HR Chronicles – “Stay Networked”, says Neha Gupta, Director HR, Everest Group

HR Chronicles – In conversation with Neha Gupta, Director HR, Everest Group

What is the most important trait that you look for in a candidate irrespective of the job description demand?

The willingness and ability to learn is an inherent skill I look for. People who have an open attitude towards learning are likely to be more successful since they have not put mental limits to what they can or cannot do as a part of their role. They also end up being long term bets to grow as internal talent within the firm.

If you were to ask just one question based on which you would make an offer to a candidate, what would that be?

How do you like to work alone and with others to achieve your goals? Tells a lot about a person’s working style, attitude and aspiration.

How many headcount do you expect to add this fiscal across multiple verticals? Can you share some numbers?

We expect to add 20 people to organization which will increase the overall headcount by 36%

A piece of advice for candidates willing to pursue a career with your organization.

We as an organisztion are highly selective about our talent based on the values fitment and desire to build domain expertise. If you have it in you to excel at what you do while making your colleagues successful as well, we are the right place for you!

What would be the three books that you would like to recommend to our visitors?

The professional, by Subroto Bagchi

The effective executive, by Peter Drucker

The difficulty of being good, by Gurucharan Das

How much importance do you give to employee referrals in the overall hiring process?

That is the most important tool for hiring, next only to developing talent internally. People within an organization are the best consultants to sense and match talent for who we are as an organization. There is nothing better than your employees being able to get the talent in organization. It has multiple benefits.

What measures do you take to reduce cost per hire? Cite one such example.

Hire through campuses and build talent. We are currently building the model to hire fresh talent and build an internal talent development program to grow them. This not only reduces cost per hire but also ensures that we hire for potential and then grow the talent that we want fit to our needs as an organization.

What do you do to hone your recruitment skills to stay ahead of competition?

Stay Networked! By connecting with people outside the organization, colleagues, peers working with similar firms, I can exchange notes on best practices. By connecting with my business partners and employees I get fresh ideas on how to make our hiring better as to how the industry is moving.