In any production organization, there are three key pillars: Human Resources, Tools, and Methodology & Materials. Of these, the human element, or Human Resources, plays the most crucial role in propelling an organization forward. The value of HR is amplified when one considers the potential disruptions caused by the departure or loss of key individuals within the organization.

The role of HR in the IT sector is particularly pronounced. The few who possess foundational IT knowledge become unique and sought-after assets. Moreover, the IT landscape in Indonesia is still emerging, and the specialized work structures and organizational models within the IT realm make those trained and seasoned in this field extremely valuable. In simpler terms, while it’s relatively easy to find and hire generalist talent at a lower salary, specialists, especially in the IT domain, are harder to find and typically command higher salaries. For instance, hiring someone for general roles, like managing a food stall, is straightforward and cost-effective, but finding a specialist in the IT domain can be quite the opposite.

Given our restricted budget for system development, we have been wrestling with the challenge of sourcing the right HR that meets our criteria without breaking the bank. I’ll elaborate on this shortly, but for now, let’s discuss the strategies we’ve employed to secure the talent we need.

 

Searching for Talent in Web & Mobile App Development

Developing a product without a predefined outcome, like a web or mobile application, is part of the essential R&D process to achieve the desired output. Two things need emphasis here: [1] This isn’t an activity that directly translates to revenue, and [2] Due to the uncertainties involved, it’s often considered a substantial investment.

Considering the costs, hiring full-time professionals for such roles could be prohibitively expensive. Essentially, we’d be paying someone without a guaranteed successful outcome. Hence, I introduced an alternative approach: “Talent Acquisition from Universities.”

Briefly, many job seekers are either [1] in dire need of funds or [2] have been unemployed for extended periods. Highly skilled individuals typically have no trouble finding employment, and often, they receive direct job offers without searching.

For our development roles, hiring purely based on financial need isn’t ideal. While those driven by monetary concerns might execute tasks as expected, they are less likely to innovate. Once their financial objectives are achieved, their motivation to push boundaries might wane.

Conversely, hiring those who’ve been unemployed for longer durations can be risky. Their prolonged joblessness might be indicative of subpar skills. Recruiting such candidates could worsen our situation, whereas we need individuals who can both establish and innovate within our organization.

Track Records

Planning: The planning phase is overseen by Kwee Andreas SS. After extensive discussions, our initial plan includes:

• Method Selection: We decided to utilize posters as our primary promotional tool. These posters, focusing on the startup business, will be placed across all universities in Semarang. We hope to attract students interested in the startup industry to join our team.
• University Selection: We’ve identified several universities in Semarang where we will display these posters.

Execution: The steps we’ve taken to execute this plan are as follows:

• Poster Design: The initial poster design was crafted by Andre. It underwent several revisions, resulting in Conversation 1 and Conversation 2 designs.
• Posted Locations: The posters have been displayed at Udinus, Unnes, Universitas AKI, and approximately five other universities.
• Documentation: All details of our promotional efforts can be found in the ‘Conversation Execution Project Startup Semarang 2017’ document on Google Drive.

Results: As of October 7th, 2017, four individuals have expressed interest in our startup. For more details, refer to ‘Result Recruitment Startup Semarang 2017 (Path 1)’.

 

Recruitment for Administrators and Customer Service Representatives

We initiated a recruitment process aimed at staffing the Prudential Online Agency project and the Customer Service division of Foxy Tracker. During this phase, we encountered some challenges. Currently, the Minimum Wage in Semarang stands at approximately 2.1 million per month, the highest in all of Central Java. Based on my observations, salaries for positions in Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) range between 1.3 to 1.5 million. While recruiting, we identified several potential candidates. Our assessment covered multiple criteria, from their motivation, proximity from home to office, expected salary, among others. However, two of our top candidates, who we believed were an excellent fit for the roles, eventually withdrew their applications.

From our recruitment experiences, we anticipate that around 60% of candidates might drop out, either refusing the job offer or resigning shortly after starting. However, in this particular instance, both of our primary candidates chose to step back.

Kwee Andreas Setiawan S. oversees the recruitment for these positions. As of October 7th, 2017, we are yet to find the right candidate, and therefore, have no report to present at this moment.

Track Record

Content Creation and Advertisement Placement: We developed ad content and selected OLX as the platform for advertisement.

Ad Details on OLX:

• Views: 3,179
• Method: One-week highlight on OLX ads.
• Contacted: 31 times
• Favorited by: 10 individuals
• Registrations via WhatsApp: Estimated around 120
• Applications received via form (specifically for Administrative roles): 33 applicants.
• Applicants passing the preliminary selection: 16.
• Job listings: Job Vacancy | Administrator (REC-PT.5.A) and Job Vacancy | Administrator (REC-PT.5.A)

Challenges Faced:

1. The usual WhatsApp number used to submit ads on OLX became unusable, resulting in ads being rejected and the subsequent disabling of the OLX account.
2. We faced consistent ad rejections. OLX didn’t specify the exact reason, leading us to believe our content might have violated OLX’s Terms of Service (TOS). However, upon closer examination, our ad content adhered to OLX’s standards. Multiple attempts to create new accounts and post ads were unsuccessful until we identified the issue: the verification phone number provided.

Recruitment Efforts: We attempted to recruit a full-time Administrator twice. The first method wasn’t very successful, yielding only around 6 candidates. We speculated this might be due to our rigorous selection method, such as sending evaluation responses between 02:00 – 04:00 am.

Our revised approach was to recruit a larger pool of candidates first and then train them on the job. However, this decision wasn’t easy, especially after two potential candidates, perfectly fitting the role, left. Nevertheless, we decided to be more flexible and less restrictive in our recruitment method.

 

Operational Staff Recruitment

Our search for operational staff is specifically geared towards freelance roles. We target students looking for extra income to support their studies.

Track Record

• Ad Creation and Placement: We developed ad content and chose OLX as our advertising platform.
• OLX Ad Details:
  • Views: 1,824
  • Method: Standard advertisement
  • Contacted: 4 times
  • Favorited by: 4 individuals
  • Registrations via WhatsApp: Estimated around 40
  • Applications received via form (specifically for Administrative roles): 3 applicants.
  • Applicants passing the preliminary selection: 16.
  • Job listings: Job Vacancy | Administrator (REC-PT.5.A)

Implementation Challenges: As of now, we have encountered no significant obstacles. Our main focus was to create a new recruitment page and form for this campaign.