'ADAPT' Remains the Key for Companies to Survive the Pandemic

By: Ankita Singh, Senior Vice President & Global Head: HR, Admin, IT, Travel, CIGNEX Datamatics

Ankita has over 22 years of progressive experience in managing and leading various aspects of Human Resources spanning across high paced business domains of ITES. In addition to all functions of HR, Ankita overseas other enabling functions like Administration, Travel, and Resource Management.

We don't know where we are headed! I feel we are all in the process of experiencing, experimenting, and exploring. Individuals and organizations are living days as they approach. Perhaps all strategies have become obsolete in a true sense, owing to the shift and pace of change of today's NEW and NEXT normal.

Pandemic compelled individuals to rethink and realign their preferences as it introduced numerous prospects and windows to explore. Unexpectedly, every element of personal and professional life became boundaryless, and individuals didn't shy away from exploring those new spaces. The pros and cons of open, flexible, ever-changing, and boundaryless work, workforce, and workplaces arrived with that.

We are all living with one word, "ADAPT"; that's the only way IN and OUT. We have all witnessed a drastic transformation in the approach, processes, and strategies in all business enabling functions; hiring is no different! The magic mantra here, too, was ADAPT; organizations kept acknowledging and adapting to the transformations required to stay and excel in the talent game. Companies should continuously implement the same in recruitment to survive, sustain and thrive. "ADAPT" stands for AUTHENTIC, DIFFERENTIATOR, ACCOMODATIVE, PREDICTIVE, and TECHNOLOGY based approach. Elaborating slightly more on these:

Authentic: Candidates wish to join a company that walks the talk, respects individuality, and honors commitments. The hiring process and the hiring person represent the culture of the company. The hiring team must understand that they present, promise and commit only what's real and doable. In today's tech world, where people have multiple offers, they won't take much time to leave a workplace different from what was promised to them. So, the hiring team has to be true to self, system, and people!

Differentiate: Differentiator gets you distinguished and noticed. Today when every organization is doing their best to win the talent war, it becomes more crucial than ever to strategize to offer more than others in the market. Here, I am talking about parity, role, culture, and the entire process; candidate experience plays a vital role. They should feel that they are required, they are and will be valued, and will grow with the system. Journey, once they join, can be managed well with passing days, but the foremost part of this ethical game is to get a person in. We must do things differently by becoming a little more human, along with our magical tech tools, to hire one. So, stay unique!

Accommodative: Everybody has gone through enough in the last two years. People want empathy, understanding, and care more than before. They may not be available all the time for an interview, even though we may feel that we are doing a favor on them by offering them a job. People seek respect; we can't promise to provide that throughout the tenure if we can't show that initially. Listen, understand and accommodate. We all have stories; understand the unsaid ones to give comfort and get talent. So, stay compassionate!

Predictive: We have all accepted that the pace at which everything around us is changing is unimaginable and uncontrollable in some sense. It's mature to endure that, but organizations must define their future strategies and trends they want to follow based on internal and external research. Organizations can't afford to do anything because they don't know what the future holds; they have to give and do their best to gauge the current situation and have a plan in place to meet the needs of the future, be it investing in internal hiring, future skills identification, market demand or skill ++ needs. With available resources and data, organizations should be doing future mapping to meet the speed of the change and need. So, following a trend is good, but building one will be great!

Technology: Last but the most important one. Today, few may say that technology is just an enabler, but the truth is, it is THE enabler. There should be no running away from accepting that technology is the present and the future of every aspect of life. The Sooner we accept and invest in tech, the better we align ourselves to the market and competition. Not stating that it can replace the human aspect, human intervention and presence will stay as a primary factor in creating a differentiator/unique edge, but relying only on conventional methods and staying away from tech will be disastrous to any organization. It's essential to use tools, analytics, platforms to automate what needs to be automated, so the hiring team gets more time to engage human to human to understand, enable and hire. So, connect through people but facilitate through technology.

We are part of a self-paced era; things around us are dramatically changing in no time. These changes are impacting individuals more than anything else. Trust index has gone up, but the pockets are undefined. Our recruitment strategies must be people-centric, and more than defining the same, we must communicate and showcase it to the people we intend to work with within our system.

We have to be the best to get the best!