Before you decide: Test drive your dream career

TRENDS

The frustration of being stuck at the wrong job, while your heart yearns to pursue something else, matches no other. But yet, many find it difficult to make that decision to quit and follow their dreams. The reasons for the hesitation could range from financial constraints to doubts over whether their 'dream job' is indeed the right one for them. A new venture started by two former techies aims at addressing just this.

iReboot, the brain child of Arun Mathew and Mukta Darera, 'is a life orientation company that is involved with trying to give wings to others' dreams.' Says Mukta, "The company I was a part of was a dream company for me with a great work culture. But at some level I felt that it was not what I wanted to do for the rest of my life - it was not fulfiling enough.
I wanted to give my dreams a chance, so I just took the plunge."

She adds that through the course of her job, she came across people who had dormant dreams and were frustrated that they were not getting a chance to pursue their passion.

"I constantly heard lines like 'I want to be an RJ', etc and these individuals never had an idea of what it takes. Since many were working professionals with financial commitments, they could not experiment. At some level, this reflected on their workplace performance as well."

This led to the birth of iReboot with the intention of giving people an opportunity to learn and pursue their passion and at the same time hold on to their jobs - the one which pays for their lifestyle and loans. So it serves a dual purpose and also becomes a risk free opportunity.

So what does iReboot exactly do? The concept is simple. It gets a person to relate what profession they would like to opt for and then allow them to actually experience what it is like by linking them up with a mentor in that particular field. Two or three-day workshops are also organised that would give the enrollee a feel of the job. The founders believe that this will help them make an informed decision about whether they would really want to pursue the career.

The road so far Mukta says that the progress has been very good and the response has been phenomenal. They have been approached by several students, who are pretty clueless about what to do, and several working professionals, who feel trapped and bored in their work.

"With the outsourcing industry booming, many people haven't made active choices about their professions. The lure of fast and quick money soon dies out. You can't do what you don't like for five days a week and then compensate for it over the weekend. In fact, most seem to have adjusted to the frustrations of their jobs to such an extent that they barely recognise themselves," she remarks.

Post iReboot, the founders say, there have been many who have taken their passion to the next level, and there have also been those who said: "This is really not my cup of tea" and gone back to their workplace feeling really happy for having tried.

Interestingly, people from varied walks of life and age groups have enrolled with iReboot.

Mukta says that their youngest enrollee has been a 8-year-old and the oldest, a 56-year-old. "Working professionals, housewives, entrepreneurs, students, people on a sabbatical - I have had them all," Mukta says.

Among their forthcoming workshops are: 'Learn all about stock markets and trading', 'Wildlife photography boot camp', 'Discover the travel writer in you', 'Learn to be a voiceover artist/RJ/MC', 'Start a cafe/restaurant', 'Learn event management'. All these are weekend workshops for both students and working professionals who get time off only on weekends.

For other updates, log on to www.ireboot.in or call 9663857828.