At a time when a hiring freeze is set to become familiar news, Gaurav Seth, the newly-appointed India Head for global recruitment firm Hays Group has a challenging job ahead of him. He has been given the mandate to expand his team in India and open new centres.
It is a tall order, as running a hiring firm profitably in the current economic situation is a big challenge, leave alone an expansion. Which is why the company probably brought in Seth, who has over 23 years of experience across management, executive search and recruitment, to head up the Indian operations.
"India is in a relatively happy situation. Our economy is still growing and the job market here is vibrant. There are certain sectors, which are doing well, and certain sectors which are not. Bigger challenge for me would be to breaking into the market. Hays is a late entrant in India," Gaurav said.
A graduate from IIM-A, Gaurav started his career with ANZ Grindlays Bank as a management trainee. Over a span of fifteen years, he worked with ANZ in different geographies including UK and Australia. In his last role at the bank, he was the Business Head.
In the following years, he has worked with major global multinationals like Genpact and Standard & Poor's, and two top global executive search firms, Russel Reynold’s Associate and Transearch.
He feels that since he has worked with corporate and recruitment consultants, he has seen both sides of the business and understands the pain points of the recruiter as well as the consultant. This is sure to give him an edge over other hiring consultants.
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An avid golfer, Gaurav loves to hit the turf when not busy headhunting. He loves to play tennis as well. He has also been a commentator during the Davis cup and Commonwealth games.
As far as lessons learnt from sports is concerned, Seth says that sports and consultancy have one thing in common: “You are as good as your last assignment.”