AI Recruiting

Amidst a plethora of solutions crowding the developer assessment space, how do you choose the best one? It boils down to one crucial factor: The quality of the screening process itself. Proctoring or anti-cheating mechanisms cement the foundation of an excellent screening process. A proctored assessment ensures that candidates taking a test do not cheat. And why is that so critical? It affects the output of deserving candidates who are fit to be shortlisted.

The gaping hole in your screening process

According to a study by The Center for Academic Integrity, almost 80% of college students admit to cheating at least once during their educational career.

Unlike an offline test, an online test allows candidates to take a test remotely from a different location. On top of that, if you have no one supervising the candidates, you’ve just declared an open season for cheating!

What’s worse– You end up with a skewed pool of candidates who are not qualified enough to be shortlisted, but who still end up making the cut.

The fix: Proctoring and anti-cheating mechanisms

HackerEarth’s coding assessment platform is backed by powerful proctoring settings that make your tests completely cheat-proof. Here’s how you can increase the quality of your screening process using these tips:

Stop plagiarism– No more ‘copy and paste’

Encourage candidates to come up with answers based on their own logical and programming skills. Leave no room for them to rely on unethical shortcuts to find a solution to their problem.

HackerEarth assessments have a feature to disable candidates from copying code from the Web or another local computer and pasting it on the code editor. In addition, the platform also disallows candidates from copying problem statements from the question library and sharing it on the web.

Pro feature: The platform has the ability to compare code written by two candidates and check if the lines have been plagiarised. We also have a strict anti-plagiarism policy. You can read it here.

Say no to impostors– Take candidate snapshots

When you are assessing candidates remotely, you need to be sure that the right person is taking the test. Prevent impostors from taking advantage of an online assessment by ensuring you have a visual proctor in place.

Using a webcam, the HackerEarth platform takes regular snapshots of the candidate during a test. A thumbnail preview of the webcam is displayed on the bottom right of the screen to indicate that candidates are being monitored. It can also be used to monitor the candidate and their movements during a test.

Keep a ‘tab’ on your candidate– Disable tab switching

Establish a controlled test environment for candidates to remain focused on the test and answer honestly. Do away with a candidate’s temptation to switch to another window or tab to browse answers. HackerEarth’s platform issues a warning each time a candidate tries to leave the test environment. This is measured by the number of tab switches made by the candidate. And if a candidate makes more than 5 tab switches, they are automatically logged out of the test environment.

Remove distractions– Enable full screen mode

Provide an environment devoid of distractions. Using the HackerEarth platform, you can enable the full screen mode for candidates taking a test. The platform issues a warning to candidates if they exit the full screen mode.

Know where your candidate is– Restrict IP addresses

Sometimes it’s better to know if the candidates are taking the test from the right location, especially if there’s a recruitment drive or if you’ve invited a candidate to take the test from a specified place. HackerEarth also has a feature to restrict IP addresses to contain the test-takers in a single location. With this feature, a warning is displayed if the candidate tries to login from an IP that is outside the restricted range.

The need for effective proctoring mechanism for tech assessments

In the evolving landscape of talent acquisition, particularly in technical fields, proctoring mechanisms have become crucial. They are not just tools for ensuring integrity during assessments but also play a significant role in shaping the overall quality and reliability of the hiring process.

• Ensuring assessment integrity: In an era where remote assessments are common, proctoring mechanisms help maintain the integrity of the evaluation process. They prevent dishonest practices like cheating or impersonation, ensuring that the skills and knowledge assessed are genuinely those of the candidate. This integrity is vital for businesses aiming to hire the best talent based on merit.
• Quality of hire: Proctoring mechanisms contribute to the quality of hire. By ensuring that only candidates who have legitimately cleared the assessments are considered, businesses can be confident in their hiring decisions. This is especially important in technical fields where specific skills and competencies are critical for job performance.
• Brand reputation: Fair and transparent assessment processes, backed by robust proctoring, enhance a company’s reputation among potential candidates. In a competitive job market, a reputation for ethical and rigorous evaluation processes can attract high-caliber applicants.
• Legal and compliance aspects: In certain industries and regions, there are legal and regulatory requirements regarding the hiring process. Proctoring mechanisms help in complying with these standards, avoiding potential legal issues related to biased or unfair hiring practices.
• Data-driven insights: Modern proctoring tools often come with analytics capabilities. These tools provide valuable insights into candidates’ behavior during assessments, helping businesses refine their hiring process and criteria.
• Global talent reach: Proctoring mechanisms allow businesses to conduct assessments globally without compromising on quality or integrity. This expands the talent pool, enabling companies to access the best talent irrespective of geographical boundaries.

The HackerEarth Smart Browser is an AI-powered online exam proctoring application designed to prevent cheating through the use of LMS like ChatGPT in online tests. It offers robust invigilation capabilities by restricting actions like screen sharing, running parallel applications, resizing the test window, copy-pasting code, using malicious keystrokes, accessing OS notifications, using a virtual machine, and accessing browser developer tools. The browser creates a sealed-off testing environment and employs eagle-eyed monitoring, including recording the test window and taking snapshots via webcam. It ensures reliable assessments suitable for any organization size, adhering to industry-leading compliance, security, and scalability standards.

So, there you have it. A few useful tips to ensure that your assessment platform is cheat-proof.

If you want to know more about how you can conduct quality developer assessments using these tips, sign up for our 14-day free trial.

Have a great day!

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The tech industry has always grappled with finding skilled talent. While the demand continues to skyrocket for IT professionals, the available talent pools keep diminishing. In fact, a 2022 ManPower Group study shows employers struggling to find qualified tech talent. Global talent shortages reach a 16-year-high as 3 in 4 employers report difficulty finding the talent they need—and IT and data roles are the most in demand. So what happens when a niche role in your engineering team suddenly falls vacant? Filling that role instantly remains a pipedream. Filling that role within a week still seems farfetched. Beginning your recruiting efforts after a requirement occurs will not cut it anymore, especially in today’s competitive market. This is where having a robust talent acquisition strategy in place will have your back! In this article, we aim to explore how to –

• Reduce the impact of talent shortages on your organization and still remain competitive
• Proactively build a strong talent acquisition strategy to help attract talented developers

Settle in and let’s get to it!

How does recruitment differ from talent acquisition?

While both terms are used interchangeably, they mainly differ in their approach. To put it simply, recruitment is a short-term objective and talent acquisition is a long-term plan. To quote, “Recruitment is linear, talent acquisition is an ongoing cycle. ” Recruitment is limited to hiring candidates to fill a vacancy that exists in an organization. It begins once a role falls open. Predicting an organization’s hiring requirements, even before such a situation arises, is essentially what talent acquisition aims to do. Think of how you plan for a vacation. You anticipate the length of your trip, a rough itinerary, and other important expenses ahead of time. To get the best deals on tickets and accommodation, you do your research, plan, and book everything in advance. That is what a talent acquisition strategy is to hiring.

• List down your future hiring requirements
• Identify skill gaps in your teams
• Expand your talent pools with passive talent
• Plan and allocate your recruiting budget
• Budget in upskilling initiatives to better retain your current talent

Also read: 5 Tips From Recruiters To Fix Talent Acquisition Issues in 2023

Why is building a robust talent acquisition strategy important?

With an effective talent acquisition strategy in place, the organization can transition smoothly over its growth curves, with the confidence that as and when the need arises, a reliable pipeline of talent awaits. That’s how you hire the right people for your organization. Such strategic hiring empowers recruiters with both time and resources, which are both invaluable to recruiting. Recruiters can take their time to carefully plan out –

• How best to leverage the right tech recruiting tools to source and attract quality candidates
• Better engagement with potential candidates, well in advance, to cut down on the time it takes to fill vacant positions
• A strategy to foster diversity in the workplace
• How to boost productivity in your organization and save costs by hiring the right people

In the absence of such a planned approach to recruiting, companies often find themselves needing to hire at short notice with limited resources, often resulting in poor hires. A carefully thought-out long-term recruitment strategy will enable and empower the organization to hire superior talent. If you are serious about employee retention then invest in a good talent acquisition strategy.

Also read: 7 Recruitment Trends That Will Impact Talent Acquisition in 2023

How do you build a strong talent acquisition strategy?

Talent acquisition strategies are not generic and there is no rulebook that dictates how best to strategize. There are, however, certain best practices that can be adopted and customized to suit an organization’s requirements. Here we list some of the best talent acquisition strategies that HR departments follow.

#1 Assess and analyze the business using data

First and foremost, it is important to have a comprehensive understanding of your business, its long-term growth prospects, average monthly or yearly hiring load, past turnover trends, etc. to better understand periods of high or low demand. With tons of data available at their fingertips, recruiters are leveraging big data analytics to better assess and analyze issues associated with high turnover rates and the possible solutions to these issues. With a better understanding of the issues and their solutions, recruiters are able to make more effective hiring decisions through data-driven recruiting.

Also read: Optimize Your Hiring Process With Recruitment Analytics

#2 Leverage cross-team collaboration

Recruiting cannot happen in a vacuum. It is important to collaborate with other departments to leverage their skills in better tailoring your talent acquisition strategies. For instance, the marketing department can help you with print and digital recruiting materials that can be used to attract potential candidates. Have in-depth discussions with your hiring managers to get a detailed understanding of the job role you’re hiring for. Another vital source of information and insight are your current employees in roles similar to the ones you are looking to hire for. They are a treasure trove of information and can provide insights into the work culture of the company, what drew them to the company, what would attract them to a new role, and where would they go to find it. Collaborating in this manner with the various departments of your business can not only help you understand certain aspects, hitherto unknown, of your business but also provide you with fresh perspectives and insights into your strategizing.

#3 Allow technology to aid you

On average, recruiters lose 14 hours per week completing tasks like scanning resumes, uploading candidate data, and sending emails manually. If you invested in smart AI-powered tech recruiting tools, they can do the heavy lifting for you. It saves you a lot of time and resources. With tools like HackerEarth, be it using our product for shortlisting candidates through coding assessments or conducting remote coding interviews, it helps remove human bias out of the equation. Additionally, it makes the process more efficient and effective. To be ahead of the curve when it comes to AI and automation, it is important to take an inventory of your recruitment tools — applicant tracking system (ATS), candidate relationship management system (CRM), onboarding system, career site — and check whether these are indeed providing the quality of insights that you expect them to deliver.

#4 Work on your employer branding

Employees diligently check out a potential workplace on social media sites and read employee reviews on sites such as Glassdoor to get the real scoop on companies before applying for a job. Update your company’s policies to offer flexible working schedules, remote work options, a casual Friday, or even paid sabbaticals. Such attractive perks go a long way in keeping the employee motivated at work. Apart from these, HRs need to strategize in collaboration with the marketing manager how best to align the employer brand with the corporate logo and brand on social media, job boards as well as print and digital media. Any piece of literature that bears the company’s logo is subject to scrutiny. Hence, it is very important to put a lot of thought into everything that is being communicated on behalf of the company.

Also read: How Tech Recruiters Can Build Better Employer Branding With Marketing

#5 Reevaluate the effectiveness of your talent acquisition strategy

To remain successful, companies have to conduct regular audits, leveraging data and technology to see the effectiveness of the strategies that have been put into action. While there are several metrics used by various companies to evaluate their strategies, the most significant ones are cost, time, quality, and quantity.

Cost as a metric

A detailed analysis to determine cost inefficiencies in your process is crucial to measure the success of your strategies. Cost is an effective metric to measure quality since financial resources are limited and, if one cannot function within a budget, it is prudent to reevaluate it.

Also read: 6 Steps To Create A Detailed Recruiting Budget (+Free Template)

Time as a metric

Time is a little more complicated metric to measure the success or failure of a strategy. For instance, some processes reap rewards in the short term, while others do so over a longer period of time. A detailed, case-by-case study is essential to determine the effect time has on the effectiveness of strategies.

Quality as a metric

Quality, like time, is a fickle entity. Each organization would have a different interpretation of what it means. While one organization would value obedience, another may value innovation and yet another may define it by leadership and cultural fit. Whatever your organization’s definition of quality is, it is important to measure the success of your strategies against the quality of hire.

Quantity as a metric

Hiring more employees than necessary is bound to take a toll on company resources. However, hiring inadequately will severely affect the desired outcome and can have a damaging effect on the morale of employees. Quantity is, therefore, a great way to measure the effectiveness of strategies.

A good talent acquisition strategy is always in flux

Crafting a talent acquisition strategy is imperative to the success of your business and to ensure that recruitment as a process is conducted not merely on a need basis but as part of the strategy. Recruiters cannot afford to be reactive in their hiring. It’s all about the early bird catching the worm, and proactive recruiters landing the best, most talented candidates! However, there is no one-size-fits-all when it comes to building a strategy for talent acquisition. We hope the tips mentioned in this article will help you create and tailor a strategy according to your business requirements.

FAQs on how to refine your talent acquisition strategy:

#1 What are the essential components of building a good tech talent acquisition strategy?

A good tech talent acquisition strategy should focus on the following aspects:

• Engagement: Even before a vacancy opens up, tech recruiters need to start creating a dialogue with the developer community. This can be done by participating, sponsoring, or organizing events like hackathons where developers can network.
• Employer branding: A strong employer brand helps in attracting top talent to your organization. This includes showcasing your company culture, values, and mission.
• Recruitment marketing: Using various channels to promote job openings, such as social media, job boards, and networking events, is important in reaching potential candidates.
• Candidate experience: Providing a positive candidate experience, from the application process to onboarding, can help attract and retain top talent. Effective assessment methods, such as skill tests, coding interviews that involve pair programming and other practices can help amplify the candidate experience.
• Diversity and Inclusion: Bake in diversity and inclusion policies into your hiring process to attract a wider pool of candidates and create a more inclusive workplace culture.
• Data-driven approach: Using data to track the effectiveness of your recruitment efforts and make data-driven decisions can help optimize your talent acquisition strategy over time.

#2 What are important things to consider when creating a global tech talent acquisition strategy?

• Define your talent needs: The first step is to identify the types of roles that need to be filled and the skills required for each role. Determine if you need to fill these roles with local hires or if it’s better to relocate or outsource talent.
• Determine your target markets: Identify the geographic regions where you want to source talent from. Consider factors such as the availability of talent, the cost of living, and the cultural fit.
• Develop your employer brand: Create a strong employer brand that showcases your company’s values, mission, and culture. Use social media and other platforms to promote your employer brand and attract the best talent.
• Use multiple channels for recruitment: Consider using multiple channels for recruitment, such as job boards, social media, employee referrals, and recruiting agencies. This will help you reach a broader pool of candidates.
• Consider language and cultural barriers: When recruiting globally, language and cultural barriers can present challenges. Consider having a multilingual recruitment team or partnering with local recruitment agencies to help overcome these challenges.
• Implement an efficient screening process: Develop an efficient screening process that helps you identify the best candidates quickly. Use pre-screening tools and technology to help automate the process.
• Provide a great candidate experience: Provide a great candidate experience that showcases your company’s culture and values. This will help you attract and retain top talent.
• Monitor and adjust your strategy: Finally, monitor your recruitment strategy regularly and adjust it as needed. Use analytics and data to track your success and make data-driven decisions.

#3 Define a good tech talent acquisition framework

Here’s an example of a tech talent acquisition framework:

• Define your candidate persona: Identify the specific skills, experience, and cultural fit you’re looking for in a candidate. This may include programming languages, industry experience, project management skills, and more.
• Create job descriptions: Craft clear and concise job descriptions that accurately reflect the role’s responsibilities, required skills, and desired experience.
• Source candidates: Use various sourcing channels such as job boards, LinkedIn, and networking events to identify and attract candidates who meet your ideal candidate profile.
• Screen candidates: Use phone screens, technical assessments, and behavioral interviews to evaluate the candidate’s qualifications, skills, and fit for the role and your company’s culture.
• Assess and interview: Use skill-based take-home assessments to shortlist candidates based on their assignment score, and move them to the interview round.
• Close the offer: Once a candidate is through, extend an offer that’s competitive and fair, with salary and benefits packages that reflect the candidate’s value.
• Onboard new hires: Provide a comprehensive onboarding program that helps new hires acclimate to your company’s culture and sets them up for success in their new role.
• Measure success: Track your success in hiring top talent by measuring your time-to-fill, the quality of candidates, retention rates, and employee satisfaction.

#4 How can technology help with your tech talent acquisition strategy?

Technology can play a significant role in improving the efficiency and effectiveness of your tech talent hiring strategy. Here are some ways you can use technology to enhance your hiring process:

• Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS): Implement an ATS to streamline your hiring process and manage candidate applications. This can help you organize resumes, track candidate status, and automate communication.
• AI-powered assessments: Skill-based assessments can help you qualify candidates from a large pool. AI-powered assessment platforms can benchmark candidate results, so you can pick the best candidates that fulfill your skill requirements. They can also weed out manual errors in the assessment process.
• Video Interviewing: Video interview tools with built-in IDEs and real-time coding features can help you check coding skills on the fly through the use of code stubs or pair programming methods.
• Virtual Reality (VR): Use VR to create immersive experiences that showcase your company culture, work environment, and team collaboration. This can help candidates get a better sense of your company and the role they would be playing.

#5 How can you incorporate DE&I in your tech talent acquisition strategy?

Baking in diversity, equity, and inclusion (DE&I) into your tech talent acquisition strategy can help ensure that your hiring process is fair and equitable and that your team represents diverse perspectives and backgrounds. Here are some ways you can incorporate DE&I into your tech talent acquisition strategy:

• Ensure your job descriptions are inclusive and avoid gendered or biased language.
• Expand your sourcing channels beyond traditional job boards to reach underrepresented groups like developer communities in HBCs (Historically Black Colleges).
• Engage with diversity-focused organizations, attend diversity job fairs, and consider partnering with universities with diverse student populations.
• Train your interviewers to be aware of bias and to ask inclusive questions that focus on skills and experience.
• Create structured interviews that ask the same questions to all candidates to avoid unconscious biases.
• Identify objective selection criteria that focus on skills, experience, and cultural fit, and avoid using criteria that may perpetuate bias or exclude underrepresented groups.
• Set diversity targets and measure your success the same way you would measure TTH and cost benefits.
• Create a workplace that’s inclusive and welcoming to all employees, regardless of their background, and make this part of the employer branding activities.

#6 How do you create a tech talent acquisition strategy?

Creating a tech talent acquisition strategy involves understanding your company’s technical needs, defining clear roles and responsibilities, and leveraging various recruitment channels.

Begin by analyzing your current technical team’s strengths and gaps. Collaborate with department heads to forecast future tech needs. Then, tailor your job descriptions to attract the right candidates. Utilize online job portals, tech-specific platforms, and engage in networking events and tech conferences. Regularly review and adjust your strategy based on the results and evolving needs.

#7 What are some best practices in technical talent acquisition?

• Writing clear job descriptions that precisely define technical roles, responsibilities, and requirements to attract suitable candidates.
• Using a mix of job portals, networking events, tech conferences, and referrals to source candidates.
• Implementing technical tests, coding challenges, and interviews to assess technical and soft skills.
• Positioning your company as a desirable place to work, emphasizing culture, growth opportunities, and unique selling points.
• Promoting opportunities for professional development, ensuring talent remains updated with industry trends.

#8 What are the biggest challenges in tech talent acquisition?

The biggest challenges in tech talent acquisition currently are:

• The skills gap. There is a shortage of skilled tech workers in the market, which makes it difficult for companies to find the talent they need.
• The war for talent. Many companies are competing for the same pool of tech talent, which drives up salaries and makes it harder to attract and retain top talent.
• The high cost of hiring. The cost of hiring tech talent is rising, due to the factors mentioned above. This can put a strain on company budgets.
• The long hiring process. The hiring process for tech roles can be long and drawn-out, which can discourage candidates and lead to lost opportunities.
• The lack of diversity in the tech workforce. The tech workforce is still disproportionately white and male, which can make it difficult for companies to attract and retain a diverse range of talent.

#9 How do you build a tech talent acquisition pipeline?

Below we have listed the steps involved in building a tech talent acquisition pipeline:

• Sourcing: Actively seek out candidates using job portals, social media, tech platforms like GitHub or Stack Overflow, and through referrals. Sourcing candidates should be a regular process and should be done even when there is no active open role. Thai way, recruiters and engineering managers can keep a handy database of prospective candidates ready.
• Engaging: Maintain regular communication with potential candidates, even if there isn’t an immediate vacancy. This helps in building relationships for future roles. Hackathons are a great way to engage and connect with developers, and improve brand recognition within the developer community.
• Screening: Regularly review and update your screening processes, by employing a robust platform for conducting technical tests, and soft skill assessments.
• Onboarding: Companies see a high percentage of drop-off during the waiting period i.e. when they are waiting for a developer to finish the notice at their previous employer and join their company. It is necessary to keep engaged with the developer even during this period, and help them onboard to the new company through regular communication. The onboarding process can continue when the developer formally joins the company and is introduced to different departments and functions.
• Continuous learning: An oft-missed part of the talent acquisition process is the provision of continuous learning opportunities to developers, so that the can grow into new roles and skills and attrition can be kept low.

“Success is dependent on effort” – Sophocles

Two variables, one relationship. The more effort you put, the more successful you will be.

This is what Sophocles, one of the three ancient Greek tragedians, said. He believed that people control their own success.

In real life, of course, success is an objective term and different people define it in different ways.

Moreover, external factors which can affect this relationship may occur and success may be delayed.

These factors may include unexpected events or miscalculated risks which have the power to prevent people from reaching their goals.

In this blog, I discuss 6 key points to success for employees to help people secure their trip toward successand help HR professionals realize how improving their employee value proposition (EVP) can help people become more successful while impacting the company’s overall performance positively.

Create a “blurry” vision

Everyone talks about how critical it is to “know what you want” in order to succeed, but no one talks about how you can get there.

How do you make it clear to yourself what you want? “If you love what you do, you will succeed,” they say, but how do you define what makes you happy by doing it?

Well, to answer all these questions you need first to try and fail; and then try again and fail again, and maybe also try something else.

You need to keep an open mind!

In high school, I used to participate in different math-based inter-school competitions, and I always won.

Years in a row, I was first in the city I represented and that made me think that my future should be related to numbers.

Honestly, I enjoyed the numbers, but at the same time I enjoyed helping people, and I hated listening to stories where people were not treated well by their employers.

In the final year of school though, I had a great experience involving consultancy meetings, managing people, and hiring people for a purpose, and this experience made me realize that as much as I enjoy numbers, I enjoy people-related projects at least twice as much.

It was then I decided to focus on HR. I had a blurry vision of my future, but trying different things actually helped me realize what matters to me.

Now, creating a “blurry” vision of success as a first step is not a bad thing. It gives you the opportunity to make mistakes and try new things.

Wanting to succeed in two or three things instead of one means that you do not have to stick with the one thing even if you are good at it; if you do not really enjoy it, then at some point, you get bored of it.

Instead, you have the opportunity to try something else which is still within your “blurry” vision. Therefore, do not be afraid of having a blurry vision when starting your career.

Have several goals and try to figure out which one most fits your needs and ambitions. Explore what makes you perform with a purpose.

Set short-term goals for success and always keep your bigger goal in mind

If you only set long-term goals, you will likely get tired of putting so much effort and not seeing any results yet.

On the other hand, by setting short-term goals you get the opportunity to celebrate your achievements every once in a while, thus keeping yourself motivated to continue your efforts for your bigger long-term goal.

Achieving something every now and then makes you feel you are on the right path; it makes you believe you can achieve even more.

To help you with the goal-setting process, Edwin Locke suggests that your goals need to be “SMART”:‍

Specific – After your blurry vision helps you decide what matters to you and what makes you happy, it is time to set specific/clear goals to know what you are working for.‍

Measurable – Your goals must allow you to demonstrate and measure the results to decide which behaviors you need to reward

‍Attainable – You need goals which are achievable. Unachievable goals will only bring you disappointment. You will not meet your own expectations. Therefore, make sure you know what you are capable of. Be honest with yourself.‍

Realistic/Relevant – You need to ensure that your goal is realistic, within your reach, consistent with other established goals, relevant to your life purpose, and fits in with immediate and long-term plans. Are you willing to commit to your goal

‍Time–bound – Your goals must have a defined time frame which includes a start date and an end date, otherwise, there is no sense of urgency to start working toward your goals.

Communicate; build a reliable network

Networking is free, most of the time. It gives you the opportunity to meet like-minded people and people who come from different backgrounds.

From both groups, you have a lot to learn. Like-minded people can probably help you with advice and stories on how to reach similar goals, and people with a different mindset will most probably help you become aware of the threats and risks involved in your decisions.

This can help you avoid mistakes and protect your efforts toward meeting your goals.

Networking is a great way to market yourself, and it can always lead to future opportunities for both parties.

As some people say, “your net worth is only as good as your network.”

Be your own evaluator

Most companies have yearly appraisal programs to evaluate their employees. In this kind of appraisal, employees get evaluated by their manager for their performance during the year they left behind.

Based on this evaluation, together with their manager, employees set goals for the next year.

It is a good way to keep personal and team goals aligned with the company’s bigger goals and to identify what kind of value each employee can add to the company.

But is it enough for you as a person to identify your strengths and your points that you need to improve?

Of course not!

You should not wait for this yearly evaluation to tell yourself what you are doing right and what you are doing wrong.

Take time yourself every week or even every day and think about what have you done, what have you achieved, and what you would change with regard to a particular behavior or situation to have achieved better results.

For various reasons, powerful companies in Japan home to amazingly advanced technology and manufacturing capabilities in several industries have failed to become as global as their peers overseas.

One of the challenges in achieving their globalization goals is their inadequate talent management strategy.

Like everywhere, Japanese HR professionals are trying to do justice to everything from recruiting to engaging to retaining talent in everchanging competitive markets to help organizations remain innovative.

What’s stopping businesses in Japan from moving forward

• Traditional hiring practices

White-collar recruiting typically begins at the graduate level, where companies ready promising students from prestigious universities for “lifelong employment.”

In this “Shinotsu” culture, new graduates are recruited systematically every April based on their ambition, communication skills, and character.

Unfortunately, these fresh hires come with no specific job skills. According to a 2015 Robert Walters survey, nearly 50% of the employers had difficulty finding candidates with the required technical knowledge.

Firms then lack the flexibility to adapt to the changing requirements, and the training period to get them to work ready can be time-intensive.

Job positions are usually filled by internal candidates.

For recruiters, when there is a lack of adequate domestic talent, hiring foreign workers is not seen as an attractive option by most companies. (But this is changing!)

• Rigid business practices

The Japanese “Tateshakai,” or vertical society, age, and seniority are sacrosanct. This can be demotivating for young, creative employees who also can’t get ahead based on skill alone.

Personal desires have no place in the traditional workplace where conformity, teamwork, and loyalty are all important attributes.

The egalitarian compensation companies and tenure-based promotion are not quite enough for the newer generation. Furthermore, social alienation and fear of failure prevent many young workers from becoming the entrepreneurs they would like to be.

For recruiters contacting potential employees can be difficult as “individual ambition” is frowned upon and the stigma of disloyalty is a huge barrier.

Most companies follow a job rotation/multi-tasking system that ends up producing generalists rather than specialists.

• Dwindling and inadequate talent pool

The same survey showed that 72% of Japanese companies have been affected by talent shortages. Companies will suffer when looking for talent in emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, self-driving technology, financial planning analysis, and web analytics.

The Hays 2016 Global Skills Index showed a significant talent mismatch in Japan (with a score of just 9.8) resulting in “wage pressure in high-skill occupations and talent shortage.”

A shrinking workforce, low birth rate, lack of creative confidence, and the inability to communicate fluently in English have contributed to a labor squeeze hampering economic development.

The current labor force in several sectors is quite ill-equipped to deal with the pressures of competition and globalization. In jobs which require employees to be bilingual, there are few candidates to choose from.

(This will an urgent need as Japan gets closer to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and 2019 Rugby World Cup.)

• Cultural impact

An intensely private people, the Japanese show very little engagement on social sites such as LinkedIn (less than 1% of the population is on it!).

However, sites such as Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube which offer anonymity have more success. Then again, for contacting them this becomes a challenge.

For recruiters, sourcing and attracting talent are significantly impacted by cultural factors. Apart from privacy and confidentiality issues, winning employees’ trust and convincing them to change jobs can be daunting.

Company culture favors recruitment of qualified candidates via referrals, and job advertisements typically have poor response rates in Japan.

For companies that don’t command strong brand reputation, attracting a candidate is not easy.

In Japan, changing jobs is an important decision and often candidates need time to speak with families before accepting an offer.

This can be frustrating for hiring professionals.

How the HR function can reassess its recruitment strategies

In the last decade, Japanese companies have been rigorously rethinking their hiring practices and revamping the traditional talent management system to deal with the changing economic environment.

To boost its innovative culture, social norms are now shifting to become more supportive of a vibrant startup ecosystem.

HR professionals understand that the values, both business and social, which were once dominant are no longer on the front burner.

Let’s look at some of the new recruitment approaches of talent acquisition professionals in Japan companies:

• Embracing diversity

With its working population decreasing, Japan is embracing diversity and inclusion to meet the goal of sustainable economic growth. In light of Abe’s “womenomics,” HR professionals in firms such as Daiwa Securities Group Inc. are working to boost women involvement and mobilize the elderly population by modifying policies; examples include providing childcare and flexible work arrangements and initiating executive leadership training programs for women.

For example, Snack food maker Calbee Inc. had 20% women managers in 2014 compared to 5.9% in 2009. In a bid to improve diversity, the company also had the drive to recruit people who graduated five years ago.

There are more than two jobs for every job applicant in Tokyo.

The talent shortage is worse in smaller companies. However, rigid hiring practices are changing; HR is considering foreigners (and bots).

In 2017, Japan had over a million foreign workers. Japanese HR are also stepping up mid-career hiring efforts to fill positions.

• Creating a global rotation system

Japanese firms are slowly moving toward global HR practices.

Companies such as Shiseido, Komatsu, Nissan, and Sony send top executives for an international stint to broaden their experience and skill set.

HR can ensure training of core employees to successfully function globally, be comfortable in cross-cultural settings, and be able to make sensible, management decisions independently.

For foreign ops, employees hired locally also need to be given career advancement and rotational opportunities and not just left to higher management, which is mostly Japanese.

• Doing more than recruiting and internal placement

Traditional HR philosophies are not helping to manage a younger or diverse workforce.

HR can enforce policies where Japanese employees are required to communicate with foreign co-workers in English (as Mitsubishi Corp. does). HR should identify employees (regardless of their nationality) who can be pushed for global executive training and deployed overseas.

HR needs to create a compelling employer brand to attract the right talent. A Gallup survey shows that Japan has a really low (7%) percentage of engaged people.

HR professionals must address issues such as long working hours, low take-home pay, rigid corporate culture, seniority-based promotion, harassment, and unfair reward systems to reduce disengagement.

Long-term engagement will result in more actively engaged employees, lower attrition, and better productivity due to increased motivation.

The current business landscape in Japan

Japan's business landscape is marked by a blend of traditional practices and modern challenges. Despite being a global leader in technology and manufacturing, Japanese firms often struggle with globalization due to rigid hiring practices and a conservative business culture. The traditional "Shinotsu" recruitment system, focusing on hiring fresh graduates for lifelong employment, poses challenges in acquiring specialized skills quickly. Additionally, the vertical societal structure ("Tateshakai") impacts workplace dynamics, often stifling young, innovative talent.

Japan also faces demographic challenges like an aging population and low birth rates, which exacerbate talent shortages, especially in emerging technologies. While there's a gradual shift towards more inclusive and diverse hiring practices, including mid-career hiring and increased women's participation, the transition is slow. These factors collectively create a unique business environment in Japan, requiring innovative strategies to navigate successfully.

How HackerEarth can make your talent search easier in Japan?

HackerEarth offers solutions that can significantly ease the talent search in Japan's unique business environment. By leveraging its comprehensive suite of technical assessment and remote interviewing tools, HackerEarth can help Japanese companies overcome traditional recruitment barriers.

For instance, HackerEarth's platform can assist in identifying highly skilled candidates regardless of their educational background, which is particularly valuable in a market dominated by the "Shinotsu" system. Its skill-based assessments and coding tests allow companies to focus on practical skills rather than just academic pedigree. This approach is beneficial for identifying talent in emerging technologies, where there's a current shortage in Japan.

Furthermore, HackerEarth's platform supports diversity in hiring, enabling companies to tap into a broader talent pool, including mid-career professionals and underrepresented groups. This aligns well with the changing dynamics in Japan's workforce. Additionally, its user-friendly interface and efficient screening process make it easier for companies to adapt to global HR practices, facilitating a smoother transition into modern recruitment methodologies.

Conclusion

HR has to work with the business leaders to ensure the success of their initiatives—flexibility, skill-based recognition, self-development, challenging work opportunities, social projects, strong language skills, diversity, candidate experience, and individual enterprise.

Japan has gone from being a seller’s market to a buyer’s one. Potential recruits are asking more questions and are more focused on individual career advancement than before.

Source: Japan Today

“Recruitment today is about processes, technology, and people who represent your brand and messages on your behalf,” says Lanis Yarzab, VP Asia–Pacific operations, Pontoon Solutions.

HR need to actively build an attractive employee brand and showcase the company culture via social channels to ensure that a consistent, positive message is delivered.

Japanese companies are ripe for the automation of the recruitment processes such as screening and some unbiased, skill-specific hiring which can leave the HR to deal with more value-adding services.

Instead of developing talent (not buying) or leveraging internal talent through job rotation, HR needs to use tools for objective assessment and do some strategic workforce planning if organizations are to stay innovative.

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