The art of Selecting the right Talent – Exclusive to Jungleworks

JungleWorks, as an organization is unique and unconventional. Unlike cliché corporates where a candidate needs to wait for a year or more to get his fair share of growth, we at Jungleworks believe in continuous growth which at times may come at the cost of a work-life imbalance. Our talents work laboriously and prove their mettle within no time to get their desired growth.

We assuredly are not a place for everybody, and not everybody would be the right fit for us. To get our fit, it is imperative for us to get our hiring game right.

Let’s get a sneak peek into the ways which will help us hire the right junglees!


Interview Etiquette: Keep in mind that in every professional interaction, we are the brand ambassadors of the organization that we work for; hence we should leave no stone unturned to establish a great brand image. Being on the meeting bridge/ interview venue on the scheduled time, wearing a warm smile and giving a brief introduction of yours are the 3 most underrated gestures that an interviewer must exhibit in order to set the right tone of the interview.

Striking the Right Balance of Comfort and Stress: You can never get to know the real picture by letting the candidate feel only comfortable or just bombarding him with stress. A bipolar approach is recommended when conducting interviews. Ideally, an interview should start with making a candidate feel comfortable and then walking onto the road of conducting a stress interview if required. An amalgam of stress and comfort goes a long way in identifying the attributes of the candidate.

Asking the Right Questions: Questions are powerful. They create connection, drive destiny and inspire action. We are often coached on how to express our thought process but seldom are we asked to master the art of asking questions. When it comes to interviews, the questions we ask go a long way in giving us insight about the attributes that the candidate possesses hence mastering this art is a must for every interviewer out there. Truth be told, no matter how hard we try, we can never have an ideal list of questions because every interviewer has his/her own unique style of testing the candidate. However, good interview questions generally boil down to three forms :

⧭ Experience Based Questions: Experience doesn’t always have to be about the candidate’s previous professional commitments. We need to dig deep into the kind of life experiences one holds. Many times, we come across freshers having high levels of maturity and some extremely experienced folks not having the intricate knowledge base. So, it’s extremely important to be ready with the right set of questions which helps in figuring out the kind of experience that one has been through and what value can that experience benefit the organization.
A question like “ What is it that you used to believe but no longer believe now ?”, not only helps you understand the flexibility with respect to the thought process that one holds but also the experiences which have led to the gestation of those beliefs.


⧭ Hypothetical Questions: We all have our own unique ways of dealing with problems however it’s crucial for the interviewer to know whether those ways actually sync with the ways of the manager or the organization at large. Hypothetical questions are extremely important to ask for us to identify the problem-solving abilities of a candidate. To get this part right, you can be ready with a set of situation centric questions which can be out of your own experiences or assign a certain set of domain-specific tasks that should be completed within a time frame.


⧭ Culturally Fit Questions: These are asked to single out candidates whose values, beliefs and goals are not in sync with that of the organization. A candidate can have the best skill set, but until he is not a culture fit, we can’t expect him to turn out to be an ideal recruit. Questions like ‘What if I ask you to work after your shift timings ? or what other responsibilities would you like to take up after 6 months of your service here ? ”, can help one establish how responsible or hard-working the candidate is.

Aim to help: Always end an interview with a food for thought for the candidate. It isn’t about selecting or not selecting the candidate; it’s just about helping the person in front of you be more conscious of his strengths and weaknesses as a professional. Your valuable feedback can go a long way in helping the candidate crack his dream job or probably be learning for a lifetime. Make sure that you follow a sandwiched feedback for the same, i.e. (i) Start with what was right, (ii) mention the concern (iii) end with a positive note. This technique not only helps the candidate to ponder upon his weaknesses but also motivates him enough to work on them, which can help you if they are hired.



Mastering the art of giving feedback post an interview

“ The candidate is good.”
“ He is overqualified for the position.”
“ She is not a culture fit.”

If you are under the impression that giving such one-liner or innocuous feedback can solve the purpose or reduce the chances of confrontation, then you may be in for a surprise. Mundane and lifeless feedback doesn’t really leave anything for the talents to say and can lead to the establishment of a highly unprofessional image of the corporation which baselessly attributes evaluations on external biases.

When giving feedback, do not take the extremist approach, i.e. just mentioning the positive aspects or just mentioning the negative aspects of the candidate. It is unquestionably true that one needs to try and be bipolar in his approach (an amalgam of both positive and negative )

If you are the first interviewer, there are 99% chances that even if you have gone gaga over the candidate’s skills, there are still some apprehensions left hanging on your mind. Make sure you leave them on the platter for the second interviewer so that he can test the waters.
A typical example of it could be: “ The candidate has a lot of experience, but I am not sure if he’ll remain motivated in this job role. It’d be worth discussing his career goals in the next round of interviews.”

Nobody likes to be lectured upon; hence it’s important that the feedback that we give is crisp and concise. It should most importantly cover the varied nuances of skill set, the behavioural aspects and some insights on the culture fit. Providing feedback in pointers certainly acts as a cherry on the cake.

A typical example of it could be :

“It was a pleasure talking to the candidate; I found the replies to my questions, to be honest and driven out of the experience.”

Highlights :

XYZ possesses great communication skills and is extremely eloquent.
She holds some corporate experience and understands that the corporate culture requires flexibility both in terms of the responsibilities bestowed upon and the time that one needs to invest; hence she can fit well in the culture of Jungleworks.
She holds great problem-solving skills, the same was evident when a set of tasks was given to her during the interview, and she performed extremely well in them. Her exuberance and optimism definitely qualify for some brownie points.

Apprehensions :

She doesn’t have the experience of sales and client-facing roles, so we need to go an extra mile to train her on those grounds.
She is pursuing her MBA, hope it doesn’t act as a road blocker.

However, as a package, she seems to be a good resource, let’s get her in the game!



All in all, selecting the right candidate plays a pivotal role in the growth of the organisation as a whole. Recruiting at its heart is a combination of both experience and skill. To get the results one aims for, it is empirical for one to build a system which yields reliable results. People are not textbooks, they are complicated, and if we as employers keep this in mind, then recruiting effective experts becomes easier than what is portrayed. Our recruits are investments which can yield returns that are much higher than any other form of financial investment. So, with the right set of questions, comfortable and bias-free atmosphere, focus on growth and the right etiquette, selecting the right candidate can become a simple yet holistic process.


Happy Hiring 🙂