Recruitment Fiasco at CITPR Ltd.
“It has been very unfortunate that careers of our students are in trouble. We feel cheated, how come such a reputed company known for its exemplary HR practices can act so casually…”
- Prof. Parag Thakur, Director, TTC College of Engineering and Management
This came as a sharp reaction from the Director, Prof. Parag Thakur (Prof. Thakur), TTC College of Engineering and Management in the Southern part of India whose 25 students of Computer Science and Engineering were selected by CITPR Ltd., in the campus selection drive and were later denied employment in the company.
CITPR Ltd.: An Overview
CITPR Ltd., is an information technology and consulting company with over 10000 employees serving over 22 clients across the globe. The company posted revenues of $75 million for the financial year ended on March 31st 2014.
CITPR since its humble beginning in 1984 was known for its excellent HR practices and had also won many prestigious awards for being the Best Employer, Best Place to work with, etc. Attrition rate was very low because of the excellent organizational culture and leadership of its promoters – Mr. Shyamji Bapna, Chairman and Managing Director, Mr T. Pujary, CEO and Mr. Gopal Dixit, COO. Even though the organization was not considered as the best paymaster in the industry, employees were very satisfied and average tenure of the people employed in the company was more than 7 years which was far better than the industry standards.
The organization exhibited tremendous growth in last five years. ‘Employees are our biggest strength and we are very careful while choosing them’, stated Mr. Bapna....................................
HR at CITPR
HR processes were well-organized and documented. HR department was ably led by the HR Director Mr. D. Ganesh an alumnus from a prestigious Business School in France. He had been with CITPR Ltd., since past 15 years and had total experience of more than 25 years..........
Recruitment Process at CITPR
For last 10 years CITPR has been the most sought after company by the job seekers. According to Mr. Ganesh, the company hired from the best campuses across the country for entry level roles. For the middle level and top level they depended on references and lateral entry route...........
The Recruitment Fiasco: Background
Mr. Ravi Sampat, Placement Officer, TTC College of Engineering and Management had contacted Mr. VN Swami, Recruitment Manager at CITPR and shared the details of the batch and mentioned that the placement process would be initiated in the first week of December therefore CITPR can communicate a convenient date of visit to conduct the selection process, as this campus was already listed on the preferred campus list in 2009 and for last four years Mr. Swami had been visiting the campus he shared a good rapport with many employees at TTC College of Engineering and Management including Mr. Sampat.............
The Recruitment Fiasco
Mr. Sampat was getting restless day-by-day as it was already more than a month and he had not received any official communication from CITPR regarding the selection of the 25 students nor their offer letters. Mr. Sampat called up Mr. Swami but reply was not very convincing. He told him that they were working on numbers and will inform very soon............
The Recruitment Fiasco: Inquiry
Mr. Dixit conducted an independent inquiry and found that Mr. Swami in an informal chat with Mr. Ramesh Kapoor, VP- Product Development came to know that there will be a huge requirement of .net professionals in 2-3 months with huge business expected from an overseas client. Mr. Swami shared this information with Mr. D. Ganesh and planned that this is the time when HR should work proactively and recruit more people from TTC College of Engineering and Management...........
Aftermath Corrective Measures at CITPR
CITPR was in a fix as this fiasco could tarnish their reputation of being the best employer and an ethical company. Mr. Bapna assured Prof. Thakur that if his students can expand their choices he will ready to recruit them in other domains depending upon their interests and skill set...............
Assignment Questions
I. Discuss the major issues highlighted in the case study.
II. In your opinion could Mr. D. Ganesh have taken some measures to avoid the embarrassment caused to CITPR? Justify your option with relevant arguments.
III. ...........
Exhibits
Exhibit I: HR Structure at CITPR
Exhibit II: Recruitment Process at CITPR
