Recruitment route
"Short tenures can be a grey area in your job history"

Shailendra Dave

Shailendra Dave, Head of HR, Integreon, Mumbai, has 11 years of experience in human resources and administration. Apart from a generalist HR role, he has proven his competencies in areas like organisational climate surveys, managerial development practices, performance management, and change agent for OD interventions such as internal focus groups.

He has trained several chartered accountants, managers and supervisors and individuals in his capacity as a professional trainer.

Here, he outlines the norms and practices that govern recruitment at Integreon:

We are constantly looking at people who add value to our organisation and processes in terms of knowledge, skills and attitude (culture). The major focus of the recruitment process at Integreon is to add the right kind of people at all levels, right from the associate and the middle-management level to the leadership roles. The need for new staff arises primarily due to a variety of reasons like increase in capacities, new customers, newer business lines, promotions etc.

When are you planning the next major recruitment drive?

It is an ongoing process due to our constant growth and expansion. We are planning fresh recruitments for Associates, Team Leaders, Assistant Managers and Managers for a few business line and capacity expansion.

Generally we look for the following aspects in a resume:

• Well-structured resume in reverse chronological orders (i.e. recent experience on top)

• Accurate information (good written English)

• Accomplishments

• Educational qualifications and merits clearly and precisely explained

It is important for a resume to make an overall first good impression.

While scanning through resumes we do look at an applicant's previous accomplishments and tenure with organisations (too short a tenure is a grey area) and signs of upward growth in terms of his role, responsibility and designation with different organizations. The job history is scrutinised for any pointers to specific leadership qualities plus the candidate's analytical ability.

A perfect balance of both is very necessary. For a fresher, the weightage given is 70 per cent for academic qualifications and 30 per cent for personality, while for people with experience, the ratio changes to 60 per cent for personality and 40 per cent for academic record.

Do you prefer it if a prospective employee raises the matter of salary or vice-versa? What are the norms that govern your salary negotiation?

We believe that salary discussions should never be the starting point. As of now, we have never hired any one who talks of salary as the first point, before fully understanding the nature of our business and the role and expectations of the job. We volunteer the basic salary range to the prospective employee to generate interest in the person to succeed and our compensation matrix is periodically upgraded to cater to changing business environment and attract the best talent. We also look for relevant experience, value-addition to the organisation in terms of knowledge, new processes and the growth potential of the employees