VOLUME-V I ISSUE 12 I DECEMBER 2015 www.content.timesjobs.com

INSIDEP 6-7 Case study: Campus hiring

P 8 Interview : Amadeus Labs HR head

LEAP OF TALENT

Campus recruitment regains focus as startups queue

up to hire top talent from educational institutes

For TimesJobs.com articles, expert advice and tips, visit www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com, Jobs & Career section

Apeksha Kaushik, TimesJobs.com

I N a campus recruitment survey conducted by TimesJobs.com, nearly 70 per cent startups said that hiring from institutes is going to be their key channel to tap

fresh talent. In fact, around 22 per cent startups said that they have hired 10-20 per cent of staffers from various campus placement drives in 2015.

Acknowledging that a well-defined campus recruitment programme is key to solving the talent crisis, 40 per cent organisations claimed to have a comprehensive and ingenious campus hiring strategy.

Breaking the stereotype and expanding the horizon to get quality talent, over 60 per cent of the surveyed startups said they will be looking beyond tier-I B-schools to hire talent.

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VOLUME-V I ISSUE 12 I DECEMBER 2015www.content.timesjobs.com

70% YES

30% NO

Will you be recruiting talent

from campuses in future?

62% Lesser known/upcoming institutions (rank has nothing to do with talent quality)

38% Only

renowned B-schools

Which colleges/universities

will be preferred?

Do you have a formal campus recruitment program in place?

40% 36% 24%Yes In the pipeline No

Campuses, the favourite hiring ground for India Inc employers, lost sheen in the last few years over the issue of employability to attract talent. Now, with startups starting to vie with large companies to pull in fresh talent from educational institutes, campus hiring is back in focus. TimesJobs.com Campus Recruitment Study 2016 explores this new trend

A NEW START TO CAMPUS HIRING

For nearly 38 per cent employers, domain knowledge is going to be the key decisive factor in hiring talent followed by good communication and leadership skills, according to the TimesJobs.com survey.

n THE PAYBACKSThe paybacks of campus recruitment investments are huge, say startups.

Nearly 35 per cent of surveyed startups consider campus hiring to be a cost-effective exercise. Campus recruitment not only helps cut down expenditure but also saves the time involved in advertising, screening and selecting

candidates for available job positions. With many startups operating on shoe-string budgets, institutes serve as a resourceful recruitment medium.

Campus recruitment is also considered as one of the best tools to build a strong employer brand by nearly 30 per cent of the surveyed startups.

Nearly 32 per cent India Inc organisations (big and small) perceive campus recruitment as one of the best brand building tools during challenging times. Organisations that have a strong campus connect increase their recall value among the prospective employees.

In fact, in an earlier TimesJobs.com study on campus recruitment, many organisations said that economic slowdown is the best time to intensify campus placement exercise and do some brand building.

n THE OBSTRUCTIONHowever, for nearly 34 per cent of the surveyed startups, the employability quotient of job seekers is the biggest area of concern while recruiting from campuses.

While the issue has garnered a lot of focus from industry bodies and institutions, employability remains a major roadblock in encouraging the use of campus recruitment programme to hire talent. This huge gap between what is taught in colleges and what is expected in the industry has been a key focus area of discussion in various TimesJobs.com boardroom dialogues on skills shortage.

Industry leaders in these sessions have said that collaboration with business

schools to groom students for the corporate world is the need of the hour. However, the industry-academia association needs greater focus and more participation to combat the issue of employability and skill mismatch.

Another big challenge in campus recruitment, as stated by nearly 30 per cent of the startup employers, is the high drop-out rates/joining ratio of the candidates. This has been pointed out as the biggest challenge in the earlier study on campus recruitment by TimesJobs.com.

n THE MUST-HAVE TOOLSEarlier, the organisations used to post the vacancies for fresh graduates on the institute’s bulletin boards. But, with changing workforce generation and increase in demand for fresh talent across sectors and specialisations, organisations are employing contemporary and creative tools to position themselves as the employers of choice. Innovating campus hiring channel is more significant for startups since they are growing and the budgets are also low.

Social media is without doubt the preferred channel for startups to announce openings and engage with candidates on campus. This is voted as the most effective tool by nearly 39 per cent startup companies.

Video interviewing is another effective tool for startups since they aim to tap talent from beyond A-list B-schools.

For 23 per cent startups, video interviewing saves on cost and travel expenses while allowing the recruiter to virtually meet the prospective employees and screen them for the next level.

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VOLUME-V I ISSUE 12 I DECEMBER 2015www.content.timesjobs.com

35% 30%

What is the biggest advantage of campus recruitment?

18% 17%

Cost- effective

Brand-building

Improves retention

Saves time

34%

30%

What is the biggest challenge in campus recruitment?

Employability quotient

Joining ratio/ drop-out rates

Training cost

Budgetary allocations

25%

11%

What are the important skills you look for in a candidate?

Domain skills

Comm- unication skills

Leadership skills

Good personality

38% 34%

17% 11%

VOLUME-V I ISSUE 12 I DECEMBER 2015www.content.timesjobs.com

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n CANDIDATE’S PERSPECTIVE

66%Yes, they are beneficial

26%

Yes, they are good to start with

8%

No, they are of no use

Will you go for campus placements? It’s not only the organisations but candidates are also gung-ho about the campus recruitment scene. When asked if they will opt for campus placements, an overwhelming 66 per cent job seeker said yes, as they consider them beneficial. Nearly 26 per cent said campus placements are good to start a career with, since they provide inroads to the corporate world. Only about 8 per cent seemed uninterested in campus placements, saying that they believe it is of no use.

What is your key criterion to choose an employer? Like organisations, candidates also have their criterion on check while selecting an employer. For 38 per cent candidates, career growth opportunity is the most decisive factor. Nearly 30 per cent vouch for money as the biggest magnet while brand name is a prerequisite for 20 per cent surveyed candidates.

Would you take up offers from startups? However, the disconnect lies in the fact that not many job-seekers are interested in a job offer from startups. About 60 per cent candidates said they will prefer a job offer from a big company over startup. Of the remaining 40 per cent who are willing to accept placement offers from startups nearly 23 per cent said they will only take it up if the money is good. Nearly 15 per cent said they will accept the startup job offer if the job profile is of relevance and offers scope of learning and growth while 2 per cent will accept the offer if the startup’s business function is exciting.

4%Learning &

development

60%No, will

prefer a big company

2%Yes, if the

(startup’s) business is

exciting

Yes, if the profile is

good

15%

Yes, if the money is

good

23%

8%Work-life balance

20%

Remuneration30%

Brand name

TOTAL REGISTRATION

43,000+TOTAL PARTICIPATION

15,000+

CHAMPIONS 20151. Meetesh Kumawat

Mahakal Institute of Technology

2. Utkarsh Satish Mittal Pillai Institute of Information

Technology, Engineering, Media Studies & Research

3. Shubham Goel Kamla Nehru Institute of Technology

4. Shivam Tiwari Krishna Institute of Engineering and

Technology

5. Mayank Shivhare Atal Bihari Vajpayee Indian Institute

of Information Technology and Management

BEST FEMALE CODERShivangi Dhakad

Maulana Azad National Institute of Technology

38%Career growth opportunity

TOP COLLEGESSri Aditya Engineering College GMR Institute of Technology (GMRIT)

Sri Manakula Vinayagar Engineering College

Code Wizards is India’s biggest recruitment drive for final year engineering/MCA students

powered by India’s No. 1 tech community – TechGig.com. It started on 12th October 2015 and the results were declared on 1st Dec 2015

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n THE NEEDCyber Gaming develops complex

and high-end gaming platforms for the gaming industry. And for that, we require coders who possess that level of intelligence and out-of-the-box thinking. I believe that campus recruitment process brings such talented kids to the fore. Of course, we don’t expect them to possess the skills we need from the get-go. We handpick them, groom, train and impart valuable knowledge to them to attain that level.

We need candidates who are willing to learn, have a thirst for knowledge, are not afraid to challenge the norms and can put in the efforts and ideas that is required to reach the desired level. Campus recruitment can help us find such a talented potential workforce.

n THE CHALLENGESThere would be several. To mention

the foremost, it would be the lack of perceived brand value for a company like ours. Though having a global reach, global clientele and better ROIs and high coding requirements, it is a part of an infant, new industry which is in a niche sector.

n THE SOLUTIONHR practices followed in this industry

most of the time are pretty redundant and discernable. It’s not merely the HR’s job to hire and assimilate the young guns. It’s more of a management job. To create and provide an environment where these super-talented youngsters can flourish is the job of the management.

We are following these processes diligently, chucking age-old hiring processes. Some of our company directors are today personally involved in the recruitment process, right from strategy to implementation. The leadership makes it a point to interview most candidates. Micro-managing? It’s more futuristic and infinitely better for us in the long run!

n THE RESULTWhen the top management is actively

involved in the hiring process, even though you are not looking at a flat organisation here, the outcome is a several notches better than can be expected from just the HR department or a panel of appointed experts. You are looking at a long-term investment in ideas, in people, who tomorrow may lead. They will initially share your vision and eventually take it forward in better ways. Things are changing; they have changed. Get there, now!

Outcome is better when top management is involved in hiring

Case Study: Cyber Gaming Software Technologies

VOLUME-V I ISSUE 12 I DECEMBER 2015www.content.timesjobs.com

ABOUT THE COMPANYCyber Gaming is a leading online gaming and poker software development company that offers cutting-edge, value-added solutions. Cyber Gaming was formed in 2013 and has grown rapidly along with the online gaming industry within a brief span. Our globally-aligned teams and dedication to online gaming software ensures that our clients and our players get the best value for money.

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AMADEUS LABS REFERRAL PREMIERE LEAGUE

Intuitively, having a formal employee referral programme makes sense. After all, who is more equipped to refer great people -- and sell those people on why they should work at Amadeus. Employee referral programmes have long been attributed with numerous benefits, including speedy hires, quality hires, better performance and retention—all at lower costs than other recruitment options.

For Amadeus Labs, the programme promised candidates who measured up to our hiring standards. This programme also meant our employees would play an active role in the company’s growth. Another advantage lay in its cost effectiveness and simplicity. Our three-day Referral Premier League was an incredible success. Employees used the tool to send referrals for a set of open positions. Now, we are planning another installment in 2016!

n THE NEEDOver the last three years, Amadeus in

Bengaluru has grown exponentially. It is thus crucial for us to attract and hire the right kind of talent that is technologically

sound and culturally a good fit and there is no better place than campuses to fulfill this requirement. We saw great results after the 2012 season. So we decided to strengthen the programme and build a strategy where 8 -10 per cent of our hiring every year would come from our campus recruitment programme.

n THE CHALLENGESThe key challenges were related to

establishing the brand in the minds of students. Being a B2B organisation, our brand awareness was insignificant compared to other organisations, making it difficult for us to secure primary slots at campuses. The other challenge included the gaps we saw in terms of students’ preparedness to enter the corporate world. This was due to the lack of infrastructure in colleges and limited practical experience of students.

n THE SOLUTION In terms of tools and technology, we try

to use networking sites to connect with students. We also share newsletters with our new hires to keep them engaged, provide them with the necessary information about the company and to ease their transition into the corporate world. We are also looking at introducing a campus ambassador programme

where our employees, who are alumni of a particular school or college, will become the ambassador of that particular campus and its students. This will help us build stronger relationships with campuses. We are also trying to build a connect with professors to perhaps influence changes in curriculum to help students be better equipped in practical knowledge.

n THE RESULTThe experience we have gained from

our programme has shown us that it is critical to be clear and precise in one’s communication in terms of what students are expected to do when they join an organisation. Consistent communication touch points even after offers have been made are important to keep them abreast of what is happening internally within the organisation. Students also need to be given clarity on roles, and what these roles really mean in the organisation so that they are aware and are able to make informed decisions. This means that in the long term, we will see far greater commitment and thus retention.

Building employer brand helped in finding right campus talent

Case Study: Amadeus Software Labs

VOLUME-V I ISSUE 12 I DECEMBER 2015www.content.timesjobs.com

ABOUT THE COMPANYAmadeus is a technology company dedicated to the global travel industry. We are present in 195 countries with a worldwide team of more than 12,000 people. Our solutions help improve the business performance of travel agencies, corporations, airlines, airports, hotels, railways and more. Our solutions facilitate journeys and enrich the travel experience for hundreds of millions of people every year. We are working together with our customers and partners to shape the future of travel.

Disclaimer: Information provided in this newsletter shall not be reproduced, published, re-sold or otherwise distributed inany medium without the prior written permission of TimesJobs.com and a clear acknowledgement to TimesJobs.com.Contact: TJinsite, TimesJobs.com, Plot No 6, Sector 16A, Film City, Noida, 201301. Write in to editor@timesjobs.com

Copyright ©2015 Times Business Solutions (A division of Times Internet Ltd). All rights reserved.

When did your company plan a campus recruitment programme? Asia is one of the fastest-growing markets for Amadeus and we came to India to capitalise on this opportunity. Bengaluru as the IT hub was the natural choice. We also wanted to tap into the rich product development and engineering talent pool. In June 2012, Amadeus Software Labs came into being. It became crucial for us to attract talent that was technologically sound and culturally a good fit. We wanted to invest in young engineers and shape them into great thinking minds.

How has your programme evolved, since this is a new workforce generation?

The workforce today is evolved. We realised early on that in order to connect with these evolved minds, the organisation’s approach also needed to evolve. Over the last three years, we have strived to make our campus recruitment programme a platform to establish the Amadeus brand. As a result, our programme has grown from hiring 45 engineers in 2012 to more than 100 every consecutive year since then. We also recognise that students and fresh recruits have one primary need -- to learn and become better versions of themselves. And to be able to meet their needs, we introduced an internship programme that provided ‘on-the-job’ learning opportunities across skill sets.

What are the challenges you faced when you started campus recruitment? When we started, we were a B2B company. Awareness around what we did was almost non-existent. People were perhaps aware of some names in the travel sector. However, they had no idea that at the heart of this travel ecosystem was our technology!

Our programme has grown since 2012. Not only have we made significant investments in establishing relationships with schools and colleges, we have also shaped the programme to become an experience for students. Our senior management and the leadership team are our campus ambassadors! The team travels to campuses, shares stories and experiences and spends time with the students to understand their goals and aspirations. Students in turn meet the leadership team, understand the work we do and get a taste of our culture.

We’ve also learnt that the generation today is not easy to please! Every year, we think of ways to make our campus hiring season interesting. For example, in the first season, we encouraged students to

join our journey to shape the future of travel. How? With boarding passes and passports of course! Students were given passports which had information on the company and the work we do. Also, every student, on completing a step in the hiring process, got a stamp – ‘arrived’, ‘checked-in’ and ‘boarded’ for those who cleared the interviews and received an offer.

How has technology and social media impacted campus recruitment?Today, connecting with students alone isn’t enough. Networking sites have to be leveraged to establish these connections. Campus season is the busiest time for our Facebook page. We create events, target schools and colleges, do regular updates and encourage student community to participate.

Any suggestions for students and institutes on campus recruitment? Students need to be aware of the domain they are interested in and they need to have the right conversations with the right people. Maybe their seniors, who were placed in the previous season. Also, academia should focus on exposure to practical application. Students lack the opportunities to apply their knowledge to solving real-world problems. It is also important to weave industry exposure into the curriculum rather than only during the final year.

As told to Apeksha Kaushik

“EVERY YEAR, WE THINK OF WAYS TO MAKE OUR CAMPUS HIRING SEASON INTERESTING”

‘Our leadership team is our campus ambassador’

‘Our leadership team is our campus ambassador’

Interview: Shalini Nair Kumar Senior Director-HR, Amadeus Software Labs India