The best talent is never scouting for jobs in the market
Among the key challenges faced by HR managers is the need for the right fit, says Sanjeev Parkar, executive director, HR, PricewaterhouseCoopers. During his career Sanjeev has worked with reputed organizations like ACNielsen, Maersk, Webify, Century group. He shares insights on the key challenges faced by HR managers and how data can revolutionise the hiring process. Edited excerpts:
How can private companies contribute in skilling programmes that aim at increasing employability?
Companies will have to realize that skilling is an imperative and not just a buzzword. Moreover, it impacts all levels unsparingly. Other industrial waves had impacted the blue-collared in particular. Not this one. The Fourth Industrial Revolution will force even the white-collared to re-skill at a very fast clip. Companies will have to map progress over a measurable time horizon and be impartial in assessment. There are a host of training programs but companies will have to assess the ones which suit their specific needs. And of course, it’s not skilling for skilling’s sake but it should lead to enhanced employability. More and more Public Private partnership in the areas of skill building would improve employability immensely.
What challenges do HR teams face in talent acquisition?
Business / hiring managers always look for a 100 % fit. HR’s role is to set expectations and make the business understand there is never an ideal fit. HR needs to come up with robust integration plan, and training programmes to help the talent pool ramp up.
Best talent is never out in the market scouting for job or hopping jobs. Hence, HR needs to have a strong network and business intelligence to map the best of the talent, create networking platform, sell the value proposition to attract best of the talent. HR also needs to be a part of the business strategy and come up with talent forecast to help business well equipped.
How is technology such as data analytics aiding in better talent sourcing?
Face to Face interviews at best, can get the interviewer a strong gut feel about a candidate. It is also true when they look at resumes which more often than not are couched, don’t reveal an accurate picture. However, numbers don’t lie. Of course, statistics can also be massaged to make people look like rock-stars but in general, it can reveal a truer picture. Data science is based on the idea that almost everything reveals a pattern, though may be a very complex one at times so why should human behavior be left out of its ambit? Talent hiring is now considered as strategic, and leaders now want to move away from the “gut feel” approach to be more data-centric in their decision making. It also helps to normalize the data and smoothen out the spikes. That’s where analytics come into play.
Secondly, identification of right talent from the market goes way beyond the keyword search in the CV. It needs an intelligent data analytics tool to slice down to optimally skilled candidates in the market to suit your need. This will help you find right talent as opposed to dream talent.
Despite an increase in demand of skilled talent, why is job creation slow?
Job creation is a factor of the overall economic growth. Unlike China, our domestic demand lies latent and hasn’t been serviced adequately. There’s huge potential there and it’s for policymakers to ensure that servicing the domestic demand is as lucrative as exports-led growth. Also, there’s a severe mismatch between talent available and talent which is employable. Our course curricula even in toptiered colleges also needs a fresh look in order to improve employability factor.
What makes an employee a valuable asset?
• Ability to discard legacy if required. No more of parroting “the golden days.” • Learnability, and very quickly
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• Ability to work in a matrix structure, which simply put, is about multi-tasking. Working with diverse stakeholders. Willingness to fail. But fail quickly, pick up and move on. Our “Digital Atma” is in social media – ability to conduct oneself in the social sphere too where the glare is constant. Particularly, not spreading Fake News which is a modernday menace.
Ability to align with the dynamic environment around in terms of organizational philosophy, technology framework • • •