Goodwill Hunting

Times of India: 04 June 2008

The social and development sector in India today gives you an opportunity to not only contribute towards the betterment of the society but also allows aspirants to explore the various career prospects that this sector has to offer. Yasmin Taj has the details…

There cannot be a more satisfactory feeling than the one you get by doing philanthropic work. However meagre your contribution could be towards enriching someone’s life, the satisfaction, emotional or social one derives out of these acts of generosity, is simply unexplainable. And that is primarily the reason why today India is home to several Non Profits Organisations (NGOs) and in the years to come, this sector is expected to grow by leaps and bounds. This trend also goes on to prove that a booming sector is doing just that by providing employment opportunities to a cross section of aspirants who believe in making a difference.

Making a Difference

According to Indivar Mukhopadhyay, Head – HR, Save the Children, Bal Raksha, Bharat, “India has had, traditionally, a very vibrant civil society presence which is more than substantiated by the presence of lakhs of NGOs in the country. Today, awareness and consciousness about human development issues concerning the country is gaining increasing significance. More so, with the increasing ‘professionalisation’ of this sector, there are unprecedented levels of interest from professionals from the mainstream corporate sector to come in, join and contribute.” “In India, the social and development sector has been impacted significantly in the last decade through the socio economic contribution of the IT/ITES industry. As the industry grows in stature and size, it will be expected to play an even larger role, especially in contributing to the marginalised and vulnerable sections of the community,” expresses Rufina Fernandes, CEO, NASSCOM Foundation. For Neelam Makhijani, Programme and Consulting Services Director, the Resource Alliance, “The social sector is one of the leading sectors in India aiming at social welfare. It is considered to be a passion rather than a profession.”

“The Indian social sector is booming and currently, it is going at a phenomenal speed and it’s time for people to consider a career in the social sector as a very viable option, “ says Chanchalapathi Dasa, Vice Chairman, the Akshaya Patra Foundation. An NGO/ International Non Profit Organisation (INGO) has to be run professionally as any other organisation to enable it to achieve its objectives and aspirations. “Keeping that in mind, an organisation like Save the Children, Bal Raksha, Bharat, offers a range of employment opportunities as common to most professionally run organisations which include jobs in the marketing and fundraising, finance, HR, administration and IT departments and some which are specific to the world of NGOs/INGOs which in the case of Save the Children, Bal Raksha, Bharat, revolves around the principle of child rights, emergencies, advocacy and policy, “ informs Mukhopadhyay.

Committed Towards a Cause

There are certain pre-requisites in the form of skill sets and qualifications required for joining any industry and the social sector too looks at specific traits while taking on employees on board for various positions. “The qualification for the candidate in this sector totally depends on the project assigned to him/her. For example, a person working on a social work project needs to have an MSC degree in Social Work as a mandatory qualification but on the other hand, the person being hired for a marketing project needs to have an MBA degree,” informs Makhijani. “Beyond skills and expertise, what is especially important in an identification with the values what we believe in which include a drive towards striving for excellence and working and thriving in diversity, “ adds Mukhopadhyay.

“At NF, we not only have employees who have worked in this space but there are a lot of others who have come in from the IT industry. They believe in leveraging their skills acquired over the years to contribute to social development. People who are committed to bring in social change in this country are perfect fits for this industry,” states Fernandes.

Fighting the Odds

Though the socio-development sector is booming, there are still a lot of challenges that need to be overcome. At NASSCOM Foundation, they have identified few of the challenges faced in undertaking community initiatives which include limited geographical outreach of social initiatives, stand-alone and isolated initiatives and lack of monitoring and evaluation. Fernandes expresses, “Since community initiatives are diverse and are often chosen in an isolated manner based on personal perspectives, it becomes imperative to take a conscious decision to link the activities with government initiatives in promoting socio-economic development.” According to Makhijani, “The biggest challenge in this sector is that people aim at recruiting for less due to which long term stress curbs up at every point which in a way leads to the reputation of the NGO in the sector. Also, as far as India is concerned, there’s no training for the students available in this sector. There should be special training budgets for the students. The recruiters should realise that people are the biggest resource in every organisation.”

People assume that job opportunities in social organisations are not as lucrative as jobs in the corporate sector. So, other than the passion to work for social causes, what does a social organisation have to offer its potential candidates? “Compensation/salary scales can never be the cornerstone of the employment proposition put forward by an organisation like Save the Children, Bal Raksha, Bharat where the corporate sector can offer far higher benefits. We attract people on sheer strength of our reputation and proven capability of bringing in the social changes we are committed to deliver. What also helps us is the growing awareness and desire among professionals from across sectors and industries, to join us and contribute to the meaningful work we do, ”Mukhopadhyay elaborates. “Our compensation and benefits practices is periodically evaluated through comprehensive surveys and benchmarking studies done by well known consultancies and is at par with the organisations we benchmark ourselves within our defined sector,” he adds. “It’s not that easy to recruit a good and efficient candidate but if a company provides decent package and good work profile according to his/her area of interest in the organisation, then an ambitious person with determination can achieve a lot in this sector,” expresses Makhijani.

So if you are among those who believe in living for a cause and have the passion to work towards making a better tomorrow, the social sector is just the place to be!