Monday, March 16, 2015

Never Give up, Just Look up!

When I moved to Mumbai in January 2011, I was desperately looking for a job. The city was alien to me and I spent all of my days gazing at the Jobs page of Job Portals all day for around 90 days. Around this time, a long lost friend pinged me on Facebook and asked me for my resume. Completely out of the blue, I hadn’t spoken to him in the last 2 years. I casually sent my profile across like I would do every day to endless recruitment agencies and companies.  To my surprise, I got a call back from him the same day saying someone from his company would give me a call for a screening. I was elated and my focus shifted from job portals to this company’s website.

Sure enough next day, at around 10 am, I got a call. We talked for about 30 minutes at the end of which, the lady on the other side said, “We will get back to you.” The next day, I had an email in my inbox requesting for a convenient date to meet with the HR. I was more than excited. Finally, the D-Day came and I arrived at their sprawling business complex in Vikhroli. It was a brand name that everyone in India identified with and it would be prestigious to have a job here, I thought to myself. 

The interview took an entire day with endless hours of waiting and two interviews. You know, it is a great feeling when you have gone to meet/ interview with your future boss and towards the end of the interview he says, “Let me check if the Head HR is available.”  It was instant feedback for me, all the reassurance I needed. Sure enough, I got the offer letter within a few days and I was to start immediately. 

The first days were great with an induction program, followed by an off-site Change Management program to help open up the mind to new ideas, even before we started working and were absorbed into the norm of doing things. I was expecting to have a great time working with this organization. The mind-set of this age old organization seemed to be very new-age. 

Little did I know, that this feeling was short lived. As soon as I started working, I realized that this organization was still functioning like it was the 80’s. Nepotism was a norm and politics was rampant. My manager came to detest my guts and moved every stone to try and change my personality completely. Teary evenings had become a part of my daily routine. Despite giving me best and earnest efforts at trying to be a performer, I was not considered in that league.

I started the job hunt over portals for hours all over again. Nothing came about and my days of misery continued. One fine day, I got a call from a consultant for a job opportunity- 5 minutes from my residence. I jumped at the thought of not having to at least travel an hour each way every day.   

Post my interview, I gladly accepted the offer. It’s been three years since and my work has been appreciated by all my managers and peer group. I am having the time of life and I think this is my dream job. I have traveled across India and abroad for work and have met some of the best people in my life through it.

When I think about the past, I thank God for putting me through the experience that he did and giving me the strength and optimism to go on. I finally found something that I truly value because of the past experiences. 

This is my favorite Look up story. It constantly reminds me to never lose #optimism in the face of adverse situations. It tells me to go on. You may find your story at https://housing.com/lookup

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