I am a firm believer that referrals are the most targetted form of obtaining the right candidate. The chances of getting that right candidate is much much less thru any other forms of search - be it job sites, advertisements or mass mailing....
a reference is an emotional connect - which is win in nature - and hence there are very few people who donot respond to the same....
i came across a neat blog on referral marketing .....recommended reading ..here's the link...
http://blog.referralflood.com/
one of the ideas that that the author propogates is to search for references from amongst your strategic partners ....those with whom you share a common clientele....
for example lets look at "job sites" - for them attracting great resumes and hence building a database is the foundation of success. This is precisely what a recruiter also does - creating great databases by getting in touch with good candidates - so as to fill positions
collaborating with job sites is a 'win-win'...while advertising on job sites is passe....what is innovative is referral advertising ...
Recruiters could post jobs and also provide an interface by which candidates are encouraged to refer other candidates
so whenever you advertise a job on the job site...also have an icon allowing the candidate to refer his/her friend....of course donot forget to mention the goodies the referring individual can get ....
Thursday, December 21, 2006
Wednesday, December 20, 2006
More referral ideas
i think there is no dearth of ideas that one can implement as far as acquiring references are concerned...
some of these are
1. get references from all candidates who are going thru an assessment process at your company -- there has to be one Recruiter whose job is to get these references - it could be informal or formal like on a sheet of paper
2. for Consultancy firms always meet your candidates whenever they are going thru a job process which has been set up by you - they will be more than willing to give you references
3. have lucky dips during the assessment process (for e.g during the tests) and let the winner get a gift hamper - such people will happily give you references
4. use job sites to identify candidates whose manager you want to target but donot know the name etc.....call up such candidates and glean the contact details of their managers
5. when going to a conference be one of the first to reach the venue - normally a delegate list is available outside - get friendly with the conference coordinator and get a couple of names from him! - or memorise the names and the company from the delegate badges which are lying on the desk - waiting to be handed over to the delegates
6. talk to strategic partners - they would give you a lot of references - for e.g if you need a IT infrastructure candidate speak to your IT vendor and he would give you references of the guys he works with in other companies - at least a name ...!
some of these are
1. get references from all candidates who are going thru an assessment process at your company -- there has to be one Recruiter whose job is to get these references - it could be informal or formal like on a sheet of paper
2. for Consultancy firms always meet your candidates whenever they are going thru a job process which has been set up by you - they will be more than willing to give you references
3. have lucky dips during the assessment process (for e.g during the tests) and let the winner get a gift hamper - such people will happily give you references
4. use job sites to identify candidates whose manager you want to target but donot know the name etc.....call up such candidates and glean the contact details of their managers
5. when going to a conference be one of the first to reach the venue - normally a delegate list is available outside - get friendly with the conference coordinator and get a couple of names from him! - or memorise the names and the company from the delegate badges which are lying on the desk - waiting to be handed over to the delegates
6. talk to strategic partners - they would give you a lot of references - for e.g if you need a IT infrastructure candidate speak to your IT vendor and he would give you references of the guys he works with in other companies - at least a name ...!
Wednesday, November 22, 2006
Referral Marketing
i am have been off vacationing and hence the huge time lag since my last post. I have been catching up on friends - many of whom i have not even emailed for years.
I was telling them about the Professional education company that i have launched - Oyster Learning. - http://www.oysterlearning.com/
Some of them were really excited and even gave me a lot of references of people who might be interested in working with me or would give me business!.
I marvelled at how references make such a huge impact in our lives.
A reference is almost like "giving away a part of your reputation" is what some guy said - i definitely believe in it and I think the hiring industry does so too...
Reference based hiring is a great way to hire for yourself good candidates.
Companies are well latched on to this concept and there are a variety of ways in which they have gone about it.
Employee Referral Schemes
The Referral scheme where in employees of an organisation refer friends and acquaintances whom they feel would fit potential roles in their organisation. Referring individuals are given a certain token money (in today's time - its pretty substantial - as high as 50k) if the referred candidate is selected.
The rider is only that the referred candidates should stay on for at least month - (or even 3 months - in BPOs)
Refer a Co - candidate
Companies have gone a step forward and have even come out with schemes where in candidates! can refer others and if the referred person is selected then they are given gift vouchers. Some times rewards are also given as a mere good will gesture to such persons - the aim being to keep them motivated enough to keep on sending references.
In one of my later posts ....i shall definitely talk about how one can do even more exciting stuff and what are the riders involved....
I was telling them about the Professional education company that i have launched - Oyster Learning. - http://www.oysterlearning.com/
Some of them were really excited and even gave me a lot of references of people who might be interested in working with me or would give me business!.
I marvelled at how references make such a huge impact in our lives.
A reference is almost like "giving away a part of your reputation" is what some guy said - i definitely believe in it and I think the hiring industry does so too...
Reference based hiring is a great way to hire for yourself good candidates.
Companies are well latched on to this concept and there are a variety of ways in which they have gone about it.
Employee Referral Schemes
The Referral scheme where in employees of an organisation refer friends and acquaintances whom they feel would fit potential roles in their organisation. Referring individuals are given a certain token money (in today's time - its pretty substantial - as high as 50k) if the referred candidate is selected.
The rider is only that the referred candidates should stay on for at least month - (or even 3 months - in BPOs)
Refer a Co - candidate
Companies have gone a step forward and have even come out with schemes where in candidates! can refer others and if the referred person is selected then they are given gift vouchers. Some times rewards are also given as a mere good will gesture to such persons - the aim being to keep them motivated enough to keep on sending references.
In one of my later posts ....i shall definitely talk about how one can do even more exciting stuff and what are the riders involved....
Tuesday, November 07, 2006
Fresher Attrition
Attrition is a ghost that every Recruiter fears.
I read somewhere that the attrition after the training period (which is about a month) is about 5% (of current employees) at Infosys - that is as much as 2000 people.
And a disproporti0nate number (as much as 25%) of this attrition is from amongst the freshers or campus recruits.
For recruiters that's a lot of hard work down the drain..it is also big revenue drain since critical recruiter time is spent in replacing the employees who left.
In terms of return on investment....it is said that an organisation starts achieving profit from an employee somewhere between 6 months to an year of his joining - for freshers it could be as much as 1 year plus.
While in today's time attrition is accepted as a fact of life there are many things recruiters could do and are doing to stem the tide ....
Let's look at how one can stem attrition amongst freshers.....
Firstly some philosphy....!
Fresher retention is a tough one to manage since its difficult to differentiate between them on criteria like compensation or responsibility since they have no experience.
However a selective policy of retention is also important. After all it is important weed out the ones who show low potential
So what all do we need to be doing.........
Retaining freshers starts with the Recruitment process itself.
Recruiting employees who donot fit in with the company's mission and long term plans does no good to anyone.
Managing "high flyers" - the ambitious guys, who want to a do a lot of things(normally their way!) - is also a tough proposiiton. Since this means managing them differently - be it differential compensation or roles
Compromising on the recruiting process in an attempt to close the required numbers - will also result in a lot of heart ache - since many unqualified candidates get taken - who have to be told to leave later since they have not met the mark
IDEA
1. Put in place an excellent Recruitment process which identifies the right candidate
- assess the qualities of the current crop of igh performers who have stayed with the company for a reasonable period of time and understand what makes them stick and tick!- attracting similar candidates will result in greater recruiting success
2. Have a remuneration philosophy which is tailored for the kind of candidates who are recruited. For a candidate who is clearly a high flyer - have a differential compensation or role challenges with relevant performance filters so that it does not result in heart burn for others
__________________________________________________________
Attrition is a result of internal factors and external factors. When the external factors are more attractive than the internal ones, employees are tempted to leave
Some of the factors which affect Freshers are compensation, roles, location, culture, reporting manager's style
More than any other working age group freshers go thru a huge "adjustment period" where in irritants seem magnified for them ....be it change in food or even weather !
To add to it their tolerance levels to uncertainty and personal challenges are also very poor.....all of which does no good to corporates ....
IDEA
Regularly conduct climate surveys to understand this fact in detail.....be it a galloping economy which could mean mid term hikes or the need for a flexi -time culture - which could mean incorporating telecommuting or providing creche facilities
Proactive providing classes which equip candidates with life skills - be it cooking to knowing where to buy the right clothes (and not get cheated) to finding a house will really go a long way to managing these challenges.....
More on attrition ideas in another post
I read somewhere that the attrition after the training period (which is about a month) is about 5% (of current employees) at Infosys - that is as much as 2000 people.
And a disproporti0nate number (as much as 25%) of this attrition is from amongst the freshers or campus recruits.
For recruiters that's a lot of hard work down the drain..it is also big revenue drain since critical recruiter time is spent in replacing the employees who left.
In terms of return on investment....it is said that an organisation starts achieving profit from an employee somewhere between 6 months to an year of his joining - for freshers it could be as much as 1 year plus.
While in today's time attrition is accepted as a fact of life there are many things recruiters could do and are doing to stem the tide ....
Let's look at how one can stem attrition amongst freshers.....
Firstly some philosphy....!
Fresher retention is a tough one to manage since its difficult to differentiate between them on criteria like compensation or responsibility since they have no experience.
However a selective policy of retention is also important. After all it is important weed out the ones who show low potential
So what all do we need to be doing.........
Retaining freshers starts with the Recruitment process itself.
Recruiting employees who donot fit in with the company's mission and long term plans does no good to anyone.
Managing "high flyers" - the ambitious guys, who want to a do a lot of things(normally their way!) - is also a tough proposiiton. Since this means managing them differently - be it differential compensation or roles
Compromising on the recruiting process in an attempt to close the required numbers - will also result in a lot of heart ache - since many unqualified candidates get taken - who have to be told to leave later since they have not met the mark
IDEA
1. Put in place an excellent Recruitment process which identifies the right candidate
- assess the qualities of the current crop of igh performers who have stayed with the company for a reasonable period of time and understand what makes them stick and tick!- attracting similar candidates will result in greater recruiting success
2. Have a remuneration philosophy which is tailored for the kind of candidates who are recruited. For a candidate who is clearly a high flyer - have a differential compensation or role challenges with relevant performance filters so that it does not result in heart burn for others
__________________________________________________________
Attrition is a result of internal factors and external factors. When the external factors are more attractive than the internal ones, employees are tempted to leave
Some of the factors which affect Freshers are compensation, roles, location, culture, reporting manager's style
More than any other working age group freshers go thru a huge "adjustment period" where in irritants seem magnified for them ....be it change in food or even weather !
To add to it their tolerance levels to uncertainty and personal challenges are also very poor.....all of which does no good to corporates ....
IDEA
Regularly conduct climate surveys to understand this fact in detail.....be it a galloping economy which could mean mid term hikes or the need for a flexi -time culture - which could mean incorporating telecommuting or providing creche facilities
Proactive providing classes which equip candidates with life skills - be it cooking to knowing where to buy the right clothes (and not get cheated) to finding a house will really go a long way to managing these challenges.....
More on attrition ideas in another post
Monday, October 23, 2006
Head Hunting - Tips
I mentioned in one of my previous posts that with the advent of recruitment process outsourcing the need to differentiate the offerings of the Recruitment consultant becomes even more imperative.
One of such differentiated service would be head hunting and poaching.
So head hunting or poaching - which ever way one looks at it is a skill which has high demand.
In high end search firms Head Hunting is a specialisation itself with a handful possessing the capability to dig out names and numbers and poach the specific person.
The reason that head hunting is a skill possessed by a handful is because of the high entry barriers in acquiring this skill.
After all it requires tremendous guts to be able to manage the myriad uncertain situations which could come up when one embarks on a head hunting call
Such obstacles include being accused of phishing, to plain rebuttals (even threats) or no response at all.
one of the requests that have come my way during training programmes is to provide tips on how to tackle head hunting .
The aim of this post is provide some that .......................
1. Head hunting is an art. It requires practice and this means learning the hard way......
2. Practice your story line before hand ......plan your identity and have enough back up stories to justify your story so that you are never caught speechless. Some answers you should have
i. Why are you calling?
ii. Who are you? What does your organisation do?
iii. Why can't you give me the information or request (presuming this is a secy/receptionist)
iv. Give me a number that i can call back on (secy/receptionist/
v. Give me a website link of your organisation
3. Completely avoid phishing(impersonation - that is pretending to be someone or some organisation which really exists - for e.g saying that you are calling from NASSCOM -when you are not- . Phishing is a violation under the law of the land can lead to punishment of the individual
4. Have standard replies for potential bottlenecks -
i. If the person you want to reach is not available on his seat/is on leave - (no hanging up is not a good idea - it will lead to suspicion - you won't be able to call later)
ii If the person you want to reach says that he does not have the time to take the call
iii. If the person you want to reach puts you in touch with his secretary
iv. If the call is transferred to his secretary before you could say anything (again donot hang up!)
5. Do reasonable amount of research on the company from which you wish to head hunt ...for e.g i. what does it do? ii. where all does it have offices, sales and plant locations iii. which are the divisions? iv. the organisational structure v. the leadership team vi. names of some of the senior individuals (job site databases zindabad), vii. what kind of products does it sell - names of its brands etc
This will see to that you are not caught unawares about most organisational info
Also it is useful to pretend to be a person that you can easily identify with ...e.g if you have an understanding of sales and marketing - posing as a marketing executive would be comparatively easy.
Practice your lines ....saying it out will assure you that it sounds genuine!
Happy Head Hunting .....
One of such differentiated service would be head hunting and poaching.
So head hunting or poaching - which ever way one looks at it is a skill which has high demand.
In high end search firms Head Hunting is a specialisation itself with a handful possessing the capability to dig out names and numbers and poach the specific person.
The reason that head hunting is a skill possessed by a handful is because of the high entry barriers in acquiring this skill.
After all it requires tremendous guts to be able to manage the myriad uncertain situations which could come up when one embarks on a head hunting call
Such obstacles include being accused of phishing, to plain rebuttals (even threats) or no response at all.
one of the requests that have come my way during training programmes is to provide tips on how to tackle head hunting .
The aim of this post is provide some that .......................
1. Head hunting is an art. It requires practice and this means learning the hard way......
2. Practice your story line before hand ......plan your identity and have enough back up stories to justify your story so that you are never caught speechless. Some answers you should have
i. Why are you calling?
ii. Who are you? What does your organisation do?
iii. Why can't you give me the information or request (presuming this is a secy/receptionist)
iv. Give me a number that i can call back on (secy/receptionist/
v. Give me a website link of your organisation
3. Completely avoid phishing(impersonation - that is pretending to be someone or some organisation which really exists - for e.g saying that you are calling from NASSCOM -when you are not- . Phishing is a violation under the law of the land can lead to punishment of the individual
4. Have standard replies for potential bottlenecks -
i. If the person you want to reach is not available on his seat/is on leave - (no hanging up is not a good idea - it will lead to suspicion - you won't be able to call later)
ii If the person you want to reach says that he does not have the time to take the call
iii. If the person you want to reach puts you in touch with his secretary
iv. If the call is transferred to his secretary before you could say anything (again donot hang up!)
5. Do reasonable amount of research on the company from which you wish to head hunt ...for e.g i. what does it do? ii. where all does it have offices, sales and plant locations iii. which are the divisions? iv. the organisational structure v. the leadership team vi. names of some of the senior individuals (job site databases zindabad), vii. what kind of products does it sell - names of its brands etc
This will see to that you are not caught unawares about most organisational info
Also it is useful to pretend to be a person that you can easily identify with ...e.g if you have an understanding of sales and marketing - posing as a marketing executive would be comparatively easy.
Practice your lines ....saying it out will assure you that it sounds genuine!
Happy Head Hunting .....
Thursday, October 12, 2006
"metrics"
One of the fallouts of the tremendous pace of hiring is the increasing sense of inefficiency with respect to the processes employed to hire.
The inefficiency is blamed on the process or the individuals involved in it - be it the line manager or the staffing manager or the staffing team.
Clearly the system is not able to pin point the inefficiencies and is quick to point its fingers at the easiest target which is either the process or persons involved in it.
Why is the system not able to identify the culprit?
This is because the system has not been enabled to be smart enough to do that. And to enable it what is required is a robust metrics system which throws up the warning signs early on.
By metrics - i refer to the ones which reflect the way we hire.
This could be the number of resumes shortlisted for a position or the number of resumes shortlisted by the hiring manager against the total send to him by the consultant.
All of these metrics result in data which can be churned into information.
What all can the system generate?
Useful data can be generated according to the following parameters
Time
Success/Failure Rates
Both of the above can be utilised at various stages of the hiring process.
What i do want to enumerate below is a set of metrics for each stage of the process
Client Relationship : (Relevant only for Recruiting Agencies)
No of search mandates of the Top Clients Vs Others
% of Revenue from Top Client as a % of the total spending outflow of the client for consulting
% growth in the Revenue of the Top Client Vs Revenue Growth of the vertical Vs Growth in spending of the client
Search Strategy
Success of each search source
Total Hires per source as a %
Resume shortlisting
Total Resumes shortlisted per position
Resumes shortlisted per source - Consultants, referrals, job sites, advts (net + newspaper)
Total Resumes interviewed per position
Decline
Total candidates Rejected/interviewed
Total candidates declined/offered
The inefficiency is blamed on the process or the individuals involved in it - be it the line manager or the staffing manager or the staffing team.
Clearly the system is not able to pin point the inefficiencies and is quick to point its fingers at the easiest target which is either the process or persons involved in it.
Why is the system not able to identify the culprit?
This is because the system has not been enabled to be smart enough to do that. And to enable it what is required is a robust metrics system which throws up the warning signs early on.
By metrics - i refer to the ones which reflect the way we hire.
This could be the number of resumes shortlisted for a position or the number of resumes shortlisted by the hiring manager against the total send to him by the consultant.
All of these metrics result in data which can be churned into information.
What all can the system generate?
Useful data can be generated according to the following parameters
Time
Success/Failure Rates
Both of the above can be utilised at various stages of the hiring process.
What i do want to enumerate below is a set of metrics for each stage of the process
Client Relationship : (Relevant only for Recruiting Agencies)
No of search mandates of the Top Clients Vs Others
% of Revenue from Top Client as a % of the total spending outflow of the client for consulting
% growth in the Revenue of the Top Client Vs Revenue Growth of the vertical Vs Growth in spending of the client
Search Strategy
Success of each search source
Total Hires per source as a %
Resume shortlisting
Total Resumes shortlisted per position
Resumes shortlisted per source - Consultants, referrals, job sites, advts (net + newspaper)
Total Resumes interviewed per position
Decline
Total candidates Rejected/interviewed
Total candidates declined/offered
The aim of these metrics is not to find a scape goat and punish - but to be able to point in the correct direction for remedy
Metrics establish a habit. This will set up precedence for certain culture of doing work - which will elicit feedback
Wednesday, October 11, 2006
candidate counseling
in my training programmes whenever i talk about the importance of counseling the candidate i am met with mixed reactions in the ratio of about 70:30 ....in favour of not doing it!
I would say that counseling is one of the most important contributions of a recruiter to the hiring process. Most candidates have incomplete and in most cases inaccurate information about various aspects of the search mandate whether it is the job profile or the company information.
In such a context it is an opportunity for the Recruiter to attempt to influence the candidate in the manner that would lead to a successful closure of the mandate.
Unfortunately we underestimate our own powers of persuasion and hence unintentionally let others usurp that role ...others include the candidate's circle of influence such as spouse, friends or parents
In response to my stand many a recruiter has told me that this is a complete waste of their time since they work with mostly candidates who show eagerness for the job opportunity provided to them. That is the "active" candidates.
I would say that the exciting and the right fit candidate is never an active candidate but someone who is passive.
And passive candidates will always require counseling since they are not the interested parties but you are!
Secondly like all tools that one uses at work ....counseling also follows the 80/20 rule.
It is a tool which should be used in 20% of the cases the successful outcome of which will lead to you meeting 80% of your target.
I would say that counseling is one of the most important contributions of a recruiter to the hiring process. Most candidates have incomplete and in most cases inaccurate information about various aspects of the search mandate whether it is the job profile or the company information.
In such a context it is an opportunity for the Recruiter to attempt to influence the candidate in the manner that would lead to a successful closure of the mandate.
Unfortunately we underestimate our own powers of persuasion and hence unintentionally let others usurp that role ...others include the candidate's circle of influence such as spouse, friends or parents
In response to my stand many a recruiter has told me that this is a complete waste of their time since they work with mostly candidates who show eagerness for the job opportunity provided to them. That is the "active" candidates.
I would say that the exciting and the right fit candidate is never an active candidate but someone who is passive.
And passive candidates will always require counseling since they are not the interested parties but you are!
Secondly like all tools that one uses at work ....counseling also follows the 80/20 rule.
It is a tool which should be used in 20% of the cases the successful outcome of which will lead to you meeting 80% of your target.
Wednesday, October 04, 2006
Resume Reading -2
While we do read a resume with the intent of shortlisting it - there is a second stage to it.
The second stage is analysis. This requires a different approach to resume reading.
While conducting the primary shortlisting our focus is on grasping the pure facts.
However the second stage shortlisting is all about putting together data into useful facts or information.
What do we mean by analysis. This is a deductive process where we assemble various pieces of facts or data into a meaningful set of observations.
E.g of such analysis are
1. a south indian will be more comfortable taking up roles which are in South India.
2. An individual who has worked in a MNC environment will find an Indian company a difficult adjustment.
At the end of such an extensive analysis one should be able to create a visual picture of the potential candidate.
This will aid us in understanding the intangibles such as culture fit, location comfort etc.
It will also help us to find out the gaps in the resume - which we could verify with the candidate at the next level.
The third stage of the resume reading is to have a conversation with the candidate wherein we verify some of our notions.
The second stage is analysis. This requires a different approach to resume reading.
While conducting the primary shortlisting our focus is on grasping the pure facts.
However the second stage shortlisting is all about putting together data into useful facts or information.
What do we mean by analysis. This is a deductive process where we assemble various pieces of facts or data into a meaningful set of observations.
E.g of such analysis are
1. a south indian will be more comfortable taking up roles which are in South India.
2. An individual who has worked in a MNC environment will find an Indian company a difficult adjustment.
At the end of such an extensive analysis one should be able to create a visual picture of the potential candidate.
This will aid us in understanding the intangibles such as culture fit, location comfort etc.
It will also help us to find out the gaps in the resume - which we could verify with the candidate at the next level.
The third stage of the resume reading is to have a conversation with the candidate wherein we verify some of our notions.
Tuesday, September 26, 2006
Resume Reading - 1
One of the basic skills that any recruiter who is starting out should have is "Resume reading"
yes I mean it! I am sure you have a "so what about it?" expression on your face!
But i can tell you there is many a science behind the same.
For one Resumes are no longer home grown stuff. There are professional Resume writers who can do wonders to the most drab and dull resume! Interestingly it is these Professional Resume writers who have brought in a lot of structure to the resume - resulting in the resume being written and structured in a format which is uniform and easy to read
With the rise of technology resumes have undergone a sea change. Job portals have also driven the format - resulting in Resumes which are in line with portal fields.
So how are resumes structured?
They are broadly structured to include the following-:
Now to Resume Reading:
Resumes come in all lengths - unusally crisp ones and extraordinarily lengthy ones.!
While reading a short resume is bliss a long one can put off the most ardent of recruiters. It is not the best of efficiency if one is hell bent on reading every page of an 18 page resume
So how should a recruiter go about his or her task.
There are some rules....
Rule No1: Begin with the end in mind.
While reading a resume bear in mind the Job Description and the Candidate Profile.
While the JD includes the KRAs and roles and responsibilities of the potential job, the candidate profile will tell the recruiter about the qualifications, exp that is required.
As a recruiter it is useful to list down the important facts listed in the JD and candidate profile and search for the same in the resume. This helps to search for the relevant details easily.
I would call this process the resume screening process
Rule No2: Look for Key words
Similar to how one would search for resumes in a job portal by inputting a particular key word in the search box - while reading a resume look for key words.
These could be niche skills, qualifications, or experience in a particular company or role
Rule No3: Search for the "rejection criteria" first
When reading a resume firstly look for aspects which the client will not accept. So if they exist then there is no need to peruse the rest of the resume.
Afterall it is much easier to reject a resume than to accept it!
Rule No4: Once Rule 3 is done check for the "must haves"
Check the resume for the parameters which the client compulsorily expects the candidate to possess - be it a particular niche skill or a particular kind of role experience.
yes I mean it! I am sure you have a "so what about it?" expression on your face!
But i can tell you there is many a science behind the same.
For one Resumes are no longer home grown stuff. There are professional Resume writers who can do wonders to the most drab and dull resume! Interestingly it is these Professional Resume writers who have brought in a lot of structure to the resume - resulting in the resume being written and structured in a format which is uniform and easy to read
With the rise of technology resumes have undergone a sea change. Job portals have also driven the format - resulting in Resumes which are in line with portal fields.
So how are resumes structured?
They are broadly structured to include the following-:
- Personal Information - name, location, address, contact details.
- Candidates summary - Current role/Designation, function, key skills, years of experience, what kind of role is the candidate on the look out for
- Chronology of qualifications - starting from the latest to the earliest (with details of marks received, accomplishments)
- Chronology of experience - starting from latest to the earliest (with details of the main achievements in each area
- A summary of key skills (more common in information technology resumes)
Now to Resume Reading:
Resumes come in all lengths - unusally crisp ones and extraordinarily lengthy ones.!
While reading a short resume is bliss a long one can put off the most ardent of recruiters. It is not the best of efficiency if one is hell bent on reading every page of an 18 page resume
So how should a recruiter go about his or her task.
There are some rules....
Rule No1: Begin with the end in mind.
While reading a resume bear in mind the Job Description and the Candidate Profile.
While the JD includes the KRAs and roles and responsibilities of the potential job, the candidate profile will tell the recruiter about the qualifications, exp that is required.
As a recruiter it is useful to list down the important facts listed in the JD and candidate profile and search for the same in the resume. This helps to search for the relevant details easily.
I would call this process the resume screening process
Rule No2: Look for Key words
Similar to how one would search for resumes in a job portal by inputting a particular key word in the search box - while reading a resume look for key words.
These could be niche skills, qualifications, or experience in a particular company or role
Rule No3: Search for the "rejection criteria" first
When reading a resume firstly look for aspects which the client will not accept. So if they exist then there is no need to peruse the rest of the resume.
Afterall it is much easier to reject a resume than to accept it!
Rule No4: Once Rule 3 is done check for the "must haves"
Check the resume for the parameters which the client compulsorily expects the candidate to possess - be it a particular niche skill or a particular kind of role experience.
Friday, September 22, 2006
"offer decline"
i was training last week a group of Recruiters in Chennai. They work for a well known consulting company. While sharing their experiences they were of the opinion that their main concern was -
The increasing bane of offers being turned down by candidates (which i guess is the offshoot of the kind of offers that are being made in the first place)
Now every Company has its own compensation philosphy which guides it, based on which offers are made.
A consultant can attempt to bridge the gap between what the candidate desires and what the company can offer to the extent possible. After that there is not much he or she can do with respect to that.
However i am of the firm belief that all is not lost inspite of that not too fancy compensation offer.
Given below are some ways to ensnare that candidate who is not too happy with the compensation offer.
I have divided it into 3 types of strategy
The Icing Strategy
The Intangibles Strategy
The Tactics Strategy
The "Icing"
Offer him and his family a holiday trip within 6 months of joining
Offer him an attractive joining bonus (of course with a 6 month tie in - that is if he leaves within 6 months he will have to return it)
Offer him a relocation bonus
Offer to reimburse chidren's school expenses - related to relocation
Send him for a training programme on behalf of the new company
Send him a joining gift hamper - which includes coupons for shopping and dining
The "Intangibles"
Get Senior company employees to talk to him and even discuss loosely the future project pipeline(without compromising on confidentiality)
Involve him in any off sites if possible
Keep in touch with him to keep track of the progress on his exit from the current company - if there is no progress that is the surest sign of trouble in
paradise
The "tactics"
Ask him for a copy of his resignation letter email that he sent to his boss.
Get an acceptance email copy also if possible
Get copies of air or train ticket bookings if it is a relocation
Enquire about plans to relocate - spouse's job, children's education, transferring belongings
Discuss about any loans that he is presently carrying and which he would like to transfer
Ask if his replacement has arrived or not and when would that happen
Correlate all of the above through your own sources in the company
The list can go on and on - there is never that innovative idea that cannot be tried out....
Saturday, September 16, 2006
Recruitment Process Outsourcing
Recruitment has become a complex process in today's times. In the pursuit of the right candidate - who fits not just the role but the company's culture - companies have embarked on a combination of sometimes lengthy selection processes. They range from the standard test cum interview to psychometric tests to spending time with the CEO. The more long widing the process the greater the rejection rate resulting in the candidate success rate plummeting.
If getting thru such a process was not enough there are stringent reference checks to overcome.
An administratively over burdened Recruitment function is the not so unpalatable outcome of all this.
To focus their attention on the core task of identifying the right candidate companies are more and more outsourcing various administrative tasks. These include managing the test process (making the tests, conducting them online, getting them corrected) coordinating the entire process - candidate calling for tests and interviews - and conducting reference checks.
The result of such an outsourcing is really win win. The company gets to concentrate on Recruitment from a strategic perspective and not from a administrative or execution perspective.
Individuals in the function donot get bogged down by the trivial stuff which otherwise does derail the main process.
Recruitment companies also forge a strong symbiotic relationship with their clients - creating better understanding between the two.
However this does throw a large challenge to Recruitment consulting companies.
Firstly recruiters will be expected to have better Business skills since they would be expected to handle a larger gamut of tasks unlike yester years where it was mostly about sending that bunch of resumes for a particular position and then doing a waiting game with a client - for the outcome of the process.......
If getting thru such a process was not enough there are stringent reference checks to overcome.
An administratively over burdened Recruitment function is the not so unpalatable outcome of all this.
To focus their attention on the core task of identifying the right candidate companies are more and more outsourcing various administrative tasks. These include managing the test process (making the tests, conducting them online, getting them corrected) coordinating the entire process - candidate calling for tests and interviews - and conducting reference checks.
The result of such an outsourcing is really win win. The company gets to concentrate on Recruitment from a strategic perspective and not from a administrative or execution perspective.
Individuals in the function donot get bogged down by the trivial stuff which otherwise does derail the main process.
Recruitment companies also forge a strong symbiotic relationship with their clients - creating better understanding between the two.
However this does throw a large challenge to Recruitment consulting companies.
Firstly recruiters will be expected to have better Business skills since they would be expected to handle a larger gamut of tasks unlike yester years where it was mostly about sending that bunch of resumes for a particular position and then doing a waiting game with a client - for the outcome of the process.......
Recruiter Skills -1
I subscribe to Lou Adler's newsletters. Though i vow to myself to read them regularly that rarely happens what with the daily to dos looming over me.Especially while running such a young organisation there are tons of things which demand my attention all the time.
But on a lazy friday evening i was glancing through some of the old newsletters which i had sincerely preserved in my folder.
i came across some neat stuff which i thought i should share with all. Lou Adler's company has recently conducted a Recruiting and Hiring Challenges survey amongst recruiters and hiring managers. It had thrown up some really interesting data.
Collating the responses of the same Lou points to 3 important deductions.
1. Understanding the Job is the most important skill that a Recruiter should possess. This DOES NOT mean obtaining a job description from the hiring manager but an understanding of the challenges and the performance deliverables for the potential hiree. It means understanding what the selected candidate needs to be delivering upon to get him or her going ahead in the organisation. Its about understanding and questioning the standards e.g why does the candidate require 7 years of exp - what of these years of experience will come in handy in the new opportunity ? Getting the Recruiter to demand all of the above from the hiring manager is the need of the hour
2. Competency Assessment . No recruiter can get out of this one. It is not enough to send to the client an essay which is a verbatim of every thing the candidate had to say. It is also not enough to understand what a candidate is looking for, but important to check whether the candidate has what the client is looking for
3.Do not set up good candidates for bad jobs...This is a tough one when you have revenue numbers staring at you. But this tests the real guts of a recruiter who protects his good candidates from jobs which do no justice to the former.
While there are other skills also that recruiters need to be honing on; especially the one on using the net more effectively for search (i think the same has been bandied around far too long that every one takes it for granted - alas a big error but something which i donot wish to tread upon in this post) - the above 3 cut since they really take you to the core of what differentiates a good recruiter from a great one. This is also because there is no short cut to achieving competence in all of the above
But on a lazy friday evening i was glancing through some of the old newsletters which i had sincerely preserved in my folder.
i came across some neat stuff which i thought i should share with all. Lou Adler's company has recently conducted a Recruiting and Hiring Challenges survey amongst recruiters and hiring managers. It had thrown up some really interesting data.
Collating the responses of the same Lou points to 3 important deductions.
1. Understanding the Job is the most important skill that a Recruiter should possess. This DOES NOT mean obtaining a job description from the hiring manager but an understanding of the challenges and the performance deliverables for the potential hiree. It means understanding what the selected candidate needs to be delivering upon to get him or her going ahead in the organisation. Its about understanding and questioning the standards e.g why does the candidate require 7 years of exp - what of these years of experience will come in handy in the new opportunity ? Getting the Recruiter to demand all of the above from the hiring manager is the need of the hour
2. Competency Assessment . No recruiter can get out of this one. It is not enough to send to the client an essay which is a verbatim of every thing the candidate had to say. It is also not enough to understand what a candidate is looking for, but important to check whether the candidate has what the client is looking for
3.Do not set up good candidates for bad jobs...This is a tough one when you have revenue numbers staring at you. But this tests the real guts of a recruiter who protects his good candidates from jobs which do no justice to the former.
While there are other skills also that recruiters need to be honing on; especially the one on using the net more effectively for search (i think the same has been bandied around far too long that every one takes it for granted - alas a big error but something which i donot wish to tread upon in this post) - the above 3 cut since they really take you to the core of what differentiates a good recruiter from a great one. This is also because there is no short cut to achieving competence in all of the above
Thursday, September 14, 2006
"Linked-in"
I am sure most of you have heard of Linked In . It is a networking site which believes in the 6 degrees of separation. It believes that each one of us are networked to each and every soul on this earth thru 6 levels of connections.
LinkedIn has actually brought to life this very concept by creating a by invitation only site which gets you to connect to lakhs of similar minded professional people who are there mainly for professional reasons.
This is how it works - you get introduced by some one who knows you well enough (mostly colleagues or ex-classmates) . This gives you access to the site. You get to float your profile and can introduce more people onto the site, get yourself introduced to others already on the site that you know from your past or thru others on the site. So indirectly your network keeps on increasing.
I was taking a look at the statistics that the site has provided. It says that there are more than 26,000 people based out of India who are members! Globally the site has currently 70,00,000 people on it.
And looking at the kind of people i have met on the site they are clearly creme amongst the Corporate community.
I saw lots of software professionals and also senior managers from various industries - primarily sales and business development (but then i guess it makes sense for these guys to be there)
The site seems to growing at a phenomenal rate ....at least a 500 a day which i would say is a very decent rate considering the quality of people who are registering.
Of course it has a large group of Indians who are currently in the US in its directory - mainly from the Bay Area - again software professionals .
As a recruiter - i would say on multiple counts this is a great site to be on for headhunting purposes.
It has the best of candidates based out of India and also the best of Indian professionals based out of the US (of course mainly software).
I saw a lot of recruitment consultants also logged on - currently there are nearly 6000 HR professionals on the site.
LinkedIn has actually brought to life this very concept by creating a by invitation only site which gets you to connect to lakhs of similar minded professional people who are there mainly for professional reasons.
This is how it works - you get introduced by some one who knows you well enough (mostly colleagues or ex-classmates) . This gives you access to the site. You get to float your profile and can introduce more people onto the site, get yourself introduced to others already on the site that you know from your past or thru others on the site. So indirectly your network keeps on increasing.
I was taking a look at the statistics that the site has provided. It says that there are more than 26,000 people based out of India who are members! Globally the site has currently 70,00,000 people on it.
And looking at the kind of people i have met on the site they are clearly creme amongst the Corporate community.
I saw lots of software professionals and also senior managers from various industries - primarily sales and business development (but then i guess it makes sense for these guys to be there)
The site seems to growing at a phenomenal rate ....at least a 500 a day which i would say is a very decent rate considering the quality of people who are registering.
Of course it has a large group of Indians who are currently in the US in its directory - mainly from the Bay Area - again software professionals .
As a recruiter - i would say on multiple counts this is a great site to be on for headhunting purposes.
It has the best of candidates based out of India and also the best of Indian professionals based out of the US (of course mainly software).
I saw a lot of recruitment consultants also logged on - currently there are nearly 6000 HR professionals on the site.
Wednesday, September 13, 2006
social networking
I love teaching and had taken up a visiting faculty assignment at an MBA school in south delhi. Yesterday i was talking to them about the need to network as part of building relationships. I asked them how they normally network. And the singular answer i received from all was "the net".
and one of the more popular ones was orkut ...
Orkut is a very popular social networking site - recently acquired by google - it provides people with an opportunity to write about themselves and meet people online. It is universe where people share their lives - events, photos, interests, talk - thru skype - .
Realising the kind of interest provoked by this medium by young individuals aroung the world - Internet media companies are paying a lot of attention to social networking.
There are a lot of companies who intend to start such websites. they represent excellent advertising oppotunities for companies - considering the fact that it grabs the eyeballs of the most consumeristic section of population the youth in the 25-35 age bracket.
For recruiters - this again is a great candidate mining opportunity .....for finding the right kind of candidates ...after all the 25-35 is the most significant candidate group...
popular social networking sites include ... www.orkut.com, www.del.icio.us.com and for a complete list visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_social_networking_websites
and one of the more popular ones was orkut ...
Orkut is a very popular social networking site - recently acquired by google - it provides people with an opportunity to write about themselves and meet people online. It is universe where people share their lives - events, photos, interests, talk - thru skype - .
Realising the kind of interest provoked by this medium by young individuals aroung the world - Internet media companies are paying a lot of attention to social networking.
There are a lot of companies who intend to start such websites. they represent excellent advertising oppotunities for companies - considering the fact that it grabs the eyeballs of the most consumeristic section of population the youth in the 25-35 age bracket.
For recruiters - this again is a great candidate mining opportunity .....for finding the right kind of candidates ...after all the 25-35 is the most significant candidate group...
popular social networking sites include ... www.orkut.com, www.del.icio.us.com and for a complete list visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_social_networking_websites
Tuesday, September 12, 2006
Funnel Search
Last saturday I was imparting training to the sales team of naukri.com a well known job portal based out of NCR.
I taught them about their database product - which houses their resume database - which clients such as recruiters buy to search for potential candidates
....the pupils were new joinees and needed to undergo a knowledge cum practical training on the product so that they could sell it well enough.
Understanding all aspects of the product was imperative.
I found an interested audience who shared with me snippets about their clients.
One of them shared his frustration about a client who always told him that he never got the right kind of CV from the job portal - be it any kind of role
Whenever he asked the client as to how he "searched" the database the recruiter used to say that "i do put in all the details of the job description provided to me by the company"
And that my dear friends is at the heart of the mistake that most of us as recruiters make when trying to search for a certain type of cv
Just like we search google where in we first try a broad search and then narrow it based on the results that one get...naukri.com's resume database(its got 70lakhs resumes) needs to be searched using what i would call the funnel strategy...where in like a funnel we should write the broad skill sets and parameters and then narrow or refine the search
Of course funnel search can be modified depending on the nature of the search - generic versus niche. So if one is looking at generic roles (la sales manager or finance manager or Java engineer) then it makes sense to be relatively specific but in cases of niche roles such as a J2EE cum EJB then a broader search will elicit a larger database pool
I taught them about their database product - which houses their resume database - which clients such as recruiters buy to search for potential candidates
....the pupils were new joinees and needed to undergo a knowledge cum practical training on the product so that they could sell it well enough.
Understanding all aspects of the product was imperative.
I found an interested audience who shared with me snippets about their clients.
One of them shared his frustration about a client who always told him that he never got the right kind of CV from the job portal - be it any kind of role
Whenever he asked the client as to how he "searched" the database the recruiter used to say that "i do put in all the details of the job description provided to me by the company"
And that my dear friends is at the heart of the mistake that most of us as recruiters make when trying to search for a certain type of cv
Just like we search google where in we first try a broad search and then narrow it based on the results that one get...naukri.com's resume database(its got 70lakhs resumes) needs to be searched using what i would call the funnel strategy...where in like a funnel we should write the broad skill sets and parameters and then narrow or refine the search
Of course funnel search can be modified depending on the nature of the search - generic versus niche. So if one is looking at generic roles (la sales manager or finance manager or Java engineer) then it makes sense to be relatively specific but in cases of niche roles such as a J2EE cum EJB then a broader search will elicit a larger database pool
Monday, September 11, 2006
attrition
with the huge talent crunch staring at every industry it is not surprising that every one is trying some thing new...i read about this article where Recruitment managers no longer look at attrition data (may be they want to save themselves a potential heart attack) but their retention rate!... of course the fact this is plain mathematics turned on its head...but any thing to feel better...
jokes apart ...it is useful to understand the half full glass perspective also and see how one can increase it....
i also read about the Infy HR chief mourning the death of the sensitive employee who was willing to wait it to get his rewards....i couldn't agree more but what can we do ....every day brings a new company to the shores of India who are willing to throw moolah to attract the good guys - with exciting challenges ...and today's youth is in the pursuit of challenges....
greater the attrition greater the pressure on all businesses and this has led to a sort of mean war of poaching talent at all levels. Reliance has no qualms in going to press and announcing that they intend to poach from a south based retail firm to fill their ranks - for there new retail venture...
This trend in turn requires recruiters to hone their skills in an area which was traditionally dominated by Executive Search firms - that is "poaching cum headhunting"
Now i wonder how many of us of actually spared a thought on the same. it is definitely a subject which today has become an art and that too a difficult one.....
jokes apart ...it is useful to understand the half full glass perspective also and see how one can increase it....
i also read about the Infy HR chief mourning the death of the sensitive employee who was willing to wait it to get his rewards....i couldn't agree more but what can we do ....every day brings a new company to the shores of India who are willing to throw moolah to attract the good guys - with exciting challenges ...and today's youth is in the pursuit of challenges....
greater the attrition greater the pressure on all businesses and this has led to a sort of mean war of poaching talent at all levels. Reliance has no qualms in going to press and announcing that they intend to poach from a south based retail firm to fill their ranks - for there new retail venture...
This trend in turn requires recruiters to hone their skills in an area which was traditionally dominated by Executive Search firms - that is "poaching cum headhunting"
Now i wonder how many of us of actually spared a thought on the same. it is definitely a subject which today has become an art and that too a difficult one.....
these are difficult times...
circa 2006 is definitely a difficult time for recruiters....as i survey the chaos around me i am left wondering when will it all become better ...
i donot think anyone of us have an answer to that
Hiring is the number one pain point for every corporate in this country. It figures in the discussions of every corporate honcho at any forum. It is NASSCOM's favourite subject
It is a Herculean to do which stares at each Recruitment Manager and gives him sleepless nights.
Oyster Learning is a Professional Education Company which intends to do its bit to aiding these harried teams of recruitment consulting firms and companies.
It provides Professional education to individuals aspiring to join this industry - equipping them with whatever it takes to be a good recruiter. It aims to impart knowledge, skill and the right attitude to its students which it believes will help them to take up the challenges of the industry.
It also provides Corporate Training to Recruitment professionals in organisations
The recruiter's diary treads the path of the average recruiter and brings up for debate and discussion the former's trials and tribulations and in the process provides food for thought.
It also shares the learnings, the tips of the trade imibibed from practising Recruitment professionals.
It will also embark upon frequent knowledge sessions offline and online - relating to industry trends
i donot think anyone of us have an answer to that
Hiring is the number one pain point for every corporate in this country. It figures in the discussions of every corporate honcho at any forum. It is NASSCOM's favourite subject
It is a Herculean to do which stares at each Recruitment Manager and gives him sleepless nights.
Oyster Learning is a Professional Education Company which intends to do its bit to aiding these harried teams of recruitment consulting firms and companies.
It provides Professional education to individuals aspiring to join this industry - equipping them with whatever it takes to be a good recruiter. It aims to impart knowledge, skill and the right attitude to its students which it believes will help them to take up the challenges of the industry.
It also provides Corporate Training to Recruitment professionals in organisations
The recruiter's diary treads the path of the average recruiter and brings up for debate and discussion the former's trials and tribulations and in the process provides food for thought.
It also shares the learnings, the tips of the trade imibibed from practising Recruitment professionals.
It will also embark upon frequent knowledge sessions offline and online - relating to industry trends
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