The Counsellor - 12

 Career Wise 

I have great interest in anthropology and want to pursue it at the BSc level. Can you tell me the career prospects in anthropology? 

Sheela Singh

 

If people, their behaviour, customs and rituals fascinate you, anthropology may well be your cup of tea. 

 

   Mainly divided into two branches - cultural and physical (with further sub-branches under each) - anthropology is a social science like history and sociology that studies human beings. It focuses particularly on their physical characteristics, evolution,racial classification,historic and present-day geographic distribution, current social formations, group dynamics and cultural history. 

 

   Several universities offer anthropology -- both at the BA as well as BSc-level. 

 

   Students of anthropology go on to pursue postgraduate courses either in anthropology or sociology, which is related to field. With a Master's in this subject, you can look at opportunities in teaching, anthropological research,museology and developmental work. While some become anthropologists,some pursue forensic science, or even go for market research. Several consumer product companies like Nokia, Motorola, Intel, Microsoft employ trained user anthropologists or human behaviour researchers to study potential customers and their requirements so that this knowledge can be translated into betterdesigned products and services. The information is valuable to the technologists, designers and marketing people in the organisation. 

 

   Appearing for Civil Services examination is yet another popular option. Besides the Anthropological Survey of India, museums, archives, NGOs, universities, hospitals and organisations such as the Indian Council for Medical Research, World Health Organisation, department of child and family welfare employ anthropologists as social scientists. 

 

   At the Bachelor's level, in Delhi University, there are 10 papers in all, two in the first year, physical anthropology and social anthropology.There are three papers in the second year: social institutions, prehistoric anthropology and fundamentals of human origin and evolution. Third year papers include human genetics, peasantries etc 

Which way 

I am a student of BSc (nursing). Due to acute rheumatoid arthritis, I will not be able to work in a hospital or a clinic. I have heard that there are some options for medical professionals in the BPO sector. Is this true? 

Sukanya Balu

 

More and more outsourcing firms in India are now hiring medical professionals as they look for new areas of business to supplement shrinking incomes from sectors that have traditionally opted for outsourcing like finance and banking. Four outsourcing firms Wipro BPO, TCS, Cognizant and HCL are hiring doctors, nurses and paramedics. About 15-18 people come on board every month. The pay obviously depends on experience and quality of work, but it is common for these BPOs to offer the doctors double of what they have been making. The average salary could start from Rs 45,000 and go up to Rs 3 lakh per-month.Those with pharmacy, medicine, dentistry, nursing and homeopathy degrees are in great demand. So don't worry. 

What next 

Could you please tell me if there is any way I can do my PhD in IT through distance learning. I have an MTech qualification and I am presently working in Information security. 

   Eknath Bhupia

 

Perhaps there are others, but here are some you can start checking out right away: 

   Pondicherry University, Directorate of Distance Education, Puducherry 

   Thapar Institute of Engineering and Technology (TIET), Patiala, www.tiet.ac.in  

Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore (PT/Ext) 

BITS, Distance Learning Programmes Divn, Pilani 333031 (www.bits-pilani.ac.in ) 

Karnataka State Open University, Karnataka

 

Looking ahead 

I am planning to join a pre-sea cadet course. What is the scope of a career in the merchant navy? 

   Mansukh Khan

 

   Currently there is a worldwide shortage of officers in merchant navy. Similarly, an increasing shortage of qualified officers to man sea-going vessels continues to confront the Indian shipping industry, even as the shipping fleet is expanding with ship owners lining up significant investments to buy marine assets. The worldwide demand for seafarers is estimated at 4.76 lakh officers as against an availability of 4.66 lakh. 

 

 

  This shortfall of 10,000 may treble to 27,000 by 2015, as new orders for ships have increased and scrapping has dropped. Also India is unable to provide an adequate number of seafarers to man (and woman) the Indian flag vessels with many officers preferring to sail on board foreign flag vessels owing to discrepancy in taxation policies. Out of the total of 26,900 Indian officers, only 8,900 are employed in Indian flag vessels while 18,000 are serving in foreign flag vessels. 

 

   Indian officers are rated right at the top particularly in segments such as specialty vessels and tankers that require quality seamen, where they even command a premium over their counterparts from Philippines, Russia and China. 

 

 

  Many ship manning and management companies are looking at India as a major supplier of quality crew. Several have made commitments in the country's premier training institutes. 

 

 

  The scope for further recruitment in India will go up as the export tonnage increases. And this is expected to continue well into 2010.

 

Connecting link 

I am a student of electrical engineering. A number of telecom companies have been coming to campus for recruitment. Since we don't have much knowledge about this sector, as our college does not offer this branch of engineering, we are confused whether to accept these offers. Could you please help? 

   Budhdev Rao

 

India has the third largest telecom network after China and USA. More than two lakh lines are added every day. And while there are more than 3.3 billion mobile phone subscribers worldwide, there are at least three billion others who do not own cellphones, the bulk of them in Asia and Africa. Even the smallest improvement in efficiency across those additional three billion people could reshape global economy in ways we may just be beginning to understand. In fact a study conducted by the London Business School concludes that for every additional 10 mobile phones per 100 people, a country's GDP rises 0.5% by raising people's productivity, earnings and well-being. 

 

   Telecom requires trained, experienced and multi-skilled professionals. The burgeoning cellular segment offers great employment avenues. What's more, the demand is much higher than the supply. You could also look at data services ie Internet, leased lines, DSL and cable, which are the other constituents of this sector. 

 

   This is also one sector, which is open to experimentation as far as recruiting people from different backgrounds is concerned. 

   For the lower-end jobs, freshers have a great potential here so do techies. Software powered applications will drive the future of telecom, especially mobility. 

 

   There is also a great demand for electrical and telecom engineers. In fact, Nasscom predicts a demand for one million telecom professionals over the next 5-10 years. 

   A growing sector, a sound training base, rich dividends, and a host of incentives for freshers, it sure is a sector to watch.

 

 

 

Sunil Sharma

    Moderator

Dil Se Desi Group