There are games for every taste — sports, action, adventure, strategy and education. Games are made for personal computers, consoles and arcades.

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Video, computer and mobile games are among the most complex forms of interactive media. Games simulate many elements of traditional media such as plot, characters, sound and music, lighting and theatre. However, games are digital artifacts played through graphic interfaces and controllers. They draw upon a unique mix of player resources and take you to a simulated, virtual world.

Computer and video games have come a long way since Space Invaders and PacMan. Today’s games are much more complex and interesting, and the technology has advanced to the point where a gamer can become immersed in a multimedia-enabled virtual reality or an alternate world. Some of the most popular video games are New Super Mario Bros, Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures, Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, Grand Theft Auto IV, Guitar Hero World Tour, Napoleon Dynamite: The Game, Aliens vs Predator 2, Bus Driver and LEGO Batman: The Videogame.

PlayStation Portable was developed in the US in 2005 by the Sony Computer Entertainment Company. It soon became a highly desirable, portable and handheld wireless device for multiple entertainment purposes. A one-time fee to TiVo ToGo allows users to watch television and save the data to a memory device. The “location free” option allows one to watch TV anywhere in the world on the PSP device.

PlayStation 2 or PS2 is Sony’s second video game console, the successor to the successful PlayStation and predecessor to the PlayStation 3 .

The PS2 is part of the sixth generation era, and is the best-selling console to date, having reached over 127 million units in sales by the end of 2007. Some of the well-known PlayStation 2 games are SOCOM, Buzz Junior Robo Jam, SingStar Pop hits and Tomb Raider: Legend.

What do I have to do?
Game developers usually employ programmers, game designers, artists, sound engineers, producers and game testers. Programmers write new source codes, artists develop game assets such as sprites or, more often today, 3D models of game elements. Sound engineers develop sound effects and composers develop music for the game. Level designers create advanced and eye-catching levels, and writers pen dialogue for cut scenes and non-player characters.

In a game design context, simulated illumination is embedded in the vocabulary of the 3D modelling software (Maya and 3D Studio Max) used in game production. Art directors and level designers often struggle with various software, including image editing software such as Adobe Photoshop, level editors and 3D modelling software to produce the desired illumination effect in the game environment. Each software contains algorithms that establish simulated illumination. These algorithms have their own set of assumptions concerning how lighting is established or simulated, including shadow appearance and colour.

What should I study?
For game design, the basic qualification is Plus Two or an equivalent course. Proficiency in basic computing skills and multimedia packages is an added advantage.

What next?
Due to the availability of cost-effective resources, India is rapidly becoming one of the hottest regions for offshore game development. There are several companies offering game development solutions. Synapse is a leading offshore software development company in India offering quality game development services to clients across the world.

Sony Computer Entertainment has tied up with 13 Indian game developers to produce Indian games that could be priced lower than the existing Rs 499 per title. The 2008 Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry report reveals that the Indian gaming industry earned Rs 270 crore in 2007, up 32 per cent from Rs 205 crore in 2006.

Source: The Telegraph (Kolkata, India)

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Privileges are fast vanishing, causing a great deal of dissatisfaction among employees
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Words change their meaning depending on circumstances. “Bonus”, says the dictionary, is “something given, paid, or received above what is due or expected”. Yet in India, we have a Payment of Bonus Act which makes it practically statutory that a bonus be paid to workers earning below a certain level.

“The question is whether you can then consider bonus a perk or something that is part of your regular salary,” says Mumbai-based HR consultant Shashi Rao. “Without getting too technical about it, the moment you start thinking of a bonus as a sum assured and start planning your budget on that basis, it ceases to be a perk.”

In today’s environment, however, some definitions are changing. Several perks that employees, particularly in newgen industries such as IT, had assumed were part of their salary are being withdrawn. This is one of the easiest areas for companies to cut costs. And the axe is being wielded with a vengeance.

This is an issue these columns have visited before. And an observation, made earlier, continues to be relevant. Says a Dataquest article: “Interestingly, what was considered revolutionary till about two years back has been relegated to what are commonly referred to as ‘hygiene factors’ today. And these hygiene factors (read multi-cuisine cafeterias, gymnasiums, meditation sessions and so on) are necessary but are no longer sufficient conditions for satisfaction among employees. Infosys, for example, offers recreation facilities run by an employee welfare trust. On offer are gymnasiums, swimming pools, aerobics, yoga and meditation centres, etc.”

But times have changed since that article was written. With the IT sector in slowdown mode, the hygiene factors are fast vanishing or becoming paid-for services. And their withdrawal is causing a great deal of dissatisfaction.

The folks in HR have begun looking at these perks through a different prism. At the bottom of the pyramid — largely for shopfloor workers and people living in corporate townships — are the need-based perks. This could include items like subsidised rations, free lunch, accommodation and schooling for children. It is difficult to touch these “perks”. Their value is built into the income and expenditure patterns of the employees. Imagine the problems that would occur if you suddenly ask them to pay for their free housing in company quarters.

At the second level is what can be called comfort perks. It is not necessary that someone should take your dog for a walk, but it helps if your company handles the chore. In India, firms like Les Concierges and Superseva, who have clients such as Hindustan Unilever, Wipro, Infosys, Kotak Bank, IBM and Microsoft, offer this and much more. Now, however, their services are not so much in demand.

“It’s in the comfort zone that most of the perks (see box) are being removed,” says Rao. “You can’t get rid of a gymnasium or a swimming pool overnight. But companies are asking their employees to pay a small fee for their use. One particularly beleaguered IT company is even allowing outsiders to use their health club now.”

At the third level are the status perks — the golf club membership, the corporate jet, the keyman insurance and the annual foreign holiday for the top brass. “That’s where one can really cut costs,” says Rao. “But that’s where the least is being done.” Citibank is buying a $60 million executive jet despite making huge losses and standing in the dole queue before the US government.

Rao has a spot of advice for humbler folk. “Don’t worry about such excesses,” she says. “These days, don’t compare your perks with others. Just accept what you get. The good times will return. The Citibankers may have jets; they don’t have lives.”

ICING ON THE CAKE

Perquisites at different levels:-

NEED PERKS

Subsidised rations

Free accommodation

Free tea / coffee

Transportation

COMFORT PERKS

Health club

Swimming pool

Meditation centre

Yoga classes

Personal trainers

Cafeteria

Entertainment benefits

Concierge services

Multi-cuisine lunch

Lunch coupons

Free tickets for shows

Dog walker

Office party

Cellphone upgrade

Childcare reimbursement

On-site dry-cleaning

On-site doctors

STATUS PERKS

Club membership

Family vacation

Unlimited expense account

Corporate jet

Keyman insurance

Source: The Telegraph (Kolkata, India)

You should be willing to relocate if work so demands, even if it isn’t the best of cities
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This is the time of the year when many organisations around the world come out with their lists of cities — the most expensive cities, the best cities for work, the best cities for entrepreneurs and what have you. An Indian business publication, for instance, has just come out with its list of the best cities to live in, work and play. The top five are Gurgaon, Chandigarh, Chennai, Hyderabad and Mumbai.

There will be several questions. Mumbai probably slips in because of the halo effect; it has always been highly ranked. But a few malls don’t make a city; there is little else on offer at Gurgaon. And why has Calcutta been forgotten? It should rank very high on “live” and “play”, though “work” joined the absconders’ list a long time ago.

Another recently published list is the CB Richard Ellis ranking of the world’s most expensive office markets. Mumbai gets a look in here at No. 6, while Delhi has dropped to 12th place. Occupancy costs were actually down in most places, thanks to the global slowdown. The top three decreases were in Singapore, New York and Hong Kong.

Look at it from another angle. Mumbai is the second least expensive city while Delhi is four places from the bottom, according a 2006 survey conducted by Swiss banking major UBS. (Things have not changed very much since then.) Of the 71 cities studied, Oslo, London, Copenhagen, Zurich and Tokyo were the most expensive.

The UBS Price and Earnings 2006 report also looked at salaries. It calculated that a Delhiite has to work for 59 minutes to earn enough to buy a large McDonald burger. Against this, a New Yorker needs just 13 minutes. At the other end of the scale, Nairobi clocks in at one-and-a-half hours.

If you have already started feeling puzzled by these anomalies, here’s another. According to a Cost of Living survey from HR consulting firm Mercer, the most expensive city for expatriates is Moscow. This 2008 ranking puts Tokyo in second place and London at No. 3.

One would expect Indian cities (given the UBS survey) to be off the map altogether. But that’s not the case. Mumbai is there at No. 48 and Delhi at No. 55. Even Nairobi figures at No. 103, much above the bottom-ranked Asunció (Paraguay). In terms of rental properties for expats, Mumbai is actually at No. 4, ahead of many more tony addresses.

If you want to know where an Indian city tops, it’s in population density. Mumbai has 29,650 people per sq km and Calcutta is No. 2 with 23,900. The most crowded Chinese city — Shenzhen — has 17,150. Places like Boston have just 900 and Atlanta 700. Small wonder Indians feel they are at sea when they visit these places.

Many of these statistics — particularly the cost of living survey — are used by companies when they are transferring their staff to other locations. “IBM, for instance, is asking its staff to accept pink slips at some locations in the US and then rejoin in India at ‘Indian’ salaries,” says Mumbai-based HR consultant D. Singh. “Or an Indian company may post you from Calcutta to Mumbai. How does the IBM employee — if he is at all willing to move — calculate whether the pay cut can be made up because of lower costs? How does the Calcutta-leaver — and there are thousands of them — work out the city compensatory allowance?”

Singh has a simple solution. “If you don’t have an alternative, you go,” he says. “If you have the option, don’t worry too much about the numbers; the money will take care of itself. Look instead at what it does to your career. Very often, an unwillingness to move means that you will no longer be considered part of the upwardly mobile set.”

Forget the studies; that’s meant for the bean counters at multinational company dinosaurs. Forget the fact that your savings will be affected or you won’t be able to buy that new set of wheels next year. If you are not willing to travel, you will never go places.

OFFICE’S CHOICE

The top 10 most expensive cities Rank, 2009, 2008:-

1. Tokyo, (Inner Central), London (West End)

2. London (West End), Moscow

3. Moscow, Hong Kong (CBD)

4. Hong Kong (CBD), Tokyo (Inner Central)

5. Tokyo (Outer Central), Mumbai

6. Mumbai, Dubai

7. Dubai, Tokyo (Outer Central)

8. Paris, London (City)

9. London (City), Singapore

10. Dublin, Hong Kong (Prime Districts)

Source: CB Richard Ellis Group

Sri Aurobindo Centre for Arts and Communication, New Delhi

Sri Aurobindo Centre for Arts and Communication (SACAC) is tucked away in a green pocket of the Aravalli hills in Delhi. A unit of Sri Aurobindo Society, it offers professional training in arts and communication. Six years in the running, the school offers postgraduate diploma in advertising and public relations, journalism (English and Hindi), film and television production, creative photography and audio technology.

Along with professional expertise in their chosen careers, the school seeks to develop holistic growth in students. “We imbibe the philosophy envisaged by Sri Aurobindo and the Mother. It follows the principle that nothing can be taught, that knowledge cannot be imposed. Teachers guide students to realise their potential,” says director Daljeet Wadhwa.

In line with its educational philosophy, SACAC has tried to create an organisational structure that provides students with creative space and teacher support to explore their selves.

The number of students is deliberately kept small to facilitate greater interaction with teachers. The class size does not exceed 25 in any course. For the programme in film and TV production, each specialisation (direction, video camera, editing and sound design) has an intake of seven students. Arvind, a student of journalism who has got a job at Discovery Communications, says, “Our faculty knew the capability of each student. We too knew our individual strengths. We worked as a team to build on our strengths.”

At the time of admission, students are evaluated through a statement of purpose, written test, group discussion and personal interview. Not only the intelligence level but also the level of awareness, individual aspiration and desire to learn are taken note of.

The school takes pride in the rigour of its academic programmes. “We have restructured the journalism curriculum. We provide a good mix of theory and practice,” shares Ramesh Menon, head of the department of journalism. In order to give hands-on training and prepare students for the stresses in the communication industry, students of journalism are assessed through project work alone.

“We invite journalists, not academicians, to come and teach our students,” says Menon. The course also entails internship. Keeping in tune with the changing market demands, the department plans to introduce rural internship as well.

“The film and TV production department was formed in response to the need to develop a curriculum for film studies. The subject is not adequately dealt with in introductory mass communication programmes,” says Shankhajeet De, deputy director, academics, and teacher in the department. “Besides training students in the technicalities of film making, the specialisations offered help in perspective development,” he adds. The school’s campus is equipped with an editing suite, photography studio, library and resource centre, multimedia centres and a studio for shooting television projects. Students also visit Prasad Studios, India’s oldest post production studio, to see post production processes.

Tarun Jain, a film and television student of the 2006-07 batch, says, “I got a lot of time to explore myself. There is a certain kind of energy that allows students to do more and more things. The teachers are receptive to students’ ideas.”

SACAC organises frequent interactions with industry professionals who serve as visiting faculty and mentors. Feedback from mentors helps students explore new ways of approaching their craft. Ridhima, a student of creative photography, has an interest in capturing the human element. “I learned a lot in workshops with Raghu Rai. Over the year, I have been able to develop an identity as a professional photographer,” she says.

Every batch of students is taken on a fortnight trip to Auroville in Puducherry. Away from the humdrum of city life, students get a chance to interact with scholars there. At the end of the day students are expected to provide feedback on their experience.

The curriculum is interspersed with workshops on stress management, yoga, leadership qualities and team building exercises. These sessions also help students address and understand social problems such as gender discrimination, child labour and so on. The school believes that greater self-awareness and social consciousness will lead to creative and thought-provoking work.

Some of the organisations where past students have found placements are NDTV, Star News, IBN 7, The Asian Age, The Indian Express, Mint, Perfect Relations, Mudra Communications, Contiloe films and Synergy Adlabs.

SACAC also runs short-term courses for exploring the various art forms. These courses allow students to dabble in the creative process while learning its technicalities.

Vital Statistics

WHAT IS IT? It is a Delhi-based institution which offers training in arts and communication

WHO’S THE BOSS? Dr Daljeet Wadhwa is the director

where is it? Sri Aurobindo Society, Delhi branch Campus, Shaheed Jeet Singh Marg, Adhchini, New Delhi-110017 Phone: (011) 26561986 / 87 Website: www.saimc.com
Email:info@saimc.com

Source: The Telegraph (Kolkata, India)

Cyber crimes are illegal activities committed using computers. The target of criminal activity can be a computer, a network or operations. It can also be against a person, an organisation or a government.

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Given our increasing dependence on computing technology and the growing opportunity to use engineering technologies to engage in illegal, unauthorised and unethical acts, every organisation is at risk.

Cyber forensic experts gather evidence and establish credible audit trails of electronic wrongdoing. They identify, gather, document and preserve evidence of electronic tampering and misuse. Computer forensics is a branch of forensic science pertaining to legal evidence found in computers and other digital storage mediums. It entails gathering, processing, interpreting, and use of digital evidence to provide a conclusive description of cyber crimes. Cyber forensics also includes the act of making digital data suitable for inclusion in criminal investigation. Today, cyber forensics is a term used in conjunction with law enforcement and computer forensics experts are often called cyber cops or digital detectives.

Electronic evidence is fragile and can be easily modified. Cyber criminals wipe, disguise, cloak, encrypt and destroy evidence from storage media using a variety of freeware, shareware and commercially available utility programmes. A global dependency on technology combined with the expanding presence of the Internet resource requires that corporate assets be well protected.

When those assets come under attack, cyber forensic professionals gather electronic evidence of such misuse and utilise that evidence to bring to justice those who are responsible.

What do I have to do?
Cyber forensic experts present testimonies in court regarding digital evidence and pass on the results obtained to law enforcement professionals.

In India, the major thrust is on development of indigenous tools for cyber forensics and providing technical services and training to law enforcement agencies. These tools are developed in consultation with the police. High quality forensic tools that are guaranteed to produce results are used by various agencies and analysis centres such as the Central Bureau of Investigation, army, Intelligence Bureau, forensic science labs and state police.

The technical services provided are evidence reporting, analysis, evidence collection and data recovery — resurrection of deleted files, analysis of file access, modification, creation, viewing and analysis of systems and application logs.

It also involves determining the activity of users and / or applications on a system, discovery of the IP address, host names, network routes and website information; analysis of emails for source information and content; support to email tracing and email recovery; support to analysis of log files for intrusion detection and tracing; support to identification of methods and technologies for tracking resources and personnel on the Net.

As a subject cyber forensics is still in its infancy. With technology evolving, mutating and changing at such a rapid pace, the rules governing the application of cyber forensics to the fields of auditing, security and law enforcement are changing as well.

Almost daily, new techniques and procedures are designed to provide cyber forensic professionals a better means of finding electronic evidence, collecting it, preserving it and presenting it to client management for potential use in the prosecution of cyber criminals.

What should I study?
BE, BTech or a degree in computer science, computer applications, IT or BSc in maths, physics, statistics or electronic science. Technical and analytical skills are also a must.

What next?
Although relatively new, cyber forensics is a growing field. That’s because computer crimes have increased so rapidly that they’ve become a fact of life. A career in cyber forensics can be sought both in the public and private sectors. In the public sector, people are mostly employed in law enforcement agencies, state forensic departments and central agencies. In the private sector, the scope for cyber forensic experts is immense as many experts are required to detect and solve the increasing number of cyber crimes. After sufficient exposure, professionals can become independent security consultants. Some positions in this field are those of a cyber forensic investigator, Internet security officer, systems administrator and systems or business analyst.

Source: The Telegraph (Kolkata, India)

The incubator kitchen is a fine way to start a culinary business. Mary MacVean reports
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In one kitchen, Bob Suchyta perfects his muffins and brownies, trying to build a business in case the economy costs him his radio job. In another, Chelsea Britt, a recent college graduate, bakes in hopes of keeping her dad’s “panforte” business going. In a third kitchen, Robyn Chandonnet prepares vegan raw cheesecakes.

There are dozens of stories behind the bowls and stoves and recipes at Chef’s Kitchens, an incubator for food businesses in Los Angeles, the US. Stories of people shedding careers or adjusting to new and unexpected challenges. People with a dream and a cleverly decorated cookie or a family tamale recipe or the goal of owning a restaurant.

A small food business often starts at home — cooking or baking after a day job, handing out samples, asking friends and family for advice. But after that, the home cook must confront the reality of insurance, permits, packaging, marketing. And a kitchen. Selling food from most home kitchens is illegal. Building one can cost tens of thousands of dollars; rental kitchens are scarce.

Enter the incubator kitchen — for rent and stocked with equipment and licensed by health authorities.

“We want to be a place where people can start from nothing and grow — and grow out of us in some ways,” says Andrea Bell, the owner of Chef’s Kitchens Co-op.

C.C. Consalvo would like nothing better than to outgrow Chef’s Kitchens. She and two part-time employees of Clean Plate Meals make and deliver organic, “farm-to-table artisan” meals that accommodate dairy or gluten intolerances and other special requests. Her dream is to own a cafe.

But for now, she says, she feels at home at Chef’s Kitchen, where the five kitchens are open 24×7 for the 40 or 50 businesses operating there. Rents at the 25-year-old facility run from $16 to $25 an hour, depending on how much time a cook, teacher, photographer or other tenant needs.

Last fall, Bell says, the economic news made her worried that “things could get pretty rough” for her incubator, but that hasn’t happened. In fact, she says her office is getting more calls, five or six a day, inquiring about the kitchens.

“I think the economy will stimulate the entrepreneurial mind,” says Mari Fassett, who “searched high and low” for a kitchen when she began her successful Marimix snack company in 1993, and who now is building a four-kitchen incubator in Orange.

“Everybody has a dream of some kind of food… a favourite dish they really think people would love,” Bell, a former caterer with 25 years of experience, says. “People are a lot more interested in what goes into their food, the ingredients, the health aspects. By buying from people who are also concerned about that, you can get food of the caliber you would make at home.”

Chef’s Kitchens is one of about 60 kitchen incubators around the US. La Cocina in San Francisco was conceived to help low-income people develop businesses. Others help farmers get their products to consumers. Mi Kitchen Es Su Kitchen is a consulting company in New York that runs three incubators in the off-hours of kitchens run for another purpose, such as job training, says Kathrine Gregory, owner of the business. Rents are around $20 an hour.

These days, Gregory says, she encourages people to “think small and package small”. While a shopper might hesitate to buy a big box of expensive cookies, they’re likely to feel comfortable with a $5 splurge.

At Chef’s Kitchens, Bell and partner Sarah Cawley say some of their tenants work full time and others as little as four hours a week.

There’s a bookcase of cookbooks for sharing, as well as informal advice about getting a spot at a farmers’ market or shelf space at Whole Foods, and referrals for packaging or insurance. (The cooks who use the incubator must get certification in food handling and insurance. If they want to sell food in L.A. county, they also need a business license.) And should a cook need an egg in the middle of the night, she can usually borrow one.

Cawley, who came to the US from Ireland in 1982 and worked for Bell at her catering business before becoming her partner in Chef’s Kitchens, has a reputation as a mother hen. Tenants say she can get an oven fixed or a scheduling problem solved quickly.

“The people who are here — they put their faith in me,” she says. “They have faith in me and I have to give that back.”

Suchyta hopes his muffins and brownies will prove appealing. He worked in his father’s Dearborn, Michigan, bakery from the age of five. By 20 he’d had enough. Now, at 43, he’s worried about the future of his radio job.

Last year he brought his low-fat apple muffins to El Segundo’s town fair. Soon he was sinking money into equipment, and in January started working at Chef’s Kitchens. He sells his baked goods at the Torrance Farmers Market south of downtown Los Angeles on Saturdays and has been trying to get a contract with a cafe.

He’s still got his day job, but says he’s closing in on breaking even as a baker.

Britt, 25, also hopes to use what she learned from her father Randy, a farmer in Chico, who, along with the produce he brought to a farmer’s market, ran a business that sold a California-style version of the Italian cake called “panforte”, made with almonds, dried apricots, and nectarines and dates.

“I remember him practicing,” says Britt, who designed the label featuring a stylised almond tree.

Last April, her father died. Britt already had moved to Los Angeles and wanted to stay. She went home temporarily to his kitchen to learn the ropes and has been working on the business at Chef’s Kitchens toward a hoped-for debut in a farmers’ market in Santa Monica in the fall.

Source: Los Angeles Times

Know the right way to send your résumé via email. Here are some tips to help
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Applying for a job these days more often than not means sending your résumé and cover letter in electronic format. Some employers ask you to email your resume in the proper format. Others request that you apply using the online form that they supply. It helps to know how to handle this.

Twin choices
When sending a job application by email, you basically have two choices. You can either attach your file to the email, or else include your text in the body of your email message (by typing it in directly, or by copying the text from your existing résumé and pasting it in.)

In either case, you want to ensure that the recipients can use what you send them in a way that best suits their needs. For example, quite a few employers today employ “optical scanning” to process résumés. This simply means that they will be using computer technology to read your application and pick out key words as a means of sorting and ranking all the résumés that they receive.

Copy and paste
This being the case, it makes sense to copy and paste the text of your résumé directly into the body of your email. This way if the employer uses optical scanning, the computer can easily read the “plain-text” you’ve provided, because it doesn’t have any fancy fonts or special layouts that might otherwise confuse the scanner.

Good impression
However, not all employers who ask you to submit your résumé via email use optical scanning. Instead, a real person will be opening up the emails and manually reading each résumé. You can make a good impression in this case by attaching a “hard copy” of your résumé — with its fancy fonts and nice layout — in the form of an MS Word document (or a compatible one with a .doc suffix).

Double deal
Since you may not know in advance whether the employer prefers an attached document or text in the body of your email, it may be to your advantage to include both, each time you submit an application. You can mention in the opening lines of your email that you have included a plain-text version of your résumé for scanning and an MS Word-compatible version for convenience.

Tech tools
The other variable to consider is if you should use the HTML feature of your email, if it is available to you. With HTML, you can transform the plain-text within the body of your email by adding bold lettering, italics, bullet points, colour and symbols.

This may sound appealing, in that the appearance of your text is enhanced. The catch is that not all employers would want to receive your email in HTML format. Thus, if an employer prefers to accept emails using plain-text only, your submission may not appear as you had intended it to. Therefore, it is still appropriate to skip the HTML format and stick to the simpler plain-text in your emails.

Of course, applying directly through a job site provides you with potential advantages. You can either upload your existing résumé as is, or else copy and paste it in the space provided. Along with this sometimes there is the option of including your cover letter. This may enhance the impression you make on the employer.

Once you have submitted your application directly through a job site, you are immediately informed that your application has been successfully sent to the employer. If you just use regular email it is difficult to know this. Moreover, job sites display a selection of related jobs that you may want to apply for as well.

Source: The Telegraph (Kolkata, India)

Sakina Rangwala helps fresh graduates find their footing in the job market
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Congratulations! After all those sleepless nights, you’re finally graduating. But is there a job in sight? There was a time when new college graduates had few choices: pursue further studies, find work or join the military. These days, there are many more options. But with the job market in a slump and the economy in the doldrums, now is the time to rethink how you go about landing your dream job. When traditional methods aren’t working, that’s when you need to get creative. Try these tips.

Look beyond your inner circle
Getting in touch with everyone you know is key to finding the right opportunity. Start at school: talk to friends and teachers, talk to your alumni association and if you are a member of a club or organisation, take advantage of those contacts.

“You can create the right opportunities just by contacting the right people and reaching out to them,” say Anne Brown and Beth Zefo, authors of Grad to Great: Discover the Secrets to Success in Your First Career. They recommend joining local chapters of networking associations and trade organisations in your field of interest. For example, if you’re a public relations major, make sure you become a member of the Public Relations Society of America. Attend happy hours, speeches, book signings — find opportunities to follow key people in your chosen industry.

Many of these organisations offer student memberships at a discounted rate, notes Derrick Dortch, an expert on federal careers. You may also have an advantage if you’re in a specialised field, such as technology or science, and can share some of your knowledge by teaching a class to members of the organisation.

Seek out “jobternships”
Even after some strategic networking, finding your dream job at your dream company may still be foremost on your mind. If you’re adamant about working for a particular company but there just aren’t any vacancies, experts recommend contacting them anyway. Don’t just email or snail mail, try handing in a cover letter through an established contact. Keep an eye on smaller, private firms — they may be more willing to hire students who have already graduated. Also, if you’re currently interning, ask if your employer would be willing to extend your internship or explore other options.

Research graduate programmes
If you want to acquire additional skills and further your studies, this may be the option for you. And if you need help financing a graduate degree, Dortch says the best place for assistance might very well be your own school. “There may be a great deal of money coming in from these stimulus packages that is going to be beefing up education, community colleges, graduate schools … a lot of money is going to be going into re-training the work force,” he says.

Volunteer in your field of study
Volunteering is a way of “staying close to your career objective”, while you get flexible and look for alternatives to a full-time job, says Dortch, former assistant director of Georgetown University’s career centre. Brown and Zefo agree: “Volunteering will at least help you keep your skills updated, and that resume packed with experience.” You can volunteer just about anywhere depending on the opportunities available. Try non-governmental organisations and non-profits in your area. Opportunities at these organisations are usually available on a project basis.

Bloom where you are planted
Even with hard work, you could end up with a job as a grocery store cashier because the economy is just that bad. In this situation, Brown and Zefo say, “you can create your own learning experience in that industry. You don’t have to just go to work every day and do your cashier’s job, you can learn about the industry while you are there and you can talk to management and see if there is a way to job-shadow to learn about inventory skills. Are there any marketing meetings that you could sit in on and learn about sales and logistics?” You can ultimately take a leadership role anywhere — even while volunteering. Brown and Zefo say in this economy people really need to re-shift their expectations: “Maybe it is time again to start in the mailroom and work your way up to president.”

Source: The Washington Post

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KPC Medical College and Hospital, CALCUTTA

KPC Medical College and Hospital (KPCMCH) has the unique distinction of being the first private medical college in West Bengal. It was set up in 2007 under a public-private partnership programme initiated by the KPC Group and the West Bengal government. The college received the approval of the Medical Council of India on May 2, 2008, to admit 150 students for the four and a half years’ MBBS course. It began its academic session in August last year. The college is affiliated to the West Bengal University of Health Sciences.

KPCMCH is a registered society formed by a non-profit foundation sponsored by orthopaedic surgeon and medical entrepreneur Dr Kali Pradip Chaudhuri. The fledgling institute has 21 departments, including forensic medicine, microbiology, psychiatry, anaesthesiology, dermatology and anatomy. All the departments are under the charge of senior doctors, some of them specialists in their fields.

The college has 300 full-time faculty. “Our faculty is a mix of the young and old. We have some very senior teachers who are retired professors as well as junior lecturers who have just completed their MDs,” says medical director Dr Saurabh Ghosh.

KPCMCH has received approval for setting up 750 beds. Currently, there are around 500 beds. Plans are on to set up more beds in future.

“Having a hospital on the premises helps students in getting first-hand knowledge of different diseases and the need for quality healthcare,” feels Dr Ghosh.

The college prides itself in its infrastructure facilities. “We have a spacious, state-of-the-art academic building, besides a modern library with a huge collection of text books, reference books, national and international journals. The library is a Wi-Fi zone where students have access to Internet facilities 24×7. Reference CDs, audiovisual aids and study materials are given to the students. All the students are provided laptops free of cost,” he says.

The course fee for the MBBS course is Rs 6 lakh, though those from the management and NRI quota have to pay Rs 20 lakh and Rs 30 lakh respectively (as of last year). The fees are likely to be revised this year. According to the guidelines set by the Supreme Court and the West Bengal government last year for admission to private medical colleges, KPCMCH was allowed to admit 50 students from the state’s Joint Entrance Examination list, 77 under management quota and 23 under NRI quota. The seat allotment under different quotas may change this year.

The thrust area of KPCMCH is on research. The college has been conducting research on thalessemia in collaboration with the Hemophilia Society, Calcutta Chapter. “We have been providing free treatment and follow-up care to thalessemia patients. Besides, we have invested Rs 40 lakh for setting up a hospital information network where information about patients can be accessed by any department by the click of a mouse. This would help in creating a database of information about various types of diseases affecting the people of Calcutta and enable us to conduct research in these areas,” says Dr Ghosh.

The college has been selected by the World Health Organisation (WHO) as a participant in an international collaborative effort in preventing trauma deaths. KPCMCH is one of the 50 hospitals in India selected by the WHO for the project. The hospital will soon conduct drug trials for tuberculosis in collaboration with a foreign company.

The college also runs a nursing school and nursing college. Besides, it also conducts courses in paramedical and physical medicine.

“We plan to start postgraduate courses in medicine in another five years,” says Dr Ghosh.

Vital Statistics

WHAT IS IT? It is the first private medical college in West Bengal

WHO’S THE BOSS? Dr Saurabh Ghosh is the medical director

WHAT IS THE COURSE FEE? Rs 6 lakh for the MBBS course

WHERE IT IS? 1F, Raja Subodh Chandra Mullick Road, Jadavpur, Calcutta-700032
Phone: 30016113, 30016119 Email: admission@kpcmedicalcollege.org

Source: The Telegraph (Kolkata, India)