admin, Author at Recruitment Agency in India

21May

Significance of HR Software / HRMS in Organizations

[mashshare]

We, being humans, have a limit to which we can do things efficiently. After all we just have two hands! If we try biting more than what we can chew, it becomes difficult to manage things and be productive. Our productivity and quality of work will decrease which in turn will yield low results.

Case in point is human resource management. Any HR-related function—be it payroll or executive hiring—there is always a need to bring in automation. There comes a point where it becomes extremely difficult to manage processes due to voluminous data, which is especially true for hiring. In some cases, you can get hold of an executive placement agency but there too software would be needed for efficient co-ordination with the executive search firm.

Automation can only be brought in by using Human Resources Software. So, if you’re thinking “If my company needs HRMS?”, allow us to help you. Here is a list of a few questions which you can ask yourself to know if you need HR software. If you answer “yes” to any of these Qs, it is time you get a Human Resource Management System (HRMS) in place to automate your HR processes:

– Tracking leaves is tedious.
– Making appraisal reports give you nightmares.
– Is still used to store employee data?
– A lot of time is spent preparing track sheets.
– Employees complain of errors in payroll.
– Organizing strategic workforce analytics is almost impossible.

Once you have decided you need HR software, the other question that pops up is, “which HRMS should I use?”. It is important to weigh the needs of your organization along with the benefits human resource software provides you with. It isn’t a good idea to buy something which is high on features if you would not be using all of them (especially if you are a small organization). These days many SaaS-based solutions for HR management are available too. You can select only the features that are relevant for your organization.

All in all, to ensure better efficiency software for managing and tracking human resources activity is a must for any organization, whether it’s a huge multinational or a startup.

07May

HR and Recruitment for Startups: The Important Factors

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[mashshare]

Businesses these days have become very competitive and belligerent, and are always looking to decrease costs. And in doing so, they end up ignoring certain significant factors. This is particularly true with startups, which typically save costs by pumping a lesser amount of money in human resources. In several cases, the HR department is nearly non-existent. Recruitment for startups too becomes a massive challenge.

Be it an industrial behemoth, a mid-sized company or a startup, at the end of the day, is run by a ‘human’ machinery. But HR management is a very tough task. In an organization, the HR department is accountable for implementing strategies and policies relating to the management of individuals. It helps in staffing, mentoring, learning and development, payroll, and keeping a track of the policies and various procedures in the firm. Many startups wind up giving these responsibilities to an office administrator, who may or may not be equipped to address issues that necessitate a human factor, such as executive recruitment. As much as recruitment goes, a startup can ease the burden on itself by using recruitment agencies that offer low-cost recruitment or new executive placement agencies.

A striking example of this was a technology startup in India. Though it began with just four employees, the business grew in just six months. Hiring more resources proved a challenge. The CEO, wanting to avoid hiring a bad apple, decided to outsource staffing to an executive search firm in Mumbai. In just a month, they had a complete team in place thanks to the hiring agency who offered them expertise for technology hiring solutions.

What’s interesting to note from the above example is that having an executive recruitment firm is as vital as employing the services of a law firm or an accounting firm. Not only does this provide you low-cost recruitment solutions, it enables you to save a ‘seat’ in your office, as the hiring is taken care off by the placement agency. Speaking of office space, some agencies also offer plug-n-play offices that allow you to save money, especially when you are bootstrapping a startup.

A happy and a contented workforce allows a company to scale heights as it increases productivity. Thus, it is imperative for a startup to focus on human resources and recruitment.

14Apr

Awesome Plug-n-Play Startup Office For Rent In Mumbai

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[mashshare] Imagine this – vibrant colours on the wall, designer modular workstations, full length windows overlooking skyscraper skyline and a huge terrace lounge to de-stress your worries.
That’s our office! We’ve got spare work stations/office rooms to rent out – here are the details below. [don’t forget to check out the awesome pictures of our office in the end

]

Location Features of the Place

located in the heart of suburbs, Andheri-lokhandwala area, making it accessible via Bus Depot (3 mins), Jogeshwari/Andheri Stn (10/15 mins), Airport (30 mins).
The building houses companies other major business offices, and also a high-end restaurant on the ground floor.
Walking distance surroundings include malls (Mega, Infinity & Citi), best restaurants (close to 30 of them), and corporate offices.
The office is on the 6th floor of a commercial building with fantastic views of the andheri skyline.

Each workstation consists of

Maple wood desks
CPU trolley/cabinet
4 plug points
On-desk Softboard
Comfortable adjustable chairs.
Ample storage space

Ready-to-use Office Features

The professionally designed interiors
1 seat waiting area
Fully furnished, wooden-floored conference room with big writing board and several bean bags
Fully functional Pantry with fridge, microwave, water cooler, sink, etc.
600 Sqft Private Terrace for recreation purpose, with designer cane furniture, and comfortable bean bags
High speed wired/wireless internet connectivity
Daily office cleaning services
Split AC
Free tea/coffee and Mineral water

Price/Details

Rs.5000 per month/per seat (incl. of all above features).
Minimum of 3 months rent in advance and 1 month rent as deposit, both are refundable if unused.

The above facility is ideal for startups or small/medium companies who want to use a small office consisting of 1-5 people. If you wish to rent an entire 5-6-7-11 seater room for yourself, we can work out some good deals as well.
To discuss this in detail, you can email Jay [at] sutrahr.com/ (or call 9221 526 099 / 9819 793 771).

14Apr

When A Client Doesn’t Pay Lacs For Over 1 Year

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[mashshare] As a recruitment company, we often face difficulties in payment collection. Though it’s not a new issue in our industry, sometimes it turns very ugly and painful when the client doesn’t pay up – at all! We’ve been facing this issue with a particular client who’s not paid us a legitimate few lacs for almost a year now. We’ve tried calling innumerable times, sent several emails, been extremely humble and also tried a harsh/curt tone – but in vain.

Recently, we posted a poll on our Linkedin network to see if we can find some answer to this conundrum. We got over 40 responses on the Linkedin Poll from various people who had seen similar situations in their professional lives. The entire discussion turned out to be fairly interesting. Most comments urged us to push more follow-ups and consider a dialogue with the client, rather than going the “social media”. However, the actual votes suggest the “social media” option.
We’re extremely well connected in the industry circles that are very important to this company, i.e. New-Age Media (dotcom/internet/mobile). They’re well aware of this info. We’re regular sponsors of prominent events in this industry, which this company often attends as well! Still, they’re not ready to budge. In fact, we’ve even been kind enough to extend and offer an installment option as payment mode – which will ease their financial issues, if any. But shockingly enough, all this has not yielded any results.
We’ve deliberately stayed away from the “going public” option to avoid getting into an ugly spat in public view. But we’re not going to rule out this option for later. For the time being, we’ll give some more effort and time to this.
This is a really serious question, and the answer remains elusive to us – at the moment. Please vote your answers here.

14Apr

7 Qualities Of Best Startup employees

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[mashshare] One of the first qualities that come to my mind when I think about startup people is – ATTITUDE!
If you’ve got the “right” attitude, you’ll have ample access to a nitro boost whenever you’re in a difficult situation. Of course, attitude is not the only quality to look for in a startup employee.

Here’s a list of 7 other noteworthy qualities you must have, to be THE startup employee:
1. HUNGER – The hunger to make things happen. Hunger to pursue a goal, until it’s achieved. You may fail once, twice, thrice but when the fourth attempt is around the corner, others give up – while you give that last shot, and succeed.
2. PASSION – Nothing in the world has ever been accomplished without passion. Period. If you’ve got passion, you’ve got the fire to survive any drawback. Passion works as an automatic motivator, which pushes you beyond limits.
3. STREET SMART – You use common sense, more often than others. You’ve mastered the art of sneaking out of messy situations. When others were busy making sales presentations in their MBA classrooms, you were out there, learning it the hard way.
4. LOAD RUNNER – You can bear pressure more than your mom’s pressure cooker, and outperform yourself each time. Multi-tasking and handling critical responsibilities, comes naturally to you. Basically, your speed and accuracy remain consistent, even with immense load on your shoulders.
5. INTEGRITY – Although you have a knack to get your way, and ability to “convince” people against their will, you are a man of principles. Compromising on honesty and integrity don’t go with your personality.
6. TOLERANCE – You are very opinionated, and have your strong views about all kinds of subjects. However, you’re mature enough to accept and respect a difference in opinion with your employees.
7. KNOWLEDGE SEEKER – You’re a voracious reader, and always up to date about the happenings around you, especially about topics related to your field of interest. You have an obsessive compulsive disorder, to seek more information about almost every that comes across you.
If you have ALL the above qualities, packaged into YOURSELF – you are a diamond in a coal mine. Of course, it’s rare to find someone like you. However, even a significant presence of these qualities in you, is enough for you to have faith in your ability to add value to your startup.

If you’re looking to build a strong core tech team and hire from the best tech recruitment agency in India, give us a call on +91 87 67 427 427 or drop an email at buzz {@] sutrahr.com anytime.

14Apr

Hiring the Best Can be a Mistake!

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[mashshare] Did we confuse you with the title? Of course we did. When everyone around the world is trying hard to find and hire the best talent, we have been preparing a theory on why one should NOT hire the best.
When you come across the “best” candidate, in your excitement of finding a gem you often miss the fact that s/he might not necessarily be the “best fit” for that job. This generally happens because we use the words ‘best’ and ‘right’ so interchangeably that we ignore what they mean in essence.

Working with your competitor, does not make him best: Your competitor might have a different work culture. His ability to perform there might not be sufficient to perform with you.

Great performance in last job does not make him best:There is no guarantee of why his performance was good previously. May be luck, may be the product/service was easy to sell/serve, or other such external factors.

High enthusiasm in your job, does not make him best: The candidate may show lot of enthusiasm/interest in your job, but this does not necessarily make him eligible. Rather than jumping to conclusions about his suitability for your job, perhaps you should test drive his capabilities “live” or with a real “case study”.

Worked in a “well known” company, does not make him best: Just because s/he has worked in a good reputed MNC does not mean that he has better set of skills than another candidate from lesser known smaller company. In fact, often smaller companies serve as a better training ground for employees to hone their skills, than major corporations.

Having an MBA degree, does not make him best: This is often an argued matter. An MBA from the best of B-Schools might still not be enough to toughen or train the candidate for your kind of work. Does s/he have the EQ (oh yes, not IQ!) to handle your job?

When recruiting for your startup, try and find a combination of factors in a candidate, that make you feel confident of him/her being the ideal fit for your job. Of course, no one can gauge whether the guy will perform or not, but what matters is not the absolute level of a competency or skill, but the right level and fit of that competency or skill for your specific job.

So, forget the perfect “catch” and find your perfect “match”.

14Apr

Don’t Look for Marks. Look for Sharks!

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[mashshare] Children in India are expected to earn top ranks, score extraordinary percentages, and eventually secure a gold medal at the university perhaps. There’s often lack of attention to their overall personality development, their knowledge beyond books, and their ability to judge situations and react appropriately. What’s worse, a lot of companies often extend this mentality into their recruitment process, by categorizing candidates on the basis of their “marks”.
Our recruitment industry experience coupled with a keen observation of trends in job seekers, we’ve concluded that more often than not, the candidates with extremely high academic focus tend to be dull and ineffective in the practical world. They lack the practical experience, life skills, presence of mind, people skills, general knowledge and the nitty-gritty to perform the job efficiently.
For everyone out there looking to hire freshers or entry level candidates, we have a simple advice for you – Don’t look for Marks. Look for Sharks!
(Disclaimer: Education is important, but not the only way to judge a candidate’s mettle.)

SutraHR - SharkMarks — Shark photo : photo © 2005 Neil T| via Wylio

The real gems are those

Who’ve not restricted their knowledge to college text books. They’re voracious readers and up-to-date with the current affairs around them

Who are often involved heavily in extra-curricular activities in college. They’ve probably done odd jobs during their summer vacation and some brave hearts continue those even after the vacation

Who don’t hesitate to speak their mind during an interview with you. In fact, they’d do a good job influencing your opinion towards theirs

Are part of a band or a social club in college, and fuel a parallel ambition (music, dance, arts, etc) besides their professional one

Who’ve led their college football team to championships

Who research extensively about your company before the interview, and also hold in-depth knowledge about topics besides their area of interest

Who has done his/her own part time business while pursuing studies

We call such vibrant, energetic and opportunistic youngsters as “Sharks”.
If you’re hiring newbies, freshers, or entry level graduates, look out for qualities of a shark in them. Sharks are progressive, sharp, aggressive, decisive, dependable and quick learners. They won’t lose a chance to grab any opportunity coming their way.
Of course, how to spot this talent in the candidates is a skill that we have to master. You probably have to be a shark to spot a shark.

So good luck in finding a shark who can add value to your company!

14Apr

You know you are at Sutra if..

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[mashshare] Our team has gown from the last time we wrote about “You know you are at Sutra if…”. Today we are strong team of 30 who make it a unique place to work at.
Here are 15 points which make Sutra a fun place:
1. The average number of candles on every birthday cake, never exceeds 23 (max 24).
2. One of the first sounds any visitor will notice are: HAHAHA or HEHEHEHE (scooby doo style) or HOHOHOHAHA. These are just a few of the various varieties of laughter you can discover, which you never thought existed or are humanly possible.
3. Walk in, anytime. Walk out, anytime. Just make sure there’s 9 hours between the “in” and “out” OR there’s a proof that you’ve earned your team some good amount of money that day (cheque or closure).
4. During lunch time, you’ll forget which dabba is yours’ and end up having cuisine from all around India.
5. You find the bosses washing plates or serving coffee to everyone in the team.
6. Training and development starts with how to sit on your chair, or switch off the fans/lights/plug points when you leave.
7. Jay is about employee management (work hard) where as Waqar is about employee retention (party harder).
8. Everyone is single and the only married person never tells the new guy she’s married.
9. Calories are discussed with lots of seriousness, and promises are made to join the gym or climb up the stairs to office next day. Few minutes later you’ll here things like, “hello? yeah, please send a large cheese burst, with extra chicken toppings” OR “bhaiyya ek paneer roll bhejna jaldi” OR “ek plate sev puri, doh plate bhel puri, aur dahi papdi chaat”
10. Wearing formals is considered “weird” and sometimes even a sign that you went for a job interview somewhere else!
11. After 9pm you’ll hear rock/trance/bollywood/hip-hop music in the private terrace lounge of our office, and the air will be filled with the smell of Apple, Pan Masala, Kacchi Kairee, and god knows what! (various hukka flavours).
12. Every Monday the office looks like that scene from the movie “Hangover”, when everyone wakes up and can’t remember what happened last night. Basically, like a place where you know someone had a rocking weekend!
13. Ex employees are often dropping by to say how much they miss us. Basically, you might stop working here but will never stop hanging out.
14. Don’t be surprised if you find an email in your inbox with the Subject: “Please Flush Your Shit!” (if you ever don’t flush after, ahem)
15. You hear a Bengali guy from our hacker (dev room) room, shouting like an Arab –“WaaaaalLLlllAAaaahhHH! Tum kya karti, WaaaaalLLlllAAaaahhHH!”
So if you want to join the mad gang, drop us a line on [email protected]

14Apr

Women and the Glass Ceiling

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[mashshare] March 8 –International Women’s Day, celebrated across nations to cherish and acknowledge women who have been a part of our lives. Corporate India is more so celebrating it to reward its women employees and appear all women friendly.

November 19 – International Men’s Day – I don’t even remember celebrating it here in India!
This difference, in the way these two days are celebrated sets me thinking. Is it that Women’s Day is celebrated only to make women “feel” that they are respected and regarded as one among the men?

The role women have played in society has changed drastically in the past few decades, especially so in India. They have grown from strength to strength, from being home makers to leading some of the biggest corporate houses today.

Though women have proven their mettle time and again, their ability is often questioned! Some question their strength, some their commitment while others question their ability to perform professionally, vis-à-vis their male counterparts. Women have been facing the “glass ceiling” effect ever since they tried venturing into the male dominated business scene.

This glass ceiling can be felt in more ways than one. For instance, women are paid differently for the same work when compared to men, or they are often excluded from informal networks, etc. They also face another ceiling called the “hour glass ceiling” which means they’re discriminated against, based on the number of hours they work. Women also face a lot of hindrances in progressing upwards in the corporate ladder, and not to mention – Sexual Harassment too! These noticeable and commonly known issues relating to working women, proves that corporates tend to have preconceptions and stereotypes about women workers and their abilities, which makes them behave in a way which is discriminating against women and their spirit.

I wonder how this discrimination even came in. I don’t want to be a sexiest and blame all the men for it! From a rational point of view, I fail to understand the difference in what women and men do. Men work outside their homes to earn a living while women work equally hard to run a house and raise a family of well groomed individuals. Both men and women put in the same amount of work. As far as I understand, “the man” being superior came in when they started taking part in commerce from where they earned money, and money being a way to buy things that one wants made women depend on them ages ago. This dependence is seen fading off in today’s age and often men find it difficult to accept this change. I do not blame them for not liking the change, after all most of us don’t like change!

Workplaces need to be more responsive and to create situation where men and women are treated with equal dignity. Corporates need to be more open to women leaders who have the ability to cut through a male dominated work place, and make their own mark.

There is a common thread that unites all women. They were strong, intelligent, individualistic, and comfortable with themselves as women. Strong women don’t need male pretensions and don’t emulate male behavior. There are lots of examples of women who have stood their ground in testing times and emerged victorious. To name a few – Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, Chanda Kochhar, Indira Nooyi, Barkha Dutt, Kiran Bedi. The women on my list achieved what they did before the feminist movement told us that such feats were not possible for women living in a “man’s world”. These women achieved great stature, not by adopting male behavior, but by using the strengths that are unique to women and not possessed by many men.

(This is dedicated to all women at Sutra)
Cheers to Women Power!
(This article is not in favour of women and against men. It is a perspective on the Glass Ceiling that women face in spite of being capable and worthy)