200 participants, 2 hours of presentations and interactions of counselors and career experts with students and parents made up the maiden session of the UdaipurTimes Career Conclave 2018.

Held on Sunday, 24 June from 10:30AM at the Arvanah Mall at Hathipol, participants started pouring in from 10AM to ensure that they don’t miss out on any session during the 2 hours long event.

Students from ages 13 onwards, accompanied by parents and friends came to attend the event that was hosted by UdaipurTimes in joint association with ProTalent, Iqraa Education Services and JJ Arts Academy.

Panelists included Vineet Baya, domestic and international  counselor representing ProTalent, Gazanfer Ali, himself an IITian and Director of Iqraa Education Services and Javed Ali, an architect by qualification and mentor and coach by profession, Director of JJ Arts Academy.  Colonel Praveen Deo, CEO of NCC Battalion Udaipur and Shabbir Hussain from IIM Udaipur gave the professional element to the panel mix.  Nazish Barodawala, a successful CAT achiever and Ibrahim Hitawala, who topped the NATA examination from Udaipur were the student achievers in the panel.

Commencing the session, with a quick presentation the career counselors reiterated that the session will be beneficial only if participants asked questions related to subjects, careers, academics in any area, as the panel consisted of persons from diverse domains.

Elaborating on sports and Armed Forces as one of the least explored careers, the presentation detailed development opportunities in both sports and Armed Forces.  He presented a few students who had achieved success in sports at various levels.  Kaif Miyaji, Vice Captain of the Rajasthan football team and a student of class XI at St Pauls, Gaurvi Singhvi, the open seas national swimming champion from Udaipur and a student of class IX in Udaipur gave a moment of motivation to the participants.  They said that sports has made them better in approaching their studies and have lent an element of confidence onto their personalities.

The platform was then handed over to Vineet Baya.  Vineet, being a proficient career consultant, emphasized on three factors that were imminent for success in the formative years for any student.

Developing a liking for Mathematics, command over a global language and the need to read voraciously, especially news papers and magazines, to stay updated on developments in ones city, country and the world as a whole.  He said that reading newspapers and staying updated with developments and happenings around oneself is itself a syllabus for success.

 A video presentation on life in the Indian Armed forces by Colonel Praveen Deo followed the academic counseling sessions.  The participants were glued to their seats as they watched the 15 minute video while Col Deo explained the efforts made by a soldier and the various options through which students can join the armed forces.  He also dwelt upon career development and exploration opportunities post a career in the armed forces.

Gazanfer Ali, Director at Iqra gave a brief presentation on career opportunities in Engineering and the road map to becoming an Engineer.  He threw light on the fact that being  an IIT graduate and a coach for engineering aspirants, that the road to the best colleges in the country was not a very difficult one if focus combined with an honest effort is made towards the examination.

Javed Ali, an architect by qualification and Director at JJ Arts Academy, gave a comprehensive presentation on career opportunities in the field of architecture.  He explained the IIT JEE combination with the NATA examination and talked at length abotut the perceptions towards the field of architecture.

Both Gazanfer and Javed fielded many questions from students both on study management, handling failure, deciding the right approach, choice of subjects and elementary understanding of their inherent aptitude towards subjects.

During the course of the event, Javed Ali felicitated those students who had performed at the NATA examinations 2018 and achieved ranks.  The trophies to the achievers were handed over by Shabbir Paliwala, of Arvanah Mall.

The event was laced with intermittent questions from participants, both students and parents on choosing subjects, importance of sports, working towards one’s passion, scope in non-vanilla areas and such.  Shabbir Husain from IIM Udaipur spoke at length on career in sports, understanding a students’ interest area and corporate culture.  The queries were satisfactorily answered by each of the panelists as per their expertise with their respective domains.

It was promised that Udaipur Times will return with more such events where students are exposed to a vast range of options to choose from before they can map their career options.  Participants were also asked to connect with UdaipurTimes for group and individual career counseling sessions with the panelists.  Readers can connect with UdaipurTimes on careerchoice@udaipurtimes.com to speak to counselors for a one to one counseling as well.  The options are open to all visitors to UdaipurTimes.