Authors Prasad Ajinkya
Anannya Deb
Team i-become
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By Anannya Deb
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By Anannya Deb
Jabberwock describes the gulf between professional life and private life and writes his own story of how he made the twain meet. He writes:
I have to be regularly reminded of one of the most basic facts of human existence: that most working people in the world keep their professional and personal lives in separate, airtight boxes, and baulk when the two things chance to overlap; that they meticulously plan their weekends and weekday evenings (assuming they aren’t working late nights) and feel a bitter sense of loss if they don’t succeed in squeezing maximum utility from those precious pockets of “leisure time”.
Then describing his own career choice of being a freelance writer, he says:
there is no discernible divide between my “work” and my personal interests. I can spend my morning reading a great new novel by Orhan Pamuk (which is in fact what I did today), then watch a couple of films on DVD in the afternoon and evening (occasionally pausing to make little notes), and truthfully claim that I’ve spent the day adding value to my skill-set as a columnist/reviewer.
Then he asks a question:
All that said, would I trade this in for a regular working routine, or a high-paying job that I couldn’t be enthusiastic about? No way.
If I may put my 2 bits on this, it may seem idealistic that one’s “work” is also the source of one’s pleasure. But it is not so. The story of Jabberwock, an esteemed man of letters, is very much real. And it can be for everyone. There are people who love design and drive themselves to becoming architects, artists, communications professionals, etc. There are people who love interacting with other people (read networking) and they see themselves going into sales, events, social media, conferences, etc.
I believe the biggest hurdle to doing what you really enjoy comes from within you. It’s not the parents, the neighbours, the friends, the state. It is you who stops yourself.
Go discover what you really care for and become that.
By Anannya Deb
This diagram was created by our team:
 Rat Racers and I-becomers Needless to say, we are all rat racers, aren’t we? Which is why when there’s recession, when companies stop coming to campuses, when there are pay cuts, etc, we feel WTF. Instead i-becomers generally don’t care about all this. Because of their inner strengths, they are able to find and navigate their journeys with complete fulfillment.
Come over and let’s discuss this.
In the meantime, do check out our call to people.
By Anannya Deb
The IIT placements reports are in. All the IITs are reporting good numbers. Couple of interesting points
Last year about 10 per cent of the students opted for start-ups. This year the figure might dip as lot of large companies have made a comeback to the campus.
And this one.
This year a new profile that students are interested in is clean energy and efficient technology and hence companies like NTPC and Modile Thermal are expected to get good response when they visit the campus in the coming days.
Interestingly, there’s consulting, finance, manufacturing but very less IT. A small blip or something significant?
By Anannya Deb
Philippe Thieriot asks an interesting question on LinkedIn : Great Jobs, Lousy Jobs?
Some of the answers are interesting:
Erick Bradley says:
My best job experiences have been working with individuals who believed in me and wanted to help me succeed and grow. It also helped that I genuinely enjoyed working with my colleagues and managers.
Richard Jackman says:
I’d suggest to pay attention to any subtle uncomfortable feelings you get during the interview(s), tour of the office, etc. Take note of them afterwards, then sit down observe how you feel about them. Don’t analyze, just get in tune with your gut feeling about this. If something feels really wrong, your subconscious is probably really onto something, even if you’re not consciously sure what it is yet. It may even lead you to ask some questions of your prospective employer that you haven’t thought of.
In general, the best jobs are ones where there is maximum contribution to the organisation matched with maximum rewards to the invidual. Rewards is not just monetary but also at a personal level refers to new learnings, capabilities and inner fulfillment. We call it Total Compensation.
By Anannya Deb
ecophilo writes:
As the front desk, it is necessary for you to welcome every person who comes into your company for an interview. That means, you get back to her on time, on the time that you promised that you would and get back to her regardless of whether they made into your company portals or not. If you are doing it, like many companies do, that leaves the candidate with a nice feeling of wanting to come back, of spreading the word, of being your marketeer (or otherwise) for free.
What is your experience with HR teams of organisations? Do they make you feel wanted? Do they really have a concern about you? If the HR department is not concerned about people, what can you say about the entire organisation.
By Anannya Deb
The media is abuzz with the CAT fiasco. To be honest, if it were not for the drastic consequences on the lives of some many people, it is almost a scene from absurd theatre.
Here are some reactions:
The test was moderately easy. But by then no one was in a frame of mind to even attempt it.
Although I did not face any problems, a student who looked like he wasn’t familiar with computers walked out 20 minutes after the test began. It seems he hit the End Test button by mistake and it was all over for him! I don’t quite know how that happened because even after you hit the button there is a pop up telling you that proceeding further will end the test.
We were already exhausted, and they expected the students to take a paper that is known for testing mental alertness. I registered a protest, saying that it was not fair for us to take the test in the mindset we were in while the rest of India is taking the test calmly.
So what is the point, you may ask? When introducing a new program or a change, one has to be systematic and rigorous in the entire planning. Obviously IIM-Prometric team were not. And hence this happened. Affecting not them but hajjaar other people.
By Anannya Deb
We have launched i-become.org, a hub for practitioners of the i-become philosophy. We invite people who want to enable their peers, juniors and the communities at large in their journey of becoming.
By Anannya Deb
Ecophilo writes about how to choose your MBA specialisation:
Heres your answer: Marketing is for those who can talk well. Finance is for those who are good with numbers. Operations are for those (who are good with numbers plus) with a manufacturing background. HR is for those who can handle the touchy feely stuff – or those who are bad at maths or non engineers, if you want to be politically incorrect. There is always MBA in IT that is available for those who came from an IT background or those who want to go to an IT company. End of puzzle.
If this sounds too simple, he goes on to say:
Heres a thumb rule. Remember, that the MBA is an addition to your 15 or 16 plus years of what you have already done. So, if you are an engineer or an economics student, the MBA is just the icing on the cake – the cake is what you already have – the sum total of your studies and your experience. Now take a second look at those specializations. And then take a long hard look at your interest and strengths. What do you like to do will answer the former while what you are good at will answer the latter. A combination of these three should ideally lead you to the specializations. If you are in doubt or in a fantasy about the nature of jobs after acquiring the said specialization, please meet a few people who are in the kind of job you long to do and ask them exactly what they do. Beyond jargon, beyond the gloss, beyond the job description, ask them what is the exact work that they do and if that interests you.
The last question “that interests you” is critical. While the world may be looking for certain specialisations and those specialisations may be getting tons of dollars as salaries, it all has to be balanced with “that interests you”. You could be a great person in what you are interested (thus moving to the top of the pile) or you could be a journeyman in some other specialisation where you are not really interested (and be just another MBA).
The choice is yours. In these days when hire and fire, being in demand and being obsolete are separated by a flip of the coin. It makes good life insurance to invest in something that one has an interest for, a passion for – something which, when one wakes up in the morning, makes us happy that we have something worthwhile to do for the day.
So what specialisation are you looking at? Do tell us.
By Anannya Deb
A career blog is a great way to present oneself. It is much much bigger than your resume. It is a live stream of yourself and provides immense visibility into your personality giving potential employers a clear idea of your strengths and capacities.
@guykawasaki tweeted this link on using career blogs. The full article is by Pete Kistler. He lists five main tips for running a career blog
- Growth: Write about new things you have learnt every day tracking your growth as an individual. This could be about your domain, your personal skills, strengths, etc
- Expertise: Write about the subject area expressing your views, outlook, perspective, etc
- Knowledge of current trends: Keep track of what is happening in your world by posting simple excerpts with a 1-2 line commentary.
- Ability to deliver: Write about your achievements, about things you have done that has added value to people. Focus on how you applied your knowledge to deliver.
- Positivity: Quoting Pete “Remember the purpose of the blog is to get you noticed and hired, not complain about your personal life“.
i-become Showcase is, in spirit, a career blog. Integrated with a lot of self-introspection tools, narrative writing aids, etc. it aims to enable career professionals to truly showcase themselves. Write in for more details.
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