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L.N. Revathy

"The market for people with good communication skills is excellent. We have just cracked the surface."

Coimbatore April 9 While the Japanese and Chinese experts who visit India hail the English-speaking skills of Indians, the Co-Founder and Chief People Officer of 24/7 Customer, Mr S. Nagarajan, says "There is a need to hone the skills. The challenge today is in picking the candidate with good English communication skills."

The company, which is a global supplier of business process outsourcing services, is finding it extremely difficult to get quality talent pool. "In 2000, we managed to filter 16 out of every 100 who attended the interview.

Today, this has fallen to four. The market for people with good communication skills is excellent. We have just cracked the surface," he told Business Line.

Honing skills

Emphasising the need for revamping the curriculum from the school level to keep pace with the industry scenario, Mr Nagarajan said, "Unless a change is brought about in the exam pattern, in making spoken-English compulsory from the school level upwards, we cannot expect to see great growth. China has started working on these lines. The next generation would probably compete with us."

The company initially tried to explain the importance of communicating in English to people at different platforms but got pathetic response.

It then started signing up with different colleges to source and develop talent for the BPO industry. "We have signed up with 150 to 200 colleges across the three states — Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu in the South.

The 24/7 Ascend programme is designed to educate and equip students, faculty and the institutions about the BPO industry,' Mr Nagarajan said.

"The 24/7 Varsity aims to bridge the gap between academia and the industry, and create a better understanding about the manpower requirements of the sector."

The company has recruited close to 400 candidates from this belt this year, the highest in recent years. To a question on requirement, Mr Nagarajan said, "We need 500 more for our Hyderabad centre."

Would the dearth dilute its recruitment standard? "We cannot afford it. Some candidates drop out during the training period. Projects come in plenty. The difficulty is in finding the right talent," he reiterated.

Currently, the company has around 5,500 professionals on its rolls across its offices in India, the US and UK, and the nine delivery centres in India, the Philippines and Guatemala. Its business crossed the $70 million last year.

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