The Hindu Business Line : MNCs ad(d) spice to lure the right talent

WITH the technology sector on a massive recruitment drive over the last few quarters, the recruitment advertisements have become extremely aggressive and innovative aimed at attracting the best talent.

Interestingly, though the IT sector does minimal corporate image building advertising, they more than compensate for it through these recruitment ads.

One reason for aggressive ads is to draw the attention of a prospective candidate, says Mr Xavier Augustine, Chief Executive Officer of Y-Axis, a placement services consultancy.

Some of the global majors are recruiting big time and they want the cream from the industry wherein barely one in 100 is inducted.

Away from superlatives, large corporations such as IBM, CSC, Accenture, Cognizant and Intelligroup try to dodge the typical sales pitch and strike a chord that is refreshingly distinct.

Not only do these ads urge IT professionals to aspire MNC moves, they have redefined the way recruitment ads are looked at.

Cognizant's recruitment ads take you through to "experience the thrill of doing big things early".

"We go the extra mile. We shoot with models, put sets together and work towards making that big impact," said Mr Ramkumar, Senior Manager, Corporate Communication, Cognizant.

Tectonic shift

In the last couple of years, recruitment ads have seen a tectonic shift — from an archetypal stock-image led ads to a more daring, bold and colourful ones, reflecting the company's personality.

Interestingly, much of the colour is lent to recruitment ads by the MNCs hiring in large numbers, several running into 1,000s.

The Head of Indian and UK operations of SumTotal, Mr Sudheer Koneru, said, "it has become tough to find the right talent for companies looking at extremely specialised talent.

One way we are addressing is to recruit the best from the campus and fine-tune the skills to meet our requirements. The challenge is to convince them on different career path with powerful messages."

As a powerful avenue to really build a brand, MNC recruitment ads seem to work toward meeting the dual objectives — getting the talent that is advertised for and building the brand equity in the minds of all.

And psychologically, MNC ads seem a breed apart — more audacious, more experimental and more on the brink.

Another dimension is with regard to this bold positioning reflected from Intelligroup's ad on "A thousand apologies... in advance to our competitors for parting with 1,000 of their best IT professionals."

Or the striking Cognizant ad that pictured discontented IT professionals in a sauna.

This pattern of creating original ideas and shooting with professional models is another trend.

The dilemma

Giving a different perspective to the recruitment scenario during his recent visits to India, the Founder of Monster.com, the largest online recruitment company, Mr Jeff Taylor, said, "if it is the case of employees turning down job-seekers now, it would be the other way by the year 2008. Many corporations would have to find new ways to retain people. This in effect sums up the dilemma faced by some of the large corporations in finding the right talent."

As opposed to the feel-good fling Cognizant ads presented, IBM and Accenture leveraged testimonials from their staff and leveraged it effectively.

IBM's "Reasons to work for IBM" evokes a sense of clarity and multiplicity in their unique selling proposition.

Accenture's IT streak gets interestingly represented in its ad that connects to the typical technologist.

"/Enter/" reads these ads "/Turn innovation into effective technology solutions/Build and support high quality systems/" has the syntax that so effectively entwines with the close-up face.

Not surprising then that the large Indian IT players, who were hitherto content with stock images in their recruitment ads are now borrowing a leaf from the MNCs.

The bottomline: "It is not easy to find the right talent."

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