Working the web

Alarge Indian mining company was recently hunting for a senior geologist for its operations. The company decided to broaden its search and go global for this hire, and trawled through prominent social networking sites to find a suitable candidate. Not only did Stanton Chase, the HR consultancy given the mandate for this search, successfully close the process, it even recruited an Australian to the post. “Social networking sites have turned the recruitment market on its head,” says Venkat Shastry, Partner at Stanton Chase. “This Australian hire is unlikely to have been pulled off even by our Sydney office.”

For Parin Lakhani, it was his LinkedIn account that allowed him to transition from working in the corporate department of a large Mumbai-based law firm to Pangea3, a Mumbai-based legal services BPO. Three years ago, recruiters approached him to make the switch and he decided to take up the offer, primarily to try a new role and the opportunity to travel overseas. “This opportunity may not have come to me had I not been active on LinkedIn,” he says.

From relying on traditional databases and then graduating to massive online databases, India Inc. is now making the next big shift—online. A recent Business Today-Synovate India Survey (BT, November 2, 2008) shows that India Inc. is socially networked. The survey also reveals that Orkut is the favourite online social network site for all target groups—college students, working executives (junior, senior and corporate decision-makers)—and that almost 90 per cent of those polled in the survey turned out to be members of Orkut. For recruiters, LinkedIn, launched in May 2003; Facebook founded by Mark Zuckerberg in 2004; and Orkut, run by Google; are the preferred sources.

Sample these numbers: LinkedIn, with around 25 million subscribers globally, has an estimated one million-plus Indian subscribers. As of May 2008, 54 per cent of Orkut’s users were from Brazil, followed by India with 17 per cent. Little surprise then, recruiters, HR heads and, of course, employees are all leaning on these sites to find people and jobs.

Recruiters are searching for . Junior hardcore techies and Technical leaders@Orkut . Indian American professionals @Facebook . Senior Managers and even CXO-level professionals @LinkedIn

Active hunt for passive seekers
HR heads and head-hunters feel that using social networking sites expands the potential pool of recruits. “We can look for recruits at a global level. We can also find passive recruits who aren’t really looking for a job, but don’t mind chatting,” says Sastry.

This happens because many people join interest and hobby groups on social networking sites and they’re tagged by recruiters. “I happen to be a member of the Siebel community on Orkut,” says Ramkumar Prasad T., a Senior Software Engineer with Birlasoft. “I received a mail briefing me on a job profile from a recruiter and accepted the offer in three days.”

It’s these impressive results that are making big companies take note of the phenomenon. Though it is not talking time frames yet, IT major Wipro Technologies is planning to “do communities in Orkut and Facebook for campus hiring,” says Pradeep Bahirwani, Vice President (Talent Acquisition) at Wipro. Right now, social networking sites form a “very small” component of its hiring.

The Head Hunters India, a Bangalore-based executive search firm, claims to have signed up for 10 LinkedIn subscriptions a couple of months ago; earlier, it had just one. It also has a dedicated resource to sift through social networking site Orkut for hires. “We are cutting down on the use of job portals for recruiting,” says founder and CEO Kris Lakshmikanth.

Some recruiters like Subash A. K. Rao, Director (HR), Cisco India, believe the direct interactions with top talent through networks and referrals are more effective than other conventional methods. Some professional networking sites provide access to a rich pool of professional talent, are fairly easy to use and provide access to people with specific skills and industry experience. Says Rao: “They are effective because they help recruiters reach out beyond the pool of active job seekers. Direct access to top talent at zero or negligible cost is a very strong value proposition at any time!”

Netting high fliers
The move to lure passive job seekers isn’t just at the junior level. Karandeep Singh, Director (Finance), Sapient India, has been on LinkedIn since 2004, primarily to keep in touch with friends across the world. "I thought the site was a way to leverage contacts, reach out to people in other companies and geographies with specific requests relating to their industries and work areas," he says. "I occasionally saw some people post their company job requirements on this site, but never thought recruiters could get plugged in."

Three weeks later, Singh went ahead and signed up with Sapient. "(I signed-on) once I was comfortable that a ?ereal' HR person was, indeed, reaching out," he says. Besides judging employment parameters, social networking sites also help companies judge softer HR metrics, says Sanjay Kamlani, Co-CEO, Pangea3. "We try to understand the varied skill sets of an individual. This can be done by analysing his recommendations on sites like LinkedIn or by monitoring his activities," he says. For instance, a top attorney may be seasoned in the art of drafting contracts, but may not necessarily be as prolific at inspiring, training and mentoring others, Kamlani says. Pangea3 claims to hire 20 per cent of its recruits from social networking sites.

Subash A.K. Rao

Search now a cinch?
With the job market tightening, recruiters and HR heads want to spend less time sifting through dozens of irrelevant CVs before choosing the right candidates. Professional networking sites such as LinkedIn and special interest groups on other portals help. "This is an upcoming low-cost source for organisations?csome sites like LinkedIn also allow companies to post jobs at a certain price," says Rahul Nandi, Group Manager (Staffing), Hewlett-Packard India.

While companies previously relied on massive databases to reach a larger audience, now, they're getting more targeted in their approach. Rather than trawl through hundreds of CVs for a software engineer, they're zeroing in on specific skill sets, years of experience and locations to reduce hiring times and increase recruitment success rates.

At Sapient, HR managers view social networking profiles as an extended resume, which allows executives to demonstrate passion for in-depth knowledge of a subject. "They also serve as a good source to share knowledge with peers, professionals and experts," says Prashant Bhatnagar, Director (Hiring), Sapient India. "A careful study of public profiles reveals the best qualities of an individual and helps recruiters select a person that suits our requirement."

Despite the optimism over this new medium, recruiters admit that the online world has its own limitations. like the authenticity of data. "There are no checks to prevent unscrupulous elements from faking their resumes in terms of positions held and companies they have worked for in the past," says Sapient's Bhatnagar. There are other concerns as well.

"These sites need focussed, dedicated presence and it is not a sure shot success," says Renuka Krishna, Associate Vice President (Talent Search and Deployment), KPIT Cummins. Though recommendations by fellow workers and exbosses are good starting point, this can't be the end of the story when it comes to referral checks, she says. For now, however, that has not stopped recruiters from being gungho about the newly unleashed power of social networking.