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Summer of 2010
Trade courses hold ticket to Australia
Recession roster
Career Hotline
Happiness@work
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Building dreams Institute watch Some of the well known institutes offering undergraduate courses in Architecture include:
Mounds of sand and rubble, building materials, workers and machines strewn across many cities today indicate growth and development. Over the past couple of years, Delhi has been virtually rebuilt for the Commonwealth Games in 2010, but other cities in India too, are witnessing hectic construction activity — new complexes, housing projects, shopping malls, educational institutes, hospitals, as well as huge infrastructure projects speak of a nation on the move, and in a hurry to build. After many decades of inactivity, the thrust of the government’s Urban Renewal Mission and the demand among a growing middle class for affordable housing is providing impetus for growth besides generating jobs for hundreds of engineers, architects, landscape designers, construction specialists and artisans. This has meant that architecture, which has not been as popular a career as engineering, medicine or commerce, is suddenly in the limelight, and has become a preferred option. The Council of Architecture (CoA) has further opened the doors to the profession with the relaxation in the eligibility requirement for those wanting to pursue the B Arch degree. The National Aptitude Test in Architecture (NATA) is now required for admission to the B Arch programme in institutes and colleges of architecture all over India. This is an aptitude test that measures the talent of the applicant i.e the aesthetic sensitivity and critical thinking that are the building blocks for this field of study. Training
Job profile
An architect is defined as the one who organises space and regulates enclosures for different functions. An architect’s job is to design and plan for the construction of any type of building or complex from an individual residence to group housing, hospitals, hotels, commercial plazas, factories, as also gardens and leisure areas, within the framework of existing laws and regulations. This involves a co-ordination of scientific discipline with aesthetic creativity.
Team effort
Clients approach architects with some idea of what they want, but often have little awareness regarding its feasibility. The architect has to strike a balance between aesthetics and practicality, sketching and making plans with details of sizes, specification and estimates of the cost of the structure. Sometimes physical models or 3D graphics are also used for presentations. Once the plans are finalised and accepted by the client, the architect has to obtain the approval and permission from the local authority for construction. As team leader and coordinator of a construction project, the architect directs, co-relates and integrates activities, not only in the areas of design and execution, but also in others, like survey, soil testing, engineering, safety, demonstration and supervision. Professionals therefore, need to have a sufficient grasp of all aspects of building technology to be able to design for various needs under different conditions and to direct and co-ordinate the participation of all the specialists involved in the building process. The job also involves a considerable amount of field research and supervision, often outdoors under all kinds of weather
conditions.
Scope for specialisation
Further specialisation in this field can be in industrial design, urban design, landscape architecture, town planning/ urban planning, environmental planning, building engineering and management, transport planning etc. These courses are open to BArch. degree/diploma holders. Architects can also venture into interior designing, an upcoming field that involves scientific and artistic skills. Interior designers need to understand the client’s requirements and have three-dimensional space perception to translate ideas into reality.
Career prospects
Architects can be employed in designing of a variety of structures, including houses, apartments and colonies, offices and industrial complexes, hospitals, hotels, airport terminals, stadia, shopping and commercial complexes, schools etc. They provide professional services to individuals and organisations not only regarding new constructions but also in alterations and renovations. A qualified architect who is registered with the CoA can practise while working with government departments, or public sector organisations, with the Central and state Public Works Departments, housing boards, and other public organisations related to housing and construction, including the Town and Country Planning Organisation, National Institute of Urban Affairs, Housing and Urban Development Corporation, National Building Construction Corporation Ltd, as well as City Development Authorities. With the construction boom and the numerous building projects being undertaken by Indian and multi-national firms in India, there are growing job prospects for trained architects in private architecture and construction firms. With some experience architects can even set up their own practice both in designing and construction. There is also a demand for trained interior designers as construction companies do not limit their services to just putting up a structure, but also include the aesthetic utilisation of the spaces within.
Pay packet
With the substantial increase in investments in the construction sector, the demand for architects has increased greatly, as also remuneration. Today architects can expect to start at salaries of Rs 25,000-30,000, with a sharp increase with two to three years’ experience.
Special skills
So while a background in physics and mathematics can certainly help aspiring architects, it is not necessary for the study of architecture. You should, however, be creative and imaginative, with good spatial and conceptual skills. Good mathematical ability is important as the work involves complex designing problems, building economies and cost estimations. Often architects deal with legal procedures and documents making it necessary for them to understand legal language related to the profession. Awareness of social and environmental factors, observant attitude and the self-confidence to put across and justify ideas adds to the advantage while designing structures. Some financial acumen, communication skills and an ability to deal with a variety of people ranging from the unskilled labour to government officials and demanding clients are also assets that will help. Architects must also be prepared to work under all weather conditions wherever there are building sites. This would involve much outdoor work, especially during construction time — even walking through mud, and climbing scaffolding. However, architecture is a creative activity, and therefore the profession brings with it, the satisfaction of exhibiting your handiwork to large numbers of people by creating a structure that will not only endure, but will also be a showcase of your talent.
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Summer of 2010
Multinationals flock Bangalore
“For the first time, niche consulting firms such as Wolff Olins and Global E-Procure came calling to recruit our students for internships in 2010 summer,” IIM-B director Pankaj Chandra said. The annual exercise lasted for five days (Nov 6-10), with 180 students snapped up on the first day (slot zero), the largest across all state-run B-schools in the country. Of the 59 women in the batch, 18 were placed in slot zero. Similarly, for the first time, the US-based global asset management and financial services firm Blackstone Group recruited a summer intern from the prestigious B-school for its Real Estate PE (private equity) London desk. Global investment banks such as Goldman Sachs, Citi and Standard Chartered recruited the highest number of interns. Goldman Sachs, which made 13 offers, selected one student for its SSG (special situations group) division.
About 150 firms, including 74 new companies, made a beeline to offer internships in diverse verticals such as pharma, real estate, venture capital, hedge funds and niche consulting joining regular recruiters. “The mood is certainly upbeat this year, as evident from the return of investment banks, consulting and marketing firms in good numbers,” Chandra said. International hedge funds like Cowell and Lee and Sabre Capital, coming for the first time, offered intern positions across geographies to students. Among consulting firms were McKinsey, Boston Consulting Group, Bain, Booz, AT Kearney, Arthur D Little, Deloitte, KPMG and Alvarez and Marsal. Bain and Co was the single largest recruiter among the consulting firms, inducting five students in its fold. Royal Bank of Scotland, Morgan Stanley and JP Morgan were among the multinationals that made summer offers. “Of the total, 64 students opted to intern for international firms overseas,” IIM-B placement chairperson P.D. Jose said. International offers continued on the second day (slot one), with global firms such as Lotus Forex, UAE Exchange, Bank Muscat, Bates Pan Gulf making offers for diverse profiles, he added. “The number of global recruiters at our B-schools bears a strong testimony to its maturing global reputation,” Jose added.
— IANS
Finance firms lead recruitment in Kolkata
As many as 61 Indian Institute of Management-Calcutta students got internship offers abroad with 43 per cent landing up jobs in banks and equity firms, during summer placements conducted by the institute this month. The placements — a course requirement that expects every student to complete a two-month industry internship during the summer vacation between two years of the course — were held at the campus from November 4 -11 with all the 407 students of the 2009-11 batch getting offers. “Signalling the end of the bad times, finance dominated the scenario with 43 per cent of the students taking up jobs in banks. This included 80 offers in investment banks and private equity firms, as compared to last year’s 58,” said IIM-C Career Development and Placement Office chairperson Prafulla Agnihotri. Marketing firms recruited 50 per cent more than last time, picking up more than a quarter of the students. Among the investment banks, the Royal Bank of Scotland made the largest number of offers — 11. Barclay’s Capital, Bank of America — Merrill Lynch and Nomura also recruited from the campus. Among the other recruiting banks were UBS, Credit Suisse, JP Morgan Chase, HSBC Global, Morgan Stanley and Deutsche Bank. The leading consulting firms included Mckinsey, Bain, BCG and At Kearney. The private equity firms who returned to the campus included Baring Private Equity Partners and Mount Kallett Capital Management.
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Trade courses hold ticket to Australia
Gone are the days when an MBA or a beautician’s course in any Australian educational institution would have fetched a dream job for Indians. Now, technical trade courses like plumbing, carpentry or masonry are what could help an Indian earn a permanent residency (PR) Down Under. Sajan John, director of Melbourne-based Ind Aus Business Links Pty Ltd (INDAUS) which provides educational consultancy, said that today a student who completes an MBA course would struggle to get a PR in Australia. “There is a huge shortage of technically qualified manpower in the fields of painting, carpentry, brick laying (mason) and plumbing and electricians. Not only would one get a PR after a two-year course in any of these disciplines but also get a handsome monthly income,” said John. He said following the huge media publicity on the attacks against Indian students in Australia, the waiting period to get a student’s visa has gone up from one month to two. Prior to a student visa being issued by the Australian Embassy in India, most of the students are called for a personal interview. John came here early this month and is conducting a series of seminars across the state and in Chennai for prospective students migrating to Australia for studies. “Nursing is still in demand but my advice to prospective nurses looking to migrate to Australia is not to be duped by agents. We have seen a good number of cases of nurses who arrive there to do a course in community welfare, which they are told is an easy way to get a job as a nurse. But at the end of the day they end up nowhere,” said John. The total tuition fee for a two-year course in either a university or any of the various colleges in any technical areas would be in the range of Australian $18,000-22,000 ($16,700-20,430), he said. Living expenses would range around Australian $1,000 a month and this can be recovered by working 20 hours a week. “After the course those who start working can earn around Australian $40 an hour in these trades. This is huge money but surprisingly from the various seminars I have conducted here the demand from students here is still for MBA and for nursing careers,” said John. The minimum eligibility for students aspiring for a higher education in these technical trades is Class XII and a score of 5.5 in International English Language Testing System
(IELTS). — IANS
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Recession roster In an interesting categorisation of employees’ behaviour in these recessionary times, Canada’s world-famous Queen’s School of Business at Kingston near Toronto has clubbed them into seven groups. According to Douglas Reid, who is an associate professor of global business at Queen’s School of Business, employees in recession-era workplaces typically fall into the seven broad categories. He lists them under new terminology, with the Terminated topping the list. The Terminated These employees may not be physically present in the organisation, but their memories linger and affect those that stay. The Fearful These employees fear they will be getting the axe next. Though they are ready to search for a new job, they cling to whatever certainty their existing situation affords. The Indifferent This group believes that the recession is going to affect someone else, not them. The Delighted These are the high performers who delight in the improvement in their situation relative to the average consumer via sales and discounts. The Apocalyptic This is a small group that believes that the recession presents a necessary ‘reset’ for a myriad list of failures in the existing system of capitalism. The Longers They are hoping for a severance package and are optimistic that they will quickly land another employment. The Engaged They form the core of a company’s renewal efforts. They understand the consequences of the recession and what needs to be done to help the business recover. According to Reid: “Managers encounter a wider range of on-the-job behaviours than simple economic reasoning predicts. ‘Relying on fear as a management tool is as poor a choice during a recession as it is during a boom.” Rated as Canada’s top business institute, Queen’s School of Business is also one of the world’s premier business schools. Apart from Canada, the school runs its business programmes in the US and the United Arab Emirates.
— IANS
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Career Hotline
Part-time options
— Kewal Prasad A.
If balancing your studies and your work is a tight rope walk for you, you can switch to working from home and choose your working hours to suit your convenience, thus leaving enough time for your IAS preparation. You can become an e-tutor — teaching overseas students online through the Web and voice-based interface. Since you have experience in BPO, teaching online shouldn’t be very difficult. For this, you don’t need to have B.Ed. or even a postgraduate degree necessarily. You can become an e-tutor if you have expertise in any subject; be it English, mathematics or science coupled with familiarity with the Internet and good command over the English language. Some companies which provide part time jobs are Tutor Vista (www.tutorvista.com), Transweb (Transwebtutors.com), Career Launcher (www.careerlauncher.com), and EduWizards (www.eduwizards.com.), etc. Moreover, you can even shift to classroom coaching anytime if you have the right qualifications. Many students go for these options along with their studies. However, how you “manage” your time will depend totally on you. You could even teach conversational English or give personal tuition to schoolchildren. Math tutors are always in great demand. You can earn approximately Rs 20,000 per month as per the time you can allot to the work: Part Time (five hours a day). If you take it up as full-time teaching, you can earn a lot in e-tutoring while sitting at home. At the same time, you can prepare for the
IAS exams. Also, do explore the possibilities of working part-time in the BPO space as well. Some BPOs do offer this provision, although the money is not as good as it is in full-time work. Since maths is your forte, you can also look at teaching the subject part-time at a Coaching academy (for Plus II, MBA/Engineering entrances etc). Individual coaching is another option.
Bcom(h) vs Eco(h)
— Medha Barnwal A. Eco (H) is an academically demanding course that requires an analytical bent of mind. It goes deep into Economic Theory, Economic Systems and Principles, Econometrics & Statistics, Indian Economics, Economic History, Developmental Economics — all of this to give you a deeper understanding of how economics and economies work. Economics impacts several aspects our daily lives — from what we pay for cellular and cable TV services, to the price and subsidy on petrol for instance. The subject also requires you to read extensively around the topics covered in the syllabus — beyond the prescribed textbooks. B Com (H), on the other hand, is a more application-oriented course. It teaches you Accounting, Finance, Corporate and Tax Law, Business Economics. In a B.Com. course you can also opt for specialisations such as Accountancy and Finance, Banking and Insurance. The traditional commerce options such as CA, CWA, CS, CFA, CFP, banking, insurance, actuarial science, risk management, venture capital, merchant and investment banking, taxation, company laws, capital market.
Learning Korean
— Lalit Kumar A.
Jawarhalal Nehru University (JNU), New Delhi, is the only university to offer BA and MA courses in Korean (five-years). JNU offers one-year Certificate and one-year Diploma courses in Korean language. Eligibility for the Certificate Course is SSC, after which you can go on to do the diploma course. The University of Delhi also offers Certificate/ Diploma/ Advanced Diploma in
Korean Language. Alternatively, you could look up the Net for Korean language tutors who could coach you privately.
On road to luxury
— Deepa Chaube A.
Notwithstanding the global recession, India is poised to emerge as one of the top five markets for luxury brands in the world by 2025 (from being the 12th largest at present), joining the league of Japan, US, UK, China, and Germany. With increasing income and rapidly changing lifestyles, India’s consumer base for high-end brands is expected to touch 50 million from a little over one lakh presently. Galloping at the rate of 25 per cent p.a, India’s luxury retail market is expected to leapfrog from around $3.5 billion at present to a $30-billion by 2015. Luxury and prestige brands such as Cartier, Chanel, Christian Dior, Gucci, Hermes, Jimmy Choo, LVMH ((Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton), Piaget and Tiffany are just a few of the brands that have entered India. The rapid pace of growth has created an increasing need for skilled professionals to handle the operations and strategy at the higher level. The unprecedented complexity in doing business in an emerging economy and developing a global vision of the business calls for special skills in addition to management and business skills. Senior executives in this sector need specific business expertise. They have to manage leading brands with a highly innovative and creative potential combined with a strong history and culture in a highly competitive international context. If you wish to establish a management career in companies that deal in luxury, check out the following programmes in India: IIM-A in collaboration with ESSEC Business School, Paris offers a Global Programme in Luxury Mgt & Retail Business This is the second year of offering. Details: www.iimahd.ernet.in/executive Indian Retail School, Delhi offers a programme in Luxury Retailing (nine months).
Get set for sports law
— Veer Kakkar Do you know how very lucky you are? Just fasten your seatbelt while I tell you about this exciting new area of law that will combine your professional specialisation and your interests. Sports law is set to be the next cash cow for law majors in India. With sports gaining popularity and prominence, law firms are looking at expanding their portfolio in this segment, which they feel is recession-proof. All celebrity endorsement deals are now being prepared by law firms. Earlier, it was restricted to the two parties involved — the celebrity endorsing the brand and the corporate entity. However, now law firms are increasingly being approached to facilitate such deals as part of their advisory services. Sports law in India is likely to emerge as a big area of practice in the next five years. And with the sector getting corporatised, there will be an increased demand for lawyers specialising in this field in the years to come. Their role will be to ensure that the contractual obligations of the athletes and their rights and liabilities are tailored to best suit their requirements.
This column appears weekly. The writer is a noted career expert and director, Career Guidance India (CARING). Please send in your queries with your full name, complete address and academic qualifications to: The Editor, Jobs and Careers, The Tribune, Sector 29, Chandigarh-160030, or at careers
@tribunemail.com
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Happiness@work
Dealing with a good boss
For the Bible says, When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; But when the wicked bears rule, the people mourn (Proverbs 29.2). When Rama asked for the Sanjeevani herb to revive Lakshman, Hanuman got the entire Mount Gandhamadan. When amanuensis Ganesh heard that sage Ved Vyas had the fantastic story of Mahabharata to tell, the elephant-headed god readily sacrificed the object that every jumbo is proud of. He broke his right tusk and used it as a quill. Despite being so close to achieving it, Vivekananda let go of his desire for liberation (nirvikalpa samadhi) as his master Ramakrishna Paramahans ordered him to first relieve the woes of
humanity. — Sai R. Vaidyanathan This column appears weekly. The writer can be
contacted at svaidyanathan@tribunemail.com
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Fortnightly Quiz-349
2. In which state of India is the Tawang monastery situated? 3. Which day has been declared “Nelson Mandela International Day” by the UN General Assembly to mark the South African anti-apartheid leader’s contribution to peace? 4. Who are the top three persons in the Forbes latest list of the world’s most powerful people? 5. What is the full form of USAID? 6. Which town in Uttar Pradesh is renowned in the world for its glass industry? 7. What is the name of the world’s highest airstrip? 8. What is the highest number of runs scored by India in a day a Test match? 9. Name the only batsman to have scored 17,000 runs in one-day international cricket. 10. How many years ago did Sachin Tendulkar make his debut in international cricket?
— Tarun Sharma
Winners of quiz 348: The first prize by draw of lots goes to Jaideep Singh, class VIII-A, Silver Oaks School, Bibi Wala Road, near ITBP Bathinda - 151001, Punjab. Second: Parag Rehani, class VII-B, SAV Jain Day Boarding School, Una Road, Hoshiarpur, Pin Code - 146001 Third: Harsh Sharma, class IX-B, St Marys High School, Sundernagar, district Mandi (Himachal Pradesh), Pin Code - 174401 Answers to quiz 348: Windows 7; Anantnag and Qazigund; Climate change; Kyoto Protocol; Pratibha Patil; Bindeshwar Pathak; 25; India; David Shepherd; 354/7 Cash awards of Rs 400, 300 and 200 are given to the first, second and third prize winners, respectively. These are sent directly at the school address. Note: Kindly mention the pincode of your place to facilitate the delivery of the prize money.
Answers can also be sent at quiz@tribunemail.com
Name……………….…………........................ Class ....………….......….……................... School address
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It also means that all those who have not studied physics and chemistry in Plus II can still consider a career in architecture provided they have creative talent and have taken maths. However, the students applying for a course at some architecture institutes and engineering colleges will need to appear for the AIEEE admission test with science subjects, in addition to the NATA. This test is conducted by the National Institute of Advanced Studies in Architecture (NIASA), Pune. It is mandatory for every architectural institution imparting five-year BArch degree course in the country to join the NATA and to admit students on the basis of valid NATA score. Candidates, who are not admitted on the basis of valid NATA marks, will not be considered for registration as architects later on.
The training of an architect covers five years through a degree course or through a three-year diploma. This is a multi-disciplinary field that synthesises design with sociological, technological and environmental expertise in the conception and execution of buildings. Thus the students learn about the history of architecture, practical mathematics, design and construction, town planning, economics, some sociology, environmental science, and professional practice. Computers are an important part of training in architecture.
Any built structure is an outcome of close coordination and participation of a number of people — technical and non-technical. Architects, therefore, have to work in collaboration with building contractors, surveyors, engineers, town-planners, designers along with other professionals, including bricklayers, masons, carpenters, electricians, plumbers etc. Sometimes architects also collaborate with one another on specific projects. 
In a clear sign that the impact of the slowdown is behind, multinationals flocked to Indian Institute of Management-Bangalore (IIM-B) to offer placements to the entire batch of 348 first year students of the two-year post-graduate programme in management.
Q. After doing my MA in maths, I am currently preparing for Civil Services Exams as well as working full time (BPO). Due to financial constraints I cannot leave my job completely. As a result, I hardly get any time to study. So, kindly suggest some places that provide part-time jobs in teaching.
Q. I will be giving my Class XII CBSE boards, and my question is that I am confused between B.Com (honours) and Eco (honours). Could you please tell me the difference between the two courses? 
Q. I have been selected by a Korean Company in Delhi, and may be posted in Korea. To enhance my career prospects I am interested in learning the Korean language. Could you please suggest a reputed institution?
Q. I am a Commerce graduate and am keen to make a career in the luxury retail market. Please throw some light on this and tell me from where I can pursue a course in luxury brand management?
Q. I am doing BA LLB. I am not interested in litigation or civil or criminal law. I am an extrovert with varied interests — actually passionate about sports (hockey) that I’ve had to give up because it clashes with my studies. Can you suggest some new or lesser-known field of law that I could look at? I am very confused.
Good bosses are a rare species. So if you are lucky to have one, cherish him. Do his bidding and more, so that he has no need to pick up the rod like a schoolteacher.
1. How many years ago was the Berlin Wall brought down?