Article’s

Global Capability Centers (GCCs) have transformed themselves from cost-reducing back office departments into strategically focused centers of engineering, artificial intelligence, and enterprise innovation, with India itself having over 1,700 centers employing almost 2 million people and contributing annual revenues of over USD 64 billion. Such fast growth has put immense pressure on the recruiting function. This paper aims to explore the main challenges of recruiting in GCCs, paying particular attention to the Indian environment. To do so, secondary information is used: reports from the industry, studies by consultancies, and scholarly literature related to talent acquisition and employer branding. In total, six interconnected challenges of recruiting in GCCs have been identified, namely the shortage of specialized and new technologies’ talent, specifically of generative artificial intelligence, cloud architecture, and cybersecurity specialists; high levels of employee turnover and infant turnover among new joiners; leadership readiness problems preventing the localization of senior management positions; increased competition for employers due to the presence of over 1,700 centers competing for one and the same talent pool; infrastructure and quality problems associated with hiring people in Tier-II and Tier-III cities; and legal, taxation, and data compliance problems associated with international recruiting. The results show that talent recruitment under the GCC approach has moved from being a volume-oriented and cost-oriented process to a capabilities-oriented strategic approach, whereby organizations that do not view talent acquisition as a board-level activity could face delayed projects and increased cost inefficiencies.