Friday, April 16, 2010

A Swan among the Ducklings

A Swan, among Ducklings, Are you one?

The value of gold is known only to the goldsmith is an old saying. Is a gold smith evaluating your golden traits and attributes or you are with a tinsmith? Are your talents being utilized for the organization and the work that requires and values your attributes?

The answer in most cases is an unfortunate no. I am referring to a phenomenon which is global.

In my childhood I often used to hear this Marathi song.This song more or less relates to the employment situation The first two lines are given below




एका तळ्यात होती बदके पिले सुरेख 
होते कुरूप वेडे पिल्लू त्यात एक 


Loosely translated it means, “In a lake there were beautiful ducklings , one of them was ugly & deformed.”

And the last stanza says.

एके दिनी परंतु पिल्लास त्या कळले 
भया वेद पर त्याचे वरासवे पाळले 
पानियात पाहताना चोरूनिया क्षणिक 
त्याचेच त्याला  कळले तो राजहंस एक 

Again loosely translated, it means, “One day the duckling came to know that, it was being looked down upon by others as ugly and deformed. It fled that place, and when it stealthily had a momentary glimpse at itself in water it came to know, that after all, it was not a duckling, it was swan A Rajhans (A royal among the swans). So it realized it was not deformed or ugly, but it belonged to a different clan.

Are you the proverbial Swan egg that accidentally rolled in to the duck nest and was hatched???  Then it is time you analyze your situation and try to get in to a job  that requires and respects your attributes preferably within the same organization or be on the look out for an suitable opportunity and make a career move as soon as possible.

You know your destination,you should travel the route that takes you there.If you take the wrong route, you will reach the wrong destination and by that time you would have lost valuable years in your career.Nothing can be done at that stage except ruing the past.

So when you are still in the beginning of your career, you leave and join the flock of Swans, and be happy throughout there after.

The most common mistake the employers make is, job seekers with expertise in one domain are handed job responsibilities requiring expertise in another domain. They are thrown into a clan they don’t belong to, and they are not as fortunate as the Rajhans. Slowly a feeling of deficiency or insufficiency creeps in, adversely impacting their performance and careers.

What does this convey?

Even if you are well educated, with proper etiquette. If you have not chosen the work profile and the work place in accordance with your attributes, you are going to be a swan among the ducklings.

Why does this happen?

I feel both the job seeker and the employer are to certain extent responsible. However the main reason for this is the total disconnect between the Academics and the Industry. How much of curricula planning involves both, unfortunately not much.

Both Academics & Industry exist in their own door-less Ivory Towers totally oblivious of the existence of the others.

Academia 

The Universities whether private or state owned enjoy an exalted status. Though the competition amongst them is intense, the industry specificity is not a criteria or a parameter. I feel the academics are totally insular to the industry needs.

 In academia there is the luxury of time. Thus when a thought might start, it doesn't necessarily have to finish. You can begin ... and not necessarily end. It is this kind of open-endedness that makes academia a necessary space of free thought in the world. The free space is a necessary inefficiency designed into the academic system so that new thoughts can form in the most productive manner — which is through the natural reinforcement of the passage of time.

Thus a thought which begins as ingenuity, by the time it transforms into a policy, becomes obsolete in industry relevance.

This is a global phenomenon. Prof. Rosabeth Moss Kanter former editor of Harvard Business Review in one her speech lamented the poor planning of curricula and ignorance of STEM education in United States. Which resulted in the quality of the passed out graduates being poor? She also considers this as one of the reasons for the jobs being outsourced to other countries.

The industry on the other hand is more or less shortsighted in terms of academics specific to industry. An outlook beyond the top lines and bottom is rarely found. There is no time for it to work for specific, customized, industry relevant curricula with the academia. 

Internship programmes designed by the academia are no doubt well intentioned, but the implementation at the industry is half hearted. There are examples of the internees being used for running errands rather than for any meaningful imparting. 

Role of parents/Guardians

The role of parents in this mess is not insignificant either, but I will leave it to my readers to discuss & debate it.

The Nett result is what I said in the beginning.
A swan among the ducklings, or other way around.

How to prevent this?       

Does begin with change parents and their attitudes?

Should the jobseekers prefer to wait a while to get a jobs related to their aptitude?

What are the changes required in the approach of the universities and academic institutes?

Often the pressure of student loan repayment forces the students to opt for the first job they are offered. How to tackle this?
  
Can a more lenient approach from the banks help?

Should the employers conducting campus recruitment be more responsible?

Please view the animated story in the video with the background song sung by Asha Bhonsle

 Best wishes,

Shyam

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Self Promotion

SELF PROMOTION ESSENTIAL TO MAKE YOURSELF RELEVANT IN THE PINK SLIP ERA

There are any number of reasons why you should advertise the value you deliver to your unit and your company. But mastering the delicate art of selling yourself isn't easy. Overdo the self-promotion, and you can get a reputation as a grand stander. But duck the limelight, and you miss out on well-deserved plaudits.

NETWORK THROUGH WORDS AND DEEDS

Build a network of appreciative associates and bosses, not just by communicating with them, but by taking on tasks for them and following through on projects with them. Effective networks are simply mutual obligations between people. Show your boss and others in decision-making positions that you can get things done through others. Show them you're connected.

TAKE A STAND AGAINST CREDIT THEFT

Don't steal credit that belongs to another, and do all you can to prevent others from stealing credit that rightly belongs to you. As in sports, a good offense is often the best defense against credit theft, Instead of directly confronting a credit hog--usually a futile enterprise--frequently inform the boss in meetings, emails, and informal chats about your role in the team's recent coup and your ideas for future successes.

DON'T BRUSH OFF COMPLIMENTS

When the team leader compliments you on the job you did organizing the client meeting, don't brush it off with an "Oh, it was really nothing." Say how much the recognition means to you. Acknowledge the good effort you gave. And add something worthwhile that underscores the importance of the contribution you made. "I think it's really important that these meetings are a valuable experience for our clients," you might say, or "I put a lot of advance work into that new technology panel, so it was really rewarding to see the clients so engaged in the session."

OVERCOME PHYSICAL DISTANCE

If you telecommute, you might worry about losing out to a rival who has his face before the vice president every day. Even if you don't work from your home, you might need to cultivate someone whose office is 3,000 miles away. Today's technology, makes it far easier than in the past to self-promote from a distance. Stay on someone's radar through e-mail, voice messages, and the occasional phone call.

When contact is infrequent, people tend to think the worst about you or, even worse, think nothing about you at all."

MAKE YOUR ACCOMPLISHMENTS KNOWN TO OTHERS BESIDES YOUR BOSS

Some might think it sufficient to earn their supervisor's appreciation; after all, he is the one with the most impact on a report's evaluation, raise, and the other rewards of work. But the savviest strategists understand the importance of self-promoting to an even higher level, as well as horizontally to other units and their managers.

Your boss's boss might be in a better position than your direct supervisor to give you a promotion or plum assignment. And a manager who shares rank with you today might be in a position of greater decision-making power tomorrow


Shyam

Monday, April 12, 2010

Universities


We have taken up this project basically to help the Indian students to distinguish between the standard Universities and others. It has been observed that while there are some excellent Universities and academies in both Government and private sector in United States and Europe, The vast majority of others fall short in quality and standards resulting in long periods of unemployment or under employment. Most of the students borrow heavily from the banks for theses studies. Any delay  in securing employment can result in their being put in an inconvenient position in terms of repayment.
Our objective is to guide the students from India and other countries in selecting the best universities which have industry acceptance. This project is aimed totally with student perspective. We will investigate the University thoroughly in terms of accreditations, and employment records. We will also physically inspect the infrastructure and quality of the teaching faculty.
The Universities which are ready to accept our terms and prepared to allow us allow us to inspect credentials are invited to contact us.

We are planning to start a section on oversees education, where we will publish the  information about the universities for the benefit of the Indian students. .

This like all  our other services is absolutely free for the both the the students and universities.We reserve the right to accept or reject or delete the selected university from the list.We will not accept any terms and conditions laid down by any institutions.We will not sign any exclusive contracts.

The universities will have absolutely no right or option to even suggest a change in our format.

The information submitted by the university will be throughly checked, edited, modified and only verifiable information will be published. The institutions will have to submit the links to the sites in regard to accreditation and affiliations.

The fee and other charges required to be paid by the students from India should be clearly segmented into various heads in a way that student is able to have an immediate idea about the financial commitment for the entire course.

ROI is the most important aspect for inclusion in the list. The information should be honest and verifiable.

Listing does not entail promotion or any effort towards that end from our side.Our commitment is wholly and totally towards the student and nothing towards the University.We will however be heavily promoting the list on all our websites. we will also promote the list when ever we interact with the institutions or students.

The Universities will have the option to withdraw themselves from the list any time. They just have to send a request we will remove their name from the list with no questions asked.

Right now we will not be able to include the institutions and academies offering job oriented courses or software courses.

We invite Universities from USA,Europe,& Asia to contact us.

We will not deal with the agencies and franchisees.
After preliminary evaluation, we will send them the detailed procedure of selection.

Please note the email ID entered should belong to the University domain.