How to Answer BPO Interview Questions

So, you have applied to work for a BPO company. Great. The funny thing about this though is that most people do not even know what BPO stands for when they apply for this job. (It means Business Process Outsourcing by the way). Now the reason most people are interested in these jobs is they think it is some type of easy call center job or an employment opportunities that only requires people with little to know education. This is often true, causing the outsourcing jobs to commonly go to foreigners who hardly speak English. However, what is ironic is these foreigners are often better suited for these jobs because they actually know what they are applying for and how to answers BPO interview questions well. There is no reason any English speaking citizen should be losing jobs to people in other countries and by learning a few simple tricks you will not have this problem.

First and foremost you must know exactly what the company you are applying for does. Business Process Outsourcing involves a company (usually very large) outsourcing its jobs to smaller companies. These are usually IT related job or very often phone center related. This is why when you call some big companies numbers you end up talking to someone in India.

Now, after you have applied you are going to have to get prepared for the interview. The good new is that BPO interview questions are usually very generic and can easily be anticipated. For the most part these companies are only looking for two things in an employee that is not in a management position. The first thing they will always try to make sure of is that you know what you are going to be expected to do. If you walk into the interview not fully understanding the job you are applying for fully you might as well not even go. None the less, all you really need to know is some basic information about business out processing and the background of the company you are applying for. If you rattle that information off they will usually assume you are good to go.

Secondly, most businesses are looking for emotional stability. This may seem a bit weird, but in call center jobs and customer service areas you will constantly have to deal with frustrated customers. The interviewer is looking for someone that can keep their cool and will not get dragged into an argument with an angry customer. Basically, just remember to always remain confident and friendly during the interview. When they give you hypothetical situations, think of the most positive outcome and confidently come up with a plan of action.

Job Boards Versus LinkedIn Which One Gets You Employed Quicker

Always when I first speak to a new job seeker, they are set on action that they think will result in them getting employed quickly. Most often their first action - after dusting off an old CV - is to upload it to a jobs board. Often they have heard of a friend who got employed quickly by just uploading their CV to a jobs board, so they think: why don't I do the same, but to more jobs boards?

As a recruiter and CV Writer, I just want to give you an insight as to why you just lengthened your job search, and how by using free available tools - including your own professional society and LinkedIn - that you can get employed quicker.

Job Boards are a business

Jobs boards as I have written before seem like the modern day panacea to the job seeker. Simply you upload your CV in the morning, and by that afternoon you have a new job. Oh, I wish it were that simple! The average job application via a job board stands between an 8% and 12% success ratio. Further, once you have uploaded your CV/resume, the job boards owner make it very difficult for your to remove. The reason for this is that simply you have upload an asset for them that they can sell to the recruiters.

On average, when a jobs boards comes up for sale, the jobs board as a business is worth about half its turnover as a sell-on price, while additionally each CV/resume in the database is worth at least £1/$1 up to to £10/$15, depending o the age of the database and the market that the jobs board addressed.

Secondly, the job board owners uses upload CV/resume numbers as a way to sell the need for employers and recruiters to place their adverts on that jobs board. While we have 10,000 CV/resume was the mid-market, that's now small when even the local systems in the UK brag of a million candidate CV databases.

The Recruiting business

When I ask job seekers how they think that the recruiting and head hunting business works, most do not have a clue. When you consider still that at least a third to possibly a half of all jobs are dealt with via recruiters, that's not going to speed your job search success.

Recruiters from the mid-market and below, only make money when they make a placement. The employer customer may well pay up to a one third fee retainer to a head hunter, but most recruiters work via a no win (placement)/no fee contract arrangement. That means that each six to eight week brief is in effect a gamble: can you find the right candidate quicker than your competitors, which include the internal HR team. Secondly, although you may find that right candidate, what guarantee's that only you find that job seeker? If another recruiter or the internal HR team have that CV on their existing database, then your fee could be halved at best.

If you knew that your ability to earn was defined by quickly sourcing the right candidate quickly, would you go to the well where everyone else drinks, or go some where quiet? In theory, around one third of the work force is presently looking for a job, one third would move if the right job offer came along, and one third are happy where they are. Hence why would buy into a jobs board where you know that the many desperate job seekers have already listed their CV's on that database - and probably every other jobs board that they could find; or would you go somewhere else?

Why recruiters and employers like LinkedIn

The problem with Jobs Boards is that they only list the same job seekers that as an employer or a recruiter you have probably seen at least twice or more already. For an employer, if you have rejected them already, why bother paying to see them again? For a recruiter, why go where your competition is going? Plus there's always the "registered with three recruiters = rejected" rule, which rejects anyone who looks like a desperate job seeker.

Head hunters and retained recruiters hence often use contacts and systems of the professional societies, knowing that they give them access to the whole of the work force in that sector. The problem in gaining access to such databases is that rightly they are well protected legally and ethically, and hence only the top five percent of candidates are likely to be found that way, through their demonstrated expertise in writing articles and guidance in the publicly accessible professional publications.

Using social media sites, and particularly sites like LinkedIn and Doostang, means that you access not only active job seekers, but also the other two thirds of the work force, who could have better skills and not be listed everywhere your competition is looking. While Doostang is not accessible to Google, the use of boolean search strings in the past few years now allow recruiters to whittle down 100million business person database of LinkedIn to just a few suitable job applicants. Even using LinkedIn's own search facility allows the best optimised LinkedIn profiles to dominate the subsequent search results.

LinkedIn also comes with an added bonus: demonstration of skills. Although you may be found through you profile, the fact that you have demonstratable recommendations from your piers and have answered professional questions through Answers shows a greater depth of capability that someone who just uploaded a CV/resume to a jobs board, and whom you now have to find such demonstration of capability elsewhere.

If you understand the basics of how the jobs board business works, and how recruiters earn their money, then it is easy to understand why improving your profile at LinkedIn will get you employed quicker than uploading your CV/resume to even one jobs board. While the job seeking phase of any job search is about activity, never since the invention of the village notice board has it been more important where your post your CV/resume, and how your demonstrate your proven value, in relationship to how quickly you are employed in the age of the internet.

Mid-Year Tax Planning Check

It's not quite mid-year yet, but it is almost too late for some tax planning for this year.

Here's a checklist to help make sure you are on track for your tax planning this year.

Point #1
Do you need to add an entity or change how an entity is taxed in your tax strategy?

Entities are one of the greatest tools to reduce taxes. Knowing the right time to add an entity and knowing the right entity to add can save as much as $10,000 per year in taxes. However, the entity needs to be in place in order for the tax savings to occur.

When I create a tax strategy with a client, it's not uncommon for an entity to be created knowing that once it reaches a certain level of income, an election will be made to change how the entity is taxed. Missing this election or not making it at the ideal time can be a very costly tax mistake.

Now is the time to look at adding an entity or changing how one of your existing entities is taxed. Waiting any longer could minimize the tax savings for this year.

Point #2
Are your entities paying you the optimal amounts to minimize your taxes in your tax strategy?

Optimizing how you take money out of your entity is another effective way to reduce your taxes. The amount that is taken and how it is taken can have a huge impact on your taxes. It can also get the unwanted attention of the government.

Now is a good time of year to check in on how your entities are paying you because if changes need to be made, there is still time left in the year to make those changes without having to do one big adjustment at the end of the year.

Point #3
Is your documentation in place?

Documentation is a great way to successfully get through an audit. It is also a great way to increase your tax deductions because proper documentation leaves less room for deductions to get missed.

Documentation is best when it is kept current. An auditor can usually tell when someone has gone back and created their documentation after-the-fact.

Documentation includes keeping proper receipts, keeping mileage logs for your business vehicle and keeping hour logs if you claim real estate professional status.

Don't get behind with your documentation - now is the time to get caught up.

Point #4
Have you been reimbursed for expenses you've paid personally?

Commingling business and personal funds is never a good idea. It can jeopardize the legal and tax status of your business.

To avoid commingling of funds, it's best to pay business expenses with business funds and personal expenses with personal funds.

There is one exception to this and that is business expenses paid by you personally. It is a common business practice for a business to have policy in place to reimburse employees or owners for certain expenses. Common examples include lunch with a client or travel for business purposes.

If you have paid for any business expenses personally and have not been reimbursed, it's time to submit that expense report and get paid. These expenses are easy to forget about and that means the tax deduction could get missed.

And, if your business doesn't have a policy in place to reimburse you for these expenses, it's time to get that in place too.

Point #5
Is your bookkeeping up-to-date?

Have you noticed that each of the above is impacted by your bookkeeping?

Bookkeeping is one of the most powerful tools in a tax strategy. Without up-to-date bookkeeping, it is impossible to determine if anything in your tax strategy needs to be adjusted in order to maximize tax savings.

If you are behind in your bookkeeping, now is the time to get caught up.