An Indian Summer

India is by no means a new frontier for AMS; we’ve long recognised the strategic importance of India’s talent market for our clients. In fact, we have enjoyed a decade-long partnership with leading Mumbai headquartered RPO, Flexibility, who we officially welcomed into the AMS family in 2022. 

However, at the start of this summer, I began to notice a trend and one that is showing no sign of abating. There was a sudden explosion in both Indian national and international companies [with hubs in India] wanting (and needing) to talk about employer branding. 

Despite hiring rates in India decreasing by over 40% (March 2022 to March 2023), like many markets around the world, employers in India are recognising that they need to invest in their brand now for when the bounce back comes. The trend of big-name global employers moving not only their tech and data, but also their manufacturing operations, to India isn’t set to slow down anytime soon.

LinkedIn research shows that talent in India is more likely to consider leaving their company than look for an internal move. Therefore, not only do employers have to be attractive to those actively looking for their next role, but they also need to work harder in order to engage and retain their existing talent. 

And so, all summer long a week hasn’t gone by without the word “India” being commonplace in my vernacular. Clients needing to establish their brands, clients needing to localise their global brands, and clients needing to find a way to compete with better known names – especially amongst sought-after tech talent. India’s application culture means candidates will apply for [and often accept several roles at once] and so clients, importantly, need to find ways keep target talent engaged during the recruitment process or risk dropouts. 

So, what else is driving this focus on employer branding in this increasingly competitive market and how can we help our clients to stand out from the crowd? I took the opportunity to discuss the topic with my colleague, Aarti Dasgupta from AMS Delhi, who is leading the charge in further strengthening number of our strategic AMS Talent Advisory practices (including Employer Brand Advisory) across India into 2024 and beyond. 

Click the video link to watch Aarti and I in conversation.  

For further information on employer branding in India, please reach out to myself on keira.pintao@weareams.com or aarti.dasgupta@weareams.com