New jobs & how to build your career

"It's tangible, it's solid, it's beautiful. It's artistic, from my standpoint, and I just love real estate." That was Donald Trump some years ago. Today, his sentiments are echoed by hundreds of people in India, who don't invest money in real estate but rather invest their careers in this booming sector.

Rashid Aziz Siddiqui, 30, for instance, is one of those who'd rather be in the real estate space than anywhere else. "I am happy with the way my career has shaped up and plan to stick to the real estate sector," he says. He's stuck to it for 10 years now, and his confidence doesn't seem misplaced; from a humble executive at Sahara Infrastructure & Housing, he's today the company's marketing manager.

Siddiqui was among a minority who saw the potential in the real estate sector even in 1996, when the property market had crashed in places like Delhi and Mumbai. But since 2001, this sector has become hot. The demand for housing (and commercial space) has reached stratospheric levels, home loans are easily available, and the government is actively promoting building projects.

All this means that capital values are going up. It also means that more and more developers are entering the field, which means there are plenty of jobs to be had. Yes, some of them are specialist jobs, for instance architects and civil engineers, but there are many non-technical jobs on hand as well. So we decided to take a long hard look at the jobs available in this sector, and here's what we found.

The Jobs

Construction is a specialised business and developers require manpower at various stages of the project. "To develop an area of 100 acres, you will require around 500 people. Around 350 of these will be labourers, but the remaining will be people from different functional areas," says M.S. Aggarwal, MD, MSX Developers. To understand just what these functional areas are, take a look at what a typical developer has to do in order to get a project completed.

Groundwork: First, and most important, the developer needs to identify the land. Once the land has been identified, the developer must do a feasibility study. "This would mean checking the going rate of land and the price at which he can sell the property after the development work," says Abdul Bari, VP, Marketing & Business Development, Majestic Properties. Now, enter the land surveyors.

At around the same time, the developer requires the services of lawyers to check if the title is clear. "One should check if the land would come in the way of any government project in future. Further, people who know about the land records are also required," says J.B. Goel, MD, Express Builders. Typically, problems are likely to crop up in cases where the property is owned by a family, but has been verbally divided between the members.

Once feasibility studies are done and the title is clear, the developer buys the land. "At this stage," Goel says the developer "requires people who can deal with the sellers (mostly farmers, as most of the land that is bought is agricultural) to get a good deal."

Building: Once the groundwork has been done, the project moves to stage two. This is where technical qualifications come in; town planners, civil engineers and architects are needed to draw up the building plans and layouts. Once this is done, the developer must get a liaison officer who can deal with the different government offices to get the plans approved.

The liaison officer will also be responsible for ensuring that the project gets all the necessary clearances and licences. For instance, if the project is a mall with a multiplex, the developer will have to get an entertainment licence.

After the plan has been approved and all licences got, the developer announces the project and the actual building work starts. Civil engineers, site supervisors, quality supervisors, interior designers and project managers are just some of the people who are needed to manage and execute the project on ground. Apart from this, the developer will need to simultaneously market the project, so marketing professionals are generally much sought after. Then, of course, there's the usual complement of office staff, including office administrators, secretaries and the like. Most important are the accountants, because large projects invariably involve some amount of financial jugglery.

"The demand has been across different levels and functions. Real estate developers are hiring approximately 90-150 people every month. With the sector growing significantly, this trend is likely to continue," says Suryavir Singh, spokesperson, Sahara Infrastructure & Housing.

The Qualifications

No doubt the fact that real estate is booming is good news. But are you equipped to enter this rather specialised field? Thanks to the ongoing boom, some functional categories like civil engineers, architects and interior designers have gained prominence. "With every job opening for any project, the ratio of technical to creative ones is 3:1," says Kanika Vaswani, associate partner, Elixir Web Solutions, a leading recruitment process outsourcing firm.

As in any other field, specialised jobs require specific academic qualifications and relevant work experience. So, if a developer is looking for a senior architect, he would typically look for a person who has a B.Arch (Bachelor in Architecture) degree as well as five-eight years of relevant experience.

For jobs on-site, particularly site supervisors and project managers, most developers give preference to local people. Deepak Saxena, CFO, Majestic Properties says: "We prefer to take a local person because he is better equipped to deal with any law and order problem that may arise. The person has to deal with the local people as well as liase with the government. So knowing the local language and culture helps a lot."

Real estate welcomes anyone with the zeal to learn, no matter what his qualifications. While an engineering degree is essential for most technical jobs, Vaswani says that the present boom gives even diploma holders good options. And then, there are cases like that of Varun Khullar. A mechanical engineer, Khullar was working with a small company as an engineer, but was dissatisfied with it.

"At that point, real estate was one of the upcoming sectors and I decided to make the shift," he says. Khullar joined Sun City as a marketing manager in charge of marketing residential properties. He learnt the ropes there, and recently shifted to the Vatika Group as marketing manager. "A chance to handle more responsibilities and a better salary were the prime reasons for this move," says Khullar.

Talent shortage: Some years ago, there were hardly three or four major developers in the market. Companies could pick and choose people. However, with the emergence of hundreds of new players, it's getting increasingly difficult to find qualified manpower.

"The shortage is more pronounced in senior positions," says Bari.

"The demand for people is higher than the supply but the difference is still not huge," says Vaswani. "It is very difficult to find qualified people for creative, skill-based jobs like landscaping architects and interior designers," she adds.

The Money

Yes, there's a boom in the real estate sector. However, salaries in this sector are actually low compared to other fast-growing sectors like IT. But, says Bari: "The way this sector is growing, salaries here should compare with the best over the next four to five years." Things are already getting better, says Vaswani. "Due to the increase in competition among the bigger real estate developers, the salary graph at the senior levels has grown steeply. Also, to keep up with the industry standards, some companies that were not good paymasters in the past are now introducing mid-term increments to retain employees," she says.

The accompanying table (See below: This is Where the Jobs Are) gives an idea of how much you can expect to make in this field.

Architects are usually paid anything from 2 per cent to 4 per cent of the project cost. "In the case of marketing professionals, a certain part of their salary is fixed and the rest is paid as incentives," adds Aggarwal.

"Major real estate companies will do large-scale recruiting in future, competing for candidates by offering higher salaries, competitive benefits and more opportunities for advancement," says Vaswani. Already, in 2005-06, salaries have moved up 15-18 per cent. Bari is more upbeat and claims that salaries have gone up 40-50 per cent per annum. In fact, experts believe that salaries could go up by more than 20 per cent in 2006-07.

So, is real estate for you? If you're still in the process of acquiring qualifications, this is a good option. Make sure that the degree you get is from a reputed institution. Though companies are willing to give diploma-holders a try, it is technical degree-holders who are the most sought after. And, of course, for marketing jobs, the all-important MBA commands respect.

"Since companies are now carving niches for themselves like residential, commercial complexes, a person looking for a job must be clear on what she wants to take up. Apart from regular project jobs, other related options like fire and electrical services also have good prospects," says Vaswani. So if you have the qualifications, and want to enter a booming sector, you can be sure that real estate will build up your career.

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