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Career Hotline
Q After my Class XII exam, I am keen on taking up a job in the footwear industry. Please tell me about the prospects in this field. — Ashutosh G. Singh A The footwear industry has come a long way from the days of local cobblers. Today, manufacturing footwear is a highly specialised affair that requires sophisticated machinery and technically skilled manpower. The footwear industry employs over one million people today. There are primarily three segments in this industry: designing, manufacturing and marketing. Designers handle the creative part of the job, which involves creating new footwear styles and patterns. They are hired as technical designers who have formal training in shoe pattern-making, cutting, designing and sample preparation, or as stylist designers who are clued into the current international fashion trends and can conceptualise an attractive and saleable product. Armed with technical skills, precision and computer savvy (CAD/CAM) which a good footwear design course would provide, you will be taken on as a designer — either on the rolls or as a freelancer. Since footwear is an integral part of the booming fashion industry, footwear design is a hot career choice. Jobs are not hard to come by, and as a fresher you can earn anything between Rs 15,000-25,000 depending on your qualifications and the recruiting organisation. Manufacturing involves everything from preparing and treating the raw material, to cutting, stitching and adding the finishing touches. This is a highly mechanised process handled by skilled production technicians with an eye for detail. Marketing involves selling the various types of footwear, which in turn requires a keen grasp of the domestic as well as international market. The industry is open to science graduates and those with experience or training in management and supervision of footwear manufacture. At the postgraduate level, footwear technology can be taken as a specialisation. On completing your course you could either work with shoe manufacturers or handle independent projects for them. In this industry, career progress is purely performance-based and innovative designers can rise quickly through the ranks of junior stylist and senior stylist to become the chief designer of a plant or a company. You can also join the profession as a management trainee, product developer, quality controller, merchandiser, marketing executive, production supervisor and business developer or planning executive. Graduates find employment with big multinational companies or buying houses dealing with footwear and allied products. An option you can count on Q What qualifications are required to join private sector banks? Do they offer similar prospects as public sector banks? — Kuldeep
A Private sector banks are set to become one of the most aggressive recruiters as they go on a major expansion spree, opening up over a large number of vacancies. The ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, UTI Bank, IDBI Bank, IndusInd Bank and Centurion Bank have been on a hiring binge to support fresh business plans and expand their branch network. Some like UTI even hire agriculture graduates to boost their agri-sector lending. Private banking is expanding at a rapid pace. Typically, a good MBA degree or a CA with excellent communication skills is the desired qualification for challenging jobs in marketing, financial consulting, bank operations and management in these competitive new-generation banks. The routine back-office jobs are increasingly outsourced. Some international banks like Amex or ABN AMRO recruit fresh graduates with good communication skills and the ability to handle numerical data for their subsidiaries which serve as global support centres for processing their trade and cash management transactions in their branches all over the world. Banking is undergoing rapid transformation due to globalisation of financial markets and computerisation of operations (including ATMs, tele-banking etc). There is tremendous competition to come up with innovative customer friendly schemes. While private banks are augmenting their network of branches, the public sector banks are also expanding their branches to semi-urban and rural areas while yet others are foraying into tele-banking. Besides attractive packages, banks offer good packages and annual increments. Besides numerical ability, you need to be computer savvy for all bank jobs. Engineering & environment Q I am a student of Class XII (Science Stream). I would like a career that involves working in environment-related fields. I have heard of environmental engineering. But I am not too clear about it. Can you tell me what exactly does an Environmental Engineer do? — Harmeet Kaur
A Environmental engineers usually specialise in what’s known as either ‘clean’ or ‘dirty’ work. The profession’s clean arm typically does preventive work, investigating the potential causes of environmental damage and developing strategies to ward off pollution and other problems. Engineers who engage in dirty work are the heroes who come to the rescue when environmental emergencies arise — for example, donning protective gear to investigate first-hand why poisonous gas is seeping from underground pipes or containing oil and chemical spills. Currently, less than five per cent of all engineers have the training and experience required for this speciality. A majority of the technical people in this field are chemical engineers. Apart from jobs in government agencies like the Central Pollution Control Board, openings in the private sector would essentially lie with companies engaged in infrastructure projects with environmental consulting firms. The demand for environmental engineers is expected to improve in the near future. The government has notified that any industry that employs over 500 people must have a health and safety officer. An environmental engineer is ideally suited for this task. If you are interested in working in this industry familiarise yourself with the ISO14001 standard. Career in commerce Q I want to know if there are any courses offered at the ITIs for commerce students? — Ankit Sood A The Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) offer a wide choice of certificate courses in various trades: electronic mechanic, refrigeration and air conditioning mechanic, diesel mechanic, fitter, electrician, civil draughtsman (with AutoCAD), surveyor, motor vehicle mechanic, instrument mechanic, computer operator and programming assistant, photographer, plumber, stenographer (English) (with computer), secretarial practice (with computer), hair & skin Care (Beautician), preservation of fruits & vegetables, dressmaking, etc. You can look at the following courses since these do not require a scientific background: Computer operator & programming assistant, photographer, plumber, stenography (English) (with computer), secretarial practice (with computer), hair & skin care (Beautician), preservation of fruits & vegetables & dressmaking. Incidentally, the upper age limit for admission to it is under the State Council of Vocational Training in Delhi has been raised from 25 to 40 years (45 years for ex-servicemen and war widows). There are 16 government and 55 private it is with a total enrolment of 11,632 (8852 govt). 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 |
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