Article: Creating proficiency, not just financial profits

Entrepreneurship

Creating proficiency, not just financial profits

Identify candidates with right personalities & don't focus on their past, says Peyush Bansal, CEO & founder at Lenskart
Creating proficiency, not just financial profits
 

We employ the specially-abled for functional responsibilities in our warehouse operations unit and fulfill our mission of providing value to the consumers and to the society as well

 

The expanding e-commerce arena is observing a growing need for a larger and a smarter workforce. This need, combined with the fact that talent with industry experience is in short supply, has increased the responsibility on e-commerce companies to bring in fresh talent and hone their skills. On the other hand, the industry is also trying to tap the best talent from other industries in order to raise a skilled workforce. This generous investment in talent is a result of the increasing flow of funds into the industry and the growing realization that the people will drive the future profits.

Having grown from 40 to 400 in two years, we are also now re-building the same path for growth while constantly watching out for the right mix of talent in terms of experience and expertise and then focus on nurturing them internally. We aim to extract the crème from the industry and institutes and groom them internally. E-commerce companies gravitate towards young talent; hence they ensure that they recruit from campuses across the country as well.

Moreover, in an endeavour to reach out to the best candidates early on, we also offer six months industrial training opportunities or internships to postgraduate students from premier institutes. This way we are building a pipeline of graduates for rolling out pre-placement offers to a pool of freshers who have attained two to six months of working experience in our company. The aim is to identify the right personalities rather than focusing on past credentials and lay down a platform for enterprising youth.

We also employ specially-abled people for functional responsibilities in our warehouse operations unit through different roles. This way, we fulfil our mission of not just providing value to consumers but also to the society they inhabit. When done strategically, such hiring comes with a lot of benefits attached to it. We have always been open to hiring various kind of candidates as long as they have an entrepreneurial spirit and understand consumer behaviour in this space. Mostly e-commerce companies like ours are expected to make financial profits, but with these special employees, the proficiency of our company has extended far beyond just profit generation.

With increased investments in the sector, racing e-commerce players like us will soon even go global to capture the talent pool there. It’s easy to foresee a talent war in next one or two years, considering the scarcity of talent in this space. However, with increasing awareness and excitement around e-commerce, the situation might ease out a bit after next 4-5 years as institutes might also introduce special courses to train talent for this space. By that time, the industry would also have created an internally groomed new pool of talent.

This industry not only knows how to attract the best talent, but also has a unique way of retaining its talent, which is its work culture and an environment of innovation. It is due to these factors that there is a visible shift in job preferences as well. Soon, the situation will be like some of the developed countries where the majority of the talent would be concentrated in some of the top few companies as the best e-commerce companies have already created a strong employer brand for themselves. It has become a two-way pull where on one hand, we are reaching out to the best of the talent pool from institutes and other industries and on the other hand there are people who are ready to quit their top corporate jobs to work in a more flexible and fun work environment.

As told to People Matters

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Topics: Entrepreneurship, #ExpertViews

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