HR Management

 CEO, Aspire Human Capital Management, believes that a plethora of job opportunities exist in the IT, BFSI and retail sectors

   Hu m a n re s o u rce m a n a g e - ment, or HR services, is a $4.3 billion industry growing at 30% CAGR in India, according to a 2007 estimate. It is hugely fragmented with over 20,000 players and consists of subsectors like job sites (Monster.com and Naukri.com), entry level recruitment (Kellys), mid-level recruitments (Manpower and MaFoi), staffing industry (Adecco and TeamLease), executive search firms (Egon Zender and Korn/Ferry), assessments (Thomson and Pearson), training firms (Dale Carnegie and Franklin Covey), consulting firms (Hewitt and Watson Wyatt) to even integrated human talent supply chain firms (Aspire). With several new global players entering the Indian market with a new thrust on skills development, the industry is all set for an explosive growth.

GROWTH AREAS

India's GDP has been growing at a CAGR of 8-10% over the last decade and consequently, most industries have shown immense growth. IT/ITES, BFSI (banking, financial services and insurance) and retail are the top growth sectors followed closely by telecom, real estate and hospitality, among others. These top three sectors, alone, will create one million new jobs in 2008.
   Most players focus on a few verticals. Aspire, for example, focuses on these top three sectors where roles such as customer care executives, finance and accounting executives, sales executives, claims processing, cashiers and tellers, among others, are in a huge demand. Employment opportunities in these sectors is set to increase from 5.6 million in 2007 to 11.8 million in 2010.

SKILL-SET

Employers look for specific sets of knowledge, soft skills and psychometric attributes. For example, for entry-level customer care executives: graduate degree (any discipline), language, voice and accent, logical reasoning and computing skills form the core knowledge areas; customer handling, conversational, team-work or negotiation skills may be the soft skills being probed; and, patience, empathy, influencing or persuasion may be the set of phsycometric abilities being valued by most employers.
   For entry-level jobs, a graduate degree is what most employers demand. In fact, a second degree for most jobs, described above, is often considered a deterrent as employers take it as a statement of ambition. Employers frequently prefer candidates who will look to create long-term careers with one firm, working their way up the organisation steadily.
   'Over-qualification' is a reality and a real threat. Prior internships or experience is a distinct plus as employers prefer students who understand reality and don't just arrive starry-eyed with minimuminformed notions of careers and corporate life. However, if you have undertaken some short-term soft or hard skills development training/grooming from a reputed/national institute, it will serve as an added advantage.

REMUNERATION

For the best and brightest, salaries are not a constraint.But for average graduates, the remuneration varies from Rs 7,000-15,000 for graduates in entry-level roles and Rs 10,000-20,000 for postgraduates for applicable roles. This excludes top 50 MBA schools in the country or very specialised roles like architects, engineers, doctors and pilots, among others. For experienced candidates, compensation is always based on industry (market) benchmarks commensurating with roles/years of experience and expertise.
   Students should not get swayed by salaries. At the entry-level, your biggest emphasis should be on the organisation and role. A great organisation will allow you to learn and grow at your pace and will provide you professional training opportunities to achieve your goals. Always have a long-term focus. If you are joining a company, which is not a big brand, look carefully at the profile of the promoters or founders, endorsements of customers and research the company profile before joining.