How to build-up your career from college days

Bunking college? Highly recommended! But only if you are using that time to do some learning outside the classroom…

On one of the TEDx talks, Sir Ken Robinson, a leading educational reformist, made a significant remark about the “linearity” of the current educational system: “… it starts here; you go through a track, and if you do everything right, you will end up set for the rest of your life.” This linearity is the most likely reason that you are in the college and the stream you are in right now.

Did you ever have a dream? Were you passionate about designing cars? Have you always dreamt of making a BIG social impact? When you were young, did you have amazing writing skills? You probably did. But, somehow, you landed up in an engineering college and your dreams have become a mere hobby, if not fully extinguished.

If you want a career in what you love doing, here's help. Your curriculum helps a little, even assuming you ended up in the right stream. Today, learning is more than just about concepts and curriculum. It is about keeping pace with trends, networking with the right people, and building your knowledge and skills in your area of interest. No better time than college to do this. Here are some pointers to get you back on the right track...

Network: Professional networking during college is a critical aspect of learning that most students miss out on! Building the right professional contacts during college makes it easy to get internships, find mentors and get a job in the field you love.

Events and conferences: Keep tabs on relevant events in your city and ensure you attend as many as possible. Apart from gaining new insights, events are the best place for you get to meet new people from diverse professions. Look out for TEDx events in your city. Chennai Open Coffee Club is a group where entrepreneurs and wannabe entrepreneurs meet every month.

Check out conferencealerts.com/india.htm which post updates on events and conferences regularly. Participating in the right groups on Linkedin and following newspapers will ensure you don't miss important ones. Make sure you meet at least five new people at every event you attend.

Five quick steps to network in a conference:

1) Introduce yourself.

2) Start a conversation with a smart question or a pre-prepared pitch.

3) Have a quick meaningful conversation.

4) Ask for their business card.

5) Be sure to follow up via e-mail.

Guest lectures in colleges: You have scores of guest lecturers and industry experts addressing you in college. Ensure you connect with them once their talk is over. Take notes during the talk if required, but ensure you have some feedback and questions when you approach them.

You've got to network like crazy! Make it a point to start a relationship with at least one new person every week and I don't mean dating!

Internships: Internships are the best way for you to gain practical exposure. The best part: 65 per cent of companies offer you a full-time job based on your performance during your internship. It also adds immense value to your profile. The important thing is to use internships as an experimenting platform. So, don't restrict yourself to internships in just one field. Look to do at least four internships through your college. With many companies offering virtual internships (work from home), you can do internships even when your college is not on vacation! Consider doing at least one internship in a start-up, the learning is immense.

Tips to get an internship:

Tap professional network: This is the best way. If you have built a good rapport with relevant professionals, check with them for possible internship opportunities.

Career section: Many companies list internship openings in the careers section on their site. For instance, Amazon has interesting internships for developers; find market research internships at Frost and Sullivan based on your stream.

Through portals: There are several portals that make it easier for you to get internships. You can check Twenty19.com, internshala.com and AIESEC (International internships)

Keep up with trends, build your knowledge: A curriculum can never keep up with the rate of change happening today. For an electronics engineering student, the best textbook may have information about the new technologies applied in iPhone 4, which it doesn't. Even if it did, it will be outdated. Keeping up with current trends and building your knowledge and skills around it will be extremely beneficial when you get out of college.

Subscribe to experts' blogs and sites: Experts in different areas maintain regularly updated blogs, which are a great source of valuable insights. For example, if you are interested in marketing and business, subscribe to Seth Godin's blog and MarketingProfs' newsletter. Check out Mashable and Techcrunch if you're a tech and social media is your cup of tea!

Linkedin Today: With this feature on linkedin.com, you get to read the most popular stories and articles from the leading news sources based on your interest. This is a fantastic tool to keep up with trends, build knowledge and gain perspective. You can subscribe for feeds based on the industry of your interest whether it is automobiles or fashion. You'll get the best stories from the most relevant and top-rated sources.

Twitter: Twitter is like the ultimate university where you can get the best insights and knowledge on any subject.The best way to make use of twitter is by following the right people and lists. Science geeks should follow Andrew Maynard (@2020science), a scientist who tweets about all the good stuff on his blog !

Tip: To find the right people and lists to follow on Twitter based on your interest, go to Listorious.com

Web Learning: Bored of listening to your professors? Access course lectures at IITs (nptel.iitm.ac.in) and international universities like MIT (www.ocwconsortium.org) for free. You can learn anything under the sun on the web. Codeacademy.com and W3Schools.com are great for learning how to code and for web development. Udemy.com and skillshare.com are platforms where anybody in the world can learn and teach.

Initiatives

Spend more time with meaningful initiatives. The best part is they will pay off in a BIG way! Here are couple of highly recommended ones:

Blogs: Maintain your own professional blog where you write articles related to your career passion. Write about latest trends, comment on articles you have read, your ideas and insights... Ensure you bring in your perspective in atleast some part of every blog entry that you make.

Volunteer: Volunteer for a cause that you believe in. NGOs are always on the lookout for reliable volunteers!

Bottomline: The amount of time you spend learning outside of your curriculum is directly proportional to how awesome your career will be!

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Curriculum is always a few years, if not decades, out of date. Only by getting out can you get knowledge and skills that are current and useful. For example, I did the Google Summer of Code (internship) with mediawiki last year, and am an employee of the Wikimedia Foundation, where I help run Wikipedia, an amazing job with a huge impact. Would've never happened if I stuck to my “curriculum”. - YUVARAJ PANDIAN (He has now dropped out of college )

Most of what you learn at college is not what you apply in the corporate world. Focusing too much on studying things in the curriculum and not on learning things that help you in the real world would be a bad bet. I worked on a couple of projects for the visually challenged people during my second and third year of college and presented them in research conferences in the U.S. and Singapore. During my fourth year, I built a web app called Extragram, which now has users from more than 102 countries! These initiatives taught me a lot of lessons, which I apply as I build my start-up company. - KEVIN WILLIAM DAVID, Sairam College of Engineering

Internship programmes undoubtedly accelerate students' career paths. As a student, I interned with L&T where I built a TCP/IP stack ground up for their Patient Monitoring System. When I began applying what I had been studying till then, it led to a shift in perspective. I began taking my course more seriously. It changed everything; I began applying myself better in everything I did. - KISHORE A.K., Co-founder and CEO, Althea Systems

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What employers want…

Signing up to be part of industry associations and forums is a great way to understand recent developments; it also gives you the opportunity to network. Students eventually work in an organisation where skills such as leadership, planning and a certain amount of risk-taking are essential. The best way to acquire these is to venture beyond textbooks and take part in activities such as industry forums, sports, technical and cultural challenges or be a part of associations where you have the opportunity to manage projects. - ABHAY SINGH, Director HR, Applied Materials India.

Learning through experiences and internships is often more engaging, relevant to current industry practices and gives students access to better resources. Most importantly, students get to be part of a realistic work environment and get a sense of working with a team, meeting pecific goals and deadlines and are encouraged to explore multiple avenues to arrive at a solution. They learn how to innovate in a lean, entrepreneurial and start-up environment. They learn how to work closely with customers and solve problems as well. - VIJAY ANAND, Vice President, India Development Center, Intuit

The Indian education system relies heavily on the marks in tests/exams. However, as an organisation, we look for attitude, passion, integrity, team spirit and a hunger to learn. These are not reflected in the marksheet. Organisations also use various methods to evaluate a candidate. Psychometric tests and behavioural models are some tools to better understand a candidate or employee's role fit in the organisation. Recently we were interviewing a candidate, a fresher, who was exceptionally smart and fit our requirements. When the interview ended, she was keen to show us her academic records. We said “no”. Marksheets do not tell us what we want to know about the candidate. Of course, they may be required later by HR for reference checks and other documentation formalities. - SHEKHAR SANYAL, Country Head, IET India

Source : Hindu

Graduation Day’s Gift

 A young man was getting ready to graduate college. For many months he had admired a beautiful sports car in a dealer’s showroom, and knowing his father could well afford it, he told him that was all he wanted.
As Graduation Day approached, the young man awaited signs that his father had purchased the car. Finally, on the morning  of his graduation his father called him into his private study. His father told him how proud he was to have such a fine son, and  told him how much he loved him. He handed his son a beautifully wrapped gift box.
Curious, but somewhat disappointed the young man opened the box and found a lovely, leather-bound Bible. Angrily, he raised his voice at his father and said, “With all your money you give  me  a Bible?” and stormed out of the house, leaving behind the holy book.
Many years passed and the young man was very successful in business. He had a beautiful home and wonderful family, but realized his father was very old, and thought perhaps he should visit him. He had not seen him since that graduation day. Before he could make arrangements, he received a telegram telling him his father had passed away, and willed all of his possessions to his son. He needed  to come home immediately and take care things. When he arrived at  his father’s house, sudden sadness and regret filled his heart.

He began to search his father’s important papers and saw the still new Bible, just as he had left it years ago. With tears,  he opened the Bible and began to turn the pages. As he read those   words, a car key dropped from an envelope taped behind the Bible. It had a tag with the dealer’s name, the same dealer who had the sports  car he had desired. On the tag was the date of his graduation, and the words: PAID IN FULL.
How many times do we miss our blessings because they are not packaged as we expected?

Hope

 

As I ate breakfast one morning, I overheard two oncologists conversing. One complained bitterly, "You know, Bob, I just don't understand it. We used the same drugs, the same dosage, the same schedule and the same entry criteria. Yet I got a 22 percent response rate and you got a 74 percent. That's unheard of for metastatic cancer. How do you do it?" His colleague replied, "We're both using Etoposide, Platinum, Oncovin and Hydroxyurea. You call yours EPOH. I tell my patients I'm giving them HOPE. As dismal as the statistics are, I emphasize that we have a chance."

 by: William M. Buchholz, M.D., Chicken Soup for the Surviving Soul

CEO Reveals Secret

For decades, Jay Thiessens hid a painful secret as he built his machine and tool company from a mom-and-pop operation into a $5 million-a-year enterprise. During the day he hid behind the role of a harried businessman, too busy to review contracts or shuffle through mail. At night, his wife, Bonnie, would help him sort through the paperwork at the kitchen table, in the living room, or sometimes sitting up in bed. Other tasks he delegated to a core group of managers at B&J Machine Tool Co. who had no idea their boss couldn't read. "I worked for him for seven years and I had no clue," said Jack Sala, now the engineering manager for Truckee Precision, a B&J competitor. "I was his general manager. He would bring legal stuff to me and say, 'You're better at legalese than me.' I never knew I was the only one reading them." Few people knew of his shame and most burning desire: To be able to read a simple bedtime story to his grandchildren. But he couldn't keep his illiteracy secret forever. "It became too hard to continue to hide it," said Thiessens, who has begun to read at the age of 56. "Since I made the decision to let everybody know, it's a big relief." On Wednesday, Thiessens will be honored in Washington, D.C., as one of six national winners of the 1999 National Blue Chip Enterprise Initiative Award. Sponsored by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and MassMutual, the award recognizes small businesses that have triumphed over adversity. Thiessens' torment took root when he was in the first or second grade in McGill, a small mining town in central Nevada. "A teacher called me stupid because I had trouble reading," he said. All through school, he was the quiet little boy in the back of the room. "I think the teachers just got tired of looking at me so they passed me on," he said. He graduated from White Pine High School in Ely 1963, getting mostly C's, D's and F's. He made the honor roll once, in his senior year when he landed A's in auto mechanics and machine shop. The day after graduation, Thiessens moved to Reno, where 10 years later he started a small machine shop with his last $200. Today, B&J specializes in welding, machine parts and precision sheet metal work. With 50 employees, the company conducts $5 million a year in business and just broke ground on a new 54,000 square-foot expansion. Despite his success, the stigma of being labeled a dummy haunted him through adulthood. He compensated by being a good listener. He rarely forgets details and has a solid grasp of math and figures, a trait essential to the industry, others say. "The majority of everything we do is technical," said Randy Arnett of A&B Precision, B&J's longest competitor. "It has more to do with math, geometrical shapes, than verbiage." "He's always been a decent competitor," Arnett said of Thiessens. Two years ago, Thiessens was invited to join a local chapter of The Executive Committee, a kind of CEO-support group where non-competing chief executives discuss business trials and tribulations in confidence. Thiessens was reluctant. "He was concerned he wouldn't measure up to the rest of the group," said Randy Yost, committee chairman and former CEO of Placer Bank of Commerce in California. "About 6 months after we met, he told me he had a reading problem," Yost said. "At that time, he was very tight-vested about it." Thiessens confessed to the rest of the group last year. "He was a little teary. His voice was shaking," recalled Doug Damon, a group member and CEO of Damon Industries, a beverage concentrate manufacturer. "It was clearly a difficult thing for him to do." Damon was surprised by Thiessens confession. "I knew he was a high school graduate, and so I guess I automatically assumed he knew how to read. He'd been very successful in his business. Who would have thought?" Thiessens feared titters and jeers from his college-educated CEO peers. Instead, he was overwhelmed by support. "As much as I respected him for what he accomplished, it enhanced my respect for him," Yost said. Last October, Thiessens found a tutor to instruct him for an hour a day, five days a week. That's also when he told his plant managers. The rest of his employees found out last month. Thiessens recently read "Gung Ho," a book on employee relations, as a management team project. It was slow going as he underlined all the words he didn't know and later sought help with. But he finished it. He wants someday to be able to rifle through mail as quickly as his wife and "round file" the piles of junk mail that comes across his desk. More importantly, he hopes his story will encourage others to learn to read. "There is no shame in not knowing how to read," said Mrs. Thiessens, his wife of 37 years. "The shame is not doing anything about it."   by: Sandra Chereb, Source Unknown

Barriers to God

The Master would insist that the final barrier to our attaining God was the word and concept "God." This so infuriated the local priest that he came in a huff to argue the matter out with the Master. "But surely the word 'God' can lead us to God?" said the priest. "It can," said the Master calmly. "How can something help and be a barrier?" Said the Master, "The donkey that brings you to the door is not the means by which you enter the house."   by: Anthony de Mello, SJ, One Minute Wisdom

The Moon Cannot Be Stolen

Ryokan, a Zen master, lived the simplest kind of life in a little hut at the foot of a mountain. One evening a thief visited the hut only to discover there was nothing to steal.
Ryokan returned and caught him. “You have come a long way to visit me,” he told the prowler, “and you should not return empty-handed. Please take my clothes as a gift.”
The thief was bewildered. He took the clothes and slunk away.
Ryoken sat naked, watching the moon. “Poor fellow,” he mused, “I wish I could have given him this beautiful moon.”

Great News (Joke)

The newlywed wife said to her husband when he returned from work, “I have great news for you. Pretty soon, we’re going to be three in this house instead of two.”

Her husband ran to her with a smile on his face and delight in his eyes.
He was glowing of happiness and kissing his wife when she said, “I’m glad that you feel this way since tomorrow morning, my mother moves in with us.”

Three Parachutes (Joke)

A doctor, a lawyer, a little boy and a priest were out for a Sunday afternoon flight on a small private plane. Suddenly, the plane developed engine trouble. In spite of the best efforts of the pilot the plane started to go down. Finally the pilot grabbed a parachute, yelled to the passengers that they had better jump, and bailed out.

Unfortunately there were only three parachutes remaining.
The doctor grabbed one and said “I’m a doctor, I save lives, so I must live,” and jumped out.
The lawyer then said, “I’m a lawyer and lawyers are the smartest people in the world, I deserve to live!” He grabbed a parachute and jumped.
The priest looked at the little boy and said, “My son, I’ve lived a long and full life. You are young and have your whole life ahead of you. Take the last parachute and live in peace”.
The little boy handed the parachute back to the priest and said, “Not to worry, Father. The ‘smartest man in the world’ just took off with my back pack.”

God Will Save Me (Joke)

A guy is in his house when horrendous rains start falling. The water begins to rise, and before long it becomes a major flood. The roads are covered in water making driving impossible. After awhile, a boat comes along.

A rescue worker in the boat yells, “Come on! We’re here to save you! Get in the boat!”

The guy in the house responds, “No! I’ve got faith that God will save me!”

After an unsuccessful rescue attempt, the boat leaves. The water continues to rise, and the guy is forced up to the second floor of his home.

The county sheriff’s boat comes along, and the sheriff yells, “Come on! You are going to drown if you don’t get in the boat.”

From his second floor window the guy says, “No! I’ll be okay! I have faith God will save me.” The boat moves on.

The house, except for a small part on the roof, is submerged in water. The guy is on the roof as a helicopter hovers overhead. The pilot shouts out, “This is your last chance! Climb up the ladder to safety! If you don’t come now you’re going to drown!”

The guy hollers, “No, thanks! God is going to save me!” The pilot shrugs his shoulders and flies away.

The house is covered, and the guy is swept away by the flood waters. He ascends to the Pearly Gates, where God is waiting for his arrival.

He asks God, “What happened? I have been devoted to you and had absolute faith that you would save me. Why did you let me down?”

God answers back, “What more do you want? I sent you two boats and a helicopter!”

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Irfan, media manager deny reports of rift in team

By Indo Asian News Service | IANS – Fri 24 Feb, 2012 4:08 PM IST

Virender Sehwag is congratulated by MS Dhoni after taking a catch to dismiss David Hussey in Adelaide

Sydney, Feb 24 (IANS): Team India media manager G.S. Walia and all-rounder Irfan Pathan on Friday denied any rift between skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni and his deputy Virender Sehwag and said there was complete harmony in the dressing room.

A day after the top management of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) back home stepped in to resolve the differences between Dhoni and Sehwag, Walia said there was "no rift" but "a misunderstanding".

"There was no rift between Dhoni and Sehwag, It was only a misunderstanding. The team was concerned about reports of a rift. But all differences have been settled now," Walia said.

Both Dhoni and Shewag are expected to jointly address the press on Saturday ahead of Sunday's ODI against Australia.

Walia said it was time to move ahead and concentrate on the game.

"Let's not analyse the same situation, why this was generated, how it came to this. Let us forget it and be positive for the future," he said.

Irfan also dismissed reports of differences in the team.

"Everyone is working hard. There is no difference of opinion in the team. I have been hearing things, but it's nothing like that. Things are pretty good. It's a matter of winning big games. Once we start winning the big games, these things are going to vanish," Irfan said.

Walia also said that no meeting was called at the behest of the BCCI to sort out the differences.

"All we had was the meeting among all 17 players on the day of the match, after the game, after the press conference. When I went back to that place, I conveyed it to everyone. Everybody said, 'sir we don't have any differences'. I have been with them for 75 days. But there shouldn't be a chance given to anybody, not only to you but anybody else to feel there is a communication gap. I have conveyed that to the players in simple terms," he said.

The rift appeared in the dressing room after Dhoni sparked a debate in the media saying that the team management introduced a rotation policy for the top three - Sachin Tendulkar, Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir - because they are slow fielders and were costing the team 20 runs in the One-day games.

Sehwag hit back at a press conference, saying the seniors were never told by the captain that they were slow fielders. Gambhir had also criticised Dhoni for not finishing matches quickly but the India captain said it was a matter of perception.