The post-lockdown period will definitely see a movement, in a way that businesses will need to get ‘lean’ to stay afloat. SMEs are likely to be hit the hardest. Most of them are still owner driven and operated. Many of these were started with a few employees and as the business grew, the strength of the employees grew too; this growth happened mainly in the post-liberalisation era. Employees were hired on the basis of their qualification and experience. So far, so good.
Most SMEs do not have a concept of Talent Management and therefore, no separate budget for Learning and Development. Also, employees are hired for a position and not necessarily for the behavioural profile that the job entails. In the service industry, customer orientation is of prime importance. How can this be judged for a fresher who enters the industry in her first job itself? After the C.V. passes muster, the candidate is interviewed. Is it possible to find out a person’s customer orientation only through questions and then make a hiring decision?
Smaller companies would do good to create the behavioural profiles required for various positions. The attributes of these profiles then come in handy while making hiring decisions. Hiring for Sales, the fulcrum of the existence of a business, requires the company understand the kind of profile the candidate should possess, depending upon their product and its sales cycle. Imagine selling a product or service that is complicated, new in the market and prospective buyers are not familiar with it. It may also require a lengthy buying decision that can involve more than one decision maker. One of the important attributes required of a sales person here is perseverance, and the next one is patience. Dealing with multiple decision makers, influencing each one of them by explaining the product in detail, probably more than once, and lasting with fortitude through the sale process without rushing the buyers, is no mean feat. Someone who does not have the perseverance and patience may abandon the process midway. That is something no company ever wants.
For manufacturing companies, reinvestment is mainly done by purchase of upgraded machinery and other capital expenditure. While manufacturing process gets the importance due to the very nature of the business, it would be prudent to give people process its fair weightage too. After all, it is the people who run the machines. In fact, realigning or structuring the recruitment process yields better savings in the long run by reducing hiring costs, attrition and better productivity. Going forward, all small companies too will need to be agile, to face the unexpected challenges that are thrown at them. This requires them to be knowledge-driven in terms of knowing the latest tools and techniques available for people development, to make their team adaptable to shifting market scenarios.
Large corporations have the wherewithal to put the candidate through multiple rounds of interviews. However, smaller companies can do it too. All that is required is the acceptance and belief that doing it is beneficial in the long run. The rest will follow. And, what better time to do it, than now?
Written by:
Gauri Kher
Facilitator; Certified psychometric assessor
Good one
Well, very well described the current scenario, Gauri Maam. There is a huge shift seen in large MNC’s , their work culture and even how man power is mis-used . Read about Canva yesterday as well. Everything is kind of re-structuring