Aadil Bandukwala, Founder, Talent Onions

The magic is in the method for recruiters. A great strategy ensures that the candidate they find is not just the right one but the best one for the job. Very few can claim that their methods are proven and among the best. Aadil Bandukwala is one entrepreneur whose methods have struck gold in the recruitment sweepstakes.

He spoke of his company Talent Onions and their strategy that has taken them to the top of their game saying “I head a recruitment agency / manpower consulting venture called Talent Onions. Talent Onions aims to be India’s leading provider of Internet recruitment and job search solutions.”

“Most recruitment consultants use just naukri.com and monster.com to find candidates. What they fail to realize is that in most cases, the right talent isn’t available on such portals. These days, candidates do not want to be listed on Naukri.com and Monster.com since their identity is stake. Their HR departments can locate that they are looking for a change and accordingly question their credentials. Talent Onions uses a great sourcing strategy that helps clients find unique candidates. Our proven ability to attract and supply high caliber, professional candidates is a result of our sourcing methods, which in line with equal opportunities and diversity policies, include a range of traditional and new media solutions. With technology now forming and leading the recruitment process, Talent Onions ensures that we maximize its potential to the full using a variety of methods.”

• Database: Talent Onions has a highly developed, in-house database. With state-of-the-art search capabilities, it enables us to immediately deliver to our clients a shortlist of active, screened candidates. :
• Talent Onions Website: Our interactive website, which is visited by a plethora of jobseekers on a monthly basis and is directly linked to our candidate database, provides instant access to our vacancies and client recruitment campaigns. The website is used to actively encourage returning candidates.
• Industry and Niche Job Boards: As a significant customer of both generic and local job boards, Talent Onions unmistakable presence on the internet is promoted through volume job postings, banners, profiles and e-news sponsorships.
• Online Campaigns : Targeted online Talent Onions HTML campaigns to potential jobseekers have proven effective in building awareness of specific client recruitment drives.
• Innovative Referral Schemes : Most candidates would recommend Talent Onions based on their positive experience with us. We reinforce these quality candidate referrals with what is strongly considered the industry’s best
• Recommend a Friend campaigns and Strategic Affiliate Partnerships : Synergy at its best. By partnering with companies that share similar values and customer bases as Talent Onions, we take advantage of an exclusive source of candidates. Our alliances include reputed colleges across the country and international recruitment consultancies.
• Social Networking Sites : We take maximum advantage of sources like Orkut, Facebook, LinkedIn and Xing to source niche profiles.

Their means are many and the ends the same. With their multi tiered approach to recruitment spearheading their ascent, they have foreseen their future and started preparing for it. Aadil says “Our growth strategy is two fold. 1. Build a strong franchise network across the country so as to utilize our channel partner’s corporate contacts and then leverage them. 2. Get into Recruitment Process Outsourcing and grow the organization not only horizontally but also laterally.”

Aadil is a proponent of entrepreneurship and declares his adoration for the lifestyle and its followers he says “I love being an entrepreneur. The idea of doing whatever my heart feels like is exhilarating. Ever since I was a kid, I’ve always followed my heart and not my brain. At the end of it all, you need to be a happy man. Happiness is a heart thing not a brain thing. People like Mahesh Murthy inspire me. He is a 12th Grade Drop Out and today runs more than 10 successful companies three of which are listed on the BSE. One of his flagship companies “Pinstorm” happens to be Asia’s second largest search marketing companies. Passionate people like Mahesh inspire me to go out there and deploy services that can change the world.”

The task that consumes their attention the most is the one that makes all others possible. Aadil says “The biggest challenge is hiring people who are driven to treat our business as if it were their own. We are at our best when every employee takes ownership and pride in their job. When this happens, our clients receive memorable experiences with us. When an employee is unmotivated, we must identify, manage and motivate before our client experiences are affected. This I believe is an everyday challenge. One can't just overcome it. Need to strive every single day to make sure that the balls rolling in the right direction.”

Aadil is a very focused person and believes in action. He learnt his lessons from standing on the sidelines when he realized that it was not where he wanted to be. He says “I wasted too much time "thinking" whether the recruitment consulting model will work or not. Having no knowledge what so ever in the recruiting domain will I be able to succeed? Bottom line is we all need to believe in the law of attraction. If we want to, we can. Like President Obama said, yes, we can!”

Since his epiphany he used positive thought and action to carve out his space in the market. Talent Onions have bagged clients like 1. Ambuja Cements [The Leaders in the Cement Sector], 2. Renuka Sugars [The Leaders in the Sugar Sector] 3. Siemens [Leaders in the Engineering Domain].

Aside from having an impressive client list Aadil also has been presented with the “Bharti Student of the Year” Award and a cash prize of Rs.50,000 sponsored by Bharti Foundation at Entrepreneurship Development Institute of India, Ahmedabad in October 2005. He was also a nominee for the ˜Indradhanushya Sanman 2006 for attaining excellence and having got glory to the city of Belgaum. Rediff.com in April 2009 ran a story on him spreading his fame to the internet 

Aadil’s reason for preferring the life of an entrepreneur to all else is simply because anything else would be too empty. He says “My timings are flexible. I work when I want to. I party when I want to. I run my own life and not some age old dude to whom one refers to as a boss. To me freedom is of paramount importance and the most fascinating part of entrepreneurship obviously is freedom. The other thing that excites me about entrepreneurship is if I succeed with my venture its because I worked it out. If I fail, its because I screwed up. In entrepreneurship, there’s no blame game. You’re responsible and accountable for each and every step you take. There’s an element of thrill involved which is kinda cool.”

Aadil shared his thoughts on what makes one successful. He states his beliefs saying

“ Under-promise and Over-deliver… Strive every day to bring a smile to your clients face… Don’t judge a book by its cover “ whether a Harvard MBA or a bum hits you up, take the time to listen and respond to everyone. Don’t judge anyone too quickly because you don’t know who is going to be the next Bill Gates. (Geoff Entress“ made millions by investing in companies that either went public or were bought out)”

Aadil has the air and the persona of an entrepreneur who has seen the future and knows it is good. Yourstory wishes him luck with all his ventures, and exhorts him to continue living the entrepreneurial life.