This is the time to empower ourselves. Unfortunately the Job market is in bad shape and we need to withstand the calamities with our strength of mind alone.The Industries have started laying off employees now! Even CITU backed employees have accepted pay cuts in Hindustan Motors Limited, to avoid lay off. Today’s youths must realize that Lay off is not a personal failure. It is a requirement of the modern business system. Yes, lay off brings in personal pain but like all difficult situation this could be tackled with determination. Gone were the days when once a person was recruited he is retained for the life. Ten years back it was impossible to enforce lay off. Now, public undertakings are contemplating job cuts. The acquiring of fresh skills of the day is the only security.

Some readers enquired how to ensure security of jobs? Most of the engineering and arts graduates are facing dichotomy. Whether to join MBA course or accept a job with paltry salary for the time being. I wrote back to them that honest boys do not get pressurized rather they pressurize their mind to stabilize the emotion. The hard time don’t last long but hard mind do withstand calamities always. We need to realize that it was single minded devotion to develop fresh skill that would be only savior The present situation of uncertainty has brought in sufferings. Unfortunately our society has developed a culture where the designation and amount of money a person makes has become the signature of importance. Job has become essentially a self definition, not the value he upholds.

The young boys need to realize following points now::

· The companies are running a business, not a charity. Don't take it as a personal failure.

· Security does not come from the Job you are doing or the company you are working with. Security comes from the knowledge and skills you have developed. Keep upgrading your skills so that you are always employable, even in the worst time.

· Keep your eyes and ears open.

· Avoid knee-jerk reactions. If your company lays-off people, don't panic.

· Once you are laid-off, keep your expected salaries for potential recruiters at a reasonable level, to avoid the chance of interview.

Many people do not realize that all educated persons may not be “employment ready” and “ready to deploy” for the jobs. What are the meanings of” employment ready” and “Ready to deploy”? The “employment ready” persons are those who have basic skills in place and can be hired by the industry. The basic skills are problem-solving communication, interpersonal skills and working knowledge of the technical domain such as computer operation and programming for IT aspirants. The” ready to deploy” persons can start generating revenue for the company immediately. It is very difficult to sometime to get employment ready people as well as ready to deploy people. In good times, these investments were done by companies after hiring fresh candidates. However, in these tough times, companies are actively seeking resources that are pre-skilled. Hence, students need to make the investment in enhancing their skills themselves to meet the industry’s expectation. I believe that the key to the solutions is to make the academia work closely with institutions that can help them improve the skill set of students. Now Government can step in and provide much needed help in this regards by identifying institution to train jobless boys. Trauma of loosing job is painful indeed. Wives feels miserable to tell friends that husband is not going to job for sometime. Of course even now there are job which are recession free. They are Accounting, entertainment, energy, education, beside Government, health care, law enforcement, media, old age help, and priesthood, plumbers, electricians and service boys. If dignity of labour is believed let us try our hands here to survive.

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