In the India of the 80s and 90 Indian companies were mostly confined to one state or had operations across few Indian states. So the employees needed to know Hindi and one regional language. Knowledge of English was a desirable qualification but not mandatory. But in the last decade, Indian companies matured and spread their wings across the world. Companies like Reliance and the Aditya Birla Group have their operations across the world and the IT service companies like Infosys, TCS, and Wipro mostly have American and European clients. So the employees must able to communicate in English with ease.
The contours of hiring process have undergone a tremendous transformation. Nowadays, being academically qualified does not ensure a job. You have to be an effective communicator as well. As a result, companies are now focusing more on hiring candidates with sound communication skills. To ensure that they get the right candidates, a pre-hire communication assessment has become extremely important. During pre-hire communication assessment, candidates are tested on their speaking, writing and listening abilities. Let us look at the top 10 reasons Indian companies need pre-hire communication assessments.
A neutral accent
Often, we Indians try to imitate accented manner in which an American or an Englishman speaks English, but in corporate world, that is not desirable. Most companies want their Indian employees to speak in a natural accent.
Mother tongue influence
A vast majority of Indians speak English as they would speak in their mother tongue. Though we Indians are accustomed to this, this may be a problem if the person has to interact with a foreign client who may not understand what he is trying to say.
Repetitive usage of certain words
It is common in India that people append words like ‘alright’ and ‘okay’ when they finish a sentence in English. This again may not be acceptable, if the person has to give a presentation to senior management or clients.
Stammering
Often, while giving a presentation, or when asked to speak in front of several colleagues, many people start stammering, though they do not stammer in general. This happens because people get nervous when they are asked to speak in front of a gathering. This is a definite no-no.
Hand gestures
While speaking, it is essential that we maintain a decent posture and avoid unnecessary gestures. Some people keep their hand in their trouser pockets while speaking. Some shake their hands vigoursly in an attempt to emphasize what they are saying. These are not desirable in an office environment.
Good grammar
Writing skills are as important as speaking and listening skills. However, we Indians tend to take a liberty when it comes to the proper usage of English Grammar, we have our own version of English, humorously knows as 'Hinglish'. Many candidates mix up between ‘has’, ‘had’ and ‘have’ as with ‘is’ and ‘was’. Some even use words which are nonexistent in the English dictionary. Asking them to write a simple passage, or asking them to spot the grammatical error in a sentence can help the recruiters spot these problems.
Grasp over language
Checking for the correct usage of grammar is one thing and testing for the grasp over English is another. Often candidates are asked to do simple fill in the blank exercises to test their punctuation skills or knowledge of synonyms and antonyms.
To test the flow of ideas
In a corporate environment, one needs to be innovative and think out of the box. When a candidate is asked to write on a topic, in house psychologist can assess the pattern of his thought process, his creativity and power of ideation.
To check is a candidate is assertive
Candidates often fail to differentiate between aggressiveness and assertiveness. An assertive style of communication is always a plus for a candidate.
Empathy
Last but not the least, listening to others patiently and attentively is of paramount importance, else we can miss out on ideas or issues which other are trying to convey. Companies prefer hiring candidates who allow others to speak and hear them out, before giving their opinion.
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Chillibreeze's disclaimer: This is a contributed article and was published on Chillibreeze in October, 2011. The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author(s) and do not reflect the views of Chillibreeze as a company. Chillibreeze has a strict anti-plagiarism policy. Please contact us to report any copyright issues related to this article. The relevance of the facts and figures cited (if any) could change after a period of time.
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—About our writer:
Anirban Roy is an Engineer and a Chartered Financial Analyst based in Kolkata, India.He has a keen interest in web designing and analyzing stock markets. He is an avid reader and loves to write on business and technical topics.
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