How
Not to Lose Your Heart When You Lose Your Job
Corporate high flyers who have been grounded
by their companies are coping by reinventing themselves, as entrepreneurs or by
acquiring new skills
Sanjay
Mandavia's flying career has nosedived. The 39-year-old Mumbai-based pilot with
Kingfisher Airlines is off duty since March and has not received his salary for
six months now.
Sitting inside a life-size cockpit in a shed in an industrial complex in Gurgaon, Mandavia is now learning to fly all over again — albeit now in the virtual world. The captain with 17 years experience is partnering an international investor to seed a startup — Flywing Aviation — that will soon offer simulated flight training to pilots for the first time in India. “Earlier airlines sent their pilots overseas for such training. The facility now in India will help them save costs by up to 65%,” he says.
This shift from the real to the virtual world has not been easy for him. With a large family — two children, retired parents — and a home loan, life without a salary has been difficult. “I have not been at ease mentally for a long time,” says the Mumbai-based pilot. He sees mayhem all around. Not just Kingfisher, things are bad for the industry. Losses have mounted. Many of his colleagues are working without salaries. Some have been laid-off. Nobody is hiring. Worse, a pilot’s licence is dependent on his medical fitness. “That is something not totally in my control as I age,” says Mandavia.
Thankfully, his wife’s business income is keeping the family afloat even as Mandavia is working overnight to reboot his career as an entrepreneur.
Mandavia is not alone. And airline industry isn’t the only one. Bang in the middle of an economic slowdown, when cost cuts and pay freezes are becoming popular, some sectors are going through particularly trying times. The list is worrying:
The sizzling telecom industry is in a pause mode due to policy uncertainty. With 122 telecom licences cancelled by the Supreme Court, some 25,000-odd employees are likely to lose their jobs on this count alone. The banking sector is also going through a rough patch. Amid declining M&A deals, lower trading volumes in stock market, turmoil in insurance sector, brokerages and investment banks have already shed around 30% of their headcount in the past two years. Organised retailing — even as it consolidates — is in a wait-and-watch mode, pending the new FDI policy.
“We have had booms and busts in the past. But this downturn is unlike any that liberalised India has seen,” says R Suresh, MD, Stanton Chase International, an executive search firm.
Double Whammy
There are two important reasons why this downturn feels particularly difficult.
Broadly, India has had three big downturns in the past two decades. “But even during these downturns, there were always a few sunrise sectors that were growing, creating jobs and absorbing people,” says Suresh. Amid the dotcom boom in 2000, IT and ITeS, and later telecom became the sunrise sector creating many jobs. Around 2008-09, amid global slowdown, the infrastructure sector was doing
well, powered by roads, ports and power.
This is the first time that India Inc as a whole seems to have pressed the pause button when it comes to hiring. The scenario is replicated in companies across sectors ranging from media to IT and ITeS, hotels to power companies.
Some sectors such as telecom, aviation, and banking, financial services and insurance (BFSI) are going through trying times with consolidation, organisational overhaul, layoffs and bankruptcy. “Just think why people who haven’t got their salaries for six months [at Kingfisher Airlines] aren’t resigning and still working there. Simply because they have nowhere to go,” says K Sudarshan, co-founder, EMA Partners, an executive search firm.
The second reason why this downturn is problematic is employee expectation. Too many people had become complacent during the good times. At its peak, telecom companies lured people with promises of fat pay packets (15-20% higher salaries), bonuses and faster promotions. In the hope of the next gold rush, many flocked to sectors like organised retailing and private equity, only to be disappointed. “The initial party seems to be over now,” says Mohammad Chowdhury, leader (telecom), PwC India, a professional services firm.
Belt-tightening
There is near-panic situation in some of these sectors. According to Vikram Bhardwaj, president and CEO of headhunting firm Redileon Partners, there is a growing number of people wanting to move out of these sectors. “An overwhelming majority think that they are in the middle of a recession and want to get out of the sector,” he says. Desperate executives are spreading themselves wide and thin — within and outside their sectors and their cities — to explore new jobs. Prospective employers too are playing hardball. A Kingfisher employee says Indigo made him an offer at almost half his existing salary, knowing his desperation.
Eve r y b o dy seems to be biding their time, says the head of a business vertical at a D e l h i - b a s e d telecom company. “Our skyhigh salary, which once made us proud
has suddenly become a noose,” he says. At those levels, there are no jobs. And if you agree to a salary cut, some potential employers may think you have been laid-off and give you the cold shoulder. When there are no hikes & bonuses and layoffs becoming the norm, business takes a back seat. “How do you survive the storm is what everybody is worrying about,” he says. Many of his colleagues have swapped their annual expensive vacations with cheaper domestic holidays.
Things are even worse in the airline industry. Skills earned in this sector are often specialised and not easily fungible in other sectors. As a result, many executives feel stuck and at best can wait and watch for a turnaround or a change in the FDI policy. Pilots, who earned Rs 2-3 lakh salary a month, led flashy lives, owned fancy cars and had taken hefty loans to buy nice houses are the worst affected.
Says the chief financial officer of a major airline: “Everybody around is cutting back, even if their airline has not been affected.” He knows of people who have moved from Mumbai to Hyderabad to cut down on housing expenses. Some have changed their children’s school because they can no longer afford the steep fees. Some have sent their family to their home towns and lead stripped-down lives in cities, hoping for the industry to see a turnaround. And many are desperately looking how to leverage their experiences in other sectors. “Individual debts have piled up among executives over the past five-six years. This is increasing anxiety among many,” says Bhardwaj.
Making the Right Moves
But they are a few smart ones who read the tea leaves early. “The moment I saw profits dipping for the third quarter in a row I realised the best days of Airtel and the telecom sector overall was over,” says the HR head of a Delhi-based company who had earlier worked with Airtel. He moved far before the squeeze in the telecom sector. Some of his peers, he says, made the mistake of joining another telecom firm like Aircel or Uninor. “They are stuck now,” he says.
Kashyap Mansata, 30, an airline executive opted to explore other sectors. “I realised that the aviation industry has a structural problem so I decided to quit the sector,” he says. Specialising in revenue management, he recently joined a large hotel chain. “I positioned myself as a functional expert and not an industry expert. Revenue management is something that most sectors and companies need,” he says. Switching careers hasn’t bumped up his salary much, but he isn’t disheartened. “While I was looking for a job, my focus was industry-shift and stability, rather than money,” he says.
Many executives joke that the smartest strategy to deal with an unsure future is to have a spouse who is working, and ideally not in the same industry. “My friends joke that the smartest decision I have made in my life is not to marry somebody from the aviation industry,” Mansata laughs. His wife, a CA, works with a leading ac- counting firm, which he says gave tremendous comfort and stability to the family during the difficult days.
In such a bleak job market, it is the junior level (those with 6-7 years of experience or less) that has an advantage. These junior-level executives are not too deeply entrenched in a particular sector. Young, and hence cheaper, potential employers too do not mind taking risks with such cross-sector hires.
However, things become really challenging at the senior level. Some senior executives use this as an opportunity to branch out to personal projects. Sanjeev Asthana, 47, has 23 years of experience in companies from ITC to Cargill to RIL’s retail venture. In 2010, as organised retail was being consolidated, he decided to set up his startup iFarms. The firm helps entrepreneurs build profitable and socially responsible business in the agri-space.
Signposts Ahead
The biggest question that most executives grapple with is whom to reach out and what to tell. “Headhunters and recruitment firms should not be your first port of call. They should be your last resort,” says EMA’s Sudarshan. His rationale is simple — headhunters are client-focussed and focus on what their clients need; what a job-seeker is looking for is not so much on the radar. “We get so many resumes that we often don’t have the time to go through all of them,” he adds.
So what’s the option? Reach out to ex-colleagues, bosses, people with whom you have built relationships over the years. They are the ones who will make that extra effort to help you. And if you must reach out to an executive search firm, go through a reference to ensure that you get some attention from the headhunters. “And be candid. Only then will you get a fair advice,” says Rajeev Vasudeva, senior partner at executive search firm Egon Zehnder. It is important for executives to understand their strengths and experiences and market it well. For example those in B2B focussed companies have built great relationships that can easily be leveraged in other sectors.
Then choose your sectors well — focussing on those which are still growing. For example, FMCG has always been slow and steady in the job market. So is the manufacturing sector. Vasudeva also advises exploring new sectors such as education and the digital online space. These are emerging sectors and as such lack talent.
Suresh of Stanton & Chase says logistics, pharma, health care and wellness sectors are also good bets and have been witnessing steady growth. He says executives must shift focus from big brands to companies which have good cash flows and are healthy in these trying times. Almost all experts advise job-seekers not to be fixated on salaries and titles. “Many firms will lay thrust on sweat equity and variable pay, especially at the senior level. Be flexible,” says Suresh.
And finally, be nimble and willing to start again. In this volatile world, one’s ability to reboot frequently and successfully is a critical skill.
Sitting inside a life-size cockpit in a shed in an industrial complex in Gurgaon, Mandavia is now learning to fly all over again — albeit now in the virtual world. The captain with 17 years experience is partnering an international investor to seed a startup — Flywing Aviation — that will soon offer simulated flight training to pilots for the first time in India. “Earlier airlines sent their pilots overseas for such training. The facility now in India will help them save costs by up to 65%,” he says.
This shift from the real to the virtual world has not been easy for him. With a large family — two children, retired parents — and a home loan, life without a salary has been difficult. “I have not been at ease mentally for a long time,” says the Mumbai-based pilot. He sees mayhem all around. Not just Kingfisher, things are bad for the industry. Losses have mounted. Many of his colleagues are working without salaries. Some have been laid-off. Nobody is hiring. Worse, a pilot’s licence is dependent on his medical fitness. “That is something not totally in my control as I age,” says Mandavia.
Thankfully, his wife’s business income is keeping the family afloat even as Mandavia is working overnight to reboot his career as an entrepreneur.
Mandavia is not alone. And airline industry isn’t the only one. Bang in the middle of an economic slowdown, when cost cuts and pay freezes are becoming popular, some sectors are going through particularly trying times. The list is worrying:
The sizzling telecom industry is in a pause mode due to policy uncertainty. With 122 telecom licences cancelled by the Supreme Court, some 25,000-odd employees are likely to lose their jobs on this count alone. The banking sector is also going through a rough patch. Amid declining M&A deals, lower trading volumes in stock market, turmoil in insurance sector, brokerages and investment banks have already shed around 30% of their headcount in the past two years. Organised retailing — even as it consolidates — is in a wait-and-watch mode, pending the new FDI policy.
“We have had booms and busts in the past. But this downturn is unlike any that liberalised India has seen,” says R Suresh, MD, Stanton Chase International, an executive search firm.
Double Whammy
There are two important reasons why this downturn feels particularly difficult.
Broadly, India has had three big downturns in the past two decades. “But even during these downturns, there were always a few sunrise sectors that were growing, creating jobs and absorbing people,” says Suresh. Amid the dotcom boom in 2000, IT and ITeS, and later telecom became the sunrise sector creating many jobs. Around 2008-09, amid global slowdown, the infrastructure sector was doing
well, powered by roads, ports and power.
This is the first time that India Inc as a whole seems to have pressed the pause button when it comes to hiring. The scenario is replicated in companies across sectors ranging from media to IT and ITeS, hotels to power companies.
Some sectors such as telecom, aviation, and banking, financial services and insurance (BFSI) are going through trying times with consolidation, organisational overhaul, layoffs and bankruptcy. “Just think why people who haven’t got their salaries for six months [at Kingfisher Airlines] aren’t resigning and still working there. Simply because they have nowhere to go,” says K Sudarshan, co-founder, EMA Partners, an executive search firm.
The second reason why this downturn is problematic is employee expectation. Too many people had become complacent during the good times. At its peak, telecom companies lured people with promises of fat pay packets (15-20% higher salaries), bonuses and faster promotions. In the hope of the next gold rush, many flocked to sectors like organised retailing and private equity, only to be disappointed. “The initial party seems to be over now,” says Mohammad Chowdhury, leader (telecom), PwC India, a professional services firm.
Belt-tightening
There is near-panic situation in some of these sectors. According to Vikram Bhardwaj, president and CEO of headhunting firm Redileon Partners, there is a growing number of people wanting to move out of these sectors. “An overwhelming majority think that they are in the middle of a recession and want to get out of the sector,” he says. Desperate executives are spreading themselves wide and thin — within and outside their sectors and their cities — to explore new jobs. Prospective employers too are playing hardball. A Kingfisher employee says Indigo made him an offer at almost half his existing salary, knowing his desperation.
Eve r y b o dy seems to be biding their time, says the head of a business vertical at a D e l h i - b a s e d telecom company. “Our skyhigh salary, which once made us proud
has suddenly become a noose,” he says. At those levels, there are no jobs. And if you agree to a salary cut, some potential employers may think you have been laid-off and give you the cold shoulder. When there are no hikes & bonuses and layoffs becoming the norm, business takes a back seat. “How do you survive the storm is what everybody is worrying about,” he says. Many of his colleagues have swapped their annual expensive vacations with cheaper domestic holidays.
Things are even worse in the airline industry. Skills earned in this sector are often specialised and not easily fungible in other sectors. As a result, many executives feel stuck and at best can wait and watch for a turnaround or a change in the FDI policy. Pilots, who earned Rs 2-3 lakh salary a month, led flashy lives, owned fancy cars and had taken hefty loans to buy nice houses are the worst affected.
Says the chief financial officer of a major airline: “Everybody around is cutting back, even if their airline has not been affected.” He knows of people who have moved from Mumbai to Hyderabad to cut down on housing expenses. Some have changed their children’s school because they can no longer afford the steep fees. Some have sent their family to their home towns and lead stripped-down lives in cities, hoping for the industry to see a turnaround. And many are desperately looking how to leverage their experiences in other sectors. “Individual debts have piled up among executives over the past five-six years. This is increasing anxiety among many,” says Bhardwaj.
Making the Right Moves
But they are a few smart ones who read the tea leaves early. “The moment I saw profits dipping for the third quarter in a row I realised the best days of Airtel and the telecom sector overall was over,” says the HR head of a Delhi-based company who had earlier worked with Airtel. He moved far before the squeeze in the telecom sector. Some of his peers, he says, made the mistake of joining another telecom firm like Aircel or Uninor. “They are stuck now,” he says.
Kashyap Mansata, 30, an airline executive opted to explore other sectors. “I realised that the aviation industry has a structural problem so I decided to quit the sector,” he says. Specialising in revenue management, he recently joined a large hotel chain. “I positioned myself as a functional expert and not an industry expert. Revenue management is something that most sectors and companies need,” he says. Switching careers hasn’t bumped up his salary much, but he isn’t disheartened. “While I was looking for a job, my focus was industry-shift and stability, rather than money,” he says.
Many executives joke that the smartest strategy to deal with an unsure future is to have a spouse who is working, and ideally not in the same industry. “My friends joke that the smartest decision I have made in my life is not to marry somebody from the aviation industry,” Mansata laughs. His wife, a CA, works with a leading ac- counting firm, which he says gave tremendous comfort and stability to the family during the difficult days.
In such a bleak job market, it is the junior level (those with 6-7 years of experience or less) that has an advantage. These junior-level executives are not too deeply entrenched in a particular sector. Young, and hence cheaper, potential employers too do not mind taking risks with such cross-sector hires.
However, things become really challenging at the senior level. Some senior executives use this as an opportunity to branch out to personal projects. Sanjeev Asthana, 47, has 23 years of experience in companies from ITC to Cargill to RIL’s retail venture. In 2010, as organised retail was being consolidated, he decided to set up his startup iFarms. The firm helps entrepreneurs build profitable and socially responsible business in the agri-space.
Signposts Ahead
The biggest question that most executives grapple with is whom to reach out and what to tell. “Headhunters and recruitment firms should not be your first port of call. They should be your last resort,” says EMA’s Sudarshan. His rationale is simple — headhunters are client-focussed and focus on what their clients need; what a job-seeker is looking for is not so much on the radar. “We get so many resumes that we often don’t have the time to go through all of them,” he adds.
So what’s the option? Reach out to ex-colleagues, bosses, people with whom you have built relationships over the years. They are the ones who will make that extra effort to help you. And if you must reach out to an executive search firm, go through a reference to ensure that you get some attention from the headhunters. “And be candid. Only then will you get a fair advice,” says Rajeev Vasudeva, senior partner at executive search firm Egon Zehnder. It is important for executives to understand their strengths and experiences and market it well. For example those in B2B focussed companies have built great relationships that can easily be leveraged in other sectors.
Then choose your sectors well — focussing on those which are still growing. For example, FMCG has always been slow and steady in the job market. So is the manufacturing sector. Vasudeva also advises exploring new sectors such as education and the digital online space. These are emerging sectors and as such lack talent.
Suresh of Stanton & Chase says logistics, pharma, health care and wellness sectors are also good bets and have been witnessing steady growth. He says executives must shift focus from big brands to companies which have good cash flows and are healthy in these trying times. Almost all experts advise job-seekers not to be fixated on salaries and titles. “Many firms will lay thrust on sweat equity and variable pay, especially at the senior level. Be flexible,” says Suresh.
And finally, be nimble and willing to start again. In this volatile world, one’s ability to reboot frequently and successfully is a critical skill.
::
Malini Goyal SETM120826
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