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Maximizing Human Resources

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VoicenData Bureau
New Update

A paradigm shift is bound to happen as multinationals in

telecom arena are planning to recruit students from the campuses.

The campus graduates should now pay more emphasis on creativity,

reflexibility, initiative, speed, quality, and communication

skills.

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Liberalization of Indian economy has attracted

a lot of multinational companies to set up their shops in India

and telecom is no exception. Almost all the major telecom players

in the world like Alcatel, British Telecom, Casio, Ericsson,

Hewlett Packard, Motorola, Nokia, Panasonic, Qualcomm, and

Siemens are directly or indirectly present in India through

liaison offices, joint ventures, and subsidiaries. MNCs who were

unable to make it earlier are now planning to enter India through

the existing telecom services and through new services like basic

telephony, satellite telephony, and Internet. The MNCs will help

in setting up the infrastructure, commissioning the

infrastructure, maintaining the infrastructure, and also in

providing excellent services to differentiate theirs from

competitors.

Seeing the enormous potentiality of the Indian

market, MNCs are planning to diversify their activities in

different geographical areas. Apart from this, the companies are

also planning to jump into new product areas for different market

segments with different market positionings. This diversification

strategy would result in the recruitment of sizeable number of

telecom professionals specializing in different areas.

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Most of the MNCs in India do not recruit

fresh graduates. They prefer experienced professionals in

the respective fields so that there is a zero lead time

in terms of implementation of projects as the

professionals do not require major training.

According to one guesstimate, MNCs are planning

to recruit around 1,000 employees in 1998. Qualcomm, the promoter

of CDMA world-wide, recruits around 200 professionals every week

from different parts of the world for its world-wide operations

which depicts the scale of operation that they perform.

Most of the MNCs in India do not recruit fresh

graduates. They prefer experienced professionals in the

respective fields so that there is a zero lead time in terms of

implementation of projects as the professionals do not require

major training. It also helps the corporates in consolidating

their positions in India quickly, thereby eliminating the risks

involved in appointing a fresher. But a couple of years down the

line, MNCs would recruit M-graduates and B-graduates from premier

institutes as there would be a greater demand for telecom

professionals in the country for running different services

effectively and efficiently.

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Regarding recruitment of students, according

Seema Grover Barooah, human resources manager, Nokia Pvt Ltd,

"Initially when we were in the start up phase and we did not

have the luxury of picking up students as it takes a time of one

to two years for completely transforming the new recruitees from

the student mode to working mode."

The recruitment methods are normally the same

for MNCs and Indian players, as they look for technical and

managerial competence in an individual but with minor additions

here and there. After the initial screening tests, MNCs look for

attributes like creativity, reflexibility, response time,

communication skills, and attitudes which reconfirm the

individuals capabilities and instill faith among the panel

members.

KC John of Qualcomm International feels that

one should pay more emphasis on creativity, initiative,

reflexibility, speed, and quality while making new recruitments.

According to John, reflexibility is flexibility in terms of

adapting to new technologies.

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Speed is one of the prime factors which helps

the companies to have a cutting edge in technology for new

emerging markets. An important aspect which can act as an

obstacle for the selection of the candidate is communication

skills. As MNCs have operations in different countries, one has

to communicate in different time zones and in different

geographical areas, the candidate should have excellent

communication skills.

Multinational companies recruit people to

perform Indian operations but in some cases they are sent

to perform the overseas assignments. After the completion

of the project, they join the Indian group.

Seema Grover Barooah of Nokia lays more stress

on psychometric test for recruiting people in her organization.

Psychometric test is a combination of analytical, logical, and

psychological qualities that an individual is said to possess.

For recruiting people in her organization, Nokia conducts PAPI

test developed by PA Consulting.

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Some of the other attributes which cannot be

neglected while recruiting people are ability to work in a team,

ability to work individually and independently, and level of

confidence in handling projects among others.

Once the professionals are inducted into an

organization, MNCs pay more emphasis in developing them by

providing the right kind of training. MNCs make significant

investments in training by knowing the development needs of each

profession and each person and then designing the training

program accordingly. Besides training on theoretical courses, the

company gives hands on experience in different technologies by

simulating different conditions at their development centres. For

instance, while Qualcomm pays more emphasis on CDMA technology

products and infrastructure, Nokia pays more stress on GSM-based

training on GSM test bed.

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A few years down the line, MNCs would recruit

M-graduates and B-graduates from premier institutes as

there would be a greater demand for telecom professionals

in the country for running different services effectively

and efficiently.

The training duration varies from six weeks to

three months depending upon the training need of the individual

and the job that they are handling. Lot of companies do conduct

short training as and when the need arises. As there is a high

degree of obsolence in telecom, MNCs motivate employees to learn

by devoting 5-10 percent of their time in training.

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For the first time in India, Nokia is planning

to train professionals for their developmental needs by

conducting tests, exercises, and simulation programmes. The

training centre is more of an experiential learning which helps

in building a cohesive team.

MNCs recruit people to perform Indian

operations but in some cases they are sent to perform the

overseas assignments. After the completion of the project, they

join the Indian group. In Nokia, the Global Field Engineering

group moves from country to country to complete the project. As

new projects are coming up in the developing countries with the

liberalization of telcom services, and especially where there is

a shortage of manpower in these markets.

KC John feels that they are not in body

shopping mode and manpower recruited for Indian operations would

be helpful in developing a sustainable team to cater to the

business needs of India.

Most of the MNCs are giving more importance to

transcendental meditation and yoga to release the tension of

people working in telecom where there is a high degree of stress

as people are always under the pressure to do something new. To

reduce tension, some of the corporates mingle fun with work and

spend lot of time together as a family in outdoor activities.

With high degree of job hopping seen in the

telecom sector, it has become a necessity for HR personnel to

provide learning opportunities to their employees so that there

is no stagnation and there is no frustration. To eliminate this,

learning opportunities are provided by MNCs to employees. This

acts as a catalyst in their growth and motivates them to stay in

the organization.

In future, MNCs are planning to recruit people

from educational institutes. Nokia is planning to recruit

students from Microwave Radio Institute, Delhi University very

soon. Multinationals are planning to take professionals from

major industry programs where companies would not act as a

parasite but would help in developing a synergic relationship

with selective institutes. 

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