Look Beyond Your Horizon

Getting qualified manpower is a challenge. Often, entrepreneurs
compound this problem by employing people from their hometowns. Instead they
should tap neighboring metros, where candidates are willing to work in smaller
towns, provided they get a job that offers them growth

Most people are often under the impression that only people from smaller
towns want to work in metros. On the contrary, often people from metros are willing to
move to smaller towns for a job. In most cases, their goal is to gain experience at the
initial stage of their career. This is a good opportunity for channel partners to attract
potential manpower, especially with the current problems in hiring good personnel. A case
in point is Shimla, where the youth are not very career oriented and do not display great
willingness to work. This attitude often creates a problem for partners in getting good
and capable manpower.

One option to overcome this situation is to get people with little or no
experience from nearby cities. This will ensure that partners get the required manpower,
which can in turn be utilized in a positive manner.

With the scarcity of good employees, businesses can suffer a lot because
customers want good and reliable service. This is possible only if employers have a pool
of qualified manpower. It has been noticed that local people are unskilled and are not
very committed to their work either.

For service and after—sale support, customers look for reliable
people with good knowledge of the product or technology. Locals are not very well
qualified and don’t know how to convince customers. Nor can they exhibit good
knowledge on the subject. That is the most crucial reason why businessmen feel the need to
have a good network of skilled people.

In the past, I have observed that many people come from Chandigarh to
Shimla in search of jobs. Though the exposure level is high in Chandigarh, candidates come
to Shimla to initiate their career. They look for salary packages that are worth their
capabilities and a job that will give them more responsibilities. This kind of job with
high responsibility is easier to get in small towns rather than big ones.

Money matters

Employees from nearby developed towns are aware that to earn their livelihood, they have
to put in extra efforts. They are willing to take a chance when it comes to building their
career and that is the only reason they are ready to shift from bigger to smaller markets.

However, when they come to small towns, they have to face their own sets
of problems. The biggest problem for us is to match up to their salary expectations.

At the same time, this can also be an opportunity for them to work harder
and put in extra efforts. They know that they have to strive if they want to earn
incentives and at times they are able to get incentives higher than their salary. This
way, they earn good money for themselves and also get good business for their employers.

Partners’ pain

Many times, people from metros ask for salaries that are not feasible for small firms in
small towns. While hiring human resources from comparatively bigger towns, partners need
to have a sound financial status in order to afford them. Since they incur more cost in
hiring people from near by towns, partners are satisfied with them only if they bring
profit to the business.

However, all said and done, one has to understand that for most of these
out of town employees, working in small cities is not a long-term plan. They come here to
gain the requisite knowledge in a field and then move to fresher pastures in bigger
cities.

It is therefore imperative that a partner should not be overly dependent
of people from the metros. He should also provision for a second in the line of command
who can quickly be trained in case the earlier person quits. This kind of contingency
planning ensures that thereis no break in the business operations because of manpower
movement.

Local vs outsiders

There are certain differences between locals and outsiders and we tend to label them
accordingly. As far as local employees are concerned, their priority is to live a relaxed
life and their careers take second place. Normally, their parents have certain sources of
income hence they do not have to worry about financial constraints. They are not well
informed about market tricks and many times are not interested in generating business.

When it comes to providing good services to customers, employee from
metros are considered to be the best as they show extreme efficiency in gaining trust of
the buyers. They will leave no stone unturned in convincing them to buy a product and
their knowledge leaves customers content and makes a good impression in the latter’s
mind.

This is why employees have to take the pain to provide them with certain
facilities that offer them some comfort. Employees from nearby cities have to face certain
problems when they come in search of work and in that case partners can offer a helping
hand in overcoming those problems.

The first and foremost problem that they face is finding good
accommodation in an unknown city. It is one of the major problems that they face and in
many instances when they are unable to find one, they have no option but to return to
their hometown.

I provide hostel facility to outsiders and this immediately sorts out the
problem of accommodation. If partners take care of the basic necessities of employees,
they can earn the goodwill of skilled people for a longer period of time and that will in
any cases benefit the employer.

I also provide conveyance facilities to my employees. This solves their
too problem to a large extent.

Mind it

However, local employees are also important for business in small towns
because they are the ones who run errands when nobody is around. Local people know the
local language hence they can converse with customers easily. Customers also at times are
comfortable communicating with them. Moreover, since local employees have an attachment to
their hometowns it can be assumed that they would stay in that city and not shift
elsewhere, hence there is less fear in losing them.

Channel partners should keep in mind that the people who flock from
bigger to small towns are usually those who have not been exposed to that city or who have
not got the

right platform to grab the opportunities in their career. Therefore, they come here just
to get first hand experience and they do not have any plans to remain in a small town
forever.

What to do

It is necessary to hold good people even if they demand high salaries
because, if they are getting business, it is always profitable for the employer. In places
like Shimla, customers have the money to buy and
they just need a reason to
spend provided they get good guidance.

Employees from outside are smarter in managing relationships with the
customers and they provide good service and support.

It means that employees should be provided work according to the
requirements of the business and their own personal skills. In the consumer segment, local
employees are able to attract and make sales because for this they don’t have to
explain much to customers, whereas, in the service and corporate segments employees with
good experience have good knowledge and should be given responsibility.

Dinesh Kumar. The author is CEO of CIS Computers in Shimla