Master of all you survey

Q: Please tell me how I can become an insurance surveyor. What kind of job will I get in an insurance company?

Joydeep Banerjee

A: Typically, surveyors are not employees of insurance companies. They are independent professionals who are deputed by general insurance companies on the basis of their qualifications and the kind of experience needed for the task.

Serving as a link between the insurer and the insured, their job is to assess the damages when a client claims compensation for the loss of property, vehicles, ships or planes due to accident, damage, fire, earthquake, arson, theft, etc and prevent false claims from being filed. On the other hand, they can be of great help to the insured person who has suffered a genuine loss by indemnifying the loss.

Although the work is very important, it is not all fun and excitement. It often involves a great deal of hard work and travelling at awkward times. To practise as a surveyor, you need a Surveyor’s License issued by the Controller of Insurance (M/ Finance) for which you require the following qualifications: A degree or diploma in architecture/engineering/naval architecture or CA, ICWA or Fellowship/Associateship of the Institute of Insurance Surveyors & Adjusters (General Assurance Bldg, DN Rd, Fort, Mumbai 400001).

Upon submitting attested copies of the necessary documents, the IRDA will issue an Empanelment Certificate, which will entitle you to apply for work in the various companies. For starters, you will get a Grade ‘D’ Empanelment, which will qualify you to handle small claims. However, with some experience, you can soon upgrade your rating. It may perhaps interest you to know that there are about 30,000 surveyors in Delhi alone (pruned down from the 70,000 by IRDA). Which means that you will have to do the rounds of the insurance offices before you begin to get assignments.

Cash in on the bio-tech boom

Q: I'm a first semester student of BE (biotech). I’d like to know about the job prospects in this field.

P. Roy

A: BT is one of the hottest career avenues today, after IT. Many avenues of employment exist and many new ones like bioinformatics are emerging.

Most biotechnologists work in pharmaceutical, medical, instrumentation, poultry, animal and plant breeding and plant tissue culture-based industries, among others. They are also involved in production and management of bio-process industries, and pollution control in manufacturing plants.

Many others work in universities and research labs run by the government like ICMR, ICAR, CSIR, DBT, DST and TIFR besides R&D departments in the corporate sector. Employers include MNCs, large public and private sector corporations, pharma majors and research institutions. The industry now employs 10,000 professionals, and the number is expected to treble soon.

Match your steps with Bollywood

Q: I am a good dancer and have participated in various dance competitions. Can I look for a career in film choreography?

Raja Biswas

A: Dance has always been an essential ingredient of Indian films. In fact, there has been a dance revolution in Bollywood in the past decade.

Today, some of the best careers in the world of cinema are in choreography. Farah Khan, Saroj Khan, Ganesh Hegde, Vaibhavi Merchant and Shiamak Davar are celebrities in their own right today.

But choreography goes far beyond giving tips on body movement to actors. In most cases, dances are woven around the script and the choreographer has to keep in mind every detail of the story and the finer details of lighting, camera angle, costumes, etc

Vaibhavi, the reigning item queen whose repertoire includes latest dance tracks like Kajra re from the film Bunty aur Babli believes in personally orchestrating finer details like lighting, costumes, styling and art to even editing the song.

Your style can be quintessentially Bollywood, western classical, jazz, salsa, waltz or even a fusion of the above.

But be original. And when you see Gen X copying dance steps you designed, you know you have arrived.

It’s about connecting with the crowd and making it simple and catchy so that anyone from age 8 to 80 can quite literally follow in your footsteps.

Being a good dancer, which you say you already are, is the single most important requirement. The job calls for long hours and odd work schedules. You must also possess excellent inter-personal skills.

Each dance sequence is an exciting new experience as you get to work with different dance troupes and cinestars. Most people start out as junior assistants to established choreographers. You can pick up the basics of dancing from any dance school. From there, you can hone your skills at a dance theatre. Working backstage for such productions is also an excellent idea.

Choreography requires a passion for the big screen. Unless you have the stamina, the drive and the feet to make the world your stage, you will find it difficult to survive in the big, bad world of Bollywood.