US2IndiaJobs (founded by Nandini and Rajeev Minocha) is an executive search firm that bridges the gap between professionals looking to relocate to India and organizations wanting to hire employees with international experience.

Nandini  Minocha has had past experience in the executive search space when she ran her search firm focused on Senior and mid level executives in advertising, media and marketing space in India, the Middle East and SE Asia for 5 years.  In addition she has worked for over 5 years in account management, client servicing roles in various advertising and marketing agencies both in India and the US. Nandini has a Masters degree in Business Economics and a Bachelors degree in Economics from Delhi University in India.  Besides recruiting, Nandini loves to act- she has been on stage in a number of productions and acted in films and a television serial  

 Rajeev Minocha’s initial career was in sales, marketing and general management in the consumer products space where he had very successful stints at  Unilever and Perfetti Van Melle (an Italian confectionery company) in India and other International markets including South Africa and Brazil. Rajeev cofounded another KPO/BPO company; Parsec Interact, Inc. focused on the Financial Services space in 2001 and ran it until 2007. Before that he spent a couple of years at Infosys Technologies in sales and business development. Rajeev is an MBA from the prestigious Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad and has an Engineering degree from Delhi College of Engineering. He did his schooling from the Doon School, Dehra Dun. Rajeev’s interests include skiing, skating and hiking.
      
What motivated you to start such a unique company?

      Our company (US2IndiaJobs) started in San Jose, California in November of 2007.  

      We saw the signs of the weakening US economy and the economic boom in India. The shortage of talent, particularly at the senior level led us to believe that there could be a market for exporting talent from the US (and other countries) to India. Lack of any organized way for executives to make such a move further strengthened our belief that we could help provide a bridge between the employees and the employers.

      Since there seemed to be a need at both ends we thought it would be useful to offer this service and execute it efficiently- some people call it ‘reverse brain drain’

Are the opportunities in India comparable to those in the US at the executive levels?

      Overall there is a shortage of good talent at the senior level. Rapid growth in the last few years has led to promotions of executives who in normal circumstances would not have been pushed up the ladder that rapidly. For critical leadership positions, importing talent into India has become necessary for companies. For such positions therefore the opportunities in India are comparable and in some cases even better for executives.

      Further there are certain skills and experience which executives in India may not possess- these could be in areas such as hard core technology, product development, product management, manufacturing/exposure to certain technologies, etc.  

      There are some areas where India has so far not seen any scale – these could be in areas of real estate/ infrastructure development, etc.

      Such opportunities are therefore quite exciting for the executives who may wish to move.
     
What is the profile of your client companies?

      We are currently working with the following types of clients:

    * Large global companies such as Google, Yahoo, Microsoft, Amazon.com, Nokia, Pepsico, etc.
    * Indian companies with global ambitions or expanding in India such as RPG Enterprises, etc.
    * Established startups and pre-IPO companies funded by reputed VCs such as Sequoia Capital, Matrix Partners, Helion Ventures, Nexus India Cap, etc.  

What is the profile of employees you place? Are they mostly of Indian origin?What kind of people are you looking for?

       Most of our candidates are:

    * senior to mid level Executives
    * super performers with consistent track record of 10 years and above
    * desirous of relocating to India within the next 2 to 4 months (or already in India having been through International postings)

      They tend to be mostly of Indian origin, more because employers in India want someone who has had experience on both sides. But we do get applications from non Indians and have successfully placed a few.
     
What type of positions do you work on?

      We typically work with C-level roles, VP and Director levels. The positions could be in different functional areas- general management, engineering, technology, manufacturing, finance, etc.   

What is your business model?

      We help the employers identify suitable candidates who fit in the requirements and are willing to relocate. We then help them in the selection process as well as in bridging the expectations on both sides in the entire cycle.  

      On the candidate side there is the first most important phase of understanding the background as well as providing a canvas of realistic opportunities that might exist suiting the background and the ambition. Providing counseling and guidance throughout the process is the other big service that our consultants provide.

      Our role starts from the moment we get a requirement from the client (and the candidates in our system) and ends after the selected candidate has been successfully relocated and settled in the new position

      At present we do not charge anything from the candidates. Our fees are paid  by the employers – part of it is payable upfront as a retainer and balance on successful placement

What about the legal formalities involved in relocation?

The  legal formalities for working in India are fortunately not that complex. There is no work visa needed if you have an Indian passport. However, US citizens and those of other nationalities need a work permit to be able to work in India but the process of application and obtaining it is fairly simple. Persons of Indian origin who are now US Citizens can obtain Overseas Citizenship of India (OCI) which gives them the ability to work and live in India without any restrictions for their lifetime!

Has the current financial crisis had an impact on your company?  

      The current financial crisis has certainly impacted everything- our company is no exception. Although on the candidate side we have had a spurt of executives especially with experience in the Financial services wanting to explore positions in India, and a number of candidates who have been contemplating a move without any fixed time frame in mind have now started becoming serious.  

      But the employers have slowed down hiring – critical and replacement positions are still being filled and so are positions for those companies that are expanding in India. Some industries are more affected than the others – fortunately we have a diversified base of clients so the impact will not be that bad!  

Is it challenging to run a corporation over two continents

      Ofcourse there are challenges. But with all the communication tools available today it is indeed a small world! Besides both of us in the past have worked within the US-India corridor so understand the nuances quite well- which includes late night/early morning calls, 4 or 5 trips to India every year, etc.

What does the future hold for you?

For the future we see ourselves helping candidates find jobs globally. We
would work with our clients to help them find suitable talent in multiple
locations around the world. Already some of our clients have given us
positions in the US.

How can people contact you?

Candidates could contact us through our website http://www.us2indiajobs.com/ by filling a detailed profile and uploading their resumes. Or they can send their resumes to  .resume@us2indiajobs.com  or info@us2indiajobs.com You can also call us at 408 689 2106

Potential employers could call us at 408 689 2106 or send a message
through the "For Employers" section our website

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