Nov 30, 2009 12:39 PM
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ELitmus.com( https://elitmus.com) is a bangalore based startupcompany which is in the business of evaluation of entry level jobseekers for IT industry(commonly referred to as "Freshers" in India).The company was started in 2005 by some ex-Infosys guys, who also comefrom institutes such as IIT and IIM. Very credible management teamindeed.
What is the problem addressed by elitmus.com?
1) There are no Job consultants for freshers.One reason is that no company will pay commission to a consultant tohire freshers. This in-turn is because most freshers have no priorexperience to base theirhiring on. The only thing freshers have is their academic performance, their specialization field, the institutionthey studied in. The problem with using academic scores forshortlisting is that every university in India follows a differentmethod of conducting exams and giving marks. For example, students fromMaharastra typically score less than 75% where as students from Andhratypically score over 85%. And it is not surprising to see that a 75%scorer from Maharastra is better than a 85% scorer from Andhra Pradesh.
2) Not all companies hiring freshers visit all campuses every year. Soif I want to join company X, but X does not visit my campus, am Ideprived of an opportunity to work at X?
3) For every company a fresher applies to, he is first asked to writean aptitude test. The same candidate is tested for the same skills overand over. This is a tremendous waste of time and money
What is unique about elitmus.com?
1) Standardized scale:eLitmus has an aptitude test called Hiring potential test(or pH testfor short). This test is designed to measure several cognitive skillsof a job applicant. Since job seekers from across India appear for thistest, irrespective of institution they come from or their economicbackground, the test scores provide a nation wide standardized scale to measure individuals on those cognitive skills.
2) One test, many jobs:One a fresher takes elitmus pH test, his scores are used by severalcompanies for shortlisting. This eliminates the job seeker from writingsimilar aptitude tests again and again. This actually results in a hugesavings in time and money for freshers as well as companies. Anestimate tells that to administer a test of this nature it costsanywhere from Rs. 90 to Rs. 500, depending on the volume(number oftest takers). So you can calculate the savings yourself.
3) Less depression for Freshers and higher conversion rate for companies:Becausefreshers are pre-evaluated, companies do not have to invite thousandsof candidates to hire only a few of them. They can actually filterthose candidates with matching cognitive skills and call only thosefreshers for next rounds. This not only leads to huge cost saving formcompany and candidates, but also reduces disappointment and low moralamong those not making it to next round. So in a typical scenario, ifcompany x wants to hire 100 freshers, they will have to invite about2800 of them for a test, about 600 of them will clear the test and areshortlisted for further rounds. The remaining 2200 will be asked to goback. This results in a conversion ratio of 1:28(1 hired out of every28 candidates invited). In case of eLitmus model, only those 600 whohave the potential to make it to next round need to be called. Thisresults in a conversion ratio of 1:6(1 hired out of every 6 candidatescalled). eLitmus however claims that because of their scientificallydesigned test, they can bring down the number 600 to about 400. whichmeans a conversion ratio of 1:4.
4) Use of technology to bridge digital divide: eLitmus claims that except for conducting the written test, almost everything else can be done by logging on to their website https://elitmus.com.This is a great feature as this eliminates frequent travel for mostfreshers to job rich areas every time they have a call for writtentest. On the other hand, it also eliminates travel for companies as thecompany can now shortlist candidates from across India sitting in oneplace. This eliminates the constraints the company will have invisiting several campuses to hire only a few freshers. This also givesvisitbility to deserving freshers to apply to their dream companieseven if the company does not visit their campus.
In summary, elitmus.com business model is a win-win for both companies(employers)and candidates(job seeking freshers). Both of them save time and moneywhile improving their chances significantly of finding the mostsuitable fit for their profile/job. This also results in a longerassociation of employees to companies as they will be more happy in thejob role.
Good job elitmus. wish you all the best and great success.
