SUDHEER DEVULAPALLY FOUNDER & MANAGING DIRECTOR
Skilliantech trading as SkillRecruit

As an SAP consultant with profound expertise, he has worked with some of the world’s most famous corporations in India, Japan and the United Kingdom. He possesses in-depth knowledge of the main business drivers that guide the recruiting sector and has exceptional business acumen. Skilliantech trading as SkillRecruit has been transformed into one of the most competitive, agile, and fast expanding recruitment agencies in the world, with the core focus on “transforming organizations by engaging exceptional talent”. He is an Electronics Engineer with over 25 years of experience and has been recently conferred as one of the Top 10 Leaders in Recruitment in India for 2021 by CEO Insights. He has founded and is the director of multiple businesses in the UK, Europe and India.

PLEASE WALK US THROUGH YOUR COMPANY

With the goal of providing quality SAP consulting and solutions to its clients, Skilliantech was founded in 2005 by a group of techies. Since then, the company has evolved to become a global business. Skilliantech began trading as SkillRecruit, a global recruitment firm in 2011, after undergoing a massive transformation. It also became one of the few pure-play recruitment agencies in the world to receive a CMMI Level 3 accreditation, making it one of the pioneers in the recruitment industry worldwide. It is a proud member of NASSCOM, and it has expanded its activities throughout India, Europe, and the United States, with its corporate headquarters in London (United Kingdom). Its current strength is around 500 skilled professionals across the globe.

WHAT HAVE BEEN THE BIGGEST CHALLENGES YOU’VE HAD TO OVERCOME ?

There are several risks and advantages associated with owning and operating a business. As a corporation, we made investments in some unrelated businesses that failed but the investments we made in our Recruitment businesses are currently doing well. Even though we were filled with enthusiasm for our investments, we lacked business acumen and understanding. We also didn’t perform enough due diligence, and we took up all the opportunities that presented themselves to us. We were learning as we went along and attempting to run numerous businesses at the same time was a challenge. Nevertheless, we gained a lot of knowledge from our mistakes, and we also had a lot of fun establishing and running those businesses.

In these dynamic market conditions, by the time you learn a technology, another new technology or a new version comes up and as IT Recruiters, if we don’t keep abreast with technology, we will be outdated. It has been a good challenge to have, to get our teams to learn new technologies on a regular basis. Also, as the organization grows, its leaders must learn various traits of team management. So, in order to continue to grow and be successful, we have implemented a rigorous training regime for all our employees, not just for Technical skills, but for Soft skills as well.

WHICH ONE THING DO YOU WISH YOU’D DONE DIFFERENTLY/ WHAT STYLE DID YOU ADOPT ?

The year 2014 was, in my opinion, one of the most difficult. Even though we ourselves are a tangible recruitment firm, we made some terrible hiring and investment decisions, spent a lot of money and tried to do too many things at the same time. Our inability to maintain a strategic focus at that time, I believe, was the root cause of our failure.

If I had the opportunity to go back in time, I would most likely reassess our 2014 hiring and investment decisions, as well as our overall strategy. It is never a good idea to invest or hire in haste. It is possible that circumstances will force you to do something that appears to be right, and as a result, you may find yourself making hasty and impulsive decisions. Don’t allow yourself to be drawn into such situations. If I had been able to correct it, we might have experienced a tenfold growth in our business by now.

HOW HAS THE INDUSTRY CHANGED OVER THE YEARS ?

The recruitment sector has gone through several ups-and-downs in India, the United Kingdom, and other countries. Whether it’s the Great Recession of 2008, the recent Brexit, or the implementation of IR35 rules. However, to our amazement, the second wave of COVID sparked a significant increase in the recruitment industry’s overall momentum and productivity. That it has happened is unquestionably related to the rise of digital transformation and the introduction of process automation.

Our company has experienced an amazing growth in the recent years. The recruitment industry has become increasingly competitive, and agencies that do not adapt will find themselves out of business soon. The way business is conducted has undergone a significant transformation. The contracting market in India is expanding in a positive direction. We are lucky to be at the right place, at the right time, with the right people and we are happy to envisage and take advantage of the huge demand in IT recruitment coming our way.

TELL US ABOUT THE CLIENT BASE.

We are experts in strategic recruitment of IT and Engineering professionals and are working with some fantastic customers. Many of them are members of the exclusive Fortune 500 club, but there are some very remarkable startups as well. We specialize in Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO) and Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) models which help clients who are trying to set up their businesses in India and the UK.

We also work with our clients in developing and implementing recruitment strategies across a wide range of technologies, domains, and industries. We serve our clients using various recruitment models including but not limited to Permanent, Contract, Contract-to-hire, Bulk hiring, etc. We have specialized, full-fledged teams for Executive, Leadership and Non-IT hiring as well.

WHEN IT COMES TO THE COMPANY, WHAT ARE YOU MOST PROUD OF ?

We take great pride in our company’s family-oriented culture. This company has a long-term workforce because we treat everyone as if they are part of the family. Our firm’s guiding premise is “Associate is God.” There is a dramatic shift in how our staff interact with customers and coworkers since we adapted that core value. The organization has developed a greater capacity for empathy and compassion. Since then, we’ve seen an increase in the number of individuals following us on social media, as well as countless nice reviews – which we are really proud and content about.

At our company, everyone is a member of the same extended family. Because of this, many of them have been here since the beginning. For our employees to thrive and be recognized for their accomplishments, we want to continue providing them with the best tools and resources. Because of our corporate ideals, which include treating all employees and coworkers as equals and sharing revenues in proportionate to our profits, we’ve been able to keep our employees happy and who in turn helped us to expand our customer base and to keep them delighted.

We have huge researched & validated internal Database, built using specialized and unique Market Mapping and Market Intelligence techniques. Our Turnaround Time (TAT), beginning when a client shares their demands, to the time we make a successful placement is one of the best in the industry and that’s the reason most of our clients give us repeat business and provide great references. Owing to that, we always have enough work to keep ourselves busy and to decide which clients to work with, or not. That also means that we don’t need a separate sales team and our bandwidth is always utilized to its most efficient best.

WHAT DO YOU DO WHEN YOU ARE NOT AT WORK ?

I am an avid reader and traveler. For me, reading helps me gain fresh insights, thoughts, and ideas about how to improve my team and our company. Consistent reading is something I encourage my colleagues to do. We like to travel a lot as a family. Whichever country we are in, we would like to travel to as many towns and cities as possible, soaking in the culture, appreciating the people and enjoying the local cuisine. In my spare time, I also enjoy solving puzzles, having a glass of wine with my friends and spending time with my family.

WHAT ARE SOME OF YOUR FUTURE ENDEAVORS ?

To grow our business, we need happy customers. In order to keep the candidates happy, we need an enthusiastic workforce. When our prospects are happy, so are our clients. To keep doing this and to keep everyone happy, we have created some essential values in our firm, such as treating our clients and coworkers with respect and understanding and resolving their concerns as quickly as possible. In today’s competitive job market, having a high rate of conversion is essential.

In the following three years, we intend to grow at twice the rate we did in the preceding three years. Despite the widespread death toll, the COVID-19 pandemic has helped the Indian labour market. Increasing numbers of companies from all over the world are outsourcing their IT projects to India, and we have been inundated with requests for skilled staff. As a result, we developed an aggressive growth plan last year that involved expanding our staff internally. Because of this, we had to develop our technology and support teams to keep up with the demand for our services.

WHAT IS THE BEST ADVICE YOU CAN GIVE TO FUTURE ENTREPRENEURS AND OUR READERS ?

Employees make or break organizations. So, ensure that you always respect those who work for you. Invest in people and you will get sustainable returns. Our philosophy of treating everyone equally did wonders.

Lastly, never be afraid of saying “No” to opportunities that are not strategically aligned with the goals and objectives of your organization. In order to succeed in business, entrepreneurs must become more comfortable with the word “No”. By doing so, it is more likely that you will make decisions that are beneficial to your company, your employees, your community and all the other key stakeholders who are involved in the entire process.

Entrepreneur Insights