Companies are preferring to go young in the mid-riff

BANGALORE: The average age of managers in India’s corporate world is on a steady decline.

In a booming economy, companies are hiring a young workforce for managerial positions due to competition for talent and to keep pace with rapid growth in their businesses.

“We seldom get to hear of a requirement for people above the age of 40 nowadays,” Ajit Isaac, country manager of Adecco People One Consulting, a human resources company says.

In hiring young managers, companies look out for people who can think on their feet, take calculated risks, handle change and speed up decision-making process. The export oriented Indian tech industry fighting attrition and shortage of knowledge workers was among the first to adopt this trend.

“We empower our young team and find future leaders in them. Youngsters want to grow in their career,” says D Selvan, vice president (talent transformation) of Wipro Technologies said.

Wipro identifies and grooms young talent to become managers through specific tailor-made programmes and their age could be around 26 years.

“Persons with about three years experience can become managers after our ‘first manager programme’, for which about 800 people applied recently,” Selvan says.

“With the industry growing at a rapid pace and with companies providing excellent & varied growth opportunities, the movement to a next higher role has become faster and easier resulting in a lot of people moving into the managerial positions at a young age,” explains Bikramjit Maitra, vice-president and head (human resources) of Infosys.

The average age of young managers at Infosys: 30 yrs with six years of experience.

Corporates, be it software, retail, telecom or manufacturing, want youngsters to perform high-stress managerial roles in a competitive environment.

“Technology transformations make entire skill sets obsolete, driving up demand for a trained workforce. Those who constantly upgrade skills stand to gain,” Gautam Sinha, the CEO of recruiting company TVA Infotech, points out.

Riding high on the youth wave is the BPO sector where the pecking order comprises professionals in their late 20s and early 30s.

“Unlike industries where experience is gained by working through the ranks, BPO managers grow professionally in a short period of time through good performances and exposure to international business practices,” says S Nagarajan, co-founder and COO, 24/7 Customer.

Manpower crunch is being touted as a primary factor that set off this trend in the IT sector, which is now expanding to other sunrise industries.

“Nearly 40% to 50% of our middle managers are in the age group of late 20s and early 30s. The supply shortage is responsible for this trend,” says Kiran Datar, MD, WebEx Communications India, a telecom service firm. Early promotions and lateral shifts of seniors mean more hiring of young managers. “The rate at which industry is growing ensures careers are put on the fast track. The traditional age equals capability formula is breaking down more so in voice-based services,” says Indraneel Banerjee, 35, senior advisor, TPI Advisory Services, global outsourcing consulting firm.

Seetal Iyer, only 32, is the group programme director of World Space. She says most of her team members are in their early 30s. “With people planning retirement between 45 and 50 years, youngsters are more seriously pursuing their careers,” says Seetal Iyer.

Faster growing sectors like telecom and retail are also going younger. “Even traditional companies are opting to hire young managers,” says Amitabh Das, CEO, Vati Consulting, a recruitment company.