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Abstract

Hiring Employment has undergone a transformational change post recession. Trends and
Issues in recruitment and selection have taken paradigm shift with market gradually
recovering from slowdown .The effect of recession has brought new challenges for the
companies as well as job aspirants. The phase marked by lay offs and pink slips, now seems
to be getting over, opening new opportunities for the job seekers. At the same time, taking
advantage of an improving economy, employers are planning to recruit new employees in
their organization in near future while maintaining their talent pool.
Key words: Hiring, recession, recruitment, selection, talent.
Introduction
Recruitment, selection theory is based on an organization's accomplishment of hiring
valuable employees, constituting a major function of human resource department.
Recruitment process involves a systematic procedure from sourcing the candidates to
arranging and conducting the interviews and requires many resources and time. The
recruitment process is immediately followed by the selection process i.e. the final interviews
and the decision making, conveying the decision and the appointment formalities.
Hiring activities need to be responsive to the ever-increasingly competitive market to secure
suitably qualified and capable recruits at all levels.
Changing Hiring Patterns post recession: An Employers perspective

1. The focus is on Talent management:

Companies are open for great talent; thereby employees with specialized skills and an
experience in the respective domain have better options to choose as compared to
generalist's .The candidates scoring high on experience, technical skills, along with good
command of domain knowledge and excellent communication skills are the ones the
companies are looking for in the recovery phase .Moreover companies have a preference for
candidates that are working, reasoning that they must be the best of the best, if they
survived cuts.

2. Referrals are a good option:

This to be a "reliable channel" to reach out to its potential employees Employers need to
use their extensive contacts as companies are relying on referrals as compared to walk in
interviews. When it comes to hiring, companies aren't putting ads for the vacancies for
senior levels rather using the referrals of their existing employees for vacancies.
3. Social networking sites:

Social networking websites are no longer used for personal purposes but also for hiring,
business marketing and promotions. This primarily includes much of senior-level hiring, and
makes it easier for the hiring managers to target candidates with niche skills or for roles
based in alien geographies.

4. Focus on reducing hiring costs:

During and post the recession the role of Human Resources during is to save money for the
organization. The traditional methods of recruitment of on campus as well as walk in are
time consuming and costly procedure , instead companies are preferring reputed institutes
and on line job sites for recruitment.
5. Rehiring of ex-employees;

The employees that were laid off or shown pink slip during recession as company were
downsizing due to slowdown are now being reconsidered and preferred upon new fresh
recruits , as they are aware of company culture and policies.

6. Rewards & recognitions:

Strategic initiatives on the part of the employer to increase the productivity and efficiency of
the whole organization and redesign of the compensation scheme
Changing Hiring Patterns post recession: An Employee's perspective

1. Good time for Changing and seeking new diversified Careers:

Many existing employees are waiting for the market to recover, in order to change
employers, careers or industries. This is the time when they can come up to new
challenging roles which they always desired, a shift from their previous roles which they
opted due to lack of options during the slow down of the market. The present job in which
they have working might be a compromise wherein they don't foresee growth, can now
benefit from the post recession scenario and can go ahead with changing career path..

2. Raise or Promotion:

Employees plan to ask their bosses for a raise or promotion once the recovery is underway.
As employers need to ensure their best employees remain with their firm when they're
presented with other opportunities, the better salary packages and other benefits and perks
will play a critical role in retaining their employees.

3. Demand for strong branded companies as employer.

Job seekers are opting for strong and stable brands rather than those who are offering quick
money. Companies with stable track record of growth and market share is being preferred
over new establishments.

4. Innovation & skills is the buzz word:

The job seekers need to ensure that they are adequately skilled and are abreast with the
latest changes in the market. They job seekers need to acquire knowledge and special traits
necessary to be successful. The innovation along with planning and problem solving skills is
what they the need for their survival.

5. Increased competition :

Job seekers are facing competition not only from the fresh recruits but at the same time
experienced workforce who is looking for change and those who have been laid off in the
past due to recession. So job seekers need to face competition as result of more availability
of candidates and less opportunities.
Conclusion:
India represents a wonderful opportunity for employment as has shown rapid growth across
all sectors .The workforce in India is as competent and as capable as their international
counter parts. In this phase of recovery, employees with mindset of innovation, passion to
excel, with relevant experience & expertise, ability to work in team and adaptability are
some of the attributes they need to focus as companies are changing their hiring patterns to
suit the current environment for survival.
http://www.indianmba.com/Faculty_Column/FC1112/fc1112.html

IT firms cautious on hiring as US recession


looms large
P P Thimmaya & Thanuja B M, TNN, Mar 14, 2008, 06.04am IST

BANGALORE: Call it the subprime effect or the fears of a recession in the


US. Recruitment — a key indicator of Indian information technology industry's growth — is slowing down. Hiring
across companies, especially the small and mid-sized, has entered into a lull with momentum certainly being
downcast. It is estimated that overall hiring is down by 40-50% compared to last year.
HR recruiters across the spectrum say the hiring pattern during the last three months is certainly not what it was in
the last three years
Given the high dependence of the Indian IT industry on the US economy, companies are increasingly taking a
cautious route toward hiring with majority of recruitment now being largely based on work requirement of the firms.
Vati Consulting CEO Amitabh Das said the general trend in the market shows that companies are not being very
proactive in their hiring plans.
The Indian IT/ITES industry is expected to employ around two million people by the end of FY08 as against 1.6
million in FY07. Significant part of the hiring generally comes from large companies such as TCS, Infosys, Wipro,
IBM and Accenture among others. The current slowdown in hiring is expected to hit the small and mid-tier
companies hard in their ability to attract quality talent.

Also Read
Employment increases in unorganised sector
Infrastructure cos see hike of 40-50%, but not so good for IT cos
India likely to offer top salary hikes in Asia for 5th year
Cisco sees role in expanding networking professionals base
Hindustan Unilever cuts 50 managerial jobs
Jet Airways largest employer of foreigners
Internet most preferred option for job seekers
TCS asked 500 staffs to leave for poor performance
Ad Astra Consultants managing director Nirupama V G said: "Small and mid-sized companies are not hiring as
many people at junior and mid level as they did earlier. They are, however, hiring at senior levels with quality
becoming very stringent."
At the same time, companies are increasingly utilizing their bench strength to shore up their active resources, unlike
in the past. This, in a way, could have bought down the hiring momentum a tad.
Sources said another trend being noticed is that many people on the bench in large companies are opting for mid-
sized companies for the same level of salary or even taking a cut in packages, instead of sitting on the bench for six
months or more.
The slowdown pattern in the industry has had its impact on the salary levels. TVA Infotech CEO Gautam Sinha said
compensation hikes are likely to decrease this year especially for those with generic skill sets, but it may not be the
case for those with niche capabilities.
This has also impacted people who make movement across companies. According to Nirupama, the hikes in many
cases in junior and mid levels are nil while maximum is 15% over earlier packages. The normal norm for such
compensation hikes are generally in the 20-30% range with 50% in exceptional cases.
http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2008-03-14/news/27722906_1_recruitment-
ibm-and-accenture-companies
6 Feb, 2008, 02.11PM IST, Kalyan Parbat & Sutanuka Ghosal,TNN

TCS asked 500 staffs to leave for poor


performance
KOLKATA/MUMBAI: Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) has asked around 500 people to leave the company after the
second annual appraisal it carries out, citing performance-related issues. By the end of the financial year, this number
could go up to 600, company officials told ET. The employees who were asked to leave are mostly those with 2-3
years of experience and do not include trainees because they have less than a year's experience.

Last week, TCS was in the news for cutting down the variable pay of employees for slippages in internal growth
targets - a move that will save it about Rs 83 crore. However, the TCS management denied the move was linked to
any slowdown worries. "This manner of forced attrition is only linked to the appraisal process. It is not linked to any
other factor," a TCS spokesperson told ET.

An official statement from the company termed it a routine exercise carried out bi-annually to weed out non-
performers. "The number of employees impacted during this year till date is 500 which constitutes about 0.5% of the
company's employee strength of 1,08,000," the statement by the spokesperson said.

Also Read

 IBM dismisses 700 freshers in India

 Citigroup to cut 400 jobs in UK; India to follow

 Wage gap between UAE and Indian salaries on a decline


 Global majors prefer experienced candidates over novices

 Indian employees to get highest salary hike in 2008

 TCS, Infosys, Wipro add over 57000 workers in 2007

According to the statement, if an employee gets a grade of 2 or below during the first appraisal cycle, the company
puts the employee on a performance improvement plan that includes additional training and assignments on new
projects.

At the end of the second appraisal if the employee's ratings do not improve to a grade better than 2, the employee is
asked to resign. TCS arranges for placement agencies to help the employees get placed in other organisations, the
statement said. The grades are on a scale from 1 to 5, with 1 being the lowest and 5 being the highest.

A centre-wise or business-wise break-up of the 500 employees was not available. "The actual numbers are 500 as of
date. It may rise to 600 by end-March. I am not in a position to give a centre-wise break-up of those who have left the
company. In Kolkata, 50 people have been asked to resign out of nearly 6,500 working there," a spokesperson said
in response to an ET query. Analysts said the move did not signal any major concerns as yet.

"It seems to be the outcome of a routine annual performance appraisal exercise. It would be of concern only if the
joining dates of new recruits were staggered," said Jayendran Rajappa, IT analyst with Prabhudas Lilladher. A TCS
employee also confirmed that a few employees were asked to leave every year for performance-related issues.

"A 0.5% cut is minor considering leading global corporates lose anywhere between 5-10% every year," Suveer
Chainani, an analyst with Macquarie Research, said. The TCS scrip, however, reacted falling 2.7% on the BSE to Rs
949.45 on Tuesday. The BSE IT index also lost 1.4% to close at 4039.82 on a day the Sensex ended flat.

Recruitment Trends in India - What Employers and Job Seekers are Looking For
Like any other industry, the recruitment "industry" is cyclical. IT follows the cycles of other industries to a
large extent. But the recruitment industry has a significant advantage because of the "products" it promotes
- skilled manpower. For any organization, in any kind of economy, skilled manpower is absolutely essential.
In a booming economy, companies in India were offering high salaries and attractive incentive packages to
attract the best talent to their payroll. However, as the economic downturn hit countries around the world,
Indian companies suffered too. Lay-offs, salary cuts and deferred payments became commonplace. A vast
pool of skilled, un-employed candidates was created during this recession.During this period, hiring was
extremely limited and companies could cherry-pick from the cream of the crop.
Now that the economy, atleast in India, seems to have stabilised and started clawing back to what is was in
2008, some striking trends are being observed in the recruitment industry. These trends have their roots in
the recession and it's effects on job seekers and recruiters. Some of the key trends have been discussed
below.
Contract Hiring
Many companies that cut back to bare bones staff during the worst of the recession are now beginning to
hire contract workers. Contract hiring makes sense when the economic situation is still volatile and a
company does not want to commit its financial resources to a full-time permanent hire. Also, contract
employees are usually brought on board with the idea of handling one set project or providing a select skill
set. So the process of hiring a contract employee is usually a little more streamlined as well.
Just-In-Time Hiring
Today, the key focus of talent acquisition teams has changed from hiring generic skilled resources as
strategic buffers to meet future ramp-ups to hiring just-in-time based on business demand. This ensures
that lead times are reduced for new employees and costs are reduced for the company since they are not
maintaining a bench. Just-in-time hiring is fast becoming the watch word in many companies and is a
beneficial trend that is set to embed itself firmly into the recruitment industry.
Consulting / Freelancing
Becoming a freelancer requires a great deal of domain experience, commitment, integrity, flexibility and
confidence. Though the going might be tough initially, returns can be very good provided a freelancer is
good at the job and enterprising enough. To become and independent consultant, a person has to have a
command over his field of experience and a relatively good network in the industry. Freelancing and
consulting may form a small percentage of the recruitments in India, but recent trends show more
professionals inclined towards them

Read more: http://www.articlesbase.com/recruitment-articles/recruitment-trends-in-india-what-employers-


and-job-seekers-are-looking-for-2564333.html#ixzz1Ikv6miUt
Under Creative Commons License: Attribution

Ma Foi Employment Trends Survey finds high optimism in Indian employment


outlook while Indian economy faces serious challenge
It is interesting to find that Indians expect 1 million new jobs mostly in hospitality sector while the economy
faces hyperinflation slower growth prospects.
A Survey conducted by Ma Foi, one of India's largest human resource firm has predicted a three per cent
increase in employment in 2008. Most of the jobs would be generated by hospitality sector.
The problem with that outlook is that it is based on past performance of the economy and consequential
future projections by public and business sector. At the end of major business cycle booms, expectations
are high and optimism reflects economic bubbles.
This is no different. Indian economy is faltering with high inflation and economic stagnation. The deep
recession in US is slowing India very fast. The economic growth gan slow down much faster if
outsourcing from US stops after US presidential election later this year.
Indian stock market is telling the world that a recession is imminent. Most like ly there will be loss of many
millions jobs instead of a million job gain as predicted by the survey from the HR firm.
http://www.indiadaily.com/editorial/19216.asp

Infy, TCS, Wipro to hire 90K [Job Trends]


0 Comments | Times of India, The, Oct 13, 2010
KOLKATA: For over two million software professionals in India recovering from last year's
recession blues, when employers trimmed payrolls and froze hiring, there's finally some good
news ahead.
According to software industry lobby Nasscom, India's top IT firms, including Tata Consultancy
Services, Infosys and Wipro , are set to hire nearly 90,000 this year, compared with only around
20,000 last year. For the first time since the global economic crisis forced IT companies to freeze
hiring and shed jobs in December 2008, employment in the sector is now looking up.
Recruitment firms and HR honchos at leading IT firms say the sector has witnessed the highest-
ever job creation in September, with staff strength growing over 50%, similar to pre-recession
levels.
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"This is the highest hiring growth recorded in the IT sector since recession. We expect similar
momentum till November since companies will be required to complete their annual hiring plan
before next year," says E Balaji, director & president, Ma Foi Randstad. He estimates IT hiring
to have grown 20-22% during August-September over the same period last year.
Till 2008, even a 15% attrition rate was conservative in an industry where some firms struggled
to keep it below 20-30%. However, with lar GE customers like JPMorgan, Citibank and GE
sending more projects to India and with firms such as IBM and Accenture under pressure to hire
more in low-cost locations like India, the war for retaining and hiring talent is back.
Apart from looking to serve new projects with fresh recruits, companies are also beginning to
build bench strengths for future business. "IT biggies are stocking up skills and training them in
advance in anticipation of new contracts they are expected to bag in the near future," said
Pradeep Udhas, executive director and head of IT advisory, KPMG.
"Some of them are also expecting attrition, and hence a preventive measure. All major
companies like TCS, Infosys, and Cognizant have exceeded their expected earnings levels," he
added. He expects the renewed hiring momentum to continue for another year.
MphasiS, which declared a manpower base of 38,275 in its last quarterly results when it added
1,156 employees, says there are currently more than 2,000 vacant positions within the company.
"We never stopped hiring even during the downturn. What is encouraging is that some of the
other companies that ceased recruitment have again started hiring," says MphasiS chief human
resource officer Elango R.
Headhunters say recruitment in tier-I companies are at pre-recession levels, but they say it will
still take some time to pick up in the mid-level as the market landscape has changed. However,
they say specialist companies like those in product development, analytics and testing are still
growing and so has recruitment in tandem.
"Recruitment may be back, but there is much more sanctity now," says Ikya Human Capital
Solutions MD Ajit Isaac. "Recruitment is much more planned now with a small bench.
Companies are also much more disciplined and avoiding employees who frequently change
jobs," he says.
Interestingly, Mahindra Satyam, which is on a comeback trail, plans to recruit some 3,000 by
February next year. The company, with some 27,000 employees on rolls, has been hiring fresh
talent for the past few months now and has already added 3,000 people during May-July.
"Recruitment in the IT sector had started to peak off from April-May. This is driven by entry-
level and mid-level positions or those with up to eight years of experience. The demand for
senior-level talent or those with 8-18 years of experience is very little. The sector is expected to
continue similar hiring momentum for at least another six months," says Mahindra Satyam chief
people officer T Hari.
Another driver for more tech hiring is demand from large e-governance projects like Aadhar, or
the unique identity project.
"The IT industry has been recovering over the period and has seen significant improvement in
hiring trends with not just international business picking up but also large reformist projects that
are being rolled out in sectors like power, e-governance, telecom etc. Aadhar is expected to
generate employment with specialists required across levels for implementing the complete
solution," said Vivek Puneikar, chief human resource officer at HCL Infosystems .
Meanwhile, job indices tracking the IT sector reflect renewed momentum too. "As per
TimesJobs.com data, the recruitment scenario is expected to maintain steady and balanced
growth, with skills and experience levels driving the demand," R Sundar, CEO, Times Business
Solutions, said.
According to the Naukri job index, hiring in the IT sector has reached pre-recession levels during
September and is at least 45% higher than the previous corresponding period. Similarly, the
Monster index reveals that the IT sector has seen significant rise in online recruitment activity
for the second consecutive month. The sector registered a robust 52% six-month growth.

Read more: http://www.articlesbase.com/recruitment-articles/recruitment-trends-in-india-what-employers-


and-job-seekers-are-looking-for-2564333.html#ixzz1IkutQLoE
Under Creative Commons License: Attribution

The Recession: A Silver Lining for Corporate Recruiters


By Rob McGovern, Founder and CEO of Jobfox
.
The Changing Rules of the Road
As talk of the economy takes center stage, one has the feeling that we’re hanging
on the last branch before the abyss. It’s as if one moment we’re in the longest
sustained economic expansion in history. In the next instant, we’re staring down
the barrel of a full-out depression.
What is fact and what is fiction? What does it mean to be in a recession? It’s not
always easy to tell, especially in this energy-charged election season. It’s not
enough to say that the economy is slowing. It’s got to be a full-out crisis to grab
the news headlines. It’s McCain’s fault. It’s Bush’s fault. It’s Obama’s fault. Oh,
whatever, let’s just keep talking about it. If it bleeds, it reads, and the economy is the crimson
topic of the day.
Fact: The U.S. economy grew 2.8 percent in the third quarter of 2008.
As a corporate recruiter, you’re undoubtedly asking yourself questions about the current
economic climate. Will your company continue to recruit over the next year? Are your skills and
talents still valued by your company? Is the “War for Talent” a thing of the past? What does a
recession mean for me, exactly?
Past is Prologue
Clearly, this is not the first recession we’ve experienced in this country. I was an eye witness to
the last recession, in 2001, in my position as CEO of CareerBuilder. Our business and revenues
were 100-percent tied to the flow of job openings. As a result, I had a front-row seat to watch the
recession’s impact on hiring activity.
To refresh your memory, the recession of 2001 was the result of two massive shocks to the
economy:
• The bursting of the dotcom bubble.
• The tragic events on 9/11.
The fall of 2008 feels eerily familiar. The news of the $700 billion bailout and the gyrations of
the global stock markets create the same surreal feeling that, overnight, the economic playing
field has changed. In one important way, the anxiety related to the 2008 “economic crisis” is
magnified because many people and companies have lost their institutional memories about life
in a recession. It’s been a while since we’ve faced a declining economy. In 2001, we were
experiencing downturns every few years, so it had become old hat.
So, what did happen in September 2001?
It’s true that we saw a huge pullback in hiring activity that month. Hiring freezes were declared,
layoffs were instituted and many companies were furiously calling job boards to cancel
contracts. At CareerBuilder, we saw a dramatic reduction in the number of job listings being
posted to our site. Employers were simply saying: “We’re done hiring for a while.” For everyone
in the HR industry, things looked incredibly bleak.
But, as they say, it’s always darkest right before the dawn. As a job board, we went into October
2001 braced for the worst. Then, something unexpected happened. Hiring activity picked back
up. We saw a flood of job postings from clients, along with a renewed sense of urgency to make
hires. By December, we experienced the highest flow of new job postings in the history of the
company.
Fact: In the 2001 recession, unemployment spiked to a 10 year high, but so did job listing
activity.
Certainly, there continued to be economic struggles and challenges. As you may remember, the
press called it “a double-dip recession”. The unemployment rate continued to climb for the next
26 months, creating many hardships for U.S. workers. However, throughout this period, the
number of jobs being posted by companies continued to grow at a fast clip.
Three Recessionary Fallacies
You’re undoubtedly wondering: “Why do employers post jobs on job sites when the economy is
grinding to a halt?” I can assure you; these were real job openings, posted by real companies. It
turns out that a remarkable amount of hiring activity happens during a recession.
Fallacy #1: Flat GDP equals weak economic activity
Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is a measure of economic activity in the marketplace. When the
government reports GDP growth numbers, it tells us whether the economy is expanding or
contracting. For example, a GDP of 0 or negative 1 percent does not mean that American
companies aren’t selling their products. Rather, it simply says that they’re selling the same
amount or slightly less as they did in the prior quarter.
Let’s say you own a coffee shop on Main Street that has profits of $30,000 per quarter. You
probably aren’t going to hit the panic button if you only make another $30,000 or $29,700 the
next quarter, reflective of a 0 or negative 1 percent GDP scenario. Let’s take this one step further
and suppose you lost your head barista. It’s not likely you would implement a hiring freeze.
You’re short a key staff member whom is key to you earning your $30,000 per quarter.
This leads us to the second misconception.
Fallacy #2: Employers only hire when they are growing.
While it is tempting to try to correlate hiring activity to GDP growth – that employers only hire
when they are growing – the truth is there is very little correlation between growth and hiring
activity. The reality is that nearly all hiring activity is a function of churn in the workforce.
Historically, economic growth is responsible for less than 6 percent of the hiring activity in the
American workforce.
For example, let’s say you’re a company with 25 job openings. If your business is growing at the
same rate as the overall economy, say 4 percent, then almost by definition only one of your 25
jobs is related to job growth. Why? In a rational world, your company isn’t going to increase
your overall headcount ahead of your 4 percent revenue growth.
What about the other 24 vacant positions? Those are the result of churn. Workers quit, retired,
got fired, found a new job, went back to school or moved to another town with their spouse.
Worker churn is the status quo in the modern American economy. In fact, the Bureau of Labor
Statistics reports that the average length of time that a U.S. professional remains in his or her job
is three years. That means that every year, 33 percent of our workforce moves on – for whatever
reason.
The bottom line is that more than 90 percent of hiring activity has nothing to do with economic
growth. It has to do with the amount of churn in today’s workforce.
Fallacy #3: Job hopping “freezes” during a recession.
It’s a commonly held belief that the job market “freezes” during a recession. In this fallacious
scenario, every employee wants to hold his or her present position out of fear of diving into an
uncertain job market. In other words, people won’t venture out into the unknown when the job
market is unclear. Is this true? Not if history is a guide.
Let’s look at another example of a manager with a seven-person team that conforms to the
normal bell curve of performance. You have a top performer, a No. 2 performer, a No. 3
performer, etc., all the way down to No. 7. During boom times, when increased headcount
approval is easier to come by, the manager is more tempted to ignore performance problems (his
sixth-ranked and seventh-ranked employees) by just adding a new hire. In short, problem
employees are swept under the rug. However, the game changes when headcount is under close
scrutiny. Our manager, as a result, has no choice but to jettison his poorer performers and seek
more qualified hires from the outside.
It works the same for employees. Top performers invariably leave troubled companies during
tough times. Like a star athlete who doesn’t want to play for a losing team, a star professional
seeks out opportunities to play for a more successful organization. After all, who wants their
hard work and dedication during a recession to be rewarded with a pink slip?
Fact: Recessions cause more, not less churn.
Layoffs and Freezes
But what about the company that goes through a big layoff?
Early in my career, I had first-hand experience with layoffs when I worked for a Fortune 1,000
company that hit a rough spot. The company experienced several painful layoff cycles. In the
typical fashion of a company in trouble, we cut ourselves to the bone. Company leaders said:
“Get to the absolute minimum number of people we need to operate the business,” and we
dutifully cut down the size of our workforce.
Well, if you’ve already been through a recession, you know what comes next. Before the dust
settled from the layoff, we started losing key people (welcome back, Mr. Churn). Many of them
were key contributors who had started looking the moment they heard the “layoff rumors.”
Before the “hiring freeze” ink had dried, we were back to recruiting as normal. In fact, I
remember this period as some of the most urgent hiring activity of my career.
Fact: Hiring continues, even during hiring freezes.
For most companies, a hiring freeze simply means that overall headcount must remain at a fixed
number. For example, when a company with 1,000 employees announces a freeze, it is simply
saying: “We must remain at 1,000 employees.” If you apply the rule of 33 percent churn per
year, this frozen company is still going to have to hire 333 people per year to maintain that
freeze.
It’s a nice fantasy, often held by CFOs, that headcount can be frozen to cut costs. But when the
star sales person walks out the door, the key technologist calls it quits or the receptionist bolts,
there no way that CFOs are going to prevent hiring managers from making backfill hires.
During the recession of 2001, when I was the CEO of one of the nation’s largest job boards, we
heard the call for hiring freezes and then witnessed equal panic when recruiters realized they
needed job candidates to keep the business running. Companies that cancelled job listing
contracts in September were calling us back in November to reinstate their recruiting services.
Fact: Hiring freezes don’t address the big part of the recruiting challenge: churn.
The Road Ahead: Our View
The United States economy is facing its greatest amount of uncertainty in recent times. Our
CEOs, CFOs and HR Executives face the most important “what now?” questions of their careers,
which naturally creates anxiety and uncertainty for those of us in the recruitment profession. Will
it get better or worse in the next 12 months? Here’s our view:
• After a period of reactionary cutting and freezing, hiring activity will return to
a level of normalcy that closely replicates the hiring levels experienced in the
first half of 2008. Hiring is largely a function of churn and we see no evidence
that churn will do anything but accelerate in the coming quarters.
• Hiring budgets will come under tremendous pressure, with the big loser being
spending on contingent recruiting. For most companies, the biggest hiring
expenses are hidden in hiring managers’ budgets in the form of payments to
their local recruiters. We’re skeptical that such expenses will escape the
careful watch of CFOs and we expect contingent hiring activity to be greatly
reduced.
• The next 12 months will be a period of doing more with less. There will
inevitably be cuts in the size of recruitment staffs and contingent search will
not be an option for most companies. We believe internal recruitment
workloads will rise considerably after the reactionary period, as hiring
managers race to backfill key positions without the aid of their favorite local
staffing firm.
• If you’re not a “safe” Fortune 1000 company, be prepared to lose and have to
backfill many top performers. We expect “flight to quality,” as the best
people migrate to the most promising and safe employment situations. Small
to mid-sized companies may experience the most difficult recruitment
environments in recent memory, as we doubt hiring managers will want to
settle for replacing A players with B players.
• We think the term “cost-per-hire” will rapidly re-emerge in the corporate HR
lexicon. During the last recession, companies became very focused on using
the tools and products that delivered the best cost-per-hire (CPH) results.
Historically, Internet recruiting products offer – far and away – the best CPH;
thus, we believe there will be an accelerated migration from high-cost
(contingent search) to low-cost, Internet-based solutions.
• We believe a new cast of recruitment stars will be made in this recession. The
recruiter that can nail that key hire and avert a hefty contingent fee, or one
that can master new Internet recruitment methods that offer better CPH, will
shine.
The recruiters that emerge victorious in this economic slowdown will be the ones that are the
most resourceful, cost conscious and persuasive in their trade. The amateur hour is over. The
serious-player era has begun.
Final Words
At Jobfox, we’re helping our customers deliver new lows in CPH. We believe we’ve engineered
a solution that allows a recruiter to do more with less. By using our matching marketplace, a
recruiter can pinpoint the right candidate in a matter of minutes, all the while avoiding the need
to spend time looking at those “5″ ,”6″ and “7″ candidates that were jettisoned from the belt-
tightening companies. At present we have more than 2,000 corporations using the service, and
we think there’s little doubt they’ll be well positioned for the “do more with less” times that lie
ahead.
About Rob McGovern
Jobfox is the inspiration of CEO Rob McGovern, one of the nation’s leading career experts.
McGovern is the founder and former CEO of CareerBuilder and the author of “Bring Your ‘A’
Game: The 10 Career Secrets of the High Achiever.”
About Jobfox
Jobfox is the Internet’s fastest-growing career site for connecting working professionals with
corporate recruiters. A first-of-its-kind capability, Jobfox IntrosTM gives candidates a “foot in
the door” by making personal introductions with matching employers. With My Jobfox
ConnectionsTM, employers maintain automatically updated talent networks for filling immediate
hiring needs as well as maintaining longer-term relationships with top candidates. Jobfox
provides recruiters with high levels of control to match candidates with specific job
qualifications, helping companies save time and money. Visit www.jobfox.com today. Jobfox
also invites you to visit its career blog at www.bettermondays.com.
As a final note, we also invite you to take a 5-minute survey to shed more light on recruiting
practices during a recession. By participating in this survey, you will have the opportunity to
receive the final report results, which will ultimately be a measure of corporate hiring sentiment
over the next 12 months. Begin survey here.
Recruiting in Down Times
By: Fred Vallejo

Not every recruiter has been in business during serious “down times.” But there are a
few lessons to be learned from those who have. Lessons that will help you weather the bad times.
Lesson No. 1: Employers are more cost conscious. Expect more pressure to reduce your fee. As
more recruiters fight over fewer jobs, look to distinguish yourself from your competition –
bringing value-added to your services – and keep your fee where it should be.
Lesson No. 2: Pay attention to your personal ROI. You’re likely not to have as many positions to
work on. So become more selective about which assignments you take. Go with those that will
give you’re the greatest return on your investment – of time and effort.

Lesson No. 3: Thoroughly understand a client’s hiring priorities. Put resources (both time and
money) into filling the highest priorities first, the less important positions second, the least
important last. Be wary of the employer who says, “They’re all top priorities.” Some positions
are more important than others.
Lesson No. 4: Cash flow matters. Learn to make cuts in your budget or control your business
spending. Otherwise, you can become the proverbial gerbil on an exercise wheel: running,
running, running – and getting nowhere except more stressed about making financial ends meet.
Lesson No. 5: The silver lining. When times get tough, the weak get washed out. It’s a matter of
workplace evolution. So if you’re a dedicated, professional recruiter, realize that during down
times you can actually find ways to enhance your reputation and build market-share. When the
economy returns to normal, you’ll be positioned to excel.
No question, tough economic times aren’t a lot of fun. However, they can be a powerful teacher.
You’ll learn more about your strengths and more about your weaknesses. You’ll learn how to
work not only harder, but smarter. Best of all, you’ll be prepared to minimize the impact when
the economy next hits the skids.
Good Days Are Here Again, IT Biggies Vroom Back On Job Street

By ugesh sarkar, Section Jobs Wanted/Available


Posted on Tue Oct 12, 2010 at 01:52:32 AM EST
With business from large foreign customers as well as domestic projects picking
up, software firms are hiring like never before
For over two million software professionals in India
recovering from last year's recession blues, when
employers trimmed payrolls and froze hiring, there's finally
some good news ahead.
According to software industry lobby Nasscom, India's top
IT firms, including Tata Consultancy Services, Infosys and
Wipro, are set to hire nearly 90,000 this year, compared
with only around 20,000 last year. For the first time since
the global economic crisis forced IT companies to freeze
hiring and shed jobs in December 2008, employment in the
sector is now looking up.
Recruitment firms and HR honchos at leading IT firms say
the sector has witnessed the highest-ever job creation in
September, with staff strength growing over 50%, similar
to pre-recession levels.
"This is the highest hiring growth recorded in the IT sector
since recession. We expect similar momentum till
November since companies will be required to complete
their annual hiring plan before next year," says E Balaji,
director & president, Ma Foi Randstad. He estimates IT
hiring to have grown 20-22% during August-September
over the same period last year.
Till 2008, even a 15% attrition rate was conservative in an
industry where some firms struggled to keep it below 20-
30%. However, with large customers like JPMorgan,
Citibank and GE sending more projects to India and with
firms such as IBM and Accenture under pressure to hire
more in low-cost locations like India, the war for retaining and hiring talent is back.
Source: Times Of India By Debjoy Sengupta & Writankar Mukherjee Good Days Are
Here Again, IT Biggies Vroom Back On Job Street
Click On "Full Story" For More...

Cos building bench strengths


APART from looking to serve new projects with fresh recruits, companies are also beginning
to build bench strengths for future business.

"IT biggies are stocking up skills and training them in advance in anticipation of new
contracts they are expected to bag in the near future," said Pradeep Udhas, executive
director and head of IT advisory, KPMG. "Some of them are also expecting attrition, and
hence a preventive measure. All major companies like TCS, Infosys, and Cognizant have
exceeded their expected earnings levels," he added. He expects the renewed hiring
momentum to continue for another year.
MphasiS, which declared a manpower base of 38,275 in its last quarterly results when it
added 1,156 employees, says there are currently more than 2,000 vacant positions within
the company. "We never stopped hiring even during the downturn. What is encouraging is
that some of the other companies that ceased recruitment have again started hiring," says
MphasiS chief human resource officer Elango R. Headhunters say recruitment in tier-I
companies are at pre-recession levels, but they say it will still take some time to pick up in
the mid-level as the market landscape has changed. However, they say specialist companies
like those in product development, analytics and testing are still growing and so has
recruitment in tandem. "Recruitment may be back, but there is much more sanctity now,"
says Ikya Human Capital Solutions MD Ajit Isaac. "Recruitment is much more planned now
with a small bench. Companies are also much more disciplined and avoiding employees who
frequently change jobs," he says.
Interestingly, Mahindra Satyam, which is on a comeback trail, plans to recruit some 3,000
by February next year. The company, with some 27,000 employees on rolls, has been hiring
fresh talent for the past few months now and has already added 3,000 people during May-
July.
"Recruitment in the IT sector had started to peak off from April-May. This is driven by
entry-level and mid-level positions or those with up to eight years of experience. The
demand for senior-level talent or those with 8-18 years of experience is very little. The
sector is expected to continue similar hiring momentum for at least another six months,"
says Mahindra Satyam chief people officer T Hari.
Another driver for more tech hiring is demand from large e-governance projects like Aadhar,
or the unique identity project.
"The IT industry has been recovering over the period and has seen significant improvement
in hiring trends with not just international business picking up but also large reformist
projects that are being rolled out in sectors like power, e-governance, telecom etc. Aadhar
is expected to generate employment with specialists required across levels for implementing
the complete solution," said Vivek Puneikar, chief human resource officer at HCL
Infosystems. Meanwhile, job indices tracking the IT sector reflect renewed momentum too.
"As per TimesJobs.com data, the recruitment scenario is expected to maintain steady and
balanced growth, with skills and experience levels driving the demand," R Sundar, CEO,
Times Business Solutions, said. According to the Naukri job index, hiring in the IT sector has
reached pre-recession levels during September and is at least 45% higher than the previous
corresponding period. Similarly, the Monster index reveals that the IT sector has seen
significant rise in online recruitment activity for the second consecutive month. The sector
registered a robust 52% six-month growth. "This rising trend is expected to stay at least for
the next six months to a year," said Hitesh Oberoi, managing director at recruitment firm
Info Edge.
http://www.delhiscoop.com/story/2010/10/12/15232/803

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