Surabhi Dewra started Mera Career Guide, an online career counselling destination for students across India. The aim of this venture is to provide better career guidance to students who are at the crossroads of choosing their careers. Let’s read on to see what challengs Surabhi faced when setting up her start-up and what her plans for the future are.
How did the idea of Mera Career Guide come about?
I have been a book worm throughout my life - all my educational choices been more of fluke than planned.
Guess with most of us it's the same. I got into India's best engineering college BITS-Pilani to become an engineer. Found out engineering is the choice for most Indians because of the placements and not necessarily for the kind of work engineers do. That triggered me into looking at this space.
How does an e-portal benefit students?
E-portal gives accessibility of time and location which otherwise is very difficult to achieve. Both students and career counsellors need not be located at one location - They can be connected irrespective of geographic boundary. This could have been only possible through use of technology. We have served more than 50,000 hours of career planning that is equivalent to a career counsellor’s 21 years of work. That’s the impact e-portals can bring in.
What are the short term goals you hope to achieve with this venture? Any other products / ventures planned for the future?
Currently we are looking to add - another 500 career counsellors to the platform and double our reach.
What are the top 3 challenges you face in this line of work?
There was a time when I had to make an effort for the start-up community to take me seriously. I used to come across questions on seriousness and my commitment for my work. This possibly has to do with handful of tech female founders seen around. But guess I am past that phase or I have gotten used to those question marks ! :)
Challenges which I am focussing on right now are on more on scale/growth/adoption rate of product I am in.
What words of inspiration do you live by?
‘If’ the poem really inspires me. Each sentence of it holds a deep meaning - written in 1895 but holds true even as of today.
I recited this poem in a poetry recitation competition in my middle school – it was then I came across it. These are some magical words:
If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can dream—and not make dreams your master;
If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same