I came across this article one day and thought it is worth sharing.......

A senior recruiter’s guide to being an ideal professional 

(And why most young Indians don’t fit the bill)

An open letter by a partner at consulting firm KPMG to India’s graduating classes has led to a furious debate about the professional worth and attitude of the country’s degree-holding millions. Mohit Chandra, in his piece in the New York Times blog India Ink, has attempted to remove some of the misgivings that he believes these freshly minted professionals have when they step out into the world. “Most of your contributions will be substandard and lack ambition, frustrating and of limited productivity. We are gearing ourselves up for broken promises and unmet expectations,” he has written. “Today, we regret to inform you that you are spoiled. You are spoiled by the “India growth story”; by an illusion that the Indian education system is capable of producing the talent that we, your companies, most crave.” While the article created a stir on the Internet, trending on Twitter and being debated heavily on Facebook, it has led to heavy criticism and disagreements from some of the other future employers of young Indian graduates. Ashok Soota, executive chairman, Happiest Minds, told Mirror that it was wrong for someone to take a few bad examples and generalise. “For instance, the first example of the badly written resume is unfair. I read nothing short of  a few thousand resumes a year and they are all very well written. The writer has taken the extreme end of a fringe,” Soota said. Piyush Kumar Sinha, a professor at IIM Ahmedabad, said comparing Indian professionals with those from other countries was unfair. “If the Indian management style is unique or different, why are we trying to embody somebody else’s benchmark and then claim it to be right? Every place — be it Japan, US, China, Korea, Australia, Middle East countries — has its own mode of functioning, and excelling. Every country has its character.” Chandra, in his letter, had asked fresh graduates to treat what he had written as a “guide to what your employers really want and how your ability to match these wants can enrich you professionally”, going on to conclude, in detail, how Indian professionals don’t make the cut in any of them. Chandra said, “There are five key attributes employers typically seek and, in fact, will value more and more in the future. Unfortunately, these are often lacking in you and your colleagues.” He then went on to list those attributes. 1.You (think you) speak and write English fluently “This is rarely the case. Even graduates from better-known institutions can be hard to understand. Below is an actual excerpt from a résumé we received from a “highly qualified and educated” person. ‘To be a part of an organisation wherein I could cherish my erudite dexterity to learn the nitigrities of consulting’. Huh? Anyone know what that means? We certainly don’t.” 2. You are good at thinking outside the box “Hard to find. Too often, there is a tendency to simply wait for detailed instructions and then execute the tasks – not come up with creative suggestions or alternatives. Problem-solving abilities, which are rarely taught in our [Indian] schooling system, are understandably weak among India’s graduates, even though India is the home of the famous “jugadu”, the inveterate problem solver who uses what’s on hand to find a solution.” 3. You ask questions, engage deeply and question hierarchy “Why can’t they pick up the phone and call when they do not understand something?” is a commonly asked question. You are unduly impressed by titles and perceived hierarchy. While there is a strong cultural bias of deference and subservience to titles in India, it is as much your responsibility as it is ours to challenge this view.” 4. You take responsibility for your career and invest in new skills “Many of you feel that once you have got the requisite degree, you can go into cruise control. The desire to learn new tools and techniques and new sector knowledge disappears... The desire to be spoon-fed, to be directed down a straight and narrow path with each career step neatly laid out, is leading you toward extinction, just like the dinosaurs.” 5. You are professional and ethical “When you exhibit behavior like job hopping every year, demanding double-digit pay increases for no increase in ability, accepting job offers and not appearing on the first day, taking one company’s offer letter to shop around to another company for more money — well, don’t expect to be treated like a professional. Similarly, stretching yourself to work longer hours when needed, feeling vested in the success of your employer, being ethical about expense claims and leaves and vacation time are all part of being a consummate professional. Such behavior is not ingrained in new graduates.” In response, an anonymous blogger on India Ink questioned Chandra’s parameters and arguments. The writer, who called himself Just Another Youth, said, “I have nightmares when I have to proof read my Mexican friend's reports. And I know the person is a genius. An absolute talent. But English, not so much. My point, English should not be a big bothering factor when you are counting talent.” He further contended that if Indians are not acting professionally, then even the so-called professionals are not treating them well. “They are just a source of cheap labour. A friend, who owns a patent (a technical one to be precise), is paid $55k in an oil company. Similar qualified US national is paid over $100k.” The author added that Indians have specific skill sets and complaining about them “is like complaining bananas don't taste like oranges. Why did you buy a banana?”