Basics of Intra-Day Trading

Day Trading - Buying and selling of shares on daily basis is called day trading this is also called as Intra day trading. Whatever you buy today you have to sell it today OR whatever you sell today you have to buy it today and very importantly during market hours.

Advantages of Day Trading

• In Intra-day trading, Margin Trading is quiet popular, in Margin Trading you get margin on your balance amount. This means you get more leverages (amount) on your available balance amount to do day trading. Margin trading is only possible in day trading and not in delivery trading. How much extra amount (margin) you are going to get that totally depends on your broker, or your online trading system brokers. Some broker provides 3, 4, 5, and 6 times extra margin. If you do margin trading then you have to square off your open trades on the same day means if you bought shares then you have to sell and if you sold shares then you have to buy before market time that is 3:30 PM finishes.
• Second important advantage is that you have to pay is less brokerage (commissions) on day trading (Intraday) as compared to delivery trading. This brokerage again depends from broker to broker (or on your online trading system). 
• In day trading you can sell and then buy this is called short sell which you cant do in delivery trading. You can sell shares when prices are falling and then buy when price falls further.

Disadvantage of Day Trading

• As you are benefited to get more extra amount to trade i.e. Margin Trading and get more extra profit it is also equally true that you are also taking more risk of loss.
• At any cost you have to square off the open transaction before 3:30 PM (especially if you are doing margin trading) at that time the price may not be in your favor.

Strategies for Intra-day Trading

1. The primary strategy of day trading is to earn consistent money on daily basis.
2. Observe carefully the stock price movements - Stock price movements like Open, (the first price at which the stock opens when market opens in the morning) High, (The stock price reached at the highest level in a day) Low (The stock price reached the lowest level in a day) and finally Close. (The stock price at which it remains or the final price of the stock when the market closes for a day). One more important factor to watch is stock price fluctuations. Stock price fluctuations means by how many Rupees (INR) the stock is moving (either up or down). This gives you an idea on what price to buy and at what price to sell (or first sell and then buy). This strategy is very useful for day trading but in fact you get more superior idea (or plan) for TOMORROW’S DAY TRADING for this particular stock.
3. Keep a close watch on Supply and Demand - Supply and demand means how many buyers are willing to buy (this indicates the demand) and how many sellers are aggressive to sell (this indicates the supply). Always remember the stock price movement depends on supply and demand. Simple thing to remember ( not only in stock market or day trading but also in general life) that more demand and less supply means price is going to move up and if more supply and less demand then price is going to come down. Overcall if you study this strategy carefully then you will come to know whether the people are interested to buy or sell the stock and hence the price moves accordingly that is if see more buyers then the price is going to move up and if you see more sellers then price is going to fall down.

A successful day trader or share market trading requires couple of disciplines and following trading requirements -

• PC configured with latest Trading application - If you need to do trading yourself then you need to have a PC or smartphone or else you can do trading in internet café also.
• Good Internet-Connection/Speed - The internet connection should not be slow or should not face any other problem especially in Day Trading.
• Online Trading Account (De-Mat Account) - You need to open online share trading account with any of the available banks or online brokers.

In day trading, traders mostly wish to do buying and selling on small profits or else they look for overbought or oversold shares. Taking into consideration these important points following basic things you should look in for shares while choosing them for day trading.

Price Volatility : The Price volatility means the movement (up and down) of share price should be more (or high) through out the day. In other words the fluctuation in share prices should be on high rate so that it will be easy for you to buy and sell on different prices. Suppose if share is moving up and down in very narrow range then on what price you will buy and sell? So it is always better if you choose shares which have high volatility in price movement.

Volume (Quantity) : Volume means trading quantities. The shares which you choose for day trading should have high volumes (or high traded quantity). Why this is required? The high volume indicates that there is more liquidity. Liquidity means lots of transactions had took place on this share and more people are interested to trade in this share. This will ease your trading job because you will get more exposure to the price to buy and sell at anytime. Due to high volumes there will be also high price fluctuations.

Following are very important points to be always remember by day traders.

Entry & Exit points -

Stop loss limits - 

Profit Targets -

Desired risk/Reward profile

Amount of capital to be committed to trades

Holding Period - How long you need to hold the share if incase it is against your favor.

Day trading rules for Share Market

It’s important to do practice or paper trading before you starts actual trading. Following are the few reasons,

1. It is very important since you will come to know how to place buy/sell orders, and will become familiar and perfect about using your trading system.
2. You will gain confidence in yourself.
3. The fear of trading will vanish. It is very important to keep fear away while doing day trading.
4. You will become active to enter and exit the trade. It’s vital important that you must be pretty fast to enter and exit the trade (i.e.open positions).

Interview With Body Language

Having a slick resume and all the right answers to tricky interview questions won’t get you a answer if your body language gives an entirely different message.

1. Tone of voice and body language accounts for 65 percent of what’s communicated. Words account for 35 percent of the message that’s communicated.
2. Body language can give away a lot of our feelings, regardless of whether we keep our mouths shut or not, and without an awareness of our actions, nervousness, dishonesty, boredom and other negative attributes can become dead give always.
3. Before taking a seat, be mindful of what you’ll be staring at. If you have a choice, avoid staring at a bright window. If you don’t apparently have a choice, don’t be afraid to ask. Ensure that you have room to move and reposition yourself if you become stiff or restless.
4. To begin with, you need to set yourself up in a confident and comfortable position to help avoid negative body language habits. Make sure you are comfortable seated in an upright position ensuring that no particular part of your body is under strain (e.g. your neck). Keep your hands rested in your lap, your head raised, showing an expression of interest and relax your shoulders, without slumping into the seat.

Here are the obvious ones to watch out for -

• Fidgeting shows boredom and restlessness
• Crossing arms indicates an unwillingness to listen
• Tapping your foot, is distracting and a sure sign of boredom
• Doodling on paper shows you’re not paying attention
• Touching your face or playing with your hair can be a sigh that you’re hiding something
• Looking away or hesitating before or while speaking indicates that you’re unsure of what you’re saying
• A fixed, unfocused stare shows your attention is elsewhere Interview With Body Language

Voice and Voice Modulation - A good CV and all the right answers to the toughest interview to the toughest question won’t land you the job if your voice gives off an entirely different impression. It is important to project yourself confidently in a clear, controlled and steady voice can be easily understood. Take some time to practice, even staging a mock interview with a friend or colleague helps. Try to be aware of the following:

• Speak clearly in a controlled range of tones, avoid a monotone
• Always pause before speaking, this avoids instinctively reacting and saying the wrong things
• Speak slightly slower than normal, don’t overdo it though
• Vary your tone and dynamics, but try not to speak too loudly or too softly
• Don’t mumble or gabble on excitedly
• Keep your hands away from your mouth as you speak
• Watch your pitch (high-pitched voices are tough on the ears) and avoid a ‘sing-song’ tone
• Let your voice show your enthusiasm and keenness

Body Signals - Whether we intend it or not, our body language gives off very subtle sign which are subconsciously interpreted by the other party. We likewise read the same into other people’s behavior. Imaging conducting an interview with someone behind a two-way mirror, we wouldn’t have the benefit of responding their facial expressions and would feel quite unnerved by the experience. Every little frown or smile gives us the caution or confidence to make our next statement and it is a sublime skill, which every human being has developed since childhood. Some people are more receptive to body language than other, but as a candidate striving to make a good impression, it is important to be aware at all times of the body language that reflects - :

Positive Attitudes

• Responsive / eager: Leaning forward, open arms, nodding
• Listening: Head tilted, constant eye contact, nodding and verbal acknowledgement
• Attentive: Smiling

Negative Attitude

• Bored: Slumped posture, foot tapping, doodling
• Rejection: Arms folded, head down, subconscious frowning
• Aggression: Leaning to far forward, finger pointing, grinding teeth
• Lying: Touching face, hands over mouth, eyes averted, shifting uncomfortably in your seat, glancing And finally…

Seven signals for a successful interview

1. A smile is the most positive signal you can give, it re-affirms your enthusiasm and good nature, but be careful of over-grinning stupidly.
2. Maintain regular, attentive eye contact, but remember to avert your gaze from time to time to avoid staring.
3. Relax! Give off calm signals and don’t rush through the interview, be mindful of time, but let the interviewer dictate the pace of the interview.
4. Mirror the interviewer’s techniques. If they laugh, laugh with them, if they lean forward to impress a point, respond by leaning forward to show your attention.
5. Do not hurry any movement, if you’re challenged with a difficult question, remind yourself about negative body language habits before answering the question.
6. Try to maintain an alert position, sit up straight, don’t slump, and adjust your position slightly if you get uncomfortable but don’t fidget.
7. Always try to adopt an open, honest and confident attitude: this is the starting point of managing subconscious body language.

Telephone Interviews

Telephone interviews are becoming an important part of the recruitment process. They are now used frequently by many organizations, as the first stage in selecting a candidate.

Telephone interviews save time and cost relatively less Employers conduct telephone interviews for a variety of reasons. They may have received hundreds of responses to a vacancy advertisement and do not want to go through a face-to-face interview with each applicant. A number of applicants may be residing in other cities, and the organization wants to save on the time and cost involved in arranging in-depth interviews across the table for these applicants. Just conducting a short telephone interview and then short-listing the suitable applicants can significantly reduce the pile of resumes received.

Employers, therefore, use the telephone interview as an initial screening interview. It is a short, cost-effective way of finding out the answers to the following questions about the applicant:

Q. Is the applicant serious about the job and the organization?
Q. Has he/she made any effort to research the company/position or has just sent in his/her resume?
Q. How good are his/her communication skills?
Q. Why does he/she want to quit from his/her existing job?

Telephone interviews could be scheduled or unscheduled There is no fixed system for when a telephone interview is held, unlike a face-to-face interview where the time, date and venue are scheduled well in advance. Some employers could inform you beforehand when they are likely to call. Others may just decide to pick up the phone and call you also cannot be sure who is making the first call, whether the HR person or the recruiting agency.

In this scenario, it makes sense to be prepared because you never know when you will receive the telephone call. In case you receive the call, without prior notice, at a bad time, when you are in the middle of some domestic chore, you could take down the person’s name and telephone number and say you would call back after 5 minutes. Or, you could request the caller to hold on for a few seconds till you get your act together in terms of getting a paper/pencil and your documents ready. Otherwise, you may not be psychologically prepared and could be caught on the wring foot from the word go.

If you are lucky, you may be informed of a date and time when the telephone interview will be held. This will may thing easier for you in terms of being mentally prepared, having the relevant papers by your side, speaking suitably for the occasion etc.

Through this article, will provide guidelines on how can prepare for a telephone interview-to improve your performance and increase your chances of being short-listed.

Try to get short-listed to the next stage of the face-to-face interview

What is your objective in a telephone interview? As the telephone interview is usually the initial screening interview that works as elimination round, your objective is to get short-listed! Getting short-listed implies that you move on to the next round of the face-to-face interview. You need to, therefore, prepare for this telephone interview and not treat it as lightly as a casual call. However, do not let the significance unnerve you. It is important that you remain cool and confident throughout the duration of the telephone interview, as this will do wonders to your performance.

The interviewer wants to evaluate your communications skills

The primary concern of the interviewer, during a telephone interview, is to judge you by your communication skills. How well do you communicate on the telephone, where you cannot see your interviewer? Do you seem uncomfortable since you cannot see the interviewer’s reactions? Do you sound confident, qualified, interested and enthusiastic despite the absence of non-verbal cues from the person at the other end? Or are your left stuttering and groping for words, distraught by occasional awkward silences during the telephone call?

These are issues that you need to keep in mind during the telephone interview.

• How can you improve the way you communication on the telephone?
• Can you change the way you speak overnight just for an interview?

Think through you answers to improve the way you communication on the telephone improving the way you communicate on the telephone is no just how you speak and your accent. What is crucial is what you say i.e. the content of your answers. You can definitely make a difference to your answers by a certain degree of smart preparation. Your preparation should involve thinking through certain question that you could be asked with regard to your resume, and how you could possibly answer them. This does not mean that you should memories canned and standard answers, but just that you draw up a list of anticipated questions, and thinks through how you would answer them. You could jot down points for each answer or just write a few key words to clarify your thought flow.

This will eventually helps you in the actual telephone interview by reducing the time taken to answer questions, will ensure that the answers are brief and to the point, will reduce unnecessary gaps and long silences at your end. In addition, it will also indicate to the interviewer that you are a thinking person with clear career plans and are seriously interested in the position at the employer organization.

If you get caught off guard because you had not thought through a list of anticipated questions, your answers would tend to be long, lacking focus and you would come across as a confused individual, which is definitely not what you want the interviewer to perceive.

Some of the questions that you can anticipate are:

1. Summary of your career/previous work experience
2. Short and long term career goals
3. Where do you see yourself 5/10/15 years from now?
4. Why do you want to quit your current job?
5. Why have you applied to this organization?
6. Why do you want to work for this organization?
7. How are your skills, qualifications, and experience suitable for this job?
8. What do you know about the job that you have applied for?
9. Tell us something about yourself
10. Find solution to a problems situation at work - For any questions relating to how you would handle a problem or crisis situation at work, remember to use an analytical and structured format for your answer i.e. problems definition-solution-implications

Keep your answers short and to the point. Avoid verbosity and lengthy detailed explanations in your answers. Stick to what you have been asked. Do not get into a long preamble before you get to the actual answer. This will show clarity of thought and can be achieved by your preparation. For example, to answer the question-“Tell us about yourself”- you may have a lot of information to give but you will need to prioritise. You could either describe yourself in a few adjectives to cover your strengths and weaknesses, or you could give a brief outline of your current employment and your career objectives etc. What you say should be prepared before hand so that it ensures that your answer is short and to the point.

Your telephone interview could vary from a duration of 5-10 minutes to half an hour or longer. Prepare answers to as many questions that you can think of because there is no fixed duration for the telephone call. The longer the interview takes does not necessarily mean a good interview, similarly a short interview does not necessarily mean a bad interview over the phone. It depends on what your answers were and how you delivered them over the phone. Just remember to keep your answers crisp, concise and focused.

Speak clearly and slowly. Regarding your style of delivering your answers, try and speak clearly and slowly. Be articulate. You have to rely on the interviewer’s listening skills to evaluate what you say, so do not take any chances in messing up at your end. You have to be sure that the interviewer has heard and understood what you say, so initially you may need to be careful about the pace at which you speak. However, do not concentrate on it so much that you forget what you were talking about.

Your voice should sound pleasant, friendly and enthusiastic. Since the interviewer cannot see you, your tone of voice is important in making an impression on him. Try to sound enthusiastic. Smile even though you cannot be seen, because you will be surprised how smiling can improve the way you sound on the telephone! It will automatically give your voice a friendly tone.

In most interviews on the telephone, there may be only one interviewer at the other end. However, in some cases, the interview may be a conference call where a number of interviewers fire questions one after the other. Sounds unnerving, but don’t lose heart! Just follow the basics-Speak to each person in the same pleasant way, as you are not aware of the hierarchy at this stage. Answer the person who asks the question and follow this for each further question. If you can catch the names of the interviewers if they introduce themselves, try and remember them or quickly jot them down so you can address the individuals personally. This is not absolutely necessary- if you do it right it will work for you, but it you mix up the names and voices of the interviewers, it can be extremely embarrassing. Use this tactic only if you are good with matching names to voices over the phone.

Be positive in what you say. You should approach your answers in a positive way i.e. do not criticize your former employer or give a negative picture of why you want to leave your former employer or give a negative picture of why you want to leave your current job.

You are obviously looking for a change because you are unhappy with your existing job, but you can still be diplomatic about the reasons why? Give the real reasons, but put it across in a positive way e.g. why you feel the need to move on in your career etc. And if you are looking for a change because you cannot get along with your present boss, there is no guarantee that you will get a better boss in your new job! Be sure why you are changing jobs-delving deeper into your career plans will give you more convincing reasons for why you want to quit your existing job.

Ask questions to show interest in the job you have applied for To avoid just a one-sided conversation on the telephone, where you just speak when spoken to, if there is an opportunity, you could ask the interviewer certain questions about the organization or the job that you are being interviewed for.For example, you could clarify the responsibilities that your job will entail, the number of people working in the group/department or team that you will be joining. You could also ask what your immediate priority would be if recruited, in terms of a problem that the organization is currently facing in that area, or any project that you may need to initiate as soon as you join. This will just go to show that you are a serious candidate for the position,
and that you are really interested in the job.

Try and avoid initiating any salary talk unless the interviewer brings it up. Salary negotiations are better discussed at a later date. Right now it is more important that you convince the interviewers to short-list you for the next stage in the selection process, rather than worry about the salary you will be getting.

Keep important papers accessible near the telephone. Since you may receive your telephone call without warning, it would help if you kept important papers within easy reach of the telephone. As you cannot be seen, you could quickly glance at the papers for any assistance that you may need in answering questions that you had not anticipated. Keep papers such as your resume, the cover letter and any other information that you may have researched on the employer such as company size, market share, turnover, job responsibilities etc., easily accessible near the telephone.Also keep a paper and pen or pencil handy to down any points or names that you may need to, during the course of the telephone interview. 

You can use the fact that you cannot be seen to your advantage in terms of referring to your prepared points or resume to assist you in your answers. However, please do not be in a situation, where you have a friend or relative prompting you as this could turn out to be disastrous. It could even may you hesitate or stumble over words while answering questions and could get you thoroughly confused! It is best to be cool and think on your feet to answer surprise questions. Your preparation should have taken care of other questions and answers so that you did not need to refer to anything anyway!

Ensure that there are no distractions such as the blaring noise of the TV set
or anything else at home, while the interview is going on.

Writing your Resume

Writing your resume is an essential aspect of applying for a job, as it requires a lot of effort and planning on your behalf. A badly worded and poorly presented resume can put off a potential employer totally. We intend to provide some broad guidelines to help you write a resume that could work for you. Work for you to achieve what it is meant to i.e. to get you an interview call for a job.

At the outset, it is necessary to clarify that you could use the term “resume” or “curriculum vitae” (CV), even though technically a CV is primarily meant for job positions within the academic environment and is supposed to be a lengthy document. The difference is not strictly followed and it is safe to use these two terms interchangeably, but remember that whatever word you use, be sure that you know how to pronounce it accurately!

Your resume should be about two pages long  - It is supposed to be a brief presentation of your skills, work experience, achievements and education. Anything too long runs the risk of being skimmed over and not read properly. Long and detailed does not necessarily imply better. What your resume has to get across to the potential employer is just this – you have the required skills, experience and education to handle the job! Appropriately focusing on the key aspects unique to your experience, and leaving out the standard repetitive details, which would be similar to those of your competitors applying for the same job/position.

Start off by identifying your job objective - The job objective is an excellent area to include in your resume and is usually omitted. It puts your resume in the right perspective for the reader and clearly shows where you are headed in your career plans. If you are applying for an entry-level position in the marketing, your job objective could be something like this:

Objective: Interested in an entry-level position in marketing in a multi-national corporation.

It would be advisable to modify each resume to suit specific companies that you apply to. Then the job objective would read like this:

Objective: Interested in an entry-level position in marketing.

Provide a summary of your experience and skills - The next section that your resume should contain is a 5-6 point summary of your skills and experience. That includes No. Of years of past and relevant work experience. brief description of the work done, Specific skills acquired, significant achievements and Educational qualifications. This section is very useful, in providing a snapshot view of what your resume contains for situations where yours is one resume in a pile of fifty others. It allows minimal information loss in case the resume is quickly skimmed over and not given a detailed reading. In this section, the skills that you present should help in answering the question- “How can you contribute to the organization?”

In case of IT/Software professionals, the skill set could be added to the summary. But be sure, that all the skills mentioned are truly areas you have worked in or are comfortable working in.

Use language and content that communicate a proactive style. The style of writing that you use and the particular words or phrases can make a significant difference to your resume. It affects the impression created about you regarding your past work experience and your skills. For example, you might say in your past work experience that you “maintained records and accounts”. A better way of expressing the same thing could be “Reported directly to the VP-Finance and managed over 1500 accounts….

Your language and content should focus on what you achieved e.g. saving so many lakh rupees for the organization, rather than a standard listing of responsibilities which sounds like a job profile common to anyone in a similar position to yours. If you have been a brand manager in the past, do not just list your job responsibilities like” responsible for sales, profits, advertising related to the brand…” Instead highlight things like “ Implemented change in product formulation that saved Rs 50 lakhs per year for the brand…” Quantifiable parameters have a better impact than
just saying, “Implemented change in product formulation.”

Priorities details of your past work experience - After the summary section, you can go on to providing details of your past work experience. Leave aside the job objective and summary and that gives you just one and a half pages to cover the details of your work experience as well as your educational qualifications. You need to priorities. Decide what weight age to give to different organizations/positions. You should not skip any place worked at, but you obviously cannot give all details of each position.

You could present the work experience in reverse chronological order.Start with the most recent work experience or organization at the beginning of this section and the rest later on in the resume. This should highlight your relevant work experience at the outset. Within an organization, present your career path in the correct chronological order while you may present the organizations you have worked in, in reverse chronological order, for a particular organization it is easier to follow your career path if the positions are given in the way they happened e.g. “joined ABC co. as management trainee in 2011 and was promoted to assistant manager (finance) in 2012…” You could then go on to elaborate your responsibilities and achievements at this position.

Remember to highlight the more important designations with their accomplishments - As this will be more relevant than just focusing on your training period. Mention responsibilities briefly, focus more on accomplishments. If responsibilities are similar across positions in an organization, try to avoid repeating the same set of responsibilities with each position. That will unnecessarily increase the size of your resume without giving any additional value. Instead, try and include your different achievements at each position, or something that you introduced or did differently in your job.

This would also hold true for situations where responsibilities are similar across organizations. Avoid tautology and stick to the accomplishments. If worked in many organizations, merge information to reduce chronological details to avoid presenting a long, chronological detail of each organization worked in, try and merge information on similar positions/responsibilities across organizations into one category. This will
be easier to read and will also avoid presenting a negative image of you being a job hopper.

If changing your area of specialization, classify the information by function - If you are changing your field from finance to marketing, then instead of just presenting the details of your past work experience in reverse chronological order by organization, you could clarify the information into different functional areas e.g. your responsibilities and achievements in finance (even if across companies); similarly for marketing. You should try and incorporate some marketing experience (and hopefully
you will have some) if you intend to get into that area.

Include other information only if significant - You may like to mention your hobbies, interests or extra-curricular activities, under a separate heading, but it will really not add value to your resume unless you have made a significant achievement there. For example, mentioning mountaineering as a hobby is not relevant unless you have achieved something like taken a trip to Mount Everest or Kanchenjunga. Such achievements, which are not directly related to your work experience, can be put under the heading “Other information”.

Present education qualifications with the most recent one first - When giving information on your educational qualifications in a separate section, it is advisable to begin by presenting the most recent degree/diploma achieved, as this is usually relevant to the work you are currently doing. For example, if you have acquired a post-graduate degree in management, give that information at the outset. There is no need to go as far back as schooling, unless you are a fresh graduate with no work experience. Remember, the resume is just 2 pages and you need to give better reasons for being recruited than the school you studied in. If you have acquired a degree in some other country, mention a degree that it is equivalent to which is internationally recognized, to put it in the right perspective for the reader. Avoid tables while presenting details of educational qualifications because they occupy more space and interface with the smooth flow of sentences and points.

For a candidate applying for an entry level position in an organization, the educational qualifications will be more important as there is no significant work experience

Provide information on training if it is at least 3 months or more - Short term one-week courses do not really look good on your resume unless you do not have enough to stay in 2 pages. Even if you are not a software/IT professional, today computer literacy is assumed for most positions. So don’t list competencies in MS-Word and such like but do include any significant packages you may have learnt, helped develop or are in the process of learning.

References should be provided on request - Though it is useful to have names and contact numbers of people to give as references, it makes sense to provide them only on request. You should not give the details on your resume but provide the information later on, when asked for, or further on in the selection process. The reason for this is that at the outset you do not know how long your resume will be with a company before you get an interview call. By then the persons you mention as references may moved or their contact numbers could have changed. Also you can tailor your list of references based on the company you are applying to. So there is not need to provide the same information to all the places you send your resume to. It is also a good idea to inform your references that you have given their names before they receive a call out of the blue. This way when the employers who have included you in the short-list for recruitment, contact your references to check you out, there are no hitches or surprises.

Try and follow these guidelines and you will be surprised at the improvements you can make to your resume.

Remember the resume format is flexible depending on the specifics of your background and experience.

7 ways to shortlist the right stocks

Equity as an asset class outperforms all other asset classes in the long run. True. 

But, how do you pick the right company?

It’s always important to spend time in knowing a company, its business, financial health and prospects, market capitalization of these companies ranges from a few lakhs to over Rs 2 lakh crore and the prices of shares from less than a rupee to over Rs 12,000 per share.

So, how and where do you make a start? I will give you seven basic screening criteria, which will help you shortlist companies that are worth researching in the first place.

1. Is the company’s market cap more than Rs 250 crore (Rs 2.50 billion)? - Setting a minimum market cap floor really helps — it eliminates very small companies, or penny stocks. Generally, small companies have a small revenue base and they do not spend too much on investor relations. This makes tracking them difficult.
2. Are the company’s trading volumes high? - The company should have a reasonable trading volume — at least a few thousand shares per day. If you buy into a stock that has low volume, it can become difficult to get out when the markets fall. Both rise and fall is sharp in stocks with low volume. Also, the impact cost is high.
3. Does the company make quality disclosures? - The company should have good quality disclosures. This is an easy test. All you have to do is visit the company website and see press releases and results for the last few quarters. In the results part, you need not get into numbers in detail as of now, but do see how the developments of last quarter have been explained. For example, see if cost has increased, or margins have declined, and whether there is an explanation for it. Large companies, especially in the information technology sector, are generally good at this. Tata Consultancy Services, India’s largest IT company by revenue, has a transcript of analyst conference call on its website, which possibly answers all the questions that investors have. Availability of information makes tracking easy and decision-making becomes quicker while you are invested in the company. 
4. Does the company have operating profits? - Sometimes, companies raise money from the equity markets in their initial stages and hope to cover the costs by generating profits from operations later. Actually, they are in a stage when they spend money for, say, setting up plants, or research and development facilities. These businesses sound exciting, but can be risky. It is advisable to avoid such companies. New projects involve a lot of regulatory approvals and can get delayed, which can escalate cost. Also, stock prices of such companies are the first to fall during any broader market correction, as there are no earnings to support the prices. Therefore, it is always safer to be in companies that generate profits from their operations. 
5. Does the company generate constant cash flows? - At times, fast-growing companies may show profits without generating cash. These companies are in their expansion stage. They have to generate cash eventually and create value for the shareholders. Companies with a negative cash flow may have to seek additional capital, either through debt or equity. Debt will increase the risk while equity will dilute the earnings, which will get reflected in the share prices also. 
6. Is its return to equity (RTE) constantly above 10 per cent? - RTE is the profit a company generates with the shareholders’ money and is calculated by dividing net profits with shareholders’ equity. It indicates how well a company has deployed investors’ money. The RTE is generally low in case of manufacturing companies and is higher for services companies as the cost of setting infrastructure is low in services companies. Use 10 per cent as the minimum limit for companies to qualify. There are just about 400 companies listed on NSE with a market cap above Rs 250 crore that generated return on equity above 10 per cent in the financial year 2007-08. 
7. Is the earnings growth constant or cyclical? - Cyclical earnings implies that profits move up or down depending on the business cycle. Businesses generally move in cycles. This is commonly seen in commodity companies, where a shortage or sudden rise in demand helps prices to move up, resulting in super normal profits for a while. Once the cycle is reversed, it becomes difficult to get out. Commodity prices are interlinked globally, and any demand-supply mismatch in one corner of the world can disturb prices all over.

Companies in the Pharmaceuticals and FMCG space have stable growth in the long term as demand in these sectors depends on the business cycle and macroeconomic movements. The services sector also has stable earnings growth compared to commodity stocks.

If you carry out these seven checks, you will, by and large, be able to eliminate companies that are not worth investing. However, investors must note that these conditions are not fool-proof and there can always be exceptions.

 Important terms to check while purchasing a stock

• P/E:
  The P/E ratio (price-to-earnings ratio) of a stock (also called its “earnings multiple”, or simply “multiple”, “P/E”, or “PE”) is a measure of the price paid for a share relative to the annual income or profit earned by the firm per share.A higher P/E ratio means that investors are paying more for each unit of income. It is a valuation ratio included in other financial ratios.The reciprocal of the P/E ratio is known as the earnings yield. Stock having a P/E less than 30 are said to be good investments
• EPS:
  EPS. Total earnings divided by the number of shares outstanding. Companies often use a weighted average of shares outstanding over the reporting term. EPS can be calculated for the previous year (”trailing EPS”), for the current year (”current EPS”), or for the coming year (”forward EPS”). Note that last year’s EPS would be actual, while current year and forward year EPS would be estimates.
• DVI (Dividend yield):The yield a company pays out to its shareholders in the form of dividends. It is calculated by taking the amount of dividends paid per share over the course of a year and dividing by the stock’s price. For example, if a stock pays out $2 in dividends over the course of a year and trades at $40, then it has a dividend yield of 5%. Mature, well-established companies tend to have higher dividend yields, while young, growth-oriented companies tend to have lower ones, and most small growing companies don’t have a dividend yield at all because they don’t pay out dividends

Covering Letter to Resume

The Cover letter for a resume is often regarded as a mere formality and is not given the importance it deserves. Most job seekers would prefer to skip it and just send their resume alone to prospective employer. Others would invariably send an announcement cover letter stating the obvious i.e. “ Please find enclosed my resume…” Such cover letters would definitely be a waste.

Is a cover letter then, really necessary?

A cover letter with the resume is resume is essential to improve your chance of selection If you are sending your resume to an employer, you should always ensure that a cover letter goes along with it.

Q. Why is this cover letter so important?

The cover letter is the first thing that the recruiter reads when short-listing resumes. It is much shorter than a resume and, if well written in content and presentation, could grab the attention of the person sifting through the possibly large volumes of resumes that have arrived for a particular position. This is particularly so in the case of advertised vacancies where as many as 50 to 100 resumes could arrive for the position every day. With these volumes, you can expect ruthlessness in the screening process. In fact, a clerk who may not even be aware of the details of the advertised position would probably do the first level of screening and may be working
on a preliminary checklist provided to him. Over 50% resumes may be removed at this stage and may not even reach the next level in the screening process. A good cover letter would definitely help at this stage in at least sounding different and standing out from the crowd. It could improve your chance of being selected for an interview.

Q. What then, should your cover letter contain?

Your cover letter should highlight the value you offer to meet the employer needs the cover letter is an opportunity for you to respond to the needs of the prospective employer. You need to go beyond your resume and its details of your past experience. And highlight how you can help your new organization in achieving its goals. How your skills and experience together can meet the expectation that accompany the new job profile. You can claim the value that you offer to the organization in your cover letter. The detailed evidence to back up your claims will be provided by your resume. 

Remember that your cover letter is meant to motivate the organization to take some action in your favor i.e. either short-list you as a probable interviewee and inform you about the interview date, or at least accept your call when you telephone to follow up on your resume. This can only happen if your cover letter contains a clear reason/benefit why the organization should hire you, similar to highlighting the Unique Selling Proposition in an advertisement for a consumer brand.

Try and customize your cover letters for different employers

A common practice is to send the same cover letter for different employers through a mass mail exercise, where just the employer name is change. This may be so because it is easier and quicker to finalize one cover letter whereas customized cover letter for different employers would require a lot more effort. You may even reduce the number of companies you send your resume to if you need to customize each cover letter. Here, there is a definite trade-off between customization and volumes.

In the case of mass mailing a generic over letter, you have the definite advantage of sending your resume to a higher number of prospective employers, which increases your probability of getting some job. However on the down side your cover letter and resume may not stand out from the competition because you have had to keep the content general in order to satisfy different organizations.

When you prepare different cover letters for different employers, you will need to think along the following lines to customize the letter i.e. you need to think about the organization and the industry its in, its customers and clients, your job profile if you were to get recruited by them, and who your strengths, abilities, traits could help contribute significantly to the organization. Just highlighting your basic skills could help you get shortlisted, but you need to stand out above the clutter. You also need to differentiate yourself Vis a Vis your competition and let that come through in the letter. That would be the difference a customized cover letter would make. There will be parts of the letter that you could use an as standard section in all your letters and that, to some extent, would save you time and effort, it is advisable to change the rest of the letter to suit the specific needs of each of your prospective employers. This should give the employer a clear reason why they will be better off after recruiting you.

The cover letter should be short with a conversational style instead of a stiff tone how long should the cover letter be? What should be the tone and style of language used?

The answer to the first question is that the cover letter should be short as the reader may only give it a quick skim through given the pile of resumes that he may have to go through.

It should have not more than 2-3 paragraphs of 5-7 lines each. The sentences should not be too long nor should they be in point form like in a checklist. You can highlight a certain sentence by using italics or bold whichever you prefer.

Regarding the second question of the tone and style of language used in the letter, it is preferable to use a conversational and easy flowing friendly tone, instead of a formal and stiff business like approach to the letter. Do not use ornate and longwinded words or thoughts. Keep your claims specific and not vague. Avoid overloading your letter with too many adjectives.

A common part of certain resumes and cover letters is a host of adjectives like- “Committed, dedicated, motivated individual with excellent communication skills, efficient, reliable with outstanding interpersonal skills, keen mind with excellent problem-solving and analytical skills….”Please avoid such long clichéd self-praise in your cover letter. This example may be an exaggeration, but the point that needs to be made is this-stick to a few credible claims with a brief substantiation. A host of adjectives such as the ones above cannot make your resume stand out, but instead might receive a response such as “Oh no! Not one of those again! “ Now that is definitely not what you wanted.

Avoid servile language like- “ I humbly submit my resume to your esteemed organization…”

One Must understand Difference in Resume and C.V.

People use the words RESUME, C.V., and BIO-DATA interchangeably for the document highlighting skills, education, and experience that a candidate submits when applying for a job. On the surface level, all the three mean the same. However, there are intricate differences.

Resume

Resume Is a French word meaning "summary", and true to the word meaning, signifies a summary of one’s employment, education, and other skills, used in applying for a new position. A resume seldom exceeds one side of an A4 sheet, and at the most two sides. They do not list out all the education and qualifications, but only highlight specific skills customized to target the job profile in question.

A resume is usually broken into bullets and written in the third person to appear objective and formal. A good resume starts with a brief Summary of Qualifications, followed by Areas of Strength or Industry Expertise in keywords, followed by Professional Experience in reverse chronological order.Focus is on the most recent experiences, and prior experiences summarized. The content aims at providing the reader a balance of responsibilities and accomplishments for each position. After Work experience come Professional Affiliations, Computer Skills, and Education

C.V. or Curriculum Vitae

C.V Is a Latin word meaning "course of life". Curriculum Vitae (C.V.) is therefore a regular or particular course of study pertaining to education and life. A C.V. is more detailed than a resume, usually 2 to 3 pages, but can run even longer as per the requirement. A C.V. generally lists out every skills, jobs, degrees, and professional affiliations the applicant has acquired, usually in chronological order. A C.V. displays general talent rather than specific skills for any specific positions.

Bio-Data

Bio Data the short form for Biographical Data is the old-fashioned terminology for Resume or C.V. The emphasis in a bio data is on personal particulars like date of birth, religion, sex, race, nationality, residence, martial status, and the like. Next comes a chronological listing of education and experience. The things normally found in a resume, that is specific skills for the job in question comes last, and are seldom included. Bio-data also includes applications made in specified formats as required by the company.

A resume is ideally suited when applying for middle and senior level positions, where experience and specific skills rather than education is important. A C.V., on the other hand is the preferred option for fresh graduates, people looking for a career change, and those applying for academic positions. The term bio-data is mostly used in India while applying to government jobs, or when applying for research grants and other situations where one has to submit descriptive essays. Resumes present a summary of highlights and allow the prospective employer to scan through the document visually or electronically, to see if your skills match their available positions. A good resume can do that very effectively, while a C.V. cannot. A bio-data could still perform this role, specially if the format happens to be the one recommended by the employer.

Personal information such as age, sex, religion and others, and hobbies are never mentioned in a resume. Many people include such particulars in the C.V. However, this is neither required nor considered in the US market. A Bio-data, on the other hand always include such personal particulars.

Evaluating Employers

Knowing the company you plan to join should be an important part of your job search.

It allows you to get a preview into the organization and find out if you will fit in and enjoy your new job. It should give you information to answer the question- Do your goals match with those of the organization?

You do not want any unpleasant surprises once you have changed your job. Your world also not welcome a move, which turned out to be detrimental for your career. In order to reduce dissonance post a job change, it is advisable then to research your prospective employer thoroughly.

When and how should researching the prospective employers be done?

Research the prospective employer before applying for the job

At the outset you need to draw up a list of organizations that you would be interested in applying to, based on broad indicators like industry, product/services offered and your prior experience. This would, of course, be done keeping in mind your career goals.

The second step would be to evaluate each of these prospective employers against a set of criteria established by you. This set should be as detailed and exhaustive as possible in order to give you as much relevant information as you can get regarding the organization. This evaluation should enable you to classify companies into two groups-the ones that you definitely need to apply to and the others that do not fit in with your career goals.

The third step would be to send your resume to the short-listed organizations and wait for interview calls. The information you have gathered during your research of the company would help you give better and well informed answers regarding the organization you are interviewing with, the work you think you could be doing there etc. This will project you as a keen and dedicated candidate who has done his homework and is aware of the company. And of course, once you are made a job offer your research will help you decide if the job and company fit in with your career plans.

The focus of this article will be on the second step i.e. evaluating your prospective employers before you apply for specific job positions i.e. before you send out your resume.

Establish criteria and priorities what is important for your job

To evaluate prospective employers, you need to establish certain criteria. A detailed list of criteria should cover different aspects such as the organization culture, its market reputation, its growth prospects, requirements of your job etc. Once this exhaustive list has been drawn up, you also need to priorities what criteria are important for you in your job. This will help you to compare different job offers and choose the one that satisfies your requirements the most.

This is what your detailed list of criteria could look like. You could divide the criteria into different categories:

The company background

1. The industry that the organization is in
2. The products/services that the company deals in
3. When the company was set up
4. Number of offices/branches in various cities
5. Size of organization-its turnover, employee strength

Performance of the company

1. Its turnover and other financials-profits etc.
2. Marker share of its products/services-is it a leader?
3. Growth prospects of the company
4. Current and future expansion plans/objectives
5. Its competitors
6. Company reputation amongst customers/suppliers
7. Company problems/needs

Human Resources

1. Organization structure
2. Quality of personnel
3. Working environment
4. Corporate culture/philosophy
5. Company salary structure
6. Increments pattern
7. Performance appraisal systems-is company a meritocracy?
8. Management style
9. Importance of training programs
10. Any plans for re-structuring.

About your prospective job

1. Job description/requirements
2. Match with your existing skills and education
3. Frequency of travel
4. Chances of transfers
5. Benefits package
6. Work hours likely
7. Job location –city/upcountry; urban/rural
8. Opportunities for promotions/advancement

A research like this on your prospective employer would provide invaluable information to help you decide on the most suitable employer for you that would match your needs and your career goals. Words-of mouth a significant source of information

The information source needs to be reliable, accurate and up to date. You could use alternative sources of information for this purpose such as:

1. Company home pages. - Company home pages are useful, however you need to remember that they will tell you what they want you to know in order to project themselves positively.
2. Investment portals like CRISIL, Sharekhan, ICICI Direct and HDFC Securities.
3. Libraries  consist of magazines of Current affairs, corporate changes which can be useful information.
4. Stock exchange/CMIE compilations.
5. Company annual reports/brochures can be very useful to understand the financial status of the employer company, stability, board of directors, current staff strength, financial information etc.
6. Trade associations like FICCI can provide vital information about the company
7. Newspaper/magazine articles.
8. Word of mouth that is talking to people currently working in the organization or people who have earlier worked in that organization and have since left. This could give useful information on work environment, organization structure, job content, management style and personnel. You world get a real feel of what the organization is like from these first hand accounts.

Let’s hope an exhaustive research like this of your prospective employers ensures that you take the right decision and join a great place to work!

Changing Jobs…..

“Is it time for me to consider changing my job…?” 

This is a question, which must have crossed the minds of many of you. It could have been triggered off by a particular situation that you faced or it could be something that has been on your mind for a while due to certain aspects of your current job.

For first-time job changers it would be a tougher decision, as they would have no prior experience in what it takes to change a job. Whatever the situation, whoever the person, changing jobs is something that needs a lot of planning and thinking through. It is definitely not a decision to be taken in haste.

Be clear about the reason why you want to change jobs

You feel that you need to change jobs. This feeling is not reason enough. You should be able to look at your current job situation objectively and analyze the problem, if any that is prompting you to consider a job change. A job change is a significant decision that can affect your career and your future plans. It should not be taken on an impulse, or on some thumb rule that you need to change jobs after so many years in a company. Nor should it be that you feel you could do with a substantial jump in your pay packet. Instead, your need for a job change should be based on some sound rationale. Some examples of reasons could be:

Work-related -

1. A bad boss (who is a hurdle to your progress)
2. A boring and uninteresting job (not a challenge for you)
3. Unsuitable organization culture (you have problems relating to colleagues)
4. Need for more responsibilities (to match your capabilities)
5. Achieved the limit in what you can learn (you have a higher career goal)
6. High stress levels (more than you can handle)

Benefits-related -

1. Higher pay /more benefits (your work/skills are valued more than what you get)
2. More convenient location (you work too far away from home)

Your reasons for changing jobs could be one, or a combination of these. What you need to do is to evaluate your reason against certain criteria that are important to you. Do a cost benefit analysis to see whether it is advisable to change now. Would you benefit overall by this move?

This is not meant to discourage people who consider changing jobs. Nor is it a case in favor of loyalists to one company. All that is being re-iterated is that use the problem solving approach in this decision to change jobs. Your overall objective should be to improve your level of job satisfaction at the new job. For example, if you are moving primarily because of a bad boss, you have no control over the king of boss you will have in your next organization you may need to consider other factors as well such as a higher pay or the job content to ensure that you at least improve your working conditions in your new job. The worst thing for you would be to be doing the same job with the same responsibilities, in a new organization and with a tougher boss!

Once you have arrived at the reason for why you need a job change, how can you go about it? When is the right time to change jobs?

The most important step here is to identify your long-term career goals. That is you should able to chart out a realistic career path for yourself. You could ask yourself the following question:

1. When do you want to be at different positions/designations in an organization?
2. What is your job description at each of these levels?
3. What responsibilities do you need to handle to get there?
4. What skills do you need to be able to work efficiently at each level?
5. How will you acquire additional skills with increasing responsibilities?
6. If you are changing fields, do you have the functional skills that work in any industry?
7. How long will it take you to achieve this goal in your existing organization?

With this clarity on your future plans, you will be in a better position to decide the right time to change your job. This will also help you aggressively go out looking for jobs that fit in with your career plans, or suitably evaluate offers that come your way.

In the meanwhile, update your knowledge and skills regularly. Stay well informed.

You need to look out for the right job, which will give you a higher level of job satisfaction, and match your aspirations. Of course, there could always be a certain error in judgment, which you could not anticipate, of accepting an offer, which later on turned out to be a disaster. But the idea is to avoid such situations as far as possible. Try and minimize such risks. This especially, despite the dangling carrot of significantly higher pays and benefits.

THINK THROUGH YOUR CAREER PLAN,

AND

CHANGE JOBS AFTER PROPER RESEARCH!

Evaluate the counter offer objectively before you accept or reject it

What if the organization you are currently working for makes a counter offer after you told them about your intention to resign? How should you react? Well, the first step is that do not get carried away by emotion and feel so touched that someone wanted you to stay. Or do not let this situation inflate your ego so much that you suddenly feel indispensable to the organization and develop unrealistic expectations.

Yes, it definitely feels good to know that your organization felt that you were important enough for them to make a counter offer instead of just letting you go. But remember, you need to still do some thinking before you decide to accept the counter offer. Some of the issues you need to consider are:

1. Can the counter offer compensate for your reason for quitting?
2. If quitting for higher pay, can the counter offer satisfy your need?
3. If quitting for higher career goals which you perceived could not be met by your current organization, can the counter offer influence you to stay?
4. Is the increment just a red herring to keep you till your replacement is found?
5. If you accept the counter offer, will you be seen as a dissenter who threatens to quit to get his promotions? Could this adversely affect your chances of future promotions?

Think through such issues before you get carried away to accept the counter offer. It may turn out that you did well to stay on in your current organization. But, let that happen after you have gone through a thought process like the one above.

Do not resign and then look for a change

Before you consider your next job change, you could keep in mind the following tips:

1. Review your job situations to see if you are on the right track to achieve your career goal. Identify if there is a need for you to look for a change.
2. Do not resign and then look for a change. It reduces your market value. It is advisable to continue working and then look out for better opportunities.
3. As long as you are not a compulsive job-hopper, there is no stigma in changing jobs. In fact, a positive view to changing jobs is that it adds on to your experience and skills, allowing you to advance in your career. You can also contribute better to your new organization by bringing your expertise acquired in your previous job.
4. Keep yourself aware of developments and information in your industry/field. Stay up-dated, as it would help you in your getting a better job.
5. Research alternative job options before taking a final decision

This would reduce the risk of job dissatisfaction after the change. Whatever you do, let’s hope that you find what you are looking for in