ICICI Bank assembly line to create officers is ready

‘Probationary officer’ course kicks off on Jan 21, many inductees from smaller towns

MUMBAI: Nine months ago, in June to be precise, K Ramkumar, group chief human resources officer, ICICI Bank, and Saurabh Singh, general manager, HR, were in the thick of yet another brainstorming session called to find ways to meet a mounting hiring challenge -- regular supply of a clump of freshers that can deliver from the word go.

That's very crucial for ICICI Bank, one of the largest recruiters in India's private sector inducting 15,000 people each year, as it expands its 1,000 branches to meet the challenges dovetailing the country's 8.5% GDP growth.

"We had some data on talent shortage that was sourced from newspaper cuttings. We discussed on the ways through which we can address this -- by training people to suit our needs," says Singh, who is general manager-human resource at ICICI Bank.

Talk boiled down to finding a pool that's "FDFH" quality -- meaning, they are productive from the first day, first hour.
There was no specific course that afforded such personnel.

"Since we hire so many people we experience a bigger problem when the skillsets of those hired do not match the needs of the company," adds Singh.

So to make inductees FDFH-productive, Ramkumar, Singh & Co zeroed in on a one-year residential course for graduates on banking and insurance -- a vocational course, as it were.

A key area of concern was getting a pool of skilled staff ready to work in semi-urban, and Tier-II and III cities.
"Since people from cities are normally not keen on relocating and working in smaller place, we had to train people from places like Vizag, Ranchi, Faizabad, etc," claims Singh.

Through local ads, the bank advertised its "Probationary Officer" entrance test that was based on verbal, numerical and logical reasoning etc.

Cues on how to scout for youngsters and train them also taken from the Indian Military Academy book.

The designation "Probationary Officer was used because it rang a bell, associated as it is with public sector banks. It also showed the hiring was for managerial positions.

Senior ICICI Bank staff created the elements of the course as exactly needed by the bank - covering areas like corporate banking, private banking, risk and credit management, treasury, branch management, as also etiquette and English language skills.

In July, during one of the several conversations between Anand Sudarshan, chief executive officer of Manipal Education Society, and Ramkumar, the course structure was finalised.

It was then decided to hold the courses at the Manipal Academy of Banking and Insurance in Hyderabad and Bangalore.
Says Sudarshan: "Since the last twenty months we have been conducting entrance exams for individuals wanting to join the bank. And this capacity of ours was what led to this course being conducted at our campus."

It took about four months to put the necessary classrooms in place and source the 50-plus faculty, consisting of senior professionals from banking and from management institutes.

Now, with the contents and requisite infrastructure in place, ICICI Bank is ready to roll out the Probationary Officer Programme from January 21 with 450 students at its Hyderabad campus.

The first week of February will see another 550 students joining at the Bangalore campus of Manipal Academy.

Singh claims more than 70% of these students are from towns such as Ahmednagar, Mysore, Guntur and semi-urban areas.

The year-long residential programme is divided into nine months of class-room training and a three-month internship at any of the bank's branches, during which students will get a monthly stipend of Rs 2,500 for the first nine months and Rs 5,000 when they intern at the bank's branches for three months.

ICICI bank is bearing the entire cost of this programme by investing approximately Rs 3 lakh per student. If the student chooses to leave instead of joining the bank, he/she will have to recompense the bank the Rs 3 lakh.

But what about people quitting immediately after joining?

"We haven't planned anything for that yet. As of now, they'll be just like any other employee, who'll have to serve the notice period," said Singh.

On successful completion of the course, a diploma in banking and insurance will be awarded.

The students will be absorbed into the bank as Assistant Managers with an annual salary of Rs 3.5 lakh.
The bank, which has 40,000 employees, recruits 15,000 each year at various levels, including 2,000 students from 250 B-Schools across India.

"This programme covers less than a quarter of ICICI's requirement of human capital, but it will ensure that joinees will be productive from day one," said Singh. ICICI Bank will double the seats in the programme to 2,000 next year and as many as 5,000 will come through this route after 2010. Once absorbed into the bank cadre, the students can pursue an e-MBA in operations, marketing or finance even as they work.

"Students will have to initially bear the costs for the MBA (which is still being worked out), which will be later reimbursed by the bank," states Singh.

The structure of the programme, he said, has interested other group companies such as ICICI Prudential Life, which is planning to design a similar course.

g_priyanka@dnaindia.net