Recruiters and Interview Sessions Are Getting Tougher Now-a-days

How many leaves do you see in the tree outside? How many people in your batch wear spectacles? How many steps have you climbed on the way to this office? Baffled? Zapped? Don't get puzzled, Career News brought the issue to let you notify about the present scenario of what is going on recruiter's mind.

Wait…there’s more. When CEO, MyInsuranceClub.com was recruiting at a premier B-school, he asked, ‘how does your institute’s logo look like?’ He adds, “The candidate must have looked at the logo a thousand times, but never really bothered to look very closely at it.

He was dumfounded ofcourse!” Yohannan didn’t stop grilling though. He asked the same candidate (who got shortlisted for five other companies) to elaborate on any one of the prospective company’s logo? “This had to be the worst interview session in that candidate’s life, as he experienced several embarrassing blanks throughout. The point I am trying to make is that, the question doesn’t need to be weird; it can be the most simple question to un-settle you and from then on, it’s anybody’s guess which way the interview can go,” adds Yohannan. You may wonder how do the answers to the above questions influence a recruiter’s decision. But clearly, we all know that they aren’t entirely insignificant because those questions are being asked by employers to gauge competencies and skills, vital for the job, right?

Dr. Shalini Sarin, director – HR, Schneider Electric India says, “Employers want to see how well the candidate can think on his/her feet. Sometimes, they just want to see if he/she gets rattled. Often, it is only to test one’s creativity or sense of humour. In creating stress and by asking a weird question, the interviewer may be testing how well the person would respond to stressful situations at the workplace.”

In a different interview setting, candidates were asked to express their opinions on the increasing significance of brain drain and Yohannan was a part of the discussion. While most candidates kept harping on the need for better facilities and the lack of government grants for research, etc to keep the best brains in our country, one of them blurted, ‘It considerably increases the marriage prospects of those who have moved abroad’ as one of the key reasons! Yohannan says, “And from there on, a very serious discussion was won over by just looking at the problem from a very non-traditional point of view. Yes, the candidate got selected!” Taxing?

It is evident that India Inc, in an endeavour to hire the best, is resorting to innovative ways of interviewing candidates and gauging their capabilities. “The people are competing across the globe today and hence, one needs to prepare oneself for handling situations, which are unknown and even of an imaginary nature, where the person’s ability and potential can be assessed and measured,” says Harpreet Kaur, senior GM and head – HR, Godrej & Boyce Mfg. Co. Ltd. The core model behind Hutchison 3 Global Services (H3GS)’s recruitment strategy is the competency-based hiring methodology, which is buffered with certain psychometric tests. In order to identify a candidate’s skills, they play a battery of audio clips of a customer call and ask the candidate for their response to that situation. Ashfaq ul Ahad, VP, recruitment, Hutchison 3 Global Services says, “This enables us to assess how the candidate will react to these situations in ‘real’ time. Another example here is a story reconstruction exercise where the candidates are given a written story about a customer’s problem. Candidates have to identify the customer’s situation and come up with a suitable response.” Ahad gives a word of caution, “Most of these programmes thrive on behaviour-based responses, which are only predictive in nature and can reasonably prove 90-92 per cent congruent on any statistical test; this means that there is an almost 8-10 per cent inherent risk in such methods.” Baffling?

For certain lateral positions at 3i Infotech, job seekers are grilled at the technical stage itself. The questions may require answers, which are technical solutions to the problem but they demand innovative thinking. In roles like training or sales, etc, the individual is required to deliver a short presentation or training module on a given topic. Certain roles, which are clientfacing require the ability to deal with pressure. Here, at 3i Infotech, the client is involved during the interview process and the candidate is put through a gruelling round of technical, business scenario questions and evaluated accordingly. Such questions bring out analytical thinking, creative abilities and crisis-handling traits, they believe. At Godrej & Boyce, they do follow unique approaches in the selection process, which is carried out for candidates. For middle to senior management recruitment and leadership development process, the selection process comprises of assessment centers based on the leadership competencies identified by the organisation. These assessment centers comprise of various tools and exercises like role plays, case studies, etc over and above the psychometric profiling. These days, recruiters refrain from asking dated questions like ‘where do you see yourself five years from now?’. Employers today want to make the most of the time in hand and you have to be prepared to shine through!

courtesy : ascent, Times

Recruitment Agencies May Let you Get A Job

Are you feeling tired and frustrated after seeing no results from your job hunting efforts? You attend interview after interview, and you wait patiently day by day to receive a phone call from an employer with good news. But the call never came. Soon, your patience starts to wear thin, and you feel tired and frustrated. Perhaps even a tad angry that you didn't get the job you feel you deserve. Career News finds some usefulness of recruitment agencies for student, looking for jobs.

Job recruitment agencies have active customer bases. Their customers are the employers. Whenever someone recommended by the recruitment agency is hired, the agency gets paid a commission. The amount of commission depends of private agreements between the employer and the agency. In other words, the primary function of the job agency is to serve the human resource needs of the organization. The faster the agency finds the right match, the faster they get paid.

So in order to make the right match quickly, job agencies are known to keep a database of potential candidates. When a job opportunity arises, the recruitment agency will attempt to contact job candidates to see if they are still looking for a job. If these candidates are still available, and if they have the right qualifications, they may be called in by the agency for a quick interview. In some cases, the positions are so urgent that the agency will conduct the interview over the phone, and send the candidate directly over.

If you are feeling frustrated because your job hunting efforts haven't been fruitful, try contacting a recruitment agency. For all you know, your dream job may just be sitting around waiting for the ideal candidate - you!

As the job seeker, you do not have to pay any fees when you engage the services of a recruitment agency. The employers are the ones who pay the agencies, not you. The agencies will also do all the coordination work for you. If you have the right qualifications, they will fix up the interview appointment for you, and let you know the date and time. Top recruitment agencies may even call you up after an interview to find out if an interview went smoothly or not.

If an interview is unsuccessful, the recruitment agency will then look at other opportunities to see if there is a good fit for you. This process continues until the agency matches you with a job.

When you contact a recruitment agency, bear in mind that you have to play your part as well. Make the job of the recruitment agency easier by providing them lots of useful information about yourself. For example, testimonials from previous employers will help. Also, help them see how you qualify for certain jobs. Perhaps you have been taking private classes. Or maybe you find yourself having a strong passion for certain types of jobs. Make such information known to the recruitment agency. They will be better equipped to help promote you when they speak with the employers.

If you can do that, you are ready to enjoy the full benefits provided by recruitment agencies.

Recruitment Software : Lets Learn Pros and crons of E-Recruitment

The software that made and used for recruitment is no more new to industries. It focuses candidate's potential on screening and ability of assisting recruiters. Recruiters used to try to select the best of candidate. Looking for a good employee can sometimes makes more subjective than objective. Especially when the candidate's impression play the factor in human interaction. Career News highlights the technical issues behind the present recruitment methodology.

A relational database that contains a series of pre-established job criteria, works at the back end of this software. Recruiters can keep track of candidates and their skill sets but their clients and their preferences can be tracked through the same database. The software's primary purpose is to completely automate the otherwise tedious process of matching candidates with job requirements. The application will also compare keyword components from the job description and match them to the applicant’s skill sets. It will Process job orders manually and that will save hours of searching through resumes/CV and applications to find the appropriate set of skills and the right person for the job. Recruitment software will free up recruiters to return to the field to meet with existing and new clients to secure further business and increase sales. Most of them coming with easy and friendly get up.

This recruitment software also works as a business management tool and an invaluable asset for online recruiting. Some of the recruitment software programs offer remote connectivity to your database so that your recruiters can call on clients, select suitable candidates and fill orders directly from the field. Most Recruitment Software supplies will provide in house training for staff members and a good back up and after sales service which is essential.

If you have specific requirements for how the software operates and the options you need but can't find one package that does everything you need, there are companies that will build recruitment software to your specifications. If you are operating an online recruiting business you may want to get a customized program that will fulfill all of your needs.