10 Job Hunting Strategies for Job Seekers

• Keep Your Resume Updated

Keeping your resume updated is a crucial job-hunting strategy. Tailor your resume to each job application, highlighting achievements and accomplishments that align with the job requirements. Use keywords and phrases from the job posting to pass applicant tracking system (ATS) screenings.

A well-crafted, up-to-date resume increases your chances of standing out to hiring managers and recruiters, making it a vital step in a successful job search.

• Tailor Your Application to Each Job

When tailoring your application to each job, showing how your skills and experience align with the company’s goals is crucial. This demonstrates your understanding of their needs and values, and it’s a pivotal strategy for standing out from generic applicants.

Use the keywords and wording from the job posting to tailor your cover letter and resume to the position requirements.  This is not just a suggestion; it’s a strategy that can make a difference.

• Utilise Job Search Platforms

Effective job-hunting strategies involve job search platforms, networking, and personal branding. Define your goals, use keywords, customise applications, and follow up with employers.

Stay organised, positive, and persistent. Continuously improve your skills and online presence. 

• Go Way Beyond Online Job Boards

To reach a wider audience, leverage popular job boards like Indeed and LinkedIn and niche platforms specific to your industry. Use keywords to optimise your search results and filters to target specific job criteria.

Streamline your job search with features like resume matching, job alerts, and saved searches. Specialised platforms for remote and flexible work, like FlexJobs, can also help you find opportunities that fit your needs.

• Grow Your Professional Network

Increasing the number of professional contacts in your network is a crucial job search strategy.  To network with professionals in your sector, attend conferences, job fairs, and industry events.

Leverage social media platforms like LinkedIn to build relationships and stay top of mind. Reach out to friends, family, and alums for referrals and support. Volunteer and participate in virtual events to meet like-minded professionals.

• Send Follow-up Emails

Sending follow-up emails is a crucial job-hunting strategy demonstrating your enthusiasm and interest in the position. Within a week of applying or after an interview, send a brief and professional email to reiterate your interest and inquire about the status of your application.

This follow-up email helps keep you top of mind for the hiring manager and shows that you’re eager to contribute to the company, increasing your chances of landing an interview or job offer.

• Enhance Your Skills

Tips for job seekers that boost your employability and competitiveness by enhancing skills. Identify critical skills required for your desired job and invest in continuous learning and development.

Enhancing your skills will help you stay relevant in the job market, increase your confidence, and attract potential employers, ultimately landing your desired job.

• Be Prepared for Anything

Preparing for anything is a crucial job-hunting strategy that prepares you for success. Keep your resume, online profiles, and application materials up-to-date and tailored for each job.

Practise your interview skills and responses, stay organised and self-motivated, and be open to new opportunities, industries, and work arrangements, such as remote or freelance work.

By being prepared, you’ll be able to seize unexpected opportunities, navigate challenges with ease, and showcase your skills and confidence to potential employers, ultimately landing your desired job.

• Record the Jobs You Apply For

A key job-hunting tactic that keeps you focused and organised is tracking the positions you apply to. Use a spreadsheet, log, or tracker to record job details, application materials, and deadlines.

Note follow-up actions, communication with employers, and application outcomes. This will help you monitor multiple applications, avoid duplicate efforts, and identify areas for improvement.

• Be Mindful of Your Online Presence

Review and update your online presence regularly, removing inappropriate content and using privacy settings to control who sees your information.

Establish a robust LinkedIn profile and connect with experts in your field. Use keywords to improve your visibility in search results and showcase your achievements and skills on your website or blog.

Conclusion

Enhancing your skills, being prepared for anything, keeping track of job applications, and being mindful of your online presence can increase your chances of landing your desired job.

Additionally, considering the expertise of recruitment agencies in India can further streamline your job search process. These agencies have extensive job market knowledge and can connect you with top employers, making your job search more efficient and effective.

Combining these job-hunting tips with the support of recruitment agencies in India can help you achieve your career goals and find your dream job.

The post Job Hunting Strategies for Job Seekers appeared first on CIEL HR.

Financial well-being has become essential for employee retention, productivity, and satisfaction in today’s evolving workforce. Human resources (HR) departments are extending their responsibilities to include assisting employees with their personal financial planning as a result of their recognition of the link between financial stability and general well-being. HR can raise morale and create a more dedicated, engaged staff by assisting employees in better managing their finances. Helping staff members choose the optimal salary account options is a crucial component of this help, since it may greatly facilitate monthly money management. Here’s a detailed look at how HR supports employee financial planning and how these initiatives affect productivity and workplace culture.

Why HR Should Be Involved in Employee Financial Planning

Traditionally, hiring, employee relations, and compliance have been HR’s main duties. Employees were frequently left to handle financial planning on their own, with HR concentrating mostly on pay and benefits. However, companies are seeing the benefits of extending HR’s responsibilities to include financial wellness support, given the impact that growing living expenses, increasing debt, and financial stress have on mental health and productivity. Here’s why this change is beneficial:

1. Increased Employee Satisfaction: Stress, distraction, and a decline in productivity can result from financial instability. HR may help employees feel less stressed and more appreciated by offering financial support programs, which will boost morale and engagement.
2. Higher Retention and Loyalty:Workers are more likely to retain with their company if they feel encouraged to reach their financial objectives. By including services for financial health, businesses foster an atmosphere that values and supports both professional and personal development, which eventually increases retention rates and boosts morale and engagement.
3. Enhanced Employer Branding:Providing services for financial wellness can enhance the company’s standing as an engaged, helpful employer. Having financial planning initiatives can draw top talent in a competitive employment market, as they reward companies that prioritize the well-being of their employees holistically.

Key Areas Where HR Supports Employee Financial Planning

From educational programs to strategic alliances with financial service providers, HR plays a variety of roles in employee financial planning. HR may promote financial wellbeing in the following important ways:

1. Financial Literacy Programs

A vital first step is to improve employee financial literacy. HR can organize workshops, webinars, and seminars presented by financial professionals on issues such as budgeting, debt management, and investment techniques. Financial literacy programs help employees make more educated financial decisions, lowering stress and increasing job satisfaction. Educating employees on basic personal finance gives them the tools they need to better manage their money and link their financial activities with long-term goals.

2. Retirement Planning Guidance

Retirement planning is an important part of financial security, yet many people feel unprepared for it. HR may help bridge this gap by providing information on retirement savings choices such as Provident Funds (PF), National Pension Systems (NPS), and Employee Pension Schemes (EPS). Some companies provide retirement matching plans, in which the company matches a percentage of an employee’s contributions, so boosting retirement savings. Facilitating discussions with financial advisors or producing clear guides to retirement options can assist employees in making more educated selections and setting achievable retirement savings goals.

3. Salary Accounts for Seamless Financial Management

Employee financial management can be made easier by choosing the right salary account. HR may help by collaborating with banks to offer unique salary account incentives to staff members, like reduced transaction costs, preferential interest rates, and zero-balance maintenance. Employees can manage their money more skillfully with the help of a dependable pay account, which offers resources for planning and smooth monthly cash flow management. Some businesses even bargain for special benefits, such as fee exemptions or priority services, which further benefits workers. This simple action can have a significant impact and provide workers a greater sense of financial autonomy.

4. Tax Planning and Filing Assistance

Particularly for workers who are not familiar with tax-saving investments or deductions, tax season can be difficult. By providing information on tax-saving techniques such Section 80C, 80D, and 80E deductions, HR can assist staff members. HR helps workers minimize their tax responsibilities by setting up educational meetings with tax experts to optimize deductions and credits. Some companies go one step further and provide employees immediate help with e-filing or discounts on tax filing software, enabling them to handle this frequently stressful time with simplicity and confidence.

5. Financial Counseling and Debt Management

High-interest debt from credit cards, personal loans, or medical costs frequently makes financial stress worse. By providing access to financial counseling services through Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs), HR may assist staff in addressing this issue. Expert counselors can help staff members establish debt-reduction objectives, make realistic budgets, and create individualized financial plans. Employees can concentrate more intently on their responsibilities within the company due to this support, which reduces stress and fosters stability.

6. Emergency Savings Programs

Unexpected expenses can quickly destabilize finances, underscoring the importance of emergency savings. HR can encourage employees to build an emergency fund by offering savings programs that automatically allocate a portion of their paycheck into a separate savings account. By establishing a safety net, employees are better prepared for unforeseen expenses, which reduces financial stress and enhances overall well-being.

8. Goal-Oriented Savings Programs

Financial objectives range greatly, from purchasing a home to affording additional education. HR may help employees achieve these different goals by providing goal-oriented savings programs that allow them to set aside sections of their income for certain aims. Automated savings plans or access to financial tools help employees stay committed to their goals, improving their financial security over time.

9. Insurance and Protection Planning

Comprehensive insurance coverage, which includes health, life, and accident insurance, is essential for financial security. HR is responsible for educating employees about their coverage options, which include group health insurance, disability insurance, and supplemental voluntary plans. Employee education on available insurance alternatives, as well as assistance with plan selection, can safeguard them and their families from financial distress, resulting in a more secure, resilient workforce.

Conclusion

HR departments play an important role in developing a well-rounded, satisfied, and engaged workforce by actively assisting employees with their financial planning. HR supports employees to make informed financial decisions by providing financial literacy programs, retirement planning, salary account advice, tax and debt management assistance, and insurance information. As a result, employees have less financial stress, more loyalty, and a better quality of life, which benefits both the individual and the firm. As businesses embrace the concept of comprehensive employee wellbeing, HR’s role in financial planning evolves, influencing a future in which workplaces are synonymous with support, progress, and security.

[/et_pb_text][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][/et_pb_section]

The post The Role of HR in Employee Financial Planning appeared first on CIEL HR.

1. Do Your Research

Before you even pick up the phone, make sure you know as much as possible about the person or company you’re calling. This will help your conversation flow more naturally and give you a better idea of what they might be interested in. You can also use some of the information to set up a more in-depth call if it seems like they might be interested.

Researching your leads is one of the most important steps in any sales process, so don’t skip it!

Don’t just focus on the company website – look for their social media profiles too. This will help you get a more complete picture and learn about their interests.

You can also find out who the decision-maker is at the company by looking into the public information around them. This will help keep your call personalized and relevant to the person’s job title on the other line.

2. Be Concise and Clear on Your Call To Action

When you’re introducing yourself, follow a simple script so that your potentials know exactly what to expect from this conversation. If they don’t understand how their involvement could help their business, they’re not going to be interested in talking to you. Keep your goals clear and concise so that there’s no confusion on either side.

Be sure also to have a specific call to action prepared so people know what you want from them. Do you want them to visit your website? Request a proposal? Set up a time for a deeper call? Let them know so you can reach your goal.

If you’re following up on a previous conversation, be sure to reference it in your introduction. This can help jog their memory and show that you’re knowledgeable about their business.

3. Don’t Underestimate the Importance of Following Up

Once you’ve set up the call, follow-up is just as important. Don’t let your leads get lost in the shuffle!

Be sure to send a thank-you note after your initial conversation that includes some helpful information for them if they’re interested. You can also include links to other relevant content or social media profiles so it’s easy for them to get in touch without needing your information again.

Follow up regularly if they don’t respond right away, and be sure that you’re providing something of value each time you reach out. If they like what you have to offer but still aren’t interested, maybe it’s not a good fit for their business after all. But you’ll never know without following through.

4. Call Again and Again

According to a study by Gartner, salespeople call on average 18 times before even connecting with a prospect. That means you can’t give up if they don’t pick up the first dozen times.

The more often you call, the higher your chances of a successful conversation with a real lead who’s ready to buy. Never give up on cold calls too easily. In this profession, persistence is key.

5. Keep Questions Open-Ended

To keep your conversation natural, avoid using questions that can be answered with a simple “yes” or “no”. Instead, try to ask open-ended ones so they have the opportunity to share more information.

This will help you stay engaged in the call and gather valuable details about their business needs for later steps in your sales process. You can even use their responses to steer the conversation in the direction you want it to go.

Enlist Professionals

From the tone of your voice to the quality of your script, a lot goes into the perfect cold call. And while you can always practice and improve on your own, enlisting professional cold calling companies(y) is another option that will help you take things to the next level. If over-the-phone sales are important to your business model, enlisting experts will get everything up and running more quickly, and with considerable results.

These are just a few tips to help you land more sales through cold calling. By following these simple guidelines, you’ll be on your way to more successful conversations with potential leads.

Written By, Sierra Powell, Email ID: sierrapowellwriter@gmail.com

The post 5 Cold Calling Tips to Land More Sales appeared first on CIEL HR.

Thomas Edison had said, vision without execution is hallucination. And many leaders in our contemporary times have concurred that execution makes the difference. Peter Drucker captures this beautifully in a short, yet immensely powerful sentence, “Strategy is a commodity, execution is an art.”

What’s more critical: Thinking or Doing?

A competitive sportsperson knows all the strategies and techniques; also, is aware of when to deploy which one of them. Similarly, most leaders know about the opportunities; they are fully aware of the levers at their hands to seize upon the opportunities and maximize the results in their favour. Yet, we do not see every game to end up as a draw; neither do we see every company in the same industry sector creating the same value for their stakeholders. Why is this?

The difference has to be in the timeliness of applying those tactics, the consistency and the synchronisation among various forces in play to produce harmony. All of these are in the domain of doing, aren’t they?

How good have we been in doing?

In the ’90s, most organisations in India did not have emails for each employee. Communication was largely through mails and fax messages. Only the senior people could access phone calls and telex. In the late ’90s, mobile phones were a status symbol and the prized possession of CXOs. In today’s context, it seems like the stone age.

As we fast forward to recent times, smartphones and human beings are inseparable. We are obsessed with checking emails, messages and notifications in the name of multi-tasking. In most of our communities, the norm around communication etiquette has evolved. Most people expect their message, social media posts and unanswered phone calls to be responded to within a certain time limit. Nowadays it is impolite to delay in responding to messages, emails and notifications like it was to get late for a meeting.

Gone are the days when mail was getting distributed once or twice a day! Given this context, all of us are under tremendous pressure to stay connected and respond quickly. Many a time, we are immersed in volumes of messages and notifications. Every situation is not a crisis that demands attention and response; yet, our society and community at work have pushed us to consume tonnes of incoming communication and respond to them. This causes tremendous distraction, erects hurdles on the way and draws us to negotiate those hurdles on the course. Do we need to work this way? Won’t we be more effective if we focused on one thing at a time?

Some thoughts for doing better!

We can use AI-powered assistants to deal with the electronic invasion that has been defocusing us regularly and dissuading us from staying focused. Probably such high calibre AI-assistants are not yet available and hence, until then, we have to proactively establish new practices that will bring more focus and cut out the clutter.

Secondly, we need a culture of execution in our organisation. I like a statement by Morris Chang, Founder and Chairman of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company. He said, “Without execution, strategy is useless.” Leaders have to resist the temptation of being enamoured by various opportunities; they need to steady their minds and thoughts, define clear paths and milestones, measure the progress each day, celebrate those successes and make course corrections. Leaders have to empower others and create an environment for everyone to keep pursuing the mission without breaching the guide rails; they have to pay attention to details.

Someone has rightly said, “A vision and strategy aren’t enough. The long-term key to success is execution – each day, every day!”

The post #BuildingTomorrow: Straddling the Thinker-Doer Mentality appeared first on CIEL HR.

Very rarely do we find someone who doesn’t want growth. All living beings grow by the day, gather experiences, gain insights and aspire to create greater impact. Many of us get stuck on the path either because we do not develop a clear sight of the future we seek or do not plan enough and execute well. Let’s delve deeper into the latter possibility. Let us examine if we are planning for growth and putting the right ingredients in place for the plan to run well.

Why do the growth plans fail?

Marshall Goldsmith has a bestseller, “What Got You Here Won’t Get You There”. He talks about several habits one has to change to deliver a bigger impact. The moot point is that one has to make changes to the status quo in order to grow. Many of us fail to recognise this and live with the assumption that we will keep growing.

Businesses diversify and try replicating the success formula that has given them results in the past. Entrepreneurs start new ventures with a strong conviction that their style and approach in one venture will work in the other. However, many a time these assumptions prove to be obstacles.

Some of them make fundamental mistakes of not studying the context well and set out on a journey that leads nowhere. For example, one might be passionate about education and pursue plans of educating millions in the world without doing the necessary groundwork. One has to estimate the opportunity, figure out the white spaces in the market, develop a plan to launch the project at the right time, commit the right investments in spreading awareness about the service and detail out many such aspects of the project.

Another big reason behind the failure of growth plans is our unwillingness to persevere and keep overcoming the obstacles on the way. We run out of fuel due to several reasons. Sometimes, we raise doubts about the relevance of the plan; sometimes, the purpose itself loses its attraction; sometimes, it is the doubt about our ability to execute and run the course. What can we do?

Create a Growth Environment

For a seed to grow into a sapling, then to a plant and finally into a tree, the right kind of environment is needed. We have to provide the right amount of sunlight, nutrients, freedom, space and comfort. We hope that the growth happens; sometimes, the project becomes a hit; sometimes it becomes a damp squib. However, we have to keep providing all the resources needed at the periodic intervals each resource is needed. We do not dig the soil each day to observe if the seed is germinating well and the tree is expected as per the plan.

Similarly, we have to not only plan the resources but also provide the environment that facilitates the resources to be leveraged. Putting together the ingredients is not enough; we need a good chef to use the ingredients properly to produce a delicious meal. We need the leader to create the environment and nurture it continuously.

We have to build the right systems, design the right processes and empower people to use the systems and processes well. We have to provide the capital, allow realistic time and embed the organisation with positive energy, ambitious spirit and ethical framework.

Have smart people around

Steve Jobs has said, “It doesn’t make sense to hire smart people and then tell them what to do. We hire smart people to tell us what to do.” This is easier said than done! He hired many smart people in his life and one such was John Sculley who eventually forced Jobs out of Apple. Even then he didn’t lose his belief in hiring smart people; he considered recruiting to be one of the key tasks of a leader.

Unless an organisation has smart people in it, the growth ambitions will not find fulfilment. The leader has to be comfortable in hiring people who would question his or her beliefs and assumptions, suggest their methods and put forth their ideas, views and plans. In the absence of such intense conversations and deep thoughts, the growth plans and vision can never be realised.

The post #BuildingTomorrow: Planning for Intentional Growth appeared first on CIEL HR.

Who is not concerned about one’s prospects? The pandemic has taught us not to take anything for granted. All of us have learnt why we should be staying agile and willing to adapt as situations emerge. The leaders must consider this as a part of their vision and communication strategy. Their vision has to lead their employees to believe a certain image of the future and show them a path to walk upon and follow.

Imagining the future

The situation in the current times have remained fluid and one doesn’t know how the future is going to unfold. We cannot afford to remain in a state of inaction as the situations around us evolve. We have to combine our thoughts and imagination with the views of experts to gauge the shape of the future. One’s imagination might not come true in its entirety, but one must put one’s creative powers to work. One needs to think about the future of the industry sector one is working in and the skillsets that will be valuable then.

We know, technology is playing an important role in every sector of the industry; and certain sectors have better prospects than the others. Efficiency and expertise are being increasingly valued. Irrespective of one’s functional expertise, it is important to acquire skills that will be relevant for the future.

Acquire those skills

One needs to revalidate the assumptions and perspectives held for long. Times are changing and we have to adapt. For example, one didn’t think if the Professors including those in the Ivy League institutes would change their methods of teaching from classrooms to online. Hence, people in the education sector have to be thinking about what new skills are required to excel in education. There are many functions in the sector right from teaching and research to recruitment of students, library, clubs, student unions, admissions, housing, healthcare, catering, public relations, grants and many more aspects of an educational venture. In each of these areas, we have to notice the shifts taking place and prepare ourselves for these changes.

The lockdown thrust upon us can be depressing and stressful; at the same time, it offers an opportunity to take a pause, reflect and think what skills could be required for the future. One could be in sales, operations, human resources, information technology, finance, legal, supply chain or production, quality or design, changes are happening all the time. However, this pandemic has challenged many of our beliefs. So, in the days ahead, we will see many new technologies to carry out usual tasks better, new ways of delivering results and sometimes new thinking altogether. We need to learn and adapt quickly!

Connecting the dots

Nations such as the US, UK, France and Italy having spent an enormous amount of money on their military capabilities to keep their citizens safe. However, they have struggled to protect their citizens from another mortal enemy in the form of coronavirus. So, here is a new paradigm of power.

Human lives and moral values such as empathy and concern for our environment are the centre-stage topics in the speeches of the political leaders of our times. As a fallout of this pandemic, countries will rethink about their approaches towards social welfare, external affairs, trade relations, education, healthcare and financial systems.

Business leaders and individuals must watch out for these changes which will happen soon enough for new opportunities to emerge and thus, new skillsets and thinking. More than the knowledge of the subject matter, we have to develop new approaches to solving problems, getting things done, collaborating with others and carrying out responsibility towards society.

Adaptability and agility are the mantras for staying relevant in the current times.

The post #LockdownTimes: Stay Relevant appeared first on CIEL HR.

Sales could be a very daunting department. Most of the time, companies prefer people who already have experience in this area because not too many people can survive the stresses or even reach the sales quota required for the job.

Some companies however are also open to train willing applicants who have the grit and motivation to pursue a career in sales, but it also comes with a variety of risks – such as uncertainties in the hiring process, and costly trial and error blunders.

At the outset, it seems like hiring people with actual sales experience to be part of your team seems like the most viable option. You don’t have to waste time and energy to excessively train them, all you need is an orientation for them to be familiar with your products and services. The higher track record, the better.

Read Also: Do investors care about diversity?

However, it is not actually a good idea to pool all the top salespeople you can find in just one team, this is because of the following reasons:

1. Stiffer and Unhealthy Competition

Top salespeople are on top of their game because they are most likely the ones who reach their quota consistently. Most of them are smooth talkers and can easily lock in deals by intuitively knowing what the customer wants to hear from them. Hiring a group of them would surely boost your leads and sales conversions, right? But it would come at a price.

Salespeople, especially the very experienced ones are naturally competitive. Although healthy competition is great, but pitting highly competitive people against each other is not a good idea. Everyone will feel like they are in a pressure cooker, and this might ultimately affect their mental and emotional health – resulting to decrease in productivity and unpleasant attitude towards their co-workers and even to prospects.

2. Leadership Issues

Because everyone knows they are ‘good’ or even one of the ‘best,’ each of them might go about their own techniques that already worked great for them in the past. Although it is good to have employees with a high level of initiative, the problem starts when no one is regarded as a leader. Top salespeople can be persuasive at times, and if no leader can put them to work together, the company eventually suffers because of lack of direction.

3. Unnecessary Drama

With all the pressure and issues around, people will normally cause some drama within the team. This could be detrimental to the job, and you might even lose good employees along the way. Most of all, many people can’t work in a toxic environment, so might as well at least avoid nurturing office drama by hiring too many ‘top’ salespeople.

4. Failing to be Proactive

Since your sales team will be constantly embroiled in a day-to-day competition, they might fail to develop a forward-thinking mindset because their energy is wasted on present day challenges and issues. Clear up the air, and you will be able to hire people with greater talent potential and better vision for the future.

5. Neglecting Actual Teamwork

With all that “every man for himself” attitude, the essence of teamwork might be lost in just a matter of time. Instead of trying to build up the others to become better at acquiring sales, they get lost in the pit and will later fail to realize their most important skills and potential. This is a waste of talent, and a loss to the company who could have benefited from them.

Read Also: Engage employees before you do with customers

So what should be done? If you are planning to build say, 10 people to form your sales team, make sure one could be designated as the team leader (the most experienced and versatile one), while at least 2 to 3 are well-experienced people in the field that can help mentor the rest (first-timers, fresh grads and the like) to become better at the craft. This way, you don’t just get to nurture and tap potentially greater talents, but you will be able to create a healthy working environment as well.

The post 5 Reasons Why You Shouldn’t Build a Team of Top Sales People appeared first on CIEL HR.

Steve Jobs said, “The secret of my success is that we have gone to exceptional lengths to hire the best people in the world.”

Businesses need to move at a great speed in order to deal with an environment which is volatile and uncertain. It is their talent who has to play the critical role in maintaining the speed. Steve Jobs naturally knew this and made sure that they do their best in getting the best on board. Talent Acquisition teams play a very critical role in making sure that they are able to hire the best people. They need to attract the best, separate the wheat from the chaff and make sure that the wheat is used well.

Attracting the best

This seems simple, but in practice it is not so! Right from talent strategists to recruiters in many cases, have no idea what kind of talent is good for them. This is because the leadership team has not taken the effort of defining what is good for them.

It is easy to define the skills needed for a role. For example a salesperson selling a mobile phone across the counter needs a set of skills and knowledge. We can define them and they are broadly the same for all organizations selling mobile phones. However, the complexity comes up when we think of getting the talent who can provide a competitive edge to the company over the others.

Talent strategists in collaboration with the leadership team have to define what is critical for their own context. Accordingly, they have to pick the skill which is more critical than the others in the basket of skills and what kind of personality traits are critical for their success.

Separating the wheat from the chaff

We live in a talent market with a huge supply of candidates looking for jobs and at the same time, organizations are unable to fill vacant roles. When an organization puts a job advert out, it receives a huge number of applicants but cannot find the right match easily. This is a problem of plenty, an interesting paradox.

The issue is partly due to our educational institutes being unable to produce what the industry is looking for. However, the major reason behind the problem of plenty is that we are an ambitious society with several socio-economic changes around us. All salespersons have experience and skills in selling but do not have the same depth in selling. Because we are a young and ambitious society, many applicants do not think twice about the job requirements as a whole before expressing their interest. And at the same time, there are many potential matches available in the labour pool who do not come forward.

There are several assessment tools and the assessors need to be trained on using these tools. Often the assessors do not believe in the tools prescribed by the HR team. They tend to use whatever has worked well for them in their experience; and they apply benchmarks which are based on their own judgement. These may not be the best way to get the right talent on board. So, Talent strategists need to think of effective ways of separating the wheat from the chaff.

Engage them well

Employer branding is a critical lever to get the best talent on board. Members in the talent acquisition team have to behave in a way that represents the mission of the organization. They have to deliver a memorable experience to the candidates who go through the selection process.

Irrespective of the outcome of the process, the candidates must carry memories that last long and reflect what their organization stands for. Such levels of engagement need to be planned well in advance and orchestrated in such a way that all the candidates have a near-uniform experience. All the members of the team need to put the behaviours into practice and someone has to monitor the effectiveness periodically.

Steve Jobs spoke about the exceptional lengths they went to get the best in the world. You can do it too!

The post 3 major tasks for Talent Acquisition team appeared first on CIEL HR.

The good news is that the Budget bears consistency with the principles of fiscal prudence rather than introducing anything new. While the fiscal deficit and current deficit have been planned well, there is an attempt to increase investments in infrastructure such as rural housing and rural infrastructure – roads, drinking water etc, additional railway lines, increase in defence budget and so on. These should increase growth in employment opportunities. This will indirectly benefit the youth of our country.

Secondly, it focuses on skill development to set up new centres in new areas. Given the huge number of young people joining the labour pool each year, the budget-makers should have put some focused thoughts on this aspect. Our demographics have to be leveraged so that it pays us the dividend; else, it would turn into a curse. I think, the budget could have done better on this.

There are several other areas which have received attention such as personal income tax, tax for medium-sized companies upto 50 crores turnover, funding of political parties, cash transactions and so on. These are welcome moves and could indirectly benefit the youth of our country in terms of their future.

Last, but not the least, a few concerns evident in the Economic Survey 2016-17 include pace of job creation, new investments from private sector companies and the health of our banking sector. Each of these have serious implications – directly as well as indirectly, for our youth. The budget doesn’t seem to have anything significant addressing these aspects.

Get Well Qualified People For Your Job

I am optimistic that GST being round the corner and several programmes of the Government being in the strategic areas of skilling, financial inclusion and economic development, will bring in the impact of demographic dividends that all of us are optimistically looking for.

The post What does Union Budget 2017-18 mean for India’s youth? appeared first on CIEL HR.

Goliath is big, visible and powerful; he is naturally attractive. Think of David who is unknown, at best an underdog. How does David put together a workforce who will take on the Goliath’s machinery? How can it attract employees without compromising on the capability it needs?

A young firm is typically flexible and responsive. It needs to leverage on this strength. A large or an established firm has its connections with campuses and recruiting partners; it generates huge number of internal referrals; it enjoys goodwill in the labour market and hence, a number of jobseekers make the first move; moreover, it generates a lot of applications when it uses media to announces a recruitment drive. A not-so-large firm or a young firm does not have any of these advantages that the Goliath typically has. So, it needs to do something different to attract talent.

Innovate your organization structure!

Firstly, it needs to show its responsiveness by innovation. The traditional methods are not going to work; neither the traditional organization structure. The roles are to be carved out differently from the way Goliath has been doing. As an example, an organization has roles in sales, production, planning, marketing, finance, customer service, HR, IT etc while a new design having just two roles: Customer Evangelists who sell, market and service a customer and then, Performance Enhancers who manufacture and do whatever it takes to improve quality and reduce costs. Such a design creates novel opportunities for the talent and buzz in the talent market. Innovation in organization design is the answer to the talent woes of David!

Stay flexible!

Not all roles need to be filled the traditional way of having a full-fledged department of people and segregating them into strategic roles and outsourcable roles. For an organization to excel, it needs the best minds to don its strategic roles and all of them need to be working in an aligned manner. It is not very often that a small company or a young company can attract the best talent, let alone aligning them.

So, flexibility in mindset can help one circumvent this challenge. There are experts available to carry out specific assignments – call them Consultants, Temps, Interims, SuperTemps, Advisors… Becasuse these experts come to carry out specific tasks, they adopt a clinical approach and get things done. The labyrinth of organizational politics does not come on the way; even if comes on rare occasions, they do not impact the Interim’s deliverable much. David does not have to worry about its inability to attract people. A call to his recruiting partner can help David get the best minds to solve its strategic issues while he can keep revving up his engine that carries the day to day business.

What about costs? Sure! The hourly or daily rates of these experts are higher than what you pay a full-time professional per hour or day. But, the catch here is that you get real experts and for specific hours rather than a full-time person who is a jack of all trades and gets paid not only to solve the big issues but to do a whole lot of routine transactions. For example, you can hire database specialists, IT security consultants, network architects and so on for specific number of days for a project while your CIO or CTO could just be proficient in project management. So, eventually it’s a huge saving for the organization because you get things done the right way by the experts, finished the project as per a plan and paid as much as you used the expert for. Total Cost of Owning the work is optimum!

Spend right!

Many small firms or young ones are bootstrapped and do not have advantage of deep- pocket investors. They tend to compromise on the quality of talent who carry out their specialist tasks. We see situations where either inexperienced or amateurs try to use their common sense to solve big problems. The time and effort consumed this way and the risk of having a sub-optimal solution is high in the process. Such results have huge opportunity costs and are pretty much avoidable by using specialists.

The thumb rule to call a specialist involves two factors : the frequency of the task to be carried out and the nature of the task. All tasks or activities which happen many many times in a week and strategic in nature need to be done inhouse and focused upon by the organization for its efficiency. Tasks which happen rarely and are non-strategic in nature need to be completely outsourced. Cost of calling a Specialist for either of these two is huge.

When the tasks are strategic in nature and not done often need to be delivered by experts who are hired from outside. Similalry, for tasks which are done frequently and are non-strategic in nature need to be carried out by a mix of inhouse talent and outsourced manpower. Again, the cost of accomplishing either of these category of tasks by people holding permanent roles is sub-optimal. So, it is simple – David keeps his talent woes away by adopting the right outsourcing strategy.

David needs to innovate his organization, stay flexible to deploy specialists and put the money where the mouth is! He will lose no sleep on his talent woes!

Get Well Qualified People For Your Job

You will also read this: Are You The Charismatic Leader

The post Talent woes of a young firm, an Underdog! appeared first on CIEL HR.