The 5 best stories from biggest HR event of the year

This year, tens of thousands of HR professionals descended upon Washington, D.C. for the biggest HR event of the year. HR Morning was in attendance, and here is the best intel we gathered on the most important issues you face in the coming year. 

Here’s a recap of our coverage of the SHRM16 Annual Conference & Exposition (click on the headline to read the full story):

§  11 remarkable overtime rule tips from DOL insider. Turns out there’s more to the FLSA’s overtime exemption rule changes (and salary threshold) than meets the eye. A former DOL administrator recently opened a lot of employers’ eyes with what she had to say about the new rule.

§  5 costly employment myths we need to discard. Everyone knows a good myth or two. And as it turns out, a lot of those myths end up being taken at face value and acted on as if they were true — and it’s costing employers.

§  An attorney’s tips for detecting lies in the workplace. A former attorney with the Department of Justice offered employers tips for how to tell when a job candidate or, worse yet, an existing employee is lying.

• The ACA provision you don’t have to comply with. David Lindgren, a compliance officer with Flexible Benefit Service Corporation, reminded employers that they don’t have to comply with an onerous ACA compliance requirement. (From our sister website HR Benefits Alert.)
• The giant mistake 40-50% of your HSA-eligible employees make. Why aren’t employees taking full advantage of the myriad benefits HSAs offer to savvy participants? Because misinformation about how these accounts actually work is dominating the conversation. (From our sister website HR Benefits Alert.)

Original Source: http://bit.ly/29ZWPUc

5 Interview Questions Techies Fumble Most

Fumbling through an interview is embarrassing. Here are the common questions which get tech professionals on the wrong foot.

Interviews are designed to assess your knowledge, capabilities and motivation on how you will behave in the workplace.

While it is unlikely that you will be quizzed on all these parameters in one interview, you can be assured that any company with a mature recruitment process will evaluate you across one or all of these areas, says Pankaj Khanna, Vice President, Talent Acquisition, Mindtree.

The trick is to think before you respond. And it is helpful to pause for 10-15 seconds before you answer any question. It helps in gathering the thoughts so that the presentation can be effective. Khanna shares some common industry questions which makes young aspiring IT professionals fumble during interviews and tips to handle these queries well.

Ques 1: Why should we hire you?
It assesses what you consider as your strengths and capabilities and also how you are able to articulate that. So give a collected answer not only about your immediate skill-experience match but also about how you would fare in customer facing scenarios/ mentoring fellow team members/ report preparation or other aspects that would give you an edge in your proposed role/ help the team. If you can back it by real examples, you’ve just turned it around to your advantage.

Ques 2: What do you know about this role and the company?
It checks curiosity and intent of the job seeker. If the only words that you can say are, ‘good company’, think again. Research the company, use their website, Wikipedia page, social page, anything that will give you a minute’s worth of talking points about the prospective company. If the company took the trouble to understand you, it’s but natural that you should also be aware of it.

Ques 3: What trends do you think affect the IT Industry in India?
This is clearly to understand your world view and whether you can do anything apart from coding! It will also check your ability to articulate and communicate thoughts on the go rather than the pre-scripted answers you arrived with. These are useful customer facing skills that will make you a valued team member.

Ques 4: Do you have any specific salary expectation?
There is a variety of compensation survey data available online. These give factual data for you to suggest possible numbers. It is good to indicate that you will go as per company standards. Another option is to suggest a percentage range but be prepared to handle further queries.

Ques 5: Would you do this or that?
Questions with a forced choice approach don’t necessarily have to trap you into ‘the lesser evil’ answer. If you feel you can confidently provide a third alternate which will help address the situation. It will show that you are confident, able to speak your mind and have the ability to think creatively.

Source: http://bit.ly/29BYGjX

India’s youth prefer RBI, SBI over Facebook, Microsoft

Indian youth have a fancy for Raghuram Rajan’s Reserve Bank of India and Arundhati Bhattacharya’s State Bank of India, a recent job survey suggests.

Universum’s 2016 Most Attractive Employers ranking based on student talent in India ranked the Rajan-­led RBI as the third most­preferred employer after Google and Apple and over Facebook, Microsoft and BMW.

The survey conducted with 29,448 students from 157 universities across India has highlighted shifting preferences of the youth as well as the perception of government organisations like the RBI and SBI.

The survey highlights the changing perceptibility of India’s PSU among the youth. No longer are they the epitome of inefficiency and lacklustre work environment.

The fact that an organisation such as RBI is preferred over American tech giants showed the shift in perception. Having leaders such as Raghuram Rajan (RBI) and Arundhati Bhattacharya (SBI) also helps who are seeing as efficient and driven leaders carrying their organisation towards better ways.

For those, wondering how RBI recruits in the first place, the central bank usually recruits its entry­level employees through a gruelling entrance exam or from institutions such as the Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs).

SBI, too, has its own entrance examination for entry-­level candidates who are then required to got through intense training.

Original Source: http://bit.ly/29AIddM