KALPAVRKSHA ASSOCIATES

KALPAVRKSHA, A TRUSTED CONSULTANT IN ALIGNING AND ENABLING STRATEGIC LEADERSHIP FOR GROWTH

Kalpavrksha Associates, a Leadership Talent Search firm, headquartered in Singapore and based out of Bangalore, has been successfully engaging with clients for "Leadership Search" domestically & internationally under the hegemony of Jaya Kumar Bailkeri, Managing director of the company.  They work with organizations to increase the quality and speed of conscription by integrating best practices and resource planning, allowing their clients access to top talent for permanent roles.  

THE WOMAN WHO LAID THE PATH

Kick starting her career with industry leaders, Jaya orchestrated her stint in the HR department where she was hired for shaping the IT recruitment business. She gained ample experience from her mentors who helped her in shaping the ace recruiter in her.

But even while excelling at her job she opted to resign and contemplate on what better can be done with life and concluded with the decision of starting her recruitment business. The leap of faith along with the sugar-coated  support from her husband accelerated her jump on to the bandwagon of business with both he feet.

THE CORPORATE ETHOS

They are the experts in critical to hire roles and where there are likely to be a relatively small number of senior-level professionals in the industry who would be suitable for the job.  They also deliver in a relatively short time   frame.

·         Critical Talent availability benchmark

·         Strategic Leadership hiring

·         Business Discovery

·         Consultant as a service (CaaS)

They work with a purpose to add  value to the business they assess by engaging more to understand the need and hence reduce their time   spent in hiring  – is why Kalpavrksha exists. Hire right, in less time – for the business.

Jaya further adds, "Our vision is to be a trusted partner in acquiring, aligning and enabling strategic leadership for growth. We go that extra mile to find the best talent in the market. We refer only a few candidates who best fit the role & the company culture. We optimize our customer's time by referring only the best talent in the market."

Kalpavrksha can solve several crucial hiring challenges that 50% of Organizations are unable to meet and that their "Leadership Search" needs. Their practices are based on extensive research, measuring results and leveraging technology. Today, companies are not just looking for 'recruiters', but for a true 'search partner' who ultimately understands the challenges faced by their management. They offer a comprehensive recruitment solution to ensure the client wins this battle. The company helps clients find the best leadership talent across the geographies through highly connected Networks of global practices and local offices. The focus    is on helping the clients achieve their goals by delivering leaders who consi-stently perform at the highest levels.

GAINING AN EDGE AND OVERCOMING HICCUPS

"We offer unique agility in accessing top talent by leveraging our extensive network thru state of the art technology. We're trusted to put quality before quantity. We are results-driven with a customer-centric approach that ensures the quality of execution" asserts Jaya.

                Kalpavrksha adds insight, expertise and personal touch to their search engagements. When it comes    to talent management, they keep  things bespoke & scalable, whether    by submitting to strategy or offering executive coaching & consulting. They take pride in combining expertise with human touch. Their team of specialists focus more on quality of talent than quantity. They get to know people, business, and opportunities and then intelligently share their knowledge.

Kalpavrksha has sailed through several hiccups before it established itself like the brand it is today. Each closure is an experience and is       tough for everyone. In an interesting experience, they had to place a 'Centre Head' for one of the oldest Oil & Gas Company and the entire process      kept them on toes. 

After identifying 3 potential candidates, one got shortlisted. He sat through three rounds of interview and they were told that he was finalized as well. He was thrilled and celebrating. But factually it took 45 more days, 6 additional rounds of interviews, 10 approvals to finally receive the offer letter. And each day passed wondering if they are going to make the offer or not. 

TRAITS OF A POTENTIAL TOP EMPLOYER

Disconnect encompasses everything from how employees should be recruited, managed and retained to the organization's performance. The 'Me vs. We' mindset based on a survey of 5,330 employees and 3,218 employers at global companies with 50 or more employees show how gaps in expectations can create contradictory attitudes and behaviours.

The reports also state, for example, that "a majority of employees take pride in their work and have greater loyalty to their companies   than employers estimate," debunking a long-standing belief that corporate loyalty is on the decline. At the same time, two-thirds of employees are still looking for or are open to a new job, which is turning the workplace into a "perpetual dating game" for even the most dedicated employees. Organizations overestimate the number of active job seekers while underestimating passive job seekers (those who have jobs but are unaware of challenging opportunities). As a result, organizations put most of their resources and energy into hiring and on-boarding new employees, often leaving their current employees feeling adrift.

"The overall talent journey is not only about attracting but also engaging and retaining, that in a nutshell means to be a top employer today" verifies Jaya. 

CHALLENGES OF THE HR   INDUSTRY

The HR industry is going through a churn right now. There is a huge availability of talent pool against the number of positions open to be filled. The challenge is how to reach the    right ones, entice them and keep them engaged for the role the company is offering. The pre-screening, identifying the right candidate with relevant capabilities and an understanding of the company's cultural aspects and value adds to the organization's growth plans. 

Jaya shares, "Recruitment is a highly competitive business sector, so it is important to pay attention to your competition and what they are doing. Your competition may be traditional recruitment companies and/or more indirect competitors such as online recruitment portals."

Regularly reviewing the market place widens the perspective of the business, helps you to identify and capitalize on market opportunities, keeps one informed of new products and services that are being developed and enables to respond quickly to market changes. Whether you are the business owner or a search partner it    is equally important to understand   the competition incorporated with a few solutions like;

·         AI-based search tools to help screen the candidates better.

·         Usage of technical assessment for the candidates.

·         Psychometric assessment for leadership hire  

THE TEAM AND CLIENTS

The team at Kalpavrksha is bifurcated into four verticals – Market Research Team (MR), Business Development Team (BD), Search & Engagement Team (S&E) & Client Relationship Team (CR), the market research team collects the happenings of the market – top talent movements, who has laid   off, who is hiring, and who is looking for career advancement. 

The Search & Engagement Team uses this as information for them to reach out to candidates; Business Development takes the customer-related information forward for signing up. Client Relationship team works with the BD & SET to make the closures happen.               

Jaya proudly adds, "We will continue to grow this team structure organically to reach out for more customers and candidates." 

Their potential clients are small & medium-sized companies with 300-3000 employee manpower strength.  The best talent is delivered consistently for the roles that have been critical to close by trying to understand the pulse of the organization and search the right person. 

THE SHIFTING MARKET TRENDS

A major trend in the software industry as a whole is the move towards   artificial intelligence (AI) — and the future of HR software is no exception. In 2018, a LinkedIn survey revealed how AI is poised to influence recruiting. Seventy-six percent of hiring managers and recruiters think the impact will be "somewhat significant."

"The biggest advantage of AI is streamlining the reading of applicant data. Instead of relying on a HR professional to pour over hundreds of profiles, businesses can use an AI system to complete the task quickly" avows Jaya.

In the next year, the rise of cloud computing will continue, with more businesses making the transition. As far as HR tech trends go, this one is moving pretty fast. This will   unburden HR departments by repositioning middle-tier training   and hierarchies. The focus of HR    will move towards business performance management and execution. With the power of automation, businesses will free themselves from tedious, time-consuming obligations. 

FEATHERS IN THE CAP

Jaya won the "Indira Gandhi Priyad-arshini Award" by the Government of India for Best Female Entrepreneur in 2004. She was also recognized by the "Karnataka Small & Medium Business Owners Association" with the Business Excellence and Achievement Award 2015 for Customer Satisfaction in Professional Service Sector.

Jaya recollects, "8 years have passed since we started our operations in Singapore and India at parallel, serving critical to hire roles.  We work on assignment basis to address positions at mid to senior management and technical expertise levels."

As they look at Kalpavrksha's journey so far, they truly believe that    it would have been impossible to rise up the ladder without the support of their clients. While challenges have     been plenty, they have always aimed   at providing extensive customer satisfaction in terms of quality of service and delivery in short turnaround time and this is what has helped achieve their growth.

2011 – Started operations in SG & India serving Middle & Sr. hiring

2012 – Started servicing the start-up and mid-size companies  

2013 – Achieved milestone of closing niche Positions with quick TAT

2014 – Recognized as trusted partners for critical to hire positions (100% customers)

2015–Recognized by the "Karnataka Small & Medium Business Owners Association" Business Excellence and Achievement Awards 2015.

2016 – Initiated New Service – Consultant as a Service (CaaS)

2017 – New Verticals added – Agritech , CRO & Renewable Energy.

2018 –100% Assignment Fulfilment 

ETHOS FOR THE EMPLOYEES

Kalpavrksha is a family of a cosy team of professionals who possess a high level of excellence, competence, accountability and specialized knowledge in the search market. Each success is celebrated by the team. They set "SMART" goals which reduce target stress while at the same time     the enjoy working toward a goal.

The managers in the organization are trained to lead through experience and competence and not through title or position that helps in developing a friendly relationship with the team members. It promotes a transparent and open culture encouraging all to approach the management with their queries, thoughts, fears or anything under the sun which is bothering them.

"We create a competitive environment that will inspire our team members to achieve their goals. Have small competitions with tangible rewards, even if it's just a free lunch, to get people excited about working towards their goal. Apart from this, we have Quarterly and Yearly recognition for high achievers which includes Incentives, Certificates, Company-sponsored External Trainings" adds Jaya.

Having said this, they are more counsellors/career advisors for senior management talent than just giving them job opportunities.  Irrespective of what is the outcome, they treat the customers and candidates with empathy. Hence, training employees to be in that frame of      mind along with keeping their productivity ratio is a big task. The team of experts train them to be "human-first", empathize with them when going gets tough, and help    them achieve their goal in their way. The team has;

Anjana James, Market Research & Engagement Team Head manages the supply-demand ratio of client talent needs. Her team and she do extensive research on the market for identifying the right talent, to make   the search assignment successful. She monitors and fine tunes the search process and makes it a bespoke service to the clients.

Gayathri, Business Development Head, is a self-motivated result-oriented professional with more than    a decade of experience in recruitment. She handles New Business Development, Client Acquisition, Market Intelligence and Company Branding   as well as Leadership level searches. She understands the company   strategy direction to develop and executes them.

Annapoorni, Client Relationship Management Head, is an experienced CRM professional with expertise in the areas of middle & senior hiring   with the ability to identify and engage with the Hiring Managers/ Decision Makers. She began her career in the Human Resources field in the year 2003. Utilizing her relationship-building and stakeholder-management skills, she developed effective working relationships with both internal and client stakeholders alike.

FUTURE OF KALPAVRKSHA

The team at Kalpavrksha starts with the end in mind and a clear focus on the outcome, both professionally & culturally. They are better able to understand where they stand at present and what steps would encourage them to keep moving   ahead towards their goal. They are continually expanding their horizon of knowledge. Innovative thinking    & excellence in delivery is indeed an inherent part of their day to day culture.

We will continue to do what is right for the organization and the employees which itself will make sure they treat our customers right, for them to help achieve the organization's highest goals. Jaya Kumar Bailkeri 

CANDIDATE TESTIMONIAL

Rohit Mudra – Nutanix

Had got an opportunity with Nutanix through Kalpavrksha Associates. They were able to get a managerial discussion ahead of formal interview, to help me understand the job requirement better and prepare myself for the face-to-face discussion at Nutanix office. They also provided ample information, to help me in preparation for the face-to face discussion; it helped me overcome the anxiety of interview. Once the interview was done, they followed up with the organization and kept me posted on all developments. This resulted in faster processing of my profile and almost no wait for me to hear back from Company HR's. Overall, it was a great experience to have them represent my profile with Nutanix.

CLIENT TESTIMONIAL

Karthik Gowri – Senior Manager – TATA COMMUNICATION

"It's been a great experience working with Kalpavrksha & team! From understanding of the requirement to final closure.

Thanks for the support and long way to go!"