Demand for Senior-Level Manpower to dip by 50 percent!!!

There will be a 50 percent fall in requirement of senior-level manpower across sectors in Indian companies in 2009, compared with 2008, according to a survey by Gallup Consulting, commissioned by Executive Recruiters Association (ERA), an association of around 210 human resource consultancy firms in India. Senior-level manpower includes people with designations above vice-president and general managers.

The requirement for middle and junior level employees will fall by 23 percent and temporary manpower requirement will be down 21 percent, the survey says.

But there’s some good news for job-seekers. The engineering, infrastructure and construction sectors will require 64 percent more senior staff this year compared with 2008. The second highest requirement is from telecom companies, which is 16 percent more than in 2008. Business process outsourcing (BPO), knowledge process outsourcing (KPO) and ITeS sectors will require 44 percent more manpower in middle and junior level management this year, says the Gallup survey.

“The infrastructure projects are mid-way. The companies need employees for the projects to continue. The telecom sector is seeing a few new entrants. Also, some of the existing companies are entering new circles, so there is a need for manpower,” said Vipul Varma, secretary, ERA.

According to Mario Lobo, managing director of Ray & Berndston, an executive search firm, “Acquiring talent from outside the company will be expensive. Companies will change employees only when they think that a particular domain or business division is not doing well.”

Joy Nandi, client partner, Korn/Ferry International, another executive research firm, said, “There is a freeze in many companies when it comes to hiring. Typically, in a situation of downturn, companies relook at their manpower to check if they have a right person for a right job. If not, they coach and retrain people or move them into different departments with different responsibilities. It is also important to note that critical hiring is an ongoing process................

Article by Shilpa Shree, Mumbai, Financial Chronicle.

By POST A RESUME (www.postaresume.co.in)