CEO Insights India

Over the last two decades, the staffing industry has grown from a quaint USD 100 million to a USD 6 billion industry. Hiring activity in India has been on an upward trend, with a year-on year increase of 22 percent. With a market size of USD 6 billion, India is currently the 13th largest market. These figures emphasize the significance of the staffing industry in India. Empert Consultants, which has quickly become one of the best in the industry, has a strong professional team with a combined experience of more than 100 years in executive search. Based out of Bangalore, Empert Consultants has offices in Bangalore, Chennai and Coimbatore. Vijay Venkatesh (CEO of Empert Consultants) has collaborated closely with many CEOs, Promoters, HR & TA Leaders assisting them in identifying key business leaders through his hiring expertise across various domains. He addresses the needs of diverse organizations in identifying critical and niche talent as a specialist in Leadership Hiring.

Here is an exclusive interview with Vijay about his expertise and more.

Elaborate on your professional back ground and experience. What has been your experience with Empert Consultants thus far and what motivates you today?
come with an experience of over 17 years in executive search industry and have hired CXOs for a variety of organizations across industries which include manufacturing, technology, engineering, auto, BFSI etc.Furthermore, I have personally closed over 100+ CXO positions globally.

EMPERT" as the acronym stands for Employment exPERT provides Executive Search and Recruitment services. We started during the first covid wave that swept the country. The fact that we survived three covid waves and two lock downs

while growing to a 40-member team with three offices demonstrates the challenges and growth we have experienced in the last two years. We have closed around 250+ position which consists of various mid to senior roles which include, COO Manufacturing, VP Operations, CIO, CHRO, VP Engineering, Head R&D, Regional & Zonal Sales Head and many other strategic Tech, manufacturing and functional roles.

How would you define Empert Consultants as an organization and its market position? What is your company's unique value proposition to its customers?
Empert Consultants is an Executive search and recruitment firm with an experienced Management team with proven management experience across diverse industry sectors. We believe in delivering impactful & sustainable talent for our clients which enables our clients to add significant value to their growth. We take pride in understanding the business needs & the operating environment of our clients which enables to do an indepth market research to identity the right talent.

Reflect on some of the major challenges you've faced on your journey in Empert Consultants. How did you overcome them and what did you learn from them?
We started within 3 month of the first lockdown, which I believe itself is a major challenge. The market was closing and many businesses had frozen their hiring. We focused on industries that grew during the pandemic, such as IT Infrastructure, FinTech, Education, and Manufacturing, which were still hiring. During this period, I discovered that, regardless of market conditions, there are still numerous opportunities. There will always be certain pockets of the industry that will continue to do well. If you want to sustain and succeed in such difficult times, you must

develop capabilities to adapt to changing market dynamics.

As a young leader, how do you maintain the perfect balance? What is your success mantra?
I follow the five hour rule every day. I spend an hour each day and five hours per week learning, relearning introspecting, and experimenting with new things, which keeps me up to date and helps to relax my mind and body. All said and done, I am still trying to figure out the success mantra.

Going forward, what are the changes in market behavior that you anticipate and what are the opportunities that you foresee in the consulting domain?
India is on its way to become a USD 5 trillion economy and the demand for talent will constantly increase. Even though there are many job vacancies, the industry is still facing challenges in identifying the right talent at all levels. New industries will emerge, new sectors will open up and many companies will establish their operations in India. This will further increase the demand-supply gap. Hence the opportunities are enormous.

What advice would you give to aspiring entrepreneurs based on your extensive industry experience?
Focus to build a long term organization and not for the sake of valuation. There are no good or bad times to launch your venture. Just take the plunge.

Vijay Venkatesh, Founder & CEO, Empert Consultants
Vijay Venkatesh is the Founder and CEO of Empert Consultants, a Bangalore-based research-based hiring firm. He is a multi-domain executive search professional with over 16 years of executive search experience in India. He has closed over 100+ CXO positions with global MNCs. He has worked closely with many CEOs, Promoters, HR & TA Leaders assisting them in identifying key business leaders through his hiring expertise across various domains

•Favorite cuisine:Traditional South Indian Thali
•Favorite book:“The Secret” by Rhonda Byrne
•Favorite Travel Destination: Maldives
•Awards & Recognition:
We recently won “Atmanirbhar Bharat Award