The next hot jobs
Job seekers in India are on a roll across major sectors. And sometimes, every once in a while, a new flavour of the season emerges. The trick is to stay ahead of the curve and spot that hot job opportunity. Here are 10 jobs that will be in demand this year. We tell you why these jobs are in demand, the prospects (how much you can expect to make) and the growth path ahead.
1. Diversity & inclusion manager
 Tracy A. Curtis | Diversity & inclusion manager Tracy Ann Curtis Chief Inclusion & Diversity Officer (Asia Pacific), Cisco Skill-set: Masters in Organisational Development, talent assessment skills |
“This role is all about developing our leadership capability and keeping in mind the fact that our diversity of perspectives and talent will enhance our organisational creativity and innovation,” says Tracy Ann Curtis, Chief Inclusion & Diversity Officer (Asia Pacific), Cisco. She travels to Cisco offices across the Asia Pacific region and works with the local leadership teams to identify areas that get in the way of embracing diversity.
Who’s hiring: Dell, Cisco, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Henkel, Sasken, Reliance, Accenture, and a host of other companies that are charting out global expansion.
Who’re they hiring: MBAs in HR or Operations with 10-15 years of experience.
Salary: Starts at Rs 12 lakh p.a.
2. Aviation planning manager
 Kiran Koteshwar | Aviation planning manager Kiran Koteshwar Deputy GM (Project & Planning), SpiceJet Skill-set: BE with Masters in Finance, organisational abilities |
This senior manager ensures a smooth, turbulence-free take-off for new airline projects coming up in India.
As an important member of the team, he closely engages with sales and marketing departments to create new schedules, interacts with operations and line maintenance professionals to plan schedules in consonance with operational and maintenance needs.
“The role involves connecting different divisions of the business and bringing about transparency and clarity in various departments,” says Kiran Koteshwar, Deputy GM (Project & Planning), SpiceJet.
Who’s hiring: Airline companies such as SpiceJet, MDLR and Jet Airways.
Who’re they hiring: Post-graduates and graduates in any stream with five-to-eight years of experience.
Salary: Rs 8-15 lakh p.a.
3. Environment toxicologist
These specialists are required to oversee new constructions and renovations, assuring the preservation of natural resources and the safety of residents. With new, more stringent regulations on the books, many environmental engineers will start working for developers and corporations that want to take a proactive approach to their business, according to HR analysts.
Who’s hiring: Healthcare, petroleum and chemical companies.
Who’re they hiring: BE/BTech-Biomedical, Production, Industrial and Environmental Science graduates with 10-15 years of experience.
Salary: Rs 10-12 lakh p.a.
4. Product managers—Web 2.0
 Bhushan Patil | Product managers for Web 2.0 Brands Bhushan Patil Product Head (ZapakMail), Zapak Digital Entertainment Skill-set: BE in Mechanical Engg., PG in Product Design |
The must-haves: complete understanding of product life cycle development, systems engineering, test engineering, testing and marketing.
“With increasing digitalisation and infrastructure build-up in the coming days, the demand for such people is going to increase as more and more companies will be looking for such people,” says Anil Kumar E.T., Business Head (ICT), Ma Foi Management Consultants. Bhushan Patil works as Product Head for ZapakMail.
“The Yahoos and Googles of the world are looking for product managers for their various Web 2.0 products as they need domain experts here,” he says.
Who’s hiring: Yahoo!, Google, Reliance Entertainment, Consim Info, MMT and Web 18, among others.
Who’re they hiring: MBAs with domain knowledge and over five years experience in product or website management.
Salary: Rs 8-20 lakh p.a.
5. Human factors manager
 Supreo Mukhopadhyay | Human factors manager Supreo Mukhopadhyay Design Manager (User Experience), Yahoo! India Skill-set: Masters in Industrial Design, IIT Bombay, has a pulse on user needs |
The job of a Human Factors Manager is to develop insights into user needs and translate them into effective user interface designs for companies that have a convergence of music, voice data and internet media.
Human Factors Manager at Yahoo! India Supreo Mukhopadhyay says: “As more and more companies now understand the relevance of contextual innovation, designing for emerging markets and internationalisation of products are going to play a key role.” His current designation is Design Manager (User Experience).
Who’s hiring: Apple, Nokia, Kyocera, LG as well as IT product companies in the entertainment, media, publishing and dotcom sectors.
Who’re they hiring: Post-graduates in Computer Sciences with two-to-five years of experience.
Salary: Rs 12-14 lakh p.a.
6. Web Usability Experts
 S. Parthasarathy | Web usability experts Shivkumar Parthasarathy Head (Web Development), BigAdda.com Skill-set: Graduate in Chemistry with 14 years of vital experience |
The demand for web usability experts is on the rise as more and more online ventures try to figure out how to monetise their products.
Says Shivkumar Parthasarathy, Head (Web Development), BigAdda.com: “There are a few hundred such experts in the country but going by the way ecommerce is evolving in India, it will soon reach the four-figure mark.”
Who’s hiring: Internet companies like Yahoo!, Google, Indiatimes, Reliance Entertainment, Consim Info, MMT and Web 18, among others.
Who’re they hiring: Graduates and post-graduates with two-year experience.
Salary: Starting at Rs 4 lakh p.a.
7. Medical planner
 Dr Dilpreet Brar | Medical planner/ administrator Dr Dilpreet Brar Head (Administration), Max Devki Devi, Saket Skill-set: MBBS, PG Diploma in Health and Hospital Management |
Every hospital has one and those who missed out are looking for one.
The medical planner manages and organises multi-disciplinary staff members and sees to it that everyone follows the defining medical protocols at clinics and hospitals.
“With corporatisation of hospitals, there is a lot of focus on revenues, quality, delivery and, of-course, medical excellence. That’s the reason why more and more people are looking at good hospital administrators who have proper training in hospital management,” says Rajesh Verma, HR Head at Max Hospitals.
Architectural firms and medical evacuation and insurance companies are also hiring them for the planning and implementation processes.
“With hospital chains more focussed on internationalisation now, it is quite important for them to have a medical planner onboard,” says Dr Dilpreet Brar, Head (Administration), Max Devki Devi, Saket.
Who’s hiring: Hospitals like Max, Wockhardt, Fortis, Apollo; development firms; architectural firms and various government organisations.
Who’re they hiring: Doctors with MHA and MBA, with five-to-nine years of experience.
Salary: Rs 9-14 lakh p.a.
8. Patient relationship manager
 Sonal Pahwa | Patient relationship manager Sonal Pahwa Head (Patient Care Sevices), Fortis, Vasant Kunj Skill-set: Masters in Hospital Administration, good communications skills |
With medi-cities being planned around the country, hospitals have realised the importance of patientcare.
This one-point contact for all patient interfaces is an expert at handling both the people and the functions of organisations.
Sonal Pahwa, Head (Patient Care Services), Fortis, Vasant Kunj, started out as a management trainee in Escorts, Faridabad, eight years ago. Says Pahwa: “It matters now as to what kind of experience the patient takes home.”
Who’s hiring: Hospitals, retail healthcare and insurance companies.
Who’re they hiring: Masters in Hospital Administration having good communication and computer skills with five years of experience.
Salary: Rs 5-7 lakh p.a.
9. Yield manager
 Ravi Patwal | Yield manager Ravi Patwal Manager (Yield Management System), SpiceJet Skill-set: Graduate with good numbercrunching skills |
No, this is not about agriculture. Yield management, also known as revenue management, is simply the process of understanding, anticipating and reacting to consumer behaviour in order to maximise revenues or profits.
“Over the last few years, the revenue management concept has increasingly become a necessity for companies that are willing to make changes where necessary in order to achieve higher revenues without compromising on their product,” says Rajesh Kumar, Deputy General Manager (Knowledge Management & Business Development Team), TMI Group.
Ravi Patwal, who works as Manager (Yield Management System), SpiceJet, says: “It’s more like an analytical job where we go through numbers and tell the company the best way to maximise revenues and how to go about it.”
Who’s hiring: Telecom, airline, hospitality companies as well as online set-ups.
Who’re they hiring: Graduates and post-graduates with 7-12 years of experience.
Salary: Rs 7-14 lakh p.a.
10. Environment Manager
With energy efficiency the new buzzword, there is a big demand for environment managers across industry. The task: to coordinate environmental risk management, develop strategies and guidelines for waste management solutions and practices, among others.
Who’s hiring: SEZs, construction and real estate companies, and environmental solutions companies.
Job opportunities for geologists Who’s hiring: Reliance, ONGC, Cairn, Videocon, Essar and BP, among others. Who’re they hiring: MSc in Geology or Applied Geology. |
Who’re they hiring: BE/BTech, ME and MTech with 8-12 years of experience in chemical plants.
Salary: Starts at Rs 6 lakh p.a. and goes up to Rs 12 lakh p.a. for experienced professionals.
A slick career
Oil exploration and discovery have reached a new high with energy companies engaged in a mad race to find fossil fuels.
This has led to another race by the companies—the one to hunt for petroleum geologists.
“Anything to do with oil has to be hot. This particular job is in demand these days due to shortage of oil globally. In India, as well as abroad, companies are looking for oil geologists who can find or confirm oil finds. Global companies are particularly looking for Indian professionals because of their expertise,” says Kris Lakshmikanth, Founder CEO & Managing Director, The Headhunters.
Oil and gas engineers are offshore some 40 hours each week.
The soft skills that come in handy are an ability to solve problems quickly and to work well in a team or even lead one.
The shortage of geologists has also led to higher entry-level salaries.
