Notes: PROJECT FORE COURT

Raju – Sriram 6/10/2003

Nirmit

Kartavya – Abhi - Sanjeev

PROJECT FORE COURT

The important elements of this project are:

Ø Mass Recruitment of 700 - 900 persons

- Never done by us before/nor by anyone else

Ø Very tight Time-Frame

- Just 10 / 12 weeks from green signal (zero date)

( i.e. Receipt of commercially clear Purchase order accompanied by retainer)

Ø Scope of work

- Drafting of advt.

- Receiving & rating 2 lakh applications

- Tele Interviewing of 40000 candidates

Ø Resource – Mobilization

o Space / HW/SW/Tele-lines & Instruments

o 11 raters

o 22 Tele-Interviewers

o 8/10 Help-Desk operators Not “Costed”

o 10/15 online D/E Operators

o 4/5 Telephone Operators

o Recruitguru Platform etc.

Quite possibly RPL will give us no more than max of 4 weeks (from zero date) to mobilize our resources. Any over-run here will eat into overall project-time. There is every possibility that RPL may attach a PENALTY-CLAUSE / RISK-PURCHASE CLAUSE / LIQUIDATED DAMAGES CLAUSE, for time overrun.

For us resource-mobilization means finding/selecting/appointing 60 persons & putting them into a large enough / furnished office. All within 3 weeks! This is going to be tough.

One possible solution could be:

Ø Group A

- 11 raters +

- 22 Interviewers

These people shall be asked to work from their homes.

At home, each will be given a PC & internet connection (phone lines)

Raters will get ONE phone connection to log into Recruitguru & Carry-out their rating (A/B/C/R/) online.

Interviewers will get TWO Phone connections

Ø One for log-into Recruitguru online & make “Interview Evaluation” entries on resumes

Ø Second for dialing-up the earlier shortlisted candidates (as per daily schedule / program available online on Recruitguru?

This means, we do not need Tele Operators. Interviewers to do their own dialling. Each phones no. dialled / & duration of phone-call will be recorded by phone-service provider (Reliance Infocom?)

We can take 2 Wireless Landline/ mobile phones of Reliance Infocom for each Interviewer. These phone-lines can connect to internet also.

(Nirmit got one for his residence).

Thru log, we will know that a particular candidate did actually get called-up & did get interviewed ordly whom.

So interviewer (because he is operating from his home) cannot simply fill-up the interviewer Evaluation Sheet, WITHOUT even phoning the candidate concerned.

We can even consider, asking the candidates to send an email, saying he was interviewed by so-and-so, on such & such date.

What are the advantages of getting raters & interviewers to operate from their own residences?

Ø No limit on no. of persons that can be pressed into this service. Everybody has a home (-most likely with a PC/a phone-line / a study-room / a wife to serve tea / an A/C if it gets warm etc. etc.).

Ø The raters & experts could be in any city (as long as they can log in)

Ø We don’t need tele-operators to dial the Candidates. Interviewers will dial themselves.

Ø Even though raters & interviewers are spred-out all over, our central all over, our central supervisor, can centrally monitor their minute-to-minute performance, directly from Recruitguru console.

Ø Interviewers can “pace” their interviews on their own, taking more or less time, depending upon the candidate.

Ø We need not indicate to the Candidates precise date & time, at which to remain present near his phone-instrument.

Now we can just tell the Candidates only the “Date” on which he should keep himself free.

Although interviewer will see, on his “Interviewer’s console” the day’s Interview-Schedule and will generally follow the sequence in which the candidate names appears, he can always skip one & go to the next, if he finds line is busy or the candidates is in the toiled ! He can always dial again, a little later or leave a message.

By only giving the “date”, we can have some interviewers start, as early as 8 am & go on till 10 pm ! they don’t waste 3 hours on the road.

And they will be free to take their tea-break / lunch-break etc. at their personal convenience (and their own cost!)

We don’t need to control / monitor that they are

1) Available in our office

2) Using their time must productive by

And,

We can pay them by “No’s Interviewed” rather than by “Hours put-In”. This will be a powerful incentive for recruiters to earn more by working longer!

Of course, to ensure that in a mad-rush to earn more money, quality must not suffer, we will stipulate

Ø Base load (No. of daily interviews)

Ø Maxim permissible Daily Interviews

Ø Minm No. of minutes / interview etc.

In our contract / agreement with the Interviewers, we will also stress that whether they will gat from us, “repeat” assignments or not will depend upon

· Not only their (QUANTITATIVE) output

But

· Their QUALITATIVE output

As well.

We will check their QUALITY (of interviewing / judgement) by plotting the percentage of candidates shortlisted by him, who finally got selected / appointed by RPL ! so, if he has done appointed. We can fix a QULITY-BONUS based based on this % age. Same logic will apply to Raters” as well.

Of course, as far as raters are concerned, I do not envisage any difficulty for them to work from their homes.

When each morning, as they log-in, they will find a list of resumes to be rated & starts their work and continue as long as they like (with or without breaks).

But here again, we must specify in their contract

· Base load / day etc.

· Max load / day

and some types of QUALITY-CONTROL stipulations.

Ø Group B

8/10 Help Desk operators

10/15 D/E operators

Although theoretically, these persons can also operate from home, - and get paid on “per piece” basis – I feel, in their case, the best solution would be to hire, so many “seats” in on existing call-centre, because these people will require “joint training” right in the beginning. By working next to each others, when they face a problem. On top of that, a Supervisor should be available to guide them.

We should negotiate / contract with the call-centre concerned for availability of these persons from 8 am to 8 pm. These timings should be boldly printed in job-advt of RPL, so that candidates do not call-up at odd hours.

One thing is quite obvious.

If the entire exercise is about “remake” of the “Employer-Brand” of Reliance, then RPL’S name has to appear in bold in the job-advts released all over the country.

If not for benefit of themselves, why should RPL spend lakhs of rupees to provide a WOW experience to candidates?

Afterall, why do we /RPL want to give to 2 lakh jobseakers, this

WOW experience ?

(For whom the bell tolls ?)

Despite this, if RPL has their own internal compelling reasons, not to put their name on the job-advt. then at least let us ensure that our / 3P & Recruitguru / names DO appear – and not inconspicuously in a corner ! If our name is on this “historical” job-advt., it will form part of all our future proposals for Mass-Recruitments, to national/multinational companies, coming into India in big way, in RETAILING.

HEMEN PAREKH

FOR CAREER-GROUTH,

INDIAN PROFFESSIONAL’S FIRST CHOICE

To project Reliance image as the preferred career-destination, we need to create for Reliance, an

EMPLOYER BRAND

Thru a punch-line such as this, which will appear on all Reliance job-advts/Interview-calls/Appointment letters etc.

( all HR related documents accessed by employees? Jobseekers)

04/10/2003

Reliance Project – Main Activities

Ø Resources Mobilization

· Space ( or a Call Centre)

· People

· Fund / Money

· Hardware Computer-related

· Software

· Other eqpt/accessories (Phonelines / Video eqpt etc.)

(Details enclosed are not comprehensive & Raju/Nirmit should draw-up a detailed checklist)

Resource – Space

Ø Space requirement (sq-ft) / Toilet / Pantry

Ø Preferred location (Marol / Andheri / MIDC / Parle)

Ø Furnished Vs. Unfurnished

Ø Period for which required

Ø Purchase vs. leasing

Ø Advance / Deposit

Ø Purchase price vs. Lease rent

Ø Estate Agent / Commission of Agent

Ø Date by which to select

Ø Date by which to occupy

Ø Advt ?

Resource – People

Ø Type of people & No’s in each type

Ø Man-Specifications for each type

Ø Job-Descriptions

Ø Tentative consolidated Salary (Fixed)

Ø Incentive for performance (Variable)

Ø Sources (where to find?)

Ø Advt (jobsites/Print media etc.)

Ø Word-of-Mouth?

Ø Time frame for Selection / Appointment of Team

Ø Draft Appointment Letters (diff types)

Ø Selection of Interviewers

Ø Walk-in-Interview?

Ø Joining Date (same date for entire team)

Ø One day induction at 3P (Process)

Ø One day induction at RPL?

- To thoroughly understand job-requirements

Ø Other smaller Placement Agencies?

Ø Working-Hours

Ø Performance-Criteria

Ø Peons / Watchmen / Receptionists

Ø Data Entry Operators

Ø (Entering faxed resumes or “dictated” resumes)

Ø HW/Networking maintenance Engineer on-site Maintenance

Ø SW Engineer

Ø Telecom Engineer

Resource: Funds

Ø Monthly Cash flow on

- Salaries

- Rental

- Phone bills

- Electricity

- Traveling

- Stationery

- Food / Tea

Ø Capital Expenditure-if any

(to be avoided as far as possible)

Wherever feasible, Capital items must be rented.

eg:

Computers

Printers

EPABX

Phone Instruments

Table / Chairs/Whiteboards

Video-Cameras (in case of Video-interviewing)

Resource: Computer Hardware

Ø Configuration & no. of M/C required

Ø Networking Eqpt. (Hubs/switches/Routers/UPS/Cables etc.)

Ø Printers

Ø Scanner

Ø Video-Cameras (in case Video-interviewing)

Ø Additional Servers at IDC (if reqd.)

Resource: Other Eqpt/Accessories

Ø EPABX

Ø Phone Instruments (Wireless?) (Mobile?) (Headphone Types only to keep both hands free for keyboard/mouse)

Ø White Boards

Ø Tables / Chairs

Ø Steel Cabinets

Ø Shredding M/C

Ø Tea Vending M/C

Ø Safe (?) / Cash Box

Resource: Software (RG Software Platform)

Ø Enhancement of Recruitguru for

· Capturing resumes received over Fax/Phone

· Multiple online Assessments

- A/B/C rating

- Telephonic Prescreening

- Final Interview Assessment Sheet

· Resume Pop-up (when candidate rings-up)

· Resume Pop-up (while conducting interview & entering “assessment”)

· Communication – Screens

- Acknowledgement / Feedback

- Intimation of interview date/Time

- Interactive Response sheet.

- Candidate to login & lookup (findout) his interview / date/time online

- SMS to candidates (mass/Indivi.). (both for acknowledging receipt of resume / selection / rejection/Interview date / time indication etc.)

- Chat / IM online (chatroom)

- FAQ (for candidates guidance)

· Interview status Screens

· Resume status Screens

· Balance Workload Status Screens

· Bird’s Eye Overview / Summary Screens

(for RPL Top Management-preferably graphical & clickable to drill-down into details, if desired)

These screens will provide

· Daily Position

· Cumu- Position

Agent targets set for both.

1. Resumes received ((Source Wise)

2. Resumes rated (A/B/C/) – by Raters.

3. Pre-Screening carried out-telephonically

(city-wise / Interviewer-wise / Position-wise)

4. No shortlisted for final interview

(city-wise / Position-wise) & conveyed to RPL)

5. Interview-calls sent-out City wise

6. No. interviewed – Selected & Rejected Position wise

7. Appt. letters issued

8. No. of candidates joined

9. No. of positions remaining to be filled

All 9 Screens will be accessible by RPL as well as 3P

3P’s Project Manager should be able to view, reports 2/3/4, for each

eg:

Ø Rating Expert (2)

Ø Prescreening Expert (3 / 4)

against DAILY / CUMULATIVE targets set for each in order to monitor their performance. We may wish to pay part of their salary based on their cumulative performance, till the end of the project (-a kind of “bonus”). At the same time, monitoring these reports on a daily basis, will tell Project Manager, as to which rate/prescreener is “under-performing”.

For optimum utilization of Raters & Prescreening Experts, there must be no waiting time / Idle time as far as they are concerned. At any given point of time, each rater & prescreening expert must know,

Ø “How many resumes are awaiting rating”?

(for raters)

Ø “How many candidates are in QVEVE, awaiting telephonic interview?”

(for prescreeners)

This “Pending Load” figures can be easily worked out as

(daily Target) – ( Actual carried out) = Backlog for the day

Eg: For rater daily target could be 400

For pre-screener daily target could be 40

Then the “Backlog” figure should keep flashing on the Screen’s left hand top corner ! – as a constant reminder.

And the rule must be absolute.

“Unless day’s target is achieved, the person does not go home!”

We could even provide “ALARMS” such as

Ø For rater

When 45 Seconds (out of 60 Seconds allotted) get over

Ø For Prescreener

When 8 minutes (out of 10 alloted) get over a flash will appear, telling him to speed-up.

The scenario must resemble

MASS PRODUCTION CONVEYOR BELT.

Ideally, the speed of the belt should be computer-Controlled (!) – so that, the screen in front of rater’s & prescreener’s eyes fades out after pre-determined times & the next candidate’s screen appears automatically!

And, if the rater / prescreener “fails” to finish his rating / prescreening within the “pre-determined” time, the incomplete resume, which gets removed from his screen automatically, rejoins the bottom of the day’s QVEVE ! – So, he must put-in extra/overtime at the end of the day to complete those incomplete jobs !

Remember that the Rater-Resource & the Pre-screener Resource, are the scariest of the resources and these CANNOT / MUST NOT be allowed to be Wasted-even one minute !

So, this means

22 experts X 30 tele interview/day = 660 Candidates day

Assuming that, at the last minute, some 10% of the Candidates, may not turn-up for the telephonic interviews, approx.. 750 Candidates must be “lined-up” everyday (-and their confirmation obtained in advance & recorded, so we know WHO is NOT attending & how many are not attending). This way, we can keep adding more attending). This way, we can keep adding more candidates, till we reach 750 CONFIRMED..

And since, we cannot keep candidates “holding” onto their phone-calls, for more than 2/3 minutes at the most (remember they are mostly outstation candidates), We must have 2/3 telephone operators dialing the candidates, all the time.

On their computer consoles, these phone-operators, will see

22 CABINS (ICONS)

Each cabin ICON will show no-of minutes “left” (out of 10/15 minutes fixed in advance) for the current interview to get over.

As soon as CABIN-LIGHT changes from RED to GREEN, all the 3 phone operators know that this “Cabin” is ready to receive the next candidate. And one of the candidates, “holding” will be directed to the FREE/GREEN cabin.

Since phone-operator has, phoned a given candidate by entering his PEN in the “Automatic Phone Dialler” (Computer card Costing RS.600/=), When she “transfers” this candidate to any particular FREE cabin, that candidate’s resume also gets Automatically transferred onto the desktop of the concerned interviewer !

This way, there will be minimum loss of interviewer’s time.

Our earlier email/SMS would have told each candidate, the date / time of the telephonic interview, asking him to remain “present” at that time – and- on that phone no (given by him in Resume form). Our email would also tell him that

Ø There could be + 10minuts

Ø He should keep his phone-line free during this period

Ø We will make only 2 attempts to connect.

The reasons we do not want the candidates to be calling us (for actual interview) are:

Ø They mmay phone us 10 min’s earlier or 10 minutes later ! – mostly earlier.

Ø There will be a serious “Traffic-Jam” with 15/20 candidates “holding” their lines ! They will get impatient & frustrated with 10/15 minutes of holding – Since all our CABINS are “busy”

Ø We (our telephone-operators) will have all incoming lines “busy” all the time. This means the candidate who calls us at his correct time, will simply not “connect”! Further frustration!

Ø Our operators cannot keep track of Who called When & is “holding” for how long ! They may transfer the last guy first & keep the first guy waiting for 20 minutes! Far from a WOW experience!

This is why the “END-TO_END AUTOMATION” must for:-

Ø 22 cabin (Icon on desktop) Concept

Ø Red/Green light

Ø “No. of Minutes left to finish”

Ø 3/4 phone-operators

Ø Our dialing (auto-dialer)

Ø No more than 2-minute wait

Ø Queuing (sequencing) (FIFO)

Ø PEN-WISE RESUME-Screen (to cabin)

Ø Headphone (to keep hands free)

Ø Online assessment (fill form)

Ø Conveyor-belt (computer-driven)