Is elearning Really Growing in India?

Try searching for a job with the keyword "elearning" on http://www.naukri.com/ or http://www.monsterindia.com/ and chances are that you will get pages full of new postings. It definitely seems to be expanding! And who is hiring? The biggest IT names in India... Wipro, Infosys, Cognizant, Satyam; the world biggies such as IBM, Dell, Hewitt, Accenture; and of course the hardcore elearning players such as Sify, NIIT, GE Capital (now Genpact), Lionbridge, Hurix ... you name it and they are there!

So, yes, elearning is growing. The question is how much? Is the overall growth of the entire elearning industry really transforming into new business for Indian companies?

With more and more companies venturing into elearning, new opportunities are created everyday, so the endless job openings seem logical. However, meeting the ever-growing resource demands has forced HR managers to stop recruiting for talent and rather make stopgap arrangements to solve immediate "fires". A classic example is when you come across elearning Project Managers who have been enticed to manage teams, projects, and customers simultaneously - with less than 5 years of total experience under their belts. The obvious result is a high attrition rate. 70% of the new listings that I talked about earlier are to fill these gaps; only 30% are really new jobs. This is also evident from the fact that most elearning companies could not increase their employee numbers enough so that one may see an appropriate ratio between replacements and new jobs.

I am a strong believer of the saying, "An industry that cannot retain its employees cannot retain itself" and if the trend continues, we will keep losing more and more professionals and victimize this industry so that it has to evolve itself all over again!

God Bless the elearning Fraternity in India - Amen!