Does a Company’s Road-Map on Growth & Expansion plan helps Overcome Hiring Challenges?

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This is what an Interview with Suneetha Chandrappa- Consultant Human Resources at Cisco reveals regarding the current Recruitment Scenario-

1. What are the Common Challenges you face when hiring Entry Level Talent in Tech?
   The common challenges are the lack of required industry and technology knowledge of the candidates, apart from this the issues from the candidate’s side are company brand, pay scale, and work location (for instance in Bangalore, work location matters a lot as there’s heavy traffic most of the times).
2. How do you think these Challenges can be Overcome?
   Development of good and attractive Marketing strategies, having policy around an individual competency Mapping and Skill enhancement, 3 years company’s road map on growth and expansion plan, good benefits, friendly working atmosphere and flexible work culture would also support to overcome these challenges.
   
3. How do you currently hire Talent at the Entry Level?
   We mainly go for campus hiring and employee referrals for entry level hiring.  
   
4. What is the Hiring Time Frame?
   The Requirement Forecast is done for one year, based on which the time to on-board takes about 6-8 months from the requirement to hire and depends on the course completion of the candidates.
   
5. What are the Specific Skills where you see more Demand coming in for the business?
   There’s always Demand is for Technology Knowledge, currently industry moving towards Data Science, Could Engineering, AI and Machine Language.
   
6. Any specific initiatives within the Organization to help bridge Skill gaps?
   We have initiatives like Skill Development Workshops / Training Material / tool to bring Awareness to all Employees irrespective of IT or Non IT skills depending on the need of the Employees. For instance some Employees would need Technical training like Engineering etc., other might need only knowledge to increase Company brand.
   
7. Is your Company focusing on offering live Projects and Internships to Students?
   Yes we do, however we offer only for students of IITs, NIITs & Premier MBA Colleges only.
   
8. What is the Future Talent Strategy in your Organization for Upcoming Skills in Tech/Analytics?
   Mostly the Organization is looking forward to move to new cutting edge     technology like AI and Machine Learning.