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H I R I N G & B E Y O N D

VOLUME-III | ISSUE 5APRIL 2013

www.content.timesjobs.com

Campus placements are beneficial for both, the organisations and the students. They have been one of thepopular recruitment channels, as far as hiring for entry level candidates is concerned. TimesJobs.com conducteda survey to understand the dynamics of campus recruitment. Read the survey highlights inside.

Our Guest Columnist this month, Somnath Pal, CEO of Citrus Check Inns, shares his viewpoint on the benefits ofcampus recruitment for organisations, the associated challenges and the ways to overcome them. He alsounderlines the future prospects of campus recruitment in India. Read the entire interview inside this edition.

Survey Highlights Pg 3 & 4

Expert Speak Pg 8

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VOLUME-III | ISSUE 5APRIL ISSUE

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HIRING & BEYOND

Dynamics of association

Consequently, manyorganisations are investingin building a robust campusrecruiting program.Organisations also map alist of criterion that anacademic institution needsto meet, for them to conducta campus placementprogram there. According tothe TimesJobs.com study, forover 50% of the surveyedorganisations, quality ofstudents is the top-most

criterion for choosing aninstitute to conduct campusrecruitment drives, followedby reputation of theinstitute.

However, there are otherfactors that affect theparticipation oforganisations. As AmanMittal, deputy director, LPUexplains, “The state ofnational and global economyat a given time has a bearingon the number of companiesvisiting the campus for

placement. In a bullisheconomy, the companies arefocussed on recruitment andare also generous in theremuneration offered. Theopposite is true in case ofpressing economicconditions.”

Change, as we see it

India Inc.’s focus on hiringfor niche skills, lately, hashad an impact on thecampus recruitment scene.“Indian organisations have

become more critical anddemanding while hiring newrecruits from campuses.

Merely interning at a bigcorporate or MNC’s does notcount any more,organisations give moreimportance to the challengesand opportunities that onehas addressed while doinghis or her project,” saysYeshasvini Ramaswamy, MDe2e People Practices & chiefanchor JGi iDEA.

Catch them young, and train them right

Indian organisations are investing time, energy and money to tailor make campus recruitmentstrategies that feed their talent pipeline. In a recent survey conducted by TimesJobs.com, nearly70% of the organisations claim to have a comprehensive and ingenious campus recruitment

program. Highlighting the importance of campus recruitment, Praveen Parameswaran, Head,Sourcing (Offshore), UST Global, recently told Jobbuzz.com that hiring from campus is an integralpart of every company’s building process. Fresh graduates are hired by companies to build abroader talent base and also because fresh out of college candidates can be moulded according tothe culture and values of a company, easily.

lAccording to most colleges surveyed, Day 0and Day 1 is more popular in IT companies asthey hire in bulk. While core industries don’tfollow this concept at all.

lMost institutes claimed that most of theirstudents (90-100%) get placed during theplacement season

lOn an average 60-70% students get pre-placement offers

lApproximately 70-80% of the studentscontinue with the company for a period of 2 years

lMost common retention strategies followed bycompanies include:- Signing bonds with students- Offering retention bonus

lMost companies give preference to soft skillsover technical skills, for they believe these areimperative for sustained growth of thestudents in the long-term

On importance ofcampus recruitment:

“With the rapidlychanging businessneeds, recruiting fromcampuses allowsorganizations to hirepeople who could betrained to meet thenew mandates of thebusiness environment.This is one of thereasons fororganizations to lookat campus recruitment,it also fostersinnovation.”

Hema Parikh, Director- HR,Ajuba Solutions

On importance ofindustry-academiapartnership…

“Campus recruitmenthas emerged as aninteresting method ofhiring over the lastdecade. Theopportunity of campusrecruitment should bebetter utilized byinstitution-industrypartnerships toaugment employabilityby way of pre-recruitment trainingand orientation.”

S.Subramaniyam,CEO Ascent Consulting Services Pvt Ltd

Fact file



HIRING & BEYOND

The biggest challenge in campus recruitmentas stated by nearly 34% of the employers isthe high drop-out rates, pointed the

TimesJobs.com study. Experts shared that manyselected students do not actually join theorganisation aftercompletion of their studies.Most of the students opt forhigher studies; some joinother organisations forvariousemployment/personalreasons. Another bigchallenge lies in theemployability aspect of freshgraduates, said 30% of thesurveyed organisations. Thefact that there is a huge gapbetween what is taught in thecollege and what is expectedin the industry has beenbrought up time and again byvarious industry leaders atthe TimesJobs.com series ofboardroom dialogues onskills shortage.

To tackle this, some organisations havecollaborated with business schools to groomstudents for the corporate world. However, a greaterfocus on industry-academia association is requiredto combat the issue of employability.

l 37% of theorganisationssource upto10% of theirtotal hires fromcampuses

l 27% hire about10-20% fromcampusrecruitmentdrives.

l 64% ofsurveyedorganisationsagree to have acampusplacementprogram inplace

l 46%organisationsoffer Sales &Marketingprofile tocampus recruits

l 40%organisationslook for goodpersonality andstrongcommunicationskills whilehiring fromcampus

Nearly 33% of surveyed employers considercampus recruitment a time saving, cost-effective recruitment exercise.

Campus recruitment helps in cutting downexpenditure and time involved in adverting,screening and selecting a candidate for anavailable job position. Since campusplacements are aimed at identifying young,qualified talent from the educationalinstitutions prior to completion of theirstudies, the process reduces the overall timefor an organisation to choose and select thebest fit for the vacancy offered.

Campus recruitment is also considered asone of the best tools to build a strongemployer brand by nearly 32% of thesurveyed organisations, more so duringchallenging times. Organisations who workon building a strong campus brand andengage with students and faculty onperiodic basis increases their recall value,feel experts. Infact, many organisations feelthat economic slowdown is the best time tointensify campus placement exercise and dosome brand building, as per the TimesJobs.comstudy.

Decoding campus recruitment

Where is the challenge?

34% Joining ratio/

drop-out rates

30% Employabiity

quotient

25% Training cost

11% Budgetary

allocations

What is the biggest challenge in campus recruitment?

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Survey Highlights

What is thebiggestbenefit ofcampusrecruitment?

33%

32%

18%

17% Timesaving

Cost

effectives

Brandbuilding

Improvesrention

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HIRING & BEYOND

Of lately, students have become conscious andtake informed decisions while choosing anemployer. However, most of them still feel that

being part of a good brand boosts their employmentprospects and worth. Brand name has been selectedas the most important reason by nearly 23% of theemployees to choose a company, according to a latestreport by Jobbuzz.com. This is followed by learningand development opportunities provided by theemployer. Infact, a good and popular brand nameholds more significance to the new breed ofemployees than other critical factors, includingcompensation.

I choose you

According to a study conducted by Jobbuzz.com(a premier product by TimesJobs.com to helpemployees make intelligent career decisions)

approximately 65% of the students believe thatcampus placements are beneficial in the long run andthus they would go for placements drives conducted attheir institutions. Nearly 26% students see them as agood start to their career, to gain exposure andrelevant experience, which will further beinstrumental in getting good employmentopportunities at later stages of their career. Theybelieve that campus placements provide a good headstart to their corporate career and save a lot of timeand energy on job-hunting.

Candidate [email protected]

The other side of the coinDo you opt for campusplacement?

Yes, they are beneficial

Yes, they are good to start with

No, they are of no use

What is the key criterion tochoose an employer?

Remuneration

Career growth opportunities

Work/Life blance

Learning & Development

Brand Name

TimesJobs.com Coversations



HIRING & BEYOND

As a part of the continuingTimesJobs.com newestknowledge initiative

titled , ‘TimesJobs.comConversations’, a boardroomdialogue was held in Delhi, inassociation with Delhi School ofBusiness, focussing on‘Industry-Academia Connect.’The dialogues aimed atproviding a platform for CXO’sand leaders from the HRfraternity representing a widerange of industries to highlightthe skill requirements, discussthe challenges and devise andevolve strategies to overcomethem.

The aim of this event was toenable the industry-academiaconnect and thereby ensuring apool of industry-ready talent.

The discussion witnessed thepresence of some eminentleaders from various industries,sharing their valuableexperiences and voicing theirtalent requirements.

Talking about the challengesfaced, Dr. Maninder S. Khalsa,AVP – Manpower Planning,Talent Acquisition and FieldHR, Viom Networks stated thatthe two issues need to befocussed upon are the lack ofapplication based understandingof the curriculum and the hugelacuna in terms of opening up ofthe minds of students tounderstand the bigger picture of

employability. According to AjayGhosh, Sr. VP-HR, DS Group,there are three major areas ofconcern; the lack of application

based syllabus, the inability onthe part of the faculties toconvey the essence of thesyllabus to the students and

lastly the questionable quality ofthe students coming out thecolleges and B-schools. Hebelieves that the students now-a-days lack conceptual knowledgebase. Nitin Bhat, Vice President– Recruitments, Genpact stated,“Clearly, we believe there is adefinite gap between what theindustry expects and what’s outthere.”

Ashutosh Mishra, VP-HR, DishTV, pointed out, “In my 20 yearsof experience in the corporateworld, I can’t name an industrywhere I felt that we have gotenough talent available at theentry level. Unfortunately, inIndia, academia has beenconsidered as a workshop andoutput of that is a job.”

Talking about his organisationalphilosophies, VikrantBhatnagar, Head- FunctionalSkills Development, BhartiAirtel, stated, “As a part of theorganisational talentmanagement strategy, our talentphilosophy is to rotate talentacross all functions. Wesometimes even joke that in ourorganisation, we stronglybelieve that other thannetworks, everybody canperform every role.”

In view of Ashish Garg,Director-HR, Convergys, there isan aspirational mismatch of thestudents, as they get admitted toan institution versus when theyare actually employed, is leadingto the skill gap and the talentdearth. And, there is a hugedisconnect in the selectionprocess of certain instituteswhere the focus is only uponfilling up their seats.

Talking from the academiaperspective, Dr. Rachel Davis,Dean, Delhi School of Business,stated that universities have aset structure and you have tocomply with that for the MBAprogrammes. If you have aPGDM, you have to comply withthe set programme of theAICTE. Though not relevantenough, the guidelines set bythem have to be implemented.So, we have a system which isquite inflexible if you want togive a degree or a diploma.

Conceptual knowledge, right skills and a global attitude: the common thread across all industry requirements, say Industry Experts

Viewpoints“The world is becoming global. Especially for us, ournature of business is such that we need to work withteams across the world. Therefore, there is a requirementfor the employees to be able to work with global teamsand the curriculum should be designed keeping thisrequirement in mind.”

Nitin Bhat, Vice President – Recruitments, Genpact

“We are standing at a cusp and it can actually be a makeor break for the India growth story, not because ofeconomic reasons but absolutely because of talentreasons.”

Vikrant Bhatnagar, Head- Functional Skills Development, Bharti Airtel

“We need to completely change the approach offocussing more on getting a job rather than on the.Instead of having employment in mind, the elementaryfocus should be on basic of that stream in which he/sheis interested in. We need to have more emphasis onresearch on in-depth application of various theories thatare taught in the campuses.”

Ashutosh Mishra, VP-HR, Dish TV

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Read complete report on www.content.timesjobs.com

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Guest Column



HIRING & BEYOND

Evaluate your campus recruitment strategy

The School of InspiredLeadership (SOIL) has attractedmany organisations to its

campus as part of the Career ForwardProcess (Campus PlacementProgramme). Over the last 3 yearsmany of the top companies acrossindustries have hired our students. Wehave an active process of takingfeedback from the companies whocome to recruit our students. Thisprocess is not just to get their feedbackon the quality of curriculum, faculty,and infrastructure and thus the qualityof student development; it is also tounderstand from them how the processcan be improved. As a learningorganisation, it has always beenimportant to us to strengthen oursystems and processes so that we standtrue to our philosophy.

But what is also important is thatcompanies start to analyze their ownperformance in the process ofassessment. Very few companiesactually sit across the table after theassessment process to ask questionson, what have we, as an institution,experienced with other companiesfrom similar or different industries?How do they compare with the othercompanies who have come on campus?

To their credit, some companies do askthese questions and these are also thecompanies who leave a studentconfident or feeling-good even if thestudent was not selected in the end.Unfortunately the number is few!

Some things that we have learnt whilehandling the Career Forward Processare,

lLearn about the institution - it isimportant for the organization tounderstand the institution that theyare visiting. Every institution standsfor a philosophy and a vision. Unlessone has understood what theinstitution stands for, they cannotassess the developmental process aswell as the output accurately.

lLeverage institutions knowledgeabout the student - a student goesthrough an entire development cyclewith the institution. People who haveseen the student develop, can tell by alook at the offered job profile if thestudent will be a fit or not. It is a verygood idea for organizations toleverage that intelligence. Anassessment done this way will leavelesser chances of a wrong selection.

For example, at SOIL we conduct aCaliper Leadership Assessment whichis a psychometric instrument and wealso put a lot of focus on understandingeach student by way of creating anIndividual Learning Plan in the

beginning of the session.

l Communicate well - this aspect hasbeen emphasized in all the areas(person, professional and what not!)yet rarely done to its maximum effect.It is important to inform the studentat least about following things,

- Offered job profile and the numberof requirements

- Assessment process to be followed

- Name of the panellists

- Compensation break-up

It is a difficult time for the studentswho are going through placements. It ishighly likely that the students may notbe their best self, if there areambiguities or if the students have notbeen given a chance to analyse theopportunity

lEmployer Branding - many marketinggurus would have said that animpression gets created in thecustomers mind with every touchpoint. For an organization thesestudents are their prospectiveinternal customers. It isrecommended that this opportunityof internal branding should not bemissed. By doing so, many companiesmake themselves favourites incampuses and attract the best talent.

lKnow what they are looking for -immediately after the results of anassessment process at a campus isannounced, we would know if that isa right hire or a wrong one. Andfaculty can predict the performanceof their alumni once they have joinedthe organization. It may not always bebecause the student was not capablebut more because he did not fit therequirements in terms of attitudeand leadership skills.

Organizations do invest a lot of timeand money in these activities, the onlyneed is that they spend a little extratime and effort in ensuring that theimpact is created as it is due.

While students need adviceand tips to prepare forcampus placements,organisations too need tohave a well devised plan tomake the best out of thisopportunity. Renu Mishra,Associate Professor and Head- Career ManagementServices, School of InspiredLeadership (SOIL) tells uswhat organisations should doto effectively leverage theircampus recruitmentprogram.

Renu Mishra, SOIL

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HIRING & BEYOND

News Bytes

Prasar Bharati launches major recruitment driveTo meet the shortage of skilled personnel in key vacant positions,national broadcaster Prasar Bharati said it had launched a majorrecruitment drive in thethe first such exercise in fifteen years.Efforts are being made to improve the situation by taking steps suchas setting up of the Recruitment Board, finalisation of recruitmentregulations and filling the vacant posts, a statement released here byPrasar Bharati said. n The Economic Times, March 2013

J-K govt to fill 80,000 vacancies through fast track modeThe Jammu and Kashmir government today said it would fill upabout 80,000 vacant posts through fast tract recruitment in thecoming two years. Minister for Finance and Ladakh Affairs AbdulRahim Rather informed the House that the 80,000 vacant postswould be filled up through fast tract recruitment and a specialconsultant has been engaged to assist Service Selection RecruitmentBoard in the recruitment process. n The Economic Times, March 2013

Middle-class jobs are becoming obsolete faster thanever: Thomas L Friedman When Tony Wagner, the Harvard education specialist, describes hisjob today, he says he's "a translator between two hostile tribes" - theeducation world and the business world, the people who teach ourkids and the people who give them jobs. Wagner's argument in hisbook "Creating Innovators: The Making of Young People Who WillChange the World" is that our K-12 and college tracks are notconsistently "adding the value and teaching the skills that mattermost in the marketplace."n The Economic Times, March 2013

Headhunting takes a new course Experts believe that the year 2013 will see some constructive hiringin sectors like IT, engineering, marketing, media, and sales to namea few. While we can do the analysis at the end of each year to figureout which industry hired the most and which did not; the task ofdetermining the most efficient way of hiring, irrespective of theindustry or specialization, remains a concern amongst mostrecruiters.n The Times of India, March 2013

An effective rewards and recognition strategy can curbattrition “A well thought-out and implemented rewards and recognitionstrategy can definitely help retain talent. In fact, perhaps more thanmonetary rewards it is recognition and non-monetary rewards thatworks well in an organisation,” said Ramanand Puttige, VP – TalentManagement, Infotech Enterprises during a “High-Tea” session, achat platform on TimesJobs.com, where candidates ask careerrelated questions to experts. n The Times of India, March 2013

IT companies leverage the strength of EVP to groomsuccessors from within With the global markets not yet on the upswing, Indian ITcompanies are on the lookout for talent that will come up withimplementable value proposition. This process is limited not just forexternal hiring but also with the existing staff. “Cut the flab andretain the ones who have good EVPs is the new mantra today,”observes Mridula Chowdhary, MD of a leading HR firm inBangalore. n The Times of India, March 2013

NEWS BYTES

Expert Speak



HIRING & BEYOND

What are the benefits of campusrecruitment?

Campus Recruitment proves to bebeneficial for both parties concerned. Weget the opportunity to choose from andselect the best talent in a short span oftime. We end up saving a lot of time andeffort that go in advertising vacancies,screening and eventually selectingapplicants for employment. Collegestudents who are just passing out get theopportunity to present themselves tosome of the best companies within theirindustry of interest. Landing a job offerwhile still in college and joining just aftergraduating is definitely what all studentsdream of !

What are the challenges faced byorganisations during campusrecruitment?

Hiring the right resources is critical forany company. The task becomes tougherwhen the talent is raw and needs focusedgrooming. When recruiting freshmanagement graduates, one of the mainchallenges faced is the attitude of thefresher. In the beginning, some are overlyambitious whereas others are confused.Besides, there is a huge gap between thedemands of the industry and theacademic curriculum. This leaves thestudents puzzled and frustrated. Yetanother challenge for the companies is totackle the problem of drop-outs. Manystudents who receive the offer letters donot join the organisations after thecompletion of their studies. Campusrecruitment also suffers from drawbackslike the absence of placement cells andqualified placement officers in most ofthe colleges. Besides, this concept is yet toevolve in the small town and remoteinstitutions of the country. This deprivesthe rural students of a fair chance tocompete against the urban graduates incities and metros.

What process is followed whilerecruiting candidates from campus?

Campus recruitment process consists ofmany stages like pre-placement talk,aptitude test, holding group discussionsand personal interviews, and lastly theresult declaration. While most

organisations follow this basic routine ofrecruitment, we at Citrus Check Innshave tied up with FABS by taking one stepahead in this initiative. In a first-of-its-

kind initiative in employment generationin the travel industry, we encouragepeople to explore Travel Management as asubject and learn emerging concepts likeTimeshare. We thus initiated a first-of-its-kind trend of introducing the curriculumof Timeshare with FABS and securingstudents’ at the commencement of theirMBA.

What is the selection criterion?

An analysis of the selection criteriaapplied by the organisations offeringemployment to young graduates throughthe campus recruitment programme isimportant for various reasons. It wouldhelp in understanding the objective of theorganisations for recruiting prospectivemanagers. It would help the managementeducation institutions and universities indrawing up the criteria for selection ofstudents for admission to theirprogramme keeping in view the needs ofthe employers. And most directly, it wouldhelp the graduating students themselvesby providing a clearer understanding ofthe selection criteria and betterpreparation for interviews and other teststo be faced by them at the time of meetingprospective employers under the campusrecruitment programme.

Keeping in mind the selection criteriaCitrus Check Inns plans to choosestudents, offer them the joining letterbeforehand and ensure that their careeris taken care of. To start with, 30 studentshave been assured of a job under thisplan and the collaboration aims to takethis number to greater heights. Throughthis, students can thus leverage bothpractical and theoretical knowledge. Thisgives them the benefit of job assuranceand job security, while Citrus Check Innsconstantly unearths top-notch talentavailable at the B-schools.

What is the future prospect of campusrecruitment in India?

Campus placement can be effective aslong as we tread carefully and keep thepractical pitfalls in mind. The collegesneed to employ qualified and experiencedplacement officers to take care of theplacement requirements.

l 80% jobs are forSales & Marketing

l 20% jobs are forAdministrationprofile

l Expected to hirenearly, 20% ofstudents fromcampus this year

l Intend to maintainfresher’s rate at 15-20 % of the totalemployment rate

Disclaimer: Information provided in this newsletter shall not be reproduced, published, re-sold or otherwise distributed inany medium without the prior written permission of TimesJobs.com and a clear acknowledgement to TimesJobs.com.Contact: TJinsite, TimesJobs.com, Plot No 6, Sector 16A, Film City, Noida. Write in to [email protected]

Copyright ©2012 Times Business Solutions Limited. All rights reserved.

Somnath Pal, CEO, Citrus Check Inns

“Keep the practical pitfalls in mind to ensure successof campus placement program”

Organisational data on campus recuritmentSource: Citrus Check Inns

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