Employee Background Verification Process in MNCs

Posted on by Aashritha Ramesh
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In recent times, we have witnessed the rapid rate of globalization and its effects on mankind. The advent of new technologies, such as the Internet and other networks has its pros and cons. The pros of the evolving technologies include speed, efficiency, better time management, access to an ocean of information, mobility, agility, automation, connectivity, remote sharing, better management of resources, and the list could go on.

The drawbacks include higher levels of dependencies, data security concerns, and manipulation of information. Out of enlisted cons, one of the major downsides is that the new technologies have resulted in an increased rate of fraud in most sectors, and education is not an exception. Fraud and corruption in education may exist in various forms beyond contract-cheating. Its global manifestations include diploma mills and the counterfeiting of academic documents, bribery to ensure the licensing of educational institutions, the hiring of academic staff, the passing of examinations, admission into education programs, and the award of degrees.

Moreover, the increase in population has resulted in increased needs, but the employment opportunities are still way less than required. This has paved the way for many miscreants to set up agencies that provide fake mark sheets, degree certificates, and experience certificates. The funniest part is that there also exist fake universities, advertisements in the name of these fake universities have been flooding the World Wide Web platform in recent times. 

This has indeed resulted in added pressure to companies, i.e., checking the authenticity of the documents presented by the job seeker.

So, there came the need for a background verification process. In general, it refers to any official process carried out by an organization to validate the documents submitted by the candidate’s post getting shortlisted in an interview. 

Background verification process or Background Checker or Background screening is a major weapon of the MNCs for the risk mitigation and checking the authenticity of the candidates. Moreover, it acts as a major tool that gives an impression of the candidate to the HR.

The important point is that the company can perform these background verification checks only after informing the candidate and getting their signature in the consent form.

Background screening involves the verification of the following:

Employee Background Verification Process in MNCs

1. Candidate’s criminal history: To check if the candidates have any record of criminal behavior or related tendencies. This check is usually done to ensure the safety of the customers and the work environment. Moreover, the process followed to check criminal history differs from state to state.

2. Identity: The candidate’s name, place, and date of birth are referenced to verify the candidate’s credentials.

3. References: These are to check how many people and exactly who in their previous workplace would confirm the candidates’ skills and work ethic.

4. Work experience: Companies, organizations, and institutes the candidate claim to have worked with, and their credibility is cross-checked. Also, their reasons for leaving these organizations are reviewed. This check bears information about the candidates’ quality, work stability, and loyalty.

5. Address verification 

6. Personal finances and credit: To check the credit score and loan details.

7. Sexual offender registry: This will reduce the risk of the company’s workplace sex offense.

8. Drug Screening Test: This test is a prerequisite in specific industries like aviation and driving.

The government also plays a vital role in this process. The tools used by the government to stop frauds are enlisted below:

1. Aadhaar verification: It consists of an individuals’ biometrics and consists of every other necessary information about the residence, D.O.B, and bank accounts. 

2. National Skills Registry (NSR): NSR is the largest database consisting of nearly 255 companies with 18,84,380 biometrics submitted. That helps companies counter-check employees’ information (if they are registered). 

3. National Academics Depository (NAD): Government launched NAD to store your education records digitally. NAD can also issue reliable certificates to verified users.

4. Permanent Account Number (PAN) card: It helps in keeping track of an individual’s transaction and tax liability.

The social media used by nearly 376.1 million Indian users has its role to play. It serves as a gateway that showcases the activities, interests, and affiliations of the candidates. Hence it serves as the best platform for the recruiter to know about the candidate without the latter’s presence.

Now, turning the focus onto how this screening is being carried out by the MNCs, one would witness the flurry of background organizations working solely on this process. 

Recent studies have found that an MNC can carry out this screening process in the following ways:

1. Uses the platform WELCOME TO NATIONAL SKILLs REGISTRY

2. Reference from a connected network of people and organizations 

3. Social media platforms 

4. Hire third parties like HireRight, IDfy, SecUR credentials limited, etc.

5. Public sector undertakings (PSUs)

Moreover, one cannot deny the challenges faced by the organization in the process of background screening. One of the major problems faced is the time delay of the screening process, which affects both the employer and the candidate. Add to this, the other challenges would include the absence of updated records and the lack of open information.

After going through the above-stated points on the background verification process, one would have realized the need to countercheck every step taken in life. This is so because even a tiny mistake committed today can have its adverse effects on the things that will happen in the future. The takeaway from this is that never resort to the mindset of, “Why should I care about this mistake now?” Instead, solve them at the very moment and try to avoid mistakes and the activities which might backfire. Moreover, be cautious while entering personnel information on any social media platforms. Also, do present genuine documentation while seeking for a job, as this would give the best impression.

15+ Best HR Jokes – Human Resources Jokes

Posted on by Aashritha Ramesh
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There exists a misnomer amongst the employees that most of the human resource managers are heavy-hearted. In reality, as there exist two faces in a coin, so does the job of the HR manager. Looking at the roles played by an HR manager, one would realize the fact that HR is the face of the company.

A good human resources employee develops and balances the dynamics of the company. They recruit, train, approve invoices, maintain payroll, benefits, and databases, mediate conflicts, and ensure background checks. Furthermore, they act as an essential component of upward communication in the organization.

Most of the employees try to maintain a friendly relationship with the HRs of their respective organization, the main reason behind this is that the HR serves as a significant link which connects the management and the employees. Moreover, it is the role of HR to maintain a productive atmosphere and an excellent work-life balance. Sometimes, these needs are met with a short humorous piece of oral literature called a joke.

Best HR Jokes

In the recent past, social media is flooded with a flurry of memes related to some hilarious HR jokes. Listed below are some of the jokes:

HR: Imagine that you are on the 6th floor, and it caught fire, how will you escape from that place?

Interviewee: That’s so simple, I will stop my imagination.

 

HR: Why should you be hired?

Interviewee: I should be hired because this company needs someone who knows why he should hire People.

 

HR: What if the earth rotates 30 times faster?

Interviewee: Chill, we will get our salary every day.

 

HR: What is your strength?

Interviewee: Persistence

 

HR: We will call you back to inform you about your recruitment

Interviewee: I will wait here, till that.

 

HR: Why did you leave your previous job?

Interviewee: The company relocated and didn’t give me its new address.

 

HR: What’s your strategy to avoid blunders at work?

Interviewee: It’s simple. Never do work when at work!

 

HR: The starting package is $500, but later it may go up to $1500.

Interviewee: Ok, then I will come later.

 

HR: Tell us about yourself.

Interviewee: Yourself is a pronoun, used when the subject and object of the verb are you.

 

HR: With no previous experience for this job, how do you expect for such a high salary package

Interviewee: You know what, the job turns much harder when you don’t know what you’re doing!

 

HR: What is the most difficult challenge that you faced in your last job?

Interviewee: Staying awake after lunch.

 

HR: What attracts you to our company?

Interviewee: The receptionist!

 

HR: Late Again!

Employee: Yes, it makes the day seem shorter!

 

HR: Keep your revised payroll confidential…!

Employee: Don’t worry, I’m equally ashamed of it!

 

HR: Don’t bring me problems. Bring me solutions.

Employee: If I had solutions, I wouldn’t bring you anything.

 

HR: Are you on drugs?

Interviewee: You and I both know that the drugs are priced at a higher cost than what I am offered.

Here let’s take a look at a story that has a masterpiece climax.

On a fine spring morning, a highly successful Human Resources Manager was walking to her work, on her way, she was tragically hit by a bus and died. Her soul traveled to heaven, where she met St Peter himself. St Peter welcomed her to heaven with open arms. “We are privileged to have a successful HR like you in heaven, but I feel that you should be given a chance to choose between Heaven and Hell. Hence, what we’re going to do is let you spend a day in Hell and a day in Heaven, and then you can make your choice.”

“In all honesty, I prefer to stay in Heaven”, said the woman.

“Sorry, we do have rules…”

And with that St Peter put the executive in an elevator and it went sliding down to hell. The doors opened, and she found herself stepping out onto the green grasses of a beautiful golf course. There was a country club situated a foot away from her and standing in front of her were all her friends – fellow executives that she had worked with and they were besuited in evening gowns and cheering up for her. They ran towards her and gave her a warming hug, and they talked about old times. They all played an excellent round of golf, and when the night was young, they went to the country club where she enjoyed an excellent steak and dinner. She met the Devil, who was a handsome guy. She was enjoying her wonderful time that before she knew it, it was time to leave. Everybody waved goodbye as she got on the elevator.

The elevator went up to heaven, and she found St Peter waiting for her. “Now the time has come for your day in heaven,” he said. So she spent the next 24 hours lounging around on clouds and singing. She had a great time and before she knew it the day got over and St Peter came and got her. “So, now, you have completed your challenge. Now it’s your turn choose your eternity.” The woman paused for a second and then replied, “Well, I never thought I’d say this, I mean, Heaven has been great, but comparatively I had a better day in Hell.”

So, St Peter showed her the way to the elevator, and again she went down back to Hell. When the doors of the elevator opened, to her dismay, she found herself standing in a desolate wasteland covered with garbage. Added to that she got to notice that her friends were dressed up in rags and were picking up the garbage and putting it in sacks. The Devil welcomed her back.

“I cannot make head or tail of this situation,” said the woman, “Yesterday when I was here, and there was a golf course and well-structured country club, and we danced and had a great time. Now, there is nothing but a wasteland full of garbage, and all my friends look miserable.” The Devil smiled at her and told…

“Yesterday was your 

recruitment day, but today you’re an Employee.”

To conclude, HRs are of immense importance to an organization’s success as they tend to find the right balance between work etiquette and the workplace atmosphere. In order, to be a successful HR one has to adapt to diversities, prefer inclusion over exclusion, and help employees figure out their purpose of work.

I hope you enjoyed these jokes. Please mention in the comment section if you know any good hr jokes. I will love to add it to the list.

10 Tips on How to Negotiate Salary with HR

Posted on by Meghna Ghosh
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Motivations are many in life, some get motivated from positive appreciation, and some get motivated by negative humiliation. Different people with different mentality for different strategies, but the biggest motivator irrespective to positive or negative ionic is money. The only factor which humans practically associate with growth and makes the job market volatile and competitive. Gone are the days where job stability and sustainability matters a lot. A maximum couple of years is the tenure for an individual to sustain in any organization nowadays due to the fact other competitive firms always offer more than the current pay scale. 

But just due to this factor, leaving a secure job may not be a good nut to crack because to make the job advertisement lucrative the showcased salary and offered salary may have the variation because the employer and HR sitting at the next side of the table is way more intelligent which creates an urge at the other side of the table to become smarter as well. Hence smarter the candidate greater would be the pay package. Thus for all the agile and vivid candidates and potentially the best job seekers below are listed some do’s and don’ts while negotiating salary with HR.

Don’ts while Negotiating Salary with HR

1. Don’t Skip Negotiating

Probably the biggest mistake is merely accepting an offer received. Research shows that younger job seekers or freshers do that because they don’t know how to negotiate salary, lack confidence and dislike the act of negotiating, due to which at times they don’t understand the potential impact of their decision.

Settling for a lower salary than worth can have major financial consequences, both immediately and down the road. In the short term, is to earn less, receive smaller raises because most raises are based on a percentage of current salary, and in the long-term, being underpaid gives stress. Accepting a low offer can also hamper earning potential later, as future employers might ask for salary history when determining how much money they should offer you.

2. Don’t Accept a Job Offer Too Quickly

Always ask for time to review an offer and respect the time limit agreed upon to make the final decision. If they asked for a revert within a particular frame, all negotiating should be done within that frame. However, even the best offers should be reviewed with a clear head and without the pressure of a future boss or HR director staring at you.

3. Don’t Reveal How Much You Would Accept

Information is the key to any negotiation, and a common mistake job seekers make is telling the HR what they’ll accept. It can be hard not to offer this information, especially if the HR asks for salary history. Still, if at the earlier stage this kind of information is furnished, it creates less room for negotiating a better offer later. Always try to remain as noncommittal as possible when asked about salary requirements early in the interview process. 

4. Don’t Make a Salary Pitch Too Early in the Process

Asking earlier in the process can be perceived as being too focused on money rather than on the job itself, and it may also force at an early stage to reveal what one would be willing to accept. Yet, many job seekers begin salary negotiations too early in the process. The ideal time for talking salary is once you get the job offer. It’s at that time when it can be asked for more specifics about salary, bonuses, commissions, insurance, and other perks.

5. Don’t Ask for Too Much in a Counteroffer

It’s not a good sign to renegotiate everything in a job offer. If that’s the case, either candidate or the employer or HR has misunderstood the situation, or one of them is trying to take advantage of the other. Trying to swing things the way isn’t likely to work in such a scenario.

Also Read: Top 10 Highest Paying Jobs in India 2020

Tips on How to Negotiate Salary with HR

1. Calculating Your Value

One must know exactly how much value he/she can offer an employer before beginning the process of negotiating a salary. Candidates must be sure about their value as an employee and consider using the below factors to justify your desired salary:

  • Geographic location
  • Years of industry experience
  • Education level
  • Career level
  • Skills
  • Licenses and certifications

2. Research the Market Average

Having this data can support a more successful negotiation. Knowing the market average gives a good baseline for salary request and can even be used as a justification. This includes factors like salaries listed from a past job or relevant job postings. Here are some inquiries to consider as you start your research.

  • What is the national average salary for the position?
  • What is the average salary in your geographic location and cities nearby?
  • How much do similar companies in your area pay in this position?

3. Prepare Agenda Points

Developing negotiation notes is always helpful to answer the question such as: Why do you feel you deserve a higher salary than the one the HR is offering? Putting together a few talking points as listed below before interacting with HR could be helpful 

Results achieved in previous roles such as goals achieved, the revenue generated with the use of actual numbers.

  • Years of industry experience, 
  • Skills or certifications, especially if it is in high demand within your industry.

4. Rehearse Well

Practising the talking points can help you gain confidence and identify areas of improvement. The best way to practise would be in front of a trusted friend or mirror.

5. Be Confident

Once you have done the homework and equipped well with the information, what matters most is one needs to be confident about what HR is asking for. Until and unless the projection is self-assured and assertive, the HR would always have the upper hand in the conversation and try to bring down the package that has been asked for.

6. Ask for More

One fundamental rule of salary negotiation is to give HR a slightly higher number than your goal. This way, if they negotiate down, you’ll still find yourself with a salary offered that is comfortable in accepting. If a neck to neck salary expectation is provided, HR will likely settle on the lower end, so be sure the number you give still ends with an amount you feel is fair.

7. Share Incurring Expenses

Share incurring expenses is always a good deal to ask for an increased salary which involves accumulating the cost of moving to a new city for the job, commute expenses such as train fare or fuel and wear and tear on your vehicle if the job location is very far. It’s not unusual for candidates to ask HR to adjust the salary to account for their expenses.

8. Be Flexible

Even if the employer or HR is unable to provide the salary amount you want, they may be able to offer other forms of compensation. For example, you will be ready to negotiate more stock options, extra vacation days or additional work-from-home days to combat a lengthy commute. Don’t be shy about asking for alternatives. In some cases, they may be more valuable than the actual package offered.

9. Don’t be Afraid to Walk Away

In some cases, an employer or HR may not be able to meet your minimum salary requirement or offer additional benefits that make it worthy. Or the HR may counter-offer with a salary that’s higher than their first offer but not as high as your request. In this case, you’ll need to decide if the job is worth the lesser amount. If it’s less stressful than your current position, it is closer to home or offers you more flexibility or more free time, but at a lower salary, it must be accepted in such cases with open arms. However, if not, you ought to consider walking away and seeking other opportunities elsewhere.

10. Express Gratitude

Once you reach the last offer phase of the hiring process, you’ve probably invested in a fruitful deal with your time and energy applying and interviewing for the position. The employer and HR have also invested time in the process so you must recognise this and thank them for considering you for the opportunity. Be sure to share any specific reasons why you’re excited about the role like the culture or the merchandise.

I hope these tips will help you to negotiate salary during your job interview. Comment down below if you have any queries.

Recruitment Life Cycle – Different Stages of Recruitment

Posted on by Sinibali Jana
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The recruitment life cycle refers to the complete process of recruitment from start to end. Hence it is also known as a 360-degree recruitment process or end-to-end recruitment process. From scratch till the end, that is the final recruitment, the process of requirement employs several stages. This entire cycle is known as a recruitment life-cycle.

Recruitment is an integral part of Human Resource Management. Recruitment is a hiring process where firstly the staffing and organizational needs of the company are identified. After that, a potential pool of candidates for the required staffing is attracted. The pool of candidates is generated by firstly identifying these candidates. These can be done by both internal and external sources. Next, the recruiter should attract these candidates to apply for the job. This can be done by extensive advertising in job sites, campus drives, reaching out to potential candidates from the company database, etc.

Recruitment is such an important process because it serves as a pre-math for selection. Recruitment is a deciding factor on the correct candidates being chosen in the selection process. Hence, attracting a better pool of candidates in the recruitment process proves to be extremely beneficial.

The process of recruitment largely varies due to the size of the organization. A small or medium-sized firm may have only one person as a recruiter or a hiring manager. However, a larger company is most likely to have a whole dedicated team of recruiters to carry on the process effectively. A well-framed recruitment process helps both the company and the applicants. The company gets to generate a potential pool of candidates, whereas the candidates get potential employment opportunities.

However, in every organizational setting and every differential organizational need, the recruitment life-cycle large remains the same. There are namely 6 major steps in the recruitment life cycle:

  1. Preparing
  2. Sourcing
  3. Screening
  4. Selecting
  5. Hiring
  6. Onboarding

Recruitment Life Cycle Stages

Image Source

1. Preparing

Preparation is an essential component for the success of any process. The recruitment process also has a comprehensive preparation process which serves as a foundation for the proper functioning of the later stages in the life-cycle. 

The first step to preparation is creating a candidate persona. This means that the recruiter has to define the traits or skills or experience that a candidate has to have to be eligible for the recruitment process. Drafting an appropriate candidate persona increases the possibility of an appropriate hire.

The second step to preparation is drafting a job description. The job description is responsible for attracting potential candidates in the recruitment process. Hence, an unattractive job description will be a thumbs-down to the process. However, an employer cannot publish wrong or misleading information. The job description has to be accurate and state the responsibilities that it entails. It should most importantly include the salary, perks, and other benefits provided by the company.

2. Sourcing

The second stage is establishing the sourcing for the candidates. This means creating awareness about the job in various sources and hence generating potential candidates from those sources. Professional recruiters choose to do the recruitment on multiple sources to achieve maximum results. The different sources of recruitment are listed below:

Internal Source: Internal sources of recruitment can be not only effective but also economical. It is cost-effective for the company, and an ad also economizes on a lot of time. Internal sources of recruitment mainly include promotions and transfers of employees intra-organization. In addition to that, intra-organization employee referrals also largely contribute to the internal sources of recruitment. Utilizing the company’s database to recruit former employees and candidates can also be a good choice.

External Source: A company can recruit through external sources via employment agencies. This is the common and surest source of recruiting eligible pool of candidates. The company can also conduct campus drives in various schools, colleges, and universities, thereby facilitating recruitment. Apart from that, the recruitment procedure can be advertised in multiple media sources to have a greater reach and therefore attract a greater pool. Utilizing various labor unions in the recruitment process is also something that the company can do.

E-sources: The e-sources of recruitment are gaining quick popularity in today’s times. Recruitment ads can be posted on agency websites. Also, online job boards can be used for the recruitment process. However, the chance of attracting a large number of unqualified candidates works as the biggest disadvantage in this case. Its easy availability and much higher reach still make it a popular option. 

3. Screening

The third step is screening all the applications that have been generated from all the sources. Sourcing attracts a large number of candidates, and not all of them have the required skills and traits needed for the vacant job. Hence screening is important to list out the ineligible candidates based on their resumes, portfolios, etc., and take the eligible candidates to the next round of screening which is generally a telephonic interview process. Candidates who pass the telephonic interview round are chosen for the face-to-face interview.

4. Selection

This is the most critical stage of recruitment life-cycle. This is because, in this stage, the final selection of the candidates is made for the said job. The resumes and cover letters, in most cases, seem a lot more eligible than the candidate himself/herself. Hence face to face interviews or tests should be well-drafted to test the candidate on all aspects and then make an informed and educated decision.

Even though in most cases, the stage of selection is defined by an interview process, in some instances, different forms of test can also be employed. These can be personality assessments and written ability tests, to name a few. These can also go hand-in-hand with the interview process to finally select the candidate or candidates for the job.

Interviews can also be of various types depending upon the discretion of the employer/recruiter. These can be unstructured interviews where different candidates are asked different questions and judged. These can also be structured interviews where a standardized set of questions is asked to every candidate, and then they are judged. Interviews can also be behavioral interviews or stress interviews to test how a candidate reacts or behaves under stress.

Under any circumstance, before the final selection is made, a background or reference check must be done on the candidate.

5. Hiring

After the selection is made, it is time to hire the candidate, that notifies him/her about his/her selection. The hiring stage of the recruitment life-cycle generally consists of two parts.

The first part is notifying the candidate about the job that is making the final job offer. An offer letter must be sent to the candidate. An offer letter must be accurate and consist of all the necessary information regarding the job. It should contain the working hours, the benefits, the compensation as well as the starting date of the job. If the job is contractual, the details of the contract must be mentioned. 

The second part of the hiring process is negotiation. After a candidate receives an offer letter, he/she has to accept it. However, not all selected candidates will select the offer letter right away. They might want to negotiate with the HR on various terms. The most common terms of negotiation are the working hours and salary. Negotiation is important so that a mutually acceptable employment contract can be reached between the candidate and the employer.

6. Onboarding

The recruitment process does not end with hiring the candidate. Onboarding is an important part of the recruitment life-cycle because it plays a great role to determine if the candidate can fit in the company culture and hence work productively. A proper onboarding procedure includes steps like introduction, orientation, and training of the employee. Henceforth the recruitment life-cycle ends, and the employment starts.

From layman’s eyes, recruitment might seem like a very simple process of just hiring candidates. But in reality, it is complex and comprehensive and is very much responsible for the productivity and success of the company. Hence trained professionals carry out the process with a minute focus on each stage so that the most eligible candidates are finally onboarded for the job.

How to Make Interview Evaluation Form with Sample Templates

Posted on by Aanchal Lohia
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Interviews are one of the most challenging tasks that many people face in their lives. That stressful time, with the interview panel sitting in front, sweaty palms, nervous thoughts, and the added pressure of delivering an excellent performance. An experience that everyone must go through to make it to their dream companies. An interview is just the place for you to showcase your skills and talents and project yourself as the ideal candidate for the company. The better you pitch, the more likely it is for you to get your dream. So, leave the nervousness aside and bring out her A-game!

Though the candidates have their struggles, on the flip side, so does the interviewer. Any recruitment process is a cumbersome process with various rounds attached to it. The steps involved in the process may vary from company to company, but roughly they are:

  • A screening process where candidates are generally shortlisted based on their resume.
  • A selection task can include a group discussion procedure, some submission, depending upon the profile offered.
  • A telephonic interview, which is just a mini-interview conducted, for the selection of candidates for the final round.
  • The final interview, which is the final step, where the conversation that you have in the interview hall, decides your fate!

The entire recruitment process is tiring for the interviewer as well. The responsibility of selecting the perfect candidate for the job that serves as the right fit for the company, the person that can add value to the company in the long run, the requirements are enormous. So, there are specific tips for the interviews for the interviewers on how to gauge a candidate. Some of these are:

  • Do a background check of the candidate before taking the interview.
  • Read the resume before diving into the question-answer mode.
  • List down the questions that you want to ask the candidate.
  • Make a structured plan for the interview process.
  • Ask situation-based, out-of-the-box questions, and gauge the answers accordingly.
  • Give the candidate the chance to speak more.
  • Along with verbal communication, observe clues from non-verbal communication as well.

Interview Evaluation Form – What Is It And Why Is It Used?

An interview evaluation form will aid immensely in carrying out a fruitful interview. An interview evaluation form is a document where the interviewer can evaluate the candidate’s performance in various areas and even comparing it with other candidate’s performance. So, this document comes handy when hiring someone for the job. An interview evaluation form is useful for the following reasons:

  • This form also helps in interviewing in a structured manner as it allows the interviewer to have an organized interview framework ready before-hand. 
  • As all the candidates are interviewed according to a pre-defined format, it also promotes fairness in the evaluation pattern. 
  • It also offers more precise and more in-depth insights regarding the candidate. 
  • Having data on the candidate, it also helps in the future training of the candidate.
  • Evaluation biases are reduced because every candidate goes through the same evaluation process. So, having an exact interview evaluation form makes the interview process a little smoother. 

How to Make Interview Evaluation Form?

An interview evaluation form is one of the essential HR tools used during the recruitment process. Different job profiles would evoke various evaluation forms depending upon the type of characteristics required by the company. But any evaluation form will roughly contain the following fields:

Basic Candidate Details: Some basic but mandatory details that include: 

  • Name of the candidate 
  • Position applied for
  • Name of the interviewer 
  • The date of the interview was conducted.
  • Contact details (may or may not be included) to have a clear record of the candidates interviewed.

Past relevant details: This includes the education details of the candidate, which can be relevant to the job profile applied for. It may consist of college degrees and any certification if done that enhances the chances of obtaining the job. This tab also includes the previous job experiences that may aid in the current job profile.

Candidate Evaluation Criteria: Now, this is the section that will be included in the form, but the parameters may vary depending upon the company, it’s requirements, the job profile, and many more. The main section of the form is used for evaluating the candidate’s performance based on interview performance, overall experience, and knowledge. 

This part generally has a pre-defined grading system, where the candidates are given grades in various fields. The most commonly used grading pattern is a range of 1-5, where 1 generally indicates the “non-possession of the skill” and 5 indicates “extremely proficient in the skill.” Some of the evaluation criteria can include: 

  • General personality skills like working in teams, the ability to adapt to various situations, verbal ability skills.
  • It is differentiating skills that answer the classic question of “what makes you different?”. Skills like leadership, time management, creative thinker, and many more. The skills that can put you one step ahead of your peers in the interview round.
  • Skills that the job profile demands, like for a marketing job profile, communication skills, customer management skills, technical skills, etc., are mandatory. So different job profiles command different kinds of skills.
  • Whether the employee is a fit to the organisation’s culture, the most important criteria as an organization fit are something that matters the most. 

Overall review and comments:  After evaluating the candidate on various skills, the decision of the interviewer is supreme. Here the interviewer writes about the impression formed of the candidate. Comments relating to whether the company should hire the candidate, reject or put the candidate on hold, comprise this section. 

Sample Interview Evaluation Forms

These are some of the basic criteria each evaluation form should have. Some of the sample interview evaluation forms are provided below:

Sample 1:

Basic details:

Name of the candidate: Mr ABC
Profile applied for: ABCDE
Date of the interview: DD/MM/YYYY
Interviewer name: Mr XYZ

Evaluation criteria (Tick as per requirements):

Criteria Excellent Strong Average Weak
Relevant education background *
Relevant work experience *
Communication skills *
Leadership skills *
Job-specific skills *
Match to company’s values *

Review and comments:

(Give the comments according to the interview process and evaluating criteria).

Sample 2:

Basic details:

Name of the candidate: Mr ABC
Profile applied for: ABCDE
Date of the interview: DD/MM/YYYY
Interviewer name: Mr XYZ

Evaluation criteria (Scoring as per interview):

Here a rating scale of 1-5 is used for the evaluation of criteria.

Where, 1= Poor, 2=Below Average, 3=Average, 4=Good, 5=Excellent.

Skills Rating Comments
Is the candidate’s educational qualification suitable for the job? 12345 ……..
Can the candidate highlight their strengths? 12345 ……..
Prior work experience 12345 ……..
Situational questions 12345 ……..
Aspirations of the candidate 12345 ……..
The motivation for the job? 12345 ……..
Prioritization 12345 ……..
Interest in the company 12345 ……..

Sample 3:

Basic details:

Name of the candidate: Mr ABC
Profile applied for: ABCDE
Date of the interview: DD/MM/YYYY
Interviewer name: Mr XYZ

Evaluation criteria (Scoring as per interview):

Here a rating scale of 1-5 is used for the evaluation of criteria.

Where, 1= Poor, 2=Below Average, 3=Average, 4=Good, 5=Excellent.

Educational background: Does the candidate have the relevant educational knowledge required for this post?

Rating:

Comments:

Prior Work experience: Is the prior work experience of the candidate suitable for the current position?

Rating:

Comments:

Technical Qualifications: Does the candidate have the necessary technical skills required for the job?

Rating:

Comments:

Leadership ability: Does the candidate have the necessary leadership skills required for the job?

Rating:

Comments:

Communication skills: Does the candidate have good communication skills?

Rating:

Comments:

Candidate enthusiasm level: Interest level of the candidate for the job?

Rating:

Comments:

Overall comments and feedback:

……………………………………………………………………………………………….

These are some of the samples of the interview evaluation form. An interview evaluation form is a great tool to conduct the interview process seamlessly. Making the process less tiresome and easy. Interviews were and always will be an indispensable part of the entire hiring process, but tools like these help to lessen the burden. Make your customized evaluation process and ace this process!

Are you looking to hiring the best talents for your company? Register here on our platform to find.

How to Prepare for Placements?

Posted on by Saumya Khatri
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One of the many things that keep confronting us is how are our placements going to be like. Ever since we complete school and start a search for good colleges, we pay special attention to how the placements are going to be like, what are the companies that hire and how are packages that they offer. We prepare for entrances to get into good colleges to learn and land a pleasant offer to financially secure ourselves, our dreams to get the best placement that is being offered is generally experienced by all of us.

Placements, no matter how many times we have heard it and no matter how many times we take advises seeming intimidating to students, especially if you are an introvert and have not mastered the art of articulation which means- most of us. We have curated a list of things that you need to check before appearing for interviews and cracking those placements.

8 Tips to Prepare for Placements

1. Read and Research About The Company

The most important thing that you need to ensure that you have done enough research on the companies that you will be applying to. This research includes the ownership of the company, their motto, the kind of practice they indulge it, their origin story, their expansion and what values they propagate. Too thorough, oneself with the company’s policies and values can help you in aligning your experiences and aspirations with the same while explaining your job application or any other question. 

2. Research and Read About The Job 

The companies come up with different job profiles and roles while looking for recruits in colleges or any other similar institutions. When the process of placement starts, usually the students experience havoc and get confused between companies and the multiple roles they are hiring for. Therefore, it is very important to familiarize yourself with all the roles and prevent confusion in the incoming interview. Once you introduce yourself with the roles, you will also be able to cut down on what is suitable and preferable to you.

3. Prepare Your Resume Properly

Even before you open your mouth to tell your name, the panelists have formed an opinion on you based on the Resume that you have presented on their table. This single piece of paper speaks volumes for you. Your qualifications, achievements and experiences have all mentioned the paper which makes them form a primary opinion on you. The way you have chosen to present the details, starting from resume profile to the ending where you mention hobbies also plays a crucial role in what kind of opinion they are forming, therefore, it is essential to put relevant information professionally.

4. Scale-up Your Aptitude and Logical Reasoning

There are many ways to judge your aptitude and logical reasoning and interviews are one of them. People, most of the time, remain under the impression that logical reasoning and aptitude are only judged in examinations which is a false claim. During the whole process of the interview, the panelists are looking at your logical reasoning, aptitude and problem-solving ability. They might put complex problems in a simple way or through a different type of question; you have to play smart and showcase that you honestly possess logical reasoning and problem-solving ability. It can be a deal-breaker and help you land your dream job.

5. Perfect Your Communication Skill

Communication is the key that fits every lock, not just the placement interview. It is going to come handy in every space you try to enter be it any new college, job or city. You are going to impress others with what you say and believe if you possess impeccable communication skill. If you lack communication skill, even the best of your answers are not going to help you in cracking the placement. Therefore, it is very much crucial to hone your communication skill.

Also Read: Top 10 Highest Paying Jobs in India

Also Read: 7 Most Common Job Interview Questions and Answers

6. Revise What You Have Learnt

Although interviews and group discussions held in placements are hardly about your academic qualifications, the panelists might throw a few textbook questions here and there to test your knowledge and presence of mind. Therefore, it becomes essential to brush up the knowledge that you have gathered in your college years. If you cannot go through all the textbooks, at least try to be as thorough as possible with the basics of your course and the academic knowledge required for the job. 

7. Appear Confident and Approachable

The most crucial aspect of your personality is judged not by your academic qualifications and experiences, but how to are presenting yourself in the interview. Face to face interaction with the employee is very much preferred by the panelists to see how confident they sound and how do they approach challenging situations. They might through complex questions and situations in front of you to check your adaptability. It is impossible to know everything about a subject, and the panelists are also very much aware of this fact, therefore, if you don’t know something, don’t hesitate to speak so.

Speak politely and clearly that you don’t have any idea, it is better than fumbling giving wrong answers which depicts nothing but negligence on your part. On the other hand, if you declare that you don’t possess the knowledge and refrain from speaking ahead, the panelists will know that you know the consequences and follow up by saying that you will ask for help, to your mentor, your senior or any other person who might hold the expertise, even your junior. Indeed, this will provide you with brownie points.

8. Be Ready for Twists and Turns But Stay Calm

Panelists might through complex questions in a twisted way, don’t forget to take your time, contemplate and then give your answer. Don’t doubt yourself if you are very well aware of the concept and don’t go with false fumbling and mumbling if you are not. Cracking the placement interview is all about the right mixture of confidence, humility and openness to learning.

I hope these tips will help you to prepare for your placement effectively. If you have any queries, then feel free to mention the comment section below.

All the best.

40 Best Resume Headlines for Freshers – Resume Title Samples

Posted on by Aanchal Lohia
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The resume is one of the most important documents for any working individual. A well-crafted resume is a crucial possession that helps setting foot in the corporate world. For a fresher, building a perfect resume is the first step for getting a job. Your entire life’s achievements are crammed up in a one-page document, but organizing it requires skill. As an impactful resume will create a good first impression and will help you in getting one step closer to your dream job. So, all the elements of your resume should be on point and especially the resume headline.

A resume headline, also called the resume title, is a summary that shows the highlight of your characteristics and your career profile. The first thing located at the top of your resume must be an impressive one, as it is the first thing that the employer reads, so it should be catchy enough to hold your employer’s attention so that they can proceed further. For people with work-experience, a resume headline must comprise of their experience -but for a fresher who has no job experience, it can include some of their characteristics to align them with the kind of job applied.

Also Read: How to Write a Declaration for Resume? – With Samples

Tips to Write an Eye-catchy Resume Headline

  • Use a personalized tone while writing the headline, depending upon the kind of job profile you are applying for.
  • Use phrases instead of complete sentences. Keep it short and impactful.
  • Do not use heavy jargon as it may make your headline too cliched.
  • Use some very powerful keywords while describing your traits to make it more attention-grabby for the recruiter.
  • Include data-driven information for more impact.

Proofread the document before submitting: A resume headline must be brief and crisp, thereby pitching yourself as the ideal candidate for the job role. Highlighting your educational achievements, personality traits, specializations, to make an impactful resume title is a must. Resume headlines also vary with the kind of job profile you are applying for so, let’s take a look into some of those.

Best Resume Headlines for Freshers

Software Developer

“B.Tech in computer science. Have great coding skills in Java, C++, and PHP. A passionate professional with great interpersonal and communication skills.”

“Extensive domain knowledge as a systems architect and a software developer- analysis, development, and management of complex software solutions.”

Mechanical Engineer

“Strong technical knowledge with quantitative aptitude. A team-worker with good communication skills.”

“Proficiency in drafting and reviewing estimates and RFPs. Proficient in using the CAD software and ANSYS mechanical software.”

“Skilled in COSMOS with a huge passion for machines and machine learning.”

Electrical Engineer

“Proficient in MIS with great reporting and organizational skills. High Proficiency in drawing project reports too.”

“B.Tech in electrical engineering, with expertise in mixed-signal circuit design.”

“Expertise in electrical specifications for new system design and also well acquainted with MATLAB, Autodesk, AutoCAD, and many more.”  

Business Analyst

“Great primary and research skills accompanied by an analytical bent of mind. Excellent organizing skills with an eye for detail.”

“Research professional with an analytical bent of mind with great research skills.”

“In-depth knowledge of the retail and e-commerce industry and major customer segments, with great negotiation and problem-solving skills.”

Chartered Accountant

“Strong capability in handling all related accounting operations along with cash flow management.” 

“Extensive knowledge about GAAP, Financial Reporting, Taxation, Auditing, and industry trends.”

“Skillful in dealing with huge numbers across various accounts simultaneously.”

HR Manager

“Graduate with a human resource degree. A people-oriented person with great communication skills and understanding.”

“Well equipped with HR databases, Recruitment procedure, employee engagement, and great negotiation skills.”

“Good understanding of Statutory compliance and ability to handle employee grievances.”

Teaching Professional

“Excellent subject knowledge, with great communication skills and the ability to motivate individuals.”

“Innovative teaching methods with the ability to handle a big batch of kids at a time.”

“B.Ed degree looking for a school to put my academic knowledge and teaching methods to use.” 

“Encourage creative and higher-order thinking, thereby helping to increase student’s performance.”

Content Writer

“Flair for creating creative content out of regular, mundane information.”

“Excellent grammar and English writing skills. Ability to present innovative ideas engagingly.”

“An English literature graduate, result-focused, analytical, and highly creative content, capable of writing content in various genres.”

Financial Analyst

“Masters in finance, highly capable of budgeting, financial forecasting, and financial modelling tools.”

“Excellent at consolidating and analysing financial data and creating dashboards.”

“A result-oriented financial analyst seeking to work in a challenging atmosphere to utilize my business development management skills.”

Sales Executive

“Adept at lead generation and maintaining good customer relationship management.”

“Proficient in using multiple communication channels for better customer service and resolving customer queries.”

“Fresh MBA graduate with internship experience in the marketing domain. Multilingual skills, with great consumer interaction skills.”

Graphic Designer

“Great at developing unique designs as per the latest trends. Proficient at Illustrator and Dreamweaver.”

“Skillful in designing various logos, web designs, banners, and many more as per the client requirements.”

“Expert in photoshop, Corel draw, and PageMaker with great innovative design ideas that can help make your brand unique.”

Interior Designer

“Degree in interior designing with proficiency in AutoCAD, 3D, Photoshop, and many more.”

“Expertise in creating aesthetic spaces for bedrooms, offices, restaurants according to client demands.”

“Ability to create great designs for commercial and residential requirements. Great presentation and communication skills.”

Travel Agent

“Skilled at planning tours for both individuals and groups. Strong budgeting and planning skills.”

“Internship experience with a leading travel company, sound knowledge about visa compliances.”

Conclusion

Creating a crisp, strong, and impactful headline is the only way to get the attention of the employer. Make sure you will be able to justify whatever you write in the headline as it makes the maximum impact and is likely to stay in the minds of the recruiter for a longer time. Be honest, express yourself impressively, and prepare for any questions related to the headline. The headline may aid, but at last, your personality, the ability to think on your feet, and the out-of-the-box thinking will help in securing your dream job. So, be passionate and keep dreaming!

Best Answers for “How Do You Handle Stress and Pressure” Interview Question

Posted on by Sinibali Jana
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Workplace Stress and pressure are inevitable. Every employee at some point of time gets stressed due to work pressure. And honestly, there is nothing wrong with that. What matters is that how an employee handles it. Effective handling of stress means high emotional intelligence and maturity on the employee’s part. However, ineffective handling of stress and pressure leads to lowered productivity of the employee and hence affects the organisation.

Almost every interviewee is faced with the question “how do you handle stress and pressure”. To look impressive, the interviewee sometimes answers with phrases like:

  • “I don’t get stressed.”
  • “I am calm all the time.”
  • “Stress and pressure do not bother me.”

This is not what the interviewer is looking for and happens to be one of the biggest and most common mistakes that the candidates make while answering this question. Answers like these make the interviewer suspicious and make him/her feel that the candidate is blurting out rehearsed answers.

The sole reason why the interviewer asks this question is to know about the capability of the candidate. The interviewer also wants to know the past experiences of the candidate where he was exposed to stressful situations and how he dealt with them. The best way to answer this question in interviews is to firstly acknowledge that the candidate does face enough pressure and gets stressed under gruelling situations. Secondly, the candidate must state past experiences where he/she got stressed, and the steps are taken to overcome it. 

Tips to Answer

A proper answer to “how do you handle stress and pressure” should be well-articulated. In addition to that, it also has to be authentic and genuine. Employers do not wish to hire someone who crumbles under workplace pressure. If a candidate, under a gruelling situation has a nervous breakdown, nobody in the organisation wants to be responsible for it.

Also, an employee unable to handle stress is most likely to evade responsibilities and pass them on to someone else. Unable to handle stressful and pressurising situations also means a lack of problem-solving skills and unsteady decision-making procedure. No employer wants these traits in someone who is being hired. Hence answering this question correctly is a very crucial part of an interview. The following listed are several tips that should be considered while answering:

1. Provide an Example

Talking in generic terms always evokes a lesser impact than talking specifically. Hence the candidate should give a real experience where he/she faced with a stressful or gruelling situation. The example should be concise but clear. It should summarise the situation and how it caused stressed to the candidate and what degree.

2. Explain How You Overcame It

The candidate should tell the interviewer how he had overcome the said stressful situation mentioned in the interview. The candidate has to make sure that he/she does not give this impression to the interviewer that his/her stress-coping mechanisms are unhealthy. For example, if the candidate answers that he had handled the stress by crying profusely for two hours or completely avoiding the situation, it would not make a good impression.

The candidate has to answer how he used the stress the work better. He/she can say that he/she had used the stress as a motivator to increase the pace and productivity of his/her work. It can also be said that he/she took a very little time off work to neutralise his stress and got back to work with a fresh mind. Saying that the candidate meditated for a while or tried balancing the work can also be a perfect option.

3. Stress as a Motivator

Telling the interviewer how the candidate uses stress as a motivator is by far one of the best ways to answer this question. The candidate should articulate the reason for stress and how he/she used it as a positive gateway to amplify his work performance. The candidate should mention examples like the stress of tough deadlines motivating him/her to work better and faster.

4. Skills Learned Due to Stress

Employers generally look for employees who not only handle stress effectively but also use that to learn something that might benefit them in the future and evade the possibility of further stress. Skills learned due to stress are soft skills that employers look for in potential employees. These skills can be organising work, time-management, prioritising, etc.

5. Results

The answer should engage a result or ultimate goal that the candidate was able to achieve due to the effective handling of the stress. For example, he/she can state how the artwork was completed before the client needed or the reports were submitted to the supervisor before time.

Sample Answers

Every candidate is most likely to have a different experience, different stories and other answers to give in the interviews. However below listed are the best sample answers that can be said as a response to the question “how do you handle stress and pressure” in an interview.

Answer 1: According to me, stress is a positive motivator. It teaches us a lot of skills that we cannot otherwise learn in normal situations. I try to learn something from every stressful situation. One time, I had to submit three reports in one week, and it was very stressful. However, I submitted all of them on time. This is because I balanced my workload and learnt how to effectively prioritise my workload to make the best of the current situation.

Answer 2: Stress often improves the quality of my work as it acts as a motivator for me. Since I am a content writer, I can vouch for this. I generally have to work under strict deadlines to meet with the client’s demands. However, I have noticed I deliver the best content, especially when I am working under stress.

Answer 3: As a comic artist workplace is mainly lined by stress to meet the demands and make submissions on time. Whenever I am stressed, I use that as a motivator so that I can finish my job at the earliest. Hence under stress, I have produced some of my best comics.

Answer 4: I handle stress by reminding myself of the goal or the result that I am working towards. That gives me the drive or the motivation to push through the stress and reach my goal. Once in my earlier organisation, I had to get a massive target of sales within a week. Hence I reminded myself of the ultimate target and kept working until I reached it.

Answer 5: Being in customer service can be a stressful job. Hence under stress, I make it a point to focus my reaction on the situations and not on the stress that I am feeling. For example, if I am handling a rude customer, I try to focus on the situation, which motivates me to effectively apply my communication skills to resolve the situation.

Answer 6: Being in management has taught me that a stressed team causes a great deal of stress. So in those situations, I try to communicate well with my team members to get a clear idea of what is stressing them. On doing that, we can improve the group dynamics by sharing our duties and hence reducing the pressure. This collectively reduces the entire stress of the group, and thus I cope with my stress too.

Answer 7: I handle stress by being too calculative. In my last organisation, I was assigned a task in the last minute due to a contingency, and I had to handle it on my own. The time was very less, and it was an important assignment. I chalked out the requirements of the assignment, listed what I had to do, calculated my available time, divided it into various tasks, and that led to the completion of the assignment on time.

Answer 8: In this extremely competitive workplace scenario, stress is inevitable. To deal with it, I make sure I exercise and meditate regularly. IT keeps my mind active. Meditation keeps me focussed and thus helps me work through any stressful situation.

Stress can never be evaded. Good and bad stress is a part of every workplace. Employers want to hire someone who experiences both but finds a way out of it to deliver his job nonetheless. These answers shall give the interviewer the idea that they are talking to the right candidate, and no amount of stress would be daunting enough to cripple his/her spirits.

How to Write Email to Boss of Completion of Work with Samples

Posted on by Sinibali Jana
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Work completion e-mail is sent when to communicate the completion of a specific task, job, or project that an employee was provided with. Work completion e-mails are not a professional mandate per se. It is not under the conventional professional protocols. However, it adds to added clarity in terms of communication. It keeps the boss updated upon the current position of the job. It also provides the employee to reach out to his/her supervisor regarding his work.

It may so happen that at one point in time, the boss or the supervisor is currently occupied with other matters at hand, and the employee cannot directly communicate the information of his job completion. In a situation like this, the employee can send in a work completion e-mail to his/her boss, who can read it and revert at his/her convenience.

Things to Remember While Writing a Work Completion E-mail

1. Clarity

Clarity is an integral part of any formal communication. The sender should be clear in his thoughts and be able to communicate them the same way.

Even in the case of work-completion e-mails, clarity is very important. The employee should speak on this subject alone. He/she should clearly state the project, what it comprised of, what was the deadline, and when it was finished. The employee should state whether the job was completed before the deadline, or later than that, the possible outcomes.

2. Official

Before sending the work-completion e-mail, the employee should ensure that the completion of the work is updated officially. It should mean that the work completed should be officially documented. This is important to avoid any discrepancies in communication that might arise. This means that when the boss reads the e-mails and wants to verify it, he/she should find official documentation supporting it. Otherwise, it might cause a barrier to effective communication.

 3. Concise

Lengthy and elongated e-mails do not generally work in the professional sphere except in some cases. Hence, a work-completion e-mail should be concise. It should be time-saving for both the employee and the boss. The e-mail should contain all the necessary information in a concisely packed manner.

 4. Structured

The e-mail should follow a specific structure and should not be scattered. It should follow the format and be well drafted. All the pointers for information should be covered, and feedback should also be asked for.

Format

As stated above, a proper work-completion mail has to be well drafted. A well-drafted e-mail has to follow a specific format. It should also contain all the necessary information that the boss should know. A suitably formatted application will also preserve the essence of professionalism that the workplace demands. Below stated is the proper way of writing it:

 1. Subject

Under this head, the gist of the main subject of the application has to be written. It is advised to make the subject concise and catchy to grab the reader’s attention. For completion of work, the subject can be something like “100 percent work completion in 35 hours”.

 2. Salutation

This means writing the proper address for the leave application.

For example-Sir/Madam.

 3. Tasks Assigned

This part constitutes the body of the e-mail. Here the employee should state the works that were assigned to him. It is advisable to use bullet points to list the assigned tasks to give it a more clean and objective look.

4. Tasks Completed

Here the employee should state the tasks or projects that are completed and documented by him. It can so happen that he/she has completed specific parts of the task, and hence that should be mentioned likewise. If the entire task is completed and documented, this part of the e-mail should contain that information.

5. Possible questions

If the employee has any questions regarding any part of the work, he/she should address the questions here. They may be related to future anticipations from the project, possible continuation of the project, or a mere query regarding a specific part of the project or work assigned to the employee.

6. Asking for feedback

This is the concluding part of the e-mail where the employee asks for the feedback of the supervisor so that he/she can make necessary changes and also get on with his next assignment.

7. Signature

This means concluding the letter by stating the employee’s name and position.

Work Completion E-mail

Sample #1

Sir/Madam,

 

I have completed my tasks for the week/month, and here is a complete report of the same.

 

The tasks that were assigned to me are listed below:

*Task 1*

*Task 2*

*Task 3*

 

The tasks that are completed are as follows:

*mention in points*

 

However, I have a few queries and questions regarding a particular area.

*State the query/queries*

 

Thank you for your sincere guidance throughout the project, without which it could not have been completed with such zeal. It was an absolute pleasure to work with you and the amazing team who made the success possible. Please provide your valuable feedback so that the changes can be implemented, and the next phase of work can be started at the earliest.

 

Yours sincerely,

*Name*

 

Sample #2

Sir,

 

This is an e-mail regarding the *Title* project that was assigned in October 2019.

It was indeed a huge project. The tasks that were assigned were:

 

  1. Completion of an audit of all financial documents till September
  2. Documenting the same in the software.

 

I am happy to inform you that a hundred percent completion of the task is possible and that, too, one month before the deadline. Even though we faced many challenges, due to diligence and teamwork, we could reach the completion.

 

However, I have a few queries regarding the last phase of the project.

*State the query/queries*

 

Thank you for your sincere guidance throughout the project, without which it could not have been completed with such zeal. It was an absolute pleasure to work with you and the amazing team who made the success possible. Please provide your valuable feedback so that the changes can be implemented, and the next phase of work can be started at the earliest.

 

Yours sincerely,

*Name*

I hope you got an idea of writing an email to the boss of the completion of work. Comment down below if you any queries.

How Can organizational Culture Attract and Retain Talented Employees?

Posted on by Ankita Sanyal
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The constant focus for corporate companies lately has been paying attention to creating, fostering, and sustaining organisational culture, also called corporate culture. It is not P&G alone – all successful companies like IBM, HP, Apple, Coca-Cola, Pepsi, L&T, Tata’s, Wipro, Cognizant, or Infosys – have one underlying factor behind the success, and that is maintaining a workplace culture. Culture is like the DNA of the organisation, unique to itself. Culture has a direct proportional impact on employee attention, retention, performance and satisfaction. The value system of the workplace culture manifests itself through the language they speak, murals on the wall, their building aesthetics and a host of other artefacts. Companies with a strong workplace culture rightly consider it to be very precious. Sometimes more important than a trade secret and in some sense, unique. Organisational members begin to feel a strong bond with the company they are working for. The strong bond transcends material returns given by the organisation, and the employees begin to identify with it. The entire organisation turns into some clan. 

MEANING OF ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE

`From a wider perspective, the word ‘culture’ linguistically translates to the universal set which includes knowledge, principles, beliefs, morals, law, custom and other capabilities and habits acquired by particular individuals in a society. Two important aspects of culture are cultural history and mutual phenomenon. Cultural History is the cultural mores of a society that are transgenerational. The second term points towards the cultural ethos and the principles that are shared among the members of society. In other words, unlike one-person specific, culture is a group-specific concept. Organisational culture or company culture is a reflection of the ideologies, values, assumptions, beliefs, expectations, attitudes and norms that weave an organisation together and are shared by its employees. Organisational members tend to internalise cultural policies and practices and like to indoctrinate newcomers into such moves. Some of these practices are thoroughly internalised that no one can question them – they are taken for granted; in other words, they get institutionalised.

UNDERSTANDING ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE:

Corporate culture mainly consists of three distinct levels, namely, common assumptions, shared values and observable values.

  1. OBSERVABLE CULTURE:

    At the surface is the observable culture, it could be considered as the first layer which manifests through symbols such as physical design, dress code, logos, gadget, and murals. It broadly includes unique office stories, traditions and rituals that add up to the history of the success of the organisation.

  2. SHARED VALUES:

    The second level includes shared values. Shared values apply to all organisational members, and no deviation is tolerated. Common uniformity and shared beliefs or mutual values represent a shared culture. Corporate Vision and Mission must be shared by all and must be binding all.

  3. COMMON ASSUMPTIONS:

    The third level is of Common assumptions, the deeper or hidden aspect of organisational culture. These are the taken for granted truths that every organisational member shares as a result of their collective experience. As difficult as it may be to isolate these patterns but doing so helps give a valid explanation of culture invading every aspect of organisational life. The common assumption may surface in an organisational crisis, like for example, the way a senior executive guilty of sexual harassment, is handled or an employee caught indulging in an ethical act is dealt with. How employees stand united to thwart hostile takeover bid and the way employees volunteer for pay cuts to steer the organisation from the financial crisis are also instances of the common assumptions.

ATTRACTION, SUSTENENCE AND RETENTION OF TALENT:

Few strategies that support the cause :

  • SELECTING AND SOCIALISING EMPLOYEES:

The main purpose of the hiring process to hire the right people for the right job. When for a given job, two or more candidates with identical skills and abilities are available final selection is influenced by how well a candidate fits into the organisation. By identifying candidates who can help with the organisational culture selection help sustain culture considerably. Job applicants to look at an organisation from its cultural perspective before seeking entry into it. More than pay and perquisites in an organisation offers, it is the cultural artefacts that often attract or detract job seekers. Along with selecting people with compatible values, companies maintain strong cultural aspects through the effective socialisation of new employees. 

The socialisation of employees is the learning process of every individual to acquire values, expected behaviour, and social knowledge necessary to assume their roles in the organisation.

Pre-arrival, encounter and metamorphosis are the three central stages of employee Socialisation. Pre-arrival is the initial stage that encircles the learning aspect that occurs before a new member joins the organisation. Encounter, the next stage, where the new employee sees what the organisation is and confronts where his/her expectations diverge reality. The last stage is related to lasting changes that take place. The new employee masters and adjusts the skills required for his or her new roles in accordance with his or her work group’s values and norms.

  • PERFORMANCE AND SATISFACTION:

Company culture has a significant impact on performance. Culture has an innate quality of performance enhancement for at least four reasons.

    1. Culture makes strategy implementation
    2.  Organisational wide common goals as employees share common goals
    3. a strong culture creates a high level of motivation because of the mutual values shared by the members
    4. strong culture provides a control mechanism without the prospect of bureaucracy

There is a correlation between organisational culture and employee satisfaction. But individual needs of employees main monetary the relationship between culture and satisfaction. In general, satisfaction will be the highest when there is congruence between individual needs and organisational culture. For instance, an organisation whose culture would be characterised is low in structure, having loose supervision and rewarding employees for higher achievement is more likely to have more satisfied employees if those employees have a higher achievement need and prefer autonomy. Thus, job satisfaction often varies according to employees’ perception of the culture.

  • STRONG COMMITMENT FROM EMPLOYEES:

Culture not only increases their commitment to the organisation but also creates a sense of identity in them. When employees in the values of the company define their work intrinsically rewarding and identified with their fellow workers, motivation is enhanced, and their morale has an automatic boost. The commitment of employees could be picturised as a three phases plan :

    1. Compliance – people confirm to obtain some material benefit.
    2. Identification – the demands of culture are accepted to maintain good relationships with colleagues.
    3. Internalisation – People find that the adoption of cultural values of the organisation produces intrinsic satisfaction because these values are in line with their personal values. In many ways, This is an ideal status as far as the acceptance of organisational values are concerned and if widespread, is indicative of a strong culture.

  • MAINTAINING A STABLE WORKFORCE:

An organisation’s culture is embedded and projected through the minds of its employees. Organisational stories are rarely written down; rituals and celebration do not usually exist in manual, and organisation metaphors are not found in corporate directories. Thus, a stable workforce that communicates and reinforces the dominant beliefs and values is what an organisation seeks. High turnover and downsizing can demolish the organisational culture because the ‘corporate memory’ leaves along with those employees. Organisational culture also weakens during periods of rapid expansion or mergers because it takes time for incoming employees to learn about and accept the dominant corporate values and beliefs. For this reason, some organisations keep their culture intact by keeping a mindful check on their employee growth and turnover ratios.

  • CULTURALLY CONSISTENT REWARDS:

Reward systems strengthen corporate culture when they are consistent and with cultural values. Aggressive cultures might offer more performance-based individual incentives, whereas Paternalistic cultures would more likely offer employee assistance programs, medical insurance, and other fringe benefits that support employees’ well being.

How important is organization culture for any organisation? Is it more important than the monetary aspects? Let is know in the comments below

11 Best Jobs for Women in India 2024

Posted on by Aanchal Lohia
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Jobs are undoubtedly one of the most important aspects of any person’s life. All those years of schools, hundreds of books, all-nighters for preparation for exams, and then anxiously waiting for the results. So much of labour, done for what? For securing a stable, well-off job that can fend your and family’s needs, provide you with all the amenities that you oh-so-crazily desire and your dream life. Having a job offers a sense of accomplishment, the freedom to make decisions and live life on their terms. 

Everyone must have the right to choose what profession they want to enter and make a career in. Be it a man or a woman; your gender should not come in the way of your career progression. Gone are the days when females were only allowed to descend upon a specific career path, and the other jobs were touted as more “suitable for a man.” Especially in this age and generation, when women are giving a tough competition to everyone in every field imaginable, be it being managers or running for the Presidents, women can do them all! 

Working in the tech-driven industry, managing director of a company, serving in the Indian navy to representing India in sports at a national level, you name it, and women have got it covered. Curated below is the list of best jobs that any woman can pursue in India and build a fantastic career out of it!

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Also Read: 8 Best Creative Jobs In India

11 Best Jobs for Women in India

1. Teaching Profession

Women have naturally been considered nurturing, able to understand a child’s needs better than a man, and can guide a young blooming flower in a much better way than anyone else. So, teaching still claims the number one spot as the best jobs for women. The teaching profession also provides different routes for giving knowledge. Apart from being the traditional classroom faculty and home tuitions, growth in the digital sector has also opened the option of offering e-learning from the comforts of their homes. Apart from parents, teachers are the ones who touch a child’s heart, and a caring, soft, tender natured woman is the best suited for this job.

2. Hospitality Jobs

Women are inadvertently associated with glamour. Hospitality is an indispensable part of most services, and with the growing service sector in India, the hospitality sector is expanding, which opens up job opportunities for women. Communication skills are the essential skills required to be a hospitality staff. Women tend to possess them naturally, thus making this career a suitable one for them. Be it an air hostess or a receptionist at a five-star hotel, this sector is booming, and so is the number of jobs associated with it.

3. Medical Field

One of the noblest professions considered, women are the perfect fit for the medical sector. Evolution turned women into natural care-givers, and it goes perfectly with the medical profession. Though it does require years of dedication and higher studies, a medical profession is a fulfilling one. Gynecologists and nurses are the two careers where there is a strict demand for females only. The medical profession does provide a stable job, which makes it so popular for females.

4. Entertainment Industry

Everyone knows, the entertainment industry is a diva’s job. And who can be a greater diva than a woman who was born with the attitude to slay? Indian Bollywood industry is one of the biggest entertainment industries in the world, which serves as a huge job provider. Not just acting, there are other professions like anchoring, modelling, dancing stylists, cinematographers, and many more. The entertainment industry is one of the most sought-after industries in India, where millions of girls dream of being a part of and thus secure a household presence. With the right talent, you are born to make it big there, girl!

5. Human Resource Manager

Take a moment and think. Is or was your HR manager a woman? Yes? That is because human resource is a sector that is currently dominated by women. Most of the organisations today prefer to hire a female for this job because of the great inherent interpersonal skills and the ability to listen, understand, and provide a solution to the problem, belongs to women. HRs are one of the most valuable assets of the company, and thus the firm desires to fill this post with someone who can do justice to the job, and most of the women perfectly fit the shoe.

Also Read: 13 Best Jobs for the Future in India

6. Media and Journalism

Again, excellent communication skills are a great advantage for all women. The poise, the grace required to be present in front of a camera and collect and present it on the television, to some women, this skill comes naturally. The field which provides you with the right to exercise your creative part of the brain and satisfy your imagination this sector can be checked out for sure.

7. Finance and Banking

One of the few sectors, which clearly shows that women can do anything when they set their mind on something. A male-dominated sector for a long time, women are slowly making progress here as well. This profession requires a lot of people management skills and patience. A booming sector now, women with excellent customer handling skills and knowledge of the industry can make it big in this domain for sure. Arundhati Bhattacharya, Chanda Kochhar, Indira Nooyi are some Indian women who have set the example in the field of finance.

8. Sports

Though a common notion that sports are a field for men, current generation women have broken all barriers and made headlines with their outstanding performance in the sports industry. P.V. Sindhu, Mary Kom, Mithila Raj, Dipa Karmakar, Hima Das, Geeta Phogat, the names are endless. From being the youngest Indian ever to win a medal in the Olympics to becoming World Amateur Boxing champion for a record of 6 times to the first Indian to win a gold medal at the IAAF World U20 championships, these women have done it all. A highly lucrative career option, which can be pursued if interested in the field of sports.

9. Designing

Be it fashion designing, jewellery, or interior, women have been flourishing in almost every field. Women tend to excel in this field more because if their natural exposure to these fields. From creating your showrooms to working under a professional and enhancing your skills, this domain offers many options to capitalize on your interest. 

10. Beauty and Cosmetics

It is not a hidden fact that the skill of makeup is something that all the females proudly hone. Turning something that you love doing into a full-fledged career option, isn’t it great? There are various beauty schools where you can earn a degree as a beautician and start practicing as a beauty therapist. Setting up your beauty salon with multiple services to offer, you can go strong in the game. 

11. Fitness Sector

A booming sector, with more and more individuals going fitness crazy, this sector provides a lot of job opportunities. Any fitness-loving female can have a great career in this domain. Online fitness related videos are in trend nowadays and are becoming very popular in today’s era. Aerobics, Zumba, yoga, core work-out, and many options available for you to try out our fitness calling!

Women today dream bigger and also has the zeal to fight for equal rights. In no sense do they consider themselves less than their male counterparts? And why should they? There is nothing in today’s generation that a man can do, and a woman cannot. Many are breaking this glass ceiling and setting new examples and benchmarks every day. Woman today has the same capability, maybe even more, to be the financial support of their family. Just believe in yourself, and you can achieve the world, girl!

Employee Training – Meaning, Benefits, Types, Process, Facilitation & Measurement

Posted on by Ankita Sanyal
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MEANING OF EMPLOYEE TRAINING

Employee training refers to the process of imparting specific skills to the employees via classroom OR practical training programs. The training programs make the workforce more efficient and has numerous other benefits. Let us look at some of these benefits below

BENEFITS OF EMPLOYEE TRAINING

Employee training ensures employee retention and prevents burnouts by removing performance deficiencies, drive employee engagement making employees stay long, minimizing accidents, scraps, damage and meeting future employee needs. Strong training programs ensure greater stability, flexibility and capacity for growth in an organization. Training contributes to employees in many ways, efficiency heading the chart. Efficient employees contribute to the growth of the firm. Growth renders stability to the workforce for the trained employees who tend to stay with the company. They seldom leave the company. Training makes the employee versatile in all operations giving increased flexibility to the organisation. Leading to growth and prosperity which is reflected in increased profits from year to year.

Employee training is not only advantageous for individual employees but also gives an added advantage to the firm/company. If we look into these two broad categories closely we would see how individual employee training has an overall impact on the entire organization.

  1. Profitability:

    Beginning with how training benefits the organization,  leading with improved profitability for the company because of efficient employees, building a positive attitude towards profit orientation.

  2. Job knowledge:

    Employee training enhances job knowledge and skill at all levels of the organization which helps to create a better corporate image. Proficient job knowledge through training boosts employee confidence leading to improved morale of the workplace.

  3. Avoids confusion:

    Elaborate employee training ensures clarity of mind among the employees which helps to foster authenticity, openness and trust. Not just clarity of mind, it also helps an individual in making better decisions and effective problem-solving skills. Employee training also provides information for improving leadership knowledge, communication skill and attitude of the employee. Confusion among employees reduces, therefore a healthy relationship is maintained between the employer and employee.

  4. Boosts Confidence:

    Once an employee is confident about the job that they are doing and is well acquainted with the job knowledge he or she can handle stress, tension, frustration and conflict in a smoother manner. employee training also provides information for improving leadership knowledge, communication skill and attitude of the employee.

  5. Motivation:

    It motivates an employee towards his or her personal goals while improving interactive skills. Training not only aids in development for promotion from within but also helps in developing leadership skills, motivation, loyalty and other aspects that successful workers and managers usually display. Increased motivation leads to an increase in productivity and quality of work which insures growth in the organization leading to more profits. When an employee is well aware of the job and has enough knowledge about the job that they are performing it negates the element of fear in attempting new tasks. Here are Top 50 Motivational quotes for Employees & Workplace to further aid an HR

TYPES OF EMPLOYEE TRAININGS

Throughout the years we have seen a lot of employee training methods and types such as instructor-led training, eLearning, simulation employee training,  hands-on training, coaching or mentoring,  lectures, group discussion and activities, role-playing, management-specific activities, case studies or other required reading. Training for every sector is different as per their  requirements and is supported with a specified description about the training. Trainings are broadly categorised in 2 heads

  1. Functional Trainings:

    Functional Trainings are usually given to increase the functional competency of the Employee. These trainings are usually given by domain experts aimed to make people better at their Jobs.

  2. Behavioural Trainings:

    These training programs are usually focussed around interpersonal skills of employees. Behavioural training improves communication between individuals, also among employees at every level of the organization, maintaining a healthy communicative relationship between individuals and groups. Not just communicative clarity, it also ensures cohesiveness in groups which makes the organization a better place to work in. From a wider perspective employee training also provides information on equal opportunities in affirmative action.

    Now that we have a basic idea about how employee training programs are beneficial to individual employees belonging to every level of the organisation impact on the overall growth of the organisation, let’s put some light on the benefits of employee training in personnel and human relations, intragroup and intergroup relations and policy implementation.

EMPLOYEE TRAINING PROCESS

A training program is tailored through a well-defined process. Starting with need assessment and various issues in need assessment the plan leads to deriving instructional objectives which gives a blueprint about the training and development design and the various types of training. On having a satisfactory training design, the appropriate one is selected with instructional programs which is further implemented as the final employment training program.

Trainings are necessary, not just for new joinees but also for professionals & the leadership team 

  • Training Programs for Freshers: New joinees have a prior formal education and it is recommended to give them specific training programs to make them industry ready. Classroom training and On-Job training are complementary in nature and are a part of the entire training program for Freshers. These trainings are mostly functional in nature
  • Training for Professionals: Professionals are required to regularly undergo training programs to keep their knowledge updated & stay abreast of the best industry practices. Trainings at this end are a mix of functional & behavioural trainings.  
  • Training for Organizational Leaders: Mostly behavioural in nature, these trainings are usually around team building, decision making, motivating team members and improving cross functional communication. Since the stakes are highest at Leadership positions, it is all the more necessary for organisations to invest more time & resources in employee training. 

TRAINING NEED ASSESSMENT

The most crucial element in a training plan is the need assessment. The need assessment is the diagnosis that presents all the problems and the future challenges to be met through training. The issues to be addressed in need assessment generally comprises organizational support, organization analysis, task and KSA analysis, and lastly person analysis. After need assessment, comes deriving instructional objectives which is the next phase in the training process which is to be identified. The instructional objectives help in preparing a blueprint that describes the objectives to be achieved by the trainee upon completion of the training program. Next, comes the designing phase which mainly includes

  • Who are the trainers?
  • Who are the trainees?
  • What methods and techniques are being used for the training?
  • What are the principles of training?
  • Where is the program being conducted?
  • What should be the level of training?

EMPLOYEE TRAINING TEMPLATE

A well proof training plan ensures optimum utilization of every human resource that is available at hand and ensures that no talent is being wasted . Hence comes the main role of an employee training plan template, which schedules the training program for every employee in a customized manner so that the employee and employer get most out of it. Similar to an itinerary, a training plan template includes the name of the employee the group that the employee belongs to, the number of hours that the employee is training for and the tasks involved in the training plan. Employee training plan template is used extensively in the Army or Airforce services where every cadet is assigned a task and a log/record is kept which acts as their personal training plan template. A general plan template looks like the following:

COMPANY NAME:

PROJECT OVERVIEW:

NAME OF CANDIDATE :

POSITION OF CANDIDATE :

DATE

TIME

TASK

PURPOSE

NUMBER OF HOURS

Feedback from the reporting manager of the employee is also recorded while developing an employees’s training plan. The final employee training plan is approved by the HR manager of the company. The HR manager is required to look after the needs of the employees and how the betterment of the employees is going to have a positive impact on the organisation as a whole and accordingly make changes to the training plan as & when required. A general training plan mainly includes the following :

Example,

For any company a general employee training plan looks something like the chart/table given below.

Employee Training Template Example

DATE

TEAM

AREA

DESCRIPTION

TRAINER

STATUS

01/09/2020

SALES AND MARKETING

TARGETS AND GOALS

Training on how to reach the goal and acquire the required sales target.

MR. XYZ

COMPLETED

02/09/2020

SALES AND MARKETING

COMMUNICATION SKILLS

Soft-skills, interpersonal skills, negotiation skills.

MR. ABC

IN-PROGRESS

03/09/2020

HUMAN RESOURCE

PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT REVIEW

Advanced training on how to review employee performance and manage employee performance on certain scales.

MR. MNO

COMPLETED

04/09/2020

HUMAN RESOURCE

PAYROLL AND INCENTIVES

Effective use of software for payroll management.

MR. RST

COMPLETED

05/09/2020

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

SOFTWARE

Introduction to new software and enhanced new technology.

MISS. J

IN-PROGRESS

06/09/2020

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

SOFT SKILLS

Training on communication skills.

MRS. T

IN-PROGRESS

07/09/2020

ACCOUNTING

SOFTWARE

Introduction to new accounting software and it’s working.

MISS. FGH

IN-PROGRESS

Be it and an on-the job training and off-the job training, the HR manager needs to look out for the fulfillment of the needs assessed in the first stages of the training process. Scheduling an employee training plan is not  just enough,  an HR manager needs to keep a track of the training program and how effectively it is working.

MEASURING TRAINING EFFECTIVENESS

Finally once the training process is reeling we cannot put a full stop to it without a measurement of how effectively the training process has been going. There are a lot of ways to check the level of usefulness of the training process by measuring the efficiency and effectiveness of employees individually and whether it’s having a greater impact on the organisation as a whole or not. One may resort to checking the level of productivity of the employees which could be a yardstick of measurement of the training procedure or a log record could be kept where the employees have to register about their work change and the level of their individual output after the training. As much as feedback from the HR manager is required for approval of an employee training plan,  feedback from the employees also prove to be essential.

Conclusively, an employee training plan has to strike a balance between the management, administration and the employees of the organisation and how the needs of individual employees and of the organisation could be put down on paper as a directive plan for training the employees of the organisation, for them to prove to be a strong asset. To sum up, we can say

TRAINING NEED =  STANDARD PERFORMANCE-ACTUAL PERFORMANCE

and to fulfill the deducted performance amount,here comes in the need for training  which can lead to further development of the organisation providing them with a competitive advantage.

Recruitment – Meaning, Process, Best Practices, Types, Trends & Future

Posted on by Sinibali Jana
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Recruitment is an ever-necessary and extremely important process in an organisation. It serves as a pre-math for selection. Recruitment is a deciding factor on the correct candidates being actually chosen in the selection process. Hence, attracting a better pool of candidates in the recruitment process proves to be extremely beneficial.

The process of recruitment largely varies due to the size of the organisation. A small or medium-sized firm may have only one person as a recruiter or a hiring manager. However, a larger company is most likely to have a whole dedicated team of recruiters to carry on the process effectively. A well-framed recruitment process helps both the company and the applicants. The company gets to generate a potential pool of candidates whereas the candidates get potential employment opportunities.

MEANING OF RECRUITMENT

Recruitment is an integral part of Human Resource Management. Recruitment is a hiring process where firstly the staffing and organizational needs of the company are identified. After that, a potential pool of candidates for the required staffing is attracted. The pool of candidates is generated by firstly identifying these candidates. These can be done by both internal and external sources. Next, the recruiter should attract these candidates to apply for the job. This can be done by extensive advertising in job sites, campus drives, reaching out to potential candidates from company database etc.

Know more about Sources, Purpose & Importance of Recruitment here.

TYPES OF INTERVIEWS

The recruitment process is followed by the selection process which is then followed by an employment interview. An interview is a formal meeting with potential candidates which involves an in-depth conversation conducted to evaluate acceptability. Its popularity stems from its flexibility. Discussions are adapted to consider unskilled, skilled managerial, and operational employees.

Based on interaction with candidates interviews may be classified into three categories :

1. One-to-one interview :

In this type of Interview, there are only two participants- the interviewer and interviewee.

2. Sequential interview :

This type of interview is a higher version of the one to one interview process and involves a series of interviews, usually utilizing the strength and knowledge base of each interviewer and they can ask questions in relation to his or her subject area to each candidate, or he/ she moves from room to room.

3. Panel interview :

This type of interview consists of two or more interviewers and the number may go up to as many as 15. Panel interviews are not very personal similar to one to one interviews, but if handled and organized well, it can provide a wealth of information. If not handled carefully, the panel interview can make the candidate feel ill at ease and confused about whose question to answer and who to address. Interviewers themselves are likely to experience nightmares, not knowing who will ask which question and in what order.

4. Phone interview :

Many organizations use this type of interview and it is considered more useful than one-to-one or panel interviews to ascertain the candidate’s sustainability. For these types of interviews unintentionally the main focus of the interviewer gets derailed from one’s appearance or handshake, the interviewer and interviewee focus on asking and answering questions. Phone interviews save time and are economical. It is widely used in IT companies while hiring technical employees.

5. Online interview :

Most of the organizations are dependent on computers and the internet to conduct interviews. A typical computer interview requires the candidate to answer a series of multiple-choice questions custom made for the job. These answers are compared with a benchmark score to determine the sustainability and suitability of a candidate. The computer interview can also be used to filter undesirable applicants who have applied online.

HOW TO SET UP AN INTERVIEW :

The selection process follows recruitment which starts with an interview. All kinds of interviews, whether structured, unstructured, mixed, behavioral, or stressful, every interview type goes through a process before implementation. From a general perspective, after the recruitment process, once a compact pool of candidates is selected, they have to go through the interview process to choose the candidate. 

Best practices to be taken care of before setting up an interview are:-

  1. An Official Communication:

After the recruitment process, an official formal mail is sent to the candidate for the next round for which he or she is selected.

The mail should contain details like the candidate’s essential requirements such as their identity proof and resume. 

The mail should clearly state the location of the interview process with an attached Google Map

       2. E-Recruitment:

In this day and age where the pandemic has taken over the world and physical workspace has its own constraints, organizations mainly bank on the Internet and online work mode. Though e-recruitment has been a concept for years now, selecting the electronic interview is relatively a newer concept. For an electronic interview process, after the recruitment process, the organization is to send the candidate a mail about the electronic interview to be held and the email must contain the following specification:-

a. The online platform at which the interview is to be held be it Google meets or zoom

b. The duration of the online interview

c. Specifying to have a steady internet connection so that there is no lag in connectivity

d. The link for the meeting

       3. An Acknowledgment Mail:

Be it an online interview or a physical interview, after screening candidates via interview, the organization must send a thank you letter thank you mail to the candidate for attending the interview and acknowledging it. If the candidate has been able to impress the panel members or the interviewer, they would be informed about whether they need to appear for the background check and the other selection processes.

BEST PRACTICES IN RECRUITMENT

Needless to say, the job market is competitive. This does not only mean that the candidates find it difficult to look for their dream job. This also means that the organizations also have to put their best foot forward in order to attract and finally recruit the best possible candidate. An ill-framed recruitment policy will mean that the organizations miss out on the best fit for their current job role.

The followings are the best practices in the recruitment procedure to ensure its success.

  1. Customized process:

    The recruitment process should be customized according to the size, structure and need of the organization. The process should be well-defined and executable. A planned process without the potential for execution will act as a barrier to the success of recruitment.

  2. Right recruiter:

    Recruitment is not just screening a resume and taking an interview. The recruitment process is detrimental to the success of the organization. Hence, having the right and a well-trained recruiter is important for the success of the process.

  3. Sales function:

    On an overall basis, the process of recruitment should be treated as a process of sales. This means that the goal of the recruitment process would be to sell the idea of the job and the current position to prospective candidates. The successful selling of the idea of the job to the right candidate will result in successful recruitment.

  4. Relationship between hiring managers and recruiters:

    The goal of the hiring managers is to fill a vacant job position with a candidate. On that account, they are likely to set very unrealistic time-frames for recruiters. This severely hampers the quality of the process. A good professional relational between the managers and the recruiters will ensure transparency. This will build a level of trust and reliance between them thereby leading to high-quality recruitment.

  5. Use social-media:

    The huge network of social media is one of the biggest opportunities that present-day recruiters should leverage. Creating a candidate pool by a social-media search, not only provides a wide array of options but also cost-effective. The online job portals and platforms like LinkedIn are filled with prospective professionals and can hugely facilitate the recruitment process. Know more about Social Media Recruiting here

  6. Candidate experience:

    Recruitment is a step-by-step process and each step is vital to the process. The candidate experience throughout each step is highly important in the recruitment process. If the candidates have a negative experience, it very likely that they will probably leave the process mid-way or spread negative word-of-mouth about the organization. Hence a positive candidate experience will make sure the organization does not let go of potential candidates, and thereby pave a way for employee referrals.

  7. Applicant tracking system (ATS):

    Finding the right candidate for the right job is the sole purpose of recruitment. Maintaining a large pool of candidates that the organization has acquired over the years is a complex and difficult task to manage. Hence employing an ATS in the recruitment process will ensure that it will match the job with the candidates registered in that system. Also, the large pool acquired over the years ensures that there is already a huge pool of potential candidates to choose from.

TRENDS IN RECRUITMENT

Needless to say, technology has changed the way the world is perceived. In fact, it has created an entirely new world of its own. It has made its way into various types, sizes and levels of an organisation. The recruitment industry has also seen a sweeping change due to the implementation of technology. A lot of old-school methods have been substituted and newer recruitment trends have made their way in the industry.

The most important recruitment trends in the present are described below:

  1. Recruitment Marketing:

    This means undertaking marketing strategies but in the field of recruitment. This is done to attract the best candidates for the existing job positions as well as to build the brand image of the company.

  2. Mobile technology:

    According to a recent study, more than 60% of the candidate hunt for jobs through their phones. More than 20 percent of candidates submit their applications from their home. Hence to amplify the recruitment process, the recruiters should adapt to this change and switch to mobile communication with the candidates.

  3. Inbound recruiting:

    Inbound recruiting means the implementation of various digital marketing strategies to build strong relationships with potential candidates over time. This means attracting various active and passive candidates and thereby completing the recruitment process.

  4. E-resumes:

    Gradually as more candidates are choosing the online medium for their job applications, the recruiters should also evaluate the e-resumes. Paper resumes are an old-school method and they are now substituted by digital resumes. These include video resumes, social media profiles, digital portfolios, etc. These give a more comprehensive idea to the recruiters about the traits they are searching for and the right fit.

  5. Artificial Intelligence:

    Artificial Intelligence is responsible for automating a huge number of jobs. Even though it is not the perfect substitute for HR, but its implementation is inevitable. There are AI softwares that are used in interviews. These judge traits like nervousness and truthfulness of the employees. Know more about the AI in Recruitment here

  6. Gamification:

    Gamification is a brand new and emerging trend in the recruitment process. Here an interactive game is introduced to the candidates. These games are then plugged in with various corporate and business situations. This shows how a candidate will react under a specific situation and hence it increases the efficiency of the hiring process to a great degree.

FUTURE OF RECRUITMENT

The future of recruitment is now and it is here to stay. The current trends in the recruitment industry will get amplified and turn into a foundation upon which the future of recruitment rests. With the pandemic, each company is trying to manage costs as well as keep their operation intact. In a scenario like that the recruitment process has also undergone sweeping changes.

The use of Virtual reality, video interviews, artificial intelligence are not mere try-outs. They are the necessity of every organization. These will revolutionize the recruitment industry in the next couple of years and these will become the new normal.

Hence the current recruitment trends are extremely vital to the sustenance and success of this industry. In a situation far worse, we will find ourselves falling back on these trends and abiding by them.

Recruitment is up for a complete revolution.

Digital Transformation in HR & Recruitment

Posted on by Aashritha Ramesh
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We live in the 21st century which is fondly dubbed as the era of technology and digitization. In the corporate world, companies are equipping themselves with the latest analysis models and the systems that make the workflow easier. But it is coming as a major revelation to many organizations that any corporation thrives only with a capable and quality assured workforce!

So how to coalesce a potent workforce with digitization?

Take for instance, the COVID-19 pandemic that the globe has been suffering through. This global chokehold has brought down business and economy for many companies across the world. They have faced recession and lack of functioning in all these months of lockdown.

Digital Transformation in HR

During such uncertain times, organizations have to be agile. Now more than ever, business owners need to think on their feet and change their priorities fast should the need arise. When the lockdown started, many companies had to switch to remote work overnight. And a lot of them were unprepared.

This has accelerated the need for digital transformation.

  1. Remote Working:

    Cloud computing aggressively pushes software ‘off-premises’, and digital age also causes employees to work remotely. Mobility and partial remote work are becoming the norm for many companies around the world given the current circumstances. Employees can use various digital tools for operating and reporting. Managers no longer focus on finding an employee near the office but instead choose an employee with the necessary skills for the role.

    Internal communication has never been so fluid. Employees have many options for communication – social networks, intranets, emails, instant messaging applications, forums, VoIP and much more. Communication becomes fluid and gaps between business and clients are shortening.

  2. Performance Tracking and Analysis:

    While employees have more freedom than ever, some criticize the need for an administrator when it comes to reporting.

    For example, most HR managers will experience a digital transformation of HR and be equipped with digital tools and dashboards that measure and predict personnel activities that were previously difficult to capture. Analysis and reporting on the performance of individual employees at any level of the corporate hierarchy and their impact on the company are now undeniable. As a result, it improves interaction and relationships with human resources and management.

    There’s no doubt that digital tools have a positive impact on the optimisation of work and communication. The results include operational objectives achieved faster.

Digital Transformation in Recruitment

With unexpectedly shifting recruitment efforts, the talent acquisition department also increasingly feel the need for effective digital solutions to navigate their hiring in this ever-changing labor market. Organizations with advanced digital recruitment strategies have a significant advantage right now. And those without have to act fast.

Digital transformation simplifies or eliminates administration tasks while increasing operational efficiency through the application of tech and data solutions across company departments, including hiring teams.

Essentially, digital transformation in recruitment comprises using dedicated technology to solve diverse recruitment challenges, including fluctuating and changing hiring needs, increased volumes of candidates, inability to conduct in-person meetings and interviews, and budget cutbacks.

Here’s how digital transformation can have a positive impact in the field of recruitment

  1. Reshuffling Workforce:

    By using digital technology, you can redeploy employees within and across your organization. The workforce could be a healthy mix of permanent & temporary staff working from across the globe. The needs of your business may have spiraled as a result of an emergency like the COVID-19 pandemic. For example, you may need more staff working in your customer service team and fewer inside your physical stores. Having the right tech enables you to boost your internal mobility capabilities and move your workforce to where it’s needed most. Also, digital recruitment tools allow organizations to hire displaced employees. For example, a company needs to hire 50,000 extra workers amid the pandemic. On the other hand, hospitality businesses had to lay off some of their employees. So, the above company decided to build dedicated landing pages for former employees of large hospitality businesses them get a job at their organization faster.

    This kind of program usually gets candidates to join an online portal where they’ll undergo questionnaires and tests that measure their skills and competencies. This is then assessed, and applicants receive a breakdown of their skills, including any gaps in their knowledge and expertise that need working on. They’re then matched to any opportunities you have open that are likely to be a good fit. And the best part is, all of the test are automatically analysed to maximum precision digitally.

  2. Multiperson Collaboration:

    Hiring teams need to be able to collaborate remotely. This means having tools that enable you to assign projects and tasks to people and provide real-time updates on recruitment activities. This is where a cloud-based recruitment solution accessible to everyone on the hiring team is worth its weight in gold! Remember to consider who in your team will be using this technology. Ensure it meets everyone’s needs for a truly collaborative experience. Choose software with a straightforward layout, that’s well-reviewed, and easy for new users to pick up and run with.

  3. Using digital tools for recruitment:

    Recruiters can take full advantage of their existing recruitment tech stack.

    By exploring the functionalities of your recruitment software and putting them to good use, you’ll become a more effective and efficient recruiter. This may also give you the tools you need to cut back on agency spending and more extensive job advertising.

  4. Improving the recruiting experience for potential candidates:

    Despite having to do the majority of the recruitment process remotely, ensure that it’s still a pleasant experience. Candidates need to feel safe and have all the information available, so think of ways to improve your candidate communication plan.

    A great example of providing a decent candidate experience is if you’re conducting interviews remotely, be efficient. Keep the length of your ‘meetings’ shorter and update your interview guidelines. You can also set text reminders to send candidates the day before their interview. You could even upload company videos and virtual office tours because candidates can’t visit your site. This works wonders for helping candidates get a taste of your company culture without stepping through the office doors!

Digital transformation does have a downside like weak networking, time zone problems for multinational companies and team collaboration and the risk of cybersecurity.

But even these problems hold digital solutions! Nothing that can’t be sorted out by well-deployed cost-effective software.

So what are you waiting for! Let the digital transformation revolutionize the recruitment industry!

Difference Between Cover Letter and Resume

Posted on by Saumya Khatri
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Given the complexities present in today’s job market, it has become really important to familiarize oneself with every term and trend that is prevalent in that arena. Familiarity can give you an upper hand in bagging those jobs that you have worked really hard for. The first and foremost process of applying to any job would be to ready your resume and cover letter.

For an entrant, these two terms might be new or hold no difference at all. Unfamiliarity can lead to confusion and deprive you of your shot of getting selected. Although the cover letter and resume deal with the same thing, there is a vast difference between both of them.

Also Read: How to Write a Cover Letter for Job Application with Samples

What is a Resume?

A resume is a document that you present in front of your potential employers stating all your achievements, qualification and experiences. It mentions all your academic, extra-curricular as well as professional experiences, each and every one of it.

What is a Cover Letter?

A cover letter is a letter written by the employee addressed to the potential employer mentioning his interest and aspirations for the given job.

Difference Between Cover Letter and Resume

  • A resume lists all of your qualifications and experiences while cover letter mentions only those which are relevant for the said job
  • A resume is a document with details mentioned point to point while cover letter deals specifically with why do you want to apply for the given position, what makes your suitable for the roles, what do you bring on the table, what are your aspirations, how can you be an asset for the organization.
  • Resume and Cover Letter both follow different formats of writing.

Resume Sample

Cover Letter Sample

I hope now you got an idea about what is the difference between resume and cover letter. Still, if you have any queries then feel free to mention in the comment section below.

Constructive Feedback – Meaning and Guide to offer

Posted on by Sinibali Jana
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Constructive feedback is one of the most important aspects of success in an organisation. No employee in an organisation is perfect and hence is subject to criticism. The nature of criticism is the deciding factor for improvement and continued success. Destructive feedback will most likely be unproductive as it does not focus on room for improvement as much as it focuses on complaining about the present mishap. Constructive feedback, on the other hand, acknowledges the problem, analyzes it, points the positives and figures out the room for improvement.

Every manager in an organization should practise providing constructive criticism to its employees. It is as much a sign of good managerial qualities as it is of emotional intelligence. Feedback, dealt with inert and overt emotional intelligence will ensure that there is a continued success. This will also ensure that the morale of the employees is not crushed and they find a healthier and productive approach of correcting their errors and improving themselves.

 

MEANING OF CONSTRUCTIVE FEEDBACK

However, it is clearly not as easy as it sounds. Constructive feedback literally means providing both positive and negative feedback for improvement. Feedback should always be constructive as it clubs both the positive and the negative aspects and channelises them into progress.

As mentioned earlier, it might be a slightly complex job for managers as there is always an element of human emotions that creates a barrier. Having said that, consistent practise, experience and innate skills enable a manager to grasp the concept of constructive feedback at best and therefore execute it in the workplace.

 

Benefits of Constructive Feedback in the workplace

If it already isn’t obvious, constructive feedback is not only a healthy workplace practice but also extremely advantageous for productivity and overall growth. Below discussed are the most notable advantages of providing constructive feedback to the employees :

In a study by Harvard Business School, 57 percent of employees prefer constructive feedback overpraise or criticism. This means that most employees prefer to know both their strong points as well as the points of improvement.

  1. Improves employee performance:

    As already mentioned and known, no employee is perfect. Hence they are prone to making mistakes. Constructive feedback will allow them to know their mistakes and will also provide enough motivation to act on them. Hence, this will significantly impact their performance and also help in their professional growth.

  2. Two-way benefits:

    Constructive feedback does not only help employees’ growth and performance. It, in turn, improves the productivity and work culture of the organisation. Upon helping to attain the growth to the employees, constructive criticism attains the consequent result that the organisation as a whole performs well.

  3. Ensures transparency:

    Constructive feedback ensures transparency amongst all employees as well as between all hierarchies. Feedback includes prior analysis of performance. This ensures that the top-management knows the shortcomings of its employees, the places for improvement, and also the current areas of high productivity. On the other hand, the employees also know what the management expects of them and the places where they are expected to bring change.

  4. Better team and intra-organisational performance:

    Transparency and clearly addressing the issues maintain a strong organisational fabric. This ensures that healthy interpersonal relationships exist within the organisation and its various hierarchies.

     

How to offer Constructive Feedback?

Constructive feedback, from its idea conception, execution and deliverance should follow a path that ensures its success. It should not only be well designed but also well-researched since it has its specific impacts that follow. Ill-designed feedback can have the possibility of demoralising the employees which may result in worsening of team relations within the organisation.

Below discussed are some of the quintessential steps to be followed in the process:

Preparation for giving Constructive feedback

A manager cannot possibly show up one fine morning and decide to give constructive feedback to its employees. There has to be a preparation that leads to actual feedback.

    • Identify specific goals and objectives that the manager decides to talk about.
    • Notify the employees about a meeting on the same. This ensures less anxiety on the part of the employees. Try to have a one-on-one feedback meeting with the employees. Otherwise, some employees might feel embarrassed when their shortcomings are discussed in front of others. This will lead to a diverted focus on the embarrassment instead of the potential to improve.
    • A surprise meeting of feedback may lead to a negative element of surprise and result in a communication that is ineffective. 

Communication guidelines

When the preparation is done and it is time for the feedback, the managers must keep the communication sincere, clear and transparent to ensure successful constructive feedback. The following are some of the guidelines of communication that should be followed during the feedback meeting.

  • Try to have a one-on-one feedback meeting with the employees. Otherwise, some employees might feel embarrassed when their shortcomings are discussed in front of others. This will lead to a diverted focus on the embarrassment instead of the potential to improve.
  • Be direct in the conversation to make sure that the message is clear and straightforward.
  • Do not employ anger as one of the expressions while providing constructive feedback. The communication should, at all times, be calm, composed and professional.
  • Listen. Constructive feedback should also employ active listening on the part of the manager.
  • Be appreciative. Providing constructive feedback is all about pointing out the shortcomings and motivating the employee that he/she can do better and improve his/her performance. Hence, the communication should be appreciative.

 

Feedback content

The communication guidelines are the driving force of the actual feedback content that will be put forward in front of the employee. Having said that, it is also important to note that the content should also follow a structure as discussed below.

  1. Observations: The person giving feedback should ALWAYS communicate his observations. This can include facts, statistics, performance reviews, client reviews. But at no point should the feedback include judgemental expressions. This vilifies the entire concept of “constructive feedback”. The observations should include both positive and negative feedback. The positive ones should be about appreciation and the negative ones should be about improvement. Blatant criticism should be avoided during the feedback deliverance process.
  2. Balance: There should be a balance between both negative and positive feedback to concentrate the effects of both empty praises and severe criticisms. That is the most important element of constructive feedback.
  3. Provide examples: An important element of providing constructive criticism is to effectively communicate to the employee to facilitate positive change. For that to happen, generalisations should be avoided. The manager should provide context and examples to the employees.

Listen

Once you are done providing the feedback, it is extremely important to listen. Feedback without active listening is not constructive in any way. Listen and understand your employees’ take on the problem. Take notes as this will give them a feeling that their words are given importance too. Ask constructive questions like what does the employee think about the current situation, or how does he plan to change it. In short, invite discussion and make sure the employee feels a part of the discussion as much as the manager.

Provide suggestions

After the manager is effectively done listening to the employee, it’s time to put forward his/her suggestions. However, this is a tricky part. The suggestion that the manager makes should be devoid of any bias. Also, it should be in good accordance with what the employee has said in the last step. If the employee has mentioned any struggles, the suggestion should be in alignment with that. Otherwise, the employee is most likely to feel invalidated. Besides the suggestion should be strictly in terms of the problem that is being currently addressed. Any past issues or personal traits of the employee should not be a part of the discussion.

Follow-up

The last part of the constructive feedback process is taking a comprehensive follow-up after a period of time. If you see significant changes in employee behaviour and performance, it is very important to show him/her gratitude and congratulate him for the positive change. This will help boost employee morale. In case, the situation is still at a point of stagnancy, schedule another feedback session to communicate the same, with the provided guidelines.

 

CONCLUSION

Providing constructive feedback is one of those essential skills that every HR personnel should be welladept with. A wrong feedback model will not only affect short-term targets but also delay long-term organisation goals. In addition to that, constructive feedback followed in an organisation increases the employer brand and hence and has various positive impacts in terms of talent acquisition.

Social Media Recruiting – Process & Advantages

Posted on by Aashritha Ramesh
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Social media plays such a vital role in our everyday lives. The whole scenario and lifestyle of people have changed today. Where once people used to wait for newspapers or radio broadcasts, or watch news channels for current affairs update, they now roll out of bed every morning and scroll through their Instagram or Facebook feeds to look for the latest happening. People nowadays have this innate need to show people how they live their lives. Every small memory, achievement, and celebration is part of a huge social digital network. This offers huge potential for Social Media Recruiting.

Social Media Recruiting

In today’s day and date ‘SOCIAL MEDIA’ is everything. It is the primary factor that influences people’s choices and decisions. A person’s digital presence can showcase a lot of things about him/her!

So why can social media play the role of a great asset in recruitment processes?

Here is a list of few benefits that recruiters might gain by using social media for their talent hunt!

Social Media Recruitment Process

Here is a step-by-step guide to help Recruiters understand Social Media Recruitment process

  1. Identity Channels: Identify the social media platforms based on your target segment.
  2. Share Jobs: Post Jobs on this platform to attract top candidates. Feel free to share your Jobs in these Facebook & WhatsApp groups
  3. Search & Scout: If the social media offers search capability, look for candidates who match your criteria
  4. Approach: Approach them & share your interest in them. Everyone loves the attention!!
  5. Close: Gauge their interest, ask for resume if required and take it forward in your Recruitment process

How social media can be helpful in Recruitment

1. Job Visibility

Gone are the days of putting in printed advertisements in newspapers and magazines!

As mentioned before, any employee being sought for recruitment will definitely have a social media presence, at least in the majority of the cases. Social networking platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter host almost 2 billion people of a wide age and generation demographic. Gen X and Gen Z actively use platforms like LinkedIn to score job opportunities with employers.

Wherever you look, you see social networks serving as incredible platforms for identifying and recruiting talented individuals for your organization!

2. Access to Street Smart Candidates

Survey analysis shows that employees recruited through social media platforms are more approachable and very quick on their toes.

In such cases, the employee is tech-savvy and digitally oriented, a factor of an advantage when recruiting nowadays. Additionally, such employees will also know the latest trends and patterns of business. Announcing recruitments through the employee’s social media will make them more productive and retentive at the company.

3. Employer Branding

The public trusts the quality of a brand or a business by its social media reach. Employing a strong and effective social media plan in order to scout potential employees will be equivalent to a double-edged sword as it not only attracts employees to your calls but also builds a trusted brand image in the viewers’ minds.

Hence, social recruiting is effective, not just in finding you the ideal candidate, but also in increasing the visibility of your brand.

4. Reducing Hiring Time

The orthodox recruitment methods generally take longer than social media recruitment methods.

This means that when you have an open slot to be filled in the shortest time possible, social media is the platform to consider. Social networking sites not only make it easy and fast to communicate with candidates, but it also allows them to respond faster. As a result, excellent work relationships often emerge.

What’s more, recruiting in a talent pool that has people who share common values, interests, and work styles with the hiring manager or company often accelerates the speed with which you will find the ideal person for the job. This is great news for both the hiring party and the candidates hoping to get an opportunity to work at your organization.

5. Easy Background Verification

Checking your candidates’ social media profiles for more information on them is nothing new. Interviewers usually check the internet for their candidates in order to see if they have any longstanding professional recommendations, issues with friends or the law, or even to look for any Google information about the candidates.

Social media can provide a huge insight into which your candidates actually are when they step through the door. Many candidates don’t feel the need to disclose any personal information on the interview and tend to keep things to them.

Some people have families and go through tough times that they don’t like to discuss with strangers. Others might have used the word point in order to write their resumes and translate them into foreign languages. You can easily overcome this by checking their backgrounds behind closed doors and making the final call about whether to hire them or not based on that.

Social media has laid out information about the employees on a silver platter, which makes the tedious background verification task so much easier!

6. Reduce Hiring Cost

Money is the driving factor behind most managerial and corporate decisions.

Recruiting can be a very expensive undertaking. Social recruiting is cheaper, but can still cost you significant amounts of money. All the same, the value you get from the hires you find via social networking platforms makes this approach extremely cheap.

Without a doubt, recruitment costs via social media are almost always, lower than those of other methods. A simple Facebook ad can for instance get you over two times more visibility than the traditional recruitment methods like classified ads in the dailies and job boards.

Recruiting anyone based on their resume and interview alone isn’t enough most of the time. Every once in a while you will come across a candidate that just seems “off” to you as a recruiter. They might be too ambitious, too scared, or simply unwilling to disclose past working experiences to you.

Candidates that are difficult but have hidden potential need to go through further screening in more detail and social media recruitment is perfect for the opportunity. The traditional ways of putting out a job vacancy and waiting for people to come to you are a thing of the past in most industries.

While the benefits of using social media in your recruitment strategies are numerous, it’s also important to point out that adequate content management is also needed. If you put a person without any internet advertisement experience in charge of developing and distributing content, you won’t reach the required number of people before your ad campaign starts.

Also, reaching the wrong audience is just as easy as reaching the right one and it all depends on the type of content you publish. Give social media advertisements a good look before denying its applications. You might be surprised by the results you get during your next recruitment cycle!

Leave Policy – Guide for Creation and Implementation

Posted on by Sinibali Jana
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Employees are the most important asset of any organization To make sure that the employees are productive and do not show high levels of absenteeism, the HR personnel has to undertake several policies. These policies are to ensure that the interests of the employees or the human capital are protected. Leave policy is 1 such important policy that has a high bearing on employee engagement and attracting talent

The leave policy of an organization is laying down a proper guideline as to how many leaves the employees can take in a year and on what grounds. The absence of a proper leave policy only means incompetent management. This can potentially lead to the sudden absence of employees, lower productivity, and less productive hours. This can impact the overall productivity of the organization and lead to missing targets and deadlines.

LEAVE POLICY MEANING

Leave policy in an organization is the total number of leaves that an employee can take in a year. This also includes the types of leaves, their nature, whether they are paid or unpaid, what is the maximum duration for those leaves, etc. A leave policy includes the paid leaves, the unpaid leaves as well as the national holidays that an employee is granted. They should also include the process to be followed for taking a leave.

The leave policy is an annual policy statement that is provided to every employee of the organization mentioning all the above-mentioned details.

Types of leaves

  • Casual leave OR Sick Leave

    Maximum 12 casual leaves can be availed by an employee in a given year. Casual leaves are paid in nature. They cannot be clubbed with any other leave and cannot be carried forwarded to the next year. Casual leave for 1 day should be applied for a day in advance. For more than 2 days, it should be applied a week prior.

  • Earned leave OR Privelege Leave

    The application for earned leaves should be put 15 days prior. Earned leaves can be carried forwarded to the next year. However, for employees who have been in service for more than 5 years, only 45 earned leaves can be carried forwarded. To maintain the LTA, compulsory 6 earned leaves have to be taken by the employees.

  • Maternity leave

    A woman employee can take maternity leave for a paid period of 26 months. Leave during the first 7 months of pregnancy will be considered as normal leave. The employee can take maternity leave 8 weeks before the due date of delivery.

  • Paternity leave

    Every regular male employee is applicable for availing a paternity leave. The paternity leave must be taken within 15 days of childbirth. The leave has to be availed on a stretch. The leave must be applied for 15 days before the due date of delivery.

  • Unpaid leave

    Once an employee has used up his current allotted leaves, he/she can apply for leave without pay. If an unpaid leave is availed without proper permission, it will be subject to disciplinary action by the management. Three months of unpaid leave can be availed at the most.

  • Compensatory leave

    When an employee has finished a specific task of importance or has worked on a national holiday or any declared holiday, he/she will be eligible for compensatory leave. However, this leave must be availed within a month otherwise it would not be applicable anymore.

CREATING A LEAVE POLICY

Creating a leave policy is not only an extremely vital task in terms of the organization as well as the employees it is also complicated. An organization cannot frame an ill-designed leave policy and impose that on the employees. The policy needs to comply with all legal requirements, employee acts, and also follow best practices for employee welfare. The leave policy should be created keeping in mind diverse aspects concerning both the organization as well as its employees.

Purpose

While creating a leave policy, the purpose and the conditions under which leave can be taken by an employee must be mentioned. It is to be noted that an employee cannot take leave daily and whenever he/she wishes. Hence the purposes like casual leave, maternity leave, military leave, et cetera should be mentioned in the leave policy.

Compliance

The compliance of taking the leaves should also be mentioned. This means the duration for which a particular leave can be taken, who is the reporting authority, the process of applying for the leave, whether it is paid or unpaid should be stated in the leave policy.

Legal guidelines

The legal guidelines and acts should be double-checked and it should be made sure that the policy is strictly following all the legal guidelines concerning the case. It is highly suggested to employ an attorney for framing an organization’s leave policy.

Insurance

The employee insurance factor should also be considered to ensure that the company does not run into any trouble during the employee leaves.

Final framing

After all of these factors are considered and double-checked the leave policy should be finally made in writing and produced as an official statement for the employees to go over.

As already mentioned, leave policy is an extremely vital part of any organization and hence before it is officially framed the above-mentioned factors should be

NEED FOR IMPLEMENTATION OF A LEAVE POLICY

The fact that a company will spend so many resources on creating and implementing a leave policy poses a very important question – WHY IS IT SO IMPORTANT?

From a layman’s perspective, a leave policy is just a rule book of when and how can a person skip work. However, from an organizational and HR perspective, it has a great significance. The policy protects an organization legally. Besides, it also makes sure that an organization is never under-staffed and is ready for contingencies.

A leave policy and its compliance makes sure that an organization at all times has a transparent of its needs and its present resources.

  1. Without a structured policy, an employee will most likely take an uninformed leave. This will impact the entire organization as there is no clear guideline about how to substitute the absent employee’s work.
  2. Leave policy improves the communication between the employer and the employee regarding the functioning of the organization and individual responsibilities.
  3. Needless to say, it fulfills the legal obligation of any organization.
  4. A proper policy prepares the organization for any kind of contingency. Also, it avoids ambiguity regarding the operations inside an organization in case any employee is absent.
  5. It provides higher flexibility in terms of the employee in case of time-off.

COMMON GUIDELINES REGARDING A LEAVE POLICY

Some common guidelines apply to every leave policy irrespective of the type, size, and nature of the organization. It is as described below:

  1. The annual calendar of leave starts from January and ends in December.
  2. An employee would not be applicable for an earned leave unless he/she has finished the probationary period.
  3. An employee must utilize 18 leaves in a year to maintain a work-life balance.
  4. Not more than 9 earned leaves can be carried forwarded to the next year.
  5. A leave without proper approval will be counted as unpaid leave.

CONCLUSION

Leave policies are not an organizational luxury, it is a necessity. For every budding as well as established HR personnel knowing the nitty-gritty of a leave-policy is a must.

It has multi-dimensional benefits and its significance is huge.

Employee Induction – An HR’s Guide to Successful Employee Onboarding

Posted on by Shaivee Kumawat
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Do you remember the day, when you toddled to the doorstep of the kindergarten and was endorsed in complete vacuousness?  You feel how awkward, insecure, and bland one can experience. The same sort of feeling is felt at every new stage, new place, or with a new relationship of life. That is why a friendly and relaxing introduction or say a quick warm-up is essential. In this article, we would be discussing Employee Induction or Employee Orientation.

Employee Induction is the initial step of anyone’s corporate life which involves a warm welcome, introduction of employees among themselves, organizing savoring food, and preparing them for their respective roles. The company’s culture, important personalities like the HR team, VPs, Directing Head, etc are introduced, along with the pathways and of the company building.

A prosperous Employee Induction process provides a chance for the organizations to easily sell themselves to the new employees or can say a quick show-off( sometimes), and if went smooth, then can significantly increase the retention of staff, become the WOW brand, and reduces the time for a new employee to settle and feel cozy into the new working environment.

Employee Induction is similar to an event, so simply figure out all the requirements and necessities of it, in an Employee Induction checklist

As it would be someone’s most awaited day with spice and salt of excitement and clumsiness both, so through every way it has to be made perfect and a memorable one. So here is a list of certain points to retain while organizing one good induction program

What to include in an Employee Induction

  1. The company ethics, culture, history, products and services, and the working culture’s essence should be themed on the first day.
  2. The significance of the job role along with the candidate’s potential should be well explained.
  3. The infrastructure of the company, a guiding map, its departments, and the other utility corners should be guided.
  4. The Employee’s future department along with his or her desk must be introduced with a broad welcoming smile.
  5. The rules and regulations, objectives, practices along with the Personnel policy should be mentioned.
  6. Working hours, vacation policies, overtime, safety measures, leisure hours, reporting format, etc should be well- explained.
  7. Social benefits, other brand associations, recreation services, and the quality and quantity of clients the company hold.
  8. Opportunities, salary hikes, promotions, transfers, suggestion schemes, and job satisfaction should be channeled there itself, with the introduction of all the major senior bosses of the company.

Who hosts Employee Induction?

Generally, it is done by the senior post holders of a firm, especially the HRM department, if someday they feel that it has to be done by some other team then the best responsibility taken will be the new employees superior. For example, the technical department may inform them about their desks and cabins, the operational team of the employment contracts, etc. This way can relax the new employee because they will be making a new friend, getting indulged ion the company along with participating in social connections. The hosting of the induction should not be restricted by certain parameters or a department, whomsoever wants to participate should be involved and make it a better one. They will then perhaps make it their responsibility for ensuring that the new employee integrates into the company with the best balance of everything+.

Objectives of an Employee Induction

See if something has to be done, then let us do it in a better way, do get associated with some of the objectives, to maintain the consistency of efforts. Some of the possible objectives might be –

    • Creating a positive atmosphere and spreading good vibes to give a comfortable environment to the newbies.
    • Addressing the entire team and giving them space to interact with their fellow mates too.
    • Increasing comfort and the feeling of belongingness, by sharing their experience of their first day.
    • Imparting vital information with them to befriend them with the corporate culture, firm’s policies and procedures, and the infrastructure.
    • Sharing the ethics and values of the organization with furthermore job-specific information.

I do not see any harm in creating a congenial and happy environment for the future team. The freshers are onboarded and from tomorrow would be called today’s fellow team. For that, they need to undergo all the internal details of the company, its procedure, the training, seniors with a relaxed mindset. Any negligence with the thought of a denial of induction or orientation might land the company with high labor turnover, misconceptions & confusion, and costing their pockets and clock both.

Employee Onboarding Best practices

The below examples are some of the tried and passed tips for you to implement in your cases.

  1. Welcome them with some gifts, followed with a social gathering, and then closed with a brisk high tea or something.
  2. After the entire content delivery is over, give them a space to raise their questions and hence a chance to come in the notice.
  3. Indulge them in certain activities, so that there are certain chances for interaction among them.
  4. Being more precise about corporate planning, one might even plan a schedule for the upcoming week or the first 15 days or so.
  5. Never ever try to exaggerate anything. It will create a bad impression.

To conclude I would like to say that, celebrating certain days is considered to be good, and starting an important phase of life with positivity will yield higher benefits. On keeping the employees happy, it will create homely behavior welcoming threaded benefits.

Best Answers for “What Can You Do For Us That Other Candidates Can’t” Interview Question

Posted on by Zainab Sutarwala
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One of the most difficult questions you come across during your interview session is “What Can You Do For Us That Other Candidates Can’t” and is aimed at you as an individual. The question elaborates moreover your reaction to ‘your strengths.’ It could be a tricky question, but there is nothing to fret, as we will look at it in complete detail with sample answers for your reference only. Most of the interviewers will have their list of questions applicable to your role, but there are some specific questions that are common and universal. “What are your strengths or makes you different?” is one of the questions, and can be asked in interviews for various roles. Also Read:7 Most Common Job Interview Questions and Answers It can be a bit tricky one to answer instantly and catches candidates off their shield. Let us look at some tips and give a satisfying answer. The main reason for interviewers to ask this particular question is to get insight into your capabilities and understand your special talent. The interviewer can ask you this question in different ways, like:

  • What can you do for the company that other candidates can’t?
  • Do you think you are a perfect fit for this job?
  • What are your skills that others don’t have?
  • What makes you unique?

Why Do Interviewers Ask “What Can You Do For Us That Other Candidates Can’t?” Whenever you get such a question from your interviewers, it means that they want to delve a bit deeper into your skill, personality, and character. The main reason for asking this question is they want to know what qualities or skills you value – and how you will apply it.

How to Answer: “What Can You Do For Us That Other Candidates Can’t?”

This question is not about showing your superiority or what makes you unique. Your interviewer wants to know what makes you different from other candidates in relation to the value or skills you can bring to their company. They are interviewing many candidates with the same qualifications, so for them, this question will help them distinguish yourself from other candidates. Many times interviewers ask this question to know how much creative an interviewee is. This makes candidates think instantly, and the best answer shows your interviewer you have innovative skills that are highly valuable in a wide range of roles.

Key Points to Look At

Your answer must focus on your capabilities and give an outlook on how you will serve the company.

  • Make sure you keep your complete focus on yourself rather than comparing it to anybody specific.
  • You can show your certifications or qualifications that you have.
  • Talk about your interpersonal strengths & how you will add to the team.
  • Suppose your skills are specific to your field or industry, highlight how you will use it in the most remarkable ways.

Points to Avoid

Answers to such questions will go downhill if you are not well prepared.

  • The first rule is never to put anybody down to build yourself high. Focus more on why you are better than others, not why they are behind you.
  • Never look arrogant. Pay attention to the facts, not on your perception.
  • Do not get confused. Make sure your answer is focused, has useful information, and in brief.
  • Keep your modesty aside and speak confidently on what makes you better without appearing egotistical.

To be a great employee, you need to have your abilities to meet the employer’s requirements. Whether the organization you are applying for the job is the consulting firm or tech startup, showing that you know the organization’s requirements and address them can go a very long way in impressing your interviewer and making you a part of their team. To make things simple for you, we have given some sample answers to “What Can You Do For Us That Other Candidates Can’t?” Remember, these are only for your reference, and you must draw your answer as per your skills and experience and be relevant.

Sample Answer #1

After going through the job description, I knew it would be the perfect match for me. My managerial skills and experience align perfectly with what you want for the role. I am quite confident that my abilities and experience can help me to execute the management position successfully. I was effective in leading my team for 3 years and helped my region to earn the prestigious title. Besides leading the team projects successfully, my networking talent helped me develop good relationships with clients, vendors, and developers. My work experiences, with good communication skills, friendly attitude, and work ethic, makes me an ideal and a strong candidate for the role. I have the required experience to contribute to your team immediately. Without any doubt, I am highly excited about the vision of working in your company.’

Sample Answer # 2

“I’m an innovative person who wants to get associated with a team that builds great branding strategies. I have done many marketing campaigns during my class projects and my previous internship, and I am aware of the challenges I might face in this job and know how to deal with it. I have three important abilities that most of the candidates cannot offer: With my problem-solving skill, I can improve the campaign performance, have complete knowledge about social media campaigns, and have good experience in email marketing. Combining my knowledge and hard work for this industry, I am pretty sure I will prove to be an ideal candidate for this job.” Tip: Ensure you do not take more than 60 seconds to answer the question and practice it till you get over it. The Final Takeaway Now you have some suggestions to answer the most unique and common interview questions that have puzzled many interviewees. Make sure you are well prepared for your job interview questions and answer them confidently!

Skip-level Meetings and Why They are Important

Posted on by Sinibali Jana
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An organisation runs on its human resource. With high upgrades in the technological constraint and the progress of Artificial Intelligence, a large number of jobs are automated and rightly so. As per future trends, AI is likely to take over 37 per cent of the total jobs in an organisation in the next six years. In Spite of that, it’s debatable as to how effective that is and if it can completely surpass the need of the human capital. 

Employees keep the social and the operational structure of an organisation impact and each employee has a specific role to play. Irrespective of the fact that which level of the organisational hierarchy an employee belongs to, the work and presence of every employee is detrimental to the success of the organisation.

Now, keeping a large group of employees can never achieve organisational goals. The employees have to be met with consistent appraisals, feedback, raises, etc. This is to say that the employee has to be provided with positive reinforcements in order to boost his/her morale which in turn would lead to increased productivity and long-term retention.

There are a number of ways by which employee morale can be boosted and not all of them are monetary measures. This is where skip-level meetings find their significance. In these kinds of meetings, employees from even the lower levels of the organisation are duly given the significance and hence inculcates a sense of importance in them. This boosts employee morale and also has a different edged advantage. Skip-level meetings also allow the upper-level management to gain information from the grass-root level of employees without any filtration from their immediate subordinates.

Read on to find out the know-hows of Skip-level meetings.

What does a skip-level meeting mean? 

Skip-level meetings are meetings where the flow of information in an organisation is bypassed along the traditional hierarchy that an organisation follows. This means the top-level management, say the Vice President does not conduct a meeting with his/her immediate subordinate. Instead, the VP skips two or more levels of the hierarchy and holds a meeting with a relatively lower-level of an employee. 

This means that upper-level management has a better and clearer insight into employee perceptions as well as the employee attitudes at the grass-root level. On an overall dimension, it increases the transparency of the entire organisation. On addition to that, it also improves effective communication between all levels which is one of the most detrimental factors to the success and productivity of an organisation.

Why conduct skip-level meetings?

Skip-level meetings have multi-dimensional uses and all of them advantage both the employees as well as the organisation as a whole. It is a sure-shot way to gather authentic information, boost employee morale, improve the organisational fabric as well as ensuring transparency at all levels. There are a number of reasons why HR personnel should include skip-level meetings as an important aspect of the functioning of the organisation. It is a great way to bring individual goals and organisational goals under the same roof to make sure they coexist and evoke mutual success.

Advantages of skip-level meetings

  • Skip-level meetings ensure a high degree of transparency of information in the organisation.
  • It creates a healthier and more open environment at the workplace where even lower-level employees feel included in the operations.
  • Increased employee engagement ensures that they feel important thereby leading to a boosted morale and better productivity.
  • A universal understanding of the company’s vision, mission and priorities, both short-term and long-term.
  • Getting a clear and detailed picture of the organisation from the ground up.

Things to keep in mind while conducting a skip-level meeting

The primary objective of a skip-level meeting is to improve communication within the organisation, improve employee engagement as well as boost employee morale. Whereas in some cases skip-level meetings are used for different purposes like collecting information about subordinate managers, gathering their work review etc. Also, the success of a skip-level meeting is a planned procedure that should take place months before the skip-level meeting is to be held.

Skip-level meetings are not a procedure to fish and snitch about your direct reporters. Hence the purpose, procedure and agenda of the meeting should not only be fixed but also extremely professional.


How to conduct a skip-level meeting

  1. Proper communication should be made to the manager whose level is being skipped. The reason for the skip-level meeting, the objective, the goals and the procedure should be duly communicated. Otherwise, it might cause misperception and the subordinate manager may feel that the meeting is being held as a fishing expedition to collect his/her work review from the lower-level employees.
  2. The purpose of the skip-level meeting should be clear and distinct. The purpose should not be diluted and in no case should it be used to extract information about subordinate managers or other employees to give them reviews.
  3. Due to the gap in the hierarchy, it is highly likely that the lower-level employees would not immediately open up to the managers. Hence the extensive planning is important. 
  4. Months before the skip-level planning is going to be conducted the managers should try to gel their bonds with these employees. This can be done by striking up casual conversations in coffee breaks or talking about something trending. The primary purpose is to get the employee comfortable to speak to you and give the employee a feeling of inclusivity.
  5. It is highly recommended to inform the employees before-hand about the meeting by letting them know the details. This will give the employees some time to prepare and would also eliminate the nervousness that might otherwise have been caused by an immediate summon. 

What you can ask in a skip-level meeting?

To ensure the success of a skip-level meeting, the right kind of questions should be asked in order to have effective communication. The wrong questions with the wrong-follow ups may lead to a wrong impression on the employee and act as a barrier to communication. 

Questions that can be asked during a skip-level meeting.

  1. What would help you to work better?
  2. What do you think are the current drawbacks?
  3. Who do you admire the most and love to learn from?
  4. What are your insights about the new initiative?
  5. What would you like to change about the company?
  6. Which aspects do you think are being neglected by the management?

Try to ask questions like “why” and “how” after their answers to get a deeper and better understanding of what the employees mean. Also, make it a point to take notes while the employees are answering. This will give the employee a feeling that their words are being considered and given importance to.

Summing it up

Do skip-level meetings take a lot of time?
Yes.
Does it require extensive planning?

Yes.
Does it help the organisation in all dimensions?

Also yes.

It may seem like a time-consuming affair to conduct skip-level meetings but in reality, it does the organisation more good than harm. The results it yields come in handy for any modern organisation to properly function.

Hence, skip-level meetings should be conducted on a consistent basis to harness its full potential for organisational growth. 

To get started, click here.

Top 10 Best Recruitment Startups in India

Posted on by Shaivee Kumawat
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Naukri.com, Google Jobs, Facebook Jobs and LinkedIn are the biggest players in the Recruitment Industry in India. While Recruitment Startups also face tough competition from ~23,000 Traditional Recruitment Agencies in India, some Recruitment Companies have carved a niche for themselves. 

In a competitive industry like Recruitment, some curious minds are trying to find out if a smarter way to recruit exists for companies. The beneficiaries of the e-commerce wave in India were the customers and here in Recruitment would be the millions of Job-seekers & Companies. Here I will be talking about some successful Indian Recruitment startups which have evolved through time and have created a place in the Indian market. The Recruitment industry is already touching over $400 billion worldwide & the sheer pedigree of the Indian entrepreneurs in the HR Space makes us believe that the next unicorn might just come from the Recruitment Industry. 

Selection Criteria

: Ideally, this should be based on Client Experience, User (Job-seeker Experience), Client Retention, User Retention, no. of Jobs, no. of candidates placed etc. However, these parameters can be difficult to measure & sometimes not available in the public domain. We have, therefore for the sake of simplicity chose Alexa World Rank of the site to rank the startups in the descending order. Feel free to share your views on alternate measurement metrics to update the list below

Top 10 Recruitment Startups in India

1. IIMJOBS and HIRIST

Both startups were founded by an IIM Indore Alumnus Tarun Matta in the year 2008(IIMJOBS ) and 2010( HIRIST). Matta is himself a Math geek, Enterprise Sales Specialist, and has a rich experience in the field of technology, recruiting and IT services industry. Before establishing Hirist, Matta worked with organizations like CSC, Neilsoft, and Alcatel Lucent in the capacity of a Business Analyst and Sales Manager post. This startup acted as the bridge between the recruiter and the candidate by providing free posts. It has over 5 lakh active users registered and featuring some of the best jobs in Banking and Finance, Consulting, Research and Analytics, Sales and Marketing, HR, IT and Operations, BPO, and Legal sectors. It is the largest recruitment site focused on the premium segment of the market working with about 350 companies such as Hindustan Unilever, ICICI Bank, Credit Suisse, IBM, Accenture, Flipkart, MakeMyTrip, Amazon, Zomato and helps them recruit great managerial and tech talent with ease. The company was acquired by Naukri.com in 2019. Alexa world rank of HIRIST is 12,156 and is 9,247 for IIMJOBS

2. CUTSHORT

Cutshort floated in the year 2015 by Nikunj Verma. It is one of the HR Tech startups which is leveraging Artificial Intelligence to change India’s $25 Billion recruitment industry. It uses strong matchmaking algorithms, with trusted networks and specific modulated workflow. With its SaaS platform, quality talent is searched in a fraction of seconds. Alike Amazon’s Alexa, Apple’s Siri, CutShort also offers its AI-driven professional assistant by the name Voila, which makes the entire hiring process far more smooth. Alexa world rank is 2,011 for CUTSHORT

3. METTL

Mettl’s journey started in 2009 when its Co-founders Ketan Kapoor (IIT Roorkee & IIM Calcutta) and Tonmoy Shingal(IIT Kanpur & IIM Bangalore) landed with a common vision of leveraging technology for hiring practices in Indian and global firms. It offers recruitment assessment, programming tests, psychometric tests, aptitude tests, vocational skills assessment, remote proctoring, a pre-built test library of 200-plus tests along with an interview app, deep analytics in performance management, and a certification providing platform. It comes as a cumulative platform of training with hiring. It is blanketed across 100 countries with more than 1800 clients worldwide, and Gurugram-based headquarter. Mettl was acquired by Mercer in 2019. Alexa world rank for Mettl is 6,871

4. Instahyre

Instahyre was initiated in February 2020 by a prodigy pair – Aditya Rajgarhia and Sahil Gupta. They did their higher education from Stanford University and IIT Ropad respectively. It has come with an extremely surprising thought of hiring via AI. It lacks any filter feature, rather has come up with a curated list for the recruiters to hire. This helps the recruiter to attain quality service. It even comes with a secure and relaxing facility of zero spamming emails and genuine jobs. It has gained a lot of goodwill in a limited period of time by big tycoons like Amazon, Walmart, Uber, PayPal, etc. Alexa world rank for instahyre is 14,710

5. AASAAN JOBS

It started in the year 2014 by Dinesh Goel(IIT Bombay alumnus) and was recently acquired by OLX. It is an online marketplace for entry-level and blue-collar jobs,  provides a two-way matchmaking algorithm to eventually meet both ended expectations. Dinesh Goel was inspired by the unregulated Indian recruitment market where the company saw a massive market opportunity. Aasaanjobs considers its USP to be its technology-backed solutions, multilingual website, and ability to reach out and engage with candidates from diverse backgrounds, including those still using feature phones. Alexa world rank for AASAAN JOBS is 39,906

6. ZIGSAW 

Zigsaw Consultancy Services was found in the year 2015 by IIT Guwahati Alumnus Vaibhav Chouhan. Currently operational in Rajasthan, MP & Gujarat ONLY, Zigsaw offers a traditional staffing agency support to companies. For Job-seekers, it offers a Hyperlocal Job-search experience with its social media communities. Having gone through multiple product pivots, Zigsaw aspires to leverage gamification to drive engagement of Job-seekers at zigsaw.in  It is a platform of pre-evaluated profiles that HR’s can leverage to speed up their hiring process. Alexa World Rank of ZIGSAW is 1,09,868

7. BELONG

It was launched in 2014 by BITS Pilani alumnus Vijay Sharma. It is a predictive hiring platform to discover and engage high-impact talent through predictive analytics. At present, Belong works with Amazon, Reliance Jio, Cisco, and ThoughtWorks which are giants in the market. Belong’s Machine Learning algorithms are excellent and helps the businesses unearth and target high-fit talent, engage candidates through personalized interactions, and enhance hiring cycles at scale. Last year, Belong raised Series B funding of $10 million led by Sequoia Capital, and its client portfolio incorporates Ola, InMobi, Myntra, and many other market tycoons. Alexa rank of BELONG is 1,35,283

8. HIRETALE

In the year 2013, Vivek Jain, an IIT Guwahati Alumnus started Hiretale from Jaipur, Rajasthan. It is a technology startup modifying the whole recruitment eco-system by its innovative ideas in connection establishment. It is teamed up by passionate and experienced skills from IIMs/IITs and NITs apart from recruitment specialists who understand the requirements of employers & candidates equally well. Alexa world rank of HIRETALE is 1,52,556

9. JOBSQUARE

Its founder is Ashutosh Valani and Priyank Shah. It aims to be the number one platform of choice that connects recruiters and job seekers in real-time and eliminates the ambiguity associated with the traditional online job seeking scenario, resulting in faster jobs and a simplified recruitment process. Alexa world rank ofJOBSQUARE is 2,85,538 

10. CAJOBPORTAL

Sonia Singhal and her husband Anurag Singhal(IIM Ahmedabad alumni) came up with an idea of running a recruitment startup purely for CAs. This couple is themselves a CA. They were the very first to come up with this idea in 2013. It is interesting to know that it is an all-women team, who works from their respective homes, on a collaborative workspace, enabling real-time monitoring and flawless integration of efforts. It follows a value proposition, in terms of domain expertise, online presence, and service delivery levels. These include the top 50 percent of BSE-30 companies including the appreciations of Unilever, Asian Paints, Goldman Sachs, and HDFC. The portal is also recognized under the ‘Startup India Scheme’ by DIPP.” Alexa world rank of CAJOBPORTAL is 7,05,391

To wrap up, I would like to say that every problem comes with a solution. One just needs a correct way to go through. The same thing applies to find a job, there are plenty of recruitment startups present in India. Just stay tuned and get yourself a dream job.

What do you think about the above list? Do let me know your thoughts in the comments below!!

Performance Appraisals – Everything you need to know about them

Posted on by Shaivee Kumawat
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Performance appraisals form a very important part of the Human Resource department since they provide crucial information for the evaluation of the employee’s skill, ability, knowledge, and job performance. The appraisals aren’t just used to eliminate productivity and behavior issues, but to motivate them to contribute a bit more.

An employee performance appraisal system is very important for the organizations to enhance their employee productivity and their outcomes. The performance appraisals are the annual process where the productivity and performance of an employee is evaluated against the predetermined set of goals or tasks.

Meaning of Performance Appraisal

The performance appraisal is a kind of process of evaluating an employee for their duties. The manager assesses and observes their work throughout a year and offers essential guidance, feedback, and further progress during their appraisal duration. It includes holding the formal discussion with an employee recollecting their performance, achievements, and various areas for improvement. The manager identifies various opportunities for an employee to develop professionally. 

Performance Appraisal is also synonyms to performance review, performance evaluation, and employee appraisal. With Performance Appraisals, regular evaluation of an employee’s job performance and overall contribution to the company is recorded. These help in providing the feedback, identify those who are performing their assigned tasks well, offer a formal moment in time to evaluate job performance, distributing raises and bonuses among the employees, and even the employees wish to know their position in the organization. 

Turning to the lexicon, Appraisals gave the meaning – “An assessment of an individual based on its working ethics and then further using that judgment for the monitory purpose, promotions or salary incentives.”

Meaning of Employee Performance

In simple words – “How well the employees are contributing to the welfare of the company’s productivity? ” And this productivity comprises all the concerns for qualitative & quantitative goals along with effectiveness and efficiency. However, it does not necessarily talk about the cost involved with it.

Sometimes performance is graded on the personnel facts of accidents, turnover, absences, and lateness. A good employee is ought to contribute to the company’s upliftment with less risk od the company’s standards.

Employee Performance is one of the most widely used term in any corporate sector, especially when the Human Resource(HR) Department presumes with the  Performance Managers. Human Resource Department plays a prominent role in designing, monitoring, implementing performance appraisals. Before appraisals, they do recruitment, selection, training, domain allocation, and company induction. It means from hiring to firing, everything is picked by them. Moreover, the HR team acts as a mediator between the Functional or Reviewing authorities and the employee. It is the HRM’s responsibility to ensure a smooth implementation of the appraisal process.

Let us dive a little more, to understand the rudimentary of the Appraisals.

Objectives of Performance Appraisal

These objectives are broadly classified into 8 sections –

  • Identification of the company’s aura, by accepting its weaknesses, maintaining its strengths, and channelizing them to future tasks.
  • Wherever needed or demanded by the employees, proving them with relevant informative resources in the work of tutors, study material, a training, workshop, or a professional site visit.
  • This way it will help to categorize the employees and engender vital figures.
  • Simultaneously do remember about the salary incentives, the badge of honors, promotions, or the reward policy.
  • Another way round, if the employee expectation is not fulfilled up to a mark, sit with them, talk over it and understand where they went wrong, what made it wrong, and improvised future steps. Don’t jump on the conclusion to fire them, remember when NOTHING will work out, this would act as the very last option.
  • A company’s decorum and its ongoing client project should not get disturbed because of this ever.
  • Should be flexible in fabricating the HRM policies according to employees’ potential too.
  • At the end of each performance appraisal, keep the research and figures transparent to the individual, to build a 2-way channel, and connect them efficaciously.

Benefits of Performance Appraisal

The main purpose of an employee performance appraisal is double: It helps any organization to decide the productivity and value that employees contribute, it helps the employees to develop their own roles or duties. Well, there would be certainly many of it, that is why it is seen in every firm. Some of them are –

  • A regular and systematic appraisal system aids the HRM to properly identify the performance, areas of talent, and lacking points of the employees.
  • Helps to place the deserving candidates at suitable job profiles.
  • Helps the employees to acknowledge their improving points and get assistance from the seniors regarding the same, it may be a simple mentoring too.
  • The process of promotions and firing becomes easy peasy.
  • This helps in analyzing the HRM efforts paid, the outcome from the team’s end, and generating research for the future programs.
  • Creates healthy competition among the team.
  • Very sophisticated pattern to know the grievances of the company and the team.

Benefits of Performance Appraisal for Organization

Appraisals are the savvy of traits and performance, out of which employee worth and good or bad corners are deduced. Appraisals are essential for making many administrative decisions of selection, training, development, promotion, transfer, salary hikes, individual potential research, regulating, etc. In this meticulous manner, a sharp eye is kept on all the aspects of a firm to record its overall performance.

  1. The employee assessments will make a huge difference in the performance of the organization. They offer insight on how employees are working and allow organizations to:
  2. Address any behavioral issues that can impact departmental productivity.
  3. Know where management will improve their working conditions to improve work quality and productivity.    
  4. Improve decision-making in certain situations that need succession planning, layoffs, and filling roles internally
  5. Support employees in career development and skill
  6. Encourage your employees by contributing more and recognizing their abilities and talents. You can read more about Employee Engagement and its benefits here

Benefit of Performance Appraisal for employee

The performance appraisals or assessment is generally meant to offer the positive outcome for the employees. Insights gained from discussing and assessing the employee’s performance will help:

  1. To recognize the opportunity for bonus or promotion.
  2. Acknowledge the contributions and achievements made by your employee.
  3. Determine specific areas where there is improvement in the skills.
  4. Identify the need for more training and education for career development.
  5. Discussion of the long-term goals.
  6. Motivate your employee and make them participate and invested in their professional development.

Types of Performance Appraisal

With a right performance appraisal process, organizations will be able to improve their employee performance in the organization. Having a good performance review method will make the entire experience rewarding and effective for an employee. Let us have a closer look at the different types of the performance appraisal methods:

  1. Management by Objectives or MBO:

    The management by objective appraisal is quite a modern approach of providing performance reviews to an employee, as it ropes employee in a goal-setting procedure. With the method, managers and their employee may “agree on the specific and obtainable goals with the set deadline.” The management by objective  method makes it simple to define the success & failure.

  2. Self-Evaluation:

    The self-evaluation or assessment needs an employee to judge their performance against the predetermined criteria. The self-evaluation is generally taken intoconsideration during the official performance review and allow for thorough discussion and ensure that employees understand how he or she will be judged. Self-evaluation method can be very subjective to reflect the work performance, since employees can rate themselves very high—or low—but discrepancies between the employee and the employer evaluations will be insightful.   

  3. Behavioral-Based Checklist:

    Behavior-based employee appraisals mainly focus on their ability of carrying out certain specific tasks, and they will be very useful for assessing their performance on the quantitative tasks & for determining who to reward and promote based on the competence in those tasks. It is possible if standards for the appraisal are carefully planned out to start with, the behavior appraisals generally tend to provide the objective way to assess employee performance.

  4. Graphic rating:

    Compared to all given employee performance assessments, this can be the most traditional and simplest one. In a graphic rating method, you will create the columned table organized

    • In a first column, put the variables to be evaluated. Like: punctuality, teamwork, assiduity, creativity, and more.
    • In a next column, put the values of every variable. Like: terrible, regular, bad, good or amazing. You can provide scores from 1 to 5.The primary benefit of this appraisal is that it’s very simple to do. But, it is limited & doesn’t allow for more evaluation. For such reason, graphic rating is normally used in the conjunction with various other methods.

  5. 360-degree performance appraisals:

    This particular method involves review or feedback from many people who contacted with an employee, and keeping biases at bay. This can be other clients, colleagues, customers and even an employee themselves is needed to give their view about their role in a team.

    The 360-degree performance appraisal is said to be one of the top approach as it is all-encompassing and will give a well-rounded and complete view of the employee. It not just offers a precise know-how of the employee’s behavior and attitude, but it will benefit a person by helping with their self-improvement (giving them confidence that can help your organization no end).

  6. Sales Performance Appraisal:

    This method of appraisal is the simplest to conduct, but a bit painful. An employee will be simply judged by his results and his set goals. The salesmen are held to the financial goals quite more than any section of an organization. The manager & salesperson should discuss different ways of achieving their goals and changes that have to be made in order to make them reachable and realistic.

Process of Performance Appraisal

Selecting the right type of employee performance appraisal method will be very critical than ever as it reflects over what you think about your employees or how much do you really care about their morale. When you have found the perfect ideal performance review system for your requirements, the next step will be implementing it in a right way to eliminate any critical performance gaps or address pressing issues, which can impact overall Organisation performance

It is a systematic process to go through –

  • Firstly decide on the performance standards needed.
  • Set up Disciplinary Aspects to be followed by each individual
  • Differentiate between measurable and visible objectives.
  • Then wait for the actual individual outcome.
  • Compare that outcome with the expected or predefined data.
  • Sit with that individual or that team( varies with the firm) and review the areas of improvement and praise their good work.
  • Extract corrective and learning measure from this, and then set bars for the next futuristic iteration.

Where can Performance Appraisal go wrong

  • What if the whole data of the performance appraisals turns out to be incorrect at the end. Although it is a rare chance. But just imagine and feel those chills!
  • Sometimes equal or necessary importance is not given to the measuring factors.
  • Some of the factors are very murky to measure, as the attitude issues, cold fights, or the initiatives.
  • If the managers turn out to be biased by nature or unqualified in analyzing, then that would turn as the pain in the neck.
  • Do make sure that the client projects do not collide with this activity and a smooth functioning of all the other events takes place.

Frequency of Performance Appraisal

See, there is no standard figure of it, it completely pivots on the organizational beliefs, the vastness of employees, and availability of the appraisal drivers. But yes, out of practice it should be periodic and be considered important for moving ahead. For example can be done monthly, annually, quarterly, half-yearly, etc. It is not a healthy idea to shelve this practice, therefore it is advisable to schedule a mid-year appraisal.

In a nutshell, I would like to that Performative Appraisal is the most important part of any organization and amazing assistance to track productivity, aims, and employee engagement. Appraisals are a positive way for a manager to let the employees know how well they are performing the duties that are assigned to them. The HRM should take this task seriously and unbiasedly, even the employees must cooperate with the authority to ease it out.


Things college Management should know – An open letter to a college director

Posted on by Shaivee Kumawat
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Dear Sir,

Hope you and your family are doing good and are safe amidst this COVID19 pandemic situation.

Sir, it’s been long that I have written to you, and this time I am up with an extremely different topic to share with you – COVID19 and its Impact on Students. This COVID19 has created a jinxed pandemic situation worldwide, not only for the human living but also for sectors like manufacturing, export & import, tourism, education, entertainment, healthcare, policing, etc. Amidst all this, we have witnessed a loss of GDP, human lives, mental health, savings, globalization, and employment. According to a survey of CMIE, there has been a tumble of the Indian unemployment rate from 7.22% (January 2020) to  23.52% (April 2020). This is doleful! This disheartening situation hit the worst of the newbies because of their high aspirations and has learned and practiced a lot of entire their graduation life. They dreamed of earning a handsome salary by the end of this year, but see the irony this coronavirus played with them, by not letting their final semester exams getting over too.

Sir this pandemic came out of the blue and still pottering with any effective vaccine. A similar situation might slant back in the coming future, and again, sitting idle would not be a smart solution to it, so it is high time for us to learn and prepare ourselves with some of the imputations –

  1. Difference between Industrial needs and the training provided → We Indians have an age-old practicing of doing, what is been told, that’s absolutely a good sign but should not forget about the generation’s development. As Munshi Permcahnd said – “Be rooted in your ethics and rituals and bloom in the modern world”. There would be surely a significance of old concepts, languages, tools, or methodologies, but these should be used to form the fundamental base to upcoming and emerging utilities. It is a major problem with the Indian institutes that they are are though something different or old technology which is completely different from industrial demands. That is why industry pays/invests a little more after hiring to get an organization ready workforce. If we spare some time to think about this issue and match our training with ongoing market demand, then it would be easy for students to get placed, the company to get a quality pool, and even the college to channelize the entire process.
  2. Problems when securing Internships & Placements → Especially the students of 3-tier, 2 tier or small city face this problem of being deprived by the company’s job offer. This is because of the lacking skillset, non-engagement of college TPO and the company’s recruitment body, and lack of awareness. This can be bridged by providing better skillset training to the students, giving them sessions about soft skills, maintaining healthy relationships with the company, and onboarding industrial trainers and mentors. For the financially backward students, college should provide economic help in traveling, form filling, course fees, etc. Kindly do not just stick to that attendance register and those semester scores, they will be simply resting on that web portals only, and are not going anywhere with the student.
  3. Encouraging Individual Taste → It should not be the case that out of a class of 100 students, 50 will opt JAVA and the rest in Oracle. NO! The entire corporate, software, and professional industry are wide which is craving for many skillsets. Let those required skillsets come from your students. Just keep in mind, where liking meets passion and work, money comes all its way automatically. So keep your students’ ears wide open with an open mind for letting in all kinds of information regarding all the sectors, salary, geographical location, and futuristic scopes. After that it is the synchronization of the student, to get that adequate amount of knowledge get synced with his or her likings and create hos or her career with individual responsibility.  Along with the students, you might get the chance to explore the unseen corners of career building.
  4. Getting the correct exposure for the budding talent → You can not ask a barber to mend your shoes, similarly, you have to get on board with appropriate recruiters or institutes for a particular set of interests of your student. Otherwise, the whole nurte=ured set of talent would go wasted in vain. For example, if you have students interested in Web designing, data science, core language skillset, game designing, ML, AI, AR/VR, etc, then you have to reach the companies who are looking for similar talents and engage them with your students. Even let them know if at remote location job proceeding processes or interviews, assist them all through to reach their final destination. Feeling your high-spirit and positive vibes the student will turn optimistic too.
  5. Channelizing their interests with sound mentoring →  Have a perfect set of mentors, professors, industry experts, and learning source ready from your end, then bring down a meeting with students, learn from them, what they want, what they do have with them, where are they lacking and about their researches. Then brief down the individual skills with appropriate mentor assignment and if needed hire a tutor or purchase the course, from external media. This is a way to stand with the students, guide them, learn from their end too, and making them independent of their choices and responsibilities for the future.

I am very sorry to you Sir, if I unintentionally went too far with this topic, as I wanted my junior batches to learn from current shortcomings and want their future to be secured and glittering. I strongly believe this is the case with most of the students like me, and wanted to give a thought over it, with your wisdom. Hoping to hear from you soon.

Thank You & Best Regards!

Your student


Employee Engagement – Why is it important and how to facilitate

Posted on by Shaivee Kumawat
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Employee engagement is a widely talked upon topic these days. It is gaining huge importance from company managers to working employees.  The degree of employee engagement is directly indicating the work satisfaction attained by its employees. Now the generation is changing and likewise demanding change with the working culture. Apart from a 10-6 job, they are looking for other factors while working like job security, informal connections, company parties, incentives, foreign opportunities, etc.

First, let us understand what is meant by the term or the feeling of Employee Engagement?

The first thing which might come to your mind may be to keep the employees busy in their task and expecting a high performance from their end. And then crediting their accounts with some pretty bucks. But it is more than that. It deals with the emotional connection which an employee feels towards the respective firm. They should have belongingness towards their work and organization. It should leave them with a sense of contentment, excitement, optimism, and gratitude.

So how can an organization, institute, or a startup practice engagement of their employees or a team in a positive manner? Here are some of the tips for the same.

  1. Emotional Aspect

    We are humans and emotions drive through our blood thus, it is the foremost thing to deal with while connecting. We have to give our employees the appropriate respect and love they deserve and acknowledge their ideas and opinions. We need to  decentralize the controlling system for more flexibility, and also evolve the working ethics with time. Earlier, spending time with family, saving money, being on a superior role, or pursuing hobbies gave happiness. But today maintaining a standard lifestyle, being happy in work hours, and having a friend alike work culture has taken some space too in the wishlist. Giving wings to the emotional commitment within the workforce for their organization and its goals is one of the main objectives of employee engagement.

  2. Quality Recruitment

    “Good seeds yield better crops!”. It is strongly believed that if the Human Resource department does good qualitative recruitment according to their company ethics and futuristic goals then it would be very easy to deal with the candidates and even mold them if necessary. So a sharp eye must be kept on the person’s behavior, likings, dislikings, and his or her background. If good cultured candidates are hired then all the engagement policies would go smooth beforehand from their end itself.

  3. Understanding through Observations

    “Actions speak louder than words!”. That is what a senior management team with CEO, COO, or VPS needs to do. Be with the working force and analyze the very granularity of their actions, their working way, their thinking, their discomfort, or even their bonds with their fellow mates. This kind of observation then ought to be shared within the observing team meetings and an individual employee’s feedback should be generated, further a customized approach should be implied to create a better place. However, this is only possible for startups or small firms.

  4. Team Forging Outings

    It is sometimes better to go out with your team, maybe to visit clients, site seeing, or a simple coffee. This would invoke a feeling of friendship and would give some space to additional conversations on market trends, stock prices, country’s GDP, emerging technology, competitors, etc. This often builds an out of the box relationship and is worth practicing. 

  5. Periodic Informal Parties

    “Sunflowers turn to the sun’s direction, no matter wherever they are planted or whomsoever has sown them”. This is because what remains inside as of nature would be there itself, and never depart. Party is the most exciting word and drives everyone crazy, especially if heard at the workplace. Parties are the best practices to grow mutual understandings, establish connections,  knowing about fellow mate’s likes and dislikes, or even just giving a cozy and free space to people. This will surely turn out as the golden egg and would be mentioned to every outsider by your employee while appreciating his or her firm.

  6. The zeal of Upliftment

    Every talent is vital and must be appreciated for being a part of an organization. If a regular motivation is sprinkled on the employees showing their qualities and then driving them to aim and do better, then eventually the whole motivated team would uplift the team’s goal and business as a whole. Give them access to training on the latest tech or tools, invest in their soft skills and listen to their strong working areas, and see the effect by yourself. This flexibility requires knocking down traditional hierarchies and allowing people to work on projects that energize them and where they can contribute.

  7. And the Reward goes to

    Aah! Such a pleasure giving sentence. It is a pure practice to motivate the team by offering them certificates, badges, incentives, promotions, or any other gesture of honor. This way they feel their presence is appreciated and an inner motivation drives through to achieve more.

  8. Being in the Other Shoe

    This is the most effective way to understand and deal with the employees for better engagement. This way you come to know about the firm’s loophole, urgent need, modifications, and even about the ongoing malpractices sometimes. One should not bind the employees in work from the office only, restrict the lunch break till 30 minutes or so, 9-5 pm tight reschedule. NO! No one likes to be herded with a set of hourly restrictions, just keep them free and focus on the result and working status.

Now the question comes, that what would these practices be yielding?

This should benefit in the following ways :

  • Decrease in absenteeism
  • Healthy working space
  • Rise in revenue
  • Increased productivity
  • Fruitful relationships
  • Higher retention
  • Customer satisfaction

Here is a list of Top 10 Employee Engagement Activities you can organize for your team

On consolidating I would like to say that building a better place is always the responsibility of each person present there. And there is no doubt that it is a tedious job, but not impossible Right? So, employers need to understand the drivers of employee engagement and apply them accordingly. Because having an engaged workforce is crucial for ensuring good growth and better stability.