Foreigners Come to India for Jobs

Foreigners flock to India for good jobs
Ruby Nanda in New Delhi

October 11, 2007 15:06 IST
Whether it is a challenge they are seeking or an opportunity to boost career prospects back home, young foreign nationals, on the threshold of a new career, are taking up jobs in India even in fields other than the IT industry.
After middle and senior level foreigners making it to India it is now the turn of professionals who are at the beginning of their career to flock to the country, as the work environment throws them a huge challenge, both professional as well as personal.

Kersten Kolser, 23, from Austria currently interning in a local advertising firm, says "Work experience in India is definitely very helpful since India and China are one of the fastest growing economies. And most of the European companies are expanding to India. Therefore, working here will be an added advantage for me."

According to rough estimates, around 20,000 to 30,000 expatriates are believed to be working in India, that is just about a fraction of 100,000 foreigners working in China, Singapore and Hong Kong.
"Exposure to a fast growing business economy is probably the biggest incentive and reason that young professionals are increasingly taking up jobs in Indian industry," says R. Sunder, president, Times Business solutions.
He adds that in the job portal Times job.com has over 110,000 profiles of foreigners job seekers registered on the site indicating the ( high) level of interest in India.
Mohammed, from UAE, says, "Training helps us for sure. One gets to know different cultures, improves our networking skills, how to deal with people and also develop a cosmopolitan outlook."

The cosmopolitan outlook increases as the milieu of foreigners coming to work in India is varied. E.Balaji, Coo, Ma Foi management says, "Foreigners come to India from South East Asia, Eastern Europe, and Continental Europe and America among other countries." He adds, the work experience in India is adding a lot of value to their resumes.
He is of the view that candidates who are unable to get good job prospects in their respective country are getting jobs and good growth opportunities in India with expat pay packages.
Agrees Lidiya Ropay, 23, from Bulgaria working as an HR executive here, "In Bulgaria it's very difficult to find jobs, even after a Masters degree and knowledge of foreign languages. One must have at least one year's experience to work as an specialist in a certain spere. She adds, work experience in a foreign country is always a great plus to one's CV. And if you are successful in India, it shows that you are adaptive and hard-working."

The IT and ITeS sector has always been at the forefront of acquiring talent from outside. But now this trend has shift to other sectors too. Sectors such as retail, hospitality, manufacturing, analytics, infrastructure, pharma among others are catching up say the job consultants in India. The Indian magic continues to enchant.
With many India companies hiring foreign CEOs recruitment in the Indian industries was mainly at the middle and higher levels. Now more and more freshers too are opting to begin their careers from India itself. Some of them are exchange students or come here as a tourist prefer to do a job stint here before going back to their native land.

But, everything is not as bright and sunny for the expats who come to work in this complex nation. Many foreigners have communication problems and suffer a culture shock when they first come to India.
Lohuis, 23, Netherlands says he had communication problems with his previous boss. So he had to leave to the job and look for another.
Another grouse that some of the youngsters have is that things are very disorganised in the work arena here. Lidiya says in Europe you get things arranged like information,
stationery, facilities etc while in India it is sheer chaos- lack of organisation and delayed deadlines. Yet the lure of a booming economy and the fascinating land gives them the experience of a life time.
As Mohamad impishly says, "If you can live and work in India then you can work anywhere in the world. It is an experience of a lifetime."