At the entry level, we hire business school graduates. The attempt is to attract good talent and therefore, we have a rigorous process to assess and select. We assess the candidates against criteria, which amongst other things, consists of high performance leadership behaviors such as ‘building confidence’, ‘communication’, ‘enable and drive change’, etc. We also look at the intellectual bandwidth and cultural fit.

At GSK, business school graduates undergo training over a period of 1 year. This is the investment the company makes on these bright youngsters to prepare them for potential leadership roles. This 1 year exposes them to compulsory experiences in sales, supply chain and other business functions. Additionally, they also participate in certain capability building programs.
At a macro level, considering that there is a strong focus on education in India, I believe that the entry level talent will be available in the near future too. In India, we have quite a few IIM’s being setup across the country. However, the challenge will always be to attract top talent. Every organization, which can afford, looks for top talent.. Businesses will need to have effective talent retention strategies. We, in GSK have observed that the first 3 years or so, we normally do not lose talent. However, the next 3-5 years are vulnerable. This is the time when these youngsters get restless. It is therefore, essential to have this retention strategy, which supports accelerated career development plan for the key talent.

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