Episode 5 | Vikrant Kapur

Great leaders don’t just tell stories; they connect people to those stories, fostering a sense of belonging and purpose. This connection is crucial for attracting and retaining talent.

How do you sensitize global leaders to the unique challenges of hiring in low-trust markets, considering the significant differences compared to the hiring process in the Western world?

Once we encountered a situation where a LinkedIn thread related to a recruitment track caused a lot of anxiety. The CHRO was marked, and this was unfamiliar and unsettling for our Western colleagues. We had to explain and contextualize the situation, dealing with the platform where the thread was created.

In a tech firm with 3,000 to 4,000 roles, reaching out to 70,000 to 80,000 candidates or more is common. Managing millions of applicants, especially when they apply with multiple email IDs, presents unique challenges. Candidates might get accepted and rejected in different scenarios within the same business, and malpractices in the interview process can add complexity.

Western counterparts often find these situations shocking at first. Addressing malpractices involves using AI in video interviews to detect irregularities, such as prompts or copied codes. Over time, we’ve learned to explain the high-volume recruitment environment and the resulting inconsistencies to our Western stakeholders. We highlight the need to find solutions to prevent and address issues. By building trust and demonstrating how we solve specific problems, we can maintain the integrity of our hiring process despite the challenges.

How do you manage the difficult task of scaling down the workforce while retaining top performers and handling the anxiety involved?

In my experience, the first step was acknowledging the need to do what was right for both the firm and the talent. We scaled from 600 to 4200 employees in 12-15 months and then scaled down just as quickly. Retaining talent isn’t about keeping the smartest but the most committed, those invested in the firm’s success. This talent, often mid to high performers, values their connection to the firm over money and trusts the leadership’s vision, especially when they see active efforts to innovate and turn the business around.

To attract, nurture, and develop such committed talent, focus on finding individuals who demonstrate passion, a bias for action, problem-solving skills, and community-mindedness. These traits are often found through personal networks and social platforms. During the hiring process, it’s crucial to alleviate candidates’ fears and anxieties. Interviewers should approach with humility, avoiding any biases or aggressive tactics that could discourage potential hires. Ultimately, the goal is to help candidates showcase their true potential without fear, ensuring the best fit for both the talent and the firm.

From leading TA systems to interacting with talent acquisition technology, Can you give us a quick walkthrough of some of the different categories in talent acquisition technology for our audience to better understand these categories?

Starting with an experience back in Accenture, in designing HR products, the key challenge was understanding the audience. Focusing on candidate experience, rather than a long list of partners, proved more successful. Candidate personas helped identify their needs – a smooth application process, clear assessments, and timely communication. Similarly, hiring managers benefit from a user-friendly interface that simplifies tasks. Therefore, a strong HR system should be the foundation, with a user-centered layer on top that prioritizes a positive experience for both candidates and hiring managers. This user-friendly experience should be mobile-friendly, and intuitive, and avoid overwhelming users with complexity.

How can talent acquisition professionals streamline recruitment to avoid cumbersome tools and manual work, ensuring efficient candidate funnel management and accurate data?

For recruiters, it’s about that innate ability to match the right candidate with the right position. But often, we get bogged down with requisitions, funnel reports, scheduling issues, and candidates not being kept informed throughout the process. It’s immensely frustrating when you are trying to fill a critical role quickly with top candidates, and the process stalls. Speed is always crucial in recruitment, but so is the ability to focus on strategic hiring rather than administrative tasks.