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— Shyam Sunder A Stock brokers invest in the stock market for individuals or corporations. They act as financial planners and explain the workings of the stock market to their clients. After understanding their client’s needs, they determine the best investments for them. They also act as Securities and Investment Analysts. The domain knowledge and professional insights required has made the broker’s job a highly skilled and sought-after one. An MBA (finance) is considered to be one of the basic qualifications for a career in the capital market. Some other courses that would do equally well are an MS (Finance), Masters in Financial Control (MFC), Chartered Accountancy, or even a PG degree in commerce, economics and statistics, or a certification from the National Stock Exchange (NSE) or the Association of Mutual Funds in India (AMFI). The Prospects? Foreign firms, foreign institutional investors, mutual funds and even high net worth individuals are on the lookout for young and bright professionals from this background. In defence of corporate sector Q I have been working in the electrical branch of the IAF for the last 15 years. I am planning to take a voluntary retirement from the service. I don’t want to sit idle after my retirement and want to work in the corporate services. Will it be difficult to shift to a completely different sector? — Latif Mohammed A The Indian armed forces are actively looking at corporate placements for their retiring officers and other ranking officials by holding ‘placement fairs’. The Indian Air Force organized a placement fair for its retiring "air warriors" in New Delhi earlier this month. The Indian Institute of Management, Kolkata [IIMC] has also launched a certificate course for ex-servicemen keeping in mind the need to increase their employability in the corporate sector. This course is offered by the Directorate-General of Resettlement [DGR], Ministry of Defence, to train retired and retiring servicemen so that they can find suitable employment after leaving the armed forces. Every year a large number of highly-trained disciplined and multi-skilled defence personnel retire from service at the relatively young age of 35 - 54. The corporate world benefits from hiring such personnel who have 15-20 years experience in flying, navigation, air traffic control, aeronautical engineering, technology management and the like. As the problem of a second career for the 60,000 defence personnel who retire every year is acute, you can equip yourself with six-month intensive courses being conducted for officers in leading institutions like IIMs, XLRIs, MDI (Gurgaon) and Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies (Mumbai). This will give you a better edge than many other colleagues from the armed forces. At IIMC, the 24-week course for retired and Short Service Commission officers is divided into four modules: three of seven weeks each and one of 3 weeks. So put your best foot forward and march into civvy street. Pharma prospects Q Can you please tell me something about the BINC test of Pune University? I have done B.Pharm, so am I eligible to take the exam? — Anita Manaktala A To help potential employers identify and recruit bioinformatics professionals with exceptionally good bioinformatics skills, The Bioinformatics
Center of the University of Pune (D/o Biotechnology, GoI) is
conducting a Bioinformatics National Certification Exam (BINC) in Eligibility: Bachelors degree in (Science / Pharmacy / Engg / Agriculture / Veterinary / Medicine / Technology); Formal training / qualification in bioinformatics not essential). The application form can be downloaded from the website http://bioinfo.ernet.in/binc. and this week’s Deadlines Column in this paper. Building blocks Q I am doing mechanical engineering from a college in Faridkot. Is it very difficult for engineering students like me to get a job in the construction sector? — Kabir Sahni A On the contrary, mechanical engineers are trained as a jack of all trades and their skills are required in all fields of technology. While some of them work in production, operations, maintenance, or technical sales, many of them move into administration and management. A study by Assocham reveals a manpower shortage of 50-60 per cent in the construction and engineering sector. In fact, the manpower crunch has led to import of talent from overseas. People from the Gulf and Far East Asia are in demand as they are well-versed with the mechanisation, techniques and speed which comes with experience. Apart from civil engineers, there is also a demand for support staff in contract management, logistics, procurement, mechanical and electrical engineering. With the rapid growth in the industry, not only will there be a requirement for more people, there will also be a demand for people doing more than their existing job. Simply Sweden Q I have heard so much about Sweden that I am thinking of moving there for seeking greener pastures. Is it difficult to get a work permit in the EU countries? Can I work in any other country apart from Sweden? I am an electrical engineer with three years of work experience. — Ranbir Dhawan A The European Union is planning to introduce a new ‘blue card’ scheme modelled on the American ‘Green Card’ work permit. The ‘Blue EU Labour Card’ would allow qualified migrants from Asian and African countries the right to live, work and travel in the 27 member states. The card would entitle skilled migrants to work in a member state for two years and then move to a second EU member country after two or three years. The workers could apply for permanent stay after five consecutive years in any EU state and would be free to travel where they wish. Owing to a fall in the working age population, Europe desperately needs both skilled and unskilled labour. By 2050, a third of residents in the 27 countries would be aged over 65. Premium on jobs Q I am a medical rep. I have heard that big life insurance companies like MetLife, Bajaj Allianz are hiring people from sales. What is the requirement for working with these companies? — Girish Mehta A With a 20 per cent growth rate and offshore delivery poised to take off in the sector, the insurance business in India stands at the threshold of a brilliant future both in terms of growth and career prospects for bright young men and women who have a head for numbers and statistics. Life insurance companies are on a hiring spree for salespeople to capture customers and market share. The State-run Life Insurance Corporation has hired one lakh people, while 15 private players make up for the rest. In order to be officially enrolled as an agent, you have to pass an exam conducted by the Insurance Regulatory & Development Authority (IRDA). The top best companies in insurance are Reliance Life, SBI Life, Bajaj Allianz, MetLife, Aviva, Kotak, Max New York, ICICI Prudential, HDFC Standard and Birla Sunlife. Some of the private players are also eying small towns in order to boost sales. Max New York Life (MNYL) hires people for divisions such as sales, operations, service, underwriting, finance etc. Some soft skills that will take you ahead in this profession is a sound money sense, ethics and integrity, computer skills, persuasive skills and the ability to communicate well. An experienced agent is given the opportunity to assume a more managerial role with the responsibility of identifying, recruiting and training more agents under him. Depending on their functional preferences, companies are sourcing their employees from diverse sectors such as Financial Services, IT/Telecom Services, Consumer Durables, FMCG and Office Automation. Over the years they have forged strong relationships with reputed academic institutions and recruitment consultants in order to attract the best available talent. 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
Who is a stock
broker? Where do they work and what is the eligibility to get into
this field?
