What are the Highest Paying Jobs?

CNBC Highest Paying Jobs 2011


Listed with average annual salary (source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics) 

1. Doctors and Surgeons: $165,720-$225,390 
2. Chief Executive Officer (CEO): $173,350 
3. Dentists: $158,770 
4. Lawyers: $129,440 
5. Natural Sciences Manager: $129,320 
6. Petroleum Engineer: $127,970 
7. Architectural Engineering Manager: $125,900 
8. Computer and Information Systems Manager: $123,280 
9. Marketing Manager: $122,720 
10. Financial Manager: $116,970 
11. Airline pilot, copilot and flight engineer: $115,300 
12. Sales Manager: $114,110 
13. Industrial-Organizational Psychologist: $114,040 
14. General and Operations Manager: $113,100 
15. Physicist: $112,020 

Trident Fly Fishing

Fishing is an activity of trying to catch fish. Fish are normally caught in the wild. Techniques for catching fish include hand gathering, spearing, netting, angling and trapping. There are many fishing techniques or methods for catching fish that include hand gathering, spearfishing, netting, angling and trapping. Recreational, commercial and artisanal fishers use different techniques, and also, sometimes, the same techniques. Recreational fishers fish for pleasure or sport, while commercial fishers fish for profit. Artisanal fishers use traditional, low-tech methods, for survival in third-world countries, and as a cultural heritage in other countries. Mostly, recreational fishers use angling methods and commercial fishers use netting methods.

At Trident Fly Fishing, they are gear junkies. They had to drive for hours in search of the perfect rod only to find that they couldn’t actually cast it in store. They wanted to change the way you thought about buying fly fishing equipment. Rodmakers have been making rods lighter and more accurate every year. It’s time that someone changed the way you shop for your next rod. So, they created the first website in the fly fishing industry which allows you to quickly find exactly what you’re looking for. TridentFlyFishing.com is a place to get fly rods, fly fishing gear and apparel. Popular fly fishing gear brands include Sage, Redington, Winston, Hardy, Greys, Tibor, Rio, Ross, TFO, Waterworks-Lamson, Simms, and Patagonia. 

There are number of concerns and organization emerged in the market to provide fishing related products like winston flyrods , reels, lines, leaders, tippet, waders, boots, outerwear, flies, tying kits, tying tools, bags, storage cases, and more. However, I personally found Trident Fly Fishing one of best among all. TridentFlyFishing.com is an online retailer of fly fishing gear. This includes fly rods, reels, lines, leaders, tippet, waders, boots, outerwear, flies, tying kits, tying tools, bags, storage cases, and more. I personally like redington flyrods. Visit the neatly laid out site and see what they are offering and how? 

Blue Bee Printing

There are many different ways of using magnet printing for upcoming marketing and advertising campaigns. In order to accomplish our task we need to get some ideas, and try to come up with a few of our own. The marketing and advertising worlds rely on new, creative techniques and anything we can do differently than other companies is a great advantage to us. There are number of concerns emerged in the market which are claiming to use state-of-the-art technologies to provide the customers with high-quality printed products especially in San Francisco, California. However, I personally found Blue Bee Printing one of the best among all which are using the latest technology in digital printing and Magnet Printing. With their new digital press and 4-color offset press, they can offer their customers the best of both worlds – the flexibility of small print quantities with the efficiencies of large print runs.

Visit the neatly laid out site www.bluebeeprinting.com/ and see how they are providing fast turnaround, high-quality printing at affordable prices with the flexibility of 50 quantity to 5000 quantities. Their mission is to be one of the best online printing of custom stickers and magnets with best service at a reasonable price. They are sellingevery kind of stickers including bumper stickers, political stickers, funny stickers and other products in stock that they ship daily from our warehouse in San Francisco and California. But that's not all they do, they also print custom stickers. They can print any type of sticker you can imagine, some can ship next business day. The ability to make any customer the sticker of their dreams definitely makes them the best supplier in this product.

World Bank Approves $1 bln for Pakistan to Boost Power

The World Bank approved a $1 billion loan to Pakistan to boost electricity supply and improve farm irrigation methods. The bank said $840 million of the loan will help boost capacity at the Tarbela hydro power project, northwest of Islamabad, by 1,410 megawatts. The project would shift capacity away from expensive imported fuel oil to low-cost hydro power.

"It will help Pakistan reduce the gap between supply and demand of electricity by maximizing the benefits of existing infrastructure of Tarbela Dam without requiring any land acquisition or relocation" of people, said Rachid Benmessaoud, World Bank country director for Pakistan.

The remainder of the funding, about $250 million, will improve irrigation on 120,000 acres of land in Punjab and cut wasteful water use, the Washington-based institution said. About 17,500 families in Punjab would directly benefit from the new irrigation systems, which would increase crop yields and promote water conservation

Cleaning Products UK

Enter any living space, home or an office, hotel or airport lounge, and the standard of cleanliness will form your first idea of a place. Cleaner the place, better the image you form. If the things are messed up, given chance, you would not like to deal with the place again in anyway. That is why one people going a long way to clean up. More so in corporate world.

The cleaning of living spaces – interior and exterior – is a fine art as well as science. The living spaces cleaning activities includes the cleaning of edifice’s facades and floors, the cleaning of steel structures such as bridges, wind turbines, and the cleaning of tunnels, sewage systems as well as items placed inside the space.

In modern living spaces, such as office blocks, supper stores, hotels or a hospital, facades and partitions made of glass are widely used. To maintain the characteristics and transparency of these building elements over the long term, they have to be regularly cleaned. How these requirements can be met cost-efficiently and with the necessary thoroughness.

One needs to have a right product for a right job. May be your cleaning staff doesn’t know the difference between cotton cleaning material and micro fiber cleaning products. Which one absorbs water more and which one lasts longer? I suggest the mangers at the upper ladder of the pyramid need to decide before bulk purchase. That is how any concern can save on cleaning products. No?

Pakistan's Foreign Exchange Reserves

Pakistan's foreign exchange reserves rose to $18.04 billion in the week ending Aug. 13, from $17.97 billion the previous week, a senior central bank official said on Thursday. Reserves held by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) rose to $14.55 billion from $14.46 billion a week ago, while those held by commercial banks fell to $3.49 billion from $3.51 billion. Foreign exchange reserves hit a record $18.31 billion in the week ending July 30. Pakistan's foreign exchange reserves were boosted in June by inflows of $411 million, including a loan of $191.9 million from the World Bank, and another loan of $196.8 million from the Asian Development Bank.

Higher export proceeds and a record inflow of remittances have helped Pakistan's forex reserves grow steadily. According to official data, remittances rose 38.57 percent to $1.1 billion in the first month of 2011/12 fiscal year, compared with $791.18 million in the same period last year. In May 2010, Pakistan received $1.13 billion in the fifth tranche of an $11 billion International Monetary Fund (IMF) bailout program.

Online Payday Loans

These days payday loans are very hot and competitive in the financial market. The basic loan process is simply that a lender provides a short-term unsecured loan to be repaid at the borrower's next pay day. Typically, some verification of employment or income is involved (via pay stubs and bank statements), but some lenders may omit this. Individual companies and franchises have their own underwriting criteria. However, these days payday loans online - paydayloansonlinehub.com is one of the best sources of getting loan in seconds.

In the traditional retail model, borrowers visit a payday lending store and secure a small cash loan, with payment due in full at the borrower's next paycheck. The borrower writes a postdated check to the lender in the full amount of the loan plus fees. On the maturity date, the borrower is expected to return to the store to repay the loan in person. If the borrower does not repay the loan in person, the lender may redeem the check. If the account is short on funds to cover the check, the borrower may now face a bounced check fee from their bank in addition to the costs of the loan, and the loan may incur additional fees and/or an increased interest rate as a result of the failure to pay.

In the more recent innovation of online payday loans, consumers complete the loan application online (or in some instances via fax, especially where documentation is required). The loan is then transferred by direct deposit to the borrower's account, and the loan repayment and/or the finance charge is electronically withdrawn on the borrower's next payday. According to some sources, many payday lenders operating on the internet do not run credit checks or verify income. Visit the neatly laid out site of paydayloansonlinehub.com - payday loans online and see what they are offering and how?

20 Most Influential Living Economists

Coming up with a list of influential economists from the past is easy enough. John Locke, Adam Smith, David Ricardo, Karl Marx, and Alfred Marshall readily spring to mind. Coming up with a list of influential economists of recent memory is also easy enough: John Maynard Keynes, Joseph Schumpeter, Friedrich von Hayek, Paul Samuelson, and Milton Friedman spring readily to mind. But coming up with the twenty most influential living economists poses more of a challenge.

Unlike in the past, economists now wield considerable political power. Is their influence to be measured in political terms, as in how widely their ideas are implemented in public policy and law? Is their influence to measured in originality of ideas and profundity of analysis? Is their influence to be measured in the degree to which they’ve transformed the discipline? As these questions suggest, no single measure of influence applies across the board. With these questions in the background, SuperScholar offers this list of its twenty most influential living economists.
Kenneth Arrow

Kenneth Arrow (b. 1921) is the preeminent living mathematical economist, bringing high-powered mathematics to bear on long-standing economic questions, especially in connection to general equilibrium. More info: Kenneth Arrow Bio

Read about other 19 here

Top 40 Rich Groups of Pakistan

1. The Nishat Group

Mian Muhammad Mansha Yaha is the captain of this splendid ship having around 30 companies on board. Mansha, who owns the Muslim Commercial Bank as well, is now setting up a billion rupee ($ 17 m) paper sack project too. He is one of the richest Pakistanis around. Nishat Group was country's 15th richest family in 1970, 6th in 1990 and Number 1 in 1997. Mansha is on the board of nearly 50 companies. Chinioti by clan, Mansha is married to Yousaf Saigol's daughter. He is deemed to have made investments in many bourses, currency and metal exchanges both within and outside Pakistan. He has had his share of luck on many occasions in life and has recently been awarded Pakistan's highest civil award by President Musharraf. He could have bought the United Bank too, but then who doesn't have adversaries. Nishat Group comprises of textiles, cement, leasing, insurance and management companies. If Mansha was bitten by Bhutto's nationalization stint of 1970, his friends think he was compensated by Nawaz Sharif's denationalization programme to a very good effect. There is no stopping Mansha and he is still on the move!

2. The Jang Group

This huge media empire was founded by late Mir Khalil-ur-Rehman some six decades ago. Today, around 10 top newspapers and the multi-billion rupee GEO TV project are being run by Mir Shakeel-ur-Rehman, Mir Khalil's brainy son, who has a lot of projects pertaining to real estate under his belt too. Though he can be very modest, Shakeel is known to have taken country's Prime Ministers head-on. His tussle with Nawaz Sharif in 1999 spoke volumes of his unmatched influence in all domestic and international quarters which matter Shakeel is one of Asia's most well known media barons, whose newspapers have served to be the breeding nurseries for country's top journalists. He invests massively in stocks business regularly. His elder brother Mir Javed ur Rehman and tender son Mir Ibrahim also assist him in business. Such magnificent has been his influence that at times, a few governments have opted to take a few of his employees as ministers. The Group, as most politicians agree, has been instrumental in both toppling and building governments in Pakistan for decades now. Limelight is the product that he sells but doesn't like tasting the fruits of his own garden.

3. The Hashoo Group

Led by the vintage Saddaruddin Haswani, the Hashoo Group is more known for its dominance in Pakistan's hotel industry, though the people who know a bit more about the Hashwanis are of their strength in real estate business too. Hashwanis are involved in trading of cotton grain and steel and till the nationalization of cotton export in 1974, they were widely being dubbed as the Cotton Kings of Pakistan. Today, this group has excelled in export of rice, wheat, cotton and barley. It owns textile units, besides having invested billions in mines, minerals. hotels, insurance, batteries, tobacco, residential properties, construction, engineering and information technology. In 1984, Hashwani defeated the Lakhanis in the bid for Premier Tobacco but was arrested along with his brother Akbar in 1986 for allegedly evading customs duty on cigarettes. Sadarduddin's brother Akbar and the children of another late brother Hassan Ali Hashwani together manage around 45 companies. Akbar runs the second Hashwani Group. He is one of the most well-known magnates in Pakistan who is a regular invitee at the Diplomatic Enclave. The list of local and international bigwigs known personally to Hashwani is unending.

Wholesale Sources for Wholesale Closeouts

After the invention of internet online shopping is considered one of the best modes of getting things at very competitive rate at our door step. Businesses looking for wholesale goods from closeouts can obtain them easily from a liquidator. Retail stores and small time sellers, or even people wanting to start up an eBay store can buy products from liquidation sources. There are many suppliers online ready to start providing quality products to meet your needs.

Rhino Mart is the internet source for wholesale products, overstock items and liquidations. Featuring an amazing selection of wholesale clothing, watches, handbags, wholesale jewelry, shoes, flip flops and many other products Rhino Mart is the internet destination for great discount prices on overstock items. You name it and Rhino Mart has it... electronics, household appliances, cleaning supplies, musical instruments, toys, tools and much more.

You can find one of the best wholesale accessories from around the globe here at your trusted accessories wholesaler. They have got it all wholesale designer accessories for the discriminating customer, such as wholesale belts, hair goods, handbags, jewelry, sunglasses, luggage, undergarments, scarves and ponchos. Improve your bottom line with these great products priced at deep discounts. Their top quality overstock and liquidated accessory products will give your inventory budget a breather.

Pakistan's Forex Reserves Ease to $18.11 Billion

Pakistan's foreign exchange reserves eased to $18.11 billion in the week ending July 10, from a record $18.25 billion the previous week, a senior central bank official said on Thursday. Reserves held by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) fell to $14.64 billion from $14.79 billion a week ago, while those held by commercial banks edged to $3.47 billion up from $3.46 billion, said SBP chief spokesman Syed Wasimuddin.

"The decline in reserves during the week is due to scheduled debt repayments," said Wasimuddin. Pakistan's foreign exchange reserves were boosted in June by inflows of $411 million, including a loan of $191.9 million from the World Bank, and another loan of $196.8 million from the Asian Development Bank.

Higher export proceeds and a record inflow of remittances have helped Pakistan's forex reserves grow steadily. According to official data, remittances rose to a record $11.2 billion in 2010/11 fiscal year, an increase of 25.77 percent compared with the same period last year. In May 2010, Pakistan received $1.13 billion in the fifth tranche of an $11 billion International Monetary Fund (IMF) bailout programme. The two sides are due to meet this month to discuss the possible release of the sixth tranche, though no official date has been decided.

Omegla and Chatroulette

The Internet can now be accessed almost anywhere by numerous means, especially through mobile Internet devices. Mobile phones, data cards, handheld game consoles and cellular routers allow users to connect to the Internet from anywhere there is a wireless network supporting that device's technology. Within the limitations imposed by small screens and other limited facilities of such pocket-sized devices, services of the Internet, including email and the web, may be available. Service providers may restrict the services offered and wireless data transmission charges may be significantly higher than other access methods.

iMeetzu.com is a website that allows you to meet and chat with strangers online, similar to omegle and chatroulette. However, iMeetzu.com also adds a social network so that users can save their favorite new friends. You will need to register and create an account, which will then allow you to save your favorite conversational contacts, hot girls, and other such peoples, as well as interact with them via comments and messages. Heck, you can even send your dream girl a gift! Of course, you will also be able to create your very own public iMeetzu profile, which you will be able to show off to all your jealous comrades, at least until they take the time to make one themselves.

IFRS: Blessing or Curse For USA

United States of America is going to adopt International Financial Reporting Standards. Major advantages include

• It would make the financial statements of U.S. companies more comparable to those in other countries.

• It would help capital from investors and banks flow more smoothly around the world.

• American filers would be able to use more judgment in preparing financial information.

• It would provide substantial benefit to some companies and, despite considerable expense, little or none to others.

• It helps more freely move accounting staff from country to country and business to business.

Stainless Steel Kitchen Sinks

The stainless steel sinks are most commonly used in kitchens. These should be easily matched well with most appliances and easy to maintain. Good quality stainless steel kitchen sinks should be made from high quality steel with standardized Chromium to Nickel content ratio. Stainless steel kitchen sink has been increasing in popularity as people like the modern look they have. They are easy to clean, and as durable as porcelain. These sinks come in a wide variety of styles that match well with any contemporary home.

Stainless steel kitchen sinks are the most popular choice for today’s kitchens due to its clean look and durability. The beautiful brushed satin finish helps to hide small scratches that may occur over the lifetime of the sink. Our Stainless Steel sinks are made from high quality 16 gauge steel, which is 25% thicker than 18 gauge. Most models are made of one piece construction that ensures the sturdiest kitchen sink you will find. Our sinks are made from 304 steel with an 18/10 chromium/nickel content and are guaranteed not to rust or stain. Each sink is fully insulated and has a sound dampening pad. Our stainless steel sinks are backed by a limited lifetime warranty. Each sink comes with a cardboard cutout template and mounting hardware

MR Direct sells "Mr Direct" brand kitchen sinks. Their customers buy from them because they are better business bureau accredited, offer same day shipping, and offer extremely low prices.

Karzai’s Brother Killed by Guard in Kandahar Home

The half-brother of Afghan President Hamid Karzai was assassinated by one of his security guards inside his house in Kandahar on Tuesday morning, a political killing that will reverberate widely through the country and could destabilize a key region in the U.S. military’s campaign against the Taliban, according to witnesses and Afghan officials.

Ahmed Wali Karzai, the head of Kandahar’s provincial council who was widely considered the most powerful man in southern Afghanistan, had been meeting with tribal elders and politicians in his heavily fortified home in downtown Kandahar city when a security guard walked into his meeting room and requested a private discussion, according to two people at the house at the time. Karzai and the guard left for another room, and shortly afterwards three gunshots rang out.

Agha Lalai Destegeri, the deputy provincial council chief, who had been meeting with Karzai Tuesday morning, said he heard the gunfire and rushed in to find Karzai shot in the head, chest and hand.

Karzai’s other guards entered the room and shot and killed the gunman. His entourage drove the bleeding Karzai a short distance across town to Mirwais Hospital but he did not survive, Destegeri and other Afghan officials said.

“He was the number one man in Kandahar,” said Mir Wali Khan, a former parliament member from Helmand province who was at Karzai’s house at the time of the shooting. “We expect now the security of Kandahar will get worse, and the fighting among the tribes will grow stronger and stronger.”

Khan and Destegeri identified the shooter as Sardar Mohammad, who was from the Dand district of Kandahar province. They did not know how long he’d worked with Karzai, who employs a large team of guards and lives on a street barricaded by concrete blocks and manned by police.

Karzai has long been a controversial figure in Afghan politics. He rose to prominence as his brother assumed the presidency and profited off his position to establish a powerful grip on Kandahar, the home of the Taliban insurgency. He was regularly accused of participating in the opium trade and profiting from private security companies. He always adamantly denied these accusations and described them as motivated by his political enemies, of which there were many. Unlike the often tranquil atmosphere at the governor’s office, Karzai’s Kandahar home was a hive of activity, and clearly the center of political power, as tribal leaders, politicians, American diplomats and soldiers, came for his help and counsel.

Sales Coaching

A sale can take place through direct sales, involving person to person contact, Pro forma sales, Agency-based (Sales agents , Sales outsourcing through direct branded representation, Transaction sales, Consultative sales, Complex sales, Consignment, Telemarketing or telesales, Retail or consumer), Traveling salesman (Door-to-door methods, hawking), Request for proposal (an invitation for suppliers, through a bidding process, to submit a proposal on a specific product or service. An RFP usually represents part of a complex sales process, also known as "enterprise sales"), Electronic (Web – Business-to-business and business-to-consumer, Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) or through Indirect, human-mediated but with indirect contact and sales coaching.

However, among all sales through consultants are one of the best mode of selling our products and services. If you’re looking to hire a sales consultant, then you’ve come to the right place. Sales Overdrive is a sales consultancy focused on integrating a vast number of targeted services and sales accelerators, each with supporting processes and methods proven to be best-in-class over fifteen years of successful client experience. Their end-to-end business-to-business sales consulting solutions and sales coach team are tailored to your specific needs. Their clients see enormous returns on investment, and we can do the same for you.

Over 10,000 Pakistanis Applied For Asylum Last Year

More than 10,000 Pakistanis (10,825 to be exact) filed applications for asylum in 44 countries last year. However, this year there has been a 4per cent decline in the trend, taking the country to the eighth spot in terms of number of asylum seekers.According to a report of the UN refugee agency, 11,287 Pakistanis sought asylum in industrialised countries in 2009. But the country’s share vis-à-vis the total number of asylum seekers remained 3.1 per cent.

A total of 358,800 asylum applications were lodged in industrialised countries in 2010, which was 5 per cent fewer than in 2009. According to the data published in ‘Asylum Levels and Trends in Industrialised Countries, 2010’, by UNHCR on Monday, 6388 Pakistanis filed applications during July-December period as compared to 4,437 in January-June period.

Greece received the highest number of applications for asylum from Pakistanis, totalling 2748, followed by United Kingdom (2,115), France (890), Italy (814), United States (551), Canada (492), Australia (433), Austria (276), Ireland (200), South Korea (129), Switzerland (92), Japan (83), Spain (63) and the Netherlands ((60).

New countries where Pakistani nationals have filed asylum applications include Bulgaria, Croatia, Finland, Denmark, Hungary, Malta, New Zealand, Poland, Romania, Serbia (excluding Kosovo), Slovakia, Macedonia and Turkey.

UNHCR defines an asylum seeker as an individual who has sought international protection and whose claim for refugee status has not been determined. A person is considered a refugee if he or she fulfils criteria set out in the 1951 Refugee Convention, explains UNHCR.

In its report, the UN agency did not discuss circumstances which led people to seek asylum in industrialised countries. For Pakistanis, security situation, unemployment, poor economic conditions, lack of facilities and social injustices could be the main factors behind their decision to seek asylum in other countries.

The top five countries in this regard were Serbia (28,901), Afghanistan (24,769), China (21,645), Iraq (20,129) and Russian Federation (18,924).

New figures compiled in the report have shown a dramatic fall in the number of asy lum seekers in industrialised world over the last 10 years. A total of 358,800 asylum applications were lodged in industrialised countries in 2010, which was 5 per cent fewer than in 2009.

The top five asylum receiving countries in 2010 were the United States, France, Germany, Sweden and Canada. Together, they accounted for 56 per cent of all asylum applications.

UNHCR says it needs to study the root causes to see if the decline is because of fewer push factors in areas of origin or tighter migration control in countries of asylum.

Xlife Insurance

Life insurance is important in protecting the financial well-being of your family and loved ones in the event that you pass away. It pays a lumps sum to your beneficiaries or to your estate. If you would like to compare life insurance quotes then looking online may be your best option. You can look at term life insurance policies and see which one best suits your needs. xlife offers up to 20% off all life insurance policies and compares life insurance for free!

In Australia, income protection insurance provides up to 75% of your income should you become ill or injured. Income protection can help pay your mortgage, rent, and living expenses. It also offers peace of mind knowing that if something tragic was to happen, you and any loved ones would be equipped with income to cope financially. xLife compares income protection insurance Australia wide and also offers up to 20% off.

Personal insurance in Australia refers to policies such as term life insurance, income protection insurance, and trauma insurance. Life insurance is important in protecting the financial well-being of your family and loved ones in the event that you pass away. It pays a lumps sum to your beneficiaries or to your estate. Income protection insurance provides up to 75% of your income should you become ill or injured. Income protection can help pay your mortgage, rent, and living expenses. Trauma insurance or trauma cover pays a lump sum in the event that you suffer from a medically diagnosed disease or condition as specified in a life insurance company’s product disclosure statement (PDS). xLife offers free personal insurance quotes, to help you find the best personal insurance quotes to suit your needs.

Telecommuting - an alternative

Emerging technological phenomenon called telecommuting (or telework) is changing focus from physical presence at the primary work site to what an employee can deliver. While the concept of telecommuting has been in existence for some time, the technological tools available today are making it possible to practice it more productively. The trend has steadily grown over the past two decades in the developed world.

Elsewhere, “Businesses that let 100 employees work half of their time from home can save more than $1 million a year’ according to Telework Research Network's latest study of telework programs and their benefits. This alone is one big incentive for local businesses to take advantage of the telecommuting work model.

In a job market where it is tough for employable workforce to find regular jobs what to talk of telecommute, the trend has yet not started. It is in this context that the telecommuting phenomenon is viewed here.

What is telecommuting? This is a work practice made possible by use of telecommunication and collaborative technologies to facilitate work at a site away from the traditional office location and environment. Employees enjoy flexibility in work place and time (within certain limits) and save the daily commute to a central place of work. The focus is that "work is something you do, not something you travel to".

Let me hasten to add that telecommuting is not only for computing related fields as it wrongly perceived sometime. Even a semester living stitching shirts for a foreign-based concern can be telecommuter rather than a contractual worker. Also there is a difference between freelancing, contract work and telecommuting.

The availability of bandwidth and fast Internet connections, social methodologies for balancing work control and work freedom, the perceived values and economies in telecommuting, the opportunities and need for working collaboratively are some of the factors that should be considered to view possibilities of the telecommuting picking up in our country.

Pakistan so far is a less connected country. Despite all whirls we are going through, majority of the areas are still without Internet coverage. Teledensity has increased but is far from being adequate. Corporate Pakistan has not yet embraced IT, exceptions (some of them very good) notwithstanding. No effects can be seen on ground or in term of revenues in the account books. What has been achieved by Pakistan IT industry and some end user futuristic concerns so far is nothing more than a scratch on the surface. Reasons are many: Resistance to change and lack of trust in technical solutions for business processes that has diverted IT employment from raising productivity by revolutionizing production methods and techniques and taping human resource potentials through cooperation and collaboration; tasks what IT is best at.

Moreover, the latest technologies have not been made use of due to lack of a standard business culture of strategic thinking and planning. These factors are inimical to the long-term investment in time and resources needed for IT to develop and deliver.

Another impediment that seems standing in the way of telecommuting picking up in Pakistan is societal rather than technological. In a number of ways corporate sector seems to have distrust in IT solution what to talk of shared ones. Dr. Professor Manzoor Ahmed, an international marketing expert, opines, "The generation at the helms of business affairs, mostly family run, thinks that what has been working for them in the past is good enough. They hesitate to take new incentives into the untested area. The strength of this social impulse reins back the widespread IT employment in any area." Other limitations with the flexible trend are poor or lack of necessary infrastructure, illiteracy, slow speed or non availability of Internet access or things like electric shutdowns."

Let us have a look at the users' base. The majority of the online community in our country is of medium users. This group includes everyone from those ‘whiz kids’ with ambitions and degrees from IT institutions and international certifications to self-taught - experienced professionals in their own respective fields - who have learnt to use the IT facilities at their own later in life. These users can perceive the modern technologies as a great leveler to work and make their lives better. But they do not find very many openings when it comes to putting their skills and experience to work on ground.

As of today, no university in Pakistan is teaching telecommunication courses to its business students. This subject should be included in all business programs as is being done in reputed business schools abroad. This will empower young graduate from local universities to take telecommuting opportunities abroad now and in local market when they come up in future.

Pakistan has a world-class workforce. Local businesses should plan to plunge in to telecommuting boldly. They already have opportunities of learning from the successful experiences in the developed countries by closely examining the work methodologies being implemented with success and at much lower costs. Before that, the public sector should focus on improving infrastructure and ensuring uninterrupted supply of bandwidth, electricity and telephone everywhere. The potential employees should start learning and be ready to take up the openings when they come by. Meanwhile, all stakeholders should take extensive confidence building measures in the employment of information technology.

Hopes are that demand driven telecommunication will pick up here and Pakistan corporate sector will become telecommuting friendly. One wishes to see it happen as soon as possible. This has not started happening yet though.

Lali Khalid Photography

Have a look how Lali Khalid plays with lights and makes any subject a work of art. Comments here.