MystaKool

I was recently asked to write a review on the Rozee.pk Job Fair 2008, which was held in May early this year. So I thought it would be a good idea to start off with something along the lines of proper reviews to be posted on my blog, regularly. At least I can try my best. Here goes this one… And just for the record, this is my personal view.

Review of Rozee.pk Job Fair 2008

Held in May, it was probably the right time to hold such an event, as many new potential recruits were available after their exams or were on early summer vacations, and also being a Sunday, ideal for already employed people to visit and get a taste of various opportunities available.

Visitors
There were 3 types of visitors to the event:
1. Registered Visitors (allowed after 2pm)
2. Invited Visitors (all day visit)
3. Invited based on scheduled interviews (scheduled visit)

Though the confirmation email sent to visitors made it clear the time that they had to arrive, yet there were several Registered Visitors who had shown up earlier in the day as well. It also turned out that though they were segregated at entry, they would occasionally slip in from the waiting area outside the hall. I had noted a few get in myself, and it was probably due to the rush that was being created. However, in my opinion, this wouldn’t have been the mass of people trying to get in during the wrong time slot.

Venue
This was probably the best, considering it was right in the middle of the city. One hall was rented out for the event, in which the participating employers had taken up their stalls.

What did disappoint me was that all the stalls were lined up at the front half of the hall, the other half was fully vacant, and was a complete waste. The food stalls (just 2 of them actually) were positioned at the elevated area of the hall.

Space Allocation
In my opinion, the unused half of the hall could have been efficiently used for training sessions/workshops, interviewing areas (rather than hold them within the stalls), and career counseling. Just a thought though, so far I haven’t seen any conferences on HR management or skill development. Since Rozee.pk has a major standing with many organizations, I believe it would be useful to conduct such workshops or conferences that would benefit the masses and also help in expanding upon research areas for HR specialization and improvement of quality resources for various organizations, and the future.

Interviewing
Furthermore, like I mentioned above, the interviews were taken within the stalls of potential employers. This was not a good practice, and there should have been an exclusive area for this. Apparently, with media companies being part of the employers’ list, there was a lot of noise and unnecessary rush throughout the path. Either the loud and attention seeking activities should have taken place away from the serious part of the hall, or should not have happened. I’d go for the former, because it cannot be denied that they also need to hire, and it is their right to be properly publicized at such events.

Using Technology
Using a bit of technology in this area could have helped. For example, I noted that cell phone signals were quite good in the entire hall. It would have been useful to potentially use one of the contributing employers network capability to seek prospect numbers, and enlist them for interviewing, and also show them the way where they need to go for their interviews (for those who were Invited, and could have been good prospects). An SMS based notification of the time, desk and interviewer’s name should be included, thus creating the direct impact needed. The interviews would be taken at the vacant area, where several small 2 sided desks and 2 chairs would be located, with the ability to take the interviews conveniently.

The enlistment of interviews could have been through SMS as well, where the visitor could, on request, send an SMS on request to a designated short number. The CV of this candidate could be sent to the interviewers at regular intervals, thus allowing sufficient time for planning of desk allocation, and getting the interviewee prepared. The stalls would also serve as reporting areas for potential interviewees.

Eateries and Snack Bars
There was absolutely no use for such a small snack bar. With the ability of Rozee.pk to leverage greater audience, there should have been a better dining area for potential candidates, who were also waiting for their interviews, or to meet various prospective employers. However, if this is a 1-day event, it may not hold much of a prospect for sponsoring restaurants and stalls. But at least some variety would have been great. Apparently most of the food was cold and over priced too.

I made 2 VOIP calls today, through my new phone through wifi+DSL connectivity. Currently I could only test out Skype calls, which thankfully went very well, with different software. This is the first time I got to try this out.

Both software, Fring and Nimbuzz, offer great voice services, as per the small experiment I did. The dialout was to a Skype user in my office, who was online at that time. Next step, get a US number and try a direct dialout to my phone, via both software. Should work fine.

I purchased the Nokia E51 recently, and it is a superb phone for the price that it can be bought. Unfortunately, my beloved Sony Ericsson W810i had started malfunctioning and automatically restaring for the last month or so. Though the frequency was not too high, but it restarted at least 2-3 times a week. For some, considering it wasn’t a Symbian phone, it would be quite high. But I could live with that.

What disappointed me was that despite getting it fixed (somewhat) at the Saddar Mobile Market, it started showing signs of getting worse than it was before. So there’s no other choice now to either pay a good price and get it fixed and sell it off, or just sell it off and the purchaser takes up the risk of repairing it.

I prefer the latter, because then at least I know I wouldn’t have to risk a dish out cash when there is not much of an expectation of returns on it.

I think in a week or so I’ll put out a review of the Nokia E51. Just to start off, it may not have a very good 2MP camera, but the other features certainly give it good points for matching up to the features of a full business phone, less the qwerty keyboard.

Yup, since last week I’ve been on medication to reduce my constant toothache, with some overdose of antibiotics. Now, that tooth is out, and I’m in immense pain.

I knew that my tooth was not in the best of shape, and definitely needed to be extracted. But this process itself was way too painful, and today I got to know how badly infected the location was. The tooth was jammed really badly, and required a 2 hour surgical procedure. The tooth itself was quite large inside, leaving a large cavity in my gum, thus needing filling and stitching too.

Now I can’t talk, and my gum is swelling really badly. To minimize the pain and infection, I’ve been asked to have loads of ice cream, and even apply ice packs. This goes on till tomorrow evening, then I have to switch to luke warm gargles at least 20 times a day.

And the root canal process is still pending. That is scheduled for next Friday. I hope this pain goes away quickly

Just over the weekend, I got to know that my dental issue isn’t going to be over within just a day. I’ll have to sit with a swollen and ugly face for around 3-4 days, and also without the ability to talk to eat peacefully. Ironically, my face will be all stuffed. Have to get a number 8 extraction, and a number 7 root canal and crown replacement.

I had put together a plan for a colleague of mine for the coming Sunday, all the associated team members would go out bowling and have fun… Well, I guess the following would be possible at the least… or whenever.

Movies showing these days that I wish to watch is Kung Fu Panda and The Incredible Hulk. Let’s see if that plan comes up. I’m missing an important part of me everyday… I don’t feel myself at all…

Over the last week or so, I’ve been wondering what my next step should be. And as you may have noticed, I’ve written posts more frequently than I have in quite some time. The idea is to keep myself preoccupied. This doesn’t mean I have too much time on my hands, but it certainly is a fact that I try now to take out time of my overly busy schedule.

I personally believe that each person should have no reason to stay at work for more than 10 hours in a day, including travel time. After that, it should be just you and the people that you care for, or just be along with yourself. Unfortunately, this would apply in an ideal state, and not generally applicable to the masses. My official work hours are between 8.30am and 5.30pm. Rarely have I ever left the office on time, unless I have a definitive commitment to meet. Otherwise, I’d usually end up getting back home just in time for dinner, at almost 9pm.

On most counts, this kind of a busy day has driven my patience near the edge. Most often than not, I get extremely worn out, thus leading to fatigue and disconnection between me and my work. At times I just feel that I should be doing my own thing, and just stop what I am doing right now. But how to start off with that is a question that always creeps up. Of course, it requires deliberate planning and implementation of a well thought out strategy.

For the last couple of years, I’ve been keen on setting up my own consulting/advisory service. The services, which I’ve carefully thought out, would include:

• Financial - accounting, taxation planning and associated services
• Marketing - biz dev, sales, customer services and relationship building services
• Human Resources - all associated services
• Technology - all associated services
• Management - mostly to do with proper business planning and management

It is an understandable fact that not all can be done together, nor am I a champion in all these. But what I intend to do is gather the best possible minds to work together and form a partnership, thus equally managing each area with specialised interest and dedication, and in the end, profiting from our combined efforts. I’m currently in the process of putting together a strategy around the above, and also seeking out potential long-term partners to put this dream to motion.

I shared my vision with her too, and she loved it. I told her I hoped that we could do this together, so that we could be partners in every way possible. She said she couldn’t think of anything better. She’s no more with me… I am at a loss for words. I wanted this dream to come true, I tried so hard, yet seemed to fail. This gives me the feeling that my dreams are either not meant to come true, or I’ll have to force the hurdles out of the way. These road blocks are killing me inside… soon I might realise I am no longer capable of doing anything right (I feel this coming already). If it takes over, I dread the outcome…

My most prized phone, the Sony Ericsson W810i, which I had bought with her, has given up on me, it seems It has been misbehaving for some time now, occasionally restarting itself while sending a message or when I’m trying to just view the time.

Yesterday, however, while at the office, it suddenly went bonkers, landing with just a white screen. For the next 30 minutes, no matter what I tried, it wouldn’t work. Suddenly it started working, while I was on my way to the dentist. Last night, it started again, and till now its just not working.

So, I’m stuck with my mum’s Motorola RAZR V3 I so hate Moto phones

Today, once again we saw how popular President Pervez Musharraf is in Pakistan. Throughout the India vs Sri Lanka final today, we saw that people had banners of “We Love Musharraf”. And toward the end, we actually saw him in the stadium, and everyone went mad after seeing him on the screen.

Now, who really is the people’s person? Its been a 100 days of the new government, and since their election, the PM has not even once come on TV/ Radio for a public address, not a single appreciation speech. As a matter of fact, the PPP thinks it their birth-right to rule the country, so perhaps that mindset goes ahead and makes them feel they don’t need to address or thank the public, because they were wrong when the PPP was not elected! How ignorant and arrogant! As mentioned in my previous post, DOGS WILL BE DOGS!

And the crowd of Karachi cheers when the President speaks

These days we see cell phone companies fighting with each other to publicise the ONE best price, that each believes to be the best in town.

First it was Mobilink, with Jazz One, that boasts the following price structure:

Jazz to any Mobilink Number: Rs. 1.00 per minute, plus Rs. 0.40 for the first minute
Jazz to any other network: Rs. 1.60 per minute, plus Rs. 0.40 for the first minute
Friends and Family rates are not separately applicable

Now we come to Telenor, issuing the Talkshalk A1 package, which has the following structure:

Telenor to Telenor: Rs. 1.00 per minute, plus Rs. 0.40 for the first minute
Telenor to other networks: Rs. 1.40 per minute, plus Rs. 0.40 for the first minute
Friends and Family rates are not separately applicable

Then Ufone comes up with U(1)Won, with its offering as:

Ufone to Ufone: Rs. 1.00 per minute
Ufone to other networks: Rs. 1.60 per minute
Friends and Family rates are not separately applicable

And here comes the new Zong, and I have no idea what they were thinking. The worst part is they keep slandering other networks as if it had something incredibly brilliant to offer.

Zong to any network: Rs. 0.50 per 30 seconds, plus Rs. 0.40 for the first minute
The above applies to any ONE number in a day, number change will cost you Rs. 15+tax
This offer only applies to subscribers of the 12 Aaney package

Now you decide who is offering the best rates, and who is really making a fool out of others. For all the above, standard SMS and MMS rates apply, however my opinion is you can continue with your existing bulk SMS package, if there is any on that network. I honestly don’t see any benefit in the above, hence would stick with my Warid prepaid for now