How Is Kanodia Planning On Providing Employment To Over A Thousand People?

Kanodia Cement has set up a Cement Grinding Unit in Amethi District in Uttar Pradesh for which it is planning to provide employment to around 1000 people. Vishal Kanodia, Managing Director, Kanodia Cement came onto a candid conversation with BW People's journalist and spilled the beans about their upcoming hiring plans in great detail.

1. What is the overall strategy of Kanodia Cement to hire 1,000 people?

While different businesses may use different strategies, one thing that all of them have in common is the need to identify the right people with the right skills. Kanodia Cement intends to bring in outside advisers for hiring the right person for the right job. We have hired approximately 200 people on a corporate payroll and on a contract basis, which represents a 15% increase over the previous year.

Generally, employees want to work with brands or companies having a unique presence that makes them different from their competitors. We at Kanodia Cement have adopted this strategy has created a unique brand presence in the past 13 years. Also, we have built a unique work culture giving equal opportunities to every employee irrespective of any discrimination based on their potential and talents.

2. The hiring of 1,000 people would be for which roles? How does the company reach out to potential talents? Which are the platforms/media the company mostly uses for this?

Kanodia Cement is planning to hire around 200 white-collar professionals such as Managers, Factory operators, Engineers, and Accountants, as well as around 800 blue-collar workers, which will include Machine Operators, Supervisors, and laborers, security guards, transporters, and so on.

Now the time has come for that companies to fast-track and simplify their hiring process. We at Kanodia Cement self-analyzed our hiring process to eradicate complex steps and procedures which proved to be very fruitful.

Also, in the post-pandemic world where Social Media has emerged as one of the fastest-growing communication mediums, we adapted to this change and now mostly use platforms such as LinkedIn, Naukri, and Indeed. We do emphasize newspaper and print advertising as well to reach the people and recruit potential employees.

3. What are the technologies that the company leverages for shortlisting relevant candidates?

The tough competition in the job market makes the task of attracting potential talent difficult for HRs or employers. things quite difficult for employers to find and attract the right talent. With the rising unemployment, the intensity of companies to find the right talent is also increasing. Thus many companies have now shifted to the latest HR software and Artificial Intelligence as their hiring strategy. These software provide a better ROI compared to the age-old brick recruiting.

Kanodia Cement is no exception. Intending to identify candidates' skills including technical experience, up-to-date educational qualifications, soft and hard skills, etc. we utilize Artificial Intelligence-based software ‘Assessment Centre’ in our recruiting process because it allows recruiters to spend less time on repetitive, time-consuming tasks like automating resume screening, automatically triggering exams, and arranging applicant interviews.

4. How does the company keep a check on biases and non discriminated hiring process?

 We are surrounded by biases everywhere. Whether consciously or subconsciously, we are biased towards someone or something, thus it is very difficult to escape biases. As a recruiter, it is our moral and ethical duty to review a resume without any biasedness but in most cases, recruiters act upon a bias unconsciously towards a certain candidate. This results in improper or false hiring which may have long-term impacts on the organization.

When it comes to biases and hiring, I think broadly about ways to simplify and standardize the process. I believe in unbiased hiring that is based on a person's true abilities and potential, which is why we at Kanodia Cement are increasingly incorporating Artificial Intelligence into the hiring process, with automated assessments, digital interviews, and data analytics being used to sift through resumes and screen candidates to examine the shortlisted candidates. We use situational base inquiries and case studies, as well as artificial intelligence, to help us in making appropriate decisions and monitoring behavior.

5. What is the average time that the company requires to hire the right talent? Does the company have any plan or strategy to optimize the duration of this process?

The recruitment process takes approximately 10-15 days on average and the final placement induction takes about one month. According to several reports, the average is between 20 and 30 days. The length of time it takes to hire someone will be dictated by the country's labor shortage, the industry, and the specific function they're looking for.

We at Kanodia Cement have devised some strategies to reduce the long duration of the hiring process

1) One most important step of the hiring process is collecting the right data. Once a company has collected the right data, hiring becomes much easier. Here’s a practical example. We at Kanodia Cement analyzed that on average, a candidate takes mostly 2 days to provide their details including the resume but the hiring managers take almost a full week to reply. Thus we reduced the workload of managers and automated some of the manual tasks to speed up the hiring process.

2) We adopted a structured hiring process. Due to lack of which the hiring process becomes much longer and time-consuming as we end up starting from scratch each time we hire for a new position.

3) Build a talent pipeline. It is mostly considered the most effective way of sourcing the right talent. We have to identify the roles we are hiring for in advance.

6. How many people have been hired in the last year?

 With the evolution of the COVID-19 pandemic, the job market has been significantly impacted and the impacts will be long lasting. Managers are not only dealing with stress and pressure from laying off employees but are also suffering from anxiety and the threat of their job loss. Many companies laid off employees making it the only way for the survival the organization.

In comparison to the industry, Kanodia Cement not only increased its hiring by 15% by recruiting 200 new employees but also tried to maintain a work-life balance in the lives of its employees. The hitting was done on a corporate payroll and a contract basis to achieve rapid development and expansion.

7. How will the hiring process and screening process be different from hiring in the pre-pandemic world?

With the ever-evolving COVID crisis, the companies have embraced new technologies and have adopted new methods of working including remote work or work-from-home. Thus the need and importance of identifying and screening potential talent are more than ever.

Prior to the pandemic, people confided in physical walk-in Interviews but now there are many software and technologies that help in the hiring and screening process. Assessing the resume and cover letters is much easier and less time-consuming now. Candidate research is easily accessible with its presence on social media and other platforms. Further, the look of meetings and Interviews has changed due to digitalization and the introduction of Google Meet, Zoom Call, and other applications which are very helpful. This will allow interviewers to apply and appear in the set interviews from anywhere around the world with ease. Overall, the procedure for hiring and screening is now, digitalized, well-defined, and efficient as compared to previous procedures.

8. Is there any specific trait or skill that is being expected from the candidates?

Though the skill requirement of each job is uniques depending on its nature, There are some certain traits or skill sets that help a candidate land the right job. Below listed are some traits and skills that we always look forward to in a potential candidate at Kanodia Cement.

● Integrity is one of the highest valued traits in the workplace. One must have strong moral or ethical principles.

● The candidate must be flexible that is he/she must be open to working on tasks from multiple positions or switching hours when needed.

● We at Kanodia prefer to value technically-competent people because they have already learned many skills that are needed for the position.

● Adaptability refers to one's ability to adapt to a change. In this ever-changing business environment, adaptability is an essential trait that has long-term benefits for the company.

9. To retain the talent, what will be luring strategies apart from handsome salary packages?

The strength of an organization is determined mainly by the quality of its talent. In this highly competitive business environment retaining good talent is more difficult than hiring new talent. According to many studies, only half of the employees see their long-term carrer growth with their current company. For becoming known as a brand where employees want to work takes time and a properly planned strategy.

The strategies that we kept in mind to retain our talent are:-

● Boosting staff motivation and recognizing a job well done.

● Giving employees the attention and rewards they deserve.

● Reward high achievers while also helping them in the improvement of their bad performance.

● Creating a workplace culture that employees want to be a part of.