Always wanted to work in a call center but not a graduate yet? Or is it time constraint that’s stopping you from working full time? Ajuba now introduces Part time job openings for people who were otherwise unable to work with us on a regular basis. This is a new initiative exclusively for the call center process. If you think you have good communication skills and want to invest your time to fund your education, learn or make a difference, here is the right opportunity.

 Regular college students pursuing their UG or PG, students pursuing part time courses and the like, find part time jobs a great source of income, value addition and experience. Most students fund their education through these opportunities and are more independent than those who just find time for studies. House wives also find part time jobs as a means to fight monotony, earn and improve their quality of living.

We are open to looking at students or housewives up to the age of 35 with a zeal to work and earn. Home drop facility, food, world class infrastructure and a congenial work environment are some of the facilities provided for the part timers at Ajuba. So grab the opportunity and go for it!

 Well, we’ve all heard it before that having good communication skills is very important in today’s business world. Do you suppose that body language plays a crucial role in your day-to-day communication with different people? If you answered ‘yes’ to the question, then you are absolutely right! Read on to understand as to how your body language could have an impact on your communication skills.

 So, what is body language all about?

 Body language is the use of hand gestures, facial expressions, body posture, etc. while you are having a face-to-face communication with someone.

 Body language or should we say ‘Body Talk!’ is the language we speak everyday except that we do it without using words. Honestly, no kidding! How else do you think your friend, colleague, family member knows that you are happy, sad, depressed, anxious or even angry when you are not saying a word? It’s because you are constantly sending signals to other people either consciously or unconsciously about how you are feeling. Body language plays a very vital role in your communication.

 Body language and its affect on communication:

 Research shows that 55% of your communication is manifested by your body language (aka non-verbal communication), 38% is conveyed by your voice, tone & inflection and only 7% account for the words that you use. There is an old saying “it is not what you say, but how you say it, that matters” which holds true even to this day.

 However, body language isn’t given the credit it deserves. It is not enough if you have a good voice, good vocabulary, inflection or the right tone in your voice if you are giving out wrong signals with your body. So it is very important for you to be aware of the signals you are sending out.

 Very often, a lot of importance is given only to verbal communication. We take a lot of time to practice or rehearse what we are going to say, but honestly many of us miss out on practicing or rehearsing our non-verbal communication.

 Now that we have learnt about the basics of body language, watch out for the second part in this three-part series where we will be sharing with you some helpful pointers about your body language during interviews.

Adjudged the best entry for ‘Celebrate A Woman in your life’ contest in connection to International Women’s day, for Wonders June 2010

She shall be called “Woman” for she was taken out of Man (Genesis 2:23)

She’s the every reason I live for,
Her ways are just and her paths are peace,
And her love unconditional.
There is life in her laughter
There is healing in her smile.
Long life is in her right hand
In her left hand are riches and honor.

She is more precious than gold and rubies,
She is the spring that brings joy
The joy that consoles the burdened heart.
Her teachings are of love and sharing
She beholds the world in her heart
And pray for its well being every passing day,
To me, the world is thriving because of her presence.
She is the fountain of life

The Woman who introduced me to the world.
The most wonderful Woman with the heart of a precious gem.
She’s the Woman I love and adore,
My best friend and my guide,
She is my mother

The Woman I celebrate in my life!!

Solomi Chawang

Adjudged the best entry for ‘My first day at work’ contest for Wonders June 2010

It was a beautiful morning, almost a decade ago. I woke up with a strange emotion – that of elation and that of a hundred butterflies invading my stomach. I was engrossed in thought when my alarm rang to tell me that it was 6.00 a.m. – time to head to work… wait a minute!… head to work??? It took me some time for the feeling to sink in that I was an employee of a company and no longer a student of Loyola College as my final year exams got over just a week back!!! Boy…was I happy!

I jumped out of my bed and went about my daily chores. My mother was surprised to see me dressed this early and couldn’t help but smile at her son’s enthusiasm. After gobbling down my breakfast, I grabbed my bag and headed for the door.

The journey to Tidel Park was without any incident as I was lost in thought most of the time thinking of the day ahead of me. I went up to the 12th floor… Good gracious lord! I had never seen such a humongous office…There may have been offices even better than mine; but to me, I was stepping into one of the most beautiful offices in the world. The ambience was lovely and I could smell coffee in the air. The furniture in the reception was cozy and also had warmth about it. I was seated next to a group of people who had the similar wondrous expression on their faces. After exchanging nervous hellos, I sat along with them. For a second, I drifted into my day dreaming mode where I thought that I was in a fairy land waiting for a fairy to appear and take us through this beautiful place! I was brought back to reality when my trainer came to the reception and took us to the luxurious boardroom for training. The first thought that hit me when I entered the room was the spectacular view that the room commanded. The board room doubled up as the training room and I was astounded by the sheer size of the room. The room had a bird’s eye view of the city and that of the sea lapping up the horizon.

The training session began with a surprise…with the trainer letting us know that we were the very first training batch, which comprised of 10 trainees (including me)… I felt a sense of pride when I realized that the company had given me this fantastic opportunity to hone my skills and was honored to know that we were chosen out of hundreds of aspirants to make up the very first batch in the company. The training commenced and we were thrilled to know that we would be learning about the United States, their culture, their accent and most importantly about the US healthcare industry.

It was a memorable day – an exhilarating experience!

Years passed by….I wake up with great sense of passion and look forward to each day as a fresh start with loads of positive mental attitude. As the years progressed, my role grew and with that my responsibilities also grew. There are several challenges,(no doubt!), but these challenges keep me motivated and raring to go. I am now in a position where my team is an integral part of my being.

I believe in the values that my company stands for…

I believe in my company’s cultural elements…

This is Lenin. And my company is Ajuba Solutions!

Lenin Cruz

In a recent survey conducted by the Great Place to Work® Institute, Ajuba has been ranked the 9th Best Company To Work For in India across industries. Ajuba has also been ranked 1st within the ITES Industry category.

The Great Place to Work® Institute, Inc. is a research and management consultancy with offices around the world. The institute has been evaluating employers through its employees over the past two decades, to understand what makes a great workplace. It is believed that strong trust between the employee and management enables the smooth functioning of an organization. The survey is designed to understand  the employees’ trust in the company and the company’s initiatives towards employee welfare. This survey is conducted in about 40 countries around the world. This year, the survey saw the participation of 427 companies in India across industries, including business giants like Google, Intel and Marriott. The study was conducted by the Great Place to Work® Institute in partnership with The Economic Times.  

These laurels come to Ajuba as a result of its employee’s response to the survey. The company’s efforts in providing a holistic work experience through various learning opportunities, health programs, celebrations and employee-centered work environment, has not gone unrecognized. The study indicates that employees rated the company 100% in satisfaction and 99% in parameters such as family feeling and celebrations. Further, the survey reveals that Ajuba is one of the 5 companies that has an employee base with more than 40% women.

Considering the inextinguishable desire to nurture its employees and help build a progressive career, Ajuba seems to have embarked on a swift journey to the top of the list.

We all communicate with different people and at different levels. For example, when you communicate with your family and friends, it is very casual and informal. However when you communicate with your clients, customers, superiors, peers and subordinates, it is formal. In a professional setting, your communication skills can enhance or sabotage your career. Our written and verbal skills can be a key factor in making all the difference!

Having this thought in mind we are glad to share with you the last five tips in “The Art of Effective Communication” series.

1. Confidence: One of the keys to being an effective communicator is being confident while speaking. Maintain a confident tone and speak at a comfortable pace.
2. Articulate Better / Enunciation: While speaking try to open your mouth and pronounce the words clearly. Bad pronunciation or incorrect grammar can ruin your message and distract the listener.
3. Vocabulary: I can’t stress enough on the importance of a good vocabulary. A good vocabulary will give you good command over the English language. You could develop your vocabulary by reading a lot, using a dictionary often, playing Scrabble or other word games. If you learn a new word try to use it, so that you don’t forget it!
4. Your voice: Your voice is a very powerful instrument, learn to use it effectively. Modulate your voice, try not to sound monotonous. Modulating your voice can help make you sound more interesting. Inflecting your voice while speaking helps to keep the listener engaged.
5. Know what you’re talking about: A lot of us at times talk about topics that we may not know much about. There is an old saying; “A little knowledge is a dangerous thing” – this stands good even today. If you want to sound intelligent, then do your homework before the process of communication.

If you truly are passionate about improving your communication skill, you will need to practice a lot.

One of the keys to the success of any great leader today, is effective communication. You will be surprised to know that they practice their speeches, until they know that they can make an impression!

Good luck in your quest to master “The Art of Effective Communication”.

Learning is not attained by chance. It must be sought
for with ardor and attended to with diligence.
- Abigail Adams

 In today’s world, Personal finance plays a key role in deciding the assets and liabilities for a person and efficiently managing the expenses. The most essential aspect of planning finance is raising a self budget. Shaping up our savings and expenses within the income that we draw helps us live a contended life.

The different components taken into account for planning finance are savings account, investments in stock market, usage of credit cards, consumer loans, insurance policies, retirement plans and managing of income tax.

A person should always keep a tab on the assets and liabilities that he or she possesses. This will help chart out expenses and in turn help in calculating the ability to take up new responsibilities. Expenses that prove exorbitant or unnecessary can be excluded. It will prove fruitful to inculcate the habit of saving. Financial planning is highly necessary to meet inflation and other urgent expenses. One should set aside funds to meet unpredictable or unavoidable expenses like a medical emergency.

It comes as no surprise that an increase in our income results in increased income tax liability. Planning personal finance will help us direct our income towards savings and manage our income tax in a significant manner.

Help can be sought from the various financial planning agencies or advisory agents in making investments and security market planning. Adequate protection and low risk should be ensured in the investments being considered. Insurance policies should be taken up when an asset is bought. This will cover the risk when unforeseen damages occur (insurance policies also offer tax benefits).

Pre-planning is vital while making huge investments like a house or car. To obtain the best deal, extensive research should be carried out and quotations from various vendors should be taken before making the investment.

Caution and planning while applying for loans will prove to be a lighter burden. These days, loans are easily available at competitive interest rates. However, the loan amount should be decided based on the income of a person and hidden charges should be considered if any. This will indeed reduce the stress of paying up the loan.

Planning for retirement is necessary to understand how much it might cost to live after retirement and to come up with a plan to distribute assets to meet shortfalls. This can be taken care of by wise investments in pension plans.

Personal financial planning will help you save your best for your rest!

Communication is both an art and a skill that is extremely crucial in today’s business world. Hence it is vital that you focus on developing your communication skills. Remember this, “it is important to understand and to be understood!”

Here we go with the next five tips in our series of fifteen tips that could help you master the “Art of Effective Communication”:

1. Assumptions – the mother of all sins! It is general tendency for us to assume things in the process of communication; after all we are humans. However, for us to be an effective communicator, it is in our best interest to not make assumptions. Always be clear and check your understanding by asking relevant questions.
2. Body language: It accounts for approximately 60 to 70 percent of any face-to-face communication. Hence, it is extremely important to maintain a positive body posture while in the process of communicating. �
3. Tone of voice: It is not what you say, but how you say it that matters. Well, as the phrase itself indicates, your tone of voice is what decides as to how the listener will perceive what you are saying. You could speak a sentence that is totally harmless; however just try to speak the same sentence and this time increase your tone of voice, you will find the difference.
4. Rate of speech (ROS): The purpose of communicating is to convey a message, thought, emotion or feeling. The person you are communicating with should be able to follow what you are saying. Hence, it is imperative to maintain a comfortable ROS so that you are understood.
5. Choice of Words: Not many understand that in order for you to be a truly effective communicator, it is very important for you to use the right words. If you are an avid reader you should not find it difficult to choose the right words!

 Look out for the last five tips in this series!

The IPL brings along with it the end to the wait for IPL Super Selector. After the success of last year’s IPL Super Selector, we were eagerly looking forward to the same. The activity is designed to incorporate a factor of luck, knowledge about the sport and the players. Apart from the excitement of watching the match, employees stand a chance to take home prizes. Here’s another reason to watch out for the IPL scores.

Before the start of IPL, employees selected their 15 member team (batsmen, bowlers, wicketkeepers, fielders) from 3 categories: Gold, Silver and Bronze. For every run and wicket scored by the chosen players, employees are rewarded points. At the end of the match, the employee who score the maximum no. of points win.

Prizes rained all through out the IPL season as top scorers of each week were given gift vouchers worth Rs. 500, Rs. 400 and Rs. 250 respectively. At the end of IPL, the employees with the first ten highest overall scores were awarded prizes. The overall highest scorer was awarded Rs.5,000/-, the runner-up with a reward of Rs. 3,000/- and the 3rd place winner took home Rs. 2,000/-. 75 ranks were picked at random and Satyam Gift vouchers were given away to employees. To complete the fun experience, the person with the least score was also given a consolation prize. Thus ended IPL 2010 at Ajuba. Congratulations to all the winners.

On a Saturday morning, when most of the city slept in late, there was an enthusiastic gathering at the Marina beach. Standing apart from the regular morning walkers of the Marina, was a mob clad in white T-shirts with the slogan ‘Walk for health’. The excited crowd of Ajuba employees as well as their near and dear ones took part in this health initiative by Svasth.

World Health Day was celebrated on April 7th, and Ajuba organized various initiatives to instill the benefits of healthy life to its employees. Bringing the concept of healthy eating into action, the employees were introduced to a soups and salads bar. The lunch counters had an array of fresh vegetable and sprouts which was a big hit among the employees.

In connection with the same, Ajuba organized a walkathon for its employees on April 17th to emphasize the importance of fitness and health in this fast paced world. The walkathon began from Ezhilagam, until the light house and back, spanning a distance of 6 kms. During the brisk walk, as they breathed in the fresh morning air and felt their limbs being exercised, they came to realize that getting fit doesn’t essentially mean taking up a complicated exercise regimen. A simple activity like walking daily will go a long way in staying fit. At the end of the walk, the participants enthusiastically assured to practice walking everyday to lead a healthy life.