Sharpening the Axe

Thursday, February 18, 2010

I love attending conferences!

As a recruiter who works across industries, functions, levels and geographies, attending different conferences/seminars/workshops/talks have immensely helped me:

-get a decent insight into the various dynamics of the specific business domain, and help sensitise myself regarding the stakeholders thereof;

-keep myself updated and informed about the contemporary issues -enough to provoke some thoughts as I engage with professionals at length later ;

-enlightened by the capsuled dosages of the experts sharing their knowledge and the wealth of experiences -mostly so while interacting in the interactive Q&A sessions;

-an opportunity to catch up and stay connected with a bunch of acquaintances under one roof, and the networking opportunities they often throw up -given the captive influence;

-get updated about the present /future stars in the changing world-and make a mental list of ‘passive talent’ whom I should be tracking for a possible placement !

-and yes, it gives me a break from becoming a slave of the possible daily monotony of operations!

Yesterday, I was fortunate to be at the ITsAP Annual Seminar 2010 –and be part of the deliberations, discussions and soak in as much of the energy as possible.

We had a galaxy of stalwart speakers, sharing their thoughts on the "Value of HR-2010 and beyond", in a very interesting mix of their delivery! A film, a panel discussion of leaders from industry, and a case study provoking the grey cells of the gathering, apart from brief attempt to quizzing during the filler time!

Of course we had the usual servings of cliches’, platitudes, and humorous anecdotes, apart from a quick round up of the latest jargon in the global corporate circuit. Here are some of the notes I picked up- for posterity:

-some compelling trends from the SHRM survey ( Recession & its impact on strategy, social networking, work life balance, measuring effectiveness, top hiring trends keeping in sync with the changing workforce..)

-Changing mindset of the employees, reducing age of affluent employment , and the need for loyalty to a function or business (distinct from an entity or company earlier as more M&A happen!) necessitating the need for a new ecosystem for the changing expectations from all stakeholders.

-Increasing need to being business driven, and customer focused-HR as a profession is being challenged to upgrade themselves -and focus on talent management and culture building -as the non =strategic tasks are being outsourced!

-With the emergence of a 'Velcro organisation' and remote location manpower, across geographies and cultures/practices, a lot of competencies are becoming redundant with time.

-Managing employee aspirations, sensitivity to career influencers, reminders to 'make more deposits than withdrawals' were exhorted.

However, as I reflect back on the days takeaways, I do feel a little disconcerted.

a)For a flagship event of a growing organisation that has at least 300 members in town, one would have expected a lot more than attendees-that at any time of the day did not exceed 100!!

b) While almost half the attendees were ladies, it was a little surprising that only one among them was on the dais as a speaker-a foreigner at that!

c)But the moment of truth was a question, sought by a production person-‘ Why is HR needed?"


Yes, as a speaker paraphrased "even change is changing". Are we?

Changing times :jobportals, social networking & recruiters

Monday, February 15, 2010

I know I must be sounding like a broken record by now-but it is becoming more and more apparent with time.

With all respects to fellow headhunters, recruiters and the best of selection processes, it is not always the best person who gets the best job on offer-it is the right person at the right place at the right time :)!

So, for any aspiring job seeker, the idea is to figure out how to get oneself placed so! More so, these days it itsn't about whom you know, but who knows (of) you!!

There is quite a debate if the job portals face threat from social networking sites. Or are social networking sites fast catching up with job portals?

It is interesting to note how the different stakeholders are approaching the game!

a)More companies and recruiters are using both –to improve their reach.

Job portals are for haven for ‘the active jobs seekers’- or ‘low lying fruit’-of people who are either presently unemployed or underemployed, or unhappy & frustrated, and easy to approach.

The social networking sites are seen as the hangouts of ‘passive job seekers’ –who, in the pretext of connecting, reconnecting, staying in touch, discovering, exchanging information/ideas and opportunities, are open to being wooed for a compelling reason, and so, in terms of quality of their candidature, more desirable.

b) Perspective from job seekers:

An interesting poll " Is Linked In moving from a social networking site towards a Job Portal? "commissioned by Kunjal Kamdar reveals that a very high coincidence of a phenomenal number of profiles on linked in in that indicate “interested in job enquiries”!!

A blog by
a SEO/SEM/SMM expert has an interesting take on the pros and cons of hiring through social networking

c) Meanwhile, globally job portals are busy consolidating their stronghold!

Monster acquires Hot jobs paying a whopping $225million. More and more meta search and vertical search engines are making their presence felt, by aggregating results from multiple
independent job boards. Examples include Simply hired , Indeed , Bixee that aim to provide a "one-stop shop" for job-seekers

d) And would you believe? In India, we have a wonderful example Naukri that has gone the horizontal way to keep a person busy right through one's life time. Once a person gets a job, the next steps are wedding ? then buying landed property /real estate, and well, social networking once again!! And to ensure the backward integration, the same company has portals providing interests for education , first job, online education Assessment , and insurance ?

Naukri has also embarked on showcasing opportunities separately for those premium jobs with above 15 lakhs salary! Last week I had a visit from their senior VP Product Development and Technology, who shared some insights into the way they are increasing their share of the pie!!

Some of us Pre-Internet recruiters ( I almost used 'pre-historic!!') -had got into business-when most resumes had to be typed (electronic ones came in later at a premium), and the only way to connect was physically-after scouring as many 'physical' networking locations ( associations, conferences), and through postal letters and 'pp numbers' ( Very few in early 90s in India actually had landlines at their houses..and had to depend on the mood/generosity of the neighbour to pass on messages :)!)...find the present electronic media, mobile connectivity, SMS culture..compressing the 'time to connect' at the ease of a click.

But then , is it about all about finding, honey? Or is it engaging them no? Building relationships, personalized customization, counseling, career management…?? Isn't it time for rely on relationships instead of transactions?

So, do we see the room for social media recruitment…..!!?

It is all happening out here, right? Do chip in with your comments, views, opinions.

Changing the way I look!

Sunday, February 14, 2010

Over the past month and a half, my blog posts have dwindled. And as I tried to reason out the same to a few pals over the past fortnight, I realise there have been more than a few triggers!!


-Yes, the job market sentiments have picked up. More clients are beginning to think seriously about cherry picking-just as most professionals aspiring to know what's on offer! As a recruiter one spends a lot of lot of time trying to set expectations for both sides.

- Maybe it has also to do with the changing habits of how people reach out today. I have been spending more time responding to requests from the popular Linked in, among other sporadically active social marketing sites.

-Oh yes, twitter also has become quite addictive. It has become, at least for me- the window to the world. I catch almost all the news, the views, the opinions -across the spectrum. Business, sports, politics, best practices, humour, motivational quotes..The thrill of getting almost instant response, a forward here, a mention there, and most importantly, getting in sync with what's happening out there in the world.

-And yes, its lot easier to type your thoughts in a 140 character twitter almost as an impulse. By the time one has to blog a post, with a certain research, and articulating one's thoughts, most topics aren't as contemporary?

( I guess an entirely separate post ought to be devoted to the couple of hundred mails that come
in daily- some exploratory, little more following up on exchanges earlier, and a whole lot trying to remind me that I owe them replies and ought to be returning missed calls !! Should you be reading this...you will have to bear with me for another 4-5 weeks before I get back to being responsive on socially accepted norms :-)!)

-Am preparing for a trip to the US for the NPA Annual conference in the March first week. To stretch the dollar -I have been conjuring ways and means of packing in as many networking opportunities, while still keeping costs as close to shoestring budget an entrepreneur has to juggle with. Not to mention justify the 'opportunity cost' of 'what could have been done '. Shudder to think how many hours I have spend on expedia, orbitz, travelocity comparing connecting flights and stopover!!

-But not the least-is the writer's block-as one constantly looks for something meaningful to convey -as the time between the posts become longer and longer. I can very well imagine the tension that a batsman has, as the slog overs begin, and every dot ball -increases the panic levels..almost paralysing one's mind to think logically-and coax one into making a gaffe!!

Well, to summarise, I think I shall henceforth be blogging more often, with a couple of paragraphs perhaps. Half way between a twitter and a full fledged article??

Please let me know offline, as usual -the crispy comments!!

Happy days are here again?

Saturday, January 30, 2010


One may recall Infosys had given a single-digit increment in October,. It had announced an across-the-board raise as domestic salaries went up by 8% while on site pay rose by 2%. And the HR Head Mr Mohandas Pai was also quoted "We'll be thinking of a further salary hike only in April 2010"!!

Can we see other IT cos following suit in India ?

It is also interesting to note that with decreasing margins in the outsourcing deals, there has been a lot of clamour for innovative solutions being offered by the Indian IT services companies..

One thing is for sure- there will be increasing demand for the top performers and those with niche skills!!

In the past fortnight, one has seen the return of half page ads in major newspapers -calling for applications for some generic positions. While the supplements are still 4-8 pages thick, to me, it seems more like a brand building exercise, or an attempt for companies to farm out for the 'easily available talent'!!

In fact-while people have been moving - there is really not much a significant increase in the salary hike as they move laterally!!

I would love to hear your impressions -and predictions!!

Meanwhile, here is what we at Options have been keeping busy with!

And yes, a little more comprehensive list of 'not so confidential' openings that our clients are hiring for!!

Companies are a lot more choosy..still cherry picking!! I shall be delighted to have referrals from you. Please forward them to menon@optionsindia.com :-)!

Attraction to company culture a primary factor in employer preference in automotive industry

Friday, January 15, 2010


Toyota the most preferred next employer as per online survey among engineering job seekers in the industry


Recently, Options Executive Search commissioned an online survey with Knowience Insights, an online research firm, to understand the job change behaviour among engineering professionals in the automotive industry. The most interesting 'takeaway' we have from this online survey conducted between 13th and 18th December 2009 is that attraction to company culture plays the most dominant part in a job seeker’s preference of a future employer. While the job seekers were divided about their most preferred future employer, irrespective of the company they voted for, the company culture was a major decision making factor.


We also found Toyota with 21% preference to be the most preferred future employer for these professionals, followed by three Indian companies viz., Tata Motors (15%), Maruti (14%) and Mahindra & Mahindra (8%). However, in the aggregated top 3 employer preferences, Tata Motors (15.6%) found more mentions than Toyota (14.3%). Interestingly, apart from culture, the top 4 companies stood for different things in the minds of the job seekers who responded to the survey. (The numbers given are in that order of preference for the respective company)





The other most interesting insight from the survey was that “an opportunity in a city/town of one’s choice is the single biggest trigger for considering a job change.”


From our point of view, this survey throws up an interesting facet of how the core engineering professionals are approaching their career now as against how they would have possibly done it a couple of years back. If the nineties and a better part of the decade of 2000 drew the engineering professionals to IT, it appears that recognition is finally coming in the core manufacturing sector for these professionals.


In my opinion, perhaps companies have to spend a lot more time and effort in articulating and communicating (selling?) their company culture to the prospective employees. This would call for a shift in focus for recruiting managers and most definitely, some fresh thinking on how to do it.


Should you be curious to know more, please feel free to reach me offline at menon@optionsindia.com!


Incidentally, Knowience Insights is a young Indian company that specializes in Internet-based research services. Knowience provides critical customer insights to its clients through customised research – strategic and tactical – deployed over the Internet. Knowience is backed by founders with over 45 years of experience in customer relationship and over 9 years of experience in the Internet domain.

Potential Hot jobs in India in 2010!

Thursday, January 14, 2010

Continuing my series of posts on how 2010 could be different, related to industries to watch in India, sentiments regarding salaries, and the possible motivation to change jobs, I attempt to list out some of the possible opportunities that would be in vogue during the near future.


1. With the increasing globalisation of management teams in Indian corporations, and more interest of MNCs in the Indian domestic consumption story, there is a demand for senior executives-with a strong "India" flavour and international experience -apart from the ability and experience of managing scale, complexity and geographical diversity apart from bringing global best practices to the table.


2. Given the economy, the constantly-changing consumer and marketplace, employers are and will remain reluctant to hire regular employees as enthusiastically as before. There will be hiring, but primarily for critical positions and to protect intellectual property. One can see increasingly companies sticking to their core competency, having shed off 'not so aligned' businesses in the recent slowdown.

3. Specialists would be in demand more than ever!!

IT industry

While I would personally rate 'Cloud computing' and ' ecommerce applications' as the drivers, here is a recent blog post that summarises the trends in the IT industry :

-employers focus not so much on filling jobs but on acquisition of critical IT skill specializations.The skills sets in demand will be technical but also heavily business- and consumer-focused, with many industry- and situation-specific flavors.

-one can see many options for filling critical skill gaps — from the inside (hiring, training); from the outside (contractors, consultants); “renting” via outsourcing and off shoring; or “giving over” by purchasing any number of managed services, which is a market building momentum fast.

-Related in-demand skills and clusters :information security; open source OS; Microsoft Commerce Server; Java; SOAP; Python, Microsoft Share point; SQL; Sybase Adaptive Server; business intelligence; business process improvement; architecting; and a variety of IP networking areas, including VPN, Metro Ethernet, and IP telephony.

Non IT industry

My gut feel here is that we will see a lot more specialists jobs emerging in this sector, emerging from the most challenging tasks for different growth stages in the life cycle of development.

-There would be a huge premium for those with 'collaborative' skills, as companies are banking on strategic alliances and partnerships -rather than build capacity from scratch! The IT, Telecom, Pharma and Auto industries already boast of benchmarks, and it is only a matter of time others follow.

-Hiring too is becoming increasingly strategic, with senior management on board- and outsourcing middle and lower management positions to get economies of scale and speed.

My bets would be on the following professionals with skills related to:

1. Land Acquisition : With thousands of crores of infrastructure projects on the anvil, it would all boil down to the ability of any company to tackle the issues related, ie Legal formalities, Local liaisoning, dealing with Government Authorities. In a country where land is owned by a large number of marginal owners, the grandest of the plans can remain just that!!

2. Carbon credit specialists: Notwithstanding the Copenhagen chaos, there is a lot of potential here waiting to be tapped. Those conversant with facilitating Verification and Certification of CDM Projects, following up and coordinating with the buyers and other line institutions for realizing payments. The crux is coordination with internal departments, consultants, regulatory bodies, carbon credit buyers and work in close cooperation with other disciplines.

3. Social Media Marketing experts : To use a cliche, geography is history!! With the entire world now becoming a market for every manufacturer and service provider, it is increasingly imperative to have a virtual presence and be omnipresent! Isn't just about increasing awareness, but engaging the prospects and converting at a rate much higher than before. Companies that get on to the bandwagon first-to combine internet marketing and content creation in general, would stand to benefit. Social Media, blogosphere, updated social networks, SEO, SMO, PPC, managing communities will the buzzwords!

4. Fund raising experts: With increasing uncertainty, and multitude of projects that chase limited capital in a cautious investment climate, the financial wizards who can conjure up innovative instruments will be the ones to watch. And more so, in the aftermath of the financial excesses, and the glare of corporate governance, the challenges arent exactly enticing!

I shall be glad to be hear from you with your predictions!

Jobs in India in 2010-will it be different?

Saturday, January 09, 2010

Poof!! Before one even knew, the first week of 2010 has come & gone! An amazingly awaited week that was jam packed with action-but didn't leave much room for anything but reaction:-)!

I am not able to pinpoint -but there is an unusually high expectation for a lot of us from 2010! Not just another new year. May be its perhaps got to do with a new decade? Maybe it is time for India Inc to get that escape velocity...either way, one can hear lots of engines roaring,more strategy, more planning.

Or maybe it is that part of the year where most are following up earnestly on the crispy new resolutions :)! The long n short is-I can't remember the last that I had so many missed calls to attend to, at the end of each hour. Amidst all the flood of season's greetings, were veiled attempts to take a fresh guard of the career management.

It ain't about hope though, right? The world has significantly changed in the last 18 months. What worked in the past-is history. It's a new game, and with new rules.

What does the future look like in 2010?

Well, here's a very well articulated blog post by
Mervyn Dinnen on the skills that a recruiter ought to master to stay in the game! Relationships that are built by Reputation, Respect and Realism!!

We also have a bubbling budding corporate recruiter Rishiraj Singh, fresh after a 4 week break-who predicts that candidate centricity will prove a key battle concept in 2010.

Personally, I would wager that employers may not have too much money to throw around, to attract the best of talent. The key differentiators that an aspiring job seeker would hence be evaluating would hinge around the quality of the opportunity :

1.ability to rub shoulders with a topnotch peer group

2.the career progression it may lead to

3. long term financial stability more than instant gratification

Will the future interviews be continue to be based on 'proven past track record"? Or would companies start hiring for 'potential to grow"? Only time will tell.

Two sides of the coin?

Here are some symptoms that I -as a recruiter-see at the moment

a) The Employers perspective :

-Just in the last week, at least two of my clients have very clearly articulated filtering compulsive job hoppers. While one categorically mentioned that we wouldn't want to hire anyone who doesn't stay even 2 years in each job, the other was more forthcoming-' we want passion, not mercenaries', 'for the right guy, we will compensate depending on internal parity-and so drop all those aspiring to change for hike in salary reasons alone'!!

-In the recent months -while there has been increased activity of hiring enquiries, it is interesting to note how many of them have actually converted into offers-and joinees!! The 'wait and watch-there is lot of talent available in the market' mode has replaced 'hire the trespasser' syndrome that prevailed in 2007-08!

-Companies are lot more conscious of the 'cost per hire' now-keeping tab on the number of outstation candidates being interviewed-video conferences and Skype calls have increased! Not to mention the hesitation to consider the relocation costs involved once the person accepts the offer. Did we actually have 'joining bonus' some time back to sweeten too :-)!?

b) The Employee perspective :

Let me try and share some of the opinions, comments, remarks I have come across online and in person!

"Expectations amongst the professionals would be high in tune with the market uptrend and they would like to gain what they had lost during the recession...."

" in 2009 there were very many experience people who were getting suffocated in their roles and organizations and were wanting to move out, but as nothing impressive was coming the way, they had to bite dust till the recession ended and a new dawn has begun."

"2009 was the year of employer where the employer didn't hold any value in terms of retrenching people irrespective of the fact whether the employee is a performer or not . Now the Year 2010 is the turn of employees wherein they are expecting good compensation, if it is not matched, they will find the way."

Will the twain meet? It's anybody' guess who will blink first.

PS- Next post:I shall try and list out a bunch of potential hot jobs in India!!

2010: Salaries in India- Wake up time??

Saturday, January 02, 2010

In the general "feel good" factor of the extended holidays and celebration time, amidst all the hopes of a great year ahead, I am probably going out to put the spanner in the works by addressing a sensitive topic such as salary increments!!

It is partly triggered off by

1.this blog post "Is 2010 going to be a good salary year" -which Ankit Agarwal has very well articulated the case for us to debate on. I did share a couple of my concerns there.

India Inc actually ‘aped’ a lot of their multinational branches behaviour by laying off or cutting costs. The tightened belt of course helped improve the bottom line eventually, but I am not sure if the HR folks in India could have been more sensitive (!!

The skills of professionals needed in a stagnant or a slow economy are different from that one was accepted in a growing economy- the increase will be surely in relation to performance. And so, one cannot expect a largesse across the levels in any company :-)!

2. a question I posed on Linkedin early last month "What do you think should be a decent salary hike when one changes a job in the present job market?" which evinced a fair amount of opinions, hopes& wishful thinking :-)!!

The answers varied across the different stakeholders, namely the aspiring job seekers, and the corporate HR/recruiters making politically correct statement, as also from commentating recruiters in the thick of the action.

There are some larger issues related to salary hikes that are a function of the hiring game in India, which has been distinct in the recent past.

But the most thought provoking comment came offline from a CEO of a sunrise company!

"The bane of the Industry today and the one of the prime reasons for attrition is that there are a lot of lateral movements for insignificant( by my definition) increase in responsibility or remuneration. Many of these lateral changes maybe for reasons other than significant career progression and the new employer too will have to contend with the "what next" question very soon.

Employers too must learn to sieve the lateral movers from those moving for real progression, invest in them and reap the benefits of getting truly satisfied employees- and that comes only from true and significant progression.If employers don't hire predominantly hire laterally shifts where is the question of a mindless inflation of wages ebbs?"

Isnt it time to get real ?? I shall be glad to have your feedback!!

2010: Industries to watch in India

Friday, January 01, 2010

2009 was a year when smarter companies equipped themselves by tightening their belts, and by enhanced performance oriented systems. As a result of holding back, even though the economy might take time to revive itself to its heydays, 2010 promises to be a year of job creation!

1. Power Sector

2010 is slated to see a slew of power IPO's -eg NTPC, Jindal, Sterlite, REC are collectively expected to raise more than Rs 27000 crores over the year-which is almost equal to the amount raised by power in the last 2 years!!

2.Heavy Infrastructure

Nearly one lakh crore worth road projects are up for award presenting opportunities. One can imagine the spurring demand for professionals in the areas of project management, especially mega projects and CFOs with big ticket fund raising expertise apart from project specific niche areas.

3. Automotive

The automobile sector seems to be back on track with several global majors vying for the local market with a shift in focus to smaller and more fuel efficient vehicles even as the top end market continues to expand in India.

Hyundai wants to turn India into its small-car export hub. Fiat plans to source $1 billion of parts from India. General Motors, Renault-Nissan, Toyota, Suzuki and Volkswagen are building new factories or expanding their existing operations. Add Tata Motors and Mahindra’s plans, one can expect a lot more action!

4. Education

There is now a clear recognition that the domestic supply of higher education in India is unduly constrained. A key issue has been the question of entry of foreign educational institutions into higher education in India.

One has seen an increasing interest by PE funded enterprises making their foray in primary education (read affordable schools) and so there would be a lot of action in the remedial tutoring field. Add that to the competitive and professional education, the demand for teaching professionals augurs well.

I reckon we shall be seeing a lot more segmentation happening- for adult education, and vocational training, and cross pollination of experienced professionals moving from the industry too, soon thereafter.

5.The Green sector

Though these are early days yet, for sheer potential, renewable energy, environment management, water and waste management, carbon trading and other climate related sectors as the government and the private sector gets its act right. With US Prez Obama's penchant for clean energy, one could expect some of the initiatives triggered by the $50billion stimulus package into clean and energy efficiency measures, I am bullish some of the investments would create jobs in India!!

Further, one can imagine there would be a demand for expatriate executives and returning Indians as local expertise is lacking or non existent in the domain.

Sectors like healthcare and FMCG continue to be robust, while we see increased action in areas like telecom-which will call for new skills!!

Indian telecom markets are likely to undergo a tectonic shift with the introduction of new licensees, mobile number portability (MNP) and the launch of 3G services all scheduled in the next one year. New players will nibble at the market share of the incumbents, the rural markets will provide the growth....

I feel I shall need to devote another post to the kinds of jobs that would be on offer :-)!

At this juncture, 2010 seems to be a promising year!! Happy New Year!


2009-the year that was!

Wednesday, December 30, 2009

I am delighted I am starting 2010 with an advantage!!

Reflecting on the first post of 2009- I guess I don't have to spend too much time making resolutions for 2010. I just need to carry forward them over to the next year :)!!

As I quickly flipped through the 60 other posts I made -I now see a pattern. Initially, for a while, there was a sense of denial, followed by exhortations to change the way we were approaching the whole slowdown, before the realisation came that there needed to be a paradigm shift in the way we needed to get our act together.

In retrospect, it seems that 2009 did turn out to be much better than we anticipated-at least in India.

- It helped separate the wheat from the chaff in that companies with credible track records and clear strategies managed to thrive! Those of us -who hadn't built up too much flab, found it easier to cut costs and get back into shape.

- The job market witnessed a return of sanity after the three year bull phase. Career moves have come back for lot more due diligence than the short term gratification mode that was prevalent for the period!

-Compensation levels witnessed very modest increases (if at all!) during the year and we now see a larger portion of variable compensation as companies prefer to pay more for performance.

What were the lessons we learnt from the year?? Keep it simple.

That's right!

Cash is King.
Follow your instincts, not the herd.
Be social.
Engage.
Network.
Not just about building knowledge. But having the wisdom to use it!

2009 was the year to get back to the basics!! There isn't any short cuts. And as Samuel Goldwyn said "the harder I worked, the luckier I get"!

Here's wishing all of us a great 2010!!