Reference Checking & Screening
G Venkatesh 04 June 2012

Dissatisfied clients of placement consultants turning to this new form of recruitment

Ashish Kelkar who worked as a business development manager in a well-known MNC (multinational) security firm in Bengaluru smirks at the treatment meted out to him by placement firms. Ramarathnam P, who heads the marketing department of a pharma major in Bengaluru scoffs at the time that he wasted when he tried to source a few candidates from a placement firm in Bangalore. The dissatisfaction of people like Ashish and Ramarathnam is giving way to an emerging discipline of reference checking and screening of candidates. It also works out to be cheaper for the organizations.

Ashish says, “I approached a top placement consulting firm through their director. I met them in November and was promised that they would look at my profile. There was a face-to-face session where I felt the official was more interested in my organization than in me. She asked me to get in touch with her in January 2012. When I contacted her in January, she said that I will have to wait till March as that was the time companies would be looking at new recruitments. In March, she gave me an evasive reply once again. Of course, I was talking to other placement consultants as well. I realised that pursuing such consultants in placement firms such as Mafoi was a sheer waste of time. Luckily, I landed a job in May 2012 thanks to my active networking”.

Mukunda Hegde talks about his experience with another firm. Mukunda sent his resume to the bunch of executives calling themselves as consultants in the placement firm. There was no response. Finally, he decided to pull a fast one of them and masqueraded as an HR consultant from Australia who was looking to source candidates from Bangalore. Within 15 minutes, there were frantic calls from the office and confirmation of the appointment the owner. Mukunda has joined Tesco and no, it was through a referral and not through the services of a placement firm.

Another firm in Jaya Nagar, Bengaluru promises candidates job interviews after collecting a “nominal” amount of Rs.5000 as registration charges. They even claim that this fee is actually a tactic to screen candidates. But they do not assure you a job and there are no refunds in case you are not selected.

R Gnanaprakasam, who works in TVS Logistics, says that placement firms are those who offer you an umbrella when it is not raining and snatch it away when it rains cats and dogs. Neena, a consultant in Talent Mappers agrees that the credibility of placement firms has suffered due to people who are not serious about their profession. However, she says that the onus of getting a candidate a good job remains on the priority list of recruitment consultants. However, Neena is silent when we asked her about the lack of initiative on the part of placement firms to source job opportunities. Why do placement firms always wait for clients to approach them and do not find it necessary to approach clients on a pro-active basis?

Kabir Muthaih, a mechanical engineer feels that it is better to apply to companies directly rather than waste time pursuing such consultants. He does not rule out the nexus between HR managers and such consultants with cash changing hands.

As placement consultants in India have lost their credibility, a new process is slowly and steadily emerging. Some organizations are engaging specialist professionals (not head hunters) who specialize in screening and reference checking of candidates. The charges for such services are nominal. “These are early days, but this sort of service holds lot of promise”, admits Vasumathi Purushottam, a Bengaluru-based recruitment consultant.

HR manager Srinand Narang who is employed with a paint company in Bengaluru is open to such type of services. “Placement firms in Bengaluru have had a bad track record as far as our organization is concerned. If we can get something that is in-between, it is welcome”. So, how does this scheme work?

1. Organizations place an ad in the newspaper
2. Applications are received by the HR department
3. These are forwarded to the screening specialists
4. The specialists screen the candidates based on an agreed methodology with the client
5. The first list of candidates is prepared
6. A random check is done by the client to ensure fair play and justice
7. Once the list is approved, the specialists carry out reference checking and short-list the candidates based on the initial telephonic discussion with the candidate and his interest in the job opportunity
8. The interviews are then directly co-ordinated with the candidates by the HR department
9. A lump sum amount, irrespective of the salary of the selected candidate, is charged to the client for the expenses involved in processing the applications. This amount is nominal.

Durgesh Patil, senior HR Manager in an IT firm in Pune welcomes this fresh approach. “It saves time and is also cost effective. The scheme provides scope for conducting periodic checks to detect any bias. I am sure once there is mutual trust between the client and service providers, such periodic checks may be skipped. But this is much better than dealing with unscrupulous placement firms”, he concurs.

To reiterate, these are early days for such a specialist service, but if firms give this a serious thought, they will realise that this will turn out to be cheaper and more effective because the decision to weed out a candidate’s name from the list is based on a scientific rating methodology and is not dependent on individual bias. This also allows a lean HR structure within the organization.

Comments
D GANAPATHY
1 decade ago
it is good article. but tow things in life you cannot forecast = a)demise b)reliability of a candidate seeking a job. -his commitment and loyalty to the person/s
who recommend him to a job.IT IS SHOT IN THE DARK WHEN YOU RECOMMEND A PERSON WHO CAME TO SEE YOU FOR A JOB - WHETHER HE ATTENDS INTERVIEW OR NOT OR IF HE INFORMS YOU ABOUT THE RESULT OF THE INTERVIEW OR IF HE INFORMS YOU ABOUT HAVING JOINED THE COMPANY =NO ONE CAN FORECAST IF THESE WILL HAPPEN.
malq
1 decade ago
I headed and operated a tech company for a decade without once having to use the services of these placement firms. As soon as the company was merged with a larger US company, the flood of such "consultants" started, and even "normal" direct recruitments had to be routed through them.

Terms and conditions were 3 months salary (gross) as commissions plus "actuals". Ofcourse, there were kickbacks, and so a merry time was had by all.

I protested, walked out, was terminated. And today - the consultant company used then doesn't even exist.

Point is this - many of these referral and re-verification companies don't have any skillsets other than fudging data banks from job websites and then sending out mailers as well as verification mails.

Much better to use the word of mouth and employee referral methods.

rgds/VM
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