Get trained and join hands with the leader

After working with companies like HCL, Perot Systems and RMS India, Noida based Praveen Dewan is now a Managing Partner with Antal International at Noida franchise centre.  Since 2012, Dewan recruits within the IT and ITES sector. Franchise India spoke to him on how he is spearheading the operations as a competent partner for Antal International in India.  

Tell us about your journey with Antal

It has been a roller coaster ride and an enjoyable one. Like any other business this has its ups and downs as well. For someone like me who was totally new to sales, it was tough in the beginning and I had to push myself hard to pick up the phone and make those calls. Slowly business started coming in but then I realised closing those roles was even more difficult. Every new business has a setup time and so does this. After an initial period of struggle my business started stabilising and I got some good clients (one of them exclusive) and started working harder to close the roles I got. Today after around 2.5 years in the business I have got a small team helping me in recruitments and have a good client base that trust my ability to deliver. I have so far closed around 30 positions (most of these in the last 16 months or so) at mid to senior levels in the IT technical space and have started making good money for myself.

How did you get to know about Antal International?

I got introduced to Antal when I met them at one of the Franchise India shows in Delhi in 2012. I had done a lot of recruitment for my teams during my corporate career but had no idea, how a recruitment business works and what does it mean to be on the other side of the table. After speaking to the Antal representatives in detail, I realised that this could be a potential opportunity for me and I started delving deeper into it.

As an aspiring entrepreneur what were you looking for?

I was primarily looking for the following things in a new venture for me:

• Something which over a period of time could be self sustaining.
• Could utilise my experience of 20+ years into IT industry
• Does not have a very high upfront investment
• Where I  get to work with educated and like-minded people

Why did you choose Antal?

I was evaluating a couple of other options at that time and after understanding about all of them I chose Antal as it was an international brand, it suited my lifestyle, the initial investment was not too high and Antal had a very strong training methodology to ensure the success of new franchises. Out of the others that I was evaluating I thought this is the one where I could make best use of my previous work experience.

How did Antal help you in your entrepreneurial journey?

One thing very unique about Antal is you never get a feeling that you are alone. The trainings, the Antal Global Conference, the Antal Global Snapshot, and the Owners Meet and other engagements within the network we have on a regular basis makes us feel a part of a larger organization. These engagements constantly motivate you to make sure you persistently keep on engaging with your clients and candidates till the time you succeed. My personal source of motivation came from our weekly IT owners call where we used to exchange notes regularly. In my initial days I used to hear success stories from other offices in Antal, which used to tell me that if someone else can do it I can too. Besides this an extremely strong focus from Antal on training its partners never leaves you in a doubt. We get trainings from world’s topmost recruiters which is unheard of in any recruitment company in India. These trainings help you project yourself in a different perspective from other recruiters in the same league and get you better clients and candidates.

Why Antal is a good choice for aspiring entrepreneurs like you?

There are a lot of reasons for that:

• It is a globally known brand, so when you tell someone that you are working with Antal, they listen to you.
• A very strong training framework, which if followed properly ensures that you get 100% success.
• Flexibility to work at your will – from your home, shared office or own office, depending on how you want to grow your business.
• Established infrastructure- You get email IDs, Access to Antal Intranet, all the training resources for you and your teams.
• Sharing of business- Out of the total revenue we earn around 10-20% of that comes from shared deals between various offices of Antal world over.

And last but not the least you work in an environment which supports your growth and makes you feel positive about yourself.