Have you ever wondered what would have happened if the middlemen you are dealing with were the best in the business?

I got a call a couple of days back from Naukri.com in relation to a NRI offer of their's. As the whole world knows, now that I am almost nearing the finish line of my MBA, I have started the usual job searches. Hence, I registered my profile under the Overseas section provided by Naukri - its "exclusive" service offered to NRI's.

A couple of days later I got an unexpected call from someone at Naukri stating "we are providing these exiciting services for NRI's at the cost of X, would like to utilise the opportunity?". I thought it was pretty brilliant because, they would do all the work for me enabling me to focus on only the core work - interviews, etc. I had asked them few questions concerning the same and wanted few answers before they could roll me in for anything - for which I never got a reply from them. It sensed to me anyways that the lady was reading it out of a paper, and ended with a typical "Okey?". The usual lag between the Outsourced Call Center and the organisation. Hence, I always had my doubts if she would do her research for someone like me to get answers to convert her prospect.

Having to think about this now, relating this to the question I asked before - How great it is to have the best middlemen inside your pocket?. An amazing example would be - do you ever wonder whom your parents would have met and married, if the middlemen they knew wasn't someone whom they went for. To rephrase, ask yourself the importance of middlemen in your parents life (hence your life!), typically called the "marriage-broker" or just "broker".

I guess the way the system worked in our parents generations was, you suddenly want to get married since you think you can, and convey the message across to your mom, who then transfers the message across to your dad - since as most tamil movies show, the dad's are the stiffest to ask about anything - forget about marriage. Or it could be a top-down approach, where your dad thinks you should marry since he feels you can, and the delivery happens in the same way. Once the decision is made that "yes, you can marry", then the search begins. The begins the referral to the services of the local broker, who would be referred to them by some common friend or out of networks/knowledge, etc.

Similarly at another end - the girl's family decides to do the same. But unlike the bottom-down approach, in olden days as far as the girls are concerned there was just top-down approach. And the same cruelty of seeking the brokers happens. They would list some requisites pretty much like the boy's side. I imagine it would be limited and very unrealistic, but somehow the beauty of it would be that the economics would work out.

Then the broker arranges for the interview, where everyone except the boy and girl talk. And the typical interview question to get the job for the girl is, "Do you know to sing?". It is assumed here that the boy has already won the job, and its all his decision. If the girl clears the test, then finally the terms are spoken and the marriages happen. And when they are sent into the room for the much hyped about "first night", would be the first time they would get an opportunity to speak, which I guess they wouldn't spend wasting on speeches.

It just amazes me when I wonder about this, since this has some vital information to take away from. We decide our life partners based on someone's knowledge about the same, we get jobs thanks to middlemen, we move houses because of them, we make money thanks to their advises, etc.

Having to think about all these - I guess middle-men have become an essential part of our life or society. I remember my friend telling me about a company called Corporate Brokers, whose services are purely related to providing contacts. Imagine, if you would have had such a brain to bring out a business model likewise. There are so many other examples lying out there for us to get inspired from.

But the weakness here being, if you rely too much on his services then you are limited to his "knowledge" on that subject matter, which is a big risk at the cost of considering the image. For example, say a job - You might have ended up with a better job, or marriage - You could have got a much better girl (Note: You always wish after a while you get a better one!).

So the take away here being, if you ever want to consider doing a business, be the middle-men. Again depends on what your strengths are, nevertheless if you work your way from backwards you can get there somehow!

Note on Naukri - Regardless of having a fantastic product that you have, you also need to provide the required service to add value and influence customers to buy the product. So in this instance, I am not too sure if they will succeed unless they align their offerings & service efficiently together!

Filtered by sambhar....

Labels: Brokers, Job, Marriage, Middlemen, Naukri, NRI