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Treat the problem, not the symptoms

• By People Matters
Treat the problem, not the symptoms

We shall discuss the challenge at hand by focusing on following salient points:

  • Costs Involved
  • Reasons
  • Action
  • Costs Involved:

  • Sum total of time, effort and resources involved in
    1. Sourcing
    2. Short-listing
    3. Selecting
    4. On-Boarding
  • The biggest one – Candidate’s refusal to join post selection – Start all over again.
  • Reasons:

  • Lack of perennial Talent pool or shared Talent pool amongst subsidiaries – Technology not optimally utilized.
  • Internal referral sources not optimally tapped.
  • Lack of clarity on Job Role and associated Success Parameters for closure.
  • Expectations not clearly set with the candidate at the beginning.
  • Delay in decision making or process delay leading to prolonged hiring time and duration.
  • On-Boarding missed.
  • Doing what is Right:

  • Look within:
    1. Internal Sources reduce hiring costs through referrals.
    2. Succession planning pool where appropriate.
  • Technology is a great enabler:
    1. Robust Profile Management System to adore your Careers Section. Proprietary or third party eg Taleo. Use SaaS (software as a service) based systems for cost-effectiveness. Get a perennial flow of profiles throughout the year. Maintain the database.
    2. Leverage Social Media Networks – LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, G+, etc. Route traffic to your Profile Management System. Share talent pool across subsidiaries if exist.
    3. Utilize technology at each stage to cut costs – Tele conferencing, telephonic interviews, video chat, Google Hangout, Skype, etc.
  • Have a clearly defined success profile to know what KST (knowledge, skills and traits) are desired.
  • Set Expectations Right before you begin: A lot of drops happen over salary negotiations. Know the motivations of the candidate and take a call on whether to move ahead with the procedure or drop the candidate at that stage.
  • No Haste, No Delay & Communicate with the candidates on the progress.
  • Realistic Job Preview: For offline or distant candidates, get your employee videos and a walk-thru the job, duties, office, events on the web to give a realistic picture of the job and work culture to the candidate. For locals, plan a walk-thru as a part of on-boarding process. Keep the candidates interested and involve them.
  • Pawan Alamchandani is the Founder-Consultant at ©May-I Consultants. You can follow him on Twitter @pawanalam