October 2023

The art of JD’ing Writing a job description (JD) well as for any job opening, not every piece would fit the puzzle. The JD would bring the right missing piece to fix the puzzle. A clear Job description (JD), shaped by interview experts, is half the process done. It’s a map for multiple audiences, including interview panels, candidates, and screening teams. It’s meant to address diverse requirements, as advised by interview experts. For whom is the JD prepared for? JD is addressed to three categories of people. So, when a JD is prepared, we must make sure that all three following teams’ perspective is addressed: 1. For the panel who takes the interview, it’s the direction on how to take the interview. It’s not always the person who writes the JD who takes the interview are same; one may describe the requirements others would join in the selection process. Unless the requirement is very generic; the JD should give the complete picture of the right candidate. The questions or the approach can vary from panel to panel, but the evaluation criteria must not be compromised. 2. For the candidate, It’s the face of the prospective role/organization. Every candidate when approached for a position; first looks at the organization then the JD. JD also serves as the face of the company and the project that the candidate would be a part of. Complete precise JD with all detailed parameters and expectations gives the candidate a clear picture of the roles and responsibilities of the candidate for the job position. Such precise JD helped the candidates make an informed decision about it. Furthermore, it fosters confidence on the candidate towards the new position thereby giving him the motivation to prepare for the interview diligently. In many cases, candidates skips the interviews at the last moment because they are not sure about the job role and scope. This issue can be easily avoided with a  precise JD.  While going through the JD if the candidate feels that it is a perfect fit, then the candidate will come to the interview with the appropriate intent and confidence. On the other hand, for the organization, it means it is able to attract the right profiles.  In such circumstances, the chances of candidates accepting the offers become higher. 3. The HR team does the initial screening, it’s the guideline to screen the profiles. An HR team, that deals with multiple domains and skills, uses keywords from JD as the filter to screen the candidates. A glance at the JD absorbing the keywords and key requirements is the move to search for the needle in the haystack. Unless the pointers are evident, they would end up in fishing out a wrong set of profiles bound to be rejected and thus a waste of time for multiple teams. Who prepares the  JD for a job position ? A perfect JD brings the right candidate one step closer to the open position. Ideally, it should be prepared by a person while taking in the candidate for his team. But in most of the cases, a template is sourced and then modified/ tailored to the requirement. It’s never easy bringing every little nuance of the job requirement into the description. But this is the first and foremost step of any recruitment process. Candidates are filtered based on the keywords; candidates apply based on the requirements interviews are conducted mostly with the JD as the reference against the CV and performance of the candidate. How to create a JD and what a JD should cover? Since it’s not always the same person who prepares the JD takes the interviews the job description must be precise but should cover all the expectations. Irrespective of how good the interview Expert may be, if the parameters of evaluation are not stated clearly, it is difficult for them to make a good assessment for selection.  On the other hand, an average interview panel can make an accurate selection if the parameters are well-defined. It should ideally speak about; The organization: A well-rounded job description not only outlines the specific job responsibilities and qualifications but also paints a vivid picture of the organization itself. This helps candidates make an informed decision about whether the company aligns with their values, career goals, and work preferences. The relevant experience: The required experience if broken down skill based on a higher level; with the relevancy would nail the JD. Work mode: With the online mode setting in, any candidate first looks in the mode and that is often the question in the list from candidate to HR after ticking the other aspects, it is covered in the JD; the candidate would have an easier decision to make. At time the interview progresses to many a level and gets stopped at the end as the candidate’s expectation of the work mode doesn’t match. If a clear stance is taken a conveyed can avoid many missed-when-almost-hired situations thus saving a lot of time and energy for the stakeholders. Work from home Offline Hybrid Work type: This again is another point in most of the candidates’ checklists; if the expectations and offerings are made clear it would save a lot of bandwidth for the hiring team. Permanent role Contract role Freelance role Role type: These details of the type would help the candidate to understand if he is moving forward in a similar role or if he is being offered more. Also, the panel would understand the type of interview he is expected to conduct Individual contributor Lead Role in project Client facing Internal Methodologies Agile Scrum etc. Skill type: These details account for the maximum weightage on the JD for the interviewer, candidate, and screening team alike followed by its weightage. Mandatory Desirable Added advantage Skill weightage Basic knowledge Exposure Experience Proficiency. These are a few categories, not the exhaustive list. Each detail should help the candidate attain a better picture of the requirement. Even topics like culture, ethics, and

Hiring is an important part of a company’s growth, whether by yourself or by outsourcing the interview services and once it’s done, the new employees must get properly introduced to the unique work culture that every organization carries within itself. This part of the process is known as onboarding. This is where new team members of a department inside the organization get integrated with the existing team whilst also getting familiar with the operations and structure of the organization itself. So, from the employer’s side, they must execute this process very effectively as it helps to build a foundation for a strong retention rate amongst new employees that will eventually help the overall productivity & brand image as well. In this day and age of the post-pandemic era, the Work From Home (WFH) model still lives up to its hype for many companies. This is primarily because it saves the costs of owning or renting a workspace, cuts off the time taken to arrange it, and saves energy that would otherwise go into maintaining it. For the employees, they save a lot of time and energy that is otherwise consumed commuting from home to office. This has led employers to adopt online interview assessments as well. With the work-from-home model, it is often not feasible to proceed with onboarding physically. That’s where remote onboarding comes in. This blog will take you through a lot more about onboarding for remote teams and how you can elevate the quality of the remote onboarding experience for new employees. What is remote onboarding? Remote onboarding is the process of carrying out onboarding via technology. After hiring new employees either by yourself or by outsourcing technical interview services, a fully successful process of physical onboarding may take up to 2 weeks with the beginning of professional training from the third week onwards. In the case of remote onboarding, the process can be wrapped in a shorter period of time. Requirements to complete onboarding for remote teams There are 3 kinds of requirements to complete onboarding at both physical and virtual workspace, they are organizational requirements, technical requirements, and social requirements. A good onboarding experience involves catering to all three requirements. Let’s learn about them more elaborately. Organizational Requirements: Providing access to information through handbooks or documentation about the various structural facilities present in the office. In terms of remote onboarding, the organization is responsible for guiding about their virtual office platform. Technical Requirements: This involves providing new hires with tools that are to be used in their work profile and motivating them to get familiar with the tools as soon as possible. This helps the employees to start getting productive in a new space on time, therefore creating genuine empowerment within them. Social Requirements: There are a couple of ways in which you can fulfill social requirements and each one is necessary on its own. A Singular Point of Contact (SPOC) or an onboarding buddy from the organization is important to set expectations on how to build good relationships with old team members. Also, there must be opportunities planned out for informal interactions between new and existing employees. Why consider onboarding of remote teams? Multiple organizations have found remote onboarding very important for a multitude of reasons. As stated before, remote onboarding assures better team member retention and promises more productivity. Other reasons include- Flexibility: Remote onboarding helps companies hire talent from anywhere in the world, either by themselves or by outsourcing technical interview services, especially if the location of their physical workspace is in a distant region from the candidate’s residence. This expands the number of potential candidates and also promotes diverse representation in the corporation. Cost-Efficiency: Just like the benefits of operating in a work-from-home model as discussed before, onboarding also eliminates the need for physical office space, travel, and even relocation expenses for new hires.  Safety: In pandemic-like situations, remote onboarding ensures the safety of employees by cutting down on physical interaction. Scalability: Remote onboarding advances scaling immediately to accommodate a growing workforce with infrastructural limitations. Technology Integration: Remote onboarding encourages using technology with the latest digital tools for training and communication, therefore promoting tech-savviness among new hires. Competitive Advantage: Companies that excel in remote onboarding gain a competitive edge by attracting qualified professionals because it provides them the freedom to work from the confines of their places, especially when they are looking for flexible arrangements. Best Practices for Onboarding Remote Teams To help you pull off a great, remote onboarding experience for the new employees we present you with some useful practices that can streamline the entire process much more efficiently. Curate a detailed onboarding plan: It is a must to create an extensive onboarding plan for clarity in the process, to achieve onboarding goals, and to successfully set expectations for the employees without any communication issues.   Have an experienced mentor: The aforementioned onboarding buddy or the SPOC must have sufficient knowledge of the role they are in. They should also be thorough with the rules or policies that need to be explained to the new employees.  Keep checking regularly: It is important to realize that doubt-clearance in onboarding is not a one-and-done process and therefore, one needs to stay in contact with new employees at all times to clear their queries apart from the work, even when they are past their probationary period. Hence, it is important to establish an active communication channel between both the employee and the employer. Help in setting an ideal workspace at home: This practice can be applied in various ways, you can send over the required furniture or equipment needed by the employee directly to their residence, or you might provide some allowance to aid them in setting up their home office. Encourage open communication: Create opportunities where new employees can feel comfortable in their unique way of expressing themselves through their ideas and concerns. Adjust your approach accordingly based on the different personalities of all the new hires. Seek feedback for