Wisdom of Dr Harinarayan Kota

I was thinking of writing to you all about what I got from my stint at NAL, National Aerospace Labs. So while thinking about the theme, I shot one email to my friends who have also worked in these prestigious organization just after graduating. Just like me, every one had a positive experience and I liked the reply from my friend kishore and I liked it so much that I want to just copy and paste the whole thing he wrote. I was inspired and hope you too will.

 

But before that a little background, unlike me, kishore worked under two bosses while in NAL. So for him it was two stints in NAL. But the one he mentioned was the one when he worked under Dr Harinarayan Kota, Director, ADA and Project Director, LCA Project!!  And this is what he wrote me in the mail.

 

“

1)  I learnt some basics of management. Or I can say I learnt about the joy which you get after successfully managing and finishing the task.

 

2)  Second thing I learnt from him is that, ball should never be in your court. It should always in the other person’s court; this shows that you are doing your part.

 

3) One more thing he once told me and later showed me also that no one is that important, important is the responsibilities and the task given to you. And to finish your own responsibilities, many times you have to tell others that they are important.

 

“

 

The fact that I liked the most is the third point. What about you?

 

Resume Tips and Job Hunting Advice from the Emurse Blog

Resume Tips and Job Hunting Advice from the Emurse Blog

 

It feels like that I am obsessed with this resume thing, so here's yet another post on how to write an effective resume.

 

In fact let me share the real reason, my cousin is here with me and he is looking for job and so I am fixing up his resume and so venturing into these topics so I am sharing the good articles that I find along the way with you all.

 

So this article that I stumbled upon is also a good one and raises some very good points that are not only useful to my cousin but to the members of OURAeSI too. You got to read the whole article to get to the 10 points discussed there while I want to point out on the 4 points I thing that are very relevant to us.

 

 

• Size does not always matter

I like the idea of ... making two resumes, one short and one long and bringing the long one to the interview.

 

• Do not use personal pronouns or contractions. Never say “I” or “me.”

 

• Keep it electronic friendly

 

And the most important point I felt was

 

• Know Your Strengths. If you have a gap in your work experience that is difficult to explain, but have great skills and training, consider a “functional” format rather than a chronological one. Adjust your resume to represent you in the best possible way.

         

 

Read the whole thing at

http://www.emurse.com/blog/2007/01/08/straight-forward-advice-on-writing-an-awesome-resume/

 

 

 

10-ways-your-resume-irks-hiring-managers!!

My last post was on my tips on writing a good resume that will bring results. Well today I stumbled upon this article which tell you about the 10 mistakes that you shouldn't do with your resume. Some of the points were usual that i have covered in my earlier posts (http://my-aesi.blogspot.com/search?q=resume) Most of the tips are relevant for a fresher’s and the person who is writing his first resume. Do read it. A article not to be missed if you are hunting for a job!!!

 

http://jobs.aol.com/article/_a/10-ways-your-resume-irks-hiring-managers/20070809123709990001

 

 

Click on this link to get all my posts relevant to resumes: http://my-aesi.blogspot.com/search?q=resume

 

NEWSFLASH : Royal Aeronautical Society of UK to open office in Bangalore

Bangalore, Sept 01: UK-based Royal Aeronautical Society (RAS) has chosen Bangalore to establish its first branch office in the country, said a top official of the Aeronautical Society of India.

 

"The Bangalore branch of RAS which will be its first in India, will be established soon,'' said V Thulasidas, President of the Aeronautical Society of India and CMD National Aviation Company of India (NACIL) after signing an MoU between ASI and RAS here on Saturday. More RAS branches would be established throughout India later, he said.

 

David Marshall, President of the Royal Aeronautical Society UK said with this pact ASI becomes a corporate partner of RAS and vice-versa. RAS has 25 specialist groups in all spheres of Aeronautical and Space Sciences, he said, adding that the MoU env isages exchange of technical and other information relevant to these two areas. The agreement would entail sponsoring joint scientific activities including conferences and workshops and also holding of at least two joint events in India annually for which role of each society would be defined, he said.

 

Under the MoU, the two societies will exchange their respective journals and magazines and encourage their members to publish research papers in their respective publications.

 

#END

Resume tips from experience

Last week in OURAeSI club, there were 3+ messages related to job requirement... I hope everyone has seen them and appropriate candidates must have forwarded their resumes by now. But I was wondering how many of them had done it in the right way? I mean what was your checklist before you shot that email carrying your resume for the requirement listed?

 

Please do let me know in the comments.

 

Although I haven't sent my resume for a year now, but a year back, when I did, I had this 4 point checklist before I sent my resume to any job requirement.

 

Is the resume latest?

Do I have the cover letter?

Do my resume match the requirement or needs little adjustments?

Do I know anything about the company I am applying?

 

Let me elaborate on these points a little bit more. Is my resume the latest is the first thing I checked. Most of the time, it never was. I had to scour my resume back from the sent folders of my email account. Or from the my documents folder where it stayed unattended. Sure it always got updated. The areas which got modified were the dates of previous work experience. I quantified my work experience as 1.5 year (meaning 1 year 6 months), that changed as I progressed month wise. So I needed to include that and give my latest experience figures!  While in NAL, the skills section also got updated to highlight the skills I have picked up since my last resume update. And same thing happened to Project listing. Sometimes skills and projects not needed in for the current requirements were trimmed and re-adjusted.

 

"Do I have a cover letter?" was the second thought. To this I will emphasize from experience, I know that my all resumes that went with a cover letter brought me a response!! There was not a single instance that my resume with a cover letter didn't get me a call for the interview. I think having cover letter is must.

 

You can't put everything on your resume and you can't use fancy colors or highlight your resume too much for the risk of looking unprofessional, here cover letter comes handy and useful. A cover letter is one place where you can highlight the specific areas that you want your recruiter to see when they look at your resume. It serves as a good introduction to your resume! So never let a resume go by without a good cover letter accompanying it!

 

While in NAL, i did various kind of work, some of the work came under design like design of mixed flow compressor, some came under software development where I developed VB applications to do various design calculations and other got into the category of analysis, where using analysis packages to get result was the main responsibility. So having worked on varied kind of work, I had this standard resume, where I listed all my work, major, minor, design related, analysis related and software development related and Every time I had to send a resume, I used to adjust my projects to the requirements, plucking projects and its description from this master standard project-only resume.

 

Sometimes one project covered and overlapped many different categories. Like I had this project "design of mixed flow centrifugal compressor impeller”; now this had design and during the project I have to develop a VB application to design the compressor. So this project encompassed 2 categories. And having a standard projects-only resume solved my problem. When I said I needed to modify my resume for the appropriate requirement, I meant pushing the project related to the requirement up in the list and including more details to it. Removing the once that were irrelevant, trimming some which do not add much value. This way the resume had the consistency and I was at peace that I haven’t missed any project.

 

Sometimes, if the requirement was of design nature then the design projects were pushed up and I hightled the points on this project. Even in the skills section of the resume, the skills related to design got highlighted and were emphasized.  Sometime when I knew my work experience directly matched with the requirement; then I made sure that I highlighted the project in my cover letter as well.

 

Knowing the company I was applying for! Be sure to know what the requirement is and then use Google to search for the company you are applying for. It’s after this that you should craft your cover letter and update your resume. Your cover letter and resume should reflect that you know about the company you are applying for and are aware of the requirements!!

 

A resume cannot guarantee you a job offer, but a great resume introduced with a good cover letter can help you get an interview.

 

For more info on how to craft a resume see this excellent link

http://www.mahalo.com/How_to_write_a_resume

 

I am sure you will add your tips in the comments that I might have missed. So feel free to comment!!

 

What are your AeSI eureka and rude shock subjects?

Today I was asking myself what were the best exams in my AeSI tenure? Which exams I was very confident and I did well and got out well. Knowing AeSI , you won't be surprised that the list can’t be long so here's my short list of the subjects which I felt of clearing 100% while getting out of the exam hall and did so. I call them Eureka subjects!!

 

• Thermodynamics
• Strength of material
• Workshop technology
• Propulsion 3
• Aerodyanamiocs-1
• Mathematics -iii
• Mechanics of fluid

 

That’s it. Honestly I didn't expect the list to make it to number 7!!! Let me tell you that these were not the only subjects that I felt I will pass when I came out of the exams hall. There were many times when I had these feeling that I will pass but these were the subjects in which my confidence of passing and AeSI's confidence in me coincided and I cleared the subjects!!!

 

 

What about the other way round? Now let me list out of the subjects that I was absolutely sure of passing and AeSI gave me the rude shock!!!

 

• Principles of flight (not one time but twice, giving me a teasing 47 and 49 marks respectively )

 

• VMD - this is the biggest shock aesi ever gave me. Expecting 80 and got measly 38!! Even to this day I can't figure how? Even a re-checking request didn't swell the marks above 38, but surely gobbled my dad's 100 bucks that I sent for rechecking!!

 

• Workshop technology - when I gave it the first time. Anyways this was my second exam of the AeSI that I gave. And incidentally this was the first tremor of aesi in my life J

 

 

 

That's it! In the other exams I could ascertain the failures to my mistakes and in some case I am not sure but I give AeSI benefit of doubt!!

 

The subject in which I did most blunders were Mathematics -II its the subject of blunders for me. I intend to write something about this in future post,.

 

Anyway do let me know what were your eureka subjects and rude-shock subjects during your term in AeSI. Would love to know!!

 

 

Suggestions for AeSI improvement - highlights of aesi's enews

Ok ok I know that PDF didn't get published. As i post most of my entries via email. That PDF didn't go through the blogger platform and you weren't able to see the document. So here's the link for the 2 specific articles that I wanted to point your attention.

 

http://sukhbinder.singh.googlepages.com/7_aesi_enewssept07.pdf

 

The articles are from Air Cmde Raghubir Singh (Retd) FAeSI- 732 and Dr G Madhavan Nair President Aeronautical Society of India.

 

Both of them deal with the improvement of aesi for the betterment of the students!

 

The articles assumed significance because of the fact that while in the AGM in cochin Air Cmde Raghubir Singh  gave a presentation which has really awaken other members on the plight of the students and everyone there did talked about improving it for the students. And there were questions raised towards Mr. Bhaita to answer. If you were there you could have seen how uncomfortable Mr bhaita became while answering.

 

So this articles getting published in enews is one step showing that people are listening and they haven't forgotten about us. So friends, this AGM lets us prepare our case strong and give a presentation telling the story from our (the student) side.

 

I know many of you might be thinking that this is bullshit and this will never work out, but let me tell you, if it doesn't work out its because of  you people who betray us. It’s because of you, who can't stand by your fellow aesians! So if you can't contribute positively and can't stand with us, I say you have no right to have a negative opinion about it!

 

Anyway here's the highlight of articles

 

• The question papers should be set from the syllabus-taking into account the depth possible based on the coverage.

 

• The syllabus while remaining on the elite IIT pattern should also take into account all India university syllabi –without diluting the our standards..

 

• Practical training, experiments & testing should form part of AMAeSI syllabus. Perhaps 50% marks can be catered for these.

 

• Project work, seminars & internal assessment under the accredited guides can be included

 

• Further rationalization of question paper setting so that good student can pass the examinations. Still out of syllabus questions continue to be set in our examinations.

 

• The question papers should be such that it tests the students for knowledge as per the syllabus & not the lack of it by post- graduate level questions

 

• It should be borne in mind that the students opting for AMAeSI, are either in service or students mostly in the 50-65% PCM marks bracket at 10+2 level. Without lowering our standards, the question papers must be such that these can be answered & does not result in dismal pass percentage

 

• The question paper setting, answer book checking & moderation should be in rotation at the institutions or by the Fellows of the AeSI.

 

• Model answers by the paper setters & marking system should available.

 

• It would be quite advantageous if subjects having greater coverage & depth are spread over a longer periods for better comprehension. For example subjects like Applied Maths-I, Introduction to Aeronautics can be telescoped over at least one year period.

 

How to write a successful resume ?

A strong resume can give you the edge on any upcoming career opportunity. Mahalo, the hand-edited search engine, offers a great how-to for building your resume for entry-level position seekers or seasoned professionals.

 

Yes a resume cannot guarantee you a job offer, but a great resume will help you get an interview. So spending the time to make your resume is a good investment of time!

 

Some of the advice that I liked

 

• Try to avoid using tables.
• Use spaces instead of tabs to separate sections.
• Also avoid italics, underlining and shadowed text.
• Use easy-to-read fonts and a clear design to make your resume more appealing
• Your resume should highlight why you are qualified for the position you're applying for. Remove extraneous information. Do not detail every job experience you have had if it does not relate to the job you're pursuing.
• Do not use "I" or "me"; the reader already knows the resume is about your accomplishments.

 

For more click this link http://www.mahalo.com/How_to_write_a_resume

 

Must read for all AeSI people

A quick update……..

 

This is the first time I have seen some good stuff in enews related to the student’s side of AeSI!!

 

Please do read the PDF document attached!!! The fruits of what has happened in AGM are beginning to show and hope this year’s AGM with Mr Bhowmick’s initiative; we can put our views and concerns!!

 

Don’t forget to read the document!!!

 

How important is the field and department before your choose your training?

 

In response to my previous post ( http://my-aesi.blogspot.com/2007/08/three-things-you-must-give-thought.html ) Mr. Gaju Korde has pointed me to another important point that I missed. Here is what he said...

 

"The field or the department. One should think a while before joining whether this is the field where I see myself in say next few years. I have seen people going to each and every place where somebody is interested in hiring trainees and join there just because they got there!. Please do not do that. It is this experience which will prove beneficial in your professional career ahead so choose it wisely!!"

 

Mr. Gaju Korde has raised a right point regarding the importance of field and department before deciding on your training mission!! Be absolutely sure where you see yourself in the next few years, before your clutch on any training offer! See what’s appropriate for your chosen filed. If you are an Avionics guys then going into training in propulsion related lab won't help you much. Yes you will have the luxury to write "6 or 1 year experience in such and such ". But ask yourself is it relevant experience that matches your academic and chosen stream!!  May be the electrical lab where they use lab-view, and test avionics instruments would be more correct choice for an avionics guys!!

 

Also when you set your mind on getting a training, set two goals in your mind that you will come out of this one year or 6 months latter, with more knowledge and skills than your have entered. Promise yourself that you will cultivate yours skills as well as deliver quality, professional work to your mentor while you are under him!!

 

 

These two pledges if you can make to yourself and keep them in your mind, nothing can stop you from shining like a star!!

 

 

Thank you Mr. Gaju Korde for pointing out the important point, hope to hear more from you!!