Net may not help find jobs: study
WASHINGTON: Taking help of the Internet to find a new job? Watch out! It may not be of any use. Contrary to popular belief, using the Net may not improve a person's chances of finding a job, says a new study, to be presented at the annual meeting of the American Sociological Association in Atlanta by Christine Fountain, a University of Washington doctoral student.

A college-goer at 78!
Krittivas Mukherjee
KOLKATA: Like thousands of others, Ms Bakul Chatterjee passed this year’s higher secondary examination and enrolled in college for a Bachelor’s degree.

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Shaping up managers
How to make management education meaningful
Sneh Bhardwaj

Management education has of late been discussed and analysed at all levels — at the level of the industry as well as the academia. Despite mushrooming of management institutions, the quality of education is far from satisfactory. Once a student joins a management education programme, his only aim is to grab a highly paying job in the industry after the degree. However, jobs have become scarce today (look at the speed with which ‘the so-called management schools’ are producing MBAs). So in this kind of scenario, it is important to make the students utilise the management education time to the fullest, so that they can achieve success in whatever they do later in life.

The challenging task is how to make the two-year time the "most important learning phase" of their life? Below are presented some ideas:

We often hear about Japanese people being very productive; and one of the most important reasons cited for this is their strong sense of identity with the organisation they work for. So, it is important for us to inculcate this virtue. Students should learn with devotion, while teachers should impart lessons with fervour.

With an ever-increasing lure for an MBA degree, the number of good management schools falls far short of the demand. As a result thousands of students have to be contented with ‘B’ grade management schools. They are constantly worried whether they will land a respectable job after the degree, especially keeping in mind the dismal placement record of these schools. Here teachers can play the motivating role by making classroom teaching more interactive — concepts of management should be explained by giving examples from the industry, by citing management journal articles and by taking up more and more case studies. This will remove the boredom of classroom teaching. An increased participation of students will mean enhanced confidence, strengthened communication skills, team skills and voice modulation.

Students feel lost — what if they are not placed through campus interviews? From day one, they should be counseled regarding alternative lucrative career options available to them.

Apart from industry jobs, joining NGOs is not a bad option — seeing the amount of self-satisfaction one gets by doing something for the less privileged. Besides, NGOs pay very well these days.

They can aspire for higher competitive examinations like the Civil Services exam — two-year time is more than sufficient to prepare for the optionals.

Those having a strong conceptual background and good communication skills can go in for teaching. For this they can aim to clear the UGC-NET examination in management while studying for MBA. Afterwards, they may join Ph.D.

From job-seekers, they can become job-providers. Students prepare various project reports. These can be given concrete shape by starting a venture.

They may take up consultancy work. Here teachers can help them get the initial breakthrough.

Writing for journals can be a rewarding experience. For this students may be advised to "read more, think more and try to write." Experienced teachers can play a vital role in this.

Net may not help find jobs: study

WASHINGTON: Taking help of the Internet to find a new job? Watch out! It may not be of any use.

Contrary to popular belief, using the Net may not improve a person's chances of finding a job, says a new study, to be presented at the annual meeting of the American Sociological Association in Atlanta by Christine Fountain, a University of Washington doctoral student.

"The punch line is everyone thinks the Internet is a great new way to help people find a job. But it really is not," said Fountain, who used a sample of monthly US Census Bureau and Bureau of Labor Statistics data of 50,000 American households to track two groups of unemployed workers.

The differences between people who used the Internet as part of their job search strategy and those who did not were small, but statistically significant among a sample of more than 650 persons who were unemployed and looking for work, according to Fountain.

In the first group who reported being unemployed in August, 1998, those who utilised the Internet were 3 per cent more likely to have found a job within three months than those who did not use it.

However, among the second group who reported being out of work in December,2000, those individuals who used the Internet were 4 per cent less likely to have found a job in three months than non- users.

Fountain said the prime reasons for this were the quality of job information available on the Internet, the surge of people using the Internet as a job search tool and the flood of resumes that had made it more difficult and time-consuming for employers to sort through job applicants.

"As the Internet use increased, people from all walks of life began using it in job searches,"she said. "It has become a standard part of how people look for a job, even as it appears to have lost the advantage it may have once offered."

However, she believes that to a certain extent it has helped many, but when it comes to finding a job it still matters who you know. "Just because you know about more jobs does not necessarily mean that you will get any of those jobs," the researcher concludes. — ANI

A college-goer at 78!
Krittivas Mukherjee

KOLKATA: Like thousands of others, Ms Bakul Chatterjee passed this year’s higher secondary examination and enrolled in college for a Bachelor’s degree.

However, unlike all of them, she is not looking forward to fun-filled college days or racking her brains over a suitable career.

Why? Because Ms Chatterjee is in the twilight of her life and, at 78, is Kolkata's oldest college-goer.

For Ms Chatterjee, going to college is not an achievement of a personal ambition, but just a milestone in the process of fulfillment of a promise made a long, long time ago.

"My husband had made me promise that I wouldn’t give up studies come what may. I’m happy that I’m still at it," says Ms Chatterjee, who can now hear only with a hearing aid.

Born in Faridpur in present-day Bangladesh, Ms Chatterjee was married off young and did not get a chance to even complete school.

However, in the midst of her busy family life that involved shifting base from Bangladesh to India, she kept in touch with books.

She, however, got a chance to take the secondary school examination only when she was 54 years old.

"In 1979 I passed the madhyamik (secondary school) examination," Ms Chatterjee recollects, adding that shortly after that her husband died.

"It was good that he saw me clear the madhyamik," says the mother of five.

The pain of losing her husband briefly took her over, but she made her first attempt at cracking the higher secondary examination two years later. She failed.

She kept trying year after year —"so many times that I have forgotten how many," sighs Ms Chatterjee, whose eldest grandson is studying engineering.

Her missionary zeal to get into college received a setback when she lost one of her sons last year.

"I have still not overcome the shock. I was heartbroken and bedridden for months after that. But eventually I collected myself for one more attempt."

That attempt in April this year saw her clear the higher secondary examination.

Ms Chatterjee, with her average marks, has enrolled in Shibnath Shastri College for a Bachelor in Arts and is the toast of her class.

Ms Chatterjee, who does not think her tryst with studies merits any publicity, confesses she is ill at ease in the class because her classmates are "younger than even my grandchildren".

She says when she is in college, she realises "this is another time, another place".

However, she also says nothing will deter her from continuing with her studies.

"I’ll carry on with my studies till my last day because I have a promise to keep. Getting into college is not the end," says Ms Chatterjee proudly. — IANS

DNA fingerprinting is based on the principle that the genetic makeup of every person is unique and distinctive. Practically every function of the human body is controlled by the DNA and its sources include blood, saliva, sperm, tissue, hair, nails and even pulp left in the teeth of the body which has been burnt!

DNA fingerprinting tests in India are mainly carried out at the Centre for Cellular & Molecular Biology (CCMB), Hyderabad, and now also at Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar. DNA fingerprinting is used in analysing pedigree and establishing paternity and maternity.

DNA profiling is also used by immigration authorities for establishing family relationships. The RFL patterns are a great help in identifying homicidal victims. DNA fingerprinting is the key to diagnosing inherited disorders like cystic fibrosis, haemophillia, etc. It is also applicable to animals for livestock breeding and in plants for authentication of seeds and germplasm.

Due to the increasing popularity of forensic science and pandering to the teenagers’ fascination for guts and gore, the subject is now taught in hundreds - some say thousands of middle and high schools across the USA. However, in India, no university offers a full-fledged BSc in this subject.

Dr Harisingh Gour Vishwavidyalaya, Sagar (MP), and Karnatak University, Dharwad, offer Criminology & Forensic Science as an optional subject and University of Madras offers Criminology as a major subject at the Bachelor’s level.

However, you can pursue MSc (Forensic Science) after completing your BSc.

I understand your anguish, but feeling frustrated won’t help. Jobs for freshers in IT have been a somewhat tough proposition in the past couple of years. But the good news is that the situation is beginning to lift. There is a marked surge in IT recruitment - particularly at the middle level.

There are various things you can do and I am enlisting a few of them:

Since you have excellent scores, you already have a certain advantage. Without wasting any more time, try to add-on some project experience rightaway. Check if someone will give you a project to work on. Develop managerial and multi-disciplinary skills. Your project work and the resultant training would be a good foundation to seek full-time opportunities.

While waiting for good software opportunities to materialise, you could even consider joining any of the leading companies in the ITES sector like GE, Convergys, Spectramind, etc as a Technical Support Officer. While its not great, the money is pretty OK for fresh rookies - about Rs 8,000-12,000 to begin with. A year down the line, you could notch Rs 14,000 plus, depending on your performance. However, TSOs must have good written/spoken skills.

IT is a big industry, which cannot become any smaller. The demand for IT jobs will grow and not decrease -in the long term.

Sure you can go ahead and start preparing for the CAT in dead earnest. For the simple reason that students appearing for the final year Bachelor’s degree exam are also eligible to apply.

If selected, you will be given provisional admission upon submitting a certificate from the Principal/Registrar of your college/institute stating that you have taken the exams (including practicals) in all subjects required for obtaining the Bachelor’s degree by June 30.

Your admission will, however, be confirmed only after you produce the marksheet and a certificate of having passed the exams. But make sure you do so before December 31.

In view of the orders of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, the Punjab State Board of Technical Education and Industrial Training decided to allow Punjab candidates who had passed their matriculation exam as "private candidates" to seek admission as per their merit in JET to the different diploma courses offered by affiliated institutions in the state under the 85% quota for residents of Punjab.

The JET is held in June. For details, log on to: www.punjabteched.com or www.punjabteched.net .

The Board is located at Plot 1-A, Sector 36 A, Chandigarh (Ph: 615385, 622584).

With global population growth having reached dangerous levels, population studies has gained increasing significance. Specialisation in this field offers opportunities to work with international aid agencies like USAID, the Population Council, the Ford Foundation, the UNFPA, Care, etc on their various surveys and research projects. Central Government offices like the Census Office, Registrar-General and Census Commission and the Ministry of Family Welfare also employ specialists in Population Studies as do some NGOs and professional bodies such as the Indian Association of Population Studies.

You could do your Master’s in Population Studies at the following universities:

International Institute of Population Sciences, Govandi Station Road, Deonar, Mumbai. The only institute of its kind in the world, IIPS, a Deemed University, is solely focused on the study of demography. Course: Master’s in Population Studies, also available through distance learning (1-yr). Eligibility: Master’s in Stat, Maths, Econ, Sociol, Anthro, Psy or Geog.

Annamalai University, P O Annamalainagar 608002, (TN).

Bharathiar University, Maruthamalai Road, Coimbatore 641046 TN).

Sri Venkateswara University, Tirupati 517502, Chittoor, (AP).

If you wish to pursue higher studies in the subject, you could opt for M Phil in Population Science from JNU. Eligibility for the programme is MA in Geography. The course covers fields like Human Settlement, Methodology, Morality, Urbanisation, Census and Vital Statistics etc.

Besides these, 10-odd universities offer PG diploma courses after graduation: Maharshi Dayanand University, the University of Madras, the University of Burdwan, Punjab University, the University of Rajasthan (post-MA Dip).

The Ministry of Human Resource Development recognises certain technical institutions i.e. IETE, IE, ASI, DOEACC whose certifications /membership are considered on a par with BE/BTech programmes both for the purpose of employment as well higher studies in India and abroad.

Once you get the Associateship you can appear for the GATE (Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering) for admission to ME, MTech and PhD programmes in engineering at any university.

For technical/professional courses, the MHRD seeks the recommendation of the AICTE.

Hence both the AIU as well as the MHRD recognise the AMIETE as equivalent to BE/BTech degree. As far as government service is concerned you will be eligible to take the Engineering Services Exam conducted by the UPSC.

You are in luck! Annamalai University through its Directorate of Distance Education, Annamalainagar 608002 (www.annamaliuniversity.ac.in) offers a MSc (Physics). The eligibility for the 2-year course is BSc (Phy) main with Maths as an ancillary subject.

Annamalai University also offers MSc (Botany, Chemistry, & Zoology, Maths, Bioinformatics, Electronics Sc, Applied Psychology) Kuvempu University, Distance Education Council, Jnana Sahyadri, Shankaraghatta - 57745, Shimoga (Karnataka) www.kuvempuuniversity.org.

MSc Physics, Chemistry, Zoology, Botany, Environmental Sc, Mathematics.

The Institution of Permanent Way Engineers (India), a technical body under the Ministry of Railways, offers a 1-yr diploma-level course in railway engineering, through correspondence.

Diploma-holders in engineering or graduates with science/maths as one of the subjects in Class XII are eligible for this course.

A diploma in railway engineering is accepted by the Ministry of Railways as a desirable additional qualification for recruitment to various posts through Railway Recruitment Boards.

For further information, you could contact:

Institution of Permanent Way Engineers (India), G-11, Railway Board, Rail Bhawan, Raisina Road, New Delhi 110001.

— Pervin Malhotra, Director, CARING

Editor, Query Hotline, The Tribune, Sector 29, Chandigarh-160020
or at careerguide@tribuneindia.com