Notes

Interview Module - Thoughts on New System)

Interview Module | 25/6/93

Thoughts on NEW SYSTEM.

Each Executive would be given a Unique & Permanent Code No.

This will be "finally" given - without any significance or linkage (for example no linkage with Co. Code no.)

There should be no need to maintain any "manual register" to know what is the next code NO. to be allotted. This should be "ON-LINE" and Computer should display (on command) what is the NEXT no. to be allotted.

Executive Name: (Enter) →	Surname / Family Name	First Name	Middle Name
Next free Exec. Code No. being allotted to this Executive (computer displays)	43789 (eg.)
Industry (Current)	[Box]
BOX NO. in which bio-data being kept (or this could be Advt. Code No. for a given Client)	[Box]

P. T. O.

"Until and Unless the Operator enters to "Box NO" the transaction is not Complete and Computer will not allot the Exec. Code No or allow further processing.

This provision/stipulation will ensure that we are always able to find (the box) where we have kept the original bio-data. To-day, this is a MAJOR PROBLEM. We are spending hours to locate original bio-data!

Given "Exec. Code" we should be able to find following screen:

Exec. Code (enter) →	To Appear
Name:	Last	First	Middle
Resi. Add:	[Line]
Resi. Phone:	[Line]
Office Add:	[Line]
Off. Phone:	[Line]
City. Location:	[Line]
Function:	[Line]
Designation:	[Line]
BOX NO :	[Line]

This Screen is essential to be able to contact the executive over the phone (or by sending letter/telegram) for fixing an interview with client.

Under present system,

Given Executive code NO (by client over phone), we try to fig-out the where-abouts (storage) of the bio-data.
Get phone no/address from bio-data.

We should think of a "STANDARD-LETTER" which can be printed-out (mail-merge) on command. E. g.

[Boxed Letter Content:]

Dear Mr. [Candidate Name]

We had occasion to Send your bio-data to [Client Co. Name / Location] for the position of [Line].

Mr. [Line] of [Client Co.] has shown interest in meeting you on [Line] $\rightarrow$ Date at [Line] $\rightarrow$ Time Venue [Lines] } Address

Phone no. [Line]

We would highly appreciate - - -

SYSTEM DEV. Ideas | 16/4/94

(i) City-wise list of

Clients
Associates
Candidates
Friends

with phone no. (Off. & Resi.) - Addresses etc.

See. e.g. attached

This list helps in

Fixing up "appointments" 3/4 days before reaching that city.
Contacting remaining persons after you reach that city.
At least contact over phone with whom you wish to keep contact alive and find out latest developments.
Networking.

(Madras Visit Contact List)

M. Subramanian (626-7193)	MADRAS VISIT 25$^{\text{th}}$ / 26$^{\text{th}}$	NRV Bhatt (Apple) (R) 482-4886 (O) 2800 ← 837-8446 ← 826-6518 826-2126	427205 ✓ 431300 ✓ 4
			Nandanam Temple Towers, N. H. Rd. Mud 35
NAME	Phone NO	Fax No	Appointment
	Resi	Off	No
ECC
A. Ramkrishna	626-1807 234-3564	234-3584 (234-2749)	044 -234 2317.
S. Chandrasekar.	839-535	234-2747
H. M. Desai	451308	234-2501.
Pandurang	414-886
V. A. Gr. Sekhar.	72295
Samu	491-2312	491-0659	8A / 3rd Ave / Besant Nagar
P. G. Rao	454429
K. V. Mathur	915172	234-1932	044-234-4075
R. K. Gupta/ Roychoudhari	492-6211	234-3255 234-5523	234-5055
C. R. Ramkrishna.	71264	"
Mallika Srinivasan Sec: 2nd floor, App-	839-926	474073 829-4582
M. V. Subbaiah E. D. Parry	450-402	581-840 581-112 534-1104	044- 524-0858
J. N. Amrolia Leyland		(0) 234-0482 534-2141	044- 581-493
V. S. S. Seshadri KCP	(R) 869-265	4721111 4720084	4721111
Sumit Sanghvi (Miller)	614-3213	522-5586 522-7458
C. R. Rao (29$^{\text{th}}$)	458-551	235 826-8042

(Follow-Up Note)

FOLLOW-UP | 29/3/94

Success of our business will depend upon effective follow-up. This is true of all businesses.

We need to follow-up

Internally, our own staff
Externally

our Clients
" Candidates
" Associates
" Advt. Agents
" Suppliers/Vendors
" Maintenance Contractor
" Banker

This list will grow as our business grows.

Most companies depend upon

Manual follow-up systems
or, still worse,
the "memory" of their executives

to carry-out FOLLOW-UP work.

(Computerized Follow-Up)

A few Companies have taken help of Computers in their follow-up, but to a very limited extent e. g.

In L&T, Computer automatically print-out at the end of each month, what Supplies/materials are OVERDUE (as compared to normal, cumulative delivery schedule) from EACH of 2000+ suppliers/vendors.

There are many companies, who have, their computers print-out OVERDUE PAYMENTS (Customer outstandings)

every month-end, for each Customer, in

descending order of "age" (Oldest outstanding at top)
descending order of "value" (Biggest outstanding at top).

There could be also one, consolidated statement for all customers put together.

These statements could be

Business wise / Product wise
Salesman / Sales Manager / Reg. Mgr - wise

Territory wise $\quad$ etc. etc.

(IT/AI for Follow-Up)

The amount of follow-up will directly increase (proportionately) with the volume of business.

And, unless we take help of the technology (IT), the more and more of our staff will be spending more and more of their time simply "chasing" matters!

They will have less-and-less time left to do any DEVELOPMENTAL / CREATIVE work.

I read WEINER Norbert Whitehead's (?) "HUMAN USE OF HUMAN BEINGS" some 35 years ago. Time has come to implement his ideas.

We must harness the powers of

Computers
Telecommunications
Artificial Intelligence (AI)/Expert Systems

to take over from our staff, the routine FOLLOW-UP: follow-up which does not add much "VALUE" to our business - but it is still essential, like oil/grease in an automobile.

(External Follow-Up - Clients)

EXTERNAL FOLLOW-UP

Here the most important (and most voluminous) follow-up will be with

The Clients and
The Candidates

Let us take-up one at a time.

CLIENTS

We need to follow-up Clients (including potential / prospective clients) for

Getting response to our "Introduction Letter" (general or special) offering our services.
Feedback on bio-data sent (whether interested/not interested etc).
Feedback on "Interviews" arranged (final) (whether candidate rejected/short-listed etc)
Feedback on "Invoices" raised (when sending payment).
Feedback on "Preliminary Interviews" held by (whom to call / when, for final interviews).

Feedback on "draft Advt/Artwork/Estimate" sent for approval.

(External Follow-Up - Clients Continued)

Feedback on "TERMS - acceptance / Advances"
Follow-up requesting expediting of ESR form/Tabulation
Follow-up to expedite Company-Profile/Org. chart./Job-Description etc. (for forwarding to Candidates). Especially required for Sr. level head-hunting.
Sending to client, confirmation of interview-dates by Candidates called (Client should not have to follow us for this!)
Follow-up of "follow-up"!

e.g. Has he received/studied/taken action (what?) on the ROUTINE MONTHLY STATEMENTS sent to him?
e.g.

Summary of bio-datas sent in last 3 months
Outstanding Payments (Invoice wise)
Statement of Running Accounts / advance adjustments etc.
Non-receipt of Copies of Appointment letters issued to Candidates
Follow-up re: Adkit Agency’s Press Bill (due after 30 days)

Follow-up with Candidates

Additional data requested / queries raised about his geographical preference / leaving etc.
Return of Regn. form
Annual “update form” (Happy Birthday or Happy Anniversary of Appointment — in case of those executives appointed through us)
Interview-date confirmation (after first reply to loan interview-date information)
Rush us copy of your Appt. letter
What happened at the Interview? (feedback)
We have sent your bio-data to so-and-so.
Are you interested in so-and-so company?
Sorry! You are not found suitable by ——
Congrats! You have been shortlisted for further/final interview by ——
Can you pl. come and meet me on ——?
Whether offer given (client acceptable)?
Whether submitted / resigned to current company?
Date of joining / offer accepted by / Date of joining.

Follow-up with Candidates (contd.)

Some of the follow-up activity is “fixed-periodical”
e.g.

Annual Update (for candidates)
Monthly Statement (for clients)

So software must define:

Whom to send
What to send
When to send

Some are “event-based”, e.g.

Appointment can follow interviews only
Interviews can follow sending of bio-data, etc.
Sending bio-data may or may not follow an inquiry or an ESR
(We do send bio-data on our own also)

So the track should be:

Make a comprehensive list of all activities

Dated 30/03/94

Arrange “sequentially” (the order in which these can happen / take place)

The moment any staff member enters an activity or event, the system software should flash on the screen the next 2 or 3 activities and ask:

Which of these is likely to be your next activity? → Enter tick ✔
When would you like it to be followed up? → Enter date
For follow-up, whom would you like me to send a reminder? → Enter name/co.
What type of standard letter or statement would you like me to send out to that person?

(Tables drawn for menu/statement selection with entries a, b, c, d, e, f marked with checkmarks.)

Now the system has clear “instructions” in its memory which will activate the Follow-Up Module on the due date.

The EDP Manager can activate the Follow-Up Module first thing every morning.
The system will flash on the screen, one by one, all the follow-ups due on that date.

At this stage, EDP Manager has the following choices/options listed against each follow-up activity:

#1
Give a green signal to go ahead and print out follow-up letters.

#2
Because of additional information gained on the subject matter during the intervening period, decide to reschedule the follow-up action.

On “Reschedule” command, computer will flash all the questions all over again and the EDP Manager (or Marketing Manager)...

(page ends mid-sentence)

will enter a fresh set of instructions.

#3
Decide to follow up by phoning / faxing / email.

So he gives command “OVERRIDE.”

All of these should get recorded in the Purchase Order Execution file.

This file should be preserved until a few months after the order has been executed. Thereafter, it can be erased (Drop-Dead Date?).

The purpose of preserving it for a few months is that, on occasions, there could be disputes with a client — whether we had done our job properly / timely / effectively etc.

So we will need proof.

Already had a bunch of disputes with:

Shaha Modyan
STP Ltd.
Megna Meditex etc.
— when they asked us to refund advance.

INTERNAL FOLLOW-UP (with our own staff)

Dated 30/03/94

If our staff is sufficiently self-motivated / inspired / achievement-oriented, then internal follow-up should be entirely unnecessary!

This may take some time.

It also presupposes that every member of the staff knows what is expected of him/her.

This means goals / objectives / targets are well-defined for each member of the staff and fixed in a definite time-frame.

Then, these have to be clearly communicated so everyone knows:

What is expected of him (Quantity)
Of what quality
Within what time

These three are performance criteria.

These criteria must be laid down …

For each type of activity:

If we do not have the norms, we can evolve them historically, by keeping output records on a daily basis for each staff member — even if he is doing different types of work on different days.

An operator/officer/manager must sign ON before starting an activity and sign OFF at the end.

Each activity (type) itself will be coded/numbered, which he’ll enter while starting.

And record/history will be cumulative — as also the hours spent cumulatively.

So,

Cumulative Records ÷ Cumulative Hours = Average Productivity

This will be low in the beginning and improve as each staff member acquires knowledge and skill.

(Small hand-drawn graph labelled “Output” on Y-axis and “Time” on X-axis, showing curve rising then flattening.)

After a time, it will taper off and stabilize.

Any improvement (in a person’s productivity level) beyond this stage can only come through:

change in method, or
change in technology (e.g., Voice Recognition).

I have digressed a bit — let us get back to Follow-up.

At the beginning (or the end) of each day, we need to look at the screen and find out:

Bio-datas remaining to be entered (at each of the six/seven levels which I have defined elsewhere).
Bio-datas remaining to be converted (treating this as a different level).
ESR remaining unattended, i.e., executives yet remaining to be contacted against ESR need.

Now ESR itself could be recognized at different levels such as:

#1.
A remark heard at a party that XYZ Co. is looking for ABC vacancy to be filled.

#2.
An inquiry (oral) at a meeting/party by an officer/manager of any company that he is looking for such-and-such person.

#3.
An oral request from a regular client (could be telephonic).

#4.
A letter/fax request from any company (including a regular client) — may or may not know/accept our terms.

#5.
An ESR received from a client (without advance).

#6.
An ESR with advance received.

These are arranged in ascending order of importance and commitment.

Till volumes of requests falling under #6 + #5 is substantial enough to keep us busy, we will have to attend/respond to other types of requests as well.

This is the only way we can build up a healthy clientele!

So while entering the request in the computer, we must define its level.

At the end of the day, the system must tell us, at each level, how many requests have remained unsearched.

4️⃣ Having been “searched,” for how many ESRs have we yet to send out biodatas / one-line statements?

5️⃣ How many (which) “Interview-call letters” remain to be sent out?

6️⃣ How many “Invoices” remain to be sent out? For which appointments? For which out-of-pocket expenses?

7️⃣ How many payments remain to be collected? From whom?
- Chronologically
- Valuewise

8️⃣ How many bills (of suppliers) remain to be paid? How many are overdue? (Beyond credit extended by supplier)

9️⃣ How many mailers remain to be despatched?

🔟 How many letters (from clients, associates, candidates, etc.) remain to be answered?

11️⃣ How many papers / logs / registers remain to be filled — whether manually or electronically?

12️⃣ How many bio-datas remain to be coded?

Critical activity, because without coding a bio-data will remain outside the search orbit!!

13️⃣ How many Adkit remain to be entered?

14️⃣ How many letters are pending typing?

Basically, we are trying to define the Work Backlog Situation.

The idea is to minimize “arrears” — if possible, eliminate altogether.

The idea is to drastically reduce our response time.
This has to be our USP (Unique Selling Proposition).
This is what must differentiate us from all other agencies.

The 14 activities listed above are not comprehensive.
As each backlog situation becomes apparent, we must write down that activity.
This way, the list will grow.

For each of these activities, we should make one person responsible.
If the volume is too much for one person to handle, we should divide the responsibility among 2 or 3 persons — but with sharpness, without overlap or ambiguity.

e.g. Enter bio-data

 One person for level #1 (all A to Z)

 Two persons for levels #2 to #5

(A to L → one person)

(M to Z → second person)

 Biodata Conversion (3 persons)

A to J

K to T

S to Z

INTERVIEWS – FOLLOW UP

Dated: 31/03/94

When the business volume grows, there could be as many as 15–20 executives being interviewed daily.

For organizing these interviews, any number of clients would be phoning us daily.

We need to ask the client (or he needs to tell us on his own):

Whom (Exec. Code No. or in rare cases, Name) he wants to interview
On what date / time

Most clients will stop here!

We must question and find out:

For what position / designation
In which posting location
Venue of the interview
Person whom he has to meet
Type of reimbursement (Train / Air etc.)

I expect the Marketing Manager to enter this information on the screen even as he listens to the client.

In course of time, a Telephone Operator (with a head-phone) should be able to do this. We may call such a function a Marketing Assistant instead of calling it a Telephone Operator — since they are expected to do much more.

The Screen may look like:

| Date: | | Mktg Asst. – 1 | Mktg Asst. – 2 |
|-------|---------------------|---------------------|
| Client Name (Co. Name) | | |
| Client Officer Name | | |
| Venue of Interview | | |
| Date | | |
| Time | | |
| Whom will meet Candidate? | | |
| Person / Candidate Confirmed | | |
| Trade involved or Posting | | |
| Posting Location | | |
| Type of Reimbursement | 1st class Train | Air |

Action / Instructions to Computer System

Phone Candidate (M.A. / Mktg Asst.) to record message in hospital(?)
Send Letter / Memo to Client (Mentor Std. Letter No.)

Follow-up

Whether Confirmation Received? Yes / No
Whether Regret Received? Yes / No

As soon as this screen has been entered into, the system should take over and automatically

Send out recorded message to candidate’s residence phone (taken from the database). It will instruct/request the candidate (or the person who has lifted the receiver) to phone back:
Mr./Ms. __________
Marketing Asst. – 3P Consultants
on Phone No. ________

and confirm whether he/she will attend the interview as requested.

When the candidate phones back, the Marketing Asst. opens the screen and records his confirmation/regret (with reason for regret or alternate date requested, etc.).

Thereafter, M.A. phones up the client and conveys the answer of the candidate, and simultaneously enters into the screen that he has done so (in the follow-up section of the screen).

If the candidate does not have a residential phone or card, we do not want the voicemail to call him up at his office phone no.!

Then,
MA (Mktg. Asst.) shall instruct the system to print/send out a telegram / courier letter as he wishes.

Send → Telegram ☐ Courier Letter ☑ Click Mouse

System will have a standing instruction to send all communications to all candidates at their residential address only.

In 10 years from today, most executives will have either e-mail or fax at their residences. Then the problem will be much simpler.

If the client has an e-mail or a fax at his office (which is much more likely within next 2–3 years), the system could be programmed to send out candidate’s confirmation to the client automatically.

Arising out of the foregoing module, we should derive a screen similar to:

Client Company	Client Officer	Phone No.	Interviewing (Name & Designation)	For Position	Whether Candidate has Confirmed Attendance	Client Feedback
Handy Dandy Olives	Mr. A Patel	832-557	G. Godbole (Applications Head)	Systems Engg.	✓
Hindustan Huplast	G. Banerjee	444-9149	G. Godbole (Applications Head)	Mktg. Mgr.

The Marketing Manager should daily look up all such summary screens for the next 8/10 days — one by one.
He should do this first thing every morning.

If he finds the “Whether Candidate has Confirmed” column blank, then he can talk to/remind/follow up with the concerned MA (Mktg. Asst.) to find out what is the problem.

He can then decide what alternate course of action he should take, such as:
1️⃣ Get fresh/alternate date from client & convey to candidate.
2️⃣ Phone candidate at his office (something voicemail will never be allowed to do).
This will be only a human intervention.

In the screen format/system, there shall be provision to enter “Mktg. Mgr. Intervention” remarks.

After the interviews are over, the next day the MM (Mktg. Mgr.) will personally phone up (not leave to MA) the client and:

Obtain client feedback
Enter into screen

He will also phone up all the candidates and obtain their perception of how the interview went.

This will either:

Reinforce what the client says, or
Contradict what the client says.

Maybe the screen should have one more column: “What Next?”

Where MM could enter his remarks such as:
1️⃣ Follow-up on ______
2️⃣ Send additional biodata
3️⃣ Arrange further interviews (with same candidate or other candidates)
4️⃣ Forget & close the chapter (send report/letter to client & candidate)
etc. etc.

FORMS / SCREENS (7/4/94)

Source: Paperless Office

Client Details
ESR → (a) ESR Summary
Details of Individual ESR
(A) Advance Payment Account Summary (Cheque)
(B) Adv. Payment Summary – Clientwise
(C) Adv. Adjustment Details
Acknowledgement (Clientwise)
Search Efforts (Findings + Results)
(a) Clientwise
(b) ESRwise