Global professional services firm, ZS, has surpassed its annual hiring projection within three quarters. It had originally projected to hire approximately 3,000 employees in 2021, but has now surpassed that figure, with 3,500 new hires. About 40 per cent of the new recruits have been taken on for tech roles requiring proficiency in artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), big data, Python, cloud technologies and data science. Encouraged by the tremendous growth it has experienced, due to the accelerated pace of digitisation across the world, ZS plans to add at least 4000 people to its team across its three offices in India in 2022.
Mohit Sood, regional managing principal and head, India, ZS, acknowledges that “our teams in India play a pivotal role in helping the firm remain ahead of the curve as we focus on growing tech capabilities that will drive innovation for our global offerings.”
With this year’s hiring of experienced professionals as well as freshers, the total workforce strength of ZS in India is 8,500+. That means, about 70 per cent of its global workforce is based here in India.
The new hires are lending their support to the Company’s business consulting, business operations, business technology, and software development wings.
Sood reveals that to create and sustain value for clients, the Company is trying to “capitalise on technology advancements”, for which it is “looking for people with strong technical capabilities, in addition to strategic problem-solving skills, excellent collaboration, and strategic implementation.”
The Company intends to use “transformational approaches to develop, engage and retain diverse talent.”
To overcome the challenges of virtual hiring amidst the pandemic last year, ZS promptly adopted an innovative approach by implementing the ‘interviewing-as-a-service’ strategy that brings in an external partner for the technical evaluation of candidates. It has also launched virtual learning modules to familiarise the new hires with their job roles and offered access to training sessions to polish their skills before joining ZS.
This year alone, Campus Beats — ZS’s campus-engagement programme — saw participation from 100+ tier 1 and tier 2 engineering colleges. Till now, ZS has hired more than 1,200 graduates from campuses for various technical and non-technical roles and has extended offers to another 1,500 who will join in 2022.
‘ZS Ace-a-Thon’, the annual hackathon organised by ZS is especially curated for women professionals with strong technical know-how in the areas of analytics, operations, engineering, data science, and software development.
The challenges in the hackathon give women in tech an opportunity to compete with the top talent in the country and solve complex real-world business problems. The top performers receive a chance to interview for and join ZS’s India offices.
Esha Gulati, HR lead, Asia, ZS, reveals that “the challenges of remote work have taught us that weaving together human touchpoints with the benefits of innovative technology is imperative to reimagining how we work and how we see our workplaces”.