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New Delhi:
There was a time when work and passion were two different things.
However, with advances in the digital and electronic world and
change in business practices, that demarcation line is getting
blurred and new careers are emerging.
If you are hooked to the social media, you can become an expert on
it; if your friends seek your advice on their shopping trips, you
can be an image consultant - and so on. The story of today's
exciting, emerging careers is - to use a cliched tagline of a
sportswear brand - impossible is nothing.
"You can make a career out of what you passionately enjoy doing,"
says Abha Matthew, a school career counsellor. "A career is more
than just a job. You dedicate your entire day, maybe a part of the
night too, to it and if it's something you don't enjoy doing, the
monotony starts showing in your work. This is why you hear of so
many people making a career shift in their 30s and 40s."
Career counsellor Usha Albuquerque adds that as the world becomes
more interconnected, new jobs opportunities are opening up.
Social media is one of the most exciting, new avenues that has
opened up, career wise. Its power, as a tool to influence people's
opinion, is felt like never before. Therefore, a growing number of
companies are hiring social media experts whose job is to build
their online reputation and offer a platform for instant feedback
from consumers.
While these young employees are happy being always available on
Facebook, posting updates on the company's news, and tweeting and
re-tweeting information, their job also entails reviewing traffic
volume, bounce rates and other relevant metrics, developing social
media components for new campaigns, helping with blogger outreach
and creating long-term solutions for client.
"Businesses depend on reputation, and online reputation is very
important today, which social media managers help in achieving by
constant monitoring," says Shrenik Gandhi, business head of White
Rivers Digital which is into social media management and designing
websites.
Sensing the demand in the market, a number of B-schools are now
designing courses in social media management. For instance, NIIT
Imperia has an advanced course in social media marketing.
For those who are hooked to mobile phone applications and love
downloading them, have you ever thought of developing such apps
and pursuing a career as a mobile application programmer?
"With 110 million mobile phone users in the country, a mobile
application programmer is an upcoming and promising career that
has a huge scope to be creative," Albuquerque told IANS.
Apart from developing the apps, the job profile may require
combating security and compatibility issues. Knowledge of
interface design, network communications, web services, SQLite
databases, GSP framework and location based services is
recommended for such professionals.
As India juggles to achieve a balance between pushing up its GDP,
ensuring inclusive growth and attempting to address issues ranging
from education to climate change, another career option that is
expected to be the next big thing is to be a social entrepreneur.
"Social entrepreneurs are those people who have the ability to
recognise a pressing social problem, and then using innovative
ideas manage a venture to address that problem. Unlike business
entrepreneurs, social entrepreneurs don't measure performance by
profit and loss, and are mostly associated with voluntary
organisations," Matthew said.
So, if working for a cause that you truly believe in is your
calling, then this is the career for you. Experts, however,
suggest a field experience before the final decision, just so that
you can test your level of passion.
And if you are one of those who believes in the adage, 'First
impression is the last impression', maybe you can choose a career
in image consultancy.
"An image consultant guides people to optimally use their
clothing, grooming and body language to create a powerful
impression. They also provide other services like styling services
to fashion brands, uniform design, image management policy designs
and the like. The power of personal appearance goes a long way in
personal, professional and social life," said Rachna Prasad, an
image consultant.
The overarching idea is that you can build a career on your
passion. Even if it's to create sauces in the kitchen...didn't we
mention that speciality chefs - saucier, patissier - can also be a
good career calling, what with food going global and cookery shows
stealing the show?
(Azera Rahman can be contacted at azera.rahman@ians.in)
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