Hustling while waiting

Wolf! Wolf!! Would have been more appropriate :-)!

India Inc ups hiring amid revival signs -says an Economic Times headline. "IT thinks out-of box to beat slump' says another. The latter article, highlights that smarter companies are 'working overtime, identifying new niches, new markets, creating new systems to get the bucks in this tough environment and prepare for the better times.

The examples quoted :

-Infosys will hire 150 people in France and Germany as it sees these markets open up

-Wipro is betting on seven new focus areas, eg cloud computing, collaboration technology and social computing, as the big businesses of tomorrow.

-Cognizant is tripling is top end consultants to 1800 ( high level business expertise combined with deep technical experience)

However, I would like to believe the above statements in media -are more 'feel good' factors, that one hopes -and have a long way to go on, before being self fulfilling in time!! To me, the thickness of the job supplements in the print media' is a better indicator of the business sentiments-than all the headlines -or the sensex-to feel the pulse of the hiring market. It doesn't take a genius to note that the 'appointment pages'-which at the peak -seemed to be 12-16 pages in the leading dailies, now seem to be lost in between the editorial and the sports section!

Even, if one were to look at the above statements, these numbers are very insignificant-compared to the size of the company-and really wouldn't be impacting the job market-as much. It merely re-aligns some of the professionals already employed-into another department, and rightly so, think of ' hustling while waiting' for the dawn!

One thing is for sure- the kind of frenzy and activity that one saw from 2004 to 2008 -is surely history!!

As a recruiter-who is constantly being exposed to the anxiety of both the 'hiring manager' and the 'aspirants', I notice though-that there is a sense of purpose all around.

-Companies -have perhaps shed the excesses, and more cautious now; definitely more quality conscious than ever before! With increasing availability of better talent, companies are now getting pampered with the riches-often getting paralysed in the process, unable to find a compelling reason to hire, and getting consumed by cherry picking.

-If one were to go by the activity on the social networking sites, where most 'passive job seekers' are busy building their brand equity, there is a sense of expectation. eg Linkedin profiles being constantly tracked with 'status updates', subtle changes of the profile, increasing endorsements and testimonials by the day, not to mention the Q&A buzz :-)!

-The job portals too are in the thick of the action. Naukri has announced a new service paycheck, and is probably beefing up its act on the social media scene too!!

It's all happening...right?

Guess, the recruitment firms have to change their act too, no? I will be glad to have your suggestions offline, (RSVP [email protected]), on how some of us in the fraternity could add value to the eco-system! Are there avenues for some revenue models-that could be explored? Just as the financial services have a 'wealth management' niche-'tailormade' to 'handle the class' to differentiate from the retail and corporate banking customers...is there a segment waiting to explode?? After all, isn't career another asset like land, realty, stocks, ....?? And more in our control??