By Reshmi Chakraborty

Think careers. Think counselling. Think Pervin Malhotra. When, after 10 years in advertising, Pervin Malhotra took stock of what she had acquired, she found that it wasn’t much, except “curiosity and knowledge.” Many would consider that quite enough. Not Pervin, 50, who wanted to do something more meaningful and purposeful. Having moved from advertising to join her husband’s publishing business, Pervin realised it wasn’t as easy for everyone to make a switch.

So, she did a survey, realised there were “no decent, reader-friendly, up-to-date books on career” and decided to write them herself. “Something like A-Z of a career,” she says. A backup in publishing helped, though Pervin was clear that she “didn’t want to duplicate what the family was doing.”

True Calling
It wasn’t an easy job. Information on courses and careers were quite hard to come by. “I shot off thousands of letters asking for course details to different universities around the country. Not even 20 bothered to respond!” she says. Stumped but undaunted, Pervin decided to collect data using the nationwide marketing network of the family business.

Working on the books alone, it took Pervin couple of years to get them off the ground. When the first lot of 10 books were ready, she sent them off to the ‘Indian Express’ for reviews and her effort was written about. “I was stunned at the amount of letters I got from bureaucrats to even vice chancellors, the same people who had not been forthcoming!”

There was no looking back after that. Starting with a career-counselling column in ‘Indian Express’, Pervin now writes for at least 10 newspapers spread across cities — from the ‘Times of India’ to ‘The Tribune’, ‘Malayalam Manorama’ to ‘Dainik Bhaskar’, etc.

Sharing And Caring
If newspaper columns propelled Pervin and her company, Caring (Acronym for Career Guidance India), her own effort, research and love for the work also had a lot to do with it. “I am blessed with a brain that dreams and eats careers,” she laughs, “It’s a passion.”

Her research isn’t limited to Universities and teachers. “Even at a party, I’m really interested in who’s doing what and how do they find their job!”

What makes her proud is the extensive database of educational opportunities in India and links to various careers that Caring offers. “I’m glad that right from the beginning I computerised everything,” she says.

Apart from her regular columns, Pervin also offers counselling services free on her website, www.careerguidanceindia.com and does career-related programmes on BBC Radio and Doordarshan.

She and her team have worked hard the last six months to develop, what she calls, an “eye-opener” aptitude test that is suited to the needs of Indian students.

What continues to surprise her is the increasing demand for counselling. “It’s not just students in small towns who lack information about what courses to choose and what career to opt for, students in metros are equally ignorant,” she says, citing lack of interest among teachers as one of the main reasons.

She also wishes that students would not decide their careers on the basis of money. “With newer courses coming in, confusion is multiplying by the day and careers are hyped up,” sighs the ‘career lady’ who is besieged by calls from hapless parents and students. With years of research, 38 books, 40 in-depth career reports and an enormous amount of involvement in the job, Pervin surely leads them up the right path.