Crowdsourcing - TimesJobscontent.timesjobs.com/docs/TJNewsletterAugust_Issue2012.pdfcrowdsourcing for recruitment purpose. Much has been said about many being smarter than a few. The

Arecently concludedTimesJobs.com surveyrevealed that nearly 57%

of the surveyed employers usecrowdsourcing for recruitmentpurpose.

Much has been said about manybeing smarter than a few. Thewisdom of the crowd orcrowdsourcing, gives precedenceto the collective wisdom of agroup of people over a singleexpert. Though not a newconcept it has recently gainedmomentum as a very efficientrecruitment tool in the new agerecruitment model Recruitment4.0, which emphasizes on

technology and networkingadvancements. Tracing thedevelopments in recruitment inthe past few years, industryexperts agree that the method offinding and seeking jobs hasevolved. Recruitment 1.0 and2.0 essentially focused on theactive job seeker and traditionalways of hiring, recruitment 3.0progressed to social media.Recruitment 4.0 goes a stepfurther and focuses on makingthe most out of the informationtechnology and networkingopportunities available onlineand offline.

According to organisations thathave used crowdsourcing morethan 60% have been highlysatisfied with the results.Among the key benefits, over60% of the surveyed employerscount efficiency and cost-effectiveness as the biggestbenefit of crowdsourcing. The

level of employee participationin crowd sourced tasks is quiteencouraging, stated nearly 55%of the surveyed organisations.Industry experts stated thatgoing by the encouragingemployee involvement in thecrowdsourcing process, the useof technique in the times tocome will only increase.

Sharing insight on thechallenges of crowdsourcing, therespondents added that whilethey find crowdsourcingeffective for many HRfunctions, there are certainlimitations which make theprocess unsuitable for someprocesses/tasks. They reasonthat since gathering, compilingand analysing responses from alarge audience size is a tediousand critical task, crowdsourcingcannot be used under pressingconditions for jobs whichrequire immediate closure.

By countering the challenges,crowdsourcing can help leveragethe available resource pool andgenerate new businessinnovations. Besides, it can alsohelp engage the current talentpool to help contribute inrecruitment and retentionprocess.

H I R I N G & B E Y O N D

VOLUME-II | ISSUE 9AUGUST 2012

www.research.timesjobs.com

“

Chetan Indap, CEO & FounderOnContract.com

“Crowdsourcingexploits the‘productivepotential of themillions’. Manywesterncountries wereoutsourcingtheir work toIndia and Chinadue to cheaplabor. But withCrowdsourcing,they can stillmanage to getthe costadvantagewithout caring ifthe provider isin the nextbuilding,Indonesia orAfrica as longas the trackrecord andreferences arewithin theireligibilitycriteria. If theentire HRcommunityadoptedcrowdsourcingapproach anddoes effectivehiring, it willhave directimpact on thebusiness.

“

Manik Kinra, Co-founder & CMOJademagnet.com

“

As a modelwhich allows oneto get access tomasses andselect the best fit,crowdsourcingworkswonderfully wellfor humanresourcesfunction.Especially intoday’s agewheretechnologyenables one toreach out beyondboundaries,crowdsourcingallowscompanies tohire the best fit indifferentemploymentmodels. Withmore peoplespending timeeither freelancingor moonlighting,crowdsourcingwill becomeintegral part ofhuman resourcesfor talentacquisition andengagement.

CrowdsourcingCarving the Future of Recruitement

Recently concluded TimesJobs.com survey revealedthat nearly 57% of the surveyed employers usecrowdsourcing for recruitment purpose.



HIRING & BEYOND

New Age solutions in RecruitmentKnowledge initiative by TimesJobs.com

TimesJobs.com held the firstedition of ‘BoardroomDialogues’- a focus on new age

recruitment solutions in Delhi. Theevent saw HR leaders from variedsectors discussing ideas about howemployers can attract the right peoplein the shortest time possible whilereducing recruitment cost. The panelalso talked about the role oftechnology, social tools and referrals inacquiring a better fitted and skilledwork force.

Experts reiterated that with changingtimes, recruitment as a process isbecoming social, the best talent iscoming through internal employeereferrals and this kind of talent ismore loyal to the organisation. Thediscussion also underlined that if it’scritical for candidates to have skills-aligned resume to catch the recruiter’sattention, it is equally imperative foremployers to highlight futurecompetencies required for the job whiledesigning job descriptions.

Amaresh Singh, Country HR Director,Alstom stated that there is a hugeshortage of skills in the

power/infrastructure industry at alllevels. To address this deficit, you haveto decide what will be your talentacquisition strategy - fishing orfarming.

Natasha Singh, VP-Talent Acquisition,Steria India said that recruitment isconsidered a tactical cost centre ratherthan a strategic asset.

Zenobia Madon, Head-TalentAcquisition, Philips India talked aboutthe strategic workforce planningprocess which they follow in theirorganisation to make talent acquisitioneffective in all matrixes, whether it istime, quality or cost.

“We have cut down intermediaries/consultants from our recruitmentprocess, which has resulted in betterturnaround time and saves cost,”added Purva Misra, Sr VP-HR,MakeMyTrip.com.

Manmohan Bhutani, Vice President-People & Operations, FISERV India,however, was of the opinion thatrecruitment strategies differ acrosslevels. Hiring freshers from the campusreduces cost and sets the pyramidright. However, social media is gainingtraction for middle and senior levelrecruitments.

According to Sushant Upadhyay,Partner, Aon Hewitt, these dayscompanies are focusing on the qualityof hire against volume.

In the discussion, it became evidentthat recruitment as a process isundergoing a drastic change.Recruiters are looking for sourcingmediums which can help attract,engage and hire both active and passivejobseekers. Quality of hiring hasbecome the most important aspect atall levels. Since, the trends in the tech-savvy GEN Y are led by social sites,employers are going an extra mile tobridge the gap and tap this talent pool.Employers have turned theiremployees into brand ambassadors tonetwork through their networks, tobring skilled resources, which are notavailable anywhere else.

K e y F i n d i n g s

n Employee referrals accounts fora major share of recruitmentshappening across industries.

n Hiring through referrals ensuresbetter talent and the retentionrate is higher.

n Social sites have gainedimportance for recruitment atmiddle and senior level positions

n Current job descriptions aregeneric, should instead focus onfunctional competencies.

n Job portals can assist inbackground checks.

n Companies are activelymanaging their brand in thesocial sphere and influencing thesame to create a positive image.

2

3

Survey Highlights



HIRING & BEYOND

Approximately 33% of theorganisations believe that efficiencyof the crowdsourcing process makes

it a highly effective tool for tapping newsources of talent. They stated that theprocess provides for a good output to costratio.

Another 29% employers said thatcrowdsourcing is quite a budget friendlytechnique to hire candidates. Employersbelieve that if effectively deployed,crowdsourcing is a reasonably cost-effectivemethod of recruitment. It can help source

large number of candidates at relativelylower fund outflow. It is simple to use andaids in greater employee engagement, feels19% of the surveyed organisations.Diversity of opinion coupled with thefreedom to choose the best fit from multiplealternatives makes crowdsourcing abeneficial hiring technique.

Offering employees the opportunity to bepart of decision-making process, help boostemployee morale and loyalty towards theemployer, in the long run.

According to the recent TJinsitesurvey, over 50% of the organisationshave used crowdsourcing in some

way or the other. Nearly 57% of thesurveyed employers confirmed usingcrowdsourcing largely for recruitmentpurpose. Innovation and technology havemade a huge advancement in HR space withthe rise of social media. Networking is thebuzz word in recruitment universe, today.Internal engagement is as crucial fororganisations as external networking.

Hence, companies are implementing orplanning to implement recruitment bycrowdsourcing. Besides recruitment,workforce planning is another key area,where crowdsourcing has been applied bynearly 24% of the organisations. The surveypointed out that the use of crowdsourcing isexpanding to other HR functions as wellsuch as training and development andemployee engagement; however, the usage islimited.

Rise of Crowdsourcing

Employee Engagement &Communication

9%

Use ofCrowd-

sourcing

Training &Development

10% WorkforcePlanning

24%

Recruitment

57%

29%

33%

Ea

se

of

us

e

19%

Co

s-e

ffe

cti

ve

Eff

icie

nc

y o

f th

e p

roc

es

s

19%

Mo

re e

ng

ag

em

en

t

Counting on the Benefits

4

Survey Highlights



HIRING & BEYOND

Of the 57% oforganisations whohave actually used

crowdsourcing, over 70% ofthem believe that use ofcrowdsourcing in HR willgrow at a faster pace in thefuture. According toorganizations that have triedcrowdsourcing for one or theother HR function/job theresults have been highlysatisfying and rewarding.Surmounting the challengesassociated withcrowdsourcing one can drawupon the diverse experienceand knowledge of a large,heterogeneous audience toarrive at innovativesolutions. The expertspredict a promising futurefor crowdsourcing in therecruitment space.According to Chetan Indap,

CEO & Founder,OnContract.com,“Crowdsourcing platformlike ONCONTRACT.comprovides companies theopportunity to publish theirrequirements that getshared with over 5000registered providers andthey get responses fromsome provider that theynever thought would havebeen able to deliver. Crowdsourcing, thus, hassignificantly increased theprobability of a closure.” HRhas a vital role to play ineffective implementation ofcrowdsourcing across HRfunctions. The new age HRrole encompasses bringingcollaboration andinnovation in corporateculture, feels industryexperts.

Where crowdsourcingsaves on cost, it is acomparatively time-

consuming process, statednearly 38% of the surveyedorganisations. Employersfeel that analyzing andchoosing the best fit fromthe numerous optionsgathered throughcrowdsourcing takes time.Close to 33% employersstated managing thecrowdsourcing process as abig challenge. Theyexplained that the process isquite cumbersome andtedious since it involvesmultiple stakeholders.Lesser quality control due tolarge audience size isanother key limitation ofthe crowdsourcing processin recruitment, revealed19% of the organisations.Industry experts opined thatwhen you have severalpeople doing a job it could

lead to inconsistency. Thus,quality of the process andtechnique poses a big issue.Securing confidentially isalso a major concern withcrowdsourcing. For thoseHR functions/projects whichinvolve high confidentialityclause, lack of security isdetrimental.

Manik Kinra, opines, “As amodel, crowdsourcing is stillin its early days withprocesses and maturity stillto evolve. As the modeldoesn’t allow face to facemeetings in most cases, theeffort to build the businesscase or brief is more thanthe traditional modelrequires. Also processes toensure quality, timelines etcneeds to still be furtherstrengthened acrosscrowdsourcing platforms asthe model becomes moremature.”

The Limiting factors

38%Time

Consuming

19%QualityControl

33%

ManagementProcess

10%Securing

Confidentially

Grow at a fast pace 71%

Grow at a slow place 24%

Lose momentum 5%

• 48% of theorganisationsbelievecrowdsourcing isa Valuablerecruitementtechnique

• 60% employersstated diversityof opinion as thekey element ofcrowdsourcing

• 38%organisationsstated newperspectives asthe most valuableaspect ofcrowdsourcing

• 67%organisationsopen to seekindividualopinions fromoutside companyin planning andfeedback process

• 50%organisationsprimarily usesocial media tofacilitate externalHR objectives(recruiting,promotion)

Future of Crowdsourcing in HR

The HR LeadershipCongress in Mumbai onJuly 3rd – 4th, 2012

orchestrated by The IdeasExchange and partnered by theIclif Leadership Governanceand Centre saw participationfrom senior HR, L&D andbusiness leaders spanningmyriad industries from banking

to hospitality. Vikas Vij, MD-TheIdeas Exchange gave a rallyingcall to the HR communityemphasising the alarming factthat in a country of over 1bnpeople, Indian corporates arestruggling to find enough talentto fill the existing opportunities.Iclif CEO, Rajeev Peshawariaemphasised that leadership is

the art of harnessing humanenergy towards the creation of abetter future. Nishith Desai,Founder, Nishith DesaiAssociates; P Dwarakanath,Human Capital Director, MaxIndia; Sujatha Sudheendra,Head HR, Aditya Birla Finance,concluded that it was time forHR Heads to get involved withhow their business operates. Toconclude, Priscilla Nelson,President & CEO, Nelson CohenGlobal Consulting and DavidWee, Director of Research atIclif worked with the HRcommunity turning one and ahalf of days of ground breakingand inspirational conversationsinto practical action pointspersonalised to the challengesthey were facing in theirorganisations. David Wee endedthe session showcasing the storyof Susan Boyle from Britain’sGot Talent, driving home whatthe HRLC is committed to:waking up the HR community tothe possibility of people.

5

Events



HIRING & BEYOND

HR Leadership Congress 2012Organised by Ideas Exchange

Federation of Indianchambers of commerceand Industry (FICCI)

organized Massmerize 2012 on7th August 2012. FICCI inassociation with TCS released awhite paper on “Drivingconsumption through integrated

multi-channel retailing.” TheIndianretail is poised to becomea 1.3 trillion dollar opportunityby 2020. Modern retailers in thepast have tried to capitalize thisopportunity by increasing theirstore presence across majorIndian cities. On the other hand

FMCG companies have tried toenhance their distributionreach. FICCI believes that thisopportunityhowever cannot besolely addressed by theconventional Brick &Mortarretail channel. This is becausethe opportunity is dispersedacross the country,where abillion plus customers needmillion sales and service touchpoints. Are retailers’ currentoperating models geared up tocater to such unique andubiquitous customer demandacross these million touchpoints? FICCI through theknowledge paper titled “DrivingIndian Consumption throughIntegrated MultichannelRetailing” has proposed aforward-looking 4i MultichannelMaturity Model. Through thismodel retailers can fullyleverage the potential of the allthe contemporary channelsaccessible to the Indian

consumers. FICCI-TCS believesthat modern retailers have thepotential to reach US $ 10 billionof sales throughDigital, Mobileand other non-conventionalchannel by 2020. Further thesuggested model can help Indianretailers refine their currentoperating model and help themembark on the journey towardsIntegrated MultichannelRetailing. The knowledge paperrecommends “MultichannelRetailing” as an inevitablechoice for Indian retailers intheir quest for enhancedcustomer experience andbusiness sustainability. There isa symbiotic relationshipbetween retailers and FMCGcompanies which spreads acrossthe value chain,from assortmentplanning, replenishment, spaceplanning and promotion andthus it will be imperative forFMCG & retail companies tocollaborate in this journey.

EVENTS

CALENDAR

2nd Annual CoachingConference30th-31st Aug 2012, The India HabitatCenter, DelhiOrganised by ODALTERNATIVES

5th Global SkillsSummit 20126-7th Sep 2012,Federation House, NewDelhiOrganised by FICCI

Upcoming Events

Driving Consumption through Integrated Multi Channel RetailingOrganised by FICCI

The Internet today has digitizedhumanity and how! People theworld overnow engage with their

colleagues, friends and loved onesthrough the magic world of SocialMedia. While Facebookgives them thepower to be engaged in ‘real time’,LinkedIn brings together like-mindedindividuals via common connectionstherebyleveraging both personal andprofessional relationships.Furthermore, Twitter has emerged as aplatform for netizens, to questionthought leaders across the globe with asimple tweet. This social buzz has caused a paradigmshift in the way brands communicateand has taken organizations a stepcloser to their valuable customers bypersonalizing conversations. Today,millennials have accepted the internetas a means of day-to-daycommunication.Finding the right kind of people thatfitperfectly with the culture of anorganization can be a challenging taskbut here is where the WorldWideWebsteps in and opens up a whole newavenue of opportunity. Say hello tocrowdsourcing! Crowdsourcing canhelp organizations build, engage andfoster communities that can be utilizedeffectively for branding and recruiting.Crowdsourcing can be described as theprocess by which a companyoutsources a task once performed byemployees,to a network of people in theform of an open invitation. A goodanalogy will be the internet and howvast its user network is. With millions of people operating outof different time zones, cultures,platforms and devices, could there be away to marshal these resources ofcollective intelligence in a systematicway to accomplish specific businessgoals? The answer is a resounding‘Yes’. With crowdsourcing one getsaccess to a pool of global resources thatcan help generate solutions overnight,literally.

A simple example of crowdsourcing isEmployee Referral Programs, a processcarried out effectively by mostorganizations. Very often organizationshave a few positions to close and send

out information to employees askingthem to help in the recruiting process.When an appropriate candidate getsselected, the employees are rewarded.Thereby it’s a win-win situation forboth the companies who’ve found talentas well as the employees who enjoy therewards. Now, imagine opening up thisparticular concept to the externalworld. Think about the kind ofpossibilities that it could create, theimpact of collective networkingofemployees and the kind of reach itgives organizations. However, one must be careful in termsof strategizing the kind of tasks,systems or processes to be outsourced.Meticulous planning and crafting ofattainable objectives while carefullydefining deliverables are imperative.One should also remember thatcrowdsourcing is not a replacement buta usefuland additional resource totraditional methods. Building, aligningand infusing attractive incentives intothe crowd sourcing strategy will ensurea win: win situation.While crowdsourcing any task orprocess, one must make sure that clearand concise instructions are providedupfront. The following principles couldbe kept in mind; firstly, one needs tomake sure that the brief is conciseenough for the crowd so that thereader’s time is not wasted. Secondly,one must be prepared at all times toprovide feedback at regular intervals.Also, when trying out ideas, one mustmake sure that the approach beingused is right. Just because a particularcampaign was crowdsourcedsuccessfully there is no guarantee thatthe same will work for othercampaigns. When it comes to data andtracking, one should focus on numbersthat matter in the given context and notget caught up with unnecessarymetrics. Lastly, one needs to make surethat the reward being offered isinspiring enough for people toparticipate. Remember, in theirmotivation lies your success!

6

Guest Column



HIRING & BEYOND

The ‘social’ future of talent management

Savneet Shergill Head Talent Acquisition, Dell India

Savneet is the headtalent acquisition forDell India. She plays apivotal role inenhancing the growthof the business through‘best in class’ talentacquisition practices.Her career spans17years of experienceacross training,generalist HR andrecruitment. Thisincludes 6 years in theIndian Air force and therest in Wipro and DellInternational.



HIRING & BEYOND

Recent News

7

Social media likes and dislikes can affect your job?If social media websites like Linkedin, Twitter and Facebook canhelp you find a job and build your corporate network, when used thewrong way can also backfire and jeopardize a job offer or even yourcurrent job, told experts to TJinsite, research and knowledge arm ofTimesJobs.com. It is therefore important to be careful while usingsocial media to search a job or anything concerning youremployment or employer. "Rants about your boss or your job, whichwere once reserved for after-work drinks are now being voiced in thesocial media sphere. Workplace complaints are surely not good foryour social profile", remarked Gitanjali Puri, Director-Marketing,CSC India.n The Economic Times, July 2012

Salary package drive job decisions of Indian workforceApproximately 77% of the Indian workforce is willing tocompromise on the job location if offered an attractive salarypackage revealed a survey conducted by TJinsite, research andknowledge arm of TimesJobs.com. Having learnt lessons from thedownturn of 2008, employees are more concerned about theirsustainability in the organization and job profile than the joblocation. In the battle between job profile and salary package,employees have rated both the attributes somewhat equally.However, the TJinsite survey revealed that monetary benefits scorehigh on preferences of the workforce; work profile is what holdsthem to a job.n The Economic Times, July 2012

Small businesses offer better perks to employees While there is no general rule why a smaller company is a betterplace to work than a larger company, small organisations do offeradvantages, which are otherwise difficult to avail in a big company.In the case of small organisation, focus point is not salary butcareer growth opportunities and better discretionary perks to

recognize employees' contribution, which give these companies acompetitive edge over bigger players revealed a poll conducted byTJinsite, research and knowledge arm of TimesJobs.com. Theadvantage of working in any small company arises out of thisability to attend to detail.n The Economic Times, July 2012

Employees perform better in learning organizations "A learning organization has the ability to succeed on a global scalebecause they can navigate the new markets better. They will knowwhich learning from their old world can fit in the new market andwhat won't", claimed Abhijit Bhaduri, Chief Learning Officer, WiproLtd, during a "High-Tea" session, a dedicated chat platform onTimesJobs.com for candidates to ask career related queries fromexperts. In his words, a learning organization is one that has thecapability to adapt to internal and external changes. Theorganization does this by creating processes and systems thatencourage people to calibrate the assumptions that govern thebusiness and the people. n The Economic Times, July 2012

Salary, leaders and work-life balance crucial toemployees Approximately 30% of the workforce highlighted remuneration asthe top reason to work in a company in a survey conducted byJobBuzz, a career research platform of TimesJobs.com, which givesjobseekers the information to make intelligent career decisions. Thesurvey further revealed that 'leadership team' and 'work-life balance'was voted by 26% employees and together holds the second positionin the top reason to work list. While the overall contribution ofother prime factors such as career growth opportunities (10%),learning & development (6%) and brand name (3%) remained below20% in the list.n The Economic Times, July 2012

TJ RESEARCH IN NEWS

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or call +91 11 23487266 / +91 11 23487253 / +91 11 9990409086





or call +91 11 23487266 / +91 11 23487253 / +91 11 9990409086



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Disclaimer: Information provided in this newsletter shall not be reproduced, published, re-sold or otherwise distributed inany medium without the prior written permission of TimesJobs.com and a clear acknowledgement to TimesJobs.com.Contact: TJinsite, TimesJobs.com, Plot No 6, Sector 16A, Film City, Noida. Write in to [email protected]

Copyright ©2012 Times Business Solutions Limited. All rights reserved.

The proliferation of socialmedia and web technologieshas resulted in many newtrends and buzz words. Oneof them is Crowd Sourcing. By definition, crowdsourcing is the outsourcingof tasks such as ideageneration and feedback to alarge group or community(crowd) through openplatforms. Traditionallysuch tasks had beenperformed by internal teamsor experts. Thanks totechnology and socialplatforms, they are nowbeing performedsuccessfully by employees,customers, suppliers or eventhe members of the public. In a nutshell, crowdsourcing is asking yourcommunity, “We have achallenge – can you find ananswer?” The concept ofcrowd sourcing has beenused successfully by manycompanies like Amazon, GE,Facebook, IBM, Pepsi andP&G to generate ideas whichhave helped them createinnovative products andservices. So, how does crowd sourcingwork in the recruitment andHR space? To understandthis let’s look at some trendsfrom recruitment and HR.We are now in therecruitment 3.0 stage. Priorto that, recruitment 1.0 and2.0 focused on the active jobseeker and traditional jobportals worked like magic.In today’s recruitment 3.0stage, there is much greateremphasis on the passive job

seeker. With the rise ofsocial networks, there isgreat focus on buildingcommunities in order toattract both the active andpassive jobseeker.Referral hiring has alsogrown as companies look tocombat attrition and utilizetheir crowd of employees tofind them great candidates.Building a community ofusers who are interested intheir organisation will helpa company do both – interactwith passive job seekers as

well as have a largerexternal crowd to sourcereferrals. Employee engagement hasbecome the new HR mantra.It has been established thatthe level of employeeengagement directlyimpacts shareholder value.Engagement is complex andgoes beyond traditionalparadigms of salaries andhappy employees. Itencompasses motivation,opportunities, rewards,processes, value system,work life balance, corporatesocial responsibility andperformance management.

There is no tried and testedformula to driveengagement and companiesare striving hard to find theblueprint. Crowd sourcingcan help in this. Existingemployees can providefeedback about the level ofengagement and giveinsights into how companiescan drive it up. In turnengaged employees are alsomore active participants inreferral programs. Crowd sourcing is great. Butto make it work a company

needs to have an engagedcommunity first. To do thisone can utilize existingsocial networks. Linkedinand Facebook are the twobiggest social networkswhich can be used bycompanies. But when itcomes to HR matters, thereare specific challenges andlimitations with bothFacebook and Linkedinowing to the unique natureof company-employee andcompany –jobseekerinteractions. Primarily itcomes from context. That inturn is defined by content. Itdetermines what kinds of

users join your communityand it sets the tone for thekind of engagement whichhappens on it. Both FB andLinkedin are too generic.For a company it oftenbecomes difficult to separatethe users who want to joinyour company and thosewho want to use yourproducts and services. The other challenges comefrom privacy of informationand identity. If a companywants feedback fromemployees on its HRpractises, then it isimportant that theemployees’ identity isprotected. At the same time,the company would not likethe feedback to be visible tothe whole world. There is aneed for recruitment and HRspecific platforms whichhave the right content, theright audience and the righttools for both sets of users.Remember that crowdsourcing is a method. Youneed the right tools to makeit work.

Source:www.JobBuzz.timejobs.comJobBuzz is an India specificrecruitment community ofcompanies, employees andpotential jobseekers,launched by TimesJobs.com.It has rich content in theform of over 2 lakhcontributions - reviews,ratings, interviewinformation, salary data andindustry reports coveringover 5000 companiesoperating in India.

Crowd sourcing has three important benefits

lGreat solutions to problem from your keystakeholders – be it customers or employees

lWisdom of the crowd – as beautifully elucidated inJames Surowiecki’s book “The Wisdom of theCrowds, a large, diverse crowd of people is moreintelligent than the smartest expert out there

l Vested interest from people who are potentially newcustomers or stake holders for you

How companies can use Crowdsourcing forrecruiting and other HR requirements?

3

Interview

VOLUME-II | ISSUE 6MAY 2012


HIRING & BEYOND

How the Power of the Crowd isdriving the future of Business?The term “crowdsourcing” was coinedby Jeff Howe back in 2006, he describeda new way of sourcing people who arewilling to help or work on a project.Enough people with sufficient time cantransform into a lot of availablemanpower. Crowdsourcing enables acompany to solve its internal andexternal problem by broadcasting itsproblems to a larger audience whichmay be an unstructured anddistributed group of people. With moreand more focus being laid oncollaboration, and people gettingcomfortable with social mediaplatforms like Facebook, twitter etc,crowdsourcing as a technology is hereto stay. It is certain to play animportant role in shaping the future ofour business. New kinds of businessmodels are sure to evolve aroundcrowdsourcing, in a few years fromnow. It may be impossible to shy awayfrom crowdsourcing and it may bedifficult to not be a part of it. Thebasic idea is to tap into the collectiveintelligence of the public at large tocomplete business-related tasks. Itenables managers to expand the size oftheir talent pool while also gainingdeeper insight into what customersreally want. Crowdsourcing can also beeffectively used to solve parts of aproblem, or to get quick fixes andsolutions. It does not always have tofocus on providing or asking for acomplete solution or product.

How can companies benefit fromcollective wisdom/ crowdsourcing?Are you seeing any industriesadopting this concept in India?Collective wisdom and collaboration isthe crux of crowdsourcing. Byeffectively using crowdsourcing,companies are sure to reap enormousbenefits. The ability to tap into theexperience and talent of people in acollaborative manner is probably thebiggest advantage of crowdsourcing; itcan be used as an effective and hasslefree marketing tool. Currently we havenot used crowdsourcingexternally, but,within the Company we have been forsome time now and are deriving richbenefits from this medium. The

various applications that we have oncrowd range from – helping peopledevelop small utilities that can be usedat the Enterprise level, therebycreating a pool of utilities for use inthe organization, to providing aplatform to help employees pick uptechnologies to ensure they get onprojects quickly. It helps employeespick up new technologies therebybuilding communities around thelatest technology trends. Instead ofindividually duplicating effortscrowdsourcing has helped uscollaborate and arrive at better andfaster solutions. This has also beenvery effectively used as acommunication tool, therebyincreasing transparency in the

company, and better levels of employeeengagement. We have also usedcrowdsourcing as an employee referraltool and in recruitment to get employeereferences.

Do you see any future potential ofcrowdsourcing in HR, especially inthe domain of recruitment?Crowdsourcing plays a very vital rolein the area of recruitment and in factthat seems to be the first area to catchup in HR. Crowdsourcing as a conceptseems to suit itself perfectly torecruitment and HR as it is a way toreach out to passive candidates and it isfree! People love public recognition andreward so crowdsourcing can be usedas means to recognize and rewardreferrals. As companies build theirown database communities, they canuse creative ways to source and rewardtalent as necessary. A couple of otherinitiatives that have been successful forus, at Persistent Systems, are “Breakke Baad” where we have created aplatform for Mother’s who are trying tomake a comeback after a break, wehave taken their help in conductinginterviews on weekends or at timesthat may be convenient to them.

How can companies effectivelyutilize this phenomenon? What arethe critical elements ofcrowdsourcing?Companies can utilize crowdsourcingin number of ways. It is the best wayfor knowledge management; it can beeffectively used for expert advice andcustomer support. A company actuallyused crowdsourcing for supporting aparticular brand of desktops for theemployees through a communitysupport and saved on the IT investmentrequired.Critical elements of crowdsourcingare:1. Democratic management style2. Nature of job should be such that itcan be divided into number ofindependent packets that can beeasily distributed and consolidated

3. System support to make it availableto the crowd

4. Clear thought to the legal andsecurity implications

Crowdsourcing

As the Chief People Officer ofPersistent Systems Limited,Sameer is responsible forPersistent’s Global HRpractices, PeopleEngagement, TalentAcquisition and Developmentinitiatives. Sameer bringswith him over 20 years ofstrong experience coveringvariety of roles in technology,finance and operations.Priorto Persistent Sameer was anentrepreneur running hisown industry Nagpur MotorsPvt. Ltd. manufacturingelectric motors.

Sameer BendreChief People officer,Persistent Systems

Documents

Crowdsourcing - TimesJobscontent.timesjobs.com/docs/TJNewsletterAugust_Issue2012.pdfcrowdsourcing for recruitment purpose. Much has been said about many being smarter than a few. The