Anjali Prayag
Vishwanath Kulkarni

Bangalore , Aug. 9

TWO years ago, talent-hungry BPOs screamed eureka and gave a thunderous applause for HR managers, who found talent tucked away in Tier II and Tier III cities across the country.

Mysore, Madurai, Guwahati, Nagpur, Surat, Visakhapatnam... there was no town that the ITeS hiring team did not touch. But is there a calm after the storm? Are BPOs doing a rethink on their `smart move'?

Ms Kavitha Reddy, Vice-President, TeamLease Services (P) Ltd, says that at some of these places they have seen `no-show' from candidates, which has affected their client's recruitment process. But isn't `no-show' the bane of the industry, even in bigger cities such as Bangalore or Mumbai? "Yes, but look at the cost of hiring. There is a huge cost factor involved in the recruitment team going to a Tier II city, spotting talent, making the offer letters and later having to experience a `no-show' behaviour from the candidate."

This display of uncertain behaviour has been a bad experience for the company and Ms Reddy says some BPOs have categorically instructed her not to headhunt from smaller towns.

Mr Pandia Rajan, Managing Director, Ma Foi, says it's not so much a blanket ban on Tier II and Tier III cities. "I would say that companies have become more discerning in choosing the places from where they hire." According to him, conversion ratios have not been very encouraging from some specific towns. "Different towns have given different response. For instance, Nagpur has been very good, while Kochi has not been very encouraging, Shillong is fine while Guwahati is lukewarm."

The North-East, which was a popular hunting ground for call centres, has become a difficult choice, as `accent' is becoming a bit of a problem, says Mr Jayachandran Pillai, Director, Alp Management Consultants Pvt Ltd. He says the company spends about Rs 15,000 per person for recruitment and if the candidate does not take up the offer, it's a huge cost down the drain. But companies are not willing to let go of this huge talent pool because of the sheer numbers it offers them.

Mr Prosenjit Ganguly, Vice-President and Head of HR, HTMT, says though the crop that they get from places like Bangalore is still the cheapest and the advertising more effective in terms of number of people walking in for interviews, but they still need to depend on Tier II cities (even if it means higher costs) because 50 per cent of their requirement is met from these cities.

Apart from giving to-and-fro fares for the Tier II recruits, HTMT provides settling down expenses for them, including a seven-day free accommodation, as it is a big problem these recruits face when they land in Bangalore. HTMT operates two contact centres in Bangalore with a head count of over 2,500.

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