Cos look for niche skills, do away with GDs
Mumbai: There was a time when
clearing the group discussion stage by a candidate was considered one of the
most important steps in the hiring process. Although a large number of
companies, including FMCG major Hindustan Unilever, still resort to this traditional
mode of recruitment to save time, some have entirely eliminated the tedious
step. Companies such as SAP India, Dell India and Godrej Group are among those
that have discontinued group discussions in hiring. Others like Cummins believe
that a group discussion (GD) is not the best tool to assess the character and
values in a person — traits that are in growing demand today.
Experts believe in the current recruiting scenario, companies are shying away from holding GDs because of its high cost.
SAP India, which earlier used GDs in selective focused groups, discontinued the practice on realizing that the tool may not be effective for analyzing people’s analytical bent of mind. “…it is more helpful when choosing candidates for roles where oral communication is very important,” said Nagraj Shriyan, head, talent acquisition, SAP India. One of the ways in which SAP India assesses candidates is by asking people to write a note on either a customer, technical or business situation they have faced. This, said Shriyan, helps the company analyze the thought structure, grasp of language and communication skills of the candidate.
Godrej Group too did away with GDs for similar reasons. “While this format has worked well in the past, allowing for recruiters to observe a larger pool of applicants within a short duration, it is limiting in approach and has also become rather predictable,” said Sumit Mitra, head, group HR & corporate services, Godrej Industries and associate companies.
“We have found simulated games, role plays and even theatre interesting alternatives which work well — they offer us a better opportunity to judge group interaction, initiative, creativity and problem solving skills,” he added.
Group discussions work best when organizations are hiring in volume. “However, in the professional hiring space, when an organization is looking for niche skills, group discussions do not serve as the best option,” said Savneet Shergill, head, talent acquisition, Dell India.
“Some candidates take longer than others to open up or have limited ability to stand out in a crowd even though they have great depth in terms of knowledge and skills. No organization will want to end up losing a potential candidate with great subject matter expertise,” added Shergill.
If not managed sensitively, GDs can also tend to be very impersonal and that can keep great candidates away from applying in future. Moreover, this method does not provide the candidates with an opportunity to ask questions about the company they expect to join.
“I must admit that GDs are a cruel process and perhaps not the best. In as far as selection of personnel from the market is concerned, we do rely on GDs where at junior levels we have a large number of applications. But then, as you go up to more mid levels and beyond, no GDs are employed,” said Ernest Louis, VP, HR, Asian Paints.
For a group like Cummins, though, group discussions continue to be an essential tool for filtering applicants when the numbers are large. However, the group does not lean on group discussions alone for assessing an applicant’s character and values. This is because Cummins looks for personality traits such as decisive, driven to win, agile, passionate and caring in a candidate.
At Cummins, the hiring process includes preliminary screening on the basis of academic records, technical and analytical tests, and personal interviews, according to Nagarajan Balanaga, vice-president, HR, Cummins Group in India.
According to Asim Handa, CEO India, Gi Group, a global staffing and recruitment firm, “GDs becomes cost expensive as one needs to ensure at least 3-4 candidates at a single time, a moderator to manage the GD, a venue (in case hiring is for a new location) and many other such limiting and costly factors.”
IN SEARCH OF BETTER TOOLS
From simulated situations to role plays to theatre, companies now employ innovative tools to hire talent Holding group discussions for hiring entails high costs Experts believe GDs don’t give candidates a fair chance to show their skills and knowledge
Experts believe in the current recruiting scenario, companies are shying away from holding GDs because of its high cost.
SAP India, which earlier used GDs in selective focused groups, discontinued the practice on realizing that the tool may not be effective for analyzing people’s analytical bent of mind. “…it is more helpful when choosing candidates for roles where oral communication is very important,” said Nagraj Shriyan, head, talent acquisition, SAP India. One of the ways in which SAP India assesses candidates is by asking people to write a note on either a customer, technical or business situation they have faced. This, said Shriyan, helps the company analyze the thought structure, grasp of language and communication skills of the candidate.
Godrej Group too did away with GDs for similar reasons. “While this format has worked well in the past, allowing for recruiters to observe a larger pool of applicants within a short duration, it is limiting in approach and has also become rather predictable,” said Sumit Mitra, head, group HR & corporate services, Godrej Industries and associate companies.
“We have found simulated games, role plays and even theatre interesting alternatives which work well — they offer us a better opportunity to judge group interaction, initiative, creativity and problem solving skills,” he added.
Group discussions work best when organizations are hiring in volume. “However, in the professional hiring space, when an organization is looking for niche skills, group discussions do not serve as the best option,” said Savneet Shergill, head, talent acquisition, Dell India.
“Some candidates take longer than others to open up or have limited ability to stand out in a crowd even though they have great depth in terms of knowledge and skills. No organization will want to end up losing a potential candidate with great subject matter expertise,” added Shergill.
If not managed sensitively, GDs can also tend to be very impersonal and that can keep great candidates away from applying in future. Moreover, this method does not provide the candidates with an opportunity to ask questions about the company they expect to join.
“I must admit that GDs are a cruel process and perhaps not the best. In as far as selection of personnel from the market is concerned, we do rely on GDs where at junior levels we have a large number of applications. But then, as you go up to more mid levels and beyond, no GDs are employed,” said Ernest Louis, VP, HR, Asian Paints.
For a group like Cummins, though, group discussions continue to be an essential tool for filtering applicants when the numbers are large. However, the group does not lean on group discussions alone for assessing an applicant’s character and values. This is because Cummins looks for personality traits such as decisive, driven to win, agile, passionate and caring in a candidate.
At Cummins, the hiring process includes preliminary screening on the basis of academic records, technical and analytical tests, and personal interviews, according to Nagarajan Balanaga, vice-president, HR, Cummins Group in India.
According to Asim Handa, CEO India, Gi Group, a global staffing and recruitment firm, “GDs becomes cost expensive as one needs to ensure at least 3-4 candidates at a single time, a moderator to manage the GD, a venue (in case hiring is for a new location) and many other such limiting and costly factors.”
IN SEARCH OF BETTER TOOLS
From simulated situations to role plays to theatre, companies now employ innovative tools to hire talent Holding group discussions for hiring entails high costs Experts believe GDs don’t give candidates a fair chance to show their skills and knowledge
Namrata
Singh TNN TOI130822
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