OLX

Manjuri Sinha

ManjuriSinha is the Global Director of Talent Acquisition, Employer Branding & Onboarding at OLX. As a seasoned HR professional with over two decades of experience in HR business partnering, talent development, and acquisition, she brings a wealth of qualities required for her role. She firmly believes in leveraging technology to streamline talent acquisition and enhance the candidate experience.

Could you describe your career journey so far and your key responsibilities at OLX?

I have over two decades of experience working as an HR professional. My career began in corporate HR, but I eventually transitioned into HR business partnering, talent development, and talent acquisition roles. Prior to relocating to Europe, I primarily worked with Indian tech companies such as Accenture and Emphasis.

In 2014, I joined Philando, Europe's largest fashion tech platform, where I served as the lead for technology hiring for a period of 3.3 years. Following that, I joined OLX as the Global Director of Talent Acquisition. In this role, I am responsible for overseeing the hiring, recruitment, employer branding, and onboarding of employees based in Berlin.

Throughout my career, I have successfully hired over 9000 individuals, contributing to a significant growth of 63 percent in headcount in 2022. These achievements have directly contributed to strong revenue and profit growth for the organizations I have worked with.

Please shed some light on some of the challenges prevailing in today’s talent acquisition.

I recently read a LinkedIn report released in March '23, which projected recruitment as the top factor driving businesses. However, in the current landscape of frequent layoffs and redundancies, especially in consumer tech, HR departments face significant challenges. While talent leaders are aware of this, they often perceive recruitment as an operational function that needs to be cost-sensitive.

“It is essential to ensure that talent remains at the forefront of our organization's strategy, enabling us to attract and retain the best individuals for sustained growth.”

Another challenge we face today is related to economic headwinds and shrinking budgets allocated for talent acquisition teams. This limitation prevents us from exploring and implementing new innovations in the recruitment process. Changing the perspective on talent acquisition is also a pressing concern. Often, our tier managers and team leaders adopt an external-focused approach to talent acquisition, rather than widening the talent pool and creating more opportunities for employees within the organization.

Are there any practices that help you streamline talent acquisition?

It is crucial to reconsider the structure of our teams to enable end-to-end focused employee lifecycle management. With technology playing a vital role in this process, it is necessary to begin by redesigning the team itself. To expand the talent search externally, platforms like Clue can be utilized to find the best-fit candidates for the team. Additionally, tools like Data People can augment the writing process, helping us create job descriptions that are inclusive and attractive to a wide range of candidates.

For internal searches, data-driven platforms such as Decreed or Clue can be employed to match existing employees with open roles based on their skills. Furthermore, AI and ML-powered scheduling tools should take precedence over outdated processes to enhance the candidate experience.

Talent acquisition leaders must prioritize both cost and quality of talent, as these factors significantly contribute to the success of the organization. It is essential to ensure that talent remains at the forefront of our organization's strategy, enabling us to attract and retain the best individuals for sustained growth.

Is there a recent talent acquisition initiative that you been working on lately? 

Last year, I successfully implemented a project called OLX Explorer, aimed at placing greater focus on our employees and promoting internal mobility. Through a survey, we discovered that our employees lacked visibility on internal job postings and were uncertain about the application process. Moreover, a significant number of employees were hesitant to apply due to concerns related to their managers.

To address these challenges, we developed and launched an internal talent marketplace that aimed to improve access and awareness of job opportunities for our employees. Simultaneously, we actively encouraged managers to support internal mobility. As a result of these initiatives, we observed a noteworthy 58 percent increase in applications from internal candidates and a 47 percent increase in hiring from internal sources.

Building upon this success, we are now planning to take the OLX Explorer project to the next level by incorporating additional training and support mechanisms to further streamline internal mobility. This will enable our employees to develop their careers within the organization more effectively and ensure continued growth and satisfaction.

In your experience, what will be your advice to the fellow peers in the industry?

As talent leaders, I believe it is crucial to analyze market trends, challenges, and the needs of an organization, and prepare systematic data that will help us formulate the right strategies and initiatives. By bringing these insights together and connecting them with business value, we can effectively address various business problems.