15. 10.
Wind Energy is a form of renewable energy - a transformed form of energy, replenished by the sun everyday. This transformation takes place when our EARTH receives SUNLIGHT from the SUN in the day time. As the Earths crust gets heated warm Air rises upwards and cool Air from surroundings rushes in.
Why does this happen when the surroundings also receive sunlight??
Good Question.
Because our EARTH is not FLAT it is ROUND and always rotating on its axis from west to east. Continuously some parts are getting in the SUNLIT area and some are going out. As a result at one place temperature is on rise but at the same time at other place temperature is reducing. Further at different places the SUN RAYS are striking the EARTH’S crust at different angles and absorbed at different rates giving uneven temperature rise. This difference in temperature give rise to WIND which is available for free for us to use for our benefits
Wind Turbine
Benefits of Generating Energy using Wind Generators
Reduces climate change and other environmental pollution.
Wind energy can be utilized as a shield against ever increasing power prices. The cost per KWH reduces over a period of time as against rising cost for conventional power projects.
Diversifies energy supply, eliminates imported fuels, provides hedge against the price volatility of fossil fuels, thereby provides energy security and prevention of conflict over natural resources.
Wind Farm
- One of the cheapest sources of electrical energy.
- Least equity participation required, as well as low cost debt is easily available to wind energy projects.
- A project with fastest payback period.
- A real fast track power project with lowest gestation period
- A Modular Concept. Operation and maintenance cost are very low.
- Minimum marketing risk as the products is electrical energy.
- Creates employment, regional growth and innovation.
- Reduces poverty through improved energy access.
- Fuel sources are free, abundant and inexhaustible.
- Wind generators deliver utility-scale power supply.
1. 10.
Renewable Energy Technologies (Wind and Solar) have an important role to play in World’s Energy sector. With right approach the Renewable Energy Industry can become a major player in world’s energy sector, and meet the energy needs of a significant proportion of population by using Wind and Solar Systems.
Renewable energy technologies can play a major role in national developmentin terms of job creation and income generation as well as providing and environmentally sound energy service. Renewable energy technologies can play complementary roles to large scale conventional energy technologies.
Renewable energy can be important alternatives for power generation in many drought prone countries when conventional electricity sector (mainly Hydro based) experiences deficits.
Other factor is due to continous use of fossil fuels we are facing threath in form of global warming and if the trend continues the outcome may be devastating destroying the environ ment of our mother Earth. Whole world acknowledges this fact and is taking action to reduce dependancy on fossil fuel.
8. 06.
Every decently sized company with a PR team can claim to be going green these days. But how do you separate those who simply hang out an Earth flag once a year to those who make real commitments in their daily activities? One good way is by looking at their physical facilities, since commercial and industrial buildings in the U.S. are responsible for about 45% of the country’s greenhouse gas emissions and 50% of energy use.
America’s 4.8 million commercial buildings and 350,000 industrial facilities expend $107.9 billion and $94.4 billion a year on energy costs, according to the EPA’s Energy Star program. Yet an estimated 30% of that cost - enormous as it is - is actually wasted due to inefficient technologies. What’s more, according to Energy Star, if the energy efficiency of our commercial and industrial buildings was boosted by an attainable 10% across the board, that would result in reduction of greenhouse gases equivalent to taking 30 million vehicles off our roads (or about as many cars and trucks as are registered in Illinois, New York, Texas and Ohio combined).
How do you make sure a green building is really greener? One convenient way is third party certification. The gold standard has been the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) program from the U.S. Green Building Council. Another one increasingly gaining familiarity is the EPA’s Energy Star label program, which was extended from appliances and electronics to whole structures fairly recently.
According to the EPA, the number of Energy Star-qualified buildings across the U.S. has soared by more than 130% from 2007. What does that really mean? Energy Star buildings use 35% less energy than average buildings and emit 35% less carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.
Of course, it is important to remember that energy use and emissions are not the only factors to consider when asking if a building is green. There are also issues of indoor air quality, water conservation, recycled content, habitat protection, access to transportation, support for bicycles and hybrid vehicles, and impact on local wildlife (no glass walls of death!). Still, energy use is a major consideration.
In 2008, more than 3,300 commercial buildings and manufacturing plants earned Energy Star ratings. These structures saved more than $1.1 billion in energy costs and reduced more than 7 million metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions in 2008 - equal to the emissions created in powering more than 1 million homes for a year. There are now more than 6,200 Energy Star-qualified buildings and plants throughout the U.S., which have saved $1.7 billion in energy costs and reduced more than 13 million metric tons in greenhouse gas emissions annually, equivalent to the emissions associated with the electricity use of more than 1.8 million homes a year.
The top ten city rankings based on the number of Energy Star-qualified buildings in 2008 are:
1) Los Angeles, CA
2) San Francisco, CA
3) Houston, TX
4) Washington, D.C.
5) Dallas-Fort Worth, TX
6) Chicago, IL
7) Denver, CO
Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN
9) Atlanta, GA
10) Seattle, WA
As expected, the trends roughly follow population patterns, since this list made no attempt to measure per capita listings. However, it is still instructive. For one thing, where is New York? It’s no surprise, perhaps, that California is well represented, but it may be news to some that Texas towns rate so highly - particularly Houston, the seat of the oil industry. Northerners aren’t doing as well as some might think, especially major cities like Philadelphia, Boston and Baltimore.
Perhaps no one is surprised that Detroit isn’t a big winner, given the region’s continual decline, and high anxiety in the auto industry (though efficiency is a good way to reduce costs, and save money and jobs, over time).
For comparison’s sake, here’s a list of U.S. cities purely by population size, as found on wikipedia:
1) New York City, New York 8,274,527
2) Los Angeles, California 3,834,340
3) Chicago, Illinois 2,836,658
4) Houston, Texas 2,208,180
5) Phoenix, Arizona 1,552,259
6) Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 1,449,634
7) San Antonio, Texas 1,328,984
San Diego, California 1,266,731
9) Dallas, Texas 1,240,499
10) San Jose, California 939,899M
For a complete list of Energy Star Qualified Buildings, please visit energystar.gov/buildinglist.
12. 05.
Venkata Ganti ( Vish )
CA-514
Altman
12th May 2009
The quality of education and resources for research provided by American Universities is higher than the Universities in other countries. International students generally go to high school in their home countries where the language of instruction is their native language. Students communicate in their native language at home and school and rarely in English. This condition creates a barrier for students who intend to pursue higher education at an American University. Western Institute of Technology (WIT) is a well known University for the advanced degrees in technology and management. WIT has a vibrant cosmopolitan student population mostly intending to pursue undergraduate, graduate or post doctorial degrees. Most international students work on campus to earn their living expenses. They are employed in various jobs ranging from cashiers, clerk, computer technicians, website developers, student assistants, tutors, and teaching assistants (TA). Professors hire graduate students to assist them to teach, test and grade students pursuing undergraduate programs. Although the International Graduate Students meet with the University’s English proficiency requirements to study but they are not tested for proficiency to work as a Teaching Assistant. This communication gap misleads students that studying and teaching require same level of competency in English. WIT should make the TA selection process stricter by testing students for their English speaking and writing skills.
Teaching requires TA’s to speak fluently, clearly and without a heavy accent. Students often complain that they cannot understand the pronunciation of certain words by a non native English speaker. A comic situation was quoted in an article titled “Classroom Chronicles, instructors’ accents make lessons hard” published in the San Francisco Chronicle on 27th November 1999. A professor at University of California at Berkeley mispronounced the word “authoritarian” as “auto-Italian”. Students in his class kept wondering what auto-Italian meant and finally when a presentation was displayed in class, they learnt about the word being authoritarian. A situation like this in a well reputed institute like University of California at Berkeley demonstrates the need for teachers and their assistants to go through a training process and testing to meet the basic communication requirements for teachers. University of Minnesota sponsors a program of assessment for prospective international teaching assistants and sets a higher spoken language score than many of our peer institutions. At University of Minnesota a two-credit classroom communication course is offered for students with lower scores to help them improve their English skills. These teaching and communication courses address the practicalities of pronunciation, word stress, clarity, fluency and the rhythm and intonation of U.S. English. The courses engage TAs in practice teaching and discussions of cultural topics. The goal of this program is that international TAs develops the skills required for clearly organized, fluent and comprehensible communication.
English as a Second Language (ESL) training is important for any international student. English is the primary language of the USA and except for specific classes in other languages, academic studies at all levels are carried out in English. It is needed for everything from reading street signs to writing a dissertation, and the faster a student acquires a firm grasp of English, the easier his studies and life in the US will be. Students believe they will very quickly learn the minimum amount of English necessary to enter a school and, after that, things will take care of themselves. The “minimum amount of English” usually means a score or between 450 and 500 on the TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language), a test which does not necessarily measure a student’s actual academic ability. The reality of the situation is that the TOEFL lasts only about two hours, while college will take up to six years of a student’s life. ESL training is offered by many different institutions, including colleges and universities, high schools and private language schools. Most of these will offer some kind of initial exam, such as TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language), TOEIC (Test of English for International Communication) and IELTS (International English Language Testing System). These tests help place students according to their needs and skill level. After the ESL level is mastered, students can pursue English for Academic Purposes, or EAP. The EAP program is designed to help students attain the level of English necessary to excel in academic reading and writing.
In 2008 a study conducted by the Center for Teaching and Learning at University of Minnesota which looked at student satisfaction with the overall teaching ability of TAs who had taken required courses on English, teaching and U.S. culture. More than four out of five undergraduates in the study reported they were satisfied or very satisfied with their TA’s overall teaching. Departments hiring TAs must continue to monitor the language proficiency of their international graduate students and refer those who need additional help to the ongoing training and classroom support services available through the teacher training programs. Professional development training can be required by departments for all TA’s.
Some students feel it’s demeaning to take proficiency tests in English to prove that they have the required language skill to teach. They argue that meeting with the University’s English requirement to study is enough for them to teach. The WIT Foreign Student Association stood against the new policy of WIT Student Association to require all TA’s to pass an additional test to be able to work as teaching assistants. This new rule will result in some international students to losing their TA positions. WIT should not compromise the quality of education offered for undergraduate students just because few graduate TA’s will lose their jobs. Before joining WIT, all international students need to establish that they have sufficient funds to complete their education. They can be funded for their education by their parents, other members of the family or student loans. The University admissions department does not take into consideration the funds which are derived from on campus employment for granting admission. The excuse of not being able to pay the tuition fee or living expenses due to loss of employment doesn’t not have substantial validity.
Apart from being useful for finding TA jobs, the additional English speaking and writing training would help students after they graduate and work in a professional environment. Many companies feel that international graduate students lack the skill needed to write professional reports and documentation. Companies would prefer a non- native graduate who has undergone additional training in English to a student without any special training. This emphasizes the need for students for focus on English development as much as on their regular course curriculum.
As an International graduate student at Western Institute of Technology, I would prefer to take an additional test to prove my proficiency in English and establish that I have the necessary skills to be hired as a teaching assistant. Inspite of taking additional training and courses if the University feels that I do not meet their requirements to be a teaching assistant , I will consider looking for other jobs available on campus to finance my living expenses and lower the burden on parents. I would be glad that WIT has given me an opportunity to polish my English communication skills by taking up additional courses. I strongly believe that the skills that I have acquired in the process of preparing for teaching assistant position will help me at a later stage in life. I am confident that WIT will find a student who is more deserving and talented than me to fill in the TA position.
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7. 05.
Navy jargon What it means
Bow Front of the Vessel
Stern Back end
Port Left Side
Star board Right Side
Deck Floor
Head Restroom
Cold Iron A docked Ship
Goin down below Engine Room
Walls Bulk Head
Ladder Stairway
Kitchen Galley
Door Hatch
Storage Area Cargo Hold
6. 05.
WASHINGTON (CNN) — Is it really so smart to forge ahead with the high technology, digitally based electricity distribution and transmission system known as the “Smart Grid”? Tests have shown that a hacker can break into the system, and cybersecurity experts said a massive blackout could result.
If someone hacked into the Smart Grid, experts say it could cause a blackout that stretches across the country.
Until the United States eliminates the Smart Grid’s vulnerabilities, some experts said, deployment should proceed slowly.
“I think we are putting the cart before the horse here to get this stuff rolled out very fast,” said Ed Skoudis, a co-founder of InGuardians, a network security research and consulting firm.
The Smart Grid will use automated meters, two-way communications and advanced sensors to improve electricity efficiency and reliability. The nation’s utilities have embraced the concept and are installing millions of automated meters on homes across the country, the first phase in Smart Grid’s deployment. President Obama has championed Smart Grid, and the recent stimulus bill allocated $4.5 billion for the high-tech program. 
Watch CNN report on Smart Grid »
But cybersecurity experts said some types of meters can be hacked, as can other points in the Smart Grid’s communications systems. IOActive, a professional security services firm, determined that an attacker with $500 of equipment and materials and a background in electronics and software engineering could “take command and control of the [advanced meter infrastructure] allowing for the en masse manipulation of service to homes and businesses.”
Experts said that once in the system, a hacker could gain control of thousands, even millions, of meters and shut them off simultaneously. A hacker also might be able to dramatically increase or decrease the demand for power, disrupting the load balance on the local power grid and causing a blackout. These experts said such a localized power outage would cascade to other parts of the grid, expanding the blackout. No one knows how big it could get.
The utility industry has made significant improvements to the power grid since the blackout of 2003, which disrupted power to an estimated 50 million people in the eastern United States and Canada. The utility industry said it is now better able to detect and isolate outages, and some elements of Smart Grid technology will enhance that capability.
Also, industry representatives said, they have no intention of putting an unsafe grid online.
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“We are not going to manufacture this car without a seat belt,” said Ed Legge, a spokesman for the Edison Electric Institute.
But as of now there are no clear-cut Smart Grid cybersecurity standards.
“There are a lot of discussions about where the requirements will come from and who will be ultimately responsible,” said a Department of Homeland Security official, speaking on background.
Itron, a major manufacturer of automated meters, said its products are secure. Matt Spaur, a senior product marketing analyst, said his company tried to make hacking a meter “unappealing and unrewarding if you do it. And it is very traceable.” But Spaur acknowledged that the Smart Grid is vulnerable.
“Any network can be hacked,” he said.
One expert said security concerns have put “the fear of God” into the utility industry, vendors of Smart Grid products and the federal government. They have been working cooperatively to detect and mitigate vulnerabilities.
“Industry is working to make meters more secure. They have done a good job,” said Joe Weiss, an expert on utility control systems.
Still, experts like Skoudis recommended that Smart Grid deployment be slowed until security vulnerabilities are addressed. Otherwise, he said, Smart Grid equipment deployed now may have to be replaced later.
Utility managers are taking heed.
Garry Brown, chairman of New York’s Public Service Commission, said he believes the benefits of Smart Grid outweigh the risks, but his state is taking a hard look at cybersecurity before making large investments in the technologies.
“Before we go rushing headstrong into a Smart Grid concept, we have to make sure that we take care of business, in this case cybersecurity,” he said.
William Sanders, principal investigator for the National Science Foundation Cyber Trust Center on Trustworthy Cyber Infrastructure for the Power Grid, concurs.
“I don’t think the sky is falling,” he said. “I don’t think we should stop deployment until we have it all worked out. But we have to be vigilant and address security issues in the Smart Grid early on.”
28. 04.
Venkata Ganti ( Vish )
CA-514
Altman
28th April 2009
Writing this essay made me recall the bed time stories my grand mother told me when I barely knew what the word ‘communication’ means. I loved listening to stories about kings, war and mythology. Back in the ancient times, kings would have specially trained pigeons or other birds, which would carry message notes to the neighboring kingdoms. This was from of message delivery was believed to be more secure than getting it delivered by hand from another person. As if these messenger birds know the geography of the whole kingdom, they would fly far off and deliver the letters to the right person.
Occasionally my grand father would spare some time to play with me and tell some of his childhood stories. He spoke to me about how he would write letters to his friends and other family members living from his hometown. During his time, it would take about two weeks for a letter to be delivered from the day of postage. Having a telephone connection was considered a luxury that was affordable only to a handful of people in his town. This was the scene 75 years back.
Among many inventions of our modern world, the Internet stands out as an amazing development with its effects on almost ever aspect of social life. The Internet has greatly transformed the world in unimaginable ways, bringing different parts of the world into closer touch with one another than ever before.
The primary, and arguably most noble, intent of the Internet is to assist in mankind’s pursuit of knowledge. The rapidly increasing information source, together with the ability to exchange knowledge faster than ever before is opening a whole new environment for learning and researching. Prior to the Internet, people might spend all day long on finding needed knowledge in a library. Today, with the assistance of the Internet, we can find what we need quickly and conveniently. The resources available in school or local libraries once limited students’ knowledge; nowadays, they are able to access a nearly infinite number of resources via the Internet. Students also have chances to discuss what they have learned, share ideas, and exchange knowledge with other people all over the world by means of interaction through email or forums; and distance is no longer a concern.
Furthermore, the Internet provides people the equity that they do not have in real life. In a face-to-face encounter, people tend to judge others’ characteristics based on their first impression of others’ looks. On the contrary, the Internet helps us to understand a person through their ideas, their very own dispositions, but not the outward aspects. In the real world, many people who are shy rarely speak out and thus do not have opportunities for interaction. Via faceless online interaction, they will feel more confident to contribute their ideas to the public. The Internet has created a virtual world where all people, no matter what their genders, ages, races, or statuses, are welcome to express their opinions, share ideas, and interact with each other.
The Internet has triggered many innovations in many aspects of life. With the Internet, trading, communication, finance, and so on, become more convenient than ever. With just a mouse click, customers can stay home and get their shipments delivered direct to them; emails take seconds to arrive; information flows of finance markets are kept updated. However, just as every aspect of life, the Internet does have some unhealthy sides. Today we sometimes hear about the technology’s impacts on relationships and interpersonal communication. But the fault lies not with the technology itself, but rather with human’s intentions to misuse the facilities that the modern technology has provided them with.
When a person says ” I will get in touch with you soon”, it can mean coming in contact in more than one way. It could be through an email, web conference, text message and easiest of all; a call from his cell phone.
Personal conversations and business conversations are intended for people on each end of the phone - not for a room full of people or those walking along the street, relaxing on a park bench, or waiting in a doctor’s office. Nor should these conversations be inflicted on people relieving themselves in a public bathroom, enjoying a cup of tea in a restaurant, or deciding which bottle of juice or which shirt to buy inside a store, or locked in an elevator with no escape.
When did we get so promiscuous with our personal and business information that we spew it about? If there is no problem about privacy for the speaker, how about privacy for the unwitting listeners? How can telephone talkers not feel the publicness of their conversations? Perhaps they invent a bubble around themselves; they are so engrossed in their conversation they aren’t aware of others. Maybe they believe themselves to be invisible to others.
In the past one week, I’ve been working on this essay and it made me more observant about people and the way they communicate. While walking to school I saw a man roller-skating while talking on the phone. Two days later later, I saw a woman spinning her wheel chair with a phone to her ear; later, a man was walking his dog and talking on the phone. I was struck by how extraordinary were the situations in which this new invention - the cell phone - was being used. That gave me a brain storm: to mark the turn of a new century, someone should publish a photography book showing how cell phones were invading our world and shaping a new life style.
Cell phones do make life easier; all calls can be received wherever you are, and no matter how busy you are, you can keep in touch with clients, family, and friends. How can one complain about technology that does that? The benefit of this technology should be to free up time, assured that no call will go unreceived, and all calls can be returned at the most convenient time. But, rather than turn off the phones when occupied, people keep them on at all times. They are never free. In effect, cell phones now burden, not free people.
You can’t stop progress. Cell phones are with us; they are an integral part of our lives. My complaint is not about their existence; they can be helpful. My complaint isn’t even about the danger of talking while driving. My complaint is that in addition to helping people keep in touch, cell phones interfere with personal relationships, pushing people away. It’s wonderful to be able to call your honey from wherever you are (although lovers certainly have found ways to do that long before cell phones). But how often have you seen fiends walking down the street - with one talking on the phone? Or, families at a restaurant or social event, with everyone chatting but the father (or mother) separated by the cell? What is intended as a together activity gets interrupted when one of the people “goes away” via the cell phone.
This technology is now used to undermine relationships. There was a time when this issue would have been related to gender; women generally are more attuned to relationships, so they might have been more sensitive to someone pulling away from them. But women have become as much a victim of the cell phone rudeness and isolation as men. It’s as if there is a status for not just having a cell phone but having it ring while out with others.
A far cry from the novelty of seeing someone on skates or in a wheel chair talking on a phone, there was a movie that again suggests the extraordinary may become ordinary. In Jet Lag,” a woman is in the airport security line talking on her phone. In mid-sentence, she puts the phone on the conveyor belt, walks through the screening, picks up the phone on the other side and resumes her conversation - without missing a beat. The really best part though, is when she’s on the toilet talking. She goes to flush, drops the phone, and watches in horror as it swirls down the drain.
I’m glad she was using her best friend to help with her crisis of the moment, but I applaud the flushing, feeling the relief of women in the other stalls; they could now sit in peace. Maybe I’m wrong, though. Maybe cell phones can bring people together since she then borrowed one from a stranger at the airport that ended up as her husband.
Instead of driving people apart, mobile phones and the net are helping them maintain social ties, says an article from BBC News network called “Hi-tech bring families together”. It was found that traditional so-called “nuclear” families were more likely to have more hi-tech gadgetry in their home than almost any other group it measured. Multiple mobile phones were found in 89% of nuclear families and 66% had a high-speed net connection. The US national average for broadband is 52%. It also found that 58% of these types of families were likely to have more than two computers in the home.
This led to 53% of those questioned saying that new technologies had increased the quality of their contact with distant family members, while 47% said it improved interaction with those they live with. The growing use of cell phones, computers and the net meant that families no longer gathered round the TV for shared experiences but this did not mean, said the report that these communal times had vanished. Instead it found that 52% of net users who live with their spouse and have children go online in the company of someone else several times a week. For many, greater use of the net came at the expense of TV watching, with 25% saying they now spent less time watching television. Only 58% of 18-29 year olds said they watched TV every day.
Going by the saying “ Every coin as two sides; revolution in communication technology has good and bad shades to it. In the case of people living oceans apart, technology brings people closer; and in the case of people who live closer, technology drives people them apart. No matter how quick and efficient modern communication means are becoming; they can never stand as a replacement to in-person meeting.
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18. 03.
New Delhi: Last month, when recruiter Rachita Saini of Clearway Advisors posted a job opening for the wind arm of GE Energy, around 40% of the applicants came from the technology sector, with little background in energy. “I have received quite a few resumes from people looking to switch,” she says. 
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Recent senior hires at wind turbine manufacturer Suzlon Energy Ltd also came from fields as varied as software, retail and steel. Malay Shah, for instance, left Infosys Technologies Ltd last year to handle strategy at Suzlon. “Renewable energy was an interesting growth story, with 100% year-on-year growth in the past five years,” he says. Now, as traditional large employers, such as those in information technology, or IT, and retail, constrict hiring in response to the economic slowdown, job seekers from those industries are starting to look at sunrise sectors, such as renewable energy and pharmaceuticals, in India.
A catalyst? Niche portals reflect the change in the job search market. Some websites that offer job listings focus on one sector, such as advertising or the legal industry, while others focus on specific experience levels.One of the job portals Saini posted on, Workosaur.com, a website that caters to managers who earn at least Rs10 lakh a year, is tapping into this trend and teaming up with training firm PM Dimensions Pvt. Ltd to help candidates switch to these newer industries. Of the 35-50 jobs that are posted each day, three-four are from the energy sector, says Nimish Adani, who started the website five months ago. One month ago, he says, only one or two jobs a day came from that field. “The downturn hit some segments really badly,” says Adani, an Indian Institute of Management, Lucknow, graduate who worked with BharatMatrimony.com and Clickjobs.com before launching the website. “Energy, clean tech, nuclear energy-these segments are really growing and a lot of people are looking at them as the industries of the future.”
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To be sure, the renewable energy sector hasn’t escaped the downturn entirely-Suzlon reported a Rs59 crore loss in the third quarter-and some recruiters say that until companies return to expansion mode, mass recruiting from other sectors is unlikely. “In this particular industry scenario, my clients don’t want to take anyone from outside the industry,” says Hariharan, a recruiter with Head Hunters India Pvt. Ltd who works with clients in the energy and water treatment sectors. Roles that are similar across sectors, such as HR, make a switch easierBut executives expect the renewable energy sector to bounce back quicker than many others. “Most of these companies have huge growth plans and customers are ready,” says Shah. “They’re just waiting for markets to open up.”The courses that PM Dimensions offers, anticipating similar growth, are in areas such as the economics of a power plant and fuel management within nuclear energy and technical courses to train managers looking at opportunities in the pharmaceutical industry. Such tie-ups and niche portals reflect a growing segmentation in the job search market. Some websites that offer job listings focus on a specific sector, such as Afaqs.com for advertising and Rainmaker.co.in for the legal industry, while others such as Workosaur.com and Firstnaukri.com focus on the specific experience levels of the working population. Senior professionals tend to have different job search preferences, says Adani. For example, he says, they prefer not to upload their resumes into common databases and tend to search for new jobs from their current offices-Wednesdays and Thursdays, between 11am and 3pm, are the most popular time slots. Such users are also more likely to be looking for jobs by function than by industry, says Adani, and so are more open to a switch to newer industries. PM Dimensions does courses both for companies and individuals. Nuclear energy courses are among those most in demand, says one of the firm’s founders, Sukrut Jobanputra. The firm recently developed and trained a team at a power company which is evaluating opportunities in the nuclear business, he says-none on the team had any background in nuclear energy. Roles that are similar across sectors such as human resources, finance or marketing are relatively easier to switch to, says Shah, who believes his background in consulting for Infosys made the transition easier. “You get to work with a number of other industries, from semiconductors to software services to retail-that cross-industry exposure sort of helped me,” he adds. Another techie who wanted to switch industries, Aditeshwar Seth, first looked to real estate last year as a way to move out of the outsourcing industry. “Even services were getting commoditized,” he says, “it was getting pretty mundane.” He took a job looking at business strategy for a Mumbai-based real estate group. “From (the) job content perspective, I had to literally start from scratch,” he says. Now, he says he’s considering a senior job offer in the power sector. The interview “conversations weren’t around power, they were more on business strategy,” he says. “The sector is something you can pick up.”While it is a little early to signal a fundamental shift in job demand, the hiring slump in IT and financial services might serve as a potential windfall for new sectors. “Online job search” may well be the catalyst.
