If you are looking for short-term gains and quick promotions, then telecom is the industry to be in. Described as the sunrise industry of the moment, the telecom sector is buzzing with activity these days. According to a survey done by a private placement agency, the sector offers a far higher compensation package than the manufacturing industry, and quicker promotions.

Headhunters Inc, a Chennai based placement agency, has been focussing on telecom companies for the last couple of years and has come up with some interesting findings. For instance, it has discovered that employee retention is a major problem for companies in this sector as the demand for personnel is tremendous. Maximum recruitment, especially in sales and marketing areas, is from the FMCC sector or from those companies marketing concepts such as yellow pages.

Says Rajesh Choudhary, Delhi branch manager of Headhunters: ``Telecom is definitely the sunrise industry of the moment and a career that offers tremendous potential.''

From the figures available with him, Choudhary and his team have worked out a compensation structure for the industry. The scales vary in the three segments of the industry: paging, cellular and basic. According to Choudhary, paging is the low end of the industry, with growth remaining relatively static. Two years ago, the paging Chief Operating Officer (COO) took home Rs 15-20 lakh annually. Today, the figure has barely increased by 10 per cent, with the highest paid COO taking home Rs 27 lakh.

Whereas in the case of companies involved in cellular operations, the compensation packages have skyrocketed. From Rs 15-20 lakh two years ago, the cellular COO is today taking home anything between Rs 25 and 30 lakh for basic services. The top man is assured a salary ranging from Rs 30-45 lakh. Perks for the COO include two cars one big (usually a Cielo or an Esteem) and one small.

Not surprisingly, most employees are moving from paging firms to cellular companies. Even cellular to cellular moves are on the increase. For instance, recently, V C Shukla of Essar Telecom has been snapped up by Reliance to head pits operations from Calcutta.

Explains Debjani Chakraborty, assistant manager, HRD, Bharti Telecom: ``There are only a handful of professionals available and every company is scrambling to get their services. Hence recruitment is tough.'' According to Chakraborty, Bharti Telecom is tackling this problem in three ways. One, by extensive in-house training programmes. Two, by going in for proven performers in other fields. Besides which they have, of course, grabbed a lot of people from the Department of Telecom. ``Let's give credit where it is due. The government is today the biggest supplier of manpower,'' says Chakraborty.

The articulate HRD expert is personally supervising Air Tel's intensive recruitment drive for its basic telephone services. ``We've placed countrywide ads in both vernacular and English language papers. We are also moving through placement agencies and campus recruitments,'' she says.Bharti Telecom is looking for both engineer MBAs as well as plain MBAs and is concentrating on XLRI and good B-class management institutes. ``Our scales don't match the IIM standards of Rs 25,000 a month,'' admits Chakraborty. According to Choudhary, fresh entrants to the telecom sector-usually taken only in the customer care section-are paid anywhere between Rs 1 and 2 lakh. Assistant and deputy managers are paid Rs 2-3 lakh. Managers take home Rs 5-6 lakh. The general manager gets Rs 10-15 lakh.But both Choudhary and Chakraborty stress that compensation gains are only going to be short term. However, in terms of job enrichment, this is definitely a satisfying place in which to be. The eloquent Chakraborty illustrates her own example. ``If I was in HRD in a traditional steel rolling mill, it would be a stereotyped function. Whereas here, I face newer challenges such as where to recruit from and, more importantly, how to retain employees. Similarly, for marketing personnel, telecom is an extremely aggressive field, almost cut-throat in its intensity.''The recruitment problem is expected to be sorted out in a couple of years by which time trained personnel will be available. And several institutes are considering offering full-time courses in telecom. First of the block is the Symbiosis Institute of Management in Pune, which has just opened a Symbiosis Institute of Telecom offering a two-year course.

Others like NIIT and Aptech have begun introducing modules on telecom in their computer courses. Says Sanjeev Kataria, who looks after corporate communications at NIIT: ``At the moment, there isn't any specific need for telecom courses. What we offer is an integrated IT curriculum, which teaches net centre computing and how to create nets, etc.''

Most experts agree that there is soon going to be a shake-out in telecom. Chakraborty goes so far as to predict that within the next seven years, only the best three companies would have stayed on. She says the elimination process will begin within the next two-three years, when a second round of bidding will take place in most circles as she feels several companies will not able to honour their licences.

Agrees Choudhary of Headhunters, ``Only those with the biggest pocket will survive in this field as investments are phenomenal.''So choosing the right company is essential. And for those who do make the right choice, this is one of the best industries in which to work. As Ishan Ranjan, editor, Voice & Data, India's first telecom magazine, points out, ``It's not a flower industry. It will not wither quickly. Rather, it's akin to a tree with long- term growth.''

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.