Elevate! Creating Better Workplaces

The SHRM India’s Annual Conference 2019 is just about to begin tomorrow. And the theme this year is #Better Workplaces, for a better world.

And while we have a bevy of professionals sharing and learning the best practices across the gamut of Human Resources as a domain, over the next two days, I have always felt very passionate that the key to any great organization is hiring/recruitment. I am of the belief, that if one were to hire right, each time, every time, then an organization has to spendless time focusing on engaging, managing or motivating them. Also, one is automatically enabling/leveraging the Business with the right Culture & People- the intersection of which is the #Better Workplace.

From time immemorial, there have been several debates on the best way to hire top talent, be it "make or buy"(using internal recruiting teams or utilising third party specialist firms), or the costs/ownership involved in hiring ( ranging from Executive Search vs. Retained /Exclusive vs. Contingent search vs. Recruitment Process Outsourcing). To be fair, they have been a lot of pros and cons, both ways, and depending on the life cycle of growth of organizations, one is tempted to take one route or the other, if not a multi pronged approach. However, all of them hinged on the "speed vs. quality"! Not to mention, amidst all the claims that recruitment agency business model is grotesquely dysfunctional.

And so, it is indeed appropriate that the Welcome address is by David Windley, SHRM Board Chair, who is the CEO of IQTalent Partners -which is revolutionizing Talent Acquisition, by providing innovative solutions and offering on -demand services -working as an extension of the in-house Recruiting team -(or a virtual team if one doesn’t exist) by tweaking the traditional models of Executive Search, and Contingency recruiting - to provide it as a service that is on-demand and bill by the hour without minimums or restrictive contracts -be it research, sourcing, or full life cycle recruiting you need and only when you need them. (Psst- they have impressed clients like Amazon, Uber, Airbnb, Intuit, Splunk, Pie Insurance, among others!)

The shift is essentially a mindset change -from a Transactional Reactive business model to one that focusses on Proactive Partnership with clients! By treating each offering as a professional service where both parties are on the same team, running toward the same end zone and reading from the same playbook!

The IQTP consultants are salaried professionals who work with their clients’ internal teams and the client is billed for the hours spent on a job. The primary belief in this business model is that an executive recruiter who is salaried and not commissioned will not push a lesser qualified candidate through only in order to fill a role quickly and receive a paycheck. By billing by the hour, the essential conflict of interest is eliminated.

I am looking forward to sharing some of David’s insights in leading the company, that within 4 years of his leadership, finds itself among the top 35 Executive Search firms in a highly competitive scenario.

And the mantra? "When you create an inclusive and engaging workplace, employees flourish, and businesses succeed", quips David! For example,

- Open to hiring recruiters working from remote locations.

-Allow them to go where they want to go.

-Hire boomerangs (would you believe for the size of the company it is -it has perhaps the highest ratio of 'people returning to work' in IQ TP-after exploring greener pastures, and then choosing to head back!?)

Of course, the pricing model is also innovative as clients end up saving significant costs, as compared to a success based hiring mandates prevalent at most locations.

On the supply side, I can also imagine that being such a predictable business model, it also helps recruiting firms be able to attract more high quality recruiters -and retain them, thereby raising the bar for the professional recruiters. It has been my pet peeve that not many come into the recruitment profession, by design, and a lot more those who learn the ropes, use it as a stepping stone, as there really aren’t too many role models for aspiring Talent attraction pros!

Looking forward to interact with him, and get to know the more about what the future of work looks like? Am sure David will be available for discussions during the networking sessions. Or else tweet using #SHRMIAC19, and some of us from the #BlogSquad, would be happy to relay the questions/concerns -and have them addressed in due time.

On your marks, get set. The countdown is just a few more hours. Learn. Unlearn. Relearn. Share. And yes, don't forget to make new connections, have fun, and give it forward!