Recruitment is not the job of the HR department

By Deependra (Dipy) Nigam

The success of every team, every unit, every division, every company and every group depends on mainly one thing – its PEOPLE.

Right people at right time in right members are critical.

The quality of team members and their cohesion and motivation are key determinants of success.

It is thus imperative that every team leader – first level supervisory upwards pays utmost attention to getting the right people to his team.

Thus it is critical that he / she takes very active interest in recruitment right from start through till on boarding.

The HR department sure has a role that of a facilitator.

Manpower planning, JD’s & person specs ; having right recruiters (whether internal or external) ; employee branding to attract and retain talent ; proper on boarding ; competitive compensation & benefit strategies ; robust performance management systems ; effective training, career planning ; organization culture etc. are all the job of the HR department.

Recruitment however, to my mind , is the job of every live manager from first level supervisor to CEO.

Yes the CEO too!!!

In today’s competitive world, with quality resources increasingly scarce – proper recruitment and retention / people strategies first have to be amongst any proactive CEO’s top 5 items on agenda / KRA’s.

Thus recruitment is NOT the job of HR department – its the job of every team leader.

………………………………………………………………

Deependra (Dipy) Nigam

Deependra (Dipy) Nigam is  managing Partner ( India & Area)  in Horton International and has been in the recruitment business for 21 yrs.

Earlier he was COO – Sinclus a leading overseas recruitment co – and then CEO & now Advisor to M/s Zodiaac Group of Consultants – who are ERA members

Prior to this he has spent 12 years in hands on Sales and Marketing at stellar companies such as
a) Blow Plast /VIP – Consumer Durables
b) American Express TRS – as Head Sales and Key Accounts – India and Area

Deependra is one of the most respected Head Hunters in business. He also has an interest in Numismatics and Cricket.

Linkedin Profile:  http://in.linkedin.com/in/dipynigam

Knowledge Sharing and Forums

By T Sreedhar

The challenge for the recruiters have become intense given the status of our economy, the  widening gap between what our stakeholders want and what we provide ( leading to constant conflicts which erodes the value systems of all stake holders) and more importantly ,the lack of unity within the recruitment fraternity.

Business by all means is good but by any means is not good.

Why do we have a conflict between the two?

Because we are insecure

When do we have the conflict?

When we are insecure!

Why are we insecure?

Because we are adhoc in the way we conduct our business.

Instead of doing the same things differently, we do different things the same way!

Then how are we different?

We are not

Do we want to be different?

Yes, but I am always different .I make my clients perceive me to be different.

Anyway, how can I be different?

Unless we have unity in diversity.

How do we achieve it?

By knowledge sharing

How do you get that?

You must be part of a forum or association .Also knowledge sharing is two ways. You give to take and not the other way around.

I am small .How do I give?  Will anyone accept it?

Small is beautiful. Your confidence must be BIG. Look at the diamond and its luster.

There are 2 principles that we must follow to succeed in anything that we do.

1. Unity in diversity is better than diversity in unity. Be part of a forum that helps you share what you have.

2. Ask what not the forum/fraternity has done to you, ask what you have done to your fraternity

We may be able to do different things very differently.

…………………………………………………………………..

T Sreedhar

Mr. T Sreedhar is the Managing Director of TMI NETWORK since1994 and and also plays the role of Operations Head for the companies within the TMI group (C&K limited and TMI e2E Academy limited) and has recruitment experience of  9 years. He is also well respected in the professional community & his now having his third stint as the chairman of Executive Search association (ERA) (www.era.org.in)

Mr. Sreedhar was formerly a Director in C&K Management and prior to that has worked in Johnson and Johnson for over 10 years – first as Sales Manager and then as a Regional Head.

LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/pub/sreedhar-t/0/474/273

How to have your Employees and Eat them too

By Amit Tandon

 

Everyday millions of words are wasted on this topic. Today, I also decided to contribute to this lost cause.

There are almost as many theories to this as the number of employees globally. The answers range from plain “Emotional Satisfaction” and “Clarity of vision” to more complicated things like “Money” and “Recognition”.

All these things have already been tried with equal amount of success and failure across sectors. In the last few years, employees have become more finicky and have even started coming up with outrageous demands like Respect, Recognition and Coffee makers.

Business Owners are shocked that just like them, the goal of employees is also to make money only. Other things like professional satisfaction, sense of fulfillment and additional responsibilities are no more considered motivating enough.

Here are some of my suggestions on employee engagement:

1. Add small quantities of coke (cocaine) to the coffee vending machine. As people get addicted to the coffee, they will start turning up for work even over weekends!
2. Announce huge retention bonuses and issue them bonus certificates (remember only certificates!). The certificate can say “You have earned yourself a million rupees this year for staying with company”. Keep on postponing their encashment dates. It will be 3-4 years before they discover that the money is never coming. Some companies avoid spending on certificates and instead and give out equity stake that is non-saleable.
3. Employ couples. Even better, encourage people to find partners within the office. You can try organizing orgies under the name of “open house meetings”. Nobody can anyway make out the difference.
4. Hire people in a metro town and then move them to a completely isolated place. This works well for all IT/ITES professionals. Which company would hire people who are currently working in Andaman & Nicobar Islands?
5. Create a bad image for your employees. Plant decoys who pose as your company employees and apply to other companies. Let them misbehave and fail miserably in interviews. Let your competitors believe that your people are “no good”. Very soon, they will stop calling your employees for interviews.

——————————————-

Amit Tandon

Amit Tandon is, Managing Director of Empyrean Partners, a leading recruitment firm; Partner at Mind Cafe, first Board Games cafe of India and has been in the Recruitment Business from the past 7 years. Amit has worked with Start-Ups as well as Global organizations across sectors varying from Telecom, Petrochemicals and IT Enabled Services for over 10 years in operations and business development roles. He was AVP – GSK WNS Research in India and was also the Engagement Manager for the Amit is also a well known Humorist & Professional Stand Up Comedian, with over 250 shows between India and Singapore. He is an avid blogger and his views have been quoted a number of times in ET and Singaporean HR Magazines.

 

The Magic of Processes!

By Amit Tandon

I bet half the employed in the universe feel their organization is a complete mess. Some of them are also wondering how the hell this company has survived so far?

General feeling is that nobody knows what is happening. HR does not understand the business. Finance is always tightening the noose. Marketing does not understand the challenges or Operations and Vice-Versa. Still, the organizations survive!

Most of the time this feeling is there in larger companies who have grown year after year, recession after recession and so on. The basic reason for their survival is well defined Processes. The very same processes that are blamed for all the bureaucracy, inefficiencies and politics are normally responsible for the growth of the companies.

The processes bring order to all the chaos. Processes define responsibilities clearly and quantify every delivery. So, every performance can be measured and the CEO can review company’s progress through a dashboard and spend time on planning future strategies.

We look down upon processes as procrastinators and most project managers take pride in not following the processes and getting the work done by hook or crook. This can work in some cases, but imagine a flyover project where the Project manager decided to meet the deadline, and did not wait for the safety dept’s approval that was delayed because the approving authority was on a sick leave for a month!

I have myself looked down upon large companies earlier, thinking that they do not know how many things are going wrong at the bottom. But looking back, most of those things are so small that their monitoring will burn more executive time that is far more valuable.

In this era of Entrepreneur worshiping and flexi-organizations, we tend to berate process/policy driven environments, but try to imagine a government being run without processes. Can we build great nations without that?

———————————————

Amit Tandon

Amit Tandon is, Managing Director of Empyrean Partners, a leading recruitment firm; Partner at Mind Cafe, first Board Games cafe of India and has been in the Recruitment Business from the past 7 years. Amit has worked with Start-Ups as well as Global organizations across sectors varying from Telecom, Petrochemicals and IT Enabled Services for over 10 years in operations and business development roles. He was AVP – GSK WNS Research in India and was also the Engagement Manager for the Amit is also a well known Humorist & Professional Stand Up Comedian, with over 250 shows between India and Singapore. He is an avid blogger and his views have been quoted a number of times in ET and Singaporean HR Magazines.

Writing a Resume? Spend a week on it.

By Amit Tandon

Resume is your marketing brochure, so work on it extensively. Candidates are sometimes rejected for spelling mistakes also because it shows they are not detail oriented.

Follow the Half Page Rule: – No one reads the complete resume. The most important part of your CV is the first half of the first page because that is what opens on the computer screen.

Think like an Interviewer: For an experienced professional, an interviewer looks for

Relevant experience

Where all have you worked?

How long?

What did you do there?

Education

Professional qualifications

Any Gaps or Anomalies

Step 1:- Insert your Name in a larger font in the Resume Header

Step 2:- Remove all Non-work, Non-Qualification info to the end. This includes family, marital status, contact address etc. Once a manager is interested in your profile, he can find your contact details from the CV.

Step 3: Write an objective summary about your experience. Avoid using qualitative phrases like visionary, excellent, outstanding etc.

Example:

Senior Marketing Professional with 12 years of experience across HLL, Proctor & gamble and ICICI Credit Cards in channel management and direct sales. Currently managing a team 150 marketing and sales professionals across North India.

Vs Top performing Marketing professional with an outstanding track record of12 years across leading FMCG and Financial Services companies. Handling large teams across multiple regions in sales.

Step 4:- I have not met anyone in an interview who is interested in my Aim in life. However, this is a matter of personal choice. In some cases, you can use this to drive your interview. But my personal opinion is “drop it”

Step5:- If you say “I am a good athlete”, people will be skeptical. If you say “I am national record holder for 100 m race”, people will take you seriously.

Use facts and figures to illustrate your skills

Mention key projects or projects that you are most comfortable talking about

Achievements:

Professional Achievements

Academic Achievements (Only High School onwards)

Extraordinary achievements in sports and extra-curricular and that too only High School onwards

Formatting: Ensure consistency of fonts and text alignments.

Hobbies: Only write those Hobbies that are passions or are pursued keenly. Timepass activity is not a hobby. Listening to music is NOT A HOBBY

Family Info:-Avoidable, but if really keen then insert one liner on immediate family i.e. Kids and Spouse.

——————————————

Amit Tandon

Amit Tandon is, Managing Director of Empyrean Partners, a leading recruitment firm; Partner at Mind Cafe, first Board Games cafe of India and has been in the Recruitment Business from the past 7 years. Amit has worked with Start-Ups as well as Global organizations across sectors varying from Telecom, Petrochemicals and IT Enabled Services for over 10 years in operations and business development roles. He was AVP – GSK WNS Research in India and was also the Engagement Manager for the Amit is also a well known Humorist & Professional Stand Up Comedian, with over 250 shows between India and Singapore. He is an avid blogger and his views have been quoted a number of times in ET and Singaporean HR Magazines

HR – The New Marketing Department

By Amit Tandon

Ajay went for an Interview with a Fortune 500 banking company. He was made to wait for three hours at the reception while nobody attended him except for an HR Executive, who was also missing for the last two hours. Ajay walked off, swearing never to apply in that company again.

There are recruitments drives that happen all the time with IT and ITES companies, where half the candidates are sent back without any interaction. Then there are numerous cases where candidates are not replied to, or called multiple times for interactions for a position and later on offered a junior role.

Now, imagine a client walking into your office:

1. Can you make him wait for an three hours at the reception?

2. Will you not offer him coffee / tea?

3. In case he has to wait, will you not keep him informed?

4. Even if he doesn’t buy, you will send him a thank you note and look forward to meeting him again

5. You will send him a feedback form or even give him a feedback call

6. If he mails you or calls you, you will promptly reply

Now, are we doing any of these things with our candidates?

This happens in an era when HCL says “Employees Come First, Customers second”, Marico has print ADs selling a career with the company. Every company is focusing on employer branding.

HR team is the first to interact with a candidate. Very often, a candidate’s decision to join an employer is influenced strongly by his interactions with HR. Imagine, you could lose a potential start performer for the company, just because the sourcing team did not clarify his doubts on Job Description.

The challenge is that we do not train our talent management teams as marketing professionals. How about training them on Customer service orientation, Customer delight, Client engagement and Negotiations?

———————————————–

Amit Tandon

Amit Tandon is, Managing Director of Empyrean Partners, a leading recruitment firm; Partner at Mind Cafe, first Board Games cafe of India and has been in the Recruitment Business from the past 7 years. Amit has worked with Start-Ups as well as Global organizations across sectors varying from Telecom, Petrochemicals and IT Enabled Services for over 10 years in operations and business development roles. He was AVP – GSK WNS Research in India and was also the Engagement Manager for the Amit is also a well known Humorist & Professional Stand Up Comedian, with over 250 shows between India and Singapore. He is an avid blogger and his views have been quoted a number of times in ET and Singaporean HR Magazines.

Recruitment Firms do rank their clients!

By Amit Tandon

Most companies have a preference of recruitment consultants (or as some call them Vendors) that they want to work with. But, what they don’t realize is that a similar ranking also happens at the other end. So, when your recruitment consultant is not responding to your requests for CV, it might be time for some introspection!

At our company, we have one metric that I look at to prioritize a client – Revenue per Resume. This is like any other industry where you would rank your clients in terms of their profitability. What this does not mean is that the client is signed with us at the highest of pricing or gives us only high value positions. Following are some of the things that create a high priority client and leads to consultant spending more time on it:

1. Fairness in Terms – This is where a number of large firms fail. A client will randomly decide to cut down the time of ownership of the CV from six months to three months and expect all consultants to keep the same level of delivery. Surprise – Consultants are intelligent enough to make a notice that a lot of their efforts are just going into building your database. Your platinum partner will give you a bronze ranking.

2. Exclusivity or Near Exclusivity of Mandates – A consultant knows that when there are only two consultants working on the position, they have 50% probability of closing the position. When there are twenty consultants, the probability is only 5%

3. Responsiveness – When feedback is shared timely and in detail, the quality of delivery improves dramatically and position can be closed in 5 CVs instead of the Trial and Error process of 25 CVs

4. Empathy – When the HR manager wants a consultant to be his partner and advocate in the market, the consultant also expects the same. Respecting a consultant’s effort and trusting her view will ensure that she gives her 100%. It might not always close the position for the consultant but she knows you tried your best!

—————————————————-

Amit Tandon

Amit Tandon is, Managing Director of Empyrean Partners, a leading recruitment firm; Partner at Mind Cafe, first Board Games cafe of India and has been in the Recruitment Business from the past 7 years. Amit has worked with Start-Ups as well as Global organizations across sectors varying from Telecom, Petrochemicals and IT Enabled Services for over 10 years in operations and business development roles. He was AVP – GSK WNS Research in India and was also the Engagement Manager for the Amit is also a well known Humorist & Professional Stand Up Comedian, with over 250 shows between India and Singapore. He is an avid blogger and his views have been quoted a number of times in ET and Singaporean HR Magazines.

 

After-effects of Appraisals

By  Amit Tandon

I was reading a book called ‘Empire of the Moghul’ and it talked about how Babur’s armies prepared in advance for Uzbek attacks after the winters. The preparation was based on historical data and not any news. Similarly today HR prepares for attrition after the appraisal season.

On the basis of their reaction to appraisals you can divide your employees in the following categories:

1.       Satisfied Employees – These employees are like tigers. I am not saying they are great performers, but they are an endangered species. Like a Tiger, they are very comfortable with their current habitat and will not leave unless there is a catastrophe. This includes top performers who are growing so fast that they don’t feel the need to change and laggards who have made peace with their incompetence.

2.       Hunters   – These employees treat appraisal time as mating season. As soon as they get their appraisal letter, they start looking out for new partners. Every job opportunity is measured not by the question ‘How can I grow here?’ but by ‘Where I can go from here?’  

3.       Girlfriends – They are sensitive employees with expectations. When you don’t meet their expectations in appraisal, then they are hurt.  They would leave you if they feel cheated or are jealous. Else, they just want you to listen to them. So, in one session they get feedback which is followed by another session where they give you feedback about the feedback.

Overall, appraisal season is the time when the most atheist of HR professionals start praying. But even gods are helpless in this area because even religions are facing attrition problems these days ;).

—————————————————————-

Amit Tandon

Amit Tandon is, Managing Director of Empyrean Partners, a leading recruitment firm; Partner at Mind Cafe, first Board Games cafe of India and has been in the Recruitment Business from the past 7 years. Amit has worked with Start-Ups as well as Global organizations across sectors varying from Telecom, Petrochemicals and IT Enabled Services for over 10 years in operations and business development roles. He was AVP – GSK WNS Research in India and was also the Engagement Manager for the Amit is also a well known Humorist & Professional Stand Up Comedian, with over 250 shows between India and Singapore. He is an avid blogger and his views have been quoted a number of times in ET and Singaporean HR Magazines

Asking the right questions in your interview:

By Mohan Sood

Nearly every job interviewer will, at one point, ask a prospective employee if they have any questions about the job, hiring process or company. While the interview environment can be overwhelming, taking advantage of the questioning period is important to learn not only more about the position itself but help you stand out and learn more about whether you should or shouldn’t take the position.

Asking about required skills to succeed at a company is one question that will impress in an interview, especially if it’s framed against information learned from the application process. Not only will you hear an honest answer about what would be expected of you in the job itself, it can help you derive a more accurate and detailed idea of exactly what the company is looking for, helping you determine which strengths to highlight throughout the rest of the interviewing process.

Discovering which personality types work best in a given position will also help an applicant determine whether they’re truly right for the job. If it takes a certain kind of mindset you don’t have, you’ll know it’s not right for you; on the other hand, it can make a position more appealing if you believe you’d be a good match.

Show your work
Doing advance research into a company before starting an interview is vital, not only to find out exactly what kind of work a job will entail but to learn more about the firm’s products , processes and preferences. Showing that you’ve done this research by asking a question related to it will show your interviewer that you’re truly interested in the position. Whether the question is about their recent releases or their employee policies, proving you’ve done more than just fill out an application will give you an advantage over the competition.

Another question worth asking is about your potential future boss. While you’ll sometimes be able to figure out who’s in charge yourself, if it remains unclear throughout an interview, take it upon yourself to ask about the company’s structure. Not only will it show that you’re serious about the position, but in situations where you may not get a straight answer, you may be able to see that the leadership isn’t what you’re looking for, avoiding a negative work environment.

What do you expect?
Asking what you’d be expected to accomplish in the position, both in short and longer periods of time, can help you figure out exactly how to approach the job if you get it. You could also see how loose or strict the working environment would be; if there are very few or very many requirements, you can adjust your expectations accordingly.

Making the interview personal can also pay off. Not only can it improve your relationship with the interviewer, but you may discover a thing or two about the company you wouldn’t learn through traditional interviewing.

Training and growth
Finding out how the company trains its new employees can show eagerness to show your abilities and add to the working environment, according to College Recruiter, while asking about advancement and growth in their system can emphasize your interest in helping the company however you can.

Asking the interviewer about the typical day at work can help you figure out exactly what’s expected of employees, as well as whether you’re prepared for the position and whether it’s right for you. You can find out if the position has long hours or high stress, if employees love or hate what they do, or if the company is a great place to work.

—————————————————————————————–

Mohan Sood

Mr.  Mohan Sood is the Managing Director and CEO of Total Talent Solutions.  He has been in the Recruitment business for 15+ years (10 years in ITES Firm & over 5 years in RPO & Recruitment business). Formerly has worked as Director – Operations / Client servicing in Napier wolf Research (RPO). He also has prior experience at Accenture and Zenta. He holds a Post Graduate Degree in Human Resources.

Checklist before Attending a Face to Face Interview

By Ms Rajul Doshi

• Confirm date, time, location, contact person, interview process and list of documents required for the interview with your recruitment consultant.
• Plan to reach the interview venue at least 30 minutes before the scheduled interview.
• Go through your resume in detail and check for any mistakes and see if it needs to be updated. You should be able to answer questions on every point in the resume.
• Wear formal attire. Ensure that your appearance is professional. If required go for a haircut / shave before the interview. Avoid smoking just before the interview.
• If you are asked to bring certificates, mark sheets etc , get them Xerox before the day of interview.
• Go through a few commonly asked interview questions (both technical and HR) and prepare for them in advance. The recruitment consultant would be a good source for common questions.
• Understand the company’s job requirements and match it to your skill set. Be prepared to answer the question “Why should we hire you?” You can ask the recruitment consultant detailed questions on the job description and the skills required.
• Go through the company’s website. If possible ask your friends working in that company about work culture and other company specific details. You may also understand the company culture in detail from the recruitment consultant.
• Make a list of questions to ask the interviewer about the company/offer.
• Carry all your documents in a file / folder instead of a plastic bag.
• Get a good night’s sleep before your interview so that you’ll be as ready for interview as possible.
• Carry multiple copies of your resume (at least 4).
• Put at least 2 references along with their contact details and designation in your resume. Get permission before using anyone as a reference. Make sure that they will give you a good reference. Use work colleagues as references as far as possible.
• Carry your Interview Call letter. Also make sure to mention the recruitment consultant as the source.
• On arrival inform the receptionist that you have been called for an interview·
• If you have to reschedule the interview inform the company contact person well in advance.

—————————————————————————-

Ms. Rajul Doshi

Ms. Rajul Doshi is Founder & Managing Director of Sampoorna Computer People and has been in the recruitment business for long period of 24+ years. She is a Law graduate and has a personal interest in Fine arts / Performing Arts