I made a job I didn’t want to — you don’t need to
Day Zero
My parents had a funny way of teaching me the value of money (well, that’s how I saw it then). When kids in my building were eating Dairy Milk, I was at Coffee Bite. When they were thinking about a fancy Firefox bicycle, I was ‘allowed’ to think about my first BSA Cycle. I was irritated — they could see me getting frustrated each time. This is when they had their first ‘serious’ conversation with me — about Money.
I acted like a finance-whiz and asked them where their salaries were going (to me, the number seemed big — I was calculating the number of Coffee Bites I could buy). As they slowly and patiently explained things, it became clear that they were saving up a ton of it to educate me and my sibling for the foreseeable future — High School, Engineering, ̶M̶S̶, MBA. They wanted me to have no paucity of choice once I made it to the best place to study. Oh yeah, they said they were saving some of it for my wedding.
(My wingies laughed here)
“Abe, that’s the story at my place too. I wasn’t of course stupid enough to count in Coffee Bites but yes, a huge chunk of the money my parents have made has been invested in me. So yes, Mr. Story Teller, let’s get placed soon and begin repaying their efforts.”
Day One
Placements at college (BITS Pilani in my case) were a jittery time. Everyone was really nervous and mostly on edge. Every time you walked into a 4th years room, you would see his preparation material open on his bed, his suit (untidily) hanging on the wall and always waiting to see which company was coming down the next day. Every time you heard that someone got placed, you went through a flow chart systematically comparing yourself with him/her in every aspect. Finally, you grudgingly typed out on their Facebook status, “Heartiest Congratulations yaar. Phoda. You completely deserved it.”
Every company coming down was an opportunity to get the load off of our backs. Every company was a new enemy to be reckoned with. However, we didn’t have the time or the inclination to prepare a unique strategy to tackle each enemy.
“We cared only about two clear data points
1)The ̶C̶T̶C̶, in-hand cash component
2)Where they were going to place us.”
Occasionally, someone would throw in a new data point — “the quality of work” — a term which no one had any real idea about and was usually used to act ‘cooler’ than your peers.
Day Thirty
We walked in and out of multiple aptitude tests (I gave 13 of these), the occasional group discussion (yes, I made it past some of those tests — 5) and took some rejections (4). Once I spent enough time playing the lottery that was Campus Placements, I stopped caring about the company I was appearing for. In my final placement process, I was on Autopilot (I took my 4th rejection at 3 AM in the morning the previous night) — after one Test, GD and a short interview, I got an offer from ABC.
“ABC because that company could’ve been anything and it wouldn’t have made me any happier than I already was.”
I was done; I could begin repaying the debt I owed my parents. The friends I was story-telling 4 weeks ago? Well, they didn’t have a story too different from mine.
Joining Date (?)
When the time came to actually take up these job offers, more than half my friends rejected them and looked at alternate ‘happier’ options. From the pool that joined, some still crib about being unhappy about the work they’re doing right now. As I sat down to think about things, I realized that a dangerous trend was growing at campus — students weren’t finding out enough about a role before actually going ahead and looking at that particular job. We were always looking more to get done with the roulette of the Placement Process and this mindset was detrimental to all the stakeholders in question. Especially the less-thanked Placement Unit folks.
The companies that visited didn’t land up hiring the actually interested students, students land up taking jobs which they aren’t sure if they will enjoy. Some merely land up ‘choosing’ jobs based on pay packages.
The Help!
I needed the Yoda to my Luke before I went to take on the Death Stars of Companies that visited my campus. A guiding Force to channel my potential and help me understand exactly what I would be up against when I got onto the battle field would’ve been of great help.
I never went to the Dark side ;) — I instead chose to work on something I could call my own — TapChief, and to curb this unhealthy trend and to create a more informed industry-ready youth, I just helped roll out TapChief Job Coach — every student gets to choose his/her personal Coach from the industry, currently in a role the student aspires for and from an organization the student dreams of getting into.
When you wake up each day, wake up knowing that you’ll be happy doing whatever you choose to do each day. I began the Placement season wanting to achieve that state of happiness — I’m glad I found that. Don’t stop till you find YOUR perfect fit! :)
