TELE 5

It has been a long time since I have blogged which happened due to a number of factors and the most contributing one was lack of time! Well guess what? I am finally back and it is no surprise that the Telecom - Student scenario is still at the exact same spot where i left it. Upcoming telecommunication graduates are all worried and tensed biting nails and spending all their time in cursing the world for being so mean and not generating enough job opportunities! Yesterday I met a university junior after a long time and all he could talk about was the troubling thought of job shortage in Pakistan and complaining about all the options being “saturated” and dried up.

For all those who think like my junior friend, you all seriously need to wake up! If you are the one complaining about lack of opportunities in the telecommunication industry you are seriously very out of date. Change your retro thinking about the job dilemma and sort out your options. To dust of the rust (rhymed didn’t it ) I will present some of the options other than the “conventional” ones and none of them are magical creatures or alien populated ideas, all are practical and industry based offers.

Lets rule out all the ideas of a great job that you normally have in mind (yeah I am talking about Mobilink, Ufone, Warid and Telenor jobs). So what are we left with? For starters you need to realize that these are not the only options the telecom world has to offer, upgrade your vision you need to look at broader perspectives of the job possibilities. It has become a rule of thumb amongst our telecom grads that a field job has got to do something with the above mentioned brands which I must say is a very wrong interpretation of a field related job.

There are several other jobs which are related to telecom and are pretty much field oriented. Car Tracking and satellite secure vehicle industry is one good example. This particular industry has just started to evolve in Pakistan and has a lot of scope as well as penetration power. This industry is not limited to the automobile sector, it in fact is growing as a multi-facet phenomena and is being implemented in all sorts of security. Talking about security systems there are two more very fresh and rapidly developing fields which are indeed in need of young active and innovative minds. The bio-metric security era has its roots firmly planted in the Pakistani corporate soil, all it now needs is to grow and evolve into a sturdy tree for which it requires man power (that means you). Not very far from this are the land security systems which involve a very wide range from RF id security to tapping mechanisms (yes its legitimate).

Then there are other areas as well which are a very good option for telecom graduates, the e-banking sector has just started to roll out in Pakistan. The domain has loads of area for RND and has scope for young minds as well. With virtual bank accounts and mobile to mobile money transactions on the chart, this particular sector has plenty to offer and is a great deal.

Well these are few of the many available options, as always I maintain the opinion that the mind set has to be changed. Positive thinking combined with hard work always pay offs!

You must have read quite a few interviews of the telecom guru’s but as I was thinking for a topic to blog on an idea popped in my head. Why not interview a fresh employee? Let’s see what they have to say.

Me: Your name and year of graduation?

Noman: Noman Mumtaz Ali and I had graduated in June, 2009.

ME: Where are you currently working? Department and post?

Noman: UFONE , Intelligent network department as an Executive Engineer.

Me: How much time did it took you to get this job? Can you briefly describe your feelings before and after getting the job?

Noman: It took me 2 months to get this job almost but honestly speaking seeking a job and waiting to get one is really hard, it requires a lot of patience. There were total of 13 interviews and 4 tests given by me in different companies/organizations. Few companies offered me a job but those jobs are not related to my field and some companies told me that I have got a good theoretical knowledge but no practical experience that just pulled me back a bit but overall a great learning 2 months period for me that I will remember forever as I have learnt few different things that I had never learnt before.

Me: How was the interview? Were the question of basic level?

Noman: Interview was good there were total of 2 interviews and one test and the level of one of the interviews was a bit advanced.

Me: Being a telecom eng what do you think is your scope here in Pakistan?

Noman: Scope is very limited and you have to prove yourself that you are better from others in order to compete in the Telecom market of Pakistan.

Me: What are the chances of excelling in the particular field at the moment?

Noman: Chances are good for those who by chance or by talent enter a telecom company. Once you get in then the graph of growing will be very high for you but again you have to do a lot to enter in the company.

Me: If given a option will you switch?

Noman: No, I will not switch as I think it is best to gain as much experince as possible in a single job span.

Me: Any plan of doing Msc or Mba?

Noman: I have planned to do my MS in Communications hopefully from abroad.

Me: Current state of telecom industry?

Noman: I think if u pass the initial stage and enter a telecom company then you will grow good, but initial stage is very tough because there are very limited job opportunities in all the telecom companies.

Me: Thank you for your time.

Noman: My pleasure

Well this is it, what do you have to say about it? Do let me know.

It has been said several times and we all know it, “jobs are a rare gem“, now what? everyone has been pointing out the problem and yes it is a good thing in terms that we at least know what are we dealing with but I think now it is high time that we move forward and look for solutions.

There are quite a few alternatives that are out there to either help us in getting a job or for that matter improving the situation for us, but the first and the foremost thing which has to be highlighted above all is the “mind set” of the grads, I being a freshly graduated student myself completely understand the pressure we have but having said that it has to be understood that blaming ourselves, the state of industry, the government or the whole world will in no means create a job vacancy for us so what to do then? Well as I mentioned earlier change your mindset, act and think positively.

Now coming to the alternatives that I was talking about, there are a range of things that can be (should be) done, but it must be made clear that no one can do everything and one must pick out his option carefully and wisely.

There are quite a few reputable teaching centers that conduct courses which are pretty much field related, which include RF-Optimization, Wimax Training, 3G-planning etc, getting the name of any such course on your cv will make a strong impact, agreed that not everyone likes this idea but still it is worth giving a shot! It does increase the field knowledge to a noticeable extent and does helps a lot in interviews.

Coming to interviews doing courses is not the only thing that helps, being updated to the latest of the telecom world can also do wonders, it is not hard at all, a number of websites and forums are present also the good old newspaper is also available

Now another thing which is somewhat similar and somewhat not similar to doing courses are “certifications” there a vast number of certifications available and one must think before going for a particular one, there is the most popular CISCO certification chain which includes ccna, ccnp and so on, then there are others also like the Microsoft certifications. Doing certifications gives you an exponential rise and makes the job market broader for you.

Then we always have the INTERNSHIP option, regarded by some as under par I truly believe that in times such as these getting an internship is like finding a treasure internship is a dramatic addition to your CV and has great impact upon the employers, because this shows some relevant field experience but again this must be kept in mind that the internship you are doing must be of at least in some way connected to your field. Another bright perspective of doing an internship is getting contacts this is the one thing that has a very vital role in terms of getting your first job.

Establishing good contacts depends totally on the individual’s capability to connect, communicate and of course the way he/she presents himself. This is a much neglected factor but yes your presentation counts, which include the way you dress, speak and behave around a senior.

The last but definitely not the least is the option that I like to call as the FINAL ESCAPE that is the old school method, I hope you guessed it “MASTERS” yes there we have it, this is the final escape, pursuing a masters degree in relevant or area of interest field may sound a bit vague initially but is really not such a bad idea after all, being a Msc surely puts you ahead of others and makes you eligible for more jobs as well, secondly you may want to become a teacher at a respectable university which mind you is a very highly paid and stable job.

Well there it is, the alternatives which I had in my mind, but in the end it is all for you to decide for you to choose, all I would like to say is that keep your hopes high, keep praying to ALLAH and most importantly enjoy this time it is a normal phase through which everyone has to go, so be happy and keep trying your best.

The telecom industry may be going towards a decline, but there are no doubts that the future plans are being set very well. The minds of the telecom guru’s are still coming up with innovative ideas and developing latest applications.

Google has evolved as the hallmark of mordern era, and has yet again taken a bold step by launchig “Voice based map searching“, Google is hoping to attract smartphone users to its mobile mapping service, by adding voice-based search capabilities to Android’s Google Maps software [1].

This service is in actual an upgrade to the “Google Maps” application which is for “andriod powered phones“. The key feature of the service is that it recognizes “multi accents” i.e it is capable of understanding english in british, american and australian accents. After the search has been made, google will display the available maps which will help in deciding the correct direction.

This is a excellent time to launch such applications as the telecom world is entering a whole new dimension with the upcoming technologies, also it will be a motivation for young minds to come up with better ideas.

REFFERNCE:

www.teleclick.ca

www.googlemobile.blogspot.com

It was just a regular day, people buzzing in and out of their offices the traffic was the same as usual and the sun was as hot as ever but it was new for me, today was my first day at university and sitting in the university café with high spirits and hopes of achieving something great in life I looked around and wondered how long these four years of graduation would be.

Now today when I sit on the same café bench with less than seven days for graduation a lot of things seem to have changed, and of them all the most important change was the spirit, it was not high anymore and the hopes and dreams had been replaced by radical thoughts and approaches. The telecom market is not on its top form and there is nothing much to look out for.

This is the mind set of not only me but many other soon to be graduating students, and this needs to be changed if any of us wants to get a job, I personally believe that “one cannot achieve until one believes he can”. It is a fact that the telecom market is not that lucrative as it seemed to be four years back, but this also be should be kept in mind that the picture is not that bad as it is being portrayed.

There are a number of things that can be done to achieve a launching point in the field, for starters one has to move some hands, sitting all day and worrying about fewer jobs or blaming the country won’t do any good nor will it better in any way your chances to get a job. We as fresh graduates tend to be impatient; this along many others is a major weakness that has to be overcome.

 The first step towards the betterment is to maintain a positive attitude, try looking at brighter sides of things, there is lesser number of opportunities but they still exist. Make a CV that reflects you in the best possible manner, be original and do not copy from friends. Secondly go out and explore the web, there are quite a few forums that are meant for the purpose of guiding and providing chances to fresh graduates, be in touch with the updates in telecom market.

A very key factor in getting a good job is that you show your willingness towards it, whenever there is a job opening go forward and apply for it, just be sure that it is field relevant and always maintain the attitude that you are an equal likely candidate than all the others who applied for it, saying this you need to be ahead in some form to make it home. Take out a few hours daily and make it a habit of reading some sort of article, book, blog etc related to your field of interest, discover what your area of interest is and get the basic as well as latest information on it this will not only increase your knowledge but will also keep you well prepared for interview’s.

Then there is another approach which most people ignore and that is asking out your relatives or social circle to help you these people can be anyone, a distant relative, a friend’s father or even a senior professor in the university. We belong to a society where taking help is considered as taking loan whereby this is not the case, if there is a distant relative or any person in your knowing who can help you in any means, go and ask for his help. If you are not comfortable in handing out your resumes directly to them, then go and discuss your options with them, tell them about your future plans and talk about the possibilities of achieving them. Even if they cannot directly help you out, they still can be helpful in setting a guideline and with their experience serve as a beacon of light.

In the end it is all about your approach and attitude that will get you to the “launch pad”, remember that without determination, dedication and hard work nothing can be achieved always remember to act upon the plans you make because only planning would do no good, proper planning and then subsequent action on it is the way to go. The telecom market is in a wobbly state now, but it won’t be like this for the rest of eternity, it is a new beginning for us and be rest assured the paths ahead are open, the only question left is that “are we willing to walk on it?”