A role of competency-based recruitment screening a case study on Indian manufacturing unit.pdf

Int. J. Indian Culture and Business Management, Vol. 20, No. 4, 2020 467
Copyright © 2020 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.
A role of competency-based recruitment screening:
a case study on Indian manufacturing unit
Nidhi Maheshwari*
Fortune Institute of International Business,
Plot No. 5, Rao Tula Ram Marg, Opposite Army R&R Hospital,
Vasant Vihar, New Delhi, 110057, India
Email: nidhimaheshwari1999@yahoo.com
*Corresponding author
Moon Moon Haque
College of Healthcare Management and Economics,
Gulf Medical University,
P.O. Box 4184, Ajman, United Arab Emirates
Email: moonhaque@gmail.com
Abstract: Recruitment process has become more competitive as the war for
suitable talent is pervasive, especially in the Indian manufacturing sector. Job
description, keywords available in the resume of candidates are found to be not
efficient and effective indicators of job performance. It is also observed that
for fulfilling the voluminous vacancies from the massive pool of applicant’s
resume repository, the ‘keyword search’-based screening is not proved to be
sufficient enough. In this context, the present study was conducted in one of
the leading machine manufacturing units to identify ways to improve current
recruitment and selection procedures. Most of the recent literature reviews
proved that underlying behavioural capabilities are better indicators of job
performance than knowledge and skill sets of an individual employee. Our
quantitative findings also support the recent literature. Keeping this in mind,
effectiveness of screening process competency-based resume screening is
highlighted in this research. For competency-based resume, screening video
resumes and priority matrix-based screening process is also recommended for
improving the efficiency in recruitment and selection procedures.
Keywords: screening; job competency; competency-based resume screening;
recruitment and selection; video resume; priority matrix.
Reference to this paper should be made as follows: Maheshwari, N. and
Haque, M.M. (2020) ‘A role of competency-based recruitment screening:
a case study on Indian manufacturing unit’, Int. J. Indian Culture and Business
Management, Vol. 20, No. 4, pp.467–487.
Biographical notes: Nidhi Maheshwari has been in the research and teaching
profession for over a decade. She completed her PhD and LLB from the Mohan
Lal Sukhadiya University, Rajasthan, India. She also holds an MBA from the
Banasthali Vidyapeeth. During her doctoral studies in the area of emotional and
spiritual quotient, she had widely published papers in refereed international and
national journals. Presently, she is working as an Associate Professor with the
Fortune Institute of International Business. Before this, she was associated
with the Asia-Pacific Institute of Management and JK Lakshmipath University,

468 N. Maheshwari and M.M. Haque
Rajasthan. Her areas of research include spirituality, value system and Indian
ethos. She was awarded with the ‘Best Research Paper’ in the IIM – Shillong
Sustainability Conference (2015).
Moon Moon Haque is an Associate Professor in Economics at the College
of Healthcare Management and Economics, Gulf Medical University, UAE.
Before this, he was associated with the Fortune Institute of International
Business, and Asia-Pacific Institute of Management. He completed his PhD
in Business Administration, concentration in Applied Economics from the
Fogelman College of Business and Economics, University of Memphis,
Tennessee, USA. He also obtained his MA in Applied Economics from the
same university, and another MA in Economics from Visva-Bharati University,
WB, India. He is an applied economics researcher and his research agenda
mostly focused on the evaluation and recommendation of policy issues in the
fields of health economics and labour economics, with a direct objective toward
to alleviate inequality, and to promote efficient and effective economic policies.
Moreover, of late, he took a keen interest in management research.
1 Introduction
The war for suitable talents and acquisition of such talents at regular intervals in a
time-bound manner has led to an awfully competitive labour market within the last few
decades. Thanks to the war for talent, importance is now being shifted from selection to
attraction of workers (Lievens et al., 2002). The emphasis on recruitment includes those
practices and activities applied by the organisation with the primary objective of
distinguishing and attracting suitable talents (Breaugh and Starke, 2000) and thus,
competency-based talent management has become an important and necessary process
for any progressive organisation.
In most organisations, selection and recruitment are taken as a process of matching
job descriptions and prospective candidate’s resume. In this direction, researches show
that interviews is not strongly correlated with the job performance (Gusdorf, 2008;
Hunter and Hunter, 1984; Arvey and Campion, 1982; Campion et al., 1988) rather
cognitive abilities are strongly correlated with job performance (Schmidt, 2002). This
shows that defining competencies and developing pre-screening process based on
competencies to evaluate job candidates can appreciably improve the selection procedure
of any organisations. The job competencies are underlying behavioural capabilities of an
individual which can lead to competent performance at the workplace (Sanghi, 2016;
Brown et al., 2018; Takey and de Carvalho, 2015). Further, competencies are required
more than knowledge and skills as attitude matters more than the aptitude of individuals.
The study of Ashkezari and Aeen (2012), noted that competency-based recruitment is
a process of recruiting employees on the bases that how much they can articulate skills,
knowledge, and technical know-how about their job. Daniels et al. (2011) suggested that
selection is not just replenishing the vacancy but to select those people who have high
level of commitment and can perform at high level.
Research studies conducted also to judge the effectiveness of competency-based
recruitments have inferred that underlying attributes, skills, traits, knowledge and
attitudes that are required for successful performance in a job can be identified better
through competency-based selection methods (Boyatzis, 2011; Spencer and Spencer,

A role of competency-based recruitment screening 469
2009). Further, Meyrowitz et al. (2012) competency-based approach takes the help of
competency framework to evaluate candidates which is very helpful in identifying
employees who may meet the expectations of management. This way the effectiveness of
HR department can be enhanced (Meyer and Semark, 2013).
2 Research objectives
The objectives of the study are to review the existing recruitment and selection
procedures and to make recommendations for enhancement of the system and get
approval from senior management. Specific objectives of the research are as follows:
1 To analyse the current recruitment and selection procedures adopted by XYZ Group
in order to understand the relevance of competency-based screening process.
2 Further, to design and produce draft procedure to improve resume screening through
competency-based screening procedure.
3 Research organisation
One of the leading engineering group of India was founded in 1940s by two brothers in
the name of XYZ Agents Ltd. (name has been changed to secure the identity) in Lahore,
now in Pakistan. XYZ Engineering Ltd. setup its first manufacturing-base at Haryana and
started manufacturing X-ray machine in collaboration with Westinghouse & Heating
Elements with a Swiss company. The XYZ Group is an Indian engineering company that
operates in the sectors of agro-machinery, construction and material handling equipment,
railway equipment and auto components. Since its inception in 1940s and headquartered
in Haryana presently, the company has marketing operations in more than 40 countries.
XYZ have played a crucial role within the agricultural growth of Republic of India
for over six decades. Having pioneered farm mechanisation within the country, it is been
developing solutions to reinforce agricultural productivity and improve quality of life in
rural India. Taking a breakthrough, the corporate then launched its ‘Jai Kisan’1 initiative,
a unifying platform to empower the Indian farmers to make them independent.
4 Research methodology
To understand the relevance of competency-based recruitment methods, a case study
method is utilised. Through case study methods, one can go beyond quantitative
statistical results and can better devise the systems by keeping behavioural conditions in
background. Further, both quantitative and qualitative data is collected to understand
the recruitment process of the organisation and then on the basis of data analysis,
reconstruction of recruitment and selection subsystem is proposed.
Additionally an interview schedule has been carried out with the senior
human resource managers and departmental heads to know the nitty-gritty of existing
recruitment and selection procedure. Besides this, long discussions were carried out
regarding recruitment and selection with the talent acquisition (TA) team members.

Moreover, they were also requested to share their opinion and concerns with the existing
system in order to minimise the recruitment cost and enhance the effectiveness of current
recruitment system.
Table 1 Research methodology table
Information obtained How it was obtained? Why it was obtained in this way?
Current recruitment and
selection procedures
Collected from the manuals
and company policies from
corporate office
They have well documented
procedures at place and they shared
them on request.
Talent acquisition team,
departmental heads and
senior HR managers
Interview schedule and
discussions were held
Discussions held to clarify the
process of recruitment and selection
as well as the issues while
implementing the existing policy.
Current prevalent
screening practices
Referred journal and
websites like CIPD, PSYnet,
SHRM, etc.
Helpful in knowing current industry
practices and comparing the existing
practices of XYZ Group with global
practices.
5 Findings of the research
XYZ Group is a dynamic group and is expanding at a rapid pace. Thus, voluminous
hiring and fulfilling the demand of suitable human resource needs of different department
is a priority area of talent management department. The war for talent is pervasive in the
industry and selecting right candidate at the right time is a biggest challenge of TA team.
Another concern of the TA team is to minimise recruitment cost and recruitment cycle to
fulfil human resource requirements of the various departments at an appropriate time.
The existing recruitment and selection process is explained through the process flow
chart in Figure 1.
Generally, after receiving approved manpower requisition form (MRF), the TA team
of XYZ starts their sourcing process. The MRF is being forwarded by the concerned
department where the vacancy is aroused to the TA team along with the job description
and job specification (sample requisition form is given in Annexure 3). After receiving
the requisition the sourcing is done by TA team through different job portals like
naukri.com, indeed.com, LinkedIn, employee referrals, and other references. From the
pools of the candidates received from different sources, the resumes are then screened
according to the suitability of the job requirement and profile by age, functional area,
experience, salary, core department, role and responsibilities. Recruiters need to find
qualified candidates for their job orders, as per MRF form and requisition of the
company. The first round of screening is conducted to determine whether the applicant
has the competencies relevant to the job profile, for which the company is willing to hire.
This screening process is typically the first round of filtering phase in the hiring process.
It is done by the TA team in which the candidate’s qualifications, core competencies,
experience, knowledge and other skills are matched with the job description or the job
requirement according to which the candidate is shortlisted for further process. The
second round of screening is done through telephonic interviews.

Figure 1 Process flow chart of existing recruitment and selection process (see online version
for colours)
5.1 Telephonic interview
Telephonic interview is the first formal contact; the candidates begin with the company.
Such interviews are often used for short listing of candidates in order to narrow down the
pool of screened candidates. The telephonic interview is generally conducted by the TA
teams, who collect detail information of the candidates and check their suitability for the
intended job profile. In telephonic round, there is enough number of questions asked to
know the attitude and readiness of the candidate for the job. With the help of the leading
HR Consultancy of India, XYZ Group has developed a repository of questionnaire for
different job profiles which are very helpful in screening candidates for scheduling next
round of interview [sample questionnaire for selecting regional business manager (RBM)
is given in Annexure 4].

5.1.1 Interview 1
After the telephonic interview, the shortlisted candidates are called for the next round of
interview (round 1) with the reporting manager which can be either face to face or Skype
interview or telephonic. The interview is scheduled by the TA team according to the
availability of both reporting manager and selected candidate for the interview. If the
candidate gets selected in round 1, he/she goes for round 2; otherwise, the process ends
there for the candidate. If any candidate does not get selected, a feedback (regret note) is
sent to the candidate stating the reasons of his/her rejection and assuring to approach
him/her if any opportunity arises in future which might suits his/her competencies.
Normally, this interview is taken face to face by the reporting manager.
5.1.2 Interview 2
This round of interview is taken by the head of department and functional head to check
the following parameters:
 technical expertise
 roles and responsibilities (dealership handling and managing)
 knowledge of the industry and market
 knowledge of the product
 knowledge of the competitors and their products, normally, this interview is
telephonic or Skype or face to face.
In exceptional cases or if need arises, HOD can take face to face interview.
5.1.3 Interview 3
The third round of interview is conducted by the human resource management
department to ensure the followings:
 HR department checks the fitment of the candidate in the organisation, which
includes his attitude, stability, gaps, etc.
 The HR department also does the negotiation of compensation structure, which
includes his salary, CTC, incentives, other perks and benefits, allowances, etc. with
the candidate, and if the candidate is satisfied with the salary structure and other
legal compliance, then the candidate is selected for the next round.
 There are few chances when the candidate is not satisfied with the salary structure as
XYZ Group provides comparative basis salary structure for the employee which
shows the increase or improvement in his salary, in accordance to his/her current
salary structure.
 In case of employee referrals, there may be a few problems with negotiations as
these candidates are not processed for the interview by TA team.
 In that case, if there is any issue on the fitment (age, salary, experience), then it is
sent for approval to functional heads.

6 Proposed way to make the screening process more effective
Learning the resume screening steps from the TA team, who are like employment
gatekeeper, determining which applicants get further consideration, it is identified that
the preliminary screening done by the TA team was based on key terms identified from
job descriptions. The telephonic screening was done on the basis of readiness of the
candidate for the job, which means competency-based resume screening is not done by
the TA team. The TA team were running key word searches and ending up mostly with
the same pool of candidates that all of their competitor organisations are also going after.
The TA team was not prioritising the screening process in a strategic, systematic and
sequential manner; rather reactive approach of recruiting that leads to inefficacy in
resume data mining.
As the initial screening is as important as third level of interview, an outstanding
talent can be missed out in the early stages of short listing only if initial screeners are not
taking their task sincerely. At the same time for the head of the department of XYZ
and functional team, capacity management is a big challenge. They cannot personally
scrutinise so many applicants which is why their dependability for hiring is always lies
with the TA team.
Further, it is identified through interview schedule that initial telephone screening
leads to a huge waste of time. The TA team had to play phone tag to schedule the
interview and then, most of the time was spent with the candidates who are not ultimately
a good fit. In this direction, the final screening process need to be refurbished to reduce
initial candidate evaluation time, as well as its overall hiring cycle, while ensuring
recruiters spent their time with the most appropriate candidates. Thus, it is recommended
that the TA team is required to address the following vital issues during initial screening
process:
1 condense initial candidate evaluation time and bring high quality candidate faster
2 maintain high-touch candidate experience
3 increase final recruiter efficiency.
To deal with such challenges, a strategy is needed to be in place to target, segment and
prioritise prospective candidates. For this, a strategic recruitment and screening plan is
submitted by the researcher. The important highlights of the plan are as follows:
1 Conducting workshops to enhance TA team’s skill sets in screening
competency-based resumes.
2 Conducting video interviews and introducing XYZ Group with initial screening
questionnaire.
3 Creating awareness about prioritising matrix for bringing high quality candidate to
increase final recruiter efficiency.

6.1 Relevance of competency-based resume
Through detailed discussions with TA members, it was noticed that most of the TA team
members were not screening the resume on the basis of competency but just screening on
the basis of educational credentials. It was an eye opener for the researcher. Screening of
resumes not on the basis of competency was a major contributor to ineffective screening.
To address the inefficiency in screening, it was proposed to make the TA team to
understand that hiring right candidate is one of the most significant contributions they can
make to their organisation. To make them realise how damaging a bad hiring could be,
training sessions were organised by the researcher along with the HR department. It was
clarified during the sessions that a bad hiring is painful, expensive as well as it pulls
down the performance of the entire unit. Emphasis was given to make bulk hiring process
systematic and which in turn will make their task manageable. They were informed that
the first phase of elimination of resumes should be based on who do not meet the basic
requirements of the job. For that, job description procured by the recruitment manual
needs to be considered. Then, prepare the summary of the subtle differences among
qualified resumes. Even alerts with red flags in the database needs to be raised to the
weakness identified in shortlisted resumes. Then, make a comparison with the current
employees of the organisation who are successful in the current job position. It is
important to note here that rather than doing comparisons amongst the shortlisted
resumes, the resumes need to be compared with the current employees. TA team were
also apprised about the ‘just like me’ trap. They were asked to focus on the objective
requirements of the job and the candidate’s qualification more than anything else. The
trainers explained that good job fit means the right education + the right experience + a
compatible personality like current employee. For screening, compatible personality
competency mapping needs to be stressed.
In XYZ Group, for every hiring position competencies were already identified and
even a manual was at place, but unfortunately the TA team was not screening on the basis
of competencies. The traditional resumes present the work history in chronological order
but the competency focused resumes along with timeframe shows competencies which
make them successful at the workplace. To make them understand the relevance of
competency-based resumes, the researchers themselves screened few resumes and made
them understand the difference between traditional resume short listing and competency
focused resume. To give a better understanding during the training session, the
researchers explained the difference with the help of Table 2 in which resume of RBM
was discussed.
Table 2 shows how relevant success behaviours within a resume can help an applicant
to beat its competitors. Further, it was asked to the TA team to perform a comparative
review of the traditional and behaviourally-focused resumes before screening and assign
priority to
The candidate whose resume was fulfilling the requirements of job analysis but not
defining the candidate’s competencies were asked to elaborate one of their successfully
completed job responsibility/project on the basis of planning/strategy formulation,
adopted methodology/process and results/achievements. They were asked to submit the
elaboration electronically to the TA team. Those candidates who had sent the elaboration
successfully within defined time and meeting the competency requirement of the job
position will be sent for voice and video interview.

A
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recruitment
screening
475
Table
2
Traditional
versus
behaviourally-focused
resume
Comparison of regional business manager ‘attention to detail’ behaviour in traditional versus behaviourally-focused resumes based on job experience
Key behaviour for RBM (excerpts
taken from Annexure 1)
Traditional resume (excerpts taken from
Annexure 1)
Behaviourally-focused resume (excerpts taken from Annexure 2)
Attention to detail Job experience Job experience
 Maintaining progress of project
over milestones or deadlines
 Monitors data to discover weakness
or missing data
 Shows a concern for increasing the
order and accuracy of current
systems
 Add new dealers and check their
performances periodically and
implement corrective actions
 Maintaining record of all issues related to dealership such as retail,
billing and delivery
 Supervising channel partner programme with a team of dealers,
distributors and value added resellers; ensuring accomplishment of
overall revenue profit targets in the assigned region
 Managing the top line, margins, channel management/motivation
and conceptualisation/implementation of sales promotion programs
 Providing consistent partner management to ensure partners
developed their sales, pre-sales and delivery capabilities in-line
with designed strategy
 Interacting with multiple stakeholders like field channels sales vice
president, channel directors and field and inside channel managers
to build demand for partner resourced revenue sales progression
and quota achievement

6.2 Voice and video interviewing
To improve the effectiveness of screening process, voice and video interviewing was
suggested instead of telephonic interviews with candidates who passed XYZ’ initial
screening questionnaire (competency-based screening tool). The TA team can conduct
voice resume screening round by sending candidates an electronic questionnaire. The
researcher team prepared the electronic questionnaire for most of the profile and shared it
with the TA team to understand how to evaluate the questionnaire with scoring key
(sample electronic questionnaire for RBM is given in Annexure 4).
After conducting the voice resume round, the XYZ’s initial screening questionnaire
will be evaluated. Those resumes which will receive scoring more than 60% will be given
to the reporting managers to take the approval for on demand video interview.
The candidates will receive an invite to complete an on demand video interview with
reporting head. This round needs to be conducted mandatorily either on Skype or through
video conferencing. At the end of the interviews, the TA team and reporting manager will
meet over live video to discuss the candidates, and then determine who they would hire.
Here, the candidate will be rated on the basis of certain criteria set for priority matrix
based on the Eisenhower (1954) method.
Those who satisfactorily identified fit for prioritising matrix will be called for the
next round of interview, which will be conducted by the HODs and functional heads in
person. Besides improving the hiring efficiency, this exercise can enhance the employer
branding by each candidate receiving the same initial touch point.
For a candidate, this pre-screening process which includes an electronic questionnaire
and the on-demand video interview is much beneficial as he/she goes through the hiring
process in a matter of days, he/she creates a rapport with everyone involved and even
know in advance whether he has an offer or not and all this is done without moving
him/her from his/her place.
6.3 Initial screening prioritising matrix
For bulk hiring when the number of screened resumes is more than 50, the researchers
suggested that prioritising matrix should be used to decide the order of interviewing the
candidates. This order can save the time of second round of interview as well as enrich
the quality of selection. The higher quality resume will be interviewed first which helps
in closing the job position in much less time. The initial screening prioritising 2 × 2
matrix with one axis as competency and other one as semblance are given in Figure 2.
Figure 2 Initial screening prioritising matrix
Competency
Semblance
Low-high High-high
Low-low High-low

For the competency axis, the scores of competency-base screening tool were utilised.
Those who were scoring high (more than 60 %) were accepted for high quadrant and rest
were kept in the low competency quadrant.
For the ‘semblance’ axis, the research team created a ‘semblance score’. They looked
for signals that a candidate might have some affinity for in particular XYZ Group and for
the industry and as a result, he will be more open to hearing about a job opportunity.
From a candidate’s use of social media, the TA team could track whether the candidate
follow XYZ Group. For identifying potential candidates, the following questions can be
asked: Do the candidate have maximum affinity for automobile sector? Do they follow
companies that are the competitors of XYZ? The valuable semblance signal could be if a
candidate knew someone who works at XYZ?
It was advised that TA team should segment the candidates in the ‘priority matrix’
into four quadrants – labelling the top right hand quadrant ‘high: high’, meaning that the
TA team would give one-to-one attention to those candidates, who were of the highest
competency and semblance. The other three quadrants were labelled ‘low: high’, ‘low:
low’ and ‘high: low’. The focus of ‘low: high’ was to build meaningful and valuable
long-term relationships with these segments of candidates by communicating with them
about XYZ. That way, when candidates were considering XYZ, they would already be
highly informed about and have a relationship with the organisation. Besides that, it is
employer branding exercise too for XYZ which will help in enriching the pipeline. The
candidates who are falling in ‘low: low’ and ‘high: low’ should not be screened for
second round of interview.
These changes in the screening process were first introduced for screening RBM
profiles to figure out the qualities and skills that make them successful at the workplace.
These initiates were suggested and in the pilot form the suggestions were incorporated for
screening the RBMs.
6.4 Judging the effectiveness of competency-based recruitment
6.4.1 Regional business managers
To determine whether competency-based recruitment framework of RBMs was
appropriate for enhancing the effectiveness of recruitment and selection procedure, the
talent management team and senior managers who were involved in the recruitment and
selection of RBM were interviewed. They were asked to rate the helpfulness of the
competency-based recruitment and selection process on the scale of 10 (10 as highest and
1 as lowest) on the following criteria:
Criteria 1 Condense initial candidate evaluation time and bring high quality candidate
faster.
Criteria 2 Maintain high-touch candidate experience.
Criteria 3 Increase final recruiter efficiency.
The respondents were asked to rate the recruitment system on pre and post and after
introduction of the competency-based framework on all the above mentioned hiring
related criteria. Further, they were also requested to elaborate more about why they gave
the rating to the researcher. The collected data is summarised in Table 3.

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Haque
Table
3
Effectiveness
of
competency-based
recruitment
system
Criteria 1 Criteria 2 Criteria 3
Respondents Position Department
Pre Post Pre Post Pre Post
R1 Talent acquisition manager HR 4.0 5.0 5.0 7.0 5.0 8.0
R2 Head strategic sourcing HR 6.0 8.0 4.0 6.0 4.0 6.0
R5 Recruiting coordinator HR 6.0 8.0 6.0 8.0 6.0 8.0
R6 Deputy head strategic sourcing HR 5.0 7.0 5.0 6.0 5.0 8.0
R8 Senior manager HR HR 6.0 5.0 6.0 8.0 6.0 8.0
R9 Recruiting director HR 6.0 7.0 6.0 8.0 5.0 8.0
R14 Senior marketing manager Marketing 5.0 7.0 6.0 7.0 5.0 7.0
R15 General manager marketing Marketing 6.0 8.0 7.0 8.0 6.0 8.0

Paired sample t-test was conducted using SPSS 17.0 version and it was found that there is
a significant difference in the scores for all the three criteria for judging the effectiveness
of competency-based framework (for details, see Annexure 5). Specifically, for the t-test
statistics for Criteria 1 was t(14) = 6.813, p(< 0.001), for Criteria 2, it was t(14) = 7.990,
p(< 0.001) and for Criteria 3, it was t(14) = 13.48, p(< 0.001). The statistics shows that
competency framework is appreciated by the talent management team as there was
significant statistical difference prevailed in the efficiency of the recruitment system.
Talent management team acknowledged that competency-based voice and video
interviewing helped them to identify the most suitable candidate for the job profile as
well as the candidates were also getting the feeling of the professionalism as the
recruiters were continuously in touch to the candidates through mails and telephonic
calls.
While elaborating on their score, the central theme shared by the respondents was that
competency-based framework allowed them to assess the candidate fairly well, as the
behavioural indicators associated with the competencies helped the recruiter to judge the
candidate in terms of attitude and readiness besides the job qualification.
Three TA managers shared that key word search become more effective for screening
the appropriate candidate from the databases provided by the recruitment sources. Senior
HR manager shared that the competency framework identified a system even for the
interview panellist to be very precise and effective while interviewing the candidate as
they were briefed to ask only the questions related to required competency of the job
position and the hiring scorecard was also prepared on the lines of competency. So, it was
easier for the panellist to manage bulk hiring. For the screening team, competency
framework allowed them to save time as the resume which are not fulfilling the required
competency criteria, were rejected at the very early stage which enhanced their
efficiency.
7 Conclusions
The competitive recruitment market demands that recruitment and selection procedure at
the researched organisation need to be changed. TA team must understand the relevance
of competency-based screening system and should incorporate the changes to improve
the efficiency of the selection process.
It was found that the researched organisation is still giving much emphasis on job
description for resume screening and competencies were not emphasised while screening
resumes as well as while conducting interviews. The TA team has acknowledged that
hidden behavioural capabilities of the individuals are the better indicators of job
performance and initiates have been taken to improve the screening process. The
potential candidates were asked to submit their video resumes along with the electronic
questionnaire in order to minimise the selection procedure process.
The initial screening prioritising matrix is also helpful for screening resume from the
huge database for bulk hiring. The organisations should update their selection tool as per
the requirements of recruitment market and the recruitment and selection process needs to
be in sync with the business strategy of the organisation to remain competitive in the
market.

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Notes
1 Jai Jawan Jai Kisan (“English: hail the soldier, hail the farmer”) was a slogan of the second
Prime Minister of India Lal Bahadur Shastri in 1965 at a public gathering at Ramlila Maidan,
Delhi.

Annexure 1
Excerpts from traditional resume
Job profile
 Reduce the stock levels of pre-owned tractors at assigned state dealerships.
 Appoint, train and keep active the old tractor dealers by encouraging, supporting through
finance and make sure the returns for long run.
 Accurate collection of the dealer funding by liquidation of old tractor stocks and helping the
overall business on quick rotation.
 Introduce the quality sourcing, increase the responsibilities and change the way of approach in
a systematic way.
 Add new dealers and check their performances periodically and implement corrective actions.
 Increase involvement of financiers by tie ups with them.
 Develop the network, DI implementation, appoint the man power and provide training for the
Pre owned tractor business.
 Planning and execution of BTL and ATL activities for brand building, enquiry generation and
stock liquidation.
 Conducting market survey for price matrix feedback, competitive analysis and observing the
market scenario’s for growth of business.
Annexure 2
Excerpts from behaviourally focused resume
Profile snapshot
 Resourceful in administering key accounts for business development activities, managing
client’s expectations and ensuring maximum customer satisfaction for repeat and referral
business
 Hands-on experience in building and maintaining relationships with various
distributors/dealers and establishing large-volume and high-profit accounts with excellent
levels of retention and loyalty
 Significant exposure of exploring new markets for business growth and streamlining sales and
marketing operations
 Proficiency in maintaining relationship with customers and ensuring quality and service
norms to achieve customer satisfaction and business retention
 Expertise in performing monthly sales forecasting and competitive analysis to determine
accurate performance levels and need for growth into current and additional vertical markets
and product categories
 Effective organiser, motivator, team player and a decisive leader with the skills to drive teams
to excel and win

Excerpts from behaviourally focused resume (continued)
Key result areas
 Maintaining record of all issues related to dealership such as retail, billing and delivery
 Supervising channel partner programme with a team of dealers, distributors and value added
resellers; ensuring accomplishment of overall revenue profit targets in the assigned region
 Attending and resolving primary service related issues at dealership
 Managing the top line, margins, channel management/motivation and
conceptualisation/implementation of sales promotion programs
 Leading and supervising a team of two territory executives, one territory manager, one
assistant area manager, five field officers and 13 dealer sales executives and sales managers
 Heading business planning and performance management of channel partners which include
development and execution of joint sales plans, local area marketing, staff coaching,
recruitment and hosting constructive meetings
 Providing consistent partner management to ensure partners developed their sales, pre-sales
and delivery capabilities in-line with designed strategy
 Administering the after-sales and promotional activities of the dealerships
 Collaborating with the bankers and other private financers regarding retail activities
 Directing the channel finance and trade advances for dealers
 Interacting with multiple stakeholders like field channels sales vice president, channel
directors and field and inside channel managers to build demand for partner resourced revenue
sales progression and quota achievement
Accomplishments
 Recognised as Best Assistant Area Manager for AP region for the FY 2012–2013 and 2013–
2014
 Acknowledged as Best Territory Manager in AP coastal for outstanding performance in the
FY 2010–2011
 Conferred with Consistent Performer Award in AP region for the FY 2010–2011
 Steered efforts in initiating multi-brand tractor services for two dealers, which resulted in
increasing the market share by 1.5%
 Worked closely with channel partners to generate new business in existing accounts and in
new markets such as Ongole and Guntur dealerships
 Trained channel partner staff on new and focused products; developed channel-wide demand
generation programs and tracked results
 Built the capacity for channel partners in north coastal dealers to achieve desired market share
and profits during 2013–2014
 Increased the market share of north coastal from 14% to 20%
 Developed sustainable channels network in Srikakulam, Vizayanagram, Anakapalli and
Kakinada districts of Andhra Pradesh; led a team of four TE/TM/AAM, FAC (market
development), RCM (retails finance) and a team of six FOs
 Provided insights on strategic impact of competition activities/actions and customer and
market trends; forecasted the business revenues from channel
 Merit of achieving ever highest market share in Chittor, Tirupathi, Vijayawada,
Vizayanagram, Kakinada and Ongole
Key skills
 Sales and marketing  Business development  Channel management
 Dealer management  Market penetration  Fund management
 Relationship management  Lead management  Team management

Annexure 3
Sample MRF form
Job title: Regional business manager
Reporting to: Head of business unit (sales chief)
Function – department: Sales and marketing – sales
Current requirement in number: Two
Key responsibilities
1 Target setting – monthly, quarterly and annual targets, i.e., wholesale, delivery, retail
sales, collection and SOM.
 Analyse/review the data on forecasting and planning, presented by respective
ABMs’.
 Monitoring regional budgets and their effective utilisation.
 Ensure daily business output and reports from all area offices.
2 Branding and networking
 Monitoring the weaker area/dealers for continuous growth and provide
corrective actions.
 Review BTL activities as planned by ABMs’ like competitive demos, product
launches and sales promotion.
 Facilitate idea generation and exchange of best practices between dealers.
 Adhere to sales processes, policies and marketing tools at all networks
(dealerships, etc.).
3 Fund management and commercials
 Ensure rotation of dealer’s fund through monitoring.
 Distributor’s/depot’s operations.
 Monitoring the reduction of trade cycle.
 Build relationship with regional bankers for smooth support of retail finance to
dealers.
4 Training
 Ensure trained.
 Dealer manpower through visits.
 Mentoring/coaching to ABMs for their areas of improvement through timely
reviews and guidance.
5 Team management
 Close interaction with reportees on assigned roles.
 Mentoring/motivating team as per their desired level.

 Consideration of emotional aspects of sub-ordinates while taking care of
business needs.
6 Administration
 Ensure regional/area office compliances like shop and establishment act,
attendance, etc.
 Proper utilisation of manpower as per budget/need for both, off-roll and on-roll.
7 Business intelligence (marketing and product)
 Product placement as per customer requirement (model mix).
 Competition knowledge and counter action.
 Convert vision into small missions.
 Product awareness (tractors and applications).
 Customer understanding.
Critical success factors
1 Effective communication.
2 Strong business analysis (strategic orientation).
3 Timely execution of planned goals/targets.
4 Providing learning opportunity to team members for their career development.
5 Motivation through proper rewarding and recognition.
6 Giving confidence to team, I am there to support.
7 Clarity in vision.
8 Keeping personal/professional touch with each team member at least once in a
month.
Key challenges
1 Effective delegation of task.
2 Feedback mechanism and counselling of team whenever required.
3 Optimum/effective utilisation of present (limited) resources.
4 Keeping update about other area/regions apart from the assigned region.
5 Team building.
Job specification
1 L05/L06 grade – chief manager/DGM.
2 Qualification – engineering.+ MBA (preferable).
3 Experience – ten yrs. and above, age less than 40 years.
4 Tractor/automobile/rural companies.

Annexure 4
Sample electronic questionnaire for RBM
Your name __________________________________________________
Job title you are applying for ___________________________
1 What job responsibilities and duties do you excel at?
2 What technical skills and knowledge areas are your strongest?
3 What people, team, and leadership skills are your strongest?
4 Do you have any supplemental skills, knowledge areas or experiences that we should
know about?
5 Can you provide us with a sample of your best work?
6 What are your key strengths? Please list in descending order your job-related
strengths.
7 What are your most obvious weaknesses?
8 What are the key motivators that excite you to perform at your very best?
9 What are the changeable aspects of a job, manager, or organisation that normally
frustrate you the most?
10 Describe the ‘perfect manager’. Describe the behaviours of a manager that would
facilitate your very best work.
11 Where would you expect to be in two years? If you were to get this job and you were
to perform up to your own highest expectations, what job title, rank, or other level
would you expect to be at…
 After completing your first year?
 After completing your second year?
12 What decision criteria will you use to decide whether you will accept your next job
offer?
Desired management behaviours criteria weight (points):
1 Close supervision and control
2 Loose supervision and control
3 Regularly scheduled contact and communication
4 Only occasional contact and communication
5 Verbal recognition
6 Monetary reward and recognition
7 Mostly individual projects
8 Mostly team projects

9 Opportunities to lead
10 Flexibility to follow others
11 Provided with varied tasks
12 Allowed to focus on the same tasks each day
13 The volume of output being the most important
14 The quality of the output being the most important
Note: Please assign points to only the most important behaviours. The total should equal
100 points.
Annexure 5
Table A1 T-test for first criteria (post and pre)
Paired samples statistics
Mean N Std. deviation Std. error mean
Pair 1 VAR00002 7.2000 15 1.01419 .26186
VAR00001 5.7333 15 .88372 .22817
Paired samples correlations
N Correlation Sig.
Pair 1 VAR00002 and
VAR00001
15 .622 .013
Paired samples test
Paired differences
t df
Sig.
(2-tailed)
Mean
Std.
deviation
Std.
error
mean
95% confidence
interval of the
difference
Lower Upper
Pair 1 VAR00002 to
VAR00001
1.46667 .83381 .21529 1.00492 1.92841 6.813 14 .000
Table A2 T-test for second criteria (post and pre)
Pair 1 VAR00004 7.3333 15 .72375 .18687
VAR00003 5.8000 15 .86189 .22254
N Correlation Sig.
Pair 1 VAR00004 and
VAR00003
15 .573 .026

Table A2 T-test for second criteria (post and pre) (continued)
Paired samples test
Paired differences
t df
Sig.
(2-tailed)
Mean
Std.
deviation
Std.
error
mean
95% confidence
interval of the
difference
Lower Upper
Pair 1 VAR00004 to
VAR00003
1.53333 .74322 .19190 1.12175 1.94492 7.990 14 .000
Table A3 T-test for third criteria (post and pre)
Pair 1 VAR00006 7.3333 15 .72375 .18687
VAR00005 5.2667 15 .70373 .18170
N Correlation Sig.
Pair 1 VAR00006 and
VAR00005
15 .654 .008
Paired samples test
Paired differences
t df
Sig.
(2-tailed)
Mean
Std.
deviation
Std.
error
mean
95% confidence
interval of the
difference
Lower Upper
Pair 1 VAR00006 to
VAR00005
2.06667 .59362 .15327 1.73793 2.39540 13.484 14 .000

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