Who Doesn’t Enjoy A Good Game?

India constitutes 90% of the 1 billion global cricket fans as per ICC market research in 2018. This clearly indicates that cricket is indeed a religion in India. Hence, we thought of drawing an analogy between cricket and the art of recruitment.

Cricket, like all sports has also been subject to a lot of statistical modelling and analysis. We have learnt that most players and teams today use advanced analytics to analyse and evaluate individual and team performance to find improvement opportunities. Recruitment is no different.

Selecting the right talent to play in the given condition and format directly impacts the results in cricket. Finding this talent from a vast pool of applicants is the real test of the recruiter. Hence, most recruiters in cricket are former players. So, let’s look at what can we learn by being a cricket player.

For every successful innings the player has to prepare in advance, practice skills and perform on the ground. Every player looks at various aspects of the game and looks to optimize performance in each aspect. We found similarities in our approach to recruitment and the variables considered by a player. For simplification we have looked at the game from a batsman’s perspective:

5 essentials every recruiter must have in their Recruitment Kit – 

1. Pitch = Job Description

Every batsman would first assess the pitch conditions and decide how to play on the same. Similar to that every recruiter needs to understand the job description well and know how this pitch is likely to behave for the person to be able to prepare for the game. The kit should help you assess the job description and even sometimes help you create the right conditions for hiring. This simply translates into being able to assist you with specific keywords that matter within your organization and also recommending criteria based on past performance.

2. Bat = Sourcing

Sachin and most other players carry multiple cricket bats of varying weights and qualities in their kits. This is done to help them select the right bat depending on the pitch conditions and other variables. The bat you choose to play with can make a world of difference.
The recruiter is dependent on multiple sources and the real challenge arises when you have to choose between multiple sources for a particular position. The ability to determine this using various factors like the past performance of the source for similar positions, the joining ratio of candidates from the source are some of the criteria that help recruiters make the right decision. In a large enterprise environment, such an evaluation has reduced the Turn-Around-Time by 15-20%.

3. Delivery = Screening

Once you have started facing the deliveries coming your way, you have to be careful about what you select to connect with. After all for an interesting and result oriented game what you select to connect would determine the outcome and even length of the game. The batsman is using judgment and analysis to assess the incoming delivery for its suitability to score runs.

For the recruiter, this translates into your screening methods. The right system would thus understand the context – volume hiring or specialized position and assist recruiter accordingly. The right system is able to help the recruiter target relevant profiles from multiple sources. The recruiter is thus able to choose the right candidates to engage with. This greatly reduces the noise for the recruiter and improves the candidate experience and recruiter effectiveness.

4. Stroke Play = Match Making

If you thought that selecting the right delivery ensures success then think again because the deliveries more often than not are likely to surprise you with your last minute behavior. It’s only when you connect and connect well is then it’s a match and we all know that when we hear the sound of the timber.

For a recruiter, the sound of the timber is when his tools help him predict not just the suitability but also the likelihood of joining considering various relevant parameters including salary fitment. The right tool is not only helping the recruiter identify the right candidates to connect with but is also indicating the likelihood of joining. The ability of the system to provide a competitive offer while not disturbing internal parity will greatly assist in this process.

5. Runs, Statistics = Analytics

All great athletes look back on their games and every single data point of the same to determine their strengths and identify the minor changes to maintain high performance.

Our recruiters are no different. The recruiter’s kit allows him to look back on the past performance and identify things that went well and things that can be done differently. The power of ML and AI, in these tools aids recruiter’s ability to spot trends, suggest corrections and assess the results of actions. When this happens in a unified environment you get 40-50% higher recruiter productivity and 30-40% higher candidate experience and satisfaction.

We have laid out the 5 most important components every recruiter needs to have in their recruitment kit to be able to perform on top of their game every time. If you want to be as consistent as most star athletes are, then you must look to invest in the right kit for your recruitment team.

If you are looking for an experienced and capable partner to help you build a high-performance recruitment team, let’s talk.