Now, a canine may lead you into the interview

Chennai: Shake a leg, perform a yoga asana, get escorted by a dog into the interview room, all these are happening in workplaces as employers try to shake off the strenous recruitment process. Companies today want the candidates to get a real feel of the place they are about to join.

At Altimetrik (a tech company), it’s a day-long affair walking through the design-labs, solving live cases and even may be shaking a leg to the steps of a choreographer. Such events help organisations get a holistic assessment of the candidate, alongside showcasing their culture. “We have customised businesses cases that come from client requirements that candidates solve in teams. Besides their collaborative skills, we look at their problem solving abilities, said Geetha Thiagarajan, head HR at Altimetrik.

In a bid to showcase how ‘cool’ the company is, some recruitment days start with a run or a yoga session.

“Apart from their technical expertise, we want to see what else they can bring to the table. Based on their skillsets, we arrange for activities,” she said.

At OPN advertising, every candidate must pass through their four legged HR manager. Goofy, the office dog escorts the prospective recruit to the meeting room. “We make it clear that the recruits need to be okay with our canine friend,” said the spokesperson.

“As a part of our recruitment strategy we insist that anyone considering joining us spend a couple of days with us. A lot of people find it awkward to hang out with strangers but Goofy comes to the rescue. For the prospective recruit, it makes them feel wanted and comfortable,” said the spokesperson. For gifting startup BigSmall which offers curated gifts, having creative employees is crucial. “The stage that we are in, we want people who can don multiple hats. They need to share the same excitement we have about gifting,” said Aman Hans, cofounder, BigSmall. The company asks potential candidates to identify a unique gift within a budget of Rs 500 to gift to the company. “We also got some unique ones like nail thread art and customised travel pouches. It helps us understand how they think and identify categories key to our business,” said Hans.

At Flock and Directi, both founded by Bhavin Turakhia, the effort is to adopt all the best practises possible when it comes to talent acquisition.

From sennheiser headphones to T-shirts or a note from the founder, candidates always leave with a goodie bag. Several times, the company makes it a point to schedule an interview on the candidate’s birthday and surprise them with flowers and gifts. On some instances, the company sends chauffeur driven luxury sedans to pick up candidates. For freshers who constitute close to 35-40% of their new hires, the companies send exam survival kits.

“We have handwritten quirky wishes enclosed in chits, stationery, Saridon and even Pudin Hara for digestion. It’s a fun way of telling them that we have them in our minds and it does have recall,” said Nishant Das, head- talent acquisition, Flock. While candidates wait in between interview rounds, they are asked to solve the Rubique’s cube or watch a card trick.

“It’s fun to watch and hear what they think. It gives us good insight into somebody’s personality and is better than common place banter,” said Ameya Ayachit, head - talent acquisition, Directi.



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