Premji: Talent hunt

Hong Kong, April 1: Wipro will launch its first recruitment drive on university campuses in Britain. The move, which will create hundreds of jobs in Britain over the next year, will challenge the traditional perception that the Indian outsourcing sector, with its promise of cheap labour and a skilled workforce, is a threat to British jobs.

India’s third-largest software company has decided to recruit directly from higher education institutions such as Manchester and Warwick universities and Cranfield School of Management in an effort to find “local” talent that can better understand the cultural needs of its British clients.

The firm’s participation in the annual university “milk round” will reinforce the growing prominence of the business process outsourcing (BPO) sector as an employer in Britain. In the next few weeks, Wipro is expected to announce details of a major development centre serving key British clients. It will be located near Birmingham and eventually employ up to 500 people.

Wipro chairman Azim Premji said planning for the Midlands centre is well advanced, although negotiations with various regional bodies and internal discussions are yet to be completed. Sites in the north of England, Scotland and Northern Ireland are also under consideration as Wipro looks to add to the existing facilities in Reading and London’s Canary Wharf.

As part of their training, Wipro’s employees in Britain will spend between a few weeks and a few months in India, with the duration of their stay determined by the technical complexity of their jobs.

Among Wipro’s largest clients are Nokia, Aviva and Thames Water. Alongside competitors such as Infosys Technologies and Tata Consultancy Services, both of which have significant operations on the British soil, Wipro is among a breed of BPO companies that have collectively emerged as one of India’s most important industries.