Hi Gopal,
I just jotted down a few thoughts which came to my mind. Sorry I had to hurry writing them while waiting for the boarding call. I hope you will be able to pick something out of it.
Firstly see below an excerpt from the home page of DGR’s website:
“The Directorate General Resettlement (DGR) is an Inter Service Organisation ... approximately 60,000 service personnel are retired/released every year at comparatively young age. Majority of the service personnel at the time of retirement are at an age where they have numerous unfinished domestic responsibilities, which necessitate their taking up second occupation. (1)
During their tenure with Armed Forces, officers and soldiers acquire varying expertise (2) virtually in all disciplines ranging from Human Resource management, security management, medical, hospitality, inventory control, logistic management including highly technical fields. ...”
If you analyse the basic premise and approach of DGR you will find that we do not project our ex servicemen as qualified, experienced and capable pool of manpower but merely as ‘relieved’ workforce needing employment.
So obviously the tenor reeks of “seeking help” to place them in “some employment” as they need it. (1) explains this amply.
Secondly the capabilities listed (2) clearly is a self admittance of our limitation to roles in “administration, logistics and security” or related skills and competences.
This argument may be partially valid when referring to most PBOR cadres, but does not reflect the actual managerial capabilities and skills of officer cadre which actually is our forte and can add immense value to our corporate and government managerial pools.
In these areas except in strategic/ senior levels the routine administrative, logistic and security responsibilities can best and optimally handled by our JCOs and NCOs themselves, especially manufacturing and services industry. English language skills or lack of it is not an issue in the industry and our men can pick it up in 2-3 years easily.
When it comes to officers; with a little bit of training and reorientation with focused exposure to the culture, environment and vocabulary of the industry, a retired officer can take on responsibilities in any filed of general management be it in strategy, management, production, operations , marketing or support and CS.
It is high time we accept this fact and unabashedly project ourselves at that pitch rather than merely focus on mundane support and services activities.
Secondly:
One other issue which I feel strongly about is the process of and need for “unlearning”. Learning new skills and competencies is fairly easy, especially for faujis. What is glaringly visible is that we rarely “unlearn” what is not needed and thus we end up carrying too much of OGEEE baggage which, though provides immense inner strength, but seldom is appreciated or needed outside in its direct form. This cannot be a structured process and it depends on each individual and his own perceptive behavior developed and ingrained over years of drilling and practice during service life. Essentially what it means is “the frog has to come out of the well”.
This needs time and a conscious effort to observe study and analyze the new world, its ways and culture and merge into it. There is no need to change our core values and our unique approach to professionalism and diligence.
Thirdly:
Having lived a life between pay slip to pay slip (hope things are better now) most service people who come out are desperate to jump into the first job that is available. Many even fix up a place even before leaving! Esp the IIM thing helps in that. It is a very good thing but may not be the best.
We hire a lot of people routinely and I can tell you it is very easy to negotiate and get a chap cheaper based on how desperate he is. Body language, poise and confidence levels show amply and clearly for the employer to exploit. This is not charity mind you.
If CDA has done its job in pumping in the dues of gratuity, pension etc you find the guy has different gait, poise and the chest expansion is a few inches more. It helps a lot. Our men, esp officers must give themselves a few months "off", say at least 6 months. During that time they must travel, meet people, see things, give time for themselves and ‘unlearn’ more than learn. It helps and it does immensely so, especially when you are seeking a managerial job in “non routine” jobs.
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