Shilputsi Consultants

Shilputsi in the News
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Hire and now - The Economic Times: November 8, 2002
by Malini Bhupta

After a traumatic year, search firms now have something to smile about. Whether it's manufacturing, FMCG, retail, the insatiable IT-enabled services sector, automobiles or pharma, almost everyone's back to hiring mode.

There are some who are more desperate for talent than others, but the overall mood in the employment market is that of exhilaration. Last year's hot pick — investment banking — is no longer sizzling, but other sectors are on a roll.

In fact, the problem's not scarcity of jobs but dearth of talent.

It's a time to kill for talent, and the idea's to get 'em at any cost. A consultant with an international search firm says he's received a mandate to go to Chennai and hire retail experts at stupendous salaries. Yes, retail appears to be a sector whose time has come.

Says Purnima Das of Kelly Services India: "Almost all big international retailers are camping at the Foreign Investment Promotion Board offices waiting for clearance. They all have plans for India and will be on the lookout for talent. The issue is not that of opportunities, but of the availability of the right people."

Don't believe us, hear this: a conglomerate with mega retail plans has hired an HR head at Rs 1 crore per annum.

The scramble for talent is so pronounced that companies are pulling out all stops to retain their star performers. Those who don't have any other means of retaining them are even calling up competitors and requesting them not to poach.

Ask search firms for instances of this ‘war for talent' and one story almost all of them will relate is that of GE's Rahul Chopra. Chopra, who had agreed in principle to join Spectramind, finally could not because GE pulled strings to protect its talent pool. Spectramind is still on the lookout for a chief operating officer.

If one looks at pure numbers, it's BPO that offers the maximum opportunities. Almost all BPO outfits — such as Daksh eServices, Transworks, Epicentre and Tracmail — are looking for business centre heads and overseas marketing chiefs. According to a Gartner study, the US has around 3 million jobs in the BPO sector. Even if one per cent of these jobs move to India, it means 30,000 jobs per annum.

Companies are expanding their horizons to hire the right people. Cross-border mandates are being given to search firms in case the perfect candidate is not available in India. According to Sanjiv Sachar, head of Egon Zehnder India: "Clients are willing to recruit the best in the area, nationality's no longer a dealmaker. Professionals from overseas are viewing India as an interesting workplace." Across industries, there's demand for talent. However, the growth sectors — BPO, telecom, insurance and pharma — are seeing a second round of hiring, he adds.

Healthcare, pharma and media are also in hiring mode. However, companies are a little selective about candidates and the skill sets. The process of selection has become more stringent and candidates are being put through the hoop, says Sonal Agarwal of Accord Search.

Apart from BPO, if there's a single largest recruiter in the market now it's Reliance. It's been hiring for both its retail venture as well as its Infocom business. Some of the senior managers hired by RIL include: Naresh Hosangady of Birla 3M, George Thomas, former CEO of Hughes Tele, Venkatesh Valluri, who was heading GE Netherlands' enterprise business, Vinay Singh and Shailendra Gupte of HLL, and Pratap Jaipuria of GE Lighting.

Search firms say it's difficult to match RIL's salaries, tough market conditions notwithstanding. The other reason why companies are hiring is due to attitudinal changes. Says Purvi Sheth, a consultant with human resource firm Shilputsi: "Some traditional companies are bringing in a new set of people because their businesses need a shift in strategy."

Here are a few examples: Darshan Mehta has been brought in by Arvind Mills, say many, with the aim of reviving the company's key brands. Another example in this area is that of Carrier.

The company is doing well but now needs to look beyond, so it's brought in Neville Moos from Goodyear who is expected to bring in more aggression. Explains Santrupt Misra, group HR director, Aditya Birla group: "Most companies are now going up the value chain, so they're all hiring — from start-ups to medium and large enterprises."

Traditional companies like M&M and Aditya Birla Group are also hiring. Anjanikumar Choudhari, group HR head of M&M, believes the employment market is warming up after the slowdown. "We're actively looking for excellent, widely experienced persons at very senior levels, not necessarily only from our own or similar industry sectors. We've had very successful experience in inducting senior level functional resources from FMCG as well as consumer durables and office automation sectors for our automotive and farm equipment businesses," he says.

M&M is looking at people who have strong international experience to strengthen the group's engineering and technology capabilities as well as to support its ambitious overseas plans, Choudhari adds.

The group is focusing on corporate strategy, organizational development and financial restructuring, marketing and customer management, and overseas operations.

The group's also taking succession planning seriously. Explains Choudhari: "We have an ongoing programme of identifying key senior (around 100) positions and developing concrete succession plans, along with career developments plans for incumbents in these positions. We plan at least 2-3 years in advance in terms of future succession for each of these critical roles." Adds R Suresh of Stanton Chase: "The job market today is not about vanilla vacancy filling. There is a demand for people and IT is back to recruiting."

For long, the employment market has been one of the key indicators an economy's performance. A pick-up in the employment market is generally followed by increase in demand.

Though the current state of buoyancy in the Indian urban employment market across all levels may be good for professionals, it certainly is not indicative of a dramatic change in terms of economic growth of the country.

"Companies are recruiting in a big way, be it replacement hiring or opportunity-driven placements. However, new jobs don't mean more consumption of biscuits. The upswing in the job market must not be viewed as a corporate trend," cautions Purvi Seth.