HR Perspectives

Skill sets for the future

Renuka Vembu finds out about the current industry skill requirements and the future trends

Employees need to possess a combination of functional knowledge, domain expertise and soft skills. The resonating industry voice brings to the fore some of the below mentioned skill sets that employees need to possess and master because that is what the industry requirement states:

• Programming skills like J2EE/Java EE and C++
• Technical domain such as software architecture, performance management, application design, usability engineering, ERP, CRM and PLM
• Business domain such as supply chain management, product development management, production planning, interbank transaction management, insurance servicing, credit transactions, financial management, business analysis, software architecture, application design, usability engineering, algorithm design, software standards and quality 
• Engineering services like skills associated with product design capabilities, tool design, advanced engineering and analysis, embedded electronics and software development, industrial automation, control logic design, use of CAD, CAM and CAE tools

At Polaris, when they recruit talents, their fundamental thinking is to ‘hire for attitude’ and ‘train for skills.’ Somas Jeevan TK, EVP and Global Head, HR, Polaris Software Lab said, “We basically look for three key elements in new hires—a humble attitude, hunger to learn more and smartness in approach. Our ‘talent discovery’ is designed to discover potential leaders who can bring a learning attitude to work.”

Pallab Bandyopadhyay, VP and Head HR, Asia Pacific, Perot Systems, asserted, “Information technology is the only industry where the résumé clocks the chronology and experience of the candidate in months rather than in years. Developing new skills becomes particularly important for survival. It is held that in IT, an ideal candidate should be ‘1:2.5;’ which means that an IT professional should be an expert in at least two technologies and possess know-how of the third.”

With increasing business risks and the need for effective performances, data security norms and BI expertise being some of the core areas, people possessing the said knowledge will be more in demand. As technology gets advanced and optimum efficiency is demanded, complexity will creep in.

The necessary soft skills

The need to be well-mannered, understand and respect cultural disparities, business etiquettes, amongst other basic necessities and mannerisms, are gaining meaning.

K N Ajith, Head, Human Resources, Sify Technologies, espoused that technical skills can always be acquired or modified; the key difference is in the behavioral skills that set the good from the great.   

Apart from leadership development programs, time management coaching, team building workshops, presentation and communication skills, business etiquettes, Kallianpur mentioned that some of the training programs that are popular and in demand include assertiveness training, client interaction, teleconferencing skills, giving and receiving performance feedback, strategic thinking, and the likes.

Raja Ramana Macha, COO, Geometric Limited, said, “Conservation of cash, sustenance of profits, retention of customers and existing business, innovation in business models that deliver “same for less” to the customers, are key drivers in a shrinking economy. In an expanding economy, investments for future returns, growing new customers and diversifying, and innovation to deliver “more for same” become the mantras.” Either way, the managerial skill sets required are:

• Ability to manage costs and returns, effectively and comprehensively
• Ability to innovate
• Ability to communicate and motivate
• Deep understanding of the business/technology domain
• Ability to manage relationships
• Ability to apply contemporary management techniques

Acquiring skills, understanding it and relating them to the job hold the key rather than just amassing a horde of skill sets and expertise without proper knowledge of its application.

Rajesh Padmanabhan, Executive Vice President and Global Head of HR, Patni, said, “It is essential for employees to enhance their skills, ensuring they are more responsive to the market needs. Organizations need to focus on understanding employee aptitudes and start filling the gaps by cross-training their skilled population. For those in non-managerial roles, training on management skills like communication skills, problem-solving and decision-making skills, functional expertise should be the focus areas; for those in managerial roles, profit generation, strategy and execution, leadership skills, business development could be the core areas.” Fresh pass-outs will need to build on skill sets like R&D, global strategic sourcing, marketing and brand management. Coupled with the technical know-how, this will create the right blend of knowledge to be able to contribute to the technical side as well as organizational initiatives.

One of the biggest drawbacks is the Indian attitude of still not acknowledging the needs and responding to the soft skills. Arun Rao, VP, Global HR, AppLabs, mentioned, “The biggest skill gap that exists or is likely to exist emanates from soft skills that the Indian society has historically been short on; which is the skill to challenge. I think this is the one big skill whose shortage among our workforce is ensuring that we remain contractors while others scale up to being consultants. I might have oversimplified the whole issue but I think that is one of the most important skills that is preventing us from moving up the value chain.”

Flexibility and multi-tasking

Apart from the company demands of employee having multiple skill-sets, it is the employee attitude towards learning and development, and contributing towards value addition that matters. Self-learning rather than spoon-feeding will be the way forward. Employees must be willing to gather more knowledge and multiply on their area of expertise just as the changing times and business needs would demand. Horizontal expansion is gathering more momentum and will hold the key than vertical movement, which was earlier given the only preference.

William J Bauman, Sr. Vice President and General Manager of CA’s India Technology Center, explained, “Employers need to focus on training employees to develop skills outside their core competencies. Technology skills cannot be understated but having technology and business skills ensures that an employee is enabled for success. Business skills are not so much about writing, communicating, and presenting—they are about having the ability to solve business problems by understanding the customer’s day-to-day challenges, their industry and regulatory factors, financial and transactional requirements, operating environments, even who their customers are—these are the skills for success.” Employees should bear the burden of maintaining and honing their business and technical skills through professional networking groups, industry seminars and Web casts, independent research, etc.

A move from generalized to specialized

Bandyopadhyay gave an insight on the paradigm shift towards acquiring specialized skills and being domain-oriented that is galvanizing the industry. He said that during a recent survey conducted by their recruitment team, it was noted that a candidate with a basic degree and a said number of years of experience commanded ‘x’ salary, whereas a candidate with domain expertise having the same degree and lesser experience chronologically commanded 4 ‘x’ compensation.

Domain expertise is what is required these days and Perot has designed their competency framework to address this growing demand of defining and adding layers to their associate’s career-path.

Organization’s onus

If employees are expected to be equal and active participants in their role for learning more and acquiring supplementary skill sets, organizations have to be proactive in recognizing talent and tapping the unexposed flair, as also in some cases, of the lack of expected output or performance, by redefining and aligning individual interests and capabilities with organizational goals and mission statement.

Sandra Vijayendran, VP, Human Resources, D-Link India, said, “Our HR team is enhancing cross-functional competencies to ensure that all associates move up the value chain by implementing not only threshold certifications through the D-Link Academy, but by introducing programs that empower participants to move outside the habitual thinking style, generate new ideas while resolving complicated issues and thus get a more rounded perspective of any situation.”

Organizations undertake a slew of initiatives to help its workforce upgrade their skill sets. Industry-academia partnership, company aided certification programs, mandatory training hours on one end, coupled with rewards and recognitions, Intranet and internal portal, company periodicals, are some of the other mechanisms which serve as a plateau of knowledge. This enables employees to have access to a wider platform, can learn and share and thus enrich their thirst for knowledge. These also act as an outlet for exchanging innovative ideas for a better learning and grooming culture.

Continuous investment in R&D, training and developmental activities, innovation, to provide a challenging environment for employees to hone their skill sets and exploit it to the utmost, are the efforts that companies undertake from their end.

Infosys has been spending $175 million on its training program every year. Given the current economic scenario, they have enhanced their training period from 14 weeks to 29 weeks for fresh recruits.

The training program is focused on enhancing the technical capabilities of these new employees, developing and testing their technical knowledge, teaching them industry best practices, sharing relevant case-studies and developing behavioral competencies to enhance their overall capabilities, said Srikantan Moorthy, Vice President and Head, Education and Research, Infosys Technologies. The focus is on:

• Developing deeper domain expertise
• Training in more technical areas so that these employees develop multiple skills
• Following a project based approach that helps them apply the concepts that they have learnt

Ajith asserted, “We identify specific skills and knowledge and create learning platforms for associates to develop the same. Internal training and development teams can drive this initiative for every associate through a well planned process comprising of TNA, delivery and monitoring effectiveness. One should also invest in building their trainers and create an internal competency pool.”

Specific external training organizations can also be engaged to impart knowledge on specialized and niche skills.

renuka.vembu@expressindia.com