India companies are finding it tough to curb the rising number of job offer rejections among job seekers in the country. The rate of job offer rejections, on an average, is almost 25-35% across sectors, with the IT/ITES and media sectors being the worst hit, say experts.
At the junior level, the rejection is as high as 40%, at the mid level it is between 25-30% and at the senior level (CEO, CIO, CFO) the rejections are in the range of 15%. ?Organisations waste time and effort when a candidate rejects its offer, resulting in productivity loss,? said Sanjay Teli, MD, ESP Consultants.
According to an estimate by IMD International Search & Consulting, India needs over 1,000 CEOs across industries, many of them in new industry sectors such as SEZs, aviation, airport management and retail. Also in the key services sectors such as IT and ITES, India will need 2.3 million professionals (0.8 million for IT and 1.4 million for BPO) by 2010, further fueling the demand for globally competent management professionals. Says Arunima Sehgal, head-executive research, INX Global, ?For specific sectors, specific talent is required. With rising opportunities, job rejections too might go up to 50%.? The rejections are mainly due to multiple offers with the candidate or retention of the employee by its present organisation, where retention contributes to about 8-10%. This is majorly done at the junior level.
?Rejections of job offers are becoming a major problem today. To avoid this, organisations must not make their search process lengthy. The more the candidate is exposed to the market, the higher the possibility of other organisations approaching him with a better offer,? Sehgal adds.
According to the experts, for the package of Rs 50 lakh and above, the search process (termed ‘mandate’ in HR lingo) is 3-6 months, depending on how soon the organisation wants the candidate to join and the compensation it offers.