The gag is simple: One magic wand, one magic wish. What would you do to change the Talent Acquisition landscape to make it better? We were at HR Tech 2022 asking industry leaders about their opinions on this crazy industry and how to improve it.
Practice Leader at DXC Technology Sujata Avula talks with William Tincup about making job descriptions relevant. Sujata firmly believes in ensuring the details are accurate and inclusive.
This #HRTechConf 2022 series was hosted and brought to you by our friends and partners at Joveo!
Announcer 1 (00:01):
You’re listening to the Recruiting Daily Podcast. We are recording from HR Tech in Vegas. Thanks to our friends and partners at Joveo, we are talking to some of the best minds in HR and business and digging into the most pressing issues in the workplace. So you don’t have to, Here’s your host, William Tin Cup.
William Tincup (00:20):
Ladies gentlemen, this is, William Tin Cup, and we are broadcasting live from Joveo’s Booth at HR Tech in Vegas. I have Sujata in front of me right now. Would you do us a favor and introduce both yourself and your company?
Sujata Avula (00:34):
Absolutely. Thank you so much. This is Sujata Avula. I’m from Germany. I’m a Workday leader for DXC technology, and yeah, I’m here for my customers.
William Tincup (00:47):
What is DXC? What do we do?
Sujata Avula (00:52):
We are into completely IT.
William Tincup (00:54):
Yep.
Sujata Avula (00:55):
Workforce management. And we also do consulting, that’s where I am. I am part of the Workday service line and we do implementations and application support.
William Tincup (01:07):
That’s fantastic. Do a little vendor selection, or do you help with that as well?
Sujata Avula (01:11):
Absolutely.
William Tincup (01:12):
Just navigate,?
Sujata Avula (01:13):
Yes, I am like an HR advisor to my customers, and I help them in finding out who are the vendors available. Let’s say for background checks or assessments or talent sourcing.
William Tincup (01:27):
Right.
Sujata Avula (01:28):
It can be anywhere from hire to retire. What are the vendors, different vendors that we are doing, how do we integrate Workday with these vendors? That’s where I come in.
William Tincup (01:38):
Well, that’s fantastic. All right, Sujata. I’m handing you a magic wand, and if you could change anything for your customers, if you could change anything about the sourcing of the talent or talent sourcing, what would you change?
Sujata Avula (01:52):
Perfect. Okay. I do have a couple of points here. The first one is, I think, the job description. The job description that I see, it’s kind of blendy. First of all, it has everything.
William Tincup (02:08):
Yes.
Sujata Avula (02:08):
It’s impossible for you to find a candidate who meets all those requirements.
William Tincup (02:14):
Right.
Sujata Avula (02:14):
And realistically, when you’re talking to the candidate, you’re really not connecting all those dots there.
William Tincup (02:19):
Right.
Sujata Avula (02:20):
The job description needs to be very, very relevant to what you’re looking for. Are you looking for a people manager? Put that in there. You’re looking for technical or functional? Don’t put everything.
William Tincup (02:32):
Right.
Sujata Avula (02:32):
And the second point would be the title, right? Top title in your organization can mean something else in other organizations.
William Tincup (02:42):
A hundred percent.
Sujata Avula (02:43):
I think a VP in your organization can be a specialist in my organization. I don’t know your hierarchy.
William Tincup (02:50):
Right.
Sujata Avula (02:51):
That’s what you need to tell us. What kind of a role are you looking for?
William Tincup (02:55):
Right. It’s on both points, so we’ll deal with the first point first. It’s almost like the job descriptions need to have an executive summary.
Sujata Avula (03:05):
Absolutely.
William Tincup (03:05):
They need to be bubbled up to something really short, to basically almost like a tweet. It’s something that’s just like, okay, this is what the job’s about.
Sujata Avula (03:11):
Yeah.
William Tincup (03:11):
And if you’re interested, then you can learn more.
Sujata Avula (03:14):
Correct.
William Tincup (03:14):
Okay. I love that. Nailed. And then, the second part on the titles. I think that what I love about your answer is that it’s almost like thinking about reversing the titles and saying, here’s the job. You can call it whatever you want. Name your own title. The title [inaudible 00:03:35] is agnostic.
Sujata Avula (03:36):
Absolutely. And that’s why you have, even in the ERP tools, you have a job title and a business title.
William Tincup (03:43):
Right.
Sujata Avula (03:43):
Your job title can be based on your catalog, but the business title can be what you are actually performing. It will not impact any background processes.
William Tincup (03:54):
That’s right, and what you are performing is the part that’s important.
Sujata Avula (03:58):
Absolutely.
William Tincup (03:59):
You nailed it. Thank you so much, Sujata.
Sujata Avula (04:01):
Thank you. Thank you so much.
Announcer 2 (04:03):
You’ve been listening to the recruiting podcast Live HR Tech, graciously sponsored by Joveo. For all other HR recruiting and sourcing news, check out recruitingdaily.com.
The RecruitingDaily Podcast
Authors
William Tincup
William is the President & Editor-at-Large of RecruitingDaily. At the intersection of HR and technology, he’s a writer, speaker, advisor, consultant, investor, storyteller & teacher. He's been writing about HR and Recruiting related issues for longer than he cares to disclose. William serves on the Board of Advisors / Board of Directors for 20+ HR technology startups. William is a graduate of the University of Alabama at Birmingham with a BA in Art History. He also earned an MA in American Indian Studies from the University of Arizona and an MBA from Case Western Reserve University.
Discussion
Please log in to post comments.
Login