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Careers for women: tips for managing a career transition for women at work, especially relevant to IT professionals but also for others
Guest Blogger Sairee Chahal is Co-Founder, Fleximoms. Fleximoms works towards creating, enhancing and co-creating workflex opportunities for women professionals. She recently wrote a detailed article for us on career options for software programmers who want to move from coding after some years of experience. While that piece highlighted the available career options, this one has more inputs on “how” to manage the transition. You can follow Sairee on twitter @sairee
Tips for managing a career transition (especially for IT professionals, but also relevant to others):
Assess your strengths. While this is easier said than done, working on this objectively may pave the way for a long term roadmap for you.
Don’t shortsell. Never begin a career conversation that begins with “I will do anything.”
Assess your skills and competencies. Imagine if you were to redefine your CV by telling the other person what skills you have or more simply put what you can do – rather than your designation and programming platform you work on. Feel free to use professional assessment tools to view this in relation to the job market.
Interest areas Are you a programmer with a gift of the gab or way with words? You love Bollywood and are known for getting projects with multiple stakeholders done on time? If you have specific interest areas, things that excite you or you haven’t let go of – these might be your clues to your next career. At Fleximoms, we have alumni who have gone from being project managers to culinary divas, from being IT Analysts to Tech PR pros, from being internal programmer to specialised consultants. What binds them is a conscious decision to reshape their careers and lives and ability to take help where it exists.
Network. Where are your networks? Do they know you exist? Are you valuable? Are you seen and heard often? An average man is more likely to know people in his domain than an average woman – alumni networks, colleagues, geek communities, start ups, tech events, clients – people work with people they know everywhere.
Coaching and mentorship. Undervalued propositions, especially in the context of women making career transitions. A good coach can be the bridge between your aspirations and your reality. A great mentor can be the support system you never imagined you had. Behind every success – big or small there is an objective brain and a committed heart of a mentor pinning for you. Don’t let that go waste!
Things are changing, especially with the emerging opportunities and availability of new terms of engagement and there are women who are transiting and not leaving this industry. An encouraging sign after all!
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Rajshri Deshpande, who played the fiery protagonist in Trial by Fire along with Abhay Deol speaks of her journey and her social work.
Rajshri Deshpande as the protagonist in ‘Trial by Fire’, the recent Netflix show has received raving reviews along with the show itself for its sensitive portrayal of the Uphaar Cinema Hall fire tragedy, 1997 and its aftermath.
The limited series is based on the book by the same name written by Neelam and Shekhar Krishnamoorthy, who lost both their children in the tragedy. We got an opportunity to interview Rajshri Deshpande who played Neelam Krishnamoorthy, the woman who has been relentlessly crusading in the court for holding the owners responsible for the sheer negligence.
Rajshri Deshpande is more than an actor. She is also a social warrior, the rare celebrity from the film industry who has also gone back to her roots to give to poverty struck farming villages in her native Marathwada, with her NGO Nabhangan Foundation. Of course a chance to speak with her one on one was a must!
“What is a woman’s job, Ramesh? Taking care of parents-in-law, husband, children, home and things at work—all at the same time? She isn’t God or a superhuman."
The arrays of workstations were occupied by people peering into their computer screens. The clicks of keyboard keys were punctuated by the occasional footsteps moving around to brainstorm or collaborate with colleagues in their cubicles. Most employees went about their tasks without looking at the person seated on either side of their workstation. Meenakshi was one of them.
The thirty-one-year-old marketing manager in a leading eCommerce company in India sat straight in her seat, her eyes on the screen, her fingers punching furiously into the keys. She was in a flow and wanted to finish the report while the thoughts and words were coming effortlessly into her mind.
Natu-Natu. The mellifluous ringtone interrupted her thoughts. She frowned at her mobile phone with half a mind to keep it ringing until she noticed the caller’s name on the screen, making her pick up the phone immediately.
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