Ranjan Acharya, VP, Corporate HRD, Wipro, presents an interesting analogy. In the Bollywood movies of the 70s and 80s, he says, the central protagonist would often be an educated young man, with a widowed mother and an unmarried sister, struggling to find a job. Unemployment of the educated youth was the theme for many cult movies of the time.
Cut to 2006. Students barely out of colleges, even schools in some cases, walk straight into a swanky office of a BPO company, an air-conditioned retail showroom, or the corporate office of a telecom service provider and start working. No struggle, no hardships, and certainly no need to stand in a queue at the unemployment bureau. It's raining jobs in India Inc. And the biggest beneficiaries are the young job seekers (between 18 and 25 years of age).
Indian students have never had it so good. Companies of all shades - from retailing, BPO, telecom, hospitality, multiplexes to airlines - are looking at them as potential recruits. Genpact is luring college students with part-time job offers. Companies such as PriceWaterhouse Coopers are offering long-term internships for students who enrol for CPA programmes. Auto ancillaries like Sona Steering are actively getting involved with ITIs. Besides IT companies like Intel and TechMahindra, companies from other sectors like Bharti and GE are exploring ways to forge deeper ties with colleges and their students.
Hiring a young workforce is not a new trend - IT and BPO companies have been doing it for years. But it is spreading deeper and wider. At SlashSupport, a technology outsourcing company, the average age of employees now stands at 24 years, down from 27 years in 2003-04. As much as 45% of Wipro Technologies workforce was hired straight from the campus. "In the next 2 to 3 years, 55% of our hires will be from the campus," says Achuntan Nair, VP, Wipro Technologies.
Given the huge diversity in the sectors, it's tough to generalise the kind of jobs the young are getting. But barring the IT and BPO sectors, most of the fresh recruits are being hired for frontline jobs; telemarketing, shop floor executives, as baristas at cafes, and as duty officers and cinema managers at multiplexes. That is because "for every middle manager, there are 20 openings at the frontline level" says Ramesh Hande, director, staffing solutions, Adecco. "Sales is fast becoming the portal for young people to enter the corporate sector," says Manish Sabharwal, chairman, TeamLease Services.
The reasons why so many youngsters are being hired is not so difficult to understand. A GDP growth rate of 7-8% and the shift of the economy from agriculture to services has given birth to new sectors like retail, insurance, telecom, and entertainment which have created thousands of new jobs. Large corporate houses are attacking these new sectors with a huge ambition. "Every company today wants to be born an adult," says Sabharwal, "they all want a national footprint in just six months" fuelling demand for college graduates.
This is happening at a time when new technologies, emergence of many new sectors alongside shifting market dynamics in a rapidly changing world have substantially reduced the experience premium for workers. In fact, many companies see young fresh minds to be more adaptable and easily trainable.
Of course, all this has a financial underpinning. It's always more cost effective to hire a younger lot. At Infosys, the proportion of rookies (employees between 0-3 years of experience) has gone up to 59% of total workforce this year from 46% four years ago.
Amid talent war, rising attrition and surging salaries, companies prefer hiring from the campuses than poaching from others. In IT sector, attrition for mid-tier players has crossed an all time high of 20% and has driven entry level salaries up. Companies are hiring more from campuses to keep employee costs low and their margins intact. According to a Citigroup report on the IT Services and Software sector, "A 10% shift of the pyramid towards lesser experienced employees could result in 2% improvement in offshore margins" for the IT service companies.
All this excitement about hiring college graduates is now spreading the war for talent to the campuses. As a result, companies are volunteering all kinds of support to campuses - from supplying visiting faculties to helping upgrade course structures, train teachers and professors to range of financial help.
The recruitment drive on campuses is also getting more intense. With the rising thrust on summer internships and pre-placement offers, companies are moving much before the final placements to spot and recruit candidates. Companies are also sponsoring college festivals, conducting frequent on-campus workshops and marketing presentations to establish direct rapport with the candidates.
Beyond campus placements, companies are exploring innovative ways to hire youngsters. Teamlease, where employee referrals account for 40% of all hires, asks each interviewing candidates to furnish mobile numbers of three friends who could be potential candidates. For some companies, candidates need not even come to their offices. BPO firms take the lead with companies like 24/7 and Genpact setting up walk-in recruitment kiosks at popular joints for screening candidates. TCS, recently announced walk-in interviews on an FM channel in Bangalore. Others use the lure of free training, subsidised MBA courses and college-like work environment to attract the attention of the young people.
Friday, April 24, 2009
Youth power can transform India: Kalam
Washington: Former president A.P.J. Abdul Kalam says the great challenge of transforming India can be achieved through youth which has got the power of ideas, ambition and ability.
"This resource of the youth is an important building block for transforming India into a developed nation," he said at a breakfast meeting Saturday with students of the prestigious Wharton business school, Philadelphia, America's oldest institution of its kind.
"If you have an aim in life, realise that spent time cannot be recovered," said Kalam, asserting that no youth today need to fear about the future. The former president was addressing the students at the 12th Wharton India Economic Forum (WIEF) held with the theme of "India Imagine".
The forum is designed to serve as a platform for thought-leaders, professionals and policy makers to define their perception of the global Indian and discuss the wave of new imagination that is spurring the nouveau Indian to create unprecedented opportunities.
"Hence the precious time has to be used for achieving the goal, have confidence to win, have confidence to defeat the problems and succeed and have a righteous heart; you will definitely succeed in all your missions," Kalam said.
"Success can only come to you by courageous devotion to the task lying in front of you. I can assert without fear of contradiction that the quality of the Indian mind is equal to the quality of any Teutonic, Nordic or Anglo-Saxon mind.
"What we lack is perhaps courage, what we lack is perhaps driving force, which takes one anywhere. We have, I think, developed an inferiority complex," the former president said, stressing "what is needed in India today is the destruction of that defeatist spirit.
"We need a spirit of victory, a spirit that will carry us to our rightful place under the sun, a spirit, which will recognise that we, as inheritors of a proud civilisation, are entitled to a rightful place on this planet."
He asked the students to ensure acquisition of three unique characteristics of life: "Realising the importance of present that is today; the confidence that I can do it and building righteousness in the heart."
Posing the question of what the teachers can give to the students for their growth, Kalam said: "In an integrated way it can be said, that an enlightened human being can be created by the teacher through providing two unique characteristics.
"One is building capacities among the students to inquire, to innovate, be creative, and develop the qualities of entrepreneurship and moral leadership," he said. "Second is the development of moral value system."
He had seen three dreams in India, which have taken shape as vision, mission and realisation, said Kalam, citing the space programme of ISRO (Indian Space Research Organisation), the AGNI programme of DRDO (Defence Research and Development Organisation) and PURA (Providing Urban Amenities in Rural Areas) becoming a National Mission.
"Of course these three programmes succeeded in the midst of many challenges and problems," he said, sharing his learning from these three programmes based on his personal experiences.
He summed these up as "high level thinking to transform the vision into missions, acquisition of knowledge from all sources, and working without boundary conditions till the realisation of the mission".
Above all the leader "absorbs the failure and takes the responsibility and gives the credit for success to his team while executing the mission," Kalam said.
Over the last two years WIEF has traced the Indian growth story exploring themes such as 'India's Mantra for Success' and 'Realising the Indian Dream'.
"This resource of the youth is an important building block for transforming India into a developed nation," he said at a breakfast meeting Saturday with students of the prestigious Wharton business school, Philadelphia, America's oldest institution of its kind.
"If you have an aim in life, realise that spent time cannot be recovered," said Kalam, asserting that no youth today need to fear about the future. The former president was addressing the students at the 12th Wharton India Economic Forum (WIEF) held with the theme of "India Imagine".
The forum is designed to serve as a platform for thought-leaders, professionals and policy makers to define their perception of the global Indian and discuss the wave of new imagination that is spurring the nouveau Indian to create unprecedented opportunities.
"Hence the precious time has to be used for achieving the goal, have confidence to win, have confidence to defeat the problems and succeed and have a righteous heart; you will definitely succeed in all your missions," Kalam said.
"Success can only come to you by courageous devotion to the task lying in front of you. I can assert without fear of contradiction that the quality of the Indian mind is equal to the quality of any Teutonic, Nordic or Anglo-Saxon mind.
"What we lack is perhaps courage, what we lack is perhaps driving force, which takes one anywhere. We have, I think, developed an inferiority complex," the former president said, stressing "what is needed in India today is the destruction of that defeatist spirit.
"We need a spirit of victory, a spirit that will carry us to our rightful place under the sun, a spirit, which will recognise that we, as inheritors of a proud civilisation, are entitled to a rightful place on this planet."
He asked the students to ensure acquisition of three unique characteristics of life: "Realising the importance of present that is today; the confidence that I can do it and building righteousness in the heart."
Posing the question of what the teachers can give to the students for their growth, Kalam said: "In an integrated way it can be said, that an enlightened human being can be created by the teacher through providing two unique characteristics.
"One is building capacities among the students to inquire, to innovate, be creative, and develop the qualities of entrepreneurship and moral leadership," he said. "Second is the development of moral value system."
He had seen three dreams in India, which have taken shape as vision, mission and realisation, said Kalam, citing the space programme of ISRO (Indian Space Research Organisation), the AGNI programme of DRDO (Defence Research and Development Organisation) and PURA (Providing Urban Amenities in Rural Areas) becoming a National Mission.
"Of course these three programmes succeeded in the midst of many challenges and problems," he said, sharing his learning from these three programmes based on his personal experiences.
He summed these up as "high level thinking to transform the vision into missions, acquisition of knowledge from all sources, and working without boundary conditions till the realisation of the mission".
Above all the leader "absorbs the failure and takes the responsibility and gives the credit for success to his team while executing the mission," Kalam said.
Over the last two years WIEF has traced the Indian growth story exploring themes such as 'India's Mantra for Success' and 'Realising the Indian Dream'.
India's youth power in the globalised world
India has to work hard in value addition techniques in its manufacturing industries, in honing core competency of skilled manpower, in procuring raw materials, and in upgrading capital equipment so that it becomes competitive in a globalised world.
We must create a sound environment to help the manufacturing sector cope with the emerging challenges of globalisation. This could include the following measures:
Special thrust on modernisation and technology upgradation of existing units Special package for promotion and development of small and village enterprises Consortium of Indian R&D laboratories and industries to gain design development expertise that will enhance competitiveness.
We must create a sound environment to help the manufacturing sector cope with the emerging challenges of globalisation. This could include the following measures:
Special thrust on modernisation and technology upgradation of existing units Special package for promotion and development of small and village enterprises Consortium of Indian R&D laboratories and industries to gain design development expertise that will enhance competitiveness.
Youth power can change India: Celina
Youth power can change India: Celina
By Agencies
Thu, Apr 16, 2009 12:45 IST
Celina Jaitley Bollywood actress Celina Jaitley on Wednesday campaigned for a Congress candidate contesting the Lok Sabha election.
Salman Khan has already been on the campaign trail for some days and now Celina too has joined the list of Bollywood stars wooing the voters. On Wednesday, the actress campaigned for Congress hopeful Vibhakar Shastri, grandson of former Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri, who is contesting the Lok Sabha election from Fatehpur seat.
Addressing the crowds, Celina underlined the importance of youth power and said she favoured Congress leader Rahul Gandhi for the post of the Prime Minister.
“Rahul will prove to be a better Prime Minister,” she told an election rally in Chiwlaha village, adding the youths should vote for him and his party.
“The youth power can change the face and fate of the country,” said the actress.
“To ensure participation of youths in government and the administration, the Congress has given tickets to a number of youths,” she added.
The silver screen star also lauded the role of late Lal Bahadur Shastri in country's development.
“My ancestors had very good relations with the Shastri family. Therefore, I am here to campaign for Vibhakar,” she said wooing voters for the Congress nominee.
By Agencies
Thu, Apr 16, 2009 12:45 IST
Celina Jaitley Bollywood actress Celina Jaitley on Wednesday campaigned for a Congress candidate contesting the Lok Sabha election.
Salman Khan has already been on the campaign trail for some days and now Celina too has joined the list of Bollywood stars wooing the voters. On Wednesday, the actress campaigned for Congress hopeful Vibhakar Shastri, grandson of former Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri, who is contesting the Lok Sabha election from Fatehpur seat.
Addressing the crowds, Celina underlined the importance of youth power and said she favoured Congress leader Rahul Gandhi for the post of the Prime Minister.
“Rahul will prove to be a better Prime Minister,” she told an election rally in Chiwlaha village, adding the youths should vote for him and his party.
“The youth power can change the face and fate of the country,” said the actress.
“To ensure participation of youths in government and the administration, the Congress has given tickets to a number of youths,” she added.
The silver screen star also lauded the role of late Lal Bahadur Shastri in country's development.
“My ancestors had very good relations with the Shastri family. Therefore, I am here to campaign for Vibhakar,” she said wooing voters for the Congress nominee.
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