Mahindra Rise Challenge: There Is Always A Scope For Improving Your Hiring Strategy!

4 mins read

Mahindra started as a steel trading venture in 1945. Founded by 2 brothers, JC and KC Mahindra along with Ghulam Mohammed. Over the past seven decades, they have grown into a global brand spanning nations and industries. With 150+ companies in 100+ companies, Mahindra is present across multiple industries. 

To grow such a massive business they have mastered the branding fundamentals, for sure. They have very skillfully conquered the sea of success with just 3Cs: Customer, Company, and Competitors. 

However, if you go to the bottom of this framework, you'll notice one thing in common that lays the groundwork for all three Cs - Employer Branding. Mahindra has laid conscious efforts to cultivate a strong employer brand in order to attract and retain top talent through Campus Engagement activities.

The rise and rise of Mahindra Rise Challenge

Over the past 3 years, the team has been engaging with campuses through its annual marquee campus engagement, Mahindra Rise Challenge. Since its inception, MRC has been a campus favorite. The students loved the energy and the rigor of the challenge and were excited for the internship that would follow. 

Interacting with B-Schoolers one can easily surmise that Mahindra Rise Challenge is a wholesome B-School competition that is not only structured well but also executed well. However, this is just half the story. A challenge of this magnitude, which is executed to this degree of perfection required the intimate involvement of the Mahindra team. 

Up until the second season the team had been carefully scrutinizing each participant over multiple submission rounds. In the true spirit of the competition, the team ensured that due diligence was done on every submission. This is one of the reasons for the success of the challenge on campus. While this is a reason for the challenge’s success, it also started to become the last straw that could eventually break the camel’s back. 

The Mahindra team had to dedicate internal resources and manhours that were needed to manually assess each participant. This spread the team too thin and they soon realized that this format of the challenge wasn’t sustainable or scalable. This is when the Mahindra Team reached out to Unstop, formerly Dare2Compete. 

The ask from Unstop  

The team having experience in running the challenge in-house had learned things the hard way. Their asks were clear in their minds and were a cakewalk for the Unstop team to deliver on! 

• Reduce the resources and manhours needed to assess the challenge 
• Increase the visibility of the challenge on campus 
• Make the experience better for the participants

The team at Unstop went back to the drawing board and added a secret ingredient to their campus engagement activity - 'objective assessments.'

The transition from subjective case study assessments to objective assessments introduced them to the world of business simulation games, quizzes, and other mini-games.

This step assisted them in providing an interactive learning experience by requiring participants to apply their classroom notes in a safe and secure environment. It enabled them to evaluate all candidates in just 24 hours, as opposed to days previously.

The better the strategy, the better the results

With a minor change in their hiring process, Mahindra rose to the occasion and saw incredible results:

• Instead of manually juggling several assessments simultaneously, they were able to better plan and manage their resources.
• Objective assessments like quizzes and business simulation games gave them a better overview of the talent pool.
• The team was able to wrap up the campaign with fewer resources and in less time.
• They engaged with the right candidates in a more interactive manner.
• The mini-assessments helped them assess students fairly and accurately.
• Above all, they once again did an excellent job of building a strong employer brand.

This sought-after change has breathed new life into Mahindra's hiring process. It can be inferred that by focusing skills employers can increase the quality of their talent pool, especially for hard-to-fill roles.

The partnership between Mahindra and Unstop (formelry Dare2Compete) has come a long way. After all, alone we can do so little; together we can do so much!

If you are looking for a tailored solution to your hiring needs and want to make a place in a market full of noise, contact us at Sales@unstop.com.