War for Talent! Hiring Frenzy!
Hiring Frenzy refers to the madness in hiring, as the name suggests. The war for talent is real. As a result, every company small or big is clamoring for their share of the talent like it’s a war! Acquiring talent is not sufficient. You need to retain talent as well. That’s the challenge in the big game of becoming a successful start-up not necessarily a unicorn.
I was talking to a co-founder of a SaaS start-up. He was literally crying.
He was talking about the challenges he & his team were facing in recruiting talent.
They had hired an HR consultant, he said. After 40 days of screening & interviewing many candidates, they have finally rolled out offers to two people. [What? Sack that HR consultant first.]
One candidate would be joining shortly & the other would be joining in 3 months, he said.
He also talked about the Offer-to-Joining ratio having taken a severe blow. During the entire call, he was cribbing.
The fact that he was unable to afford IIT grads surprised me. Remember, this is a funded start-up.
I suggested he look at NIT. He said that even NIT grads’ salaries have gone through the roof.
They had paid INR 28 Lakhs for a fresher from NIT. He said that they weren’t sure if those candidates would become rock star material.
His strategy now is to look at Tier II or even Tier III cities and visit colleges there, recruit freshers & train them.
He said that no one stays for more than 9 months in his company. The new recruits take about 3 months to understand what is happening, then they work for 6 months & start looking out. [“There must be something seriously wrong with your company.” I didn’t want to tell him that.]
Some other funded startup was willing to grab them at a 200% hike, he said.
This is the scene as described by him. I know it is true to a certain extent.
But it is also true that employers do take advantage of people who work loyally for more than 4-5 years in the same company.
Do you know what the grapevine says about such candidates? They didn’t get any good opportunity & hence they are stuck here.
Take a look at the scene in the rearview for a moment.
When there is an urgent need for a cookie-cutter for your project, what do you do?
You hire them from anywhere by paying them whatever they ask for. Right?
It’s a war for talent.
Therefore, whoever pays well, treats well, offers career growth will get to stay in business.
Now look at it from the candidates’ point of view: One has to make hay while the sun shines. Nobody is doing charity here. Why should they?
In addition, this kind of opportunity or hiring frenzy is not going to be seen in the future in one’s career.
When the dust settles down & everything comes back to normal, no one is going to get such great opportunities that are there right now.
In conclusion, it will be a lost opportunity for candidates if they don’t take the call right now.
What are your thoughts on the following:
- How can employers attract talent?
- Would any strategy for retaining talent, work?
- What do the candidates look for?
- What motivates the candidates?
- Do you think the cultural fit is important?
- Is “work from home” a perk?
Happy Searching! [For the employers, I meant. :)]
If you are exploring opportunities in your career right now, I am confident that you would love this story: https://zignalytics.com/2021/09/27/find-your-niche-early/
#b2b #b2c #warfortalent #india #kkrocks #technology #saas #hiring