In today's competitive, professional world, the biggest challenge that anorganisation faces is hiring and retaining desirable employees. Varioustools and combinations of these tools are used to arrive at the perfectperson for the job. Experts are hired as consultants to do the hiring.But the main stumbling block in all these processes is that they are unableto predict the behaviour of an individual before he is hired. ``Theemergence of Emotional Quotient, in the place of the earlier IntelligenceQuotient, has paved the way for the entry of psychometrics in corporatehouses today,'' says Rajiv Vaid, CEO, Magic Tech India Pvt. Ltd (MTIPL). Inthis scenario, a scientific software developed by MTIPL, called SmartHiring, which evaluates potential employees on psychological and behaviouralparameters, comes as the right choice at the right time.
According to Vaid, ``Smart Hiring and the services it provides are unique inthe sense that not only do they provide for a selection procedure based onpsychological factors, but they also predict the behavioral aspect of acandidate before he/she is hired. Available off the shelf for Rs 20,000 asan introductory price, Smart Hiring is currently available in Mumbai,Bangalore, Chennai and Delhi and will soon be available in smaller townstoo.''
Vaid adds that Smart Hiring can be modified according to the organisation'srequirements-for example, in terms of the skills a company is seeking for aparticular post. Moreover, the test is culture free and applicable anywherein the world. Which means that across the world, there will be no bias inthe testing procedure. Smart Hiring comes with back-up help as well. Whichmeans that if two candidates have taken the test and both fulfill the hiringfirm's requirements, the firm's HR department can always call up SmartHiring, and seek their advice on which of the two should be recruited, hesays.
In its test, Smart Hiring includes topics such as:
Smart Profile: This is a comprehensive, graphical analysis of 22 humanpersonality traits
SWOT Profile: Evaluation of Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities andThreats in the personality under test
Percentile Profile: Pinpoint accuracy through percentile graphs.
Report Summary: Saves time and effort while evaluating a group ofcandidates
Detailed Analysis Report: Exhaustive coverage of a candidate'sbehavioral patterns
A-R Profile: Takes account of all 22 traits at a time.
Comparative A-R Profile: Compares several candidates in no time
Smart Index: Screens the tested candidates automatically as per yourcriteriaA prospective employee has to answer the 154 questions in the psychometrictest in about 25 minutes, Vaid says. And as the test is completelycomputerised, the results are also absolutely exact and prompt, says Vaid.The software, he says, is useful for hiring all kinds of staff-from juniorstaff to CEOs.
Smart Hiring can help an organisation compare the personality traits of twoor more candidates along predefined parameters, thus helping an organisationreach the best fit for its manpower requirement, he adds. Moreover, it willcut down on organisational expenditure in terms of money and time spent inhiring employees. According to Vaid, the Smart Hiring software was put intothe market after three or more years of extensive testing. How was theaccuracy achieved? Vaid reveals that a team of in-house psychologists spenthours at length to achieve the accuracy in the readings. And this was donewhile simultaneously keeping in constant touch with several companies acrossthe globe to bear in mind their recruitment needs and requirements.
Amongst the companies already using Smart Hiring are McDowells in Bangalore,Amsoft, Barco, a Belgium based company with offices in India, and Escorts.
Copyright © 2000 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.