I went to Career Center tag and found out that most if not all the blogs pointed how to pick the right SAP consultant , right SAP Consultant skill set and fraud in SAP consultant's resume and proxy candidates. All of them at every point of them are true and no body would be able to say that this does not happen. SAP consulting is a niche skill set and often people take the bait and go for shorter route to success. But every body missed the larger question ? How did these people get in to these companies. If somebody has not worked extensively on these technologies would , then how did they clear the interview process. Clearly only putting the candidate on the dock is not the option. Point the finger at the recruitment process as well. I was not sure any mentor would pick up this issue , hence decided to write on this.( I didn't find any blogs on these topics )
I have few examples of recruitment process which I would like to illustrate
a) When I ask about the work profile , I get a very hazy idea of it because recruiters are not completely aware of it and hence ask you get the relevant details from interview panel. This is perfectly fine but when you go the interview , the interviewer tells you that he/she is not aware of the complete details. So you can ask the manager. When you ask the manager , it turns out he is an interviewing manager and not the hiring manager.
b) You are told that the interview is scheduled on a particular day but you never get a call on that time of the day.
c) During the interview how many times people are checked for attitude and learning abilities. In SAP consulting no one has ever tested me on these things. These things are very important as often when you work on projects , apart from technology you would regularly need these things. Throw in the communication skills and this is a cocktail that is must to have.Most of the projects run on a custom business process and only your technology skills don't help.
d) If fake candidates are a menace , then they can be nipped in the bud during the interview process. A robust recruitment process would have screened out most of the fake candidates. If you still this find issue , then there is a lacunae in the process. Plug the hole at the right time.
e) When you are interviewed for niche skills, interviewer often forgets that the niche skills are built over not so niche skills for e.g. every consultant should have very good ABAP skills , OOPs skills and very very strong debugging skills for a technical role. These skills are never taken into consideration even when you discuss the compensation with recruiters.
f) One of the biggest gaffe happens when you turn up for a particular skill set and that skill is never tested. If you have ever ventured for a ABAP OOPs interview , you would realize that you would never be asked a single question on that. It was generic ABAP interview but the JD got it all wrong. All this is pretty common and no one is apologetic about this.
g) There is a "get back to you" syndrome among the recruiters. This does not give any clarity. Some companies would build a virtual pool by interviewing candidates. They would interview you and after you clear the interview process, instead of an offer letter you would get "get back to you". There is no clear answer from recruiters. Probably cheery picking goes on and you may miss out on the race. But when you invested time in a interview process , you should get a feedback. Look around and tell me how many times have you got that feedback. Very few companies give that. And those who do give that feedback are very respectable brands in the market.
h) The recruiters are aware about a candidates compensation as it is already listed in job portals or they explicitly ask it. So how would you feel when you are not offered the compensation which you have discussed. Sometimes it is even less than the current compensation. This may make your heart burn but you have to live with this reality.
i) After all this discussion, the offer letter never reaches you.Holy Cow!!!!
Recruitment is market driven and when the demand is high, recruiting standards would drop and when the demand is low cherry picking would happen.No body told that the world is fair and fairness is a two process. Often only candidates are hauled but never the companies/recruiters. Honesty seldom pays dividends in the recruitment process.We live in a society where all this would go on and often your perception would be shaped by which side of the table you are on.
