Perils of talent crunch

ET reports on the talent crunch at the CEO level in India Inc.

“Few candidates allege that search consultants aren’t being transparent enough, luring them into assignments that were very different from what they were told. “I met a company on a search consultant’s insistence, and they made me an offer I couldn’t refuse. Now I find that my job is half of what I was promised. I told the headhunter, ‘You are just a bloody broker’,” says a stung candidate. But is there an honest broker? “It’s an oxymoron. To what extent you can be an honest broker while you are selling a job — that’s often the deciding factor,”

Some clients allege that headhunters also try and push the candidate’s compensation higher, so they get a higher cut — a headhunter usually receives up to one-third of the annual package, bonus included. Some firms are said to take on a mandate and pocket a first retainer – one third of the annual salary for the position — even when they know they don’t have the expertise and bandwidth to complete a search successfully, says a headhunter: “For some it’s a free for all, grab all you can. Even some of the big firms are indulging in this behaviour.” But for now the hunt is on.

The current market trend clearly indicates that there’s dearth of capable leaders at the top. India Inc. has not been able to keep pace with the growth and develop leaders and adopt succession planning successfully. The fallout is that too few candidates are being chased for various openings. This has also lead to some unfair and unhealthy practices as recruiters are over promising and candidates having multiple offers are bargaining hard, what it means is that higher salaries, higher perks but not necessarily the best fit for the job.