Feature

The personality factor

Faiz Askari on why the personality of an IT professional is so critical for the hiring manager.

Competing in the global marketplace, Indian IT companies are hiring professionals who not only have sound technical knowledge but the skills of interacting with global clients. The personality of a candidate (both lateral and fresh recruits) plays a very significant role in the selection process. This personality is not just an indicator of how well a person looks but his attitude, confidence, the ability to convince a client or lead a team, etc. Organisations constantly hold training sessions to improve the soft skills of their professionals, which eventually lead to a positive impact on their personality.

Evaluating a candidate

The personality factor is in fact considered very important while evaluating any candidate. This is because of the fact that more and more IT companies are strengthening their services component. In this scenario a technical person has to meet and face the customers. Tarun Singh, Director, Kenexa Technologies, throws light on the evaluation process, “Basically evaluating any individual is a very personal opinion. If three people evaluate a person they might give opinions which might be very different from one another. To tackle this problem, many companies are adopting a focussed hiring procedure. In this, the HR professional has to keep some fixed criteria in mind while selecting the right candidate for any given job.”

Singh suggests the best solution for this problem, “There is no fixed formulae for selecting the right candidate which can fit all. There has to be a customised criterion for every job or organisation. This can be achieved by observing the top performers of that particular company and those who were working for the same kind of job profile. So before selecting a candidate the human resource team has to be well prepared on some basic standards for a suitable candidate. This can be evolved by interacting with successful employees and achievers of that organisation.”

"These important aspects include communication abilities, dressing sense, how one carries oneself, etiquette, manners and personal grooming" - Gautam Sinha CEO TVA Infotech

Gautam Sinha, CEO, TVA Infotech, states, “There are a few aspects which are the primary criteria for any recruiter while evaluating an individual for a job. These important traits include communication abilities, dressing sense, how one carries oneself, etiquette, manners and personal grooming. All these are collectively called the personality of an individual. So in ground reality the personality effect is the biggest criteria for selecting any individual these days.” Sinha is however quick to add that while recruiting IT professionals for a technical position, some employers have sidelined the personality factor. But at the same time many IT companies are considering all these qualities while selecting the technical staff as well.

Importance of competencies

Different jobs require different competencies. The purpose of structured, competency-based interviewing is to help organisations hire and promote people who will succeed in their jobs. Competencies are important because they can be used to improve performance (both individual and organisational) in at least three ways: selection, feedback and development.

Being interviewed for a new position is one of the most difficult challenges in the career of any professional. It is the time when an individual needs to revisit, and in some cases, justify many of the decisions they have made in their professional life. Because of these circumstances, it is often an uncomfortable and difficult process through which one has to pass. It is also a process fraught with uncertainties, questions and subjective aspects. It is necessary for an individual to be well prepared to deal with questions posed by the hiring authorities.

Frequent customer interactions

Gautam Sinha of TVA Infotech agrees that the importance of personality in a candidate’s profile is high because these days most employees have to face their customers, “This is unlike earlier times when an engineer only had to sit in a factory and develop the product. Nowadays, the engineer has to come out of the factory and interact with customers, deliver them all the support and basically convince them to buy that product. This is how the trend has evolved and it will continue to experience such changes in the near future as well.” Sinha adds that four to five years back the Indian IT industry was completely dominated by the services sector. Now many product companies have come to India and they are basically changing the recruitment scenario. “Almost 70 percent of the Indian IT industry is still focussed on services while the remaining 30 percent comprises product companies.”

While the personality factor is considered very important in some instances not much priority is given to it, which leads to problems later. States Tarun Singh of Kenexa Technologies, “When companies go on a hiring spree and do bulk recruitment they often sideline this critical factor. This has often resulted badly for these companies.”

The right grooming

As per a recent report by Nasscom, the total number of employees in the Indian IT industry has been estimated as nearly 1.3 million. Nasscom believes that this number is expected to grow five times within the next 6-7 years. The industry simultaneously needs well-qualified and experienced human resources professionals who can effectively source the manpower needs of the industry and focus on talent development.

These HR professionals have to be adept at selecting the right people for the right job to ensure that their companies can meet global business challenges. Sangeeta Gupta, Vice-president, Nasscom, throws light on the growing requirement for right manpower in the IT industry, “India needs more cutting-edge educational institutions if it has to keep advancing as a technology service provider and make the big shift to high-value for global companies. However, apart from just producing the right kind of candidates for the industry, there also has to be a clarity in the selection procedure of these candidates. This can vary from one job to another but certain elements like the personality effect can be taken care of right from the academic level as well.” Gupta believes that this requires a change in the education scenario as per the changing requirements of the IT industry. “There has to be a more professional approach in the education sector. Students while preparing themselves for any niche industry need to have knowledge of that industry and clear understanding of the qualities of an ideal candidate for their target segment. This includes understanding of proper grooming required for that job.”

While most IT companies do conduct training sessions to improve the soft skills requirements of their professionals the real solution would be to begin the training right at the education level.

ec@expresscomputeronline.com