Hired over social media

Kaushik Ray, Senior Director, HRD, Dr Reddy’s Labs

Ray, an alumnus of Jamshedpur’s XLRI, got an invite to join the LinkedIn network of fellow XLRI alum Prabir Jha who happened to be the Senior VP and Global Chief of HR, Dr Reddy’s Labs. The two started exchanging messages over the site and five months after the two connected over LinkedIn, Ray found himself working with Jha. “My link with Dr Reddy’s started with LinkedIn,” says Ray. “On the verge of completing one year in the company, I look back at how it all happened, and all I can say is that it is pure serendipity.” Today, he spends at least an hour on the weekends on LinkedIn and is in the process of joining Facebook. He feels that apart from networking and building contacts, it is a good medium that allows professionals to share knowledge.

“We have got some profiles from LinkedIn and maybe we will formalise this as a channel (for hiring) now,” says Ray.