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— Satish Jindal A There has been an unprecedented growth of 35-40 per cent in the last couple of years. And the market is expected to grow from the current size of $14 b to $102 b within the next decade. The growth in real estate has led to huge employment opportunities for skilled professionals. Unlike the USA, UK and Australia, where it is compulsory to take a professional course to enter the real estate sector, in India there is no entry level qualification required and brokerage continues to be a largely unorganised sector. Anybody with a cellphone and minimal office infrastructure can foray into this business. However, you have taken the correct decision in wanting to pursue a professional course.
To bring in some professionalism into this young and largely unorganised and unregulated real estate brokerage sector which is dominated by unscrupulous fly-by-night operators, a couple of new courses have been introduced.
Lateral entry Q What is a ‘lateral placement’ in a B-school that we read about in the papers? Why are they offered higher salaries when they have done the same course? — Pritam Dewan A Instead of having to start out at the entry level (i.e. as a Management Trainee or Asst. Manager), as an MBA graduate with relevant technical experience you will be offered lateral placement at a higher level within your functional area. For instance, an engineer with 3-4 years of experience who is passing out of a good B-school would be placed as a project manager in a manufacturing firm. Fresh B-school graduates usually face stiff competition from their seniors. Companies have shown a definite interest in hiring laterals — that is people with at least two to five years of experience. Understandably, laterals would also be offered higher salaries as compared to freshers because they can hit the ground running and don’t need as much training. The duration and level of work-experience is determined by the company; there is no hard-and-fast rule. Latest trends suggest that if you have graduated from a top B-school with a minimum 22 months of work experience you can look forward to a phenomenal pay package and a challenging work profile that fits you to a tee. For the first time, outcome of the placement process across top B-schools will be dictated by lateral placements. Faced with a talent crunch, work-experience is equivalent to the icing on a cake and a quick profile of the Class of 2007 across the IIMs and other top management institutes like MDI, SPIJIMR and XIM shows that over 55 per cent of students have relevant work experience. Depending on the experience and skills, pay packages usually range from Rs 16 lakh for an India-based job while foreign postings can fetch you a cool $ 80,000 upwards. It’s good times ahead for B-school grads. Reports suggest that MNCs will dominate the next technical hiring wave in India, especially in the next three years, giving their domestic counterparts a run for their money. MNCs alone are expected to hire 1.5 lakh people during 2007, against around 60,000 thousand they have cumulatively recruited in the previous calendar. It’s human to err Q I have been working in data entry operations for the last three years. My problem is that I have very poor communication skills. Also, I am prone to making frequent errors. My confidence is at an all-time low so I don’t interact with anyone in office. Please help me. — Devendra Singh A Soft skills are sometimes pretty 'hard' to acquire. You need to continuously practice them till they become second nature. Don't be afraid to fail. Be natural and relaxed. Don't try to be what you are not. You'll never feel at ease assuming mannerisms that you are not comfortable with. The first thing is to feel good about yourself. And build on your strengths. Reach out to people and show a genuine interest in what is happening around you. As you rise up the corporate ladder, soft skills become even more crucial. In today’s service-oriented scenario, communication skills (talking and listening effectively) and dealing with people are non-negotiable requirements for every profession. Presentation skills are relatively easy to acquire. Just need preparation. And practice. Practice makes perfect: Practice in front of a mirror with a tape recorder. Later, practice conversing with people you are comfortable with until you are ready for easy interpersonal interaction with clients etc. A well-adjusted person is comfortable with himself and his surroundings, so being a good individual is the starting point. You can even join a good finishing school as it will groom you in social, communication and presentation skills. Which in turn will instill the necessary confidence and a positive attitude. Whereas earlier only girls signed up for finishing schools, now the clientele consists of a fair sprinkling of males as well. At times, we lack the ability to effectively project our competence despite having the requisite knowledge and qualifications for the job and acquiring these soft skills can help us gain confidence. Meanwhile, don’t be too daunted by the time it takes or the mistakes you make. Just having the right information and training can make you much more effective on the job. Make sure you have the right reports, manuals and background information at hand to keep your skills up to date. If someone else did the job before you, catch hold of them in their free time and learn from their experience. When you take on any new work, think it through in advance. Gather the resources, books, browse the Internet, talk to relevant people so that you are not caught off guard. Best of luck! Laws of advancement
— Vijay Mohan A As a rule, full-time courses are preferable to those offered through distance learning. However, since you are a practising lawyer who cannot take time out to attend a full-time course and want to study further to upgrade your professional knowledge or skills, the latter is a perfectly valid option. As long as the course (regular or distance) is offered by a UGC-recognised university and approved by the Bar Council of India, it is fully valid. The following institutions offer LLM through correspondence. Many universities, including Delhi University, also offer part-time LLM courses which can be pursued in the evenings if you are already working.
Gem of a chance Q I am a marketing manager of a reputed jewellery company in Ludhiana. I want to pursue a diploma/degree course in brand management. Which institutes offer good courses in this field? — Arihant A A relatively quiet industry for the last 40 years, competition has spurred an explosion in brand positioning and marketing activities amongst all players to grab their share of the market. The super rich segment — less than 4 lakh households (0.19 per cent of the population), with an annual income of Rs 10 lakh plus, consume more than 44 per cent of total branded wear and 75 per cent of designer labels sold in the country. The 3 million upper class families with average household income of Rs 5 lakh account for 17 per cent of the total spend on clothing and 28 per cent of the branded market. This segment spends Rs 5000 on clothing per person. That’s the fun of brand positioning and building. Ideally, brand management is entrusted to senior marketing professionals with considerable marketing experience. You can pursue any good executive MBA programme and specialise in marketing. However, if you are really keen to do a specialist course then you can apply for the PG Programme in Brand Communication offered by Mudra Institute of Communication (MICA), Shela, Ahemedabad -380058. The writer is a noted career consultant Please send in your query, preferably on a postcard, along with your full name, complete address and academic qualifications to: Editor, Jobs and Careers, The Tribune, Sector 29, Chandigarh-160030, or at careers@tribunemail.com
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Q
I have been
working with my father, who is a property dealer, for the last three
years. I would like to study further. Can you please suggest from
where I can do a formal course in real estate management in Delhi?
Of late, the sector
has been witnessing some changes with international real estate
providers setting shop in India. Since the complexity has increased
and the size of transactions is large, they are ready to pay big
money for seasoned and trained professionals in both marketing and
real estate — further underscoring the need for professional
institutes. Barring some big names like GESCO, Tata Housing or
Godrej Housing, most companies are family run like DLF or Ansals and
they prefer to recruit staff and provide in-house training. College
education in finance and business administration, stats, computer
science, economics will work to your advantage.
Q
After completing
my LLB, I am currently working with a legal firm and would like to
enhance my qualification. Can you please suggest some universities
offering LLM through correspondence? Is this a good option and are
these courses recognised?
