In the Talent Acquisition profession that most of us as Talent Acquisitionist are passionate about we’ve certainly come across all types of Applicants. Be it Candidates serving a notice period, fresher’s applying for employments, candidates employed as interns, job seekers and the topic of discussion candidates on bench. All of these have one thing in common and that is there’re all Interviewees seeking better opportunities to advance in their career.

But the question that’s on everyone’s mind is how do you identify the genuine ones from the bluffing candidates? As a result; upon the request of our Bangalore group member Sheetal we’ve conducted our popular Wednesday’s discussion on, “How can Recruiters or Individuals be sure that Candidates are genuinely on the bench?” And here’s what we’ve discovered…

Well from the discussion above we can confidently conclude that there are several solutions to deal with Candidates that are genuinely on bench. And here are the key take away pointers that we’ve come across…

1. Speak to multiple candidates in the same project
2. Ask question about the project in detail
3. Cross question on notice period
4. Verify by calling resources from the same project to be 100% sure
5. Arranging a F2F round and Skype discussions on Weekdays to verify
6. Verify by connections in HR
7. Ask the Candidate to submit the offer letter wherein the available notice period is clearly mentioned
8. Keep the communication strong and open

There you have it all the solutions that can ensure that Candidates are genuinely on bench. Now doesn’t this make the process easier and speed up the hiring process? So now you too and find the answer to your query, if you’re in the same scenario.

In the meantime be sure to leave your views in the comments section as we’re looking forward to them and follow us @SourcingAdda to gain real time insights on our upcoming events and activities.

Talent Acquisitionists usually deal with immediate joiners having a notice period. As Talent Acquisitionists we’re all familiar with the concept of notice period and on an average a Candidate has a three months’ notice period. But what do you do when you have a pipeline of immediate joiners with 3 months of notice period when you’ve got positions to fill immediately? Ever wondered how to tackle such a scenario especially when it is bulk or volume hiring?

If not; but are in a similar situation then we’re sure you’ll gain some valuable insights on how to deal with your situation or even if you find yourself in such a scenario in the near future. You’ve guessed right, with our popular WhatsApp Group Chat Wednesday’s discussion that focussed on, “What are the trends or tactics followed by Recruiters to get immediate joiners having 3 months of notice period?” As suggested by our Hyderabad Group member Sathya.  Here’s what we gathered…

Based on the conversation above we’ve got an out pour of responses. To name a few ask the candidate if there is a possibility for them to be released early, utilise the options available to you such as buyout, check their leave balance, most of all keep engaging with the candidate regularly, no 100% surety if the notice period can be negotiated unless the candidate is willing to do the same if provided with the favourable situations and many more. So let’s have a look at the key takeaways from two angles…

Candidate’s / Employee Perspectives

1. Ask the candidate if there is a possibility for them to be released early
2. Unable to leave early else they have to be absconds
3. Employees in India are not much aware about the employment laws

Decision Makers

1. Unless the employer waves off the notice period or offers the buyout notice period option to the candidate they won’t be able to join early
2. Offering JB might provoke the candidate to reduce NP but up to a certain extent as it’s not their decision.
3. Few Companies set 3 months’ notice keeping in mind that employees get “lock under offer”
4. Except for Handover of any pending deliverables they should relieve A.S.A.P.
5. Knowledge leakage can be a huge threat; company intellectual property is the biggest theft at this point in time.
6. Few organizations need to understand and revamp certain NP policies
7. Employers mostly prepare agreements that are one sided.

Recruiter’s Perspective

1. No immediate joiners trend is available
2. Evaluate your options
   1. maximum buyout
   2. check leave balance and serve rest,
   3. keep engaging with the candidate regularly,
   4. explain components and variables and other benefits comparing current organization
   5. Joining Bonus
3. Recruiter may be ready to refund the damage cost of previous employer to the candidate
4. Early joiners can be given an X amount as Joining Bonus (JB)
5. As Agency Recruiters you have more flexibility by negotiating with the Client while explaining the scenario and convince them to modify their hiring procedure if required.
6. Don’t Process CV with NP of 90/Days unless you have Predictive Hiring Requirement/Pool Hiring as there is an 80-90% probability of declines is much higher.
7. Business can’t lose billing for 3Months, it’s better to go for Immediate Joiner with Premium Pay.
8. Understand that JB or buyout is the decision of candidates but reducing the NP is decided by the organisation and management.
9. Go for an immediate joiner with Premium Pay
10. JB has a very limited role to play in reducing NP
11. What JB can’t, Jack Daniels (JD) can. JD means meet your candidate for a drink, lunch or dinner and it worked in most cases.
12. We must have “Employment at Will” where both employer and employee can leave without prior notice and get pay till last working day.
13.  Deferred Bonus is a good idea to encourage candidates to join early if linked to a project deliverable.
14. Add a “Deferred bonus” clause where the JB can split and candidate is eligible for half when he completes 6 Months and the other half in 1 yr.
15. Locking a person who has decided to leave, for 3 months is counterproductive
16. Back up for key resources is essential
17. The awareness about minimum notice period and guidelines /laws will help to minimise the practice of abscond, early release, unnecessary JBs and waiting for long period to join new employers.

Factors / Reasons affecting Early Joining

There are several things that can prevent a Candidate from joining your organisation early or vice versa. Sometimes even the circumstances of the Candidates importance at the currently employed organisation may have a bearing on the joining ratio hence it is essential to find out more about the candidates responsibilities. So here are a few aspects to consider in either of the cases.

Early joining of Candidates

1. A Candidates dependency in the current project matters not how much of JB is given
2. The dependability of the Candidate and his relations with his Management
3. Target Candidates already serving their notice period & check their project duration so that they can get early release
4. No 100% sure if the notice period can be negotiated unless the candidate is willing to do the same if provided with the favourable situations.
5. Except for Handover of any pending deliverables they should relieve A.S.A.P.

The Buyout option

1. When using the buyout option ensure the Candidate is on Bench or not carrying much dependability, else the organisation won’t approve this option.

Well there you have it, all the information that you will need to act when you’re in a scenario where immediate joinees without 3 months’ notice period is had to catch. So if you’ve liked this discussion then ensure that you join us for them by following us @SourcingADDA.

The Talent Acquisition Industry has constantly been debating about whether Candidate feedback is to be given or not. And if yes, how should it be given especially in rejection cases. Handling rejection can be difficult on both parties involved in the hiring process, the Interviewer and Interviewee.

The Interview being the candidates foot in the door to amazing opportunities if selected. Moreover most Recruiters usually tend to miss out on conveying the feedback to the Interviewed Applicant on time due to their mountain of tasks at hand.

Giving feedback in the right manner in a way that Applicants aren’t discouraged from their job hunt is absolutely essential but overlooked by Recruiters on the whole. Hence, the popular #SourcingChat focussed on these aspects and only the Top Tweets of the #SourcingChat is listed out due to popular vote for Top Tweets only but you can view the #Storify to know more.

Sourcing Adda@SourcingAdda

Q.1 As a Recruiter, do you always give feedback to interviewed candidates? #SourcingChat

D Prasanth Nair@DPrasanthNair

@aditi_sha26 @SourcingAdda A1 #sourcingchat lot of us give. But need to be more consistent and

also improve quality of feedback

Mark Mansour @MarkMansour01

@SourcingAdda I always do for candidates I interview. When trying to get feedback from a hiring

manager it’s harder a1#SourcingChat

Manish Pipalwa@pipalwa

A1 Sharing feedback is a Learning for #Recruiters. It help to improve on #Sourcing while identifying

Gaps #SourcingChat

Sourcing Adda@SourcingAdda

Q.2 Are you scared of giving the feedback for rejected candidates? If yes, Why? #SourcingChat

Md Saifullah Rizvi@SaifuRizvi

A2. it is humane to be hesitant while sharing d negative feedback. One has to learn to subtly share

d message of rejection! #SourcingChat

Aditi Sharma@aditi_sha26

A2: Yes, sometime I feel like the feedback will demotivate the candidate. #SourcingChat

Sourcing Adda@SourcingAdda

Q.3 Do you prefer giving the feedback personally (Call/Email) or through automated system?

#SourcingChat

Sumeet Jindal@sumeetjindalin

If the feedback is official then thru mail, personal then personally thru message. For for close

friends, face to face. #sourcingchat

gopal kharwat@IamGopal89

A3.I feel a an email or in person works well,depending on the seniority. System-naah,no personal

touch #SourcingChat

Soniya Sharma@soniyasharmahr

A3 I prefer giving it ny way the candidate is comfortable wid.Very few candidates r curious 2 knw

wt made company 2 reject thm #SourcingChat

Sourcing Adda@SourcingAdda

Q.4 How feasible is to give feedback to every candidate personally in volume hiring?

#SourcingChat

Gaurav Dubey@BetuChotu 

#SourcingChat a4. in volume hiring, feedback can be same because many candidates will lack

same skills. tell it in the way they understand.

Vikas Dua@vykasdua

A4. In Volume hiring, better to ‘templat-ise’ feedback to extent poss and automate with emails/sms

#SourcingChat @SourcingAdda

Nitisha Shah@nitishashah1

Let thm knw how much you appreciate their effort. If you genuinely want to keep their resume

on file for future opportunities. #SourcingChat

Sourcing Adda @SourcingAdda

Q.5 Share your secret of giving good interview feedback for rejected candidates? #SourcingChat

Soniya Sharma @soniyasharmahr

A5 While Rejecting due 2 skill gap i always try to give feedback on the spot or over the phone later.

Used for IT recruitment#SourcingChat

Nitisha Shah @nitishashah1

A5. The interviewee is looking for constructive insights. Don’t begin by listing all the things they did

wrong #SourcingChat

Vikas Dua @vykasdua

A5. Be quick, be honest, give some tips for improvement/ guide in the right direction

#SourcingChat @SourcingAdda

Well this brings us to the end of another great #SourcingChat and we hope you’ve enjoyed it just as much as we’ve enjoyed conducting it. If you’ve found this #SourcingChat informative and would like to be a part of it then be sure to follow us @SourcingAdda for updates to our upcoming activities.

As Talent Acquisitionist’s we’ve heard so much about Candidate experience being important for Employer Branding. We’ve even spoken about Candidate Experience at our most recent annual event #TASCON16 but have you ever wondered whether a flexible Date of Joining (DoJ) could hold the key to making exceptional hires having the calibre we need.

If you haven’t thought about it then let’s start now. We @SourcingAdda decided to get Talent Acquisitionist’s like your-self to think about things that you don’t normally think about. You might remember us from the recently held #TASCON16  or from the popular Whats App Group Chat Wednesday’s Discussions?  If yes then you also know that the Wednesday’s Discussion topic is decided based on the suggestions of the Whats App Group Chat members, hence the Wednesday’s Discussion topic was on, “Will a flexible Date of Joining (DoJ) be better to improve Candidate Experience?” It’s obvious that the suggestion was by a Whats App Group Chat member i.e. Shashank from Bangalore. And here’s what we uncovered…

Based on the discussion above we can conclude that a flexible DOJ might be the key to unlocking the door to an improved Candidate Experience which can boost Employer Branding with a satisfied Candidate. Sometimes it’s the small things that don’t quite seem relevant or important but can have a drastic impact on the things that matter to us more. Hope this discussion answered some of the questions that you may have had.

In the meantime if you’re feeling left out then follow @SourcingAdda to get the latest updates to our upcoming events in real time and become a part of these popular Wednesday Discussions  to add to your knowledge.

Linkedin the favoured buddy of Talent Acquisitionists is about to change the way Talent is Sourced with Microsoft taking it over. Everyone in the field is wondering whether it’s going to be a boon or a bane. Thus it’s the talk of the neighbourhood in the Talent Acquisition Industry.

We’ve heard rumours but let’s all take time to think about what it means for the Talent Acquisition Industry as a whole and for us as Consultants and Corporates? We’ll to give you a push @SourcingAdda we’ve gone one step ahead and discussed about it at our popular Wednesday discussions. Hence the topic, What are your views about Linkedin’s take over by Microsoft? and here’s what we discovered

The discussion above has highlighted several aspects on different levels. It has focussed on the pros and cons of this arrangement from a business level where the positive aspects can also become negative aspects if not well managed. It covers the difference between the two and their impact on the Talent Acquisition Industry. We’ve addressed the Pros & Cons from a Recruiters as well as Linkedin Employees perspectives and I’m sure you can think of other aspects that we’ve overlooked or not covered. So let’s highlight the key take a ways from the discussion so that you can add to this list.

Pros & Cons for a business

• A Push cortana integration with your existing CRM/ATS through the Microsoft platforms
• A Monopoly with the largest professional network i.e. Linkedin and largest cloud owned by Microsoft
• Emerge as a competition to Salesforce, Apple and Google
• Linkedin the founders created a set of values surrounding Business and Networking in general as indicated in their book ‘The Start Up of You’.
• Interesting to see what Apple and Google does next to show its power of net worth and feel its market presence
• Business wise Microsoft made a good deal
• Linkedin has already changed its policies
• Linkedin should retain its ideal value and be original

Difference between Microsoft & Linkedin

Microsoft

• Microsoft is more technology based
• Microsoft has strict and rigid processes in terms of employment
• Microsoft has good information pertaining to entities like Contacts, Messages, Calendar entries, MS Office and documents

Linkedin

• Linkedin is more people based
• Whether Linkedin employees will be able to cope up with Microsoft
• LinkedIn has information regarding jobs, co-workers, learning, prospects and recruiting/hiring
• Closed Source from Open Source

Pros for Recruiters

• Integration between Outlook, Skype – Slide Share – LinkedIn
• Expect good newsfeed being shared as end users
• People working on projects will benefit

Cons for Recruiters

• The essence of LinkedIn’s creation and existence is not lost
• If the end goal is achieved due to the money value looking enticing
• If the Microsoft culture is applied then people will quit Linkedin and attrition rate will increase
• A lot of limitations and restrictions and Linkedin has become like an iOS from Android
• Impacts users who were using LinkedIn for basic search
• Using third party tools like Rapportive or 36° global chrome extensions
• Unless you have a paid account on Linkedin it’s of no use

Pros for Linkedin Employees

• Collaboration can rise to a new level of success

Cons for Linkedin Employees

• Linkedin employees will be able to cope up with Microsoft
• Microsoft culture if applied then people will quit

If you’d like to add to your learning then it is imperative that you join in these conversations. Be sure to follow us @SourcingAdda to get real time updates to our upcoming activities. Now that you’ve read this far would you care to mention a few that might have clicked while reading? If yes then leave your views in the comments section as we’ll like to hear from you too.