Anjali Prayag
| The recruitment patterns of the voluntary sector have seen a perceptible change in its workforce profile, with more engineering and management graduates opting to work in this sector. Does this mean that voluntary work has changed into a pulsating profession with exciting growth possibilities, especially those that are technology-driven? What is the role of these professionals in this sector? |
It has happened in spurts in the past. It has happened elsewhere in the world. But the trend is now strengthening in India. If you follow the recruitment patterns of the voluntary sector in the country, you will see a perceptible change in its workforce profile. At least 0.3-0.5 per cent of the country's workforce is in this sector, and according to experts, there is significant increase in the number of engineering and management graduates opting to work for the not-for-profit organisations. This is apart from professional filmmakers, designers and mass communication graduates that constantly seek to satisfy their creative urges here.
Pradeep Mehta, Secretary General, CUTS, a Jaipur-based consumer awareness society, confirms that the hiring pattern has changed both qualitatively and quantitatively. He pins down this transformation to the increased flow of funds from donors to the voluntary sector and the Government and a stronger inclination of the Government to implement projects through NGOs. Therefore, the overall demand for people in this sector has gone up.
On the flip side, the scope of work of the voluntary sector has also enlarged to include more technical work, thus calling for absorption of technical graduates. But he also points to one niggling factor in the trend: Those NGOs that are in a position to afford competitive remuneration to MBAs do hire their services and it is also true that NGOs are hiring MBAs to inculcate professionalism as it exists in the corporate sector.
However, he questions the quality of these professionals. "Do MBAs from top business schools come to NGOs? In most cases, they have the degree, but not the same level of expertise." At the same time, another development is taking place simultaneously: senior managers, having an MBA degree from top business schools, leaving their corporate job and opting for voluntary work.
Mehta's doubts about top-class professionals opting for jobs in the social sector is answered by this year's summer placement preferences at the Indian Institutes of Management. About 20 students from the Institutes in Ahmedabad, Bangalore and Kolkata and the Indian Institute of Technology, Mumbai, have chosen to go for an internship at the National Kidney Foundation, an NGO based in Singapore.
Ganesh N. Prabhu, Associate Professor and Chairperson, Placements, IIM, Bangalore, says that the organisation has previously recruited students from top B schools in the US, and the reason they are looking at Asian students now is for the obvious `cultural match'.
In India, Prabhu says, in the past, organisations such as GreenPeace Foundation, ActionAid, Basix and Public Affairs Centre have approached the Institute for talent either for summer placement or lateral placements. For instance, CRY — which is in the field of consumer marketing — needs professionals with brand building skills and has recruited MBAs even in the early 1990s.
Joseph Thomas, Project Manager, Sustainable Access in Rural India (SARI), a project to bring Internet access to rural India using indigenous technologies, says this recruitment trend is nothing new. "They (NGOs) have been recruiting professionals and qualified people for quite some time now." Big business houses have promoted NGOs to work in different fields — science and technology, rural development, social development, energy, etc and they naturally look for qualified manpower. Moreover, funding agencies are more comfortable with NGOs that have qualified people with high calibre, he maintains.
So does this mean that voluntary work, which used to be a pastime for housewives with a philanthropic bent of mind has changed into a pulsating new profession with lot of exciting growth possibilities, especially those that are technology-driven? What is their job role in the voluntary sector?
The work is primarily managing the affairs including implementation of projects. Mehta says some also fit well with jobs in research areas, depending on their basic education and aptitude. Another emerging area is human resources management. Take the instance of the NKF, which is `not run like an NGO,' says Prabhu.
In other words, it is managed like an efficiently managed company with a lot of fund raising activities. NKF has the largest fund collecting outfits in this part of the world. And most of the funds are raised through TV shows and live events. "These MBAs are expected to put together pretty much the same media, communication and direct marketing plans," confirms Prabhu. NKF is also looking at final placements from IIM, Bangalore.
"And career growth is unlimited with distinct possibilities of such professionals rising to the very top depending on their application, commitment and diligence," assesses Mehta. Some professionals work for NGOs in the beginning of their career and then move onto the corporate sector, and vice versa.
This trend is expected to strengthen as many in the corporate sector are looking for people having NGO background as the meaning of public relations has changed considerably in recent times.
Thomas agrees, "A number of professionals are also on sabbaticals for pro bono work. Even medium-sized companies now want to have a hand in social development — it could be through an employees' association, helping charity, or starting a school, or hospital or an extension agency for farmers," says Thomas.
Balaji E., General Manager, Staffing Solutions, Ma Foi Management Consultants Ltd., a Chennai-based manpower consultancy says NGOs typically look for someone with counselling skills, someone with a psychology or personnel management degree or a masters in social welfare.
There are a few medical NGOs - that recruit doctors and nurses. He points out that most NGOs operate with a skeleton core group and a large base of part-time volunteers. "Ma Foi's London branch head, Mustafa is an XLRI graduate - who worked for some years with an NGO called Pradhan," he reveals.
Whether it is seen as a serious career option is still a grey area that needs to be explored both by NGOs and the job seekers.
Says Balaji, who has sat through sessions with candidates talking to them about jobs, careers, etc, "Working in an NGO is not seen as a serious career option yet. It does require people with a different flavour and temperament.
Although it involves sacrifices — you don't get corporate perks such as cars, housing etc — there is some attraction. He says there is value seen in working for social causes. Besides many foreign-funded NGOs (Ford Foundation) do pay fairly competitive remuneration — and there are other bonuses such as opportunity to go abroad, attend seminars/symposia, earn media recognition, etc.
However, Ashish Sen, Director, Voices, (a development communications organisation), is sceptical about the trend. He feels one should not read the trend in black and white. Instead, there are grey areas that could be useful pointers to the issue. "You should remember that many NGOs have burnt their fingers after hiring management graduates."
The reason for this is that there isn't a fit most of the times. A management graduate does not have his finger on the pulse that's throbbing in the voluntary sector. What works in the corporate sector may work here but with differences. The hard and fast rules of buy and sell do not gel here. The MBAs need to muddy their hands and are they prepared to do it is the question? Thomas looks at the other side of these personalities.
"People who join such organisations may not be ideologically committed to empowering weaker sections. The primary motivation is to use their skills. It is incidental that it involves helping disadvantaged groups of some kinds. But perhaps there is nothing wrong with that since you do have a lot of professionals available," who's himself an engineer from the Indian Institute of Technology, Chennai.
On the other hand, the scenario has changed considerably in the NGO sector with profit no longer being such a dirty word, as say, 10 years ago. Now sustainability is important. For this it's important to have the right personnel and perhaps management graduates could just fit into the jigsaw puzzle that had the `profit' space vacant and gaping.
"Of course, the marginalisation is closing and the polarisation is less pronounced," says Sen, explaining, "There's plenty room for these professionals and there are opportunities for give and take from both sides."
And we are also seeing the drying up of funds in the sector and realise we cannot depend on aid forever. Therefore, he says, a career in cause related marketing, is a very realistic option in the sector.
He, however points out that the foundation for this should be laid at the professional colleges itself. "The courses should be made part of the curriculum. They should be made to understand the supply-demand mechanisms of the social sector."
Though management courses at the IIMs do not boast of any special electives in voluntary work, they do some kind of orientation in one subject devoted to Indian society and spirituality.
Mehta of CUTS names some of the institutes that are actually training their students in the area: "As the scope of work of the voluntary sector has diversified, many professional schools offer special courses.
Institute of Rural Management, Anand (IRMA) has a number of such electives as also Indian Institute of Forest Management (IIFM) and the Indian Institute of Health Management Research (IIHMR,) Jaipur.
Does it require a different kind of mindset to opt for a career in the voluntary sector and how many young professionals actually possess this inclination?
Mehta states that the first and the most basic necessity is motivation, which often is the best compensation for the right person. "Inclination to do voluntary work is helpful as the work involves extensive fieldwork, travelling and communicating with a wide cross section of people from diverse backgrounds. Some young professionals have it in them but some others view it as a stepping stone for greener pastures."
Prabhu concurs: "This work requires a different kind of orientation which most of them have before they enter the Institute. Most of them have their career paths chalked out and come here for professional qualification."
Remuneration is one area that needs a lot of bolstering in the NGO sector, but there are some who have started giving "good salary to professionals, though not on par with corporate sector," says Mehta, adding, "Over the last decade, the voluntary sector in India has realised the meaning of the term: if you give peanuts, you will get monkeys. The remuneration is at par with the corporate sector as far as international donor agencies are concerned."
Thomas puts it this way, "Salary levels are not strictly comparable with what is available in the corporate sector but they come close enough to attract a certain kind of talent." For many NGOs, the Pay Commission recommendations are some sort of a guideline/baseline — especially because there are a number of government-funded projects also.
Is this a committed career option or like Mehta feels, do some of them see it as a stepping stone to success in other areas? Prabhu explains that only those committed to voluntary work would get into the sector. "If you are the sort who wants to move on to the corporate sector, this experience may be seen as a deterrent."
Thomas explains the situation, "Some have the commitment, they feel the responsibility and the idealism is there. Some retain it and continue. Others do get attractive offers or move on if they think they are stagnating and not getting what they want."
Perhaps Munira Sen, Executive Director, Madhyam, a Bangalore-based NGO, has a practical view on the issue, "This is an exciting trend. What perhaps would be ideal is a successful match between the outcome-driven approach of these professionals with the process driven approach of the NGOs."
For managing voluntary sector better
Peter Drucker has said that the growth sector in the 21st century will be the non-profit social sector, "where systematic, principled, theory-based management can yield the greatest results the fastest". The Mumbai-based Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies, realising that management training for employees in the social sector was growing at `an awfully slow pace', has taken a cue from this and conducted two certificate programmes and one diploma programme in the last three years. It is, perhaps, the only business school in the country to have a programme exclusively for the voluntary sector.
The Diploma in Management for Voluntary Service Organisations, a 25-week programme, is addressed to NGO middle-level executives, fresh graduates and executives from the corporate sector. Dr Naresh Singh, Associate Professor, Micro-Enterprise, Micro-Finance & NGO Management, NMIMS, says the main focus of the programme is to create a cadre of professionally trained managers for the voluntary sector who can launch and manage VSOs.
The faculty is chosen from management institutes, schools of social work, corporate sector and voluntary service organisations. Currently, the programme has 23 students being trained in the area.
With inputs from N.S. Vageesh in Chennai
