Time was when clearing the group discussion stage by a candidate was considered one of the most important steps in the hiring process. Although a large number of companies still resort to this traditional mode of recruiting to save time, some companies have entirely eliminated this tedious process. Companies such as SAP India, Dell India and Godrej Group have discontinued group discussions in hiring, whereas others such as Cummins believe for assessing the character and values in a person – there is a growing demand for these traits today – group discussion is not the best tool.
While for companies such as Hindustan Unilever, GDs are still an integral part of the hiring process, experts believe in the current recruiting scenario, companies are shying away from holding the GD process owing to its high cost.
SAP India, which earlier used GDs in selective focused groups, has discontinued using the practice on realizing that the tool may not be effective for analyzing people’s analytical bent of mind. “…it is more helpful when choosing candidates for roles where oral communication is very important,” said Nagraj Shriyan, head – talent acquisition, SAP India. One of the ways in which SAP India assesses candidates is by asking people to write a note on either a customer, technical or business situation they have faced. This, said Shriyan, helps the company in analyzing the thought structure, grasp of language, and communication skills of the candidate.
