Vinod Tete/Global Practices Director/ HCL Comnet 1994-2000: Senior Manager (Sales), Maruti Udyog 2000: Joined HCL Comnet as General Manager (Sales)

Help, Tarun!

Wanted: Fitness Freaks

Should you stay or should you move on? New age conventional wisdom says job hopping is the path to faster career growth. But, there are several people who have remained loyal to their employers and received ample reward in terms of career growth, financial compensation and professional satisfaction as well. "The trend of switching jobs every three to five years has been acknowledged and accepted by corporate India," says Venkat Shastry, Partner, Stanton Chase International, a leading executive search firm.

As people gravitate towards fast-growing industries such as retail, it and civil aviation, lifelong or even decade-long commitments to a single employer is expected to decrease, argues G. Shankar, who recently moved from his previous job as CEO of Lifestyle Retail to head the footwear vertical at Reliance Retail. "I've always wanted to be in the fast-growing retail market. After handling the sourcing business for the UK-based Tesco and following a delay in its retailing plans, I decided to switch to Lifestyle," Shankar says. Then, he decided to jump ship again, this time as head of Reliance Retail's footwear division. "I was in the sourcing business for five years and then got a great opportunity to switch careers with Lifestyle and then Reliance... these are the kind of chances people will increasingly take in a booming market," he contends.

Sumeet Sood/ VP (Finance)/ Amar Ujala 1992-95: Regional Audit Head, AFL 1995-2001: Sr. Consultant, Arthur Andersen 2001-06: GM (Finance & Audit), HT Media 2006: Joined Amar Ujala as VP (Finance) & Chief Financial Officer	Naresh Gupta Senior VP/ Adobe India 1992-94: Principal Scientist and Director, Applied Artificial Intelligence (AI) Group, LNK Corp. 1994: Joined Adobe India as Computer Scientist and worked his way to the top

"A lot of people make the mistake of looking at a potential job from the point of view of what it is today rather than what it will do to their careers in the long term. You need to ask yourself: what will a new job add to my career and where will that lead me?" says Ronesh Puri, Managing Director of search firm Executive Access.

K.K. Maheshwari, Director, Aditya Birla Management Corporation, Wholetime Director, Aditya Birla Nuvo, and Head of the group's global chemicals and trading businesses, has been with the AVB Group for more than 20 years. He joined the group in 1985 as Vice President (Finance) and has grown with it. "That was the time (1985) when the group began centralising its finances. I was fortunate to get the opportunity to head that function. That gave me my first exposure to senior management and the outside world. Thereafter, I was transferred to Thailand to manage the group's chemicals business there. Then, last year, I was moved to the group's global (overseas) chemicals business. And this year, I was asked to head global trading. Obviously, when a person gets opportunities to prove himself and is given recognition for good work, he grows in confidence," says Maheshwari.

What's his take on job hopping? "The key to career progression is learning, which always happens over a period of time. If you do not give yourself a 'realistic' time frame in which that learning can take place, you may not be doing justice to your career and your employer," he says. Adds Sandeep Bidani, Director (hr), Colt Technology Services, a captive BPO of European telecom company colt Telecom: "The phenomenon of job hopping is rooted in the obsession with vertical career movement. But a satisfying stay in a single organisation is often based on lateral movements encompassing a variety of roles."

K.K. Maheshwari/ Director/ Aditya Birla Management Corporation 1977: Joined Zenith Industries (an Ashok Birla group steel pipes and chemicals company) as Project Officer and left as Project Manager 1981: Joined Blow Plast as Manager (Finance) and left as GM (Finance) 1985: Joined Indian Rayon (now Aditya Birla Nuvo) as VP (Finance) and gradually rose to the top

Naresh Chand Gupta is another stayer who has belied the belief that changing jobs is the only way to the top. He has been with software product vendor Adobe for the last 12 years, and has turned down several lucrative offers on the way. Gupta says forsaking offers from other companies was worth it since he got to anchor the establishment of Adobe India's R&D centre in 1997 and saw it evolve into one of the company's largest facilities globally. "Long stints within a company give you the chance to work across multiple locations and give you the space to experiment with multiple business lines," says N.S. Bala, Senior VP (Manufacturing Solutions), Wipro Technologies. "In the 16 years I have been with Wipro, I have had the opportunity of working in multiple businesses and in multiple locations from Coimbatore to Chennai to Bangalore to Dallas to New York."

Pankaj Bhargava, Chief of hr, Marico, who joined the company 15 years ago and worked his way to his current position, agrees. "Moving jobs gives people multiple perspectives; but if you want to build an organisation, you have to stay with it through its ups and downs," he says.

Sanjeev Keskar, Country Sales Manager for Freescale Software, had worked in National Semiconductor (five years) and AMD (five years) before taking up his present job in 2005. "You need at least six to eight months to get the feel of a company's culture. And one can make a contribution only after that," he says.

Sumeet Sood, VP (Finance), Amar Ujala, has changed four jobs since beginning his career with AFL, a privately held logistics company, 14 years ago. He has also had stints with Arthur Andersen and ht Media. "I look for a larger role for myself when considering job switches. I believe it's important for a person to spend sufficient time in an organisation; this allows him to stretch his learning curve to the optimum and then deliver what he promised to his employer," he says.

Pankaj Bhargava Chief of Human Resources/ Marico 1991: Joined Marico straight from the campus and climbed up the ladder to his current position	N.S. Bala/Senior VP (Manufacturing Solutions)/ Wipro Technologies 1989: Graduated from IIM, Kolkata, and joined Wipro as Software Support Executive straight from campus He has held several important positions in the company and climbed steadily to his current position

Vinod Tete, Global Practices Director, HCL Comnet, made his way up the corporate ladder by moving from a large company (Maruti Udyog) to a small one. "Moving from a big brand automobile company to a small, relatively unknown it infrastructure services company six years ago was a big gamble," he says. But it paid off; as HCL Comnet scaled up from being a 500 person company to a 3,800 person one over, he saw his designation change from Manager (Sales) to Global Practices Director. "You can grow fast by moving from a big company to a smaller one-that's when you get a bigger role-and then moving back to a big company. So, it is sometimes imperative to switch jobs to give your career some momentum," he says.

Adds Girish V. Rao, VP (Sales and Marketing), LG Electronics India, who began his career with Blow Plast, then spent 20 years with BPL, before joining his current job three years ago: "When changing jobs, it is always important to consider what value the new assignment can add to your resume. International postings and larger responsibilities pose challenges, but also bring satisfaction. Higher compensation is a natural outcome of such progression."

There is, therefore, no set route for achieving professional success. There are examples both of people who stayed with one company and rose to the top as well as of people who switched jobs and made it. Equally, there are people who did these things and did not succeed. The choice really depends on the individual and his/her unique circumstances.

COUNSELLING
Help, Tarun!

Q: I am an MBA (Finance) with three years of experience in the recruitment field with institutes and consultancies. I wish to join an MNC, but they prefer an HR specialisation. Will a diploma in HR management suffice or should I pursue a computer/IT degree to gain entry into an MNC?

First you need to figure out what discipline or specialisation interests you and is the best fit for your skills. Given that you have an MBA, not all companies will hold the lack of specialisation against you. It will be a good idea to do a computer-related course if you want to be in it. IT and finance have always been a good combination.

Q: I am a 29-year-old marketing professional working for the past three years with an auto MNC. I joined this place soon after completing my MBA in marketing and finance from a reputed institute. I want to pursue chartered accountancy now. Please advise.

You have to decide whether you want to pursue marketing or finance. Try and get a transfer to the finance department to get a feel of the job. Chartered accountancy and an MBA are a good combination for a finance professional. However, since you have not done articleship, you might have to give up your job to do so.

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..

Wanted: Fitness Freaks
Gyms, spas and corporate offices are all hiring physical trainers.

Kamlesh Futnani (certified Reebok instructor) gets up at 6 a.m. every morning to teach aerobics to his batch of 20 at the Russian Culture Centre. This translates into a monthly income of Rs 45,000-50,000. India's young, and health conscious, working population is throwing open a new career option for "fitness freaks".

There is a demand for trainers not just in fitness centres, gyms, hotels, spas but also in offices. "Many corporate houses and advertising agencies have well-equipped gyms and employ fitness trainers who advise on how to stay fit," says Nisha Verma, Master Aerobic Trainer with Reebok for the north zone. Brands matter here, too. Reebok is the only sports and apparel company to train personal and general instructors in India. Home grown brands like Talwalkars and Growth For Fitness Instructors also have courses for people who want to take this up as a career option.

-Pallavi Srivastava

FACT FILE

WHO'S HIRING Gyms, hotels, resorts, spas, companies, schools, colleges, clubs WHO'RE THEY HIRING Trained physical instructors TRAINING INSTITUTES Reebok, Talwalkars and Growth For Fitness Instructors COURSE DURATION Three months COURSE FEES Rs 12,000-25,000 SALARIES Rs 20,000-50,000 per month