Google search fails to locate India talent

IT engineers may be dime-a-dozen in India, but internet search engine leader Google is having a hard time finding candidates with the right skill sets in the country.

Google, which is considered to have a very low attrition rate even in the highjob-hopping Indian IT space, has found it more challenging to hire certain talent in India as compared to other parts of the world, the company's founder-director Kavitark Ram Shriram admitted recently.

The Indian-origin founding board member of Google and a well-known venture capitalist said at an 'Investing in India' conference in San Francisco, "I know first hand that we have had a bit more of a challenge trying to hire engineers for Google in Bangalore compared to the other parts of the world."

The daunting admission comes from an influential board member of a company which puts a prominent link of 'We're Hiring' on the home page of its India website.

Besides, the company claims to encourage its employees "to make their dreams a reality," to provide "a fun atmosphere" to work, along with other benefits like "mediclaim insurance, life insurance, business travel/personal accident insurance, sick time, maternity leave, paternity leave and family care leave."

A Google India spokesperson declined to comment on the issues raised by Shriram, but said the company was very pleased with the talent it had found in India.

The spokesperson said: "We are building global centres to be at the same quality throughout the world and Google Bangalore R&D centre is an important part of the Google innovation story."

The Bangalore centre was one of Google's first R&D centres outside the US and was set up with a charter to innovate, implement, and launch new Google technologies and products. The company's Google Finance service was first developed at this centre.

"We are very pleased with the way this centre has grown and with the talent we have found in India," the spokesperson said.

The company director, who was among the two Indians in the Forbes list of the 400 richest Americans, cited the shortage of right talent with certain skills in web development and web design technology areas as well as at middle-manager levels.

"It's been really hard to find middle management, for example. It's great to find a good founding team, but then I can't find middle management. I can't find engineers, he said at the 'Second Annual Investing in India' conference organised by International Business Forum.

The people are smart, innately smart, but do not have some particular skill set yet, Shriram added.

Shriram, who held 2.3 per cent stake in Google when the company launched its IPO in 2004, also criticised the talent crunch in the web design in India.

"User-interface people are in short supply in India. I have to actually transport people from here over there," he said.

India has emerged as a major offshore destination of various global companies, particularly in the IT space, and a huge pool of low-cost and educated talent pool has been cited as one of the major driver of the company's BPO growth story.

Shriram said that some businesses in India, such as call centres, were suffering high staff turnover as greater competition for labour has pushed up the wages, which is less common in web businesses.

"In the web 2.0 businesses, I am not seeing that, but I am also seeing a huge talent shortage," he said.

Shriram is a well-known venture capitalist and has invested in various start-up companies like 24/7 Customer, Plaxo, StumbleUpon.Com and TellMe Networks through his venture fund Sherpalo Ventures and has been an early executive team member of internet firm Netscape.

Meanwhile, people in the blogspace are also blaming the talent crunch Google is facing to the recent controversy related to the company's social networking service Orkut. "Orkut is evolving into a major controversy as Indians are really concerned over privacy and there is no privacy on the site," wrote a blogger.

Google said as a global company it was committed to delivering the best search experience to users and customers around the world, in every language and in every country.

To further that objective, Google aims to hire the very best people whether in engineering, business operations or customer support, it added. Besides Bangalore, the company has offices in Hyderabad, Mumbai and New Delhi as well.