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The labour market in the cellular business, of which Advanced Info Service is the leader, is apparently tight as all players wait for the fullscale launch of 3G.

But advancing to the next generation won't require much expansion of the workforce, says Tippawan Sirikorn, assistant vice president of human resource management, which oversees 4,630 employees excluding some 2,000 operators at AIS' call centre operated by a subsidiary.

Q: How many people does AIS plan to recruit this year? And in what areas?

A Our staff recruitment this year will be a very intensive process. Last year, we recruited 300-400 staff for new jobs and vacancies, while this year from January to May we plan to recruit about 80.

The people that we want most are sales and marketing staff, while we don't need new engineers right now. This doesn't include the call centre, which has a very high turnover of operators.

We see up to 10,000 job applications a year and we keep them for not more than oneandahalf years.

Q: If the 3G operation takes off, how many more people would AIS recruit?

A It would be certainly more competitive. We'd already prepared existing employees for the new business, but we might need new ones but not more than 5 per cent of our current staffing level.

The new hires would be those in engineering and IT. With 3G, it's only the technology that will change and we can shift to that, as we're a learning organisation.

I believe that the labour market for the telecom industry will be slowing down for at least the rest of this year. Not only those in labourintensive businesses, but skilled workers will be affected as well.

Q: What are the most preferable qualifications for job applicants overall?

A Aside from knowledge in each field with job openings, we're looking at their traits or behaviour.

We want to know whether their chemistry fits in with our culture.

At AIS, we have "III" which represents individual talent, initiation and improvement, and infinite change.

We also want them to be "fast moving" which represents forwardlooking, accountability, serviceminded, teamwork, meritocracy, openness, vision focus, initiation and improvement, non-bureaucracy, and guard against irrationality.

Those who want to join us should be a dynamic person with speed. You're with a business dealing in IT, so you must be eager to learn.

Q: What are the character traits that are totally unacceptable to AIS?

A We don't want people who love to bluff or put down others to keep themselves looking good. We focus very much on the ability to work with a team.

If you're talented and capable, but you oppress other people and act unfriendly, we won't accept you.

If you come to join us and you later break up the team, we don't want you. Some people are very good at studying, but they're just not good at getting along with others.

Q: How would you assess a job applicant's personality particularly in this aspect?

A We have lots of way to ask during interviews. We just keep asking, then their personality will be revealed. We also have psychological tests, and separate tests for each field.

Q: What other criteria does the company focus on?

A Don't tell a lie. We've interviewed some applicants who lied to us about their job experience. Say, he's 25 but said he used be a branch manager of a famous restaurant chain.

When we kept asking him, we found that he was telling a lie.

Another one said he graduated with a doctor's degree from abroad and he showed very high potential based on what he was saying. But after asking him about his thesis and crosschecking with the univer¬sity overseas, we found that he lied to us.

For this concern, we operators in the telecom business have HR Telecome that we share information with.

Q: Compared to the past, what has changed in terms of both demand for and supply of skilled workers?

A I would have to talk about Generation Y. They're highly self-confident. They think, talk and do what they want like the saying "I can do it and I can choose it".

They want something challenging. They're familiar with self-learning search engines and don't want people to give them knowledge.

This is unlike the old generation, which liked to learn things from A to Z from others.

The disadvantage is that the new generation is hard to control. They like freedom. So, this could be a gap in the organisation. But it's our job to make them accept us as the one who can guide them.

For two years, AIS has had a clear policy to recruit up to at least 20 per cent each year of new generation members.

Q: What about people with five to 10 years of experience?

A We need them in some areas such as sales and engineering that need a combination of highly-experienced staff and young staff.

For IT and operators in call centres, we don't want their experience, as we'll train them. Selling products on mobile phones, you also need multi skills.

The people in marketing must know lots of IT and keep up with trends. Those who are marketing analysts must show us their analytical skills.

Q: Any problem in training?

A We have classroom training, elearning and also on-the-job training. Our training courses are very intensive.

For functional skills, we have a technical training centre and also a special training centre for particular jobs like staff at the call centre.

The training is held quite often, as they need to be updated all the time.

There's also some problem with staff who can't catch up with IT developments. Then, we try to have them share information among themselves to solve the problem.

Q: How's the wage situation?

A We provide wages at usual rates. Raises will be normal depending on individual performance. Early this year we hiked salaries by 34 per cent. But we're prudent enough to be cautious on spending.

Q: What would you like to tell job applicants to do for their interview appointment?

A You need to be well prepared. For fresh graduates, you should know what the organisation is doing.

The first impression is quite important. We would like you to express your intention and willingness to work.

With passion to contribute to the job, think what you would give to the organisation, not only what you would take from us.