Why is it so crucial to upgrade the skills of staff and promote mentoring in all aspects of the company.
Indian recruiters had it easy in the mid-1990s. Unemployment was at a real high and a steady pool of talent combined with low turnover made it a comfortable job.
Hardly a mere decade later situations have changed: the position of a recruiter is not an enviable one anymore. A burgeoning economy along with steep rise in job and a steeper rise in demands for quality talent makes is pushing the recruiters and HR departments to extreme limits.
The fact is brutally bare: there IS a shortage of talented talent in India!
According to McKinsey's estimates, Indian factories will need 73 million workers by 2015 - 50% more than today. The IT sector is on a hiring spree, targeting an intake of 3 lakh in 2006. The Nasscom McKinsey Report predicts India will confront a huge shortage of skilled workers in the next decade, particularly in the BPO industry.
This seems like a huge paradox in India, a country boasting of over one sixth of the world’s population (1.2 billion). Even more disheartening is that the shortage is occurring when half of the population is under 25 and there are 40 million unemployed.
Incidentally, India is churning out 3.6 million graduates every year and the numbers are on rise. All these facts and figures add to the outsider’s perception of India’s position as an inexhaustible supply of cheap, skilled labor.
But the reality is that there exists a huge demand for quality talent across the industries. So what is being done to manage the impending crisis?
Indian government is working to convince the best of the massive Indian Diaspora to return home — offering opportunities that might be hard to come by even in the United States.
Don’t Pay Peanuts
This however is not enough to beat the heat of talent hunts. One of the first steps that any company or recruiter has to take is to realize that the global war for talent is linked to paying top price for top talent. Indian companies are trying hard to get good talent all the while trying to keep the costs low. There is the danger that in trying to keep costs low, Indian companies will lose the war for talent.
Spend More on Brand Building
Recruiters, industry experts and observers all have a unanimous opinion: one of the most recruitment tools is your brand. This is often as important as salaries and benefits. People want to work for the IBMs and Microsofts as opposed to an Indian name.
Spend time on your brand building activities not only in relation with your customers but also general audience and the workforce in particular. Don’t be hesitant to shell out those dollars on PR, advertising, and other kind of promotions etc. Try to incorporate your branding tactics in your main recruitment channels – especially your recruitment website.
Upgrade the Skills of Current Staff
It always pays for a firm to invest in improving their existing employees’ skills and competencies to beat the great hunt for manpower. Good organizations generally plan talent retention even before talent acquisition. They map employee needs, conduct necessary workshops to upgrade skills, identify latent talents and provide the necessary training. Many companies are doing this as they realize this as a vital tactic in beating competition for talent.
Map Employees Personal Needs Too
Employees will stay with you only if you provide them with what they want – not only in professional terms but also in personal terms. In this booming economy jobs are easy to find and the seekers have an option. Most will look at how your present company will help them in their growth. You need to address this issue right from the beginning.
Attracting talent with flexi-timings is a good option. Many seekers would like to know before joining how the job timings will affect their daily routine. Allowing employees to choose their shift timings provides them opportunity to concentrate on their hobbies which they use as stress-busters from a regular job.
Do not put an embargo on employees earning money through their hobbies. Many a times there is no conflict of interest between the company and the extra earning of an employee. So you benefit from allowing them to enhance their personal skills as well as assure they’re going to stay with you for a longer time. This strategy, if promoted early in the recruiting phase, also works magic in hiring best talent.
Promote Mentoring Culture
Did you know that over 35% of employees, who are not being mentored within 12 months of being hired, are actively looking for a job! This comes from a reputed business magazine, Business Week. No one really needs to be convinced of the power of mentoring – for both employees and organizations. Provide ample opportunities for mentoring employees as well as time to managers to learn the skills, find the time, and build the relationships necessary to make it successful.
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