Many candidates looking for a job and many students studying in business schools spend a lot of time thinking whether they are going to get the organization of their choice. An organization where they can grow as professionals and an organization where they can fit in. But sometimes the story is the same for the organizations as well. They too spend a lot of time and money getting the best people and the right people. After all it is the work force of an organization that gives them the sustainable competitive advantage over other organizations. Hence they too put in a lot of effort into coming across as an organization that a candidate would desire to work for. And herein comes in the concept of employer branding. Employer branding can prove to be a key weapon for any organization when it comes to recruitment and hiring.

An organization might forecast manpower requirement and might decide to go for recruitment for a particular post. But what if the organization doesn’t receive applications from quality candidates. It is often seen that companies struggle to get people into the organization and around the 1990s came the concept of employer branding when companies where trying to find ways of making themselves stand out. According to a study conducted by Randstad, public perception of a company becomes even more important when the economic conditions are not bright. During such times potential employees experience salary freeze, layoff and even unemployment which makes it difficult for them to trust a company. This is where employer branding makes a difference. It is a process of placing an image of being a great place to work at in the minds of the targeted employees. It conveys to the audience the message involving the company’s culture, system and employee relations. Creating a brand for a product is something that we have heard of but the concept of employer branding is equally important for an organization if it wants to get the best people, the right people into the organization. In the next article the focus will be on the ways of creating a strong employee brand and what companies did to stand out in the crowd.

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This article will focus on effective hiring framework and the essential tools that are required to gather information about a candidate’s knowledge, skills, abilities, and personal characteristics (KSAPC).

Tools that are to be used for hiring depends on the role for which one is hiring. For example the assessment technique or tools that are to be employed for hiring a school teacher is going to be different from that chosen for the recruitment of a software professional in an IT company. For a school teacher the required knowledge, skills, attitude and other abilities will be different from that demanded of a software professional and hence the tools for assessing the two are bound to be different so as to ensure accuracy during selection of the candidate.

The following is the framework for effective hiring:

There are three very essential principles involved in the framework of effective hiring.

1. One should be very clear of what outcome or result is desired of the candidate in each stage of the assessment. The design of the framework should be such that each stage of the hiring process is of increasing complexity.
2. Assessment tools should be selected based on their ability to measure accurately the skills we want to measure in the candidate.
3. All the KSAPCs should be measured at least twice in the entire hiring cycle in order minimize chances of error.

Assessment tools need to be employed with a lot of care. Organizations should analyze each individual and the role/position for which he/she has applied before administering the assessment tools.

Source:

http://www.peoplematters.in/article/2014/10/17/talent-acquisition/hiring-framework-choosing-effective-selection-processes/6773

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A bad hire can pose multiple problems for an organization. A bad hire is a waste of essential resources like time and money for an organization. Therefore there is a need by every organization to fine tune their selection process before hire for a particular role. A number of studies have been conducted by Aon Hewitt in the Asian market which has led to the conclusion that one of the problems being faced by organizations today is with regard to the speed and quality of the hiring process.

Aon Hewitt has found out, based on several of its researches that hiring decisions need to be made based on data and should never be subjective; it should never be based on the individual choice of the interviewer because often individual decisions taken by an interviewer is based on how much of himself/herself the interviewer sees in the candidate. Therefore there is an increased need to gather sufficient data and information on the candidate so that the decision to hire or not to hire is based solely on the data. Evaluation outcomes of resume vary based on the judgment of the recruiter (Seibert, Williams and Raymark, 2010).

Nowadays it is being observed that the increasing number of companies focus on reducing the cost per hire and the time taken to fill a vacancy. As a result of this companies end up overlooking the key purpose of overlooking the key purpose of identifying the right talent. In the next article the focus will be on an effective hiring framework and the essential tools that are required to gather information about a candidate’s knowledge, skills, abilities, and personal characteristics (KSAPC).

Source: People Matters

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People analytics is using data from a variety of sources like email records, web browsing behavior, instant messaging etc. and is also making use of technology such as wearable sensing technology. Theses sensors provide data on interaction patterns between employees and their motion and location among other things. By combining data such as these it becomes easier to understand and manipulate organizational behavior to increase productivity. One big disadvantage of this, however, is that it intrudes on privacy. So it becomes important to ensure that data is treated as coming from anonymous source to be used only for analytics purposes. Some companies like the Cubist Pharmaceuticals are implementing some of the findings in their workplace to boost productivity. Their observation was that they had too many coffee machines and therefore they introduced centralized coffee areas so as to foster interaction among employees. This is just an example. People analytics in reality has the ability to revolutionize the workplace set up.

Seattle based VoloMetrix recently announced that it has raised $12 million for its people analytics service. The service lets the organization understand how their employees allocates time to different activities at work. For instance for employees working in the sales department the organization will learn about how long the employees spend time interacting with the customers or how long they spend by working as a part of a team. The service aims to give a deeper understanding on employee functioning. However, it does not focus on any one employee. Some of the clients of this company are Fortune 100 companies. With increasing number of companies resorting to people analytics as a reliable means of understanding their workforce the CEO VoloMetrix is expecting a jump in the number of clients. People analytics is clearly the future of understanding people within an organization and will go a long way in bridging the gap that sometimes exists between the top management and its workforce.

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People analytics is being claimed as the next big thing in the HR world. This revolutionary idea is being adopted and implemented by a number of companies like Google. So what is people analytics? People analytics aims to bring “big data” into corporate hiring and promotion. Companies spend a lot of time and money into their hiring process but the subsequent results are often not satisfactory. According to a survey conducted by Arlington based Corporate Executive Board, nearly a quarter of all new hires leave within a year, and majority of those who continue to stay with the organization are not as productive or engaged. Way back in the 1950s many organizations would use psychological and intelligence tests for the purpose of screening applicants while recruiting but with time this process became expensive and proved to be less effective and companies simply started recruiting based on their gut and often the process was seen as being subjective, where the manager would hire an employee for himself and not for the company. This is where people analytics comes into the picture. The process starts with the collection of relevant data which can help us make predictions. In San Francisco, a company called Evolv has helped Xerox and AT&T screen applicants for front line sales and customer service jobs. They based their results on useful data such as how far the applicants have to commute to reach work, whether they use a factory installed browser or download a better one like Chrome or Firefox, or how many social networking sites they use. Evolv has found that in sales creativity and not persuasiveness is the key to success in sales and in call center rapport with customers is of primary importance. This is just one side of people analytics. In the next article the focus will shift to the other ways people analytics is revolutionizing HR.

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It is not strange to see organizations these days choosing ‘culture-fit’ as one of the main parameters for hiring an employee. Be it a popular company like Google or a flourishing Indian start-up like Zomato, more and more companies want to take people who fit into the organization’s culture. They are of the opinion that it is very important for the new hires to like their external environment and also like the people they work for and work with. A company like Zomato can be called a unique company to an extent which has its own unique demands. It thrives and continues to grow because of the quality of its people. They don’t hire for roles. They hire for people. People who are creative thinkers. Because that is what companies are looking for these days. Employees who can think out-of-the-box. That is why they hire passionate people who fit in the best with the culture of the organization. This hiring practice in turn has found a solution to one of the age-old problems of the business world and that is switching between industries. While a few years back it was unusual to hear someone switching industries after working in one sector for a span of 4-5 years, start-ups like Zomato are facilitating this movement and attracting talent from different fields to increase diversity in the organization.

If we go global we have companies like Google, which consistently features in the list of one of the best places to work at. This however didn’t happen overnight, says Liane Hornsey, VP, People Operations, Google. They ensured that they hired the best people for Google who were not only good at what they did but along with being creative thinkers and innovators they would also fit into the organization. That Liane believes is of vital importance for them. What Google does is that it takes into consideration the opinion of all those employees who would get directly affected by a particular hire. They recruit a candidate only when they can reach a consensus on that decision. So typically a candidate has to go through 7-8 rounds of interview for Google before they can make it into the organization. The success mantra of Google is that they hire people who believe in ‘shared goals’. They believe that they can get the best out of the people if they are willing to work not for their own selves but are dedicated towards the organization and their fellow employees.

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The need for training and development of employees within an organization is not new to anyone. Training can help an employee integrate his goals with the goals and objective of the organization which in turn leads to improved productivity. Also, the business environment is dynamic. There is constant innovation in the field with new management models being used and with the  integration of new technology with day to day managerial practices the need of the hour is to ensure that the employees stay up to date. This can be ensured through training and development. With training we can also prevent skill obsolescence and help the employee grow as an individual. But instead of talking about training methods we are going to talk about a particular training evaluation model.

Evaluation is a very integral part of training as it helps to determine the effectiveness of training. One such training evaluation model is the Kirkpatrick model. Kirkpatrick’s Four Level Evaluation Model was first published in a series of articles in 1959. According to Kirkpatrick this model was more like a technique for conducting the evaluation. The four levels comprise of:-

• Reaction- Reaction of learners’ to the learning process. Was the reaction positive or negative?
• Learning- What was the content that was learnt?
• Behaviour- Did the training bring about any changes in behaviour?
• Results- Finally, what were the results observed post training.

Many have criticized this model as being too simple however even with the advent of new technology and new tools this model still remains relevant. In the next article we will discuss the probable changes we could bring about in this model to make it more appropriate for the changing business environment.

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The last couple of years in India has been the age of the startups. With increasing number of startups making it big, increasing number of investors are putting their faith in these companies which are growing at a mind boggling pace. Recently 400 blessed employees of Flipkart hit the ‘crorepati’ jackpot because of the surging valuation of the online retailer. Fairytale stories like that of Flipkart are slowly being replicated by more and more number of individuals in different domains. Flipkart, Snapdeal, Zomato, Ola Cabs, Quikr, BookMyShow are just some of the many examples of flourishing Indian startups.

Experts say that high penetration of internet and increased use of smartphones have definitely helped them achieve what they have. But if we are to look at this phenomenon from an HR perspective, what comes to mind is what could be the reason why an individual might want to opt to work for a startup instead of a big and steady brand.

The following could be some of the reasons

• No Boundaries– In large companies, most of the times, the structure is quite rigid. And a rigid structure gives a definite shape to the roles that the employees take up within the organization. As a result of which employees also find it very difficult to switch roles if desired. However, in a startup the structure and the roles tend to be more flexible. It is this flexibility that employees find more alluring. It often gives the employee exposure across different domains thus providing him/her with a good learning experience.
• Your rules are my rules– A startup evolves and grows continuously. The workforce of a startup also expands with expanding business. Hence, the rules and regulations governing the organization and its employees also need to keep evolving. The employees are often a part of the rule making process and as has been found through research when employees make rules they tend to follow them better.
• Empowerment and Ownership– Employees tend to believe that the growth opportunities within a startup are better. Often it is seen that employees in a startup feel a greater sense of responsibility for their company which inspires a sense of ownership.
• Connectedness– Startups tend to have a flatter hierarchy and most employees tend to report directly to the CEO which makes for better communication in case of smaller organizations and employees feel that they are a part of the decision making process.

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