Leveraging Talent and Staffing Platform Models in an AI Driven World with Vimal Joshi, SVP of Operations at QX Recruitment Services

Danny:
Today, I’m joined by Vimal Joshi, Senior Vice President of Operations at QX Recruitment Services. With over 20 years of experience, Vimal is all about solving real business problems. He’s helped global staffing firms across finance, IT, healthcare, and engineering scale their teams, boost margins, and streamline operations. At QX, he now leads global delivery teams to support recruitment agencies through offshore models, tech-enabled processes, and a focus Thank you so much for joining us. with Vimal Jochi. Vimal, thank you so much for joining us on the podcast. How are you doing today?

Vimal:
Thank you, Danny. Thanks for this wonderful opportunity. I’m doing absolutely well. How have you been?

Danny:

I’ve been great. So how did you get to where you are? And could you tell us a little bit about QX Recruitment Services and QX Global Group?

Vimal:
Absolutely, Danny. So it’s been 20 years. I’ve been working in the offshore recruitment you know, supporting the staffing firms. So it’s been a while and absolutely loving and enjoying being in the industry. If I talk about a little bit about myself, Danny, so that, you know, people know who I am. I’ve been, you know, doing this for almost 20 years, as I mentioned. And basically I’ve been involved in, you know, designing delivery centers, designing offshore solutions, leading transitions for my staffing clients. across UK, US, India, Mexico. And now I have an opportunity to really head the recruitment service business unit at QX. So, I mean, what drew me towards QX was basically the QX legacy. We were among the first of the ones who started providing a structured offshore support to staffing firms. So that’s where I ended up in QX. Basically, QX is around for over a decade. It started back in 2003. with just one client. But today we are a global company with over 3,000 professionals, you know, working across the globe. And the goal hasn’t really changed for Qvex. It’s still helping the staffing firm to stay, you know, scale their businesses and pretty much stay competitive, you know, and we’re doing that through our people process and platform strategy, which I’m going to talk about more. So yeah, that’s what we are and that’s where we come from.

Danny:

That’s amazing. One to 3,000 over a decade and 20 years of experience. When you’re talking with someone for the first time about transforming recruitment with technology, what’s the first thing you want people to know?

Vimal:

So basically, when it comes to transformation, you know, our process is very simple. What we do is, you know, we listen to our customers intently because transformation can mean something to them and we want to understand what it actually means to them. And then really work around with our customers to design solution, which is fit for purpose, which actually, you know, addresses the inefficiencies in their business and basically bring in that, you know, value which an organization is looking for. So for me, transformation is not just tech. It’s an outcome-led change. And what we have done in QX is we have created a very simple framework. We call it RACE. So what RACE stands for is the Rapid AI Strategy and Co-Pilot Strategy. It’s a framework we have created to help recruiters adopt AI practically. So just to simplify that, what we do is we define, you know, strategy based on some real problems in the business for our customers. And then we really work with them to prioritize what is more important. Is it screening of candidate more important to them or scheduling interviews? So basically, you know, work with them to identify the priority problem. And in an offshore environment, we really train our recruiters with tools like Copilot. And they can go and use that into Outlook, into Word, MST. Teams, Excel, whatnot. So how we deliver it is we coach our recruiters on an ongoing basis, Danny. And then we really monitor their performance through the KPI. So it is not just a flash in the pan, but there is a more methodical approach where people are trained on it and then monitored on an ongoing basis. So we use RACE framework to really deliver that transformation for our customer.

Danny:

And so because it’s different for everyone, if someone is trying to Reduce costs and scale. What do you suggest they think about first?

Vimal:

So, I mean, it’s like, you know, two sides of the coin, Danny. And it’s always a question which is there in potential customers’ mind. So, basically, there are a lot of hidden costs in the business. And, you know, sometimes in-house inefficiencies are not that obvious. And it can be more expensive than something like offshoring, right? So… Basically, it is really important for the staffing agencies out there to run a tight ship given the current market and macroeconomic conditions. So through offshoring, what we do is we give them an opportunity to redesign their solutions and that in a way help our customers to move their front, middle and back office function to us in an offshore environment. We use that opportunity to, you know, identify automation touchpoints and then, you reallocate the recruiters the valuable time which they can focus on high value items so in a nutshell it’s really important to right size the onshore team and then identify opportunity to offshore where they can redesign their processes and bring in tech which can you know keep them relevant so it’s an early mover benefit you know if you are delayed in adopting the strategy at the right time then you end up you know doing knee jerk reactions so I would say it’s Both are important. You right-size your organization and then leverage on offshoring where technology can be a massive input for you.

Danny:

What do people get wrong about offshore and global support teams?

Vimal:

That’s a very, very good question, Danny. Offshoring is going on for more than two, three decades, to be honest. I think the basic myth is people feel that offshoring is directly proportional to having low-skilled resources, low-quality work. I think the reality is much different to that. And over the years, a lot of client-facing and revenue-generating part of business has been outsourced by customers who look at offshoring more strategically. So in today’s environment, you’ll see offshore business units We’re doing front office work. It can be scheduling interviews. It can be managing customer database. It can be actually going out and placing candidates and generating gross margin. So, you know, offshore is more of an integrated solution and it’s not just an add-on or a remote add-on solution. So I think, you know, quality, lack of quality is what people take it wrong. You can always deliver quality to an extent. Most of our customers have actually outsourced their audit work to us where we go ahead and conduct audit internally and externally to the framework and the governing bodies on behalf of our customers. So it has gone down to that level where we deliver over 99% quality percentile in audits for our customers. So there’s really evolved over the years and just more education is important.

Danny:

What’s the typical before and after when someone starts working with QF?

Vimal:

Again, another great question. I think, you know, it’s a strategic approach. Offshoring is a strategic approach. So we don’t really, you know, claim glory like that. It’s basically when before offshoring, you can have a You know, skated systems, your compliance can be slow because, you know, the onshore recruiters will have to focus on making money. So, you know, you cannot dedicatedly, you know, keep things updated. It can be, you know, manual intervention into a lot of activities like sourcing. So basically the recruiters are firefighting to make more money and then a lot of important but not so critical activities take a backseat when you’re offshore. To someone like us, it helps you to handle your sourcing, your compliance in a more regulated environment. You can set up teams which are right governance in place, right KPIs and processes in place so they can be more efficient. And then we, of course, bring in our automation capabilities to our in-house tools like your email query management tool will help the recruiters to manage their inbox better. Something like a shift portal can automate booking shifts. So you reduce the turnaround time. And then it also gives you an opportunity during transition to rewrite your process. I mean, sometimes most of these processes are there in the recruiter’s head. You know, a lot of these staffing companies have not really written the processes. Offshoring gives you an opportunity to write it down properly. Then, you know, basically takes you away from being a reactive, you know, organization to be more proactive and working in a more modern, modernized delivery model. So that’s before and after offshoring for you.

Danny:
When people start offshoring, what should they expect in timeline and in challenges?

Vimal:

Great. So I think I’ll answer that through the best practices, Danny, and there are a whole host of best practices. I think the first step first is it is a strategic move. The organization, you know, who offshore taking it as a strategic move, you know, mostly when in in the equation. So basically, it is an extension of your onshore team. The only difference is, you know, you’ve got a team maybe 5,000 miles away. It’s exactly, you know, onboarding a team in-house. You know, you’ll have to connect with the staff. You’ll have to travel to be out there to understand the cultural nuances. Make sure that this team is integrated into the DNA of your organization. So they are basically a replica of your own team. I think it starts from there. And then, you know, Our governance and monitoring model does really help us to be on top of things. And we do that through our transition. What a transition team does is sit down with the customer, actually understand how to do things. Every organization is different. They’ve got a different way of looking at things. So we understand how things occur to them. And then write down those processes so that we don’t get it wrong. We can use that information to train people. team in case there is an attrition. So basically taking your process away from you into a different environment and then use that knowledge to train them. So it’s a very methodical approach. It goes from the initial strategic discussions to your transition to your customers traveling, integrating the team. And then going live together is so really important because when you go live, things can go wrong. So where the customers are around to support during that phase. It’s really important. And then we break it down into phases. So there are smaller, smaller milestones which team achieves. And then they get to a stage where they’re fully optimized and delivering to what you really need. So as I said, it’s as simple as hiring a recruiter in-house. If you’re hiring an apprentice in-house, you’ll train that individual, you’ll get them smaller targets, and they get to a stage where they’re delivering to the expectation. So it’s like taking baby steps. And then having clear goals in mind. Sorry for the long answer, Danny, but it’s much methodical than it sounds. But if done well, it definitely delivers results.

Danny:

I love that. Thank you for that explanation. It really opened up my mind when you said that there’s clear goals and it’s broken up into small milestones. That makes it seem really attainable. for someone to start doing this and wrap their head around how they can best do it. And where do you see recruitment going in the next 10 years?

Vimal:

I think in the next 10 years, technology is definitely reshaped the recruitment industry, the way we source screen, schedule interviews, we measure productivity, all that is going to change. Even in today’s environment, look at co-pilot, chat GDP, how automation has come in. And from a recruitment perspective, the recruiter will be using AI, agentic AI to manage volumes more effectively. So while AI is doing the mundane activities for you, the recruiter is going to buy time to focus on more, more on building relationships, high value item activities. So the firms which are going to adopt this in time is definitely going to win. They need to embrace automation, basically train the recruiters in terms of how technology is coming in. Buying a license is not a solution. Sometimes just hiring a CTO is not a solution. It’s more of a behavioral And things are evolving. In the last year or so, how much we are using chat, GPT, or Gemini, or all the IT tools, Copilot, things have completely changed how we approach our works. 10 years is a long time. I think the industry will definitely transform from what it is today for the better good, according to me.

So what shifts are you seeing in how staffing firms operate amid all of this new tech?

Yeah, so the market is absolutely evolving. Danny, as I mentioned, From the potential customers or our existing customers’ perspective, they’re definitely looking for tech-based delivery solutions. So they just cannot simply rely on human interventions. They need scalable solutions. They want the mundane activities, the repeatable tasks to be taken away by technology. So customers are asking for a wraparound solution, which is a mix of human plus tech. And that’s exactly the race framework which i talked about does help our customers it help us to map the opportunities use our user case to really create an opportunity with our customers we use this framework to train our recruiters and then really track the performance so as i said you know tech isn’t an option anymore it’s never part of how we stay relevant and the ones who and you know of course there are There are many staffing firms who are a couple of years behind, but what we can do is we can partner with them and really fast-track that journey for our potential customers.

Danny:

Why is technology more central than ever in how recruitment teams scale and operate?

Vimal:

I think tech is really important anyway because given the current macroeconomic conditions, it is really important for staffing firms to run a very lean business. Optimizing the cost is so really important, and that’s where tech should be leveraged. to either manage high volume or deliver at speed. And things like CoPilot is going to help recruiters to have a faster outreach, summarize things better, drag the pipelines much effectively. And as I said, we have created these tools in-house. Things like an email query management system, which QX has created, helps recruiters to manage their inbox automatically, so they don’t really have to spend a lot of time on the inbox. Or a comply right tool, which we have created, just does the candid tracking effectively. So tech plus people is going to be the real productivity gain.

Danny:

I have to ask, with your perspective on these Incredible tools that help recruiting and growing, scaling, and operating more efficiently. Are there things people are getting wrong with the technology as they implement it themselves?

Vimal:

Yeah, so again, the baby steps phenomena helps here. I think people feel they’re in fatigue because They’re just trying technology without a real purpose. So it’s like, you know, just following others. That’s not the way forward. Too many tools without real training and alignment just messes it up. So to fix it, I think it’s important to start small, you know, prioritize the real challenges and then enabling your recruiters and, you know, supporting them to have technology as a part of their behavior. So as I said earlier, you know, just buying licenses of these tools is not going to help. It has to be a part of their behavior. And race, which I just talked about, basically help in a very guided, practical, and measurable approach, which really help us to deliver that for our customers.

Danny:

In your blog, AI Recruiting Human, How AI is Reimagining the Recruitment Process, you mentioned AI fatigue. What causes that? And how can staffing firms avoid it?

Vimal:

Yeah, so again, you know, it’s really important to go back and Identify the real challenges in the business and then prioritizing it. That’s so crucial. And then start small. Get a test case. Get that embedded in the behavior of the organization. Because there are a lot of things which are getting automated. If we talk about CV formatting, it’s getting automated. Co-pilot can do that just in seconds. CV parsing. Interviews are being scheduled. through bots reminders to candidates keeping their profiles up to date checking the compliance all that is done by you know automation now what it does it gives the humans more time to handle their customers better spend more time with their candidates so they can coach them help them to negotiate through their final round of interviews and basically making the judgment call so the relationship can have more time because technology is looking after the things where relationship is not needed. So you have the right balance, as I said, Danny. Tech reduces workload and gives that human more time to be creative and more valuable. That’s how I see it.

Danny:

Yeah, I think similarly, too, that at Engine Hire, we always think about using AI to get you 80 or 90% of the way there so that human side can push it over the finish line. Where you’re not spending time at 80% time doing the harder stuff that AI can actually just do for you. With all of that and balancing stuff, which part of the recruitment processes are best suited for automation and where do humans still add the most value?

Vimal:

So again, you know, human will always lead the relationship bit that cannot be automated. The relationship will always be led by humans. So any area where a human interaction is needed, you know, You will have to manage your relationship with your customers, the end clients, because they’re going to give you repeat business. You can’t really automate that. You know, you have to really take your candidates through the whole process of negotiation and getting them through placements and offer states. So that cannot be completely automated. The human interventions will always stay relevant in those areas. As I said earlier, 30% of the time a recruiter is spending on the initial screening, which can now be done by a bot. And then the bot can give you a refined set of candidates who are very relevant to the requirement. That’s where a human can come in, a recruiter can come in and start building relationship and qualifying them further. So there’s a lot which the human will continue to offer. There’s a lot which they can pass it on to the tech to reduce their headache.

Danny:

Yeah, that’s amazing. I really am all about Embracing technology. I remember when ChatGPT first came out and I knew immediately I had to start using it. I didn’t even know why I was using it. I just needed to try it out and see what I could do because I knew a month later… I would be behind. And I knew a year later, I would be very far behind. And I still see that now. I know that that’s very widely used, but so many people are still behind in how to use it, that there’s the most basic things they can do. And then there’s things that are, and you mentioned a few of them, that are almost unimaginable that technology can help you do these things, that it can replace some of these heavy lifts. It’s incredible. What does a digitally mature recruitment firm look like? And how far off is that for most agencies?

Vimal:

Brilliant question again, Danny. I think a digital mature organization, according to me, would have AI-driven workflows. Automation will be a part of their daily operations, a major part of their daily operations. As I mentioned, human and recruiters will always stay relevant. And they would definitely be connected to platforms like Copilot, CRM, JTS, that’s been going on for a while. And they would be really working towards upskilling their recruiters to adopt these changes. That gives them more time to be more productive and make more placements. As you said, some of our partners or potential partners who are lagging behind, they would have to possibly come to terms from the fact that this is not something that they can go out and shop in a supermarket. Transformation and technology is more of a behavior of the organization. And we’ve been working behind the scenes for years to stand here and talk about it. And again, it has always been a very simple concept. methodology in QX, which is our people, process, and platform approach. And, you know, all this fall into that. So people, as I said, always are going to be key part of an organization. And that’s where the recruiters come into picture. I talked about that, you know, we can redesign processes, we can write it through transitions, and we have done that for almost 100 plus of our customers. And then the platform thing, which is where we’re talking, having this discussion today, which is you know, automation tools, the race framework, which I talked about. So yeah, it’s a combination of all of them. And, you know, it’s more of a behavior thing than something you can buy from the market.

Danny:

What would be the first thing that you would tell someone to start automating or using AI for in their business if they aren’t already doingit?

Danny:

Yeah, that’s amazing. I think I’ve started using it in a way where I don’t have to assume anymore that I am doing it well, even when I think I’ve done something incredible, I go, is there anything I could have done this better? How is this process? How could I have made this process better? How could I have made this email better? Yeah. So Vimal, thank you so much for joining me here, enlightening all of us on all of these things. QX Global, just thank you so much for sharing your time with us. How can people learn more about you and QX Global?

Vimal:

Thank you so much once again, Danny, for this wonderful opportunity. It just provided me an opportunity to connect with a wider audience out there. And it’s really easy to reach out to QX Global Group. You can reach out to us on www.qxglobalgroup.com. That’s our website. And the entire layout just explains how do we really approach offshoring. Our tagline is enabling transformation. So we really believe in, you know, enabling our customers’ business through transformation. But it can be through our processors. It can be through our talented people I talked about. And of course, through our platform, which we have talked about in detail.

Danny:

Wonderful. Vimal, once again, thank you so much for joining us.

Vimal:

Thank you so much, Danny. Always a pleasure