How to Get Hired In A KPO Job

Jobs in KPO or the Knowledge Process Outsourcing are quite in demand these days given the bright prospects in this field. The industry is fast picking up in India given the wealth of well-educated professionals in India who can be hired at relatively cheaper rates. It is a knowledge based industry and in this regard it is quite different from a BPO. In a KPO, employees are involved in knowledge-based work or research in different verticals. So, people with experience in specialized fields are considered for a KPO job. Unlike BPO, it is not just the youngsters or fresh out of college youth who opt for a KPO jobs but experienced professionals from various fields and even retired people are joining the KPO industry to take up lucrative jobs.

KPO jobs involve work in various fields such as finance, legal issues, intellectual property, analytics, market research and data management for a company. Since this is all knowledge based and confidential work, a lot of risk management is required in KPO jobs in India and abroad. The job would require in-depth knowledge of that area of work. Of course, the KPO centre imparts training to its employees for the vertical that it is working in. High-end knowledge work is executed in these KPOs as directed by the client. It could be data management, petition filing, research oriented work or any other such work that involves proper understanding of that field.

Since India offers good KPO services with a lot of cost advantage, it is estimated that by 2010, nearly two and a half lakh people in India would be employed in this industry. This is an indicative number and given the potential of this industry, it may as well increase. In the past decade, there has been a mushrooming of engineering, technical and professional institutes in India. Thus, there is no shortage of skilled manpower in the country which is capable of handling high-end knowledge work in KPOs. Thus, more and more international companies are either setting shop here or hiring the local talent for research and development work or outsourcing such work to Indian KPO companies that specialize in the particular vertical.

Experienced and qualified professionals are choosing this career option because it is very lucrative. A person with two years of experience can expect to earn remuneration as high as around Rs 6 lakh (Rs 600,000) to Rs 8 lakh (Rs 800,000) annually. Someone with higher experience and knowledge of the industry would easily draw anywhere between Rs 15 lakh (Rs 1.5 million) and Rs 20 lakh (Rs 2 million). However, this industry is fraught with attrition. Since people are not properly aware of the potential of this industry, they tend to leave jobs quicker in this industry.

To get hired for a KPO job, one has to have proper educational qualifications unlike BPO where only a good knowledge of the English language is required. Since in a KPO job, the work requires specialized skills, proper educational qualifications are a must. Qualified people from various diverse backgrounds can look at making a career in KPO. It could be teachers or engineers or MBAs or lawyers or journalists or professionals with financial background. Professionals from all such backgrounds are eligible to work in KPOs. The basic skills required of an employee in KPO job are good analytical skills for data analysis, proficiency in usage of resources for information research, ability to make presentable reports from raw data, good computer proficiency and command over English language.

For a KPO job, one would require domain expertise and knowledge for projects that may involve moderate to very high levels of analysis, research, updating, database creation and cataloguing and indexing. Thus, one must have a basic interest and knowledge in specific domains with an aptitude to working with data and information to thrive in a KPO job. During the recruitment process, candidates are first short-listed on the basis of marks and their previous experience of the domain. Their aptitude and attitude towards doing research-oriented work is also tested during the recruitment process. After selection, all employees are given the requisite training in the domain and the projects involved.

KPO industry employs employees from diverse academic backgrounds. There would be a huge demand for engineers, CAs, doctors, MBAs, lawyers, research analysts, scientific researchers and even PhDs in the near future. KPO is one industry where one can make full use of his/her educational qualifications. Also, good performers in a KPO have remarkable growth opportunities in this field because the number of skilled people is less. They can look forward to a good salary package, in-depth domain knowledge, managerial responsibilities and career growth.

Hiring People in Tough Market Situations

We all know how this is not the employers market. The slump in the market has brought huge challenges to Recruiters whose hunt is still on for the best talent from the market. As the supply of resources flood the market, there surely is a dearth of opportunities within company for open positions. How do we tackle such this situation?

1) Narrow your search: The job portals are flooded with resumes as potential candidates are uncertain about their current job. In a situation like this, it’s very important as a Recruiter for you to narrow your search to the active job seekers than passive job seekers. The active job seekers are responsive to the job offer that you have to offer and they are surely up for grabs.

As for the candidates, its important for you to narrow your search in identifying the right job for you and follow up regularly with the Recruiter on the open head count to have yourself land your dream job.

2) Networking is the key: In a volatile market situation, the job market is the most affected as the perception is LIFO (Last in first out). As a Recruiter, your potential hire is weary of the situation and is not really keen to move out of his comfort zone. The key here would be to build an active network with your potential hires not just for jobs but to gain knowledge on his side of the story. Then it becomes easy for you to present his dream job and then hire him for your open position.

As for the candidates, it helps you to network with the Recruiters and HR folks to gain knowledge on company situation, their hiring prospects, their growth directions just for you to be aware if the move that you are going to make is worth end of it all.

3) Gain business intelligence: Its important to all of us to keep ourselves updated on what is happening around. Gain knowledge on various industries growth or slump. This will help and comes handy if as a Recruiter, you are talking to your potential hire from that domain. This will give you the insight to attract the candidate and also gives confidence to the candidate that he is talking to the right person in the company.

As a candidate, knowledge on verticals not only helps you weigh your option to move to that domain but also helps you compare the industries. In such a turbulent situations, the managers out there want to hire “only the best” who is far beyond excellence. You have to give an impression in the minds of the Recruiter that its you who is cut for the role and nobody else.

4)Reskill and Reinvent: By now, we all know the traditional method of hiring is not the in thing in hiring in turbulent market situations. As a Recruiter, you too have to reskill yourself to reinvent new forms of recruiting. The candidates out there are becoming more and more passive making a recruiter’s job even more aggressive and tougher by the day. Its very important as a Recruiter to bell the cat in finding out what works best in his favour. Hunt for the best resource from the deep caves, which did not exist for many.

Has this Recession led to more Job Offer Declines??

A new trend seen in recruitment during this recession is the increase in the “post-offer declines” from the offered candidates and “pre-offer declines” from candidates when they receive potential offers. A candidate’s reason for declining offers may be their decision to stay back at their present company. While the cause of the same can be easily identified as being due to the recession, here is how candidates may quote this –

-“I’m concerned about possible lay-offs”

-“My job is very secured and I have got good project pipeline in my present company…. I don’t want to take a risk”

As a Recruiter, some of these questions can really put you in a difficult situation to answer when candidates quote some of the examples of their own dear ones losing their jobs. However, there are many ways a Recruiter can turn such cases to successful hires and I believe on the following ones.

1. Help the candidate realise the importance and value of hiring during recession: Of late many candidates ask this question to me as to why are we hiring during recession and I turn this question as an answer to their question. First of all, we should make the candidates understand and realise the importance and value of hiring during recession. Candidates should be given enough information about the roadmap and future of business and also the position they are hired for as to how it can be a possible “recession proof”.

2. Involve Business/Hiring Managers: Asking the Hiring Manager to call the candidate very often after the offer release would definitely help to keep the candidate’s interest level high. Some time candidates may consider Recruiter as more of a job “seller” but their “trust factor” will be more when a hiring Manager calls up the candidate and talk to him.

3. Re-Brief the importance of the role in the company: Re-briefing is very important during a candidate’s post offer to pre-joining phase. Those candidates who are getting interviewed in multiple companies may forget what was explained to them during their interview. The Recruiter should make an attempt to address all queries related to job roles and responsibility.

4. Give personal touch: Perhaps there is nothing better than giving a personal touch to a rapport built with the candidate to avoid offer declines. Add the candidate to social networking sites like Orkut and Facebook, your chat room etc to make him feel more comfortable with the process. Meet the candidate very often both at office and outside, if possible. Apart from being his “career consultant”, talk to him about his personal part of life and make him feel you are not an outsider.

5. Beware of negative candidates/Window shoppers: Don’t be a victim to those ‘window-shopping’ candidates by letting them to make use of your offer to get what they want from their current employer.