‘No room for anyone who’ll be diff icult’

THE RBS office in Chennai is big and when I arrived there – to investigate the recruiting process undercover – there was a long queue of nearly 100 people, all hoping to get a job with one of the world’s most famous banks.

I had to wait for ten minutes – then they checked my bag, which had only my lunchbox in it – before letting me through.

But within moments of entering the interview room it became clear that the job was not what people had been expecting.

The supervisor asked if anyone in the room had IT or engineering experience, which was a requirement on the advert. Those who did were asked to leave, surprised at being told they were not eligible. This left around 15 people. The position, it turned out, was a ‘low-skilled’ one.

It soon became clear why – the salary. We learned the pay was just 246,000 rupees – the equivalent to £2,700. This is very low, even in Chennai, and I think the lack of experience required was supposed to justify the low pay. They don’t want anyone demanding, or who will argue against the salary. We were then moved to an agency called Assess People Services (India) to take an aptitude test, which involved basic maths, writing and grammar.

RBS is another example of a corporation ruthlessly focusing on profit maximisation and letting down its home country.

In this case, a bank built and mostly owned by the UK public is sending jobs to India – jobs that do not actually pay well by even Indian standards, but still attract plenty of applicants in the country, thanks to its abysmal job market.