There are many people who always find fault with every single thing around them.  They would tend to blame every single external factor for all their failures and will positively try to pass on the blame for any of their mistakes. 

In reality, it is just that these people have missed out on so many opportunities that come one's way. Let us explore the world of opportunities to understand what it takes to make hey while the sun shines.

One of the most important steps is to do a very quick and alert Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats ( SWOT) analysis, at a particular point in time, and then follow this up whenever a new turning point comes in one's life.

Let us imagine what happens to raw graduates with an arts and science graduates who either do not have the will to study further, or the money to study further.  Each of these graduates, in most cases, starts preparing for the State Government jobs, since it is these jobs that offer huge security and a great amount of time to do other businesses ( often called side-businesses).

Unfortunately, such jobs are quite rare, and it is not so easy to get such jobs.  One either needs a huge influence, or a huge amount of money to bribe a ruling party politician, who might be able to "manage"things for the person.  Such instances are not rare at all.  There are many who try to pay huge bribes running into several hundred thousand rupees and then make up these amounts through corruption.

Such a sorry state of affairs should never be allowed to happen in any society.  For, as long as there is a giver, there is a taker.

However, the private sector jobs do not require such bribing. and it is quite easy to secure an entry level job and then work one's way up the ladder through systematic hard work.

For instance, those with a B com background and with tally certificate, easily get jobs such as Accounts assistant.  They then go in for higher qualifications in Cost Accountancy or the Corporate Secretaryship (ACS) and go up the career ladder.  So, these people have actually understood their strengths at a particular point in time, utilized their skills and then have exploited their experience in particular jobs for their own development. 

Once this process of self-realization starts, the rest is always easy.  Those who understand the changing trends, set up a small business and then cash in on the opportunities through honesty and integrity, also climb up the ladder of success very fast, in terms of money that they continuously make.

Sholinghur is a small town, some sixty kilometers from the nearest district headquarters town called Vellore.  There are many buses that ply between Vellore and Sholinghur, and this town, with a population of over two hundred thousand people, lacks quality cell phone repair centers.  One young lady, understood the magnitude of this market, underwent a course in repair of cell phones and started a small shop.

She quickly understood that only by being absolutely honest, she will gain new customers.  Her honesty with existing customers became the talk of the town.  If a costly cell phone could be repaired, she would do so, with good spare parts, but a very reasonable cost.  If some cell phone could never be repaired at all, she would tell the customer straightaway. 

This made customers trust her even more, and every single phone that had to be repaired, would find its way to the lady's shop.  Playing the volume game, she is able to earn upwards of twenty five thousand rupees every month.  She also deals in sales of spare parts, but her main business is one of repairing the cell phones.

This is exactly what I mean by making hay while the sun shines.  There are so many opportunities waiting to be explored and exploited.  The people with the will to do, will always succeed.  What is required is hard work, dedication and commitment.

Over three decades ago, a medical doctor in Chennai, understood the need for small packets of shampoo, that could reach the masses.  The sachet revolution was born, with Velvette being the first brand to be launched in India.  Today, the sachet packets are used for every single product, and this includes detergent powders of the major multinational companies as well.  This is what happens when new opportunities are understood.

Raw graduates who do not get any job, could join the Business Process Re-engineering (BPO) jobs, that are available aplenty, and then make their way up, through career-oriented courses like Java or Dot.net and so on.  In fact, there is a huge demand for those who are trained in business analytics, ethical hatching and cloud computing.

In the years to come, these are the courses that will have maximum demand.  Raw graduates should make use of such opportunities. 

In Tamil Nadu, thanks to the initiative of the then Tamil Nadu Government, some non governmental organizations got involved in the art of making a huge success with the self-help groups.  Housewives, particularly of the lower middle classes, who would otherwise watch the horrible television serials at home have now switched over to doing something worthwhile, both in terms of using their special acquired skills, but also in team work.  Each of these self-help groups have indeed lead to increased income and increased activity in several markets.  Some of these products are exported as well.

What will happen to anyone at any point in time, can never be predicted.  But we should always be prepared.  For example, the younger generation of sons of many family managed companies, who have been educated abroad, have now sought to give preference for highly qualified persons, like for example, graduate engineers.  They do not particularly like the diploma holders in engineering, who do not have the aptitude or the will to update their skills and educational qualifications.

The warning bells have already started ringing.  Such diploma holders need to understand the writing on the wall, and make special attempts at doing something dramatic, and immediately, to go higher up the career ladder.

Once the process of self-awareness dawns upon such people, there will a huge amount of action. This has to happen, and it should happen.  Unless and otherwise this happens, people will be left far behind.

It must be understood that there is no tomorrow. When the opportunity knocks, those who utilize such opportunities will always tend to win and go up in the career ladder or in economic terms. 

One can see this happening in the service sector, particularly in the service sector.  Those who maintain good quality of food and combine that with good quality of hygiene, always make it big in the hotel sector.  Those who capitalize on the opportunities available in the cell phone business, for example, have set up shops of their own, and have now started to make as much money as possible, only because they were able to seize the opportunities and improve on their strengths and weaknesses.

So, let us all think of doing something dramatic and seize every single opportunity for own development, the moment such an opportunity presents itself.  We should make maximum use of such opportunities.