The recruitment puzzle

It is an unusually cold day in Kolkata and as I enter office I am greeted by my young colleague with the news of Mr X’s resignation from work. Mr X is young and quite new to our organisation. Mr X had found a better option. People like Mr X are now a familiar figure in today’s professional world. My friend who heads a department in an international organisation in Chennai recently received three resignation letters from her unit on a single day .The three persons all new entrants were leaving because they had found something more lucrative. In contemporary India attrition rates are high in certain kinds of industries. For small organisations this can cause enormous operational problems. Most small offices do not have regular HR departments. If recruitment becomes a permanent feature in the operational routine of such offices it could mean serious trouble for local management. I have been involved in junior and middle level job recruitment exercises for more than a decade. Generally these sessions are enjoyable because invariably you meet some very bright candidates who bring in lot of fresh ideas and thoughts in the course of their interview discussions. Of late we have noticed that for every batch of shortlisted candidates a few will invariably not turn up in spite of having confirmed their attendance well in advance. When the customary call is made to ascertain the whereabouts of the missing candidate you are either met with flimsy excuses or very indifferent no- excuses-at-all responses. Young people with good written and spoken English skills are now spoilt for job choices at the entry level. There are certain sectors that start booking students even before they are out of their undergraduate final year classes. I am not talking about engineering or IT students.


Generally I find this generation extremely unsure of what they want from life .For them the grass is always green on the other side. I also find a serious lack of understanding and self-assessment of their abilities and talents. Their obsession with material success is extreme. Extremely talented iconic people are their role models. I feel sorry for them because they fail to realise that nobody becomes a genius or a success just like that. I have met several bright young people who have changed one high paid job for another in quick successions spending not even a year in one company. Sometimes recruiters just look at the past designations of the candidate. I feel one should also verify the worth of past contribution made by the candidate to justify such recruitments. The importance of communication skills cannot be underrated in the professional world but sometimes this very skill can hoodwink recruiters into making false assumptions about a candidate’s true value. The philosophy of “satyam vada and dharmam chara” is equally important in today’s world..