The turmoil in India’s telecom industry following the Supreme Court cancelling 122 licences, has put employees in this erstwhile sunrise sector in a rather awkward situation. Consider this: Mahesh Gurunath, a senior telecom executive from Bangalore, was shocked when he was asked to change his job profile from marketing to products. “I have been in marketing for nine years. All that experience has vanished,” he says.
Debayan Roy Mukherjee, another young executive of a telecom company, had worked his heart out for six months to install a network in Pune. But his company’s operations were hit following the Supreme Court verdict, leaving Mukherjee heartbroken. “After spending all my time and energy on a such a crucial project, my efforts have become useless. That is when I decided to quit the company,” he said.
There are hundreds more like Gurunath and Mukherjee, who are forced to look for greener pastures. Head-hunters say they are flooded with curriculum vitae of telecom sector employees looking to change their jobs - some even the sector. “There has been a 12-15 per cent rise in the number of telecom CVs coming to us. This is purely because of regulatory issues,” said E Balaji, managing director (MD) and chief executive officer (CEO), Ma Foi Randstad.
Some telecom operators whose licences have been cancelled, have chosen to end their services as well, causing more exits from the system. The decision by Etisalat DB to cease operations affected close to 2,000 of its employees. STel and Loop too, have decided to exit operations, causing job losses to a few hundred more. Currently employed executives too, are eyeing greener pastures Needless to say, attrition in the sector is on a sharp upward trajectory.
“Each industry goes through its cycle for reasons beyond their control. The situation in the telecom market is slightly grim post the SC judgment, failure of Trai (Telecom Regulatory Authority of India) to manage the situation and, of course, the uncertainty of a couple of operators who announced recently of a pull-out from India,” said Ashish Arora, MD, HR Anexi.
Telecom executives with technical experience are heading to the IT and ITeS sectors, while those from sales and marketing are heading towards FMCG and retail sectors.
“Those from sales and marketing are going into product sales companies,” said Sangeeta Lala, vice president of TeamLease.
Experts say the trend is particularly visible among employees at the mid-management level, who seek stability in their career. Top level executives are equally wary, pointed out another industry insider “I know of vice-president-level executives taking their CVs around. It is distressing, but look at his point of view, their careers would be destroyed if the company shuts down,” said the source.
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Topping the agenda for quitting the sector is longevity of career. Lala said such cases have increased by 30 per cent in the telecom sector. “We have seen cases at the mid-management level where people quit as a project or an installation which they worked for, could not be operationalised," she informed. This trend, headhunters say, could continue until stability returns to the sector.
Alok Shende, principal analyst and co-founder of Ascentius Consulting said attrition has been a way of life in the sector since 2008. “The growth in telecom, which we saw earlier, has not been consistent,” he said. The enterprise telecom business has been doing well and if new technologies like WiMax becomes a success, it could change the trend, Shende pointed out.
“Those from sales and marketing are going into product sales companies,” said Sangeeta Lala, vice president of TeamLease.
Experts say the trend is particularly visible among employees at the mid-management level, who seek stability in their career. Top level executives are equally wary, pointed out another industry insider “I know of vice-president-level executives taking their CVs around. It is distressing, but look at his point of view, their careers would be destroyed if the company shuts down,” said the source.
Topping the agenda for quitting the sector is longevity of career. Lala said such cases have increased by 30 per cent in the telecom sector. “We have seen cases at the mid-management level where people quit as a project or an installation which they worked for, could not be operationalised," she informed. This trend, headhunters say, could continue until stability returns to the sector.
Alok Shende, principal analyst and co-founder of Ascentius Consulting said attrition has been a way of life in the sector since 2008. “The growth in telecom, which we saw earlier, has not been consistent,” he said. The enterprise telecom business has been doing well and if new technologies like WiMax becomes a success, it could change the trend, Shende pointed out.