Global INK by Susheel Pandey

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Your Time Matters

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The Boomerang Effect: A Kenexanâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Musings on Appreciation

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Giving Back To The Community Connect 08: Connecting People, Knowledge and Ideas

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Also Included: CEO Corner Location News Employee Focus and Much More...

Alignment Feedback Talent Tracking

The New iKCT 4.8 and You Pg 04 ALIGNMENT. FEEDBACK. TALENT TRACKING.

We use Eco-friendly Soy-Based Ink and Recycled Paper.

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CEO CORNER

From The Editor Kenexa recently played host to clients and thought leaders at this year’s World Conference. The theme of the conference was Connect, which explored connections between global trends and relevant topics in the HCM space. There was also an Interconnect Series examining current issues and their relation to HR, including corporate social responsibility, global warming, Generation Y, nanotechnology and social networking. The turnout was very good, with many customers and Kenexans from across the globe attending, and thought-inspiring talks enjoyed by all. We bring you the highlights elsewhere in this issue of INK. Something new in Q3 is iKCT—this issue brings you information about the enhancements that the latest version, iKCT 4.8, brings to us all in terms of helping achieve accountability and alignment to Kenexa’s Values, Extreme Service Hierarchy, Top 1-5 Goals & Objectives and Leadership Expectations, and employee growth and development. Kenexa’s Green Campaign is going great guns, with the BPW Committees at all locations making an effort to propagate our environment-friendly efforts. One such event was held at Vizag, where Kenexans got together and cleaned up the beach near our office—the local people greatly appreciated this effort, which even got written up in the local newspapers. Another green effort was the gifting of MP3 players to all KWC attendees on which they could download the speakers’ presentations to avoid unnecessary printing. We are happy to inform you that Kenexa has recently received two awards: one of Human Resource Executive® magazine’s 2008 Top HR Product of the Year Awards for its industry-leading product, SimSJT™: Customer Service, and the Nebraska HR Employer of the Year Award from the Society of Human Resource Management’s Nebraska State Council.

with Rudy Karsan

MEASURING GROWTH AT KENEXA: MULTIPLES, NOT PERCENTAGES

When I walked into our Zurich office some time ago, a welcome sight met my eyes—one of the first things that I saw was a copy of Kenexa Global INK on someone’s desk. This is not very large office, it’s one that we inherited through the Quorum International acquisition, and we have about seven to eight people working here. I commented, “Oh, it’s good to see that INK is here,” and the immediate response I got was “Hope you don’t expect us to have memorized all the ten points that make up the 10exa.” Needless to say, this made me feel real good. I feel that INK has really and truly captured Kenexans worldwide. It has become the medium through which we connect with one another— from baby pictures to news from our different locations, to news about what’s happening in Kenexa, it’s all there. I hope you all get as much enjoyment out of INK as I do.

We hope you enjoy reading this issue of Kenexa Global INK.

Shubha Rao Benipuri Creative Direction: Andrea Watkins

…it thrills me to hear from all corners of the world that

Managing Designer: Susheel Kumar Pandey Please send your suggestions & questions to: shubha.rao@kenexa.com Page 2

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… it is the commitment that Kenexans have toward clients and each other that enables us to continue growing. It is a crucial attribute of our organization, and I hope that we will al never llose ob it. 00

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The economic climate, which has been difficult over the last year, continues to remain so. We face the macroeconomic headwinds of the sub-prime crisis, higher oil prices, and now, increasing unemployment. The effect has been felt globally— in the US, across Europe and in Asia-Pacific. While no one knows how long this global slowdown will last, I believe that despite the slowdown, Kenexa will continue to grow because our offerings provide value around hiring and retention to our valuable clients. Our growth had tapered off a bit in 2007 and during Q1 of 2008; however, we came roaring back in Q2, where we grew by over 15 percent, quarter over quarter. In the last three years, Kenexa has grown by multiples rather than percentages—this is evident by any metric we choose to consider. Our revenues have grown three-and-a-half times, our employees by three times, our profits by four times, the number of countries we operate in by six times, the number of expatriates by seven times, the number of preferred partners by three times and the P3 number by three times. We hope to continue this level of growth over the next few years. In order to do so, our employee base should be completely engaged, and the servicing of our clients and innovation with regard to new and improved product offerings, the continued learning from each another, and working toward fulfilling our dreams should continue unabated. We have made the final cut in the Best Places To Work list, and will learn sometime early next year whether Kenexa has made it to the Top 100. Whether we make this list or not, it thrills me to hear from all corners of the world that people love working at Kenexa. In the teeth of the slowdown, it is the commitment that Kenexans have toward clients and each other that enables us to continue growing. It is a crucial attribute of our organization, and I hope that we will never lose it. The second half of this year has brought about significant changes within the organization. We recently went into a strategic partnership with R&J Management Consulting in Shanghai, a search and training company which has a very strong knowledge base, a business philosophy consistent with ours, a strong team, and offerings that align perfectly with those of Kenexa. This

people love working at Kenexa.

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will add another 100 employees and allow us to distribute our offerings through mainland China. We are now getting fully established in the Middle East and in our joint venture in South Africa and we expect to add more countries as we continue to service our clients. The immediate future will also see increased revenue as our backlog has grown considerably as the number of new clients we are acquiring continues to grow. We have realigned our sales force, which should result in additional growth in the back half of the year. Toward the end of this year and early into 2009, our new platform on Kenexa 2X will come out. We currently have a few clients on Beta as we test our Kenexa Recruiter® product. Kenexa Recruiter® BrassRing continues to have penetration among the Global Top 2500 largest employers and I’d like to take this opportunity to congratulate the sales, the service and the engineering arms of Kenexa Recruiter BrassRing as they continue to develop the number one application in this space. There are a few things about Kenexa that are deeply ingrained in all of us. First, we have to participate in regular huddles—this is the means by which we can orally communicate with our teammates globally. The power of the huddle is that it allows information to cascade and helps us to understand why our jobs are important, what our clients’ expectations are, the standards around which we need to operate, and how we can maximize our time and effort in order to ensure that our clients are ecstatic. Every Kenexan should be in a huddle at least two to three times a week and preferably every day. If you are not on a huddle, please talk to your manager and ensure that you begin. Second, the creation of the Top 1-5 goals for every quarter enables us to focus in a tight manner around the important aspects of our jobs. The importance of the Top 1-5 is that they result in better client relationships, more productive and efficient distribution of our efforts, and the ability to continue to grow in our organization. The use of iKCT is a method to enumerate, measure and cascade these goals throughout the organization. Please make sure your goals are well thought-out, measurable and time bound. Goal setting and meeting of goals will be an important part of career development and enhancement of your experience at Kenexa. The third area I would like to stress is discipline. Without discipline around huddles and setting goals, we will find ourselves being very ineffective, which will then lead to frustration, not only on our part but on the part of coworkers. I truly recommend that you accomplish two things regularly without fail—make sure you are on a huddle, and enter your goals in iKCT.

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ALIGNMENT. FEEDBACK. TALENT TRACKING.

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There are three key areas of focus:

The New iKCT 4.8 and You By Jeﬀrey Gelinas, Kenexa-Waltham

Alignment:

• View the quarterly goals of your manager, leadership, and the company • Create and track your Top 1-5 quarterly goals

Ensure that you’re setting yourself up for success.

Feedback:

• Provide self-feedback on your performance to your manager each quarter • Document your development needs and action plans • Receive feedback from your manager each quarter regarding your performance

Enhance your performance through more frequent performance feedback conversations.

In Q1, Kenexa released the latest version of Kenexa CareerTracker® 4.8. Now Kenexa has implemented Kenexa CareerTracker® 4.8 internally. The implementation, which occurred in August of this year, revealed many new features and functionality including a quarterly performance feedback module that the Kenexa HR team developed.

Quarterly Feedback Beginning with Q3, employees and managers at Kenexa will move to a quarterly performance rhythm to replace the practice of completing annual reviews. Research on drivers of performance indicates that more frequent, timely, accurate and informal performance feedback has a much greater impact on performance than annual feedback. With the implementation of CareerTracker 4.8, parts of the new quarterly performance rhythm are automated. Employees and managers are able to document their performance dialogues and provide feedback within iKCT 4.8. This new rhythm not only enhances accountability and alignment to Kenexa’s Values, Extreme Service Hierarchy, Top 1-5 Goals & Objectives and Leadership Expectations, but also helps employee growth and development.

Talent Tracking

Talent Tracking:

• Update your professional profile with your latest qualifications and mobility factors • Become “searchable” for succession planning and internal recruitment initiatives

Make your talents known.

Another significant enhancement with the implementation of iKCT 4.8 is an improved Professional Profile module that will aid the HR department and Leadership in succession planning, internal recruitment, career development and workforce planning. When employees visit the iKCT Professional Profile page, they will be able to indicate their professional experience, educational background, language skills, mobility considerations, skills proficiency, desire to utilize certain skills, and certifications attained. For example, if the organization is seeking an employee who possesses more than two years of management experience, speaks French fluently and is willing to relocate to London for up to two years, iKCT 4.8 will reveal eligible candidates. Or when the organization needs to find software engineers who are highly skilled in .Net and have a strong desire to work with that skill, iKCT will lead us to those individuals.

Enhanced Interface An enhanced user interface will improve the employee and manager experience using the system. For example, the Professional Proﬁle details are listed on the home page, giving employees quick access to their proﬁle details. Employees can also access their personal objectives by mousing over the titles of their goals on the home page, which will reveal all Page 4

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details about their objectives. In short, the home page will reveal a al to the employee. The dashboard also includes great deal of information ob l g and additions to make it easier for managers to some reorganization review all pertinent information for their direct reports. q3 . 2 8

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Training Training on the use of iKCT 4.8 for employees and managers took place in Q3. E-learning modules have been developed to ensure that employees continue to learn about iKCT 4.8. HR is also providing extensive training to managers to improve their ability to provide speciﬁc, meaningful performance to employees on a quarterly basis.

Next Steps HR has received great feedback from employees about how to continuously improve the system to make it even more eﬀective. The latest implementation is the ﬁrst of a series of expected implementations. Kenexa CareerTracker 4.8 has a number of other features and functionality that Kenexa will look to implement internally in 2009. These include succession planning, compensation management and development planning.

New iKCT 4.8 Screen Shots

New iKCT 44.8 8 Screen Shots

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We encourage all Kenexans to attend iKCT training. Please use the following link to sign up! http://intapps.kenexanet.com/ generaltraining/myevents.aspx

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YourTime

Matters Calling on all Kenexans to track their time and expenses and enter accurate t project j t codes d andd ttasks k iinto t O Oracle l every week. k

Have you ever wondered why entering your timecard and expense report is important? It’s how Kenexa measures proﬁtability on every project. It’s also how managers know whether they should add additional resources to a particular project. When all Kenexans commit to accurately entering their timecard and expense reports every week, we can precisely measure how successful we are as a company. The measure of success for this initiative means you will be 100% Accurate and 100% Timely on a weekly basis. Remember, Your Time Matters to Kenexa’s ongoing success and proﬁtability. Join us in committing to the Your Time Matters Initiative.

Your Time

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Kenexa Employee Focus:

Bruce Kneuer

Name: Bruce Kneuer

A Kenexan’s Musings on Appreciation

What location do you work out of? I work from a remote location in Laconia, New Hampshire.

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By Sharada Kotcherlakota, Kenexa-Hyderabad

re you the yeast that raises the flour? Are you the wind that flies the kite higher? Do you have a magnanimous heart that shows appreciation? If not, you might need to self-evaluate. Appreciation, an ordinary word, makes an extraordinary difference. And at what cost? Nothing! Why is it, then, that we don’t appreciate all the way? A few words of acknowledgement, admiration and gratitude can act as the power source that stimulates creativity, generates positive energy and infuses the environment with ‘possibilities.’ One meaning for ‘appreciate’ is ‘to increase in value.’ So, surely the more often we appreciate, the more we will grow in value, and be the reason for others’ growth? In other words, the ripples created by appreciation are bound to be far-reaching. As children, one may recall, getting good grades at school gave immense happiness, motivating one to get more of the same. Every successful person attributes their success to the encouragement and support of their parents. On the personal front, we show our appreciation to family and friends for their small achievements— but do we, as managers and peers, fail to acknowledge even the big achievements of our team or colleagues? If we do, it might be because we are afraid we may lower ourselves in some way if we appreciate our peers in the workplace. This couldn’t be more wrong. The tremendous impact of showing appreciation has been proven scientifically. Physiological studies on the effects of appreciation have shown that it has very positive effects on the heart, brain function and our immune systems. Clinical psychologist, international speaker and best-selling author, Dr. Denise Nelson says, “Appreciation is energy, like gravity, like electricity.” Kenexa thought leaders have researched and written extensively about topics like recognizing and valuing people. In a recent article Dr. Jeff Jolton says: “We can all do a better job of valuing those around us. For those doing the valuing, it’s not only rewarding; it’s where you feel the most vulnerable. “This is why we don’t do it as often as we should. Instead, we censor ourselves—fearing our comments might be used against us. In most cases, it’s not a warranted fear, and the gains far outweigh any potential risk in making one’s deep appreciation of others known.” So maybe we should ponder over the last time we verbalized our appreciation of anyone at the workplace. Was it sincere or affected? If you did, gauge how positively it turned out. Appreciation is an art. This needs to be developed like any other skill. Skill develops through practice. So, from now onward, when you find an opportunity to appreciate—go ahead and do it. At the workplace, as in other areas, WYSIWYG (What You Say Is What You Get) works. Try it—you will be amazed by the boomerang effect.

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Where did you grow up? I was born and raised on Long Island (NY). Where did you go to school/college? I earned my B.A. at Williams College in Massachusetts and my MBA. at New York University. What do you do at Kenexa? I work at improving the ways Kenexa discovers, organizes and transfers knowledge about its clients and its competitors. What was your first impression about Kenexa when you joined the company? Aggressive, yet pleasant. What do you enjoy most about working at Kenexa? I am enjoying the ability to use my eclectic reading habits to assist Kenexa in always learning. What do Kenexa’s mission and values mean to you? They are a reminder that someone, somewhere, at the end of each day, should be able to say that they “did well” in part because of something I could do for them. What are the specific measures you have adopted to be more “green”? I walk to work whenever possible. I try to instill in our children the classic “Yankee” cliché: “Use it up, Wear it out, Make it do or Do without!” What do you do when you’re not working? I spend time with our six children (ages almost 3 to almost 17)—with five playing sports and all six having inherited their parents’ love of books, I am never at a loss for something to do, attend or discuss! The music you love listening to: My musical taste “got stuck” between the Beatles and about 1985, with a touch of some 1950s. Favorite Quote: “I learned this, at least, by my experiment: that if one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours. He will put some things behind, will pass an invisible boundary; new, universal, and more liberal laws will begin to establish themselves around and within him; or the old laws be expanded, and interpreted in his favor in a more liberal sense, and he will live with the license of a higher order of beings. In proportion as he simplifies his life, the laws of the universe will appear less complex, and solitude will not be solitude, nor poverty poverty, nor weakness weakness. If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them.” –Thoreau’s Walden (1854)

Giving Back To The C o gl

Kenexa–UK: Newman Trust Lakes Challenge

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Keneixa . 2 yderabad: Adop q –H

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Kenexa has adopted the Government Upper Primary School, Gaganmahal, Hyderabad, as a part of the Project 511 initiative (www.project511.org). This project was born out of the need to help the myriad of economically-challenged children enrolled at government-run schools that lack even the basic facilities (there are 832 such schools in Hyderabad alone). The charter of the project is to fund the maintenance of government schools by way of meeting their operational expenditure and any additional maintenance overheads including inducting more teachers. As part of our commitment to the community, Kenexa has been donating Rs. 20,000 per year to this school. The money is used to provide stationery to the children and other small benefits. Having been informed by the project coordinator that the school is in dire need of certain other amenities such as water storage tanks, some essential plumbing, and school bags for the children, the Hyderabad BPW committee decided to give Kenexans the opportunity to make personal donations to add to the money the company donates. There was a phenomenal and generous response to this collection drive, with the total collection amounting to Rs. 20,000. Way to go, Kenexa!

On July 11th a team of intrepid volunteers, one of whom was Nicola Wallace of Kenexa-UK, set off to attempt the Newman Trust Lakes Challenge, the aim being to raise money and publicity for the Trust by swimming 10km (400 lengths of the average swimming pool) in the English Lake District. Established in 1981, the Newman Trust provides holidays for over 120 disabled children aged 5-16 each year, in various locations around the UK. Due to the high level of skilled care they require or financial circumstances, the children selected for these breaks would not otherwise receive a holiday. The Trust is an entirely voluntary organization and owes its success to over 200 people who dedicate their free time to helping these children. Every penny raised goes directly towards a child’s holiday. The team began training in January, with pool sessions of everincreasing distance. The whole training process was a steep learning curve. To make things interesting, one team member (Judith) had a knee operation weeks before the event and another (Dave) suffered a hand injury, which meant he had to complete the event using only his legs. On day one, the team swam the length of Buttermere, followed by a fell walk to Scale Force waterfall before descending to swim across and along Crummock Water. On the second day they walked to Easedale Tarn and swam around it, before returning to swim across Grasmere and back. As expected, their main challenge was the o water temperature, but instead of the expected 16-17 C, they swam in temperatures down to 11oC, as the Lakes had had a fresh top up of cold English rain. (For comparison, the average pool comes in at o about 28oC and it feels “chilly” at 26 C.)

On July 27th, 2008 the Kenexa-India BPW Committee organized an event that entailed cleaning Vizag’s Rushikonda Beach, as part of an initiative to promote environment-friendly initiatives and reach out to the local community. The goal was to help conserve and preserve the bay waters and ecosystem. The “Clean Our Beach” drive began at 7:30 a.m. amid a lot of enthusiasm and excitement. The event was a great success, with an overwhelming response and turnout of more than 100 Kenexans, joined by members of the print and electronic media. Some local fishermen’s children soon joined in. The cleaning had a dramatic visual impact. The BPW Committee also donated some large permanent dustbins at the beach as part of this initiative. The media coverage gave Kenexa-Vizag a good platform for branding and brand recall, and will surely help make the community aware of Kenexa and the opportunities that exist here. The clean-up was a strong team-building and social activity as well. Everyone joined hands to work toward the cause and then socialized over breakfast, games and dancing. Most of the employees were at the venue till noon, enjoying fun-filled activities like playing beach volleyball, team games, music and dance even after the clean-up drive was over. Kenexans at Vizag are proud to feel they have made a small difference in helping the city look better and (hopefully) educating others about being environment friendly. Page 8

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e Community al ob l g To raise a bit of extra cash (and the odd eyebrow), a challenge was issued to Dave to swim one of the lakes in a Borat Mankini swimsuit. Never one to back down from a challenge, he agreed on the basis that the Mankini should pay for a child’s holiday. The amount required was duly raised and he swam in the garment. 8

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The team found the Lakes Challenge exactly that: a challenge. Like all challenges it was difficult, sometimes unpleasant, but thoroughly rewarding. So far, the Lakes challenge has raised nearly £8,000.

Kenexa Volunteer Day Kenexa aims to increase employee volunteerism to 80% in 2009 By Elena Shaffer, Kenexa-Wayne

orporate responsibility is doing an about-face. It’s no longer about the old definition of “charity”— knock that word out of your vocabulary. It’s about helping build the sense of community that we as humans crave. And it’s about returns on our investments: what we get back by doing good, both as individuals and as a company. Rudy Karsan is dedicated to the idea of company-wide community service. If 80% of Kenexa employees set aside eight work hours for volunteer service during 2009, in 2010 we’ll be eligible for double that benefit. To quote 10exa 10: “At Kenexa, we believe that when people are in jobs they love, they are not only more productive employees, they are better parents, friends, partners and neighbors.” One way that Kenexa is committed to improving our work experience is by allowing us to use Kenexa time to improve the quality of life of those less fortunate than we are. “Defining yourself by the work you do” doesn’t necessarily have to apply to your business life. People find strength, empowerment and an increased sense of self by reaching outside the workplace to lend time to those who can benefit from their unique talents. They also have the opportunity to forge relationships with individuals they wouldn’t ordinarily come into contact with. We plan to kick off this initiative in January 2009. Employees will learn more about how they can fit service projects into their busy schedules, ways in which they can serve and which local organizations require volunteer assistance. Questions? Suggestions? Like to share a story about your volunteer experience? Contact Elena Shaffer in Wayne at (610) 971-6140. Page 9

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Kenexa-Lincoln. Individual breakout sessions on Saturday included development and instruction on understanding personal and behavioral dynamics, operational ﬁnance, networking and sourcing, and client relationship management. Both days concluded with dinner events, allowing our teams to let oﬀ some steam from our activity-packed business sessions.

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Thanks to everyone who helped make this event a success, especially the RPO team members, whose continual drive for excellence, combined with a commitment to work and fun, came together in true Kenexa fashion for an outstanding event.

Kenexa-Hyderabad The Kenexa Quarterly (Q2) meet was held at the Green Park Hotel on August 29th. The Extreme Service awards were given out

Kenexa-Dallas RPO Performance Excellence Event: On July 18th and 19th, the RPO division held their Performance Excellence Conference in Frisco, TX, hosting over 110 employees, managers and executives for two days of training and team-building. The Performance Excellence Event is an annual RPO internal conference speciﬁcally designed to foster divisional communication, to provide relevant skills training and to encourage partnership among our remote and client-site team members.

This year’s event was packed with business and training sessions. General session activities included a record breaking MegaKenexa Compass session hosted by Jennifer Powell from KenexaLincoln and a presentation of the 10exa by Tim Geisert, also from

by Raghuveer Sakuru and Debasish Roy—congratulations to all recipients. The evening commenced with a fine classical dance recital by Kenexan Kalyani Kaza set to a famous song from an Indian period film. A mindstimulating quiz anchored by Sharavan Karpuram and Ajit Nair lifted everyone’s spirits as teams battled it out with each other to be the best. Kenexans Rohini Thakur and Chetana Prasad danced to a medley of Bollywood (as the Mumbai film industry is referred to) tunes that had everyone applauding and tapping their feet. The evening ended on a fine note with a formal vote of thanks, dinner and dancing, and flushed, happy faces.

Kenexa-Onsite (Corning Team) Fun while learning: The entire onsite team enjoyed the RPO Performance Excellence conference in Frisco and came away with new contacts and great memories. Accomplishments: Once again the team exceeded the Quarterly Goal. They continue to solidify their relationship with Corning Incorporated and have added additional areas of service for them. The team continues to do a great job for this client.

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Kenexa-UK Business Wins RPO: We are designingl and executing a program for new clients ba Stryker UK (Consultancy Engagement) to help source, recruit lo g and assess sales talent throughout the UK. We are also adding more value to our SAP. relationship delivering some employment q 2 branding projects for 3SAP in Switzerland. 8

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Water-Ski Day: The ﬁrst Kenexa water-ski day was organized and booked by Austen Field. A group of eight from Talent Management, Survey and Assessment spent an extremely entertaining day in wetsuits trying out a range of water-based activities from waterskiing to inner-tube riding.

Assessment: New clients: Audit Commission, Nakheel, BT, Staples, E.ON, Herbert Smith and SAP. New Prove It! clients: Lancashire County Council, City of York Council and Heritage Care (one of the UK’s largest care providers).

Kenexa-Vizag 100 at Vizag: Kenexa celebrated the achievement of 100 employees at Vizag on June 26th during Rudy’s visit with a get-together and lots of cake.

Survey: New clients: Nakheel ($1.2m/5yrs), Hessen-Forst (Germany), Philip Morris International (France), and Kone (Finland). Talent Management: New clients: Baxter have extended KRB to a global implementation and BP have agreed to take an additional two onsite resources.

BPW Activities Picnic in Hyde Park: The UK offices enjoyed a picnic in Hyde Park, London, in August. The Kenexans (plus their families and friends) had a great day and were extremely lucky with the weather. There was plenty of typical picnic food (scotch eggs, sausage rolls, crisps and fizzy drinks) and as well as sitting around talking we played some interesting games including catch the (raw) egg, wheelbarrow races and three-legged races. The Kenexa-Vizag Quarterly (Q2) meet: This was held on August 28th at the Park Hotel. The ambience created by the hotel’s verdant lawns and the balmy sea breeze set the stage for a great evening. Everyone participated in a lot of activities and games, and thoroughly enjoyed a cultural program performed by some employees and the foot-tapping music played by the DJ. This was followed by a sumptuous dinner, after which everyone hit the dance floor, shaking a leg to popular current music. The event went on for nearly six hours, and was a memorable evening that will be cherished and remembered by all for a long time to come.

London Treasure Hunt: Those that took part really enjoyed the experience and learned a few historical facts along the way. Congratulations to the winning team—The Gophers (Ian Newcombe, Janis Chng, Alex Low and Amit Sidhpura)—who completed the treasure hunt in 1 hour 19 minutes and scored a total of 2400 points (from a possible 3000).

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Connecting People, Knowledge and Ideas By Shubha Rao Benipuri, Kenexa-Hyderabad

Kenexa’s third annual World Conference, held in Minneapolis on September 10th12th, was a great blend of inspiring keynote speeches, stimulating knowledge sharing sessions and enjoyable mingling of attendees. The event began with a welcome speech by Rudy Karsan, in which he spoke about the rapid changes that are occurring in the world, and how we need to acquire the insight to ask the right questions about how these changes might affect our organizations, so that we will be able to find the right solutions to move forward successfully. The inaugural keynote speech was delivered by Peter Cappelli, George W. Taylor Professor of Management at The Wharton School and Director of Wharton’s Center for Human Resources. Cappelli spoke on the topic of “Talent on Demand: Managing Talent in an Age of Uncertainty.”

In this age of rapid change, global organizations will need to think about how to strengthen and preserve their culture and core, develop effective communication protocols, and most important, ask the right kind of questions so as to arrive at the answers that will help them handle change effectively.

Other keynote speakers included Ron James, President and CEO, Center for Ethical Business Cultures, who spoke on “Ethical Business Cultures: Is the World Really Flat?” and Denis Hayes, National Coordinator of Earth Day, President and CEO, The Bullitt Foundation, on “Green Connections: Everyone is Connected to Everything.” Denis Hayes spoke about how every event or act that threatens the environment, no matter where in the world it might occur, is a global threat rather than a localized one and we need to see it as such. His eloquent speech began with a description of all the threats the world faces but ended on a hope-inspiring note, emphasizing the fact that every little bit each of us does to be green can and will help. The conference showcased a number of sessions on topics such as talent management, the use of global assessments, corporate social responsibility, employment branding, recruiting, employee engagement, expatriate management,

employee referral programs and diversity. Many sessions were packed, with standing room only—these included Kenexa’s coverage of Web 2.0 topics, such as “Testing Generation Wii: The Future of Online Assessment for Selection and Development,” “Sourcing and Networking: al The Takeover of Web 2.0” ob and “The CEO Shift.” l g Bill Kutik, technology columnist for Human Resource Executive 3 . 2 of the HR Technology Conference and magazine, conferenceqco-chair host of “The Bill Kutik Radio Show,” moderated an industry analyst panel that included Elaine Orler, Knowledge Infusion; Josh Bersin, 8

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Bersin & Associates; Karen Beaman, Jeitosa and Al Adamsen, Kenexa. Attendees asked panelists for valuable “how to” information to address global workforce and HR technology challenges. Session feedback was very positive, as attendees appreciated their ready access to all these thought leaders in one forum, and to hear their insightful views on talent management issues.

Kenexa’s new learning management system, Kenexa Learning Management (KLM) was launched during Connect ‘08. This newest addition to Kenexa’s talent management suite delivers comprehensive learning management, analysis, creation and collaboration capabilities in an easy-touse, personalized browser environment. More information can be accessed at www.kenexa.com/ Solutions/TalentManagement/LearningManagement. aspx. Kenexa also released its annual WorkTrends research report at Connect ’08.

In his welcome speech, Rudy exhorted attendees to mingle and meet as many people as possible—and everyone took him at his word. From keynote presentations to breakout sessions to evening events, each Connect ’08 activity provided a great opportunity for people to learn and to network with others. Nicole DeWald, KWC manager, Matt Jordan, KWC assistant manager and the entire Marketing Team deserve a round of applause and thanks for the excellent arrangements—we know it took a lot of hard work, but they made it look seamless and effortless. We look forward to next year’s conference in Dallas, Texas, USA.

The opening evening’s social event featured “the best of the Beatles recreations” from the Broadway hit show Beatlemania. The interesting factor here was that after a day during which people spoke about differences between the various generations in the workforce, everybody in the crowd—from the Baby Boomers to the Millennials—seemed to know the lyrics to all the Beatles’ songs and were singing along with equal enjoyment. Apparently, good music knows no generation gap! Everyone had a great time at both evening events, with excellent food and sparkling conversation.

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Kenexa Earns One of Human Resource Executive® magazine’s 2008 Top HR Product of the Year Awards

Kenexa has been awarded one of Human Resource Executive® magazine’s 2008 Top HR Product of the Year Awards for its industry-leading product, SimSJT™: Customer Service. Products submitted for consideration for this award are judged on innovation, user-friendliness and the value they add to the HR profession.

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On September 10th, David Costar was awarded the “HR Business Partner of the Year” from Providence Health & Services, one of Kenexa’s P3 Clients. Providence gives this Annual award to their most valued vendor. The award was presented to David by Larry Kleinman, the Chief HR Oﬃcer at Providence, during the Kenexa World Conference. Rudy Karsan, who was also present, commented, “Kenexa’s ongoing success is directly attributable to the partnerships we foster with our customers. It is through their successes that Kenexa is successful and receiving this unexpected award underscores the eﬀectiveness of our vision.”

Kenexa wins the “Nebraska Human Resources Employer of the Year” from Nebraska SHRM Kenexa was awarded the Nebraska HR Employer of the Year Award from the Society of Human Resource Management’s Nebraska State Council. The award recognizes Kenexa as a great place to work, in particular for its focus on employee engagement, company-wide community service, employee training and development, and sound HR practices. The award was presented to Bill Erickson, executive vice president, Kenexa at the SHRM Nebraska

According to Ben Hawkes, Director, simulation development, “Winning this award is a tribute to the international team that has been working on SimSJT: Customer Service. Afsarudy Yusof, our developer and animator in Malaysia, deserves a lot of the credit for making SimSJT look as impressive as it does. The award is recognition of Kenexa’s commitment to researching and developing new technologies.” Human Resource Executive® magazine Managing Editor Kristen Frasch said, “Kenexa’s SimSJT stands out because it has been designed to be intuitive and easy-to-use while eﬃciently and eﬀectively identifying talented candidates with exceptional customer service aptitude. This SJT product boasts a user-friendly method that supports a wide variety of market sectors and industries.”

Kenexa Recognized for Leadership Diversity by Forum of Executive Women For the second year in a row, Kenexa has received the Corporate Star Award from the Forum of Executive Women (FOEW), which recognizes companies in the greater Philadelphia region whose corporate boards are composed of at least 25 percent women. “Our board plays an integral role in defining the direction of our company, and its composition is a reflection of the diversity of our employees, management team and customers. We are pleased that the FOEW recognized our efforts toward diversity again this year with the Corporate Star Award,” stated Rudy Karsan, chief executive officer, Kenexa.

Engagements Cara Tooley was engaged to Matt Spurr on July 10th. Kayleen Zimmer was engaged to Bryan Martin in May.

Weddings Christy and DeWayne Furr were married on September 7th. State Council State Human Resource Conference, which was held on Friday, September 19, 2008, at the Qwest Center in Omaha, Nebraska.

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Justin Rowenhorst and Shara Alfson were married on September 13th. Kim Gruett and Michael Horsch were married on October 4th.

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We’re not big on structure—never have been and probably never will be. To get things done, we make personal connections to our teammates at all levels of the organization, and we help each other because we want to. This is why you’ll see leadership from every nook and cranny of our organization, not just from the top.