There is one wave that is catching up slowly catching up in India is the ‘wave of entrepreneurship’. Open any leading newspaper and you would find a separate section on ‘Business & Startups’. This is the kind of change that has been observed since the last couple of years and many Indians are taking the plunge in order to change the world. However, building or scaling a business is not only about the idea, but it revolves a lot around the implementation of the idea. Once you have built a core team, created a Minimum Viable Product [MVP], acquired initial set of customers; your intent would be to take your startup to the next phase i.e. the growth phase.

As an organization scales up, you need to hire the right set of people who are not only technically sound but who also fit into your company’s culture. As a business owner/entrepreneur, your constant focus should be on growth, whilst keeping the burn-rate to the minimum. ‘Outsourcing’ has been used widely by organizations since it helps them reduce the overhead expenses, focus on their core business areas, and utilize the expertise of the ‘outsourcing provider’ in the ‘focus area’ that is outsourced to them.

One department that can remain under-utilized is the Human Resources department and if the HR team does not have the right expertise, there is a possibility that you might end up hiring the wrong people for your organization. Hence, many businesses [irrespective of their scale of operations] partner with staffing solutions in India for their human resource management requirements.

Along with expertise, these staffing companies bring a huge amount of experience & expertise in different aspects related to staffing and hiring. In case you are leading an organization and have a full-time staffing team that is not driving results; you might want to consider the option of outsourcing your staffing activities. Let’s look into some of the advantages of partnering with an experienced staffing-solution company for staffing requirements

1. Focus on Core Business Activities – As an entrepreneur or a business leader, your main focus would be growing the business. While expanding the business, you need to ensure that you are ‘investing your time and money’ in the activities that matter to the organization. In some cases, you may prefer to use a lean or agile approach in running the business since that keep the complexities in running the business to the minimum. When the business expands, you need to prioritize the areas where you want to invest in the company and possibility is that expansion of non-core areas like HR & Finance might impact the investment in the core businesses. Hence, you need to look at the ROI [Return On Investment] of having a resident HR team. In most scenarios, partnering with a staffing company like ManPower Consultants would yield better results and helps you stay focused on things that matter the most in your business.

2. Lower Costs – When your organization has a full-time HR team, you would need to train them about the fundamentals of the business that is being built and the qualities that are required in prospective hires. Building any kind of team is challenging and the same also applies to the HR/Staffing Team. You might need a team to screen candidates, interview them, background verification, etc. and all these skills are readily available in consultants working in staffing companies. Employees in staffing companies also possess necessary negotiation skills along with expertise in HR, Payroll, etc. Hence, engaging with staffing companies definitely has a huge impact on the savings since it helps in minimizing the operational costs in running the organization.

3. Quality Candidates – As an organization, you would not want that a wrong-hire is on boarded since an additional amount of time & money would be spent in getting an ideal replacement. This would increase the overall turn-around time, which could impact the business deliverables. When it comes to hiring, you would always prefer to hit the bullseye at the first instant and for that, you need to hire ‘quality candidates’ for your organization. Placement companies in India have a database of talent pool catering to different domains and this makes spotting the right candidates an easier task.

Staffing companies work very closely with the management team of the partnering organization and hence, they are aware of the qualities that are required in an ideal candidate. This expedites the entire process of hiring, which is critical in today’s changing business scenario.

4. Workforce Flexibility – Business situations are dynamic and hence you do not want any bench-strength as it would add up to the resource-count & also increase your operational costs. The same principle also applies to the Human Resource & Staffing team. Outsourcing your staffing requirements by collaborating with an experienced HR outsourcing company like ManPower Consultants helps you in bringing the necessary flexibility in the hiring/onboarding process i.e. hire contract or temporary workers/employees when there is a business demand and scale down when required. Large organizations also have a significant number of ‘temporary employees’ and an experienced staffing company can be instrumental in hiring these employees.

In case you are looking for a renowned staffing organization to fulfill your company’s hiring needs, do have a look at the work being done by ManpowerGroup Consultants in the fields of contract staffing, management consultancy, etc. How do you hire people, do leave your suggestions in the comments section.

Wisdomjobs, one of India’s leading end to end online recruitment and career solutions portals, have released a report on How companies are striving to improve the quality of hirings. Wisdomjobs surveyed 120 companies across Hyderabad, Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai, Kolkata and Pune to understand their focus on improving quality of hire, and the metrics they employ to improve the quality of their hires. This survey includes companies from IT, E-Com, Retail, FMCG, Real Estate, Pharma and Manufacturing sector.

Image Source – Quality Of Hiring

Companies have different hiring methodologies. Some focus on cost-effectiveness and quick turnarounds while others prioritize long-term success of their hires within the organizational template. Whatever the methodology, the single-most effective parameter to measure the success of a company’s hiring process is ‘quality of hire’. While some companies also place emphasis on ‘time to hire’, it is the quality of their hires that impacts organizational performance over time.

Quality of Hire [QoH] helps companies measure the long-term value of a new hire. While it is a vague and often subjective measure, it offers the best indicator of an organization’s ability to onboard quality talent through its hiring processes.

Companies use several metrics such as performance of new hires, turnover and retention ratios, and satisfaction ratings by hiring managers to quantify the quality of their hires. However, certain aspects like employee engagement and cultural fit are intangibles that are difficult to define and measure. Figures like cost per hire, volume of hires etc. measure the effectiveness of the recruiting process but not the quality of employees hired through that process.

Upon releasing the report, Ajay Kolla, Founder & CEO, Wisdomjobs said

The single-most effective parameter to measure the success of a company’s hiring process is ‘quality of hire’. In the long run, companies need to develop an effective quality of hire measurement based on parameters defined by all organizational stakeholders. Standardized assessments and realistic expectations can help companies to quantify the quality of their hires to the extent possible.

The Quality of Hire Measurement

  • 45% of respondents agree that Quality of Hire is the single most valuable metric to evaluate team performance.
  • However, only 29% of them feel that their Quality of Hire measurement is effective, while only 10% feel that their metrics are best-in-class.
  • 52% said that they use Performance Reviews as the key metric to measure Quality of Hire.
  • 32% said that they use Retention Rates as a key metric to measure Quality of Hire.

16% use Hiring Manager Satisfaction to measure Quality of Hire.

Has measuring QoH improved hiring quality ?

Measuring QoH will help companies to understand how their recruitment practices are impacting the quality of employees being hired by them. However, several companies are unable to utilize these measurements to create a significant change in the way they hire.

  • Nearly 40% of companies said that measuring QoH had a significant impact on their hiring processes.
  • 25% of companies said QoH measurement had only a moderate impact on the way they hire.

10% of companies said that QoH measurement had no impact on their hiring processes.

What channels are companies banking on to improve QoH ?

Most companies are making conscious efforts to improve the quality of the candidates they hire by opening several channels of engagement with potential hires. From social media engagement to employer branding, companies plan on investing more in the following channels to improve QoH:

  • Social Media – 50%
  • Employer Branding – 46%
  • Employee Referrals – 41%
  • Campus Recruiting – 27%
  • Job Boards – 26%
  • External Agencies – 13%

Other tools used by companies to improve QoH

Assessments

Companies are increasingly using assessments conducted before interview rounds to identify quality candidates, map their competencies etc. To this end, they use offline/pen-and-paper, and online assessments, both. Almost 50% of companies surveyed use assessments to improve their QoH. Among those who use assessments:

  • 86% said they use pre-hire assessments for candidate screening.
  • 73% rely on assessments to determine job fit or competency gaps.
  • 60% use assessments to evaluate leadership potential.
  • 52% use assessments to build employee development plans.

Background Checks

Background checks have long been used by companies to weed out fraudulent candidates. But they also play an important role in helping to improve the quality of their hires.

  • 54% of companies said that background checks help in improving their QoH.
  • Other benefits mentioned by companies were more secure workplaces [41%] and improved regulatory compliance [30%].
  • Among the checks conducted by companies are:

About Wisdom Jobs

Started in 2010 and headquartered in Hyderabad, Wisdomjobs is one of India’s leading job portals providing end-to-end recruitment solutions to organizations and career opportunities to individuals. Within a short span of 5 years, Wisdomjobs has developed a database of over 30 million profiles spanning experience levels, skill sets and industries, thereby providing a huge pool of relevant candidates to various organizations. For more details, please visit Wisdomjobs

 

Wisdomjobs, one of India’s leading end-to-end recruitment and career solutions portals, announced a unique solution, ‘Quick Source‘ to enable start-ups conduct a hassle free recruitment process. Wisdomjobs is India’s first job portal with an integrated online skill testing & rating system which has a database of over 30 million profiles and 3,500 clients across the country.

While the general practice is for companies to utilize the services of a placement agency or to purchase database access from any of the job portals, this often creates financial and manpower strains on them, especially if they are a start-up. Through Quick Source, Wisdomjobs aims to ease this process by delivering sourced and screened resumes to meet specific requirements of Start-ups. Going a step further, Wisdomjobs will also carry out a preliminary screening of the candidates and only those profiles that really measure up to the company’s requirements will be shared.

[Image Credit* - Wisdomjobs]

[Image Credit* – Wisdomjobs]

Quick Source will cater to companies’ hiring needs for normal, niche and super-niche profiles.

How does ‘Quick Source’ work ?

  1. Start-ups define their hiring requirements and receive sample profiles through Quick Source
  1. After agreeing on the degree of match of the received profiles, Quick Source will then provide ‘resume packs’ with screened profiles based on the complexity of the skills and the experience required by the start-ups. 
  1. The Start-ups take as many resume packs as needed to fill their open positions.

Announcing this new program ‘Quick Source’, Ajay Kolla, Founder & CEO, Wisdomjobs said

We have always strived towards simplifying the hiring process. Quick Source does exactly that to support and enable the start-up ecosystem to grow. From our own experience, we understand the predicaments faced by start-ups such as the additional financial burden, time constraints and lack of qualified people to screen and shortlist candidates. Therefore, we want to provide an effective solution to make hiring easier for start-ups. This significantly eases the burden on them by providing them suitable candidates within a short time in an extremely cost efficient manner.

About Wisdom Jobs

Started in 2010 and headquartered in Hyderabad, Wisdomjobs is one of India’s leading job portals providing end-to-end recruitment solutions to organizations and career opportunities to individuals. Wisdomjobs is India’s first job portal with an integrated online skill testing & rating system – Pragnya Meter.

Within a short span of 5 years, Wisdomjobs has developed a database of over 30 million profiles spanning experience levels, skill sets and industries, thereby providing a huge pool of relevant candidates to various organizations. Wisdomjobs is an ISO 9001:2008 certified company with a clientele exceeding 3500 customers including some of the prominent names of the industry. For more details please visit Wisdomjobs.com

For many people, working at a startup is the holy grail of employment, and it’s not hard to understand why. You can get in on the ground floor, be a part of something exciting, and maybe even be a part of huge growth. That’s why it’s so cool to work for a startup, but that’s also why it’s so hard to actually get a job with one: everyone else wants to do it too. Competition is fierce, but with the right knowledge and approach, you can find a way to make the cut. Read on, and you’ll discover 33 insider tips that can help you land a coveted job at a hot startup.

Find a startup you love
Identify a startup you can really connect with, and the rest is easy. With the right fit, you’ll be better poised to connect with the startup’s culture, vision, goals, and needs.

Present yourself as an innovator
Startups are always ravenous for fresh and creative ideas. You can really stand out if you come to your interview prepared with ideas for growing and improving the business.

Show that you’re well-rounded
Do you have side projects that demonstrate your interest and passion for technology? Discuss what you’ve been working on and your dedication will be clear.

Identify what makes you unique and valuable
Getting a job means being a great salesperson, and every great salesperson knows you’ve got to have a unique selling point (USP). What’s yours? Be sure it’s the star of your resume and cover letter.

Engage in startup-related chatter
Check in on Quora and other great sites featuring startup discussions, and do your best to answer questions impressively. By being a part of the conversation, you just might catch the attention of a startup that’s hiring.

Don’t wait to see a job posting
Actual startup job postings may not show up for quite some time, especially among those in the early stage. Rather than waiting to see if they’ll pop up, get engaged with the startup early on to express your interest.

Go big or go home
Go into the application process with the mindset of leaving it all on the table. Successful startup hires have created infographics, catchy slideshows, even interesting websites to stand out in the crowd.

Be flexible
Working at a startup isn’t like working at a 9 to 5, usually. You may have weird hours, unusual commitments, and strange tasks. Be willing to take them in stride and don’t be shocked when you’re asked how you’d feel about taking them on in the interview.

Just start working
One of Square’s earliest employees was initially denied an interview at the company. But he brushed it off and took it upon himself to acquire card readers and use them to sign up 10 new merchants for the service in one day. It’s a bold move, one that got him noticed, and hired, by the startup.

Say thank you
Sure, it’s impressive to create high tech, attention-getting media to woo your potential employer, and if you have the skills, by all means, do it. But startups are made up of regular people too, and everyone, yes, everyone appreciates a good, old-fashioned hand-written thank you note. Do this, and you’ll really stand out.

Fill multiple needs
Being great at one thing is impressive, but it’s much more likely to get you a job at a big company where they can afford to have one employee for one task. At a startup, needs tend to be much broader, as each employee is expected to take on a wide variety of tasks. Show that you can contribute with a wide skill set that fills multiple needs.

Know everything there is to know
Don’t just check out the company’s website a few hours before your interview. Really spend time getting to know what the startup is all about. Do extensive research, connect with their social media outlets, and learn about their development. Go beyond the surface so that you’ll be able to stand out as knowledgeable and intensely interested in what the startup stands for.

Don’t try to share any BS
Entrepreneurs tend to have great BS detectors. Don’t give them a reason to lose faith in you by trying to feed them any. If you don’t know the answer, own up to it and offer to find out and follow up with them.

Be a part of the community
Be visible in all the right circles. Attend meetups, hackathons, and launch parties. Take the time to make connections and nurture your network. Connect with the right people, and it’s likely to lead you to a great startup job.

Be personal
Joining a small startup means lots of one on one time with the first people with boots on the ground. If you don’t click personally, chances are, you’re not getting hired. Do you fit in with the company’s culture? Get along with the founders? If you think you do, make sure that you let your personality shine through so they will recognize it as well.

Have your own questions
Be really impressive by showing that you’ve taken the time to contemplate what the startup is all about. Come to the interview with your own questions, ones beyond salary, hours, and benefits, that really demonstrate an understanding, appreciation, and willingness to explore the company.

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