Five skills

Five skills

Gauri Deshmukh Head, HR, SAS India

At SAS India we follow a well-structured, standardised hiring pattern. We do really believe that there is no good or bad candidate—it’s all about striking the right balance and hiring the right person.

Closest fit to job description

The right candidate comes closest to fitting the job description (JD). A detailed job description for every single position is therefore a must, and a lot of effort and scientific inputs have gone into evolving JDs for all roles in the organisation. This is the first step towards formalising the vision of the right candidate. This JD, among other things, describes a position in terms of overall purpose, key accountabilities, key performance indicators, skills, knowledge and education, and competencies. Once the hiring manager and the recruiter are armed with this data, the next steps become simpler.

Skills

As we see it, skill is an individual’s demonstration of proficiency or expertise, the ability to do something well.

Knowledge Knowledge is useable information that an individual has in a particular area. Therefore every potential candidate has to have acquired the relevant knowledge (could be through his previous experience) and must be able to clearly articulate or demonstrate proficiency levels.

Competencies

Competencies are behaviours and attitudes. They indicate superior performance. We at SAS have identified the competencies needed for superior performance across our various work streams (divisions). Within SAS, it is not only important that critical goals be achieved—how they are achieved is as important.

Readiness to embrace challenges

The sheer passion, drive and pride that each one of us feels at being a SAS employee is what, we believe, is unique about SAS. We would want every new person joining SAS to be able to feel this.