Getting a 100 per cent fit for the required job is what gives an edge to the organizations.

With the war clouds receding and the rain clouds approaching, there is a sense of optimism across industries. Even the dampening results of the software majors at the stockmarkets have not drowned the spirits. If anything, the real growth expectations within the industry have been brought forward. The sunrise sector still is the ITES industry with consolidation and new ventures continuing unabated.

All this has naturally rekindled the need for additional talent. After a lull in the last two years, professionals can again think of embarking on multiple prospects and recharging their careers along their chosen paths.

With the depressed market scenario and lay-offs in the last few years, it is only natural to imagine that the openings available would all be filled up in a jiffy. Referrals, advertisements and internet-based recruitments have all gained acceptance as convenient and inexpensive tools. Recruitment firms too, have been falling over each other to provide suitable talent to the hiring corporates. One would imagine the recruitment teams at corporates having a field day... herein lies an interesting dichotomy.

The competitive advantage for a company is its intellectual capital. People can create greater value for the company. Also the need to operate in a constantly changing and challenging scenario is paramount for a company. For an organization to make quick course corrections, it needs to be equipped with an intensity of talent. Thus, the quest for top-notch brains is the need of every manager in today’s organizations.

The rules of the hiring game have thus, undergone a substantial change, more so at managerial and senior/top levels. The key change is that specialists are in demand again. Organizations which earlier hired a prospective candidate if he/she met 70-80 per cent of their parameters a couple of years back are now looking for a close to 100 per cent fit. With the risk of error also rising substantially, hiring at decision-making levels is from almost alike industries and roles. Save for specific functions like sales, hiring professionals who bring in synergistic experience is in rapid decline.

This has led to resurgence for the services of recruitment and search firms that operate with strong domain capability and also specialized consultants. Typically, the consultants in these firms would have 5-15 years experience in the required industry and thus understand not only the functions but also the operational details of organizations. These firms can be depended upon to deliver quality.

Search firms use a strong process driven approach of researching the industries and mapping out potential organizations to identify the desired professional for specific positions. The candidates so identified are contacted for the open position and assessed by the consultants. Only if the consultant finds the professional suitable, would a reference be given to the organization. Worldwide, search is the method for filling executive positions; interestingly it is also finding its way into critical mid-management positions. A search firm’s services do not come cheap, however, more and more organizations are realizing that the trade off is positive.

The race for market leadership today is a race for talent. The organization that hopes to breast the tape has to equip itself with strong able winners who would then lead its charge. This by itself leads to a self-propelling capability to attract and retain more talent. In the final outcome, as they say, the winner takes all.

(The author is General Manager, BTI Consultants India Pvt Ltd, - a Kelly Services Company)

Issue BG27 June03

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