Antal is a leading business to business franchise where franchise owners are channelling their professional business acumen and experience by placing mid to senior level professionals every day; generating thousands of placements a year, with millions of pounds in placement fees. In an interview, Joseph Devasia, Managing Director, Antal International Network India shares the success and expansion plans of the company.
Please shed some light on the origin, growth and success of Antal International?
Tony Goodwin founded Antal International in 1993, he first opened offices in UK, Poland, Hungary and Russia and by 1997 Antal had offices in Italy, Germany, Netherlands and Switzerland. At this time, Antal International was one of the very first international recruitment firms operating in Russia and the CIS. In around 1998, Antal International joined the Asian market by opening a mainland office in Beijing, China. Through 2003 – 2006, Antal International strengthened its European presence by opening offices in Croatia, France, Romania and Bulgaria.
In late 2006 Antal International entered the Indian markets
What motivated you to go for business expansion?
Antal International entered the Indian markets in late 2006, In Jan 2007, I established my office. After we saw success with our very first Antal office in India we decided to explore the Indian market. Antal’s then President Doug Bugie; floated the idea of franchising further in India and suggested that I could enter into a JV with Antal to help expand its footprints further inthe Indian recruitment industry and that’s how Antal India journey began. It’s been 8 years now and we have established 33successful franchises across 13 Indian cities. We have a vision of 600 offices by 2020 across the global out of which 100 would be in India
What strategies you employ to maintain the standards of your company?
Antal is a business with values, our core values are A – Achieve; N – nurture; T – trust; A – aspire; L – lead. With 20 years of our existence, presence in more than 33 countries and over 110 physical offices Antal truly is an International Recruitment Business. In the last 2 decades Antal has successfully helped International clients set up offices in various countries. Antal has established recruitment processes that are unique to its business and through our induction & training systems we ensure that our quality & standards are maintained
What are the future expansion strategies?
Our mission is to target talented people, top 10% performers who make a difference, people who make good companies great. We place them at the right time, at the right place with the right company.
Currently we are looking forward to a pan India expansion especially tier II cities. We are looking at opening atleast 15 new Antal offices in India this year.
How many centers of Antal International have in India?
It’s been 8 years now and we have established 33 successful franchises across 13 Indian cities
How your business model benefit aspiring entrepreneurs to build a successful career?
Becoming Antal’s franchisee is extremely rewarding for aspiring entrepreneurs. However one must be passionate and hard working. They should first decide if he/she really wishes to be in the executive recruitment business or not. As in any business one has to be prepared to face the challenges
Antal is one of the few firms that provide their franchise partners and help them face this challenging business climate. The business model associated training, shared business and the recommended recruitment software simplifies what could be an intimidating start up process. We have a transformational performance development programme for our franchisees. There are benefits like streaming and training on 1000’s of subjects in recruitment via full time top class global trainers.
What support and training you offer to your partners?
We offer business support, guidance and advise to the network with the aim of increasing business activity and financial results. We want their business to succeed so we provide support in a number of operational aspects of the business that includes:
- Training
- PR
- Finance
- IT
- HR
- Operations
What strategies do you follow to handle competition from your organized and unorganized counterparts?
Our deep rooted values, systems, processes and practices which are appreciated by both clients and candidates, supported by testimonials and our loyal clients who we have built lasting business relations with are in themselves business strategies to manage competition. Our inch wide mile deep market specialization gives us access to strategic confidential sectorial information which allows us to bring to our clients crucial information that will help make business altering decisions. This approach enables us to become trusted advisors to our clients. The global network of offices and knowledge sharing practices across the world is a unique feature at Antal which no other recruitment firm can boast.Antal’s knowledge focused recruiter understands the industry/sector dynamics and are trained to speak the same language as the hiring manager; this helps us to meet our client expectations in any Industry/Sector/Discipline/Location.
What opportunities and challenges are laying ahead in this sector, considering the Human resource development sector, which is getting bigger with time?
It’s a fact that finding and attracting the top talent is not an easy task; however, companies don’t go by this fact and continue to take on this tedious task of recruiting; assuming that it will save them time and capital.
HR managers depend on referrals, job boards, etc to source talent, which can get them good but not great talent. There is a rare chance that the HR manager will fill that position with a star performer because at most times, an A list performer is not on any job portal but at your competitor’s office performing extremely well. These individuals are not actively looking for a job on job portals and are not keen at looking at the ads in the classified sections of newspapers, job portals or social networking sites. This leaves the HR managers with the average lot and they are forced to hire these candidates. An agency recruiter headhunts; this is their everyday job – to headhunt and build their talent pipeline. Yes referrals, job portals are an easy way out, however qualifying these candidates, getting them interested in the job, screening the candidates, the entire procedure is extremely tiresome and time-consuming. Bringing in a recruitment agency just simplifies the process and the results yield the best candidate out of the massive talent pool.
When you look at recruitment with the idea of bringing in latent talent from a pool of candidates who are not actively seeking to move jobs, the opportunities for a recruitment business are multi-fold, also the pace at which businesses are growing means there is no time to wait for one single source of talent acquisition to fulfill all demands from the business.
How are you looking forward in the development of your company?
Over the last 5 years since Antal started franchising in India, we have added 35 new franchisees to our network. We are now in a position of strength with Antal’s brand being well received and respected amongst clients and candidates across the country. With a team that is exceptionally strong in training and PR, I believe Antal can add another 15 franchisees to its India network this year. Over the next 4 years we intend to be able to breach the 100 number and get to a position where we can claim to have significant market share in the permanent recruitment market in India.