Technology is the much needed Oxygen for sustainable business model in today's competitive world! 

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Technology has impacted our lives in a way that today, our lives thrive on technology. We barely can think of tracing our footsteps backwards. With the advancement in Artificial Intelligence in every walk of our life - right from smart watches to smart door locks to robotic vacuum cleaners and of course the cloud kitchen concept, one can predict the power of technology in business.

Analyzing the above changes in the external business environment, one can gauge that having a mere specialized degree in Management (or any other stream) is not adequate but having a fine blend of technical soundness along with those degrees would go a long way in building a sustainable career. Having said that, here's how fresher's can integrate Management & Technology to have a sustainable career:

• Monitoring the Trends Over the Years: A thorough sectoral & specialization analysis is what one should be starting with. Be it HR, Marketing or Finance - every specialization in every sector has undergone a dramatic change over the past years. Moreover, the pandemic has changed the business dynamics remarkably!

• Upgrading your Knowledge & Skills: For example, it is imperative for everyone in the field of Marketing & Sales to know how to run digital marketing campaigns. Everyone in Finance, should know how trading is done online and how technology plays a vital role in all financial transactions. Everyone in HR, should know how HR  uses technology to manage employee life cycle & HR activities. 

• Getting Certifications through Short Term Courses: Learning is a  lifelong process and to avoid stagnation, plenty of short term courses are available at a throwaway price on various recognized e-learning platforms such as Udemy, Coursera, Skillshare, Upgrad etc. For example, if you go on any of these websites and search in your field of specialization, you will find many industry specific & job centric short term courses that are relevant in today's time. These courses can supplement your regular college degrees.

• Participating in Events & Webinars: Events & webinars by renowned speakers from the industry, presents a glimpse of the corporate scenario along with exchange of ideas. It's a powerful tool to get acquainted with your field of specialization and helps in building contacts.

• Using Social Media for your Benefit: Social media platforms like LinkedIn, YouTube, Facebook, Instagram to name a few can help in understanding the current trends in your area of specialization. So use it to your advantage.

• Hunt for Internships: Internships are short term but gives an immense exposure to the practical nature of the job in real time. So, hunt it and grab the opportunity that comes your way. 

Happy Learning & Prospering! 😊

Ma'am, should I take up Marketing or Finance? Which elective has better career prospects? Will I get a job in a bank if I take up finance? Is Marketing all about sales? 

Many such questions I get from inquisitive minds every year who are pursuing management studies and are about to embark on the journey of their career. Many are naïve to the extent that they fail to understand that Marketing & Sales are two different fields and so is Finance & Accounting.  

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To begin with, Mumbai University offers 3 electives namely Finance, Marketing and Human Resource from the third semester that is from the 2nd year of Bachelors of Management Studies program. But out of these three electives, most of the colleges offer only two electives (due to some constraints) to their students that is Marketing and Finance. Every elective offers a good career path and growth in their respective industry. Hence, it is very wrong to think that any particular specialization is superior to the other or vice versa. 

Points One Should Consider Before Selecting An Elective:

Analyze your Strengths & Weaknesses to figure out your Area of Interest: This can be analyzed through self introspection. Spend a good amount of time in understanding your strengths & weaknesses. Some of the basic strengths could be creativity (out of the box thinking), analytical, adaptable, flexible, good communication skills, networking, strategic outlook, go getter attitude etc. Try to map these strengths across your area of interest in terms of work and career.

Understand the type and nature of jobs offered by every specialization: Some of the job categories that one can explore in Marketing domain are Market Research, Digital Marketing, Graphic Designing, Advertising (Copywriting & Content Creation), Public Relations, Corporate Communication, Brand Management, Business Development & Sales, Event Management etc. Please understand the nature of the job by going through their job descriptions on various search engine platforms like Google or YouTube.

Some of the job categories that one can explore in Finance domain are Stock Markets, Equity Research Analyst, Financial Analyst, Investment Banking, Portfolio Management, Wealth Advisors, Corporate Financing, Commercial Banking, Venture Capitalist etc. Please understand the nature of the job by going through their job descriptions on various search engine platforms like Google or YouTube.

Match your Area of Interest to the Jobs in every Specialization: After going through the job descriptions for the above profiles, ask yourself - "in which profile would you enjoy working the most?" You can gauge this by matching it with your area of interest. Let the choice of your specialization be NOT based on the MONETARY factor alone because JOB SATISFACTION is more important than money and money will follow once you give your best in any job. Also, most of the entry level jobs in all of these specialization offer almost similar CTC with certain terms & conditions specific to an organization.

Network with experts in that field to get insights: The best way to get industry insights on the career field of your choice is to talk to your seniors or friends & family members in that industry. Also, LinkedIn is a powerful tool to connect with industry experts from your domain.

Try to map a career path for yourself: After having an exposure to a lot of information from all the above sources, skim the information to devise a career blueprint for yourself. Seek help from your seniors, mentors, professors and industry experts if required.

Keep yourself updated with your field of specialization: Just having a degree is not the end but it is just the beginning! Keep enhancing your knowledge by attending domain specific webinars, events, guest lectures etc. Keep updating yourself with domain specific short term courses or by taking up some internship projects. Internship is the best way to get an early exposure to the field of your interest.

Here's hoping you'll make the right career choice for yourself. 😊

Giving effective Powerpoint Presentations is an Art that can be mastered through time and practice.

In my last blogpost, I had covered PowerPoint Prerequisites (Part 1).  And as promised, here is Part 2 - Points to remember while giving effective PowerPoint Presentations. I have listed down 10 basic points which are good to go with a power packed - effective presentation!

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1. Rehearse: I say 'Rehearse' and NOT 'By Heart'. Whether it is a group presentation or an individual presentation, don't ever forget to run through your slides and rehearse it. You maybe an excellent orator or you maybe be completely naïve to the concept of giving formal presentations; whatever the case might be, be ready with your content to speak for those pointers on the slide with examples wherever possible.
2. Dress for Success: Since most of the presentations are a formal affair, dress up in the right formal attire. Also, try to pick up right formal shades for your formal attire. Dark blues, grey, black & white and some pastel shades are some of the formal shades that one must always have in the wardrobe.
3. Appear Confident: You are NEVER completely dressed until you wear your confidence. So remember to wear confidence as your 'ACCESSORY' always. Appearing confident helps you to conquer half the battle.
4. Greeting & Introduction Etiquette: Greet the audience in the room with a smile and introduce your self & group members (if at all a group presentation). Also, have a nice short introduction ready for your topic before you dive into the slides. You can get a lil' creative here in order to create interest amongst your audience.
5. Eye Contact: Maintain proper eye contact with everyone in the room. This will help in drawing attention from the audience to a great extent thereby making them active listeners.
6. Body Language: Body language consists of all those gestures, postures, facial expressions and paralanguage. Try to moderate it with a conscious mind. Ensure that your gestures are not too loud and the other aspects of your body language are not over shadowing your presentation content.
7. Don't just read the slides: Remember that it is not a news reading task. Hence, refrain from just merely reading the slides but try to explain the points from the slide in your own words with quotes, anecdotes or examples wherever possible. Also, avoid having any written content in your hand. 
8. Time Management: Ensure that you are well informed about the time allotted for your presentation and plan your slides and content in tandem with that time. Don't rush with your speaking as it may cause you to stammer at times. So pay attention to the clarity of your speech as well.
9. Avoid fillers in your speech: Fillers are those small pauses that many people often use between words such as ums, uhs and ers just to decide what to say next.
10. Showing Gratitude towards the Audience: Conclude the presentation and show your gratitude towards the audience by thanking them for their time as well as listening patiently. At this time, you can also, invite questions from the audience if any.

Making an attractive power point presentation is an art as well as a learnt skill! 

Having groomed batches of Management students over a decade in PowerPoint making (as presentations form an integral part of their marking pattern), it feels nice to see these young and enthusiastic minds transform and master the art of beautiful slide making! Watching them present it with confidence and overcoming their stage fear is truly commendable! At the end of their three year degree journey, when they come and thank us all for these and being so strict with them, we take pleasure in giving a contented smile! 😊 

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1. Attractive Slides: As you know, first impression is the last impression, so invest some time in searching for an attractive template for your slides based on the theme of your presentation. Before you do that ensure that your MS office is updated with the latest version. Ample of themes are available that matches every presentation type. Once you choose the template, you can change the colour of the template as well as select the desired font style that goes best with your presentation type.
2. Avoid Cluttering of Content: As it is a 'PowerPoint', restrict the content only to the 'key points' or 'pointers' and avoid putting endless theoretical content in form of lengthy paragraphs. Paragraphs are a strict No -No in a PowerPoint.
3. Use Smart Art Graphics / Images / Animations: Wherever possible, try to put your content in appropriate Smart Art graphics by going in insert menu. Incase Smart Art graphics doesn't go well with your content then use content relevant images. Avoid picking up images directing through Google Images due to copyright issues. You can hunt for appropriate free images on www.pexels.com and similar websites.  Don't forget to use animations for your Smart Art graphics, images and content by going to Animation menu at the top. Explore the 'Effect Options' menu in animation for some amazing 'Effect Options'.
4. Site Sources: Siting of sources of your secondary data in the PowerPoint is of utmost important. Incase of data is in form of facts & figures or statistical data, mention it below the content. Alternatively, you can also collectively mention all the references at the end by having a Bibliography / Webliography slide towards the end of the PowerPoint.
5. Appropriate Images for 'Thankyou' Slide and 'Q&A' slide: Let there be a formal  Thankyou slide after Bibliography/Webliography followed by a 'Question & Answer' (Q&A) slide. Select professional images for the same from pexels.com or alike and avoid the informal jazzy and glittery images for the same.

'Equality' is mostly just an illusion!

Every year lakhs of students graduate from various universities all across the country as well as around the world. Out of these, there will be a 'cream layer' of students who would get placed well or would be picked up by the market and would be groomed to lead their business processes; while many would still be struggling to have a good and fulfilling corporate career or a strong foothold in the corporate world.

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The fact here is that although every student (belonging to the same stream) has a similar piece of paper - the so called 'degree', not everyone ends up bagging a good offer. Obviously, people in the 'cream layer' have something in excess that makes them stand out as compared to their counterparts. 

Being a Management Professor for more than a decade, one of the challenging task is to make students employable. This has made me list down a few of the interpersonal skills that I feel every student should be acquainted with at least before they graduate.

Communication Skills: One of the most important thing to learn before stepping in the corporate world. Both, verbal as well as non verbal communication skills are important. In verbal, both oral as well as written plays a vital role. The way you communicate, speaks volumes about you and your personality as well.

Management Skills: Though many might be knowing the theories of management, they fail terribly when it comes to practical application. Remember, management is also about finding a solution to all the problems apart from just bragging about planning, organizing, directing and controlling. 😉 So be part of the solution and stop complaining when things so wrong.

Leadership: Leaders are not always born but can be made through proper grooming. In fact, most of the corporates want leaders who take initiative  and not mere followers. The best part to groom your leadership skills is to be part of various college activities and also leading those activities by performing various roles.

Team Building: Building an maintaining a cohesive teams is important for effective team functioning. Be considerate to your teammates and contribute continuously.   

Social Networking: It means building contacts and good rapport with people in and around. A lot of people today are where they are not merely because of their degrees but also because of good social networking skills.

Happy Learning! :)

Money is a necessity for survival but having to do a 9:00 am-5:00 pm job (or beyond 5:00 pm in most of the cases) to make money is not a compulsion for many, today. Because a lot of people in this millennial era have moved their focus to gigs and freelancing. 

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Freelancers:

Freelancers are generally 'own-account workers' and are considered as self employed workers who work on contractual basis for an organization for a particular short term or an ad hoc project. They are responsible for their own marketing and have their own fee/compensation structure with terms and conditions set by them. It's good to hire freelance workers if you are looking for some specialized work. 

The best part about being a freelancer is that it gives you flexibility as you choose your own working hours and place of work. 

Gig Worker:

A 'Gig' refers to any one time paid project. It is technically a freelance work but it is mediated through a specialized app or platform. Gig workers are freelancers who earn money independently but do not entirely run their own business. The marketing for the gigs is usually done for them by the company that runs the gig platform and it routes the jobs to them randomly if they are registered on the platform that offers paid gigs. 

For example, an Uber driver is responsible for providing a car, paying for gas, maintaining the vehicle, and driving passengers to their destinations. However, that driver cannot decide the rates and who they pick up on their own. But in this gig, he can give time availability as per his convenience if he is also into some other profession.

Important Reasons for the Growth of Gig Economy:

• Flexibility: Many youngsters are drifting away from the monotonous culture of routine job. Gigs offer a lot of flexibility incase you don't want to be a part of the mundane 9:00 am to 5:00 pm job.
• More time: Since paid gigs offer more flexibility, you have more time at your disposal that can be utilized for personal well being.
• Dual Income: With the rising cost of living, every penny that you earn, makes a difference. In spite of many people being in regular full time jobs, they still indulge in paid gigs to make more money.

How & Where to Hunt for Paid Gigs:

Understand your Competence: Understand your strengths to decode your core Competence (expertise). It could be anything ranging from technical skills to basic proof reading or even strategic consulting or planning.  

Understand the Market: Invest some time and effort in understanding the market outside pertaining to your core competence. Try to analysis the industry and the organizations in that industry that would need your services.

Register on the Gig Platforms: There are various platforms where one can get paid gigs. Google out and you will get the names of the best gig platforms. Some of the popular ones are fiverr.com, upwork.com, guru.com, urban company (formerly urban clap) and so on. Every website has its own terms and conditions. For example, on Upwork, you have to bid for a particular project. Alternatively, you can also join groups related to your expertise on Facebook or LinkedIn where many keep on posting their requirements and looking out for an expert to do that job.

Be Active: Getting gigs overnight is not a child's play! It needs patience and endurance. Be active on your preferred platforms and try to understand the complete mechanism of that platform. 

Word of Mouth Strategy: If you are good at something, try publicizing it through your social media handles. Ask your friends to promote your work. It leads to a snowball effect that would offer you benefits in multiple ways.

Gig Economy is growing rapidly with more than 70% of corporates in India using Gig workers to do the task. It's time people start analyzing their core competencies to sustain in this millennial era.