Cool cash or hot job?

Which is the bigger deal — salary or job profile?
If its' a toss-up between moolah and job profile, which would you gun for? Indian MBA students root for a good job profile, says an Assocham Business Barometre study. In fact, figures put it at a real high — 95 per cent chose job profile over a megabuck-salary.
Abhishek Rana, student of IIM-B, and part of the media cell, would do the same, he says."Speaking for myself, I would look at the job profile rather than at the salary. Because anyway, the salary would be above a minimum threshold. So I'm not really bothered about that; a few thousands here and there would not matter as long as I'm satisfied with the job."
Ahmed Ali, MD of an HR outsourcing company, observes, "Money is a given these days. What's more important is the work culture, the office environment, the job excitement. With all the attrition around, money cannot bind or bond an employee. In Bangalore, people are realising that the money may be good in a company but what they look for is a career."
Ahmed says he pitches the job profile to prospective employees. "We tell them what the future holds for them in terms of growth, what career path is available in the company." He finds that the first or the second jobs are critical. "At first, they don't know what the company's like, but once they've stuck there for three years, you know they'll stay on."
But with engineers, recruitment expert Prathima says it's different. "We've found so many times that engineers reject companies that do not offer enough as salary. They compare the salary with that offered the previous year." Even most management students think they should start with a good salary. Says Prathima, "They think increments are based on that. They feel if they start with a lower salary, they will always be stuck with low salaries." She finds that even at campus recruitments the preplacement talks include salaries offered. Each year, they must be higher than that offered the previous year; there must be a percentage growth from one year to the next. Otherwise students blacklist the companies.
But in some cases, the job profile takes precedence. This, Prathima finds, is the case with those who have three-five years of experience. Their perspective has changed by then. "They want more responsibilities, more of a management-oriented job profile. In the first two years, the learning growth is high, but growth in the organisation is not . Now ambition kicks in. So they start looking for more responsibilities or look to leading a team. Both job profile and future prospects matter."
Anjan Dutta, CEO of a recruitment organisation, says in the first few years, employees are looking at financial stability. So, many focus on salaries. "Once they have stabilised, they look for growth and challenge. So later, the focus is on job profile. However, salaries are still a driving force. Nowadays, many companies offer a salary package that comes with a variable component which is performance-based. In fact, 20 per cent of the salary comprises the variable component. High performers, for whom challenge is important, do well and earn more."
geetrao@indiatimes.com