Kalaiselvi Ponnurangam
Kalai joined Recruise 15 years ago as a senior executive, now runs its Talent Consulting & Advisory practice, and built much of the operating process in between.
Connect on LinkedIn ↗Kalai has been at Recruise for 15 years, one of the longest tenures on the team, rising from senior executive to Practice Head, Talent Consulting & Advisory. She has managed teams of 2 and teams of 40, and built much of the operational infrastructure the firm runs on. Her hiring work is in management consulting, analytics and technology.
She writes on building teams that last, and on reading people before the performance data arrives. She also has a settled view, from 15 years of watching one operation change, of where AI and analytics help recruitment operations and where they get in the way.
Read more from Kalaiselvi.
Choosing the operating model before you choose the headcount
Whether the centre runs as a captive, a hub, or a shared-service backbone decides the roles you can even hire. Most plans skip the choice.
The AI/ML band split in two
Traditional ML sits where it was a year ago. The GenAI end has pulled away. Price them as one band and you lose the top while over-paying the bottom.
The 18-month exit cliff is real. The cause isn't what HR thinks.
Across the GCCs we track, senior attrition clusters at a predictable point. The triggers group into four things, and only two are inside HR’s control.
Which retention interventions actually move the numbers
We sorted the levers GCCs reach for into what held people and what didn’t. Most of the budget goes to the ones that don’t.
Deepening capability means hiring ahead of the charter
Centres that plan for the work they run today stay execution shops. Owning judgement next means hiring for it before the mandate arrives.
The best people leave first. Here’s why that’s predictable.
Your strongest seniors have the most options and the least patience for a seat that under-delivers on its promise. They exit while the median stays.
The charter decisions that lock in your hiring cost for five years
Three operating-model choices, made at charter stage, silently pre-commit your future hiring cost and flexibility.
The 90-day regret window on accepted counter-offers
Acceptance masks the reasons someone was leaving. Here’s the decay curve, and the early signs a ‘retained’ senior hire is already looking again.
Where a workforce plan breaks first
Walk a headcount model to find the single assumption, attrition, ramp time or supply, most likely to fail.
Why your comp bands break at the VP line
Banded comp fails at senior levels. The off-band levers, scope, title, equity-equivalents, that close without a bidding war.
One hiring pattern worth knowing, every ten days.
The Mandate Desk is our read on the senior GCC talent market — one signal that moved, the read behind it, and one thing worth doing. Written from live placement data.