Tata Technologies’ Journey to #EngineeringABetterWorld Through Excellence in Talent Acquisition

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Resulting in a delightful 4.8/5 candidate experience

Tata Technologies Limited (TTL), a subsidiary of the renowned Tata Group, specializes in offering services spanning engineering and design, product lifecycle management, manufacturing, product development, and IT service management. 

These services are primarily targeted towards the automotive and aerospace sectors, catering to original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and their supplier chains. Established in 1989, TTL is headquartered in Pune, India, and has spread its operations across 27 countries, employing a strong team of over 11,000 professionals.

The company forecasts a promising growth trajectory, expecting a 69 percent surge in revenues, reaching approximately $800 million by 2025 from $473 million recorded in 2021-22. This optimistic outlook is propelled by the increasing demand in electric vehicles and the aviation sector.

TL;DR Optimizing TA function to create Delightful and Premium Experience

#EngineeringABetterWorld is the vision of Tata Technologies. Engineering a better world for all stakeholders, including customers, people, community, and shareholders. To achieve their ambitious growth targets for 2025, the company recognized that attracting and retaining top talent is essential. Given their ambitious growth plan, TTL got to work. Leveraged technology to further strengthen their employer brand and create a premium experience for every stakeholder.

The outcome? The hardest metric to achieve at scale – Candidate experience.  They scored an impressive 4.8/5 candidate experience rating.

Tata Technologies transition from engaging with candidates actively to delighting them resulting in 4.8/5 candidate experience
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Candidate Experience

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Read further to know more about their transformative journey, guided by a focused and stellar leadership.

Challenges Faced by Tata Technologies Limited (TTL) in Recruitment

Communicating Employer Brand and Vision Effectively:

The crux of TTL’s challenge lies in articulately communicating its distinctive employer brand and the vision of #EngineeringABetterWorld to the potential talent pool. 

A significant number of prospective candidates remained uninformed about TTL’s robust commitment to societal contributions and its unique capabilities, like overseeing complete vehicle programs. This knowledge gap rendered TTL somewhat indistinct, making it hard for them to set themselves apart from other contenders in the engineering services sector.

Crafting an Optimized Candidate Experience:

The recruitment process is a delicate dance between candidate expectations and organizational realities. TTL grappled with creating a recruitment experience that was both enriching for the candidate and in line with the company’s vast and intricate global operations. 

The remedy for this called for hefty investments in cutting-edge recruitment technology, an overhauled infrastructure, and a nuanced grasp of what potential candidates sought in their recruitment journey.

Navigating the Quagmire of Global Compliance:

In an era marked by stringent data privacy norms, TTL faced the herculean task of ensuring their recruitment practices conformed to global regulations, with GDPR being a paramount concern. This necessitated considerable investment in technology tailored to handle data responsibly. 

Further, the implementation of comprehensive processes and regular training sessions became imperative to keep abreast with global compliance standards.

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Evaluation Journey 

To comprehend and improve its recruitment journey, Tata Technologies embarked on an evaluative journey. A survey was rolled out to both its long-standing employees and fresh recruits. Furthermore, an in-depth analysis was undertaken, particularly emphasizing candidate touchpoints within their decade-old legacy recruitment system.

Here’s a breakdown of what they found:

Legacy System Limitations:

  • User Experience: Their vision of “Engineering a Better World” wasn’t getting through to potential candidates as effectively as hoped.
  • Outdated Application Process: The application interface was filled with too many tabs and long forms. Plus, it wasn’t mobile-friendly, turning potential candidates away.
Market Dynamics:
  • Candidate-Driven Market: At that time, candidates had more choices. Delays in the process, like slow feedback or offer releases, meant a weaker candidate experience and missing out on top talent.
Recruitment System Challenges:
  • Need for Better Automation: Their existing system didn’t fully support recruiters. Daily tasks and manual work distracted them from key parts of their job, such as building relationships with candidates.
  • No Strong Social Media Presence: In an age where social media is key, Tata Technologies wasn’t reaching potential candidates on platforms like WhatsApp, Facebook, and Slack.
Stakeholder Experience:

Improving the candidate experience meant looking at how everyone involved in recruitment felt. This included:

  • Employees: Those referring candidates, taking interviews, and leading teams.
  • Recruiters: The whole recruitment team, from leadership to managers and those sourcing candidates.
  • External Partners: This involves vendors, background check partners, and those helping with assessments.

The solution seemed evident: a comprehensive overhaul of their current recruitment system. The goal was to implement a platform both intuitive and robust, prioritizing an unparalleled candidate experience. 

Candidate experience journey and touch points with different users by stage (branding, sourcing, screening, scheduling) 

Tata Technologies’ partnership with RippleHire, an advanced ATS, was a step towards achieving this vision, offering enhanced processes and superior experiences for all stakeholders.

Tata Technologies’ Recruitment Revamp with RippleHire

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Phase 1: Enhancing the Application Experience

Branding and Reach

  • Revamped their official career site emphasizing the #EngineeringaBetterWorld ethos.
  • Focused on a global perspective and fully integrated the site with RippleHire.

Launched a robust mobile experience for job seekers

  • Expanding Social Presence
  • Recognized the importance of engineering talent communities on platforms like LinkedIn and Instagram.
  • Enabled stakeholders to easily share job openings, broadening reach.

Empowering Employees

  • Provided dashboards for employees to view, share, and track job referrals, tapping into various communities.
  • Launched innovative campaigns and leadership initiatives to promote job referrals.

Simplified Application Process

  • Streamlined mobile-friendly application process without the need for sign-ups.
  • Ensured GDPR compliance with clear consent declarations and opt-out options

The initial launch of Phase 1 marked a substantial uptick in candidate submissions, reflecting the immediate positive impact of the changes.

Phase 2: Refining the Interview and Onboarding Experience

Streamlined Interview Process

  • Enabled bulk review requests, saving recruiter time.
  • Integrated interview scheduling within the ATS for added convenience.

Facilitating Feedback Collection

  • Introduced an intuitive, mobile-friendly platform for interviewers to submit feedback.
  • Automated feedback reminders ensured timely responses.

Enhanced Offer Experience

  • Instituted a systematic approval workflow
  • Automated pre-offer documentation, offering a mobile-enabled portal for candidates.

Optimizing Joining Experience

  • Seamlessly merged the recruitment system with HRMS for a fluid onboarding process.
  • Introduced visual offer presentations to engage and excite potential hires, reducing drop-offs.

By the end of Phase 2, Tata Technologies had completely transformed their recruitment journey, aligning it with modern needs and ensuring a top-tier experience for all stakeholders.

The candidate experience project was a resounding success. Notably, it was among the few projects that scored a bullseye on all set metrics. The TA team surpassed their aspirational goal by recording a 4.8/5 candidate experience at a broad scale.

Beyond enhancing candidate experience, the organization also witnessed tangible revenue benefits. The time to extend job offers was slashed dramatically from a staggering 100 days to just 39. This expedited approach fortified Tata Technologies’ ability to tap into talent communities, allure passive candidates, and offer a top-tier experience throughout the candidate’s journey with the company.

The Road Ahead

Securing a 4.8/5 candidate experience rating is indeed an achievement, but it also provides an exciting challenge for the team—to elevate this benchmark. The team is currently delving into the potential impact of ChatGPT on talent acquisition processes. Anticipation runs high as they contemplate the possibilities:

  • Enhancing Interviews: Could we assist interviewers in establishing an immediate connection with candidates at the interview’s onset?
  • Feedback Mechanism: Could recruiters furnish detailed feedback to candidates who didn’t make the cut, illuminating the discrepancies between their profile, the job requirements, and the interviewer’s observations?
  • Decision-making Support: Could we arm those responsible for making job offers with a synthesized overview of the candidate’s profile, the recruiter’s rationale, and the interviewer’s insights?
  • AI-Powered Outreach: Could generative AI be harnessed to craft personalized video offers, ensuring a unique touchpoint with prospective talents?

With a robust foundation in place, the TA team is poised for growth—not merely to maintain their commendable 4.8/5 rating but to surpass this benchmark, pushing the envelope in recruitment excellence.

What’s your number one problem statement in hiring today?