Recruitment puzzle – My perspective

Ken Georgie Mathew
Aspiration Management 
Professional

Thank you to all who have responded to the recruitment puzzle. Your perspectives are equally valid as each organization and recruiters have different systems and processes and hence there could be many points of view to this puzzle. In case you have not read the puzzle yet, here is the link http://adrenalinhrms.blogspot.in/2013/01/the-recruitment-puzzle.html 

I would like you to read the Puzzle once again and the insights shared by many of you as a response to the Puzzle. I am still learning from your perspectives, and I am sure that recruiters will be benefited from the knowledge that you all have shared. 

If you have already read the puzzle, here is my point of view. Let me start by highlighting two points from the puzzle. 

Each organization and recruiters have different system and processes and hence there could be many ways to look at this puzzle. The off line processes and the level of usage of technology to mitigate risks and to ensure "right hire" or should I say "closest to right hire" varies from one organization to another. 

The second aspect to be highlighted is, the puzzle says "the line manager, a capable and impartial person, conducts interview for all the five candidates, and recommends releases of offer letter to one of the rejected candidates". 

So when the line manager received the 5 top candidate’s interview evaluation sheets, naturally the evaluation sheet of two were marked as rejected. After finding that 2 of the 5 candidates were rejected, the line manager need not have accepted all the 5. Instead the line manger could have accepted only the 3 candidates. To be fair, the line manager reviews the interview evaluation sheet in detail. This analysis pointed to a very important fact which, in my opinion, is key to solving the puzzle. The puzzle states that there were many interviews panels. All the 5 candidates were not interviewed by the same panel. The line manager knows the capability and skills of the team members and their level of knowledge to evaluate a candidate. The line manager finds that one of the rejected candidates had got the toughest interview panel. This is one of the main reasons that made the line manager think about considering all the 5 candidates for the next level of interview. 

The puzzle also talks about one person's response to the puzzle, "The manager asked the various panels and they explained the reasons for their ratings". This also gave the line manager the opportunity to understand the level of evaluation, and there is an assessment that the line manager made based on the review with the panels." 

What the line manager does is to call all 5 candidates for an interview. Now the puzzle says that "The manager found that the rating for the top 3 candidates who cleared the first round interview were more or less similar”. Now, this puts the line manager in a spot because, the line manager has evaluated all 5, finds that the top 3 candidates who cleared the first round interview were more or less similar and of course since the line manger recommended release of offer to one of the rejected candidate, the line manager felt that the rejected candidate was also capable and hence needed to be considered. 

One of the first comments I received for this blog was "How can you release an offer to a rejected candidate?" "Was it a mistake from the part of the recruiter?" 

Yes, the line manager could be questioned on the decision to recommend release of the offer to a rejected candidate? And hence the decision should be substantiated. Now, to substantiate, the line manager decides to use the capability of technology. As mentioned earlier, each organization and recruiters have different system and processes and hence there could be many ways to look at this puzzle. The off line processes and the level of usage of technology to mitigate risks and to ensure "right hire” varies from one organization to another. The line manger required a tool that enables evaluation of the quality of past interviews. 

In this case, the technology infrastructure being the ATM “Any Time Manpower" (HR-ATM) that provides the facility to record live interviews and review of past interviews, and also the necessary features that the ATM provides to mitigate risk of "Wrong hiring".

On review, the line manager was able to access the quality of interviewing of the various panels that had conducted the first round. The final decision to recommend release of offer to one of the rejected candidates was based on the quality of interviewing that the line manager could see, and the evaluation feedback based on the interview that the line manager had personally conducted.

Be a star recruiter: reduce cost and increase efficiency

March 14, 2013
By Balaji Ganesh, CEO & MD, Adrenalin eSystems
Source: People Matters

"Technology can greatly reduce costs and time taken thereby allowing recruiters to become more efficient and quality-focused"

Owing to recent economic events, recruiting organisations are facing greater challenges compared to the scenario a couple of years back. After the economic downturn, jobs became scarce and there are more candidates vying for fewer jobs. With a large number of equally qualified applicants to choose from, the quantum of work for a recruiter has increased manifold. The bar on quality is rising, thereby making recruiting processes more complex and demanding.

Q. What are the primary challenges a recruiter faces during the recruitment process?

The typical recruitment lifecycle involves identifying the talent pool, posting a job opening, receiving applications, and selection through tests and interviews. In case of hiring for senior positions, the processes are even more rigorous and time intensive, involving additional costs of travel and accommodation.

The complexity of assessments has increased, through new shortlisting mechanisms such as psychometric tests. Given the current economic environment, recruiters have to identify potential talent from a bigger candidate pool, shortlist best-fit talent from a large number of applications, manage logistics and schedules, and conduct the paperwork needed to complete the process.

Q. What are the key areas of cost and time investment in the recruiting process?

There are multiple parts of the recruiting process that involve significant investment of cost and time. They can be classified under scheduling, sourcing, logistics, and paperwork management.

Scheduling involves matching calendars of the interviewer and candidates and finalising timeslots for written rounds and in-person or telephonic interviews. While managing schedules, in itself, is a complicated task, what makes scheduling even more complex are unplanned changes and alterations.

Motivating passive candidates to apply for a job opportunity is also a big challenge for recruiters as the rules of engagement for passive candidates are much different from the ones for active candidates.

Logistics management is also an area that needs significant investment of time and cost for a hiring organisation. Added to that, managing logistics becomes more complicated if the candidates and interviewers are based out of different cities. 
For multi-location recruitments and candidate sourcing, the recruiter typically manages the entire logistical lifecycle of the process, starting from schedule mapping, travel bookings, food and accommodation. Travel and logistics form a significant part of the time and cost involved in a recruitment process.

Lastly, a recruiter is also responsible for managing the paperwork formalities in the process that involves, among other things, creating and disbursing offer letters to selected candidates.

Q. What challenges does a recruiter face with existing recruiting technologies?

Organisations can reduce logistics costs and optimize productivity to a great extent through the use of a virtual talent acquisition infrastructure. Many candidates, especially in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities in India, do not have access to the essential infrastructure for video conferencing. For a company that wants to be an equal opportunity employer, reaching candidates in remote locations is not possible through such conferencing facilities which are available mainly in Tier 1 cities. Though there was a shift from video conference to internet based live video interviewing, it has its own set of limitations. Internet based live video interviewing has key essential requirements, such as a web camera, good internet connectivity, and voice infrastructure.

Most organisations streamline the applicant tracking and paperwork management as part of the process, through recruiting platforms. A recruiter, however, has to manage a number of technology platforms, including the HRMS, internal and external portals, partner portals, talent assessment software, and other niche products such as college and university management software

Q. How can a recruiter overcome technology challenges to make the recruiting process more efficient and inexpensive?

While technology can greatly reduce cost and time from the recruitment process, an organisation should be judicious with the selection of the right technology. While choosing a technology, an organisation needs to identify challenges in the recruitment process and find the right technology to address them. The HR technology landscape is witnessing a transformation and service companies are launching technology products that address these inefficiencies.

Adrenalin eSystems has tried to address these challenges through its soon to be launched recruitment platform, HR-ATM (Any Time Manpower). It is a kiosk, similar to a banking ATM machine that serves as a one-stop integrated shop for the recruitment lifecycle.

Through the HR ATM, candidates can search for jobs, apply for advertised positions, and appear in job interviews and receive the offer, all from the same location. The ATM also provides options for a candidate to appear in written tests in real-time. The ATM eliminates costs in the scheduling and logistics parts of the recruitment process.

For a recruiter, the ATM integrates with all internal recruiting platforms, and also with external social media and job portals. It allows for the creation and administration of customised tests, such as psychometric tests. The platform will be particularly helpful for organisations in reaching out to candidates in remote locations. Lastly, the technology also administers the paperwork management component of the recruiting process by providing features to print offer letters on the go. Such a technology, that provides an end to end integrated talent acquisition infrastructure therefore, can greatly eliminate the time and cost components of a recruitment process, allowing a recruiter to invest more time in quality and efficiency.

Evolving Trends in HR Technology

Going further: The HR wave in SaaS The verdict is out. HR is one of the main business functions where adoption of SaaS software is the highest. This acceptability is seen as a big boost to alignment, as people become the key focus of companies with more investment in SaaS. This year, 2013, will see a cycle of accelerating growth in core system replacement. As a result, HR software vendors with cloud-based integrated HRMS tools and payroll offerings will stand to gain. Analysts say, that a majority of companies would move their HR platforms to cloud over the next three years.

Data is everything: Similarly, the rise of HR master data management will get into focus, as there is a growing need to keep data in sync across multiple systems. Creating repositories of master data is key to govern it more effectively. This will lead to better solutions for managing employee data quality. In fact, as HR assumes a strategic stance, the focus in the HR department is going to focus on result-driven campaigns that impact the organisation. The shift will be to measure the effect of what they do on the corporation versus the effect of what they do on HR. To achieve this, it is imperative to have comparative data like benchmarks from the outside world. Analytics embedded in HR software will help HR managers move from being process players to strategic contributors.

Social habits to drive the new review system: The paradigm shift will be seen in social performance management as it edges out the annual review. More organisations are now hiring the young, who expect consistent short-term feedback and encouragement. This mandates a more fluid model for performance management to take centre-stage in the coming years. Performance evaluation will move to a continuous stream where employees are held accountable for certain goals that drive the business.

Career websites will turn cool: A huge amount of upside in terms of creating engaging career websites is also seen on the horizon as job application processes become less painful. Internal social networks would be key in ‘Engagement’ as they will bring down information silos. This will in turn help take Employee Self-Service to another level by creating a more interactive environment for companies to engage employees.

Mobile tools will engage HR on the go: The age of Mobile HR tools will become critical as simple applications like expense reporting, time and attendance, training, employee directory etc, would be the most wanted tools. Analysts feel that poor user interface is the culprit to replacing HR systems. Putting this functionality to mobile apps is one way to address this issue. As 2013 ends, it is expected that many HR tools will be available in the market.

HR is more social than ever before: The impact of social tools on HR practices is here to stay. As change sets in, innovative social HR tools like social rewards systems, social performance systems, social sourcing systems, and social learning environments are set to set the lead the transformation. These new tools implement people practices differently as they leverage the wisdom of crowds rather than the wisdom of the manager. For instance, if you found that 80% of the employees see great value from a lower level employee, wouldn’t you want to promote that employee even if the manager didn’t notice? Change is inevitable, as these new tools are set to unlock the valuable source of management insight.

Investment in HR Technology in India is still too low

By Balaji Ganesh, CEO & MD, Adrenalin eSystems

Source: People Matters

Balaji Ganesh
CEO & MD, Adrenalin eSystems

Who is the primary buyer of HR technology in Indian firms? Does it differ between small/medium firms and large firms?

The primary buyers varies basis the size of the company and the level of automation currently prevalent in the company. However the influencer for HR Technology in all the cases remains the HR Head. The buyer for small & medium sized companies is the CEO and in case of large firms it is the CTO. In case of companies with good investment in automation, the buyer is the HR Head. 

We predominantly see that the HR Head is unable to present and justify investment in HR Technology, while is comfortable in expressing a need. This obviously pushes the decision making to either the CTO and/or the CEO. Actually even when it comes to manpower needs HR role is that of servicing the request from the business, rather than pushing the business for the need basis the strategic business plans envisaged. The fear of the unknown exists high with HR.

What is the size of the industry of HR technology? Who are the players? How rapidly is growing? What are its unique characteristics in India?

There are many local players and few national level players. We also find companies which had done some turn-key projects in this area converting the same into a generic offering –more prevalent in Payroll automation. Yes many small timers are mushrooming in this space – thanks to the difficulty HR heads have in justifying investment, they take solace with the small timers to tide their current situation, rather looking at this investment as a long-term relationship with technology. 

The unique characteristics in India are the abundant availability of System Integrator or software development houses who take up building specific tools to meet specific customer needs, this supply acts as a good source for low key automation. HR is still not strategic for most organizations in India and they are yet to see the “investments in HR technology giving results”.

How are SaaS based HR products changing the market?

Not significantly. There are players, but adoption is not as rapid as anyone would expect.

Does HR technology get sold as a separate module or part of an overall ERP implementation?

Both exists. More and more HR technology is sold separately, because during overall ERP implementation HR is neglected and when it comes to specific needs of HR function a whole-some ERP pays only lip service to the requirements, forcing companies to look for independent HR technology which can also integrate with ERP.

What is the biggest challenge in getting HR departments to adopt technology in India?

Making them conversant with technology and the process of calculating benefits of investment in technology. They should also look outside recruitment and training, look for out-of-the box automation of their processes, improving efficiency in their way of working, etc.

What is the forecast about the future of HR technology?

It is set to grow. Lot more simplification in processes is bound to happen, technology will pave the way of leaner HR teams supporting the Organization and also helping them take proactive decisions in succession planning, competency building, etc.

THE RECRUITMENT PUZZLE

Ken Georgie Mathew
Aspiration Management 
Professional

"The right person for the role, at the right time" Haven't you heard this before? I have for sure heard this million times before. As a recruiter, I know that this is what your line managers or your client want. At the same time, I have heard managers complain that they are not able to get the right people. Here is a recruitment puzzle that will make you think on how we can make a difference to talent acquisition.

Here it goes.

There is a manpower request that has come to you for 1 business analyst vacancy to be filled.

The recruiter (you) source 15 resumes from the external talent pool. You have arranged for a few panels to interview the candidates. After completing the first round interviews, the various panels give you the interview evaluation sheets. The line manager asks for the top 5 candidates. You identify that, out of the top 5 only three were rated as "capable" and the rest two "rejected". The resumes and the interview evaluation sheets of the 5 candidates are handed over to the line manager. The attitude and aptitudes of all these candidates were good but only 3 cleared the first round.

The line manager, a capable and impartial person, conducts interview for all the five candidates, and recommends release of offer letter to one of the rejected candidates.

The question is "What prompted the line manager to recommend release of the offer letter to one of the rejected candidates?"

One person's answer to the puzzle was, "The manager asked the various panels and they explained the reasons for their ratings".  The manager found that the rating for the top 3 candidates who cleared the first round interview were more or less similar. But that did not answer the question "What prompted the line manager to recommend release of the offer letter to the rejected candidate?", even though the rating was "capable" for the top three.

If you are the next person to respond, what will your response be?

Each organization and recruiters have different system and processes and hence there could be many ways to look at this puzzle.

Watch this space to read my response which I will share on 15th March 2013. Please provide your response by clicking the comment button below.

I failed the stress test!

Ken Georgie Mathew
Aspiration Management 
Professional 

Well, this is how our product cleared the stress test, but I failed. Our product manager wanted to recruit fresh talent. He mentioned that we can list this on our internal job board. He also wanted to use this opportunity to conduct a stress test of our new candidate testing software. So, the internal job listing was open for Employee referral. I received around 100 resume through internal reference. But, someone had published this internal posting on an external job site for freshers.

So, on a laid back Friday morning I was approaching office expecting around 100 internal reference candidates to turn-up. While approaching office, I experienced higher than normal traffic near office. I inquired with a watch man who informed me that there is a walk-in interview planned by some company. Taking a few steps forward, my colleague greets me with the most unexpected news, "Ken, we have around 5000 students who have come for interview". I responded "Well, I didn't call for any walk-in interview". To add to my misery, the building administrator shut down the Lift and now I have candidates queuing up from ground floor to 5th floor and the stairway is jammed to the extent that I could not even get to the 5th floor office.

Now, I was caught on the wrong foot with around 5000 candidates waiting to go through the recruitment process. To add to my problems, someone gives the information, that I am the HR Manager. The next second I see a few thousands of young blood standing around me "Here is my resume" "When will the interview start?" "Is there a test?” You can imagine the chaos.

With a two member admin and HR team which includes me, at that instance, I had no clue what to do. With just 30 machines for conducting online test at a time, and with just 10 interviewers who can be on few interview panels, I was baptized with fire. Well, I managed the situation on that day.

During that few weeks I learned how much of back end coordination is required to handle a demanding recruitment function. Well, it took around few weeks to ensure that all those who turned up had the opportunity to go through the process.

If God had asked me for a wish on that day, I would have asked for the power of banking ATM to be available for talent acquisition. A tool that could optimize productivity.

I actually wished!!

"Equal opportunity employment policy" - Myth or Reality?

Ken Georgie Mathew
Aspiration Management
Professional 

I was going through the "Equal opportunity employment policy" of an organization and was reflecting on the subject in connection with talent acquisition processes and the various challenges that recruiters face today.

The organization policy stated that, candidates or job applicants are considered for employment solely on the basis of their qualifications and competencies. It goes on to state that the policy is designed to ensure that new employees are hired without regard to their race, color, religion, national origin, citizenship, age, sex, marital status, ancestry, physical or mental disability, medical condition, socio-economic background or sexual orientation.

Most organizations underline the need to provide equal opportunities to all candidates without discrimination. Equal opportunity employment policy details the organization's stand on equal opportunity in all aspects of employment, including recruitment, training conditions of service, career progression, separation etc. But, when it comes to recruitment, does an organization truly have a "Equal opportunity employment policy"? Having worked on many recruitment assignments in IT industry, I feel that the true sense of equal opportunity has not been accomplished yet.

Most manpower requests come to the recruiter with an "ASAP" tag attached. Line managers need the right people at the right time, which is "as of yesterday". Now, the key performance indicator for the recruiter is meeting the demands of hiring on time, all the time. This being the scenario, let me confess to the fact that I was not a recruiter who could be true to providing equal opportunity because, as soon I received a manpower request with the "ASAP" tag attached, my job search on a job portal pointed to local candidates. In other words, to close recruitment fast and to meet the recruitment demands on time, I preferred candidates in and around the corporate location, which means that I did not give equal opportunity for an open position in a corporate to candidates in locations far from where the company was located. Considering that there could be a few rounds of interviews spanning over days or weeks, it was easier to coordinate with candidates who can come over at short notice. On the other hand, candidates from tier 2 and tier 3 locations, who were also equally capable did not get equal opportunity.

The countdown to addressing many challenges faced in talent acquisition has started. Adrenalin is all set to pioneer the effort of upgrading your recruitment infrastructure. Watch this space for more updates from Adrenalin.