— By Mariya Sethjiwala, Sophia BMM

Management takes an all different and exciting twist when you add a dash of glamour and mix in a high profile celebrity. Managing a celebrity is quite an art we say!  An artist or a sportsperson has certainly put in all efforts to reach a cult status, but it is the job of his or her manager to help the person manage his/her day to day affairs, and help them live and cope up with their high flying lives. A manager is an indispensable asset in a celebrity’s life.

A celebrity manager provides services such as celebrity/athlete grooming, managing his or her time schedule, public relation services, marketing and advertising campaigns, negotiating endorsements, promotional launches, parties, and personal appearances.

The catch here for beginners is not to run after an already established star, but find your clients yourself! Identifying talent in sport-spersons or musicians of varied genres and then marketing them in order to create their brand value is what you should look to do.  A safe option here would be to associate yourself with a celebrity management firm at the start of your career before you have enough experience to be an independent celebrity manager or maybe, open your own firm.

To become successful in this field, you should have the ability to connect with people coming from various backgrounds. Ample amount of patience is required to deal with the person you are managing. A good knowledge of all brands is a must to identify and target brands that your client can endorse. You should be able to come up with solutions quickly and deal with pressure cooker situations. A celebrity manager needs to be creative enough to make his/her client reach out to brands and the audience. For this, good Public Relations skills come in handy.

Managing a celebrity is not rocket science. All it takes is to be aware and foresighted enough to spot opportunities in opposing circumstances. Once you get in the field, you get to travel the world, and live the celebrity life as your clients’! This isn’t a desk job, and new work assignments daily and interacting with people from varied fields enriches you as a person. Also, cracking big deals for your client can mean getting a fat pay-check for yourself too!

So, if you are good with people, smart and logical, a quick thinker and have a general understanding of the entertainment industry, you have a shot at becoming a celebrity manager.

— By Mariya Sethjiwala, Sophia College

Nature, in all its forms, presents not only a great escape from the hustles of city, but if you look through your lenses closely, it can provide various career opportunities. Ever thought YOU could be a wildlife photographer? Today, photography has become a common hobby for the metro youth. The great thing is it is a highly diverse profession. One of the most interesting and challenging streams of photography surely is Wildlife Photography.

A passion for photography and a great deal of knowledge about cameras and lenses is a must to start with when you talk about becoming a wildlife photographer. Apart from that, you need to have a genuine love for animals, birds, forests and everything natural. This profession, whether taken up as a hobby or a profession, requires a great deal of perseverance and patience from the photographer. Moreover, it is imperative that you respect your subjects. Awareness about the various laws of forest and environment and their compliance is a necessity.
As such, being a wildlife photographer requires no formal training. Most wildlife photographers would tell you they started doing it just by chance on some camping trip or a family holiday to forest reserves! If you are intrigued by nature, start as soon as you lay your hands on a camera. Who says you have to get to a forest? Begin by observing closely your surroundings and environment and the creatures that live around.

When you decide on turning a pro, a journey that might well change the way you see the tiniest of things awaits you. Getting close to nature also involves communicating well with the forest officials and even local tribesmen. You have to get information from these people as to what is the most suitable time and place to shoot the animals, birds or any aspect of nature you are looking to capture. Doing your homework before you start shooting and drawing up a schedule is also an important aspect of shooting in the wild.
After you have done your shooting and finished working for the day, the important task of getting your work noticed lies ahead. It is advisable to do as much independent work as possible when you have just started off. You can share your work with magazines, newspapers or even wildlife NGOs. You can even use your pictures as cards and calendar backgrounds. Hosting exhibitions and booking gallery shows to display your work once you get known in the local market is what will follow.

Fortunately, India’s rich and diverse wildlife offers great opportunities to photographers to capture breath-taking images. After all the hard-work and, just one amazing image is enough to make your day!

– By Mariya Sethjiwala, Sophia College

The scratching sound of a disc, the innumerable keys on the sound board, the lights of the dance floor, the thump of the music – if this gives you an adrenaline rush, then surely, a part of you wants to make people dance to your tunes and take a party by storm. To be a DJ is the career you need to zero in on then!

Not regarded as a mainstream career option till a while back, Disc Jockeying or DJ-ing today has emerged to be a successful career option for people who know their music and can create foot-tapping numbers to dance on. With the increase in per capita income and the willingness of people to spend on celebrations- no matter big or small, music remains the key. The soaring high awareness of good music among the party-goers and party-hosts has made a good DJ one of the most sought after people in the media industry.

To give you a very basic explanation, a DJ is the person who selects and plays pre-recorded music for a gathered audience for a variety of events and functions. Most professional DJs do much more than just play music: they are responsible for mixing tunes, forming beats, setting the right mood in the club, understanding the clientele and playing music according to their likes and dislikes.

To become successful in any profession isn’t a piece of cake and DJ-ing is no exception. Knowledge of the technicalities of sound is a must if you want to be a DJ; that means concentrating hard in your Radio and Television lectures in the fourth semester of BMM. But let me tell you that these lectures will simply give you a sketchy base. There’s a sea of things you will need to know and learn about like cartridges, needles, mixers, tables and the list is endless.

I’d advise you to follow the current trends of music. A DJ should know at the tip of his fingers what sort of music is in and what is out. Stay glued to top music channels and keep a track on what’s playing on the radio stations as well. Practice is what will make or break your career. Wouldn’t it be really uncool if people are staring at the ceiling when you are playing your music instead of dancing? You need to get hands on training to prepare for your big night. So if you really are sure you want to be a DJ and are willing to spend massive amounts on equipment, then go ahead and buy your own tools. But a wiser option would be to work as an assistant to a DJ and get to used his equipment and learn from him.

The bottom line is that you must strike the right chord with your audience. Once you do then a life of fun, music and a lot of ‘scratching’ awaits you!

Organization Name: BMMBox.com

Organization Description: The one-stop shop for BMM students

Location: Mumbai

Role Title: Media Sales Executive

Role Description:

• Talk to direct clients and sell ad space as well as custom brand packages (media schools, institutes, animation workshops, overseas media schools)
• Talk to agencies and work with them to get BMMBox.com on the media plans for their relevant clients
• Be a thinker, marketer who can come up with smart, creative ideas to grow the revenue

Qualification Requirement: BMM, BMS, B.Com

Experience Requirement: 1-2 years of advertising industry, not necessary sales

Compensation/Stipend: Rs.15,000/month

Application Process: Send in fully updated resume to connect@bmmbox.com. The subject line must read ‘Sales Profile’.

Selection Process: Resume screening followed by interview

Key Dates: Candidate must join ASAP.

The general perception is that planning a career involves the following steps:
• Choosing an occupation, preferably based on your academics
• Getting a job in that respective field of work
• Growing in the job to achieve your goals
• Retiring from the job satisfied with everything you have achieved

However career planning involves a lot more. Life is unpredictable and it is always necessary to prepare yourself for what might come up. A career is no different. Globalization has in fact left us at a stage where career planning is even more vital. Careers are subject to various challenges, most of which aren’t within an individual’s control. Sound planning can help overcome these challenges.
Learning:
Learning is a lifelong process. People change jobs all the time to learn more, improve themselves and possibly make more money. The business world is subject to constant change and opportunities are always on the horizon. So strive to keep learning and improve your skill and knowledge levels.

Don’t just talk, listen too:
Listen to the people around you, especially the ones who are more experienced. Relate your views to them and ask for their opinions. This will help you learn more about yourself. At the same time, talking to others and hearing their experiences can teach you about the mistakes you mustn’t make.

The Current Job:
People tend to get swayed by money and circumstance while taking up a job. Assess a present or perspective job with an open mind keeping the telling factors in mind
• Do you like what you’re doing?
• Do you see future scope for progress?
• Do you see yourself doing this for a long time?
Such questions need to be answered. Always be clear about your job requirements and designation. Evaluate these points and make the best decision.

Follow Your Dreams:
Simply put: You have to like what you do. If you don’t, then find out what you like to do. You must identify and interpret your dream job and understand how you can possibly achieve this dream. The path need not be straightforward. But once you figure it out, you can start walking on it. Acting on your dreams is vital for long-term satisfaction and inevitably success. Your dreams define you, so work towards achieving a career within that framework.

Organization Name: Pink & White Consulting LLP

Organization Description: Public Relations and Marketing Consultancy

Location: Mulund (W), Mumbai

Role Title: PR Executive [Client Servicing & Media Relations]

Role Responsibilities: Client Interaction & Tactical Planning, Media Relations, Project Planning & implementation, Research, Documentation, Reporting, Providing value addition to the client and consultancy

Qualification Requirement: Any Graduate or PG in Mass Communication with specialization in PR

Skills: Excellent oral and written communication skills, Team player

Technical Skills: Working knowledge of MS Office (Word, Excel and PowerPoint), Video and Image Editing Software

Attitude: Positive and enthusiastic, Innovative and solution oriented approach

Experience Requirement: 0 – 1 year

Compensation/Stipend: 1.5 lacs to 2 lacs per annum

Application Process: Mail us your resume on malaikaf@pinkandwhiteconsulting.com or call +91 98193 29314

Selection Process: HR Round, Communication test and Final round

Success, they say, is a journey rather than a destination. At a professional level, being successful in life goes hand in hand with attaining the job you desire; a job that keeps you satisfied and offers a sound foundation from where you can build yourself up for greater things in all spheres of life. Hence most professionals ask themselves – How do I get the job I desire?

Well here are a few pointers, which will guide you along that path:

Figure yourself out:

Before you begin the job search take time off for introspection. Analyze what you have done with your life and figure out what you want to do. Finding the job you desire is the first step in this entire process. You can even take a personality test to help assess yourself. Cross this hurdle and then get yourself ready for the psychological battle that waits.

Key Qualities:

• The key to success is confidence. Believe in yourself at each stage and have absolute confidence in your abilities
• Personal assessment helps you understand your strengths and weaknesses. Don’t hide from those weaknesses. Rather work out a way to get over them. It’s vital for you to bring your best qualities to the table and prove why you can be a difference maker
• Strive to eliminate all stressful elements. It is natural to be under pressure when you’re working hard to achieve what you want. But it is equally important to let go of all the negativity that hinders your progress
• Determination is another under estimated quality. But when the going gets tough, only determined people actually make it through

The Eventual Test:

All the preparation in the world can’t guarantee the best result unless you can implement and execute when it matters. Stick to your basics and take advantage of the opportunity when it comes because you can’t attain that desired job unless you tick the right boxes in a face-to-face situation.

Other factors:

• It is important to keep an open mind and allow yourself to learn from your own previous mistakes and the experiences of others. Work out a different game plan if the original one doesn’t work out the way you wanted it to
• Take some time off ‘serious’ mode and relax. Meet your friends and elaborate on your thoughts. Communication is vital as it will help you feel better and obtain a different perspective. You can even use various prevalent forms of social media (Facebook, Twitter & LinkedIn) to interact with people who are in a similar position.
• Lastly celebrate the small victories that come along the way. It will help you appreciate the effort you’ve put in.

Getting the job you desire isn’t a straightforward process. After all, the best things in life are hard to come by. But if you stay motivated and focus on your goals, then success will inevitably follow.

Organization Name: Framelements Media & Entertainment

Organization Description: We are an advertising and film production house. We are into Print, Multimedia & Web. We also do Publicity designing, film production and adfilm production.

Location: Navi Mumbai (Airoli)

Role Title: Client Servicing & Visualiser (Trainee)

Role Description:

Client Servicing: To look after the existing clients advertising requirements. Be a part of the new client pitching team.

Visualiser: To help the visualiser with ideation, new concept generation process.

Role Responsibilities: Same as Above

Qualification Requirement: BMM or BMS or any stream undergraduation or graduation student

Skill Set Requirement: Basic Computer knowledge, good communication skills,

Experience Requirement: Not required

Compensation/Stipend: Will be joining as a trainee so NO Stipend. Company will bear travelling & food expenses if it is for company related work. Will get a certificate after completion of work.

Application Process: Send biodata on sachin@framelements.com. Mention Mobile no or any contact number on the biodata without fail

Selection Process: Selected candidates will be informed over phone & will require to come to office for a 10mins. Casual interview session.

Key Dates: Required on emergency basis.