Shifting loyalties

Looking for a job? Why not try the Internet ? it's the place your resume should be.

Sudesh Mukherjee is busy handling over 45 people, managing cross-functional teams deployed to perform Service Level Agreements with a Global Fortune Client for his top-of-the-line Indian IT Tier-1 company. With an over US$1.8 million business to run, Mukherjee is an unhappy man.

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For the first time in his career since the days he was "placed" from a premium B-school campus in the country, he is not looking at normal avenues of moving on. He is not "spreading the word", nor going to clandestine meetings with local consultants. He is surfing the web to find his next job. And the results are fast and sure.

Call it mid-career blues or whatever else, thousands of people comprising the mid-rung key pool spread across all significant companies, with their high-powered resumes and stints at facing the blues are moving online. Something unimaginable even a few years ago, where college goers and "still green freshers" took the path of giving their resumes to consultants or prospective employers. Today, as never before, senior-level jobs are being posted, and taken, through job portals. Something thought unimaginable till so recently.

The figures speak for themselves. For example, of the 1.6 million registered users on Monsterindia, 4 per cent belong to the SVP, Directors, President and CEO career level! In 2001, when Monster started its operations this percentage was as low as 1 per !

The trend is here to stay. With corporate honchos increasingly becoming Internet-savvy, it is no longer infra dig to apply for jobs through job portals. Says Mayank, a Programme Manager working on open source platforms, "It is the best way today, and actually more safe and faster."

For companies too, it is increasingly becoming a more viable option to "net" their employees rather than going through head hunters. "It was unbecoming a few years ago to look for senior managers on a job portal. There would hardly be any resumes," says Kishore, a Human Resources professional who recruits at senior levels. "Today, the scenario is the opposite, with the maximum number of options available on web portals."

Another reason for corporate heads to turn to job portals is the all-important factor of confidentiality. At the upper crust of the corporate world, where companies are bought over overnight and people who matter won over with offers they can seldom refuse, confidentiality is the key. Something the Internet offers.

"Even the and best employer award winning companies, who you once thought would get a whole host of resumes if they posted an opening on their own site - are now openly scouting for talent on different job portals," says Mrinalini, a senior corporate strategist.

The web, and in particular, premium job portals, are the new watering holes for high notch jobs, and no one is complaining. Yet, because the phenomenon is still in its infancy the number of resumes are not as many as you would expect. No doubt, senior managers and top executives have started using the Internet for career enhancement possibilities, but they still rely heavily on offline headhunters.

These numbers are, however, increasing, slowly but surely. Enough to predict that not too far in the future e-recruitment in India will become the most prominent vehicle for top executives, and companies.

Courtesy: Monsterindia .com