Career Today: Best Jobs; Ask Tarun!!!

Preety Kumar, managing director, Amrop International, outlines career prospects in the entertainment industry.

Broadly speaking, the entertainment industry includes television broadcasting, television software production, film software production, film distribution, cable and satellite operations, music marketing, operations and distribution, the live entertainment segment, and event management. Of this, film software, distribution, and event management are not really organised sectors and, thus, cannot qualify as industry segments.

There is no 'ideal' background, but for corporate functions including sales and marketing, a grounding in the consumer businesses-FMCG and durables-or service industries should be helpful. In creative positions, relevant professional diplomas like those from the Film & Television Institute of India, are necessary along with rich experience.

The usual skills that are required for start-ups are relevant here as well. This would include vision, the ability to take quick decisions, and a high degree of problem-solving and team building skills, especially at the top level. But an aggressive, energetic personality should be a definite plus, along with the ability to work without defined structures and systems.

Very good. Once the desired organisation takes place, the industry can only boom. The compensation levels too are top-of-the-line, with CEOs often getting paid Rs 75 lakh and above.

CEO; Centre for Policy Research & Equity; Delhi; Masters Degree in Sociology/Economics with 10 years of relevant experience; Action Aid India, Post Box 5406, 3, Rest House Road, Bangalore-560001.
e-mail: wecare@actioaidindia.org

CEO; Tata Telecom infrastructure group; Mumbai; MBA having relevant experience in the industry; Box No. L529C, The Economic Times, Mumbai-400001.

CEO; S.B. Billimoria & Co.; Delhi; MBA/ICWA with 15-20 years of relevant experience; S.B. Billimoria & Co., Gopaldas Bhawan, 28 Barakhamba Road, New Delhi-110001.
e-mail: insurceo@sbbandco.com

Vice-President (Marketing); Shaw Wallace & Company; Mumbai; Graduate/MBA with 15 years of relevant experience; Shaw Wallace & Company, Wallace House, 31, Link Road, Chakala, Andheri (E), Mumbai-400099.

Vice-President (Marketing); Oswal Knit India; Delhi; Graduate/MBA with 15-20 years of relevant experience; Oswal Knit India, Oswal Raod, Industrial Area 'A', Ludhiana-141003.

General Manager (Marketing); Poly Medicure; Faridabad; B.Sc/MBA with at least 15 years of relevant experience; Poly Medicure, Plot No. 105, Sector 59, HSIDC Industrial Area, Ballabgarh, Faridabad.
e-mail: polymed@vsnl.com

Chief Executive; Garment company; Kazakhstan; Relevant qualification and experience in the garment industry; 81/82, Law Garden apartment, Ellisbridge, Ahmedabad-380006.
e-mail: hada@ad1.vsnl.net.in

Head (R&D); Transnational specialising in the production of escalators; Singapore; Degree in Computer Science/Information Technology with 10 years of relevant experience; G.P.O. Box No. 117, Pune-411001.

MIS Manager; Transnational specialising in the production of escalators; Singapore; Degree in Computer Science/Information Technology with 10 years of relevant experience; G.P.O. Box No. 117, Pune-411001.

Jobwatch: Entertainment

The Rs 15,000-crore media and entertainment industry is abuzz with activity! With an estimated 20 per cent of the annual revenues in the sector being spent on expansion or new ventures, everyone is hiring. Prominent players like Crest, TV18, b4u, star TV, Zee, and Radio Midday, are on a recruitment drive, headhunting for a range of positions, from coos and functional heads to programme executives and anchors. Companies like film director Subhash Ghai's Mukta Arts and TV software company Cinevista have had successful IPOs as well, fuelling the job boom.

Where can you expect to be placed? Companies like Mukta Arts, Crest, and Cinevista, are diversifying, and need people both in operations and content creation. Crest, for instance, is looking for three chief executives to head its animation, TV software, and Net ventures. Zee and star, too, are looking to restructure and diversify, which means a demand for more people.

There is no need for candidates to possess an 'industry' background, even at senior levels-though a grounding in consumer-marketing could help. For positions in the content area, though, relevant professional degrees and experience could help. As could a sound understanding of the relevant market-movies, music, tv software, and radio-and, of course, dollops of enthusiasm.

If you want a career in showbiz, remember that behind the glitz and glamour is plenty of sweat and grind. Relevant experience aside, you would need special skills to be successful in the entertainment business.

The entertainment industry is an evolving one. To be successful, you must have the ability to work in an unstructured environment without well-entrenched systems.

Entertainment is also a fast-paced industry with a rapidly-changing market and business scenario, and shifting customer preferences. You must have the necessary energy, enthusiasm, and focus to cope with change successfully.

A gregarious personality could prove to be of advantage in the entertainment industry, especially in jobs that involve customer interface.

If in the creative or programming roles, you must have an understanding and appreciation of global and local programming trends, and audience preferences-something that can happen only if you are fond of movies, music, and radio. In other words, you must love the business you're in!

The top-level: CEOs, coos, heads of sales and marketing, operations, finance, technology, hr and legal, chief of programming/content.
Qualifications: Requisite functional/technical degrees and MBA with experience in consumer industries for all operational roles. Relevant professional degrees/diplomas with experience in creation of content/ programmes for content positions.
Compensation: For CEOs: Rs 40 lakh to Rs 75 lakh. For others: Rs 28 lakh to Rs 65 lakh

The middle-level: General Managers/ Vice-Presidents in sales and marketing, operations, finance, technology, hr, legal, exports, and communications; Executive producers, directors, and editors in programming.
Compensation: Rs 8 lakh to Rs 25 lakh. Could be higher in case of creative positions.

The entry levels: Officers/executives in sales and marketing, operations, finance, technology, hr, legal, exports and communications. Producers, programme executives, content writers.
Compensation: Rs 5-8 lakh for operational roles. Rs 2-3 lakh for technical and creative positions.

A New Pair of Hands
It is changing track, with a new driver! General Motors, the world's largest automobile manufacturer, which has so far found India a tough terrain, is getting a new pair of hands at the wheels. Aditya Vij, gm India's former marketing head, is all set to take over the reins from R. Swando. Vij will, thus, become the only CEO of a car transnational's India operations, now that S.G. Awasthi's designation has been changed from Managing Director to Chairman of Daewoo Motors India. Considering the distance between gm India and the pole position in the Indian car market, it's not going to be an easy ride for Vij. Of course, he could be aided in the race by the encouraging sales of the newly-launched Corsa. But one will still have to wait and see what becomes of it, once the novelty factor begins to wear out...

Valued (human) Resource
HR guys are truly making hay! GE Capital has just acquired a new hr head in Sunil Bijlani, who moves from the tobacco division of ITC. The 40-something Bijlani, known for his illustrious track record in ITC, joins as Vice-President (hr), replacing K. Murali, the existing Vice-President, who could move on to a higher position within the GE fold. Bijlani follows in the footsteps of his colleague, Nalin Miglani, who moved from bat to Coca-Cola (India) as head of hr a few months back. Meanwhile, Yogesh Gautam, the low-key hr head of pharma giant Becton Dickinson in India, graduates to a regional role and moves to Singapore. And Systems America, the US-based systems integration company, which is consolidating its business in India, has just hired Rakesh Nayar, as Vice-President (hr) from River Run Software. Star TV (India), too, in its new aggressive avatar, is said to be looking for a new hr head. Happening companies. Happening function. And more HRrrrrrr stories...

Here Today, Gone Tomorrow
Now, to move to a different kind of happening company. Blue chip of yore, and the archetypal boxwallah company, ICI India, has been plagued by a rash of problems for a few years: global restructuring, low growth, and shrinking profits under Managing Director, Aditya Narayan. Now, add vanishing employees to that list. Soumitro Purkayastha, Vice-President (Technical) and an ICI 'lifer' quit recently. Purkayastha, respected within the company for his professional prowess and affable nature, was left stranded with ICI quitting most of its large manufacturing businesses, like fibres and explosives. He now moves to Bangalore to take charge of operations at the US-based agro-chemical company FMC Corporation, headed by another ex-ICI man, Sartaj Singh, the erstwhile CEO of Cargill Seeds. ICI has also lost lost Rajesh Kakkar from its chemicals business: he moves to Samtel India as the head of strategic planning. And some time ago, another star manager, Vivek Dhariwal, left ICI to join a healthcare start-up. Looks like the company does need a dose of life-saving drugs...

Pharma Firms Up
A low-profile multinational has been actively poaching in India. The company is Boston Scientific, a US-based medical equipment manufacturer, which has just overhauled its top team. Its just-appointed India-head, Sanjeev Chopra, has been poached from Ranbaxy Laboratories, where he was Managing Director, China. Also on the trophies-list is Anil Shankar who joins the company as Financial Controller from Polaroid India, where he was the Director, Finance and Administration. Healthcare, it would appear, is the most happening sector of them all.

Postscript
There could be some fizz here. Coca-Cola (India) could finally be getting a new marketing head. Ever since Sanjiv Gupta, the erstwhile head of marketing, moved to operations, the company has been scanning the top rungs of large FMCG companies for sometime now, particularly those of megacorp Hindustan Lever Ltd (HLL), we are told. Well, Gupta himself is a HLL product, his ABCL stint notwithstanding. Has the beverages major taken a leaf out of arch-rival Pepsi's book, much of whose India start-up team was poached from HLL? And, dare we say something about 'choice' now?

I am 25 and an MBA (Marketing) from a second-rung B-school. I am interested in pursuing a career in the media or the entertainment industry. What kind of skills/attributes are required for this? How do I go about getting a job, as none of the major companies in these areas visit my campus. Should I approach search firms? And what kind of positions should I apply for?

Media and entertainment are service industries. And, like other sectors, they too have an important sales and marketing side. There are other functions as well, but I am limiting my answer to marketing and sales as you have a qualification in that area. Chances are that you will get placed in a sales function to start with and would have to work on generating advertising revenues. You could also choose between the different media like print, audio-visual, and the Net. You could apply to some companies directly or scan for job ads.

I am a 30-year-old biology graduate. I started my career in 1996 as a medical representative in a well-known pharma company, and worked there for two years. Subsequently, I worked with a transnational for 18 months. I took a 10-month sabbatical to prepare for the entrance exams to the various top B-schools, but didn't make it. Now, I have got another offer from a transnational to join them in sales. But I want to acquire an MBA, as I don't want to remain a salesperson forever. Can I afford not to take up this offer, as I have already taken a long break? Could I consider an on-the-job MBA?

You do not need to let this job go and can still work on an MBA entrance. In the pharma industry, most promotions happen within the sales hierarchy in a time-frame of 18-24 months. As you are missing out on work experience by sitting at home, you would also be regarded as being out of touch with the market. So take up this job, even as you prepare for the entrance exams. You could do a part-time business management course, but it is not going to have the market value of a full-time MBA. Why don't you try the second-rung management institutes?

I am a 28-year-old lawyer with an ICWA qualification, working with a small audit firm. But my real interest lies in corporate law and taxation. How can I make a successful shift? I thought of doing an LLM, but a two-year break is not really possible at this stage. Should I do a diploma course from the Indian Law Institute? Or should I go for an MBA?

You could try and obtain a ca qualification. Alternatively, you could go for a company secretary course. You could also take up a job in the finance department of a company, specifically in taxation or in the secretarial department. Another option would be to join a financial advisory firm advising corporates on issues relating to tax and company law.

I am 40, with a B.Sc and a MBA (Finance) from IGNOU. I also have an ICWA qualification and a diploma in end-user accounting from Brilliant. I was the export manager in a garment firm and handled all banking- and finance-related activities as well. I shifted to finance and did pretty well initially, but had to resign last year when recession struck. At present, I am with an audit firm doing concurrent audit in banks-something that does not satisfy me in terms of content and remuneration. What can I do with my qualifications? Do I need some reinforcement in terms of diplomas?

You should try for a job related to accounts and finance in smaller or medium-sized firms. Larger firms may prefer CAs for senior posts and if you are looking at prospective jobs in these firms, you may have to compromise on designation and seniority. However, the money may be better and you may get a position in the exports division, which may utilise your experience to the maximum. However, at your age it would be difficult for you to take time off to acquire a qualification. At best, you could enhance your opportunities by qualifying as a company secretary-though you may have to move away further from your exports background if you take up a job in that area. Moreover, such jobs may be more secure and less subject to market fluctuations.

Tarun Sheth, the senior consultant at the Mumbai-based recruitment and training consultancy firm, Shilputsi, addresses your career concerns every fortnight. Write to help, Tarun!!! c/o Business Today, F-26, Connaught Place, New Delhi-1.