The challenges in the executive hiring landscape in India has been multi-fold and nuance driven. A report by Times of India, despite a 23% hiring level dip in December 2022 year-on-year (YOY) and significant tech layoffs in January 2023, the hiring market in India is expected to spring up later this year. Thanks to emerging technologies like Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML), recruitment rules are being reconsidered, and head hunters are leaving no stone unturned to onboard the best talent for their business.
Today I will talk about 5 solutions that could lead to make this ecosystem better from a holistic aspect and also mention some observations, examples based on my experience and conversations with some senior industry leaders from India.
1. Knowing the human side
In a nutshell – this is about humanizing conversations with depth. At top levels it is more important to have conversations more than once with the potential candidate on how he or she is as a person in various situations, what different cultures they have worked with, examples of complex decision making. Humanizing the recruitment process is the key. If the process is mechanical, such as just doing a standard set of questions, candidates will not find their personal goals and purpose aligned with the opportunity.
At these levels, time needs to be spent to also understand personal goals and what drives that person. Look at it this way, before Indian Intelligence agencies hire agents, they spend considerable time doing their homework on observing the potential candidate’s lifestyle. So, for example when some candidates are shortlisted, recruitment firms in India need to spend some time to look at the social media activity, the nature of their posts, what they talk about, what they have written in ‘About Me’ section for themselves, their references on LinkedIn. This is not stalking but due diligence. So, getting to know the person behind the ‘suit’ better is something that more quality time must be spent.
I was once called for a meeting for a C-Suite profile (they already had my credentials), however, when I reached their office, I was handed over a form to fill in things like my age, sex, gender, educational qualifications, address, marital status and things like that. Look at the nuance of this experience and the first thing that comes to my mind – first of all why do they need me to fill in the form if they already have all my details and even if they do, do they not have an online system? So, my second touchpoint (first was over a call) experience was good enough for me to take a call that I do not want to work here even if the interview went well.
2. Gauging the leadership style
For executive hiring, it is crucial to understand how the person leads. Is it participative, autocratic, democratic, charismatic, pacesetter, visionary style or a combination of some of these? This will be the ultimate defining factor if that matches with the organizational style of working, or if the potential leader can bring in any required transformation with least or no collateral damage. This can only happen with point number one above is structured well. People First or Organization First? This is a good trick question for the candidate where the answer needs to be decoded and understood better.
There are roles that will be more easily evaluated by AI, those technical roles especially, but a larger part will be more focused on soft skills, aspects such as cultural fit, nuanced understanding of people, stakeholder management and complex decision making. In a nutshell, focus on values and how it translates for the potential candidate.
In addition, what acts as a pivot is to get at least 2 to 3 relevant references on the same from senior industry leaders who have worked with the candidate in some way and more importantly who would know about how he or she is as a person. With context to India, this is a key question that gets missed to be asked or focused on during getting to know the candidates.
3. Investing time
Potentially good candidates maybe lost because the conversation keeps going on forever or the firm / organization stops communicating for a while. It is best to set clear expectations from both sides – firm and candidate along with timelines. In case an assignment needs to be given (yes some firms do extend an assignment for leadership hiring so as to gauge how the candidate translates his/her thoughts into a presentation) , it needs to be lucid and time bound.
I recall in my career, there was an interview process for a role that I was reached out for, and it took a bit more than 3 months for the company to have multiple discussions. I have observed some firms saying things like ‘our process is slow’. Making such statements itself has a negative connotation and may not be the right thing to say to a potential candidate. It is actually okay to take time, however it must be communicated in a positive light. For instance, saying it in this way – ‘We’d love to take some time to understand you as a person and at times for executive hiring it may take up to 3 months for multiple rounds of discussions. We do hope you understand, and we appreciate your time’.
It is much better than saying ‘Our process of hiring is slow’. Specifically in India, for streamlining the recruitment process for senior executives, recruiters need to focus more on providing personalized services considering different, and potential employee preferences.
4. Building strong employer branding
Candidates observe the ‘voice’ of an organization as the first thing that gives them a good idea about the culture. It is quintessential for organizations to build a robust, consistent, inclusive, and evolving employer branding. The voice must keep people at the center. This goes a long way in onboarding the best of the best leaders. A company’s reputation matters more than ever during a job seeker’s search, as workers would not apply for, or continue to work for, a company with a bad reputation with former employees or the general public.
Let’s say you’ve done a phenomenal job building up a strong brand with your products or services. Unfortunately, that alone won’t convince someone to work at, or stay at, your company. You need to implement the same branding strategy when communicating your company’s leadership, values, and culture. Hence, telling ‘the compelling story’ is the key for both sides – the potential employer and the potential candidate.
5. Describing job role better
Last but not the least, there is a big scope to better the job descriptions. I observe quite a few organizations in India (specifically startups and mid-sized companies) post a role of CMO with -1 to 2 years of experience with the requirement of say – experience in Ad Serving! I mean, a C-Suite role must not be defined like that. It must start with the vision, values and growth driving objectives. This, I’d say is the weakest link in the Indian ecosystem of executive leadership hiring – writing job descriptions.
Also, to add, try not having HR interns call as the first touchpoint. At times, HR Leaders have their junior most or interns call the candidate for an executive role. I understand that HR leaders mean to give exposure to their team, however, it is also a parallel that they need to be trained more on having the first touch point conversation, if at all they need to make that call. Else, the first impression of a high potential candidate may drop down there itself as.
One observation in India is job roles contradict themselves in certain places. For instance, a C-Suite role or a Head of Marketing role must look at least upwards of 10 years of experience, depending on the educational background, however, if such an opportunity says “ 3 to 4 years’ experience required for a Head of Marketing role, then it doesn’t add up as this duration is very less to get to know even one aspect of marketing.
6. Executive Hiring Challenges: Conclusion
As a conclusion, it is more important than ever to hire talent that is operationally and culturally the best fit for your organisation. Balancing deep tech solutions and human intelligence ensures proactive engagement with employees, advanced screening of potential candidates, and data-backed decision-making.
Human touch must always be a top priority as technologies such as AI will be catalysts to reducing turnaround time to shortlisting and onboarding the most relevant candidates. Specifically talking about the industry that I am in, there is a huge scope and requirement of talent. The numbers say The Indian digital marketing market reached a value of nearly USD 4.5 billion in 2022. The market is further expected to grow at a CAGR of 32.1% between 2023 and 2028 to reach a value of around USD 24.1 billion by 2028.
