In the last part of this series, Guy Erricker unravels his experiences in chaotic Bengaluru and his thoughts on the recruitment firms in India as well as dealing with government bureaucracy.
The Edge: Living in Bangalore and talking about persistence, which is your favourite IPL team then?!
Guy: It would have to be the Karnataka Knight Riders…
The Edge: But KKR are…
Guy: I know, I know! It’s an in-house joke…
The Edge: Ok then! So, what is the craziest thing that has happened with you in your 3 years in India?
Guy: To be honest, over the last few years, I think my definition of crazy has changed quite a bit, what once seemed crazy can seem pretty normal now and vice-versa! I remember during a Uber/Ola strike hurtling along at warp speed down an 8 lane highway in Delhi going to the airport in a rickshaw during heavy rains. I was clutching my briefcase and wearing my pinstripe suit, then had to be dropped off, soaking wet, at a crammed public bus to make the last few kilometres to the airport as the rickshaw wasn’t allowed!
Needless to say, there were a lot of bewildered-looking people staring at me as I got on the bus. I look back at it now and just wonder what the hell I was doing. Seriously, a pinstripe suit, who wears one of those these days? That’s crazy!
The Edge: What is the main pain point or struggle that you still face while living in India?
Guy: I have different views to my wife on this but my one is probably general government-related administration! The annual Foreigner Regional Registration Offices (FRRO) work visa application is generally a very testing week for me. I’ve learnt to overwhelm them with literally irrelevant paperwork and that seems to keep them happy now! It has improved dramatically though to be fair since my first year.
The Edge: So, just bureaucracy, that’s it, no other struggles?!
Guy: Aside from having no other relevant linguistic skills than English to get by with, while everyone else pretty much speaks 3-4 different languages? Yea, that’s pretty much it. Oh, and maybe ‘dry days’ that seem to appear out of nowhere (that’s when no alcohol is served either in the state or pan-India), along with the other dry days that are already clearly in the calendar, every year, but you tend to forget about and plan those end of month team drinks.
The Edge: So when it’s available, where in India can you find the finest beers then?!
Guy: Hands down, Bangalore – fortunately! There are at least 10 microbreweries in Bangalore I’m aware of, however, given the traffic predicament here it doesn’t lend itself to much of a brewery crawl. Which has its advantages and disadvantages, I guess!
The Edge: How do you manage the chaos and traffic in Bengaluru?
Guy: With patience, good grace and Netflix most of the time! I actually did my first overnight ‘home city’ business trip a few weeks back! The meetings were only 25km away from the office but it was a better use of time to book a hotel and stay there the night than try and get home and back to the same part of the city the next morning.
I have no idea how much it costs Bangalore in terms of slowing business down by the current state of its infrastructure. One of the first questions I always ask or get asked is where do people live or where is our office, before we even talk about their experience or what the role is!
The Edge: Which Indian movies and series have you watched so far? How many are there on your Netflix watchlist?
Guy: I watched Sacred Games – the first series was the best. I’ve got Family Man lined up too! As to films I’ve got ‘Baahubali: The Beginning’ downloaded. Still haven’t watched it though!
The Edge: What’s the biggest lesson you have learnt in India?
Guy: To listen to my India partner, Vijay Varier.
The Edge: What’s the biggest mistake you have made in India?
Guy: Listening to my India partner, Vijay Varier… 😊
The Edge: OK, let’s leave that to one side for the time being! What are your thoughts on the recruitment firms in the Indian market and their sustainability in the long term?
Guy: Without having a crystal ball, but looking at the recruitment industry as a whole, there is little reason why it shouldn’t be a bright picture in India. You only need to look at the global recruitment market and recruitment companies in all areas of the market and they are reporting some of their largest revenues and profits ever! Some of those companies are operating in India as well and I know that at least their revenues for 2019 have been as strong as ever, and I assume their profitability too, if they have managed their growth properly. Given we are in one of the fastest-growing economies in the world, I don’t see how or why recruitment companies, at whatever level of the market, are suddenly going to become redundant or sidelined here.
Some of the recruitment models in India are fairly unique, but that’s just due to the scale of the market and the size of some of the workforces that have to be hired. The industry here is maturing and adapting as the market changes and I see Indian recruitment companies being quick adapters to new technology and processes to streamline their processes.
Moving up the recruitment value chain, local and international companies are going to continue to want to find the best talent they can, that hasn’t changed in even the more mature recruitment markets in the West. Given the profile internationally that the market India has, I don’t see how things are going to change that much over the medium term. What recruitment companies can offer clients though, as opposed to a few qualified CVs, is probably the next significant change that will permeate through the industry over the next few years. Companies expectations in India will begin to change around what they want from their recruitment or search partner, as they have in the more developed markets.
The Edge: Interesting, thanks for those thoughts. Changing tact, is there anything you still want to do in India but still don’t dare to try?!
Guy: Yea! Getting my team in Bangalore to organise a month-end party!
The Edge: OK, but what comes to your mind when you look at our team and one thing that you genuinely want to enjoy with the entire team together.
Guy: Um, apart from a Bangalore office month-end party you mean….?!
The Edge: Yes.
Guy: What I would thoroughly enjoy would be to see us build on the platform that’s been built over the last few years and for our current team members to be taking a leading role in that continued development and progress. It’s been a roller coaster at times, no doubt, but it’s become evident over the last 18 months that some team members are wanting to take on more responsibilities and initiatives themselves and are starting to stick their hand up in wanting to help drive the business forward.
That’s always great to see. Being given the opportunity to promote people, who demonstrate a desire to learn and are committed to pushing themselves out of their comfort zone, is the best part of a role like mine, to be honest. We’ve had that opportunity for promotions in 2019 which was great and there are others who are doing all the right things to be on track for the same during 2020 as well.
While from a headcount perspective we want to be around 3 times larger than we are now by the time I have to leave India, which means we will always be looking for external talent, there would be nothing better for me than being able to walk away with the business in the hands of people in the team now, who have grown and developed along with us. That for me would be a real sign of success for the organisation and something I’d most enjoy doing together with the team. That and a massive company party in Sri Lanka!
The Edge: That’s good to hear! And last but not least… how much Hindi do you now know?!
Guy: On that note, dhanyavadh and alvidha!
Read Part One of Guy’s journey to India and Part Two of his best and worst experiences in moving to India. If you’d like to reach out to Guy or any of the team members at The Edge, simply talk to us.
