Even during a slowdown, there are some careers/jobs that continue to provide challenge and growth. Let’s take a look at some viable career options for the recession





The buzz in the business world, in the past few months, has been of lay-offs, freeze on recruitment and limited opportunities. However, India Inc. is not all bad news, there are still sectors that are recruiting and jobs that look promising. Here’s a list of ten jobs that experts say are “recession proof”:





Coach/Mentor

“Personal success for most business leaders can be attributed directly to the story they tell themselves, their awareness of their strengths and opportunities, awareness of their thoughts and filters that affect the way they perceive life around them and themselves. A coach/mentor is one who can enable business leaders get to their highest potential, and is one I would consider a dream job,” says Naren Balasubramaniam, co-founder and advisor, Global Crosswalk Inc.





Government Jobs

“They are undoubtedly the most secure and safe jobs in time of recession. As there is a job guarantee, no matter how hard you try to get fired, you are stuck to the same job till your retirement age, which in most cases is 60 years,” states Pankaj Sharma, chief marketing officer, Cellebrum Technologies.





Customer Service Professionals

A customer service personnel is the customer interface of the organisation, who also addresses the customer pain-points. He is required to be an effective communicator with a lot of patience and a creative insight to provide innovative solutions. He needs to maintain critical information flow while communicating and building the right Brand Image of the company,” expresses Barttanu Das, vice president - human resources, Blue Dart Express. He adds, “Needless to mention, leadership at all levels assumes a greater than life role as they need to keep communicating the right perspective, inspiring and motivating their teams, which invariably gets translated to effective and quality services to our customers.”





Professionals in Telecom sector

“It’s the fastest growing industry in India right now with services like 3G and number portability being launched. A recent study stated that India will have 500mn mobile subscribers by 2012. Every month there almost 1 million subscribers being added which in turn results in increase in jobs,” opines Pankaj Sharma.





Professionals in Legal Process Outsourcing/Legal Consulting

The sector not only provides employment opportunities to attorneys but also hires people from varied academic backgrounds. Apart from lawyers, the LPO sector has been employing engineers and doctors. “Also, the scope of exposure of an employee is not restricted to a particular vertical, consequently an employee experiences exposure across the breadth of different verticals,” says Rakhi Sharma, vice-president - HR, UnitedLex.





Catalyst of Global Business

“I do not refer to a specific job, but a variety of jobs that facilitate/act as a catalyst to enable global way of doing business. Global business is the name of the game and whoever can contribute and facilitate the effectiveness of this reality, is on the leading edge,” expresses Balasubramaniam.





Professionals in the Education sector

“Considered the most respected profession globally, it gives the satisfaction of churning out future heads of state as well as corporate honchos. The best option during recession also because at this time, number of people go back to colleges to get further education and additional professional qualifications,” says Pankaj Sharma.





Professionals in Food and Beverage

Indians are a community known to have a craving for food; restaurants never go out of business even at times of recession. Although, there is significance shift in moving from elite restaurants to round the corner outlets, there is a lot of scope for developing a career in this field.





Healthcare Professionals

“The higher the recession, the more unhealthy food people eat which in turn leads to more people falling sick, thus doctors are never out of business,” Pankaj Sharma asserts.





Entertainment Professionals

With the economic slowdown, most people turn to entertainment to take miseries off life. Further more, with the explosion in the Indian media industry, we see a wide range of entertainment channels springing up from various parts of the country. “This explosion calls for demand for workforce hence making it one of the most lucrative and attractive sectors during recession,” adds Pankaj Sharma.





So, if you were actually thinking that there was a dearth of opportunities in the market, look again and you’ll see that the world is all yours to capture with these ten dream jobs making it possible for you. Go grab them and fulfil your dreams!