Kazutada Kobayashi, president and CEO of Canon India, speaks with SANGEETA YADAV about Canon’s hiring strategies in India
Tell us about the hiring strategies of CanonIJ
With the recent slowdown in the economic growth of the country in comparison to five to six years ago, we can’t only rely on numbers. This has led to employees not being complacent about their jobs. They have to brush up their skills and hone their talents to prove their mettle. My HR strategy is to primarily focus on quality employees who can generate efficient output. That’s the major criteria for recruiting people at the Canon’s office.
Any assessment team that ensures the quality and efficiency of the employeesIJ
Inherent talent of an employee is intangible and difficult to assess. But there are a certain key attributes that we are looking for — proper attitude towards work, spirit of team work, ability to learn and progress in life and at the professional front, the candidate must have a global perspective.
Having said that, there are certain things that are tangible for instance, the sales and the marketing employees are measured on completing their sales target, analytical thinking on the sales of the company and how well they can position their brand so that it appears better than its competitors.
What is the criteria of selectionIJ
The qualification requirement of the employees varies for different sectors and depends entirely upon the position for which we are hiring. Apart from the academic qualifications, I would look for accuracy, speed, self discipline, up-to-date knowledge and an agile mindset. A candidate should be passionate, creative, and should have a global outlook in analysing and knowing the field better. I’m looking for that person who loves his job not just because it pays him a decent salary but because he has become a part of the family. His company should inspire him to give his best.
What is the biggest challenge in the human resource fieldIJ
It’s the balance between the experience and flexibility. If we hire freshers from post graduate programmes, which we are now doing at Canon, then the onus is on us to train them from the scratch. We can colour their ideas with our company’s perspective. That’s easy. However, people who have vast amount of experience which they carry from other organisations, there is always a conflict in the ideas, attitude and work scenario. Of course, they’ll help us in the long run with their vision but initially it becomes a challenge for us to make them feel at home.
What is the USP of your companyIJ
The USP of Canon is that it’s an international organisation that manufactures and promotes a global brand and has various branches of operations all over the world. The major domains of the company are camera and office, personal and commercial printers. People working for Canon in India, get a lot of opportunities to work in other branches and to know how the other worldwide branches are doing in other countries.
How are these employees selected to operate from other branchesIJ
English language is never an issue with the Indian employees but if they know other spoken languages it gives them an upper hand. Other attributes which we are looking at — they should have a challenging spirit and a sense of belonging to the company. We are also looking at a candidate who is open to coming back to India after a few years to teach other colleagues about his/her personal experiences.
What is the assessment criteria of the employeesIJ
They are assessed annually by senior level authorities. They also have to go through a detailed on-paper assessment. From time to time we keep sending some employees to our foreign branches like Singapore, the US, Japan and we get a lot of feedback about their performance etc.