Women Participation in Technical Profiles - The Figures Does Not Look Promising

According to published sources, the percentage of technical positions held by women in many multinational firms does not look impressive. In case of Microsoft, women constitute around 30% of the entire workforce of the company. But women holding the technical positions are merely 17% and in leadership roles the percentage rises to 23%. In case of Twitter, women in technical roles constitute a mere 10% and in leadership positions it is 21%. In Google, women holding technical positions are 17% with 21% in managerial roles. The figures remain more or less similar for Apple, Facebook, Amazon, Intel and many others. These figures directly point towards the fact that women are least involved in the product development and business strategy formulation processes. Also, the 30% of women employment has a back story as well. Previously, the management and technical aspects were totally handled by men. After the rising concern for the need of workforce diversity, though women were lead in to such positions, the percentage has been stuck at low levels. Specifically it is commonly seen that there is on an average only one women in such teams and people are not paying attention to the issue.

There are certain major adjustments required in terms of perspectives and attitude in this regard. Firstly, women who have MBA degrees do not go for highly technical positions. There is a mindset that the technical positions will be filled in by geeks who are believed to be working round the clock. This creates a lot of pressure on women which puts down the interest and they do not prefer this extra push. Secondly, the most talked about reasoning is the pay gap. In most cases it has been seen that female employees are paid way less than their male peers. The reasoning behind this discrimination cannot be strategically explained till date.

With all these hindrances it is high time that the issue be dealt with proper initiation.

• First and foremost, an in depth analysis is required in terms of women employee density within the workforce. Then a research concerning women in technical roles has to be done to look in to the current stand point. If the situation is on the lower end then, a job consultancy may be helpful in recruiting women candidates.
• It has to be kept in mind that just filling out positions with women candidates would not be helpful. Hence the job consultancy can be useful in short listing worthy candidates with appropriate skill set and professional experience.
• In certain cases an overhaul in the company policies may be required in order to make the work environment favourable for the women employees. This also increases the retention rate.
• Equal opportunity environment should be practiced within the organization wherein every employee irrespective of the gender, gets a chance to showcase his or her skills, creativity and share suggestions from time to time.

Creating a gender balanced work environment does not essentially refer to hiring women employees randomly. It requires high level of analysis and planning for the business benefit in the long run.

Executive Training - A Tool of Learning

Executive training also referred to as executive coaching aims at improvement of skill set or managing changes in business growth. It is considered as one of the most critical aspects of a company. Many companies are now days implementing executive coaching in their business process in order to upgrade the knowledge base of the workforce. It helps in understanding the upbeat market trends and crisis management at a significant level. There are certain prime benefits of executive coaching which are as follows.

• Increasing the knowledge base of the workforce in turn increases the productivity of the employees. This results in business and revenue growth in long term.
• It opens up the insight regarding the areas of improvement in terms of knowledge. It also helps in bringing out the skill set of certain employees to a great extent. 
•  Imparting knowledge through executive coaching helps in faster advancement of business process which gives better outcome in the long term. 
• The executive training can be used for the development of the management skill. It helps in developing decision making abilities and crisis management. The executives can then be considered for the managerial roles and strategic planning.
• It helps in professional growth which is facilitated with the help of feedback system. 
• The company can be benefited with increased brand loyalty and higher retention rate. Employees feel confident about their company and this builds up a dependable professional relationship.
• A well informed and knowledgeable workforce helps in attracting new clientele for the business.
• The executive training programs induces a positive attitude towards daily tasks and work environment.

With all these benefits there are certain factors which have to be kept in mind while implementing executive training within an organization.

• A thorough research has to be done at first in order to understand the current standing of the workforce in terms of skill set and at the same time latest market innovations. Based on these two factors the training program should be designed and developed.
• A consistent standard should be maintained in terms of coaching material, trainer and the entire system so that the process is beneficial both at the employee and the employer end.
• An assessment system should be in place in order to analyze the level of understanding and implementation of the executives. It also helps in recognizing any short falls of the program. 
• The feedback system should be in place in order to understand the executive opinion about the program and any other requirement for additions.
• The program should be intended towards individual knowledge gain rather than the overall impact. This helps in building of skill set at a micro level.
• The final evaluation of the training program should be done to understand the end to end impact on the workforce. 
• Since the executive training program design and implementation requires analysis and planning to a certain level, so an executive search firm can be appointed for the purpose.

Market Intelligence Influencing The Recruitment Process

The market intelligence refers to the information related to the business markets which are scrutinized and analyzed for the purpose of strategic planning and decision making. The area of research includes opportunities, penetration rate and development scope. In recent years, the concept of market intelligence has been combined with the HR segment in order to understand the trends and innovation to take up HR based decisions in a more accurate manner. Hence it is essential to put forth the advantages of combining market intelligence with recruitment process.

•  The primary benefit of the market intelligence in recruitment is to make better planning in a more informative manner. It gives organized data on the job posting portals and their market reach. This aids in better choice of the platform. If a company plans to outsource the recruitment process to an external agency, then it helps in analyzing the reach and performance of the agency. A research on their client profile and industries served gives a fair idea about the performance matrix.
•  It helps in locating the target area for candidate search. Often, companies look for location based profiles for a particular position due to financial terms or communication ease. Market intelligence can be helpful in this kind of search. It essentially does not mean rejecting the rest. In certain cases, it helps in determining the recruitment approach. Out station candidates can be identified who cannot appear for a face to face interview can be opted for video interviews. This approach helps in streamlining the entire process bringing down the costs.
• It may not directly contribute towards candidate selection but it helps in understanding the client requirements and linking it to the workforce requirement as well. Sometimes, a certain project requires additional workforce or a professional with a different skill set than the existing employee base. The primary skill set of the existing workforce of the company can be identified. It can also be used to take the decision of hiring a full time resource or contractual hiring or going for the outsourcing.
• The market information also includes the workforce information as well. It can help in understanding the density of professionals for a particular skill set within a market. It gives the information related to the freshers and experienced professionals, job iteration rates and the possible reasons behind the same in order to handle crisis management better.
• The market intelligence in the HR segment helps in reaching out to other HR executives and consultants who have valuable suggestions regarding the recruitment process which helps in finding the right candidate for the job within a specific budget.

Market Intelligence Influencing The Recruitment Process

The market intelligence refers to the information related to the business markets which are scrutinized and analyzed for the purpose of strategic planning and decision making. The area of research includes opportunities, penetration rate and development scope. In recent years, the concept of market intelligence has been combined with the HR segment in order to understand the trends and innovation to take up HR based decisions in a more accurate manner. Hence it is essential to put forth the advantages of combining market intelligence with recruitment process.

•  The primary benefit of the market intelligence in recruitment is to make better planning in a more informative manner. It gives organized data on the job posting portals and their market reach. This aids in better choice of the platform. If a company plans to outsource the recruitment process to an external agency, then it helps in analyzing the reach and performance of the agency. A research on their client profile and industries served gives a fair idea about the performance matrix.
•  It helps in locating the target area for candidate search. Often, companies look for location based profiles for a particular position due to financial terms or communication ease. Market intelligence can be helpful in this kind of search. It essentially does not mean rejecting the rest. In certain cases, it helps in determining the recruitment approach. Out station candidates can be identified who cannot appear for a face to face interview can be opted for video interviews. This approach helps in streamlining the entire process bringing down the costs.
• It may not directly contribute towards candidate selection but it helps in understanding the client requirements and linking it to the workforce requirement as well. Sometimes, a certain project requires additional workforce or a professional with a different skill set than the existing employee base. The primary skill set of the existing workforce of the company can be identified. It can also be used to take the decision of hiring a full time resource or contractual hiring or going for the outsourcing.
• The market information also includes the workforce information as well. It can help in understanding the density of professionals for a particular skill set within a market. It gives the information related to the freshers and experienced professionals, job iteration rates and the possible reasons behind the same in order to handle crisis management better.
• The market intelligence in the HR segment helps in reaching out to other HR executives and consultants who have valuable suggestions regarding the recruitment process which helps in finding the right candidate for the job within a specific budget.

Candidate Centric Approach For Hiring

The candidate centric business model is on the rise in recent times in the corporate world. It refers to the candidate as the point of recruitment, job order conduct and sales for an organization. Previously, the whole concentration of the business model was centred on clients. But as the number of clients increased, the employees and candidates became neglected. This resulted in the drifting away of potential candidates from the companies. But when the businesses concentrated on the candidate centric approach, the clients were benefitted eventually.

The major activities related to the candidate centric model are interviews, organization chart based on prospects and references. The major outcomes expected from the activities are job order, job order leads, active and passive candidates. The business related benefits of the candidate centric approach are as follows.

• The empowerment of the recruiters is the key take away in this model. The recruiters are majorly satisfied about their job role and more confident in performing their responsibilities in the candidate centric model. They get the optimum scope to build their own candidate network to bring in rich talent pool for various profiles. This also helps in finding out the best candidates within the familiar network. The recruiter also form part of various events and discussions related to the company which helps in valuable contribution in terms of suggestions and ideas.

• The contribution of the hiring managers becomes more evident in the recruitment and selection of the candidates. Their role is no more restricted towards giving instructions for the recruitment just by informing the requirement. Their job role becomes much more productive. They share a beneficial relationship with the recruiters. They help in maintaining the talent pool and keeping the relationships in the right place. They help in sustaining the Candidate Relationship Management (CRM) system for the reliability of the recruitment process.

• The candidates feel a sense of respect during the recruitment and selection. The mistakes and slip ups related to the selection process is minimized to a great extent. Previously there were a lot of cases wherein the candidate details were not checked in properly by the recruiters. This resulted in the last minute cancellations and rejections. With this approach, outreach has become personalized. The candidate details are accessible to the every required professional at the same time.

The hiring process of the candidate centric business model is a bit different than the other models. In this, a candidate is hired after a technical screening and one who is compatible to work within a team. Then the candidate is on boarded in to the system. The final choice of joining a particular team lies with the candidates itself. They get to pick the team they will work in. This has resulted in a higher productivity rate till date. The feedback from such candidate end is mostly on the positive side with a higher retention rate.

Hence the candidate centric business model contributes greatly towards employee engagement and optimum productivity in the long run.

The Rise Of Network Team – The New Age Organizational Structure

The traditional organization structure was based on hierarchy. While it worked wonders until now, the modern age technologies, fast paced developments and rising demand both within the organization and externally have led to the bottleneck for such a structure. Hence the companies are moving away from the traditional models to a more interconnected structure. This has resulted in the concept of network of teams. When a project is assigned to a team, they no more work in isolation; rather they are now interacting with various segment of business like operations, technology and such like. The network structure is characterized by a less hierarchical approach which is flexible and decentralized. In such a structure the team leaders not only coordinate within the team but also externally for the desired output. There are many advantages of network teams within organizations.

• The first and foremost benefit which is recognized in the today’s corporate structure is the knowledge transfer. With the help of networking within teams, the passing of information becomes easy and effective. If a particular team or an individual has gained training regarding a particular skill set then sharing it within the network passes on the information to others who might need a part or whole of it.
• It helps in channelizing creative ideas and approaches regarding a process or initiative. These ideas reach out to the management in a faster pace and can be strategically undertaken for the better productivity or building up a stronger workforce.
• Previously, getting the word out within the hierarchical structure was difficult. But with network teams it is easy and effective. For example, an assignment is handed over to a particular team for which they are understaffed in terms of knowledge or certain technology oriented information. When the news is set out, other teams with the proper skill set can be reassigned the assignment or can intervene in certain areas for the successful deliverable's.
• Complete utilization of the resources can be facilitated through this approach.
• It cuts down the costs to a considerable extent in terms of training and outsourced help.

With all the benefits of a network team organization, there are a certain pointers to be kept in mind for the implementation of this system.

• The existing organizational structure has to be taken in to consideration before the implementation of the network organization.
• Setting up of a real time information network is beneficial in this case. This helps in analyzing the way employees seek and find the information.
• The conversion of the departments which are associated with services towards other teams in to shared service groups is a constructive step in this case.
•  The reward and compensation systems need to be remodeled.
• Recruitment and selection process also needs to be reformed in order to hire people who are active towards communications and can effective set within such a structure.

The hierarchical organization is slowly phasing out. The network based approach is run parallel to the hierarchy approach in many organizations now days keeping in to consideration its benefits in the long run.

Career Acceleration Programmes Becoming Essential For Employee Retention

The Career Acceleration Programme refers to a training session wherein an individual’s projected career growth is highlighted with respect to the growth of the organization. It essentially includes three major pointers which are complete knowledge on the career goals with respect to the company, future scope of responsibility enhancement and effective growth of leadership abilities with respect to the job profile. The career acceleration programmes are currently one of the fundamental segments of the recruitment process. There are certain benefits of the same towards the employee and the employer.

For the employee:

• The primary advantage of career acceleration programmes is the knowledge of the future perspectives of the company which will be in line with the career growth of the individual. This knowledge helps the employee to understand his or her importance within the system and builds a better relationship with the employer.
• This initiative helps in building up the leadership skills and the decision making perceptions for the employee for future managerial positions.      
• Client interactions and better strategic management quality is developed within the employee for reaching the career goals. This also facilitates better communication and team work also.
• The training and knowledge gaining leads to better productivity and clarity regarding the work environment.

For the employer:

• The most important factor of career acceleration programme is that it helps to build the trusted relationships with the workforce. If the employees are informed about their own career growth path in relation to the company’s growth then it leads to the buildup of better brand loyalty.
• If the career goals are convincing, then it also helps in better employee retention. In this regard it is crucial to mention that when these programmes become a part of the recruitment process then it becomes all the more beneficial. When an individual joins a company fresh, he or she does not have a clear picture of future prospects of the company or personal career growth options. Through this programme, the knowledge can be passed on for better employee retention.
• The professionals can be motivated to take up greater responsibilities and open up to new creative idea submissions, beneficial to the business. Better productivity is also facilitated.
• It helps the business to plan ahead and analyze the future opportunities and challenges with respect to the markets and industry. It will in turn help in better crisis management.
• Strategic planning and engaging the workforce through various training sessions will be more beneficial in this regard.

Career acceleration programme are no more restricted to the employees who have been working in the organization for long. It is now being accepted as a mandatory step towards hiring of fresh recruits. The benefit of corporate relationship buildup and higher retention probability are the chief driving factors behind these programmes. GlobalHunt, a pioneer in recruitment services have been assisting its clients along the similar lines for more than a decade. For any assistance, please visit the website for further assistance.