Companies hunt for laid-off talent to drive growth
By siliconindia   |   Monday, 18 May 2009, 15:59 IST   |    27 Comments
Printer Print Email Email
Companies hunt for laid-off talent to drive growth
Kolkata: Firms in the telecom, pharma and consumer goods sectors are increasingly looking to hire from the laid off employees in the country as part of their plans to acquire inexpensive talent that suits their expansion plans, reported The Economic Times. According to placement firms, companies in these sectors now have around 25,000 vacancies in total. They are tapping the pool of laid-off people for 'industry neutral' executives in functions such as human resource, finance, system administration, marketing and sales. "Lower recruitment during the slowdown hasn't helped the talent crisis in India, especially in fast growing sectors. Several such companies are evaluating the laid-off talent pool to hand-pick niche skills," said Andrew Heard, Asia-Pac head of Watson Wyatt, a global human capital consulting firm. The pool of laid-off talent in India from sectors such as IT, retail, banking and financial services, textiles and others could be as high as seven lakh, indicate data available with headhunters. "Of this, at least 15 percent would be in white-collar roles, and are the prime target for low-cost talent acquisition," said E Balaji, CEO of HR firm Ma Foi Management Consultant. This is a significant transformation for Indian companies that are perceived to have a mindset problem when it comes to hiring people who have been laid off. "We do not differentiate among professionals who may have lost their job," said Vsevolod Rozanov, president and chief executive officer of telecom firm Sistema Shyam TeleServices (SSTL). "In areas like customer service, we are indeed looking for people from other sectors, and even the laid-off pool. We can always train them for our needs," said Rozanov. SSTL currently has 1,600 people, and plans to ramp it up to 3,000 by December, as it plans to expand to 4-6 new circles. FMCG major Marico CEO (consumer products) Saugata Gupta said several of its ex-employees, who went for more 'exciting' roles and are now victims of the global slowdown are coming back. Companies in the pharmaceutical sector, widely counted as recession-proof, say shortage of good talent is an issue, not just in research functions, but also in sales.

siliconindia