Every time somebody reminds us of TA Edison’s words enroute to inventing something that has changed everything forever, we feel that his perseverance in that cause was utmost. In inventing the one way to execute that perfect circuit to light up an electric bulb, Edison also admits of learning about 1000 ways in which ‘one cannot make an electric bulb’. Mr. Amit Sharma’s attitude reflects similar confidence as he has carved his way into the world of talent acquisition with clients of the highest order in terms of business magnitude. And that one perfect circuit for him has been wired with ‘commitment’ and ‘dedication’, which also reflect the core values in S&H. Mr. Sharma was also part of Planman from 1996 to 2003, where he excelled in various divisions like Media & T&D. And when you find that he admires the work of somebody like Frederick Forsynth, you just about get the gist. He was someone 
widely acclaimed for portraying his characters as meticulous researchers and Spencers & Hills (S&H) has research as their USP. S&H is only almost a decade old, and has already established some exquisite client relations with premier organisations through their niche talent acquisition vision coupled with excellence in delivery.
This was the time the journey of Spencers & Hills (S&H) began. Mr. Sharma started working from home to begin with and admits that those days were tough for him. And his efforts were realized when in 2005, S&H got the ‘Private Limited’ status. He adds with pride, “Since then, we have never looked back and things have just kept getting better”. In retrospection, Mr. Sharma confidently vows that although starting S&H was tough, eventually it was a very wise decision. Today, he feels that the kind of talent that organisations look to tap is not an easy thing to do. “It is the people who define an organisation”, adds Mr. Sharma. Owing to that, S&H primarily targeted niche assignments and bagged clients like Daksh (now part of IBM) and EXL, who were start-ups. Mr. Sharma wanted S&H to be a 40-50 member strong and dedicated organisation. “We knew that the ITeS (BPO) industry was rocketing at good pace, so we got into researches which were very specific”, adds Mr. Sharma. S&H kept growing and there was a time they did 65 per cent of leadership acquisition (DGM and above) for IT bigwig like IBM.
“I WORK HANDS ON WITH A MIX OF ALL KINDS OF INDIVIDUALS, AND THAT IS MY LEADERSHIP STYLE”
Getting to the ever existent issue of attrition, Mr. Sharma feels that since S&H was into very niche levels of talent acquisition, attrition was never an area of concern for them because they were not dealing in mass recruitments. But speaking on the issue, he accepts the fact that attrition remains a common problem for all organisations. Dissecting the issue, he says, “When you hire young graduates, they look for money, and for any other firm that offers a little higher salary, these young people are bound to leave you”. This is why he adviced his client organisations to make a common hiring plan with a proposition of not hiring anybody who has not had a minimum of 18 months of experience. Mr. Sharma affirms, “Our strength has been talent mapping and talent landscaping, and, we do a lot of industry search”. This is evident from the fact that people whom S&H got recruited are still there with their organisations for more than a decade now.
As far as optimization of recruitment is concerned, Mr. Sharma opines that it depends mostly on the economy pools of organisations. In a modern set up post the IT/ITeS bubble burst in 1995-97, high attrition rates are common. But in old economy companies like Tata, the attrition is really low. “A lot of organisations did not realize the importance of a central recruitment process or scheme”, he adds. The IT/ITeS industry started hiring people from sales and supply chain, and, subsequently had a lot of people on the bench. But by 2006, Mr. Sharma believes that most organisations realized the vitality of having a central recruitment. “Far East companies like Samsung and Motorola always had a central recruitment process, but today, names such as Aditya Birla and Larsen & Toubro have it”. When major names in India Inc. like Essar or Reliance did not have such a process, their people development was weak despite having a good sales and project teams. But thanks to the IT/ITeS, Mr. Sharma perceives that all organisations today follow central recruitment with matrix reporting. He provides us with an example of an assignment for TCS which revealed that even though TCS was good and secured with skillful work force, getting work done was tedious and time consuming, whereas for a company like IBM, it was spotless, as every process was clearly defined.
Coming back to the exigencies of S&H, Mr. Sharma adds that they are in a very tough and competitive world as they do not work for too many clients. Their clientele consists some top global names like GE, IBM, Accenture, Essar. S&H also undertakes global assignments where they fulfill acquisition needs for operations in countries like Singapore, UK, USA, Phillipines etc. “Our USP is that we try to engage and try to get more business from our existing clients, rather than going for higher volumes of clients”, exults Mr. Sharma. He highlights the strong principles of commitment and dedication at S&H for their clients as they never attract people from existing clients to join other organisations. “I believe it is a two-way relationship”, he adds. And this discretion has won them accolades with partners like IBM who are today a 30,000 people organisation. S&H helped in setting up IBM’s entire Mumbai team and are currently doing a great job with GE in executing something similar. Mr. Sharma voices confidently, “The client’s objective is closed profiles and S&H is all about reports and value addition”. This explains the synergy. S&H does extensive research before coming to any conclusion and with a top line of 40 per cent & a bottom line of 70 per cent even during recession, the numbers itself are a testimony to Mr. Sharma.
Speaking on his team, Mr. Sharma tells us that they are eight members in Delhi with the Kolkata branch also hosting eight people. “I work hands on with people, and that is my leadership style”. His people at S&H are a mix of all kinds of individuals who are completely independent and on their own. “Only two people have left S&H since its inception”, he adds with delight. People at S&H have got access to everything and can do anything at work like browsing personal sites etc. but the ultimate thing is the commitment to the clients and that is final. “In the five working days, commitment and delivery are the only things I look at”, asserts Mr.Sharma.
For the young guns of today hoping for fire power in the corporate world, Mr. Sharma thinks that they often get confused about what they want in life. “Realize that you go to a place of work for half of your life, so it is important that if you do not like or enjoy the work, you should not be there”. He thinks that it is vital to understand that you must do what you love to do, not by force but always by choice. “Follow what you want to do and stop getting carried away”, he adds. Coming to his personal life, Mr. Sharma loves spending time with friends and is a big movie buff. He concludes, “Saturdays are always fixed for movies”.
Cult wishes him and S&H a future full of grandeur and success.
