Career guide

LUXURY UNLIMITED
I am a commerce graduate, willing to work hard, wanting a career, yet quite directionless.The normal advice I hear is to take an MBA or another PG degree but there are already so many people with such credentials in the market. What are the new destinations? How do I achieve my goals? Deepali Omkar
When people continue to do what has always been done, they will predictably continue to receive what they have always been.Perhaps even less; rarely more. This is not to say that there are no opportunities in traditional fields. There are, but fewer. For instance, have you seriously considered the retail industry or luxury retail, to be precise? Let's look at the projections for both industries over the next five-seven years: Overall, Indian retail is expected to touch $1 trillion by 2020 as against $600 billion in 2015, growing at a minimum rate of 12-13%.
A 2015 report projects 20-22% growth per annum in the luxury retail segment -from $14 billion currently to over $18 billion by 2017, making it a virtually `recession-proof' industry, considering that it has kept growing at a similar pace over the last five years.
E-commerce is expected to quadruple to $70-80 billion in the next five years.
Whereas the number of internet users will multiply three-fold from the current 200 million to 600 million by 2020, smartphone penetration will grow from 120-140 million in 2014 to 600700 million by 2020.
The National Skill Development Corporation projects the total requirement of trained person nel in retail at a hefty 17.8 million by 2022.
Since luxury constitutes about 10% of the retail pie, we can roughly estimate that by 2022, the total manpower required to handle luxury brands and services in India will be around 1.76 million.The segments could range from luxury apparel, furnishings and furniture to luxury housing, spas, yachts, hospitality, wines and spirits, automobiles, events and conferences to premium education and training.
Managing brands in these fields requires a different skill set and orientation. So, while regular MBAs touch upon this, a full-fledged course in luxury brand retail management, though not a long-term one, would help you land a job right away.
You could explore some of the programmes (regularflexible).
SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT
I am interested in social studies. Could you please tell me which colleges in India offer a postgraduate degree in social work? What is the scope for someone graduating in this discipline? Saloni Shah
A Master's in social work will equip you to work as a professional social worker in national and international social welfare and development organisations. Many corporate houses, which have a fullfledged community development department, hire professionally trained social workers in the areas of medicine, education, family welfare and human rights, etc to drive their CSR activities. Besides, one can become a project officer, pro gramme co-ordinator, development consultant, counsellor, instructor or lecturer.
Hundreds of universities -under the central and state governments -across the country offer a Master's in social work. These include Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Xavier Institute of Social Service, University of Delhi, Banaras Hindu University, Panjab University, Jamia Millia Islamia, University of Mumbai, Pune University, Bangalore University and the University of Madras.
Other options include Master's programmes in development studies like those offered by TISS, Azim Premji University or Ambedkar University, Delhi, among others.
DENTAL CARE
I am a fresh dentistry graduate. Since the number of seats on MDS programmes are limited in our country, which other courses can I apply for. My family suggests I go for an MBA but I do not know anything about it.Could you help me? Kripi
How about looking at dental technology as an option? As you must have learnt in college, dental technologists make a major contribution to the practice of dentistry. They fabricate the appliances such as orthodontic appliances, full dentures, partial dentures, crowns and bridges based on the dentist's prescription. They also produce items such as surgical splints and sports mouthguards, as well as implant-related restorations. One can work in the marketing divisions of leading dental supply companies. After sufficient experience under the supervision of a dental technologist or dentist, you could open your dental laboratory or supervise an existing dental lab. Hospital management is yet another option you could consider, given the proliferation of large multi-speciality hospitals in our country.
AFTER MASTER'S
I have a Master's in social work and a certificate in disaster management. I am currently pursuing a diploma in nutrition and health education. What should I do now? I want to apply for a job.
Paresh
With your qualifications, you can look at openings in any of the leading non-governmental organisations focusing on disaster management or child development, besides government and UN agencies working in this field. For teaching at the university level, you need to clear the University Grants Commission's National Eligibility Test (NET) or the respective state-level eligibility test. However, until you do so, you could contact relevant institutions in your vicinity to explore the possibility of teaching as visiting faculty.