HSBC's Bhargava: Earlier, I worked on IT processes, now on the end consumer

It's just the kind of stereotype that Dipakshi Gupta, a 25-year-old Modelling Manager with Citibank, hates. A few days ago, an elderly acquaintance of hers handed her a worn-out bundle of Rs 10 notes and asked her to get them exchanged for new ones. "The older generation has little idea that banking has gone far beyond just tellers," bristles Gupta. Her disappointment at being perceived as a bank teller of yore is understandable. For her job at Citibank entails anything but collecting or dispensing cash. A post-graduate in Statistics from the Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata, Gupta works with Citi's risk management team and develops risk models for retail loan products.

Meet another new-age banker, Anuj Bhargava. With more than 20 years of experience at the country's biggest it company, Tata Consultancy Services, Bhargava, 40, joined the Hongkong & Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC) in Mumbai as a Chief Information Officer in June this year. "The biggest change from TCS to HSBC is the change in tools and audience. Earlier, I worked on an organisation and now in an organisation, where the focus of my work is on the retail consumer or the end user," he says.

With most banks, especially foreign and Indian private, looking aggressively at retaining customers and attracting new ones, thousands of new jobs are getting created in the industry. There's demand not just for wealth managers, client bankers, and fund traders, but also statisticians, retail channel managers, equity and risk analysts, besides legal and tax experts. Banks wiring up to automate processes and better understand data on their customers has created opportunities for unlikely talent: senior to middle-level telecom and it professionals.

New Business, New People

"A mass of individuals has remained under-banked in an economy that is growing at 6 per cent to 8 per cent," says Pradeep Mukherjee, Country Human Resources Director, Citigroup India. He is right. Even today, retail banking penetration-a measure of a bank's reach-is just about 8 per cent. "These potential consumers have had limited resources and avenues to invest in and banks now realise the need to go out to sell and acquire these customers," says Ram Kumar, Head (hr), ICICI Bank.

As banks become more and more like fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) companies, they're taking banking out of branches and to the customer's doorstep. Result: The demand for sales personnel is surging, and is currently estimated at a good 20,000 to 25,000 per year. A fresh graduate today could easily earn as much as Rs 1.5 lakh per annum either as a customer relationship manager or a frontline sales person. Vacancies are getting thrown up even in the back-end, where focus on cross-selling through alternate channels such as telephone and internet means more hands are required.

Other interesting changes are being ushered in by the advent of technology at banks. Take customer relationship management, for instance. With banks seeking to tailor offerings around a customer's unique needs, professionals with background in mathematics and statistics are in big demand. What do they do? They analyse customer data and build demand models, which arm the bank's sales and marketing teams to better fight competition. More technology-oriented processes obviously mean more opportunities for it engineers and systems analysts, who start with a salary of anywhere between Rs 2.5 lakh and Rs 5 lakh per annum.

In fact, banks like HSBC are also hiring telecom engineers because the convergence of different channels of transaction requires experts who can set up the infrastructure for telebanking. What's driving the technology focus? Banks now realise that the competitive edge in banking is moving away from mere products to things like speed of product innovation, mass customisation, and even personalisation in high-end services. "Technology has resulted in synchronisation and economies of scale, and therefore, more operations are being centralised, creating employment opportunity for techies," says Rohit De Rozario, Vice President (Talent Management), HSBC.

Gupta: Ain't no teller of yore

Dahiya: Taking care of clients' wealth

Banks are also increasingly tapping small and medium enterprises (SMEs), a relationship that till recently was only restricted to current account and working capital. With SMEs now demanding other products such as equity, fixed income and derivatives from banks, thousands of fresh MBAs from second and third rung B-schools are being roped in to service this clientele.

Expansion And New Skills

A booming stock market has opened up opportunities in private banking too. To tackle extra work, banks are giving employees the leeway to move up the work profile ladder. Take the case of 30-year-old Sonali Dahiya, who joined Citibank almost five years ago. Dahiya, an MBA, was an investment counsellor till October last year, before moving into Citibank's booming wealth management division. As a Wealth Manager, she now takes care of financial planning, banking solution, investment planning, risk and goal assessments of close to 45 to 50 top-end clients. Other professionals in demand these days at banks are chartered accountants and lawyers, thanks to stiffer compliance norms.

Globalisation of India's banking industry is also opening vistas for new kinds of skills. Bankers are literally scrambling for 'solutions management' people who can help their clients' banking needs across multiple countries. Then, there's demand for fund managers, trade product salesmen, and equity researchers, fuelled by the fact that Dubai and India have of late emerged as important centres for global treasury operations. It's hard to say what newer jobs the banking industry will demand in the future. But one thing's for sure. It won't be the preserve of accountants in pin-striped suits.

COUNSELLING
Help, Tarun!

I am a 28-year-old with a degree in MBA (Finance). Starting my own business had always been a dream of mine and keeping that in mind, I launched a handicrafts export business a few years ago. Unfortunately, I have not had much success. My friends are doing quite well in their respective professions, which range from banking to executive-level jobs in MNCs. I am quite depressed and don't know what to do. Please advise.

Starting, or for that matter running, any kind of business is not all that simple. You have obviously discovered that the hard way. Remember the saying: "Nothing dreamed, nothing dared and nothing dared, nothing done". At least you dared to dream and did what you wanted to do. But, it's time for a reality check. First, you need to figure out why your business is not doing well. Are you doing the wrong things or are you doing things the wrong way? Then, it might not be a bad idea to join a relatively smaller company to recoup your losses. How about becoming an executive assistant to the CEO in a large company? This might allow you to see businesses in totality. And after a few years in the industry, you can either stay put or go back to running your own business.

I am a 26-year-old physics graduate, working as a documentation executive in a pharmaceutical company for the last three-and-a-half years. I also have a diploma in computer science from a leading private institute. However, my current salary falls way short of my work experience and this is forcing me to look for a different job. How should I go about it? I am willing to relocate anywhere, as long as the job pays me well.

First of all, get out of documentation-three-and-a-half-years is good enough. If you are interested in software, then join a software firm or a firm where software is the most important support function. If you want to remain in the pharma sector, you could always ask your firm to transfer you to the sales department, where your chances of growth would be quite bright. One more thing-you may also want to boost not only your educational qualifications but also your job prospects by doing a specialised course, like an MBA.

I am a 43-year-old chemical engineer and am quite proficient in computers. Although I like my job, the problem is that I can't work under anybody. Also, I want to make money big time. I want to be my own boss and, therefore, am seriously thinking of starting my own business or becoming a sales entrepreneur. What are the sectors where I could go into business and grow? Also, if I were to get into business, can I be involved in multiple businesses simultaneously?

Being your own boss is one of the biggest myths in business! You may not report to anyone and no one may do your appraisals but, honestly, when you are starting out, you will have to listen to not just your customers and lenders, but also your principals (if you get into an ancillary or distributorship business). As far as getting into multiple businesses goes, it is entirely up to you (read: your ability). You spoke about becoming a sales entrepreneur. In that case, you may want to look at distributorship businesses. Remember, not being able to work with anyone is not a badge of honour. It may come in the way of your professional life.

I am a 25-year-old mechanical engineer working in the marketing department of a company. I have one-and-a-half years of work experience. However, lately, I have been overcome by a feeling of dissatisfaction. I want to go abroad and have even got myself registered in various US, UK and Canadian sites. I have also applied for some positions, but, unfortunately, there have been no responses yet. What should I do to land a decent job abroad? I have done several software courses in designs like AutoCAD, Master CAM and Pro-E and 'am willing to do a job in product design.

To start with, why don't you apply to various recruiting agencies that specialise in designing software? They may offer leads for positions abroad as well. But don't get your hopes all up just yet. Recruitment for such jobs doesn't take place very often and with more and more such work being outsourced, especially to India, you may be better off looking at a BPO specialising in your area of interest. Recently, The New York Times had an article on how MBAs from the us want to come to India to gain experience. You may want to read that to realise that you are not on less fertile ground after all!

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

Non-IT Engineers In Demand
Manufacturing boom brings back traditional jobs.

Wanted: people! Even in steel plants like the one above

The last 12 months have seen salaries of middle and senior level non-it engineering surge by almost 20 per cent. "With the revival of the manufacturing and the infrastructure sector, demand for non-it engineers is likely to grow by around 17 per cent to 20 per cent over the next three to four years," says Hitesh Oberoi, coo, Naukri.com.

HR departments of companies such as L&T, Tata Steel, BHEL, ABB, Hindustan Constructions, Siemens, Hindalco, Punj Lloyd and rites are busy putting up recruitment ads that make you feel as if the age of industrial revolution is back. Demand for engineers from "non-sexy" disciplines such as metallurgy, instrumentation, civil, refractory, and mechanical is booming. Manufacturing industries are offering engineers with five to seven years of experience anything from Rs 5 to Rs 7 lakh in annual salaries. The more adventurous engineers can earn up to Rs 12 lakh a year at BPOs that offer engineering design services. hr consultants say that with the government liberalising labour laws, and the power and infrastructure sectors due for their next phase of investment, the boom in engineering will only get stronger.

-Kumarkaushalam

Virtual Classroom But Real MBA
Online MBA courses are now the rage.

Is this real or virtual? An XLRI class in progress

How about getting an MBA from a top b-school without quitting your job? And how about getting the same faculty that teaches on-campus students to teach you online? Actually, virtual management education is no more a matter of fantasy. Thanks to India's telecom and it revolution, such virtual classrooms are mushrooming across the country. Although it started off in a small way three years ago, when Xavier Labour Relations Institute (XLRI) tied up with Hughes DirecWay to offer a course in hr Management, virtual management learning has taken off in a big way. Mumbai-based Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies recently tied up with Hughes to offer a virtual general management programme, while XLRI joined hands with Reliance Web World to offer a course in logistics management. Even the Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) offer several short and long-duration programmes. At Rs 1.8 lakh or so for an eight- to 14-month programme, these courses are delivered over VSAT networks on a real-time basis. Neat, isn' it?

-Amanpreet Singh