BSNL, MTNL to hire 700 management trainees

Even as companies are laying off people during slowdown time, two government-owned telecom companies, BSNL and MTNL, plan to hire about 700 professionals over the next one year.

A BSNL official said the PSU will recruit about 300 management trainees through competitive examination to be held on an all-India basis, while MTNL will hire 392 in the same capacity, officials said.

BSNL has a workforce of 3.5 lakh and is seen as a bloated organisation with an aging workforce. It operates all over India except Delhi and Mumbai. NYSE-listed MTNL has a leaner workforce, and operates only in Delhi and Mumbai.

The trainees will be hired for telecom operations, marketing, finance, human resource and IT functions.

Private telecom players who have been expanding networks in the country usually hire most in the sales and marketing streams.

Most of the top-rung telecom companies outsource non-core operations, keeping with themselves core and commercial functions. That has made them leaner, increasing their per employee return and keeping cost under control, a market analyst said.