Career Hotline
Make your talent bloom
Pervin Malhotra

Q I am very fond of gardening. What is the scope for setting up a business in floriculture? What is the qualification / training needed? What factors must one keep in mind before venturing into this field?

— Hardeep Kaur

A Floriculture can be a lucrative business, if you have a green thumb and a smart business sense. You need a minimum of one acre to begin with. Undertake a proper assessment of various factors such as soil quality, availability of usable ground water, climate and proximity to the market. You must research into the marketing possibilities so that you get the best price for your flowers and also select the most suitable flowers for cultivation.

A degree in floriculture would be ideal for getting started, though not necessary. A course in tissue culture will help you identify and propagate plants which are adaptable to Indian conditions, as also try out new breeds of flowers. If you can’t attend a regular course, North-Eastern Hill University (NEHU), Centre for Distance Education, Shillong, offers a six-month certificate course in floriculture besides a regular 6-week course in Floriculture.

Make sure your training equips you to set up and maintain a green house and handle green house equipment, cultivation techniques, post-harvest treatment, storage, packaging etc.

Otherwise, just make sure, you have expert technical advice so that you don’t fall short of quality at any stage, freshness and timing being critical issues in this business.

Prospects at UN

Q I am very keen to work in the United Nations. Would a Bachelor’s in Sociology help?

—Priya Gill

A You don’t have to pursue a specific subject for getting a job in the UN, as it offers openings across several occupational groups.

At the time of writing this column, there were1321 jobs in 134 duty stations, in 60 organisations.

With Sociology however, you will find it easier to find openings in the development-related agencies of the UN. For more information (list of vacancies, location of the job, eligibility criteria, number of vacancies) log onto their website: www.unjobs.org.

Track the site from time to time and apply online as soon as you spot something up your street.

To kick-start the application process, register on the site by opening “My UN” account. Understandably, applications submitted by UN Staff are given priority.

Other international organisations like the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), World Health Organisation (WHO), UNICEF, Norwegian Funding Organisation for Rural Development (NORAD), International Labour Organisation (ILO), etc. also offer high-profile jobs to those with high relevant qualifications (Masters and beyond) and relevant work experience. These are mostly contractual in nature and the work involves liaising, policy planning or monitoring.

No handicap, this

Q I have a visually challenged daughter who will be going to Class X. She is very fond of science. We are very worried if she will be able to tackle the board exams.

— P. Singh

A Please don’t worry. The good news is that besides the English and Social Science papers, even the Science and Maths papers of Class X carry alternate questions for the visually challenged. This is also a great relief for dyslexic students.

The CBSE Board also allows extra 60 minutes to complete each external exam.

Separate question papers that do not require visual inputs like diagrams and charts have been introduced for maths and science. Suitably equipped examination centres have been identified and special teachers have been designated as invigilators to give psychological support to the examinees. The remuneration for writers has also been raised. Moreover, the visually challenged can take their exams on the computer or typewriter.

So please encourage your daughter to pursue whatever subject she fancies.

Software is available to convert any text into Braille at the press of a key. And there is a choice of excellent speech-recognition software available. 

Commerce and computers

Q I am a commerce student. What future do I have as compared to engineering students in the field of computers?

— Karuna Kapoor

A Despite private computer institutes offering all kinds of courses in computer software to all-comers, when it comes to hiring software professionals, it is a different story altogether. A vast majority of those recruited for software development are more-often-than-not BTechs, MTechs, and MCAs or those who have a couple of years of solid project work behind them. The leading software firms like TCS, Infosys, Satyam, Hughes Software, etc source professionals from IITs, NITs and leading engineering colleges (of which there are quite a few). Perhaps one of the reasons for opting for engineering students is that they are available in large numbers. Besides they are, in a way pre-selected in the sense that one has to be pretty good to make it to a good engineering college in the first place. Also, the 4-year BE/BTech course is considerably more demanding than the average BA/BCom. Also, engineering students are perceived as having better grounding in logic and algorithm.

This certainly doesn’t mean that a commerce or humanities student cannot or should not go in for computer training. After all, the single largest application of IT is in business — an area that’s Greek and Latin to an engineer!

Be prepared though: it may take you a while to land your first assignment. Focus on getting some live hands-on project work. Subsequent placement will be easier once you’ve notched the requisite work experience.

There are some other areas, however, that you could specifically look at which do not require a hardcore engineering background — web designing where you will use your creative skills to design websites. Once you get the hang of it, you can move onto the more techie aspects of web development or programming which involves structuring the site to make it easily navigable and interactive using web-specific programming languages. While this too requires specific skills, but for developing these, you are at no particular disadvantage.

Moreover, today anyone (in any career) who is not computer savvy is at a disadvantage. Almost every business and industry requires basic computer and Internet skills that are quite different from those taught in software programming or engineering courses. For these, you don’t need to learn any specific language but familiarity and working knowledge of word processing, spreadsheets, accounting, web browsing, downloading, printing, and incorporating simple graphics for livening up a report or presentation would serve you well.

If IT fascinates you, you can even target the marketing and sales segment of the industry after doing a good MBA, provided you have decent understanding of the field.

You could also look at the thriving IT-enabled Services Sector (ITES), which incorporates all those activities that are made possible by using IT, but which don’t require hardcore computer engineering skills. Classified broadly under Business Process Outsourcing (BPO), these include inbound and outbound, voice and web-based call centres (for answering queries, servicing complaints, booking orders or technical support and trouble-shooting), medical and other (legal) transcription, HR services, back-end transaction processing like revenue accounting, insurance claims and payroll processing, debt recovery, mortgage and loan processing as well as non-business processes such as animation and multimedia design etc content creation, data mining, translation and creation of legal, medical and other databases.

Manage a hospital

Q What exactly is Hospital Administration? Can non-medical graduates opt for this field?

— Maninder Bawa

A The emergence of multispeciality hospitals encompassing a variety of functions and roles in the private as well as corporate sectors, have underscored the need for professionalism and quality in hospital administration in bold relief.

A course in hospital administration equips professionals with the requisite knowledge to plan, direct, coordinate and control the various activities of a large hospital and managing the complex relationships between patients, physicians, hospitals, insurers, and government agencies.

The overall objective is to ensure quality healthcare as well as effective utilisation of funds and other resources.

The courses broadly focus on four areas of management: human resource management, facility management, quality & cost management, and information systems.

Hospital administration is a multi-disciplinary approach incorporating modern managerial tools and techniques, principles of public administration and behavioral sciences. It therefore, helps to have a sound knowledge of clinical outcomes and an understanding of the structure and processes of medicine.

Several super-speciality and multi-speciality hospitals like Apollo, Escorts, Wockhardt have opened and countless others like Max India or Fortis are planning large scale forays (into speciality, primary and secondary care hospitals and diagnostic centres) besides a slew of internationally-funded healthcare programmes. This in turn has generated the need for a distinctly qualified and trained breed of managers who are exposed to quality delivery and information systems in the field of hospital and healthcare management.

So, like many new emerging career opportunities there is currently a lack of trained hospital administration professionals.

While a handful of professional courses admit non-medical graduates, a qualified MBBS is eminently suitable and preferred for this field.

Guide to GMAT

Q What are the requirements for applying to US B-schools through GMAT for foreign candidates?

— Amanjyot Singh

A The GMAT score report is usually in the range of 200-800. Verbal and Quantitative scores are on a scale of 0-60 while the Analytical Writing Assessment is on a scale of 0-6.

GMAT cut-off scores for a particular year can vary depending on the overall quality of performance of the batch. However, GMAT percentile scores in the high 90s are usually required by the top B-schools.

You should also check with the B-school you are applying to for the scores they require.

Other dimensions like your work experience, your SoP (Statement of Purpose), quality of recommendations furnished by your three academic referees and your past scholastic achievements are also taken into consideration.

Make sure that the GMAT scores that you submit are not more than five years old — though two is preferable, although the scores are kept on record for a period of 20 years. If English was not your medium of education then the TOEFL score will also be looked at.

You can take the GMAT five times in a year. Often candidates are tempted to take the test again to improve scores. But studies indicate that in the second attempt you can on average gain approximately 30 points in the total score. Subsequent gains are relatively much smaller.

Also, keep in mind that in addition to your latest score, your three most recent scores over a period of five years will also appear on your score card.

Log on to www.mba.com for free trials and sample topics to help you prepare for the test.

— The writer is a noted career consultant

Please send in your query, preferably on a postcard, along with your full name, complete address and academic qualifications to: Editor, Jobs and Careers, The Tribune, Sector 29, Chandigarh-160030, or at careers@tribunemail.com