Recruitment trends 2008

The recent uptick in skirmishes over IT talent may indicate that a full-scale war is heating up for '08. If so, the weapons this time will be different from those used in the last big dust-ups of the dot-com era. "We are seeing a war for talent, and it's been building up for the past three years," says Dan Reynolds, CEO of The Brokers Group LLC, a Princeton, N.J.-based IT staffing firm. The current demand for IT talent is being driven by a number of factors, including investments in new projects, a dramatic reduction in the number of IT grads from U.S. colleges and the first of the baby boomer retirements, he says. Whatever the causes, experts note that savvy CIOs, recruiters, headhunters and other hiring managers are trying out new or updated weapons to fight for IT talent. Here are eight that you may want to wield in the coming year. 1. Social Networks. Although recruiters and hiring managers continue to use job sites such as Monster.com and Yahoo HotJobs to advertise for open positions, the use of social networking sites such as LinkedIn is providing employers with "a better quality pool of applicants," says William Gomes, director of human resources at Intermedia Inc., a New York-based provider of hosted business e-mail services. -->By using social networks to identify potential employees, Intermedia is "getting a better ratio of qualified applicants" than it would from the throngs of resumes it might otherwise receive from job sites that don't hit the mark, says Gomes. 2. Wikis, Blogs and Forums. Companies are increasingly turning to online communication tools to help engage potential IT employees and generate discussions with prospective new hires. The tools also help to "harmonize" values between employers and would-be employees, says JP Rangaswami, a managing director at BT Group PLC in London. BT Group has at least 70 bloggers, including Rangaswami, who says the company has found that, thanks to the blogs, IT workers "come to us because they've heard of us more and they know what we're doing," he says. 3. Trying Before Buying. Instead of posting job ads in newspapers or through online jobs services, employers are increasingly turning to other recruitment techniques, such as right-to-hire agreements. In these, an employer hires a professional contracting firm to do the recruiting for it. The employer agrees to hire qualified candidates for a few months with the option of offering them full-time employment later. "I've done this a few times with programmer/analysts," says Joe Trentacosta, CIO at Southern Maryland Electric Cooperative in Hughesville, Md. The lure of health care and other benefits for permanent workers "plays a key role" in tipping the scales, he says. 4. Global Thinking. "Those who believe the search for [IT] talent is limited to the U.S. are badly mistaken," says Bob Worrall, CIO at Sun Microsystems Inc. Smart companies think beyond national borders. For example, roughly half of Intermedia's 170-plus IT professionals work in its St. Petersburg, Russia, offices, says Gomes, and the company also finds employees in India and other non-U.S. locations. 5. The Anywhere Workplace. The concept of going to the office certainly hasn't disappeared altogether, but the "where" and "when" of IT work are undergoing some fundamental changes. "It used to be that you 'went' to work everyday, coded away and then went home," says Worrall. But today's twentysomethings expect to be able "to connect to work from a laptop on a train or at the beach," he says. And employers are more apt to accommodate them -- to a degree. "We provide [IT] staff with flexible work hours and laptops, BlackBerries and other devices to help them do their jobs remotely," says M. Lewis Temares, vice president and CIO at the University of Miami in Coral Gables, Fla. "But we still need them to be on campus at various times to support the university's services." 6. Business Vision. "The tenor of the job announcement has changed," says Robert Rosen, immediate past president of Share, a Chicago-based IBM users group, and CIO at the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases in Bethesda, Md. "There's much less emphasis on technical skills and more demand for people who can help add value to the business." Of course, IT hiring managers remain hungry for people with strong technical abilities, particularly hot development skills such as .Net, PHP and J2EE expertise. But it's even tougher to find IT professionals with business savvy or experience managing relationships with business units, says Craig Urrizola, CIO at Saladino's Inc., a Fresno, Calif.-based food distributor. 7. Pumped Up Paychecks. OK, this one isn't new. But as part of the whole supply-and-demand continuum, it's an old weapon that's back. With fewer qualified IT professionals available, particularly in hot markets such as Silicon Valley, companies are doling out bigger offers. For example, Intermedia's offers to new employees in the San Francisco Bay Area are 20% higher than they were a year ago, says Gomes. 8. Imagination. Compensation continues to be the biggest factor in the recruitment and retention of IT professionals, but perks such as the option of telecommuting, flexible work hours and opportunities to work for socially-conscious organizations are top-of-mind for many younger IT workers. And sometimes an imaginative approach can make the difference between snagging top talent and losing it to the big bucks. For instance, IT professionals who work at the National Aquarium in Baltimore typically earn 15% to 30% less than peers who work elsewhere in the city, says Hans Keller, chief technology officer at the aquarium. But he tries to offset that with other perks. One of his network engineers spent two weeks on a research trip on the Amazon River last January. Other perks are closer to home. "I have two people on my staff who dive into the tanks and feed stingrays every other month," Keller says. "That's not a typical assignment for a systems developer."

Courtesy Gautam... Peformance appraisals....

As the year draws to a close here are some pointers for those of you who might be heading for a performance appraisal: If you haven't had clear goals to start your assessment cycle, you are in big trouble. Most managers can't set "SMART" (ask me what it means if you don't know) goals, which is the biggest reason for the heartburn during appraisal times. Would a carpenter cut a door without knowing how big is the door frame? Yet, that's what happens regularly in the corporate world. If you have some goals, great. However, if the number of your goals (or KRAs, or KPIs) is more than 6-7 then you are in trouble again. Well, not as big a trouble as folks in bullet one, but a significant level anyway. If you have 12 goals (or KPAs...blah, blah) how do you know which ones to focus on? What are the weightages for each of them? So you could have done 10 goals but if your manager tells you, number 11 and 12 are the really important ones to consider for your role, then you are in deep deep trouble. If points 1 and 2 are great, but your performance is subjective and lacks a measurement process, then you might be doing what we do in Indian markets, haggling ! Depending on the performance appraisal process, you might have a self appraisal step. Be sure to make it count by giving realistic estimate of your key skills, achievements and (if your company focuses on it) competencies as it relates to your current role as well as future roles. During the performance discussion, ask your manager to be frank and list out your strengths and also weaknesses vis-a-vis your current role as well as your next targeted role. If you don't know what role you can move into next, ask your manager. If your firm has a mentoring process before a promotion is given, ask when will you be eligible for it. If you've had more than one manager in the performance assessment period, be sure that the past manager has passed on the full feedback of your performance to the new one. Specially if you had done great work then :) Don't use the performance appraisal process to blackmail the organization, using threats of resignation/offer letters from other firms to get a good performance rating. Even if your manager falls for it, during the normalization process it would not work and you might lose more than you would gain. If you need help with headcount/other resources to be successful in your goals mention that clearly and ensure it is put down in the form.Remember, performance appraisal time is for focussing on an honest look back on your performance.All the best !

Top 25 HR blogs....

Before i start, am so extremely happy that our own Gautam Ghosh is in the top 25 HR blogs compilation at hrworld.com - am sure there have been tonnes of efforts that goes into creating such a blog... Kudos Gautam. And now the list for you.... Career Hub: This blog focuses on career and job-search strategies and tactics. No fewer than 24 career-counseling and employment professionals contribute to its content. Career Hub contains a wealth of information. Cheezhead: Author Joel Cheesman is one of the most widely read bloggers on emerging recruitment issues and has won several “best of” awards in the category. The tiniest new development doesn't get past Cheesman, and he’s guaranteed to blog about it. SixDegrees from Dave: Dave Mendoza is recognized for his expertise in the integration of sourcing methodologies, employment branding and recruitment techniques. SixDegrees from Dave spotlights HR industry leaders, sourcing gurus, global staffing practices and social networking. Gautam Ghosh: A prolific blogger, HR management consultant Gautam Ghosh writes from India, though most of his posts on every conceivable HR topic have a global tone to them. Insourced's Employment and Jobs Blog: It’s hard to say which is more attractive, the blog or the job-search engine. The blog touches on issues ranging from job hunting to work/life balance, while the search engine covers the entire United States. Evil HR Lady: Written anonymously by “an HR professional in a Fortune 500 company,” this blog reeks of “been there.” The Evil HR Lady has seen it all, done it all and blogs about it all. good to know: Martin Burns, recruiting manager for ZoomInfo Inc., writes this blog about career-search and recruitment practices. Tips on interviewing from either side of the desk, how to source candidates online, what to wear (never sandals) and how to write a cover letter are all covered. GoodRecruits: Robert Merrell, a technical recruiter and talent manager for executives, hiring managers and job seekers, writes the GoodRecruits blog. His main theme is how to use blogs as marketing and communications tools in job searches or recruiting. HR Tests: Written by Bryan Baldwin, an HR consultant in Olympia, Wash., this blog has timely news of laws, regulations, products and conferences concerning testing and assessment instruments. Baldwin also writes the HR Coal blog, which deals primarily with the management of technical talent. HR Thoughts: A good all-around HR blog covering everything from recruitment to EAPs (Employee Assistance Programs) to performance evaluations to professional book reviews and more. It's written by Lisa Rosendahl, an HR manager in a medical facility. Beyond HR: Written by an anonymous HR professional, this blog covers the leading edge of employment branding, search-engine sourcing and other modern HR innovations. Dr. John Sullivan & Associates: Sullivan is a consultant to management on everything related to HR. His blog is full of articles on college recruiting, employee-screening and -assessment tests, training, and new-hire orientation. HR and Strategies: This graduate student combines HR philosophies and news in a blog that is at once thoughtful and informative. HR Daily Advisor: Published by BLR Business & Legal Reports, a vendor of training aids and resources for HR professionals, HR Daily Advisor offers a deep and broad archive of tips on ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act), compensation, FLSA (Fair Labor Standards Act)/wages, harassment, hiring and recruiting, general HR management, and more. HRMetrics.org: HRMetrics.org is all about things that can be measured and how to measure them — from retention effectiveness to home worker productivity. HR Web Café: This blog concerns general workplace issues, employment matters and work trends. Sponsored by ESI Employee Assistance Group (an EAP), its posts are frequent and detailed. Breaking Human Resource News: This is a welcome blog, serving up constantly updated news about products and services for the HR professional, from software to EAPs. CharlotteRecruiting: Written by a recruiting specialist in Charlotte, N.C., this blog has advice on managing staffing firms, interviewing and other recruiting topics. Jibber Jobber: Jason Alba runs this popular blog, which is heavy on summaries and links to other HR bloggers’ posts. This is a great blog for quickly scanning the best posts of the day. Jason’s own posts and guest bloggers make insightful reading, too. Chief Happiness Officer: Consultant Alexander Kjerulf teaches HR departments and entrepreneurs how to transform their workplaces from dreary and stressful to fun, energized and happy. Generations@Work: This blog will help you relieve the tensions among Baby Boomers, Generation X and Generation Y workers. It is written by Russell Eckel, an expert in organizational and workforce development who now consults mainly on the Millenial Generation. Human Resources 101: As the title implies, this blog steps through the nitty-gritty of HR management and policy development, with topics such as “How Graphic Should A Workplace Safety Ad Be?” and “50 Behavior-Based Interview Questions.” Employment Law Blog: Check out this great blog to learn how to throw an office party without being sued, download forms, stay abreast of employee-rights decisions and much more. Inside Human Resources Blog: A good place to learn about trends in workforce demographics and the attitudes of younger generations. The Human Capitalist: A well-informed review of news about HR technology written by industry guru Jason Corsello, a vice president with HR technology consultancy Knowledge Infusion.

Preparing for Leadership.......

Just when i read in a book about some of the hallmarks of a great leader and posted them in this blog, I was reading Gautam Ghosh's blog gauteg.blogspot.com and was reading his 'preparing for leadership.... ' very interesting and thoughful read.... But most of the hallmarks of a great leader read by me suggest that most of these are sort of personality traits rather than on the job qualities... am sure this is a debating point by itself... in anycase would it be possible to pick up some one who lacks initiative and an ability to reskill his/herself and groom them for a leadership role...... I would request training and OD professionals to opine...

Hallmarks of a great leader.....

I have read this in a book, and found it very interesting, and have no doubt agree with these hallmarks of a GREAT LEADER....this is not an exhaustive list, but have tried to list the most critical ones.....

• Mines the best out of people
• Capable of inspiring easily
• Great communicator
• Wondeful coach and mentor
• Easily accessible
• Ordinary but charismatic
• Has a positive attitude, always
• Honest, accountable and has thoroughbred integrity
• Promises only what can be delivered
• Tremendous belief in people's capability to deliver
• Motivates people to excel
• Great strategist and decsion maker
• Does not hide behind rules
• Very upfront, no games
• Not afraid to take blame, and in fact own ups responsibility outright
• Does not think he is the best, and superior
• Dependable and helpful

In so many styles of leadership that we all know, and see, would most of us agree that the above indeed are the hallmarks of a great leader..... and where would a Jack Welch or a Ratan Tata fit in..... Please comment

Liberation Management - Thank you, Tom Peters...

The Pursuit of Luck Innovation is a low-odds business—and luck sure helps. (It’s jolly well helped me!) If you believe that success does owe a lot to luck, and that luck in turn owes a lot to getting in the way of unexpected opportunities, you need not throw up your hands in despair. There are strategies you can pursue to get a little nuttiness into your life, and perhaps, then, egg on good luck. (By contrast, if you believe that orderly plans and getting up an hour earlier are the answer, then by all means arise before the rooster and start planning.) Want to get lucky? Try following these 50 (!) strategies: 1. At-bats. More times at the plate, more hits. 2. Try it. Cut the baloney and get on with something. 3. Ready. Fire. Aim. (Instead of Ready. Aim. Aim. Aim. ...) 4. “If a thing is worth doing, it is worth doing badly.”—G.K. Chesterton. You’ve gotta start somewhere. 5. Read odd stuff. Look anywhere for ideas. 6. Visit odd places. Want to “see” speed? Visit CNN. 7. Make odd friends. 8. Hire odd people. Boring folks, boring ideas. 9. Cultivate odd hobbies. Raise orchids. Race yaks. 10. Work with odd partners. 11. Ask dumb questions. “How come computer commands all come from keyboards?” Somebody asked that one first; hence, the mouse. 12. Empower. The more folks feel they’re running their own show, the more at-bats, etc. 13. Train without limits. Pick up the tab for training unrelated to work—keep everyone engaged, period. 14. Don’t back away from passion. “Dispassionate innovator” is an oxymoron. 15. Pursue failure. Failure is success’s only launching pad. (The bigger the goof, the better!) 16. Take anti-NIH pills. Don’t let “not invented here” keep you from ripping off nifty ideas. 17. Constantly reorganize. Mix, match, try different combinations to shake things up. 18. Listen to everyone. Ideas come from anywhere. 19. Don’t listen to anyone. Trust your inner ear. 20. Get fired. If you’re not pushing hard enough to get fired, you’re not pushing hard enough. (More than once is okay.) 21. Nurture intuition. If you can find an interesting market idea that came from a rational plan, I’ll eat all my hats. (I have quite a collection.) 22. Don’t hang out with “all the rest.” Forget the same tired trade association meetings, talking with the same tired people about the same tired things. 23. Decentralize. At-bats are proportional to the amount of decentralization. 24. Decentralize again. 25. Smash all functional barriers. Unfettered contact among people from different disciplines is magic. 26. Destroy hierarchies. 27. Open the books. Make everyone a “businessperson,” with access to all the financials. 28. Start an information deluge. The more real-time, unedited information people close to the action have, the more that “neat stuff” happens. 29. Take sabbaticals. 30. “Repot” yourself every 10 years. (This was the advice of former Stanford Business School dean Arjay Miller—meaning change careers each decade.) 31. Spend 50 percent of your time with “outsiders.” Distributors and vendors will give you more ideas in five minutes than another five-hour committee meeting. 32. Spend 50 percent of your “outsider” time with wacko outsiders. 33. Pursue alternative rhythms. Spend a year on a farm, six months working in a factory or burger shop. 34. Spread confusion in your wake. Keep people off balance, don’t let the ruts get deeper than they already are. 35. Disorganize. Bureaucracy takes care of itself. The boss should be “chief dis-organizer,” Quad/Graphics CEO Harry Quadracci told us. 36. “Dis-equilibrate ... Create instability, even chaos.” Good advice to “real leaders” from Professor Warren Bennis. 37. Stir curiosity. Igniting youthful, dormant curiosity in followers is the lead dog’s top task, according to Sony chairman Akio Morita. 38. Start a Corporate Traitors’ Hall of Fame. “Renegades” are not enough. You need people who despise what you stand for. 39. Give out “Culture Scud Awards.” Your best friend is the person who attacks your corporate culture head-on. Wish her well. 40. Vary your pattern. Eat a different breakfast cereal. Take a different route to work. 41. Take off your coat. 42. Take off your tie. 43. Roll up your sleeves. 44. Take off your shoes. 45. Get out of your office. Tell me, honestly, the last time something inspiring or clever happened at that big table in your office?! 46. Get rid of your office. 47. Spend a workday each week at home. 48. Nurture peripheral vision. The interesting “stuff” usually is going on beyond the margins of the professional’s ever-narrowing line of sight. 49. Don’t “help.” Let the people who work for you slip, trip, fall—and grow and learn on their own. 50. Avoid moderation in all things. “Anything worth doing is worth doing to excess,” according to Edwin Land, Polaroid’s founder.

Outsourcing exit interviews!

Personal reasons' and `better opportunities' are two of the most standard answers that an employee gives at the exit interview, when he or she is leaving the firm for another job, according to Abhay Phadnis, Chief Operating Officer, Ma Foi Consultants. As a result, the exit interview becomes a routine exercise, with little or nothing to show for it. Outsourcing the exit interview to a firm dealing in HR processes could circumvent this problem, says Phadnis. When the interview is conducted by a third party, the employees are more likely to be honest, safe in the knowledge that the feedback will not go back to the employer. Ma Foi has already cashed in on this opportunity, starting the exit-interview service in India six months ago. K. Pandia Rajan, Managing Director, Ma Foi Consultants, says the concept was to take a host of data derived from these exit interviews, apply a high level of analytics to draw meaning from the data, and give feedback to the system, the person who is in the position of responsibility. "The challenge in exit-interviews is multiple, because you also have to take into account the industry dynamics," he said. Basically, it works on the same foundation as social research methodology. The company, since it began operating the service six months ago, currently has four clients, three from the IT/ITES sector, and one from the banking sector. The company expects IT companies to be a major driver for this particular service, because of the attrition rates. "Attrition is a fact of life for BPOs," says Phadnis, so it makes sense that these companies would look for third-party assistance. But it does create a slight logistical hurdle - dealing with a company with 4,000 to 5,000 employees and a 50 per cent attrition rate leaves Ma Foi with 2,000 exit-interviews a year for that one client alone. The company has subsequently designed a model where the interviews are done with the help of an online questionnaire, and about 25 to 30 per cent of the employees are interviewed. This helps in terms of providing a sample, a cross-section, and also in revising the online questionnaire, making it more relevant. "The online model is the next best thing," says Phadnis, "And the neutral third party factor is the key anyway. We have put in an elaborate write-up at the start of the questionnaire that details the process, and explains the confidentiality of the statement." (Only patterns are picked out in such interviews and reported, not the actual conversation.) When it comes to the actual analysis of the data, the company is able to pick up trends and key factors, and suggest corrective mechanisms. "It allows you to look at the attrition rate on a macro level," he says. He gives an example - "One of the business entities we worked with had two clear groups under the same umbrella, with differential attrition rates," he explained. In doing a comparative study of the exit-interviews, the company was able to arrive at the conclusion that the leadership styles of the two companies was the differentiating factor - while one leader made it a point to have weekly meetings to discuss developments and plans for the future, the other didn't. Ma Foi recommended that the latter group plug that gap, either through a weekly newsletter or through the intranet system, in order to help the employee feel a sense of commitment to the future of the company. This is how the outsourcing of exit-interviews process works, through analysis and recommendations. But in quantifiable terms, says Phadnis, it is too early to say.Nell Mathew, Assistant General Manager - Human Resources, Kumaran Systems, one of Ma Foi's clients for the outsourcing of exit-interviews, says the company's attrition rate in 2005 was 26 per cent — Kumaran Systems employs about 450 people — and it wanted to bring it down to 15 per cent this year. In that endeavour, the exit-interview service was a good value addition to the process, she says."When conducted internally, there is a dilution of process," she said, whereas a third party brings with it the confidentiality factor. With the third party analysis coming back, the company can then see which area needs to be looked at, and see what intervention is required. She says the company benefited because it was able to look at specific problems and address them, such as a particular policy, or a certain head or peer who is the cause of a given situation. It also brings some information, such as what kind of a salary another firm in the industry is offering. "We already do have a team studying this, and we do know where we stand with respect to the industry in terms of salaries, but it is a good indication," she says.Another fact that came out of the study is that while a better salary might be a compelling factor for the lower-end employees, it was usually a trigger factor in the higher end, a particular incident, that caused the exit. Kumaran Systems is a client for Ma Foi's online model of the service. Some hurdles that the third party might face? Phadnis says that if people see someone from outside, the degree of trust and rapport between interviewer and interviewee could be limited. The skill of the interviewer becomes a key determinant to build up that rapport. Pandia Rajan feels that since the issue involves a variety of factors outside the company as well as inside it, analysis becomes all the more challenging. He stresses that the third party can "only give recommendations, and perhaps aid in implementing those recommendations" but can't actually fix the problem.

People person: HR matters around the world

When P&G gets a new global human resources officer on January 1, 2008, it will be an important moment for the company in India as well. Reason: it is the first time a P&G India recruit would have made it to such a senior position at the global level. And the FMCG giant takes great pains to ensure Moheet Nagrath's first interview in his new role goes off smoothly — it's a complicated three-way conference call between our office, P&G's corporate headquaters in Cincinnati and local headquaters in Mumbai, and members of its corporate communication team are stationed everywhere. But then, Nagrath is special . While it may be commonplace to hear of Indians rising to the top in the operations , finance, marketing and IT functions globally, HR is still one domain where Indians haven't made a mark internationally. The appointment though isn't surprising though, given that Nagrath has been involved in framing P&G's HR strategy for many years. "HR matters around the world are not dissimilar," he says. "Managers just need to look beyond the superficial differences in culture and communication to be successful in another country." A post-graduate from the Tata Institute of Social Sciences , batch of 1983, Nagrath is a P&G lifer, having worked in the company's offices in India , China and then Japan before settling down as vicepresident , corporate HR, in Cincinnati. Back in 1997, Nagrath was one among 16 managers who worked on HR 2005— a long term vision on what it would take for the company to be successful in 2005. Last year too, Nagrath played a key role in redesigning the global HR function so as to minimise duplication of functions worldwide. Talking about his experiences in international markets , Nagrath brings out the differences between China and Japan. "China has seen explosive growth in the past decade and so there is a different set of demands — creating an organisation and infrastructure . Japan on the other hand, is a far more sophisticated market. So it was important to create an organisation that is constantly innovating." Indian HR practises, says Nagrath, at par with the best globally: "There is an abundance of talent. It has been among the best globally but we still don't know how to market and export it right." Though he has been posted outside India since the early 90s, Nagrath's early learning's in P&G India have held him in good stead over the years. He mentions three crucial things that he picked up during his early years in India : "Some of the organisational design and development that was pioneered in India is today being replicated in other parts of Asia. We were exceptional in recruiting top talent, and this is something I have practised as I've gone around the world." he says. The final thing is the importance of developing HR talent and careers in HR which the company is known for in India, and is something he is trying to put in place in other markets as well. The HR function, Nagrath believes, cannot function in isolation from the basic business vision. "The key is to get the right talent in place to meet business needs," he says. Going ahead too, Nagrath says the focus would remain the same in his new role. A final bit of advice to MNC's setting up shop in India : Don't be too tempted to bring in international managers just because you don't understand Indian talent. Get top latent locally and retain it, but stay away from P&G , he signs off.

Employable work force pool....

If you thought that the Just-in-Time analogy works only in the automotive industry, then think again. Gurgaon-based human capital management firm Aspire will be training professionals on skill development to address the troika of issues — talent availability, wage inflation, and high-attrition. This will help it supply talent to companies as and when needed. The company will be investing Rs 21 crore to create a large pool of employable workforce for diverse sectors. It is looking to make the youth in tier-2 and tier-3 towns employable. The venture is being supported by 20 angel investors including Aptech Chairman, Mr Rakesh Jhunjhunwala, who owns 33 per cent in the company. “Aspire is different from recruitment process outsourcing, recruitment consultants and job sites. It is instead an employer-sponsored initiative where the company uses consulting, technology and services to deliver B2B solutions that address various issues,” Mr Amit Bhatia, Founder and CEO, Aspire, told Business Line. Flagship product The company has currently launched its flagship product NeoHire — an entry-level, full-service solution to identify, train and develop talent in India. “NeoHire represents employers in high growth sectors and it will train youth from tier-2 and tier-3 cities. It will save companies at least 50 per cent of total cost of sourcing and hiring talent,” Mr Bhatia said. Additionally, it will be soon introducing TracHire, an automate that completes the Human Talent Supply Chain for the services sector (similar to SCM tools in the manufacturing sector) to get just-in-time, trained resources. Some of the technology include exclusive attribute mapping, scientific three-step selection process, online assessments, hostelling solutions, and employer-sponsored pre-placement offers to the trainees. “India’s challenge is enormous. IT & ITeS, retail, and financial services sectors will create one million new jobs in 2008 and struggle to find talent. Paradoxically, unemployed graduates in India may rise from 26 million at present to 36 million in 2012. We will create employable talent and take economic progress to tier-2 and tier-3 cities,” he added. The company is already covering 15 cities including Jammu, Srinagar, Jalandhar, Chandigarh, Gurgaon, Siliguri, Guwahati, Kolkata, Nagpur, and Ahmedabad. It has already begun supplying talent to WNS, India’s top BPO.

Can leadership de-stress??

In today’s fiercely competitive workplace, the single differential to make the ordinary become the extraordinary is leadership. The kinds of leadership, not by the sheer trappings of power, but by virtue of the kind of value add and knowledge sharing - knowledge that makes the team and organisation win in the marketplace. In fact, as I get more informed and ‘exposed’ in the corporate jungle, I tend to feel that leadership should be all about being able to ‘de-stress’ your team and at the same time make them get a sense of victory in a manner that appears to be easiest…. And appear to manage change that much easily and invisibly! And the only way to do that would be to possess the ability to impart the crucial knowledge differentials and get them equipped with a decisive edge over the competition. While there are loads written of the need to change, the human psyche and team psyche is still there to resist any change in the mildest form, and managing that front in an age when even leadership attrition is at a high is the biggest challenge for any leader… and for the team though, that is the most stressful thing to do, they rather do the same thing and perish…. It’s like that frog story in the pot of water, which get from cold to warm to hot to boil so gradual, both the frog and most of today’s team rather die that realise the need to jump and change! In my own experience of nurturing teams, on a couple of instances, I have seen that managing miniscule changes causes so much of stressful emotions in the team… and you never would get to know the hidden feelings and emotions that underlie. The singular failure in my personal leadership, I guess, is the inability to bring in even the easiest change in some teams, when there is all statistical evidence to support the need for change. And it is out of that I have come to state that maybe contemporary leadership ought to possess a style that actually de-stresses. How many leaders of that kind do we have the overall corporate universe of India? I guess not many. Even if you sum up the most prominent of them like an NRN if Infy, Premji of a Wipro or a Ratan Tata…. And a handful in the second rung leadership of our corporate…. I would assume that this is were our HR fraternity (in leadership positions or otherwise) would need to decisively focus as we move ahead creating winning organisations in a fiercely competitive and ultra-dynamic market-place. The only kind of leadership that can be a cure for most of today’s challenges in human resource management is ‘leadership that does not stress – neither the organisation nor the team.

Bangalore HR Summit 2007: Human Resource Managers embracing Technology

The much awaited Bangalore HR Summit 2007 'Leveraging technology for HR’, concluded with a very humble request by Human Resources managers to the Technocrats working in the HR field to walk along and not walk ahead. The suggestion was to find means to fill the knowledge gap between HR Professionals and HR Solution providers. The eminent speakers, who had been benefited by technology, highlighted the following points: 1. Technology is an enabler. 2. Positives of effective automation are Speed, accuracy, 24X7 Help desk functioning, real time data and authenticity, paperless office and effective employee engagement, identifying performers. 3. To become HR Evangelist from HR Admin. Performance Management and Talent Management softwares have suddenly caught the fancies of the Human Resource Management Leaders. It has become so important that HR Technology Conference 2008, Chiago will have 'What is the Talent Management Suite? And what are vendors actually delivering?' on its first day’s agenda. Performance Management and Talent Management are now an integral part of Human Resource Management Software (HRMS) - without which HR management means merely playing with the employee data & reports on an excel sheet. "The industry is not yet mature, and there are ample opportunities for HR Managers and Organizations to benefit.” says Tushar Bhatia, chief architect and designer of EmpXtrack - an Integrated Human Resource Management, Performance and Talent Management suite (http://www.empxtrack.com). He continues," Having a development center in India and sales & marketing networks in United states has helped us to offer very competitively priced solutions to the customers worldwide. Replacing the currently used HR process - oriented niche solutions with 'EmpXtrack' will surely result in substantial cuts in the budgets for HR automation. In US and Europe, in particular, where per employee cost for a SaaS based software is huge, the financial savings will be enormous if 'EmpXtrack' is deployed". The HR Summit attracted participants from across the industry verticals. The list includes Wipro, InfoSys BPO, IOL, reliance Infocom, Sapient, LG Soft India Pvt. Ltd., Makino India, Honeywell Technologies and Patni Computers. "Technology should follow the change, not precede it", said one of the keynote speakers. Ankur Arora, Vice President (Sales) Saigun Technologies, a participant and sponsor of the HR Bangalore Summit, was more than happy from the response he received at the showcase of 'EmpXtrack - Lite', a flagship product of Saigun Technologies for the SME segment. Also EmpXtrack with its 18 modules attracted visitors like Reliance Infocomm, Sapient, LG Soft India Pvt. Limited, Hindustan Aeronautics Limited, Honeywell Technologies, etc. EmpXtrack's positioning as a 'Modular and fullyCustomizable' solution was well received .Bangalore HR Summit 2007 (http://www.hrsummit.in) achieved its aimof bringing together HR Professionals, Academicians, Researchers, Technology providers and Management Students on a common platform to deliberate on various aspects of the theme: " Leveraging Technology for HR Effectiveness".

Where there's a WILL... ...there's a woman

India Inc has finally woken up to the idea of giving a 'fair' colour to its gender profile at the top. Even though the country's report card on women in top management has not been impressive, corporates are now moving with a sense of urgency. WILL (Women in Leadership) - a forum of women leaders launched at the Infosys campus last week - sought to initiate a dialogue on getting capable women leaders at the top. The participants from 40 different companies came from as diverse a function as finance, marketing, HR and legal. The forum threw up a host of initiatives like setting up a mentoring committee, research committee (for measuring the contributions of women to the bottom line), scholarships for women, amongst others. While such concerted efforts have raised the debate to a new level, companies are trying to get the balance right as well. While women constitute 40% of the top management team in HSBC, Zensar has worked hard to improve its figure, which is now at 10-15%, up from nil five years back. The number of women employees, it is discovered, has gone up from 12-15% to 35% for those companies initiating leadership development programmes. It has also resulted in the increasing number of women joining organisations at the entry level. Three years back, Motorola had 20% women engineers that went up to 30% last year. Of the total strength of management trainees hired, 50% were women last year when the telecom major went hiring at the campuses. This, say the companies, is no target meeting exercise, but an obvious choice to get good quality talent. That's the reason why IBM has a policy of offering special incentives to recruitment consultants for getting capable women professionals into the organisation. In many circumstances, women employees tend to quit jobs due to variety of reasons, marriage being one. Most organisations agree, losing such good quality people is just too high a cost to incur when they can be retained into the productive cycle by addressing their problems and supporting their resources. "Very little has been done to even understand what women executives need," says WILL convenor Poonam Barua. "Maintaining work-life balance alone is not the key priority for senior women executives in corporations, instead, their focus is also on a level playing field for equal opportunity to move into leadership positions." Mentoring, research, providing scholarships were some of the proposals that were made at the forum. WILL hopes to start with each participant volunteering to mentor someone in another company through regular interaction with her. Similarly, a mentoring committee of Indian CEOs would do the same. The idea is to redefine best employer organisations from the traditional and outdated indices to ones that include the best practices and a corporate code for women employees, have a diversity dashboard and create diversity indices for all business units apart from commissioning research on 'metrics' of measuring the contributions of women to the business bottom line. There are proposals to compare productivity levels of women and male executives in companies and design appraisal criteria that creates a more level playing field. Zensar of the RPG group, which has seen the results of a sustained approach of having a women forum, 'WE', feels it's all about valuing competent professionals. "Competency is not gender biased and you can't overlook the problems faced by your employees if you need a great workforce support," says Zensar global HR head Prameela Kalive. "Getting the right environment for both, your women and men only helps you to solve your retention issues." HSBC, which instituted its diversity committee two years back, has had a similar experience. According to the company, getting an understanding into women's issues allows an organisation to retain the much needed, efficient, talented and relatively stable women employees who could have otherwise left, if an all inclusive workplace environment were not offered. "All this is about how well you can retain your people," says HSBC HR head Tanuj Kapilashrami. "Any good talent at a senior position, who leaves the organisation due to reasons you could have helped tackle, is only a loss." While there has been a beginning towards getting more women at the top management, India Inc has a long way to go, before it gets a more gender diverse leadership at the helm. Raghuram Reddum, director, HR, Asia Pacific staffing and mobile device, Motorola, India, says, "It's a long-term effort and the results will show over a period of time."

Video Interviews..... this trend will catch up!

The next time you get that interview call from India's third largest IT services provider, Wipro Ltd, you will probably be asked to do it via video. Wipro has already screened hundreds of applicants through video kiosks it has set up at three of its campuses — two in Bangalore and one in Chennai. The company shortly plans to extend this concept, and install over 1,000 video phones at all its 20-odd campuses across the country. Each campus accommodates over 2,000 people. The process is simple, according to Dhananjay Ganjoo, vice-president (enterprise), Nortel India. The kiosk comprises a video phone, provided by Nortel Networks, with a 4x4 inch screen. The cost of each phone is around $250. The candidate walks into a video kiosk and dials a pre-determined number at the given time. The human resources (HR) person or panelist at the other end picks up the phone and the interview starts. "We implemented this to save on costs, time and eliminate impersonations, given that we recruit nearly 5,000 candidates every quarter," explains Jethin Chandran, GM (IT Planning & PMO), Wipro. The Gartner Group estimates the procedure can reduce companies' travel costs for recruitment by 15 to 20 per cent. Video phones also appear to solve the problem of impersonation or fake résumés that have plagued the IT industry in particular, which loses crores of rupees in the bargain. Last year, IT majors like IBM India, Wipro, Satyam, Infosys and TCS had to terminate the employment of thousands of such candidates. And a 2006 KPMG study revealed that 15 to 24 per cent of resumes in India are fake and one out of three résumés mis-represents facts. The study noted that the IT, financial, entertainment and telecom sectors face the highest risk. "To avoid impersonation, the video phone is equipped with a memory card that can capture the photograph of the interviewee," explains Chandran. The photo of the candidate and the interview results are then digitally sent to a central database. Technology, note analysts, has been providing firms with innovative ways to cut hiring costs, and save time. Take, for instance, the video résumés from Reliance World and Monster. Reliance World, in association with Ilaza VDO, has VDO Resume — an online system that integrates a video file into the candidate’s résumé. RWorld has over 240 outlets across the company. Then we have video conferencing, which is done by companies like IBM, HP, Cisco, Nortel and Nike the world over. "At Cisco, we use a lot of technology including TelePresence, IP phones, video conferencing, wikis, blogs, etc. to increase employee productivity," said Subash Rao, Director, HR, Cisco India. He added that, till date, over 37,000 meetings were held, out of which nearly 8,000 meetings included participants who avoided travel by attending meetings over TelePresence, which meant savings of $62 million in travel avoidance.

Workplace diversity.... here to stay!

It’s become a fact of life. Just face it. Diversity in the workplace is here to stay. Diversity not only in terms of culture, ethnicity, race and gender, but also in terms of professional experience . For a while, key drivers in global organisations seemed to be domain knowledge, and three key words... specialise, specialise, and specialise. For sure, everyone still wants expertise . Only a new word has been added - multi-disciplinary . “A global organisation can only said to be ‘truly global’ if it can accommodate different cultural, social and professional mindsets within the same work sphere without being biased or influenced by any one. This task is easier said than done though,” says Shiv Agrawal, CEO of ABC Consultants. A clear reflection of this trend is in the new hiring. Though scooping talent from other industry isn’t a recent phenom, with liberalisation the hiring patterns across industries have seen changes, with an increase in cross-domain recruitment. Initially, it was simply because some sunrise industries didn’t have expertise available in India. Says Kris Lakshmikantha , founder CEO and MD, Headhunters India. “About 10 years ago back when cellular companies started recruiting, there weren’t people from that domain. So they hired people from insurance, banking, finance, manufacturing etc. Many people refused to join and then later they came to me to help them get into telecom. Important point is to ride the wave.” What it helped do on the ground, was bring in different perspective, fresher ideas and unbiased approach into companies. Welcome to the brave new world ‘specialist generalist’ . India Inc is changing and experimenting , and so are its employees. The new challenges with newer sectors and changing knowledge platforms is opening up new avenues. For employees mind-set changes are being charged by accelerated ambitions, and low boredom thresholds. Says Anil Koul, executive director, Omam Consultants: ”The new generation is ready to accept challenges of diverse fields. The key catalysts to this process of challenges are — ‘wealth creation’ , ‘social recognition’ and ‘quick learning’ . This experience is making India a true global employee warehouse.” Diversity of experience is also breeding creativity , says Yasho Verma director, HR, LGElectronics . “Diversity brings with itself the element of lateral thinking. A person who has worked in different companies under different vertical is bound to have a thinking process different from others,” he says. Another trigger for the wave of diversity adoption, is competition. Says Sonali Mohla, co-director , Savills India: “The business models of the companies are changing very quickly now. Our own company started as a recruitment firm and has diversified into HR solutions as well. So our people had to take on different roles. Also when we hired people, we chose those who we knew would be able to work on the recruitments for a couple of years and then can get into HR Solutions.” She is quick to clarify though that this doesn’t mean specialisation is over. “If you are a financial advisor , then you must have your numbers right. Diverse knowledge with in that domain is what one should be looking at” . Diversity in skills is important, says Agrawal in agreement, but not at the cost of developing specialisation and expertise in the core area of business. “Ultimately, its the expertise that will ensure your growth within the organisation. Merely acquiring diverse skills won’t help. One must first exhibit mastery and expertise in his/her assigned domain and only then seek to learn about other domains/areas. Once this is done, there will be no contradiction of any kind. A proven track record breeds no ambiguity as to one’s professional skills.” Companies are using various ways of stimulating diversity of experience. Nowadays, it is generally an accepted practice to move employees within an organisation across different domains or functions. “The Indian companies are taking higher risk in such experiments and employees as-well are putting their career at stake to accomplish the ‘expectations’ . The Japanese work culture always promoted the concept of ‘job rotation’ at all levels and this concept is an accepted norm in Japan as well as globally. These competencies would be of immense help to employees in the present age of Globalisation,” says Koul. The world has literally become a global village and employees are expected to be open to relocation . Says Randeep Hoda, head of HR at Amway:”Companies want employees to be open to travel, relocation and to take on new challenges. Because one is too comfortable in a particular geography and location doesn’t mean that the company should not try to relocate him.” Managing this diversity, however , can be a very difficult task. Says Verma.“If it’s a culturally strong company , there will be limited scope for new ideas. In a culturally weak company, where there are people from diverse professional background, chanellising those ideas becomes difficult. Companies will have to strike a balance. People say that about 5-6 % of attrition rate is healthy for a company as it allows influx of newer people and newer ideas.” The organisation, though cannot force an employee to move to a different function simply on the grounds of ‘not being open to new challenges’ , it affects the growth prospects. Says Lakshmikantha: “If the organisation wants an employee to move and he doesn’t , it will find a way around. The company might get someone else above you.” Agrees Mohla: ”If the reason for denial is not convincing enough, you cannot go high up in that company as it sees you as an inflexible person. Though they cannot fire you, but it will definitely effect your growth prospects in that company.” As Sisodia, says, in today’s world only thing constant is change. Knowing the hard truth it is imperative for people to positively embrace change. If a new role provides an employee with new learnings and insights alongwith increasing the probability of growth, the employees should seize the opportunity.

Hats off to these kinda employers.... who make the REAL difference

Visually-challenged Jason joined the operations unit of BPO firm 24/7 Customer in 2005 and has now moved to the quality department. Latha, a student from the Spastics Society of Karnataka, joined MindTree Consulting to man the front desk at its corporate office. She involved herself in work, trained a couple of other spastic people and even helped design the company’s logo. They are just two examples of challenged or differently enabled people working in the IT/BPO sector in Bangalore. There are more out there and unofficial figures suggest that this sector has provided employment to over 5,000 physically challenged persons in Karnataka. Call it the effect of the rapid growth of MNCs like IBM, Cisco and EDS which are known for their diverse cultures or Indian IT companies opening up opportunities to recruit disabled persons. The Indian IT/BPO sector is emerging as one of the friendliest sectors for disabled people or people with disabilities (PwD) as some companies call them. As Ramesh Narsimhan, director, GSMB India/South Asia, IBM and executive sponsor for the company’s initiative towards people with disabilities says, “I see more organisations in India talking about disability and recruiting PwDs. It is a good thing for the country as well.”A statement which Nirupama VG, MD of Ad Astra Consultants, a Bangalore-based recruitment agency agrees with. “There are a lot of tools available now that can help disabled people work easily and be productive. So I see interest from IT companies wanting to recruit such people.” There are several companies in Bangalore that employ PwDs including Infosys BPO, IBM, Microsoft, Wipro, Satyam, MindTree, Sasken, 24/7 Customer etc. At least two of these companies — IBM and Infosys BPO (this year) have won the ‘Best Employer for the Disability sector’ award from the ministry of social justice and empowerment, government of India, as well as the Helen Keller award. Many other companies like Citigroup have now approached Infosys BPO and IBM to learn from their experiences. According to Mr Narshimhan, IBM has activities and workshops related to this segment round the year and are part of global best practices. “Our focus on disabled people is centred on the 3 As — accomodation, accessibility and attitude,” he says, adding, “accomodation is where the company tries to provide all the relevant infrastructure like specially designed work places and ramps; accessibility is providing special tools and software to help such individuals work easily and be more productive while attitude is sensitising the people around.” Infosys BPO which has done a lot of work in this area (it employs 171 disabled people), is launching an internal portal which has ipod-like audio capabilities to create awareness in the organisation about disability. Says Nandita Gurjar, group head (HR), Infosys Technologies, “there are stories which we want people to hear. So apart from the portal, we are holding a musical by the disabled people, talks by them on the challenges they face and their journey to becoming independent and a walkathon to celebrate ‘Disability Week’ from December 3.” Infy’s BPO subsidiary is one of the aggressive companies in this area. It started recruiting PwDs in very small numbers about two and a half years ago and gradually increased the number after seeing if the concept works without compromising on client deliverables. The company is now aggressively looking at disabled employees accounting for 5% of the total employees by April 2009, Ms Gurjar said. Infosys BPO currently has over 15,000 people. With ‘equal opportunity employer’ becoming the new buzzword, many organisations are changing their employment practices to encourage disabled persons to join them. “The same opportunities and incentives are provided to the differently-abled employees, as the rest of the workforce. However, we do take care of their specific requirements like appropriate training required for their profile and also equip them with the required infrastructure. They have also been recipients of the employee reward programme, in recognition of their performance and contribution to the company,’’ says S Nagarajan, chief people officer, 24/7 Customer. A lot of them including MindTree, IBM and 24/7 Customer are working with local NGOs like EnAble India and Spastic Society to train or recruit people for various roles.

.....Between offer and acceptance!

It is testing times for HR managers and recruiters. As candidates – flush with offers – tend to switch companies after pocketing the offer letter, headhunters are devising strategies to reduce drop-out rates and bring about better offer management. According to a recent research by human resource professionals, the dropout rate between receiving an offer and its acceptance hovers around 30-45 per cent. A large number of offers lapse with candidates either not taking up the job or leveraging the existing offers for better opportunities. Companies, on their part, are now often playing it safe by giving e-offers. HR managers are also making potential employee- employer relations more interactive to plug the gap besides making an emotional connect that would make it far more difficult for the candidate to opt out. The phenomenon cuts across sectors. It is presently the highest in IT/ITES services, retail, manufacturing and healthcare.On-boarding Process Mr Shankaran P. Raghunathan, Chairman, Blueshift, an IT education service company, says: “The recruitment process in India is still very unscientific. But globally the ‘Offer Management Service’ or ‘on-boarding process’ begins the minute prospective candidates post their bio-data. According to him, several companies are also using specialised software to make the recruitment process cohesive.Compressed service The Ma Foi COO, Mr E. Balaji, says, “With dropout rates becoming a menace, companies are making the on-boarding process a compressed service by itself. From the time a candidate’s resume arrives on the desktop, the entering process is made easy by constant follow-ups and tackling evasive behaviour”. “A lot of companies are giving offers on Excel sheets rather than on the company letter-head for details of salary break-ups. This helps prevent candidates from window-shopping for jobs,” he says. Mr Ganesh Chella, CEO of HR consulting firm Totus, says: “A good recruitment is like a commitment. Wherever recruitment is a number game and not a humane-game, this problem is bound to crop up. Invariably, recruitment is carried out by agencies rather than senior company officials. This lack of emotional connect is also seen as a reason for increased drop-out rates,” he said. Observing that it is essential for senior company officials to spend at least 30 per cent of their time in scouting for talent, Mr Chella reveals that top companies such as Reliance, RPG and Mindtree have their senior management monitoring the recruitment process.

Hiring fever running high

Dollar meltdown, rising rupee, sub-prime crisis, high attrition. Year 2007 has been a rollercoaster ride for the Indian IT industry. While some continued to grow despite hiccups, others have reported lower margins. On the positive side, the sector generated enough jobs — accounting for more than half the jobs created by Indian industry in the last fiscal. Salary growth, which varied between 12% and 15% was not bad either. But 2008 could be a different story, at least when it comes to hiring. Indeed, many IT and ITeS companies have already drawn out their hiring plans for next year. Accenture India whose headcount crossed 35,000 this year, says it will continue to grow 30-50% annually. Capgemini India, which currently has 17,500 employees will raise the number to 40,000 in three years. Birla Soft says they expect to add another 1,500-1,700 people across various levels in 2008. ‘‘There are never enough good people. The net addition this year was higher than last year. Our campus intake was 600 this year and we are looking at 1,000 next year. Even at the senior and middle management levels we are hiring aggressively,'' says Narendra Puppala, senior VP (global HR), Birla Soft. Cisco too plans to stick to its hiring target. ‘‘The company has a target of having 10,000 people in India in the next three to five years and that is on track,'' says Subash Rao, director (HR), Cisco India. Wipro echoes the same mood. ‘‘We had announced 14,000 offers to freshers in 2008-09 and we are on track,'' says Pradeep, V-P Strategi Resources, Wipro Technologies. However, not everybody shares the same optimism. A recent study by Assocham revealed hiring by IT companies have slowed and employment outlook for the current fiscal is not as encouraging as it was last year. Patni Computers for example, recruited only 60% of their target numbers this year. The picture may not change too much next year. ‘‘The overall business model is undergoing a change. With pressure on margins, we are looking a the productivity and employee pyramid ratio. The flatter the pyramid lower the costs,'' Deepak Khosla, senior V-P (marketing and head) APAC and Japan, Patni Computers. The company hired around 1,800 people across the board this year, 40% below target and the situation may not change too much next in 2008. Noida-based company, InterraIT says they have an aggressive growth plan for 2008 and recruitment number will be equally aggressive. ‘‘We will resort to just-in-time hiring to keep the bench strength to manageable levels,'' says Asoke Laha, president, MD, InterraIT. Experts say, the trend among IT software firms may be slightly different from others in the sector. As Rajeev Mehtani, MD, NXP Semiconductors India, a chip manufacturing firm, says their recruitment will depend on how the chip business goes worldwide. ‘‘This year too our salaries grew by 12% and hiring was on target. That will not change next year.'' Some say, since the dollar meltdown started in July-August 2007, most IT companies did not feel the pinch this year. Things may change somewhat next year. ‘‘Hiring will remain low but will pick up by mid-2008 when IT firms have wrung out the slack in resource pool. There will be much more focus on recruiting the ‘right fit' and better utilisation,'' says Arun Jethmalani, CEO, Valuenotes. However, the basic business model is expected to remain robust. As Mukund Menon, global head, talent acquisition, Satyam Computers explains, ‘‘2008 will be wonderful year from the opportunities perspective. Most Tier I IT firms will be 50,000 plus employee organisations. There will be greater emphasis on entry level talent and firms will engage with colleges and universities to build talent.''

Faked your CV.... Watch out!

Wipro Technologies has started sharing with competitors its database of job applicants who have faked information in their CVs, the first such initiative in the Indian IT industry. The database, containing the names of hundreds of individuals and recruitment agencies, is being made available to two of the top five domestic IT companies and efforts are on for a similar arrangement with many more, Pradeep Bahirwani, vice-president for strategic sourcing at Wipro Technologies, told ET. He declined to name the companies with which Wipro is cooperating. TCS, Infosys, Wipro, Satyam and HCL Technologies are India’s five biggest software exporters. The informal arrangement will involve the exchange and review of information on CV cheats, preventing lying job-seekers who have been caught in one organisation from joining another. HR experts say that the manipulation of resumes, especially in collaboration with recruitment agencies, is assuming alarming proportions. They estimate that 15-20% of resumes have some sort of misrepresentation, subtle or blatant. Inflated salaries, wrong designations and incorrect prior experience are seen as examples of subtle misrepresentation while falsely claiming to have worked for a company is regarded as falling in the blatant category. Nasscom, the software and services industry grouping, is trying to address this problem by creating a registry of individuals employed in the IT and business process outsourcing sector, including job-seekers. Information in the National Skills Registry (NSR), which includes personal, academic and employment details, undergoes checks by a professional verification agency. Top employers, including Wipro and Satyam, see the registry as a long-term solution, but they are also concerned about dealing with the current situation. “The industry initiative will take time to ensure complete compliance. Fake CVs are a here and now problem and we can’t wait for the NSR to be complete,” Mr Bahirwani said. The number of individuals and recruitment agencies Wipro has acted against is in the double digits, he said. IBM India, Infosys and TCS, too, have been quietly dismissing employees who have been caught fabricating their academic or professional backgrounds. In March 2006, the issue became public when Wipro Technologies not just fired some employees for faking their CVs, but also filed police complaints against them.

....aims to be global leader in HR space

Snehal Shah and Nicky Tejwaney are 27 years old and Directors of NSR Placement Services. Five years from now, they see NSR as a global leader in the HR space. Nicky Tejwaney and Snehal Shah were childhood friends, working for their family businesses. They began their entrepreneurial journey over a cup of coffee and conversation. They decided it was time for them to start off on their own and so began NSR Placement in 2002, with just one computer and Rs 20,000. But taking off wasn’t easy for this HR recruiting company. Snehal Shah: When we started business, we needed our first clients. At the time when we started, the BPO industry was in its boom. We said that we can probably go over here and got an appointment of a senior HR manager in a Pune- based BPO. When we went there, we had to wait for more than three hours, but that lady still did not meet us. We were wandering around the building. On top of it was a software company and we barged in and told the Manager HR that we are consultants and can help you find the kind of people that you want and she immediately agreed. That is when we came back to our office, did the entire backend work, fulfilled that particular requirement and that is when we generated our first revenue. From one employee and one client today, NSR has more than 100 employees and a slew of major MNC clients. It was voted the number one HR company by various job sites. Nicky and Snehal believe in providing HR solutions for long-term needs. Nicky Tejwaney: Another milestone we achieved is clicking an RPO deal. RPO is recruitment process outsourcing, where a company outsourcers all its functions of recruitment to one company. We have just clicked this deal, with a very big software company here in Pune, where we deployed more than 35 HR people to take care of their recruitment activities. So, it is one of the biggest deals in Pune and that is what has actually got us to the Indian map. Now, that they have struck big with NSR, they are trying to replicate the success with their sister concern-Tempt Talent Services, which looks after the HR needs of the IT industry. Targeting a team of 500, by 2010, and setting the table up for an IPO, this duo is keen on pocketing its dream of the US office by 2008.

MeritTrac Services Bags the Deloitte Technology Top 50 India 2007 Award

MeritTrac Services, India’s Largest Skills Assessment Company, has bagged the coveted “Deloitte Top 50 India” award. The award recognizes the 50 fastest growing technology companies in India. On being conferred this recognition, Madan Padaki, CEO, MeritTrac Services, said, “MeritTrac has always been at the forefront of innovation and this has translated into a robust growth in revenues as acknowledged by Deloitte. This award follows close on the heels on MeritTrac being conferred the Red Herring 100 Asia award for technological innovation and is a testament to the impact created by the company within a short span of time.”The Deloitte Technology Fast 50 India list is compiled from Deloitte’s Technology Fast 50 India program. The awards list is compiled based on revenue growth over the past 3 years and represents success in technological innovation in business.MeritTrac has shown a robust revenue growth for the 3 year period from ’05 to ’07. This growth can be attributed to the increased adoption in the market of scientific assessment tools and MeritTrac’s innovative delivery mechanisms. While a lot of this growth has been fuelled by the IT/BPO space, MeritTrac has added over 70 customers in other verticals like BFSI, Retail, Manufacturing, Healthcare and the PSUs. Mr. Padaki opined that usage in other sectors has been increasing and future growth will be driven by business in these sectors. He was also of the opinion that huge opportunities lay in the Individual Certification and Education Assessment space which MeritTrac was tapping through specialized offerings.Recipients were presented the award by Deloitte in Mumbai at an awards ceremony.About Deloitte Asia PacificDeloitte member firms in Asia Pacific have over 23,000 people providing audit, tax, consulting and financial advisory services across Australia, Brunei, China, Guam, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Macau, Malaysia, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, New Zealand, Northern Mariana Islands, Palau, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam.With access to the deep intellectual capital of approximately 150,000 people worldwide, Deloitte member firms in Asia Pacific serve some of the region’s largest companies, as well as large national enterprises, public institutions, locally important clients, and successful, fast-growing global companies.About MeritTracMeritTrac is India's Largest Skills Assessment Company. MeritTrac designs and delivers assessments to evaluate abilities, skills and knowledge for both corporate & individual customers. Since its inception in 2000, MeritTrac has assessed over 2 million candidates for over 150 clients across 75 cities pan-India for industry verticals like IT, BPO, BFSI, Engineering, FMCG, Healthcare, Retail, Education, Manufacturing & PSUs among others. MeritTrac is neither a Placement/Recruitment agency nor a Training firm, and is uniquely positioned as an "Independent" assessment company that provides quantitative inputs on the talent pool and helps in measuring competencies for specific roles. Its suite of scientifically designed assessments is used by corporates for pre-recruitment/employee assessments and by individuals for measuring their skills for employability. MeritTrac's expert test development team has generated over 75000 questions across 300 areas spanning Communication Skills (English & other Indian Languages), General Abilities, Domains Skills (Technologies, Engineering, Accounting, etc.) and Psychometrics. All tests can be delivered in both online and offline modes under supervision. Online tests are delivered using OnTrac-a proprietary web-based testing engine. The company counts some of the world's most admired & respected companies like ABB, Accenture, Aricent, Cholamandalam DBS, Cognizant, Google, HAL, Honeywell, HP, HSBC GLT, IBM, ICICI Bank, ICICI Prudential, ITC, Microsoft, MindTree, NSE, SAP Labs, Satyam, TESCO, Wipro and Wockhardt. A Manipal Education Group (MEG) investee company, Bangalore-based MeritTrac has 450+ employees and 1000+ certified test administrators operating out of offices in all the metros. MeritTrac also operates 21 state-of-the-art online testing centers "MeritTrac Assessment Zones (MAZ)" across 16 cities with 1300+ online terminals. MeritTrac assessments have been delivered in Brazil, China, Costa Rica, Mauritius & Philippines. MeritTrac is represented by business partners in the USA & the Philippines.

Recruitment process outsourcing service ROR 2.0,

Summit HR Worldwide, India’s No.1 Total Talent Engagement Company, unveiled its award winning service RoR 2.0, (Return on Recruitment) at the 11th NHRD conference. The service is specifically designed for companies that want to gain significant competitive advantage in recruitment and (more importantly) retention of talent in India. The service not only creates economic value via unprecedented reduction in total cost of hire and time to hire but also offers significant strategic, operational, human resource, technological and risk reduction value proposition. The cornerstones of RoR 2.0 are: a) People: Ability to deploy world class on-site team of recruiters that understandmanagement of enterprise class processes and systems and competitive hiringtechniques to supplement an organization’s existing HR team b) Innovative Technology: TAIDA ™ leverages the power of web community andelectronic marketing to help companies understand their competitive position inthe talent market and formulate competitive strategy to source and attract talentwhile providing constant monitoring and connection with the talent community. STAR ™ provides a reliable mechanism to eliminate high attrition risk candidatesensuring organization resources are effectively utilized c) Process: Award winning six sigma processes called Recruit Sigma that allowsSummit to guarantee results and service levels like time to hire, quality of hireand retention to its clients According to Rajiv Rajan, VP Operations “ Our service typically improves yield at every step of the recruitment supply chain for competitive and lateral hiring and provides flexibility to clients by ensuring they have a steady stream of qualified and available talent to match their fluctuating needs quarter over quarter. It unlocks significant managerial time by ensuring high ratio of fills and starts per resume presented.” Speaking on the new service, Mr.Ranjan Sinha, Chairman and CEO of Summit HR Worldwide said “CEOs and HR executives that believe in innovation adopt our service as it takes their company away from the commodity hell of the current recruitment approach, apart from the unpredictability and pain of high attrition allowing executives to focus on their employees and customers Ken Perluss, Director Talent Acquisition, Yahoo! India mentioned, “We selected Summit’s service because of their innovative approach to sourcing candidates that are not on job boards, eliminating needs for consultants and the quality of their onsite team and recruiters”. Summit has ushered in the next generation in Recruitment Process Outsourcing excellence in India for companies competing for precious talent. Summit offers a comprehensive suite of Services to outsource talent attraction, sourcing, recruitment, attrition management and exit interview.