Most of the times I call up a candidate for a position I have, one of the first questions apart from the company name is “What is the Designation?”. The candidate wants to know what he will be called, what will be written on his visiting card.
The above trend can be seen in the Banking and Insurance sector very clearly. We see fancy designations being given to people just to ensure that they feel good about the job they are doing. An insurance company hires fresh MBAs at less tan 2L per annum and calls the position as “Financial Planning Manager”. When asked why not a Sales Officer or the like, they say that they have to make the designation sound exciting to attract people to join them.
This is true for most of the companies today as the battle to hire the best talent is getting hotter by the day. Organizations are playing to the tune of the candidates at least on the designation front. What is most disturbing to me is that a very small percentage of candidates at AM level and below actually enquire about the actual job content, the career path within the company, the reporting structure and hierarchy, the growth criteria, training opportunities, volume of business handled etc. What the people at junior levels are bothered about is what they will be called and what they will be paid.
Let me give you a recent example. A candidate of mine was placed with a MNC Bank at an AM level. His current level was also that of an AM but the new role he was being offered was much bigger, more challenging and was paying him 1.5 times of his current salary. It was very hard to convince the candidate about the learning involved in the job, the challenge this job throws at him and the Brand of the Bank and money on offer. He was stuck at the “Designation”. Though we could finally convince him about all the above, it made me think that such was not the trend a few years ago.
This very clearly shows the lack of long term commitment from candidates today towards their organization. This is evident from their attitude towards a job when seeking with a recruitment consultant like me. Though organizations try to stress on other factors like career path, growth, company brand, cross-functional training etc., the candidates seem not to be very interested rather bothered. Very few candidates in their discussions say that he is joining a company for a long term and he is not thinking about any change further. What is very commonly heard is that “Another 1.5-2 years and we shall come back to you again for a jump” Such trends are really disturbing for everyone in the industry, though it gives recruitment companies a good opportunity for continuous business.
Harinder Chhabra's Weblog 