Career Query of the Week

Hi,

I'm working with an IT MNC for 2 years but always dreamt of becoming a copywriter. When I visited one of the top ten ad agencies in india, the creative director read my dummy ads.

He said that he sees a lot of passion for adverting in me but I know a very little about advertising. so, he has offered me an unpaid training of 3-4 months. He told me that after i finish the training, either he'll confirm me or i'll have to search the job again.

Till that point I'll have a good collection of ads which will help me find a job. He'll also refer me to somewhere. "This is how the industry works and even I did the same", he said in the end.

So, I just need an advice regarding the same.

Thanks,
S

My response: I think this is a golden opportunity for you - grab it with both hands.

Getting a foot in the door is the most difficult part of making a career switch and you have just succeeded in doing it!

I think an unpaid internship with a good organisation is priceless. However, today most people feel bad about taking it up. At the same time they will happily spend a couple of lakhs on a 6 month course which will supposedly equip them with 'all they need to know'.

Ha.

Three months unpaid training means you meet only your living expenses. And even in a city like Mumbai, you can choose to slum it out and get by on 10-12 k a month (think relatives, friends, PGs, hostel).

And yes, this is how creative industries work. Not just advertising but filmmaking, photography, art. Even when you get converted to a 'paid' worker, you need to constantly learn and grow on the job and you learn more and grow more working with the best people in the business.

These people test your commitment by making you slog. By making you struggle and not giving you a free lunch. This trial of fire is what makes coal into diamond.

Enjoy the ride, go with the flow, create, experience and live each day fully.

Write back to me the day they publish/ air your first ad :)

P.S. Here's an old column I wrote for rediff.com - Kya aap copywriter banna chahte hain - still relevant.

Career query of the week

An interesting question from a software engineer who wants to study filmmaking abroad...:

I m a software engg. Age is 26. I am very much interested in doing FILM Making (Direction) Course & making my career in this field out of india, preferably in US or Europe film industry or television industry.

Now I wud like to know what is the way I can proceed in this direction.

Q 1- I want to take admission in some good film making college in US or EUROPE. Concern : the fee structure is very high. Pl let me know any good film making schools with affordable fees either in US or Europe.

Q 2- : What will be the career path after learning the FILM making course. I mean I am ready to struggle few yrs with low compensation in that country from where I will complete the course.

Q3- : What is the way (entrance exam) to join film making colleges in US or Europe.

To be honest, I do not know much about film making courses abroad... Any recommendations or advice you can share in the comments would be a great help to this guy! And many others..

Career query of the week

An offbeat one!

Hi Rashmi,

There seems to be a bit of a lack on information on the scope and employment opportunities after completing International Relations. Also, JNU and Jamia are the only known universities offering the course.

I have decided to prepare for its entrances for this year with no agenda whatsoever. I just like the subject. It would be great of you to throw some light on this field, possible career avenues as well as the best universities India and abroad. So far I can only see my option in foreign affairs journalism.

Regards,
JSB

I can think of IFS/ IAS and a career as a professor, as possible outcomes. One could also work for a thinktank and/or a United Nations kind of post (but there must be some route to achieve that - an IR degree is just basic groundwork).

If you have any info which can shed some light on JSB's question, do share the same in the comments!

Career Question of the Week - II

Another Monday, another career dilemma I throw open to the readers. Here goes:

My name is AG and I am a Commerce Graduate (B.Com), from Bangalore University. I have been working for a medim-sized firm (Family Business) for the past 3 years now. After completing my under-graduation in 2004, I worked for the BPO division of Infosys for about 11 months but due to irregular and odd working hours as well as objection from the family, quit and of began assisting in the family business which is a dealership firm in electrical wires.

It is a partnership between my father and his older brother. For the past 3 years, although I have been a part of it, I have always wanted a professional (corporate) career, preferably in Finance or Financial Management.

As a result, I have been planning for a Masters programme overseas. I have researched extensively about Universities and programmes in Finance in the U.K. I have taken up the IELTS and have a 7.5 overall in it. Some Universities also require a GMAT score,especially the top ones but I do not have a score as of now.

Essentially, I want to acquire a Masters qualification and only then hit the job market because I know for a fact that with mere under-graduate degree, my chances of getting a respectable job with a decent starting salary are very slim.

Initially, I had also contemplated a 2 year MBA in India and was interested in the CAT as well. However, with the fierce competitive scene in India for MBA seats in the top B-Schools and a half-hearted interest, I did not consider it seriously. Moreover, the thought of international exposure and perspective and a one year programme in a reputed Univerity in the United Kingdom has from the very beginning appealed to me. Therefore, I had initiated my research a good while ago.

Presently, with the global economic slowdown and a recessionary job market (no or reduced fresh hiring/recruitment), it is being said that this is the best time to acquire an additional qualification and enhance skill-sets. I have a very profound dilemma in this regard and seek advice and guidance for a bright future.

My dilemma is whether:

I should go to the U.K for a one year Taught Masters programme in Finance or Financial Management, which is my domain of interest with the programme beginning in Sept/Oct 2009 (I have applied to a few Universities in the U.K, just a few days ago), complete the programme by Sept/Oct 2010 and after my dissertation, start looking for a job there (in the U.K) before deciding upon the next course of action, including, a possible return to India

OR

Look for jobs right now and if I end up with a decent job in Finance, at an entry level, work for a few years, at least 3 if not more and then apply for an MBA at ISB, Hyderabad and a few of the One year MBA programmes in the U.K and Europe.

In both cases, there are several If's and But's and I am looking for advice and guidance so as to better plan for my future career. One thing is certain that I am not keen on continuing with my father's (family) business as there are quite a few family-related complications and hence I would like to start afresh.

A B.Com degree with very little B.P.O industry experience and a Post-graduate Certificate in Management Programme is what my current profile is. Kindly advice my plan of action from here on, considering that I am willing to invest money for my education (Post-graduate) and want to save time, rather than money.

Please advise!

I found this query interesting because the problem is multi-layered:
a) Banda wants to escape from his family business
b) He is very sure he wants to get into finance - despite the recent setbacks in that sector.

I sometimes wonder, when people say "I want to do finance", what does it really mean to them? Industry enter karne ke pehle aapne kya socha aur phir kya paaya... Do share for the benefit of aspirants!

And yeah, do let AG know what his chances of getting a job are - after investing in that 1 year UK degree.

CAs & aspirants - call in with your queries!

Update: Tonight's show is cancelled because of the UPA swearing-in ceremony. But it will be on - next week. So do send in yr queries to me at rashmi_b at yahoo.com - do make sure to send yr contact no!

Chartered Accounting is the subject of my show 'Stay Hungry' where I answer career queries every Friday on business news channel UTVi.

If you're a CA or aspiring to be on, Call UTVi on 022 40987300 and leave your name, number and question. We'll call you back! The show will be on this evening at 7 pm - live.

Joining me in the studio is B C Jain, a chartered accountant and chairman of the Western India Regional Council of the ICAI.

Apart from CA, if you have questions on related careers like CS, ICWA, CPA or even CFA, feel free to call and clear up your doubts.

By the way, I just discovered a startling statistic - of every 1000 people who give the CA a shot, only 8 will eventually qualify. Of course pass percentages vary from year to year but you expect to ragdofy a fair bit, before you get there!

Career Question of the Week

Many of you send me your career queries, and I respond to the best of my ability. But on many kinds of dilemmas there is no 'right answer'. The person asking the question is really looking for perspectives from people who've been there, done that.

And so, every Monday I will throw open one such question to the readers of this blog. Do share your thoughts and experiences in the comments section - it will surely help many a confused soul make a more informed decision.

Software career: the way forward

I am having 4 years of experience working in a software MNC, had onsite oppurtunity, earning a decent salary and had good learning in initial years of working but now i have started realising that i am not moving anwhere, there is nothing much left to learn as part of product i work upon, my work more or less resembles with the fresher that join the organisation, or its about helping/ mentoring them, I will be gradually moving to project management but there also i dont see much learning , i hardly see my manager working they are just responsible for some project schedule maintainence , people management and so.

Most of the projects don't require much technical competence, they are mostly legacy products that continue to evolve by copying code from here/there , Job which most of the people do can be done by traning any plain graduate and that is why software companies had people from all sort of colleges doing the same type of work.

There is hardly any recognition of talent because in reality nobody needs it here . All you need is a good luck to be in right project that can fetch you a onsite for a year or two and promotions. I know i am sounding very frustrated but believe me this is the truth and story of various of my friends.

So as I have explained you my position/frustration and probably many of my other fellows, I want to understand what path we can take to revive our career, what options and stream exist which will probably suit us. Does it make sense to switch to other stream, I want to understand whether it will be worth doing and what risk exist if we opt for change in stream. Also i want to know colleges besides ISB in India that can suit us.

- A K

If you have a career question you can email me on rashmi_b at yahoo.com. I will choose the question of the week based on the detail in which you explain your problem. And how relevant/ interesting I think it is to the readers of this blog.

More Kung fu

No more fundas from me though. Here are two true tales that were emailed across to me in response to the original post. Only the names have been changed, on request. Rest is as is, from my mailbox to you.

Experience 1: From XXX, in Europe

I strongly believe in "If you want something really bad, you will get it". I first came across this philosophy 3-4 years ago while reading Alchemist (Paul Coelho) and then spent a lot of time thinking about my life and if this saying was applicable to me. I could think of only one thing that I had wanted really bad - an MBA from a top school.

It hadn't materialized 4 yrs ago but I hadn't given hope. In fact, when I finished my engineering in 2003, I had admits from some good Indian b-schools but wanted to make it to IIMs. To cut the long story short, for some or other reason I couldn't get into a top school by 2006 end. Till then, I had never thought of MBA abroad thinking that I could never afford it.

At the start of 2007, I started thinking about int'l MBA seriously and decided to go for it in March. Took GMAT in June and got a decent score of 740. Even then, when I decided to apply to YYY (top European bschool), I wasn't sure of an admit. In November, I got the admit and was mighty relieved - finally I had an admit from a school which I was prepared to join.

My story did not end there. The journey from getting an admit to actually joining the school was full of ups and downs. Because of funding constraints, at one time I had almost dropped the plan to join the school. But somehow, things started working out and finally I joined YYY in Sep last year.

Cool, I say! And this next one goes out to the engineer who wanted to know about courses in finance. This could the way forward for you...

Experience 2: from YYY, in Mumbai

...your latest post reminded me of my experiences 6 years back. I was in the final semester of my engineering at Ahmedabad and like a lot of people, I had discovered through those 4 years that I definitely did not want to pursue a further degree in engineering.

Through chance, I happened to read a book on Warren Buffet and was instantly hooked on. I did some more research on my own and with great difficulty managed to complete security analysis bibles like 'Security Analysis - Graham & Dodd' and ' Intelligent Investor - Graham'.

Obviously, being an engineer, I had no clue about finance and economics. But I would ask my queries to a few people who understood finance. At 21, with no formal education in finance, I decided to pursue being a security analyst. Although I did secure an IT job through campus recruitment, thankfully I had no financial compulsion to take up a job immediately ( I realize not many people have this luxury).

So, back to the pursuit for a job in security analysis, I read through articles written by analysts in Outlook Money and similar magazines and sent emails to them saying I was really interested in working for them even if it was for no salary. Through a lot of persistence, I finally managed to get a reply from someone who ran a portfolio management business and was amazing at what I wanted to do.

I moved to Mumbai and worked on a few projects with this person who eventually became my mentor. To cut a long story short, I managed to enter my field of liking (and at 21, I was filled with idealistic notions of 'enjoying your work, money apne aap se aayega' kind of philosophy). Things progressed, I worked in this field for a year, then went back to my small family business to get a practical experience on things, meanwhile completing my international CFA and MBA from ISB, Hyderabad.

Last year, I joined ZZZ (MNC investment bank) in Mumbai as a research analyst. Call it luck, call it persistence, but I agree that if you want something real bad and are prepared to go through pain for it, you eventually get it. I don't profess to have 'achieved' anything much, only that I remembered how things for me were in 2001 when I completed my engineering.

Hope that brings some sunshine in your life on a cloudy Monday morning... Go out and get whatever it is you want. Want it badly enough and it will find a way to come to you!

P.S. 'Alchemistry' works with careers - at least it did for these two people. But does it work in friendships and relationships? Will the girl/ guy you see at the bus stop everyday and secretly have the hots for, one day fall for you? Because you really really want them to, badly...

Anyone with success stories in that area, please to share. Kyunki arz hai ki...

Career ke alaava aur bhi gham hain zamaane mein, aur bhi khushiyan
Premi aur stalker mein zyada fark nahin, bas ek ko padti hain jootiyan.

Kung Fu style career advice II

OK, so that 'kung-fu style career advice' was warm, fuzzy and vaguely inspiring. Maybe you forwarded it to a friend or two. But while you admire the way it was written deep down you doubt the content.

Well, let me now give you a couple of practical examples.

Query 1: I am Amit (name changed) and have just completed my engineering from Mumbai university.What kind of finance part time courses are available in Mumbai that will enhance my profile before doing a MBA?

My response: First of all, I don't see too much of passion in this quest. (I may be wrong... after all it's a 2 line email he has written to a stranger). But my gut feeling is that queries like this are driven by this logic:

Finance pays well, hence I should join finance.
The way to do this is an MBA.
And before that I may as well try to get a head-start by doing a course or two.

Well and good, but here's the deal: I don't know of any part time courses which would really 'add value'. The Bombay Stock Exchange does run several but they don't seem to be aimed at novices.

In general, I think we put too much faith in courses. Parents will be ok with just about any form of study, and shell out pretty large sums of money for it. Because after all "Beta course kar raha hai".

A course can at best teach you concepts but there's also the option of being self taught (reference: the panda and kung fu!).

There are books, there are websites, and even entire television channels devoted to financial news and analysis. And of course the pink papers.

The important thing is that you must aim to MASTER whatever it is you have chosen. When that is your aim, a teacher or mentor will appear somewhere along the way.

My second piece of advice is simple: "My dear it is time you went and got yourself a job!" (Wish more parents kicked butt and told their kids to do it!)

Because courses can give you knowledge, but a job gives you wisdom. You learn by seeing, by doing and just by 'being around' in that environment.

The question Amit the engineer will now ask is: "How do I get a job in finance"?

Well, again, when you really want something you figure out a way! My advice would be to list 100 companies (more of mid sized and small firms and brokerages) and send a one page resume. State that your main aim is to gain experience before you go for your MBA. And that you are willing to do whatever it takes - to learn and to contribute to your employer.

One or two out of a hundred may call you for an interview.

The rest you cold-call and speak to, or visit personally. One by one by one. It may mean cooling your heels in reception areas but I guarantee you will get a job in one month's time. Maximum two. Especially if you are willing to work for a low or even no salary in the beginning.

One secret is to somehow meet the CEO or owner and make a 30 second sales pitch about yourself. You could ambush them in the lift, on the way to the car or at a seminar.

And that could be your 'Oogway' moment.

People who have arrived always have a soft spot for the people who remind them of their younger selves. Folks with initiative, a bit of raw talent and of course, sincerity. (Oogways can smell a fake a million miles away).

Even if you don't get your job this way, the search itself would have been a personality-enhancing experience. And that's more important than 'profile', anyday.

The second query is about college admissions. It comes from Mrs K.

Question: My daughter is interested in doing her Bachelors in Mass Media. She has secured admission in XXXX (Ahmedabad). We really have no idea about this institute. Is it worth joining?

My response: I get a lot of emails like this. With insanely high cut-offs and reservations of a million kinds, it is getting really hard to get into a 'good college'.

I mean the kind which we think contains the secret ingredient.

When Mrs K asks is XXXX 'worth joining' her concerns are two-fold:
a) Does XXXX (and I will not name the college here as it could be any newly set up one) have the necessary facilities and faculty to conduct the course

b) Will studying at XXXX have any value in the job market?

The answer to part a) can easily be discovered by visiting the school and interacting with the students. If they've had a poor experience, they will tell you so.

Part b) is a tougher cookie.

In this particular case I would say BMM is a relatively new degree and employers look more for the candidate's talent as an individual than a brand name. What Ms K will need to do is go beyond the syllabus and build up a portfolio.

This she can do by freelancing, doing live projects and summer jobs (whether or not the college requires it or arranges for it).

She can always go for a post grad qualification from a more reputed institute... although ultimately I do believe that media is one profession where 'the secret is there is no secret ingredient' principle well and truly applies!

The really important thing is to be able to celebrate success as well as 'failure'.

Mrs K's daughter will be joining XXXX because she could not make it to any good college in Mumbai. So it is more a compulsion than 'choice'. But look at the spirit with which they are taking it:

... My daughter and I are not really disappointed. The journey to Mumbai and back, the travelling by local trains, crossing roads, trying to collect information, hunting for places to eat, hunting for colleges was a real experience.

We would not have it any other way. It did teach us many of life's lessons like being positive, being patient and never say die. We even thought of taking a year off and exploring different options.

When we returned to Gandhinagar, where we stay, we couldn't help feeling that we have come back to heaven. Mumbai has taught us to value Gandhinagar.

You are right when you say there are no accidents in life!

And let us end this kung fu class with the following immortal words from our lovable panda:

Tai Lung: "You... you're just a big... fat... panda!"
Po: I'm not a big fat panda. I'm *the* big fat panda.

Be THE big fat panda, in whatever you choose to be.

If you have any experiences you'd like to share please do drop me a line at rashmi_b@yahoo.com. And queries, as always, are welcome!