Raja Simhan T.E.

"Students aspiring for jobs in trans-national manufacturing brands should actively pursue their English skills by taking up specific coaching programmes."

Chennai , Nov. 14

"CHENNAI wakes up to hi-tech electronics," says a Nokia advertisement calling for young people to work at its manufacturing facility to come up in Sriperumbudur near Chennai. The Rs 650-crore investment will create about 2,000 jobs.

Similarly, Flextronics, a global electronics manufacturing services provider, investing Rs 350-450 crore in the same area will create another 2,000 jobs in the first 18 months of starting work on the plant.

And, according to the Union Minister of Information Technology, Mr Dayanidhi Maran, more telecom giants are likely to come to Chennai.

Are there enough people in the market to meet the requirement of these giants? Yes. But, the issue is availability of talent with English speaking capabilities and expertise in niche skills, say officials of recruitment agencies.

According to Mr E. Balaji of Ma Foi Management Consultants Ltd, a recruitment company, fresh graduates have the technical competency and can be trained before they are deployed.

The limitation is in their ability to communicate in English. Most of these multinationals have expatriates as senior business leaders. Also, middle level managerial staff can be from other States. They would frequent shop floors and interact with members at all levels, he said.

The ability to speak and understand English language is critical for all roles. This is an area of concern among the fresh talent pool in Tamil Nadu. "Students aspiring for jobs in trans-national manufacturing brands should actively pursue their English skills by taking up specific coaching programmes," he said.

Nokia advertised for diagnostics technicians, SMT (surface mount technology) technicians and final assembly/packing area technicians and test technicians.

Fresh graduates or those with a few years of experience are available in the required numbers. However, these multinationals look for niche skills not common in Indian industry, says Mr Balaji.

For example, SMT will involve extensive robotics with limited human interface. Such machines take a printed circuit board at one end and bring out a handset at the other in a couple of minutes. There are few Indian manufacturers using such technology. While there are enough people with the required qualification, exposure to SMT is rare to find, he said.

There is now good potential for diploma engineers to work with some of these multinationals. Around 700 jobs are available for diploma engineers (electronics, communications or electrical), and the requirement could grow at 20 per cent, annually. The salary ranges between Rs 1 lakh and 1.5 lakh a year for diploma engineers, said Mr Balaji.

According to Ms Saundarya Rajesh, CEO, AVTAR Career Creators, a placement agency, there are around 250 polytechnics in Tamil Nadu churning out 55,000 diploma holders every year.

However, the candidates would require training in soft skills and communication skills. In a majority of institutions located in sub-urban or even heartland Tamil Nadu, the quality of English is very poor, she said.

Whether these diploma holders would choose a technical career as compared to selling/ ITES (information technology-enabled services) is not evident. Quite a few experienced diploma holders, especially in upstream oil businesses, get highly remunerative jobs overseas.

For instance, automobile technicians in West Asia earn between Rs 15,000 and Rs 60,000 a month, she said.

Diploma holders at entry level can attract salaries ranging between Rs 1,500 and Rs 4,500. With experience, their salaries can go up to Rs 10,000. Some of them with good communication/selling skills also choose a career in sales.

About 40 per cent of diploma holders do go the sales route since the salaries would be better than in technical jobs.

Nowadays, diploma holders who possess a few years work experience have also moved up the communication skills grid and obtain positions in ITES companies as well, she said.

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