How Harsh Arora helps youngsters choose their career

I love talking, meeting new people and dropping pearls of wisdom. So I decided to make a career out of it. My previous stints in various capacities with ICICI Prudential, Wipro, Spectramind, Hutch and American Express made me realise that I wanted to be involved in training and counselling. In order to follow my passion, I quit my executive job at AmEx and donned the entrepreneur's hat in 2009, all my anxieties about chucking a secured job be damned. 

The problem was that I neither boasted relevant experience, nor a client base and a brand. Whatever HR-related experience I had was limited to stints at Hutch and AmEx. Undaunted, over the next few months, I got in touch with leading training companies who were loaded with projects and willing to give a newbie like me a chance. 

I stated a partnership concern called Improve Life and immersed myself in freelance training. Over the next year, as my experience grew, so did people's trust in me. In January 2010, I finally cut the umbilical cord and took the next big step, I registered Improve Life as a private limited company. There's been no looking back, and I've been offering career, personal and relationship counselling ever since. 

Helping Hand 

I strongly believe that you never face problems in life, only situations. If these situations are not handled with the right attitude and skill, they magnify into problems. My role is to help people in getting rid of the situations, helping them in finding different avenues of solutions so the situation does not spiral out of control. 

So you'll find me giving lectures and conducting workshops in schools and colleges as well as corporate offices. However, the counselling and training sector in India is still at a nascent stage; only recently have people started slowly opening up and sharing their personal and relationship issues. 

Juggling Roles 

My current project involves career counselling in 50 schools in Delhi-NCR. But I have not limited myself to the metros alone. In fact, I mainly concentrate on the Tier II and Tier III cities, because although the spark is quite obvious in students there, they lack the correct exposure. For close to three years now, I have been travelling to schools and colleges in remote towns of Haryana, Punjab and Gujarat to help students figure out their careers. 

When I meet children from these parts of the country, I realise how a small interaction can help them shape their career decisions. They have passion and the requisite knowledge but are unable to leverage that in the right direction. This is where I come in. I point students towards the vital piece of the jigsaw, which sets them on the right course. 


I also work with companies to provide training on work-related issues. For instance, Hindalco had hired me to train its workers at its plant in Renusagar, around 200 km from Varanasi. The workers were being promoted, and my job was to make them understand the nuances of their new roles. The initial response was one of scepticism, given my age, but I was able to win them over. By the end of the workshop, some of them even approached me for advice on issues concerning their children's education. 

I also mentor budding entrepreneurs as part of my Entrepreneur Development Programme. In today's world, no matter what kind of hobby or passion you have, it can be converted into a business. And I can help. Currently, I am mentoring seven people with ideas ranging from a home decor business to a concept cafe. While some need a lot of hand-holding, others come to me just for guidance on how best to go about starting their businesses. 

Building a Brand 

Apart from an online presence, I have never done any aggressive marketing; I have always bagged clients through word of mouth. I believe this is the most powerful form of advertising, and it does not cost anything. If you contribute positively to somebody's life, they will spread the word. 

My clients are my biggest brand ambassadors. I am also particular about not diluting the Improve Life brand, and that's precisely why I'm not focussing on expansion. I believe that as brand grows, it loses its personal connect. The Harsh Arora brand is more important to me. 

I'm not in it only for the money, either. I derive satisfaction out of meeting new people everyday. It feels good to hear them out, solve their issues and show them the right path towards a more successful and contended life. Money is just a byproduct. Till the time my work gives me satisfaction, it is worth doing. 


This article was published in The Economic Times, a leading National Business Daily on 23rd Oct' 2011. The direct link of the article is:
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/news-by-industry/jobs/how-harsh-arora-helps-youngsters-choose-their-career/articleshow/10454772.cms?curpg=1

Stressed & Suicidal

ONCE, being a child was simple. You went to school, played with friends and studied. The pressure to do well was present, but not at the cost of fun and a life beyond school books.

But times have changed. A recent study has found that not only adolescents, but kids as young as 11 may try to harm themselves as a result of stress- related depression.

The study was carried out among 30 children in Kerala, many of whom had consumed pesticides, kerosene, drugs, face cream and even gone to the extent of trying to hang themselves.

Of these, 90 per cent were in some kind of stress.

The study, published in the journal Indian Pediatrics, is based on interviews of children and their parents conducted at a child guidance clinic attached to the Calicut Medical College.

“High parental expectations contributed to school- related stress in the children,” the scientists who carried out the study said.

Twelve of them were suffering from school- related stress, while 18 were dealing with conflict with parents or siblings, fighting/ alcoholic parents or grieving the death of parents.

Among the 21 boys and nine girls the scientists spoke to, the majority were between 11 and 13 years of age. The youngest, a six year- old, had been told by a relative she would die if she ate face cream. Fifteen of them had wanted to kill themselves by consuming the harmful substances.

One child died in the attempt.

As only a small percentage of such children seek professional help, the study may only be the tip of the iceberg, the study warns.

Deliberate self– harm is an indicator of underlying psychosocial problems, including an increased risk of suicidal behavior in later life, the scientists say. Moodiness, academic decline and social withdrawal are the early signs of depression.

Kids may try to harm themselves by banging their head against a wall or poking a pencil or compass into the body.

“ Self- harm among children is becoming a public health problem,” Dr Anjali Varma, attached with the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Salem, Tamil Nadu and an assistant professor at the University of Virginia School of Medicine, said.

“Pediatricians, parents and school teachers need to identify the early signs of depression and anxiety in young kids,” she added.

Social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter also contribute to kids choosing selfharm as a way of dealing with anxiety and depression.

“ Bullying and adverse comments on these sites on looks, relationships and school performance can damage the youngsters’ self- esteem, provoking them to take the extreme step,” psychiatrist Dr Jitendra Nagpal said.

“The trend is on the rise. I get three to four children a month on the wrong side of social networking,” he added.

TOO MUCH FOR A YOUNG MIND

The study showed kids as young as 11 harm themselves and commit suicide because of stress- related depression

The kids took pesticides, kerosene, drugs, face cream & even tried to hang themselves

Reasons for stress included school work, conflict with parents or siblings and fighting/ alcoholic parents

Moodiness, academic decline & social withdrawal are the signs of depression to watch out for Stressed & suicidal

Source Mail Today, 16^th May 2011

A matter of degree, not kind

A very good article in ET...

It is notable that 175 years after Macaulay's minute on education, which led to monumental changes in pedagogy and learning here, things remain very much in a state of flux.

Now, in calling for changing the medium of public instruction from ‘Sanscrit and Arabic' to english, and its contents metamorphosed from ‘sacred books' to, generally speaking, ‘the poetry of Milton, the metaphysics of Locke, and the physics of Newton,' Macaulay was of course prejudiced, conceited and plain biased.

But it cannot be gainsaid that he was a public policy enthusiast with remarkable vision. As we contemplate path-breaking reform in the domain of higher education, holistic policy design needs to be the watchword.

For instance, it is welcome indeed that the mavens seek to integrate the various streams under a single, overall umbrella for proper oversight and genuine cross-fertilisation of ideas.

However in tandem, there is no reason why all first degrees, across streams, need not be the BA, as is very much the norm in the ancient universities.

Our educational institutes do need to aim at being world-class of course, and we cannot any longer afford to remain contend with a few holiest of the holy centres of learning which anyway contribute precious little to domain knowledge and thought.

The point is to improve standards across the board, with stress on inculcating new knowledge and practices. But in tandem, we surely need uniform nomenclature for the first degree.

It would bring about much-needed inclusiveness across disciplines. And with common degree certificates and honours grades, graduates can look forward to postgraduate education in law, business and medicine. The world's leading universities follow such a system.

It is also notable that Macaulay based his reasoning on facts and analysis, although the unabashedly superior tone in the minute certainly seems quite uncalled for.

After all, it is a no brainer that higher attainments in industry and commerce also tend to show up in parallel literary achievements.

In his note, he was, as chair of the Committee on Public Instruction, excised over what in today's parlance can be called the cost-benefit ratio of public education. There was a ‘lakh of rupees' at the committee's disposal, we gather. But the expenses were thoroughly questionable, it is averred.

The policy hitherto had been to provide stipends to students enrolled in ‘Arabic and Sanscrit' colleges. Macaulay cites the figure for December, 1833. ‘The whole amount paid to them is above Rs 500 a month’, it's surmised.

And what is the fruit of all this? A petition was presented last year to the committee by several ex-students of the Sanscrit College, it is revealed.

And the petitioners are said to have added, “we have but little prospect of bettering our condition without the kind assistance of your honourable committee...” They have wasted the best years of life in learning what procures for them neither bread nor respect, adds Macaulay.

We might with advantage have saved the cost of making these persons useless and miserable, he concludes.

And those who learn ‘English are willing to pay us,' the minute enunciates. The amount realised from the ‘out-students of English for the months of May, June, and July last — Rs 103', it is documented.

The point made is the pressing need for up-to-date knowledge, skills and broad-based learning.

Fast-forward to the here and now, and it is indeed welcome that the proposed National Commission for Higher Education and Research is to replace the stodgy UGC and the corruption-ridden All India Council for Technical Education. It also makes perfect sense to include purview for medical and legal education in the commission.

In the ancient universities of Oxford and Cambridge, the first degree remains the BA, never mind if one reads history, land economy or engineering. There is certainly a case for professional bodies to retain accreditation functions.

But the idea of a uniformly termed first degree, with a common system of markings, grades and ‘classification,' cannot really be faulted. Besides, we do need to set up new institutes where students can read various subjects all under one roof.

In this day and age, when knowledge is a clear source of competitive advantage, compartmentalisation just makes no sense.