“TALENT CRUNCH.”

“Give me a hundred committed young individuals and I shall build India into a great power”
Thus spoke, Swami Vivekanand.
That was a century or so back.
Recently a successful entrepreneur, from Pune from auto-ancillaries sector; was lamenting, that he has not been successful in getting on board, the right talent. There was so much business potential; remaining untapped; due to this limiting factor. His dream to be a global Indian is thwarted.
Swamiji had also prophesied that” the sleeping giant”, China, would emerge as a great power due to their large population. We are today witnessing the unfolding of his prescient remarks.
We have such a large population in our country too. For the productive efforts of entrepreneurs, we seem to be unsuccessful, in identifying and acquiring, energetic, right individuals with the appropriate competencies.
That is the rub.
Where has, all the talent gone?

SOURCING STRATEGIES.

There are a number of strategies that the successful organisations employ, to achieve the desired need for talent. Campus recruitment, advertisements through media (print and electronic) encouraging employees to bring in teammates, recalling ex-employees, engaging retirees as consultants; etc,etc.
• The possibilities of recruiting through campus, talent at entry level, and thereafter developing them to suit one’s specific needs is a task in itself. This is resorted to, by most of the large corporations as a routine, annual yatra. This exercise does generate some manpower and is available to them for a while only.
• Most of them leave, in about two years, for pastures anew. One is back to square one.

• One of the other solutions is the advertisement route.

• Situations VACANT, crème la crème advertisements, and the “career- marketing jobs”, High fliers advertisements, salary no bar etc.
• This does not really yield satisfactory results. One is saddled with a lot of unrelated resumes and unsolicited calls from individuals who are nowhere near the spelt needs.

DATA BASES

The advancing technology provides new avenues for the jobseekers as well as the recruiters.
There are new databases available such as Monster, Jobs ahead, Naukri, Times jobs etc.
The recruiters maintain their own databases also. Which are vetted as regards the background and the factual details. Unprocessed data is not useful at all.

However suggesting the right candidate who can answer to the description of the employer cannot be done by the search engines; it requires human efforts; that is where one needs a specialized talent of a professional recruiter. Half an hour’s personal interview is inadequate to assess or evaluate the candidate’s suitability for the job etc. Some professional help is needed.

RISING ATTRITION RATES
You can not think of” life-time employees,” in the current context. There are so many alternate employments available for the competent individuals today that, poaching experienced talent, has become an order of the day. How to retain the competent and useful talent?

That leads us, to the attrition of talent. The bugbear of most successful enterprises today, is the rising attrition rate.
Attrition has reached alarming proportions. It is a zero-sum game. Someone’s loss is the other’s gain. Total is unaltered.
Is there a solution for the issue of sourcing talent?

ROLE OF A RECRUITER
It is the primary responsibility of the client to clearly define the profile of a candidate, that is required by him. As a professional, often the recruiter assists a client in honing to perfection the job-profile of a candidate that is being searched. This of course is noticed happening when the business of the client is understood thoroughly by a recruiter.

From the database of a recruiter and his personal contacts he does find, ones who could best answer the job-description. At times the candidate who would not be even thinking about a job-change is identified by a seasoned recruiter.

A case in point is that of John Sculley, who was Vice President Marketing with Pepsi Co. and was not contemplating a job change at all.

A professional recruiter approached him and suggested him to consider joining Steve Jobs’, Apple. It was not a big name then, and Mr. Sculley was reluctant to even consider the position.

However in the now famous dialogue with Steve Jobs; he asked Mr. Sculley who was on a visit to Cupertino California headquarters of Apple, at the behest of the recruiter:
“Do you want to spend the rest of your life selling sugared water; or do you want a chance to change the world?”
Mr. Sculley joined Apple.

A recruiter thus can reach the most suitable candidate and play a significant role in landing a job to the person who had not even dreamt about it. It is a win-win situation.

As a professional a good recruiter not only sees at the technically competent candidate, but also ensures a culture-fit. His role is contributing decisively to the growth and success of his client organizations.


EXECUTIVE RECRUITERS
There is of course a possibility of going to recruiters or search agencies, that do a good job of it.
This is a new breed of professionals on the block. They know the right candidates and get them to the clients in the shortest possible time for certain professional fees.

The entire process of locating the talent answering the profiles of client’s expressed specifications, is a very complex one. It is based on trust and a sound judgment at every stage.

The background of the prospective candidate, the job-description, intentions of the employer, career growth in the slot, promised compensation, the entire gamut; is based on mutual trust at every step. One single slip; deliberate or otherwise ;can vitiate the entire case.

Exaggeration, misrepresentation of facts for a small gain is a great temptation, few can deny. Professionalism presupposes a deeply ingrained value system, a refinement, culture; and a thoroughbred practitioner’s objectivity.

It is therefore a prerequisite for a new profession, to have proper accreditation for the practitioners, to avoid mal-practices.

PROFESSIONAL BODIES
There were a few management consultants who used to help their clients with getting the right candidates to them; but it was more a complementary service to the other management- services they were providing. It was not the first violin, more a second fiddle.
Later it spun off, as a specialized recruitment wing. This all happened during the past 40 odd years.
Today there is a rich crop of “recruiters” which is ever growing.

When a new profession of specialists emerges, it necessitates spelling of certain ground rules. A few well honored traditions and norms have to be defined. The job is generally done by an Association of such professionals.
For example the association of Chartered accountants or; Cost accountants, have specified the competence levels for their practitioners.
Their Associations, conduct examinations; the ones who qualify are awarded certificates of proficiency which enables them to take on responsibilities as a professional.

EXECUTIVE RECRUITERS ASSOCIATION
It is gratifying to note that the professionals of Executive recruiters have got together to form an Association. They have determined a code of ethics, right at the outset and are awarding membership only to those who measure up to certain basic qualifying conditions, such as:
• Subscribing to an ethical code of conduct; while conducting business.
• Not charging any fees to the candidates, for registration etc.
• Offering a service to the client, with utmost integrity and clarity of purpose.
• Non-poaching of candidates from one’s own clients.
• Collect, collate and share expertise in this field from members, and other sources.
• As a professional body use clout, with Government for the benefit of all members, such as ease in the process of grant of job- visas, avoidance of unnecessary taxation etc.

Good luck to the new Association; ” Executive Recruiters Association” ERA ,for short.
The Association could not have come at a more appropriate time, when Indian talent is so much in demand globally. An organized body can and should strive for the rights of the members, and their representations are heeded.
It is heartening to note that the clients also now insist, that the recruiter be an accredited professional; by ERA.
The association organized a convention, in Sept.06, at Hyderabad, where representatives from Russia, Brazil, China; India deliberated on the modalities of recruitments for the needs of the growing economies.
It is nice to note that a Chapter of this Association has opened up recently in Pune too.

JOURNEY OF THE JOBS MARKET
An age old thinking in the minds of the job seekers earlier, in our country, used to be different. A Government job was the preferred choice. Permanent, pensionable ;and all that.
Even thinking about another job, was considered an act of, disloyalty and treason.
Today it is the other way round. It has certainly undergone a sea change; the acceleration to the change in the mindset is provided by the growing IT & ITES sector in our country.
The employer is worried whether the employee will stick at all, to the job, and how long?.
This is a classic case of a constantly rising demand, chasing a limited supply of, the Mr. Rights.
Now at the outset the jobseeker proclaims, that he is looking to the horizon of two years of job or so; at best.

PROFESSIONAL HELP.
If ERA were to be in another age, they would have offered gladly help, to Swamiji, in locating the committed talent, that he was looking for nation building, This is a fantasy.
However the Auto ancillary entrepreneur from Pune; should certainly seek assistance ,from some ERA members.
This will help him realize, his vision to be a Global Indian.
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M S RANADE
Chairman & CEO
Placewell Consultants, Pune 411007
mranade@vsnl.com
PUBLISHED IN INDIAN EXPRESS PUNE EDITION, THURSDAY,19TH OCTOBER,06.