India Sees Shortage of Top Talent

Last week’s Human Potential summit, part of The Economist’s“The Ideas Economy” series, offered participants the chance to hear from a wide range of global thought leaders on a number of social and economic issues. Nandita Gurjar, Senior Vice-president of Human Resources at InfoSys, and R Gopalakrishnan, Director of Tata Sons, took the stage together to provide audience members with a deeper understanding of corporate recruiting in India , and to share their insights into the current and future state of global employment.

Of primary concern to the speakers was the shortage of top talent in India. Both leaders expressed trepidation over the rapidly expanding Indian population and the resulting labor force that appears unprepared to meet the challenges of a global marketplace. Gopalakrishnan noted that a large portion of the talent problem stems from the Indian education system. The steady increase of unqualified job applicants are mostly recent graduates.

Drawing a parallel to the United States’ education system, Gopalakrishnan explained that Indian schools are producing graduates who are significantly deficit in a number of valuable skill-sets. While the U.S. still produces the world’s greatest innovators, the nation’s scholastic system is similarly flawed. Gopalakrishnan explains there is a disconnect between education and industry across the globe – that talent pipelines have not evolved with the times and that schools are not producing the right kind of job candidates. While employment opportunities abound in India, positions remain unfilled because there is a lack of qualified candidates. The problem extends far beyond the borders of just India and the U.S.

Gurjar recounted a similar understanding of the situation, noting that the quality of potential hires has been decreasing in recent years, but that great companies like Infosys and Tata have been able to succeed where others have failed because of training and development programs and a strong focus on the supply chain. She agreed with Gopalakrishnan’s assessment, confirming that the root of the talent problem lies in an inherently flawed education system that doesn’t produce the right kind of thinkers or provide students with the skills they need to succeed in the real world.

As part of the solution, Infosys hope to inspire students to become engineers early on in their education. Infosys works with over 1000 colleges to provide an advanced and specialized curriculum that focuses on the needs of corporations and the technology industry. Graduates who follow the freely available program will be better prepared to land a job after college. Gopalakrishnan believes the idea is a step in the right direction. He believes that profound insights come out of common sense, and that in order to fix the current talent problem, education systems will have to be retooled to embrace the dynamic elements of industry.