Its moon mission and the poor jobs market have ensured job-seekers are lining up - but wait till private jobs pick up.
Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) Chairman G Madhavan Nair is on top of the world these days, and Chandrayaan-I is just part of the reason. It’s after many years that Isro has received a flood of applications for a mere 300 openings in different categories.
The average number of applicants since Isro’s inception has never been even half of the 135,000 received this year. Of these, around 70,000 students qualified for the entrance examination held on April 26; of these, 46,000 actually took the test. This again was a high proportion compared to earlier years when over 70 per cent of the qualifying candidates never even appeared for the test as they either opted for private sector jobs or went abroad where salaries were at least five times more.
It was thus a huge problem for Isro to get the right candidates. Consider this: Isro now has a total staff strength of 13,000, which includes canteen staff and even drivers. Compared to this, the number of Americans working on a single shuttle is over 10,000.
Madhavan Nair attributes the renewed interest in a career with Isro to the successful launch of India’s first moon mission in October last year — an event which was witnessed by a whole generation of young minds.
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But the reality is that it’s just part of the reason that has contributed to the glamour value of Isro as a job destination. The bigger reason is the economic downturn and the fact that the private sector is now applying brakes on its recruitment plans.
That explains why public sector companies could recruit as many as 65 out of 267 students of IIM Lucknow in the just-concluded recruitment season. Last year, only two PSUs tried their luck and they returned empty-handed. At XLRI Jamshedpur, for example, over 10 per cent of students opted for PSU jobs this year.
There are many reasons for this: First, the relative stability of a PSU job is a top draw during uncertain times; second, the recession and the freeze on recruitments at many top-drawer financial companies have left students with few options; and third, the revision of salaries following the Sixth Pay Commission recommendations has meant that the cash component of the compensation package of the PSUs has become competitive. For example, while many private sector companies have withdrawn housing facilities due to the fringe benefit tax, PSUs still offer rent-free furnished accommodation even in places such as Mumbai.
But many people say these are just temporary attractions and the shift towards private sector jobs will start as soon as the economic tide turns. For, there is no way that organisations such as Isro can match the salaries provided by the private sector. The space agency, for example, offers an entry-level monthly salary of Rs 30,000 to candidates who have a first class BE/BTech or an equivalent degree with an aggregate minimum of 65 per cent. They are selected only after a stringent entrance test.
In times of crisis, this is a reasonable amount, but what happens when the private sector is back into the fray or the demand for talent from space agencies, observatories, universities, satellite communication companies and meteorological offices abroad revives again?
Isro, thankfully, already has the answer. The organisation normally recruits 350-400 engineers/technology graduates every year, but half of these will now be provided by the Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology (IIST), sponsored by Isro under the Department of Space.
IIST is the world’s first space university to offer undergraduate programmes and admission to the IIST is through the IIT-Joint Entrance Examination. The institute does not charge tuition or other fees and hostel accommodation is totally free of cost. Besides, the students are given Rs 3,000 every semester as book allowance. Those completing the course with a first class are absorbed by Isro.
The catch is they have to sign a Rs 10 lakh bond that they will work for Isro for five years. That’s the only way perhaps the country’s premier space research agency can ensure that it has its talent pipeline remains full even after the private sector and overseas jobs become attractive once again.
It’s a wise move. For, a recent Assocham study found that while B-School graduates from Tier II and III cities feel a PSU job is the best bet, nearly 90 per cent of their counterparts in the metros are still reluctant entrants into government/PSU jobs. For them, stability may be slippery in a private sector job, but salary and growth prospects are comparatively better and faster.
Chances are a vast majority of these candidates, who have taken up a government/PSU job, will leave as soon as the job market improves. A top Securities and Exchange Board of India official says he is happy that a few IIM students have opted for jobs with the regulator, but he is keeping his fingers crossed on how long they will stay. A State Bank of India executive says he has interacted with a number of people who have joined the bank from premier B-schools, and most of them say in private that they don’t see themselves in the bank beyond the three-year contract period.
ISRO has done its bit to meet the forthcoming challenge. Have you?