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We Bring Good News - Expect Jobs & Hikes
By ugesh sarkar, Section JOBS
Posted on Sat Mar 06, 2010 at 11:59:51 PM EST
LEAP YEARA million new jobs. The best salary hikes in the Asia-Pacific region that will fatten purses of employees by 10 per cent on average. After the gloom of the slowdown, the sun appears to be shining again on India in 2010
It's the time of year when management graduates across the counry put on their best ties and head out to campus interviews. If they've been good students, they do so in been good students, they do so in expectation of salaries with as many digits as telephone numbers.
Last year was a bad year. The Indian Institute of Management in Ahmedabad, the country's top man- agement institute, took a record nine days to place its graduating batch. Even then, salaries were down by 25 to 33 per cent compared to 2008.
This year, the smiles are back. "We cannot say the offers were through the roof, but compared to last year, the num- ber of offers and packages has increased", says Himanshu Nema, a second year student and student head of the IIM-A placement committee.
Campuses around the country expect a better show this year. IIM Calcutta's campus recruitment began yesterday.
This year, 95 companies have turned up, compared to 80 last year, and more are expected. Prafull Agnihotri, chair- man of the placement and career devel- opment cell at IIM-C, says, "According to me, salary figures will not touch the 2008 mark, but students will definite- ly bag 20 per cent more than what was offered to them last year".
With inputs from Kamayani Singh in Delhi, Prasad Nichenametla in Ahmedabad, Salil Mekaad in Bangalore and Mou Chakraborty in Kolkata
By akansha, Section JOBS
Posted on Tue Feb 23, 2010 at 01:44:32 AM EST
As many as 901 graduates and postgraduate candidates are among the 5,371 applicants vying for 32 posts of peons in the agriculture department office at Kolhapur, underlining the attraction for government jobs and also the lack of jobs in the private sector.
Interestingly, the required educational qualification for class IV (peon) posts is that the candidate should have completed basic primary education (passed std IV). Officials entrusted with the responsibility of interviewing the shortlisted candidates said they were surprised at the number of graduates applying for the peon posts.
Recruitments are being done at the office of superintending agriculture officer for the first time since 1998, to fill 32 posts of peon and eight posts of gardeners.
"Undoubtedly, there is a rush for government jobs as they offer security and regular salary. Besides, many of the applicants are aspiring to appear for competitive exams conducted by Maharashtra and Union Public Service Commissions (MPSC/UPSC) but are fast approaching the cut-off age for freshers for appearing for these exams. The cut-off age for the open category is 28 years and 38 for those from the reserved categories," explained Umesh Patil, superintending agriculture officer, Kolhapur district.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, an officer from the agriculture commissionerate said, "Once a candidate gets a government job, there is no upper age limit or number of attempts for him/her while taking a crack at the UPSC/MPSC exams." "It's a common phenomenon in all government offices and across departments, where after securing a government job, even at the lowest post, the applicant can continue applying for higher posts. However, this also means that a minimum one-third of the recruited candidates leave their jobs once they get higher posts," he said.
By ugesh sarkar, Section JOBS
Posted on Sat Dec 26, 2009 at 10:32:08 PM EST
In retrospect, 2009 did turn out to be much better than we anticipated. The capital markets have recovered from their lows, the job losses have been minimal in India and in most cases pay cuts have been restored. Further, as a barometer of things to come, most engineering and management campuses are reporting better off take and thereby indicating a positive economic outlook.
2009 was a defining year for several professionals and the job market witnessed a return of sanity after the three year bull phase. Senior professionals chastened by the past experience of excessively focusing on compensation and thereby making short term career calls are now looking to focus on the long term. Across the board, compensation levels were either static or witnessed modest single digit increases during the year and will continue to remain so as companies may not go overboard this time around. However, we are seeing big spikes in variable compensation even across traditional sectors as companies prefer to pay more for performance and keep fixed costs under check. Stock options which had temporarily lost its sheen are seen to be back in vogue.
The financial services sector bore the brunt of the slowdown. The retail financial services and broking businesses witnessed job losses as most banks and NBFCs wound up unprofitable lines. However, the wholesale and investment banking businesses have continued to hire selectively especially in the area of debt capital markets and related areas. We expect the situation to turn around across the sector gradually by the third quarter of the year. Compensation and bonuses in the sector have come under intense scrutiny from the regulators and are unlikely to see major upheavals in the near term, though in relative terms, executives in the sector continue to be the highest paid.
Looking forward, we expect the power and heavy infrastructure sectors to continue its robust growth spurring demand for professionals in the areas of project management, especially mega projects and CFOs with big ticket fund raising expertise apart from project specific niche areas. Further, we have seen increased demand for expatriate executives and returning Indians as local expertise is lacking or non existent in new growth sectors like power, airport infrastructure and allied areas which have been opened up to the private sector. However, the commercial and residential real estate sector which witnessed steep erosion in capital values seems to be limping back to action, but the outlook still seems hazy.
By K Sudarshan,
Managing Partner-India,
EMA Partners International.
By ugesh sarkar, Section JOBS
Posted on Fri Nov 06, 2009 at 01:18:27 AM EST
There might be a general slump in the job market owing to the economic slowdown. But there is one agency which seems to have been untouched by the general job slump.
In the run up to the Commonwealth Games -- that Delhi would be hosting in October next year -- the Games Organising Committee (OC) is on a hiring spree.
It is looking for interested professionals -- both in the government and corporate sector -- who are willing to join and help in the successful organisation of the games.
At present the OC has 450 staff on it rolls but this, officials said, is woefully short to meet the requirement.
"We will need a total of 1,500 to 1,600 paid staff at the Organising Committee," said Randhir Singh, vice chairman of the OC.
The committee has set aside a budget of Rs 100 crore (Rs 1 billion) to meet the existing and proposed manpower cost.
Mid-Term Increments, Finally Have Reason To Cheer In IT Sector
By akansha, Section JOBS
Posted on Sat Oct 10, 2009 at 02:58:10 AM EST
In a year of sluggish growth and no perks, employees in the IT sector finally have reason to cheer. With the economy beginning to look up and companies posting revenue growth, employers have started offering mid-term hikes and promotions.
"We have communicated to our employees that compensation review and need-based promotions will happen in October," a senior Infosys official told DNA.
Mukund Menon, head of business, HR relations, Mahindra Satyam, said: "We have recently announced to reinstate the variable portion of the pay for associates across all levels. This portion was suspended in April this year."
Other reinstated benefits include the quarterly staff welfare allowance, performance-based Esops for middle- and senior-level associates, and service anniversary programmes, he said.
The company said it is also reintroducing staggered cash bonus for a select set of associates at the junior level, along with various rewards and recognition programmes to "acknowledge excellence at work".
At Cognizant Technologies, promotions have taken effect from October 1. Sriram Rajagopal, associate vice-president, human resources, confirmed mid-term hikes and promotions.
Prameela Kalive, global head (talent management) at Zensar Technologies, said the industry is seeing a shift in the positive direction and there are clear signs of a revival in the market. "Promotion-based hikes this year at the company ranged from 4 to 14%," he said.
A spokesperson from Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) said the company decided in September to reward its star performers. "We have announced pay hikes and promotions recently, but only to those who have performed well," the spokesperson said, refusing to divulge the quantum of hike.
By ugesh sarkar, Section JOBS
Posted on Sat Sep 19, 2009 at 03:35:00 AM EST
Recruitment Market Makes A Comeback, So Do Days Of Tough Bargaining By Employees
When a global asset management company decided to hire a new country head for India in May, the timing seemed ideal: not many financial service companies were recruiting and the market was flush with talent. But after four months of constant negotiations, the company is yet to complete the process as the selected candidate is demanding more money than it could offer.
Similarly, when a technology company that employs 10,000-odd people in India decided to hire a new CEO a couple of months ago, it took a few thousand dollars more and an extra month than the company had in mind to get the candidate on board.
Suddenly, candidates for top jobs are bargaining hard and long in a job market that’s tilting back in favour of the employee, with a clutch of companies across sectors returning to fill up the vacancies after almost a year.
“We are witnessing a situation where the outstanding leadership talent is being pursued by multiple opportunities, thereby vesting significant negotiation power with these executives,” said Atul Vohra, managing partner of executive search firm Transearch International.
By ugesh sarkar, Section JOBS
Posted on Thu Sep 10, 2009 at 01:32:33 AM EST
While the rest of world marks the first anniversary of the collapse of iconic Wall Street firm Lehman Brothers - widely seen as the trigger for the global financial meltdown which followed - with gloomy audits of the havoc wreaked by recession, India Inc is celebrating it differently.
Shaking off its slowdown-induced chill, corporate India is recovering its appetite for growth. And the talent needed to drive it.
Jobs are back.
From consumer goods to retail, infrastructure to automobiles, employers are once again scouting for staff.
Consider this: According to apex industry body Assocham, in the National Capital Region alone, employers were adding more than 400 new jobs every day. That is 49,750 jobs at different levels between April and July this year alone. The outlook for fresh hires is even more positive.
India's largest job portal, Naukri.com, said India Inc's hiring activity picked up 8 per cent in June and a further 1.3 per cent in July.
In its survey on hiring trends, based on polls of over 5,000 employers spread across the country, the outlook for jobs has improved across the board, with IT, real estate, financial services, fast food and retail sectors leading the pack.
According to a quarterly survey by global recruitment firm Antal International, the percentage of companies in India hiring professionals and managers is up 51 per cent, after a dramatic fall to 29 per cent at the beginning of 2009.
As a result, job prospects for professionals and managers in India are now better than the global average, the survey said.
Hiring outlook for the next three months also looks promising, with as many as 66 per cent Indian companies expecting to recruit.
By ugesh sarkar, Section JOBS
Posted on Wed Sep 09, 2009 at 12:38:57 AM EST
TCS, Wipro & Infosys Become Hunting Ground For MNCs Like Accenture, Capgemini
Global outsourcing vendors, such as Accenture and Capgemini, are increasingly poaching staff from Indian rivals as they tap into BPO professionals to compete more effectively against companies like TCS, Wipro and Infosys. As offshore outsourcing goes mainstream, overseas multinationals are hiring Indians to head their sales teams in key markets in Europe and the US, a shift from the practice of employing locals to win contracts.
"This is happening for several roles spanning sales, sales support and delivery. There is in a sense, even positive discrimination towards Indians now," an Indian executive who joined an MNC in Germany recently told ET on condition on anonymity.
Offshore outsourcing, or remote delivery of software application development, maintenance and support from countries such as India, helps customers such as GE and Citibank save up to 40% in costs. Indian companies started using offshore outsourcing to their advantage around a decade ago by wooing customers with major cost benefits.
About a dozen or so top professionals have left an Indian company in recent months to join multinational competitors. Padmanabhan Ananthanarayanan, who headed India's largest software exporter TCS' sales organisation in Europe until February this year, joined Accenture in March as director for its outsourcing business based in Germany.
Industry Takes Employment Agency Route For Labourers
By akansha, Section JOBS
Posted on Fri Jul 31, 2009 at 02:39:53 AM EST
The economic slowdown seems to have left no negative impact on the industry's requirement for unskilled workers. On the contrary, many corporates are hard-pressed to find sufficient number of such hands from the fare offered by regular headhunters. In the Chakan-Ranjangaon industrial belt in Pune, the industry with an aggregate requirement of around 1,000 hands is looking at an unusual hiring route the district employment agency to meet this need, that too Class X and XII pass from the rural areas.
Showing the way is Pune District Employment Agency (PDEA) as it has approached over 100 industrial houses in this belt, seeking their requirement. It has entered into an agreement with some of these units to help them hire youth from the rural areas. "This is the first time we are tapping this route. There are plenty of opportunities here and we have received a positive response from these companies," said GA Sangade, assistant director of district employment agency.
On August 9, the district employment agency will also have an employment fair in Shirur, so that there is direct interaction between the jobseekers and the corporates. "Most of the companies will be coming for this fair and we are hoping that the maximum number will be hired at one go," said Sangade.
The agency has registered nearly 2.5 lakh job aspirants and many of them are expected to try their luck at this job fair.
Job Drought Could End Soon; Recruitment Agencies See Pick-Up In Hiring
By ugesh sarkar, Section JOBS
Posted on Mon Jul 27, 2009 at 12:46:00 AM EST
The job market has begun to show signs of a revival led by sectors like telecommunication, pharmaceutical, life sciences and financial services. Human resource firms claim there are more vacancies now than a year ago when the slowdown first set in, though these are way below past peaks.
TeamLease Services Managing Director Ashok Reddy said that the demand for temporary employees had gone up nearly 100 per cent from the earlier levels.
"On an average, we have over 3,000 vacancies now, against the peak of 8,000 to 10,000 in 2005 and a low of 1,400 some months ago. Sectors like telecommunication, financial services, fast-moving consumer goods and IT to some extent have enough openings that need to be filled."
"There's a marginal improvement in the job market. But since larger job markets like the US and Europe are still under pressure (several large employers are headquartered there), it's too early to say anything," Ma Foi Management Consultants CEO and Director E Balaji added.
He attributed the marginal improvement in demand to opportunities in sectors like pharmaceutical, life sciences, healthcare and power which have not borne the brunt of the slowdown.
Employment Portal To Ensure More Job Opportunities
By akansha, Section JOBS
Posted on Wed Jul 08, 2009 at 02:43:39 AM EST
Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee's proposal in the budget of modernising the Employment Exchange Programme (EEP) is being seen as the first step towards decentralisation of the job market. The introduction of a nationalised job portal for the employment exchange will help job seekers access the employment exchange of any city and thus will have more job opportunities in hand.
Through this new move the exchanges can offer competition to private job portals such as monster.com or naukri.com, feel recruitment experts. "EEP, though governed by the central government is very state-specific. In the existing programme, not many come to know about the job openings in other states. But Maharashtra is the only state to have a portal active for registration, job search and job postings for past four years," said G A Sangade, director, EEP, Pune.
"But introduction of a national portal will certainly create a central database broadening the span of the programme wherein job seekers in Delhi can search for jobs in Pune and vice versa," he added.
Indian Job Mkt Better Off Than Western Countries, More Than 60 pc Of Cos In India Are Still Hiring
By ugesh sarkar, Section JOBS
Posted on Wed Jul 01, 2009 at 11:42:14 PM EST
CHEER UP
The global economic slowdown has also led to many job losses around the world. While India is better off than western countries, people have still suffered immensely.
Job loss is one of the worst fallout of any economic slowdown. What began as a housing mortgage crisis in the US last year quickly sipralled into a global economic meltdown and from September 2008 companies across the world began downsizing their workforce to cut losses.
Citibank cut 50,000 jobs globally; British Telecom cut 10,000 while Hewlett Packard cut 24,000 jobs.
India too felt the tremors with close to 50,000 laid off in a span of two months, according to executive search firm Redileon Search Partners.
Sectors that have witnessed the axe include real estate and construction whic saw 79 per cent cut in its workforce. Job is export and trade, too, are down by 79 per cent while IT and hospitality sectors have witnessed a dip of 50 per cent. Banking and financial sector saw job cuts by 22 per cent.
But numbers alone don't explain the full story.
''One afternoon when I went to office… I was suddenly called by the editor and all of a sudden he said that you have to go,'' says Barid Baran, who worked as corporate communication manager.
New Focus: Bailouts, Govt Spending Have To Create Jobs
By ugesh sarkar, Section JOBS
Posted on Fri Jun 19, 2009 at 10:47:39 PM EST
The policy notes that unemployment is highest among the youth, women and college graduates, and new opportunities can be created in both labour-intensive and new sectors
In a bid to put job creation at the centre of its economic policies, the government plans to make it mandatory for all development programmes to generate employment, through a first-ever National Employment Policy (NEP).
The same goal will also be embedded in future bailouts or concessions to private sector companies, said a labour ministry official, and will also apply to special economic zones, the tax-free export hubs on which no consolidated survey reports on job potential exists.
Critics of Indian growth since the advent of reforms have often pointed out that job creation has not kept pace with economic expansion, unlike in many other Asian countries such as Taiwan and South Korea. India's average annual employment growth rate between 1999-2000 and 2004-05 grew 3%. But during this period, the unemployment rate also went up from 2.2% to 2.3%, according to labour ministry statistics.
About 10 million people are expected to enter the labour force each year. The policy notes that unemployment is highest among the youth, women and college graduates, and new opportunities can be created in both labour-intensive and new sectors, such as construction and tourism.
Cheer Up: Survey Says India Best Place For Job Seekers
By ugesh sarkar, Section JOBS
Posted on Mon Jun 08, 2009 at 11:24:47 PM EST
India has the most favourable hiring plans for the next three months as per a survey of world businesses whereas China, United States of America and the United Kingdom are worst off as per the Manpower Employment Outlook survey.
The Manpower Employment Outlook survey of 34 countries for the third quarter shows India at No. 1 with an overall Net Employment Outlook of 19 per cent followed by Norway and Poland.
However, this is still the lowest-ever outlook for India since 2005 but it is substantially better than three per cent in China and -2 per cent in United States of America.
Sectorwise public administration and education register the best outlook. Manufacturing, trade and mining may also see improved hiring.
Highlights of Manpower Employment Outlook Survey (MEOS) Q3 2009
Of 34 countries surveyed, India ranks no. 1 with overall Net Employment Outlook of +19 per cent. MEOS findings reveal that the most favourable third-quarter hiring plans globally after India are reported by employers in Norway and Poland.
This is the lowest ever Outlook for India since 2005, when MEOS was launched in India. However, this Outlook is substantially better than 3 per cent in China, -2 per cent in US and -6 per cent in the UK.
Hiring is expected to be positive in only 11 out of the 34 countries and territories surveyed globally with the lowest outlook in Ireland, Romania & Greece.
India's net employment outlook fell from 25 per cent in the second quarter to 19 per cent in third. This is much lower than 43 per cent recorded for the Quarter 3 of 2008.
Employers in South are the most optimistic with a Net Employment Outlook of +41 per cent, which is an improvement of 17 percentage point over the previous quarter in that region.
Employers in the North and the West, report the weakest Outlooks of +13 per cent; in the third quarter compared to 23 per cent and 24 per cent reported is the previous quarter respectively.
Comparison with the third quarter of 2008 reveal that employers in all the regions reported decline in Outlook with North and West regions registering a fall of 39 and 30 percentage points respectively.
The public administration and education sector registered the best outlook at 33 per cent while finance, insurance and real-estate sector was the least optimistic at 11 per cent.
All the sectors reported a negative year-on-year change in outlook except the public administration and education sector which registered an increase of 8 percentage points due to the government's initiatives.
However, the employment situation has become better since April when the survey was conducted. Sectors like manufacturing, trade (wholesale and retail) and mining sectors may see improved hiring in as the macroeconomic environment becomes better in India.
SEZs To Create 1 Lakh More Jobs In New Tax-Free Zones That Expected To Run Full-Steam This Year
By ugesh sarkar, Section JOBS
Posted on Fri May 08, 2009 at 01:48:56 AM EST
Special economic zones (SEZs) are expected to generate one lakh additional jobs during financial year 2009-10, even as developers continue to face the heat due to the global economic slowdown. The new jobs are likely to be created in some of the new tax-free zones that are expected to run full-steam this year, reports Financial Chronicle.
"This year, SEZs are expected to generate one lakh jobs, if not more, with some of the large scale projects taking off by the middle of the year," quoted a senior commerce ministry official in the report.
The total number of jobs generated by SEZs as on March 31, 2009 was 3,83,435 with an incremental employment generation for 2,48,731 persons.
Meanwhile, jobs produced in notified SEZs reached 1,31,515.
Even as the slowdown is imminent in SEZs with some big players such as DLF and Unitech surrendering some of their projects due to severe cash crunch, over 15-20 are projected to start operations by the year 2011.
The commerce ministry has received 18 proposals for setting up SEZs, which are likely to be considered by an empowered board after the new government assumes office later this month. The board of approval, chaired by commerce secretary G K Pillai, may meet immediately after the new government is formed to take up the SEZ proposals, the official said.
As many as 901 graduates and postgraduate candidates are among the 5,371 applicants vying for 32 posts of peons in the agriculture department office at Kolhapur, underlining the attraction for government jobs and also the lack of jobs in the private sector.
In a year of sluggish growth and no perks, employees in the IT sector finally have reason to cheer. With the economy beginning to look up and companies posting revenue growth, employers have started offering mid-term hikes and promotions.
When a global asset management company decided to hire a new country head for India in May, the timing seemed ideal: not many financial service companies were recruiting and the market was flush with talent. But after four months of constant negotiations, the company is yet to complete the process as the selected candidate is demanding more money than it could offer. 
Global outsourcing vendors, such as Accenture and Capgemini, are increasingly poaching staff from Indian rivals as they tap into BPO professionals to compete more effectively against companies like TCS, Wipro and Infosys. As offshore outsourcing goes mainstream, overseas multinationals are hiring Indians to head their sales teams in key markets in Europe and the US, a shift from the practice of employing locals to win contracts. 
