We were on the lookout of a product manager who is driven about working on a highly sought-

after product line comprising electronic devices. The candidate will join a dynamic environment
and work with cross-functional teams to design and build a system to roll-out products that
deliver the company's vision and strategy.  An ideal candidate would be an analytical team
player who shall be responsible for the entire product lifecycle from strategy to evaluation. The
candidate will also coordinate with cross-functional teams and develop strategies to enhance
existing businesses, and ideate/execute new avenues.  

Job Responsibilities:  
• Understand the complete customer journey so as to identify the gaps and plug them. 
• Ideate to further increase market share by driving growth and improving customer
experience. 
• Responsible for building an end-to-end solution and delivering world class experience for
our customers, dealers and suppliers. 
• Deeply understand our products and the value they provide to customers, as well as core
buyer personas, in order to assist in the development of product positioning. 
• Develop product pricing and positioning strategies 
• Convert the product strategy into documented requirements and generate prototypes. 
• Scope and prioritize activities based on business and customer impact 
• Collaborate with engineering teams to deliver with optimal usage  of resources and lead
to a lower time to market. 
• Work closely with third party vendors, UX and site development teams to prevent
bottlenecks and support timely delivery of roadmap 
• Execute product launches by working in tandem all the stakeholders involved. 
• Evaluate promotional strategies to ensure they are in line with brand strategy and the
product line.  
• Have knowledge of best industry practices, competition benchmarking and key trends
in the domains of site search and personalization to identify future potential opportunities and
leverage them along with pre planned features. 
• Monitor and analyze product performance to trace outliers and identify potential concerns
at a nascent stage 
• Provide subject matter expertise for search and product recommendation tools and
processes and also provide consultation for site improvement projects. 
• Recommend strategies across the business for overall growth of the product line and
company as a whole. 
• Keep abreast with latest trends and developments in the electronic products industry 
Job Specification:  
• A Bachelor’s degree in engineering or technology is required (BE/BTech); a post-
graduate degree in management is an advantage 
• Previous work experience in an E-commerce &/or start-up environment, preferably in a
product management role 
• Well versed with recent developments and trends in electronic industry. 
• Well adept at problem-solving and synthesizing data into recommendations 
• An understanding and/or hands-on experience in web technologies and software
development  
• Skilled at working in tandem with cross-functional teams in a matrix organization 
• Well versed with all MS Office tools 
• Effective written communication and inter-personal skills 
• Ability to prioritize and execute tasks as per the need of the situation 
• Passion for understanding customer behavior and enhancing user experience 
• Build and maintain relationships - employee friendly and good team player 
Identification of High Potential Employee:  

For an evolving Ecommerce industry like EasyClick, role of a product manager remains a critical
one. He/she influences every aspect of creating, implementing and running a product line. Thus,
firms have made identifying , developing and retaining high potential individuals as product
managers a top priority. 

The major characteristics on the look in identifying High Potential employees at Easyclick were: 
1) Intelligence and agility demonstrated in tasks assigned 
2) Engagement  
3) Readiness to take initiatives/ take up challenges step out of comfort zone and step out into
various environments 
4) Ability to manager one’s energy and self 

Before we get into the selection part, I would like to put forth a few assumptions and
considerations we’ve made :

• We would be Setting clear and well-defined criteria for promotions and ensure that they
clearly define what achievements, behavioral and personality traits and key performance
indicators equate to high potential. 
• Using objective and methods with high reliability to gauge performance and ensure
transparency about everybody’s output. This will help remove the politics and favoritism from
the process. 
• Provision of developmental support in cases where employees miss the targets despite
trying and constantly believe that potential can be trained and boosted. 
• High potential identification shouldn’t be completely focused on current performance.
Personality traits and behavioral skills are much better indicators of a person’s potential
especially for product managers role which involves people management.

Moving on, HIpO would eventually take up the leadership positions in the organisation, hence
we would be considering certain leadership traits to identify their leadership potential. The three
key leadership dimensions we are looking at are:

• Leadership foundations: These criteria will measure degree to which people can
manage their careers, are rewarding to deal with and are overall good organizational citizens. 
• Leadership emergence : Measures degree to which employees stand out from their
colleagues and co-workers, ability to build and maintain strategic business partnerships and
relations, ability to exert influence and motivate people and are also viewed as leaders by their
co-workers. 
• Leadership effectiveness: The extent to which employees can stand out from their peers,
build/develop and maintain a high performing team and drive teams towards overall business
goals. 
This multidimensional approach to assessment portrays a comprehensive picture for each
employee. His work ethics and habits, ideal leadership style and personality traits and provide
vital information which are far more extensive and useful than the information available in a
traditional process.

Thus for  EasyClick we have identified 3 general markers for high potential employees: 

• Ability: The potential for performing well in a product manager role requires an ability to
be able to think strategically , have an understanding of the future potential areas of improvement
and gap areas and also ability to adapt in any situation for long term future. The employee must
also be able to envisage future scopes for expansion and involve his own vision and imagination.
He needs to have an entrepreneurial mindset too in order to be able to considered for further
leadership roles. 
• Social Skills: Employees who are likely to be high potential must first be able to manage
themselves and be able to handle work pressure, innovatively and constructively deal with
adversity and act with dignity and integrity irrespective of the situation he/she is in. In addition
he must also be able to develop working cordial relations with all relevant stakeholders to ensure
a smooth ride in process of product development and maintenance. 
• Drive: The key factor that separates the high potential from the rest is the self-driven
nature. In addition they must also be able to influence other colleagues to be a part of the
process. These skills can be measured by standardized tests that measure conscientiousness,
achievement, ambition and motivation and also behaviorally through willingness to take up
additional responsibilities, tasks and duties and also display of eagerness at various tasks
assigned. Also engagement in activities other than work can also be an indicator for employee
drive. 

End-to-end High Potential Development Strategy. 

Development is a continuous process for an individual and hence the development must be a
continuous process and not an event . The key steps in planning an end-to-end high potential
development strategy are:  

I. Articulation of strategies, capabilities and competencies:  The key here in this step is to

translate organizational strategy into a list of organizational capabilities; these would be skill sets
high potential employees need to possess, allowing the organization to sustain and retain its
competitive advantage.
Some key organizational skills for our scenario include: 
1. Deep understanding of web fundamentals- hygiene factor since we’re in the e-
commerce businesss
2. Expertise in Operations and Product Management :  As high potential employees they
must be able to adapt rapidly as per changing trends and needs and must be skilled to choose
right technologies to support business and provide an enhanced user expereience to customers.
Even more important is that their work is supported by a proven track record of great results.
These results will prove their efficacy as a leader.  Also its vital for e-commerce managers and
leaders to be aware of key metrics like traffic conversion, retention rate of customers and so
on. Lastly, they must be well versed at juggling multiple and simultaneous projects and have the
skill to handle ecommerce websites
3. Follows a strategic mindset: someone that can foresee future opportunities and their
potential in the market.
4. An influence maker and collaborator: In the modern world of technology where
every task require team efforts and collaborations, it is necessary for ecommerce leaders to be
collaborators and influence makers. As the role of product manager is not only to innovate and
envisage the future but also to have a hand virtually in all departments and stages of product
development and maintenance, it has to be a vital part in key skill area required and also
need to be developed throughout. 
5. A gift for data and analytics : in today’s scenario where data rules the world having a
knack for data is a must. Specially for Ecommerce sector where there are vast  transactional
data being generated managers need to have the skill to convert those data into actionable
insights and be able to generate results.

II. Definition of organizational context: 

For the development effort to be completely effective, it must be synced and in line with the
organizations performance management system and the structure of the organization.

 at EasyClick we aim to offer an organization wide scenario suitable for development by : 

i)Having a blend of monetary and behavioral measures included in PMS system. 
ii) Creating a structure and culture that promotes learning and emphasizes on peer-to-
peer learning. 
iii) Inculcate values and leadership traits in employees right from executive stage in the ladder. 

III. Factoring in Individual Requirements and experiences:  

In designing development plans for individuals it is necessary to  bear in mind that every
individual in the organization goes through a unique cycle and has a different set of
developmental requirements. The level of skills will also vary for employees and thus for overall
planning of development programme it becomes essential  that  development plans help them
achieve their individual goals as well. 

Based on various individual requirements each employee can have an organizational

development plan  activity list. These activities can be identified by employee or managers by
following below steps: 
• Identify 10  common activities and tasks that an employee or you perform  
• Identify key knowledge, abilities and skills required for each task  
• Identify and create a priority list for knowledge abilities and skills that require to be
strengthened  
• Identify short term and long-term development activities that will help acquire the needed
skills, abilities and knowledge. 
• Map activities required for various skills and create a development plan for the
individual 
Choosing Development Methods: 

At EasyClick we believed one development method cannot deliver the required overall

individual development for high potential employees and thus we believe in subjecting
employees to multiple development methods as per need and requirement.  
Some development methods used at EasyClick are

1. Feedback- Over the years we have seen that feedback helps employees create a
distinctive experience by developing feedback mechanisms and making it as a shared
responsibility to be good at both receiving and giving feedbacks. Also an assessment of
ecommerce sector and worldwide best practices has made it clear that organizations with better
employee experience have more engaged workers, a strong company culture and a decrease in
turnover of employees . _Formal and Informal feedback
2. Training programs- where we pay special attention to skill and personality development
training for high potential employees.
3. Development through Job Assignments 
Job Assignments can prove to be developmental if they put individuals in situation that
employees are not equipped to handle. These can be either full time, part time or project based.
The advantages of such developmental projects at EasyClick are that they give employees much
needed avenues to think out of the box, try new and unconventional strategies and most
importantly interact with diverse set of people. Some techniques used are: 
a)Supervisory Assignment  
These assignments require supervision of tasks done by their colleagues.
b) Cross divisional projects and assignments: This requires managers to work effectively in
projects involving multiple teams. Product manager job requires frequent interactions with other
teams and hence this part plays a vital part in development of high potential employees. Such
assignments will help employees get an overall holistic view of task at hand and also gain
knowledge of activities that various teams carry out. As a product manager an employee is
supposed to work in tandem with various teams and departments hence these assignments play a
vital role in developing candidates for the role. 

c) Organizational  change assignments: It usually involves tackling business cases or

challenges that are transformational and have strategy thinking involved, this could be tasks or
assignments like setting up a product line inside electronics category etc

These job assignments are aimed at overall development and learnings can be broadly split into 4
categories namely:  
• Self-awareness 
• Leadership values 
• Handling relations 
• Setting and implementing agendad)

iv. Developmental relationships 

Building a formal or informal relationship with senior management or managers  in organization
can be of great help to develop high potential candidates. 
So some of the ways through which Easyclick uses relationship building is in the form of :
a) Formal Mentoring : Easyclick has a formal structured process to establish developmental
relationship for its employees. These can be classified as :  
• One to one Mentoring :  In this a senior management personnel is assigned as a mentor
to a junior employee. He acts as a pillar of support for various work related and non-work-
related issues the employee faces. Together they can set goals for the future, decipher the
performances in past , exchange constructive feedbacks and exchange experience. . 
• Peer coaching :  This is effective for cross departmental or cross divisional exposure.
This can help employees vicariously experience and gain valuable insights and point of view
which might be difficult to gather in day to day working for high potential candidate. 
• Shadowing :  In this the candidate observes rather than participate in working of certain
manager or senior management personnel, this gives the employee an insight into how strategic
decisions are made. 
• b)Informal relations : Informal relations can also act as vital in development of
candidate and hence many organizations encourage informal relationship

RETENTION STRATEGY
While developing a retention strategy for high potential employees, we first analyzed the most
common causes of voluntary resignation of employees, as this would enable us to create a
strategy that addresses the root issues.  To understand retention in the e-commerce industry
better, we analyzed the plausible causes of retention of high potential employees, of the top E-
commerce websites. Based on our research, we narrowed down four common issues that lead to
top talent resigning from the organization. 

1. Lack of Growth opportunities in the organization- One of the most common reasons

why top-talent quits, is because they believe their career development isn't going as expected or
that the company they're actually working with, doesn't provide a growth direction. This just isn't
restricted to job titles, HiPos are guided by a desire to advance professionally and socially within
an organization. fast paced
 
2. Negative relation with their boss/ supervisor- Employees do not wish to work under a
person who jeopardizes their career prospects in the organization. According to a study,
managers are responsible for 70% of employee motivation, but in a study of attrition, 39% of
staff said their managers refused to uphold promises, and 37% said their employers didn't give
them credit for their hard work. 
 
3. Lack of recognition- High potential employees feel unmotivated and disengaged if their
extraordinary efforts aren’t recognized. They also value and respect feedback as they want to
hear what they can do differently or better. 
 
4. Lack of Perks and Benefits – Employees below the age of 30 place a lot of weight on
the perks while those with families are keen on the benefits offered by company. According to a
Glassdoor survey, office perks are considered one of the most important workplace benefits by
one-fifth of the employees in ecommerce.
What above issues highlights the fact that, an employee needs to be valued. If an employee,
especially a high potential employee does not feel valued he will quit and jump ship as there are
many other ecommerce companies who will provide what he wants. 
 
Based on the above issues, our retention strategy will be as follows: 
1. Continuous Development of top-talent- It is always more cost effective to promote
internally, and with a continuous development strategy for high potential employees, there is no
need to look outside for mid-level and upper management roles. To enhance the existing skill-set
of high potential employees, we would conduct training sessions organized by the
most prestigious institutions in the country, such as IIM Ahmedabad, ISB Hyderabad. The
training would focus around enabling a deeper understanding of the business, enhance
their leadership skills and helping them create professional network. We would encourage
employees to take up additional training courses of their choice. In addition to reimbursing their
tuition fees, we would also grant them to leave to successfully complete the course. We believe
this would reinstate the fact that our company is committed to the growth and advancement of
our high potential employees. This will enable him to feel better prepared for the role of a
product manager and reduce his motivation to leave the organization if he feels he is growing in
the company. 
2.  Competitive Salary – According to another Glassdoor survey, 45 percent of the
employees, who quit cite salary as the top reason. We will be providing salary to the high
potential employee that is certainly match the industry standard for the role of product manager. 
3. Benefits – While salary is an important parameter for any employee retention strategy,
compensation benefits involve others tangible and intangible additions as well. Only 26 percent
of the Generation X employees claim financial stability as the primary reason for staying with a
company, and 46 percent consider healthcare and insurance and an important factor in their
employment. So, taking this into consideration, we will be providing all employees, not just the
high potential ones with healthcare, insurance, paid leave and other office perks such as free
snacks and beverages, gym and catered lunch, etc. These will be either matching or exceeding
the benefits provided by the other companies in the industry. Further out of box benefits that are
not very prevalent in the industry will be provided such sabbaticals, incentive stock options, life
insurance, retirement saving plans and other financial incentives. All of these, benefits raise of
costs higher, but we expect to save those during hiring due to lower employee attrition. 
 
4. Reward System - At our organization we realize that sometimes just saying thank you or
providing a pat on the back isn’t a sufficient appreciation for the job well done. A high potential
employee who has delivered exceedingly well in his role will be given further cash benefits,
corporate gifts and performance awards. In addition, he will be also getting recognition and
appreciation in form of hand-written thank you notes and social appreciation programmes. 
5. Culture of internal hiring - We are going to promote a culture of internal hiring where
for every open role, a high performing or high potential employees would be given first
preference for promotion. This will increase employee satisfaction and also provide a high
potential employee with a belief and confidence that he can further his career at our
organization. 
6. Balancing their workload - Work life balance is of key importance to many employees.
Especially in the post pandemic world where people have been working from home for
almost a year, it is important to define work boundaries and provide proper work life
balance. So, we at Easyclick place will provide an option of flexible workhours and also option
of working from home once a week. 
7. Annual Performance Reviews – During the annual performance reviews we will discuss
the short term and long-term goals with the employees, high potential one included where their
future career trajectory can be mapped. It is important to not make any promises we cannot
keep here. A high potential employee will be shown his possible path he would take, not just
becoming a product manager but also his possible future promotions. 
8. Bosses – It is often said, employees leave bosses not companies. So, having people in
place who are true leaders and not just bosses at senior management positions is important. They
should be able to give time their subordinates. So, we will work on making this a reality. High
potential employees shouldn’t have to get disillusioned about their career growth due to a boss
with his own agenda. This will help in retaining high potential employee, especially one that is
going to promoted to the role of a product manager. 
 
Incorporating this retention strategy will help the Easyclick have an advantage over the
competitors. We will not only be able to retain our high potential employees but also will be able
to woo them from rivals. While some of the measures will lead to increased compensation costs
for the company, there employees can more than make up for it with their productivity and
ability. 
Making the employees feel valued is at the heart of our retention strategy and many small and
simple gestures of appreciation and recognition can go a long with employee satisfaction and
engagement with the company. This is reflected in our strategy.