It All Starts with a Why; Confusion is Good!

Saurabh Chaturvedi: Graduated in Political Science (Hons) from Hindu College in 2006. After which he studied English Journalism from IIMC, New Delhi, and was placed in Business Standard Newspaper. He had a brief stint there covering India's vibrant telecom sector. As news agency journalism was his priority, he moved to the Press Trust of India, where he was leading the metals, mining and infrastructure coverage, until he was picked up by the Wall Street Journal-Dow Jones Newswires in 2010. He currently tracks the country's energy, commodities, infra sectors. He rants through his blogs on WSJ website on various subjects. His in-depth coverage of the Delhi rape incident, alleged coal scam and world's biggest blackout of 2012 is widely appreciated globally.

When I was in your shoes in April 2006, there were trillions of questions on my head with no easy answers. It's normal to be confused about career plans.

As budding media professionals, it's quite good to have questions but tell you what you and only you have the answers. You would surely get a bunch of suggestions here, but perhaps it's the time to act and may be act now.

I don't think anyone here has a foolproof mantra on "How to crack IIMC test," but perhaps what I would like to tell you is what confusion did I go through and how, if at all, I overcame them.

Confusion

1--Why IIMC? Do I actually want to be a media professional or it's just that everyone is taking the test so I will also take it?

Possible Answer: Most of us don't really plan the IIMC entry. It just happens. And most of us don't have an answer yet to why did they enter this profession.

But once you are in: it's a lovely place. It's a brand for life. Work hard and you would be remunerated well in your respective area of interests.

For me, I never planned to be a journalist. It happened. I got through LLB at DU's CLC twice as well as  Master's in social work and sociology, but perhaps the turning point was my visit to the beautiful Delhi campus and the length (quite short to grab a job) of the course. Not to mention the Indian Institute...tag! I decided to take one step at a time and things just happened and there I am, now a insatiable journalist.

Trust me, this question of why this line haunts everyone at all the times. The grass on the other side is always greener, shiny, sparkling. It has been like this since Adam plucked that apple for Eve.

2-Many IAS/MBA aspirants take it as stop-gap arrangement. So should I also take it and I would prepare for my competitive tests?

Possible Answer: Depends. Most of us get placed within 9 months from August 1 and life takes a different turn. Dedicated souls would still like to stay off placements and focus on their bigger goals in life.

If you are among those dedicated ones, then IIMC can be an obstruction to your plans to prepare for CAT, UPSC etc. If you are so sure about not taking up media as your profession, I would advice you to go for academics and simultaneously prepare for competitive exams. Why to even bother about IIMC. It doesn't really matter guys. Chill. No back-up theory. Academics is far too lucrative and fun a profession and trust me UPSC interview panels may like academicians more than a media professional.

My second appearance for law tests at DU happened after IIMC, because I wanted to do more in life without sacrificing on anything. I even attended a year there while I was working with a leading news agency. But tell you what, the realization soon seeped in-- that in my quest to do everything in life am doing no good to my journalistic career-- and that was the turning. Here I am as a foreign correspondent for the world's biggest media house.

3-Which course to go for at IIMC as most of us at least take two tests. Which course would pay me well later on?

Possible Ans: That truly depends on you. I took EJ and RTV and got through EJ.

I spent some good time thinking that if I eventually become a media professional, what would I like to do. Mass Communication is a big word and a big world in itself.

What's good about IIMC, it has segregated the key mass comm fields and that gives us more clarity to pick one. No wonder, most of the top guys in the media world are from IIMC and the natural connect is good in the professional world. Trust me.

Thanks to IIMC, I had to pick from the four options. I decided for journalism after some self brainstorming. Though, it's all inter-connected and you would be briefly taught about all the courses, in whatever stream you pick.

All the fields have their own charm.

If journalism, do think where you would like to see yourself in times to come? As a good TV reporter like Rajdeep Sardesai/Debang or an awesome print guy like Shekhar Gupta. In the same way, would you like to be part of the colourful Ad world or the PR industry.

All of them pay nicely at a certain point.

Yeahh, better don't compare it with what your MBA fresher friends would be getting though. Initially, they would tend to get more money and have those weekends off. You have to be patient.

For now, focus on the tests first.

4-For EJ, how should I prepare. The clock is ticking away?

Possible Answer: There's no guide/kunji/dukki that shall ensure your passage to IIMC's top courses.

Don't fret over it. I never did.

I was an avid reader of Indian Express, ToI editorials and also had subscribed to the frontline magazine.

So I had an opportunity to learn the rightist (in economic sense) views from IE and ToI and leftist from frontline. It helped.

Though I never practised writing and the first time I grabbed the pen to write those essays was when I was taking the two tests. It would be good if you can practice writing few essays on leading news and views topics of the year and especially last six months. Be balanced in your writing. The "holistic" approach works.

Also, I grabbed some 12 monthly editions of competition magazines and went through their last section on general news and current events.

I actually glanced through them while I was in a bus on way to IIMC on the D day.

You better go through them in advance. That surely helps.

Simply speaking. IIMC tests does not warrant you to study 24x7 and 12 months in advance. If you are a regular newspaper reader (any newspaper), that means 80% of the work is done. Rest just work on bit of balanced writing, respecting the word and time limits.

If you don't have a great vocab, don't bother. IIMC paper-checkers won't give you additional marks for your thesaurus skills.


Cheers and all the best.
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