Executive searches, done with sharp elbows

Dearth of talent leads some firms to scout globally for top people

In October, Google snared a prize catch in India, hiring the chief technology officer at Yahoo India to head its research and development centre here. Yahoo, meanwhile, moved a veteran executive from its headquarters in Sunnyvale, California, to take over as chief operating officer of its research centre in Bangalore.

The moves by Google and Yahoo, known to chase after the best and the brightest, signal how hot the competition is for top-drawer talent in India. Even as companies continue to hire thousands of skilled workers at lower levels, signs point to a talent shortage that is becoming acute at the high end.

8220;The whole country is on a dizzy growth trajectory and talented people are the most crucial factor in this rush,8221; said Kishore Biyani, chief executive of the Future Group, a retailing conglomerate. 8220;There is a dire mismatch in the demand and availability of top people.8221; In fact, executive search firms say, some companies in India have begun to look globally for leadership-level hires.

8220;We are scouting internationally and, increasingly, companies state that costs do not matter,8221; said Umesh Ramakrishnan, vice chairman of Christian 038; Timbers, an executive search firm based in New York. Biyani8217;s industry, retailing, is one of the fast-expanding sectors. A few months ago, the Future Group handpicked Raghu Pillai, an experienced executive from the retail conglomerate RPG Group, to be CEO of Future Group8217;s home retail chain stores. But weeks later, Pillai was enticed away by the retailing unit of Reliance Industries, to be CEO for operations and strategy of an ambitious start-up.

But retailing is just one industry where top talent is in short supply. Engineering, technology, drug and manufacturing companies are in similar straits. 8220;The battle for best talent is extremely fierce,8221; said Deepak Gupta, the managing director and head of the India office of the executive search firm Korn/Ferry International. With globalization accelerating in the last few years, there is a finite number of people with the global mind-set and the specialized management skills who are available to companies, he said.

Faced with the problem of finding the right talent to sustain momentum in a competitive environment, specialists predict that there will be considerable churn of top talent in the next 12 to 24 months.