Think twice before you say ‘no’ to offers in e-Commerce firms! Search firms might blacklist such people

If you say 'no' to a job offer from an e-Commerce company, job search firms might blacklist you to avoid embracement. In the past three to six months, a deluge of offers from cash-flush e-Commerce firms has seen a proportionate rise in the number of offers being turned down by senior level executives.

This left the companies stumped and head hunters red faced. As a result, various job search firms have started blacklisting such executives who have replied in negative to employment offers in the e-Commerce firm.

According to estimates from four leading search firms, the offer dropout rates for the last three months have shot up by 30-40%. For the 12-month period, it has risen by 60-80%.

Senior-level candidates rejecting offers in the e-Commerce space is around 40% now, double of what it is for any other sector, with the maximum offer drops being in the product management space, followed by core IT.

Executive search firm Kelly Services had more than 20 senior candidates drop offers at the last stage in the last two months.

"Candidates are offer shopping like never before. We have seen candidates looking for jobs during the notice period they are serving and when they already have an offer with another company. They try to make the best use of the notice period by getting as many offers as possible," said Kamal Karanth, managing director at Kelly Services & Kelly OCG, India.

Warning signals include candidates not picking up calls, family members answering the phone to say the candidate is not well. "This is a reality in the e-Commerce space as the sector gets flooded with opportunities," said Ashu Malhotra, head HR at online retailer Jabong. Adding to search firms' woes is companies' unwillingness to settle for the second best candidate or a back-up option.

According to search experts, NIT, IIT and IIM graduates are perpetual offer droppers. Typically, talents from these schools are in demand and candidates resort to arm-twisting with potential hiring organisations. "This is exactly what happened in the IT space in 2003-04. The e-Commerce industry is at a buoyant stage and candidates are making full use of it to get the best deal," said GC Jayaprakash, executive director at RGF Executive Search.

A search expert cited the case of a senior manager who dropped an offer from Flipkart at the last minute to take up an offer from mid-sized startup Urban Ladder. "People who are moving away from big companies want more responsibility, accountability, and bigger roles," said Rajiv Srivatsa, founder, COO at Urban Ladder.

Usually, companies are unable to retain talent because of the huge salary jump being offered by competitors or allied firms.

Talent, more often than not, is getting wooed by the money that this space offers and companies at times are willing to pay up to 60-70% more to attract the right talent. The tenure of executives in any organisation has started decreasing as more companies get formed in this space and a wider variety of jobs come into the market.

Abhiraj Bhal, co-founder of Urban Clap, spoke of a mid-level hire who did not show up on his first day at work, after two months of communication. "Over the past few months, the exuberance in the ecommerce space has rubbed off on the talent pool. Salaries and expectations have gone up. We have offered salary hikes of 70-80% in roles like technology and people have choices and can make companies wait and hold on and we've not been immune to this," he said.

Moreover, most funded companies are willing to poach talent, and at times, offer more than what candidates demand, said Karanth. Recently, Kelly Services was working on a requirement with an ecommerce company for a product management candidate with 12 years of experience. The candidate was keen on a 40% hike. The company he interviewed with offered him 50%. The candidate, however, never joined and bargained for a hike in another company.

(Image: Indiatimes)