Category: Uncategorized

  • The Benefits of Hiring Young Employees

    The current situation of the job market is unstable! It is due to the complexity of finding the candidates who qualify. However, companies are exploring different ways to boost the era with intense growth. Reports say that trainees are more flexible with extra hours of hard work.

    The current youth is experiencing a rapid demand in the job network nowadays. Every young person aims to perform best in their first job. Their enthusiasm and sincerity in the workplace are inevitable! Excellent performance at work reflects on one’s mental health.

    Nowadays, industries and governments look forward to hiring as many youths as possible. The main motive for hiring youngsters is to embrace and explore the benefits.

    Why Young Employees?

    Young employers offer transparency to their co-workers and stay loyal to company standards. The innovative initiatives and up-to-date knowledge of the newbies support organizational growth. Many people are seeking retirement at an early stage, so companies are looking for top talent simultaneously. The fresh graduates are multi-taskers with skillful and passionate efforts. Their new skills and creative ideas develop the future flourishment of your business.

    Companies look forward to the continuous advancement of traditional standards of employee selection. Young employees provide never-ending benefits, including productivity, independence, and financial security. Hence, every newbie in the job network creates a sustainable future. Every employee has a unique style of working that enhances the diverse cooperation of different brains.

    Advantages Of Employing Youths

    • Maximization Of Productivity

    New hires have high-valued morals and quality goals. They put extra effort into meeting the company’s desires and blooming their growth with extraordinary performance. The bright side of massive productivity is that it is motivational at the best level for other co-workers. A newbie’s hard work won’t end up in the long run! They will fasten their speed to compete with the senior employees.

    The companies appreciate their focus on career advancement and, thus, promote youth recruitment. Their extra efforts help them win parity with their co-employees. They are responsible and avoid every mistake to maintain their personal/professional goals. Organizations must not concern themselves regarding the investment they make for newbie training. The amateurs may not have experience, but their high productivity contributes to an organization’s long-term goals.

    • Intense Patience For Career

    The younger the employees, the higher their passion! Their career activity strength is mesmerizing over long-term seniors and colleagues. Their energy and passion are inevitable as it is their first employment opportunity. The employers have super-high expectations regarding the commitment and quality of results from newbies.

    They are enthusiastic about everyday routine work. The reason behind their explicit passion is their interest in the field they work. Companies must train employees and let them have the best time. They can offer their learnings and put them into practice for the best results.

    • Tech Advancement And Agile Development

    The Millenial age surrounds technology that enables them a natural hold on the tech world. They have a keen ability to understand different technologies. The young generation provides a business-driving impact and supports the assistance of hi-tech software. Modern-day priorities are continuously changing that keeping workplaces in a state of flux. Thus, millennials are the perfect choice for a modern work environment offering adaptability. The workplace today is highly agile and fast-paced due to youth staff.

    • A Motivational Learner

    The newbies are keen learners with an extreme interest in the building experience. Studies have shown that 60% of 25 years olds have up-to-date contemporary qualifications. Their mindset of growth is so systematic that they absorb new skills at a quick learning pace. Their main motive of meeting workplace requirements makes them flexible. Young ones are easy to teach and follow intrinsic motivation. This way helps in fast growth and upscaling regarding new responsibilities. Their potential learning ability and highly flexible skills are something that every business needs.

    • Risk Takers And Future Planners

    The current youth are proficient risk-takers who extend a business opportunity for success. Companies that have exposure to multiple cutting-edge strategies recruit young ones. The millennials’ successive knowledge and risk-willingness grab the attention of industry professionals. They are aware of what they desire and how to achieve their goals!

    Experience turns one into an expert. Several contemporary organizations have intact knowledge and superlative-thinking capabilities.

    Such industrial guidance boosts success through digital transformation. The hiring of newbies provides an impressive outcome. Their plans are as rigid as a hard rock!

    Hence, the workforce must include a fully-fledged pack of youngsters who are keen learners with cutting-edge skills. Their top-notch adaptive nature makes them flexible and comfortable with every company requirement. The modern complex world is unsustainable due to variable demand and market variation. Thus, the newbie generation plans for the future with consideration of statistical probabilities. Thereby, it makes them a keeper and go-getters.

    • The Company’s Plus Points That Support Youth Hiring

    The newbie employees are not under the pressure of meeting payrolls, unlike the old applicants with a top-notch experience. Every millennial desire to settle and cover the path of a happy job from unemployment. The 21st-century pandemic has already altered career-enhancing changes for newbies. The recession due to COVID-19 has affected several job perspectives.

    Applicants who have intense experience demand high pay. However, companies need not spend several amounts on newbie individuals in the market. The newest employees are affordable, even though the millennials’ training might go expensive. But, this is not a worry for any industry or organization.

    The early investment in training compensates through high productivity in the long run. Some business organizations hold security deposits in case of the employee leaves before completing the probation period.

    The current generation brings positivity to the workplace. Proper instructions for a trainee makes them eligible for efficient growth. They are free from multiple office regulations as a newbie. However, a compact onboarding process is of utmost importance.

    Lastly, handling younger workers is an easier task. They feel happy to work extra hours to contribute their efforts to a company’s success. Their multitasking capabilities and prior-to-schedule make them a worthy choice.

    Conclusion

    Several decades of advancement have led many organizations to foster growth through technology. Companies are continuously changing business practices with the trends coming up in the market. Millennials change their approach and mindsets according to market conditions with broad ideation. They are engaging and always energize the workplace, hence, encouraging others. Younger employees thrive in a fun work environment along with excellent outcomes. Thus, they are in better shape than the company’s old employees.

  • Top challenges startups face in recruiting and retaining talent

    Successful business founders usually attribute their success to having the right team. This is mainly because an early employee may significantly influence a startup’s success narrative.

    The journey that the members take together forms a fantastic team. Hiring the appropriate individuals is the first step, though. Faster success may be achieved, especially for startups, by hiring workers that fit the company’s culture and possess the necessary technical abilities.

    Reputation and visibility of the business

    As a startup, you may have yet to hear of your company. Unlike larger firms, you don’t have a good reputation to rely on when looking for talent. It gets harder and harder to get top talent if no one has ever heard of your company. Candidates taking a chance by joining a startup business they’ve never heard of is risky. As much as we are reluctant to admit it, perception plays a significant role in applicant selection and impressions of employer brands, which is why hiring for your company may be challenging.

    Your employer brand and employee value proposition

    First and foremost, you must consider what distinguishes you from your major talent rivals—and yes, this also applies to the more well-known athletes. Many applicants will be attracted to your startup’s goal, beliefs, and culture, especially those seeking a challenge or wanting to be a part of something new.

    You probably haven’t given building an EVP—a set of standards outlining what applicants may expect from your role as an employer—a lot of attention if you have a small staff, but you should in the present labor market. This will assist you in determining what makes your company a special place to work, which you can subsequently share with candidates and lay the groundwork for candidate perceptions of your employer brand. The EVP will serve as a blueprint for your business’s culture, including how you treat workers and what you expect of them. It’s a helpful tool for setting yourself apart from the opposition and enhancing your employer brand.

    Lack of available tech talent

    Tech recruiting is now challenging for companies of all kinds, especially startups, due to a worldwide skills shortage. The number of tech graduates coming out of universities each year is limited, and firms are doing all in their power to retain experienced IT professionals. How can you fill positions to expand your company if they don’t exist? As much as we’d all like to, you can’t always afford to hire employees from scratch, and waiting for suitable candidates to find you will delay your expansion ambitions. Since applicants are being snatched up rapidly due to the strong demand for IT skills, many firms are left in a bind.

    Contacting unwilling or different prospects

    The fact that every startup, so-called “scale-up,” and established business look to the same talent pool to meet recruiting demand explains why many are having trouble finding talent. As a result, when it comes to hiring, businesses need to be innovative and think outside the box. Consider different approaches to enlarging your talent pool, such as deploying paid advertising campaigns to connect with and interest relevant passive prospects in your position, or reconsider your definition of the perfect applicant. While attitudes cannot be learned, skills can. As a result, it could be advantageous for you as a business if you locate people that match your passion and beliefs but who might need some assistance honing their IT skill set.

    Increased talent competition

    There is a big surge of organizations hiring and looking for the same skills, in addition to a shortage of talent. This is a challenge for startups since you have to make a solid first impression on potential employees who may have never heard of you. The question of remuneration also arises if you are in direct competition with major tech firms, such as Amazon, Google, or Facebook. Due to a lack of financing, startups sometimes cannot offer the same benefits and compensation as these well-known companies. This makes it more challenging to attract talent since you run the danger of being pushed out of the competition.

    How to solve the recruiting problem?

    Use a platform for recruitment marketing that enables you to centrally manage job ads and applicant responses. Most platforms also measure how frequently job ads are watched and clicked on, allowing you to reduce spending where it is ineffective. Making it a practice to review and analyze statistics can help you identify the sources that yield the most qualified applicants and conversions.

    To draw in top candidates, you must hire them swiftly and streamline the recruiting process. To hasten the process, it’s critical to create a recruiting strategy that outlines the precise knowledge and expertise you want in applicants, the money and effort you can commit to the search, the number of candidates needed, and the duration of the interview process. Additionally, everyone on your team has to be informed of this strategy.

    Using simple language in the position description is a fantastic place to start. Your job postings should outline the duties, obligations, and credentials you want in an applicant. A project or success story connected to the available position might be highlighted in your description to personalize it even more. Potential candidates should be interested and informed by your job advertisement.

    Conclusion

    Your recruitment expertise is the key factor influencing how a firm is shaped. By conquering the hiring as mentioned above difficulties, you will be establishing the stringent standards required for your business to remain competitive in the marketplace today.

    All of the advice mentioned above leads down to this: while developing recruiting techniques, applicant psychology must be your priority. However, what has worked for others might not be appropriate for handling your unique applicants. As a result, you need to pay special attention to how unique your business is and what sector it works in.

  • How to Respond to a Job Rejection Email

    How To Reply To A Job Rejection Email?

    Being rejected for a job you always wanted might be upsetting, especially if you believed that you were a top candidate after clearing several rounds of interviews.

    What ought to be done if you’ve been rejected from a job application? How ought you to reply to an email rejection? The hiring process was no longer casual, and some businesses don’t bother to inform candidates that they have been passed over for a position. Notification of unsuccessful candidates by employers is not mandated by law.

    How To React To A Job Rejection Email?

    Sending a follow-up email is only required if you genuinely want to leave a positive impression and be given consideration for opportunities with that particular firm in the future.

    Nevertheless, you may want to leave a positive impression on the company that rejected you. In that case, you could write a follow-up email in which you thank them for the chance to interview you, apologize subtly for the denial, and ask to be considered for any prospective positions.

    Why You Should Consider Replying?

    Unbelievably, a lot of rejected job candidates later find employment with the organization that first left them.

    In other instances, hiring managers who are impressed with second or third-place applicants frequently make introductions on their behalf to other businesses or clients they know are looking for qualified people for available positions.

    What Should Be Said In The Message?

    Keep your message straightforward when you follow up in writing after receiving a job rejection. You only need to include the following in a brief email to the recruiting manager:

    “Thank you for giving me the place to express myself.”

    You are disappointed at not receiving an offer, but try not to be overly negative. A request to be taken into account for potential better-fitting possibilities in the future

    What Not To Say If You Weren’t Hired!

    You shouldn’t broadcast your complaints about the business in a follow-up letter or criticize the interviewers for failing to see how valuable you could have been to them.

    Follow-up letters and numbers are not opportunities to inquire whether you were passed over for a position or to get advice on how to improve your interview performance.

    Keep your tone professional and upbeat at all times. It is advisable to avoid sending a follow-up email altogether if you believe you cannot control your negative feelings.

    Importance Of Replying

    Any email should be responded out of politeness. The recipient wants to know that you got their communication first so that they will value your response. However, other factors make it crucial to reply to a rejection email.

    • Demonstrate your continued interest

    One method to demonstrate that you are still enthusiastic is to reply to a rejection email. If you don’t respond, the employer won’t feel the same way about them or may not think to consider your application for future openings. Or they could believe that you have abandoned them and joined another business.

    • A favorable impression

    Even though you may not have been a good match for a certain position, that doesn’t always mean you won’t fit in the firm. Responding to the work rejection email demonstrates maturity and emotional intelligence to prospective supervisors, and it leaves a positive image in general. Companies frequently maintain what they refer to as a “talent pipeline.” The corporation considers each person in the line as a possible applicant. You want to remain in the organization’s service.

    How Do You Reply To An Job Rejection Email? (Template)

    Your rejection email should contain a few sentences in which you express your appreciation and ask for feedback if any. Review this sample to discover what information to add in your email response to a job rejection:

    Dear Interviewer Name,

    Acknowledge the interviewer for providing an update on their choice and for the chance to speak with them.

    Ask to be considered for any upcoming positions the interviewer thinks you would be more qualified for.

    If you want professional input on your abilities or resume structure, use this section at the end to get it.

    Thank the interviewer again for the opportunity.

    Best regards,

    Your first and last name.

    A Good Email Rejection Response Example:

    Here are two illustrations of email replies for job rejections. Make sure to format it following the example above to avoid having your response come across as a boilerplate.

    How Do I Ask About Future Employment Opportunities?

    I appreciate you telling me about your choice and providing comments. I’m grateful you took the time to get in touch with me. Your competence is an excellent illustration of what Company ABC provides.

    I’m open to any opportunities that might benefit from my knowledge and abilities. It is a privilege to support Company ABC’s [insert objective] in any way.

    How To Request Feedback Following A Job Rejection?

    I appreciate you following up and letting me know what you decide. Despite my disappointment, I appreciated looking forward to meeting you and the project head during the interview. I wish ABC Company well and hope the project we discussed in the interview proceeds smoothly.

    I’d like to hear your thoughts on my interview and application process if you have time. Any information you can give will undoubtedly be useful to my job search.

    Once more, many thanks for the chance. If I can help you in the future, let me know.

    Is It Okay To Request Feedback Following An Email Rejection?

    Asking for input in response to an employment rejection email has no adverse effects whatsoever. The following are some advantages you may have in this situation:

    • You will gain more knowledge on how to strengthen your job search.
    • You could discover a new aspect of yourself.
    • You can demonstrate that you challenged yourself to improve and progress.
    • You provide access to upcoming employment possibilities.
    • Despite knowing that, you also gave your best, which allows you to go on.
  • Work at Microsoft 

    About Microsoft

    The 3rd target company in the world with a market capitalisation of $1.83 trillion, Microsoft is an American MNC that sells computer softwares and electronics. Microsoft was founder in 1975 by Bill Gates and Paul Allen. Microsoft is a dream company for millions of people across the globe. 

    What does Microsoft do?  

    Business of Microsoft
    Which business is Microsoft in?

    Source: https://www.microsoft.com/en-in 

    About the leadership team at Microsoft

    Executive Officers at Microsoft 

    Board Members at Microsoft 

    Microsoft in India

    Microsoft India began its Operations in 1990. Key leaders for Microsoft India are as below

    Source: https://news.microsoft.com/en-in/leadership/ 

    Offices of Microsoft in India

    Microsoft has office in the below cities in India

    • Bangalore
    • Gurgaon
    • Hyderabad
    • Mumbai
    • Noida

    Latest financial information of the company can be viewed at https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/Investor/ 

    Work at Microsoft 

    As of 30 June 2022, Microsoft employs 221,000 employees worldwide. 122,000 of these professionals are in the United States and 99,000 International. 

    Culture at Microsoft 

    The glassdoor ratings of the the company are fantastic. 

    • 93% recommend to a fried
    • 98% employees approve of the CEO
    • The overall rating was 4.5

    Details: https://www.glassdoor.co.in/Reviews/Microsoft-Reviews-E1651.htm 

    How to apply for a Job at Microsoft 

    Subscribe to the Youtube Channel

    Typical Salary at Microsoft

    Software Engineer Salaries at Microsoft (Data Source: https://www.glassdoor.co.in/ )

    3 reason why you should consider working at Microsoft 

    • Microsoft hires the top people and you can expect to work with other smart people that helps you grow
    • Good benefits – People, on average, like the compensation at Microsoft along with other benefits like health
    • Flexible work-setup allows for top talent to be attracted to Microsoft

    3 reason why you should not consider working at Microsoft

    Given the kind of large organisation Microsoft is, there are typical people issues of a larger organisation.

    • When so many people undergo yearly Performance Appraisals, a lot come out dis-satisfied
    • Some people did not like their managers based on the glass door review. They felt that their managers were confused. 
    • Work-life balance: Some people complained of long working hours on the weekend. 

    Hope this blog was useful for people planning to apply for a Job at Microsoft and for the ones who already have an offer and wanted to know more. If you have any questions, feel free to ask in the comments below. We will be happy to bring existing employees of Microsoft to answer those questions for you.

    Thank you for reading

  • How can foreign companies find Talent in India?

    Five reasons why Companies look to hire Indian Talent

    A simple LinkedIn search with the below keywords for profile searches keeping the Location as India fetches the below number of results

    1. Java: 23,40,000
    2. Sales: 45,60,000
    3. Marketing: 53,70,000

    The above numbers showcasing the number of potential hires in India are astounding, mainly because only less than 6.5% of the Indian population is on LinkedIn. 

    The Talent in India is aplenty that international companies can use to their advantage.

    •  Expected Pay: Average salary candidates expect in India is much less, in some cases even less than 10% of their international counterparts

    IndiaUSUK
    Java DeveloperUS$ 6259US$ 93118US$ 58717
    SalesUS$ 3568US$ 57789US$ 39082
    MarketingUS$ 3816US$ 74464US$ 39101

    Source: https://www.glassdoor.co.in 

    • Good penetration of English in India allows English-speaking employers to connect effectively with their remote workforce. 

    Image Source: https://twitter.com/Stats_of_India/status/1514844191670824962/photo/1 

    • Indians are hardworking: Coming from a conservative culture also makes Indians someone ready to listen and do more of what is expected. Also, they are more disciplined in general. 
    • Indians are problem solvers, and they love doing it. Besides, Indians are also hungry to acquire new skills. Besides, India produces way too many engineers, which makes it very lucrative for foreign companies to recruit from India.

    Can a foreign company hire employees in India?

    Absolutely, Yes. Foreign companies can hire and employ Indian employees directly without the need of any 3rd party.

    How do companies hire remote Indian Talent?

    • Sourcing: Relevant candidates can be found via LinkedIn, Job-boards, OR via Recruitment Companies in India
    • Screening & Coordination and engagement during the Interview process: It is better to keep all interview rounds as video interview rounds to ensure that there are no fake candidates in the process. Also, connecting with the candidate on LinkedIn is recommended to ensure that the candidate is exclusively employed with your organization.
    • Employee Management: Companies can hire employees directly OR hire them on the payroll of an Indian company. 

    Here’s a recruiting from India checklist 

    • Make sure you set up a minimum of two interview rounds (a minimum of one functional interview and 1 HR discussion) with the candidate before making an offer. Make sure that the below questions are covered in the HR Interview.
      • How would the candidate manage the time-zone difference (if any and if required)
      • Infrastructure: In the case of Work from Home, it is best for HR to confirm that the candidate has the required resources Examples
    1. Uninterrupted internet connection, 
    2. Laptop as per the configuration required by the company in case the company is not providing laptop on joining, 
    3. Others include comfortable seating (desk/chair), mobile, etc. 
    • Holidays: It is best to discuss your company’s leave calendar and policy at the start. 
    • Growth opportunities: The Indian market is booming (especially IT), and if HR can showcase company growth and potential project growth for the employee, it might have a very positive impact on the candidates’ performance
    • Mode of salary transfer. It is imperative to communicate in advance about the mode of salary transfer and transfer deductions if any. The tax liability rests with the individual, and HR should ensure that it is also mentioned in the candidate’s offer letter.
    • Open a line of communication: The HR interview is a fantastic place for HR to build a rapport with the candidate. Suppose the selected candidate was working with an Indian company earlier. In that case, HR must proactively communicate to the candidate that there might be cultural differences and differences in “how the company works”. Ask the candidate to expect that and make them comfortable to be able to communicate if they face any challenge. A 1, 3, 15, 30, and 90 days feedback could be an excellent idea in this scenario. 

    Why do Indian employees prefer international organizations? 

     Disclaimer: Kindly note that the below points are blatant generalizations and might not hold in some scenarios. However, here are the top 4 reasons why Indian employees prefer international organizations

    • Better pay: Indian candidates typically expect a 20-30% hike while switching to the Indian market. However, they may expect a 30-50% hike when switching Jobs to a company with an office outside India. 
    • Work from Home: After covid, as more employers start calling employees back to the office, some of them prefer a Work from Home regime and can easily switch to an international organizations
    • Increased Work-life balance: Some Indian companies expect impractical working hours, and their foreign counterparts offer a better work-life balance. 
    • Exposure & future career opportunities: Working with international employers gives them better exposure and opens up opportunities for several other Jobs. 

    When not to consider hiring a remote Indian employee

    • When your complete team is from a particular geography, a manager from the same culture would understand the team better, and it might be counter-intuitive to hire a manager from a different culture altogether.
    • Sales roles where relationships play a significant role: Every culture has nuances that might take some time for outsiders to adapt. For roles that require meeting customers in person, it might be efficient to hire a local candidate.
    • In cases where proximity with the team can be more efficient, remote hires might not be the best option.

    Have questions related to recruiting from India? Let us know in the comments below and we will be happy to answer them

  • Five digital trends that are urging the evolution of HR

    Five HR digital trends that are urging the evolution of HR

    Even though the pandemic has slowed development in several industries, the field of HR technology is looking promising. With some exciting innovations on the horizon for 2022, HR’s usage and relevance of HR technology is more prominent than ever—procedures like telecommuting and virtual training are now standard. Technology must smoothly integrate into the everyday world of work from the first point of contact with a possible employee, eventually allowing the employee to provide better performance in a digital workplace.

    Here are some of the major HR technology trends for 2020 to 21 that would help you achieve the productivity and efficiency of your HR department in the following years.

    Five HR digital trends that are urging the evolution of HR in organisation
    1. Heading Towards Productivity Systems with Core HR Platforms

    Core HR solutions are an essential element of the HR technology ecosystem, with a market value of over $8 billion. As per Bersin’s study, Core has grown even more helpful for workers over the previous decade, with devices that allow users to manage their data, benefits, and different activities utilizing a unified platform employing self-service capability. Furthermore, in addition to the primary HCM system, many companies now want an app market.

    Darwinbox is India’s most complete HRMS platform, allowing you to customize the whole organizational structure to make it much more relevant and structured. You also can connect it with ORAPPS and other similar systems to gain a completely different perspective on the data.

    2. Employee Engagement and the Employee Experience Industry

    Employers are changing their mindset from routines and transactions to encounters that count, as per Josh Bersin. To put it another way, businesses no longer merely seek easy-to-use platforms, and they want to invest in systems that can provide employees with simple, treasured memories. They seek a system that can assist them in analyzing case management, concurrency control, service management, and ensuring their workers’ safe return to work following the pandemic.

    A representation based on Deloitte’s Simply Irresistible Organizational structure is shown below. These are complicated workflows in and of themselves, which all employees face at different times throughout their careers.

    3. Contingent and Gig Work Management Has Turned Into A Marketplace

    The remote working environment has become a must-have for several organizations, and innovation plays a big part in that. Everything would be handled utilizing HR Technology, from the most fundamental operations such as tracking employee leaves and attendance to more essential ones such as talent acquisition and managing payouts and tenures.

    According to Bersin’s research, only 8% of respondents feel their firms are prepared to handle gig or contract employees properly. At the same time, 65% now regard it as vital, and 41% say gig and independent contractors represent a substantial part of their labor force. However, according to the Deloitte Human Capital Trends study, HR is only involved with this workforce approximately half the time or less from outside recruiting, interviewing, and choosing individuals. This “shadow labor” is not being handled well, necessitating significant advancement in necessary tools to make it simpler.

    4. Augmented analytics will be around for a long time

    The worst blunder one can do to speak about tech without clearly addressing the worlds of analytics, AI, and mental functioning. People analytics is a prevalent issue in HR, and it is presently the fastest-growing sub-domain of the industry. Companies that integrate data and analytics into their operations outperform their competition in efficiency and profitability. It is correct since this data can eventually assist in making better judgments by depending on patterns rather than intuition.

    The analytical examination of candidates, devoid of human prejudice or mistake, is an extra benefit in the field of HR software. Employers may now delve into employee data to learn about essential elements of their employees’ lives, such as attrition rates and causes, performance, and the general efficacy of leadership techniques. Companies may better detect talent indicators and hazards that may develop due to new hiring and leadership techniques using predictive analytics.

    5. Artificial Intelligence is now powering more processes than it has ever been before

    The transition to machine learning is a crucial trend in the technology sector, and HR software is no exception. AI systems can ingest large volumes of data, use techniques to discover patterns, and utilize the results to draw connections, draw conclusions, or aid decision-making.

    We think that intelligent bots, such as Darwinbox’s changes in the world, may function as self-service platforms, allowing HRs to concentrate on the more complicated and urgent concerns that need to be addressed. Regarding video-based applicant screening, it may also play a big part in determining whether or not the applicants are guilty of any wrongdoing by evaluating the ambient noises and facial expressions. AI will simplify transactional operations, including leaves, punctuality, and surveillance teams to a slight glance or voice control on the individual employee’s mobile device.

    Conclusion

    It’s difficult to dispute that innovation has been changing traditional HR procedures for the past couple of years, and 2020 seems to be no different so far. It is correct to conclude that everyone’s future in business is already shifting and will continue to change in generations. Whether that’s the constant organizational performance approach, improving comprehensive training opportunities in the industry, or even using machine learning to monitor their applicants.

  • Australia’s Approach to AI Governance in Security and Defence

    On 27th February 2020, a fully autonomous Australian robot with no human on board used a pre-programmed route with remote supervision to undertake and complete its mission. Australia also won the Silver medal at the 2021 Robot Olympics six months later. In this event, the Australian robot used AI to autonomously explore, map, and discover models representing lost or injured people, suspicious backpacks, or phones while navigating harsh conditions. Clearly, Australia is at the forefront of robotics, autonomous systems, and AI research and development. Australia intends to use AI for security and defense applications and is also developing governance structures in line with Australian values, standards, ethical and legal frameworks. 

    Kate Devitt & Damian Copeland have discussed this in their research paper titled “Australia’s Approach to AI Governance in Security and Defence” which forms the basis of the following text.

    Importance of this Research

    AI has enormous potential in Security and Defence applications. AI applications could threaten human rights in warfare and pose ethical and legal risks. This research paper outlines the approach of Australia to make use of AI in Security and Defense. 

    The research paper also outlines that Australia’s Department of Defense recognizes AI as a priority for future developments. The research paper also outlined the definition of AI and explained the need for Artificial Intelligence for Australian Defense. 

    Use of AI in Defense

    As per the Australian government, Australia focuses on AI to build robotics capability, autonomous systems, precision-guided munitions, hypersonic weapons, and integrated air and missile defense systems, space and information warfare, and cyber capabilities. 

    AI Governance in Australia  

    Source: https://arxiv.org/pdf/2112.01252.pdf 

    AI Ethics Principles 

    Source: https://arxiv.org/pdf/2112.01252.pdf

    The research paper also discusses in detail about

    • Standards Australia’s Artificial Intelligence Standards Roadmap: Making Australias Voice Heard, Human Rights, and Australia’s action plan for AI,
    • AI governance in Defense and Ethical AI statements across the Australian Navy, Army & Airforce,
    • Human governance in Defense,
    • Ethics in Australian Cybersecurity and Intelligence; and the Framework for Ethical AI in Defence, and
    • Defense Data Strategy

    Concerning the use of AI, it is helpful to establish 

    • Responsibility: Who is responsible for AI?
    • Governance – how is AI-controlled?
    • Trust – how can AI be trusted?
    • Law: How can AI be used lawfully?
    • Traceability: How are the actions of AI recorded?

    Conclusion

    AI has tremendous potential for security and defense applications. Nations can use it to counter-terrorism, for border conflicts, and help them save armed personnel’s lives. Australia has identified the criticality of AI in defense and tried to build a framework around its application

    In the words of the researchers

    Australia is a leading AI nation with strong allies and partnerships. Australia has prioritised the development of robotics, AI, and autonomous systems to develop sovereign capability for the military. Australia commits to Article 36 reviews of all new means and method of warfare to ensure weapons and weapons systems are operated within acceptable systems of control. Additionally, Australia has undergone significant reviews of the risks of AI to human rights and within intelligence organisations and has committed to producing ethics guidelines and frameworks in Security and Defence (Department of Defence 2021a; Attorney-Generals Department 2020). Australia is committed to OECDs values-based principles for the responsible stewardship of trustworthy AI as well as adopting a set of National AI ethics principles. While Australia has not adopted an AI governance framework specifically for Defence; Defence Science has published A Method for Ethical AI in Defence(MEAID) technical report which includes a framework and pragmatic tools for managing ethical and legal risks for military applications of AI.

    Source: Kate Devitt & Damian Copeland’s “Australia’s Approach to AI Governance in Security and Defence” https://arxiv.org/pdf/2112.01252.pdf 

  • Taxable Stock Trading with Deep Reinforcement Learning

    Can machines beat humans in stock market trading? 

    Machine Learning has been an area of great interest for traders because of the insane amount of money that could be made from the stock market. Arguably, Deep Reinforcement Learning can outperform human traders. However, most of the Deep Reinforcement Learning models built to date only consider the stock’s selling price minus the buying price to maximize profit. In a real-world scenario, transaction costs for buying, selling, and taxes affect the actual profit made by the investor. 

    Shan Huang has discussed this approach in his research paper titled “Taxable Stock Trading with Deep Reinforcement Learning,” which forms the basis of the following text.

    Importance of this research 

    The researchers have demonstrated that tax ignorance could induce more than a 62% loss on the average portfolio returns. This research paper by Shan Huang aims to maximize net portfolio returns using Deep Reinforcement Learning while considering transaction and tax calculations. 

    About the research 

    The research paper mentions the mathematical details of the model built for Deep Reinforcement Learning. 

    Assumptions

    • The data set includes SPY’s (Exchange Traded Fund consisting of S&P’s top 500 companies) daily closed price and volumes from 13th November 2008 to 13th November 2018.
    • Minimum time step dt = 1 representing one trading day, and hence the total trading days per year is 252.
    • The tax regime is as mentioned below (in the US)
      • When a stock is held for more than one year, a 15% tax rate is applicable for capital gains.
      • When a stock is held for less than one year, a 25% tax rate is applicable for capital gains.
      • Investors can get a tax rebate to offset their capital gain for losses.
    • The length of the trading period is set to be five years.
    • A transaction cost of 0.1% is also included for more realistic calculations.

    Research Data

    The researchers have created a new OpenAI Gym environment where the observation in each timestep is SPY’s daily closed price, trading volume, averaged-basis, and average holding period. 

    About the Model

    In the words of the researchers

    To represent the policy, we use the same default neural network architecture as PPO with fixed-length trajectory segments, which was a fully-connected MLP with two hidden layers of 64 and 64 tanh units respectively. The final output layer has a linear activation. policy and value function are estimated through separated network. The number of steps of interaction (state-action pairs) for the agent and the environment in each epoch is 5000 and the number of epochs is 50. The hyperparameter for clipping in the policy objective is chosen to be 0.2 and the GAE-Lambda is 0.97. The learning rate for policy and value function optimizer is 0.001 and 0.0003 respectively. If tax is not included in the model, the average expected return is 0.44 which seems quite promising. This considerable return is the result of exploiting price trending and frequently adjusting holding positions correspondingly, similar as the results of other AI platforms. However, this is not compelling since tax is heavily charged in a taxable year. Rather than ignoring taxes, the learning of stock trading should consider the effect of tax costs. We use PPO to train the stock trading policy in the environment with tax costs. The optimal stock trading policy in the model with taxes can achieve 0.13 average returns. To illustrate the suboptimality of the policy trained in the model without considering taxes, we apply this trained policy in the environment with tax costs, the average expected return drops to only 0.05.

    Research Result

    • The optimal stock trading policy with taxes can achieve 13% average returns in the model.
    • Trained policy in the environment with tax costs, the average expected return drops to only 5%.
    • This reduction is equal to 62%, which means that the returns shrunk by 62% upon consideration of taxes. 

    Source: https://arxiv.org/pdf/1907.12093.pdf

    Conclusion

    Investment in public markets could be a good way to invest in the world’s top companies. Public markets could be a fantastic way to invest the money as the return are, on average higher than the rates offered by the banks and other investment options. Trading stocks by reinforcement learning can guide and help agents increase their portfolio returns. Deep Reinforcement Learning Models built for stock market investment sometimes neglect the tax rates, which can massively impact the overall returns. This research paper by Shan Huang is an attempt to integrate tax calculations in the net return calculations with Deep Reinforcement Learning. The objective is to maximize net returns (after subtracting taxes) for stock investments which are the actual returns for an investor.

    Source: Shan Huang’s “Taxable Stock Trading with Deep Reinforcement Learninghttps://arxiv.org/pdf/1907.12093.pdf 

  • The Study of Machine Learning Models in Predicting the Intention of Adolescents to Smoke Cigarettes

    Four hundred eighty thousand deaths are recorded every year in the US alone due to smoking. Also, as per research, life expectancy for smokers is atleast ten years shorter than for non-smokers. In recent years, the use of e-cigarettes has been increasing rapidly for adolescents. Sometimes, e-cigarettes act as a gateway to cigarette use, which could be severe. This makes it important to predict the probability of adolescents smoking cigarettes in the future. 

    Seung Joon Nam, Han Min Kim, Thomas Kang, and Cheol Young Park have discussed this in their research paper titled “The Study of Machine Learning Models in Predicting the Intention of Adolescents to Smoke Cigarettes”, which forms the basis of the following text.

    Importance of this research

    Consuming nicotine can cause cancer (lung cancer), cardiovascular and metabolic diseases, respiratory diseases, and perinatal diseases. These conditions are fatal for individuals. If an ML algorithm can predict the probability of individuals smoking cigarettes, efforts can be made to educate these individuals about the ill effects of smoking. This counseling could help adolescents avoid the ill effects of cigarette smoking. Thus, prediction can directly help individuals stay away from the path of smoking cigarettes and help save lives!

    Research Objective

    The main aim of this research is to

    • Find the best-fitting model to predict smoking intention for individuals
    • Create a website to help adolescents prevent e-cigarette.

    About the Research 

    The researchers evaluated different models such as Decision Tree, Gaussian NB, Logistic Regression, Random Forest, and Gradient Boosting to predict the accuracy of ML models for accurately predicting the intention of Adolescents to smoke cigarettes. 

    Research Result

    Based on the experiments done by the researchers, they found the Gradient Boosting to be the most accurate way to predict smoking tendency in the future. The researchers have also published http://nyts.pythonanywhere.com for an anti-smoking campaign for teenagers. 

    Conclusion

    While healthcare has made a lot of progress in recent years, the number of medical conditions affecting teenagers has only increased. Often, these diseases are of our own making caused by our lifestyle choices. This research paper attempts to identify adolescents who are more likely to smoke and help adolescents make informed and healthier lifestyle choices. In the words of the researchers

    E-cigarette use has increased among adolescents. This is a worldwide problem, because it has been stated in many researches mentioned in the introduction that e-cigarette use can cause future use of cigarettes. Since e-cigarette is a recent rising issue, there is little research done on this topic, compared to smoking cigarettes. Even among the researches done, there is a lack of researches implementing prediction models, which are more practical in preventing adolescents from using (e-)cigarettes. Thus, we researched using the 2018 NYTS data and developed multiple prediction models to predict a adolescents intention to smoke cigarette. The most accurate prediction model was Gradient Boosting Classifier with an overall accuracy of 93%. This model was applied in the website we designed to allow the public to input their information in respect to tobacco products, including e-cigarette, cigarette, and cigar. With this information, the algorithm can predict the respondees probability of future of smoking. This will help the public become more aware about certain factors in their lives and be attentive about their drug use or how their environment can affect their intention to smoke cigarettes. Further research could include a wider range of ages, since our research is mainly focused on adolescents rather than adults. In order to improve the accuracy of the prediction model, it is essential to increase the amount of data or choose better, more fitting, variables.

    Source: Seung Joon Nam, Han Min Kim, Thomas Kang and Cheol Young Park’s “The Study of Machine Learning Models in Predicting the Intention of Adolescents to Smoke Cigarettes” https://arxiv.org/pdf/1910.12748v2.pdf 

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