Tata Imagination Challenge Case Study | Giving talent the right platform to shine with custom online assessments

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About TATA

In 1868, Jamsetji Tata took the first step towards a major revolution in the Indian industrial sector. What began as a small trading firm started by 29-year-old Jamsetji Tata has today turned into a global enterprise with 30 operating companies in ten business verticals. Presently, the Tata group of companies collectively employs over 800,000 people.

In terms of revenue, the Tata companies together generated USD 165 billion in FY 2023-24. Headquartered in Mumbai, the Group operates across six continents. Its mission remains clear:  'To improve the quality of life of the communities through long-term stakeholder value creation based on Leadership with Trust.'

The TBLA story

The Tata Business Leadership Award, conducted every year since 2002, was a case competition that invited students from 9 campuses across the country as well as Tata group employees to find solutions to real-time critical business problems relevant to the Tata group. 

Devised to give students an insight into some of the latest industry trends, concepts, and company challenges, it provided participants access to the top leadership of the Group. And this was not it. The winners got an opportunity to pave their path into the conglomerate with TATA Administrative Services (TAS), Tata Group’s flagship leadership program. 

The Challenge

With changing scenarios, the Tata leadership realized that the hiring needs of the company can't be fulfilled by recruiting candidates from only 9 colleges. The format of  TBLA needed to be changed as many candidates who had the potential and caliber to do wonders were eliminated in the eligibility criteria itself. There was a need for a bigger engagement plan that could help the Group reach out to talented students from across the country beyond the boundaries of streams, courses, and colleges. 

Tata Group wanted to give the budding minds of the country a chance to show their business acumen and help them transform into leaders of Tata in the near future. They also wanted to identify the best talent across the country and recruit them for their renowned TAS program.

However, identifying talent from a wider pool of candidates had its own challenges. Assessing each and every candidate on the basis of their skill sets would get a lot more complicated.

Unstop’s 3-pronged approach

Keeping the above challenges in view, Unstop (formerly Dare2Compete) came to the rescue with its three-pronged approach. The Unstop team focussed on 3 major aspects to crack the brief and strategize a hiring challenge. The 3-pronged approach was:

1. Branding: The first step was to change the name to one that would connect with a wider set of audiences. So, the name TBLA -Tata Business Leader Award metamorphosed into TIC - Tata Imagination Challenge. This made it more acceptable to students across all streams. 

2. Revamping the structure: Initially, TBLA was conducted in two rounds - the campus round and the national finale, where participants were handed over a case to solve. But to bring students closer to the organization and its values, they had to be made aware of the brand. This is when Unstop (formerly Dare2Compete) suggested adding more contextualized and personalized online assessment rounds to the challenge. The hiring challenge now involved the following rounds - 

• Online Treasure Hunt: This round was organized with the sole aim of engaging with every student who registered for the hiring challenge and testing them on Tata Group trivia. As expected, students turned up in large numbers, and Tata received the desired visibility in the student community. 
  
• Brand Stories & Gamified Analytithon: In the second round of the competition, students were given Tata Group brand stories and analytics-based online assessments. Specially curated by the team at Unstop for the Tata Imagination Challenge, the assessment revolved around Tata brands to test the in-depth knowledge of the participants as well as give them practical exposure to the kind of work the managers at Tata are engaged with on a daily basis. The online assessment questions also helped in pushing the story about Tata's brand legacy.
• Case Landing and submissions: Shortlisted participants were required to choose among the available cases on different Tata Group Companies and submit a 5-slid presentation along with a two and a half minutes video that talked about the solution. 
• Big Idea Presentation: Independent of the Case Submission round, the participants had to present their solutions to the jury comprising Tata Group leaders. Tata Group CEOs made the final call during this last stage of the challenge. 

3. Promotion: To engage with a larger audience during the length and breadth of the hiring challenge, Team Unstop left no stone unturned to promote the hiring challenge with the use of various marketing channels. In addition to branding and conceptualization the competition, the team also handled the Competition Landing Page, Online Registrations and Online assessments, Marketing, Content Creation, Communication Plan, Help Desk, Social Media, and the execution of the Virtual Grand Finale, among other activities.

The Grand Outcome: TIC 2022

As the competition came to a close, it crossed many milestones. With as many as 61,58,858 views on the platform, the registration count for Tata Imagination Challenge 2022 touched 2,29,082. 

• Their branding and recruitment process witnessed democratization. The brand was able to reach out to everyone, giving equal opportunity to be recruited by their flagship leadership program - TAS. 
• The engagement helped them increase their brand awareness and cast a wider net. 
• TIC 2022 offered around 50 PPIs to students. More than 30% of offers were rolled out to students from the colleges that were earlier not visited.
• The season closed with 13 winners belonging to varied streams and representing different colleges and regions. 

TBLA witnessed a makeover into the Tata Imagination Challenge, changed its demeanor, and increased the aspiration quotient of the conglomerate - the Tata Group. But this was just the start of the journey.

The Growth of TIC

In subsequent years, the scope of Tata Imagination Challenge grew wider. With Unstop as their partner, Tata was able to tap into new segments, cementing Tata's position as India’s biggest idea competition. 

In 2023, 2,63,683 participants registered for the challenge. The registrations soared even higher in the latest season. 3,12,540 participants registered for Tata Imagination Challenge 2024. Across seasons, 1 in every third participant was a woman. 

The success of the Tata Imagination Challenge makes it clear that democratizing opportunities can open the doors to a wider talent pool for organizations. And allow deserving talent to find the right opportunity. 

If you're also seeking a fair and democratic approach to finding top talent, please contact sales@unstop.com.