Women outnumber men in Recruitment Firms

Running my own Recruitment Frim and being the founder member and Treasurer of NAESCON (National Assciation of Executive Search Consultants) I wholeheartedly agree with the insights brought out by Barkha Shah in this news item, however, I would like to differ somewhat when it comes to the gender equation vis-a- vis the leadership of the Recruiter Firms. We seem to have more 'men' owners than 'women' owners.

Barkha says that this is one industry where women beat men hands down. Not only in terms of sheer numbers, but also in terms of quality of work that they provide. The recruitment firms hiring talent for companies across various sectors is another area where women better men.

The "boom" in the job scenario across verticals like information technology, retailing, banking, insurance and financial sectors has led to a spurt in the number of recruitment firms being set up in the country.

If estimates are to be believed, there are more than 10,000 such firms today. While some have a nation wide presence, others are basically run as a one-man or, shall we say, a one-woman show.

However, the one similarity among all such companies is that men are a minority in this industry. So much so, that Bangalore-based TeamLease Services Private Limited, is into recruiting, training and "temping" across industry verticals, is now planning to recruit more men than women to bridge the "gender-gap".

Says Nirupama V G, associate director, TeamLease, "Within the next six months, we will be setting up centres in another four cities and will, therefore, be recruiting internally in good numbers." TeamLease hires 400-odd people across its 14 centres, which includes a centre at Hyderabad too.

"Earlier, around 90 per cent of our total employee numbers comprised females. Now, it is around 70 per cent and we are trying to reduce this gap in the male-female ratio further," Nirupama adds. At present, TeamLease hires 100 people internally, every quarter. So what makes this sector a women's domain? According to Shyam Suryanarayanan, director, S2 Management Consulting, a manpower consultant, women are more people-oriented and have better soft skills than men. "Besides, women have patience, which is an essential requirement in this job," adds Praveen Singh, also a director with S2. The Bangalore-based firm has around 25 employees working for it with 19 out of them being women.

Sushmita, a recruiter with Hyderabad-based Goose Technologies, that has clients like Microsoft, Virtusa and Oracle among others, feels that men are basically restless and that's why are generally not preferred for such jobs.

"This job requires concentration and women fare better in this regard," she adds. Stability is another reason why women are being banked upon in this industry. "Women tend to stick around with an organisation for a longer period. Some men use this kind of a job as a stepping stone to get into the corporate world," Shyam says.

Incidentally, this job promises good "moolah" as it offers target-based incentives. While the basic salary for an executive is Rs 10,000-Rs 12,000, according to Nirupama, there have been executives in her company who have earned even Rs 100,000 as incentives in a quarter.
"Besides, we also offer overseas trips and star performer awards as other add-ons," she says.

So what does a recruitment firm look for while hiring internally? For some companies, although an MBA is a requirement, there are some who do not mind taking in raw graduates as well."We just look for firebrands with people-skills," says Shyam. "It is communication skills that is the real deciding factor," adds Sushmita