Career Guidance Programme Report

The final year students of Don Bosco College of Engineering had the opportunity of part taking in a one day Career Guidance Program held in the college premises on 21st September 2017.
The guests were members of the ‘Board of Apprenticeship Training (BOAT)- Western Region’ who were enthusiastic to create awareness amongst the students about ‘The Apprentice act of 1961‘.
The Chief guests for the event were Dr. P H Sawant – Chairman of BOAT and Shri P N Jumle- Director of BOAT. Also present was the Director – Rev. Fr.Kinley D’cruz and the Principal – Dr.Neena Panandikar of Don Bosco College of Engineering.
Prof. Jeffery Valadares compered the formal event which started off with the lighting of the lamp, after which the guests were all welcomed with a bouquet of flowers.
Rev. Fr.Kinley D’cruz then addressed the gathering with a story which asked students to not be like ‘Half-baked engineers’ and encouraged them towards Internships and Apprenticeship after listing the plus points involved with it.
Dr. Neena Panandikar took the opportunity of welcoming the guests and thanking them for their decision to spend time with the students of the college. She also appreciated the faculty coordinators who helped manage and make the event work out in a short period of notice.
Shri P N Jumle spoke to the students of the upcoming difficulties that lie ahead after they graduate. He cautioned that just earning an engineering degree isn’t the same as what it was many years back and urged students to take up apprenticeship to be more job efficient.
Dr. P H Sawant then spoke to the students telling them of the importance of setting up personal goals in life and how it helps make their vision for the future clearer.
The Chief Guests were then presented with a memento by Rev. Fr. Kinley D’Cruz as a token of gratitude and appreciation after which the Training and Placement officer Mr. Rajesh Gaonkar delivered the vote of thanks which marked the end of the formal session.

Soon after the formal event, began the interactive session which brought forth four different speakers to give a talk on different topics ranging from Apprenticeship, Entrepreneurship as a career option, Higher education and Business etiquettes.
The first speaker was Mr. Nivrute Wadode who is the Deputy Director of BOAT. He spoke in brief about ‘The Apprentice act of 1961‘ and how it is possible to work in different companies under this act. He also mentioned a number of companies that have slots spaced out for apprenticeship in Goa and types of apprenticeship posts available. He mentioned of a website ‘mhrdnats.gov.in’ which helps make the process of applying for apprenticeship easier as most of the steps are to be done online and being a national portal, there are many companies tied along with it.
The next speaker was Shri Manish Gosale from iCreate, He spoke about their motto ‘Creating Job Creators’ and enlightened us on a path besides jobs. In doing so, he introduced us to the path of entrepreneurship and spoke about qualities of an entrepreneur, how they cannot be learnt but cultivated over time. He invited interested students for a 5 day program called ‘change-the-mindset’ which is an aspiring entrepreneur workshop. He also spoke about ‘Magic funds’ a scheme that helps fund entrepreneurs with a good idea to move forward in their endeavours.
After a break, Mr. Shyam Manavat from MaxxCell institute was invited to speak on the various options for higher studies abroad. He first spread out the career options in the public sectors and then went on to talk about MBA as a career opportunity due to the many plus points attached and job status opportunities. He suggested a few good colleges to consider like IIM’s, GIM, Symbiosis and Welingkav. He also covered other countries with respect to cost, course duration, work availability, etc. A few of which mentioned included Australia, USA, London, Canada, New Zealand, etc. He spoke of the help MaxxCell offers to help student to study abroad right from getting study visa’s to applying for university.
Soon after we had Mr. Praveen Kakode from UpGrade who conducted the next session on work and business etiquettes where he touched upon the Emotional Intelligence (EQ) of a person and how it is as equally important as compared to just IQ. He mentioned that soft skills are something that is often noticed and that there must always be efficient communication to avoid any misunderstanding. He suggested to SWOT ourselves and then work on our weaknesses to better ourselves. He also suggested two approaches to look towards work ‘Eagle vision and Snake vision’ which roughly translates to being focused at your work while being able to see the big picture.
Overall the programme helped the students to have a better understanding of the opportunities that could be offered by Apprenticeship, Entrepreneurship and Higher education.