Email Writing Guidelines

Two notes before I start:

1. This post is essentially for the students who want some tips on clearing the email writing section companies like TCS.  (I am not saying that this post is not helpful for others! :)

2. This is not an English grammar guide and/or email writing guide which can be mugged up. There are some guidelines, which can be followed (if you are willing)

Happy Reading! :)

You are a criminal if you start banging the keyboard immediately after reading the keywords! Save both, the keyboard and yourself, by taking a minute before you start writing the email!

Please spend a minute to read the keywords, visualize the overall scenario and draft a rough email outline in your mind (in your mother tongue). Following questions can help  you do this: Who is the recipient? Who is the sender? What is the purpose of the email? What is expected from the recipient? What is expected from the sender? What is the tone of the email?

Your mind is now ready with the rough email in your mother tongue. Start typing the final email in English. Below are some ‘General Guidelines’ and ‘Frequently Committed Mistakes’ to clear the TCS Email writing section with ease:

General Guidelines

 Opening the  email:

• The opening of the professional mail should start with a greeting to the client. Generally “Dear John” suits and in some cases “Hi John”. Avoid words like’ Respected’ and ‘Sir’ to be avoided.
• Preferably, you have to use their first name to address them and not their full name like “Dear Mr. John Smith”.
• Put a comma after you address the recipient and then you can start the email from the next line

Body/Content of the email:

• All the keywords from the problem statement should appear in your email. Preferably keep the sequence of the key words intact and make sure you don’t change the tense of the keywords
• The minimum or maximum word count is generally specified, needless to mention that it has to be followed. If not, please ensure that your word count reaches an optimum limit (around 80-100, depending upon the subject and number of keywords). 
• Avoid using unwanted information. Professional email should be short and crisp.
• I am mentioning some selected words which have alternate words, better and more professional. (Sorry – apologies, Unable to do – expecting a delay, Bad – improvements are expected/improvements can be made, working time – office hours, effect from – effective from). Using the alternate words can up your chances of getting through the email section.
• Try to mention the words frequently used in the corporate in your email (e.g., when your email is regarding some project, you can use : We, our team, our, offshore, on-site, office hours, downtime, client, apologies, glad, man hours, etc.
• Please ensure that you give a space after a full stop and the next letter is capitalized.
• I should always be capitalized (I), not 'i'
• Don’t forget to use articles like a, an, the,  etc. wherever necessary and appropriate
• Negative words should not be used openly and the same meaning should be covered under positive words.

Closing the email:

• Try to use the following sentences to close the email. (1) Kindly confirm the meeting (2) Please respond as early as possible (3) Looking forward for your participation/response (4) Hope you will follow the above points rigorously/meticulously (5) Please contact me in case of queries/ Feel free to contact me directly in case of doubts
• End your email with ‘Regards’. Put a comma and mention the sender’s name in the next line. Other options to close the email are Best Regards, Best Wishes, Warm Wishes, etc
• If specified, please ensure to use the sender's name as given in the question

Frequently Committed Mistakes:

1. 'Just' and 'Only'
Be selective while using the words ‘just’ and/or ‘only’. ‘Just’ doesn’t add any real meaning to the sentence and is used as a softener, to add flexibility and politeness. 'Only', on the other hand, is a relatively sharp exclusion. 'Just' also has a wider range of meanings, for instance to denote time.

2. 'Your' and 'You're'
It's the difference between owning something and actually being something
Correct Usage:
You made it around the track in under a minute -- you're fast!
How's your fast going? Are you hungry?

3. Its Vs. It's
"Its" is possessive and "it's" is a contraction of "it is."

4. Affect vs. Effect
When you're talking about the change itself -- the noun -- you'll use "effect."
For example: That movie had a great effect on me.
When you're talking about the act of changing -- the verb -- you'll use "affect."
For example: That movie affected me greatly.

5. Me vs. I
Most confusing words ever!
When you get done with that lab report, can you send it to Bill and I?
Nope, that's wrong. Please try taking Bill out of that sentence -- it sounds weird, right? You
would never ask someone to send something to "I" when he or she is done. The reason it sounds weird is because "I" is the object of that sentence -- and "I" should not be used in objects. In that situation, you'd use "me."

6. Do's and Don'ts
Note that the apostrophes aren't put in the same place in both words.

7. i.e. vs. e.g.
"i.e." roughly means "that is" or "in other words" while "e.g." means "example given" or "for
example." See the difference? One's used to clarify something you've said, while the other adds color to a story through an example.

8. peek vs. peak vs. pique
Peek is taking a quick look at something -- like a sneak peek.
Peak is a sharp point -- like the peak of a mountain.
Pique means to provoke or instigate -- you know, like your interest or feelings.

9. Alot vs. A lot vs. Allot 
"alot" is not a word. If you're trying to say that someone has a vast number of things, you'd say they have a lot of things.
Allot is used when you assign/give/dispense something, like allot money  

10. Who vs. That
When you're describing a person, be sure to use "who." When you're describing an object, use "that.
Examples:
“Rakesh is the one who likes to play cricket
"My mobile is something that overheats, all the time."

11. Into vs. In to
"into" indicates movement (Ginny walked into the office) while "in to" is used in lots of situations because the individual words "to" and "in" are frequently used in other parts of a sentence.
For example, "to" is often used with infinitive verbs (ex: to drive). Or "in" can be used as part of a verb (ex: call in to a meeting). So if you're trying to decide which to use, ask yourself whether
a) either "in" or "to" fits in with another part of the sentence, or 
b) the sentence indicates some sort of movement
If the answers are a) no, then b) yes - you should use into 

Email cautiously, get selected happily ( and Invite for a party, kindheartedly) :)

Best Luck!

Whatsapp- What’s up?

There is no doubt that the instant messaging application WhatsApp has become the rage today because it is so good to use. We can send texts, photos, videos and audio notes to each other at almost zero price (hardly a dollar); we can even create different chat groups and chat with many people in a same message box. All these advantages make WhatsApp become indispensable in our daily life. Some people have already stopped using traditional instant messaging function, which is normally preinstalled in every cell phone, using WhatsApp whenever they want to text their contacts instead.

But are we just ignoring its possible down shots?

Let me be clear: I have nothing against people who use WhatsApp, but I am very concerned about those who allow WhatsApp to use them!

In my profession I come across and interact with many students. I have been closely observing the effect of WhatsApp on a student’s life and I claim that the effect is more adverse and detrimental to one’s career.

Following are my observations:

1. Whatsapp Status:  Most important point worth noting is the WhatsApp 'Status' feature. It is so good that it creates a familiar environment. For Example: Neha is online but not yet responded, Ayan is always online and gives instant response, Arbaaz was last seen on 24/11/2012 at 2:00 AM, John status cannot be seen because he blocked me etc. These are the details which creates a great impact on mind. Even if you are not close to your WhatsApp contact, this virtual interaction has great impact than physical interaction.

2. Text, without feelings: Psychologically, the impact and imagination goes with text. A good text can create huge impact and similarly an irrational text can be disaster. The text becomes the sole means of emotion; you can easily hide your actual feeling and trick people.

3. Emoticons: One of the important feature of watsapp but has the potential to ruin one’s life! This is a grave issue, wherein the one reading at the other ends is hoaxed with texts and wrong emoticons. Imagine a scenario where person A is hanging out with his friends and in parallel, having a watsapp chat with person B. Person A is actually  laughing at the fullest and in parallel sends a crying smiley to person B. Now, visualize the signal sent across to person B and its consequence on the mind. Needless to explain it further.

4. Mobile Screen- our world: Here is another observation. In a party or any sort of gathering, if any of your friend is long sitting in corner operating his cell phone? Well, this is another major issue of this addictive messenger. The impacts are so powerful that users leave the real world interest, their entire emotion is restricted to the app, they get happy or sad depending on the reply they get from other users. WhatsApp users has serious addiction issue, they are hypnotized and controlled by other users. They are so into it that they cannot help themself without constantly chatting, replying and sharing all the time, regardless of the scenario.

5. Instant pleasure: The impacts are serious on regular day to day life. (at college or at work), it offers a pleasure that gives you nothing but constant dependency, you will keep on reading status, replying and sharing. If something goes out of proportion, you will keep fixing it entire day, this way it steals away your productive work and you end up lost your precious time, days and years.

6. Comprehension problems:  If we communicate primarily through the screen, we do not learn the subtleties of real life communication - such as body language, tone of voice, gestures, etc.

7. Instant messenger, instant depression:  After spending a lot of time on watsapp, some become anxious and moody. Also, a vulnerable person may suffer from depression when he reads great things happening to his friends, and his life is not so great in comparison, especially because news sharing is viral on watsapp. Those who experience "Watsapp depression" usually have trouble with social interactions in general.

I’ve been observing the above points for more than couple of years now and here are some free advises (especially for students):

1. Limit your use whatsapp use: Limiting your whatsapp usage to a defined time span will reduce your dependency on the app. Of course this is a personal judgment, around 30minutes in a day sounds fair enough (for a person who is already addicted)!

2. Offline when in college: Preferably, switch off the data connection of your mobile phone when in college. Highly unlikely that you will need a working data connection (for an email or any other purpose) and hence it is suggested that you remain offline. This will drastically increase your productivity when in college and reduce the disturbances caused due to frequent beeps/rings.

3. Cautious usage of emoticons/text: Don’t get bluffed by disastrous texts or false emoticons. This is a critical topic and one needs to be extra cautious in this regards.

4. Last seen, doesn’t matter: Avoid observing the last seen status of a user unless the reply you are expecting is very urgent. Again, a very critical topic and one needs intense control over the self to practice this.

Whatsapp- What’s up? :) 

How important is Campus Selection?

Many students I come across are unaware about how important is getting a job during graduation (generally referred as campus selection).Generally, students make the disastrous mistake of not preparing for a campus interview well in advance. The realization generally comes too late, often after the first interview is over.  Confidence level of even the brightest is bound to go down a notch or two after messing up one interview. So the key is, “Get it right the first time!”

Campus interview season is already well on its way, and it won’t be long before you are confronted with your first corporate showdown. Intimidating thought? Most certainly; but it is natural to be a little anxious before your first campus interview process. In fact, a little anxiety might actually enhance your performance. Let this nervous energy drive your efforts to success.

Campus selection is the biggest platform for a student to get himself and his career a good break and kick-start as his fresher level. Thus preparing for campus selection has to be very strategic, it being your first interview.

The benefits that student derives from Campus selection can be summarized as:

1. The invaluable job platform: Various big companies, even including MNCs do visit college campuses in search for fresh talents. The hiring of these companies otherwise (outside campus after graduation) is quite tough to get through, and to get in you would need references or real good labor.

2. Better offers at hand: Better and viable profiles and posts are offered to students in campus interviews, outside market competition for which could be quite high.

3. Handsome packages: Handsome or at least reasonable packages are offered to the fresher’s at their campus selection, obviously in-line with the ranking of the college and the past campus records, skill sets of the candidate, etc. Student’s performance definitely could take the slab further negotiable.

4. In-campus ambiance: Wherein the interviews are being held in your own college, your teachers and friends are out there and you have been oriented about the how abouts. These factors work a lot, both directly as well as indirectly, boosting your confidence, morale, etc.

5. Support for further growth: Getting a good campus offer/job quite a lot eases your further job-changes and growth path. It kick starts the career progression.

6. Safeguards against job struggle: Outside your college campus exists a firing world of competition, too tough and full of pains of struggle for freshers. Therein you not only need to give all your stamina and energy, trying to get a good job, but the earnings also do turn out to be peanuts, as the packages and job-configuration also come in hand thin and weak. The resources (time and money) you spend in finding and getting a job outside campus are generally excessively higher than that what you could have spent on the campus.

So to take a smooth career road, prepare well for your campus interview and leave no stone un-turned!

Above post was based on my experience and current observation of the 2014 batch. I hope the readers of consecutive batches would take a note and act upon!

Insights into widely chosen post- graduation options after engineering

Part 1 of ‘Career after engineering!’

I have just compiled the information available with me, Prasanna, Omkar, Akshay and on the internet.  Widely chosen post-graduation examinations:

CAT

Common Admission Test (CAT) is conducted by Indian Institute of Management (IIM) for their admissions screening for the MBA course once a year. The score is accepted in premium Indian MBA colleges excluding few. CAT is an objective test which has the following two sections:

1. Quantitative Ability (QA) and Data Interpretation (DI)
2. Verbal Ability (VA) and Logical Reasoning (LR)

Generally the QA and VA will have 20/21 questions while DI and LR will have 10/9 questions each. Each section will have 70 minutes and 30 questions to attempt. The marking scheme is not disclosed by IIM's but it is a generic thumb rule that approximately each wrong answer will cost you 33 percent marks of one correct answer. Those who have already appeared for CAT 2013 will have their results on 14th January, 2014.

The MBA course fees ranges from appr. 2 lakhs to appr. 20 lakhs. The other exams conducted by top colleges are XAT,NMAT, IIFT and SNAP.

GMAT

The students who want to get into business schools (generally MBA) in USA prefer to take the GMAT exam (Graduate Management Admission Test). The GMAT is a computer adaptive test which assesses the aspirant's analytical, writing, quantitative, verbal, and reading skills in standard written English in preparation for being admitted into a graduate management program, such as an MBA.

The total GMAT score ranges from 200 to 800 and measures performance on the quantitative and verbal sections together (performance on the AWA and IR sections do not count toward the total score, those sections are scored separately). Business schools use the test as a criterion for admission into a wide range of graduate management programs, including MBA, Master of Accountancy, and Master of Finance programs.

The GMAT generally follows the following format:

1. Analytical Writing assessment (30min, Number of questions NA)
2.  Integrated reasoning (30min, 12 questions)
3. Quantitative Aptitude (75min, 37 questions)
4. Verbal (75min, 41 questions)

Candidates can register and appear for the GMAT round the year.  The registration fee for the GMAT exam is $250 (Rs. 14,000 to Rs. 17,000 depending upon the dollar spot rate). The course fee depends on the country, university and the stream chosen, and ranges from Rs. 10, 00,000 to Rs. 50, 00,000.  Only two colleges in India accept the GMAT scores for admission in management courses (ISB, Hyderabad and Great Lakes, Chennai).

CMAT

Students who want to do their MBA Course from India have to write the CMAT entrance test (Common Management Admission Test) conducted by AICTE (All India Council for Technical Education). This exam is conducted twice a year and is an objective test with the following sections:

1. Quantitative Techniques and Data Interpretation (25 questions, Max 100 marks)
2. Logical Reasoning (25 questions, Max 100 marks)
3. Language Comprehension (25 questions, Max 100 marks)
4. General Awareness (25 questions, Max 100 marks)

The exam duration is of 180 minutes and there shall be negative marking with 1 mark deduction for each wrong answer.

Students who have appeared for the first test can appear for the second test as well, and better of two scores will be used for admissions. For the second test, the registration window is from 1^st Nov 2013 to 2^nd Jan 2014. The exam is on 20^th Feb 20142 and results on 14^th Mar 2014.

Registration fee for the exam is between Rs. 1,000 to Rs. 1,500 and the fee for the MBA course is from Rs. 1, 00,000 to Rs. 20,00,000 (depending upon the college and university chosen)

GRE

(According to me, this is the smartest admissions test - Lets you skip questions, change your answers and have control to tackle the questions you want to answer first)

The Graduate Record Examinations (GRE) is a standardized test that is an admissions requirement for many graduate schools in the United States and in other English-speaking countries as well. The exam is created and administered by Educational Testing Service (ETS). Each university has an independent admission committee and process and hence, it is difficult to generalize most topics for this exam in this post. Topics that can be generalized are mentioned.

General structure of the GMAT:

1. Verbal Section (130 to 170 marks, 1 point increment, 20 questions in 30 mins)
2. Quantitative Section (130 to 170 marks, 1 point increment, 20 questions in 35 mins)
3. Analytical writing section, consists of two essays - (a)  Issue task (30min). Candidate is expected to write an essay on a selected topic (b)Argument task (30min). Candidate is expected to address the logical flaws of the argument
4. The experimental section (can be either a verbal, quantitative, or analytical writing task). Contains new questions ETS is considering for future use. The performance of a candidate in this section is not counted towards the total score. This section appears identical to the scored sections and the candidate in no way can to validate whether a section is experimental or not. Precisely for this reason, the experimental section is highly debated.

The registration fee for the GRE is $150 (Rs. 9000 to Rs. 12,000 depending on the dollar spot rate) and the course ranges from Rs. 10,00,000 to Rs. 50,00,000 depending upon the country and university chosen.

TOEFL

The TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language) is an examination used for screening candidates wishing to enroll for courses in U.S. universities.

The TOEFL is a 120 marks, four-hour long test consisting the following four sections:

1. Reading – consists of four to five passages and then questions about the passages (60-100 minutes)
2. Listening- consists of six passages, 3-5 minutes in length and questions about the passages (60-90 minutes)
3. Speaking- six tasks, two independent and four integrated. In the independent tasks, the candidate answers opinion question on familiar topics. In the integrated tasks, the candidate read a short passage, listen to a lecture or conversation and by combining appropriate information based on the two, answer questions. (20 minutes)
4. Writing- two task, one independent and one integrated (50 minutes)

This again is a smart test, with each section measuring one of the basic language skills (while some tasks require integrating multiple skills) and all tasks focus on language used in an academic, higher-education environment.

The TOEFL registration fee is $165 (Rs. 9,000 to Rs. 12,000 depending upon the dollar spot rate.

GATE

The GATE relative scores are used for admissions into various post graduate programmes (M.E., M. Tech., Direct Ph. D.) in most Indian Educational Institutes. The scores are also important to get financial assistance from government agencies and for various public sector recruitment screenings. The GATE (Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering) is an all-India examination that primarily tests the comprehensive understanding of various undergraduate subjects in engineering and science. Otherwise, many private colleges have their independent entrance test for post graduate courses.

The examination is of 3 hours duration that contains 65 questions carrying a maximum of 100 marks. The questions consist of both multiple choice questions (MCQs) and numerical answer type questions. All the papers will contain few questions that test the General Aptitude (Language and Analytical Skills), apart from the core subject of the paper. The candidate is expected to appear in a paper appropriate to the discipline of his/her qualifying degree.

The registrations for GATE 2014 are closed and the test window for GATE 2014 is from 2^nd

Feb 2014 to 2^nd Mar 2014 with the results on 28^th Mar 2014.

The registration fees is appr Rs. 1,500 and the fees for post graduate courses range from Rs. 1,00,000 to Rs. 4,00,000.

Please leave your doubts in the comments so that they can be addressed. I welcome new information/data (pertaining to the topic).

Career after engineering!

After spending more than a year here , many students keep asking me regarding the career options after engineering. To simplify things, I thought of writing the following posts so that they can be referred to and circulated as and when needed.

1. Insights into widely chosen post- graduation options after engineering- expect information regarding widely opted exams like CAT, CMAT, GATE, GRE, GMAT, TOEFL with the exam patterns, registration and test dates, fees
2. Insights into no so widely chosen post-graduation options after engineering- expect information regarding options like hotel management, modeling, technical consulting, teaching and training, etc. along with the type of exams, fees.
3. General guide on choosing a career option after engineering- Expect a detailed post giving the pros and cons of the post graduate/career options along with general guidelines to opt one.

South Kanara (Karnataka)- a week

Last week, I spent a week in and around Ujire, Karkal, in South Kanara. Visited places, spent time with people, attended family functions. I have mentioned some of my noticeable observations below.

Functions in Karnataka are no bragger, especially as compared to functions in Maharashtra, where the people hosting and attending the function act like exhibitionist. The venue is generally a temple and the cooking is done by the family members/local people. The host provides the constituents/raw material for cooking as per the menu. The male members of the family/families come together and chop all the required vegetable the previous day. Temple premises are generally used for cooking and again family members/local people serve food. Overall, the functions ask for more involvement of the family members/local people at the operational level which enrich relations.

One well-intentioned way of starting the actual function is by introducing all the family members to each other. One person from each family addresses the crowd and introduces the family members. Seems like this is a good practice especially in functions like engagement, marriage where two families come together.

Some notes on the food now. Tiffin generally includes easy-to-serve items like Idli, Chutney, Sheera, etc. followed by Tea/Coffee/Malt/Badam Milk. Tiffin = breakfast! 

Regarding the meals, the way of serving and consuming is interesting. Meals are usually served in a particular order and required to be consumed in a particular order as well. These meals are served on banana/plantain leaves. First accompaniments are served which includes variety of Palya, Kosambari, sweet-savory gojju, hot spicy chutney Pickles, bajji, bonda, vade, Papads along with lots of rice. The first course is generally where a very small quantity of each item is served. This democratic way of serving gives freedom to the people to have their own choice of item out of all the available items (which are generally many). Obviously, this also reduces wastage of food drastically. The second course is generally where all the items served in small quantities previously, are repeated. It is a set of curries to be consumed with rice. It generally starts with Tovve, a mild lentil dish laced with ghee, Majjige Huli, vegetables simmered in a mild yogurt sauce, followed by Huli, lentils and vegetables spiced and tempered with ghee, mustard, asafoetida and curry leaves. This is followed by tili Saaru which is a thin lentil stock spiced and laced with ghee and curry leaves.  Above mentioned items in the course vary, from function to function, and depend upon factors like the type of function, caste, etc. However, the order of serving is followed. The final course of the meal is rice and curd with pickles. Buttermilk is also served to be consumed at the end of the meal.

More rice is used, especially among certain Brahmin communities.

More interestingly, salt is served at the end of the first course (In Maharashtra, it is generally the first item that is served).

One more remarkable practice is a ‘NO-NO’ to crackers before/after the function.

P.S.:  Some references taken from the internet to make the above passage on meals so comprehensive.

Check on your teeth before touching electrical wires!

Yesterday, I was fortunate enough to refresh myself by conducting interviews. Why? Getting some really bizarre answers to the interview questions is like, whoa!

To share an example, I asked an electrical engineer, ‘How come birds don't get electrocuted when they perch on electrical wires?’ The candidate thought for a minute (seemed like he tried to remember something) and then said, ‘Since my childhood days, I was very curious about such things and had asked the same question to my father. My father told that crows do not have teeth and hence, do not get electrocuted when perching on electrical wires!’ I curiously said, ‘You shared your father’s views. What are your views on my question?’ He said, ‘Of course, I also think that he is right. Crows do not have teeth and hence they do not get electrocuted!’

For a minute, I was shocked. Interestingly, I wanted to take this conversation further. I asked, ‘Good answer. Now, tell me, if I remove my teeth and perch on electrical wires, will I get electrocuted?’ And now, he was somewhat trapped. He said, ‘You have teeth from your birth. Crows are toothless right from birth and hence do not get electrocuted’.

Now, I took it further, ‘So, wires understand whether our teeth are right from birth or not?’ He exclaimed,’ Yes, it is god’s super natural power!’

I was really excited to take this further, a lot more, but professionally and personally, I didn’t. But, I couldn’t resist asking one final question to him, ‘What is your aggregate percentage in engineering?’ He said, ‘72%!’

I exclaimed,’ that is great! It was really nice meeting you and would be obliged to meet your father once!’ and he left the room…

I wish he gets a noble!

Note: Check on your teeth before touching electrical wires!