How to beat mid-career crisis

[vjsreevs]

Need for re-skilling. "These days, most skills have a very short shelf life," says Ambarish Raghuvanshi, CFO and director, Infoedge India, which owns the job portal naukri.com. That's why you need to keep abreast of the rapid changes in space where you operate. How soon do skills become redundant? It's hard to put a number to this, as it depends on the industry you work in. If you work in the IT field or in taxation, for instance, rapid changes cannot be ruled out.

New rules and changes in technology will render your current skills obsolete before you even realise it. "The need for re-skilling in the present day is critical. At different stages, you need to evaluate yourself if you need to acquire new skills to remain competitive at the job," says Deepak Chandra, assistant dean, Executive Education, Indian School of Business (ISB), Hyderabad. There are two ways professionals learn. One is on the job and the other is when you make a conscious effort to pursue a programme to upgrade skills. .........

.............. refer : http://in.rediff.com/money/2006/sep/08career.htm

When to re-skill. "Waiting for the mid-career wake-up call is not the best way. One should proactively take an inventory of the present skill sets, identify the needs for the next levels of management and try to do a programme to bridge this gap. If you wait for signals, you may not be able to move with external changes like technology, business models and mergers and acquisitions," says E Balaji, CEO, Ma Foi Management Consultants.
Having said that, it also depends on the organisational need and evolution of an industry. "Industries like IT, retail, telecom have fast-changing paradigms in the market dynamics," says Achal Khanna, country general manager, Kelly Services India.

However, there are signals you can look out for, which would suggest that you are in need of re-skilling. "One indication is if you are paid less than your peers within the organisation and within the same industry," says Raghuvanshi. The other indication is how you are perceived within your own organisation. If you are not given due importance and are not involved in decision-making and your peers are, then you should seriously consider evaluating your profile and identifying the areas where you fall short.

How to re-skill. Once you have identified the areas you need to beef up, how do you choose a programme that adds value to your profile? "It is better to choose programmes that complement one's career aspirations by leveraging past experience," says Balaji

Full version : http://in.rediff.com/money/2006/sep/08career.htm

[Spoorthi]

nice info sree