Whenever an HR or placement guy calls up, he will not hang the phone until he puts his cliché, “What is your expected CTC (meaning Cost To Company)?”

Being a commerce graduate, I am aware what it means. But I never give him a straight answer and do not leave him without irritating him too!

My standard reply to him: “CTC?!! I don’t expect any CTC from you. I am concerned with how much amount will be credited monthly to my bank account. Can we work out like that?”

CTC, though it sounds very good, is a term designed by HR guys to make their offer attractive. It is the amount a company is expected to spend on an employee if he is recruited. Hence, the first thing to keep in mind is that it is a cost to the company and not necessarily a benefit to an employee. For instance, medical benefits of Rs. 15,000 will form a part of the CTC but it may come to an employee as a reimbursement. So, for a person like me whose annual medical expenditure is below Rs. 100 (Praise God Almighty) loses Rs.14,900 from my CTC! Another case is the employer’s contribution to provident fund (Future Saving?!). It is a part of CTC but not a part of the monthly amount that goes into the bank account. So are the performance based incentives (Management has thousands of reasons to show that we performed “below average” and hence compromise with the incentives!)

We should be very careful while negotiating with them about our pay packages. When they refer to a CTC of Rs 6 lakhs, it does not necessarily mean that the employee will be getting a monthly pay slip of Rs. 50,000. A well known FMGC in India offers a cool CTC of Rs. 11 lakhs to fresh CAs. It sounds great. A quick glance at the salary structure will reveal how the magical figure of Rs. 11 lakhs is arrived at. The monthly pay slip will show that the figure is shrunk to Rs. 4.5 lakhs! How? Well, HR guys are trained for that. We have to trust them.

While negotiating for the pay package, always keep in mind what amount will get credited to one’s bank account. That’s what matters. HR guys will always think from the company’s cost benefits (that’s the root of CTC) and will bargain hard. Remember, there are hundreds of guys waiting to seize other’s job. So be diplomatic too.

One needs to understand the salary structure in detail. Do not hesitate to ask anything to the HR guy if confused or in doubt. If still indecisive, then defer the pay negotiation part. Go home and consult friends or SMEs (Subject Matter Experts). Always keep in mind the tax factor on the allowances and perquisites being offered. Most of the big companies have ready- made tax planning but one can always work out a tax planning that is suitable to him. The HR guy will also help on that. Tax planning is legal but evasion is illegal.

Another important thing for job seekers is to have a well drafted CV. Remember; a CV is the first gateway through which the HR will scan the job seeker. After scanning the CV, he will definitely have an impression about the candidate based on the CV.

An ideal CV should disclose more than what is hidden. Chances are that the interviewer will ask things related to what is mentioned in the CV. If one is not confident of what he has mentioned in the CV, omit it. Mention only the things of which one is very confident. Another thing worth mentioning is to update the CV at least every two weeks if it is posted online in any of the job websites. Most of these websites review the CV every 15 days.

An HR officer of a well known petrochemical company in one of the Arab countries narrated me a story he experienced. He received a CV of an engineer from Indonesia. According to him, he had never seen such a well drafted CV in his career. He was very much impressed. He showed the CV to a senior manager of the department concerned. The manager immediately decided “I need this guy before some other company lured him. Pay him whatever he wants, but I need this guy!!!” So the next day, the HR officer along with two officials of the company flew to Indonesia to interview the “new found talented engineer”. The next story is what happens to most of the people. This is how the HR officer described.

The candidate entered the room. He was wished, “Hi, Good Morning. How are you?”

He replied. “My name is Mohammad Salim (name changed). I am interested to work in your company. Thank You!!”

The confused officials looked at each other and thought that he must have misheard the words or may be nervous as it happens sometimes to some people. To make him feel more comfortable, another official asked him, “So, how was your day?”

He replied, “My name is Mohammad Salim (name changed). I am interested to work in your company. Thank You!!”

The shocked officials asked him, “Do you know English?!”

He repeated the same line for the third time!!

That’s it.

A translator was called in to find who this guy was. It so happened that the guy was indeed the guy mentioned in the CV. They found out that he paid a professional CV writer to make his CV(very common these days). He was indeed an experienced engineer but he did not know English. The professional CV writer told him to learn a few lines in English by rote and use them whenever he was asked anything. The point here is not his lack of the language, but his failure to present himself. In fact, the company gives an allowance to learn basic spoken English.

But as I said his presentation went so badly, the interviewers got a negative impression about him. So he was chucked.

The old saying “The First Impression is the last Impression” holds true for interviews too. The smartness one shows during the interview will have a lasting impact on the interviewer’s mind. This, in turn, will influence the decision of interviewer who generally recommends whether to recruit the interviewee or not. Nowadays, big companies keep professional interviewers who have undergone training like Targeted Selection (TS) which is a behavior-based interviewer training program. They will interact with the interviewee to know his behavioral aspects and job competencies during the interview. In short, they look for smartness in the candidate.

The purpose of this article is to share my experience with all so that at least some people may be benefited someway or the other. I feel very proud when my Manipuri brothers and sisters excel in every field they are into. I believe that we have all the potentials required to score over others. It is just a matter of how we present ourselves. Wish you all the best my friends.