Q: I completed Plus Two in 2000 and then obtained a diploma in electronics and telecommunication in 2005 and BTech in the same field in 2008. I got a job in 2009 in a secondary steel plant in Durgapur but had to leave after a year due to health problems. I underwent training in GSM foundation to put myself in the telecom field. Even after completing that, I have not found a suitable job. My age and gaps all through my career are an issue. What should I do?
Name Withheld
A: You have rightly identified one of the issues which would be a problem in seeking employment. You have spent a lot of time acquiring educational qualifications. You need to analyse two aspects for your future career. Which field are you interested to work in? Also, what it is that is stopping you from getting a job in that chosen field? The problem could be in your education or in your behavioural skills. Today behavioural skills have become as important as the core education skills and if you are found lacking in certain qualities even though you have the right education, you might not be selected for a particular job.
Q: I completed graduation this year and want to do a short-term course in HR. I am from a middle class background. Please tell me the name of an institute for HR training.
Debarpan Pandit
A: I would advise you to start looking for a job in talent acquisition or administration in an organisation and get inside the HR department as a first step. After you have worked and understood the function, you can go for a short-term HR course in correspondence from IGNOU or any such institute. The course in itself, being a correspondence one, would not be an added advantage for you to get a job. Hence, get a job based on your basic qualification and do your studies simultaneously.
Q: I am 25 years old and have completed MBA in finance from Annamalai University through distance education. I have been working for the last two years in a proprietorship firm as a commercial executive. I now want a change as I am getting no exposure here. Please advise.
Subhajit Surai
A: There are pros and cons of working in a small organisation as well as a big organisation. In a small organisation you may not have too many people to show you what to do but you would get tremendous exposure to all kinds of jobs within your functional domain. Whereas, in a big organisation, you would have a proper system and there would be people to guide you but you would only be in a particular silo, learning the depths. You need not be worried about your future at all. If you feel you are not getting adequate exposure in your current organisation, look out for a job in a bigger organisation. Your experience in the small organisation would be valued by the latter.
Q: I have done graduation from IGNOU as well as a 15-month hardware networking course. I am working as an engineer in network services. I am planning to do an MBA by correspondence. Which specialisation will be good for me?
Chandan Kumar Jha
A: If you are interested in the information technology field, then you can choose “systems” as a subject in your MBA. That would help you augment your current education and experience. It would also stand you in good stead for job opportunities. If you are doing MBA through correspondence, there may be other specialised areas where the institute might be offering courses such as networking, which could also be of interest to you. In case you are not liking the current field of study, you can switch careers and go for any other specialisation like marketing or operations.
Q: I am a human resources (HR) professional and a career counsellor. I want to start an HR consultancy, which will deal with various HR problems, recruitment and identification of suitable careers for students. My question is: what legal procedures do I have to follow? It will be a sole proprietorship firm.
Arnab Ghosh
A:There are a few government procedures for registering a firm. Check the website or take the help of a lawyer or a chartered accountant. You can either have the firm registered as a sole proprietorship, partnership, LLP or as a private limited organisation. There are pros and cons for all of these, which you need to study and see which suits your needs best.
Q: I am 25 years old. I completed BCom with marketing honours in 2006. Since then, I have worked in the telecom sector for two years and in real estate for two and half years. Now I am considering doing an MBA through distance learning. Will it help my career at this stage? If not, what kind of course will do so?
Abhijit Das
A: You need to first understand the reason you feel like doing an MBA. That would give you an answer. You have specialised in marketing and have been working in that domain for almost five years now. Is it that you see that your growth prospects in your current organisation have diminished because you are not an MBA? If yes, you should do an MBA. But, you would have to keep in mind that a full-time MBA is much more valuable than one done through distance mode. So if you have decided to spend time on your studies, it would be worthwhile to consider a full-time course, which would give you much better job prospects.
Q: I am a 24-year-old BCA graduate. In 2010, I completed CCNA global. I have been working for the last four months in a private firm but am not satisfied. I want to be an SAP ERP(BASIS). What do you think of my choice?
Dipan Kumar Saha
A:There is a lot of demand for BASIS professionals and it would definitely enhance your job prospects. But before embarking upon a new journey, I would advise you to first analyse why you are not satisfied with your job in just four months. Have you given enough time to it to really understand if this is something you want or do not want to do? The answer would lead you to the solution.
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