'There's still room for growth in salaries'

IN CONVERSATION

Korn/Ferry International, among the big-five global executive search firms, has been operating in India for a decade now. It specialises in recruiting senior managers, but has also set up a separate arm to address companies' need for middle managers. Deepak Gupta, Country Head & MD, Korn/Ferry International, speaks to Shamni Pande.

How is Korn/Ferry different from the others, and are you not losing opportunity by just focusing on the top segment?

First of all, we are a wholly owned subsidiary of Korn/Ferry International and that makes us special as unlike many other franchisees or partly owned entities, we are duty bound to stick to the best practices of our organisation.

Personal agenda cannot overtake good corporate governance. Secondly, we were one of the first executive firms to have senior professionals from industry on board. I am myself an ex-banker and I have colleagues who have distinguished career track records.

As for tapping opportunity, we are not behind, as we launched Futurestep last year to cater to the mid-level talent needs of companies.

Are we moving towards younger CEOs?

We are definitely reaching a stage where many company CEOs are in their early 40s. Many things are happening to facilitate this. Most MNCs, especially US companies, favour younger managers. You find chief financial officers or chief information officers in their late 30s.

They spend about three to five years in that role and move on to leadership roles a lot earlier today. Our survey done with the EIU involving 300 firms also shows this.

Companies are leaning towards the best practices of different regions, as most respondents believe that globalisation warrants a model that is neither Western nor Asian, but includes elements of all best practices. We are at the tipping point. As of now, I admit, that finding the right talent within the younger age band is a challenge.

With the war for talent and salaries shooting up, where are we headed?

Yes, there is a war for the right talent and we are helping our clients wage that war. Companies are growing rapidly and need talent, new companies are coming into the country and a lot of Indian talent is getting sucked into regional and global roles.

Historically, India has been a low-paying market, so all of this is spurring salaries.

We also notice that good people have at least two offers in hand at any given moment. It's an unfair situation for companies, but it depends on which side of the fence one is.

In terms of salaries, I think there is still a lot of room for growth. Let's be clear, our starting salary for a graduate from an average university is around Rs 5-7 lakh, whereas the starting salary of an MBA from even an average university outside is $50,000-$70,000, so what are we complaining about?

Yes, where the top bracket is concerned, CEO salaries here have hit the ceiling and are over a million dollars in some cases. But the question is: what demands are made on these CEOs?

They are expected to grow business by about 25-30 per cent, whereas elsewhere they are expected to keep the growth agenda on track. Hence, we have to view their salary increases in this context.

Do you notice talent flowing back to India?

We are involved with bringing global talent for clients and we do notice that NRIs are returning.

Due to our reputation we are able to reach out to the best and we also see expats tuning in, because it's important for them to have India on their resumes.