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You may have contacted Sonali over the
internet and got valuable advice on job hunting. Sonali is an expert on Job
hunting and career solutions.
For the past seven years she
has helped jobseekers by sharing her job market expertise absolutely free of
cost. We have invited her to share her expertise with you through Jobnet
Magazine.
Being
the first of this series we are beginning with the beginners. Here are some
valuable tips for Freshers!
|
Sonali is a Career
Consultant with valuable experience in the Indian job market. |
Here are some valuable
tips on Rectifying career choices.
Sonali says…
Have you chosen a career or a job in a field and realized that you are not
comfortable with it? It happens to a lot of people. Sometimes at the
beginning of their career or in the middle of it or even when they are at
their retirement age.
The common reactions most people have, is to simply brush it under the
carpet and carry on, or they simply change their jobs hoping that a change
will become a solution to the problem.
For starters…
First we need to admit the fact that jobs are about emotions and feelings -
yours
Secondly we need to admit that our feelings and emotions about the way we
feel about our jobs cannot just be wished away. They have to be
acknowledged.
So do not try to become a
surgeon doing a clinical examination on your self and please do not look for
career doctors either.
How does one do this when all our lives we have been trained to view jobs
and breadwinning as life’s serious business where practicality has a place,
but not emotions? Frankly there is only one way. Go to the rooftop be sure
that no one is listening, admit the importance of your feelings – and shout
– F--k the world. It works for me, maybe it will for you too. Now let’s get
down to business. Many of our concepts about jobs is actually bullshit, so
while you give due respect to your feelings, take your perception about jobs
and careers with a pinch of salt. Much of it is not your own.
Your ideas are influenced by
what you see and experience around you. Family influences exist. Maybe your
father was the family’s sole bread winner who struggled for financial
stability and it was his influence that makes you view a government job as
stable. Or maybe your cousin chucked his job and became rich and successful
in his own business and you have an inclination of doing your own business.
Or it may be that your mother struggled in a job that she disliked so you
decide that you should take an opposite route. Our educational systems are
also responsible for our career choices - or our lack of choice in a
particular field. School influences our choice of subjects. We are herded
into taking science, arts or commerce and once these choices are made
changing becomes difficult because the higher educational institutions are
so rigid our choice of subjects as well as our qualifying marks. So once you
choose Arts in school for example, you cannot easily opt for a science
related course in collage, like some branch of medical sciences. So
most of us land up choosing what we get rather than what we want. So do not
sell yourself short. Also remember that there is no such thing as the
perfectly, right career for you. Stop viewing your career decisions in terms
of right and wrong, good or bad and instead label it as a process of
learning or change.
Be it 16 or 60 you can change your career choices.
All your life you will be changing jobs, either in the same career path or
in a new line. You have to train yourself to become a successful fighter. So
let us apply the methods of winning wars.
The strategy counts
The strategy for all successful job hunting is information and learning.
Being the topper or the best guy in your profession has limited importance.
It is no ticket for winning. Good job hunting as well as successful
interview skills have to be learned too.
And please remember there
are no magic mantras that will help to give you what you want or save you
from getting shot down. Firstly trust no one else for your safety. If you
are a fresher and your institution brags about campus interviews remember
that their focus is on getting admissions. If they claim 99.9 % success at
campus placement read between the lines. That 0.9 % might be you. Also
remember that getting your first job does not imply a long and happily
married job. Most first jobs do end in divorce though the timing and
duration may vary. For example, if you have done Fashion Designing, and you
are working with an export firm, and you are not finding it satisfying, you
could think of alternatives like fashion Journalism for a magazine or even
teaching. Or, if you decide that even that does not appeal to you than spend
the next few years exploring, the same field or explore a brand new field
before settling on a career choice.
It is sad that so many
people hate their career choices but justify it and continue to stay in
careers that offer no joy. Never do that.
If you are a fresher then treat your first few jobs as a continuance of your
education. - without guilt. Remember that in a place like India there is not
much interface with between industry exposure and education. One never gets
to learn unless you learn the hard way. So experiment, explore and change
should be your mantra for the next 2 years.
If you are an experienced
professional specialized in a trade the same laws apply to you also. Maybe,
now, you want to get into a new line you want to experiment with. I know a
very successful Insurance marketing person who changed his line and is now
teaching insurance in a business school. Because he wants to. How does one
go about it?
Which brings me to the next step
Know your terrain.
Where do you stand in terms of the job market? This is the magic formula for
winning.
Whether you are a fresher or an experienced professional you have to get an
exposure to your job market.
The simplest way is to apply for all kinds of jobs keeping your salary and
posting options open and study the reaction. Go for all the interviews you
get invited for. Talk to the placement firms telling them to job hunt for
you keeping all your options open.Study vacancy advertisements and career
websites of companies to get a feel on the job market.
Then you will get to know about availability and choices of jobs first hand.
That is most necessary.
Set up your own unique communication systems.
Never trust anyone. Check all communication systems and monitor them.
If you are using placement firms, then make sure they are clear about who
you are, what your skills, strengths and needs are. So they can accurately
present you to their clients. If you are applying through newspaper ads be
clear about your presentation in your cover letter and your resume.Do no use
standardized messages.Every company needs a unique approach.
Also remember that the easiest or fastest communication does not necessarily
imply the best communication method. Or that the most popular job hunting
strategies that all your colleagues seem to be using is good. For example if
you are a senior level manager in your company and you decide to mass email
your resume maybe a better strategy would be to communicate your needs and
desires over the telephone to your placement consultants . Or may be check
out with the personnel department on your suitability for the post before
sending your resume to them against a post they have advertised for.
If
you are a fresher the same would apply. If you are using the mass
mailing services of job websites, I suggest you don’t. The communication is
standardized and boring. It would also be absolutely stupid to believe that
just because you send a resume you will get noticed just because you believe
you are good !
Know the enemy.
No war can be won without knowing the enemy.
This is where most of us get into a crunch. Do you know what type of people
you compete and lose out to? Are they better qualified? Have a better
personality ? Better spoken English ? Better work experience? Etc.If you say
yes, are you being accurate?
Your Presumption is your worst enemy. Think facts and get facts. And please
don’t be your own enemy. Shoot someone else instead.
Feedback
Unless you get a feedback how do you know that you are doing the successful
thing?
Take an example. You are a fresher wanting a job abroad . You apply for a
job as a sales executive with a cosmetic company. You are smart with good
communication skills and are a graduate in Ecomimics from Delhi university,
also possessing an MBA in marketing from what is believed to be a famous
educational institution.
You get rejected.
It
is important to know why?
Even if you are an
experienced professional who gets rejected for a job you have to get a
feedback.
Reasons could be varied. Our doctors have to re - pass an international
medical exam to get an entry into jobs. Maybe that company you have applied
to, has never heard about your business school Or you think that the present
company you work for is Tops but maybe someone you are applying to may not
have heard about it.
The
best way to get a feedback is through placement consultants.
I suggest you use Jobnet’s Directory of Placement Firms and Companies. It
gives a comprehensive list of placement firms and companies all over India
and overseas.
Also, remember that with
companies and placement firms you need to get into circulation.
Go for interviews, even for jobs that you may not consider acceptable, that
is feedback. Get rejected, that is feedback.
While defining career change, one must realize that winning battles may
count , but winning the war is more important. And careers are about
strategy of fighting and winning.
A
long term perspective is essential, but we must also include the
fact that our career satisfaction needs will keep undergoing re -definition.
And it may call for changes in our career choices and options many times
over the years.
I have a close friend who did a travel and tourism diploma course. She
believed it would satisfy her intense desire for traveling all over the
world. She joined a travel company and spent 5 years sitting behind a desk.
Then she gave up, and changed her line to administration. She spent a few
years in a trade that she found that she had a taste for and she became good
at it. Today she is in charge of setting up administrative setups for all
her company’s new offices all over the world. So is her dream fulfilled? Not
really. Now she would love to just stay at home with her kids .Jobs are not
about career choices, but about looking at your own career in the
perspective of your current needs.
Jobs are Lifetime processes. Do not let any one brainwash you
otherwise. Don’t get conned by the great Indian retirement dream. The only
ones who are enjoying it are the insurance companies – they get to enjoy
your money before you do.
Best of luck.
Regards SONALI
Copyright © 2007, Jobnet magazine
Republication or
dissemination of the contents of this article are expressly prohibited
without the written consent of the publishers of Jobnet magazine. |
