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| CAREER GUIDE |
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QUERY HOTLINE Hartron to organise training programmes |
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QUERY HOTLINE Q What are some of the more lucrative work-at-home jobs? My wife has some health restrictions that exclude her from a number of job opportunities, but working at home might supplement our income. Kalpana Khurana A A home-based business can be an exciting prospect, although not too many established options exist. There are many lucrative at-home options like web design, medical transcription, telemarketing, wedding consulting, pet sitting, child care, and catering. The options are limitless. Your wife needs to assess her interests and abilities as well as her readiness to launch a new venture. She could even think about either turning her existing skills or one of her hobbies into a home-based business. It may help to take a few assessments to begin this process. There is an online quiz at quiz.ivillage.com/work/ tests/areyouready.htm that assesses a person’s readiness to work at home. Alternatively, I have a comprehensive test that helps people identify their career options (from amongst hundreds of options) based on one’s personality and interest. For details, click on "i-opener" on my website (www.careerguidanceindia.com) Next, check with the local Chamber of Commerce (FICCI, the Delhi Productivity Council, Small Services Institute) for information on starting a business. If starting from scratch doesn’t interest her, perhaps she should consider getting into network marketing for a direct-selling organisation like Amway, Aviance or Tupperware. Be sure to research the agreements and arrangements of the work before signing on. Finally, she should write out a detailed plan and schedule that can be reviewed and revised as she begins the process of working at home. Foreign varsities Q I would like to go abroad for further studies. What are the basic criteria for choosing a course in a foreign university. Aniket Singh A Typically the higher education sector in the US (or even the UK and Australia for that matter) offers a bewildering choice of courses and combinations running into several thousands. Over 2,000 varsities offer UG courses, and 1,100 offer both UG and PG courses. Hence finding the right one requires a lot of spadework. Therefore, in addition to selecting a course that is best suited to your aspirations and aptitude, you should also consider the following: a) The type of degree (undergraduate, postgraduate, associate, etc.) b) The subject options available c) The potential availability of postgraduate studies in the field d) The size and facilities offered by the institution e) Extra-curricular facilities f) Financial support offered to students by the institution g) Location and climate h) Proximity to relatives/friends living in the country i) Availability of accommodation. You could also get a lot of information regarding courses from various websites. Each university has its own. There are several composite websites that give you a complete list of courses for each country. You should also look at the rankings published by independent bodies like the US News and World Report (www.usnews.com) and the Kaplan Newsweek Supplement published each year for American colleges. You could search either on the basis of subject, institution or type of course. The annual ratings published by leading magazines like US News are also a very useful indicator. For higher studies, go by the department’s reputation rather than that of the university because departments are independent decentralised units. Job search Q I did my BTech in computers two years ago with excellent marks. But I am very frustrated because I have posted my resume on all the jobsites but haven’t managed to find a job yet. I am beginning to lose confidence and interest. What should I do? Angad Chopra A I understand your anguish but feeling frustrated won’t help. Jobs for freshers in IT are a tough proposition – but not as tough as they were say a couple of years ago. There is a marked surge in IT recruitment — at all levels. 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. 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 a good software opportunity to materialise, you could even join as a Technical Support Officer in any of the leading companies in the ITES sector like GE, Convergys, Daksh, etc. While its not great, the money is pretty OK for fresh rookies — about Rs 8,000 to begin with. A year down the line, you could notch Rs 12,000 –15,000 — depending on your performance. However, TSOs must have good written/spoken skills plus MCSE/ CCNA/ A+. IT is a big industry, which cannot become any smaller. And the demand for IT jobs is bound to grow and not decrease in the long term. Companies like TCS, Infosys and Wipro are recruiting in thousands. They are taking in more entry-level engineers to cope with their growing business. CAT Q I have cleared CAT this year. But I’m very confused about which field to choose between marketing, finance, HR and systems. Harvinder Kaur A Congrats on belling the CAT! Not to worry: the first year’s MBA curriculum at most B-schools (with a few exceptions like XLRI) is compulsory for all students. It will cover the basic functional areas of finance and accounting, marketing, personnel and operations management. You will also learn the basic principles of economics, behavioural sciences, information technology and quantitative methods in the context of management. At the end of the first year, you will work on a summer assignment (8-10 weeks) in an organisation. In the second year, you will have the opportunity to pursue the areas of special interest to you. Therefore, all second-year courses in good B-schools like the IIMs, with a couple of exceptions, are electives. Besides helping you develop an integrated approach to solving business problems, this gives you sufficient time to choose your field of specialisation. You can even opt for two areas together such as finance and marketing, if you wish. Or even three – as long as you are prepared to take on the load of extra credits. However, MBA has always been a generalist degree and so it should remain. MBAs need to develop a holistic or "helicopter" vision of all the business processes. As you climb up the organisation, the generalist orientation will hold you in good stead. Recognition Q I wish to know whether the courses/degrees of Indian International University are recognised. Alokeshwar Kullar A Each year the University Grants Commission lists the fake and non-recognised universities under the ‘Malpractices Section’ on their website. (www.ugc.ac.in). The other regulatory body in this regard is the Association of Indian Universities, New Delhi, which may be contacted by telephone at (011) 23232429. For information regarding the status of a particular university or a deemed university, please get in touch with either or both of these organisations for a realistic assessment of the institution concerned. Exam fever Q I get terribly nervous at exam time. My mind goes blank, Ifeel dizzy and my palms turn wet and cold, and all that I’ve crammed is forgotten. What should I do? All that you describe are the classic symptoms of an anxiety attack. But don’t worry, it’s perfectly normal. And perhaps even beneficial to some extent. Let me explain. A Essentially, anxiety is the reaction of the body and mind to something that the mind perceives as a threat. It is the way our bodies prepare for danger. Quite involuntarily, adrenaline and cortisone are released into the bloodstream; the heart rate quickens; breathing becomes shallow and rapid; the muscles tense up; and the body goes on full alert! As a rule, how well you handle stress is affected by your diet. Make sure you are not lacking in calcium or iron. Make sure you include complex carbohydrates and protein in your meals. Restrict your coffee intake (it can make you very edgy). And please don’t cut down drastically on sleep. Also make sure you get some exercise to ensure maximum blood flow to the brain. A walk in the fresh air or a vigorous workout will recharge your brain cells. Also try taking occasional breaks for diversion – listen to your favourite music on the way to the exam centre and do some deep breathing or pranayama while waiting for the paper in the hall, and you’ll be fine. A certain amount of anxiety at the start of the race is good. The extra adrenaline rush kickstarts the brain into gear and helps focus on the task at hand. And remember, crucial as it may seem, it’s just an exam, not the end of the world! Best of luck. Please send in your query, preferably on a postcard, along with your full name, complete address and academic qualifications to: Editor, Query Hotline, The Tribune, Sector 29, Chandigarh-160020, or at careerguide@tribuneindia.com |
Hartron to organise training programmes CHANDIGARH: Haryana State Electronics Development Corporation Limited (Hartron) has decided to organise training programmes for universities, colleges, institutions and other organisations to proliferate IT culture and apprise librarians of how to use computers for acquisition, cataloguing, issue, return and serial control. A spokesman for Hartron said libraries all over the world had been adopting IT gadgets in their day-to-day working to manage libraries effectively. The Internet had also become a part and parcel of all big and medium libraries for cataloguing and searching books, journals and accessing information. He said the Haryana Government had adopted a standardised version of library software developed by Inflibnet, an autonomous body of the UGC. —
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1. How many countries are members of the European Union? 2. What is the name of the proposed moon mission of India, slated for 2007? 3. In which city is the world's tallest skyscraper, Freedom Tower, planned to be built? 4. Which country has for the first time officially acknowledged Sikkim to be part of India? 5. Name Pablo Picasso's 1905 painting which was recently sold at Sotheby's for a record $104 million. 6.Which state has the maximum number of seats in the Lok Sabha? 7. In which Indian city will Google set up a high-end research and development project? 8. How many years ago were the French forced to abandon their colonial control of Vietnam? 9. With which dance form is Raja Reddy associated? 10. Name the fiction work for which renowned author John Updike was recently honoured with the PEN/Faulkner award. 11. Name the Ferrari Formula One world champion. 12. Which country did China beat recently to win Thomas Cup? 13. Name the first athlete to have run a mile under four minutes. 14. In how many Test matches did Muttiah Muralitharan claim 521 wickets? 15. Which country will host the 2010 Football World Cup? Name.................................. Class................................... School address.................. Winners of quiz 206:The first prize by draw of lots goes to Gagandeep Kaur Dhuna, class XI(Arts), Bebe Nanaki Girls College, Punj Grain Kalan, Faridkot. Second: Mona, roll no 14, class 10, SD Model Sr Sec School, Rajpura town- 140401, Punjab. Third: Sukhwinder Pal, VII Poppy, Baba Farid Public School, Harindra Nagar, Faridkot. Answers to quiz 206: Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Azim Premji, Aishwarya Rai; INS Tarangini; Rashida Bee and Champa Devi Shukla; Bombay Dreams; Shekhar Kapur; Small Industries Development Bank of India; Dakar; Diego Maradona; 35; 'Doosra'; Saurav Ganguly; Rahul Dravid; Zinedine Zidane; 139; Brazil, France and Spain. Cash awards of Rs 400, 300 and 200 are given to the first, second and third prize winners, respectively. These are sent at the school address. — Tarun Sharma |
