Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Workshop on Shopping for Work

I was invited for a talk at Chennai Business School .  Ram and I put our heads together and decided that we will have this session 'interactive' ( previous experience(s) of students getting bored listening to me :P ). We wanted to make it useful for students ( near term - Job hunt , since they are graduating in a month ) and for us ( we have this big aim of getting people/students around us think about starting up ). So we called this one ' Workshop on Shopping for work' - Shopping being required for both the job hunt and all of entrepreneurship. (Thanks to NEN / Vishnu for this opportunity & tips to interact with students )

I've pasted my speaker notes below - Examples i used in the class for each step is missing.

Made students 'write' on a piece of paper on how they would go about Steps 3 and 5 . We discussed TWO case studies for Steps 3 and ONE for step 5, with students contributing all the answers with me 'moderating' the session with 'questions'. Tried to make the session more 'actionable / implementable'

Workshop on 'Shopping for Work'

  1. Ice-breaker ( write your dream jobs on paper and ‘rocket’ them to front )
  2. Pick a few of them at random and read them to the class. Find out why they are ‘dream jobs’. Go to the ‘root’ of all dream jobs. Clarity on what is a 'Dream job' - A job which you love doing and get paid for doing those.
  3. Shopping for work – Jobs – how to land that dream job ? ( Become an expert / learn/think : Read on internet / blog / learn from people - Share ideas : blogs/twitter/web/social media – take initiatives : Organise events in your dream area / Do projects etc – connect with people in the ‘dream area’  )
  4. Why starting up makes sense in this current economy ? Examples of start-ups formed during recession
  5. Startup workshop – How can one startup ?
  • Do all of Step 3
  • Why do company’s exist ? ( To solve people’s problems for which they will pay : So, go find people’s problems : get inquisitive : ask questions wherever you go / whoever you meet : Read on the web – blogs of entrepreneurs / experts etc )
  • What is the most important ingredient in a startup ? (Team : How can you build team ? Where can you find people to form a team ? People complementing skills )
  • How will you sustain – you have an idea / team .. ? ( Monies : 1st customer – how do you get . Raise money from pals , family etc )

Do what you love doing – you have the best chance of becoming the ‘best’ at it. Startups are magical – they are created with nothing but have the potential to become big thing. Startups need not be just companies, it can be a band or a sports team or a non-profit group and many more. Take initiatives , this is the time for it – you don’t have many responsibilities. Starting up right after school is the best time since cost of failure is low – after that, it becomes a lot harder due to responsibilities and cost of failures. So, go out there, the world is your playground. Experiment , create and have a lot of fun.

Would love to know your thoughts on how to make the session 'engaging' and yet provide useful 'content'.