Good talent for all levels is hard to come by and recruiters are on the receiving end of this. In order to get those hard to find candidates, recruiters rely on campus recruiting when all other strategies have been tried to no avail. If you wish to expand your company’s employee base with qualified individuals, campus recruitment is a good strategy to fall back on.

So when it comes to Campus Recruitment there are certain things that you need to keep in mind, hence, here are 7 Tips for Campus Recruiting that you need to follow to obtain maximum results and in the process build important relations.

Start small to build wins

If you are doing this for the first time, it is better to begin small. Put simply, you can begin by hiring a few qualified individuals and then grow from there. If your initial hires have a good success ratio, there is no going back from there you are only going to move forward. You can even turn your initial interns in to full-fledged employees if they know that if any vacancy crops up, they can be selected provided they have the skillsets necessary for the job. Once your organisation has a name you can then recruit on a bigger scale and build your relationship with a college.

Get Executive Support

For your efforts to yield results, having an executive support is essential. If you have an executive on board participating, it has a positive effect on potential recruits. This also assists ones recruiting process as it multiplies the number of candidates showing up for interviews.

Introduction to the organisation

When introducing your company make it as brief as possible by focusing on the company’s reputation, culture and by addressing the important question, i.e. why should they work for you and how are you different from any other organisation that has come before you. Most importantly you need to state at the very beginning that only those individual who meet the criteria will be selected. More emphases should be given on the vacancies available by giving details about it; like the number of vacancies, the type, the duration and if possible mention if it is a paid or unpaid internship (optional) so neither party’s time is wasted. This is a put offer for both parties in question.

Brief the applicants

During the introduction session ensure that you tell the applicants about the mistakes they should avoid during the interview and what you look for in an interview. This eases the nervousness they are sure to experience as this is probably their first ever interview. This even builds their confidence level as they have some idea of what will take place in an interview session and gives them a chance to impress you efficiently.

Invest in to the relationship

When you select a candidate as you re intern it goes a long way if you improve the relationship. Besides the main goal of an internship program is to affect a student’s life by enriching their professional experience and help them develop their skillsets while keeping the business progress in mind.

Organisation branding

If you are successful you will land up with an exceptional candidate who can be turned into a full time employee. This particular recruit can be the face for your next campus recruiting session who just happens to be an ex-alumnus. Students will definitely respond to a familiar face if in fact he / she were a previous recruit and an ex-student.

Get more Applicants

It is common knowledge that to get more respondents, it is preferable to have a paid internship program as this serves as an incentive to the student to excel in whatever task is given to them. It motivates them to work thus you get a clear idea of whether they were the right person for the job and judge their potential to grow and improve.

If you do all of this effectively you are sure to recruit the best candidates from the pool of applicants that you interviewed. This individual therefore becomes an asset to you organisations for all the reasons mentioned earlier. So now that you know this, you can proceed with your campus recruiting session to recruit that hard to find candidate, that is often lost to us and that too with ease.

There has been a long standing debate about responsibility & accountability within the corporate environment and we’re quite familiar with the blame game. There are several reasons as to why people engage in the blame game one of the many reasons being either insufficient information due to lack of clarity in ones duties and responsibilities.

In light of the scenario playing out in various corporate atmosphere we @SourcingAdda decided to have a discussion on, “Whose Responsibility is Offer Drop? On 2 parameters namely;

1. Is offer drop the responsibility of the Recruiter or Recruitment Team?
2. Is it the complete responsibility of all the stakeholders involved?”

As per our Bangalore Group Member Jiten’s suggestion where we’ll highlight the key take away pointers right after the discussion that went by so here goes…

The conversation above clearly shows that we’ve had quite a discussion and an enlightening one at that. We’ve certainly got different perspectives to both sides and we’re sure that if you’ve read this far you definitely found something interesting to add to your knowledge. We’re sure that you’ve received an overload of information and you’re looking for the key take a ways to assist you so here goes…

Where the responsibility lies

• A good deal of responsibility lies with the recruiter and the concerned department lead but sometimes despite our best of efforts some candidates back out.
• It is the responsibility of the people involved in the selection of the candidate
• Departments will always point fingers towards Talent Acquisition
• As far as responsibility goes it should be the Recruiter and Recruitment Team as they are engaging the applicants.
• Offer Reject – can be acceptable and Recruitment team is to take the blame
• It is the Recruiter’s and the Recruitment team’s responsibility to avoid offer drops

Identify the reasons for Candidate Back-outs

Identify the factors affecting their decision to join like –

a)      Compensation,

b)      Relocation,

c)       Personal Reasons,

d)      Facilities,

e)      Security aspect or Transportation

• Find out the reasons for candidates dropping out to bring down the ratio
• Introspect to find factors that are prevalent in the organisation that may affect their decision to join
• The RCA can indicate that the impression you had was wrong
• Offer Dropout is a produce of Lack of Candidate Engagement which includes the selection process, pre and post offer expectations setting and post offer interaction.
• Accepting or dropping the offer purely depends on the attitude of the candidate
• People fail to understand that a consultant is just as good as an employer since they don’t look for the candidates only for the closure and to earn money.
• Sometimes there might be a miscommunication from the Recruiter’s side or the Candidate’s attitude
• Employing or getting jobs to people is a service that Recruiter’s provide
• If the Candidate recruited sticks to the firm for more than at least 3 years it’s an achievement
• The issue is just one side of an entire industry
• When retaining a candidate or approaching one serving their notice period with another opportunity which is financially or role wise a better one than what they are already holding they will consider the new opportunity.
• In such a scenario it leads them to dropping out of the offer already accepted
• Communication is a major aspect as sometimes a Candidate gives a different picture but portrays something else at the interview, which we aren’t aware of.
• Sometimes when the Candidate knows about the CTC offered for a particular position, they obviously start close to that even if they are drawing almost 50% less than what is allocated.
• Even after setting and understanding the expectations, the time period sometimes is so long, that the expectations and situation of the Candidate changes or is lured with something better than what they currently have.
• The luring at times convinces the Candidate that what they have in hand is not as per their aspirations.

Develop the skill sets and techniques required

• Most Recruiters lack the negotiation skills which is the root cause of offer drop out
• You cannot categorise all the skills in the same bucket
• Each skill has to be handled differently
• Understand the desperation and motive for a job change in the first screening itself
• Be ready with a pipeline to fall back on
• The fear of losing the candidate prompts a Recruiter to extend the offer without negotiating hard
• Without having multiple bargaining rounds in HR can also affect candidate retention
• Symptoms of active candidate will be:

a)      They will proactively call or e – mail Recruiters

b)      Say the exact reason for change

c)       Candidates who are jobless and looking for relocation will be sure shot

• To be on safer side it’s advisable to have 2 candidates in pipeline; one you can offer while you keep the other as a backup.
• The backup Candidate is one who doesn’t fit the role due to a Lakh or two Lakhs
• Then if the first Candidate backs out normally the business agrees to increase the budget to avoid wastage of time.
• Mostly a Monetary Bond; in India it is easily breakable
• If you do not release Candidates on a bond basis they or you can face legal challenges
• ‘One Position, One Offer Model’ is gone you need to have a Plan B in place
• Set the expectations in advance to avoid later issues

Learn to accept certain truths

• Companies try to bring down the offer to drop out ratio but it is the most difficult task
• 90% of the decision made by candidates while accepting an offer more often than not compensation is the main factor.
• There are two factors for a candidate

a)      Push

b)      Pull

• Just having 65% offer to joining ratio isn’t an indication that there is a pull factor
• You will have instances where people have used offers to negotiate deals elsewhere
• Different reasons lead a candidate to say no to the offer
• Most don’t even inform that they are not joining due to loss of an opportunity
• Candidates get hints of onsite opportunities from current employers or hear word of immediate ones from another company.
• Offer rejected can be controlled but if it is an offer renege then it’s alarming
• You will have a lot of candidates backing out at the last minute due to personal reasons
• You will encounter candidates that never pick up the call again
• Ultimately you cannot force a candidate to join
• All you can do is make the person feel valued if it will ensure that they at least inform you in case they decide not to join.
• In spite of your efforts to make a Candidate feel valued it will have its limitations one being not meeting the CTC expectations
• You will have Candidates absconding even after they join
• Know that the interested Candidate will return your missed call for sure
• Realise that’s it’s the Candidates market so in spite of your efforts it’s their career and life’s decision and you cannot put a price on that besides they are in charge.
• Irrespective of your efforts in convincing Candidates it rolls down to their mind set at the end of the day.
• When engagement is right there would be a bond and when there’s a bond there’s nothing called informing.
• Every bond usually has a clause and you can make it work out for fresher to some extent
• If you reach out to Candidates serving their notice period, you have to accept and face the fact that someone else may reach out to ours.
• Realise that most Candidate will not tell you exactly what they are looking for or the reasons for them it’s up to you to pick up the hints and clues based on observation and expressed behaviour.
• From the HR perspective we can set up rules but from the on business front people will not agree since candidate will become bill able resource and delivery will be most important thus everyone will break the rules for survival as businesses are billable.
• Businesses need to accept risks as well hence accepting the risk of a Candidate dropping out at last minute is unavoidable.
• It will always be a give and take relationship
• Unless we stop pursuing already offered candidates then we will have drop outs.
• Candidates know that they become valuable while serving notices and they exploit that importance which is probably human nature.

Solutions to Candidate Backouts

• Have a system of assigning buddies, engaging the candidate if the joining period is long
• Use technology to monitor the selection process to find out the status of the Candidate selection
• Use the RCA as it will let you know:

a)      Whether the Organisation sold the job,

b)      If a competitive remuneration was offered,

c)       If proper handholding was done,

d)      Whether the standard Operating procedure while sourcing for the final selection was followed

• Send candidates who don’t respond for more than 2 weeks after the offer rolled out a withdrawal of offer email with a cc to the business partner and the consultant; and the candidate will respond to the email for fear of being blacklisted.
• Anticipating their next move from the 1^st interaction with them
• Be ready with a counter offer in case the offer dropout is based on the mechanism of the organization
• Decide the level of engagement with Candidates based on the profile offered
• The more you engage with the candidate the more you know
• A candidate is less likely to drop out if the Recruiter guides them on how the opportunity would help them to advance in their career which goes a long way in building trust.
• Counter offers are usually compensation based but post offer interaction is the key
• Offer on – site opportunity to the candidate’s current employer to retain them
• Several miniature activities together are called engagement
• As a Recruiter; the face of the company, you deal with human beings and not commodities
• Understand and act accordingly with candidates instead of pushing them around in the name of chasing targets.
• Just a call or two from the business to the new candidate before joining makes the candidate feel like they are valued and the organisation is looking forward to them join and works for senior level hiring.
• Getting the hiring Managers in the picture makes a difference
• Roping in the hiring Manager to conduct connect calls as a part of the post offer management process makes a difference.
• It has beautifully worked for mid and leadership level hiring
• Be it a consultant or the HR at a Corporate ensuring that a potential resource be shortlisted  or hired for the position
• There needs to be a continuous communication from both ends
• There would be different factors which influence a Candidate to accept or reject the offer
• Right kind of engagement is one influencing factor where involving business is essential
• Involving their ex co-workers, referrers engaging their personal factors in our discussions especially the emotion buttons are the key.
• Presenting it as a win – win situation for them
• A personal discussion with the Candidate gives us space to engage with them strongly
• As an industry, we need to set some rules and guidelines regarding whom to approach and whom not to
• You may not be successful in changing the mind set of Candidates but as one industry you can surely set few rules to be followed by every organization which is similar to the no poaching policy.
• Try Sourcing Candidates with no offer as this will reduce offer drops altogether

Well this brings our enlightening discussion to an end where we can say for certain that it was quite a discussion with a lot of key take away pointers to add to your knowledge and think about. So if you aren’t a part of these live discussions for instance Bell Curve Performance Management System a boon or bane? Then you now know what you are missing out on.

Therefore, be sure to follow us @SourcingAdda  for real time updates to our upcoming events and activities. In the meantime make sure you leave your views or requests to join our WhatsApp Groups in the comments section or DM (Twitter) us @SourcingAdda with your contact no. & location and our representative will get back to you.

There’s been a lot of talk about Sourcing which requires one to explore untapped avenues to scout the needle in the haystack Talent that aren’t being Sourced.  We’ve spoken about different trends in Sourcing Talent for instance Executive and Non – Executive Search Sourcing Techniques and methods on a general level. But have you focussed more on the ways and means for Sourcing specific Talents?

Having said that, we @SourcingAdda decided to conduct a discussion to find out other methods of Sourcing for the Talent you seek thanks to the suggestion of our Bangalore group member Anvesh. Hence, the topic for discussion Wednesday’s was on, “Ways to Scout PhD. Talent Holding Multiple Patents”  we’ll be disclosing the discussion on the WhatsApp groups shortly and right after that we’ll be highlighting the key take away pointers to improve learning so let’s begin…

The discussion above was quite interesting as we received some out of the box tools to compliment while speeding up your specific PhD. and Patent Talent Search. And here are the key take away pointers to add to your learning…

Sourcing Tools & Methods to Source PhD. Talent Holding Multiple Patents

Sourcing Tools

1. Scholar Search
2. Google Patents Search
3. Google search or an Image Search

Sourcing Channels

1. PhD Talent – https://www.phdtalent.org
2. Espacenet – https://www.epo.org/searching-for-patents.html
3. inPASS – http://ipindiaservices.gov.in/publicsearch  (for Indian Specific Patent Search)
4. WIPO – https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/search.jsf  (for Worldwide Patent Search)

Sourcing Instructions

• You need to use the method of finding those with patents through these websites
• Use your Sourcing channels (GitHub, LinkedIn etc.)
• Collect note information where you can reach out to the Applicants
• You can also get results if the Talent Sourced has blogged
• Look for other places where Candidates have mentioned their contact information
• When a “Google Search” is done or an “Image Search” is done on Google; it returns a lot of research and PhD. Talent

Well this brings us to the end of yet another insightful WhatsApp discussion like the other one we had about, “Is Counselling Candidates on improving their Job Hunt Strategy a Recruiters Role?” If you read this far then we’re sure that you’ve something interesting and worthwhile. And if you’re not yet a part of these enlightening conversations then you know from the discussion above what you’re missing out on.

Therefore don’t be a passive learner become an active one by joining our Sourcing ADDA WhatsApp Groups and following us @SourcingAdda for real time updates to our upcoming activities and events. If you’re wondering how to join these groups then that’s easy, simply

1. Send us a DM via Twitter with your details i.e. WhatsApp contact no., location and Job Title to  @SourcingAdda                                                                                                                                                                                               OR                                                                                
2. Leave your requests to join along with your views in the comments and our representative will get back to you

There you have it; now wasn’t that easy that too in just 1 step besides you’re already a part of the Sourcing ADDA family if your reading this. Then why not make it official and add to your learning in a fun and exciting way while interacting with like – minded individuals like yourself.

There’s been a lot of talk about Pre & Post Engagement of applicants, we’ve even heard a lot about pre & post joining goodies. But have you ever thought about other areas where we can implement the Engagement of applicants? If no, then you’ve come to the right place; we’ll be exploring the areas where we can utilise this technique to improve the joining ratio of candidates shortly.

In an attempt to improve the joining ratio of the candidates we @SourcingAdda decided to have a discussion on, “Pre – Engagenent before On-Boarding Candidates” up on the suggestion of our Pune WhatsApp Group Member Kavitha.  Do remember that we’ll be highlighting the key take away points of the discussion thereafter so here’s what we’ve uncovered…

The conversation above clearly indicates that the inputs we’ve received are quite enlightening and full of ideas to utilise and verify its effectiveness. We’re sure that you’re impatiently waiting to know the key take away pointers to bear in mind therefore let’s not keep you waiting. So here goes…

Importance of Pre – Engagement before On – Boarding Candidates

• Pre engagement helps you to hold on to your offered candidates
• Post offer engagement is one of the important aspects to keep the candidate warm & enthusiastic to join the company.
• Post offer engagement is a challenge that a HR has to face it

Ideas for Pre – Engagement before On – Boarding Candidates

• Have a regular dialogue with them to know the status of the candidate with regular interactions and share key highlights with them.
• If you’re budget permits have a small souvenir sent across with a personalized letter
• Senior folks can have a discussion or dinner or lunch with the new Joinees as it creates a very good impression in a candidate’s mind.
• Engage the functional team by having regular conversations with Candidates
• Have discussions with Candidates to find out about their interest level, family issues if any, comfort level post the offer, expectation and the kind of training they’ll need.
• Keep Candidates engage by calling them regularly and check their progress simultaneously and even conducting a Candidate survey also helps.
• Explain to the Candidate the progress path expected to help them while engaging
• Conduct weekly calls & follow-ups and ensure that every call have a progressive discussion to assist retention of candidates
• During office parties if there are any Candidates that have accepted an offer & will be joining soon invite them for the parties or dinners.
• Have weekly and biweekly calls with Business Leaders and Principal Architects to keep them warm and sell the role and cutting edge work happening around it
• Inviting them for a team lunch or outings to make them feel comfortable with the team and the managers to help them get to know people they’ll be working with.
• Try to ensure that there are amazing talents in the team to boost their interests and increase the chances of them joining the firm.
• Send flowers / chocolate bouquets or goodies and a welcome email etc. to complement the efforts
• Send welcome emails with on-boarding training courses and keep them in the loop of things that involves them while sharing with them their schedule for Day 1 will help build his interest.
• Get Candidates to interact with other departments for instance the delivery team will make them feel warm and accepted.
• Sending the newsletter of the organizations achievements & awards while they are in progress
• Arrange to have a Cup of Coffee with their PM or find a way to involve them in your hiring plans
• Conduct a pending joiner meeting where you can set up a particular date quarterly
• Invite PJ for a get together session where the leader ship team can give insight to them about to the company, its financial growth etc. followed with Lunch but be sure to make it more of an interactive session.

Now wouldn’t you agree that we’ve received great perspectives and ideas to conduct successful Pre – Engagement before On – Boarding Candidates. If you’ve found these inputs worth your while and you’re not yet a part of these popular WhatsApp group chat discussions then you don’t know you’re you’re missing out on. But now you do have a rough idea as to what you’re missing; for instance we’ve had a discussion on, “Employee Promotion Processes followed by Organisations” then you might want to be a part of these discussions.

If you’ve liked what you’ve already read and would like to learn more than our WhatsApp group chats are exactly what you’ve been looking for. So be sure to follow us @SourcingAdda for real time updates to our upcoming events and activities. Ensure you leave your comments or requests to join these groups in our comments section, Tweet us or send us a DM to @SourcingAdda with your contact details and our representative will get back to you instantly.

Talent Acquisitionists are always Sourcing for the needle in the haystack and there have been several occasions wherein the applicant has turned down the opportunity due to commuting concerns.  As a result closing the desired Talent has proved to be difficult.

Having said that, @SourcingAdda we’ve taken the initiative to try and understand the importance of work location in terms of hiring. Thanks to our Bangalore WhatsApp group member Shashank’s; discussion topic suggestion, “How Important is work location in terms of Hiring?” So add to your learning with the discussion and ensure you remember the key take away points highlighted after.

If you’ve read this far then we’re certain that you’ve found something interesting and want to ensure that you’ve got all the points that were important. Having, said that we’ve taken the initiative to highlight the key take a ways for you to add to your knowledge.  Therefore, let’s get right down to them so here goes…

Importance of Work Location in terms of hiring

• A lot depends upon the location of the company and the industry they deal with
• Candidates are willing to join a company i.e. located in a place that can easily be reached by a car or public transport
• Most candidates will not travel further than they already do
• Applicants are more likely to join a company located in the vicinity of their residing location
• If Sourcing for talent with specific skills then a company located in an area where related industries are also located is a good option.
• In Bangalore; location and proximity matters a lot
• There have been scenarios where the candidate works from home yet is interested in working outside his town and is also mentioned in the résumés on job portals.
• True location is the key for any company no matter which industry and they provide transportation
• Location is not only important for hiring but equally important for business
• Clients always map the company and the surrounding areas while finalizing any deals
• A company at a prime location will definitely get Candidates very easily and clients as well
• Even though work location matters it also depends on what kind of infrastructure the city has
• During the initial phase of an individual’s career the infrastructure of the city has less importance
• But the importance picks up once they settle down with the family, house, kid’s education, taking care of parents etc.

Challenges faced

• For better company hiring it is challenging in tier-2 cities
• Even though the salaries given are on par with industry standards; Candidates are still not ready
• With Increasing traffic and travel time applicants spend 4 hours in addition to their regular hours
• Candidates want to settle in a place where there are more options
• On basis of work location we will able to understand the genuinely of candidates. It helps reduce blackout ratio.
• Finding the right talent in smaller cities compared to metros is difficult
• When it comes to relocation Candidates back-out for various reasons

Solutions to the Challenges faced

• To curb this, start introducing flexible timings, work from home once a week
• Encourage them to relocate with their family by giving more perks
• All these or more we could offer can only help a certain percentage, the challenge will still remain
• Role, pay and overall job security are vital to fill
• On the basis of the work location we can understand the genunity of candidates and it helps reduce blackout ratio.
• To deal with the challenge of relocation we need to check their candidature and if selected in any organization he / she can negotiate on that offer with the current organization.
• Moving to tier two cities and towns is a good option if implemented well
• Companies must pay tier salaries for good quality of life and to capture and retain the right calibre Talent.

Trends followed

• The Recent trend observed is that people are looking for opportunities close by
• Now travel time is also considered as work time in some countries

Now that’s one heck of a discussion, wouldn’t you agree? Once again we’ve received an out pour of responses with a lot of inputs to add to our learning as well as yours. If you’d like to get real time updates to our upcoming activities and events be sure to follow us @SourcingAdda.

If you’ve found the discussion enlightening and would like to be a part of these discussions then please share your WhatsApp contact no & you’re location via DM (Direct Message on Twitter) or leave your requests to be added in the comments section along with your views.