A decade ago, you wouldn’t have thought you’ll see ads on social media about the product you were discussing with your friend while your phone was in your pocket. You wouldn’t have thought working from home would turn out to be such a bane (Not for all, but you get the drift right?). Yet, here we are. Even the field of hiring is undergoing rapid changes and hiring managers are identifying key trends that would completely change how hiring was done until now!
We hosted Venkataraman Rengasamy, Senior VP & CHRO at Candela Labs, Akhil Sikri, CTO/ Co-Founder at Zolo, Varadharaju Janardhanan, VP & Head HR at [24]7.ai and Ramprasad S, President of Xpanxion for a panel discussion as part of the Product Leadership Festival 2020. The discussion was centered around the future of hiring Product Managers and the skill sets hiring managers are looking for in a candidate. Here are a few excerpts from this insightful session.
Prof. SaiSatish Vedam: If you were to look at the industry, especially the hiring pattern and how that might change in the context of Product and Data Science Careers, what do you see as an emerging trend?
Ramprasad S: The ideology of finding and nurturing local talent is over. With remote work coming into play you have a larger pool of applicants today and that means you have access to a global workforce. This opens up immense possibilities for all of us. Contextual thinking will be seen as an important ability for any role. Understanding business and understanding the customers will be a very relevant skill.
Venkataraman Rengasamy: The rise in contractual jobs that are purely assignment-based is a trend that is slowly catching up. Most countries look at full-time employment as more superior than contractual jobs. That is set to fade away in the future. This is a huge opportunity for SMEs and freelancers. Geographical borders wouldn’t be a constraint as people can work from anywhere with the right set of tools. Companies would look at hiring people who have greater learning agility and not just on skills.
Akhil Sikri: The number of people required to do a certain job is reducing. Technology has taken over and the world is looking at a leaner workforce in companies. Tech frameworks have evolved so much that 2-3 guys can build an application. The interview process is also set to undergo a lot of changes.
Prof. Sai: What do you feel about Job Auditions? Is it a buzzword that will fade away or is it here to stay?
Varadharaju Janardhanan: Oh it is here to stay definitely. We’re hiring candidates only when we’re sure that they can solve a persisting problem in our organization. So, it’s important to have skills that you can showcase meaning we want to see if candidates can put their theoretical knowledge into practical use.
Thank you Akhil, Varadharaju, Venkataraman and Ramprasad for the amazing insights on emerging trends. We have come to understand that it’s important for people to be intellectually curious and have hands-on skills in their arsenal.