Is NIOS certificate recognised for merchant navy?

Pervin Malhotra

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Q.I passed my Class XII in the commerce stream with 75 per cent marks but discovered that one needs to be a science student to be eligible for the merchant navy. I’m prepared to work really hard to clear the Class XII science exams from NIOS. Will the NIOS certification allow me to apply for the relevant courses or companies?     — Yash Parasher

A.The Directorate General of Shipping has found the NIOS syllabus to be at par with other regular boards. This means that the decks are clear for you to happily proceed towards your dream career, as long as you meet the mandatory physical requirements.

What is the scope in architecture?

Q.I am planning to take up architecture after Class XII. But some people say that it does not provide a job guarantee and lacks scope, especially for girls. Please advise.     — Ritika Pandit

A.A good choice of career (and therefore course) is one that’s in keeping with one’s unique combination of interests, personality, and abilities (hard and soft skills). Think about things that you enjoy doing, your personality traits, academic and extra-curricular areas you excel in and then consider your suitability for different careers and courses. Sure, architecture has plenty of scope. Apart from designing the ever-growing number of buildings, houses, malls, airports, hospitals and hotels, trained architects also specialise in fields such as urban planning (town planning), transportation system designs, landscape architecture and planning, and architectural conservation (of old buildings and monuments). Architects now play a critical role in areas such as evaluating new projects, developing prototypes or liaising with national or overseas architect firms.  And there is no dearth of opportunities for girls also. Leading developers have increased their teams of architects by 4-5 times over the past couple of years.

Is it time to change my job?

Q.Does it makes sense for an employee to work in the same organisation for a long period of time in today’s scenario? I’ve been working as a merchandiser in an export house for the past five years and am wondering whether I should now be looking at moving out?     — Surendra Lamba

A.First of all, make a list of your key priorities. Is it salary/expanded role/quick growth/good learning opportunity/international exposure/a supportive manager, etc. Once you identify the key factors, then your decision to stay in your current organisation vs. joining the next organisation will become easy.
If your present organisation provides you a good opportunity for learning and internal growth, staying on will enable you to gain experience of different roles and opportunities that will help you grow and learn and not be disadvantaged professionally or monetarily.
It will also enable you to imbibe the organisation’s culture, become a good well-rounded leader and representative of the brand — being familiar with the people, culture, practices of the company. It will also help you to grow faster into leadership roles. Getting cross exposures is crucial for that. Also as long as you continue to maintain a steep learning curve and your work is being appreciated by your key stakeholders, stay with your job, is my advice.
Also, after a certain point in your career, compensation becomes less important and career growth and working in a challenging environment becomes more important.
So make sure you manage to project these in the course of your interaction with the interviewer.

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