Pervin Malhotra is Executive Director, CARING, a career information & guidance organisation based in New Delhi. It helps students in making educational and career choices by providing them information and guidance on the options available. She has been in this field for the last 12 years. In an chat with Nivedita Mishrashe mentions the highs and lows of careers and employment scenario in India.
Which are the hottest emerging sectors?
The entire ICE segment (Information Technology, Communications and
Entertainment), the services sector (insurance, financial services, non-banking financial services), hospitality, the BPO sector (call centres, medical transcription), engineering design, editorial and excerpting work for large publishers, retail, NGOs, biotech and bioinformatics, industrial & graphic design, telecommunication, dairy & processed food, textiles, animation, healthcare, education.
In which sectors do Indians have a natural advantage?
Any segment which requires numerical ability, analytical skills, street smartness (problem solving), sincerity, knowledge of English language (Indians largely speak an accent-neutral English) and tech savvy.
In realistic terms, can sectors like Entertainment and Retail be taken seriously and are they here to stay?
There is no reason for not taking these segments seriously. Entertainment, in fact, will be one of most "happening" segment in the immediate future. In fact, the infotainment section is very huge. Earlier, there were just books with which one could teach children. Today, there are CDs, TV programmes, Internet and increasingly, these media are converging. Leave aside films, just look at the proliferation of TV - over 100 channels requiring 24/7 programming!
If permanency is what you mean, then there's no permanency in any sector. Even the so-called lucrative segment of IT is a highly volatile one. September 11 in the US sent the entire IT industry and travel industry into a global tailspin! With the quantum of knowledge doubling every few years and with technology changing as fast as it does, no one can afford to be complacent anymore. Who would have thought that IT- Enabled Services (ITES) would overtake IT as swiftly as it has? Or that video libraries that dotted every nukkad would be totally obsolete?
{{/usCountry}}If permanency is what you mean, then there's no permanency in any sector. Even the so-called lucrative segment of IT is a highly volatile one. September 11 in the US sent the entire IT industry and travel industry into a global tailspin! With the quantum of knowledge doubling every few years and with technology changing as fast as it does, no one can afford to be complacent anymore. Who would have thought that IT- Enabled Services (ITES) would overtake IT as swiftly as it has? Or that video libraries that dotted every nukkad would be totally obsolete?
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