I signed up for a five-month contract job as a sales coordinator with an FMCG company last September. I am 35. Since I badly needed a job, I just accepted the first offer that came by. My first paycheque came without any employee provident fund (EPF) deduction. When I asked the HR department about it, I was told that the company did not make EPF provisions for employees on contract. The organisation I worked with previously, a mid-sized FMCG company, was scrupulous in providing for EPF to all employees, regular or those on contract. I have strong reservations about my present employer denying me the benefit of an EPF account. Isn't it against the law to fail to make allowances for EPF?

Provident fund is not necessarily a part of your compensation, but depends on conditions under which you joined the organisation. You need to clearly understand the implications of working on contract. I understand that you have signed a five-month contract with your present employer. If the terms of your contract do not mention employee provident fund, then you are not legally entitled to it. On the other hand, if you have been employed by a contracting agency and they are your employers, then they are the ones liable to pay your provident fund. In any case, you could re-negotiate your contract when it comes up for renewal and get a clause inserted on EPF, when your contract comes up for renewal.

I recently graduated with honours in architecture. But given the level of competition in this field, I feel that without a masters' degree I can achieve little. On the other hand, I have developed a liking for interior design and multimedia design and believe that I can be successful in that field with very little effort. Should I pursue the masters' course or should I abandon architecture altogether and enrol in a multimedia course?

If you feel that your real area of interest is interior design or multimedia, and that you stand a greater chance of making it big in that line of work, you should go for it instead of pursuing a masters' degree in architecture. However, it would be better to play it safe. Since you already have a background in architecture, you could do your masters' in that subject with a part-time course in multimedia. This will keep your options open.

I have worked in the customer service function across companies and across industries such as insurance, banking, and retail merchandising over the past decade. I would like to go back to my first love, merchandising, but am told that a much higher qualification is now needed for a job I handled quite competently 10 years ago. Do I need additional qualifications to return to retail merchandising? Also, at 36, will age be an obstacle to such a comeback?

Your age will definitely be no obstacle to your return to retail merchandising. Since you have already worked in the retail industry, there is also little need for you to acquire additional qualifications. However, such qualification will go a long way in opening up growth opportunities for you in the sector. Before you make the switch, however, you need to ask yourself whether there is good enough reason to seek such a major change.

I was invited to join a new company as a senior manager after my previous company, where I had worked for more than 20 years, closed operations. Now, I find that the team of professionals who work under me are more qualified, knowledgeable, and skilled that I myself am. I have raised this issue with the HR department and have requested that my responsibilities and compensation be rationalised. Though the company seems to have taken this in its stride, I feel I may soon be asked to move on. Please advise.

You are suffering from acute lack of self-confidence. The predominant reason for this is the sudden change in your work environment after being with one company for the last 20 years. In your previous organisation, you were comfortable. Now that you have come to a completely new environment, you are finding it a little difficult to adapt. Consider this a passing phase in your life. When you feel confident enough, ask your company to give you more responsibilities. Finally, make some friends at work and you will begin to feel better. And don't keep looking only at your weaknesses. Evaluate your strengths and be optimistic.

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.

SECTOR WATCH
Gearing Up
As competition hots up, auto companies are under tremendous pressure to go that extra mile to hire and retain people with the right skill-sets to steer them through turbulent times.

G.S. Ramesh, Vice President (HR), Hyundai Motor India

The automobile industry is constantly evolving and companies need to keep innovating in all areas-product design, engineering, production, quality, and customer service. To keep up with competition, companies in this business need employees with the ability to grow on the job. The emphasis, therefore, is on ensuring continuous skill enhancement. Here are some of hottest areas in the automobile industry where skilled personnel are increasingly being sought.

QUALITY ASSURANCE: Quality assurance gained prominence with the emergence of India as a global manufacturing hub for auto components. This created a need for professionals with global levels of competence in quality management and a thorough grasp of statistical tools and techniques.

PAINT TECHNOLOGISTS: With product variants and styling emerging as key differntials that influence purchase decisions, the paint shop now plays an critical role. This calls for chemical engineers with knowledge of measurement system analysis. Soft skills that are preferred are a flair for colour, design coordination, and an eye for detail.

RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT: The automobile industry thrives on change. This is driven by frenetic research activity undertaken by most major automobile makers. Specialists with knowledge of product design and development, value engineering, systems implementation and tool design are much sought after.

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY: With companies leveraging it for process improvement and cost rationalisation, professionals with the ability to develop and maintain critical ERP, B2B and B2C applications are in demand. Engineers having requisite technical skills and domain knowledge of the industry are preferred. Software developers with sufficient exposure to design, coding, project analysis, testing, development, and implementation and maintenance of application systems are required.

CUSTOMER CARE: Automobile companies are increasingly focussing on customer satisfaction. People who work in this function are expected to have strong interpersonal skills and the ability to design, administer and monitor various programmes. Engineers with knowledge of CRM tools, qualitative and quantitative research techniques, and exposure to Six Sigma methodologies are preferred.

HUMAN RESOURCES: With the entry of MNCs into the Indian automobile market, the way companies worked has changed radically. There is a growing demand for hr managers with some knowledge of global people management practices. There is also a need for knowledge managers who can create systems for organisationwide sharing and management of knowledge.

Jargon-Bender: Strategic Intervention

Consider for a moment that a nation, say, Iraq is an underperforming sales team headed by a man called Saddam Hussein at a megacorp called World Inc. Its CEO George W. Bush feels that a dotty sales head is bad for both employee morale and bottomline. He initiates the process of strategic intervention, or remedial action in laymanspeak, by hiring a consultant who goes out to the field and watches the sales force in action to identify the flaws. When Hussein refuses to give in, the CEO in consultation with his HR head Donald Rumsfeld, embarks upon the final phase of the intervention, entailing the removal for the underperforming function head. Strategic interventions don't come cheap. World Inc., for example, budgeted close to $75 billion for the exercise, and the top management is glad the operation wasn't long drawn out. Having terminated the services of Hussein, the company and its high-profile headhunters are looking for a new head for the sales team. Candidates who share World Inc's world-vision can apply ASAP.