In an all-inclusive interview about recruitment process, Sanjay Goyal, VP and Product &
Technology Head, TimesJobs and Techgig throws light on all the facets of employment with Brainfeed Higher Education Plus
Q. What has been the strategy behind your success?
I am a firm believer in disruption, and that has helped me thrive in my career as well. I started as a technologist where coding was the order of the day for me. Gradually, I took over to consulting roles advising million-dollar clients on their technology preferences. Later I moved on to business-centric roles, discussing P&L sheets and project management with relevant teams. Presently, I head the product and technology teams at TimesJobs and TechGig. I believe that it is this trait that helped me grow from position to position in various domains.
TimesJobs recently surveyed more than 2,000 CHROs to understand the impact of technology in the HR function, and about 77 percent HR managers said that they were using HRIS and HRMS to manage their core HR processes. Approximately 26 percent of employers felt that tech in HR has improved the talent acquisition processes & five percent said that it has reduced the overall costs associated with it.
Q. How do you hire for internal purposes?
We own India’s leading recruitment website – TimesJobs and India’s largest IT learning platform TechGig. It’s no surprise that we source talent from these platforms.
However, identifying right talent is just one part of the story, the other part is the on-boarding process – which actually is a slice of the company culture and ethos.
I’m proud to say that Times Internet Ltd (the parent company of TimesJobs and TechGig) is one of the most employee-friendly company in the internet domain. New joiners go through a detailed day-long orientation, part of which educates them about the company values and mission; and introduces them to all the critical functions and teams. Later in the day, they are introduced to their team and reporting managers. Times Internet has a flat organisational structure.
Q. What facets are considered most important by hiring officers?
Hiring managers typically look for these qualities:
- Qualifications
- Skills
- Proven excellence
- Soft-skills
- Attitude
- Professional recommendation (if any)
However, the priority order of these would depend from role to role, and company to company.
Q. What challenges are faced by hiring officers?
In my opinion, few of the biggest challenges for hiring managers are:
- Attracting and engaging the qualified candidates
- Hiring fast via data drive approach in recruitment
- Assessing/Evaluating the candidate
- Ensuring good candidate experience
Q. What are the new trends in the process of recruitment?
Recruitment has undergone a sea change. Technology has been the biggest game-changer in this domain; and Artificial Intelligence and Chatbots are now empowering the HR function in handling various organisational processes starting from recruitment to exits.
TimesJobs recently surveyed more than 2,000 CHROs to understand the impact of technology in the HR function, and about 77 percent HR managers said that they were using HRIS and HRMS to manage their core HR processes. Approximately 26 percent of employers felt that tech in HR has improved the talent acquisition processes and five percent said that it has reduced the overall costs associated with it. Here’s a glimpse of our study:
Q. What would you suggest to a prospective interviewee?
My advice would be simple – be ready to learn, un-learn and re-learn. We are living in an age when new technology, new skills and new methodologies are making waves into work sphere every now and then. One is expected to be master of his craft, and also be ready to learn new things coming his way. At the same time, one must be quick to unlearn the things that he has mastered in the past and ready to think and start afresh.