Alternative Careers

ALTERNATIVE CAREERS

There will be many people like who have quit their job after working in a bank or some other organization for more than 25 years. For one or two months, it would certainly lovely to just sit around relaxed at home, catching up with your hobbies, watching TV and going for long walks. But after about two months, you start wondering “What am I doing? I am just wasting time. I wish I had a part-time job.”

I will now give you some of the options available in India .In India , the concept of part-time jobs did not exist even some years back, though it is being freely practiced in the West. But the situation is now slowly changing in India . Employers are now open to the idea of part- time jobs. The cost to the company comes down as it will not be paying for many benefits that full time employers enjoy. Part-time employees are paid at a contracted rate and service tax is deducted at source. Work hours are usually between three to five hours. The employee is happy as there is still sufficient time to pursue other recreational interests, and there is the added benefit of a nice pay packet.

Working at a bank

If you have retired from a bank and any other financial institution, the BPOs of some foreign banks have now started offering part time jobs. Work can be anything like account opening, issue of cheque books, answering customer complaints, bill payments etc. Companies like E-Serve, the BPO of Citi Bank and Scope International, the BPO of Standard Chartered, are two of the numerous companies experimenting with part timers. Companies who have bought over NPAs of banks regularly need assistance to access the value of these NPAs. Payment is made project-wise. There are plenty of recruitment agencies who advertise regularly. Keep a look out for these ads.

Copyediting, content writing, proof reading

For those of you with a very good command of English, this is a excellent opportunity for you. Chennai is the hub of E-Publishing. The University of Madras has recently started a course in copyediting. It is a certificate course and of three-month duration. The cost is very reasonable at Rs 4000.There is another institute which specializes in training of new copy editors. This is E-type and is located at Gopalapuram, Chennai. Digiscape Gallery regularly conducts courses in copyediting, though the cost of the course is said to be expensive. IGNOU also has a six-month course on copyediting through its distance education program. But, of course, there is nothing like on the job training. Many publishing houses have in house training. These companies often recruit people after giving them a test. Many publishing companies have now started offering freelance work where the editor is paid per page.

Making money with Google Adsense

If you are a blogger, you can make money with Google Adsense. How do you go about it? Read on! First, write a few pages of good content. It can be about any subject. It should be your niche area. Publish you website. It can be your own domain or it can be hosted free by the numerous companies available. Google has Blogger. If you have a Google account, just sign up for Blogger and follow the instructions available. It is quite easy to follow. Once your blog is on the net, apply for Google Adsense. Before you apply for Google Adsense, make sure of the following:

• Make sure you have at least two or three pages of good, original content.
• There should be no broken links.

Google does not accept any site with broken links. Very often, Google rejects the application the first time. Do not be disheartened. You should re-write the content and submit the site again

After you are admitted in the program, it is uphill all the way. It is not easy to make money. Once you are admitted in the program, Google gives you a small code which you will have to insert on you web-page. Little Google ads appear on the site and you earn money if any surfer clicks on you ad. You are paid only when the amount reaches $100.

So this means a long wait indeed.!

You will have to popularize you site first, so that more people visit your site regularly. Submit your site to all the major search engines like the Google, Live, and Yahoo. Update your site regularly. Link popular websites to your page. You can create a google sitemap and submit it to Google. There are any number of online creators of sitemaps available on the internet and it is all free.

You can also increase the number of pages in your site by posting free content which is available on the net. The more pages you have, the more ads and of course more money. Be very careful of the copyright provisions.