​Ecommerce is competitive. Even when it comes to recruitment

The BPO and Aviation sector had ushered in a new kind of recruitment. It used to hire people in large numbers and the recruitment process used to be quick, thanks to the cut-throat competition and mushrooming of companies all across the country. Following the same suit, the new entrant is eCommerce startup.

As per a news report by The Economic Times, the recruitment teams of startups and ecommerce firms consist of information technology specialists, analysts, marketing professionals and staffing heads who previously hired in large numbers for the BPO and aviation sectors.
"Competition is so fierce that positions have to be closed in 3 weeks as compared to a turnaround time of three months in other industries. Diversity of profiles, sheer volume and pace is the challenge," Saurabh Nigam, VP (HR) of Snapdeal told the ET.

Snapdeal, now four times the size it was a year ago in terms of staff strength, has a recruitment team which is divided according to profiles like technology, supply chain, and customer support.

The tech recruitment team at Snapdeal has 35 employees who are former employees of companies like Microsoft and Adobe.
Those from DHL and shipping companies look at supply chain openings and recruiters with BPO and KPO experience have been hired to take care of customer support posts.

To ensure they remain motivated and hire the best candidate, some firms have even created special incentives for their recruitment teams. To encourage aggressive strategies, companies such as TinyOwl Technology and Knowlarity have decided to incentivise their recruitment team.

Last quarter, TinyOwl announced that for every candidate placed exclusively by the team of 10, there will be monetary rewards over and above salary and variable pay. "In one quarter the turnaround time dropped by 25-30%. This will keep the firm motivated to work within the budget and get 300 more on board," Tanuj Khandelwal, co-founder told the financial daily.
Online restaurant locator, Zomato for example, will hire 10 more recruiters to their team of 25, while ShopClues is looking forward to another six to seven appointments to add to their team of 10 and is exploring role enlargement and expansion for key performers, Sanjay Sethi, co-founder and CEO, said to the ET.

"Our HR team is incentivised with quarterly incentive programmes based on hiring targets," he adds. The company is planning to double its staff strength from the current 700 to around 1,500 by March next year.

Then there are others like Jombay who prefer their business leader to do the hiring and not depend on recruitment teams. "The business heads speak the language, they are the face of the teams and hire with support from staff," Mohit Gundecha, CEO and founder told the financial daily.

In some cases, the bosses decide to get into the game. A third of Snapdeal's hiring is through social media with founder Kunal Bahl posting key openings through platforms like Twitter.

(Image: Reuters)