Plus, sourcing tools and the power of social and professional platforms have become enduring parts of hiring strategy.
“Forty percent of all niche hires were sourced and closed by LinkedIn, Fishbowl, Bayt, Seek and other global platforms. And 60% of all niche frontline were sourced and hired from Naukri, Campus, etc,” said Saurabh Arora, founder of student housing platform University Living.
However, interestingly, Arora added, “A whopping 80% entry-level workforce is screened and embedded with use care of AI and ML screening tools such as Zoho Recruit, Turbohire, Recruitee, etc.”
If you are one of the lucky few who make it beyond the initial assessment, be prepared for a bevy of unorthodox questions. For example: Share an experience of yours you wish to tell but can’t tell?
Arora said, “While such questions may seem unconventional, they’ve often provided me with valuable insights into candidates’ personalities and their potential fit for our company culture.”
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Anirudh Arun, co-founder of BluSmart, India’s first all-electric ride-hailing mobility service, concurs with Arora on the topic of cultural fit. “Cultural alignment is key because without it, people talk past each other and not with one another. The softer aspects can really create a difference, it helps create camaraderie at the workplace and fosters empathy.”But don’t be surprised if Arun disappears midway through your interview with him for a couple of minutes and returns with an out-of-the-box question or assignment.
“I have started doing something new, especially for roles I’ve not hired for before. During interviews, I have a ChatGPT prompt window open, and it helps me structure questions or gives me assignments which help me gauge the competencies of the candidate,” he said.
He is convinced that most of these questions can be answered, and assignments solved with a firm command over communication and math.
Arun said, “If you can think logically and critically and communicate it effectively, you’re already in the 95th percentile in the potential hiring pool because these skills, although seemingly common, are not that common.”
Sameer Aggarwal, founder of Revfin, a digital lending fintech company for the financially excluded, has gone a step further and thrown a prospective ‘head’ into the deep end in the past by asking them to lead/mentor a team of strangers in a simulated case-study based interaction.
Revfin has an interview round dedicated specifically to gauging cultural fit and value alignment, Aggarwal said, “Hiring has become more robust and has always been merit-focused and the standard hiring consists of a domain round and a round where cultural fit and value alignment is assessed.”