BT-TeamLease Employment Outlook Report: Recruiters aggressive on hiring
Large companies hanker after leadership talent, SMEs scout for foot soldiers, says Shamni Pande.
Business confidence has been palpable for a while. But now recruiters, who were slightly cautious before, are also beginning to step out aggressively. This is made amply clear by the BT-TeamLease Employment Outlook Report for April-June 2011.
The Net Employment Outlook Index has risen by as many as five points (to 74) with circumspection giving way to cheer. The Net Business Outlook Index has gained less, only three points (reaching 76), which narrows the gap between the two indices. Chennai, Bangalore, Pune and Hyderabad are the cities most upbeat about growth prospects.
Employment sentiment in these places has risen to 90 per cent. On the hiring front, Bangalore leads with 86 index points, followed by Mumbai with 74. Curiously, at 69, Delhi sees no increase in its earlier hiring plan. The good news is that even small and medium enterprises, or SMEs, with up to 500 employees, are seen as prime movers fuelling hiring intent. "What we see is a distinct inching up in demand for talent among SMEs.
Many people are required at entryand middle-level positions, which obviously points to the fact that they are looking at scaling up," says Sangeeta Lala, Vice President of Sourcing, TeamLease Services.
Premjit Singh, Managing Director of the Rs 200-crore ANG Industries, an infrastructure firm, says the scramble to bag talent has become the most vital concern of businesses seeking growth. "We are very bullish, and there is little that can spoil the mood.
We are looking to hire at all levels, just as everyone else is doing." Entry- and middle-level profiles constitute close to 50 per cent of all the new positions. The TeamLease report points to bigger recruitment numbers at these levels than at senior levels (See High on Hiring: How Employment Opportunities are Shaping Up).
Explains Adil Malia, human resources head at Essar Group: "Large, established companies such as ours will go for hirings at junior levels. We want to take good people and then train them for leadership. For senior levels we are looking within."
But, this may not be true for companies that are diversifying into new areas - often completely outside their traditional strengths. "Obviously these companies are going to scout for specialists and leadership talent from outside, often poaching people from other companies," Malia says.
Among the sectors, technology and communication companies are seen to be pulling out all the stops. Retail and fast moving consumer goods are seen steady by the TeamLease survey, while infrastructure is seen to be adding to hiring intent. Sunil Goel, Managing Director, Global Hunt, validates the assessment: "What we notice is that IT companies are building on-bench strength and people are getting multiple offers, but insurance and retail are conservative in their hiring intent."
The going looks set to be good. The BTTeamLease forecast is that hiring sentiment is bound to pick up even more across sectors and cities in coming days, and that blue collar workforce will drive this push.
The Net Employment Outlook Index has risen by as many as five points (to 74) with circumspection giving way to cheer. The Net Business Outlook Index has gained less, only three points (reaching 76), which narrows the gap between the two indices. Chennai, Bangalore, Pune and Hyderabad are the cities most upbeat about growth prospects.
Employment sentiment in these places has risen to 90 per cent. On the hiring front, Bangalore leads with 86 index points, followed by Mumbai with 74. Curiously, at 69, Delhi sees no increase in its earlier hiring plan. The good news is that even small and medium enterprises, or SMEs, with up to 500 employees, are seen as prime movers fuelling hiring intent. "What we see is a distinct inching up in demand for talent among SMEs.
Many people are required at entryand middle-level positions, which obviously points to the fact that they are looking at scaling up," says Sangeeta Lala, Vice President of Sourcing, TeamLease Services.
Premjit Singh, Managing Director of the Rs 200-crore ANG Industries, an infrastructure firm, says the scramble to bag talent has become the most vital concern of businesses seeking growth. "We are very bullish, and there is little that can spoil the mood.
We are looking to hire at all levels, just as everyone else is doing." Entry- and middle-level profiles constitute close to 50 per cent of all the new positions. The TeamLease report points to bigger recruitment numbers at these levels than at senior levels (See High on Hiring: How Employment Opportunities are Shaping Up).
Explains Adil Malia, human resources head at Essar Group: "Large, established companies such as ours will go for hirings at junior levels. We want to take good people and then train them for leadership. For senior levels we are looking within."
But, this may not be true for companies that are diversifying into new areas - often completely outside their traditional strengths. "Obviously these companies are going to scout for specialists and leadership talent from outside, often poaching people from other companies," Malia says.
Among the sectors, technology and communication companies are seen to be pulling out all the stops. Retail and fast moving consumer goods are seen steady by the TeamLease survey, while infrastructure is seen to be adding to hiring intent. Sunil Goel, Managing Director, Global Hunt, validates the assessment: "What we notice is that IT companies are building on-bench strength and people are getting multiple offers, but insurance and retail are conservative in their hiring intent."
The going looks set to be good. The BTTeamLease forecast is that hiring sentiment is bound to pick up even more across sectors and cities in coming days, and that blue collar workforce will drive this push.
 The BT-TeamLease Employment Outlook Survey, which follows a rigorous, statistically validated process, was conducted among 640 respondents. The companies were selected from the Kompass Directory for small, medium and large companies in the private sector, from NASSCOM for information technology, or IT, companies, from companies registered with www.bpoindia.org for IT-enabled services companies, and the National Stock Exchange, or NSE. Care was taken to ensure a good mix of large, medium and small companies as also an equitable representation across industries to remove any bias or variation that might be attributable to a particular industry. The target respondents at these companies were the HR heads or decision makers in the hiring process. Given the concentration of companies in Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, Bangalore, Pune, Hyderabad and Ahmedabad, the study was restricted to companies with a presence in these cities. A random sampling was drawn from each city with due weightage to size. Two indices, the Employment Outlook Index and the Business Outlook Index, were computed to elaborate and analyse the trends that emerged from the data. |
