Do the students lack skill sets or something more profound-who educates the educationists?

The lead story of Sunday times of India of January 29 , “ Hiring headache for corporates-firms ,colleges tie up to tackle skill deficit” . In the editorial that follows “The great Indian talent hunt” some excerpts

“In absolute numbers, the workforce pool may look impressive but only 20% of this is good enough for India Inc. After the top few educational institutions, the quality drops sharply.” –Kiran Karnik, President, Nasscom.

“The 1400 engineering colleges in the country produce 4.5 lakh graduates annually . But since world class talent is limited to only about 20000-40000 graduates, there is stiff competition for this pool”- MS Krshnamoorthy.

In another article “A matter of degree? Not quite”, it is stated how courses are refurbished to meet the demands of the industry and make the graduates employable.

Here too the focus seems to be more on the courses than the individual concerned. As given in one of the links on this blog, many students after passing out discover that they simply do not have the mindset for the job or their heart lies somewhere else. Since one has to work for 10-12 hours daily, it implies half of life and if that is spent in an occupation not of one’s liking, it can truly be a life of frustration and misery as one human resources professional pointed out. It is not for nothing that it is said that choose your career not on the basis of what you know but who you are. That also depends on where the heart lies and whether that passion pays of commercially as well; so it could be a combination of both head and heart. In the book “Karma, Destiny and Career”, the author describes how people in United states go back to school after discovering that they are in the wrong profession and how it effects their friends and family adversely.Sometimes one can not afford to be even in the wrong sub-occupation as elucidated in another post on this blog.

Issue is “When will the education system be geared to the needs of the individual” as our shastras have the word “Swadharma” and some of our intellectual and spiritual greats- Osho, Krishnamurthy, Sri Aurobindo and Swami Vivekanand have spoken of the right vocation for the right man. The focus has to be on the individual; not a degree or a course alone. Even the caste system was originally conceptualised on the basis of qualities of an individual and not birth.

One should at least attempt to ensure that the individual is attempting the right degree instead of acting on some whim or fancy or peer pressure or false lure of money or qualification. A stitch in time saves nine and it would be good both for the student and the organization he works for.

Can any student/others even afford to be in the wrong sub-occupation?

The stock market has been used to explain this theme.

Mr Parag Parikh, Indian stock market professional says in his latest book that contarary to common perception, speculators in the stock marked could have made more money than long term investors. He says” It is difficult to say which strategy is good and which is bad. It depends upon the individual’s mental attitude, discipline, risk taking ability and patience.”

This clearly shows that in addition to one’s occupation, even the sub-occupation has to be right. These are extracts from three good books of world reknowned traders. The author of the third book, Mr Alexander Elder also happens to be a psychiatrist.:-

MENTAL FITNESS FOR TRADERS
By Norman Halett

Every trader (you, included) has his or her own agenda. Only you know what works for you, system-wise and emotion-wise. Trust in your tested trading system.

There are many systems that can generate nice profits over time. To settle on a trading sthat’s right for you: First, you have to believe in the process by which the system generates trades.Does it make SENSE to YOU?

There are plenty of winning trading systems, of all types, that can be very successful.You are more likely to follow your trading signals if the system “agrees with you. You must win the BATTLE WITHIN YOURSELF first, before you can win in the markets

TRADE YOUR WAY TO FINANCIAL FREEDOM
By Van thorpe

Most importantly, you must ask yourself; does the method fit you? Does it fit your personality?

I don’t know many people who have made money consistently following other people’s advise-be it the advice of brokers or investment advisors.

Money is made by developing your own ideas and following a method that is designed to fit you.

People make money in the markets by finding themselves, achieving their potential and getting with tune with the market.

One of the secrets of successful trading is finding a trading system that fits you.

The most important characteristic of all good traders is that they found a system or methodology that was right for them.They need to assess themselves for strengths and weaknesses, for time, resources, capital and skills and for what they are trying to accomplish.

Psychology is the most important(60%), position sizing is the next most important(30 percent) and systems development is the least important(10 percent)

He said that it was ridiculous to assume that any sort of system was possible-instead, it was all about luck and individual psychology.

TRADING FOR A LIVING
By Alexander Elder
As an intelligent trader, you must realize that no guru is going to make you rich. You have to work on that yourself.

To be a winner in the market, you must know yourself and act coolly and responsibly.

A trader especially needs to understand how market crowd influence his or her mind.

When you let others influence your trading decisions, you lose your chance of success
You can succeed in trading only when you think and act as an individual.

Conclusion- World famous author Dale Carnegie had said that “Find yourself and be yourself. You can’t be any other person than the one you are in body and mind”