“The irony of human condition is that we are so focused on reaching some point in our journey, some happiness, or some goal, that we seem to forget that the journey itself is where life happens!"
"Author unknown”
Attending job interviews is a challenging prospect for
most people; however, for Rahul, job interviews had been a smooth sailing affair,
so far, as he had performed fairly well in many of the interviews, he had faced
in his lifetime. However, every time Rahul
attended a job interview, he had to go through lot of background preparation
and new learning or unlearning processes, based on his previous experiences, in anticipation of the interview. He
had to understand the organization, the role, the background of the company,
their financials and many more such important information gleaned from internet
sources or from some ex-colleagues who had worked in that company. The purpose of a job interview was deploying
right people into the right job. Only if
the interviewers had this in mind during the selection process, many of the unpleasant
or irrelevant questions posed during the interview could be avoided; again, the
interview process, in general, threw open many candidates who lacked the
technical or required skills to operate proficiently in his/her role. Still the interviewers had to go through the
entire process for selection of the best candidate, among the list of finalized
candidates appearing for the interview.
When the interviewers, sometimes asked stock questions, for which there could be no ready factual responses, Rahul had ended
up making up stories around them; which in most cases, was an imaginary answer
or plain guess work, not always convincing. The one question that the interviewers invariably asked was, 'If you are selected, how do you think you will be able to transform this
company or bring a new perspective into the job?’. How can a sane person who does not know the
“ABC” of the organization, seriously answer such questions? All that the candidate knew for certain was the
position for which he had applied for and the first impressions he had gained
on his interactions with the company personnel such as the receptionist or the
HR Department official; other than that, there was nothing noteworthy for him
to assess and answer such question.
Another question, the interviewers generally asked was,
‘What do you think are your weaknesses?’. As if anybody, in their right senses, would open up before the interview committee and discuss their
innermost fears or apprehensions regarding their own shortcomings. However, if one, did mention their weaknesses honestly,
what if they rejected the candidate based on the responses. Honesty is a rare virtue, but then, how many
of them appreciate the human value attributes of the candidate, in an interview
process. Again, there were some
standard questions, interviewers were prone to ask. For example, ‘Why do you want to join this
company’. Rahul was not sure how he
would reply to such questions. If he had
indicated that he was unable to cope with the pressures of the present company he
was working with or he did not like his current boss, what would be the
reaction of the interviewers. Would they
still select him as a job prospect, because he had not lied and spoken the
truth?
Most of the interviews Rahul had faced were for
seeking jobs during the later years in his life. Like they say, life had begun after 30 for Rahul; after he had upgraded his professional qualifications and migrated to the Middle
East. During the earlier phase of his life
in India, he did not venture out much to seek jobs, nor were there any jobs on
offer during the pre-liberalization period of the economy in India. He had this strange lethargy and not
belonging to the "aspiration" generation, he was not keen in seeking jobs or
positions in life. Quite content with
the IT Operations Specialist job he had with a Private Company in India, Rahul was
quite happy in the 9 to 5 routine. There
was no job stress or pressure on performance.
He just did his routine job and went home without any worries or
pressures. As there were less work
pressures, he had a nice peaceful sleep.
Life motto, at that stage of his life was simple living and more simple thinking; he had no illusions
or aspirations on his own skill sets.
After moving to the Middle East, he had settled down
in one of the big four Audit and Consultancy firm with their Information
Security Department which had offered him a decent salary. Rahul was not pleased with his current job, though; the
main reason was that his immediate Manager, was not a very considerate and
understanding person. The Manager’s life motto seemed to be, to just harass his subordinates’
day in and day out to squeeze work and blow their minds with his wisdom. He, probably, derived
sadistic pleasure in bullying and underrating the performances of persons
reporting to him. Rahul stayed on the
lookout for better opportunities, mainly to avoid daily friction with his Manager. He badly wanted mental peace and a change in
work atmosphere. There were some job
offers in the initial days and he did attend a few interviews, but none of them
progressed into a concrete job offer. One
fine day, Rahul was invited for an interview for the position of Head of
Information Security with a Retail Bank proposing to establish themselves in
the Middle East region. The Head of Risk
Management, a person of Indian origin, was known to him and he was on the
lookout for a fellow Indian with considerable experience, to report to him. Rahul had appropriate work experience and right credentials for the position. He was invited for the Interview at 1.00
PM, one afternoon. Rahul took time off
from his regular work schedule, informed his immediate senior that he had some
personal work, and left his office as early as possible. By the time he reached the Office where his interview
was scheduled, the clock showed 1.15 PM.
The interviewers had already gathered in the interview room and the
receptionist directed him to hurry along.
Rahul stepped into the interview room, sweating a little and apologizing for being late. He could see that there
were three of them seated in a round table.
The person of Indian origin, who was known to Rahul, was looking at him with
slight disapproval, as he was a little late for the interview. Rahul could feel that his confidence level was
a bit low and the interview did not go that well. He wanted the interview to
end as soon as possible. After some few
minutes, which had appeared to him as an interminably long period, the
interviewers concluded their questions. Rahul
thanked them and literally sprinted out from the interview room with relief
writ all over him. He wanted to forget
that he had appeared for this interview.
Rahul had a surprise in store the next day; he was
informed that he had been selected for the position of Head of Information
Security by the Retail Bank which had interviewed him. Rahul was shocked albeit pleasantly, that in
spite of his bad performance in the interview, he had been selected to the
position. He thought that, may be, the contact
person, who had known him, had influenced the selection process. Rahul was asked to submit his credentials the
next day at the Bank’s main office. When
he went to submit his credentials the next day to the Human Resources
Department, he was told that the Head of Risk Management (the person of Indian
origin known to him), who had interviewed him the previous day had resigned
from the Bank, and yesterday was his last day at the Bank. This was news to him and he felt strangely
disturbed because this was the person to whom he was supposed to report to, in
his new position as Head of Information Security. Rahul did not know what to say. The Human Resources Head, who was a Middle
East national, informed him confidentially, that the person who had interviewed
him the previous day, had joined the big four Audit and Consultancy firm for which
Rahul was presently working. Yesterday,
the day of his interview, was his last day.
Rahul wondered at the irony of the situation. Rahul was planning to quit his firm to
join this Bank, whereas his would-be boss, the interviewer, had already put in
his papers and quit the Bank to join his current firm.
Rahul, then went to on discuss his contract terms with
the HR Department. The terms of employment
were good and very well acceptable to Rahul.
He was asked to join the Bank as early as possible. Rahul was happy with the salary raise he had
bargained for and, most of all, relieved that he could escape from the clutches
of his Manager, his immediate boss. The very next day
Rahul submitted his resignation with his current firm. After the lapse of a month, as planned, Rahul
reported to the new Bank after serving his notice period.
As per his letter of appointment to the new Bank, he
would be directly reporting to the Head of Risk Management. On his first day in
his new job, Rahul was ecstatic and happy with the Bank environment. The Bank had
a pleasant atmosphere and he had a beautifully decorated office, all to
himself. The perks included a Personal
Secretary, as well. After an hour or so,
into his new job, Rahul was informed to meet the Head of Risk Management, his
new boss, as soon as possible. Rahul had
not met the Head of Risk Management, his new boss, till now. He only knew that the person of Indian
origin, who had interviewed him had resigned and Rahul was under the impression
that the position was still vacant. However,
it appeared that the Bank had filled the position immediately and hired a new
person. As he had received a summons
from the Head of Risk Management, he thought this was a good opportunity to go
and meet with his new boss; and get acquainted with him. Rahul, hurried to the Head of Risk Management’s
office which was situated on a different floor in the same building. He was asked to wait for a few minutes as the Risk Management Head was in a short meeting.
After a few minutes, the meeting was over and the Head of Risk
Management was free. Rahul went into the
office of Head of Risk Management, with a smile pasted on his face. He wanted to create a good impression and appear
pleasant while meeting his new boss for the first time. The Head of Risk Management, presently looked
up, stood up with his hand outstretched and a broad smile on his face. Rahul’s
face had gone ashen, with dismay and shock writ all over his face, as there
stood in front of him, his old Manager from his earlier Audit and Consultancy firm. He was the new Head of Risk Management! He also later came to know that this new Head
of Risk Management, his old boss, was instrumental in selecting him for this
position and not his contact, the person of Indian origin, as he had presumed
earlier. Rahul had learnt a new lesson in
the supreme irony of life!
👍
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