are a part of the U.S. work culture, but there are several things one can find solace in. Social security and unemployment benefits come to my mind immediately. Compare that to India, where unemployment benefits exist only in name. Even if you are able to bypass the government machinery to collect the pittance, that would not pay for anything! In a country of a billion people, where a sizeable number spend their lives working for their next meal, the danger of being reduced to nothing is real. There is no subsidized healthcare for the elderly; the cost of living is mounting by the day. Just some of the reasons why people feel about their jobs here the way they do. I am not saying that the clash of the working cultures does not exist; I only want to emphasize that the problems of these two democracies are fundamentally different."

Blame it on the culture, but many companies in India still cannot differentiate between a person who was "laid off" and a person who was "fired." Being laid off does not show a person's incompetence by any means; it just implies a cutback. If you are unemployed as a result of a layoff, use this time to study more, to enhance your existing skill set, and to network using professional societies or local groups. Maintaining a positive frame of mind is the key to survive here.

Embracing Change in a Transient, Volatile Global Business Environment
According to John Rosberg, Director, Tech Pubs and Localization at Interwoven,

"All business (and, indeed, much of everything) is cyclic—where you can really make trouble for yourself is when you make rock-solid plans on things continuing as they have indefinitely."

I could not agree more! In the coming times, India Inc. would face a stiff competition from Eastern Europe, Israel, Ireland, and other nations—all of whom have programs to counter India's cost structures. The only way to avert competition is by constantly adding value, rather than focusing on cost. Obviously, the software industry is here to stay—just as certainly, it'll continue to undergo a rapid and a continuous change.

Financial Motivations
Many experts believe that the IT slowdown in India might just be a faux pas. Outsourced work will continue to create jobs in developing nations, until the industry misers run out of all their financial motivations.

In words of Rick Stone, an Adobe Certified RoboHelp HTML Instructor and an Adobe Community Expert for the RoboHelp and Captivate products,

"Developers worldwide are financially motivated because they often have families depending on their income. The companies providing new avenue for outsourced work are financially motivated for the same reasons."

The government of India has ensured in a statement that the Indian IT-ITes and BPO (including hardware) sector will continue to garner high revenues in 2007-2008, growing at over 33 per cent. The Minister of State for Communications and IT, Shakeel Ahmad, told in a written reply in Rajya Sabha that there would not be any recession in the IT industry in 2008.

"There was no immediate challenge to the Indian IT industry from China or other competing countries as per Electronics and Computer Software Export Promotion Council," Ahmad said.

Finally, brush aside all your fears of an IT slowdown and remember that your "value" to the company must increase with the cost.

A whole new world: My article in Khaleej Times

One of my technology articles has been published in the Weekend section of Khaleej Times, the No.1 English language daily newspaper published from Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

Title: A whole new world

Published under the section: Weekend

Published on: 21 March 2008

Click here to read it.

Happy reading!

The Van Gogh Blues: Interview with Eric Maisel

Rahul: Eric, can you tell us what The Van Gogh Blues is about?

Eric: For more than 25 years I've been looking at the realities of the creative life and the make-up of the creative person in books like Fearless Creating, Creativity for Life, Coaching the Artist Within, and lots of others. A certain theme or idea began to emerge: that creative people are people who stand in relation to life in a certain way—they see themselves as active meaning-makers rather than as passive folks with no stake in the world and no inner potential to realize. This orientation makes meaning a certain kind of problem for them—if, in their own estimation, they aren't making sufficient meaning, they get down. I began to see that this "simple" dynamic helped explain why so many creative people—I would say all of us at one time or another time—get the blues. To say this more crisply, it seemed to me that the depression that we see in creative people was best conceptualized as existential depression, rather than as biological, psychological, or social depression. This meant that the treatment had to be existential in nature. You could medicate a depressed artist but you probably weren’t really getting at what was bothering him, namely that the meaning had leaked out of his life and that, as a result, he was just going through the motions, paralyzed by his meaning crisis.

Rahul: Are you saying that whenever a creative person is depressed, we are looking at existential depression? Or might that person be depressed in "some other way"?

Eric: When you're depressed, especially if you are severely depressed, if the depression won't go away, or if it comes back regularly, you owe it to yourself to get a medical work-up, because the cause might be biological and antidepressants might prove valuable. You also owe it to yourself to do some psychological work (hopefully with a sensible, talented, and effective therapist), as there may be psychological issues at play. But you ALSO owe it to yourself to explore whether the depression might be existential in nature and to see if your "treatment plan" should revolve around some key existential actions like reaffirming that your efforts matter and reinvesting meaning in your art and your life.

Rahul: So you're saying that a person who decides, for whatever reason, that she is going to be a "meaning maker," is more likely to get depressed by virtue of that very decision. In addition to telling herself that she matters and that her creative work matters, what else should she do to "keep meaning afloat" in her life? What else helps?

Eric: I think it is a great help just to have a "vocabulary of meaning" and to have language to use so that you know what is going on in your life. If you can't accurately name a thing, it is very hard to think about that thing. That's why I present a whole vocabulary of meaning in The Van Gogh Blues and introduce ideas and phrases like "meaning effort," "meaning drain," "meaning container," and many others. When we get a rejection letter, we want to be able to say, "Oh, this is a meaning threat to my life as a novelist" and instantly reinvest meaning in our decision to write novels, because if we don’t think that way and speak that way, it is terribly easy to let that rejection letter precipitate a meaning crisis and get us seriously blue. By reminding ourselves that is our job not only to make meaning but also to maintain meaning when it is threatened, we get in the habit of remembering that we and we alone are in charge of keeping meaning afloat—no one else will do that for us. Having a vocabulary of meaning available to talk about these matters is a crucial part of the process.

Rahul: Your book talks about creativity, meaning/ purpose, and depression. You also talk about success, which according to you is not a measure but a feeling. Is depression a frequent corollary of losing?

Eric: Our disappointments, regrets, feelings of failure, and experiences of not succeeding (or of not succeeding enough) can all breed depression. We can go for long periods of time without any outward success, living on hope and calling ourselves successful by virtue of the fact that we are continuing to try. But at some point (often in a person's mid-thirties) we find it hard, if not impossible, to continue without real-world rewards and recognition. This is why we must redouble our marketplace efforts rather than give in to our feelings that we are "no good" at self-promoting or "above" self-promoting; if we don't redouble our efforts and accrue some external successes, we risk losing all motivation to proceed.

Rahul: You say that purpose wins if we do not experience success. What do you tend to imply here?

Eric: The fact that we are making an effort counts for a lot: we can stay buoyed by reminding ourselves that we are not attached to outcomes but rather are making ourselves proud by honorably making and maintaining meaning. If we maintain our life purpose, we are entitled to feel proud; in this sense purpose trumps success. However, as I indicated in my last answer, it is very hard, verging on impossible, to keep this good feeling afloat over time without sufficient real-world successes; without that success, we may have to find some other way to make meaning and some new places to make meaning investments.

Rahul: What is more important in life - creativity or objectivity?

Eric: The dream is nothing without reality and reality is nothing without the dream. We want to dream large, which includes nurturing our deepest creativity, and at the same time we want to reality-test well, figuring out how to negotiate the marketplace and also how to negotiate the creative process, which requires our objectivity and real attention as we deal with blocks, resistance, and the other real challenges and pitfalls of process. One doesn’t trump the other—the must go hand-in-hand.

Rahul: Is being successful the end of the road for creativity?

Eric: There are many pressures on creativity that success brings, among them the pressure to repeat yourself (and your past successes), the pressure to give people what they want and expect, the pressure to accept lucrative offers that do not hold a lot of meaning for you, and so on. But success is not the end of creativity if you remain your own person and stay mindful that success is a blessing and not an albatross and something that you can negotiate if you pay attention to its pitfalls, blandishments, and pressures.

Rahul: This is the paperback version of The Van Gogh Blues, How was the hardback version received?

Eric: Very well! The reviewer for the Midwest Book Review called The Van Gogh Blues "a mind-blowingly wonderful book." The reviewer for Library Journal wrote, "Maisel persuasively argues that creative individuals measure their happiness and success by how much meaning they create in their work." I've received countless emails from artists all over the world thanking me for identifying their "brand" of depression and for providing them with a clear and complete program for dealing with that depression. I hope that the paperback version will reach even more creative folks—and the people who care about them.

Rahul: How does The Van Gogh Blues tie in with other books that you've written?

Eric: I'm interested in everything that makes a creative person creative and I'm also interested in every challenge that we creative people face. I believe that we have special anxiety issues and I spelled those out in Fearless Creating. I believe that we have a special relationship to addiction (and addictive tendencies) and with Dr. Susan Raeburn, an addiction professional, I've just finished a book called Creative Recovery, which spells out the first complete recovery program for creative people. That'll appear from Shambhala late in 2008. I'm fascinated by our special relationship to obsessions and compulsions and am currently working on a book about that. Everything that we are and do interests me—that's my "meaning agenda"!

Rahul: What might a person interested in these issues do to keep abreast of your work?

Eric: They might subscribe to my two podcast shows, The Joy of Living Creatively and Your Purpose-Centered Life, both on the Personal Life Media Network. You can find a show list for The Joy of Living Creatively here and one for Your Purpose-Centered Life here.

They might also follow this tour, since each host on the tour will be asking his or her own special questions. Here is the complete tour schedule. If they are writers, they might be interested in my new book, A Writer's Space, which appears this spring and in which I look at many existential issues in the lives of writers. They might also want to subscribe to my free newsletter, in which I preview a lot of the material that ends up in my books (and also keep folks abreast of my workshops and trainings). But of the course the most important thing is that they get their hands on The Van Gogh Blues!—since it is really likely to help them.

Demystifying Offshore Visits for Business

Narasimha Kumar, Head of Regulatory IT Compliance at TCS, Bangalore, has been globe-trotting for business since 2002. In the recent times, Yamini W. Nafde, Senior Technical Communicator with the Communication and Design Group (CDG) at Infosys Technologies Limited, Pune, visited three different on-site clients in the U.S. alone.

Besides presenting a great learning opportunity on both the personal and professional fronts, Kumar opines,

"In today's global economy, it is good to have a well-rounded work experience in more than one geography."

Offshore client visits may be triggered by the need to interact with colleagues, subject matter experts (SMEs), managers, and so on. And as enthusiastic as I am about the emerging tools to facilitate virtual collaboration and communication, some face-to-face meeting is imperative for assuring that a team effectively achieves its goals.

In this article, we shall try to identify the impact of offshore business visits on productivity, price, profit, and wages, along with its surrounding difficulties.

For some odd reason, global sourcing and offshore sourcing have remained confined to the "Fortune" listed companies in large measure, though the spread has shifted a little towards the small and medium enterprises as well. Taking a leaf from this current trend, more and more global companies in India are sending their task force offshore for shorter and longer durations.

The task may range anywhere from a simple requirements gathering to a highly complex customer problem that needs to be resolved immediately. What's unique about these offshore visits is that the person making them is entitled to some monetary benefits in addition to his or her regular monthly income.

Let us try to find out what sort of companies or industries are encouraging such kind of visits.

Offshore Visits -- Voluntary or Necessity
In words of Sumedh Nene, Owner, CrackerJack WordSmiths,

"It is tough to single out a company or industry, since site/client visits across the seven seas is becoming more and more common across all companies and industries. I do not think such trips are voluntary anymore. As the world gets smaller and the outsourcing phenomenon gets ever so popular, these trips are becoming a necessity."

Recounting his offshore experiences, Nene adds,

"I have made many offshore visits for business, but the ones that I'd particularly like to talk about is a trip from Singapore to Australia (while I was working in Singapore), and another trip from Pune to Santa Clara (while I was working in India).

In Singapore, I took up a contract with Levi Strauss. Even though this assignment was to be completed at the company's regional head office in Singapore, it entailed documenting a pilot project at its manufacturing plant in Adelaide, Australia. I had to document the business process end-to-end, so traveled to Adelaide for meeting and interviewing the subject matter experts of various processes and gathering all the information.

Later, I joined nVIDIA Graphics in India and was sent to their US headquarters in Santa Clara just to meet in person the rest of Tech Pubs and QA teams. There was no agenda, except to meet the folks I'd be closely working within my capacity and have a face to put with the voice."

Perks related to Offshore Visits
According to Richard Mateosian, a self-employed Computer Systems Consultant in the U.S.,

"When I worked for Hitachi America as a strategic marketing manager for microprocessors, I visited Hitachi's Musashi Works in Tokyo several times. We went to meet the engineers there."

Mateosian was not entitled to earn extra dough on these trips, but he was in for some interesting adventures with Hitachi.

"When we were in Japan, someone always took us out for food and drinks after work, then put us in a cab and sent us back to our hotel. The Business Class flights were nice -- except for the time, I was so sick after food poisoning in Tokyo the night before that I didn't want to look at food for the whole 12 hours.

When Hitachi executives came to the US in 1990 to visit some of their big memory customers -- IBM, Univac, and so forth, I was part of the team that took them around. I wrote a speech for one of the executives about the coming return of Hong Kong to China. Nobody gave me a theme. I just made it up. I have no recollection of what I said, but he read it without questioning any of it.

We had a private jet, though I only rode in it some of the time -- our party was larger than the jet could accommodate, so we took turns taking commercial flights. I remember taking off from the Teterboro airport and circling over New York City just for the fun of it. Try that today!

My American Express bill that month was $12,000."

During my research on this subject, I asked Mateosian about the different types of American companies that sent their task forces to India for business, and this is what he had to say:

"I have known writers from Oracle who visited India many times. Large American companies derive a great deal of revenue from abroad, so they send lots of people."

Duration of these Offshore Visits
Venkateswara S Iyer, Staff Documentation Writer for Eclipsys Corporation, offered his insights about duration of offshore visits in the IT sector,

"I have come across several job postings, where Indian companies are offering an overseas visit for a short time. The time can vary anywhere from 15 days to a year or two. For all kind of offshore visits, each company has its own policies. In my humble opinion, everyone benefits with an additional allowance (paid on a daily basis) in such short stints. However, for longer visits, this doesn't apply and one has to be satisfied with the salary component only."

Bill Swallow, Documentation Practices Leader at Pitney Bowes MapInfo, begs to differ with Iyer.

"Nope. Meals and other necessary expenses are reimbursed. That's about it."

What kind of Companies or Industries encourages Offshore Visits?
The offshoring phenomenon has pushed our world beyond the information economy towards a global, knowledge-based economy. It has allowed a variety of regional specializations to flourish as well.

Echoing the same sentiments, Iyer commented,

"Any industry that runs its production center or core activity offshore will encourage such visits. Some organizations send people for training/study/establishing teams, but such visits are more often than not meant for keeping an employee happy."

Bill, however, feels that such visits are arranged for anyone who needs it.

"If you have a client or development team in another location, at least one face-to-face should happen, whether they come to you or you go to them."

Robert Cloud, a senior techie with BEA Systems (China), went to the U.S. for some in-house training. When asked about the companies that encourage offshore visits, he firmly replied,

"Most companies that have international markets."

The Culture Aspect
Working at an offshore location may require certain adjustments to your lifestyle, habits, customs, language, code of conduct, food and so on.

Judith M. Herr, Principal at Well Chosen Words, fondly recalls her offshore experience,

"We lived for three years in Belgium and three in Malaysia. Since my husband had the work permit, I invented my own opportunities. In Malaysia, I coordinated cooking classes in my home – taught expatriates how to shop for, prepare, and enjoy local foods – and, the culture behind them. That worked because we lived away from the international community --- in University housing alongside the families of others working at the University – most of whom were Malaysians (Malays, Sri Lanka, India, China - few Australians and Kiwis.)"

According to Judith, the local salary was sufficient to meet her daily needs.

"We were on local salary which was entirely adequate. Only problem was that we had debt from loans we had received to finish our graduate degrees in the U.S. and could not afford to pay those off (they were in U.S. dollars). If someone were making house payments or had other debt that had to be paid in U.S. $, it would be difficult – but, in some cases, those loans are excused if one works abroad."

Jan Cohen, owner, the shining lamp, shared his insights about offshore visits.

"It's been quite some time and the role was instructor, but yes, I did make a trip to Turkey back in 1995. The company I worked for then made and paid for the travel and chauffeur arrangements. I was also allowed $90 daily for per diem."

Janice Gelb, Senior Developmental Editor at Sun Microsystems, traveled to Bangalore twice to do writer and editor training on the company's corporate style guide and documentation processes. She shared her personal anecdotes that were mostly related to local culture differences rather than work-related items.

"The only work-related thing I can think of is the use in India of "I have a doubt" meaning "I don't understand" -- when written in an email in response to a document submitted by an American engineer, this caused much fury due to an assumption that the writer doubted the veracity of the document. So the writers asked for my advice about how to make sure their emails weren't misunderstood by their American colleagues."

Factors that dictate Offshore Visits
Jan is of the opinion that such trips are sponsored by larger companies with an international presence.

"Today, though, such travel seems to occur far less and only if business requirements absolutely dictate it (the dotcom's burst bubble should help put that in perspective). In my humble opinion, a good portion of the need for business travel before ca. 2000 is now offset by advances in online communication."

Sirish Kumar, a technical writer, commented,

"I traveled to Paris and Brest (Northern part of France) as a technical writer for a five-week trip. It is common to get extra monetary benefits, but the size of these benefits depends upon the organization. I was paid 100 Euros per day as part of my daily allowance."

Janice feels that global companies will soon go the virtual way to connect with each other, making such offshore visits redundant.

"Global companies need their personnel to interact. However, I think most companies are getting by with phone conferences and online meeting software."

The Biggest Advantage of Traveling Offshore for Business
Nene opines that companies sending its employees on trips abroad is like an incentive in itself, a perk that companies hope would motivate the employee to perform better. He further added,

"Benefits that come with an overseas trip may not or do not always have to be tangible. For instance, in both of my trips, there was a swell hotel stay, a rental car at disposal, and expenses at actual. I booked the airlines of personal choice, bagged the FF miles and took a layover in a stopover city at no extra cost to my pocket. Not only does one add another ‘foreign country visited' tag to the resume, but one gets pampered by the hosts who take you out on lunches, dinners and for some lucky writers - sightseeing. There was some daily allowance component as well, but in either case, not worth mentioning."

Finally, one thing seems certain. Since offshoring is a natural evolution of how the global marketplace operates at the moment, many people will get a chance to travel abroad. One huge gain for anyone who goes abroad for business is the opportunity to learn interpersonal communication skills and cultural ethos, besides becoming a vibrant individual with personality, rather than an email ID, phone voice, or picture.

Korea calling -- my article in btw (by the way) Magazine

Another success story!

One of my articles on South Korea has been published in the latest issue of btw (by the way) – "Live Smart!" Magazine.

Refer to the same at http://www.btwmag.com/10_12_07/pg20.asp

Title: Korea Calling
Published under the section: FOOTLOOSE
Published on: 10 December 2007
Page Number: 20
URL of the magazine: http://www.btwmag.com/

Happy reading!

Resume fudging: Top five reasons why people lie in their resume

Case 1: When President Bush nominated Michael Brown as the director of Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) in 2003, there was little doubt about his caliber or experience. Brown was considered the best man to help, prepare, and protect the nation.

Post Hurricane Katrina, the same people who vouched for Brown, were found singing a different tune altogether. The famed FEMA director came under heavy criticism for his performance and scrutiny of his background.

An investigation by TIME followed and the results were startling to say the least. Owing to discrepancies in his online legal profile and official resume, Brown was relieved of his duties and replaced in that role by Thad W. Allen, Coast Guard's Vice Adm.

Case 2: Kevin Andrews, the Australian Immigration Minister, who commented on irregularities in the resume of an Indian doctor, Mohammed Asif Ali, was reportedly fudging his own resume.

Andrews's parliamentary and ministerial websites indicated that he co-authored three books before he entered the Parliament. But the publishers of those books never saw his role that way. According to them, the name Kevin Andrews did not ‘ring a bell.' The name never appeared on the title pages. It was later discovered that Kevin had contributed to no more than one paper, for which he did not even have a top billing.

Let's accept it, resume fudging is not a rare occurrence. People do it all the time – to secure a high-paying job for which they do not meet the stated requirements; to advertise (read "exaggerate”) their existing skill sets; or to simply jazz up their resume. This article tries to find out the reasons why people resort to such desperate measures.

Reason 1: Lack of ethical professional behavior
For some, a resume may be nothing more than advertising material with some high-sounding jargon thrown in. Also, the fact that it's not a legal document can encourage people to manipulate the facts.

According to Judith Herr, Principal at Well Chosen Words, "Ethical professional behavior is a topic I feel very strongly about. I think we should all work hard to avoid either unethical behavior or even the appearance of it – including misrepresentation of qualifications, personal or organizational conflicts of interest, and so on.”

"I caught someone who put a degree on their resume when they had started pursuing it, but had not finished. I suppose that somewhere along the line, someone could have left off the comment "in progress” or "anticipated 2009” – but I would not consider someone who was that careless. I would suggest that anyone who has begun work on a graduate degree and not completed it be very careful in the way they report the effort. Moreover, if they have done nothing towards the degree for more than two years, it should not be included on the resume, although coursework could. If someone was once registered or certified but does not keep the credentials current, that should be reported on the resume if the credential is listed (retired, expired, etc.)”

If the hiring company discovers that you faked your credentials, it can lead to serious legal implications (and it can leave an indelible stain on your career.)

Sangeetha Santhanagopal, Business Analyst Writer for Fidelity International (U.K.), commented, "People submit fake CVs or hype their experience to procure a job. There are different kinds of people who do that. People who don't have a job and who are searching employment, and people who want better opportunities.”

"Generally, in India even a small gap in your profession is considered a blemish. This is one of the reasons several people choose to cover the gaps by showing fake companies, experiences, etc. I am not aware of even one job consultant who will accept a lag in a candidate's work. In the West, they can choose to take a break from work for a couple of months and return to work. Nowadays, companies employ background-vetting agencies to scrutinize a candidate's background. I know of an MNC that has outsourced the background vetting process to some South East/ Middle East based agency. This company does not even trust a local Indian company for this work,” she laments.

"A layoff is considered to be a nerve-wracking incident in India. We don't confess during interviews that we were laid-off because of poor performance or due to some business decision. The society in general pushes us to either hype our skill set or never to be honest, because the result is never in our favor. I will squarely blame our system for pushing candidates to fudge CVs.”

Eddie Hollon, a US-based writer based in South Korea, retorts, "I don't think that's a valid excuse. Here in South Korea, there has been a wave of discoveries and confessions by professionals who did not have the credentials or experience that they claimed to. In most cases, they used the same excuse as the one posed here and tried to lay the blame on the high value this society places on academic achievement.

However, the ethical responsibility for a true representation of your skills, achievements, and experience lies directly with you. You are the person being hired and you are the person making the claims.

Every employer wants the best employee they can find (for the money they're willing to pay, of course) and they all want to avoid people with blemishes on their records. Recruiting companies want to make money by placing people, so they want to find and push the most talented and decorated individuals as well. This is natural.

At your end, the "lie” is either propagated by or upheld by your affirmation (or lack of denial). So, when the truth eventually comes out, no one else deserves to be held accountable.

As for society's involvement...they all have their ills. But, the evil deeds of others are never a leeway for your own. In my opinion, the way to combat your society's overstated perception of the "perfect” employee is just the opposite of lying. If enough prospective employees stick to the truth and represent themselves accurately while allowing the liars to fail and suffer the repercussions (and their employers and recruiters along with them), the society will normalize around a more realistic idea of who is employable. After all, what good is your achievement if it sets you up for public shame many years later, as is the case with the Koreans who have been exposed here recently.”

Reason 2: Influence of external market forces
During my research on this subject, I discovered that some outsourcing vendors deliberately asked candidates to fake their skill sets in order to grab deals from their existing or new clients. Karthik Kannan from The Writers Block, Bangalore, commented, "I personally know individuals who were forced to change resume according to their company's requirements for outsourcing. It's also encouraged by placement consultancies.”

In addition, previous work experience accounts for a major portion of these falsifications. Many people provide names of non-existent firms. Even recruitment agencies lure candidates into putting fake experience.

Projects undertaken, technical skills, certifications, and even salary details mentioned in the resume can be easily manipulated. To make matters worse, bogus claims regarding family background, educational qualification, and references are not uncommon.

Reason 3: Lust for lucre
Resume fudging became a norm due to the attractive salaries offered in the IT sector. Companies have now started to conduct stringent background verifications to curb these malpractices, despite the heavy expenses incurred. Many organizations, such as the NASSCOM and the NSDL, have already started collaborating to create a common database for employees that will ease the process of background checks.

Paula R. Stern from WritePoint Ltd., Israel, said, "I interviewed someone – the resume was fine...it was 50-50 if I would have hired her. Within a day of interviewing, I received her resume from a placement agency. For some reason that I can't explain, I opened the copy from placement agency even though I'd already seen it. The placement agency said she was a RoboHelp expert. The copy she gave me made no such claim (didn't even mention RoboHelp).

I figured that she knew I had a reputation of knowing RoboHelp and could prove that she didn't.

To me, this was "reverse-fudging” where I probably had the honest resume, but I didn't hire her because I felt that I couldn't trust anything else on the resume. It only takes one "fudge” to make a resume not credible.

We also had a student who lived a little far from the center of the country and hi-tech area. He decided to lie about where he lived so that it would not be an issue for a company (he was willing to relocate). I told him to leave the address off completely and if it came up in an interview, to tell the company that where he currently had an apartment is irrelevant, as he was willing to relocate.”

Jayanath Perera, a senior techie for Autodesk Singapore, shared his side of the story. "I have never written untruths about myself in a resume, but I have hidden facts - I wonder if this could be considered resume fudging," he confessed.

"For example, in my previous company I was a VP by designation. Although I was a VP, my responsibilities were more compatible with that of a team leader and my designation was bloated to enable me to forge relationships with other companies "at the right level”. When my company decided to offshore my job function, I was faced with a huge problem. I did not have the right skills or experience to work as a VP in another company, nor would my resume get past the screening process if I applied for a job I was more suitable for. Hence, I hid my designation and took refuge in a functional resume. To date, my current employer does not know what my previous designation was, and even if they did, it wouldn't matter to them anymore because I have fitted in very well and gained their confidence.

To date I do not think what I did was unethical. All I did was to provide "appropriate” information to my target audience and filtered out the parts that would distract them from the ultimate objective of my communication product, which is to get past the screening process and be attractive enough to get called for an interview.”

Richard Mateosian, a self-employed Computer Systems Consultant, offers an alternative to lying on your resume. He states, "A better approach is to send an honest resume with a cover letter that explains why you can do the job, despite the requirements. This can work if, as often happens, the requirements are not really requirements.”

Reason 4: When the desperation sets in
You need the job bad. Most of us do when we are jobless, or beginner, or in-between jobs. A lot of people go nuts, eccentric, or even end up dead from it. But the big question is: is it your plan?

Surag Ramachandran, Senior Principal Engineer for Honeywell, Bangalore, recalls, "One software developer was working for a small company. His performance was average. His pay was nominal. He tried in a bigger company and attended their tests and interviews during a mass recruitment drive. He failed to get through the interviews. Two months later, he tried once again in the same company.

The company mentioned that one should re-apply only after a year. This time the developer changed his phone number, email ID, look and feel of his resume, as well as some other content. He even came up with a new name without expanding his initials. He prepared himself with answers to some of the questions asked before. He answered all the questions and was selected.

He nodded affirmative in all the higher management meetings, even had some smart people to work for him. After a while, he joined a startup in even higher position. There he presented the standards, policies, guidelines, presentations, and so on from his earlier company with some tweaking here and there, giving an impression that he created all of them to the new management. Today he is a Vice President in that company.

I do not know the person in this incident personally, but I think such incidents do happen. If not, then why are there so many PHBs (Point Haired Bosses) out of Dilbert comics too?

Here is the answer to why people do resume fudging: Try to reach the top, using shortcuts.”

Reason 5: A matter of (Dis)honesty
Bill Swallow, Documentation Practices Leader for Pitney Bowes Software, candidly comments, "No matter how you slice and dice it, it boils down to dishonesty. I'm not HR, but I've been in hiring/interviewing roles for many years. I had one candidate at one point bring a document I wrote for a client in as his own writing sample. He was a little shocked not only to see me pull the document down from my bookshelf, but to see the interview end so abruptly. I've also caught people in lies by asking intelligent questions around their experience. In all of these cases, the candidates did not get the job (obviously).

And do know this - you take a big risk in lying on your resume or in passing someone else's work off as your own. HR and people in hiring positions are usually networked with similar people in other companies. People talk. If you take a risk at lying to get into one company and fail, chances are other companies will hear about it and not give your application consideration.”

Finally, I'd like to agree with Bill. You're not fudging anything; you're simply lying and things can get worse if you land a job that is too big for you. Your castle of sand can come down crashing anytime and before you know it, you will find yourself out of the business.

Express Computer reprints one of my articles on Technical Writing

One of my articles, titled, "Technical writing in India: past, present and future" was reprinted with permission in Express Computer, India's only IT business weekly.

Express Computer is the brainchild of The Indian Express Group, one of India's largest media conglomerates with a wide selection of publications and network of offices spread across the length and breadth of the country.

You can refer to the article here.

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Gear up for next year's appraisal, now.

So you've had a bad appraisal. What can you possibly do to avert the damage, before the company writes you off as deadwood? Considering most performance appraisals are formally conducted once- or twice-a-year, you can use the evaluation period as an opportunity to summarize what you have demonstrated.

Appraisals often state the goals, roles, and expectations for the coming year...perhaps all of them were not met or addressed as expected. Before you get all worked up and annoyed with the appraiser, let the raging and rampaging devil in you calm down somewhat, and evaluate your appraisal on a broader level.

In anticipation of your next appraisal, you can gear up by adding some valuable tools in your arsenal.

A bad appraisal does not come as a surprise, unless the employee is an earthling and the manager a Martian, and there is a complete mismatch in just about everything.

The company has already invested heavily in you as an employee, and just one bad appraisal should not push them in firing you. Bear in mind, the appraisal is in line with the company goals – not just your personal preferences (which are also a part, but a secondary one.)

Reviewers' Recommendations
Did you record the reviewers' recommendations during your last appraisal? If your answer is in the affirmative, this may be the ideal time to act on those suggestions. See what went bad in the last appraisal and why. Notwithstanding their criticism, reviewers often try to get you on the right track, ensuring you meet the company-defined goals with proper quality measures. Do not brush aside their feedback; try to understand and incorporate the same into your work.

As Bill Swallow, Engineering Practices Leader (Documentation) at Pitney Bowes MapInfo, puts it, "Feedback should always be delivered at the end of a project. If it's not, the project leadership isn't doing its job. Yearly reviews also have value; they track improvement over time. You can have a good project and a horrible project. A project by project review only gives you localized feedback, but a yearly review by someone employed as your manager (one who is responsible not only for your performance, but also for coaching you through your career growth) looks at everything, not just project work, over the past year and evaluates you on your total performance. Or at least they should be."

Disconnect the Ego
Make certain you understand what the rating means, as specifically as possible. A skilled manager will have very specific data points, describing the behavior and results that lead to the appraisal. Address those issues and make sure your efforts are noted. Remember it is not 'you' under fire, but 'your results.' Disconnect your ego as much as possible, and form a conversation.

Define Your Job Description
Consider your job description. Is it clearly defined? Do you completely understand your role, duties, and responsibilities, within the company? More importantly, does your manager, reviewer, or appraiser has a clear understanding about it? If not, press the panic button immediately.

Position Goals alongside Challenges
Review each goal or target set out for you during the last evaluation. Once you have a clear understanding of the goals, position them alongside challenges. Some challenges can restrict you from meeting the company's goals. Talk to your reviewer about it and garner his support. If the support is hard to come by, request him to assess your performance in the light of the problems and frustrations faced.

Press for Training or Extra Resources
Suggest the provision of extra resources or specific training opportunities, stressing the benefits that will accrue to the company. Summarize the conferences, seminars, and training courses attended in the assessment form.

Keep a Check on Your Accomplishments
Maintain a regular status report of your tasks at workplace throughout the year. This report can be daily, weekly, or monthly. If you use project management software like Microsoft Project, use the tool to track your critical deadlines and milestones. In addition, generate reports of your work after accomplishing a particular task to assess the time spent on each project. Since it is practically impossible to remember your accomplishments during the evaluation period, you can use these reports to highlight projects completed on or before time.

Some projects you worked on will garner more appreciation and applaud from stakeholders than the others. Appreciation will usually come in the form of verbal praises, emails, monetary benefits, special bonuses, team outings, and so on. Create a file or folder to save all the appreciation mails from stakeholders, including those from clients, supervisors, or senior people in your department/ team/ company.

Do not hesitate to request for a letter of recommendation in case you receive a special mention for your efforts in any project. Certification, press releases, newspaper articles, testimonials, and other awards also hold prominence, provided they enhance the quality of your allocated work.

Finally, describe your contributions and achievements, along with the difficulties encountered.

Strike a Rapport with the Stakeholders
Track your progress and accomplishments on your own. While a skilled manager will try to "catch you doing good things," a busy one may not be aware of all you do. Make certain you can tell your boss everything (sell yourself), so that he or she has the data to appraise your efforts appropriately.

Jayanath Perera, a senior techie at Autodesk, Singapore, states, "In my company, performance appraisals are linked to the goals for that year. My manager and I sit down together at the beginning of the year and set goals. We try to use SMART goals. At the end of the year, we sit and chat on how well these goals were achieved.

360-degree feedback forms an integral part of our appraisal process. My immediate supervisor is overseas, and never gets to see what time I arrive at office or leave for home. She depends on the feedback that my peers or those I work with give her. I too have to provide 360-degree feedback on others. I have to state five things that went right and five things that need improvement. All statements must be substantiated with an actual incident that happened. This also means that I can't suck up to my boss and be nasty to others."

Selling your services is a continuous process. You also need to master the art of interacting with stakeholders for seeking project information or requirements. While it is not necessary to befriend the stakeholders' every time, sharing positive vibes with people you work for certainly does not hurt. More often than not, happy clients can get your company repeat business or references to other prospective clients. If you are successful in bringing business to the company, it will directly translate into better grades during appraisals. Therefore, work out your way by building a rapport with stakeholders.

Highlight the Additional Responsibilities
Have you taken on any additional responsibilities or extra projects after your last appraisal? The reviewer must be aware that you are capable of handling extra work. By being indispensable to the company, your services can be used for multiple projects, which in turn can put you in a better stead than rest of your colleagues. What you are doing in the process is increase your value to the company.

Deal with Facts and Handle Criticism
A good manager would answer all your questions at the time of delivering the appraisal. Try to leverage this opportunity by being open-minded and co-operative. Fix whatever you were doing that was "bad." Do not hide in your shell. Acknowledge problems, and deal with criticism using a positive approach. Ask for clarification. It is highly unlikely you will be in complete agreement with the appraiser. If you disagree about your goals or targets, say so in as many words, but assertively.

Prashanth Vijayan, a senior technical writer at Manhattan Associates India, says, "At Manhattan Associates, if an employee's performance is rated "unsatisfactory" by his manager and approved by the appraisal committee, he or she is sent on a performance improvement program (PIP). This program is the last opportunity for the employer to salvage a precious resource and for the employee to prove his or her mettle. During the next six months, the employee is sent on special training programs and assigned to special projects. If the employee is still found unfit for the role, he or she is shown the door.

I have been on both sides of the appraisal. When I was at the receiving end, I would hate the whole process and take every advice with a pinch of salt. When I started appraising my team members, I understood how elaborate our appraisal process is. We do a "normalization" with other departments (such as QA and Dev) and then with other teams (Services organization). Each team leader or manager has to fight it out with her counterpart in other departments to justify a rating. This ensures the appraisal is not lopsided."

Summarize Your Overall Contribution to the Company
Employers love the word 'contribution.' Stress your overall contribution to the company, focusing on the value to stakeholders. Tell the appraiser how you could do more than you were hired to or how something you did saved the company some dough.

Perform a Trial Run
Before you head for the next appraisal, prepare documentation, and try your arguments on some friends. Consider objections your manager might raise during the evaluation. Do not forget to tie your answers around how you have helped the company grow.

Finally yet importantly, you have been eying that promotion, and it is time to prepare the turf and put your best foot forward. If it is a fair appraisal given by a good manager, then use it to help turn your weak areas into strengths. Otherwise, head for the exit.