I am a 26-year-old post-graduate in marketing with a commerce background. I started off as a trainee in the sales division of a fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) company and was promoted to the post of sales officer. Following a worldwide merger, the company was restructured and I chose to leave. I then joined another FMCG company as the sales manager for its new coconut oil brand. The product did not succeed and I was forced to leave that job as well within six months. I am now an area sales manager with a tobacco company. What additional educational qualifications do I need to fast track my career in this sector? How will my frequent job changes go down with prospective employers?

You are an area sales manager at 26. To me, your career graph looks just fine. Frequent job changes will not hamper your career as long as you are able explain each shift logically to prospective employers. It is good to be ambitious but to climb a ladder successfully, you must climb it rung-by-rung. An additional qualification will go a long way in opening doors. You could take a two-year sabbatical and enroll in a full-time MBA programme at a good business school. This will equip you for a fast track career in the highly competitive FMCG sector.

I am a 33-year-old MBA and have been working for eight years. I work in an information technology-enabled services (ITEs) company that screens resumes for clients in the US. Prior to this, I worked in the sales department of a multinational. And before that, I represented a Canadian body shopping firm. However, my job entails night shifts and these arebeginning to affect my health. I would like to switch to a recruitment firm. How should I go about it?

With your experience in the it-enabled services and body shopping industries, you are not likely to face much difficulty in landing a decent job with a recruitment firm, especially one that is focused on the business process outsourcing (BPO) sector. Remember, however, that if you are looking for a role that primarily involves client-servicing, you need to have excellent communication abilities and a dynamic personality to go with it.

I am a 36-year-old post-graduate in science and have around 15 years of experience in quality assessment and product development in the FMCG sector. Right now, I head the quality assessment division of a mid-sized Indian FMCG company. In the course of these 15 years, I have acquired some expertise in Six Sigma and a few other techniques. I am tempted by opportunities in the booming it-enabled services sector. Will my experience in manufacturing and product development be of any relevance?

I would advise you to tread carefully though opportunities abound in infotech-enabled services business, and though, salaries in the sector are still much higher than others; job security could be an issue. Take your time assessing your options and if you come across an opening that instantly captures your interest and provides reasonable job security, go for it. Just remember this: if things don't work out and you need to change again, there aren't likely to be too many good offers waiting. You would do well to have some back-up options ready.

I am a 26-year-old chartered accountant based in Chandigarh. I work in the bill-collection division of a telecom company that is either headed for closure or an acquisition target. The promotion I was promised at the time I signed on seems a remote possibility. I get the feeling that I not only need to change my place of employment but also my function. However, all my efforts to find a new job have only yielded offers in a similar function. How do I make a smart move?

You can certainly forget about getting a more responsible position or a salary hike in your present company. Do seek a change in your function if you think that will help you come out of the rut you are in. But you are likely to succeed if you focus on positions where your experience has greater relevance. Still, if you have been trying this for over six months with little success, it may be a good idea to take up another bill-collection job in a company where chances of job enhancement and rotation are higher. And you should expand your search to include other, larger cities such as Delhi and Mumbai.

Answers to your career concerns are contributed by Tarun Sheth (Senior Consultant) and Shilpa Sheth (Managing Partner) of HR firm, Shilputsi Consultants. Write to Help,Tarun! c/o Business Today, Videocon Tower, Fifth Floor, E-1, Jhandewalan Extn., New Delhi-110055.

Recruiter's Diary
Reference checking is fast becoming an obsession with India Inc's recruiters. Some dos and don'ts about references.

Sonal Agrawal, Director, Accord Group

A few months ago, a major US hospital fired its high-profile CEO because his references were found to be inaccurate. The hospital blamed the executive search firm for the bad hire. This sparked off a widespread debate in the human resources development community on the reference checking process and its significance.

With companies' fortunes increasingly hinging on executive performance, reference checking prospective employees has become a serious business. Apart from the usual background and performance checks, reference checking is also conducted to verify other attributes such as communication skills and ethical behaviour. One of the objectives of reference checking is to piece together a picture of the "complete person". To this end, referees are asked open-ended questions about the candidate's style, problem areas, motivation, and ability to cope with pressure.

An astonishing number of people lie about designations, overstate their salaries and disguise reasons for leaving jobs. Given the risks involved in making an incorrect hire, especially in jobs that involve key decision-making, companies and, in turn, search firms are tightening their reference checking procedures.

Recently, the Accord Group completed a CEO search for a financial services firm, which included checking up on six formal references, a financial and credit check, salary verification, academic verification, and verifying character references going back to the candidate's college days. These were conducted through two international reference checking agencies.

Reference checking, however, is not just a 'dirt-digging' exercise. Its main objective is to ensure the right fit between the employee and his job and thereby enhance employee productivity. So, if you have been asked to provide references, make sure that they are bonafide.

Just Desserts? No Way
Non-executive directors need higher salaries to perform better.

Thanks to the spate of corporate scams in India and abroad last year, the role and remuneration of non-executive directors (NEDs) on boards of Indian companies have come into sharp focus.

The Companies Act, 1956, enjoins NEDs "to watch and keep a check on executive directors and add credibility to the company''. Corporate India's boardrooms till recently were rife with cronyism and NEDs known more for their ineptness and corruptibility than for any concern for the interests of small investors.

The investing public now expects NEDs to play a more aggressive role in the boardrooms. They are expected to not only critically examine financial performance but also be proactive in shaping their companies' strategies.

One barrier to high-calibre professionals becoming NEDs has always been the low compensation structure. Says Shailesh Shah, MD, Watson Wyatt: ''There is a mismatch between NEDs' increased responsibilities and the remuneration they get.'' A NED in the US earns $110,000-120,000 annually. In India, the maximum fee payable to an NED per sitting is Rs 5,000. The total fee for these sittings through the year cannot exceed Rs 5 lakh.

There are stirrings of change, however. Says Ronesh Puri, MD, Executive Access: "An upward revision of their compensation is definitely on the cards." Apart from drawing people of the right calibre to the job, this would also enable NEDs to resist the pressures they face while discharging their duties better.

The salary paid to NEDs needs, at the very least, to be doubled and in some cases trebled, compensation experts insist. Says Puri: "In US, most companies offer non-executive directors a share in their profits. That makes them more accountable to investors. In India, though, any such correction will happen over a period of time." All the same, NEDs in a more aggressive watchdog avatar can only bring respite to the forlorn investor.

-Mily Chakrabarty