About the Book

Corporations have long passed the buck of training people in employability, soft skills and personality development to the educational institutions. Textbooks must support and supplement the efforts of teachers and the students. Texts must find new ways of projecting the subject reflecting inter-dependent nature of personality development, career planning, soft skills, employability, and English language skills, the lingua franca of international community and link Indian language. Universities are gearing up to revise the courses and syllabi and introduction of extracurricular activities and change in curriculum. This book is meant to help people to help themselves using their present resources and develop knowledge, skills, and values by moulding their career paths to reach their life goals rather than just land a job. Salient Features • A number of career profiles of people from diverse disciplines and vocations have been included, with special emphasis on the Indian scene. By studying these real life stories, the students can learn from others' experiences rather than hypothetical situations. • The case histories from the book help the trainer/teacher in the classroom to explain the concepts and present precepts. The teacher can form groups and engage them in group discussions, select skills the students need to perfect to secure a selection. He may also give them writing assignment using the cases for identifying the concepts involved in each case. • The real-life career paths presented give the teacher an opportunity to discuss how students can plan for their entire future keeping in mind change of jobs, careers, and change of industry. • Lifelong learning is the theme of the book, personality development, free, frank, and independent life, thrown in.

Contents

PART A : SUCCESSFUL CAREER AND SOFT SKILLS Introduction Section I : From Nowhere To Somewhere1. Set Forth the Journey 2. Unique Path Section II : Wherefore You Know Where 1. Choice of Career 2. Control of Careers 3. Enterprise, Enterpreneurship and Ethics Section III : Where on – To Weather, Not Wither 1. Steering Through, Soaring High 2. Swerve and Sever Section IV : From Here To Eternity 1. Fitness 2. Utility 3. Legacy Epilogue PART B : BUSINESS ENGLISH Section V : British Legacy – Use of English 1. Where does Indian English stand? (a) Common errors in English (b) From local to global 2. Communication – Written and Oral (a)Oral communication (b) Written communication (c) What makes one an effective writer 3. Conversations in writing (a) The substance and spirit (b) Layout of a business letter (c) Other forms of business communication Curriculum vitae - E-mail – Memorandum – Fax 4. Report writing

About the Author

Varanasi Bhaskara Rao is a versatile personality, with three decades of operational banking experience and of customer relationship management. He has been teaching communication skills to bank professionals and students for over two decades. He has been conducting seminars and workshops in Hyderabad ever since his retirement as Senior Faculty and Chief Manager (Training), Bank of Baroda. In order to reach wider audience he has been publishing books as support print material for all those who take responsibility for their own growth and development. He has also authored “Communicative Competence” published by BS Publications. Ms. Y. Kameswari (1944) is an experienced Post Graduate Teacher of English in Kendriya Vidyalaya. After her retirement in 2004, she worked as part time faculty in T.I.M.E. (Triumphant Institute of Management Education) and took classes for CAT aspirants (English) for about four years.