We are all looking forward to what IT is going to transform itself into in future. I saw this wonderful video and thought, I can share it here.
Well hope we in the Recruitment industry will also see more graphics in our work. I am rather fed up seeing raw text.
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Starting a Job site in India
Naukri and Monster are the leaders in the Job site market. JobsAhead, One of the best job sites and trend setters in the market, is no more... monster has already eaten it up. Times Jobs with all its Print and internet might is still only the 3rd player, leave alone its claims.
In a market with such mature players, is there scope for a start up Job site to actually break the ice.
Pricing will not work in the market. In fact there have been good job sites offering free Job posting and resume access, but takers are little. In fact, some of the Job site even go to the extent of getting the jobs emailed to them & they enter them in their site.
Print Ads may not be a solution since Media Mugals like Hindustan times & Deccan Herald are struggling with their Job sites. Media might & money doesn't seem to be enough. Hoardings etc will add little value, but then you know the cost involved the reach across India.
Same thing with Internet majors like Clickjobs, with very good internet presence in the matrimony market, it is not able to even shake the leaders. Though Click Jobs is among the most innovative players in the market today - offering referral income option to job seekers, extremely good SEO, elegant design... but will it actually be able to grow up to stand before the two giants.
Now the situation is unique, unless we have 10's of 1000's of Jobs Candidates are not going to get interested. And unless we have millions of Candidates, Jobs aren't going to come your way.
Then how will a start up Job site be able to get traction in the market.
I put this question in LinkedIn.com couple of days back and have got some very interesting replies.
Sanjay Madhavan, Wipro Technologies: “The success percentage of the users is a crucial factor in helping the job site to grow. You might have 10 people getting brilliant jobs , but 100 who have not got even a decent one.”
Vivek M V, HCL: “As an employer - i would expect maximum reach , an excellent database of job seeker ( primarily we see the failure of many job boards because of this reason) non-repetitive and also responsive
( hence you may need this database to be relevant and factual). As a job seeker i would not like spams of walk-in here or walk in there ( one can choose this option ) plan out a calendar of event , which indicates you the hottest employer recruiting a certain skill..."relevant jobs in my inbox" . Again if you are a new player opportunity or incentive .."points" to already registered job seeker
( which will help ) and then sustain your business plan. Job site may also target their users by the job they seek ..or probably plan a career graph”
Hari Hanuman, Refer2win.com: “go with one specialisation or one vertical first rather than goind in a big way. say something like mechanical engineers exclusively. It will take some time to build up.”
Ram Mallipeddi: “much depends on addressing to Freshers now as they are a huge lot now in the market with thedown trend and with the signs of market picking up if you can show direction to these freshers or those idle then click ratio will be heavy”
Masood Sayed, VerveOS2i: “I would start asking
1) What is common in the successful ones?
Almost everything that they do, is similar. Their value proposition is along the same parameters
2) What can you offer which they have not?
eg: a networking portal, integrated ATS, referral network, niche expertise, only company jobs, better search technology, Career Counselling service, Link to other jobs... etc
Position yourself as fresh and different from these giants. I am sure there is space available for New entrants.”
As usual, I also got some very direct answers saying, just run… Job site market isn’t going to take you any where. Place your money else where. Couple of comments are here:
Girish Joshi says, “Another key question I may ask aorund market opportunity for Job sites in the times of LinkedIn etc:-).”
Pranav (Peter) Parikh, Origin Canada Inc says, “Job site in India is not a feasible option. This is matured concept and naukari.com and other website already captured enough market share”
One thing common among all the answers I got, though not literally written, but clearly indicated is that – Innovation, better product, better service & a radically different approach will alone help a new entrant succeed in this market space. Money and Media Power are not going to help much.
So if you are planning a Job site, think radical, think different, think Viral & you will be able to make it big. Even Ambanis' or Tatas' aren't going to be successful without it.
All the best for the Entrepreneurs ready to take up this challenge.
And those who have some valuable ideas for Entrepreneurs, please do share it here.
In a market with such mature players, is there scope for a start up Job site to actually break the ice.
Pricing will not work in the market. In fact there have been good job sites offering free Job posting and resume access, but takers are little. In fact, some of the Job site even go to the extent of getting the jobs emailed to them & they enter them in their site.
Print Ads may not be a solution since Media Mugals like Hindustan times & Deccan Herald are struggling with their Job sites. Media might & money doesn't seem to be enough. Hoardings etc will add little value, but then you know the cost involved the reach across India.
Same thing with Internet majors like Clickjobs, with very good internet presence in the matrimony market, it is not able to even shake the leaders. Though Click Jobs is among the most innovative players in the market today - offering referral income option to job seekers, extremely good SEO, elegant design... but will it actually be able to grow up to stand before the two giants.
Now the situation is unique, unless we have 10's of 1000's of Jobs Candidates are not going to get interested. And unless we have millions of Candidates, Jobs aren't going to come your way.
Then how will a start up Job site be able to get traction in the market.
I put this question in LinkedIn.com couple of days back and have got some very interesting replies.
Sanjay Madhavan, Wipro Technologies: “The success percentage of the users is a crucial factor in helping the job site to grow. You might have 10 people getting brilliant jobs , but 100 who have not got even a decent one.”
Vivek M V, HCL: “As an employer - i would expect maximum reach , an excellent database of job seeker ( primarily we see the failure of many job boards because of this reason) non-repetitive and also responsive
( hence you may need this database to be relevant and factual). As a job seeker i would not like spams of walk-in here or walk in there ( one can choose this option ) plan out a calendar of event , which indicates you the hottest employer recruiting a certain skill..."relevant jobs in my inbox" . Again if you are a new player opportunity or incentive .."points" to already registered job seeker
( which will help ) and then sustain your business plan. Job site may also target their users by the job they seek ..or probably plan a career graph”
Hari Hanuman, Refer2win.com: “go with one specialisation or one vertical first rather than goind in a big way. say something like mechanical engineers exclusively. It will take some time to build up.”
Ram Mallipeddi: “much depends on addressing to Freshers now as they are a huge lot now in the market with thedown trend and with the signs of market picking up if you can show direction to these freshers or those idle then click ratio will be heavy”
Masood Sayed, VerveOS2i: “I would start asking
1) What is common in the successful ones?
Almost everything that they do, is similar. Their value proposition is along the same parameters
2) What can you offer which they have not?
eg: a networking portal, integrated ATS, referral network, niche expertise, only company jobs, better search technology, Career Counselling service, Link to other jobs... etc
Position yourself as fresh and different from these giants. I am sure there is space available for New entrants.”
As usual, I also got some very direct answers saying, just run… Job site market isn’t going to take you any where. Place your money else where. Couple of comments are here:
Girish Joshi says, “Another key question I may ask aorund market opportunity for Job sites in the times of LinkedIn etc:-).”
Pranav (Peter) Parikh, Origin Canada Inc says, “Job site in India is not a feasible option. This is matured concept and naukari.com and other website already captured enough market share”
One thing common among all the answers I got, though not literally written, but clearly indicated is that – Innovation, better product, better service & a radically different approach will alone help a new entrant succeed in this market space. Money and Media Power are not going to help much.
So if you are planning a Job site, think radical, think different, think Viral & you will be able to make it big. Even Ambanis' or Tatas' aren't going to be successful without it.
All the best for the Entrepreneurs ready to take up this challenge.
And those who have some valuable ideas for Entrepreneurs, please do share it here.
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Text mining – Stop Words Are Everything
We often find search results by search engines way off track and keep wondering how the search engine could produce this result when we have been very specific about my search term.
Let us see why this happens.
Search Engines usually scroll through your website, copy the text content from your website & index them after filtering Stop words. Stop words are considered useless or less relevant to search results and so they are ignored.
What are Stop words?
Words such as - and, because, or, not and a host of other words which basically form the foundation of English language are stop words. (There is a list of English Stop words given below this article)
Let us go through an example:
In a blog, I have written: I do not play basketball. (A simple sentence for us to understand, isn’t it?)
Now let us see how the search engine understands it:
The search engine crawls through this page, picks up the entire sentence “I do not play basketball” and then removes the Stop words do and not, then saves the keywords - I play basketball. May be it will also remove the “I” and just save play basketball.
Now you know why, when you search for Basket ball players, you get just the opposite.
Search engines are more accurate when you search for products and services since ignoring the keywords may not affect the concept of information provided. But when you go into personal details, blog entries and articles, you will have less accurate results.
If the search results have to be better and if we are looking forward for a semantic web (intelligent web), then Stop words are everything. Until and unless these are incorporated in the search and clustering done with a strong emphasis for stop words – Search results aren’t doing to turn any better.
Like Stop words A, AN, ONE should be clustered together when the result has to produce information related to single term. Words like AND should bring two keywords closer in the cluster and NOT should separate them more by an algorithm to ensure we get a more proper result. Stemming relevant stop words to one another using multiple algorithms will help clustering better.
I would rather suggest Stop words be renamed Constructs since they form the pillar of any text & they are the ultimate differentiators which will help get to the core of underlying information in the text. This will lead us towards foraying into Artificial Intelligence.
List of Stop words: a, about, above, above, across, after, afterwards, again, against, all, almost, alone, along, already, also, although, always, am, among, amongst, amoungst, amount, an, and, another, any, anyhow, anyone, anything, anyway, anywhere, are, around, as, at, back, be, became, because, become, becomes, becoming, been, before, beforehand, behind, being, below, beside, besides, between, beyond, bill, both, bottom, but, by, call, can, cannot, cant, co, con, could, couldn’t, cry, de, describe, detail, do, done, down, due, during, each, eg, eight, either, eleven, else, elsewhere, empty, enough, etc, even, ever, every, everyone, everything, everywhere, except, few, fifteen, fifty, fill, find, fire, first, five, for, former, formerly, forty, found, four, from, front, full, further, get, give, go, had, has, hasn’t, have, he, hence, her, here, hereafter, hereby, herein, hereupon, hers, herself, him, himself, his, how, however, hundred, ie, if, in, inc, indeed, interest, into, is, it, its, itself, keep, last, latter, latterly, least, less, ltd, made, many, may, me, meanwhile, might, mill, mine, more, moreover, most, mostly, move, much, must, my, myself, name, namely, neither, never, nevertheless, next, nine, no, nobody, none, noon, nor, not, nothing, now, nowhere, of, off, often, on, once, one, only, onto, or, other, others, otherwise, our, ours, ourselves, out, over, own, part, per, perhaps, please, put, rather, re, same, see, seem, seemed, seeming, seems, serious, several, she, should, show, side, since, sincere, six, sixty, so, some, somehow, someone, something, sometime, sometimes, somewhere, still, such, system, take, ten, than, that, the, their, them, themselves, then, thence, there, thereafter, thereby, therefore, therein, thereupon, these, they, thick, thin, third, this, those, though, three, through, throughout, thru, thus, to, together, too, top, toward, towards, twelve, twenty, two, un, under, until, up, upon, us, very, via, was, we, well, were, what, whatever, when, whence, whenever, where, where after, whereas, whereby, wherein, whereupon, wherever, whether, which, while, whither, who, whoever, whole, whom, whose, why, will, with, within, without, would, yet, you, your, yours, yourself, yourselves and the
Let us see why this happens.
Search Engines usually scroll through your website, copy the text content from your website & index them after filtering Stop words. Stop words are considered useless or less relevant to search results and so they are ignored.
What are Stop words?
Words such as - and, because, or, not and a host of other words which basically form the foundation of English language are stop words. (There is a list of English Stop words given below this article)
Let us go through an example:
In a blog, I have written: I do not play basketball. (A simple sentence for us to understand, isn’t it?)
Now let us see how the search engine understands it:
The search engine crawls through this page, picks up the entire sentence “I do not play basketball” and then removes the Stop words do and not, then saves the keywords - I play basketball. May be it will also remove the “I” and just save play basketball.
Now you know why, when you search for Basket ball players, you get just the opposite.
Search engines are more accurate when you search for products and services since ignoring the keywords may not affect the concept of information provided. But when you go into personal details, blog entries and articles, you will have less accurate results.
If the search results have to be better and if we are looking forward for a semantic web (intelligent web), then Stop words are everything. Until and unless these are incorporated in the search and clustering done with a strong emphasis for stop words – Search results aren’t doing to turn any better.
Like Stop words A, AN, ONE should be clustered together when the result has to produce information related to single term. Words like AND should bring two keywords closer in the cluster and NOT should separate them more by an algorithm to ensure we get a more proper result. Stemming relevant stop words to one another using multiple algorithms will help clustering better.
I would rather suggest Stop words be renamed Constructs since they form the pillar of any text & they are the ultimate differentiators which will help get to the core of underlying information in the text. This will lead us towards foraying into Artificial Intelligence.
List of Stop words: a, about, above, above, across, after, afterwards, again, against, all, almost, alone, along, already, also, although, always, am, among, amongst, amoungst, amount, an, and, another, any, anyhow, anyone, anything, anyway, anywhere, are, around, as, at, back, be, became, because, become, becomes, becoming, been, before, beforehand, behind, being, below, beside, besides, between, beyond, bill, both, bottom, but, by, call, can, cannot, cant, co, con, could, couldn’t, cry, de, describe, detail, do, done, down, due, during, each, eg, eight, either, eleven, else, elsewhere, empty, enough, etc, even, ever, every, everyone, everything, everywhere, except, few, fifteen, fifty, fill, find, fire, first, five, for, former, formerly, forty, found, four, from, front, full, further, get, give, go, had, has, hasn’t, have, he, hence, her, here, hereafter, hereby, herein, hereupon, hers, herself, him, himself, his, how, however, hundred, ie, if, in, inc, indeed, interest, into, is, it, its, itself, keep, last, latter, latterly, least, less, ltd, made, many, may, me, meanwhile, might, mill, mine, more, moreover, most, mostly, move, much, must, my, myself, name, namely, neither, never, nevertheless, next, nine, no, nobody, none, noon, nor, not, nothing, now, nowhere, of, off, often, on, once, one, only, onto, or, other, others, otherwise, our, ours, ourselves, out, over, own, part, per, perhaps, please, put, rather, re, same, see, seem, seemed, seeming, seems, serious, several, she, should, show, side, since, sincere, six, sixty, so, some, somehow, someone, something, sometime, sometimes, somewhere, still, such, system, take, ten, than, that, the, their, them, themselves, then, thence, there, thereafter, thereby, therefore, therein, thereupon, these, they, thick, thin, third, this, those, though, three, through, throughout, thru, thus, to, together, too, top, toward, towards, twelve, twenty, two, un, under, until, up, upon, us, very, via, was, we, well, were, what, whatever, when, whence, whenever, where, where after, whereas, whereby, wherein, whereupon, wherever, whether, which, while, whither, who, whoever, whole, whom, whose, why, will, with, within, without, would, yet, you, your, yours, yourself, yourselves and the
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Google, Hire Recruiters in R&D for better results
After going through thousands of resume, I can confidently tell that we Recruiters understand text better. We can spot every spec of detail in the resume. Recruiters can also spot out misinformation & that too without much difficulty. In fact Recruiters can actually read and understand what is not there in a resume.
Recruiters have been working with text across their experience. Their Job is to understand text. They receive JDs (Job Descriptions) from employers/departments read them, understand them and then create a spec which will ensure better visibility amongst 1000’s of Jobs in Job boards. When they receive resume for the Job, they again read and understand the resume, identify fine prints (or those which are where!) and shortlist resume and move them to prospective employers.
Experienced recruiters need only a glance of the resume to see whether it fits into the requirement. How are they able to do this? In 15 to 20 seconds, the recruiter reads the resume, understands it, compares it with the requirement, check for fine prints, spots the gaps & decides whether the resume fits the requirement or not.
This knowledge and understanding of text information is what Google and other search engines should be most interested in.
Search Engines are constantly upgrading their search algorithms to enhance quality of search results. They work mainly with text information, crawling through websites, copying the text, indexing, stemming and clustering the text so that they could provide their excellent results.
How can recruiters help in R&D of a search engine, after all they only go through resume? There are 1000’s of other document types out there. Product catalogues of mining equipments, Services offered by a saloon, reviews of a critic, legal documents, blogs and comments… the list goes on.
How can a Recruiter help structure these documents?
By going through a resume, Recruiters not only understands the text, they analyze the person behind the resume. They understand the ability, adaptability, quality and knowledge of the Candidate. And then matches these with the requirement of the employers and the people in it. Now that gives the extra dimension to the Recruiter’s ability. And this ability to understand a person by going through a resume & requirements of an employer and the people in it through the Job description make a Recruiter what he is.
If Recruiters are able to put their experience, their perception, their understanding into structured query – you will have one of the most accurate search engines ever.
So Search Engines, get yourself a top notch Recruiter and help this world with better results.
Note: Google uses among various other parameters, a method called Page Rank, PR as it is popularly called. If you want to check the PR for your website – check it out here!
Recruiters have been working with text across their experience. Their Job is to understand text. They receive JDs (Job Descriptions) from employers/departments read them, understand them and then create a spec which will ensure better visibility amongst 1000’s of Jobs in Job boards. When they receive resume for the Job, they again read and understand the resume, identify fine prints (or those which are where!) and shortlist resume and move them to prospective employers.
Experienced recruiters need only a glance of the resume to see whether it fits into the requirement. How are they able to do this? In 15 to 20 seconds, the recruiter reads the resume, understands it, compares it with the requirement, check for fine prints, spots the gaps & decides whether the resume fits the requirement or not.
This knowledge and understanding of text information is what Google and other search engines should be most interested in.
Search Engines are constantly upgrading their search algorithms to enhance quality of search results. They work mainly with text information, crawling through websites, copying the text, indexing, stemming and clustering the text so that they could provide their excellent results.
How can recruiters help in R&D of a search engine, after all they only go through resume? There are 1000’s of other document types out there. Product catalogues of mining equipments, Services offered by a saloon, reviews of a critic, legal documents, blogs and comments… the list goes on.
How can a Recruiter help structure these documents?
By going through a resume, Recruiters not only understands the text, they analyze the person behind the resume. They understand the ability, adaptability, quality and knowledge of the Candidate. And then matches these with the requirement of the employers and the people in it. Now that gives the extra dimension to the Recruiter’s ability. And this ability to understand a person by going through a resume & requirements of an employer and the people in it through the Job description make a Recruiter what he is.
If Recruiters are able to put their experience, their perception, their understanding into structured query – you will have one of the most accurate search engines ever.
So Search Engines, get yourself a top notch Recruiter and help this world with better results.
Note: Google uses among various other parameters, a method called Page Rank, PR as it is popularly called. If you want to check the PR for your website – check it out here!
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Glimpse into the Future of Recruitment Technology
Recruiting in a nut shell
Millions of people across the Globe are working around the clock in a multi billion dollar market. Their target – help a Recruiter meet the right Candidate!
Sounds simple, but we in the recruiting market know what is in store for us.
The Past
Recruitment has undergone a spate of technology growth since Computer and internet have come into the market.We migrated from Rack and file to email and computer folders, then moved on to Job boards and ATS, in the near past we have started exploiting Web 2.0 in our Recruiting effort.
What is in store for us in Recruitment in the future?
Being a Recruitment Technologist, I always dream of creating various products, services and tools to help simplify recruiters’ task. Here are some of my ideas which will surely turn into reality. Who ever brings them out – recruitment community will surely benefit.
Web Interviewing: With travel cost escalating by the day, Web interviewing is going to be part of the Recruiters toolkit in the future. Already a few players have got into this market. We will soon see more players and better tools in Online interviewing area.
Candidate Profiling: With Candidates today networking and sharing information in the web in different platforms and websites, in the near future, we can expect to have a one point profiling solution which will accumulate information about Candidates from various Social networking sites and technical forums & provide us a comprehensive overview about the Candidate.
Mobile based recruiting: Our current ATS will start provide a Mobile plug-in for communication to all recruitment stakeholders. This will ensure instant communication. This plug-in will evolve into a complete Mobile based recruitment system. Soon Mobile phones and PDA will be part and parcel of recruiting.
Intra ATS plug-ins: How easy will it be if you are able to shortlist a set of Candidates and automatically submit them to Clients ATS and receive communication and status updates through your ATS directly? I hope we will see some solution in this area soon.
Organization mapping service: A very useful tool for head hunters, organization mapping services will provide comprehensive information about an organization and its structure including who is who in the company.
Prediction and Pipelining: With current demands & past history of recruitment, smart and intelligent tools will come into the market which will pre-identify possible openings and pre-source resume and candidates for the position. Now recruiters have to just screen the resume and start the hiring process.
Certified Candidates: I hope someone will bring out a website where candidates can submit their text, video and audio resume. Interview them, understand their skills and do a back ground check. Then offer a certification which can be accepted by multiple Corporations. So once you see the certification, you can start processing the candidates without actually doing a due diligence of Candidate. This helps save enormous time & money here. Candidates are also happier since they don’t have to undergo the process with every company they apply to.
There are definitely many more ideas out there. Please share them here.
I would love to hear your comments.
Millions of people across the Globe are working around the clock in a multi billion dollar market. Their target – help a Recruiter meet the right Candidate!
Sounds simple, but we in the recruiting market know what is in store for us.
The Past
Recruitment has undergone a spate of technology growth since Computer and internet have come into the market.We migrated from Rack and file to email and computer folders, then moved on to Job boards and ATS, in the near past we have started exploiting Web 2.0 in our Recruiting effort.
What is in store for us in Recruitment in the future?
Being a Recruitment Technologist, I always dream of creating various products, services and tools to help simplify recruiters’ task. Here are some of my ideas which will surely turn into reality. Who ever brings them out – recruitment community will surely benefit.
Web Interviewing: With travel cost escalating by the day, Web interviewing is going to be part of the Recruiters toolkit in the future. Already a few players have got into this market. We will soon see more players and better tools in Online interviewing area.
Candidate Profiling: With Candidates today networking and sharing information in the web in different platforms and websites, in the near future, we can expect to have a one point profiling solution which will accumulate information about Candidates from various Social networking sites and technical forums & provide us a comprehensive overview about the Candidate.
Mobile based recruiting: Our current ATS will start provide a Mobile plug-in for communication to all recruitment stakeholders. This will ensure instant communication. This plug-in will evolve into a complete Mobile based recruitment system. Soon Mobile phones and PDA will be part and parcel of recruiting.
Intra ATS plug-ins: How easy will it be if you are able to shortlist a set of Candidates and automatically submit them to Clients ATS and receive communication and status updates through your ATS directly? I hope we will see some solution in this area soon.
Organization mapping service: A very useful tool for head hunters, organization mapping services will provide comprehensive information about an organization and its structure including who is who in the company.
Prediction and Pipelining: With current demands & past history of recruitment, smart and intelligent tools will come into the market which will pre-identify possible openings and pre-source resume and candidates for the position. Now recruiters have to just screen the resume and start the hiring process.
Certified Candidates: I hope someone will bring out a website where candidates can submit their text, video and audio resume. Interview them, understand their skills and do a back ground check. Then offer a certification which can be accepted by multiple Corporations. So once you see the certification, you can start processing the candidates without actually doing a due diligence of Candidate. This helps save enormous time & money here. Candidates are also happier since they don’t have to undergo the process with every company they apply to.
There are definitely many more ideas out there. Please share them here.
I would love to hear your comments.
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Innovative Business Opportunities for Recruiters!
Innovative new Revenue Models for Recruiting Firms
Currently revenue generation models in Recruiting are very limited in India. Staffing, Placement & Head hunting are the only income for more than 95% of the recruiting firms in India.
Why not try some of the following revenue options. Few of these Opportunities are not currently being practiced & which could turn to be very potential:
Recruiter Branding: Handling HR and Recruitment Branding assignment for clients.
Job Branding: Branding Jobs is currently unheard of in Indian market. In most of the Companies, Requirement of people for a particular Job is perennial. They sure need to brand this Job to ensure maximum interest shown by Candidates. In fact, just writing a proper Job description will yield in very good response and a firm can thrive on it.
Interview Management: Many times due to improper management of Interview and Candidates attending the Interview, there is a ill feeling among Candidates & at times even among the Interviewers. Interview Management requires high quality professionals. Like DJ’s for events, Interviews also needs IJ’s (Interview Jockeys) who will ensure satisfaction among all stake holders. And this will enhance Brand image of the company and reduce Offer rejection to a certain extent.
Campus Recruitment: I don’t think I have to explain much about it!
Response Management: Corporate houses receive resume through multiple sources and have a whole warehouse of Resume (I mean electronic warehouse). If you could help them manage these responses and help in putting these resume into a structured database, you have a very potential revenue opportunity. Again, Response management for advertisements, events in ‘on demand’ model will also prove to be profitable.
Written test Management: Today, most of the companies recruiting entry and junior staff ask them to take up written test. If you are able to manage this, you are in for Good revenue.
Recruitment Process Outsourcing: RPO seems to be the next big thing after BPO. So start planning your RPO & grab this opportunity. RPO helps you receive constant revenue through out the year.
Turnkey Recruiting: Again, this is a good opportunity. Rather than sticking on at 8.33% or above per candidate, look at the assignment with a different perspective. See how much it will cost to handle a turnkey assignment, buffer it with your profit margin & get going. At times, I have seen that a flat Rs. 2 lakh contract for hiring 40 people proved to be much more cheaper than doing a single placement at 8.33%
There are many more opportunities. Pl let me know if you are having a different revenue opportunity which is not given here.
Currently revenue generation models in Recruiting are very limited in India. Staffing, Placement & Head hunting are the only income for more than 95% of the recruiting firms in India.
Why not try some of the following revenue options. Few of these Opportunities are not currently being practiced & which could turn to be very potential:
Recruiter Branding: Handling HR and Recruitment Branding assignment for clients.
Job Branding: Branding Jobs is currently unheard of in Indian market. In most of the Companies, Requirement of people for a particular Job is perennial. They sure need to brand this Job to ensure maximum interest shown by Candidates. In fact, just writing a proper Job description will yield in very good response and a firm can thrive on it.
Interview Management: Many times due to improper management of Interview and Candidates attending the Interview, there is a ill feeling among Candidates & at times even among the Interviewers. Interview Management requires high quality professionals. Like DJ’s for events, Interviews also needs IJ’s (Interview Jockeys) who will ensure satisfaction among all stake holders. And this will enhance Brand image of the company and reduce Offer rejection to a certain extent.
Campus Recruitment: I don’t think I have to explain much about it!
Response Management: Corporate houses receive resume through multiple sources and have a whole warehouse of Resume (I mean electronic warehouse). If you could help them manage these responses and help in putting these resume into a structured database, you have a very potential revenue opportunity. Again, Response management for advertisements, events in ‘on demand’ model will also prove to be profitable.
Written test Management: Today, most of the companies recruiting entry and junior staff ask them to take up written test. If you are able to manage this, you are in for Good revenue.
Recruitment Process Outsourcing: RPO seems to be the next big thing after BPO. So start planning your RPO & grab this opportunity. RPO helps you receive constant revenue through out the year.
Turnkey Recruiting: Again, this is a good opportunity. Rather than sticking on at 8.33% or above per candidate, look at the assignment with a different perspective. See how much it will cost to handle a turnkey assignment, buffer it with your profit margin & get going. At times, I have seen that a flat Rs. 2 lakh contract for hiring 40 people proved to be much more cheaper than doing a single placement at 8.33%
There are many more opportunities. Pl let me know if you are having a different revenue opportunity which is not given here.
Friday, June 12, 2009
My day Ruined!
Few days back, I had a very urgent opening for the position of Team Leader. As usual, I went around posting my Jobs on Jobsites. And the response was huge. Around 100 applications chocked my inbox. I went through every resume & found 10 profiles suitable for the requirement. I decided to shortlist the best 5.
All the ten were actually good. Eventually I short listed the better 5 among them.
And sent interview calls to the candidates.
One person told he was not able to make it. I received confirmation from others. Well, surely for the kind of shortlisting I had done, one of these will get through.
I arranged the technical round of Interview with the technical head. He was specific that he wants at least 3 persons to choose from… I informed to him that we have called 4 persons & all of them have emailed the confirmation.
On the interview date, I was a bit jittery… I any of these guys don’t turn up, my job is at stake.
After some time couple of Candidates had turned up for interview. I was hoping the others will turn up soon.
I called the reception and asked the names of the Candidates “Rajesh Reddy & Anirudh Malhotra” replied the receptionist.
I opened up inbox to check who have not turned up…
1. Rajesh Puli
2. Anirudh A Malhotra
3. Prakash Mathur
4. P Rajesh Reddy
I decided to call the candidates & called Prakash Mathur. He informed he was not able to make it. I thought, still if the other candidate turns up, I will be saved
I checked the confirmation emails from Rajesh Puli & found a single sentence which ruined by day… “Once again, I confirm attendance – Regards, Rajesh Puli Reddy”
- Duplication check has ruined another recruiters day. How many of our have been ruined till date.
- PS: As usual this is a Story… with an underlying fact!
All the ten were actually good. Eventually I short listed the better 5 among them.
And sent interview calls to the candidates.
One person told he was not able to make it. I received confirmation from others. Well, surely for the kind of shortlisting I had done, one of these will get through.
I arranged the technical round of Interview with the technical head. He was specific that he wants at least 3 persons to choose from… I informed to him that we have called 4 persons & all of them have emailed the confirmation.
On the interview date, I was a bit jittery… I any of these guys don’t turn up, my job is at stake.
After some time couple of Candidates had turned up for interview. I was hoping the others will turn up soon.
I called the reception and asked the names of the Candidates “Rajesh Reddy & Anirudh Malhotra” replied the receptionist.
I opened up inbox to check who have not turned up…
1. Rajesh Puli
2. Anirudh A Malhotra
3. Prakash Mathur
4. P Rajesh Reddy
I decided to call the candidates & called Prakash Mathur. He informed he was not able to make it. I thought, still if the other candidate turns up, I will be saved
I checked the confirmation emails from Rajesh Puli & found a single sentence which ruined by day… “Once again, I confirm attendance – Regards, Rajesh Puli Reddy”
- Duplication check has ruined another recruiters day. How many of our have been ruined till date.
- PS: As usual this is a Story… with an underlying fact!
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
Monday, June 1, 2009
Start up City - 2009, Bangalore - Lots of HR exhibitors!
Start up City at Bangalore
Start up City 2009 has some very interesting exhibitors. I have listed a set of HR and Recruitment Products and Services. If you are at Bangalore in 6-June-09, don’t miss this event. Sanjeev Bikhchandani, Founder & CEO of Naukri.com is addressing the event.
RecruitPro
Intuitive, Interactive & Social Web 2.0 Recruitment Software
Job-a-Fair
Is a pioneer of futuristic multipurpose job portals that seek to effectively meet the complex demand and supply of human resources to industry verticals and also serve as networking platform
Sharma Infotech
Offers varied solutions like ecommerce, job boards, customer relationship management, content management systems, social networking, real estate management and customized web solutions.
Jobs mill
Jobsmill.com is a free placement site for job seekers where they can place their resumes and search for job vacancies that suit there requirements the best. The employers can post vacancies as well search for resumes.
Grey Tip
Greytip Software is a focused HR & Payroll software solutions company.
iVirtual
iVirtual is a video based, virtual interview program that transforms the way Employers, Recruiters and Job Seekers interact.
Hope to meet you at the Event. Pl leave a Comment below if you are planning to visit Startup City.
Shankar
RecruitPro
Start up City 2009 has some very interesting exhibitors. I have listed a set of HR and Recruitment Products and Services. If you are at Bangalore in 6-June-09, don’t miss this event. Sanjeev Bikhchandani, Founder & CEO of Naukri.com is addressing the event.
RecruitPro
Intuitive, Interactive & Social Web 2.0 Recruitment Software
Job-a-Fair
Is a pioneer of futuristic multipurpose job portals that seek to effectively meet the complex demand and supply of human resources to industry verticals and also serve as networking platform
Sharma Infotech
Offers varied solutions like ecommerce, job boards, customer relationship management, content management systems, social networking, real estate management and customized web solutions.
Jobs mill
Jobsmill.com is a free placement site for job seekers where they can place their resumes and search for job vacancies that suit there requirements the best. The employers can post vacancies as well search for resumes.
Grey Tip
Greytip Software is a focused HR & Payroll software solutions company.
iVirtual
iVirtual is a video based, virtual interview program that transforms the way Employers, Recruiters and Job Seekers interact.
Hope to meet you at the Event. Pl leave a Comment below if you are planning to visit Startup City.
Shankar
RecruitPro
Friday, May 29, 2009
Cost per telephone call – Rs.1825/-
The other day, I had a vacancy for .net programmer, as usual I went to a Job site, Searched for the keywords, filtered it further and got 15 resume which I found good. It took me couple of hours through this process.
I decided to call these 15 candidates to see if they are interested in the position.
This is the result of the telephone calls
Ø 5 numbers not in use
Ø 3 persons did not pick up the phone for the 10th time
Ø 2 profiles did not match the requirement – in fact they had put wrong info in their resume
Ø 4 people yelled at me – how many times will you call me
Ø 1 person was INTERESTED!
When I checked up my old excels, I found that I have in-fact called the 4 candidates who yelled at me. Though I am fuming being yelled at, I accept the fact that it will be as irritating receiving unsolicited calls as it was for me.
I started calculating the cost spent through out this exercise…
2 hour for Search
3 hours for Calling these candidates
2 hour preparation time etc
My entire day!
Now my salary is 15000/- a month & I work 20 days a month
That is Rs.750 per day
Over heads for my workstation, EB, welfare etc adds to another Rs.1000
The telephone cost – Rs.75/-
Well it actually cost me Rs.1825/-
That is Rs. 250 approximately per call which went through
& Rs.1825 is the cost of reaching out to one Candidate.
This is the cost of my telephone call friends! A recruitment call isn’t just the amount we pay to our telephone service. It is much more. The worst of all is that by calling a Candidate many times, our image and the Companies value will be down.
Even if I had, say 5 people through out the day, with an average of 1:50 getting placed with my client, the recruiting cost seems to be Rs. 18250/- + job site subscription + management cost + etc + etc almost amounting to Rs. 25000/-
Don’t believe me… just ask your boss (if you are in a small consulting firm) the total expense & the total number of candidates placed last year. Divide the Expense by number of Candidate placed – You will know the cost per hire.
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
The Big Disconnect in Recruitment Ecosystem
Task repetition, Receiving Resume through Email, Managing Resume in Excel and Outlook folders, communicating to multiple stake holders in Sourcing value chain, Job posting in various Jobsites, Searching for Passive & apt Candidates are the order of the day for Recruiters. They have to cope up with all these problems and still ensure ‘On time Delivery’ of quality candidates. Since Recruiting is considered a cost center, they also have a constant pressure to reduce cost.
All these results in low productivity & morale of Resourcing Team in Corporate India
Thankless Job – say Recruiters
Candidates too are no happier. They have to post resume in Jobsites, respond to Newspaper advertisements and wait. If they are lucky, they may be called for Interview. If the call doesn’t come in, they have to move on with life. This is rather frustrating for them.
Today, in Web 2.0 world, Candidates are Tech Savvy, Intuitive and Result sensitive. With opportunities from across the Globe available to them, they are becoming more demanding.
They want Results – Positive or Negative!
Talent Search Community have their own woes. They send Resume to Recruiters for various posts & hardly get any feedback. Most of the times they get standard feedback like ‘none of the profiles are suitable’ and ‘the position is closed – we’ve already hired’. At times, the Talent Search Partner comes to know that their Candidate has got placed long back…
There is a Big ‘disconnect’ amongst all Stake holders.
Please let me know your thoughts to make a friendlier Ecosystem for all Stake holders in the Recruitment Value Chain.
All these results in low productivity & morale of Resourcing Team in Corporate India
Thankless Job – say Recruiters
Candidates too are no happier. They have to post resume in Jobsites, respond to Newspaper advertisements and wait. If they are lucky, they may be called for Interview. If the call doesn’t come in, they have to move on with life. This is rather frustrating for them.
Today, in Web 2.0 world, Candidates are Tech Savvy, Intuitive and Result sensitive. With opportunities from across the Globe available to them, they are becoming more demanding.
They want Results – Positive or Negative!
Talent Search Community have their own woes. They send Resume to Recruiters for various posts & hardly get any feedback. Most of the times they get standard feedback like ‘none of the profiles are suitable’ and ‘the position is closed – we’ve already hired’. At times, the Talent Search Partner comes to know that their Candidate has got placed long back…
There is a Big ‘disconnect’ amongst all Stake holders.
Please let me know your thoughts to make a friendlier Ecosystem for all Stake holders in the Recruitment Value Chain.
Monday, May 18, 2009
Source Chaos
It all went pretty smooth. We posted the Jobs in Jobsites, put it up for Employee Referral & hired couple of consultants too. The position was critical & we wanted to have the best of Candidates.
We interviewed 10 Candidates, shortlisted 2 & had sent out an offer to the best of Candidates. The Candidate, Rajesh, had just finished the Joining formality & I have introduced him to his Peers, Boss & Subordinates.
I was sure my boss is going to be happy. May be this will also reflect in my appraisal.
Just then, the phone rang…
It was from one of the Consultants we had hired for the assignment.
I said, “Hi, how are you…”
“Great, came the reply… and has Rajesh joined today. We just wanted to raise the bill for him”
I got confused; I thought we had received the application directly from Rajesh through some job site.
I said, “Hey, I thought I had received the application from a Job site”
The consultant said, “We have forwarded the resume to you 15 days back. In fact I also have your acknowledgement for the same”
I said, “Okay, let me check up” & hung up
After going through my email records, I found that I have received the Resume from both the consultant and through the Job site. I had forwarded the resume from Job site to the department people. But the resume from the Consultant had come in earlier.
I decided to talk to my Boss and give the Credit to the Consultant.
When I started to go meet my Boss, another call came in…
“Hi, this is Aditya from IT department. Rajesh has joined today & seemed really happy with the Job offer. In fact he is here with me & promised a treat today for referring him to our Company. By the way, when will you credit my Employee Referral account for him?”
There goes my perfect Day…
PS: This is an imaginative story. But I am sure you would have experienced a similar situation in your company as well.
- Maintaining a Duplicate free Resume Database helps you a lot.
We interviewed 10 Candidates, shortlisted 2 & had sent out an offer to the best of Candidates. The Candidate, Rajesh, had just finished the Joining formality & I have introduced him to his Peers, Boss & Subordinates.
I was sure my boss is going to be happy. May be this will also reflect in my appraisal.
Just then, the phone rang…
It was from one of the Consultants we had hired for the assignment.
I said, “Hi, how are you…”
“Great, came the reply… and has Rajesh joined today. We just wanted to raise the bill for him”
I got confused; I thought we had received the application directly from Rajesh through some job site.
I said, “Hey, I thought I had received the application from a Job site”
The consultant said, “We have forwarded the resume to you 15 days back. In fact I also have your acknowledgement for the same”
I said, “Okay, let me check up” & hung up
After going through my email records, I found that I have received the Resume from both the consultant and through the Job site. I had forwarded the resume from Job site to the department people. But the resume from the Consultant had come in earlier.
I decided to talk to my Boss and give the Credit to the Consultant.
When I started to go meet my Boss, another call came in…
“Hi, this is Aditya from IT department. Rajesh has joined today & seemed really happy with the Job offer. In fact he is here with me & promised a treat today for referring him to our Company. By the way, when will you credit my Employee Referral account for him?”
There goes my perfect Day…
PS: This is an imaginative story. But I am sure you would have experienced a similar situation in your company as well.
- Maintaining a Duplicate free Resume Database helps you a lot.
Saturday, May 16, 2009
The Head Hunting Story
We decided to hire a Technical Manager. This was a critical position & we did not want to take any chances. So we decided that money should not be a factor. We decided to give a Newspaper advertisement, publish the Jobs in Job boards, and allocate the assignment to Talent Search Partners.
We received 100’s of resume. After a pain staking shortlisting process, we identified 5 people who were promising. We had a telephonic & called them for Interview.
After the interview, we were buoyant that we identified the ideal fit for the position. It has cost us dearly and took almost 45 days going through the process. But still, we were all happy of the outcome. We had the ideal Candidate for the position who will fit into the position exactly.
I called him up to discuss the offer & make him comfortable with our Company & its policies. After going through the entire formality – I said, “You know, we have spent $30000/- to find you. Our company stops at nothing to get the right Candidate”. Our next Technical Manager was impressed.
But what he told me stunned me, “All you had to do is go through your email box couple of months back. I had applied for a vacancy with the company”
PS: This is an imaginative story. But I am sure you will understand the underlying fact behind the story.
- Maintaining a Searchable Resume database will surely help you recruit faster & cheaper!
Thanks for your time folks, the story is over… go back to sleep, psst, I am sorry… go back to work!
We received 100’s of resume. After a pain staking shortlisting process, we identified 5 people who were promising. We had a telephonic & called them for Interview.
After the interview, we were buoyant that we identified the ideal fit for the position. It has cost us dearly and took almost 45 days going through the process. But still, we were all happy of the outcome. We had the ideal Candidate for the position who will fit into the position exactly.
I called him up to discuss the offer & make him comfortable with our Company & its policies. After going through the entire formality – I said, “You know, we have spent $30000/- to find you. Our company stops at nothing to get the right Candidate”. Our next Technical Manager was impressed.
But what he told me stunned me, “All you had to do is go through your email box couple of months back. I had applied for a vacancy with the company”
PS: This is an imaginative story. But I am sure you will understand the underlying fact behind the story.
- Maintaining a Searchable Resume database will surely help you recruit faster & cheaper!
Thanks for your time folks, the story is over… go back to sleep, psst, I am sorry… go back to work!
Forget Passive Candidates... get Smart Candidates instead!
Passive Candidates are not looking for Jobs. They are happy in the existing company. It is not because of salary (which they will never be satisfied with). It is more because of the culture, the responsibility, the challenge & their ability to deliver in a particular company that make them not look out for Jobs.
Are we right going behind them? Will they actually gel into your company ecosystem?
Smart candidates out there are open to Jobs offers. But they are not into Job hunting. They are not distributing their resume across. They are not going to Job sites searching for Jobs and they may not submit their resume in common places.
But they have made their profile available through Social media. They have subscribed to Job feeds; they know that those who are keen to recruit them will prefer reaching out to them. These candidates are most smart & will surely be productive.
How can you reach out to these smart candidates who are tech savvy, socially active online & available?
The answer – through Web 2.0
Reach out to them through Web 2.0 Job marketing. Have your Jobs available for them in their Social Network, book marks, personal pages and other places they visit. Let them know about your Jobs at their place of comfort. If they feel they fit in to your requirement & the position will enhance their Career prospect, they will make available their Candidature.
Are we right going behind them? Will they actually gel into your company ecosystem?
Smart candidates out there are open to Jobs offers. But they are not into Job hunting. They are not distributing their resume across. They are not going to Job sites searching for Jobs and they may not submit their resume in common places.
But they have made their profile available through Social media. They have subscribed to Job feeds; they know that those who are keen to recruit them will prefer reaching out to them. These candidates are most smart & will surely be productive.
How can you reach out to these smart candidates who are tech savvy, socially active online & available?
The answer – through Web 2.0
Reach out to them through Web 2.0 Job marketing. Have your Jobs available for them in their Social Network, book marks, personal pages and other places they visit. Let them know about your Jobs at their place of comfort. If they feel they fit in to your requirement & the position will enhance their Career prospect, they will make available their Candidature.
Friday, May 15, 2009
Where are your Jobs..? Where are the Candidates???
I’ve seen them on Job sites...
Few consultants have called me up with your Job vacancy...
In fact, I have also seen a few Advertisements of your Jobs in Newspapers...
But, when I visit your website, all I find is Couple of pages informing about how great it is to work with you & asking me to send my Resume to an email id.
Candidates want to know what they are applying for & what the status of their Resume is. It is very important today to have your Job online & give candidates an online to view them and apply for them. It is also essential that they be given feedback about their application status.
Without our knowledge, we have been losing money on Candidates who would have, if provided an opportunity, applied directly to you rather than through your Talent partners & Print advertisements.
Job sites are not promoting your Jobs, in fact you are promoting their site – if a Candidate who is not registered with a Job site wants to apply for your Job, they have to register with the Job site first. The instant the candidate registers, he will start getting offers from multiple companies & before you even finish your shortlist, he will be having a few interview calls. In fact, you are promoting the Job site at your cost!
Start promoting your own Jobs & Employer Brand today!
Please forward your comments and opinions on this article
Regards,
Shankar Srinivasan
RecruitPro
Few consultants have called me up with your Job vacancy...
In fact, I have also seen a few Advertisements of your Jobs in Newspapers...
But, when I visit your website, all I find is Couple of pages informing about how great it is to work with you & asking me to send my Resume to an email id.
Aren’t we missing something here?
Candidates want to know what they are applying for & what the status of their Resume is. It is very important today to have your Job online & give candidates an online to view them and apply for them. It is also essential that they be given feedback about their application status.
Without our knowledge, we have been losing money on Candidates who would have, if provided an opportunity, applied directly to you rather than through your Talent partners & Print advertisements.
Job sites are not promoting your Jobs, in fact you are promoting their site – if a Candidate who is not registered with a Job site wants to apply for your Job, they have to register with the Job site first. The instant the candidate registers, he will start getting offers from multiple companies & before you even finish your shortlist, he will be having a few interview calls. In fact, you are promoting the Job site at your cost!
Start promoting your own Jobs & Employer Brand today!
Please forward your comments and opinions on this article
Regards,
Shankar Srinivasan
RecruitPro
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