Head Hunters in India

Head Hunters (Which batch are you from ?)

Since i landed without a job, one of the first things i did was activate my job-search here. Thanks to friends (Nitish Kapoor chief amongst them), managed to land with both feet running...

And so i landed into the batch syndrome...

I've been away last 10 years, worked in over 5 countries, met / interviewed at least 50 headhunters (i always believe in keeping tabs on the mkt) - and i have to say that headhunters in india have a couple of peculiar traits...

• First question usually is 'what batch are you' (from my MBA) ? Now for someone who has worked for well over 10 years, that is a fair question if they are trying to meet an 'experience' specification ie the client has mandated they want candidates who have minimum 10 years work ex.
• But No ! No, no no no ! The real reason is they still fix your salary by batch....kind of like the civil services, if you're higher batch then higher salary ? So if they offer a role and mention a compensation package and you revert by politely mentioning that the package is on the lower side - pat will come the reply 'But that is the average for your batch !'. So your carefully crafted work ex / achievements / multi-country experience go down the drain - what still matters most (for salary purpose at least) is your batch !
• To me this also highlights another fact - that the bulk of management appointments in india are amongst the extremely narrow talent pool of the top MBA institutes. Which i feel, despite having passed out from one of the premier insti's, is not a good thing. It shows a very narrow / uni-dimensional way of thinking & perspective amongst the clients and also assures that everyone in the organisation thinks in a similar way (the MBA school of thought!).
• The next peculiarity is also uniquely indian - a complete unwillingness to read the cv which you have submitted ! Usually abroad, when they meet you they've read the cv / have made notes on the side / have Q's ready. Here, they start looking at the cv after you've sat down in front of them and then sit back and straight-facedly ask you to describe your life 'right from the beginning'. I've resisted the temptation so far to start with 'once upon a time, long long ago' (maybe only one long...i'm not that old !) but i think i may give in one day. There have been a couple of exceptions but i think its the classic case of too much work / companies recruiting and too few quality people....

Having said that, the boom here is very real - there are lots of roles in almost any field and if anyone is looking to come back, now is really the right time !