Coimbatore: Emerging Talent Pool !
Quality is our watchword and timely delivery is an indication of our capability. So we cannot afford to compromise on either of these, says Suresh Nair, CEO of Spheris India Pvt Ltd, operating in the medical transcription space. Spheris established its presence in Coimbatore over a year ago after evaluating the talent pool available in the city. Nair had then stated that he would ramp up the headcount to 1,000 in six months to a year, but the company has been able to place only half that number. Nair concedes to the pathetic conversion rate.
"We are able to spot just 6 in every 100," says Surya V Ciryam, Vice-President (HR), Spheris. Why? Aren't we good at communication? "Yes, we are good in verbal communication, but awful at putting pen to paper. The situation is the same across the country," says Ciryam.
For Nair, the challenge is in retaining the talent pool and luring potential job seekers into joining his company. How would he do that? The company, for the first time, organised an employee reach-out programme in Coimbatore by inviting family members of employees to `Spheris Family Day'. The huge party, the elaborate lunch, the games and freebies, Nair hopes, will attract prospective employees to consider medical transcription as a career.
Big players such as Tata Consultancy Services and Cognizant Technology Solutions naturally go by skill sets.
"Recruit-train-employ is core to us. We will continue to enhance our presence here. It will be a long-term, sustainable, community-led relationship," the TCS CEO, S. Ramadorai, reiterated a couple of months ago, when he announced the company's plans for setting up its first offshore development centre in Coimbatore. He indicated that the company would create space for 5,000-plus people over the next 3-5 years.
The company's Executive Vice-President (Global Human Resources), S. Padmanabhan, during one of his informal chats, conceded to IT creating a certain imbalance in other areas. "It is important to address these neglected areas. Look at the Math graduate for instance.. We can pick the talented ones and ask them to work on mathematical simulation," he said and this is exactly what TCS is trying to do. Tap talents from other streams such as computer science, mathematics and management.
Both TCS and Cognizant have strengthened their presence in Coimbatore considerably within a short period and are looking to expand further. They have generally found the talent pool from this region `quite good'
Source: Business Line
