Anand’s Journey Towards The Unknown

To all my colleagues in grmtech, all my wonderful friends and family..

A BIG THANK YOU!!

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Hi guys,

During my stint of more than one year at GrmTech I have seen many a faces come and go. At times I have wondered as to what is leading people to leave the company even though it was providing enough flexibility. My curiosity drove me to explore and find out the tentative reasons as to why people do leave companies. But in an attempt to be a little different this time I tried to find out why people stay with their organizations instead.

Here’s why,

1. Better pay packages is by far the most attractive factor that acts as the decisive factor for one staying or not with an organization.

2. Opportunities for faster learning is also an improtant reason that keeps employees stick.

3. Growth Prospects (professionally)/ career or job growth is often looked upon by people as a good scope for the future.

4. A friendly and team based work culture is a must for big companies trying to keep their employees with them for long. It is seen that a non-friendly work environment affects the longevity of employees with their companies.

5. Value added job enrichment.

6. Right man at the right place concept implementation.

7. Basic utilities upkeep.

8. Participative orientation towards organizational development.

9. Human element: Humans as a Capital and not resource only.

10. People stay with companies where emotional aspects are duly considered.

11. Motivation & Morale building is also an important aspect.

12. Good people stay where leadership traits are identified & utilized as well as developed.

13. Where mentoring is done for assuming higher roles and responsibilities.

14. Good people would always like to stay in a company where they can gel well together with their colleagues.

15. Employees would always want to stay with a company where they see the possibility of their dreams getting fulfilled.

16. Challenges at work keep people motivated to go the extra mile.

17. People would always stick to companies where proper training for further development and grooming is conducted.

18. Efficient organizational policies for development and functioning also keeps employees stay put.

Its quite obvious that the non-availability of the above aspects force employees to leave their organizations. I am a complete layman when it comes to HR but the above data was collected from various sources and I shall be the happiest person in the world if it makes sense for the HR Manager of a Company.

Time to take out the blogging cap for now! Cya and Happy Pujas.

Enjoy!

Technorati Tags: human resource HR anand anand kedia

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See what they did to me….

Thank You GrmTech.

Special thanks to Debashis da, Aji Sir, Prabhat da for the make-up and Debashis da for the pic.

Any comments????

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Hi everyone,

The past week has been a real experience for me. In a way, you can say, it was the most satisfying week for me at GrmTech. Reasons?

• Our team started to reap the dividends of a move that I had put forth before my Boss for approval around 15 days back.

• I was given an opportunity to be a part of a training session for the new batch of Internet Marketing Associates, which I enjoyed to the fullest when I got the chance to speak in front of the group. Thanks to our HR (Daisy Ma’am) and Leader (Aji Sir) for the opportunity.

• Also, earlier in the week, Aji Sir had involved me to make a presentation to clear some of the doubts of our content writers on how to write effective articles that would fetch links.
• While doing the presentation (my first one ever! Thanks to Manojit da for the help) I got to learn a few things on writing effective link baiting articles.

Yes, that’s what I am going to share with you all in this post. – Link Baiting is the modern name for viral marketing or viral link building.

The single biggest priority for a content writer is to provide quality content to its reader base. But that’s not all. Until and unless, your piece is not attracting links you are a dead duck in terms of SEO (sorry if I am being too harsh!) But once you write something that is really “good” then you just need to sit back with a beer-can and count the inbound links.

Wondering what qualities would fetch you automatic links? In the words of Andy Hagans (the master baiter), “packaging is queen, promotion is the crown prince and a baity title is the Sword of Excalibur.”

Here are a few sure shot tips,

Proper market research – Its important to analyze the trend before writing an article. Give your readers what they want.

Write about what is being talked about – It’s seen that latest talked about news pieces attract huge audience. Hence, a content writer needs to be on his/her toes to have a solid grasp of the recent pieces.

Give your article a good thought – Before sitting down to write an article it would always help if one visualizes in his/her mind the structure of the article (length, beginning, conclusion, etc.)

Write a catchy title – Remember your title would in most cases determine how many people would actually read your article. Make sure to think of 3-4 titles before choosing the best one suitable for you. Still confused as to what makes a good title? Here are a few tips.

Use important keywords and description – If you are looking to optimize your article, make sure to use some of the important keywords in your title and opening lines of your article. Also write a quality description.

Proper use of formatting, grammar – People like to read properly formatted articles rather than encouraging an odd color here and there. A single spelling mistake in the first few sentences is enough to kill your article before it begins to grow.

Write an enticing introduction – The reader gets an idea by reading the introduction, hence if the intro is properly knit out half your job is done!

Write a long article – Believe it or not, long articles are talked about more. Here are examples,

• http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2007/09/labor-day.html - look at the no. of technorati links, saves to del.icou.us, digs, etc.

• http://www.seomoz.org/article/beginners-guide-to-search-engine-optimization - Yahoo Backlink 4763

• http://www.vaughns-1-pagers.com/internet/google-ranking-factors.htm - Yahoo Backlinks 4052

List the main points – People are attracted more towards reading content that is presented in a listed format rather than an essay style way. Something like “101 ways to…” sells morethan plain text.

Use images where possible – As they say, pictures speak a thousand words; readers are always attracted towards articles that have some catchy images within its body. Thus, the use of images won’t do your article any harm.

Write a summary – A properly written short summary of your article would make the reader to stay on to read the entire piece.

Use story hooks – Use different types of story hooks to catch people to link to you.

Think before you Spill – Be 100% sure before you show your article to the world. You can get feedbacks by submitting your articles to forums. See what people are saying. Make the suggested changes before you throw the dice because if you are doing it after people see it that would leave a bad impression and would certainly impact your audience.

Make it easy for fellow bloggers/webmasters – Try to have something like “link to this article” that would enable webmasters and bloggers to link back to your article easily and directly from your article.

Have a good rapport with fellow writers – A good writer would always respect a good piece of information. If you can make friends with some top rated writers on the web, it would act as a booster to drive more traffic to your article as they would start talking about you and referring to you.

Promote your article – There are various methods to promote an article on the web,

• promote in your website
• write press releases
• put your link in relevant forums
• use newsletters by taking out ads in the industry
• submit to social bookmarking sites (Digg, Stumbleupon, Reddit, Delicious.etc)
• comment in blogs with links to your article.

Here’s how link baiting scores over link building,

• Get rid of writing link requests.
• Takes away worries of having to respond to link requests.
• Get rid of unlimited stress resulting out of fear of setting a link pattern or having links from bad neighborhood sites.
• Stop worrying about having to spend long hours searching for future link partners.

• Spending all your energy in monotonous jobs like submitting to web directories, etc.

So what are you thinking? Rush off and write a link bait article now!! And do not forget to tell me how many links you managed with your article at the end of it all.

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Hi everyone,

You must have seen my last post on Rakhi (hey, ab please us Rakhi Sawant ka naam mat lena). Google also shows Rakhi Sawant when you search for “Rakhi” on image search (my god!).

Coming to the point, though I don’t have an own sister, the sisters that I have, are more than my own.

Chalo let me take you through my journey on Rakhi day.

First up, got up in the morning at 7, all excited. Couldn’t go to office in the first half. Set out for my maternal grandmother’s place. First off, it was my 5 year old lil sis, Aadrika (nice name na) who tied me 2 Rakhis. Got a Pen as a gift. From there I rushed off to my office for the second half. Hey, wake up! If you are thinking that ye banda kitna kaam waala hai you are totally wrong (ask my seniors!). Actually, it was for some other reason. One of my colleagues, Anindita di (more of an elder Sister/Friend/Guide), was really missing her brother, who was not in town for the first time during Rakhi. Hope you got the reason now. Yes, I wanted to have a Rakhi from her. As soon as I reached office this is what she had to say, “arre Anand, jaldi aao”. My reply was, “abhi ruk jaayiye, hum pehele lunch karega” (arre yaar, I was so hungry)

What happened after lunch was something I wont be forgetting till the day I die, I suppose. First off, Anindita di tied me a Rakhi. She gave me a chocolate(yaar, ab to maan lo, I have grown up). But she dint accept my “Lifafa” (an envelope with Shagun). Anyways, I settled down to check mails and all. Just after 2 mins. two of my other colleagues came to our room and stood in front of me…

Both of them chatting,

“haa, Anand yehi pe hai” (as I kept staring at their face)

I asked, “kya hua?”

One of them replied, “hum log tumko Rakhi baandhege”.

I was like surprised, shocked, frozen, stunned all at the same time. After it sunk in, I was like, very happy. Hey, I had got 2 more sisters in Abhirupa di and Kinkini di. They tied me a Rakhi one by one, which they had got during the lunch hours from outside office (so nice of you). But no gifts! Just kiddin’ I had two packs of chocolates with me and I shared with both of ‘em. Since it was a touching surprise, an emotional outburst followed. I don’t know why, but tears started rolling down my eyes. And it just dint stop. More so because I was chatting (on YIM) with them at the same time and some of the words that came from their sides were indeed heart warming and made matters worse for me. Finally, somehow I controlled myself. We had a long team meeting (of 2 hrs.) and one of our team members, Rhituparna di, suddenly came to the conference room before leaving for home and tied a Rakhi on my hand along with two other team members.

Had 4 Rakhis from office. Chalo bahut senti ho gaya. I got out of office at 7, as I had to visit my other sister’s (again, not my own) place. I had met Kalyani di through a common friend and she is like family now. She got stuck in a jam and came at 9. As I had to hurry to my cousins I asked her to make it fast. She tied me a sweet Rakhi and I had a chocolate pastry (yummy!). No gifts here too. L She was also adamant to take the “Shagun” but somehow I persuaded her. I rushed off and reached my cousins’ place at 10. Everyone had got their Rakhis in place and I was the only one left. Managed some food first (wow, paaw bhaji, tikia chola, etc, etc.). Then both my sisters (younger to me, this time) tied me Rakhis. Both of them hold a very special place in my life for many a reason. This time I had a gift, too. It was a shirt. Now, I could afford a bit of rest (but thoda sa hi). Had some masti with my Bhabhis, Chachis and Sisters. Then it was time to head home. We reached at 11:30. That was all?? NOOOOO. One more surprise was in store. Just around 11:55 I saw an SMS from another sister, Swati (again, met through a common friend, don’t ask me who that friend is…;) )

-:-:-:-:-:- ##*## -:-:-:-:-:-

“Bhaiya this is for you.”

Time for some more rona-dhona (Ekta Kapoor style)

Indeed was a touching one. Actually, we have not met even once but the bond that we already share is really very strong (buri nazar wale tera muuh kaala…). She knows all my secrets and I know hers. She has helped me quite a few times in tricky situations. I thanked her on SMS and we had a chat for around an hour (through SMS, we call it bhai-behen SMS chat). Finally, I managed to go to sleep at 1:30 AM.

I have only one thing to say to all my sisters, “THANK YOU SO VERY MUCH.” Bole to, “Thank You hai, behen log”

Eagerly awaiting the next Rakhi from now only.

See ya!

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Caution: Impatient hearts are advised to abstain from reading this post.

Ok, thanks for choosing to read on. Now, you must be wondering why this title – Thank You? No, I have not got the Oscar for the worst singer in the World nor have I been chosen the most wanted person in a group. Then why this?

But yes there is going to be one similarity between an Oscar winner and me (you will get to know about that as the post unfolds) Don’t blame me, I warned you.

THANK YOU is indeed a real soul touching word. Just try saying this to someone who just helped you when you were almost about to fall off while getting into a bus. These two words would really be a fulfilling reward for him. Try it.

Ok, lets come to the point. Through this post I want to convey my THANKS to some people in my life who have in some way or the other helped me overcome many a tricky situation. I know it would not be possible for me to do it directly thus this piece (yea, I am a shy one).

Though the list is endless, I will try:

God: Without whom I would not have seen the ray of light. (some would argue to this notion) THANK YOU.

My Parents and My Bhaiya, Bhabhi : Two people who have sacrificed so much just to see that smile on my face. THANK YOU.

My Entire Family: I want to thank each and every member of my family whose love towards me was proved beyond imagination during the past 3 months when I was unwell. Cant repay that. THANK YOU.

All my friends (to name a few - Swati, Pritish Da, Kalyani di, Swati di, Khushbu, Satyam, Hema Di, Nitesh bhai and that special friend of mine) for egging me on always. THANK YOU.

My Vivek Bhaiya and Rachna Bhabhi who did so much for me during the tumultuous 3 months. I will never ever forget what they did for me. THANK YOU.

Last but not the least MY SENIORS AT GRMTECH who have been a part of my life for the past year. They gave me the most memorable day of my life on my last birthday. Also, I clearly remember the day 15 days back when I rejoined my office after the long sabbatical (3 months). It was like a home coming for me. The comments that I got where heart-touching. The love that I have got at my workplace is beyond explanation. Be it my Boss (Vikas Bhaiya… yea, he happens to be my bro) or the Office Assistant (Ravi) everyone has been so kind. I also like the baby-treatment that I get from them even now (though I have tried to prove ample times that I have grown up). THANK YOU.

Lastly, its also important for me to apologize to the same group of the above-mentioned people for my shortcomings and my mistakes. I know I have hurt you many a time but still got the love. Hope you all will forgive me for my past mistakes and do what you all do best – LOVE.

Hope you got the similarity between an Oscar Winner and Me (hint- the long list yaar).

Any more words would end me up in tears. Better I wrap up for now.

BTW, who do you want to thank?

Keep Smiling and Keep Loving.

Technorati Tags:thank you,god,parents,family, friends,grmtech

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