Born and brought up in a small village in Anantnag district in Kashmir, Ishfaq Shah had a childhood affected by the insurgency in the valley. But the odds stacked against him did not stop him from fulfilling his dreams. Shah, 23, completed his MBA from Lovely Professional University in Jalandhar and became the first in his village to become a manager in a corporate house. “Today, I feel that I am capable of doing something in life,” says Shah, who is now an assistant manager at Federal Bank.
About 3,500 of his batch mates also got good offers, indicating a big shift in the Indian job market—corporate houses are no longer averse to going to small towns and villages to hire talent. “It would be unfair to call small town talent less efficient without giving them a chance to show their prowess,” says Rajeev Bhadauria, director, group HR, Jindal Steel & Power Ltd. “Because of technological advancements, students across the country have access to the same information and content. They are equally competent.” About half of 400 people his company hired recently were from small cities.
Ashok Mittal, chancellor of Lovely Professional University, says the number of companies visiting his campus has increased manifold in the past five years. Be it Bhubaneswar-based KIIT University or Patna-based Chandragupta Institute of Management or Chitkara University in Himachal Pradesh or VIT University in Tamil Nadu, small town institutes have impressive names that hired their students.
In fact, many employers prefer small town graduates for certain types of jobs. According to Brigadier (retd) R.S. Garewal, vice-chancellor of Chitkara University, students of top B-schools are good at dealing with macro level issues and strategic planning but have inhibitions in working at the grass-root level. “They will sit in air-conditioned offices but will find it demeaning to work in a kiosk. Small city students, on the other hand, are good at both planning and implementation—a deadly mix.”
Staffing firm TeamLease Services has predicted a 4 per cent increase in hiring in tier II & tier III cities this year, but only 1 per cent in metro cities. “Small town students are more focused and now companies have started realising it,” says Bibin Babu from Alappuzha in Kerala, who is about to join Bloomberg Institute after completing a five-year integrated dual specialisation course.
The rapidly changing market dynamics and continuing economic uncertainties will further increase the demand for small town talent. “As the cost of living in big cities is higher, salaries are higher, too, which makes talent acquisition in metro cities a costly affair,” says Prashant Bhatnagar, director (hiring and staffing) at SapientNitro India, an integrated marketing and technology firm.
The good news is, if the country has abundant talent, this year there will be a good number of jobs, too. According to INN Hot Jobs Survey 2013, the sunshine sectors will be banking & finance, pharma, IT & ITeS, retail, infrastructure, fast-moving consumer goods and health care & fitness. However, automobile, telecom and aviation sectors will not have much to offer owing to the shrinking bottom lines.
Though the IT sector is yet to completely recover from the economic slowdown in the west, it will continue hiring. According to the survey, IT and ITeS will be the largest hirer in the country, offering more than 1,25,000 jobs. “The economic condition in the US and the UK is improving. It means better business and more jobs for the IT sector,” says Amit Khurana, chief executive officer and managing director of Corporate Access, a human resources consulting firm.
The ITeS sector is taking on the increasing competition from China, the Philippines, Mexico, Canada and Malaysia by moving up the value chain. “From providing back-end services, we have now become value-added service providers. To remain ahead of competition, we are finding new models by leveraging on technology, which requires people. So hiring will continue in the sector,” says Raghavendra K., vice-president and HR head, Infosys BPO.
As always, banks and financial institutions top the list of job-seekers. Sample this: some 17 lakh people applied for 1,500 vacancies for probationary officers in State Bank of India recently. A renewed focus on finical inclusion and the government's plans to give new banking licences will accelerate hiring in the sector. “Apart from staff requirements for new branches, existing private banks would expand their reach, too, to beat competition,” says Khurana.
Impending elections are expected to prompt the government to increase the spending in the infrastructure sector, resulting in more jobs. Roads, railway, ports and allied sectors will be growth drivers. “It's the government's agenda to show that they are doing something for the public and are creating jobs as elections are ahead. You will see more road contracts happening and infrastructure projects being passed,” says T. Muralidharan, founder and chairman of TMI Network, a training and recruitment firm.
Shekhar Sanyal, director and country head of Institution of Engineering and Technology, a professional society for engineers and technologists, says this year will see a huge requirement of civil, electrical and mechanical engineers. “With huge investments happening in several sectors such as infrastructure, the need for professionals for core engineering jobs is only set to grow,” he says.
India's economic growth in the past decade has been powered to a great extent by domestic consumption. It made the FMCG sector a big employment generator. Experts say this year rural consumption will drive the sector's growth. With the government pushing the direct cash transfer of subsidies, the dispensable income of rural people is expected to go up, increasing their consumption.
If companies hit a gold pot in Bharat, they will naturally need foot soldiers to peddle their products. “FMCG firms are doing well and you will see more people being hired from rural areas,” says Pallavi Rao Chaturvedi, director (marketing and HR), AISECT, an education and skill training network. “People from bigger cities and hugely popular institutes may not go to work in non-metro cities and this will only create more jobs for candidates there.”
India accounts for a fifth of the global disease burden. “Which makes it one of the most relevant and sought-after markets for the pharma sector,” says Trupti Talati, senior director (HR), Quintiles India, a biopharmaceutical development and commercial outsourcing services firm. From researchers to physicians, paramedics and medical representatives, the sector offers many streams of opportunities and remains a hot favourite in the job market.
According to survey, the overall requirement of entry-level jobs in the sector in 2013 may grow by 20 per cent. The industry will also remain a frontrunner in salary increases with a 13.5 per cent projection for 2013-14.
Organisation of the workforce has been happening steadily in India, especially in the retail sector. While hypermarkets and malls employ a large number of people, the phenomenal growth of e-commerce in the past two years accelerated the employment rate in the sector. The entry of foreign players, like IKEA and Wal-Mart, will help the sector keep the momentum. According to the Hot Jobs survey, the retail industry is expected to see a 20 per cent growth in job opportunities. “Even when the overall economy is not doing that great, e-commerce continues to be a high-growth sector. This year alone we are looking to hire more than 300 people,” says Pooja Gupta, vice-president (human resources), myntra.com, an e-commerce firm.
Experts say many companies in the retail and FMCG sectors will go for flexible hiring. “It is becoming increasingly acceptable for people to go for such jobs instead of staying unemployed,” says Rituparna Chakraborty, senior vice-president, TeamLease Services. “In fact, flexi or temporary staffing is being considered as a stepping stone for a better career. And if you do well, the employer will happily absorb you as a permanent staff.”
So, what is it that employers are looking for in candidates?
“The economic ambiguity has made recruiters extremely selective about candidates even for entry-level positions,” says Prof. Munish Bhargava, placement and corporate adviser at Indian Institute of Foreign Trade. Deep knowledge of the subject is a must but not enough. Candidates need to have good inter-personal skills, soft skills and team skills.
“Gone are the days when companies recruited college pass-outs, trained them and made them job-ready. They pick up ready-made candidates, who have good analytical capabilities, soft skills, the right attitude to take on bigger roles and an entrepreneurial streak to take the organisation forward,” says Bhadauria.
That is why hiring procedures are becoming increasingly complicated these days, with several rounds of one-on-one interviews and psychometric tests. “Not everyone is exceptionally talented but anyone can upgrade skills to get an edge over others,” says Bhargava.
Young job-seekers are aware of the change. Grown up witnessing India's economic growth, they have seen a world of opportunities. Money is no longer the only reason to work; personal growth is equally important. Having a higher risk appetite, they look for autonomy, room for innovation and a sense of ownership in a job.
Perhaps that is why sectors like e-commerce are becoming a preferred choice for entry-level job-seekers. “E-commerce provides a lot of scope for experimentation, which not all brick-and-mortar corporate houses encourage,” says Anand Agarwal, 28, who recently joined myntra.com.
According to a survey by consulting firm Aon Hewitt, young job-seekers want to understand the career progression graph right from the start and their innovative spirit appreciated and rewarded. “I want new challenges every day and that's what attracted me to this job,” says Priya Pandey, 24, who joined Nestle India as a nutrition officer three months ago. “But if I am giving my 100 per cent to the company, I expect it to respect that and reward me accordingly.”
Hemant Behal, senior vice-president (HR) at tyre maker CEAT, says today's youngsters are assertive and well aware of their rights. “They do not mind questioning the boss. You have to earn their respect, dress the way they do, speak their language and treat them like equals to motivate and bring the best out of them,” he says.
Encouraging employees to do higher studies, providing skill upgrade programmes and communicating with them transparently are some efforts many companies have taken to keep pace with the changing times and the needs of their young workforce. “It reflects that you value talent,” says Sumit Sharma, chief HR officer of telecom service provider Uninor.
Another interesting change seen in the workplace is the increasing acceptance of the non-government, non-private sector. NGOs and philanthropic non-profit organisations are recruiting people with a ‘do-social-good' mindset. Some people even relinquish plum corporate jobs to work with NGOs. Rajesh, an MBA from Xavier Institute of Social Service (XISS) in Ranchi, joined the NGO Teach India after working for a year at SBI Life. Now he teaches slum children in Mumbai “Everyone wants to live in a good society but no one wants to work towards it. I wanted to do something for society but realised that my corporate job was a hurdle. So I left it and joined the NGO,” he says.
The social service sector is growing at the rate of 25 per cent a year. “Looking at the growing needs of companies to carry out corporate social responsibility activities, this segment has a bright future,” says Sanjeev Bajaj, associate professor and chief placement coordinator at XISS. “Like most sectors, initially the candidate has to work in hinterlands and then he can shift to any big corporate house with a handsome package in a big city. You can even start your own venture.”
While most of his contemporaries made a beeline for big corporate houses, Raman Arora, 25, chose online retailer Flipkart. A recent graduate from the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (IIFT), Arora believes that climbing up the leadership ladder will be time consuming in big companies, but the nascent start-up sector growing at a breakneck speed of 25 per cent per annum will give him room to innovate, experiment and grow as part of the senior management.
With job creation being relatively slow, students from leading institutes are now willing to join young ventures. The colleges encourage aspirants to join start-ups, which hone their risk-taking ability and nurture entrepreneurial minds. For start-ups, it's a win-win, as they get premium brains to drive their growth.
This year, the start-up industry has emerged as one of the key sectors providing fresh jobs. For instance, Myntra plans to hire about 300 people, Info Edge (India) Ltd, owner of naukri.com, will hire up to 400 people, and Aspiring Minds, a Gurgaon-based employment assessment and recruiting start-up, will hire at least 75 people this year.
“Across IIMs, number of students opting for start-ups is in the range of 10-30 per cent and the trend is picking up,” says P. Rameshan, director of Indian Institute of Management, Rohtak.
The reasons: economic slowdown and the growing confidence that students have about their career.
As for the start-ups, offering hefty packages is a necessity. “Unless your salary offer is good, you cannot compete with the MNCs,” says Himanshu Aggarwal, co-founder of Aspiring Minds.
Anil Kumar of IIM Bangalore, who now works as a business analyst with Myntra, says, students realise that in a big company, a youngster may take 15-20 years to become a unit head, but in a start-up that can happen in just a few years.
Amal Purandare, India operations head of Arzoo.com, however, cautions job seekers. “Don't forget that all start-ups don't succeed. It is important for young job seekers to gauge the company's future growth prospects and stability.” Of course, the older names like Flipkart are safe bets.
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