Challenges:-
An uphill task for a giant BPO-Firstsource Solutions!! Recruitment can never be any more challenging and fast-moving as in a BPO industry. And to be a part of it is truly amazing! We were to hire nearly 1200 candidates with excellent communication skills in a time frame of sixty days. Traditional method of recruiting could not alone serve the purpose. Different channels of recruiting were evaluated and a new and innovative channel was designed especially for Airtel-Platinum hiring known as FOS i.e. Feet on Street. Furthermore the restrictions and limitations of a domestic BPO. But the most difficult task of tracking several sourcing channels, measuring daily performance, preparing a dashboard in such a big recruitment process was mindboggling!! It is obvious “You can’t improve something you can’t daily measure”. And yes the project became a huge success with Feet on Street as a channel being institutionalized permanently at Firstsource Solutions. And here’s my story…….
Summer ’12 - A Corporate Delight
“True Learning is born out of Experience and Observation”- Anonymous
Since my childhood days I was very inquisitive and adaptable. I loved learning new things and always appreciated novel ideas and noble thoughts. Born and raised in a business family I inherited the corporate genes from there. I aspired to be a young independent businesswoman running my own venture. Getting into business administration (i.e. MBA) was just a step towards achieving my dream. Pursuing it in Human Resources (i.e. HRM) was another. It taught me the importance of intellectual capital in any organization. I learnt various theoretical aspects of business administration through case studies, business plans and business models during the first year of my post-graduation. But I wanted to experiment with it, try and implement it in real-time situations. After two semesters of extensive classroom knowledge the day finally came when I could apply that to the corporate world-the glorified world of corporate honchos! I got selected for my summer internship training programme in recruitments at First Source Solutions Limited- a leading global provider of Business Process Outsourcing solutions, one of the most reputed companies on campus and also rated at the top in “Global Services 100 ranking”. I was asked to pack my bags and leave for Mumbai for the next two and a half months to get my first hands-on experience in the real world.
I reached Mumbai on 29th March-technically my first day of internship. I was both excited and nervous. Excited because I wanted to experience this since long and nervous-due to the responsibility of carrying out every task assigned with perfection. As I opened the office door, a gust of cool air blew onto my face and I said to myself “Ready?” Check!! “Smile” Check!!We entered the boardroom and yes, as I had seen in movies or imagined in my fantasies here came my first Board Meeting. I met my immediate boss Mr. Ashish Chutke and his larger than life team of 30 recruiters. On my first day, he simply asked me to see how the recruitment procedure in the company is carried out. Airtel and Axis are our main clients and we were then hiring for the “Airtel Platinum Process”- a process that caters to the elite customers of Airtel. The candidates were supposed to undergo three rounds of interview before their final offer was rolled out. I never thought before that recruitments could bring out the passion and aggression concealed within me. For the first month of my internship I was sourcing candidates for interviews, took their first and second rounds and also rolled out offer letters on their selection. The best part of being a summer intern is that you have access to all the HR Departments and you can gain valuable insights into the functioning of various departments which helps us in relating to what we would like to do in the future. Thus as an intern I was weaving in and out of several cubicles trying to understand about the business of the company and its financial and non-financial aspects. During the second month of internship my project guide Mr. Amar Salvi gave me a project pertaining to the Airtel Platinum Ramp hiring that was on in the domestic center at Vashi. It quickly took my keen interest due to the analysis and research that was involved. I was required to keep a daily tracker of the hiring done from several sourcing channels and play an advisory role in maintaining the cost per hire till a particular set target as decided by the company. We had different sourcing channels for recruitment at First Source. There was RCC i.e. Recruitment contact center, FOS i.e. feet on street, TOM-TOM that included the employee referrals and external agencies and vendors on which we were highly dependent for chasing such huge numbers for the mass hiring process. We were to hire 1200 candidates in a span of just 2 months. I maintained a daily tracker of the source mix, the hiring mix, and suggested measures so that the cost per hire did not reach alarming levels. Due to the daily tracker that was maintained and the adoptive measures taken we were successful in hiring 1200 candidates with the cost per hire just in target. I felt proud of this accomplishment. It boosted my confidence and I was appreciated by my project guide who is now the Vice-President HR at First source Solutions Limited. I was also awarded a certificate of appreciation. But the greatest takeaway from interning at First Source was gaining valuable experience as well as corporate exposure in a company driven by cultural and ethical values. It was a well-planned internship programme with proper interim reviews as well as feedback sessions. It was a lifetime experience and learning being my first corporate company as a fresher. On my last day as I was leaving the office premises I again said to myself “Mission Accomplished??” and yes it was a big CHECK!!!
“Hold fast to dreams for if dreams die, life is a broken-winged bird that cannot fly” – Anonymous
Rohini Agarwal
Student Manager
Management Institute for Leadership and Excellence
An uphill task for a giant BPO-Firstsource Solutions!! Recruitment can never be any more challenging and fast-moving as in a BPO industry. And to be a part of it is truly amazing! We were to hire nearly 1200 candidates with excellent communication skills in a time frame of sixty days. Traditional method of recruiting could not alone serve the purpose. Different channels of recruiting were evaluated and a new and innovative channel was designed especially for Airtel-Platinum hiring known as FOS i.e. Feet on Street. Furthermore the restrictions and limitations of a domestic BPO. But the most difficult task of tracking several sourcing channels, measuring daily performance, preparing a dashboard in such a big recruitment process was mindboggling!! It is obvious “You can’t improve something you can’t daily measure”. And yes the project became a huge success with Feet on Street as a channel being institutionalized permanently at Firstsource Solutions. And here’s my story…….
Summer ’12 - A Corporate Delight
“True Learning is born out of Experience and Observation”- Anonymous
Since my childhood days I was very inquisitive and adaptable. I loved learning new things and always appreciated novel ideas and noble thoughts. Born and raised in a business family I inherited the corporate genes from there. I aspired to be a young independent businesswoman running my own venture. Getting into business administration (i.e. MBA) was just a step towards achieving my dream. Pursuing it in Human Resources (i.e. HRM) was another. It taught me the importance of intellectual capital in any organization. I learnt various theoretical aspects of business administration through case studies, business plans and business models during the first year of my post-graduation. But I wanted to experiment with it, try and implement it in real-time situations. After two semesters of extensive classroom knowledge the day finally came when I could apply that to the corporate world-the glorified world of corporate honchos! I got selected for my summer internship training programme in recruitments at First Source Solutions Limited- a leading global provider of Business Process Outsourcing solutions, one of the most reputed companies on campus and also rated at the top in “Global Services 100 ranking”. I was asked to pack my bags and leave for Mumbai for the next two and a half months to get my first hands-on experience in the real world.
I reached Mumbai on 29th March-technically my first day of internship. I was both excited and nervous. Excited because I wanted to experience this since long and nervous-due to the responsibility of carrying out every task assigned with perfection. As I opened the office door, a gust of cool air blew onto my face and I said to myself “Ready?” Check!! “Smile” Check!!We entered the boardroom and yes, as I had seen in movies or imagined in my fantasies here came my first Board Meeting. I met my immediate boss Mr. Ashish Chutke and his larger than life team of 30 recruiters. On my first day, he simply asked me to see how the recruitment procedure in the company is carried out. Airtel and Axis are our main clients and we were then hiring for the “Airtel Platinum Process”- a process that caters to the elite customers of Airtel. The candidates were supposed to undergo three rounds of interview before their final offer was rolled out. I never thought before that recruitments could bring out the passion and aggression concealed within me. For the first month of my internship I was sourcing candidates for interviews, took their first and second rounds and also rolled out offer letters on their selection. The best part of being a summer intern is that you have access to all the HR Departments and you can gain valuable insights into the functioning of various departments which helps us in relating to what we would like to do in the future. Thus as an intern I was weaving in and out of several cubicles trying to understand about the business of the company and its financial and non-financial aspects. During the second month of internship my project guide Mr. Amar Salvi gave me a project pertaining to the Airtel Platinum Ramp hiring that was on in the domestic center at Vashi. It quickly took my keen interest due to the analysis and research that was involved. I was required to keep a daily tracker of the hiring done from several sourcing channels and play an advisory role in maintaining the cost per hire till a particular set target as decided by the company. We had different sourcing channels for recruitment at First Source. There was RCC i.e. Recruitment contact center, FOS i.e. feet on street, TOM-TOM that included the employee referrals and external agencies and vendors on which we were highly dependent for chasing such huge numbers for the mass hiring process. We were to hire 1200 candidates in a span of just 2 months. I maintained a daily tracker of the source mix, the hiring mix, and suggested measures so that the cost per hire did not reach alarming levels. Due to the daily tracker that was maintained and the adoptive measures taken we were successful in hiring 1200 candidates with the cost per hire just in target. I felt proud of this accomplishment. It boosted my confidence and I was appreciated by my project guide who is now the Vice-President HR at First source Solutions Limited. I was also awarded a certificate of appreciation. But the greatest takeaway from interning at First Source was gaining valuable experience as well as corporate exposure in a company driven by cultural and ethical values. It was a well-planned internship programme with proper interim reviews as well as feedback sessions. It was a lifetime experience and learning being my first corporate company as a fresher. On my last day as I was leaving the office premises I again said to myself “Mission Accomplished??” and yes it was a big CHECK!!!
“Hold fast to dreams for if dreams die, life is a broken-winged bird that cannot fly” – Anonymous
Rohini Agarwal
Student Manager
Management Institute for Leadership and Excellence