Sir, As a part of young professionals in media, I agree that there is not a high level of active participation from people recently comming into the field. But that certainly is not an indication that perople are not updating themselves with knowledge. Personal interaction is definitely an effective learning mechanism. But how many times is a professional managing 5-6 accounts given an oppertunity by his/her organisation for attending a seminar for self development? It is always productivity that over rides proficiency. That is ultimately that's measured during a performance appraisal. There are a few organisation which do have self-learning as a part, but wit 10% weightage- its 90% that matters. Accreditation from an organisation is a boost on the CV- very true.But does anyone even bother to check for it when a person applies? It was a harsh reality that when my batchmates were entering the industry last year, even the top PR Agencies showed no distinction between a graduate in English, graduate in Mass Communicaion or a Post Graduate in PR. Not one Agency was even willing to consider the type of projects or work a person has done prior to application. It was hardly surprising that most opted for CorpComm that paid better with no real demands for special abilities beyond the work you have done in the past. With everything debatable said so far, I shall like to add another fact I wish to share amongst everyone- Agency PR is alack lustre job which most young people are taking up only to get some hardcore experience and move on.
Regards
Tushar Jambhekar
--- On Tue, 12/5/09, Prime Point Srinivasan <prpoint@gmail.com> wrote:
From: Prime Point Srinivasan <prpoint@gmail.com>
Subject: [prpoint] Lack of involvement of youth in professional enrichment - How to rectify?
To: "Prpoint Group" <prpoint@yahoogroups.com>
Date: Tuesday, 12 May, 2009, 10:45 AM
dear friends
In the past few years, I see a trend that more than 90 percent of the youngsters, who have chosen PR or Communication as their profession, have not been showing involvement in gaining knowledge, participation in discussions in groups and PR bodies, etc. Though, I may not be able to identify the reasons, it looks as though, they are happy with the package what they get today and assume that they would grow automatically without any effort.
During the UnConference of GFPR at Chennai, Mr Madan Behal, Mg. Director of Adfactors PR and Mr B N Kumar, CEO of Concept PR both shared one information that nearly 98 percent of the youngsters who came for the interview for PR job, did not read any PR book or PR journal. May be due to demand and supply position of candidates, for time being, they would get employment.
Now with the growth of PR education and acute competion amongst the job seekers, in another two years, it would be difficult to any employee to raise in their position or to get additional pay package, unless they acquire more knowledge and involve deeply in the profession. Already, in advanced countries, the situation has come. Accredited professionals are preferred to others.
Without any accredition, it would be difficult for anybody to jump up in the career in future even in India. Already some of the PR bodies are thinking in terms of collaborating with International bodies for accreditation to raise the knowledge to suit global requirements.
In one of the recent podcast interviews, Mr Vikram Kharvi, a young PR professional and founder of another PR online group has also expressed the view that involvement of the young professionals are lacking in sharing the views. Personally, I am feeling the 'sad trend' for nearly five years. As explained earlier, probably, the economic boom, has given them the lethargy. Now, after the slow down period, the entire system will start stabilising and at that time, everybody needs to show only skills and knowledge, repeat skills and knowledge to survive.
When we were all discussing this trend and how to remedy, we thought, why not we suggest the CEOs and the Managements to incorporate a weightage for 'the efforts put in by the employees in acquiring knowledge and their participation in the online and offline group activities'. Learning comes from sharing the knowledge.
Mr Madan (Adfactors PR), Mr B N Kumar (Concept PR), Mr Mouli (Blue Lotus PR), Mr C J Singh (Core PR), Mr Tushar (Turtle & Hare) and Mr Arun Arora (GMR Dial) have volunteered to incorporate suitable weightage for this in their annual reviews. These senior industry icons will also take up with other managements, so that our next generation of professionals will be better equipped to take the profession forward. A time has come for us to interospect the situation and remedy, before it becomes too late.
I request all to share their views, as to how we can involve young professionals.
Srinivasan
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