Growing City 8212; Chandigarh

The world of work is not the same, it was ten years earlier or before. It was not long ago, when people after securing a job thought they...

The world of work is not the same, it was ten years earlier or before. It was not long ago, when people after securing a job thought they had got it for life. When students after completing professional degrees were sure to get a reasonable opportunity to work. The normal is no longer normal now. Only thing normal, is the change we all are experiencing no matter whether we have settled in our jobs or are looking for one. There would be millions of working professionals, young unemployed people with professional degrees and aspiring students looking for a right alternative which can give them adequate security and opportunity for growth and development in life.

The job market is right in the midst of a major upheaval. The government can8217;t provide enough opportunities-the process of corporatisation of many departments has begun which may further reduce the scope of fresh inductions. Privatisation in several sectors has already led to lots of employees being declared surplus. Pressure of competition since market liberalisation has forced companies big and small, to reduce management layers-preferring hands on management thereby eliminating several middle and senior level managerial positions. At the junior levels, computers are proving to be better substitutes for secretarial staff, ATMs are replacing tellers and robots or automation of our factories is reducing the need to have direct assembly line workers.

This is not something new- economists call this process as creative destruction, which is so common in all the free market economies. All the industrially advanced economies have witnessed creative destruction and that is the reason there is no job security in such countries. But at the same time there are number of good opportunities for growth for people in such countries. Liberalisation of economy and competitive pressures have driven us to a similar situation although we are still in transition phase. In the times to come there would certainly be large scale creative destruction in India with a huge mass of older jobs being replaced with fewer jobs requiring newer skills and specialised knowledge.

The idea is not to scare all job seekers or those well settled in their professional lives. I think, such changes can definitely empower us for further growth and advancement if we can add value to whatever skill we possess and develop the ability to market ourselves effectively. The students who still think that there are enough jobs, would be terribly disappointed as they step into the job market.

I have a strong conviction that self-employment would emerge as the most important alternative to conventional jobs for everyone irrespective of age. Marketing the self would be a big business. This can happen through marketing or distributing good products, providing efficient services, coming up with innovative ideas, inventing smarter ways of doing things, designing new products, developing new generation software, providing consultancy in the fields of law, medicine, business management, imports and exports, architecture, and so on. The conventional belief that an entrepreneur must operate a business with an elaborate infrastructure and a heavy start up capital would no longer remain valid. Most of the free lancers would make home with zero overheads the best place to begin. The capital employed in these ventures would be a specialised knowledge and the will to excel in life.

Self employment would be the right alternative to build your own security in life.

The writer is working with a multinational in Mohali.