Startups are now reading minds of candidates before hiring them

The growing number of startups in India also needs an apt workforce and to ensure selection of the right candidates while hiring, the companies are now taking help of psychometrics.

Companies are now trying to read candidates’ mind and then take a call on whether to select him/her or not.

In India, eCommerce sector is growing by leaps and bounds and experts say that there are around 1.5 lakh jobs coning up by the end of 2016. Simultaneously, experts believe that young startups also face troubles finding the right candidates and end-up firing in hundreds like Housing.com and TinyOwl.

Using such scientific tools like psychometrics to judge the candidate and make the process less cumbersome is no doubt a logical option. Large business groups that have been using the technology for the development of employees have now started using it to filter the right candidates.

Rajeev Dubey, group president, HR at the Mahindra Group says, "We want to test how the person fits into our culture or if he has some dysfunctional traits like low-integrity, aggressive behaviour or insensitivity."

While Amit Sinha, vice president (business & people) at eCommerce major PayTM says, "Psychometric evaluations are most definitely a value add while hiring. Based on behavioural analytics we can to some extent predict if a person is likely to commit a fraud and how likely they are to adhere to the compliance and process. Emotional control and customer service orientation are also very important."

Paytm, one of the rapidly growing companies, has announced its plans to hire 1,900 candidates by March 2016. And ever since the firm has received RBI licence for a payment bank in September, Paytm plans to hire 600 more candidates.

On the hiring plans and process, Sinha says, “It is a constant challenge to hire right in little time. We cannot afford to go wrong." The eCommerce company has recently started using psychometric questioning.

Another major firm that is eying rapid growth in the coming time is Practo, a health-based firm, has also started using the psychometric tests apart from its usual hiring process.

Practo co-founder and CEO Shashank ND says, "We believe in hiring people who are a match for our culture and are passionate about our vision."

M&M’s Dubey says that Mahindra Group uses Occupational Personality Que-stionnaire or OPQ32 offered by SHL Harrison Job Suitability Assessment and Firo-B among a host of profiling tests. While Practo's Shashank says that the company uses tests offered by Pune-based psychometrics startup Jombay.