Survey claims India short of talent!

Indian companies are increasingly finding it difficult to find right talent, with 67 per cent of employers struggling to meet their critical-level hiring targets, a survey claimed on Thursday.

About a year ago, only about 16 per cent companies were facing difficulties in getting the right talent for critical positions, the survey by staffing services firm Manpower said.

According to Manpower's sixth annual Talent Shortage Survey, India results are well above the global average of 34 per cent and second only to Japan, where 80 per cent of employers are struggling to fill critical positions.

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Talent scarcity in India has worsened, as just a year ago, India was ranked 29th among 36 countries surveyed, when 16 per cent of employers faced difficulty to fill jobs.

Explaining the reason behind this talent crunch, Manpower India Head - Sales and Marketing Namr Kishore said: "For the last many quarters demand for talent is increasing in India, but the supply is limited as individuals are lacking mission critical skills, resulting in such talent scarcity.

"On one had we have a demographic advantage, and on the other hand due to low employability, many of our talent is not employable. It is quite an ironical situation," Kishore added.

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In India, the job employers have most difficulty filling vacancies for research and development, sales manager and IT staff, the survey said.

Trailing behind Japan and India in the global list is Brazil, where 57 per cent of employers are having difficulty in finding the right people for the right job.

This is followed by Australia (54 per cent), Taiwan (54 per cent), Romania (53 per cent), US (52 per cent), Argentina (51 per cent), Turkey (48 per cent) and Switzerland (46 per cent).

Some other factors behind the talent crunch is that during the recession time many organisations chose to let many of the talent go.

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As the demand for talent is now increasing, many organisations are now finding it difficult to fill the mission critical positions, Kishore said.

Besides, as organisations are adopting a global way of functioning and becoming more competitive, the skills for the same jobs have changed overtime.

"Time has come when as individuals they are investing in themselves and upgrading their profiles," Kishore added.

Meanwhile, Sanjay Pandit, MD, ManpowerGroup, India, said businesses need to adopt a long-term approach to ensure they have the right talent that they need.

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"While talent cannot be 'manufactured' in the short term, a robust workforce strategy will ensure a company's business strategy is supported by having the talented people they need to execute it," Pandit added.

ManpowerGroup surveyed nearly 40,000 employers across 39 countries and territories in the first quarter of 2011 to determine the extent in which talent shortages are impacting global labour markets.