E Jayashree Kurup

Research & Content Head

Times Business Solutions Ltd

ForewordLynn Barber once famously stated, “The best interviews - like thebest biographies - should sing the strangeness and variety of thehuman race.” Interviews are ageless and are a treasure trove ofinvaluable information. Keeping this in mind, we proudly introducethe TimesJobs.com Opinions, an interview journal. This quarterlyjournal is a compilation of interviews of experts across domains,discussing industry specific issues, opportunities, strategies andvarious other aspects of recruitment and workforce challenges.

This would be our quarterly endeavor to provide our readers witha collection of highly informative, crisp and exclusiveconversations with industry leaders.

Our team constantly evaluates the changing talent market andprovides a comprehensive how-to guide for reinvention of skills,in the form of these interviews. This journal is an attempt to captureall this priceless information and provide solutions to our readers.

We hope this journal proves to be a valuable read. We wish toexpress our sincerest gratitude to all our interviewees, without theircontribution and support this initiative would not have beenpossible. We keenly look forward to your feedback.

ContentPage 1 ‘Built to last’- Abhishek Chatterjee, Founder & CEO, Tookitaki

Page 3 ‘Jobs in 2013’ - Anil Raikundlia, Director – Talent Acquisition (Indian region), SITEL India

Page 5 ‘Lessons in leadership’ - Anwesa Sen, Global Head – Human Resources and Organisation Development, Geometric Global

Page 7 ‘Employer-of-choice’ - Arti Sharma, Vice President HR & Admin, Schneider Luminous

Page 9 ‘Jobs in 2013’ - Dhruv Desai, Sr. VP & Head – HR and Leadership Academy, Angel Broking

Page 11 ‘The skills conundrum’ - Hamsaz Vasunia, Group-Vice President, DCB Bank

Page 13 ‘Top talent’ - Jyorden T Misra, MD, Spearhead InterSearch

Page 15 ‘E-way Ahead!’- Manish Chopra, CEO, Zovi.com

Page 17 ‘Ear to the ground’ - Prashant Khullar, General Manager – HR, The Gateway, Hotels & Resorts

Page 19 ‘Jobs in 2013’ - Pushpa Bector, Senior Vice President, Leasing and Mall Head, DLF Mall of India

Page 21 ‘Women at work’ - Raghavendra K, VP and Head – Human Resources Development, Infosys BPO

Page 23 ‘Global workforce’ - Ravi Shankar, Executive Vice President & Chief People Officer, Mindtree Ltd.

Page 25 ‘Women at work’ - Sairee Chahal, Co-founder, Fleximoms

Page 27 ‘Top talent’ - Satindra Sen, Co-Founder & Director of Exper Executive Education Pvt. Ltd –

Page 29 ‘Global recruitment trends’ - Tony Goodwin, Founder and CEO, Antal International, a global executive recruitment organisation

We are a leading e-recruitment Solutionsprovider. We exist to make recruitmenteffective, efficient, convenient andeconomical. Our key offerings includeResume Database Access Service – givingemployers access to 20 million resumes,Job Advertising Service- delivering bestmatched job applications & Visibility andBranding Services – helping organizationsbuild their Employer Brand.

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JobBuzz is an employee-to-employeecommunity which helps jobseekers in"Making Smarter Career Decisions" byproviding them useful company informationin the form of company reviews, ratings,salary details, interview process informationand interview questions.

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TechGig.com is an active technologycommunity with over 600k registeredtechnology professionals. It enablestechies to learn from top experts, competeamongst their peers and showcase theirexpertise, through various tools such asExpert Webinars, Coding Contest, SkillTest and Skill Score.

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EXPERT PROFILE

Abhishek Chatterjee, Founder & CEO, Tookitaki

Professional Background: Abhisekh Chatterjee is the founder and CEO ofTookitaki. Tookitaki is in the online ad technology space. It is a socialaudience discovery and re-targeting platform. Chatterjee keeps an eye onthe overall strategy. This is in addition to working very closely with theproduct team to ensure smooth functioning. He has worked with Google(DoubleClick) as a software engineer and with JP Morgan New York as aquantitative analyst.

Academic Background: After completing his BE in Computer Engineeringfrom University of Pune, he pursued MS in Computational Biology (AppliedMathematics) from University of Southern California.

Passion: Abhishek has a passion for real time problem solving.

How does an entrepreneur go about raising capital?Entrepreneurship is all about the unknown anduncertainty and hence an entrepreneur should plan welland be prepared for future situations to lower his risk. Inmy personal opinion, the best way to start is through self-financing with some help from family and friends (ifneeded).

The initial money should be spent on getting the MVP(minimum value product). Simultaneously, theentrepreneur should apply to top ratedaccelerator/incubation programmes to build theproduct and receive grants, seed funds at much lowerstake (say 5-8%).

With the seed funding done, they should focus ongetting traction (for B2C – traffic on website/for B2B –client PoCs). This proves credibility of the product/serviceand with some hard numbers, it becomes easy for anentrepreneur to close the next round of angel funding orquickly go for series A VC funding.

When is the right time to raise capital?There is no hard-and-fast rule. However, an entrepreneurshould always aim at good valuation as he starts to raisefund. So the minimum requirement for a seed roundwould be to have the MVP ready.

Is there a conflict between wanting to spread the wordabout yourself to attract investment, and the dangerof someone stealing your idea?There is no such conflict. The reason, being anentrepreneur should build a product/service, which isdifficult to duplicate. It should take minimum of 6 monthsfor the cream crowd to replicate the idea, facilitating anentrepreneur the first mover advantage. Besides, anentrepreneur should never go to investors, it should bethe other way round. This only happens when you havesome traction.

If you had to draw up a checklist of questions thatinvestors are likely to ask, what would that be? l What’s the problem I am trying to solve?l How is my product/service better?l What is my unique differentiating factor with respect tocompetitors?

l How easy is it for anyone to duplicate theproduct/service?

l How much funding do I need?l How am I going to utilise this fund?l What’s my exit plan?

OPINIONS‘To start with, the best option for an entrepreneur is selffinancing’

Built to last

Investors, bankers, friends, and family: These are the people we traditionally think of when we need to infuse money intoa business. Landing venture capital is always part of the plan. But like all start-up entrepreneurs, the founders of Tookitakihad to learn a lot on the fly. The most important lesson: Think of the worst, it might not happen.

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What funding advice would youlike to give?Being an entrepreneur myself, I knowhow difficult it is to raise funds.Entrepreneurs should strive for goodvaluation and for that should focuson getting some traction. Theyshould have a plan about theamount they hope to raise and, howto spend the same to give investorsgood returns.

Finally, it’s not necessary to raisefund, as soon as you get a cardfrom investor – but you can alwaysfollow-up with them and continue

your engagement, givingoccasional updates on thecompany for prospectiveinvestments.

Are Individual Investors (Angels)better than Venture Capitalists(VCs) for entrepreneurs?There is no such formula. It totallydepends on which stage of businessyou are in. For an early stagebusiness, it’s always better to go forangel round – who can be yourbrand ambassadors for decent VCfunding.

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Q U I C K B Y T E

People managers in start-ups need to be creative

The role of an HR in startups is to drive the workforce through effective action and not by their position

Needless to say, both large and small companies face a number of HR challenges such asrecruitment issues, communication problems, setting up of roles and responsibilities,processing of remuneration, etc. While in larger corporations HR is responsible for specific

functions, in start-ups they take on multiple roles.

Some of the key processes that HR professionals in start-ups have to focus on:

l Retaining right group of talent

l Creating appropriate job descriptions

l Dividing job roles/responsibilities

l Set up proper communication between the team members

l Working on the basics of recruitment

Being different…

“HR in start-ups is a different blend of individuals. Often they wear multiple hats and have to be moreinnovative to attract, retain and develop talent without adequate resources, especially during theirfoundation days,” says Vishnu Iruvanti, HR Manager, Myntra.com.

Manpower is inadequate, funding and resources are scarce; yet HR professionals in start-ups have tobe able to create something big from almost nothing. As Iruvanti says, “Constraints always bring outthe best in people.”

Innovation is key

The way HR manages people in a start-up makes all the difference, innovation is critical. Accordingto Deepak Singh, general manager, Nature’s Feast (an e-grocery company), “In smaller companiesthe key word is not management, but innovation.” HR in smaller companies has to think of out of thebox solutions for everything from job descriptions to engagement of employees. For a start up,people are the competitive advantage in the market, and HR can make all the difference by hiringand managing right.

According to a JobBuzz survey, thefour key reasons why Indianemployees would prefer working forinternational MNCs are:l They offer higher salariesl They offer a well defined career

pathl They have better processes and

things are well organisedl They offer better work life balance

TimesJobs.com Bureau

www.jobbuzz.timesjobs.com

EXPERT PROFILE

Anil RaikundliaDirector – Talent Acquisition (Indian region), SITEL India

Professional Background- He is currently the Director - Talent Acquisition(India Region) with Sitel. Previously, he was the Vice President – HumanResources at Tricom India Ltd. He has also worked with Fidelity NationalInformation Services.

Academic Background –He pursued his Post Graduate Diploma in BusinessManagement from Welingkar Institute of Management Development andResearch (Correspondence).

Specialisation – Assessment Center Design and Implementation (MaFoiManagement Consultants Ltd.), Transformational Leadership Development.

Expertise– His expertise lies in outsourcing, screening, vendor management,talent management, team management, recruiting and leadership.

Special interests and hobbies – He is a big sports enthusiast, especiallybadminton and Formula 1. He is also a technology aficionado and enjoysbrowsing news on upcoming technologies in computers and mobile devices.He enjoys grooming upcoming talent as well.

Which industry will be hiring the most in 2013? Why?Globally, India is the most optimistic in terms ofrecruitment intentions after China and Taiwan. IT andBPO, Education, banking, insurance and financialservices and automobiles are the top five sectorsgenerating maximum jobs across India.

IT & BPO is the largest employment generator in India.Recently NASSCOM reported that the IT and BPO sectorin India annually grows at the rate of about 25% andsustains nearly 2 million jobs. Indian IT – BPO sector is itsflagship economy builder and every single rupee spentby this sector accounts for two rupees in Indianeconomy.

In addition, every job created in this sector accounts forcreation of four jobs in rest of the economy. The highdemand for IT-BPO jobs is further compounded due tothe lack of trained professionals and high rate ofemployee turnover. At SITEL we meet our recruitmentdemands through campus, training programs to bring

candidates to desired levels before hiring, and retentionprograms and other activities that build certain stickinesswith the company.

We believe entry level and fresher jobs will be in highdemand in the coming year as the industry will requirefresh pool of talent by offering a decent affordableremuneration which will be beneficial for both employerand employee. Also, one will notice stability in hiring atmiddle level management in spite of stagnanteconomy as employees are willing to explore anythingbetter than their current job scope.

However, there will be a lack of hiring in senior levelsbecause of the cost factor that needs to be adjusteddue to the economy downturn. But the leadership skillsand specialty jobs will always be in demand.

Which will be the top ten in-demand professions in2013? And Why?In the year ahead, professions related to IT and BPO,

OPINIONS‘Creating a digital platform in the recruitment cycle willbe important’

Jobs in 2013

Excelling in your career today means knowing how to think through the fast changing business environment, andambiguity of the skills required to succeed. Here, we listen in as an industry leader discusses where the jobs are in 2013and the skills that will be in demand.

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banking and finance, education,public administration andgovernment jobs are going to be inhuge demand. According to myknowledge and based on how theeconomy is shaping, I believe thatthe following will be the top 10 indemand professions in 2013.

l System Software and ApplicationDevelopers

l Engineersl Computer Systems Analysts,Security Analysts, Web Developers,Network Architects

l Market Research Analysts/Marketing Specialists

l Human Resources Personnel/Training/ Labor Relations Specialists

l CA/ Financial advisors / Analysts/Fund Mangers/Auditors

l Retail sector Professionalsl Healthcare Professionalsl Psychologists and Counselorsl Industry specific qualifiedprofessors and teachers

What will be the strongestrecruitment trend in 2013?The trend that will be the mostimportant for recruiting in 2013 iscreating a digital platform in therecruitment cycle. Lifestyles ofpeople are dramatically changing,everything is at a finger’s click thuswe need to get easy access tocandidate’s profiles with mobilebased technology.

By the end of next year, the mobileplatform will have become thedominant communications andinteraction platform by early-adopting best-practiceorganisations. The capabilitiesafforded users of smart phones andtablet devices grow immensely dayby day.

Tablets will become the virtualclassroom, and an emerging classof tools will let people managealmost every aspect of theirprofessional life digitally.

Hence organisations need toimplement integrated talent-management technology whichwould enable applicants to easilyaccess company information andapply for jobs matching their skills.During the next year, talentmanagement leaders need to investin execution of talent managementinitiatives across digital platformsalong with internet job boards, socialmedia platforms, online professionalnetworks and adoption of marketingtechniques.

We expect to see technologyproducts emerging in the talentacquisition space with functionalitythat is as robust as in the standardsoftware.

Collaboration, accessibility andactionable design are key forrecruiters, candidates and hiringmanagers. SITEL is exploring variousplatforms that make recruitmentmore seamless.

Which metro will offer maximumnumber of jobs?As we look at the past records of2011 and 2012, Delhi-NCRgenerated over 29,000 jobs in thefirst quarter of the current financialyear while over 1.2 lakh jobs weregenerated across India during theaforesaid period.

Mumbai followed by Bangalore,Pune and Chennai are top five Tier Icities that have generatedmaximum jobs with a share rangingbetween 8-14 per cent in total jobgeneration across India in the year2012.

Thus I believe, Delhi NCR is going tolead in job creation in the year 2013,followed by Mumbai and the rest ofthe metros. More recruiters are alsogoing to tap tier 2 cities in India. InTier II category, Lucknow is believedto show tremendous growth in jobcreation.

2013 will be the year of….Indian industries were exposed to aplethora of challenges both

nationally and internationally, sincethe introduction of Indian economicreform in 1991.

The cut-throat competition ininternational market compelledIndian firms to opt for mergers andacquisitions strategies, making it avital premeditated option and thus Ibelieve the year 2013 is of mergers,acquisitions and consolidation ofbusiness units.

The fundamentals for sustained M&Aactivity in 2013 are solid, withimproving corporate confidence,increasing private equity activity fromboth a buy and sell-side perspective,and relatively healthy debt markets.

A number of factors have combinedto strengthen the environment formergers and acquisitions in India likedynamic government policies,corporate investments in industryand the experimental attitude ofIndian Industrialists.

Sectors like pharmaceuticals, IT, BPO,telecommunications, steel,construction, etc, have proved theirworth in the international scenarioand the rising participation of Indianfirms in signing M&A deals has furthertriggered the acquisition activities inIndia. In spite of the massivedownturn in 2012, the future of M&Aand consolidation deals in Indialooks promising.

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According to TechGig.com insights,the four most popular IT skills are: C,C++, C#, Java. The reasons fortheir popularity being:l Availability of jobsl Ability to upgrade from these skills

to other skills easilyl These are the core programming

languages

OPINIONSTHE

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EXPERT PROFILE

Anwesa Sen, Global Head – Human Resources and Organisation Development, Geometric Global

Professional Background: Anwesa Sen is Director and Head, GlobalHuman Resources & Organisation Development at Geometric sinceOctober 2012. Ms. Sen has over 12 years of relevant experience in India andChina spanning the multiple facets of the HR function.

She joined Geometric from SunGard Availability Services, where sheheaded the Central HR function. Prior to this she spent four and a half yearsin China, where she was responsible for HR at the Shanghai AmericanSchool; and five years as the HR head for 3DPLM Software Solutions (a jointventure company of Geometric Limited and Dassault Systèmes). She hasalso worked in the HR departments of Affar Think Tech Technologies and 3PConsultants.

Academic Background: She holds a masters' in Neurophysiology fromCalcutta University as well as a post-graduate diploma in businessadministration (HR) from Institute of Business Management and Research,Calcutta.

Skills and Expertise: Her forte lies in the entire gamut of business HR,compensation and benefits, performance management, training andorganisation development, HR operations, recruitments, and analytics.

How would you define ‘leadership’?Definition of ‘leadership’ changes with every situation.However, one of the most famous definitions is by DwightD. Eisenhower – “Leadership is the art of gettingsomeone else to do something that you want donebecause he wants to do it.”

Leadership to me is the attitude and ability to positivelyinfluence others, take people along, and build faith aswell as trust amongst them. It is the art of leading yourselfand others towards achieving stated goals.

HR is no longer a male-dominated profession and isknown for having women leaders. What is your take onthis shift?Most professions are traditionally male dominated, but inthe recent years professions that require a ‘people’touch like Human Resources, Public Relations, parts ofHospitality, etc. are seeing the emergence of women

leaders. Ability of women to look at multiple facets andanalyse a situation both empathically and pragmaticallymake them great for HR roles. HR needs people whocare, but at the same time can be hard-nosed enoughto make tough calls for organisational well being.Although perceived as women-centric, I think todaythere is a healthy balance of men and women in thisprofession.

During your tenure, how have you successfullyidentified other leaders at work?I think to identify good leaders, as an HR professional,you need to be observant and open-minded, since notevery leader follows the same style. Some leaders drivetheir team through a hard fisted, autocratic approach;while others lead by example; or by inspiring a hugesense of passion and fan-following that their teamswould do anything for them. No one way is right or

OPINIONS‘Leadership is the attitude and ability to positivelyinfluence others’

Lessons in leadership

There are few career moments as exciting - and these days, as challenging - as taking over the top job at a company,business unit, or department. In these uncertain times, leaders must have the ability to lead through ambiguity. In anexclusive chat with Anwesa Sen, Global Head – Human Resources and Organisation Development, Geometric Global, weget a peek into the mind of a young woman leader of today.

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wrong, and depends on situations –hence HR needs to keep an openmind and observe how people getothers to accomplish tasks to identifythe leaders within.

Being a woman in leadership role,what are your day-to-daychallenges?Hope we reach the point in life soonwhen the challenges would be thesame, irrespective of gender! In fact,I do believe that to a certain extentwe are already there. Both men andwomen have commitments to theirhomes, face the same set ofanxieties at work, and compete on alevel playing field. I see challengesas learnings that help me movetowards success.

What is the source of motivation atyour work place?The opportunity to do more thanwhat is expected from the role, theenvironment to try new things, andthe trust that the organisation showsin you to try these new things givesyou an immense sense ofbelonging. I try learning from realtime experiences and practicingthese in various situations.

Has the meaning of ‘women inleadership role’ changed over theyears?Earlier the impression of a woman ina leadership role was that of a‘Queen Bee’ who was married to herprofession and very masculine in herapproach, since these women wereworking in companies that were thebastion of the ‘Old Boys Club’. Thishas changed over the years, womentoday in leadership roles are no

longer stereotypes and free to beand act in their own unique styles.

What are the strengths andweaknesses behind your leadershiprole?A can do attitude is what has beendriving me all these years. As aleader, I need to take hard calls andin doing so at times, the mother inme overrides the decisions of theleader…sigh!

If given a chance, what would youlike to change in your career andwhy?I would want nothing to change.Have been lucky to get the rightopportunities at the right time andhave worked my way up. I havebeen lucky to have had excellentrole models and seniors who haveencouraged me to deliver my bestand taught me a great deal.

‘Age is no bar for learning’: Do youbelieve in implementing variouslessons you learn into your work?Every moment is a learningexperience, be it at work, home, onthe road, AND I try bringing all mylearnings from various experiences tomy workplace. I have realised overtime that being open and receptiveto new ideas/learnings helps in fasterturnaround time. Lessons from theyounger generation, even from my7-year old girl, have helped mesolve critical situations at work!

How do you maintain a work-lifebalance?I look at each day as a newopportunity to be at my best.Therefore I set high goals, never say

no, and work with people who sharemy passion for doing their best. I tryliving this every day, be it at work orhome. I work towards prioritising anddeep dive into the role. However, fullcredit goes to my better half forbeing my agony uncle (smiles)

Things you do in your free time?

I am happy spending time withfamily, and my two girls keep myhands full! In fact, you will often findme knee deep in a science orgeography or history project with mydaughter.

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According to a JobBuzz poll, the fourmost favorable workplace attire ofIndian employees are:l Formals with no tiel Smart casualsl Suit with tiel Jeans and t-shirts with sneakers

OPINIONSTHE

Leadership to me isthe attitude andability to positivelyinfluence others, takepeople along, andbuild faith as well astrust amongst them.It is the art ofleading yourself andothers towardsachieving statedgoals.”

www.jobbuzz.timesjobs.com

EXPERT PROFILE

Arti Sharma

Vice President HR & Admin, Schneider Luminous

Academic and Professional Background: Arti Sharma pursued her MBAin Human Resources from Himachal Pradesh University. She also haspursued a certificate course in Strategic Management from IIM-A. Currentlyshe holds the position of Vice President HR and Admin at Luminous India-Schneider Electric. Previously, she held the position of Head HR with AVTECLTD.

Expertise: She has proficiency in employee engagement, talentmanagement, talent acquisition, performance management, employeerelations and human capital.

Passion: She has special interest in social work. She is also fond of music,travelling and trekking.

According to you, why is ‘employerbranding’ a major concern areafor HR managers in themanufacturing sector?Employer branding is the focus ofeveryone today, regardless of thesector. Employer branding is anintegral part of the business plan.Many manufacturing units haverealised the importance of brandbuilding in retaining talent as well asattracting new talent from themarket.

Does an effective employerbranding strategy ensure aneffective talent pipeline inmanufacturing companies?Employer branding is an informativetool targeted at passive candidates,it ensures that people are talkingabout you, your organisation. Thesedays there are various socialmediums, which could help the

manufacturing companies to buildan effective brand strategy which Iam sure will definitely help the talentpipeline.

At which levels demand-supplygap is the most, and why?At domain specific, highermanagement and middlemanagement level, usually supply isless than demand. The reason is thatorganisations normally hire peoplewith technical skills and people skills,at these levels.

Employer branding strategiestarget which level of employees –junior, middle or senior?Employer branding strategies workwell at all levels. Creating a goodimage of the organisation wouldappeal to everyone. If effectivelyimplemented, employer brandinghelps in competitive advantage,

enhanced talent pipeline, andincreased employee engagement.

What employer branding strategydoes your company follow toattract the right talent? Share bestpractices.As an organisation, we conductawareness campaigns at thecampus, we have a strong internaland external corporatecommunication team. SachinTendulkar, our brand ambassador ispopular amongst the youth andgeneral public.

What aspects of manufacturingjobs should be highlighted toattract good candidates?Manufacturing sector develops theskills of candidates with respect toanalytics, optimisation, productivity,which are skills that IT and ITEs jobsdon’t provide.

OPINIONS‘Employer branding helps inenhanced talent pipeline, increasedemployee engagement’

Employer-of-choice

Many businesses limit their recruitment and retention policies to money. Whilethis may work for a short term, any organisation that wants to draw highperformance talent over a long period of time has to discover their secret sauce,and then serve it up to their prospective employees. Arti Sharma, Vice PresidentHR & Admn, Schneider Luminous, tells us why the manufacturing industry inIndia needs to position itself as an ‘employer of choice’.

According to a JobBuzz poll, the threekey factors why Indian employeesprefer joining start-ups are:l They prove to be a learning ground

for future entrepreneursl They provide faster career growthl They provide flexible and vibrant

work culture

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EXPERT PROFILE

Dhruv Desai, Sr. VP & Head – HR and LeadershipAcademy, Angel Broking

Academic and Professional Background: With experience of more than12 years, Dhruv Desai, Sr VP, Angel Group of Companies –manages two keyfunctions - Corporate Human Resources and Training. He began his HRcareer with an urge to learn the profession and began his academicgrounding in HR after his initial passion for marketing. He took his passionto the next level by contributing knowledge to the field of HR in pursuanceof his PhD in the area of Organisational Learning and LeadershipDevelopment. He is a research scholar with NMIMS University and is avisiting faculty with them and other prestigious colleges in Mumbai.

Achievements and Expertise: He has led training and learning initiativesacross various industries successfully. His exposure to the Financial, BPO,Aviation, and Telecom industries has given him the opportunity toimplement several innovative HR practices.

Which industry will be hiring themost in 2013? Why?IT/ITeS and other export orientedsectors will do better from here. Dueto the depreciated rupee, morebusiness will flow towards the offshoremarkets and it will have positiveimpact on the bottom lines ofcompanies.

There are talks of banking andinsurance sector reforms on theanvil, if there is some traction on thatfrom here, we will see opportunitiesin the middle level profile grow in thefirst quarter and then at all levels bythe end of the calendar year.

The surprise package in 2013 canbe construction, realty andinfrastructure sectors. After a lull ofover 9 quarters it has stabilised and isshowing early signs of picking up.

Which will be the top ten in-demand professions in 2013? Why?Application developers will be thehottest professions and in demand,besides individual contributing rolessuch doctors, engineers, specialistmanagement consultants. With theexpansion and diversification plansof corporates on a slow track theteam managers and generalistprofiles will not have manyopportunities, but specialist profileswith technical and managerialcapabilities will pick up steam.

What will be the strongestrecruitment trend in 2013?The use of social networks forrecruitment and employer brandingwill gain peak for knowledge workersin 2013. Functional areas such as IT,ITeS, HR and IR (Industrial Relations)

will see a new high as specialist infunctions will be more sought after in2013.

Which metro will offer maximumnumber of jobs?Kolkata will be an outlier among allmetros with new and growingopportunities in the city; this is alsodue to the low base effect.Hyderabad is also showing signs ofgrowth in the recent past with theTelangana effect being put behindthe industry for now.

2013 will be the year of….Normalisation. The exceptional roles,profiles and performers will becomepart of the norm rather than theexception and new roles, profilesand functions will take center stagefor the next half decade!

OPINIONS‘2013 will be the year ofnormalisation’

Jobs in 2013

Is constant change the new normal? Dhruv Desai, Sr. VP & Head – HR andLeadership Academy, Angel Broking, says that this year the exceptional roles,profiles and performers will become part of the norm rather than the exceptionand new roles, profiles and functions will take center stage for the next halfdecade!

According to a JobBuzz poll, the threekey parameters on which Indianemployees choose their employersare:l Opportunities with training and

growthl Good working environmentl Good leadership team

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EXPERT PROFILE

Hamsaz Vasunia, Group-Vice President, DCB Bank

Academic and Professional Background: Hamsaz has over 10 years ofexperience in Operations & managing P&L responsibility prior to taking onthe HR role with DCB Bank. In her current position as Head Business HR forDCB Bank she actively manages vital functions like talent acquisition,training, performance management and compensation across all regions ofthe Bank. Prior to DCB Bank, was head of the executive search business ofEmmay HR Services. She is a Post Graduate Diploma holder in PersonnelManagement & Industrial Relations from the Narsee Monjee Institute ofManagement Studies.

Achievements: A certified ‘Coach’ from the ACPP & International CoachFederation, Hamsaz has been responsible for path-breaking human capitalup scaling initiatives such as LEAP and RISE aimed at developing the Bank’smid-level management.

Passion: She loves to explore new destinations and new cuisines and is anexpert in Parsi cuisine.

What kind of roles do you usually offer to collegegraduates?There are several jobs for which we hire fresh collegestudents. These could be for roles like Teller, CustomerService Executive in branches, could be for several backoffice functions or for our ‘feet on street’ staff.

What kind of training is required to identify good talentamongst freshers? Do you face any difficulty in thisprocess?We have a ‘Budding Banker Program’ where we hirefreshers and put them through a well-structured trainingprogram. They are rotated amongst severaldepartments in the Bank for six months where they aregiven on-the-job training by their mentors. They aretested on their knowledge of that function before theyare moved to another department.

Upon completion of six months, they are put throughseveral evaluations and accordingly are assigned aspecific role in the Bank. The role assigned to them isbased on their interest, performance and test scores ineach of the functions.

The difficulty though in this process is not so much

training, but in hiring. Most good freshers want to do theirMBA these days and it so difficult to find thoseemployees who clear our selection criteria and arelooking at a 2-3 year commitment with us. We usuallyinterview more than 4000 employees across the countryto select a batch of 20.

Outline the positives and negatives of hiring freshgraduates?There are quite a few positives of hiring fresh graduates.We have observed that the performance, aptitude andcommitment of the ‘Budding Bankers’ are higher thanany other lateral hire from the market. In fact in our 2011batch of Budding Bankers we took only five of them forour Credit roles as we found them most suitable on thebasis of their conduct. We otherwise usually take MBAs forthis role. The only negative is that they may work with youonly for one year and then opt for B-School admissions.

Do you always find Management Trainees job ready?What percentage of these trainees can be consideredas an asset?I find that a lot of Management Trainees are moreacademic. They come with several misconceptions

OPINIONS‘Freshers are more flexible and keen to learn’The skills conundrum

When it comes to hiring fresh graduates or B-school passouts, ‘skill gap’ has been a grouse of the HR professionalsacross industries. However, organisations have now started developing rigorous in-house training programmes that bringthese ‘freshers’ up to speed with technology and industry trends before they take on their place in the workforce

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about what job is good for them andwhat they should not opt for. MostMBAs do not want to take up salesand relationship jobs. Even if theydo, they are hoping to gettransferred to other functions quickly.And in today’s market scenario, a lotof vacancies exist only in the salesfunction.

Also, there is huge peer pressurearound compensation and brandoffered in most campuses. Thiscreates a lot of anxiety amongstthese employees and they hopquickly after their first job. In my view,any management trainee who stayswith his employer for 4-5 years is anasset.

Is it important to provide further in-house training to thesemanagement trainees? What kindsof programs are usually tailored forthem?

We give a 15 day- classroom trainingto teach them most aspects ofbanking. Apart from this, we putthem through a specific on-the-jobprogram for the function or businessthey are selected for. They are alsoput through small behavioralworkshops every month.

What percentage of collegegraduate employees performbetter than management trainees?I personally prefer graduate traineesover management trainees as theyare more flexible and have a keeninterest to learn. They get adjusted toyour organisation’s culture a loteasily.

In the last two years, we haveincreased the number of freshers wehire and reduced the number ofmanagement students as we haveseen better success with our‘Budding Banker Programs’.

What would be the fresher hiringtrend for 2013-14?Hiring of freshers from under-graduate campuses in Tier III & IVcities will definitely see a spurt. Withthe advent of new banks, thefrontline staff will be in huge demandand most banks will have to hirefreshers and train them to keep theircosts under control.

INTERVIEW JOURNAL

According to a JobBuzz poll, Indianemployees, while comparing twosimilar job offers, choose thefollowing parameters to be the threekey deal-breakers:l Brand valuel Long commute to and from workl No flexibility in work hours

OPINIONSTHE

Q U I C K B Y T E

Catch them young, and train them rightOrganisations are investing time, energy and money to tailor-make campus recruitment strategies thatfeed their talent pipeline

In a recent survey conducted by TimesJobs.com, nearly 70% of the organisations claim to have acomprehensive and ingenious campus recruitment program. Highlighting the importance ofcampus recruitment, Praveen Parameswaran, Head, Sourcing (Offshore), UST Global, recently told

Jobbuzz.com that hiring from campus is an integral part of every company’s building process. Freshgraduates are hired by companies to build a broader talent base and also because fresh out ofcollege candidates can be moulded according to the culture and values of a company, easily.

Organisations also map a list of criterion that an academic institution needs to meet, for them toconduct a campus placement program there. According to the TimesJobs.com study, for over 50% of the surveyed organisations, quality of students is the top-most criterion for choosing an instituteto conduct campus recruitment drives, followed by reputation of the institute.

Fact filel According to most colleges surveyed, Day 0 and Day 1 is more popular in IT companies as theyhire in bulk. While core industries don’t follow this concept at all.

l Most institutes claimed that most of their students (90-100%) get placed during placement seasons.l On an average 60-70% students get pre-placement offers.l Approximately 70-80% of the students continue with the company for a period of 2 years.

TimesJobs.com Bureau

www.jobbuzz.timesjobs.com

EXPERT PROFILE

Jyorden T Misra, MD, Spearhead InterSearch

Academic and Professional Background: Jyorden T Misra is a foundingmember and Managing Director of Spearhead InterSearch, a specialisedExecutive Search Consulting Firm, focused on senior executive and Boardlevel hiring. In his current role, Jyorden is responsible for driving the firm’sstrategic direction, business growth and managing key client relationships. Heleads critical assignments for Board of Directors and CEO searches as well asmandates, impacting any corporate governance arena. He holds a Mastersdegree from Delhi University (St. Stephens College) and is an Alumnus of theprestigious Chief’s College, Mayo College, Ajmer.

Skills and Expertise: His Search Consulting experience spans over 15 yearscovering multinational, regional, and domestic clients in the Engineering/Industrial, Automotive, Consumer, LifeSciences, Social/Development and TMTsectors. He has also graduated with an order of merit (Grade A) from, theHimalayan Mountaineering Institute, Darjeeling and the Indian Institute ofSkiing & Mountaineering, Gulmarg.

Passion: An avid traveller and a naturalist, his wanderlust has seen him trekacross the eastern, central and western Himalayan ranges. Somememorable voyages overseas include the trek across the northern Andes andthe southern regions of wild Patagonia, making camp at Tierra del Fuego. Hehas journeyed through the Sonora desert hiked the Appalachian Mountains

What has been the trend for senior level hiring acrosssectors in the last quarter?Senior Level and Leadership hiring normally don’t followany cyclical patterns. Hiring at this level is primarilydetermined by positions emerging out of exits/replacements or when new projects/ businesses requireexternal talent. The last quarter saw mildly subdued hiringactivity in most sectors, except in Education, Healthcare,Life sciences and E-commerce.

Which sector has witnessed the highest growth forsenior level positions in the last quarter and what arethe reasons behind it?Sectors where relatively active hiring is taking place are –Education, Healthcare and Life sciences (MedicalDevices, Biotech, CRO), E-Commerce and to someextent Retail. The reason for better growth and traction in

these sectors is also due to the demographics of thecountry (large youth population, aspirational as well asrural growth) and the rapidly evolving socio-economicdynamics (higher purchasing power, strong disposableincomes). Investors consider such sectors, where growthis assured due to very strong demand created by alarge population, to be safe investment destinations.

Other sectors which have been steady and witnesseddecent leadership talent requirements are consumerbusinesses covering both FMCG and durables. Thisgrowth has been fueled mainly through Tier II-III townsand rural demand.

What are the key concerns for senior level hiring?The sentiments which drive senior level career interestsare determined by fairly straight forward macroparameters such as, business growth based on market

OPINIONS‘Hiring at leadership levels would stay on course andimprove in 2013’

Top talent

Finding the right person for the job is tough, finding leaders, even tougher. Most HR heads will admit that sometimes theirsenior level hiring goes very wrong. The result is wasted resources, lost time and a demotivated team. Jyorden T Misra,MD, Spearhead InterSearch talks about hiring trends in senior level positions.

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potential, regulatory environmentand long term prognosis of thecompany, domain and the country/market being operated in.

How successful are the non-metrocities in recruiting senior talent?India still plays a major role inattracting and retaining leadershiptalent. Whilst most senior executivesthese days are quite mobile, theirpreferences are still restricted to themain metros. The lower tier cities dofind it a challenge to get anadequate critical mass of interestedtalent, from where they can make amore informed and satisfactory

decision. More often than not,companies have to makecompromises and think out-of-the-box to get desired leaders.

In the year 2013 do we see a goodround of senior level hiring or is theglobal slowdown going to affectthe Indian economy?The Global slowdown is a concernand in a highly networked worldeconomy, India can’t hope to beuntouched. However, given that thecountry’s economic growth still looksa lot more promising than othermarkets across the world, we arequite positive that hiring at

leadership levels would stay oncourse and in fact improvecompared to the last two years.

INTERVIEW JOURNAL

According to a JobBuzz poll, the threekey strategies that start-upsimplement to attract and retain talentare: l Provide flexible and interactive

work culturel Involve employees in company’s

businessl Provide attractive work benefits

OPINIONSTHE

Q U I C K B Y T E

70% Indian leaders create demotivating work environmentAccording to a global study by Hay Group, majority of Indian leaders follow a coercive style ofleadership, resulting in a demotivating work environment. Global workforces seek ‘inspirational’ and‘charismatic’ personality traits in their leaders.

According to a recently released global study by Hay Group, a large majority of Indian leadershave a coercive style of leadership that leads to demotivated workers. The research says that 2 in every 3 Indian leaders (62 per cent) opt for the ‘coercive’ leadership style, compared to

just 37 per cent globally. A far cry from the ‘inspirational, charismatic’ personality that a globalworkforce demands. Both Brazil and China were found to have performed better in this aspect.

Mohinish Sinha, leadership and talent practice leader at Hay Group India comments, “While the‘coercive’ leadership style works well in a crisis or during a period of significant change, its overusemay lead to an erosion of innovation. It is the ‘coaching’ style of leadership that is most preferred inthe Asian context – 81 per cent of the most high-performing organisations had leaders using it as adominant style. We find a ‘coaching’ leader focuses on building long-term capability, even at theexpense of short-term performance.”

The study goes on to say that in the world’s emerging markets the ‘coercive’ style remains theapproach of choice, with around half of Asian and South American leaders (48 per cent and 60 per cent respectively) citing it as their dominant style. On the other hand, ‘pacesetting’ leadershipstyle remains the most scarcely used in both regions. North American leaders are the most successfulin creating positive work climates.

Adds Ruth Malloy, global managing director of leadership and talent at Hay Group, “Every style hasits place, and each can be effective in different circumstances. In the same way a golfer uses arange of clubs, leaders need to utilise multiple approaches, and be able to adjust them to eachteam member or business situation. The better leaders are at adapting their style and the broaderthe range of styles they use, the more likely they are to create a high performance climate.”

TimesJobs.com Bureau

www.jobbuzz.timesjobs.com

EXPERT PROFILE

Manish Chopra, CEO, Zovi.com

Professional Background: Manish Chopra is the CEO and Founder ofZovi.com. Previously, he held the position of Chief Operating andMarketing Officer at Microsoft Indonesia. He has worked with variousreputed organisations like Microsoft, Oracle and PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Academic Background: He pursued his MBA from S.P Jain Institute ofManagement and Research.

Hobbies: He is an avid reader and is very fond of travelling and exploringnew gadgets.

What do you think will be the growth trend of e-commerce in 2013 vis-a-vis 2012?2012 saw significant advertising spends by e-commercecompanies.This provided stimuli to the growth of theonline shoppers base. As per data released by Google,the search queries for the ‘apparel’ category has grown,by more than 100% in 2012, the highest amongst all e-commerce search terms. This growth trend is expectedto continue in 2013 as well.

What is the way forward in 2013? Online shoppers, today, consider features such as ‘CashOn Delivery’, ‘Free return and exchange’,‘Money refundon cancellation’, and steep discounts as hygienefeatures. In 2013, e-commerce companies need tocontinue excelling in these as well as to move beyondthem and provide differentiated services and productsto retain customers and build loyalty.

How do you think e-tailers can create competitiveadvantage?Controlling customer acquisition costs while scaling uprevenues is a key challenge for all e-commerce players.Those who have invested in building customer loyaltythrough consistently superior service will be rewardedwith higher margins per customer over the customer’slifetime, which is a competitive advantage that will keepthem ahead in this competitive e-commerceenvironment.

What is the future of e-commerce in India?There will be consolidation of vertical players with thosewho have a proven business model and sufficientfunding emerging as leaders in their respectivesegments. The rest will be consolidated with horizontalsto strengthen their private label offering.

There will be increased investment in communitybuilding and engagement activities across socialinterfaces.

Further, as marketing teams ride the digital learningcurve, they will leverage the Internet’s capability to microtarget niche segments with relevant offerings.Customerinteraction will also increase–fashion brands, forexample,will proactively seek customer inputs andfeedback on design and styling to co-create linesthrough crowd sourcing initiatives.

Leading e-commerce companies have had to insource‘non core’ functions such as logistics due to lack ofresponsive services from existing vendors. Scaling up ofe-commerce infrastructure providers is imperative tomeet the specific requirements of e-commercecompanies.

Also, companies will quickly move from just makingmobile apps to leverage the m-commerce potential,driven by the exploding mobile internet penetration, tothinking “mobile first” when they are designing productpromotions.

OPINIONS‘Opportunities galore in e-commerce’E-way Ahead!

The E-commerce space is rife with opportunity right now. The growth of the Internet and the advent of the World WideWeb has made it possible for individuals to set up shop online and there are many early pioneers who are leading theway. A virtual proprietor helps us gauge the future trends and the new work profiles that the e-commerce industry willcreate in the coming months

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What are the new work profiles thathave been or will be spawned bythe e-commerce industry?The current logistics infrastructure isnot flexible to manage the specificrequirements of e-commercecompanies (COD, exchange andreturn, etc).This gap will be filled byentrepreneurial logistics models,which will address this businessopportunity.Larger e-commercecompanies will look to insource suchtalent whereas the rest will outsourcetheir logistics requirements to this

new breed of logistics vendors.

Another area is content creation.Traditional content creation talenthas been associated with offlinemedia, which is one-waycommunication. However, withsocial media and mobile contentexploding, there is a need forcontent creators who are adept atmanaging two-way communicationand content co-creation. Typically,the profile of these new contentcreators matches the demographic

of the online audience with skillsetsdrawn from graphics and animation,journalism, and fashion.

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According to TechGig.com insights,the most attended webinars are:l IT securityl Project managementl Cloud Computing

OPINIONSTHE

Q U I C K B Y T E

E-commerce: Adding wings to Indian businessesE-commerce is creating huge opportunities for Indian businesses, especially when it comes to cross-border trade and selling to the world. Today, more and more businesses are making use of technologyand innovation to explore further growth opportunities, open new revenue streams and enhancing profits

“With approximately 25% of PayPal’s business being cross-border trade, we are focused onenabling Indian merchants to go global and ultimately boost India’s economic growth. We foundthat in 2012, PayPal merchants in India were seizing cross-border opportunities in traditional export

markets, seeing an increase in growth in USA (20%), UK (12%), Australia (31%), Canada (17%) andGermany (16%). PayPal’s Indian merchants also grew their overall sales last year exporting toemerging markets like Israel (112%) and Russia (71%), as well as China (38%), South Africa (31%) andSingapore (20%). What this represents is a call to action for more businesses in India to recognise thebenefits of e-commerce and get online,” says Faraz Ahmed, General Manager, PayPal, SoutheastAsia and India. Building a business in today’s hypercompetitive market is tough and smartentrepreneurs will tell you that choosing the right business and technology partners will make thejourney that much easier. With more consumers realising the convenience and choices availableonline, the need to have a secure and easy-to-use online payment platform in place has neverbeen more important, especially for entrepreneurs and SMEs.

“India has over 30 million micro and small and medium enterprises and online payment platformslike ours is committed to helping them grow by leveraging the power of e-commerce which givesthem a level playing field when competing with larger export houses,” adds Ahmed.

Commenting on whether Indian SMEs are leveraging the growth of e-commerce, Ahmed explainsthat by setting up their businesses online, SMEs can reduce their cost structures, streamlineoperations to enhance productivity, and most importantly, increase their sales through entry into newmarkets. “We are seeing more and more SMEs leveraging on the opportunities e-commercepresents. To reinforce the message that the time is right for Indian SMEs to take advantage of onlinecross-border trade, the Federation of Indian Exporters Organisation (FIEO), the apex body of Indianexporters, signed a Memorandum of Understanding with PayPal and eBay in April 2012. Ascommerce becomes 24/7 and the popularity of online shopping grows around the world, weexpect more SMEs to realise this golden opportunity to leapfrog

TimesJobs.com Bureau

www.techgig.timesjobs.com

EXPERT PROFILE

Prashant Khullar, General Manager – HR, The GatewayHotels & Resorts

Academia and Professional Background: After serving as the generalmanager for five years and heading the HR function for 25 Hotels withinthe Gateway Brand – Taj Hotels Resorts & Palaces, Prashant Khullar wasrecently announced as the Director – Human Resources, Taj Hotels. He hasbeen a part of this luxury group since 2003 and has served various rolessince then. With a Masters in Business Administration, Human Resources,Finance & Marketing, from SP Jain Institute of Management and Research,Prashant has also done certified programs in Executive Leadership andStrategic Human Resources practices from Cornell University.

Award and Recognitions: Received the Gallup ESS Score (Top Box - OverallSatisfaction) 2008-09 at record high of 83%. Top two boxes at 95%. He alsoreceived an award from the Managing Director for creating a uniqueidentity for employee communication - 2005-06 at Taj Hotels, Resorts andPalaces.

Passion: I enjoy travelling very much both on work and leisure. I have beenfortunate to explore different parts of our beautiful country - India. I alsoenjoy "Scuba Diving" during holidays and am a certified diver. I enjoyreading on airplane technology and practice virtual flying skills on a flightsimulator once in 2-3 months. I take out time during weekends or holidaysto engage with my 3 year old daughter in activities of her interest.

What are the must-dos in internal communicationduring crisis?Internal communication must be structured: Sit togetherand sort out why we are doing it – important to bringsome sense to the madness happening around.

Communication has to be very specific. No harmsharing the reality as it’s important to give away facts.

Discipline: If we commit something during crisis, it has tobe addressed or reverted well in advance to allemployees.

How do you communicate with your employees aboutthe latest company updates?We organise a ‘Monthly Town Hall’ meeting forcommunicating with our employees across all grouphotels. Here, the General Manager – HR shares all thelatest happenings live through Skype using high-speedinternet with all the employees. The HR manager gets

connected sitting at his office and gets to see all otheremployees through his computer screen. On the otherside, the employees get to voice their concerns one byone.

There is also a Monthly Audio Conference which isattended by our HR Head and Learning & Developmentprofessionals. This conference takes place towards thelast week of each month where we take a stalk ofmonthly happening. We manage to bring everyonetogether and share what has happened in different partsof the country in the same brand. We also highlightperformances and see what our focus is for the nextmonth. This conference usually lasts for two hours and webring out all issues during this meeting.

During crisis how do you go about managing internalcommunication?During the 26/11 crisis, we tied up with Tata Institute ofSocial Sciences (TISS) where we got 50 counselors. The

OPINIONS‘Internal communication must be structured’Ear to the ground

To thrive in the workplace of the knowledge economy, it is imperative for every organisation to develop an effectiveInternal Communication Process. Organisations need to make sure that employees understand their strategy, and theirplace in the bigger picture, to ensure that employees get the information they need to become the core employees everycompany wants. This becomes even more important during times of crisis. Prashant Khullar, General Manager – HR, TheGateway Hotels & Resorts tells us how to get our communication strategy in place

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intention was to allow all ouremployees to easily open up andcome out of the fear of comingback to work. For a period of sixmonths we continued doing this; wewere even available in the middle ofthe night!

TISS gave us thorough training onhow to handle employee questions.There was a lot of apprehensionabout the future of our flagshipproperty, etc. We made sure wetalked about these concerns duringour Monthly Town Hall meeting. This ishow the message was conveyedthat employees can return to theirwork and work comfortably.

How do you engage employeesand keep them motivated at thesame time?We come out with a quarterlynewsletter (e-magazine) calledGateway Times. If I am a new joinee

and want to write about myexperience (first day at job, etc) thisis the platform to get it published.

Another way of engaging is throughGateway Grooming Ambassadorprogram. Each month in each hotel,we select one Best Groomed Gentand one Best Groomed Lady. Thewinners’ names then appear onvarious in-house posters and noticeboards across all the Gateways. Thisway people all across our grouphotels can come to know who thenew Grooming Ambassador is andmuch more. This has been a greatway of engaging employees atdifferent levels.

We engage employees through our‘Year of Associate’ program. If it’syour birthday we allow you tochoose any restaurant of yourchoice within our group hotels andbring your wife and kids. We takecare of the rest.

Companies often need to conveyharsh messages to the employees.Do you do anything different totackle this in particular?We have started internalcommunication mascots. We havestarted something called ‘fun-do’. Inour internal communication likeposters or emails, this mascot isheavily used. This helps us tocommunicate some of the harshestmessages in a composed manner.

INTERVIEW JOURNAL

According to a JobBuzz poll, thefollowing key guidelines would makeyou a good leader/manager:l Empower, don’t overpowerl Be an inspirationl Be an honest critique

OPINIONSTHE

Q U I C K B Y T E

Employees speak their mindThere is a growing trend among employees to share their feedback and experiences about their past andcurrent employers on websites and free communities.These reviews help users make informed careerdecisions about their prospective employers. Or does it?

Talking about the benefits of employee reviews on online review websites, Aditya Narayan Mishra,President – Staffing and Marketing Director, Randstad India Ltd, says, “The benefits for thecandidates are, they are forewarned about potential areas of concern & there is an opportunity

for those to be clarified during interview cycle.” Employees in Delhi are very proactive when it comesto reviewing their employers online. Data provided by JobBuzz, a free community where employeesshare their experiences about the companies that they have worked for, revealed that nearly 40% ofits users are from Delhi.More than half of JobBuzz users are within the 1-5 years work experiencebracket. The data also reveals that the maximum (14%) percentage of JobBuzz users are IT/Telecom-software professionals. Mishra believes this is because professionals from IT/Telecom are inclinedtowards technology as their day-to-day work demands it. “However, I would not limit the adoptiononly to these verticals. Other verticals are also catching up, especially with individuals who work indepartments which are technology savvy like Engineering, R&D, and Marketing etc,” he adds.Although beneficial for job-seekers, these should not be the only basis of judging an organisation.Mishra believes that these online reviews have to be taken with a pinch of salt. Sunil Goel, Director,GlobalHunt, also believes that the online reviews of companies should not just undergo one-pointverification but instead it should be subjected to multi-point verification.

TimesJobs.com Bureau

www.jobbuzz.timesjobs.com

EXPERT PROFILE

Pushpa Bector, Senior Vice PresidentLeasing and Mall Head, DLF Mall of India

Educational and Professional Background: Pushpa Bector is a PostGraduate in Management and a science graduate from St Josephs Collegeof Arts & Science, Bangalore.Currently she is the Senior VP and also theLeasing and Mall Head of DLF Mall of India. Pushpa began her career withthe Oberoi Group of hotels and was part of the prestigious OCLD program.She later joined Domino’s Pizza as a Marketing Manager. She also served asthe CEO for Funkie Orbits; the first “Drop & Shop” children food andentertainment chain in India.

Achievements: She has been associated with DLF since 2006. In her lastrole as the VP and Mall Head, DLF Promenade, she established a footfall of 1million per month and created operations and marketing programs formore than three years ensuring high sales for all retailers.

Life beyond work: She is a single mother of two. Her daughter is finishingher undergraduate study at UT Austin USA & son is finishing Grade 12 fromShriram School. A highly involved parent, she spends a lot of quality time insharing & experiencing life with her family.

Passion: She loves reading and travelling and an ardent music lover. Sheloves to travel to unique spots like Egypt and is aspiring to go to Brazil andPeru next.

What is the current recruitment scenario in the retailindustry in India? How does it differ from the globaltrend?There is a lot of development in the retail segment postFDI in retail that was announced recently. This hasopened avenues for candidates seeking jobs in retailsector. As there would be a lot of international brandssetting up their flagship stores and operations in India, it would create a lot of job opportunities. Regarding theglobal trend, the recruitment scenario does not lookgood due to saturation of markets. Developed regionslike Europe and America have markets saturated withbrands and thus there is no growth happening withrespect to retail sector which in turn is affecting therecruitment. Unlike these markets, India is a growingeconomy which is welcoming a lot of candidates asretail segment is booming and would create a lot of jobopportunities in the coming times.

What are the skill sets that are most sought after inretail? Are there any new skills that would be requiredin 2013 in the industry?Retail requires the use of interpersonal and soft skills on aday to day basis. Soft skills combined with businessacumen are the new rules in the retail sector. One mustpossess the right mix of analytical skills andentrepreneurial drive to excel in the field. Goodknowledge of the retail sector (be it related to fashion,food, entertainment etc), excellent communication skills,confidence and the ability to multi task would also workto excel in the retail segment. Most importantly, onemust have the ability to connect, to persuade and toinfluence as it comes as a second advantage when itcomes to marketing and sales.

What impact will FDI have on recruitment?With FDI in single brand retail, the job scenario is going to

OPINIONS‘Growth in retail sector will bring lot of job opportunities’Jobs in 2013

Growth in economy always gives a fillip to the workforce. The retail industry in India is expected to grow fast and furiousas it gets an impetus from the FDI ruling of the government. This growth will need to be shouldered by a well-trainedtalent pool. Are we there yet? Pushpa Bector, Senior Vice President, Leasing and Mall Head, DLF Mall of India explains thetalent challenge of the retail industry in India

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see a positive change. The markethas been bullish in 2012 which isgoing to drive the retail realtysegment for this year as well. Therewill be a considerable flow ofinvestment from foreign countries asthere would be a lot of internationalbrands making their debut in Indiaand creating a lot of jobopportunities.

What is the compensation like inthe industry and how does it differbased on various roles/profiles?At the starting level, salaryprogression may not be asexpected, but with good experiencecome better opportunities.

What is the job outlook for thissector in the near future? Wherewould be the maximumopportunities (whatroles/positions/profiles) lie?Growth in the retail sector is going tobring lot of job opportunities with it.Retail Realty is gaining momentumwhich is evident from the rapidlyemerging shopping malls andcommercial multiplexes. Themaximum opportunities would lie infront desk dealing in apparel,footwear, jewellery, grocery, furnituresegments etc; and ampleopportunities for retail managementprofessionals in store management,marketing, finance as well as

communication. The market wouldalso want candidates for malloperations and mall managementincluding supply chainmanagement as well.

INTERVIEW JOURNAL

According to a JobBuzz poll, the threekey benefits of employee orientationprograms are:l It helps develop realistic job

expectationsl Provides insight about employer

expectationsl It helps reduce anxiety

OPINIONSTHE

Q U I C K B Y T E

Indian skill ecosystem needs revamping: ExpertsMost of fresh graduates, according to experts, are not industry ready and often lack awareness ofbusiness and analytical skills

India Inc is collectively feeling the skill-dearth pinch. During one such discussion organised inassociation with Delhi School of Business, panellists representing various industries, highlighted thevarious challenges faced while they scout for fresh talent. Hanumant Talwar, country manager,

Customer Management Operations, Covergys, stated that there is a major dearth of candidates withgood communication skills. He also feels that the fresh graduates coming out of colleges are notglobal market ready, lack awareness of business skills and analytical skills.

Addressing the skill challenges faced by the automobile sector, S. Y. Siddiqui, COO, Maruti SuzukiIndia Ltd, stated that at least nine months investment is required for making fresh graduates, comingout of even the best engineering colleges, industry ready.

Addressing the skill issues, Dillip Chenoy, CEO & MD, NSDC, stated that one of the key reason for suchimmense skill gaps is that students go for degrees rather that vocational courses. He believes that thecurrent skill ecosystem has a number of loopholes. The three key skill related challenges prevalenttoday are:l There is not enough capacity to skill such large number of people coming in every year.l The cost involved for delivery of skills is increasing and there are not enough budgetary resources tosustain this delivery.

l The delivery of quality is also a big challenge as there is a dearth of good trainers and faculty.Chenoy believes that rather that an individualistic approach towards up skilling, the industry shouldadopt a collaborative framework towards the same. According to him, the biggest challenge facedis establishing the industry-academia connect. He believes that a collective approach is required tochange the skill ecosystem to build the capacity.

“The gap is huge and there is a huge task ahead of us,” stated Talwar.TimesJobs.com Bureau

www.jobbuzz.timesjobs.com

EXPERT PROFILE

Raghavendra K, VP and Head – Human ResourcesDevelopment, Infosys BPO

What percentage of your staff comprises of women?Over 40% of the staff at Infosys BPO comprises ofwomen employees and a substantial number of themare working mothers.

What profile do they generally hold in yourorganisation?Their role is not specific or limited to any one profile. Wehave women employees holding various positions acrossfunctional areas in the organisation. From sales, IT toadministration and operations, we have women staffworking at entry level, mid-level and top level of theorganisational hierarchy.

You operate in a 24/7 environment which is not quitelucrative for many. How do you plan to attracttalented and skilled female workforce?Two things are critical here, overall safety and wellbeingof staff and providing career growth opportunities. Forthat matter, we do pay suitable consideration toreserving some shifts for women employees. However,

we being an equal opportunity employer cater to theneeds and requirements of overall staff, irrespective ofthe gender.

Talking about the women aspect per se, businessesacross verticals are finding more and more womenparticipating. While at Infosys BPO, we continue todevelop an environment conducive to working roundthe clock, it is beneficial to ensure safe workenvironment, fair practices and best possibleopportunities for growth for every employee.

How do you retain/plan to retain your current femaleworkforce?Right from the day a person joins our organisation, weensure a safe working environment. Since, close to 60-70% of the candidates are taken at entry level, offeringindividual space to grow, take initiatives and experimentbecomes crucial.

Talking about the working women staff, we have an anti-harassment cell ASHI (Anti Sexual Harassment Initiative) inthe organisation which is headed by two non-Infosys lady

OPINIONS‘BPO as a career option for women’Women at work

Women constitute a large section of the workforce in the BPO-ITES sector. While their economic contribution is significant,several challenges and problems faced by the women employees still remain to be addressed. Some of the majorchallenges include safety, alternate work arrangements and the socio-cultural factors.

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Professional Background: Raghavendra joined Infosys BPO in August2008 as Vice President and Head of HRD at Infosys BPO. He has over 27years of experience in the HR domain. His expertise lies in aligning HR’sfunctional role to dovetail business plans. His areas of interest aredevelopment of HR competencies, managing cultural diversity and changemanagement, especially in the context of mergers and acquisitions. He hasanchored numerous initiatives to support the development of strategicHuman Resources (HR) and is a frequent speaker in HR thought leadershipsessions and seminars. He has created strong synergies betweenperformance management systems and employee development platforms,ensuring that Infosys has a readily available and competent internal talentpool to meet business challenges

Academic Background: He is a commerce graduate and a PG Dip (Hons) inPM & IR from the Madras School of Social Work. He has also undergone the1 year AMP from IIM Bangalore.

Passion: He likes to unwind by listening to music and likes to surprise hisfamily with South Indian delicacies after many experiments in the kitchen.He is heavily influenced by his paternal grandfather who started fromscratch and instilled strong moral values. He has taken his sense of caringfrom his mother and sense of fairness from his father.

professionals. The cell aims toprovide an environment free ofharassment. It holds a fortnightlymeeting to review the organisation’ssafety aspect/plan and policies.There is a refresher program for thesame and it’s mandatory foreverybody to go through this training.

We also have The Infosys Women’sInclusivity Network (IWIN), which workstowards creating a gender-sensitiveand inclusive work environment forwomen employees and developthem for managerial and leadershiproles. IWIN partners with gendernetworks and forums across theglobe to benchmark.

Anything you are doing to facilitateworking mother (staff) in yourorganisation?For our working mother staff, we offerflexible work options. To start with weprovide leave extensions (ifrequested), for new mothers, whoare returning to work post-maternity.When they join we allow them tocome to office a little late and leaveearly, for initial period, to help themsettle things at home and getadjusted to daily work regime. AtInfosys, we value their contribution tothe organisation and their wealth ofexperience.

Hence, apart from leave extensionswe secure their position/role.Providing reassurance they can availextended leaves and come back tocontinue with the same set of rolesand responsibilities helps ease offthe pressure of returning to work aftermaternity leaves.

We offer extra support in terms oftraining the returning mothers, so thatthey get to know the changes (if any)

that has happened while they wereat leave.

Talking about the Indian BPOindustry as a whole, what is thecurrent scenario in employment ofwomen workforce? How does itdiffer from the global scenario?We can see a lot of femaleworkforce joining the BPObandwagon. Most people join theindustry for growth and economicindependence. In India, hospitality,travel, airlines, para-medical serviceshave witnessed a visible rise infemale workforce. However, basictraditional biases still hover aroundthe BPO industry. Night shifts are anissue, transport facilities is anothermajor area of concern. Though, wedo address these apprehensions. Weprovide pick and drop facility andwe also reassure women employees’safety by making sure that nowomen is sent alone in the cab andthere is somebody accompanyingthem in the cab. So, it’s never firstpick and last drop for femaleemployees. When you compare thiswith the global scenario, thedifferences are starkly visible. Thereare no shift issues, their femaleemployees working at various shiftschedules, holding varied positions.There is no pick and drop facilityprovided. The difference largely liesin perceptions. India, needs a lotmore awareness and education tobridge this gap in attitude andapproach.

How would you see the trend ofwomen employees in BPO sectormoving in near future? The trend is quite positive. To say, theshift has happening over all these

years, however, it is not verydramatic but we can see more andmore women venturing out andholding top positions across industrysegments. BPO industry being thelargest provider of new urban jobs isa much sought after industry byyoung workforce, which includessignificant proportion of femaleemployees.

Economic consideration andincreased level of confidence andmaturity has helped boost femaleparticipation in BPO industry. Thiswasn’t the case 6-7 years before. Sothe transition is happening, but at asmooth pace.

For change to be evident and fast,segregation in terms of work andassociated gender biases shouldmove. To start with educationinstitutes should come up in big wayin creating awareness in demolishingthe traditional pigeonholes.

The way media positions womenshould change and ultimatelygovernment and people, at large,should emerge as the keystakeholders in the process. For anyunlawful act of harassment, justiceshould be quick and timely.

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According to a JobBuzz poll, the threemost common reasons given byemployees while quitting their jobsare:l Career growthl Better salaryl Personal reasons

OPINIONSTHE

www.jobbuzz.timesjobs.com

EXPERT PROFILE

Ravi Shankar, Executive Vice President & Chief People Officer, Mindtree Ltd.

Professional Background: Ravi Shankar currently heads the PeopleFunction at MindTree. With over 30 years of varied experience acrossmultiple fields in HR, ranging from founding a company (ListerTechnologies) to heading HR for Deutsche software Limited. Pervious toMindTree, Ravi was heading HR for Core software Division and Diversity &Sustainability at HCL Technologies Ltd.

Academic Background: An alumnus of XLRI Jamshedpur and HarvardBusiness School in Information technology, Ravi is an Executive Coach atISB, Hyderabad for their Senior Management Leadership Program.

Achievements and Expertise: Ravi has 30+ years of diverse experience inthe IT industry. In his last assignment at HCL Technologies, Ravi was SeniorVice President. He spearheaded innovative HR practices like “Employee Firstand Customer Second”, HCL’s hire and deploy matrix, social media usage inHR, diversity and inclusion and employer brand building.

He has worked as an expert consultant across industry sectors and forrenowned companies in the Asia-Pacific region, such as Pfizer, Citibank andAstra-Zeneca Hoechst.

Why it is important to build teams across cultures andboundaries in today’s economic environment?Traditionally, enterprises used numbers and statistics tomeasure the development and sustainability of success.Today they understand that individuals and teams canalter organisational climate and operationalperformance. Modern enterprises unanimously agreethat to be successful, a business needs multi-talentedand multi-cultural teams to work in tandem acrossgeographies. This provides myriad viewpoints and moreproductive bandwidth, backed by invaluable multi-cultural experience.

What are the factors that have led to rise inemergence of ‘Virtual Global Teams’?Forrester Consulting’s recent report on ‘Virtual WorkEnvironments’ in a post-recession era finds that today 40percent of employees work in virtual teams, and 56

percent employees expect the trend of virtual globalteams to increase in the next one to three years. Virtualglobal teams are not purely outcome-driven, but are anemerging trend in workflow and process engineering.Simply put, they don’t just come together to deliver aparticular product or service, but are a way of working. Inthe process, they create a global, cohesive, expertise-oriented enterprise.

How do these ‘Virtual Global Teams’ help to enhancethe business potential of a company?Enterprises help clients succeed and create value forcustomers. Understandably, to do this they need aholistic view of potential possibilities in any given businesssituation. And of course, a capable and experiencedteam that delivers the goods. For global delivery and togo up the value chain, enterprises are increasinglyrelying on ‘virtual global teams’. For instance, take an

OPINIONS‘Businesses Need Multi-Talented and Multi-Cultural Teamsto Succeed’

Global workforce

The world has changed, the way we work has changed and the scale of workforce that collaborates has also changed.All this change needs well thought out strategies to manage this work environment. It is both an expression of anorganisation’s culture and how we believe today’s people-based businesses should work in order to survive, evolve and thrive.

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enterprise based in India thatdevelops solutions for a businessprocess outsourcing company inAfrica. It needs a full view of thecustomer company’s businessdomain, specific business tasks,competitor strategies and the largereconomic environment of thecountry / region, apart from otherdetails. A view can only be gainedthrough teams working at differentlocations, but connected virtually.

In your view, what are theimportant factors that determinethe success of these teams and thecompany?Enterprises undergo many phases ofchange and progression whilecombating economic transitions. Inother words, success does notdepend primarily on the budget sizeor the products supportingtechnologies. It really depends on

employees’ attitudes, competenciesand skills; and their ability togenerate commitment and trust.Creating and maintaining an openline of communication betweenenterprises and employees is crucialfor a successful business. People aregenuinely happier and morecommitted when they feel they area part of the enterprise’s ‘big picture’.This is especially true if you need tokeep teams across enterprises,geographies or cultures motivatedand aligned to overall strategy andvision.

What tool and techniques areuseful in keeping employeesengaged and motivated in theglobal working scenario?Today, there are several innovativetools that help with that. Criticalinformation is collected via theInternet and distributed through

specialised communicationchannels. Discussions are held overvideo conferences, past projectexperience is analysed andtransferred over the Web, andsubject matter experts areconsulted. The end result is oneseamlessly integrated team, backedby real world knowledge andexperience, committed to deliveringgreat results.

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According to TechGig.com insights,the highest participation in TechGigcoding contests is from these IT hubs:l NCRl Banglorel Punel Hyderabad

OPINIONSTHE

Q U I C K B Y T E

Training the trainerExperts share some critical tips on effectively designing and implemention of corporate trainingprogrammes for reatining valued employees.

It is an economic reality that the growth and survival of a thriving enterprise will depend onemployee retention. Employing good training programs is the key to retaining valued employees.However, there are certain impediments to successful implementation and completion of a

training program. Experts suggest some essential elements in designing and delivering a trainingprogram to overcome these barriers.

Crafting an effective training program: To start with one should know the audience. Identify youraudience and what they require in terms of content. “Like a marketer needs to know his/herconsumer group, similarly, while designing a training program the first step would be to truly knowyour audience,” stated Asif Upadhye – CFO, Never Grow Up. This means understanding employeeprofiles, the organisation and the context of the training.

Successfully delivering a training program : For any training program, to be delivered effectively,good communication and presentation skills are critical. This helps in making the training sessioninteractive and engaging.

Fundamentals of feedback: According to Upadhye, feedback is of utmost importance and formsthe backbone and guideline for future sessions. Highlighting the importance of feedback TamalBhatia Founder – 4° Education, says. Feedback is the cornerstone of improvement. Its criticalitycannot be overemphasised. Feedback allows all aspects of training to get better.”

TimesJobs.com Bureau

www.techgig.timesjobs.com

EXPERT PROFILE

Sairee Chahal, Co-founder, Fleximoms

Professional Background: Sairee Chahal, co-founder of Fleximoms andco-founder and director of SAITA Consulting Pvt Ltd. is an inspiringentrepreneur with a clear and innovative vision. She started her career as ajournalist with Advertising & Marketing magazine and in 1999.

Achievements: She set up the world’s first daily for mariners-www.newslinkservices.com. This was the country’s first magazine formariners and had operations in India, Philippines and Cyprus. She was incharge of this magazine for three years and during that period, theworkforce expanded to 130 members. She has worked for Central Asiancountries that were opening their embassies in the capital. Sairee is also thedirector of maxiMum store co., a visiting faculty at IIFT, New Delhi and amember of CII Committee for MSMEs.

Academic Background: She pursued her M.Phil in International Relationsfrom JNU and PG in business management from IMT, Ghaziabad.

What was the inspiration for Fleximoms? Going by thename, is it only for mothers or for any woman whoneeds work flexibility?Inspiration for Fleximoms is really every home and everyfamily of this country, where women limit their ambition,do two jobs or just do not get the professional attentionthey deserve. Fleximoms is symbolic of the care givingeconomy – millions of women who take care of theirchildren, run homes, take care of the elderly, movehouses, plan weddings and birthdays, be on spousalduties and much more. Many of them take breaks, re-tweak careers, and take up less deserving jobs, runhome-based businesses and what not! Fleximoms wasset up keeping them in mind.

Till date, how many women has Fleximoms helpedtake a second shot?Fleximoms is the largest community of womenprofessionals in India. It is the place to go to for womenwho are returning professionals, making comebacks,transiting careers, re-tweaking careers, rethinking work-life

choices and diverse options available to them. Over a100 thousand women are in touch with Fleximomsdirectly while the community touches over 200thousand. Over 5000 women have taken considered,conscious career steps.

Can you tell us about the thought behind theprogrammes and services offered? How did youvisualise it?The programs are built to help and guide an individualwork on the personal-professional roadmap. Womenhave diverse and dissimilar lives and each has to takedecisions that work best for them. Fleximoms facilitatesthis through various interventions, taking into accounteach one’s personal and professional needs, includingduration of break, level of skill, personal interest and theintensity of approach.

What is the kind of response you generally get fromemployers and corporates?Owing to the spread of awareness about the how-tos,which includes formats, policies, doing pilots, and

OPINIONS‘Workflex no longer implies low value, but a strategicway to manage diverse talent’

Women at work

Moving forward, all our challenges and opportunities in the war for talent hinge on organisations being able to retain thetalent that they already have. To that end, organisations that employ a healthy work/life flexibility environment will win thetalent war. In terms of company profitability and employee satisfaction, there really is a ‘big secret for success’, and that isalternative staffing. A finalist at the Cartier Women’s Award Initiative for 2012 Sairee Chahal, co-founder of Fleximoms,tells us, while still not prolific, workplace flexibility is a growing preference and getting lots of attention.

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sensitisation, corporates are realisingthat allowing flexibility to talentedand skilled women makes businesssense for them. However, given thatwe are a patriarchal society, genderawkwardness is part of our DNA. Wehave a long way to go before wefind the ideal social solution buttechnology and a high number ofqualified, bright women are a bigplus.

Have you seen any change inmindset from the time you started?Huge. From being consideredscammy, cheap internet-based work

to being part of business strategy attown halls, we have come a longway. Workflex no longer implies lowend, low skill, low value but astrategic way to manage diversetalent. And I can easily say thatcompanies who accept this will findthemselves at an enormousadvantage.

What is the way ahead forFleximoms?The way ahead is to continuestrengthening women in theirprofessional-personal pursuits,adding efficiency, scaling, and

experimenting ways and means tofind more positive and effectivesolutions.

INTERVIEW JOURNAL

According to a JobBuzz poll, the threekey benefits of job rotation are:l It increases the expertise and

motivation among employeesl It provided valuable work

experience and trainingl Breaks monotony at work

OPINIONSTHE

Q U I C K B Y T E

Working remotely, or are they?A recent TimesJobs.com survey points to the myth of work-life balance in Indian organisations, HRexperts beg to differ

According to a recent survey conducted by TimesJobs.com on ‘flexible options for workingwomen’, a surprising statistic that was thrown up was that none of the organisations thatparticipated in the survey, had women working from home, full time.

“Despite the steady vanishing of many boundaries, the workforce still finds itself encumbered bynumerous impediments that inhibit the ability of organisations to quickly respond to future workplacedemands. The HR function must address these gaps if they are to unlock the future potential of theirworkforce,” says Madhusudan Thakur, regional vice president - South Asia, Regus.

Despite the raging debate on the efficacy of ‘working from home’ and the lack of collaborationtherein, many organisations are eager to reap the benefits of a remote workforce. But just as with anyorganisational change, getting started isn’t easy.

Saundarya Rajesh, Founder - President of AVTAR Career Creators, says, “In the Indian context, thereare two scenarios, in organisations where a large number of the workforce are women (28% is theIndian average), most work-from-home cases are negotiated with the immediate supervisor.Second, in the small and medium enterprises there is a very familial culture and these organisationsoffer work-from-home options to their employees very often, these cases don’t get documented,”explains Saundarya.

Experts add that no Indian organisation is ignoring the fact that the workforce needs flexible workoptions but concrete policies are a slow process. “Flexibility and enabling policies and infrastructureis a journey, and it does take time to successfully embed some behaviors that are necessary for thesuccess of the same. What is important is that Indian organisations are starting to think innovativelyaround attracting and retaining employees and there is genuine intent in the initiatives beingundertaken,” says Nikhila Rangaswamy, VP, HR Talent and Organisational Effectiveness, CadburyIndia. While stastics may point in a different direction, it is a matter of time before these localised, butconcrete centers of action snowball into a significant change.

TimesJobs.com Bureau

www.jobbuzz.timesjobs.com

EXPERT PROFILE

Satindra Sen, Co-Founder & Director of Exper Executive Education Pvt. Ltd

Academic and Professional Background: An alumnus of XLRI (91),Satindra started his career in manufacturing. He worked with EicherConsulting and spent 16 years in the financial services business in sales,marketing, quality, customer services and operations. He supported globalAmerican Express businesses and led the offshore voice processes for US,Canada, UK, Philippines, Australia, and New Zealand at both Amex'sproprietary as well as partner locations across Asia.

Expertise: Having lead large businesses and huge teams, Satindra is wellversed with processes and practices that drive efficiency and effectiveness.As a facilitator he brings rich experience from his previous stints andfacilitates powerful learning sessions for teams and senior leadership fororganisations including Kellogg's, MetLife, ICICI, Hafele, Indus Towers,Timken and Family Credit.

Life beyond work: Loves to spend time with his 9 years old daughterNayantara doing as many things together as possible like playing,swimming, running and cooking. He also acts as a weekend chauffeurferrying her to her numerous singing, dancing and painting sessions.

Passion: Long walks, cooking, playing chess (and collects chess sets!),traveling to small out of the way places and of course reading and music!

How important is succession planning for sustainabilityof any organisation in present scenario?In our work we typically look at organisations on a coupleof parameters. One is on a Maturity Framework whereorganisations typically start up as Entrepreneurial andprogress through a Rapid Growth phase a ConsolidationPhase and a Maturity Phase and then spawn more intra-preneurial opportunities. It is critical to look at successionplanning depending on the maturity stage of theorganisation.

The other dimension that needs to be married to this isthe nature of the firm, largely whether it is a familyowned firm or a ‘professionally’ managed firm. We havefound that typically at the entrepreneurial and the rapidgrowth stage an organisation has too few resources toactually do any succession planning but starts focusingon the same somewhere at the cusp of the growth andconsolidation phase. Given today’s criticality (and some

would say paucity) of talent, the rapid growth , theattendant burn-out as well as the battle for talent it is infact completely critical to create a leadership pipeline.

What is the key challenge in succession planning?The challenges are many and very dependent on thenature of the ownership as well as the developmentstage of the organisation. For closely held/family heldorganisations, the challenge is to create ownership sothat people stay and therefore you can build aleadership pipeline. In many ways the successionplanning problem is aggravated significantly if you havean attrition problem. We are working right now with a trueblue MNC Tech company and sudden large scaleattrition has led the organisation to now focus onleadership development. It would have been better ifthis was done earlier rather than when your back is to the wall.

OPINIONS‘The challenges of succession planning depend on natureof ownership’

Top talent

Proactive succession planning prepares organisations for expansion, the loss of a key employee and most importantly forsudden growth. Most organisations worry that they lack sufficient "ready now" candidates. As a result, the futurecontinuity and performance of the business is at risk. Satindra Sen, Co-Founder and Director of Exper Executive EducationPvt. Ltd gives some crucial tips on building the leadership pipeline.

THE

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The key challenges in organisationsof scale are:

l Showing a career path to your toptalent at each level, yet notcreating an “entitlement” mind set

l Having a clear competency setand a development model(including training, relevantcoaching, project leadership andexposure as required) for eachband level

l Ensuring that the talentmanagement framework is clearto all, simple and leaders arecalibrated well when using theframework

l Managing the “to tell or not to tell”challenge i.e. do you let your toptalent know they are top talent

What are the key characteristicsand competencies you look for intop management?Top management is successful if,given domain knowledge they havethe following:

l The ability to have genuine andauthentic conversations

l The ability to tell organisationalstories and build andcommunicate a compellingfuture

l Manage energy during bad timesl Stating and managingconsequences for lack ofperformance

l Humility and a self-depreciatingsense of humor helps, particularlywhen dealing with Gen X and Gen Y employees

What can organisations do to buildleaders? Build the skills needed, provide astrong mentor, be honest in terms oftheir career aspirations and theorganisations ability to meet thesame, create domain knowledgeand most importantly createownership and show them the pathwhere they can share the success,limelight and wealth.

What should organisations do tohave a backup plan in case theirsuccession plan fails?The idea is to have multiple folksbacking up critical positions. But thisis difficult therefore having a well-knitteam that can support each other intimes of trouble is important. So don’tjust invest in individual talentassessment and development butalso on enhancing team work at alllevels.

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According to a JobBuzz poll, the twofactors that demotivates you the mostwhile relocating within yourorganisation are:l Drastic change in work culture,

colleagues and placel Reporting to a different manager

OPINIONSTHE

www.jobbuzz.timesjobs.com

EXPERT PROFILE

Tony Goodwin, Founder and CEO, Antal International,a global executive recruitment organisation

Educational and professional qualifications: A graduate of MiddlesexUniversity, Tony trained as a Chartered Accountant before moving intofinancial recruitment where he ran operations for HW Group (now part ofHudson). In 1993, spotting the potential of the new professional employmentmarkets in the former Warsaw pact countries, he set up his own business inPutney, named it Antal – Hungarian for ‘Anthony’.

Awards & Recognitions: He was named ‘Entrepreneur of the Year’ (Businessproducts & services) by Ernst & Young in 2010 & 2011. In 2012, along with histeam at Antal, swoop a string of awards including the Recruiter award for ‘BestInternational Recruitment Agency’, the APSCo award for excellence‘International Recruitment Company of the Year’.

Interesting facts about Tony: In 2012 he took on ‘the cultural fabric of theNorth East’ helping raise over £4000 for the Duke of Edinburgh Award byrunning The BUPA Great North Run, finishing with an impressive time of 1 hr 58min. In the infamous BBC Total Wipe Out challenge, he faced the Big Red Balls,completing the course in 3 min 16 sec and all in the aid of charity!

Passion: A devoted father of eight, he follows his life-long passion ‘Chelsea FC’and last year saw them lift the UEFA Champions League and FA Cup.

How does 2013 look in terms of global recruitment?2012 was a difficult year for all of us. The slowdown inIndia and China was not as severe an in UK and Europe.2013 would be a lot stronger and much more equalisedand stabilised, with the Germans supporting the Euro.Cautious optimism would prevail.

Which are the countries that are performing well in2013? China and India would stay strong this year. Africa as acontinent would perform well, as it has 5-7 of the fastestgrowing economies, like Nigeria, Cameroon, SouthAfrica, etc. Brazil and Russia to witness positive hiringsentiments this year. Even during the slowdown Russiabenefitted greatly because of the oil and gas reserves.Among the European countries, Germany to witnessgrowth in hiring activity. I am also optimistic for theScandinavian region,, particularly Finland.

How does technology contribute to the success of theglobal workforce? Due to the advancement in internet and mobiletechnology, globalisation and international experiencehave become easy to achieve. All the essential workhappens at the branch offices scattered worldwide andnothing really happens at the head offices.

Keeping in mind the omnipotent nature of social media,employees have to be careful of what they post on theirsocial media page. Recruiters are using social media toscreen and engage their employees and potentialcandidates. I use LinkedIn as a knowledge and businesstool and Twitter as an opinion based media.

Which industries would perform well in 2013? The industries that would perform well are Automobile,Petrochemical/Oil and Gas/Mineral, Pharmaceuticalsand IT. The offline retail industry would lose some bit of its

OPINIONS‘We can expect a better 2013 in terms of globalrecruitment’

Global recruitment trends

Economic forces are like a pack of cards. If the delicate balance is disturbed in one corner of the globe the wholeeconomy, and consequently the workforce comes crashing down. In the past few years, professionals around the worldhave felt the push and pull of the tough financial environment. Tony Goodwin, Founder and CEO, Antal International, aglobal executive recruitment organisatio, demystifies the global hiring trend

THE

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sheen because of the dawn ofonline retail services. I found a betterbargain on a product online thanfrom the retail outlet. The online retailplatform is taking over.

Which professionals will be indemand in 2013? Candidates with 3-10 yearsexperience would be in demand in2013. Young professionals betweenthe age group of 30-35 would bethe growth drivers of the industries.Good management professionalswould be in demand across all

disciplines. India is at a precipice ofa change wherein Indian consumersdemand value for money along withquality. Therefore, quality assurance/quality control professionals wouldalso be in demand in India.

Where are Indian employeesplaced, in terms of worldwidedemand? There are opportunities for Indianemployees all across the world.Several Central European countrieswould prove to be great opportunityhubs for Indian employees.

There is a huge demand for Hindispeaking professionals in Krakow, thesecond largest city in Poland.

INTERVIEW JOURNAL

According to a JobBuzz poll, the threemost preferred methods of trainingare:l On-the-job training by seniorsl Workshops and seminarsl External trainers

OPINIONSTHE

Keeping in mind the omnipotent nature of social media, employeeshave to be careful of what they post on their social media page.

Recruiters are using social media to screen and engage theiremployees and potential candidates. I use LinkedIn as a knowledge

and business tool and Twitter as an opinion based media.

www.jobbuzz.timesjobs.com

Disclaimer: Information provided in this report shall not be reproduced, published, re-sold or otherwise distributed in anymedium without the prior written permission of TimesJobs.com and a clear acknowledgement to TimesJobs.com. The viewsexpressed by experts in this report are personal and do not necessarily reflect those of their companies or TimesJobs.com.

Contact: For feedback and suggestions please mail us at feedback@timesjobs.comCopyright ©2013 Times Business Solutions Limited. All rights reserved.

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