I was travelling to Bangalore and at the railway station in Chennai, browsed through the latest titles.... With my new-found interest in retail, what caught my eyes was a just released book 'IT HAPPENED IN INDIA' by Kishoreji Biyani of Pantaloons! (Rupa publishers; there could be a no better bargain with this book priced at just Rs.99/-.... a new price point in business books!)
I picked it up, to see what he had to write about... In a few minutes, I was spell bound by the insights the book throws on, not only the Future Group, as it stands today, but also wealth of information on what are the unique challenges in Indian retailing and how different retailing in India could be contrasted with the rest of the world, where size was the only factor that won! It talks about the umpteen number of retail-formats that are dictated by the 'diversity' and 'uniqueness' of the Indian market/populace, and also the huge opportunity and challenge in taking the retail (r)evolution to the nook and corners of rural India.
It is a testimony to the way a family business has evolved and morphed, and scaled up in size to a model ahead of its time in India.
For anyone who is looking at an opportunity in this happening revolution, this is a must read! and for those who are already a part of this boom, there could be no better 'refresher course in Indian retail'.
As a humble learner of retail, my sincere gratitude to Kishoreji Biyani for sharing his journey to the top and the challenges that will take the country's retail bandwagon forward.......
Saturday, April 28, 2007
Fool proof interviews!? Fool proof hiring??!
This is an afterthought of my reading 'Winning' by Jack Welch! Somewhere in that, writing on hiring for winning organisations, Welch states that even a 50% success rate in hiring the right candidate for the right job is a commendable strike rate!
But, I cant say that of many of us operating in the 'indian corporate eco-system'.... I guess it is owing for our quest for perfection and also due to the fact that we are racing to make strides in jet-speed thanks to the nation-of-a-billion dream.....
Is there any fool proof way of hiring on the basis of a few rounds of discussion with a prospect candidate, based on what is understood and consumed from his professional resume and a few -
may be 25 good - questions? and may be supplement this with a couple of psychometric tests that are essentially designed by the west and reference checks, that I still believe would be skewed in favor of the candidate, thanks to the speed-hire attempted to by many of us in the HR fraternity?
Kishoreji Biyani of Pantaloons in his just released book 'It happened in India' has stated this on hiring good people : He has said that in most cases he looked at good people and then created a job for them in his fledgling retail conglomerate. And that he has benefited from this, to the extent that there are people who have left the group and rejoined them for better!
Such hiring can possibly happen in the senior management thanks to the visibility and performance of that individuals in the past and their own credibility.... but not much of this could help in middle levels where i guess over 60% of the overall hiring keeps happening....
The job of hiring by interviews is probably less complicated in the IT industry where tests and past projects worked on, and to some extent, stability throws a lot of pointers to performance predictability! Each organisation would have a set of well structured tests that help as much! But even there, the challenge would be in extending the same to hiring project managers and business leaders, where non-tech skills gain pre-eminence.
Strategic hiring professionals with a wealth of experience and a great track record of hiring successfully, would be the most qualified to suggest ways and means to go about fool proof interviewing and fool proof hiring.
But, I cant say that of many of us operating in the 'indian corporate eco-system'.... I guess it is owing for our quest for perfection and also due to the fact that we are racing to make strides in jet-speed thanks to the nation-of-a-billion dream.....
Is there any fool proof way of hiring on the basis of a few rounds of discussion with a prospect candidate, based on what is understood and consumed from his professional resume and a few -
may be 25 good - questions? and may be supplement this with a couple of psychometric tests that are essentially designed by the west and reference checks, that I still believe would be skewed in favor of the candidate, thanks to the speed-hire attempted to by many of us in the HR fraternity?
Kishoreji Biyani of Pantaloons in his just released book 'It happened in India' has stated this on hiring good people : He has said that in most cases he looked at good people and then created a job for them in his fledgling retail conglomerate. And that he has benefited from this, to the extent that there are people who have left the group and rejoined them for better!
Such hiring can possibly happen in the senior management thanks to the visibility and performance of that individuals in the past and their own credibility.... but not much of this could help in middle levels where i guess over 60% of the overall hiring keeps happening....
The job of hiring by interviews is probably less complicated in the IT industry where tests and past projects worked on, and to some extent, stability throws a lot of pointers to performance predictability! Each organisation would have a set of well structured tests that help as much! But even there, the challenge would be in extending the same to hiring project managers and business leaders, where non-tech skills gain pre-eminence.
Strategic hiring professionals with a wealth of experience and a great track record of hiring successfully, would be the most qualified to suggest ways and means to go about fool proof interviewing and fool proof hiring.
Tuesday, April 24, 2007
Employable candidates - trends!
Further to yesterdays' BLOG on employers' foray into 'training' would-be graduates, here is a pick that speaks about what the industry thinks and does to engage in increasing employability.
Thanks to Business Standard and Rediff.
Indian IT firms are launching various programmes to make the student community "employable" and meet requirements of the industry. Though India churns out over 325,000 lakh engineering graduates every year, experts say just a third of these are actually "industry-ready". Wipro Technologies says most of the engineering graduates who are in their final semester have very little programming expertise and are not exposed to the industry.
As a result, it takes them at least six months to become productive in projects after recruitment, according to Rajesh Ram Mishra, chief technology officer, Telecom & Product Engineering Solution, Wipro Technologies.
Adds S Sadagopan, founder director of Indian Institute of Information Technology, Bangalore: "Quality is a big problem in the industry. In 80 per cent of the cases, there are no proper teachers in many engineering colleges. There are lot of colleges which should not exist, but were started under political patronage."
The US produces just 85,000 engineers every year, but they have the largest number of software developers in the world. China produces 600,000 engineering graduates every year, is way ahead of India.
Even as quality tends to become a major issue before he industry, the estimate by Nasscom is that there will be a shortfall of 500,000 technology professionals in India by 2010. In the absence of any help from the government, the industry is trying to solve the problem on its own.
"Today, the campuses are the primary supply base of professionals to the IT industry and they are the biggest partners for our growth. But I feel that the curricula of engineering colleges do not meet the industry needs. That way, the industry is moving, the academia needs to keep pace," said Hari T, Head of HR, Satyam.
Satyam, for instance, has introduced a programme, `Campulse' which reaches out to campuses and helps them strengthen their ability to service the industry. Infosys, through its `Campus Connect' programme, aims at helping engineering graduates to suit the requirements of the IT industry. The programme helps the company regularly interact with academia and enhance the availability of talent. Wipro has launched 'CodeZap Guru', a programme that aims at developing code writing ability of final year engineering students and supports them with training materials. Mindtree Consulting, through its annual 'Osmosis Day' programme, reaches out to campuses to involve students in presenting papers and technical projects.
The programme gives the undergraduate students an opportunity to exercise and improve technical, written and verbal communication skills, says the company.
To promote secured code writing among student developers at the college and university level, Microsoft Corporation has launched the 'Security Shootout' initiative. Accenture, which has a strong focus on campuses, has launched a programme 'Campus Corridor'. The programme, besides helping the company recruit from select colleges, engages them by supporting them in areas like curriculum development, faculty training, student seminars and sponsorships.
"Campus Corridor, in its true sense of the word, ensures a significant long term association between Accenture and these colleges which will help in building an 'industry-ready' talent pool," says Sandeep Arora, Lead Executive, Accenture Delivery Centre for Technology in India.
Guess more and more of our employers get into the 'employability bandwagon'!!
Thanks to Business Standard and Rediff.
Indian IT firms are launching various programmes to make the student community "employable" and meet requirements of the industry. Though India churns out over 325,000 lakh engineering graduates every year, experts say just a third of these are actually "industry-ready". Wipro Technologies says most of the engineering graduates who are in their final semester have very little programming expertise and are not exposed to the industry.
As a result, it takes them at least six months to become productive in projects after recruitment, according to Rajesh Ram Mishra, chief technology officer, Telecom & Product Engineering Solution, Wipro Technologies.
Adds S Sadagopan, founder director of Indian Institute of Information Technology, Bangalore: "Quality is a big problem in the industry. In 80 per cent of the cases, there are no proper teachers in many engineering colleges. There are lot of colleges which should not exist, but were started under political patronage."
The US produces just 85,000 engineers every year, but they have the largest number of software developers in the world. China produces 600,000 engineering graduates every year, is way ahead of India.
Even as quality tends to become a major issue before he industry, the estimate by Nasscom is that there will be a shortfall of 500,000 technology professionals in India by 2010. In the absence of any help from the government, the industry is trying to solve the problem on its own.
"Today, the campuses are the primary supply base of professionals to the IT industry and they are the biggest partners for our growth. But I feel that the curricula of engineering colleges do not meet the industry needs. That way, the industry is moving, the academia needs to keep pace," said Hari T, Head of HR, Satyam.
Satyam, for instance, has introduced a programme, `Campulse' which reaches out to campuses and helps them strengthen their ability to service the industry. Infosys, through its `Campus Connect' programme, aims at helping engineering graduates to suit the requirements of the IT industry. The programme helps the company regularly interact with academia and enhance the availability of talent. Wipro has launched 'CodeZap Guru', a programme that aims at developing code writing ability of final year engineering students and supports them with training materials. Mindtree Consulting, through its annual 'Osmosis Day' programme, reaches out to campuses to involve students in presenting papers and technical projects.
The programme gives the undergraduate students an opportunity to exercise and improve technical, written and verbal communication skills, says the company.
To promote secured code writing among student developers at the college and university level, Microsoft Corporation has launched the 'Security Shootout' initiative. Accenture, which has a strong focus on campuses, has launched a programme 'Campus Corridor'. The programme, besides helping the company recruit from select colleges, engages them by supporting them in areas like curriculum development, faculty training, student seminars and sponsorships.
"Campus Corridor, in its true sense of the word, ensures a significant long term association between Accenture and these colleges which will help in building an 'industry-ready' talent pool," says Sandeep Arora, Lead Executive, Accenture Delivery Centre for Technology in India.
Guess more and more of our employers get into the 'employability bandwagon'!!
Monday, April 23, 2007
Corporate training grounds - the next solution to Talent shortage!?
A quick glimpse of today's newspaper and there were 4 articles on large corporates (Pantaloon, another IT company) and a couple of ads calling for training franchises (Bharti Walmart, if am right!).....
With oft-repeated statistics highlighting the abysmally low 'employable' graduates passing out of the country's institutions, and the scramble for good talent in the face of exponential growth in some industries - like consumer, media, telecom and retail, just to mention a few... well it looks like corporate engagment into graduate training and grooming to be 'employable' is the next inevitable trends.....
Now look at what it means to recruiters/recruitment organisations and also to human relations pro's in any of these emerging industries... the new trend would call for a broader understanding of curriculum in colleges/universities, basic skill levels in various geographies across the country - skills akin to communication, selling, client interface, basic technical skills in IT (not sheer theory, but practical hands on exposure to keep them ready for the employment engagement...... all this would mean that recruiting organisations can also look at a completely different kind of engagement at the college/university level, where they could engage with placement cells/curriculum planners in proffering crucial inputs that would be a wealth of information for 'reskilling' and making the would be graduates 'employable'.....
The day is not probably not far when recruitment thought leaders and HR pro's could be on the curriculum committee and even the decision making bodies of our educational institutions... I am not saying this is not there now, but to what extent these stakeholders are impacting critical curriculum decisions??!! That is bound to take a leap in the next few months and years!
An example is Symbiosis, Pune engaging the services of an eminent PR practitioner in Chennai Mr Srinivasan www.prpoint.com to advise on curriculum development for a hands on PR course that ought to be radically different from the courses of today. Although this is PR (public relations), this will be more in the case of HR and recruitment in the days to come!!
Think of a scenario where we have a whole lot of 'employable' recruiters to work for corporates and recruitment organisations, with hands on exposure to various techiques of recruiting 'right' people...... Guess even large recruitment companies like Manpower, Adecco, Kellys etc can look at training would-be graduates to make them 'employable' recruiters........
With oft-repeated statistics highlighting the abysmally low 'employable' graduates passing out of the country's institutions, and the scramble for good talent in the face of exponential growth in some industries - like consumer, media, telecom and retail, just to mention a few... well it looks like corporate engagment into graduate training and grooming to be 'employable' is the next inevitable trends.....
Now look at what it means to recruiters/recruitment organisations and also to human relations pro's in any of these emerging industries... the new trend would call for a broader understanding of curriculum in colleges/universities, basic skill levels in various geographies across the country - skills akin to communication, selling, client interface, basic technical skills in IT (not sheer theory, but practical hands on exposure to keep them ready for the employment engagement...... all this would mean that recruiting organisations can also look at a completely different kind of engagement at the college/university level, where they could engage with placement cells/curriculum planners in proffering crucial inputs that would be a wealth of information for 'reskilling' and making the would be graduates 'employable'.....
The day is not probably not far when recruitment thought leaders and HR pro's could be on the curriculum committee and even the decision making bodies of our educational institutions... I am not saying this is not there now, but to what extent these stakeholders are impacting critical curriculum decisions??!! That is bound to take a leap in the next few months and years!
An example is Symbiosis, Pune engaging the services of an eminent PR practitioner in Chennai Mr Srinivasan www.prpoint.com to advise on curriculum development for a hands on PR course that ought to be radically different from the courses of today. Although this is PR (public relations), this will be more in the case of HR and recruitment in the days to come!!
Think of a scenario where we have a whole lot of 'employable' recruiters to work for corporates and recruitment organisations, with hands on exposure to various techiques of recruiting 'right' people...... Guess even large recruitment companies like Manpower, Adecco, Kellys etc can look at training would-be graduates to make them 'employable' recruiters........
Saturday, April 21, 2007
Blue Ocean Strategy in recruitment!!
For sure, most of us would have a basic idea of what blue ocean strategy is all about... a glimpse of http://www.blueoceanstrategy.com/ or even better going through the semimal work by Chan Kinn and Renee would enlighten about this amazing concept which many organisations are benefiting from! In a nutshell, it is to look beyond the obvious in terms of the market for the product or service. It means chartering in unentered terrain and creating an entirely new market, than competing with all those in the conventional space.
Come to think of recruitment, and I am sure, most of our fraternity would love to have a Blue ocean strategy solution to our pains in recruitment! Just to put it simply, how many times do we look beyond the obvious when we source for skills... and how different are we from all those who do the same thing! and yet, we expect hiring results to be different by doing the same thing over and over again!
Blue ocean in recruitment would be easy if we look at options which are easy but no obvious..... I remember reading a co-blogger stating that for a pharma company that wanted skilled sales people, they ran out of options and finally thought-out of the box and sold the idea to the client that they ought to look at qualified bio-tech freshers who can be trained in sales.... Well I guess that is a brilliant Blue Ocean!
The ability to look beyond the obvious targets/markets/spaces while recruiting is what will make us all win in the coming days - its' so even now - and thats where we need an understading of what Blue Ocean strategy is all about....!!
Let a 1000 Blue ocean thoughts bloom all over!!
Come to think of recruitment, and I am sure, most of our fraternity would love to have a Blue ocean strategy solution to our pains in recruitment! Just to put it simply, how many times do we look beyond the obvious when we source for skills... and how different are we from all those who do the same thing! and yet, we expect hiring results to be different by doing the same thing over and over again!
Blue ocean in recruitment would be easy if we look at options which are easy but no obvious..... I remember reading a co-blogger stating that for a pharma company that wanted skilled sales people, they ran out of options and finally thought-out of the box and sold the idea to the client that they ought to look at qualified bio-tech freshers who can be trained in sales.... Well I guess that is a brilliant Blue Ocean!
The ability to look beyond the obvious targets/markets/spaces while recruiting is what will make us all win in the coming days - its' so even now - and thats where we need an understading of what Blue Ocean strategy is all about....!!
Let a 1000 Blue ocean thoughts bloom all over!!
Thursday, April 19, 2007
What is talent management!?
http://gauteg.blogspot.com/2007/03/what-exactly-is-talent-management.html
To take this forward, 'talent management' is a complex engagement which, I guess, comes not on the basis of any HR exposure, but, a sheer passion for making people grow within, and moreso, make them perceive the engagement with the employer in a true sense! Well, why am I saying that our people (employee) ought to 'perceive'... its because many I times even the best of people plans fall flat on their face, when they are not perceived to be in an employee or the terms' interest! What are the basics of talent management on the softer side?? Well, some of them......
To take this forward, 'talent management' is a complex engagement which, I guess, comes not on the basis of any HR exposure, but, a sheer passion for making people grow within, and moreso, make them perceive the engagement with the employer in a true sense! Well, why am I saying that our people (employee) ought to 'perceive'... its because many I times even the best of people plans fall flat on their face, when they are not perceived to be in an employee or the terms' interest! What are the basics of talent management on the softer side?? Well, some of them......
- Each and every employee firmly believes that he is well engaged both in the short-term and long-term with the organisation! He/She feels that their role is a crucial pie in the growth cake atleast in a 3 to 5 year horizon.
- Organisational objectives and functional objectives are crystal clear to all stakeholders - it will the HUMAN RELATIONS (not human resources) functions endevor to ensure clear communication down the line. No place for ambiguities here - any midcourse change in strategy has the buy in of all stake holders, and most of them know, if not agree necessarily, as to why such changes were warranted!!
- Employees feel that there is a quid pro quo in all of it for each of them, and give their best once the goals are clear!
- Organisationsal structure ensures that there is ample room for internal growth, which is when the talent management flowers come to full bloom. The structure needs to be robust and dynamic, and shall take care of the tangible and intangible needs of all talent stakeholders....
This is a miniscule list, but am sure these are some of the crucial ingredients in the talent management recipe!!!
Tuesday, April 17, 2007
attrition blues??
Check this out.. Manipulating attrition figures for whatsoever reason is probably the most criminal thing that HR can do, componding the task of managing that!
http://gauteg.blogspot.com/2007/04/mythical-attrition-numbers.html
http://gauteg.blogspot.com/2007/04/mythical-attrition-numbers.html
Monday, April 16, 2007
10 reasons why people quit
http://gauteg.blogspot.com/2006/05/10-reasons-why-organizations-are-not.html
This is a wonderful piece. For those organisations that may be willing to take cues from these, most of the issues they are grappling with vis a vis attrition would fit into these reasons! Just to add to this, the other reason which i think adds fuel to the attrition fire is that the management would also like HR function to underplay attrition! I know of organisations where the attrition rate well over 50%, but you have management statistics that the rate is 'well within control'?!
This is a wonderful piece. For those organisations that may be willing to take cues from these, most of the issues they are grappling with vis a vis attrition would fit into these reasons! Just to add to this, the other reason which i think adds fuel to the attrition fire is that the management would also like HR function to underplay attrition! I know of organisations where the attrition rate well over 50%, but you have management statistics that the rate is 'well within control'?!
Innovation in recruitment?!
Can there be innovation in something which is perceived as mundane as recruitment??
Well, there are bound to be contrarian views, but, most of us recruiters who believe that what we do (we RECRUIT!) is both art and science have to essentially innovate in recruitment.... I was reading a fellow recruiters thoughts, in which he delved on how they had to think out-of-the-box to hire techno-marketing/sales people for for a pharma company at Coimbatore (India) - they looked at bio-tech grads and advised the client to train these people in sales thus closing the position!!
This in a sense, is innovation.... in a space that grapples with acute shortage of the skilled people for appropriate positions.....
Innovation also is telling your client what are the pitfalls in the kind of targeted hiring they need, in the face of competing organisations for the same skilled people and the staggering compensation that most of them may be willing to pay.... and proferring solutions to the clients as how out-of-the-box thinking would solve attendant recruitment challenges......
Well, there are bound to be contrarian views, but, most of us recruiters who believe that what we do (we RECRUIT!) is both art and science have to essentially innovate in recruitment.... I was reading a fellow recruiters thoughts, in which he delved on how they had to think out-of-the-box to hire techno-marketing/sales people for for a pharma company at Coimbatore (India) - they looked at bio-tech grads and advised the client to train these people in sales thus closing the position!!
This in a sense, is innovation.... in a space that grapples with acute shortage of the skilled people for appropriate positions.....
Innovation also is telling your client what are the pitfalls in the kind of targeted hiring they need, in the face of competing organisations for the same skilled people and the staggering compensation that most of them may be willing to pay.... and proferring solutions to the clients as how out-of-the-box thinking would solve attendant recruitment challenges......
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