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VOLUME-IV | ISSUE 6JUNE 2014

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the hiring GUIDE

Perspectives on Successful Hiring Approach

Perspectives on Successful Hiring Approach

82% organisations conduct in-depth face-to-face interviews for selecting candidates

55% organisations use personality profiling tests to assess candidates

Across geographies, online job portals are the top medium for sourcing candidates

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Trends

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Cover Story

Nearly 55 per cent organisations use personality profilingtests to assess candidates. At the same time over 80 per cent still rely on face-to-face interviews to make the

final decision. Organisations believe that while the rapid pace oftechnological advancement has set new parameters for talentdemand, some traditional methods still hold significance in hiringthe best employees.

Getting to the best talent before your competition does can makethe difference between winning and losing. The big question is,‘what strategies is India Inc deploying to hire the best’?TimesJobs.com conducted a survey to learn about the currenthiring practices being implemented by organisations acrossindustries to attract and hire talent. Here are the findings…

Sourcing them onlineAcross geographies, the top method for sourcing candidates wasreported to be online job portals (55%), followed by referrals fromcompany employees (33%). There were slight differencesregionally, though. Metros, including Delhi NCR, Mumbai,Bangalore and Chennai reportedly hire maximum employeesthrough online job portals. Nearly 63 per cent of organisations inmetros prefer using online job portals. In case of other major jobhubs Pune, Hyderabad and Ahmedabad, 56 per cent organisationsuse online job portals while 44 per cent rely on employee referrals.The scenario is visibly opposite in tier I cities/state capitals,where referrals from company employees is the preferred channelfor sourcing candidates. About 60 per cent of the organisationsrepresenting this region reported using employee referrals, 20 per cent said they use online job portals and the remaining 20 per cent use print to source candidates.

Hiring managers go by ‘face value’While technology has made inroads into the initial screeningprocess, it is largely an enabler in the overall hiring process.According to the TimesJobs.com study, about 82 per cent of thesurveyed organisations said that they still conduct in-depth face-to-face interviews for selecting candidates. This method is adoptedby nearly 98 per cent of the companies in the Automobile and BPOindustry, followed by the IT/Telecom sector (90%). Healthcare wasone of the key sectors to report that they use video/telephonicinterviews followed by face-to-face interaction. Nearly 50 per centof the representative organisations in Healthcare are using thismethod. The remaining 50 per cent use the in-depth face-to-faceinterview process. Experts believe that while globally it will takeanother five years for technology-enabled ways to take over face-to-face interviews, in India it will take longer, because of lack ofawareness and usability issues.

A blend of conventional andtraditional methods make the best hiring strategy

How do companieshire the best?

59%organisations considerreference checksimportant but they tendto ignore it at times

50%organisations believetechnical skills are moreimportant than beingculturally fit

29%organisations have acomprehensive hiringprocess in place but it is not adhered to byeveryone

23%organisations considerskills to be of relevanceat the top level butexperience holds moreweightage

12%organisations use anadhoc method for hiringemployees

6%organisations use mobile to hire, which is the next big thing inthe recruitment world

Somealarmingfacts! Pleasepay attention

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Highlights

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While hiring, organisations focuson various aspects, based on theposition they are hiring for.

Approximately 63 per cent of thesurveyed organisations indicated thateducational qualifications were the mostimportant when hiring freshers.Experience and international exposureis not considered for this category. Skillsare crucial for 48 per cent organisationswhile hiring for the middle level.

For the top level, experience is ofsignificance, said 55 per cent ofemployers in the recently conductedTimesJobs.com survey. For middle levelhiring, experience is also given asignificant weightage, with nearly 45 percent organisations indicating the same.Middle managers serve as a link between

the junior and the top management. Dueto the criticality of this position,relevant skills and experience both aregiven importance. This is also one of thereasons why hiring for the middle levelis the most challenging, according tonearly 45 per cent of the organisations in one of the earlier surveys conductedby TimesJobs.com.

Similarly, when hiring for top levelexecutives, both, skills and internationalexposure is also given due consideration.For 24 per cent organisations skills areimperative, while for 21 per centinternational exposure is moreimportant. This information is valuableto job seekers to understand whatemployers are looking for and buildcompetencies basis the same.

Online job portals are the preferredhiring channel by nearly 55 percent of the organisations

surveyed by TimesJobs.com. These havetime and again been ranked high byorganisations as their medium of choicewhile hiring. Since, job-seekers also usethis medium extensively, it makes sensefor the organisations to use it as theirprimary tool to source candidates. Also,as a high number of online job portalsusers are Gen X and Y, it is a great way to tap fresh talent for entry and juniorlevel positions.

About 33 per cent organisations believeemployee referrals are the most effectiveway to hire. This trend has beencorroborated by experts in various

TimesJobs.com boardroom dialogues aswell. Employee referrals have the highest‘applicant to hire’ conversion rate andthe process is easy, quick, less expensiveand more reliable. Experts add thatreferral hires have greater jobsatisfaction, higher productivity andstay longer at companies.

New age recruitment tools such asmobile and social media, are yet to createa niche for themselves among Indianorganisations. While the trend iscatching up, together they accounted foronly 9 per cent of hiring. Lack ofawareness, lower understanding of themedium and its usage are the keyimpediments in the growth of thesemediums in India.

Changing focus: What to look for and where?

Job descriptions (JD) are one of themost basic and key elements ofhiring. While most organisations are

still struggling to a have a winningformat for JDs, over 80 per cent alreadyhave them and believe they are indeedvital for successful hiring. Of these, 42 per cent believe that they have to bedetailed while 39 per cent feel that focusedJDs are better. Organisations believe thatif employees are aware of the job/roleexpectations beforehand it leads to higherproductivity and they continue longer onthe job. In other words, a good job

description is believed to help reduce thehiring time and increase retention rate.However, creating an effective jobdescription is often a challenging task. It requires a lot of deliberation on howcritical the job is and what are thecharacteristics required in the employeeto fill that job role/position. This could be one of the reasons why 19 per centorganisations use it for some roles but notfor all. It must be understood that a JDcan serve as a basis for interviewingcandidates and in evaluation of jobperformances.

Role of JDs: Focussed or detailed?

What do employers seek most inhiring candidates?

Job portals rule: What makes them the best?Which is the preferred hiring

channel?

Job Portals

Employee Referrals

Mobile

Social Media

Print

How important is agood job descriptionwhen you post avacancy?

Very important, hasto be detailed

Very important, hasto be focused

Important for somejobs, but not all jobs

42%

39%

19%

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Expert Speak

As a recruiter, what are thekey challenges you face whilescreening and hiringcandidates for a third party?

A recruiter faces multiplechallenges while hiringcandidates for a third party. The recruiter needs to strike a balance between theexpectations of a client and the candidate.

On the client side:

lFinding the right fit andmatching the demands of theclient with the prospectivecandidate is a task. Lack ofsuitable combination of skillsin a candidate tends to affectboth the employer and therecruiter.

lEven after finding a suitablecandidate for the profile, thenext barrier is the joining of

the selected candidate. Many atimes the candidates step backin the hope of gettingsomething better or for otherreasons. This may be a threatfor the recruiter as thecandidate remains open forcompetitors and we may tendto lose out on an opportunityof hiring a good resource.

On the candidates side:

lCandidates are usually jobhoppers and keep searchingfor better opportunities forgrowth.

lAt times, proactive jobseekers, keen to impress thepotential employer, gettempted to fake theircredentials on their resume.

Do you customise thescreening and hiring processas per the organisation's

requirement every time orfollow a standard procedure?

There is no stringent rule orprocedure which is followed forthe screening and recruitmentof candidates for the clients.The recruiters maintain theability of molding theinterviewing and screeningtechniques as per the needs and requirements.

What are the new-agepractices you use for hiringand screening candidates?

ManpowerGroup uses variousscreening and hiring techniquesto cater to the needs of theorganisations and stand ahead in the war of talent.

For hiring:

lTapping employee network:Spreading word-of-mouth

information about theavailable position to eachemployee so they can look forand propose some talentedcandidates in their network offriends and associates.

lUsing website:ManpowerGroup uses itsportal to post the latest jobsand positions available for theorganisation and its clients.

lOnline recruiting: We take advantage of socialplatforms to support therecruitment process.

lBehavioral interviewing: In this process candidates areput through tough questionsabout how they have handledspecific assignments andproblems.

For screening:

lVoice Response: A mock phone interview givesthe recruiter an insight aboutthe candidate. Suchtechniques are useful if hiringfor someone in sales andmarketing.

lVideo Response: Recorded video interviews area great way of interviewingand screening candidates.Video interviews give theability to assess presentationskills, view body language andget a feel of the candidate.

lChecking web presence: You can gain a much bettersense of a candidate’spersonality by skimmingthrough their social mediapages than in a formalinterview.

Strike balance between client & candidate expectations

Social Media and Mobile havetransformed the recruitment processAre traditional hiringmethods losingsignificance?

Traditional methods of coldcalling, in-person networking,print and other types of brandadvertising, as well as social

media, blogs and job fairs areimportant components in boththe recruiter’s and job seeker’sstrategies. An integratedapproach, using all theavailable tools, to find andengage candidates where theylive, work and play is bringinghiring to a new level.

Convergys, takes thisintegrated approach for hiringemployees.

How has technologychanged the way you hire?

Technology has played aninstrumental role in helpingus hire the right talent toaddress the hiring profilesneeded by our clients. Some concrete examples:

lSocial media - ConvergysIndia has a Facebook pagewith over 1 million fans anda 24x7 online recruitinghelpdesk. Interestedapplicants apply directlythrough Facebook. We alsopromote everything fromrecruitment to employeeengagement initiatives tonews about our companythrough social media. Thishas helped us reach ourtarget hires.

lWe recently launched'Convergys Mobile Apply' –an end-to-end solution thatallows interested applicantsto initiate the job applicationprocess online from theconvenience of any mobiledevice, in less than 5 minutes!

lGlobal Tools for Recruitingprocess and documentation –Convergys First, our onlineapplication system forexternal and internalrecruiting, provides jobopenings, candidate resumeuploads, application formswith monitoring capabilities,notifications, etc.

What are some of the newage recruitment tools usedin hiring and assessment?

Social Media and Mobile aretwo platforms that aretransforming the recruitmentprocess. Today, manycompanies are hiringsignificant numbers usingsocial network sites. The realstrength of social media isrelationship-building by theemployees. With propercoordination, employeerelationships can easily beturned into employeereferrals. In addition to socialmedia, the mobile platformhas become the dominantcommunication andinteraction platform and manycompanies are leveraging theplatform to recruit right talent– such as in the Mobile Applyexample given above.

Srikanth Rengarajan

executive director and president

ManpowerGroup India

Amit Kumar, head HR, Convergys India

Hiring is always importantand very tricky. It alsodepends on what level

one is hiring for. The impact ofa wrong hire at a junior level isrelatively less risky than awrong hire at a senior level.Now, let us clarify the meaningof business strategy. It meansdeciding the work you are goingto do in future at a givenresource level. Mostimportantly, it also meansdeciding what you should notdo. Once your business strategyis clear you plan and thenexecute it.

People factor

It is only the people who canexecute it. Hence, people shouldbe hired as per the businessstrategy. An example will makeus understand this better. For aninternational businessexpansion for a company withdomestic operations, we shouldhire people having internationalbusiness exposure.

Skills and more

Apart from functional skills it isalways better if the new hirehas experience of the newculture and customer behaviorin that country. It is also equallyimportant to look at their familycommitment before assigningthe responsibility. Working at adistant place, without day-to-daydirect supervision, is anotherimportant factor.

So, when we select a candidate itis very important to understandhim holistically and just not onthe basis of qualification andexperience mentioned in theresume. This becomes morecomplex when we hire for a verysenior position. Many otherqualities such as integrity, teamsmartness and adaptabilitycome into picture, which is notvery easy to recognize duringthe interviews.

Roles and requirements

Alternatively, for a defensivestrategy you need a different setof people. Defense is all aboutsafeguarding from competitionto protect your market share. It

is all about blocking trial runs,test marketing by competitionand repeat purchase bycustomers. So, we need peoplewith rich experience in salesprocess, distribution and anetwork in the concernedmarket. Therefore, you needdifferent skill sets andexperience.

When a CEO hires

In an organisation, most of thehiring process is conducted bythe HR department with thehelp of the respective functional

heads. The CEO is usually notinvolved. However, for somecritical senior level inclusionsthe CEO gets involved, as thesepositions become the keyexecution and deliverychannels. So, if there is a wronghire or even a misfit, the cost tothe company is very high. So, asfar as the hiring process is

concerned, it is usually theshortest at the entry level andtakes months for a senior levelposition. Apart from thefunctional knowledge, oneshould have other soft skills and

characteristic traits to become a senior leader. These cannot benoticed and understood in ashort span of time.

Reference to referrals

One way of addressing thisproblem is referral hiring. Theperson who refers must knowthe candidate well. Superficialinformation won’t help. Oneshould have extensivediscussions with the person who refers to understand thereal potential of a candidate.The true color of a personalityis revealed only under livesituations. Sometimes, crossreference from a peer group isalso very important. We need tounderstand a senior level personfrom all angles. So, peopleselection process has to bedirectly related with thestrategy of the company.

The winning combination isright people with the rightstrategy. Therefore, as acustodian of the organisation,the CEO has to play a veryimportant role and must see to it that both the strategy and thepeople are aligned in a seamlessmanner to produce the bestpossible results. Any deviationfrom this prescribed formulawould be a disaster for anyorganisation. These are theroutine and mundane tasks forthe HR and the CEO forstandard hiring.

Third eye

The real challenge for a CEOcomes during an unusual hireand while discovering somehidden talent in a candidate.This is a million dollar job.Usually, most such cases arerejected in the standardrecruitment process. Thisrequires the third eye of LordSiva and everybody does notpossess this. The CEO should be entrepreneurial andcourageous enough to take therisk. The real mettle of a boldCEO comes when discovering a pin in a hay stack. This istough and the CEO must adhereto the expectations of themanagement.

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Professional, leader and challengeseeker best describes the journey ofChatterji over the last 22 years of hisworking life. Under his leadership,Netxcell started its operations in Indiaabout 10 years back. It expanded itsoperations in Africa through NetxcellMauritius Ltd (NML). He is therecipient of the Indira Super AchieverAward and has been featured twice inthe Communication Commander PowerList by My Mobile magazine

Building a comprehensive hiring processRecruitment must be a part of the business strategy

Debasis Chatterji, CEO, Netxcell Limited

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New Age Recruitment

Not just hiring, but developing talent

In India and globally, HRleaders are strategicallyfocussing their efforts to

attract, hire and engage talentnot just with jobs but withcareers as well. Recruitment haschanged significantly in the pastfew years with a shift in the waycandidates are sourced andselected. The need of the hour isnot just to hire talent but to offera sustainable career path,aligned with the organisation’sbusiness goals.

TimesJobs.com invited industryexperts to discuss and devisenew age strategies inrecruitment and talentmanagement in the recentlyheld boardroom dialogue on –Building A Future-Ready TalentPool: A 2014 Perspective – inassociation with ITM University.

The esteemed panelists at theevent included, Arun Singh,head-Global Recruitments, R Systems International;Varinder Verma, DGM-HR,Maruti Suzuki India Ltd;Blesson George, head-BusinessHR, Jubilant Life Sciences;Nimish Gupta, global headLearning & Development, TechMahindra Enterprise; PujaKapoor, head-HR, dunnhumbyIndia; Runa Suman, head HR-Automation, Schneider Electric;and Dr Yogesh Upadhyay, vicechancellor, ITM University.

The panelists started off byhighlighting the recruitment

and talent managementchallenges faced by them today.Commenting on the sameBlesson George, head-BusinessHR, Jubilant Life Sciencesstated that there is a structuralproblem in the economy interms of talent. “Convertingpeople to talent is the biggestchallenge. Since, today’sgeneration seeks instantgratification retaining them is

also a challenge. For lateral hire,training and developmentprograms to move up thehierarchy are not available.”

Arun Singh, head-GlobalRecruitments, R SystemsInternational added, “There aregaps in the training of campushires. If they are already trainedit would be faster to train themon our technologies.” He pointedout that whether campus orlateral hire the aspirations ofGen Y are varied. “Gen Y isdriven by career plans, freedomof growth, flexibility and futurepreparedness. They askquestions about – work fromhome facility, family benefitsand ESOP policy. There is anattitudinal shift. Hence,organisations need to revisittheir recruitment policy andfactor in these expectations.”

Nimish Gupta, global head-Learning & Development, TechMahindra Enterprise assertedthat it is not just about hiringpeople but showing them acareer path. “Today, it is notabout bringing the people but

developing them as well. It isimportant for organisations toassess if they have the rightenvironment to develop andgroom talent.” He added thatretention is a key challenge,especially in the IT industry.

Talking about the initiativesthat organisations are taking todevelop talent, Varinder Verma,DGM-HR, Maruti Suzuki IndiaLtd said, “We have mandatory

technical training sessions forblue and white collar workers.For freshers, a 26-days trainingis held to inculcate the culturalvalues. Behaviour and skills,both aspects are covered in thesetraining sessions.” He addedthat mentoring is seen as a vitalaspect at Maruti.

Runa Suman, head HR-Automation, Schneider Electricagrees that mentoring is indeeda significant element. “Coachingis important to transform anaverage person to a talentedone,” she said.

Singh added that keeping talentengaged and motivated is theneed of the hour and technologyis a great aid in this respect.“Organisations shouldunderstand that today’s highpotential and energeticworkforce needs to be engageddifferently. Technology is a greattool for this. At R Systems, wehave created R & D cells to keepcompetent people busy,” he said.

Puja Kapoor, head-HR,dunnhumby India said that mosthiring challenges arise based on

the way an organisation hires. Itis important to balance skillsand cultural fit while hiring.She added that since today’sgeneration wants freedom/spaceto innovate, it is imperative tofactor-in their needs which gobeyond monetary benefits.When it comes to lateral hiring,challenge lie in controlling jobhopping, since talent isomnipresent, said Kapoor.

TimesJobs.comdiscussed newage strategies inrecruitmentand talentmanagementwith industryexperts in aboardroomdialogue held inNoida recently

l India has a huge workforce and the challengeis in converting it to arobust talent pool

l The impendingretirement of babyboomers is adding to theexisting challenge ofhiring and managing amulti-generational work force

l The need is to leveragetechnology effectively tobuild a talent pipeline

l New generation workforce seeks instant gratification so,organisations need toset specific goals

l Apart from a good take-home salary, freedom toinnovate is importantfor Gen X and Y

l Industries are takinginitiatives to developtalent. Increasedparticipation fromacademia is required

Key Takeaways

Events

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