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About the Man:

Mr.T.Muralidharan, is a Chemical Engineer from Indian Institute of Technology, Chennai and has an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad. He set up one of India's leading recruitment house and the largest Recruitment Advertising agency, TMI Network.
His main area of work is career planning. He is actively involved in top and senior level recruitment of professionals in leading industrial houses and MNCs like Pepsi, Castrol, Citicorp, Tata group, Henkel, Nagarjuna Group, Somany Group, Wrigley's, Ford, ConAgra, BPL, Godrej, GE Group, Oracle, Novell, Motorola, Wipro Group, Hughes Software, HCL, Metamor, IBM, KPMG and Dupont.

Presently the CEO of Career Community.com Ltd, he will personally reply to your queries.

• Qualifications :PGDBM
Query Background :Logistics

I have 3 1/2 years experience in Logistics, freight forwarding, with a background in Finance. My current position for the last 1 and half year has been as a profit centre head at BAX Global covering logistics solution, activity performance as an independent line of business including customer service and team management. Now I am looking for a change in related areas. What areas do you think should I be trying when I am looking for a change.

A) Dear Mr. Sinha,
Thanks for the CV. It looks as if you have grown vertically in your organisation into business responsibility. I think you are on a good wicket right now, therefore, I am unable to understand the reason for change. My advice is to stick around for sometime unless the organisation is going nowhere. In case you still decide to change you could move into logistics/supply chain in FMCG/Pharma, Consumer goods or in the transportation Industry. Even in this case it will need a lot more experience to move. My final advice is to stick around.

• Qualifications :B E (Mech)
Query Background :Willing to change for faster growth

Dear sir,
I am a mechanical engineer with 9 years of experience in an ERP driven company (SAP). I have good exposure to SAP working environment, C++ programming, Process automation, Robotic application for welding, and production planning and management. I want to relocate for better career prospects. Which direction should I move in. IT or engineering ? Kindly advice.

A) Dear Arun,
Any day IT is a better choice, but it has its own pitfalls which are evident right now. You can grow fast and go out of job very soon. You need to stay contemporary and learn new skills all the time which is demanding. Engineering can be a slow but offers steady growth, choose the appropriate based on your preference.

• Query Background : Future Career

I have a secretarial background and am working in this position for the past 12 years. I realise now that secretaries are kind of not really required - in the sense - the concept of Secretary no longer exists - 'cos everyone in senior positions basically are looking towards a paperless office and with so many electronic systems etc. in, (viz. email, SAP, e-com etc. to name a few), everyone handles his/ her own office.

I would like to know, in case i want to change my career, what should i go for or rather let me put it this way - what kind of job should i apply for - Can Admin be something i can look at?

Please suggest/advise.

Thank you and Regards,
Beryl

A) Dear Mr. Beryl,
I think you should look at a career wherein you can add value independently. I agree with you that secretarial jobs will decline and will be restricted to the top slots. Your options could be to work as EA and help your boss by sourcing material for him through the web. In other words become a web search specialist. This will help you to become a resource person for the entire organisation. For e.g. International recruiters use job boards to source people.

• Qualifications :MS comp science
Query Background :i want to start my career in India

Hello! I am on the verge of completion of my masters in comp science with a dual major in communication engg. from the univ of Toledo OHIO. I have a BE in ECE from the univ of madras. I have very little work exp. i have received a very positive response from a few companies in the US like, HP and Deloitte. but I want to come back to India and start my career. i really have no clue as to how i have to go about a job search in India.

Hope you can help me...

A) Dear Ganesh,
I have no doubt that people who start their careers in US and move through the same company to India are better off for e.g. joining H.P. in US and then after two years join H.P. India. The second option for you is to send your CV and I shall forward it to our parent company TMI-Network, one of India's largest recruiting companies. But I would recommend the first option to you.

• Qualifications :Bcom, CA Inter
Query Background :Is it worth it?

I’ve always been a successful student, and even while doing my articleship, I was the only articled clerk in my office to be given some serious work. My principal even offered me a job to stay back, but I took the time off to appear for my Final exams. I didn’t clear, and now I''m wondering if all this effort is actually worth it. Can you advice, please?

A) Dear Harsh,
Sometimes these things happen in Life. Don't lose heart and appear again for your exams, you can. Mean while I would advise you to take up a course in Oracle Financials which will definitely help you in your career. If you have not cleared one or two papers then you can appear just for those but if you haven't managed to clear the overall percentage, then you will have to appear for all the papers. Have faith and prepare well for the exams.
Best Of Luck.

• Qualifications :M.LISc, BLSc, BSc
Query Background :

Dear Sir,

I am a Postgraduate in Library and information Sciences. Presently I am working as a Librarian in a school. I have also worked in the Medical library of S.G.P.G.I. (Sanjay Gandhi Post Graduate Institute) for few months. I have done P.G. Diploma in computer application and have a background in Biology. I intend to explore the area of Information Management and virtual libraries on the Internet. How can my skills in Library Science be coupled with computer skills and what specific software should I learn for pursuing the area of my interest.

A) Dear Bharti,
To work on the web, say, developing library homepage on corporate sites or an individual one, you need to learn HTML, ASP and Java, also web designing courses. You should have front-end knowledge on GUI. To explore on information management, You can either take up career in an electronic library or start a consultancy after gaining rich experience on the net.

• Dear Mr.T.Muralidharan,

Well I seek a suggestion from you. I have around 10 years of experience in marketing and of the 8 tears in marketing consumer Finance Products and worked with premier companies Like Kotak. From past 2 yrs am into IT i.e. marketing Internet related . I am looking for break in the IT sector ,I am suggested by most consultants , to go back to finance Industry .I am keen to be in the IT industry specially into the internet scenario. I have best of communication skills ,fast learner and am technically savvy and have good understanding of technology except that i cannot pose as a core technology person. I look forward for a suggestion or you may ask me to meet you to know more details about me, Ill be glad .

A) I would look at your experience as FMCS (Fast moving consumer services) e.g. financial products or an ISP. I don't see a great future in Software Marketing because it mostly involves corporate selling. So my advice to you is to position yourself as an FCMS professional and move into ISP or Financial Services.

• I am working for an MNC at Coimbatore as EDP in charge, but I am paid very poorly when compare to other professionals. I am taking care of entire branches all over india. (bombay,ahmedabad,delhi and coimbatore). Iam unable to move out of coimbatore at present due to my personal reasons. Kindly give me solution in this regard.

A) Dear Nagarajan,
In today's market money isn't important, Job security is, so continue the current job. But use this opportunity to learn new languages and skills in the IT industry. You could try and enrol for an online MS course like that offered by Quantum. The Master of Computer Science (MCS) Degree Program of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) – ranked 3rd among all the schools of Engineering in the US is now offered in India in association with The Quantum Institute as an Internet Education program. All the students undergoing the MCS program are registered students of UIUC and on qualifying , receive their degree from the University of Illinois.

The degree is identical to that awarded to on campus students at UIUC, USA. For details click on the url : http://www.quantum.edu/info.html

• Qualifications :M.Sc(comp)
Query Background :No exp

Sir, i have done OracleDBA .How can i join as a Junior DBA with no experience. I get disheartened when looking over the advt.. of "Freshers need not APPLY for DBA''s".Please suggest me /guide me as such i can get an entry level junior DBA in India where salary is not important and iam prepared to work even as an apprentice as an OracleDBA.

A. Dear Kishore,
I agree that the only way you can find a job is through networking with the CTO or head of IT. You could do that by attending IT workshops and meeting them face to face after the target person gives a talk. Carry a powerful resume with you. Along with your CV attach a small two page note on your own research on the trends in Oracle DBA, researched on the Net. Get their visiting cards and send your CV asking them for a chance which might give you the break you want.

• Qualifications :Bcom,ACA,LLB
Query Background :Oracle Financials

Dear Murali,
I am 28 years old chartered accountant and LLb having now about 4 years post qualification experience.Out of the 4 years around two years were spent at Indias no 1 auditing firm.at present i am completely and independently in charge of all accounting function as well as all income tax matters of our company which is a group company of a fortune 500 company.Recently I have completed a full fledged training in Oracle financials from Oracle Corporation India.Our company is about to implement Oracle financials and the project is about to be completed by the end of the year.I am interested in making a career in Oracle consulting but i am skeptical about its future.Ideally i would like to go to the USA.Would it be better for me to have the current project experience first then work for a brief period in oracle consulting firms and then try for US or i should try right away.I am in a dilema.To add to it i am now receiving various good and verygood offers in finance and taxation field. What should i do? Please advice

A. Dear Mr. Sanjay Somani,
I think you have two broad choices : (a)Consulting (b) Practising.
In consulting you will be better off working in an Interface between IT and finance, therefore, Oracle Financials is a good idea. But you must work on Indian projects as an implementor before looking for US options. Finance Taxation is the area of pratice and is more meaningful if you want to stay in India and climb to the top. Choose one of the two based on your long-term goals. India versus US or Consulting versus Pratice.

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