Career options in India have become very versatile in the past few years. 25 years ago, our parents wouldn’t have thought of pursuing media as a mainstream career but we did. Similarly, there are so many offbeat vocations which our generation doesn’t know about or doesn’t consider.
So, here’s a list of some off-beat courses you should know about in case you are looking to make a switch. Who knows, you might find your calling!
Not a lot of people consider spa management and training as a career choice. But, all the established spas hire trained masseurs and therapists. A fresher masseur can earn INR 10,000 in the beginning and the money increases with the experience. Usually, masseurs and therapists with degree and training are paid more than who don’t.
Colleges like ISTHAA – Spa and Ayurveda Academy and Imperial Institute of Management in Mumbai offer this course.
Duration: 1 month
So many of us want to make a difference in the society and do something meaningful with our lives but are unable to find the right ways to do it. One of it is a prospective career path which will educate and change a lot of young lives. Puppetry is an important medium of education and many schools. Institutes use puppets to teach students about various topics as it is more effective and entertaining.
To save this art from dying, several colleges offer courses in Puppetry. Mumbai University has a Certificate Course in Puppetry which you can pursue and then get a job as a puppeteer.
Duration: 4 months
If you are interested in Indian villages and want to work for the rural development of the country, then this course will give you an opportunity to engage in various rural and community development activities. Topics like animal husbandry, forestry, farm management, child development, agriculture, environmental management, community development, etc. will be taught so that you can apply for jobs at various government, public and private organizations that work for rural issues.
Prin. L.N. Welingkar Institute of Management Development & Research, Amity Global Business School (AGBS) and Indian Business School of Advanced Management Studies (IBSAMS) in Mumbai give diplomas and certificates in Rural Management.
Duration: 3-6 months
If you are a genius mind who cracks passwords, breaks codes and hacks friend’s Facebook account for fun, then this course is for you. You will be paid for breaching the security of computer systems, which major companies use for security purposes. The starting salary of an ethical hacker is around 2-5 lakhs per year and can grow significantly with time and experience.
Institute Of Information Security in Mumbai offers various courses in ethical hacking. There is a short course of 15 days offered by Arizona Infotech in Pune too.
Duration: 6 weeks – 6 months {depending on how advanced the course is}
Animal lovers will jump in their seat reading about this one. Did you know that you can take up a course and become a professional pet groomer and make a living? After learning how to enhance a pet’s hygiene and appearance by taking pet grooming courses, you can get a part-time or a full-time job grooming the pets that mostly include dogs, cats, and horses.
Whiskers & Tails Franchise & Pet Grooming Academy in Mumbai offers courses in pet grooming.
Plant lovers who love their green babies and want to take it up have a mainstream vocation, there’s a course for you. Garden Craft and Nursery and Farm House Management are the two courses which will bring you closer to nature. Even if you are not looking to make a mainstream career out of it, you can use that knowledge to maintain your own garden perfectly.
The University of Mumbai offers a degree in both these courses.
Duration: 1 year
No, chugging down bottles of alcohol is not how you pass exams in this course. But, if you are genuinely interested in the industry, this course can be apt for you. Vasantdada Sugar Institute in Pune {that was established in 1975} has a department of Alcohol Technology to help the distillery industry. Their main aim is to increase the productivity of the industry by developing and adopting better technology.
There are three types of courses: regular, short-term and national-level workshops and seminars. They will train you to undertake research for developing cost-effective alcohol production technologies from alternative raw materials.
Duration: 1.5 years
Growing up in India inevitably gets you addicted to drinking tea. Just imagine, what would it be like to make a career out of it! Working as a tea sommelier is a high paying job if you tap the right opportunities. You can earn around INR 50,000 per month if you bag a job in a 5-star hotel. As a professional tea taster, your job won’t be just to taste tea but also giving advice, doing branding, and having a good knowledge of cultivation and manufacturing.
Colleges like Birla Institute of Futuristic Studies, Dipras Institue of Professional Studies, Assam Agricultural University, Indian Institute of Plantation Management, The Tea Research Association, The Tea Tasters Academy and Indian Institute of Plantation Management have this course.