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A student before embarking on a course of study aspires to reach for his dream, however, how far can he match with aspiration is decided only with time. The most question is how far the student is able to reach vis-a-vis his dream. For many it is a cake walk whereas for another it is full of barriers both created and natural. Many an aspirant joins a program sans the proper goal setting resulting in frequent chopping and changing of career plans. This is a natural process till the time he is a student, what happens after he joins the first organization of his life as employee is again a very important, yet unexplored area of study. Opines, Prof. Praveen Mustoor, Faculty and training and placement officer of TIME, `Many a time a student is able to convert his dream into reality by getting a placement offer from his dream employer, however, they are unable to latch into it due to various reasons'. For maximum career aspirants, completing the academic program followed by fetching a placement offer is the ultimate goal in life. This shortsightedness often results in students blocking their career vision only till they get the appointment letter, culminating in the development of a laid back approach which reflects badly during the course of the employment. Moreover, for a fresher the real challenge lies not in getting an offer, the real test is to maintain the spirit and cope up with the role offered in the company. The world of learning within the realms of classroom and the world or reality is as different as chalk and cheese. It is here most of the aspirants falter, in spite of all the hard work in the last four, five or six years.
Where does he go wrong?
The next query which is bound to rise is where does he go wrong? Is it being too obsessedd with scoring grades, marks or unduly engrossed with the objective of grabbing that offer from his dream blue chip employer? Difficult to ascertain as both the objectives tent to cross each other at some point of time or the other. The biggest problem which culminates ofter joining the dream employer, when the aspirant is unable to cope up with the expectations in the workplace has definitely to do with his professional grooming which started from the day he joined the academic program. After all the series of activities an aspirant does from the right from the selection of college till the time he is placed with his dream of employer has something or the other to contribute in the overall career building process. Adds Swastika Sen a leading head hunter in Mumbai often there is a missing link between the college to office and that is why many high end performers (students) are mediocre performers at the workplace. She cites an example of a student who had completed his masters in marketing management from a leading business school in Mumbai with excellent grades could a leader in the pharmaceutical sector, only because his soft skills were at loggerheads with his domain skills. The candidate was over confident throughout the program primarily because his excellent grasping of domain knowledge led him to take the soft skills aspect with a light approach thereby affecting his personality profile in the long run. A balanced approach with the right mix of all aspects be it subject knowledge, soft skills equation, moulding self with changing times and roles is pivotal in making an aspirant a true professional. Too much of a tilted approach towards any one or handful few aspects during the formative years does irreparable damage to the personality of the student. This gets transmitted once he is at the workplace, Realization dawns a little too late.
How to management
One need to be a personal manager, managing self, right from the word go, as it call for managing everything to be a true professional. The finalization of career plans has to be done after consulting a professional career consultant or experts from various disciplines so as to know the job traits of various career options. Sudhansu decided to opt for engineering primarily because he was always good at number crunching. Moreover, he was always drawn towards the intricacies of machinery and used to dissect all household gadgets and small machinery at a very tender age. It was his fascination with machines that he decided to opt for mechanical engineering. He was very clear in his career goal of joining a manufacturing a leader and his dream was fulfilled after he got a placement offer with an automobile leader. During the course of the fours years of engineering Sudhansu maintained a perfect balance of academic, soft skills and hands of experience while working for free of cost in automobile workshop, interacting with seniors who were placed with various manufacturing player. He could pick up the threads very fast and was also in a position to tie the pieces together culminating in joining his employer, followed by maintaining the same spirit even in his first job. It was not surprising when he was confirmed after six months for his exceptional performance and was given a promotion after a year.
Revisit your goals
The developments around the globe have thrown a lot of options to not only the fresher, also to the experienced campaigner. It is therefore advisable. To revisit the goals so as to find out better and more rewarding options, commensurate with personal abilities, personality profile etc. A physics honours graduate has the option to pursue a post graduation and go for research or he can in stead join a management program and leverage his analytical mindset in making business decisions in the corporate world. This is where revisiting the goal would enable the candidates to go for a trade off so as to take a decision which would offer optimized output. At the end of the day all and sundry is part of the shinning India and therefore everyone has a right to dream big and pursue it vigorously. Are the career aspirants ready to take the career plunge with panache? Choice is yours.
by- Manishankar Chakraborty
Author is Faculty Management with Tirupude institute of Management Education. TIME Nagpur.