Jobs, Industries and livelihood opportunities we address

I reckon that in the long term most industries will find their relevance in the new normal. In the short term (1 year at least), it is obvious that the pandemic will have a significant impact on tourism, travel, hospitality, entertainment, retail, beauty and wellness industries. The ones which will see some increase in demand include IT/digital, ITES/BPO, healthcare, logistics, agriculture and agriculture related. How the manufacturing, auto, banking, insurance sector will bounce back –but how long will it take –months or quarters or longer, is a wait and watch for me.

We will need to watch this space and start looking at the opportunities at a much micro-level –at specific job roles. E.g. in logistics it is the last mile delivery which will see a huge demand, in healthcare –tele-calling/telemedicine –prescription writers, health insurance back office, etc. could see a surge.

IMPACT OF PANDEMIC ON INDUSTRIES

• IT/ DIGITAL • ITES BPO • HEALTHCARE • LOGISTICS • AGRICULTURE

RELATED

Likewise, on the self-employment front, products and services involving discretionary spending will see challenges for some time. These include beauty parlors, tour planners & operators among others. Those addressing essentials, healthcare-related services/products could see an uptake.

While these are macro-level expected trends, we need to have a deep connection with the industry partners to understand these opportunities as they emerge. We also must learn from our alumni and communities we connect with. Collectively these avenues will help us learn, plan and evolve quicker.

At the level of skills being important in the coming days, it is a no brainer that effective use of digital technologies to function is a core skill many jobs will need. This means communicating effectively, being adept at using different digital collaboration solutions, selling through digital channels, etc.

• TRAVEL AND

TOURISM • HOSPITALITY • ENTERTAINMENT • RETAIL • BEAUTY AND

WELLNESS

StrivEvolve

Quiz with a twist

Worlds best talent show

TIC TOC video

At the initial stage what were your thoughts and strategies for the engagement and involvement of the team members?

"Strivevolve" Programme was designed specifically for the lockdown period for the Centre Operations team, with the sole idea of engaging them, supporting continuous learning, helping in upgrading skills, while having loads of FUN. The key strategy was to create heterogeneous teams and share interesting tasks, activities and projects with them, have teams compete with each other in the true spirit and earn some cool points along the way.

What were the challenges you came across while conducting these sessions?

The Pandemic and subsequent lockdown has treated everyone differently. The activities and their timelines had to be planned well because participants were equally busy with other operational tasks and responsibilities at home. We are happy that all participants adapted to the situation very well. And yes a few pertinent challenges like internet connectivity did cause some inconveniences, but participants themselves would think of ways to overcome the hurdles and perform for their teams.

What was the reach of STRIVEvolve?

Strivevole was able to connect, bond, learn and grow with almost 138 participants, comprising Centre Operations Team members including Facilitators, Mobilisers, Project Coordinators and Admin/IT executives. (Through some activities we got to connect with the participants’ family members too?)

How do you measure the effectiveness of the activities conducted?

We measured effectiveness simply by seeking continuous feedback from various stakeholders especially the participants and their reporting managers.

How has the Lockdown treated you?

The lockdown has treated each of the Strivevolve OC members differently and what keeps us united and excited, is our commitment towards the success of STRIVEvoLve. Happy Learning!

Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

Full Name: Kamini Pawar

Age (In Years): 24 years

Tata STRIVE Course: Assistant Beauty Therapist

Batch Name: Assistant Beauty Therapist_0003

Kamini hails from Antapur Taluka in Ahmednagar district. She is from Matang community. She belongs to a family of four. Her father is a daily wage earner. Currently, her family stays in Pune. She used to travel 15 KMs to come to centre every day. Before joining Tata STRIVE, she used to work in salon for close to 1 year. Kamini developed a blood clot in the brain for which she was undergoing treatment. Due to this, she had trouble remembering stuff and interpreting what is said. Kamini learnt about Tata STRIVE from her friends, she joined ABT course before too but was dropped out of the course as she was unable to attend sessions due to poor health and it was difficult for her to maintain the pace of the sessions. However, after a few months she enrolled for ABT Course again. Initially, she found it difficult to cope up. She also faced adjustment issues with other learners. Even facilitators faced a struggle to bridge the gap between her pace of learning and matching it with schedule and other learners. However, she was determined to get through with the training successfully. She focused on practicing theory and took a lot of support from her fellow learners. She used to ask questions whenever she did not understand a concept. She used to try to answer questions and be as participative in the sessions. Her transformation was evident to both facilitators. She took special interest in learning English communication and nuances of client service. Her attendance was 87 percent and she scored ‘B’ grade in the final assessment. After completing the training, she joined Salon Apple in August of 2019 at FC Road, which is one of the biggest salon location in Pune. She receives tip from clients almost on an everyday basis due to good service. Clients especially enjoy her services for body massage, facial and body polishing.

Kamini’s story is a story of persistence and beating odds with consistent work. A step however small taken towards success each day will definitely take you to success. She is still undergoing treatment for her brain related ailment yet she has her face in one direction that is towards success. We wish all the best to Kamini for her all future endeavor. Compilation: Amrita Fernandes

LEARNERS SPEAK

In the early days of lockdown I felt that there will be no classes now. I was nervous because we were learning so many things daily but in few days sir said I will be taking training online. Pallavi mam and Chandan sir are taking our session daily by different modes like Google meet or Edmodo. Attending online class is different experience for us . But I must say that still we feel connected to our trainers as before. We can ask them queries any time. Right now we are working on project and we are getting complete support for that. There are some difficulties like some time it gets difficult to connect with my project team members if they don't have a laptop or may be network issue. But this lockdown gave us extra time to work on our skills . Definitely there will be tough competition for jobs in future so we need to prepare ourselves for that too.

Swapnali Parole AAD17

Kitchen Ventures

The COVID lockdown has made me an adventurer and explorer –in the kitchen!

With my major domo in the kitchen –my house-help locked out, I decided to take over the reins of the kitchen with great gusto. Operation ‘clean up’ led to explorations into the deepest recesses of the kitchen cupboards unearthing the knife sharpener that I thought I had lost, the never used garlic squeezer bought on an overseas trip and many other mini gadgets that had never seen the light of the day!

Now, we are a family with a sweet tooth and my earliest foray into cooking was making deserts, which remains my fun thing to do in the kitchen. But what do you do when you are yearning for a warm ‘soul uplifting’ sweet something and then you peer into your everdepleting refrigerator and find only a cupful of flour and last dregs of cocoa? You do a google and discover a cake in a mug! While for the experienced and talented this may hardly be a discovery but for me it sure was the highlight of my day, made in under 5 min from start to finish, it’s the ultimate in instant gratification. This cupful of pleasure made a nice desert for three by adding an orange sauce accompaniment. The adventurer in me plodded me to try variations –red velvet, tutti frutti …I am now hooked to the pure joy of mug cakes in other words ‘desire to fulfilment’ in under 5 minutes. And need I mention it’s a brilliant solution when you also have a 10 to 5pm ‘work from home’ day ahead of you.

And before I forget there’s an added benefit of these kitchen ventures it comes with a buy one, get one free tag. Let me explain, who needs finger exercises when kneading your daily dough does the trick for you, who needs shoulder bends and waist swivels, when you can scrub away the dishes while swinging around every now and then, to see if the milk on the gas is boiling over, and who needs aerobics when you have to rush down nine floors to catch the breadman at the gate in time before the rest of the building has bought over his goods!

So folks, the next time I excuse myself for 5 minutes from a conference call I just might be making myself a cuppa…(of cake) !!

Anita Rajan COO, TCIT

Our Knowledge Partners

Tata Strive Skill Development Center Chandrakant Chambers, Opp.Madhuban Restaurant, Dhole Patil Road, Pune | Contact: 02066869100 Content: TSSDC Pune Team | Creative: Anish Varghese | Editor: Sameet Joshi