Posts in Career Development

12 Easy Hacks to Improve Your Life

People keep struggling to try that one great thing that will transform their lives. The life, on the other hand, is simple and easy if we take it that way. It becomes better and organized with small things we do every day.

This is my personal experience and I have seen tremendous changes in my life doing simple stuff, improving my day to day life. I understand people are busy with their jobs, I understand the life has become too competitive that nobody has time for self-improvement. This mostly is the case with entrepreneurs big or small. We struggle at every stage of life and the concept of well being gets lost somewhere.

But, trust me, if we can start focusing on ourselves, we can get better productivity, creativity and what not. I read a lot of articles on the internet, watched many videos and then created my own list of things that I wanted to practice for myself and that has helped me to an amazing extent.

Surely these small self-improving tips would help you too to live a better life. And above all, you don’t have to spend months or years to achieve this, these activities don’t take more than 30 minutes of your time.

Shall we begin?

You can start small with baby steps. Start with few activities and see the results. If you see a better you, keep doing it and adding new such activities to your list and you may even see that big change you wanted in your life.

1] Be a morning person – develop a morning routine

Be it a morning prayer or a walk around the city or going to the gym. Developing a morning routine helps you get the max out of your day. Take 5 minutes every morning to chalk down what you must do today and use your day to the fullest. Every minute of your life is important using it right way helps to live a better life.

 2] Bedtime is as important as your mornings

Life is a cycle; your mornings are connected to your bedtimes. If you had a good night sleep then only you can have a productive morning. Keep all your worries aside. While going to bed remember and cherish the best memories of your life. Prayers and meditation help you achieve peace during the sleep. A good read is advisable, try building a habit of reading good books just before you go to sleep. Fix a time to read, read for 5-10 minutes and sleep immediately after of your reading. Fixing this read time will you to fix the bedtime as well. A great morning will be waiting for a very productive day.

3] Decorate your Bedroom for a Better Night’s Sleep

Sometimes it becomes difficult to get a good sleep because of your busy schedules and tiring work days. Decorate your bedroom the way you want it and every time you go to bed you just love being there. I am not asking you to do the whole interior decoration of your room, this could be simple things you like to see. A beautiful flower pot, a small bookshelf, your favorite food picture or anything that makes you feel good. The idea is you should feel good when you go to the bed.

4] Prepare the meal for yourself

Making your meals every day helps you to have control over your health and it eases your monthly budget. Eating out every day might become expensive and can affect your monthly budget. Making your meals could be cheaper plus you can learn and grow your skills easily by watching a few YouTube recipes.

5] Always have lunch away from the desk

We recently moved to a new office which is in a mall. Fortunately, we have a plenty of places where we can go and eat our food. Food court gave us a chance to sit and have food outside the office. Most of us bring our food from home and have it in the food court. This practice not only improved performance, of all of us but gave a very good friendly time out of the office.

 6] Do your Laundry

Doing your laundry yourself helps you stay organized. You have the complete control of each day what you are going to wear the next week. It is a very good way for self-awareness and self-improvement.

7] Keep your business clean

Your desk, your office, your bedroom, or even your kitchen cabinets or dishes, keep everything clean.  Cleaning helps you reorganize yourself and as per some studies, it is a form of mindful meditation. At a time, you are achieving two goals, cleaning your stuff and involving in an activity for positive self-awareness.

8] Watch Motivational Videos

This could be a TED talk or episode of a TV series that inspires you. For me, I love watching Shark Tank, it widens my spectrum of thinking seeing what ideas people are working at, which field has more potential to grow in coming years etc. Sometimes watching a TED talk also helps me keep inspired and motivated.

You don’t have to fix a time for this activity, you can do it whenever you get some free time. While waiting for a doctor appointment or going back home in a metro or train, there is no harm to increase your knowledge, learn some new skills and keep yourself positive and inspired.

9] Learn about Yourself

There is nothing better than knowing yourself. Take out some personal time and think about yourself, what you like and what you dislike. What you are doing and what your heart wants you to do. Here is an amazing free tool I came across to learn about your personality. Answer a set of given questions honestly and you will find out what kind of personality you have. This is amazing, it won’t take more than 15 minutes: https://www.16personalities.com/free-personality-test

10] Groom Yourself

Boys and girls, ladies and gentlemen, don’t get wasted in the day to day struggle of your life. Don’t get so busy that you don’t get time for yourself. Treat yourself good, try some personal grooming and DIYs every weekend. It won’t take much of your time but surely make you feel a better you.

11] Connect with your family or an old friend

The busy life takes everything away from you. Don’t let it happen. Call your parents if you are not living with them. Call other family members you have missed talking to in ages.

Or, if you haven’t had a chance to meet an old friend from the past many years, take out some time for him/her. Call them up for a dinner or lunch. If they are not in your city, travel is again an amazing way to improve yourself further.

12] Go Outside

Going out improves creativity, helps to age better, makes us happier and it also makes you work out more. Yes, just going out for a leisurely walk or a bike ride does this all for you. So, what are you waiting for? Go out every morning to the nearest park or just walk around your vicinity.

If you want to see yourself healthier, happier and very well organized, you must start practicing these. Try as much as you can and let us know if it helps you feel better and live a better life. Looking forward to your comments.

Top 10 skills that can get you hired in 2017

LinkedIn recently revealed the list of skills employers are seeking the most in candidates. They compiled this list based on their data & job applications spike during the month of October 2016. Here is a list of top 10 skills that can get you on a job in 2017.

linkedin top 10 skills for 2017

Top 10 skills that can get you hired

  1. Cloud and Distributed Computing

2. Statistical Analysis and Data Mining

3. Web Architecture and Development Framework

4. Middleware and Integration Software

5. User Interface Design

6. Network and Information Security

7. Mobile Development

8. Data Presentation

9. SEO/SEM Marketing

10. Storage Systems and Management

You can find the complete list here that LinkedIn has compiled which has top skills for 14 different countries:

These skills are not specific skills, they are actually high-level categories, for an e.g mobile development comprises of android development, iOS development and even cross-platform development. LinkedIn clarified this as below:


Top Skills Methodology

There are thousands of skills that members can add to their profiles, so we grouped these skills into several dozen categories. For example, skills like “Android” and “iOS” would fit into the “Mobile Development” category. Then we looked at all of the hiring and recruiting activity that happened on LinkedIn between Jan. 1 and Sept. 1, equaling billions of data points, and identified the skill categories that belonged to members who were more likely to start new jobs and receive interest from recruiters. Skill categories that did not meet a specific threshold for membership were excluded from our analysis. 

(Catherine Fisher said in her post on Linkedin official blog)

If you are a fresh graduate or a final year student trying to find out which field should opt for, if you are looking for a job change and you are wondering which skill set need to develop, here are your options. Based on your interest & aptitude you can select any of these skills and start working on them to prepare yourself ready for a job in 2017.

Best of luck 🙂

7 hurdles while you try to concentrate during exams

All those students out there, we know how much you enjoy being students. We all love that phase of life, the fun we have with friends, the occasional ‘bunks’, the countless stories – we all wish to never ever get out of this awesome life!

At the same time, we also know that there is one thing which kills all our excitement of being a student, one thing that transforms our joy to sorrows. You got me right, I am talking about Exams. Exams remain the most thrilling experience of every cast of students, from genius to average and from smart to poor, every student has to suffer with exams.

Above all, the irony of life is ‘Every boring thing that you may never even think of in your craziest of dreams, instantly becomes the most fascinating thing’! Doesn’t this make sense?

So here’s a list of 7 hurdles that you might face during examinations.

1. Mobile Phones

mobile phone addiction

This wonder device is certainly a boon for humanity; there’s no argument about it. However, this stands true, only if smartphones are utilized wisely. During your examinations, do not use smartphones unless and until you need to.

 

2. TV and Movies

tv addiction

The coolest thing about examinations is vacations! You’re home and as if have all the time in the world to kill. This feeling is evident, and many of us fall prey to the ‘boredom’ and switch-on the TV. No matter how tempting and inviting this is, refrain yourself from doing so.

3. Group Studies

group study

The whole idea of ‘group studies’ is a hoax! Almost 90% of the time while you’re trying to study in groupies wasted in talking gibberish; avoid group studying.

4. Internet

mobile phones

Surprised? Access to this magical world can again be called as a ‘catch 22’. Of course, with abundance of information available on the Internet, it is surely going to help you but the fact is; you already have everything you need with you. The printed study material is enough for studying.

 

5. Hobbies

hobbies

Hobbies are supposed to be good, right? How can they be a hurdle? Am sure you might have been outraged seeing this name in the list. However, hobbies are ‘recreational’ activities that help you to freshen up the state of your mind. Hobbies are perfectly alright during the hectic schedule you have, not during examinations; most of us over-indulge ourselves in leisure activities during our free time.

6. Friends

friends are distraction

Friends have a special place in our life, and they always will. However, you need to draw the line when it comes to responsibilities and doing what is needed. We all do not have equivalent grasping powers. Some of us need our own time and space to understand things; take your time. Just because your friends are done with their part of studying, you don’t have to quit and join them to kill time.

 

7. Planning and Procrastination

planning during exam

Most of us do not realize this but we spend more time than we need to on planning our studies. Setting huge targets and then not achieving even 50% of what we planned. Set small targets and achieve them; this way you’ll build up confidence and feel good.

 

This list could be even bigger, you might have your own hurdles. The idea is to simply focus and prioritize things as a responsible student specially during exams.

If you face any other hurdles, do share it with us in comments.

5 amazing tips to write a golden resume

Every one of us reaches a place in our lives when we want to stand out of the crowd. Walking into an organization and being a part of the 100 candidates who are there for the same reason as you, is that exact place. Yes, we are talking about “Cracking the interview”!

In interviews it becomes vital for us to be different, something extraordinary and as the old saying goes “First impression is the only impression that matters”. That is why making your RESUME an outstanding one is very necessary.

Every interviewer has 5 questions in his mind when he scans your resume and those are the key points that must be focused on. So go ahead and make a note of these tips on how to make a golden resume and win that interviewer’s scanning sight!

  1. WHO ARE YOU?

As this is the first question to be answered, your Name & Contact Information should be at the top of your resume. Few people mention unnecessary details such as home address, telephone number, multiple email ids etc. Keep your details short and easy for the interviewer to comprehend.

Just including 3 major points will do your job!

  • Your NAME highlighted at the top
  • Your personal mobile number
  • One official email id
  1. WHAT IS YOUR OBJECTIVE?

This is where the interviewer evaluates your stability and career aim. Mentioning your career interests and goals is a great way to let them know where you stand and how will you fit best in their organization. This career narrative should not exceed more than 3 statements. Few key points to mention here are:

  • Your career choice
  • Your future goal
  • Your ability that can favour the organization
  1. WHAT IS YOUR EDUCATION/WORK EXPERIENCE?
  • If you are a fresher, then your academic track record is one thing that can show your performance graph throughout the years.
  • If you are an ex-employee of another company, then your experience and job title will reflect what you can further contribute to the organization currently hiring you.

While you mention these above parameters ensure that you specify the “metrics” such as the marks obtained in academics or the number of years you’ve worked for a company and so on. Metrics play a huge role in your impression as a potential candidate.

  1. WHAT HAVE YOU ACHIEVED?

This section must highlight your achievements as an individual, such as being a coordinator or an active member of a renowned organization or any projects that you have contributed to and so on.

This is where an interviewer knows if the candidate is willing to go an extra mile! And this is where you can create your reputation as a candidate.

You can add certain key points here:

  • INTERNSHIPS
  • PROJECTS
  • AWARDS
  1. DO YOU HOLD ANY CERTIFICATIONS?

The final touch to your resume is given by the specialized courses or certifications that you hold. This is a bonus point that could seal the deal! Do not fill this section with unnecessary certificates that will not hold any value from a professional’s perspective. Make sure to be genuine and crisp with the details.

If your resume can answer all these questions there is no doubt an interviewer will be extremely impressed. So go ahead and make full use of these tips to re-furnish your resume to a golden one!

6. BONUS

BE AUTHENTIC!! Yes, be authentic with everything you write on your resume. Try to be as genuine as possible, employer and employee relationship is like a marriage and it should be treated with a lot of care and respect.

 

7 Important things to remember while going for an Interview

preparing for an interview

1. Dress up nicely

You should always wear a dress that fits the culture of the company you are appearing for an interview. Even if the company does not have a dress code, you should go in formal dressing, it always leaves a good impression on the employer.

2. Arrive on time

Don’t ever arrive at a job interview late! It can come out as a reason of your failing at the interview. You should always reach your destination at least 15 minutes prior. This way you will get enough time to gather some confidence, analyse the atmosphere of the office and it obviously leaves a good impact on the recruiter.

3. Research the company

Research about the company, before appearing for the interview. This research helps you understand the nature of business, ethics and work culture of the company. It ultimately gives you lots of confidence about you being a good recruit for the company. Research about the company involves, visiting company website, doing a Google search about it, reading about the founders, visiting work culture page on the website etc.

4. Occupy yourself while waiting

If in case, you have to wait, for your turn to face the interview, do not wait doing nothing. Bring some work, or some magazines relevant to your field, keep yourself engaged in work or reading.  Whatever you do, don’t look up every time someone passes by. Doing so makes you look weak and anxious.

5. Be polite, be gentle!

Be polite and greet everyone you meet, including people you meet in the corridor. When you enter the interview, offer the interviewer a warm greeting. As they say, first impression is the last, your mannerism can help you impress your employer to a great extent. At the end do not forget to thank the interviewer for giving you an opportunity. While leaving the company, saying goodbye to the receptionist will add more stars to your interview.

6. Pay attention to your body language

Poor body language, such as playing with a pen, chewing gum, slouching, and even brushing back hair, can be a distraction. If you notice you have a tendency to do any of these, train yourself to avoid these bad habits. You can replace them with positive body language that include nodding, eye contact, smiling, and solid posture.

7. Ask insightful questions

Most interviewers end an interview by allowing the candidate to ask questions.  You must ask a few questions. The more insightful your questions are, the more you will impress your interviewer.

Do’s and Dont’s of writing an awesome modern resume

Resume has always been part of our discussion, when it comes to hiring or getting hired. Be it your first job or third or may be the last big job change you are looking for, Resume plays the key role in overall process. In our last article about writing a resume, we had discussed about top 10 stupidity to avoid in a Resume or a CV. We got many emails and Facebook messages, where people told me to write about do’s and dont’s of writing a CV. So here I am, putting some lights on writing a modern resume.

In this era of competition, the way people write or present their resume has changed to a great extent. People are trying their best to impress the hiring authorities or employers. It has become really difficult to stand out of the crowd. Trust me, it becomes really tough when there are thousands of others who are applying for the same job. To stand out of the competition and to stay ahead of the crowd, you need to be the Best in resume writing.

Things you need to include in your resume (The DOs):

the dos of resume writing

  1. a) For HR Managers:
  2. Including proper contact information should be the first priority.
  3. Limit your resume to be short and crisp.
  4. Customize your resume specifically for the position you are applying for.
  5. Use of professional and easily readible fonts is a must.
  6. Give relevant work experience that your employer will be interested in
  7. b) For Sofrwares (Recruitment websites, HR Softwares) & Search Engines

It is very important to make your resume machine readable. HR managers or recruiters use search algorithms in their softwares or websites that looks searches your resume based on the keywords. It becomes very essential to make use of relevant keywords for the job you are applying for.

The Dos for Softwares:

  1. Use relevant keywords in your resume (e.g transcription techniques)
  2. Mention your industry (employers run for industries as well)
  3. Do not forget to mention your qualification correctly
  4. Mention your preferred work Location

Now I am going to talk about the things that you should not do in your resume.

 The Donts:

the donts of resume writing

  • Do not write more than 5 bullet points in any section (ideal is 3-4)
  • Do not make grammatical or typing mistakes
  • Do not mention high school details if you have a college degree
  • Avoid using controversial or funny email ids.
  • You must not use proprietary acronyms or jargon
  • Avoid using personal references in your resume

Some Key points or statistics:

statistics

  • 1 in 4 HR managers receive 50 resumes per job listing.
  •  77% of HR managers are looking for relevant experience.
  • 48% of HR managers are looking for specific accomplishments.
  • HR managers look for keywords in resumes.
  • 56% look for the words problem solving.
  • 44% look for the word leadership.
  • 40% look for the words oral/written communication.

 

Top 10 stupidity you should avoid in your CV

Resume

Your CV is the first thing that any employer will see. If your CV is good enough, your chances of getting hired become higher, at the same time if your CV carries mistakes and stupid things, the changes of getting hired becomes less. We have observed many common and stupid mistakes people do while writing their CVs. These mistakes simply cut their chance of getting hired. Please avoid any such thing in your CV, keep it simple clean and to the point.

1) Crazy objectives

Irrelevant, crazy objectives should be avoided. For an example, if you have a dream to be the next Zuckerburg, do not mention it as your objective in your CV. Recruiters may think you are just a dreamer. Your CV objective should be relevant to the career path you are applying for. Giving fancy objectives leaves bad impression on recruiter, they simply consider your CV as less sincere one.

2) Spelling errors, typos & bad gramer

Your CV is your identity, it is your first appearance at any company. Your employer will know you from your CV first. If you make spelling errors, typing mistakes and grammatical errors, it shows either you are not serious about your career or you are not so dumb to make these mistakes. This gives a really bad impression on the recruiter and you have a fair chance of getting rejected.

3) Irrelevant Job experience:

Previously where you have worked is important, but if it is not related to the Job profile you are applying for, you should not include that.

4) Awards and achievement that are not actually achievements:

People tend to put paragraphs and paragraphs writing about their awards and achievements which are actually not awards or achievements to be selected for the job. Include only significant awards in your profession that you have won. Do not write whether you were a school team captain or class monitor.

5) Physical description:

Recruiter will get agitated if you would write how tall you are, or if you look beautiful or handsome. Writing such things in the CV is unprofessional and unacceptable. Please avoid such stupid things to include in the CV.

6) Long and in appropriate hobby list:

Keep your hobby list simple and short. Do not include any hobby that can lead the recruiter take a false view of your personality. Common hobbies of reading or writing and even working out are acceptable.

7) In appropriate Contact information:

If you have an email id with some really in appropriate meaning, do not use that email in your CV at all. Use a professional email id which has only name and numbers. Contact information that can raise flags should be avoided.

8) Bad formatting:

Do not use fancy colours and fonts that can reduce the visibility of the CV. Use of different fonts on every single line makes your CV really bad to read. Avoid using fancy fonts. Avoid unnecessary gaps in paragraphs. Keep your CV short and to the point.

9) Private Information:

Recruiters do not bother whether you are a Hindu or a Muslim or of any other religion. Including unnecessary private information about religion, sex orientation etc is highly not recommended. Do not use any private information unnecessarily in your CV.

10) Lying or misleading:

Lying or giving false information about your career, qualification, or salary is not at all acceptable. Recruiters are not fools to understand where you are faking. Even if your CV gets short-listed, mostly there will be a background check. It can lead to a disaster. Do not lie. Play fair.

Employability Skills: Empowering Students to be job ready

Mr Adhikari Chief Mentor Viztar International Pvt LtdBy Mr. Sachin Adhikari, India’s first Transformational Training Designer & Chief Mentor of Achiever’s Zone                                                        

In India, an estimated five million graduates will be passing out in 2015, out of which only 34% of them would be employable as most of them lack necessary skills required for any role in the industry. With so many graduates now on the market and employers looking for candidates with developed domain specific and soft skills, training the students is the key to solving the crisis of employability. In a study by CareerBuilder.com, one of the leading job portals in India, it was found that 71 percent of employers say they value emotional intelligence (EQ) over IQ.

 Gone are the days when just a university degree could guarantee a job in a reputed organization. Most young candidates have similar degrees and skill sets when they apply for a job, but only a few amongst them get chosen. How do companies make that choice? There’s a saying that knowing technical skills can help one to perform well in academia and even an interview, but it is the employability skills of the candidate that finally gets him the job. This is so because we have transitioned in a society where technical knowledge is important but soft skills which determine how effectively they can communicate, be a team player, gain the confidence to work in the corporate environment, be proactive in taking initiatives and much more. Here is where Transformational training can help to integrate technical knowledge and interpersonal and management skills which can prepare students to keep pace with the growing challenges of the corporate world.

Employers are aware that professional and technical skills alone cannot help achieve organizational goals and objectives as their resources will also be involved in different levels of leadership and decision-making activities. They will also need to communicate effectively within the organization, with their customers and other stakeholders and therefore, a person who is better equipped in such employability skills are more likely to be hired.

There is a constant debate about whether it is possible to imbibe employability/soft skills in a person through external training, especially when one considers the fact that a person has lived with those traits all his life. It is true that the basic personality traits of a person are difficult to change but we need to understand that effective training metaphors can help strengthen the latent traits that lie in every individual.

 In fact, training on soft skills/employability skills becomes all the more relevant in a country like India where the education system does not delve enough into personality development. Transformational training’ can help bridge this gap and prepare organizations to keep pace with the growing challenges of the corporate world. Such trainings have a 360 degree approach and aim at developing its students from within and equip them with employability skills.

Corporates need to have an open mindset where they are receptive to new ideas, suggestions and recommendations from the entrants who would like to contribute and share their inputs with the team. Additionally, what is also important is the student’s ability to familiarize with the corporate environment, learn the processes, understand people behavior and be a positive contributor.

 Some of the traits which organizations look for in students include interpersonal skills, communication skills, and behavioral traits such as attitude, motivation, time management, leadership skills and social grace. To be employable, students should participate in trainings which help build employability skills parallel with their formal education so that they are ready for their professional roles when they pass out.

Some of the highlights of an effective training module should incorporate:

Building Confidence: Students must be made aware of the difference between being confident and arrogant at their workplace and also have confidence in the company they work for. A good training should help students to overcome their fears/inhibitions and speak up before an audience effortlessly to facilitate better personal growth for them.

 Creativity: Training modules should include fun with learning as a free flow of ideas is essential in bringing out leadership traits in a person.

 Team Building: A good training is the one that helps students build positive working relationships and helps everyone achieve positive goals and business objectives. Thus they should be trained to be a good team player. An effective way to do this is by including an adventure experience which will involve students in group activities challenging them physically and mentally and teaching them the importance of working together as a team in order to succeed.

Contribute to the Society: A soft skills training can be considered successful if it can transform individuals to become leaders of tomorrow, successful in both their professional and social lives. It should aim to sensitize the youth on social issues prevalent in the society and encourage them to not only voice their opinion but contribute and make a difference in their own way.

 Achievers Zone organizes similar trainings during vacations to allow students to use their holidays effectively. Emerge is one such training being organized by the company during the coming summer vacation which will focus on the key areas that every student must work on.

Though it is more complex than it appears, by trying to incorporate these changes in their daily activities through training students can start developing their soft skills and be better equipped to face the challenges that their professional lives bring. One of the most important factors of soft skill development trainings is that they can help one be a better person, which reflects in all aspects of his life whether, professional, personal or social  and culminates into career growth and success.

Kick start your Career with an Internship

internship this summerThe culture at the companies is changing everyday. You will always find a difference in way of working from company to company, industry to industry and from country to country. Your experience in a company totally depends on the work culture of that company.  Internship gives you an opportunity to kick start your career while you are studying, or you have just finished your studies. In some of the institutional courses, such as medicines and management, it is a part of students’ curriculum. But eventually students do not take their internships seriously. They realize it’s worth when they actually go into the practical world.

Internship is actually a preparation for the actual job. You help senior employees of the company in their work, which gives you clear idea of what exactly you will be doing when you go for that job. If you are a student, do not miss this summer to do an internship. If you can’t get into any big firm, go for a startup, they would love to hire you.

Internship helps both the candidate and the company. Candidate gets a chance to work, with some minimum stipend. He/she actually gets a work experience with that company. There is always a chance for the candidate of getting hired permanently by that company. Likewise, company is also happy to have a young and enthusiastic helping hand, which will help their employees. And moreover, they do not have to pay much to interns.

Internship work hours, work days and stipend, totally depend on the company. Big brands may pay you more for an internship while a startup may offer you some goodies or free subscription of their products or a small amount of money. Do not waste this summer in doing one more vacation course. Use your skills and talent at work. Go for an internship, get a real experience of work and work culture. I am listing few options where you can search for internship opportunities.

1) Letsintern.com

2) HelloIntern.com

3) Twenty19.com

4) Send us your resume, we will help you get an internship according to your profile. (Email: info@careerzest.in, there wont be any fees for that)

 

Career as a Financial Planner

financial plannerAs it is clear from the name, Financial Planner is a professional who plans the funds of the client. He/she makes sure of the right distribution of the funds for the business. This is indeed a challenging and a difficult task. The candidates who are certainly good at mathematics, statistics or numbers, should go for this career option.

Financial Planning Standards Board India (FBSB India) provides Certified Financial Planner (CFP) certification program which is an internationally accepted Financial Planning qualification. Students pursuing their graduation studies, and who are looking to make a career in finance or financial planning, may consider doing a certification course called Certified Financial Planner (CFP) along with their degree.

One needs to complete the academic course of the CFP curriculum from an authorised Education partner institute or by self-study, after that the candidate needs to clear the exams listed below. There are total 5 exams you need to clear to be a certified financial planner.

Exams:

  1. Risk Analysis & Insurance Planning (Exam 1)
  2. Retirement Planning & Employee Benefits (Exam 2)
  3. Investment Planning (Exam 3)
  4. Tax Planning & Estate Planning (Exam 4)
  5. Advanced Financial Planning (Exam 5)

For syllabus and other details, please visit:  http://www.fpsbindia.org

CFP title is awarded upon clearing above mentioned exams and 3-4 years of relevant experience in the finance.