Ten years later, what is the reality? Has the average Indian professional employee achieved any of these or is he still searching?

We recently undertook a research project to understand this reality through the eyes of business leaders and senior HR professionals. We also analysed the career profiles of 500 professionals covering the five professions of manufacturing, marketing, information technology, human resources and finance spread across four work-experience groups (5-8 years, 9-12, 13-16, 17-20) to understand the emerging trends. The following equations emerge:

50:50

Our research reveals that employers today give their staffing decisions only a 50 per cent chance of succeeding. They believe that out of every 10 people they hire, only 5 will actually meet their expectations and survive. The other will either leave or be asked to. The ability for anyone to succeed in a new job is becoming more and more difficult, capabilities notwithstanding.

100 days only

Most organisations seem to grant not more than 100 days to their new entrants to settle down, get integrated and prove their worth and validate the decision to hire them. In 100 days the organisation is ready to take a call!

12-18 month wait

Most employees start applying for or exploring new opportunities within 12 to 18 months of taking up a new job. Twelve to 18 months is all they give any employer. After that, they re-enter the job-market.

The earlier generation of professionals on average would have worked in one organisation all their lives. Today's professional with about 17-20 years experience is likely to see about five jobs in his work life, with an average tenure of about 60 months in each job and that will be seen as respectable.

However, his counterpart with about 5-8 years experience today has already seen at least three jobs with an average tenure of about 30 months. In his lifetime therefore, he is certainly likely to see at least 10 jobs and it would still be considered respectable!

Our research shows that as people shift jobs, they stay for shorter tenures. For instance, while the average tenure for the first job was about 44 months, it dropped to about 29 months in the fifth job. However, five jobs seem to be the threshold today! In the sixth and seventh jobs, the tenure goes up again to about 31 months, since it is seen as against good practice to keep changing jobs.

There is now a growing sense of mutual distrust between employees and employers. While in earlier days, employees wanted shorter notice periods and employers wanted longer ones, this has now reversed. In the last two seasons, campus jobs have started crumbling. There is panic and disappointment among the students, the college administrators and parents. There are few offers going and there are also rumours of offers made being withdrawn. An educational degree is no longer a guarantee for a job. Where do we go from here?

The bottom line is not rosy — there has been a net reduction in employment over the years, employment tenures have fallen drastically and pay levels have tapered off. This is the way the 10-year story ends.

The emerging work environment

What are the factors that have contributed to this scenario? What are the reasons? I can see five important changes in the work environment that have contributed to this.. The biggest reason for what we have seen over the years is the uncertainty that surrounds business. While there are many new businesses emerging, it is hard to say which ones will succeed and which ones won't. Since people are a significant element of the business plan and the cost, the stakes are very high for employees today than ever before.

If you look back at the wave of new business initiatives in India over the last decade including financial services, banking, information technology, telecommunication, media & entertainment, retail, IT enabled services, dotcoms, insurance, BPO, biotechnology and so on you will find enough examples. This uncertainty fuels attrition — voluntary and involuntary. Those who are hired may not succeed, the businesses for which they have been hired may not succeed or their jobs may just become redundant.

Irrational pay levels

India compensation is not any longer significantly below international levels. On the other hand, our productivity levels are significantly below international benchmarks for a variety of reasons. This does not well for any business whose payroll cost is a large part of its total operating expense. Organisations having to hire talent, end up having to pay significant premiums grudgingly since they had to hire at all costs. Like the police force is increased after the crime, existing organisations also overreacted to start-up hiring by increasing salaries of their employees as well. Left with a bitter after taste, most organisations are no longer willing to ignore any performance lapses.

Looser jobs and tighter skills

Another significant change is in the way job definitions and skill definitions have changed. Today's knowledge and service businesses are calling for very specific skills from their employees. Since organisations want their employees to `hit the ground running' and do not see themselves having the luxury of training for skills they are looking for very specific skills. On the contrary, they also want employees to be comfortable with a loose job definition and be prepared to take on additions and changes along the way. It is for this reason that they look for `learnability' among employees.

Meritocracy and greed

A welcome change that we have seen in the last decade is the emergence of `meritocracy' as a strong value. The need for talent is so high that merit is the only yardstick - not who you are and what your lineage is. Financial goals and business results have begun to strongly dominate performance review discussions and that is a good change. Not all employees have got used to this change and hence the pressure and the stress.

While meritocracy is a good change, greed is not. We see at least one major scandal or scam breaking out every month. People and brands with high visibility fall in grace in minutes because somewhere someone succumbed to greed. Unfortunately that number only seems to be increasing. Greed leads people not only to be dishonest but also act in poor judgment. They take on roles for which they do not have the competence or fall for jobs with a short-term orientation and end up ultimately as losers. To make matters worse, the two major sources of good values — our homes and our schools are also unfortunately encouraging the pursuit of greed.

The way forward

In recent years it has been very hard for me to find a convincing response to any young person seeking my counsel on planning his or her career. The above environmental changes notwithstanding, what is the way forward, I have always wondered.

The following ideas are worth considering.

On the other hand, if the economic situation at home is comfortable and the student has time before becoming financially independent, then the student can think of exploring what he or she likes and invest in a bit of experimentation.

The personal and family context has a major role in making career choices and cannot be ignored. This does not of course include the dreams that parents have dreamt for their children and how badly they want them to live up to it.

Your career anchor

While there is a commonly held belief that a series of tests can help you discover what you like and what you have aptitude for, there is a body of knowledge that says that career anchors takes time to discover. Edgar Schein who coined this phrase in his book Career Dynamics, describes a `Career Anchor' as a pattern of self-perceived talents, motives and values that serve to guide, constrain, stabilize and integrate a person's career. The bottom line is this — you will need to spend a few years at work to discover what your career anchor is and what excites you. However, you need to be alive to this process of discovery and awakening so to speak.

It is for this purpose that there is increasing emphasis on at least two to three years of work experience prior to choosing to pursue further studies. This invaluable period of experience serves to help one discover what one likes to do. The job may be small, could be part -time and may not pay well, but the experience is critical. Remember the 1/3rd rule

We have for long believed that a good educational qualification is all you need to succeed in your career. Experience proves to the contrary. Brilliant students quite often do not get jobs on Day 1. Competent professionals fail miserably in work settings. Average students grow to very senior positions in organisations. How come? I call it the 1/3rd rule. 1/3rd of your success depends on your knowledge and technical capabilities. 1/3rd only. You must certainly know the fundamentals of what you study and know it well, but that is not good enough. 1/3rd of your success depends on your personal effectiveness and the way you manage yourself. You communication, your self-worth, your assertiveness, your persuasiveness, you ability to manage your emotions, your ability to transact with others deal with conflicts and be effective in a team and so on.

The new career equations are indeed more and more challenging. But there are solutions at hand and well within your reach. What is required is our willingness to dump our traditional notions about careers and be willing to explore new approaches.

The author is Founder and CEO, Totus Consulting, Chennai.

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