Sunil Alagh, the man who made Britannia one of the biggest marketing successes of our times, is flagging off a TV programme. Styled The Job Show, it will involve interviewing people. Alagh and two executives from the recruiting company will put the candidates through the hoops. At the end of the programme, the winner will be offered a job.

The Job Show is an initiative of employment portal naukri.com and CNBC TV 18. The companies that are participating ? and who will offer the jobs ? include Flextronics, LG, Impetus Technologies, DNA, Aviva Life, Yes Bank and Denstu.

According to CNBC, “It will help young aspirants all across the country to focus on the strengths of the successful candidates and take note of the weaknesses of the not-so-successful ones, so that they can apply these learnings to real life situations.” The Job Show is a clone of similar programmes abroad. The most famous of these is Donald Trump’s The Apprentice. ESPN had a programme styled Dream Job, in which contestants compete for a one-year contract to be a SportsCenter anchor. The 12 finalists for Dream Job 1 were chosen from more than 10,000 aspirants on the basis of their sports knowledge, writing skills and overall presence.

Among others, the publishers of Rolling Stone magazine have signed a deal with MTV for a reality show in which the magazine will give internships to several journalism students, who then compete to become a Rolling Stone contract writer.

“The trouble is the build-up the channels use to popularise these shows,” says Shashi Rao, a Mumbai-based HR consultant. “If CNBC is claiming that the lessons from the show can be applied to real life, they are misleading jobseekers.”

What you need to win one of these job shows are qualities like extreme competitiveness, risk-taking ability, sharp focus and a certain degree of arrogance (see box). In real life, these can be a disadvantage in most jobs. Nobody expects you to target being a CEO from the interview stage of your first job. “You give off those vibes and you will be out on your ear,” says Rao.

Besides, though it is technically a reality show, the episodes are all canned much in advance. A lot of the action is rehearsed, not spontaneous. It could be a lot of fun. But if you take it seriously, you are asking for trouble. Rao cites the example of Kaun Banega Crorepati. At one time, it was being projected as a brains-and-intelligence sort of thing. Today, it’s pure fun. No one who has seen the dumb types from Bollywood answer the most esoteric questions and invariably walk away with a crore (for charity) will ever think otherwise.

The other issue, of course, is the sort of people who will participate in these shows. Rao says nobody who is qualified to hold down a good job will ever be seen dead on the sets of The Job Show. “It will mark you for life,” she explains. “You will always be regarded as a bit of a joker. No matter what sort of a job you land up with, it is very likely that your real aspiration is to be some sort of a face on the idiot box. But in a world of winners and losers, most of the contestants will clearly be in the latter category.”

This is one reality show in which you will lose even if you win.

IS IT FOR REAL?

What reality job shows teach you

Risk-taking: Candidates are often expected to leave current jobs or relocate and separate temporarily from family to compete for these opportunities.

Competitive spirit: Candidates are expected to beat the competition no matter what it takes.

Tenacity: Success only comes to those who are determined enough to fight for the opportunity and never give up.

Confidence: You’ve really got to believe in yourself to even apply.

Leadership: You must want to be in charge and you’ve got to show your capacity to lead others.

Interpersonal competence: You’ve got to be good at judging and interacting with people, especially in gaining their acceptance.

Intelligence: You need business savvy, innovative ideas, exposure to new consumer markets, common sense and an intuitive sense of people you can count on.

Source: The Black Collegian Online