There are three tenets that have always stood by Priti Batra, founder and chief consultant at TAB Placements, an exclusive search firm for retail and exports, run by an all-women’s team. These are the three ‘C-P’s—clarity of purpose, challenge the potential, confidence in people. These, she says, gave birth to a company that became a trendsetter in terms of introducing an exclusive search machinery and placement centre catering specifically to the apparel, textile, home lifestyle, export and the retail sector. ‘‘Through my travels, I was drawn to the glamour and fashion on the streets of London and Europe. This infused in me an entrepreneurial zeal with a passion for the fashion industry. Formalising my passion for fashion, my early jobs were as a merchandiser for several international garment retailers exporting from India. Working across different time zones, following international market trends, travelling globally, coordinating across seams of people and in the middle of it all, being blessed with a lovely boy made me leave my corporate job and start TAB that would search firms specialising in hiring for the export and retail industry. Today we hire talent for top retailers such as Armani, Benetton Fendi, French Connection, H & M, Jack & Jones, Puma and Zara to name a few,’’ says Batra.
In January 1997, TAB Placements was formed and named after her son, Tab. The office set up was a reflection of an export company and not a head-hunting firm and Batra was very particular to not make it look like one. ‘‘The office had a fabric library, costing sheets and garments for checking. My team and I would interact personally with each candidate. The focus was on drawing sharp evaluations about the technical ability of an individual and this was a clear innovation for the times,” she says, adding, “It was a conscious decision to have a women-only team as they are more understanding and can balance the demands of motherhood and professional throes of a fledging business. My colleagues at TAB Placements are used to multi-tasking, are sensitive to a candidate’s situation, manage time well and have oodles of patience and strength of character, which is essential for the unpredictable nature of our business and we intend to keep it that way,” she says.