RECRUITMENT AND SELECTION PRACTICES

SECTOR: RETAIL

JULY 25, 2014 SDMIMD MYSORE

Submitted to: Dr. Nilanjan Sengupta

Submitted By Group 2

Mona Kabra 13035

Neethu D 13037

Nikita Mishra 13038

Shreyanka Rai 13049

Tariq Bin Reyaz 13057

Ashwin Prakash Vaidyanathan 13058

Abbas Ali 13062 Aditi Bhattacharya 13064

Adnan Hussain 13065

Anala P M 13068

Archana Dasgupta 13072

Farjadh Faiyaz Ahmed Khan 13081

Gaurav Kar 13082

Geetika Sood 13083

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Contents 1. Introduction .................................................................................................................................... 1

1.1 Market Size ................................................................................................................................... 1

1.2 The key players in Retail Sector in India are: ................................................................................ 1

1.3 Investments ................................................................................................................................... 2

1.4 Government Initiatives ................................................................................................................. 2

1.5 Road Ahead ................................................................................................................................... 3

1.6 Recruitment Planning in Retail Sector .......................................................................................... 3

1.7 Manpower Planning ...................................................................................................................... 3

2. SHOPPERS STOP .............................................................................................................................. 5

2.1 Company Profile ............................................................................................................................ 5

2.2 Human Resources Practices at Shoppers Stop ............................................................................. 5

2.3 Recruitment and Selection Practices ............................................................................................ 5

2.4 Career mobility Path ..................................................................................................................... 7

2.5 Employee Development Policy ..................................................................................................... 7

2.6 Training ......................................................................................................................................... 7

2.7 Compensation Policy ..................................................................................................................... 8

2.8 Communication to Employees ...................................................................................................... 8

3. PANTALOONS .................................................................................................................................. 9

3.1 Company Profile ............................................................................................................................ 9

3.2 Human Resource Practices ........................................................................................................... 9

3.3 Recruitment and Selection Practices .......................................................................................... 10

3.4 Learning & career development ................................................................................................. 12

3.5 Training and development .......................................................................................................... 12

3.4 Compensation Policy ................................................................................................................... 13

4. Flipkart.Com ...................................................................................................................................... 15

4.1 Company Profile .......................................................................................................................... 15

4.2 Recruitment Practices ................................................................................................................. 15

4.3 Selection Process ........................................................................................................................ 16

4.4 Recruitment policies ................................................................................................................... 17

4.5 Ramping up/ Induction process: ................................................................................................. 18

5. COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS .................................................................................................................. 19

6. RECENT RECRUITMENT PRACTICES ACROSS RETAIL CHAINS ........................................................ 20

6.1 Third Party Retail Recruitment Solution Providers ..................................................................... 20

6.2 Customer Recruitment in Retail .................................................................................................. 20

6.3 Automation of Recruitment Tasks .............................................................................................. 21

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6.4 Social Media Hiring in Retail ....................................................................................................... 21

7. CONCLUSION ................................................................................................................................. 22

Bibliography .......................................................................................................................................... 23

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1. Introduction India is the fifth largest retail destination globally. The Indian retail industry has experienced

tremendous growth over the last decade with a significant shift towards organised retailing

format and development taking place not just in major cities and metros, but also in Tier II

and Tier III cities. The overall retail market in India is likely to reach Rs 47 trillion (US$

792.84 billion) by FY 17. (Retail industry in India, 2014)

1.1 Market Size The Indian retail market, currently estimated at around US$ 490 billion, is project to grow at

a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 6 per cent to reach US$ 865 billion by 2023.

Food and grocery is the largest category within the retail sector with 60 per cent share

followed by the apparel and mobile segment.

Organised retail, which constituted seven per cent of total retail in 201112 is estimated to

grow at a CAGR of 24 per cent and attain 10.2 per cent share of total retail by 201617,

according to a study titled 'FDI in Retail: Advantage Farmers' conducted by an industrial

body.

India has about one million online retailers small and large which sell their products

through various e-commerce portals. The online retail industry in the country touched US$

12.6 billion in 2013, according to a recent report by the Internet and Mobile Association of

India (IAMAI).

1.2 The key players in Retail Sector in India are: The top five companies in the retail sector in India are:

Reliance Retail Limited

Reliance retail limited was incorporated in 2006, a part of Reliance industries. The company

has been rated among the best retail companies in India. It offers complete retail solutions

such as food items, lifestyle, fashion, consumer electronics products, home decorative

products etc. The company has a total of 1500 outlets in the country.

Pantaloons Retail Limited

It is a flagship company of Future group and one of the leading retail company in India. The

company has more than 1000 outlets across the India and 35000 employees. Companys

brands include Big Bazaar, food Bazaar Brand factory, Top 10 and Sitara.

Provogue India Ltd

It is a lifestyle and fashion company which was established in 1997. The companys offering

include mens wear, womens wear, fashion accessories, apparel and numerous other

products. It has over 250 stores all across the country and rated among the top most trusted

brands in India by trust research committee in year 2011.

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Shoppers Stop

Shoppers Stop is a well-known name in retail industry in India and ranked among the top

retail brands in India. The company is operated and managed by K Raheja Corp Group and

was incorporated in year 1991. It has total 61 stores in India and offers national and

international brands of apparel, fashion and lifestyle.

ITC LRBD

Lifestyle Retailing Business division is a premier clothing retail company in India branding

through Wills Lifestyle and John players. The Company has a diversified range of business

activities in FMCG, Hotels, Paper board, Packaging and Agriculture. (Top Retail Companies

in India, 2013)

1.3 Investments The foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows in single-brand retail trading during the period

April 2000 March 2014 stood at US$ 106.66 million, as per data released by Department of

Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP).

The following are the key investments and developments in the Indian retail industry:

Marks and Spencer (M&S) plans to go up to 100 outlets in India within the next two

years following a 13 per cent growth in their sales in the Indian market.

Flipkart.com has recently acquired fashion e-retailer Myntra.com for a sum of around

US$ 3 billion. This deal will help Flipkart garner a larger market share in the e-

commerce segment.

Metro AG plans to increase the number of its wholesale stores in India from 16 to 50

by 2020 and make the country one of its focus expansion markets.

Reliance Industries plans to open 2,000 exclusive outlets, Digital Xpress Mini, in FY

15 to sell the company's telecom services, smartphones, tablets and also accessories of

other brands.

Private equity (PE) firm Texas Pacific Group (TPG) Growth and India's Smile Group

will jointly invest US$ 100 million to help internet and e-commerce companies build

and scale their businesses across the AsiaPacific region and West Asia.

Ilex-London plans to invest around Rs 5 crore (US$ 843,397.17) over the next five

years to open 10 exclusive stores in India. Stores will have an average size of 500

600 square feet (sq ft), with an investment of around Rs 5 million (US$ 84,332.95)

per store.

1.4 Government Initiatives The Government of India has allowed 100 per cent FDI in Single-Brand Retail Trading

(SBRT) and has allowed 51 per cent FDI in Multi-Brand Retail Trading (MBRT). Just

recently, the Competition Commission of India (CCI) approved the proposal of Tesco buying

50 per cent equity in Trent, which is the first-ever FDI proposal in multi-brand retail trade.

The Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding

(MoU) with eBay to train domestic retailers to use the online market space as an additional

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tool for expanding their business. The agreement will enable Indian traders to export via

eBay to 201 countries and sell at 4,306 Indian locations. (NDTV, 2014)

1.5 Road Ahead India remains a largely untapped and unorganised retail market, with several international

retail companies yet to commence operations in the country. India holds a substantial

advantage over other emerging retail destinations owing to its strong domestic consumption

and low rate of market penetration by overseas retailers.

India's new middle class is increasingly becoming brand conscious and willing to spend on

quality goods, a trend which is creating numerous business opportunities for mid-range

international brands. With political and economic sentiments already showing signs of

improvement, we believe this is the right time for international retailers to look at India for

expansion into the region," as per Mr Anshuman Magazine, Chairman and Managing

Director, CB Richard Ellis (CBRE), South Asia.

E-commerce is also expected to be the next major area for retail growth in India. E-commerce

companies are increasingly going beyond digital marketing and targeting offline customers as

well. With this growth in the e-commerce industry, online retail is estimated to reach US$ 70

billion by 2020 from US$ 0.6 billion in 2011.

The opportunities in food and grocery retail are immense, given that it constitutes about 69

per cent of the countrys total retail market, according to panel members at the seventh Food

and Grocery Forum India.

1.6 Recruitment Planning in Retail Sector Retail recruiting is different than most recruiting because the potential prospects have a

varied background and can number in the hundreds of thousands. But on the other hand,

because prospects are generally very visible (if they are currently working), they are easier to

assess and communicate with.

1.7 Manpower Planning The process of manpower planning depends on industry to industry. Manpower planning in a

retail store is done as follows:

1) THE TOTAL AREA OF THE STORE: Assuming that an average employee will be able

to manage 300 sq feet hence if the retail outlet is of 20000 sq feet then we would require 60

employees.

2) THE TYPE OF PRODUCTS SOLD AT THE STORE: A retail outlet selling electronic

goods like laptop would require personalized attention from its customers in order to explain

and give demonstration model wise, whereas a retail outlet selling groceries would require a

generalized attention towards its customers because every customer walks in will not ask

detail about a branded salt or a chilli powder.

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3) THE AVERAGE WALK-INS OF THE STORE: The average number of customers

visiting the retail store on a daily basis. If retail outlet has more number of customers visiting

then the employee strength has to be increased compared to a low walk in store.

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2. SHOPPERS STOP

2.1 Company Profile Shoppers Stop is an Indian department store chain promoted by the K Raheja Corp Group

(Chandru L Raheja Group), started in the year 1991 with its first store in Andheri, Mumbai

Shoppers Stop Ltd has been awarded "the Hall of Fame" and won "the Emerging Market

Retailer of the Year Award", by World Retail Congress at Barcelona, on April 10, 2008.

Shoppers Stop is listed on the BSE.

Shoppers Stop retails a range of branded apparel and private label under the following

categories of apparel, footwear, fashion jewellery, leather products, accessories and home

products. These are complemented by cafe, food, entertainment, personal care and various

beauty related services.

Shoppers Stop launched its e-store with delivery across major cities in India in 2008. The

website retails all the products available at Shoppers Stop stores, including apparel, cosmetics

and accessories. Shoppers Stop opened stores in Amritsar, Bhopal and Aurangabad.

2.2 Human Resources Practices at Shoppers Stop The human resource policies are targeted at creating an engaged and motivated work force.

They have a fairly young team with the average age of the organization being 26 years.

Managing a young team engaged in a service intensive business with largely repetitive work

is one of the challenges that they face.

With competition from other service companies including retailers and ITES/BPO

companies, retaining their Customer Care Associates is another challenge that they face, and

therefore they view retention of key personnel as a priority task. Their efforts in building a

conducive work atmosphere has helped them in having lower attrition rates than the rest of

the industry. They provide a conducive work atmosphere and opportunities for their

employees to learn and grow.

2.3 Recruitment and Selection Practices

Their recruitment for any new store to be opened begins 3 months before the store opening

with only the store head being recruited six months in advance. Their employees go through a

classroom training and orientation and are subsequently trained at their other existing stores.

They conduct mock runs at the store before it is opened to the public.

The front end employees are selected on the basis of four main aspects

1) Communication

2) Smartness

3) Qualification: Minimum to be a Graduate or 12th pass.

4) Service Orientation

The different sources of recruitment that Shoppers Stop follows are:

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Campus Recruitment:

Shoppers Stop has partnered with Centre for Retail, IIM (Ahmedabad) to develop a suitable

& spirited course content on Retail Management and is tying up with various

colleges/Institutions of repute pan India for the same.

Course duration is 18 months - 6 months in a classroom and 12 months internship on the shop

floor as a Trainee Fashion assistant. On completion of six months in the classroom & clearing

the test with a minimum 50 % score, the candidate would be appointed as Trainee Fashion

Assistant in Shoppers Stop.

Shoppers Stop would extend an appointment letter, with a defined Balance score card (BSC)

for the next Twelve months. Candidates have to score a minimum 50 % on the Balance score

card during their twelve months stint as Trainee Fashion Assistants Post the 12 months

internship with a minimum of 50 % on the BSC, he/she would be extended the certificate of

course completion and would also be confirmed as Fashion Assistant. These Fashion

Assistants can now appear for an assessment for Department Manager. On clearing the

assessment, the candidate is groomed for the position of Department Manager (DM) via a

special program called Baby Kangaroo.

If the DM selection is done outside the organisation other than the interns then the criteria is

2-5 years of experience with sales background. Retail Operations Manager is selected usually

through the internal growth where DM is promoted to the post of ROM. When there is an

external recruitment, it is same as for the DM where 2-5 years of experience is considered

and the individual has to be from the Sales background. The back end employees are

recruited mainly based on the work experience, qualification and the assessment.

Walk-Ins

Shoppers Stop does selection procedure of CCA. They conduct walk-in-interviews on 2nd and

17th of every month. For this interview, the candidate has to apply online. If the number of

candidates is more than 50, then they will conduct group discussion but, if less than 50 then

they go directly for 1st and 2nd level interview. The 1st level interview is conducted by

regional operational manager and the 2nd level is conducted by the HR unit head i.e Ms. Risha

Bajaj there.

For the CCA level the minimum level qualification is that the candidate should be 12th pass

and the minimum salary paid to them is Rs 5000/- per month. After selection of the candidate

they will conduct one week induction program in their office only which is taken by

respective unit head. In this induction process they will teach about the rules and regulations,

code of conducts, behaviour, work profile and all the basic information required.

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Recruitment Process Outsourcing

For the Executive Level positions pool of suitable candidates are sourced by Naukri.com for

Shoppers Stop. The country head and the regional HR head will take care of this selection

process of selecting the candidate. The training of the candidate is also conducted in Mumbai.

2.4 Career mobility Path All promotions happen only out of assessment centres. Senior level employees get assessed

by SHA, London, and all others through various programmes in place. Once a person is

assessed then people who passed the assessment are attached to mentors, and through

programmes called Kangaroos. The company has Baby Kangaroos, Kangaroos, and Senior

Kangaroos. They work for some months before they are given the next assignment. Most of

the supervisors, store managers and senior managers all come out of the Kangaroo

programme. The objective is to mentor them and take them forward.

2.5 Employee Development Policy Their Human Resource vision is to create a committed workforce through people enabling

processes and knowledge sharing practices based upon their value system.

They believe that learning and development is an integral part of business operations. Each of

their employees has training of subordinates and mentoring as a critical part of his KRAs.

This enables them also to share our learnings across the organization as well as bring in the

SSL values to the employees. They also focus on our top 100 associates under which the

development needs of these employees are tracked and a six monthly review conducted by

the CCA, MD and CEO. They have annual assessment centres for every level within the

organization, including the top management. Under this, employees are subject to certain

tests and areas of development identified and focused on in the coming year, based on the

employees career plan. They also use these assessment centres to carry out promotions at all

levels, through a completely transparent process.

2.6 Training Their corporate objective is to provide every associate with an average of 5 man days of

training per annum through internal and external resources. All senior management members

are required to contribute 30 hours per annum towards training.

In order to support learning culture, they provide at our discretion, reimbursement for fees for

relevant professional courses that eligible associates enrol in. They have tied up with City and

Guilds, UK, to provide a distance learning and certification program for Customer Care

Associates who have been identified as having potential to grow into supervisory roles.

International exposure is provided to associates with potential. On an average, annually about

50 associates get an opportunity to visit retail establishments in different parts of the world

through the International Group of Department Stores (IGDS). Internationally acclaimed

professors are brought into India to train our associates on strategic issues of retail

management. They are also investing in an E-learning platform to enable our associates take

courses from their individual work stations at their own convenience.

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2.7 Compensation Policy Their compensation policy reflects their continuing efforts to build a world class performance

driven culture. They benchmark ourselves on compensation externally through consultants

biannually, and aspire to be on the upper quartile of our target segment, comprising of FMCG

companies and other retail companies and are currently at the 75 percentile.

Variable pay is an important component of total compensation, with all their associates

covered under their Profit Linked Reward Scheme (PLRS), linking individual performance

and Company profitability. Our part-time and full-time employees are eligible for PLRS.

They also have Employee Stock Option Plans (ESOPs). They also have a non-monetary

reward scheme called Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikander which recognizes excellence in work under

various categories i.e. best CCA, Supervisor, Store, etc. Winners in each category are

recognised through awards and ceremonies and are given individual prizes such as Trophies

and Gift Vouchers.

2.8 Communication to Employees They also have a bi monthly in-house magazine called Re-Tale, which helps them in their

endeavour to enhance transparency and communication across levels. Associates are

encouraged to write in to the editor with their concerns and the CCA and MD are required to

respond with a solution through this magazine. They also conduct focus groups wherein they

have participation from cross functional and cross level associates where they can voice their

thoughts, issues or opinions to the facilitator.

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3. PANTALOONS

3.1 Company Profile Pantaloons, an Aditya Birla Group initiative, is India's fastest growing premium lifestyle

apparel company which operates multiple retail formats in both Lifestyle and value segments.

The headquarters of Pantaloon Retail Limited is in Mumbai and operates all around India and

has over 30,000 employees working for over 1000 stores across 73 cities in India. With

innovative designs, concepts and products, the company brings the latest trends in fashion

and clothing styles to the apparel market. Pantaloons also have an assortment of watches and

sunglasses from International Brands. The company offers an incredible and complete one-

stop shopping experience to its buyers through its vast collection of more than 100

prestigious brands for the discerning fashionista.

Last year, Aditya Birla Nuvo acquired the controlling stake in Pantaloons, the fashion format

of Future group, in a Rs.1,600 crore deal. Pantaloons was demerged from Pantaloon Retail

(now known as Future Retail) and transferred to Peter England Fashions and Retail, a unit of

Aditya Birla Nuvo. The company has changed the objects of the company to include all kinds

of goods, materials and items, and services. Name of the company was changed from Peter

England Fashions and Retail to Pantaloons Fashion and Retail after April 23, 2013.

3.2 Human Resource Practices In a business where individuals comprise the principal asset, the structure of the people

pyramid influences the quality of knowledge captured, the speed with which decisions are

made and the morale of the organization. Human Resource is one of the critical support

functions and forms another key element of the corporate backbone.

They believe that service is their core philosophy and people are their most important

resources. Their attempt has always been to create an environment where their employees

feel proud of being called Pantaloonians.

As a company that believes in the power of fresh thought, Pantaloons' work culture allows a

free-flow of ideas into the business, while moulding new talent to fit seamlessly into the

workplace. Whether it's for seasoned professionals or freshers out of college, Pantaloons has

a range of employment and growth opportunities for everyone to enhance their career paths

and achieve their goals. Pantaloons Retails Human Resource philosophy is driven through

The Pantaloons People Management System.

The Pantaloons People Management System:

Pantaloons People management system is built on 5 pillars of people based growth:

1. Culture Building

2. Performance Management through Balanced Scorecard

3. People Processes

4. Management Processes

5. Leadership Excellence

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3.3 Recruitment and Selection Practices The recruitment and selection process at Pantaloons has the following steps:

Manpower Planning:

The requirements for associates for any store is given by the Business unit team to Pantaloons

HR team which does the recruitment and selection. For this purpose at store location the

Selection and training academy is set up. The permanent academy is called HUB and the

temporary academy is called SPOKE.

Eligibility

The eligibility criteria for candidates to become work associate at Pantaloons are as follow:

Any person from age of 18 years to 35 years.

Any person able to read write and understand elementary English and

Mathematics.

Any person being the permanent resident of the state where the store is proposed

to be opened.

Any person able to speak and understand Hindi/English or local language.

Any person not a current employee of other Retail Stores or for past three months.

Activation:

The process starts with Activation or Sourcing process. In this process the information about

job opening is spread through word of mouth, leaf-let distribution and visiting over various

mediums , colleges, employment exchange, coaching classes, non-government organizations,

etc. The members of BAR team interact with target audience and convince them to visit the

centre (HUB/SPOKE) where the further process carried.

Counselling:

The candidate when visits the HUB/SPOKE is first asked to fill the Log register. Then the

BAR team member or the Trainer or the Counsellor explains him about the company, job

profile and attends his/her queries about the job. After the preliminary interaction with the

candidate, if he /she is suited for the job, is given a form to fill. The candidate fills in his

basic details and is asked to take a test of Basic English and Mathematics.

Depending on the grade of the post in outlet a range of screening techniques like Group

discussions, aptitude tests and psychometric tests are conducted. This process is followed by

an interview of the candidate if he/she secures at least 7 marks in the test. The candidate is

rated on a scale of 5 with 1 as best and 5 as poor on categories like Eye Contact & Body

Language, Energy & Enthusiasm, Clear Communication, Attitude & Confidence, Well

dressed / Clean look. The candidate is asked questions about his experience and background.

After the interview if the candidate is selected he/she is issued a Letter of Intent asking to

join for short training at the HUB/SPOKE of 2 to 4 days. The rejected candidates are kept in

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database. The candidates who are considered for future possibilities are kept under

databank. The complete paper work is done at the end of the day and all information is

reported to head office every day.

Preliminary Training

A batch of 10 candidates is formed for the training. The training tells the candidate about the

retail industry, the company Pantaloons, various customer services, and their responsibilities

as a work associate, store lay out, various sections etc.

After the successful completion of training, the candidates are required to appear for a written

test about what all taught in training. All those securing at least 18 marks out of 30 are

awarded Training Certificate and are called for the final interview with the Store Manager.

Final Interview

In the final interview the panellist are Store Manager, a member of Business Unit HR team

and a member of BAR team. The candidate is examined by the Store manager and BU HR

member and then placed in the appropriate section of the store. The selected candidates are

offered Confirmation Letter subjective to their Medical test conducted in later part before

joining.

Reference Check

After the submission of previous employers pay slip and the appointment letter, the

candidate has to give the names and contact details of two professional references from his

current company/any of the previous companies where he has worked earlier.

A telephonic call is made to the persons and the following is checked:

Education background

Professional Background

Personal background

Interpersonal skills for the formalities.

Fitment:

Fitment is a very important procedure by BAR team to fix the candidates position in the store

according to the shift and role preferred by the candidate. A number of permutation and

combination are required to make best available team then the confirmation calls are made to

candidates for their medical and joining.

Offer Letter:

After checking all the references, if the candidates are found suitable, the offer letter is rollout

to the candidate for joining.

Replacements:

After the final staffing when the induction of work associates is started, sometimes few

candidates drop out due to various reasons. The BAR team has responsibilities to provide the

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replacements from the Deferred candidates who have been given offer letter but not asked to

joined. The replacement process is a tedious job and requires great skills to convert candidate

to required positions.

Induction Process:

New employees selected are given a 13 day induction and training program called Prarambh.

They are given information about the companys business, different departments etc. They

are informed of their roles, duties and responsibilities. They are also informed about the HR

policies and rules of the company.

The new employees are on probation for a period of 6 months. After this period the HR

manager along with the department manager review the performance of the employee. If the

employees performance is good and encouraging, the employees services are confirmed.

The company also has Partnerships with educational institutes to run retail courses across the

entire chain. The company has already tied-up with 11 B-schools, including the likes of KJ

Somaiya, Welingkars, Narsee Monjee and IISWBM. The day students join the course, they

are given the appointment letter by Pantaloon.

3.4 Learning & career development Pantaloons are committed to develop its employees into skilled, customer-focused,

enthusiastic and motivated employees. They provides the employees the scheme named

Seekho which enables them to develop their skill sets and opt for any educational courses

so that they can increase their productivity which adds additional value for the company

development in future. An employee is equally responsible for learning and development.

Training is given as and when required e.g. the implementation of new systems.

3.5 Training and development Effective Training Methodologies are planned for each level of the employee cadre.

Junior level executive: The firm uses Experiential action learning for junior level

executives. This method requires an instructor to be very skilled and knowledgeable about the

process which the firm is following for its growth. Employees who are new to the

organization are a part in the experiential action learning which may indeed help them to

develop a better sense of knowledge which can improve the capabilities of the employee.

Middle level Executives: The firm uses On-the-job training for the middle level executive

which is a kind of Word-Driven Training, in this type of training, supervisors or mentors-who

must be very skilled in the work being taught- instruct participants in a hands-on

environment. Design time is usually minimal because on-the-job training is not a formal

process

Senior Level Executives: The firm uses Problem-bases learning approach for this level of

cadre in which participants focus on problems with the help of resource person, as required.

Learners determine the pace of the training and its content. Training occurs in the sense that

the group learns about the problem; at the same time, a solution is developed. The research

indicated that people learning through problem-based training are more motivated.

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Engagement programmes

Pantaloons believe that the employees are their prized possession. Therefore a range of

programmes have been devised which focus on integration and career progression so that the

company can attract, retain and develop the best talent in the Industry. The company has

devised programs like Avatar, Prism, Chota Bheem and Store Guru

3.4 Compensation Policy Every Job has awarded different wages depending upon the position of the employee and the

responsibility levels which the employees take over. This enables the company to:

Provide competitive salaries for each job taking into account market rates.

Reward everyone according to their contribution.

The Salary allocated ranges depends upon the employees position type for employees

performing the standard duties of their jobs. Set up maximum and minimum levels within

those ranges to account for variations in experience and skill levels. The pay defers from

Store Administered employee to Head Office Administered employee. The payment of the

employees is directly by the manager or it is deposited into the savings account which the

employee holds. The Company reserves the right to suspend pay where an employee fails to

notify about absence from work.

Reward Policies

Pantaloon believes in sharing its progress and profitability and reward accordingly. They

offer a range of benefits which are service-related, so they build up as service of an employee

increases. Each element of the benefits package is reviewed regularly to ensure it remains

competitive and maintains pantaloons as a leading employer. Some of them are:

Healthcare Offers

Pantaloons offer following healthcare options to all monthly paid employees and their

partners:

Private health insurance

Gratuity Scheme

Free medical treatment for the employee, spouse and the dependent family members.

Female employees can have Maternity leave - 84 days maximum on completion of

160 days.

Social Activities

Pantaloons provides the employees the scheme named Seekho which enables them to

develop their skill sets and opt for any educational courses so that they can increase their

productivity which adds additional value for the company development in future. Every

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employee of the pantaloons contributes small amount of money from their salary each month

voluntarily to the pantaloons foundation which they can use for any emergency needs.

Summary

The below table depicts how the recruitment and selection process differs for different levels

in the organization.

Entry Level Middle Level Senior Level

Source

Advertisements in

Newspapers and Walk

in Interviews

Job advertisements

and Recruitment

Consultancies

Recruitment

Consultancies and

MBA colleges

Screening

Techniques

Tests on Basic English

and Mathematical skills

Written Aptitude

tests, Group

discussions

Psychometric tests

Interview types Informal conversational

Interview

Behavioural

Interview

Behavioural

Interview, Stress

Interview, Problem

Solving Interview

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4. Flipkart.Com

4.1 Company Profile Flipkart.com is an e- retailing company founded in Sachin & Binny Bansal in 2007

headquartered in Bangalore. Flipkart has 5 companies under its banner namely, W.S. retail,

Ekart, Flipkart financial services, Flipkart India Pvt. Ltd. and Flipkart Internet Pvt. Ltd.

Flipkart is the largest e-retailer in India, originally concieved as a book retailing website now

it retails a wide array of goods from Electronic goods to apparel. It has recently launched its

own electronic durables brand called Digifip, which it retails through its website,

Flipkart has been on an exponential growth mode; it acquired its competitor for a market

valuation of $570Mn in a cash and stock deal recently and has raised a $1bn of funding

which it is yet to announce. (Soni, 2014).

Flipkart has a robust recruitment system which and a dynamic work environment, which

helps it to attract the best of talent and retain them. It believes in hiring the best of minds, as

minds are what propels and sustains its blinding growth rate.

4.2 Recruitment Practices

As Flipkart has been growing at a lightening pace, it has been on a talent acquisition spree,

with talent coming from mainly two places, Campus recruitment drives and Lateral

recruitment drives for experienced positions.

Manpower planning

Flipkart has been growing rapidly and has very ambitious goals of going international and

hence it requires a large number of talented work force at various positions to sustain its

growth. However the source interviewed at Flipkart refused to comment at the exact number

at which the company has been targeting. The majority of recruitment happening at the

technical end and comparatively lower hiring happening at the management end.

Sources of Recruitment

Campus recruitment: Flipkart recruits heavily from both Undergraduate (engineering) and

Post Graduate colleges (management) through its recruitment drives.

Campus

recruitment

Lateral

recruitment

Graduate Trainees &

Management

Trainees

As per position

requirements

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The majority of Flipkarts work force comes from Ivy League institutes such as the IITs and

IIMs and a few Tier 1 and fewer Tier 2 colleges. Flipkart follows its own Tiering criteria for

campus recruitment drives and focuses its efforts accordingly.

The candidates gaining entry through this route are offered either a Graduate trainee (GT-for

a technical undergraduate such as B.tech) or Management Trainee (MT- for a management

graduate). The candidate remains in this position for a period of 1 year after which he/she is

assigned to a specific function in the company.

Lateral recruitment:

To fulfill the Department lead positions that requires experience, Flipkart hires through the Lateral recruitment process. It utilizes online job portals, corporate website and professional

networking sites such as Linkedin extensively to fulfill these positions.

Flipkart Hiring Philosophy

Ours is a level playing field with plenty of self-driven high performers. We raise the bar

every day. We believe anyone can be a superstar at Flipkart, regardless of tenure, gender or

educational qualification. Flipkartcareers.com

4.3 Selection Process For campus recruitment drives,

Aptitude tests

Code tests

Group discussions

Personal interviews

HR round

Technical round

Interviews are the main selection tools for lateral recruitment processes and they follow the

following process,

HR round Attitude, psychometric screening

Technical round- Conducted by a person in function.

Director round Conducted by the directors function

The entire selection process is structured in such a way that only the best talent flows and

there is zero leakage of talent through the process. In the lateral recruitment process, the

director of the function interacts with the candidate to ensure that the candidate is a right fit

for the function and the company.

Though the selection process is a serious business, the selection interviews are often kept

light and humorous to project Flipkart as a fun place to work with. This work philosophy

illustrated by the following comic strip displayed on Flipkart careers website, which is based

on real life interview situations.

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4.4 Recruitment policies

A list of policies governing the recruitment policies could not be obtained as they are

considered to be confidential documents. However following are our understandings of the

policies based on our interaction with an employee and the policies displayed on the careers

website.

The nucleus of the policy is Equal opportunity Flipkart does not discriminate based on,

Gender, the institute from which a candidate has secured his degree. The selection is done

purely on the basis of persons skills and abilities.

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4.5 Ramping up/ Induction process:

Once the candidates have been selected, the Flipsters (As they are referred to in the

company) are put through a week long induction process, which consists of,

Introduction of the company- Its various businesses, business model.

Tour of the office facility.

Introduction to policies and procedures of the company.

Customer orientation training.

Specific job related induction.

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5. COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS Shoppers Stop Pantaloon Flipkart

Number of Employees 14000 30000 10,000

Source of candidates Partnerships with colleges that offer retail management courses

Walk-ins

RPO (Recruitment Process Outsourcing)

Internal Promotion

Internal Reference

Partnerships with colleges that offer retail management courses

Internet Recruiting

RPO

Campus recruitments

Internet recruiting

Internal promotion

Assessment Tests Basic Mathematics and English test (Entry Level)

Written aptitude tests(Middle Level)

Psychometric Tests (Senior Level)

Basic Mathematics and English test (Entry Level)

Written aptitude tests(Middle Level)

Psychometric Tests (Senior Level)

Basic Mathematics and English test (Entry Level)

Written aptitude tests(Middle Level)

Psychometric Tests (Senior Level)

Interview Process HR personnel is always involved in the process irrespective of the employee level

HR interview only for middle level and senior level employees

HR interview

Technical Interview

Interview with the department head

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6. RECENT RECRUITMENT PRACTICES ACROSS RETAIL CHAINS Organized sector of retail has been growing in an exponential way since past few years. Sales

in retail outlets is driven by the quality of interaction between the retail associate and the

customer Therefore, recruiting the right person is extremely critical. It is even more critical

for the reason that retail industry has to still grow from the nascent stage it is currently in.

6.1 Third Party Retail Recruitment Solution Providers To achieve the goal of effective hiring the retail outlets contact third party firms for

recruitment solutions. Example of one such firm is Aspiring Minds

Aspiring Minds

Aspiring Minds works closely with retail chains in fulfilling their hiring needs. The company

has pan India operational presence and uses its pan India operations team to facilitate end to

end management of the recruitment process.

For an upcoming/new store in a new city, they provide assistance from arranging recruitment

location/infrastructure, managing applicants, scheduling them for assessments, coordinating

interviews to assisting them in joining. The end to end process can help the store managers

recruit the right workforce for their organization.

One of the way how Aspiring Minds makes effective recruitment possible is by offering

assessment tools and products. One such product id AMCAT RETAIL.

AMCAT RETAIL

AMCAT Retail is a suite of aptitude, personality and management skills assessments. These

adaptive and standardized assessment modules help ensure reliable evaluation and strong

differentiation between trainable and unemployable talent.

AMCAT Retail includes:

Cognitive Skills

AMCAT Basic English

AMCAT Logical Ability

AMCAT Basic Numerical & Logical Ability

AMCAT Attention to Detail

Domain Skills

Retail Management Situation Judgment Test

Personality

6.2 Customer Recruitment in Retail Companies in the Retail sector have the resources to communicate with their customers, so

they can use them for recruiting too. These resources are emails, companys social media

accounts, and even store receipts. A lot of retailers are now using social media to connect and

engage with their customers. Its their way of sending and receiving instant feedback about

their products and services. It is also a great outlet to let customers know that they are hiring.

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Companies are increasingly using their Facebook Page to post current openings, or create a

Facebook Page dedicated to their careers. With a Facebook Career Page, companies can post

helpful articles and tips on resumes, cover letters, and interviews, as well as jobs.

Wells Fargo used their ATM receipts as a recruitment source. On the bottom, it said, With

you when you want a career opportunity thats right for you, along with a link to their career

site.

6.3 Automation of Recruitment Tasks

Facilitating Job Postings

Recruitment tasks can be automated with a recruitment technology like iCIMS. Instead of

manually posting jobs to the Facebook Page. It works well for companies using technology to

post jobs during set times and frequencies.

In addition, if their customers arent looking to apply to jobs, they are allowed to pass jobs

along with one-click job sharing to their social networks. Companies send automatic, mass-

personalized emails to notify applicants that their resume has been received.

With recruiting softwares likeRecruiterbox, Zoho recruits and so on. HR departments

shall be able to rapidly create a job order and then allocate time for other tasks while the app

does all the posting for them. This saves them not only from tiresome repetition, but allows

companies to move on to more important activities where their skills are needed.

Screening Resumes

Job posting generate hundreds or even thousands of resume responses, sorting these by hand

eat kills a chunk of the time available. Even allowing just two minutes to review each, takes

40 man hours to churn through 1,000 CVs. No matter what type of job the companies are

looking to fill whether it is entry level I.T. for a recent college grad or an experienced C-level

position, manually churning resumes is a hassle. The recruiting software pre-screen for and

take the bulk of wasteful manual resume screening off of the plate.

Eg- E-grabber, AutoSummarizes the resumes for screening.

Document Management

Companies reduce paperwork by cloud sourcing the enormous amount of data generated

through activities like attracting resumes, background checking and so on.

6.4 Social Media Hiring in Retail Presentable online presence through websites like Glassdoor, enable the companies to display

their data in an adequate way as top performers look for adequate information and their

decisions are impacted by the quality of websites and the content it has in terms of attracting

talent. Social media is known to be an effective recruitment tool. LinkedIn for instance, has a

number of talent solutions that enable companies to find, vet, and contact candidates.

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7. CONCLUSION Overall it can be concluded that in a cut-throat sector like retail, the companies have to be

very careful when they frame out their recruitment policies. Candidates can vary from a

graduate from an institute specializing in building future employees in this sector to online

sources. The companies playing in this sector need continuous updating as to where are the

new emerging sources.

There are certain variations which can be seen throughout the recruitment process of the three

big players that was analysed. Mostly all had secured one main opportunity, the one being

having a partnership with colleges that offer retail management course. Internet recruitment,

through the data that was acquired, is something that is now used by most major players.

Shoppers Stop did not indicate the same inclination.

Assessment tests confirmed the likeliness of a candidate making it through the recruitment

process if he/she is proficient in English and Mathematics, and two generic tests that

determine job fit, because all the major players in the industry go through the same process.

Some companies find it right to include the HR personnel in every interview whereas its not

the same in every company.

Moreover, seeing the number of candidates they recruit at one given point, third party retail

recruitment solution providers are on the rise since they provide products, like AMCAT as

mentioned in the report, which makes it easier for the organizations to assess candidates for

aptitude, personality and management skills. I.T. has been one of the main reasons as to why

the retail sector is able to carry out its recruitment processes smoothly.

Not just AMCAT, companies have started engaging with people on social media networking

sites like Facebook. It has gone another level deep since softwares like iCIMS has come into

picture, for companies that are inclined towards using technology to post jobs to the

Facebook Page.

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