Recruiting in Mass

Human resource is the most important asset of any business organization. They have been termed as human capital. It is this capital composition of an organization that helps to determine its profitability and goal achievement. Human beings execute the jobs and tasks of any organization as a result even after automation of all business processes, human intervention cannot be disregarded. Thus manpower planning and talent acquisition are important functions of the human resource department.

En-mass recruitment is the buzzword for the industries of the new economy as the talent acquisition technique. Rapid sales and service is the key ingredient to the path of successful running of the business. And out of 455.7 million jobs in India, 89.1% jobs belong to this sales and service area. Industries such as IT and ITES, retail, financial services, manufacturing and consultancies have adopted this process of en-mass recruitment to meet their manpower requirements.

I conducted a study a period of eight weeks as an assigned project in the Summer Internship Programme at Exide Industries Ltd. The study includes a detailed survey at various organizations which indulge in mass recruitment spread over five industries namely, manufacturing, retail, ITES, financial services and HR consultants. The project studies the various mass recruitment processes followed by these organizations.

Now let us understand what is en-mass recruitment? The technology of the mass recruitment allows organizations to select a big amount of people in a short period of time in one or several regions. Mass recruitment is necessary for start-up projects, such as opening of the new stores, plants, call-centers, promo actions, exhibitions and expanding salesforce. The main characteristics of mass recruitment are: -

Ø Big amount of the similar vacancies
Ø Short periods of recruitment
Ø Big screening of the candidates on every stage of selection
Ø Interviewing a big quantity of the candidates
Ø Quality and speed of recruitment must be maintained

The study conducted in sixteen companies belonging to different industries focuses on few important areas, which are:

§ Sources of en-mass recruitment
§ Number of people employed
§ En-mass recruitment evaluation method
§ Essential skills of candidate

Analysis: Major source for en-mass recruitment are Employee referral and campus recruitment. Only financial sector uses HR consultant as a major source.



Analysis: Majority industries employee 101-500 people each month.

Analysis: The most effective evaluation method in en-mass recruitment is structured interview and aptitude test.

Analysis: The most important skills that are examined in en-mass recruitment are Attitude, Communication skill, Readiness to change apart from many other behavioural skills. It has been seen that in en-mass recruitment behavioural skills are more important than functional skills.

By:
Sayantani Mitra - PGDM 6

(Globsyn Business School - Kolkata)

Logo Change

Advertising is a vast field to explore, currently my interest goes on Old brands which are going for an image makeover to create new markets.

“A brand is a bundle of associations just like a product is a bundle of features. And, just as it is imperative to upgrade the features in a product over time, it is important to upgrade brand associations. So, a change in logo, or the evolution of a brand’s identity shouldn’t really surprise us”.

Many old Indian Corporate Houses are changing their logos to create new markets, We can take latest examples of Ceat, Godrej, and Shoppers Stop.

Imperatives For A Makeover

• The need to be more youthful.
• To compete with global brands.
• To upgrade within the segment brands operate in.
• Making a shift from one product category to multiple categories.
• In case of a merger or acquisition.

We will have a glance at motives and tribulations for changing the Brand Identity.

Targeting the Youth:
Indian brands that have been around for several decades seem to have suddenly discovered the elixir of youth. “Indian companies find that they are out of sync with their rapidly evolving consumers, and this is compelling them to change”.

In the case of Ceat, while in the 1980s and 1990s, tyres were expected to be tough enough to deal with bad roads, customers no longer consider this as key in a purchase decision. Ceat’s own research indicated that, with several new automobile models in the market and an improvement in road conditions, younger customers are keener on performance. The surveys also found that the consumers felt that the brand values were stagnant. “Ceat don’t want to lose brand relevance with the youth”.

Repositioning:
The second reason why brands seek a new identity has to do with the need to upgrade the segment in which they operate. Take Shoppers Stop’s recent attempt to move up the value chain, for instance. “They’ve been trying to re-position themselves from being perceived as a premium brand to a luxury brand”.

The changes have also extended to Shoppers Stop’s communication strategy. The tag line has changed from ‘Shopping and beyond’ to ‘Start something new’.

The Bottom Line:
Eventually, it’s all about the chase for the wallet, and younger customers have more money now to spend than ever before. “Brands are following the money as the younger population is getting wealthier and companies realise the need to take their brands to where the money is”.

First, and probably the most obvious factor that encourages the change is that Indian brands have to now face more competition, especially from global players and, therefore, the legacy bundle of associations may not be appropriate any more. For example new logo of Godrej Group in Ruby, Green and Blue is representing Energy, Innovation and Growth respectively which is an attempt to rejuvenate the 110-year-old brand.

In same prospect Ceat is trying to capture the imagination of Indian consumer, its new logo is more youthful in deep blue and orange, and with a simple and clutter-free design. There is an emphasis on the letter E, which represents raising the bar and signifies energy. Ceat, on other hand, had built up its image with the Rhino and its tag line ‘Born Tough’. However, the new logo has diluted that image. The new campaign doesn’t tell much either except that the brand is changing.

Tough Task:
Launching a new brand identity is a challenging and time-consuming move that needs to be followed up by delivering on the brand promise. It is also an expensive exercise. It involves research at different levels, including workshops and interviews with senior teams to understand their vision for the future, employee research that gives them a chance to voice their opinion anonymously, consumer research, mystery shopping, retail audits and factoring in global trends and practices. Despite this, sometimes new identities fail to impact sales.

Indian marketers seem to be aware of this. Ceat is considering investments worth Rs 1,000 crore to develop new radial tyres and speciality tyres to appeal to younger customers. Besides appealing to a younger audience by using interactive sites such as Youtube and MySpace to gather feedback.

Godrej who is investing over Rs 100 crore in the rebranding exercise, including Rs 18 crore worth of advertising over six weeks during the Indian Premier League cricket matches to refresh the brand and look for a fresh positioning that appeals to younger customers.”

Phasing out the old brand and bringing in the new needs a streamlined programme that maximises return on investment. Every interface needs to be re-configured and changed. “For large organisations, this is a huge exercise”. But if the effort works, the payback is worth it.

By:
Priyank S Soni - PGDM 1
(Globsyn Business School - Ahmedabad)

Source: Internet

Success...

“Wake up early in morning check the list of the richest persons in newspaper and if your name is not there then get up and start working for it……..!!!”

According to me, the above sentence means that if you want to be a successful person and if you want everything which satisfies your needs - then do as much work as you can, because success does not comes on its own, but we have to find the path to success. There are many great men who did something spectacular and that's why they achieved success in life.

I don't mean to say that you will get rich in few years – but it will take time and you have to work hard for it. You can pray to god to put fewer obstacles in your way to success but without obstacles you are not going to get success but god helps them who help themselves. On the way of success you will fall many times even after achieving what you want but you should not fear for that failure, continue what you were doing and definitely you will get better than what you had before. Give all the fragrance of your mind to your work. When you get up early in morning don't wait for the work orders start doing the work without wasting time. If a person keeps on thinking that he wants achievement he will not get it but he has to do something for that. For e.g., if I take a glass of water in hand and wait for water to come in my mouth automatically, it will not come l have to drink it. Please try to make some target in life and take the right step to achieve it with firm determination for right action.

How to hit the target?

• Study the situation.
• Note all the possibilities.
• Work with sincerity.
• Wait for the right time, and
• Hit the target………

Make a goal and try to reach the goal because SUCCESS comes before you reach your GOAL, for it is as simple as taking a STEP in the right direction.

Don't just go for the further details and stories of mine and anyone, go with your subconscious mind, it will help you to take a right decision.

By:
Mahesh Bhatia - PGDM 1
(Globsyn Business School - Ahmedabad)

INDIA IS IN DIRE NEED OF MBA'S

It is widely felt that India's economic growth is not in proportion or correlation with its potential. The causes for such a spectacle are clearly not evident. Prima facie it appears that the growing capital, labour etc alongwith other resourses such as human skills in the country are not well managed.

If the national income growth has to be speeded up, the unmanaged (Agriculture), undermanaged and mismanaged (Administration & Public Service) sectors will have to be equipped with skilled, convenient and professionally trained managers. Unfortunately this has not happened so far and what has been evidenced until now is that these sectors, where growth matters e.g. agriculture, small and medium scale industries and the public sector, have failed to deliver the goods although they have the potential.

So here is the reason for the sudden boom in the growth and development of the management industry since the last five to ten years, which has resulted in the birth of numerous "B-Schools" across the country, with the sole objective of producing the finest of managers. Everybody dreams of producing the 'CRÈME DE LA CRÈME'. But before we can successfully embark upon the idea of increasing the number of business schools or institutions,the existing one should be geared up to meet the challenges in terms of quality.This will evidently require internally efficient and externally effective teaching,training,research and consultancy programmes to be offered by the management eduacation institutions in the country.The agenda which is being practised currently by more than one thousand institutions therefore,needs thorough restructuring and upgradation,keeping in mind the interests of the "SECTORS".

By:

Tufan Saha - PGDM 1

(Globsyn Business School - Ahmedabad)