We’ve spoken so much about catching the needle in the haystack talent and also gone over the aspects of on-boarding Candidates. We’ve discussed the importance of joining goodies and the role it plays in retaining them. But have you ever thought about the company’s hiring policies especially when we’re dealing with relative hires?

If you haven’t yet thought about it then here’s a chance to begin by reviewing the WhatsApp Group chat that we had on, “What are the policies governing the Employment of a HR staff relative in the same company?” upon the suggestion of our Pune group member Shikha. But before we get in to that be sure to view the key take a ways right after.

This brings another conversation to an end with important inputs to add to your learning. Having said that let’s check out the key take away pointers to facilitate learning and review what we’ve learnt so far therefore let’s begin…

How to Prevent Conflicts of Interest (COI) due to Relative hires?

• To prevent conflicts companies should avoid having –
• Related employees involved in a supervisory or reporting relationship with one another,
• Relatives transferred, promoted or hired inside a reporting relationship
• An employee as a part of a hiring committee when there is a relative interviewed for the position
• Follow minimum ethics like not having a relative present within the interview panel
• Don’t have referral bonus for Managers to hire a resource; reporting to them
• Usually mid-sized companies prefer not to hire direct relatives of HR personnel due to the exposure to confidential information.
• Have some checks and balances in place and make sure a person is hired for the role as per their talent.

Well now you know what aspects you need to bear in mind to avoid COI from arising entirely. As long as these measures are put in place and followed; it will definitely prevent COI and facilitate performance. In order for this to work you need to be absolutely sure that the Talent you’re hiring isn’t related to the decision makers. In the event of a situation where you do have a Talent i.e. related to your  HR  personnel then  be sure to follow the above mentioned ethics to avoid COI altogether.

If you’ve found this information relevant to your particular situation then this has certainly answered your questions. In order to get more of your queries resolved you need to be an Active learner rather than a Passive one. To add to your learning on, “WhatsApp Group Chat – Ways to Scout PhD. Talent Holding Multiple Patents be sure to become a part of these WhatsApp groups

To become a Passive learner and join us in these informative discussion; you only need to follow these 2 simple steps, namely –

1. First follow us @SourcingAdda to get real time updates to our upcoming events and activities
   1. Especially for alerts to #TASCON17 that’s going to be held on 27^th April’17 this time at Bengaluru
2. Second leave you views or requests to join these WhatsApp groups in the comments section below

OR

3. DM us on Twitter to @SourcingAdda with your contact details & location and one of our representatives will get back to you

We’ve discussed several topics related to the full cycle Recruitment Processes dealt with resolving challenges that most Talent Acquisition professionals face on a regular basis. We’ve even covered the trending hiring techniques that are practiced and so much more. But have you come across a scenario where you constantly make interview calls that are rendered unanswered by Candidates after conducting multiple follow ups?  Would you like to find out how you can tackle this situation? If yes then you’re in the right place.

We @SourcingAdda  constantly strive to assist our fellow Talent Acquisitionist in resolving challenges that they face and thanks to our member Anshul from the Mumbai Group we are able to do so. Hence our discussion was on, “How to deal with Candidates not answering the interview calls even after multiple follow ups?” wherein we received an out pour of responses which you’ve missed if you weren’t present. Anyway, you can catch up by viewing the conversation which we’ll be disclosing shortly. While you’re at it you might want to check the key take a ways that we’ll be highlighting right after so stay tuned and let’s begin…

Based on the discussion above we’re sure you’d agree with us when we say the discussion was very informative. Besides after reviewing these highlighted key take way pointers we’ll be disclosing shortly you’d know exactly why.  So let’s stop beating around the bush and get to the point. So here goes…

Possible Solutions

• Drop a message via SMS or email by requesting a read receipt or an acknowledgement
• Engage them via multiple channels by showcasing great stuff about the company and its culture
• If Candidates appear unresponsive it’s prudent to leave them alone & revert back to the backup plan in terms of alternative candidates such as –
  • Dragging the candidate to court is definitely not a wise thought unless it is an extreme case
  • But there are other alternatives have terms that if they withdraw the offer there will be a financial penalty but they may turn out to be counterproductive.
  • Another alternative is to drop the candidate and move on
• But bear in mind that there could be genuine cases where you need to take their responses in to consideration before reacting using drastic measures.

Accept certain facts

• Realise that no one is so busy to not at least drop a message; in such a scenario it is preferable not to consider them for the role instead of worrying whether they will join.
• Even though we’re changing their lives know that you will come across Candidates who don’t value that but that too is perfectly alright.
• Know that you will have candidates who keep you informed that they are exploring other options as well which is perfectly fair, as we too pursue other candidates simultaneously.

Recruiter Perspective

• Ask them if they are really interested or they are exploring counter offers
• Receiving cold responses or even no response affects the relationship with the Recruiter and their impression in the job market.
• In the initial stage try to understand and get to know more about the candidates else there is no point in processing it to the next level.
• Do your research about the potential Candidate through available sources
• Find out whether the Candidate is really Interested in relocating and what aspects can be utilised to facilitate relocation after evaluating these aspects –
  • Salary
  • Job Environment
  • Place of journey
• Avoid candidates who swap jobs quickly and take a written commitment for everything at the time of acceptance of the offer.
• You can implement ways and means e.g. like sue them in the court of law if you receive an acceptance from them for the same but they in turn play up and don’t join the Company within the specified time frame.
• Find out what their motive for Job Search is –
  • Immediate need
  • Just gathering information
  • Future need if haven’t been promoted yet; if yes, then they are looking out for a change
  • If you’re prospective candidate already has an offer in hand but are stalling for better opportunities to compare.
• Based on the above mentioned categories find out where they fall in and handle it accordingly
• Remember that what you communicate each time you speak to a candidate matters
• Responding back with a Yes, No or Speak later is basic business etiquette which you should know.
• Focus on how forthcoming a candidate is as this matters as well
• If you come across a candidate who evades calls and suddenly picks up from another number then i.e. a big red flag that needs your consideration.
• Learn to face uncomfortable situations in an honest and forthcoming manner in order to be able to manage complex problems once the candidate joins your organisation.
• You need not follow up to a very large extent whereas for others follow ups and selling the position is required on the role and at the organisation.
• It depends completely on whether it is a Candidate driven industry or vacancy driven
• If you come across such candidates know that they are not active jobseekers; although they may clear the technical test / interview but chances are they will not join.
• In such a scenario it is preferable not to spend your time or the panel’s time on such carefree candidates.

Look at the Candidate behaviour from a Candidates perspective

• Look at things from a Candidate’s perspective to understand their behaviour and possible reasons for it for e.g. think about it, if you had out of 2 or 3 offers at your disposal you’d compare the offers to find out which is the best one to pick? And it’s a given, you’ll always go with the best opportunity.
• As far as possible look at the Candidates perspective before reacting as sometimes there are Candidates who have a genuine reason for their behaviour.

This brings the enlightening conversation to an end with a lot of insights to take back with us. One of the most important ones we avoid as Recruiters is looking at things from our perspective.  Sometimes things are best explained when we take the Candidates perspective in to consideration.  Without considering another’s perspective we get affected fast which wouldn’t be the case if we focussed on these aspects as well; as it helps us understand things better. With clarity in thought you are able to react in an appropriate manner which makes a big difference in the long term.

With that being said let’s add to our knowledge and become active learners rather than passive learners to gain insights about the Industry we are passionate about. How? That’s easy; simply follow these 2 simple steps …

1. Follow us @SourcingAdda to gain real time updates to our upcoming activities and events especially, #TASCON17 and to find out more please visit – https://goo.gl/qMGDER
2. a) Leave your views and your requests to join these WhatsApp. Groups with your contact and location details in the comments section

OR

       b)DM us on Twitter to @SourcingAdda with your WhatsApp. Contact and location details

And one of our representatives will get back to you. So if you’d like to gain more insights into the trends or recruitment practices that are followed in the Recruitment Industry for instance, How to identify if a Candidate Joins or simply uses the Offer? Then it’s absolutely essential that you join these groups.

A Talent Acquisitionist needs to remain updated with the current trends followed in the Recruitment Sphere. With Social Channels being utilised to capture Talent and the flow of information on them keeping tabs on the upcoming trends can be overwhelming. One of the ways to stay updated is to be part of Recruiting groups where there are activities that give you real time updates.

Luckily, we @SourcingAdda have foreseen this development thus we created WhatsApp. Groups to assist Talent Acquisitionist’s like yourself remain updated. On that note our Wednesday discussion topic, “How should a Recruiter decide whether to take up or not take up a Requirement to source? As suggested by our Bangalore group member Shashank. Having said that, we’re absolutely sure that you’re eager to know more therefore; we’re sharing the discussion and right after the key take away pointers as well. So here goes…

This brings another insightful discussion session to an end with a lot of inputs to add to your knowledge. So let’s not keep you waiting any longer so here goes…

Accept Certain Facts

• You can’t choose which requirements to Source
• If the requirement is open then there is a Candidate in the market that is the reason it is open

How to decide?

• Make a choice based on the priority of the requirement and close it
• Before you start any recruitment process evaluate the actual need of the position
• Discuss with seniors and if the need can be full filled internally by giving extra training to the existing staff.
• Find out whose position you are filling i.e. an exclusive and / or steady client
• If there is a High ROI given by any client
• Have large database and you can also blacklist clients whose consecutive 4 positions go on hold or feedback wasn’t given
• Preferable not to blacklist Clients for future reference
• Avoid working for Clients who don’t have a certain level of respect for executive search fraternity
• Ticket size & payment release timelines are important but timely feedback & commitment to fill open position are something which recruiters need to pay attention to for continuing business relationships
• Timely closure with quality is what both internal & external clients look for at the most

Gain a complete understanding of JDs

• Trying to pen – down a few requirement details
• Analyse the requirement once received and then act on that
• Speak to a functional person to understand the urgency
• Insist on getting a feedback
• Get clarity of what is expected by suggesting 1-2 profiles to check if the priority is correct
• If you get an immediate response then rework accordingly
• Understand the requirement thoroughly such as
•        Find out about the organization & do your homework
•        Research on how long the mandate has been open
•        What are the challenges the hiring and recruitment manager are facing
•       The reason for rejection in earlier cases
•       Try contacting the rejected & previously interviewed candidates for the roles and the reasons for both cases         will give you a better understanding to the crux of the mandate
• Post your first research and sample profiles turn – around time from client both these aspects will help to decide how critical the mandate is.
• If the requirement is critical the client will follow up and work with you very closely else don’t bother.
• If you are a Recruiter then minus the organization homework one needs to focus on business and hiring manager.
• Understand the team and situation and then decide how critical the mandate is and focus on it
• If you’re facing difficulty then gain further clarity by interacting with the concerned individuals is absolutely necessary.

Well there you have it all the important information you’ll require to make your decision and guidelines to assist you in achieving your KRAs. If you’ve read so far than we’re sure you found what you’re looking for and you also realise what you’re missing out on. So let’s avoid being passive learners and strive to be active ones instead.

There has been a lot of talk about Candidate experience and joining goodies including employee & employer branding. We have also emphasised the impact of a Candidates positive or negative interview experience can have on the company branding as well. But do you realise how crucial the element is in Recruitment?

If you haven’t yet thought about it then here’s a chance for you to find out how crucial the element is thanks to the suggestion of our Mumbai Group Member Dinesh. So the discussion was on, “Candidate delight / experience, a crucial element in Recruitment” And we’ll be disclosing the conversation shortly but right after that we’ll be highlighting the key take a way pointers so be sure to go through them.

This brings an informative discussion to an end with lots of inputs to take back and add to your learning about aspects that you might not have discussed before. With the amount of information that is shared it sometimes becomes overwhelming, hence; here are the key take a ways to help you retain what you’ve learnt.

Candidate Experience a crucial element

Recruiter’s Perspective

• Candidate Experience is quite essential especially in the interview stage as they can either create positive or negative Company branding.
• Candidate delight is an important influencer to becoming an employer of choice as there are few takers to join a hostile company.
• Pay close attention to family occasions like a child’s birthday when giving a DOJ can increase the chances of retaining a new hire that will generally remain with you for at least a couple years and are usually grateful and happy with the hiring Company due to the consideration.
• The Candidate is an “External” customer when you think of a company’s “brand”
• When a Candidate is interviewed, a good experience will definitely be a positive factor, a motivator & vice versa.
• Irrespective of what your experience is with the Candidates they should be treated fairly
• Some aspects to bear in mind –
  • Briefing the candidate well about the role
  • Having a clear and simple process (Not making it Lengthy)
  • Not asking inappropriate questions
  • Providing Mandatory feedback and within a particular time
  • Once a candidate is delighted the chances of them joining is high
• If the Candidate does not join there is a possibility of the applicant showing interest in future projects and even provide references when asked.
• Most importantly such individuals will avoid spreading negative views about your brand or Company within their circle which can create damaging publicity.
• In case you are hiring a Recruiter / TA and the Candidate was rejected or does not join; a positive experience can help get a job with their company or their referrals in the future.
• To provide the right “candidate experience / delight” one should first be a good job seeker / candidate them self and analyse what one goes through while interviewing whether active or passive.
• Once you get a clear understanding of the Candidates perspective, developing the ideal candidate delight becomes easy.
• Candidate experience is important right from the initial point of contact i.e. how you speak and delight them which are followed by the interview and offer process.
• It’s not the “goodies post offer” but the “token of appreciation” at each stage of hiring.
• Candidates are sure to join the organisation if they trust the Recruiter, hence candidate experience should be positive right through the interview process, post offer and joining.
• A successful Candidate experience leads to a chain of references for your current / future mandates hence treat your candidate well or else you close doors to better Candidates and opportunities.

Possible responses to disclose Bad News

• Conveying bad news about their non – competencies is difficult unless done skilfully
• When giving the above mentioned news you need to keep in mind that it depends on case to case and Recruiter to Recruiter basis.
• For instance when evaluating a Candidate in Java you can mention as per the feedback their improvement areas can be worked upon for e.g. no exposure to spring or weak in struts
• You can inform Candidates that they were rejected for this position but that doesn’t necessarily mean they cannot apply in future.
• It is important to let them know that they should apply for the relevant opportunities if they are a good match besides we can screen them to see if they are a perfect fit for the opportunity.
• If it’s a positive outcome then there are multiple good ways to convey
• If negative; depending on the reason of rejection empathise is to be given to the set of expertise that were preferred but the position was filled within the current internal resource pool.
• Alternatively, you can gently convey a ‘no’, but communicate a similar immediate opening within your network / information.
• Using these approaches you can grow your connections which can help in numerous ways as a HR / Recruiter.
• If you are confident about the candidate being a good fit, re-interview him from another set of interviewers but as a last resort as your credibility is at stake here; for e.g. if a candidate was not a good fit for a Dev. Role based on the consent from the HM and Candidate you can add them to a Pipeline Request or a support position; if you have such a process in place else try and implement it.

Employer’s Perspective

• When we think of a brand we typically think of a specific product or service which in turn represents the collective organization.
• It’s important that your “Employment Brand” is experienced in the same positive manner as are your products and services.
• Candidates are attracted to your organization because of what you do and how you do it
• The expectations Candidates have of your organization is a direct reflection of your brand
• Good experiences travel fast, but bad experiences travel even faster
• Your corporate brand may not necessarily always match your employer brand, but in order to attract top talent, you must market your corporate employment culture.
• When these aspects are considered and implemented, human resources becomes your corporate employment brand ambassador.

Candidates Perspective

• Candidates need to realise that they need to raise their bars to reach the expected standards if they don’t meet the requirement; instead of insisting on getting selected for the desire profile at the company of choice.

Well there you have it all the information you’d require to retain the knowledge you’ve gained. If you’ve read this far than you’ve certainly found something interesting and are more likely to gain more. If yes, then you can become and active learner by following these 2 simple steps –

1. Follow us @SourcingAdda to get real time updates to our upcoming activities and more information about our Annual event i.e. #TASCON17 so visit – http://tascon.in
2. Leave your views in our comments section along with your request’s to join these WhatsApp groups for more inputs related to How to identify if a Candidate Joins or simply uses the Offer?

OR

3. Simply DM us @SourcingAdda with your contact No. and location and one of our representatives will get back to you.

To gain more insights to the trending techniques and strategies used on various aspects related to Talent Acquisition and alike; it is absolutely essential for you to be more of an active learner rather than

a passive one.  We leave you with a quote that sums-up the discussion well, “people will forget what you said but will never forget the way you made them feel.”

Two consecutive years of success with #TASCON15 & #TASCON16 and now Sourcing ADDA presents #TASCON17, this time in Bengaluru which was a success.

The Talent Acquisition & Sourcing Conclave (#TASCON17) was held this time at Bengaluru, in Hotel Chancery Pavillion which helped Sourcing ADDA achieve another milestone. The event consisted of 18 renowned speakers from reputed companies with 250 attendees ranging from Directors, Heads, Managers, Executives, Sourcing, Recruiting and H. R. professionals within the Recruitment sphere.

We @SourcingAdda would like to take this opportunity to thank our Sponsors i.e. Timesascent as Media Partners, Indeed as a Platinum Sponsor, Talent Recruit & SourcePRO as the Silver Sponsors while the Rewards & Recognition Partner i.e. XOXOday and the HR Partner i.e. HR Enlight for their support and assistance. The combined efforts and support of the Speakers, Delegates, Sourcing ADDA Team and the volunteers from Indus Business Academy, Bangalore (formerly known as Indian Business Academy) that altogether made the Talent Acquisition & Sourcing Conclave (#TASCON17) achieve its grand success.

We had several activities where we divided the sessions in to sections namely, Strategy Hub and Sourcing Lab. Several of the Sponsors joined in by conducting activities themselves. We even had some general activities for all the attendees and speakers to enjoy at #TASCON17 which were the ‘Best #Twitterati Contest’ (most tweets), ‘#SelfieContest’ (best selfie) and an open ‘#SourcingContest’ (to utilise Sourcing skills acquired and improve your Talent Acquisition skills by competing with the best within the industry) to complement the event.

The sessions that were conducted in the two sections were related to the names of the sections. The Strategy Hub being more of a theoretical one while the Sourcing Lab was a practical one. The Sessions in the Sourcing Lab included live demonstrations of tips, tricks and hacks to capture the Talent Magnets. Here techniques and skills were showcased for fellow Talent Acquisitionist’s to acquire and build on; in an attempt to be better Talent Magnet Sourcing professionals. Apart from this we also had three networking breaks for the Speakers, Attendees and Sponsors to interact with each other and form connections.

After a brief introduction about the host i.e. Sourcing ADDA and the purpose for conducting the #TASCON17 event were delivered by Yusuf Pathan (Managing Director at Key Resourcing & SourcePRO & Founder of Sourcing ADDA) the sessions commence beginning with the Keynote session.

Keynote Session

The enlightening sessions commenced with the Keynote session delivered by Rajeev Mendiratta (Vice President – Head Workforce Management & Overseas Operations from Wipro Technologies) which was about, “Board Room Perception & Expectation from Recruitment as a Function in an Organization”

The informative and enlightening sessions conducted in the 2 sections were as follows…

Strategy Hub

The section as mentioned above was more of a theoretically based one where trending Recruitment practices were addressed.

The first session conducted by Natalie Bayliss (Head of Talent Acquisition from Cisco) was about, “Creating a Transformational Talent Acquisition Team”

The next session was conducted by Namita Vyas (Head of Talent Acquisition from Inmobi) was about, “Make your Employer Brand a Talent Magnet”

The session after that was a panel discussion conducted by Clive Rodrigues (Talent Acquisition Partner from APAC, Kronos),  Anjana K R [Talent Acquisition Head  for Karnataka from Tata Consultancy Services (TCS)], Rahul Mitra (Head Talent Acquisition – India from ZS Associates) and Gurinderpal Singh (CEO / Founder from Talent21 Management & Shared Pvt. Ltd.) They collectively discussed about, “Innovations in Campus Engagement”

The fourth session was conducted by Bhaskar Bhattacharya (Head – Learning and Organisation Effectiveness from Aditya Birla Group) which was about, “Innovations in Interviewing – A Path towards Employer Branding.”

The second last session was conducted by Yusuf Pathan (Managing Director at Key Resourcing & SourcePRO & Founder of Sourcing ADDA) which was a, “Round Table Discussion”.

After separate sessions going on simultaneously in the 2 sections for the final session the division was removed and everyone came together for a panel discussion. The session was conducted collectively by Clive Rodrigues (Talent Acquisition Partner from APAC, Kronos), Jashan Joshi (Sourcing, Talent Acquisition & Research from ZS Associates) and Srikrishnan Ananthanarayanan (Founder & Partner of Adviti Consulting) which was a, “Surprise Session!”

Sourcing Lab

As the name suggests this particular section was more of a practical one where live demonstrations of tips and tricks or hacks to capture the Talent Magnets were covered. Having, said that here techniques and skills were showcased for fellow Talent Acquisitionist’s to acquire and build on.

The first session was conducted by Akberali Engineer (Social Media / Internet / Passive Sourcing / Training Specialist from Capgemini) on, “Stalk the right way” which comprised of live demonstrations of tips & tricks for Sourcing Talent Magnets.

The next session was 2 sessions of 30 minutes each conducted by Nikhil Patil (Senior Specialist Talent Acquisition from Netcracker Technology Solutions) and Snehal Gaikwad (Recruitment Specialist from Tieto on, “Sourcing Google…ly”.

The session right after was based on LinkedIn where there were 2 sessions of 30 minutes each namely, Mitchell Dudani (SourcePRO Trainer from SourcePRO ) which was about, “Demystify new LinkedIn” and Anshuman Mukherjee (Recruitment Specialist from Tieto) who spoke about, “LinkedIn Hacks.”

The fourth session was again for 30 minutes each which was conducted by Anoop Kesiraju (Talent Magnet from Technovert) &  Ashwani Paswan (Digital Marketing Manager with NimbleHype) who spoke about, “Job Description 2.0”

The last session in the Sourcing Lab was again divided in to 2 session of 30 minutes each namely, “Chrome Extensions” conducted by Sashwanth Bellan (Staffing Recruiter from Cisco) and, “Best way to find Email Address!” by Tatyasaheb Kolage (Sourcing Manager from Helix Recruiting)

The Talent Acquisition & Sourcing Conclave (TASCON17) concluded with the prize distribution ceremony and a thank you Speech also delivered by Yusuf Pathan (Managing Director at Key Resourcing & SourcePRO & Founder of Sourcing ADDA).

To get a coup d’oeil of #TASCON17, Bengaluru you can catch the Storify here – https://goo.gl/qSo0jB  And if you wish to get a sense of what we’ve accomplished or achieved so far you’ll have to find out for yourself by visiting Talent Acquisition and Sourcing Conclave (#TASCON17).

If you’re looking for an opportunity to gain practical exposure and experience it then, be sure to join us for another remarkable and enlightening experience at Talent Acquisition & Sourcing Conclave (#TASCON17) soon to be held in Pune as well. And on an even grander scale with twice the fun scheduled and win exciting prizes. To experience it first – hand and catch all the action live while you enjoy while adding to your knowledge and blossom into better Talent Acquisitionist’s it is important that you attend the #TASCON17 Pune event.