Of Careers

Are you well groomed? Can those who take your interview see the ability and the confidence in your eyes? Do you possess a high profile that separates you from the rest, and your education- is it from an elite school, a prestigious college, your PG from a world renowned institution? Today all these will entitle you to get selected into a much longed for career!

What about careers in those good old days? By the way, were they really 'good'? I vividly recall those days in the sixties and early seventies - services, railways, schools and colleges, and of course banking, a much desired green pasture despite numerous transfers, and, these were the only available jobs then to choose from for an illustrious career!

Today to get selected by a top PG institute a lot of ground-work has to be done. The old notion of an 'all round development' is pushed under the carpet. You have to be a master, an expert, an outstanding candidate in one particular field. So your 95% marks at school, 98% score at plus two will enable you to knock at the portals of a higher education. Once again it's a period during which tension creeps into your very being. Despite a commendable percentage in every semester, you do not necessarily stand a chance in the selection for MBA or MS. To put it simply you now additionally have to burn the midnight oil preparing for CAT, MAT, XAT and attend extra courses that are specially tailored for you. You live in a world totally alien to you sans time for food and even for daily chores. The result: you are selected into a professional college where your parents are made to pay a huge amount of money.

Mind you, these are fees and not a donation! Don't be surprised, there'll be other guys in your batch who were awarded lower grades and yet they have made it! Soon the two year course is completed and the campus selection places you in the much awaited position. Here begins your career!
Thanks to IT technology, there is currently a bloom in the job market. The Bangalore Silicon Valley, Gurgaon, Noida and Hyderabad and other cities are offering fat salaried jobs to our youth. With the resurgence of local job opportunities, the flow of manpower to the Gulf countries is on the ebb.

One desires to know if the present job scenario of phenomenal opportunities will prevail for another decade or two. The good old days with all its limitations had offered steady jobs, with yearly increments, and eight hours of work per day. But with the present 'enlightened' management and their yearly performance reviews, many an employee is denied an appraisal or is fired, especially when there is a crunch. Thus together with the hyped salaries a hyped tension prevails.
Today's career oriented youth are fascinated by the 'big bucks' they earn and spend without any concern for a rainy day. With restless hours of duty, projects and onsite postings, how well can they look after their families? Elders feel their future is bleak unless our government comes forward and regulates their working hours, thus saving the families from being neglected. Laissez faire has no place in today's society! Government supervision is needed and only then the present day job market will flourish.
Stany A. D'Souza

About Author / Additional Info: