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Career-wise Informed decisions matter

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Image Courtesy: WWW
Image Courtesy: WWW

by Swatee Jog

Thanks for your responses for this column. It’s been a week now and I’m sure many of you would have started thinking what works for you and what doesn’t, what interests you and what makes you go ‘Wow! How did they do it in their life’. I’ve always believed in that old adage that when you love what you do, you don’t need to work a single day in your life.

When one is at the threshold of a career, you will always hear from everybody you  meet about every career in this world. Don’t try to convince them if you’ve already chosen something. Rarely will you hear ‘Oh! That’s a great choice you’ve done’.  In all probability, you will hear ‘ Why this, why not that?’

Before you arrive at some choice, make sure you have all the information that you can lay your hands on. In an era of information overload, it makes sense to use all possible means to stay adequately informed. The internet is a wonderful source of information. Use it skillfully.

After you’ve shortlisted some career streams ( fields of education, as of now), search for the qualifications that one needs to have, job options for those who have completed such courses, positions where people who’ve completed this course are working, what has been their experience, etc. If you can lay your hands on e-mails of such people, just send them a humble mail. I can tell you from my own experience that unknown people do reply, and help, if you inquire with sincerity. You could even pick up autobiographies of people successful in the field of your choice.

Films, music, technology, education, fashion, banking, there are people who have reached the top and enjoyed every moment of this journey. They have written down their experiences, noted their struggles, frustrations and shared tips on how they overcame odds. If autobiographies are too tough to digest, then surf around for information about these personalities. Books like ‘Go kiss the world’ – Subroto Bagchi, ‘I am Malala’ – Malala Yousufzai, or Profiles of successful people in a series of books by Rashmi Bansal ( Noteworthy: Follow every Rainbow’ and Take me home’ serve as a huge motivator.

Let it be known to you that not all children of those famous and rich families have chosen the career paths of their parents. Kishore Biyani’s ( Of Big Bazaar and Future Group) daughters have had education in Humanities and not business management.  Ashni, the 26-year-old elder daughter and textile design graduate from Parsons The New School for Design in New York has learnt about the business by observing her father. “He understands people’s behaviour… I’ve learnt from him to keenly observe customers… and it’s interesting. It began as a hobby for me to understand consumers,” she says.

Future Ideas is an eight-member team that consists of people who have studied different aspects of Indian behaviour through various avenues. “We have an architect, sociologists, mythologists, anthropologists and so on… Anyone with ideas and an insight into Indian communities and demographics is welcome,” she adds ( Source: Livemint ). No wonder then that the group has appointed Mr. Devdutt Pattanaik as its Chief Belief Officer. Now what is this motley crowd of diverse qualifications doing in a Retail group? Well, business is all about humans. So ideas, experiences and knowledge about humanities are rightly appreciated.

For someone interested in a career in e-commerce, he could be a web designer, a merchandising specialist, a finance maverick, a marketing wiz or even a social media expert. Now these specializations are as disparate as chalk and cheese. But they are all needed for e-commerce companies to function successfully.

Now, do you get the drift?  One can choose a field of career and excel in it only if he / she likes it immensely.

About the Author: Swatee Jog is the Training and Placement Officer at Bharatesh Global Business School ( MBA Program). She has an experience of 6 years in the media and 4 years in academics. She has written extensively in the English and Marathi newspapers on Career, Technology and Management topics. She has spoken at various forums as a resource person and has published several research papers in management journals as well as 2 books. 

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