Dial-in for Efficiency

With high attrition rates and low output being a constant complaint of BPOs, in turn causing large amount of time, resources, and money to be spent on re-hiring and training new employees-a new solution that would put to rest all these issues was the need of the hour. Dial BPO Jobs, an initiative which is part of the TimesJobs fraternity, promises just that.

Formally launched on July 12th, 2010, Dial BPO Jobs has tied-up with over 1,000 corporate BPOs till date, for a first-of-its-kind call center recruitment process that is totally mobile based, with nohuman intervention in the entire recruitment process. While initially providing a landline, as well as mobile IVR option, the landline option was soon disabled, due to caller id viewing being a necessity for the hiring agency, and also since mobile users were significantly larger than the landline users.

Aimed at agent ITL age group of 20-27 years, the solution is aimed at freshers or those with very little experience and shorter resumes, as limited standard questions are asked by the IVR, which is then recorded into the system and becomes the candidate's resume-thus it works better at an entry-level. Apart from this, nine out of ten new recruits are generally at a junior level. However, more senior people are also welcome to apply. While in a standard process, the number of forms to be filled were much more, and typically candidates would visit thirty-forty call centers. Recruiter would typically spend a whole day interviewing over hundred candidates, and finally only selecting one or two, due to interests other than BPO, etc, this automated mobile option eliminates the need for this. Besides, Dial BPO Jobs provides a much wider pool of relevant candidates available to recruiters, to help BPOs reduce attrition rates. Besides, being an automatic solution, it works 24 hours and can be used at either party's comfort of taking the interview, with immediate job alerts provided to candidates as soon as the call is over.

Getting Down to Basics
While this line is especially set up for BPO job seekers, it eliminates the need for recruiters to convince candidates to join a BPO, as only those candidates interested in a call-center job would call in. Also, with the help of a voice clip recording on the IVR, by candidates answering a series of eight-ten questions posed by the system, the hiring agency can instantly decide, based on voice, whether the candidate should get a call back, which helps save a lot of time. There is also a smart filter in place in the system, with candidates getting SMSs of job alerts only of companies they have shown an interest in, and not flooding their inboxes with a 1,000 irrelevant job offers, making the job hunt more efficient for the candidate as well. This filter works by saving the profile of candidates, and sending them job alerts based on their preference, according to initial questions asked by the system.

To ensure security of information, the system picks up information from the mobile through a smart IVR, with no contact with the operator, and a firewall in place for routing only mobile calls, giving a recorded message if calls are placed from a landline. Thus, though the back-end operator is Reliance, candidates' personal profiles cannot be viewed by the operator. This makes Dial BPO Jobs the first completely independent call-center solution. Also, thanks to the mobile solution, reachability and contactability of candidates increases almost 90%, and provides nine-ten times greater efficiency, due to the IVRS system. Once the call is over, candidates get immediate job alerts, and a special code is provided for replying to the SMS, which goes directly to the company in question, so no middleman is involved. The recruiter is also provided with software for choosing candidates, which returns the data of candidates only from matching fields.

To ensure authenticity of data and voice-clip provided by the candidates, Dial BPO Jobs has a back-up solution, having the ability to make the IVR outbound from inbound, such that the system randomly calls up candidates to cross-check voice and data provided. However, this solution hasn't been introduced yet, as there are less than 5% instances of false information being given out by candidates using this system so far.

Added Efficiency with 3G
According to Sudhir Pai, business head, Dial BPO Jobs, “We are looking forward to 3G, which will provide for even greater efficiency and make a lot more applications and solutions possible on the mobile IVR further cutting down time for the selection process. Some examples of this could be live interviews, with a screening shot of the candidate and video using the mobile 3G, graphics, and enriched text SMS for candidates as well as for the advertising platform.”

From the candidate side, 3G could help in creating innovative resumes, and the voice-clip would also be clearer with 3G. Furthermore, the entire interview could be an interactive process, eg, depending on response given, system can intelligently decide which question to ask next, and not ask repetitive recorded questions, making for an almost virtual interview.

Scope in Other Verticals
Dial BPO Jobs can be a great tool for people who are not very literate, like blue collar workers or people from rural areas who are more comfortable with voice, than with writing. This solution

could also be extended to any industry which needs to check voice quality of candidates, and especially with recruits from small town, it provides a far greater number of resumes than the Internet can provide. Additionally, Dial BPO Jobs works in a 'work-from-home' concept as well, with appropriate security checks in place to ensure that only employers who are genuine, post job offers.

As far as using this active IVR end-to-end solution abroad is concerned, as of now it is only operational in India, but we are open to offering this as
SaaS or Pay-As-You-Go to any clients, who want to take it abroad (not initial investment-as now, but can be pay-per-use model).

Dial BPO Jobs was currently launched in five large cities-Delhi, Pune, Hyderabad, Chennai and Bengaluru, and aims to launch in Mumbai within a few weeks, expanding to a cross-country base within the next couple of months. Till date, Dial BPO Jobs has registered over 1.5 lakh total subscribers, who have successfully filled resumes across the country, with over 2,500 candidates being placed using this solution. Beta matrix testing has shown that many BPO clients have changed from old model to Dial BPO Jobs-less time spending, productivity and efficiency increased, time to recruit reduced by almost 75%, with 90% increased contactability of candidates with this solution.

Beta matrix testing has shown that as many as 1,000 BPO clients have changed from traditional models to Dial BPO Jobs for their selection process, noticing a considerable decrease in recruitment time, cost of hiring, and an increase in productivity and efficiency. Thanks to the efficiency of the system, the data always remains very fresh, with a delay of just 2-4 hours between the client and the candidate, and candidates have been recruited even within three days, with a single selection process.

While currently Dial BPO Jobs is aggressively advertising through SMS, print and online ads on the Indiatimes platform, the company may look at external vendors in future. It is also offering an introductory cost for another three months.

Beryl M
berylm@cybermedia.co.in