Rakesh Melam

Head of Talent

Hyderabad, Telangana, India12 yrs 1 mo experience

Highly StableAI Enabled

Key Highlights

Built strong talent acquisition strategies for startups
Successfully expanded teams from 30 to over 200 employees
Implemented recruitment automation to enhance efficiency

Stackforce AI infers this person is a Talent Acquisition Leader specializing in technology recruitment for startups.

Contact

Skills

Core Skills

Talent AcquisitionRecruiting TechnologyLeadership HiringTechnical Recruiting

Other Skills

AI-based platformsATS ImplementationBenefits NegotiationBusiness DevelopmentCompetitor AnalysisCost EffectivenessCost per hire measurementEmployee Referral SystemEmployee Rewards ProgramsEmployee engagementEnd-to-end recruitmentExecutive SearchHeadhuntHeadhuntingInternet Recruiting

About

“Make recruitment better for everyone involved” is the fundamental philosophy which I keep practising to evolve myself as a recruiter daily. I work towards this by advising technology companies on their approach towards finding talent. This has led to conversations with over 20K+ people over the last 13+ years who work in and around recruiting across the globe, while primary focus being in India. This gives me a great insight into the market, and to support the hiring needs of technology companies with primary focus on startups. I have a beautiful family, 2 fantastic ladies in my life(wife and a kid) who inspire me in all I do. Avid viewer of sports with a special heart towards IPL, and a huge SRH supporter. Looking for an early retirement from this profession and wanting to open my own shop in the Event Management Industry. Specialties: Recruiting Technology, Leadership Hiring, Building Startup ecosystems.

Experience

Lokal

Head of Talent Acquisition

Jul 2021 – Sep 2023 · 2 yrs 2 mos · Hyderabad, Telangana, India · On-site

Handling end - end recruitment(Tech & Non-Tech) which includes building the Talent Acquisition team from ground "Zero||0-1 hiring"
Collaborate with hiring managers & stakeholders from different functions on hiring plan, strategy & road map.
Build proactive pipeline & engage stakeholders with market insights and trends
Introduction of TA best practices - Defining TA TAT & hiring process.
Leverage the existing tools and explore new AI based platforms, bring stakeholders on board to be brand ambassadors in hiring
Promote company’s reputation as a great place to work and Keep up-to-date with new technological trends and products

End-to-end recruitmentTalent AcquisitionMarket insightsAI-based platformsStakeholder engagementRecruiting Technology

Career break

Caregiving

May 2019 – Jun 2021 · 2 yrs 1 mo

Insideview, a demandbase company

Talent Acquisition Manager

Jun 2011 – Apr 2019 · 7 yrs 10 mos · Hyderabad Area, India

Joined as a Recruiter and got an opportunity to work on multiple roles being a small organisation.
As a Talent Acquisition Leader:
Working with executive level stakeholders on Talent Acquisition strategy and improve the overall Value proposition for Talent Acquisition function in InsideView.
Measuring effectiveness through cost per hire, time to hire, source mix & QOH.
Making Recruitment Function customer centric and influencing key stakeholders.
Cost Effectiveness: Ensured cost savings to the tune of X% year on year towards recruitment expense by using appropriate sourcing channel mix while bringing down TAT for hiring across levels.
Recruitment Automation: Implemented ATS in India which was used for complete process automation including employee referral system and candidate experience.
Other responsibilities include:
HR Solutions at Scale – Annual Rewards cycle, Retention & Engagement measures, Managing low performance (PIPs), Employee Relations
HR Operations – New Hire Onboarding & Enablement, HR – MIS and business reports, Employee Morale events.
Talent Management – Quarterly Talent Discussions & Succession Planning, Hi-Potential & Key Talent Management.
Organisation Effectiveness – Employee Engagement & Manager effectiveness 180.
Building practices & policies taking business context and future scale in  consideration
100% Compliance in employee records and background verification – starting with 18%, leading to successfully obtaining the ISO 27001 certification.
Significant Achievements:
Grown the company from a team size of 30+ to 200+ employees.
Achieved what had been envisioned: Built a strong India team comprising of talent pool from Tier I
colleges and top notch product companies.
Built Data Engineering & Data Sciences team in InsideView from ground “Zero”.
Established remarkable brand value in the talent industry .
Career Guide for R&D Org – For managers & employees to have rich career conversations.

Talent Acquisition strategyCost per hire measurementRecruitment automationEmployee engagementSuccession planningTalent Acquisition+1

Alp consulting ltd.

Senior Analyst

Mar 2008 – May 2011 · 3 yrs 2 mos · Hyderabad Area, India

Joined as a Trainee and transitioned into an individual managing recruitment operations.
Connected talent to opportunities across multiple Product Companies.
Strong recruiting expertise in Niche & Leadeship hiring.
Specialised in Headhunting and effectively recruited passive talent from the market.
Mentor to New recruiters in the Organization.
Point of contact for research projects like competitor & skill domain mapping.
Worked extensively on Business Development.

Recruitment operationsHeadhuntingBusiness DevelopmentMentoring new recruitersTechnical RecruitingLeadership Hiring