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'Our Screening Processes help our clients provide a safer workplace for their employees.'
Call Connect - December, 2004
Yogesh Bhura, MD - South Asia. One of Asia's leading background screening specialist in an exclusive interview with Mr Nikhil Prabhakar Rao, Vice President, Call Connect.
How young is Quest as an organization?
Quest Research Ltd has been in existence for 4 years.
What exactly does Quest do as an organization and specifically in the BPO space?
Quest is Asia's leading Background Screening specialists. We specialize in conducting credential verification across the Asia-Pacific region, which is used as a tool to check a candidate's integrity levels by the corporate sector.
We can proudly say that we have over 85% of all the leading organizations in the BPO space as our clients.
Where all is Quest located? Both In India and Globally?
The Quest Group is headquartered in Hong Kong and has offices at Beijing, Perth and Singapore. In India we are located in Mumbai, Bangalore, New Delhi and Chennai.
What is the current strength of Quest? Both In India and Globally?
We are a 400+ people strong growing organization.
What are the current organizations Quest is working for?
Quest's initial clients were mainly Fortune 100 companies operating in Asia, including India. However, of late, we have been successful in adding local professionally managed Asian companies as our clients, which is a significant achievement considering that the screening industry is still in the nascent stage of its growth.
What are the working hours of the same?
Most of our people in India work during normal business hours.
What are the requirements of an individual to join the various management levels at Quest?
The most important and basic requirements across levels are that an individual must be research driven, of high integrity and have a positive attitude.
Then based on level and functional responsibilities, the skill set at the junior to middle level would mainly be good communication and presentation skills and the ability to adapt effectively.
At the senior level, it would include relevant experience, communication and presentation skills, a process driven approach, process innovation and leadership.
What are your views of the BPO industry growing in India and why?
BPO is a compelling business model for all business leaders. It makes sense to outsource non-core business processes like Pay-Roll, Accounting, Customer Support, Technology etc to specialized players in the BPO space who can provide cost-effective services. It is a win-win situation for both parties. To give you an example, at Quest which is a relatively small and young organization, we feel compelled to outsource a few of our non-core processes. Out there, there are thousand and thousands of companies of all sizes, who would find compelling reasons to outsource non-core processes.
It is still early days for us and we are yet to penetrate the breadth and the depth of the US market. I don't see any reason why BPO as a segment would not catch up with European and Asian (including Indian) business leaders as it is such a gripping model.
Could you brief us on how Quest is benefiting the people of India and the nation as a whole?
Screening helps companies eliminate people with a fraudulent background right at the first point of contact with them - i.e. at the recruiting stage. It thus helps our clients provide a safer workplace for their employees. From a business perspective, it also helps companies instituting such a practice get a higher return on human capital. As this practice extends to more and more companies in the private and government sector, it would help in building a safer society around us.
What is the awareness of this industry in the country apart from the metros?
Given the fact that employee screening was a new concept till some time back and is relatively new still, the awareness level for this function was low. Today with HR departments recognizing the value employee screening adds to their recruitment process and with it meeting compliance requirements, the awareness and acceptance level is progressively improving in all the cities in India. Many HR departments today employ screening as part of best practice.
Does Quest recruit people from other cities and help them relocate in this city and how?
Yes, as a policy, we recruit people independent of their origin and help find them an affordable place which is also close to office, in order for them to avoid traveling long distances in the city.
What makes Quest the best place to work?
Quest provides an intellectually stimulating environment to its people and most importantly, you work for some of the best managed companies in the world - so you are constantly learning.
What do you think about this magazine and what all would you want to read about in such a magazine?
Call Connect is a niche player in the BPO segment. It's definitely in the process of evolving as I've seen the magazine become better with every issue, both in terms of content and layout
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