Imagine a fundamentally better world. One in which Recruiting presents fewer, more qualified candidates, hiring managers spend less time in the recruiting process, and Recruiting thereby emerges as the heroic function delivering much more value.
That’s the dreamy reality that Pruthvi Nanjappa, VP of HR for Ness Technologies India, has been able to deliver, boosting quality of hire for the company in the process.
As Pruthvi recently shared with us, “Instead of sending a mass email to hundred individuals and having 10 qualify to interview, we now look at 25 meaningful candidates, interview 5, and out of that end up hiring one. That is a four-fold increase in our productivity.”
His successes can be attributed to 3 factors.
Build relevant talent pools by telling the right stories via the right channels
Attracting the right talent in an extremely competitive environment requires continuous and ongoing engagement with your prospects. Pruthvi says, “The onset of social professional networks like LinkedIn has brought professionals and organizations to a common platform. Today you can easily leverage these platforms to tell the authentic story of your employer brand and create awareness in the desired talent segments. Now the right talent knows about you, follows you, interacts with you and also becomes a virtual pool of talent that you can tap into. So, your team is not hunting for candidates every time a new requirement comes up but constantly building a ready pool that can be leveraged when the need arises."
By creating a virtual pool of relevant candidates, the recruiting team at Ness is keeping supply ready before the demand arises. This enables them to be more productive and save on the time that they spend on hunting for candidates.
Pruthvi keeps a check on the engagement with the Ness employer brand and measure the impact through Talent Brand Index. Since adopting a “social ready” approach, their TBI on LinkedIn has grown by 500%
Source smartly: go beyond the resume
To ensure that the best candidates are brought into the organization, the process of hiring itself has become more complex, notes Pruthvi. He says, “In today’s scenario, the reasons for selecting a candidate have grown more diverse. In our industry, certifications, participation in technical forums, conferences, and presentations have gained greater importance. In addition, a candidate’s capability is also judged through reviews from peers and seniors.”
The recruiting team at Ness now spends more time interacting with prospective candidates on groups and social media communities. They build relationships with those that have relevant experience and create a warm pipeline of talent that even refers other potential candidates where appropriate.
Impact quality: assess fit and potential ahead of the interview
Hiring a candidate is as much about cultural fit and their potential to perform, as it is about skills and experience. Traditional recruiting depends on behavioral interviews and reference checks - but these methods cannot provide a complete picture, and often lead to recruiters wishing they could take a peek at the applicant’s personality outside of the interview room.
Social networks have helped bridge this gap to a great extent. The applicant’s interactions with colleagues, peers, and industry associates speak volumes about his/her maturity, expertise, and temperament.
The recruitment team at Ness checks for following information on candidate profiles to analyze their suitability before presenting to the hiring manager:
- Investing in self-improvement: Trainings and conferenced attended, tests completed, certifications added.
- Readiness to participate in interest communities: Membership to tech forums, participation in discussions
- Intellectual pursuits: Innovative ideas presented, white papers / research data published, reviews of white papers, subscriptions to research organizations.
- Achievement: Rewards received, recommendations, career growth
- Associations: Network strength and quality of people networking with, industry body subscriptions, group membership.
Pruthvi concludes that this three-pronged approach “has opened up a number of possibilities to build our brand, focus on the right talent, and build strong partnerships. This in turn has had a significant impact on productivity and profitability of our organization overall.”
Hear directly from Pruthvi :
You can view more stories about social recruiting in India here.
Topics: Recruiting strategy
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