The Hindu Business Line : In the hiring line

That the job market is sizzling is indisputable. Tech companies, the largest private sector recruiters in the country, have announced mega plans to increase their manpower. The Big Five in the Indian IT sector are expected to hire about one lakh software engineers in the coming year. While buoyancy in the job market is good news all round, would this mean that the second layer of tech employers have to keep a watch over their resource pool? Though campus hires would form a good 70-75 per cent of the new hires, the big boys would still be looking for talent among those with 1-3 years' experience and no better source than Tier II companies, say industry experts. "Poaching is harsh reality and we have to live with it," says Kris Lakshmikanth, Managing Director of the Bangalore-based Headhunters India.

His firm has already received mandates from Tier II and Tier III companies asking for a line-up of 750-1,000 candidates every weekend. This could be part of a routine recruitment process, as also some sort of preparedness for likely mass exits in the coming months. "Last weekend we lined up about 1,000 candidates with one-and-a-half years' experience for Tier II companies and about 150 offers were made." The problem here is that the conversion rate leaves much to be desired. Tier I companies can afford to compromise on fitment because they have a well-established training programme in place and can afford to wait while the candidates are readied for the job.

`Yearly affair'

Gautam Sinha, CEO, TVA Infotech, an IT recruitment firm, disagrees. "I don't think there will be much of an impact. Every year the country produces about one lakh engineers and this year the pace of recruitment has increased." He feels there will always be batches of people graduating from Tier II companies and it will happen this year too. "Moreover, these companies are already prepared for it. You see, the numbers are not unexpected nor is this a new phenomenon," he notes. And it's also true that companies operating in niche areas are less likely to be impacted than those in generic technology areas.

What is also interesting, and perhaps heartening to the second-rung players, is the fact that there are many techies who shrug off the big brand names. Says Lakshmikanth, "There are many candidates who are not enamoured by big names. They will opt for better work culture, better compensation and better projects which some of the Tier II companies can definitely offer."

Why small is better...

Sinha says that about 8-10 per cent of IT jobseekers do not want to work in large companies. "Ten per cent of 7 lakh engineers is a large enough number to fulfil the needs of Tier II companies," he feels. It's a well-known fact that sometimes the biggies cannot match the salaries offered by successful second-rung companies. Some have even withdrawn ESOPs, which were the main draw a few years ago.

"Smaller companies are still able to offer profit-sharing plans, interesting projects and more responsibility at an early stage in the candidate's career," says Lakshmikanth, adding, "The market is mature and there are candidates who understand that some small companies offer better professional growth."

Prashant L.J., head of global marketing at Infinite Computers says Tier II companies have to fight the biggies when it comes to campus recruitment.

As the Big Five firms embark on their hiring plans, Tier II firms like Infinite have to depend on their brand pull and niche image in the marketplace to attract talent, he says.

"While the type of work and the clients we service are almost the same as that of Tier I vendors, the work environment we offer is much more challenging especially in terms of exposure, career progress and planning," he says. Further, Prashant says that a Tier II firm like Infinite offers a slightly better pay packet than Tier I vendors.

Infinite has about 3,500 people globally, of which 2,200 are in India. It plans to add 1,200-1,500 people this financial year. The company, which depended on lateral hires all these years, plans to hire freshers this year. It will opt for campus visits and referrals.

Attractive work environment

Srini Vudumula, Vice-President, Global HR, Tavant Techonologies agrees that brand is important but is subtly occupying increasingly lower positions in a candidate's priority list. "The priority has changed from first to fifth or sixth position. And for the juniors, where mass recruitment happens, names hardly matter," he states. Explaining how Tier II companies will battle for talent in the coming months, he says that challenging work and cutting-edge technology are the trump cards. "We tell them that here you learn in one year what your friend takes three years in larger companies. Compressed learning is what we offer and we want to leverage this as our strength."

Vudumula is not unduly worried. He says an aggressive incentive plan also helps them compete effectively with the large players. "About 40 per cent of the gross compensation here is in the form of incentives."

Tavant currently has 1,100 people, of which 1,000 are in India. "We expect to increase the talent pool by 33-40 per cent this year." The company, which has visited premier engineering campuses like the IITs and NITs, has already made 170 offers, of which 100 are likely to be accepted. Tavant's hiring pattern follows the 24:75 ratio, with the majority coming from lateral hires. And where do these come from? "Apart from similar organisations, we have plenty of people coming from large MNCs," he says. Therefore a rosy employment outlook far outweighs such minor issues, says Sinha. "Big boys recruiting is a good sign and there will always be people who will move from Tier IV to Tier III and so on. This ripple effect will create a buoyancy in the market."

(with inputs from Vishwanath Kulkani)

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