The working-age population in India will increase by a stunning 240 m (equivalent to four times the total population of the UK) over the next two decades, compared with 20 m in Brazil. The working-age population in Russia, by contrast, will decline sharply by almost 20 m, according to UN projections. China’s working-age population will peak in 2015 and then gradually decline. By 2030 it will be merely 10 m larger than today – a negligible change given a total population of 1.35-1.45 bn. By 2030, India will also have overtaken China as the world’s most populous country.
India to overtake China as the worlds most populous country, with the highest share of working-age population indicates that the human resources available for any organization would increase manifold.
If more companies do not set-up base in India, then it could spell trouble for India’s employment rates. With employers getting the pick of the best candidates, the country is all set to be a haven for employers. But what about career seekers? To what extent will the individual have to go to stand out of the crowd?
Their need to showcase themselves differently will rise, people need to re-look at how they are presenting themselves to organizations.
This is for students who are giving their HSC exam or equivalent and are concerned as to what options are available to them. It’s also for those individuals who know such students and can pass on this useful information to them.
As a student, after 12th there is little or none visibility to what is it that one can do. Most of us follow the herd, or take up mainstream opportunities that are readily visible to us. For the lesser fortunate individuals, the struggle is very much uphill, since knowing where one gets the forms, what is the deadline for filling those form, what other opportunities can be pursued is pretty much in the dark. Today we bring to you the story of one such individual, who went through this phase, and decided to tackle the problem head-on.
Four years ago, Ketan Deshpande and his friends were close to being traumatised Class 12-passed 16-year-olds, having either missed entrance exams or having got their forms rejected, or having not known of education avenues altogether. While any other student of their age would have chosen to compromise and stay with the problems, Ketan and friends decided to do something so that their juniors do not face the same problems and miss vital education opportunities.
Ketan compiled information of major entrance exams and education opportunities after Class 12, in different streams and published it in a book Students Fuel.
This lack of visibility was being a challenge, Ketan and his FUEL NGO have decided to bring this visibility to students early on in their careers. You can find more information about this Fuel Book here.
For a few minutes, the mood was one of melancholy and sadness. Shaz had shut all his GTalk chat windows in order to conserve bandwidth (and in turn ensure not a single ball was missed). Prasad shifted his meetings. Even Yats let his mobile phone ring.
But it all turned out very well. Jeetu ordered chai for all. You can see the relief and joy in everyone’s faces.
My father was a lecturer in a graduation college, the way he talks about the gaps of the current education system in India and how teachers should bridge those gaps to meet the student’s academic needs makes me wonder why do not teacher’s come together as a world-wide community and solve problems around the world. This is when I came across the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD).
Founded in 1943, ASCD (formerly the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development) is an educational leadership organization dedicated to advancing best practices and policies for the success of each learner. Our 170,000 members in 136 countries are professional educators from all levels and subject areas––superintendents, supervisors, principals, teachers, professors of education, and school board members.
The organization is spanning different countries and even has a community of educators online to discuss and help people out in the remotest parts of the world. Although their blog is open to everyone, but the membership is not free.
So if you are an educator and are serious about making a difference but do not know how to make it happen, then ASCD could be a starting point.
This weekend we hosted our guest Shikha* over coffee with ‘Shaz n Yaz’.
We had a warm discussion on several issues related to her career track and she also opined on general career problems faced by people.
Her own career movement has been quite interesting. It reflects a path where knowing-thy-passion and fulfillment-at-work shows up time and again. Her education has been in paramedics which she liked much during her college days and she even got a scholarship for higher studies abroad. While pursuing her studies, she interestingly, started liking social sector. This paved her path towards a career in that direction and later did consulting work for international developmental agencies. She has been working with other NGOs now and has extensive experience on managing events, public relations, and other operational aspects in non-profits.
During the discussion, we came to the point of work satisfaction or satisfaction-at-work and things like having a contribution mindset at work etc. She raised some concerns which job-seekers in India have which does not let people take control of their careers, and steer it smoothly in one’s desired directions. In other words, it is difficult to be a “designer of one’s career” in India, than in the western world. Be it east or west, a need to start earning is soon felt by the individual.
Career Designing, which is one deep message of i-become, is possible even in such cases – when we tread towards our careers in a conscious way with an i-becomer’s ideal in mind – “What I want to be and become!”
We would like to thank Shikha for taking out the time and discussing career problems that individuals face when working in the NGO sector.
All the best Shikha!
Be and Become
* – Name changed to maintain the anonymity of the person.
Peter Bregman raises a very valid question in his insightful post. He gave the example of employees in France Telecom committing suicide when they found trouble at work, an excerpt
Who am I if you take away my work? That’s a question to which we’d better have a solid answer. Fortunately, once we realize this we can do something about it.
Introspection and Self-discovery is the key to a successful career and a successful life. At i-become we are trying to help individuals unearth dimensions about themselves which were previously hidden from themselves and their peers. This is through our set of discovery and narrative tools.
I invite you to come and discover yourself. Registration and usage of the tools is for free.
People who are making a difference through their work – to themselves and to others (in whatever role they are playing),
People who are being the change they want to make! and hence making career decisions by looking at opportunities based on their aspirations, not by following the herd . .
Lets talk to them. Learn from them. Share their stories with everyone.
Can you tell the community about i-becomers you know? and why you think they are i-becomers?
India produces roughly 4 lakh engineering graduates every year, roughly double the amount of engineering graduates that America produces. Unfortunately, most of these engineering students are far from employable says The Economist.
According to the company, only 4.2% of India’s engineers are fit to work in a software product firm, and just 17.8% are employable by an IT services company, even with up to six months’ training. A larger share could cope in business-process outsourcing (call centres and the like). These findings are even gloomier than the 25% figure for employability that has been bandied about since 2005, when McKinsey released the results of a survey of international companies.
The study also goes on to say that only 20% of these employable graduates come from the top 100 engineering schools of the country. The rest 80% have to struggle to make a name for themselves, and stand apart from the throngs to be recognized.
The i-become initiative is for that 80% … for students who can decide who they want to be and showcase themselves as professionals who make a difference. Having faced these problems ourselves, we strongly believe that things need to change, and we can make the change happen. So what are you waiting for?? Join in!!
In Kim B. Clark article on Sucess and Spirituality, the author has done first hand research on how spirituality and work can be mixed to create a potent formula. The research paper further shows how leaders across the globe are turning to spirituality to enforce strong values and beliefs within their organization.
One of the quotes by such a leader struck me close with the i-become philosophy. I thought I should share it with you.
Success is a metric; you never have enough. But only you can define fulfillment. We as individuals are the only judges.
— Ricardo Levy, Catalytica Energy Systems
As individuals, we keep on defining and re-defining (once we achieve the goal) our idea of success. In that process we never get satisfied, chasing after ever increasing visions of success turns us into a rat racer. Instead, if we decide to stop and decide what maximizes our fulfillment, then as career seekers (and as individuals) we will be much more satisfied in careers and in our lives.
After the first post on Chatur, we received a good number of comments and it was heartening to see so many well thought of point of views. Here’s a summary of those comments. I am mentioning the due credit for people who commented on the previous post.
Chatur was the quintessential rat-racer
Chatur’s compensations were based on external forces and his happiness was not derived within (bhansali and Divya)
He was not a contributor, he used to ensure that his peers should suffer and fail in their exams (anand and wontonwarr)
He did not add any value to his environment, given a stimulus from external sources, he would react to it (Anand Gautam)
He did not understand that Aspiration for personal excellence is more important than achievement/success. (Sagar and Anannya)
Chatur was an i-becomer because
Chatur wanted to run the race and win it, with monetary rewards and position (external fruits). Since he got what he wanted he is an i-becomer (Ankur and Sudeep)
We define an i-becomer through the ideal given as follows, The ibecomer Ideal
Clearly, if we apply these to Chatur in 3 Idiots, we see that although the portrayal of Chatur as a rat racer is evident in the movie, he has the potential to become an i-becomer.
The potential is there within all of us, it’s the choice that matters the most.
Peter Bregman raises a very valid question in his