Cost Holiday

When we do any shopping what is it that we all are looking for?

As a buyer, we look for good quality at negotiable prices.

As a salesperson - he/she will look to maximize the profit margin.

In both situations, in one word both are looking for ‘better value for their money spent.’

And as a buyer, we are more attracted to FREE! FREE! Or any offers like buy 1 get 1 free… Etc etc.

Trying to capitalize on this strategy when trying to place our Campus hires on projects. Give free samples to attract and then budge them to BUY! A cost Holiday is a kind of discount given for 6 weeks of Free Service and a Fee from the 7th week.

  As we all know our Campus Hires come with very minimal or zero work experience. They would have got some 2 to 4 months ‘Internship’ experience. But they come with big aspirations - as an Ops I want to tap that and generate Revenue for the Org/Company. There is a lot of give and take to make this happen. These Campus hires want to work in cutting-edge technology. But the project will be on a different skill set. We need to convince our Campus recruits to learn and deliver on the Job.

We need to target the Sellers/Pursuit Team and make them aware of and know about this. So, when they work on large deals or long-tenured Projects, they will bake in our Campus hires in their Deal Estimate Models.

As soon as they are onboard, give 2 months of ramp-up time to learn the culture/systems/ tools of the company and then introduce to the client for free service for 6 weeks and then make them billable from the 7th week.

 I spilt this project into 3 tasks.

1. Scoping the deal Estimate with Aspires by giving Discounts.
2. Learn on the Job
3. Attach Price Tag

In the first step - when working on the Deal Estimate, identify the roles where we can place our Campus Recruits, let the client know of the ‘OFFER’, and sell it. Have any tools updated to accommodate this role.

2nd Step – ‘Learn on the Job’. The campus hires are placed in a team of size 6 or more. Also, they do get buddy mentors in the project.

 Last is attach the price tag.

 Let us dive deep into each of the TASK.

 

1. Scoping the deal Estimate with Aspires by giving Discounts.

 i) During the Deal discussion, make the Campus Hires or Aspire known to the Client with the Offer that we provide.

ii) As it is a free service for 6 weeks, check any compliance or local labor laws.

iii) Can have a client interaction clinic for them.

iv) Have a Repository of all the Campus hire Profiles.

v) When signed off successfully - PJM can work with the Resource manager and assign them to the projects.

  

2. Learn on the Job

 i) Our Campus hires are like sponges, they are hired after multiple iterations of evaluation. They can learn and deliver any skillsets. Just check only 2 aspects Large Team and Long Term. 

ii)  2 main considerations when assigning to Projects.

1.     Long Term - 4 months +. As we have 6 weeks free and then only, they try to contribute towards the project. If it is short-term, they will be released by the time they start making an impact. Also, then only we will be able to break even the profit margin too!

2.     Team Size 6+ - With this model his /her interaction with the client will be reduced and can learn from all other Team members, including the buddy mentor.

iii) We need to assign 2 mentors for them, 1 in the Project Buddy mentor and 2 outside of the projects. This will help to brainstorm and learn more.

iv) Pre-COVID the Campus Hire learned by shadowing a buddy mentor over the shoulder at the same client site. With most of the work done virtually, it is difficult, but we need to make it happen.

 

3. Attach Price Tag

i) When the campus hire starts delivering value - make him/ her billable.

ii) Track the 6-week free service with any existing/new tool.

iii) In case the client is NOT willing to pay – immediately deallocate from the current project.

This is one of the successful initiatives in most consulting firms. If you have any questions on this initiative, pls reach out to me!