The emergence of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and the focus on automation of mundane tasks has got Talent Acquisitionist worried about their future. The current scenario has made Recruitment Consultants want to safeguard their current and future business prospects and they are entitled to do so.

Considering this latest development in the Industry one of our Bangalore Group members Sheetal suggested having a discussion on, “As consultants what are the domains/ industries /verticals and skills one should focus on to safeguard their current and future business prospects?” The discussion will be disclosed shortly but thereafter we’ll be highlighting the key take away pointers for your reference. So let’s begin…

There you have it, the discussion for your reference as well. So if you’re wondering how to safe guard you’re current and future business prospects then you’ve got solutions. And if you’d like to retain what you’ve learnt then let’s review the key take away pointers for your reference. So here’s what we’ve found out…

Skills to Acquire or Sharpen

• Since a major part of the work involves interacting with people it is a given that your interpersonal skills need to be good.
• Sharpen your Sourcing, Candidate and Client Management Skills
• Learn to identify the Right Candidate for the mandate
• Think from the client’s perspective when interacting with potential candidates and vice versa to know exactly what their expectations are.
• When interacting with the candidate you need to set the right expectations of the role and company which is crucial.
• Pay attention to the type of hiring you are doing i.e. product or services as the criteria for selection can differ.
• Know that if a vacancy is a Manufacturing one then these companies don’t like to recruit from service industries especially Software / BPO back ground.
• Understand the business, skill and approach required to solve client issues
• Learn how to identify people internally with the right set of attitude and skill
• Compare your candidates with them and build a talent pool.
• By focussing on all of the above aspects it will ensure you capture the right culture fit for the organisation.
• Consultants can focus on developing skills sets like
  • Data Analytics
  • Energy Management
  • Health and safety
  • Biotechnology
  • Waste management
  • Service industries like
    • Facilities Management
    • BFSI
  • It is important to have a good database of candidates that cater to all types of industries
  • Mapping the sector which a consultant is catering to, will help gain an edge over their competitors.
  • Improve or Acquire –
    • Sales, marketing, negotiation & Networking skills
    • Sourcing skills
    • Relationship building skills and go about it in a creative manner

Accept certain facts

• Learning has to be continues
• Verticals and Industry or domain are variable factors it’s the interpersonal skill level of the Recruiters which helps them grow.
• Know that there are two types of customers your dealing with one is external customers and the other is internal customers (stake holders).
• Most companies focus shifts away from external consultants due to the lack in response and the quality of CVs received.

Get a good understanding of the requirements

• Understanding the Requirement and the candidate is more important than focusing on skills / industry.
• Have discussions with the hiring manager / BU hiring manager to get the right focus and direction which is important to tap the right talents.
• Interviewing and assessing the candidates on the basis of the requests shared helps in generating a good ratio.
• Stay updated with the newer disruptive technologies
• Apart from the above mentioned aspects one also needs to have knowledge about
  • Which are the new projects bought in by an organisation
  • The new projects that are bought in by an organisation can be Clients wherein we need to help them improve their numbers.

Future of the Job Market

Here are a few vacancies that will be available in the future –

• Artificial Intelligence
• Data Science
• Machine learning
• Cloud and Virtualisation
• Mobility (Involves wearable technology, as well)
• Biotechnology and Drug Discovery & Development
• Nuclear Medicines
• Nanotechnology
• Renewable energy
• Unconventional energy harnessing
• Waste and e-waste management
• Semiconductor
• Electronics and Power Electronics

We hope the pointer’s above will help you retain what you’ve learnt and safe guard your current & future prospects as a Consultant Talent Acquisitionist or otherwise. If you’ve found this information useful then you would also like to learn about the Relevance of Recruiters asking Candidates about their CTC in the selection process. If you’re interested in becoming an active learner rather than a passive one then here’s what you can do in two simple steps right now…

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We’ve spoken a lot about the Modern Recruiting Techniques that are practiced but have you explored it on a deeper level to understand the possible challenges or the pros and cons? If not then here’s your chance.

We @SourcingAdda constantly strive to keep you updated with the current techniques and practices implemented in the Recruitment sphere. In doing so we look at things on a deeper level to get a better understanding of the topics that are discussed. Thanks to one of our Bangalore group member Jackson we are able to establish that. Upon his suggestion to have a discussion on, Modern Recruiting Techniques and the Challenges in them or the pros and cons, we gained interesting insights. We’re sure you’ll want to gain these insights so we’ll be disclosing the discussion soon and right after we’ll be highlighting the key take away pointers as well.

There you have it an interesting conversation like most go; the only difference being that we also have some key take away pointers for you to review and verify if your information is up to date. So here goes:

Modern Recruiting Techniques

• Knowledge based Recruitment:
  • What is it?
    • Where both the client & the Recruiting Company decide upon the anticipated skill sets required over a period of time
  • Process:
    • Once created they agree upon a minimum rate of the ongoing recruiting activity
      • A data base is created of candidates comprising of 2 types of candidates
        • Candidates available immediately
        • Potential candidates interested in a job change but are not available
      • Both types of candidates are tracked
        • Based on their availability they are hired on an ongoing basis
        • The unavailable ones are tracked to find their availability and are thus hired on an ongoing basis.
      • E – Recruitment or Online Recruitment:
        • Tools used
          • Job portals
          • The organisations corporate website
            • The organisations:
              • Intranet
              • Internet

Sourcing Trends

• Sourcing Integrators like belong, etc. and online evaluation platforms will rule the recruiting world in 5 years.

Preparation for the future

• Things are changing spontaneously and speedily so you need to adapt to the changing trends and update ourselves
• And if we overcome the learning process then we need to realise that it’s our fault and deal with the consequences.

Modern Recruiting Tools

Sourcing

• Reddit
• Github
• Facebook Graph Search
• Meetup
• hr
• Networkmonkey
• 1-Page
• LinkedIn
• Twitter

Referrals

• Zao

Job posting

• Indeed
• Stackoverflow
• Jobs2Careers

Candidate management

• Workable

Task management

• Trello

Selection

• SparkHire
• HireVue
• Gapjumpers
• Codercred
• SurveyMonkey

Onboarding

• Kin
• Namely
• BambooHR

Challenges faced

• Balancing speed & quality
  • Doing more with less can hinder quality in the process
• Talent Retention
  • Find ways to retain top talent instead of driving them away to better organisations that value their deliveries better.
• Limited Resources
  • Having to do much more within a less budget
• War for Talent
  • An overflow of overqualified candidates
  • Sourcing for Top Talent isn’t easy with limitations
  • Mainly top talent rely on the word of mouth technique to derive conclusions on whether the company is a good one and can nurture their careers in a positive way
• Online profiles
  • Big data that is available on Social Channels
  • Scouting Top talent is a hunt
  • Hires are made based on online profiles including the activity of potential talent which affects the decision of on-boarding.

If you’re searching for information related to modern recruitment techniques or are looking for tools or new platforms to leverage to capture desired Talent then you’ve got what you needed. Besides we’ve covered all of these aspects, so if you’ve enjoyed it and found the information helpful and would like to take an active participation then here’s what you can do:

1. Follow us @SourcingAdda to gain real time updates to our upcoming events and activities
2. a) Leave your views or request’s to join these Groups in our comments section

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1. b) DM us to @SourcingAdda with your Whatsapp. Contact no., full name & location.

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We’ve heard a lot about layoffs in the IT sector and the impact of Artificial Intelligence taking over jobs that can be automated. Having said that it’s obvious for one to wonder if further job cuts in the IT sector are a harsh reality in future?

If you’ve got the same query then you’d be glad to know that we @SourcingAdda have conducted a discussion that addresses this very scenario. It was possible thanks to one of our Bangalore group members Karthik. Based on his suggestion the discussion was on, “Will further Job cuts in IT be a harsh reality in the future?” Apart from disclosing what was discussed we’ll also be highlighting the key take away pointers right after so here’s what we uncovered…

If you’re trying to find out more about what the job cuts in the IT sector and its harsh reality in future then you’ve come to the right place. If you’ve read this far then you’ll be delighted to learn that we’ll be highlighting the key take away pointers to improve your retention and test your memory. So be sure to check how much you’ve retained. Therefore here we go…

The scenario

• IT industry hasn’t matured, instead there are additions but employees aren’t retired because the IT Industry started in the 90’s.
• Considering the average of 35 yrs. for service for retirement these people will retire in another 5-10 yrs.
• Know that things will start stabilising by 2025
• No major impact in the Banking Finance Services & Insurance (BFSI) sector
• The wave of lay-offs will come after every 8 yrs. but it’s a paradigm shift
• Up-skilling will help you to get and retain jobs but only to a certain extent

Reasons for layoffs

There are several reasons for layoffs so here are some –

General reasons

• Lay-offs / Job Cuts are the way businesses react to market situations
• Mergers
• Acquisitions
• What happened with Satyam
• Dot-com bubble burst
• Multi Million / Billion Dollar scam
• The war for oil reserves
• Political situations in major markets (Trump / Brexit)
• Artificial Intelligence (AI)

Job Cuts in the Service Industry

• Budget constraints
• Migration
• Immobility issues

Job Cuts in the IT Industry

• Automation
• Robotics or AI
• H1b visa constrains
• Such developments affect all the functions in IT

Job Cuts in the Recruitment Industry

• The Recruitment field will experience job cuts in the future due to the ATS maintenance being automated.

Preparation for Recruiters

• Recruiters will still be required for personal touch but they will have to adapt to the change
• Recruiters will have to invest in re-skilling, refreshing skills, networking and cross-skilling to ensure they’re still in the competition to take your pick of the litter of the opportunities at hand
• Knowledge is the key hence constant learning is the need of the hour which should continue to 60 yrs. and beyond.
• Learn about python, shell script and Perl scripts to automate Manual Testing and Cofig jobs.
• The Key is to keep yourself abreast of the latest trends in your field of work.
• Networking (increasing and engaging contacts) is the most important part if you want to remain relevant for years to come
• Participating in group discussions like WhatsApp. is one way
• You might encounter many multi – talented candidatures so that’s something to look forward to
• Accept reality and equip yourselves with the skill sets that can’t be replaced by automation
• To minimize the lay – off wave you need to reduce the retirement age in the Indian industry to 55 yrs.
• If one can be very technical yet have team collaboration it minimises the chances of the person being laid-off.
• IT Job cuts is not a solution as it results in techie suicides
• Companies have to form policies that minimise the layoffs
• Governments should intervene and keep tabs on the number of hires and what’s their attrition and retention percentage since layoffs affect the whole family.
• The other Industries that can be affected are food, banking, real estate etc.

Future of IT sector

• IT industry is saturated and with many mid – level professionals waiting for Senior Level Assignments to crop up.
• Job cuts in the IT Industry will be harsh reality in the near future
• Automation may cut conventional jobs but it’ll open doors for new opportunities
• Engineers having customer knowledge and can improvise the product are needed
• There are 1 million jobs globally vacant in the Security software but there are no takers
• Jobs which have performance and scalability are also available but no takers

There you have all the information you’ll need to check how much you’ve retained?  If you’ve retained most of it then you’re half way there with your career preparations for the future. I’m sure that you would have found the information helpful and useful as well. If you’d like to learn more about the Best Unique HR Practices for Employee Benefit or Engagement in IT Sector  then here’s your chance. Simply, follow these 2 steps…

1. Follow us @SourcingAdda to get updates to our upcoming events and activities
2. a) Leave your views or request’s to join these WhatsApp. Groups in our comments section

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1. b) Send us a DM to @SourcingAdda with your name, WhatsApp. Contact no. and location

And one of our representatives will get back to you as soon as possible.

Performance Appraisals have always been around and so has the methods used to identify the out performers. But the question arises as to whether the methods used provide justice to the outperformers?

With that being said, we @SourcingADDA conducted the WhatsApp. Wednesday discussion that addressed the, “New alternatives to the Bell Curve for Performance Appraisals and what are their merits and demerits?” Based on the suggestion of our Pune Group member Niveditha, we’ll be sharing the chats and right after we’ll be disclosing the key take away pointer so let’s begin…

Well that’s the end of another discussion and like always we’ve received a lot of insights that is sure to assist you in retaining what was discussed. So let’s begin…

Reason for alternatives to the Bell Curve

• Performance Appraisal is of interest and importance to Human Resource specialists
• The need for alternatives to the Bell Curve practice is due to the realisation that such practices are not suitable for high performing teams and underperforming teams.
• There is a logical connection between learning and growth with a better business process
• This connection is of value to the customer and it improves the financial performance of the organisation.

Alternatives to the Bell Curve

• Calibration is a face-to-face process where ‘easy graders’ and ‘tough graders’ help rate employees more realistically.
• 360-Degree Feedback is when feedback about the employee is taken from everyone the Employee interacts with (clients, co-workers, customers and direct reports)
• Management by Objective is where supervisors work with employees to outline goals and desired outcomes
• Peer Review – Require co-workers to comment about each-others performance
• Six – Sigma can be used to increase productivity and remove wastes and identify gaps
• Use OKR objective key results which is formulated by Google for performance

Trends in Performance Appraisals

• Elimination of ratings is needed since they distract the efforts of organizational improvement
• Identification of constraints and eradicating them
• Create internal performance consultants responsible to define performance standards and analyse performance.
• Conducting Self-Reviews provides an opportunity to every employee to comment on his /her perceptions and views on achievement of targets.
• There has been a shift from the collaborative approach (Management by Objective & Behaviourally Anchored Rating Scale) towards the traditional techniques that use graphic rating scale, paired comparison, ranking, checklist etc.
• Small firms rely heavily on trait-based approaches while larger firms rely on a combination of trait, behavioural and result-based techniques.
• Performance information is used for employee development or to administer merit pay
• Other administrative uses include promotions, lay-offs, transfer, termination etc.
• Common objectives identified are reviewing past performance, rewarding past performance, goal setting for future performance and employee development.
• Day-to-day feedback and bi-monthly feedback sessions
• Manager as a coach instead of appraiser
• Performance management as a function of training & development

Common Methods utilised today

• 90 Degree Appraisal: The employee evaluates himself and shows his strengths and achievements or his boss evaluates him. (Self or Boss)
• 180 Degree Appraisal: The employee and the boss evaluate his performance on a monthly basis. (Self and Boss)
• 270 Degree Appraisal: The method wherein the employee is evaluated by 3 persons, himself, boss and co-workers.
• 360 Degree Appraisal: It is also known as ‘multi-rater’ feedback, where feedback about employee’s performance comes from a Supervisor/superior, co-worker, client / customer, subordinates and the self-assessment of the employee himself)
• 720 degree Appraisal: The 360 degree appraisal method is practiced twice. First the 360 degree appraisal is done and again but with the boss who gives him feedback and tips on achieving the set targets.
• Rank & Yank Strategy: It is also known as ‘in or out policy’. The rank and yank strategy is one where employees are first ranked from best to worst and these rankings are used to identify and separate poor performers from the good performers.
• Balance Score Card: It is a tool to measure the performance of the employees along three aspects listed below…
  • Financial Perspective:That measures operating income, return on capital employed etc.
  • Customer perspective:That measures customer satisfaction, customer retention, etc.
  • Business process perspective: That measures cost incurred on the employee, quality of output etc.
  • Learning & growth perspective: That measures employee satisfaction, employee retention, skills, etc.

If you’ve been looking for alternatives to the bell curve for performance appraisals then we trust you’ve got quite a lot of them. And if you’ve found these insights relevant and would like to learn more about Perspectives on Layoffs in the IT Market then here’s what you can do in two steps; simply…

1. Follow us @SourcingAdda to get real time updates to our upcoming events and activities
2. a) Leave your views or request’s to join these WhatsApp. Groups in our comments section

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1. b) Send us a DM to @SourcingAdda with your name, WhatsApp. Contact no. and location

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We’ve heard a lot of talk about the Recession and some of us may have been in the centre of one in the past or are in one and have to deal with the layoffs.  Then you are certainly looking for ways to minimize the layoffs else are looking for solutions. Nevertheless with that being said, here’s something to think about. So have you focused on the recession and its effects on Employees and India on a global level?  If you haven’t then you’re in time thanks to our Delhi Group member Raveena. She suggested that we have a discussion on, “Views about the recession and its effects on Employees and India on a Global level”.

How amazing is that we @SourcingADDA decided to cover exactly that. If you’re curious to find out what we’ve discussed then you’re in the right place as we’ll be disclosing the conversation shortly. Thereafter we’ll be highlighting the key take away pointers, showcasing possible solutions or ways to minimize the layoffs, so be sure to review them. So here goes…

So if you’re in the centre of one or have to deal with one then you’ve come to the right place as we’ll be providing possible solutions and ways to minimize the layoffs. So here goes…

What is a Recession?

• The National Bureau of Economic Research cites a recession as “a significant decline in economic activity spread across the economy, lasting more than a few months” as the hallmark of a recession.
• Recession, the term itself is quite scary even though it started it is still unacceptable globally

The Scenario

• At present in context with the IT sector we can’t term that recession is prevalent in India
• There is a shift in operational activities and offshore – economic activities have not declined
• The HR employed in the IT sector in India will be laid off but this was expected & predicted
• The problem with companies nowadays is that they face the recession boldly but bouncing back becomes a challenge.
• The media creates hype besides this is not the first time that layoffs have been taking place
• It happens every year and IT companies are most affected as they just hire people without proper forecasting.
• They keep them on bench but when the companies don’t get projects then they start laying-off which creates a bad impression in the market.
• AI (Artificial Intelligence) will take over completely hence we have to be prepared and acquire new skills to compete in the market.
• There is a high chance for the market to improve so the chances for one being jobless is less
• It’s a wave which we need to get used to minimise the effects it has on employees which is very horrifying creating panic and insecurity.
• Situational Meaning: The country’s Talent has followed and learnt technology but with a herd mentality.
• In a saturated skill-set market, just placing a lower bid for getting a competitor’s morsel, itself was an indication of this scenario.
• WORST: lack of sense of responsibility towards upgrading the existing resources (employees) to forecasted / future needs; thus, experts / analysts termed few of the services of the organisation as body-shops.
• It’s a nasty race to impress the investors with big profit percentages and YOY earning figures which lack the focus on investment…
  • In continuous skill-set up gradation
  • Innovation
  • Adaptations
• The no. of Jobless individuals is increasing even though the industry is growing upwards due to automation and technology and we’re experiencing a downfall in Human Resources.
• It started majorly with Trumps eye on visa program and changes required in it leading to Australia following it as well.

Possible Solutions

• The focus will now be back on operational efficiency, automation & skill enhancement
• The discussion will also lead us to a rethink on salary & compensation related HR policies
• There are enormous opportunities in developing countries but for that we need to create a demand for IT applicants and make people tech savvy.
• People from any stream should not stick to their current skill-sets instead they should develop new skills-sets and focus on profile enhancement.
• People should adapt by…
  • Cross training
  • Be relevant
  • Constant up-skilling
  • Have a disciplined life
  • Maintain a buffer for any eventualities
  • Engage in such activities to survive any recession
  • If fired move on without burning any bridges
  • Follow the thumb rulee., “what goes up has to come down” unless there is a connected shift to stay up throughout which is irrelevant.
• Being a service based and outsourcing-dependant sectorial economy, the cut-off points around certain skillsets should be forecasted and implemented while responsibly upgrading towards newer standards and technologies
• Sense of being a chooser and not a beggar is to be inculcated at the top level

Degree of the Effects of a Recession on all types of Businesses

• Some businesses may be affected only moderately or not at all; if the recession is mild and brief
• Small businesses are hit the hardest while some industries are affected more than the others
• Luxury services suffer first as both business and private customers cut back on spending
• Small businesses show remarkable flexibility and find creative ways to survive a downturn
• It has vastly impacted Indian employees both directly and indirectly as Indians are present in huge nos. everywhere by choice or chance.

Reasons for Layoffs

• The current layoffs and job cuts in the IT sector can affect Individuals, given the pink slips or even profiles that act as support functions related to the industry and across all levels of value chain.
• People may lose jobs due to…
• Automation
• Business Alignment
• Acquisition

Possible effects:

1. Reduce cash flow
2. Demand loss
3. Staffing reductions
4. Marketing Constrains

Contributing Factors

1. Budget constraints
2. Reduced spending power
3. Inadequate preparedness for a recession making it impossible for a small business to survive
4. Without adequate support business are unable to continue operating

Well this brings us to an end of another worthwhile discussion that certainly showcased plenty of key take away pointers to bear in mind especially if we’re trying to cope effectively in a recession. So if you’re looking for answers on how to curb a recession then you’ve got what you’re looking for.

So you like what was discussed then why not be a part of these WhatsApp groups? Now you can join these groups for more insights about, “Interview Calls Unanswered by Candidates after Multiple Follow Ups” In 2 simple steps, namely;

1. Follow us @SourcingAdda to gain real time updates to our upcoming activities and events like #TASCON17 Pune
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