Pinning the Q factor in recruiting

HR managers of IT companies have to do the tight ropewalk of ensuring quality hires even as they are chasing the required numbers. This was the focus of the panel discussion “Quality factor in IT recruitment,” chaired by CyberMedia Dice CEO Abraham Mathew involving HR managers from the IT industry in Bangalore.

Highlighting the skewed ratio of the prolific number of engineers that India produces to the actual employable engineers, Jan Ackerman, Oracle's director, Recruitment Services said, “This mismatch is due to the quality factor. HR's role is to hire the best in the market place and companies which wait to get the right people rather than just filling the positions will ultimately be the gainers.”

Taking a different tack, Pallab Bandopadhyay, chief people officer, Scandent Solutions rued that job seekers were not attracted to careers such as testing and configuration management since the Indian cultural mindset is different from Western counterparts. To illustrate the point he quoted Gurcharan Das who once said, “ In India, its better to be a second class scientist than a first class potter.” In such a scenario, Bandopadhyay opined that it made sense for companies not to look for the best but to find whoever is fit and then make them the best. He also touched upon another the peculiar trait among senior level managers in India who are averse to take tests and assessments.

Cultural aspects apart, some of the major concerns worrying HR managers are increasing attrition and ensuring quality of talent. Girish Nair, who heads HR at Aztec Software, urged HR practitioners to use innovative methods to make sure the employees' wish list are fulfilled.

In a radical shift to the views of other panelists, TVA Infotech CEO Gautam Sinha said that the problem was not just lack of quality talent but also due to some HR practitioners as well. “For some HR managers, personal glory comes out of rejecting employees which is a very dangerous thing to do.” Emphasizing his point, he said that the HR managers in question tended to ask questions unrelated to job requirements during interviews. He further added, “ It is important to educate the interviewers. It should be understood that there are three issue that matter brand access, bar (the number of candidates chosen from the number of job seekers who apply) and compensation. Companies should make sure they set realistic bar on choosing talent.”

Testing and assessment company MeasureUP's president and founder Kevin Brice highlighted the value of assessment. “Companies should ensure that senior managers feel that assessments are for career enhancement rather than a career exit move.”

Philips Software HR head, Vidyasagar suggested education and training for hiring managers. “Most of them don't get a handle on specs. Their focus is on meeting numbers.”

While such diverse points of view were discussed at the forum, one conclusion that all HR managers agreed upon was the need to set processes such as assessments like MeasureUP in motion, to assure the right fit for an IT job.