Recruiting overseas talent
Far away in Kolkata (Calcutta), a branch of the multinational Manpower human resource group had just the previous day sent four recommendations to their Taiwan office. Operating internationally with clients is an everyday experience for them.
Like many great cities, Kolkata has its good and bad aspects. In this crowded city, only 4% of the area is utilized for roads (the norm for large cities internationally is 20%), making for highly congested traffic conditions. The red-light district is as famous as Mother Teresa's "Kalighat Home for the Dying." However, the world is gradually coming to understand that behind its reputation for squalor, the city also boasts some outstanding hi-tech talent.
The University of Calcutta, established in 1857, is the city's most prestigious, its mathematics and physics graduates having always been regarded as the best in India. In 1930, Professor Sir Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics, probably the greatest honor in the history of the institution. Today, when global enterprises are looking to recruit Indian talent, the University of Calcutta is the obvious starting point. Consequently, Calcutta graduates hold a significant number of prominent positions in the international corporate world.
"Indian graduates are well recognized in mathematics, software development and physics, but India also supplies outstanding personnel in many other fields," says Li Yen-hua, southern office manager for Manpower Taiwan. With the rich resources of a multinational talent bank at her fingertips, Li is confident in guaranteeing both employee and employer that if they are not satisfied with each other in three months, she will arrange alternatives at no charge until both sides are happy.
Despite huge potential returns from the development of a new drug, there is also substantial risk. It can take more than ten years to see a return, so a company needs strong financial backing to survive the development period. As a result, the development of new pharmaceuticals is almost exclusively in the hands of major European and American multinationals that employ the best people in the field.
"These highly qualifed personnel tend to congregate in Europe and America where the remuneration is the best in the world. Although some can also be found in China, Taiwanese drug companies worry about endangering their intellectual property and losing competitive advantage through underhand marketing methods, so in general they shy away from employing people from China," says Li.
Besides trying to recruit talent for the pharmaceutical industry from Europe, North America and China, an alternative resource is India. With Li's gilt-edged guarantee, two weeks later this drug company receives four recommendations for suitable candidates. Besides basic personal information, the reports detail comprehensive profiles of prospective employees: their previous job history including the business volume of their company, information about the candidate's direct supervisor, and notable achievements. Has the candidate had management experience? Have they supervised significant numbers of staff? What do they earn now and how much will they expect in a new position? What sort of person are they, and will they be bringing their family to Taiwan?
English language skills are a key criterion. English competence is a major reason why Indian candidates are in demand by other countries. And with increasing numbers coming to Taiwan, the Indian accent is becoming well recognized here.
"Companies can certainly bring Indian workers into Taiwan, but there are many cases where they prefer outsourcing work to India," says Ma Tao, a researcher at the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research. Hi-tech Taiwanese companies including BenQ are, on the one hand, bringing numbers of skilled Indian workers into Taiwan, and on the other, are entrusting part of their software design programs to companies located on the subcontinent.
This is typical of worldwide trends in outsourcing work due to increasing global competition. The only difference is whether the location is changed (outsourcing work to Indian companies) or the workers (bringing Indian workers to Taiwan). In the past few years, anxiety about unemployment has become something of a global epidemic. At the end of the 1980s when the country was short of labor, Taiwan started employing blue-collar workers from overseas, marking a period of economic growth. The situation is quite different today. What will the influx of hi-tech workers from abroad mean for Taiwan?
Things began to change in 2001.
The trend towards importing Indian talent has sparked a taste for Indian cuisine in Taipei and Hsinchu City. Indian naan bread and tandoori food, previously almost unknown in Taiwan, are now growing in popularity. The photo shows Aaleja Indian Food-Court, which took out a gold medal in Taiwan's Best Food awards.