The 4th Dimension

Entrepreneurship is one word you may be hearing too frequently in recent days. With the financial gloom yet to clear out, most of the people are still trying their best to get back to a 9 to 6 role. Some of them will eventually succeed while some may choose other options depending upon their career priorities.

Unfortunately, people of our society usually narrow down their options. Despite of all this media and technological explosions, people here in the land of the pure are yet to wear their thinking cap and think out of the box. Meet any college pass out and you would eventually end up seeing 98% wannabe engineers and doctors. Those who do not end up in these professions do not do so by choice but by force (poor academic record etc). The rest 2% are bold enough to follow their dreams and pursue their passion.

The role of universities is also too much to be desired. They are still running on old systems and not being bold enough to update their curriculum and mode of operations according to changing times. Final year projects can be a great source of fostering the spirit of entrepreneurship amongst students but we are yet to see any student group come up with something innovative. I think we have had enough of projects like automatic car parking, robotic arm, PLC based controlling systems. No doubt all these are good projects but it’s high time that we move on from such stuff. I don’t think students should be blamed for this because at the end of the day they will not get good grades if they try to make something fancy. The reason for blaming universities is because entrepreneurship is often a difficult undertaking, as a vast majority of new projects fail, but if the universities can entice students to be bold enough and not care so much on end results a change in paradigm is expected.

It is perhaps the best time for people to venture into entrepreneurship. With slim opportunities everywhere, people on their own should create value not only for themselves but also for others. Starting off part time with a solo project and then moving into full fledge ventures is not a bad idea.

By promoting the spirit of entrepreneurial thinking we can not only foster entrepreneurial spirit but also potential economic support plan in these tough times.

Some of the steps that can be taken include:

1. Integrating entrepreneurship into education systems.
2. Encourage students to take risks with their projects.
3. Have campaigns similar to Enterprise Week launched by UK in 2004.
4. Hiring managers in MNCs should give preference to students having entrepreneurial projects.

All sorts of criticism, feedback and suggestions are welcomed

P.S: You might be interested in watching how entrepreneurs can actually change this world.

We are in middle of March and the remaining days leading upto 23^rd March, media will keep on reminding us the historical importance of Pakistan resolution and its implications. No doubt these celebrations are essential but it is also important that along with these celebrations we come up with something concrete that can actually help prosper Pakistan. Instead of drawing room discussions it’s more appropriate to chalk out plans and take actions.

I have always dreamt that MNCs operating in Pakistan, particularly the telecom companies [since I belong to telecom J] should also pump back the amount of fortune that they earn, back to the society. This only confirms their long term plans and their commitment to the betterment of the country.

Telecom companies do have their corporate social responsibility programs but many believe that most of the initiatives under CSR umbrella are marketing gimmicks. Barring a few exceptions like the Mobilink’s contribution towards the IDP issue, recycling of billboards material and making school bags out of it and Khuddar Pakistan from Telenor are all indeed very laudable efforts.

Looking at the current situation in Pakistan, where almost daily, we have suicide bombs welcoming the dawn of a new day, where every day hopes fade against mounting adversities, ambitions are slaughtered, lousiness is vindicated and change is defied, people in the land of pure do not have much to feel happy of. Our favorite past times, Cricket and Hockey to name a few have plunged into such depths that it is miraculous to believe that events folding on those fields can stimuli change. All in all we have lost hope and have forgotten to focus on the positivity that surrounds us. We often forget that Pakistanis are number one in philanthropy; are the most hospitable people and are peaceful and want peace.

In these tough times I as an ordinary Pakistani would like to thank Telenor Pakistan for the ‘Karo Mumkin’ campaign, a campaign that promises to deliver a message of hope and optimism to the people of Pakistan. The campaign [details can be viewed here] invites people to come up with ideas and suggestions that can contribute towards the betterment and prosperity of Pakistan.

The following is the official stance on the campaign:

Everyone has an idea or a dream that they wish to transform into reality. With its products and services, Telenor Pakistan hopes to inspire hope and self-belief in the people of Pakistan. Just recently, Telenor Pakistan transformed an opportunity into an achievement by launching the country’s first real mobile banking service, easypaisa. In the same tradition, we aspire to extend this faith to everyone that any possibility can be realized if pursued with commitment, confidence and belief.

Usman Javaid,

Director Marketing Telenor Pakistan

I know that it is wishful but still if this campaign can stimulate a chain reaction that Buddha has said:

One moment can change a day… One day can change a life… One life can change the world.

Lets pray that for us Pakistanis, this campaign can be that moment J

Karo mumkin Pakistan, Zindabad Telenor!

P.S:  Disclaimer: I am neither associated with Telenor nor its affliated vendors/PR agency. The views expressed in the above blog are my own, readers reserve their rights over difference of opinion.

Success stories always fascinate me. It was for this reason I read a lot of biographies to try to find the formula of success. As every human being is unique so are their stories of success. People have achieved greatness by a combination of sheer hard work, dedication and never say never attitude. All successful individuals have one thing in common and that is their humbleness. You can name any individual that has enjoyed the pinnacle of success and you will come across him as truly humble.

I last read the story of Lee Iacocca, who is considered to be the Einstein of Motor industry and was rated as the 18th best CEO in the world by Portfolio. He started off with Ford Motors in the engineering section as industrial electronics engineer. Inside two years he figured it out that engineering was not his piece of cake so he met the general manager and requested him to transfer him in the sales department with a 50% pay cut. Joining sales department was the start of Iacocca’s success. In the sales department Iacocca was involved with the design of several successful Ford models, including the famous FORD Mustang. At the age of 50 he went on to become the president of Ford but was fired because some of his models were dismissed by the board of governors as mere utopian.

At the same time he was requested by the Reagan government to take over Chrysler which was nearing bankruptcy. After taking over he requested several banks for a loan but none of the banks were willing to bail the company out. However one bank in Europe decided to loan the company 2 billion dollars but only on the condition that American Congress will be guarantor of this deal. This condition was outrageous since this had never before in the history, However Iacocca with his brilliance, lobbied with the Reagan administration and was able to have the loan.

With this money Iacocca manufactured the models which were rejected by the Ford governing body. These models were the start of people using small cars for their daily usage. The success of these models not only helped Chrysler clearing all their loans within half of the expected time but also brought the company on the road of prosperity.

This was the story that I shared so that those who didn’t have an idea as to who Iacocca was should have a rough sketch about the brilliance of this man.

Someone asked him the reason behind his success and Iacocca responded that it was his father. He said that whenever I use to go for a meal, my father always use to handover 10$ in advance to the waiter and used to say that our meal should not get spoiled now. Since the waiter was already paid in advance for his work, he/she always use to extend top class services. Iacocca learnt from this habit that if you want to get things done you must first give each person their due share and then you will see how people will go extra mile to achieve results.

Iacocca simply replicated this formula as leader of corporate institutes. During the start of the year he used to ask his employees how much profit did they expect the company to make and he used to give the bonus according to that (usually it’s the other way around in MNCs)  and used to urge the employees to deliver the results. This approach of him never let the company down and since employees already had their piece of cake so they use to make sure that they don’t let their company down in return.

He said that there are four principles of a corporate life which can also be related in achieving goals of one’s life:

1.) First decide what you really want to do in a given project.
2.) Hire the best people to achieve that objective.
3.) Set out your priorities.
4.) Start striving to achieve the results even if the rate of progress is very slow. If you are convinced that daily you have moved an inch to achieve your goal, you will never fail.

Ten dollars after all can make a difference.

P.S: This post has been inspired by a article written on life of Iacocca by a local journalist some 4 years back.

The dot net world is now a part and parcel of generation Y. Social networking sites such as facebook, twitter, myspace etc has taken the world by storm. Most of the people now spend more time ‘online’ than they spend with their families.

This change is not only limited to personal life but the importance of online professional profile is equally important. We have seen the advent of sites such as linkedin, jobserve, rozee.pk where people tailor their online profile in search of new career challenges.

With change being the only constant we continue to see interesting projects coming up in the online world. I recently came across a website that gives employers the convenience of only interviewing filtered candidates.

The working is pretty simple. The employer can post a job with a certain pre-requisites. The site administrators then in consultation with the employers employ certain filtering techniques. The benefit for such a system is both ways

Any candidate confident that he is matching the minimum requirement threshold can apply for the job.

Employers on other hand don’t require scanning each and every resume and then identifying the potential candidates.

Since everything has certain pros and cons therefore the same goes for this as well:

PROS

Everyone can apply provided he/she meets the minimum requirements.

Everyone is given an equal opportunity to prove his/her worth in tests.

No nepotism and favoritism as everything is transparent and online.

CONS

No check and balance in the initial screening.

A smart techie can play around with the results.

The one on one interview atmosphere cannot be replicated.

Considering both the pros and cons of such a project I would like to know the opinion of hiring managers and senior industry professionals. If you are in a hiring position will you use this technique of hiring or you will like to hire people using the conventional way.

Do share your valuable views.

Till next time…… Haris

Call it pessimism, reality, glumness or whatever word describes it best I have a firm opinion that we have a long way to go both collectively and individually as far as helping and sharing is considered.

We all are (barring a few exceptions) peeli patti (a term coined for the female aspect of the society) and raja jani (a term coined for the male aspect of the society) . Peeli Patti and Raja Jani are fictionist characters penned by local pop band Noori. These characters are happy in their utopian world and not realizing that actually whatever their acts are, it ultimately has an impact on the society they live in one way or the other.

Today we see our people in a state of self-denial. We are victims of a very myopic view of life, where the center of attention is only our own self, and a future that does not go, at best, beyond the scope and span of our own lifetime. We seek short-lived pleasures while we turn our faces away from the unpleasantness and sickness that surrounds us. We love ourselves and ourselves alone, yet we are oblivious of the harm we are causing to our mind and body. We live for the moment, as we fear our mortality; but we kill ourselves every single day!

Peeli Patti aur Raja Jani ki Gol Dunya is the story of our society in this very context. It questions the very premise on which human beings are functioning in this day and age. It pinpoints at how we have been nurturing an indifferent stance towards life, and how, in doing so, we have harmed not only our external environment, but also our inner selves. It reflects on the growing frustration around us and sheds light on our discontentment with life in general. It urges for a collective introspection. It searches for a hope that one day we will rediscover ourselves; (text in 3^rd and 4^th paragraph is courtesy of credits section of the noori album)

Try to identify peeli patti and raja jani’s around you and educate them as to how their perspective of life is harmful for the whole society. We must act now before it’s too late, before nature decides to take its toll on us. Because then, we will have no choice!

It is debatable whether Slumdog Millionaire (SDM) deserved all those accolades and we should leave this for masses to decide. The movie can best be described as fiction. However I personally felt it had one thing real and that was following and creating your Omens (There’s a highly recommended book titled ‘The Alchemist’ regarding omens) and how omens play a vital part in one’s life.

We have this language of the omens, the language of the signs. It is an alphabet that is directed to us. (Paulo Coelho)

The story is very common. A poor guy running after his dreams, liking a girl and fighting against society taboos to achieve all this. He participates in a reality show in which he knew the answers of most questions by chance, because of things that happened in his life.

This is where SDM correlates with reality. 90% of the eventualities that we face in our lives are created by us alone. It is those decisions that we have taken in our past that end up coming to us as event/s in the future. Since it is we who control those events therefore we are to blame for them being good or bad to us.

“Actions are the seed of fate and deeds that grow into destiny.”

People will call it miracle, luck, chance, fluke etc if this happens in your favour, not realizing the fact how hard you must have tried for that ‘eventuality’ to work for you.

You can become blind by seeing each day as a similar one. Each day is a different one, each day brings a miracle of its own. It’s just a matter of paying attention to these miracles. If for some reason you never gave attention as to how it’s you that end up creating all those eventualities it is never too late. It is failure that guides us towards the path of success.

I never failed once. Discovering how to make a light bulb just happened to be a 2000 step process. (Thomas Alva Edison)

As someone so rightly said It’s choice–not chance–that determines your destiny.

And

Destiny: It is written (with you being its writer)

It has been a quite a tough few months considering the overall situation of the world. We being ‘global engineers’ have also been hit with the global recession. It’s not pleasant hearing about your friend or senior being a victim of the economic meltdown across the globe. However it’s in such times that we need to regroup ourselves and focus on new alternatives.

Among many alternatives available, one of them is to focus on the online world in parallel with the offline counterpart. With each passing day job search is getting tough. Gone are the days when we all use to find the Sunday papers loaded with career opportunities. Opportunities are still there but they are very scarce. They might not be advertised in the newspaper but they still appear on the World Wide Web. As you cover all the offline formalities for job hunts (scanning newspaper, dropping CVs etc.) are you keeping track of the online formalities as well?

We have to keep in mind that we live in changing times. Conventional notions are being replaced with dot net values with our career being no exception. The advent of technology has brought in many changes. In this fastest of times it is very important that you are ready to make spot on decisions. Many recruiters and hiring agents nowadays keep track of potential employees through the web space.

Your online profile on notable websites can act as a catalyst for your job search. There might not be many local success stories of the online world but you might be the next in line? Your online profile is more or less like your CV/Resume. As a CV reflects your personality in the offline world, your profile does the same in the web space.

Do spare some time and give your online profile a trim. Try to make it a bit professional. Be it Facebook, MySpace, Linkedin etc the chances of your future manager going through it is always there. Take an example of your display picture. It’s fun to have all types of pictures on your social networking profile but for career related sites such as Linkedin, it is important that your display picture is as professional as possible. A picture can tell a thousand stories, so try to figure out that what your picture is portraying you as? I am sure you will not like that despite your great career achievements, your display picture is reflecting your personality as a non serious person.

Keeping this in mind you can now see the presence of Zumbeel on Linkedin. For a start you can find career related articles here. But we hope to evolve it with the passage of time. You are encouraged to join and also share your views.

In last few days I was fortunate enough to attend some of the pilot sessions of Zumbeel where I had the chance to meet some of Pakistan telecoms finest brains. Talking to one of the senior guys regarding job search strategy for fresh entrants he was of the following opinion:

Telecom Operators/Vendors are always on the lookout for good resources. The problem with most graduates is that although they write a lot of stuff on the CVs but when it comes to the interview, they are absolutely clueless. Another trend these days is blind CV submission through job site, majority of people we interview are blank when asked about their source of information about the position against which they have applied. This shows lack of seriousness on part of candidates and at least we make it a point not to hire such people even if they are competent enough for the job.

Contents and overall presentation of the CV also counts a lot. For example, my company would never shortlist a candidate if his contact email address (written at top of the CV) is anything like “cool_nomi1982@….”. A professional organization expects professionally written CVs.

Universities (barring few) are also part of the problem. The kind of stuff they are teaching in Engineering is useless when it comes to real life scenarios. We are still a long way from the kind of collaboration that should exist between universities and the market.

Many might not endorse the above views but still some of the things pointed out are facts. I myself have observed people coming for interviews and answering that WiMAX and GSM are two names of the same technology. Phew

But nothing is lost yet. It’s a new year which means a new beginning. As someone so rightly said

The old year has gone. Let the dead past bury its own dead. The New Year has taken possession of the clock of time. All hail the duties and possibilities of the coming twelve months!

Just to sum it up!

Every man should be born again on the first day of January.  Start with a fresh page.  Take up one hole more in the buckle if necessary, or let down one, according to circumstances; but on the first of January let every man gird himself once more, with his face to the front, and take no interest in the things that were and are past.

Cheers

Haris

N.B: The following is the URL for Zumbeel @ Linkedin

http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=94494&trk=hb_side_g

Are you ready? It was the popular catch line of D-Generation X in WWE. Way back in 1995 when the grappling industry became dull and boring, WWF (now known as WWE) created this stable for a CHANGE. Many thought that to shake the very core of the wrestling business will ultimately back fire. But guess what, this not only created a change but it took the company to the next level. The TV ratings soared to new heights and almost every show was a sell out. This change not only resulted in wrestling being grown as an industry but a house hold commodity. Guys like HHH, Undertaker and Shawn Micheals to name a few were named along side Eric Cantonna, Maradonna and Mike Tyson. Till to this date WWEs flagship program “RAW” is the oldest running program extending its life to over 800 weeks in the US .

Moral: “The key to change… is to let go of fear.”

Some 8 years back a young engineer started a group for sharing. He used to share what ever good he can with his colleagues. Initially it was all one way traffic with no response from the other side. Naturally the guy thought that his emails were directly landing in the trash box, so he stopped the process. But to his utter surprise people started asking him after some time that where are your emails? I haven’t received your email since days? Whats up with your news? This initiative not only created a new way telecom professionals started looking at sharing but the idea it self benefitted many people in different ways. Today the guys sharing model has grown into a career portal with thousands benefitting from it daily.

Moral: “Those who expect moments of change to be comfortable and free of conflict have not learned their history. “

Change has come to America were the words expressed by Barack Obama when he won the recently concluded US presidential elections. With odds heavily stacked against him for all the wrong reasons. A person having a suspicious ( in the eyes of west) middle name, growing in Indonesia with a background of visiting Islamic learning institutes, having a father who followed the Muslim faith and having a black skin announcing that he will run for the presidential race in March 2007 was let alone looking like a recipe for disaster. But the man firmly believed that it was time for change and he eventually succeeded. To see a nation rejecting all of the above mentioned notions and actually making realizing the dream of Martin Luther King Junior in which he wished that one day he will live in a nation where his children will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character is no mean feat.

Moral: “They say that time changes things, but you actually have to change them yourself.”

The above three are random incidents that I chose to share with you all. There are numerous examples in history of people accepting change and making impacts on the upcoming generations.

We all wish for change. We all chant that kaash aisa nahee hona chahiyae, iss tarah hona chahiyae, yeh cheez to yuh honi chahiyae, uss jaga to iss tarah hota hai, meray dost ke saath to yeh hota hai, mai to yeh chahta hoon, and etc etc. But how many of us echo that change.

There is a great fairy tale story that a person presented a perfect model to the United Nations as to how all the countries should operate. His idea boasted that if the model is implemented there will be no problems in the world. His plan was certified as brilliant, but it was not implemented. He continued to present that idea to every head of the country but no one implemented it. All praise but no implementation was the end result. As usual he gave up all hopes and started moaning the fact that how a change chain the world has rejected. On his death bed he realized that as to why his model failed. He concluded that he wanted the change to be accepted in the reverse order but he himself never implemented that model for change. They say be the change that you want to be and then expect others to follow the suit.

You may find that you alone cannot make a difference. It is possible that you wont be able to witness that change in your life time, but at the end of the day you can proudly say that you tried. We as humans can only try. If we are sincere in our effort we are bound to succeed because remember change is the only constant

I was thinking the topic for my next post. Going through the usual forum posts at Zumbeel regarding job hunts I could not stop my self from smiling. After all I had found out something to write upon.

Sitting in this MSc of my company after exhaustive 14 hour activity my mind is going down memory lane. Just some months ago I was also going through the same uncertainty, extreme sense of despair and those canny moments of depression, ultimately leading to a negative mindset all together. Life could not have been much bad. It was 3 months since I have graduated and to land a job seems like reaching the moon. Scanning newspaper, dropping resumes on the website and going office to office to drop the CV simply looked waste of time, energy and resource. I used to wonder what will happen? Will I ever get a job? Is telecom really that saturated? And god knows what type of ifs, buts and coulds.

Then from absolutely nowhere sanity struck my mind. I took this situation as a challenge knowing the universal fact that the stars shine when it gets the darkest I started the hunt with a new resolve knowing not to never ever give up because the only person that can stop me is I alone and no one else. I prioritized things and tried to figure out that what I really wanted to achieve.

I was lucky to have found a mentor (name not mentioned on request) who really helped me focus and tried to help me find a direction. A lot of my career achievements I attribute to him, for the way he helped me in some of my craziest and ajeeb o ghareeb time.

Till to this date I wonder how luck usually plays around. From 5^th semester onwards I was fascinated by Mobilink and I always dreamt of starting my career with such a company. After completing my bachelors my very first interview was at one of the leading ISP (internet service provider) for their LDI operations. The team lead there took my first interview, followed by the manager. I cleared both the interviews and was offered a job. On 28^th December I was called for contract signing but due to the events that unfolded on 27^th December, the Malaysian management of that company went back to KL, thus my hiring was delayed indefinitely. I couldn’t believe it nor could I could have done anything in this regard.

It was second week of January when out of nowhere I got a call from the person who took my first interview at that ISP. He told me that he has switched to Mobilink WiMAX department (now known as Mobilink Infinity) and he wants me to be a part of his operations team here. I was literally shell shocked. Even in my wildest dreams I hadn’t imagined of such things to happen. So happily i gave the joining.

Bottom line is “you must knock on doors until your knuckles bleed.
Doors will slam in your face. You must pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and knock again. It’s the only way to achieve your goals in life.” (by anonymous).

Just weeks down the road a lot of fresh graduates will pass out with dreams and a lot of anticipation. Some will be lucky and will instantly get on board while others will have to go through a lot of tough time to land a job. Many guys will hear a lot about people getting hired on reference. I have already touched upon the types of references in my last post. Like any other thing reference is neither good nor bad, it the way it is used that lead people giving a judgment.

I would like to end by sharing the following:

“My favorite animal is the turtle. The reason is that in order for the turtle to move, it has to stick its neck out. There are going to be times in your life when you’re going to have to stick your neck out. There will be challenges and instead of hiding in a shell, you have to go out and meet them” (by anonymous).

Until next time,

Haris

After entering the professional life I have realized how important role a good professional network can play in your career. Be it professional guidance, getting updates on industry trends or just about anything related to your career your network can do wonders for you.

Numerous discussions have been carried out on Zumbeel regarding the role of references in job hunts. It was unanimously accepted that people with good references usually find it easy to move around in the industry.

Here is a reality check:

Eighty percent of the jobs worldwide are filled through referrals and word of mouth (read networking).

So whether you like it or not your network is as important as your career itself. Generally people tend to have negative vibes as soon as they hear that ABC person has been hired on reference.

References are mainly of two types.

1) A genuinely deserving candidate is referred by someone for a recommendation; this type of reference is usually taken as positive, because the credibility of the referral as well as of reference is on the line. Rest assured that no one likes to loose credibility for some unjust recommendations.

2) A highly undeserving candidate not only lands an interview but also ends up grabbing the job because his chacha, mama, uncle etc are in a good position and tare able to influence the hiring.

The problem starts when usually references of the second type corrode the real importance of networking. It’s been my personal experience that people sincerely looking to network are suspected as job seekers and not someone genuinely interested in expanding his/her network base.

Many juniors ask me as to what they should do when they enter their university final year. My answer is that your end term goal should be that you have around 6-10 people who can recommend your achievements to someone. Sometimes I wish I had known this reality a bit early but it’s never too late.

Here are some ways to network: (courtesy http://www.zumbeel.net/career/networking.php)

Make a list of all the people you know e.g. your school friends, your college friends, your university friends, your relatives, your exiting colleagues, your former colleagues, your neighbours, doctors, lawyers etc. Now contact these people and ask them weather they know anybody in the relevant industry and if they do would they able to help you out in contacting them.

Once you have the contact details then arrange a meeting. Please make sure your deal with this meeting professionally.

Remember that when requesting for networking, job requests should be right at the bottom of your agenda. If you are only interested in getting a job then probably you don’t realize the potential your network can do.

We live in world of people and in order to do anything in the world you need to know people.

Just to sum it off.

It’s not what you know but who you know that makes the difference.

So get up and start knowing people around you.

Happy networking………

Until next time,

Haris