Thin at the top

Senior managers are scarce and IT companies are adopting novel ways of hiring them

Anuradha Venkatesh

A large software company recently placed a recruitment advertisement for professionals with 10-15 years of experience. Unlike the usual techno-driven ads inserted by its competitors, Satyam Computer Services invited high fliers with experience in areas other than information technology (IT) to join it.

Nearly 15,000 applied and around 45 made the grade at the end of a two-month recruitment process. Reminiscent of its ads in the late 1990s "� when the Hyderabad-based company called for freshers or those with less than two years experience "� the latest ad will result in Satyam sending applicants over 40 years of age back to school and grooming them in the basics of IT. "It is a novel plan," beams T Hari, senior vice president, human resources, Satyam.

Indeed, it is novel to pack a classroom with senior professionals who have lead multimillion-dollar operations in their previous jobs and to administer IT skills in small doses over a 10-week period.

"While we know technology, we need people with domain expertise and sector knowledge. We believe that capability and a willingness to learn are important," says Hari, who is looking for an additional 150 top-level executives this year in program management, domain expertise and relationship management to propel Satyam into a billion-dollar company and 50,000-strong in a couple of years.

Satyam's out-of-the-book scheme to hire senior talent from non-related industries reflects the scarcity of top-notch software professionals within the IT industry as it grows by 25-30 per cent every year and Indian companies start to move up the value chain.

"There is a genuine dearth of people who have managed $8 million to $10 million projects," says Anuradha Venkatesh, a partner at the Chennai-based Tapas Personnel Consultants.

The big four IT companies "� Tata Consultancy Services, Satyam, Infosys Technologies and Wipro "� plan on hiring nearly 20,000 people next year, nearly four per cent of which will come with around 10 years of experience, estimate experts.

Ma Foi, the Chennai-based management consultant, reckons that that the industry will need close to 1,000 top professionals next year and more than 25,000 at the senior level by 2012.

E Balaji, executive director, staffing solutions, Ma Foi, estimates that about 7,000 senior managers in the domestic IT industry manage around 26,000 project managers who, in turn, manage around 200,000 programmers and coders.

Cognizant Technology Solutions vice president, human resources, Bhaskar Das, who has this year hired over 100 senior professionals with a minimum of 12 years of experience, says: "We find that there is a paucity of senior level people who have experience in client-facing roles, along with technical skills."

Companies are paying more to breach the gap and scale up faster. A US META group report says that several companies are paying a premia for critical skills such as in embedded technologies and business consulting because companies are finding it difficult to locate people and retain them.

For instance, Infosys, a fiscally conservative company, set up a consulting arm in the United States, paying as much as $1 million per annum to hire seven top-level consultants from rivals such as Deloitte Consulting, EDS and Cap Gemini Ernst & Young. Infosys declined to comment on this because it was in the midst of an overseas public issue.

If the Indian software industry is paying top dollar, it's because its core coding business is under pressure from the strengthening rupee. Also, competitors such as Accenture and IBM, predominantly involved in high value projects, are moving to India to set up low-end programming operations to complement their global consulting business.

In turn, Satyam, Infosys and TCS have increased salaries by 15-20 per cent to avoid losing talent to US companies, which are paying 25 per cent more to those poached from their Indian counterparts.

Satyam's recruitment strategy for senior talent had its origins in 1998 when it hired freshers from other fields and put them through a 9-month gruelling classroom course, educating them about software. It later did the same for project managers and team leaders with 4-8 years experience.

"We were very successful," notes Hari, who then translated the experience gained from training around seven batches of junior staff to senior managers. "We have institutionalised this model within Satyam," he says.

Not everybody is convinced that Satyam's recruitment idea works. A competitor is sceptical about putting senior managers into a classroom after paying them more than Rs 2 lakh a month in salaries alone. "It might work at lower levels but not at very senior levels," he says dismissively.

E Padmanabhan, executive vice president, TCS, follows a different path. With attrition levels at TCS hovering at half the industry average of around 14 per cent, he believes in grooming from within.

"At least on the technology side we have several who have been with us for more than 10 years and understand the business," says Padmanabhan, who heads global human resource development at India's biggest software company.

Nearly 35 per cent of TCS professionals have stayed in the company for more than five years and the company promotes from within. Of course, TCS looks out for achievers in relationship management and domain expertise. "But we don't advertise. It is done more discreetly," says Padmanabhan.

Others such as Cognizant are acquiring companies to gain talent to the extent that human resource issues are partly driving mergers and acquisition activity, industry experts say. Cognizant bought US Aces (70 professionals), the Amsterdam-based Infopulse (40) and the Pune-based Ygyan (85).

The acquisitions were partly to expand in other areas and partly to recruit top talent. Patni Computers bought US companies Cymbal Corporation and The Reference to beef up its expertise in telecom and banking and financial solutions practices. Wipro has added 190 consultants from two recent US acquisitions, buying seven companies since 2000.

Non-resident Indians who have spent a good deal of their professional life in America and wish to return home are a target for IT companies. Cognizant's Das said that it has attracted a significant number of Indians from overseas, especially the US and Europe.

A National Association of Software and Service Companies official estimates that nearly 30,000 top professionals have returned to India in the past two years, many of whom come with the right mix of talents, contacts and attitude.

Still, Tapas' Venkatesh says that Indians returning to the country are less flexible. "They are not looking at travelling long periods abroad and being away from their family for a prolonged period of time."