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- Talent wars in India have finally come to accounting and auditing firms.
- But believe us when we say that PwC is hiring as many engineers as they are hiring chartered accountants.
- TFS caught up with Joydeep Roy (JR), executive director, Human Resources at PwC, who talks about the talent supply chain and what it means.
- He has helped several businesses with key human capital initiatives and drove profitable growth.
TFS: In your company, how do you look at the demand for new hires in 2022, as there’s a lot of hiring going on in PwC? What is the buzz all about?
JR: At PwC I presently lead the talent supply chain in India.
I always say that it is the talent supply chain that is actually what all of us are competing for. It is not the organization that is competing.
Business looks forward to requisite skill sets at a requisite timeframe and this includes lateral hires, campus hires, and everything else.
When you happen to have a predictable supply chain, it is easier to hire, train, and deploy. The way we are progressing, the catchment areas become the same, with fish from the same pond.
What matters is how confident we are with a budgeted growth, that we have taken into account to acquire the requisite skillsets available to propel those businesses for growth.
Globally, the pandemic has transformed people’s preferences with respect to their priorities and lifestyle. We are already observing how the industry/economy is adapting itself to ensure consumers have more choices/options.
For employees as well, the change in priorities has impacted how they look at careers, opportunities, and experiences. Organizations across the board are still in the midst of a period of ‘great resignation’ and witnessing higher than-normal attrition rates, owing to this phenomenon.
As the global economy recovers post-pandemic, it is hard to see the hiring sentiment to be any other way than upwards.
What will be significant in FY23 and beyond, is that the traditional talent acquisition models would continue to evolve toward a more liquid workforce model.
The main focus would be on creating a predictive talent Supply Chain which ensures that an organization has access to the right talent at the right time, for the right value to drive profitable growth and competitive advantage focusing on inclusion, diversity & equity.
TFS: What is the kind of talent that you are looking for at PwC?
JR: While hiring around conventional areas will continue, the focus, however, will be on applied sciences, design thinking, treasury, sales force, arts, humanities, ESG, cyber, blockchain, data and analytics, and other areas that will gear us up to become a fit for future organization.
We expect this to be fairly consistent across all our functions such as Audit, Tech, Assurance, Direct tax, Indirect tax, M&A, Financial Services, Corporate finance, FinTech, Risk Consulting, Management Consulting, Forensics, and Cyber security.
However, technology, integrated platforms, value-led ERP, Data Analytics, and cyber and Forensics are likely to have a larger focus.
Interestingly, what I would like to say is that, in our kind of consulting domain, increased emphasis will be on how relevant one is with respect to his or her relevant skill and domain experience.
During the pandemic, we realized that we are working with a distributed team.
We look at skill sets with very high result orientation, high impact skills, the ability to connect the dots, and how you are navigating the ecosystem because we are a distributed team.
When you are at PwC you are empowered to deliver results.
TFS: How important is having knowledge of technology, even if you are a finance person?
JR: Technology is the backbone of an organization. If you are a finance professional, your ability to understand fintech, and blockchain, has to be automatically there.
You must be comfortable with data, data sciences, and analytics.
Employers will not ask you whether you know it or not. It is a given that you know it. If you are a forensic accountant, forensic technology is again the big criterion.
One must comfortably align themselves to the latest happening in technology.
TFS: When you look at hiring for junior levels, is it from colleges, or would you depend on a firm to bring you all the CVs?
JR: It is a multi-pronged strategy.
Campuses are a major source of talent for us. Many of our leaders at PwC today were hired from campuses.
A referral is also a big source of talent for us.
Why? Because when you exist for more than 150 years in a territory, you have a huge alumni database, you exist for a purpose, and you have a higher recall, whether you start as an intern or an article.
We hire through agencies and headhunters as well.
TFS: Do you encourage your senior management and juniors to constantly stay up to date with learning to improve their skills?
JR: Any employee or prospective employee would always consider the opportunity to learn and develop their skill sets as a major decision point when joining an organization.
We start our upskilling program from the day we roll out our offer and people must utilize that time to upskill themselves.
I think with the advent of newer technology and distributed teams, both the organization and its employees need to be fully invested in creating an ecosystem that encourages upskilling.
PwC is very much aligned with it because this is one of PWC’s cornerstones of growth.
And from an employee’s perspective, continuous education will help him or her advance their career path.
What will make an organization retain talent is the learning opportunity, and the culture.
People stay in an organization not because of the compensation, but because it builds their career.
TFS: What are some interview tips for juniors, and all levels? What do you expect from a senior guy?
JR: In terms of interview tips:
- Knowing the company and the role that you are applying for would guarantee a higher rate of selection.
- Please practice storytelling. This will not only help the person visualize your potential but also create a recall value for you.
- Talk about how you would create value, thereby making them picture a future with you.
- Make the conversation feel personal and real, demonstrate enthusiasm about your areas of work, cite real-time examples where you were able to add value and thereby influence others and most importantly leave a little piece of you in your interviewer’s mind as you leave (create your recall value).
Interested candidates may visit our PwC career site and submit applications for the active demands we have and follow PwC on social media handles to keep themselves updated. We are looking forward to working with you.
