Career Hotline
Set to soar
Pervin Malhotra

Q I am 19 years old and I love to fly. I read everywhere that the aviation industry is facing a shortage of commercial pilots. Am I too young to become a pilot at this age?

— Mayank Tripathi

A No, you are not. The civil aviation sector faces an acute shortage of pilots which is causing private airlines like Jet Airways and Kingfisher to recruit 30-40 per cent expats pilots in their crew. Flying schools minus sufficient equipment and instructors, co-pilots who are younger than 20 years and the large number of foreign pilots — many of whom are unfamiliar with the local topography and climate are symptoms of this skills shortage. In order to attract people in this sector, salaries have shot up to Rs 2.5 - 3 lakh a month for an Indian pilot while an expat pilot gets paid up to Rs 5 lakh.

The Indian aviation sector needs at least 4,000 more pilots over the next five years.

The government has also lowered the recruitment standards for commercial pilots. Our rules allow a person to become a co-pilot who stands in for the pilot, after six months of obtaining a Commercial Pilots’ License (CPL). This means that many private airlines have co-pilots who are below the age of 20 years! (DGCA rules don’t permit two 60-year-olds inside the cockpit, but they are fine with one 19-year-old and one 60-year old!).

As it takes two years to churn out a pilot in India (while in US, Australia and the Philippines, a license can be obtained in six months), a few Indian academies have started tying up with foreign flying schools so that they can cut down sharply on training time and churn out pilots for domestic carriers with greater frequency.

Name of the game

Q I am a second year student of B.Tech Information Technology. I am a video game enthusiast and would love to work with a firm designing video games. What are the prospects?

— Harish Sodhi

A You are a rare breed - an Indian IT professional who is a video games enthusiast. Hence your employment prospects are very high. The Rs 100-crore organised gaming industry in India is growing by a whopping 100 percent annually and globally the industry is worth $ 21 billion (expected to touch $ 42 billion by 2010). Video and mobile games have morphed from being primitive toys for geeks and kids into a major form of entertainment.

For a game designer you need to have passion for games and a creative bent of mind. As the games get 3D and more dazzling with production costs ranging from $1 million to $ 8 million, programmers with increasingly specialised skills are needed. And as the industry matures, breaking into it has become even more competitive. According to industry estimates, there is a shortage of around 600 game designers and some other professionals who are likely to be in demand in this industry include programmers, 3D artists, character animators, sound designers, background designers, scriptwriters and art directors in India. Designers of gaming software can make $ 50,000 a year right out of college and twice as much if they are part of a team that produces a hit video game.

Game designers need the same skills as rocket scientists: hardcore training in advanced computer programming (like Java, C/C++, Flash, Open GL), digital animation, physics and maths.

Institutes for gaming are the National Institute for Design, Ahmedabad, which offers an animation course and the Industrial Centre (IDC) at IIT-Mumbai offers a PG course in animation and game design which is open to engineering and architecture graduates. Some other private institutes in gaming are the Maya Academy of Advanced Cinematics (MAAC) and Arena Multimedia.

Flooded with choices

Q I am very keen to do a course in Disaster Management. Can you please recommend some courses? Is there good scope in this field?

— Manisha Gupta

A With the rise of natural disasters all over the world like the tsunami, floods, hurricane (Katrina, Rita and Wilma), forest fires and famines, earthquakes and the like, there is need for specially trained disaster management experts in order to co-ordinate and direct the teams comprising of medical and social workers, engineers, administrators, scientists and psychologists.

Besides excellent organisational and problem solving skills and domain expertise, disaster management calls for a deep sense of commitment and the ability to work swiftly under pressure.

While these courses have started gaining popularity, openings are mainly found in some government and non-government agencies. Large industrial establishments, particularly those in the high-risk fields like chemicals, mining, and petroleum have disaster management cells. The International Red Cross, Oxfam and some UN organisations also empanel trained professionals for working on humanitarian missions to handle major calamities and emergencies. Programme officers implement, monitor and evaluate programmes and improve preparedness in the region, support rehabilitation programmes and strengthen partner capacity in event of a disaster.

There are a number of short-term courses, but the GGS Indraprastha University, Delhi, has introduced a first of its kind full-fledged MBA in Disaster Management. This 2-year programme is open to any sponsored candidate with a bachelor’s degree (any) and minimum 1-year of relevant experience in this field. Selection is based on academic record and the work experience of the candidate. The forms can be downloaded from the website: www.ipu.ac.in. Besides, IIT-Kanpur also provides for such a kind of course.

Bag a job

Q I am interested in working in the retail industry. Is it a good field for women
— Anupa Prasasd

A You can definitely work in the retail sector. A lot of women are coming forward to strengthen the sales force in this industry. In fact, the retail sector is poised to emerge as the largest employer for women in the country.

Industry estimates suggest that women constitute 30 per cent of the total sales force on the shop floor and their number is rising fast with the expansion of existing players and new entrants. This is largely because of retail majors offering them a level-playing field as far as jobs are concerned. In certain categories like household products, grocery and garments, women turn out to be better marketers compared to their male counterparts. Lack of trained and qualified people is a very major challenge for this industry. Which means you have a bright future in this industry – particularly since you are interested in it.

Nursing hope

Q I am doing my Class XI in the science stream and want to become a nurse. What is the scene for nurses in India? My family is not very keen that I look at this field.

— Neelam Ahluwalia

A India is facing an acute shortage of trained nurses due to the mass exodus of qualified nurses to the US, Europe, New Zealand lured by better pay packets and fast-track visas.

In fact, the US is headed for a deficit of 8 lakh nurses by 2020. As a consequence, the present salary of $75,000 is expected to cross $100,000 p.a.

According to health ministry estimates, by the end of the 11th Plan (2007-2012), India will require 10.43 lakh nurses and 30 lakh nurses by 2017 - thanks in part to an exponentially increasing population of the 50 plus.

The best way to enter the profession is by obtaining a degree in nursing from a reputed medical college or university affiliated college. You can do further specialisation at the postgraduate level in areas such as paediatrics, geriatrics, coronary care, cardiology, ophthalmology, oncology, psychiatry, dietetics, orthopaedics, etc. Another option would be to move into hospital management or healthcare administration by pursuing a specialised PG course in the subject from a reputed institution.

Apart from working in hospitals and nursing homes, there are openings in health clubs, spas, hostels and hospice services, besides home-based patient care services and teaching

Bankable option

Q I want to work in a public sector bank. Is it very difficult to get through?

— Anita singh

A The banking sector, which currently employs more than 8 lakh people, is expected to add another one lakh to its headcount in the next 3-5 years. This increase in demand is due to the escalating growth of the Indian economy.

Moreover, staff shortages and new business needs have sent the public sector banks on a hiring spree as well. For example, the State Bank of India is looking to hire over 2,700 employees for its various associate banks. Other state-run banking institutions like the Union Bank of India and Bank of Baroda are set to hire 400 employees each at various junior and middle management levels for the position of specialists officers for information technology, wealth management, human resource estate management, risk management and many more specialized profiles. SBI is recruiting clerical staff in the age group of 20-26 years for its associate banks like State Banks of Patiala, Hyderabad, Mysore, Indore and Travancore. It had earlier recruited about 1000 customer relationship executives on a contractual basis. Candidates selected in this hiring cycle would be on six-month probation. SBI is now looking for candidates who will be reasonably capable of handling operations in English as many employees selected earlier could not handle the regular operations due to linguistic shortcomings. Most PSU banks are now looking for people with good written and verbal English. UBI plans to fill nearly 400 vacancies for the position of clerk-cum-cashier in the clerical cadre.

Andhra Bank on the other hand, would hire 365 probationary officers, 75 IT officers, 10 law officers and 5 HR managers apart from 300-odd candidates at the clerical level. The registration process has begun for recruitment in all these banks and written exams have been scheduled for this year-end and early next year.

There are several short-term courses you could pursue including the Diploma in Banking & Finance offered by the Indian Institute of Banking & Finance, Mumbai in collaboration with the Manipal Education Group offers:

Equivalent to the JAIIB, the course provides basic knowledge of banking and financial systems, banking technology, customer relations, basic accountancy and legal aspects of day-to-day banking operations.

Eligibility: Open to final year graduation students who can enter the industry fully equipped to be effective from day one.

The exams, both online and offline are conducted twice a year.

Online MBA

Q I am a working professional with 5 years of experience in the manufacturing sector. Now I want to do an MBA to upgrade my qualifications. As I won’t get time to do a regular course, can I do it online?

— Mukul Vyas

A Yes since you have some work experience under your belt, you can definitely do an online management programme offered by one of the good B-schools like the IIMs, IIFT or XLRI through NIIT Imperia, or HughesNet Global Education, Reliance Web World, etc.

An online programme helps you participate in a learning process via virtual classrooms, videoconferencing and satellite.

You can see and hear the professor live, view slides, participate in interactive sessions with him and other students. Those who miss the class can even catch up with the video recording.

Besides an online MBA course, you can also opt for a Part-time MBA or an abbreviated 1-year Executive MBA, which is a concentrated program in business management which you can pursue while still working at your current job. Several B-schools offer excellent 1-year EMBA programmes which is specifically designed for working professionals who wish to enhance their business management skills and keep abreast of the latest tools and techniques of today's corporate world. The main objective of an EMBA is to familiarise you with the various theories and practices of business management prevalent in the current economic scenario. Also, check if your company offers a Management Development Programme in collaboration with a B-school. You can check the online offerings on the following websites:

HughesNet (www.hnge.in), NIIT Imperia (www.niitimperia.com)

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